Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Starfall Prophecy Item Upgrade stuffs Eternal items, etc

RIFT’s Lead Systems Designer, Andy “Vladd” Kirton, lets fly with information on all the ways you can become more powerful in our upcoming expansion, Starfall Prophecy!

Greetings Ascended,
With Starfall Prophecy on the horizon, I thought I would take a bit of time for a high level overview of some of the new features the RIFT Systems Team is working on. We’ll go into each one more as we get closer to the expansion, but this introduction will hopefully give you a good idea of what each feature is and how it will impact your experience in Telara.
Active Upgrades:
If you boil down upgrades to their core concept, Item Upgrades are quests to make your gear more powerful. In order to upgrade your gear to its maximum potential, you’ll need to procure the required ingredients one way or another. Our goal with Active Upgrades is to embrace that they are quests, while providing exciting thematic experiences and flavor. As an example, and this is by no means going to be an item, if we wanted you to upgrade your mace from Tenebrian Maul to say, “Drathgar, Maul of Undead Slaying” you would need to kill a certain amount of undead with it along with meeting other requirements.
There are a ton of ways that we can use this new system to make your items more a part of your character’s personal story. I’m pretty excited about the possibilities it gives us.
Eternal Items:
With Starfall Prophecy, we are adding a new item rarity: Eternal. Forged by god-like beings from the cosmos, these are artifact tier items in both rarity and power. While some of these artifacts will be found with their Eternal rarity already unlocked, others might need to be upgraded through active upgrades to unleash their full potential.
It’s important to note here no one should expect to wear full suits of Eternal quality items – Eternal Items are much more rare than that! You might have one piece, maybe two if you’re exceptionally diligent and fortuitous. Slots covered will be based on the calling, but because of the powers that each Eternal Item embodies, they will be calling restricted. This allows for more custom tailoring of passive or active effects. Another important note: we are throwing our normal concepts of item balance out the window – that’s how powerful Eternal items are!
Planar Fragments:
One of the things that we’ve been trying to address over the past few major updates is reducing/removing the need for different sets of gear based on your role. For instance, with Mind of Madness, we removed the option for any gear to drop as tank specific, and instead provided sidegrade paths for all DPS drops to change into tank gear. This certainly helped with dealing with the challenge of players who Tank and DPS in obtaining their desired role gear, but it still wasn’t the complete solution that we were looking for. Planar Fragments are a much bigger step towards that solution.
Generally, gear being for a Tank or DPS is determined by the amount of endurance on it along with tertiary stats such as Dodge and Crit Power. With Starfall, gear will no longer drop with tertiary stats attached to them – Planar Fragments give you the ability to customize your stats the way you like! The fragments will have their own tab in the Character UI where you slot in the fragments with the stats of your choice. Similar to the wardrobe system, there will also be saved sets that you can swap on command. In other words, you can keep the same set of gear equipped but change between Tank and DPS stats by swapping out your Planar Fragment equipped set. This can be done via the UI or through a command in the chat window. This will make an amazing difference for folks that have been maintaining multiple armor sets. We also have some changes coming for runes and dream orbs to help out with this, but I’ll save that information for later.
You’ll gain Planar Fragments from throughout Telara; you might find them in dungeons, get them through crafting, see rare examples as world loot, or obtain them in PVP, LFR and raids. By default, Planar Fragments are bound to your account, so that if you get an awesome fragment for your Warrior alt, you can mail it to yourself. Each character will maintain their own individual inventory, though. Speaking of inventory, Fragments will have their own separate inventory similar to Quest Items so that we don’t take up your normal bag space. If your Fragment inventory fills up, it will overflow to your regular inventory.
Legendary Powers:
Legendary Powers are how your character increases in power and flexibility, in addition to just gaining more stats per level as you work toward the new level cap of 70. Each level past 65 will award a Legendary point which can be spent to unlock a Legendary Power. You’ll be limited to a maximum of 3 Legendary points spent per soul and only if you have more than 44 Talent points invested in said soul. With 0 to 14 Talent points invested, you can spend 1 Legendary point and 15 – 43 Talent points invested allows you to spend 2. As for which abilities will be targeted for Legendary upgrades, we can say for sure that each soul will have the 61 point, the 41 point, and one of the 0 point abilities will have options as well. There also will be a sub-15 option, but that wildly varies from soul to soul.
Our goal with Legendary Powers is to change up how your character plays, based upon the powers purchased. For instance, an ability that is normally a 6 second channel that doesn’t allow movement might become a 3 second channel with double the ticks, allowing movement, and also applies all of a certain type of buff to you instead of needing to individually cast each one.
Another interesting twist to Legendary Powers is that the 0 point Legendary is not designed to be taken by anyone that will invest more than 15 talent points in a given soul, but to appeal to more off-soul choices than what is supplied by just the talent point investments. An example is Legendary Flame Bolt, where it increases the damage of your next non-fire damaging ability by 20%. Clearly this is of no benefit to the Pyromancer as all of their damage is fire-based, but for an Elementalist or even Warlock, that’s awfully tempting!
So, as you can see, we have a lot coming down the pipe for Starfall Prophecy and I still haven’t talked about Looking for Raid or Personal Loot yet! I’m super excited about all of these systems and how they will change Telara. I can’t wait to see the imaginative ways you’ll put them to use!


