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.

The biggest change is to the ability called Grisly Works, which is also the ability that made playing a Reaver so much fun. Before the change, if you had three points in the skill, your character would get healed 9% of your maximum health. This made the Reaver an AOE king. In fact, you were wasting your time if you were not AOE’ing as a Reaver. Grisly Works made it damn near impossible to be killed in PVE questing. I would be full health at the end of every fight. That is exactly what Trion wanted to change.

The new description of Grisly Works is this: For 15 seconds after killing an enemy  you have Tagged, healing from Soul Feast is increased by 30/60/90%, depending on how many points you put into it. Soul Feast allows the damage over time spells of Soul Sickness and Creeping Death to heal you for 50% of the damage done. So, no big heals each time you killed an enemy. You do get healed a little while in combat, but you no longer finish fights at full health. It’s back to drinking lots of potions to heal up.

Trion also moved Grisly Works up two tiers on the soul tree. It now requires 25 points in Reaver just to get the ability, plus three more points to get the most out of it. I think the nerf to the ability was enough, and moving it up the tree was unnecessary.

Has the change to Reavers affected how I play the game? Not really. I can still survive an AOE battle with a bunch of mobs around me, I just have to heal up after its done. My survivability has gone down a little bit, and I no longer can run around without a care in the world, but the Reaver is still a viable soul. The changes slowed me down, which is what I believe Trion wanted to happen. The fun factor has definitely been lowered, but I won’t be giving it up.

The Reaver patch notes:

REAVER

* Due to the below changes, characters with soul points spent in Reaver will receive a free soul point respec.
* Soul Sickness, Flesh Rot, Necrotic Wounds, Blood Fever: The damage on additional targets when using Plague Bringer has been lowered. The Threat generation has been increased to keep overall threat gain of the abilities the same.
* Crippling Infestation: Moves down one tier to unlock at 21 points.
* Wasting Away: Moves down one tier to unlock at 16 points.
* Grisly Works: Moves up two tiers, now unlocked at 26 points. Now increases the healing of Soul Feast by 30-90% for 15 seconds after killing a target the Reaver has engaged.
* Soul Devour: Now increases the damage of Soul Feast by 50%, instead of 150%.
* Power from the Masses: Changed to give a stack per nearby party/raid member rather than per nearby enemy.
* Infestation: Cooldown increased to 1 minute, and damage increased based on the new cooldown.

Closeup of me at level 45

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.

Scarlet Gorge

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.

Scarwood Reach

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.

Moonshade Highlands

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.

Droughtlands

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

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.

Me at level 35

Me at level 40

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.

Town of Gloaming Pines

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.

Gloaming Pines Tree

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.

Me as a werewolf

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.

Troublesome Hag

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.

Deepstrike Werewolf

Deepstrike Spider

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

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!

My first view of Gilneas

My very first sight was of Prince Liam Greymane giving orders to his troops. I soon learned that the city of Gilneas was under attack by rampaging Worgen and that I was needed to help in its defense. I was given a quest to go kill some Worgen, so off I went with staff in hand.

Worgen's attack

After I had dispatched some baddies, I was tasked with gathering up some crucial supplies by locating several boxes scattered throughout the surrounding area. I also had to rescue some frightened citizens from their homes. After doing all I could to help the situation here, I was sent on to the Military District to receive further instructions.

The king wanted me to find a man named Darius Crowley, once considered a traitor, but now needed to help fight off the invaders. Along the way I found my class trainer and received a new spell – Arcane Missiles. This spell is a little different from the version prior to Cataclysm. With the new version you must cast another spell before Arcane Missiles will be available. I found it to be a bit annoying after being used to casting it whenever I wanted.

King Genn Greymane

I found Crowley and some of his men guarding a wounded man. They needed help holding off the attacking Worgen for two minutes so that they would have time to bandage him. So, for the next two minutes we fought off several waves of Worgen. There were plenty of them but they were easy to kill. Even so, two minutes seemed a very long time. After the attack was over, Crowley sent me to a basement where a stash of big cannons were hidden.

