NOTES: RIFT 1.9 In-Progress Set #1 - 5/22/12

[Amary]

The usual disclaimer applies - all of this is in early stages, highly variable, and this first set does not represent the entirety of what may or may not be on deck for 1.9.

===

FEATURES IN TESTING ON PTS

CONQUEST
* 5/22 PTS NOTE: Tweaked a bunch of Conquest numbers for ongoing testing!
* An early version of Conquest is now on PTS for testing! At this point, Conquest will only be accessible when specifically enabled for a playtest.
* Align yourself with one of the three warring groups - the Dominion, the Oathsworn, or the Nightfall, and join three-way cross-shard conflict in a contested sliver of Stillmoor.
* Capture, defend, and enhance conflict points to not only control the region but also gain access to bonuses and resources for your team.
* Fight Colossi on the field of battle to demonstrate your power and gain additional buffs.
* The Conquest Bar displays your current Conquest bonuses and can be found in the 'K' menu under Conquest.
* For those looking to contribute in ways other than direct combat, gather Sourcestone resources and use them to create beneficial effects that help everyone in your faction. These resources can be deposited in a depot inside your base where other crafters can also process them.
* New crafting recipes for use during Conquest are now available on the trainers in Sanctum and Meridian.
* Matches begin to lock down when a single team claims 40% of the control points, or when 5,000 deaths have taken place in the match; at that point a 10 minute timer will begin for a last chance at rallying your troops!


MENTORING
* New Mentoring system allows you to set your character's level below what it actually is, whether you're on your own or playing with a lower-level character.
* Mentoring is available for characters of level 11+ and you can only reduce your current level, not increase it.
* The new Set Ascended Mentor Level menu option now appears when right clicking your own character portrait. You can choose what level you'd like to set your character to from this option.
* When right-clicking the portrait of another character, the menu option to set your mentor level to the target's level appears.
* While mentoring, your stats, abilities, regeneration, etc. will be temporarily reduced in line with the target level.
* Grouped characters using mentoring will receive bonus experience as long as the character with the lower natural level remains within 2 levels of the mentor and the mentor remains at least 5 levels below their natural level.


PRESTIGE RANKS / ARMOR
* Prestige Ranks are now increased to 50!
* The added ranks offer new milestone titles and additional Planar Attunement bonus experience when attained - 2 Planar Attunement levels worth for each rank.
* A new set of PvP Armor is now available in line with the Prestige Rank increase.
* Increased the effect of Bolstering in line with the addition of new PvP gear. Warfront Bolstering is now applied to all characters up to rank 25, and up to rank 36 in Conquest.
* PTS NOTE: The new rank set armor is temporarily using the previous set's appearances on PTS.


1.9 WORLD EVENT now in testing on PTS!
LOW-LEVEL INSTANT ADVENTURE now in testing on PTS!

FISHING AND SURVIVAL
* The Undead Fish artifact collection has, at long last, been added to Hammerknell - both Chronicle and Raid. Even more reason to fish in Hammerknell!
* The Rare Artifact Attractor will no longer yield common artifacts that existed in the game prior to patch 1.8.
* When fished, the pool at Scarred Mire and Harlan's Lament will now only yield junk (though some lures will still allow you to catch fish there).
* Schools of Fish, Rare Fish, and Clever Fish now sometimes drop treasure chests.
* Fishing and Survival now have daily quests!
* The Survivalist and Fisher Artisan store NPCs have arrived. Now you're cooking with MEAT.
* Don't know what to do with your piles of common fish? Now you can turn them into Lures! Check out the recipes on the new artisan store NPC.
* Inspired chefs have developed a new Feast recipe for more variety in feasting.
* Survival: The appearance of Feasts also got updated! 'Feasts' is also a strange looking word when you type it enough. Feasty feast.

=

GENERAL
* Added a new 'Bag Sort' button to the inventory bag bar and the bank window. Bag Sort will rearrange the items in your bags to group them into similar categories (Artifacts next to artifacts, crafting items next to crafting items, etc.).
* Added a new visual warning that buffs are about to expire; the buff icon now fades out when the duration is getting low. This option can be turned on/off in the Settings > Display menu.
* Tells can now be sent to any player on a shard in the same region (NA or EU). Use the Player@Shard format to send messages cross-shard (ex: /tell Asha@Greybriar). Ignore also works the same way - you can ignore someone cross-shard now.
* Quests that allow party-sharing will now be offered to all Raid members.
* Experience locking has been removed now that you can set your level lower via Mentoring!
* Companion Pets no longer have a summoning/casting time or casting animations. They can only be summoned while out of combat.
* Newly-created Guilds now have default permissions that allow all members to use Guild Rally Banners, if the guild has that perk.
* Looking For Group: Fixed a bug where LFG players not inside the dungeon when the final boss is killed would not receive LFG rewards.


