May 22, 2013

Official Rift Fan Site

Crafting Updates from 1.10 and 1.11

First apologies for being late on the crafting updates, The Rift Craft staff has been lost in closed beta gathering all the data we can to make sure the site will be ready and fully up to date for Storm Legion Launch. That being said in the future I will endeavor to ensure you get the highlights of whats changed on the launch date of each patch in case you missed the patch notes on the official forums. Below are the highlights from 1.10 and more importantly 1.11 which introduced some pretty major changes to crafting in general. Remember if you see something that is wrong email us here at Rift Craft or shoot me a PM to Xillean on the Forums and we will correct it ASAP, also feel free to let us know if there is anything you'd like to see at the site or if you have any questions for the Dev team, submit them to us and we will see what we can do.
 
Also as a reminder most of the update notes we provide are already on the Official Forums http://forums.riftgame.com/forum.php provided by Amary, Trion's wonderful Corgi lover.
 

1.10 Changes

1.10 really didn't have much in the way of changes for crafting and listed below from the official forums are the few things that did change.

Ironhide now has an increased chance to be skinned from level 52 mobs.

Feasts are more visible in low-light conditions.

Fishing related Artifacts are now searchable in your Artifacts tab.

Ability: Track Fish: No longer dismounts you on use.

Recipe: Timed Trophy Lure: No longer Bind-to-Account.

Both the Rare Fish Lure and the Rare Artifact Attractor now function in all dungeons that have fishable water.

1.11 Changes

Unlike 1.10, 1.11 brought massive changes to crafting and listed below in each section are the key updates. One change which is most welcomed for those of us with banks filled to the last slot with mats is that everything now stacks to 99! So make sure to combine multiple stacks to gain some room back in your banks. Below are all the changes that were posted on the official forums:
 

* Normalized the rate of gaining skill points for all recipes across all professions.
* All crafting daily quest reward bags have been rebalanced.
- Reward bags will have slightly reduced amounts of crafting materials.
- To offset this, reward bags now have more rare rewards including Salvaged Materials, Augments, Artisan’s Marks and Master Craftsman’s Marks.
* Ironhide now has an increased chance to be skinned from level 52 mobs.
* The random Augment boxes have been removed.
* The cost of a Master Craftsman’s Mark has been reduced to 400 Artisan Marks, (approximately one week of daily quests).
* Planar Attunement XP Crystals have been added to the Crafting Specialty Goods merchants.
- 1 Eternal Crystallized Insight can be purchased for 1 Master Craftsman’s Mark.
- 1 Pure Crystallized Insight can be purchased for 200 Artisan’s Marks.
- 1 Crystallized Insight can be purchased for 100 Artisan’s Marks.

Apothecary Changes

* To reduce the number of different Apothecary reagent types and save room in your bags, we've made the following changes!
* The following Reagents no longer appear in recipes and existing items have been converted to sale items:
- Bubbling Extract, Cloudy Extract, Potent Extract, Pure Extract
- Empty Crystal Bottle, Empty Gilded Flask, Empty Glass Bottle, Empty Glass Flask, Empty Runed Bottle, Empty Runed Flask
- High Grade Sulfur, Low Grade Sulfur, Standard Grade Sulfur, Vinegar Concoction
* All 'Bottle' type recipe requirements now use a 'Set of Gilded Bottles'.
* All 'Flask' type recipe requirements now use a 'Set of Crystal Flasks'.
* All recipes that require Sulfur now just use 'Top Grade Sulfur'.
* Most recipes requiring Extracts have been changed to use an appropriate-tier acid instead.
* Most recipes requiring Vinegar Concoctions have been changed to use an appropriate-tier bone or tooth instead.
* All valid Apothecary reagents now stack to 99. To aid with identification, some reagent icons have been updated.
* Some reagent prices have been adjusted.
* The following recipes have been adjusted so they reach yellow and green difficulty sooner:
- Heroic Healing Tonic, Heroic Heartshatter Vial, Heroic Spiritshatter Vial, Tenacity, all Vials of [Element] Resistance.
* Removed recipes that had Notoriety requirements from the Apothecary Artisan Store. They are still sold by their respective Notoriety Quartermasters.
* The following potion recipes are now purchased with Artisan's Marks rather than gold:
- Recipe: Curse Elixir
- Recipe: Heroic Enduring Vial
- Recipe: Heroic Powersurge Vial
- Recipe: Heroic Brightsurge Vial
* The level of skill required to craft the lesser serums is no longer higher than that of recipes that use serums as ingredients.

Armorsmith Changes

* Increased the skill requirements on the recipe scrolls for Orichalcum Buckler, Orichalcum Chausses, Orichalcum Cuisses, and Orichalcum Gauntlets to match the skill requirements to craft the item.
* The following recipes have been adjusted so they reach yellow and green difficulty sooner:
- Thick Armor Plating, Thick Padding, Razor-Sharp Spikes, Carmintium Shield, Carmintium Buckler, Vitality
* Fixed a typo in the name of Faith-Forged Spaulders.

Artificer Changes

* The following recipes have been adjusted so they reach yellow and green difficulty sooner:
- Burning Powerstone, Burning Manastone, Burning Witchstone, Burning Spellstone, Sacred Tome, Sacred Fetish, Insight, Carmintium Lariat
* Adjusted the skill requirements to learn the following recipes so they match the skill required to craft the item:
- Platinum Necklace, Platinum Gorget, Ornate Platinum Choke, Fine Platinum Chain, Shadethorn Virage, Shadethorn Spellstaff

Outfitter Changes

* Increased the skill requirements on Recipe: Dusty Treasure Hunter’s Satchel to match the skill required to craft the item.
* The following recipes have been adjusted so they reach yellow and green difficulty sooner:
- Performance Insoles, Extra Sticky Grips, Lightweight Riding Chaps, Dusty Treasure Hunter's Satchel, Witchweave Cowl, Steeled Leather Brigandine, Aptitude, Spellspun Bag, Bolt of Spiritweave

Runecrafter Changes

* Adjusted the skill requirements to learn the following recipes so they match the skill required to craft the item:
- Blazing Unwavering Rune, Blazing Valorous Rune, Blazing Adamant Rune, Blazing Valorous Runeshard, Brilliant Air, Death, Earth, Fire, and Water Resistance Runes.

