I am in the mid-high level zone of Moonshade Highlands still. My vacation slowed me down for a week. I am pretty sure I am nearly finished with it being level 41 and nearing the final Guardian quest hub. I am starting to see an interesting change in these lower populated zones, especially during the week (i.e., even lower pop.). It sadly reminds me of Warhammer Online’s descent. The problem is that fewer people care about lonely rifts that open up. Invasions still seem to draw a raid group or two since they give rarer tokens and an achievement if beaten. Rifts, especially major ones, seem to be drawing less people.
Category: Rift
Interview with the Gaiscioch Guild
I went a different route in Rift, and I joined a very large guild, The Gaiscioch Family. Usually I join guilds with about 40-50 members or smaller so this has been a much different experience for me. I am finding in an open-grouping MMO game, specifically Rift, the larger guild has provided a great experience. I wanted to interview the guild leader, Foghladha, about some of the unique aspects of a “mega-guild” or one big family.
What’s your elevator proposal for joining Gaiscioch?
The Gaiscioch Family began in November of 2001 as a channel for people of similar hobbies to make new friends by participating in something they already have in common. Our roots are set in the Celtic Mythological Cycle and take the name Gaiscioch from the Lebor Gabála Érenn where a group of Warriors chosen by the Tuatha de Danaan — The Celtic Gods — to fight along their side in the First Battle of Moyturna. These warriors not only displayed honor to their own troops but to the enemy troops as well. They took the time to teach the Fir Bolg warriors their technologies, their weaponry, and teach them to use it in hopes that the battle would be more fair for both sides.
This type of thinking is exactly where the Gaiscioch family has grown to become. We are an outward thinking family who looks to improve the community that they are part of by hosting large scale public events open to everyone including the opposite faction. They organize server wide events and provide them with the publicity for people to hear about and flock to attend. While most “Guilds” focus inward and strive to make their own better, the Gaiscioch strive to make the whole server better. Our focus is on community development and involvement and with this comes several benefits and several curses.
The Gaiscioch Family has consistently grown over the past decade reaching over 1,400 members from all around the globe. We feature an out of game leveling system within the family which rewards members from participating together through gaining ranks, badges, achievements, and even family currency called Family Vault Credits. Using family vault credits you can purchase things from the family Marketplace, or request resources to help fill crafting orders. We have a dungeon planner system in place to help people find others who need the same dungeons at the same time and have one of the most in detail list of guides and discovery locations on the web. With thousands of members you will rarely have trouble finding a group.
Shades of Zoo
A zoo is a different kind of theme park, but there are many different kinds of zoos. Guild Wars 2 fans are trying to envision that upcoming game through the lens of Rift. I wouldn’t say it’s like comparing apples and oranges, but it might be better to say the arena is Disney’s Animal Kingdom versus the San Diego Zoo. Disney’s Animal Kingdom is on the borderline of being a theme park in the harshest MMO sense. The caretakers call the exhibits “stages” or “sets” (my former zookeeper wife couldn’t exactly remember), and they want every zoo patron to see exactly the same experience. On the other hand, San Diego Zoo is a “progressive” zoo, which seeks to put the animals in as natural a cage as possible without it being a nature reserve.
Like real zoos, MMOs with dynamic event systems can vary along these shades of gray as well. In Rift, events are like a calling. I drop everything I am doing and run towards the rift, invasion, or my favorite a planar tear, which I can open with a skill to start a rift. They are the exciting thing going on when the rest is filler by comparison. It gets even more interesting, in a Skinner sense, when players are rewarded more so for attacking specific colors of rifts, such as death in the latest world event Grim Harvest. I’ve seen other players completely ignore, for example, a dominating life invasion to go for that one death rift in the corner of the map. In Guild Wars 2, since everything was an event, I didn’t really care whether there were other players or how active the event was. I just went where I wanted to play during the demo because activity was everywhere.
That’s Why We Call It A Zoo
At the basic level, a zoo is a theme park. We go to see the animals and exhibits. We don’t go to jump in the lion’s pen and see what happens or build penguin dens. Yet, there is a vast difference between a zoo and a conventional theme park because we’re not always sure what we will experience. In a theme park, the rides, show times, and games are all set, but at a zoo the tigers might be napping while the monkeys are doing it next door. Things are especially interesting if a zoo visitor happens upon feeding time.
From basic definitions a theme park MMO is one where players experience exactly what the developers intend for them to experience, and sandbox MMOs are more player driven. Yet, with Rift and the upcoming Guild Wars 2, developers aren’t exactly sure what players will experience. There is a little more excitement and chaos than the usual theme park in these MMO zoos.
[Rift] Mind Dump
Random thoughts unworthy of an individual post, but when their power is combined…
(a) Free brown dye all the time would be awesome.
