The Rift/saved posts

Koar's Shrine/Cavern of Ages

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 3069
Author: GS4-WARDEN
Date: 12/30/2007 9:40:58 PM
Subject: Koar's Shrine/Cavern of Ages

Koar's Shrine and the Cavern of Ages have been changed to be in the same realm as Pinefar.

Among other things, this means ESP, Symbol of Thought, Symbol of Need, etc. will reach from Pinefar to the Cavern of Ages, and Pinefar is now within reach for teleporting out of the Cavern of Ages via gold rings, Familiar Gate, and Traveler's Song.

Warden

Strategies

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 3192
Author: RAFFELS2
Date: 7/24/2008 3:51:49 PM
Subject: Re: To rift or not?

1. North inside of the sphere is Plane 1, West is 2, East is 3. Keep going until you feel nothing, then wait.
2. If you're hunting 1, don't go into the maw.
3. Mirrors and doors get you back to the cavern.
4. Threads take you up a plane and stairs take you down a plane. So if you get rifted to 2, find the stairs.
5. Use PEER to keep away from voids. Might want to highlight 'swirling black void' in some sort of danger color. There are 2 each on planes 1-3. Don't fight next to them.
6. Don't wave, dance, jump, sneeze...or just generally thrash around...in the cavern.
7. Lunatics have a fast (~3 sec.) round, but are squishy. Naisircs are noncorp undead. Csetairi cast a lot of stuff.
8. Don't try to leave the rift with more than 10k coins unless you want to appease Koar.
9. Gems to be careful of: urglaes fang (cursed), doomstone (cursed-ish), oblivion quartz. And don't look at aster opals, though you can touch them.
10. Don't lick the sphere...

Missoni.

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 3193
Author: GRYPES
Date: 7/24/2008 4:17:01 PM
Subject: Re: To rift or not?

So.. Since I'm fairly bored with the Stronghold and Minos, should I go do some dying in the Rift?

I've been there exactly once, on another character when it opened, but other than that, haven't paid attention to it.

What do I need to know not to embarrass myself?

-farmer

I don't remember your spec right off, I'm thinking polearms?

Plane 1. - death will come from swarms - don't bite off more than you can chew

Naisics die in 1 hit, use feint (non-crittable but low health). They've spells, but nothing I ever noticed that mattered much - they never lasted long enough - actually I think they may cast call wind which is dangerous in a swarm

Cset's die in 1-2 hits (crittable but one of the most annoying plane 1 things). They cast empathic dispel and will rip all of your spells off. They also generally have WoF up, so you may swing and miss a few times. They also mstrike, bind, and I think they may cast a vine of some sort.

Lunatics are zombies with 3x as much AS/DS. They're only dangerous when they run across a flaring weapon and get swing happy. 1602/1615 them, highly crittable so they die fast.

Plane 2. - death will come from RT, boil earth, and warding spells Skip it, it's annoying as crap. Witches will ward and boil earth you - really deadly

Caedra are pretty standard but hard to crit and have an "ewave-like" manuever you get to experience everytime they enter your room. They swing slow. - most annoying thing on plane 2

S-thingsIcan'trememberthenameof are bards, they love to lullabye, eblast, some spell that makes you lose your grip of your weapon and suffer RT and swing at you - really annoying

Plane 3. death will come from RT, swarms, and occasionally an unlucky DC Warlocks can ward you, they cast curse, Torment, and DC. They come spelled up with WoF occasionally and sometimes have nearly a 600 DS. Most of the time a 1619 + feint will make them harmless + dead. Aivians(sp?) - Start out flying so you can't do much but wait for them to land, swoop and put you into RT (20-45 seconds) that can stack, attack and move fast, and do a puncture attack that tears up plate, they're also really good at dodging N'cares(sp) - Flare up and gain a large AS, tackle (sometimes knocks me on my butt at nearly 2x CM and above their level), disease on hits, crittable but they wear heavy armor, really good at blocking attacks

Dgry

2009 Expansion and Updates

Preview

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 3394
Author: GS4-MESTYS
Date: 6/30/2009 7:40:17 AM
Subject: Rift Expansion Preview.

During the SimuCon roundtable discussions, I released a few details concerning the new Rift expansion that is currently in development. Here are a few of the points that I covered.

The Area:
The new portion of the Rift that is to be unveiled will be known as the Scatter. It is a chaotic, twisted region that exists between the current planes of the Rift.

Redistribution:
Along with the introduction of the Scatter, the existing creatures will be redistributed a bit in the planes, and a couple of creatures will have their levels shifted. The goal here will be to spread the creatures in such a manner that all of the planes will be more desirable to hunt for a wider group of characters.