Survival Changes

* The recipes for Eel Fillet, Pome Ambrosia, Grilled Steak, and Jellied Ray will turn yellow and green difficulty sooner.
* Survival: Updated description on Bedrolls and Tents so their use is more clear.

Weaponsmith Changes

* The following recipes have been adjusted so they reach yellow and green difficulty sooner:
- Exquisite Oilstone, Exquisite Whetstone, Massive Weaponstone, Noise Canceling Coating, Carmintium Dagger, Carmintium Musket, Carmintium Halberd, Finesse
* Adjusted the skill requirements to learn the following recipes so they match the skill required to craft the item:
- Orichalcum Claymore, Orichalcum Mace, Orichalcum Ritual Blade, Shadethorn Bow

Salvaging Changes

* Salvage loot tables have been cleaned up. You will no longer sometimes be awarded with materials from the incorrect tier.
* Salvage materials no longer need to be combined into Salvaged, Reclaimed, Processed, or Refined materials.
- All recipes that require Salvaged Materials now use the base material.
- If you have combined Salvage items in your bank or bags, you will be able to convert these back to their component parts.
* Salvaged Bones have been completely removed from all Salvage tables.
- They are now flagged as Trash items.
- Normal Bone type crafting material can still be salvaged from items that awarded them previously.
* Uncommon and Rare items will salvage into normal Salvaged Materials.
* Epic items will salvage into Epic Salvaged Materials.
- Epic Salvaged Materials are required for all Epic Augment recipes.
- Epic Salvaged Materials also have a very low chance of being rewarded through the skill 300 Crafting Daily reward bags.

Augment Changes

* All Augment recipes now require Salvaged Materials.
* Several Augments will no longer drop in the world and cannot be crafted or acquired by any means. They will not be removed from players who currently have them. If you still have one hiding in your bank, you will be able to use it.
- Scorpid Stinger
- Centair Tail
- Faerie Wing
- Phylactery
- Mistwalker Essence
- Gravemaker Hide
- Harpy Feather
- Werewolf Blood
- Dragon Turtle Shell
- Treant Bark
- Basilisk Tail
* All other existing Augments have been renamed to better communicate the bonuses they will apply.
- Below is a list of the existing Augment and its new name (they are named for the bonus it applies, plus a prefix to indicate tier/relative power, ex: Lesser Dexterity). The format is Old Name: New Name without tier indicator.
- Vespid Stinger: Attack Power
- Hellhound Heart: Endurance and Parry
- Wight Essence: Strength and Attack Power
- Thick Troll Hide: Strength and Melee Crit
- Adrenalite: Strength
- Etherialite: Intelligence
- Saintstone: Wisdom
- Thiefstone: Dexterity
- Vitalium: Endurance
- Sobek Eye: Spell Crit
- Bogling Eye: Dodge
- Deep One Tooth: Endurance and Block
- Whelp Scale: Wisdom and Spell Power
- Griffon Hide: Wisdom and Spell Crit
- Golem Core: Spell Power
- Satyr Horn: Endurance and Dodge
- Naga Scale: Intelligence and Spell Power
- Gnar Pincer: Intelligence and Spell Crit
- Dragonian Scale: Melee Crit
- Barghest Fang: Parry
- Demon Horn: Dexterity and Attack Power
- Razormaw Spine: Dexterity and Melee Crit
* Several new Augments have been added to fill the gaps in the Augment system.
- Block
- Deflect
- Crit Power
- Strength and Crit Power
- Wisdom and Crit Power
- Intelligence and Crit Power
- Dexterity and Crit Power
- Endurance and Deflect

* Augments will no longer drop in the world. They can now only be acquired through crafting and the crafting daily quest reward bag.
- All Augments can now be crafted by each profession except Runecrafter.
- New recipes for all of the below Augments can be found on your profession trainer and at your profession’s Artisan Store merchant.
- Uncommon Augments can be trained at your crafting profession trainer at skill levels 50, 150, and 225.
- Rare and Epic Augments can be purchased at your crafting profession Artisan Store for Artisan’s Marks and Master Craftsman’s Marks.
- Because of the changes and reductions to the material costs of the recipes, all Augment recipes will now only make one Augment.
- Existing Uncommon Augment recipes have been removed from the Artisan Store merchant. If you already purchased these recipes, but had not trained them yet, you will still be able to learn the recipe from the scroll.
* The bonus stats applied by Augments have been normalized. In some cases, this mean dual-stat Augments will be slightly better than their single-stat counterparts. Because of this, dual-stat Augments are generally more expensive to craft.
* The available Augments are broken down amongst the professions as follows:
* Apothecary
- Dexterity
- Endurance
- Intelligence
- Wisdom
- Strength
- Crit Power (new Augment)
* Armorsmith
- Attack Power
- Block (new Augment)
- Endurance and Parry
- Strength and Attack Power
- Strength and Melee Crit
- Strength and Crit Power (new Augment)
* Artificer:
- Spell Crit
- Dodge
- Endurance and Block
- Wisdom and Spell Power
- Wisdom and Spell Crit
- Wisdom and Crit Power (new Augment)
* Outfitter:
- Spell Power
- Deflect (new Augment)
- Endurance and Dodge
- Intelligence and Spell Power
- Intelligence and Spell Crit
- Intelligence and Crit Power (New Augment)
* Weaponsmith:
- Melee Crit
- Parry
- Endurance and Deflect (new Augment)
- Dexterity and Attack Power
- Dexterity and Melee Crit
- Dexterity and Crit Power (new Augment)

