I’m still not a gamer

So yes, I crumbled. After playing Rift’s beta with my friends, I ended up buying it. I kinda love it right now. I know that I probably won’t love it forever. It’s not Second Life, after all. But right now, I enjoy playing it. One day I will grow bored of leveling up and doing quests, or time will just keep me from being there enough to warrant paying monthly for it. But for right now…

My main character is named Kaianna [pronounced KY-ahna, not Kay-anna], which is the name I used in a few other minor games I played years ago. She’s a Kelari rogue on the Defiant side, with Bard abilities. [And a couple of others I’ve forgotten.] I think she’s pretty good.

Yesterday’s “Head Start” for everyone who preordered was pretty crazy. The powers that be had to add in more servers because they were so incredibly slammed when the doors opened. I was sitting there waiting for the shards [servers] to unlock, so I got in really quickly, but there were people in the queues waiting for HOURS to get in. They just didn’t anticipate all the people who were going to come in. They probably should have known. I mean, didn’t they look and see how many had preordered?

Not being familiar with this type of game, it never occurred to me that people would have to wait to get in. In my SL-mind, I had to break it down to it being like sim limits. Only so many people to a server, just like only so many people to a sim. But gosh, was it ever nuts.

That was at the first mailbox, which allowed those who got the collector’s editions to get mounts and pets. You couldn’t even SEE the people to talk to, there were so many motherfriggin’ turtles.

The good part about there being so many people was that if you needed to just straight run to another area, there was a good chance people would be fighting off things that would normally try to kill you. The bad part was that most of the quests have you looking to kill monsters and stuff, and with so many people basically on your level and doing the same quests at the same time, you often had to wait for things to respawn and then try to get the first hit in. But it was good for big mob thingies like this.

Ulaa, bless her heart, stayed on Skype with me all day while we played, and she helped me out tons because I am such a noob at this sort of thing. She even got me into a guild and gave me money towards getting a mount. Yay for sugar mommas! :-p Later, when Aldwyn was able to get online, I went to a new character and helped him out since he is also a noob. [Sorry honey, you are!]

Today, since I had some time to myself, I decided to see what the Guardian side was like. So I picked a new server with a low population and started a new character.

This is Karianna, Kaianna’s Guardian twin. Although she’s an Elf, and Kai is a Kelari, they basically look the same to me. I dunno. LOL

Karianna is an Elf warrior, and I kinda love her. She’s totally strong, which is fitting since basically she’s a tank. But she has some elemental power too, so she has ranged fire attacks, which are totally helpful since she’s on her own.

Of course, being alone seemed like a bad idea when I needed to get up that hill. LOL!

The Guardian side is pretty nice because it’s not as overcrowded as the Defiant side, plus the people [at least today] seemed a little bit older. The quests are a little different, even at one point giving you a horse to ride for a bit, and the whole thing is pretty enjoyable.

So that’s my Rift update for now. 🙂

Oh, Pintar…

I may or may not be becoming a crazy cat lady. LOL! My little kitty family is finally complete, though. I received a gift of an orange kitty this morning, with the message that every Lucy needs her Desi. So… Desi 2: Electric Boogaloo!

Lucy looks pleased, don’t you think?

So last night we introduced Aldwyn to Rift. He’s not a gamer, even less of one than I am, so we got to be total noobs in there. Ulaa joined us, and she’s a lot more experienced in the whole thing of online MMO type games, luckily for us.

I’m the one in the middle, the purplish elf looking thing.

We all started as new characters so we could stay together. The rest of the night was a blast as we ran around, did quests, and laughed and laughed on Skype.

Oh, and Aldwyn was the first to die on us.

Poor Pintar.

I have to admit, Rift is loads more fun when I have my two faves with me, but it’s still not a game that I’ll end up buying. It’s not worth it to me to pay a subscription fee for a game that I might only play 2-3 times a month. But it’s been an interesting experience, that is for sure!

Trying Rift

I managed to get myself invited to the Rift beta weekend. I love beta testing, beta events, beta viewers, etc. Even if I don’t actually KNOW what it is, I sign up for many beta things because I like to see what’s up.

Now let me preface this by saying that I don’t consider myself a gamer. I got into Dragon Age, big time, because of the story. I love The Sims because I like the whole micromanaging aspect. I’m still nuts about Second Life because it’s not a game, I can shop, and be beautiful there. But games like World of Warcraft or Everquest never never interested me. Partially because I like games where I can use a god mode or a money cheat, and partially because I don’t usually enjoy playing games with other people unless it’s like a board game or Wii game.

Rift is my first bigger type MMO. I was huge in Legend of the Green Dragon for a couple of years, helped run servers, coded modules, all that nerdy stuff. But that was browser based with no avatars and it didn’t require much thinking. Within 5 minutes of Rift, I realized that this was going to take some work.

My main character right now is a warrior Elf. I chose the Elf purely because she was smaller and prettier than the other classes, although I’m pretty much not down with her purple skin. I tried, though.

I’ve been playing off and on this afternoon. When I get irritated, I log out. I’m logging out pretty much every 10 minutes. I’m unsure what weapons are really best for my elf. I don’t know why people have pets and I don’t. I’m following quests without any idea as to what I’m doing. I’m trying not to read chat because it’s just exceedingly annoying. I think some people have been helping me out, but I’m not actually sure.

Is it pretty? I guess so. It’s a little dark for my tastes. I like bright scenes where I can see stuff. I can’t really take a look around at the scenery because there’s freakin’ things coming to kill me all the time. I move around easily enough, although I have seen people complaining that Rift’s lag is much worse than World of Warcraft. All I have to say about that?

Honey, I’m from Second Life. If I can walk, it’s all good.