Rift Overcast

Hey Overcast fans! We've got a little treat for you today. It's not much but we wanted to say hi and see what everyone thinks about patch 1.11. In this first episode of a probable series of "minisodes" Matt is solo and seeking to spark a little discussion about what makes a soul or a combination of souls interesting and fun. With all the changes across the board to the souls in 1.11, Matt got to thinking about this fairly in-depth. Have a listen, enjoy and leave us a comment below, email, facebook, or tweet with what you think about the topic!

I've decided to get on the mic and personally say farewell to our audience. Those who frequent our website or the forums already know everything contained in this recording but we wanted to be sure our audience on itunes and stitcher radio were aware of the situation as well. Also wanted to bring attention to my (Matt's) personal TwitchTV channel, in-case anyone feels like stopping in to say hello and see what we're up to, now that the show is over.

Community Voice guests Khan & Myrkel, from US guild No Quarter, join us this week to discuss a wide array of topics including patch 1.10, dimensions, the support role in Storm Legion, and much more.  Elrar was lurking in the chatroom and tossed us a couple of crumbs as well.  Later on, our guests give us some insight into their guild and what its like to be a part of No Quarter.  We discover a little about what happened with the recent exploiting that lead to some controversy regarding credit for the Maelforge world first kill.  And most importantly, we're on a boat!  Don't worry, you'll understand.

What a jam-packed episode we have for you all this week! There's so much that we were live for almost 2 hours and had to stop ourselves from talking even more! Khel joins Matt & Joe again this week as we discuss the latest news regarding patch 1.10, Rift's newest mount is a tad to 'cheeky', the almost complete removal of factions on pve servers, and Trion's newest 'experiment' with normalizing gear stats for instanced pvp. We've also pulled several juicy tooltips from Trion's revealing of the new mage soul, the Harbinger, which we discuss in great depth! Everything is better with sprinkles, especially this week's episode of Overcast.

Expectations are extremely high for the expansion! With the reveal of the new Mage soul right around the corner, Matt & Joe discuss some specifics about what it will be. Recent screenshots and images have shown a Mage wielding a two-handed sword! Is it a tank, a melee dps, or is Trion just messing with us? Your hosts have abandoned the Vigil and are now firmly seated in the ranks of the Defiant! Matt returns to the Mage and Joe picks up where he left off on his original Warrior. Find out what prompted our decision to swap factions and why Joe is suddenly interested in the Warrior once again. Oh, and did we mention the Geomancer?!

This week, Matt & Joe analyze the recent Reddit AMAA (ask me almost anything). With SWTOR's recent announcement that they're switching to a "freemium" or free-to-play model, several sites have inspired discussion about which subscription MMORPG could be the next to adopt F2P. We discuss how RIFT seemingly dodged the bullet, as many players commented on RIFT's success as a subscription model. What are the benefits of F2P and will RIFT ever consider it as an option? Later on we're joined by our Community Voice guest, Juuno from the popular podcast, Rift Shinies to discuss the most recent revelations in Telaran lore and the endless possibilities for where the story could go in the future.

Matt & Joe are back, along with Khellendros, this week. We discuss if Guild Wars 2 could have an impact on RIFT subscriptions and if this week's Play-RIFT-Free promotion could be a direct response to the most recent GW2 beta weekend. Can we go at least one episode without mentioning Conquest? It's possible but not this week. We revisit our feelings regarding the most recent changes to the Conquest reward system and touch on some ideas for balancing PvP stats, such as crit and avoidance. Also, this week, what ever happened to those awesome World Events we used to look forward to?

This, our second week of live recording, we are joined by Amanatin & Betowulf of US Guild, Tabula Rasa. We get to know Tabula Rasa and move on to discuss Conquest... again. We want to say this is the last time we'll have to discuss Conquest but the feature appears to be ever changing. Are the latest changes to PvE focused? Trion also confirms that there will be no rollback. The controversy surrounding Conquest leads to even deeper discussion about RIFT PvP and the state of the game.

This week we discuss: the latest issues plaguing Conquest, the EU server merge and if we could see one for US soon, review the newest Instant Adventures, reinforce our request for an in-game help index of sorts, and discuss the pros and cons to an Armory (player database) feature. Also, Joe has chosen to get involved in PvP and talks about his experiences thus far. Much to Matt's surprise, Joe is greatly enjoying instanced PvP. This week is also our first time recording live on twitch.tv/riftovercast. Future recordings will also be live so be sure to follow the twitch.tv channel and our Twitter for updates on the live schedules!

