Trion had their PAX East after-party today at Boston from 6-9PM EST with attendees hanging out with the devs and Trion giving away a ton of loot. Some game announcements for each of Trion’s titles were also made.
PAX East 2015 Trion RIFT. Src: CM Scapes
Some of the Trion team that attended the after-party included RIFT Executive Producer Daglar, Game Director Archonix, Trion CEO Scott Hartsman, Lead Content Designer Darkmoon, Community Managers Ocho and Scapes and Engineer SupermanSocks.
RIFT Game Announcements
Some game announcements were made during Trion’s PAX East Party!
(Thanks to forbiddenlake and Zaberfang for the info!)
A New Calling
[Update 03.10.15 – 5th Calling is called Primalist.]
You heard that right, a new Calling. We currently have four Callings (Cleric, Mage, Warrior and Rogue). There’s a new Calling in the works that is currently in the early stage of development.
As this new Calling is in early stages of development, it might be a while before it appears on Live. Daglar did mention that in the next few months it will be available on the PTS for testing.
There is currently no more information than that, not even a name, but Trion have stated that they are looking at how to make the new Calling unique.
Spriggan1975 on the RIFT Forums mentioned to Scott Hartsman that they should make a monk class and he chucked with a “big smile on his face”. No confirmations on anything, but it’s something to note.
This is big news and is likely going to be quite the undertaking because they’ll need to create 10 souls for this new Calling, balance it somewhat for PvE, Raiding and PvP, and somehow create a heap of gear for the new Calling.
(looks like Level 60 Boost pots are going to skyrocket in price)
Zone: Planetouched Wilds
At some point this year we will be going to Planetouched Wilds. No further information but this is generally considered to be a place where all the planes converge, and there should be some more backstory for the Bahmi race in this new zone as well.
No ETA, but look forward to finally being able to enter that zone to the East of Droughtlands in Mathosia.
Instant Adventure Additions
In the audio video shared by Zaberfang, the announcer seems to state that they are bringing in Instant Adventures for Raids zones. (1min 41sec in to the video) So perhaps this is not just for Hammerknell Fortress Instant Adventure, but for other raids!
Tacitus confirmed this on the RIFT Forums and even gave a sneak peek at Hammerknell IAs!
HK IA Sneak Peek. Src: Tacitus
Return to Hammerknell Fortress
[Update 03.13.15: According to Archonix in the Livestream on 13th March 2015, the Tier 2 raid might be Intrepid: Hammerknell, not Return to Hammerknell.]
Tier 2 Raiding will be Return to Hammerknell Fortress. Level 65 version of Hammerknell Fortress with all new armor/etc. ETA: April 12th. Some time in April. [r]
Trion stated “Return to Hammerknell Fortress” rather than “Intrepid: Hammerknell Fortress”, which is different. “Return to” are in the same instance but usually there’s slightly different/more mechanics and the place looks slightly different – see Return to Deepstrike. On the other hand “Intrepids” are completely the same, but with hp/damage value adjustments.
If the announcer didn’t make a mistake, this means that the upcoming Tier 2 “Return to Hammerknell Fortress” won’t be a carbon-copy of the original Level 50 HK scaled up.
The rumor mill has it that the “Return to Hammerknell Fortress” will likely push the Lord Arak Raid back to Tier 3.
Giveaways
Trion PAX Party Loot. Src: CM Scapes
Here’s RIFT Lead Content Designer Darkmoon with loot from one of the loot tables at the Legal Harborside in Boston (USA). Trion gave out a bunch of loot including t-shirts, hellbug plushies and in-game items such as 4th Anniversary Arclight Rider mounts (RIFT), Magic Carpet mounts (Trove), special weapon codes (Defiance) and glider mounts (ArcheAge).
Vox Budgie through Trove
During the game announcements, they mentioned that you can get a Vox Budgie in RIFT by leveling to 20 in Trove. Check it out at 5min 27sec into Zaber’s audio recording here.
Not sure if the Vox Budgie is a companion pet or mount, but if you have a Level 20 Trove character, or close – start leveling or checking your in-game mail!
Note: This will be patched in on Tuesday 10th March 2015 so if you have a Level 20 Trove character you’ll have to wait till then to get your Vox Budgie. [r]
What will the new Calling be like? What kind of souls can we expect? Head on over to the RIFT forums and speculate away!
Zaberfang has posted a video (audio-only) of the announcements here.
RiftGrate 
They don’t necessarily have to make 10 souls for it if it draws from existing ones of all callings…. 😉
If they create a new calling, they might also add a new stat. Maybe this will also affect other classes. Maybe the current callings benefit from 3 mainstats soon. Who knows? Very excited about the announcements!
I’m not looking forward to diluted loot tables if they were to add a new stat. Even if the new calling uses one of the current stats, one of the classes will have to “fight” for the same drops. Regardless, imagine if the new soul can also tank. Now raid and expert loot tables have even more tank gear.
The new Calling announcement is certainly something nobody expected. There’s just a whole heap of issues with it: As you mentioned, there’s the increased loot tables, the raid spots (probably shoving each class to 4), the clear overpowered nature of this new Calling for at least a few weeks so players are encouraged to play the spec (see Tactician’s original AoE dps; the use of Defilers/etc) and how they’ll manage dev resources. Will they spread one of the current two class devs even thinner with this new Calling, or dedicate a completely new dev to the Calling?
(In fact, maybe Kervik was moved to this new Calling). Then we’ll have complaints from players that the new Calling gets a dedicated dev whilst the other 4 get split between two devs.
That said – if they manage to “do it right”, increase no. of drops per boss/etc, it ‘might’ work out and we’ll get ourselves a whole new Calling to play around with. It’s a long shot though.