Rift

[Teggy]

I decided I would do one more quest before bed last night, and I had one remaining lvl 50 quest in my log from Iron Pine, having finished all the dailies. I figured I would knock it out and go to bed, no big deal. Turns out this was a story quest that started a quest chain requiring me to:

1. Go to a cave in Iron Pine
2. Go to a cave in Gloamwood (Guardian area)
3. Go to a cave in Scarwood (Guardian area)
4. Go to a cave in Shimmersands
5. Go back to Gloamwood
6. Go back to Shimmersands
7. Go to Droughtlands

Got to the place in Droughtlands and found out I needed to fight off 4 lvl 52 mobs at once, died twice and decided I should go to bed, only like an hour after I had originally intended. 

[Elmo]

Does anyone else think the Inquisitor AoE Soul Drain might be overpowered?  ....

Shhh.  Damnit man keep your voice down.  You want Trion to hear?!   

[Harkonis]

I got a kick out of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzLGOhdm4Ds&hd=1

Pyro with the damage buff tanking the other team in a WF

[Blackjack]

Gryndyl, I look forward to your new Rift webcomic. I think you'll have plenty of material!  

Now if you can do or find something similar about the messed up melee sound effects, you'll be golden.  
1) "I like my Rift melee sound effects!"
2) Post 1.1: "Rift sound effects now boink, doink, whump, galump and schwump.
3) "WHY????" (angry face)
4) Devs: LOL LOL LOL LOL
Or something like that...  

I've made my peace for now with my warrior sounding like he's bonking things with a club wrapped in blankets (annoying clearly but not game breaking for me), but it would be nice if they'd figure out what part of the coding caused it (pretty clear it's not an intentional change). One guy at forums said in his attempt to listen closely, it seemed like the AI enemies' melee attacks on him sounded normal -- it was only his own melee attacks that were screwed up. Perhaps that kind of observation will help Trion track it down.

Also, another guy at forums claimed that when he recorded a video-in game via that new 1.1-added function and uploaded to YouTube, the melee sounds were like they used to be but clearly weren't when he was actually playing. Very much a mystery.  

[Teggy]

I got a kick out of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzLGOhdm4Ds&hd=1

Pyro with the damage buff tanking the other team in a WF

Ah, I've seen that guy "Prince" talked about a lot on the forums.

[Blackadar]

Does anyone else think the Inquisitor AoE Soul Drain might be overpowered?  Soul Drain - when coupled with Fanaticism which only has a 45 cool down, lest we forget - is incredible.  It will wipe the floor with a group of mobs in the same level bracket as me.  I just Vex a bunch of mobs to get them running at me, then I hit Fanaticism and Soul Drain.  Very rarely do any survive, and even if they do they're knocking on death's door and you can either use Bolt of Judgement on each one or just drop a Circle of Oblivion.  You can even drop a fear in the unlikely event that things get hairy.

Of course it's useless for casters/ranged mobs though.

This was my leveling spec.  Very effective multi-mob killing spec, but truly useless in PvP (you can rack up the numbers, but not the kills).  Things tend to get a bit dicier at higher levels, simply because the mobs hit you for more damage than your Vex can keep up with.

[Teggy]

BTW Hark is making quite a name for himself on Sunrest. Yesterday he got on the hit list for the guild named "Honor Guard" (a bit pretentious, don't you think?) Actually, he didn't really do anything all that bad. We were hunting rare mobs in Scarwood (which is heavily unbalanced toward the Guardian side) and he sent his pet after a couple of guys, in some cases pulling it back before killing, and never killed anyone more than once. We went to the big tree with the mushrooms and were trying to get the achievement for hopping down and I guess there was some scrapping at the base and they called in friends. We headed out of there back to Perspice and they came after us there. They then left one person out front while they looked further down the road, and we killed him. That made them real happy of course and they came back and started /yelling out for Hark (luckily they didn't notice me), so we just both stealthed and watched them pace back and forth /yelling trash about how Hark had no honor because he wouldn't come out and face them. Because apparently there's honor in going 1 on 7

[hepcat]

Started up a new alt yesterday to try out a cleric and ran across my new favorite name.  Another cleric named CrossBlesser.   

