Issue 11: A Stitch in Time

[MJB]

It's too bad Scrappers don't have a bludgeoning set.  I'd love shovel/dark just for the novelty factor.

Brawler mentioned that the shovel can be both a bludgeon and blade.

Interestingly enough, a shovel makes a great axe and a great mace...if you just rotate it 90 degrees :P

Perhaps this means they will be available for Katana Scrappers as well?

"Players will even get to set mission parameters for these missions to earn special badges."

Like...for "kill # of enemy" badges??

More like you can make things more difficult by turning powers off and on etc... Here's a post from the CoH boards where Positron mentions some of the details...

Time Limits, Lives, No Inspirations, No Temp Powers, self-nerf, (as well as others) are all parameters you can turn on or off to customize your missions and show off just how bad-[censored] you are.

-MJB

[Midnight]

Ah, so it's like challenge mode.

[Uncle Yuan]

Shovels can be remarkably effective weapons!

[ow_tiobe_sb]

*sigh* Still no cane option for the swordsman.  *pout* :P

I must say, I am looking forward to this next issue. :)

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and The Prat in the Hat

[Uncle Yuan]

*sigh* Still no cane option for the swordsman.  *pout* :P

I must say, I am looking forward to this next issue. :)

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and The Prat in the Hat

:blink: Do you still play?  Did you sneak in with a different global that I don't have?  I can't remember the last time I saw you on.

[RTTingle]

Wow... lotsa more answers to some questions the folks have been having and Lighthouse was cool enough to put it all into one nice, neat, little package.

The recent announcement of the feature list of Issue 11: "A Stitch In Time" has sparked a veritable furor of discussion and speculation, fueled by the excitement of the feature list. We are really happy to see so much positive feedback about Issue 11 and are just as excited to be bringing it to you!

The Development Team has been answering questions as they come up on the forums, but we thought we would collect some of the frequently asked questions into one place to help distill the available information. Of course, you can stay on top of who's saying what via the Developer's Corner Digest threads:

Dev Digest

Community Digest

If you are not familiar with these tools, they collect posts by the various Development Team "red named" posters on our forums every 15 minutes or so.

Ok, on with the Questions and Answers!

Question: Will we be getting a free respec and free costume token with the update?

Answer: Yes.

Ouroboros "Flashback" System:

Question: Is Flashback going to allow a character to do all the missions from a contact or just the story arcs?

Positron Says: Initially, the system will include Story Arcs and Badge Missions. If there are other missions that simply "must" be flashback-able, then let us know and we'll see about including them in future game updates.


Question: Ouroboros? Are they going to be our version of the Time Police? Someone messed up time, we need someone good/evil enough to go back and do what needs to be done to correct it.

Positron Says: You can learn all about their motives and methods by playing through the content in Issue 11.


Question: Is the flashback feature just going back and doing old missions or is there more? Based on how it was worded, and the news articles it seems like there is more to this than meets the eye.

Positron Says: While the primary use of the Flashback System is to experience missed content, there are also special missions Ouroboros will ask you to go on where you travel back in time to various points of Paragon City's/The Rogue Isle's history.


Question: I have a couple questions about the Flashback system, if a kindly dev would deign to respond. Can it be used multiple times on the same contact? Like, if I really enjoy beating the crap out of Mynx and tearing off her skin just as a pasttime, can I do Crimson Revenant over and over?

Positron Says: You simply select the story arc from the Ouroboros device. That will put you into "Task Force" mode, and you can complete the story arc from the appropriate contact. Once completed, you will drop out of Task Force mode. If you want, you could then go back and do it all again.

Question: One further clarification please, will it be enough possible missions to fill out contact bars? One of my biggest OCD things is seeing a half-completed bar. It makes things seem 'undone'. Maybe make it so that the Flashback'd missions give more contact-experience (for lack of a better word) towards completion of the bar?

Positron Says: The actual method of going back and doing the missions is independent of the Contacts themselves, so much so that progress on a Flashback Story Arc does not affect that Contact's XP bar.


Question: Does this include Safeguards?

Positron Says: Not currently, but it may in the future.


Question: Does Flashback include the Tutorials so heros can go back for isolator and villains for jailbird?

Positron Cryptically Replies: The tutorials are not Story Arcs, nor badge missions. That's not to say that the Paragon Times articles published have no bearing on Issue 11.


Question: How about the Patron arcs? Can we Flashback and do those?

