This article originally appeared in issue 245 of PC Gamer UK.

Storm Legion trebles the size of Rift’s already-huge MMORPG world. Senior designer William Cook flashes up the game’s map for me, showing the play area of the original Rift. The two new continents the studio are adding are each as big as the original game. More space is always nice, but the reason that they need these new continents is the scale of some of the enemies: ‘colossi’ encountered on the new continent are humungo-scale monstrosities, often the size of tower blocks.

The demo I see shows one of these, the Brobdingnagian world boss Volan, awakening from his crypt and roaring like a sleepy bear. He obviously isn’t a morning colossi and, after a typically MMO-y boss battle that involves players bashing bits of his armour off to expose his weak points, he smashes through a high wall. This manifest grumpiness allows players into an otherwise inaccessible section of the continent. Like many of Rift’s enemies, the colossi are present in the open world, so anyone can join a group battling them.

They need these new enemies because, in the plot of Rift, four of the six Dragon Gods are dead. Only two remain – the god of death, Regulo, and the god of air, Crucia, and they’ve fled to these lost continents, Brevane and Dusken. Here ancient technology enables permanent access to the other planes: the Infinity Gate, an always-open portal to the other worlds, allowing the dragon gods to conduct full-scale invasions.



Cook shows me the Empyrean Core on Brevane, an abandoned marvel of Cyclopean buildings. He promises that in this dungeon “you’re seeing the origins of Telara”. I don’t see Dusken but Cook tells me it’s a mutated ruin, the battleground of the gods of air and death, and the location of the Infinity Gate. It’s likely the focus will be on Crucia, as the Storm Legion is her personal dragon cult. I’d bet that Regulos is being saved for another expansion.

Just to remind you, in Rift each calling (class) chooses three souls (specialisations) for each build - and swaps between these builds, out of combat. Souls each have their own tech tree to invest in and, with Storm Legion, Trion have rejigged all the current souls and raised the level cap from 50 to 60, so players have many more points to invest.

There are four new souls as well, which Cook promises will add an “entirely new flavour to each calling”, though I only got to see one: the Harbinger, a mage close-combat soul. Most of his abilities reduce subsequent cast times, so he cooperates well with the Chloromancer, Pyromancer and Stormcaller souls, turning them into melee souls too: with the Pyromancer he can blink in and out of combat, and cast fireballs with no cooldown, while with the Stormcaller he becomes a lightning AOE specialist, and becomes a healing melee specialist with the Chloromancer.



The game is also introducing Player and Guild dimensions – its version of housing. This allows you to grab your favourite area of Telara (from a selection) and turn it into your own play area, with customisable, scalable cosmetic objects that can be crafted or found throughout the world. You can also alter the weather and lighting by placing objects. From the demo I saw, it’s easy to use and you can be quite creative with your personal space.

Storm Legion also includes 11 new zones; three new raids; new planar bosses to battle; grandmaster crafting; new mounts, pets, puzzles, artefacts, collectibles, and titles; and a new island-based capital city shared by the two factions.

As the last subscription-based MMORPG to make money without endless talk of going free-to-play, Rift is a curiosity to be praised. The team is fan-oriented, putting out free updates like the Conquest expansion, that are pure fan service. I’m pleased it’s doing well enough to expand on this scale – and intrigued to see how many players go back to play.

Today's serving of collection of news croutons is best paired with a baby spinach, bullets, and blasters. On the menu: Far Cry 3 system specs and a trailer, a Guild Wars 2 patch, dead people lusting for your flesh in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Rift's nose-tweak to Pandaria, and more.

Far Cry 3's system requirements includes one-time online activation instead of a persistent connection. Neat. Even better: Islands drive people insane. Wait, that might actually not be better on second thought.
Let's hope your windmills keep up with the shred-tastic music in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's zombie mode reveal trailer.
The Secret World Issue #3--"The Cat God"--resumes Funcom's fast-paced update schedule with two new missions and a new load of Lairs.
Every pre-order for Rift: Storm Legion until October 3 donates $1 to the Pandas International charity. Cheeky, Trion--but clever.
Hearts of Iron III: Their Finest Hour's release trailer still doesn't explain how a heart entirely made of iron would work.
The latest Guild Wars 2 patch fixed up dungeon loot vendors and adjusted the difficulty of some story fixes, among numerous squashed bugs.
Patch 1.4 for Star Wars: The Old Republic zapped in from hyperspace this morning with a brand new Operation, planet, and obligatory loot.
The $60 Mass Effect Trilogy releases November 6 and packages the entirety of Shepard's saga in an appropriately sleek box.
"The poultry has been planted."

