Rift

Duracell – My Latest Obsession #Rift

stargrace August 10, 2011 4 Comments

Last night saw me reach level 50 for the first time in Rift, on my cleric. It was a happy moment for me because I’ve been 48 for a few months now, I simply couldn’t find the motivation to push me to 50. I had been sporting a justicar / shaman / purifier spec as my solo build with most of my points into justicar (which is the cleric tank spec). I had survivability, ‘ok’ dps, and could hold my own most of the time. Then my other half suggested I take a look into something players call the “duracell” build (he plays Rift as his main game of choice where as I bounce around all over the place). Remember the energizer bunny that keeps going and going? That is the premises behind this build. I instantly fell in love with it, it’s amazing. This is a link to the build on zam. There’s also a very lengthy discussion with an explanation of how it works on the Rift forums.

It may seem a little drab, I mean if you’re in a solo encounter you’re using one set of macros and if you’re in a group encounter you’re using a second set of macros, but apparently that’s how a lot of people are playing these days, so you’re not watching 10 hotbars of skills, you’re just watching two macros set up. Or three, if you have one for mana. I have a few skills outside my macros, like purge (an amazing skill that removes a beneficial buff from the mob) and vex for pulling. I spent some time doing dailies and was able to very easily take down 7 level 52 at once and be full health and mana afterward. There are some who are saying they can handle 20+ at the same time. Since I very literally just hit level 50 I didn’t want to push my luck yet. Plus I’m still trying to get myself familiar once more with the game.

Now I’m looking to change up my single target and raid heal specs so I can be useful. I’m able to queue for T2 dungeons but I doubt I’ll be doing that for some time yet. My Artificer (the cleric), Apothecary (Mage) and Outfitter (Scout) are all 300, and I’ve been having a lot of fun harvesting and doing my crafting dailies, although I am quite broke from purchasing the new recipes that come with a 20 hour cool down. I’m happy to see the changes made to crafting and how gear made my players is quite nice. Anyhow, hopefully I’ll find my footing soon. I’m looking forward to trying some raids in the future and seeing how I fare.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Still Questing #Rift

stargrace June 8, 2011 No Comments

The cleric is still making her way through the snow covered Iron Peaks, and I managed to ding 46 last night, and part way through today. I spent some time in Stillmoor, but the method of leveling via quest grinding feels the same to me no matter what zone I’m in. I visit a camp, grab all the quests, head of to their various locations, kill/loot/explore whatever they sent me to seek out, return, and then rinse and repeat. Some times I wonder why these NPC wouldn’t just give me all of their quests that send me to ABC location in one fell swoop, instead of making me hike all of the way back out there. Again.

The latest round of quests all involve exploring these massive caverns, and taking apart various secret ceremonies and gatherings that have been going on inside. Problem is I have already been inside these giant caves for other reasons, and so they’re sending me back – again. Why couldn’t I have taken care of the issue the last time I was there! Unless of course I had to wait a little while because no one was home or they were on break, out for lunch, etc.

The guild is quite happy that I’m closing in on 50, and even happier that I’ve spoken up about wanting to heal. I’m looking forward to trying some T1 and then eventually T2. Thankfully healers get off pretty easily, the only stat they’re required to obtain is wisdom, which I have in spades.

Tiny pet peeve – even though I wear chain, and technically I can wear cloth and leather (in specific the armor sold by vendors around cities) my appearance armor can only be chain. If I can wear cloth in my regular slots (as well as leather) wouldn’t it make sense that I could also wear it in my appearance slot? Apparently this is not the case, which I learned the hard way after spending money on a nice looking set of leather.

I managed to participate in an invasion in Stillmoor yesterday, and right afterward a crafting rift – even managed to earn myself another artificer plaque. I was hoping to get a minor catalyst, but hey it’s better then nothing at all. The dailies I’ve been doing in Meridian have been a bit stingy with their plaques as of late and the daily crafting quests I complete never reward me anything special aside from a handful of common supplies and the rare extra craft component (like the ones you use to increase specific stats on a piece of gear). It’s probably just my bad luck, as I’m constantly mentioning that if I didn’t have bad luck, I’d simply have no luck at all.

When I don’t feel like quest grinding I spend most of my time out exploring. Looking for cairns, shinies, and harvesting. You kill enough creatures who are in your way (and participate in the odd rift here and there) that it’s profitable and a nice relaxing break from playing errand girl (or boy) for the NPC’s. I haven’t spent any more time in dungeons yet, but that’s always an option too if I feel like using the LFD tool. I imagine I’ll hit level 50 some time this weekend, and if not then (it depends on whether or not I’m headed out Friday to the Morrisburg Medieval Festival) it should happen shortly after.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Ding, Defiant Cleric Hits 45 – Now What? #Rift

stargrace June 7, 2011 1 Comment

The cleric is level 45 (woohoo) and I’m slowing down a bit in my leveling because I’m a little bored of the quest grind. I’ve been working on harvesting, doing the few dailies I have (mostly crafting dailies) and hunting shinies. I participate in the Rift invasions I see going on to earn planarite and Ancient Sourceshards but aside from that things are pretty quiet in game. I was happy to hit 45 so that I could open the bags I had been carrying around on my character for a while but was left a little disappointed with the rewards. I got one green shoulder armor piece and a blue one (which was an upgrade but just barely). I haven’t seen an artisan’s plaque for almost a week now despite doing everything I can in order to earn them.

I wish I had exciting stories to tell about my time in Rift, but it’s been a little drab. I’m hoping once I hit 50 I’ll have more stories to tell about my adventures in T1/T2 and maybe even some expert Rifts, but for now things revolve around the quest / rift grind to 50, and I don’t see that changing in the next five levels.

So, happy gaming! No matter where you find yourself.