Crafted Temporary Enchanment Changes

* All Temporary Enhancement recipes require normal crafting materials. They no longer require any Salvage Materials to craft.
* The tooltips for Armor Plating have been updated to reflect that the bonus is Armor and not “Physical Resistance”.
* Armor contributions from Armor Plating have been increased to improve their value and usability.
* Whetstones and Oilstones no longer add “Weapon DPS”. They have been converted to add Attack Power instead.
* New ranks of Oilstone have been added to smooth out enhancement progression.
* New ranks of Powerstone have been added to smooth out enhancement progression.
* The Spell Power bonus given by Powerstones has been reduced. Powerstones are now equal to Oilstones in terms of the bonus they will apply.
* Manastones are no longer restricted to Totems. They can be applied to any Offhand item.
* Witchstones are no longer restricted to Staves. They can be applied to any 2-handed item.
* Sticky Grips will no longer reduce Disarm effects in PvP.
* Spellstones will no longer reduce Silence effects in PvP.
* All Temporary Enhancements now stack to 99.

Storm Legion Exclusive Interview with Elrar and the Rift Team!

Recently I got a chance to talk with Elrar and the Rift Team about what we as crafters can expect for Storm Legion. As always our devs and the Rift Team are hard at work to find more ways to not only improve the crafting experince for the player base but to ensure crafting remains a key part in game play including the end game. Below are the things we discussed!

1. How many new trade skills are we getting?

[Rift Team] Storm Legion will not introduce any new trade skills, instead it focuses on making the existing trade skills more compelling and integrated with the overall game. We debated a new trade skill specifically for the dimension feature but realized it would be better if we could get ALL of the current crafters involved with Dimensions instead of making them start all over with a new skill.

2. Any chance you will expand the number of trade skills a single toon can learn? A lot of crafters have learned them all across many different toons but it would be nice to learn more or all of them on a single toon if we choose. Alternatively are there any plans to allow us to learn at least one Manufacturing trade skill if we have all 3 gathering and vice versus?

[RIFT team] Right now we’re keeping the number of trade skills per character the same as the current live game.

3. Crafting related PA? stuff like making harvesting faster, chance of getting a double harvest with one attempt, small chances to retain material during crafting, and increasing the duration of crafted item buffs like from 30 mins in survival buffs to 1hr, for example.

[RIFT Team] Storm Legion does not introduce a new crafting PA system, however harvesting, augmenting, and salvaging have all gotten many improvements in order to make them more enjoyable. We want to see how these play out before we add anything on to the system.

4. Crafting related epic quest? something like a Crafting Saga that in the end could grant a special crafting prefix and a item (like a trinket or cloak) that gives a chance to get back some of the materials used when crafting or some other crafting related bonus?

[RIFT Team] Storm Legion won’t introduce any long custom quest lines for crafting, but what we do after launch is still completely open. However, crafters should prepare to be more involved with existing quests, dungeons and raids b/c many players will be seeking you out after playing through the Storm Legion content.

5. Will there be new nodes to mine, flowers to pick (different ores, flowers, lumber, etc) or will the new recipes continue to use current end game material?

[RIFT Team] Yes, we’re adding two new continents so of course we’re adding new things to harvest from them. While the majority of new recipes will require new materials there are a number that also use materials harvested from the original game.

6. Will new vendor recipes continue to use Master Craft marks or will there be a new currency?

[RIFT Team] Still working out all the exact details on how the Artisan store will work in Storm Legion, however it is safe to say all of the artisan and master craftsman marks you have saved up will be used in the expansion.

7. Since we will now be Grandmaster Craftsmen, will the mark reward for crafting dailies be increased from 21 to 30 or something along those lines?

[RIFT Team] Yup there will be more Grandmaster crafting quests and they will award people with Grandmaster quality rewards.

8. Any plans to allow us to be able to craft some survival related MEEEEADDDDD? Or any drinks really? While the foods do the same or better then current in game drinks, adding some drink recipes can add flavor for Role Players and give a different way to provide different buffs then what the food offers.

[RIFT Team] Survival is still mainly food based, but there is some possibility that we’ll be adding some thematic drinks and recipes, especially when our seasonal holidays roll back around.

9. If you could, tell us a little about how you are going to keep crafters a important part of gearing up in Storm Legion. A example would be can we expect that new seals for lvl 60 will still be crafter made only and that the top of the line ones will come from mats obtained in the new raid zones?

[RIFT Team] Improving the integration of crafters into the overall game (especially endgame) has been a big goal for us in Storm Legion. Crafters will still be one of the easiest ways to get full suits of gear while leveling up, and thanks to Augments crafted items will stay relevant longer. Speaking of Augments, we’ve made acquiring augments significantly easier for crafters. Instead of having to scour the world to find them we’re allowing different trade skills to craft different augments using salvaged materials. So while your skilling up you might want to break some of those items down so you can make more powerful gear for your friends.

In addition we’ve spent a good deal of time making sure that various crafted items slot better in the overall game progression. While crafters will remain the only source for seals, they will also find that certain item slots are pretty tough to fill without a crafter even for expert and raid content. In addition crafters will be one of the sources for materials to further upgrade certain special items players obtain via quests, events, dungeons and raids.

Finally we’re taking a look at consumable items. Certain highly desirable consumables such as temporary item enchants will become more readily available and require more traditional resources. This means you won’t have to break down 1000’s of items to supply your guild for raids. Instead you can make use of the big stacks of materials you’ve harvested that have been gathering dust in your bank.

