Issue 20

Overview

File:Issue20banner.jpg

Issue 20, Incarnates, will be a major revision to City of Heroes and City of Villains. The title references new endgame content for Incarnates; other items included are Leagues, upgrades to Looking for Group, and one new Task Force and one new Strike Force.

This article summarizes the major features in Issue 20.

• Open Beta testing for the Behavioral Adjustment Facility went from February 16, 2011, to XXX.
• Open Beta testing for the Lambda Sector went from XXX to XXX.

Confirmed Content

Taken from the official Incarnates Overview and the Issue 20 Beta Patch Notes. Features related to Incarnates require require the City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion.

With Issue 20: Incarnates, Heroes and Villains must push themselves to new levels of power in order to protect the world. The Well of the Furies, a sentient source of cosmic super powers, has started taking an active role in the universe again, but appears to have gone mad! It has empowered Emperor Cole, ruler of Praetoria, with nearly limitless energy. Emperor Cole has shared his newly imbued power with his lieutenants, turning them from already powerful Archvillains into cosmic menaces.

The Heroes of Paragon City® and the Villains the Rogue Isles® have faced the likes of Marauder, Mother Mayhem, Nightstar, and Siege in the past, but now each of these Praetorians possesses the power of an army. Only a dedicated group of Incarnates stands a chance of defeating them.

Emperor Cole's ultimate goal is not to hold ultimate sway over our Earth, but to conquer the entire multiverse. Until the Heroes and Villains master their new Incarnate powers, they won't be able to take on Cole, but they can slow him down. The first strike against Emperor Cole lies in weakening his powerbase in Praetoria.

New Incarnate Slots

The following slots are now accessible: Alpha, Interface, Judgement, Lore and Destiny. All powers in all slots are accessible. Incarnate slots can be unlocked by earning Incarnate XP from standard enemy kills inside the Incarnate Trials. Various Incarnate Trials provide Physical or Psychic Incarnate XP which unlocks one or the other tracks of slots. Incarnate XP can also be earned by sacrificing Incarnate Sub-components.

The recipes for abilities in the four new slots and the new recipes for Alpha abilities require the new components which can only be found in the Incarnate Trials. The earlier Alpha component recipes are still valid but are no longer the only way to obtain those abilities. Likewise, it is now possible to unlock the Alpha slot by earning Incarnate XP in the trials.

• The Interface slot contains a variety of powers which provide global proc debuffs which apply to all powers. These procs will be applied directly to almost every enhanceable damaging power. The debuffs from this power stack globally – that is, multiple characters with the same Interface equipped share the same debuff stack on their foes. This slot does not provide a level shift.
• The Judgement slot contains a variety of large-scale AOE damaging powers with powerful secondary effects. Judgement powers are unaffected by standard character buffs to damage or to hit, but have a high base accuracy and are affected by global enhancements such as those provided by the Alpha and Interface slot. Judgement power damage is unaffected by archetype damage mods, and the recharge of Judgement powers cannot be buffed or debuffed. This slot does not provide a level shift.
• The Lore slot provides access to summonable essences of defeated Praetorian foes to fight for you. Unlike normal summon powers, these allies are controllable using the Mastermind control interface, even for non-Masterminds. The recharge of Lore powers cannot be buffed or debuffed. Rare and Very Rare powers in this slot provide a level shift.
• The Destiny slot contains a variety of large-scale defensive AOE powers which provide healing, protection, or buffs to friendlies within a large radius. The strength and duration of these buffs is unaffected by archetype buff mods, and the recharge of Destiny powers cannot be buffed or debuffed. Rare and Very Rare powers in this slot provide a level shift.

Behavioral Adjustment Facility

The Behavioral Adjustment Facility (B.A.F.) is where Mother Mayhem has been experimenting on captured Resistance fighters and mind-washing them into becoming psychic sleeper agents. These sleeper agents have been infected with a contagious psychic virus intended to spread throughout the Resistance, turning all of Emperor's Cole's enemies into mindless slaves.

