[Off Topic] Twas the Night before Legion Launch and All Through the House...

...Not a soul was prepared, not even the mouse!

     So, anyway. Tomorrow I'm heading over to the game store to pick up my Collector's Edition of Legion expansion for WoW! Super excited, but also kind of depressed and frustrated because there were a few things I'd really like to get done before it launches but alas, time waits for no one. One of the main things that I will be losing with the expansion is the ability to finish my legendary ring quest, which admittedly I had about a year to complete so it's my own darn fault that I didn't finish it in time, but it felt like time just flew by, what with cosplay, BlizzCon, writing my fanfiction story, playing WoW and Rift, working, Edmonton Expo, sleep! I can't believe it's August already! The year literally flew by on  the wings of the Vigil. But I'm not going to lie, I am anticipating this expansion sooooooo much! I usually hesitate to point out negative or bad things about expansions/games that I play because I'm usually just grateful that these people have created this magical, suspended world that I'm able to play in and forget my own reality, but I really detested Warlords of Draenor. Like, a lot. There was so many things about it that frustrated, annoyed, or just plain bugged me. The biggest and most obvious being the garrisons. Because I've been spoiled by Rift's idea of player housing, I guess I was expecting too much when WoW first introduced garrisons, because I was picturing player housing, or something similar to dimensions. Boy was I ever wrong! I hated being forced to live in my garrison pretty much the entire expansion and then from there go out and explore the world. I felt so isolated and alone, because each character got their own garrison and it was phased content, so I hardly ever saw another soul during my leveling experience except for the brief visits to the quest hub city for my respective faction. And it didn't sit well with me that such famous and amazing and awe-inspiring historical figures like Thrall, Khadgar, Jaina, Varian Wrynn, Yrel, The Prophet Velen, and Vol'jin were catering to my needs like my servants. I felt like it should be the other way around. Yes, I am a hero and adventurer, and helped slay such evils like Deathwing and the Old Gods, but the key word h ere being "HELPED". I couldn't have gotten vey far without their aid and guidance, and suddenly they were bowing before my superior knowledge and everyone was saluting me and calling me Commander and I felt like I hadn't done much to deserve that, lore wise. So it felt very jarring in that sense.
     From what I saw of things at last BlizzCon, there will be a similar system in place to garrisons, called Class Hall, but it will work differently. For one thing, each class will have one, and all of us who play that class will able to go there. So yay, I can see people! And not just any people, but people who have the same passion and love for that class as me! For example, my Druid can go to the Druid Class Hall in Val'shara and see other druids of all lvls all running around doing their thing! There is a mission map, just like the garrisons, but it runs a bit differently, and thankfully doesn't feel as much of a requirement as in WoD. Of course, you can gain a few handy quests by doing it, and you need to access your map in the class hall to figure out where you're going to quest next. Another cool feature they introduced with Legion is that no matter what zone you choose to lvl in, and you can literally choose any zone you want, there's no restriction, the lvl of the zone will match your lvl! Even if your lvl 110 and your finishing up questing in a zone you did at 102, all the mobs and everything will match you at 110. So cool! Another thing I really love about Legion is all the amazing cinematics and the improved graphics for everything!!!!! I love cinematics so much and I wish Rift did more, I really do. And even though there were quite a few cinematics that legit moved me to real life tears, they were still so beautifully done and masterfully crafted that you were left feeling in awe. And at 110, tons of other things open up for you, like World Quests, world bosses, mythic and heroic dungeons, and rep grinding, as well as finishing up the zones you never got a chance to do as you lvled!

