Avatea

Please note that the City of Heroes Websites may once again be unavailable tomorrow Wednesday, July 20 between [B]9:00 a.m. PDT (12:00 p.m. EDT / 5:00 p.m. BST / 18:00 CEST) and 10:00 a.m. PDT (1:00 p.m. EDT / 6:00 p.m. BST / 19:00 CEST) to complete the maintenance.

The Live European and North America City of Heroes servers will be offline for a publish on Wednesday, July 20, 2011.

Start Time: 7:00 a.m. PDT / 10:00 a.m. EDT / 3:00 p.m. BST / 16:00 CEST
Expected Duration: 2 hours
Expected Finish Time: 9:00 a.m. PDT / 12:00 p.m. EDT / 5:00 p.m. BST / 18:00 CEST

Patch notes will be available in the Patch Notes section of the City of Heroes website as soon as possible after this downtime.

Please note that there won't be a Thursday maintenance, since we will be carrying out a maintenance with this Wednesday's publish.

We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience!

The City of Heroes Websites will be down for a maintenance between 9:00 a.m. PDT (12:00 p.m. EDt / 5:00 p.m. BST / 18:00 CEST) and 12:00 p.m. PDT (3:00 p.m. EDt / 8:00 p.m. BST / 21:00 CEST) on Tuesday, July 19, 2011!

Please note, this downtime will only affect our City of Heroes websites. Our Forums and Going Rogue websites will be still be up!

Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages for updates on the progress of this downtime!

Thank you for your patience with this matter!

COMBINED

Sound Effects

• Fixed an issue which was causing many ambient sounds to be muted.
  • The Neutropolis industrial zone is one area which should sound much livelier.

League

• The wait time to increase the size of an open league has been lowered from 5 minutes to 90 seconds.
  • This is the time that players in an Open league have to wait, so more players have time to join before the Incarnate Trial starts.
• XP will now scale properly for leagues larger than 9 players.
• League leaders should now be able to invite players into a league while on an Incarnate Trial map.

Incarnate Trial : Keyes Island Reactor

• Pets will no longer count against earning the Avoids the Green Stuff badge.

Costumes

Steampunk

• Huge: Sideburns should now blend properly with Steampunk Beard.
• Female: Victorian Steampunk Bustier should no longer have clipping issues with tight and skin upper body.

CITY OF HEROES

• None.

CITY OF VILLAINS

• None.

PRAETORIA

• None.

Join us in game for a super weekend of Double-XP goodness starting July 28 at 9:00 a.m. PDT (12:00 p.m. EDT / 5:00 p.m. BST / 18:00 CEST) until July 31 at 11:59 p.m. PDT (2:59 a.m. EDT / 7:59 a.m. BST / 8:59 CEST)!

This is your chance to level up those heroes or villains you couldn't find time for! Unless you're in serious need of Inf or Prestige for a bit of super shopping in game, in which case you'll be happy to learn that you'll also get double the Inf and double the Prestige over the Double XP Weekend!

So start planning, start thinking up that dream build or get those characters back into the game! The Double XP Weekend is going to be upon us on July 28th!

Join in the Community discussion now!

Join us in game for a super weekend of Double-XP goodness starting July 28 at 9:00 a.m. PDT (12:00 p.m. EDT / 5:00 p.m. BST / 18:00 CEST) until July 31 at 11:59 p.m. PDT (2:59 a.m. EDT / 7:59 a.m. BST / 8:59 CEST)!

This is your chance to level up those heroes or villains you couldn't find time for! Unless you're in serious need of Inf or Prestige for a bit of super shopping in game, in which case you'll be happy to learn that you'll also get double the Inf and double the Prestige over the Double XP Weekend!

So start planning, start thinking up that dream build or get those characters back into the game! The Double XP Weekend is going to be upon us on July 28th!

TODAY ONLY! Get the City of Heroes Going Rogue:Complete Collection on Steam for $9.99!

The Complete Collection has exclusive costume pieces, auras and stance emotes as well as the Shadowy Presence invisibility power that may well save your life!

So go on ahead and get the City of Heroes Going Rogue: Complete Collection on Steam now!

Join in the Community discussion now!

TODAY ONLY! Get the City of Heroes Going Rogue:Complete Collection on Steam for $9.99!

The Complete Collection has exclusive costume pieces, auras and stance emotes as well as the Shadowy Presence invisibility power that may well save your life!

So go on ahead and get the City of Heroes Going Rogue: Complete Collection on Steam now!