Many Telarans rejoice for Patch 1.9 & Summerfest hitting the live servers this week but some aren't so joyous and we'll discuss why. Joe experiences some classic open world PvP. Wait, did I say PvP? I meant getting ganked and camped. We remind ourselves about some of RIFT's original hooks at launch and Joe discovers a new class called "The Hedge Mage". What exactly is a Hedge Mage anyway? Find out, in this week's Overcast!

Another relatively quiet week for news, though not so quiet on the forums. Trion shows off their new Twitch channel by showcasing Patch 1.9, the population calls for server merges and we discuss how that could effect expansion sales, Conquest will arrive on live servers along with patch 1.9 next week but was it ready? Plus, isn't it sort of wrong for a Dwarf to be bald and clean-shaven?

This week we are joined by some of the top raiders in the world. Qarlsberg, Cookie, and Whitelady from EU guild Special Olympics are here to talk with us about their experiences raiding in RIFT, what brought them together, a little about the most recent progression race, and we even get some great pro-tips for Infernal Dawn. A very big thank you to Special Olympics for their continued support of the Overcast project and the RIFT Community.

That's right! Your hosts Matt & Joe have finally found themselves a raiding guild with Grindcore on US-Gnarlwood. About time, right? We discuss possible alternative paths for leveling in Storm Legion, the new Colossus encounter, and Joe talks about his first experience playing Bard in Infernal Dawn. We get a bit geeky with some hardware talk as we discuss the possibility that RIFT Storm Legion could update the game engine to Gamebryo 4.0 and more in this week's Overcast!

Your hosts Matt & Joe discuss the most recent update to the PTS 1.9 patch notes, get nerdy about the mysterious box of clues sent to PC Gamer, and Matt has an identity crisis! What kind of effect will 4 new souls have on class balance? What's going to happen to all our current level 50 content if they raise the cap to 60? Will Trion take the expansion in a casual direction or maintain their integrity in making challenging content? Find out, in this week's Overcast!

Matt & Joe are joined by two Community Voice guest hosts this week: Mythblaze and Khellendros to discuss all things Conquest! We go over the community's initial reaction to Conquest, clarify some details about phase one of testing, and attempt to give you all as much information as possible about what we learned. So kick back and enjoy while we prepare you for Conquest!

This week on Overcast, Matt & Joe switch places and Matt makes his best attempt at imitating his co-host. Joe leads the discussion where we cover some new teasers that have appeared on the PTS, the upcoming Mentor system and ponder if Laethys is the new destroyer of guilds. We also say goodbye to one of RIFT's top raiding guilds, Voodoo. Best of luck guys, where ever you go!

That's right! Our cries have been heard and will be heard again on Thursday, May 17, 2012 @ 4:00pm PDT, as we march on both our enemies. Choose from one of three new factions, unique to Conquest: Ram, Lion, or Raven. Each faction will stand on its own and have to overthrow the others in true three faction Realm vs Realm PvP combat! Check out the Official Announcement on Rift's blog. Matt has also ninja'ed Joe online for a short time to capture our initial reactions to this announcement, so be sure to have a listen! As a result of this announcement, we've decided to delay Overcast Episode 12 until Saturday. This will give us time to test the new Conquest feature as much as possible. Make sure you all update your PTS client early! This is going to be epic!

Things got a little heated this week in RIFT after a random survey went out without any information about how they were choosing their audience. Rogues united and try and push for some energy changes, showing us all that we've got the power and Joe shows us all just how good he is at interior design. All that and more of the usual banter you're used to in this week's RIFT Overcast!

This week your hosts bring you a special extra long episode in honor of our 10 episode milestone! Woot! Joe has chosen to return to playing his Rogue but this time will focus on main spec DPS instead of tanking. Matt has also decided to main spec Tank with his Cleric. We spend a little more time discussing the best ways to accommodate different levels of difficulty in raids, speculate on the new raid instance coming up named Primeval Feast, what renewed player's interest in the mystery zone Planetouched Wilds, and much much more!

This week on Overcast, Matt and Joe go over some features that could make the outdated content more accessible. We discuss the new pet models, the rate at which top guilds are clearing Infernal Dawn and discover that Matt has a thing for trolls. If you want to find out, you'll just have to listen. All that and more on this week's episode of Overcast!