Star Trek Online producer Dan Stahl spoke with listdaily about well-known science-fiction franchises spearheading free-to-play MMOs and how the genre's constantly shifting content isn't in harmony with traditional review systems, saying, "In my opinion, the whole game rating business doesn't necessarily do a great justice to MMOs."

"MMOs are designed to grow over time and get better with every major release," he continued. "It might be better if sites like Metacritic could find a way to rate MMOs by releases instead of just the initial day one."

Stahl said "plenty of MMOs" enacted "huge strides" since launching with detracting or beneficial effects. Since launching in February 2010 to mediocre reviews, Star Trek Online, for example, retooled its ground combat, added a "duty officer" system of modular ship boosts, and empowered players with homebrewed mission content via its Foundry creation kit.

By contrast, Sony Online's Star Wars Galaxies earned initial critical acclaim when it released in June 2003, but subsequent major updates—including the infamously divisive New Game Enhancement—soured its reception among the community for apparently ruining an otherwise enjoyable sandbox experience.

We wouldn't necessarily disagree—reviewing MMOs is a fundamental challenge. Our original EVE Online review scored the game at 55, and we've continued to cover the game's growth after launch. Our reviews-in-progress are an attempt to give timely impressions when they're arguably most valuable—immediately following release—while allowing us to stamp a verdict when we're ready.

Although Guild Wars 2 and The Old Republic have dimmed Rift's limelight somewhat, developer Trion's excellent adherence to steady content updates chugs along with Storm Legion, the first expansion pack. It's set for a November 13 release, but what foes await within? Well....

Towering powerhouses of demonic muscle need little reason for busting apart a mountainside and kicking over everyone's sandcastles, but the mere fact something so gigantic threatens Telara's very existence screams "heroics." It also screams "loot." A new dungeon, "Exodus of the Storm Queen," compliments two immense zones dwarfing Rift's original landmass and a population explosion of enemies dying to throw shiny baubles in your direction.

Storm Legion also boosts the level cap to 60, adds three more raids, a single Chronicle, and a small avalanche of new mounts, pets, titles, artifacts, and collectibles. Pre-ordering the $40 standard version or the $60 Infinity edition -- the latter includes a portal generator, a speedy Cyclone mount, and a Mini Regulos pet -- also nets you a storm-themed exclusive cape for those sashaying fits around town.

Rift's 1.9 patch, which releases on Wednesday, aims to change the face of player-vs-player combat in Trion's flagship MMO forever. Along with new Instant Adventure content and a Mentoring system that allows higher-level players to group with their lowbie friends, the patch adds a new Conquest PvP mode that offers a larger-scale alternative to instanced Warfronts. We have new screens and new details, including how rewards will work and a look at the new colossus, below.



As we mentioned in last month's preview, Conquest PvP divides players into three new factions to fight over territory in an open, alternate-reality version of the Stillmoor zone. Those who join the fray will be able to accrue both temporary and persistent rewards. The mode includes a sort of "momentum" mechanic where doing your part will grant you temporary buffs going into future battles. During a recent phone call, the developers told me that these buffs will start to wear off about a day after you earn them, and playing only a couple times a week should be enough to keep them steady.



In addition, Conquest introduces a new currency type that can be earned by completing objectives, winning a match for your side, and killing the new colossi PvE bosses that only spawn when one side has won the map, and are only available to be confronted by the winning faction. Rewards will presumably include better PvP gear and consumbales that can be carried out of the mode.

If you're one of those reclusive MMO gamers who don't like other people, Conquest has you covered, too. According to Rift's chief creative officer, Scott Hartsman, lone-wolf players will be able to contribute to their side without making a single kill, by gathering materials and crafting items and defenses for their side.



