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Beast Mastery
by Phil "Synapse" Zeleski
Introduction
I'm here to talk to you today about something pretty special: a new Mastermind Primary Power Set! You've been asking for it since time immemorial and now I have the privilege of presenting to you Beast Mastery. Yes, it's finally here. This Mastermind summoning set allows you to call forth a number of beasts to attack your foes such as: Wolves, Lions, Ravens, Hawks and even swarms of stinging insects. We'll talk about how this powerset functions in greater detail, next I'll offer some helpful tips and tricks to get you started and lastly I'll go over some potential character themes for this set.
Powers
Below is a list of the powers found within Beast Mastery along with their short and long descriptions that you'll find in game and some of my comments regarding each power.
Beast Mastery
Command wild animals to aid you in battle. These beastly allies lack ranged attacks, but make up for it with a specialized focus in melee combat. Call forth wolves, lions, dire wolves, hawks and insects to harass your foes. Additionally, you have a chance to gain a stack of Pack Mentality when you and your pets land a hit on an enemy. Each stack of Pack Mentality will boost the damage of all of your nearby beast henchmen. Pack Mentality can stack up to 10 times and will fade after a short time.
Pack Mentality (New Mechanic)
Beast Mastery introduces a new mechanic called Pack Mentality. This buff provides a 2% damage boost to your Beast Mastery pets for each stack. This buff stacks up to 10 times. Each of your Beast Mastery attack powers and the attacks of your beast pets have a chance to grant a stack of this buff. Pack Mentality is also a fuel that is consumed by Fortify Pack, but we'll talk about that a bit more in detail below in Fortify Pack's information.
Call Swarm
Ranged, Light DoT(Lethal), Foe -Defense, -Speed
You summon a swarm of stinging insects to harass your foe causing Light Lethal damage over time and reducing both their movement speed and defense. This power has a moderate chance at granting your pets a stack of Pack Mentality. Damage: Light DoT, Recharge: Very Fast
Designer's Comments: Call Swarm deals a light amount of damage over time and its primary purpose is to weaken the target allowing your pets to more easily hit and catch up to the target.
Summon Wolves
Summon Wolves
Calls forth one to three Wolves to do your bidding. The third one summoned will be an Alpha Wolf, which grants some leadership bonuses to the pack. Wolves have no ranged attacks, but can quickly close in on their prey. You may only have 3 Wolves under your control at any given time. If you attempt to call more Wolves, you can only replace the ones you have lost in battle. If you already have three, the power will fail. Wolf attacks have a chance to build a charge of Pack Mentality. Pack Mentality is a Damage buff aura that radiates from the Mastermind and can stack up to 10 times. Recharge: Very Long
Designer's Comments: Howler Wolves deliver a number of lethal damage attacks and can also have some self buffs that improve their speed and damage. They lack ranged attacks, but they can quickly catch up to their targets to deliver some quick powerful hits. The third Howler Wolf you summon is an Alpha wolf. He has a self heal power and an AoE damage debuff. He serves more of a support role. Like other minion level henchmen, they're vulnerable to most damage. You'll want to support them with buffs, debuffs and heals for the best results.
Call Hawk
Ranged, High DMG (Lethal), Foe -To Hit, Knockdown, -Fly
You call forth a hawk ally to swoop in and viciously peck at your target causing High Lethal damage. The attack often catches foes off their guard and can knock them down as well as reducing their chance to hit. This power has a good chance at granting your pets a stack of Pack Mentality. Damage: High, Recharge: Fast
Designer's Comments: Call Hawk's secondary function is to knock fliers out of the air. This is a vital tool in the Mastermind's arsenal as his pets lack any real ranged attack.
Train Beasts
Ranged, Train Beast Henchmen
Train your Beast Henchmen to more effectively attack your foes. This power permanently bestows new powers and abilities to all of your Beast Henchmen. The powers gained are unique and dependent upon the type of Beast Henchman. This power only works on your Beast Henchmen and you can only Train your Beast Henchmen once with this power. Recharge: Fast
Designer's Comments: This is your first pet buff power. It grants all of your beasts some additional attacks to make them even more effective in melee.
Call Ravens
Ranged (Cone), Moderate DoT(Lethal), Foe -Speed, -Defense, -Fly
You command an unkindness of ravens to quickly assault and harass your foes. Your foes will suffer Moderate Lethal damage over time and have their speed and defense reduced. This power has a high chance at granting your pets a stack of Pack Mentality. Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Slow
Designer's Comments: Much like Call Hawk, this power is intended to not only cause some damage over time, but also reduce the likelihood that your beasts will encounter foes they cannot reach or hit.
Summon Lions
Summon Lions
You can summon one to two mighty lions (depending on your level). Lions are one of the most deadly predators on the planet and possess vicious claw and bite attacks as well as growl and roar buffs and debuffs. Like all Henchmen, Lions can be trained to be even more powerful. You may only have 2 Lions under your control at any given time. If you attempt to summon more Lions, you can only replace the ones you have lost in battle. If you already have two, the power will fail. Lion attacks have a chance to build a charge of Pack Mentality. Pack Mentality is a Damage buff aura that radiates from the Mastermind and can stack up to 10 times. Recharge: Very Long
Designer's Comments: Lions are roughly equal parts support and damage. They provide defense buffs for nearby beast allies with their Lion's Roar power, stun nearby foes with their Ferocious Growl and can deliver a measure of melee area of effect damage with their Claw Swipe power.
Fortify Pack
PBAoE, Pets +Defense, +Regeneration, consumes all charges of Pack Mentality
You command your beasts to fight more defensively. Using Fortify Pack will prevent your pets from benefiting from Pack Mentality for 60 seconds. The number of charges of Pack Mentality you own when activating this power will determine the potency of the Defense and Regeneration buff that will be granted to your pack. Additionally, simply owning this power grants your beast pets attacks a chance to critically hit that scales with the amount of Pack Mentality owned by the Mastermind. Recharge: Very Long
Designer's Comments: After playing with Beast Mastery for a bit you'll quickly realize that the summoned beast henchmen are very offensively focused and if left unprotected and unsupported can be defeated fairly quickly. This is where Fortify Pack comes in. This power consumes all active stacks of Pack Mentality on the user and prevents both the Mastermind and beast henchmen from generating further stacks of Pack Mentality. In exchange, it grants a sizeable defense and regeneration boost for your beast henchmen for 1 minute. This buff scales with the number of stacks of Pack Mentality consumed. So, if at all possible, it's best to use Fortify Pack when you have a full stack of 10 Pack Mentality. Fortify Pack is intended to be a defensive tactical shift and gives your pets some additional staying power in tough situations. Also, as an added bonus, simply purchasing it gives your pets a 2% chance to critically hit per stack of Pack Mentality.
Summon Dire Wolf
Summon Dire Wolf
You call upon the aid of the fabled Dire Wolf. It has powerful bite and breath attacks. Unlike wolves and lions, the Dire Wolf has some limited ranged attacks. The Dire Wolf has good defense to Melee, Ranged and AoE attacks and good resistance to Cold damage. You may only have 1 Dire Wolf under your control at any given time. If you attempt to summon another Dire Wolf the power will fail. Dire Wolf attacks have a chance to build a charge of Pack Mentality. Pack Mentality is a Damage buff aura that radiates from the Mastermind and can stack up to 10 times. Recharge: Very Long
Designer's Comments: The Dire Wolf provides a good amount of area of effect damage with Chilling Howl , Freezing Roar and Terrible Howl as well as having some survivability boosting tools with the slow effect caused by its breath attacks, the terrorize effect from Terrible Howl and Will of the Wild for a sizable boost to hit points and damage resistance. A well supported Dire Wolf will lead the Mastermind to success.
Tame Beasts
Ranged, Upgrade Beast Henchmen
Tame Beasts will permanently teach the most deadly and ferocious powers to all of your Beast Henchmen. The Tamed Beasts will gain new abilities and powers. The powers gained are unique and dependent upon the type of Beast Henchman that is Tamed. Tame Beasts only works on your Beast Henchmen and you can only Tame your Beast Henchmen once with this power. Recharge: Moderate
Designer's Comments: The most powerful Beast Mastery pet powers are granted by Tame Beasts. So, make sure you don't pass up this or Train Beasts.