New Creatures:
A total of seven new creatures will be introduced to the Rift, inhabiting both the Scatter and Plane 4.

a fallen crusader (97, non-corporeal undead) [Plane 4]: A Paladin slain in battle, corrupted physically and spiritually to fight again. Though their previous connections to their deities have been severed, they wander the Rift, powered by an unknown and unholy force. The crusaders have a selection of Paladin and a couple of necromantic Sorcerer spells.

a glistening cerebralite (100) [Plane 4, The Scatter]: An oversized and highly developed floating brain, accompanied by a pair of eyes on stalks and tentacles to lash out at opponents. The cerebralites are drawn to mental activity, and utilize mental and electricity-based attacks to subdue their victims.

an enormous rift crawler (103) [Plane 4]: A huge worm whose gaping maw pierces through planar dimensions within the Rift. It resides primarily in its home plane of the Rift, but has a small chance of burrowing to an "adjacent" one. It would be able to swallow its victims whole by catching them unawares, sometimes emitting a telepathic blast to incapacitate them.

a darkly inked fetish master (104) [The Scatter]: A child-like voodoo witch doctor, drawing upon elaborate inked designs on its skin for its dark powers. The masters cast mostly Sorcerer spells and can summon a cluster of wooden dolls on their current target, who would lay down a barrage of attacks.

a murky soul siphon (106, corporeal undead) [The Scatter]: An undead entity subsisting upon the souls of the living. Classified as a semi, it uses various debuff spells to set up its foes for easier consumption. Its attacks have a chance to drain spirit and they also make use of a maneuver-based grasp to suck spirit from characters.

a Vvrael destroyer (108) [The Scatter]: A greater servant of the Vvrael, sent to dispatch the strongest of their foes. These are warrior type creatures; very powerful and highly destructive.

a lich (110, corporeal undead) [The Scatter]: A highly intelligent spell caster who went to great lengths to gain power and longevity, at the cost of his soul.

-M.

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 3413
Author: GS4-MESTYS
Date: 6/30/2009 5:00:41 PM
Subject: Re: Rift Expansion Preview.

>Why plane 4 instead of 5? There's no mention of new critters on 5, but new ones on 4 that are higher level than the ones currently on 5. It seems a bit upside down to me, though as it is, most people skip from 3 to 5. -Kerl

All of the planes will have some shifts made in creature population, though only 4 and the Scatter will have the new ones. The classic plane 4 is really the most remote of all the planes, so it made some sense to place some of the higher level stuff there.

>2. I really hope the name for the critter really just is "a lich." It's so simple. -Keleborrn.

It isn't. There are a lot of little things that will be revealed with the release of the area. The nature of the liches is one of them.

-M.

Level Changes

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 3727
Author: GS4-MESTYS
Date: 10/3/2009 2:02:08 PM
Subject: Re: Rift Expansion Preview.

>Meanwhile, lost souls and n'ecares have been pushed off of plane 4 entirely and onto plane 5. Vaesp hunters be warned -- a n'ecare tackle followed by an implosion will ruin your day quickly. On the other hands, lost souls could already ewave, so it might not be much worse than before. Seems odd to have a level 83 and 93 critter cohabiting the same small area though. -Grendeg

N'ecares have a base level of 87. Vaespilons are indeed 93. Those two haven't been modified, but a couple of the others have: Vvrael witches are now 80 (down from 82), and csetairi are now 81 (up from 76). I'll update the bestiary when I can catch some time.

-M.

10/05/09 Updates

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 3795
Author: GS4-MESTYS
Date: 10/5/2009 12:19:51 AM
Subject: Recent Updates.

• Crawler burrow spawning will occur less often.
• Generation rates have been down tweaked, and will be monitored as we continue.
• The Scatter dispel mechanics will behave as the rest of the Rift until I can get to the bottom of its issues.
• Access to the Scatter should be more restrictive until the event progresses.

-M.

Hiding Updates

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 3947
Author: GS4-MESTYS
Date: 10/9/2009 9:36:45 PM
Subject: Rift Hiding Mechanics.

Previously, rooms of the Rift hunting area had a chance of periodically preventing hiding attempts. Now, they will no longer prevent hiding outright, but will instead provide a penalty to hiding. This penalty is accompanied by messaging indicating the hindrance.

-M.

Announcement

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 4072
Author: GS4-MESTYS
Date: 10/15/2009 12:20:55 AM
Subject: Haukragg Recovered as Rift Expands!

After a mission of research and salvage turned to one of rescue, Master Hierophant Haukragg of Icemule's Cleric guild was recovered from deep within the scattered reaches of the Rift. Adventurers gathered by Quiggan took to the task of delving into the Scatter, where a final moment of instability revealed a heretofore unseen area, as well as a number of terrible liches. Blade and magic won the day, and the visibly shaken and distraught Haukragg was brought home to Icemule.

