While we still don’t know exactly when RIFT 2.3 is coming out, Daglar did toss out a hint about one thing we’ll see in RIFT 2.4– a new 20-man raid. He also gave us one bit of reassuring news on the length of time that will go between these next two updates:

Originally posted by Daglar (Source)

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Next question is when is 2.4? Currently scheduled for a shorter amount of time than 2.2 to 2.3.

Daglar wasn’t quite as generous with hints when it came to the PvP front of the game. In this forum thread, he mentioned the following:

“There is no current ETA for another Warfront. There is no need for conspiracy theories that no one plays PvP in RIFT – quite a few folks do. The content of PvP is typically, the PvP itself. New maps are great, and we’d love to provide more when the time is right – but I cannot give you a date and or time when a new Warfront will be delivered.”

When Trion added Conquest to RIFT, one of the team’s stated goals was that they wanted to help build a bridge between dedicated PvP players and dedicated PvE players. Conquest was planned as the perfect large-scale playground for players who enjoyed slaying other players, of course, but it was also designed with PvE players in mind. The roles of crafting and objective taking were going to be brought to the forefront, and the developer team hoped that small, organized groups would play a vital part. The plan was to make Conquest’s rewards worthwhile to both PvE players and PvP players.

During the first months of Conquest, this plan went fairly well. Without taking the early catastrophes of Conquest into consideration, everyone at least tried out the new feature, even players who weren’t known to PvP. Despite Trion’s hopes, Conquest quickly delved into a large-scale zerg fest where small groups generally weren’t formed and Conquest became a battle between which side had the most players clumped up. A large portion of PvE players still took part despite the lack of PvE gameplay for two reasons– Conquest Point perks and the stat trinket– both of which were great for PvE purposes.

Now we find ourselves three months into Storm Legion. Our Conquest map hasn’t changed. We’ve seen some quality-of-life updates to Conquest including a better queue system, but for the most part, the three-faction system plays similar to how it played at level 50. It’s a PvP zerg fest, essentially, which is great for players who enjoy that type of PvP action. For other players, those two desirable rewards still stand out. The problem with the perks and trinket this time around, however, is far more pronounced and is beginning to leave a sour taste is many PvE players’ mouths.

The first few months of an expansion are crucial for most raiders. After leveling comes the hard part of balancing raiding, farming out the currency for planar essences, earning the trust of notoriety factions for runes, and catching up on crafting, achievements, and alts. It’s a difficult balance for some, and as most of us know, Storm Legion packed on a decent amount of faction grinding and currency farming. This is good in most ways because it encourages us to play more often. It’s also a lot to keep in mind when there’s also the prospect of best in slot trinkets and Conquest Point perks to grab and keep active.

In this period of post-expansion raid progression and looking ahead to the new Hard Mode raids coming in RIFT 2.2, many raiding guilds out there are pushing their raiders to better their characters in any way possible. Let’s take a look at those Conquest trinkets. For most callings and souls, they’re best-in-slot by more than a slight margin for any type of PvP or PvE content. They also feature Endurance, which should be very handy for pushing Hard Mode content.

The only other real stat-adding alternatives are the blue, non-upgraded Ridgerunner trinkets that also require PvP. Besides those two options, getting a pre-raid trinket depends on dungeon RNG, and dungeon trinkets aren’t ideal for everyone. The level 50 Conquest trinket is also still decent, which is much easier to get now, but is still, well, level 50.

With as little options as there are at level 60, quite a few raiding guilds have started requiring their raiders to seek out the Conquest trinkets. In other guilds, the Conquest trinkets may not be required per say, but due to the simple fact that there aren’t many options, there’s a kind of pressure for raiders to spend a considerable amount of time in Conquest in order to compete with the rest of their guildmates. Is Trion forcing players to play Conquest in order to raid? Of course not. But due to the lack of alternative trinket options, grinding out the Conquest trinket makes a whole lot of sense right now. Almost too much sense.

