Zombie Man

If you look under your Graphics Options (Menu / Options / Graphics and Audio Tab) you'll see in the Advanced Graphics Settings these two items:

Suppress Extra Player FX
Suppress FX When Close

When you enable these two options you'll find that, THE TOGGLES! THEY DO NOTHING!!

Well, in this guide, I'll show you how to make at least one of them work, namely, the Suppress FX When Close.

What the Suppress FX When Close option is supposed to do is to shut off all the FX (graphical effects) of your character when your camera is close to you. The advantage of this is that when the camera is looking over your shoulder, you don't have to try to see past all blinding FX emanating from your body. The FX just shuts off when the camera comes in close.

However, right out of the box, this option does nothing. Why? Because the default distance between you and the camera at which the FX turns off is zero. That's right, no matter how close the camera pans in, the FX stays on until you finally snap into first person view.

But there's hope to fix this in the form of a slash command called /suppressCloseFxDist whose description is "Within this camera distance, personal FX will be suppressed.'

The format is...

/suppressCloseFxDist <#feet>

So, if you input /suppressCloseFxDist 30, then when your camera gets within 10 yards of your character, all your special effects will stop displaying (the powers will still be working, of course).

This is good news for people who are finding their FX to be too much or headache inducing <coughsoniccough>. Just input a large number, like 300, and you won't ever see your personal FX again.

Now, there are two types of FX that this can turn off: 1. FX on your person; 2. FX on the foes you hit (e.g., a debuff anchor).

If you specify a distance in the /suppressCloseFXDist slash command, then the FX on your person (no. 1 above) will *always* turn off when your camera is within that specified distance. Even if you 'Disable' Suppress FX When Close in the options menu, the distance command overrides that and you'll always turn off personal FX when your camera gets within the specified distance.

So, then, what does Suppress FX When Close do? When you enable this, it will turn off the FX on the foes you hit (no. 2 above) when your camera gets within the specified distance.

Now, you can go into your options menu to enable or disable Suppress FX When Close, or, you can use the slash command, suppressCloseFx, whose description is "Hide all personal FX when the camera is closer than the suppressCloseFxDist." Which, as you can tell by now, is an inaccurate description, since this toggle only affects the FX you throw onto a foe.

The format is...

/suppressCloseFx <int>

Where the integer is either 0 (disable) or 1 (enable).



Here is our Demo Edit Guru, Zloth, plumbing the depths of FX Suppression insanity: suppressCloseFx and Demo Editing



Is this 'working as intended'? Doubtful, but, that's the way it works now.




ADDENDUM:

Now, I said earlier that Suppress Extra Player does nothing. And as far I can tell, it does nothing. I'm a hero and I see another hero with Dispersion Bubble and a host of other powers and, well, I see them. Nothing is being suppressed. And they meet all the requirements set for by poz in this post:
[ QUOTE ]
The intention of "Suppress Extra Player FX" was to reduce the number of "unimportant" FX displayed. This was targeting city zones, mainly near trainers.

With the Suppress FX options turned on, here are the heuristics used to determine if a continuing FX will be shown.
1. If it's not a continuing FX then show it.
2. If it's on you show it.
3. If it's on a critter show it.
4. If it's from a villain and you're a hero (or vice versa) show it.
5. If it's from you or to you, show it. (So you see all bubbles you cast.)
6. If the target or source is on you team show it.

In April last year, a fix was made to the code which fixed a loophole where you may not see some teammate FX (such as when they were debuffed by a critter). This may explain the change in behavior that you've seen.

So, I believe that the suppress code is working as we intended. We decided that anything that happened to a teammate or that you triggered was important. This feature was never meant to help on mission maps; it was meant to help spammed group heals at Ms. Liberty and sundry running around town.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
So wait.... I don't know all the intricacies of this issue... but... The invasion only goes for two weeks?

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The continuous invasion of zones on a three hour cycle (the *World Event*) will be about two weeks. Maybe more. And can always be turned back on a again for fun.

The one-shot zone invasion is triggered by any team completing the Lady Grey Strask Force. So, three weeks from now, after the World Event has ended, if seven teams on your sever complete the LGS/TF in one day, then there will be seven random zone invasions on that day on your server.

ADDENDUM:

If you go to a zone that is being invaded and find that a second (or third or more) instance was created because of people rushing to that zone, then the extra instances of that zone *will not* have an invasion. And if the first instance of the zone is full, you've missed it. Keep your eye on the ADMIN announcements to see where the next zone being invaded is, and rush there!

A GUIDE TO THE ZONE-INVASION EVENT


The Two Types of Zone Invasion

When players finish The Lady Grey Task Force (a 45+ hero-villain cooperative task/strike force [strask force?] found in the Rikti War Zone (RWZ)), a Zone-Invasion Event is triggered for a random city zone. It could be a hero or a villain zone and the choice of zone is independent of the make-up of the team completing the Strask Force. That's one type of Zone Invasion: a simple Zone-Event.

The other type is when all the invadable zones are invaded on a continuous and staggered three-hour cycle. The Devs currently had the World Event running on Test 24/7. Positron has recently said in an online interview that the World Event (multi-zone, continuous rotation) will run for at least two weeks when I10 is released to Live (or thereabouts, depending on player feedback). After that, only the Strask Force will trigger a Zone Event (one-time random single-zone event). The World Event may be brought back at any time just for fun.

The invadable zones are:

City of Heroes: Atlas; Galaxy; Kings Row; Steel Canyon; Skyway; Talos; Founders Falls; and, Peregrine Island. (Note: Bricks and Independence Port don't have invasions, nor the 'zone-arc' zones, nor the hazard/trial zones.)

City of Villains: Mercy; Port Oakes; Cap au Diable; Sharkhead; Nerva Archipelago; St. Martial; and Grandville.

During an Invasion Event there will be no debt out of doors in that zone being invaded.

Please note that if you go to a zone that is being invaded and find that a second (or third or more) instance was created because of people rushing to that zone, then the extra instances of that zone *will not* have an invasion. And if the first instance of the zone is full, you've missed it. Keep your eye on the ADMIN announcements to see where the next zone being invaded is, and rush there!



Stage One: Drop Ship Carpet Bombing.


Drop Ships: When you see the big red letters from the Admin channel (which shows up in every tab) warning of a Rikti attack on a zone, that means that zone is about to be attacked. When that happens, you'll hear air raid sirens, the sky will turn green and grey, and you'll see:

WARNING: Rikti ships have been detected heading for [zone]

The next Admin warning let's you know the attack has begun!

WARNING: Rikti invasion forces have been spotted in [zone]. Non-combatants are advised to seek shelter.

Then a series of Rikti Drop Ships appear following each other and creating a swath of carpet bombing death. Sometimes you'll see two of these conga lines of death in the sky in one zone. Sometimes their path is meandering, but they all follow each other in that meandering path.

The bombs have a very high AoE damage blast. With high enough Defense (like from purple/shield inspirations), one can ignore the bombs. That is, until just one gets through your Defense, and then, bam! Insta-death.

The Drop ships not only drop bombs, but they have a Death Ray! But the death ray is comparatively tame. Squishies might get two-shotted from it, so, if you get hit once... RUN FASTER!

War Walls in City of Heroes will come down to let the Rikti through. We presume that since the War Wall Force Fields are Rikti technology to begin with, that they found a way around it.


UXBs: The unexploded bombs. Most of the bombs the Drop Ships drop explode on impact. However there are some that land unexploded. These UXBs have partial health and start repairing themselves. When they reach full health, they explode (and are *very* deadly). These UXBs are Elite Bosses that use the 'giant monster scaling code.' But even with the GM-code, they can be difficult for lowbies who don't have a lot of damage enhancements or a solid attack chain to overcome their regeneration.

Some zones seem to have a plentiful amount of UXBs and some very few. They have typical spawn points along the path of a drop ship. So, if you find where they spawn during one invasion, they'll spawn there again the next invasion.

