The reveal of a new game was not the only exciting news that Trion had in store for their players this past weekend at PAX Prime. We were also given a glimpse of a new zone, a new raid, a new five man dungeon, as well as an entirely new calling coming to RIFT in patch 3.4 Into the Wild.
Have you ever wondered what happened to the Planetouched Wilds? You know, the ancestral home to the Bahmi that has been on the map of Mathosia ever since RIFT was released but you could never actually get there, legitimately anyway. Apparently it went for a little trip through the cosmos traversing space, time, and the planar dimensions, but has found its way back to Telara. Oh and it grew while it was gone, it is now about four times as large as it once was. Needless to say it has gone through a little change. It also has a new gravitational fields in different parts of the zone that will allow you to jump to new heights. It has also been infested with dinosaurs that are covered with red crystals.
)
A new warfront will be introduced with the upcoming content update as well. Not only is it in a new location but it is also a new type. Known as assault mode this warfront will be 15 versus 15 and teams will vie for control of 3 different way points. At the start of the match one team will go onto the offensive and the other will play defense. If the offense manages to capture all 3 points the turn will end and the teams will switch sides. The new team on the attack will have to capture the 3 points quicker than the opposite team did or lose. During the match you will also have the opportunity to capture a cannon that can help turn the tide of battle for either of the forces.
What would a RIFT update be without new sets of artifacts for players to collect? The team dialed it up a bit for Into the Wilds and have introduced three new types of artifacts. These types are poison, burning, and nightmare. As you wander the world and explore for artifacts you have the chance to get a debuff that will do damage to you but allow you to see poison artifacts. While collecting poison artifacts you have a chance of getting another debuff that will allow you to see burning artifacts. At this point you can get a third debuff from burning artifacts that will cause still more damage but allow you to find nightmare artifacts. Currently these artifact will not be collectable by your minions and you will have to brave the wilds of Telara yourself to find them.
)
The Primalist is the new calling and will ship with six souls. It wears medium armor and its primary stats are dexterity and strength. The Primalist also only uses two handed weapons. While their lore is based upon the Bahmi anyone can become a Primalist. Primalists will all start off at level 1 so players should see a lot of different people leveling up again throughout the entirety of RIFT once this update goes live. The Primalist will launch with six souls and have the Titan for tanking “you know the jam”, Vulcanist for ranged AOE that is fire based, the Dervish a quick single target melee dps, the Berzerker a melee aoe spec with a lot of PBAOE, the Typhoon which is a ranged AOE soul with wind and water elements, and the Preserver for healing.
The Primalist makes use of a new mechanic also that requires it to reach a balance between cunning and fury. Different abilities will slide players back and forth between this bar that will now be part of their UI. The abilities you use will also dictate where on the bar you move. Depending on the zone you are in you can also have special effects on your abilities based upon where your balances lies between cunning and fury when you use an ability. As a Primalist players will also have access to a Primal Avatar. These are spectral animals that you can call upon based on which soul you are. Unfortunately we did not really see how this works in the demo but graphically they looked good.
)
After talking about the mechanics we received a tour of the new content. First up was the level 65 expert dungeon Rhazade Canyon. I’ll stay away from spoiling most of the fights but needless to say don’t be fooled by the appearance of the earliest boss. What you think is the enemy might actually be a red herring. Also remember that AOE is not always your friend and it is sometimes best to single target down mobs that are in packs. All of the fights in this five man were diverse. Some will require you to put on your kiting shoes, while others will ask you to stand tall and fight.
We also jumped into the new 20 man raid which will draw to conclusion the story arc that has built throughout the Nightmare Tide expansion. A number of fights in this raid will require players to make clever use of their environment to overcome the boss. It’s part platformer and part standard MMORPG boss encounter. Most RIFT players should be pleased at the amount of new content that they have in store for them before the end of the year. As it stands now full time beta is set to begin in September.
