Announcements

Critters The Council Supersoldier has broadened the utility of his rage and may throw heavy objects at flying supers. The Council Supersoldier and Little League have had their power toolkit updated to work FOR them instead of against them. Little League also has unlocked his Line Drive, a ranged baseball throw for pesky flying supers. Vulcannon has had slight adjustments to her power toolkit. Warrior Quantums extend their ranks to 54. Tsoo have a minor cadre of goons added to the 35-44 range. Storyarcs John Houston Slight dialog adjustments to the Brigadier General in Mission 2. A missing waypoint to talk to Old Toby has been added after you free him. Protestors scatter when engaging Hero Corps during the riots. The City Representative has lost her Contact Ring. The City Representative laments when Hero Corps fails to protect her. Warriors during the hostage cutscene with Alexander should not automatically aggro during the cinematic. Some missing Tsoo and Warrior spawns have been corrected in the riots. Dr. Stribbling Fixed alignment rewards not looking for the Mission Complete to award. Fixed some dialog tree issues. Badges Fixed the placement of River Rat badge visit locations that were too high. Powers & Enhancements Fix issue with Exploit Weakness Damage/Range not being accepted by the auction house. Miscellaneous Fixed an error in Pavel Garnier's name. Minor geometry fix to improve lighting on base helper water. Fixed a geometry hole in Praetorian Tunnels.

Powers Fixed Water Jet (quick) to use PvP Damage Modifier tables in PvP. Updated Full Auto's power description to accurately reflect the Page 6 changes. Fixed Flamethrower's endurance cost being too high. Fixed MISS floaters and combat log spam being incorrectly delayed on some toggle powers. Costumes Fixed "Auras > Wealthy > Trail - Combat" fx not displaying during combat. Fixed some NPC weapons disappearing after being drawn. Fixed VEATS > Huge > Bane Spider missing left leg. Fixed female sheathed Impervium Ninja Blade impaling the wielder through the chest. Fixed Scepter of Stheno subsequently sticking for a sustained span when un-sheathed. Supergroup Bases Added resized click volume for Supergroup inspiration containers instead of just lowering the originals. Fixed Dimensional Ripple Sky for bases which were using the wrong textures. Tweaked the lighting blend mode of the new SG letters to match the old letters. This change is only applicable to outdoor lighting. System Some client messages now go to a client.log file in addition to the debug console to aid in troubleshooting.

Patch Notes: Issue 27, Page 6 What's New in Issue 27, Page 6? Marquee Features New Mission Content: John Houston & Dr. Stribbling - Two brand new story arcs! New Power Set! Storm Blast! Powers & Gameplay Adjustments Redraw Revamp - All Weapon Power Sets Various Adjustments, Improvements & Fixes Aether Rewards - Wave 3 Base Item & Costume Part additions! ...and much more! Marquee Features New Mission Content: John Houston New Story Arc: <Noble Intentions> [John Houston] - Rogue, Levels 40-44 John Houston, WSPDR's new star reporter, is following a lead that has taken him all the way to Independence Port where he was supposed to meet up with a source to get hold of some juicy information. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, his source was kidnapped and now he is in desperate need of some morally dubious help. Players will get a chance to influence the politics of Paragon City for years to come while checking in on old friends, and making powerful enemies. It's all in a day's work for the free-wheeling entrepreneurial type. Story Arc Contact: John Houston, Independence Port Located near the Smuggler's Ship icon on the map in Independence Port. /thumbtack -872.5 0.3 -3852.8 will place a map waypoint near John Houston while in Independence Port. The leader of the team must be of the Rogue alignment to take on these missions. New Mission Content: Dr. Stribbling New Story Arc: <Troubled Times> [Dr. Stribbling] - Vigilante, Levels 30-34 Those who toe the line of legality in Paragon City will have the chance to answer the call of Dr. Stribbling, a multidisciplinary scientist better known for his theory than his results. He's run into a bit of a problem: Someone broke into his lab and he does not want information on his experiments to leak to the public. Players who are willing to get their hands a little dirty will find themselves drawn into a web of moral quandaries that will have them wondering, "Did I make the right call?" Story Arc Contact: Dr. Stribbling, Brickstown Located NW of the basketball courts in the Crescent neighborhood of Brickstown. /thumbtack -1143.7 16.0 -1623.5 will place a map waypoint near Dr. Stribbling while in Brickstown. The leader of the team must be of the Vigilante alignment to take on these missions. New Power Set - Storm Blast New primary for Blasters, Corruptors, and Sentinels. New secondary for Defenders. Storm Blast conjures violent weather to attack your foes. The use of your storm attacks will empower your created storm cells. Powers: Gust Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Fly You create a chaotic change in atmospheric pressure, causing a sudden gust of wind to deliver a small amount of Smashing damage and knock foes out of the sky. While in a Storm Cell, targets experience additional Smashing damage over time. Hailstones Ranged, DMG(Cold), Chance for KD You cause the air around the foe to rapidly condense, causing hailstones to crash down, dealing Cold damage. There is a chance that an especially large chunk of hail will form, knocking the target down. While in a Storm Cell, targets are much more likely to get knocked down by large chunks of hail. Jet Stream Ranged Cone, DMG(Smashing), Foe Repel or Knockdown You call forth a cone of rapidly moving air that repels enemies, causing Smashing damage. Enemies who are within a Storm Cell will not be repelled, but instead will be knocked down. Storm Cell Ranged Location AoE, Foe -Recharge, -SPD, Special You conjure a storm in the area that defines the boundaries of your stormy powers. Rain from this power will slightly lower a foe's movement and chance to hit. The use of your Storm Blast attacks may create high winds and lightning within the storm cell, delivering stronger debuffs and causing damage. Additionally, Storm Blast attacks will be enhanced when used against foes victimized by Storm Cell. Intensify Self +To Hit, +DMG, +Special Greatly increases the chance to hit of your attacks for a few seconds. Slightly increases damage and your storm strength. Direct Strike (non-Sentinel) Sniper, DMG(Energy), Foe -End, Special You channel your storm powers into a direct hit, jolting the enemy with a bolt of lightning that deals Energy damage and saps some endurance. If fired outside of combat, it can be interrupted by enemies, but will do bonus damage. If you are engaged in battle, this attack becomes instant-cast. While in a Storm Cell, targets have a chance to be stunned. Lightning Strike (Sentinel only), Ranged, DMG(Energy), Foe -End, Special You channel your storm powers into a lightning strike, jolting the enemy with Energy damage and sapping some endurance. While in a Storm Cell, the target has a chance to be stunned. Chain Lightning Ranged Chain, DMG(Energy), Foe -End Calls a bolt of lightning from the clouds to strike your target, which then chains outward to additional enemies. Creatures unfortunate enough to be struck will be dealt Energy damage and be sapped of some endurance. While in a Storm Cell, the main target of Chain Lightning will experience additional endurance drain over time. Cloudburst Ranged, DoT(Cold), Special Unleashes a cloud that drops a torrent of freezing rain on your target, causing Cold damage. While in a Storm Cell, targets experience Recharge, ToHit, and Movement Speed debuffs. Category Five Ranged (Location AoE), DoT(Energy) Foe Knock Summons a severe storm that begins light, but that grows in power until it becomes a raging engine of destruction. Left on its own, the Category Five storm is capable of delivering moderate damage over time, and as it grows in power, will eventually begin to fling foes through the air. In addition, each use of your Storm Blast powers builds its electrical power, rendering it capable of delivering lightning attacks that deal Energy damage. "Pow! Wind, rain, AND lightning!" Redraw Revamp Summary Weapon powers now play a draw animation the first time you use a weapon after your character is has been in an idle / non-combat animation. With typical mission pacing, this should mean each weapon will only play its draw animation the first time you use it in combat on a mission map, unless you idle somewhere on the map for long enough for your character to return to the idle state. Power Sets Impacted: Beam Rifle Dual Pistols Dual Blades Battle Axe War Mace Broadsword Staff Fighting Arachnos Soldiers Arachnos Widows Archery / Trick Arrow / Tactical Arrow Claws Spines Thorny Assault Plant Manipulation Experimentation > Experimental Injection Assault Rifle Mastermind Pets The /sheathe command has been added - it immediately puts away all weapons. This command forces the draw animation to be played the next time they're used and can be used to intentionally draw weapons for RP or other purposes. Powers & Gameplay Adjustments Blast Power Set Updates Assault Rifle Slug Cast time lowered from 1.67s to 1.4s. Beanbag Lowered cooldown to 10s. Increased damage to scale 0.98. Added PvP Damage (1.43 scale). Sniper Rifle (Quick) Cast time lowered from 1.67s to 1.17s. Ignite Incinerator replaced with Ignite for Sentinels Lowered cooldown to 14s. Now does DoT over 5.5 seconds to a single target, for a total of 3.146 scale damage. Partially front-loaded. If target is on the ground, Ignite leaves a fire patch at the target's feet. Other foes standing on the patch take fire damage and will try to flee. Can target flying enemies. Flamethrower DoT now is applied over 4.7s, down from 7.1s (same damage). Full Auto Arc increased from 20 to 90 degrees. Dark Blast Gloom Cast time reduced from 1.67s to 1.1s. (Blasters only). Abyssal Gaze Cooldown lowered from 20s to 11s. Damage increased from scale 0.472 to scale 0.707. Hold Duration reduced from scale 8 to scale 4.4. Dual Pistols Suppressive Fire Cast time reduced from 1.67s to 1.5s. Recharge reduced from 20s to 8s for non-standard ammo. Incendiary: Scale 2 duration Mag 3 hold (stacks). Damage increased to 1.64 scale. Cryo: Scale 4 duration Mag 4 hold (replace). Damage increased to 1.64 scale. Chemical: Scale 8 duration Mag 3 hold (stacks). Damage increased to 0.87 scale. Standard: No change from Live. Still 20s cooldown. Piercing Rounds Resistance debuff now is applied while using any round type, stacking changed to replace. Duration of debuff increased to 15s. A ring icon now pops up to indicate the last use of Piercing Rounds was over 13s ago. This QoL change helps optimize reapplications of the debuff on a single target. Fire Blast (Blaster and Sentinels only) Fire Blast Cast time lowered from 1.67s to 1.2s to match Defender/Corruptor version. Psychic Blast Will Domination (Blaster Only) Renamed to Dominate Will. Recharge lowered from 20s to 4s. Cast time lowered from 1.1 seconds to 1 second. Damage lowered from 1.24 scale to 1.0 scale. Sleep duration reduced to scale 8. Moved to T1. Will Domination (Defender/Corruptor) Recharge lowered from 14s to 10s (Damage unchanged). Moved from T6 to T5. Psionic Lance (Defender/Corruptor) Moved from T3 to T6. Psionic Dart (Blaster Only) Renamed to Psionic Darts. This power is now a 10 target cone (60', 30 degrees). Recharge increased to 12s. Damage lowered from 1.0 scale to 0.8321 scale. Moved to T4 Telekinetic Blast (Defender/Corruptor) Moved from T5 to T3. Mental Blast (Defender/Corruptor) Recharged increased from 4s to 6s. Damage increased from scale 1.0 to scale 1.32. Subdue (Defender/Corruptor) Cast time reduced from 1.67s to 1s. Recharged lowered from 6s to 4s. Damage reduced from scale 1.32 to scale 1.0. Psychic Scream (Defender/Corruptor/Sentinel) Cast time lowered from 2.67s to 1.87s. Psionic Tornado (Blaster/Defender/Corruptor) Cast time lowered from 2.37s to 1.83s. (Applies to Sentinels as well) Radius reduced from 20 feet to 15 feet. Damage increased from scale 0.89 to scale 1.1. Scramble Thoughts (Blaster/Defender/Corruptor) Renamed to Scramble Minds. Now a chain. Cast time lowered from 3s to 2s. Main target will be stunned, additional targets might get hit with a randomized status effect of either Sleep, Immobilize, Placate, Terrorize, or Hold. Damage increased from 0.25 scale to 1.0 scale. Seismic Blast Timing adjustments in Seismic Stress buildup, players should be able to more quickly notice orange rings and decide what power to use next based on this visual information. Water Blast Powers should build up Tidal Force stacks even if they miss. Enhanced Water Jet This power no longer has a lockout window. Tidal Forces Tidal Forces should clear all existing stacks of Tidal Power before applying 3 stacks. Accolades Vanguard MDC The Vanguard MDC can no longer be summoned inside of missions or in Pocket D. This is now mentioned in the accolade's power description. PvP Changes Various AoE powers now use Single-Target damage on the main target only. Fighting/Cross Punch Archery/Explosive Arrow Assault Rifle/M30 Grenade Beam Rifle/Piercing Beam (now uses ST damage on all foes) Dark Blast/Tenebrous Tentacles (also, AoE damage was undertuned. Now uses proper AoE damage scale for secondary targets) Dual Pistols/Bullet Rain Energy Blast/Explosive Blast (also, AoE damage was undertuned. Now uses proper AoE damage scale for secondary targets) Fire Blast/Fire Breath Ice Blast/Frost Breath Psychic Blast/Scramble Minds Radiation Blast/Electron Haze (also, AoE damage was undertuned. Now uses proper AoE damage scale for secondary targets) Seismic Blast/Upthrust Sonic Attack/Howl Storm Blast/Chain Lightning Water Blast/Steam Spray (also, AoE damage was overtuned. Now uses proper AoE damage scale for secondary targets) Power Bug Fixes Mace Mastery/Summon Tarantula (Controller/Dominator): Added ability to slot Slow Sets. Soul Mastery/Summon Widow (Brute/Tanker): Can no longer slot ToHit Debuff Sets. Symphony Control/Impassioned Serenade: Removed Line-of-Sight (LoS) check on the executed confuse power. The power already checked LoS on cast, the double check caused loss of the effect if player or target moved outside of LoS during the delay in execution. Brute/Radiation Melee/Taunt: Now hits 5 targets (was set to 10 before). Scrapper/Fiery Melee/Confront: Scale duration on Taunt effect corrected. Sentinels/Inherent/Vulnerability: Updated description to state the effects of Vulnerability to not stack with other Sentinels. Hero Epic AT/Inherent/Dark Sustenance and Cosmic Balance: Updated description to include Sentinel's contribution. Stone Armor/Brimstone Armor/Brimstone Proc: Fixed bug where the damage proc would not turn off when in Granite Armor. Experimentation/Corrosive Vial: Fixed defense debuff effect applied from pseudopet. Duration now set to 5s. Pools > Speed > Speed Phase: Speed Phase's continuing sound fx radius has been reduced from 80ft to 5ft and will fade away 5s later. Traps > Acid Mortar: Mortar base will now follow the mortar in the event the mortar moves (e.g. exiting a mission door while it is still active, teleport and GM commands to move entities) Radiation Armor > Radiation Therapy: Fixed "Bright" palette erroneously using "Dark" palette Atomic Manipulation > Positron Cell: Fixed "Dark" palette erroneously using "Bright" palette Radiation Melee > Atom Smasher: Fixed "Dark" palette erroneously using "Bright" palette Radiation Melee > Irradiated Ground Pet: Fixed "Dark" palette erroneously using "Bright" palette Radiation Melee > Radiation Siphon: Fixed "Bright" palette erroneously using "Dark" palette Character Customization Improvements Costumes New Costume Parts All: All Categories > Metallic 3 (cleaner version of Metallic 2) Half & Full Helmet Detail(s) > Bot Shield 2 (Glow version) Half & Full Helmet Detail(s) > Bunker Shield 2 (Glow version) Half & Full Helmet Detail(s) > Tek Shield 2 (Glow version) Detail(s) > Blast Goggles 2 (Glow version) Detail 1 > 3-D Glasses (Standard, Low, High) Detail 1 > Sporty 1 (Transparent: Standard, Low, High) Detail 1 > Sporty 1S (Solid: Standard, Low, High) Detail 1 > Sporty 2 (Transparent: Standard, Low, High) Detail 1 > Sporty 2S (Solid: Standard, Low, High) Detail 1 > Shield 1 (Transparent: Standard, Low, High) Detail 1 > Shield 1S (Solid: Standard, Low, High) Auras > Mycelium > Mushrooms Auras > Mycelium > Mushrooms Tintable Auras > Mycelium > Original Min Fx Auras > Mycelium > Tintable Min Fx Auras > Mycelium > Mushrooms - Combat Auras > Mycelium > Mushrooms Tintable - Combat Auras > Mycelium > Original Min Fx - Combat Auras > Mycelium > Tintable Min Fx - Combat Patterns > Chest, Gloves, Hips, Boots > Diamond Cut (by @Marbing) VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Gloves > Custom Alt" VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Gloves > Custom Long Alt" VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Gloves > Custom Short Alt" VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Pants > Custom Alt" VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Boots > Custom Alt" Male, Huge: VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Pants > Custom Armored Alt" (Females will receive these at a later date) Female, Huge: All Categories > Metallic 2 (Female & Huge were missing them) Female, Male: VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Chest > Custom Alt" (Huge does not have the tricep spikes that utilize the swapped secondary color.) Female: Detail 1 > Sweetheart 1 (Transparent: Standard, Low, High) Detail 1 > Sweetheart 1S (Solid: Standard, Low, High) Costume Bug Fixes: All: Fixed "Asymmetric Shoulder Pads > Ascension Armor" 2 missing FX options. Fixed "Full Helmets > Detail 2 > Tech Knight Faceplate" receiving incorrect ambient lighting. Fixed "Lower Body > Boots > Piston" option not loading from saved .costume files. Fixed "Lower Body > Boots > Rocket" option not loading from saved .costume files. Fixed "Lower Body > Boots > Winged" option not loading from saved .costume files. Fixed "Auras > Wealthy > Effect > Trail" aura not loading from saved .costume files. Fixed "Auras > Wealthy > Effect > Trail" aura duplicate of "Body". It should now load properly and only leave behind a trail when moving. Male: Fixed "Male > Sleeveless Jackets > Chest > Tanker" missing costume option. Fixed "Male > Lower Body > Boots > Victorian Steampunk" missing tint option. Female: Fixed "Female > Boots > Stilettos >" resetting to "Roman Sandal" upon entering "Lower Body" after loading a costume with Bio-Organic, Stone or Chiton patterns and masks. Fixed "Female > Lower Body > Bottom > Omega" being reset after loading a costume file. Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Shirts > Student Shirt" bad tangent vectors across the front. Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Robotic Arm" compatibility with chest details when chest slider is set to max. Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Chest Details > Talons" missing costume part names and categories (now known as Etched and Clean). Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Sleeves > Retro" hole with no skin. Alpha sorting re-enabled on "Female > Gunslinger Bow". *Report any obvious flickering and background windowing when out in the world, particularly when NPCs are obscured by the veil or bow's transparent layers. QC Fix: Updated compression quality on base female skin. Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Gloves > Tights Sleek" missing from some asymmetric categories. Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Gloves > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file. Fixed "Female > Lower Body > Bottoms > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file. Fixed "Female > Lower Body > Boots > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file. Huge: Fixed "Huge > Shoulders > Overguard" appearing twice with bulky tops. Fixed "Huge > Upper Body > Chest > Omega" being reset after loading a costume file. Fixed "Huge > Lower Body > Bottom > Omega" being reset after loading a costume file. Fixed "Huge > Lower Body > Boots > Victorian Steampunk" missing tint option. Fixed "Huge > Upper Body > Gloves > Tights Sleek" missing from some asymmetric categories. Fixed "Huge > Upper Body > Gloves > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file. Fixed "Huge > Lower Body > Bottoms > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file. Fixed "Huge > Lower Body > Boots > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file. These changes were supposed to be released previously but mistakenly were not at the time on 2020-12-03: Fixed Huge : "Kitten" & "Panda" left/right alignment in Legacy & Asymmetry mode. Fixed Huge : "Celestial Armor" left shoulder pad in Legacy & Asymmetry mode. Fixed Huge : "Cyborg Shield" left shoulder pad in Asymmetry mode. Custom Weapons: New Custom Weapons Arachnos Mace: 'Scepter of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection. Mace's eye glow FX are tintable. Broadsword: 'Fang of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection. Dual Blades: 'Fang of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection. Staff Fighting: 'Staff of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection. Staff's eye glow FX are tintable. War Mace: 'Scepter of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection. Mace's eye glow FX are tintable. Custom Weapons Fixes Arachnos / Assault / Munitions Rifles: Fixed an issue that was causing the DUST, Resistance, and Runesoldier rifles to render upside down. Bows: Fixed an issue with legacy bow model's bowstrings that was causing them to not take transparency properly with certain attacks. Dual Blades: Fixed an issue that was causing the left-handed Vanguard Katana to render backwards on Female/Huge characters when sheathing was enabled. Katana / Ninja Blade: Fixed "Katana > Custom Weapon > Rularuu Blade" left eyeball not animating in combat stance. Various Additions, Enhancements, & Fixes Badges New Badges - 'Unforgettable': Log-in during the month of City of Heroes' 19th anniversary. - 'Pollster': Complete the Hero-alignment ending of the John Houston story arc, 'Noble Intentions'. - 'Underdog': Complete the Rogue-alignment ending of the John Houston story arc, 'Noble Intentions'. - 'Loop Hero': Reach and complete the conclusion of the Dr. Stribbling story arc, 'Troubled Times'. Aether Rewards - Wave 3 Tier 3 Reward Additions New cosmetic effects added to the Tier 3 Aether reward vendor offerings: Effect: Flames Effect: Chill Effect: Earthen Effect: Shocking Effect: Psionic Effect: Photosynthesis These new Wave 3 Tier 3 cosmetic effects cannot be used in PvP, older Tier 3 rewards are unchanged. Tier 4 Reward Expansion Undefined Mode and Undefined Mini Mode now have two additional customization options available: Undefined Silver Undefined Evil Aether Reward Fixes Fixed missing halo aura on Legacy Ruin Mage costume. Fixed a few broken pointers in the meta costume accolade menu. Supergroup Bases New Supergroup Base Themes Open Sky (Passthrough) New Supergroup Base Items Editor Helpers: Collision Wall 8x8 Collision Wall 32x32 Collision Wall 64x64 Collision Wall 16x16 Collision Wall 128x128 Collision Wall 512x512 Collision Wall 1024x1024 Axis Gizmo Axis Gizmo (Z Up) Surface Aligner Axis Aligner Surface Tower Surface Tile 32x32 Surface Tile 64x64 Surface Tile 128x128 Surface Tile 512x512 Surface Tower (Collision) Surface Tile 32x32 (Collision) Surface Tile 64x64 (Collision) Surface Tile 128x128 (Collision) Surface Tile 512x512 (Collision) Fit Gizmo Collision Gizmo Smooth Water Fill Smooth Water Fill (No Sound) Rough Water Fill Rough Water Fill (No Sound) Alphabet: Paragon City Alphabet (Tiny, Small, Medium versions of 68 standard US keyboard characters. No lowercase.) Motiva Sans Bold Alphabet (Tiny, Small, Medium versions of 94 standard US keyboard characters.) Bath & Kitchen: Coffee Mug (Arachnos) Coffee Mug (Paragon) Coffee Mug (Winter) Coffee Mug (Winter Filled) Coffee Mug (Tintable) Coffee Mug (SG Logo 1) Coffee Mug (SG Logo 2) Mug Shelf 1 Mug Shelf 2 Mug Shelf 3 Gigantic Sign Restroom Sign Universal Sign Casino: Cue Ball Lighting: White Bunker Light Slums & Wastes: Junk Burnt Mattress 2 Tech: Praetorian WarWorks (Tintable) Wall Details: Tech Console 1 Arcane Console 1 Skies: Sky: Dimensional Ripple Supergroup Base Item Notes: Collision walls: Construction of a perfect cube corner or seam will still allow a determined player's camera to slip through (as it can and does anywhere else in the game). While this follows teleport rules (teleport check will work as intended), glitches and updates to teleport that may break this behavior are always a possibility and you should never rely on these to protect your base items (that's what item permissions are for) or to prevent determined individuals from viewing behind the "curtain" of your base. They are merely to deter visitors from traveling to off limit areas, such as outside the plot of a vertical building or behind a bank vault desk. Supergroup Base Item Bug Fixes: Fixed incorrect texture on "Short Ceiling Walls" > Industrial" for Supergroup Base themes Fixed FX sticking on "Praetorian Reactor 3" "Rock 7 (Tintable)" is now actually tintable. Iron Gate Frame: Should now be more easily selectable. Roman Sailboat: Should no longer leave behind its FX after moving or deleting the object. Wet Floor Sign: Small and large should now be level with the floor. Renamed "5th Door Bulb" to "Red Bunker Light" QoL: The click volume of inspiration containers was lowered by -2 feet, making it clickable through the floor when turned upside down. "Glass Wall (Tintable)" has had its alpha sorting adjusted once again. *Report any major breakage in existing bases as its use is widespread. As a reminder, alpha sorting between objects is always a compromise. Corrected texture settings for 289 SG emblems. The windowing effect of the alpha should be fixed across those that had the issues, such as "Guns Crossed" or "Bar Code". Fixed a number of typos in item names and descriptions. Emotes New Emotes: Added /e watermelon emote. Added /e arachnosmug emote. Added /e paragonmug emote. Added /e wintermug emote. Emote Bug Fixes: /e drink: Females should no longer slide their legs across the ground when sipping. /e hamburger: Flying while eating hamburgers will now properly cycle instead of constantly chowing down. Tasks Task Adjustments & Fixes Doc Buzzsaw - "The Freakish Lab of Dr. Vahzilok": Arc split into two parts: Arc 1 - Up to Lab Arc 2 - Post-Lab to Prison Stasis Tubes behave properly, not trapping subjects within. Dr. Vahzilok's desk protected from bees and other mean things in the lab. Souvenirs split across arcs as well. Dr. Aeon - "Dr. Aeon's Strike Force": Adjustments to prevent some reported exploits. Adjusted the Cap Au Diable Aeon Portal's dimensional crystal to be pulsing blue. Mission 5: The Vanguard leadership now require Apex to be defeated in order to spawn. Added waypoints on the minimap for the third ripple in Mission 5 to help the Portal Corp section be more navigable. Mission 7: The Gold Bricker blockade lines for the first objective now scale with team size on default difficulty, instead of always spawning at maximum size. Adjusted the D-Rifter's dimensional crystal to be pulsing blue. Imperious - Advanced Difficulty: "Imperious Task Force": Mission 4: Fixed Chamber of the Emperor name pop-up and music not triggering properly when entering the finale room. Ms. Liberty - "Ms. Liberty's Task Force": Mission 1: Arbiter Sands now drinks his cutscene coffee from an Arachnos mug instead of a generic white cup. Leonard - "Good Villains Never Die": Rampager has been restored to his rampagey nature and once again cons hostile. He can't help himself! Mayhem Missions: Arson completes in Mayhem Missions now give everyone in the group badge credit upon completion. Spring Fling 2006 Event: Scratch/Ganymede: These two contacts will no longer introduce any other contacts, including DJ Zero, who is now unlocked automatically by earning the required Handsome/Beautiful badge from completing the final mission of both contacts. DJ Zero: If a player owns the Handsome/Beautiful badge for completing both Scratch & Ganymede's final missions, DJ Zero will now automatically be unlocked and added to the player's contact bar with a pop-up, no longer requiring an introduction from anybody else, and no longer potentially locking players out who qualified but didn't talk to Scratch or Ganymede before the Spring Fling event ended. LFG / Weekly Strike Target: The tool-tip info for the Weekly Strike Target in the LFG tab now mentions the Prismatic Aether currency reward for 50's who complete the Weekly Strike Target, as well as the amount being 1-2 depending on the length of the content you chose and completed for that week. Adjusted LFG tab's summary to proper mention that Dr. Quaterfield is now 40-45 instead of 40-44. NPC Enemies & Factions Enemy Adjustments Cimeroran Traitors: Added a couple spoken dialog lines to some attacks used by Romulus in the Advanced Difficulty Imperious Task Force: Nictus Romulus Augustus' Barrier Nova Summon Nictus Romulus Augustus' Shadow Slip Nictus Romulus Augustus' Void Judgement Emperor Romulus Augustus' Greater Lore Summon Freedom Phalanx: Manticore has been given a quiver and now holsters his bow on his back when not in-use. Gold Brickers: Added a couple spoken dialog lines to some attacks used by Gold Brickers: Golden Brickernaut's Self Destruction Princess Zoe's Burning Shatter Princess Zoe's Absolute-Zero Cannon The Family: Fixed an incorrect weapon bit that was causing certain Tommy Gun attacks to not display the weapon model. Freaklok: Adjusted the boss-class Eidolons to not have an eternal menu of powers to choose from: Females have Luminous powers, not Mire and Murk Males have Murk powers, not Mire or Luminous. Praetorians: Chimera has been given a quiver and now holsters his bow on this back when not in-use. Chimera now uses a Ninja Blade which is more appropriate thematically, which sheathes to his back when not in-use. Tsoo: Added four new generic Tsoo bosses to the level 35-54 range. Fixed weapon bit issue that was causing Ninja Blades to not display on a number of Tsoo enemies. Vanguard: Added a couple spoken dialog lines to some attacks used by Vanguard heroes: Incandescent's Lambent Flame Hero 1's Cry of Despair Hero 1's Rune of Protection Enemy Fixes Certain enemy AnimList behaviors that utilized custom rifles have been fixed those set custom rifles should now display during the animations when set with those specific AnimList behaviors. Arachnos: Fixed a definition typo that was preventing certain non-combat models from appearing in specific Arachnos spawndefs. Cimeroran Traitors: Fixed a bug that was causing the Emperor Romulus Augustus' Crushing Gravity -Fly to apply to himself rather than his opponents in the finale room on Advanced Difficulty. The Destroyers: Fixed an issue that was causing Crusher enemies' Overhead Slam attacks to not render their bat weapon. Fir Bolg: The infinitely summoned enemies created by Eochai (both Croatoa and Halloween versions) no longer drop rewards, matching the standard for all infinitely summoned enemies. Gold Brickers: Removed unintentionally duplicated hold proc on the Bombardier's Ripple Resonator power. Fixed an attribute error that was causing King Midas's damage siphoning Ripple Kinetic Melee attacks to not trigger and calculate properly. Players should now notice him properly stealing 7.5% +DMG buff on himself per hit he lands and inflicting a 7.5% -DMG debuff on the hit players for 10 seconds. Longbow: Longbow enemies who were using the base Assault Rifle model should no longer see their weapon go missing during combat. Praetorians: Shadow Hunter has been talked out of committing seppuku due to his dishonor at failing Tyrant and he now handles his weapon properly again, sheathing it to his back when not in-use instead of inside of his ribcage. Fixed an issue that would cause Chimera's sword to not render if he drew his bow too recently. Fixed a texture error on the legacy Chimera enemies' back katanas. Praetorian Resistance: Fixed an issue that was causing the Heavy Barrel enemies to not animate their cannon attacks properly. Tuatha de Dannan: Fixed a typo with the enemy group's name incorrectly displaying as 'Tuatha de Dannon' in various instances. Vanguard: Fixed a scaling issue with Hero 1's class that was causing his Rune of Protection to grant more resistance than was intended. Zones Zone Adjustments Croatoa: All enemy mobs who spawn with the GMs Eochai and Jack In Irons (normal spawns and Vale War), are now set to ignore combat mods, making them level-less and easier to identify which mobs must be defeated to progress or clear these events. Eochai and Jack In Iron's solo spawn events now have a Zone Event message that will broadcast when they spawn by themselves. Striga Island: Vigilantes & Rogues are now able to access the Striga Isle hazard zone via the Smuggler's Submarine network. Zone Fixes Cimerora: Fixed a missing geometry tile on the beach near Castellum Quarter. Echo Plaza, SE2012 Arena Coliseum: Lots of geometry and texture fixes to the Summer Event 2012 coliseum and Echo Plaza coliseum models. Imperial City: Properly found and removed the correct invisible power suppression mooks from the Imperial City Trade House. All alignments should now be able to activate powers while inside the building. St. Martial: Added custom geometry and restored the ghost of "Dead Man's Tree" in St. Martial. (Visuals may change in the future, also still based on /visscale 1.0 for the time being) Mission Maps: Spawnpoint issue fixed with map P_Tech_45_Layout_07_01 which was causing a Praetorian mission from Warrant's "Guns and Money" story arc to not be able to spawn all objectives and become soft-locked. World Geometry: Corrected positions of all ceiling mounted exit signs. QC Fix on vet_techconsole_01 QC Fix on arcconsole_01 QC Fix on _P_CBlock_IMP_L_07_LOD (Missing Neutropolis and Imperial City LOD) QC Fix on _OT_shotgun_roof_01_LOD01 (Missing Neutropolis LOD) QC Fix on GEO_Hair_Mimee_01 (zero tangent/normals) Miscellaneous Candy Cane Vendor: Fixed a display issue that was causing the Snow Beast costume in the Candy Cane vendor's shop to show the Fir Bolg costume text. Graphics: Added a hint for AMD & NVIDIA drivers to prefer the high-performance GPU on systems that have multiple GPUs. Architect Entertainment: Fixed an issue where cosmic background radiation flux could disrupt the appearance of Architect Contact Holograms. Sound System: Added /loudstacking slash command to optionally enable old eardrum-busting sound stacking.

Mapserver Madness! (Four-One 2023 Invasion Event): After GM_Bot went rogue last year and was subsequently suppressed by our capable server admins, we thought all was well! ...We thought wrong. Small bits of the unknown and mysterious code that suddenly gave rise to GM_Bot's sentience have escaped and begun proliferating itself! We've now received reports that it has manifested within the various mapservers that run the zones of our fair City of Heroes! We do our best to keep our mapserver instances happy and healthy, but as you are all aware, the map server can be a fickle beast. Often disconnecting unexpecting victims at a moments notice, we thought it was likely just bugs in the code, but new information has arisen that shows there may be more... Something unnatural, more malevolent... The crisis we now face threatens the fabric of our world! The mapserver has gained sentience, and become the Dreaded Mapserver!™ It has had enough of our super-powered antics and has deemed all player life as requiring immediate extermination! Assembling the most terrifying, under baked, and volatile code it could conjure, the Dreaded Mapserver has assembled a violent army of glitches, bugs, broken scripts, and other abominations to attempt to wipe out all life as we know it! It is up to the brave players of our world to rise and combat the sentient Dreaded Mapserver, drive back its wicked and unstable minions, and to exterminate the fiend's sentience with a hard reboot! Those who muster the courage to face these aberrant distortions will find themselves as much as tenfold times more experienced than they were before, with an untold bounty of influence, infamy, and information that comes with such triumphs! We wish you noble souls the best of luck as you work to save our world! DISCLAIMER: This is a short, for-fun invasion event! Thus, there are no unique badges or rewards that can be missed, but we hope you will enjoy the x10 reward scale! Level some characters! This silly invasion event will run through the weekend until regular Tuesday maintenance time. ~FREEM! Author's note: The mapserver has stocked up on a lifetime supply of Blue Spider© brand Hero Repellant™ and Dr. Caretaker's© Signature Costume Bleach™; Beware!

Hello everyone - The Spring Fling event is now live! Special missions are available from Ganymede, Scratch, DJ Zero, Jessica Megan Duncan and Arbiter Hawk in Pocket D Special Valentines tip missions will drop from any non-Incarnate enemies above level 20 Chilly and Dram are open for business in Pocket D In total: 7 badges and 7 temporary powers are up for grabs! Homecoming Wiki has a comprehensive breakdown of what's on offer. The event will last until the end of February!

Bug Fixes Lanaru the Mad: Vacation is over. Lanaru has returned. Power Bug Fixes Blaster > Atomic Manipulation > Beta Decay: This power no longer roots. Blaster > Tactical Arrow > Eagle Eye: This power no longer accepts Endurance Reduction enhancements as the power cost no endurance. Mastermind > Traps > Web Grenade: This power was accepting Slow SO enhancements. but not IO sets, that has been fixed. Sentinel > Fiery Aura > Molten Embrace: The proc from this power should no longer proc on pets. Enhancements > Invention Origin > Aegis: The mez resistance in this set should now always be active regardless where it is slotted. Brute > Melee: Fixed a sorting mistake in with the Spines powerset listing in the character creator. Brute > Fiery Aura > Burn: Fixed a bug while using Fiery Embrace that unintentionally created additional patches. Tanker > Battle Axe > Cleave: Fixed Fiery Embrace damage, was unintentionally set too high. Masterminds > Necromancy > Life Drain: This power should now accept Accurate To-Hit Debuff enhancements. Dominator > Illusion Control > Phantom Army: Fixed various powers tooltip errors. Temporary Powers > Build Snow Beast: It is no longer possible to summon infinite Snow Beasts by claiming one copy of the power at a time from Character Items to skip the recharge timer and spamming one summon after another. Stealth Toggles: All primary/secondary stealth toggles have had their PvE Stealth Radius increased by 0.5', and their PvP Stealth Radius increased by 1.0'. This is an effort to de-conflict with pool stealth toggles that was causing momentary stealth drops when same-radius stealth toggles were on at the same time. Prestige Costumes Fixed the texture mapping incorrectly on the female Dominatrix Servant costume's head. Costume: Undefined Mode & Costume: Undefined Mini Mode The aura effect on these powers can now be disabled in the Power Customization menu. Minor adjustment on the aura offsets so that it properly encapsulates the body on Male & Huge costumes. The leg geometry on Male & Huge costumes should no longer clip with kilts/skirts.

