RIFT’s Public Test Shard (‘PTS’) was updated on 25th September 2015 with an approx. 980MB patch. A few additional crafting changes coming to 3.4 have been added in, including the Improved Dream Orb recipes and some changes to existing crafted gear upgrade costs.
Patch version is TEST-303-37-A-1041379.
Summary:
- Further Crafting Additions. Improved Dream Orbs are up; Upgrades cost reduction and one mid-tier removed.
- Rogue Bladedancer Changes. Off-hand attacks removed plus a few other changes.
- Further Planetouched Wilds Additions. Shal Korva populated, quartermaster relocated; New dailies and architecture updated.
- Welcome Screen. New welcome screen pops up when you log in. CM Ocho explains.
- Fire Budgie Mount. New mount datamined.
- Sounds Files. Some further Planetouched Wilds background music.
- Other Info. Boosts compacted (only 2 tiers now); Primalist filters work; ‘Green Dragon’ rig.
As always, everything below is subject to change prior to hitting Live and some things included below may never make it to Live release.
Further Crafting Additions
First up, a few additional crafting changes have popped up on the PTS which are slated for 3.4. Besides those already mentioned in past PTS Update articles, the Improved Dream Orb recipes are now available and there’s adjustments to existing crafted gear upgrade requirements.
Improved Dream Orbs
Existing Dream Orbs now have Improved versions (i.e. “Improved Savant Dream Orb). These don’t change the BiS stats, but reduces the rng on the possible stat combinations.
You can obtain the recipes from the Dream Weaver trainer on the PTS.
Less RNG
The normal Savant dream orbs have 15 possible combinations, whereas the Improved Savant dream orbs have 12 possible combinations. The bottom ‘row’ of stats from the normal dream orbs do not exist in the Improved versions.
Again, the Improved Dream Orbs do not have better individual stats, just less possible combinations.
If you’re interested in the stats for Dream Orbs, check out the Dream Orb Stat Sheet!
Craft Upgrade Adjustments
Morticus has reduced the number of upgrades for existing crafted gear (excluding Planar Crafted gear). Besides the upgrade path that has been removed, the rest of the upgrades still have the same stats.
- Tank gear has had their ‘Phenomenal’ upgrade removed. Now goes from Refined and then straight to Illustrious.
- DPS gear has had their ‘Exquisite’ upgrade removed. Now goes from Detailed -> Magnificent.
A cost reduction has also occured thanks to the removal of an upgrade tier. Two examples:
- Thalasite Cuirass has an overall reduction of 1x Advanced Metal Amender and 3x Void Source Accelerators from base to max upgrade.
- Thalasite Cannon has an overall reduction of 1x Advanced Weapon Amender and 2x Void Source Accelerators from base to max upgrade.
If you’re interested, Morticus went over most of the crafting additions coming to 3.4 in last week’s RIFT Livestream: 3.4 Crafting and UI.
Rogue Bladedancer Changes
Rogue’s Bladedancer soul has gotten some changes.
(Thanks to Harumph and Gery for the info!)
Note: Ignore damage numbers in the below comparison. I don’t have a Level 65 Rogue on Live.
Summary of changes:
- Contra Tempo. Instead of increasing AP and weapon dmg contribution of offhand by 35%, it’s an across-the-board increased AP contribution to all attacks by 10%.
- Hack and Slash. Crit Hits increase Damage by 5% less than before.
- Combat Expertise. Now damage is increased for all abilities, not just combo-point-generating ones.
- Blade Finesse. Now increases your Attack Power and Weapon Damage by 10%, instead of just your finishers.
- Quick Reflexes. Now just Crit Hit chance increase; max 5%.
- Twin Cleave. Twin Strike is now called Twin Cleave and hits up to 5 enemies. No longer based on ‘offhand damage’.
- Precision Strike. No longer requires dual-wield weapons. Damage no longer based on offhand weapon.
- Quick Strike. No longer requires dual-wield weapons. Damage no longer based on offhand weapon.
All dances have also had their cooldowns reduced by 1min, allowing for 100% uptime on any dance. Not sure if this is intended.
From what I can tell, it seems Bladedancers should now do more damage as you won’t have to worry as much about your offhand weapon, which normally has less stats than your main hand weapon.
Note: Twin Cleave is currently bugged and not doing any damage. (Thanks to Leitsha for the info).
