Friday, July 26, 2013

[Off Topic] Summerfest Begins!

Welcome Back, Summerfest!
  
     Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole year since the last Summerfest already! (Duh, obviously it's been a whole year, Verhysa! Summer only comes once a year, after all). I remember doing last year's awesome Summerfest events and quests and fun stuffs! I also remember all the frustration and irritation lots of peeps were feeling during last year's event. Thankfully, I never experienced any of the problems that a lot of others were facing during 2012's Summerfest, although I do remember having some difficulty with a quest in Moonshade Highlands during Summerfest. I'm pretty sure it was that holiday anyway. But anyway, on with the new stuffs! Speaking about being an entire year...It's been an entire year nearly to the day since I started this blog! Can you believe it!!!??? I started it on July 25th of 2012 and here I am an entire year later and still going strong! I'm so proud of myself for sticking to it, and I'm glad I started this blog because I've learned a lot about Rift and had a lot of fun writing it! I look forward to another whole year of the same! :)
 
     I am a bit late in updating this post, despite having put it up on the day the event came out, mostly because I was dead tired on the 26th and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep, and also because I hadn't had a chance to experience anything of this event yet so there wasn't much to write. Now though, I can happily say that I'm eager and ready to have fun during the fest! First thing I noticed when I logged in was that the daily and weekly patron gift thingies have changed to now say "daily/weekly Summerfest patron gifts". Note the Summerfest part of that. I'm still a little confused on the whole patron/credits/rex/loyalty stuff. Actually, I'm dreadfully confused, so I just ignore most of the stuff that I find in my gift box. It doesn't make any sense to me and maybe at some later date when I have time or the inclination, I'll go through my entire bags and my bank and organize everything and figure out what all this stuff that I keep getting from the store is. But in the meantime, onto the actual Summerfest stuffs!
 
     When you log in on the day that the Summerfest event goes live, you get a little note in your mailbox from Shyla Starhearth that goes like this:
" Greetings (name),
Blessings of the Vigil upon you. Through the grace of the gods, the summer season has arrived.
We Guardians celebrate this season in a variety of ways. But by far most popular is the annual scavenger hunts! Come see me in Thontic's Row for more details!"

Key Features:
  • Kargath: Apparently this big, creepy lookin' dude named Swarmlord Kargath is on the warpath. His name is quite befitting his appearance, which resembles the outcome of a splicing of human and insect DNA. Surprisingly, it doesn't look that bad. Maybe because I have a thing for guys with wings. So sue me? Anyway, apparently Kargath has decided to swarm. He's gathering all his minions and unleashing hell on earth-rather Telara-and we Ascended have to stop him. Typical. Us Ascended are always solving everyone else's problems.
  • Scavenger Hunts: I remember those from last year! Those are what I was talking about with the quests in each zone. There are multiple tiers of hunts, each being released in different phases and should be tons of fun to experience! You get to do fun events in each of the hunts, with unique clues and interesting results. I remember one of last year's scavenger hunts was to kiss Prince Hylas. He didn't like that very much though...
  • Rare Mini Pets: Woot, I am an avid collector of mini pets in any game. In WoW I have like 500 of em. In Rift, only about 10, mostly because I've been so busy doing a billion other things that I don't have time to go hunting for lil pets, cute though they are. Apparently the pets are back this Summerfest! Last year, I believe I only was able to find 2-3 of the rare pets that were said to be roaming each of the zones. I hope I can spot more this time around! Gotta catch em all, dontcha know?
  • Summerfest Gear: Apparently, we get swimsuits and other interesting beach-side attire this year. Swimsuits, bikinis, a special avian pet, all kinds of fun things available at the Rift store. This actually makes me happy and sad at the same time. I love that we can wear swim clothes now! Yay RP at the beach. But at the same time...the Rift shop? I hope that that's not the only place you can find them because I'd really love to get my hands on at least one type of swimsuit, but I'd rather not pay money or credits or whatever they cost in order to have one. The only game I actually paid real money for (excluding a subscription) is Forsaken World and I regret that lol.
  • Spoils of Summer: Apparently there's rewards and titles/achievements for camping out with your mates in the wilds during the Summerfest event. Sounds really cool and a nice way to get some RP going! I love any excuse for RP. :) Also, as you complete each of the Summerfest quests and missions, and close rifts and participate in the zone events, you can earn merit badges and friendship bracelets, which you can use to buy special rewards and seasonal items! Yay for neat seasonal rewards!
  • Win Credits: Apparently, if you log in during the first week of Summerfest, you have a higher chance of earning credits in your daily gift box/reward thingy. Also, if you're a Patron, you have an even higher chance of earning credits! I guess that explains the change in my gift box name now that I think about it.

