http://www.cityofheroes.com/game_update12.html
The Midnight Squad
JOIN THE MIDNIGHT SQUAD (LEVELS 10 - 20)
The clandestine organization of mystics, scholars and mages, known only as the Midnight Squad, seeks to rebuild its numbers since the devastating assault of the Rikti Invasion. The Midnighters hold a secret that could bring the alien assault to an end, but without the help of the Heroes of Paragon City™ it will remain Lost forever.
NEW ROMAN-STYLE ZONE MAPS (LEVELS 35 - 50)
The Midnighters hold many secrets within their walls, including a highly coveted Ouroboros crystal, enabling them to travel to the far reaches of time. There is a familiar threat in an ancient land and the Midnighters need the help of both Heroes and Villains to stop it. Players step foot upon the ancient land of the Roman Cimeroran Peninsula, where they battle deadly creatures, defend an ancient city and ultimately come face to face with the enemy of time itself. Throughout this journey players uncover the mysteries of power and the origins that guide them today.
UNLOCK ROMAN-STYLE ARMOR COSTUMES
Through their accomplishments, players unlock the new Roman themed armor costume set.
Villain Epic Archetypes
Infiltrate the Arachnos organization from within! Upon reaching level 50, Villains unlock two new Epic Archetypes; Wolf Spiders and Blood Widows. They have their own unique storyline and missions, power combinations and costume sets. Branching powersets allow the Wolf Spider to specialize as either a Bane Spider or Crab Spider and the Blood Widow chooses from the Fortunata and Night Widow branches. Each brings with it unique costumes for your Arachnos duties, as well as your newfound role as a Destined One.
Powerset Proliferation
Using his newly built Resonance Manipulator, the Villain scientist known as Dr. Brainstorm™ has discovered a way to alter the energy strands which connect every Hero and Villain to their powers. This discovery has not only opened the door to new powers for his fellow Villains in the Rogue Isles™, but has also done the same for the Heroes of Paragon City ™! Specifically, new characters of almost every Hero and Villain archetype gain access to an additional primary and secondary powerset that they didn't have access to previously. Details to come!
Hollows Zone "Gameplay Makeover"
Significant changes have been made to the Hollows zone to make it more fun! NPC encounters have been rebalanced, including new spawns, new villain groups, mission door improvements, and a mobile hospital has been added to the entrance of the zone. Additionally, Meg Mason, a new contact, has been added to give out repeatable missions.
Major Gameplay Improvements
Eight configurable new power trays let players customize their User Interface by placing them anywhere on the screen.
Contact display redesign: Contacts are now listed separately as Active and Inactive, and players can sort contacts by a range of criteria including Name, Zone, and Level Range.
Inspiration Conversion: Right click an inspiration to convert three of that kind into any one inspiration of another kind.
Level Up Boost: Upon reaching enough XP to level up (at all levels), one of each type of large inspiration is immediately cast upon your character, and health and endurance bars are immediately filled.
Chat improvements: Right click on character names in chat window to ignore, add to friends list, invite to team, etc. Drag any item (enhancement, inspiration, salvage, etc.) into the chat window so that you and others can click a hotlink to view the complete info box.
More Real Numbers: Players can now display stats on powers before they choose them enabling more informed power selection and new temporary powers allow players to display enemy stats.
Update - The new powersets are:
Blaster
New Primary - Psychic Blast
New Secondary - Mental Manipulation
Corruptor
New Primary - Electrical Blast
New Secondary - Storm Summoning
Controller
New Primary - Plant Control
New Secondary - Thermal Radiation
Dominator
New Primary - Earth Control
New Secondary - Electricity Manipulation
Defender
New Primary - Cold Domination
New Secondary - Ice Blast
Mastermind
New Secondary - Storm Summoning
Brute
New Primary - Battle Axe
New Primary - War Mace
New Secondary - Super Reflexes
Stalker
New Primary - Electric Melee
New Secondary - Electric Armor
Tank
New Primary - Dark Armor
New Secondary - Dark Melee
Scrapper
New Primary - Fiery Melee
New Secondary - Fiery Aura
Unfortunately the scuttlebutt on the boards is you won't be able to respec some of your older toons with the new options. Some of my older fiddies are going to the Justice Server retirement farm.
Wow. That info came out of nowhere. I was playing CoH and logged to reset some of my graphics options and wham. There it was.
Awesome news. Now hurry with the Beta already!!
-MJb
Nice
Quote from: Time Titan on March 12, 2008, 09:53:01 AM
Powerset Proliferation
Using his newly built Resonance Manipulator, the Villain scientist known as Dr. Brainstorm™ has discovered a way to alter the energy strands which connect every Hero and Villain to their powers. This discovery has not only opened the door to new powers for his fellow Villains in the Rogue Isles™, but has also done the same for the Heroes of Paragon City ™! Specifically, new characters of almost every Hero and Villain archetype gain access to an additional primary and secondary powerset that they didn't have access to previously. Details to come!
Heh. At one level, I can see Dr. Brainstorm dealing with Brutes seeking new powers...
"Right! Wait till you try my latest technological marvels! I call them the 'axe,' 'sword,' and 'mace,' respectively, or 'weapons' collectively! Using a 'weapon,' you can hit your enemies really hard for ginormous damage! Er... 'ginormous' is a... scientific term..."
All very welcome news.
New powersets - Always a good thing. [edited to save myself some embarrassment]
Hollows makeover - Also good. The addition of a Hospital alone is great news.
Midnight Squad missions and Roman maps - Good! More stuff to do! I especially like that they've specifically addressed the 10-20 range as well as the upper levels.
Villain Epic AT's - Well, I'll never see 'em. I barely ever play villainside. But I'm happy for the rest of you?
Roman Armor/Costumes - Eh. Nice for Paradox Patrol/Tempus Fugitives, if those groups ever take off. But if they're unlockable only for 35+ I don't see everyone using them. Unless we're talking Toga parties...
Gameplay - Organizing contacts, yes! Hiding all of those old contacts I've outleveled, yes! yes! Chat improvements, sounds pretty good to me! Level-Up Boost, cool! Sort of a super buff, if you think of it that way.
