Fishing!

1.8 patch is here on EU shards! New tradeskills are available, fishing and survival. Ember Isle Instant Adventures are available too, along with the Leaderboards that keeps the player's score.

Fishing seems so nice. There are quests to go along, poles and what not. Also, it's quite crowdy in Freemarch, it seems everyone is fishing. Which is of course nice, to see the players embracing this new feature.

So, get ready for the Infernal Dawn raid and check the full patch notes here.

Fresh HK Run Before 1.8

Last night, our guild, Spears of Destiny made a Hammerkneel Fortress run. If 1.8 comes today on EU shards, this is the last HK run before every trace of the Carnival is gone.

 We had fun a time, around 3 and a half hours, killing 6 bosses. We stopped after Vladmal Prime and we're continuing on Sunday with Grugonim. All bosses went down smoothly, except Sicaron. He's has a stunningly cool mechanics and very simple tactic to follow, yet we somehow managed to wipe couple of times. Sicaron dropped the Cowl of Blackest Night, which I was lucky enough to get, significantly increasing my stats. Other loot I got my hands on, is the Maddening Flame wand from Estrode.

Thanks to every Ascended in Spears of Destiny for the great run, especially those with iron patience who successfully guided us through the depths of the Hammerkneel Fortress. See you all on Sunday!

Glorified with the Dragonslayer Covenant

Being a "resident" of Shimmersand for the past few days, I grinded my way to a Glorified notoriety with my favorite Rift faction - the Dragonslayer Covenant.

The Dragonslayer Covenant was formed as an order of Telarans, primarily Eth and Bahmi, sworn to keep watch over the dragon cults and prevent the release of their false gods. We may not have agreed with the methods of the sorcerer-kings, but we embrace Ethian technology in our methods of doing so. Even after Shimmersand fell into chaos, our order persevered.

In the days preceding the Mathosian Civil War, our order uncovered evidence that Prince Aedraxis Mathos had been consorting with Regulos. The leader of the Covenant sent our most adept mage to warn Aedraxis's brother, Zareph. When the Ward was damaged, death and horror spread over the land in a choking cloud, and we Dragonslayers lost many of our finest trying to defend the people of Telara.

The Dragonslayer Covenant has spent the last twenty years trying to rebuild ourselves after that tragic event. Our organization has existed for hundreds of years, and it will see many more.

I was rewarded with the Drake Slayer title and I will proudly wear my Sandcovered set.

Today was a fun day for me in Telara. I also got my Tier 2 Attunement of Fire and now I will be spending points in the Attunement of War.

New models for the animal companions

There are new models for the animal companions currently rolling on PTS (Public Test Shards). The new pets look amazing. Beastmaster's pets, Ranger's pets and the Druid faeries - they're all updated to neat, armored models, different from the previous enemy-skin copy+paste.

Beastmaster Warrior – Greater Primal Companion

There is no current info on when they'll be going live, probably Trion is still working on the design. Check the full story and photos on RiftJunkies.

Questing in the Flatyard

I've been doing some previously missed quests in Shimmersand, towards my completion of Banishing the Mirage and Dragonslayer notoriety. My journey took me to a place called the Flatyard. The Flatyard is a prison that holds inmates from the Dragon cults.

I stumbled upon the sands in the Flatyard through a quest from Sylver Valis where I suppose to discover the inmates' escape route and what they actually do. Next thing I know, I'm disguised as an inmate doing some dirty work in the prison yard. Supplying my "fellow" inmates with 'Sigaras' (I guess the Rift's equivalent to cigarettes), proving myself by killing other inmates and dealing with gangs. Just the usual stuff that goes on in jail, right?

As you progress with the quest line, you discover the secret hideout of Prince Hazeed, the last of the line of Ethian Kings and current leader of the Golden Maw. A plot to kill Asha Catari unfolds before you and you're faced with a challenge to kill Hazeed. When you complete the quests and deal with Hazeed you're awarded with the Doing Time achievement.

After you're done with him, there's an even bigger conspiracy waiting for you in Forture Shore, as you track down an assassin that reveals more about the plan to kill Asha Catari.

Such enjoyable quests and story, one of my favorites in the whole game.

CotA Phase 6: War of the Wanton Maw

The Carnival of the Ascended is coming to an end. Phase 6 started just yesterday, with new quests and challenges for the defenders of Telara. This is also the last chance to get a Pyrite Doubloon for the Carnival mounts. New currency is also introduced, dropping from Fire and Earth Rifts.

Scaidantus and Duke Ryras on the border of Shimmersand and Droughlands

The main event quest is to fight back against Fire and Earth invasions in the zone events. This can be done in many zones, suiting the player's level.