     So far from what I've seen in beta, I will never be bored with Legion, which is a definite plus in my book! Well done Blizzard, well done. You definitely 5 stars out of 5 from this gamer! And now, I suppose I should be off to bed, because I want to be well rested for the excitement that begins tomorrow at midnight! #soexcited #Legion

    Dark out.

gedlo badlands lore

Starfall Prophecy: Gedlo Badlands

August 18, 2016

Not much good comes out of the Gedlo Badlands. Of course “bad” is a judgment call. A Telaran would find a certain beauty to the sharp ridges of rock and shifting beds of fine gravel, particularly at dawn or dusk when their brown and black tones are enriched with gold and red. But to the devils that now rule the Plane of Fire, this desert expanse is fit only for goblins.

The land is almost barren, and harsh. No soft and nourishing forests, no comforting leafy shade. You’ll be glad to hear that there are no rivers of lava, raging wildfires or burning atmosphere either. If the liquid pools of the caustic oasis were water instead of clear, flammable oil, it might actually be habitable for someone other than an Ascended or the cruel denizens of the Plane of Fire.
While mortals would find the badlands arid and hot, the goblins of the Gedlo Conclave consider it an exile in the freezing wastes, denied their rightful place among the burning fields of condemned souls that they covet. Only the kobolds of Saint Taranis deigned to travel to this desert wasteland, and then only for the yearly pilgrimage to wage holy war.
The goblins have been in the badlands since time immemorial and are hard at work, single-mindedly simmering with rage and thoughts of revenge against all who wronged them. The devils of Ashenfell, the mortals of Telara, and most especially the noble kobolds of Saint Taranis. The Ascended must discover what the Goblin horde is up to; rumors of a stolen prophecy of Ananke, and the plans to destroy Saint Taranis are about to hatch, now that the kobolds are trapped on the comet with them.
The goblins are centered an area known as Gedlonia, and some say they have closely guarded drake hatching grounds nearby. The most bloodthirsty among them rove about the land in war bands and attack the kobolds whenever they can; revenge for the many years of defeat at the hands of the dog-like warriors.
The Kobolds of Saint Taranis, on the other hand, are a noble, if similarly warlike faction, devoted to earning honor and redemption that the souls of their ancestors failed to find in the mortal realm. Taranis, a kobold that ascended to sainthood, has shown them the way. Each year they make pilgrimage to these badlands as a test of their prowess and courage. If they can stand against the horde of goblins with artistry, courage and nobility, then they too may just find redemption. Each year they made this pilgrimage to defeat the Gedlo Conclave and each year they returned home victorious. It was their unwelcome fate that Ahnket tore their battlefield from the Plane of Fire while their temporary holy city was erected in the badlands. Now the prospect of victory and redemption grows fainter as the goblins lay siege, and faith is shaken in the various camps of artists.
The leader of Saint Taranis is the kobold monk Veist, who has struggled to hold the various camps together and inspire them to face the horde of goblins in what might be an unwinnable battle. He knows that noble warriors respect action more than mere words, so he has embarked on a quest to find a champion or two among the strange lands from distant planes that have been taken by the Comet of Ahnket. It is this quest that brings him in contact with the Ascended of Telara and the Champion of the Vigil, Cyril Kalmar, who has too long been temple bound.
Together, these mighty warriors will help the Ascended in learning more about the Gedlo goblins, the monstrous denizens of the badlands and the Devil Lords of Ashenfell who plan to unleash a fiery apocalypse upon the world of Telara. Best prepare yourself well first, in knowledge and armament. The Gedlo Badlands is a crucible for the heroic spirit, and is part of RIFT: Starfall Prophecy, coming this fall!

freemarch lore

Freemarch

The rolling fields of Freemarch

Travelling back through time, the Defiant arrive in Freemarch and see lush, rolling fields falling away to white sand beaches and the sparkling sea, so different from the hollow shell of a future they hail from. And then they turn and see a Death Rift, pulsing with sinister purpose, and learn what they are fighting for.

Once, Freemarch was the breadbasket of the Eth Empire, called the Emerald March for its fruitful fields. When the Empire fell, a warlord named Jakub crushed the March-folk, ruling from his hilltop fortress of Iron Keep. A simple peasant named Eliam roused the people to cast down Jakub and was elected the first of the March Wardens. Even as part of the Mathosian Empire, the March Wardens were allowed free reign over what came to be called Freemarch, and the land prospered.

