[Off Topic] Patch 4.1: Forged in Flame

     Hey look yall! Forged in Flame is FINALLY here!!!! Wooooo!!! I bet everyone is super excited about the long awaited 4.1 patch. Ever since I first learned about it and how we'd finally get an actual raid, and new content, I was tickled pink! I'm so excited to dive into this new stuff this patch! All kinds of things finally happening in Rift, which has me super relieved. I've been concerned about the lack of things to do at end game and that it would drive too many players away and Rift would be left dead in the water, which is something I definitely do not want! So imagine my surprise when I got off work today and saw that I had an update. To be honest, the time kind of got away from me and I forgot that today was the 29th. Well, I knew that date, but I forgot that it was significant for Rift! So now I have something to look forward to tonight and tomorrow, since tomorrow is my day off! The good news just keeps on pouring in, because I can finally have the green light to move back to my apartment this week! I've been waiting 8 months now to move back, after the flood that happened in August. Ya, 8 months it took them to repair it. WTF were they up to for those months?? Who knows. I guess they were just not in a great hurry, since it was all paid out by insurance. I was just sort of floating in limbo in this other apartment they stuffed me in until mine was ready, and I've been so miserable here, all my things packed in boxes. I haven't been able to work on my costumes or anything creative, and it's killing me to not unleash my creative side other then with this blog and my fanfiction story! :(

     But enough with that, let's get back to Forged in Flame! I watched the livestream for the art and design of Rift a bit ago, and I have to say, I'm blown away by the beautiful art that is going to be in the new raid, Tartaric Depths. Especially that beautiful flaming boss dragon. Omg I want him as a pet or a mount!! Why couldn't Maelforge look that stunning?! This dragon looks epic! The entire dungeon looks epic actually! My only fear is that it won't be enough of a challenge to keep the raiders happy for long. I really hope they have more raids in the works or something to keep the end gamers satisfied until the next expansion. I hope they can turn things around and lift Rift out of the dust, because I love this game and its beautiful design and I want to keep playing it for years to come like WoW! Speaking of WoW, they just came out with their huge patch on Tuesday! Lots of crazy things going on in that game too! All new content, new questlines, new mounts, everything! Super excited about that too. So I'm actually a bit torn of which game I want to play and for how long. So many games, so little time! lol
Here's the list of stats for 4.1!

• Tartaric Depths-entry lvl raid for experienced players as well. A prison created by Alaviax (dunno who that is...) to keep all the Red Flight dragons (there's more then one, and they are called Red Flight now??? I'm thinking Alexstraza and her brood now haha!) contained. We have to stop Queen Carli's plan to implement the prophecies of the Goddess of Fate, Aia! Oh noes! Sounds neat! :)
• Better Dyeing-new tinting quality for Wardrobe items that can be dyed. I'm looking forward to checking this out.
• New Dye colors, as well as more variety! Gonna have to check into this too!
• New crafting recipes available!
• Eternal Items-best in slot, end game weapons for players. Includes abilities that can reduce raid wide dmg, do all kinds of other neat stuffs! There's 2 ways to get these. From drops or by doing the epic questline!
• 6th Carnival of the Ascended! This begins on March 30th though.
• Starfall Prophecy available now with credits or Affinity points! Man, wish I knew about this before hehe. Oh well, I don't regret pre ordering it! :)
• Earring slots now unlocked for all players
• Planewalker: Water, has been removed. This makes me kind of sad.
• Mounts can now...walk?? Really? Must check this out!
• Cross shard trading. Finally yay!
• lvl 65 boost and trade skill boosts now available on the store!
• Looooooots of changes to classes. Some nerfs, some buffs. Read the notes here for all the details on that.
• Capes are now double sided!
• Tons of dimension stuff added and tweaked.

     Apparently, TD (Tartaric Depths) is an "entry level" raid though, which makes me kinda sad, cause there's no other raid coming out soon, so hardcore raiders will have to deal with potentially easy content. Kind of a let down there. Another thing about TD that's different is that there is no trash mobs! What, no trash mobs?! That's never been heard of before! Half the content of a raid is the trash mobs lol! I'm not sure what to think about this turn of events. On the one hand, ya who cares about useless mobs that give you no reward or benefit for killing them. Players would do everything in their power to bypass the mobs anyway so they wouldn't have to waste time fighting them, so why have them in there? But trash mobs also make the raid last longer, which could be a good thing. The longer a raid lasts, the more entertained your group is going to be, even if it's frustrating. If you just add something to some mob groups, like random green drops or something, that would be more of an incentive then removing the mobs entirely. It would make players feel like their doing something meaningful, rather then just plowing through the raid in mind numbing boredom. Of course that's just me the WoW raider talking, since WoW raids are notorious for being full of packs of trash mobs, and I'm used to having to mow through them between each boss. It will be weird to have no trash mobs at all to kill. We'll just have to see I suppose!

     About the Eternal Items. To me they seem almost like a cross between a legendary and an artifact weapon in WoW: Legion. Legion had these new weapons introduced called artifact weapons, that were unique and special for each class/spec combo. They lvled up with you and you could do special things in game to unlock different looks for them and abilities. So this kind of reminds me of the Eternal items in Rift. But that's ok because I like the artifact system in WoW. It's fun and different and unique. It would be fun if Rift did class mounts or special class quests too! That would be so epic to do!! I would love it!! :) If your listening, Rift devs, I think that would be an awesome addition to the game for players to be busy with. That's the biggest thing about a linear, content driven game like this one. You have to always be providing players with something new to do. If you don't they get bored and frustrated, and although they might stick around because they have already dedicated so much time and effort to the game, they will become increasingly bored and annoyed and will perhaps jump on whatever shiny new game comes out that seems similar. This is what happened to me after all, when Rift first came out. I literally leaped right into Rift and left WoW in the dust for like a whole year-the first time I've ever unsubbed from WoW for any extended period of time actually!

     Also coming in 4.1 is new Planar Crafting stuff! You can get new specialized rewards for each of the professions, and you can craft all new best in slot items, as well as ranged items! Woot! And the ability to gain more from gathering professions too would be a plus! Can't wait to test that out!

     Well I suppose I'm done ranting about the new patch for now, since my download is now complete and I can go play the game for myself! Happy Rifting!

 

[Off Topic] Patch 3.7: Summer Solstice

     So, looks like patch 3.7 is FINALLY here! Guess what I'll be doing tonight!? Hehe. I can't wait to see how things have improved in Rift. I'm excited for the new 64-bit thing, as well as the Summer Solstice, which is one of my favorite holidays, and the new changes to the souls! According to Trion, the 64-bit Alpha won't be available till later, with the beta version coming sometime in the next 2 months after that. As for what to do right now? Well there's some overhaul of some Souls that needed it, like Druid, Elementalist, Berserker and Warlord souls.

