Podcast 29: Cindy, Karen, Yak – RIFT in Beta 5 and beyond

by on Jan.31, 2011, under Podcast

The podcast team is joined by Cindy ‘Abigale’ Bowens, Karen Bryan of Massively and Shut up We’re Talking, and Yak from Yakcast – to talk about Beta 5 and RIFT as a whole.

  • Beta 5
  • Soul Combinations
  • Racial changes incoming
  • Expectations and Reality
  • Private Chat Channels
  • Ben & Jerry’s
  • And more!

Desi and Ari discuss many things, both good and bad, about the game with their guests.

Next weeks guest is Berenger – who’ll discuss raid instances with the team.

Don’t forget today is the last day for our Guild Screenshot Contest!

Now we forgot to mention the ZAM soul calculator. Check out our site for the link if you haven’t already taken a look at it. Maybe it’ll help satisfy some of that Rift Waitingitis

Also – if you like social networking pop on over to Rift Nation and have a look at the Rift version.

Thursday January 20

Monday January 24

  • TenTonHammer had some interesting information on the latest dungeon, The Fall of Lantern Hook! Check out this firey Droughtlands instance.

Tuesday January 25

  • ZAM published a new Rift dev blog entry with Senior Systems Lead Cameron McNeil. He explains how Trion Worlds responded to player feedback to create a unique class system

Wednesday January 26

  • Trion released a new CGI trailer today! Check out the video over at IGN, it’s worth the few minutes!

Podcast: Play in new window

Written by Arithion

Arithion was insane enough to start the production of The Rift Podcast back in June 2010. Apart from hosting The Rift with Desikis she also writes articles for the site and has a fascination with corgis.


42 Comments for this entry

  • Vurjin
    January 31st, 2011 on 7:06 am

    i’ll propse to do desi………..

    ari wanna marry me?

  • acidxian
    January 31st, 2011 on 8:46 am

    Wow I have to admit this is the first time i have ever thought damn I hope this person goes away aas they leave a bad taste in my mouth for this community. That Yak person is who I speak. Admitting you are one of the knobs who ‘hates noobs’ and there shoudl eb a noob specific forum, just amazing how one can admit to being a knob and think its all cool. As per the other 28 episodes thought great job Des and Ari, looking forward to many more in the future, makes my monday mornings start with a coffee and riftcast :)

    • Arithion
      January 31st, 2011 on 4:01 pm

      Hmmmm You guys confuse me.

      We got a lot of flak for not having diverse enough opinions and being too fangirly on previous discussion podcasts…

      So we go into a debate and have diverse opinions – some of course – which not everyone will agree with – and we still can’t please people.

      Lose Lose situation I believe – sorry for dropping the ball again. One day we hope to find a happy medium

      Still Yak did point out a lot of good with the game too, he was just a bit nervous.

      • CedgeDC
        February 1st, 2011 on 11:45 am

        I wouldn’t get too discouraged Ari. I know I personally wouldn’t have sat listening to some 30 episodes of this podcast if I didn’t think you guys were worth listening too. The show is pretty great.

        Though I do find myself rather frustrated when someone makes a statement about the game I completely disagree with and there’s no push to talk key for me to hit and be all, ‘I object!’

  • Vurjin
    January 31st, 2011 on 10:06 am

    Im actually one of those ppl, who hate noobs who dont spend 5 minutes looking through keybindings and such to learn how to bring up there general tab, or even there soul trees.

    What is so hard about clicking Q tp / on your keyboard to see what they bring up?or reading the tooltips

  • Alchemda
    January 31st, 2011 on 12:42 pm

    Scotty as far as i know is from Scotty from Euro Trip the movie.

  • Nick
    January 31st, 2011 on 2:23 pm

    God…. Yak is such a QQ’er.

    don’t invite him back, lol.

  • 1_of_d_noobs
    January 31st, 2011 on 2:44 pm

    Hey Yak, it’s pronounced “Frustrated” not “Fusstrated”

  • Mu5hy69
    January 31st, 2011 on 2:56 pm

    This podcast was ok but would have been better without that Yak D**k head on it, people like him is what kill the enjoyment of games for other’s & kills the community even more than Trolls. It takes a few min’s to help someone who in turn down the line will remember you & maybe there to help you when you need it. MMO’s & the World in general need more Nice Guys/Gal’s & less D**ks.

  • Blndiebby
    January 31st, 2011 on 2:59 pm

    This was the first episode I wanted to actually stop listening. Like acidxian said That Yak guy left a bad taste in my mouth. After listening to him on this podcast I will most likely not visit his site. I will however will be listening to future podcasts as I know this show is not the norm.

