Rift: Rogue and Cleric

Original post from I Think in Black and White

Rift is my game right now. In my parting with mage (ranged dps, oh how I have come to dislike you), obviously it was a choice between warrior, cleric, and rogue. And I've never been a person for warrior... I don't know, but it just doesn't appeal to me, plus warrior doesn't have that flexibility I want to expect from this game. It's pretty much just dps and tanking.

So it was a choice between cleric or rogue. I went rogue.

On the Alsbeth server, which was medium popularity when I started but now has a huge-ass queue (supposedly - I guess the times that I get on just aren't popular times), I began playing as Vaethereal (hey! that name sure sounds familiar), a Defiant Bahmi rogue. I'm a Defiant through and through, story and attitude (and race) wise, and the Bahmi are awesome, so it was a given.

Anyway, I started with Assassin, added on Bladedancer, and much to my chagrin finally nabbed... Ranger. Oops. Stuck with that horrid choice for the rest of the tutorial, I even eventually had to get rid of my pet tank pig (ahem, I mean, RAZORBEAST) because he stopped following me. A glitch? An inopportune button-press that I didn't know how to reverse? Whatever it was, I never found out. End ranger career.

I finally got out and chose something else, I don't even know, and those solo dps days were fun, sure, but I had just discovered bard when I finally cracked and figured out that rogue was simply not for me. As a dps Assassin I was vulnerable and didn't think my damage was quite up to par with what I wanted, plus melee dps isn't my thing. (All this talk of dps! What have I become, a scientist?!) At least, not here, in this game. And as a Bard (support), I just felt too un-useful, especially at early levels. I got to level 18 before quitting.

Also on the Alsbeth server, I began a cleric character (look me up; my username is Mnemosyne, another alias of mine. I'm elusive like that). This went much smoother, much better. I decided early on that I was gonna be a fucking tank for once. Cleric in Rift has healing of course, but also tank with the Justicar soul, and dps if I wanted cruise control. I like tanking. I like healing. So here I was.

I pumped my Justicar full of steroids AHEM I meant points. Eventually reset it because I had points in Sentinel that I didn't really need, so I tossed those over to Shaman for extra defense and damage. When I finally got up in the Justicar soul enough that I had the AoE attack Even Justice, I considered myself ready to tank. Add that to another attack whose name I forget that forces monsters to aggro to me, and I'm not the best tank ever, but still half viable at least.

I messed with a healing role (alternate build), but haven't put it into practice yet. I just wanted it just in case it was the only way to get into a group.

Speaking of groups, on Vae I got invited to the cross-MMO guild Suspiria, but since I dropped that character for now, I was getting lonely in the middle of my kill quests with no one talking. I don't talk much, so it was good when I finally got invited to Dragonheart. I'm not sure if I like the guild yet - too much social, not enough help or events or dungeon runs, etc. - but it's better than listening to battle chat all day. "3 hit points! 17 hit points! Critical hit!" Ugh.

When a quest finally required it, I did my first real instanced dungeon, ever. (I never do level caps, remember?) But this was only level 20 or so, so I jumped right in and tanked as best as I could. Again, the only problem with cleric tanks that I can see is the aggro, but Mein of Leadership helps with that. It's the best possible thing they could have done for the Justicar tank, I think, because it gives 300% threat, 100% more armor and 90% more endurance. I messed up a few times... but it was my first instance! And the people were nice, considering my newness, and the two "veterans" helped a lot and didn't let the three newbies, including me, down. All in all, I thought I did pretty well, but I didn't ask them. (I only had to apologize once, and apparently people wipe often in these instances, so I have no complaints!)

I now play primarily as a level 22 Defiant Kelari Cleric named Mnemosyne on the US Alsbeth server. Find me and chat me up. :)