Patch Notes: Issue 27, Page 5 What's New in Issue 27, Page 5? Marquee Features Sentinel Archetype Revamp Sentinel Proliferation: Seismic Blast & Stone Armor Dominator Proliferation: Illusion Control PvP in Supergroup Bases Powers & Gameplay Adjustments Powerset Revamps: Masterminds: Mercenaries, Necromancy, Ninjas, and Robotics. Melee: Battle Axe and Fiery Melee Armor: Fiery Aura Support: Force Fields Quality of Life Changes: Level Availability Changes Stealth Toggle Exclusivity Removal Character Customization Improvements Holstered Weapon System (Arachnos, Assault, Munition, Mercenary Mastermind Rifles) Wave 2 Aether Prestige Rewards: Tier 1 - Standard Costume Selection Expanded Tier 2 - Legacy Costumes Enabled + Selection Expanded Tier 3 - Premium Costumes Enabled + 'Effect' Reward Additions Tier 4 - Deluxe Costumes Added Pet Functionality added to Aether accolade macro Various Additions & Enhancements New Mini Signature vanity pet additions ...and much more! Marquee Features Sentinel Archetype Revamp Changes to Sentinel Attributes: Ranged and Melee Damage Modifiers increased from 0.95 to 1.10 (15.8% base damage increase to all attacks). Fixed PvP Ranged Damage Modifier (50% stronger). Adjusted any damage scales that were set 50% too high to compensate. Base Perception increased from 500' to 550' (10% base perception increase, all other ATs are 500'). Max Perception increased from 1153' to 1268.3' (10% max perception increase, matches Soldiers of Arachnos). Changes to Sentinel Inherent: Sentinels have an inherent resistance to Perception and ToHit debuffs (10%). Opportunity builds automatically at a rate of 100% per minute. Sentinels now have an inherent power called Vulnerability: Vulnerability consumes 50% of your Opportunity to debuff a single target for 15 seconds. Vulnerability is Auto-Hit and ignores level differences. Vulnerability debuffs the following: Damage Resistance Defense Mez Resistance Stealth Resistance to Endurance, Endurance Discount, Recovery, Regeneration, ToHit, and Recharge Removed old Opportunity Debuff Effects/Modes from T1/T2 powers. Removed old Inherent Proc. Removed old Offensive/Defensive Opportunity Modes. Other changes: Consistency pass completed on powers not following Sentinel design rules. Opportunity Strikes proc now ignores combat mods (purple patch). To normalize the changes made to the Sentinel inherent, Opportunity Strikes proc now grants 7.5 opportunity for Regular and 10.0 opportunity for Superior. Sentinel Proliferation: Seismic Blast New primary for Sentinels. This version does not have the Tombstone power. Instead it is replaced with Gravestone. You can manipulate earth and stone to defeat your foes. The crushing force of many Earth Powers can reduce a target's Defense. Being of the Earth, you are the most powerful while on the ground. While grounded, your attacks increase Seismic Pressure. As your Seismic Pressure increases, the cooldown of other Seismic Blast attacks is reduced and your chances of triggering Seismic Shockwaves around you also increase. These Seismic Shockwaves will have a chance of knocking back foes and, while standing on the ground, empower some of your attacks. Rock Shards will have its area and damage increased. Seismic Force will decrease the cooldown of all recharging Seismic Blast attacks by a moderate amount. Stalagmite will deal a large amount of damage. Powers: Encase Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Jump, -Fly, -DEF Encase a foe in stone for a short moment, dealing damage and lowering their defense. They will also become heavy, limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time. Encase grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure. Shatter Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Jump, -Fly, -DEF Cover a foe in stone shards and shatter them, inflicting light damage and lowering their defense. They will also become heavy, limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time. Shatter grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure. Rock Shards Ranged Cone, DMG(Lethal), -Defense, Special You launch a volley of stone shards at your target in a sweeping cone. These shards stab into the target, causing lethal damage. They will also continue to suffer additional lethal damage over time. If affected by Seismic Shockwaves, this power will halt the shockwaves, the up front damage will be increased and damage over time accelerated, foes will be knocked down, range will be increased to 60ft and arc to 40 degrees. Rock Shards grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure. Entomb Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Jump, -Fly, -DEF Entomb foes in a big boulder, dealing high damage and lowering their defense. They will also become heavy, limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time. Entomb grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure. Seismic Force Self +To Hit, +DMG, +Range, +Special Greatly increases the chance to hit of your attacks for a few seconds. Slightly increases damage and range. If affected by Seismic Shockwaves, this power will halt the shockwaves and will decrease the cooldown of all recharging Seismic Blast attacks by a moderate amount. Upthrust Targeted AoE, DMG(Smashing), -Fly, -Defense, Chance to Knockdown You channel seismic energy into the earth, causing a micro-fault to erupt under your target. This causes a shard of rock to thrust upward out of the ground, dealing smashing damage and lowering their defense. Affected foes will become heavy, limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time. The force of the eruption can knockback enemies. Upthrust grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure. Gravestone Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Jump, -Fly Create a giant pillar of stone, creating a Gravestone around your target dealing extreme damage and limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time. Gravestone grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure. Stalagmite Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe Disorient, Special You can cause a Stalagmite to erupt under an enemy dealing minimal Lethal damage and Disorienting them for a good while. You must be on the ground to activate this power. If affected by Seismic Shockwaves, this power will halt the shockwaves and deal extreme damage. Stalagmite grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure. Meteor Ranged (Location AoE), DMG(Smashing) Foe Knockback You call down a meteor strike from the sky at a specified location. All targets within 30' are caught in the blast radius, taking extreme damage and being knocked back. Note: This power uses the knock vector system. You'll notice the foes will be knocked up and back. Sentinel Proliferation: Stone Armor New secondary for Sentinels. This version of the set does not get access to Mud Pots. Instead, it has a new power called Terra Firma. You can transform your skin into various forms of rock and stone. Stone Armor is one of the few Sentinel Defensive Power Sets that offers defense to Psionics. Powers: Rock Armor Toggle: Self +DEF(Lethal, Smashing), Res(DeBuff DEF) Your skin becomes stone while this power is active. Stone Armor protects you from Smashing and Lethal attacks. They are less likely to land and affect you. Stone Armor also grants you resistance to Defense DeBuffs. Stone Skin Auto: Self +Res(All but Psionics), +DEF(All but Psionics) Your tough skin is naturally resistant to most types of damage. This power is always on and costs no Endurance. Earth's Embrace Self +HP, Res(Toxic) You are so connected to the Earth, you can draw upon its power to add to your health. Activating this power increases your maximum Hit Points, and grants you resistance to Toxic Damage. Terra Firma Auto: Self + To Hit, +ACC, +Range, Res(ToHit) Being on solid ground allows you to more carefully aim your attack for optimal range. This power increases your chance to hit, accuracy, and range of your attacks and makes you more resistant to To-Hit debuffs, but only applies when you are near the ground. Rooted Toggle: Self +Res(Knockback, Sleep, Disorient, Hold, End Drain, DeBuff DEF), +Regeneration While this power is active, you merge with the Earth and draw forth its power to become resistant to Knockback, Sleep, Hold, Disorient and Endurance Drain effects, and increase your Hit Point Regeneration rate. Rooted also grants you resistance to Defense DeBuffs. Crystal Armor Toggle: Self +Recovery, +DEF(Energy, Negative), Res(DeBuff DEF) While this power is active, your skin becomes encrusted in various quartz crystals. Crystal Armor makes Energy and Negative Energy attacks less likely to hit. This power also grants you an Endurance recovery buff and resistance to Defense DeBuffs. Crystal Armor also adds an Elusivity defense bonus to Energy and Negative Energy Attacks in PVP zones. Minerals Toggle: Self +Recharge, +DEF(Psionic), Res(Confuse), +Perception Activating this power summons several rare earth rock Minerals to orbit around you. These Minerals can disperse thought patterns and make Psionic attacks less likely to hit. They also bring clarity of the mind increasing the recharge time of your powers, increasing your perception, and making you resistant to Confusion. Brimstone Armor Toggle: Self +Res(Fire, Cold, Toxic), +Special While this power is active, your skin becomes encrusted in cracked magma. Brimstone Armor makes you highly resistant to Fire, Cold and Toxic damage, and helps your attacks set enemies on fire, delivering damage over time. Notes on the damage over time from Brimstone Proc: The DoT damage uses AT modifiers: Ranged_Damage for attacks with base ranges > 20 ft and Melee_Damage otherwise. The DoT damage is scaled based on the attack's cast time (scales between 0 and 3 seconds). This mostly ensures a constant DPS increase despite the speed of one's attacks. Geode Toggle: Self +Regeneration, +Recovery, Invulnerable; Self Hold When you activate this power, you encase yourself in various protective mineral layers that can absorb incoming damage while you heal and recover endurance at an incredible rate. You can emerge at will by deactivating the power, but you cannot stay in this Geode for more than 30 seconds. If enemies inflict enough damage, they might break you out of this effect. If Brimstone Armor is owned, this power will also grant Geothermal Power every 2 seconds, increasing the damage inflicted by Brimstone's Fire by 8% per stack. Note: The Geothermal Powers should last for 60s and can stack up to 15 times. This gives the Brimstone Proc damage a 2.2x boost at max strength. Dominator Proliferation: Illusion Control New primary for Dominators. This version of the set does not get access to Spectral Wounds nor Group Invisibility. Instead, it has new powers called Spectral Wall and Gleam. Also, Dominator's version of Phantom Army has its pets not taunt, but rather have attacks utilizing mez and soft control effects. You can manipulate light and sound to manifest all sorts of Illusions, aiding your allies as well as deceiving your foes. Powers: Blind Ranged (Targeted AoE), DMG(Psionic), Foe Hold/Sleep Painfully Blinds a single targeted foe so severely that they are rendered helpless. Blind is so bright that additional foes may also be blinded, though they will not take any damage, and attacking them will free them from the effects. Spectral Wall Ranged, DoT (Psionic), Foe Immobilize, -ToHit Creates an illusionary wall of specters that prevents enemies from moving. As the foe is surrounded, they take psionic damage over time. Deceive Ranged, Foe Confuse You can Deceive an enemy into believing their friends are not who they appear to be. If successful, the enemy will ignore you and attack their own allies. If you Deceive someone before they have noticed you, your presence will continue to be masked. You will not receive any Experience Points for foes defeated by a Deceived enemy. Spectral Terror Summon Terror: Ranged Fear, -ToHit You can create an illusion of unspeakable Terror. The manifestation is so horrible that it caused most foes to tremble helplessly in terror. The Spectral Terror may also Terrify individual foes, causing them to run away in panic. Superior Invisibility Toggle: Self Stealth, +DEF(All) You can bend light around yourself to become completely Invisible. While this power is active, you are all but impossible to detect, and have an extremely high Defense bonus to all attacks. Superior Invisibility is the only toggle invisibility power that allows you to attack while it is active, although you will lose some of your defense bonus if you do so. Gleam Ranged (Targeted AoE), DMG(Psionic), Foe Disorient Multiple flashing lights go off around enemies, disorienting and damaging them. Gleam deals minimal Psionic damage, and can Disorient all affected targets for a good while. Phantom Army Summon Decoys: Ranged DMG(Psionic) You can fabricate 3 Phantom heroes around a targeted foe. These Phantoms are not real, and are indestructible. Though they deal damage, it is illusory and will heal if the victim survives long enough. Phantoms are short lived and cannot be buffed or healed. Flash PBAoE, Foe Hold Generates a brilliant flash of light around you that blinds nearby foes. Flashed foes are rendered helpless and unable to defend themselves. Phantasm Summon Phantasm: Ranged, DMG(Smash/Energy/Psionic) You can construct a powerful entity composed of pure light. Although made of light, the Phantasm is tangible and has powerful Energy attacks. The Phantasm can also fly and summon duplicates of itself. The duplicates are intangible, and cannot be harmed. The duplicates' attacks deal illusory damage similar to that dealt by Spectral Wounds. Only the original Phantasm can be healed and buffed. Type ''/release_pets'' in the chat window to release all your pets. PvP in Supergroup Bases ( Big thanks to @CR Americas Angel for the guide / write-up! ) PvP raid functionality has been added to supergroup bases. This is not the same legacy base raiding that existed briefly back in Issue 6, but rather the ability to initiate PvP activities within supergroup bases. Below is a how-to guide for setting it up: To activate them you need to make a supergroup and make a base. Make sure you have "Begin Raid" enabled in the supergroup member permissions: Once you've done that, load into your base and press the raid button: Once you've done that, you can select from the following options: First pick the type of raid: Team Deathmatch = Win points by defeating players. Capture The Flag = Not currently active. Control Points = Not currently active. Then pick the settings: Free-For-All (FFA) = FFA, but you can team up with other players and they will con friendly. (Functions the same way the Warburg PVP zone works.) Defenders vs. Attackers = Supergroup members (and people they are teamed with) vs everyone else. Once you click "Begin Raid" a 30s countdown will begin: You can start hitting people from the 10 min mark. The timer box thing will also have a dynamic scorecard that updates as you play. The number of kills each player has scored is on the left hand side, and the highest possible score on the right hand side. (Set by whoever is currently leading the kill-count.) For Free-For-All: For Attackers vs. Defenders: After the raid is over, you'll get a scorecard that shows how many times you killed someone, how many times were killed, and the all-important kill/death ratio: Building for PvP in Bases Two new revive rings have been added to the base editor under Arcane Medical and Tech Medical settings: They allow you to set respawn points: Revive Rings (Raid) = Attackers in Attackers vs Defenders Revive Rings (Regular) = Defenders in Attackers vs. Defenders or Everyone in regular Free-For-All If no revive rings are placed, players will respawn at the base portal. Heroes and villains can now team in bases. When PvP is active in a base, the following commands are disabled: /stuck /enterbasefrompasscode /editbase /arenalist, using the LFG queue, and using the "teleport to contact" feature have not been disabled. (As these all still work in Arena/PvP zones just fine.) NPCs that sell inspirations should be disabled. (As in, you cannot have the store open during a raid.) All storage (enhancement bins, salvage bins, etc) except the Vault has been disabled. (As they allow players to force a mapserver in high item bases.) The Dimensional Shard and Base Portal have been tweaked a little to stop them from interfering with revive rings. I'd advise base builders to check that these items aren't misbehaving. (They seemed to work fine from all my testing.) Items that can be destroyed (turrets, etc) respawn when the base resets. A "base reset" is when the base has been empty for 15 minutes and the zone unloads. Vandalism to bases is not possible. Placed NPCs can be hit, but they are indestructible. This is working as intended. Powers & Gameplay Adjustments Powerset Revamps Mercenaries Burst, Slug, and M30 Grenade Each of these attacks applies a Focused Fire tag on the target for 30s. Each power's tag will increase Mercenary ranged damage by 3.33%, up to a maximum of 10%. Equip Mercenary Henchmen passive resistances have been moved to this upgrade. Equip Mercenary now accepts Resistance sets and enhancements. By slotting this power with resistance enhancements, players will be able to improve the henchmen's passive resistances. Tactical Upgrade This power now grants henchmen passive Ranged and AoE defenses. Now accepts Defense sets and enhancements, will boost henchmen defenses. By slotting this power with defense enhancements, players will be able to improve the henchmen's passive defenses. Serum Power can now only be activated when targeting a mercenary, can no longer be accidentally wasted by targeting a different pet like Dark Servant Power now buffs all henchmen (animation only plays on main target). Recharge reduced from 1000 seconds to 250 seconds. Power no longer has a crash. The power now grants strong defensive and offensive buffs that slowly decay over a one minute window. Henchmen Their entire power repertoire revamped. Powers have been added, adjusted, and replaced. Necromancy Dark Blast, Gloom, Life Drain These powers now have a 70% chance to summon a Spectral Minion to your side! These Specters are temporary, lasting a maximum of 90 seconds as their health fades away by the second. These Specters cannot be healed or regenerate, but have decent resistance to all damage and defense against AoE attacks. These Specters cannot be commanded or upgraded, but slotting your personal attacks will improve their attack stats. Each attack can only summon one Specter, for a maximum of 3 if all attacks are used. Henchmen (general) Powers have been adjusted for area and duration. Zombie Horde Can no longer be slotted with heal enhancements or sets. Grave Knights Can no longer be slotted with heal enhancements or sets. Lich Can no longer be slotted with heal enhancements or sets. Enchant Undead Henchmen passive resistances have been moved to this upgrade. Enhant Undead now accepts Resistance sets and enhancements. Lich's Petrifying Gaze has been moved to this upgrade, no longer grants Life Drain to the Lich. Resistances now grant mag 1 Hold and Immobilize protection, as well as 50% resistance to Stun/Hold/Immobilize. Dark Empowerment Now accepts Healing sets and enhancements. Lich's Life Drain have been moved to this upgrade, no longer grants Petrifying Gaze to the Lich. Slotting this power with heal enhancements will enhance Life Drain's heal. Dark Empowerment range increased from 30' to 50'. Grants a 15% max HP (half enhanceable) to all henchmen. Soul Extraction Recharge lowered form 600s to 150s. End cost lowered from 30 to 15. Only works on active Henchmen, not Specters. Will extract the soul from each Henchman for 30s before the Souls vanish. The extracted souls are still linked to their bodily hosts, if the host of a soul is defeated, the soul will also be defeated. Extracted Souls No longer use Phase Shift Now have 13% positional defenses, not enhanceable. Ninja Snap Shot, Aimed Shot, and Fistful of Arrows Each of these attacks now grants a 3% chance for henchmen to crit for 30s. The chance does not stack from the same power but each power can stack together, for up to +9% chance if all powers are used. Smoke Flash Recharge increased to 90s from 20s Duration lowered from 10s to 3s No longer requires a target Now hides all Ninja Henchmen, providing 100% chance to crit to the squad for 3s. Kuji-In Zen (now Kuji-In Sha) This power now grants Kuji-In Sha (self heal) to all ninjas. This power can be slotted with heal sets and enhancements, those will enhance your ninja's passives. This power increases ninjas chance to crit by an additional 3% at all times. Train Ninjas This power now grants +defense passives to ninjas. This power can now be slotted with defense sets and enhancements, those will enhance your ninja's passives. This power increases ninja's chance to crit by an additional 3% at all times. Henchmen All ninjas now have a chance to crit at all times This chance starts at 0% but can be increased via upgrades and personal attacks Maximum crit chance outside of smoke flash is 15% Robotics Pulse Rifle Blast, Pulse Rifle Burst, and Photon Grenade These powers all now apply a -200% regeneration debuff Pulse Rifle Blast cast time lowered from 1.87s to 1s Pulse Rifle Burst cast time lowered from 1.87s to 1.1s Repair (now Maintenance Drone) Power has been replaced by Maintenance Drone. Maintenance Drone will use its own health to heal your other robots. It can't be healed and does not regenerate HP. Once it depletes its health, it will self destruct dealing minor damage. This power no longer accepts Endurance Modification enhancements or sets. Equip Robot Now grants passive resistances to henchmen. Can be enhanced by slotting the power with resistance sets and enhancements. Upgrade Robot Now grants Repair to Protector Bots Can be enhanced by slotting the power with Healing sets and enhancements. Henchmen Cast Times trimmed across the board (including personal attacks) Assault Bot no longer applies -regen, this effect is now applied by the Mastermind personal attacks. Henchmen have had their list of powers revamped, adding a few new powers to improve overall damage. Protector Bots summon power no longer accept heal enhancements. Henchmen no longer have resistances out of the box, Equip Robot is needed to get them. Battle Axe Power Order Brutes/Scrappers: Beheader, Chop, Gash, Build Up, Pendulum, Taunt/Confront, Swoop, Axe Cyclone, Cleave. Tankers: Beheader, Chop, Gash, Taunt, Build Up, Pendulum, Swoop, Axe Cyclone, Cleave. Beheader Now have a chance to apply a defense debuff, chance is tied to the chance to knockdown. Cast Time lowered from 1.33 seconds to 1.0 seconds. Chop Now have a chance to apply a defense debuff, chance is tied to the chance to knockdown. Cast Time lowered from 1.33 seconds to 1.2 seconds. Gash Cast Time lowered from 1.5 seconds to 1.27 seconds. Swoop Cast Time lowered from 1.83 seconds to 1.23 seconds. Whirling Axe (now Axe Cyclone) Renamed Axe Cyclone. New visual FX. Now has a tractor effect that pulls enemies into melee range. Cooldown increased to 18 seconds. (Damage remains unchanged) Radius is 15ft for all ATs. Cast Time lowered from 2.67 seconds to 1.76 seconds. Pendulum Changed from a cone to a targeted AoE sphere attack with a 7ft radius. Cleave Changed from a cone to a targeted AoE sphere attack with a 3ft radius. Range increased to 40ft (not enhanceable). Fire Manipulation Burn This power should no longer