Positron Says: Unfortunately, Patron Arcs are not flashbackable. We are still working on a solution to this problem.


Question: So we can go back to the 5th column and Council fighting it out on the streets right????

Positron Cryptically Replies: Ouroboros has you participating in a lot of historical events. Wait for it to go live and find out!


Question: Do 'story arcs' mentioned in the announcement include Faultline, Striga, and Croatoa specific arcs?

Positron Says: Yes.


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New Inventions:

Question: I don't suppose I could get one of you nice devs to explain how the very rare enhancements work? How do you get them? What is special about them (like values we can get, set bonuses, ect).

Positron Says: They have better than normal bonuses (think in the range of 125% of what they "should be" – but this is all pending continued balance testing). They only come at level 50, and you need to be level 50 to slot them. However, they "work" all the way down to level 1, so exemplar to any level and you will still get your Set Bonuses from them. Also they are ALL "unique" so you can only ever have 1 of any of them slotted (so only one "Armageddon" set, even though you might have several powers that can take it).

Question: Are there Endurance Mod IO's or Reduce Knockback IO's included in Issue 11?

_Castle_ Says: Endurance Mod IO, yes. Reduce Knockback IO's, no; they aren't really possible to do without some serious work.

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Everything and the Kitchen Sink:

Question: Why isn't <insert quality of life issue> being worked on in Issue 11?

Lighthouse Says: With the announcement of any coming changes to the game, there are invariably questions to the effect of, "But why are you doing that and not doing this?" The list of such questions includes such things as: Epic Archetypes for Villains, the Cathedral of Pain, Issues with bases, Supergroup character limitations and desired changes to the in-game mail system. There are more I could list, but I think you get the idea.

When the Development Team sits down to plan out the next Issue, all these things are all considered. However, we weigh in each feature not only on the scale of "can we do this in the timeframe that we want to" but also "what's the scheduling impact versus the end result?" Everything has an opportunity cost – if we do this, then we can't do that. One excellent example of this are Epic Archetypes for Villains. To do these right, it's as much work (or more) to bring out new powersets. Now, the new powersets are something everyone can use, Hero or Villain. So, while we'd like to have brought out Epic Archetypes for Villains in Issue 11, we chose instead to bring everyone Dual Blades and Willpower.

We try to pack each Issue with as much as we can, but at the end of the day, no game's Development Team can do everything. Everyone has to pick and choose. As we look back over the year and what we've accomplished we think we've done pretty well. Of course, that in no way means we are resting on our laurels. Far from it, we have a ton of great ideas to add into the game and that list of stuff I mentioned above to work on.

So, all that is to say, we hear you and thank you for your feedback.


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Weapon Customization System:

Question: What is the weapons list that we can choose from?

Lighthouse Says: Keep in mind that Issue 11 is still in internal testing and has Closed Beta and Open Beta to go through before release. All features are bound to be tweaked, polished and changed as we go through that testing process. So, the actual specific list of weapons available is likely to be a changing one.

Also, we can't spoil everything for you right away! We have a Development Diary that will be coming out soon specifically about Weapon Customization that should answer this and other questions.

Question: Anyone know if you'll be able to change the actual look of the weapons, (i.e. the shape of the sword/hilt) or just the color?

Positron Says: You can only change the actual full model (and not just a portion of it, like a hilt). Additionally there are color options that can be set.

Question: Does this mean that the weapon sets names themselves will be changed to reflect their new multifaceted nature?

Positron Says: No current plans; it would just be too radical a departure for powersets to simply be called something new because there were some new weapon models added to it.


Question: Can my brute with the stone hammer/elec armor make it look like a staff/walking stick by any chance?

Positron Says: Sorry, the "weapons" that are single powers in other powersets are not customizable at this time. Possibly in the future, however.


Question: If I am a Mastermind can I customize my henchmen's weapons?

Positron Says: You can not customize your Henchmen. The Mastermind Primaries were called out because they have the weapons in them that the Mastermind themselves will be able to choose.


Question: Will the weapon customization effect ninja katanas or bows?

Positron Says: If you mean the Henchmen, then no. If you mean the Mastermind powers then BAB had this to say:

Response by Back Alley Brawler: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=newsdiscuss&Number=9306080
"Yes, and this was actually a tricky combination to figure out. A Thugs/Trick Arrow Mastermind for example will be able to customize both their left and right hand pistol as well as their bow. "

Question: Please let there be meat cleavers like the Morts have for dual wielding. I would love to make a brute with dual meat cleavers!

