On November 16, RIFT welcomed Starfall Prophecy adding five new all-new areas, as well as new challenges, features, levels, abilities, recipes and items. Thanks to a code provided by Trion, I was able to access the extension and discover its contents. Before we get down to business, the launch video:
If you've played recently, your character must be currently level 65, the old maximum level. From now on, the limit is set at 70 and, to climb the levels, five new zones are proposed. The story behind the Golden Prophecy is simple: an entity from the cosmos decided to destroy Telara, Ahnket. On his way to our world, Ahnket ripped off entire swathes of the Plane of Fire and the Plane of Life, making the area he landed in particularly rough ...
Concretely, the extension does not change much to the progression mode proposed previously. There are classic quests to take from NPCs, in Quest Hubs and more to discover in the world by interacting with items on the ground, finding a quest on a monster, or finding a poor guy lost in the world. middle of nowhere that needs our help. In addition, there are the Carnage quests which concern most external creatures: you have to kill a certain number of them to obtain experience as a reward. The creatures concerned are clearly identified with a small icon on their portrait.
The proposed activities are quite classic: kill x monsters, bring back such objects, go to such and such a place, kill such and such a boss.
Zones
The story takes us on the problems of the inhabitants of this region, with the threat of Ahnket as a backdrop. Everything is organized around the town of Alittu, the point of arrival on these new lands.
Executioner Forest
This area, for levels 65-66, offers a variety of flora and fauna, in a green environment. A river swerves between the tall trees, this gives a pleasant and cheerful region, a good way to start the extension with a smile.
Official presentation
Cedlo Maleterres
This second zone, for levels 66-67, is the total opposite of the previous zone. Vegetation is dry, limited, and sandstorms are common.
Strange rocks seem like flying.
Official presentation
Xarth's Quagmire
Xarth's Quagmire is the third area, intended for levels 68-69. In this large marsh, the vegetation is once again more abundant and lush.
In its center, there is a strange citadel ...
Ash fall
If you manage to survive the previous challenges, you will be able to continue your adventures in Ashfall, an area for 69-70s. Volcanoes, hot springs, rocks ... Again, vegetation is rare, in shades of red and gray.
Smoldering walls appear on the horizon, as well as strange altars to forgotten gods.
Official presentation
Tenebrean Schism
Finally, the area for level 70 stands in the center of the map and will put your abilities to the test, being inhabited by elite monsters who had no mercy for the reporting I was leading.
If you fall into this chasm, you will luckily reappear in Alittu.
Planar fragments
In order to make it easier to change specialty without having to change equipment, RIFT is attempting an innovative solution. Their goal is now to offer equipment that only carries general characteristics. Role-specific characteristics will now be linked to shards. This gear can be found in dungeons or crafted through crafting, more rarely as world loot, raid, or PvP. Note that they are linked to the account.
The shards are linked to an element (I have for example had fire and earth shards so far). By using the Infusion, I can increase its effectiveness up to maximum level 15, as the materials needed for the process change as the Shard levels up (Simple Planarite at the start to cosmic cores). Each level increases the primary attribute of a Fragment and ultimately increases the secondary attributes as well. In order to recover materials for the infusion, Fragments can be sacrificed and recycled.
You can learn more about Planar Shards on the official site here and here.
Legendary powers
Each time you level up in the expansion (so at levels 66, 67, 68, 69 and 70), you can choose powers that will become legendary. Thanks to this buff, this power will gain additional effects. Note that there are some prerequisites before being able to switch a power to legendary (insofar as it exists in legendary, this is not the case for all powers):
- 3 points maximum per soul
- 1 point between 0 and 14 points invested
- 2 points between 15 and 43 points invested
- 3 points between 44 and 61 points invested
For example, along with My Thief, here are some of my spells and their effects once they've gone Legendary:
You can learn more about these powers here and here.
But also...
I haven't had the chance to test it, but the expansion also brings two new dungeons. Subsequently, additional content will be deployed: Fortress Sieges (they presented it here), a new 10-player raid, the Raid Finder (Rdr) feature, puzzles concocted by DeadSimon and hundreds of never-before-seen artifacts.
Finally, know that if you buy the extension, you will get an instant sesame for level 65, which will allow you to boost one of the characters in your account to the level necessary to directly start the content of the extension. With the Deluxe Edition, you'll additionally get an Ethereal Drake mount, a portrait ring, and an Asha Catari outfit. And for free, until November 30, you'll get a free pack with various useful items.
Conclusion
Starfall Prophecy is a decent expansion, without being transcendent from what I could judge in a big afternoon (which is not much, I concede, for an expansion of an MMORPG). The content is there, there are quests in all directions and the levels are going to be incredibly long to climb, even more than they had been from 60 to 65. The Carnage quests, starting from a good one initial idea, are clearly off-putting, especially since Instant Adventures are currently disabled which requires killing all the bugs solo. The monsters are bad, very bad, my poor fart often dies, and I'm in the graveyard just as often, which doesn't help to appreciate the content.
There is of course everything that has made RIFT so successful during all these years, the rifts, the planar attacks, the ultra versatile class system, the various powers, the artifacts hidden everywhere. I still have the impression that the extension is not yet complete. A lot of things are missing, including the planar assault adventures that I was looking forward to with some interest, or those puzzles that Trion sold us so well. Above all, the whole thing lacks a spark of madness, a little something that would break the routine, because after spending the previous day on Skyforge, RIFT seems to me to my "old" dismay.
