Originally posted by Atrius (Source)

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Happy Friday everyone, I wanted to drop by and let you all know that we have the first pass of AP changes in for the Warrior calling and you will be getting to play with them in the next PTS patch. The intention of these changes is to get the Warrior AP scaling to a solid baseline foundation so that we can make sure they are scaling properly and in a balanced way to other callings. One side effect of this is that we had to pull out a lot of band aids we were previously using to scale things in a more even fashion and have had to do a lot of rebalancing to get things in order after all of that.

What does all of this mean to you? Well, because of the extent of the changes we wanted all of you to get a chance to play with it and beat on it sooner rather than later. Please be aware that these numbers are only ballpark and nothing is final, there are changes still on the way. If you get upset, we encourage you to communicate that upset in a productive way so we can evaluate it and make some changes. If you find OP builds, let us know so we can look at them, and if you find underpowered builds let us know about those as well. You will notice that the damage of just about every ability has changed to some degree, some up and some down but in the end it should result in a more balanced playing field across the DPS souls in the Warrior. The two biggest areas you will notice changes are in Elemental damage and scaling, and Dual Wield versus Two Handers. I am also providing a list of patch notes so that you know what to expect.

Warrior Changes

Warrior

• All Warriors now get a Passive Buff called Building Fury that shows up in one of their souls that gives them increased Attack Power contribution to Finishers based on Attack Points used.
• Finishers no longer gain an increase to Weapon damage based on Attack Points used.
• All Damaging abilities have been re-balanced to work with using Attack Power in a more consistent manner.

Beastmaster

• Fixed a bug causing Slashing Strike to delay for a couple seconds.

Champion

• Bloodthirst now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Disruptive Strike now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Fixed a bug that caused Deadly Strikes to work with one handed weapons in certain circumstances.
• Reduced the effectiveness of the 4 gear benefit in Rasmolov’s Champion Crystal to 20% from 35%.
• Cornered Beast duration has been reduced to 2.5 seconds, hits every 0.5 seconds. Cooldown has been reduced to 30 seconds.
• Titan’s Strike cooldown has been reduced to 30 seconds.
• Destroyer’s Bearing has had its damage bonus increased to a maximum of 50% instead of 35% and now always generates an attack point.
• Disruptive Strike has had its cooldown reduced from 15 to 10 seconds.
• Weapon Specialization now grants 0.6% per Talent Point for each Soul Point spent in Champion.

Paladin

• Retaliation now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Disarming Counterblow now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Paladin’s Reprisalnow gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.

Paragon

• Way of the Mountain now only enhances the damage of Finishers while Dual Wielding.
• Paired Strike now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Path of the Hurricane now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Path of the Raptor now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Death Touch now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Rising Waterfall now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution when Dual Wielding instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Rising Waterfall now does higher damage when Dual Wielding.
• Flurry duration has been reduced to 2.5 seconds, hits every 0.5 seconds. Cooldown has been reduced to 30 seconds.
• Teaching of the Five Rings now grants 0.6% per Talent Point for each Soul Point spent in Paragon.

Riftblade

• Rift Strike now gains a 200% Attack Power contribution instead of a Weapon Damage Modification.
• Static Shock now deals damage based on Attack Power.
• Riftblade – Storm Blade now deals damage based on Attack Power.
• Rift Fury now affects all attacks just like Teaching of the Five Rings and Weapon Specialization.
• Rift Fury now grants 0.6% per Talent Point for each Soul Point spent in Riftblade.

Void Knight

• Rift Shield: Can no longer be cast on a target currently under the effects of Rite of the Ancestors or Spiritual Conflagration.

Please keep feedback productive, we will be moderating this thread and will remove posts that we deem unproductive or that distract from the topic.

Thank you all for your continued passion and consideration.

Originally posted by Zinbik (Source)

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Stalwart Citadel: Now adds 30-90% of your Wisdom to Block.
Devout Deflection: Now adds 25-75% of your Wisdom to Parry and 25-75% of your Intelligence to Dodge.
Sovereignty: Now deals Life damage and stuns the enemy for 2 seconds.
Supremacy: Now reduces Physical damage taken by 9-18%.
Thorvin’s Law: Now causes Mien of Leadership to reduce non-Physical damage taken by 2-4% plus an additional 1.2% per point spent in Justicar above 26. No longer has an additional Spell damage reduction.

Originally posted by Gersh_Trion (Source)

As we mentioned in our December Q&A we have a number of changes incoming with our 1.7 patch focused at improving the overall experience for our high level players! Listed below are the highlights for what’s incoming to PTS, as each new change hits the test server we will be posting a more detailed thread on the topic for people to give feedback on!

As always this is just a portion of what we are currently working on for 1.7, so expect to see updates to features, patch notes, and forum posts as we get closer to releasing the patch!

Thanks!
- The Rift Team

Greater variety for expert dungeons!

In order to give our expert dungeon players a much larger variety of dungeon content, we will be combining both tiers of expert dungeons into a single “Expert Dungeon” Category. All expert dungeons will be similar difficulty to our existing Expert Tier 2 dungeons, and those dungeons that have gotten harder will have new upgraded loot added to them.

