f13.net forums - Details on Arena PvP

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June 24, 2025, 05:22:55 AM

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The Arena

COMING SOON!

In Paragon City, a hero’s skill often means the difference between life and death – not just for him, but for the citizens he protects. To hone those skills, the Paragon City Building Commission proudly brings you a forum months in the making: the arena. Here, heroes will face the skill and savvy of their fellow city defenders. Pit your abilities against those of your allies, and see who comes out on top!

* The arena’s many events are designed to test the mettle of even the toughest heroes. Simple One-on-One combat takes place alongside Team Battles and Free-For-Alls. Battle Royals let several teams duke it out, while epic Super Group Battles put up to 150 heroes to the test.
* Event coordinators put the power in your hands, by offering a variety of different Ground Rules for your match. No Travel Powers, No Temporary Powers, Time Limits, and Multiple Lives are just a few of the options that make arena combat flexible enough to challenge any hero.
* In the interest of promoting the arena, the Paragon City Council has reluctantly agreed to permit the wagering of Influence in some tournaments. Small entry fees could turn into big payoffs for heroes who can fight their way to the top.
* The arena’s chess-style rating system encourages healthy competition among heroes. By playing in rated events, heroes can increase their rating, earning bragging rights throughout the city.
* Arena visitors and defeated combatants can view the arena floor through the use of remote controlled cameras. Some heroes may be tempted to use such devices as surveillance equipment, which is why the cameras are cheap, disposable, and easily destroyed. Cameras are provided free of charge by arena management.
* To provide an invigorating challenge to all combatants, arena officials have ruled that certain powers must use different guidelines in the arena than they do on the streets.
o Stealth and Invisibility make heroes truly invisible to their enemies -- though environmental effects, like water splashes, can still give away their position. These powers also allow heroes to evade their opponents’ targeting reticles by putting distance between themselves and their foe.
o Brawl has a small chance of knocking off opposing heroes’ toggle powers.
o After a hero is Held, Terrorized, or otherwise controlled, he gains immunity to that effect for a short period. To compensate for this, Controllers do extra damage to targets that are under such effects.
o A percentage of Blaster damage is not resistable. Defenders debuffs cannot be resisted. Scrapper Critical Hits cannot be resisted.
o Many Tanker and Scrapper powers now offer new abilities and resistances, such as the ability to see Stealthed characters at a greater distance than normal.
o Many other Power Sets have also been seeded with new abilities designed to give heroes an extra edge in the arena.
o When hit by a power that causes confusion, a hero’s attacks may execute on someone other than his target – including his teammates

http://www.cityofheroes.com/features_update.html

It amazes me how much thought they seem to put into things. I don't think they belong in this business.

The brawl change is pretty huge.

What that means for 1v1:
+defense just got WAY better than +resist. My SR scrapper is now in a very enviable position, as are a lot of "gimp" ice tanks. Ice tanks are going to be in one of those situations where they're not the best for PvE, but they rule in PvP.
No doubt in my mind now- my MA/SR scrapper can take on any /invuln tank and win. They won't be able to hit me regularly and do enough damage to worry me, so I just stand in melee and brawl until the toggles drop, smack 'em with Cobra Strike to disorient them, then tear them apart.

Other sets that thought they'd own but are now in trouble:
Regeneration (big time here... they have no defense at all unless they take weave, so their toggles will be dropping quite easily)
Dark Armor is in a little bit of trouble, but not as much. It depends on the build, really. Some combine defense buffs with accuracy debuffs for big effects, some just use the +resist powers. The good thing here is that their +resist powers don't take too long to activate, so if they're quick about it they should be ok.
Fiery Aura, but not as much trouble as Invulnerability. They actually benefit from having their status protection on click powers instead of toggles now.
Stone armor should, for the most part, be okay. They have a good mix of +defense and +resist, so if they build themselves right they can avoid the Brawl of Doom.

SR is really, really good now. My scrapper has no toggles- only click powers and passives. His defense will always be capped with Elude, he will always have status protection with Practiced Brawler, and Hasten is always on. The only toggle that he might use is Focused Accuracy which just got a lot more valuable with the unexpected bonus to defense powers.