 

     There's also the new feature "Dungeon Veteran System". I'm not really sure what that is, except that it seems to give you more rewards and benefits to players who have done the challenges of a given dungeon already. There's also a new thing called "Starter Guilds", which gives noob Ascended a home while they are exploring all the stuff of Telara. I'm not sure how that works though. It's like.....an AI operated guild? Who is the guild master? Do you have to create the starter guild, or are there pre-made starter guilds? Who runs them? I'll have to investigate after the patch downloads! There's also my personal favorite, new artifacts and dimensions!

 

     Summer Solstice starts tomorrow apparently so when it goes live, I'll update this page with info on that as well! Very excited for this holiday! It's going to be 3 weeks long and I am so in the mood for some summer sun parties! Trion has never failed to improve and expand on the holidays every year either, and I can't wait to see what new content has been added this Summerfest! Apparently there's a new mount, the Burning Husk...sounds kind of ominous actually, and some new costume armor 'Alsbeth's Raiment'. Huh, Alsbeth's armor? I wonder how that works. I thought we kicked her butt already? She's like a cockroach. There's also new upgrades to other souls coming tomorrow for Paladin, Sabateur, and a secret one they aren't telling us about yet. So come on Ascended, this party is for us! It's going to be a glorious summer!!

UPDATE!! July 14th. Summerfest is now here! Woot. I found out what the "Burning Husk" mount actually is. It's a wicker man kind of thing, which is apparently some kind of ancient elven tradition where victims were sacrificed for good harvest, just like in the olden times when pagans would do the same thing. How you use the mount? I've no idea, but it seems to hint that you'll be on fire while doing it lol...Not sure how I feel about that. There's also a new Minion called Mitch being introduced today, with a new set of minion quests unique to him, along with a ton of unique artifacts from doing them. You can also explode the artifact piñatas to get shinies! The servers were crashing all last night, telling me they were in a maintenance window, so I couldn't do too much investigating, but tonight I shall delve into Summerfest! Happy Rifting!

 

• Summer of Souls: As stated, new improvements, buffs, abilities, and build synergies for some of the "vanilla Rift" souls like the Druid and Elementalist. Not gonna lie, they definitely needed the attention.
• Summerfest: The Plane of Life is just bursting forth with the bounty of summer, and they can't wait to share it with us! Not that I'm complaining. New rewards this year include artifact pinatas, Alsbeth's Raiment costume armor, a new mount, new achievements, new pets, etc!
• Multicore 64-bit performance stuff: Significant improvement to the latency issue, performance, and stability. Let's hope they live up to their claims! *crosses fingers*
• New Guild System: New Rift players will now be auto-invited to starter guilds. These new guilds are locked lvl 5 (guild lvl) and sort of gives players a look at guilds and introduces them to others their lvl so they can begin making friends right off the bat. That sounds kinda neat, actually. They've also removed the requirement of needing player signatures to create guilds. You can now make your own guild with just your little old self if you want to. Sounds kind of lonely though and defeats the purpose in my opinion. But hey, extra bank slots right?
• Dungeon Veteran System: Characters that complete a dungeon 5+ times will now become a "veteran" of that dungeon. Veterans that run that same dungeon with at least one other player who is NOT a veteran will be granted a 15% bonus to currency, rep, tokens, and exp. So, a good reason to bring your guildies, friends, and random new players to a dungeon with you!:)

[Off Topic] Patch 3.6: Celebration of the Ascended!

      Well well! It's Rift's 5th year anniversary. 5 years this game has been live. I just can't believe so much time has passed, it's shocking! So many wonderful memories in this game, so many memories to come! I'm excited for all the in game fun that's going to happen in this year's Carnival of the Ascended. Thankfully, they've changed some stuff up too and added things! Here's a few things they've added into the game for this year!

• IA: A new Carnival themed IA has been introduced that apparently involves boglings in Tempest Bay! The boglings are terrorizing everyone in the city and its up to us Ascended to put a stop to the dastardly critters. I actually like boglings. They are kind of cute.
• Frog Artifacts: Seems kind of random.....but hey, I love shinies! New artifacts are out that are half shiny and half frog. So that means they will be hard to catch. Hone your reflexes and collect all new artifact sets. Woot!
• Shimmersand Story Rifts: Oh wow neat! Apparently there's 4 new special Rifts that will tell some lore in Shimmersand. Why Shimmersand? I've no idea....maybe it has something do to with the Bahmi and their canyon home? You get to beat up the Blood Storm (again) and also the Teth (which I'm not too sure on other then he's the big bad this expac.....)
• Minion Adventure: There's a new Minion Card available in the store called Zephyr. When you get it, a new Minion Adventure opens up for you in the adventure tab and you can do a whole quest chain with your minions.
• More Stuff: There's apparently new daily quests, new rewards, like pretty new cosmetic armor, a new Saga quest chain, and lots of other stuffs! There's rewards like mounts, new wing looks, fans, cakes, masks, portrait badges, a dimension key, emotes, and backpacks!

Carnival of the Ascended Update! Now that I've finally had a taste of the carnival, I've got to say, I'm loving it! It's a lot of the same as the previous years, but there's also a lot of new things. One of my all time favorites is the new Vigil Wings. Omg they are beautiful!! (confession time: I have a wing fetish). I bought them for 900 credits and don't regret it! Now all my characters have them in their wardrobe in various colors! Yes, they can be dyed!!!! Soooo pretty! Another really amazing thing I love is the new Twisted Carousel Ram mount. That thing is totally awesome. He's very unique in his gait. Instead of the other mounts, he trots, like a prancing pony, and it's very obvious too. From the back, front, or side, he is a very flashy boy! I am so glad I was able to save up 5 doubloons to buy him!! <3 I made some videos of the Carnival as well, that I'll upload here at some point!

     I'm actually pretty excited for this holiday and can't wait to log in tonight after work and check it all out! The Carnival is one of my favorites and its also the most fun, with all kinds of quick fun activities to do! On top of the holiday event, there is of course some content stuff. Not much, but here's hoping the next one will be pretty big no? So there's new soul callings for everything this time around! We've got:

1. Warchanter-Warrior Soul- A healing soul with "Enchanted Commands"
2. Runeshaper-Cleric Soul- Support soul that does dmg as well as boosts your allies.
3. Frostkeeper-Mage Soul- A Healing soul that if you play WoW is kind of like a Discipline Priest. You use shields to protect and assist your allies.
4. Maelstrom-Primalist Soul-A ranged DPS soul that allows you do massive dmg at a distance.
5. Shadeborn-Rogue Soul- multi target DPS.

There's also a new tier of PA (Planar Attunement) to earn and get points for, there's new daily log in rewards for everyone, new PvP updates, and apparently there's another part of the update happening in May that will give us a new raid!!! Woot, a birthday present! I'll have to consider wether I think it's worth it to buy the new soul pack or not. After all, next week BlizzCon tickets go on sale and I'll need to buy those, as well as a plane ticket and hotel booking for the trip. Also I'm going to Edmonton in June to see the Warcraft movie in IMAX 3D ANNNNNND I'm attending an Expo in September with a costume I'm currently working on! So many things to do, so little time to actually accomplish anything. It's rather frustrating. But it's nice to just spend a night relaxing and having fun on Rift, and that's what I plan to do tonight! So for now, Dark out, and enjoy the Carnival!! :)
 

[Off Topic]: Patch 3.5, Winter's Wrath, and the Dark Pantheon, Oh My!

