Server Transfer and Character Renaming – woot!

Discussion on the boards about … Holy Mother of Pearl … could it be?  Yes!

Server Transfer and Renaming features being tested.

It’s … about … time.

Quoth Lighthouse:

Starting on Tuesday, July 17th, the Training Room Test Server will have two new game features enabled for testing: Character Transfer and Character Rename.
Character Transfer will allow customers to move characters from one server to another.
Character Rename will allow customers to rename a selected character.

Both of these features are not part of Issue 10: Invasion. Although we are beginning to test them now, we anticipate that they will not be enabled on the live service until after the launch of Issue 10.

We estimate that both features, Character Transfer and Character Rename, will carry a transaction fee of $9.99 each per use (there will be no fee for transfers to or renames on the Training Room). Should a Character Transfer have a name conflict on the destination server, a free Character Rename will be made available to resolve the conflict and rename the moving character.

So, at $10, not something people will do casually.  But it would be very nice to be able to do it — and, honestly, to the extent that I do any teaming, I would be willing to shift most characters someplace else for some sort of group TF/SF activity.

We feel the price of these features is enough to prevent potential abuse, but also reasonable enough to not be prohibitive for those who want to improve their gaming experience by moving servers or changing a character name.

I’m sure people have detailed it somewhere on the boards, but lacking the motivation to ferret it out … what sort of “potential abuse” is there in server transfer?  (Or, really, in renaming?)

Will “GenericHero003497” be able to rename him/herself, I wonder?

Interesting bit here:

IMPORTANT! Customers who are interested in taking advantage of the Character Transfer service should know that it is possible in the future that we may make changes to the game that would remove the need to Transfer servers. 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, but because we are charging a fee for these services, it is important that our players understand that the possibility exists. We want to be very clear in this regard so that those who do decide to make use of a Server Transfer, when it becomes available, understand that they may not need it in the future.

I have no idea how something like this would work (various DC “Crisis” comics would indicate the answer is “badly”), but … well, good on them for giving a warning.

Some official ramificaitions:

All purchases are final and non-refundable.

Any disputed credit card charge can lead to a permanent account closure. Please ensure that the card on file that you are using is the correct one you wish to make the charge to!

Keep in mind that after the character is moved, your Friend’s list of players on that server will no longer be valid and you will be removed from any Supergroup that character was included in.

Taskforces or Strikeforces in progress will be abandonded.

Kiosk stats will be preserved, but rating positions will likely change.

We cannot guarantee that your character’s name will be available on the destination server you move to.  Should there be a name conflict, your character will be issued a free character rename to change the name.

Some other Red Name (mostly Lighthouse) observations on this:

  • It could be, in the future, be a Vet Reward.
  • It’s cheaper than other MMORPGs … though I still don’t understand the pricing.
  • Is it time for another inactive name purge?  Maybe.
  • No copies, just transfers.  Hmmmm.  Not sure why not, though.
  • Once you move, your name is freed up on your old server.  Some interesting RP possibilities there (“I want to keep Lvl 50 Psi-clone, but start off a new Lvl 1 Psi-clone, too.”)
  • Friends lists won’t be updated (in the case of renames) until you zone or log.
  • Worried that “Psi-clone” is already taken on Virtue, and you’re afraid if you move him you’ll have to rename him to something else?  Try creating a character there by that name first and see if the name is taken.

I have no idea how much advantage I’m liable to take of this feature at the moment.  $10 is enough to make it not something I’d do casually, but if I really wanted to move some folks onto Champs, I have some other character (which I don’t want to delete) that I could move elsewhere (which would cost me $20, which is steep, but not utterly, completely out of the question).

Anyhow … it’s definitely something that’s been asked for, and I’m glad it’s here.

Vet Rewards

So I’ve passed the 27 Months (“Dedicated”) Vet Reward.

At the end of this month (7/29), I’ll hit the 30 Month (“Committed”) reward, which is some costume bits, some base decor, and a costume change.  Meh.

