Rift has just reached its first anniversary; the mood in Telara couldn’t be more jovial! Executive Producer Scott Hartsman chatted with ZAM for a bit about the wild ride in the past year, his favorite memories, and what the anniversary world event contains.
Phase 1 of Carnival of the Ascended is scheduled to start February 29, adding new features to Rift's anniversary celebration! Portals between Shimmersand and the cities of Meridian and Sanctum have opened and some of the merchants are now open for business. Play carnival games like Mini Mounts Racing and Balloon Stomp for Prize Tickets to spend at merchants!
You can also join your faction in building Dragon Balloons for the upcoming parades! Check out the Building the Parade Floats quests; a title awaits those factions that are dedicated enough to meet their goals!
It's been almost a full year since the first Ascended arrived in Telara and its denizens are celebrating! This evening the opening phase, The Carnival Approaches, kicked off, and pinatas have popped up all over the world. Ascended can reap a variety of prizes from these pinatas such as event currency and some fun trinkets from older events.
In the coming weeks the Ascended can enjoy the carnival games, many event merchants, zone events and much more. Two unique mounts, Nebula and Tindrel, are already highly prized within the community and will be available during the event.
ZAM has been working hard on the Test shard and our Carnival of the Ascended guide is now complete! Have fun at the carnival!
Ever since ArenaNet took to their blogs to discuss, at length, how they were going to challenge MMORPG stereotypes, Guild Wars 2 (GW2) has walked the path of an exponential hype machine, doubling and tripling its expected potential each time a new post appeared. Heck, even as a cynical MMO gamer who's heard the term "revolutionary" so many times that I just want to buy everyone a thesaurus, I'll admit that, deep in my heart, a cautious optimism was feeding on the alluring rhetoric of those developer posts. Ultimately, I went into the Guild Wars 2 press beta with the mind of a skeptic: I wanted to believe, but I really didn't know if ArenaNet could deliver on all those promises.
With so much Guild Wars 2 talk floating around the past two days, including a solid write-up from our new staff writer Gareth "Gazimoff" Harmer and Mike B.'s exceptional 20-minute preview video, I've decided that, for this preview, I'll focus more on my key experiences in Guild Wars 2 rather than a broad rundown of the game's features. Tomorrow we'll discuss, in depth, some of the core game mechanics of Guild Wars 2, so be sure to tune in then!
As part of our Guild Wars 2 coverage week, we'll be leading off with some initial impressions from ZAM Staff Writer Gareth "Gazimoff" Harmer and Editor-in-Chief Chris "Pwyff" Tom. Following that, we'll lead into more in-depth pieces on the game mechanics of GW2, as well as instanced PvP, World vs. World PvP, and GW2's first dungeon: The Ascalon Catacombs!
When Chris asked me if I'd write about the Guild Wars 2 press event I was dumb struck. I'd never played the original Guild Wars and only managed to snatch some limited time with the game back at the Eurogamer Expo, and here he was offering me the MMO equivalent of the Golden Ticket.
I thought it was all a cruel joke to get my hopes up before dashing them on the ground.
This recent weekend was certainly a hectic few days for us members of the press. On Friday afternoon, the official Guild Wars 2 press beta kicked off for two days and - of course! - this meant most of us spent as many hours as humanly possible to stay awake, taking in everything the game had to offer.
Aside from producing some of the world's most sleep deprived journalists, this also means you're in for a week of jam-packed Guild Wars 2 coverage! Up today we're leading with a massive Guild Wars 2 video preview from ZAM's very own Mike B. aka Fony. It also just so happens that this latest BFF Report is #100, so go show your appreciation on this momentous occasion! A 20 minute BFF Report centennial that just so happens to be an exclusive Guild Wars 2 preview? It's fate!
Go check out Mike B.'s BFF Report Episode #100: Guild Wars 2 right here!
Love PvP? Come to the player-organized* weekly tournament on the Test server! The third weekly tournament is this coming Monday. Check out some of last week's fast-paced action: participant videos are below the jump!
- When: Sunday, February 19th at 5:30PM Eastern Time. Here's our handy Time Zone Conversion Tool!
- Where: South of Ember Watch on Alpha PTS
- Events: Best in Class title take away!!!
- Rules: Matches will be best 2:3 you can only challenge the title holder once, you lose, better luck next week!
Rules will be determined by both sides prior to the match! - Conduct: Gentleman rules apply.
For more information or to sign up, see this thread in the PvP & Warfronts section of the official forums.
As we've previously reported, Trion set themselves a lofty goal: set a world record for the most in-game marriages in a 24-hour period. The Ascended stepped up to the challenge! Officially recorded for the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition®, 21,879 marriages were confirmed between 9am PST, Feb. 14 and 9am PST, Feb. 15.
“Establishing this record was a monumental achievement for our development team and community of passionate players, and I couldn’t be more proud,” said Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer on Rift and Trion’s CCO. “Ascended Weddings were a great way to lift the veil on Rift’s new ‘Gatherings’ feature, social experiences that bring players together in new and interesting ways. We look forward to expanding this great new gameplay element in the always-evolving world of Telara.”
Gaz Deaves, Gaming Editor for Guinness World Records, said “It’s great to see the seeds of love blooming in virtual worlds, and particularly impressive to see so many gamers getting together to say their vows for one event like this. The evidence submitted was of a very high standard and we even witnessed some of the ceremonies ourselves, so this achievement will definitely be considered for the next Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition.”
It's not too late to get married in Rift! See our Wedding Guide if you'd like to get hitched.
source: Trion Press Release
Traversing Telarais an exclusive series of articles from Trion Worlds that explores Rift's lore and gameplay mechanics through the eyes of one intrepid adventurer. It's a great read and a fantastic introduction to the world of Telara. Even if you're a veteran of Rift, you might enjoy hearing about the game from another perspective! Read on for Issue #3: New Beginnings!
Catch up on all the past issues of Traversing Telara here!
Remember that you have only two more hours left to be a part of RIFT's Push for a World Record for "Most In-Game Marriages in a 24 Hour Period!" The event ends at 9am PST today!
In Episode #99 of the BFF Report, Mike B. decided to check out the RIFT Mobile App and to spend a little time in Telara for Valentine's Day! With Trion Worlds making that big push for a world record, Mike decided to pitch in by getting married with random strangers and then spending the rest of the day crashing other weddings and eating their celebratory feasts. I wonder how the divorce rates will look after this event, but for now, you've got two more hours left from the posting of this article to get in there and get married!
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