LEADERBOARDS
* Viewing a Leaderboard with the 'Top 50' filter selected now shows your actual score at the top instead of a '0' if you're not in the list, and will not incorrectly display your rank as '51'.
* Fixed timed scores that ended in zero seconds so they don't omit digits.


COMBAT
* NPCs: Riftblade NPCs no longer use Rift Storm.

SOULS
* Pets now have a maximum active distance from their owner that when reached, will cause them to stop what they're doing and return to you.
* Slight tweak to Charge-type attack abilities; the only noticeable change should be that attacks involving a Charge can now critically hit on their own.

MAGE

CHLOROMANCER
* Wild Growth: Fixed a pushback issue where Wild Growth could be cast faster if the Chloromancer is damaged while casting it.

DOMINATOR
* Controlled Opportunity: Fixed an issue with how this is applied to targets when using mouseover macros.
* Haunting Pain: Effects that modify DoT damage, like the Warlock's Neddra's Influence, now properly affect Haunting Pain.

NECROMANCER
* Feign Death: No longer completely despawns pets. Pets will be invisible while Feign Death is active, and reappear as soon as the ability ends or is deactivated.
* Neddra's Torture: Fixed a pushback issue where Neddra's Torture could be cast faster if the Necromancer is damaged while casting it.

PYROMANCER
* Fixed Fire Armor and Pyromancer's Armor being castable while Silenced.
* Backdraft: Will now deal damage to the target even if they are immune to the Stun portion of the ability.

WARLOCK
* Mortality: No longer affected by damage pushback when casting.


ROGUE

RIFTSTALKER
* Rift Barrier: Now generates threat from non-reflectable attacks received while Rift Guard is active.


WARRIOR

BEASTMASTER
* Fierce Strike: Fixed a bug with Rank 6 that caused it to repeatedly chain damage.

CHAMPION
* Destroyer's Bearing: Can now trigger off of Deathblow.
* Cornered Beast: Now properly grants immunity to Knockback and Polymorph.

PARAGON
* Flurry: Now properly grants immunity to Knockback and Polymorph.

WARLORD
* Intercept: Now has a range of 30 meters.
* Distractions now properly stack with each other so you can have two Warlords using different Distractions.


ZONES

GLOAMWOOD
* Where the Moon Blossoms: Increased the quantity of Moon Blossoms in the Greybriar Hollow cave.

SCARLET GORGE
* A Bit of Subterfuge: Female characters will now get disguised as females while on this quest.


CRAFTING
* The Track Fish ability has been added. If you already have Fishing, you'll find it in the Abilities window. Otherwise it will be granted automatically when training Fishing.
* Outfitter: Bulk Recipes have been added to Outfitter Trainers for base materials. These new recipes allow you to process 40 cloth directly into 20 bolts.
* Outfitter: Spellspun Cowl recipe now requires 260 skill to learn, to match the skill required to make the item.


UI/SETTINGS
* Active buffs/debuffs with durations now show specific time remaining amounts on their tooltips.
* Fishing Lures now correctly appear under the Misc > Fishing section in the Auction House.
* Successful Auction messages now include the stack size of the item sold.
* Combat Log text now more closely matches the on-screen combat text color formatting.
- There are two new types of damage shown in the Combat Log now: Block and Deflect. Combat Log textfile parsers will likely need to be updated.
* Fixed a case where Nameplates could show class mechanic UIs for classes other than your own.
* NPCs with very large models will now have their Nameplate anchored at their feet if the normal position is not visible.
* Nameplates now show casting bars for both yourself and your target.


CLIENT
* The Screenshot and Movie save file location is now under the Windows 'My Documents' folder.

[TheRealKillian]

CLIENT
* The Screenshot and Movie save file location is now under the Windows 'My Documents' folder.


Why..........make this an option, i rather not have stuff spread out. Keep it in the RIFT folder, simple.

