2011

Deepstrike Mines Expert Mode #RiftGame

stargrace August 23, 2011 3Comments

I really like how there are regular versions of dungeons and then once you hit 50 there are ‘expert’ dungeons, or T2 as they’re also called. These are not just revamps of the zones you’ve already done, but in some cases include entire new portions to the dungeons. One of my favorites is Deepstrike mines, and in particular the fight at the end with Plutonus. You can see us finishing off the fight with him here, on the outer most circle during the fight walls spawn, but not in a complete circle, they’re broken up. When those walls spawn you want to make sure you’re back is to one, because after they pop up, a massive kick back triggers and you’ll get flung. If your back is to a wall that’s great – if not, you get thrown into some painful lasers. Once the kick back is over you’re still not safe. See those bright red marks, those are ‘safe’ areas, after the kick back you need to move away from the walls because of an aoe – and you need to be standing in the path of one of those red buttons (they go out like the spokes of a wheel) to stay out of the path of more lasers that spawn.

It’s a really fun fight, and one you don’t find in the regular version of the zone. My most disliked fight is the one up in the tree portion where there’s Bonehew the Thunderer. He likes to throw people around and during last nights dungeon run more then one person ended up losing their footing (but not me!) and finding themselves staring at the ground floor of the dungeon. You can find this fight in both versions of the zone and although they differ slightly he does the annoying throwing around move in both.

I won a wand upgrade, and also had my 3 piece set hammer crafted finally (thank you other half!) which I was incredibly happy about. The new hammer is amazing. I did all of my ‘regular’ dailies, which include dragon tears, DRR (daily rift raid), IPP and crafting. Then I worked on my mage a little while. I’m trying to learn about a good pvp cleric spec, but so far I haven’t found too much. I’d like to get into more pvp in Rift, although I’m also afraid I’ll be incredibly under geared since I don’t currently have any pvp gear. We’ll just have to see how it goes!

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Upgrades! #RiftGame

stargrace August 20, 2011 0Comment

  The piece of gear on the left hand side is my first piece of set bonus gear, crafted by the other half (thank you!) and last night I managed to (with some help of course) gather the materials required to craft myself a 2nd piece, a ring to the same set. I also crafted myself two flawless saintstones (they give a bonus to wisdom) for the ring, and throughout the evening managed to run two T2 dungeons, which rewarded a few upgrades and gave me enough plaques to finally upgrade the green belt I’ve been sporting for quite some time. I won an epic neck piece that was a nice upgrade (even though I had just crafted myself one earlier on in the day, it was of lesser quality) and a pair of chain pants. I am able to queue as either heals or dps for T2 dungeons, but for now have been sticking to dps as I learn my way around them (plus the tank is typically the other half, who is far better geared then I shall ever be, and it makes the dungeons a lot smoother).

I have been doing my event dailies, and was pleased to see two new ones were added part way through the day yesterday, one rewarding a purple chest with goodies inside for 50 dragon tears. I also headed to IPP and completed my mountaineer plaques, which I have been storing up. I haven’t actually quested in Shimmersand yet, but I plan on going there eventually. I’ve been working on the gator mount quest (I’m unsure of what else to call this chain of quests) and have been having a lot of fun with the story.

Eventually, I’d like to level up my alts. I realize that since one character can sort of ‘do it all’ (aside from multiple crafts) there’s not a huge desire for me to level them but I’d still like one of each arch type at 50. I’d also like to work on my factions a lot more, and do PvP warfronts – something I’ve dipped my toes into but haven’t really spent any gross amount of time with. I’m really enjoying how much there is to do in game at the moment, even though quite personally there’s nothing ‘casual’ for me to do (like player housing, cough cough). One day I’d still like to experience the guardian side of things.