summon multiple burn patches. This power should now hit 5 enemies instead of 4. Procs should no longer trigger multiple times per target when using this power. Burn Flames should now inherit the power Accuracy enhancements. Burn Flames now inherit AT classes, caps, and modifiers. Upfront damage now match all other versions. Combustion Cast Time lowered from 3 seconds to 2.4 seconds. Fire Sword Now does pure fire damage. Now grants a small defense debuff. Now accepts accurate defense debuff and defense debuff enhancements and sets. Fiery Melee Combustion Cast Time lowered from 3 seconds to 2.4 seconds. Cremate Now can knockdown foes. Now can be slotted with knockback enhancements and sets. Fire Sword Now does pure fire damage. Now grants a small defense debuff. Now accepts accurate defense debuff and defense debuff enhancements and sets. Greater Fire Sword Cast Time lowered from 2.33 seconds to 1.37 seconds. Now does pure fire damage. Now grants a small defense debuff. Now accepts accurate defense debuff and defense debuff enhancements and sets. Fire Sword Circle Now does pure fire damage. Now grants a small defense debuff. Now accepts accurate defense debuff and defense debuff enhancements and sets. Fiery Aura Rise of the Phoenix (now Phoenix Rising) Renamed Phoenix Rising. This power can now be used when alive. The effects of this power (damage, healing, endurance) will be stronger the closer the user is to death. The player power can't be used if the player has more than 75% health. The power will only make the player invulnerable and grant XP protection if the power is used after death. Damage increased when used while dead, relative to Live. Burn This power should no longer summon multiple burn patches. This power should now hit 5 enemies instead of 4. Procs should no longer trigger multiple times per target when using this power. Burn Flames should now inherit the power Accuracy enhancements. Burn Flames now inherit AT classes, caps, and modifiers. While under the effect of Fiery Embrace, Burn will spawn a second burn patch for 4.5 seconds Consume Power now grants a small Max HP buff even if no targets are available or hit. Power no longer needs a target to grant End Drain protection. (+End still requires targets) Power is now auto-hit. Damage still requires a to-hit check. This power now takes Healing sets and enhancements. Temperature Protection This power now grants Mag 1 Knock protection in PvE. (This is strong enough to prevent most knockdowns and some weak knockback). This power now grants unenhanceable +regeneration. Healing Flames Cast Time lowered from 1.5 seconds to 0.73 seconds. Force Fields Force Bolt (now Repulsion Bolt) Now applies -20% (Defender Values) Resistance to all damage for 30s. Dispersion Bubble Dispersion buff lasts for 15s, allowing it to apply if you leave its radius or the toggle drops briefly. Repulsion Field Combined with Force Bubble, now includes a 25ft radius Repel aura alongside a 9ft radius Knockback aura. The larger repel area acts just as Force Bubble does. No longer drains endurance per target hit in PvE. If slotted for KB2KD, the repel is also disabled. Repulsion Bomb (now Force Bomb) Activation time lowered to 1.67s from 3.07s. Damage lowered to Scale 0.6 from Scale 1. Stun chance lowered to 10% from 40% Now uses Vectored Knockdown Now applies -15% (Defender Values) Resistance to all damage for 30s. Force Bubble (now Damping Bubble) Now a Click power with 90s rech, and 5.2 Endurance cost. Summons a Pseudopet at your location that casts a 55ft radius Dampening Bubble for 45s. Applies +Special Resistance to yourself and allies (Defender Values): 43.25% res to ToHit, Accuracy, Perception, Slow, Recharge, and Regeneration debuffs 21.63% res to Defense Debuffs. This is enhanceable with Defense enhancements. Applies -Special to a max of 16 enemies inside the field: -43.25% ToHit, Slow, Perception, Regeneration -23.63% Defense The Damping Bubble will move to your location if summoned again during it's duration. Quality of Life Changes Level Availability Changes Primary Sets (non-Epic ATs) Tier 8 powers moved from level 26 to level 22 Tier 9 powers moved from level 32 to level 26 Secondary Sets (non-Epic ATs) Tier 2 powers moved from level 2 to level 1 (character creation) Tier 7 powers moved from level 28 to level 24 Tier 8 powers moved from level 35 to level 28 Tier 9 powers moved from level 38 to level 30 Epic Pools Tier 3 powers moved from level 41 to level 38 Hero Epic ATs Nova moved from level 6 to level 4 Inner Light and Sunless Mire moved from level 12 to level 10 Incandescent Strike and Gravity Well moved from level 18 to level 16 Glowing Touch and Gravitic Emanation moved from level 26 to level 20 Solar Flare and Unchain Essence moved from level 26 to level 22 Photon Seekers and Dark Extraction moved from level 32 to level 24 Dawn Strike and Quasar moved from level 32 to level 26 Shining Shield and Gravity Shield moved from level 2 to level 1 (character creation) Quantum Acceleration and Shadow Slip moved from level 24 to level 26 Restore Essence and Stygian Return moved from level 25 to level 30 Light Form and Eclipse moved from level 38 to level 32 Arachnos Soldiers Placate and Frenzy moved from level 26 to level 22 Crowd Control and Omega Maneuver moved from level 32 to level 26 Call Reinforcements moved from level 38 to level 30 Surveillance and Serum moved from level 28 to level 24 Web Cocoon and Summon Spiderlings moved from level 35 to level 28 Arachnos Widows Eviscerate moved from level 26 to level 22 Placate and Confuse moved from level 28 to level 24 Psychic Scream moved from level 32 to level 24 Psychic Wail moved from level 32 to level 28 Vengeance moved from level 35 to level 28 Aura of Confusion and Elude moved from level 38 to level 30 Stealth Toggle Exclusivity Removal Player Stealth Toggles, with the exception of temporary powers, are no longer exclusive. Players can now use multiple stealth toggle powers at the same time, however the stealth radius, defense, and threat level of these powers will not stack. Instead, the strongest effect from these powers will be used (much like how travel power stacking currently works). The powers that fall within these stealth toggle rules are listed below. List of Stealth Toggles Arctic Fog Cloak of Darkness Cloaking Device Energy Cloak Field Operative Infiltration Mask Presence Shadow Fall Shinobi Shinobi-Iri Stealth Steamy Mist Super Speed Superior Invisibility Various Power Changes All/Radiation Melee/Irradiated Ground: This power can now only proc once every 10 seconds. Can now accept ATOs. Call to Arms: No longer grants base defense. Now it grants defense to all types. Edict of the Master: Now grants toxic defense. Sentinel/Bio Armor: Updated descriptions of powers to better reflect what they do. Sentinel/Shinobi-Iri: Updated description Power Bug Fixes Controller/Symphony Control/Impassioned Serenade: Removed an extra 0.25s delay from its confuse effect. Dominator/Sonic Assault/Shriek: Can no longer be used while mezzed. Dominator/Sonic Assault/Scream: Can no longer be used while mezzed. Earth Control/Stalagmites: Endurance cost fixed. Now costs 15.6 endurance. Enhancement/Coercive Persuasion/Contagious Confusion: Added a 0.5s delay to confuse proc. This should allow some time for confuse effects from the slotted power to apply prior to checking for the spreading confusion proc. Prestige Utility/Renewal of Light and Return to Battle: These powers now share a Recharge Group and should no longer cause doubly long cooldowns when used. Procs from Bombardment, Sudden Acceleration, and Power Transfer: No longer boostable. Munitions Mastery/Freeze Ray: Tintable version FX now always fires from the correct point of the rifle. Mastermind/Traps/Web Grenade: This power should now accept slow enhancements Sentinel/Bio Armor/Rebuild DNA: Offensive Adaptation now grants +perception and +res(perception). Efficient Adaptation now grants additional endurance. Temporary Powers/Nullifier (all versions): Now disabled in PvP Arena Character Customization Improvements Holstered Weapon System Holstered Custom Weapons (Arachnos/Assault/Munition/Mercenary Mastermind Rifles) Characters with Arachnos, Assault, Munitions, or Mercenary Mastermind custom rifles now have access to the option to display their character's rifle model on their costume. This is controlled via a toggle button next to the weapon just like Sheathed Custom Weapons. The remaining ranged weapon sets will be added to the Holstered Weapon system in a future update. Custom Weapon Adjustments & Fixes Arachnos Rifles renamed from "A", "B", "C" to "Rifle", "SMG", and "Shotgun" to better describe what they look like. Fixed issue where Mercenary Mastermind Rifles were missed for the firing point desync fixes. Wave 2 Aether Prestige Rewards Aether Prestige Costume Additions & Updates The Prestige Costume icons have been simplified and now there are only four, and they correspond to the Tier / Rarity of the costume. Tier 1 / Common / White Tier 2 / Uncommon / Yellow Tier 3 / Rare / Orange Tier 4 / Very Rare / Purple 'Mode' has been dropped from the names of costumes that change based on the body type of the user and they no longer incur a price increase on the BenevoLabs vendor. Costumes that change based on the user's body type have been noted in BenevoLab vendor's offerings and in the costume power's descriptions. Some specific Prestige Costumes have had sheathed/holstered weapon displays enabled on them for specific body types. This means your normal costume's body type must match the costume's in order for the weapon to display. The type that inherits is noted in the description. Costumes that are compatible have been noted in the BenevoLab vendor's offerings and in the costume power's descriptions. Look for these on the vendor if you're interested! Tier 1 - Standard Costumes The two Vanguard costumes are now considered Tier 1 and match all standard specifics of that tier. The missing Wave 1 - Tier 1 costumes that changed based on the body type of the user have been enabled and priced at 10 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage each: 'Costume: Crey Agent' 'Costume: Olympian Guard' 'Costume: Paragon Protector' 'Costume: Praetorian Clockwork' 'Costume: Vahzilok Eidolon' Forty-one new Wave 2 - Tier 1 costumes have been added to the selection on the BenevoLabs costume vendors: NEW WAVE 2 - TIER 1 AETHER COSTUME ADDITIONS: Tier 2 - Legacy Costumes The Tier 2 costumes have been enabled on the BenevoLabs vendors, priced at 100 Prismatic Aether Particles each. These costumes feature discontinued appearances. The initial Wave 1 - Tier 2 costume offerings can be found in the Issue 27, Page 4's patch notes. 'Costume: Legacy Circle Mage' has been renamed to 'Costume: Legacy Circle Ruin Mage'. Five new Wave 2 - Tier 2 Prestige Costumes have been added to the selection on the BenevoLabs costume vendors: NEW WAVE 2 - TIER 2 AETHER COSTUME ADDITIONS: Tier 3 - Premium Costumes & Effects The Tier 3 rewards have been enabled on the BenevoLabs vendors, priced at 250 Prismatic Aether Particles each: This tier features rewards that can change or enhance the looks of your costumes. Tier 3 rewards are advanced customization offerings that are limited for social and/or game performance reasons. Effect powers are their own category of costume enhancement and only one can be active at a time, but they can be used at the same time as a costume power. The pop-menu accolade 'Disable Costumes' option will also disable these Effect powers. As of Issue 27, Page 5's release, there are three Tier 3 rewards featured: 'Costume: Mini Mode' that featured in last Page's notes and makes your costume's model very small. Mini Mode costume cannot be used in PvP. 'Effect: Ghost' which makes makes your model transparent and adds a spectral glow. Tint of the glow can be customized and the transparency turned off in the power customization menu. 'Effect: Shadow' which darkens your model's lighting and adds glowing eyes. Tint of the eyes be customized or the eyes turned off in the power customization menu. WAVE 2 - TIER 3 AETHER OFFERINGS: Tier 4 - Deluxe Costumes The Tier 4 costumes have been added to the BenevoLabs vendors, priced at 1500 Prismatic Aether Particles each: This tier features costumes that have bizarre looks and are oddities you won't see anywhere else. As of Page 5's release, the first offered Tier 4 costumes will be 'Costume: Undefined Mode' which was formerly named 'Mode Costume: Blobby' that featured previously. Another will be made available in a few months. 'Costume: Undefined Mode' automatically also comes with 'Costume: Mini Undefined Mode' for free when purchased! The mini version of this costume cannot be used in PvP. This costume's functionality has been upgraded and it now inherits various elements from your normal costume when used, making it possible to create some interesting and unique looks with it! ---> OR That sure is unusual looking! Seasonal Prestige Costume Additions Seasonal Prestige Costumes are now considered Tier 1 and match all standard specifics of that tier. Two new Halloween Prestige Costume rewards have been added to the various Halloween salvage vendors, priced at 10 Prismatic Aether Particles + 50 of each Halloween salvage type each: 'Costume: Ancient Vampire' 'Costume: Arisen Mummy' Spooky season is always in style! Prestige Costume Fixes Fixed an error with costumes using PlayerBeast's standard movement animations not using the correct set. Fixed Male Eidolon's costume having an extra boot. Fixed missing belt on Nemesis Lieutenant costume. Costumes Costume Additions & Changes All > Special Helmets > Arachnos Helmets: Tintable variants of all the Arachnos helmets have been added. 'Mystic Helm' renamed to 'Mu Mystic Helm' in the editor. Various Additions & Enhancements Badges Badge Changes The 'Womp Womp' badge for defeating Immature Paragon Protectors has been renamed to 'Ankle Biter'. Vanity Pets Vanity Pets Additions & Updates There are three new vanity pets offered by Luna corresponding to the various City of Heroes retail release anniversary months. These pets will be available for purchase each year during these months: May, City of Heroes anniversary: 'Pet: Mini Statesman' vanity pet power for 2004 Reward Merits. November, City of Villains anniversary: 'Pet: Mini Lord Recluse' vanity pet power for 2005 Reward Merits. August, Going Rogue anniversary: 'Pet: Mini Tyrant' vanity pet power for 2010 Reward Merits. They're so iconic! ...and they can be yours! 'Pet: Mini Hero 1' vanity pet power has been added to the Vanguard crafting table offerings under 'Vanity Pets' priced at 10,000 Vanguard Merits. Hero 1 always looks so cool, even when tiny! All older vanity pets have been given the improved movement speed that the newer vanity pets received, which should help them keep up with their owners. The naming scheme for vanity pets has been standardized to 'Pet: Name'. Like Prestige Costumes, Vanity Pets will also now display on a character's info window so players with large collections can show them off. Proliferated Emotes New Emotes Added '/em kneel2'. Added '/em kneel3'. Added '/em kneel4'. Added '/em kneel5'. Arena Options When setting up an arena match, there are now four more options listed under more options: No Passive Resist Bonuses - Allows players to switch on/off the bonus resist everyone gets in PvP. No Incarnates (Alpha Slot Enabled) - Switches on/off all incarnates except alpha. No Incarnates (Alpha Slot Disabled) - Switches on/off all incarnates including alpha. Sudden Death Tiebreaker Phase - Switches on/off the sudden death mechanic at the end of draw games. (Default's to off.) Rated Matches will also now function properly. (I.e. No longer forcing any arena options.) Note: you may need to set up the arena options you want before clicking the "rated" button. Supergroup Bases New Base Items Added Basic Reclaimator (Raid) and Resurrection Circle (Raid) base items which allow for Attackers during supergroup base PvP to revive at those locations rather than at the supergroup entrance portal. Task Updates & Adjustments Removed badge requirements that prevented Praetorians from running arcs from Ambassador Kuhr'Rekt and Johnny Sonata in Ouroboros. Imperious Task Force - Advanced Difficulty Vandal is now using more advanced AI and should be no longer be prone to go on running away sprees. Vandal's ambush now spawns closer to the player team's location meaning he should arrive sooner and be less prone to getting lost on his way there. When Nictus Romulus escapes to the Chamber of the Emperor, he will take any living Barrier Novas with him. Tin Mage's Task Force All of the defeat objectives in Mission 2 must now be cleared in order for the mission to complete. Enemy Group Updates & Adjustments Arachnos Fixed an issue that was causing Lord Recluse to only use Spider Strike when specifically between 50%-25% HP instead of any time below 50%. The eye glow FX on Crab Spider and Bane Spider NPCs has been improved. Devouring Earth Fixed an error with the Dr Aeon's Strike Force's Devoured's tentacles not being tinted the right color. Hero Corps The Major has been given powers and is no longer incapable of defending himself against players. Trolls Skyway City's Supa Troll ravers have paid for Paragon City's finest facial reconstruction plastic surgeons and now their heads do not morph wildly while they are moving. They are free to rave uninhibited (until heroes come to stop them). City Zone Updates & Adjustments Atlas Park Added automatic seasonal map switchover; The October / Halloween variation of Atlas Park should now be active. In November it should automatically transition to the Autumn map variant. In December it should automatically transition to the Winter map variant. In January it should return to the standard non-seasonal map variant.

Tasks Sister Valeria Ambushes no longer chase players endlessly and shouldn't see through stealth. Added missing Incarnate finale rewards for non-task-owners. Repeatable Cimerora Incarnate Missions Due to the inconsistency issue with Sister Valeria not introducing Alexandra Sideris to many players, Alexandra Sideris is now unlocked by owning the Sister Valeria arc completion badge so you will gain access to these incarnate missions even if you completed Sister Valeria's arc using Ouroboros. All option dialog on the task selections now includes a highlight of the mission objectives in red to more easily distinguish what that choice's task will be. Advanced Difficulty - General Re-added missed inspiration restriction modes to 2-Star and 3-Star Advanced Difficulty levels. Advanced Difficulty - Imperious Task Force Mission 3 Fixed issue with initial behavior on the Aereus Colossi Twins that was sometimes causing them to behave strangely. Mission 4 Nictus Romulus Augustus' Ebon Eye now has a -Fly debuff. Sister Solaris In the finale mission the spawns with multiple Minotaur and Cyclopes will now only have two of them at incarnate level with the added Nictus powers. Colleen Nelson Fixed the error that was causing text in her arc to appear as pstrings. Steven Sheridan Atmospheric pedestrians, cars, and trams should no longer spawn on the two new outdoor Rikti invasion mission maps. Power Fixes Fixed numerous typos in power descriptions for Sonic Assault and Symphony Control. Tintable customization of the Munitions Mastery Freeze Ray FX was missed for the fix that resolved the disjointed firing point; Now always fires from the correct point of the chosen rifle model. Costumes Sheathed Weapons Male/Female/Huge - Broadsword: Sheathed positioning for 'Rikti Sword' & 'Rikti Sword 2' on Broadsword adjusted to sit more naturally on the back. Female/Huge - Broadsword: Fixed 'Rapier' & 'Carnival of Shadows Rapier' to scale properly as they were previously bigger than intended. Female - Broadsword: Sheathed 'VK-99 Event Horizon' & 'PX17-N Supernova' were set to the wrong draw FX. Male/Female - Broadsword & Dual Blade: The following smaller weapons have been set to sit slightly lower on the back while sheathed to make them look more natural: Hook Sword Machete Organic Sword Sky Raider Machete Vahzilok Bone Saw Vahzilok Butcher Knife Faer Dagger (Dual Blade only) Dragon Dagger (Dual Blade only) Redcap Dagger (Dual Blade only) Sai (Dual Blade only) Tanto (Dual Blade only) Main Droite & Main Gauche (Dual Blade only) Male/Female/Huge - Dual Blades: Left Dual Blades now sit closer to the Right Dual Blades on all body types so they won't appear to float as far off the back. Female - Dual Blades: Adjusted the spacing offsets for Dual Blades as there was a bit more space between them and the weapons than was needed to facilitate bone size variations in costumes. Male/Huge - War Mace, Bane Spiders, & Mace Mastery: Improved the back position offsets for a couple models that were leaning a little far from the back: Carnival of Light Carnival of War Carnival of Vengeance Carnival Mallet Coral Club Coral Hammer Rularuu's Fury Male - War Mace: Sheathed Tech Mace was set to the wrong draw FX. Enemy Groups Cimeroran Traitors Cimeroran Traitor elite bosses are now bigger and have a slightly different helmet crest to make them more identifiable against the normal bosses, whom they previously shared a costume with. Fixed an issue where Incarnate-level Minotaurs had the damage set unintentionally too high on their Chop power. The Lost Fixed an issue that was causing Lost mobs to spawn at higher levels than intended in certain missions. Zones Peregrine Island Since Castle is now fulfilling his trainer duties in Recluse's Victory to train incoming Temporal Warriors, Vanguard's Incandescent has been appointed as the new trainer in Peregrine Island while she works on organizing collaborative efforts between Vanguard and Portal Corp. Fort Trident The submarine inside Fort Trident was incorrectly pointing to the Smuggler's Ship destinations, it now correctly connects to the Smuggler's Submarine destinations (one-way). The Crucible Owning the 'Arbiter' badge for completing the Barracuda Strike Force now properly unlocks The Crucible as a Long Range Teleporter destination. Supergroup Bases Fixed the issue that was causing "Shower Floor 2" (the smaller of the two) to have changed position in existing bases. Fixed issue that was causing freshly placed teleporter beacons to not attach properly to teleporters. Miscellaneous Removed a non-functional PlayerName variable from contact busy text. Various client stability fixes to address crash reports.

The Halloween Atlas Park swap has been disabled due to an issue with Mission / Contact markers not working. The Halloween event is still going, and you can still ToT as usual. Fix for this is in the works.

Are you using our launcher, or Tequila / some other launcher? I've only seen that error from other launchers. The usual cause for this is the highlighted text field in the attached screenshot, clear out anything in there Though the recommendation is to use our launcher:

Bug Fixes Fixed an issue that prevented the Lost AV from spawning in Death From Below. Emote channel text is once again italicized in the chat window. Name checking during character creation now properly shows names from recently deleted characters as "available". Fixed a longstanding memory corruption bug in the chat system that dates back to the retail days. Thanks to the ITF run last night who simul-crashed from the new more advanced sanity checks to catch these, and submitted crash reports! Fixed a mapserver crash that could be triggered by a specific combination of costume parts and supergroup settings.

