New Lesser Essences: 150 inscribed + 5000 planarite per

[MUNDAN]

I quit wow because of dailies/repetitive grinding.
I came to rift for something new. End up with the same stuff.

I don't consider dungeons/raid dungeons a grind at all. That is fun. That is why I play mmo's.
I DO consider grinding sourcestones to better my character with new overly priced essences a grind.

As most of you are the same, I have been playing this game since beta and was involved in the pre-release or so of time played. I hit level 50 rather easily.

Then after hitting 50 I realized I'd have to grind dailies to get the appropriate gear enchants to make my character optimized. Since the only thing I want to do is raid. I figured I have to do it. And here I am several months later with the only faction that im maxed out on is Mathos.

Not even close on Icewatch and remotely close on Shimmer.
I am a Tank of my HK guild and I despised having to grind for my water and death resist sigils.
I had to do 87 water/death raid rifts. half of which I actually provided the lure and would get priority on the items. That was how long it took me to complete my death and water resist sigils.

I have a sigil with priority on block. random resists
I have an attack power sigil and a crit sigil.
I do not have any other resist sigils.

I have 36k planarite and that is by far the most I've ever had. I have 197 inscribed and that is with me doing the weekly quest they give now and the daily raid rift/expert rift every day that I can.

I cannot see how I am even supposed to come close to enough sourcestones to make my person better. And yes I want to grind it to do so, but after 3 hours and I have not much to show for it, it turns me off to the game, and I log out.

I group with others during invasions and such and see them getting inscribed off of every rift and little event boss, while I get none. Sure its RNG but gosh darn it its ridiculous.

Ive been doing this world event every day and for about 2-3 hours a day doing the dailies and such and this little raptor mount of mine is still only level 27.

I play for a minimum of 3 hours a day to a maximum of 8 hours and I see nothing even remotely close to others numbers of planarite and inscribed income. I guess I'm just unlucky.

[DTM300]

Why is thanerite cap 60k? Can this be increased to 100k? 150k? What can you even spend planerite on after the initial purchases of your planar abilities? With so many currencies in this game there should be a good way to convert these currencies to the one you want/need.

[Rayner]

Name a progression based RPG without a grind. Go.

There are three things wrong with this argument:

1. The term "progression based RPG" is not commonly defined. What is that supposed to mean, exactly? One could argue that by their very nature an RPG is inherently progression based. Do you mean to say refer to the WoW-style raiding paradigm that Rift uses?

2. It sort of proves my argument. You're basically saying "yeah, this game is grindy, but so are other games!" So you've already conceded that the game has grinds, but you're proposing a new argument: other games have grinds, so it's alright that this one does, too.

3. It doesn't even support your new argument very well, either. The fact that other games have grinds is irrelevant to whether or not this game should have grinds of its own. Grinds by their very name are a negative concept (if you want to spin it you could call them "challenges" instead, though), yet you now wish to defend them?

[DTM300]

I quit wow because of dailies/repetitive grinding.
I came to rift for something new. End up with the same stuff.

I don't consider dungeons/raid dungeons a grind at all. That is fun. That is why I play mmo's.
I DO consider grinding sourcestones to better my character with new overly priced essences a grind.

As most of you are the same, I have been playing this game since beta and was involved in the pre-release or so of time played. I hit level 50 rather easily.

Then after hitting 50 I realized I'd have to grind dailies to get the appropriate gear enchants to make my character optimized. Since the only thing I want to do is raid. I figured I have to do it. And here I am several months later with the only faction that im maxed out on is Mathos.

Not even close on Icewatch and remotely close on Shimmer.
I am a Tank of my HK guild and I despised having to grind for my water and death resist sigils.
I had to do 87 water/death raid rifts. half of which I actually provided the lure and would get priority on the items. That was how long it took me to complete my death and water resist sigils.

I have a sigil with priority on block. random resists
I have an attack power sigil and a crit sigil.
I do not have any other resist sigils.