  • Alantia
    January 31st, 2011 on 3:25 pm

    Nice podcast! I enjoyed it. This is the first one I have listened too lots of good info. See ya in Rift

  • Totec
    January 31st, 2011 on 3:32 pm

    Oh, and Desi you’re a sweetheart I’d be lucky to have a woman like you :)

  • Carfanatic
    January 31st, 2011 on 3:32 pm

    Yak is just stating his own shortcomings at least he understands he has problems dealing with people and isn’t one of those people that are just rude and then don’t even know they are being rude.

  • Jason@bestgamingkeyboard
    January 31st, 2011 on 3:55 pm

    Thanks guys, really looking forward to next one as its about Raids. With Rift being so close to release now im hoping we get some real answers too, hopefully.

  • Nervallah
    January 31st, 2011 on 4:24 pm

    Good podcast, glad that racials were briefly mentioned as they do need a change in my opinion and also Character customisation needs to be looked at. As a Guardian, I think scotty must have a hole in his bag or something cause I am sick of picking up his stuff everywhere :P seriously? scotty’s lost pencil lol if I could use that as a weapon it would be a different story. Also the Guardian hate only increases my liking of them but I will likely make a defiant in the future. Anyway keep up the good work and looking forward to your next podcast :)

    • CedgeDC
      February 1st, 2011 on 11:51 am

      Definitely /Agree. I am -loving- the guardian hate! I deliberately made a Defiant for beta so I wouldn’t be playing through all the same stuff at release. The defiant is the ezmode faction!

      I don’t think I joined a single WF on my warrior that i didn’t win and get highest damage in. I can’t wait for release to roll Guardian and take some defiant to school hardcore.

      I’ll be all ‘The gods know the score defiant *Arrow slash* And now so do you!’ and the defiant will be all.. ‘Aww snap, he got me with the arrow slash and the line! *death*’

  • Malcolm
    January 31st, 2011 on 4:25 pm

    By the time Yak kept on ..yakking, I had to stop. Yes, dyes cost gold. No, its not a problem.

  • Lochness
    January 31st, 2011 on 5:48 pm

    Hi…
    Playd rift… realy fun game… I’m a “old” school online gamer… (over 20 years playing online game).
    After what i exparianced in Rift is great fun, live events ect… Yes we had big invation on main guardian town too… lasted over 1h… never fightet so much.. and so fun..

    This game remainds me of AC (Asheron’s Call) a game that had like rift but AC sadly is out dated :( Playd it for 7 years…lol..

    So Rift remainds me from my erly online game as AC ect… I had high hope on WAR but after changeing 4 servers and lvl up 4 times i stopt playing War… Rift has the xcoss server PvP sys that is great.. Took my lvl 15 MM/ranger/Night for a fun run.. got hooked (know a low lvl) but it whas sooo much fun fainely a game with realy good pvp sys (playd on PvE server Icewatch).. Traying to get my guild in to Rift too (WoW guild) but got only fue ppl’s from it… Gave them keys so hope they whant to tray it in Beta 6 :)

  • DeadnBLOATED
    January 31st, 2011 on 9:24 pm

    RIFT is great. good podcast and I agree with customization needs a little work. I am a long time online gamer and this is first game I have been excited for in a long time. keep up the good work

  • Clain
    January 31st, 2011 on 9:55 pm

    *waves from KCK* Figured you all were in Cali..

    Assuming I heard that little blip right, Enjoy the 14″ of snow they are threatening us with :)

  • Belenos Stardust
    January 31st, 2011 on 9:56 pm

    Another awesome podcast! Could not help but notice Abi was a little well… silent on the topic of character customization. Hmmmmmm… Hey you folks should mention Riftpals next podcast. Nice group of people there with IM and teamspeak, in addition to a facebook like interface.

  • Yak
    January 31st, 2011 on 11:26 pm

    Thanks for all the love everyone! ;)

  • Vurjin
    January 31st, 2011 on 11:36 pm

    I had no problem with Yak. Im assuming everyone who hates him must be noobs. ^.^

    Like i said before. Its hard to press all your keyboard buttons to see what brings up what. And how to read the tooltips.

    Ppl hating on yak is like that guys comment from the last podcast, hating on pvp and telling everyone how he is deleting all podcasts that had pvp in the title.

  • Zythen
    January 31st, 2011 on 11:38 pm

    I just found this site and enjoyed the few podcasts I listened to. Thank you both for doing this I enjoyed very much :)

  • Lowlight - Byriel
    January 31st, 2011 on 11:55 pm

    I laughed so hard at 23:15. “There’s that one ability that you get in the tree… that looks really good.” – Ari

    Such an eloquent way of describing a necro build. :p Keep up the good work.

