I really want to get back to Vagrant Story because I like it a lot and want to finish it, but Rift is definitely my current fascination. I haven't made a ton of progress since last time because I've been splitting my time between two different characters. I spend an alarming amount of time chilling at the Kelari Refuge docks just mindlessly fishing. I'm not a huge fan of the fishing mechanic in just about any game I've played, but for some reason I tend to spend a decent amount of time on it when I can.
I'm still experimenting with different souls as I can. I was initially playing a straight DPS rogue, but now I'm trying out a tank, combining Riftwalker, Bladedancer, and Bard. I haven't been in any dungeons with this character yet but the play style is a blast. It involves a lot of teleporting around from enemy to enemy and phasing out of reality. It bears some superficial similarities to the Dream mastery from Titan Quest. Personally, I think it's intriguing that a tank archetype exists for rogue at all. Rift inherits a lot from World of Warcraft, but this is one instance in which it differs greatly.
The urge to create new characters is pretty high--but unfortunately on free-to-play you are limited to two character slots. I have plenty to do with the two characters I have, but it doesn't change the fact that I'd like to try out the other two base classes. As it stands now, I can't experiment with the Mage or Warrior souls at all. I'll either have to wait until I have real money (heh) or farm up enough platinum to buy REX, which grants you the game's version of real-life currency. Once I have about three REX, the first thing I'm going to do is unlock the newer souls from the expansion. I'm unsure as to whether or not that will enable more character slots, but I guess I'll find out.
I did finally get to experience healing in a dungeon scenario on my Cleric (Warden/Purifier/Sentinel). My spec focuses mostly on the Warden, which is a water-based healer. This brings restoration shaman from World of Warcraft to mind, but their play style is actually a lot more similar to restoration druid in that their spells consist almost entirely of heals over time. They even have a stacking heal (called Soothing Stream) although unlike Lifebloom it stacks up to four and heals more at the beginning instead of the end.
Purifier bears similarities to discipline priest in that it focuses primarily on absorption--although their spells are themed after fire, which I thought was pretty interesting. Fire is typically depicted as an aggressive, damage-oriented element, but Purifier has spells like Healing Flare, an instantly cast heal with no cooldown and Symbol of the Torch, which is basically Power Word: Shield but surrounds the ally with burning embers. This is the soul that I'm using the second most on my healer and I'm only just barely dipping into Sentinel, mostly so I have access to Healing Breath, another strong instant cast heal.
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