[Off Topic] Patch 3.2: Echoes of Madness

     So, it's patch day again! Well actually it was several days ago now, but I've been really busy at work now that it's summer, and enjoying the nice weather that I haven't had much time to myself, let alone to log on and keep this updated! But never fear, I am still here! (Yup, that totally rhymed!) Anywho, looks like there's some neat stuff happening in Rift right now! Woot! Can't wait to dive in! :)

Here's a list of what's cooking:

• Return to Hammerknell: Apparently while we Ascended are distracted by beating up Lord Arak's army in the Plane of Water, he's been busy doing all kinds of naughty things. Mainly, cooking up nightmares for us to experience. Oh joy. Apparently we're scared of the Dwarven home, so it's back to Hammerknell to put an end to Akylios...again. Lord Arak has the mojo to bring Akylios back to life, or to a semblance of life, and we need to stop him before Aky devours everyone's minds. According to Trion, the whole spirit of the raid has staid the same, but it's now geared toward the new end game (lvl 65). Sadly, I don't have time to dedicate to raids in Rift now, but I play to! Some day...
• Improvements to the IA scene: The adventure will now randomly send us Ascended anywhere in the world, in groups of up to 20 players. Approximately every half hour, it will send us to some other random location, just to keep things exciting. Let's see if things actually keep exciting eh? I find IA exciting and chaotic enough as it is lol!
• Also in the IA department, they've done some good things toward trying to weed out moochers and afkers, which has always been a problem in IA's. Lots of people like the fast track to end game, so just hop into an IA and than sit there and reap the rewards without doing any of the work. According to Trion, they've added some things to help cut back on that.
• There's a new currency now, called Commendations of Renown, instead of just that zone's rep. You can then turn in these commendation thingies at a vendor and pick whatever rep you want for whatever faction you want to level first. That's actually pretty cool, as there's a few factions I'd really like to level above all others!
• And some other stuff pertaining to zone events, which I didn't really care either way about.
• Wardrobe Updates! They did a LOT of work on the wardrobe system. I noticed that immediately upon logging in. Instead of having to hoard armor to keep the unique appearance you want for your wardrobe, you "collect" that armor's appearance when you first acquire the armor. Or weapon for that matter. That way you don't have to use up your bank spaces for armor and weapons you want to keep! Which is a HUGE plus for me because I LOVE wardrobe and cosmetic stuff!! Now I'll just have to weed through my stuff and get rid of the weapons and armor I don't need anymore! The dyeing process is also easier, although the dyes are CRAZY expensive! Like omg expensive.....ugh! But now you can rename your wardrobe, get special achievements, and even earn unique wardrobe items just by collecting more looks!
• Fishing Derbies have now come to the Plane of Water. Well, I'm not really sure what a fishing derby is... but I bet it's fun!
• New Twisted Artifacts. Twisted Artifacts added to Nightmare Tide zones! Woot!!
• New Nightmare Rift tiers. Well that should keep the end gamers happy. For 2 seconds.
• Nightmare Tide Onslaughts. Oh joy, we now have onslaughts in the Plane of Water. Daily and Weekly quests are now available for Onslaughts in Goboro Reef, Tarken Glacier and Draumheim.
• Also lots of updates and improvements to general UI and gameplay stuff, updates to minions, more immprovements on the IA front, tweaks, changes, nerfs, etc to souls, changes to dungeons and zones, all the good stuff that comes with a big patch.