Issue 27 Page 5

See also: Issue 27

October 18th, 2022

General

Marquee Features

• Sentinel Archetype Revamp
• Sentinel Proliferation: Seismic Blast & Stone Armor
• Dominator Proliferation: Illusion Control
• PvP in Supergroup Bases

Powers & Gameplay Adjustments

• Powerset Revamps:
  • Masterminds: Mercenaries, Necromancy, Ninjas, and Robotics.
  • Melee: Battle Axe and Fiery Melee
  • Armor: Fiery Aura
  • Support: Force Fields
• Quality of Life Changes:
  • Level Availability Changes
  • Stealth Toggle Exclusivity Removal

Character Customization Improvements

• Holstered Weapon System (Arachnos, Assault, Munition, Mercenary Mastermind Rifles)
• Wave 2 Aether Prestige Rewards:
  • Tier 1 - Standard Costume Selection Expanded
  • Tier 2 - Legacy Costumes Enabled + Selection Expanded
  • Tier 3 - Premium Costumes Enabled + 'Effect' Reward Additions
  • Tier 4 - Deluxe Costumes Added
  • Pet Functionality added to Aether accolade macro

Various Additions & Enhancements

• New Mini Signature vanity pet additions
• ...and much more!

Marquee Features

Sentinel Archetype Revamp

Changes to Sentinel Attributes:

• Ranged and Melee Damage Modifiers increased from 0.95 to 1.10 (15.8% base damage increase to all attacks).
• Fixed PvP Ranged Damage Modifier (50% stronger). Adjusted any damage scales that were set 50% too high to compensate.
• Base Perception increased from 500' to 550' (10% base perception increase, all other ATs are 500').
• Max Perception increased from 1153' to 1268.3' (10% max perception increase, matches Soldiers of Arachnos).

Changes to Sentinel Inherent:

• Sentinels have an inherent resistance to Perception and ToHit debuffs (10%).
• Opportunity builds automatically at a rate of 100% per minute.
• Sentinels now have an inherent power called Vulnerability:
  • Vulnerability consumes 50% of your Opportunity to debuff a single target for 15 seconds.
  • Vulnerability is Auto-Hit and ignores level differences.
  • Vulnerability debuffs the following:
    • Damage Resistance
    • Defense
    • Mez Resistance
    • Stealth
    • Resistance to Endurance, Endurance Discount, Recovery, Regeneration, ToHit, and Recharge
• Removed old Opportunity Debuff Effects/Modes from T1/T2 powers.
• Removed old Inherent Proc.
• Removed old Offensive/Defensive Opportunity Modes.

Other changes:

• Consistency pass completed on powers not following Sentinel design rules.
• Opportunity Strikes proc now ignores combat mods (purple patch).
• To normalize the changes made to the Sentinel inherent, Opportunity Strikes proc now grants 7.5 opportunity for Regular and 10.0 opportunity for Superior.

Sentinel Proliferation: Seismic Blast

• New primary for Sentinels. This version does not have the Tombstone power. Instead it is replaced with Gravestone.

You can manipulate earth and stone to defeat your foes. The crushing force of many Earth Powers can reduce a target's Defense.

Being of the Earth, you are the most powerful while on the ground. While grounded, your attacks increase Seismic Pressure. As your Seismic Pressure increases, the cooldown of other Seismic Blast attacks is reduced and your chances of triggering Seismic Shockwaves around you also increase. These Seismic Shockwaves will have a chance of knocking back foes and, while standing on the ground, empower some of your attacks. Rock Shards will have its area and damage increased. Seismic Force will decrease the cooldown of all recharging Seismic Blast attacks by a moderate amount. Stalagmite will deal a large amount of damage.

Powers:

• Encase Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Jump, -Fly, -DEF
  • Encase a foe in stone for a short moment, dealing damage and lowering their defense. They will also become heavy, limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time.
  • Encase grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure.
• Shatter Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Jump, -Fly, -DEF
  • Cover a foe in stone shards and shatter them, inflicting light damage and lowering their defense. They will also become heavy, limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time.
  • Shatter grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure.
• Rock Shards Ranged Cone, DMG(Lethal), -Defense, Special
  • You launch a volley of stone shards at your target in a sweeping cone. These shards stab into the target, causing lethal damage. They will also continue to suffer additional lethal damage over time.
  • If affected by Seismic Shockwaves, this power will halt the shockwaves, the up front damage will be increased and damage over time accelerated, foes will be knocked down, range will be increased to 60ft and arc to 40 degrees.
  • Rock Shards grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure.
• Entomb Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Jump, -Fly, -DEF
  • Entomb foes in a big boulder, dealing high damage and lowering their defense. They will also become heavy, limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time.
  • Entomb grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure.
• Seismic Force Self +To Hit, +DMG, +Range, +Special
  • Greatly increases the chance to hit of your attacks for a few seconds. Slightly increases damage and range.
  • If affected by Seismic Shockwaves, this power will halt the shockwaves and will decrease the cooldown of all recharging Seismic Blast attacks by a moderate amount.
• Upthrust Targeted AoE, DMG(Smashing), -Fly, -Defense, Chance to Knockdown
  • You channel seismic energy into the earth, causing a micro-fault to erupt under your target. This causes a shard of rock to thrust upward out of the ground, dealing smashing damage and lowering their defense. Affected foes will become heavy, limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time. The force of the eruption can knockback enemies.
  • Upthrust grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure.
• Gravestone Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Jump, -Fly
  • Create a giant pillar of stone, creating a Gravestone around your target dealing extreme damage and limiting their ability to jump and fly for a short time.
  • Gravestone grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure.
• Stalagmite Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe Disorient, Special
  • You can cause a Stalagmite to erupt under an enemy dealing minimal Lethal damage and Disorienting them for a good while. You must be on the ground to activate this power.
  • If affected by Seismic Shockwaves, this power will halt the shockwaves and deal extreme damage.
  • Stalagmite grants two stacks of Seismic Pressure.
• Meteor Ranged (Location AoE), DMG(Smashing) Foe Knockback
  • You call down a meteor strike from the sky at a specified location. All targets within 30' are caught in the blast radius, taking extreme damage and being knocked back.
  • Note: This power uses the knock vector system. You'll notice the foes will be knocked up and back.

