Go: Absolute Beginner

My mom died when she was fairly young. Her carnival glass collection, her silver, her jewelry, I have nothing of those things. I think her new husband tossed all the childhood things of mine I was keeping at her place, all my childhood books I’d hoped to pass on to my kids. All I have … Read more

Rift: Just give me what I want…

Raid rift in Shimmersands

All I want out of a fantasy game is dragons and the tools to kill them. DDO (more on that in another post) is a disappointment there. They should just rename that game “Dungeons and ????? Online”. But Rift… Rift is just lousy with the big lizards. The whole rift concept seems tailor made for them as well. A dragon pushes a bit of its own reality into Telara; it comes with buildings, henchmen, swirling, floaty rocks and storm winds, and we push it back.
Right in the open world, too, among other adventurers going their own ways. They can even decide to join in for some rewards. I was benched out in Saturday’s Greenscale raid, so while waiting for a spot to open, I went on a couple of pickup daily raid rifts. It’s difficult to see how raiding could be more accessible than it is in Rift. Pickup raid rifts take about fifteen minutes to do, once you get started. Loot usually is a couple of planar essences and a bit of gear, as well as the inscribed sourcestones used to buy “best in slot” essences back in the capital. So there’s a powerful incentive for even raid-geared folks to get these daily raid rifts done.
More dragons and lots of other stuff, after the break.

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The Miseducation of MMO Players

I believe the only way to do anything is “all in”. When I started getting into anime in the 80s, I took Japanese lessons to better understand. When I watched the street racing anime Initial D recently, I learned for the first time how cars were tuned for specific road conditions (and watched a lot … Read more

From “The Only MMO is WoW” dept.:

There’s probably worthwhile studies to be done on the MMORPG phenomenon. The games of the genre are designed to keep you interested and engaged for thousands of hours. The game itself is a potential setting for the formation of a long-lasting community that could extend far beyond the game realm. MMOs have provoked real life … Read more

Rift: The Expansion Trap

Every time I post, my character is wearing a new outfit. It’s a compulsion! I can’t help it. But this outfit is special — it’s T1/P2 complete. Everything comes from either Tier 1 expert dungeons, or Prestige 2 PvP gear vendors. The gear from T1 and P1/2 are roughly equivalent. I spent Saturday chaining warfronts … Read more