My fate awaits

See that guy in the picture above? Josiah Avery is the man responsible for turning me into a Worgen. He attacked upon my arrival, and before I could kill him, he had bitten me. Lorna Crowley and her two dogs came to my rescue. She then gave me one of her dogs and had me find and kill invisible Worgen. The dog was able to smell them out, so he led me right to them.

The rescuers

After that, they needed someone to lead a large group of Worgen away from one of the main gates, so the King gave me his own horse to attempt the deed. It was quite the ride.

Ever feel like you're being followed?

Upon complete of that crazy ride, I soon learned that I was bound to repeat it again. Crowley had his cannons in place and needed help getting the enemy in range of them. I jumped on the horse with him and away we went. I was tasked with throwing torches into groups of Worgen, which would get their attention so that they would chase us. It was a very fun exercise.

Now that the enemy was in front of the cannons, it was time to see the fireworks. Crowley ordered me to take control of the cannons and kill 80 of the attacking Worgen. I was able to turn, raise, and lower the cannons so that I could aim them at large concentrations of the enemy. I also had a great time doing this.

Cannons standing ready

Unfortunately, the cannons could not kill them fast enough, so we were ordered to fall back to the cathedral that was behind us. They soon broke through, however, and we were attacked on all sides. This is where it turned bad for me. The bite I received from Josiah Avery was a Worgen bite. It quickly began to affect me and I soon turned on my friends and attacked them. The last thing I saw before blacking out was of Worgen flying in from the windows to kill everyone.

I had become a Worgen.

Human no longer

I was impressed with the Worgen starting area. I was very engaged with what was happening around me. Everything I accomplished was fun to do. The mad dashes on horseback and the firing of huge cannons enriched the experience and pulled me in. I had a great time. I hope the good experiences continue as I delve deeper in Cataclysm.

I was disappointed to see faction mounts on the list, but then, I won’t be one of those willing to pay for it. You can see the entire list here.

What do you think of the items for sale?

–Wolfen

The Blackwold Hideout is located at the northeast corner of the Staddle pond. The door to the hideout is next to the falls that pour into the pond.

I enter the hideout and I am transported into an instance. The Blackwold”s guarding the gate were expecting me and they let me pass. I roam around the cavern for awhile until I come across the leader of the Blackwold’s. A man named Skunkwood.

I eventually find the cell in which Amdir is imprisoned. Amdir appears to be in a very bad way. He has been attempting to fight off the evil influence infecting his body but things are not going very well. He even scares the Blackwold guards stationed there to keep an eye on him.

I try to speak with Amdir but he is too far gone. He bursts open the door of his cage, knocks down his guards, and runs down the tunnel. This is when I noticed another prisoner in the cell.

A woman named Oakheart asks me to escort her out of the cave so that she can be free. The problem with helping her is that she walks very slowly. As we make our way through the cave, we see that all the Blackwold’s have been knocked unconscious. They re-awaken as we approach and I have to defend the woman from the attackers. Towards the end, I must defeat Skunkwood and his wolf guards. I took screenshots of all this but somehow they never saved to my hard drive. I don’t know why.

As I make my way towards the cave exit, I encounter Toradan facing off with Amdir. Toradan tries to help him but Amdir has transformed into something evil. He attacks and kills Toradan and then runs out of the cave.

I return to Constable Underhill and tell him what happened. I am rewarded with a tunic that is a huge upgrade for me. 74 more armor rating to be exact. Underhill then tasks me with finding the ranger mustering cave in hopes of finding more help.

This Blackwold instance was a fun experience. It advanced the main storyline and gave me several things to do in the cave. I never came close to dying, but I did enjoy my time.

–Wolfen

This was one of the challenges we set out to tackle with the Skirmish system. We were able to construct spaces that are available to as many players as possible and succeeded in knocking down many of the barriers that limit the impact, accessibility and audience for the content we produce. Now, we’ve looked at the Skirmish technology and started tinkering with applying it in other places to spread those benefits.

You can read the entire Developer’s Diary by clicking here.

–Wolfen

The same Blackwold that dropped the chain also had a receipt on him that I returned to Constable Sageford. This receipt seemed to implicate a local towns-person with the Blackwolds.