As you can see a lot of changes are coming our way for Storm Legion. While we will be getting new materials it would seem it would be wise to hang on to current top tier mats. A big thanks to Elrar and the Rift Team for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer these questions! If I receive any more crafting information I will be sure to post it here. In the mean time I will be counting down the days to Storm Legion launch!

Crafting Updates for 1.9!

With 1.9 hitting live on the 27th we once again got some much needed crafting love. As Always our Trion devs work hard to give us new content and it looks like they hit the nail on the head once again and fixed a few issues for lower level crafters. As the recipes are still on the pts they will not be included here as they are subject to change, however when 1.9 goes live I will be adding all new recipes to their respective topics found here at Rift Craft and will update this post accordingly.
 

Conquest- PVP CRAFTING HAS ARRIVED!

Thats right, you read that correctly, at long last crafters will be able to contribute to the war efforts in pvp by crafting materials for bonus for your faction and upgrades like portable turrents. For now these abilities and new crafts apply to the new PVP Conquest but you never know what the future may hold for pvp related crafting. Below are what each trade skill makes in Conquest, all trade skill's can make the portable Turrents and Lifesprings:

Apothecary make Balm of Healing and Balm of Mounted Swiftness

Weaponsmiths make Baton of Rage and Baton Swiftness

Outfitters make Ethereal Insoles and Ethereal Padding

Armorsmith's make Otherworldly Plating and Otherworldly Endurance

Artificier's make Stone of Quickness and Stone of Rage

Runecrafter's make Shard of Endurance and Shard of Healing

New Survival Recipes!

In a effort to make our newest trade skill more useful the devs have added several new recipes to the merchants for you to learn. Also there is a new feast to be found and a dev confirmed this on the pts but I had no luck in getting it myself, I will post a update if and when its found on live. And for you costume lovers out there we get a brand new outfit to craft that is survivalist themed as well!
 

New Crafting Dailies

New crafting dailies have been added for the Survival trade skill and are available from your crafter daily npc in your home city. These dailies require components that obtain either by fishing or by buying them off the auction house. You can find more information about crafting dailies on the Daily Crafting Quests page.
 

General Changes

Below is a list of the changes that were posted on the official forums that relate to crafting:
 

* The Crafting Daily quests for 300 skill have been updated!

* Added a new reward chest to 300 skill-level Crafting Daily quests. This Master Supply Chest has improved rewards and a chance for a Master Craftsman's Mark.

* The Planar Attunement experience crystal reward will now only be available to level 50 characters.

* Adjusted material costs for the 300 skill-level Crafting Daily quests. In general, they've been reduced. Material requirements now have more variety and variance between different quests.Apothecary: Heroic Rootcatch Brew now requires Twilight Bloom instead of Basiliskweed Stems.

* Salvaging items now takes 75% less time per item.

* Weekly Quest item recipes now sort under the Quest category on the Crafting window.

* Costume item recipes now sort under the Costume category on the Crafting window.

* Apothecary: Items in Apothecary Daily reward bags have been adjusted to better match ingredient demand.

* Fishing: The Rare Artifact Attractor now works in Hammerknell instances.

Barbershop

At long last the Barbershop has been added! You can find the npcs in your home city with the title Stylist underneath their names. For a nominal fee you can completely remake your characters image. However at this time you can not change your gender or your race, I am sorry ascended I am afraid we can not allow you to do that…for now! Below are some of the things you can do at the barbershop:

* You can change your height, did your character grow will adventuring in the world? did you shrink? Blame the Fae!

* You can change your hair style and color to whatever you want.

* You can change your tattoos if you had any or if you didn't have one before you can add one now!

* You can adjust your facial features. Has your nose been smashed to many times by a goblin and needs to appear flatend? well now you can achieve that look!

* Don't forget that with people changing their appearances they will likely be shopping for new appearance gear so get your costume recipes ready and don't forget to craft up dyes!

Crafting Updates in 1.8

When 1.8 hit live we got some much needed crafting love. As Always our Trion devs work hard to give us new content and it looks like they hit the nail on the head!
 

Seals

A new equipment slot has been created and can be found in the character window underneath where your boots would go. This new equipment known as a Seal can only be made by a crafter, there is no other way to obtain one. This is exiciting has it ensures crafters will always be needed and in demand for those who need a Seal made. Every profession except Runecrafters can create a seal, while the runecrafters get to provide runes for the new equipment.

Apothecary make Strength Seals

Weaponsmiths make Dexterity Seals

Outfitters make Intelligence Seals

Armorsmith's make Endurance Seals

Artificier's make Wisidom Seals

Runecrafter's can not make any seals however they can Rune the seals with either Attack Power or Spell Power.

New Tradeskills

At long last we finally are getting two new tradeskills: Fishing and Survival! The food you can make with Surival currently uses the fish you get while fishing and is considered BIS as far as food buffs go including beating out vendor food. Sadly you can not stack thse buffs except for the birthday cakes which stack with all known food buffs. Trapping was also mentioned to be in the works and deals with catching animals found throughout rift and taming them making them your pets. This did not go live however and is subject to change, if it does we will let you know. Below are some of the highlights of the two new tradeskills from the offical forums:
 

* Two new tradeskills are now available: Fishing and Survival, which deal with fishing equipment, catching fish, turning them into handy buff foods, and camping gear that provides the Rested buff.

* Either or both of these skills can be learned alongside your existing three tradeskills and will not take up one of those slots.

* See the new Fishing trainers in Sanctum or Meridian, or go talk to the introductory NPCs and trainers in Argent Glade or Kelari Refuge to get started!

* The enterprising Fisher will find various treasure, artifacts, or even companion pets in addition to food materials.

* An adventurous Survivalist can not only cook fish into delicious meals – that provide a variety of benefits – but also craft tents and bedrolls to bring some comfort to the outdoors.

