A large 1.62GB update hit RIFT’s Public Test Shard (‘PTS’) at some point between Nightmare Tide launch on Live and 5th November 2014. Combining both PTS Update and Datamined file information since there’s not much.
Summary:
- Dummies Updated
- Auto-re-buffing
- Amphora Cape Skin
- More Mini Zone Preview Thumbnails
- Autumn Harvest 2014 Datamining
- Mount Icons Datamined
As always, everything below is subject to change prior to hitting Live and some things included below may never make it to Live release.
Dummies Updated
Level 67 Raid Dummies
The dummies in the Expert version of Dummy Foundry on the PTS have been updated to be Level 65-67. The tank/heal dummies are still old-world though.
Auto-Re-Buffing
The latest PTS update has allowed player and pet buffs to automatically recast when your mentor level changes. If you are on the PTS, give this change the run-through and provide feedback here!
Amphora Cape Skin
Amphora Cape Skin
A new cape skin has been found in the datamined files. Looks pretty nice. Not sure if this is attached to a some future promotion or just going to be added into the game at some point.
More Mini Zone Preview Thumbnails
More Mini Zone Preview Thumbnails
Quite a few more thumbnails for various zones – this time with various day/night lighting changes. Not exactly sure what these are used for, but quite a few similar zone preview thumbnails were present during expansion datamining.
Autumn Harvest 2014 Datamining
Autumn Harvest 2014 Datamining
As expected the Autumn Harvest items are in the datamining. Nothing new to look at, but you might be interested in seeing a more detailed version of the cape instead of the one you see in-game.
Armored Nightmare Mount Skin
Armored Nightmare Mount Skin
Above is the 155% speed Armored Nightmare Mount skin that is available as a rare chance drop from the Limited Edition: Armored Nightmare Trove from the RIFT Store.
This reminded me of another skin I datamined previously that was assumed to be related to this year’s Autumn Harvest since it was datamined around the same time that the devs mentioned a ‘flaming skull’ item for Autumn Harvest during a livestream.
Some Kind of Skin
So what exactly is this skin supposed to be? A different mount? A mob? Armor set? Anyone seen something that looks like this in-game?
Mount Icons Datamined
Mount Icons Datamined
There’s quite a few texture pak files with this update – perhaps re-arranging the patch files into their respective texture/vfx/physics folders. In them were a few icons I have yet to see.
- Green Tartagon. All the current Tartagon mounts – Mossy, Ancient and Shiny – use a red tartagon icon. Is this a new Tartagon mount, or perhaps a companion pet icon? The one you get from Tarken Glacier puzzle – Tetromino – is a white icon.
- Two Ash Striders. There’s two Ash Striders in color types that are not presently available in-game. Either these are new upcoming Ash Striders or perhaps icons for mounts that were supposed to arrive with Ember Isle in RIFT classic, but that never made it into the game.
- A chameleon companion pet icon? Haven’t seen this one in-game – could just be an icon for some trash loot though.
- 3 Ash Striders. Three more Ash Striders – or at least what I assume to be Ash Striders. They look kind of like the Ice Strider and Infernal Striders with their additional 3 horns on their face as per below. Two of the icons are the same but under different file names “0000a65” and “0000a66” so they could be different (like how multiple of the current mounts use the same icon). Ones with a glow and without probably indicate Epic versus normal versions. Could be a winter Ash Strider that is more fur as opposed to the Ice Strider’s icy texture.
Ice Strider Mount for reference. See the three horns.
Not a lot of updates – or at least not ones readily visible. Not much to be expected given how close expansion launch was although I’m sure we’ll be seeing more things pop up on the PTS as Fae Yule draws closer.
For past PTS Updates, click here. You can also find past datamining here.
RiftGrate 
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