Nightstar and Siege, wardens of the B.A.F., are ready to unleash the prisoners into the general populace. They've staged a "breakout" to allow the mind-washed resistance fighters to escape into the underground tunnels of Praetoria and infect the populace.

Nightstar and Siege share a networked connection that enables them to react and move with near-perfect synchronization. The two work so well in unison that they must be defeated simultaneously.

The B.A.F. event requires a minimum of 12 players to start the event; and a maximum of 24 players.

Lambda Sector

Within Neutropolis lies the Lambda Sector fortress, a critical component of Emperor Cole's war machinery. Emperor Cole's Olympian Guard are born, trained, and housed in Lambda Sector. It is critical that this facility be destroyed and the Olympian Guard program scrapped. Heroes want to destroy these operations, while Villains will also be there grabbing as much Incarnate-touched power as they can in the sabotage process.

If the new Incarnates succeed in infiltrating the Lambda Sector fortress, they must still face off against the cosmically empowered Marauder. Luckily, they can use the captured war material against him to help bring down the "Big Dog."

The Lambda Sector requires a minimum of 8 players to start the event; and has a maximum of 16 players.

New Level 20-40 Task Forces

Though the new Incarnates are at the forefront of the fight against the Well of the Furies and Emperor Cole, even non-Incarnates are pulled into the battle.

Hero Task Force

The Sky is Falling

In preparation for the invasion of Primal Earth, Colonel Duray of the Praetorian Army has led a special operations team to establish a bulwark in Paragon City. He has a unique ally, his Primal Earth counterpart, Colonel Duray, leader of the Sky Raiders.

The two Durays plan to strike Talos Island and Skyway City and break the spirit of the resistance against Emperor Cole. The newly risen Incarnate Heroes have their hands full facing Emperor's Cole's lieutenants in Praetoria, and they are relying on up-and-coming Heroes in this Task Force to protect our world.

Villain Strike Force

The Fire and the Flames

The chaos created by the Well of the Furies presents an opportunity for the Villains of the Rogue Isles to seize new Incarnate powers for themselves. The Flames of Prometheus, a legendary Incarnate artifact, can grant its owner some of the power of the Well of the Furies. However, Positron of the Freedom Phalanx guards the Flames of Prometheus. But everyone, even the mighty Positron, has a weakness to exploit with the proper leverage.

The Villains scheme will pit them against the mystical guardians of the Midnight Squad, the Circle of Thorns, the Warriors, and the heroes of the Freedom Phalanx in a bold attempt to seize the Flames of Prometheus. If they succeed, they could earn a rare reward that puts them on the path to becoming an Incarnate.

New Group Play Features

Leagues

Issue 20 introduces Leagues to City of Heroes®. A League is a much larger group of characters. Formerly, the largest team size was up to 8 characters. Now, characters can form or join groups of up to 48 characters. Leagues can be formed anywhere in Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, or Praetoria, for any purpose from attacks on the Rikti Mothership to costume contests.

Upgraded Looking For Group

We've made a major upgrade in the Looking For Group function. Players can now sign up for an Incarnate Trial almost anywhere in Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, or Praetoria (the exceptions are Super Group Bases, PvP Zones, or while running instanced missions or Task Forces/Strike Forces). When enough characters for an Incarnate Trial are queued, the characters are teleported to the instance and automatically formed into a League. (This feature is currently only available for Incarnate Trials on the same server.)

Quality of Life Enhancements

Respec Badges

Heroes and Villains who have changed alignments can now collect all six respec trial badges. No new respecs will be granted.

Travel Improvements

Black Helicopters have been added to Port Oakes and Sharkhead Isle. Furthermore, additional Black Helicopters have been added to Nerva Archipelago and Grandville.

Gallery

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Notes

Release Scheduled for early 2011

External Links

• Official Feature Update on cityofheroes.com
• A Sneak Peek into Issue 20 - The Behavioral Adjustment Facility