Character Transfer and Renaming is Up … kinda

Evidently it’s hitting the servers (or the billing servers that handle it, or something) harder than expected, but the (pay) service to (a) transfer a toon to another server, or (b) rename your toon is now officially up.  Woot.

Once upon a time, I would have seriously done a lot of capering about regarding this, but it’s been several months at least since I’ve been highly server-centric, or had a group of friends that I Really Truly had to hook up with regularly on a given server.  Instead, I have various duos scattered about that Margie and I play, as well as a ton of alts across all the servers as the mood seizes me.

That said, I could see possibly gathering some folks together in one place to do a particular activity — the $9.95 isn’t meaningless, but it would cost more than that to meet some friends for dinner.  Or I could see wanting to pull some alts together to create yet more Margie/Dave duos.  We’ll see.

As for renaming — I can think of only one toon I might consider (changing Psi-clone back to the original Psiclone I had in mind) — but only if the name was free.  Other than that, no sawbuck-worthy regrets over character names, at least for now.

What amazes me is the folks who sound utterly frantic to transfer their toon Right Now.  Come on, guys — wait until tomorrow, or Friday, when the lines die down.  Really.

Now, what is kind of interesting is the speculation about whether certain servers will see a major drop or rise in population, based on reputations as PvP or RP or whatever servers — or, alternately, if those reputations will become self-fulfilling prophecies. It will be interesting to see if any stats come out of this.

Costume treats

Margie was running in the Halloween Test this afternoon — in addition to the normal trick-or-treat doors and inspirations and costume bits (toward an extra costume slot), etc., this year you can pick up …

Real costumes.  Toggleable temp “powers” that give you the appearance of several of the groups running around Paragon and the Rogue Isles.  Lost, Freaks, Council, PPD, Paragon Protectors, etc.  Fun stuff.  The costume, when turned on, simply substitutes for your form (though you can still use all your powers — watching a Freak Boss run around with a broadsword and fly through the air was … disturbing).

The costumes don’t work in PvP zones (to avoid griefing — though, to be honest, I think that’s a perfectly legit use of such a power), and they have a 17 day timer, real-time, so they should all be gone by Thanksgiving.  Fun stuff.

Gameplay update

Actually did a fair amount over the weekend.

Miss Crackle:  Got her up into 13 doing various PUGs of various success.  A lot of stupid people out there, and nobody I felt like keeping track of for the long run. 

Cammie Kandachi:  This was an electrical brute I’d built about the same time as Miss Crackle (they even look a fair amount alike).  I played a bit with her on Friday afternoon, then Margie joined me later with the brute she’d built to pair with her back in the day.  We got up to 16 or so, I think, over the weekend (starting around 12), and I learned why I’d not played her, as much as I like the look.  (1) electrical is a hellaciously endurance-intensive set., (2) brutes are not as damage-intensive as scrappers, and don’t seem as sturdy as them either (probably because of the lack of a self-heal).  We spent a lot of time resting and/or working off debt.  Still, fun.

Rita the Cat:  So we swapped over Sunday afternoon to our scrapper duo, who dinged 37 during play.  Obviously higher level helps game abilities, but they’ve always felt kick-ass as a duo, where as Cammie and Annie always feel struggling.

Saturday was a Rikti invasion night.  Ended up fighting several battles with different folks (Miss Crackle, Cammie, Kheldiel), and learned a bit more about how the process works.

Good stuff.

City of Spammers

I guess it must earn enough customers to be worth it, because I, too, have noticed the upsurge in spam — personal tells pointing you to a website for PLing, farmed influence, etc. 

While I’ve usually /petitioned their asses, the devs have put in a new command (per the patch last night):

 This version includes a new chat command.

/ignore_spammer

By using this command, a user will let our customer support know that they consider the person they added to their ignore list as one that is “spamming.” For example, if a player receives an in-game tell advertising for a real money trade web site, they can use the /ignore_spammer command, followed by the name of the character they received this advertisement tell from to put them on ignore.

Ideally, the user can then follow up with a /petition to also let us know of the disruptive behavior via that method.

I’m not sure how useful this is, if it’s still suggested that folks /petition with more details (evidently Customer Service can’t easily pull up the chat logs to see what the kerfuffle is about).  And I actually only rarely /ignore the spammers because I’ve only rarely gotten any follow-up tells from them.

Still, if it makes it a bit easier to point the annoying gits out, I’m willing to take the extra step.

I am, actually, still playing

Post have been light because … well, because there’s (a) not been a lot of news from the Dev front, and (b) my playing has been on the light side.

There has been some, though.

Kitsune-chan is a new alt on [lost track of which server].  She’s mean to be a fox spirit, and so is an Illusion/Rad Controller, complete with fox ears, feral fore-arms, t-shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots.  She’s actually a lot of fun, and I’m remembering why I enjoyed running Psi-clone so much.  She’s teamed up with Margie’s Ex-Terra, a Spines Scrapper.

