Issue 10

This article contains information that may not apply to the current version of Homecoming: City of Heroes/Villains. It is provided for historical purposes.

Overview

Issue 10, titled Invasion was a major revision to City of Heroes and City of Villains released on Tuesday, July 24, 2007. The title refers to the Second Rikti Invasion (the First Rikti Invasion occurred during City of Heroes Beta). Other important features included the Rikti Crash Site getting an update (including an update to the looks of the Rikti faction), and a rework of Sonic Resonance's graphics due to player request.

This article summarizes some of the major features in Issue 10. For more complete details, see the release date's patch notes.

• Closed Beta testing on the Training Room for Issue 10 started on June 13, 2007.
• On June 27, 2007, the Training Room was opened up for Issue 10 Open Beta.
• Issue 10 was released to the Live Servers on July 24, 2007.

Patch Notes

Issue 10: INVASION!

The skies over Paragon City are filled with dark grey thunderheads. It is the same in the Rogue Isles, Europe, and across the globe. Small ships dart through the heavy weather … and there are so very many of them.

The Rikti have returned.

HEADLINES

Rikti World Invasion: The Rikti Return! The worst has happened! Can we stop them? The Vanguard needs YOU! All super powered beings are encouraged to join the effort! This isn’t about your history, but about OUR future. Join now.

Rikti War Zone: The region previously known as the Crash Site has erupted into a War Zone! All non-combatants are advised to stay well clear of the area!

Rikti Co-op Task Force: The UNSC backs Vanguard for billions. With the second Rikti invasion in full swing, the United Nations Security Council has essentially given Vanguard a blank check to cover the costs of fighting the Rikti, “We don’t have time to haggle over budgets,” says a senior level official in the UNSC. “Vanguard has always been about defeating the Rikti, no matter what. We fully support Lady Grey and her team.”

Invasion!

• The Rikti have somehow found a way to bridge the dimensional gap between their world and ours once again and are staging raids on Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.
• When Zones within the cities are under attack, a world-wide alert will be issued by Vanguard. This alert will show up in your Chat window, warning you in which zone attack is imminent.
• Citizens and Heroes/Villains in that zone that do not wish to be at risk of Rikti attack are asked to take shelter immediately. They can do so by leaving the zone, or moving inside buildings, or under cover (overpasses, parking garages, etc.)
• Rikti bombs are not 100% reliable. Some do not explode on impact, and only imbed themselves in the ground. These bombs will detonate after a time, so take caution when you see these. They can be disarmed or delayed by inflicting damage upon them.

Rikti Crash Site is now Rikti War Zone

This zone is now Co-Operative, Heroes and Villains can both enter into the zone. They will both arrive into the zone in the Vanguard Base that has been established there.

Entry points can be found in Vanguard Bases in the following zones:

Paragon City:

• Atlas Park
• Founders' Falls
• Peregrine Island

Rogue Isles:

• Cap au Diable
• St. Martial
• Grandville

The SWAT entrance from Crey's Folly is sealed, and the portal from Peregrine Island has been removed. (The Vanguard facility is near the Ferry, on the opposite end of Peregrine Island from Portal Corporation, and is not the same portal.)

• The zone is now scaled for levels 35 to 50.
• When you enter the zone, Levantera, one of the directors of Vanguard, will be auto-issued to you as a contact. Complete her missions to get a feel for the area, as well as be inducted as an honorary member of Vanguard.
• Borea has repeatable missions for you in the Rikti War Zone.
• Other characters that have missions available are Gaussian, Dark Watcher, and Serpent Drummer. They can all be found in the Vanguard Base
• Lady Grey hands out a Strike/Task Force that attempts to stop the Rikti before they can get a foothold in our dimension. Be wary, the Rikti are single-minded in the pursuit of their objectives!
• By joining Vanguard you will earn Vanguard Merits for defeating Rikti as well as completing missions for Vanguard. These Merits can be exchanged for Costume Pieces (of the Vanguard Armor), as well as some other cool stuff. The device for purchasing these items is located within the Vanguard base.