    Omg, lots of new and exciting things coming with patch 3.5 and I can hardly wait to play it tonight after work!! It launches December 9th, which is today woot!!!! Here's a look at what all is being introduced/changed in 3.5 "Winter's Wrath":

• Affinity-A Patron benefit thing apparently, which is fine by me cause I've been subscribed to Rift since it's launch in....uh....2010 was it? And I've kept subscribed to the year long sub even after the game went F2P (which I still don't agree with but whatevs). Apparently, Affinity means you collect Patron points just by logging into the game on a Patron account. For each day that you log in, you gain 5 Affinity points, plus you get an extra 3 points bonus as you play throughout the day. I'm assuming this is for playing for 3+ hours straight or something. Or for logging in multiple times? You can redeem your points for neat things on the Rift store, like mounts for any of your characters (which I take to mean that they are BoA, awesome!) or end game loot stuff! A huge bonus and a definite incentive for peeps to subscribe to Rift. I like this idea! UPDATE: The Affinity items are NOT BoA items sadly, and if you want the mounts on multiple characters, you need to keep saving up affinity until you have enough for each character to buy their own. Which makes me sad because I really want Bolt and Volt on all my mains! :(
• PvP- New and improved rewards for participating in pvp skirmishes. I'm not a big pvp'er, but I've been known to try my hand at it from time to time. I'll say this: I prefer Rift pvp to WoW pvp any day of the week! It just seems so much more....meaningful. Ya, that's the word I want. There is also a new tier of pvp gear available for end game for players who do hardcore pvp! You can earn this new tier of pvp armor, called Warmonger's Armor, by upgrading your Frenetic armor pieces (no idea what those are, as I haven't even got a char to end game yet LOL). There are also all new epic quality weapons, Warmonger Weapons on the Rift Store for pvp currency (Favor) and are also upgradeable. I actually really like the upgrade option that Rift introduced. It makes me feel proud to work toward upgrading my armor for better stats rather then just throwing it away at the first opportunity for something better! Apparently the Warmonger weapons give a chance a special effect in combat that could potentially turn the tide of battle. Sounds exciting! :)
• Ascended Troves- Trion is giving all of us Ascended a lovely gift basket and it's pretty darn awesome!!! Even non patron's get one! :) Starting at lvl 10, you can pick up your gift basket in the Rift store. It's full of gear you can use, mounts, pets, reward currency, dimension items, etc! For every 10 lvls, you'll be able to open up the Trove and gather more epic loots! The Troves work kind of like a nesting doll, where each one is wrapped inside the layer of the one before it. Like peeling an onion. If you aren't quite at the lvl where you can open your trove yet, just keep it in your bag or bank until you ding, then open it and reap the benefits!
• Fae Yule-Once again it's Christmas time in the real world, which means that the citizens of Telara will be celebrating the world renowned Fae Yule holiday! I love Fae Yule of all the holidays! The holiday spirit, excitement, and magic just gets me every time! Fae Yule will be added to the game On Dec 10th and go until Jan 6th, which thankfully gives me plenty of time to do stuff for it since I find myself working quite a lot lately to make up for my trip to LA for BlizzCon! There are bunch of new things to do for Fae Yule this year!
• Instant Adventure-Fae Yule Style!-Greatfather Frost and Atrophinius(was wondering when he would pop up again...) have set out to make Fae Yule the best one yet and restore order to the holiday, but they seemed to have consumed a bit too much mead(no surprise there) and are having trouble completing the work. Queue up for IA in Iron Pine Peaks to help restore Fae Yule to it's rightful holiday state. Somebody's gotta do it!
• Minions-All new holiday missions for your minions! I've only just familiar with the whole minion thing, so I'm kind of on the fence about this. They are fun and all, but I'm not really sure on their point in the game, other then random amusement for bored end game players. And in case you weren't able to do Fae Yule 2014's minion missions, they are going to be available again this year (which is good cause I didn't do them!) and you can also buy the minion card from last year: Rudy, from the Rift Store this year.
• Sparkle Quest- I'm not really sure what that even means...but the Rift sites says that you can earn bran new end game gear and rewards from the newest raid (Mind of Madness) by doing Expert Dungeons, winning Random Warfronts, looting the chest in Conquest, participate in experience-giving Zone Events, or by doing assorted daily and weekly quests. But it seems that last year's Faelight Sparkles will magically dissolve out of your currency window so they are no longer valid for this year. So if you saved them up from last year, too bad so sad, gotta work from scratch like everyone else! Once you earn enough currency from doing these tasks, you can buy some awesome end game gear, either for dps, healer, or tank.
• Fae Yule Quests and Zone Events-Earn currency, dimension items, pets, mounts, armor, and more this holiday by doing all the quests that were available last year! Like sledding down the slope in Iron Pine Peaks, dreaming up gifts in the Plane of Water, or performing tasks for the npc's in your capital city!
• Dormant Fae Yule Gifts-For the duration of Fae Yule this year, the final lvl 65 boss on Expert dungeon mode will drop a Dormant Fae Yule Gift. If you hang onto these mystery packages for 12 days, they will...uh...hatch?...and you can open them for a piece of gear from the first tier of raids in the Nightmare Tide expac! Hang on to them, upgrade them, and equip them and this armor would be just as good as those that drop from the raids!
• Achievements and Rewards- All new and old achievements, new pets, mounts, rewards, interactive items to liven up your group. The star at the top of this year's Yule tree is a set of necklaces that will make any Ascended blush(lol curious what that is...) The necklace costs 2k+ snowflakes or dark icicles, or you can buy it with credit. It's worth the equivalent of the first set of raid tier in Nightmare Tide, but you can also upgrade it to tier 2 very easily.
• Rift Store Purchasable Items- On the store itself, purchasable with credits, are a bunch of new holiday themed items, like animated backpacks, a "Midnight Mink" mount, Faeblight Sparkle weapon skins, and a couple of cute portrait badges to complete your festive holiday look!

Well, that's a lot of stuff to take in eh? I'm so excited for Fae Yule tomorrow! Once I've had a chance to log in tonight and tomorrow, I'll update this post with specifics about the actual Fae Yule event and other goodies like Affinity! I can't wait for work to be over with already, and I haven't even started my shift yet haha!

Other things happening in the wonderful world of Rift right now!! Like a behind the lore look at the Dark Pantheon bosses in the Mind of Madness finale!! Here's some info!
        "You've tested your mettle beyond the edge of space and time, through the twisting synapse forest of the Unknown, topping the perverse Pillars of Justice and conquering Envy in the Heart of Darkness. These are all gateways to the true horrors concealed within the Mind of Madness!" That quote is taken directly from Rift's website, here Mind of Maddness Dark Pantheon! Read it, really cool stuff! :)
The new bosses are Lady Justice, The Enigma, Dark Genesis, and Arisen Arak! Sooooooo cool, I wish I was end game and geared just so I can check this place out and explore it all! And of course get all the cool achievements and gear and things.