Current presumed bug on Test (don't know if it will be this way on Live): Just getting in one hit on an UXB and then letting it explode or having others destroy it will give you credit for an UXB kill.

There is a badge for defeating 25 UXBs, Bomb Specialist, which goes toward the Watchman/Watchwoman Accolade.

The bombs are named "A Bomb," presumably not "Atomic Bomb" but "Anti-Matter Bomb," which is potentially more, not less, deadly in real life. But, this is comic book science.

The UXBs have a strobe light attached to them indicating how far they are from exploding. When they have little hp, the light is blue. When they have medium hp, the light is yellow. When they have close to full health and are close to exploding on their own, the light blinks red. As you attack an UXB with a red light and it loses hp, the light will change back to yellow then blue.

Defeating UXBs is complicated by the fact that they are in the path of the Drop Ships. This means that as you're trying to destroy an UXB, you're gonna get bombed. If you can keep an eye on the sky, you can run for cover as each Drop Ship passes over you. Or, you can wait for the first wave of Drop Ships to stop. You then have a short time with no Drop Ships to defeat UXBs until the next wave of Drop Ships start.

Also be aware that as you're destroying one UXB, a nearby UXB may go off. They have a large and very, very deadly AoE blast.


I timed how long the Stages were in St. Martial:<ul type="square">[*] Stage One: Carpet Bombing and dropping UXBs -- 6 minutes[*] Lull in between stages, time to clear UXBs -- 4 minutes[*] Stage Two: Carpet Bombing and dropping troops -- 10 minutes[/list]Total time of the event for St. Martial: 20 minutes.




Stage Two: Enemies Porting In.

When the Drop Ships start up again, you're now in Stage Two of the Zone Event Invasion. The Drop Ships will continue to drop exploding bombs which can one-shot you. Watch out. They will no longer drop UXBs. However, they will now start 'dropping' something new... troops. You will get Rikti spawns that will teleport in to your location.

As explained by a Dev, the Rikti will teleport to where you are, wherever you are in the zone. It doesn't matter how close you are to a drop ship. If you're in the zone, and you're not in a building or under cover (like under an overpass), you will get a spawn that will port in right next to you. It seems that if you look straight up and some solid geometry is blocking your view of the sky, you will not get a spawn (though, be careful, some have reported that they will get a spawn while under geometry if their teammate is out in view of the sky... this is definitely a bug; /bug it if it happens to you).

Soloists without any other players around will usually get a lieutenant and minion pair. With two people, the same, but a few extras. Where there were large numbers of players or teams, the spawns were larger and included higher ranked Rikti, especially bosses and Elite Bosses. Difficulty level has no impact on the spawns.

Also, spawns seem to come at timed intervals. If you haven't finished the previous spawn, a new, additional spawn will come anyway and they'll start adding up until you are overwhelmed.

Known Bug: If you are alone in the zone, expect lots of spawns rapidly appearing at about 3 times the normal rate. You're their only target. Lucky you. Supposedly fixed in Test, but keep an eye out for it.

The Rikti that spawn next to you first 'appear' invisibly. Then they go through an animation sequence where they 'appear' in a Rikti teleportation field. Then they look around to see who they can agro onto and kill. Until their animation sequence is finished, they do not attack, nor do they 'look' to see who's around. This is great news because you can 'tab around' hoping to target and attack the invisible spawn before it can respond. Pets set on aggressive will attack these invisible spawns immediately.

The Rikti that appear use the 'giant monster scaling code'. This means a level 1 and a level 50 can dish out (and take) proportional damage according to their level. Of course, the level 50 will have a clear advantage with more powers, a full attack chain, and fully enhanced powers and defenses. But lowbies can still participate. On the other hand, since the Invasion Zone Event is tied story-wise to the 35+ level content of the Rikti War Zone... there's no need to fight them as a lowbie. There are aways to avoid the conflict (see below) and wait until you're a higher level to participate.

