So what is the process for the returning player who hasnt played since it first came out. DL the game and then use old account name and pw? I been trying to find it on their forums but haven't actually discovered the exact process a person needs to go through. Heck, I cant even remember the shard my toons were on its been so long nor any of my character names.
Yes, just download the client. It's about 4.5GB all said and done. You can go to the RIFT website and go to the account management page and try to log in. If you haven't logged in since you quit, it's going to make you do an account recovery and change the security questions and passwords even if you had them set up before.
Once you do that and you have access to account management, you should see that you've been given some credits, and you'll be able to see what features you have unlocked (if you had the original collector's edition, etc.). Once you actually get logged in to a character, you will also see popups showing that character has been granted some amount of loyalty as well. The credits and loyalty will be based on how long you were a subscriber.
Once you get in game, go into the RIFT store and in the upper right, there will be a series of things to claim for each character. Read them carefully. Most of them are for each character (account bound), but there are some that are one character only.
The shard select screen will show you where your characters are. If any of them are on shards you don't want them on, there are free transfers allowed every 7 days, with certain restrictions. If your characters are on a shard that is designated for trials, you'll get a free transfer immediately without restrictions.
Hope that helps.