RIFT: Year Two State of the Game (part one of two)

Hey guys,

Every year around this time we post a state of the game update (some of you also call them the Producer's Letter.) This year our update will be coming in two parts. Today, I have a letter from Scott for you and tomorrow we’ll be following up with the full state-of-the-state from Bill Fisher (you may know him better 'round these parts as Daglar).

Thanks.

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I wanted to let you know that I'm stepping down from my position here at Trion. It's been an amazing time, working with some of the best developers anywhere, getting the company's first game off the ground, taking it all the way through a multitude of amazing updates, then to Storm Legion, and even a little bit beyond.

Thanks for all of your support and dedication throughout.

The good news is that if you enjoy what's been going on in RIFT lately, the folks who are now in charge are the same ones who have been making all of the game-impacting decisions, both to content and gameplay, for some time now. You’ll definitely be hearing from Bill Fisher, the lead game designer soon with some exciting updates. They love and play the game a lot as well and I feel strongly that RIFT couldn't be in better hands.

This time at Trion has truly been an amazing journey. It's been my great privilege to have been a part of it.

And I'll still see you in RIFT. :)
Scott Hartsman

So...um...where will he be going?

=v.v=

im sad to see Scott is leavingthe game, but things like this happens.
Wishing the best to Scott and im sure Daglar will also do awesome work at RIFT
So tommorow we will have a letter of what to expect this year from rift like last year letter?:jumpclap:
Cant wait :)

Best of luck to you Scott, wherever your travels take you.

Oh, btw can i has your stuff?

Man, now I feel the same way I did when Mark Jacobs left Mythic :frown2:

Hi everyone,

We understand and respect that sometimes people will leave the Rift community. Scott, we're closing this thread now but we wish you the very best.

If anyone has questions or concerns about this thread closure, please feel free to contact us at community@riftgame.com.

Thank you!


Hey it had to be done! :p

I guess this is as good a time to temporarily come out of posting retirement as any..

I'll definitely miss you Scott (typed your name as Scoots again, sorry).

But I gotta say that I do not like the recent gameplay changes, and feel that their greatest accomplishment is tearing the community apart. I look forward to tomorrow's post, but I will be watching future updates like a very cautious hawk; you may refer to me as Accipiter cautela.

A few quite spot on in this thread then: http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-gene...ott-gersh.html

Sad news of course. Have there only been layoffs, or was any replacements hired at all? I.e. should we just expect less all in all for the same price.

Personally on a longer forced break here, but leaning towards a cancellation of this great game sadly, due to the state of the EU servers and all the Icewatch lag issues :/

Best of luck, Scott. I wonder what prompted this decision. Job elsewhere? Didn't agree with the layoffs? Sees Trion going down and is jumping ship? I hope he is leaving for a career upgrade.

Also, does this mean Daglar is getting a promotion?

So I hope Daglar's message is fun, exciting and full of new things coming to Rift that will all make us rabid fanboi's because its a bad sign when your state of the game starts with the guy in charge saying hes leaving.

I really liked Hartsman and respected all his work as a man behind RIFT. Sad to see him leaving. Maybe it's just me, but somehow RIFT kinda lost it's soul (for lack of a better word) and though Storm Legion is a massive expansion I got to say, I enjoyed chocolate RIFT much more. Soul trees are unnecessary simplified forcing players to go full 61specs in most cases, so much for 'build your own class' statements... This is probably the worst thing that happened in 2.0. On top of that there is a lot of grind - rep, essences etc. And don't get me wrong, I'm an end-game player, but even for me it's a bit too much. There is plenty of minor things that I'm not satisficed with, but I think I'll just keep for myself. I just hope RIFT will remain at least as half as good as the classic game was and I'm interested to see what's next after Regulos is killed and what's going to happen after opening Dendrome. Taking us straight into the planes is probably the answer, question is how long we are going to wait for this to happen. I'm curious how new leadership is plan to survive ESO, if there are any plans to expand RIFT Lite, so the old world can feel alive again. If the pace of updates remains best in business. If the world events finally get meaningful and fun. There is many question, hopefully some of them will be answered tommorow in part2.

Once again, cya Hartsman!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sargonnas_KoA

So I hope Daglar's message is fun, exciting and full of new things coming to Rift that will all make us rabid fanboi's because its a bad sign when your state of the game starts with the guy in charge saying hes leaving.

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dont think that is that bad.
Some ppl leave some other take a promotion....although really curious to read the letter tommorow , hoping for some new awesome features like last year

Good luck Scott! Hope you enjoy where ever it is you land "next". Whatever your role, I'm sure you will be a "Titan". ;)

But seriously, thank you for a great two years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shp

I really liked Hartsman and respected all his work as a man behind RIFT. Sad to see him leaving. Maybe it's just me, but somehow RIFT kinda lost it's soul (for lack of a better word) and though Storm Legion is a massive expansion I got to say, I enjoyed chocolate RIFT much more. Soul trees are unnecessary simplified forcing players to go full 61specs in most cases, so much for 'build your own class' statements... This is probably the worst thing that happened in 2.0. On top of that there is a lot of grind - rep, essences etc. And don't get me wrong, I'm an end-game player, but even for me it's a bit too much. There is plenty of minor things that I'm not satisficed with, but I think I'll just keep for myself. I just hope RIFT will remain at least as half as good as the classic game was and I'm interested to see what's next after Regulos is killed and what's going to happen after opening Dendrome. Taking us straight into the planes is probably the answer, question is how long we are going to wait for this to happen. I'm curious how new leadership is plan to survive ESO, if there are any plans to expand RIFT Lite, so the old world can feel alive again. If the pace of updates remains best in business. If the world events finally get meaningful and fun. There is many question, hopefully some of them will be answered tommorow in part2.

Once again, cya Hartsman!

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Yeah, watching Scott in videos at Conventions promoting the game was always refreshing. Seeing how excited he was about the game, the culture, and the product he was putting out always made me happy to be a customer.

Daglar seems like a pretty young guy with a good career ahead of him. I hope he can lead Rift into the future with fortitude and great virility!

Here is a video with Daglar in it: http://www.gamespot.com/rift/videos/...anlin-6367321/

Wow that's a big shock to read. I really do hope that the leave is something that's amicable and not because of decisions made from other areas.

Good luck with your next endeavor Scott!