I have 36k planarite and that is by far the most I've ever had. I have 197 inscribed and that is with me doing the weekly quest they give now and the daily raid rift/expert rift every day that I can.

I cannot see how I am even supposed to come close to enough sourcestones to make my person better. And yes I want to grind it to do so, but after 3 hours and I have not much to show for it, it turns me off to the game, and I log out.

I group with others during invasions and such and see them getting inscribed off of every rift and little event boss, while I get none. Sure its RNG but gosh darn it its ridiculous.

Ive been doing this world event every day and for about 2-3 hours a day doing the dailies and such and this little raptor mount of mine is still only level 27.

I play for a minimum of 3 hours a day to a maximum of 8 hours and I see nothing even remotely close to others numbers of planarite and inscribed income. I guess I'm just unlucky.

You claim you play for a minimum of 3 hours a day.... Well my friends were glorified in icewatch and dragonslayer cov months ago when they quit. Quests used to give 1-3k faction each and dungeons were like 1k per boss. Apparently you didn't play a lot then.

I wasn't able to play much at that time, and now quests give 300-600 and bosses give like 250 rep. I'm stuck at honored/revered with no desire to grind a t1 dungeon 100x to get faction. It's boring and I'm in p8/t1 raid gear. So it would be a strict grind for a measly enchant. Honored to revered is bad enough... But revered to glorified for icewatch? You've got to be f'ing kidding me.

[Elco]

The Inscribed Stone grind isn't fun, that's my issue. Running around the map in hopes of getting to a rift in time in hopes that a stone will drop for you isn't fun. Sitting around in sanctum waiting for a zone event to pop is as bad as sitting around waiting for your dungeon to pop. Sitting around the Akala area in Shimmersand waiting for rifts to pop isn't fun.

Grinding Planar Attunement levels is a lot more fun since I can do it anywhere at any time. I can run right into the Endless Citadel and mow down hundreds of enemies for a good hour and never get bored. My character is fun to play, as it was in Aion when I grinded out my platinum coin items back in the day. That makes the grind tolerable, even if it is mindlessly repetitive.

A controlled grind, like these new essences will be, is not fun. You can't mask the illusion of a grind when you'll spend more time waiting around doing nothing than anything else.

Spot On. I resent the newest grind more than any of the other many grinds in rift, because its a waiting game.

[lusciifi]

Honestly i think the biggest problem here is that they are using the same currency. IMO you shouldn't be able to get T2 essances doing the same content. There should be some "greater inscribed sourcestone that only drops from rifts on ember isles just like the new raid rift essences are not going to be roped in the T1 raid rifts. Imagine if you never had to do HK to get a full set of T2 gear but rather could grind out lesser marks for each piece. It would in turn make it feel like less of a grind an more of a way to supplement the drops we were already getting from the new content.

[Chronicar]

There are three things wrong with this argument:

1. The term "progression based RPG" is not commonly defined. What is that supposed to mean, exactly? One could argue that by their very nature an RPG is inherently progression based. Do you mean to say refer to the WoW-style raiding paradigm that Rift uses?

2. It sort of proves my argument. You're basically saying "yeah, this game is grindy, but so are other games!" So you've already conceded that the game has grinds, but you're proposing a new argument: other games have grinds, so it's alright that this one does, too.

3. It doesn't even support your new argument very well, either. The fact that other games have grinds is irrelevant to whether or not this game should have grinds of its own. Grinds by their very name are a negative concept (if you want to spin it you could call them "challenges" instead, though), yet you now wish to defend them?

1. Progression - to progress - to make better. Anything that makes your character better should fit into progression based games.

2. A game is as grindy as you make it. I can go kill level 43 enemies because they are the weakest to get PAs and it will take forever. I could help a friend througha dungeon and all of a sudden I am no longer grinding a PA I am running a dungeon and the PA experience is a bonus.

3. How else do you expect to get better? Do you want stuff handed to you? It might feel less grindy to you if they make a new currency, but you won't have a head start on it like you do now. You can kill a single invasion during a zone invasion and get inscribed sourcestones. How is that a grind? You can literally kill an invasion and then AFK for 15 minutes and come back to free loot.

