Hey everyone,
We were hoping to launch her sooner but the glut of bugfixes and requested features took priority, still we're hoping Thistle can bring a new challenge to those of you already maxing out your characters.
Thistle joins the RIFTSTORM roster in this update, bringing a very different way to control a fight. Rather than chasing enemies around the battlefield, she uses the rites contained within M-0877, a grimoire known as Blossoming Thorns, to establish zones, group enemies, and decide when the whole ritual comes down.
Those of you who have been with us for a few years know that Thistle has been a particularly difficult character to balance, and getting the feel of this character right will continue to be a design priority for us.
The disowned heir of an esteemed Emporium family, Amelie is determined to make a name for herself within the Protocol's Procurement team. Before joining the Mythic Protocol, she had already developed a habit of pursuing artifacts she was not authorized to pursue. This eventually brought her into contact with M-0877.
Most people can physically open Blossoming Thorns, but cannot properly read it, photograph it, or even remember what they saw on its pages. The book responds differently to Thistle, allowing her to channel its rites and the entities bound within it.
The Protocol currently recognizes Thistle as M-0877's custodian. The exact opinion of the book remains less clear.
Thistle's combat loop is simple: establish a zone of control, gather the targets, then decide when to bring everything down.
Threshold creates a damaging ritual zone. Enemies inside also take additional damage when hit, giving the squad a clear place to focus fire.
Ruination pulls enemies toward its center, damages them, and applies Stagger. Use it to break formations or drag targets back into Threshold.
Discordance collapses Thistle's active zones and summoned units, detonating each one for area damage.
We'll leave the rest of her nuance for you guys to explore, but for those of you who have enjoyed stacking effects on zones so far, Thistle scales the damage and shenanigan potential by quite a bit. As with the rest of RIFTSTORM, we expect Thistle's balance to shift based on your feedback and our gameplay data.
Changed: Culloden has been changed and skinned into: Stopping Power
The weapon previously known as Culloden has been renamed and reskinned. Its cylinder reloads one round at a time, granting an Attack Bonus with each round loaded. Firing from a full cylinder also releases an additional powerful projectile under its new name and skin: Stopping Power
Changed: Culloden functionality reworked:
A six-round revolver whose projectiles pierce enemies and create a damage-over-time zone on each target hit.
Added: PAR Mk. II-A Merchantry
A fully automatic assault rifle. Enemies killed by this weapon drop a small amount of Shimmer.
Added: SG A6-CB
A semi-automatic shotgun with a wider spread and shorter effective range in exchange for increased firepower.
Fixed: A possible crash when entering a mission in co-op.
Fixed: An event sequencing issue in the opening tutorial mission.
Added: Various optimizations to the Photon Quantum multiplayer netcode for smoother co-op. (we will be monitoring this as we go so please continue to let us know if you have any issues in co-op like any desync between party members.)
Missing VFX for Lython Fieldwright's Bounty: Enemies killed inside the Weaver's Zone still drop Shimmer correctly, but the Shimmer particle may fail to render. The drop can still be collected.
Stuck when joining an ongoing co-op mission: Players joining a lobby while a mission is already in progress may become stuck when the party enters its next mission. Returning to the title screen and rejoining should resolve the issue.
Stuck when leaving an ongoing co-op party: After returning to HQ from an ongoing mission, a joining player may become stuck when leaving the party. Returning to the title screen should resolve the issue.
Incorrect Weapon stat display: Launcher damage may appear lower in the UI than the damage actually being dealt. We are still iterating on stat displays for weapons with non-standard projectile behavior, including Launchers and Shotguns.
Cross versioning errors playing co-op across different game versions: Joining through a Lobby Code or Steam Invite while running different builds may cause a crash or other multiplayer issues. Players may be unable to see one another, or the party may become stuck in the HQ countdown. Please make sure everyone in the party is running the same version of the game.
To coincide with Thistle’s arrival, RIFTSTORM will also be 20% off during the Steam Autumn Sale starting tomorrow.
Thanks as always for the reports and feedback.
- The RIFTSTORM Team