Tips and Tricks
To help you get started with Beast Mastery I've compiled some useful tips and tricks that may suit your play style or perhaps will help you define your own preferred method for enjoying the set.- Know your weaknesses
- For the most part, your Beast Mastery pets lack any reliable ranged attacks. Flying enemies or very quick enemies can be troublesome.
- Beast Mastery's 3 blast powers are intended to help deal with this weakness. These powers can slow enemies down, lower their defense and knock them out of the air. Use these powers to take the advantage away from a mobile foe.
- Your pets have tools to deal with these weaknesses too. All Beast Mastery pets have a power called Wild Charge. This power boosts both the damage and movement speed of your pets for a brief period. This allows them to quickly catch up to their foes and deal considerable damage. Additionally, the Dire Wolf's ranged powers have the ability to knock fliers out of the air.
- Defensive or Offensive?
- By default your pets are considered to be in an offensive state. Their attacks can build Pack Mentality which further builds their damage for each stack. Additionally, simply owning Fortify Pack gives them a passive critical hit chance that grows with each stack of Pack Mentality. You'll want to remain in this state if your pets are in good health and in no immediate danger.
- You can shift to a defensive state by activating Fortify Pack. This will remove any stacks of Pack Mentality and prevent additional Pack Mentality from being built. In exchange for this loss of damage your pets will gain a defense and regeneration buff that scales with the number of stacks of Pack Mentality the caster had when the power is activated. In short: the more Pack Mentality you have when you use Fortify Pack, the greater the regeneration and defense buff your pets will have.
- Remain in your offensive state when your pets are healthy and use Fortify Pack to boost their survivability.
- Caring for your beasts
- This goes without saying, but your summoned henchmen are by no means invincible. They require your support.
- How you provide support will vary based greatly upon your secondary powerset choice.
- Sets like Pain Domination, Dark Miasma and Thermal Radiation are great to provide healing to pets.
- Force Field and Sonic Resonance provide excellent buffs for your beasts.
- Poison, Storm Summoning and Trick Arrow are great for weakening foes so they're less likely to defeat your beast pets.
- Lastly, supplement your existing support tools with power pool choices like Aid Other and the Leadership powers to provide an additional measure of survivability for your beast allies!
Themes
Natural, Mutation and Magic origins more easily fit the idea of a master of beasts. Although one could easily imagine a Science origin character being infused with pheromones (or something along those lines) to grant a measure of animal affinity. Technology origin characters might be a bit trickier, but devices might be built to allow the Mastermind to communicate with beasts. However, I am sure you all can come up with much more creative character origins than I can. As always I look forward to seeing the crazy, stunning and otherwise creative characters you all create! Beast Mastery will be available as a purchasable powerset in the Paragon Market. - Know your weaknesses
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New featured items in the Paragon Market!
Flying Disc Power - New!
Loft a Flying Disc to a friend! Your friend can catch it, return it, or pass it on! When you have the Flying Disc power, you can throw limitless discs, but a friend can only have one disc at a time. Fun at the park, or on the beach!
Market Location: Powers > Permanent Powers > Misc
Price: 250 Paragon Points
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Darkness Control - New!
Darkness Control is a "Control" Power Set available to Controllers* and Dominators. You can control darkness and shadow to disable your foes with negative energy. Enemies affected by your attacks will have their chance to hit your character be reduced. Purchase of this Power Set unlocks it for your entire account. NOTE: This Power Set is auto-enabled for VIPs. *Controller Archetype required for Premium Players.
Market Location:
Paragon Picks > Featured
Powers > Power Sets > Support
Price: 800 Paragon Points
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50% off Rare and Uncommon IO Sets for Dominators and Controllers!
Ghost Widow's Embrace Enhancement Set (Rare)
The Ghost Widow's Embrace Set is a RARE Hold Enhancement Set. This set contains 6 Enhancements and is designed for characters that are Level 20 to 50. Store-bought enhancements cannot be sold or traded to other players but can be emailed to other characters on your own game account.
Market Location:
Paragon Picks > Featured
Paragon Picks > Sales
Crafting / Gear > Max Level 50 > Mez / Status Sets > Holds
Regular Price: 856 Paragon Points - 50% Off!
Sale Price: 428 Paragon Points!
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Additional RARE IO Sets for Controllers and Dominators!- Pet Damage IO Sets:
- SET: Commanding Presence (RARE)
- SET: Edict of the Master Set (RARE)
- SET: Sovereign Right (RARE)
- Recharge Intensive Pets IO Sets
- SET: Call to Arms (RARE)
- SET: Expedient Reinforcement (RARE)
- Hold IO Sets
- SET: Neuronic Shutdown (RARE)
- SET: Lockdown (RARE)
- Immobilize IO Sets
- SET: Debilitative Action (RARE)
- SET: Trap of the Hunter (RARE)
- Fear IO Sets
- SET: Unspeakable Terror (RARE)
- SET: Glimpse of the Abyss (RARE)
- Endurance Modification IO Set
- SET: Performance Shifter (RARE)
- To Hit Debuff IO Set
- SET: Dark Watcher's Despair (RARE)
- Accurate Healing IO Sets
- SET: Theft of Essence (RARE)
- SET: Touch of the Nictus (RARE)
Please Note: For detailed pricing information, please check the Paragon Market in-game!
Join the community discussion here! - Pet Damage IO Sets:
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New featured items in the Paragon Market™!
Flying Disc Power - New!
Loft a Flying Disc to a friend! Your friend can catch it, return it, or pass it on! When you have the Flying Disc power, you can throw limitless discs, but a friend can only have one disc at a time. Fun at the park, or on the beach!
Market Location: Powers > Permanent Powers > Misc
Price: 250 Paragon Points
********************
Darkness Control - New!
Darkness Control is a "Control" Power Set available to Controllers* and Dominators. You can control darkness and shadow to disable your foes with negative energy. Enemies affected by your attacks will have their chance to hit your character be reduced. Purchase of this Power Set unlocks it for your entire account. NOTE: This Power Set is auto-enabled for VIPs. *Controller Archetype required for Premium Players.
Market Location:
Paragon Picks > Featured
Powers > Power Sets > Support
Price: 800 Paragon Points
********************
50% off Rare and Uncommon IO Sets for Dominators and Controllers!
Ghost Widow's Embrace Enhancement Set (Rare)
The Ghost Widow's Embrace Set is a RARE Hold Enhancement Set. This set contains 6 Enhancements and is designed for characters that are Level 20 to 50. Store-bought enhancements cannot be sold or traded to other players but can be emailed to other characters on your own game account.
Market Location:
Paragon Picks > Featured
Paragon Picks > Sales
Crafting / Gear > Max Level 50 > Mez / Status Sets > Holds
Regular Price: 856 Paragon Points - 50% Off!
Sale Price: 428 Paragon Points!
********************
Additional RARE IO Sets for Controllers and Dominators!- Pet Damage IO Sets:
- SET: Commanding Presence (RARE)
- SET: Edict of the Master Set (RARE)
- SET: Sovereign Right (RARE)
- Recharge Intensive Pets IO Sets
- SET: Call to Arms (RARE)
- SET: Expedient Reinforcement (RARE)
- Hold IO Sets
- SET: Neuronic Shutdown (RARE)
- SET: Lockdown (RARE)
- Immobilize IO Sets
- SET: Debilitative Action (RARE)
- SET: Trap of the Hunter (RARE)
- Fear IO Sets
- SET: Unspeakable Terror (RARE)
- SET: Glimpse of the Abyss (RARE)
- Endurance Modification IO Set
- SET: Performance Shifter (RARE)
- To Hit Debuff IO Set
- SET: Dark Watcher's Despair (RARE)
- Accurate Healing IO Sets
- SET: Theft of Essence (RARE)
- SET: Touch of the Nictus (RARE)
Please Note: For detailed pricing information, please check the Paragon Market in-game! - Pet Damage IO Sets:
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COMBINED
User Interface- A Settings button has been added to the Login Screen.
- A fix has been implemented for power trays getting reset when powers are granted after character selection.
- This issue previously caused some players to have their power bars erased when the Holiday Powers were granted during the Winter Event.
- The character selection screen text should no longer change colors based on the last character logged in.
- Tabs in the clue window should no longer be hidden under description text.
