In Part 2 of my Rift: Storm Legion hands-on Tour I want to focus on Raids and PvE content. Storm Legion will launch with 1 20-man raid, 1 10-man raid, 7 new dungeons, and after their first big patch a second 20-man will be added. Listening to James explain Trion’s approach to content in Storm Legion, I got the distinct impression that Trion really wants to come out of the gate strong. Their story is important to them.
Regulos and Crucia are some nasty villains. Regulos, The Dragon of Extinction, The Destructor, and a slue of other titles, is planning his comeback. His presence (Plane of Death stuff) is clearly visible in some of the new zones. Crucia, leader of the Storm Legion, Dragon Goddess, and lover of oddly-attractive succubi-harpy-things, is of course center stage during the entire expansion. These bosses are so big and important to the story of Rift that the only fitting way to emphasize their strength is through raiding.
Rift doesn’t do a whole lot to change the concept of raiding for themeparks. These will feature tiered loot progression, be instanced, and be very familiar to veterans of contemporary MMO raiding. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if this is a good thing or not.
I took a ton of screenshots. Perhaps too many.  Instead of a wall of text, I’m going to give you a picture tour and briefly talk about each image. Any images I do not include can be found at the bottom in the embedded gallery.  Is it still appropriate to give a 56k warning?
Since I was shown many of the new raid bosses, including the current final encounter for the expansion, I was asked not to reveal any strategies. Here’s a hint though: Having an invulnerable insta-kill-wielding CM with you helps.
Read on for more after the break.
Elrar took me through the 5-man dungeon leading up to the expansion content. Here the players will see Crucia freed from her prison. The dungeon employes new technology to make the dungeon-crawling experience more cinematic.
I will forever hold the honor of shard first kills for almost every monster type and raid boss in Storm Legion! I’m also the first to earn most of the achievements. Makin’ Rift history here folks. I think this earns me a Telarapedia entry or something.
Endless Eclipse, home of the Regulos encounter and lots of Plane of Death monsters, reminded me of something unpleasant. I wasn’t going to say anything until James used the word “colon.” The whole place is full of bones, undead, and some multi-mob pulls.
This is where players will finally encounter Regulos. This place is pretty amazing looking. Regulos himself wasn’t in the game yet, but that hole in the ground is where he will be contained. Given the general design of the area, I wouldn’t be surprised if players will be tasked with ‘avoiding the bad stuff.’
Frozen Tempest is another raid, and home to the Crucia encounter. The general atmosphere here is ice, harpies, and tech-magic-stuff. This fight looks like it will be fun. We had some trouble killing her because of some of her mechanics. Have fun with this one.
Gangnum Style! *dance*
The Crucia fight is going to be really cool looking. I think James doesn’t want me spoiling anything, but I will say what I saw happening in the sky around this massive platform was really spectacular. I’m anxious to see youtube videos of players killing her because I was only able to see bits and pieces before the encounter bugged out. We did kill her, though. Funny enough when she died she bugged out in that position.
Like I told James during the tour, seeing these encounter makes me wish I was max level and in a position to jump right into them. I may not be a fan of gear treadmills, but I enjoy progressing through content. This stuff has been in my blood since the early days of EQ raiding.
Those of you actively raiding in Storm Legion are in for a challenge. James tells me the Rift community enjoys having bosses that take months to figure out. I think that’s really cool. Contrast that to WoW where every raid boss is down within a week of the dungeon releasing.
Part 1 brought you all the details of Rift’s new Dimension housing system.
Part 3 gives you information and my thoughts on changes to the world and the overall Rift experience.
[…] already, and I expect more will pop up soon. I will link them here when I find them. (Keen has his Part 2 up […]
Getting that achievement seemed to be a requirement. I saw a lot of those same locations on my tour. (And have the pics posted to prove it.) Pretty cool looking stuff!
Crucia was out for repair when we hit her platform, so I just ran around a bit. I ran through the wall at the back of the platform, fell off and died. Again. I jumped off a lot of things and died.
Did you catch a glimpse of Telara off to the right when you entered? I was really bummed I did not get a screen shot off in time, as it was a very cool misty effect that faded quickly as you looked at it.
I like this tour stuff going on… I need to get on the bus 🙂
Seeing the first room of the initial 20 man raid actually made me miss raiding. Just something about a room full of giant bad guys with the boss watching from above. Very cool stuff visually.
I’m SO excited!
It really is a visually stunning game and the way they’ve kept up with putting out dynamic content is impressive. Can’t wait!
[…] Part 2: Raids | Part 3: World and Overall Impressions […]