Rift patch 1.6 has been out for almost a week now and I’ve had some time to seriously invest into exploring Ember Isle. That time has not been wasted and I’ve found all kinds of wonders that just make me excited to be playing. Rift feels new again and I’m hyper motivated. There are a lot of things that Trion did absolutely right with their latest patch. There are also a few things that I wasn’t crazy about. Bad things or not, if it weren’t for the fact that the servers are currently down I wouldn’t be here writing this article! Yes, it is THAT GOOD!
Ember Isle – A Vacation Spot
It wasn’t long ago that Trion put out a post asking which zone or area was your favorite. I said Moonshade Highlands. Strangely enough, a lot of other people said the same. Why Moonshade? Simple! It isn’t a bleak wasteland like Shimmersand, Stillmoor, and Iron Pine Peaks. Eventually you get tired of running around in a frozen waste, desert, and war zone. Ember Isle looks like none of the above (even if it is a war zone)! You have beautiful
beaches with some of the best water effects I’ve ever seen, lush green trees, grass, bright sunshine, and a giant active volcano. I felt like Ferrel had won a trip to Hawaii and I loved it. It isn’t depressing to run around the island. I spend a lot of time just looking about and exploring. Ember Isle is simply huge with little wasted space and offers a lot of opportunities to find something that makes you say, “oh neat!”
In some ways Trion almost did too good of a job. It doesn’t hurt that Ember Isle is new. That is going to attract a lot of attention. Despite that newness there is also going to be a huge shift in the level 50 crowd. I don’t do anything in the old world anymore other than my Order of the Eye dailies. I’ll also try to catch the zone events but those tend to fail more often now since nobody bothers to do them. I’m not saying this is bad. It is just something Trion will eventually have to address if they don’t want the old “level 50″ zones barren and lifeless.
Onslaught: Rift’s Tower Defense
Ember Isle also brings a new play element to Rift in the form of the Onslaught daily quests. If you haven’t found them yet you need to think about your favorite tower defense game. There are 13 sites that offer a kill 20 invasions quest. Each one has a sourcewell defense arch. Your mission is to use your planar charges to boost the sourcewell’s defenses and fend off the invasions. There are brief periods of inactivity but you won’t have to wait long before the planar fiends start knocking at your door. Some players may lose interest in this but I think it is genius. I love building up the defenses and fighting against the tide. Trion did an exceptional job with this mechanic and I can’t wait to see it grow and mature.
Your Itinerary, Sir
Have you ever gone on vacation and found out you had more things to do than time? Instead of relaxing you just rush around in a vain attempt to do it all. That is how Ember Isle is. There are so many repeatable daily quests it is insane. I’m not complaining here, I’m just pointing it out. You have several quests at Ember Watch to do. You also have a Farclan quest or two. You then have the opportunity to knock out the 13 onslaught quests. There is also a race out there and those are just the solo ones. You also have a group daily to do if you want. This mass volume of daily quests allows you to avoid a little bit of the redundancy if you’re on a limited play time budget. You’ll need to pick what you want to get done each day. I’m glad to have more to do than I have time. It keeps me motivated and happy that the zone will last a long while.
Stormy Weather in Paradise
Ember island isn’t all blonde high elves bouncing around in Brazilian bikinis. There are certainly some downsides. I’ve read that there are four zone events there. Unfortunately on Byriel we keep getting the same two over and over again. They’re interesting, I won’t lie and say they’re not, but they can also be pretty long at off-peak times. This ties into my other complaint that I’m sure some people will tell me to get over. I recognize that Ember Isle is the next level of progression. The post 50 progression! I’m post 50. I have a full set of raid gear. Iniquity has defeated every tier one raid boss. Now that I’ve qualified myself as “awesome” I’ll say it: Ember Isle monsters have too many hit points. I don’t care that they can kill me easily. I don’t mind that they run you over with invasions. All of that is perfectly fine. I mind the fact that when it is clear that I’m going to win I still have to stand there and swing for five times as long as I would at a level 50 monsters. I said this the other night and I meant it. You are more likely to die in Ember Isle than in Greenscale’s Blight. Not because it is “hard” but because you lose focus swinging so long. The event boss mobs have 1 million hit points per person on the island (an exaggeration) and every monster has huge mitigation. It just takes too long to down them. So to sum up: Hard is fine. Damage output is fine. Mass quantities is fine. Hit points, too many!
Buy a Time Share
So there you have it, my walk through Ember Isle. The verdict is that Trion did a wonderful job here. This is content that I would have paid over and beyond my subscription for. If you haven’t visited yet I recommend getting on it! Units are selling out fast!
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