[Chesspieceface]

How to make a rogue fun. 369 phys crit and building.  22% base crit chance plus all the in combat crit buffs that go off.  I'm having fun.

[ericb]

How to make a rogue fun. 369 phys crit and building.  22% base crit chance plus all the in combat crit buffs that go off.  I'm having fun.

41 and still using that early sigil?  Little stingy with the planarite huh   Nice crit chance too.

[Harkonis]

If you really want high crit, you can spec for it



With a riftstalker I could have another 10% but, that would only be temporary while porting.

You really do need to focus on upgrading your planar focus ASAP.  It makes a really big difference.

[Teggy]

New patch with some interesting stuff. They haven't announced when it's going out to NA yet.

Of note:
-they changed their minds and took the Guardian mounts away from Defiants who bought them
-they fixed the issue where mages were holding a two-handed staff and another weapon, which apparently was part of the problem with pyros
-dye vendors are back

Hotfix #13: [NA] TBD - [EU] 3:00am BST 5/4/11

    Hotfix #13: 2:00am BST 5/3/11

    GENERAL
    * The intensity of Alsbeth’s assault on Telara is increasing! The number of rifts, invasions, and zone events is rising in all zones!
    * Fixed a bug that was allowing some creative people to equip one more weapon than they had hands for. This was not an intentional advantage of being an Ascended.
    * Removed Valmera mounts from the resourceful Defiant players who managed to purchase them. Don't worry, we refunded the cost, and hope you enjoyed them while they lasted!
    * The Dye Vendors will be returning from their vacation with this update.
    * Guild and PvP Quests: Killing the same character more than once will again give credit toward these quests.
    * Quest: Harbinger of Sorrows: Modified quest text for better clarity.
    * The Saga of the Endless: Trophies of Death: Quest now updates by closing Death Rifts.


    COMBAT
    * Warriors: Tempered Will, Paladin's Devotion, and Ruthless Pursuit can now only be used when the Warrior is under one of the effects these abilities remove.
    * Tracking abilities no longer dismount you on use.

    BEASTMASTER
    * Protective Companion's Pounce taunt now properly causes the taunt target to switch to the pet.

    ELEMENTALIST
    * Icy Carapace: Rank 7 now lists the correct damage for this ability.

    SABOTEUR
    * Charge Booster: Reworded description for more clarity. Using Detonate with 5 Combo Points will fire off a Booster Charge, dealing 50% weapon damage. The total damage dealt is increased by 15% for every point spent in Saboteur above 21.

    VINDICATOR [PvP]
    * Tactical Strike: Fixed an issue causing this to trigger several times more often than it should. Now triggers 5% per point spent. Damage increase to target has been reduced from 10% to 5% per stack. Description updated to note that this stacks up to 5 times.

    VOID KNIGHT
    * Residual Absorption will no longer show as a buff that can be clicked on to remove.

    WARLOCK
    * Empowered Darkness: Ability will no longer get overwritten by weaker buffs.


    DUNGEONS AND RAIDS
    * A number of Greenscale belts were incorrectly equippable by all characters. They are now limited by class for equipping.
    * King's Breach: Expert: Konstantin's Mathosian Fury can no longer be removed by player abilities. It also has a tooltip description!


    CRAFTING
    * Salvaging Rings and Necklaces that use gems in their recipes now returns salvaged gemstone items as well as regular gems.
    * Crafted bow: The ability on Hawk's Talon was not triggering, and has been fixed.
    * Crafted bow: Verdant Archbow's tooltip has been corrected so it properly lists the damage done.
    * Relic-quality items should now be Salvageable and Runebreakable, although why you would want to break such lovely items remains a mystery. But you can, if you want to!

[ericb]

BEASTMASTER
    * Protective Companion's Pounce taunt now properly causes the taunt target to switch to the pet.

