Time for another posting of my updated list!
What we know about Issue 5:
*Disclaimer: None this is official, but rather a collection of all information I could either find or was presented to me. I tried not to add anything unless I had proof in the way of developer posts on the forums, interviews, and reports from trustworthy members of the forum community. Also, much of this could change due to various factors in development.*
Likely (Nothing is considered confirmed until released):
<ul type="square"> [*]New powersets. Statesman recently spoke at the Wizard World in Philadelphia about the upcoming powersets. It is confirmed there will be four, and only four, new sets. They will be Archery and Sonics, both a primary and secondary version. Defenders will have access to both (one version of each theme is a buff/debuff set for Defenders), and both Blasters and Defenders can access the offensive sets (primary for Blasters, secondary for Defenders). Also, it was confirmed that all bow attacks have slightly different animations. Its not all just pull back and loose an arrow. As for sonic attacks, most will originate from the mouth as though the hero were screaming. (from Stratics chat interview with Statesman)[*] They will make some sort of change to make farming missions harder. It will not be outlawed per se, but it will be made much more difficult.[*]New zone Croatoa. Supposedly leaked photos indicate that it is a city zone with the third university (two are under construction on live right now). The level range is 25-35. According to a member of the forums who has supposedly seen it, the zone is HUGE. There is no definite information on this, so consider the above educated speculation. This zone will include new missions, contacts, TFs, etc. following the example set by Striga Isle.[*]New missions and taskforces. I would guess they go along with the new zone, but they could be in "old" zones as well.[*]New tilesets (they are in most updates).[*]New zone events (they are in most updates). In this issue there will be some new event involving Trolls, large Superdyne parties, and their unfortunate consequences on citizens of Skyway. Also included in I5 will be some form of arson missions where Hellions start fires and heroes must stop it/rescue the victims. No word on where this will take place.[*]A tweak to the XP debt system. The debt free level range will be extended from 15 to 1-10. In addition, the amount of debt incurred will be halved when the hero is on a mission map.[*]In the Ask Statesman Issue #6 States confirmed that there will be new badges in I5. In a later post on the forums Positron hinted at the "Trailblazer" badge for obtaining 200 badges (this was not possible before I4 and the addition of the arena badges). CuppaJo recently said that the dev team is working to get badges added for all TFs that dont give them already this would include Moonfire and the ShadowShard TFs.[*]Some kind of "QOL" fix. This is short for "Quality of Life," and it means little mechanical changes that improve a player's overall gaming experience but is not a drastic change. In this issue Statesman claims that they will work on exemplars and Taskforces, probably to make it easier for higher level heroes to do a TF with a level range below them. Also, they will be adding the stores to the in-game map.[*]New enemies: the Coven and the Red Caps. They will be in Croatoa. Players that participated in the Halloween event back in October will remember the Coven, as they were some of the special enemies that popped out of doors during trick-or-treating. The two groups will also fight amongst themselves. It is not known if they are the only enemies in Croatoa.[*]According to UpLink_OoT (who PM'd Statesman about this) there will be some sort of instant transport added to the game that will warp heroes to areas like The Rikti Crash Site and Eden. Exact details are still unclear, but there will probably be a contact standing in a city zone, similar to the Hero Corps contacts that change mission difficulty. [/list]
Possible:
<ul type="square"> [*]New mission
types. Yeah, thats right, new kinds of mission. Possibilities mentioned include things like guide and protect an NPC, defend a location, rescues (I'm assuming the burning building type stuff), stealth missions (avoid surveillance and guards) which are apparently going to be in COV and will make their way to COH, waves of attackers
Also, in Ask Statesman Issue #6 it was revealed that non-combat missions saving citizens from a fire specifically are on their way. [information quoted from Quickshadows post about the convention in Philly].[*]Some sort of change made to controllers. States has been saying that they are looking at controllers for a while now. Whether it will be a buff or "nerf" is anyone's guess. During the Stratics interview Statesman described what they are testing right now, saying,
you should expect that ALL controllers, regardless of level, will gain more non-pet offense.[*]New accolades. [*]Some kind of improvement made to Blasters. Many have complained that Blaster damage does not scale up well enough, especially in the post 40 game, and States has mentioned a possible reconfiguration of Blaster secondaries as a possible solution.