- An issue where recipes and powers would overlap in the trade UI has been fixed.
- Tooltips now appear when hovering over power icons of detached power trays.
- The "Add To Cart" button in the tailor should now scale properly with widescreen resolutions.
- The visual accuracy of health bars and meters for critters with low max HP values has been increased.
- Character selection UI elements should no longer appear behind aura effects.
- Issues where Hide Recipes Missing Ingredients would remove some items from the Astral and Empyrean merit vendors incorrectly have been corrected
- The Auction House window seperator should no longer adjust window size randomly.
- LFG refresh will no longer clear selected missions.
- A bug that prevented the body of an in-game e-mail from updating when selecting a different tab in the e-mail window has been fixed.
- The Team health/endurance popup text should now display correctly.
Character Creation / Tailor- Fixed a crash which could occur when creating an Illusion/Darkness Affinity character.
- Added the Classic Steampunk, Victorian Steampunk, and Celestial Armor faces to the Special Helmets category for female characters.
- Influence cost in the tailor should no longer change while the Paragon Market browser is open.
- Fixed Alpha glasses so that they can be scaled along with the Brows.
- Skirts will no longer disappear underwater when Water Effects are set to None
- Customizing the Umbra Beast is now simpler. The particles take the primary color, and the beast's body takes the secondary color.
- Mandible costume piece found in half helmet category under detail 2 has been ported to 6 other head categories.
- Standard, Full Masks, Pointy Ears, Hats, Hoods, and Helmets categories all contain the Mandible costume piece now.
- Propagated Circle of Thorns patterns on chest and hips to female body type.
- Fixed a bug that prevented some effects from playing in the powers customization editor.
- An issue with cape rendering at the lowest graphics settings was resolved.
League- The "LeagueNotLeader" message should no longer spam when promoting another player to leader of a team or league.
Dark Astoria Zone Update
Dark Astoria is the decayed, urban epitaph to the dark god Mot. Largely unbeknownst to the original founders of this doomed city, a terrible being was entombed here in ages past. The death of the city has been steady, inexorable and irreversable. In recent years, Dark Astoria has been a dangerous place but now that the last remnants of Mot's bindings have begun to erode, the city exerts its mysterious pull, drawing the doomed to its streets to struggle or serve.
At long last, Mot has been freed. His minions flock to Dark Astoria in greater numbers than ever before to revel in his power and witness as he devours all life on Primal Earth.- Dark Astoria has been repopulated with Incarnate level enemies from the Banished Pantheon, Tsoo, Talons of Vengeance, Circle of Thorns and the new Knives of Vengeance, ranging in level from 50 to 54.
- The Banished Pantheon, Tsoo and Talons of Vengeance also feature new members to be fought at these level ranges. Lower levels are unchanged, except as noted below in the section for Villain Group Adjustments.
- All-new Incarnate story arcs, repeatable missions, and an Incarnate trial are available for level 50 Incarnate characters!
- Earn new, Incarnate level badges for defeating the main villain groups.
- Malta, Arachnos, 5th Column, Paragon Police and Knives of Artemis will also appear at Incarnate levels in missions only.
- New zone art: Moth Cemetery has been completely revamped from its original appearance and layout, the warwalls have taken a distinctly menacing hue and the fog has been lifted.
- New portal connects to Peregrine Island and Grandville to give access to both Heroes and Villains.
Dark Astoria Missions
Dark Astoria Story Arcs
Heroes- The Dark Astoria arc begins when Captain Nolan of the PPD contacts heroes who have unlocked their Alpha Incarnate slot about an odd series of cases that have been occurring in Peregrine Island. He believes they may be linked to the events of Dark Astoria.
Villains- Villains who have unlocked their Alpha Incarnate slot will receive a threatening Arachnos message from a deranged member of the organization. This man's madness may either be an intricate plot from Arachnos or an indication of something far more powerful that seeks to exact justice upon villains.
Repeatable Missions- Dark Astoria Repeatable Missions will feature rewards befitting an Incarnate player, including Incarnate Experience and Thread Components.
- Ephram Sha of the Midnight Squad has tasks befitting Incarnate-level Heroes in Dark Astoria. Help him push back the forces of Mot!
- The Circle of Thorns has an interest in the dark magics swirling around Dark Astoria. They have sent Maharaj, a powerful Madness Mage, to help Incarnate-level Villains sow chaos in the ranks of their foes.
Mid-level Storyarcs
Steel Canyon- The 5th Column have mounted a counteroffensive against the Council, with Steel Canyon as the battlefield. Laura Lockhart, professional deprogrammer and 5th Column propaganda expert, is recruiting heroes to help investigate this recent surge of violence.
- The Steel Canyon Asian Art Museum's Grand Opening is underway, and the main exhibit has a hidden connection with the Tsoo... but with a death warrant out on your head, that may be the least of your concerns!
Cap au Diable- A mysterious man named Baron Zukor has arrived in Cap au Diable, and has put out a call to the Destined Ones... to turn to heroism? Infiltrate his strange cult of villains-turned-heroes and turn Zukor's game against him!
- The Luddites have been blathering on about the evils of technology for ages, but a new prophecy has given you some inspiration. Brother Hammond is convinced that you are the Chosen One... and who are you to argue, when a free army of followers has just fallen into your lap?
Drowning In Blood Trial
Storyline
In the aftermath of Galaxy City, all eyes have turned to Bloody Bay. For the past twenty years the small island has been the home of the Shivans, ever since the Shivan Comet almost collided with Earth. In recent days, though, all communication with the island has mysteriously stopped. Traveling along side either Longbow or Arachnos reinforcements, venture back to the island to uncover the events that transpired and search for insight into the Shivans.
Synopsis
The event takes place in an IOM version of Bloody Bay. Players will venture through the streets and wilderness of the island, facing Freakshow, Circle of Thorns and Shivans. The event is available via the Team-up Teleporter and accommodates 4 to 8 players, level 15+.
Adamastor Zone Event- Adamastor has broken free of Dark Astoria, lying in wait beyond its walls until his summoning rituals are completed by cultists of the Banished Pantheon. Prevent this Giant Monster from going on a rampage in Talos Island and Sharkhead Isle by finding the Ritual of Summoning and using it to summon and defeat the creature.
- New Zone Events have been added in Talos Island (at the former doorway to Dark Astoria) and in Sharkhead Isle (in the sunken portion of Potters Field).
- Players may acquire the Ritual of Summoning as a random recipe drop from any Boss level or higher Banished Pantheon enemy, at any level the Banished Pantheon can be battled. It can then be converted into the Ritual of Summoning power at any Invention Worktable for 500 Influence.
- Using the Ritual of Summoning in the zone event area will bring forth Adamastor, allowing heroes and villains alike to defeat him and earn the "Keeper of Secrets" badge.
- The Ritual of Summoning recipe is tradeable, mailable and auctionable.
- Adamastor awards each character who receives credit for his defeat up to 5 Threads and 10 Reward Merits once every 20hrs. This is per character, not per account.
Incarnate Trial - Dilemma Diabolique
After dealing with Mot throughout the course of the Dark Astoria story arcs, there is one thread left unresolved: what was Diabolique's purpose in coming to Dark Astoria? It isn't long before the Incarnates learn that she has come to claim Mot's power for herself, in an effort to become Death Incarnate. This stage is set for this new trial with a special introductory story arc, with the story continuing to unfold in the trial itself. Battle against the Banished Pantheon and Diabolique's Demons as you cross between the worlds of the living and the dead try to stop Diabolique from completing her plans to become Death Incarnate!
Synopsis
This event is level 54+3, requires 8 to 16 players and takes place in and around the former Moth Cemetery, where Mot has emerged from below the ground. Diabolique has set up a defensive barrier to the central plateau, which must be breached in order to recover the sources of power Diabolique is using for her ritual to become Death Incarnate. After the effort to recover all of the power sources ends, Diabolique will send forth her new "pet", the Sentinel of Mot, to deal with the invaders. When the monstrous creature is dealt with, it is simply a matter of descending into Mot himself and confronting Diabolique... though it quickly becomes clear that she has one more trick up her sleeve.