It's an interesting change, but I think it's a bigger deal than they thought it would be. This all depends on how big the chance for brawl to take off toggles is, though. If we're talking 1% it's not a big deal. If it's 5% or 10%, there will be some major changes in the balance of power.

What server is everyone playing on? No one from Bat Country is ever on Victory, though I'm only using one character who's in the SG right now, Errata. Signe is good in a group but too gimpy with excess healing to do anything on her own, and I haven't sorted out respec yet. The chat beta is aomost always temporarily down. I've only ever seen Schmoo (he's adorable!) and Viin (he's Corey!) on Batnet. I'd be willing to start a new character on another server if people will play with me.

I get lonely which forces me to listen to Sisters of Mercy music and go all sniffly. I tried some uplifting Leonard Cohen but that didn't help, either.

I 8> Cryptic. This stuff looks DAMN good. I still want to know how they plan to handle level differences, but for a "just to give PVP" addition, this has lots of good things added. The Brawl change is big, and may actually cause me to use my unclaimed respec.

I'm on Victory, as Bat Country, but lately have only been on during lunch, (12 - 1 pm CST). Whipcrack is the name. With this, I will probably be on more.

Heh, when I was home on lunch doing those screencaps..."Your friend Whipcrack is online." I was going to give you a 'catass' tell...

As I've said, I'm on Victory, but I'm not married to it (since my main is 'only' level 24). Checked the Morlocks supergroup activity....hundreds of days across the board (since last login).

When is this going to be on the test server?

Most of my characters are on Justice, although I think I have one or two on Victory.

Quote from: HaemishM on February 23, 2005, 01:14:40 PM

You are on all my friend lists. I'll probably start playing some evenings, too, when this stuff happens. I'm looking forward to Issue #4 a lot. Will your lovely wife, Plague Goddess, be joining us? I think I can get Righ to join up again with Issue #4 and I'm sure he'll be around for CoV.

My DM/SR Scrapper on Freedom is willing and able to throw down with anyone else on that server.

Quote from: HaemishM on February 23, 2005, 01:14:40 PM

I 8> Cryptic. This stuff looks DAMN good. I still want to know how they plan to handle level differences,

Everybody will be exemplared to the lowest level in the arena.

--GF

I have characters on a few servers, but once I get settled down and start playing again, it'll most likely be on Freedom.

I'm still mostly on Victory, but a) I've been playing KOTOR2, b) I play UK evenings and c) I don't often have that much time to play.

My characters on Victory are: Signe, Errata, Frau Zerstonrung, Twee, BlackEyed Susan, Glass-Cannon and Janey Gunn. I play them all because I'm an altaholic. Mostly Frau Zerstonrung and BlackEyed Susan lately. Any other server I play will have those names, too, mostly. Put me on your list and say stuff to me, now and then. Join Batnet when the chat beta is up. When I play during the week it's EST afternoons, which is UK evenings. I play EST evenings and nights when I play on weekends... well, actually, I'll play anytime on weekends if the sun ain't shinning. Righ plays WoW nights so I'm generally starved for affection... and groups.

Do I sound pathetic?

Quote from: Signe on February 24, 2005, 02:59:20 AM

This is too easy, but... how about one of these? evil

Quote from: schmoo on February 24, 2005, 05:37:10 AM

This is too easy, but... how about one of these? evil

I'm not sure. I'm not very elderly and I don't much like dolls. I prefer action figures. I'm fascinated by Transformers but they don't seem very cuddly. How dothose things work out for you, gramps?

The doll was okay at first, but after the millionth or so time it said "Aren't you pushing yourself too hard?", I had to hit it a few times with an axe. Then I chucked it in the wood stove.

For any on Freedom, put Captain Pansy and Floodlight on your friends list. I'm usually on with Flood, but once I get her up to 50 I'll probably switch back to Cap and power levelling SG members.

Quote from: Shockeye on February 23, 2005, 11:23:01 AM

It amazes me how much thought they seem to put into things. I don't think they belong in this business.

hehe

Hmm...maybe I should revisit my SR scrapper from beta. I currently have a Dark/Regen scrapper and while he's nifty....I just haven't seen the full power of regen yet, granted he's like lv 10.

My main is a DM/regen. At 35 he cruises through Invincible missions solo with ease. On some missions he'll get around a bubble of xp, so I group only for the entertainment value.