New Crafting Dailies

New crafting dailies have been added for every tradeskill and are aviable once you hit 300 skill in your respective tradeskill. These dailies have unquie compents that will be provided to you by your quest giver along with requring you to provide high level mats to finish creating each item. You can find more information about crafting dailies on the Daily Crafting Quests page.
 

General Changes

Below is a list of the changes that were posted on the offical forums:
 

* All Planar Essences should now be able to be Salvaged or Runebroken appropriately.

* Harvestable mobs from levels 40-44 now grant Titanium when mined.

* Apothecary: Glorified Healing Potion now requires 3 Twilight Bloom instead of 4 Basiliskweed Stems.

* Apothecary: Heroic Rootcatch Brew now requires Twilight Bloom instead of Basiliskweed Stems.

* Apothecary: Mighty Brightsurge Vials and Mighty Powersurge Vials now have comparable material requirements.

* Apothecary: Pure Adrenalite, Etherialite, Saintstone, Thiefstone, Valorstone, and Vitalium now require Eternal Planar Dust instead of Endless Planar Dust.

* Apothecary: Sheepish Concoction has its duration extended to 5 minutes. Recipe now requires Soulbind Leather instead of Reinforced Leather.

* Outfitter: Recipes for Witchweave Cowl, Witchweave Breeches, and Witchweave Bag have had their skill level requirements adjusted to match the skill required to create the item.

* Outfitter: Recipes for Steeled Leather Brigandine, Steeled Leather Boots, and Steeled Leather Leggings have had their skill level requirements adjusted to match the skill required to create the item.

* Outfitter: Conditioned Leather Jerkin recipe has been adjusted to require more Steeled Leather and less Cinerium Bars.

* Outfitter: Recipes for Implacable Steel Gauntlets have had their material requirements adjusted to be in line with other similar recipes.

* Weaponsmith: Runeguard Blunderbuss now properly requires the Forge instead of a Workbench.

* Weaponsmith: Recipes for Lightsmasher, Malevolent Greataxe, and Spark Smiter have their material requirements adjusted to be in line with other similar recipes.

Gathering Profession Changes

Below is a list of the changes that were posted on the offical forums:
 

* Butchering: Bulk recipes have been added to Butchering Trainers for base materials. These new recipes will allow you to process 20 hide directly into 20 leather.

* Butchering skillups from creating leather have been normalized.

* Butchering: Skill requirements for Butchering mobs have been normalized to improve the overall rate and progression of skilling up Butchering.

* Skinning now counts properly toward Achievements for harvesting.

* Foraging: Bulk recipes have been added to Foraging Trainers for base materials. These new recipes will allow you to process 20 raw wood directly into 20 pieces of lumber.

* Foraging skillups from creating lumber have been normalized.

* Foraging: Pristine Distillate now requires 260 Foraging skill to both learn the recipe and craft the item.

* Mining: Bulk recipes have been added to Mining Trainers for base materials. These new recipes will allow you to process 20 ore directly into 20 bars.

* Mining skillups from creating bars have been normalized.

Leaderboards

Leaderboards have been added and allow you to compete with your fellow crafters dealing with anyhting ranging from crafting items to the most harvests done. Below are the highlights of this new feature.

* Characters can now compete and compare their activities via Leaderboards that track various stats and achievements in a wide variety of Ladders – PvE, PvP, Raiding, Crafting, and more!

* Characters will be placed in a League (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond) and Division for each of these Ladders. Compete on the Leaderboards within a Ladder to increase your score, gain a higher rank, and reach a higher League!

* On each Leaderboard, see where you're at among your Friends list, your Guildmates, the top 50 of your Wargroup, or Divisions that attempt to match your character up against similarly progressed characters.

* View Leaderboards via the Social menu button, or use the default hotkey ';'.

* Leaderboard positions are tracked and can be shown for the current week, the previous week, and the best overall week (historic high).

* Your character's League is refreshed daily. In cases of extended absence, your character can rise or drop at most one League, as it will be updated on your next login.

* At the release of 1.8, Leaderboards will be using some recent historic data, but expect to see quite a bit of shuffling as the first week of live activity is shown.

* For some of the more involved boards, mousing over the Leaderboard's icon will show a tooltip with details on what activities count toward scores.
 

1.4 Crafting Updates Coming

Thanks to Erick Zann, the Asst Community Manager at Trion Worlds, I was directed to the new 1.4 updates page on the main Rift site. I just love how Twitter keeps me informed of game news and game related happenings. I have met so many Rift fans through Twitter.

Anyway! On to the juicy crafting bits:

  • New rare materials: New tier of epic materials for each harvesting profession
  • New crafted item sets: Eight new crafted item sets for dungeon and raid players
  • Player-crafted augments: Apothecaries can salvage planar essences to make powerful item augments

And though it isn't exactly crafting related, it is worth pointing out:

  • Quest Item Keyring: Save space in your inventory with an extra bag to hold your quest items

Though I can't see why the Apothecary profession makes sense to be given the ability to make augments… I do understand why. The Apothecary profession really needs some love in the sense that no one wants to sell or buy anything other than Black and White dyes. Sure you can find healing potions on the AH, but otherwise, not much else for Apothecaries to profit from other than those dyes. So perhaps this will make up for a lot.

I'm particularly excited to also see that there will finally be player made sets of gear. Other than a few level 300 pieces, a full set of player made gear doesn't exist currently. As the details indicate "for raid players", I'm hoping this means raid ready quality too. It seems to, doesn't it? So let's hope! That means those of us that took the time to skill up Outfitting and Armorsmithing will see something worthwhile to do and make at skill level 300.

Let's hope for more player made costume gear too!

