Plop! Achievement

Just in case you feel like jumping off high things: The description for this one (Stonefield, that is) is surprisingly vague. I mean.. I am used to "jump off both the mainland and the island sides of the Sanctum bridge" - which is clear enough.

"Jump from the mountain overhanging the pool of Granite Falls" leaves a lot of room for experimentation.

What you need to do to get the achievement (and survive, incidentally) is to get as close to 4840, 4940 as you can. Up the hill near Fergus Camp, past the Cairn, jump and leap - the usual mountain climbing experience.

If you are doing it right, you end up on a ledge. From the bottom, you're aiming about here:

Aim in a Northeastern direction and move quickly (but on foot and not highly speedboosted - 10% from Avatar of Wind is okay, Eth Agility is probably not) over the edge. Running and jumping are both okay.

If you can see water on both sides (like in the image below) you ended up on the wrong ledge.

My first Rift phishing attempt!

I feel so special. And proud. And all sorts.

The newest version seems to be trying to use coin locked emails to get account data. I'm not quite willing to give the link the scammers used a try, so I couldn't tell what it looks like. I can, however, show the email.

The first one was the one I recieved this morning (to an email account not even remotely associated with Rift, but hey). I'll attach one of the real coin lock emails down here. It's not a current one - I got several in the first few days of Trion learning about my ISP.

Only subtle differences. No linebreak after the greeting, they forgot the ascended and obviously the link instead of a coin lock code. Funnily enough, the images (Rift logo at the top, teen rating and Trion logo) are all just linked to the Trion webpage - so the scammers are also stealing bandwidth. Someone should sue them.

Can I make a few security suggestions while we're at it?

- Don't use an email adress you've previously published on the web for your Rift email. How about setting up a new account? The big ones sometimes still get spam (Hotmail, Googlemail) due to questionable service providers, but your local ISP might will probably have a few email adresses to give out and smaller, regional hosting services will likely be able to provide one as well.

- Display your emails in raw text form only. I can only show the images above because I clicked a few buttons to set my email program to display the annoying version. Only html display allows a link to appear like http://www.riftgame.com and instead send you to somewhere more malicious. 


- Don't listen to email threats. Even if they sound very convincing and come from the would be assassins themselves they are unlike to affect your playtime. A good guide to keep yourselves safe was posted by the other game. 

It's just a jump to the left....

Because I can!  I took my new little rogue for a plunge off the side of the Sanctum bridge for the base-jumper achievement

And discovered, that if you jump in the exact centre of the bridge, it counts as both jumping from the Sanctum side _and_ the Silverwood side.

And in fact, so much fun you did it twice is a lie!

I _wish_ I had known this when I did it in a suicide run on my Defiant warrior.

The Scoop Scoop Song

The Inside Scoop.

Scooping in action... Go me!

This has to be the most disgusting quest I have ever had to do.  Collecting poo has nothing on this.

I quote:

To grow their army, the Abyssals have planted seacap eggs in the corpses of murdered villagers.  It's.. disgusting.  I'd like to torch the beach, but the sages in Meridian want to study the eggs.  It's a lot to ask, but would you harvest them? I don't have the guts.

You don't have the guts.  So you want me.. Savior of the Planet me, to go through the guts of dead corpses, to see if they've been impregnated with eggs.

There wasn't a *fuck off you wuss* option..

So, in tribute...

Is it impregnated, I want to know
How can I tell if the eggs gonna grow
(Is it in its eyes)
Oh no, you'll be deceived
(Is it in its eyes)
Oh no that's make believe
If you wanna know if Abyssals sow, check in his corpse
(That's where it is)

Is it in his face
Oh no, that's just his former charm
In his cold embrace
Oh no, that's just his arms
If you wanna know if Abyssals sow, check in his corpse


Oh, Oh, Oh, hold him
Squeeze him tight
To find out what you want to know
If the Abyssals's planted seacap eggs
Oh, it's there in his corpse

How 'bout the way he lies
Oh no, that's not the way
You're not listening to all I say

If you wanna know if Abyssals sow, check in his corpse

(That's where it is)
Oh , oh, it's in his corpse
(That's where it is)

I say again.  Yuk.

1897 was the year of the first Rift

Or some such. Whenever an NPC needs to channel a spell into the wild, there seems to be a token ... an invisible man. It seems easier to make an NPC face a target than to make him face a direction and elevation - which surprises me as a non-programmer a bit, but what do I know about computers. Oh yes .. lots, apparently.

Anyway.. I would never have found out without the "Show target of target" ability. Which is incredibly useful when tanking ("oh .. he's going for the markman? Ah well.. must have pulled aggro.. let him handle it" as opposed to "Oh no. You can't eat my healer. I need him!").

Remember to turn your target of target on!

And here's a shiny picture, so it doesn't look quite as boring a post.

Stupid things not to do

As Koch said, you start the game with 3 Souls in a Role.