Here is a rundown of the Rikti and their hp:

small (Pet Monkey), 110 hp.
minion, 295
lt., 545
boss, 1,310
elite boss, heavy suit, 5,355
elite boss, UXB, 5,415

Don't forget some Rikti troops are Mentalists and Mesmerists and Priests... bring break frees to the party! Also, the Elite Bosses are new to I10. They are the Heavy Assault Suits... basically, floating eggs. Crack 'em.

By defeating any 100 Rikti during a Zone Event Invasion, you get the Sentry Badge. By defeating 10 Heavy Rikit Assault Suits (the EBs), you get the Chief Badge. Both of which are needed for the accolade for the event.

When the Admin channel says that the Alert is Canceled, all the Rikti tp away. War Walls come back up, and the sky goes back to normal.

ALERT CANCELED: The Rikti have retreated from [zone].




Gaming Aspects:


To Play or Not to Play: If you do nothing, the Rikti will come and go. You don't have to participate. Stay indoors. Move to a zone not being attacked. Go into a mission. It's only 20 minutes of invasion for select zones over a three hour cycle for the next 2 weeks.

So why bother? You're protecting Earth you role-players! You're keeping the aliens from muscling in on your racket, Villains! Or, you can look at all the loot they'll bring you: Inf., badges, recipes, salvage, Merits. It's unlike any other gaming mechanic and you might find it to be fun.


How Hard the Battle? Note that the Rikti use the 'Giant Monster' scaling code that allows people of all levels to participate at once. The Rikti will con in different colors according to their rank (from white to orange). But they are in fact all level 30 Giant Monsters with *a lot* less hp than the traditional GMs. Level 30 is just a general way to describe their difficulty level in terms of what powers they have available to them. They all drop inf, salvage, invention salvage, recipes, enhancements, inspirations, and, if you've done Levantera's arc in the Rikti War Zone (35+) they will also drop Merits.

Because of the scaling code, the Rikti register as enemies to the home-zone spawns and vice versa. Stand among the Supa Trolls of Skyway while stealthed. The Rikti drops in and attacks the Supa Trolls and the Supa Trolls attack back. Fun!


Drop Ships con as OMGINSTADETH!! Or something like that (level 54 Objects with 77k hp). They *can* be hit and damaged and don't have infinite hp or regeneration. However, they move at a fast clip. And there's another twenty coming behind. And they hit with insanely huge damage if you're under them and get hit by a bomb. And they have that weak death ray. And have insanely high ACC. A drop ship can be destroyed, buy only by a huge number of players charging it all at once (probably 80 or more). If you think you can tank it solo, think again. Think of it as a flying Hamidon Nucleus to get an idea of it's level and power.


Merits: Unlike the mini-game of the Rikti War Zone, the Rikti of the Invasion Zone Events don't drop Merits one per defeat. They fall at the same drop rate as any other Rikti defeat (once you complete Levantera's arc in the RWZ in order to get Merits to start falling, so, no Merits yet for anyone under level 35). Merits drop at a 10% chance per defeat, with minions dropping one, lieutenants dropping two, and bosses/portals three. Pets and summoned Rikti, however, don't drop anything. Merits can not be traded, given away, or sold... ever.



Stratagems


Drop Ships: Don't stand under them. Even if you avoid or withstand a bomb blast, the ship itself has incredibly long range and will zap you with its Death Ray. I have no idea right now how to *reliably* find an UXB (unexploded bomb) if you're going for the UXB badge. Try running along the flight path of the drop ships. This bind might help:

/bind [bindkey] "targetcustomnext bomb"


The Hospitram Effect: During Test we found ourselves in this situation: When we're in Stage Two, the enemy AI is looking for players to spawn on top of. When you enter the zone and you are in the tram, it can't spawn on top of you, because, you're under cover. Once you step outside the tram... SPAWN! This happens for each person who enters the zone. If you stop to fight, the Rikti will keep on spawning there. Other players show up and join the fight, more spawns. Larger number of players means higher ranked Rikti show up (EBs). Higher ranks, longer to kill. Longer to kill, more spawns on top of old spawns. Thus, we get a huge build up of Rikti EBs at the trams. This also happens at the hospitals. You step out of the hospital... SPAWN. And the same dynamic as the tram.

