Rift Progress

     My Rift progress has slowed down some as I renewed interest in a couple of other projects tried a few new things but I still really love logging in and doing some questing. Daethrys is making his way somewhat slowly through Scarwood Reach at the moment.

     It's an interesting storyline but more than that I like that I have to think about what I'm doing a bit harder than in a few other MMOs I've played. With stuff at his level Daethrys can manage to get into trouble if he's not careful and sometimes it's been fun being crafty and careful and using the Kelari racial to get around things. There was a long quest chain into Trollblight Caverns that I absolutely loved even if halfway through I failed to find a tunnel leading on to the next room. (Oh caves without maps, you are my bane in every game ever.) That evening I'd hearthed out without completing all the objectives and the next day I tried going overland to find what I was missing before realizing I just must have missed something somewhere deep in the troll and Aelfwar infested cave.
     The Kelari racial got a lot of use then to avoid fighting many, many things I'd already fought and finally I made it all the way back through and discovered what I'd missed. It maybe should have felt like a nuisance but I absolutely loved it.

Not the room I missed, just a really neat looking one inside the caverns.

     I think sometimes having to bee just a little bit cautious makes things feel more like a real adventure. It gives me time to think about Daethrys as a character and how he's handling stuff and I like that. And getting lost and taking unexpected turns can lead to lovely screenshot opportunities. As can climbing things you have no real reason to climb which is another thing I find myself doing a lot in rift. The lack of fall damage makes it pretty non-punishing to be just a little crazy on mountains. And the views sometimes make it rewarding. Granted I don't think any game other than Wildstar will ever feed my inner climber its fill.

    Some of the environments in Rift are just odd too. The Aelfwar in Scarwood Reach are messing with Life Rifts so there are all sorts of strange plants around them and I can't resist taking screenshots at the ones that make me stare. This will probably always be one of my favorite screenshotting games.

Daethrys' loyal pet is named Friend.