I’ve also been playing a lot with Old Saucy Jack, my Ripper-based BS/Regen Scrapper, complete with long trench coat, bow tie, top had, and mutton chops.  He’s fun to play, and he’s actually been invited into a rather enjoyable SG — “Mid-Life Crisis,” touted as a group of 30s-40s (I still qualify) players.  I was impressed (before I actually joined) by the relative maturity of play (one of the few FrostFires I’ve been on where there wasn’t someone running ahead drawing multi-group aggro), and it’s been rather pleasant having that conversational fun.  Plus, as a solo alt, it’s a low-stress play time (vs. when I play with Margie which, while enjoyable because she is an excellent player, has me actually worried about how things are going with her much more than when I’m in a PUG).

So, anyway, I am playing a bit.  Just not a lot startling to say outside of comments on recent posts.

And, occasionally, everything clicks

I was running a random solo alt this evenimg — Miss Crackle, a Lvl 11 Elec/Energy Blaster — after karate.  There’s something marvelously mindless and non-committal and unstressful about just playing alts and joining PUGs … it doesn’t “matter,” and therefore one can just relax and take things as they come.

I’d about given up on anyone answering the LFT, and was headed to Steel to run the University stuff, when I got a tell inviting me to a team, and picked it up. And had one of those nice experiences that actually makes up for the 60% of PUGs that are mediocre and the 35% that are just plain wrong.   The team — two blasters, two scrappers, two defenders — just clicked, and we rolled through various Hollows missions, culminating in running Frostfire.  And it was all skittles and beer and occasional OMG we’re all going to die! and successes galore, until …

Freaking “City of Heroes has encountered a problem, so sorry … Verifying Files …” just two mobs away from the FF room

Ah, well.  Still fun.

I11 tidbits – Dual Swords and Willpower

“Mindripper,” who was at PAX, noted some tidbits about I11 that Positron dropped there (emphasis mine):

1. I asked him about future plans for the Shadow Shard and if it was going to go Co Op. Basically his answer was the the RWZ is what they wanted Co Op to be at this time, and that because of gameplay problems with the shard and how big it is that this wasn’t something they intended on getting into the game anytime soon.

2. I asked him about Pocket D getting year round contacts for Co Op and he basically said that would be seasonal stuuf only. I quickly followed this up with are we getting Halloween agian this year. His response was Yes, with some new twists and some new badges. He didn’t go into details.

3. I asked him if the 5th Column were comeing back. He said yes and left me under the impression that it would come in issue 11. That conjecture on my part though.

4. I asked him what he could tell me about I11, He said that there will be a number of new story lines introduced and plenty of things for level capped aka 50s to do.

5. Another fan asked about the new power sets, Posi said they will be Dual Blades and Willpower, and will be for all 4 of the Melee ATs in whate ever Combo makes sensce for them.

6. That Fan also asked about a lv cap increase. No.

7. I asked about after 50 rewards such as extra enhancement slots. His answer was that was something they had discussed in house but that the tech programming is time consumeing and that that was way on the back burner.

8. I asked about the SG limit and the whole 75 accounts in a sg deal. This is something he says they want to implement but they are haveing Data Base problems with it. He further said that they thought they had the problem licked 2 issues ago but the solution that they had come up with had the potential to massively corrupt the data in super groups through out the game.

9. Also my brother says that Lighthouse said that closed beta for i11 is right around the corner, its a matter of a few weeks. Keep in mind I didn’t actually hear this but others in the group I was in confirmed thats what he said.

This has led to much other discussion about, in particular, the melee powers.

On Dual Blades, Castle says:

1) Primarily Lethal damage (and, yes, I am very aware of the arguments against that.)
2) The animations are pretty darn cool looking. BAB has outdone himself here, I think.
3) As Posi said, the set is FAST. Not quick ‘claws’ speed, but fast nonetheless. For Tankers and Brutes, I imagine that’ll be a nice change!

BackAlleyBrawler added:

Dual Blades are currently fast. Really fast. So fast, probably going to have to slow them down before we go into testing. They are also going to have a few extra gimmicks that are going to make them a very interesting set to play. This set is currently being designed for Stalkers, Scrappers, Brutes, and Tanks.

Willpower is designed as a Resistance set, mostly perma-powers.  Castle says:

Willpower has ‘decent’ resists against Smashing/Lethal/Toxic/Psi damage. It has ‘poor’ resists but ‘decent’ defense against Fire/Cold/Energy/Negative Energy.

BackAlleyBrawler noted:

Willpower is our attempt to give the players a powerset that can fulfill the ‘tough guy’ concept and we’re trying to hit a very minimal FX look to it. We have to have some kind of visual effects for the various toggles and clicks just so players will know what’s on and what’s not on, but overall it’s going to be a much less glowy/sparkly than any of the the other ‘defensive’ powersets. We’ll see if that survives our initial closed beta testing or if players will just feel it’s lackluster because of the subdued FX.

