The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 5 – Silverwood

Continuing from Part 4.

1:57 am GMT, 31st of December

We’re coming up after another patch, and Osgard has just arrived in the main Rift world at Divine Landing in Silverwood.

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Osgard arrives at Divine Landing in Silverwood

He approaches the Messenger for instructions.
Continue reading The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 5 – Silverwood

The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 4

Continuing on from The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 3.

10:53 pm GMT, 30th of December

The servers have come back up.

We left Osgard up on Ascension Hall, dithering over which soul to claim as his reward. While Ranger was quite tempting, I wouldn’t be spending many points in that tree, meaning that my pet would be forever limited to being level 5, so it would cease to be of any use pretty quickly. Marksman fits Osgard well, especially once he gets rid of this silly bow and finds himself a decent rifle!

As it turns out, this is not the end of the tutorial area, and the Messenger of the Vigil sends me back to Valor’s Hold for more instructions. Two more tasks await me.

1. I must seek out one of the undead steeds that I’ve previously noticed about the place, cleanse it with a magical bridle, and ride it back.
2. I must gain control of a catapult, and use it against the necromancers and their ettin friend.

Now we’re cooking with gas! These sound like mighty and worthwhile deeds, not to mention fun!

Rift Horse Mount Steed 550x385

Wheeeeeeee! Unfortunately you don't get to keep this one!

Continue reading The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 4

The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 3

In yesterday’s thrilling instalment, Osgard was born, died, and born again as an Ascended being. Not bad for a day’s work.

He stands now at the Thontic’s Fountain quest-hub in the village of Ardenburgh, having just gained his second soul, and spent some soulpoints. It’s time to get going again.

As Minsc would say, “Evil, meet sword. Sword, meet evil!!!!”.

4:35 pm GMT, 30th of December

The Defiant have placed machines around the village which are capturing innocent villagers and draining their essence, reducing them to undead. Truly diabolical behaviour, and Osgard has been tasked with destroying those machines. He has also been asked to slay a number of Ardenburgh Horrors, and retrieve the holy Sanctified Spheres that they have stolen.
Continue reading The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 3

The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 2

Continuing on from Part 1

This is phase 3 of Rift’s Beta, and for this one we can play either Guardians or Defiant. You can check out the patch notes for phase 3 here. As mentioned, I’m going with Guardians for this liveblog.

10:16 pm GMT, 29th of December

Osgard regains conciousness in a great hall, the Sanctuary of Rebirth. Before him stands a Messenger of the Vigil, an Angelic being that has come down from the heavens to give Osgard his first newbie quest, and grant him his first soul (subclass).

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The Sanctuary of Rebirth in Rift.

This is a good spot to take a look at the UI. There’s nothing there that will particularly surprise anyone who has played an MMO before. We’ve got a radar, a hotbar, healthbars, and the little buttons in the bottom left will bring up the more specialised UI elements like the character interface, quest log, collections, and achievements screen.
Continue reading The Rift Beta Bonanza – Part 2

The Rift Beta Bonanza. Part 1: Character Creation

While our digestive systems might still be feeling a little grouchy, and looking dubiously at the coming weekend, it is no time for slacking here as phase 3 of Rift’s beta is in full swing! With the NDA dropped, I can finally speak the words that everyone (give or take everybody other than me) has been waiting for. I declare a Beta Bonanza!!!

Hopefully this one will go a little better than the Mortal Online one, where I was so shocked by the full nudity during character creation that by the time I’d recovered from the vapours the beta had rudely ended without warning!!

How these tend to work is as a semi-stream-of-conciousness affair as I play through the beta. Rather than posting hundreds of posts, I just keep updating the existing one until it gets too big or there is a sensible cut-off point.

This is Phase 3 of Rift’s Beta, and there has been an impressive new patch ahead of the servers opening up.

8:30 pm GMT, 29th of December

So, lets do this thing. Osgard the dwarf has stepped forward to volunteer for this mission, so I’ll be playing on the Guardian side on the Wolfsbane server. Before I create him, lets have a quick peek at the races the Defiant faction has to offer. It’s always handy to know who’s going to be trying to kill you.

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The Defiant Races of Rift


Continue reading The Rift Beta Bonanza. Part 1: Character Creation