Category: Resources & Rules

Not yet on the boards, but here.
Mostly CoV stuff (new zones, powers, Patron stuff).
For CoH, too:

• New Base Features (Heroes and Villains) Players can take their bases to the next level with Storage Items, Empowerment Stations, Supergroup Banners, and Base Color Tinting. [Yawn.]
• Quality of Life Features: (Hereos and Villains): New Global Chat and UI features improve the overall ‘City of’ experience. [Okay, QoL stuff is always nice, and Global Chat is definitely on my radar right now …]
• CoH Art Upgrades (Heroes) City of Heroes gains reflective windows, added bump and specular mapping, a variety of higher resolution textures, and full screen depth of field effects. [Which, hopefully, will not make it unplayable for lower-end graphics machines.]
• New Costume Items – Details to follow. [Yay!]

Evidently someone forgot to turn on the fog machines in Dark Astoria on Test. See what the zone really looks like while you can.
What’s interesting is how many folks are happy to see the fog gone (even if through a bug). To me, as annoying as DA is, the moodiness is very nice, and otherwise it becomes just another city neighborhood with a big graveyard in the corner.

Latest Test Server notes, at least those I think worth highlighting:

* Updated Kinetics/Increase Density text and buff Icon. The Mez protection of Increase Density will stack, but the damage resistance and the slow debuff will not stack.
Haven’t done much with Kinetics, but this sounds fairly significant.

* Targeted AoE powers now properly hit moving primary targets; this includes most Tanker attacks.
Yay. Heard a lot of complaints about this. Though I don’t have any AoE powers with Velvet right this second.

* Fixed bug that caused power animations on some teleports to play twice
On behalf of P-siren, thank you.

* Character transfers will now transfer Influence/Infamy to the Training Room.
Yay.

* DJ Zero’s transdimensional dance club has been renovated and expanded.
Oh boy. I think I’ve been in the PDP, oh, twice? As a rendezvous? About as attractive to me as, oh, the Arena. Some folks, though, are excited.

* XP earned for defeating Archvillains/Heroes has been doubled.
* Defeating an Archvillain/Hero will result in a random SO Enhancement 3 levels higher than the level of the AV being awarded to everyone who recieved XP (if you have inventory space).
* Defeating an Archvillain/Hero will result in a random Large Inspiration being awarded to everyone who received XP (if you have inventory space).
* Defeating an Archvillain/Hero while in Supergroup mode will award you a piece of Salvage 100% of the time.
Yay! Just in time for PC/A to hit their Praetorian arc.

*Fixed issue where the DE Eminator would sometimes not spawn.
“Sometimes” as in “always.” Sounds like it’s time to get those last “easy” Eden trials in.

* Modified Blaster/Energy Manipulation/Bone Smasher. Increased its energy Damage, decreased its smashing damage (no net change). Increased its unresistable damage in PvP to its proper 30% .
I respecced out of this with Torchielle, just because I needed the slot. Never thought it was it was all that bad, or good, as was.

* Independence Port and Talos Island: fixed bug that where the Ghost ship would sometimes get stuck in one location.
Quick! Get that ghosthunter badge while you can!
I’ve omitted several CoV thangs, since I haven’t been doing much of that.
Overall, fixes some longstanding (Ghost Ship, DE Eminators) glitches. Nothing ED-class in scope, fortunately, but I’m sure folks will find somethign to kvetch about.

Interesting guide, by the numbers, on Dull Pain under I6 and ED and how to slot it and when it makes sense to be running it all the time and when it makes sense to use it as an emergency. Interesting stuff, esp. since I have a number of heroes that use it.
One fun bit:

The way that you use DP now depends on how you want to deal with the alpha strike. It’s really a simple question. Are you gonna die in the first 5 seconds? If the answer is no, it’s actually more beneficial to take the full brunt of the alpha, and then use DP to recover from it. Now, if you think you will die to the alpha, you should use DP before you rush in to keep you from falling.
With supporting numbers, and drug interactions from slotting, other powers, Accolades, and the like.

