f13.net

Issue 5: Forest of Dread

New Zone: Croatoa
Croatoa is a 3 hour train ride up state from Paragon City, and was the favorite lakeside vacation spot for city dwellers. For the past 3 years, the train service has been closed due to the Rikti Invasion, but recent happenings have gotten the government to open it back up.

    * To get to Croatoa, heroes can take the Green Line.
    * Locals are asking for heroes of security levels 25 to 34 to investigate recent strange goings on.


New Powers

    * Sonic Blast (Blaster Primary and Defender Secondary)
    * Sonic Debuff (Defender Primary and Controller Secondary)
    * Archery (Blaster Primary and Defender Secondary)
    * Trick Arrow (Defender Primary and Controller Secondary)
    * Electric Mastery (Blaster Ancillary Power Set)


Mission Customization

    * Many existing missions have been updated with hostage escorts, friendly heroes who fight by your side, villain wave attacks and more.


Updated Zone: The Shadow Shard

    * Shadow Shard Maps show the location of each Jump Pad. A dotted line connects the Jump Pad with its end point.
    * A teleporter on Firebase Zulu takes players to any of the other three zones in the Shadow Shard (works both ways).
    * Dr. Scott Wachhorst, a prominent xenobiologist and Portal Corp. leader, willingly purchases Enhancements from players in Firebase Zulu.
    * A renegade Brute, Kallarn, purchases Enhancements with the hope that he might gain enough power to overthrow Ruladak. It can be found in the Cascades.
    * Slarrah, a Wisp who has been converted by Faathim the Kind relieves players of excess Enhancements in the Chantry.
    * Nameless Mystic. An interdimensional mystic feeds off the energy kicked off by the dreaded Lanaru. He happily accepts Enhancements. Found lurking near the Storm Palace.


Updated Zone: Rikti Crash Site

    * The military controls a teleporter in Peregrine Island that connects to one in the entrance of the Rikti Crash Site. Heroes can go back and forth from this point.
    * Col. Barry Woodhouse works for Military Intelligence, gathering info on the Rikti activities. Players can sell excess Enhancements to him.


Updated Zone: Outbreak

    * The tutorial has been modified.


New Badges

    * In addition to new badges associated with Croatoa, many new Achievement badges have been added for those who have exceeded the existing ones.


Experience System Changes

    * No experience debt until level 10.
    * Half experience debt in missions.
    * Experience awards for defeating enemies level 25+ increased.


New Zone Events

    * Steel Canyon: The Hellions are living up to their name and have taken to arson.
    * Skyway City: The Trolls start a Rave (Troll-style) when they find a new supply of Superadine.


