I was there, too, of course. It was a hoot, especially the giant party on Shoreward Island at the end. I spent a good amount of the last few hours in a raid with CM_Elrar just running around Silverwood and killing rifts and invasions.
Of course, at my age my son sat in for me for a few hours in the middle of the night so I could catch a short nap. Tag team marathon, but it was a great time and I plan to do it again next year.
All for the Meeeeaaaaaad!
Captain's Log: Rift's Extra Life Event
Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland recalls his experience with 24 hours of Rift and sleep deprivation!
How do you DRINK and stay awake for 24 hours? TEACH ME YOUR SECRETS!!
6 a.m.: What is ENERGY MEAD!? I don't know, but that was the latest server message. I spent the last hour fighting my way out of the basin filled with goblins outside the Darkening Deeps after falling down it. Twice. Yeah, my concentration is shot. At least I've left hundreds of goblin corpses in my wake! For the Vigil! MEAD!!!
7:09 a.m.: “83.3333% of the way there. Do it for the kids! And the meeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaadddd!” Seriously, I want what they're drinking. Four hours left, another energy drink down. Scarlet Gorge? HA! Let's see if I can hit level 30 by the time I'm done... 26 right now. Four levels in four hours? Why not?!
Party at Shoreward Island!
9 a.m.: Server message: “22 hours. Like a boss!” Cue the Lonely Island quotes in guild chat. I think I might be going insane. I realized that for the past two hours I've been carrying on mental conversations with the enemies I'm killing, critiquing my style. “Oops, should have saved my proc'ed Bolt of Depravity for the next cultist”; “Really? Why did I even hit shards of Light right there? Waste of mana!”; “Low on mana? Aggressive Renewal time, let's keep going and NEVER STOP!”
Gosh, I need sleep. Badly.
10 a.m.: My roommates came by to check that I'm still alive. Pretty sure I responded positively, but my brain is too muddled to make witty remarks. Assume I posted something clever here. The NPCs think I'm clever at least. Or so they tell me. In my mind.
Thank goodness, only an hour to go. Just hit 28. Also disconnected briefly for the first time; logged back in, but lost a couple of minutes. ARGH!
10:30 a.m.: Party on Shoreward Island! Why not, I'm not getting higher than 28. Let's check this out.
11 a.m.: And it's over! We all showed up on the Island, but my computer couldn't handle it so well; I could see 20-30 people at a time in a small bubble around me. But there were tons! According to Trion, over 2,600 players in Rift participated. We had some nice speeches, and everyone jumped off the tower together at 11 a.m., splattering on the rocks below. Well, except the dwarves; their racial ability reduces fall damage, which meant that they alone were laughing at the corpses. I hate dwarves.
I actually took the stairs down. Heh, suckers.
Anyway, I made it! I'll be staying on for another 15 minutes or so to make sure I have the full 24 hours for the Insomniac title, and then I'll hit the hay. I had a great time, made it to level 28, and started giving a personality to computer-controlled NPCs. Oh well, it was for the kids. And the meeeeeeaaaad!!
Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland, Staff Writer