The other thing I'm really thrilled about here is that taking all 3 gathering professions on the same character will finally have more purpose (and reward). I often bemoaned the fact that if your character took all 3 gathering professions, that character missed out on having the ability to gain experience from daily crafting quests and no way to spend Plaques that you got with the previous World Event (remember the hateful Corrupted Coins quest line). Granted there have not been any other quests that give out crafting Plaques since, but at the time I was a bit annoyed to get them when there was no way I could ever spend them.

Therefore, being able to gather "epic" materials through the gathering professions will make those of us that took them even more important to other crafters (and our alts!). Probably moreso for end game items (probably those new gear sets). Another way to make money in the AH too, of course.

Well done Trion! I'll be looking forward to 1.4 quite a bit. And I'm sure many crafting fans (fanatics!) will be too.

New Titles – Scavenger Hunt, Trivia and Where in the World is Elrar?

Just had to share with you the recent post in the official forums that announces new in-game Titles. So much fun to be had! Stay tuned to this thread for more information.

Where in the World is Elrar?

Elrar has been visiting Telara and exploring every nook and cranny! Can you keep up with him? We want you to identify where he has been!

We will post a screenshot on the forum of Elrar taken somewhere in Telara. Find the same spot and take a screenshot of your character in the same place. Post it on the Official Forums. The first 15 people to post a shot of their own character in the same spot as Elrar will be awarded the in game title of “the Stalker!”

Winners will be announced on the forums and the titles will be distributed the following week.

(I swear he doesn't always talk in the third person )

Telaran Scavenger Hunt

We will post the name and image of an item in Telara on the forum. Find the item in the game and take a screenshot of it in your character’s inventory. Post it on the Official Forums. The first 15 people who post a shot of their own character with the specified item will be awarded the in game title of “the Detective!”

Winners will be announced on the forums and the titles will be distributed the following week.

Trivia of Telara

We will post a trivia question about Rift on the forums, Facebook or Twitter. The first person to post the correct answer will be granted the title of “the Know-it-all.”

Community Titles

Apart from winning a community contest, there are two other ways to gain a community title.

Guide Writing- Many of our community members have gone out of their way to make life a little easier for their fellow Telarans. They have written helpful guides and posted them on our forums. All of these writers will be awarded the title of “the Town Crier.” Any future writers who submit guides that are selected to be displayed on our forums will also be awarded this title.

Introducing Rift-Experts.com

A good friend of mine is launching his new site Rift-Experts.com this morning. Rift Experts is a community-driven Question and Answer site for Trion Worlds’ MMORPG Rift: The Planes of Telara. If you've got questions about the game, you can post them on Rift Experts for other players to anwser.

Create your free account at Rift Experts and pitch in with YOUR Expertise on the game. Or get answers to those things you just couldn't find anywhere else.

I'm a huge supporter on the site and will be pitching in for Crafting related questions. Why don't you stop by and check the site out now?

Crafting Updates in Patch 1.3

Well, not a lot to report for Crafters in this patch. But those of us that took Apothecary will be extremely pleased I think. It seems that the profession got a total rehaul. And thank the gods for that!

Apothecary Crafters Rejoice!

Foraging drops have increased from 3 to 4 item possibilities. Foraging nodes have been increased, you'll find new spots since the patch! Best of all, though, is that frequently used plants have had their respawn rate increased. We'll have to wait and see if it is enough, too much or just right. Here's hoping!

You'll want to go over all your Apothecary Recipes as some have changed. Some plants are used more and less frequently than before. Krakenweed is now in a recipe, finally!

Apothecaries also have a new recipe called "Catalytic Essence" which converts Minor Catalyst to catalytic essence. Apothecary recipes that previously used Minor Catalyst now use Catalytic Essences instead.

High-level Apothecary recipes have had their costs re-evaluated:

- Bottles of Critical Strikes/Bottles of Spellstrikes recipes now craft a quantity of 3.
- All Vial recipes now produce a quantity of 4

Other Changes of Note

Weaponstones and Witchstones have changed effects.

Pulsing Witchstone: Spell crit strikes have a chance to do an extra 177 dmg for 4 hours

Sparkling Witchstone: Spell crit strikes have a chance to do an extra 249 dmg for 4 hours

Burning Witchstone: Spell crit strikes have a chance to do an extra 311 dmg for 4 hours

Heavy Weaponstone: Physical crit strikes have a chance to do an extra 177 dmg for 4 hours

Mighty Weaponstone: Physical crit strikes have a chance to do an extra 249 dmg for 4 hours

Massive Weaponstone: Physical crit strikes have a chance to do an extra 311 dmg for 4 hours

 

Only Outfitters will now get the quest item drops "downy cloth" et al. Finally!

And new Armorsmith recipes may be found in Stillmoor for costumes.

See the full list of Crafting changes in the 1.3 Patch Notes

 

 

Crafting Updates in Patch 1.2

Some really interesting and great changes for crafting in Rift this patch! I'm pretty excited about a few of them, particularly the crafting rifts and the auction house changes. I'm also thrilled to see some crafting related guild quests and the new weeklies. There are even a few fixes to things that have annoyed crafters since release!

The first change I'm glad to see, is being able to search your profession window. You can now enter search terms into the bottom text box area that will help you find specific items for specific stats and slots. For example, if you type "spell" (without the quotes) into your Runecrafting profession window, you will see results for runes that give both Spell Crit and Spell Hit. If you type "spell hit" then of course you will find only runes that have that stat on them. It will also return runes by slot item. If you type "glove", it will show you all the runes that are usable on gloves. FANTASTIC! This is a feature we've been asking for a long time. Especially for runecrafting.

