MEAD: RIFT 1.8 – War of the Wanton Maw Event
By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist
We have all been expecting the 1.8 War of the Wanton Maw world event to end for some time. I’m not complaining mind you, I was feeling a bit of world event burn out after the huge event that was the Carnival of the Ascended. As a result I didn’t even look at the event until last week. That was when I discovered the epic quest line. It hasn’t been easy, one quest in the story took me three days to finish! So now I’m grateful for all the time I can get. Yes, it was announced not long after I started the quests that they would be made into a permanent storyline, but first they would be taken down. Which to me is completely intolerable, must finish! There has been more than just the epic quest though. There are daily quests, regular quests, a new currency, and even a new zone event that is quite unique and fun.
All Things Money
The currency this time around are called molten gold ingots and look like a pile of liquid gold on fire. Now, for me this is a bit troubling. I don’t know about anyone else but my coin purse isn’t designed to be carrying molten gold. And I don’t even want to ask how you’re supposed to measure how many you have. As is tradition there are merchants in the major cities who sell mostly planar essences. The first fishing lure buyable from a world event is also being sold. It is called Greedy Lure and keeps you from catching grey items while fishing. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve found that those grey items really tend to add up while fishing and they get me some pretty decent money. The merchants also sell the traditional items which make you and you weapons glow the color of the plane that is the focus of the event. This time around fire is the theme. Which I have to say I’m quite excited for because I have a lovely little Kelari who is obsessed with all things fire. She spent a little too much time around Mount Carcera as a child. And finally, the two mounts that were available during the Carnival of the Ascended are back. Nebula and Tindrel are still only purchasable with special quest rewards, this time called Crystalline Rage.
Quests
The first quest I got as I was making my way around to all the event questgivers was the quest to give over 500 molten gold ingots. At first I thought this was completely insane and decided that I refused to do it. That was before I discovered how easy it was to get 500. It took me only a few hours of doing zone events. And the reward for it was wonderful! 100,000 Planar Attunement experience! Best of all it is repeatable and that planar attunement xp remains the reward. In addition there are the traditional daily events. This time though you get two of them randomly every day. They can range from something as simple as summoning a rescue medic to the more lengthy defeating rifts. The rewards are small, but to be honest the quests are too. Which leads me to the big quests….
Epic Wanton Maw Quests
I mentioned the epic quests at the start of the article. They are huge, take big groups to finish and a whole lot of time. I haven’t finished yet, so I’m not even sure how it ends. It begins with an investigation. You’re sent out to collect invasion orders off the dead soldiers from major earth and fire rifts. This is no small task, and requires several people to complete. Once you finish that you’re sent to defeat these huge, angry brass creatures. This isn’t a difficult task, though my little cleric did get her face kicked in when she went up against one of them alone. But two of us went back and forth between two spawn points and were able to defeat 20 of them in maybe an hours time. Then came the beast. We were sent to take down this giant, epic level monster. When we got there though it was just the two of us. We asked around and managed to get 4 of us total. We tried it and were defeated, brutally. We tried a few more times before giving up for the night. The next day we went back, got ourselves into a group of 6 and it was still a fight but we did it!
After that we were sent to defeat the Captains of the attack forces; it was easy and fast with our two full groups backing us. That was when we got the dreaded parcels quest. We had heard people saying it took them a week to finish it! We didn’t have that kind of time so we got to it. Taking part in earth and fire zone events we slowly gathered everything we needed to get. Which has brought us to where we are now, defeating the Generals.
What comes beyond that? I’m not sure yet. Did I mention that for every stage of this questline the reward is a full planar attunement level? Well for defeating the Generals, in addition to that awesome full level we get gloves. These aren’t just any gloves though, they’re raid level and part of a set. Will we get the rest of the set as we finish the story? I hope so.
Zone Event
Zone events are always a bit part of world events. Each world event brings about a new zone event. In the past these zone events have been incredibly rare and as a result I missed them. Others have happened quite regularly; that is where this one falls. Unlikely Alliances only occurs in Shimmersand and Stillmoor and if you aren’t quick you’ll miss it. But it is a lot of fun, feels completely disorganized, and is over before it really should be. In two parts of the zone you defeat Monstrous Motes with the aid of giant heroes from both factions. Springing from the motes are a huge fire or earth creature. Once they’re both defeated the event is over. I am completely in love with the huge Defiant mechs which debuted during the Carnival of the Ascended.
So that is my wrap up on the 1.8 world event. It is a lot of fun and a lot of work. It has been getting us ready to take on a new raid which came out in 1.8 and I think I really am ready. Nevermind that I’m not geared and have almost no experience raiding. I hope we see more zone events like Unlikely Alliances in the future.
Before I let you go there is a bit of news that seems to be fairly unknown right now that needs to get around to everyone. With 1.9 (we don’t know when) some of the event currencies of the past will be phased out as will the items you can buy with them. From the start of 1.9 the following currencies will be gone: Otherworldly Sourcestone, Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shell, and Rune King’s Seals. After 1.9 Dragon Tears and Magma Opals will be made obsolete as well. Three currencies are annual and will remain in the game, they are: Unique Snowflakes, Glass Beads and Carnival Prize Tickets. Basically what I’m saying is spend your old currency now before it is completely useless.