[simpa1988]

1.9 seems a huge patch!
cant wait

[Tekkaman]

CLIENT
* The Screenshot and Movie save file location is now under the Windows 'My Documents' folder.


Why..........make this an option, i rather not have stuff spread out. Keep it in the RIFT folder, simple.

Not only is that an organization issue, but it also affects someone who may:

A - Own an SSD
B - Use said SSD for OS
C - Has not moved My Docs/Windows basics to other drives

Some people are using 64GB SSDs for their boot drive and that's it. Most things do NOT default to My Docs that may take up quite a bit of disk space. SS/Movies/Recordings can tax a 64GB SSD that already has 20-40GB used.

Please re-think this or, on next log in, ASK the user to select which folder they want to use from that point on.

Better yet, create a shortcut/lnk in their My Docs that goes directly to the screenshots folder of the RIFT directory. That would solve the issue easily. Even if the directory is not of the default path the coding is easy enough to detect the folder.

Do not penalize people who are using SSDs purely for booting.

That, or inform people they may want to move My Docs/Windows basic folders to other drives ha.

[Eclipze]

Not only is that an organization issue, but it also affects someone who may:

A - Own an SSD
B - Use said SSD for OS
C - Has not moved My Docs/Windows basics to other drives

Some people are using 64GB SSDs for their boot drive and that's it. Most things do NOT default to My Docs that may take up quite a bit of disk space. SS/Movies/Recordings can tax a 64GB SSD that already has 20-40GB used.

Please re-think this or, on next log in, ASK the user to select which folder they want to use from that point on.

Do not penalize people who are using SSDs purely for booting.

That, or inform people they may want to move My Docs/Windows basic folders to other drives ha.

I would hope someone who had the insight to move to a small capacity SSD as the OS Boot Drive would also have the google skills to figure out the minimal registry tweaks to move the Users/Docs&Settings folder to their Data HDD. If the above change does cause an issue for someone, then it will be forcing them to adopt best practices, regardless.

[DrummerX]

ok, wtf, now gotta wait till 1.9 is released to see the warrior hotfix? come on now..... Simple Fixes taking a couple MONTHS to go live......

Btw, Conquest is awesome!

[satk]

If you can /tell people in other shards then I would like a search functions as well... hey if people bother u then ofc you can block them

Main reason is ive been playing rift for over a year and have been in many guilds and shards. This will be a good way to keep in touch with people when you stop playing for a while and come back.

If that is not possible then atlest let them be added to the friend's list. Also wish there is a add account to firends list option and block account option in rift

[DaddyDaz]

GENERAL
* Tells can now be sent to any player on a shard in the same region (NA or EU). Use the Player@Shard format to send messages cross-shard (ex: /tell Asha@Greybriar). Ignore also works the same way - you can ignore someone cross-shard now.

this is a really nice feature, but what about adding players not on our shard to our friends list? it's somewhat frustrating to have our friends list wiped clean after a shard transfer.
i may just have spaced it, but i didn't think we had this feature in game right now. how would we know they're online or not?

[AlienFromBeyond]

Anyone know where these new Artisan NPCs are?

I don't think Summer Sunfish Lures should be in Survival, should be in Fishing like all the other Lures.

EDIT: I was also not automatically given the new Track Fish ability when I logged onto the PTS.

[Ajax1114]

this is a really nice feature, but what about adding players not on our shard to our friends list? it's somewhat frustrating to have our friends list wiped clean after a shard transfer.
i may just have spaced it, but i didn't think we had this feature in game right now. how would we know they're online or not?

^Was wondering this myself. I hope the feature is in conjunction with a cross-shard friends list. Otherwise it would be a guessing game communicating with someone cross-shard.

I would assume to avoid confusion, such a friends list feature could do the same as the contact info: Asha@Greybriar is online, etc.

[Khelendross]

The usual disclaimer applies - all of this is in early stages, highly variable, and this first set does not represent the entirety of what may or may not be on deck for 1.9.

===

FEATURES IN TESTING ON PTS

CONQUEST
* 5/22 PTS NOTE: Tweaked a bunch of Conquest numbers for ongoing testing!
* Fight Colossi on the field of battle to demonstrate your power and gain additional buffs.
* Matches begin to lock down when a single team claims 40% of the control points, or when 5,000 deaths have taken place in the match; at that point a 10 minute timer will begin for a last chance at rallying your troops!

Awesome about the Collosi, I take it that wasn't ready for the first live test. Sad to see the lock in hasn't been changed yet. 40% is ridiculously low.