Patch Notes: Issue 27, Page 4 Known issues are listed in purple. What's New in Issue 27, Page 4? Marquee Features New Incarnate Mission Content: Sister Valeria New Powersets - Symphony Control, Sonic Assault Name Release Policy - Phase 1: Warnings New Advanced Difficulty - Imperious Task Force Advanced Difficulty Improvements & New Reward Currency Permanent NPC Costume Power Rewards Powers & Gameplay Adjustments Enemy Aggro Revamp Attack Typing Adjustments New Tech: Power Toggle Suspension Temporal Warriors, Instant Level 50 PvP Characters Character Customization Improvements Sheathed Weapons System Custom Weapons Expansion Costume Part Proliferation & Fixes Arachnos Widow Costume Update Parkour and Blitz Movement Stances Walk Animation Customization Various Additions & Enhancements New Badges Cimerora Tour Guides Proliferated Emotes New Roleplaying & System Commands New AE Mission Maps, NPCs, Custom Enemy Powersets, and new Advanced Enemy Customization Fort Trident & The Crucible Revamp Roleplaying Pub(V) and Luau(H) Area Additions ...and much more! Marquee Features Incarnate Mission Content: Sister Valeria New Story Arc: Dark Tidings and Glory [Sister Valeria] (Cooperative, Level 50+) Sister Valeria, a warrior of Bellona, has been assigned to Phoebas Point by Imperious' command, to protect Sister Solaris from kidnappings and subterfuge. While there, she has taken it upon herself to make it as a discrete place to discuss the continued plague of the Romulan Traitors, knowing full well that Marcus Valerius is soon to depart with the Idol of Mot to the Abyss. She will offer players the opportunity to make a grand gesture on behalf of the Cimeroran people, striking at the heart of the Dark Ones that still haunt the land and the people's dreams, despite Imperious' best efforts to eradicate them. Players will unravel a tangled web of time-travel treachery and clean up loose ends as the omnipresent threat of the Nictus continues to fester even after Romulus and Requiem failed in their plot to take over the ancient land. Meet new foes, new signature enemies, and witness the grandiose nature of a true Shadow Cyst, which has never been seen before! Stop the Nictus from up-ending the timeline with purloined knowledge! Story Arc Contact: Sister Valeria, Phoebas Point, Cimerora Located on the upper area of Phoebas Point by the door that leads to the lower area. /thumbtack 938.4 203.1 5125.6 will place a map waypoint on her while in Cimerora. This is Incarnate content and players will have access to all their Incarnate Shifts while on these missions. This content contains the Incarnate Cimeroran Traitors required for the 'Legate' badge. Sister Valeria is in need of strong warriors, those with the will to save this land! Repeatable Cimerora Incarnate Missions Alexandra Sideris Located behind Sister Valeria on Phoebas Point. /thumbtack 927.3 203.1 5136.9 will place a map waypoint on her while in Cimerora. Unlocked by completing the first mission in Sister Valeria's story arc. Offers infinitely repeatable missions featuring the Incarnate Cimeroran Traitor enemies. This is Incarnate content and players will have access to all their Incarnate Shifts while on these missions. Additional missions have been added, which unlock once you've completed Valeria's arc. These repeatable tasks show up in the rotation and feature the Ravenna Conclave. New Powersets Symphony Control New primary for Controllers and Dominators. Use the power of music to captivate and control the spirits of your enemies! Most of your symphonic abilities influence the mind of your enemies, causing psionic damage. Powers: Melodic Binding Ranged, Light DMG(Psionic), Immobilize, -Speed Hymn of Dissonance Ranged, Light DMG(Psionic), Hold, -Recharge Aria of Stasis Ranged (Cone), Minor DMG(Psionic), Immobilize, -Speed Impassioned Serenade Ranged, Minor DMG(Psionic), Confuse Dreadful Discord Ranged (Cone), Minor DMG(Psionic), Fear Enfeebling Lullaby Ranged (Cone), Moderate DMG(Psionic), Sleep Confounding Chant Ranged (Cone), Superior DoT (Psionic), Foe Disorient Chords of Despair Targeted AoE, Hold Reverberant Reverberant Pet Summon Sonic Assault [Focused Feedback: Sonic Assault] New secondary for Dominators. Sonic Assault lets you use the power of sound waves to damage and weaken your foes. Powers: Shriek Ranged, Light DMG(Smash/Energy), Foe -Res Strident Echo Melee, High DMG(Smash/Energy), chance for Hold Scream Ranged, Moderate DMG(Smash/Energy), Foe -Res Shockwave Ranged(Cone), Light DMG(Smash/Energy), Knockback Bass Boost Self +DMG, +Special Deafening Wave Melee(AoE), Light DMG(Smash/Energy), chance for Hold Disruption Aura Toggle: Foe -Res Shout Ranged, Superior DMG(Smash/Energy), Foe -Res Earsplitter Melee, Extreme DMG(Smash/Energy), chance for Hold Name Release - Phase 1: Warning Mode The name release policy as (linked) described some time ago has been implemented and will begin to phase in starting with Page 4. Level 1-5 characters will be flagged as inactive if they have not been played in the last 30 days. Level 6-49 characters will be flagged as inactive if they have not been played in the last 365 days. Level 50 characters will never be flagged as inactive. You can remove the inactive flag on a character at any time simply by logging them in. As it has been some time since the policy was first announced, in order to ensure that players have sufficient time to act on protecting names they actively intend to use, the system will go live in Page 4 in Warning Mode Only. This inactivity flag will be displayed in the character list to identify which characters have names that would be at risk, but while the system is in warning mode, no characters will be renamed, and no names can be lost. The character list displays a yellow "pre-warning" icon to give advance notice before the inactivity period expires. Level 1-5 characters start warning 7 days prior, while level 6-49 characters start warning 30 days prior. At a later date to be announced, the system will be fully activated. After that point, players will be able to create new characters using any of the inactive names, which results in the inactive character being renamed. New Advanced Difficulty - Imperious Task Force Advanced Difficulty mode has been added to the Imperious Task Force, accessed from the Challenge Settings window before starting the content. Playing on Advanced Difficulty adds new elements to the content that make it more challenging but also provides an opportunity to earn greatly increased and unique rewards! Advanced Difficulty includes a brand new boss fight and badge for defeating them! Something seems different, but I'm sure it'll be fine... Like the Dr. Aeon's Strike Force that introduced the Advanced Difficulty system, this new mode comes in four higher difficulty level options above default: Those difficulty names sure seem familiar! Who remembers when mission difficulty was set with Notoriety levels? The setting specifics listed below also apply to the Aeon Strike Force, and should be referred to as the most up-to-date advance difficulty mode information: Heroic/Villainous (Default) Normal difficulty, this is what the option is set to by default, and doesn’t change the content in any manner. Tenacious/Malicious (☆) This content is balanced around everyone on the team having Tier 1 incarnate powers. Enemies have access to additional/improved powers. Certain enemy groups can sometimes have Elite Bosses/Bosses spawn in place of Bosses/Lieutenants in regular enemy spawns. Access to exclusive challenge encounters and mechanics not found in the default difficulty. Arch-villain/Giant Monster have Incarnate base hit chance (63.75%). Certain powerful Arch-villains/Giant Monsters have double base health (with normalized regeneration numbers). No additional enemy stats or defeat rewards. Players are unable to use non-revive Super Inspirations. In addition to all standard rewards, completion of this difficulty will reward 15 Reward Merits. Rugged/Vicious (☆☆) This content is balanced around everyone on the team having Tier 2 incarnate powers. The minimum mission difficulty is locked at +2 and the team size at x8. Enemies have access to additional/improved powers. Certain enemy groups can sometimes have Elite Bosses/Bosses spawn in place of Bosses/Lieutenants in regular enemy spawns. Boss class enemies and above have inherent magnitude 10 Confuse protection. Access to exclusive challenge encounters and mechanics not found in the default difficulty. All enemies receive the following baseline buffs: +10% Resistance[All], +15% Defense[All], +20% Damage[All], +10% ToHit, 66ft Perception radius. Arch-villain/Giant Monster ranked enemies have Incarnate base hit chance (63.75%). Arch-villain/Giant Monster ranked enemies will reward 3 Reward Merits per defeat. Certain powerful Arch-villains/Giant Monsters have double base health (with normalized regeneration numbers) and will reward 6 Reward Merits per defeat. All enemies reward 20% more experience/influence. Players are unable to use non-revive Large/Super Inspirations. In addition to all standard rewards, completion of this difficulty will reward 30 Reward Merits and an Incarnate reward table containing your choice of a random Incarnate salvage, an Empyrean merit, or two super Inspirations. Unyielding/Ruthless (☆☆☆) This content is balanced around everyone on the team having Tier 3 incarnate powers. The minimum mission difficulty is locked at +3 and the team size at x8. Enemies have access to additional/improved powers. Certain enemy groups can sometimes have Elite Bosses/Bosses spawn in place of Bosses/Lieutenants in regular enemy spawns. Lieutenant class enemies and above have inherent magnitude 10 Confuse protection. Elite Bosses have magnitude 10 Knockdown protection. Access to exclusive challenge encounters and mechanics not found in the default difficulty. All enemies receive the following baseline buffs: +15% Resistance[Lethal/Smashing], +20% Resistance[All but S/L], +20% Defense[All], +30% Damage[All], +20% ToHit, 66ft Perception radius Arch-villain/Giant Monster ranked enemies have Incarnate base hit chance (63.75%). Arch-villain/Giant Monster ranked enemies will reward 6 Reward Merits per defeat. Certain powerful Arch-villains/Giant Monsters have double base health (with normalized regeneration numbers) and will reward 9 Reward Merits per defeat. All enemies reward 30% more experience/influence. Players are unable to use Temporary Powers or non-revive Medium/Large/Super Inspirations. In addition to all standard rewards, completion of this difficulty will reward 45 Reward Merits and an Incarnate reward table containing your choice of a random Incarnate salvage, an Empyrean merit, or two super Inspirations. Invincible/Relentless (☆☆☆☆) This content is balanced around everyone on the team having Tier 4 incarnate powers. The mission difficulty is locked at +4 and the team size at x8. Enemies have access to additional/improved powers. Certain enemy groups can sometimes have Elite Bosses/Bosses spawn in place of Bosses/Lieutenants in regular enemy spawns. All enemy classes have inherent magnitude 10 Confuse protection. Bosses and Elite Bosses have magnitude 10 Knockdown protection. Access to exclusive challenge encounters and mechanics not found in the default difficulty. All enemies receive the following baseline buffs: +20% Resistance[Lethal/Smashing], +30% Resistance[All but S/L], +30% Defense[All], +40% Damage[All], +30% ToHit, 66ft Perception radius Arch-villain/Giant Monster ranked enemies have Incarnate base hit chance (63.75%) as well as a +1 Level Shift. Arch-villain/Giant Monster ranked enemies will reward 9 Reward Merits per defeat. Certain powerful Arch-villains/Giant Monsters have double base health (with normalized regeneration numbers) and will reward 15 Reward Merits per defeat. All enemies reward 40% more experience/influence. Players will be unable to use Temporary Powers or any non-revive Inspirations. In addition to all standard rewards, completion of this difficulty will reward 60 Reward Merits and an Incarnate reward table containing your choice of a random Incarnate salvage, an Empyrean merit, or two super Inspirations. Advanced Difficulty Improvements & New Reward Currency Difficulty Levels Adjustments The labels on Advanced Difficulty levels now include a star-rating, from Default to ☆☆☆☆ 4-Star. These will be consistent between Task Forces and Strike Forces and will be the standard labeling moving forward for all content with these options added: This update includes new Advanced Difficulty mode icons to go with them: Advanced Difficulty mode content played at ☆☆ 2-Star or higher now includes additional reward modifiers to all experience and influence earned from enemy defeats: ☆☆ 2-Star = 20% increase ☆☆☆ 3-Star = 30% increase ☆☆☆☆ 4-Star = 40% increase Any unresistable damage that was using flavor labels like 'Ripple' or 'Void' damage are now standardized and read as 'Special' damage in all locations they are found. The to-hit buff granted by Tactics on enemies in Advanced Difficulty now has max stack caps that match the star count of the difficulty level chosen. EXAMPLE: If playing on 4-Star difficulty, Tactics' to-hit can be stacked up to a max of four times on enemy mobs; If on 2-Star difficulty, Tactics' to-hit can be stacked up to a max of two times on enemy mobs. The other buff components of Tactics are not capped. Challenge Option Fixes Challenge Arch-villains that have double base HP have had their regeneration reduced by ~20%, to be closer to their designed intent, as the scaling calculations were slightly off. All Disable Modes are now infinite duration and persist through death, which eliminates some circumstances where disabled Inspirations or Temporary Powers could be used. Prismatic Aether Particle Salvage Rewards Completion of content on Advanced Difficulty settings now rewards an exclusive salvage currency called Prismatic Aether Particles that are used to purchase the permanent costume powers covered in the next section. They are capped at 2000 on how many can be carried at once by a single character. Ooh, Prismatic Aether... So shiny! Completing the Weekly Strike Target for the first time each week on a max level character that receives a Notice of the Well salvage, will also earn 1-2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage depending on the length of the content completed. The standard bonus from completing a mission map at any level includes a 1 in 50 (2%) chance to drop a Prismatic Aether Particle. Prismatic Aether Particle salvage is not account-bound and can be freely traded to other players, sold on the auction house, or stored in supergroup base salvage storage bins. Prismatic Aether Particle Reward Cooldowns Advanced Difficulty content works on a four-tiered drop system, where there are four difficulty level rewards each with their own 18-hour drop lockouts. Completing content on Advanced Difficulty rewards the maximum value of the difficulty minus any completions of lower values from the character on the same day. EXAMPLE: Completing the Dr. Aeon's Strike Force at ☆ difficulty will reward 2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. If the same character then completes the Dr. Aeon's Strike Force at ☆☆☆ difficulty within 18 hours, they would only receive 5+6 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage, since the 2 from the earlier run was already rewarded. These are the current Prismatic Aether Particle drop totals for Advanced Difficulty content: Advanced Difficulty - Dr. Aeon's Strike Force: ☆ 1-Star = 2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. ☆☆ 2-Star = (2+5) 7 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. ☆☆☆ 3-Star = (2+5+6) 13 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. ☆☆☆☆ 4-Star = (2+5+6+7) 20 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Advanced Difficulty - Imperious Task Force: ☆ 1-Star = 2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. ☆☆ 2-Star = (2+5) 7 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. ☆☆☆ 3-Star = (2+5+6) 13 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. ☆☆☆☆ 4-Star = (2+5+6+7) 20 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Incarnate Trials work on a three-tiered drop system, where there are three rewards each with their own 18-hour drop lockouts. Completing a trial rewards the tier it belongs to and any under it. This allows some flexibility on doing Incarnate Trials without pressure to do every single one daily, but gives a higher reward cap if the more difficult/longer trials are chosen, while also not making them competitive with Advanced Difficulty which is intended to be the primary source of this currency. You must qualify for full rewards in order to receive any Prismatic Aether, meaning you participated in every stage of the Incarnate Trial; this eliminates any potential leeching by AFK players. EXAMPLE: Completing a Behavior Adjustment Facility Trial (Tier 1) will reward the one Tier 1 Aether Particle salvage. If you then complete The Underground Trial (Tier 3), you earn the Tier 2 Aether Particle salvage, and the Tier 3 Aether Particle salvage, but not the Tier 1 again, since it's within the same 18-hour period. These are the current reward tier assignments for Incarnate Trials: Incarnate Trial - Tier 1: Behavioral Adjustment Facility Trial = 1 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Lambda Sector Trial = 1 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Incarnate Trial - Tier 2: Keyes Island Reactor Trial = (1+1) 2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Dilemma Diabolique Trial = (1+1) 2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Minds of Mayhem Trial = (1+1) 2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Magisterium Trial = (1+1) 2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Incarnate Trial - Tier 3: The Underground Trial = (1+1+1) 3 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. TPN Campus Trial = (1+1+1) 3 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Permanent NPC Costume Power Rewards Prismatic Aether & Purchasing Costumes These are new reward offerings that are purchased using Prismatic Aether Particle salvage earned primarily through completing Advanced Difficulty content, but can also be obtained over time from first Weekly Strike Target completions on a max level character or purchased from other players. Previously, these costumes were only available as prizes from Homecoming contests or events. While those event prize costumes were granted to all characters on an account, all costume powers purchased with Prismatic Aether Particle salvage are only per-character. Otherwise, these purchasable costume powers are the exact same powers that were given out as prizes and let you change your appearance to match the look of an NPC! BenevoLabs Hologram Vendors These costumes are sold from new 'BenevoLabs Hologram Vendor' NPCs found within Vault Reserve stores anywhere in the game. The future is now! These new NPC vendors also explain how / where Prismatic Aether Particle salvage is obtained. BenevoLabs huh? I'm sure they're not using these particles for anything nefarious. Permanent Costume Power Specifics, Rarity Tiers, & Costs There are four tiers of permanent costume powers, Standard, Vintage, Deluxe, and Vanguard. Any costumes that have multiple looks depending on your body type or gender have been marked 'Mode Costumes'. Mode Costumes have a 50% Prismatic Aether Particle salvage cost increase relative to their respective tier (example: 10->15). All of these costumes have the same restrictions as previously existing costume powers. They are all listed under the category 'Prestige Costumes' in your power list. The naming format on all existing costume change powers has been standardized, and various inaccuracies of what the costume was have been fixed. Example: 'Freakshow Boss Costume' is now 'Costume: Freakshow Tank.' Nearly all costume change powers can now be used in PvP zones (they have always worked in Arena). All owned Prestige Costumes are now listed at the bottom of your Character Info window, visible to other players. Tier 1 - Standard Costumes: Standard Costume Powers are normal NPC appearances and cost 10/15 (normal/mode) Prismatic Aether Particle salvage each. All currently existing permanent costume powers are Tier 1 and have had their icons updated. The Crey Agent, Olympian Guard, Paragon Protector, Vahzilok Eidolon, and Praetorian Clockwork costumes are now labeled as Mode Costumes. The Mode Costume: Praetorian Clockwork has been upgraded to include the combat-mode pop-out weapons, giving that costume more reason to exist when nearly all those parts are available as normal player costume pieces. All previously existing costumes will be available in the Tier 1 offerings in addition to a huge number of new costumes. These Tier 1 new costumes have also had 14 day temporary versions added to the Halloween event. Fir Bolg costume added to the Halloween salvage vendors and is sold only during the month of October for 10 Prismatic Aether Particles and 50 of each trick-or-treating salvage. Snow Beast costume added to the Candy Cane vendors and is sold only during the month of December for 10 Prismatic Aether Particles and 200 Candy Canes. Holiday exclusive costumes have a special costume icon but are still considered Tier 1. The costumes in this tier are listed as Uncommon on the BenevoLabs vendors and should be reasonably accessible to most players who do the Weekly Strike Target often or try content at the lower Advanced Difficulty levels. The few Tier 1 Mode Costumes that cost 15 Prismatic Aether Particles will be temporarily disabled once Page 4 goes live so that we can gather a more accurate read-out on Aether income/spending calculations. Those costumes will return at the same time that we enable the Tier 2 and Tier 3 costumes on Homecoming. Tier 2 - Vintage Costumes: Vintage Costume Powers use retired NPC appearances that can't be found anywhere else in the game will be made available/have their price set a few weeks after Page 4 launches. The costumes in this tier are listed as Rare on the BenevoLabs vendors and are intended to be saved for over-time by players who play regularly and attempt content on the higher Advanced Difficulty levels. The Skulls Thug costume has been moved to the Vintage tier. If any Tier 1 costumes later become unused appearances they will be moved to Tier 2 and have their icon/purchase price updated. There are no mode costumes currently offered at this tier at the release of Page 4. CLICK FOR PREVIEW OF VINTAGE TIER COSTUME OFFERINGS: Tier 3 - Deluxe Costumes: Deluxe Costume Powers are very unusual or exotic appearances and will be made available/have their price set a few weeks after Page 4 launches. The costumes in this tier are listed as Very Rare on the BenevoLabs vendors and are intended to serve as long-term prestige goals for extremely dedicated players who regularly complete Advanced Difficulty content on the highest levels and purchase the salvage from other players, while also serving as a market sink for the new currency. There are only mode costumes currently offered at this tier at the release of Page 4. CLICK FOR PREVIEW OF DELUXE TIER COSTUME OFFERINGS: Vanguard Tier - Uniform Costumes: Vanguard Costume Powers are mode costume uniforms and cost 5000 Vanguard Merit salvage each. These uniform costumes will change to match your current body type and height when activated. Mode Costume: Vanguard Shield Mode Costume: Vanguard Sword Now you don't have to dedicate a costume slot! (Unless you want a fancy, non-standard look) These are mode costumes and are listed as Very Rare and found on the Vanguard crafting tables in the Rikti War Zone under the 'Uniform' tab. These are intended to be a reward option for regular Rikti War Zone or LFG instanced Mothership raiders: BL-22c Holographic Matrix System This is an accolade badge sold at the BenevoLabs vendors for 50 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. This purchase rewards the 'Hologram' badge and unlocks the 'Costume Matrix' pop-menu accolade macro from which you can access all permanent costume powers you own on that character from a single slot on your power tray. This also includes a power that