Man, I keep thinking I'm going to get tired of Rift (since it's already happened to all of my friends) but so far it just hasn't happened. I feel like there's a ton more stuff to experiment with. I've already experimented with so much just with the rogue class and I'm not even done yet. I predict I'll definitely be hitting level 60, even if my dreams of acquiring 900 platinum don't actually come to fruition. I'm hopping back and forth between four different roles at the moment, and I'd like to add more--though the platinum cost for doing so may dissuade me.
My four roles right now are Riftstalker, Bladedancer, Bard, and Saboteur. I haven't tried Assassin, Nightblade, Ranger, or Marksman. There's also a soul available as part of the expansion (Tactician) that I won't have access to until I spend some credits. I'd eventually like to get all of the expansion souls, but that's something pretty far in the future at this point.
Rifstalker is the sole defensive soul available to rogue--it's definitely one of the more unique tanks I've played. It focuses on mobility, evasion, and deflection to protect his allies. Unlike other traditional tanks that use a one handed weapon and a shield, Riftstalkers dual wield one-handed weapons and focus on deflection as opposed to blocking. Deflection is enabled once you have access to Guardian Phase, a toggleable self-buff that significantly increases your defensive stats. I like Riftstalker a lot because of its high mobility and the fact that it doesn't particularly remind me of any of the tanks from WoW. Death Knights and Monks are capable of tanking while dual wielding, but their playstyles are very different from Rifstalker.
Bladedancer is the role I'm using most often to solo quest. It is a relatively straightforward melee damage soul that doesn't rely on stealth like its counterparts Assassin and Nightblade. It has access to a variety of "Rhythmic Actions," self-buffs that last for 21 seconds. These are very powerful, imparting massive bonuses to such stats as dodge, crit, and damage of combo point generating abilities. One of their signature abilities is Reprisal, an ability that reminds me a lot of a Protection Warrior skill from WoW in that it is only usable after dodging or parrying. It's a high base damage skill that rewards you for having high Dexterity and has high synergy with Side Steps, a Rhythmic Action that massively increases your dodge chance. The role also possesses a couple of extremely damaging channeled AoE abilities in Dancing Steel and Hundred Blades.
I tried Bard for awhile as more of a novelty than anything else--but I was surprised that it did more than adequate damage despite being a strictly supportive soul. Unlike Rifstalker and Bladedancer, Bard is mostly ranged, with usage of several music-themed attacks like Riff, which instantly grants five combo points, Power Chord, a 2-combo point attack, and Cadenza/Cadence, attacks that generate 3 combo points over 3 seconds. Their finishers are called Codas and have various effects, including single-target damage, AoE damage, healing, and debuffs. With enough investment in the Bard soul tree, Codas will refresh your Motifs, a series of 20-second duration group buffs--but they're only guaranteed to do so with a five combo point investment.
Saboteur is another ranged soul and probably the strangest class I've tried so far. It has access to a staggering number of different bombs, charges, traps, and mines. I'm having a hard time puzzling out how to actually put together a rotation with this class. Their primary ability is Blast Charge, which functions as a combo point builder--but it doesn't do damage until you've used your finisher, which is Detonate. You can layer five charges on a target and then detonate them, at which point they all do damage simultaneously. This results in a pretty massive burst of damage.
So far, I have access to four different basic charges I can place on a single target to be detonated. Two of these are basic charges that deal single target and AoE damage, whereas the other two are high damage bleeds that deal damage over time--both single target and AoE. These basic skills I can easily wrap my mind around, but then you get into bombs, traps, and mines. Mines and traps are placed at the feet of the rogue and have various effects, such as damage, bleeds, and knockups. Bombs and typically targeted at a single enemy and deal AoE damage around that enemy--except for Chemical Bomb, which is targeted on the ground and deals damage over time in a large area.
One of the soul tree passives allows you to detonate charges on your target by using Fragmentation Grenade or Annihilation Bomb--which typically results in a larger burst of damage than if you had detonated it normally. It's still all very confusing and difficult to internalize on a fight by fight basis, especially since I have few ways to protect myself after the initial explosion.
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