Rift: Sights Along The Way

Posted by Wolfen in Rift

I hit level 49 last night. It has been a fun climb to the top, with only a few “what the heck” moments. I blew through Iron Pine Peaks (more on that later), and spent lots of time in the Droughtlands and Shimmersand desert. The variety of creatures and uniqueness of quests greatly diminishes as you level up. That does not mean that things get boring, but the wow factor is not there as much.

In the Droughtlands, you battle centaurs, scorpions, lizards, ants, and giants. Shimmersand continues with more scorpions, giants, lizards, and cultists. Most quests use the tried and true method of go kill “X” amount something and get a reward at the end. Some quests, however, are fun and interesting. In the Droughtlands, you’ll find an arena where some giants want you to defeat a series of tough encounters in order to gain their respect. Most of these fights require a group, although I was able to defeat the first two fights by myself.

I wasn’t very impressed with Shimmersand until I discovered the city of Fortune’s End. This is a quest hub city that will send you out in all directions. There are three quests here that I consider highlights.

The first sends you go a large prison colony where you find that the inmates have rebelled and you need to find out what they are up to. You are given a disguise that makes you look just like one of the inmates. Once in the prison, as the new guy, you must prove yourself to the gang leaders before they trust you. This requires using a shiv to kill enemies of the gang leader. After running a bunch of quests, you eventually learn what the cultist’s plans are and attempt to stop them.

The second sent me off to find a treasure chest in a nearby cave. The quest is called “I Hope You Like Surprises,” so I was alert to the fact that something would happen. Well, when I tried to loot the chest, I was attacked by a stealthed enemy. I was surprised when I discovered that he had stolen my kidney! I was then on a timer to find certain items that would allow me to get my kidney back. I had to run fast because my health was constantly dropping. I barely got it done in time.

The third sent me to kill the main bad guy in the area. When I arrived at the spot, I saw that this final fight was going to be a rift encounter. I confronted the bad guy and that triggered the first round of the rift. The mobs in each round are level 50. I didn’t think I would be able to win the fight because I was only level 47 at the time. I can kill mobs two levels above me fairly easily, but my attacks miss a great deal with anything higher. Each mob took awhile, but I took my time and got through each stage. I was joined by another player when the final stage started, and I am glad that he did. I would not have been able to do it by myself. Even then it was a very close call.

As for Iron Pine Peaks, I discovered that I had missed a huge amount of quests in that zone. Other quests lead me on to other places, so I didn’t find the other quests until I went back. I didn’t keep count, but it sure seemed like it was another 40 or more quests to be done. So, my advice is to make sure you have turned in all of your Iron Pines quests. The one I didn’t turn in was the one that would have sent me in the right direction.