Sentinel Proliferation: Stone Armor

• New secondary for Sentinels. This version of the set does not get access to Mud Pots. Instead, it has a new power called Terra Firma.

You can transform your skin into various forms of rock and stone. Stone Armor is one of the few Sentinel Defensive Power Sets that offers defense to Psionics.

Powers:

• Rock Armor Toggle: Self +DEF(Lethal, Smashing), Res(DeBuff DEF)
  • Your skin becomes stone while this power is active. Stone Armor protects you from Smashing and Lethal attacks. They are less likely to land and affect you. Stone Armor also grants you resistance to Defense DeBuffs.
• Stone Skin Auto: Self +Res(All but Psionics), +DEF(All but Psionics)
  • Your tough skin is naturally resistant to most types of damage. This power is always on and costs no Endurance.
• Earth's Embrace Self +HP, Res(Toxic)
  • You are so connected to the Earth, you can draw upon its power to add to your health. Activating this power increases your maximum Hit Points, and grants you resistance to Toxic Damage.
• Terra Firma Auto: Self + To Hit, +ACC, +Range, Res(ToHit)
  • Being on solid ground allows you to more carefully aim your attack for optimal range. This power increases your chance to hit, accuracy, and range of your attacks and makes you more resistant to To-Hit debuffs, but only applies when you are near the ground.
• Rooted Toggle: Self +Res(Knockback, Sleep, Disorient, Hold, End Drain, DeBuff DEF), +Regeneration
  • While this power is active, you merge with the Earth and draw forth its power to become resistant to Knockback, Sleep, Hold, Disorient and Endurance Drain effects, and increase your Hit Point Regeneration rate. Rooted also grants you resistance to Defense DeBuffs.
• Crystal Armor Toggle: Self +Recovery, +DEF(Energy, Negative), Res(DeBuff DEF)
  • While this power is active, your skin becomes encrusted in various quartz crystals. Crystal Armor makes Energy and Negative Energy attacks less likely to hit. This power also grants you an Endurance recovery buff and resistance to Defense DeBuffs.
  • Crystal Armor also adds an Elusivity defense bonus to Energy and Negative Energy Attacks in PVP zones.
• Minerals Toggle: Self +Recharge, +DEF(Psionic), Res(Confuse), +Perception
  • Activating this power summons several rare earth rock Minerals to orbit around you. These Minerals can disperse thought patterns and make Psionic attacks less likely to hit. They also bring clarity of the mind increasing the recharge time of your powers, increasing your perception, and making you resistant to Confusion.
• Brimstone Armor Toggle: Self +Res(Fire, Cold, Toxic), +Special
  • While this power is active, your skin becomes encrusted in cracked magma. Brimstone Armor makes you highly resistant to Fire, Cold and Toxic damage, and helps your attacks set enemies on fire, delivering damage over time.
  • Notes on the damage over time from Brimstone Proc:
    • The DoT damage uses AT modifiers: Ranged_Damage for attacks with base ranges > 20 ft and Melee_Damage otherwise.
    • The DoT damage is scaled based on the attack's cast time (scales between 0 and 3 seconds). This mostly ensures a constant DPS increase despite the speed of one's attacks.
• Geode Toggle: Self +Regeneration, +Recovery, Invulnerable; Self Hold
  • When you activate this power, you encase yourself in various protective mineral layers that can absorb incoming damage while you heal and recover endurance at an incredible rate. You can emerge at will by deactivating the power, but you cannot stay in this Geode for more than 30 seconds. If enemies inflict enough damage, they might break you out of this effect.
  • If Brimstone Armor is owned, this power will also grant Geothermal Power every 2 seconds, increasing the damage inflicted by Brimstone's Fire by 8% per stack.
  • Note: The Geothermal Powers should last for 60s and can stack up to 15 times. This gives the Brimstone Proc damage a 2.2x boost at max strength.

Dominator Proliferation: Illusion Control

• New primary for Dominators. This version of the set does not get access to Spectral Wounds nor Group Invisibility. Instead, it has new powers called Spectral Wall and Gleam. Also, Dominator's version of Phantom Army has its pets not taunt, but rather have attacks utilizing mez and soft control effects.

You can manipulate light and sound to manifest all sorts of Illusions, aiding your allies as well as deceiving your foes.

