PTS Update + Datamining 14th January 2015

An approx. 400MB update hit RIFT’s Public Test Shard (‘PTS’) on the 14th January 2015. This is likely a supplement to the rather large 13th Jan 2015 update that revealed the “Lord Arak Raid“, amongst other items.

Despite its size, today’s update doesn’t add much as the bulk of the file size is from re-downloading a large number of map files as Trion adds in the high-res maps for Tyrant’s Throne. As such, both PTS Update and Datamining will be combined below.

Patch version is TEST-301-17-A-973680.

Summary:

• Class Changes: Rogue Bard + Nightblade; Warrior Reaver; Mage Necromancer Changes.
• Tyrant’s Throne Updates: On map; Loading screens + preview of Mecha Crucia
• Armored Shark Colossus: Possibly Johan, a boss in Tyrant’s Forge.
• Datamined Skins: Crucia Cape + Various Storm Legion Architecture.
• Music Files: Storm Legion BGM.
• Datamined Files

As always, everything below is subject to change prior to hitting Live and some things included below may never make it to Live release.

Class Changes

A few changes in this update and some of the recent updates.

Rogue Changes

Bard has gotten a few changes and Nightblade’s Heat Retention has changed:

Bard Changes: [r]

• Chord of Inspiration no longer adds healing but adds an absorb shield equal to 3/6/9% of attack power. Number of affected party or raid members increased to 10.
• Improved Motif of Regeneration is now Karine’s Requiem. Increases damage done by Coda of Wrath and Coda of Fury by 30% while the target is under 30% health.
• Motif of Regeneration now affects all party or raid members by default.
• Invigorated Soul now targets 10 party or raid members instead of 5.
• All codas now have a 35m base range.

Nightblade Change:

Heat Retention Nightblade Change

• Heat Retention stacks are now 100% chance from Rank 1. By Rank 3 they should be similar or near identical.

Rogue Mastery Change:

• Level 62 Mastery: Ascended Biology – Now increases the range of your damaging non-melee abilities by 5m. Does not stack with Keen Eye.

Warrior Changes

Warrior Reaver has been given a few changes by Vladd to make it a fully ranged dps soul: [r]

• New Ability at 20 points in the root – Desecrating Blow. 20m ranged AoE finisher.
• Dire Blow, Rancid Cleave, and Ravaging Strike are now ranged attacks with 20m base range.
• Walks with Death now also increases damage over time effects by 2/4/6%.
• Corrected the description on Viral Stream to be more accurate of the damage done.
• Soul Sickness no longer has a cooldown.
• Flesh Rot now has a 10s cooldown. Damage has been increased to compensate.
• Increased damage of Necrotic Wounds.
• Pestilence is now an active buff that you cast on yourself.
• Shadow Warp is no longer a targeted teleport but a 15m blink in front of the Reaver.
• Shadow Strike and Reaping Touch affect Desecrating Blow.
• Fester now increases all damage.

Mage Changes

Mage Necromancer changes should have arrived with previous updates; but here’s it again just in case you missed it:

• The Velocity buff from Elementalist can now be procced by Plague Bolt.
• Reduce cooldown of Bone Frenzy to 15s.
• Increase the healing from Essence Link by ~40%.
• Change Symbiote to increase healing from Essence Link by 25/50%.
• Increase ICD on Essence Link heal proc to 1s (currently the ICD is 0.5s). Add info on the ICD to the ability description.
• Reduce channel time of Soul Purge to 4s. Increase damage by ~25%.
• Reduce Heal from Improved Soul Purge to 0.15/0.3% of damage done.
• Corpse Explosion – 15s duration. Deals X damage to up to 5 enemies around the affected enemy when damaged by the caster’s Plague Bolt. Deals Y damage to up to 5 enemies if the affected enemy dies. Consumes the caster’s Corpse Explosion and triggers their death explosion on all enemies hit.
• Corpse Pile – Gives Corpse Explosion a 50/100% chance to spread to up to 5 enemies if hit by Grave Rot. Damage from the death explosion from Corpse Explosion deals an additional 50% of its damage over 6s to all enemies it hits.
• The damage bonus from Bone Armor now affects the caster’s pets as well.
• Last Gasp now deals X damage each time the affected enemy is healed once the maximum 5 stacks is reached and will no longer apply new stacks or refresh existing stacks.
• Healing Exigency (Mastery) now also reduces the cast time of Mass Grave by 100%.
• Reduce the duration of Mass Grave to 15s.
• Reduce cooldown of Mass Grave to 1 minute.
• Reduce cooldown of Empty the Crypts to 1 minute.
• Recuce Charge cost of Empty the Crypts to 50.
• Increase the damage of Plague Bolt by ~25%.
• Deadly Plague now also applies to Corpse Talon.
• Loyal Minion now sacrifices 25% of your pet’s health and gives the Mage a shield equal to 50% of the damage done. Reduced the duration of the control immunity effect to 5s.

[Source: Kervik]

Tyrant’s Throne Updates

Tyrant’s Throne Map

Tyrant’s Throne – Main Map

Tyrant’s Throne has been added to the main map. Placed in the bottom-right corner below Draumheim, it isn’t very large – certainly not on the scale of Ember Isle.

Tyrant’s Throne Map PTS

The quests and NPCs are up – but be warned that there’s major graphical lag all over the island so moving around the place will be painful.

Loading Screens

Tyrant’s Throne Loading Screen

Tyrant’s Forge Loading Screen

Two loading screens are up on the PTS and/or the datamined files. One is for Tyrant’s Throne overlooking the primary ‘Omicron Building’ on the island. The loading screen text states:

The Storm Legion have been found in their entrenched base on the island of Tyrant’s Throne.

The other loading screen was datamined and shows Mecha Crucia. So now we have an idea of what she looks like – not too fancy.

Armored Shark Colossus

Armored Shark Colossus Model

A new boss model named “colossus_shark_armored.ma”. This is most likely Johan as yesterday’s datamining showed a “mesh_tyrants_forge_johan_anchor_01.ma” that looks eerily similar to the two objects protruding from the Armored Shark’s back.

Tyrant’s Forge Johan Anchor Model

Datamined Skins

Crucia Cape

Crucia Cape Skin

A new cape has been datamined – Crucia’s Cape skin in glorious purple and with some fancy metallic wings. Capes are flat, but hopefully the shading on the skin will make it look 3D.

Tyrant’s Throne Architecture

Tyrant’s Throne Architecture Skins 1

Tyrant’s Throne Architecture Skins 2

Architecture skins related to Storm Legion/Tyrant’s Throne. Purple and curved metal – Crucia’s calling card.

Draumheim Ship Skin

Draumheim Ship Designs Skin

A skin that probably relates to various wooden and iron objects on the Draumheim Ship model datamined yesterday.

Music Files

Just one this time. A loop of Storm Legion music that you can hear in the Steppes of Infinity. [.mp3]

Datamined Files

The datamined files for the PTS Update on 14th January 2015 can be found here.

Main changes are the class changes + Tyrant’s Throne on the main map. There’s also some interesting skins and what looks to be a model of Johan, a boss in Tyrant’s Forge. Probably won’t see another PTS Update until next week.

Still thirsting for info? Check out the PTS Update for 13th Jan 2015 and it’s associated Datamining.

For past PTS Updates, click here. You can also find past datamining here.