Silly me. If I'd looked closer at the thumbnails, I would have seen the clue.
Battleaxe Brutes and Plant Controllers. Obviously some of the powersets from Villains have been transplanted (excuse the pun) to Heroes and vice versa.
Anyone want to speculate on which powersets got transplanted and which didn't make the cut?
Hmm... Must 50 villlain... play Wolf Spider...
About time Controllers get the Plant Control set :lol:
:marm: *freaking meow!*
Quote from: BlueBard on March 12, 2008, 12:38:47 PM
Silly me. If I'd looked closer at the thumbnails, I would have seen the clue.
Battleaxe Brutes and Plant Controllers. Obviously some of the powersets from Villains have been transplanted (excuse the pun) to Heroes and vice versa.
Anyone want to speculate on which powersets got transplanted and which didn't make the cut?
Well, on the official boards, the devs have, so far, confirmed the following (this is from memory, and from several different posts, so it's possible I'm misremembering or forgetting something);
Each AT, with two exceptions, will be getting two new (to that AT) power sets- one primary, one secondary. The exceptions are Brutes, who are getting TWO primaries and one secondary, and Masterminds, who are only getting one secondary (no primary). Confirmed power sets so far are as follows:
Blasters- Mental Blast (Primary)
Controllers- Plant Control (Primary)
Brutes- Battle Axe (Primary), War Mace (Primary)
Corruptors- Storm Summoning (Secondary)
My guesses as to some additional new power sets would be as follows:
Blasters- Mental Manipulation (some powers from Mind Control mixed with some short-range powers from Mental Assault) (Secondary)
Tankers- Electric Melee (Primary), Electric Armor (Secondary)
Corruptors- Electric Blast (Primary)
Dominators- Illusion Control (Primary)
I'm curious if this means lvl 20-30 content for I13?
I'm very happy about the sharing of powersets - glad to see the devs finally making this happen - and all at once too yet!
Hm. Not sure how I feel about mentalist blasters.
I'm going to take some wild guesses...
Given Mental Blast as a Primary, Alaric is probably right on as to what the secondary will be. I would have liked to see Radiation Blast, though.
Controllers get Thermal Radiation as a Secondary.
Defenders get Thermal Radiation as a Primary and Fire Blast (Assault) as a Secondary.
Tanks get Electric Melee and Electric Armor. Ditto for Scrappers. I would've liked to have seen Energy Aura, which Tanks might get instead of Electric Armor. But Alaric is probably on the money there, too. I am so totally rolling an Elec/Elec Scrapper Speedster if it turns out that way.
I'll have to think about villainside more before I speculate on what Villains are getting.
Best news I've heard all month :D
I was only wishing for a Roman Centurion's helmet yesterday for a character. Despite all the hubbub of CO, if COH can keep churning out new costume pieces and interesting stories I could see myself paying for two games a month...
...yeah I'm shallow, its all about the looks for me ;)
Good to see the old dear has some life in her yet.
I'm going to predict that this issue will be Electric... I bet Dominators get some form of Electricity Manipulation 4TEHWIN. And Alaric is probably right about Corruptors getting Electric Blast as a primary.
Not sure what Stalkers would get, though. Secondary... None of the available defense powersets really fit this AT thematically. Fire? Ice? Stone? Invulnerability? Ditto for Primary... the available options don't seem to fit. You could throw in Broadsword, I suppose, but why?
But, since everything else is going Electric, I'll throw out Electric Melee and Electric Armor as the pick for Stalkers. I'm probably wrong, but I don't have a good guess otherwise. By that logic Masterminds will get Storm Summoning. That will make their Mercenaries... (drum roll) Storm-Troopers!
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
Trollers better get /Dark.
Quote from: BlueBard on March 12, 2008, 02:27:03 PM
I'm going to predict that this issue will be Electric... I bet Dominators get some form of Electricity Manipulation 4TEHWIN. And Alaric is probably right about Corruptors getting Electric Blast as a primary.
Not sure what Stalkers would get, though. Secondary... None of the available defense powersets really fit this AT thematically. Fire? Ice? Stone? Invulnerability? Ditto for Primary... the available options don't seem to fit. You could throw in Broadsword, I suppose, but why?
But, since everything else is going Electric, I'll throw out Electric Melee and Electric Armor as the pick for Stalkers. I'm probably wrong, but I don't have a good guess otherwise. By that logic Masterminds will get Storm Summoning. That will make their Mercenaries... (drum roll) Storm-Troopers!
Actually, I can see ice armor being a stalker set instead of elec.
Ooh! Now this is some great news!
Quote
The Midnight Squad
JOIN THE MIDNIGHT SQUAD (LEVELS 10 - 20)
Nice! I wonder if there will be a way for those who outleveled those levels to play. One could always exempt down, but I'm hoping Ouroboros too.
QuoteNEW ROMAN-STYLE ZONE MAPS (LEVELS 35 - 50)
Wow!!! A whole new zone in a completely different time. NOW that is interesting.
Quote
UNLOCK ROMAN-STYLE ARMOR COSTUMES
New costumes, always a good thing!
QuoteVillain Epic Archetypes
So, uh.... anyone wanna' powelevel Emerald C1oak? Dev confirmed - at some point you actually do get the spider guys backpacks. Sweet! Most interesting part of this news? Devs said the excellent sales of the Wedding Pack enabled this to be bumped up to Issue 12 and not 13.
QuotePowerset Proliferation
Everybody but Masterminds gets one new primary and secondary. This has been a long time coming and sorely needed. Not a set here, or a set there. Darn near ever AT gets something new. With that much goodness... there is pretty much going to be something for everyone to at least try --- including me. Excited to see what they are.
QuoteHollows Zone "Gameplay Makeover"
Very nice. While I wouldn't say the zone was broken, it needed a bit better planning. Definite improvements that I think will keep people from skipping this zone and actually give it another try.
QuoteMajor Gameplay Improvements
Eight configurable new power trays...
Honey... I want a second monitor for my birthday.
QuoteContact display redesign:
Nice QoL addition.
Quote
Inspiration Conversion:
I actually like this. Interesting idea and actually I think I'd use this quite a bit.