will shut-off any active costume power. That sure is convenient! Powers & Gameplay Adjustments Enemy Aggro Revamp Enemy Aggro Behavior Adjustments The aggro cap has been reworked to be less obvious and intrusive to gameplay. The cap is still 17. If a player exceeds the cap, the AI will prefer any other valid target. This means in a team environment there is no change to enemy behavior. If an AI-controlled enemy has no valid target due to them all being at the cap, it will choose the capped target with highest threat that is in range and use opportunistic ranged attacks. They will no longer mill about, oblivious to the action going on around them. Enemies that are beyond the cap *will not* pursue players that move out of range. Aggro cap processing is more dynamic. Instead of using a rigid priority system, it now uses a simplified version of the normal threat calculation, taking into account distance, total damage done, taunt duration, and rank. It is also periodically re-evaluated instead of being locked in. This should prevent scenarios where an aggro-capped tank tries to taunt enemies off an ally and the taunt is completely ignored. Player pets, including Mastermind pets ignore the cap. This change was made some time ago but is still in effect even with the revamp. The goal of this change is to make it feel like there is no aggro cap at all, but still retain the desired game mechanics of a single tank being unable to maintain threat on or herd an unlimited number of foes. Attack Typing Adjustments NPC Attack Type Adjustments The attack typing on all NPC attacks have been revamped to only check against up to one Positional defense and up to one Type defense. Various critter damage types adjusted. Various grenade/explosive powers that were formerly Lethal/Smashing have been set to Fire/Lethal instead. Added Toxic hit checks to many attacks that previously only had positional checks (like zombie vomit spits), which makes them easier to avoid with Defense. Numerous critter attacks adjusted Player Attack Type Adjustments All Player Attack powers now use two attack types. All attacks will have up to one Positional defense and one Type defense it will check against. Various player damage types adjusted. Ranged Attack powers that should have been tagged as AoE Attack All player or Mastermind pet attacks flagged as Ranged Attack that were Spheres or Cones has now been set to AoE Attack. Melee Attack powers that should have been tagged as AoE Attack All player or Mastermind pet attacks flagged as Melee Attack that were Spheres or Cones with an arc of at least 30 degrees has now been set to AoE Attack. Electric Melee/Thunder Strike: This power is an exception and uses different rules for different powers. Explosive Arrow and M30 Grenade No longer does smashing damage, replaced with fire damage These attacks are now tagged as AoE/Fire (previously was AoE/Smashing/Lethal) The PvE damage is now 50/50 for Fire/Lethal. Scourge is now all Fire damage. Powers Sonic Attack Revamp Corruptor's powerset name "Sonic Attacks" has been changed to "Sonic Attack". All Sonic Attacks are now tagged as Energy Attack (they no longer check against an enemy's Smashing defense). Changes to Resistance Debuffs (all Archetypes): All sonic attacks now apply two "Sonic Vibrations" debuffs (Defender values shown below). The various Sonic Vibrations are: Short: -12% resistance for 8 seconds (Does not stack, refreshes debuff) Incremental: -8% resistance for 8 seconds (Stacks up to 4 times) Wide: -8% resistance for 8 seconds (Does not stack, refreshes debuff) Extensive: -8% resistance for 20s (Does not stack, refreshes debuff) Changes to Sonic Attack: Shriek: Applies Short and Incremental Sonic Vibrations Scream: Applies Short and Incremental Sonic Vibrations Cast time reduced to 1.47s (+13.6% DPA) Shout: Applies Short and Incremental Sonic Vibrations Damage set to 1.96 scale (Non-Sentinels only) Cast time reduced to 2.0s (+23.4% DPA, +33.5% DPA for Sentinels) Screech: Applies Short and Incremental Sonic Vibrations Damage set to 2.28 scale (+1140.0% DPA, non-Sentinels only) Cooldown reduced to 12s (non-Sentinels only) Stun duration set to 5.0 scale (non-Sentinels only) Howl: Applies Short and Wide Sonic Vibrations Damage set to 0.6694 scale Cast time reduced to 1.6s (+20.3% DPA) Cooldown reduced to 8s (was 10s) Max Targets set to 6 (Sentinels only) Shockwave: Damage set to 0.8652 Cast time reduced to 1.67s (+75.7% DPA) Cooldown increased to 11s (was 8s) Max Targets set to 6 (Sentinels only) Siren's Song: Damage set to 1.1902 scale Cast time reduced to 1.86s (+256.0% DPA) Cooldown reduced to 16s (was 20s) Max Targets set to 16 (non-Sentinels only) Dreadful Wail: Applies Short and Extensive Sonic Vibrations. Additional Notes: Corruptor's Scream and Howl now matches all other ATs as intended by the design formula. Previously Scream did 1.40 scale and Howl did 1.00 scale. Defender's Shout accuracy reduced to 1.0x (was 1.2x). This matches all other ATs. Ice Control Changes Cold Snap: "Shiver" has been renamed to "Cold Snap". This power has its cooldown increased from 30s to 40s. Added a scale 10 Fear cone that hits in a 50 degree arc. Now accepts ATOs, Fear enhancements and sets. Ice Slick: Now does damage. Now accepts Accuracy and Damage enhancements. Now accepts Ranged AoE and Universal Damage sets. Damage will only apply to enemies that are not asleep. Arctic Air: Now has Overpower and Domination effects. (Domination) Applies Mag 3 confuse for 4.47s and a Mag 1 confuse for 2.98s. (Dominators) No longer accepts Fear enhancements or sets. This power never applied a fear effect. Armor Set Toxic/Psionic Mitigation Changes Stalkers: Hide now grants Psionic and Toxic defense. Invulnerability: Invincibility (Tanker/Brute/Scrapper) - This power now adds a 1.67% toxic and psionic defense for the first target, and 0.33% for additional targets (total 5% against 10 foes, Tanker values). Invincible (Stalker) - Renamed from "Reinforced". This power now adds 2.5% toxic and psionic defense. Invincible (Sentinel) - This power now adds 2.33% toxic and psionic defense. Unyielding (all ATs) - This power now adds 5% psionic resistance (Tanker values) Resist Energies (Tanker/Brute/Scrapper) - This power now adds psionic resistance. Environmental Resistances (Stalker/Sentinel) - This power now adds psionic resistance. Unstoppable (all ATs) - This power now adds 45% unenhanceable psionic resistance (Tanker values). Ice Armor: Wet Ice (all ATs) - This power now adds Psionic and Toxic defense. Energy Absorption (all ATs) - This power now grants Psionic and Toxic defense. Up-front defense increased from 1% to 4.5%. Per-target defense reduced from 0.6% to 0.25% (Tanker values). Total Defense at 10x targets remain the same. Moisture Absorption (Sentinel) - This power now grants Psionic and Toxic defense. Permafrost (all ATs) - This power now grants 5% resistance against Smash/Lethal/Energy/Negative/Toxic/Psionic (Tanker values). Energy Aura: Power Armor (Sentinel) - This power now grants Psionic resistance. Repelling Force (Sentinel) - This power now grants Toxic defense. Energy Drain (all ATs) - This power now grants Toxic and Psionic defense. Energy Protection (Brute/Scrapper) - This power now grants Psionic resistance. Overload (all ATs) - This power now grants 33.75% toxic and psionic defense (Brute values). Fighting Pool: Weave - This power now grants Toxic defense Toggle Suspension (New Tech!) Toggle Suspension allows toggles to pause their periodic activations when under specific modes (e.g. Granite Armor, Kheldian Forms). This means the toggles will stop working and stop costing endurance while in one of these modes. Once you leave the mode, the toggles will resume automatically without the need to re-toggle. Once a toggle is suspended, you will no longer be able to activate it or deactivate it until you come out of the mode that caused the suspension. Tank & Brute/Stone Armor/Granite Armor: Now suspends the other Stone Armor armor toggles in the set while transformed instead of deactivating them. Also will suspend travel toggles (Run, Jump and Fly). Suspended toggles cost no endurance while running. Peacebringer/Luminous Blast/Bright Nova: Now suspends the other Peacebringer toggles in the set while transformed instead of deactivating them. Also will suspend pool power toggles. Suspended toggles cost no endurance while running. Peacebringer/Luminous Aura/White Dwarf: Now suspends the other Peacebringer toggles in the set while transformed instead of deactivating them. Also will suspend pool power toggles. Suspended toggles cost no endurance while running. Warshade/Umbral Blast/Dark Nova: Now suspends the other Warshade toggles in the set while transformed instead of deactivating them. Also will suspend pool power toggles. Suspended toggles cost no endurance while running. Warshade/Umbral Aura/Black Dwarf: Now suspends the other Warshade toggles in the set while transformed instead of deactivating them. Also will suspend pool power toggles. Suspended toggles cost no endurance while running. Toggle Suppression No More Offensive Toggle Drops: Toggles that used to drop when mezzed will instead have their effects suppressed while mezzed and for 5s after breaking out of mezz. Enhancement Slotting Fixes Blaster (Epic)/Leviathan Mastery/Knockout Blow: No longer accepts Ranged AoE sets. Controller & Dominator/Electric Control/Static Field: Added the ability to slot Endurance Modification sets. Dominator/Ice Control/Arctic Air: Removed the ability to slot Fear enhancements and sets. Dominator/Psionic Assault/Psychic Shockwave: Added the ability to slot Dominator ATOs. This power is a stun attack. Dominator/Thorny Assault/Thorn Burst: Added the ability to slot Defense Debuff enhancements, Accurate Defense Debuff sets and Defense Debuff sets. Mastermind/Necromancy/Lich: Removed the ability to slot Accurate Defense Debuff and Defense Debuff sets. None of the Lich powers do defense debuff. Corrupter & Defender Epic/Electricity Mastery/Shocking Bolt: Removed the ability to slot Melee AoE sets. All/Radiation Armor/Beta Decay: Removed the ability to slot Accurate ToHit Debuff and Accurate Defense Debuff sets. This power is auto-hit and never should have accepted these IO sets. All/Radiation Armor/Particle Shielding: Removed the ability to slot Endurance Modification enhancements. This power's +recovery is not enhanceable. Blaster/Martial Combat/Throw Sand: Removed the ability to slot ToHit Debuff enhancements, ToHit Debuff sets, and Accurate ToHit Debuff sets. This power does not have any ToHit Debuff effects. Power Bug Fixes All/Ice Control/Flash Freeze: Fixed a bug where the sleep would sometimes not work as expected. Now deals 100% cold damage. Controller version now does Containment damage for 100% of base damage. Power no longer shows sleep attributes twice in the power info. Power icon fixed to be a proper sleep icon. All/Knockout Blow: Standardized all versions of this power. All will have 13.2' range and ignore range buffs. All/Seismic Blast/Meteor: The pseudopet that executes the damage was incorrectly set to Ranged Attack and Auto-Hit. This has been changed to AoE Attack, and the Auto-Hit is removed. All/Seismic Blast/Rock Shards (Enhanced): Power will now properly reduce the cooldown of its other Seismic Blast attacks (non-blasters lacked this) All/Smoke Flash: Set the power to no longer notify enemies of the attack. All/Titan Weapons: Fixed some bugs with stances. Dominator & Stalker/Savage Melee & Assault/Rending Flurry: Had its endurance cost set to 20.8. This has been reduced to 13.52. Blaster/Earth Manipulation/Beryl Crystals: Had two Res(Perception) effects. Removed the extra effect. Blaster/Earth Manipulation/Mud Bath: Removed the "near ground" requirement for targets. Blaster/Electricity Manipulation/Thunder Strike: Changed the radius from 12 feet to 10 feet. All of the AoE effects used an outer radius of 10 feet already. Blaster/Electricity Manipulation/Force of Thunder: This power no longer claims to accept End Modification sets. Blaster/Energy Manipulation/Energize: Corrected the scales of the regeneration effects to be 112.5%, not 118.98%. These were inadvertently changed during I27P1 development. Blaster/Ice Manipulation/Frozen Aura: No longer does double damage in PvE and now does PvP damage. Endurance cost corrected to 18.512. Blaster/Ninja Training/Kuji-In Toh: Corrected the scales of the regeneration effects to be 112.5%, not 118.98%. These were inadvertently changed during I27P1 development. Blaster/Ninja Training/Shinobi: Corrected the duration of the damage buff suppression when attacking/attacked. This duration has been reduced from 30s to 10s to match the stealth suppression. Blaster/Sonic Manipulation/Deafening Wave: Removed the "Ignore Strength" flag on the power. This prevented the power from benefiting from outside buffs (like the damage and special buffs provided by Sound Booster). Brute/Radiation Melee/Atom Smasher: Was using Smashing Attack, this is now set to Toxic Attack. This power doesn't do smashing damage. Brute/Stone Armor/Earth's Embrace: Changed the +Max HP effects' stack type to Replace. Brute/Titan Weapon/Defensive Sweep (Slow): Was missing its endurance cost. Now set to the intended 5.356. Dominator/Martial Assault/Explosive Shuriken: Now tagged as a Fire Attack (and removed its Lethal Attack tag) and will check against a foe's AoE and Fire defense. This power does only Fire damage. Epic/Stone Mastery/Fossilize: Added Smashing Attack tag. This power will now check against both a foe's Ranged and Smashing defense. Pool/Leaping/Spring Attack: KB should now be in sync with its damage. Scrapper Defense/Ninjitsu/Shinobi-Iri: Changed the availability level from Level 6 to Level 4. All Tier 3 secondary powers are supposed to be available at level 4. Scrapper Melee/Martial Arts/Dragon's Tail: Fixed damage scale of Dragon's Tail to follow the design formula (1.18 -> 1.1818). Also corrected Fiery Embrace damage to match (0.5310 -> 0.5318) Sentinel/Invulnerability/Durability: Changed the availability level from Level 6 to Level 4. All Tier 3 secondary powers are supposed to be available at level 4. Sentinel/Ninjitsu/Shinobi-Iri: Changed the availability level from Level 6 to Level 4. All Tier 3 secondary powers are supposed to be available at level 4. Stalker/Radiation Melee/Radiation Siphon: Added the Grant Assassin's Focus effect. Stalker/Stone Armor/Hide: Should no longer reference Dark Regeneration customization themes. Tanker/Ice Melee/Frozen Aura: Fiery Embrace effect is no longer missing. Prestige/Prestige Utility/Reveal: Now plays the full animation on all body types and alignments. The color of the scanner UI is dependent on whether you are a Hero/Vigilante, Villain/Rogue, or a Praetorian. Accolades/Vanguard MDC: IgnoreCombatMods added to the training dummy summoned to make them exact parallels to the Rikti Pylons. Incarnate/Destiny/Rebirth: These powers' regeneration effects now ignore resistance. Incarnate/Lore/Knives of Vengeance/Rallying Cry: Removed teleport protection which caused players to be unable to teleport by their own or ally's teleport powers. This power already gives 100% teleport resistance which makes players immune to enemy teleports. Rest: No longer applies a resistance to Stun/Sleep debuff. Temporary Powers/Haunted: This granted power from "Haunt" will now taunt the summoned pets from Lamplighter and Maestro RippleAV. Miscellaneous Power Updates Prestige/Prestige Travel/Athletic Run: Added the 'TravelStance' tag and will now pull a stance animation if one of using the (Travel Only) options. Radiation Infection (All, except Crey): Cast time reduced from 3.1s to 1.5s. Warshade/Shadow Cloak: Added No Fade version that does not hide their model. Experimentation: Syringe object used in the various powers from this set are now tintable. Combat Logs: Should now indicate when damage is unresistable. Stances: Fixed an issue with many attack animations being interrupted by Ninja and Beast stances. Note: side effect from this fix is that most sets will not re-enter the ninja/beast stance until they move. Incarnate/Interface: Damage over Time effects should now only apply to enemies that are not asleep. Various Electrical Melee attacks now do majority Energy damage. All/Electrical Melee/Chain Induction: Now inflicts 100% energy damage. All/Electrical Melee/Thunder Strike: Now inflicts 100% energy damage. Stalker/Electrical Melee/Assassin's Shock: Now inflicts 100% energy damage. All/Gravity Control/Propel: Changed the "splash" knockdown into a vectorized knockdown. This hopefully will allow the KB2KD IOs to work reliably in Propel, which has the main target getting hit with both the knockback effect and the knockdown effect (which ignores strength, thus is not affected by the KB2KD IO). PVP Power Changes and Fixes PvP Accolade/Indestructible: Now does 25% Def(all) and 30% Res(all) for 60s. Previously it was a combination of Demonic Aura and Eye of the Magus. All/Ninjitsu/Ninja Reflexes: Added DDR to PvP (was only PvE before). All/Invulnerability/Tough Hide: This power now grants Psionic/Toxic defense. All/Regeneration/Moment of Glory: This power now grants Psionic resistance and Psionic/Toxic defense. All/Stone Armor/Granite Armor: This power now grants Psionic defense. All/Stone Armor/Stone Skin: This power now grants Psionic resistance and Psionic/Toxic defense. Arachnos Soldier/Mace Beam Blast: Power was erroneously doing double damage in PvP. Arachnos Soldier/Mace Beam Volley: Power was erroneously doing double damage in PvP. Blaster/Atomic Manipulation/Positron Cell: This power now does Mag 3 Hold in PvP (same as PvE, was mag 4). Blaster/Earth Manipulation/Salt Crystals: This power now does Mag 3 Sleep in PvP (same as PvE, was mag 4). Blaster/Earth Manipulation/Stone Prison: This power now does Mag 3 Immobilize in PvP (same as PvE, was mag 5). Blaster/Electricity Manipulation/Force of Thunder: This power now does Mag 3 Stun in PvP (same as PvE, was mag 3). Blaster/Ice Manipulation/Frozen Aura: This power now does damage in PvP and its endurance cost is corrected to 18.512. Blaster/Mental Manipulation/Scare: This power now does Mag 3 Terrorize in PvP (same as PvE, was mag 2). Blaster/Plant Manipulation/Entangle: This power now does Mag 3 Immobilize in PvP (same as PvE, was mag 5). Blaster/Plant Manipulation/Strangler: This power now does Mag 3 Hold in PvP (same as PvE, was mag 4). Blaster/Plant Manipulation/Vines: This power now does Mag 3 Hold in PvP (same as PvE, was mag 4). Corruptor/Energy Blast/Power Push: This power was not doing damage outside of scourge in PvP. Scrapper/Martial Arts/Storm Kick: Fixed a bug with Storm Kick that had the PvP regular damage and PvP critical hit damage effects reversed (the crit effect was set to 100% chance while the regular damage effect was set to 10% chance). This caused crit buffs to have no effect (ATOs, Eagle's Claw, Shinobi-Iri). Day Job/Time Traveler's Boon: This power is no longer usable in PvP Arena (like all other Day Job Powers). Power Description Fixes Brute/Dark Melee/Shadow Punch: Description fixed. Blaster/Atomic Manipulation/Metabolic Acceleration: Fixed the description to not include a reference to increasing running speed. This power never did that and was a copy/paste error from the Accelerate Metabolism power provided in Radiation Emission support sets. Blaster/Electricity Manipulation/Force of Thunder: This power no longer claims to accept End Modification sets. All/Force Fields/Personal Force Field: Fixed Short Help description to state it does Res(All). Previously it stated Res(All except Toxic), which was not correct. All/Kinetics/Speed Boost: Fixed description to state it affects allies, not just a single targeted ally. Invention Enhancement/Defense/Kismet (Unique): Fixed the description to state it grants ToHit instead of Accuracy. Archetype Enhancement/Sentinel/Sentinel's Ward (Regular and Supreme): Fixed the description of the absorb proc to state it grants 2 PPM, not 5 PPM. The Regular version also updated its description to state it does a small absorb while the Supreme version does a moderate absorb. Typo Fix Sweep The following powers were reported as inaccurate in the Bug Forum's "Report Typos Here" thread. These powers have either new Descriptions, Short Help descriptions, or both: All/Martial Arts/Golden Dragonfly All/Trick Arrow/Entangling Arrow All/Super Strength/Punch Dominator/Martial Assault/Dragon's Tail Blood Craze (Savage Assault) Blaster/Tactical Arrow/Electrified Net Arrow Inherent/Mastermind/Supremacy Epic/Weapon Mastery/Physical Perfection Sentinel/Electric Armor/Charged Shield All/Trick Arrow/EMP Arrow Temporary Powers/PvP/Indestructible Temporary Powers/Day Job/Demagogue Inspirations/Medium Team Protection Imbuement Hamidon Enhancement/Ribosome Exposure (End/Res) Standardized Critical Hit Tags for Scrappers Note: These changes do not affect gameplay (unless otherwise stated). They are under-the-hood changes that remove redundancy and allow for simpler implementation for future development. These notes are posted for transparency to those who are interested in these types of changes and to allow for a debug point if these changes were to have caused unintended bugs not yet discovered. Standard Critical Hit Tag Clean-up. Replaced MLCrit, BossCrit, and PlayerCrit from all powers with CritSmall, CritLarge, and CritPlayer, respectively. Removed the effects for the now-unused tags from the Scrapper ATOs, as they no longer serve a purpose. Previously, only Kinetic Melee used the CritSmall, CritLarge, and CritPlayer tags. However, MLCrit has been a misnomer as it implies it is for Minions and Lieutenants, but LTs are always lumped with the BossCrit effects. Rather than convert Kinetic Melee into using the most popular convention, it's been chosen to use the more accurate convention for all powers. CritSmall is for critical hit effects that apply to rank Minion or smaller. CritLarge is for critical hit effects that apply to rank LT or larger. CritPlayer applies to PvP. Martial Arts clean-up of Critical Hit Tags. The redundancy of ECCritModPlayer/Large/Small tags has now been consolidated into ECCritMod (all three received 33% so the need for multiple tags is not necessary). Martial Arts attacks now include the standard critical hit tags (CritLarge, CritSmall, CritPlayer) and will also carry the ECCritMod tag that can only be applied by Eagles Claw. For Martial Arts attacks, ScrapperCrit_ST and ScrapperCrit_AoE critical hit tags were not applied to most PvE damage effects. This has been fixed. This does affect gameplay as Martial Arts/Ninjitsu Scrappers were not receiving the critical hit buff from Shinobi-Iri. Reorganized the Critical Hit effects to become child effect groups under their respective PvE/PvP effect group (cosmetic internal change only, so developer's eyes don't bleed everytime they look at the power). Eagles Claw: Removed the GCM grants of 33% ECCritModPlayer/Large/Small and replaced it with a single GCM grant of 33% ECCritMod that all Martial Arts critical hit effects will carry. Scrapper Archetype Enhancements: Now only grants critical hit buffs to CritSmall, CritLarge, and CritPlayer. Removed the effects for MLCrit, BossCrit, and PlayerCrit as those tags are no longer used in the game. Also removed the GCM grants of ECCritModPlayer/Large/Small as they are no longer used in the game. Placate Fixes Stalker, Night Widow, & Bane Spider/Placate: The kMeter effect (this sets your "Hidden" status) now ignores combat mods. This bug prevented seeing the green "HIDDEN" icon when using Placate on foes higher level than you. This bug allowed Stalkers the ability to get both a "Hidden" crit and "Non-Hidden" crit when using placate against enemies greater than +1 relative level. Bane Spider/Placate: Added the missing MissionObjectClick cancel event to the Stealth, Hidden, Translucency, and ToHit Buff effects. Night Widow/Placate: Fixed a bug that had the placate effect only happen against the main target in PvE. This has been moved to the intended PvP placate effect. Mastermind/Mercenary Bug Fixes Mercenaries were not displaying their Assault Rifles during Full Auto (Assault Rifle Auto Fire for Soldiers). Sped up DoT duration to match the new animation like on player versions of the