Castle also said (about Willpower? Or more broadly?):

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned Taunt Auras. Brutes, Scrappers and Tankers all have a ‘Taunt Aura’ power called “Rise to the Challenge” that works similarly to Invincibility, but increases Regeneration rate rather than Defense.

Very cool.  Now I’ll have to free up some character slots to play with them.  🙂

Sewer Mission Etiquette

The reality of the Sewer Missions in Atlas is that once the team has gone in 4-5 encounters (say past the side dead-end tunnel full of Vahz), someone joining from the front door is not going to make it unless they have some invisibility power, healing power, or travel power.  That being said …

  1. Once you join a Sewer Team, it’s incumbent upon you to make your way to the sewers with all deliberate speed.  People are going to wait for you, and the longer you hold them up, the more impolite you are being.  Joining the team is not the time to hit Wentworths, hit Miss Liberty, hit the store, hit Azuria, and go order pizza.
  2. It’s polite to wait for a decent length of time for the last person to make it in the door before hallooing off after bad guys.  Folks joined expecting to be part of the team.  Be a team mate toward them.
  3. It’s polite to head back toward the door if you’re only in a few encounters and someone dies or joins the team new.  It’s both polite and wise to do so when it’s 3-4 members of the team heading back from the hospital.
  4. It’s impolite to insist that folks head back to the door for you when they’re a dozen-plus encounters in.  Not only is it time-consuming, but they’ve probably far outleveled the greens/blues at the entrance and so would lose XP-over-time.
  5. It’s very impolite to act snarky when folks won’t come back for you in a case like #4.  It’s even more impolite to continue to rag on the team leader by private tells after quitting the team in a huff.  It’s even more polite to do so after the team leader offers an apology.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Character Transfer proto-FAQ

A new prototype of the FAQ to go with the Character Transfer and Renaming system, “coming soon.”


Q: Can I transfer a character from one account to another? I had this old account I’m about to get rid off, but I’d like one of the characters from it.

A: Character moves from account to account are not part of the features described, sorry.

Q: These features would make great Veteran Rewards! Is that possible?

A: We’ve talked about this, but the tech to do it wasn’t a simple thing. We’d rather get the basic functionality out there for everyone and then go from there.

Q: Given the interest in names and the Character Rename feature, what is going on with character name purges?

A: As we announced on July 31st here (link to http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8836713 ) the names for characters below level 6 on game retail accounts that have been inactive for over 90 days will be changed to unreserved status. For complete details, please reference the previous announcement ( link to http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8836713 )

Q: Any number of questions regarding a “server-less” game configuration and possible speculation about how that will work.

A: We don’t have anything to add about a “server-less” system, other than to reiterate what was stated in the original announcement. To quote:

Quote:


“One example of such a change would be a “server-less” game configuration where all players can group with anyone, without the restriction of which server they play on. We are not committing to this “server-less” configuration, and in fact there are no plans to implement a “server-less” environment this calendar year…”


Q: With Character Transfers, when someone does use it, do they receive a warning that their name is already taken prior to the move?

A: There is a Name Check feature included in the game now. By using this feature, you can check if a name is available prior to purchasing a rename token. Please keep in mind that while a name check may come through as showing a name available, there is still no guarantee that someone might not choose that name just before you use your rename to obtain it. Therefore, there are no guarantees that any name will be available. All purchases of Character Renames are final and non-refundable.

Q: Is there any other means to pay for a Character Transfer or Character Rename besides a credit card on file?

A: The systems currently in use Character Transfer and Character Rename do not include the option to use a game time card or any other payment option for these services. Only with a card on file for recurring billing is it possible to purchase these items.

Q: Can I move my characters to a Europe server or characters from a European server to North American Servers?

A: The Character Transfer Service does not allow for moves between the EU servers and the US servers or vice versa.

Q: Do all your possessions move with you when you do a character transfer?

A: Yes, including your auctions on the Consignment Market. Here is a list of things that do not move

* Your Friends list of players will no longer be valid
* You will be removed from any Supergroup that character was in, and will lose access to any SG storage.
* Taskforces or Strikeforces that may be in progress will be abandonded.
* Kiosk stats will be preserved, but rating positions will likely chage.
* We cannot guarantee that your character’s name will be available on the destination server you move too. Should there be a name conflict, your character will be issued a free character rename to change the name.

Q: Will the Character Transfer Service allow me to make a copy of my character?

A: No, sorry. No copies, just transfers.

Q: Is there a badge associated with making a Character Transfer? In the past, there was the Passport badge that was given out.

A: There is no badge received from moving in the current system. The Passport badge was intended as a one time offering for US to EU moves, since the European (EU) service started after the North American game was launched.

Q: Is there a “swap” feature to Character Transfer, so in one move I could switch 2 characters?

A: there is no “swap” feature included in the Character Transfer feature. As it currently stands, servers that are full and have no available character slots are not allowable destinations.

Q: Will the Character Rename Service allow us to change our global chat handle as well?