QuoteLevel Up Boost:
Heh heh heh. CoH's version of grabbing a canister of Energy X.
QuoteChat improvements:
Great addition. Especially with people swapping out numbers and letters in their names. JUst makes life much, much, much easier.
QuoteMore Real Numbers:
Always a good thing.
Wow... I have to say I'm impressed by whats coming for the next Issue. Well, if nothing else... when it goes live, COH will have my attention for the month.
RTT
So that means that Issue 12 will bring RTT back for a month? +1 to Issue 12.
-MJB
Quote from: MJB on March 12, 2008, 09:15:19 PM
So that means that Issue 12 will bring RTT back for a month? +1 to Issue 12.
-MJB
Haha! It's going to bring me back, too. No love for Phibby, eh? :P
Actually at the mid to higher levels, the whole contacts list improvements seem CONSIDERABLY useful. I keep forgetting which contacts I'm "depleted" and which I haven't.
Know what's funny? This is apparently the "smaller" of the next two issues. Hell, if they had given us half this back in the early single digit issues most people would have been going "holy crap".
And too think, I was debating canceling after this month.
So remember, folks - buying those optional expansions helps give funding to crank out those Issues faster! :D
I hope dominators don't get a straight up version of Illusion Control. There are only three control powers in the set that would be effected by domination (flash, deceive and flash). Only one other power would receive any benefit (spectral wounds). If they were to make more of a hybrid version involving some of the dark powers (like swapping Spectral Terror for Fearsome Stare, Group Invisibility for Shadow Fall, etc), I'd be all for it.
Personally, I'd prefer to see in this order Electrical Control (all the powers exist in game), Dark Control (all the powers exist in game), Earth Control, Illuision/Dark Hybrid Control or Illusion Control. For secondaries, Electrical, Dark or Earth Assault (like the Legacy Chain blasts), both of which would need to be pieced together.
Other stuff I'd like to see:
Blasters: I wish it wasn't Mental Blast (PvP is broken enough without adding psi damage to blasters)
Brutes: Ice Armor
Controllers: I'd prefer Thermal Radiation, but Cold Domination would be good as well.
Corruptors: Electrical Blast would be good
Defenders: Thermal or Cold, Fire or Ice Blasts
Masterminds: Sonic Resonance, (illusion with some work would of made a decent mm set)
Scrappers: Enegy Aura, I'm afraid that they'll be getting Energy Melee just to break PvP more
Stalkers: Mace and Invulnerability?
Tankers: Electrical primary and secondary
The things that excite me the most are the recent focus on powers and now, entirely new ATs (epic villains). These are much more game-changing than, say, a refurbished zone. In my first entire year of CoX, all of the issues seemed to focus on stuff outside the player characters. The big exception to this was IOs, which was limiting in scope because only a portion of the player base has been able to engage the most rewarding aspects of it. Now, I look at the the incredible spike in overall interest with just the introduction of db/wp and the surrounding discussion about other new sets. Bringing previously unavailable powersets (albeit extant ones) to current ATs should provoke a similar game-wide festival of toon-tinkering. And, hopefully, people will be even more turned on by these new epic ATs than the they were by the hero-side ones.
In my humble observations, the hierarchy of player interest goes something like this:
What toons can do > content toons can engage > what toons look like > what the environment looks like
It seems to me that the devs have become more consistent in prioritizing improvements this way.
EC
I could write a huge response to the changes/improvements announced for I12 but I'm not going to.
I can't judge the issue without actually playing it. Gotta admit, I'm super psyched for this issue. Can't wait to try out the new content. I'm so jazzed. :mjb:
-MJB
I should point out that the devs have stated the next completely new power set they add to the game will be Shields, and that that won't be ready in time for I12- whcih means ALL the "new" sets are going to be sets already used by other ATs (or, for Blaster and Dominator secondaries, likely combinations of powers from a couple of existing sets)- which is why the new Dominator primary pretty much has to be Illusion Control.
Gotta admit, not giving MM's a new primary sux the big one. Hopefully they will rectify this in the future.
-MJB
Quote from: MJB on March 13, 2008, 07:02:59 AM
Gotta admit, not giving MM's a new primary sux the big one. Hopefully they will rectify this in the future.
-MJB
The reason they're not giving MMs a new primary in this issue is because all the new sets this issue are re-used old sets from other ATs, and no other AT had "pets"-based power sets (although, it probably wouldn't take that much work to turn Illusion Control into a MM primary set...).
It's good news but I don't want to see the trend of Scrappers and Tankers getting the same powersets continue. I know how much work has to go into a new powerset but Scrappers and Tankers seemed more interesting and distinct when they had completely different power sets (excepting Invulnerability).
DK
Quote from: Dweomer Knight on March 13, 2008, 08:29:21 AM
It's good news but I don't want to see the trend of Scrappers and Tankers getting the same powersets continue. I know how much work has to go into a new powerset but Scrappers and Tankers seemed more interesting and distinct when they had completely different power sets (excepting Invulnerability).
DK
I strongly disagree. I'd like to see as much of a distinction as possible between what powers a character has and what that character's in-game function is. If I want to play a super-strong hero, or a hero with fire melee powers, I shouldn't be forced to play that character as a tanker- and, for that matter, I should be able to play an agile martial artist in a more defensive way than a scrapper allows. The more power sets each AT has- including sets shared with otehr ATs- the more variety there is in what can be done with that AT.
Illusion/Dark with a MM's scales on damage and buff would be the highest-damage build in the entire game. AND one of the safest.
Quote from: Alaric on March 13, 2008, 06:57:51 AM
I should point out that the devs have stated the next completely new power set they add to the game will be Shields, and that that won't be ready in time for I12- whcih means ALL the "new" sets are going to be sets already used by other ATs (or, for Blaster and Dominator secondaries, likely combinations of powers from a couple of existing sets)- which is why the new Dominator primary pretty much has to be Illusion Control.
There's always Earth Control.
Quote from: Alaric on March 13, 2008, 08:56:21 AM
I strongly disagree. I'd like to see as much of a distinction as possible between what powers a character has and what that character's in-game function is. If I want to play a super-strong hero, or a hero with fire melee powers, I shouldn't be forced to play that character as a tanker- and, for that matter, I should be able to play an agile martial artist in a more defensive way than a scrapper allows. The more power sets each AT has- including sets shared with otehr ATs- the more variety there is in what can be done with that AT.