Powers - General

    * Blasters have a new Inherent ability called Defiance. As a Blaster reaches the end of his health, he starts to dramatically increase his damage.
      Makes the Blaster into a more comic-booky Archetype to play. As he begins to lose a battle, his power increases dramatically, giving him the edge he needs to defeat powerful foes.
    * Blaster hit points increased.
      Overall increase in the survivability of Blasters.
    * Blaster damage cap increased.
      Overall increase in the damage output (and thus survivability) of Blasters. Blasters may need Buffs from other Archetypes in order to reach the new caps.
    * Scrapper damage increased for all powers.
      Our goal is to increase the overall 'Scrappery' nature of Scrappers, making them melee combat masters, but not having Tanker-level defense. This change counters some of the general reduction in defense that Scrappers are seeing with this patch.
    * Controllers will do double damage to a target (non pvp) that is Immobilized, Disoriented, Slept or Held.
      Increasing the non-Pet damage potential of all Controllers. This change is intended to give them a more balanced and even game-play experience throughout all of their levels.
    * Controller AoE Holds, Disorients and Sleeps (and a few others like Quicksand and Ice Slick) recharge times have been doubled and duration cut in half. AoE Immobilize and Phase Shift powers were not affected. Volcanic Gasses duration was not affected.
      Game balance change due to the new increased damage of Controllers.
    * Controller Pets (and Defender/Dark Miasma/Dark Servant) can no longer stack. That is, casting these summon powers before your pet has expired will remove the old pets and spawn new ones.
      Illusion Control/Phantasm can still summon multiple decoys.
      Fire Control/Fire Imps now always summons 3 Imps at your level.
      Illusion Control/Phantom Army now always summons 3 Decoys.
      Pet powers were never intended to have multiple instances out at once. Due to the change in the power, we removed the randomness in the number of pets you get with Fire Imps and Phantom Army.
    * Set a maximum number of targets that can be affected by most offensive powers:
      AoE Debuffs, Ranged cones, and Melee AoE (PBAoE) are set to 10.
      Some Large PBAoE (like Nova) are set to 16.
      Melee Cones are set to 5.
      Ranged AoE damage powers are set to 16.
      Taunts (including Tanker inherent Taunt - 'PunchVoke') is set to 5.
      Buffs are unaffected.
      This will limit the amount of 'herding' done by players to a more reasonable and realistic level.
    * Slightly reduced the non-enhanceable health regeneration buff of Regeneration/Integration.
      The health regeneration component was slightly too high when combined with the other effects of the power.
    * Changed Regeneration/Instant Healing from a Toggle Power to a Click power. Gave it a new animation so it activates faster.
      With almost unlimited Health Regeneration, this power was always intended to be used sparingly. The high Endurance cost was intended to accomplish this, but in the end, only lead to frustrations of running out of Endurance. As a click with a long recharge, its Endurance cost can remain low, and its Regeneration boost can stay high.
    * Fixed Ice Armor/Energy Absorption so it no longer grants less Endurance and Slow protection if used against a higher level foe.
      This is a bug fix. When used against a higher level foe, your buff was lower than normal. Your Endurance Buff and Slow protection will now always be the same, regardless of what foe you use this power on.
    * Increased Super Reflexes/Evasion Defense buff.
      This will help Super Reflexes Scrappers against foes that tend to use AoE powers, like Bosses (who typically have a higher accuracy than minions).
    * Reduced Dark Armor/Cloak of Fear’s Accuracy Debuff.
      With the previous changes to Fear effects, Cloak of Fear's Accuracy Debuff was too powerful.
    * Increased the recharge time and decreased the duration of Pool/Presence/Intimidate. It only affects Lieutenants on a Critical.
      Originally, the recharge and duration of this power were balanced against the old Fear effect (run away). Fear is now more of a control power and much more effective (targets are essentially Held). As such the old recharge time and duration were too powerful.
    * Reduced Duration on Dark Miasma/Fearsome Stare. Increased its recharge time.
      Originally, the recharge and duration of this power were balanced against the old Fear effect (run away). Fear is now more of a control power and much more effective (targets are essentially Held). As such the old recharge time and duration were too powerful.
    * Reduced Duration on Dark Miasma/Petrifying Gaze and increased its recharge time. (Dark Servant version as well.)
      This power was stronger than most Controller Hold powers, and thus too powerful for a Defender power.
    * Added an f/x to Regeneration/Moment of Glory when it expires to indicate your Regeneration is debuffed (this is a visual f/x change only).
      Quality of Life feature.
    * Added an f/x to Elude when it expires to indicate your Recovery is debuffed (this is a visual f/x change only).
      Quality of Life feature.
    * Fixed missing sticky f/x for Radiation Blast/Cosmic Burst Defense Debuff (visual f/x only, no power change).
      Quality of Life feature.
    * Controller/Gravity Control/Lift now does extra damage in PvP.
      Bug Fix.
    * Fixed Ice Blast/Frost Breath damage in PvP (it was set too low).
      Bug Fix.
    * Removed Debuff Defense Enhancements from Spines/Impale (this powers does not debuff Defense, so Debuff Defense Enhancements were not doing anything).
      Bug Fix.
    * Removed Range Enhancements from Spines/Spine Burst (this powers is a PBAoE and has no 'range' to increase, so Range Enhancements were not doing anything).
      Bug Fix.
    * Fixed Warshade Stygian Circle so it no longer gives you less Endurance when you drain and enemy that is higher level than you. Also, it no longer accepts Accuracy Enhancements (they were unnecessary because Stygian Circle is an auto-hit power).
      Bug Fix.
    * Marked Quicksand summonable to not show duplicate icon in the buff tray.
      Bug Fix.
    * Fixed excessive long immobilization effect when casting or getting hit by Transfusion, Transference, Twilight Grasp, and Howling Twilight.
      Bug fix.
    * Updated Energy Blast/Power Burst help (text only, no power changes).
      More accurately describes the power.
    * Some Combat system chat message fixes for Spines powers (text only, no power changes).
      More accurately describes what’s going on.


Powers - Global Defense Decrease
In order to facilitate a more balanced game for the higher level characters (Level 25 and up), the defensive abilities of several powersets has been adjusted so that they are more in line with one another. Lieutenant, Boss, and Elite Boss villains have had their To Hit values reduced accordingly to work with these defensive changes.

