Trion had their 14th August 2015 Friday Livestream where they talked about the upcoming 5th calling, Primalist. Soul trees, tooltips and how various souls are played revealed in this week’s livestream!

Click here for a replay of the 14th August 2015 Livestream video on twitch.tv.

Legend:
Black/Normal Text = Livestream Summary.
[Dark Blue Text] = My own comments. i.e. May not be indicative of actual content.

Trion had their 14th August 2015 Friday Livestream with Community Manager Eric “Ocho” Cleaver and Systems Designer Jeff “Red Hawk” Hamilton.

Table of Contents:

• The Primalist
• PAX Prime
  
• Livestream Giveaways

As always, everything can be subject to change prior to the content hitting Live.

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The Primalist

This week’s livestream was all about the upcoming 5th Calling “Primalist”.

• It’s coming out with 6 initial souls in RIFT 3.4: Into the Wilds. ETA: Fall 2015.
• 4 more souls are coming out in a separate release in the future. There will be a support soul and there might even be an AoE heal soul.

Everything is still in development, so be aware that anything mentioned below might change.

Primalist Points

• There’s 39 total points you can distribute, with each soul having a max of 31 points.
• As such, you won’t get a point with every level. At the start the point gain is relatively fast (e.g. a point at Level 2, a point at Level 3), but it slows down as you level up.

Trion felt a lot of the existing soul trees have stuff like “deal 2% more damage” that could easily be squashed down and compiled into a smaller package. For the new calling, Trion wanted shorter trees but with more significant talents/abilities.

However, rest assured that there are no plans to change existing Callings to the 31-pt tree. Red Hawk didn’t want to rule it out as completely impossible in the future, but there are no plans right now and nothing in the schedule.

If they do change existing souls, it will most likely not change how many points are in existing soul trees, but instead switch around abilities/talents with the current points in mind.

Obtaining The Primalist

The Primalist is currently only available for pre-purchase via The Wilds Pack. You can’t access it yet as it will only unlock when 3.4 hits some time in Fall 2015.

However, once 3.4 launches, there will be a separate Primalist Pack that you can obtain for Credits. There might also be a real currency option for it.

You can learn more about The Wilds Pack here. It includes a whole bunch of cosmetic/fluff items on top of the Primalist class unlock, some of which are instant access like the Primal Warbeast mount.

Focus Bar

The Primalist has its own Focus Bar that provides a variety of benefits to each of your souls.

Using Fury abilities will move it towards the left (bear) side of the focus bar, whilst using Cunning abilities will move it towards the right (eagle) side of the bar.

• The further you are to each side, the greater the effect of certain abilities.
• Some abilities or talents are affected by reaching certain values. For instance, the Dervish talent “Cyclicism”:
  • Each time your Cunning reaches 100, gain 6% critical hit chance for 30secs.
  • Each time your Fury reaches 100, gain 9% Damage for 30secs.
• Each soul has both Fury and Cunning abilities. Using Fury abilities will push you further towards the Fury side of the focus bar and vice versa.
• The ‘ultimate’ ability for each soul known as the Primal Avatar will tend to keep the focus bar locked to a certain position (like 100 Cunning) for the duration of the ability.

Harmony

You always start out right in the middle referred to as ‘Harmony’. As the tooltip states:

Whilst balancing between both Fury and Cunning, the Primalist can benefit from both increased damage, healing, and absorption as well as increased critical hits.

Some abilities will deal more damage the closer you are to Harmony. E.g. “Savage Twister” ability in the Dervish tree: “Deals 38,933 Air Damage over 15s. Deals more damage the closer your Focus is to Harmony. Does not move Focus”.

Thanks to the Focus Bar, Primalist sounds like it’ll play a lot differently from other classes when it comes to min-maxing, as your dps can change with just a slight difference in position with the focus bar compared to other Primalists using the same spec.

Primal Avatar

Each Primalist soul has an ultimate ability called “Primal Avatar”. These provide a variety of temporary benefits to the Primalist.

In short, the Primal Avatars are the big cooldowns for each soul. For instance, Titan (tank) receives big shields, and most DPS specs will keep your Focus locked for the duration of the buff to one end of the focus bar, amongst other benefits.

More info on each Primal Avatar in each soul’s separate section below.