At Halloween (10/29), I’ll hit 33 Months (“Unswerving”), which will give me  the (huzzah!) permanent Nemmie Staff or Blackwand.  Yay!  I know some characters who will jones for that.

At the end of January (1/29), I’ll hit the magic 36 Months (“Addicted” – ya think?), which gives me a little non-combat pet.  Which is both goofy and fun.

Coolness.

Developer Diary

Posi’s description of what went into the design decisions for I10.  Interesting.

With Issue 10 we decided to advance the storyline. Like any ongoing game we have many unresolved plot threads and each is a great opportunity for introducing new game content. Our first thought for Issue 10 was to bring back the 5th Column, a villain group that disappeared when the Council was introduced in Issue 3. But in the end we decided to focus on one of the greatest threats to Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, the aliens known as the Rikti. We had revealed a lot about the Rikti in the past, but there was always the looming specter of a second Rikti War. There were already plenty of missions that involve shutting down attempts by stranded Rikti to contact their homeworld. For current players, Rikti are a familiar enemy and remain a giant pain in the butt.

Sean Fish (aka Manticore) had already determined what happened with the Omega Team who sealed the Rikti in their home dimension to end the first Rikti War, but this was knowledge hidden to the players. They only knew that Hero 1 and a small band of magic heroes closed the portals from the other side, never to be heard from again. We knew that this was a big question that needed an answer for the players, so it became a central point not only to the game, but the comic book we publish with Top Cow as well.

Catching up with the boards

I was a few weeks behind on the boards — which is probably okay, since a lot of it was beta testing this-n-that.

Btw, I’ve been watching over Margie’s shoulder as she betas I10 (both the original closed and now the open beta).  It looks like it will be much fun.

Stuff to pass on:

  1. Sonic Shields:  Now a much more close-fitting orange wavery effect, rather than epilepsy-inducing sonic cages.  I don’t think they look as good, but, then, the old ones didn’t (literally) cause me to vomit.
  2. Super-Strength:  A couple of the high-power attacks (KO, Haymaker) will actually make the screen shake.  Must … play … more … Velvet.
  3. Big interview with Positron about I10.  The “Second Rikti Invasion” will be an all-out event for a couple of weeks when it goes live, then settle down some.
  4. New Co-Op Task Force (45-50).  Yay!
  5. Spiffy I10 Teaser Video. (Hi-Res Version)
  6. Vanguard backgrounder.

Foodies

Doyce sent out an invite across the [Monday Munchies] mail list to see if we could hop on and get some of the Hostess Heroes up to the Rikti invasion zone level 35 minimum in time for I10 to hit.  Ginger Snap and Bear Claws are at 30, I think; Ho Ho and Princess Peep are 28.

Got on late (just as I was returning from karate, in fact), but still had a fun time.  Managed to ding Ho Ho to 29 (Peep tends to get chewed on more).  Despite the Red Cap Mission from Hell, it was still enjoyable, and a blaster / scrapper / tank / defender team is, by nature, pretty well balanced.

Gotta do that some more some time.

Content contentment

Expect more after I10.  Quoth Statesman:

 I’ll let you into a little secret…

Positron is very focused on advancing the storyline…he really championed the idea of the “second invasion.” I think you’ll find that future updates will touch more upon the game’s background than previous…

Very cool.  I chatted with someone in the closed beta, and, without going into any NDAed details, I10 looks very keen.

We were down …

But now we’re up. 

SQL table problem, which happened on the blog this morning and which I couldn’t fix until I got home (since our office firewall blocks the port that CPanel operates under).  Took ten seconds to fix, after a day of frustration.  Sorry about that, chiefs.