[Anuhart]

I have 36k planarite and that is by far the most I've ever had.

A few options.

1) Bug it.
2) Leave the city.
3) When that rift loot button glows red, press it.

Seriously If you haven't hit the 60k max several times over and ultimately realise there isn't any point in trying to be below it, there is something wrong.

[MUNDAN]

You claim you play for a minimum of 3 hours a day.... Well my friends were glorified in icewatch and dragonslayer cov months ago when they quit. Quests used to give 1-3k faction each and dungeons were like 1k per boss. Apparently you didn't play a lot then.

I wasn't able to play much at that time, and now quests give 300-600 and bosses give like 250 rep. I'm stuck at honored/revered with no desire to grind a t1 dungeon 100x to get faction. It's boring and I'm in p8/t1 raid gear. So it would be a strict grind for a measly enchant. Honored to revered is bad enough... But revered to glorified for icewatch? You've got to be f'ing kidding me.

Like I said I do not like dailies. I didnt do dailies back when they were great to do. Why would I? I dont like doing them... As for the dungeon bosses using to give good rep. When someone said hey lets go grind AP I'd go sure. After 1 time through the grind felt less appealing. Once the grind sets in my brain, I go bye bye.

and as for the guy that said he doesnt know how i havent hit 60k planarite several times... no clue man. I do leave the city.
Oh, did I mention I'm pvp rank 2... yah.. thats even less fun to do than rift grinding.

[DTM300]

Like I said I do not like dailies. I didnt do dailies back when they were great to do. Why would I? I dont like doing them... As for the dungeon bosses using to give good rep. When someone said hey lets go grind AP I'd go sure. After 1 time through the grind felt less appealing. Once the grind sets in my brain, I go bye bye.

and as for the guy that said he doesnt know how i havent hit 60k planarite several times... no clue man. I do leave the city.
Oh, did I mention I'm pvp rank 2... yah.. thats even less fun to do than rift grinding.

Like I said. T1 dungeon bosses gave 1k per. You needed to do t1 dungeons to get the hit/focus for GSB at the time. Back when some of these dungeons were tough AP bird boss, etc. If you like raiding, you would have grinder these dungeons for equipment. You would have got the faction that way.

[Rayner]

1. Progression - to progress - to make better. Anything that makes your character better should fit into progression based games.

Actually, that's not quite the definition of "progression." Progression is defined as "moving from one thing to another." The word comes from the Latin preposition "pro," which means "before" and "gressus," which is the perfect active form of the verb "gradior," which means "I step," "I walk," or "I advance." You are correct that "progress" tends to have a connotation of "to make better," though.

So you see, I already know quite a bit about the word "progression." What I wanted to know was how you defined "progression based" in terms of MMOs. "Anything that makes your character better" is not specific enough to define its own subset of the genre and, as I have said, I would argue that this broad definition would fit all RPGs regardless.

2. A game is as grindy as you make it. I can go kill level 43 enemies because they are the weakest to get PAs and it will take forever. I could help a friend througha dungeon and all of a sudden I am no longer grinding a PA I am running a dungeon and the PA experience is a bonus.

So I could make it so this game is not grindy at all? Please tell me how to acquire 900 Inscribed Sourcestones without having to do hundreds of dailies or invasions that I have already done hundreds of times already. Or, if that is not an option, please tell me a way in which I could do these same tasks that is new, exciting, and fun.

3. How else do you expect to get better? Do you want stuff handed to you? It might feel less grindy to you if they make a new currency, but you won't have a head start on it like you do now. You can kill a single invasion during a zone invasion and get inscribed sourcestones. How is that a grind? You can literally kill an invasion and then AFK for 15 minutes and come back to free loot.

To answer your question: no, I do not want stuff handed to me. How this concept got into your mind outside of biased, preconceived notions I will never know.