However, this has been fixed in that there is a 100 yard no-spawn zone around hospitals. Don't know if that's true about the tram stations. But keep this Hospitram Effect in mind whenever the number of spawn seems completely overwhelming... it's usually the players fault from being all together in the same area. Break away from the crowd and you'll get reasonably sized spawns.



The Solution to Too Many Rikti: RUN! If you're a soloist, run away from the other players and the super sized spawn with the 20 EBs. Find a secluded spot. The Rikti will spawn on top of you again in manageable numbers. If you're on a team, do the same thing: gather away from others. Let me repeat this: You *don't* have to *find* a spawn. The spawns will find you.

I suggest you find an area of the zone where the terrain helps you funnel the Rikti into a narrow area for AoE smackdown, or, at least, get your back up against a wall or building so they can't surround you. This way you can farm the Rikti for the inf., badges, loot, and Merits.


It's Just Me Against the (Invading) World: A possible problem occurs when you are alone in a zone that is being attacked (welcome to the world of the Rogue Isles at 4 AM on a low population server). Some have reported getting large spawns, but not the Elite Boss kind, but many lieutenants and minions. What is probably happening is that the entire invasion fleet is focusing just on you. And sending you a small spawn, but many times over in rapid succession. Especially if you zone into an empty zone. If that happens... RUN! Then stop and see if any follow up spawns come at a normal pace or not.

If they do not come at a normal pace, here is a possible tactical solution: Get under cover, like a bridge, for example. That stops spawns completely. Then do a quick pop out from under the bridge and hop back under. This may cause just one spawn to happen and you can lure them under the bridge to fight fairly. Melee types may have to use their ranged AT attack to pull them and then hide behind a corner or pillar to pull the Rikti under the cover so as to beat on them without fear of more spawns.


I See Your Spawn With A Spawn of Hellions: As mentioned above, the Rikti of the Invasion Event use the same scaling code as Giant Monsters. Damage of low level characters against the Rikti scale up. The Damage the Rikti does to a low level character scales down. And this is true for the regular zone spawns: Hellions, Clockwork, Circle of Thorn, Malta, etc... The Rikti will agro not only onto any nearby player, but also any nearby combat-able NPC. In fact, you can watch the Drop Ships zap NPCs in its path. But don't get too close else you'll get zapped, too.

So, how can you use this against them? Well if a regular zone-spawn of Hellions, for example, con grey to you, stand next to them. They won't attack you, their AI tells them that's suicide. Then when a Rikti spawn drops on you, the Hellions will start shooting at them because, by the rules of the the scaling code, these Rikti are 'their level'. And vice versa, the Rikti will agro onto the Hellions as well as you.

Just let the local spawn hit the Rikti first (and they usually will since NPCs and pets 'see and target' the teleporting Rikti before you can). Don't forget to thank the nice Hellions for protecting Mother Earth and taking the alpha.



Can't Touch (or See) This! Besides getting under cover you can prevent Rikti spawning on you by hovering or flying high enough off the ground. Also, if you're invisible, the Rikti will not agro on to you, unless a drone spawns (darned drones!). This isn't an ambush spawn that is automatically agroed onto you. They pop in and if they don't 'see' you, they'll pop back out 30 seconds later. And because this isn't a ambush spawn agroed onto you, RUN FASTER! If you keep moving (Sprint is fast enough), you'll be out of agro range by the time any Rikti finish going through their teleportation animation.

This means even a level 1 lowbie can sprint to their mission door in Atlas or Mercy while the second phase of the invasion is taking place and not have to worry about getting Rikti spawns. (They do have to be careful about not running underneath a drop ship or running into someone else's spawn). At level 5, the temporary power of flight available in Mayhem or Safeguard missions can fly them safely to their mission doors if they stay high enough off the ground (about the height of a 5 story building... like the one that catches fire in Steel Canyon).



