In Part Two of our interview with Scott Hartsman, Creative Director of Trion Worlds, we talk about character growth, Rift's innovative "soul" system and the economics of an MMORPG.

Hi and welcome back to ZAM's interview with Scott Hartsman about Rift: Planes of Telara! In Part Two, we talked about Rift's unique class system, as well as how players will grow in Rift (even in endgame!), as well as the economy of Rift and just how far your money, both in-game and out, can get you!

You can read part one over here before you get on to reading part two!

ZAM: In other articles and interviews, as well as on the official Rift website, you talk about 'souls' and how they are, essentially, the core of player growth. To give a quick explanation to our readers, a player begins the game with one 'soul,' and he or she can then invest ability points into that soul to make it grow stronger (think of a talent tree). As well, the more points you put into the soul, the more abilities you automatically unlock from that soul. At later levels, players will be able to pick up an additional two souls under their class's 'calling' (archetype), and they can either choose to invest in those souls, or they can simply focus on one soul to become ultra-specialized. Rift players will be able to swap their souls and ability points around so that they can find out what combination is best for them.

Will players have access to all souls at level one?

Scott Hartsman: One of my most favorite things in the world is when fiction combines with game play in that perfect blend. Fictionally speaking, you are a brand new soul on Telara that has been 'reincarnated' to fight. So, as you become more attuned to the world, you will obviously expand your powers. These 'souls' you take on are really the other souls that didn't quite make that trip back that you did. We don't want it to become so complicated that players get overwhelmed.

ZAM: You have a number of souls already listed on your website (the Reaver, the Blade Dancer, the Warlock, etc), but you've already noted, in another interview, that there may be even more than the 16 soul slots that are listed as "coming soon" on the website. Are there plans to create a plethora of souls later on to give players the chance to specialize or customize themselves even further?

Scott Hartsman: Oh absolutely. We plan on creating tons of souls, and not just for combat, either. We want to have 'social souls' that can maybe transform you into something, or create ultra-specialized souls, or even ultra-humorous souls. Hypothetically speaking, we could make the soul of a jester, and then give it just one ability! It's great that we can continue to introduce these new souls to give players the opportunity to expand and something new to look forward to.

ZAM: Were there any inspirations for this impressive class design?

Scott Hartsman: We are incredibly proud of it, and it's not something we've heard of in the industry. We can't even really credit one person with the idea; the idea just sort of floated up in meetings, and we started to run with it.

ZAM: One interesting thing I see here is that if you can swap out all three of your souls, that means you can, literally, change your entire character archetype with a single respec. Are there plans to make players "stick" with a certain soul that they begin as, or did you want to give the opportunity for everyone to try everything?

Scott Hartsman: Currently speaking, we have it set so that you can swap out all three souls, but we are definitely still thinking about it. We might make players stick with their original soul, and then branch out via their two additional souls, but we'll see.

[Clarification: Characters will be able to swap their souls around under a single 'Calling,' of which there are four: Warrior, Rogue, Cleric and Mage. The team is debating over whether a player will need to stick with a specific 'calling' for the rest of his or her life, or whether he or she can switch their calling (and thus, their character archetype) while still experimenting with the souls under a specific calling. Sorry for the confusion!]