The Conquest Point perks are another issue altogether. Raiders have to regularly take part in Conquest in order to keep these active. These generally aren’t required by most guilds, but for players who are used to focusing entirely on raiding and other PvE gameplay options, the idea of playing a Conquest match every day or so is one that takes away from their overall enjoyment of the game.

As far as the other side of the spectrum, PvP players now find themselves feeling as though they need to run PvE content frequently in order to obtain best-in-slot PvP planar essences. Infinity Stones can be obtained in Conquest, but not nearly in the amount that they can be collected while participating in PvE content.

In response to player complaints over this clear, looming bridge that seems to have plopped itself in between raiding and PvP, Daglar look some time a couple of weeks ago to issue the following statement:

“There are going to be portions of the game where content crosses over and it grants benefits. You are not absolutely required by the game to take part in this activity. You feel that you must as you are a high end raider. We absolutely give you an incentive to engage in this content – I will not argue that point.

I have seen these requests before – I will see them again. We will not be removing the PvE benefits from Conquest. We will not be removing the trinkets from working in PvE.

The same holds true of requiring infinity stones for essences from PvP. There are other aspects of the game that we want you to engage in. This is why we create a variety of reward paths.”

Trion’s stance seems clear on the matter, which makes sense when thinking about the team’s goals when Conquest was originally added. However, it seems like the rewards offered post-Storm Legion are greater than the rewards offered right after Conquest came out. There were quite a few more trinkets to choose from before Storm Legion launched. There’s also the fact that we’re currently in a very progression-influenced period of a new expansion. Expansions cause guilds to reform, recruit new players, and often go all-out when it comes to clearing content.

This is the most exciting time to be a raider. Players shouldn’t feel like they need to log on and queue up for something that they might as well just go AFK for (and yes, AFKing in Conquest is becoming an issue). They don’t need to, of course, but the fact that they feel like they need to is a warning sign, in my opinion. Players should be having a blast in RIFT right now.

If there were more trinkets with stats on them to choose from, I think players would be a lot more happy with Conquest being one possible option for grabbing a trinket at level 60. The Conquest trinket can still be best-in-slot, but it should be so by a small margin, not a huge one like it currently is. RIFT is a game with a ton of options. Many players choose to keep playing RIFT because of those options. Why don’t we see those options when it comes to trinkets?

Another option, of course, is for Trion to rework Conquest majorly, bringing in more PvE elements and ensuring there’s more to do than simply follow the herd of mounts and red name tags. Either way, the PvE and PvP crossover bridge needs to be looked at. Something needs to give, before it risks falling apart altogether.

During yesterday’s RIFT 2.1 Hotfix #9, Trion threw in an unexpected change that took most of RIFT’s PvP community by surprise. Our PvP gear now has quite a bit more valor on it. Trion felt that players, overall, were dying too quickly during PvP, and this was somewhat evident by the fact that most DPS souls ran with a pocket healer or used a special survivability/tank spec just for PvP fights.

Is the change a step in the right direction? Most players think so. The time to kill (TTK) between two DPS souls is quite a bit longer now, giving players more time to utilize more abilities. This ideally means we should see a greater variety of specs in Warfronts. Healers, however, seem to be extremely powerful now, which means that the system may need further adjusting.

Daglar spoke out in defense of the changes yesterday when players argued on the forums that the changes made PvP battles far too long. Keep reading to see what he had to say.

When asked if the changes will be reverted during a hotfix, Daglar replied with the following:

Originally posted by Daglar (Source)

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Nope, absolutely no hot-fix tomorrow to “roll this back”.

We increased TTK – we are aware of potential issues this can cause, but its been one of the hot button issues for the PvP community and we are actively looking at it. We agree with large portions of the community based on our own play that the previous TTK was too fast.

Is the current version perfect? Probably not, but its to early to say, people need to adapt a bit before any more changes are made.