Powers:

• Blind Ranged (Targeted AoE), DMG(Psionic), Foe Hold/Sleep
  • Painfully Blinds a single targeted foe so severely that they are rendered helpless. Blind is so bright that additional foes may also be blinded, though they will not take any damage, and attacking them will free them from the effects.
• Spectral Wall Ranged, DoT (Psionic), Foe Immobilize, -ToHit
  • Creates an illusionary wall of specters that prevents enemies from moving. As the foe is surrounded, they take psionic damage over time.
• Deceive Ranged, Foe Confuse
  • You can Deceive an enemy into believing their friends are not who they appear to be. If successful, the enemy will ignore you and attack their own allies. If you Deceive someone before they have noticed you, your presence will continue to be masked. You will not receive any Experience Points for foes defeated by a Deceived enemy.
• Spectral Terror Summon Terror: Ranged Fear, -ToHit
  • You can create an illusion of unspeakable Terror. The manifestation is so horrible that it caused most foes to tremble helplessly in terror. The Spectral Terror may also Terrify individual foes, causing them to run away in panic.
• Superior Invisibility Toggle: Self Stealth, +DEF(All)
  • You can bend light around yourself to become completely Invisible. While this power is active, you are all but impossible to detect, and have an extremely high Defense bonus to all attacks. Superior Invisibility is the only toggle invisibility power that allows you to attack while it is active, although you will lose some of your defense bonus if you do so.
• Gleam Ranged (Targeted AoE), DMG(Psionic), Foe Disorient
  • Multiple flashing lights go off around enemies, disorienting and damaging them. Gleam deals minimal Psionic damage, and can Disorient all affected targets for a good while.
• Phantom Army Summon Decoys: Ranged DMG(Psionic)
  • You can fabricate 3 Phantom heroes around a targeted foe. These Phantoms are not real, and are indestructible. Though they deal damage, it is illusory and will heal if the victim survives long enough. Phantoms are short lived and cannot be buffed or healed.
• Flash PBAoE, Foe Hold
  • Generates a brilliant flash of light around you that blinds nearby foes. Flashed foes are rendered helpless and unable to defend themselves.
• Phantasm Summon Phantasm: Ranged, DMG(Smash/Energy/Psionic)
  • You can construct a powerful entity composed of pure light. Although made of light, the Phantasm is tangible and has powerful Energy attacks. The Phantasm can also fly and summon duplicates of itself. The duplicates are intangible, and cannot be harmed. The duplicates' attacks deal illusory damage similar to that dealt by Spectral Wounds. Only the original Phantasm can be healed and buffed. Type /release_pets in the chat window to release all your pets.

PvP in Supergroup Bases

(Big thanks to CR America's Angel for the guide / write-up! )

• PvP raid functionality has been added to supergroup bases.
• This is not the same legacy base raiding that existed briefly back in Issue 6, but rather the ability to initiate PvP activities within supergroup bases.
• Below is a how-to guide for setting it up:

To activate them you need to make a supergroup and make a base. Make sure you have "Begin Raid" enabled in the supergroup member permissions:

Once you've done that, load into your base and press the raid button:

Once you've done that, you can select from the following options:

• First pick the type of raid:
  • Team Deathmatch = Win points by defeating players.
  • Capture The Flag = Not currently active.
  • Control Points = Not currently active.
• Then pick the settings:
  • Free-For-All (FFA) = FFA, but you can team up with other players and they will con friendly. (Functions the same way the Warburg PVP zone works.)
  • Defenders vs. Attackers = Supergroup members (and people they are teamed with) vs everyone else.

Once you click "Begin Raid" a 30s countdown will begin:

• You can start hitting people from the 10 min mark.
• The timer box thing will also have a dynamic scorecard that updates as you play.
• The number of kills each player has scored is on the left hand side, and the highest possible score on the right hand side. (Set by whoever is currently leading the kill-count.)

For Free-For-All:

For Attackers vs. Defenders:

After the raid is over, you'll get a scorecard that shows how many times you killed someone, how many times were killed, and the all-important kill/death ratio:

Building for PvP in Bases

• Two new revive rings have been added to the base editor under Arcane Medical and Tech Medical settings:

• They allow you to set respawn points:
  • Revive Rings (Raid) = Attackers in Attackers vs Defenders
  • Revive Rings (Regular) = Defenders in Attackers vs. Defenders or Everyone in regular Free-For-All
• If no revive rings are placed, players will respawn at the base portal.
• Heroes and villains can now team in bases.
• When PvP is active in a base, the following commands are disabled:
  • /stuck
  • /enterbasefrompasscode
  • /editbase
• /arenalist, using the LFG queue, and using the "teleport to contact" feature have not been disabled. (As these all still work in Arena/PvP zones just fine.)
• NPCs that sell inspirations should be disabled. (As in, you cannot have the store open during a raid.)
• All storage (enhancement bins, salvage bins, etc) except the Vault has been disabled. (As they allow players to force a mapserver in high item bases.)
• The Dimensional Shard and Base Portal have been tweaked a little to stop them from interfering with revive rings. I'd advise base builders to check that these items aren't misbehaving. (They seemed to work fine from all my testing.)
• Items that can be destroyed (turrets, etc) respawn when the base resets. A "base reset" is when the base has been empty for 15 minutes and the zone unloads.
• Vandalism to bases is not possible.
• Placed NPCs can be hit, but they are indestructible. This is working as intended.

Powers & Gameplay Adjustments

Powerset Revamps

Mercenaries

Henchmen

• Their entire power repertoire revamped.
• Powers have been added, adjusted, and replaced.

Burst, Slug, and M30 Grenade

• Each of these attacks applies a Focused Fire tag on the target for 30s.
• Each power's tag will increase Mercenary ranged damage by 3.33%, up to a maximum of 10%.

Equip Mercenary

• Henchmen passive resistances have been moved to this upgrade.
• Equip Mercenary now accepts Resistance sets and enhancements.
• By slotting this power with resistance enhancements, players will be able to improve the henchmen's passive resistances.