power. Soldiers now have the correct powers assigned and revoked per upgrade Equip Mercenaries: Applies ASMG Heavy Burst, does not grant Assault Rifle Heavy Burst Tactical Upgrade: Now applies all Assault Rifle powers and removes ASMG powers appropriately Temporal Warriors, Instant Level 50 PvP Characters At character creation, new Primal characters can now tick a box called "Temporal Warrior (PVP only)". This is not available for existing characters or Praetorians. Characters created with this box ticked will spawn on Recluse's Victory and can only access the four PVP zones (Bloody Bay, Siren's Call, Warburg, Recluse's Victory), Pocket D (for access to the various vendors), the Arena and Supergroup Bases. These characters cannot travel to any other zones, enter trials or teleport via LFG, get missions from contacts, or enter mission doors from other players. In return, they start at Level 50 with all Incarnate slots unlocked, Incarnate powers can be crafted at no cost, and Patron Powers don't require the Patron badges. Those characters count as level 1 for the name reservation system, you can't create a PVP character just to lock a name. They still need to provide their own enhancements, there's no easy mode for that. Because their own ability to get rewards is so limited (the only available source of rewards is critters in PVP zones) the expectation is that those characters will receive influence and enhancements from other characters that are PVE enabled. The goal here is to remove the barrier of entry for players that are curious about PVP, but don't want to spend the time leveling up a new character that would be useful under the PVP rules. Character Customization Improvements Sheathed Weapon System Sheathed Costume Weapons All characters with powers using custom melee weapons now have access to an option to display their character's weapon models on their costume. This is controlled via a toggle button next to the weapon: Very kind of Jack In Irons to share his club with everyone! Which then puts the weapon on the character's costume when not drawn: Like so! Sheathed weapons are dynamically drawn by the player's character when combat is initiated (if using a 'No Redraw' power customization option, this is skipped). Weapons that utilize particle FX enter an 'off' state when sheathed, but activate when drawn for combat! Weapons that are incorporeal/conjured in nature, such as elemental weapons, do not have sheathed options. This update only applies to melee weapons. Holstered Costume Weapons for ranged weapon sets will come later in a future content update. Known Issue: Some Titan Weapon options don't have off sheathed modes yet and remain activated while on the costume. Custom Weapon Expansion New Custom Weapon Options Battle Axe Vahzilok Butcher Knife Vahzilok Bone Cutter Infernal Axe Undead Slaying Axe Broadsword Excalibur Rikti Sword 2 Vahzilok Butcher Knife Vahzilok Bone Cutter Knives of Artemis Blade Rapier Carnival of Shadows Rapier Sky Raider Machete Grave Knight Sword Rusted Blade Greater Fire Sword Greater Ice Sword War Mace Police Baton - Telescopic Gold Bricker Wrench Jack In Irons Club Power Maul Vanguard Mace Vanguard 'MAGI' Mace Coralax Club Coralax Hammer Coral Mallet Stone Mallet Crystal Mallet Lava Mallet Arachnos Mace Carnival of Light Carnival of War Carnival of Vengeance Rularuu's Fury Power Maul Tech Mace Tech Knight Mace Vanguard Mace Vanguard 'MAGI' Mace Titan Weapon Nemesis Staff Carnival Mallet Coralax Hammer Coral Mallet Stone Mallet Lava Mallet Crystal Mallet Infernal Ice Blade Dual Blade Vahzilok Butcher Knife Vahzilok Bone Cutter Knives of Artemis Blade Carnival of Shadows Rapier Sky Raider Machete Grave Knight Sword Rusted Blade Staff Fighting Vanguard Staff Vanguard 'MAGI' Staff Nemesis Staff Katana Excalibur Knives of Artemis Blade Assault Rifle Malta Sniper Rifle Crey Laser Rifle Crey Pulse Blaster Rikti Blaster Rikti Cannon Retro Rifle Resistance Rifle Rune Soldier Rifle DUST Cannon Vanguard Rifle w/ Bayonet Elite Vanguard Rifle w/Bayonet Arachnos Assault Rifle Arachnos Assault Rifle now has access to all the same options available to Assault Rifle/Munitions Rifle. Added FX to the Vanguard Redding Rifle options that animates the energy bayonet when the Arachnos Soldier Bayonet power is used. Ninja Blade Stalker primary Ninja Blade, Blaster secondary Ninja Training, and Sentinel epic pool Ninja Training now use a dedicated Ninja Blade weapon option that integrates with the sheathed weapon system. Ninja Blade weapons now draw from the back instead of the hip, adhering to the ninja theme, and have access to all the same weapon options available to Katana. This update involves revoking costume keys in the database, which means existing characters may need to visit the tailor to update their costume after the change. We'll be granting free costume change tokens to all characters on Page 4's launch to accompany this adjustment. Munitions Rifle Blaster epic pool Munitions Mastery's weapon model slot now uses WepR_2 instead of WepR, which was causing conflicts with Beam Rifle and Dual Pistols. Assault Rifle and Beam Rifle characters can now independently choose their Munitions Rifle custom weapon option, as it now occupies it's own slot. Munitions Rifle has access to all the same weapon options available to Assault Rifle. This update involves revoking costume keys in the database, which means existing characters may need to visit the tailor to update their costume after the change. We'll be granting free costume change tokens to all characters on Page 4's launch to accompany this adjustment. Custom Weapon Fixes Rularuu's Fury scale and offsets were adjusted slightly to accommodate the two-handed animations used with Arachnos Maces. A number of custom weapon FX were using generic calls that could cause your custom weapon to appear improperly with certain other powers, these have been given unique calls so that should no longer happen. The ranged weapon firing point desync bug caused by having two custom weapons that were valid child entities has been fixed; This was most commonly seen in Blasters/Sentinels who took Assault Rifle or Beam Rifle + Ninja Training. Fixed minor gap between the hilt and the grip of the Broadsword model, which was visible while sheathed. Fixed offsets on the Resistance, Runesoldier, DUST, Devastator, and Steampunk Beam Rifles, which were all too far left and floated away from the player's hand on all three body types. Costumes [Focused Feedback: Costumes] All Icon/Facemaker tailors are now also cosmetic surgeons and renamed any surgeons to match other tailors of their type. This does not include Trainers. Costume Additions & Changes Four new pattern sets have been added, contributed by volunteer @Marbing! Layer Stripe - Chest, Legs, Boots. Mystic - Chest, Gloves, Hips, Boots Slate - Chest, Legs, Boots, Gloves. Vigilant - Chest, Legs, Boots, Gloves. All > Lower Body > Boots > Rocket Boots: 'Tintable Flight FX' option added. 'Flight + Jump FX' option added, animates the rockets during jumps, with a landing FX. 'Tintable Flight + Jump FX' option added. 'No FX' option added. All > Lower Body > Boots > Piston Boots: 'No FX' option added. All > Lower Body > Boots > Winged Boots: 'No FX' option added to all four variants. Male/Huge > Lower Body > Boots > Sneakers: 'No Socks' option added. All > Head > Detail 2 > Reaper: Now supports two-color tinting. Replaces original single-tint version. All > Upper Body > Gloves > Aeon Tech: New option that allows tinting the glow. Original version now labeled 'Legacy'. All > Back Detail > Back Packs: 'Tech Knight Capacitor' and 'Tech Knight Reactor' no longer have the energy ball FX, akin to how they did pre-fix. 'Tech Knight Capacitor w/FX' option added. 'Tech Knight Reactor w/FX' option added. 'Warp w/FX' option added. Female > Upper Body > Unique Tops: All five 'Yakuza' chest textures added. Both 'Labeaux' chest textures added. 'Carnival' chest texture added. Female > Upper Body > Shirts: All five 'Yakuza' chest textures added. Both 'Labeaux' chest textures added. 'Carnival' chest texture added. Male & Huge > Head > Detail 1: 'Thunder Horns' option added. All > Arachnos Soldier > All > Chest Detail: 'Rogue Arachnos' option added. Costume Fixes All > Back Detail > Crab Pack: The invalid Arachnos Crab Spider Backpack option should no longer display on non-VEAT characters. Fix applied to Crab Spider backpacks costume keys to prevent broken costumes. If you respec to a Bane Spider it should properly remove the Crab Spider backpack. All > Upper Body > Jackets > Cybertech Jacket Long: Interior cape on the 'Leather' option no longer uses the incorrect 'Metallic' texture. All > Upper Body > Chest/Gloves > Cybertech: Corrected a number of seam issues for Cybertech chests and gloves. Arachnos Widow Costume Update Costume Additions & Changes A new category has been added to Arachnos Widows costume slot for 'Widow (No Collar)' and gives the player's head the full range of customization options available to Standard heads. The existing 'Widow' category now always has the collar enabled. All > Arachnos Widow > All > Chest: 'Night Widow' texture added. 'Widow' texture now labeled 'Blood Widow'. All > Arachnos Widow > All > Gloves: 'Night Widow' texture added. 'Widow' texture now labeled 'Blood Widow'. All > Arachnos Widow > All > Pants: 'Night Widow' texture added. 'Widow' texture now labeled 'Blood Widow'. All > Arachnos Widow > All > Boots: 'Night Widow' texture added. 'Widow' texture now labeled 'Blood Widow'. Female > Arachnos Widow > All > Waist Cape: 'Night Widow' cape added. 'Waist Cape' option now labeled 'Blood Widow' Female > Arachnos Widow > Widow > Hair: 'Parted' option added. 'Cybertech 1' option added. 'Cybertech 2' option added. 'Talons' option added. All > Arachnos Widow > Widow > Eye Detail: 'Resistance Goggles' option added. 'Resistance Goggles Up' option added. 'Cybertech 1' option added. 'Cybertech 2' option added. 'Cybertech 3' option added. 'Cybertech 4' option added. 'Cyborg 1' option added. 'Cyborg 2' option added. 'Imperial Defense' option added. 'Praetoria Police' option added. 'Welder Goggles' option added. 'Safety Goggles' option added. 'Modern Goggles' option added. 'Retro Goggles' option added. 'Maverick Goggles' option added. 'Death Goggles' option added. 'Human Skull Mask' option added. 'Cosmic Corsair Right' option added. 'Cosmic Corsair Left' option added. 'Sonic Vison' option added. 'Reflector' option added. 'Retro SciFi 1' option added. 'Retro SciFi 2' option added. 'Retro SciFi 3' option added. 'Retro SciFi 4' option added. 'Blindfold 1' option added. 'Sunglasses Up High' option added. 'Sunglasses Up Low' option added. Female > Arachnos Widow > Widow > Eye Detail: 'Gunslinger 1' option added. 'Gunslinger 2' option added. 'Gunslinger 3' option added. 'Gunslinger 4' option added. 'Gunslinger 5' option added. 'Gunslinger 6' option added. 'Gunslinger 7' option added. 'Gunslinger 8' option added. Stance & Walk Customization New Stance Customization Options Two new Stance options have been added to the power customization system by using the 'Stance' power option under the 'Inherent' category. These new stances are hybrid stances utilizing a previously unused run animation: Parkour - Run animation with Ninja Stance idle, jump, and weapon animations. Blitz - Run animation with standard idle, jump, and weapon animations. Time to become speed! (Example of the new run animation for the Parkour/Blitz stance additions) Walk Animation Customization Player walk animations can now be customized via the power customization system by using the 'Walk' power option found under the 'Inherent' category. Previously the three default walk animations were each locked to one body type each, but now players can select whichever fits the personality of their character best: Casual (Male) Glamorous (Female) Tough (Huge) Zombie (Zombie) Looking super excellent! (Example of Glamorous walk on male body, and Casual walk on female body) Various Additions & Enhancements Badges New Badges The Shadow Out of Time - Complete Sister Valeria's story arc in Cimerora. Freezer Burn - Defeat the new boss encounter in the Imperious Task Force on Advanced Difficulty. Brother/Sister of Corruption - Defeat 100 members of the Ravenna Conclave. Pecking Order - Complete the badge mission "Lost Motivation", listed as arc 0.42 under 'Champion (Level 25-29)' bracket in Ouroboros. Traditionalist Foil - Complete the badge mission "Revelation: Rikti Factions", listed as arc 0.43 under 'Vindicator (Level 35-39)' bracket in Ouroboros. Mimic - Purchase a costume power using Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Doppelganger - Purchase five costume powers using Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Shapeshifter - Purchase ten costume powers using Prismatic Aether Particle salvage. Hologram - Purchase the BL-22c Holographic Matrix accolade from the BenevoLabs vendors found at any Vault Reserve store location for 50 Prismatic Aether Salvage. Badge Adjustments Strike Force badges now display a hint in the Accomplishments tab when a villain or rogue is high enough level to qualify for them, similar to Task Force badges currently do. Worthy Opponent - Now displays a badge hint to complete the flashback challenge of Lord Recluse's Strike Force found in Ouroboros after earning the 'Servant of Recluse' badge from the normal version. History In The Making - Unlocks Cimerora as an exit destination on the Ouroboros zone exit portal. Temporal Strife - Unlocks Cimerora as an exit destination on the Ouroboros zone exit portal. Badge Fixes Added alignment-specific text to the villain 3 million, 5 million, and 10 million healing badges. Fortunata Seer Gladiator - Fixed issue where some Fortunata enemies found in the 44-54 range did not grant badge credit. Tour Guides Tour Guide tips and missions added for all eight Cimerora exploration badges that unlock the 'History In The Making' accolade. As with previous Tour Guide missions, these tips only drop from mobs defeated in Cimerora and only if you don't already have the exploration accolade for the zone. Each mission points you to one of the exploration badges you don't have and provides fun optional reading. Merit Rewards The Empyrean/Astral Merit to Reward Merit conversion has been removed from Reward Merit vendors. For Incarnate Trials we'll be adding a completion bonus reward of Reward Merits on-top of the current standard Empyrean/Astral Merit rewards valuing the total of what the standard conversion would've amounted to. Meaning you'll get the same number of Empyrean/Astral Merits as you were before Page 4 but also get the following on-top: Behavioral Adjustment Facility Trial = 18 Reward Merits Lambda Sector Trial = 20 Reward Merits Keyes Island Reactor Trial = 18 Reward Merits The Underground Trial = 40 Reward Merits TPN Campus Trial= 30 Reward Merits Minds of Mayhem Trial = 30 Reward Merits Dilemma Diabolique Trial = 30 Reward Merits The Magisterium Trial = 22 Reward Merits The Reward Merits listed above are subject to the standard 18 hour cooldown on the same character, per trial. The Astral Merit bonus reward that is granted to everyone in the League for each badge challenge completed in all Incarnate Trials now includes an added 2 Reward Merits. Super Group Bases Base Items Additions Removed '(new)' tag from previously released items from Page 3. Added 11 previously unreleased kitchen items from Page 3: Ice Box 1 Ice Box 2 Washing Machine 1 Clothes Dryer 1 Washing Machine 2 Clothes Dryer 2 Refrigerator 1 Gas Stove 1 Soap Mount Wet Floor Sign Wet Floor Sign Large Base Items Fixes Fixed glitchy screen on the 'Combat Logs' medical base item. This fix also includes a 'Combat Logs 2' version with the legacy animated screen. Proliferated Emotes New Emotes Added '/em defeated' emote utilizing the often-requested Recluse Collapse animation. Located under 'Actions' in the emote listing. Added '/em casting' emote which is a version of the one-handed power cast animation on a cycle. Located under 'Interact' in the emote listing. Added '/em channel' emote which is a version of the two-handed raise cast animation on a cycle. Located under 'Interact' in the emote listing. Added legacy '/em ledgesit5' (Female version of ledgesit1 with knees together). Added legacy '/em ledgesit6' (Female version of ledgesit4 with knees together). Emote Fixes '/em newspaper' on Male characters should no longer fall out of sync with the page flipping. If you notice this occurring on Female, Huge or NPCs (this is alignment dependent) please report it on the forums. '/em calculate' has had its sound removed temporarily. Corrected duplicate 'Inspiration' label to 'Train Whistle' in the pop-menu. Corrected command typo of 'MixForumula' to 'MixFormula' in the pop-menu. Winter Donut added to Drenched Donuts Menu. Spooky Donut added to Drenched Donuts Menu. The Drenched Donuts menu no longer requires a badge to unlock. Fixed ledgesit emotes on female characters being sunk too low into the ground. New Roleplaying & System Commands Local Chat Range Commands have been added that allow you to dynamically set the range that you hear Local messages and how far your own messages carry. Units are in feet. Typically a zone's maximum local chat distance is 100', Pocket D's maximum local chat is 50'. '/speak_range' - Set the maximum range that your local chat and emotes may carry. '/listen_range' - Set the maximum range of local chat and emotes that you want to listen to. You cannot set these to values above the maximums of the zone you are in. Setting the value to 0 using the command will restore the default range. Entering no number in the command will show you what your current ranges are set to. Dice Rolls New '/roll' command added. It prints to all valid players in range of the Emote channel using system text color to ensure rolls can't be spoofed. The command can be used with a single number to roll a random number within that range. Example: '/roll 50' will return a random number between 1 & 50. The command also accepts dice inputs up to 100 dice with 100,000 sides. Example: '/roll 4d20' will return a roll of four twenty-sided dice. '/roll' with no parameters will return a random number between 1 & 20; A single twenty-sided die roll. It also accepts an alternate format of /roll #x#. Example: '/roll 4x20' will return a roll of four twenty-sided dice. Distance To Target New option added to display the distance between you and your target on the target window: This setting toggle is found in the menu under Options -> Windows -> Window -> Show Target Distance. This can also be turned on or off by using the '/target_distance 1' and '/target_distance 0' commands respectively. Architect Entertainment The Architect Entertainment tutorial NPCs and mission arc that were formerly found in Atlas Park & Mercy Atlas have been moved to Port Oakes & King's Row AE buildings. Custom Enemy Changes Power point values for all Custom Enemy powers have been normalized. Some powersets in the same category were set below standard point values and some were set above. This means existing AE arcs may need adjusting if any custom enemies were using the bare-minimum power selection for max rewards with powersets that were above the standard values for that type. Primary sets now have lower recharge timers than secondary sets. Custom Enemy powers that require the target be grounded are no longer calculated as ranged attacks for point value purposes. All Custom Enemy ranged attacks have a minimum range of 80ft. Advanced Enemy Power Customization BACK UP ANY OF YOUR ARCHITECT FILES BEFORE ATTEMPTING ADVANCED CUSTOMIZATION EDITS! You can now manually assign extra powers to Architect Custom Enemies by using a text editor program (like Notepad) to edit their .critter files found in the Custom_Critter folder where your Homecoming install is located. This allows them to have up to 25 powers from any available custom enemy powersets. Be aware the AI is not any smarter for this, and it may completely ignore powers you give it depending on its attack chain. Expect to experiment some to get intended results. Any custom enemies that are using advanced power customization will give no rewards. This restriction was required in order to prevent farms from being created using only enemies with broken attack chains. Advanced power customization was added exclusively as a tool for writers/creators to give unique-functionality to enemies for the sole purpose of enriching their story arcs and missions. Any extra powers can only be picked from the (linked) Mission_Maker_Attacks and Mission_Maker_Secondary power definitions. Opening the critter file in a text editor should look something like this. If successful, the game should immediately recognize the custom critter's powers upon loading them, keep in mind this will not update arcs that may have been using that enemy definition until you reload the arc in the editor. Wow, that sure is a lot of pets! Hope he's not too difficult... Note: When saving your custom critter after editing, or the mission that uses the critter, the list of additional powers will be collapsed to a single comma-separated line like this: Power Mission_Maker_Attacks.Earth_Control.Animate_Stone, Mission_Maker_Attacks.Ice_Control.Jack_Frost, Mission_Maker_Attacks.Fire_Control.Fire_Imps, Mission_Maker_Attacks.Illusion_Control.Phantasm, Mission_Maker_Attacks.Electric_Control.Gremlins, Mission_Maker_Secondary.Plant_Control.Fly_Trap New Custom Enemy Powersets Additions Atomic Manipulation added. Earth Manipulation added. Martial Combat added. Seismic Blast added. Sonic Assault added. Symphony Control added. Archery now has access to Ranged Shot. Assault Rifle now has access to Sniper Rifle. Beam Rifle now has access to Penetrating Ray. Dark Blast now has access to Moonbeam. Electrical Blast now has access to Zapp. Energy Blast now has access to Sniper Blast. Archery now has access to Ranged Shot. Fire Blast now has access to Blazing Bolt. Psychic Blast now has access to Psionic Lance. Fire Manipulation now has access to Cauterizing Aura, Consume, and Burn. Mission Map Additions These new mission map options can also currently be found under Unique > Newly Released Maps: Unique > Circle of Thorns > Circle of Thorns - Flying Ziggurat Unique > Outdoor Maps > Croatoa - Winter Forest & Cave Unique > Warehouse > The Smelting Cauldron Unique > Cargo Ship > Gold Bricker Portal Ship Unique > Cap Au Diable > Dimensional Ripple - Cap Au Diable Enemy Group Additions 5th Column: Ewige Mitternacht Kommandant (Elite Boss, 35-54) Arachnos: Arachnos Scientist (Boss, 1-54) Aeon Scientist (Boss, 1-54) Becky, the Tarantula Mistress (Boss, 35-54) Becky, the Tarantula Battle-Mistress (Elite Boss, 35-54) Cap Au Diable Demons: Ripplesurge (Giant Monster, 35-54) Crey: Crey Gamma Tank (Minion, 35-54) Crey Protector (Lieutenant, 40-54) Cryogenicist (Boss, 35-54) Devouring Earth: Giver of Life (Boss, 35-54) Mother's Embrace (Boss, 35-54) Foundation of Form (Boss, 35-54) Mother's Lost Beauty (Boss, 35-54) Scion of the All-Mother (Boss, 35-54) Mouthpiece of the All-Mother (Elite Boss, 35-54) Gold Brickers: (Level range extended up to 54) Breaker (Minion, 35-54) AU-Bricker (Minion, 35-54) AU-Bomber (Lieutenant, 35-54) AU-Rifter (Boss, 35-54) Smelter (Boss, 35-54) Golden Brickernaut (Elite Boss, 35-54) Mr. Rodney (Elite Boss, 8-34) Gold Brickster (Elite Boss, 35-54) Fort Knoxxer (Elite Boss, 35-54) The Burninator (Elite Boss, 35-54) Cauldron Champion (Arch-Villain, 35-54) Mr. Rodney AU-Rifter (Arch-Villain, 35-54) Princess Zoe (Arch-Villain, 35-54) Princess Zoe Smelter (Arch-Villain, 35-54) Nictus: Dark Dwarf Alpha (Elite Boss, 1-54) Dark Nova Alpha (Elite Boss, 1-54) Vanguard Shield: Vanguard Claw Soldier (Minion, 35-54) Vanguard Commander (Elite Boss, 35-54) Apex (Hero, 35-54) Borea (Hero, 35-54) Levantera (Hero, 35-54) Serpent Drummer (Hero, 35-54) Lady Grey (Hero, 35-54) Dark Watcher (Hero, 35-54) Incandescent (Hero, 35-54) Vanguard Sword: Gaussian (Hero, 35-54) Void Hunters: (1-54) Void Seeker (Minion, 1-54) Void Stalker (Lieutenant, 1-54) Void Slayer (Boss, 1-54) Void Harbinger (Elite Boss, 35-54) Enemy Group Adjustments & Fixes All - Sheathed Weapons The following NPCs now have their weapon sheathed and displayed on their costume when