• Lady Justice: The Goddess of Reason and judgement. She's apparently supposed to bring order to the chaos of existence caused by the Enigma. That should mean she's the good guy right? Well, she's trapped inside the vessel and its warped her sense of right and wrong and her ability to think straight, so obviously she's going to think we are the enemy and need to be destroyed, so she's the first boss.
• Enigma: Well, since Enigma means puzzle, or something that can't be solved, that's exactly what he is. He's the delver of secrets, and arises from chaos. he's driven in a perpetual quest to figure out the mysteries of everything. He's not evil or good by any means, but he sees such a big picture that he doesn't really care about all the "petty" fighting going on around him, and of course that means he thinks Ascended are beneath him. His lack of regard for what he considers lesser beings, leads to us all getting squished unless we can defeat him first! Rawr!
• Dark Genesis: He's like the opposite of Lady Justice. He's located at the Monolith of Ruin and relishes in all things chaos and dark. He plots to bring destruction to Telara. I'm not sure what he has against our world personally, but he's gotta go down. We need to go there and kill him and put an end to his dark dreams of power.
• Arisen Arak: So, Arak has found out his true origin, and is now able to harness the powers of the other bosses to transform himself into an all powerful uber being, called an Onir, which is apparently divine in origin. He's also immortal. Oh boy. As long as the others remain imprisoned and sleeping, their dreams and nightmares return him to life, no matter how often you smash his face in. Just his existing shatters reality, tearing through space and time and bringing the eternal Nexus into the cosmos of Telara. The good thing is, he can only take control of one of the others' powers at a time, and if your fast, you can align yourself with a deity before Arak destroys them.

     So, pretty cool eh? I would love so very much to delve into Mind of Madness and check it all out, and take screenshots and get achievements and all kinds of really fun things for my beloved characters! I shall have to be patient however, and wait for the right time! It's just so hard to see all this neat stuff and not want to dive into it blade first!

Off Topic Comment: I did an amazing good Samaritan thing today that I'm really proud of! A good friend of mine, who has 3 children and lives down the street, has fallen on really tough times. Her kids are all really young (oldest is 7) and she can't afford to get them Christmas presents or anything for this year, so I took her shopping today and got a whole bunch of things for the kids, as well as a neat hoodie for the dad, and even something for herself to put under the tree!! I did all of this, with no strings attached, and no obligations for her to do anything for me in return. I'm just incredibly happy that I was able to make someone else's holiday a little brighter! I also invited them all over to my house for Christmas dinner if they have no where else to go. :) What have any of you done lately, in game or out, that you're proud of? Happy Holidays!
   
            ~Dark out!

[Off Topic] Patch 3.4: Primalist Unleashed!

Free Gift Pack and Week of Rewards
Join us to celebrate launch with a free Wilds Celebration Pack plus new log-in rewards every day from Oct. 10-16! They’re available on the RIFT Store now, but please note these rewards are limited to one character per account.
Wilds Celebration Pack Includes:

• Seafoam Crabnarok Mount
• Ascended Seal (Scales from Level 1-60)
• Shalistiri Weapon Costume Pack
• Trove of 160% Boosts
• 1 Million PA XP Crystallized Insight

To learn more about our launch-week log-in rewards, visit The Wilds Celebration post.
To start your journey Into the Wilds… stop reading and click play!


Ready to make history? The Primalist, our first-ever new Calling, is LIVE and resetting the clock in Telara. As the veil drops on Planetouched Wilds, rise as a fearless force of nature and lead a new journey through the planes!

• RIFT 3.4: Into the Wilds has arrived along with a massive new zone, a new dungeon and Warfront, and Primalist Packs that give you access to both the new Calling and 6 Primalist Souls.
• Has it been a while? Check out our guide to RIFT features you may have missed.
• Catch press coverage at Massively Overpowered, MMORPG.com, RIFTGrate, and more!

With the launch of RIFT 3.4: Into the Wilds, we’re in the mood to celebrate!

Now through October 30, the first character you log in with will receive an epic Wilds Celebration Pack.
The Wilds Celebration Pack includes:

• Seafoam Crabnarok Mount
• Ascended Gift (Ascended Seal): Scales in power (tuned for the Calling of the character who claims it) up to level 60.
• Shalistiri Weapon Costume Pack: Contains the Shalistiri Greatbow, Shalistiri Greatstaff, Shalistiri Greatsword, and Shalistiri Longblade
• Trove of Boosts (with 1 of each 160% Boost)
• Overcompensating Crystallized Insight: Grants 1 million Planar Attunement XP

Plus, from October 10 – October 16, you’ll find a brand new Primal Celebration Gift waiting to be claimed in the RIFT store every day of the week. Each day offers a different reward, so be sure to check daily – and remember: these rewards are limited to one per account!
The Primal Celebration Gift Calendar of Rewards includes:
October 10, 2015: 160% Transcendent Experience Vial
October 11, 2015: Artifact Hunter’s Bundle, with 1 of each of the following:

• Artifact Hunter’s Tracking Vial
• Unstable Artifact Hunter’s Tracking Vial
• Twisted Artifact Hunter’s Tracking Vial
• Burning Artifact Hunter’s Tracking Vial
• Poison Artifact Hunter’s Tracking Vial
• Nightmare Artifact Hunter’s Tracking Vial

October 12, 2015: Shal Korva Medallion: Grants 3,000 Shal Korva notoriety
October 13, 2015: Planetouched Pinata. Drop it on the ground, blow it up, and 10 random lucky players in the area get a Jolt Supply Crate full of loot!
October 14, 2015: Krill Pet
October 15, 2015: Dance Partner (Bahmi Female Celebrant)
October 16, 2015: Dance Partner (Bahmi Male Celebrant

The wild, wild… east?

RIFT’s world map has always contained a few inaccessible blank spots that the development team left open to fill in at a later date. Two of these patches of land that have been on the map from day one will open their doors come 3.4: the warfront of Bronze Tomb and the eastern region of Planetouched Wilds.
Astute players will notice that Planetouched Wilds is bigger than it used to be. A lot bigger, in fact. According to Ffinch, the zone was ripped out of Mathosia by a “cosmic rhinoceros” and taken on a long journey that exposed the region to the forces of the planes, infusing it with power and enlarging it to five times its original size. To those on the outside, the journey took place in a split-second, but to the Bhami who lived there, the region’s trip lasted thousands of years.
This level 65 zone lives up to its name in all respects. It’s an attractive landscape of rolling planes and blowing grasses that is broken up by a jagged crystalline canyon that runs through the region like an artery. Players will discover that not everything here is quite the same as the rest of Telara; for example, you can jump “crazy high” and witness rocks floating in the air for no apparent reason.
A new three-act narrative takes players through the backstory and current struggle of the zone and its peoples. Ffinch said that the studio invested more into voice acting this time around than it ever has in the past, especially with two key NPCs that will follow players around. One of these characters is Khar, a Conan-esque leader who’s a bit of a jerk but who also has a pet lamb named Mingy.
Even if a player is at max level, there are plenty of rewards to encourage zone exploration. New cosmetic sets, mounts, dimensions, artifacts, and gear upgrades are dangling for daring souls (pun intended) to pluck.