Positron Says: Unfortunately, no. It's a good idea, but in practice the Cleavers, along with a few other weapons, just don't work very well with a lot of the Dual Blades animations.

Question: I really want more info on this combo system is it just for dual blades or is it for ever melee power set or is it for all power sets?

Positron Says: It is the "secondary effect" for Dual Blades; it is just for that powerset. Other powersets have secondary effects already.

Question: Does the Weapon Customization include the ability to change the color of some of the non-weapon effects, or is this purely for the scrapper/tanker/AR folks out there?

Positron Says: No, that level of Power Customization still suffers from the same "It's a near impossible schedule hit" problem it always has.


Question: One question about weapon customization, will they all be available to a level one weapon user or will more unlock through level up or do they have to be unlocked through mishs etc.?

Positron Says: Most choices are available to a level 1 character. Stuff "stolen" from specific villain groups (Red Cap daggers, Family tommy guns) will be unlocked by earning the appropriate badge. Additionally, the Vanguard Redding Rail Rifle and Talsorian Blades are purchased with Merits from Vanguard.

In the future, we hope to introduce recipe drops as well, but for initial implementation we are not doing so. Also, remember, this is just the start of this feature! If a weapon you want doesn't make it into Issue 11, give us your feedback and we can try to work them into Issue 12 or 13.

Question: Is the Battle Axe on the list?

Positron Says: Yes. Sorry, we missed it in the initial press release.


Question: Will one of the weapon graphic options be the Arachnos Mace (either version)?

Positron Says: The Arachnos Mace is not currently included, but it very possible for a future addition after Issue 11.


Question: Hopefully Baseball Bat will be an option for Mace Tankers.

Positron Says: It will be included in Issue 11.


Question: Shovel? Why a shovel? Am I missing something? All because of a stupid Ben Stiller movie?

Back Alley Brawler Says: No, we just went through our vast library of weapons and props and pulled things that we thought would make good weapons. A shovel is not the only tool that will be available.

Interestingly enough, a shovel makes a great axe and a great mace...if you just rotate it 90 degrees!


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New Powersets – Willpower and Dual Blades:

Question: Any chance we can see more information as to what specific powers are in the Dual Blades and Willpower sets?

Positron Says: Not until Open Beta (as Closed Beta may radically change things)

In closing, keep in mind that Closed Beta is not that far off followed by the Open Beta right behind it. In Open Beta, Issue 11 will be available to anyone who wants to connect to the Training Room Test Server and check it out.

RTT

[MJB]

In closing, keep in mind that Closed Beta is not that far off followed by the Open Beta right behind it. In Open Beta, Issue 11 will be available to anyone who wants to connect to the Training Room Test Server and check it out.

Personal guess is that Issue 11 will hit Closed Beta the last half of October (while the Halloween event is happening).

-MJB

[Midnight]

Ehehehe! I'm gonna make David Ortiz!  :P

[Alaric]

For some reason, this looks a lot more exciting to me than I10 did. Even the "flashback" system, which I thought wouldn't interest me that much, looks really good, from the devs' comments (I especially like the idea of customizing the missions to make them more challenging), and the weapon customization and new power sets (especially Willpower) are things I've been looking forward to as long as I've been playing. Even the new IOs look more apealing to me than I would have thought- I know I'm in the minority on this, but I'd like IOs a lot more if they only existed to allow 50s to continue to increase their abilities. The only downsides I can see, for me, are the limited number of character slots I currently have, especially on Freedom, where I have no empty slots, and no characters I want to move to another server, and the fact that I would have used Willpower for both of my two highest-level characters, had it been available when I created them, which is a little annoying (anyone else interested in reserving a server to eventually recreate some of our old characters on? Eventually, between new power sets, names being freed up, the possibiity that hereos and villains may someday be able to switch sides, and miscilaneous other changes, it might be possible some day to make versions of some of our characters that are clsoer to the way we had originally pictured them... it might be nice at that point to recreate our characters and SGs on another server and start over, doing them right this time... Of course, this would still be a long way off...).

All together, this probably won't be enough to get me playing as much as I used to, but it certainly helps revitalize my interest in the game. If I12 ends up looking as interesting as I11, I'll probably be hooked again, at least for a while...

Anyway, I'll be away again for a couple of weeks or so, but I'm definitely looking forward to this.