I met with Ridia in Peregrine Island. I had heard about her night club from a friend who is a bit more familiar with the night scene than I am.

Ridia was accompanied by Rockford, a huge troll of a person. He was probably her bouncer, although I never actually tried to clarify that with her. Or with him either for that matter, for I realised shortly afterwards that, while he was very sociable and had quite a funny and, to be quite candid, adorable side to him, he had a few difficulties with his speech. That may have been why I never felt threatened by him throughout the tour.

Hot on the heels of the Issue 21: Convergence announcement, we have more information about some of the content you will be able to experience at launch!

An overview of the upcoming Praetorian First Ward zone is now available on the City of Heroes website so go on ahead and learn about the demise of this once flourishing city now!

Join in the Community discussion now!

Hot on the heels of the Issue 21: Convergence announcement, we have more information about some of the content you will be able to experience at launch!

An overview of the upcoming Praetorian First Ward zone is now available on the City of Heroes website so go on ahead and learn about the demise of this once flourishing city now!

This week WST has now been updated on the live (and truthful) servers.

Thank you all for your patience with this matter!

The Weekly Strike Target for Tuesday, July 12 is currently suffering a small delay.

Terra Volta (44-50) (from Major Richard Flagg in Peregrine Island) / Tree of Thorns (44-50) (from Ractespriel in the Nerva Archipelago) will be set as your WST as soon as possible.

We will keep you posted as soon as this is done!

Freitag and I invaded Champion today and played Fear and Loathing on Striga #350522 by @FredrikSvanberg with a super team! I forgot to take a screenshot actually, shame on me, but you know who you are!

The Arc was really interesting and the first 3-4 missions were a blast. Although to be quite honest I was too busy leec... erm, reading descriptions, clues and whatnots to really show off my wee Crab.

Keep recommending more arcs if you think they are Dev Choice worthy!

Patch notes for build 2050.201106290226.1.

COMBINED

Incarnate Trial: Keyes Island Reactor

• Anti Matter should no longer get stuck in walls and platforms.

CITY OF HEROES

• None

CITY OF VILLAINS

• None

PRAETORIA

• None

This week’s Intrepid Informer is once again a special edition! We do try and bring you the latest on City of Heroes as soon as we hear about it!

In this issue, Phil “Synapse” Zeleski, takes the stage and tells you more about the much awaited continuation of Power Set Proliferation, a.k.a. Power Set proliferation 3.0!

Read on for a breakdown of what you can expect to see in game in the future!


Power Set Proliferation - 3.0
by Phil “Synapse” Zeleski

Over the past couple of years there’s been few power related features requested more often than Power Set Proliferation. So, I’m happy to say that we’re kicking off the next round by Proliferating a healthy batch of powers sets to other archetypes. Below is the full list:

Hero Archetypes

• Blaster
  • Dark Blast (Primary)
  • Darkness Manipulation (Secondary)
• Controller
  • Poison (Secondary)
• Defender
  • Thermal Radiation (Primary)
  • Fire Blast (Secondary)
• Scrapper
  • Battle Axe (Primary)
  • War Mace (Primary)
  • Energy Aura (Secondary)
• Tanker
  • Super Reflexes (Primary)
  • Martial Arts (Secondary)

Villain Archetypes

• Brute
  • Katana (Primary)
  • Broad Sword (Primary)
  • Regeneration (Secondary)
• Corruptor
  • Psychic Blast (Primary)
  • Poison (Secondary)
• Dominator
  • None
• Mastermind
  • Sonic Resonance (Secondary)
• Stalker
  • Ice Armor (Secondary)

Highlights

Below I’d like to talk about some of the highlights of this round of Power Set Proliferation. These include changes made to the proliferated sets as well as some interesting, but related tangents.

Dark Blast and Darkness Manipulation for Blasters

We chose Dark Blast as it would be a fun control centric blast set for Blasters. The power set was changed slightly to make it a better fit for Blasters. Dark Pit was removed, Torrent and Nightfall were merged into a single power: Umbral Torrent, and then Aim and a new power Abyssal Gaze (a single target hold with a DoT component) were added to round out the set.

Darkness Manipulation made a lot of sense as it was fairly low hanging fruit and would be a perfect pairing for Dark Blast. The set is made up of powers that are found in Dark Armor, Defender Dark Blast and Dark Miasma. The set can deliver crushing melee damage as well as provide a measure of crowd control and self buffs.