As a followup, he also had this to say regarding the intentions behind the change. Some players felt the change was more of a “gut reaction” to negative player feedback as opposed to something Trion truly intended and planned on doing. Daglar, as always, was upfront:

Originally posted by Daglar (Source)

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It is a real concern of ours – if it wasn’t I wouldn’t have someone spend time on this stuff. We are not out here to make changes just to make changes – we are out here making changes that we feel make the game better. This has been true since day one of Alpha.

There are plenty of things that the community has given feedback on that we don’t agree with and we don’t take action on. There are other things that the community has asked for, that we agree with, and we just have not found the right time to put in.

What do you think about the Valor gear changes? Has your PvP gameplay improved since the change or worsened?

While RIFT’s PvP updates often seem few and far in between, there is a small PvP update on the way and currently evident on the Public Test Server (PTS)– new PvP consumables that are purchasable with Favor. There’s a new PvP vendor in Tempest Bay by the name of Mercenary Burke. He’s located at the southern end of the PvP vendor building (which is almost directly south of where the porticulum is) and shares a counter with Mercenary Frost. His inventory may be expanded upon in the near future, but for now he has a selection of bind-on-pickup consumables that are usable only on level 60 PvP equipment. Keep reading to see a list of the items, complete with item descriptions and costs.

Note: All items on the PTS, as always, are subject to change at any time. This also includes item costs.

Mercenary’s Armor Plating – 12k Valor
Use: Increases your Armor by 695 for 4 hours.
Requires Item Level 60
Usable on Chest
Only usable on PvP items

Mercenary’s Insoles – 12k Valor
Use: Increases runspeed by 10% for 4 hours.
Requires Item Level 60
Usable on Feet
Only usable on PvP items

Mercenary’s Manastone – 6000 Valor
Use: Increases your maximum mana by 380 for 4 hours.
Requires Item Level 60
Usable on Off Hand
Only usable on PvP items

Mercenary’s Recon Vial – 6000 Valor
Use: Shows the location of all players within a short vicinity on the minimap for 4 hours. This effect lasts through death.
Note: The current best recon vials only last an hour, making these a better buy.

Mercenary’s Riding Chaps – 12k Valor
Use: Increases mount movement speed by 10% for 4 hours.
Requires Item Level 60
Usable on Legs
Only usable on PvP items

Mercenary’s Spikes – 6000 Valor
Use: Deals 100 damage to attackers when you block for 4 hours.
Requires Item Level 60
Usable on Shield
Only usable on PvP items

Mercenary’s Weaponstone – 12k Valor
Use: Physical critical hits have a chance to deal an extra 600 damage for 4 hours.
Requires Item Level 60
Usable on Two Handed
Only usable on PvP items

Mercenary’s Witchstone – 12k Valor
Use: Spell critical hits have a chance to deal an extra 600 damage for 4 hours.
Requires Item Level 60
Usable on Two Handed
Only usable on PvP items

Note: Archonix noted that the current state of Mercenary gear on the PTS may prevent players from testing out the new consumables.

Finally, PvP players will have a few options when it comes to consumable items. It will be interesting to see if the prices shift before reaching live servers.

One of the hottest debates within the RIFT community since the addition of Conquest has been whether or not it was a good idea to place perks that benefit both PvP and PvE inside a PvP-only system. Many high-end raiders were frustrated with the Conquest Power perks and the addition of the Conquest trinkets. There were also PvP players who disliked the requirement of Infinity Stones for PvP planar essences. These items and perks that blur the lines between PvP and PvE content were set up this way intentionally. Daglar clarified the team’s stance on cross-content perks and items on the forums yesterday:

Originally posted by Daglar (Source)

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There are going to be portions of the game where content crosses over and it grants benefits. You are not absolutely required by the game to take part in this activity. You feel that you must as you are a high end raider. We absolutely give you an incentive to engage in this content – I will not argue that point.

