Rift Starts 2012 with New Subscription Plans, Free Month

Trion's new subscription plans for Rift makes it somewhat cheaper than Blizzard's monster MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

Trion Worlds this week sent over an email announcing new subscription plans for its fantasy-based (World of Warcraft killer) MMORPG, Rift. The new plans are actually rather competitive, asking a mere $99 USD for a entire year's worth of Telara madness. If that's a bit too steep for your wallet, Rift now offers three months for $12.99 USD and six months for $10.99 USD.

But wait, there's more! Any multi-month subscription plan purchased in the month of January comes with a complimentary 30 days of game time. Bonus game time is applied automatically after the initial subscription period ends for any of the three said plans.

"It’s been an amazing year for Trion’s first critically acclaimed title, which recently received 'Game of the Year' accolades from MMORPG.com and 'Best MMO Game' from IGN.com," the company said on Thursday. "The development team is currently working on the seventh major patch for the game, which is due out in the next several weeks."

Compared to Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, Rift subscription plans are rather cheap. As of December 2011, one month of World of Warcraft costs $14.99 USD whereas a three-month subscription costs $13.99 USD per month and a six-month subscription costs $12.99 USD per month. Note that both World of Warcraft and Rift require users to pay the 3-month and 6-month subscriptions in full at the beginning of the billing cycle.

Here's a description of the game for the uninitiated:

Adventure in the world of Telara as either a noble Guardian or technomagical Defiant and enter a dynamic fantasy where 8 primal forces battle for control in an ever-changing landscape. Build your own class using the Ascended Soul system, embark on epic conflicts that bring you into the story, battle others in exhilarating Player vs. Player combat, achieve new heights of power by tackling epic raids, and so much more.