Poison for Controllers and Corruptors

This set has been requested for proliferation for a great while and we thought now would be a great time to release it. This set is very much like the Mastermind version, however Noxious Gas (a pet targeted AoE debuff power) was replaced by Venomous Gas. This new power is a PBAoE toggle that significantly weakens enemies in close proximity to the user.

Ice Armor for Stalkers

We chose Ice Armor this time around as it was a fun and thematically interesting power set and it was the only option that didn’t require substantial art time. Since our talented artists are working their rear ends off making content in Issue 21 shine, this round of Power Set Proliferation required that there would be no art time used. Ice Armor had to have some changes made to make it compatible with the Stalker play style. First we removed Icicles to make room for Hide and then we removed Hibernate and replaced it with Icy Bastion. This change was made because Stalkers already have access to Hibernate from their Leviathan Patron Pool. The new power Icy Bastion is a click power that provides a short, but significant, burst of Resistance, Regeneration and Recovery.

What about Dominators?

You’ve probably noticed that Dominators didn’t get new powers this time around. We have exciting future plans for the archetype that we can’t talk about right now that will most likely occur post Issue 21. So, stay tuned!

Energy Aura Revamp

The most exciting part of any powers work for me personally is making improvements to existing power sets. So, porting over Energy Aura to Scrappers gave us a really good opportunity to make some changes to the set. The changes we chose to make were intended to make thematic sense and build upon strengths instead of filling intended weak spots. I won’t list the lengthy patch notes here, but I will sum them up for you:

1. Resistance on the set’s auto powers were slightly increased and now include endurance drain protection and slow resistance.
   
2. Entropy Shield is now Entropic Aura for Scrappers and Brutes. This power is a taunt aura that grants the user a scaling recharge buff based on the number of foes surrounding the user. The Stalker version of the set doesn’t have a taunt aura, but it offers a small Recharge bonus.
   
3. Repulse for Stalkers has been replaced by Disrupt, a stun aura.
   
4. Energy Drain no longer has a healing component, instead it offers a small defense boost per target hit.
   
5. Conserve Energy was replaced by Energize, a self Heal that offers a moderate regeneration and endurance cost reduction boost for a short while. This power works identically to the Electric Armor version.

Well, that wraps up Power Set Proliferation 3.0! We hope you all enjoy this round of Power Set Proliferation. If the power set you wanted proliferated didn’t make it this round, never fear there’s always next time. There’s still plenty of power set goodness to be proliferated and we look forward when we bring those to you.

Phil “Synapse” Zeleski
Senior Game Designer

Join in the Community discussion now!

This week’s Intrepid Informer is once again a special edition! We do try and bring you the latest on City of Heroes as soon as we hear about it!

In this issue, Phil “Synapse” Zeleski, takes the stage and tells you more about the much awaited continuation of Power Set Proliferation, a.k.a. Power Set proliferation 3.0!

Read on for a breakdown of what you can expect to see in game in the future!


Power Set Proliferation - 3.0
by Phil “Synapse” Zeleski

Over the past couple of years there’s been few power related features requested more often than Power Set Proliferation. So, I’m happy to say that we’re kicking off the next round by Proliferating a healthy batch of powers sets to other archetypes. Below is the full list:

Hero Archetypes

• Blaster
  • Dark Blast (Primary)
  • Darkness Manipulation (Secondary)
• Controller
  • Poison (Secondary)
• Defender
  • Thermal Radiation (Primary)
  • Fire Blast (Secondary)
• Scrapper
  • Battle Axe (Primary)
  • War Mace (Primary)
  • Energy Aura (Secondary)
• Tanker
  • Super Reflexes (Primary)
  • Martial Arts (Secondary)

Villain Archetypes

• Brute
  • Katana (Primary)
  • Broad Sword (Primary)
  • Regeneration (Secondary)
• Corruptor
  • Psychic Blast (Primary)
  • Poison (Secondary)
• Dominator
  • None
• Mastermind
  • Sonic Resonance (Secondary)
• Stalker
  • Ice Armor (Secondary)

Highlights

Below I’d like to talk about some of the highlights of this round of Power Set Proliferation. These include changes made to the proliferated sets as well as some interesting, but related tangents.

Dark Blast and Darkness Manipulation for Blasters

We chose Dark Blast as it would be a fun control centric blast set for Blasters. The power set was changed slightly to make it a better fit for Blasters. Dark Pit was removed, Torrent and Nightfall were merged into a single power: Umbral Torrent, and then Aim and a new power Abyssal Gaze (a single target hold with a DoT component) were added to round out the set.

