Rift Welcomes Former Players With Open Arms This Weekend

Trion wants to bring former Rift players back into the fold and, to do this, the developer is offering a free weekend of adventuring with unrestricted access to all game content through July 29.

I know what it’s like to fall in love with an MMO, pump a bunch of hours into it, and then find myself drawn away by the shiny goodness of some new title. But I’ve never really stopped to think about the Ryan-shaped hole those actions may have left in the heart of that beloved game. I just abandoned it, despite the fond memories we made together.

Rift misses its former players desperately, which is why anyone with a character leveled above 20 can now log back in for free through this Sunday evening and experience all of the new content the game has to offer, including the three-faction PvP Conquest mode, four new zones of Instant Adventure, the new mentoring system and Primeval Feast raid.

Rift doesn’t care why you left it in the first place. It doesn’t want an apology, much less flowers. It just wants you back, baby.

With Storm Legion, Rift’s first major expansion, set to arrive later this year, chances are pretty good that the development team at Trion wants to build up its user base before unleashing a whole new batch of additional content. There’s no better way to do that than remind former players why they enjoyed the game in the first place (free of charge, no less), as well as show off the additional tweaks that they may have missed out on over the past few months.

If you aren’t above level 20, you can get into Rift free of charge anyway. The first 20 levels of play are complementary as an introduction to the game, and anyone can enjoy Rift Lite by visiting the official website.

If, however, you were struck by wanderlust and abandoned your poor, dear MMO a while back, then this weekend should provide the perfect opportunity to get reacquainted with your former love. All you have to do is log back in and, bam, you’re good to go until Sunday. For more details on this ongoing campaign, check out the Rift website