After the previous post … looking at the Official I12 Post:
JOIN THE MIDNIGHT SQUAD (LEVELS 10 – 20)
The clandestine organization of mystics, scholars and mages, known only as the Midnight Squad, seeks to rebuild its numbers since the devastating assault of the Rikti Invasion. The Midnighters hold a secret that could bring the alien assault to an end, but without the help of the Heroes of Paragon City™ it will remain Lost forever.
Sounds like some origin-based lovey-love, as well as new content. Cool. I wonder if similar origin-based bits will creep into future issues.
NEW ROMAN-STYLE ZONE MAPS (LEVELS 35 – 50)
The Midnighters hold many secrets within their walls, including a highly coveted Ouroboros crystal, enabling them to travel to the far reaches of time. There is a familiar threat in an ancient land and the Midnighters need the help of both Heroes and Villains to stop it. Players step foot upon the ancient land of the Roman Cimeroran Peninsula, where they battle deadly creatures, defend an ancient city and ultimately come face to face with the enemy of time itself. Throughout this journey players uncover the mysteries of power and the origins that guide them today.
Hmmm. Would have rather had something that was contemporaneous (where’s my moonbase?!), but new content is basically cool.
UNLOCK ROMAN-STYLE ARMOR COSTUMES
Through their accomplishments, players unlock the new Roman themed armor costume set.
Honestly, I’ve never been fond of “exclusive” costume bits. I simply cannot justify it, story-wise (the cape bits, at least, they made an effort at, but why can’t any Level 1 schmuck have a Roman helmet?). There may be a story element here, and it’s better than some other ways they’ve played with the mechanic, but I’m still no approving.
Villain Epic Archetypes
Infiltrate the Arachnos organization from within! Upon reaching level 50, Villains unlock two new Epic Archetypes; Wolf Spiders and Blood Widows. They have their own unique storyline and missions, power combinations and costume sets. Branching powersets allow the Wolf Spider to specialize as either a Bane Spider or Crab Spider and the Blood Widow chooses from the Fortunata and Night Widow branches. Each brings with it unique costumes for your Arachnos duties, as well as your newfound role as a Destined One.
Coolness. Not that I’ve ever brought a villain to 50 (or ever am likely to), but a nice way to handle it.
Powerset Proliferation
Using his newly built Resonance Manipulator, the Villain scientist known as Dr. Brainstorm™ has discovered a way to alter the energy strands which connect every Hero and Villain to their powers. This discovery has not only opened the door to new powers for his fellow Villains in the Rogue Isles™, but has also done the same for the Heroes of Paragon City ™! Specifically, new characters of almost every Hero and Villain archetype gain access to an additional primary and secondary powerset that they didn’t have access to previously. Details to come!
Huzzah! Mix-n-match powers! Or, at least, no arbitrary “we want villains to feel special” / “we haven’t playtested it yet” excuses for not sharing the power love.
Hollows Zone “Gameplay Makeover”
Significant changes have been made to the Hollows zone to make it more fun! NPC encounters have been rebalanced, including new spawns, new villain groups, mission door improvements, and a mobile hospital has been added to the entrance of the zone. Additionally, Meg Mason, a new contact, has been added to give out repeatable missions.
As the zone nearly everyone spends time in — and everyone finds something to be annoyed with — I applaud the improvements to the Hollows. Especially the “mobile hospital,” thus saving wear and tear on the pavement (though dying was often a convenient way to get back to level).
Major Gameplay Improvements
* Eight configurable new power trays let players customize their User Interface by placing them anywhere on the screen.
Cool. I’ve gotten crowded with only 3 visible — and having even more means being able to put (for example) all your standard toggle powers in one spot, your travel powers elsewhere, your combat powers somewhere else. Goodness.
* Contact display redesign: Contacts are now listed separately as Active and Inactive, and players can sort contacts by a range of criteria including Name, Zone, and Level Range.
Excellent. The contact list was always kind of a mish-mosh.
* Inspiration Conversion: Right click an inspiration to convert three of that kind into any one inspiration of another kind.
Especially if it’s available at any time, this could be a god-send sometimes.
* Level Up Boost: Upon reaching enough XP to level up (at all levels), one of each type of large inspiration is immediately cast upon your character, and health and endurance bars are immediately filled.
Which makes leveling mid-combat all the more keen!
* Chat improvements: Right click on character names in chat window to ignore, add to friends list, invite to team, etc. Drag any item (enhancement, inspiration, salvage, etc.) into the chat window so that you and others can click a hotlink to view the complete info box.
Not sure what the latter provides, but the former is a nice touch.
* More Real Numbers: Players can now display stats on powers before they choose them enabling more informed power selection and new temporary powers allow players to display enemy stats.
For those who like them, More Numbers Are Good.
Overall — thumbs up.
I agree that waiting for the Roman pieces is annoying. I’d greatly prefer it if you simply had to do the content once and it unlocked the pieces for the whole account.
That said I do understand the logic of the costume pieces in the RWZ, but it’s still a little annoying.
The Repeat Offenders folks are all abuzz about the opportunities that the newly switched over powersets will create.
VEATs are being greated with cautious optimism.
Meanwhile we’re also keeping an eye on Champions Online . . .multo goodness!
You may have seen the dragged-item hotlinks in LotRO chat. Somebody gets a cool new item and wants to show it off, or even offer it to their buddies, and it shows up in brackets (with color appropriate to its rarity). It’s like when somebody in your Fellowship loots or crafts an item. You can click on it to view its stats.
In fact, in LotRO, you can control-click an item link to see how you would look wearing that item!