Summary of Badges for the Zone Invasion Events

Sentry
Type: Achievement
Description: Defeat 100 Rikti during an invasion

Bomb Specialist
Type: Achievement
Description: Defeat 25 UXBs

Chief
Type: Achievement
Description: Defeat 10 Heavy Assault Suits during an invasion

Watchman/Watchwoman
Type: Accolade
Description: Earn Sentry, Bomb Specialist, and Chief.

Note: This accolade grants the Elusive Mind accolade power whose description is: "You have gained the ability to deflect and protect yourself from mental invasions of all sorts. By focusing your mind using this technique, you gain strong defense against Psionic attacks and are moderately resistant to Psionic damage while this power is active. It lasts for 60 seconds per use. Recharge: Very Long"

Dear Moderators

I notified this thread over a day ago.

Close it. Lock it. It's a necro-thread. That's not allowed.

How did this thread escape the purges?

Are all the complimentary threads marked for eternal life?

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Available July 6th


COMBINED NOTES

Powers

* Rikti Drop Ships are now immune to the effects of Slow Movement powers.

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Already, the drop ship of that article is not the drop ship on Test or the one that the players will see on Live.

If you wanted to stay in character, you could have said this took place in an alternate reality. But, it did not happen in City of Heroes.

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To find out we could've had the 5th back makes me go: ;_;


But I10 is still awesome, so all is well.

Oh, and woot, first!

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The the "Council War" is next!

I've seen the future!!

I really don't like that an event on Test is the lead story on the Scoop.

1. People will be confused: When did a Rikti drop shop come to my server?

2. It's not canonical. Who knows what the *real* drops ships will be like on Live? Their difficulty could get ramped up, and then we'll have mega-raids on Live complaining that drops ships weren't dropping as fast as *they were supposed to* based on this article. Heck, for all we know there is a major bug in the drop ships on Test allowing for such a ridiculously easy defeat. (And to all the people who will say "But a foe that takes 70 people is *not* easy" My response is, "Did you test if 30 people could do it? Perhaps forty of the people that were there were overkill.")

3. Test is Test. It's not Live. the Test server exists to see if things are bugged, not as a alternative server. An article like this will only draw people who want to preview new content and not actually *test* it. And when their 'preview' is bugged or doesn't act the same way on Live, we'll hear all sorts of whining and complaining.

4. I'm sure there are people at Cyrptic and NCSoft that would like better control over such a blatant advertisement for I10. "No, no no! A drop ship raid is *not* part of Issue 10. That's *not* supposed to be part of the content. Now we have to support it!"

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The Historical Event he talks about is the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine.

A beast with many heads, rising up out of the sea - very clever.

The badge is even called 'Apocalyptic'.

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So... Lady Grey is... Jesus?

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The Rikti War Zone looks very much like an idea I suggested in the Suggestion forum many months ago. Too bad the post was swept away during forum cleaning.....

The Pylons (I called them control points), the fact that the mothership was protected and must be exposed before entrance, and the environmental threats (UXBs and dropships here) were all part of my idea.

Never once did a red name chime in...guess they had all that planned for quite some time now.

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You mean like since the time that the Rikti Mothership zone was originally thought up more than a year before the release of CoH?

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In the picture marked "Advanced Rikti Weapons" there are Malta in the background, in what appears to be the Crash Site, or War Zone, or whatever the new name is going to be.

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Malta?

Or.... Vanguard Shield? Note the ParagonWiki article assumes they're villains. Of course we now know they're not... or are they?!


FYI... Vanguard and Official History of the First Invasion.

From the link at the bottom of the Issue Update page is a link to info on the Rikti. I ignored it at first because I thought it was just a link to their backstory, but, in fact, it's updated....

===========

NEWS: Game Update

CITY OF HEROES: ISSUE 10: "INVASION"


In the year 2002, we learned that we were not alone.

On May 23rd, 2002 – a day that will be forever remembered for its wicked barbarity – the world was suddenly and deliberately attacked.

A thousand points of light lit up the sky across America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

And each light was a gateway into hell. The Rikti declared war on all of us.

The Rikti attack was well-coordinated and clearly planned out months or years in advance. Tens of thousands of alien invaders poured into our world, bent on our destruction.