Primalist Gear

The Primalist gear has gotten some changes since the Primalist reveal trailer.

• Primalists benefit equally from Strength and Dexterity stats. Primary Stat changed to Dexterity. [r]
  
• Primalists wear Leather armor.
• Primalists can only wield 2-handed weapons.

The 2-handed-weapon-only change was made after the Primalist reveal trailer, so they can no longer dual-wield. This was done so that the Primalist doesn’t compete with both Warriors and Rogues for weapons.

Instead, now Primalists will only compete with Warriors for weapons, and Rogues for armor. This makes it easier to adjust and balance loot distribution between the 5 Callings.

Primalist Soul: Dervish

The Dervish is the sustained Single-Target Melee DPS soul. It has minor AoE damage via a long CD ability.

• In the livestream the build used was 31 Dervish/8 Vulcanist/0 Typhoon.

All the tooltips shown in the livestream are as follows:

Only the tree tooltips were shown. Below you can find them all listed.

Might of the Earth. Increases Attack Power and Weapon Damage by 10%.

Guile of the Wind. Cunning attacks deal 10% more damage.

Aftershock. Dealing a Critical Hit with a damaging ability grants the Primalist a charge of Tremor. Tremor can be consumed to cast Aftershock, a powerful melee attack.

• Primal Potency. Seismic Smash and Tectonic Spike have a 100% chance to grant an extra stack of Tremor.
• Unknown Talent. The 3/3 ‘lightning storm’ icon connected to Primal Potency wasn’t hovered over, so it’s unknown what this is.

Cyclicism. Each time your Cunning reaches 100, gain 6% Critical Hit chance for 30 seconds. Each time your Fury reaches 100, gain 9% Damage for 30 seconds.

Zephyr. Taking damage increases your movespeed for 10 seconds. Toggleable Self Buff.

• Wind At Your Back. Zephyr now also affects your 3 closest allies within 15m.

Quick Breeze. Dealing Earth damage reduces the cast time of your next Air spell by 100%. Stacks up to 3 times.

Seismic Activity. Dealing Air damage reduces the remaining cooldown of Tectonic Spike and Subduction by 1.5 seconds.

Shearing Winds. Your critical hits deal 300% of your Weapon Damage as Air damage over 45 seconds.

• Spirit Wind. Attacking targets affected by your Shearing Winds heals you for 1% of your Maximum Health.

Savage Twister. Deals 38,933 Air damage over 15s. Deals more damage the closer your Focus is to Harmony. Does not move Focus. Instant, 12sec CD, Melee Weapon, Melee Range.

Primal Avatar: Wind Serpent. Channel your Primal Avatar, increasing your damage dealt by 20%, increasing your range to 35m, and reducing your cast times to 0. Lasts 10s. Grants Full Cunning. CD 1min, oGCD. Buff.

More on Dervish

Red Hawk mentioned a few things about the Dervish spec. You’ve probably noticed this already, but “Cyclicism” basically means you’ll want to hit 100 Cunning and 100 Fury in your focus bar at least once every 30secs to maintain the 6% critical hit and 9% damage buffs.

There’s also a bunch of other buffs you will want to track, like Quick Breeze which reduces your next Air Spell by 100% (stacks to 3). Dealing air damage than reducing cooldown on Tectonic Spike and Subduction by 1.5secs via the Seismic Activity talent.

With Savage Twister, you will want to get as close to ‘Harmony’ (center of Focus Bar) as you can before using it.

Primalist Soul: Berserker

The Berserker is the Melee AoE DPS soul.

• In the livestream the build used was 31 Berserker/4 Titan/4 Dervish.

All the tooltips shown in the livestream are as follows:

Not much was shown of Berserker.

Heart Freeze. Interrupts and Debilitates up to 10 enemies for 5s. Instant, 30sec CD.

Condensed Wrath. While you have a single stack of Wrath, your single target damage is increased by 15%. This bonus is decreased by 5% for each additional stack of Wrath.

Chilling Wrath. Increases the damage bonus to area effect damage from each stack of Wrath by 2%.

Barrage. Morbid Slash and Icy Cleave reduce the active cooldowns of Corpsefall and Icefall by 2s.