A lot of it's balance, though-- Fire Armor on a scrapper would be nuts. More damage than Dark with better shields and some endurance managements? And there are lots of others-- fun as /Dark on a troller would be, and as much as I want it, it would break Fire/. Psi Blast on a blaster would be disgusting in PvP. /Ice breaks Brutes in the wrong direction, by making Fury take forever to charge.
Etc etc.
Quote from: RTTingle on March 12, 2008, 07:29:43 PM
QuoteVillain Epic Archetypes
So, uh.... anyone wanna' powelevel Emerald C1oak? Dev confirmed - at some point you actually do get the spider guys backpacks. Sweet! Most interesting part of this news? Devs said the excellent sales of the Wedding Pack enabled this to be bumped up to Issue 12 and not 13.
RTT
And a lot of people here said Wedding pack was useless! Well, I did my part. :P
Quote from: captainspud on March 13, 2008, 10:17:25 AM
A lot of it's balance, though-- Fire Armor on a scrapper would be nuts. More damage than Dark with better shields and some endurance managements?
Actually Dark has the better shields, plus they get Psi res and better status effect protection. And fires endurance management has an incredibly long recharge, it's practically useless most of the time. The only thing fire has is the better damage aura and less toggles to run. The one deal breaker is burn. Burn is ridiculous with Fury up, I don't even wanna imagine it with scrapper damage numbers, plus fiery embrace, plus crits.
Must get more reliable internet... And my Computer up and running... Buy more time... Mein Gott... Can't wait!
So...
When do you guys think this will go live? Maybe in May?
You know... I love how active BAB is on the forums. Good quality stuff from him too.
Quote
QuoteQuote:
I think this new system is just an ad hoc reaction to CO's true power/character customization.
We've actually been talking about power proliferation for over a year and a half (at least). We just couldn't come to a consensus about how to get them all done at once, whether or not to reserve some for certain ATs or hero/villain, how to deal with problematic things like EM for Scrappers or Kinetics for Masterminds, etc.
Issue 12 was a good time to start working on it. We originally sat down and said, "Lets do them all at once!". Then I came up with my estimate on how much time it would take to address the new power animations, FX work, etc. and we said, "Let's not do them all at once."
So we sat down again and said, "Let's do all of the ones that can just be ported straight over."
Then we tossed that idea out on it's ear and picked one, because some ATs ended up with a half dozen and some ended up with none.
So we picked one Primary and one Secondary for each AT. Except for Brutes. "It would be dumb to not do Battleaxe and Mace when we just added custom weapons", I said.
In the end, most powersets ended up being straight ports. Others required tinting the effects from hero to villain (or vice versa). Stalkers needed an Assasin's Strike. Dominators ended up getting a mix of powers from a melee set and a ranged set and the Blaster secondary ended up with a completely new power.
This is just the first batch. Plenty more to come in the future.
Wow... some good info. Of course... the last bit caught my eye and I put some emphasis on it. The blasters get a totally new power for their secondary. Hmmm. Wonder what it is.
RTT
"Totally new" as in combining a few powers from this set and some from that. Thus a "new" set is born. Nothing built from the ground up I'm sure.
-MJB
He said they got a new power, not a new powerset. Which means the new Blaster secondary has 8 old powers and one we've never seen before.
Quote from: Figure Fan on March 14, 2008, 06:53:58 PM
So...
When do you guys think this will go live? Maybe in May?
Anybody know when it might go live? How long do they usually take from this time until the release date?
Quote from: Figure Fan on March 15, 2008, 10:43:39 AM
Quote from: Figure Fan on March 14, 2008, 06:53:58 PM
So...
When do you guys think this will go live? Maybe in May?
Anybody know when it might go live? How long do they usually take from this time until the release date?
It varries. A lot.
Quote from: Figure Fan on March 15, 2008, 10:43:39 AM
Quote from: Figure Fan on March 14, 2008, 06:53:58 PM
So...
When do you guys think this will go live? Maybe in May?
Anybody know when it might go live? How long do they usually take from this time until the release date?
Asking this question in any forum will get you the same answer, essentially, with various layers of sarcasm (from none to
thick) heaped on. The answer would be "nobody knows". The devs get close enough to completion to comfortably announce the upcoming issue, but there is still so much testing and tweaking left to do (much of it by the player base), that an exact date or even window will not be given. The best that can be said right now is "Not tomorrow, but sometime in the not-too-distant future, whatever that might mean".
Now wasn't that helpful? :P
EC
Quote from: El Condor on March 15, 2008, 12:16:51 PM
Quote from: Figure Fan on March 15, 2008, 10:43:39 AM
Quote from: Figure Fan on March 14, 2008, 06:53:58 PM
So...
When do you guys think this will go live? Maybe in May?
Anybody know when it might go live? How long do they usually take from this time until the release date?
Asking this question in any forum will get you the same answer, essentially, with various layers of sarcasm (from none to thick) heaped on. The answer would be "nobody knows". The devs get close enough to completion to comfortably announce the upcoming issue, but there is still so much testing and tweaking left to do (much of it by the player base), that an exact date or even window will not be given. The best that can be said right now is "Not tomorrow, but sometime in the not-too-distant future, whatever that might mean".
Now wasn't that helpful? :P
EC
Mucho gracias, senor Condor.
I thought maybe this announcement meant something like it was going to be released soon. They even have artwork on the site, so it seemed like they were about to drop it on us or something. Thanks for the warning though. I would never ask such a question anywhere else, and most certainly not on the CoH boards. Eek!
Geez. A thought occurred to me. Now I'm getting flashbacks to FFvTTR. Time travel and Roman Legionnaires.
Coincidence?
Think about it... Alien invasions... Nazi-ish soldiers...
If the trend continues we might well wind up coming full circle...
"Animals wither in my presence"
Ohh..
