Staff Writer Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland continues his adventures in Rift! This time he reflects on his experiences during the third closed beta event.

Perhaps I like to brag a bit too much, but did I mention I received an invitation to participate in Rift's closed beta events? If you haven't read my initial impressions on how much I enjoy this game, check out my thoughts on phase 2. Unlike many games, Rift has had great success thus far with its beta events, with only occasional hiccups marring this next generation approach to MMORPGs. During phase 3, I was able to continue using my Guardian Reaver/Warlord from phase 2 and really got into grouping and rift invasions.

Just to recap, during phase 2, I was just able to reach level 10 before the time ran out (due to real life constraints, not difficulty leveling). I saw one invasion, which consisted of a swarm of fire goblins running toward a base, and that was about it. I leveled mostly through questing, and while the quest locations varied, I found them pretty boring. I took mining and armorsmithing as some profession skills, and picked at a few tin ores before the end of the beta.

Phase 3 gave me the perfect chance to pick up where I left off. First, crafting and gathering. I picked up foraging as my third skill, and along my way I encountered several types of flowers but only two types of ore (copper started to appear around level 15+ enemies). Using my ore I made a variety of armor that, while not amazing, was at least on par with or slightly better than the quest rewards around level 12-15 (tin armor). Resource nodes were easy to find – you can track both plants and ore at the same time on the minimap. One minor complaint: you need to manually select the tracking option from your general skill page the first time – nothing in-game let me know this. Still, crafting did not change much from my opinion before. It is easy, nothing special, and pretty boring.

With questing, however, I gained a bit of optimism. While most quests are still “Kill X” or “Collect Y,” they are set up rather well to enable you to move through the zone. Instead of returning to an old base, I would often be sent up the road to the next hub. I also found some unexpected quests, such as when I killed a non-aggressive elite mob and received an item that automatically started a quest. That was a nice bonus! Other quests included escorts and some goofy quests involving the Quciksilver Academy, the first faction for which I could receive reputation. I also encountered repeatable quests (which I assume you could do daily) for items off of rift invaders. These provided a nice bonus of experience and gold for my new favorite activity: invasion hunting.

As questing remained static, I decided to throw myself into the dynamic business of hunting down rifts. Silverwood itself was a relatively large zone and rifts would appear all over it, varying in levels between 10 and 20. Getting within the area of the rift would change the lighting and the music, as well as open a small menu on the side of the screen. This would convey what “stage” the rift was in (one through five); if I had received any loot (clicking the icon would allow me to check my spoils); and how much I was contributing to each stage. I didn't entirely grasp how my contribution was computed, but each time I did damage to an enemy the bar would increase, so I believe it was based on damage. I also heard that healers didn't receive nearly as much credit, making me feel that this aspect needs to be adjusted.