Rewards
Dilemma Diabolique will award both Physical and Psychic Incarnate XP. Additionally, on completion it will award 2 Empyrean Merits. During the 20 hour cooldown, Dilemma Diabolique awards 1 Empyrean Merit for each completion.
Some of the Unique Powers- Voracious Maw: The Sentinel of Mot will call upon the giant god's many mouths, which will burst from the ground and tear at the flesh of all those caught within their frenzied attack.
- Impale: The Sentinel of Mot will coalesce death energy around a single target. This crystalline energy then erupts in a burst of shrapnel which harms the main target and all those around them who lingered too long within the field of energy.
- Variable Powers: Depending on the sources of power left unrecovered in the plateau stage, the Sentinel and Diabolique will acquire different sets of combat bonuses. Additionally, the Sentinel will gain unique proc attacks. Six of these are Targeted AoEs, causing either Fear, Hold, Damage Pulse, EndDrain, Weaken or Damage Reduction. One is a PBAoE around the Sentinel, which damages those caught in the field while simultaneously healing the Sentinel.
- Might of the Dead: Whenever a player is defeated during the final battle with Diabolique, or when one of her sources of power is recovered, she will gain an increase in power. This increase is made clear by the distinct energy and sound of "leveling up", and for each level, Diabolique acquires greater defense, resistance, regeneration and chance to hit.
- Lifegiving Essence: Throughout the final battle against Diabolique, Lifegiving Essences will spawn throughout the battle chamber. These amalgamations of pure life energy move quickly around the room, but cannot avoid Diabolique. Every 30s, she will consume all remaining Lifegiving Essences, recovering 10% of her maximum health for each one consumed. However, the Incarnates can also use these Essences to their advantage: each one defeated not only deprives Diabolique of a opportunity to heal, but also raises defeated allies and places a heal over time effect on the living.
Incarnate Rewards Without Trials- VIP Players who are level 50 can receive Incarnate Rewards outside of the trials through participation in Dark Astoria's zone and mission content. The rewards available include:
- Defeating enemies within Dark Astoria and its missions will award both Physical and Psychic Incarnate XP. Additionally, defeated enemies have a chance to drop Incarnate Threads.
- Enemies in this zone and its missions range from level 50 to 54, with higher level enemies providing more XP and greater chance for Thread drops.
- Repeatable Missions within Dark Astoria will award their choice of Incarnate Threads, Reward Merits and Super Inspirations.
- The first Daily Repeatable completed will award more threads than subsequent Repeatables completed the same day, but threads can always be earned for completing Repeatables.
- Story Arcs within Dark Astoria will award players with their choice of one randomly chosen Incarnate Component pool, a randomly chosen Incarnate Merit, Incarnate Threads, Reward Merits or Super Inspirations.
- There is a chance to earn a Common, Uncommon, Rare or Very Rare Component with the Incarnate Component selection.
- There is a chance to earn an Astral or an Empyrean Merit with the Incarnate Merit selection.
- The story arcs use a similar lockout mechanism to that used in Signature Story Arcs, except with a 20-hour lockout for the reward choices, rather than 1 week.
- Incarnate Shards will not drop in Dark Astoria or its missions.
- Additionally, sub-level 50 VIPs should feel free to join their Incarnate friends in Dark Astoria. These players gain regular XP up to level 50, at which point they will automatically begin to earn Incarnate Rewards and accumulate Incarnate XP for as long as they remain in Dark Astoria.
Villain Group Adjustments- Some changes have been made to the main villain groups which will appear in Dark Astoria. These changes occur in lower level ranges, outside of Dark Astoria.
Banished Pantheon- High level Portal Corp Banished Pantheon missions in the 40-54 range have been altered to use variants of the new Banished Pantheon critters (though not at the same strength as those found in Dark Astoria). This change also affects the list of level 40-54 Banished Pantheon critters accessible through Mission Architect.
Talons of Vengeance- Lightning and Shadow Oracles were underpowered compared to their Fire and Ice counterparts. Their powers have been adjusted upward slightly to compensate, though the Fire and Ice Oracles also experienced some reduction in power.
- Ice Oracles will now properly apply the -JumpHeight effect from their powers.
Super Packs- Super Packs have been added to the Paragon Rewards Program as a repeatable reward.
New Mapset - Granite Caves- A new mapset has been created for missions, the Granite Caves. They are a larger version of the previous caves and are used throughout the new Dark Astoria story arcs.
Supergroup Bases- Base Detail recipes have been added for "Hacked Telepad" (Tech) and "Magicked Telepad" (Arcane) with the same salvage costs as the Basic Telepad but an increased prestige cost.
- These new Telepads look and work exactly the same as Basic Telepads but support up to 6 Teleportation Aux Beacon connections - meaning one pad can link up to 6 zones.
- Arcane Base Telepads now correctly take players to Echo: Galaxy City instead of Destroyed Galaxy City.
- Corrected the visual appearance of the Grandville and Pocket D Supergroup Teleport Beacons.
POWERS
General- Powers which change the entire appearance of a character such as Granite Armor or White Dwarf should now preview the appearance change in the Powers Customization UI.
- Vengeance can now be used on any defeated player in the user's league, rather than in the user's team. The effects of Vengeance continue to only affect the team of the user.
- Controllers now deal Containment damage to uncontrollable Archvillains in Incarnate Trials.
- Mystic Fortune and Secondary Mutation now have new unique power icons.
- The Coyote Travel power should no longer detoggle when the player becomes mezzed.
- Many 5th Column Lieutenants and bosses below level 30 were attacking too often with their shotguns. Their attack rate has been reduced.
New Power Set - Darkness Control- This new set is a primary power set choice for Controllers and Dominators. Darkness Control allows you to dominate your enemies with the power of darkness of shadow and instill fear into their hearts. This power is free for VIP subscribers and available in the Paragon Market for premium players.
Power Set Proliferation- Two power sets have been proliferated to pair nicely with Darkness Control:
- Darkness Affinity - This is a secondary power set choice for Controllers. Darkness Affinity is a port of Dark Miasma, but has had a few changes made to it. Petrifying Gaze and Fearsome Stare have been removed and replaced with Fade and Soul Absorption. Fade is a powerful team defense buff with a short duration and Soul Absorption is a power that grants nearby allies a regeneration and recovery buff for each nearby defeated enemy. This power set is available for VIP players.
- Dark Assault - This is a secondary power set choice for Dominators. Dark Assault is a combination of Dark Blast, Dark Melee and Dark Armor powers. It introduces a new power called Gather Shadows. This power grants the user a damage and secondary effect buff. This power set is available for VIP players.
Gravity Control- Dimension Shift has been re-designed. It is now a location-targeted Toggle instead of an enemy-targeted attack. It creates a zone of folded space for up to 20 seconds, phasing and immobilizing all foes in the area of effect for the duration. De-toggling the power quickly ends the effect, allowing the foes to be attacked once more.
- Wormhole's effect radius has been increased from 15 feet to 20 feet.
- Wormhole no longer causes targets to attack the user.
- Singularity's cast time for Crush has been reduced from 3.1 seconds to 1.33 seconds.
- Singularity's cast time for Gravity Distortion has been reduced from 3.2 seconds to 1.83 seconds.
- Increased the damage of Singularity's Lift by 63%.
- Added a bonus mechanic to player versions of Lift and Propel. These powers now deal a small amount of additional damage, called "Impact!", to targets recently held by any player's Gravity Distortion power.
- Reduced the cast time of Propel from 3.5 seconds down to 2.07 seconds.
- Quickened the projectile speed of Propel.
- The portal and random objects in Gravity Control - Propel now spawn in front of the caster, instead of directly at their feet.
- Color-customized Propel projectiles now properly synchronize with the power's in-game effects.
- Singularity once again prefers to stay out of melee range of foes if possible.
- Dimension Shift is now autohit.
- Dimension Shift now works regardless of level differences between the user and the target.
- Fixed an issue where Dimension Shift would stop functioning when the player used Phase Shift. It should now continue phasing its targets even if the caster changes phases.
- The immobilization magnitude of Dimension Shift has been increased from 3 to 10.
- Dimension Shift can no longer be enhanced for Intangibility or Accuracy, as the power utilizes neither of these enhancement types.
- Dimension Shift can now be slotted for Immobilization enhancements and IO sets, increasing the duration that targets will be immobilized.