MENTORING
* While mentoring, your stats, abilities, regeneration, etc. will be temporarily reduced in line with the target level.
* Grouped characters using mentoring will receive bonus experience as long as the character with the lower natural level remains within 2 levels of the mentor and the mentor remains at least 5 levels below their natural level.

Nice to know about grouping, good incentive to run dungeon groups as a mentor.

The reduction in stats needs tweaked a bit. When I can solo a level 47 rift as a level 25 then its a bit undertuned.

PRESTIGE RANKS / ARMOR
* Increased the effect of Bolstering in line with the addition of new PvP gear. Warfront Bolstering is now applied to all characters up to rank 25, and up to rank 36 in Conquest.

Nice move to increase bolstering Conquest. Though I think it should go up to 40 (the previous cap) why stop short at 36? That way everyone will start 1.9 on the same page (more or less) in Conquest.

FISHING AND SURVIVAL
* The Undead Fish artifact collection has, at long last, been added to Hammerknell - both Chronicle and Raid. Even more reason to fish in Hammerknell!
* Schools of Fish, Rare Fish, and Clever Fish now sometimes drop treasure chests.
* Fishing and Survival now have daily quests!
* The Survivalist and Fisher Artisan store NPCs have arrived. Now you're cooking with MEAT.
* Don't know what to do with your piles of common fish? Now you can turn them into Lures! Check out the recipes on the new artisan store NPC.
* Inspired chefs have developed a new Feast recipe for more variety in feasting.
* Survival: The appearance of Feasts also got updated! 'Feasts' is also a strange looking word when you type it enough. Feasty feast.

Fantastic changes all. I'd like to see more special fish/collections for other raids and dungeons though. Don't stop at just HK!

GENERAL
* Added a new 'Bag Sort' button to the inventory bag bar and the bank window. Bag Sort will rearrange the items in your bags to group them into similar categories (Artifacts next to artifacts, crafting items next to crafting items, etc.).
* Added a new visual warning that buffs are about to expire; the buff icon now fades out when the duration is getting low. This option can be turned on/off in the Settings > Display menu.
* Tells can now be sent to any player on a shard in the same region (NA or EU). Use the Player@Shard format to send messages cross-shard (ex: /tell Asha@Greybriar). Ignore also works the same way - you can ignore someone cross-shard now.
* Experience locking has been removed now that you can set your level lower via Mentoring!

Holy crap amazing changes. These are some of the best QOL changes you guys have added yet!

CRAFTING
* The Track Fish ability has been added. If you already have Fishing, you'll find it in the Abilities window. Otherwise it will be granted automatically when training Fishing.

YAY!

[Inixia]

what is the maximum active distance for pets as noted?
Hopefully a bit longer than the cast range, pet classes already have so much going against them...
and it would be hard to micromanage.

Anyways can't wait for conquest at least and crossing my fingers for significant mage changes in the next progress update!

[The Witchking]

Nothing for Clerics. Can we please fix pushback if we spec into it?

[Chaszar]

The usual disclaimer applies - all of this is in early stages, highly variable, and this first set does not represent the entirety of what may or may not be on deck for 1.9.

===

FEATURES IN TESTING ON PTS

CONQUEST
* 5/22 PTS NOTE: Tweaked a bunch of Conquest numbers for ongoing testing!
* An early version of Conquest is now on PTS for testing! At this point, Conquest will only be accessible when specifically enabled for a playtest.
* Align yourself with one of the three warring groups - the Dominion, the Oathsworn, or the Nightfall, and join three-way cross-shard conflict in a contested sliver of Stillmoor.
* Capture, defend, and enhance conflict points to not only control the region but also gain access to bonuses and resources for your team.
* Fight Colossi on the field of battle to demonstrate your power and gain additional buffs.
* The Conquest Bar displays your current Conquest bonuses and can be found in the 'K' menu under Conquest.
* For those looking to contribute in ways other than direct combat, gather Sourcestone resources and use them to create beneficial effects that help everyone in your faction. These resources can be deposited in a depot inside your base where other crafters can also process them.
* New crafting recipes for use during Conquest are now available on the trainers in Sanctum and Meridian.
* Matches begin to lock down when a single team claims 40% of the control points, or when 5,000 deaths have taken place in the match; at that point a 10 minute timer will begin for a last chance at rallying your troops!