HeroStats 3.4.0 is out, which fixes the problems introduced in last week’s CoH patch (which changed the memory location of several key statistics and activities). I look forward to once more getting a warning about when my Group Invis. is going down …

After I hit 45, I went broke getting my powers all up to green and white. So I ran the past few days with Psi-clone outside of SG mode, so I was actually getting influence instead of prestige (plus whatever I sold).
So after I dinged 46 last night, I went and sold off my stuff and checked it out …
Wow! 3.7 mil. No problem.
*cough*
Level 45 SOs (which are now yellow to me)? The cheapest (e.g., Fear) are 46K. Accuracy is 108K. Recharge Redux is “only” 100K.
Of course, to get to white, I needed to buy 19 Recharge Redux. Half the account, right there. Throw in some more-expensive Heals and Accuracies, and …
Well, time to try that old /em panhandle command again.

Well, amidst the other brouhaha, a patch got downloaded last night, bringing over stuff that’s been on Test a while. The full notes are here (no, really, though you might need to F5 to dump the cache if you can’t see them). To my mind, the biggies:

• Added new temporary attack powers to all low level characters. Which attack a character receives varies according to the Origin of the character. Once a character reaches level 10, the power is used up. Not strictly necessary, but a nice QoL enhancement. Margie went through and tried out all of them as a test. Sound like a fun addition.
  Still think we need an earlier travel power, though …

• “Glowies” that gave XP and Inf. in missions no longer give XP. The amount of Inf. they give has been doubled. This should reduce farming glowies a goodly piece. Not a big deal, esp. since the mechanic is used only intermittently. Should also avoid hard feelings on the mission.
• You are no longer allowed to interact with mission objectives while you are untouchable. Which iis a bit different from the original of being unable to do it while stealthed/invis, and that makes a lot of sense.

I7 will have some sort of magical fix for SR and Ice Tanks that lets Defense scale appropriately against higher level mobs. Yay.
I don’t actually have anyone that fits that at the moment, mind you, but …
Actually, it goes further than that, affecting all Defensive powers (inspirations, buffs), and ToHit Debuffs. Interesting.

Basically, Level advantage in PvE, Lts, Bosses, AV’s, and Monsters had To Hit bonuses. This made Defense not scale properly. We changed them so that instead of To Hit bonuses, they have Accuracy bonuses. What that means is, Defense is applied before their bonus, rather than after. Since Accuracy is a multiplier, it is multiplying a small base value than before.

For instance, an AV had a base To Hit of 75%. If a player had 25% Defense, the AV would have had a 50% chance to hit. Under the new system, the AV’s has a base 50% chance to hit. The Defense is applied, reducing his To Hit to 25%. The Accuracy is then applied, giving a final To Hit of 37.5% — a 12.5% improvement over the old system.
And, interestingly, it seems some powers are actually, behind the scenes, pets. E.g., Caltrops or Blizzards. New tech will let the devs pass on buffs that are on the caster to those kind of powers, too, if it seems appropriate (e.g., doing a Build-Up and having it affect the damage of Blizzard). More info here.
And server transfer is still coming … slowly …

Quoth Statesman:

First…I confirm that we’re working on right now (as in pohsyb in the next room) to add CoV costume parts into CoH if you own both games….
Huzzah! And … nice touch (a la bases) to encourage both games. (There’s a further thought there I need to write more about soon.)
I’ve been holding off doing more costume stuff with some characters (PC, VJ) who are eligible, just waiting for this. (Yes, wait until you see Psi-clone in his new barbed-wire-encrusted skull armor!)

Then we repeal the hated stealth nerf. The reason why: many well reasoned posts. It’s that simple. You guys pointed out the problems.
Though the basic motivation behind it still seems to be something that sticks in States’ craw.

AND now…we’re changing the way Archvillains spawn. A ton of forum goers disliked adding so many AV’s into missions a while back…so we’ve come up with a solution. If the team size and mission difficulty are ABOVE a certain level, an Archvillain spawns. Below that, players will face only an Elite Boss. If the mission is set on the first two levels of difficulty, it takes 4 heroes or more to spawn an Arch Villain. On the third level, 3 heroes or more. On the fourth level, 2 heroes. On the highest (Invincible), a solo hero will spawn an AV. Note this works in BOTH City of Heroes and Villains.