The barbaric feel of the land is echoed in the newly discovered Primalist calling. If players choose to purchase the calling, they’ll be treated to a new set of six souls that can be mixed and matched to create any role, only with a different twist.
Ffinch said that Primalist has been in development “for a long time,” and represented the desire for the developers to create a class that wasn’t pigeonholed into the current four archetypes. While the Primalist has strong ties to the Bhami, any race can become one.
Most all of the Primalist’s skills are impacted by an ever-present meter on the screen that vacillates between “fury” and “cunning.” Depending on where the meter is at, some skills are more or less powerful or aren’t even available to use.
Before you ask, yes, Trion has plans to add more souls to the calling, although no details or timetable were given for this.

And that’s not all!

As I mentioned earlier, Into the Wilds is a truly sizable update to the game that isn’t merely confined to one new zone and calling.
Ffinch rattled off a list of all of the content that players will find when 3.4 goes live this fall. This includes additional crafting recipes, a new five-man expert dungeon called Rhaza’De Canyons, more artifact sets with a new integrated system, and, according to Ffinch, “The most devious puzzle I’ve ever put into the game.”
RIFT’s raiding community isn’t being ignored with this update, either. Mind of Madness, a challenging 20-person raid, will hit the scene. It boasts “spectacular mechanics” and should keep raiders busy for a while to come.
“We’ve done what’s fun for us as developers and for our players,” Ffinch explained as a rationale behind the update.

Hints of the future

Of course, I couldn’t let Ffinch go without asking for a few hints as to the future of RIFT. We talked a bit about expansions and whether or not RIFT would be returning to them after Storm Legion and Nightmare Tide. He was cagey on the subject but didn’t rule out (or confirm) any plans for future expansion packs. Ffinch did comment that it was interesting how the MMO industry functioned on a pendulum that kept swinging back and forth between being attracted to and ignoring the expansion model.
He did say that there are definitely plans to do more with the popular minion system, although it was too early to talk about what those would be. Past that, Ffinch said that the team was “actively working” on the next steps for RIFT.
“We have plans that go a very long way into the future of RIFT,” he said. “We have big plans taking RIFT forward.”

Moving between Cunning and Fury, Primalists of Telara battle the forces of destruction and channel powerful animal spirits in defense of their lands! Read more to learn about this new Calling coming in RIFT: Into the Wilds!

Starved of their karma by the Tenebrean menace, the Primalist Bahmi of Planetouched Wilds learned to focus their negative energies into furious rage and clever tactics to control the untamed elemental forces they were forced to combat. Clad in leather and wielding either two melee weapons or powerful two-handed armaments, these spirit-bound barbarians should be approached with caution.
As a Primalist, you must learn to balance Cunning and Fury, as both can impart special effects to your attacks or shift your focus from one to the other. To master this Calling, it is essential to find the harmony between these forces. With your close connection to nature, you’ll also be able to call upon a Primal Avatar, a spectral animal that grants you the strength and wisdom to overcome your foes. Many a battle has been won or lost through effective use of these gifts!
Choose between six different Souls, from the resilient, steadfast Titan (Tank) to the tranquil Preserver (Healer). Defend your allies against furious onslaughts, fight valiantly by their side, or mend their wounds to keep them fighting strong. Each Soul is unique, offering dramatically different paths and playstyles. How you approach a battle will depend entirely on which you choose.
Now is the time to prepare, Telarans! The Primalist will be available for purchase with the launch of RIFT: Into the Wilds, or as part of The Wilds Pack.

[Off Topic] Patch 2.8: Madness Wakes

     The exciting new chapter in the sprawling saga that is Rift! I'm so excited! There's some new content coming this patch, which seems to be the prelude to the new Nightmare Tide Expansion! I always love the new content that comes right before the expansion as well as the lead in pre launch events! I think I enjoy it because this is the point where lore takes a leap forward past the stagnant ever present state of just existing in limbo once you read the end point. It's so awesome seeing it move forward! Here's some stuff to look forward to this patch!

• Nightmare Tide (3.0) Pre-launch Story Quests and Event
• "Cyril Kalmar and Kira Thanos have been dreaming darkly in the city of Tempest Bay. Help them put the dark nightmares to rest.
• "Dreaming Darkly"(Guardian) and "The Dark Dream" (Defiant) start off this awesome quest chain in Tempest bay by talking to your respective faction representative. After that, continue with the questline.
• New Dungeon: Nightmare Coast
• The lore of this dungeon starts off right after you complete the prelude quests mentioned above. The last of those quests takes you to talk to the Faceless Man in Shimmersand and from there, it's a hop and a skip to the Nightmare Coast dungeon entrance.
• 5 man dungeon for lvl 60 players
• It resolves the mystery of the Sinister Presence and details the story of how and why the Infinity Gate has wandered around the world to rest over Fortune's Shore. You battle a new group of fanatics calling themselves the Dream Coven as they work to open a new portal into the world and unleash a whole new mess of bad guys. Telara just can't catch a break eh?
• Soul Updates
• The Pyromancer soul received huge changes to abilities and how they work. Like, huge.
• Sentinals also got some pretty big changes.
• Stormcaller has a depressingly long list of changes (Kara is a Stormcaller)
• Updates to the Ah-This doesn't impact me since I don't use it.
• New Inspect Character changes-cool!
• Now we have the ability to dive underwater. Just hit X.
• Other changes
• Summoning a friend will now let them know who's summoning them.
• Rift store changes
• UI and settings changes
• Changes to older boss encounters for a more streamlined and sensible fight.
• Fixed some pvp issues (personally, pvp needs a loooooot of work.)

     And that's all folks! Now get out there and enjoy the new story, the new dungeon, and get ready for the next expansion cause it looks like it's going to be EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!

   ~Dark out

[Off Topic] Patch 2.7: Bindings of Blood

  

Lots of stuff happening with Bindings of Blood! The most exciting of course, being the new souls that Trion has been teasing us with these past few months!!!! Here's a list of the cool and exciting new features that will be available woot woot!

