Update from Scott Hartsman

This is from the official forums (http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?167307-River-of-Souls-World-Event-Wrapup)

When we set out to get this unveil event in front of you, it was all about some serious ambitions.

Great new types of content to unveil a brand new raid zone. Events that really push the edge of what's possible not just in Rift, but in any MMO of its kind. All within an incredibly rapid amount of time following launch.

In this case, while we did get to "what's possible" we didn't get to "solid gameplay for the entire game universe." The later phases of the event were too concentrated and time-compressed, which caused issues on a number of worlds.

Ambition is important -- It's what keeps us improving day to day, week to week, month to month. But, it's equally important to know when you walked too close to the edge and got cut.

Between our previous experience with zone events and now with world events, we have a much better idea of the range we can create "fun" for at a mass scale in the future, and the steps we need to take to continue progressing the more solid gameplay experiences that only happen in RIFT.

As I had posted earlier, our next world events will already be taking everything we learned, as well as all of your comments about the event, into account. Please do keep them coming -- I guarantee we're here reading them all, weekend or not.

As developers, none of us are happy when anyone who chooses to spend their valuable time in our game feels like they got the short end of our aspirations.

To that end, even if something goes great for some, when it doesn't go great for all, we're going to go out of our way to make it up in some way wherever we can.

We're going to assume that if you are an active subscriber you were intending to participate in the final stages.

1) Operating on that assumption, later this week everyone will be receiving an in-game mail with the River of Souls Event Reward Pack containing:

Symbol of Purity – This item starts a quest you can complete to obtain

* 250 Otherworldly Sourcestone
* 1x - Purified Treasure Cache – Contains a random chance of obtaining one of the special world drop event rewards from the day of the event
o Common – Grave Goods Bag -Unique 20 Slot Bag (NEW ITEM)
o Uncommon - Shroud of Anti-Life – Lorn non combat Polymorph
o Rare – Nimble Spectral Horse – 90% Speed Mount
o Ultra Rare – Swift Spectral Warhorse – 110% Speed Mount
* Shadetouched Weapon Cache – The starter item for the Rare Death weapon quests. You can choose whichever level appropriate one you'd like.
* The following two Achievements, since not everyone who was (or wanted to be) present was able to obtain them.
o Grim Hero
o Grim Protector


2) The achievement for kneeling to Alsbeth will remain available in her incarnation inside the River of Souls.

3) Additionally, we're also going to continue the Otherworldly Sourcestone drops for the next few days, for those who haven't yet finished off their collections and would care to.

4) And since the question has come up quite a few times -- the ability to complete the quests from the Shadetouched Weapon Cache will continue, such that you're always able to finish them.


We do thank you for your patience with us during this first ever World Event. We know that patience isn't infinite. We do respect that fact greatly, and you have our word that we're listening and reacting smartly for the next round.

- Scott

Interesting, so will this quest make it possible to obtain all of those items or just a select few? And can it be completed after the event is fully complete?

Not all the content, just a random chance for some of it. "Contains a random chance of obtaining one of the special world drop event rewards from the day of the event" Oh and Elsimer I had fun! Even though it was kind of chaotic at the end there trying to get past the aggro to Alsbeth. But that had to do with my level.

» Edited on: 2011-04-16 23:08:45

Thanks for passing this along, great info without having to leave our site =-)

Just saw this on their Twitter feed. Pretty nice way to wrap it up; especially for those that didn't get a chance to experience any of it. @Fairybella - I hear you. Nel and I tried several times to make it past those mobs to where Elsbeth was but we could only ever make it to just inside that first doorway before getting cut down. Consequently, neither of us got the achievement or title. :(

I disagree, the whole situation (coupled with lying responses in petitions from GM's) how soured me on the whole game. Trying to get into the server for 4-5 hours was so frustrating that couple of crappy in game items as a thank you, isn't going to satisfy me. My subscription ends May 9th unless something drastic happens in this WoW clone.

2) does that mean alsbeth is still in game to be kneeled to? Where would that be? Their flaw with this event was being over ambitious. Phase one was a nice event. They seem to realise the compression of 2 and 3 was bad. I am anxious to see what they do for the next event and see how they learned.

» Edited on: 2011-04-17 06:41:09

Alsbeth is still in the game, but she is now part of the River of Souls raid dungeon (T3). You can kneel to her for the Discordant title, but it'll now take a successful raid (I'm not sure how far in she is, but I would assume pretty far in)

@Elsimer Alsbeth is at the very end of the raid, and you have to kill 2 epic bosses to get to her.

I wonder if you'd be able to guild rally at her location to get the achievement for people?

I think with this being Trion's first "Major" release, they're doing a fine job with the customer service support. Admitting to shortcomings and working with and listening to the playerbase is a feather in their cap. Playing online games since '95 I've only seen a couple of companies go out of their way to try and please the subscribers. Kudos Trion!

» Edited on: 2011-04-17 13:20:04

I agree with you Paja. I've been playing MMOs since Ultima Online. Trion is definitely one of the best. It hasn't even been 6 months since its release and they are already making attempts at some very big events. No other MMO can make such claims. I gave Trion an epic B+ (for effort) after an epic fail of making an epic attempt at an epic event. I have had more fun in Gaiscioch Rift events than this hyped up Trion event. So, for those who are complaining about being in the queue -- You didn't really miss much. However, the fact that Trion recognized their failure, are will to be apologetic over it, and are willing to make amends with their community...this is bumps them to an EPIC A+. I think that anyone who doesn't see this awesomeness has their expectations set too high for what a computer game and technology has to offer. KUDOS TRION!

» Edited on: 2011-04-17 14:40:40

If you want a comparison between two development companies. Look no further than Warhammer. What major changes or events came about 6 months after their release? Just a whole lot of imbalance and QQing about the endgame content What major changes or events came about 1 month after Rift's release? A major balance patch, a world event, a new raid, and a soon to be arriving balance patch... There is no comparison Trion are doing something right with their community and NO company has put as much effort into their community as they are.

Trion's epic customer support, community involvement and Rift's overall feel as a game is the reason that I live with some of the anoying shortcomings that the game has. This game has a great feel to it and with the speed they add/correct stuff, this game will be even more awesome and I do belive that they will get to putting all the fluff features into the game too after they correct the more important stuff. (still miss my cape/cloak, how am I going to stay warm without it)

personally i dont think there fix is enough eather,, phase 2 and 3 where total let downs phase 1 was great ..... Ben has been sending in videos for some time now showing rendering and lag issues so they knew well ahead about that problem the sever lag we encounter in iron pines i think was the worest i have ever experienced in my 10 years of gameing.. then the obseen que times just to get into game. come on guys.. theres a half dozen other items i could bring up to relateing to phase 2 and 3 that i thought they droped the ball on but not going to get into that but the major ones lag, rendering, and que times where the most important ,,, they have had over a month now to address these issues and while during normal game play i have seen some improvements to the rendering issue what i saw during phase to was worse than what we saw on day 1 of head start... im just going to chaulk it up to pour planning and pour exacution on trions part.. i do give them some credit how ever atleast there trying to make up for the pour showing but to be honest there atempt is a little lack luster there to we get a chane to get a item ,,, how much you want to bet most of the awards are going to be the Shadetouched Weapon Cache like we saw during the event that gave out junk blue weapons. By no means take what im saying here to mean that im cancelling my account lol IM NOT i still think this is a great game and that trion has done great in other areas im just disatisfied with this event

I agree with ya Booie. Spot on! Now, all they need to do is get rid of that confounded expose debuff...*Grrrrr*

But Ltol. How could they predict the queing issue. After all the game is dead. Haven't you been reading the forums?