Another look at I6 (in Test)

The patch notes for the Test release:

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Now Testing in the Training Room – 10/20/05
Issue 6: Along Came a Spider
New events in the far off Rogue Isles are beginning to have an effect on Paragon City.
[…]
PvP Zones:
The contested zones of Bloody Bay, Siren’s Call, and Warburg are open for exploration by Heroes on the Training Room. There are a number of new missions available in these zones. Eventually, both Heroes and Villains will have access to these zones and be able to compete for the prizes they offer. These are PvP zones. If you enter these zones, you will be subject to attack by other players, except for small safe zones.
I find it interesting that these zones are not just for PvP, but PvE as well. I don’t know if that makes it better (less Arena-like) or worse (if there’s content there and there’s PvP, then some folks will get their jollies gacking people trying to get to the content).
Supergroups:
* Characters in Supergroup mode can now gain Prestige and Salvage. These will be useful to players who own both City of Heroes and City of Villains in base building.
* There are new Badges that can be earned by Supergroups.
* Newly expanded Supergroup ranks and Supergroup permissions.
* Supergroup Leaders can change the colors and emblem of the Supergroup after creation.
* Players can now choose to hide their Supergroup emblem when in Supergroup mode.
These last two are critical, esp. tied to the first two. SGs can earn badges and base-buying/building stuff, but only when their members are in SG mode, which some folks hate because of the colors and insignia. Which now can be better tailored or ignored. Nice. So, for low and mid-range characters, there’s no reason *not* to go into SG mode.
Graphics:
* More levels of graphical detail available.
* Character texture quality and world texture quality can be set separately now.
New refresh rate and vertical sync options.
* New graphics options to enable Depth of Field and Bloom visual effects on supported video cards.
UI
* New Options window with many newly available player options.
If this is the same as on CoV, it’s a nice improvement.
* The confirmation screens for adding and deleting enhancements can be now be disabled.
Huzzah!
* New Pet window available from the Options window that displays the health of your pets, and grants the ability to unsummon specific pets.
Oh, yes, huzzah!!
* Macros can now be edited directly from the power tray.
Hot diggity dog!
* You can now give inspirations to teammates by dragging them on to the team window.
W007!
* New targeting commands: /target_custom_near, /target_custom_far, /target_custom_next and /target_custom_prev. To get a list of parameters, type the command without any parameters.
Interesting. I’ll have to look these up.
* UI changes to Trade Window. You can now trade salvage and type in the amount of influence to be traded.
But it’s still limited to 99,999. Which sucks.
Powers:
* Fixed a bug in the Thunder Clap power. It was Auto Hit, meaning Defense based characters had less chance of mitigating its effects than intended. This change affects Defenders and Controllers Storm Summoning sets, Banished Pantheon Witch Doctors, Circle of Thorns Air Casters, one of the Heroes Captured by the Devouring Earth and Skyfall from the Tsoo.
* Super Reflexes Auto powers now add some minor damage resistance that improves as the caster loses HP.
* Reduced the Endurance cost of Dark Melee/Siphon Life and Dark Blast/Life Drain.
* Pool powers: Stealth, Grant Invisibility, Invisibility, Combat Flight, Weave, Maneuvers, Vengeance, and Combat Jumping now Buff Defense to ALL attacks. This change was also made to all Primary and Secondary Stealth and Invisibility powers (including, but not limited to, Cloak or Shadows, Cloaking Device, Superior Indivisibility, and Group Invisibility). All Defense powers should now stack properly with each other. All powers short and long Help Text was updated to indicate this change.
* Improved Damage DeBuff of Tanker/Ice Armor/Chilling Embrace.
* Defender/Controller Empathy Resurrect Powers Endurance cost reduced.
* The Lightning Storm pet was generating Detoggle messages erroneously.
* Sonic Repulsion and Sonic Dispersion:
* * Sonic Buff/Clarity and Sonic Dispersion powers have been switched in the order in which they can be chosen. This change affects Defenders and Controllers.
* Glue Arrow should no longer fade when the target dies.
* Poison Gas Arrow should no longer fade when the target dies.
* Disruption Arrow no longer accepts Damage Resist Enhancements. They were extraneous and had no effect.
* Flash Arrow should have Debuff FX more visible throughout the duration now.
* Changed Long and Short Help of Moment of Glory to clarify which Defenses it offers.
* Martial Arts/Eagles Claw critical hit now properly does smashing instead of lethal damage.
* Fixed bad short help text in Spines/Taunt. It said it was an AoE, but it is a Single Targeted Taunt.
* Fixed Teleport animation from animating twice.
* Fixed Dark Miasma/Tar Patch cat animation from sometimes locking you into an animation loop.
* Fixed Empathy/Adrenaline Boost animation from activating before the power was recharged.
* Removed Resist Damage Enhancements from Acid Arrow.
* Some Electrical Blast, Electrical Melee and Electrical Mastery powers now have a chance to return some of the endurance they drain back to the caster.
* Force Field/Insulation Field now also buffs defense to AoE Attacks. Dispersion Bubble now also buffs defense to Melee and Ranged attacks. This will all Force Field powers to better stack with all defensive powers, even Super Reflexes, and even with multiple shields from multiple allies.
* Slightly Modified some Scrapper Martial Arts damage scales, end costs and recharge times.
* Reduced the Terrorize duration of Dark Melee/Touch of Fear.
Those of the above I recognize are all good, if not spectacular.
Stores:
Most stores and contacts that only sold 10 types of Enhancements of a given type will now sell all Enhancements of that type. (In other words, we fixed key stores that were selling just the Power 10 to sell all Enhancements of that type).
Huzzah!!!!
Debt Cap:
We have cut in half the amount of Debt you can carry at a maximum at any given time. Previously it was set at 10 defeats worth of Debt, it is now set at 5 defeats. (Defeats inside a mission map count as ½ a defeat since they generate only ½ the Debt). If your character has more Debt than the current cap when they log in, they will have their Debt lowered to that of the current cap.
Never reached this, but I think it’s good.

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Discussion of ED, prevously posted, omitted, though it’s worth reading.