I. Want. DA and DM for Tankers! Sure, they'll probably get Electric Armor and Electric Melee first, but I still want Dark/Dark. That way I can roll NeoDarke the way he should be. As a Dark Armor/Duel Blade Tanker! :P Sure, some might say "Do a Scrapper", but NeoDarke is too self abusive, masochistic, and insane to be anything other then a Tanker. :P
Why do you think my first 50 was a Tanker? :lol:
Quote from: Figure Fan on March 15, 2008, 10:43:39 AM
Quote from: Figure Fan on March 14, 2008, 06:53:58 PM
So...
When do you guys think this will go live? Maybe in May?
Anybody know when it might go live? How long do they usually take from this time until the release date?
Soon ™
According to Gamezone (http://pc.gamezone.com/news/03_27_08_11_00AM.htm) we get detailed info about power proliferation tomorrow.
Quote from: Tortuga on March 27, 2008, 06:13:31 PM
According to Gamezone (http://pc.gamezone.com/news/03_27_08_11_00AM.htm) we get detailed info about power proliferation tomorrow.
Yes.
I just want to add to my previous predictions that I think Scrappers will likely be getting Energy Melee and Energy Aura (or whatever it's called)- much as I'd prefer Super Strength.
The new powerset have been released:
Blaster
New Primary - Psychic Blast
New Secondary - Mental Manipulation
Corruptor
New Primary - Electrical Blast
New Secondary - Storm Summoning
Controller
New Primary - Plant Control
New Secondary - Thermal Radiation
Dominator
New Primary - Earth Control
New Secondary - Electricity Manipulation
Defender
New Primary - Cold Domination
New Secondary - Ice Blast
Mastermind
New Secondary - Storm Summoning
Brute
New Primary - Battle Axe
New Primary - War Mace
New Secondary - Super Reflexes
Stalker
New Primary - Electric Melee
New Secondary - Electric Armor
Tank
New Primary - Dark Armor
New Secondary - Dark Melee
Scrapper
New Primary - Fiery Melee
New Secondary - Fiery Aura
Quote from: Time Titan on March 28, 2008, 09:28:45 AM
Corruptor
New Primary - Electrical Blast
New Secondary - Storm Summoning
Evil Camma/Evil TT FTW!!! (was TT electrical blast, i forget?)
Aye. The orignal TT was a Storm/Elec Defender. He currently resides on the Virtue Server.
I see myself rolling at least 6 new toons when issue 12 is released.
I need to come up with a name for my future Fire/Fire Scrapper :lol:
I like the prospect of a storm MM but im not sure about a conceptual pairing with any of the primaries. I guess thugs or bots would give a really nice dmg output.
Quote from: Camma on March 28, 2008, 11:17:35 AM
I like the prospect of a storm MM but im not sure about a conceptual pairing with any of the primaries. I guess thugs or bots would give a really nice dmg output.
Ninja/Storm works, especially for those of us who are still scarred by those damn Tsoo sorcerers...
Very disapointed in the new Scrapper sets. Just don't inspire me at all- and scrappers are generally my favoate AT, so I was looking forward to some added variety...
Very underwhelming Troller sets. They wussed out and gave sets that don't combo or stack. ie, don't do what Trollers do best.
:thumbdown:
I love the cold domination set as a corruptor but i don't think its going to be to good on a defender at least from a solo'ing standpoint. Cold has awesome debuffs (Heat Loss > FS !!!!) but its not that strong in terms of dmg mitigation on its own. If the levels thru the low 20s were rough with an ice/cold i cant imagine how slow itll be with a Cold/Electric or Cold/Rad defender yeesh.
I am pleased that defenders are finally getting ice blast. Camma was supposed to be Storm/Ice but i had to settle for electric.
Quote from: Alaric on March 28, 2008, 11:45:38 AM
Very disapointed in the new Scrapper sets. Just don't inspire me at all- and scrappers are generally my favoate AT, so I was looking forward to some added variety...
Really? I'm thinking about doing Spines/Fire, redoing my demon toon.
Oh well. I was hoping that scrappers would get electrics. Fiery Aura should boost their damage output but I'm concerned about Fiery Melee for a number of reasons (animation times, focus on DoT).
Don't see why Tanks needed Dark/Dark, either. I'm scratching my head on that one. I'm sure there's a good reason other than negative energy damage, but the ramifications aren't clear to me. Never played a dark/dark scrapper past level 8 or so, and don't have enough experience with it to guess how it'll impact tanking.
We'll have to see how many Iceman clones pop up in Defender-land. (Iceman's a Defender! hah!)
I think the villains made out better on this one. I do like that they approached it from a thematic viewpoint.
However, the fun part will be looking at unique combinations of abilities and seeing what's possible that wasn't before, beyond the obvious ones.
This isn't an exhaustive list, just a few things I think might be interesting to look at:
Tanks: Dark/Fire, Dark/SuperStrength, Fire/Dark, Stone/Dark, Invuln/Dark
Scrappers: MA/Fire, Spines/Fire, Fire/SuperSenses, Fire/Regen
Defenders: Kinetics/IceBlast
Controllers: Plant/Storm, Plant/Rad
What combinations interest the rest of you?
Dark armor tanks could be ridiculously powerful. Dark has great resists, and the fear and disorient toggles lean towards tanking. Electric would have probably been very broken since it's resists on brutes are damn near on par with fire tanks.
Fire/Fire is a weird choice for scrappers. I kind of expected Ninjitsu and either the horribly broken EM, or SS. But I guess street fighting will fill SS' role, and they knew not to be dumb and give them EM. With all that AOE goodness, and proper criticals, a fire/fire scrapper could be evil. Imagine BA, Fire Sword Circle and Fire Breath all critting. The term "melt" would never be more fitting.
The one set selection I'm disappointed about is the stalkers getting elec/elec. I really was hoping for them to get ice/ice. Would have been the best PVE stalker combo. Slows on a stalker FTW.
I'm ashamed to say, I'll probably roll a fire/fire scrapper :thumbup:
Yes! Yes! *cackles madly* NeoDarke here I come! *bounces up and down waiting for I12, more reliable internet, his computer up and running so he doesn't have to use the laptop anymore, and time on his account*
Quote from: BlueBard on March 28, 2008, 01:48:18 PMI think the villains made out better on this one. I do like that they approached it from a thematic viewpoint.