Controller - Gravity Control- Increased the damage of Lift by 63%
Ice Control- Jack Frost's power choice AI has been improved. He should now use all of his powers as they come off recharge, with much less idle time.
Shield Defense- Active Defense no longer loses some of its protection when the player using the power becomes affected by status control.
Kinetic Melee- Kinetic Melee/Body Blow: Fixed a bug that caused this power to incorrectly cost slightly too little endurance. Its endurance cost has been adjusted from 5.82 to 6.03.
- Kinetic Melee/Quick Strike: Corrected a typo in this power's short help. It now correctly states that this power has a 25% chance to knock down.
Fiery Aura/Fiery Embrace- Tanker/Fiery Melee/Scorch: Fixed a bug in Scorch that caused it to deal very slightly too much damage while Fiery Embrace is active.
- Tanker/Fiery Melee/Combustion: Fixed a bug in Combustion that caused it to deal very slightly too much damage while Fiery Embrace is active.
- Tanker/Martial Arts/Eagles Claw: Fixed a bug in this power that caused it to deal significantly too little damage while Fiery Embrace is active.
- Tanker/Titan Weapons/Crushing Blow: Fixed a bug that caused this power to cause too little damage while Fiery Embrace is active.
- Scrapper/Claws/Focus: Fixed a bug that would cause Fiery Embrace to cause too much damage.
- Scrapper/Dark Melee/Siphon Life: Fixed a bug that would cause Fiery Embrace to cause too much damage.
- Scrapper/Dark Melee/Dark Consumption: Fixed a bug that would cause Fiery Embrace to cause too much damage.
- Scrapper/Martial Arts/Eagle's Claw: Fixed a bug that would cause Fiery Embrace to cause too little damage.
Defender - Dark Miasma- Dark Servant will now play the appropriate casting effects.
Corruptor- Petrifying Gaze should now play the appropriate continuing effects on the target
- Shadowfall should now play the appropriate continuing effects on affected teammates.
Mastermind- Petrifying Gaze should now play the appropriate continuing effects on the target
- Shadowfall should now play the appropriate continuing effects on affected teammates.
Stalker- All Stalker APP attack powers now have a chance to critically hit, based on the number of players in the stalker's group. All single-target attacks in Stalker APPs now have a 100% chance to crit while Hidden. All AoE attacks in Stalker APPs now have a 50% chance to crit while Hidden. These values match the critical strike chances of Patron power pools and Stalker primary power set attacks.
- Assassin Strike (All versions): This power now functions differently while not Hidden (or have just used Placate). When attacking a foe when Hidden, it will behave normally dealing tremendous damage with a chance to demoralize nearby foes, but it can be interrupted. However, when the power is used while you're not Hidden it will deal Superior damage and is uninterruptible! Assassin Strike while not Hidden has a base 0% chance to crit.
- Assassin's Focus: All damaging powers found in the Stalker's primary power set, other than Assassin Strike, have a chance to grant the user a stack of the Assassin's Focus buff. Powers with longer recharge times have a much higher chance to grant a stack of Assassin's Focus than those with fast recharge times. This buff will increase Assassin's Strike's chance to critically hit (for +100% damage) while not hidden by 33.3%. Assassin's Focus stacks up to 3 times. Using Assassin's Strike outside of hide will remove all stacks of Assassins's Focus.
- Stalker Buffed Max HP modifier has been increased from 1 to 1.3. This results in Stalker's potential Buffed Max HP increasing from 1606 to 2088 at level 50. This will allow powers like Dull Pain and Frostworks as well as +Max HP set bonuses to have a greater potential effect.
- The above changes have been made to remove some unnecessary archetype penalties (low buffed max HP) as well as to allow Stalkers to deal more competitive single target burst damage.
- Darkness Mastery now properly accepts To-Hit Debuff Enhancement sets.
- Assassin's Focus now has a unique icon that should help distinguish it from other auto powers.
- Assassin's Strike: This power will now gain an orange highlight ring when the user has 3 stacks of Assassin's Focus.
Blaster- Devices/Gun Drone - When summoned in midair, Gun Drone should now fly to the user's location, rather than dropping to the ground and then flying up.
- Dark Blast - Aim now uses the Darkness-themed effects.
Tanker- Titan Weapons/Defensive Sweep: Fixed a bug that prevented this power from applying Bruising to its primary target while the user has Momentum.
Warshade- Sunless Mire no longer says it accepts To-Hit Debuff Enhancement Sets as it should not.
Trick Arrow- Poison Gas Arrow now accepts Accuracy enhancements.
- Poison Gas Arrow now has a 100% chance to apply its sleep to affected targets, up from 66%.
Titan Weapons- Crushing Blow's PvP damage has been increased to reflect its activation time.
PvP Powers
Scrapper/Kinetic Melee- This power set was unintentionally receiving the Tanker damage bonus in PVP. This has been corrected, and all of the powers should now be doing their proper damage.
- Fixed an issue where Concentrated Strike would deal double its intended damage in PvP.
Controller/Mind Control- Total Domination, Terrify, and Mass Confusion have had their PvP duration properly set to 4 seconds.
Dominator/Earth Assault- Seismic Smash and Fissure have had their PvP durations properly set to 4 seconds.
Dominator/Earth Control- Fossilize's duration in PvP has been reduced to its intended duration of 4 seconds.
Incarnate Powers- Interface procs now all respect combat mods due to level differences or level shifts.
- Fixed Incarnate Destiny Incandescence power so that it is fully customizable with bright and dark palettes
- Incandescence Destiny powers can now teleport leaguemates who have been defeated, as well as leaguemates who are still alive.
- All offensive Lore pet powers now properly receive the benefits of Alpha slot bonuses.
Pets- The Mini SnowBeast companion pet should no longer be targetable.
- Added 25% typed defense to most damage types and to AoE attacks to Jack Frost's resistance power, with 35% defense for Fire and Cold attacks.
- Added 30% resistance to most damage types to Giant Fly Trap, with 0% resistance to Lethal and Fire. Added a very large regeneration bonus to Giant Fly Trap.
- Fixed an issue where Giant Fly Trap would very rarely use Entangle. It should now use this power with much more frequency.
- Added 30% smashing and lethal resistance to Gremlins, in addition to the 40% energy resistance they already posessed.
Self Resurrection Powers- Regeneration / Revive now grants a 15 second window of immunity to most damage after use.
- Willpower / Resurgence now grants a 15 second window of immunity to most damage after use.
- Luminous Aura / Restore Essence now grants a 15 second window of immunity to most damage after use.
Enhancements- Hamidon, Synthetic Hamidon, Titan and Hydra Enhancements will no longer incorrectly enhance attributes other than those specified by the enhancement.
- Scrapper's Strike: Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus: Improved this enhancement's long help and also increased the critical hit bonus from 1/2% to 2/4%. This means that Scrappers' primary power set attacks will have a 7% chance to critically hit against minions, underlings and players and a 14% chance to critically hit against everything else while this enhancement is slotted.
- Superior Scrapper's Strike: Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus: Fixed a bug that prevented this enhancement from granting a critical hit bonus. Improved this enhancement's long help and also increased the critical hit bonus from 2/4% to 3/6%. This means that Scrappers' primary power set attacks will have an 8% chance to critically hit against minions, underlings and players and a 16% chance to critically hit against everything else while this enhancement is slotted.
- Stalker's Guile: Recharge/Chance to Hide: Removed the reference to percent chance to trigger. This enhancement uses procs per minute.
Team-Up Teleporter- Players can now enter and remain in the Team-Up Teleporter queue while completing instanced missions or traveling to Supergroup bases. Accepting a TUT invitation on a mission will cause mid-way progress on that mission to be abandoned. Players returning from a TUT event map will return to the last non-instance map they traveled to.
- Players can now queue up for all regular Task Forces, Strike Forces, and Trials via the Team-Up Teleporter. Players can queue for any TF, SF or trial they can begin based upon level range, alignment, and any additional requirements such as the Alpha Slot Unlock or completion of a pre-requisite task. Rogues and Vigilantes can queue for content for either city regardless of current location.
- The TUT will assemble teams from the queue between the minimum and maximum players for the event and teleport accepting members to the Contact which starts the TF, SF, or Trial. Once players are teleported to that location and assembled into the team, the TUT is no longer involved in the process. The leader of the newly formed team can invite more players or talk to the Contact to start the content at their discretion.