Tactical Upgrade

• This power now grants henchmen passive Ranged and AoE defenses.
• Now accepts Defense sets and enhancements, will boost henchmen defenses.
• By slotting this power with defense enhancements, players will be able to improve the henchmen's passive defenses.

Serum

• Power can now only be activated when targeting a mercenary, can no longer be accidentally wasted by targeting a different pet like Dark Servant
• Power now buffs all henchmen (animation only plays on main target).
• Recharge reduced from 1000 seconds to 250 seconds.
• Power no longer has a crash.
• The power now grants strong defensive and offensive buffs that slowly decay over a one minute window.

Necromancy

Henchmen

• Powers have been adjusted for area and duration.

Dark Blast, Gloom, Life Drain

• These powers now have a 70% chance to summon a Spectral Minion to your side!
• These Specters are temporary, lasting a maximum of 90 seconds as their health fades away by the second.
• These Specters cannot be healed or regenerate, but have decent resistance to all damage and defense against AoE attacks.
• These Specters cannot be commanded or upgraded, but slotting your personal attacks will improve their attack stats.
• Each attack can only summon one Specter, for a maximum of 3 if all attacks are used.

Zombie Horde

• Can no longer be slotted with heal enhancements or sets.

Grave Knights

• Can no longer be slotted with heal enhancements or sets.

Lich

• Can no longer be slotted with heal enhancements or sets.

Enchant Undead

• Henchmen passive resistances have been moved to this upgrade.
• Enhant Undead now accepts Resistance sets and enhancements.
• Lich's Petrifying Gaze has been moved to this upgrade, no longer grants Life Drain to the Lich.
• Resistances now grant mag 1 Hold and Immobilize protection, as well as 50% resistance to Stun/Hold/Immobilize.

Dark Empowerment

• Now accepts Healing sets and enhancements.
• Lich's Life Drain have been moved to this upgrade, no longer grants Petrifying Gaze to the Lich.
• Slotting this power with heal enhancements will enhance Life Drain's heal.
• Dark Empowerment range increased from 30' to 50'.
• Grants a 15% max HP (half enhanceable) to all henchmen.

Soul Extraction

• Recharge lowered form 600s to 150s.
• End cost lowered from 30 to 15.
• Only works on active Henchmen, not Specters.
• Will extract the soul from each Henchman for 30s before the Souls vanish.
• The extracted souls are still linked to their bodily hosts, if the host of a soul is defeated, the soul will also be defeated.
  • Extracted Souls
    • No longer use Phase Shift
    • Now have 13% positional defenses, not enhanceable.

Ninja

Henchmen

• All ninjas now have a chance to crit at all times
• This chance starts at 0% but can be increased via upgrades and personal attacks
• Maximum crit chance outside of smoke flash is 15%

Snap Shot, Aimed Shot, and Fistful of Arrows

• Each of these attacks now grants a 3% chance for henchmen to crit for 30s.
• The chance does not stack from the same power but each power can stack together, for up to +9% chance if all powers are used.

Smoke Flash

• Recharge increased to 90s from 20s
• Duration lowered from 10s to 3s
• No longer requires a target
• Now hides all Ninja Henchmen, providing 100% chance to crit to the squad for 3s.

Kuji-In Zen (now Kuji-In Sha)

• This power now grants Kuji-In Sha (self heal) to all ninjas.
• This power can be slotted with heal sets and enhancements, those will enhance your ninja's passives.
• This power increases ninjas chance to crit by an additional 3% at all times.

Train Ninjas

• This power now grants +defense passives to ninjas.
• This power can now be slotted with defense sets and enhancements, those will enhance your ninja's passives.
• This power increases ninja's chance to crit by an additional 3% at all times.

Robotics

Henchmen

• Cast Times trimmed across the board (including personal attacks)
• Assault Bot no longer applies -regen, this effect is now applied by the Mastermind personal attacks.
• Henchmen have had their list of powers revamped, adding a few new powers to improve overall damage.
• Protector Bots summon power no longer accept heal enhancements.
• Henchmen no longer have resistances out of the box, Equip Robot is needed to get them.

Pulse Rifle Blast, Pulse Rifle Burst, and Photon Grenade

• These powers all now apply a -200% regeneration debuff
• Pulse Rifle Blast cast time lowered from 1.87s to 1s
• Pulse Rifle Burst cast time lowered from 1.87s to 1.1s

Repair (now Maintenance Drone)

• Power has been replaced by Maintenance Drone.
• Maintenance Drone will use its own health to heal your other robots. It can't be healed and does not regenerate HP.
• Once it depletes its health, it will self destruct dealing minor damage.
• This power no longer accepts Endurance Modification enhancements or sets.

Equip Robot

• Now grants passive resistances to henchmen.
• Can be enhanced by slotting the power with resistance sets and enhancements.

Upgrade Robot

• Now grants Repair to Protector Bots
• Can be enhanced by slotting the power with Healing sets and enhancements.

Battle Axe

Power Order

• Brutes/Scrappers: Beheader, Chop, Gash, Build Up, Pendulum, Taunt/Confront, Swoop, Axe Cyclone, Cleave.
• Tankers: Beheader, Chop, Gash, Taunt, Build Up, Pendulum, Swoop, Axe Cyclone, Cleave.

Beheader

• Now have a chance to apply a defense debuff, chance is tied to the chance to knockdown.
• Cast Time lowered from 1.33 seconds to 1.0 seconds.

Chop

• Now have a chance to apply a defense debuff, chance is tied to the chance to knockdown.
• Cast Time lowered from 1.33 seconds to 1.2 seconds.

Gash

• Cast Time lowered from 1.5 seconds to 1.27 seconds.

