Exclusive: Trion planning to drive a wedge between Rifts factions this March

We recently had a chance to sit down with some of the folks over at Trion Worlds to discuss the ongoing Fae Yule celebration that’s currently taking place in Rift (check back for a full write-up early next week). The Fae Yule is a calm time for the people of Telara – one of peace, and one of celebration. When compared to past events, which focused on world-ending attacks, it’s a downright lighthearted experience. But from the sounds of it, the Fae Yule might be the last Telara sees of peace sees for some time.

Above: Asha Catari prepares to close a Rift, since Defiants are about getting things done

Trion is planning on shaking things up in a big way in the coming months. Namely, they’re looking to escalate the conflict between the Guardians and the Defiants. “We’re planning to drive a wedge between the factions for the game’s one-year anniversary,” Design Director Hal Hanlin told us, explaining that the Fae Yule is going to be sort of the calm before the inevitable, bloody, deadly storm.

And that anniversary will be arriving sooner than later. The game launched this past March, so the update will be coming out right around that time in 2012. Halin didn’t shy away from players predicting the timing of the game’s large one-year update, joking that “It’s not like we can hide when the anniversary is.”

That's all we know so far, though we're hopefuly that whatever Trion is planning brings some of the fun back to the rivalry between the factions that existed during the game's launch, because we’re looking forwarding to a full-blown war. Also, we’re putting our money on the Defiants. Stupid goody two-shoes Guardians had their chance to save the world and they blew it – it’s time for the tech-savvy side to take over and clean up Telara.