Nice! I may log in and see if I can gain a level or two. :)
If you've never tried this game out, you should at least give it a download and check it out. This link will give you more information.
Happy Dueling!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Free Rift Weekend! 19-22 Jan 2012
Got a note over e-mail today that said Rift would be free to play this weekend!
Nice! I may log in and see if I can gain a level or two. :)
If you've never tried this game out, you should at least give it a download and check it out. This link will give you more information.
Happy Dueling!
Nice! I may log in and see if I can gain a level or two. :)
If you've never tried this game out, you should at least give it a download and check it out. This link will give you more information.
Happy Dueling!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Where Can I find a Rift Tear?
Hello people,
I haven't been playing much Rift at all, but I got an impassioned plea about a part of the game that I felt I could answer, and since it was my first question ever on this blog . . . what the hey!
Awesome to know you followed me here because of my ties to Wizard101. Feel free to ask questions, and I'll do my best to help.
Ok, to start, just a quick background on Rifts and Tears might help. Click! If you're looking for an explanation of what they are, the Telerapedia does a good job. There's also a video from 2010 where a member of Trion demonstrates how tears work out in the wilds. This link takes you to the important part of the video for the subject at hand.
As far as where you can find these things out in the world . . . well, it'll take you a bit to actually find one. You have to kind of adventure a bit beyond the starting areas before you find one.
I looked briefly for a map to see if there was one that showed where you could find Tears out in the open. I had my hopes pinned on this awesome Rift map tool. You should check that out even though it doesn't have what you're looking for because it's just that awesome.
To be honest, I think most people just run around till they find an open rift and go for it. If you open up your game map by pressing M, you'll probably find little symbols all over it indicating where all the rifts are occurring in a given zone. (Also, this list of basic keyboard commands might help you out as well)
Best of luck out there!
Happy Dueling
I haven't been playing much Rift at all, but I got an impassioned plea about a part of the game that I felt I could answer, and since it was my first question ever on this blog . . . what the hey!
"please give me some addvice on rift. I have never played like this before and i am used to wiz 101. Where is a minor rip or tear i which to summon the planar energy?"
Awesome to know you followed me here because of my ties to Wizard101. Feel free to ask questions, and I'll do my best to help.
Ok, to start, just a quick background on Rifts and Tears might help. Click! If you're looking for an explanation of what they are, the Telerapedia does a good job. There's also a video from 2010 where a member of Trion demonstrates how tears work out in the wilds. This link takes you to the important part of the video for the subject at hand.
As far as where you can find these things out in the world . . . well, it'll take you a bit to actually find one. You have to kind of adventure a bit beyond the starting areas before you find one.
I looked briefly for a map to see if there was one that showed where you could find Tears out in the open. I had my hopes pinned on this awesome Rift map tool. You should check that out even though it doesn't have what you're looking for because it's just that awesome.
To be honest, I think most people just run around till they find an open rift and go for it. If you open up your game map by pressing M, you'll probably find little symbols all over it indicating where all the rifts are occurring in a given zone. (Also, this list of basic keyboard commands might help you out as well)
Best of luck out there!
Happy Dueling
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Veteran Rewards!
Received an e-mail from the fine folks of Trion today that talked about their Veteran Rewards.
I'm a big fan of veteran rewards in games. The comments on the Massively article about it are a fun read. MMORPG has discussion on it too, but the comments are nearly as fun to read. The main controversy here is over "when" you get your rewards. With these rewards it's at the time of subscription. A multi-month subscription will earn you all your veteran rewards up front.
I don't mind that since Rift is a subscription model. In fact, that seems to make sense to me that you'd get your rewards up front so you can enjoy them during your subscription. Heck, some of the veteran rewards for Everquest were so nice that I bet you would have had people buying multi-year subscriptions (if that were possible) just to have access to them. ;p
F2P is different. I like how Guild Wars gives you a birthday present of a new pet every year since your account creation. That's pretty awesome in fact. That alone makes me log in at least once a year just to see what new pet I have.
In the end, these veteran rewards are mostly cosmetic, which is cool for the creative community--I'm sure videos with matching outfits will be incoming . . . but your own personal mailbox and vendor are going to be pretty handy.
What do you think?
Happy dueling!
I'm a big fan of veteran rewards in games. The comments on the Massively article about it are a fun read. MMORPG has discussion on it too, but the comments are nearly as fun to read. The main controversy here is over "when" you get your rewards. With these rewards it's at the time of subscription. A multi-month subscription will earn you all your veteran rewards up front.
I don't mind that since Rift is a subscription model. In fact, that seems to make sense to me that you'd get your rewards up front so you can enjoy them during your subscription. Heck, some of the veteran rewards for Everquest were so nice that I bet you would have had people buying multi-year subscriptions (if that were possible) just to have access to them. ;p
F2P is different. I like how Guild Wars gives you a birthday present of a new pet every year since your account creation. That's pretty awesome in fact. That alone makes me log in at least once a year just to see what new pet I have.