Swoop

• Cast Time lowered from 1.83 seconds to 1.23 seconds.

Whirling Axe (now Axe Cyclone)

• Renamed Axe Cyclone.
• New visual FX.
• Now has a tractor effect that pulls enemies into melee range.
• Cooldown increased to 18 seconds. (Damage remains unchanged)
• Radius is 15ft for all ATs.
• Cast Time lowered from 2.67 seconds to 1.76 seconds.

Pendulum

• Changed from a cone to a targeted AoE sphere attack with a 7ft radius.

Cleave

• Changed from a cone to a targeted AoE sphere attack with a 3ft radius.
• Range increased to 40ft (not enhanceable).

Fire Manipulation

Burn

• This power should no longer summon multiple burn patches.
• This power should now hit 5 enemies instead of 4.
• Procs should no longer trigger multiple times per target when using this power.
• Burn Flames should now inherit the power Accuracy enhancements.
• Burn Flames now inherit AT classes, caps, and modifiers.
• Upfront damage now match all other versions.

Combustion

• Cast Time lowered from 3 seconds to 2.4 seconds.

Fire Sword

• Now does pure fire damage.
• Now grants a small defense debuff.
• Now accepts accurate defense debuff and defense debuff enhancements and sets.

Fiery Melee

Combustion

• Cast Time lowered from 3 seconds to 2.4 seconds.

Cremate

• Now can knockdown foes.
• Now can be slotted with knockback enhancements and sets.

Fire Sword

• Now does pure fire damage.
• Now grants a small defense debuff.
• Now accepts accurate defense debuff and defense debuff enhancements and sets.

Greater Fire Sword

• Cast Time lowered from 2.33 seconds to 1.37 seconds.
• Now does pure fire damage.
• Now grants a small defense debuff.
• Now accepts accurate defense debuff and defense debuff enhancements and sets.

Fire Sword Circle

• Now does pure fire damage.
• Now grants a small defense debuff.
• Now accepts accurate defense debuff and defense debuff enhancements and sets.

Fiery Aura

Rise of the Phoenix (now Phoenix Rising)

• Renamed Phoenix Rising.
• This power can now be used when alive.
• The effects of this power (damage, healing, endurance) will be stronger the closer the user is to death.
• The player power can't be used if the player has more than 75% health.
• The power will only make the player invulnerable and grant XP protection if the power is used after death.
• Damage increased when used while dead, relative to Live.

Burn

• This power should no longer summon multiple burn patches.
• This power should now hit 5 enemies instead of 4.
• Procs should no longer trigger multiple times per target when using this power.
• Burn Flames should now inherit the power Accuracy enhancements.
• Burn Flames now inherit AT classes, caps, and modifiers.
• While under the effect of Fiery Embrace, Burn will spawn a second burn patch for 4.5 seconds

Consume

• Power now grants a small Max HP buff even if no targets are available or hit.
• Power no longer needs a target to grant End Drain protection. (+End still requires targets)
• Power is now auto-hit. Damage still requires a to-hit check.
• This power now takes Healing sets and enhancements.

Temperature Protection

• This power now grants Mag 1 Knock protection in PvE. (This is strong enough to prevent most knockdowns and some weak knockback).
• This power now grants unenhanceable +regeneration.

Healing Flames

• Cast Time lowered from 1.5 seconds to 0.73 seconds.

Force Fields

Force Bolt (now Repulsion Bolt)

• Now applies -20% (Defender Values) Resistance to all damage for 30s.

Dispersion Bubble

• Dispersion buff lasts for 15s, allowing it to apply if you leave its radius or the toggle drops briefly.

Repulsion Field

• Combined with Force Bubble, now includes a 25ft radius Repel aura alongside a 9ft radius Knockback aura.
• The larger repel area acts just as Force Bubble does.
• No longer drains endurance per target hit in PvE.
• If slotted for KB2KD, the repel is also disabled.

Repulsion Bomb (now Force Bomb)

• Activation time lowered to 1.67s from 3.07s.
• Damage lowered to Scale 0.6 from Scale 1.
• Stun chance lowered to 10% from 40%
• Now uses Vectored Knockdown
• Now applies -15% (Defender Values) Resistance to all damage for 30s.

Force Bubble (now Damping Bubble)

• Now a Click power with 90s rech, and 5.2 Endurance cost.
• Summons a Pseudopet at your location that casts a 55ft radius Dampening Bubble for 45s.
• Applies +Special Resistance to yourself and allies (Defender Values):
  • 43.25% res to ToHit, Accuracy, Perception, Slow, Recharge, and Regeneration debuffs
  • 21.63% res to Defense Debuffs. This is enhanceable with Defense enhancements.
• Applies -Special to a max of 16 enemies inside the field:
  • -43.25% ToHit, Slow, Perception, Regeneration
  • -23.63% Defense
• The Damping Bubble will move to your location if summoned again during it's duration.