This is making me wonder more and more how much fun the 3 factions will be


FISHING AND SURVIVAL
* The Undead Fish artifact collection has, at long last, been added to Hammerknell - both Chronicle and Raid. Even more reason to fish in Hammerknell!
* The Rare Artifact Attractor will no longer yield common artifacts that existed in the game prior to patch 1.8.
* When fished, the pool at Scarred Mire and Harlan's Lament will now only yield junk (though some lures will still allow you to catch fish there).
* Schools of Fish, Rare Fish, and Clever Fish now sometimes drop treasure chests.
* Fishing and Survival now have daily quests!
* The Survivalist and Fisher Artisan store NPCs have arrived. Now you're cooking with MEAT.
* Don't know what to do with your piles of common fish? Now you can turn them into Lures! Check out the recipes on the new artisan store NPC.
* Inspired chefs have developed a new Feast recipe for more variety in feasting.
* Survival: The appearance of Feasts also got updated! 'Feasts' is also a strange looking word when you type it enough. Feasty feast.

FANTASTIC

GENERAL
* Added a new 'Bag Sort' button to the inventory bag bar and the bank window. Bag Sort will rearrange the items in your bags to group them into similar categories (Artifacts next to artifacts, crafting items next to crafting items, etc.).
This sounds nice, but we really need the allocation of banking for all the crafting mats; they are numerous and you know we all don't just gather supplies the day we do the quests

* Added a new visual warning that buffs are about to expire; the buff icon now fades out when the duration is getting low. This option can be turned on/off in the Settings > Display menu.
Why not have a timer on the buff icon (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1) with the icon blinking

* Quests that allow party-sharing will now be offered to all Raid members. Nice.

LEADERBOARDS
* Viewing a Leaderboard with the 'Top 50' filter selected now shows your actual score at the top instead of a '0' if you're not in the list, and will not incorrectly display your rank as '51'.
* Fixed timed scores that ended in zero seconds so they don't omit digits.Thank you.


COMBAT
* NPCs: Riftblade NPCs no longer use Rift Storm. Oh, No. Now where is the challenge.

SOULS
* Pets now have a maximum active distance from their owner that when reached, will cause them to stop what they're doing and return to you.What distance please?

MAGE

CHLOROMANCER
* Wild Growth: Fixed a pushback issue where Wild Growth could be cast faster if the Chloromancer is damaged while casting it.

DOMINATOR
* Controlled Opportunity: Fixed an issue with how this is applied to targets when using mouseover macros.
* Haunting Pain: Effects that modify DoT damage, like the Warlock's Neddra's Influence, now properly affect Haunting Pain.

NECROMANCER
* Feign Death: No longer completely despawns pets. Pets will be invisible while Feign Death is active, and reappear as soon as the ability ends or is deactivated.Aw, let the pet feint death too.
* Neddra's Torture: Fixed a pushback issue where Neddra's Torture could be cast faster if the Necromancer is damaged while casting it.

PYROMANCER
* Fixed Fire Armor and Pyromancer's Armor being castable while Silenced.
* Backdraft: Will now deal damage to the target even if they are immune to the Stun portion of the ability.

WARLOCK
* Mortality: No longer affected by damage pushback when casting.

Overall, mages need more that just pyro/dom type setups to be good for dps, please find a way to offer people who did not want to play a fire-mage something else equivalent for dmg.




WARRIOR


CHAMPION
* Destroyer's Bearing: Can now trigger off of Deathblow.
* Cornered Beast: Now properly grants immunity to Knockback and Polymorph.
Thank you.

PARAGON
* Flurry: Now properly grants immunity to Knockback and Polymorph.
Thank you.
WARLORD
* Intercept: Now has a range of 30 meters.
* Distractions now properly stack with each other so you can have two Warlords using different Distractions.
Thank You.


CRAFTING
* The Track Fish ability has been added. If you already have Fishing, you'll find it in the Abilities window. Otherwise it will be granted automatically when training Fishing. Nice.

Overall, I look forward to 1.9, see how things go.

[Tekkaman]

I would hope someone who had the insight to move to a small capacity SSD as the OS Boot Drive would also have the google skills to figure out the minimal registry tweaks to move the Users/Docs&Settings folder to their Data HDD. If the above change does cause an issue for someone, then it will be forcing them to adopt best practices, regardless.

I absolutely agree and while it does force them into better practice(s), it does not always translate into happy customers.