Starfall Prophecy allows the most experienced Ascended to designate certain powers as Legendary, and to utilize them in exciting new ways. Find out more about them, and how they’ll help you defeat ever more powerful foes!

So what ARE Legendary Powers?
Legendary Powers are more powerful and more exciting versions of the abilities you are already familiar with. To put it simply, Legendary Powers makes your favorite abilities even better! Whether it’s adding new effects, new mechanics, or simply powering up an ability to a whole new level, the Legendary version of a power amplifies your power!
Legendary Powers also play brilliantly into your overall build. For example, Clerics who make even a minimal investment in Druid can obtain the Legendary Fervent Strike ability: utilizing druidic magic to weaken an enemy’s defenses against all non-druidic powers. Simply selecting this one Legendary Power in the Druid soul will make any damage dealing Cleric more powerful!
How will I obtain these mighty Powers?
Every time you level in Starfall Prophecy, from 66 to 70, you’ll be able to select a new power to designate as Legendary. Players can select up to 3 abilities in each Soul, depending on how many points they have already invested in that Soul.
Not every ability in every Soul is able to become Legendary, but there are a variety available at different points in each Soul’s tree. These powers are specific to a particular role, so you can have entirely different Legendary powers in every role slot. Pick the perfect powers for each one of your builds!
So what are some abilities we might get?
Here are just a few more examples to whet your appetite:
Primalist: Legendary Fury Blast
Fury Blast now sets your focus to neutral and deals increased damage based on how close to 100 Fury you are when it is cast. It now gives you an incredibly powerful on command means to expend Fury, providing a fantastic source of emergency burst damage as well as letting you move rapidly back into Cunning.
Warrior: Legendary Wavelength
Casting Pulses reduces the cooldown of Wavelength by .5s each time you deal damage. Getting the most out of your pulses allows you to get your burst phases even closer together, letting you deal heavy damage more often.
Warrior: Legendary Unleashed
Stacks of Readiness reduce the cooldown of Warrior Abilities by 5% per stack. Maintaining high uptime on Readiness will ensure you do everything faster, significantly improving your performance when using any cooldown.
Rogue: Legendary Empyrean Bolt
Legendary Empyrean Bolt now has a 6 second cooldown and also reduces the cooldowns of your non-Tactician Abilities by 1 second when cast. This opens up a new builder that allows you to build combo points quicker by weaving it in to your normal rotation. Marksmen, take note!
Mage: Legendary Summon: Lesser Air Elemental
The only thing better than one pet is two! This Legendary Power summons a minor elemental that increases the your Spell Power by 5%. This elemental can be summoned alongside other pets and provides a buff to you as long as it is active.
Cleric: Legendary Explosive Rage
Now also applies a stack of Greed to you for every Rage consumed by this ability.
This offers you a powerful damage combo that strongly increases your burst potential, and allows you to fill more global cooldowns with your most powerful abilities.
Keep an eye out over the coming weeks as we reveal more details on Legendary Powers for each Calling!


We bring you a second sampling of Legendary Powers for the final three callings. If you’re looking for Rogue and Primalist, check out our previous article! Legendary Powers are just a few of the terrific features coming with Starfall Prophecy on November 16th!


CLERIC LEGENDARY POWERS
Shaman – Time is everything, and Legendary Deep Freeze makes the best of it – this version no longer stuns targets, but now lasts a full 10 seconds.
Sentinel –Legendary Light of Redemption also applies Redeemed to the target when they are healed, increasing damage resistance by 6% for 16s. When Light of Redemption heals anyone, all targets with Redeemed are also healed. Mana costs are passively reduced by 25%, and Legendary Light of Redemption heals for 50% more.
Runeshaper – Smite your enemies as they justly deserve! With Legendary Rune of Impending Doom, you gain a stack of Smiting Force any time you do damage to the target (in addition to existing effects).
Oracle – Have you been seeking a reliable “get out of death free” card to play? Cast Legendary Defend the Fallen to ensure that allies cannot die for 8 seconds afterwards, in addition to its other effects.
Defiler – Legendary Unstable Transformation also causes Aggressive Avarice and Explosive Rage to consume only a single stack of Rage or Greed while active. Economy leads to victory!