This is good...I've noticed my pet in protective mode rarely holds aggro.  Many times I'll send the pet in to attack and not even hit the mob myself and the cat still won't hold aggro.  Meanwhile my rock elemental pet on my mage lets me tank equal level elites with no problem.

I do wish the dye vendors would go away for good.  I hate that a vendor npc is cheaply selling something I craft and sell (one of the only things that does sell).

[Harkonis]

I definitely agree about the dye vendors.  Basically every Apothecary wishes they would die, every non-apothecary can't understand why they are a problem.

I find it somewhat humorous and satisfying for this:  Guild and PvP Quests: Killing the same character more than once will again give credit toward these quests.

[Blackjack]

Finally an attempt to explain the meleee sound change issue:
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?145748-Sound-Issues-since-1.1&p=2019344&viewfull=1#post2019344

... Let me just say that there was a fair amount of criticism before 1.0 as well which we responded to by applying less compression on the overall mix - a big criticism being that the game sounded flat. One of the things compression does is make all the sounds at more or less the same volume. In some ways, this makes them clearer. It's why TV commercials always sound so much louder than the shows.

The downside is that you lose dynamic range. In our case, that meant, for example, when you encounter a big threatening creature, it sounds just as loud as the little squirrel running by. This causes the creature to sound much weaker in comparison.

Although the mix has "opened up" to the point where many more details of all aspects of Telara's sound world are more audible, several combat sounds were adversely affected (as many of you have astutely pointed out). We are working on these as I write this.

So the melee sound "nerfs" were not intended per se; but the impacts were caused by an intentional change in sound compression meant to improve overall sound. I'm puzzled a bit why it didn't become apparent on the test server, if the same compression change was made there first.

[Destructor]

I definitely agree about the dye vendors.  Basically every Apothecary wishes they would die, every non-apothecary can't understand why they are a problem.

I find it somewhat humorous and satisfying for this:  Guild and PvP Quests: Killing the same character more than once will again give credit toward these quests.

Well, apothecary as a whole is broken anyhow (way too many components, way too hard to gather said components, need way too many components to many anything), so I sure as heck hope the dye vendors remain at their reasonable costs. I like being able to choose colors at a decent cost, thank you very much.

I think they all got punted because for a while, you could purchase the color Brown for absolutely free. It should've been 5g based on the location in the lineup.

[Teggy]

It would be cool if apothecaries became the dye vendors, but it seems it would require a lot of work. You'd have to decide what plants suddenly made dyes (or create all new materials) and at what levels those dyes could be made. If it was an existing material it could screw up the current economy. Unless they were super easy to make it would be much more expensive to buy dyes. I like the idea of certain dyes being expensive or hard to get as a status symbol, but it looks like the ones that apothecaries can currently make are not significantly different from the inexpensive ones, so no one feels the need to buy them.

[Harkonis]

It would be cool if apothecaries became the dye vendors, but it seems it would require a lot of work. You'd have to decide what plants suddenly made dyes (or create all new materials) and at what levels those dyes could be made. If it was an existing material it could screw up the current economy. Unless they were super easy to make it would be much more expensive to buy dyes. I like the idea of certain dyes being expensive or hard to get as a status symbol, but it looks like the ones that apothecaries can currently make are not significantly different from the inexpensive ones, so no one feels the need to buy them.

hard to screw up the existing plant economy, because there really isn't one

I'm still a bit baffled why my master level dailies require a plant that the master level reward bag doesn't give AND that isn't available in the level 50 zones...

[Teggy]

It would be cool if apothecaries became the dye vendors, but it seems it would require a lot of work. You'd have to decide what plants suddenly made dyes (or create all new materials) and at what levels those dyes could be made. If it was an existing material it could screw up the current economy. Unless they were super easy to make it would be much more expensive to buy dyes. I like the idea of certain dyes being expensive or hard to get as a status symbol, but it looks like the ones that apothecaries can currently make are not significantly different from the inexpensive ones, so no one feels the need to buy them.

hard to screw up the existing plant economy, because there really isn't one

I'm still a bit baffled why my master level dailies require a plant that the master level reward bag doesn't give AND that isn't available in the level 50 zones...

Because if they were easy they wouldn't be for masters.

[Chesspieceface]

If you really want high crit, you can spec for it

With a riftstalker I could have another 10% but, that would only be temporary while porting.

You really do need to focus on upgrading your planar focus ASAP.  It makes a really big difference.

I had actually bought a new focus but forgot to slot it as I was very tired when I shot that.  Makes me glad to know that I'm only trailing a standing lvl 50 by 100 pts of crit though.  Cheers.

[Harkonis]

If you really want high crit, you can spec for it

With a riftstalker I could have another 10% but, that would only be temporary while porting.

You really do need to focus on upgrading your planar focus ASAP.  It makes a really big difference.

I had actually bought a new focus but forgot to slot it as I was very tired when I shot that.  Makes me glad to know that I'm only trailing a standing lvl 50 by 100 pts of crit though.  Cheers.

keep in mind that I focus on End and not phys crit on all my gear and essences though   Only my talents are crit spec with ranger/assassin.  You could easily have a much higher crit chance if you focus on it, I just find that in pvp hp is needed.

[Chesspieceface]

If you really want high crit, you can spec for it

With a riftstalker I could have another 10% but, that would only be temporary while porting.

You really do need to focus on upgrading your planar focus ASAP.  It makes a really big difference.

I had actually bought a new focus but forgot to slot it as I was very tired when I shot that.  Makes me glad to know that I'm only trailing a standing lvl 50 by 100 pts of crit though.  Cheers.

keep in mind that I focus on End and not phys crit on all my gear and essences though  Only my talents are crit spec with ranger/assassin.  You could easily have a much higher crit chance if you focus on it, I just find that in pvp hp is needed.

Oh yes, I will.   I plan on playing Sin/RS endgame and +crit is the key.  You gotta make those incoming bursts count. >

[Harkonis]

just keep in mind that after a point you get more from AP than crit.  Someone did the math and there is a chart somewhere.  Personally I know that there is always a high chance that things won't go as planned, so the end really helps.  I still kill anything but a warrior in short order when I get my opener.  Only had two people that were problems so far and both were truly epic players.  (both prestige 6 and fully geared.  One was a crazy necro/warlock that solo'd 5 of us, he was a crazy badass.)

[Harkonis]

man, I'm having an epic gank day in stillmoor today.  A little advice to mages, don't use all your mana spamming aoe looking for a rogue, then he can kill you and you can't fight back.  Don't wait before drinking to get back mana/hp after a pull, even if you have friends around.  I can sap 1-2 people, blind another, kill you, then vanish and all your friends can do is say 'sorry bro'.

I also found that sapping someone when they are collecting a quest item interupts it.  Bonus points if you do it before revealing you're in the area so they aren't sure for a second why it stopped collecting.

(and yes, I am that guy, just ask Blackadar.  It was his guildies today as well, tell Lilith and Schadenfreude that Hark says hey!  With his/her name, they can't really complain either)

[Fez]

man, I'm having an epic gank day in stillmoor today.  A little advice to mages, don't use all your mana spamming aoe looking for a rogue, then he can kill you and you can't fight back.  Don't wait before drinking to get back mana/hp after a pull, even if you have friends around.  I can sap 1-2 people, blind another, kill you, then vanish and all your friends can do is say 'sorry bro'.

I also found that sapping someone when they are collecting a quest item interupts it.  Bonus points if you do it before revealing you're in the area so they aren't sure for a second why it stopped collecting.

(and yes, I am that guy, just ask Blackadar.  It was his guildies today as well, tell Lilith and Schadenfreude that Hark says hey!  With his/her name, they can't really complain either)

Hark, what rogue build are you using?  I'm using a ranged build, but it's not too effective for 1on1 pvp.

[Arclight]

Found a great Warrior build. Good for PvE and PvP...

Riftblade, pally, Void Knight.

You have range, you have melee. You have endurance, you have dps. Having a ton more fun than my Assasin. Which is strange because I usually love stealthers.

