To coincide with Trion Worlds' announcement that Rift will enter closed beta on Dec. 3, Editor-in-Chief Darryl Gangloff shares his experiences with the fantasy MMO from Trion's recent Gamer Day.

Alright, time to jump into the zone and start some quests. Players familiar with MMOs will instantly feel comfortable with the interface and combat. You have a mini-map, quest log, ability bars, and all that good stuff. Characters will auto-attack during combat. If you can loot multiple enemies around you, looting one will automatically loot them all. That's definitely a handy feature.

For the most part, the quests were a combination of killing enemies, collecting items, and so on. Trion Worlds CCO and Rift Executive Producer Scott Hartsman mentioned later in the day that no quests will ask you to travel back and forth to areas you've already visited, which is helpful. As I mentioned, the Guardians starting area is all about classic fantasy; you're doing all this in an attempt to weaken the undead army of King Aedraxis, who brought Regulos and the Plane of Death into the land.

As I leveled, I was offered my second soul. This time I had seven more to choose from, but I still went with the trusty fire-casting Pyromancer that I was initially shown when I started my character. This opened up the Pyromancer soul tree, which meant I could now put soul points into either my Elementalist tree or my Pyromancer tree to gain new abilities. This new soul tutorial really gives you a feel for how customizable your character can become in this game.

Now might be a good time to point out that the music in Rift: Planes of Telara is incredibly impressive and helps immerse you in the game. If you'd like a taste, check out the recent video dev diary featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the soundtrack with Audio Director Yannis Brown and Composer Inon Zur. It's worth a listen.

As the zone's storyline builds to its climax, you're going to interact with your first rift from the Plane of Death. Rifts, as you can imagine, are one of the main components in Rift: Planes of Telara. They are dynamic events that all players in the area can interact with, and they don't require everyone to be on the same quest. Rifts are fought in phases, and players can see the requirements to complete that phase on their screen. For example, you may run up to a rift and see that it's already on phase three, which means a certain number of enemies must be destroyed. All you need to do is jump into the fray and start fighting!

The Defiant

If the Guardians starting zone is focused on fantasy, then the Defiant starting zone can be considered its sci-fi equivalent. The Defiant faction blames the gods for the planar convergence, so they focus on a mixture of technology and magic as the means to save the world. This viewpoint contrasts greatly with the Guardians, which is why they're constantly fighting even though they're ultimately working toward similar goals.

As far as races are concerned, Defiant characters can be Eth humans, the massive Bahmi, or the elven Kelari. I decided to go with a melee calling this time, so I created an Eth Warrior named Jabed and logged into... the future?

Yup, the Defiant starting zone takes place in the future. The Defiant have been using science to resurrect the Ascended, which includes my warrior. It turns out Regulos destroyed the Ward and brought in the Plane of Death, which means it's up to me to travel back in time and stop it from happening, à la the Terminator.

The entire zone has a completely different feel to it compared to the Guardian area. The technological setting permeates the zone. For example, the NPCs that explain my soul options take the form of holograms, which is a stark contrast to the Vigil-worshipping Guardians.

I chose the Reaver for my first soul for its focus on death and combat. The soul focuses on damage over time effects, which helped whittle down my enemies as I attacked them with my weapon. Warriors in Rift gain attack points by using various abilities. Players can build up three attack points at a time and spend them to use stronger finishing moves.

Once I gained access to my second soul, I had a lot to choose from: Beastmaster, Champion, Paragon, Riftblade, Warlord, Void Knight and Paladin. I liked the thought of being a Warrior with a pet, so I chose Beastmaster and learned how to summon a cat companion.

The majority of the quests in the Defiant starting area revolve around getting the time machine up and running. You'll also get to participate in a rift event, just like in the Guardian zone. Both starting areas give you the chance to try out the soul system and get used to your characters while still generating a sense of urgency. For the Guardian zone, the end of the world is just beginning. For the Defiant zone, it's already happened. Either way, you should be prepared for a fight!