I have seen these requests before – I will see them again. We will not be removing the PvE benefits from Conquest. We will not be removing the trinkets from working in PvE.

The same holds true of requiring infinity stones for essences from PvP. There are other aspects of the game that we want you to engage in. This is why we create a variety of reward paths.

He also clarified a few other things along the same lines, including whether or not Thunderous Leap will be making a return in instances and raids. The short answer: Nope. Keep reading to see the (slightly) longer answer as well as Daglar’s current thoughts on the development direction of Conquest.

In the same thread regarding Conquest and cross-content perks and items, someone asked if we’ll see Thunderous Leap making a return to dungeons and raids. Here was Daglar’s reply:

Originally posted by Daglar (Source)

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Nope. That ability won’t be making a come back in instances.

Finally, some musing from Daglar on Conquest, its current direction regarding updates, and the issue regarding players AFKing inside Conquest:

Originally posted by Daglar (Source)

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Guys, fixing the afk issue in Conquest is on the giant list of things to do. There are lots of things on that giant list of things to do.

Adding random queues was on the long list of things to do and it got done. Heck, adding PvP PA tier 2 wasn’t even on the long list, but we still got it in. I’m not going to promise you that it’s going to be dealt with by X day or time – but we know about it.

I’ve got to look at more than just two days worth of data to really tell, but the the addition of marks for kills looks tentatively like its been highly effective at adding “killyness” back into Conquest instead of the complaints of simply running in circles. There are some cases where I’m not going to hold back an improvement to the game because of a known issue.

Since the recent hotfix, some players have been experiencing an odd bug that would place them into a Conquest queue while queueing up for Warfronts. This bug has been tracked down by Trion, and the team found out that it happens due to internal changes that are being made to the Conquest queue. These changes should make it into the next hotfix. Pithos decided to share these changes with the community yesterday:

Originally posted by Pithos (Source)

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The Conquest queue bug some of you have experienced has been tracked down internally. As some of you may suspect, it’s due to some upcoming changes for the Conquest queue, currently planned for the next hotfix.

When joining conquest, you now will only be able to specify which team you prefer. If you don’t care, there’s a random button available to make the choice for you. If a team is full, the button for that team will say “Full” instead of “Join”. You can still attempt to join a “Full” team. After a few seconds, you’ll see the “Would you like to enter conquest?” prompt. If the team you were attempting to join is full at that time, you will be shifted onto another, non-full team. In this case, the prompt will contain additional text explaining that the team you requested was full, and notifying you as to what team you will be playing on.

We hope this change will make Conquest a better experience for everyone, and we’ll be watching to see how things change.

Keep reading for more details and to see a sample screenshot of the updated Conquest queue menu.

Pithos also attached this preview of the new menu:

Later in the same thread, he also went on to clarify how the queue will work:

Originally posted by Pithos (Source)

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To clarify: If Nightfall is “Full” and you click it, you’ll be assigned to another, random, non-full team within about 5 seconds.

This is effectively a random queue, only you have the ability to specify the team you would prefer to be on if there is room.

Trion’s team has been closely monitoring the state of PvP balance since the launch of Storm Legion, and yesterday Elrar made a post on the official forums about some upcoming Rogue changes being made to keep that balance in check. The changes mentioned so far will affect Rogues only while engaged in PvP. Here’s what he had to say:

Originally posted by Elrar (Source)

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Since the release of Storm Legion we’ve been keeping an eye on PvP and the effectiveness of all the callings. Through our observations, your feedback, and the data we have available we’ve identified some core areas we’re going to improve to make sure Rogues fall back into line with the others.

We’re going to start by reducing the burst damage of a handful of specific abilities and making sure that certain combinations do not allow consistently high burst, survivability, and mobility at the same time. These changes will only apply when engaged in PvP.

The plan is to get the first round of these updates out in the next Hot Fix with any additional changes to follow if required.

