Issue 27 Page 7

See also: Issue 27

February 20th, 2024

General

Marquee Features

• Piecemeal's Personal Story - Issue 27 Finale
• Co-Op Striga Isle & New Villain / Rogue Story Arcs
• Rikti War Zone Revamp - Vanguard Base Expansion
• Advanced Mode - Lady Grey's Task Force

Powers & Gameplay Adjustments

• New Player Experience Improvements
• New Powersets: Arsenal Control & Arsenal Assault
• New Epic / Ancillary Power Pools and Epic Balancing Pass
• Arachnos Soldier / Arachnos Widow Updates & Power Customization
• Sheathed / Holstered Weapons - Now available on all weapon powersets!
• High-Level Council & Circle of Thorns Revamps
• Giant Monster Balancing Pass

Various Adjustments, Improvements & Fixes

• Aether Reward Shop Preview Images + Wave 4
• Team Badges - Task Forces
• New Costume Parts
• New Vanity Pet Invention Recipes
• New Supergroup Base Items
• Loads of bug fixes
• ...and much, much more!

Marquee Features

Piecemeal Issue 27 Finale

'A Second Chance At A First Impression' - Issue 27 Finale - Personal Story, Piecemeal

A strange, archaic and outdated device in the Rikti War Zone has been asking for you by name. If you are ready, you will step into the shoes of Paragon City's newest and most notorious villain as she comes face-to-face with a situation that (for once) she cannot handle. The amount of humble pie she consumes as a result has yet to be accurately calculated.

A new take on the Personal Story, you and your teammates will be forced to assume to the identity of Piecemeal as you navigate a reconstructed simulation of her experience trying to circumvent the protocols in the Paragon City teleport grid - an event that sends her from one place to another uncontrollably before placing you in the heart of a burgeoning apocalypse. Carefully reconstructed from her 360-degree sensor tech and optical recordings by her M.C. of Information, Bile, you will engage in a bit of banter before witnessing the horror hands-on in this Abomination Simulation.

Enjoy some of the canonical reasons for notorious changes, and a heaping bathtub full of foreshadowing!

• CONTACT: Pay Phone
  • Accessing this story arc requires having completing Doc Buzzsaw's newest arc.
• LOCATION: Rikti War Zone, /thumbtack 3230.6 0.1 -513.9
• ALIGNMENT / LEVEL: Any - Level 50
• OUROBOROS / ARC: Hero of the City / Made - 27.95

Co-Op Striga Isle & New Story Arcs

• Striga Isle is now a co-op zone that villains can enter using the Smuggler's Submarine line.
• Added ability for villain characters to queue in LFG for Ernesto Hess and Moonfire's Task Forces.
• Arbiter Mudd has been deployed to just outside the Bog to assist villains in training their powers.

'Buried Secrets' - Oberst Straxt

Oberst Straxt of the 5th Column is seeking unscrupulous villains to infiltrate Striga Isle in order to collect old caches left behind by that organization when the Council took control of the island.

• CONTACT: Oberst Straxt
• LOCATION: Striga Isle, /thumbtack -293.2 -25.5 -1028.0
• ALIGNMENT / LEVEL: Villain, Rogue - Level 20-24
• OUROBOROS / ARC: Insider - 27.90
• Will offer repeatable tasks in addition to their story arc.

'Just Prototypical' - Dr. Francois

Dr. Francois, the famous roboticist, has been freed from his recent bout as a Sky Raider prisoner, working on a giant mech project. Easily intimidated, the doctor can aid an enterprising villain in a daring heist against the Sky Raiders.

• CONTACT: Dr. Francois
• LOCATION: Striga Isle, /thumbtack 104.5 -0.0 -1209.6
• ALIGNMENT / LEVEL: Villain, Rogue - Level 20-24
• OUROBOROS / ARC: Insider - 27.91
• Will offer repeatable tasks in addition to their story arc.

'Negotiations of the Living Dead' - Night Widow Ragana

With the Council in shambles there's a power vacuum on Striga. The Warriors, Family and Sky Raiders want to split the Council territory among themselves, and plan to meet to negotiate terms. Arachnos prefers to have the Council in charge and have sent a Night Widow to handle the situation. Night Widow Ragana needs some expendable and deniable resources to break up the negotiations - permanently.

• CONTACT: Night Widow Ragana
• LOCATION: Striga Isle, /thumbtack -507.2 8.0 -1079.6
• ALIGNMENT / LEVEL: Villain, Rogue - Level 20-24
• OUROBOROS / ARC: Insider - 27.92

'The Most Dangerous Prey' - Orpheus

Orpheus, a Warrior bard of some repute, has specialized in hunting the undead. He is now offering his expertise to those he deem worthy. Since you have recently contracted a mysterious ghost-related curse upon your name, you seek out his help.