[Viking]

This will probably suck me back into a somewhat more active involvement.  (I've been lavishing more game time on my PS2 as of late.)

There's one possible side-benefit that I rather look forward to.  If our characters can travel back in time to do missions against early content, then that gives a handy means of collecting lower level Salvage and Recipes.  Beat on Hellions for Magical Salvage!  Yay!

[B A D]

Did I read somewhere that the Badge Missions are NOT part of the flashback parameters?

[Adamence]

Question: Is Flashback going to allow a character to do all the missions from a contact or just the story arcs?

Positron Says: Initially, the system will include Story Arcs and Badge Missions. If there are other missions that simply "must" be flashback-able, then let us know and we'll see about including them in future game updates.

It would appear that badge missions are selectable.  No more worrying about getting Spelunker in anymore.

[Midnight]

Heh, and suddenly the highwaymen who sell their Spelunker mission spots are out of business. :P

[RTTingle]

Question: Is Flashback going to allow a character to do all the missions from a contact or just the story arcs?

Positron Says: Initially, the system will include Story Arcs and Badge Missions. If there are other missions that simply "must" be flashback-able, then let us know and we'll see about including them in future game updates.

It would appear that badge missions are selectable.  No more worrying about getting Spelunker in anymore.

You know... I gotta' give Spuds a huge thank you in regards to that.  When Emerald Cloak was 'tween 45-50 I started going back and doing things to complete badges that I never had a chance to do, complete, or finish.  The Spelunker missions where a story line I never got a chance to do.  Spuds was awesome and logged in with an alt and we ran the mission, I got the badge and my accolade.  :)

RTT

[Alaric]

Now available for pre-download!!!

[Reepicheep]

He's not wrong. Does this mean its on test center?

[El Condor]

It's on test, Reep, but test is still closed.  &lt;_&lt;

EC

[Alaric]

He's not wrong. Does this mean its on test center?

They always do a pre-download for every issue, to allow people with slower conenctions to get all the new graphics and stuff downloaded before the issue goes live. It can be weeks before the issue goes live, though. In the past, they often started the pre-download at the same time they put the issue up on Test, but now that they're doing closed beta testing of issues, I imagine things work a little differently.

[Reepicheep]

aha.

Its just that the pre-download said something on the lines of "Until release on live servers, issue 11 content will be avaliable to play on the test center". I took the assumption.

[BlueBard]

I'd think it would be odd to put the new issue up on Test when the Halloween event is playing... You'd want folks participating in the event, not playtesting.

I don't play on Test anyway.  Not that I have no interest in the improvement of the game, but when I have so little playing time and so many alts I gotta put the time in where it counts...

[MJB]

I agree with BB. I seriously doubt they will hold open beta while the Halloween event is going.

-MJB

[RTTingle]

Hey folks...

Some new videos featuring the new powers. 

http://www.cityofheroes.com/gallery/movies.html

RTT

[Reepicheep]

man, I'm loving the look of that combo system  :wub:

[Midnight]

It's too bad Scrappers don't have a bludgeoning set.  I'd love shovel/dark just for the novelty factor.

Brawler mentioned that the shovel can be both a bludgeon and blade.

Interestingly enough, a shovel makes a great axe and a great mace...if you just rotate it 90 degrees :P

Perhaps this means they will be available for Katana Scrappers as well?

[/quote]

DOH; wish I'd seen this before. Currently the shovel is NOT available as part of the Katana set. It is part of the Axe set though.

[Alaric]

Open Beta!

I was actually expecting this sometime this week, for some reason. The post makes it sound like it may just be a temporary short-term thing or something, though... Hopefully, more information will be coming.

[MJB]

If anyone logs in to try out the Open Beta today, send me a tell so I can add you to my global on Test.

@Emjaybee

-MJB

[El Condor]

Is there already a Freedom Reborn channel on test? I joined one called "fr", but now I'm thinking that I joined the French language channel.  :huh:

EC

[Midnight]

Is there already a Freedom Reborn channel on test? I joined one called "fr", but now I'm thinking that I joined the French language channel.  :huh:

EC

I do believe there's one called FR and NRF.

[Tortuga]

Many times with big updates, the Test room channels need to be restarted.  So if "FR and NRF" doesn't exist, create the channel and make sure you leave it open.

[El Condor]

So if "FR and NRF" doesn't exist, create the channel and make sure you leave it open.

It's up and it's open. Jump in, y'all!

EC