Crafting Rifts

While I have yet to personally experienced the new Crafting Rifts, my husband has already gotten ingredients for several lures. So you will soon find a recipe and ingredient list for Crafting Lures at Rift-Craft.com. Here's the 1.2 patch notes regarding Crafting Rifts:

* Lures for Crafting Rifts and are obtained by completing the new weekly crafting quests in addition to the tradeskill-specific Plaque the quest awards.
* These Rifts drop raw materials, Augments, and other goodies for crafters.
* Reaching the final stages gives a chance of obtaining an additional plaque!
* Crafting Rift lures open a Rift of appropriate level for the zone. In addition, materials awarded are also based on the zone level where the Rift is opened.
* All levels of crafting Rifts give a chance for an additional plaque from the bonus stages, even below your character level.
* Bring your friends and spread the wealth!

Crafting Rift Lures

Other specific details regarding how to get crafting lures are as follows:

* Added weekly quests to Meridian and Sanctum to obtain a random Expert Rift lure.
* Crafting Rift lures open a Rift of appropriate level for the zone. In addition, materials awarded are also based on the zone level where the Rift is opened.
* You may now purchase Expert and Raid Rift Lures if you have the required Planar Notoriety of the appropriate type – or purchase husks which no longer have a Notoriety requirement to obtain.
* New weekly crafting quests have been added for all six production skills. Each awards a plaque as well as a Rift Lure that can be used to open a 'Crafting Rift' (details above).

General Crafting Updates/Changes

Most exciting are the newly added weekly crafting quests that award a crafting plaque and a lure for a crafting rift.

* New weekly crafting quests have been added for all six production skills. Each awards a plaque as well as a Rift Lure that can be used to open a 'Crafting Rift' (details above).
* Crafting daily and weekly quests now scale to match your character level and always award appropriate experience and notoriety. INCLUDING GUILD foraging weekly quest
* The recipe window now has a Search feature! Search recipe names, ingredient names, equipment slots, and Rune 'usable on' slots for recipes that your character knows. You can also filter by the type of modification a Rune provides (Strength, Spell Power, etc).
* For each production skill, one Master workorder has been bumped up to 250 minimum skill instead of 230.
* Minor Catalysts now only drop from Elite or dungeon mobs.
* Restricted the drop of crafting Cores to specific mob types when in Shimmersand, Iron Pine Peaks, and Stillmoor – once discovered, these can be targeted for hunting if you're after more Cores!
* Slightly increased the drop rate of all crafting quest items. In addition, they can now be found on a wider variety of mobs and resource nodes.
* A number of new recipes have been added to the Artisan Stores.

I have also personally noticed an increase in the rare quest item drops for crafting recipes. Potent sap (for the foraging distillates) and various leather quest items have already found their way into a few of my character's inventories. Yay! Though I still see Outfitting quest item drops on characters who do not have that profession. The patch notes had indicated that "Exquisite Cloth, Light Downy Cloth, and Tough Silken Cloth now only drop for Outfitters". I did not find that to be true.

Profession Changes

The following are some of the profession specific changes as of the 1.2 patch:

Runecrafting
* Redistributed some ingredients in Runecrafting recipes! The changes are as follows:
-Unwavering Rune recipes now use Perpetuals in their recipes instead of Sentience Runecrafting materials.
-Resolute Rune recipes now use Perpetuals in their recipes.
-Recondite Runeshard recipes now use Sentiences instead of Kinetics.
-Potent Rune recipes now use Perpetuals instead of Kinetics.
* Made adjustments to sync up Runebreaking and Outfitter better. Previously, items crafted by Outfitters were too high level to be runebroken by an equal-level Runecrafter. The level ranges for Runebreaking have been updated and expanded to account for this and to be more flexible in general.

Apothecary
- Order of Mathos Workorder: Mighty Bottle of Critical Strikes has been changed to Workorder: Mighty Healing Tonic, which does not include Pristine Distillate as an ingredient, and requires 250 skill to receive this quest.
* Bottle of Spellstrikes and Bottle of Critical Strikes now trigger the effect 'Bitter Aftertaste', which prevents another such potion from being used for 60 seconds.
* Workorder: Basic Healing Tonics and Workorder: Mighty Healing Tonics (previously Mighty Bottle of Critical Strikes) are no longer set as level 1 quests.
* Death Warding Potions have been renamed to Unholy Warding Potions.

Weaponsmithing
* Recipes for Quicksilver Bow and Hunting Bow now require only 1 Core each.

Salvaging
* A number of items from Dungeons and Raids were not able to be Salvaged or Runebroken. Now all dropped equipment in Expert Dungeons or Raids should be salvageable or runebreakable.
* The following items now Salvage correctly: Silver Choker, Lariat, and Pendant; Gold Chain, Choker, Gorget, and Lariat; Fine Platinum Chain; Platinum Choker, Gorget, and Necklace.

Mining
* Tweaked node respawn rates in Shimmersand, Moonshade, Scarlet Gorge, Scarwood Reach, Iron Pine Peak, and Stillmoor. Adjusted respawn rates and frequency of Orichalcum, Shadethorn, and Twilight Bloom.

Butchering
* Fixed miscellaneous Butchering issues: Telthaeus in Stillmoor can now be butchered for proper loot. Blackhorn Grazers and other Cattle mobs (with the exception of critters) can be butchered. Sloptongue mobs no longer require 215 butchering, which was way above level, and have been adjusted accordingly.

Auction House and General UI Changes

* Adjusted window size and panels.
* Browse: Moved Results field to the bottom of the window. Reduced size of Category filter dropdowns.
* Auction: Added a checkbox to set the same price as an existing auction on new auctions.
* You can now filter results by Item Rarity, Calling, Lesser or Greater Essence types, Min or Max Buyout Price.
* All tabs can be sorted by stack size.
* The Auction and Bids tab can be sorted by unit price.
* Clicking a text field on the Auction UI now highlights existing text in that field.
* Pressing the ENTER key when creating an auction now creates that auction.
* You can now price an auction you are creating by buyout price or unit price.
* You can now automatically set the starting price to be the same as the buyout price when creating an auction.
* Auction prices now always display the Bid amount above the Buyout amount, and the location of the Bid amount does not move if there is no Buyout set.
* The Auction House now shows "Apothecary" rather than "Alchemy" when searching recipes.
* Made better error messages for the Auction House.