I'm not AoE'ing my way up the ladder either, but with the ease at which I can down 2 or 3 mobs and still have full health keeps me moving on anyway.

I'll park the 50 Assasin in Sanctum and he can churn out items for the AH. (I maxed foraging, butchering, and outfitting on the rogue) I'll keep making the bags and putting them on the AH as long as peole want to pay the big-bucks for them. 

So the game still has a good hold on me. This could be a long run for me with this MMO.

[Destructor]

Arclight - have the tree you're using on that? I have a friend who is (was?) a Warrior, and he just can't find a good spec to go with it. Says he feels like he's just not doing anything anymore.

[Arclight]

Arclight - have the tree you're using on that? I have a friend who is (was?) a Warrior, and he just can't find a good spec to go with it. Says he feels like he's just not doing anything anymore.

Yeah, here it is up to 50 points spent. The rest after that are what you think would be good type points..
      http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0cLhg.xGs0dsMGtdz.xrozo

[Harkonis]

I typically run around 51 sin/15 inf when I feel like ganking.  I also have a bladedancer/sin combo that is good for dailies that involve elites, and I have a ranger/sin that is very good for rifts.  All of those are capable of winning 1v1 if I get the jump, but the sin one is much better than the other two.  I feel much less naked with it due to slip away.  I had slip away on the others but ended up throwing riftstalker on for the hp back on kills for rifting.

I like a void knight/pali build as well.  There was a void knight paragon build I found that I suggested to Kato.  Can't recall it right now but he might.  He said it was very capable in pvp before he decided he only wanted to play his mage.

[Chesspieceface]

man, I'm having an epic gank day in stillmoor today.  A little advice to mages, don't use all your mana spamming aoe looking for a rogue, then he can kill you and you can't fight back.  Don't wait before drinking to get back mana/hp after a pull, even if you have friends around.  I can sap 1-2 people, blind another, kill you, then vanish and all your friends can do is say 'sorry bro'.

I also found that sapping someone when they are collecting a quest item interupts it.  Bonus points if you do it before revealing you're in the area so they aren't sure for a second why it stopped collecting.

(and yes, I am that guy, just ask Blackadar.  It was his guildies today as well, tell Lilith and Schadenfreude that Hark says hey!  With his/her name, they can't really complain either)

Hark, what rogue build are you using?  I'm using a ranged build, but it's not too effective for 1on1 pvp.

My name isn't Hark but Assassin/RS is the shiznit for melee rogues.  I'm 32/24 atm... planning to be 40/26... Wargus has a similar build and we make a fierce duo.  There is something to be said for going deep assassin but the abilities from RS really flesh the whole thing out.  I feel pretty unstoppable and if/when I get jacked Shadow Shift -> Slip Away = bye-bye.  I can post a sample build if you like.

This may change at 50, but for now this is my favorite build.. pve, pvp or otherwise.

[Harkonis]

That was what i played  on the way to 50, but at 50 you can melt facEs so much faster with 51 sin.  Had a mage send me a 'wtf didyou do to him?' after a rogue popped out to kill him and i killed the rogue before the stun wore off the mage.

[Blackjack]

Here's my code (I'm too lazy to check if this is a new code, I got another e-mail from Trion today) for folks who want to give the game a whirl this weekend (Friday-Sunday):
M2XE-T3CD-HQ6X-YCCM-RP3E

I really do think it's a shame they couldn't fix the "nerfed" melee combat sounds in time for this weekend cause a lot of new players are going to think the combat sounds are awful or silly (bonk, doink, schlump etc.) when they were actually quite fun imho, pre-v 1.1.

[Huw the Poo]

Yeah I have another new code too:

RIFT is holding a special Allies of the Ascended event. As my chosen ally, you can use this code to join me during the dates below, free of charge! Heed my call, and together we shall battle the Blood Storm!
 
Event Dates
 10am PDT April 8, 2011 through 10am PDT April 11, 2011
Ally Code

 QFFX-ZMPX-QZXW-ZH2N-MDQR

Visit www.RIFTgame.com/en/ally instructions on how to apply your Ally Code and to download the RIFT patcher.

