Exciting News! Trion has decided to add a new weapon to Rift. Okay so this weapon is not exactly new to the MMO genre it is however a fresh addition to Telara. Even as I type this I can hear the masses applaud at its introduction. That’s right Defiant and Guardian players everywhere will soon feel the wrath of the dreaded nerf bat!
With the release of 1.2 the Rift developers will be swinging this trusty old MMO standard. The primary target of the devastation will be Expert Dungeons. The developers are calling this action “tuning our Expert Dungeons.” As you should be well aware, I call things like I see them. This is a NERF!
Apparently the bulk of most five man groups need two “full healer(s) on top of support heals” to complete Expert Dungeons. Damn, that is a lot of healing. Trion has decided that the 5man instances should be tuned so a single appropriately geared healer can solo heal the run.
In order to accomplish this tuning a number of things will happen with the release of 1.2. Here are a couple of the nerfs uh…. I mean tuning(s) that will take place.
- Reduce damage dealt by general Expert Dungeon NPC’s. (trash mobs won’t hit so hard)
- Items purchasable through Plaques of Achievement have had their power increased.(better stats on purchased gear)
The logic behind the nerfs is typical. By making the run easier and gear more powerful, more runs will be done by the average player. More runs = more plaques which in turn makes the content even easier to smash through. They are upping the cost of plaque gear because soon enough plaques will be falling from the sky.
It looks like there are a lot of fire standing monkeys blocking the overall rate of progression Trion was expecting. The classic cries of content being too hard and “we need better gear” have reached the developers ears. None of this is really surprising. In fact it is a pretty typical move. Not only is it typical of the developers, it is typical of the players as well.
