MEAD: RIFT Patch 1.11 – Tempest Rising
By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…
No, David Bowie isn’t coming to Telara. Though how awesome would that be? We’re talking about 1.11 Tempest Rising. It seems like just yesterday we were discussing 1.10. But with less than a month to go until Storm Legion there is still a lot of ground to cover. And a lot of changes coming our way. From more than 50 pages of patch notes on soul changes to a sneak peek at the latest dungeon update, 1.11 will be a game changer.
Let’s take a moment to try to wrap our heads around this. There are more than 50 pages of changes just to souls in 1.11. What does this mean for us? Well, besides having a whole lot of reading to do, it means that we are pretty much starting over. I don’t mean that everyone should go out and delete their characters. More that, there are so many changes going on, how you play your character, how your character works will change. Oh sure, the basics will be the same. Mages still go pew pew, warriors still pummel faces in. But for a little while Telara is going to be filled with newbs on a scale that hasn’t been seen since Rift was in beta. And we’re all going to be on the same level. But at least we’re all going to be in the same boat with that. And it is pretty exciting. As you can imagine there are just too many changes for me to cover. I couldn’t even cover them all in a year of articles. Just keep in mind when you log in for the first time after 1.11 that all your souls on all your characters will be reset. And it won’t just be a matter of putting everything back the way it was. Things have changed. Some abilities may be gone completely, or moved to higher up in the tree. What abilities do may have changed and of course there will be all new abilities you never had before. Playing again is going to take a bit of set up time, especially for those of us who have 50s. And I imagine that is part of why 1.11 is coming out so much sooner than Storm Legion’s release. People need time to get used to their “new” characters before being thrown all new awesomeness. If you want to read the patch notes they’re on the forums under the Public Test Shard, just keep in mind they are subject to change at the whim of a dev.
The world event for 1.11 is going to a four parter which will see destruction, mayhem, and a whole lot of wind. Legion forces will begin an assault on Sanctum and Meridian. If you’ve ordered Storm Legion you’ll get to dive into Exodus of the Storm Queen, the first dungeon of the expansion. But don’t expect the Storm Queen herself to make an appearance. No, we’re still only getting ready to face Crucia. Expect to have a whole lot of bad hair days as you face the beginning of the Storm Legion assault on our world.
It wouldn’t be a Rift update without a Return to Telara event. Invite your friends, or maybe if you’ve been away from Rift a while get yourself ready because the week of November 7-11 Telara will be free to return to. Try out the new soul changes, take part in the world event. And get ready to dive into Storm Legion. You won’t have to worry about be restricted by level. For this period of time you can play any level you want.
As I mentioned before there are patch notes released for 1.11 already. They aren’t final though as they’re for the public test, but it is a pretty safe bet that no major changes will take place. You can find them broken up by category on the forums for the public test shard. It is heavy reading. But it gives you a good idea of the changes coming to our world in the very near future. I would recommend them to anyone who plays Rift, has ever played Rift or is even considering playing. There is a lot of tech speak in them and they may open up a can of worms who all have a bunch of questions. Print them out and leave them by the toilet if you have to. Who doesn’t need more reading material in the bathroom?
I can hear the question now. It might go something along the lines of “OMGWTFBBQ, when is 1.11?” The good news is, we know it will be before the start of the Return to Telara event in November. The bad news is that is about a three week time period. The boards have seen quite a bit of speculation on this but generally it seems thanks to something Elrar said and something that was read on the public test shard, we can expect 1.11 during the regular patch period this week. Of course we can’t confirm this as our time machine is currently being used to keep me from wasting too much time working on my Dimension in the future.
Speaking of Dimensions… This week’s live stream on Friday will be all things Dimensions. I’ve already seen them in action, I was lucky enough to have a one on one with Adam Gershowitz where most of our time was spent showing off Dimensions. I knew then and there my life would be over for weeks if not months. The stream will be at 2:30 PM Pacific time and feature all the customization tools, some of the awesome locations and of course construction itself. If you don’t make it to any other stream before Storm Legion this is the one to see. Ok, maybe I’m just a bit biased. But I can’t wait to see it. So, I hope I see you all there at the stream this week!