• 4 New Souls
• Arbiter- a tanking mage!
• Liberator- a healing warrior!
• Physician- a healing rogue!
• Oracle- a support cleric!
• New Special Capes!
• Well, to be fair, these capes come only if you complete the questline for each of the Souls listed above to get the lowdown on their lore, backstory, introduction, and gameplay! It's super cool. Obviously you'd have to be a rogue to do the rogue quest, and a cleric to do the cleric one, etc. You can get some really nice exp, a good cape, cool achievements and titles, and other fancy gear for your beloved character by doing these quests! Also, if you wander around the questhub area, you can pick up awesome books on the souls.
• Big Class Changes
• A few of the major Souls that got flung into the air were Cabalist, Stormcaller (my favorite mage spec) and Justicar.
• Tier 3 Raids
• SL Tier 3 raids now available for Greenscale, Akylios, Laethys and Maelforge respectfully, with upgraded gear and new achievements!
• Lots of events and activities!
• There's going to be a lot of busy players who enjoy doing the weekly events in Rift this patch!
• There's Unicornalia (a special unicorn-centric world event where you can collect sparkle particles to collect and turn in for a sparkly unicorn pet or whatever else catches your fancy)
• Temporal Flux- the same daily quests with chances at getting a new rare Empyreal Walker mount (personally I think it's ugly, no thx!) and other gear on the exotic vendor NPC that will be next to the daily quests in your major city.
• Mathosian Mayhem- Adds special rewards and rare drops to zone events throughout the time this event is going on. Moonshade and Droughtlands seem to be the chosen zones, Rift says.
• Summerfest 2014! With a beautiful Ravensong mount to aim for!
• Plenty of UI Changes and Improvements
• The macro UI
• Crafting UI
• Achievs UI
• Preview Item UI- woot, I can see mounts and pets now finally!
• More wardrobe saving spots for many more customizable costumes!
• Last Names! Finally we get to actually, officially, have a last name in Rift! This is my first time playing a game where I can pick a last name! Soooo excited beyond belief for this! It costs credits, but I'm fine with that, I haven't spent any of mine yet anyway. You can have multiple words and even spaces in your last name, and it doesn't count as a title either, so you can be "Planewalker Raeslyn Windrose of Akala" if you so desire!
• All old raid and pvp currencies were converted into platinum to get rid of a messy and cluttered up currency window
• New Warfront! Blighted Antechamber. Not released yet, but will be at a later date! A new capture the flag style warfront that should hopefully keep the pvpers satisfied.
• Changes to the Ascend-A-Friend program! Now it's all on the Rift store, and instead of just being gifted each tier of item for how many peeps you Ascend, you gain little blue star coins that you collect for each person you Ascend and you can than use toward buying a small selection of items. I already have the hat, puppy, and flamey horse so I'm happy!
• Improved Patron benefits for the patrons that were crying it wasn't worth it.
• New Launch window for "Glyph", the host program for all of Rift's games now, since they seem to be stacking up quite a few lol

And that's all the major exciting fun stuff happening this patch! Not a content full patch, but still I'm sure there will be plenty of things to keep me busy. Now I just need to decide if I want to buy the Dream Soul Pack or not....meh, I'm sure I'll get it lol! I would love having new souls to play around with! :)

~Dark out

[Off Topic] Patch 2.6: Dream Weaver

     So, big content patch yesterday! We're getting ready for the expansion, Rift 3.0 apparently and modifying some things as it gets closer. I'm still amazed and super excited about the plans to visit other planes! And we get Plane of Water first. I really liked Vash'jr in WoW. Anyway, here's some of the new things and changes with patch 2.6:

• New Trade Skill: Dream weaver. Apparently this is a dimension related profession. You can craft keys to new dimensions, as well as craft a ton of handy little objects for your dimension. Sounds cool. I never actually fiddled overly much with my dimensions, although I did love the concept of having your own house to decorate. I'll have to further investigate this to see if it's actually going to be a useful profession. The fuel is shinies though, so save your duplicate shinies for this trade skill!
• Unstable Artifact Sets: There will be Unstable [insert zone name] that will show up just like other zone events. The event is pretty fun, but not much going on other than the obvious, just run around and collect unstable artifacts. They will be little shinies on the ground like regular artifacts, but they will glow dark blue like lightning effect. The artifact sets that they complete are not to be taken seriously as lore, as they are "unstable" and usually just refer to random pointless things. If you are a patron you can use your artifact tracking vial to find them just like regular artifacts! There is a timer though. You can only collect them for song as the event is going on, and you can see the timer on the right under the zone event header. For each unstable artifact set you complete, you gain a "planar nut". If you get enough of them, I think it's 23, you can then purchase a Planar Squirrel mount, of which there are multiple colors and looks. They are adorable, but rather odd, and I'm not sure how I'd explain them in Rift lorewise lol.
• Bounty System: I imagine this is like that one quest system they introduced in SL. I can't think of the name of it darn it. Where you have the quest to kill certain mobs or a whole bunch of mobs in any given zone. (edit: Carnage quests). Anyway, the Bounty System allows you to go out and hunt down specific creatures. You can earn titles, achievements, cloaks, an access to a special vendor selling cool potions. Another thing that I hope to check out if I have the time. Too many things to explore!
• Prelude: Air Saga storyline: You get to embark in a multi-chapter and multi-phase Air saga quest chain that will give you plenty of lore and fun and rewards and open the door to an earlier age. You'll do quests leading up to the Exodus of the Storm Queen. As the phases open up, you'll track Crucia to Dusken and see what she's up to there. You can earn a storm griffon companion pet, a title, and Storm Legion armor pieces, which you can than customize in the handy wardrobe section of your character window. 
• Combat Pet Skins: This one is something I quite like very very much! Thank you so much Trion for making this ability a reality!!! Finally, we have different skin colors for our combat pets. You can unlock it with your talent system or on the rift store apparently. I can't wait to see if my wolf can be a diff color!
• Dimensions Update: More dimension slots (as if we didn't have enough already, jeez I feel spoiled), visual updates, and a better edit mode.
• Various Things: Return of the love bug, as it is in fact, February after all. New Bloodfire Raid Rifts, which drop a specific item that you can augment in the Bloodfire portal and create yourself a mount once you've "leveled up" your item/egg, the return of the Carnival of the Ascended, as well as various tweaks to all aspects of the game to improve performance, play and abilities.

[Off Topic] Patch 2.5: Song of Dreams

     For once I can get ahead of something! Patch 2.5 doesn't hit until Nov 6, but I'm posting it now because I've been insanely busy with BlizzCon and travelling there and getting ready that I won't have time to even play Rift, let alone give updates on here! So here it is:

• Mini-Saga: Song of Dreams: Return to Ember Isle, where expeditions are mysteriously disappearing undersea. Brave madness (and drowning) to discover a new menace to Telara and the Song of Dreams. Once you hear it, there's no going back!
• Gifts of the Fae: Starting Nov 13, Grandfather Frost unveils a new lvl 60 version of a favorite old world instance every week, including Deepstrike, a community voted choice, where you will face a completely new adventure in the heart of Stonefield.
• Infinity Gate Dimension: Lay claim to the ancient Brevanic gateway that started it all and show off new dimension items available only from Expert mode dungeons.
• Planar Attunement Nexus, PvP Tier 3: Finally! At least, that's what the pvpers would say as they've been whining about this particular thing for ages. I hope it turns out good for their sake. The new Tier includes Nature, Cinder, and Storm nexuses to put your new points and build to combine the best of the Planes. Plus the introduction of PvP armor Tier 3.
• House Fluffington Returns!: Between Nov 15 and 18 the House Fluffington Rifts will appear at random times in random locations for your chance at getting the title and achievements.
• Along with various fixes to player abilities, nerfs, buffs, UI changes, play changes, performance changes, the usual stuff that comes with patches. 