In the end, these veteran rewards are mostly cosmetic, which is cool for the creative community--I'm sure videos with matching outfits will be incoming . . . but your own personal mailbox and vendor are going to be pretty handy.
What do you think?
Happy dueling!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Rift's Half Birthday = A free week of play!
WOOT! I just checked my e-mail and check this out!
Ok, Rift, I had unsubscribed from you because . . . well . . . I got bored of you, and you were costing me money. BUT A FREE WEEK IS A FREE WEEK! I am kind of excited to log on and check my characters again. :) I'm sentimental like that. hehe.
Happy Dueling!
Ok, Rift, I had unsubscribed from you because . . . well . . . I got bored of you, and you were costing me money. BUT A FREE WEEK IS A FREE WEEK! I am kind of excited to log on and check my characters again. :) I'm sentimental like that. hehe.
Happy Dueling!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Not Everyone Likes Rift ;)
I got a note the other day from a friend who played Rift just through the intro stages and lost interest (you don't know her). She fully admitted to being in a bad mood that day, but I thought I'd share a couple of her complaints and see if I can't comment on them a little bit from my perspective after around 50-75 hours of play.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Response: Ok, I'm gonna admit that my "Non-Rift Liking Friend" has a lot more experience in MMOs than I do, and therefore, I'm gonna give her as much respect as that deserves. I know she's also a very particular gamer with particular tastes. I know she has a passion for the games she plays and the higher ground she strives for. I get it. I want something different and better too.
But, there's something about the ease of public Rift raiding that is so refreshing and easy if you're the type of person who wouldn't mind raiding while leveling. After you get a mount, you can just join a public group and start bouncing from rift to rift to rift. Entry requirements are very low in this kind of raiding and rewards seem fairly high. For the most part I don’t have to form any attachments and can log off whenever the heck I want to instead of getting sucked into a group where I feel “committed” to anyone.
As a busy father of three, I LOVE THAT . . . good or bad as that may seem. It's not that I'm non-social . . . it's that I'm busy yet like the companionship of gamers. haha. If that makes sense. :)
Of course, somehow this all could be done better, but Rift is new, and although low level "raiding" as it were is familiar in a few other MMOs out there, this MMO is popular NOW in 2011 . . . which makes it a happening place with tons of people around. I like that. It's HOT. I'm not sure what the future for Rift looks like, but it's thee game to play right now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just like how Syndrome in The Incredibles says, ". . . And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so that *everyone* can have powers. *Everyone* can be super! And when everyone's super ... no one will be."
Rift suffers from Cookie Cutter aka "Everyone is super." I'll give you that, but so did Guild Wars . . . it just took more effort to be a cookie cutter build in that game.
I will say that I didn't even look at builds when playing. I just kind of filled out my skill tree with what felt comfortable. If I was raiding and grouping at 50 though? Yeah, I think I'll be researching and adjusting my build--call it fear of social stigma.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fair enough. This quest system is in pretty much every mainstream MMO and ALL have this problem. I'm tired of it, and I think many other people have this complaint too.
On the other hand, it's comfortable. Rift feels a bit like I'm sliding on a familiar pair of shoes. I "get it," therefore, it's hard to resist that familiarity.
I have heard of people trying to level without quests though . . . only leveling from Rifts or killing stuff alone. Seems to be possible, but as long as you're killing stuff, you might as well get a quest reward for doing it. Too bad my leveling is so independant. I think Facebook games will eventually change the way we play MMOs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
HAHAHA! Ok, I can't give my friend this one. That's pure rant. ;)
I crank my video settings all the way up on Rift because I have a rig that can handle it, and it’s beautiful. I'm not 100 percent sure, but it seems by default Trion starts you on really low graphic settings . . . it's debatable if that’s a mistake on their part. At first I was thinking what kind of horrible 90’s texturing is this?
The scenery and landscapes are amazing in parts of the world. I truly enjoy Rift's beautiful world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obviously not. My friend comes from a videogame design perspective, and I have to agree. What I like is that it seems at least a couple different paths exist for leveling up, but I think this should have been more blatant. I think perhaps experience rewards should be granted to those who specifically choose to level up without questing. If I wanted to skip early quests and only quest in say Perspice, that would be really cool. Give me a toggle! Something! We like choices, but I think we also like those pathways to be defined for us. That would be the "design" part of a video game.
ON THE OTHER HAND THOUGH, I tend to take the John Cage approach to most MMOs I play:
"If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all." --John Cage.
"The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason." --John Cage.
"Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?" --John Cage
LOL, oh wait . . . that last quote doesn’t apply. ;-) But, in all honesty, I think you have to give Rift a chance to live with you for a number of hours. Try it out. There is truly beauty in this game. You just have to look for it (unlike say the videogame "Flower," where beauty *is* the game.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a side note though . . . there is something missing in Rift, and that would be my old friends from WoW and perhaps my lack of community involvement in this game. Something is missing here, and I'm not sure what it is. When it all comes down to it, this may not be the right time and place for me to play Rift . . . and that's ok . . . I would like to get to 50 though. ;-) If something doesn't change for me in this game, that very well may be the end of the game for me.
I do like playing with my good buddy, Dina though. My best memories of Rift may very well be her running me through dungeons like the pro she is.
What do you think?
Happy Dueling!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Non-Rift liking friend says:
"Surprised you like Rift, I was really surprised at how much it truly sucked. There's nothing new, there's nothing being done that hasn't already been done by others, better. They seem to have taken the worst of all mmos and put it all in to one."
Response: Ok, I'm gonna admit that my "Non-Rift Liking Friend" has a lot more experience in MMOs than I do, and therefore, I'm gonna give her as much respect as that deserves. I know she's also a very particular gamer with particular tastes. I know she has a passion for the games she plays and the higher ground she strives for. I get it. I want something different and better too.
But, there's something about the ease of public Rift raiding that is so refreshing and easy if you're the type of person who wouldn't mind raiding while leveling. After you get a mount, you can just join a public group and start bouncing from rift to rift to rift. Entry requirements are very low in this kind of raiding and rewards seem fairly high. For the most part I don’t have to form any attachments and can log off whenever the heck I want to instead of getting sucked into a group where I feel “committed” to anyone.
As a busy father of three, I LOVE THAT . . . good or bad as that may seem. It's not that I'm non-social . . . it's that I'm busy yet like the companionship of gamers. haha. If that makes sense. :)
Of course, somehow this all could be done better, but Rift is new, and although low level "raiding" as it were is familiar in a few other MMOs out there, this MMO is popular NOW in 2011 . . . which makes it a happening place with tons of people around. I like that. It's HOT. I'm not sure what the future for Rift looks like, but it's thee game to play right now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Non-Rift liking friend says:Ok, I see where you're coming from on this. "Builds" become the min-maxing beast that they are and no skill is truly unique, so although your build is great for you, it's not really what the min-max crowd would consider "the best." This is very much unlike a game like Guild Wars where you would have to capture your skills from unique and rare bosses across Ascalon. Some skills required a lot of patience and time to capture.
"Yeah so I can be melee ranged or magic...skill tree you say - yes of course there is, so while we pretend to let you be unique, you're unique, just like everyone else."
Just like how Syndrome in The Incredibles says, ". . . And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so that *everyone* can have powers. *Everyone* can be super! And when everyone's super ... no one will be."
Rift suffers from Cookie Cutter aka "Everyone is super." I'll give you that, but so did Guild Wars . . . it just took more effort to be a cookie cutter build in that game.
I will say that I didn't even look at builds when playing. I just kind of filled out my skill tree with what felt comfortable. If I was raiding and grouping at 50 though? Yeah, I think I'll be researching and adjusting my build--call it fear of social stigma.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Non-Rift liking friend says:
"I'm just so tired of 'go kill 10 bears and collect bear hearts - but not every bear has a heart' bullshit."
Fair enough. This quest system is in pretty much every mainstream MMO and ALL have this problem. I'm tired of it, and I think many other people have this complaint too.
On the other hand, it's comfortable. Rift feels a bit like I'm sliding on a familiar pair of shoes. I "get it," therefore, it's hard to resist that familiarity.
I have heard of people trying to level without quests though . . . only leveling from Rifts or killing stuff alone. Seems to be possible, but as long as you're killing stuff, you might as well get a quest reward for doing it. Too bad my leveling is so independant. I think Facebook games will eventually change the way we play MMOs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Non-Rift liking friend says:
"Graphically pfft - I've seen better on my DS."
HAHAHA! Ok, I can't give my friend this one. That's pure rant. ;)
I crank my video settings all the way up on Rift because I have a rig that can handle it, and it’s beautiful. I'm not 100 percent sure, but it seems by default Trion starts you on really low graphic settings . . . it's debatable if that’s a mistake on their part. At first I was thinking what kind of horrible 90’s texturing is this?
The scenery and landscapes are amazing in parts of the world. I truly enjoy Rift's beautiful world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Non-Rift liking friend says:
"Are we all such sheeple that as soon as a game comes out that dares to not kill 10 bears, we don't know how to process it, so we shun it and run back to what has been beaten into us as the norm. Is this the best we can do?"