    * Reduced all Archetypes’ base ability with Damage Resistance and Defense powers.
    * Reduced Defense rating of Force Field powers (Deflection Shield, Insulation Shield and Dispersion Bubble).
    * Reduced Defense bonus from Pool/Concealment/Stealth. Defense bonus suppresses if you attack.
    * Reduced Defense bonus from Pool/Flight/Hover (and Kheldian Combat Flight).
    * Reduced Damage Resistance bonus from Pool/Fighting/Tough. Increased its Endurance Cost.
    * Reduced Defense bonus from Pool/Fighting/Weave. Increased its Endurance Cost.
    * Reduced Defense bonus from Pool/Leadership/Maneuvers.
    * Reduced Defense bonus from Pool/Leaping/Combat Jumping.
    * Increased the Recharge Time and Decreased the duration of Pool/Presence/Invoke Panic.
    * Pool/Speed/Hasten no longer buffs Defense.
    * Reduced Ice Armor/Frozen Armor Defense Bonus.
    * Reduced Ice Armor/Wet Ice Defense Bonus.
    * Reduced Ice Armor/Glacial Armor Defense Bonus.
    * Reduced Ice Armor/Energy Absorption Defense Bonus and set its max number of affected targets to 14. Added an Endurance Buff to the Caster for each affected target.
    * Reduced Invulnerability/Temporary Invulnerability Damage resistance bonus.
    * Reduced Invulnerability/Resist Physical Damage resistance bonus.
    * Reduced Invulnerability/Resist Elements Damage resistance bonus. Added resistance to Toxic.
    * Reduced Invulnerability/Resist Energies Damage resistance bonus.
    * Reduced Invulnerability/Unyielding Damage resistance bonus. Increased its Defense debuff.
    * Reduced Invulnerability/Invincibility Defense and Accuracy bonus. Increased its max number of affected targets to 14.
    * Reduced Invulnerability/Tough Hide Defense bonus.
    * Reduced Stone Armor/Rock Armor Defense Bonus.
    * Reduced Stone Armor/Brimstone Armor Damage Resistance.
    * Reduced Stone Armor/Crystal Armor Defense Bonus.
    * Reduced Stone Armor/Mineral Armor Defense Bonus.
    * Reduced Dark Armor/Cloak of Darkness Defense bonus.
    * Reduced Super Reflexes/Focused Fighting Defense buff.
    * Reduced Super Reflexes/Focused Senses Defense buff.
    * Reduced Dark Miasma/Shadow Fall defense bonus.
    * Reduced Storm Summoning/Steamy Mist Defense Bonus.
    * Set some of Illusion Control/Superior Invisibility Defense bonus to suppress if you attack. Reduced its overall Defense bonus.
    * Reduced defense bonus of Illusion Control/Group Invisibility.
    * Increased Ancillary Pool/Force Mastery/Force of Nature recharge time.
    * Reduced Ancillary Pool/Psionic Mastery/Mind Over Body damage resistance.
    * Reduced Ancillary Pool/Electric Mastery/Charged Armor damage resistance.
    * Reduced Ancillary Pool/Munitions Mastery/Body Armor damage resistance.
    * Reduced Umbral Aura/Absorption damage resistance.
    * Reduced Umbral Aura/Shadow Cloak Defense bonus.
    * Reduced Luminous Aura/Incandescence damage resistance.
    * Reduced Defense and Damage Resistance values of defensive Temporary Powers appropriately based on above changes.


Powers - Villains

    * Reduced Lt. Accuracy (ToHit).
      This is to limit the severity of defensive adjustments made to some powersets.
    * Reduced Boss Accuracy (ToHit).
      This is to limit the severity of defensive adjustments made to some powersets.
    * Reduced Elite Boss Accuracy (ToHit).
      This is to limit the severity of defensive adjustments made to some powersets
    * There is a new low level Circle of Thorns minion, The Guardian.
      Power sets for CoT minions slightly redesigned.
    * Higher level Circle of Thorns Minions should no longer repeatedly cast the same debuffs over and over, nor should they stack them on top of already existing Debuffs of that type.
      Bug Fix.
    * Some higher level Circle of Thorns minions are exhibiting new powers.
      Power sets for CoT minions slightly redesigned.


UI

    * Contact names now appear a different color from other NPC names.
    * There is now a new option to disable dragging powers around in the power tray.
    * New slash commands:
      /reply - replies to the last person who sent you a /tell.
      /tell_last or /tl - sends a tell to the last player you sent a /tell to.
    * Improved text editing on Character ID screen.
    * Options menu rearranged slightly for ease of use.

Wow....someone get back to me when they figure out if the grind has been lessened at all. I can't deal with it in the upper 20's, and I LOVE my scrapper.