Primal Avatar: Tiger. Channels the Primal Spirit of the Tiger. Sets Fury to max and stops focus bar movement. Reduces the cooldown of Corpsefall and Icefall to 0 and applies 3 stacks of Calculated Action and Restrained Fury. Lasts 15s. CD 2min, oGCD.

Red Hawk didn’t go into the Berserker soul.

Primalist Soul: Preserver

The Preserver is the ST Heal soul for Primalists.

• In the livestream they used 31 Preserver/4 Dervish/4 Vulcanist.

All the tooltips shown in the livestream are as follows:

Fixation. Your single-target healing, damage, and absorption are increased by 8%.

Conservation. Granting a Blossom to a target increases their Resist All by 10% for 10 seconds.

• Resilient Growth. While in Fury your healing spells apply an additional heal-over-time effect to the target. While in Cunning your healing spells apply an additional absorb shield to the target.
• Effloresce. For each Blossom you consume, you have a 6% chance to make your next Deluge or Inundate instant-cast.
• Sudden Growth. Your Blossoms automatically heal their host for 4% of their Maximum Health if their Current Health drops below 30% of their Maximum Health.

Primal Avatar: Deer Spirit. Channel your Primal Avatar, increasing your critical hit chance with spells by 100% for 12. Grants full Cunning. 1min CD, oGCD. Buff.

More on Preserver

Red Hawk went over the Preserver a bit more. The Preserver is a tank healing soul that can also manage 5-mans. It is not meant for raid healing.

Just like Dervish, it has a talent that makes it worthwhile to rotate between Fury and Cunning called ‘Resilient Growth’. Fury provides heal-over-time effects on the target whilst Cunning provides absorb shields. It sounds as though you won’t need 100 of each to trigger, but the effects might be larger the deeper you are on each side.

The Preserver mainly relies on generating ‘Blossom’ stacks on targets. You can then use various abilities to consume (or auto-consume) the Blossoms which will apply heals, hots, shielding and/or turn other abilities insta-cast when consumed based on which abilities are used and at what point on the focus bar you consume them. It can also provide buffs to your abilities.

Red Hawk mentioned there was an ability called ‘Nurture’ which you cast on an ally that automatically puts stacks of Blossom on that target. [Sounds kind of like the Defiler’s Foul Growth, except you don’t apply it as a % chance with damage].

Note: CM Ocho and Red Hawk mentioned during the stream that one of the four additional souls coming in the future might be an AoE healing soul.

Primalist Soul: Titan

The Titan is the Primalist’s tank soul.

• On the livestream they used a 31 Titan/4 Vulcanist/4 Berserker spec.

Tooltips shown during livestream as follows:

Only showed off some of the root abilities.

Essence Strike. Deals 3,727 Life damage. Increases the Primalist’s Dodge chance by 10% for 16 secs. Cunning Ability. Moves Focus 20 points towards Fury. Instant, Melee.

Essence Tap. Forces the enemy to attack the Primalist for 3s. 8sec CD, oGCD. 30m Range.

Earthquake. Creates an Earthquake that deals 10,647 Earth damage over 15s to all nearby enemies. Reduces your Spell Damage Taken by 10% for 16s. Fury Ability. Moves Focus 40 points towards Cunning. Instant, 15sec CD. AoE.

Vitrify. The Primalist takes 40% less damage for 10s. Instant oGCD, 1min CD. Self Buff.

Creeping Vines. Deals 4,786 to 5,849 Life Damage over 8 seconds. Cunning Ability. Moves Focus 20 points towards Fury. Instant, 30m Range.

More on Titan

Red Hawk mentioned that the previous Primalist reveal video mentioned that the Titan forms a wall between allies and enemies. This is referring to one of its talents which is a defensive cooldown on a short timer. When used, it’ll provide protection to both yourself and allies behind you.

The pulsing stone that the Titan drops in the Primalist reveal video is the ‘Earthquake’ ability.

Although the tooltip wasn’t shown, the Titan’s ultimate ability is Primal Avatar: Ram. The only thing mentioned about it was that it provides a large shield to the Primalist for a few seconds.

Primalist Soul: Typhoon

The Typhoon is a ranged AoE DPS soul.

• The spec used in the livestream was 31 Typhoon/4 Vulcanist/4 Berserker.