In addition we will be revisiting our existing “Entry Level 50” content such as Chronicles, Dungeons, and Rift content to ensure that the rewards earned will smoothly transition players into expert dungeon content, not only will these changes make early level 50 content more rewarding, but it will also help to smooth the progression for new level 50 players into harder PvP and PvE content!

Streamlining item progression!

Another big improvement incoming with 1.7 is addressing some of the frustration for a new level 50 who is trying to gear up to be competitive in PvE / PvP. Currently on live the jump in item power between content tiers is inconsistent. Early in their endgame experience players get smaller upgrades and as they progress the jump in item power gets significantly larger.

As a result we’ve decided to go back and even out the power curve for post level 50 players, giving them a cleaner progression through gear with more even increases in stat between one tier and the next.
Players currently in the top tier items from Hammerknell and Rank 8 PVP will see not change to their equipment, but players below this level will see an increase in item power as we even out the large gaps between our highest tiers of content.

PVP planar attunement & Prestige system revamp and more!

Last but definitely not least we have a number PVP improvements coming with this patch focused on improving a player’s PVP leveling experience while still keeping the matches as competitive as possible. New level 50 players who are placed in both ranked and non ranked matches will have their base stats automatically bolstered to a minimum level, allowing them to be more than just a speed bump for a higher level player.

For existing PVP players, Items purchased from the Prestige store will get the same improvements as the rest of the game, making sure that the jump in power between each set of items is more consistent. In addition we are removing the prestige rank requirements from many of the items, which will give players more freedom when choosing to purchase / upgrade PVP equipment.

Speaking of ranks we will be adjusting the Prestige Rank system to have significantly more ranks, players will have their old rank automatically mapped to the new rank. With these new Ranks come new rewards, including costume versions of PVP armor sets, Planar Attunement Points, and more.

Additionally, we will be doing away with our existing PVP Souls. Moving forward we want PVP players to be able to play the soul combination they want to play and not have to worry about sacrificing soul points to obtain PVP bonuses. Instead we have taken many of the popular bonuses & abilities from these soul trees and placed them in a NEW planar attunement tree specifically focused on PVP.

Finally, we are continuing to look into a number of improvements for warfront queue’s and matchmaking which will be released in a future PTS update in the next few weeks. So keep tuned for more information!

Trion Developer Daglar was a busy man today filling the community with some changes to itemization today on the official forums. Rogues may know that there will be some additional changes to their tanking ability coming soon. Rogues will be getting a new stat called “Deflect” which will be tied to their dexterity stat that will act just like a Warrior and Cleric’s blocking stat.

Daglar mentioned today:

Originally posted by Daglar (Source)

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We do not currently plan to add +deflect to a bunch of items. The current intent is to scale with Dex.

Many trinkets have been modified to work with deflect or block.

So if you’re going to be raiding or dungeoning from here until the next patch and you’re an aspiring rogue tank, make sure to snag a blocking trinket. It appears like they might be modified to be useful for Rogues. We don’t have proof of this yet though!

The RIFT Community is made richer by those who go out of their way to make it a welcoming and friendly place to be. We do notice these individuals, and want to recognize them in a way that others will too! We’re happy to introduce everyone to our RIFT Community Ambassador Program! This FAQ explains the basics about this program, but please feel free to ask any questions we haven’t covered. We will be making our initial round of selections and announcing your first few RIFT Community Ambassadors next week, so stay tuned!

What is the RIFT Community Ambassador Program?

The RIFT Community Ambassador Program is created to recognize individuals who have made the RIFT community a better place through their constructive and enthusiastic participation and interaction.

What is the purpose of a RIFT Community Ambassador?

RIFT Community Ambassadors are intended to be knowledgeable, helpful, and enthusiastic members of the RIFT Community. They will be identifiable by a custom title, both in-game and on the official forums, RIFT Community Ambassadors are natural community helpers, and all-around go-to individuals within the RIFT Community.

Why would someone want to become a RIFT Community Ambassador?

Those who are RIFT Community Ambassador material are probably already doing the things we’d be looking for because they enjoy it, but we do have a few recognition perks. RIFT Community Ambassadors are given a unique title in-game and on the official forums. They are also given their own forum area to offer suggestions and feedback about how to improve the RIFT Community (please note, this is not for game feedback).

How does one become a RIFT Community Ambassador?

We will not be revealing the full selection process, but we will say that being enthusiastic, helpful, friendly, active, and involved are a great start. We will be accepting nominations from our community, but you are not allowed to nominate yourself. We will not be considering requests to become a RIFT Community Ambassador, and all steps of the selection are at the discretion of the RIFT Community Team. If you wish to nominate someone, please send a PM to any of the moderators, or send an email to community@riftgame.com. Please be aware that we will not comment on nominations beyond letting you know we received them.

How does this differ from a volunteer program?

These are hand-picked individuals who have proven their desire to improve the RIFT community. They are not asked or required to perform any duties and are not given any responsibilities; they do it because they love RIFT and the RIFT Community, have a desire to make it a better place, we want to recognize them for it. It’s also worth noting that we do expect our RIFT Community Ambassadors to hold themselves to a high standard. Earning infractions on the forums, or getting suspended from the game will result in being removed from the RIFT Community Ambassador program.