Heh, you should post that on the CoH forums. There's 3 pages of bloody murder coming from the villain camp.
Quote from: Midnight on March 28, 2008, 02:23:19 PM
Quote from: BlueBard on March 28, 2008, 01:48:18 PMI think the villains made out better on this one. I do like that they approached it from a thematic viewpoint.
Heh, you should post that on the CoH forums. There's 3 pages of bloody murder coming from the villain camp.
Yeah, I'm reading that now. Of course I don't normally run villainside and I dislike PvP, so those angles hadn't occurred to me before. I'll take it back before I get smacked with a rusty meathook.
I know that many are unsure about this, but I am totally intrigued by dark/dark for tanks.
EC
Looks like I'll have to re-do "Undead Bob Ross" - a psychic blaster better fits the concept as he forces people to see "HAPPY TREES!"
Quote from: Valandar on March 28, 2008, 03:01:01 PM
Looks like I'll have to re-do "Undead Bob Ross" - a psychic blaster better fits the concept as he forces people to see "HAPPY TREES!"
ROFL that's just Win right there. :thumbup:
The more I think about it, the more I think Electric Manipulation is a really bad idea for a Dominator secondary. I mean, what will they do if they ever come out with an Electric Control primary set for Dominators and Controllers? It would likely share several powers with Electric Manipulation... Seems kind of short sighted to me...
Why didn't they just combine some powers from teh Electric Blast set with some powers from the Electric Melee set to create an Electric Assault set? They would have only had to do half the re-tinting...
Quote from: Alaric on March 28, 2008, 04:58:07 PM
The more I think about it, the more I think Electric Manipulation is a really bad idea for a Dominator secondary. I mean, what will they do if they ever come out with an Electric Control primary set for Dominators and Controllers? It would likely share several powers with Electric Manipulation... Seems kind of short sighted to me...
Why didn't they just combine some powers from teh Electric Blast set with some powers from the Electric Melee set to create an Electric Assault set? They would have only had to do half the re-tinting...
That's not only a good question, that's a good idea. Make their job easier I would think.
Oddly enough, thinking about the list. My first thought when I saw SR for Brutes was "Venom? What are you doing here?" Could be awesome. Might have to roll a SS/SR Brute. Wonder how many names I can come up with that have "Super" in it, and that don't suck. :huh:
Hmm - having teamed with Meejub's Kindle- (the hyphen is not silent, it kind of has a whooshing sound) at level 50 with Maddy, my Fire/Therm corruptor, I am thinking Fire/Therm troller could be really nasty at high levels. Especially with Imps+buffs and holds+debuffs could be really interesting. 3 rech's in Forge and you can keep at least 2 pets buffed at any given time.
Quote from: Alaric on March 28, 2008, 04:58:07 PM
The more I think about it, the more I think Electric Manipulation is a really bad idea for a Dominator secondary. I mean, what will they do if they ever come out with an Electric Control primary set for Dominators and Controllers? It would likely share several powers with Electric Manipulation... Seems kind of short sighted to me...
Why didn't they just combine some powers from teh Electric Blast set with some powers from the Electric Melee set to create an Electric Assault set? They would have only had to do half the re-tinting...
Looks like I was worrying needlessly. Caught the following post from Castle:
Quote from: CastleQuoteUm, shouldn't Dominators get an ASSAULT secondary set? Why the Electrical Manipulation?
Yep. Bug in the display name. Fixed it today.
I think Issue 12 is going to pull me back in... I haven't played in a long time because the game was just boring. I think the faster leveling (IIRC), new powers, updated zones, etc... are great. I think I'll have to retire my old guys though. Maybe I'll switch to Justice, too. Thats where FR folks play, correct?
Quote from: Xenolith on March 29, 2008, 07:10:14 AM
I think Issue 12 is going to pull me back in... I haven't played in a long time because the game was just boring. I think the faster leveling (IIRC), new powers, updated zones, etc... are great. I think I'll have to retire my old guys though. Maybe I'll switch to Justice, too. Thats where FR folks play, correct?
No, Freedom's where we usually play.
Note that apparently a way for players to get additional character slots is on its way, too.
gotcha!
Once my new video card arrives I'll be on line looking fer youse guys.
Bless BAB for pulling the forums back out of hell.
Honestly, I think people way, way, way, way overreacted on this. Interesting point by BAB too, how over on the EU forums --- at their con, where the statement that sent everything to hell in a handbasket was made, quite frankly --- was a non issue.
Any matters, BAB was active this weekend and did what he could do to put people at ease and as usual gave out some really, really cool info.
Quote
Quotei dont know babs...
we got crapped on with power set proliferation... unless the epic ats are uber powerful, the burden to prove that article wrong is on you guys, not us.
I'm sorry you feel that way, but I assure you we didn't sit down and say 'Hey, what can we do to screw over villain players?" this issue.
Positron really wanted us to port over every powerset and we went into Issue 12 development with that on the schedule. But in conjunction with VEATs, shields, and the various new powers/FX/animations required for Issue 12, it ended up being just not feasible.
Port over
every set? Would that mean... pistols hero side one day? Maybe even some more MM stuff to heroes? But every set possible ported in issue 12? Wow... Positron is a slave driver man. :P So it looks like they got slammed with a lot of stuff going on. VEATS, shields and new powers/fx/animations for issue 12. That is a lot to deal with. I'm very curious to see the new stuff for just issue 12. Seeing the new baddies and all was always a peek at what would eventually be available for players. Will be very interested in seeing whats new animations wise in general.
QuoteWe looked at the powersets available, figured out which ones wouldn't require new animations or new FX to be ported over, and generated a list of those. We ended up with some ATs getting a lot of simple copy/paste powersets and some getting only one, or none at all. Then we determined which ones would require just FX work (which is relatively quick) and which would require new powers, new animations, and new FX (which is relatively not so quick). In a case like this, where we're trying to do a lot of things at once...it's not about what's easy to do, it's about what's quick to do.
I think it was a good idea too. Rather than do the "quality" stuff to speak, dazzle 'em with the quantity... a new set of powers for each AT wasn't something to sneeze at and was pretty cool, even if they were the easiest of the cut and pastes so to speak. Its a great start to the idea. I don't think they can keep up the pace, but the ball is rolling and thats all that matters.
