A few months ago we first started to hear whispers of Rift 'challenge' servers with different rule sets from the main game, today we have a taste of what's coming in 2018 with a brief Dev's Blog of some of the things to expect for the coming months.
Rift Prime:
It seems Rift Prime will be a return to old skool Rift with a subscription based, fresh start server with no lockboxes, a vastly reduced Store, dynamic zone scaling so no matter where you are, you scale to the zone, all Dungeons dropping loot scaled to your real level so running Realm of the Fae scaled to level 15 will give you level 70 loot etc.
PvP players also got thrown a bone with News of a new Warfront, some servers getting tech to have them in an 'open World' PvP state:In the Spring of 2018, we will launch a new server, RIFT Prime. We’ve paid a lot of attention in discussions with all of you and within the broader gaming community regarding business models in the MMO and games industry as a whole.
We have the opportunity to experiment with this fresh RIFT server using an oft-requested subscription model and progressively unlocked content. Our goal for RIFT Prime is to provide the experience that many of you have requested: no lockboxes, a significantly reduced store with more of the current store-based items obtained through gameplay (or removed entirely) – plus the excitement of sequential progression through RIFT’s content with monthly milestones and achievements.
We plan to present RIFT at its roots as much as is possible to do, and look forward to sharing details over the coming weeks. The PRIME server will progress at a faster pace than the original launch and will eventually come to an end in spectacular fashion.
As a small teaser of what’s to come, dynamically matching characters to their current zone’s level, dungeons dropping loot specific to your character’s true level, caps on the number of professions available to a single character, and participation awards that carry over to your characters on existing servers.
Many upcoming live content changes that apply to existing servers will also apply to the new PRIME server, assuming they’re not restricted by progression locks. We look forward to exploring all of these features and more with you in blogs and livestreams to come.
Full Source: http://www.trionworlds.com/rift/en/2.../2018-rift-on/Another area that we have heard a lot of feedback on is PvP. We are happy to say that some time after RIFT Prime is released, we’ll start talking about our next warfront! This will include a new game mode taking place in a completely new area with a new look.
We are also currently testing new gameplay tech that would allow us to make some radical changes, such as servers that are in wide-open PvP status, meaning anyone and everyone is fair game, with the exception of guild members (sorry, extreme griefers)
(We promise not to do this on existing PvE servers.
The Live Stream tonight at 19:30 GMT will have more details and a Q&A discussion
https://www.twitch.tv/trionworlds
**Edit:** I could swear i had these links added when i posted, must be losing it.