Also coming in 1.9 are the aforementioned new Instant Adventures and Mentoring system. The new Instant Adventures bring the fast-paced combat to the Freemarch, Silverwood, Gloamwood, and Stonefield zones. Hartsman told me that they're using the modular nature of Instant Adventure to test some more experimental mechanics such as granting temporary abilities without having to worry about the potential of them "breaking" the open areas of the game.

The Mentor system, which scales your character down to the level of the group you're joining, is meant to let players continue earning rewards for their higher-level characters as they help lower-level friends through content.

Lastly, 1.9 will finally bring a barbershop feature to Rift, allowing you to re-customize your character's appearance. So if you've been regretting those dreads you put on your Bahmi since launch, you're less than 48 hours from remedying your ill-advised hair disaster.

There were a lot of great games at E3 this year, but only one can be the best. PC Gamer's editors pick their favorites from the show floor.



1
Logan: Watch Dogs
Go ahead and fiddle with your Facebook privacy settings all you want: Aiden Pierce knows exactly who you’re sleeping with and how you feel about them. He can tap your cell phone to listen to what you’re telling somebody or he can jam it so they’ll never hear it. He knows where you work, how much you make, and if you stash your cash in a private account he can plunder it at the nearest ATM. And if you try to get away from him, you better run someplace that isn’t under the domain of ctOS—the central operating system that administers Chicago’s infrastructure—and hope that he doesn’t mess with the traffic signaling system on your way out.

In an unexpected and wonderfully audacious demo, Watch Dogs ruthlessly teased me with the power to take the technological apparatus of an entire city and press it into my service as a tool of surveillance, reconnaissance, or destruction—while also giving me glimpses of what may be the terrible consequences of my actions (such as a hapless bystander desperately trying to resuscitate his dead wife after an accident that Pierce caused).

It’s still an action game—there’s shooting, there’s free-running, there’s bullet-time, and there’s beating a guy with a retractable baton—but throughout an E3 smothered by overbearing, barely differentiated violence in sequelized blockbusters, Watch Dogs feels far more ambitious. It seems to see in gamers not folks who will dutifully respond to more, bigger, and louder, but instead people who want their cunning, skill, and resourcefulness challenged in new and more imaginative ways.




2
Evan: PlanetSide 2
Fighting against two factions instead of one activates some dormant area of my FPS brain. It's not simply that you have more and differently-colored soldiers to shoot at, but you experience this novel feeling of competition over resources that matter. No other shooter gives me that sensation. Occupying someone else's base means something—just by contending for an outpost, you're earning a tiny trickle of resources. Own it, and that earned-over-time allowance extends to your whole empire (while being denied to the enemy). The magic of that mechanic is apparent even in an hour-long play session with a character I'll never use again in a crowded, loud convention center. Whether you like it or not, you're a part of something.

Beyond that, PlanetSide 2 is better-looking than Tribes, Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and (save for Natural Selection 2, which I love the look of) any other multiplayer shooter I can name. The sci-fi context has let SOE's art team run wild with neon and high-contrast player and vehicle skins in a way Battlefield can't. It's a miracle that this will be free.

Runner-ups: Arma 3, Natural Selection 2



3
Josh: Rift
Rift never really grabbed my attention at launch. I've dabbled over the past year since its launch, but the game's first expansion, Storm Legion, cannot be ignored. A lot of information was revealed during E3, and everything I've seen has convinced me to re-up my subscription and dive back in headfirst. The expansion adds two continents that are each as large as the entire game world that exists today. That's cool, but it wasn't what had me scrambling for my credit card. What got me was the E3 livestream demo of Storm Legion content that showed a massive open-world boss who, when he's defeated, tears down walls to open new zones of the continent to players. Let me reiterate: this boss doesn't just drop loot when you take him down, he drops ENTIRE ZONES OF CONTENT. That's awesome, and so is everything else I've seen about this expansion so far.