Take the fight to the crashed Rikti ship!

• The Rikti have popped up energy pylons throughout the area surrounding their crashed ship in the Rikti War Zone.
• Destroying enough of these pylons will lower the shield on the Rikti mothership in the zone.
• Heroes and Villains are asked to plant explosives inside the ventilation systems of the ship to cripple the repair effort that the Rikti are putting into the ship.
• Characters that participate with this will be rewarded with Vanguard Merits.

Rikti Villain Group Revamp

• The Rikti Villain group has undergone an art and powers revamp.
• The new art vastly upgrades the look of the Rikti and now allows us to use more animations with the Rikti soldiers.
• One major change is the Rikti swords now have a ranged energy weapon in them, allowing them to use both melee and ranged attacks without switching weapons.

Powers

Added support for villain archetypes for Kheldian inherent bonus powers. Here is the new help text:

• Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Warshades’ absorbing nature allows them to draw on the power of their teammates’ power to increase their own. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Stalker, Brute or Blaster teammate. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited Protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power.
• Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Peacebringers’ metamorphic nature allows them to bring balance to their team. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Brute, Stalker or Blaster teammate. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited Protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power.
• Jack Frost pets and Animated Stone pets should be more willing to engage in melee combat due to a change to their AI values.
• Crey Juggernauts will turn off their Personal Force Field after 15 seconds rather than leaving it on indefinitely.
• Bitter Ice Freeze Ray’s attack time has been shortened from 3.7 seconds to 2.5 seconds for both Blasters and Corruptors

Power Effects

• Super Strength — Added minor camera shake on hit FX based on player feedback
• Ice Armor — Minor change to Chilling Embrace FX based on player feedback
• Graphical effects for Ice Armor powers have been modified to improve performance by reducing redundant effects.
• Corrected an issue with Piston Boots steam effects so that they no longer pick up incorrect tinting from the costume piece.
• Stone Melee/Hurl Boulder and Super Strength/Hurl — slight tweak to improve performance.
• Minor camera shake added to all Super Strength hit effects.
• New geometry and effects for the Blackwand temporary/veteran power.
• New graphical effects for Sonic Resonance.

Costumes

• Miniskirt 1 tweaked a little.
• Female Dragon Wings sized up a little.
• Female Burned Wings moved up and in a little.
• Female Cap reweighted to reduce clipping.
• Small Padded Glove for females have pad on both hands.
• Masks fixed for Full Helms/Chitin.
• Neck on Full Helmets reweighted to reduce clipping.
• Peg Leg and Pirate Hook now available for females.
• Tech Sleek Boots available in more categories.
• Greek letters unified.
• New Bunny Tail for females. There was much hopping!
• Female Hellenic Sandals reweighted to fix clipping issues.

Badges

• Coralax Gladiator badge should now correctly count all Coralax bosses toward badge progression.
• Supergroup Fusion Generator badge is no longer given for time spent in PvP zones; it is now given for 750 PvP kills while in supergroup mode.

Rewards

• Costume Piece Recipes have been moved into their own drop pool and the chance of getting one has been increased. Costume Piece Recipes will ONLY drop off of Minion-level entities. Lieutenants and higher have no chance of giving out a costume recipe.

Auction House

• Fixed bug that sometimes prevented the highest bid from winning an auction, or prevented the lowest offer from being sold first.

CITY OF HEROES

Power Effects

• Peacebringer effects are updated to improve performance.

CITY OF VILLAINS

Powers

• Fixed an issue with Brute Energy Punch which could cause it to generate Fury much faster than designed.

Graphical Effects

• Drain Psyche effect altered slightly to improve performance.

See Also

• Issue 10 Badges

External Links

• Official Feature Overview
• "We Were Not Alone"
• Dev Diary #1: Building the Story
• Dev Diary #2: Turning Literature into Content
• Vanguard Briefing