- Features such as Join In Progress, Event Locking, and Vote Kick do not apply to these events. They are features specific to TUT-mediated events such as Death From Below and the Incarnate Trials.
- The TUT window now also displays an indicator for the current Weekly Strike Targets. The event will be highlighted and its tooltip will indicate the WST bonus.
- Challenge Trials such as Death From Below and Incarnate Trials should no longer modify their spawns based upon the lead player's difficulty settings.
TASKS
Missions (General)- Rescue and escort encounters should no longer remain captive when the only living captors are untargetable pets and objects like Caltrops or Poison Gas Arrow.
- Escort, Pet and Kidnap characters should now follow characters properly again on missions throughout the game.
Signature Story Arc 2- Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on the first wormhole portal in the third mission.
Signature Story Arc 3- Fixed issues with Signature Story Arc Volume 1 Episode 3 final mission completion on both Hero and Villain side.
Apex Task Force- Fixed an issue with mini-map icons appearing in the first mission of the Apex TF.
Tin Mage Task Force- Removed the incorrect mini map markers from the first mission map.
Numina Task Force- Mission 3 - Fixed an issue where the Warhulk scout was not showing up.
Mortimer Kal Strike Force- Corrected an issue with speaking to the terminal on the final mission of Mortimer Kal's Strike Force.
Roy Cooling- Fixed an issue in mission 1 where Louie Dogger could be talked to multiple times.
Unity Plague Arc- Ms. Liberty will now properly reference going to Blue Steel instead of Back Alley Brawler.
Ghost Widow's Patron Arc- Fixed an issue where high level Fortunata minions would spawn in the mission "Replace Crystals".
Alignment Missions- In the vigilante tip mission, "Infiltrate the Rally" the objective to talk to the Rally Guest Speaker now displays properly.
- The Vigilante Morality Mission, "The End Justifies the Means", no longer tries to send players to Sharkhead Isle.
Death from Below- Fixed an issue where the mini-map of the final room was not displaying properly.
- Fixed an issue where Rogues would see exists listed as villain zones on the mini map.
Freedom Tutorial- An effect has been added around Blue Spectrum to make him stand out more.
- Replaced Numina with Back Alley Brawler due to issues with seeing Numina in the area.
- Players can teleport directly to Atlas and Mercy via dialog trees at the end of the tutorial.
Flashback- The story arcs "A Mind in Danger", "Twisted Reflections", "Looking Through the Glass" and "Bad People, Good Intentions" should now award the appropriate level range of challenge badges when played in Flashback.
- Laura Lockhart now phases out correctly when playing her arc in Flashback mode.
- Players who use Ouroboros to complete Laura Lockhart's storyarc will no longer be kicked from the mission map while still speaking with Leon
- Doc Buzzsaw's arcs are available in Ouroboros for Praetorians who have the Who's Who badge and meet the other requirements.
Arbiter Rein- Fixed an issue where Arbiter Rein would ask players lower than level 40 to return to him at level 40 after they had already chosen a patron.
Buck Salinger- Firbolg summoned by Walter Daschle on "Seek clues from Red Caps" are no longer hostile to the player.
First Ward- Contact introductions for Blind Makwa, Cerulean, Master Midnight, and Vanessa DeVore are no longer mixed up.
Praetorian Zone Events- Ensured that all entities created during the Resistance-sided version of the Protest are cleaned up when the event ends.
Mission Architect- When creating a character in Mission Architect, the character rotation arrows in the Body screen are now positioned below the character.
- Random Medium Inspiration rewards purchasable with Architect Tickets now require the user to either be a VIP subscriber or have a Paragon Reward level of 4 or greater.
- Random Large Inspiration rewards purchasable with Architect Tickets now require the user to either be a VIP subscriber or have a Paragon Reward level of 8 or greater.
Badges- The badge awarded for the epilogue mission in Dark Astoria has been removed and is no longer required for the zone Accolade.
- Dimensional Warder: Players who own the Minds of Mayhem completion badge will retroactively receive credit for defeating both Mother Mayhem and Malaise as part of the Dimensional Warder badge.
- Malaise will now also immediately give credit for Dimensional Warder if he is defeated by a character who does not already have credit for Malaise.
- Shalice Tilman's final battle form will now also immediately give credit for Dimensional Warder if she is defeated by a character who does not already have credit for Mother Mayhem.
- Mother Yin, Mother Mayhem (Aurora Battle), Mother Malaise and Shalice Tilman (Well Battle) do not give credit toward Dimensional Warder.
- Null the Gull will accurately reflect the status of Malaise and Mother Mayhem credit toward Dimensional Warder if the Minds of Mayhem completion badge is owned.
Join the community discussion here! -
COMBINED
User Interface- A Settings button has been added to the Login Screen.
- A fix has been implemented for power trays getting reset when powers are granted after character selection.
- This issue previously caused some players to have their power bars erased when the Holiday Powers were granted during the Winter Event.
- The character selection screen text should no longer change colors based on the last character logged in.
- Tabs in the clue window should no longer be hidden under description text.
- An issue where recipes and powers would overlap in the trade UI has been fixed.
- Tooltips now appear when hovering over power icons of detached power trays.
- The "Add To Cart" button in the tailor should now scale properly with widescreen resolutions.
- The visual accuracy of health bars and meters for critters with low max HP values has been increased.
- Character selection UI elements should no longer appear behind aura effects.
- Issues where Hide Recipes Missing Ingredients would remove some items from the Astral and Empyrean merit vendors incorrectly have been corrected
- The Auction House window seperator should no longer adjust window size randomly.
- LFG refresh will no longer clear selected missions.
- A bug that prevented the body of an in-game e-mail from updating when selecting a different tab in the e-mail window has been fixed.
- The Team health/endurance popup text should now display correctly.
Character Creation / Tailor- Fixed a crash which could occur when creating an Illusion/Darkness Affinity character.
- Added the Classic Steampunk, Victorian Steampunk, and Celestial Armor faces to the Special Helmets category for female characters.
- Influence cost in the tailor should no longer change while the Paragon Market browser is open.
- Fixed Alpha glasses so that they can be scaled along with the Brows.
- Skirts will no longer disappear underwater when Water Effects are set to None
- Customizing the Umbra Beast is now simpler. The particles take the primary color, and the beast's body takes the secondary color.
- Mandible costume piece found in half helmet category under detail 2 has been ported to 6 other head categories.
- Standard, Full Masks, Pointy Ears, Hats, Hoods, and Helmets categories all contain the Mandible costume piece now.
- Propagated Circle of Thorns patterns on chest and hips to female body type.
- Fixed a bug that prevented some effects from playing in the powers customization editor.
- An issue with cape rendering at the lowest graphics settings was resolved.
League- The "LeagueNotLeader" message should no longer spam when promoting another player to leader of a team or league.
Dark Astoria Zone Update
Dark Astoria is the decayed, urban epitaph to the dark god Mot. Largely unbeknownst to the original founders of this doomed city, a terrible being was entombed here in ages past. The death of the city has been steady, inexorable and irreversable. In recent years, Dark Astoria has been a dangerous place but now that the last remnants of Mot's bindings have begun to erode, the city exerts its mysterious pull, drawing the doomed to its streets to struggle or serve.
At long last, Mot has been freed. His minions flock to Dark Astoria in greater numbers than ever before to revel in his power and witness as he devours all life on Primal Earth.- Dark Astoria has been repopulated with Incarnate level enemies from the Banished Pantheon, Tsoo, Talons of Vengeance, Circle of Thorns and the new Knives of Vengeance, ranging in level from 50 to 54.
- The Banished Pantheon, Tsoo and Talons of Vengeance also feature new members to be fought at these level ranges. Lower levels are unchanged, except as noted below in the section for Villain Group Adjustments.
- All-new Incarnate story arcs, repeatable missions, and an Incarnate trial are available for level 50 Incarnate characters!
- Earn new, Incarnate level badges for defeating the main villain groups.
- Malta, Arachnos, 5th Column, Paragon Police and Knives of Artemis will also appear at Incarnate levels in missions only.
