The rift mechanism in Rift has an element of ‘beat the clock’, certain phases will be timed and if you defeat that phase it’ll unlock a bonus extra phase. Normally in a group or PUG you want to beat the timer to get more loot and XP of course.
Careful of that timer...
But in emptier low level zones you have to watch these timers. They often involve very challenging content for solo players such as elite boss-mobs. So for my solo cleric I have to rein in my DPS at times to miss the timer so I can close the rift and get my daily quest completion without getting stuck on some impossible-to-solo baddie.
I kind of like having the solo if I’m careful option in this game. As an endnote, I love horizons in games as I’ve said in previous posts. While doing a daily I popped out of Meridian earlier and the peculiar ‘balanced triangles’ rock formation in the far distance caught my eye – that’s one of my first memories of playing Rift – seeing that in the distance from the Freemarch coast and thinking “I want to go there some day!”.
GamingSF 