Thanks for helping to start and maintain constructive discussions – we’re constantly reading and considering the feedback you provide, your passion for RIFT & PvP is always appreciated!

Storm Legion’s final beta weekend, which is a completely open beta, begins this morning at 10 AM PST, and one of the new features we’ll be getting to test out is the brand new Warfront Trion is adding in Storm Legion, Karthan Ridge. Trion is looking to do some player testing in Karthan Ridge this weekend, and is going to be holding a series of special events that include dev-slaying and nifty player rewards. Keep reading to see the full announcement, which was posted on the official forums yesterday afternoon by Elrar.

Originally posted by Elrar (Source)

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Beyond the two massive new continents, amazing dimensions, and more content than you can chew we’ve also been hard at work on delivering solid improvements to PVP and expanding our repertoire of available Warfronts.

Yes – there is a new warfront coming and its name is Karthan Ridge!

You and your team will need to wrest control of an explosive then detonate it near key points in your enemies base. Of course, we’ll be using this BETA event as a way to test the gameplay, so anything can change based on your feedback.

As an added bonus – we’ve got some rewards to earn for your efforts, here’s what you can earn all weekend long:

• Participate in a Karthan Ridge Match
  Reward: “the Ridgerunner” title
• Be in the top 100 Kills for the entire weekend
  Reward: “Gun for Hire” title
• Be in the top 100 Saviors for the entire weekend
  Reward: “Combat Medic” title
• Most Kills for the Weekend (total, not Killing Blows)
  Reward: Future PvP Reward named after a live character of your choice, of course pending our approval!

If you’re into PvP we encourage you to take part in as much as you can but we’ll also have an event each day to get as many people as we can into the fray!

Here’s a schedule for your convenience:

Anyone who kills a Dev in a Warfront during these events will earn “the Rebellious” title for all their characters.

Friday, 11/2 @ 4-6PM Pacific (11PM-1AM GMT)
Shard: BETA
Warfront: Karthan Ridge

Saturday, 11/3 @ 4-6PM Pacific (11PM-1AM GMT)
Shard: BETA
Warfront: Karthan Ridge

Sunday, 11/3 @ 4-6PM Pacific (12-2AM GMT)
NOTE: Please remember Daylight Savings occurs in the US!
Shard: GAMMA (Fluffy will be available)
Warfront: All (Level 60)

Bring your game face – we’ll see you there!

This final beta event ends on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 8 AM PST and can be enjoyed by all players of RIFT, current and former, and anyone who wishes to download the beta client and give Storm Legion a try.

Also, a bit of news for players who enjoy Conquest:

Originally posted by Daglar (Source)

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There will not be a new Conquest at 2.0 release. We have our eye on several locations in the new world for an updated map in the future.

Speaking of Conquest and 2.0 – The existing map will not be available for some time after 2.0 launches. It is intended to be a max level feature and it requires critical mass of players. It will return (likely with some tweaks) after we feel that there is enough critical mass.

Lately there’s been no shortage of information from Trion about Storm Legion. We’ve heard a lot about new additions to the game like Dimensions and hunt rifts and have been promised literally tens of pages of PvE patch note changes. So far, though, things have been pretty quiet on the subject of PvP additions. Is Trion neglecting PvP in Storm Legion, or do players just need to be more patient?

There are currently five different warfronts in the game for level 50 characters, and while there have been vague assurances that Storm Legion will ship with a new one no further details have yet been shared. Even if the new warfront is a hit with players, only one new map in the rotation will do little to relieve the tedium of a longtime player’s PvP grind.

And grind we will indeed. Storm Legion does come with additional Prestige Ranks and, it’s safe to assume, additional tiers of PvP gear. Trion’s PvP normalization tests back in August apparently showed that PvP without gear considerations was unfeasible, but it would be nice to see a system that’s more balanced between “gear doesn’t matter” and “gear is everything”.

