The Big Fat Guide for 1.11 best specs thread

[Cupcaek]

Update: At the request of our friends at Trion, we have made the beta calculator private and available to those invited to the beta only. All the details are enclosed in this topic: http://beta.forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?t=5228
As soon as the NDA is lifted, we will make sure to make this public again.

So it's back to being hidden, for anyone worried about NDA issues.

You're quoting a post they made when they publicly posted the SL calc to their site in a blog post and then edited the post to remove the link. Otherwise, it's not hidden. It's publicly available if you search the keywords from my previous post. That's all my point was.

[russykh]

You're quoting a post they made when they publicly posted the SL calc to their site in a blog post and then edited the post to remove the link. Otherwise, it's not hidden. It's publicly available if you search the keywords from my previous post. That's all my point was.

He's right, I just had a look. Which is nice, because I actually know what the hell Defiler does now, which I didnt before, didnt see anywhere on the official forums (maybe thats just me being blind though) and seems utterly stupid not to have even basic information about classes up for people to see a month before release. I shouldnt have to pre-order to get access to a beta (or even play a beta if it were just a case of opting in to get guaranteed access) to find out this stuff. Same with the other souls, we've had descriptions, but now at least I know what they can do, which gives me a better idea ahead of time if I think I'll like them.

I respect the NDA, so I'm not going to go into any details other than Defiler sounds interesting and Tactician I can see being very useful, but I think they're shooting themselves in the foot even having one. It stops information getting out there to people who might be interested but dont want to shell out for pre orders to get beta access, and it stops people who do have access talking about whats coming up and having discussions about it in public forums.

[Decimation]

You're quoting a post they made when they publicly posted the SL calc to their site in a blog post and then edited the post to remove the link. Otherwise, it's not hidden. It's publicly available if you search the keywords from my previous post. That's all my point was.

Oh, I wasn't trying to make it seem like I was correcting anyone. Just posted that info for those who may have wanted to know.

[Azuri]

It's been explained before the game was not ready for the general public eye yet. I'm not in the alpha but I still have the launcher installed from the last beta and have loaded it up several times since last beta. There has been a download update each time so there's been many changes.

They can shoot themselves in the other foot by not having an NDA and the general non playing rift public see incomplete or buggy content.

Multiple sites have offered beta keys for this weekend so you don't have to pre-order. Just saying.

[Antipathy]

I respect the NDA, so I'm not going to go into any details other than Defiler sounds interesting and Tactician I can see being very useful, but I think they're shooting themselves in the foot even having one. It stops information getting out there to people who might be interested but dont want to shell out for pre orders to get beta access, and it stops people who do have access talking about whats coming up and having discussions about it in public forums.

This is true but I've mentioned this in other places and added the sources, the Defiler soul was not ready even for preview purposes; both the lead cleric developer and Elrar have stated on the forums that it is not ready. The NDA in this instance was needed because it prevented us from actually discussing something that has changed drastically over the life of the beta.

I think it is better to keep things under wraps till you are ready as opposed to misleading potential buyers.

[Lathais]

He's right, I just had a look. Which is nice, because I actually know what the hell Defiler does now, which I didnt before, didnt see anywhere on the official forums (maybe thats just me being blind though) and seems utterly stupid not to have even basic information about classes up for people to see a month before release. I shouldnt have to pre-order to get access to a beta (or even play a beta if it were just a case of opting in to get guaranteed access) to find out this stuff. Same with the other souls, we've had descriptions, but now at least I know what they can do, which gives me a better idea ahead of time if I think I'll like them.

I respect the NDA, so I'm not going to go into any details other than Defiler sounds interesting and Tactician I can see being very useful, but I think they're shooting themselves in the foot even having one. It stops information getting out there to people who might be interested but dont want to shell out for pre orders to get beta access, and it stops people who do have access talking about whats coming up and having discussions about it in public forums.

There is an NDA because things are not finished. Heck, look at all the people that whine about finished things, and you want them releasing things that are not finished, or even final decisions on certain things made yet. I can see it going real well if they were to say something like, and this is completely made up,

"The Defiler will be sort of a hybrid, maybe, possibly focusing on damage, but maybe it won't do damage, will put up similat buffs.debuffs to archon/rouge, but we are trying to find a way to make it not be redundant so you have something to do if there is a bard and an archon present also, we just don't know yet."

Again, THAT IS ENTIRELY MADE UP. I have no idea of anything really. However, if something like that is that case, I would much rather them say nothing and keep it locked up under the NDA while they figure it out, and/or figure out if the ideas they have to fix any potential issues will work in the code, then say that or something like it.

I wish people would understand that alpha's/beta's are not simply trials and NDA's are not just to keep us in the dark and surprise us with release, it is to protect themselves from bad information going public and looking bad.

[Tarien]

Your Mage Elementalist bit needs updating. The macro should be:

#show elemental burst
suppressmacrofailures
cast stormbolt
cast elemental Burst
cast icy carapace
cast raging elements
cast elemental forces
cast crystalline missiles

0pt soul is Pyro.

Do NOT turn off the Fire pet's AoE ability, it is a DPS gain.

[russykh]

It's been explained before the game was not ready for the general public eye yet. I'm not in the alpha but I still have the launcher installed from the last beta and have loaded it up several times since last beta. There has been a download update each time so there's been many changes.

They can shoot themselves in the other foot by not having an NDA and the general non playing rift public see incomplete or buggy content.

Multiple sites have offered beta keys for this weekend so you don't have to pre-order. Just saying.

That happens with all betas though, now that they've lifted the NDA, we're still going to see incomplete or buggy content. That kind of stuff has been shown all the time in other betas, and I cant think of a single instance where its made a difference on the game. Hell, Totalbiscuit used to show loads of stuff that didnt work when he was covering the Cata beta, and that sold a craptonne. If you think that the content in the beta is at a state where it would actually harm the game to be shown, then I would argue that opening a beta where by your own admission it seems pretty easy to get in (and you can essentially buy into as well) is shooting themselves in the foot, and needs a more selective, closed testing where people dont even talk about being part of it.

And I'll say it again, stuff like a basic description of one of the new souls shouldnt need me to either get beta access, whether thats free or not, or try and get someone to break NDA. Just saying.

Things change over betas as well. There is nothing wrong with people discussing it. Personally I find it interesting to see how classes develop, and it bums me out that if the Defiler was a different concept at first, I dont know what it was. Feedback on whether or not people like the idea of something is still valuable. I just found it annoying since my main was a cleric that it was only "under wraps" because I didnt have beta access.

Again, they've lifted the NDA which is good, but even then we've had a week roughly with it in place. Again, I dont see the point. I'm sure there's been a lot of changes, but basically there has been a week where instead of having players in there excitedly talking about the game in general public, they've been talking about how they're in the beta, then tip-toeing around what they can and cant say. Players like myself, who used to play but arent currently subscribed and still deciding, havent been able to ask you lot questions, or read about things youve done. You're not going to convince me that stopping a bunch of players who obviously love the game, having pre ordered it, talking about it to others is a good thing. If anything they needed to get information out faster to get more people talking about it!