Other event quests are also available.

Closing the Doorway (Daily)

• Close a Fire Rift that would grant experience.
• Close an Earth Rift that would grant experience.

Planar Menace (Group)

• Confront Fire Lord As'tano in Freemarch/Silverwood.
• Kill Fire Lord As'tano and Earth Lord Vorzet (both elite)

 Wanton Enemies (Daily - Raid)

• Kill Scaidantus
• Kill Duke Ryras

Five Bosses That Were (Almost) Impossible to Beat

One of the greatest things while watching Rift grow, was the people learning the game. We didn’t know about the capability of the rifts, the consequences of the invasions and especially the tactics for beating the dungeon bosses. I remember how many times we were dying because we didn’t know what a certain boss does. Also, some people were slower in learning the tactics shared by the group, so we had to deal with them too. There weren’t any dungeon guides, so many times we were forced to learn on the go. There wasn't a LFG tool as well, so getting new people to fill for the quitters was kinda painful.

Similar thing happened when expert (T2) dungeons were introduced. The encounters below gave many people a hard time. Today, they are easy and can be done really quick even on expert difficulty. 

Gatekeeper Kaleida

Michael Bringhurst / Dungeon: Darkening Depths (Normal)

Although everyone’s favorite werewolf has a very simple tactic, sometimes he was a real pain. He must be tanked away from the moonlight which is giving him a brute strength. He would even one-shot the tank. He has an ability that stuns the whole group, so if the tank isn’t fast enough to stop him getting his moonlight dose, the whole group ends up dead. 

Gatekeeper Kaleida / Dungeon: Deepstrikes Mines (Normal)

Gatekeeper Kaleida’s crystals brought death to many players. To this day, most rage-quits I’ve seen in Rift were because of this guy. During the encounter, he will spawn crystals, one to deal damage to the party, and the other to heal him. There was a time when those crystals were a DPS run,  so we either wiped or he would heal himself to an insane amount of HP. Killing Kaleida took a lot of  time to beat, because of the low gear we had.

Konstantin / Dungeon: King's Breach (Expert)

Most hated boss for newbie healers and tanks. The strategy is very, very simple – avoid the spikes and you’ll live. And he spams those spikes coming out of the floor every second, from circles, in different locations. The tactic is to move from circle to circle, while doing the usual thing that a party does in a dungeon. Just move quick. Once you learn how to move at Konstantin’s chamber, it’s easy. Anyhow, Konstantin frames an Ascended head in his hideout from time to time, even today.

Chillblains Winterfrost  / Dungeon: Realm of the Fae (Expert)

Tank and spank boss but set in a foggy environment where all you can see are the name frames. He spawns Vortex adds that deal a solid amount of AoE damage. The people would DPS those adds  instead of simply avoiding them. That’s it. Easy, once you die a couple of times.

Jultharin  / Dungeon: Chalmer’s Caldera (Expert)

Shortly after you start beating Jultharin on the edge of a cliff, a chain of sparkly magic will start going towards the party, eventually pushing them to their horrible wipe. It’s sort of a timed DPS race, so you must defeat him as fast as you can. In the days when the party DPS was low, we were dying like crazy. In most runs today, we kill him in less than 100 seconds. There’s even an achievement for that.

to be continued...

Glorified with the Order of Mathos

Today I got my Glorified notoriety with the Order of Mathos faction in Stillmoor. Finally, I'm able the ride the Swift Rock Najmok Reins mount. I also received the Knight of Mathos title.

Now it's time to farm Dragonslayer Covenant notoriety.

Getting ready for the Infernal Dawn raid

Rift patch 1.8 is coming very soon and along with it comes a new 20-player raid called Infernal Dawn. The Ascended will face two dragons of the Blood Storm, Maelforge and Laethys, masters of the Fire and Earth planes.

Below is the collected info on what dwells in the depths of Mount Carcera.

Infernal Dawn Trailer

HD Infernal Dawn Armor Videos

The Art of Infernal Dawn

Greetings Ascended!

I am Zearth, Kelari Mage, currently defending Telara on the Icewatch (EU) Shard. I'm playing Rift since Beta 3 and I'm a part of the Spears of Destiny guild.

I enjoy exploring in Rift, I'm not much of a hardcore raider, although I love raiding with my guild. I'm also a companion collector, I have collected over 25 pets. My artifact collection is vast as well, currently 'farming' Lucky Coins to get my Shiny Tartagon mount.

This blog will feature my adventures in Telara. News on Rift as well.