Very few tooltips shown, but here they are below:

Raging Waters. Deals 11,070 to 11,070 Water damage. Cunning ability. Pushes Focus 40 points towards Fury when used. 1s Cast Time. Requires Melee Weapon. 30m Range.

Raging Winds. Deals 10,942 Air damage to up to 8 enemies in the target area. Fury ability. Pushes Focus 20 points towards Cunning when used. Instant, 8sec CD. Requires Melee Weapon. 30m Range.

More on Typhoon

Not much was shown of the Typhoon soul as the livestream mainly concentrated on Dervish, some Preserver and a bit of Titan.

However, Red Hawk did mention that the Typhoon’s ultimate ability: “Primal Avatar: Griffon”, brings the cast-time of your spells to 0. That means you’ll effectively be able to spam (taking into account the global cooldown) all your big AoE abilities whilst the Primal Avatar is up.

Primalist Soul: Vulcanist

The Vulcanist is the Ranged Single-Target DPS soul for the Primalist.

• Livestream had a 31 Vulcanist/4 Typhoon/4 Berserker spec.

Tooltips as follows:

Furious Power. Increases your Attack Power by 12%.

Focused Assault. Increases your damage done with single target abilities by 9%.

Summon: Beacon of the Drake. Summon’s a Beacon of the Drake at the target location. While active the Primalist’s damaging single target abilities cause the Beacon to deal 4,086 to 4,516 Fire damage to up to 8 enemies around it. Max 1 Beacon. Lasts 15s.

Primal Avatar: Drake. The Primalist channels the power of the Drake causing all single target damaging abilities to deal additional Ethereal damage equal to 100% of the Primalist’s Attack Power. Lasts 15s. 2min CD, oGCD. Self Buff.

Stroke of Brilliance. Deals 10,296 to 10,296 Earth damage. Damage is increased by up to 50% if Cunning and Fury are equal. Instant, 5sec CD. Requires Melee Weapon. 30m Range.

Vorpal Salvo. Deals 22,000 to 22,000 Earth damage. Cunning Ability. Pushes Focus 40 points towards Fury when used. Instant, 10sec CD. Requires Melee Weapon. 30m Range.

More on Vulcanist

Not much was mentioned about Vulcanist itself, except as general information about the Primalist. In your Abilities window, Fury and Cunning abilities are separated into their own sections, as per below:

With the Vulcanist, all Earth-based attacks are classified as Fury abilities whilst all Air-based attacks are classified as Cunning abilities.

Testing The Primalist

There will be testing for The Primalist.

• Various beta weekends are coming up.
• Trion will start the tests small, then gradually expand them to everyone.
• Each beta weekend will have testing, feedback, adjustments than more testing in the next weekend.

ETA unknown on when the first beta weekend will launch.

Other Tidbits

Primalist Weapon

The Primalist in the livestream held a unique weapon. Probably a Primalist or Planetouched Wilds-themed weapon skin. No information on where we’ll be able to obtain this – perhaps as a Planetouched Wilds zone quest reward?

No Primary Pet Souls

There are no primary pet souls in Primalist. Trion found primary pets were quite unreliable.

No Complete Transformations

There are no complete transformations in the class because Trion felt they would look rather bland since all Primalists would look the same, transforming into the same few animals.

With complete transformations you cannot show off your wardrobe.

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PAX Prime

Trion reminded players that PAX Prime is hitting Seattle, WA (America) in 2 weeks’ time!

• Join them on Friday, August 28th between 6-10pm at the W Hotel in Seattle, WA (America).
• 4th Anniversary Arclight Rider Mount codes will be given to all attendees.
• Limited RIFT Raid Steins will be given away!
• You don’t need a PAX Prime ticket, since the Trion party will be held at a separate location. The party has free admission.

Please refer to Trion’s article for more info!

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Livestream Giveaways

Livestream Channel Giveaways

During the Livestream, a handful of livestream chat channel viewers received:

• 1x 4th Anniversary Arclight Rider Mount to 5 livestream viewers.
• 1x The Wilds Pack to 1 lucky livestream viewer!

Congratulations to all the winners!

(From Left to Right: Ocho and Red Hawk)

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A few interesting tidbits revealed about the Primalist, including some tooltips from various souls. Keep an eye out for public testing on the PTS at some point in the future.

Past Livestream Summaries can be accessed here.