Many changes hit Rift's PTS in Friday's public event.

During Friday's Public Test event, Trion introduced an all new instance in the Chronicles of Telara as well as many changes and additions throughout the game. ZAM was at the event testing the changes and brings you this report.

First we checked out the new Chronicle called “Ceremony of Attunement.” This is a single-player, faction-specific instance which introduces new level 50's to endgame. It begins as an honors ceremony in Sanctum or Meridian. The player is lauded by his or her faction leader, and is then infused with the power of the planes. This will introduce new players to the Planar Attunement system and allow them to spend their very first Planar Attunement Point.

After the ceremony, Kain Sunsworn makes an appearance and proves that not all are happy with the Ascended's achievements. The player must then defend the capital city against a bedlam of foes. When complete, the player will be given several quests designed to introduce all aspects of end-game, and the instance quest rewards a weapon as well as a total of five Planar Attunement levels to begin his or her journey.

Huge class changes are also underway. Each class saw changes and some received soul point resets. Of particular note, Assassin Rogues saw a complete revamp from soul tree to abilities. Trion states the goal is: “More up front damage, less reliance on super-long, annoying DoTs. Better poisons. Less 'waste a finisher to apply a short buff.' Slip Away should not be a requirement to compete.” Some of the documented changes were Baneful Touch becoming a 20% damage buff, increased numbers on Poison Mastery and the removal of damage immunity while using Slip Away.

In PvP, voice-acting was added to Warfront Accolades. These announced the name of the accolade, but not the name of the player. Warfront Accolades were also only visible and audible within the same faction, meaning these will no longer be a tool to target players of the opposing faction.

Additionally, each city was given a new Planar Goods vendor who offered T1 synergy crystals. The new vendor was located in the same location as the other faction-city planar vendors. The new synergy crystals cost 60 Inscribed Sourcestones on public test and offered a selection of unique bonuses for each calling.

Many other changes were also added, such as the combining of Crystal Sourcestones into the Inscribed Sourcestone currency, the ability to turn the image of other players off from the interface options and many more. For a complete list of the current PTS build, please check here. Please note, however, that all of these changes are in testing and may change before going live.