Half the calories burned, perhaps, because picking up the free to play version of Rift will only allow you to work so hard in the game.

Rift Lite, recently announced on the developer’s website, is a new program that follows World of Warcraft and Warhammer along the ”First 20 Levels Free” path. The difference for Rift, is that it also works for returning players.

You read that right — if you tried Rift when it first came out, or at any point over the last year, you can open your account back up and play the first 20 levels on a new (or existing <20) toon for free, for as long as you like. You’ll have access to a couple of zones on each faction; Terminus, Mathosia, Freemarch and Silverwood, along with appropriate capital city.

Rift Lite is part of the Carnival of the Ascended patch 1.7, a content update of some size that also brought the Ascended Weddings, River of Souls Chronicles, and an overhaul of the expert dungeons and associated end game gear.

All in all, there’s quite a bit going on here. Rift’s development team isn’t kidding when they say that they’ve put out seven massive updates to the original game, and most players would be hard pressed to point to anything that wasn’t an improvement. While Star Wars: The Old Republic is dealing with serious PvP imbalances and easily exploitable trade professions, Rift seems to be doing it right, right out of the box. The good news for gamers is that they just keep getting better.

The Rift mobile app, available for Android systems in the Market and iOS devices on iTunes, is also drumming up more interest in the game. With this free app, you can keep in touch with your guildies, find out when impromptu parties and raids are happening, and even earn loot to be used in the game. There are Artifacts, crafting items, planar treasures and other lootables that will appear in your character’s Inbox from using the app, making this a great way to waste some time in meetings or on the bus. You’ll only need an active game sub and the ability to speak English, French or German to use.

Published on: Feb 16, 2012
By: TJSonntag