The heroes of the world banded together, and finally turned the tide. The cost to Earth and her heroes was immense, but finally the back of the Rikti army was broken by Hero 1 and Omega Team’s sacrifice.

Cut off from their homeworld, the Rikti cells that remained retreated to the shadows, fighting a guerilla war for their continued existence. The rebuilding began, and veterans spoke of the Rikti War as a thing of the past.
Then the signs began again, but we did not see them.

Strange anomalies and seismic activity on the moon caused catastrophic tidal surges on Earth, causing the Overbrook Dam to burst and flood sections of Faultline in Paragon City. Satellites transmissions were interrupted by “space static.’ Contact with the moon base and space station became spotty, and then silent.

There were warnings from Vanguard, but we did not listen.

Once the United Nation Security Council’s elite super-powered hero force, Vanguard was struggled to rebuild after the war. The survivors made up a skeleton force and their dire warnings were ignored in the joyful days after the war, written off as fear-mongering and paranoia.
Today.

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.

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Looks awsome, it doesn't specify but does this mean the Crash site is a villian zone as well now? I'm drooling at the thought of taking on Hazard zone size spawns with my MM (that don't consist of PP Elites )

I do hope there is a little more meat to this issue though...IO Sets could use a lot of additions as well (buff/debuff powers I'm looking at you)

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Let's see if we can sneak a villain into the 3rd hero Respec Trial.

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While I am excited about this new expansion and some of what will be able to be experienced. I am disappointed that the lowest level characters that can do the earliest parts of it are level 35 and up. Not to mention the other co-Op zone that is for levels 45 and up. It would be nice if they also had zones for levels 20 and up. Or even 10 and up. But I guess we can't expect that since this next issue dues involve the Rikti...

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I point you to the Rikti appearing in Atlas Park and Sharkshead.

Granted, that might be part of the TF, but the text talks about "a World Event that spans across numerous zones in both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, as the Rikti return in devastating waves."

So, while the missions and zone may be limited to 35+ and the TF to 45+, it seems there will be plenty of Rikti action on the streets.

And beside, the +35 game has been lacking in content (i.e., enough to level up with) moreso than the lower levels.

I concur that the picture for co-op faction TF is way weak. You need two or more toons that typify their faction.

As far as powers go, for villains, use a MM. For Heroes, a Stormie.

For costumes it will be a bit harder to show the difference since costume pieces are shared by all. Perhaps put the hero in the Justice outfit and the villain in the Sinister outfit. Still gotta sell GvE code!

Remember: The Issue teasers come out in bits and pieces. This is unlikely an exhaustive list of what's in store for I10. The lack of mention of a *new* zone or new powers or lack of mention of anything else should not be interpreted as an admission of exclusion.


Here's the full text for the firewalled:



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.
Rikti World Invasion

Issue 10 begins with a World Event that spans across numerous zones in both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, as the Rikti return in devastating waves. They are armed with new, brutal weapons and seek to establish a beachhead on Earth, presumably to save their lost brethren and to finish what they started the first time … the destruction of Earth!



Rikti War Zone (Levels 35 – 50)

The site of the crashed Rikti mother ship has become a hot War Zone. Pylons of unknown purpose have appeared around the mother ship, and Rikti presence is extremely heavy. In an attempt to contain the Rikti from breaking out of the area or launching their ship, the government has cordoned off the zone, allowing only select agents access. Government officials have turned the region over to Vanguard, and given them the authority to recruit forces from across the world. This zone is open to both Heroes and Villains, in their combined, desperate struggle to hold the front lines against the second Rikti Invasion.

New Threats

Rikti Pylons are multi-purpose warning and attack devices that surround the crashed mother ship. It takes a concerted effort to take one of these pylons down, but once enough of these are destroyed, access to the ship may be granted. UXBs, “unexploded bombs” that arm, power up, and detonate if not stopped in time, provide a constant threat. Rikti destroyers zip through zones dropping troops, UXB’s, and Rikti Assault Suits.

