Weekend at Bernie’s

So I’ve been chugging along in RIFT like crazy these days, trying to make the most out of my final pre-Guild Wars 2 time while decking out my character for Storm Legion.  I’ve geared up pretty well so far, enough that I can hold my own on Ember Isle, which was my goal.  Ember Isle is a level 52ish zone, and since the level cap is at 50, it means that it is not a cakewalk.  Very pretty and cool, but not a cakewalk.

I still was dying more than I wanted, so after a couple of aborted adventures, I went back to the drawing board and came up with a better build for my solo journey.  What I centered it around was the Druid’s level 26 greater fairy pet, which is a strong healer and light DPSer.  I noted that when I had that pet out, my Druid was all but invincible — but I wasn’t taking down mobs fast at all.

So what I did was create a build that put 26 into Druid and the rest into Shaman for the harder hitting melee, and that’s worked out tremendously well for me.  I have three shields, a self-heal, and whatever heals the fairy throws out, plus a lot of natural mana regen and strong DPS.  It might not top the Inquisitor as my favorite class, but it’s working very well for me so far.

Last night I was puttering around some ruins when I saw a glowing sparkly thing, and you know that you ALWAYS have to click on glowy sparkly things.  It turned out to be the entrance for Ember Isle’s puzzle, and so I had fun figuring that one out.  It was easier than some others I’ve done, and at the end I not only got a great lesser planar essence, but a new vanity pet!  Named Bernie!

Bernie instantly became my most favorite companion in the game:

The picture doesn’t do him justice.  He’s like a short, squat blob that looks vaguely like the Chinese guy from Gremlins, and he smokes a pipe.  Because he smokes, he huffs and puffs when he runs, and occasionally grunts.  I stinking love him so very much.

Here’s a better picture: