Category: Resources & Rules

As of I7, at least, according to Castle:

Some folks took one of my posts to mean that Claws sets for Heroes and Villains were being reduced in DPS. This is not true! The statement was along the lines of “My changes made it TOO good, so I have to tone them down a bit.”
Here are the major changes coming in I7:
Swipe: Changed animation to a Two Hit swipe. Cast Time reduced to 1.5
Strike: New Animation, basically a stab to the midsection. Cast Time is 1.17 seconds.
Slash: Uses Strike’s old animation. Cast Time 1.33 seconds.

Better times and no more face-scratching animation. Excellent. I would create a new claws scrapper — except that I suspect everyone else will, too.

Some nice AT icons (just for heroes) here.

Interview with Mark Miller, a/k/a Positron, on upcoming CoX stuff. Some highlights …

Q) Are there any plans to ‘upgrade’ some of the older CoH zones to include things that can be seen in some of the newer CoH zones and CoV, like mob patrols or mobs damaging each other? If so, which zones are going to see the facelifts first?
Yeah, we are starting with the lower end zones first. Atlas Park, Galaxy City, and Kings Row are getting the old “wave and walk” cops removed from them, and we are adding in patrolling Paragon Police officers.
War Witch has also gone in and created a lot of environmental dialog to liven up those zones. In addition the textures and graphics in the CoH zones will be brought up to the quality seen in CoV over the next couple issues.

Which all sounds very spiffy, except for the CoV graphics coming to CoH, to the degree that they impact performance.

Q) Another big talking point are trenchcoats. What are the current state of trenchcoats in CoH/V? When can players expect to see them implemented?
NPCs are getting them in issue 7. The Thugs in the Thug Mastermind powerset will have them, as will some of the new Paragon Police. Players will get them this year, but they will be a “prestige” piece that you have to earn in some way.

So looking forward to a trenchcoat. I think Mr. Azure would look stunning in one.

Q) There are some differences between the powersets available to heroes and villains in the CoH/V world. What are the plans to allow this difference in available powersets to be reduced? Are there any powersets that are seen to be hero- or villain-exclusive? Will Plant Control remain a villains-only power because plants are naturally evil?
I wouldn’t say that plants are naturally evil, but weeds on the other hand… What’s the difference between a plant and a weed? A plant dies when you try to keep it alive, and a weed lives when you try to kill it.
That being said, Geko and I discussed just the other day how we are going to get some of the CoV powersets over to the CoH Archetypes. Stay tuned.

It’s a tough one. I think it’s good that there are differences between CoV and CoH — but, by the same token, it would be great to have power X over in game Y …

Q) On a personal note, I just have to ask: is a Dual Pistols powerset anywhere in terms of new powers that will be introduced to CoH/V or is it something that doesn’t even appear on the dev whiteboard?
I own the Criterion Collection versions of both The Killer and Hard Boiled… you can safely assume it’s on MY whiteboard.

I see a flurry of trenchcoated pistol-wielders coming on. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Details here.
Nothing all that radical. Just plan on the download before you get on.

Today’s trivia item:

1. To buy a level 45 SO Healing from Crimson (a normal contact on PI) costs 108K. To buy it from Ghost Falcon (the “store” contact on PI) costs only 54K, a 50% savings. Buying from GF makes sense.
2. Selling a level 53 SO EndRed to Ghost Falcon will net you 14.5K. Selling the same SO to a “real” store on Talos will net you 22.3K, a 50% (or so) benefit. Selling to GF makes no sense. (Unless, of course, you count in the marginal convenience factor — you can sell everything to GF, but going from him to, say, 3 stores on Talos, will take you an extra 5 minutes or so).

FYI.

Evidently some Valentine’s Day activities related to the new Pocket D and mixed hero/villain team bits are kicking off for the next few weeks in CoH/CoV. This is evidently in turn related to the new Toga costumes that are now available via the Heart of Light/Darkness Accolades that everyone’s getting.
Weird.

New patch today.

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Pocket D:
– Fixed dance cages so characters cannot get stuck inside them.
Game:
– Improved game stability.

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Presumably the dance cage issue has become a “griefing” problem in Pocket D.

Patch notes [And my notes]:

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COMBINED NOTES
Powers:
* 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.
* Targeted AoE powers now properly hit moving primary targets; this includes most Tanker attacks. [Yay!]
* Fixed bug that caused power animations on some teleports to play twice [Yay!]
Training Room:
* Character transfers will now transfer Influence/Infamy to the Training Room.
Arena:
* Fixed awards for Scheduled Tournaments. It is no longer possible to actually lose ranking by winning a Tournament.
* Rated Gladiator matches now award points correctly to the match victor.
Paragon Dance Party:
* DJ Zero’s transdimensional dance club has been renovated and expanded.
Rewards:
* XP earned for defeating Archvillains/Heroes has been doubled. [Yay!!]
* 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 received XP (if you have inventory space). [Yay!!]
* Defeating an Archvillain/Hero will result in a random Large Inspiration being awarded to everyone who received XP (if you have inventory space). [Yay!!]
* Defeating an Archvillain/Hero while in Supergroup mode will award you a piece of Salvage 100% of the time. [Yay!!]
UI:
* Improve movement in “Free Camera” mode: Pressing up will now move the player towards the top of the screen, instead of the last direction of movement. Rotate will now rotate the player and the camera instead of just the player in. Click to move no longer cancels autorun.
Bases:
* Fixed bugs with Move Room function that allowed players to create rooms that are impossible to get to.
* Fixed several bugs with Base data not updating properly when a new Item of Power Mount is added to the base.
* Characters will no longer be able to rez to Base Reclaimators from the Tutorial Zones. Characters who did this and then used base telepads to enter city zones would not be given any level 1 contacts.
Miscellaneous:
* Fixed issue where the DE Eminator would sometimes not spawn. [It will be interesting to see how Eden plays now …]
CITY OF HEROES
Powers:
* 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% .
City Zones:
* Independence Port and Talos Island: fixed bug that where the Ghost ship would sometimes get stuck in one location. [Boo! [Ha!] ]
CITY OF VILLAINS
Powers
* Gamblers Cut for Ninja Blade was inadvertently giving double the critical damage. This has been corrected.
* Fixed some Combat text for Mastermind/Mercenaries Player Assault Rifle. [Hopefully including the spelling “Safety” properly.]
* Fixed Mastermind/Mercenaries/Commando Grenade Launcher range. [Hopefully increasing them. 🙂 ]
* Freedom Corps Sonic Grenades no longer have an irresistible hold.
Tasks
* In Hardcase missions, wave attacks properly spawn after protection OR destruction of obelisk. Mission can now complete in either instance.
* Caleb is fixed and should spawn now. Bring on the madness!
Tailor
* Arachnos Cape unlocked by buying the Special Edition DVD for City of Villains now appears correctly in costume selection.

A review of the Defender bug list with comments by _Castle_ about how it’s being or has been fixed (or else explanations — in far too many cases — of why it’s not going to get fixed, like Endurance costs for Rez if not accepted). Too long to quote, but required reading for Defenders.

Quoth Statesman:

As several have noted, I7 features content mostly for City of Villains (levels 41 to 50, in fact). This is exactly what we did for CoH. City of Heroes will receive a cool graphics upgrade, new base items (Empowerment stations!) and access to Recluses’ Victory. It’s true that CoV received more attention, but that’s mainly because we needed to fill out the levels. I had the option of releasing I7 or waiting until we could fill out the City of Heroes content. Obviously, I chose the former. New content should get out there when it’s ready. We’ll be focusing equally as much as possible on each product moving into the future…

For those who have speculated that Newspaper missions are coming to City of Heroes, they aren’t…yet. That’s coming a little later in the year. I’d like to add something different to the CoH system…

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.