Double XP Weekend – after action report

Well, alas, never did hook up with anyone else for the event, but Margie and I had fun on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon/evening plowing our Mastermind duo, Gifted Kid and Special Educator, from 23 to most of the way through 27.  Which netted Gifted Kid both an additional Protector Bot (dubbed Dr McCoy to go with the extant Dr Franklin) and the (woo-hoo) Assault Bot (dubbed Ah-nold) (for the record, the Battle Bots are dubbed Huey, Dewey, and Louie — after, of course, the drones in Silent Running — Gifted Kid is, if nothing else, a geek).

Only died once during the weekend (and debt went away pretty quickly).

Did briefly exchange tells with Ktbuffy, but between a final bank-robbery-a-palooza and a very yummy steak dinner with Margie, never did get with her.

Costuming

Cool Q&A with Jay Doherty, lead costume designer for CoX.  Here’s an interesting one:

Community Qestion (Belga): Can we be given access to the NPC costume pieces? Many players would love to use the Carnival of Shadows pieces, for example, and I’d really like to have access to the Mu Mystics costumes.

Jay Doherty: When NPCs where first made there was no intention to give players those costume pieces, mostly because they would not work with other costume pieces (ex: clipping, overlapping) When the PPD exobot guys were first put into the game, players really wanted those pieces for themselves. Unfortunately all those pieces where made to work with each other not as separate pieces, and they look really silly if you don’t have all the pieces on. So to address this we have come up with a few solutions. First, while not completely copying the carnival of shadows I have built a completely new costume set with the flavour of the carnival. Second, there will be a new NPC group that was built with the player in mind, all costume pieces from this NPC group will be something players will be able to wear. Now depending on how the players respond to this is how we’ll handle more things in the future. Please don’t think that every NPC costume group from this point on will be given to the players, but I will put forth the effort to do as many as possible.

Rumor has it that some of this shows up in I10.

Other topics include scabbards and quivers (not soon), new body types (nope, would have to port over all the costumes), long skirts (nope, too much clipping), I10 stuff (4 new costume sets done so far, 3 of them player-requested), and what he’d most like to put in (A chef costume set, an evil clown costume set, 1930’s robot costume set).

 

I10 – Rikti ahoy!

Yowzers!  We have seen the future, and it is content.

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.

Rikti World Invasion

Issue 10 begins with a World Event that spans across numerous zones in both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, as the Rikti return in devastating waves. They are armed with new, brutal weapons and seek to establish a beachhead on Earth, presumably to save their lost brethren and to finish what they started the first time … the destruction of Earth!

Rikti War Zone (Levels 35 – 50)

The site of the crashed Rikti mother ship has become a hot War Zone. Pylons of unknown purpose have appeared around the mother ship, and Rikti presence is extremely heavy. In an attempt to contain the Rikti from breaking out of the area or launching their ship, the government has cordoned off the zone, allowing only select agents access. Government officials have turned the region over to Vanguard, and given them the authority to recruit forces from across the world. This zone is open to both Heroes and Villains, in their combined, desperate struggle to hold the front lines against the second Rikti Invasion.

New Threats

Rikti Pylons are multi-purpose warning and attack devices that surround the crashed mother ship. It takes a concerted effort to take one of these pylons down, but once enough of these are destroyed, access to the ship may be granted. UXBs, “unexploded bombs” that arm, power up, and detonate if not stopped in time, provide a constant threat. Rikti destroyers zip through zones dropping troops, UXB’s, and Rikti Assault Suits.

New Inventions

The Vanguard base contains a special Vanguard Workbench that will allow for special costume pieces (tied to Rikti War Zone recipes). Vanguard Support Machines (“Heavies”) can be requisitioned using Special Salvage (unique to the War Zone). These Heavies function as powerful pets.

New Missions

The first missions in the Rikti War Zone are for characters level 35+. The characters meet a new contact, Levantera, who introduces them to the U.N. security force, Vanguard. They’ll also meet Borea, who sends them on several repeatable missions in the zone. From there, characters meet contact Serpent Drummer, Gaussian, and also talk to the Dark Watcher and learn one of the darkest secrets of Paragon City.