[Off Topic] Patch 2.4: Beyond Infinity

 

    Well I was a bit surprised (again) when I logged in today and was told I needed to update! It's that time again! A new patch, new content! This one is called Beyond Infinity and apparently focuses on the Infinity Gate and our imminent travel to a different Plane, which I think is coming in 3.0. It's so exciting! I've always wanted to visit another Plane, ever since I first start playing Rift! I really hope it can be done right so it's an enjoyable experience for everyone! And hey, maybe we'll meet some new races and get a new race to play! That would be awesome! And if they think they can't do that cause of the starting zone/lore stuff, well just make the new Plane the starting zone! Have these Ascended be after the events! And than they can go back in time and be part of the fun while lvling! Or something like that..could work, ya never know!

     Anyway, here's some of the features being introduced in Rift's newest patch, 2.4!

• New Raid: Infinity Gate. As the Ascended all run to see who reaches the Infinity Gate first, so they can control it and use it to access the other Planes, the Gate stirs to live, furiously trying to protect itself with potent magic. Bosses include Breaker XI, Swarm Lord Twins Mordan and Viktus and something called a Karthan Juggernut. Sounds fun, right? Max players: 20.
• New Dungeon: Realm of Twisted Dreams. For some reason every time I see that name I keep thinking it says Realm of Twisted Realms...I don't know why, that's just what my mind reads. I think it's because Realm and Dream are so close spelling wise. Well, this dungeon is apparently a revamped Realm of the Fae, starring Atrophinius's worst nightmares come true. All the bosses have undergone some cosmetic changes and now appear frightening and twisted, even Atro himself. You have to fight your way through the Realm, just like RoTF. Who knows, could be fun! Max players: 5. Level req...I'm not sure? Probably 60?
• New Chronicle: Infernal Dawn: Yay, we finally get a Chronicle about Laethys! Having never done any of the raids, I rely on Chronicles for lore and info for my story. I can't wait to check this Chronicle out! Max players: 2.
• PvP prestige rank 90. I'm not much into the PvP scene so I honestly don't even know what that means lol! I'm sure it will make the pvpers happy though. Or at least I hope so. They are always whining on the forums from what I see.
• Cross-Shard instant adventure. Well, I don't necessarily care about this one either. I've never been a fan of cross-realm stuff, ever since WoW introduced it. I can see where it would be beneficial for low pop. realms, but it could also get annoying, seeing all numbers of people running rampant all over the zone. I like my zone peaceful and quiet!
• New hairstyles. Zomg! I've been hoping for some new hairstyles since forever! This is super cool!!! I can't wait to check out the barber and see what's what! It's gonna be fun! From the pictures, it looks like it's not "new" new hairstyles, but rather taking hairstyles from the other races and making them available for the other races. But still, that's wicked cool. Thanks Trion!
• New UI stuff for noobs. Newbie players get a new help screen, new tutorials, and new special quests for each significant level they gain. Could be helpful I suppose. But I reached end game without any of that, way back when too, when everything was confusion and chaos.
• New Rift Store section. Trophies apparently. After your character gains a special reward or event, you can purchase trophies of it on the Rift Store. I'll have to investigate that I suppose!
• The usual changes to classes and races.
• Changes to questing, items, zones, etc. I never pay attention to that stuff.

     All in all, a pretty exciting update to Rift! I can't wait to dive in and investigate it all!

PS: Apparently the Blood Raptor (Rogue Ranger spec last pet) has a seriously new and wicked look. I totally approve!

[Off Topic] Rift 2.3: Empyreal Assault

     It's patch day apparently. I totally forgot all about it, despite the huge free to play announcement and it didn't occur to me until I went to log in that I would have to download a new patch. And holy mother of Regulos, it's a big one!! There's so many many new things! It's insane!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
     First off, a paragraph of ranting about my feelings on the new free to play model that Rift is adopting this patch! I must admit that when I first saw the email message on my phone all those days past that said Rift was going free-to-play, I was furious. Absolutely furious. I'm not sure why...perhaps I felt betrayed by Rift? Let down? Disapointed? I can't say for sure. But I remember taking one look at the email and than shutting my phone off. I remember thinking that's it, I've no more desire to play this game. Which was incredibly depressing because I love Rift. I cherish the game and everything about it. I've lived 2 years of my life surrounded by all things Rift, and I was sure in the fact that it would always be a sub based game. I even left WoW for Rift, which is a big thing for me, since I've been playing WoW straight since 2006. I get hooked into games very easily I'm afraid and WoW was the first MMO and RPG that I'd ever come across. GW happened to be the second and Rift was the third. I know, that's not much experience in the MMO world, but I don't care. I absolutely loved all 3 of those games, and of all of them, Rift was by far the most memorable. My favorite. So when I read the free to play announcement, I was so depressed and sad that I thought I'd uninstall Rift and reluctantly make my way back to being a full time WoW player. Half a week later, my sister finally convinced me to at least give the new version of Rift a chance. So I went to the website, read all the info I could, and than I ventured onto the forums, rightly guessing at all the nerdraging everyone else would be doing about the new model. And I was right. Every complaint I could have ever thought of and more was shouted out across the forums. After I'd read the announcement thread and all those thousands of complaints about the free to play model, I didn't feel so totally against the idea. I guess reading all those people whine and complain made me feel differently. Also, the new videos and screenshots seemed really interesting, and the promises the devs were making that Rift would essensially remain the same helped resolve some of my hurt feelings and here I am, ready to try the new free to play Rift! I well and truly hope that the game I know and love hasn't changed too drastically with their new plans for it, and I hope it will continue to grow and evolve into a fun and wonderful game! More fun than it already is, if that's possible!

     That out of the way, here's the lowdown on what's going to be coming to Rift in patch 2.3!!!

     For the new patch, a whole ton of things are changing. I'd rather not go through the ENTIRE list of changes, additions and modifications, so I'll just mention the things I'm most interested in.

•      Dendrome! Finally here, woot! The thing I love most about games, especially new or active ones, is the content. The story, the setting, the new worlds and zones to explore. I absolutely love that about games. It's soooooo much fun to run around on my favorite mount collecting "shinies", exploring caves and unique trees, finding rares, and all that jazz. To have a whole new zone to play in is just total icing on this patch's cake!!! I can't wait to explore it! Of course, due to some other situations, I'm not 60 yet, but I'm working at it and I'll be sure to enjoy all the other new zones as well!
•     New Chronicle (Queen's Gambit) and new Sliver (Grim Awakening). I really liked the idea of chronicles because that meant that everyone got to get a peek of the story behind all the raids and end game content. Yay for lore geeks! I love learning new things to fit into the big lore puzzle and I also like having more activities to do! Not just for me, per se, because I've always had no problem finding more than enough to do, but I like to know there's content out there to keep other players happy and playing too!
•      Strongholds? Apparently we get to have some kind of flying citadel thing if I'm reading this right? I've no clue, but I'm sure I'll find out more when I log into the game! As of yet, I am still downloading the patch!
•      Rift In Game Store: We get a new unique store now to buy certain things from to help us as players and characters in the game. Services at the store include patron day pass, rune unsocketing apparatus, planar essence removal, weapon customization, character slot extension, bag slot extension, faction change (which doesn't change your race apparently! Defiant High Elf anyone?), mass soul mend, role slots, wardrobe slots, race/gender change, more bank slots, and a ton more I'm sure that I don't know about!