Should you find 3 you're happy with, but wish to have a second Role to swap to - for instance a mage with one damage role, and one healing role, then the first additional role costs only 30 gold.

Should you be a rogue, with a spec you want to keep, but you also want to try a new one - and actually purchasing the 2nd Role is actually cheaper than constant re-rolls in the long run - then REMEMBER TO GET THE TRAINING FOR THE NEW ROLE.

It makes hell of a difference to go from say, rank 2, to rank 5 :/

*hangs head in shame*

Crafting Professions - a quick overview

Because I feel like posting something useful now and then - a quick overview to crafting professions (note: limited - so far - to the "while leveling" stage with no regards to the endgame).

Basically there are three gathering professions (foraging, butchering and mining) and you'll gain raw materials from "adventuring" as well (cloth and rare crafting ingredients). There are 6 manufacturing professions (armoursmith, weaponsmith, outfitter, apothecary, artificer, runecrafter).

Armoursmiths craft mail and plate armour and require metals and hides. The profession goes well with mining and butchering.

Weaponsmiths craft all weapons except for staves and wands (including bows, yes). The profession goes well with mining and foraging (bows come from wood which is picked off the floor by foragers).

Outfitters make leather and cloth armour and require cloth and hides (obviously). Goes well with butchering (also obviously) and I have not seen anything that requires a second gathering profession so far.

Apothecary makes potions (including healing and mana), buff potions, AoE attack and healing bottles (called philters) and dies. It requires both foraging (for the herbs) and butchering (for animal parts - lots of animal parts).

Artificers makes wands, staves, necklaces, rings, and offhand items. Magicy stuffs. It needs mining and foraging for wood and metal and gemstones.

And the scary one: Runecrafting. This makes enhancements that can be applied to anything (armour and weapons alike). It requires magic items to be broken down. Not to fall back on the lingo of another game, but enchanting requires disenchanting items. This is also an incredibly painful profession to level, due to the relatively complex resource system and the sheer amount of things you need to break. If you want to go for this, I'd combine it with outfitter and butcher - just so you can craft loads and loads of cloth shoes to disenchant (err.. runebreak) for raw materials.

The good news: None of the crafting professions have a minimum level to learn. You'll gain skill in bunches of 75 (Novice to 75, Skilled to 150, Expert to 225 and Master to 300). If you feel like starting your "main" character with all three gathering professions, there is nothing to stop you from sending it all on to your low level alts and having them craft.

One hitch with this plan: The crafting dailies.

In each of the two capital cities is a little person (disclaimer: as shown from horseback - I have no idea how tall he really is. Or if he's a she. Or if he actually lives there. Or she. Or ... wait.. what was I getting at?) that hands out crafting dailies. The reward are a few tokens - more for the harder ones. Those can be used to buy rare patterns. In Sanctum you can find the little bugger (err.. buggeress and she's probably tall as well.. possibly) here:

And where do the quests go? That's the problem: They are delivered into a base camp. Depending on the level. The first ones go to Quicksilver College in Silverwood (if you are a Guardian - Defiants are cunning and can find it on their own. Please? Don't hurt me?), the later ones go to higher level areas. And this is where the low level alt would struggle. Delivery might be hard. Real hard. I still don't know how to get my level 27 Paladin to the Draughtlands.

Oh and .. are the items worth it? Possibly.

It depends on the profession. I found armour to be the weakest of the things to craft. Quest rewards are plentyful, drops are common and you'll likely find something equivalent to wear before you reach the required level. Blue crafted things (those made after buying the daily quest patterns) are a different story completely. They are amazingly powerful.

Weapons are slightly better. Especially the ranged ones are something harder to come by.

Rings and Necklaces I found generally a pain to find, so I suppose the crafted ones are good. I ... err... didn't actually make an artificer yet, though, so I couldn't say.

The potions are a true lifesaver. If you only have one character to start with - make it an apothecary. You'll never have enough healing potions and they do begin to get expensive. On the bright side - you can buy them from NPCs.

And runecrafting? Well there is nothing comparable (Disclaimer: Not actually true - some of the faction vendors sell "enchants") within easy reach. This will make all of your items more powerful.

But the resources: There are kinetics (1 burst = 3 charges = 15 arcs), perpetuals (1 flare = 3 glow = 15 blur), and sentiences (1 blast = 3 surges = 15 sparks). There are powders and shards (uncommon and rare: both are transformed at a rare of 1 crystal = 3 shards = 9 powders) and you never get any of the type you need. Mark my words! *shakes fist*

Final note: Outfitters make bags from cloth. This might factor in.

Some things never change

Why why why is it that being guildless in an MMORPG has such bad press??

Let's talk about guild benefits.  Perks such as shorter cooldown on Soul Recall / Hearthstone, and more experience as you level, are undoubtably nice to have.  But they are by no means essential.