New Inventions

The Vanguard base contains a special Vanguard Workbench that will allow for special costume pieces (tied to Rikti War Zone recipes). Vanguard Support Machines (“Heavies”) can be requisitioned using Special Salvage (unique to the War Zone). These Heavies function as powerful pets.

New Missions

The first missions in the Rikti War Zone are for characters level 35+. The characters meet a new contact, Levantera, who introduces them to the U.N. security force, Vanguard. They’ll also meet Borea, who sends them on several repeatable missions in the zone. From there, characters meet contact Serpent Drummer, Gaussian, and also talk to the Dark Watcher and learn one of the darkest secrets of Paragon City.




Rikti Co-op Task Force

The Rikti Co-Op Task Force is available for both Heroes and Villains. It is for 6 to 8 players, level 45 – 50. The mission is given out by Lady Grey, leader of the Vanguard. Co-operative missions create a new layer of depth and story as heroes and villains work toward a common goal.

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You have a chance to get invention salvage whenever you defeat any NPC that cons green or above ...

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You sure about that green part? I thought it was any enemy that gave you XP, which would include a level of grey-con just below green-con.

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No recipes or *invention* salvage from greys. Ever. At least, not on Live. If someone wants to dispute this, then hunt sub-greens and provide a screenie of the invention salvage that drops from them.

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So if a Boss cons green and the other mobs in the group con grey, I can get salvage from the boss, but not from the Lts or Minions?

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Correct.

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You'd figure as a game with a comic book theme, the devs would maybe look into whats going on in comic book land that weekend. Wizard World Philadelphia is that weekend and considering that a couple years ago, NCSoft actually had a booth there, you would think they wouldn't schedule opposite it. Kind of sucks for the fans that are going to it, that we have to miss out on the weekend. Just my personal opinion but for a game based around comics, its poor judgement.

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First, how many of the hundreds of thousands of subscribers will go to that convention in Philly? Yeah, not a significant percentage I would gather.

Second, think like a business. If Cyrptic is at the convention showing off the game, then:

1. People trying out new characters at their booth are going to level up to 5 in just 15 minutes of play, making them really like the game.

2. The press and biz will see most of the servers conning yellow or red, giving the impression of popularity.

Well, that's if they have a booth again...

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Dare I ask, are drop rates doubled along with XP and Inf?

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Seconded. Double drop rates!

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Hehe, i've long outgrown the need to level quickly so not really looking forward to the XP part of that double weekend if the drop rates remain the same.

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Do nothing but exemplar down, whether in PvP zones, Task Forces, or with lower level teams and you will be treated to quadruple inf weekend with no xp gained.

Another Caverns Run:

Debilitative Action: Immob/Range
Kismet: End/Recharge
Cacophony: Conf/Range
Commanding Presence: Acc/End
3x Regenerative Tissue: Heal/Recharge

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You have a chance to get invention salvage whenever you defeat any NPC that cons green or above ...

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You sure about that green part? I thought it was any enemy that gave you XP, which would include a level of grey-con just below green-con.

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No recipes or *invention* salvage from greys. Ever. At least, not on Live. If someone wants to dispute this, then hunt sub-greens and provide a screenie of the invention salvage that drops from them.

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Very nice guide. One piece of information that I think is key that is missing is the level range around your character for which you can get salvage. Now, I've seen mixed reports on this, so I'm not even 100% sure on what it is. For defeating foes for Salvage, can you get it from any foe -4 on up to you? Or is it only foes that, at least, con Green to you (which means minions are -2, lieuts -3 and bosses -4)? I've seen both explanations, and don't know which one is correct.

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The latter. They must con at least Green to you. Any other information is false. You can not get recipes or *invention* salvage from greys. If anyone want to challenge this, then post a screenie from Live to prove that greys drop.

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minor aside from discussion- but, i see an awful lot of newish people posting on this issue. it has if nothing else got the community talking!! something new please, anything, really would be refreshing!

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They have a link to the poll in the opening screen of the game.

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What ever happened to the last vote for what landscape we would like to see (Moon, Ice, etc.)?

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I think you'll be mooning for issue 10, then.