There's two phases to Summerfest. Phase one is Beat the Heat and Phase two is Lazy Summer.
Phase One=Beat the Heat
       During Phase one, you have available lots of dailies, which you can complete to earn merit badges, which you can then use to buy stuff.

The main attraction though, is the Scavenger Hunt:
  • The Little Scavenger Hunt Part 1 (available during both phases, don't worry!)
    • Freemarch: Pucker up! - Find and kiss Jakob (Freemarch's main bad guy).
    • Silverwood: Hylas Need's a Hug - Find and give Hylas Aelfwar a hug (Greenscale's number one cultist guy and former leader of High Elves)
    • Stonefield: Troll Treasure - Find something valuable to a Troll...
    • Gloamwood: Tree of Wisdom - Exactly like it sounds
    • Scarlet Gorge: Human Barrel Ride - Go down a waterfall at the bottom of the map
  • The Great Scavenger Hunt Part 1 (This one is for higher levels!!)
    • Scarwood Reach: Plant Trees - self describing
    • Moonshade Highland: Swim With the Fishes - Swimming obstacle course
    • Iron Pine Peak: Missing Mountaineer - This one is a pain
    • Shimmersand: Deliver Ice Cream - Pretty easy if your high enough level
    • Stillmore: Lap Around Stillmore - Run around the zone
  • The Little Scavenger Hunt Part 2 (available during phase 2!)
    • Freemarch: Fabulous Fun Fishing in Freemarch - Here fishy fishy!
    • Silverwood: Save the Spirit Guide - Rescue mission
    • Stonefield: Grave Courage - I don't remember what this one was
    • Gloamwood: Delouse the Itchy Werewolves - Clean the infested wolf critters (there's never enough for everyone)
    • Scarlet Gorge: Gorging on Gold - I don't remember this one either
  • The Great Scavenger Hunt Part 2 (only available during phase 2!)
    • Scarwood Reach: Harpy Chow - I didn't do any of these challenges
    • Droughtlands: Puissant Paleontology
    • Moonshade Highlands: Attitude Adjustment
    • Iron Pine Peak: Locate the Book of Riddles- I actually remember this one, it was kinda fun in a way, but confusing
    • Shimmersand: Beachcombing for the Discerning Vacationist
    • Stillmore: Stillmore Sparkles
Achievements for Summerfest:
  1. Summer of Love- Complete Silverwood and Freemarch Part 1 Scavenger Hunt challenges.
  2. Stillmore Thoroughbred- Complete Stillmore's Part 1 challenge
  3. Riddle Me This- Complete Iron Pine Peak's Part 2 Scavenger Hunt challenge.
  4. Live Strong- Complete Moonshade Highland's Part 2 Hunt challenge
    1. Reward: the title "the Aggressive"
  5. Flea-Bitten Menace- Complete Gloamwood's Part 2 challenge
  6. Fun in the Sun- A meta achievement that requires a completed list of things.
    1. Summertime Scavengry- Complete all the Summerfest Scavenger Hunts
    2. Not So Lazy Summer- Complete 20 Summerfest quests
    3. Angling for the Top- Catch 100 summer sunfish
    4. Exterminator- Squish 300 bugs while doing the daily quest "Bug Squishing"
There are also a bunch of mini pets to find in the open world of Telara. Here's a list of the ones that I know of. I don't know if there are more or not.
  • Spotted Snake-Freemarch
  • Black Bunny-Silverwood
  • Brown Rat-Stonefield
  • Tamed Deepfang Hatchling-Gloamwood
  • Scoots-Scarlet Gorge
  • Black Coyote- Scarwood Reach
  • Tabby Cat-Moonshade Highlands
  • Mini Mordant-Droughlands
  • White Squirrel-Iron Pine Peak
  • Green Cobra-Shimmersand
  • Jewel Scarab-Stillmore

     We have various daily quests available in Meridian (and Sanctum if you're Guardian) that have you do all sortsa random things. Even Sylver Valis has joined in all the fun, although it appears he's not too happy about it. It seems he's been forced into coming outside to get a bit of fresh air. Imagine that. Dailies involve making Sunfish Po'boy (Raeslyn's favorite treat but not mine), fishing for summer sunfish near sunfish plants, making sunfish lures-presumably to catch the sunfish with-, and doing a race outside of Meridian. There's also quests available from Sylver, titled "Little Scavenger Hunt Part 1" and "Great Scavenger Hunt Part 1". Obviously there's going to be a Part 2 when the next phase of the event hits. I remember that much from last year. I wonder if I get to do all the same quests all over again the same as last year, or are they varied slightly maybe? Are there different achieves and titles too I wonder?? I think last year I got the title beach bum. I think. Not a very inspiring title, to be sure, but meh. I love titles. I'll go more into detail into the event itself later when it's not 2am and when I don't have to work 12 hours the next day.

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