If you join a random *new* guild, you aren't going to know anybody. They don't have any credentials. So why is being in a guild preferable to picking up people in the general or level channels this early on? Seriously.

As far as I can tell, all a guild does for you at the moment is herd you into a bunch of people who may or may not be witty and intelligent, who may or may not have a toon your level.  So why bother?

And why is the attitude that if you're not in a guild you're a shit player so prevalant?

Case in point:

Rub to make it get bigger...  possibly

I was labelled a troll for daring to speak out against the necessity of being guilded.

As the Vixenette says.. rule of thumb. If you aren't in a guild there is something clearly wrong with you.

Well, here stands I, guildless, by choice.

In a new game, I am more likely to judge the guilded by the unguilded.  I would suggest the guildless in a new game have more sense than to leap into bed with the first hot chick that winks at them....

What Race and Class are for me?

So, in the best interest of my reader(s?), I'll attempt to include fabulous guides on how to play Rift. Of course, it'll be hard work and much to do - and as such I'm likely to not-stick-it-out. In case you need something well written and are looking into Rift for the first time: Go and read Syl's post on "Rift Souls for WoW Brains".

I'll try the explanation from scratch.

Origin (no, not the makers of the Ultima series of games)

This is your faction. If you are playing on a PvP server, it'll determine who your friends and enemies are. If you are playing on a PvE server it determines who will suddenly pounce on you out of no-where when you accidentally heal someone who's flagged.

There are two choices: Defiant and Guardian.

Let's ignore the "Good and Evil" classification for the moment. Someone is bound to drag it up in General chat anyway.

The Guardians are chosen by the gods to do the work of good. They are immortals charged with the defence of the world for ages past.

The Defiants have taken fate into their own hands. They use technology to save the future. From everyone who stands in their way.

Stupidly, I picked Guardian at the start, because the High Elves looked prettier. Now, err, I have since managed to make reasonably attractive Defiants as well. And someone better with proportions and sliders can make an attractive character with any of those. The choice of "Fight for God" over "Fight because we can and use a ginormous-antimatter-particle-beam-of-doom if neccessary" left me feeling a bit meh. I think in retrospect I would have preferred the particle beam.

Race (no, not to the finish line)

Now, what would a proper Fantasy Game be without a selection of races. As usual, the two factions get different choices (sort of).

The Guardians have High Elves, Dwarves and Mathosian (humans) on their side, the Defiants get Bahmi (Dark Humans), Eth (Desert Humans) and Kelari (Dark Elves).

In each other game, this is where I'd list the miniscule difference in statistics and say "Pick whichever you want". For those so inclined, there is no limit to the race/class combinations. However, each race gets a racial special ability. And those unfortunately limit the racial choice to "one each".

The high elves on the Guardian side and the Bahmi on the Defiant side have a racial "flight" ability. It's a long jump that does not need ground to travel. This is ridiculously more useful than any of the others. It allows the exploration of high peaks, across chasms, into the shrubbery when you so choose. It's also targetted (unlike, say, Blink in WoW). You can even jump up on the roof of a house in the starting area to snipe down from there.

Calling (not The)

This is the class. Or rather - the available classes (labelled Souls). Warrior, Rogue, Mage and Cleric are available. The Calling can not be changed once the character is created (much like Race and Faction, really). If you start a mage, you stay a mage!

Soul (not music)

The player character is more of a Vessel for dead old people to inhabit. Think of it like your personal ancestor spirit collection. At the start of the game you'll have none (which lasts for about 30 seconds). A maximum of three Souls can live in your body at the same time (and you could play with them here).

And this is where the fun starts.

For a nominal fee you can reset the points spent in your souls. You can also learn a second set of souls (and a third and a fourth) relatively early. And this means you can respec to several wildly different sets of abilities (don't forget to retrain skills you forgot when you change spec - not that I'd talk from experience or anything).

Clerics can be Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Tanks and Healers.
Mages can be Ranged DPS and Healers.
Rogues can be Ranged DPS, Melee DPS and Tanks.
Warriors can be Tanks and Melee DPS.

All of the Callings can have a pet class.

Most of the souls play differently. For instance, both the Assassin and the Nightblade rely on stealth and are melee dps classes. The assassin needs to be behind the enemy and deals a lot of physical damage (and I love it), the nightblade is more flexible in maneuvering and has elemental attacks (and I find it sort-of-okayish).

The best thing, though? At level 13 (that's early ... not many hours even for a totally new player) you can collect all the souls and give them all a try.

And with six character slots per server, you can have one of each .. Warrior, Cleric, Mage and Rogue. And then still have two spares for spiky hair and smooth hair!

Rifts! And Bikinis! What could possibly go wrong?

Let's do the introduction briefly. It's required. As listed here. I'm new to this whole Rift game. And as published before, I currently play a hot chick in a chainmail bikini.

Technically that's not the only character, but we'll get around to the finer details later. Possibly. If I can get around to it.