Rikti Co-op Task Force

The Rikti Co-Op Task Force is available for both Heroes and Villains. It is for 6 to 8 players, level 45 – 50. The mission is given out by Lady Grey, leader of the Vanguard. Co-operative missions create a new layer of depth and story as heroes and villains work toward a common goal.

This sounds pretty damned spiffy.

Double XP Weekend – LFT

So I’ve been missing big team activities.  I do a little soloing these days, duoing with Margie, and attempted PUGs with various alts around the servers, but a scheduled “Let’s get together with some good players and put on a show” kind of thing just hasn’t been happening for some time (prolly since the Hostess Heroes got put back on the shelf).

So … given that this is 2xXP weekend coming up Friday … anyone interested in a get-together?  Given possible server/space/level issues, Margie’s suggestion would be a “How fast can we get a group from 1 to 10?” startup on some server with space on it.  Not requiring or committing to anything beyond this weekend, just a chance to get together with some friends, some known quantities, some good players, and have some kick-ass high-reward fun.

It would be nice to run a team through the Sewers (or the Hollows) (or through the Hollows after doing the Kings Row safeguard mish, so we all have a temp travel power) that was a real team, not Joe “BRB ORDERING PIZZA” and Fred “GOIN TO LVL” and Eddie “LOOK I CAN FALL DOWN AND ALMOST DIE!” and Suzy “LEEERRROOOOOYYYYY!”

All commenters welcome.  Any takers?  Any particular timeframe (Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon, Sunday night)?

New patch notes

Once again demonstrating that even if you choose to ignore the whole invention system, it still has an impact because of all the attention being paid to it by the devs.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

This version of the game contains mostly corrections, bug fixes and quality of life changes.  We are always concerned with keeping the game as bug free as possible.  We greatly appreciate the support of players who participate by helping to identify problems, either by playing new versions on the Training Room or submitting /bug reports.  Thanks and enjoy this update!

Invention

Set bonuses were not being granted correctly to players that were exemplared. A set bonus was being removed if a player exemplared below the level at which the set enhancements were slotted. This has been corrected. As of now, a set bonus will be lost while exemplared only if:

  1. The power the set is slotted into is no longer available to the exemplared character.
  2. The character exemplars below the level that the set enhancements can be slotted.  For example, the set bonus from a set of level 25 enhancements will be lost if the character exemplars to level 21 or below, even if the power is still available. The non-set bonuses of the enhancements still apply in this case.

Added the text “(Recipe)” to the description of Enhancement Recipes so players can tell if they are viewing the Recipe or an the actual Enhancement without having to look at the icon.

The following Invention Origin Sets have been changed:

  • Pulverizing Fisticuffs (Acc/Dam/End/Rech) – Accuracy % is now displayed.
  • Lethargic Repose (Acc/Sleep) – Enhance Accuracy was Schedule B, not Schedule A – Fixed.
  • Paralytic (Acc/Hold/Rech) – Enhance Hold was Schedule B, not Schedule A – Fixed
  • Neuronic Shutdown (Acc/Hold/Rech) – Enhance Hold was Schedule B, not Schedule A – Fixed
  • Ghost Widow’s Embrace (Acc/Hold/Rech) – Acc, Hold, & Rech are all on the same schedule of enhancement now
  • Razzle Dazzle (Acc/Stun/Rech) – Acc, Stun, & Rech are all on the same schedule of enhancement now.
  • Rope A Dope (Acc/Stun/Rech) – Acc, Stun, & Rech are all on the same schedule of enhancement now.
  • Stagger (Acc/Stun/Rech) – – Acc, Stun, & Rech are all on the same schedule of enhancement now.
  • Impervious Skin (+Mez Resist) – The Status Resistance enhancement was not stacking if slotted into multiple powers.  In other words, if you had 5 slotted, you still only got the benefit of 1 buff.  The same is true of Set Bonuses which give Status Resistance.  To fix this, all such effects now offer a smaller bonus than their previous value, but will stack up to 5 times
  • All IO enhancements with a ‘proc’ effect will now trigger properly on targets of Area of Effect powers.

