Note: This is a partial PTS update that is not part of RIFT 2.3.

GENERAL
* Guild Perks: Updated the description of Cache Finder to indicate that the bonus applies to all Plaques, Marks, and Stones from Expert Dungeons and Raids as well as Infinity Stones and Empyreal Sourcestones.

SOULS

MAGE

PYROMANCER
* Flame Sigil: Removed.
* Flame Rupture – new ability replacing Flame Sigil. Debuffs the enemy, applying a stack of Combust every 2 seconds on up to 5 targets within 7 meters. 15 second duration, 15 second cooldown.
* Fulminate: No longer gains a benefit from stacks of Combust on the target.
* Pyromancer’s Aegis: Can now proc an additional Fireball up to once every 3 seconds.
* Increased the damage of Fireball, Flame Bolt, Cinder Burst, Flame Volley, Fulminate, and Fusillade.

By now we’ve kind of become accustomed to seeing RIFT patch notes like “Performance has been improved slightly” without seeing a further explanation. Sure, any improvements to the game are welcome, but it’s also sometimes nice to at least see the simplified explanation regarding what performance improvements were made and how they should improve our gameplay exactly. ZorbaTHut, RIFT’s resident addon expert, had one such explanation post for us last Friday, where he outlined the performance improvements coming to RIFT in 2.2 and talked a bit about what issues the team plans on looking at next.

The short version is that we might be seeing about a 10% framerate boost in 2.2 with more on the way potentially. This is great news for players who experience major slowdowns during large group activities like Conquest and Storm Legion’s zone events. Keep reading to see ZorbaTHut’s full post.

If you have a character who’s an artificer, you’ve probably noticed that salvaging hasn’t been quite right for a little while, especially for low-level artificers who are trying to play catch up. Faratha had an update for artificers on the forums yesterday, and stated that a fix will be coming in RIFT 2.2:

Originally posted by Faratha (Source)

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Artificer salvaging has indeed been borked for a while now, and please accept my heartfelt apologies for not having fixed this sooner. The GM quoted in the other thread didn’t have all the details because I hadn’t looked into the situation yet.

As of 2.2 -

• Low-level jewelry will once again yield gem components when salvaged by an artificer. Depending on a ring or necklace’s level, it will provide Gemstone Fragments, Iridescent Powder, or Clear Crystal.
• Artificers will be able to salvage totems that weren’t salvaging correctly.
• Artificers, not weaponsmiths, will be able to salvage staves.

February is here, Valentine’s Day is approaching, and you know what that means. Those of us who are single get to happily avoid the pink-and-ballooned aisle of our local store! Well, aside from that, of course. There might be some /kissing going on, and not just outside of Telara, but in Telara, as well. In this past weekend’s update on the Public Test Server, some new holiday achievements appeared in the World Event section. And yes, it seems there will be some /kissing. And some killing! And some kind of Love Bug… thing. Read on to take a look.

Many members of the RIFT community waited apprehensively yesterday for Daglar’s second half of 2013′s State of the Game letter. After Scott Hartsman’s sudden departure from Trion Worlds, some were afraid that news of the coming year would be sprinkled with hints of free-to-play. Instead, we received a brief letter from Daglar in which he thanked RIFT’s community and expressed enthusiasm over the months of updates to come.

Specifically, he talked about what we’ll be seeing in RIFT 2.2 and 2.3. In 2.2, we’ll finally be getting the third tier for Planar Attunement, new zone events on the Storm Legion continents, and our first Storm Legion raid Hard Modes. An updated Carnival of the Ascended will also be making a return, marking RIFT’s second anniversary. Not much is known about the 2.3 update yet, but Daglar did throw out a pretty big hint– it involves the opening of Dendrome!

Keep reading to take a look.

With 36 different souls to balance these days, the Trion RIFT team definitely has their hands full. The first hints of Patch 2.2 are now hitting the Public Test Server (PTS) and the developers are asking for player assistance. Parses, to be exact. Each of the callings are experiencing their share of changes in 2.2, and Trion wants to know exactly how balance stands with these changes. Ailion recently made a post on the PTS forum announcing a brand new dummy-filled testing instance that players can utilize while on the PTS server.

The new area, coined “Dummy Foundry” (the title screenshot should give you a clue as to why), features a wide variety of DPS and tank practice dummies (single target and AoE), NPCs with gear sets, class trainers, and a way to give your character most of the important raid buffs. Trion’s hope? That players will pop on, run a few DPS parses using the controlled gear sets and buffs, and share their parses. If you’re interested in helping out the developer team, make sure to read Ailion’s post in its entirety since the team’s looking for parses that adhere to certain conditions.