• CONTACT: Orpheus
• LOCATION: Striga Isle, /thumbtack -2376.0 0.8 -1957.3
• ALIGNMENT / LEVEL: Villain, Rogue - Level 25-29
• OUROBOROS / ARC: Undesirable - Arc 27.93
• Will offer repeatable tasks in addition to their story arc.

'The Last Witch of Striga' - Mage-Killer Tatiana

Mage-Killer Tatiana is hunting a powerful witch. In order to draw out the near-mythical protector of the island, Tatiana needs someone to stir up trouble among the Banished Pantheon and deal with the local chapter of the Legacy Chain.

• CONTACT: Mage-Killer Tatiana
• LOCATION: Striga Isle, /thumbtack -2640.7 66.7 -3346.5
• ALIGNMENT / LEVEL: Villain, Rogue - Level 25-29
• OUROBOROS / ARC: Undesirable - Arc 27.94

Rikti War Zone Revamp

Vanguard Base Expansion

• The Vanguard base in the zone has been expanded and revamped with several additional new sections added and the base now directly connects to the surface from several points.
• The Architect Entertainment functionalities within the zone have been moved inside one of the Vanguard base's new areas.
• The AE building has been replaced by a Vanguard vehicle depot with lifts that connect to the base underground.
• The Rikti Pylons found throughout the zone now con as Level 54 rather than ignoring level mods.
• Added training Rikti Pylon dummies found outside the Vanguard base that match the old pylons.
• Also added four training dummies that con 50 through 54 found outside the Vanguard base on the surface.
  • The color of the lights near the dummies helps inform how they con.
• Added script to all Vanguard training dummies that reports on death how long it took to defeat them from 100% HP.
  • This includes the summonable Vanguard MDC accolade dummy.
• Vanguard Quartermaster and Combat Nurse added near the training dummies on the surface.
• Merit vendor NPC has been replaced by a merit vendor kiosk.
• Benevolabs hologram vendor has been added near the merit kiosk's location.
• Portal mission doors in the zone have been changed to use the new Portal Corp section of the Vanguard base.
• This Portal Corp section also houses connection to the new travel network for Shadow Shard access from Rikti War Zone.
• Vanguard shooting range targets are once again target-able and can be attacked by players for role playing purposes.
• Info NPC by the base exit now using a Vanguard outfit.

The Vanguard are preparing! But for what?

Shadow Shard Portal

• Now accessible via a new travel network that links: Rikti War Zone, Peregrine Island, and Firebase Zulu.
• This new travel network has a unique icon that can be found on the mini map as 'Shadow Shard Portal'.

Look for the red icon!

Advanced Mode - Lady Grey's Task Force

• Advanced Difficulty Mode label shortened to Advanced Mode.
• Advanced Mode added to the Lady Grey's Task Force, accessible via the Challenge Mode options found before starting the Task Force.
  • This mode significantly changes the content, adding new rewards, enemies, boss encounters, areas, and badges.

This new Advanced Mode is out of this world!

• Completing Lady Grey's Task Force on Advanced Mode will reward players with an added choice of 40 Reward Merits or a random Hamidon Origin Enhancement from a pool including expanded combos that match the D-Sync Origin's enhancement selection.
• Enhancements are weighted so chances are higher (2:1) to receive one of the new combos:
  • Vesicle Exposure (End Mod/Rech)
  • Stereocilia Exposure (Slow/Rech/End)
  • Microtubule Exposure (End Mod/Acc)
  • Karyoplasm Exposure (Dam/End)
  • Microvillus Exposure (Acc/Range)
  • Chromatin Exposure (Dam/Rech)
  • Ectosome Exposure (Threat/Acc/Rech)
  • Amyloplast Exposure (Rech/Heal/Absorb)
  • Chloroplast Exposure (Acc/Heal/Absorb)

Team Badges - Task Forces

New Badge Checks

• New category of bonuses added to Task Forces that are always enabled by default. This automatically checks if the team meets any composition criteria to reward the earned badge.
• Team badges function by checking team members as they enter the mission, if a player does not enter any missions they are not counted for the check.
  • Teams that meet the criteria described are automatically granted the badge upon the content's completion.
  • Qualifying teams for these badges will be notified by a small icon appearing near their challenge status icons.
    • File:Icon role diversity hero.png / File:Icon role diversity villain.png Role Diversity - Complete the content on a team with Archetypes that fulfill all five roles.
    • File:Icon archetype duplication.png Archetype Duplication - Complete the content with a team of 4 or more using only the same Archetype.
• This feature is only for associated badges and does not change any other rewards granted by the content.

Teamwork makes the dream work!

External Links

• Issue 27, Page 7