     Also, the veteran rewards system has been replaced with loyalty system. All your previous veteran rewards stuff will now be loyalty and patron stuff (I'm still confused on this actually) and you can earn rewards and credits by subbing to Rift like you always used to do. Or rather, like I always used to do...

     Another nice touch is the addition of guides in the cities. Now in Meridian or Sanctum you can ask a guard for information on where a certain vendor or personage is. I've always liked that about WoW and I'm glad I can finally see fit to find my way around the cities easily without wandering for hours or asking the chat channels *shudders*. And now we can finally use Omen/Quantum sight in Storm Legion to find twisted artifacts, woot! I'm glad for the chance to find new shinies!

     You can now preview mounts, mini pets, recipes, dimension items, etc before buying them! That's totally awesome! I'd love to be able to see what a mount or pet looks like before spending coin or currency on it! Awesome idea, I love it! Also, the patch says that the valmera and the eldritch steeds are no longer faction specific! That means that my Kelari can ride one of those awesome looking two-tailed cat mounts! I've always, ALWAYS wanted one, but I don't have a character on the Guardian side who's high enough. Now I don't have to worry about that!

     Along with all this crazy amount of information and changes there's the usual stuff: soul nerfs and buffs, quest changes, currency changes, zone fixings, boss fight fixes, all the usual stuffs. Most of that stuff I just skim over at best, since I don't go in for the theorycrafting, math part of the game anyway. I just try the ability out and if I like how it works, great! If not, I'll try to refrain from using it unless a situation comes up that it could be useful in.
    

[Off Topic] Patch 2.1

     Endless Eclipse

     And it's Patch time again! It seems that the weeks just fly by. It's almost Christmas...again. At least I've got most of the presents for family and friends already bought and wrapped and/or sent off in the mail. In between my demanding job I've been trying to find time and here there to update my blog and write stuff down. I've also shown some interest in the Telarapedia wiki. I left a note over there expressing my interest to join the team of those creating the wiki pages, we'll have to see what they decide I suppose. But I think it's time to talk more about the patch than anything else, eh?

     Patch 2.1 looks to be one of the more fun and interesting ones I've seen in a long time. I'm not sure if that's because woot we get new content or because it brings back the Fae Yule, with even more interesting things to do, and more items added! I vaguely remember last year's Fae Yule. I think at the time I was still heavily immersed into the WoW side of town and so my log in times were fleeting and sporadic. But I do remember seeing Meridian all decked out in candy canes, and I remember players with rudolph-esque corgis. Someone on the Trion team really loves corgis, that's all I have to say on that subject. And now, here's some of the cool things coming with Patch 2.1:

• New 20 player raid: Endless Eclipse, located in Shaper's Citadel (wherever that is, my knowledge of expansion stuff is very limited so far..). Apparently there's a portal inside somewhere that leads directly to the Plane of Death, where you get to beat up/be beat up by Regulos himself! Woot, I can't wait to see what he looks like. The only glimpses I'v gotten of Regs in the game is in the starting zone, as a half human half dragon/monster mutant thingy.
• New Chronicle: A Hero Rises. Apparently Crucia attacks Tempest Bay, the big neutral capital city in the expansion. We Ascended have to use technology and constructs to fight back and protect the city from her invasion. There also seems to be a "doomsday device that could threaten the Ascended with permanent death" involved. That alone makes it worth trying out. I'd love to see what kind of device that is and who created it, or when it was created! I wonder how it works?

• Fae Yule World Event. Yep, coming in Patch 2.1 (although it isn't out yet, as of now) is going to be a new world event. So far, I've loved and cherished all of the world events, and I eagerly look forward to another one. Especially a holiday themed one. The one thing I really enjoyed and looked forward to in WoW was holiday themed world events, and I absolutely love that Trion is finally getting around to consistently doing that as well! And included in this year's event is new dimension items, new costumes, new shinies, new armor, new pets, and even new mounts! Obviously Trion is just totally awesome. They work so hard to bring new and interesting things to us. <3 Trion!

• Play free: Like in the past during all other new world events and big content patches, Trion is offering to let players play for free from Dec 14-18 (that's this weekend in case your wondering).

Other cool features of Patch 2.1 is the ability to own, create and build your own dimension regardless of whether you have the expansion or not. Of course there is restrictions on this. I believe there's only 3-4 dimensions they let you purchase if you don't have SL, but still, that's pretty neat! That way players (like my sister) who haven't bought the expansion yet can still enjoy some of the more favored sections of it. I know that for me, the best part of the expansion is the dimensions!

Along the seasonal theme, paired with Fae Yule, we'll now get new seasonal Instant Adventures, which sounds really cool and fun, and a seasonal version of Whitefall Steppes. I've never been a big fan of Whitefall Steppes. Well, I don't pvp often, but when I do, I really like easy, simple to understand warfronts like Black Garden, Codex and Library. For some reason Whitefall Steppes just confuses the hell outta me. But a Christmas/Fae Yule themed warfront does sound kinda neat so perhaps I'll have to dust off my pvp mitts and try it out!

Conquest is also being brought back. They are now sectioning off Conquest into 'seasons' kind of like WoW's Arena seasons. I remember when I tried out Conquest. It was okay but I always picked the Rams because I felt sorry for them always losing and being imbalanced and undermanned. Which in turn made me depressed because my team always lost. There was ONE time where the Rams won, and I got an achievement and a title for it, but other than that, Conquest was more of a gankfest for me unfortunately. However, I LOVE the CQ sky...it's the most beautiful, visually pleasing, and unique MMO sky style I've yet seen and it reminds of astrology for some reason.

Another thing is the addition of Autumn Harvest items being available on the World Event Merchant finally. I've been waiting for that because I totally missed out on getting my ghost mount. I'm still pretty sad about that. My own fault though for procrastinating and not doing the daily quests.

Dimension stuff added in Patch 2.1 were training dummies, which apparently a lot of people wanted. Personally, I didn't see a problem with using Meridian's dummies. That's just one less reason for peeps to visit Meridian now.  Prices of dimensions and dimension items, as well as dimension upgrades have been reduced (although I think that happened last patch but can't be sure). The item limit for dimensions has also been increased; great news for the hoarders and packrats as well as the castle and mansion builders.

Patch 2.1 also gave us a slew of changes, rearrangements and nerfs to 4 main callings. I won't list them all cause that's a lot of stuff to write down, but there were some pretty big changes in the Souls.

There was also a slew of adjustments to item names, item tooltips, locations of items, quests, zones, and other random things. All in all, I think Patch 2.1 and the World Event to follow is going to be a busy one, and I can't wait to immerse myself into the new and improved Telara!