Are you now moving on to another argument? "This game has grinds, yes, but they're not so bad because you can find ways to cheat the system and not play the game to get rewards." I suppose this might suffice for you, but I'm paying $15 a month to play the game, not to find ways to avoid playing it.

[Chronicar]

Actually, that's not quite the definition of "progression." Progression is defined as "moving from one thing to another." The word comes from the Latin preposition "pro," which means "before" and "gressus," which is the perfect active form of the verb "gradior," which means "I step," "I walk," or "I advance." You are correct that "progress" tends to have a connotation of "to make better," though.

So you see, I already know quite a bit about the word "progression." What I wanted to know was how you
defined "progression based" in terms of MMOs. "Anything that makes your character better" is not specific enough to define its own subset of the genre and, as I have said, I would argue that this broad definition would fit all RPGs regardless.

So I could make it so this game is not grindy at all? Please tell me how to acquire 900 Inscribed Sourcestones without having to do hundreds of dailies or invasions that I have already done hundreds of times already. Or, if that is not an option, please tell me a way in which I could do these same tasks that is new, exciting, and fun.

To answer your question: no, I do not want stuff handed to me. How this concept got into your mind outside of biased, preconceived notions I will never know.

Are you now moving on to another argument? "This game has grinds, yes, but they're not so bad because you can find ways to cheat the system and not play the game to get rewards." I suppose this might suffice for you, but I'm paying $15 a month to play the game, not to find ways to avoid playing it.

Progression - Noun: 1.A movement or development toward a destination or a more advanced state, esp. gradually or in stages.
2.A succession; a series.



Synonyms: advance - advancement - series


I know exactly how to make it so you aren't doing 100's of dailies and invasions that you have already done. They said they were looking at lowering the cost of the essences to 100 each which means you would need 600 for all 6 slots. That is 60 major invasion if you don't get any during the invasion for bosses or rifts. They are also coming out with a new zone that has new rifts, invasions, and dailies; so it won't be doing something you have done hundreds of times because everything in that zone is new. This new zone with new rifts will most likely drop higher level essences as well so you might end up needing only 500 or 400 inscribed.

If you don't want to cheat the system my point still stands that major invasions give a ton of sourcestones and they are extremely easy to get. You can get them from minor rifts. I have 200 already and 1.6 isn't even out. There are easy ways to get sourcestone that involve things that you might already do. If you like to PvP in the open world go to whichever zone has an invasion and I bet the other faction will be there to fight and you will probably accidently tag an invasion netting you 10 stones. Do the world event dailies which have only been in for a week (ya there are plenty of dailies like it), but if you want all the items from it you will get inscribeds.

[Jayko]

Oddly enough, the proposed high cost crystals have been good for Seastone. Guardian PVEers (or people that just don't have much left to do in PVP like myself) have been way more active in world events as a result and there's been some pretty fun PVP to be had.

The events are also excellent exp by the time you get the bonus 80k at the end for majors and if you get credit for a bunch of the 15k+ bosses in Shimmersand or Stillmoor during Prince of Earth and Raising Kain respectively. I'm not sitting on over 600 incscribeds. It's actually been fairly enjoyable and low stress. I set up an audio trigger through ACT for zone event notifications and just watch TV until one starts.

For those of you that don't know, pretty sure they have discussed lowering the cost of them (down to 100 which is way more manageable) and the new quests in Ember Isles are currently slated to reward inscribeds.

There's no way to make a currency based item not a grind, frankly. Anything you do repeatedly is going to feel like a grind. For people like myself that literally have 6 sigils it's going to be quite painful to deck them all out in the new lessers. I'd love to have more info on the timeline for new raid rifts, their drops, etc, but for now I'm very pleased with being able to pick up some new items from doing things I already do for planar attunement.

[thedrummmmer]

This game has no where near the grind of some other mmo's out there. If you have the time, and are willing, to play twice as much as other people to better your character, you should be rewarded.

[Nadili]

The test event in ember isle also dropped 30-50 inscribed stones now whether that is just for pts or will go live is still up in the air personally I really liked that.