A: The Character Rename System currently only deals with the actual character name and is not associated with the chat server or your global chat handle.

Q: If someone moves their character OFF of one Server and transfers to another Server, does that character-name suddenly become freed-up for another player to immediately use on the first server?

A: Yes

Q: I am about to move my character from his old server to a new server. His name was so super-awesome that I created a placeholder character with the same name on the new server, to keep others from taking my super-awesome name. I want to delete my placeholder (and free up that super-awesome name) just before I move my main character to that server. My timing needs to be perfect! Here’s my question: When I delete my placeholder, how long do I have to wait before my super-awesome name is freed-up?

A: We cannot specify a time duration, but in practice the name becomes available fairly quickly. Please keep in mind that we never guarantee any names will be available.

Q: If I have items for sale/buy on the Consignment Market and my character moves to a new server, will the sale/buy still work?

A: Yes. When a character transfers servers, anything they are buying/selling on the auction house is tied to the player’s account, not the character, so the buy/sell transactions will go with them.

The same goes for the Character Rename feature; buy/sell transactions or pending transactions will not be affected by the name change.

Q: When you change your character’s name, does it change on everyone’s Friends list, or do they have to re-add you?

A: When a character does a rename, their name will not change on other people’s friends list until they a) zone, or b) logs out and then back in. Once one of these 2 conditions happens, other people’s friends list will be updated with the new name.

Invention Salvage costs

Someone’s tracking the cost of Invention Salvage. It’s worth having the list in hand just so you don’t, y’know, sell some Pangean Soil to a contact for 5K (rather than the 4.5MM it’s selling for recently).  Or, conversely, so you have some idea of what buying the pieces for that nifty IO you just picked up will actually cost.

The list is being regularly linked to in the City Scoop newspaper (on the CoX boards).

And, btw, that link to Pangean Soil is actually to the Dread Tomax guide to what Invention Salvage gets used for what, part of the City of Data pages.  Very spiffy.

What’s not coming to CoX any time soon

On an amusing tote board post of “Compiled List of what Positron may hint at… Positron himself posted on some things not likely to be seen any time soon.

Weather

Too much art for no add to gameplay. We may get into stuff like rain, but if the streets are not slick, it just wouldn’t fit. Plus if weather had gameplay (like fire powers reduced in rain, wind affecting Archery, etc.) while cool, I can’t see it as fun. People would just avoid weather when it didn’t sync with their powers.

Probably correct.  I have liked the yellow storm clouds around the Rikti invasion, but it’s not high up on my list.

On the other hand, if you had weather effects that benefited / detracted from powers in a more global basis, and they were (appropriately) city-wide effects, that might be an interesting random factor.  E.g., Dark powers being more powerful at night, less during the day (neutral under fluorescent interior lighting).  Lightning being stronger during storms, less so otherwise.  Etc.  Yes, players might only trot out their particular character during positive weather — but even if they were chronic altaholics, there would be times when it would be necessary to play a flame guy in the rain, a cold guy during a heat wave, etc. 

I think it coiuld work — but like I said, it’s not a big desire.

Powerset Respecs

While this may happen within your Archetype someday (i.e. a Fire/Devices Blaster becomes an Energy/Energy Blaster), don’t hold your breath. A lot of the thinking comes in the “we give you 8 (or 12) character slots per server”, which should be enough to create alts of whatever power combos you want, without destroying a character you invested time and effort into. Probably not the most popular answer.

Vaguely disappointing, but not critical.  Posi’s right about alting up a new power set (though that has some disadvantages, too — maybe that “you begin your new characer at Level 10” thing — and it begs the story line in the early zones if you’ve actually already met some of the mission contacts).

Positron TF redone

Yeah, it’s a lousy TF. It’s the first one we ever did, it’s due for a revamp, but that’s not coming anytime soon. For the time being there will still be reason to brag about having the “I endured Positron’s TF and all I got was this lousy badge” badge.

I think this is a mistake.  I think they could improve early game experience by revamping this guy.

Underwater Zones

We’d rather do Space Station Gagarin or the Armstrong Moon Base.

Given the choice, I agree.  Though I don’t know as it has to be an Either/Or.

Vehicles

We discussed this recently and couldn’t justify putting it in. Vehicles would either be really good (then it becomes City of Jet Bikes), or boring (my Jet Bike isn’t faster than Fly). The effort to put them in simply wouldn’t equate with what you got out of them. This is why wings took so long. When the effort DID equate with what you got out of them, they went in.

Yeah — this one is a moderate desire on my part.  I don’t know that Jet Bikes should be faster than Fly — it’s just another expression of the same power with “color.”

Of course, I’m still ticked that rocket boots and wings are invention items, so …

AI System Overhaul

Too risky of completely breaking the game in some obscure way. Tweaks sure, an overhaul, not likely.

Probably true — and a real shame.  I’d love more intelligent, less predictable (but more sensible) opponents. 

