Monday, April 18, 2011

Played Lately: Rift

  • I am still playing Rift every chance I get. Those chances are few and far between, so I scramble for play time like a crack addict looking for that last rock lost in the carpet. Here are a few more random thoughts because there is too much to say and I don't want to dedicate a full week of posts to the game.

  • Resubscribed anyway - I fully intended when I first bought the game to cancel my subscription after the first month. I figured that was enough time to experience what I wanted about the game and move on. So when I was balancing my bank account and noticed that my three month subscription was charged, I was a little surprised. Not that I had missed the date, but that cancelling didn't cross my mind at anytime in that first month. Looks like I'm in for the long haul.

  • The roads are not safe - One of the things that alternately surprises me and freaks me out is when I find myself attacked even though I'm following the roads. WoW has trained me that if I stay on the road that I can run across a zone with impunity. Not so in Rift. Mobs have no problem wandering right up into aggro range of the roads, almost like they are daring you to ride by. And of course there are the invaders who happily jog right down the road toward you if you're not paying attention. It certainly makes the world more exciting. But it also makes finding a refuge so that you can take a bio break that much harder.

  • Personal shiny farm - I found the perfect place in Gloamwood to farm shinnies. (No, I'm not telling you where because I'm not sharing.) I'm so hooked on this mini-game that I actively look for out-of-the-way places were people rarely go so that I can pick up all the artifacts that spawn there. Every night when I log in I head out to my farm and check all of the usual spots. One night I only found one and I was so furious. I knew someone else had been there before me. How dare them! Never did find such a place in Silverwood, but that zone was always swarming with people. I wonder if there any likely farms in Scarlet Gorge.

    While I'm at it, I must suggest trying to log in right after a server reset. I have been their twice after a reboot and I ended up with about ten or twelve shinnies within a half hour of starting each time.

  • More about the quests - I promise that I'm not going to go into this again, but Tipa brought it up in her one month report over at West Karana. It is well worth the read.

  • Can I cap my crafting before level 30? - With help from my brother, I hit the cap of 300 in Runecrafting for my level 27 mage. I'm suitably impressed that Trion lets you get away with that. Almost as though they are encouraging crafting alts. One thing to keep in mind before you do it yourself, though. While I was leveling up that fast I ended up outleveling a bunch of crafting daily quests, so I am way behind on collecting Artisan's Marks. I'm sure that once I get to max level, I'll be able to run those high reward quests to my heart's content. But in the mean time, I'm missing out on a few interesting recipes.

  • The (non-) event - The final two phases of Grim Harvest came and went with more drama that it was really worth. I did get to experience phase two in Gloamwood, taking part in killing all three of the invaders. (No queue because I rolled on Dimroot at launch. I didn't want to be on 1) an RP shard, and 2) put up with the queues on the launch servers.) Phase three might as well be a myth as far as I'm concerned since there was no way I was hauling my level 27 backside to Stillmoor. Heck, I'm not even sure where Stillmoor is. I suspect that making that part an entire separate phase made it seem like more than it was worth. I think it is funny that, even though I got bored with it pretty quick, I think that Phase one was the best handled of the three. Although it didn't come off perfect, I have actually enjoyed the event and I'd like to see what they do in the future.

    If that's not enough, SynCaine has a great wrap up of the event, what went well, and what went wrong. (Has everyone else noticed that SynCaine has become readable again? It's about time.) Also, Scott Hartsman's post talks about this learning experience and gives us hope about future events.

  • Now excuse me while I go play Portal 2.


© 2011 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

7 comments:

  1. I bought the collector's edition over the weekend. I've been having a lot of fun.

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  2. @ Yeebo - It worked! Glad you're enjoying yourself.

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  3. Feel pretty much the same way about subscribing. wasn't really expecting to, kind of surprised more people didn't. Though on the other hand I'm still not expecting to resub after this 3 month period.

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  4. @ Craig - I think it says something for the game that I didn't ever worry about the subscription. Time flies when you're having fun? I'll be with you, waiting to see how the next three months shake out.

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  5. It's so fun to see everyone having as much fun in Rift as I am. Stillmoor, btw, is north of Scarwood and west of Iron Pine Peak.

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  6. @ Blue Kae - Definitely having fun. Thanks for the pointer. Now I just have to figure out where Scarwood and Iron Pine Peak are. :)

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  7. Bit of a late reply here, but I was curious at your comment that you weren't going to be going to Stillmoor at level 27, yet at the same time you say you're at 300 craft skill at the same level.

    How, then, are you doing the dailies, some of which have to be handed in at Zareph's Return in Stillmoor and others at Wyrmbane Spire in Shimmersand?

    My defiant weaponsmith is 280/300 at level 20 and she goes to Stillmoor, Shimmersand and IPP regularly. She travelled overland to all of them between level 13 and 17 and opened all the Porticulums so now she can port there, but I found travelling all over the world perfectly mamageable in the mid-teens.

    All her ore and wood has been mined and gathered by my highest level on that server, now a level 30 warrior. He was mining carmintium in Stillmoor yeaterday when a major zone event kicked off. He was able to join in, defend the wardstone at Zareph's and participate in the boss kill at the end. He collected 3000 planarite and a purple shard amongst other rewards. I didn't group him so as not to leech - that was all based directly on his own solo contribution.

    Of all MMOs I've ever played, Rift most encourages exploration and places the fewest restrictions on personal initiative. I'm pretty sure I could open all Porticulums in the game and max a tradeskill and still have my highest adventuring level on that server be in single figures. I'd try it if I had the time!

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