The recent changes to various powers had these specific goals:

1) Create a balance between Defense and Resistance power sets.

2) Ensure that the buffs provided by Controllers and Defenders are always useful. In other words, players generally can only reach the cap with buffs from other players.

3) Make Heroic missions fun and Invincible missions tough. Some builds could go through supposedly difficult missions barely taking any damage.

4) Keep the same leveling speed. I’ve got no problem with the current leveling speed; we increased mob XP to make sure that people level as fast as they’ve always done.

Inevitably, some people decry the changes. How can these changes possibly add to my fun? I agree that fun is a subjective thing – so I’ll describe a little more fully our point of view.

Some builds can team up with a number of other players, set their reputation on Invincible, enter a map and singlehandedly defeat the spawns intended for a large group. Even worse, the player barely receives any damage. He mindlessly sets his toggles and hits the same attacks over and over to eliminate the mass of mobs. The key word here is mindlessly – there’s no need to “strategerize” or plan out attacks and defenses.

And that’s the key. I was playing a certain handheld game and I reached a “boss” level. I must have fought that boss a dozen times before finally beating him. I was so happy I actually cheered (sadly, I was on a plane at the time and I think I made everyone nervous, but that’s another story altogether). Now this experience isn’t a perfect analogy for City of Heroes. After all, no one wants to be defeated a dozen times! But what this does underscore is that games need a challenge for players to overcome.

Therein lies the enjoyment; players need to make decisions that ultimately decide their fate. When players don’t need to make decisions, a game becomes stale and ultimately boring. Tic-tac-toe is a good example of this. Sure, it presents a reasonable amount of strategy when we’re children, but once we understand the basics, we stop playing. There’s simply nothing new to learn.

In the case of City of Heroes, I’d like the standard Heroic missions to be relatively straightforward, but Invincible missions require more thought and planning. That’s the purpose of the mission difficulty slider. At the same time, we needed to create a balance among the Archetypes so that there’s a role for each. No single build or Archetype should be quantifiably “better” than another; each might be circumstantially better because of certain power sets. But the real difference should lie in the hands of the player – his skill and strategy.

As always, feel free to play on the Training Room server and post your experiences! This sort of feedback helps the game get better and better.

My subscription runs out the end of this month, I think I'll wait to re-up until I see how this all shakes out.

... it would seem I'm one of the last people in the western world to do so.

Perhaps the anal raping of the FF defenders will stop too. Personally, the year+ of goodwill and trust Cryptic has earned is being pissed away in the space of a week.

Because of what they're doing on the _test_ server?

What space logic is this?

--GF

Today I made an archer and was able to acquire the wonderful name of Magic Twanger.  I need a sidekick named Froggy, now.  Any volunteers?

I've gotten used to playing a particular way, and I don't feel up to changing.

I don't "herd" per se.  Rather, I jump into a solo mission (difficulty is, uh, the next-to-highest--double-sized groups of +1/+2), grab the first group of bad guys, drag it over to a second group, and start fighting.  When it starts to thin out, I haul them over to the next group.  So on and so forth in a non-stop brawl (I've got my scrapper slotted so that she can fight indefinitely without crapping out on endurance).

The changes just make me feel less "super."  I'm sure I'd adjust if I just began a new character with a clean slate of expectations, but I can't stomach that without a break first.

I hope they aren't trying to get rid of all herding.  It's the "spead through the level, aggro 4 groups, hide behind bad geometry and slaughter mobs with mininamil effort" herding that's broken.

[Have you tried it scaled back to Tenacious? With the XP changes Tenacious is better than Unyielding past 27 or so.

--GF

It's got nothing to do with the experience gained.

...so you can have a more challenging fight in your playstyle with greater rewards than you did before the patch, and the game is broken because the villain names are white instead of yellow?

Space logic.

--GF

Made an Archer/Trick Arrow defender last night (Teucor) and a Sonic/Elec Manip Blaster (Sonny Jim), I liked the initial two sonic attacks but was a little underwhelmed by the initial two Archery attacks, the damage was good just no flash, ya know?  Very vanilla attacks.  Defenders with trick arrow are going to be really good soloers.  Immobilize and nuke anyone?

Well, no... I don't actually, like, remember it or anything.  But I still like it!

For some reason, I thought it was from the Howdie Doodie Show.  Anyway... Archery uses too much end.  So does Trick Arrow.  I made a char using both and my constant depletion of end. made it an extremely frustrating combination.

This is true.  Three minions and a lt. at level four leaves my char drained and popping pills to finish.

This is true.  Three minions and a lt. at level four leaves my char drained and popping pills to finish.