Ability to unslot enhancements without a respec

We like the Bind on Equip mentallity. The fact you can un-slot them during a respec is a conceit that this really isn’t “equipment” per se. Different power combinations take different Enhacements, so we could either screw you during the respec process (i.e. if you can’t slot it, you lose it) or let you keep some in your Inventory slots. We erred on the side of “nice” with this one.

Frankly, the implementaiton of the enhancment mechanic leaves me cold, from the arcane naming conventions to the idea that I really need a Barium Enema (or whateve it is) to give my Science character added accuracy to the whole concept of stores to buy/sell enhancements (and villains don’t attack these stores because…?).  The mechanic is fine — the implementation is non-heroic.

That said, I’ll also note that for a long-time player, the burden of respecs (and costume changes) have been nearly negated.  I have a ton of characters that have a ton of respecs/costume tokens from vet awards.  Almost makes me think it’s a whole mechanic that could be gotten rid of.

Fitness Pool becoming an inherent

We’ve tried to make Stamina less a required power with a lot of the things IO’s do. Any discussion on Stamina generally leads to the elimination of Endurance altogether (because a lot of the reason Staminia is so popular is that is lets you no longer worry about Endurance for the most part). i.e. Making Stamina an inherent means we might as well eliminate Endurance from the game.

And the problem here would be?

No, I mean, Endurance should be a problem at the end of a major, titanic struggle, or after a huge nova-like exertion.  Short of that, heroes just don’t get winded.  Bugs the heck out of me at early levels.

 Now … what didn’t Posi eliminate from the list?

  1. Power Customization (Though I think this has been previously ruled out).
  2. Tanker Shield Powerset (Meh)
  3. Flashback (Doing old content you missed on the way up?  That’s what alts are for.)
  4. New Epic Archetypes, i.e., Incarnates (Doesn’t seem likely, though there’s plenty of room for something post-50.)
  5. Unlimited Respecs (Except that cheapens the Vet Rewards, unless you do it as part of a trial.)
  6. Player Apartment/Personal Base (Can you say, “SG of 1”?  Not that difficult to do, I wouldn’t think.)
  7. Influence Banks / Mail System (Meh.  The Invention system seems to have made money woes largely a thing of the past.)
  8. Cross-Server Teaming (Not likely.)
  9. Villain Stuff (Villain epic archetypes, switching allegiences between the Recluse’s lieutenants, etc.  Whatever.)
  10. Return of the Fifth Column (Seems more and more likely.)
  11. Jetpacks (As a permanent costume piece.  Seems likely, with all the other jetpack costuming now available.)
  12. Hero to Villain Switch (Or vice-versa?  It may be the cooperative RWZ is a test for how this would potentially work.  I’d like it, frankly, though it would make CoV less “unique.”)
  13. New Tanker/Scrapper Power Sets (Almost certain.)
  14. Numbers on Powers (We keep edging closer and closer to this – might as well make it transparent.)
  15. Offline Costume Creator (I think it’s very unlikely, both because of the possibility of hacking the system and because it takes people out of the online game.)
  16. Supergroup System Revamp (Limit numbers to accounts, not characters.  Not high on my list, but it should be trivially doable.)
  17. Defiance Change (Castle gathered together some faboo ideas — I’d like to see something implemented)
  18. Picking Up and Throwing Things (A red name has previously indicated this is not doable in the game engine, alas.)
  19. Interactive Environment (a la Mayhem Missoins.  We might see more of this, but I don’t see revamping the game with it, nor do I want to see a lot of dev time taken up on it.)

 

To everything, churn, churn, churn

Finished up the Level 35 missions in the Rikti War Zone last night with Rita and Runt. Need to wait a few levels to start up the Level 40 missions.

Went on, coincidentally, to some Rikti content elsewhere (the Organ Grinders arc).  I’m of mixed feelings over the new Rikti graphics.  I think it’s perfectly legit that the new invading forces have the cool new armor, weapons, etc.  But the Rikti who’ve been stuck here on Earth since the first invasion — I wish they’d been allowed to keep their “first generation” weapons and threadbare look.  Either that, or update the mission text to give some clues that the New Rikti and Old Rikti have been intermingline.

(Hmmmm … for that matter, as the Omega Clearance stuff that comes at the end of the Organ Grinders arc is now actually revealed in passing in the first Rikti War Zone set of missions — has that been updated, too?  Or are we supposed to look surprised?)

Back in the saddle again

Whew.  It’s been a long, dry road here at Blog of Heroes — largely because I’ve been doing very little CoX play over the past month or so.  No, I haven’t sold my soul to WoW or LotRO or anything like that.  I’ve just been — busy and distracted.

Last night, though, we had a fun time.  Doyce sent me an e-mail asking about villains on Virtue and wanting to run the first (Tarikoss/Bat’Zul) Strike Force.  Margie and I discovered we both had (soloist) villains in the range in questions — my Eliza Dee (17) and her Deep Charge (15).  Together we banded together with Kate and Doyce’s Miss Optimism and Mister Brightside, and Lee’s Steel Soul, and pounded through the SF in, oh, about four hours.