Quality of Life Changes

Level Availability Changes

Primary Sets (non-Epic ATs)

• Tier 8 powers moved from level 26 to level 22
• Tier 9 powers moved from level 32 to level 26

Secondary Sets (non-Epic ATs)

• Tier 2 powers moved from level 2 to level 1 (character creation)
• Tier 7 powers moved from level 28 to level 24
• Tier 8 powers moved from level 35 to level 28
• Tier 9 powers moved from level 38 to level 30

Epic Pools

• Tier 3 powers moved from level 41 to level 38

Hero Epic ATs

• Nova moved from level 6 to level 4
• Inner Light and Sunless Mire moved from level 12 to level 10
• Incandescent Strike and Gravity Well moved from level 18 to level 16
• Glowing Touch and Gravitic Emanation moved from level 26 to level 20
• Solar Flare and Unchain Essence moved from level 26 to level 22
• Photon Seekers and Dark Extraction moved from level 32 to level 24
• Dawn Strike and Quasar moved from level 32 to level 26
• Shining Shield and Gravity Shield moved from level 2 to level 1 (character creation)
• Quantum Acceleration and Shadow Slip moved from level 24 to level 26
• Restore Essence and Stygian Return moved from level 25 to level 30
• Light Form and Eclipse moved from level 38 to level 32

Arachnos Soldiers

• Placate and Frenzy moved from level 26 to level 22
• Crowd Control and Omega Maneuver moved from level 32 to level 26
• Call Reinforcements moved from level 38 to level 30
• Surveillance and Serum moved from level 28 to level 24
• Web Cocoon and Summon Spiderlings moved from level 35 to level 28

Arachnos Widows

• Eviscerate moved from level 26 to level 22
• Placate and Confuse moved from level 28 to level 24
• Psychic Scream moved from level 32 to level 24
• Psychic Wail moved from level 32 to level 28
• Vengeance moved from level 35 to level 28
• Aura of Confusion and Elude moved from level 38 to level 30

Stealth Toggle Exclusivity Removal

Player Stealth Toggles, with the exception of temporary powers, are no longer exclusive. Players can now use multiple stealth toggle powers at the same time, however the stealth radius, defense, and threat level of these powers will not stack. Instead, the strongest effect from these powers will be used (much like how travel power stacking currently works). The powers that fall within these stealth toggle rules are listed below.

List of Stealth Toggles

• Arctic Fog
• Cloak of Darkness
• Cloaking Device
• Energy Cloak
• Field Operative
• Infiltration
• Mask Presence
• Shadow Fall
• Shinobi
• Shinobi-Iri
• Stealth
• Steamy Mist
• Super Speed
• Superior Invisibility

Various Power Changes

• All/Radiation Melee/Irradiated Ground: This power can now only proc once every 10 seconds. Can now accept ATOs.
• Call to Arms: No longer grants base defense. Now it grants defense to all types.
• Edict of the Master: Now grants toxic defense.
• Sentinel/Bio Armor: Updated descriptions of powers to better reflect what they do.
• Sentinel/Shinobi-Iri: Updated description

Power Bug Fixes

• Controller/Symphony Control/Impassioned Serenade: Removed an extra 0.25s delay from its confuse effect.
• Dominator/Sonic Assault/Shriek: Can no longer be used while mezzed.
• Dominator/Sonic Assault/Scream: Can no longer be used while mezzed.
• Earth Control/Stalagmites: Endurance cost fixed. Now costs 15.6 endurance.
• Enhancement/Coercive Persuasion/Contagious Confusion: Added a 0.5s delay to confuse proc. This should allow some time for confuse effects from the slotted power to apply prior to checking for the spreading confusion proc.
• Prestige Utility/Renewal of Light and Return to Battle: These powers now share a Recharge Group and should no longer cause doubly long cooldowns when used.
• Procs from Bombardment, Sudden Acceleration, and Power Transfer: No longer boostable.
• Munitions Mastery/Freeze Ray: Tintable version FX now always fires from the correct point of the rifle.
• Mastermind/Traps/Web Grenade: This power should now accept slow enhancements
• Sentinel/Bio Armor/Rebuild DNA: Offensive Adaptation now grants +perception and +res(perception). Efficient Adaptation now grants additional endurance.
• Temporary Powers/Nullifier (all versions): Now disabled in PvP Arena

Character Customization Improvements

Holstered Weapon System

Holstered Custom Weapons (Arachnos/Assault/Munition/Mercenary Mastermind Rifles)

• Characters with Arachnos, Assault, Munitions, or Mercenary Mastermind custom rifles now have access to the option to display their character's rifle model on their costume. This is controlled via a toggle button next to the weapon just like Sheathed Custom Weapons.
• The remaining ranged weapon sets will be added to the Holstered Weapon system in a future update.

Custom Weapon Adjustments & Fixes

• Arachnos Rifles renamed from "A", "B", "C" to "Rifle", "SMG", and "Shotgun" to better describe what they look like.
• Fixed issue where Mercenary Mastermind Rifles were missed for the firing point desync fixes.

Wave 2 Aether Prestige Rewards

Aether Prestige Costume Additions & Updates

• The Prestige Costume icons have been simplified and now there are only four, and they correspond to the Tier / Rarity of the costume.
  • Tier 1 / Common / White
  • Tier 2 / Uncommon / Yellow
  • Tier 3 / Rare / Orange
  • Tier 4 / Very Rare / Purple
• "Mode" has been dropped from the names of costumes that change based on the body type of the user and they no longer incur a price increase on the BenevoLabs vendor.
  • Costumes that change based on the user's body type have been noted in BenevoLabs vendor's offerings and in the costume power's descriptions.
• Some specific Prestige Costumes have had sheathed/holstered weapon displays enabled on them for specific body types.
  • This means your normal costume's body type must match the costume's in order for the weapon to display. The type that inherits is noted in the description.
  • Costumes that are compatible have been noted in the BenevoLabs vendor's offerings and in the costume power's descriptions.

• Look for these on the vendor if you're interested!

