A few pictures taken by the team at Gamescom showing off the Trion booth today.

With Gamescom going on, IGN got a chance to take a look at the Rift: Planes of Telara. In this article the take a look at one of the game’s entry level dungeons: Land of the Fae. It consists of four different bosses, two of them being, “Trickster Maelow, for example, has two friends who constantly power him up, so they have to be killed early. Battlemaster Atrophinius, on the other hand, fights players in the middle of a ring of drunken satyrs who, if you get too close, will start smacking you around.” The dungeon also gives a quest to you automatically when you first entered the instance. No longer do you have to scramble around and get the quests for the dungeon.

Check out the rest of the articles.

Since GamesCom starting today, Trion has lifted much of the information embargo on Rift: Planes of Telara. With this lift, Massively’s Brianna Royce has written a very detailed article about her experiences playing the game at Trion’s Gamer’s Day in San Fransisco. She details her newbie experience and a few other places the game designer’s were showing off that day. As a self-admited WOW Fangirl, the article’s author compares Rift and WOW in various different ways.

I want to remind everyone that Trion will be showcasing Rift: Planes of Telara at GamesCom this week. It starts tomorrow the 18th through Sunday the 22nd. There will be plenty of new videos and information to go over with a fine tooth comb. It should be an exciting week.

Stay tuned to Rift Junkies.

Arithion of Rift Podcast got a chance to speak with Cindy Bowens, Rift: Planes of Telara Community Manager, this week to clear up a few misconceptions form the newsletter and talk to us a bit about how signing up for the beta program works. We also got to learn about a few other things moving forward as we get closer and closer to “soon%trade;”.

Cindy has been incredibly busy lately (I can personally attest to this) so you know the Rift Team is busy getting ready for GamesCom, PAX and the beginning of beta. The newsletter last week talked about our first opportunity to sign up for beta at the two upcoming Cons, GamesCom and PAX. For those wondering, this isn’t the only way and there are plenty of other ways to get into beta coming up.

I’ll be the first to admit I have absolutely zero artistic talent. But let it be said that I at least I tried. In honor of my excitement for the upcoming GamesCom where we get to see the latest and greatest rift revealed, I present you with the first ever, and perhaps last, Rift Junkies webcomic.

Bring your marshmallows.

We got a warning that a new class announcement was coming soon in the form of Rift Watch, the Rift: Planes of Telara Newsletter. We had no idea that soon was basically in two days. The new class has been announced as the Paladin.

Paladins stand as a bulwark against their foes, deflecting even the most monstrous blows with their heavy shield and divine blessings. These glorious defenders of the weak deflect incoming damage and retaliate with devastating counterattacks. Martial skill and the blessing of their patron gods let Paladins extend their protection to nearby allies.

Abigale started a thread on the Official Forums announcing that Rift will announce a new Guardian race at the upcoming Gamecom 2010 August 18th through the 22nd. (A little sidenote: Rift: Planes of Telara will be playable as well!)

We will be revealing a new Guardian race at Gamescom in August. People around here are getting assets ready to show you!

There are lots of things getting closer to being released and we will be showing you things through a lot of different channels. Now is the time to make sure you are following FaceBook, Twitter and are signed up for the official newsletter! You won’t want to miss a thing!

Care to guess? Dwarf maybe; or some descendants of some planar beings like the Bahmi?