Lots of fun — two scrappy brutes, a tanky brute, a corrupter, and a mastermind, very few deaths, and lots of dinging.  Margie got DC from 15 to 18, and I got Eliza from 17 to 19 (and so close to Blessed Stamina).  Biggest annoyance was my CoX session crashing and needing a reverify in the middle of the festivities, but it all worked out okay.

We also played with Ventrilo, after a quick install and configuration.  I have to confess to having been skeptical about the whole voice-play thing in the past, but it did help with the tactics (and strategy) during the game, so a big thumbs up.  Installed easily on both machines and we got going with very little hassle.

Good times.  Nice to play in a larger group of people I know and — well, mostly trust, and at least can predict.  🙂  We’ll have to do more of that.

Rikti Invasion, First Blood

Ran around with Rita and Runt, beating up Rikti.  Fun times.  Nice content.  Margie’s well familiar with the stuff from her beta testing, but I enjoyed it.  There were four RWZ instances on Victory — but, interestingly, no Rikti invasion raids while we were on.

RWZ requires Level 35+, which means for us:

  1. Rita and Runt (at 36)
  2. Torchy and Hildy (at 49 – we should really do their ding mission some time)
  3. Psi-clone and Amorpha (at 50)

Solo, I have Lynn at 34, pretty close to 35.  We also have P-siren and Velvet at 32, but I don’t see playing them any time soon, unless teaming were involved.

I10 Patch Notes

Patch notes:


Issue 10: INVASION!

The skies over Paragon City are filled with dark, grey thunderheads. It is the same in the Rogue Isles, Europe, and across the globe. Small ships dart through the heavy weather … and there are so very many of them.

 The Rikti have returned.

HEADLINES:

Rikti World Invasion: The Rikti have been fought off before.  But now, prepare for a desperate battle to save Earth from the new Rikti Invasion Force!  Aggressive Rikti forces can attack Paragon City and Rogue Isle areas at any time and with little warning!

Rikti War Zone: Heroes and villains are asked to put aside their differences and co-operate to assist Vanguard, the all volunteer force funded by the United Nations Security Council, to stem the flood of Rikti and their attempts to salvage their downed Mother Ship.  Earn Vanguard Merits to obtain new costume items and other cool stuff!  [Okay, i can believe in super-heroes.  I can believe in alien invaders.  But believing an effective, active, aggressive UN Security Council?  Naaaaah …]

Rikti Co-op Task Force: Lady Grey, leader of Vanguard, has a series of missions for a proven team of superpowered individuals, security clearance 45 to 50, designed to take the fight to heart of the Rikti Invasion!

INVASION!

“The Rikti Return! The Vanguard needs YOU! All super powered beings are encouraged to join the effort! This isn’t about your history, but about OUR future. Join now.”

  • The Rikti have somehow found a way to bridge the dimensional gap between their world and ours once again and are staging raids on Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.
  • When Zones within the cities are under attack, a world-wide alert will be issued by Vanguard. This alert will show up in your Chat window, warning you in which zone attack is imminent. 
  • While the invasion is occurring, players do not receive debt while outdoors in an invaded zone.
  • Those in that zone that do not wish to be at risk of Rikti attack are asked to take shelter immediately. They can do so by leaving the zone, or moving inside buildings or under cover (overpasses, parking garages, etc.).
  • Rikti bombs appear to be unstable and not 100% reliable. Some do not explode on impact and only embed themselves in the ground. These bombs have been noted to detonate after a time, so take caution when you see these. They can be disarmed or delayed by inflicting damage upon them.

Revamped Zone: Rikti Crash Site is now Rikti War Zone

The region previously known as the Crash Site has erupted into a War Zone!  All non-combatants are advised to stay well clear of the area!

This zone is now co-operative, Heroes and Villains can both enter into the zone and team together while here.  Heroes and Villains cannot fight against each other in this area. They will both arrive into the zone in the Vanguard Base that has been established there.

Entry points can be found in Vanguard Bases in the following zones:

  • Paragon City:
    • Atlas Park
    • Founders Falls [Conveniently next to the new tram.]
    • Peregrine Island
  • Rogue Isles:
    • Cap au Diable
    • St. Martial
    • Grandville

The SWAT entrance from Crey’s Folly is sealed. [Awwww … that was a convenient way to get back to FF from Crey’s Folly.]

  • The zone is now scaled for levels 35 to 50.
  • While in the Rikti War Zone, debt obtained will be 50% of normal.
  • When you enter the zone, Levantera, one of the directors of Vanguard, will be auto-issued to you as a contact. Complete her missions to get a feel for the area, as well as be inducted as an honorary member of Vanguard and be able to obtain merits.
  • Borea has repeatable missions for you in the Rikti War Zone.
  • Other characters that have missions available are Gaussian, Dark Watcher, and Serpent Drummer. They can all be found in the Vanguard Base
  • By joining Vanguard you will earn Vanguard Merits for defeating Rikti as well as completing missions for Vanguard. These Merits can be exchanged for Costume Pieces (of the Vanguard Armor), as well as some other cool stuff. The device for purchasing these items are special crafting tables located within the Vanguard base. Vanguard Merits can not be used at other crafting tables.
  • You can view Vanguard Merits earned from the Salvage window under the Special Tab.