QuoteThere was also some consideration for certain powersets. The thought of EM scrappers or Kinetics Masterminds made us very giggly and uneasy. So the plan was to hold off on the ones that immediately fired off warning bells until we were sure we'd have plenty of time to address those. Yes, Psionic/Psionic blasters sound scary as well, but we're planning on a more proactive plan for closed beta and open beta so we can be sure we get the testing, data, and feedback from you guys for them, the VEATs, and the rest of the new powersets. Between the small small sampling of proliferated powersets and the VEATs...which are practically 12 new powersets within themselves...there's more than enough balance work for the powers guys to handle.
So it looks like they're going to take the powers with the most issues slowly. As to be expected. It'll be interesting to see them learn from psi/psi blasters and apply it to the other sets rather then take on way too much and have it all be a mess from the start.
QuoteThe plan is still to eventually get everything ported over. The only current exception to that is Empathy for villains and Poison for heroes. Those two sets are just conceptually all wrong for a direct cross-over. That's not to say we might not change our mind later down the road, that's just the current thinking. We've already been discussing ways to modify them so that they would make sense to port over...but at that point, it's no longer powerset proliferation. They become new powersets.
So everything has a fair chance to port over, except Empathy for villains and Poison for heroes. Thats pretty fair enough. I'm sure with some thinking it over though they could be ported... but like BAB said, it would pretty much be a new powerset. Still - would be plenty interesting.
QuoteI really don't think it's as black and white as being presented by a very outraged and vocal group of people here on the forums. I am seeing a lot of the same names saying the same thing in multiple threads. But I've also read plenty of posts from people are very excited to have the new powersets. (Yes, even villain players). Too much signal to noise right now.
I'm sure its going to be a long Beta.
I think sadly, there is a certain very vocal group of villians who demand content. Its like any addition to COV doesn't count unless it is exclusively for COV. Mind you, I think COV does need some love. I think however, what they're saying and how they're saying it is sadly keeping people from the real issue and taking anyone with a villian complaint or suggestion serious. Shame too.
QuoteOne thing it isn't is some kind of calculated and intentional ploy against villains. The idea is ridiculous.
Interestingly enough, I can't find any threads over on the EU forums that are similar to the ones here...and those guys would be the ones that heard it first-hand at the Omega Sector Mini-con. I also don't know the context the quote was taken from and I suspect that's a big part of the misunderstanding here. One thing I do know, is that there hasn't been any official policy shift internally at NCNC. Positron hasn't declared CoV dead. Word hasn't come down from corporate or from Brian saying 'Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.' We are looking at ways to get the most mileage out of the more expensive things to add to the game, such as zones, new enemy factions, etc. but that's just good business sense. We certainly are aware that a lot of villain players don't want to play sidekick to heroes on a bunch of heroic missions. However, there are some who do. Our SG plays on both sides of the game, and I've spent quite a bit of time teaming up with friends in the RWZ...so I'm personally glad to have that opportunity and hopefully we will continue do more co-op stuff in the future. I think the idea of some darker, more black-ops type of co-op storys is an awesome idea. Something where the heroes have to do something that benefits the villains because it's the lesser of two evils. I also love the idea of the directly competing story-arcs or parallel story-arcs, where both sides are working against each other or trying to accomplish something first. That's likely to be the bulk of our developmental focus moving forward. That is not saying there will never be any exlusive, villain side only content...just that it makes more sense to develop content for both sides.
So it's pretty much a give it seems that the exclusive content for COV is going to be minimal and the push will be for content that both can share, directly or indirectly. Nothing wrong with that. I'd just like to see content that really makes being a villain more interesting. Of course, you have that pesky game rating thing to keep in mind. Thats their challenge. I understand the difficulty. I hope they're able to work out something.
QuoteOn a more positive note, we've already hired a 2nd powers designer and have a third starting on Monday, so I fully expect to see a lot of long overdue overhauls to some of the major, global issues related to powers. Hopefully, pulling some of the burden off of Castle's shoulders will make him a bit less grumpy on the forums. You guys can be pretty brutal though.
Note one... but
TWO new power designers. Nice! And to what do we owe this?
QuoteOverall, our staffing up has been going extremely well. We've managed to get people in much sooner than we'd originally planned for. Partly because we're just getting very lucky with finding awesome people, partly because the success of the wedding packs brought in additional revenue that allowed us to accelerate our hiring process, partly because we're just really eager to be moving forward at full steam on our plans for the game.
Of course, the marriage pack! I'm telling you, the marriage pack will one day be the funding behind the cure for cancer. ;P I'm surprised people aren't demanding more minipacks because of this really. I'm sure they'd be worried about the balance of free content as opposed to minipack paid content but it looks like they may be able to negotiate those dangerous waters just fine.
QuoteSome of that additional support is already filtering into the game. As mentioned before, VEATs had been pushed back to Issue 13 because of code issues involved in getting those to work. But because of the new programming hire we were able to get them done in time for I12's launch. The new power designer has already begun the process of fixing power descriptions, which is a great way for him to learn how the powers are built and clear up some old minor bugs at the same time. We've got a new animator starting Monday and it's very likely that some of his work will be included in Issue 12 as well.
You know... I'd love to see BAB blog weekly about the game. The stuff we learn inside and out from is just way too cool.
RTT
A few random I12 thoughts:
-I'm hoping VEATs have exclusive content a la Kheldians.
-Content-wise, Villain side suffers quite a bit. Mike and I were able to level two hero toons from lvl 10-40 accessing only the 'special missions' (TFs, Trials, police band/safeguard, etc) with the exception of a few contact missions. There's absolutely no way that be pulled off on the villain side. I'd love to see a 'new contact per issue' villain side with 1 or 2 new arc each. I'm not asking for new maps, enemies, etc., just a new contact with arcs that offer me an alternative.
-I'm happy to see that after nearly 5 years, they're finally focusing on the most obvious way to keep people in the game -- powersets. They've dropped a few here and there, but judging from who they're hiring and what BAB was saying, it sounds like it'll be a focus over the next while.
