Rift Class Overview: The Pyromancer
The Pyromancer is the latest class to be revealed by the Rift: Planes of Telara development team. These destructive and very powerful mages focus their will on mastering the flames, whether it is trapping enemies behind a wall of fire or launching devastating fire blasts on the heads of the foe. Check out MMORPG.com's exclusive background lore and screenshots of The Pyromancer.
By Guest Writer on August 12, 2010
“’Fire is a hazard,’ says the coward. ‘Fire is a tool,’ says the fool. I say fire is a weapon, a friend, a state of mind, and that the bold man and the craven burn just as fast.”
Overview
Pyromancers are destructive mages whose sole focus is the mastery of fire, from launching massive incinerating blasts, to trapping their opponents behind a smoldering wall of flame. No other Ascended can match the sheer destruction at the Pyromancer’s fingertips.
Strengths
Pyromancers keep their enemies at bay with well-placed fire spells, until they can be immolated at the Pyromancer’s leisure.
Weaknesses
Pyromancers excel at roasting their enemies from afar, and so must be wary of foes able to charge into melee quickly or defend themselves against searing flames.
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Background
“Stay here. Those tricks the Elves taught you won’t frighten the Storm Legion,” Phynnious Rothmann’s brother said, laughing.
Imbecile, Phynnious thought, watching his fellow tribesmen ride to battle. My tricks frightened even my teachers!
Sickly son of a Mathosian chieftan, Phynnious Rothmann was sent to study magic with the Elves — less to bring the arcane arts to his people than to stay out from under stomping, booted feet. But the Elves sent him home early: not because his research into fire magic nearly burned their sacred grove to the ground, but because the urgency of human youth made them uncomfortable.
Rothmann trudged over to the edge of the cliff to watch as slowly, the valor of the united tribesmen overcame the mindless discipline of Crucia’s Storm Legion. Suddenly, an electric blast erupted in the middle of the battlefield. Whether thanks to lightning or terror, the hair on the back of Phynnious’s neck stood up and he whispered, “Stormtouched.”
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Crucia herself, dragon of storms, had possessed the Legion’s commander. Phynnious knew she could bring to bear superhuman tactics and storm magic that would eradicate every northman in that valley. He knew this even as he rode to the battlefield, quick as a midsummer fire through dry scrub. Leaping off his horse, Phynneous turned into a streak of flame flashed toward the front line just as the Mathosians quavered on the edge of disaster.
Standing on the front line, Rothmann conjured exploding fissures of magma, completing in mere seconds an incantation that took his Elf tutors minutes. White-hot flame lanced from his fingers, sending charred chunks of Legionaries flying in all directions. The Storm Legion’s rally became a rout.
An arrow slammed into Rothmann’s shoulder, jarring him into a state of sharp focus. The possessed Storm Legion leader advanced, aiming his second arrow at the mage’s heart. Phynnious screamed at his assailant, exhaling waves of flame that burned the bow away. The general drew his sword and charged through the flames. Two steps from Phynnious he stopped, a statue of solid ash.
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Phynnious’s laughter blew the ash away on the northern breeze, joined by with the roar of his clansmen as they ran down the fleeing Storm Legion, even as a voice hissed from the sky: “I will kill you, little mage.”
Years later, as Phynnious fixed the keystone to Crucia’s prison, he taunted, “Remember what you promised me?” and laughed again, breathy and crackling like a bonfire.
Ohhh add some warlock and elementalist skills to this and it will be an awesome combination.
Awesome lore here. It was a fun read. I have to say if they were to come out with a book I would have to pick it up.
Just A W E S O M E!!!
awesomeness
Very kewl addition to the classes. *scratches head*.....I wonder if they would consider coming up with a melee fire class also. Maybe something similiar to the HoX (Herald of Xotli) in Age of Conan; very fun "slam-caster" class i.m.o. HINT, HINT, NUDGE, NUDGE
Heck yes - Let the Burnination begin
With all the different souls you'll be able to add, you'll be able to make many different variations of the Pyromancer.
Why come up with these exotic names? Just call them Glass Cannons and be done with, because that is basically what these squishy, long range high DPS classes are.
Keep in mind you can combine it with any soul! So you might be able to balance it and make it less squishy.
Keep in mind some people actually like story and lore. Why ruin it and dumb it down that way.
Just because you lack imagination doesn't mean you need to take it out on everyone else around you :P
No you can't combine it with "Any" Soul Try reading the class system description next time
....really? then what about this:
"....As an Ascended grows in power, so does his or her ability to attune souls. Leveling a character will unlock the ability to attune additional souls. A maximum-level player will be able to attune up to three souls of their choosing!"
....and i quote...."UP TO THREE SOULS OF THEIR CHOOSING"
NOt true. You can only combine classes of the same archetype if I recall.
So you can combine the different types of mages, rogues, and the like to each other. Not a fireball casting, rogue in plate.
Get it?
We don't need no water...
Actually, they said somewhere that you could branch out to the other archetypes.
Probably not to the fireball casting rogue in plate extent though. Guess it's just a wait and see moment.
Very nice but a new pure water mage "Tidaltyphoon" would strike down any master of fire mage LOL
You guys must do not check out things on youtube offten or never but in a hands on video of RIFT they had a show on classes and Rifts and I seen a Class ranger type using this mage fire spells, so yes we can be what the fuck we want, they said RIFT has endless customisations and possibilities.