In the mean time, it’s the weekend! Woohoo! So happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

I feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty #RiftGame

stargrace August 19, 2011 4Comments

I don’t usually get too hung up on a game based on the way it looks – which is pretty apparent since I enjoy games like EQlive and minecraft a great deal. I’m usually all about the game play and stories involved, but every so often a scene really takes my breath away and Rift is one of those games that runs amazing on my PC and looks incredible. It doesn’t matter if I’m running through a zone, doing a rift, or fighting in a dungeon, the game just looks fantastic. Aside from single player games it’s probably the ‘prettiest’ game I’m playing.

How important to you is graphics in a game? Do you find yourself updating video cards just so you can play on the highest settings available?

I logged into game last night beside the Shimmersand ‘wait point’ which is where everyone gathers between spawns of crafting rifts – yes, crafting rifts were STILL going on. I used the two lures I had brought with me (no plaques, boo) and since there were far fewer people participating I was able to walk away with a handful of nice rewards. I have begun leveling my runecrafter, who is sitting at around 170 at the moment, and did my dailies on the artificer, apothecary, and outfitter. Then I proceeded to do the daily event quests, I’m trying to save up dragon tears for some of the items the event vendor is selling. So far I’ve managed to collect 400 or so, but I’m aiming for 500+

I’m excited about the half-birthday event that begins on August 25th – but not because of any real reason other then the bonus to plaques. I find them almost impossible to obtain (that’s the crafting plaques) these days aside from doing the weekly lure quest. One plaque a week is a little low when there are 15+ new recipes for sale at 5 plaques each. I suppose it gives people something to do.

This weekend I’m hoping to make my way into a few more T2 dungeons, we’ll see how that goes. I crafted a few more upgrades for the cleric yesterday, and purchased a recipe for a ring to add to my set bonus, now I just need to collect the materials for it.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself! TGIF!

Crafting Rifts are Fun – But They Still Need Some Work #RiftGame

stargrace August 18, 2011 7Comments

Yesterday marked the magical day where the weekly crafting quests for lures re-set, and so myself and many others eagerly headed to Shimmersand to spawn crafting rifts and obtain hot crafter loot. On the far west coast of Shimmersand two rifts spawn every few minutes. On my server (I can’t speak for the others but I play on Deepwood) these are the dedicated crafting rifts unless someone triggers a combat one out of spite. It doesn’t matter if you’re guardian or defiant, or what time of day you show up, chances are there are raids here with crafting lures.

I really like the idea that players can spawn crafting raids but there are a few issues with it. Number one, I have two level 14 characters who happen to be 300 crafters. They can’t participate in these crafting rifts because they’re level 50 and the chances of me actually counting towards contribution (let alone getting to the area without a guild rally flag) is pretty much zilch. I’ve saved up my weekly lures in the hopes that one day I may actually level them and make use of these lures.

The next issue is the mass number of people who participate. The rewards are based on your contribution, and when you have 100+ people at one non epic rift things die pretty fast. In fact I’d be confident in saying that they die instantly. This means that a lot of people never get the chance to contribute at all, no one is taking damage so healers are forced into dps specs. If you have no instant attacks at your fingertips you may find yourself moving from rift to rift just hoping that someone neglects a mob for a second or two so that you can get a single hit. For myself personally I spam my instant attacks, it’s all I can do to try to hit something at least once. I’m better at it during some crafting rifts then others. My solution would be for the rift to take into consideration (some how) the amount of players in a given location, and spawn as epic (or major) rifts so that everyone in the area has a chance to participate. Yesterday there were many complaints from members of my raid when they were forced to leave a completed rift empty handed.

I’m finding plaques almost impossible to get, and with the new player crafted items available that rival pretty much any other gear I could possibly obtain even those seem daunting for a casual player. Things are expensive, each piece costing upwards of 100p and unless you’re playing rift on a fairly frequent non-casual basis, I don’t see how anyone can afford more then a piece or two without resorting to ‘other’ means.

I’m glad some focus was given to crafting, but personally, I just feel that it could use a little more tweaking, a bit more work in order to smooth out some bumps.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!