Tier 1 - Standard Costumes

• The two Vanguard costumes are now considered Tier 1 and match all standard specifics of that tier.
• The missing Wave 1 - Tier 1 costumes that changed based on the body type of the user have been enabled and priced at 10 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage each:
  • Costume: Crey Agent
  • Costume: Olympian Guard
  • Costume: Paragon Protector
  • Costume: Praetorian Clockwork
  • Costume: Vahzilok Eidolon
• Forty-one new Wave 2 - Tier 1 costumes have been added to the selection on the BenevoLabs costume vendors.

Tier 2 - Legacy Costumes

• The Tier 2 costumes have been enabled on the BenevoLabs vendors, priced at 100 Prismatic Aether Particles each.
  • These costumes feature discontinued appearances.
  • The initial Wave 1 - Tier 2 costume offerings can be found in the Issue 27, Page 4's patch notes.
  • Costume: Legacy Circle Mage has been renamed to Costume: Legacy Circle Ruin Mage.
• Five new Wave 2 - Tier 2 Prestige Costumes have been added to the selection on the BenevoLabs costume vendors.

Tier 3 - Premium Costumes & Effects

• The Tier 3 rewards have been enabled on the BenevoLabs vendors, priced at 250 Prismatic Aether Particles each:
  • This tier features rewards that can change or enhance the looks of your costumes.
  • Tier 3 rewards are advanced customization offerings that are limited for social and/or game performance reasons.
  • Effect powers are their own category of costume enhancement and only one can be active at a time, but they can be used at the same time as a costume power.
    • The pop-menu accolade 'Disable Costumes' option will also disable these Effect powers.
• As of Issue 27, Page 5's release, there are three Tier 3 rewards featured:
  • Costume: Mini Mode that featured in last Page's notes and makes your costume's model very small.
    • Mini Mode costume cannot be used in PvP.
  • Effect: Ghost which makes makes your model transparent and adds a spectral glow.
    • Tint of the glow can be customized and the transparency turned off in the power customization menu.
  • Effect: Shadow which darkens your model's lighting and adds glowing eyes.
    • Tint of the eyes be customized or the eyes turned off in the power customization menu.

Tier 4 - Deluxe Costumes

• The Tier 4 costumes have been added to the BenevoLabs vendors, priced at 1500 Prismatic Aether Particles each:
  • This tier features costumes that have bizarre looks and are oddities you won't see anywhere else.
  • As of Page 5's release, the first offered Tier 4 costumes will be Costume: Undefined Mode which was formerly named Mode Costume: Blobby that featured previously. Another will be made available in a few months.
  • Costume: Undefined Mode automatically also comes with Costume: Mini Undefined Mode for free when purchased!
    • The mini version of this costume cannot be used in PvP.
  • This costume's functionality has been upgraded and it now inherits various elements from your normal costume when used, making it possible to create some interesting and unique looks with it!

Seasonal Prestige Costume Additions

• Seasonal Prestige Costumes are now considered Tier 1 and match all standard specifics of that tier.
• Two new Halloween Prestige Costume rewards have been added to the various Halloween salvage vendors, priced at 10 Prismatic Aether Particles + 50 of each Halloween salvage type each:
  • Costume: Ancient Vampire
  • Costume: Arisen Mummy

Prestige Costume Fixes

• Fixed an error with costumes using PlayerBeast's standard movement animations not using the correct set.
• Fixed Male Eidolon's costume having an extra boot.
• Fixed missing belt on Nemesis Lieutenant costume.

Costumes

Costume Additions & Changes

• All > Special Helmets > Arachnos Helmets:
  • Tintable variants of all the Arachnos helmets have been added.
  • 'Mystic Helm' renamed to 'Mu Mystic Helm' in the editor.

Various Additions & Enhancements

Badges

Badge Changes

• The 'Womp Womp' badge for defeating Immature Paragon Protectors has been renamed to 'Ankle Biter'.

Vanity Pets

Vanity Pets Additions & Updates

• There are three new vanity pets offered by Luna corresponding to the various City of Heroes retail release anniversary months. These pets will be available for purchase each year during these months:
  • May, City of Heroes anniversary: Pet: Mini Statesman vanity pet power for 2004 Reward Merits.
  • November, City of Villains anniversary: Pet: Mini Lord Recluse vanity pet power for 2005 Reward Merits.
  • August, Going Rogue anniversary: Pet: Mini Tyrant vanity pet power for 2010 Reward Merits.
• Pet: Mini Hero 1 vanity pet power has been added to the Vanguard crafting table offerings under 'Vanity Pets' priced at 10,000 Vanguard Merits.
• All older vanity pets have been given the improved movement speed that the newer vanity pets received, which should help them keep up with their owners.
• The naming scheme for vanity pets has been standardized to Pet: Name.
• Like Prestige Costumes, Vanity Pets will also now display on a character's info window so players with large collections can show them off.

Proliferated Emotes

New Emotes

• Added '/em kneel2'.
• Added '/em kneel3'.
• Added '/em kneel4'.
• Added '/em kneel5'.

Arena Options

• When setting up an arena match, there are now four more options listed under more options:

• • No Passive Resist Bonuses - Allows players to switch on/off the bonus resist everyone gets in PvP.
  • No Incarnates (Alpha Slot Enabled) - Switches on/off all incarnates except alpha.
  • No Incarnates (Alpha Slot Disabled) - Switches on/off all incarnates including alpha.
  • Sudden Death Tiebreaker Phase - Switches on/off the sudden death mechanic at the end of draw games. (Default's to off.)
• Rated Matches will also now function properly. (I.e. No longer forcing any arena options.)
  • Note: you may need to set up the arena options you want before clicking the "rated" button.