-I really want to use Poison powerset, but I hate MMs. :(
I had a feeling that the 'storyline' for power proliferation hinted at more powerset porting in the future. Nice to see that confirmed.
Really, it makes very little sense to have the current limitations. Expanding the powersets across the board is a great idea that will let players craft more thematic heroes and villains. It would also make lots of sense to do the easy stuff first, and that's exactly what they did. And it will also make sense to be very, very careful about porting over stuff that could easily unbalance the game. And lo, they are.
So... think the "Visual Sounds" are an April Fools joke? Because I think it might actually be kinda cool if it was real, and something you could toggle...
Quote from: Valandar on April 01, 2008, 05:51:05 PM
So... think the "Visual Sounds" are an April Fools joke? Because I think it might actually be kinda cool if it was real, and something you could toggle...
Yes, obviously an April Fools Day joke. And I agree, so long as it didn't replace the actual sounds, but was in addition to them, it would be fun. Might get kind of annoying durring big multi-character battles, though... but then I guess that's when you'd toggle them off.
I thought the sounds thing looked kinda cool, even if it was a joke. Oh well...
FREEM!!!!
:thumbup:
Powerset Proliferation FAQ (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Dev&Number=10523131&bodyprev=#Post10523131)!
Quote from: Alaric on April 04, 2008, 07:22:51 AM
Powerset Proliferation FAQ (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Dev&Number=10523131&bodyprev=#Post10523131)!
That's good info; thanks Alaric!
BTW... there are comments from Castle amongst the general noise in the remainder of the thread. Including the revelation that Blaster */Mental's numbers will be adjusted for balance. They won't be as powerful as the corresponding powers in the Defender & Dominator sets.
Some of the general noise surrounds Villains not getting an Empathy set. One comment made suggests that while Villains will -never- get Empathy in the form used hero-side, maybe a more villainously-oriented set might be introduced in the future.
I could see that. Change 'Absorb Pain' to 'Life Drain' ... leeching off an enemy target's health (or -regen) to replenish your own, for example. Maybe change 'Healing Aura' to 'Life Transfer' that does AoE Heal in proportion to the AoE damage that it does (or maybe an AoE -regen). The Rez power might function a little more like Dark's Howling Twilight. The healing factor would be a bit weaker to offset the debuffing. I could see a set like that being useful for Necromancer MM's, for example.
Quote from: BlueBard on April 04, 2008, 09:31:29 AM
I could see that. Change 'Absorb Pain' to 'Life Drain' ... leeching off an enemy target's health (or -regen) to replenish your own, for example. Maybe change 'Healing Aura' to 'Life Transfer' that does AoE Heal in proportion to the AoE damage that it does (or maybe an AoE -regen). The Rez power might function a little more like Dark's Howling Twilight. The healing factor would be a bit weaker to offset the debuffing. I could see a set like that being useful for Necromancer MM's, for example.
But at that point it's not Empathy anymore. Villains already have powerful healing solutions, but they want THE most powerful one. Making any mechanical changes to Emp's main three heals completely misses the point of transferring it over.
Honestly I don't think that the majority of those on the boards want empathy specifically. They want fortitude, RA, clear mind and adrenaline boost. Those are some of the biggest buffs in the game.
Quote from: captainspud on April 04, 2008, 09:42:28 AM
Quote from: BlueBard on April 04, 2008, 09:31:29 AM
I could see that. Change 'Absorb Pain' to 'Life Drain' ... leeching off an enemy target's health (or -regen) to replenish your own, for example. Maybe change 'Healing Aura' to 'Life Transfer' that does AoE Heal in proportion to the AoE damage that it does (or maybe an AoE -regen). The Rez power might function a little more like Dark's Howling Twilight. The healing factor would be a bit weaker to offset the debuffing. I could see a set like that being useful for Necromancer MM's, for example.
But at that point it's not Empathy anymore. Villains already have powerful healing solutions, but they want THE most powerful one. Making any mechanical changes to Emp's main three heals completely misses the point of transferring it over.
Guess they're out of luck then. I don't think the devs are going to give on that one.
I could see a Metabolic Manipulation set that does some of the same things that Middy suggested. It would definitely be a new set, though. In fact, in keeping with villainy, I think some of the powers in a Metabolic set should be dual-effect. Performs one way targeting allies, has an opposing effect targeting enemies.
(These are just ideas... no idea about game balance or anything. Feel free to have your own opinions. Spud.)
Biofeedback Aura -> PBAoE Ally/Self +regen
Regulate Endorphins -> Single target Ally +HP
Enemy -regen
Immune Reaction -> Single target Ally +HP +Res(toxic)
Enemy -Res(toxic) Minor toxic Dmg
Regulate Metabolism -> PBAoE Ally/Self +recovery +spd +Res(toxic, Sleep, EndDrain)
Neural Manipulation -> Single target Ally +Res(Disorient, Hold, Immobilize, Fear, Confuse) +Perception
Enemy -Res(Disorient, Hold, Immobilize, Fear, Confuse) -Perception
Cellular Reconstruction -> Ally Rez
Cellular Manipulation -> Single target Ally +Def(all) +HP
Enemy -Def(all) -Res(smashing, lethal, toxic, energy)
Adrenalin Flow -> PBAoE Ally/Self +recovery +Acc +Dmg
Metabolic Control -> Single target Ally +end +regen +recharge +recovery
Enemy -end -regen -recharge +recovery
And so on, and so forth... The heals and buffs shouldn't be as powerful as Empathy, but it would be a more versatile set in some ways. Not to mention a real end hog, as the villain would be using his powers to buff and debuff alternately.
Hmmm, does anyone remember the Steven King movie about a mist surrounding a town.
Mastermind
New Secondary - Storm Summoning
with zombies?
If you could have Storm Summoning with Plant Control that would work out nice also.
You can have your plants and water them also.
Quote from: DMenacer on April 06, 2008, 06:59:11 PM
Hmmm, does anyone remember the Steven King movie about a mist surrounding a town.
Mastermind
New Secondary - Storm Summoning
with zombies?
If you could have Storm Summoning with Plant Control that would work out nice also.
You can have your plants and water them also.
I LOL'd at this post. :P :thumbup: