Enter at Your Own Rift: What's in your bag?
I have a little confession to make. When it comes to random clicky items, unusual vanity pets, eccentric appearance items, and other quirky stuff in RIFT, I'm completely obsessed. During world events, while everyone else is eyeing the essences and new mounts, I'm scanning the appearance outfits and the clicky-effect items. I'll even do quests and content that I'm not necessarily interested in if the reward is something out of the ordinary. Clickies and odd items are great ways to lighten the mood when your group or raid has hit a wall, and they're a good way to liven up downtime in game. There's nothing like the sudden appearance of fireworks or the instant transformation of your raid leader into foliage.
For this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, I'm diving into my RIFT bags and bank vault to highlight a few of my favorite clickies. Share some of yours!
Snogs
I love Snogs partially because of the look of the pet but mainly because of the way I got it. I was doing an Ember Isle zone event and fell behind the pack because I had stopped to heal someone and ended up getting aggro from a wandering mob. I fought it off and noticed a tiger roaming past with the name Tak'gnarl. I've been conditioned to always immediately attack anything with an unusual name, thanks to EverQuest, so I hit him and eventually took him down. Later on, after the event was over and I had gone back to town, I noticed that I had mail.
When I checked, it turned out to be a companion pet named Snogs, with a little congratulations message inside. I did a search of the pet's name because I had no idea what I had done to receive it, and I discovered that I had found a pretty rare mob that rewarded me with an equally rare vanity pet. I almost felt guilty because there were several posts from people who talked about camping the named for long periods of time with no luck, and here I was just stumbling upon it thanks to some unwanted aggro from a trash mob. The pet is actually not a tiger but a little striped prairie dog, and while I'm not usually a pet fiend, I do like to break him out because he's so darned cute.
Cozy Summer Campfire
This one is the gift that keeps on giving. It's a fun campfire that you can summon once every 24 hours, and it was purchased during the summer world event. What I especially like about it is that everyone can click on it and get a Sunfish Po' boy, and consuming one causes you to transform into a random illusion. The sandwiches were made from summer sunfish during the event, but now that the event is over, it's nice to still be able to get a sandwich a day, stock up, and then break them out when things are getting tense. I also had fun running around as a bogling in Sanctum and doing a zone event as a tiny crab.
Scotty's sheeping wand
This is a fun item that you can purchase with lucky coins from artifact collections. I was excited to buy this because I loved the questline in Argent Glade that involves young students zapping each other, turning classmates into random animals. At one point, I recall having to run out into the woods to transform some "unusual-looking deer" back into students, but my inner imp loves the idea of being able to zap other players and change them into sheep, if only for a few minutes.
Foliage disguise
This one's another of my favorites from the artifact vendor. With enough lucky coins, I was able to purchase a clicky that turns me into a bush (I'm the one with orange leaves). Granted, it lasts only a few minutes, and I can't move while I have the illusion on, but I love being able to blend in with the forest and leave friends and groupmates scratching their heads. If only it would help me survive a Conquest instance...
Satyr Snowman
I must have gotten about a half dozen of these during the Fae Yule event, and while they didn't necessarily stand out during the winter-themed decorations in town, they are definitely cause for a double take in the dog days of summer. I have the regular snowman and the holiday snowman, but my favorite by far is the Satyr snowman. There's nothing better than a devil-horned Frosty! At one point, they were on individual cooldown timers, so I could spawn a chain of snowmen all the way down the path in Sanctum, but now they all seem to share a common timer, meaning I have to choose wisely which guy I bring out. Either way, though, they're a great conversation piece (especially if we're in a particularly hot zone!).
Soccer ball
I haven't yet built up enough Farclan faction to purchase one of these, but it's definitely on my wish list. It's a soccer ball that you purchase from the Ember Isle quartermaster with the proper faction, and you can summon and then kick it around to other players. I've always been a fan of making sports in fantasy MMOs, going way back to playing soccer with a Gnome corpse in EQ. (It sounds much worse that it was, honest!) It's not easy to get the soccer ball, and the result is probably just a few minutes of chaos and a few laughs from surprised players, but for a clicky junkie like yours truly, it's well worth it.
The great thing about things like clickies and vanity pets is that they are yet another way to carve out your identity. Personally, I prefer things that are a bit out there, while others might go for the sparkle, and still others might go for things that make a bold (and intimidating) statement. Whatever the image is that you create, it's nice to see so many options in RIFT for showing who you are and what you like. Having said that, I am wondering what fluff items are in your bags? Have you snagged any particularly unusual or rare pets, appearance clothing, or clickies? Share them below!
Whether they're keeping the vigil or defying the gods, Karen Bryan and Justin Olivetti save Telara on a weekly basis. Covering all aspects of life in RIFT, from solo play to guild raids, their column is dedicated to backhanding multidimensional tears so hard that they go crying to their mommas. Email Karen and Justin for questions, comments, and adulation.