The new area of the Rift (The Scatter) is now live. With its release arrives seven new creatures, between 97 and 110. Many of the existing denizens of the Rift have also shifted from their previous generation ranges, in order to better accomodate the new entrants and the makeup of each plane.

With this release, the Adventurer's Guild will now also be assigning tasks for these new creatures, though the highest-leveled creature tasks can only be attained by asking for tougher assignments. Note that the level 110 liches will only generate in the southern 'half' of the Scatter, so those looking to avoid them can do so.

-M.

Credits

Category: Hunting and Combat
Topic: Pinefar Hunting Areas
Message #: 4113
Author: GS4-MESTYS
Date: 10/15/2009 6:11:12 PM
Subject: Rift Shift Niftiness.

Many GMs came together these past months to help with the design, implementation, and QC of the Rift expansion, and I'd like to thank them for their contributions (here, in reverse alphabetical order!).

Xayle: I find messaging to be one of the tougher bits of new creature creation, so I tend to look to others for some assistance. It wasn't long before I knew I had made the right choice in asking Xayle, and I'm sure any of the Scatter hunters can attest to appropriate creepiness that she captured in the new creatures. Xayle also assisted in the QC of the Scatter area.

Warden: Warden always has insightful input to guide any new implementations, and the Rift expansion was no exception. A lot of the early ground was set on its path thanks to his influence.

Strathspey: Strathspey was my go-to guy throughout the expansion event, and prior to that as a creature QCer. From the quirky Quiggan, to the crazy excerpts of Haukragg's journal, to everything involved with the lichbane alchemy items, he played a vital role in making the release happen.

Oscuro: I knew I would need some help in coding up the new creatures, so I turned to Oscuro. The fearsome Vvrael destroyers can be attributed to him, and he also provided creature QC and input into the design of other creatures and the Scatter.

Naos: I frequently banter back and forth with Naos about various topics, and it was his influence that led to some of the cerebralite's particular brand of oddity.

Lusus: Lusus helped to flesh out many of the early creature concepts, and later assisted behind the scenes with the release event. The environmental effects and portals to and from the Scatter were creatively fleshed out by him.

Korelys and Izzea: I knew that the initial stage of the event would be set in Icemule, but I wasn't totally sure on how to go about it. Korelys and Izzea provided with a fine and sensible atmosphere with Councilman Igerone and Mayor Nihala.

Auchand: Much of the flavor of the Scatter's wandering environmental effects and the fissures' characteristics were contributed by Auchand, who teamed up with Lusus to help flesh out the new area.

Aiza: Just as I needed someone to help maintain the macabre and chaotic nature of the creatures of the Rift, I also needed someone who could provide the atmosphere. Aiza was able to stamp her own brand of chaos on the harsh cold and cruel heat of the Scatter.

-M.

Entry, Exit, and Teleportation Review

Category: Combat, Magic, and Character Mechanics
Topic: Hunting Grounds
Message #: 904
Author: GS4-IVRY
Date: 07/16/2021
Subject: Entry, Exit, and Teleportation review is live.

Maaghara Tower's hunting area has taken into account today's waistlines and greased the exiting a little, while also deciding to allow locates to peek within. Perhaps it's gotten enough player mulch recently?

You know who you are.

Sanctum of Scales, [Fangs of the Serpent, Gateway] has weakened over time and should now allow magic to be used.

Old Ta'Faendryl is getting... older. The constructs have the ability to block a corpse from being dragged only once within a reasonable time frame. The heroic will find this helpful during rescues.

The Rift has been especially chaotic lately with multiple changes!

• GROUPS can now enter the Rift together. *Qualifications to enter still apply.

• The spirit loss that sometimes hits the unfortunate heading into the Rift has been tamed a bit.

• Bards should no longer immediately lose their spellsongs when swimming in the Rift AND can now anchor themselves to the Cavern of Ages for Traveler's Song (1020).

• Nexus gems can now be set to the Cavern of Ages and used from within the Rift and Scatter to get there, with all other restrictions to them still applying.

• Most teleport spells used within the Rift will now return casters to the Cavern of Ages instead of other random Rift areas.

• Eye-of-Koar emeralds will continue to take groups to Icemule Trace, but now without silver costs, although the gem WILL be sacrificed in payment.

• The stinky box on Plane 5 will now drop the bodies shoved within directly into the Cavern of Ages. Players should beware of falling corpses there.

~Dev Team (with special thanks to GM Aulis for his consistantly positive support)

Category: Combat, Magic, and Character Mechanics
Topic: Hunting Grounds
Message #: 927
Author: GS4-IVRY
Date: 07/19/2021
Subject: Re: Entry, Exit, and Teleportation review is live.

Spirit draining now only happens when entering the Rift instead of while wandering within the maze. Players can lose 1-2 spirit per entry, so please plan accordingly. *All group members will also be eligible for spirit loss.

~GM Ivry