[ericb]

Arclight - have the tree you're using on that? I have a friend who is (was?) a Warrior, and he just can't find a good spec to go with it. Says he feels like he's just not doing anything anymore.

Yeah, here it is up to 50 points spent. The rest after that are what you think would be good type points..
      http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0cLhg.xGs0dsMGtdz.xrozo

Drop another 6 in RB and you can run with Blade of Elemental Affinity as your blade spell and also get healed for 35% of your critical hit damage.  At 44 that's almost exactly one of my roles except I use Warlord instead of VK.

BTW, I still don't see a real increase in Death Rift invasions.  There are lots of little minor rifts now but I didn't catch a single invasion yesterday.

Here's my Ally code if anyone still needs one: EEED-PPEN-NE93-EJKR-T69M

EDIT: fixed Elemental Affinity blade text

[Harkonis]

Arclight - have the tree you're using on that? I have a friend who is (was?) a Warrior, and he just can't find a good spec to go with it. Says he feels like he's just not doing anything anymore.

Yeah, here it is up to 50 points spent. The rest after that are what you think would be good type points..
      http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0cLhg.xGs0dsMGtdz.xrozo

Drop another 6 in RB and you can run with Blade of Elemental Affinity as your blade spell and also get healed for 35% of your health every critical hit.  At 44 that's almost exactly one of my roles except I use Warlord instead of VK.

BTW, I still don't see a real increase in Death Rift invasions.  There are lots of little minor rifts now but I didn't catch a single invasion yesterday.

Here's my Ally code if anyone still needs one: EEED-PPEN-NE93-EJKR-T69M

that's not 35% of your hp every crit, it's 35% of the damage done with the hit every crit.  Huge difference.

[Teggy]

Arclight - have the tree you're using on that? I have a friend who is (was?) a Warrior, and he just can't find a good spec to go with it. Says he feels like he's just not doing anything anymore.

Yeah, here it is up to 50 points spent. The rest after that are what you think would be good type points..
      http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0cLhg.xGs0dsMGtdz.xrozo

Drop another 6 in RB and you can run with Blade of Elemental Affinity as your blade spell and also get healed for 35% of your health every critical hit.  At 44 that's almost exactly one of my roles except I use Warlord instead of VK.

BTW, I still don't see a real increase in Death Rift invasions.  There are lots of little minor rifts now but I didn't catch a single invasion yesterday.

Here's my Ally code if anyone still needs one: EEED-PPEN-NE93-EJKR-T69M

that's not 35% of your hp every crit, it's 35% of the damage done with the hit every crit.  Huge difference.

That makes more sense, or I was going to say I was switching to that build right now!

[ericb]

Opps...sorry about that   Still quite a bit of extra healing every fight but no where near as good as what I typed above (35% health vs 35% damage one on crit).  At 44 that's around 350 health per crit vs 1500 health    I just wish I could find a decent self healing build even at the expense of some dps.  The paladin oh crap full heal is nice but that's about it...the reaver build (even full) stinks due to the last nerf.  Water is getting expensive in the 40s and so is dying.

[Teggy]

Pretty neat, if you go to rift.zam.com now and choose the "Leaderboards" heading you can see all the shard firsts, including searching by character name.

[Blackjack]

All I need is a miracle! All I need... is you!

Audio Update
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?145748-Sound-Issues-since-1.1&p=2050606&viewfull=1#post2050606

Audio update should be hitting Europe tonight and North America tomorrow. Might be good to wait until then to log [sound] bugs.

If I was cynical, I'd say they'll mess up the ranged attack sounds so as to "even everything out."  

I am instead cautiously optimistic... And maybe there was a rush to try to fix the melee sound bork in time for the weekend event.

[msduncan]

On a whim, I grabbed a copy of this at WalMart about 30 mins ago.

Should I break the wrapper and join in?    I've tried MMOs before but none have compared to the fun that was the original WoW back in the day.