- New zone art: Moth Cemetery has been completely revamped from its original appearance and layout, the warwalls have taken a distinctly menacing hue and the fog has been lifted.
- New portal connects to Peregrine Island and Grandville to give access to both Heroes and Villains.
Dark Astoria Missions
Dark Astoria Story Arcs
Heroes- The Dark Astoria arc begins when Captain Nolan of the PPD contacts heroes who have unlocked their Alpha Incarnate slot about an odd series of cases that have been occurring in Peregrine Island. He believes they may be linked to the events of Dark Astoria.
Villains- Villains who have unlocked their Alpha Incarnate slot will receive a threatening Arachnos message from a deranged member of the organization. This man's madness may either be an intricate plot from Arachnos or an indication of something far more powerful that seeks to exact justice upon villains.
Repeatable Missions- Dark Astoria Repeatable Missions will feature rewards befitting an Incarnate player, including Incarnate Experience and Thread Components.
- Ephram Sha of the Midnight Squad has tasks befitting Incarnate-level Heroes in Dark Astoria. Help him push back the forces of Mot!
- The Circle of Thorns has an interest in the dark magics swirling around Dark Astoria. They have sent Maharaj, a powerful Madness Mage, to help Incarnate-level Villains sow chaos in the ranks of their foes.
Mid-level Storyarcs
Steel Canyon- The 5th Column have mounted a counteroffensive against the Council, with Steel Canyon as the battlefield. Laura Lockhart, professional deprogrammer and 5th Column propaganda expert, is recruiting heroes to help investigate this recent surge of violence.
- The Steel Canyon Asian Art Museum's Grand Opening is underway, and the main exhibit has a hidden connection with the Tsoo... but with a death warrant out on your head, that may be the least of your concerns!
Cap au Diable- A mysterious man named Baron Zukor has arrived in Cap au Diable, and has put out a call to the Destined Ones... to turn to heroism? Infiltrate his strange cult of villains-turned-heroes and turn Zukor's game against him!
- The Luddites have been blathering on about the evils of technology for ages, but a new prophecy has given you some inspiration. Brother Hammond is convinced that you are the Chosen One... and who are you to argue, when a free army of followers has just fallen into your lap?
Drowning In Blood Trial
Storyline
In the aftermath of Galaxy City, all eyes have turned to Bloody Bay. For the past twenty years the small island has been the home of the Shivans, ever since the Shivan Comet almost collided with Earth. In recent days, though, all communication with the island has mysteriously stopped. Traveling along side either Longbow or Arachnos reinforcements, venture back to the island to uncover the events that transpired and search for insight into the Shivans.
Synopsis
The event takes place in an IOM version of Bloody Bay. Players will venture through the streets and wilderness of the island, facing Freakshow, Circle of Thorns and Shivans. The event is available via the Team-up Teleporter and accommodates 4 to 8 players, level 15+.
Adamastor Zone Event- Adamastor has broken free of Dark Astoria, lying in wait beyond its walls until his summoning rituals are completed by cultists of the Banished Pantheon. Prevent this Giant Monster from going on a rampage in Talos Island and Sharkhead Isle by finding the Ritual of Summoning and using it to summon and defeat the creature.
- New Zone Events have been added in Talos Island (at the former doorway to Dark Astoria) and in Sharkhead Isle (in the sunken portion of Potters Field).
- Players may acquire the Ritual of Summoning as a random recipe drop from any Boss level or higher Banished Pantheon enemy, at any level the Banished Pantheon can be battled. It can then be converted into the Ritual of Summoning power at any Invention Worktable for 500 Influence.
- Using the Ritual of Summoning in the zone event area will bring forth Adamastor, allowing heroes and villains alike to defeat him and earn the "Keeper of Secrets" badge.
- The Ritual of Summoning recipe is tradeable, mailable and auctionable.
- Adamastor awards each character who receives credit for his defeat up to 5 Threads and 10 Reward Merits once every 20hrs. This is per character, not per account.
Incarnate Trial - Dilemma Diabolique
After dealing with Mot throughout the course of the Dark Astoria story arcs, there is one thread left unresolved: what was Diabolique's purpose in coming to Dark Astoria? It isn't long before the Incarnates learn that she has come to claim Mot's power for herself, in an effort to become Death Incarnate. This stage is set for this new trial with a special introductory story arc, with the story continuing to unfold in the trial itself. Battle against the Banished Pantheon and Diabolique's Demons as you cross between the worlds of the living and the dead try to stop Diabolique from completing her plans to become Death Incarnate!
Synopsis
This event is level 54+3, requires 8 to 16 players and takes place in and around the former Moth Cemetery, where Mot has emerged from below the ground. Diabolique has set up a defensive barrier to the central plateau, which must be breached in order to recover the sources of power Diabolique is using for her ritual to become Death Incarnate. After the effort to recover all of the power sources ends, Diabolique will send forth her new "pet", the Sentinel of Mot, to deal with the invaders. When the monstrous creature is dealt with, it is simply a matter of descending into Mot himself and confronting Diabolique... though it quickly becomes clear that she has one more trick up her sleeve.
Rewards
Dilemma Diabolique will award both Physical and Psychic Incarnate XP. Additionally, on completion it will award 2 Empyrean Merits. During the 20 hour cooldown, Dilemma Diabolique awards 1 Empyrean Merit for each completion.
Some of the Unique Powers- Voracious Maw: The Sentinel of Mot will call upon the giant god's many mouths, which will burst from the ground and tear at the flesh of all those caught within their frenzied attack.
- Impale: The Sentinel of Mot will coalesce death energy around a single target. This crystalline energy then erupts in a burst of shrapnel which harms the main target and all those around them who lingered too long within the field of energy.
- Variable Powers: Depending on the sources of power left unrecovered in the plateau stage, the Sentinel and Diabolique will acquire different sets of combat bonuses. Additionally, the Sentinel will gain unique proc attacks. Six of these are Targeted AoEs, causing either Fear, Hold, Damage Pulse, EndDrain, Weaken or Damage Reduction. One is a PBAoE around the Sentinel, which damages those caught in the field while simultaneously healing the Sentinel.
- Might of the Dead: Whenever a player is defeated during the final battle with Diabolique, or when one of her sources of power is recovered, she will gain an increase in power. This increase is made clear by the distinct energy and sound of "leveling up", and for each level, Diabolique acquires greater defense, resistance, regeneration and chance to hit.
- Lifegiving Essence: Throughout the final battle against Diabolique, Lifegiving Essences will spawn throughout the battle chamber. These amalgamations of pure life energy move quickly around the room, but cannot avoid Diabolique. Every 30s, she will consume all remaining Lifegiving Essences, recovering 10% of her maximum health for each one consumed. However, the Incarnates can also use these Essences to their advantage: each one defeated not only deprives Diabolique of a opportunity to heal, but also raises defeated allies and places a heal over time effect on the living.
Incarnate Rewards Without Trials- VIP Players who are level 50 can receive Incarnate Rewards outside of the trials through participation in Dark Astoria's zone and mission content. The rewards available include:
- Defeating enemies within Dark Astoria and its missions will award both Physical and Psychic Incarnate XP. Additionally, defeated enemies have a chance to drop Incarnate Threads.
- Enemies in this zone and its missions range from level 50 to 54, with higher level enemies providing more XP and greater chance for Thread drops.
- Repeatable Missions within Dark Astoria will award their choice of Incarnate Threads, Reward Merits and Super Inspirations.
- The first Daily Repeatable completed will award more threads than subsequent Repeatables completed the same day, but threads can always be earned for completing Repeatables.
- Story Arcs within Dark Astoria will award players with their choice of one randomly chosen Incarnate Component pool, a randomly chosen Incarnate Merit, Incarnate Threads, Reward Merits or Super Inspirations.
- There is a chance to earn a Common, Uncommon, Rare or Very Rare Component with the Incarnate Component selection.
- There is a chance to earn an Astral or an Empyrean Merit with the Incarnate Merit selection.
- The story arcs use a similar lockout mechanism to that used in Signature Story Arcs, except with a 20-hour lockout for the reward choices, rather than 1 week.
- Incarnate Shards will not drop in Dark Astoria or its missions.
- Additionally, sub-level 50 VIPs should feel free to join their Incarnate friends in Dark Astoria. These players gain regular XP up to level 50, at which point they will automatically begin to earn Incarnate Rewards and accumulate Incarnate XP for as long as they remain in Dark Astoria.