If this happens, States hinted that the melee focus of secondaries will be altered.[*]Some scrappers are still considered overpowered, according to Statesman at the Wizard World convention. Others are either working as intended, or underpowered. There is no indication which powersets are the problem, but we can guess that Regen and Invulnerability are overpowered while Super Reflexes and Dark Armor are, at best, working as intended. Some sort of change will be coming in the near future, but there is nothing certain about it (honestly, would anyone be surprised?).[*]Tanks will get adjusted in some way. Statesman commented that tanks are much harder to kill than was ever intended, so something will be done to change that. The reason for this view apparently revolves around making other support ATs superfluous, which is something the devs seem to abhor.[/list]
Unlikely for Issue 5 but things we will probably see in the future:
<ul type="square">[*]New objectives or methods for winning in the arena. Many players have suggested things from fighting monsters/AVs to introducing lava pits for players to fall into. During the Stratics Chat interview Statesman confirmed they are looking into all sorts of things to make the Arenas more appealing to players. We are currently designing some fun mini-games for a wider variety of players to enjoy. More than just straight up PvP.[*]Statesman mentioned a Faultline TF is in the works, and he would like to see it added soon.[*]Some sort of improvements made to Peregrine Island, "Eden, the Rikti Crash site, and other high level zones. The details are unclear, but there is talk of making changes to improve rewards (there's already a lot of risk in some areas) and somehow making them more interesting/fun.[*]New accolades.[*]More new powersets. This will definitely not be in I5. In the past the dev team has confirmed that sets are being worked on, or at least considered. This list includes (but is not limited to) Plant Control, Magnetic Control, Street Fighting (Scrapper), Bo/Staff (Scrapper), Shield (Tanker), and Pistols (Scrapper).[*]New costume options. States recently said that there is no plan to add costumes to CoH anytime in the near future, but it is something that people want. It will be added eventually.[*]The new skills system. Not much is known for sure about this, but it will probably create alternative ways to complete mission objectives, and/or create a form of "crafting" that would fit well into the CoH universe. Heroes will learn and perfect these skills at the University, which will have three campuses around the city (in a similar fashion to the arena). These "schools" are currently under construction on the live servers. There have been two attempts at a skill system thus far, but neither made it out of internal testing (presumably because they were unfun, as Statesman once described the first attempt). Sadly, skills have been put on an indefinite hold. Dont get your hopes up for I6 or I7, even.[*]New end game content. States has hinted at more massive encounters like Hamidon, but the devs may have something else up their sleeve. [*]New Epic ATs. In a PM CuppaJo stated that there would be no new Epic ATs in Issue 5, and other posters claim that info from convention conversations with the devs revealed that there would be no EATs until after the CoV release. The Epics include the Coralax, Avilan, Incarnate, and Blood of the Blackstream. Methods for unlocking them are unknown, but States confirmed that it will be something different from reaching level 50 (possibly a TF or accolade).[*]Weapon and power customization. The devs have set no date for this, and it appears to be quite difficult to implement. The current plan is to let players change the colors and animations of powers, and change the look of weapons. Other changes have been suggested, including sound and relocating the point on the body where a power comes from. [*]Trench coats! [*]Vehicles as a power pool, or perhaps a completely new way to travel. [*]Personal bases. This will be coming with the CoV expansion and it will allow SGs to purchase and customize a base, completely with some form of vault to keep valuables. The valuable include "objects of great power" that will somehow give an advantage to the group that has them. The bases will also allow for raids between player heroes and villains, as well as player villains attacking other villains. [*]An underwater zone and space zone.[*]"Reward clothing." Personally one of my favorite future additions, this will bridge the gap between CoH's unofficial no loot policy and the playerbase's desire to have unique items as a reward. This feature will create special and unique items to be worn by heroes; presumably they will not give any stat or performance boosts, but they should look damn cool. It is unknown whether they will be dropped like traditional loot or only found in mission objectives and as accolades. [*]Swinging as a travel power, a la Spiderman or Catwoman (who sometimes used a whip to swing between rooftops).[*]An arch nemesis system. This would allow a villain to constantly plague a hero, complete with a storyline that spans the entire game. These villains could be customizable and certain aspects of them could be "traded" (according to an interview with States).[*]One new power for every powerset. Geko is reportedly a strong advocate for this, but its a big task and therefore on the backburner.[*]One new power for each powerpool. Same as above. [*]Reportedly States is considering a Respec Trial for level 50s, and this would give heroes at the cap an unlimited amount of respecs to play around with.[*]The flashback system, which would allow heroes to lower their level (without needing another hero) and do missions/TFs at lower levels that they may have skipped. Statesman is reportedly on the fence about this, mostly because he apparently doesnt think all content should be experienced on one character. There is precedent for that in other MMOs. Its obviously popular, though, so he is still considering it (other members of the dev team are reportedly in favor of it as well).[*]Trials are to be added in the future. This also includes a possible Prison Break trial in Brickstown and something in the Rikti Crash Site involving the crashed ship.[*]In an interview with 1up.com Statesman disclosed that they are working on server transfers. This will almost definitely NOT be in I5. They are aiming to get this added by the release of CoV.[*]Something might be done with HOs to control them. It doesnt appear this will be removing or weakening directly, but well have to wait and see.[*]Individual player housing. It would appear that the dev team wants SG Bases to be the cool place to have your hero hang out off-duty, but they are considering individual houses for things like souvenirs and roleplaying. Nothing solid, but there is a chance of this in the future.[*]They are looking into the end problems that plague many builds. Something will be changed in the future to make it easier.[*]New zones for high level players. CuppaJo recently outlined development of new zones, and showed a pattern of the devs gradually working their way up through the game. Croatoa is designed to fill the gaps between 25-35, so probably in Issue 6 or 7 we will see a zone for the 30-40 range. Or it could be 35-45. It will be something like that. There have been no hints about the details of this zone so far.[/list]
My thanks to everyone who helped (and still help) with the creation of this list. I would especially like to thank Quickshadow for his description of Statesmans Q&A session at Wizard World.
Also, to be perfectly honest, its highly unlikely all of these things will be added. Theres only so much the devs can do. Try not to get too attached to any of the far-off planned additions.