For more information about Enhancement schedules and their different effectiveness rates, please visit the Knowledge Base.

Consignment Market

  • Oh for a Comma! Added commas to bid/sell UI (so 1000000 now displays as 1,000,000).
  • The Consignment market no longer worries about case sensitivity in the search feature.
  • Previously, it was possible to create a buy or sell order stack with a negative number, which could not be removed from your transaction inventory. This has been fixed, and existing negative stacks will be deleted. No actual inventory items will be gained or lost.

Rewards

  • Choosing an SO off a choice table while exemplared should no longer result in random level SOs or no SO reward at all.
  • Sidekicked or Exemplared characters in the Invention tutorial should now properly receive their recipe and salvage when choosing it from the reward choice table.
  • Corrected an issue with the 3 hour timer on Task and Strike Force Mission recipe rewards. Previously, the reward choice would be available after 3 hours, but no reward would be granted unless 4 hours had passed.

Tailor

  • Fixed a bug that allowed certain ‘impossible’ costumes. We also added more costume validation to check for them.

Emotes

  • Howl emote has had its sound restored. After using it, players must do something else before playing it again.
  • Drum and Drumlow emote have been given new sounds.

Sound

  • Sound for Mek-Man non-combat pet will now fade off

Bases

  • Fixed bug that could cause ‘ghost items’ in base storage resulting in empty slots that would count as full slots.
  • Fixed a base crash that was caused by adding and removing a lot of stuff from base storage.

Henchmen

  • Changed the -Stealth Escort powers so they do not alert the AI. This should prevent Henchmen from attempting to attack your escortees.

Game

  • Corrected an issue that could cause a crash to occur when trading between characters or adding/removing items from base storage.
  • Fixed a situation that could lead to a client crash

City Zones

  • Bloody Bay: Fixed hole in ground that allowed players to get under the world.
  • Recluse’s Victory: Rewards for defeating the same player will not be given more than once every 10 minutes.

User Interface

  • Added filter to hide recipes that require a recipe but the player does not own. This will alleviate the problem of having recipes show in list at the worktable. The recipe is now included in the ingredients list.
  • Modified store UI to display tooltips for enhancements.

 

CITY OF HEROES

Powers

Fixed a number of bugs related to IO set enhancements:

  • Blaster/Archery/Stunning Shot (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Blaster/Sonic Attack/Dreadful Wail (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Blaster/Sonic Attack/Dreadful Wail (Missing Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Blaster/Electricity Manipulation/Lightning Clap (Incorrect Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Blaster/Ice Manipulation/Chilblain (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Blaster/Ice Manipulation/Chilblain (Missing Assignment: Ranged Damage) Fixed
  • Blaster/Ice Manipulation/Freezing Touch (Incorrect Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Blaster/Ice Manipulation/Freezing Touch (Missing Assignment: Melee Damage) Fixed
  • Controller/Empathy/Resurrect (Incorrect Assignment: Healing) Fixed
  • Controller/Fire Control/Char (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Defender/Archery/Stunning Shot (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Defender/Radiation Blast/Atomic Blast (Incorrect Assignment: Holds) Fixed
  • Defender/Sonic Attack/Dreadful Wail (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Defender/Sonic Attack/Dreadful Wail (Missing Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Scrapper/Weapon Mastery/Caltrops (Missing Assignment: Slow Movement) Fixed
  • Scrapper/Weapon Mastery/Web Grenade (Incorrect Assignment: Slow Movement) Fixed
  • Warshade/Umbral Blast/Essence Drain (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed

Graphics

  • Few minor tweaks for Invulnerability graphical effects. Created a new texture for the body glows and made the particle textures a bit more opaque with this change. The power should appear closer to the look of the original appearance.