Supergroup Bases

New Base Items

• Added Basic Reclaimator (Raid) and Resurrection Circle (Raid) base items which allow for Attackers during supergroup base PvP to revive at those locations rather than at the supergroup entrance portal.

Task Updates & Adjustments

• Removed badge requirements that prevented Praetorians from running arcs from Ambassador Kuhr'Rekt and Johnny Sonata in Ouroboros.

Imperious Task Force - Advanced Difficulty

• Vandal is now using more advanced AI and should be no longer be prone to go on running away sprees.
• Vandal's ambush now spawns closer to the player team's location meaning he should arrive sooner and be less prone to getting lost on his way there.
• When Nictus Romulus escapes to the Chamber of the Emperor, he will take any living Barrier Novas with him.

Tin Mage's Task Force

• All of the defeat objectives in Mission 2 must now be cleared in order for the mission to complete.

Enemy Group Updates & Adjustments

Arachnos

• Fixed an issue that was causing Lord Recluse to only use Spider Strike when specifically between 50%-25% HP instead of any time below 50%.
• The eye glow FX on Crab Spider and Bane Spider NPCs has been improved.

Devouring Earth

• Fixed an error with the Dr Aeon's Strike Force's Devoured's tentacles not being tinted the right color.

Hero Corps

• The Major has been given powers and is no longer incapable of defending himself against players.

Trolls

• Skyway City's Supa Troll ravers have paid for Paragon City's finest facial reconstruction plastic surgeons and now their heads do not morph wildly while they are moving. They are free to rave uninhibited (until heroes come to stop them).

City Zone Updates & Adjustments

Atlas Park

• Added automatic seasonal map switchover; The October / Halloween variation of Atlas Park should now be active.
• In November it should automatically transition to the Autumn map variant.
• In December it should automatically transition to the Winter map variant.
• In January it should return to the standard non-seasonal map variant.

October 25th, 2022

Bug Fixes

• Lanaru the Mad: Vacation is over. Lanaru has returned.

Power Bug Fixes

• Blaster > Atomic Manipulation > Beta Decay: This power no longer roots.
• Blaster > Tactical Arrow > Eagle Eye: This power no longer accepts Endurance Reduction enhancements as the power cost no endurance.
• Mastermind > Traps > Web Grenade: This power was accepting Slow SO enhancements. but not IO sets, that has been fixed.
• Sentinel > Fiery Aura > Molten Embrace: The proc from this power should no longer proc on pets.
• Enhancements > Invention Origin > Aegis: The mez resistance in this set should now always be active regardless where it is slotted.
• Brute > Melee: Fixed a sorting mistake in with the Spines powerset listing in the character creator.
• Brute > Fiery Aura > Burn: Fixed a bug while using Fiery Embrace that unintentionally created additional patches.
• Tanker > Battle Axe > Cleave: Fixed Fiery Embrace damage, was unintentionally set too high.
• Masterminds > Necromancy > Life Drain: This power should now accept Accurate To-Hit Debuff enhancements.
• Dominator > Illusion Control > Phantom Army: Fixed various powers tooltip errors.
• Temporary Powers > Build Snow Beast: It is no longer possible to summon infinite Snow Beasts by claiming one copy of the power at a time from Character Items to skip the recharge timer and spamming one summon after another.
• Stealth Toggles: All primary/secondary stealth toggles have had their PvE Stealth Radius increased by 0.5', and their PvP Stealth Radius increased by 1.0'. This is an effort to de-conflict with pool stealth toggles that was causing momentary stealth drops when same-radius stealth toggles were on at the same time.

Prestige Costumes

• Fixed the texture mapping incorrectly on the female Dominatrix Servant costume's head.

Costume: Undefined Mode & Costume: Undefined Mini Mode

• The aura effect on these powers can now be disabled in the Power Customization menu.
• Minor adjustment on the aura offsets so that it properly encapsulates the body on Male & Huge costumes.
• The leg geometry on Male & Huge costumes should no longer clip with kilts/skirts.

March 14th, 2023

Name Release System

• Fix the name release warning sometimes appearing immediately after logging off.

Animations

• Fixed an ancient bug in the animation system that could cause powers from non-weapon-based powersets to not properly set the combat stance. The most common trigger for this was beginning an attack chain with Build Up or a similar self-buff while in the non-combat ready state.

Teaming & Task Forces

• Players who are solo and have a Mission Architect arc active can no longer be invited to a team by another player. They must quit the AE arc first in order to be eligible for an invite. This is because AE missions are technically task forces, and being invited to a team sometimes leaves some lingering state that can cause issues if the leader starts a different Task Force after inviting them.
• Using the LFG queue to teleport to a contact while solo no longer leaves you in a phantom league with only 1 player. This should help prevent various bugs that can occur if you are subsequently invited to a different league.

Costumes

• Certain manual edits to costume files to set fields not accessible through the tailor UI are no longer allowed.
• While some were harmless and simply reverted upon zoning, others could be abused to crash a zone instance and disconnect players.
• Portions of this change were already applied as a hotfix on March 8 to guard against the possibility of exploitation before the normal maintenance shutdown.

Stability & Backend

• Fixed an issue in the backend database code that could rarely cause character transfers (as well as restoration of deleted characters by GMs) to fail.
• Fix a mapserver crash that could happen if Group Fly or similar powers that affect all pets were detoggled while the player was being followed by certain non-combat NPCs (lab techs in Warburg are one example).
• More performance tweaks to the database to avoid some SQL deadlocks we've been seeing.

External Links

• Issue 27, Page 5
• October 25th, 2022
• March 14th, 2023