To be certain, I was sent to obtain another strongbox from the Blackwold stronghold.  Sure enough, the second strongbox showed that the local locksmith had created the box. I go talk to the locksmith and he tells me that he was forced against his will by a Blackwold named Applewood to make the boxes. The constable sent me to the northern area of the Chetwood to kill Applewood and retrieve the master key. After finding and killing Applewood in the Blackwold stronghold, I was rewarded with decent bracelet.

The next quest string I  embarked on was started with one named Cutleaf’s Good Intentions. I am to infiltrate the ranks of the Blackwolds by talking to Ellie Cutleaf, who seems to be a double agent. Before I could do that, however, she wanted me to go kill a den mother wolf before it can begin breeding more wolves for the Blackwolds. The den mother was located in a stall next to a house up on a hill in the northeast portion of the Chetwood. My reward for killing her was an axe, which finally gave me a second weapon to use with my dual wield skill. This greatly increased my melee damage.

Ellie then sends me to a man named Leecher Cartwell to get some poison to be used in finishing off the rest of the wolves. Leecher didn’t have any of the poison ready, so he sent me out in search of the necessary ingredients required to make it. All the ingredients were not far away. The berries were found in a valley filled with bears. The beehives were behind a house just south of Leecher’s house. The roots can be found near the wolf den located just inside the Chetwood. By the way, Leecher’s house can be a pain to find if you have never looked for it before. Here is a view from his porch. The big building on the right is the Combe and Wattle Inn.

Poison in hand, Ellie sends me to the Blackwold Headquarters to poison the meat that the wolves eat. I am also to kill the leader of this band of Blackwolds. His name is Jagger Jack. The headquarters, which I have visited several times before while on other quests, is located in northeast Chetwood. I entered the stronghold and worked my way deeper into it. I found the dead sheep that I was to poison while on the way to Jagger’s camp. With that done, I went in search of Jagger Jack.

Jagger is located just to the north of the dead sheep. He is guarded by several Blackwolds that have wolf pets at their command. I worked my way through those and found Jagger Jack in the middle of an evil looking camp in the valley below. He is well guarded but I did not have any trouble it taking him or his cronies down. I ran back to Ellie and completed the quest. This resulted in a huge upgrade to my boots. 30 more armor to be exact. Not a bad end to my evening.

–Wolfen

It’s our job to create an audio experience that enhances the emotional experience of the game and reaches the quality level expected of the Star Wars franchise. As fans and as game makers, we’re excited and privileged to breathe life into every planet, every weapon, and every creature that beeps, squawks, or just plain talks…and it’s not as easy as it, er, sounds.

I agree that music and sound can greatly influence how a game world is perceived. I know that many people play games with the sound turned off, but that is something I am unable to do. It adds so much to the experience. I can’t wait to see what they have created.

An official video dealing with this subject has also been posted. You can view it over on the official site, or watch it below.

–Wolfen

I bought the Lifetime subscription when the game first launched, so the game going free-to-play does not affect me or my characters very much. I still get access to all parts of the game and no restrictions to gear or quests. Those who are paying a monthly fee also get similar access to the game.

The people playing the game for free have quite a few restrictions to deal with, such as less bag space, lower gold cap, no rest experience, and only one character slot per server. The free player can get these features if they purchase them via the Turbine Store.

I believe this change will help bring more players to the game. Free is free, after all. I really hope that this change to the game will bring in many new players so that the world becomes more alive. As I play the game now, I certainly notice that the newbie area populations are very low. To be fair, most MMO’s of LOTRO’s age have fewer low-level players, but the areas sure are quiet right now.

Big changes ahead, to be sure. Is this a desperate grab for a game that is barely hanging on? Or is it a shrewd move to bring in more revenue (Lifetime members like me earn them no money at all)?

If nothing else, I want to see more people playing the game. It would be fantastic to see all the zones filled with as many players as there were during the initial launch. That would be a great thing indeed.

The official press release is here. The informative FAQ and a great deal more information can be found here.

–Wolfen