Evil abroad

But nothing can prosper in the time of rifts. Death Rifts bloom to spite the fertile plains of Freemarch, and Water Rifts send out their quivering horrors to make the people fear the water. Almost immediately new Defiant see the walls of Port Scion, overgrown with death taint like mold on bread, necrotic ooze seeping from the city’s sluices to poison the sea. Port Scion has been sealed since it fell to the Deathtouched, but Freemarch lives in fear lest the gates swing open, releasing the massed undead within.

In the shadow of one fallen city, another emerges into the light as the Defiant excavate ancient Arkeen, where the Eth sought to master the strands of life itself. Whether the ancient ruin is boon or bane to the Defiant is yet to be seen. Not far from the dig site, the Defiant fend off a Guardian incursion near the broken bridge to Port Scion, hoping to keep the gods’ puppets from invading Freemarch and destroying their work.

The coasts are no safer than the hills, as slimy monsters spill through Water Rifts, their influence sometimes insidious but always horrific. In the fishing village at Lakeside Outpost, the people wear pained smiles and seem to breathe only as an afterthought, following passersby with cold, glassy eyes. Deep Ones scuttle along the beach nearby, the clacking of their claws eerie in the moonlight.

A rot in the heart of defiance

Freemarch is the heart of the Defiant faction. Their wondrous city of Meridian stands by the coast, its back to the mountains, sending out waves of Defiant to keep Freemarch free. Yet every day new rifts open, new monsters emerge, and the laughter of cultists grows ever more confident and shrill. Undead claw their way from their graves to feast on the living and raze farmsteads, turning the heartland black.

This evil traces back to Iron Keep on its hill, a monument to the tyranny of Jakub the Warlord. Jakub lay buried within its nigh-impregnable walls, but the Endless Court drew him forth from the grave, using his cruelty and aggression to form a spearhead into Freemarch. This time, the current March Warden’s forces may be too weak to stop him. Someone must charge into Iron Keep and end Jakub once and for all, lest he rule Freemarch again as the puppet of Regulos.

Jakub the Warlord, heard from atop Iron Keep after the coming of the rifts

“Oh Freemarch, I have missed you! Your fertile hills, your yielding soil. I know we parted on ill terms, but I have returned, and we can start anew. I do not blame you for turning on me, for you were poisoned against me by the lies of weak and petty men. Yes, I will punish you for your disobedience, but there is no spite in it! I do this for your own good!

Though I am stern, though I seem cruel, always remember that I love you. I have made powerful friends, and I serve unstoppable masters. Do not resist me, my land and people. If you do, it will go poorly for you. Always remember, Freemarch, that you are mine. It pains me to have to remind you.”

[Off Topic] New Expansion Announcement!

   Rift just announced a new expansion coming this fall called Starfall Prophecy! Omg I'm so excited. The title alone makes me excited, it sounds so mysterious and dark and cool and wicked and I'm so excited!! So many fun and amazing things in the upcoming months! Legion for WoW, Starfall Prophecy for Rift, a comic Expo in Sept and BlizzCon in Nov. What more could a gamer girl ask for?? Ok so, here's the lowdown on what I know so far about this new and amazing new expansion!

     First off, I bought the deluxe digital version pre-order earlier today, and I instantly claimed a few neat gifts that I'm in love with already! One of them was a beautiful and unique drake mount, the first of its kind in Rift!!!! It's a very pretty albino white with glowing blue eyes and reminds me of the proto-drakes from WoW. It has only 2 legs and runs on those with its front wing-legs held in the air, but when your standing still, it drops down to rest on its front wing-legs. It also leaps into the air and flaps its wings when you jump! I absolutely adore it! I love dragon and drake creatures, and this one definitely catches my eye immediately!! You also get these little items in the game you can redeem for things at a special vendor.

