I just hopped into RIFT for the first time since downloading the patch last night. Grabbing my Veteran’s Rewards from my inbox, I noticed a handy little note reminding me to do the Chronicle of Planar Attunement (or some such). If you’re new to the game, Chronicles are essentially story-based, solo/duo instances similar to skirmishes in LotRO but on a grander scale. The first one, I assumed, would be something small to unlock the Planar Attunement system, so I queued up not expecting much. Boy was I wrong.
I was blown away by the first chronicle. The other two are based on raids and this one is not, but if it’s any indication of what they can do with the system, I am seriously optimistic. The opening few minutes has you running through the city while the NPCs cheer and bow to you. Quest givers from previous zones pop up and comment on how amazing all you’ve done is. The final part is well voice acted and interesting, as you’re asked to step into a whimsical machine of red death. Or so I thought. Instead, I was rewarded with more cheers and congratulations as I was awarded my first set of AA points.
Then all hell broke loose. Minions of death invade Meridian and people are running in terror. You have to rescue major story figures and fight two major bosses before getting to the ultimate test. The second, a dark knight, returns from the grave to summon a massive, death-themed, spider-creature. It’s a raid boss. And not a tank and spank. You have to move and react to a host of different abilities (it’s not hard, but if you’re not paying attention you’ll die quickly) while still attacking. Since I was in tank spec, I wasn’t doing a ton of damage, but it still took me a solid fifteen minutes to kill it.
When the boss finally died, the darkness seemed to draw back and lines of commoners streamed back in to cheer for me. Damn right. I just saved the whole city while all the other big wigs hid behind pillars. I am the hero.
I can say this without exaggeration: The Chronicle of Attunement did more to make me feel heroic than the entire process of leveling up. All of the little details, from the custom emotes, to the way ethereal barriers made you feel trapped and outwitted… this is an instance well done. I would go so far as to say that this is the way all new world events should be introduced. It brought me in and made me feel like I made a difference. Now, I can’t wait to stop writing to get back in there.
Excellent job, Trion. Kudos where kudos are due.