Rikti Co-op Task Force:

The UNSC backs Vanguard for billions. With the second Rikti invasion bearing down upon us, the United Nations Security Council has essentially given Vanguard a blank check to cover the costs of fighting the Rikti, “We don’t have time to haggle over budgets,” says a senior level official in the UNSC. “Vanguard has always been about defeating the Rikti, no matter what. We fully support Lady Grey and her team.”

  • Lady Grey gives out a Strike/Task Force for 8 super powered individuals with security clearance from 45 to 50.  The mission attempts to stop the Rikti before they can get a foothold in our dimension.  Be wary, the Rikti are single-minded in the pursuit of their objectives!

Take the fight to the crashed Rikti ship!

  • The Rikti have erected energy pylons throughout the area surrounding their crashed ship in the Rikti War Zone. Vanguard engineers have discovered a way to detect Rikti Pylons.  To view waypoints to these pylons, check the ‘Special’ option in your map display window.
  • Destroying all pylons before the Rikti can replace them, will lower the shield on the Rikti Mother Ship in the zone.
  • Heroes and Villains are asked to plant explosives inside the ventilation systems of the ship to cripple the Mother Ship repair effort the Rikti have in progress.
  • Once enough bombs are planted, the Master at Arms will arrive to clear out non-Rikti interlopers!
  • Characters that participate with this will be rewarded with Vanguard Merits.


Rikti Villain Group Revamp

  • The Rikti Villain group has undergone an art and powers revamp.
  • The new art vastly upgrades the look of the Rikti and now allows us to use more animations with the Rikti soldiers. [Though I will miss the nekkid Rikti.]
  • One major change is the Rikti swords now have a ranged energy weapon in them, allowing them to use both melee and ranged attacks without switching weapons.

Powers

Added support for villain archtypes for Kheldian inherent bonus powers. Here is the new help text:

  • Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Warshades’ absorbing nature allows them to draw on the power of their teammates’ power to increase their own. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Stalker, Brute or Blaster teammate. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited Protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power.
  • Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Peacebringers’ metamorphic nature allows them to bring balance to their team. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Brute, Stalker or Blaster teammate. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited Protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power.
  • Jack Frost pets and Animated Stone pets should be more willing to engage in melee combat due to a change to their AI values.
  • Crey Juggernauts will turn off their Personal Force Field after 15 seconds rather than leaving it on indefinitely.
  • Bitter Ice Freeze Ray’s attack time has been shortened from 3.7 seconds to 2.5 seconds for both Blasters and Corruptors.

Critter Powers

  • Critters with area of effect Confuse powers have had the duration of those powers greatly reduced.

Power Effects

  • Graphical Effects for Ice Armor powers have been modified to improve performance by reducing redundant effects.
  • Corrected an issue with Piston Boots steam effects so that they no longer pick up incorrect tinting from the costume piece.
  • Stone Melee/Hurl Boulder and Super Strength/Hurl – slight tweak to improve performance.
  • Minor camera shake added to some Super Strength hit effects. [Yay!]
  • New Geometry and effects for the Blackwand temporary/veteran power.
  • New graphical effects for Sonic Resonance.
  • “Place Trap” animation will now play while flying. Animation also plays a bit faster, reducing the amount of time the player is rooted while activating.

Costumes

  • New “Stealth” costume set available
  • New “Exo Proto” costume set available
  • New Vanguard costume set available for purchase with merits
  • 39 month Veteran Reward added: Boxing costume items
  • Miniskirt 1 tweaked a little
  • Reorganized skirts and added new Pencil Skirt and Leather Versions. [Can always use more skirts, though it would be nice (if impractical) to have longer ones.]
  • Female Dragon wings sized up a little
  • Female Burned wings moved up and in a little
  • Female cap reweighted to reduce clipping
  • “Small padded glove” for females have a pad on both hands
  • Masks fixed for full helms/Chitin \\
  • Neck on full helmets reweighted to reduce clipping
  • Peg leg and pirate hook now available for females [Arr!  Female pirates!]
  • Tech Sleek boots available in more categories
  • New Female Boot called high heel available.
  • Greek letters unified and PI added
  • New Bunny tail costume piece available. [Yay!]
  • Female Hellenic Sandals Reweighted to fix clipping issues.
  • Santa boots and heart patterns are once again available at the Tailor.
  • Tin Crown hat added
  • Fabo Hair style added
  • Formal Hair style added
  • V neck & V deep pattern added to female skin tops
  • Eye Tendrils added to Tendrils/Head Costume Aura for Female models.
  • Whiskers added to face detail option.
  • Rocket Boots color mask improved
  • Samurai belts shouldn’t disappear underwater
  • Female Burned wings moved up and in a little.
  • “Small padded glove” added to jackets for female. 