Runner-ups: Planetside 2, SimCity



4

T.J.: The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard
It's hard to put into words how big a Skyrim fan I am. Three of my favorite things in the world are Vikings, werewolves, and The Elder Scrolls series. Letting me play in the homeland of the Norse-flavored Nords and be a werewolf in an open-world Elder Scrolls game almost gave me a fanboy heart attack. However awesome you think Skyrim is, multiply that by Odin to get how awesome I think it is. The only thing missing was an organized faction of wussy-ass vampires (you heard me, consider the gauntlet thrown!) to tear apart with my Nordic werewolf claws. Dawnguard gives me that, plus a new werewolf-specific perk tree. It may just be an expansion, but with the relatively lackluster showing of PC RPGs at this year's E3, it was the one thing I was most excited to hear more about.

Runner-ups: Assassin's Creed 3, Planetside 2




5
Tyler: SimCity

SimCity is looking more and more like the reboot the series deserves. The new engine is simulation-oriented, and changes the game's underlying processes without mucking with the SimCity mechanics we're used to, such as zoning areas. City specializations, resources, and vertical integration create opportunities for industrious mayors to noodle around with economics. The buildings have been pared down to their identifying features, making them charming and easily readable. The sound design makes crunching buildings into their foundations seem forceful and satisfying. Oh, and you can build cities next to your friends' if you want. It's evolving where it should while keeping the core SimCity concepts in play. If Maxis had asked me what I wanted from a new SimCity before it started on this project, I wouldn't have come up with anything I wanted as much as what it's promising.

Runner-ups: Divinity: Original Sin, PlanetSide 2




6
Tom Francis: Dishonored

Sipping tea in my rain-lashed manor back here in England, my view of E3 has mainly been the major publisher's press conferences. Their weird blend of family games and relentless, brutal, fetishised ultra-violence left me wondering if there was anything there for gamers like me.

But tucked away from the main stages, there was something for us: Dishonored. An open ended infiltration game with teleportation, possession, Force Push, and no small measure of fetishised ultra-violence. But they showed it in context, and demonstrated that the decision to put a blade through someone's skull was up to the player - that makes it meaningful. The generous 9-minute walkthrough video is hugely entertaining, and it's now the game I'm most excited about playing.





7
Tom Senior: Watch Dogs

Drab, misguided showings from many of this year's major players at E3 made me wonder what E3 is really for. Most of what was shown this year has been on the radar for a while. We were seeing new footage of largely known entities, but then, in the final moments of the Ubisoft press conference on day one, this appeared. An open world game of assassination and high tech espionage in an interconnected Chicago. Entire minutes passed without anyone being hit with a stick or shot in the face (that came later). There was investigation, conversation, and slow walk through rain slick streets in a flapping trenchcoat. There was a bit of GTA in there, and a bit of Deus Ex. It was beautiful, cool, and most importantly, new. E3 should be about surprises, which makes Watch Dogs my pick of E3 2012.

Runner-ups: John Carmack, Dawnguard




8
Chris: Assassin's Creed 3

What I'm looking for at an E3 presentation is a sense of the game I'll actually end up playing. It feels like the higher-profile the franchise, the less likely that we'll get to see what we'll actually be doing when the autumn rolls around.

Aside from the fact that Dishonored and Watch Dogs were taken, this is why Assassin's Creed 3 is my pick of the show. The seven minute demonstration at the Ubisoft conference certainly had its (seemingly) impossibly cinematic moments, but it was glued together by sequences that looked very much like an Assassin's Creed game - and a good one at that.

The moment when Connor returns deer meat to the forest encampment, for example, or when a passer-by asks him to fetch some mercury: that's what you're going to be doing come November.

It doesn't really bother me that Connor is the kind of assassin who'll ride a horse right up to the enemy gates, or blow up half a fortress to distract a target. Assassin's Creed has always been more of a gymnastic badassery simulator than a stealth game, and in that regard it's looking really, really slick. Also, their heavy enemy type appears to simply be defined as 'Scotsmen'.

Finally, the E3 screenshots refer to countryside parkour as 'treerunning'. Good work, Ubisoft. Pun of the show.

Runner-ups: Dishonored, Watch Dogs

Rift is on a roll. Massive-scale open world-style PvP is on the test server and a brand new expansion is just around the corner with new continents that triple the world's landmass.

Massively spotted a livestream of some of the Storm Legion expansion's content, and it has one of the craziest open-world boss fights I've ever seen.

