Rift: Killing Faeries
The Rift Head Start event began this past Thursday. Anyone who pre-ordered the game is allowed to start playing before the official launch date of March 1st. I rushed home from work with great anticipation and a long play session ahead of me. As I soon learned, I wasn’t the only person with the same idea.
The launch serves were packed with players, which meant most people had to wait in a queue before they could get in. My queue was 45 minutes long. It was frustrating, but not unexpected. Trion did the best they could, bringing up new servers quickly, but it was obvious that this game was in great demand. A testament to how good the game is.
Once into the game, I created my Paladin/Riftblade/Beastmaster and tore through the newbie areas as fast as I could. My guild changed their minds at the last minute and decided to play on the Guardian side. The original plan was to be Defiants, so I had spent my entire alpha/beta test time in that area. So, all new content for me! I enjoyed the Guardian level 1-20 content, but I prefer the Defiant lands.
I was level 17 when my guild decided to try the 5-man instance located at the Realm of Fae. I was designated as main tank for the group. Things went fairly well considering it was our first time through. We wiped a couple times due to a larger pull than anticipated, but other than that, we cruised on apace.
Realm of Fae boss
As you move through the instance, you go higher and higher into the mountains. The landscape eventually turns to snow and you find yourself in a blizzard. The environmental effects of this area are some of the best I have ever seen. It really looks like you are in a blinding snow storm.
Is this the Donner party?
The Fae Lord is the final boss of the instance. You have to plow through a bunch of his minions before facing him directly. He is no slouch, but we took him down without any deaths. I did very well as far as loot drops went. I obtained three very nice blue items by the time we were done. All-in-all, it is a fun instance. My biggest piece of advice would be to take a healer that is as high a level as possible.
Realm of Fae end boss
I leave you with a nice cozy inn:
A cozy inn
Rift Beta 6
Another Rift beta test is in full swing this weekend. Things are going smoothly so far. They held a “bring down the servers” event to test their robustness and they never went down. This game is getting more polished every day.
I decided to try a new soul combination this week. I went for a Paladin/Beastmaster/Riftblade build this time. I am really liking it so far. The Paladin is a defensive tank, so the extra DPS the pet provides greatly helps in getting things dead. It really comes into play when battling multiple mobs.
Some of the skills I like are the Shield Bash-type. There is just something satisfying in watching my shield smash into an enemies face and hearing the resulting WHACK! I was also pleasantly surprised to find that a Paladin gets an instant cast complete heal spell early on in his career. It’s on a 10 minute cool down, but it can still be the difference between death or surviving getting ambushed by a group of bad guys.
This is the soul build I am working with: Paladin/Beastmaster/Riftlbade.
I have tried many different soul combinations and I liked the majority of them. It is going to be difficult to decide what my main character is going to be when the game goes live. One thing is for certain, I am very tired of seeing the newbie areas!
Read MoreRift Beta 5
The latest beta test for Rift, the upcoming fantasy-based MMO, has come and gone. A larger amount of players were allowed in this time to test the latest offerings from Trion. If their impressions of the same are close to mine, then they had plenty to like.
There are two opposing sides in the land of Telara. One side is “good,” while the other is “evil,” but that all depends on the point of view. Be that as it may, your first decision upon logging into the game is to select which side you want to belong to: Guardian or Defiant. Each side gets three races to select from. Character customization is very nice and detailed.
One worry of mine is that each side only has one starting area, no matter which race you choose. My worry was well-founded because with the influx of new testers the starting areas were packed. It was a literal sea of blue player names. As to be expected, competition over quest mobs was intense. I eventually got through, but this is a definite foreshadowing of a bigger issue when the game launches in March.
One of my first sights in Rift
The world of Telara is a beautiful one. The graphics used are of a more “real world” style as opposed to World of Warcraft’s cartoon style. I have always preferred the life-like graphical style, so I was definitely pleasedwith what I saw. My computer was able to handle it very well. It has an AMD Quad Core processor with an ATI 5770 video card. I couldn’t max every setting out, but I could darn close to it and still get very good frame rates. The only time I experienced major slowdowns were during rift events.
Broken castle with a rift in the background
Speaking of rifts, they are a major feature of the game. The barrier between Telara and the planes has been weakened, which allow rifts to occur across the land. Rifts are unmistakable because they are large and can be seen from a long distance. Once a rift opens, bad guys pour out of it, and it is your job to take them out. Failure to close a rift can result in an attack force gaining a foothold in your area, which will rampage across the land, terrorizing everyone they come across. If you are successful in closing a rift, you are rewarded with various planar currency, experience, and items.
A rift looms ahead
Another big feature in the game is how the Soul system works. Souls are subtypes of your class. You can use three souls at a time. For example, if you chose to be a Warrior when you went through the character customization, then you can pick among various warrior soul types. You could choose to be a Paragon, or a Riftblade, or a Champion. Or you could be all three things at once. There are many different types of souls to choose from, each with different skills. As you level up, you get points to put into your souls, which allows for a large amount of combinations to play with. To me, this is the biggest reason this game is so interesting. The possibilities are virtually endless!
I found the game to be is very good shape for being in beta test. Not once did I find any glaring or game-breaking problems. The game client never crashed on me. Everything ran very well. They have some class issues to work out yet, but overall, the game is very polished. I have high hopes for this one.
So, that is a quick summary of my early days of testing Rift. I can’t wait to play in the next beta event, which will start on February 4th. I hope to see you there!
Read MoreRift Beta 5 invitations are going out right now
Yep, for those of you waiting to get into the next Rift beta test, your wait is almost over. Trion began emailing them out tonight and everyone who is eligible should be getting their invitation within the next day or so. They are also emailing out VIP keys to select people. These keys can be used up to 25 times each, so many more testers are inbound! So get downloading and I will see you in-game on the 25th!
Discovering Rift
Rift is a new MMO that is scheduled to release in early March of this year. It has mostly flown below the radar, not getting huge amounts of press or interest from the major gaming sites. I did not pay too much attention to it, either, but I looked at it recently and it looks to be a very interesting game.
Rift takes place in a world known as Telara. The character you play is an Ascended, which is a slain Telaran who has been resurrected to fight in the battle against the evil dragon Regulos. As an Ascendant, you gain special powers from “soul attunement,” which is the ability to commune with the souls of ancient Telaran heroes.
Rift gets its name from the rifts that randomly open up, tearing a hole in reality itself. Rifts damage the world around it while coughing up evil minions that try to ravage the land and kill its inhabitants.
Rift is in beta test which is currently by invitation only. You get automatic access to the beta if you pre-order the game. They have been holding beta tests a weekend at a time.
Rift has caught my eye. I will jump into the next beta test and see how it plays. The next test is scheduled for January 25th. I believe it is under NDA right now, but if it’s not, I will post what I find.