No, you are restricted to souls within your specific calling. They have said they will create souls that look like they push the boundaries of your calling, though. :) So, there might be a mage soul that has some healing for instance, or a warrior soul that has some damage spells - that sort of thing.
* a shy voice from the back*
a glass tank ?
I think we all agree that you are restrcied to souls within your calling. I dont think that was ever under debate. If you look at the latest video from the homepage, I encourage you to look at 2:20....it shows ELEMENTALIST & WARRIOR as the souls chosen. Those are most cetainly different archetypes. So if your initial calling is rogue, I wouldnt count on being able to wear plate,... but a fireball casting rogue with warrior abilities.... possible.
I stand corrected......its says WARLOCK......not warrior
Dude. Take your own advice and read up on things before spouting off about them. The Nightblade is a rogue calling that wields some fire / dark magic. It's still a rogue, and it's using class abilities, not abilities from an entirely different calling.
edit: spelling
I just hope they put in enough classes per calling to allow for lots of combinations... I've heard everything from 4-8 classes per calling... 4 would suck, 8 would be awesome...
just remains to be seen i guess...
Also I had this idea...
initial soul chosen upon creation
2nd soul chosen at lvl xy from the same calling
3rd soul chosen from either the same calling or a neighboring calling
callings set up in a wheel like --> Warrior - Rogue - Cleric - Mage -->
so f.e. 1st soul purifier, 2nd soul inquisitor, 3rd soul pyromancer
or 1st soul paladin, 2nd soul champion, 3rd soul Elementalist
would allow for some nice and interesting cross archetyping while preventing self healing tanks, indestructible healers and melee+ranged dps
i think that'd make for a really deep system =) what do you folks think?
Up to three souls of their choosing FROM WITHIN YOUR ARCHETYPE, to be more specific. Detailed information about the class system is available on the official website at www.riftgame.com
For some odd reason, this class smells of Adam Gershwitz (Bright Wizards FTW).
Why did they have to hire that putz :(
Give this man cigar, what he speaks is true, just check out the videos.
That was a direct quote from the offical website...hence why i posted it. To be exactly specific, It does not say FROM WITHIN YOUR ARCHETYPE.
It will feel strange playing a fire caster without combustion (I wont miss combustion at all....)
awesome class, sad combo of race-class in the picture :(
i think hes a pretty cool character but yet again its another mage in another mmorpg
Imagination makes it sound great.
In practice, you'll throw out what may look onscreen like a very impressive fireball only to have little numbers pop up over little mobs heads, and no other effects - just like every other MMO. whee.
What I'd like to see is scorched armor, knockback, and dead opponants (at least dazed).
Looks like 7 classes per calling (archtype) -
http://www.riftgame.com/en/classes/index.php
My point excactly. Why not make some more unconventional Wizards like say GANDALF (one of the archetype if not THE archetype). You know, someone who can maybe create a shield that can take a blow from a Balrog, or banish evil spirits, open magical gates or I dunno, ANYTHING beside just throwing out high DPS.
The glass cannon mages of MMORPGs are getting old and just seems an easy way out of balancing classes instead of trying something different.
Wouldn't that make the class a standard wizard class then? I personally prefer "specialized" classes rather than a one size fits all. Otherwize, just have a fighter, healer, and caster. Each class does everything relatively close tothat class and have a cardboard game.
Unless of course the pyromancer had a superior heat spell that caused all the moisture in the surrounding area to disipate, therefore negating the water spell.
Looks dull
Exactly! Dare to be different. Heck in UO my mage could wear full plate if he wanted, mana would not regen very well, but he could do it. I get so tired of the same old, same old. What happened to imagination? Magic should never just be about throwing fireballs or icebolts. This and the stupid holy trinity needs to be dealt with harshly.
Another good article about a class
I'm really excited about Rift :)
Nice info,
The Pyro made him drop his sword:
definitely my starting class :)
I want to play this game but with The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2 coming next year it is going to be tough!
yep... I'm also tired of the same old.... the same old "this is dull! where is the innovation" babble... seriously... if you want skill based stuff - look around there's tons of games that offer exactly that... also if you want other kinds of magic - there's generally other kinds of mages in most MMO's that offer exactly that (DAoC: Sorcerer, Cabalist, Theurgist, Banshee, etc; LotRO: Runekeeper, Lore master; AoC: Herald of Xotli, Necromancer; EQ&EQ2: Illusionists, Coercer, etc etc etc etc) It's ALL out there...
the problem is not that the games have become stale and bland, the players have become spoiled and whiny... wanna know why UO, EQ, AC and DAoC were so awesome? because they were pretty much the only 4 MMOs out at the time... sure there were a handful of others but that was basically it... today there's hundreds of MMO's to chose from but apparently none of them are "right" ... what a shame *sadface whiny whine*
I bet you and all the other people on these boards who are constantly rubbing nostalgia all over themselves and claim everything out today is shit, would enjoy a lot of these MMOs, if you just stopped caring to much about the bad and focused on the good and awesome parts...
hell i hated the grind in DAoC... still played it 6 years... leveled 17 characters to 50... nobody was complaining back then... nowadays it's "what i have to kill 90 wolves for this deed??? OUTRAGEOUS! worst grind ever omfg rofl" -.-
but yeah.... I hear GW2 is going to save all our game experiences AND cure cancer.... you should check that out, maybe? ;)
Souls can be chosen within a calling only.
Go to the Rifts website
Read the Q&A threads
Come back and make an informed and intelligent response.
Ummm that would be exacctly like taking a pyro as your primary class. And getting a melee fighter soul or some such.