Obviously not. My friend comes from a videogame design perspective, and I have to agree. What I like is that it seems at least a couple different paths exist for leveling up, but I think this should have been more blatant. I think perhaps experience rewards should be granted to those who specifically choose to level up without questing. If I wanted to skip early quests and only quest in say Perspice, that would be really cool. Give me a toggle! Something! We like choices, but I think we also like those pathways to be defined for us. That would be the "design" part of a video game.
ON THE OTHER HAND THOUGH, I tend to take the John Cage approach to most MMOs I play:
"If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all." --John Cage.
"The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason." --John Cage.
"Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?" --John Cage
LOL, oh wait . . . that last quote doesn’t apply. ;-) But, in all honesty, I think you have to give Rift a chance to live with you for a number of hours. Try it out. There is truly beauty in this game. You just have to look for it (unlike say the videogame "Flower," where beauty *is* the game.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a side note though . . . there is something missing in Rift, and that would be my old friends from WoW and perhaps my lack of community involvement in this game. Something is missing here, and I'm not sure what it is. When it all comes down to it, this may not be the right time and place for me to play Rift . . . and that's ok . . . I would like to get to 50 though. ;-) If something doesn't change for me in this game, that very well may be the end of the game for me.
I do like playing with my good buddy, Dina though. My best memories of Rift may very well be her running me through dungeons like the pro she is.
What do you think?
Happy Dueling!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Ding 40!
Yes! 40th! (actually almost ding 42 by now)
Here I am with Dina as we pose with our mounts. I opted for the nimble eldritch silver steed model.
HI HO SILVER, AWAY!
Mine doesn't look as awesome as hers, does it? No . . . I probably have to get to 50th for the deluxe model, but I'm totally holding out for a unicorn.
Anyway, I'm just continuing my questing in the Droughtlands and haven't seen an end to the content yet. I've really enjoyed working up my quasi-inquisitor/purifier build so far. Although! I was quite happy to see that when I switched to a Druid build for the first time just to see what it was like (and dump some money toward the skills since I finally had purchased my horse), that the fairy had pokey-dotted undies!
WHAT THE?! LOL!! Those silly fae.
I'm looking forward to the final stretches to 50! Wish me luck!
Happy Dueling!
Here I am with Dina as we pose with our mounts. I opted for the nimble eldritch silver steed model.
HI HO SILVER, AWAY!
Mine doesn't look as awesome as hers, does it? No . . . I probably have to get to 50th for the deluxe model, but I'm totally holding out for a unicorn.
Anyway, I'm just continuing my questing in the Droughtlands and haven't seen an end to the content yet. I've really enjoyed working up my quasi-inquisitor/purifier build so far. Although! I was quite happy to see that when I switched to a Druid build for the first time just to see what it was like (and dump some money toward the skills since I finally had purchased my horse), that the fairy had pokey-dotted undies!
WHAT THE?! LOL!! Those silly fae.
I'm looking forward to the final stretches to 50! Wish me luck!
Happy Dueling!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Droughtlands Fun
I've been having a good time in the Droughtlands in Rift. I think I've actually had more fun in Droughtlands than I have in the past 10 levels or so. That also might be why I'm back to recording a few X-fire videos! I have a few to share with you.
1- Stingite in Tiger Illusion.
"Part of a quest in the Droughtlands has you turn into a tiger to help the trip go faster. :)"
2- Stingite vs. Sothul of the Bloodstorm
"Interesting solo Rift boss fight in the Droughtlands. You fight Sothul as part of a quest chain. I didn't really break a sweat but it was a fun fight."
3- Stingite vs. Venom Eye
"Quick solo boss fight. I love the look of these scorpions in Droughtlands, and this gives you a good look at one since Venom eye is larger than normal."
Good times!
I'm really close to dinging 40 now. I can't wait to get my new level 40 FASTER mount. The turtle and the striped Vaiyuu are really starting to feel slow . . . especially when I'm riding behind Dina and getting blown away by her speed.
See you all in Telara!
Happy Dueling!
1- Stingite in Tiger Illusion.
"Part of a quest in the Droughtlands has you turn into a tiger to help the trip go faster. :)"
2- Stingite vs. Sothul of the Bloodstorm
"Interesting solo Rift boss fight in the Droughtlands. You fight Sothul as part of a quest chain. I didn't really break a sweat but it was a fun fight."
3- Stingite vs. Venom Eye
"Quick solo boss fight. I love the look of these scorpions in Droughtlands, and this gives you a good look at one since Venom eye is larger than normal."
Good times!
I'm really close to dinging 40 now. I can't wait to get my new level 40 FASTER mount. The turtle and the striped Vaiyuu are really starting to feel slow . . . especially when I'm riding behind Dina and getting blown away by her speed.
See you all in Telara!
Happy Dueling!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)