[Rift] Shaded Events
I am nearly done with Scarwood Reach. The weekend hit a nice upswing in zone population, and we actually completed a few zone wide events. Sadly the Winged Horror event to defeat 50 invasions (then the boss) always seemed beyond our grasp. I think too many people were still rift chasing when that event really just requires defense. Anyway, I am starting to see more shades in Rift’s dynamic event system beyond the basics. Continue reading [Rift] Shaded Events
[Rift] Chloroformed
Usually I play a healer (World of Warcraft priest) or healer utility (Lord of the Rings Online captain). With Rift I decided that I was going the ranged DPS role. I played around with a Pyromancer/Chloromancer build in beta, but I found that I really liked the Stormcaller soul for live. For soloability and excellent energy management, I added on a helping of Elementalist (pet included). A little late at level 3o, I finally decided to really start messing around with builds. I decided that since I love supporting, I was going to create a Chloromancer build for use in group content where a healer was needed.
I dutifully switched roles (saved Rift builds in game), dumped all my points in to Chloromancer with the excess in to Warlock, and stood back. My skill bars were just awash in green. It was easy to pare the few Warlock skills away, many of which were long term buffs, but I was just bombarded with way too much information. I felt like I had just been dumped in to a cockpit of an airplane, and then I was told “go.”
[Rift] Take Me to the River
The first major patch for Rift is happening today. While there have been many patches from minor balance issues to hot fixes in Rift’s first month after launch, this is the first patch that deserves a whole tenth of a version. The 1.1 Update is bringing plenty of heavier balance changes, a lot of other tweaks, a new raid, and an event. Of course this first patch is well timed for players sitting on the fence subscription-wise, but Trion Worlds has told PCGamer that they intend to be “the most nimble and dynamic MMO developer in the AAA market.”
I am excited about the whole patch, especially the changes to the mage class, which is my main, but I am most excited about the Endless Court event. This event is gamewide. Every zone (except the tutorial areas) will be affected as an onslaught of Death plane invaders attack Telara. This is a true invasion as each zone erupts with rifts and footholds, which of course start sending out invading groups to attack any area left unscathed. Like the current zone wide events, player activity will be considered when the system is about to drop the Endless Court event. The big difference is that with normal zone wide invasions if all the zone’s wardstones fall, the event fails. With the start of the Endless Court event, the zone has already lost, and players have to fight to reclaim their world.
This is what excites me about Rift. The dungeons, class system, raids, and PvP (and I guess quests) are all nice, but it is their dynamic events that are really making me a fan of their game. It has taken some time to unlearn much of my conditioning caused by MMOs of the past, but now I am reveling in the chaos, dynamics, and camaraderie that these dynamic events bring. I want more of this. I want planar nukes dropping on capital cities. I want more complex events that chain to bring a greater story to life. I want to feel like I am building up Telara and breaking down the invading planes. The update is taking the game one step closer to this dream. For now, I am looking forward to a world bathed in Death tonight.
–Ravious
MMO Love to Japan
The world is supporting the crisis in Japan, but that support doesn’t just end with individuals and governments. Game companies are stepping up too. Valve is trying to get gamers to buck up by buying Japanese-themed Team Fortress 2 hats (all proceeds after tax to Red Cross). Two MMO companies are taking another route.
NCSoft has donated over 6,000,000 USD directly to Japan, which overshadowed every other Korean corporation donation at the time it was made (including Samsung and LG). It even outshadowed Japanese corporations donations like Nintendo and Sony. Now it is likely that Japanese corporations are “donating” with paid-time off and other ways to help employees and their communities, but it does put a point on NCSoft’s significant generosity.
US-based Trion Worlds with the shiny-new MMO Rift is taking a more personal route. They are finding their Japanese customers and giving them a free month of play. It’s not necessarily as humanitarian as donating money to aid, but it adds yet another showing that Trion Worlds values its customers. I have recently been a little critical of the mid-level zones and fuzzy edges of the dynamic content engine, yet as I noted in my last Rift post, they are keeping me a happy customer.
Prayers and thoughts continue to go to the island gaming nation. Also, one can never have too many hats.
–Ravious
[Rift] Middling Wardstones and Zones
I headed away from Scarlet Gorge finally in a bittersweet decision. I really had wanted to defeat the zone boss, Urthura, who is spawned when one faction controls all the ancient wardstones in the zone. The Guardians did get to the point where all the ancient wardstones were controlled, and we even saw the Urthura spawn text flash across the middle of our screens. And then… nothing. She apparently poked her head up but then went back to sleep, or she figured the failed death invasion event detritus could have Scarlet Gorge, or we lost a wardstone, or something. Hopefully, next time I visit Scarlet Gorge I can kill her.
Still, I am thankful to go. Scarlet Gorge seems like an experiment gone wrong. The zone extends along a river that flows North to South, and in comparison to the other square-ish zones, Scarlet Gorge is a thin rectangle. Each faction holds an opposing end of the long rectangle. Traversing the zone is a pain as both the river and the road are full of mobs in many areas. The few zone events that we were able to win had the boss of course spawning on the Defiant side, which forced a long run across dangerous territory if I wanted to participate. Ironically, it was usually the Guardian wardstones that kept the event from failing.