Quest

Quests are a major feature of Rift: Planes of Telara, which has a wide variety of quests that may be zone-specific, linked to the larger story of Telara, or purely for fun. The quests will be geared to solo, group or raid gameplay, and offer a large variety of rewards, including equipment, crafting items, and even souls.Successfully completing a quests and turning it in yields Experience.

Linked with the main story
The bulk of the quests found in each zone tie in with the story of the zone, usually culminating in a large battle at the end of the questline for that area. The story for each zone, in turn is linked to the overarching story of Telara. The majority of these quests are geared towards solo or small group gameplay.Rift Podcast Interview with Simon Ffinch

The storyline of the game is told from the points of view of each player faction - Guardians or Defiant - so certain quests may be specific to particular player factions.

Soul rewards
Quests are also used to obtain new souls. When a quest offers a soul as a reward, players are allowed to choose from any soul they do not already have. This allows players to pick up new souls in whichever order they wish.

Other quests
Other than quests linked to the main story of Telara and quests to obtain souls, there will be many other types of quests, including
 * off-story quests for special rewards,
 * quests associated with non-player factions,
 * "end game" quests,
 * quests linked to rifts,
 * daily quests automatically given upon entering dungeons,
 * hidden quests that are obtainable via items or exploration, and
 * quests purely for fun.

Types of quests in Rift: Planes of Telara
Certain quests will require a group to finish, and quests are set up so that several quests can be completed while fighting. Some quests will be part of quest chains with "great stories" Abigale, Dev Lunch with Art Director Darren Pattenden

There are "heroic challenge" quests which are miniature raid bosses in instances which act as quest goals.Gamespot Spotlight on Rift: Planes of Telara

There are Daily Quests, those quest reset every day, and players can redo them at will at the limit of once each day. They have a a circular symbol over the head to signal those are Daily.

Further Information
Simon Ffinch, the Senior Design Director, explained the following in Rift Podcast #14:
 * List of quests by faction
 * List of quests by zone
 * List of Daily Quests
 * Quest Timelines
 * No class or race specific "epic" quest lines at launch, there are ideas for adding those later
 * There will be "level cap factions"
 * There will be rifts, dungeons and raids specifically for the end game
 * Some quests involve multiple dungeons

Design philosophy
Trion Worlds has certain guiding principles they abide by in designing quests.
 * 1) No solo instances: Senior Design Director, explained that MMORPGs by definition should promote interaction between players rather than solo gameplay.
 * 2) No access quests: the developers want players to be able to experience dungeons as soon as they are of the required level rather than needing to gain access via a quest. However, they are considering using access quests for future additions of zones.
 * 3) No pop culture references: Ffinch explained that what is funny now may not be funny in several years
 * 4) No quests with multiple endings: since it is more effective to create two quests than to create one quest with two endings