Rift's newest and - according to some - biggest expansion pack, Starfall Prohecy, is closing in on its launch date, and the community is indeed feeling the effects of the hype already, with many planning to return to action in what's quite possibly the most successful and generous free-to-play MMO out there. The Dev team behind Rift have indeed been pushing out regular updates and expansion packs, and Starfall Prophecy falls well in line with that. While some will be disappointed by the fact that this new expansion doesn't actually bring new souls and new callings, it does in fact have plenty of bang, in the shape of tons and tons of new content, comprised of new zones, a new raid, new dungeons, legendary powers and planar assault adventures, as well as quite a number of new features, like the increased level cap, the Looking for Raid feature, the individual reward system as well as active upgrades and planar fragments. Starfall Prophecy can't really be summed up in a nutshell like this, because it's so much more than a sum of its parts.
The new zones for instance - of which there will be no fewer than five - are all massive and uniquely attractive. Furthermore: they're all situated on an asteroid which is hurtling towards Telara, with the intent to destroy it too, in addition to the worlds it's already passed through. The storyline is obviously about players trying to prevent the cataclysm. The said asteroid is the comet of Ahnket, the main villain of the expansion, whom players will have to tackle in the final act of the story, in what will essentially be some of the hardest content ever produced by the Rift universe. Let us not cut ahead of the chase though and take a closer look at the above mentioned five zones.
The Scatherran Forest is where the expansion gets started, around levels 65-66. Then, players will move on to the Gedlo Badlands, followed by Xarth Mire and Ashenfell as they level up to 70. The final zone is the Tenebrean Schism, but this part of Starfall Prophecy will only be added after the actual launch. There's also a sort of city/start-zone/quest hub on the asteroid, called Alittu - a name which for some reason does sound rather end-of-the-world-ish indeed.
The Tower of Ahnket is obviously located in the Tenebrian Schism, and - if played on full difficulty - this will indeed be the hardest content ever to befall the well-meaning denizens of Telara. Fortunately, through the Looking for Raid Grouping tool, everyone will be able to play through this stage, thus seeing the story conclude. While everyone will indeed receive rewards for soldering through the Tower, the real value will land in the laps of those who do it at full difficulty.
Past the level cap, a number of additional features come into play to keep players busy, like the new Eternal Items and the new Active Upgrade system.
Philip Thalberg works for the world's top destination for eSports coverage, Gosugamers.net.
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