• Ascended continue the fight against the mysterious and powerful Ankhet, who is determined to destroy Telara for some reason. Jeez why is our poor world always being picked on! Ankhet comes from way far out beyond the Cosmos and is a Tenebrean construct that is sentient. It's burned and destroyed its way through many worlds on its journey, tearing away huge chunks of the Planes of Fire and Life as it barreled through them, and looks like next stop is good ol' Telara. Lucky us.
• Introducing new IA's! We Ascended are now powerful and knowledgeable enough to take the battle beyond Telara and into the other Planes, not just water either! Finally we get to take the fight to them! These new IA's are called Planar Assault Adventures. Just like regular IA groups, you can band together with your fellows and launch attacks into the other planes. Rawr!
• Level Cap raised to 70! Woot! We get 5 new lvls to go through, which means of course, new content, which means new lore stories!!!!!!!
• New ways to advance your Character! Collect Planar Fragments and customize your gear, as well as new system called Active Upgrade System that rewards you for completing heroic feats and challenges (not sure what these challenges will be about or how hard they are, but hey, sounds awesome!) as well as collect Eternal Items of immense power. Not sure what that is either...
• Legendary Powers! Coming to a Rift near you! This is what I'm most hyped for. Apparently Legendary Powers are different options for each Soul that dramatically alter the way your existing abilities work. It gives you a whole new layer of customization. I'm not sure what that means, but I will definitely be checking it out! Once of course, my little babies start leveling again! So excited! Some examples of Legendary Powers are "Legendary Poison Malice" for Assassin Rogues, which maintains the buff at the cost of increasing global cooldown and "Legendary Galvanic Strike" for Artiber Mages, which empowers you with electricity, increasing all your dmg based on your current charge.
• 5 New Zones! Woohoo! Exploring new content is my favorite thing about new games and expacs! There's Alittu, which doesn't seem to count as an actual zone and is instead a little quest hub city, kind of like Tempest Bay maybe? Where its a safe house from the dangers of the wilds. Then there's the Gedlo Badlands, Scatherran Forest, Ashenfell, Xarth Mire, and Tenebrean Schism, which it mentioned on the livestream that half of the Tenebrean Schism won't be available until a bit after release, as it's 70 content. Kind of like Planetouched Wilds I suppose?
• More news on the multicore support front. Along with the 64 bit Alpha in an effort to stabilize and improve Rift's overall quality and efficiency for better player experience! I've never really had a problem with that except occasional weird disconnects so I'm not sure if I'll see a difference?
• They are releasing new goodies after Starfall too! There's already plans for update patches to continue and advance the story, which includes a new outdoor zone called the Tenebrean Schism, full of dynamic content for lvl 70's to go wild in! And of course, a new lvl 70 raid!
• Another new introduction coming either with the expansion, or with the first patch, is the "LFR". Looking for Raid for those who don't know. It no doubt works just like WoW's LFR works, allowing players to queue up for raids and join as a group without having to ask in guild or form your own group. I hope it works better then WoW's LFR lol!
• Buying Starfall Prophecy! If you preorder the expansion, you get a new title of "Starlord" or "Starlady" (I literally laughed out loud at that. Guardians of the Galaxy anyone???) and you can gain special daily Prophecy Tokens by logging in each day. When you have enough of these tokens, you can buy really cool things from a special vendor in Tempest Bay like Opie the Artifact Squirrel, which apparently lets you collect shinies while mounted, and lets you grab high up hard to get shinies without reaching up there! Although in my opinion having to go searching for how to get your shiny is jus as fun as actually getting it! You also gain a lvl 65 boost, which instantly puts you at that lvl so you can immediately begin exploring new content. I haven't even used my lvl 60 boost from the last expansion LOL! Maybe I should sell it and make some $$.