MAGE LEGENDARY POWERS
Pyromancer – Legendary Fusillade casts Fireball on the target once every 0.5 seconds. At the end of the channel, if also hurls a satisfying Fulminate on the target.
Necromancer – Choose Legendary Condemn to convert all of the Mage’s stacks of Deathly Calling on the enemy into stacks of Condemn, dealing Death damage over time per stack. Make things even worse for your enemy when it adds two stacks of Deathly Calling to the Mage when this ability ends.
Storm Caller – This soul has a simple need – more lightning! RIFT answers with Legendary Lightning Arc; it consumes stacks of Electrified to deal increased damage. Simple. Effective. Deadly.
Elementalist – The Legendary Elemental Burst has a chance to be automatically cast a second and third time after the initial cast.
Archon –Every time Illuminate deals damage, Legendary Illuminate amplifies the damage of your next Pillaging Stone by 10%. Even better, it stacks up to 20 times.

WARRIOR LEGENDARY POWERS
Warlord – Legendary Breaking Blow no longer consumes AP. It merely consumes up to 60 Power to deal additional damage.
Void Knight – If you consume 3 pacts, Legendary Ascended Discharge doesn’t go on cooldown.
Tempest – Pulses reduce the cooldown of Legendary Wavelength by .5s each time they deal damage.
Reaver – Legendary Shadow of Dread passively causes your reaver dots to tick three times as fast but last 50% less time. It gets you to your goal faster!
Liberator – Legendary Medical Facility no longer reduces the cast time of Deliverance and Fast Relief. It causes Deliverance and Fast Relief to splash 12% of their healing in an AoE around affected targets.

Legendary Powers provide brand new choices to help you build your perfect character. Read on to see just some of the options available to Rogues and Primalists in Starfall Prophecy!

Rogue Legendary Powers

Rogues receive an incredible diversity of options in Legendary Powers, appealing to a wide variety of play styles. Each Soul affords choices for entirely new paths, or opt to simply make existing powers even more useful in fights. Here are a few examples:
Assassin
Legendary Thread of Death – Step out of the shadows and use stealth based damaging abilities any time you like! Fair enough – abilities used in this manner deal 25% less damage, but oh, the freedom! You’ll never go back!
Bladedancer
Legendary Fated Blades – Your Bladedancer can maintain a second Rythmic Action while Fated Blades is active. No one can match the speed and grace of your deadly footwork!
Bard
Legendary Harmonic Distortion – Bards will love the ability to stack Harmonic Energy up to 10 times, and better yet, critical finishers always grant an additional stack, for even more power. Legendary Harmonic Distortion will consume 2 stacks of Harmonic Energy if they are available, and heal for more than twice as much!
Marksman
Legendary Free Recoil – Arrows fly faster for Marksmen who select Free Recoil! With this pick, Empowered Shot no longer has a cooldown (or triggers a global cooldown) and grants 1 CP on use. Each subsequent cast of it in a limited time frame increases its energy cost and reduces its cast time.
Physician
Legendary Emergency Response – This ability certainly lives up to its name, giving Physicians an extraordinarily strong tool to keep their patients alive! Emergency Response no longer has a cooldown, but consumes all of the Rogue’s energy while healing the target for a percent of the Rogue’s life, based on the amount of energy consumed.

Primalist Legendary Powers

With more streamlined Soul trees, Primalist Powers tend to be a bit broader in effect than with other Callings. Legendary Powers for Primalist tend towards making the abilities more focused, and providing all new means of specialization for the Primalist! Here are some examples:
Typhoon
Legendary Tsunami – The more Turmoil a Typhoon has built up, the longer Legendary Tsunami Lasts! For every stack of Turmoil consumed, the duration of Tsunami is extended by 1 second, damaging enemies longer.
Maelstrom
Legendary Flamewalker – Maelstroms with the patience to channel Legendary Flamewalker for a full 3 seconds will do 30% more fire damage for the next 20 seconds!
Dervish
Legendary Primal Avatar: Wind Serpent – With Legendary Primal Avatar: Wind Serpent, Dervishes can channel the power of the Wind Serpent for even longer! Instead of its normal duration, Primal Avatar: Wind Serpent lasts a full 60 seconds, with the damage bonuses provided gradually reducing over time.
Vulcanist
Legendary Ethereal Beam – The fury of fire and the crushing strength of earth are at the heart of a Vulcanist’s power, and Legendary Ethereal Beam transforms this ability to count as both! This means that Legendary Ethereal Beam benefits from all buffs to both Fire and Earth elements, making it more deadly than ever before!
Titan
Legendary Primal Avatar: Ram – Titans are the shield wall among Primalists, able to shrug off even the heaviest of blows when their Primal Avatar: Ram is enabled. With Legendary Primal Avatar: Ram, the cooldown of this ability is reduced every time you are attacked (up to once per 3 seconds), giving you the ability to channel the ram’s totemic gifts more often!
These aren’t the only options available in the Rogue and Primalist Souls, and keep in mind these abilities are still a work in progress! Keep an eye out for upcoming blogs for examples of Cleric, Mage, and Warrior Legendary Powers, or wait for the Starfall Propecy Beta to check them all out!

 

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