Who would you nominate to be a Community Ambassador?

Click here for the source.

Originally posted by ZorbaTHut (Source)

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Hey everyone!

My name’s Ben and I’m a member of the UI team. I’ve developed a lot of smaller features (like the Public Group system) but now my main job is lead developer of the addon system. I’m going to be paying close attention to the Addon forum and giving out technical support occasionally.

I’ve been working in the game industry on and off for around a decade, taking a break to go back to school and put in a few years at Google. I was also heavily involved in the MMO addon scene for about two years. I’m going to be using my addon experience to make Rift’s addon system as good as I possibly can.

You have no idea how excited I am to see what people make with it.

Originally posted by ZorbaTHut (Source)

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Here’s a list of available functions, followed by the same list with extra documentation. Keep in mind that the addon system is a work in progress and the vast majority of the time spent so far has been spent on the framework, not the API. More functionality will be showing up as the system is improved.

Rift API functions are self-documenting via Development.Documentation and will also dump their documentation if used incorrectly.

Note that this is the exact output that is generated by the Trion Development Tools addon.

For a full list of functions please use this link.

Originally posted by ZorbaTHut (Source)

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Here’s a pair of examples to get you started.

To install:

* Download the addon you’re interested in
* Open Rift Public Test Shard
* Click the “Addons” button
* Click the “Open Addon Directory” button
* Wait for the directory to open up
* Extract the addon into that directory, preserving its path layout
* Return to Rift
* Click “Refresh”
* Play the game!

The actual extraction method depends on your operating system but we’re going to assume that addon developers can figure that bit out.

Trion Development Tools are a set of Lua-based utilities that we plan to improve as we go. At the moment, their only purpose is to dump the list of available functions, optionally with documentation. “/dump” will show the bare list, with “/dump detail” giving function and parameter descriptions. The detailed output is far too long to fit in the chat buffer – you’ll want to use “/log” to turn on the disk chat log first. Trion Development Tools also includes detailed documentation on the .toc format and is probably where you should start.

Zorba’s Buff Bars is a set of modified buff bars in a drastically different style, and is provided as an example of a realistic mod. We’ll be fleshing it out as we add functionality.

For the ZIP files referred in this post, follow the source link above or click here.

Originally posted by Hartsman (—)

Hi, everyone! On behalf of all of us on the RIFT team, and at Trion as a whole, I wanted to say thank you very much for participating in our first beta test.

Originally posted by Abigale (Source)

Sweet, a Developer for Rift: Planes of Telara, spoke up about class design and what kind of philosophy they follow internally.

Just want to give you a little bit of insight into what our general philosophy is regarding class design and the system itself. For starters this isn’t something like Aion or the original EQII system where you choose an archetype and then specialize out from there. For us a Calling defines what classes you have access to thier most basic mechanics e.g. do I use energy, do I use mana, do I use some kind of point? It does not grant any kind of default abilities that all classes of that Calling share. It also doesn’t prevent us from adding additional mechanics if we think it’ll make the class feel and play better.

Classes for us have to all be exciting and unique in their own right, you’re not going to see every warrior running around with the same 10 base abilities. Will there be some overlap? Yes, a tank for example probably has a taunt but not every tank is going to have a shield throw, a charge or a pet. It’s also worth noting that not every warrior is a tank e.g. the Champion is all about bringing the hurt. Each class should give you something new to play with and possibly a new way to play the game. Trying to play a Paladin the same way you play a Reaver is not going to work well for you. Similarly playing a Reaver/Champion combination (a Reapion perhaps? ) is going to give you access to different playstyles than that of a pure Reaver. We’ve created a system where having different and specialized classes is the name of the game and we intend to take full advantage of it.

So talking about this is all well and good but you can also start to see it in action with the classes we’ve released so far. Lets look at the rogues, they all have access to the same weapons, armor and use the same core mechanics yet they’re all very different. Standard disclaimer, we’re still in development and all things are subject to change

The Nightblade, can launch attacks from stealth and hurl flaming blades at their enemies.
The Blade Dancer, builds up a tempo in their combat alternating between left and right handed attacks before unleashing powerful moves that can leave them temporarily exhausted.
The Ranger, attacks from afar with their bow and is aided by an ever faithful animal companion.

Each of those classes plays completely differently and they allow me to create even more like the following. Please note these are names I made up in about 10 seconds and aren’t actually in-game so go nice, and/or come up with better ones

The Sniper (Nightblade/Ranger), a stealth archer launching deadly surprise attacks with their bow before disappearing back into the shadows.
The Pathfinder (Blade Dancer/Ranger), a melee combatant who attacks in tandem with their animal companion to overwhelm a single foe or take on multiple enemies.

In conclusion, each Calling has it’s own class mechanics that all the souls share. Sweet, however, wanted to stress that they all will play completely different as far as strategy. Many people seem to be confused on the Official Forums on how the class system will work as debate rage about souls, classes and callings. Hopefully this will allow people to understand what Trion is doing.