Rewards

  • Players can now choose a Synthetic Hamidon Enhancement when completing the Statesman’s TF

Missions

  • Changed the Numina taskforce max level requirement from 38 to 40

City Zones

  • Talos Island: Moved the Supergroup base teleporter to a better location.  [What?!  No more appearing in the middle of the bus shelter?  Awwwwww …]

CITY OF VILLAINS

Powers

Fixed a number of bugs related to IO set enhancements:

  • Brute/Fiery Aura/Healing Flames (Missing Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Invulnerability/Dull Pain (Incorrect Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Electrical Melee/Lightning Clap (Incorrect Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Fiery Melee/Breath of Fire (Incorrect Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Fiery Melee/Breath of Fire (Missing Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Fiery Melee/Cremate (Incorrect Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Fiery Melee/Cremate (Missing Assignment: Melee Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Stone Melee/Fault (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Stone Melee/Hurl Boulder (Incorrect Assignment: Melee Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Stone Melee/Hurl Boulder (Missing Assignment: Ranged Damage) Fixed
  • Brute/Super Strength/Knockout Blow (Missing Assignment: Holds) Fixed
  • Brute/Mace Mastery/Web Envelope (Incorrect Assignment: Slow Movement) Fixed
  • Brute/Soul Mastery/Soul Tentacles (Missing Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Corruptor/Cold Domination/Glacial Shield (Missing Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Corruptor/Cold Domination/Ice Shield (Missing Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Corruptor/Thermal Radiation/Power of the Phoenix (Missing Assignment: Stuns) Fixed
  • Corruptor/Thermal Radiation/Warmth (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Corruptor/Leviathan Mastery/Spirit Shark Jaws (Incorrect Assignment: Immobilize) Fixed
  • Corruptor/Leviathan Mastery/Spirit Shark Jaws (Missing Assignment: Holds) Fixed
  • Corruptor/Mace Mastery/Scorpion Shield (Incorrect Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Icy Assault/Chilling Embrace (Incorrect Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Icy Assault/Ice Sword Circle (Incorrect Assignment: Slow Movement) Fixed
  • Dominator/Psionic Assault/Mind Probe (Incorrect Assignment: Slow Movement) Fixed
  • Dominator/Psionic Assault/Psionic Dart (Incorrect Assignment: Slow Movement) Fixed
  • Dominator/Psionic Assault/Psychic Shockwave (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Psionic Assault/Psychic Shockwave (Missing Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Thorny Assault/Ripper (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Thorny Assault/Ripper (Missing Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Thorny Assault/Thorntrops (Incorrect Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Thorny Assault/Thorntrops (Missing Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Gravity Control/Gravity Distortion (Missing Assignment: Slow Movement) Fixed
  • Dominator/Mind Control/Telekinesis (Incorrect Assignment: Holds) Fixed
  • Dominator/Plant Control/Carrion Creepers (Missing Assignment: Immobilize) Fixed
  • Dominator/Mace Mastery/Scorpion Shield (Incorrect Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Soul Mastery/Dark Obliteration (Incorrect Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Dominator/Soul Mastery/Dark Obliteration (Missing Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Dark Miasma/Dark Servant (Missing Assignment: Healing) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Dark Miasma/Dark Servant (Missing Assignment: Holds) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Dark Miasma/Dark/Servant (Missing Assignment: Immobilize) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Force Field/Personal Force Field (Incorrect Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Poison/Elixir of Life (Missing Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Poison/Noxious Gas (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Traps/Acid Mortar (Incorrect Assignment: Ranged Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Traps/Poison Trap (Incorrect Assignment: Sleep) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Trick Arrow/Ice Arrow (Incorrect Assignment: Ranged Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Trick Arrow/Ice Arrow (Missing Assignment: Slow Movement) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Robotics/Repair (Incorrect Assignment: Healing) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Leviathan Mastery/School of Sharks (Incorrect Assignment: Ranged Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Leviathan Mastery/School of Sharks (Missing Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Leviathan Mastery/Spirit Shark Jaws (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Leviathan Mastery/Spirit Shark Jaws (Missing Assignment: Ranged Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Mace Mastery/Scorpion Shield (Incorrect Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Mu Mastery/Static Discharge (Incorrect Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed
  • Mastermind/Mu Mastery/Static Discharge (Missing Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Stalker/Ninjitsu/Kuji-In Rin (Incorrect Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Stalker/Ninjitsu/Kuji-In Sha (Missing Assignment: Resist Damage) Fixed
  • Stalker/Energy Melee/Stun (Missing Assignment: Melee Damage) Fixed
  • Stalker/Spines/Ripper (Incorrect Assignment: Targeted AoE Damage) Fixed
  • Stalker/Spines/Ripper (Missing Assignment: PBAoE Damage) Fixed