In order to incentivize larger teams, Positron is going to add a bonus to AV rewards!
Interesting. And, on first glance, a fine idea. Won’t change life for PC/A (since we’re on Invincible), but it will make life easier for some of our other folks.

CuppaJo on I7:

Issue 7 – Tentative plan for releasing the “Feature Update” to the website is mid February – so you might as well settle in for about a month of waiting unless a dev decides to drop some hints.

Of course you already know I7 includes 40-50 content for CoV, and as with every update more art updates, missions, and quality of life features. The other items in I7 will be revealed when we get the Feature Update.

Wow. Just in time for my birthday …

1. Added new temporary attack powers to all low level characters. Which attack a character receives varies according to the Origin of the character. Once a character reaches level 10, the power is used up. An interesting thought (esp. for the origin side of things), but … hrm, I’d rather have travel powers appear at 10 rather than 14. I’ve gotten used to the whole back pack thing.
   Also, while it’s a nice gimme, fact is that most folks don’t have a lot of problems getting up through level 10 right now.
   Now, a string of temp powers tied to origin that evolves over each decade of SLs … that would be interesting.

2. “Glowies” that gave XP and Inf. in missions no longer give XP. The amount of Inf. they give has been doubled. Odd. Especially given the stealth nerf (below). It does mean no more arguing over who gets to click on the glowie, though.
3. You are no longer allowed to interact with mission objectives while you are stealthed or untouchable. Hmmm. Disliked it that Invis didn’t work alongside hostages one was rescuing (makes no sense, folks — team members can see each other in Invis, why not a hostage also in Invis? Why don’t hostages go Invis, anyway?). Adding it to glowies? Hrm.
4. Added new Contact for new villains. When talking to the Arachnos Pilot in Breakout, villains may choose to be sent to talk to Kalinda or a mercenary contact. Well, it adds a bit of variety to the CoV beginning game. Aside from that, shrug.

And so it goes.

Word has it that the next patch set will include a nerf such that glowies cannot be clicked on while stealthed or phased.
Hrm.
From a gameplay standpoint, that really screws up a lot of strategies (which seems to be the point, of course, making unfair to (everyone say it together) “get XP without risk.” (Never mind the number of higher level villains that see right through stealth.)
From a “reality” standpoint, it makes limited sense. The “I’m going to stand in the middle of all these guys and rifle this file cabinet and they don’t bat an eyelash” sort of scenario never made sense …
Though it also can depend on how one envisions the power sets as working. Is Stealth actually some sort of visual obscuring power (e.g., Steaming Cloud — though why at least the bad guys wouldn’t say, “Hey, what’s that cloud doing in the middle of the hallway?” is beyond me), or is it an abstraction of “I’m really sneaky/ninja-like”? Or, heck, “I’m actually a master of disguise and have made myself up to look like these bad guys so that they don’t notice me unless I get too close”? Something to make up for the fact that there’s no game mechanism to throw a rock over to the other side of the room and get everyone’s attention focused over there.
E.g. Honeygun didn’t really have a stealth cloak. She was just really good at sneaking around, like a trained sniper. Her ability to sneak up should be a bit different and have different parameters than other interpretations of the power.
From a “reality” standpoint, each of those different interpretatoins of Stealth should play differently.
On the other hand, since we can’t actually play those differences, the abstraction seems to work. And, really, the ability to Stealth through a mission only helps so much. It’s often more of a convenience (turning a given TF from 8 hours to 6 hours or something like that) than a must-have.
As for Phasing — well, that makes a measure of sense (though often there’s a sort of “I make my hands solid enough to be able to pick the safe” out in the comics).
I also haven’t heard how this is going to impact Invis. Given that, unlike Stealth, Group Invis is not a toggle, if I’m using GI does that means I have to wait until it wears off to click the glowie?
As with most nerfs, it’s workable around, with a bit of effort and a bit of (yes) extra risk. People get through missions without stealth powers all the time. But it’s another case of fixing a “problem” that I don’t agree exists. Unless the only way one can have a legitimate super-hero adventure is to duke things out all the time, being part of the (e.g.) Legion Espionage Squad should be as good a way to adventure in Paragon as any other. And I say that as someone whose Main uses Group Invis extensively, but who has a whole series of other heroes who wouldn’t dream of it.

