News Tidbits: 17th June 2014

A couple of new tidbits for the 17th June 2014;

• Mage Pyromancer changes will be arriving on the PTS next week. [Source: Kervik]
• The 3.0 Information that was to be released this week is probably going to be delayed until next week. A RIFT website and forum post will be added in next week with the information (likely a teaser). [Source: Daglar; Ocho]
• Trion Worlds ‘may‘ be coming to PAX. From Ocho: “PAX makes a lot more sense from a community perspective;, E3 is an industry show (rather than a gamer show). I have a sneaking feeling I’ll be spending a weekend in Seattle this summer (in an official capacity). ;)” [Source: Ocho]
• Ocho replies to player – potentially brings into question 3.0 gear reset. More below:

3.0 Gear Reset comes into Question

In a response to a comment made by Rift player Valfador on the Rift forums where he mentions that “gear will be reset”, Community Manager Ocho threw a curve-ball and stated that “assumptions are dangerous”.

Here’s the full exchange:

Could this potentially imply that players won’t be getting a gear reset? What other possibilities are there?

Since the new 3.0 expansion levels are from 61-65, and with Trion’s past experience with the Storm Legion gear reset, it could be possible that Trion may be looking to use a ‘catch-up’ system instead.

Basically, instead of having everyone go back to scratch on equal grounds during the leveling process, perhaps they will make it so that those in Tier 3 gear are able to level up all the way til 65 in their current gear and other players can ‘catch-up’ by the time they hit 65 through quest greens.

I noticed several times on the PTS whilst viewing the gear of some of the players in the closed beta that they were all wearing Level 60 gear as Level 65 chars. Now, this could be because the current 3.0 mobs don’t have loot tables yet, but it could also potentially mean that current Tier 3 gear may get you to Level 65 with ease.

This is all pure speculation, but there are some potential benefits to applying such a system for the new expansion.

Instead of a full gear reset by the time you hit 65, a partial gear reset or no reset at all (depending on your current Level 60 gear) would ease the concerns of raiders who don’t like their gear becoming obsolete from expansion to expansion.

Other benefits include:

• More impetus to continue gearing up prior to 3.0. Back prior to 2.0 players began losing interest in gearing up because it would all be replaced shortly after when the Storm Legion expansion launched. A ‘catch-up’ system would – to an extent – alleviate this.
• Depending on how big of a leap the stats are for Level 61 greens, even non-raid-geared players may choose to make/purchase current Level 60 crafted gear to help with their leveling at 3.0 launch. This may dampen price drops in current mats.
• Lower stat inflation. Level 50 Tier 3 Raid gear to Level 60 green quest gear saw a huge leap in stats. Perhaps Trion wishes to avoid such a gap this time round.
• Trion may be able to continue to profit from Level 60 gear and even sell Tier 3 Level 60 Raid Gear (because it wouldn’t be BiS at 3.0 release). Some players may choose to purchase the gear because it may greatly speed up their leveling and perhaps even provide a good base for gearing up for Level 65 Experts.

Who knows what the response will be if Trion chooses to sell Tier 3 Raid Gear that is able to provide a player with an advantage to leveling to 65. However, it may not be all that different from the current Armor Bundles that they sell for low-level players.

Again, all of this is pure speculation – but on top of Ocho’s recent comment, there have been other instances in the past where Daglar and other Trion Worlds staff have mentioned that 3.0 progression may be slightly different from what we know of.

What do you think? Would a ‘catch-up’ system where current high-tier Raid Gear gets you to 65 be better than a gear reset for all players during the leveling process (say, Tier 3 raid gear replaced by Level 63)? Or is a complete gear reset the right way to go for 3.0?