Darkness Manipulation made a lot of sense as it was fairly low hanging fruit and would be a perfect pairing for Dark Blast. The set is made up of powers that are found in Dark Armor, Defender Dark Blast and Dark Miasma. The set can deliver crushing melee damage as well as provide a measure of crowd control and self buffs.

Poison for Controllers and Corruptors

This set has been requested for proliferation for a great while and we thought now would be a great time to release it. This set is very much like the Mastermind version, however Noxious Gas (a pet targeted AoE debuff power) was replaced by Venomous Gas. This new power is a PBAoE toggle that significantly weakens enemies in close proximity to the user.

Ice Armor for Stalkers

We chose Ice Armor this time around as it was a fun and thematically interesting power set and it was the only option that didn’t require substantial art time. Since our talented artists are working their rear ends off making content in Issue 21 shine, this round of Power Set Proliferation required that there would be no art time used. Ice Armor had to have some changes made to make it compatible with the Stalker play style. First we removed Icicles to make room for Hide and then we removed Hibernate and replaced it with Icy Bastion. This change was made because Stalkers already have access to Hibernate from their Leviathan Patron Pool. The new power Icy Bastion is a click power that provides a short, but significant, burst of Resistance, Regeneration and Recovery.

What about Dominators?

You’ve probably noticed that Dominators didn’t get new powers this time around. We have exciting future plans for the archetype that we can’t talk about right now that will most likely occur post Issue 21. So, stay tuned!

Energy Aura Revamp

The most exciting part of any powers work for me personally is making improvements to existing power sets. So, porting over Energy Aura to Scrappers gave us a really good opportunity to make some changes to the set. The changes we chose to make were intended to make thematic sense and build upon strengths instead of filling intended weak spots. I won’t list the lengthy patch notes here, but I will sum them up for you:

1. Resistance on the set’s auto powers were slightly increased and now include endurance drain protection and slow resistance.
   
2. Entropy Shield is now Entropic Aura for Scrappers and Brutes. This power is a taunt aura that grants the user a scaling recharge buff based on the number of foes surrounding the user. The Stalker version of the set doesn’t have a taunt aura, but it offers a small Recharge bonus.
   
3. Repulse for Stalkers has been replaced by Disrupt, a stun aura.
   
4. Energy Drain no longer has a healing component, instead it offers a small defense boost per target hit.
   
5. Conserve Energy was replaced by Energize, a self Heal that offers a moderate regeneration and endurance cost reduction boost for a short while. This power works identically to the Electric Armor version.

Well, that wraps up Power Set Proliferation 3.0! We hope you all enjoy this round of Power Set Proliferation. If the power set you wanted proliferated didn’t make it this round, never fear there’s always next time. There’s still plenty of power set goodness to be proliferated and we look forward when we bring those to you.

Phil “Synapse” Zeleski
Senior Game Designer

Added the following note:

Incarnate XP

• Incarnate XP is being incorrectly divided in leagues of greater than 8 participants. The amount being received is less than intended.
  • A fix is in progress.

Please note, these Known issues are a work in progress and they will evolve as we fix issues or confirm/manage to reproduce others.

Thank you all!

Signature Story Arc 2 Episode 1

• Manticore fails to escort players when chosen as an ally in the final mission in the Hero version of this Episode.

Team Up Teleporter / LFG

• We're aware of an issue where the Team up Teleporter / LFG Tool is intermittently not working. We're working on resolving this issue as soon as possible.

Signature Story Arc 1 Episode 1

• The reward table is not appearing for Villains until the timer finishes.
  • Players can head to the door while the timer counts down. When the timer finishes, they should be able to get the reward window and safely leave without the Freedom Phalanx aggroing them.

Signature Stories, Volume 2: Pandora's Box - Episode 1

• This episode will not be available immediately upon release of Issue 23: Where Shadows Lie.

Leather and Chainmail Costume Pieces

• These Costume Pieces will not be available for purchase on the Paragon Market immediately upon release of Issue 23: Where Shadows Lie. However, they are available for VIP Players.

User Interface

• When switching builds while Panther Stealth Power is active, the UI will display that the power is still active even though it has been shut down. Toggling the power back on will resolve this issue.

Team Up Teleporter / LFG

• The Sister Psyche Task Force is still listed in the LFG menu even though it has been replaced by the Penelope Yin Task Force.
• It is currently possible to queue for Clamour and Destruction [Sister Psyche] but the Task Force will not launch.

Missions: Trilogy

• Mercenary's maximum level is 44, when it should be 54.

Another creative issue that's given me ideas for future costumes, nicely done Antoinette