During the livestream, the developers showed off multiple areas on the new continents including deserts, plant-infested ruins, and clockwork dungeons. But the most impressive part was a mammoth-sized golem/monster boss fused with electricity goes crazy and starts smashing down walls in the open world.



That's not just a pretty effect either: when you force the boss to bash down that wall, it unlocks a new zone in the world filled with quests, crafting recipes, and other goodies. So how do you force this guy to go Jericho on the zone? You have to wear him down in combat--and that fight looks amazing.

Different parts of Volan's body can be targeted and destroyed, which will affect the way that the boss fights you. You can use catapult weapons and platforms to launch yourself into the air and collide with the boss for special one-time abilities that deal massive damage to it.

You can watch more Storm Legion footage on our site. No release date has been announced yet.

Yesterday we brought you the news that Rift was getting a new expansion, Storm Legion, and new the first details are touching down. First things first, the expansion will bring not one, but two new continents. Along with more skills, a raised level cap and an epic battle with gender-confused Dragon.

Storm Legion's main antagonist is the Dragon Lord Crucia, Queen of Storms. We're not entirely certain how you can be both a Queen and a Lord, but it might have something to do with being a giant lightning Dragon capable of zapping anyone who points out the contradiction. Like most Queens, she's celebrating her Jubilee year by releasing an army of horrors through an inter dimensional gate in an attempt to destroy the world, and it's your job to stop her.

The big news is the new continents, which Trion say will triple the size of the existing world. In addition Storm Legion will raise the Rift level cap from 50 to 60, and a new soul skill tree for each class. The expansion will also feature seven new dungeons, three new raids and a new 'Chronicle' (Rift's high level story driven instances). Finally, Rift is getting its own form of player housing, with customisable 'dimensions' that guilds and players can make their home.

Storm Legion will be coming this Autumn.

Looks like our prediction last week about Rift getting a new expansion was spot on.

"I have unlocked the secrets of The Infinity Gate." These are exactly the sort of words you don't want to hear from one of Rift's anarchic greater dragons. This one is Crucia, grand foe of the high elves of Telara, lord of the Plane of Air and commander of the Storm Legion, who look as though they're about ready to mount a full scale assault on the citizens of Telara in Rift's next big update. The colossal stone infinity gate is warming up, ready to punch holes through reality and deliver the hordes of the plane of Air right into the laps of Ascended players. It should be a mighty good fight.

We received an interesting package today at the PC Gamer offices: a wooden box labeled "A Storm is Brewing." Given that I was a world-class detective before taking the intern gig here, I was tasked with determining what it all meant. My peerless deductive skills have led me to the conclusion that these are likely the first details of Rift's next major expansion.

The box contained the following items:
Two posters: One depicting the Polesti Raid in World War II, and one depicting Stuart's Confederate cavalry raiding Pennsylvania in the Civil War.
Amazing Detective Skills say: That's two "raids." So, this seems to be MMO related...
A liquid level, with a sticker on it bearing the number 10.
Amazing Detective Skills say: 10 levels? Must be a level cap increase, which usually means big expansion
Four soles of shoes. This is what tipped me off that it was Rift I was dealing with.
Amazing Detective Skills say: Rift calls its classes "souls," and this seems to indicate that four new ones are being added.
Six rusty keys on a ring, and one golden one labeled "Port Tempest."
Amazing Detective Skills say: This likely indicates to a new capital/hub city called Port Tempest, and six new smaller cities or zones.
A felt bag containing five glass prisms, all of different sizes. No, they do not fit together (I tried that already).
Amazing Detective Skills say: There are items in Rift called Prism Fragments, five of which (the same number that came in the bag) can be combined to form an Inert Prism. These Prisms are currently only used for a few crafting recipes. Maybe they're about to become more important? Hmmm...
An incredibly stylish, red, hooded cloak.
Amazing Detective Skills say: This was probably just here to get people like me posting pictures of ourselves in it on the internet. Mission accomplished, Trion!

 


And thus I reached the conclusion that the box of mystery indicates such: A Rift expansion is coming and it will bring a 10-level increase in the level cap, two new raids, four new souls, six new areas, a new city called Port Tempest, and possibly something fancy to use those Inert Prisms for. If I'm right, we should have more details to share with you soon.