     Well that's it so far on the expansion news. The information just came out today, so it's all still relatively new and shiny and unknown! I'll add more info, either to this post, or in a future post about the expansion as I receive it! For now, color me very excited!
   ~Dark out

 

meridian lore

Meridian

City of Wonders

Welcome, Defiant, to Meridian. Enlightenment waits within these graceful walls, atop the towers of the learned.

I am Orphiel Farwind. I haven’t the time to show you everything personally, but I shall tell you of some of our city’s wonders. I do appreciate scholarly questions, but please keep them in mind for later.

As you may have noticed, refugees from the Kelari Isles make camp at the base of the great stairway. Oh, don’t fear for the Kelari Elves. An adaptive people, if perhaps foolhardy, they are our welcome guests and allies.

From those stairs you can see majestic Meridian herself. Telara has not seen such deceptively sturdy walls of polished sandstone since the ancient Eth city-states. The sweeping towers crowned with twirling machines, the arabesques adorning the walls… it almost transports you back to the ancient Eth Empire! Listen, and you’ll hear the chanting of the Sorcerer Kings.

In pursuit of progress

Our more exciting experiments take place in the first courtyard. There, we ply the lost arts of technomagic, those sourcestone-fuelled feats that could banish the rifts from Telara and plunge everyone into the lap of luxury—if only the Guardians would cease their meddling.

If you visit this courtyard, do watch out for rogue water elementals. Meridian is built over a former Abyssal nest, so from time to time a faulty experiment unleashes one of Akylios’s spawn. Progress has its risks. The scholars usually banish the wretches before recalibrating their instruments.

Located in the second courtyard, our main portal can transport you to any other portal you’ve discovered in Telara. It’s for Ascended only, so I envy you its use. Try and warn mortals away—they lose too many limbs like that.

Learning, commerce, and armed might

Be sure to visit our military headquarters at the command center. Peruse our tactical maps at your pleasure, or speak to one of the emissaries from our various conflicts with the Guardians. They’ll be more than happy to ship you off to a Warfront. Yes, Asha Catari spends her time in the command center. Yes, she will notice if you stare.

Across the courtyard is the manufactory, where we hone our crafts. Many of the brilliant inventors out in the first yard began their careers putting hammer to anvil in our workshops.

Just behind the manufactory you’ll find the College of Planar Studies. Behold, the most advanced orrery—that’s a moving model of the cosmos—in all Telara. In the center spins Telara herself, and the planes rotate around. Studying the alignment of the planes is vital to subduing and someday mastering their power.

Connecting the command center and manufactory is the indoor promenade where Meridian’s merchants hold bazaar. Remember, Meridian is no filthy Guardian hovel, and our merchants work eldritch wonders. Be sure and wave to Sparky, the potion-mixing automaton.

The tower of visionaries

You should eventually find yourself in what my colleagues have generously called “Orphiel’s Spire.” This grand tower symbolizes Defiant superiority over all Telara. Note by your shortness of breath that the city constantly climbs skyward, just as we Defiant reach for the heights of power and innovation. You’ll be ascending the tower via short-range teleporter, so you can recover.

 

The Faceless Man waits by the first-story teleporter. I’m sure he does have a face under that featureless mask, but no mortal shall ever look upon it. He serves as contact for all Ascended heading into the Dragon Cults’ most dire strongholds, so you’ll be seeing him often. Do try to be cordial: Those horns are quite real, and his time among the Abyssal has made him cagey and dangerous.

The second story is the Mages’ level, where our arcanists develop new spells to employ in the name of progress. Clerics cement their bargains with cooperative spirits on the third story, and above them, Rogues practice the arts of stealth and… neutralization. Finally, my study forms the apex of the tower.

Oh! I’m afraid I don’t have time for questions after all. But do feel free to visit my aerie and look out upon Meridian. From there, even the other towers look small.

All Telara stretches out before the Defiant. You need only reach out and grasp it.