City Zones

  • Siren’s Call: Fixed hole in the ground that allowed players to get under the map.
  • Recluse’s Victory – Fixed bug that allowed some players to get outside the map.

 Badges:

  • There are a number of new badges
  • Coralax Gladiator badge should now correctly count all Coralax bosses toward badge progression
  • Supergroup Fusion Generator badge is no longer given for time spent in PvP zones; it is now given for 750 PvP kills while in supergroup mode.  

Rewards

  • Costume Piece Recipes have been moved into their own drop pool and the chance of getting one has been increased. Costume Piece Recipes will ONLY drop off of Minion-level entities. Lieutenants and higher have no chance of giving out a costume recipe. [Yay!]

Auction House

  • Fixed bug that sometimes prevented the highest bid from winning an auction, or prevented the lowest offer from being sold first.

User Interface

  • Added commas to Trade windows (so 1000 now appears as 1,000) [Yay!]
  • Added commas to numeric displays of experience and influence/infamy when a critter is overcome.
  •  Trades are now limited to 9,999,999 influence or infamy. [Not a bad number.]

Game

  • Improved Arena stability. 

Supergroup Bases

  • There are now teleport beacons that can be obtained to travel to the Rikti War Zone.

Inventions

  • The price of Invention Enhancements, when sold through the process of a respec is now based on memorized prices, not the normal build price.
  • Impervium Armor: Psionic Resistance – no longer causes a character to have a “Psi Aura” when slotted.
  • Impervious Skin: Status Resistance – value reduced from 30% to 7.5% and unique status removed. Players can now slot this enhancement up to 5 times for the bonus.

 

CITY OF HEROES

 Power Effects

  • Peacebringer effects are updated to improve performance
  • Kheldians in Dwarf or Nova form should no longer repeatedly play the boost animation when receiving a buff from an empowerment station.

Powers

  • Blaster Charged Brawl now accepts Sleep Enhancements and Sleep IO Sets.

Tasks

  • Founder’s Falls – Angus McQueen no longer gives missions to fight Rikti in the Rikti Crash Site.  These missions have been updated and now count Rikti defeated in the Rikti War Zone.
  • Major Richard Flagg, a NPC Terra Volta Respecification Trial contact (level 44+) has been moved out of the Rikti Crash Site (now the Rikti War Zone) and has been moved to Peregrine Island near the Portal Corp. building.

City Zones

  • Faultline – Fixed hole in the ground.  More gophers!

 

CITY OF VILLAINS

Powers

  • Fixed an issue with Brute Energy Punch which could cause it to generate Fury much faster than designed.
  • Corruptor Sonic Resonance Liquefy now accepts damage enhancements and, as a result, may now be slotted with Targeted AoE Sets.

City Zones

  • Breakout – Fixed bug that allowed some players to get past the fence into the area where Longbow and Arachnos are fighting.  [Awwww …]

Graphical Effects

  • Drain Psyche effect altered slightly to improve performance.

My pal Al

So, several geological ages ago, I built Al McGordo, a Rad/Rad Offender.  He was a great concept (radioactive cowboy from New Mexico, of course), and I really loved the whole eye-beams thang, etc.

Never did much with him — just never quite clicked.

Then, this evening, Doyce and Kate were looking for someone to help start up the Posi TF, and I asked Margie, “Well, do they want any help?”

Natch, all we had in-level-range (10-15) was Al (at 10) and Margie’s squid, Lunulata, at 11.  Running with Hang Time at 12 and DeepFreeze Deputante at 14.

Which, given the front-loading “THOU SHALLT NOT FARM!” of Posi meant we were going up against All Purple, All the Time.

We slogged through the first mish (many Purple Vahz — thank heavens for the Holiday Spirit I still had), then into the second mish (“Demons, Mr. Rico!  Zillions of ’em!”), where we decided that Debt was not a good way of life for the entire frelling party, and we broke up the TF.

A bit later, as Margie and I were running through the University Invention Tutorial, Doyce pinged us to see if we wanted to actually hit things we could actually hit.

So we did a mish in Kings Row, then (as I opined that I’d loooooove a travel power, even a temp one) the KR Safeguard mish – which, with a bit of fumbling around, we actually succeeded at, more-or-less (foiled the bank robbery, did one side mish successfully, timed out on the second).

And, by end-of-evening, both of us had levelled, and I, at least, was beginning to get the hang of the whole Offender thing.

Hmmm.  Which, I guess, means it’s time to put Al back into the deep freeze for another year.  🙂

Villainy

Played a bit with Mr Ravenous and Charity at Home last night for the first time in yikes.  I’d forgotten how much fun the Brutish running-between-melees schtick was, and Margie did her usual bang-up job of heals and resist debuffs.  Hilarity and bloodshed ensued.