Answers to the Ask Statesman! thread. Many follow-ups. Excellent.

A jet pack? A jet pack?
Yes, that’s what Miss Liberty is gifting everyone with this month (as of last night, in fact). And what Black Scorpion is stealing for all of his cronies, too.
The jet pack should automatically show up when you sign in — but be warned that (a) a bug has been reported that it will vanish again when you sign out (so don’t rush out there right away), and (b) I have no idea how long it will last.
This is, supposedly, on the “beginning” of fun holiday stuff.
Should be handiest for lowbie characters. Not sure that Al will trust such a contraption, though the Elizas will leap at the opportunity.

I notice that the stores in CoV say “Tech Store,” “Mutation Store,” etc., rather than just “Store.”
I also noticed that if there’s a stack of icons on the map, hovering over them causes them to temporarily expand outward (like you had a magnifying glass) so you can see (or target) what’s there; it works both on city maps and on mission maps. It’s a little weird, but a decent solution.
Looking forward to both of these hitting CoH (the former, at least, hadn’t last time I looked).

And answers thereto. Many entries. Good stuff, starting with, “Will you please tell us, in all honesty, what the long-term goal is that ED is meant to accomplish?” …

Holy crap! David Wincott’s moved!
He’s now standing directly outside fence entrance to the Hollows, rather than being off to the side in the sandbag redoubt.
Not earthshattering, but …
I signed in on Katherine’s laptop, now that I’ve bumped it up to 1Gb RAM — graphics are fuzzy but decent — and brought in Al McGordo, trotted over to say hi to David … and he wasn’t there.
HE WASN’T THERE.
It was like the tram had gone missing or something. Three “Troll Task Force” members, but no Wincott. Was he off looking for his boy?
I looked around, and spotted him several feet away at his new position.
Weird. Not sure why they did it (were folks having problems finding him?).
Weird. And unsettling. What next — Ms Liberty joining the dancers under the Atlas statue?

Which is the lesson I need to learn. I need to start, with Mister Thorne, playing with the Boys as extensions of myself — being more directive about where they go, stay, etc.
Phred the Phantasm is simple. He follows. He shoots. (Follow-Aggressive is, I think, the MM combo here).
The Boys are not. I need to control them, and I even need to consider how to control them separately. And I need to be willing to sacrifice one (since they can be resummoned relatively quickly) for a worthy (scouting, aggro, etc.) cause.
Of course, that makes doing all that other stuff I do (debuffs, heals) a bit more complicated, too.
Some resources I’m reviewing.

• Fun henchmen tactics – Some lame, some interesting.
• The /petsay thread – I would like to do a little of this, but not the “traveling tour company” stuff that many posters seem enamored of.
• Master Zaprobo’s Guide – Requires further study, but looks very, very good.

Lots of ongoing discussion on the CoH boards about the “streak breaker” system. While a randomize to-hit system could lead to (in a perfectly randomized world) an endless chain of misses in the finite universe of, say, a battle, the streak breaker in the CoH/CoV code forces a hit to happen (for you) after X number of misses, X being determined by the lowest percent to-hit in your attack chain.
Bottom line, if you are going up against an even-level minion opponent, with no enhancements (i.e., 75% TH on each attack)), you cannot miss more than 3 times. On the fourth time you will hit, regardless of what you might have rolled.
Which is still awfully frustrating, but does actually give you an edge over the straight TH percentages.
It’s actually kind of fascinating stuff. Look in this thread for a more detailed explanation of how it works, and the different to-hit/max-misses ranks.

A new free costume respec will go live overnight. It will replace any that you presently have, so here’s your chance to experiment a bit …
Though, of course, bugs with the costume system (faces that change, etc.) are the reason for the (now that it’s fixed) respec, so …