Graphics

  • Fixed a bug in one of the particles used by the Brute version of Temporary Invulnerability that didn’t work right when the character was moving.

User Interface

  • Looking For Group: The Abyss now shows up in the dropdown when looking for players by zone.

Origin-al Sins

Interesting.  With I9 we got some tweaks (not previously publicized) in who drops what sorts of things.

Council, which used to drop mostly Mutation enhancements, now drop Tech.  (Positron says it’s because they used to use the old Fifth Council tables, and the FC were more into mutation experiments than the Council … if you ignore all the Warwolf and Vampyri stuff, I guess).

The Crey have gone from dropping mostly Natural to mostly Science.  Okay, that makes sense.

Evidently the drop tables got updated from the ground up with all the new Invention System drops.  The consensus on the boards, though, is that there’s no good standard villain dropping Mutation enhancements in the 30s — which, I guess, is also an encouragement for folks to get all into IOs and stuff (and perhaps a sign that the Fifth Column are, indeed, coming back in I10).

 

Double XP Weekend

<blockquote>Start: Friday, June 15th at 8:59am PST / 11:59am EST
Finish: Sunday, June 17th, 8:59pm PST / 11:59pm EST</blockquote>

That is, by the bye, Fathers Day weekend.

Need to ponder who, if anyone, I want to have us plow through with.  Might do our MM duo, just to access the later powers faster.

I9 Poll

I’m way behind in my forum stuff, having had house guests and then having gotten sick.  Check out the I9 Poll in the forums, if you haven’t already.

I am so much more impressed by the little QoL stuff than the whole economy setup, I cannot even give it words.  But the poll results indicate that forum readers (insert discussion of how representative of the general playing population) are ga-ga over inventions.  Ah, well.

New Powerset Poll!

 Not only are new powersets a-coming, but they’re polling as to what folks want.  They’re focusing on Tanker Primaries and Scrapper Secondaries.  These won’t be for I10, but for something beyond.

For the melee primaries (asterisks indicate tricky ones that might cause delays):

Which melee power set would you most like to see implemented in game? (May consider 2 choices to get the top two favorites over all.)

O Street Fighting
O Electric Hammer
O Energy Blade
O Psionic Weaponry
O Dual Blades
O Ball and Chain *
O Shield Fighting *

I’d have to go with Street Fighting.  Any of the others are okay, but either of limited comic archetypical nature (Ball & Chain?) or variants on existing stuff (Energy Blade).  I’d have to go with Psionic Weaponry.

For the defensive secondaries (Tankers and Scrappers):

Which melee defense power set would you most like to see implemented in game? (May consider 2 choices to get the top two favorites over all.)

O Density Control
O Force Field
O Willpower
O Vibration
O Growth *
O Shield Defense *

Wow, a toughie.  A lot would depend on how it was implemented — how is “Density Control” going to look and behave differently from “Invulnerability”?  Is “Force Field” bubbles, or Energy Aura?  How will Willpower differ from Regen?

I’d love to see Growth, though that sounds like a real game-breaker, technically.  Prolly, just for the visuals I’d expect, Force Field, too.

Note that the poll results are not going to be released — the devs won’t commit to anythying, they just want opinions.