  • Lisha
    February 1st, 2011 on 2:49 am

    I have to agree, it’s very annoying to have to answer the same questions over and over and over again because people would rather ask questions in Chat than do their homework and read tooltips or whatever. I dunno how many times this week people have asked on the forums “is beta over?” or “when does the next beta start?” instead of just looking that info up themselves. It’s easily obtainable information, people are just lazy -_- that being said…instead of saying something rude, I just don’t say anything at all.

  • Primalfears
    February 1st, 2011 on 3:04 am

    Im in love with this game and i think the way they gave us that extra day to apologize for the ups and downs was really cool. They also got the updates out really fast trying to smooth stuff out. Really looking foreword to launch!

  • Erase
    February 1st, 2011 on 3:58 am

    Just came across the podcast in my rift depraved crazed and listened through. Really enjoyed the conversation but it really hit home with the talk about the buzz around Rift. I actually was roped in before Beta 1 started by when my bud and it was very much like y’all said, Rift didn’t promise me anything. I played beta 1, and was hooked from there.

    Awesome podcast guys! Gonna work my way through some of the older ones until the fourth! (I don’t know if thats more sadistic than indulgent)

  • CedgeDC
    February 1st, 2011 on 11:35 am

    Hey so I totally posted my reply in the wrong place! So I’m pasting it here..!

    So I had a comment about something that was mentioned during the podcast. With regards to pvp and the comment Yak made, something to the effect of ‘either open world pvp or instance battlegrounds- you can’t have both or one will suffer.’
    I’m going to open up by saying ‘Neeeh.’

    But to elaborate, I will add that if the game is properly designed that should not happen. Why? Well firstly, with X-realm battlegrounds, there’s no such thing as one side getting frustrated and not queuing anymore, because you’re always drawing from such a diverse population across many servers.

    Furthermore you need BG’s there to alleviate the temptation people will undoubtedly feel to grief lower levels, (Which was not possible to do in WAR btw, despite the comment made about higher levels going to wipe out lower levels out of frustration).
    This game should have a decent balance between the two as they’ve already put in conquerable territories for factions to take etc, which should capture the attention of open world pvp buffs.

    Frankly I don’t think an mmo can survive these days with just one or the other.

    Fun episode though! I want to be on the podcast!:( You should have another ep where you invite some beta testers on!

  • acidxian
    February 1st, 2011 on 12:48 pm

    Just to be clear I dotn dislike the podcast at all, hell its enjoyable to me and ALL episodes have been, I didnt say anything bad about it or the content or being girly. I was just disappointed that someone would give the game accolades and yet int he same breath try to discourage people from asking questions. Especially when the community needs to grow and show SOME form of cohesiveness. I dont dig the same question rolling in chat 50 times ina row either but a simple Hey go to the forums its int he FAQ or something is a lot more positive than a hit Alt-F4 or go jump in a hole comments. No we dont all like being helpful but being a dick takes just as much effort, sometimes more. As somoene else said if you dont wanna help for the umpteenth time, then just dont say anything.
    ON the positive though there was very valid points made across the board from everyone (as usual) on the podcast. I myself have heard customization mentioned many many times, Ari, Des, a few other guests, and now Yak mentioned it this time as well. It seems to be skirted and slipstreamed off to the side almost everytime by Cindy. Maybe some headlock pressure or a flying squirrel toe hold till we get some answers if they plan on adding anymore pre-launch/post-launch, as it seems to be a huge question looming over a lot of people.

  • Vurjin
    February 1st, 2011 on 9:51 pm

    @cedgeDC

    With the x server warfronts/battlegrounds, Oneside will get frustrated. Back on WoW on the server Illidan, horde side. We started owning Av non stop. Alliance would never win it, and the que for AV went from 15 minutes to well over 4 hours.

    Why? Because all the alliance got together, posted on the forums about boycotting it until it was fixed.So it does happen where one side will eventually stop queing for it due too supposed unbalances in it.

    • CedgeDC
      February 2nd, 2011 on 10:00 am

      That is a rather extreme example of how one faction could exploit layout to guarantee a sloooow turtled victory over the other, and as you said the que for that -one- bg popped up as the issue wasn’t addressed.

      I certainly agree that this can happen, however my point was that if the game is properly managed it shouldn’t be an issue. Trion doesn’t seem to have the sortof devs that would let the mass boycott of something go unnoticed. And the other bg’s were still very much active, so it doesn’t really change much for those who just want to get in on some killage action.

  • Catabri
    February 2nd, 2011 on 11:30 am

    Girls are GREAT tanks. And raid leaders. And guild leaders. Just sayin’.

    I can’t heal my way out of a wet paperbag, but I can tank pretty well.

  • Pyrofox
    February 2nd, 2011 on 12:03 pm

    New listener here. Just wanted to say that I really enjoy what you do and you’re helping me get through some serious Riftdrawls between beta 5 & beta 6. Keep up the good work & I look forward to hearing more from you throughout beta & into launch.

