Atari river raid

River of Souls ended with a fizzle...but at least I got a ghost horsie out of it. Ah, Rift. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the game, and up until now I think everything has been running rather swimmingly. But as much as I love to stay optimistic, I also gotta call it as I see it. Trion, while the final two phases of the River of Souls were a great idea, looked like a fun time on paper, the execution left a lot to be desired. Granted, my experience was on Faeblight, one of the most heavily populated US shards; your experience may have differed. If everything went smoothly for you and the worst thing that happened was a bit of bad lag, I am happy for you and I’m glad you had a great time. But I  have to look at the overall quality when I comment on how the entire thing was handled, and one of the major factors that separates a fiasco from a success when you try and launch a world event more or less simultaneously across your entire game is ensuring that all your … [Read more...] about Rift: So That Was It For River Of Souls

Jackals and Idiots This morning I had this post in my head that I was going to write, talking about my present funk with World of Warcraft, and how I would not be still subscribed were it not raiding.  I was going to talk about the ramifications of this expansion and how it is weighing heavily on my guild and the activities of its players.  While it feels like I had written this same post numerous times in the past, I thought like maybe I had new things to say about it.  I said I “was” going to write it because at some point yesterday I started reading a post linked to me by a friend.  While it took me several tries over the course of the day to actually finish it…  I am glad that I did.  In the post a blogger/journalist/whatever you want to call it interviews someone who makes games.  We don’t know what role they play, or what company they worked for… but as the interview unfolds none of that really matters since  … [Read more...] about Hip to be Mean

The Struggle One of the biggest challenges about this whole “blog every day” concept is that some mornings there is just nothing at all in my head to talk about.  When I am sick like I was yesterday, I tend to turtle and pull my head up inside my shell, disconnecting me from the interwebs and all of you fine people.  Unfortunately when my biggest source of inspiration is gone, I can get a little bit of writers block.  It is mornings like this that I feel outline the importance of just allowing yourself to write whatever happens to pop into your head.  It might not be epic and exciting, but it is staying true to the mission as a whole.  Unfortunately we are well based the NBI 2014 initiative, otherwise I would spin this into some sort of an inspirational post about struggling through. This is not a slight in any way to the previous NBI groups, but I have been really impressed with just how tenacious the Class of 2014 has been.  Generally … [Read more...] about Pairing Down

Last week, Rift saw the release of Patch 1.1 and the start of their first world event: * The Endless Court invades Telara! This worldwide event for all present-day Telara zones and level ranges culminates in the opening of the River of Souls raid zone. For the last few nights, I’ve been participating in it, trying to mix it up a little by questing and fighting Alsbeth’s forces at the same time. At first, I loved it — it brought new lore to the game which is always a welcome addition, the raids were a blast, and most importantly, I appreciated the inclusiveness of the event. There’s something for everyone. Yet, after the first couple of days, things started to feel like a chore. In Rift’s defense, it’s just a matter of time anything involving doing dailies will start to feel like that for me. I also realize that this is only Phase 1, and things may still be in the process of “ramping up”. Currently, all zones can open death rifts and … [Read more...] about Rift: River Of Souls