There’s a thread about the changes you can check out here! Vladd has not posted up a post about the changes yet so it’s unknown what Vladd’s overall goal is for Bladedancer.
Further Planetouched Wilds Additions
Various additional textures, banners, daily quests and NPCs have populated the Planetouched Wilds zone.
Shal Korva Populated
Shal Korva has been populated with a lot of NPCs.
Nothing interesting to interact with, and the only vendors in Shal Korva remain the Drinks merchant and Shal Korva Quartermaster. One major issue that’s popped up is the frame rate, which was already low with all the moving architecture, and now even lower with all the NPCs added in.
Shal Korva Quartermaster Relocated
On that note, the Shal Korva Quartermaster “Windspeaker Nayantai” has relocated, moving from the top of the throne room to a tent near the Wheel of Fate on the ground floor at /setwaypoint 10315 5897.
She still sells the same stuff; a heirloom ring and better Seal runes.
New Dailies
Yesugei in Khort now has three new dailies. Placeholder text, but each one is related to snakes.
Ovog Shrine Updated
The Primalist-related banners datamined previously have now appeared at the top of each segment of the main Ovog Shrine building.
There are also now a whole bunch of NPCs in the building itself.
Welcome Screen
Trion has introduced a new Welcome Window with some placeholder modules. This appears when you log onto the PTS.
CM Ocho has made a post on the forums explaining what the Welcome Window will contain, as well as how frequently we’ll see it pop up.
In short:
- Potential uses include sharing Livestream schedules, Sale info or info about upcoming events.
- Goal is to have the window pop up “no more than once a day (every 20 hours to be precise)” and account-based.
You can read CM Ocho’s full explanation here.
Fire Budgie Mount
There’s a skin and rig in the data files for a fire-based Budgie mount. Probably slated for the next Budgie Madness Promo Week.
Unsure if it has any visual effects. Look forward to a Fire Budgie mount at some point in the future!
Sound Files
A whole heap of Planetouched Wilds background sounds were added with the latest patch. These sound similar to the two previous Planetouched Wilds background sounds added in during the much larger Wilds music/voiceover update.
A lot of the files are quite ‘random’ with a lot of gaps between noises. These files are likely going to be dynamically mixed together to form certain background music. I’ve only uploaded the more ‘coherent’/’complete’ files:
- Planetouched Wilds Background Music #1. Collection of three BGMs.
- Planetouched Wilds Background Music #2. Collection of four BGMs. Probably music for some of the towns in the zone.
Other Info
A few other additions popped up on the PTS or data files.
Boosts Compacted
The amount of boosts in the RIFT Store -> Boosts section has been reduced. The two lower tiers (‘Lesser’ and normal) have been removed. It seems as though they probably weren’t getting enough sales. Now there’s only Transcendent and Greater vials.
Primalist Filters
Not much, but Primalist filters on the RIFT Store now display the relevant gear for Primalists.
Green Dragon
There was a “dragon_green.ma” rig in the most recent patch. The rig itself is probably Greenscale’s, but this might indicate a new skin for a mob in the Planetouched Wilds. Perhaps just a zone event boss.
Some further changes to crafting and a few other additions with the latest PTS update. There’s been quite a lot of PTS updates recently and the bulk of changes are for bug fixes or adjustments to Primalist.
For past PTS Updates, click here. You can also find past datamining here.
RiftGrate 
Tank gear has had their ‘Phenomenal’ upgrade removed. Now goes from Refined and then straight to Illustrious.
Is this documented somewhere? I’m on PTS now and its still the epic Phenomenal + Opaque
If you check Refined Thalasite Cannon under Weaponsmith -> Guns, it goes from Refined -> Illustrious -> Exalted. On Live, it goes from Refined -> Phenomenal -> Illustrious -> Exalted. Not sure what you mean by Opaque. There’s no Opaque weapon amender.
I’m assuming you’re confusing gear (armor/weapons) with runes? Runes are still Phenomenal rune + Opaque Rune Amender.
Man that popup window is HUGE! I don’t mind some advertising but it takes up most of the screen and I didn’t see a way to scale the window.
I’m guessing they’ll eventually add a scale to Settings -> Interface -> Display. My global UI scale is at 80% so it might be smaller on my screen. It still takes a decent chunk of the screen though.