On the plus side, though, Conquest is still fairly new and was a significant addition to RIFT’s PvP offerings. The system is still going through many tweaks and alterations, but it will most certainly be made available to level 60 characters in Storm Legion.

Also one of the biggest potential changes to PvP is still almost completely unknown: how Storm Legion’s many class updates will affect the battlefield. Today’s hottest warfront spec will become tomorrow’s unpopular fad. There’s really no way to say at this point how the overall class design philosophy for Storm Legion will play out, so it’s possible that some shift in mechanics will make player versus player combat particularly more fun.

The relationship between PvE and PvP has often been strained in RIFT and really in most major MMORPGs. Changes to game mechanics intended to fix a problem in one often cause new side effects in the other. Players who prefer one playstyle resent being forced to participate in the other activity for some of the best gear.

However, it’s hard to deny that PvE has gotten a lot more love than PvP in the official Storm Legion updates so far. Hopefully the new warfront is well designed, Conquest keeps being tweaked into shape, and the class changes work with PvP rather than against it, or else some PvPers might be disappointed come November 13th.

Walsingham announced yesterday that the second PTS PvP normalization test will take place today, August 21st at 4PM PST. There have been quite a few changes from the first test, so with any luck, the overall experience will be more beneficial to Trion’s data collecting team. Among the changes, item procs have been disabled for the test, as well as the effects of synergy crystals. Here are the main changes:

• PVE Synergy Crystals do not function in Warfronts or Conquest during the test
• Additional improvements to damage and healing
• Item procs are disabled for this test

For a complete list of changes that have been made, check out this forum post, and keep reading for the full announcement.

Originally posted by Walsingham (Source)

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Hail Ascended!

We’re getting prepared to undertake a grand experiment – to explore the potential of normalizing player stats in Warfronts & Conquest.

Changes this for this test:

• PVE Synergy Crystals do not function in Warfronts or Conquest during the test
• Additional improvements to damage and healing
• Item procs are disabled for this test

Join us tomorrow, Tuesday 8/21 @ 4PM PDT (11PM GMT) on the Public Test Shard as we explore this test and help us to uncover any bugs or issues.

Should these changes pass inspection our intent is to deploy them on live shards for roughly a week allowing us to collect vast amounts of metrics and feedback far beyond the capacity of PTS. After the experiment is over we’ll be assessing all of the information we collect before making a final decision to officially make the transition.

What does this mean?

It means that all players will compete with the same baseline stats with no benefit received from upgrading your armor or weapons. This potentially means more even matches where skill & coordination is the biggest factor in determining the victor. Consumables, class buffs, Planar Attunement and other buffs/temporary effects will continue to provide a benefit, only the stats granted by the gear you have equipped will be normalized.

Now obviously, this is a big test, and we’re well aware that we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re already hard at work finding and resolving any edge cases we can think of. Ultimately the success of this test comes down to you – helping us to explore whether this is a viable option and if so, assisting us prepare it for its debut.

What about PvP Progression?

Meaningful PvP progression is definitely not something we want to lose because of this – we’re exploring a myriad of options and will keep you informed as development continues.

Ultimately we are seeking a better balance between “fair” and “fun” and seek to answer the question – “is more fair fun?” Your feedback is an important part of finding the answer, just make sure it stays constructive and that you actually try the changes for yourself before forming an opinion.

Read below for instructions on how to access PTS and come see what these changes mean with your own eyes!

Character Copy to PTS

You can now copy your character to the Public Test Shard! Simply click the Transfer button when you’re at Character select on the Live client and select “Copy to PTS” – it’s as easy as that! (though there may be a few bugs/limitations we’re working out). We will no longer be offering Gear/Leveling vendors with the introduction of this feature (except when testing requires it.)

You will need to download the PTS client if you have not done so already, this is approximately the same size as installing the full game and may take some time. For more information about PTS and how to access it please see:

Welcome to the Public Test Shard! – Getting Started

Have fun!