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Blizzard plans to further expand the concept of Nephalem Rifts with [[Tiered Rifts]], coming in Reaper of Souls' first major content patch,[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/reaper-of-souls-new-tiered-rifts-the-devils-hand] due in Summer 2014.
==Rift Pros and Cons==
There are advantages and disadvantages to running Nephalem Rifts, rather than [[Bounties]] in Reaper of Souls [[Adventure Mode]].
Pros:
* Rifts have the highest legendary drop rate in the game.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/huge-legendary-drop-rate-buffs-coming-rifts-gambling]
* Rifts are the fastest way to accumulate [[Blood Shards]]. (20+ from Guardians on normal, scaling up to 60+ on Torment 1, and higher yet.)
* Rift Guardians can drop [[Forgotten Soul]] materials.
* Rifts can rarely spawn [[Treasure Goblin]] packs of 8-12 in a bunch, as well as the ultra-rare Reaper of Souls Infernal Bovine [[Easter Egg]] level.
* Completing a Rift grants an EXP/Gold bonus equivalent to a medium-reward [[Bounty]].
Cons:
* Rifts require 5 keystones to open, which must be farmed via Bounties.
* Rifts have no side events, mini-quests, or [[Cursed Chests]], all of which are worth substantial EXP bonuses.
* There are no random [[Unique]]s in Rifts, other than the Rift Guardian, hence they offer few chances to score [[legendary materials]].
[[File:Rift-forgotten-soul1.jpg|thumb|400px|Rift Guardian typical drop.]]
The fact that Rifts are randomized is a pro and a con, since it makes them unpredictable. Some rifts have high monster concentrations and lots of [[Elites]] and are hugely-profitable. Others may be much sparser in monsters, with few Elites, and thus take longer and provide less rewards. Such is [[RNG]].
Once the Guardian is killed the Rift can be closed or ended by speaking to the NPC [[Orek]] who stands near the Nephalem Altar in town. When any player clicks on him after the Guardian is dead, Orek will give all players in the game a substantial bonus to Exp and gold, and start a 30 second countdown to ending that Rift.
==Nephalem Rift Drop Rate Bonuses==
Shortly after Reaper of Souls' release, Blizzard announced a +25% drop rate bonus for legendary items in Rifts. This bonus was multiplicative, increasing in efficacy with each [[difficulty]] level, and the drop stats were as follows.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-explains-the-25-legendary-drop-rate-in-nephalem-rifts]
* Normal: 0% Legendary drop bonus, 25% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
* Hard: 0% Legendary drop bonus, 25% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
* Expert: 0% Legendary drop bonus, 25% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
* Master: 0% Legendary drop bonus, 25% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
* Torment 1: +15% Legendary drop bonus, +44% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
* Torment 2: +32% Legendary drop bonus, +65% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
* Torment 3: +52% Legendary drop bonus, +90% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
* Torment 4: +75% Legendary drop bonus, +119% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
* Torment 5: +101% Legendary drop bonus, +151% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
* Torment 6: +131% Legendary drop bonus, +189% bonus in Nephalem Rifts.
That was not deemed a large enough bonus, and just a few days later designer [[Travis Day]] announced that Nephalem Rifts were going to get a 100% drop rate bonus, up from the 25% bonus.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/huge-legendary-drop-rate-buffs-coming-rifts-gambling]
<blue>Rifts have always been intended to be the most efficient play method in the game, currently they aren’t for a number of reasons. Part of this has to do with the high level of efficiency in farming that players find doing things like farming Manglemaw, Razorclaw and any other number of unique monsters. Another contributing element is that farming chests without having to actually fight monsters is far more effective than actually fighting the monsters. It is very important to us that chests are exciting to find and feel rewarding but presently they are far too common and reliable to farm in certain areas of the game.
...
The bonus legendary drop rate for rifts is being increased from 25% to 100%!
(This means that while in a rift your chance to find a legendary item from monsters, chests, elites, and everything else is double what it is outside of rifts. No this does not mean opening bounty bags in rifts is the new hotness.*) </blue>
Soon after this, hotfixes went live that nerfed the drop rates of various Uniques (like [[Manglemaw]] and [[Razorclaw]]), while implementing the Nephalem Rift drop rate boost. This did indeed make Rifts the most profitable source of Legendary item drops, especially on higher difficulties.
==Tiered Rifts==
[[File:Rift-guardian-blighter1.JPG|thumb|400px|Rift Guardians unleash special attacks when near death.]]
Tiered Rifts are coming in Reaper of Souls content patch in mid-2014. They were first detailed by Wyatt Cheng from the Reaper of Souls launch party.
<blue><font color="#FFFFFF">Q: Are there plans to add new end-game challenges in the months to come, similar to the Infernal Machine event?</font>
Wyatt Cheng: New end game challenges... Josh mentioned that the first content patch is going to have Seasons. I'm happy to announce that there is another major feature coming in the patch 2.1, which is going to be what we're internally calling Tiered Rifts. The idea behind that is an actual challenge scenario, where players do increasingly hard Rifts, to try and see who can get the farthest.
The basic mechanics that we have working right now is: you go through the game in Adventure Mode, you do your Bounties, you do a Nephalem Rift. If you clear the Nephalem Rift, there's a chance to get what's called a Greater Rift Token. If you successfully clear the Greater Rift in a certain time limit, then you unlock a Greater Rift Key (Rank 2). If you clear that one, you get Rank 3, etc. Each one is harder than the previous one. Much like Seasons, we're looking at having a leaderboard as well, so you'll be able to compare your progress to the people on your Friends List, your Clan, and the whole region. You'll be able to see who got to the highest Tiered Rift, and what time were they able to obtain on that.</blue>
These sound like a combination of their abandoned plans for [[Nephalem Trials]], crossed with the various fan-requested details of [[bottomless dungeon]]s.
==Nephalem Rifts AnnouncedDevelopment History==
When first announced, this feature was called a "Loot Run," indicating Blizzard's design goal of an intensive gamemode with high rewards potential. This feature was first revealed in Blizzard's official Reaper of Souls FAQ, in a section about new game modes:[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-iii-expansion-reaper-of-souls-confirmed]
==Media==
Assorted Nephalem Rift images.
<gallery>
File:Rift-guardian-achievement1.jpg|Rift Guardian achievement, from the Beta.
File:Rift-guardian-blighter1.JPG|Rift Guardian Blighter with his special poison attack.
File:Rift-guardian-rime1.jpg|Rift Guardian Rime with his special cold attack.
File:Rift-guardian-drop-torment-60BS.jpg|60 Blood Shards dropped on Torment I.
</gallery>
