tactician
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Enter at Your Own Rift: Analysing Storm Legion's new souls
I still can't wrap my head around just how many metric tons of content are coming with RIFT: Storm Legion. It's an expansion that looks to put other expansions to shame by sheer size alone. Epeen competitions notwithstanding, any one of these major features would usually be good enough for a full expansion elsewhere. Take the new souls, for example. Storm Legion is adding four of them, one for each archetype. That's not just four additional classes but a hefty amount of additional combinations, since RIFT builds allow for three souls at a time. So each archetype is going from 56 unique soul combinations to a whopping 84. I can only imagine how much of a headache 336 different soul combinations are to balance, but fortunately I don't have to worry about it from my end. Instead, I want to take a look at the revealed new souls and speculate as to how they'll fit in with the game come next month.
RIFT reveals the Tactician, master of flamethrowers
RIFT has been updated with new areas and content since launch, but the upcoming Storm Legion expansion is set to seriously kick things up a notch. As if tripling the size of the game world weren't enough, the expansion will raise the level cap and add a new technology-based soul to each of the game's core classes. The battle-mage style Harbinger soul was revealed at Gamescom 2012 in August, followed by the Tempest, and data from the test server hinted that the remaining pair might be named Defiler and Tactician. Last night Trion Worlds confirmed our suspicions by revealing the new Rogue Tactician soul to livestream viewers. The Tactician uses a magical weapon that's part flamethrower and part fire extinguisher, able to deal incredible area-effect elemental damage to enemies but actually heal allies. Players using the soul can also place small devices called Cores on the ground to provide area-effect healing, buffs, and additional damage. The flamethrower-like weapon is directionally aimed and can be channelled while the player is moving, so clever positioning is required to get the most out of this unique soul.
RIFT's test shard hints at new soul names, future events
RIFT's Public Test Shard is a lovely place to take a peek into the future. After the shard's most recent update, such peeks are of a particularly informative variety. Three NPCs aboard the wreck of the ship Endeavor showcase what appear to be new Storm Legion soul names. These fine folk have the labels of Tempest, Defiler, and Tactician. A fourth NPC stands among them with the Harbinger title, which has already been confirmed as a soul for the expansion. The new names match up with hints dropped on the RIFT forums regarding the names of new soul trees. It isn't super official yet, but a new Warrior soul called Tempest, a Cleric soul called Defiler, and a Tactician soul for Rogues seem to all be safe bets. In addition to the delectable new soul teases, the PTS update brought in Tempest Rising, a new world event which introduces the awakening of Crucia. Players will evidently need to fight off Storm Legion baddies, spread the word of the Storm Legion's arrival, and otherwise make ready for the oncoming storm.