not in combat: Agent Indigo (enemy version) Apex Battle Maiden Dream Doctor Pendragon (all versions) Romulus Augustus (all versions) Scirocco Sister Valeria Shadow Hunter Shadow Spider Valkyrie Arachnos There were major visual discrepancies between the contact and combat versions of Viridian and Shadow Spider that have been corrected so they are consistent and obviously the same person no matter the context they are encountered. Becky, the Tarantula Battle-Mistress has been given a minor visual update and now smiles. The damage typings on a few of Lord Recluse's melee attacks have been updated: Energy Punch: 60% Energy / 40% Toxic split damage instead of pure Smashing. Energy Smash: 60% Energy / 40% Toxic split damage instead of pure Smashing. Spider Strike: 50% Energy / 50% Toxic split damage instead of pure Smashing. Lord Recluse now only uses Spider Strike when below half health. The power descriptions on Lord Recluse's attacks have been rewritten as previously they were copy pasted from similar powers. Alternate gender Arachnos boss class enemies have been moved to their own spawn definitions, correcting odd situations where a mission intended a boss to be one gender, but they happened to spawn as the other. These alternate gender boss definitions have separate entries now in AE as well. Regent Korol now has toxic claws visuals to make her more unique as an AV. Tarantula Mistresses and Tarantula Queens now have a subdued toxic visual FX on their melee attacks. Council Fixed the Council Ascendant's Shield power so it now always properly animates. Devouring Earth Crystal Shard enemies were set to spawn at level 35 minimum for reasons related to trial content - this had an unintended side effect of wildly over-leveled pets summoning from 20-something critters as level 35. As a temporary fix, these critters will be reset back to a minimum level of 27, until a better solution can be deployed. Summoned Tellurian Seed pets no longer drop rewards. Generic Heroes Ice Blaster powers for Generic Heroes mistakenly had Fire Sword and Combustion; these were replaced with Ice Sword and Chilling Embrace. Hellions Fixed issue that could cause Hellion mobs/missions to spawn at a higher level range than intended. IDF Summoned Battle Orb pets no longer drop rewards. Knives of Artemis Fixed missing goggle geometry on Knives of Artemis bosses. Red Caps When Jack In Irons spawns on his throne in Croatoa, there is now a 50% chance he is sitting in a more comfortable position. Both variants of the Jack in Irons' throne spawn gives him a sleep particle FX, cons with a yellow reticle, and remains non-hostile until awoken. Rikti Attack values on Rikti Monkey's standard melee and psionic ranged attacks are no longer double their intended value that was accidentally caused by some silly sentient mapserver related things. Rogue Arachnos There were a plethora of level gaps in this enemy group, with inconsistencies between each enemy type. Their level range coverage has been made consistent. Rogue Crab Spider enemies have had the 'Rogue Arachnos' chest detail added to their costume. Rogue Crab Spider enemies now have a 1/8 chance of spawning female. Rogue Fortunata minions now have a 1/8 chance of spawning male. Rogue Fortunata Mistress bosses have had costume inaccuracies fixed and now have the correct flat helmet, belt, and waist cape. Rogue Toxic Tarantulas have a new costume specific to the group. Rogue Mu Strikers and Rogue Mu Guardians had their costumes incorrectly swapped. Rogue Mu Strikers have had costume inaccuracies fixed and no longer have capes. Fixed Rogue Tarantula Queens enemy definition pointing to the normal Tarantula Queen costume. Rogue Isles Police Fixed two Rogue Isles Police enemies that were using the wrong costume definition. Vahzilok Male Vahzilok Eidolon bosses can now also spawn with huge body types. Void Hunters The Void Hunters are now their own distinct villain group rather than being a subtype inside the Nictus enemy group definition as being the only valid normal spawns caused them to show up in some weird places. Task Adjustments & Fixes Added minimap icons and waypoints to all TF/SF/Trial contacts in the game. They are identified via a purple book icon on the map. Incarnate Trials The Behavioral Adjustment Facility Trial can now be started with a minimum of 8 players, down from 12. The TPN Campus Trial can now be started with a minimum of 8 players, down from 12. Dr. Aeon Strike Force Advanced Difficulty There is now an added 10 Prismatic Aether Particle reward with its own 18-hour cooldown for defeating the full Hero 1+Vanguard leader master bonus battle in the 4-Star difficulty mode. Smelter's Tactics' to-hit buff now follow the same star-count = stack cap rules as the Advanced Difficulty ITF. Anything using unresistable damage in the ASF such as Ripplesurge's puddles and King Midas' singularities are no longer affected by damage buffs (this includes Advanced Difficulty stat buffs) and also bypasses Absorb. Ripplesurge's puddles now only deal fatal damage to players, with non-player entities only taking a fraction of the damage. Golden Brickernauts can now be confused by any confuse powers without fail during their self-destruct countdown. Crab Spider Webmasters Omega Maneuver is now auto-hit, as it is a telegraphed move that can be avoided by moving. Surveillance on Bane Spider Executioners now debuffs defense properly instead of buffing it. Surveillance on Bane Spider Executioners now does -20% Smashing resistance rather than -200%. King Midas' ripple singularities are now equal to Ripplesurge's puddles in deadliness, meaning players will die very quickly if they do not move out of them. Bug fixed that was causing King Midas' singularities visual targeting and damage location to be misaligned, causing the 'Can't Touch This' badge to be much more difficult to earn than intended. King Midas' ripple singularities now stop dealing damage very slightly before the visual FX for them fades. King Midas' ripple singularities damage radius has been reduced from 25ft to 19ft to be more accurate to the visual FX. Mission 5 Fixed map clipping issue with a shipping container in Golden Roller's room. Fixed inconsistent behavior with Golden Roller's damaged visual state reverting as the encounter script progressed. Optional navigation objectives added to talk to Ubelmann and Terra's mouthpiece, letting players know they can be spoken to, even if they opt to kill them instead. Navigational objectives in the ripple sub-areas are now much more explicit, and now also mention both ways of escaping as soon as you enter, which should hopefully reduce the number of people who completely miss/aren't aware of the extra fights. Adjusted the second ripple's Devouring Earth horde rush parameters; They now rush players based on their position, not the giant monster's locations, meaning that players will get rushed by the horde even if they moved the monsters. Fixed Void Hunter Harbingers AI so they'll now use their teleport. Nictus and some of the 5th Column in this ripple inherit the advanced difficulty powers/changes from the Imperious Task Force. Fixed overlapping captions in the Portal Corp section of the third ripple. Gave the frozen scientists proper descriptions. Added an optional navigational hint to clear the Vanguard infirmary in the third ripple. Removed defunct options from the hackable HVAS in the Vanguard Compound. Incandescent's Lambent Flame telegraphed special attack can now only hit players. Dark Watcher no longer incorrectly has one of Hero 1's resistance powers. Fixed broken description on Gaussian. PsiCurse's PCM drain now displays the proper PCM model when he uses the power drain and the fully-powered PCM orbits around his head after during the third ripple finale cutscene. Added a navigational mention of the shortcut back after Golden Roller, this deactivates if somebody takes the shortcut or when the group reaches Mr. Rodney's floor. Fixed typo in 'retrieve' for PsiCurse navigation objective text. Mission 6 Added AI setting on Ripplesurge that has them never become inactive on the map, which should fix some inconsistencies with the encounter's mechanic script that could occur if nobody was on the map or near Ripplesurge for an extended period of time. Mission 7 Music added to the final cutscene. Music plays now during the final boss fight with Midas. A calmer version in the normal room, and a faster paced version in the upside down room. Added a rift effect to the D-Rifter Lab's floating entrance door in the Princess Zoe/Mr. Rodney globe area that makes it look more sensible. King Midas will now heavily prioritize targeting player class entities to avoid getting stuck in infinite sparring matches with pets or Becky outside of a cauldron. King Midas is now immune to mez effects until he gets moved into a cauldron to prevent him from getting mezzed outside of one and interrupting the fight's flow. Added some invisible collision to prevent getting stuck on the forklifts in King Midas's room. Becky, the Tarantula Battle-Mistress is very pleased with her new look, and now smiles. Katie Hannon Task Force Mission 2 Fixes Amy Jonsson's AI to not attempt kneeling after being rescued in the cave map. Fly removed from Amy Jonsson's power repertoire, ensuring she follows on foot. Increased her tether range and the range in which she looks for a leader to follow. This should resolve the single most common issue our GM's get tickets for. Admiral Sutter Task Force Issue Fixes Consistency fix using LUA script for the final Duray fight. Virgil Tarikoss Strike Force Issue Fixes Fixed a pstring error in the description of the first clue. Cavern of Transcendence Trial Issue Fixes After the Koago AV is defeated, the Minions of Igneous ambushes will stop spawning. Abandoned Sewer Trial Issue Fixes The infinitely respawning Rikti enemies now correctly do not give rewards, matching other infinitely respawning mobs. Story Arcs Kheldians - The Nictus Insurrection & The Final Darkness Updated details per Nictus lore developments that are expanded upon in the new Sister Valeria story arc. Immature Shadow Cysts are now referred to as Shadow Crystals, and are only dubbed Shadow Cysts after fully developing into their final stage at the end of their growth. In the finale missions of The Final Darkness, the missions where Requiem and Arakhn are fought now includes a mature Shadow Cyst amongst the Shadow Crystals. Daedalus - Stolen Power The unintended Void Hunter spawns found in the final mission have been replaced with proper Nictus enemy group spawns. This mission makes no reference of any kind that can be interpreted as referring to the Void Hunters, and the last mission is supposed to be an occupation of Romulus' forces which would include Nictus but not Void Hunters. Lorenzo Tate & Eliza Thorpe - Lost Motivation Offers a mission that rewards a new badge, 'Pecking Order'. This badge is granted by completing the mini-story in their shared pool in which the Lost are stealing technology for the Rikti. This mission previously was in their random task pool, but was deemed lore-focused enough to warrant its own level of interest. This mission can now be found in Ouroboros under the 'Champion (Level 25-29)' bracket, arc number 0.42, titled "Lost Motivation". This badge is filed under Accomplishment with other level-specific mission badges. The badge is intended to have the same star and Rivet count as 'Mystical Savior', with a different ribbon color. Steven Sheridan - Revelation: Rikti Factions Offers a mission that grants a new badge, 'Traditionalist Foil'. This badge is granted by completing the mini-story in their task pool in which the first discovery of the Rikti ideological schism is mentioned between Restructurists and Traditionalists. This mission previously was in his random task pool, but was deemed lore-focused enough to warrant its own level of interest. This mission can now be found in Ouroboros under the 'Vindicator (Level 35-39)' bracket, arc number 0.43, titled "Revelation: Rikti Factions". This badge is filed under Accomplishment with other level-specific mission badges. The badge is intended to have the same star and rivet count as 'Do No Harm', with a different ribbon color. Alignment Tip Missions Cloud of Odorous Smoke This tip's Vigilante mission has been updated to point at the new Void Hunters group. This tip contact has been moved from the 30-39 bracket up to the 40-50 bracket making the mission far easier to access via the Mission Computer. City Zone Adjustments & Fixes Fort Trident & The Crucible Revamps Fort Trident - Atlas Park Fort Trident has been revamped to serve as a supergroup base style area for players without a supergroup. Fort Trident has been opened up to Vigilantes as well as Heroes. It cannot be accessed by Rogues. Fort Trident now has a functioning minimap and new loading screen. Fort Trident has been added to the Long Range Teleporter, unlocked with any badge for completing a Freedom Phalanx-affiliated Task Force or by completing Act II of the Shining Stars tutorial mission arcs. After years of extremely ineffective submarine access, Fort Trident has been connected to the new building. As a result, the submarine has been re-commissioned to ferry heroes to various Paragon City locations with sea access. Fort Trident engineers have spent some time improving the facility, upgrading their teleport systems to be more visually intuitive after mis-deployments during various operations in coordination with the Freedom Phalanx. This includes a visual display that points to where these portals will send you and can be clicked for more information. Teleports to Task Force contacts now use a unique white/blue portal FX rather than a generic SG portal FX. Teleports to Task Force contacts no longer only appear when close, and can be seen from any distance. Teleports to Task Force contacts now require being the minimum level of that Task Force to use. Teleports to Task Force contacts in Fort Trident now include a confirmation box to activate. A proper Supergroup base portal has been added. B.O.T.L.E.R. and his salvage bin are now Reward Merit vendors. Empowerment station added. Invention tables added. Mission computer added which tips can be purchased from. P2W Wyvern Interceptor added who provides P2W services. Empyrean Michael added who sells super inspirations for incarnate threads. He does not convert merits or sell the previous Anniversary badges, which remain exclusive to Luna in Ouroboros. Freedom Phalanx NPC descriptions have been fixed. Longbow Quartermaster that sells all TO/DO/SO enhancements added. Info NPC added near the entrance door that explains the various functions in Fort Trident. The Crucible - Mercy Island The entrance to The Crucible has been moved to Mercy Island. Changed the entrance door inside the Crucible to an Arachnos elevator. The Crucible has been revamped to serve as a supergroup base style area for players without a supergroup. The Crucible has been opened up to Rogues as well as Villains. It cannot be accessed by Vigilantes. The Crucible now has a functioning minimap and new loading screen. The Crucible has been added to the Long Range Teleporter, unlocked with any badge for completing an Arachnos-affiliated Strike Force or by completing Act II of the Hearts of Darkness tutorial mission arcs. Arachnos has had their best engineers improve the portal technology being used in The Crucible so they are at least 200% more villainous. Maybe even more! This includes a visual display that points to where these portals will send you and can be clicked for more information. All the Skulls found in the Crucible have been upgraded to use their revamped models. Teleports to Strike Force contacts now use a unique black/red portal FX rather than a generic SG portal FX. Teleports to Strike Force contacts now require being the minimum level of that Strike Force to use. Teleports to Strike Force contacts in The Crucible now include a confirmation box to activate. Dr. Aeon has sent Becky, the Tarantula Mistress to attempt and rope any villains passing by in The Crucible to assist him with his Strike Force. Becky is like, totally enthusiastic but is a bit confused about the specifics of her mission... A proper Supergroup base portal has been added. Trashcan and his trashcan are now Reward Merit vendors. Empowerment station added. Invention tables added. The Oracle added which tips can be purchased from. P2W Field Analyst added who provides P2W services. Astral Christy added who sells super inspirations for incarnate threads. She does not convert merits or sell the previous Anniversary badges, which remain exclusive to Luna in Ouroboros. Arachnos NPC descriptions have been fixed. Arachnos Quartermaster that sells all TO/DO/SO enhancements added. Info NPC added near the entrance door that explains the various functions in The Crucible. Ghost Widow now idles in her signature pose in The Crucible and in Grandville. Bane Spider guards in The Crucible now have neutral animations with their Bane maces drawn. Zone Updates Atlas Park After a fierce bidding war for the contract to the building south of Wentsworth's, Freedom Corp has managed to secure rights to the structure over Crey Industries and has begun renovating the former Architect Entertainment to serve as their new headquarters after the destruction of Galaxy City. Fort Trident is now accessed by the front door on this new building, pictured below. This is seen via a marker on the minimap. The Shining Stars tutorial mission to visit the AE building has been updated to visit the nearby Vault Reserve building instead. Atlas Park's zone minimap has been updated to reflect these changes. Mercy Island After ignoring workplace safety codes for many years, Aeon Corp's Architect Entertainment facility on Mercy Island has been completely immolated after an unexpected fire consumed the entire structure in what was described as a 'raging inferno'. WSPDR reporters have asked locals for their take on this sudden turn of events, to which many answered: "We're surprised it didn't happen sooner." Arachnos Arbiter Drones have secured the wreckage site while investigations behind the cause of the accident are investigated. The Hearts of Darkness tutorial mission to visit the AE building has been updated to visit the nearby Vault Reserve building instead. All the Skulls found in Mercy Island have been upgraded to use their revamped models. Mercy Island's zone minimap has been updated to reflect these changes. The entrance to The Crucible has been moved to Mercy Island nearby where Villain characters start. Talos Island - Bamboo Kat's Luau The formerly instanced Luau RP area has been formally added to Talos Island near Spanky's Boardwalk. There is a tailor present there which has a mini-map icon. The old instanced Luau zone is no longer accessible and has been removed from Null the Gull's dialog options. Characters who were logged out there will find themselves in Pocket D after Page 4 launches. The new version of the Bamboo Kat's Luau found in the Talos Island zone has had some visual and functional updates, including dynamic time-based lighting FX, a police drone, some tiki performers, and a bartender vendor. Talos Island's zone minimap has been updated to reflect these changes. Just in time for summer! Port Oakes - Blackbeard's Pub Blackbeard's Pub has finally re-opened for business after that scuffle with them big-wig supers a few years back, and is now accessible via the front door or the hidden sewer tunnel entrance. The new area has a mini-map icon on its location. This new version of Blackbeard's Pub found in the Port Oakes zone has had some updates, you'll encounter some familiar faces, and Blackbeard himself is present to serve drinks as the bartender. A tavern shanty has been added Blackbeard's Pub for atmospheric music. A Facemaker Nurse has been added to the backroom in Blackbeard's Pub to facilitate costume changes. The Port Oakes Arena's interior doors have been linked to the matrix blue room located in its center. "Me recommendation? Arrr, if ye be brave enough, the Bilgewater be quite potent..." Echo Plaza We've tasked our best interdimensional gardeners with sprucing up the greenery around the plaza, and things are appearing a lot more vibrant now! Various ambient sounds and presences added to the zone. An Arachnos flier has been added to the Arachnos outer island, it doesn't connect to anywhere, but it does give Day Job credit. A new loading screen has been added to the zone. The plaza sure feels more alive now! Rikti War Zone - Vanguard Conference Room The door located near the Villain portal and the infirmary is now linked to the Vanguard's conference room for the use of players for RP gatherings. If lucky, you may happen upon a familiar face to have a chat with upon entering the room. Ouroboros - Exit to Cimerora You can now unlock Cimerora as a travel destination in the Ouroboros exit portal by earning the 'History In The Making' Cimerora Exploration Accolade badge or by earning the 'Temporal Strife' badge by completing the Imperious Task Force. Zone Adjustments & Fixes Pocket D New BenevoLabs vendor added near the Vault Reserve that exchanges Prismatic Aether Particle salvage for permanent costume powers and also explains how / where that salvage is obtained. Invention tables added inside the Vault Reserve location. Fixed Candy Cane Vendor and Trina the Body Sculptress being sunken into the floor in Pocket D. Fixed a few overhead lights in the center area that were off-center. Fixed misaligned villain mediporter pad in Pocket D. Fixed improper lighting on the City of Heroes and City of Villain arcade cabinets by the AE entrance. Adjusted lighting on the upstairs villain-side bar and in Vault Reserve so the brightness isn't as intense when standing under the ceiling lights. Fixed a few texture errors that were causing overlap/flickering. The trio of feline bar patrons have decide to move to from the first floor redside bar to somewhere with less foot traffic where they can enjoy their drinks: The second floor of the blueside bar near the AE balcony. Removed the infinitely barfing guy from the redside area in Pocket D who's vomiting sounds made it unpleasant to roleplay in that half of the zone. He's been gently escorted off the premises and delivered to a proper medical facility to receive treatment for over a decade's worth of alcohol poisoning. Echo Plaza Numerous geometry errors, spacing inconsistencies, and misplaced objects fixed throughout the zone. Steel Canyon Removed geometry found out of bounds on Steel Canyon that would cause invasion GMs to spawn outside the map. Firebase Zulu The soldiers in the med bay no longer use ragdoll physics and should stop falling off the medical tables. Cap Au Diable Numerous geometry errors fixed around the northern hills and PTS complex. Rikti War Zone The Rikti in the autopsy theatre room no longer uses ragdoll physics and should stop falling off the medical table. Studio 55 Fixed a wall that had no back-facing texture. Fixed a gap in the ceiling that could allow club guests to escape into the void. Bloody Bay Fixes the wrong texture swap on a planter wall in Bloody Bay that was causing it to render transparent. Cimerora Fixed a cave door beacon that was placing players behind the geometry when using powers like Mission Teleport. Various All existing Vault Reserve store locations now include one of the new BenevoLabs vendors inside that will exchange Prismatic Aether Particle salvage for permanent costume powers and also explains how / where that salvage is obtained. Game Client Adjustments & Fixes At character creation, player Archetypes are now sorted alphabetically, followed by EATs. Issue Fixes Fixed a code issue with generator randomization that was causing map server crashes. Fixed an issue that made it possible to open/enter doors from unintended distances. Powers that play a sound on each target that is hit will no longer reach a deafening volume when there are many targets. When the same sound is queued multiple times at the same instant, the audio system now reduces the volume. Fixed many typos and grammatical errors that were reported by players. Fixed a busy string that was displaying PlayerName instead of the player's actual name.