UI Settings
* The crafting window should no longer reset the scroll bar position randomly while you have it open – same with the skill and soul training windows.

We've seen some great changes in this patch. Including some interesting new stuff (like the Crafting Rifts) and some muchly needed improvements to the Auction House UI as well as (finally) some fixes in drop rates for those hatefully rare recipe quest items. Seeing things going forward with regular updates sure gives Rift fans a sense of how much Trion seems to truly care about their players.

If only they would improve the search feature for finding runes and augments by slot and stat boost type in the Auction House! Perhaps we'll see that in a future update. Here's hoping! In the meantime, stay tuned to Rift Craft. I'll have a page up for finding runes by slot and stat type in the near future (you can already find augments on the Augementations page).

(Source)

Crafting Patches in 1.2

Wow, there is a LOT of updates in Rift's 1.2 patch! It's great to see some of these long time coming changes and some I didn't even expect. I am not holding my breath about finally seeing the rarer crafting quest item drops actually improve, but there is a suggestion that they have. Read on!

Crafting Rifts

First up, there are now Crafting Rifts. Lures for Crafting Rifts and are obtained by completing the new weekly crafting quests in addition to the tradeskill-specific Plaque the quest awards. You can also get a chance at additional plaques in the final stages of a crafting rift. Apparently, the lures open a level appropriate rift for the zone. Regardless of your player level, the final stages of a crafting rift can result in an additional plaque (a lower zone level crafting rift, for example).

New Weekly Crafting Quests and Dailies Changes

That's right, there are now weekly crafting quests in addition to the dailies. These result in a plaque and a crafting rift lure. Also regarding crafting quests, some dailies at the 230 skill range have been bumped up to the next level.

For each production skill, one Master workorder has been bumped up to 250 minimum skill instead of 230

Some work orders have been fixed:

*Order of Mathos Workorder: Mighty Bottle of Critical Strikes has been changed to Workorder: Mighty Healing Tonic, which does not include Pristine Distillate as an ingredient, and requires 250 skill to receive this quest.

*Workorder: Basic Healing Tonics and Workorder: Mighty Healing Tonics (previously Mighty Bottle of Critical Strikes) are no longer set as level 1 quests.

And some work orders have been changed:

* Icewatch Workorder: Radiant Rage Runeshards now requires 250 skill to receive this quest.
* Icewatch Workorder: Soulbind Leather Shoulders now requires 250 skill to receive this quest.
* Dragonslayer Covenant Workorder: Carmintium Sabatons has been changed to require Carmintium Pauldrons, and requires 250 skill to receive this quest.
* Dragonslayer Covenant Workorder: Carmintium Longsword has been changed to require Carmintium Stilettos, and requires 250 skill to receive this quest.
* Armorsmithing Workorders that duplicated the required items from other workorders of the same rank have been updated – in most cases this means a Sabaton Workorder now asks for Boots instead.

Crafting Quest Item Drops

Though it doesn't specifically mention the Distillate line of quests for Foraging, the final missing ingredient in many Apothecary recipes, the single item preventing a lot of dailies from being completed at all… It is mentioned that:

* Slightly increased the drop rate of all crafting quest items. In addition, they can now be found on a wider variety of mobs and resource nodes.

Redistributed Ingredients

-Unwavering Rune recipes now use Perpetuals in their recipes instead of Sentience Runecrafting materials.
-Resolute Rune recipes now use Perpetuals in their recipes.
-Recondite Runeshard recipes now use Sentiences instead of Kinetics.
-Potent Rune recipes now use Perpetuals instead of Kinetics.
* Recipes for Quicksilver Bow and Hunting Bow now require only 1 Core each.
* Fine Leather Shoulders now require Fine Leather instead of Reinforced Leather.
* Enchanted Cores and Evergreen Cores can now be found in both Silverwood and Freemarch.

UI Changes for Crafters

Finally! The scrollbar will no longer be possessed with a mind of its own while crafting.

* The crafting window should no longer reset the scroll bar position randomly while you have it open – same with the skill and soul training windows.

Auction House UI Improvements

* Adjusted window size and panels.
* Browse: Moved Results field to the bottom of the window. Reduced size of Category filter dropdowns.
* Auction: Added a checkbox to set the same price as an existing auction on new auctions.
* You can now filter results by Item Rarity, Calling, Lesser or Greater Essence types, Min or Max Buyout Price.
* All tabs can be sorted by stack size.
* The Auction and Bids tab can be sorted by unit price.
* Clicking a text field on the Auction UI now highlights existing text in that field.
* Pressing the ENTER key when creating an auction now creates that auction.
* You can now price an auction you are creating by buyout price or unit price.
* You can now automatically set the starting price to be the same as the buyout price when creating an auction.
* Auction prices now always display the Bid amount above the Buyout amount, and the location of the Bid amount does not move if there is no Buyout set.

There are also plenty of minor changes and fixes to recipes and typo fixes for tooltips, augments and items.

All in all, not a bad set of updates! Here's to seeing more crafting quest item drops and better node respawn times.

* Tweaked node respawn rates in Shimmersand, Moonshade, Scarlet Gorge, Scarwood Reach, Iron Pine Peak, and Stillmoor. Adjusted respawn rates and frequency of Orichalcum, Shadethorn, and Twilight Bloom.

Here's a few official threads for discussion here and here.

PLEASE NOTE that not all of the above is live yet.