Rift: The Middle Levels

Posted by Wolfen in Rift

I have been moving through the ol’ PVE grind as I explore the middle levels and inch towards level 50. I have reached level 44 and I am still having fun. I find certain zones better than others, but nothing terribly bad. I moved to Scarlet Gorge after finishing up Gloamwood. From there I went through Scarwood Reach, Moonshade Highlands, and the Doughtlands.

Scarlet Gorge has been the least fun zone for me. I just don’t like the way it is laid out. It is a nice looking zone, but I didn’t like the feel of it. Foul Cascade can be found here, which is the zone’s dungeon instance. It is an interesting 5-man dungeon with some neat boss fights.

Next was Scarwood Reach. It is a large zone with a huge array of quests. I particularly liked the many quest variations to be had. I never felt bored running quests here. There was always something new around the corner.

Once Scarwood Reach is completed, you are left with quests that send you to both Moonshade Highlands and the Doughtlands. Both zones are designed for the same questing levels. I first went to Moonshade, but I soon developed a plan that I think made things easier and faster for me.

I was noticing that each time I came to a new quest hub that I was always two levels below the quests offered there. It was happening without fail. I don’t know if I was just being efficient or if the game was designed that way. Either way, since Moonshade and Doughtlands were of the same level range, I was able to get around that issue. I would run quests in Moonshade until I hit the next quest hub where the quests were higher level than me. I would then move to the Doughtlands where the quests would be the same level as me. I would run those quests until I hit another hub and then move back to Moonshade. Running quests of the same level made getting through them much easier and faster.

Of the two zones, I found the Doughtlands to be more fun. I had already seen many of the creatures that also inhabit Moonshade, whereas most of the creatures in Droughtlands were new to me. You will start in Lantern Hook, which is a city located inside a mountain.

My Paladin/Reaver/Warlord build continues to serve me very well. Alas, it appears as if the party will soon be over. Patch notes on the test server show that the Reaver soul is going to get hit with HUGE nerfs in the near future. There are many nerfs coming, but the one that burns me the most is that they are taking away the 9% heal for each creature killed. That is going to slow me down in a very big way. I’ve had so much fun with my AOE abilities, but it appears that Trion is taking all that fun away and replacing it with pain. It is a damn shame. I will post my experiences with it once it hits the live servers.

I am almost done with the Droughtlands and I have started a few quests in Shimmersand. More details to come.

Scarlet Gorge waterfall	Foul Cascade spider
Moonshade bay	Droughtlands scenery

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Rift: Warrior Experiences

Posted by Wolfen in Rift

I never choose a warrior in the MMO’s that I play. I suppose that comes from my early Everquest days where a warrior did nothing but swing a sword, kick, and taunt. I found that to be rather boring. I usually play a DPS class of one kind or other. Rift, however, changes everything when it comes to how a tank class plays. The soul system allows me to experiment with many different styles of play. Because of this, I decided to play a warrior as my main character.

Just as the byline of this blog suggests, I am a casual player, so I wanted to make sure that I created a character that can solo efficiently. After combing through message boards, looking at other player’s warrior builds, I decided to start the game as a Paladin. My second soul would be Riftblade and my third would be a zero point Beastmaster. My thinking was that the Beastmaster pet would add extra DPS to the tanking soul of the Paladin. Click here to see the build I followed.

This combination served me well for most of my early life in Rift. My pet died more than I liked, but that was usually when I had multiple mobs attacking me. My survivability was very good, due in part because once you spend eight points in the Paladin soul, you get a complete heal that you can cast every 10 minutes. It saved my bacon many times. I would need to switch things around once I hit level 30 because the pet stops growing with me unless enough points are added to the Beastmaster soul.

Life got a bit more difficult as I approached level 30. I was needing to use a drink after many fights because I would get beat down so much. It slowed down my quest grinding. So, I decided to look around for another build that might work better for me. I am so glad that I did.

I switched to equal parts Paladin and Reaver with zero points in Warlord. My entire gaming experience changed with this build. It combines the tanking and direct damage abilities of the Paladin with the damage over time and AOE abilities of the Reaver. My killing ability went through the roof and my downtime was virtually non-existent.  The reason for this is the Reaver ability called Grisly Works. Once you put three points in it, you get healed 9% of your max health each time a mob dies. Add that to the fact that because of the exceptional AOE abilities of the Reaver, I am wasting my time unless I have at least three mobs on me. I kill them all and I am completely healed by the end of the fight. I love it. Click here to see this build.

It is a strange combination, with the Paladin’s life damage and the Reaver’s death damage, but they compliment each other very well. Along with questing, I have also tanked a few instances while using this build with very good results. Playing a tank has never been so much fun.

 

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Rift: Gloamwood Area

Posted by Wolfen in Rift

Gloamwood is a dark, spooky place to visit. It reminds me of the World of Warcraft zone called Duskwood. The setting and ambiance are very similar. Gloamwood is full of ghosts, undead, and evil cultists, which will occupy most of your time.

The visuals in this zone are very nice. I want to compliment Trion on how great the game looks. While they took ideas from WoW, I much prefer the more realistic look of Rift over the cartoonish style of WoW.

The quest hub is the town of Gloaming Pines. It is fairly large, with plenty of buildings, shops, and trainers close to hand. It even has a huge tree that you get to visit via running up a street made of wood and rope. Be warned, however, if you make the journey to the top of the tree, that it is guarded by evil cultists that are higher level than most level appropriate players.

There is a huge number of quests in the Gloamwood area, but there is one in particular that I wish to mention. As you venture along the various quests, you’ll eventually get one that wants you to confront an evil hag that has been causing lots of trouble in the area. I fought my way through all the guards and entered her house. I confronted her and then she started talking some smack and then teleported me out of the house to a spot a good distance away.

I immediately realized that something was wrong. I was no longer human! The old hag had placed a curse on me that had turned me into a werewolf! To add insult to injury, I was now KOS to all NPC’s! I could not go to town, get or finish a quest, or train up my character.

 

As you might imagine, this made things rather difficult. Every now and then I would turn back into a human, but I would always change back into a werewolf. I suspect this transformation correlated with the day/night cycle in the game. I was given a hint that to break the curse I must either kill the hag or find someone in town to cure me. Going to town, however, was a tricky thing since I could change back into a werewolf in an instant.

So, long story somewhat shortened, I continued to run the quests I had and eventually got one that sent me to find and kill the hag (in a different and more difficult location than where I first met her). The curse lifted when she died. It is an interesting quest, but I found it to be annoying rather than fun.

You can also find the Deepstrike Mines instance in this area. A couple points of interest would be a huge werewolf boss fight where you need to keep him out of the moonlight, and a very large and nasty spider encounter.

Other than the werewolf problem, I enjoyed my time in Gloamingwood.

 

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Rift Shots

Posted by Wolfen in Rift, Screenshots

Some screenshots from Rift. I am having a blast playing this game. I will have a write-up of my progress posted soon.

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