  • Desikis
    February 2nd, 2011 on 5:52 pm

    Ramble alert, tried to address a lotta things. (Been rl busy)

    Wow lotsa replies! It was a very lively cast this go around. Well it’s always lively, but everyone was very excited about the debate, and I’m sure if we had more time we would have covered more, but I find it hard to focus after a point, so we try and keep them short and sweet.

    Someday we will get that character customization information. But I fear their just trying to give us something to look forward to upon release. I know it has me and Ari hanging onto the edge of our seats. I like my crazy characters. But even if it stays the same I think you can still make some fun characters.

    I’ll look into Riftpals Belenos, Ari might have already checked it out, but sounds interesting. ^.^

    Where warfronts are concerned I like the size’s more than WoW on some fronts I think, it was neat to have huge battles but I like that it’s not all out crazy in Rift, but at the same time you can still due huge events like Bloodpact did in beta 4. But that could be a huge discussion on my likes and dislikes and I know people don’t like Rift compared to WoW, but thats my only other experience with battlegrounds/warfronts.
    ~~~
    Vurjin I am confused! XD
    Aw shucks Totec you made me blush!

    Have a wonderful weekend everyone with more fun ahead! And hopefully more news!
    ~Desi

  • Vurjin
    February 3rd, 2011 on 1:09 am

    Its ok Desi. Im just biding my time to have the bestest greatest proposal of all time. Ari will be uber jelly.

  • pasmith
    February 3rd, 2011 on 1:04 pm

    Finally finished this week’s podcast (snow has cut into my commuting time..yay for working from home).

    Had to pitch in on the Yak issue…

    I think Yak is certainly entitled to his opinions and it’s good to have a range of opinions on the podcast. My only “problem” with him was that he was a bit over-bearing and seemed to want to be the center of attention. Probably a natural by-product of his doing his own podcast where he IS the center of attention, combined with some nervousness.

    Have him on again, but give him a Valium an hour before recording begins!! :)

  • Chris
    February 4th, 2011 on 9:49 am

    I enjoyed the show, like always, but Yak brings this stuff with him everywhere. He even admitted on his own show once that he likes to set people off because it gives him material. Speaks to the mentality of the character he’s trying to represent.

    I wouldn’t worry about the complaints, though. The show was good and a guest is a guest; you can’t put them through a filter or coerce them to keep everyone happy. Yak is a big personality, so things he may have said to upset people he’ll take on his shoulders, I’m sure. It doesn’t make you guys look bad :-)

    Keep up the good work, ladies!

  • Nightfall
    February 7th, 2011 on 3:03 am

    Hey Yak, listen up. Dont listen to these few wankers in this thread complaining because you pointed out how incompetent players can be when in game. I cant tell you how many times people ask THE DUMBEST CRAP REPEATEDLY and then dont listen to the answers JUST TO ASK IT AGAIN…JUST BECAUSE THESE PEOPLE ARE IN THE SHALLOW END OF THE GENE POOL DOESNT MEAN THEY SHOULDNT BE CALLED ON IT….hehe, ya dig? After being called out on it I bet they try finding the answers next time before even thinking about asking in chat…

    Second of all, to the one person saying “HES TOO ENERGETIC”, please, sthu. Podcasts are a theatre of the mind, and theres nothing worse then listening to a mindless tired bore drone on in a monotone.

    Having an opinion and thoughts that are outside of the norm is WHAT MAKES A GREAT SHOW. It generates buzz, as all the posts in this thread show.

    Ari, Yak, keep doing what your doing. Stay to the left of center, it makes for a better show when its not mindless OMFGILOVETRION crap.

    I will be listening to your show Yak in the future bro.Keep up the good work and props on you having a different/interesting take!!

  • Blockhead
    February 7th, 2011 on 1:45 pm

    I for one loved the honesty, best podcast yet. (Late reply i know, just catching up now)

    I completely agree with Yak, i get so tired of people in chat asking everyone how to do everything.

    The kicker is you’ll see them the next day asking the same questions again, and again, and again, why? because they didn’t learn anything, they didn’t learn anything because they didn’t have to think about it for over a second as some helpful person(s) are shooting out answers like its some competition, the problem is they didn’t help this player out at all. Help them by letting them help themselves if you honestly want to really help them.

    To note if i see some random person I’ve never noticed before ask a fairly reasonable question, I’ll answer, its the people whom repeatedly ask questions they could easily find out for themselves who should be told to do a little digging.

    I come from a technical background as well and I’ll sooner read as many websites, guides, and forums as it takes before I’ll even caress the notion of asking the community a question. In this process you learn more than you first set out to do anyway.

    Kudos Yak for speaking up and admitting what far to of us never dare mention. RTFM

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