Villain Group Adjustments- Some changes have been made to the main villain groups which will appear in Dark Astoria. These changes occur in lower level ranges, outside of Dark Astoria.
Banished Pantheon- High level Portal Corp Banished Pantheon missions in the 40-54 range have been altered to use variants of the new Banished Pantheon critters (though not at the same strength as those found in Dark Astoria). This change also affects the list of level 40-54 Banished Pantheon critters accessible through Mission Architect.
Talons of Vengeance- Lightning and Shadow Oracles were underpowered compared to their Fire and Ice counterparts. Their powers have been adjusted upward slightly to compensate, though the Fire and Ice Oracles also experienced some reduction in power.
- Ice Oracles will now properly apply the -JumpHeight effect from their powers.
Super Packs- Super Packs have been added to the Paragon Rewards Program as a repeatable reward.
New Mapset - Granite Caves- A new mapset has been created for missions, the Granite Caves. They are a larger version of the previous caves and are used throughout the new Dark Astoria story arcs.
Supergroup Bases- Base Detail recipes have been added for "Hacked Telepad" (Tech) and "Magicked Telepad" (Arcane) with the same salvage costs as the Basic Telepad but an increased prestige cost.
- These new Telepads look and work exactly the same as Basic Telepads but support up to 6 Teleportation Aux Beacon connections - meaning one pad can link up to 6 zones.
- Arcane Base Telepads now correctly take players to Echo: Galaxy City instead of Destroyed Galaxy City.
- Corrected the visual appearance of the Grandville and Pocket D Supergroup Teleport Beacons.
POWERS
General- Powers which change the entire appearance of a character such as Granite Armor or White Dwarf should now preview the appearance change in the Powers Customization UI.
- Vengeance can now be used on any defeated player in the user's league, rather than in the user's team. The effects of Vengeance continue to only affect the team of the user.
- Controllers now deal Containment damage to uncontrollable Archvillains in Incarnate Trials.
- Mystic Fortune and Secondary Mutation now have new unique power icons.
- The Coyote Travel power should no longer detoggle when the player becomes mezzed.
- Many 5th Column Lieutenants and bosses below level 30 were attacking too often with their shotguns. Their attack rate has been reduced.
New Power Set - Darkness Control- This new set is a primary power set choice for Controllers and Dominators. Darkness Control allows you to dominate your enemies with the power of darkness of shadow and instill fear into their hearts. This power is free for VIP subscribers and available in the Paragon Market for premium players.
Power Set Proliferation- Two power sets have been proliferated to pair nicely with Darkness Control:
- Darkness Affinity - This is a secondary power set choice for Controllers. Darkness Affinity is a port of Dark Miasma, but has had a few changes made to it. Petrifying Gaze and Fearsome Stare have been removed and replaced with Fade and Soul Absorption. Fade is a powerful team defense buff with a short duration and Soul Absorption is a power that grants nearby allies a regeneration and recovery buff for each nearby defeated enemy. This power set is available for VIP players.
- Dark Assault - This is a secondary power set choice for Dominators. Dark Assault is a combination of Dark Blast, Dark Melee and Dark Armor powers. It introduces a new power called Gather Shadows. This power grants the user a damage and secondary effect buff. This power set is available for VIP players.
Gravity Control- Dimension Shift has been re-designed. It is now a location-targeted Toggle instead of an enemy-targeted attack. It creates a zone of folded space for up to 20 seconds, phasing and immobilizing all foes in the area of effect for the duration. De-toggling the power quickly ends the effect, allowing the foes to be attacked once more.
- Wormhole's effect radius has been increased from 15 feet to 20 feet.
- Wormhole no longer causes targets to attack the user.
- Singularity's cast time for Crush has been reduced from 3.1 seconds to 1.33 seconds.
- Singularity's cast time for Gravity Distortion has been reduced from 3.2 seconds to 1.83 seconds.
- Increased the damage of Singularity's Lift by 63%.
- Added a bonus mechanic to player versions of Lift and Propel. These powers now deal a small amount of additional damage, called "Impact!", to targets recently held by any player's Gravity Distortion power.
- Reduced the cast time of Propel from 3.5 seconds down to 2.07 seconds.
- Quickened the projectile speed of Propel.
- The portal and random objects in Gravity Control - Propel now spawn in front of the caster, instead of directly at their feet.
- Color-customized Propel projectiles now properly synchronize with the power's in-game effects.
- Singularity once again prefers to stay out of melee range of foes if possible.
- Dimension Shift is now autohit.
- Dimension Shift now works regardless of level differences between the user and the target.
- Fixed an issue where Dimension Shift would stop functioning when the player used Phase Shift. It should now continue phasing its targets even if the caster changes phases.
- The immobilization magnitude of Dimension Shift has been increased from 3 to 10.
- Dimension Shift can no longer be enhanced for Intangibility or Accuracy, as the power utilizes neither of these enhancement types.
- Dimension Shift can now be slotted for Immobilization enhancements and IO sets, increasing the duration that targets will be immobilized.
Controller - Gravity Control- Increased the damage of Lift by 63%
Ice Control- Jack Frost's power choice AI has been improved. He should now use all of his powers as they come off recharge, with much less idle time.
Shield Defense- Active Defense no longer loses some of its protection when the player using the power becomes affected by status control.
Kinetic Melee- Kinetic Melee/Body Blow: Fixed a bug that caused this power to incorrectly cost slightly too little endurance. Its endurance cost has been adjusted from 5.82 to 6.03.
- Kinetic Melee/Quick Strike: Corrected a typo in this power's short help. It now correctly states that this power has a 25% chance to knock down.
Fiery Aura/Fiery Embrace- Tanker/Fiery Melee/Scorch: Fixed a bug in Scorch that caused it to deal very slightly too much damage while Fiery Embrace is active.
- Tanker/Fiery Melee/Combustion: Fixed a bug in Combustion that caused it to deal very slightly too much damage while Fiery Embrace is active.
- Tanker/Martial Arts/Eagles Claw: Fixed a bug in this power that caused it to deal significantly too little damage while Fiery Embrace is active.
- Tanker/Titan Weapons/Crushing Blow: Fixed a bug that caused this power to cause too little damage while Fiery Embrace is active.
- Scrapper/Claws/Focus: Fixed a bug that would cause Fiery Embrace to cause too much damage.
- Scrapper/Dark Melee/Siphon Life: Fixed a bug that would cause Fiery Embrace to cause too much damage.
- Scrapper/Dark Melee/Dark Consumption: Fixed a bug that would cause Fiery Embrace to cause too much damage.
- Scrapper/Martial Arts/Eagle's Claw: Fixed a bug that would cause Fiery Embrace to cause too little damage.
Defender - Dark Miasma- Dark Servant will now play the appropriate casting effects.
Corruptor- Petrifying Gaze should now play the appropriate continuing effects on the target
- Shadowfall should now play the appropriate continuing effects on affected teammates.
Mastermind- Petrifying Gaze should now play the appropriate continuing effects on the target
- Shadowfall should now play the appropriate continuing effects on affected teammates.
Stalker- All Stalker APP attack powers now have a chance to critically hit, based on the number of players in the stalker's group. All single-target attacks in Stalker APPs now have a 100% chance to crit while Hidden. All AoE attacks in Stalker APPs now have a 50% chance to crit while Hidden. These values match the critical strike chances of Patron power pools and Stalker primary power set attacks.
- Assassin Strike (All versions): This power now functions differently while not Hidden (or have just used Placate). When attacking a foe when Hidden, it will behave normally dealing tremendous damage with a chance to demoralize nearby foes, but it can be interrupted. However, when the power is used while you're not Hidden it will deal Superior damage and is uninterruptible! Assassin Strike while not Hidden has a base 0% chance to crit.
- Assassin's Focus: All damaging powers found in the Stalker's primary power set, other than Assassin Strike, have a chance to grant the user a stack of the Assassin's Focus buff. Powers with longer recharge times have a much higher chance to grant a stack of Assassin's Focus than those with fast recharge times. This buff will increase Assassin's Strike's chance to critically hit (for +100% damage) while not hidden by 33.3%. Assassin's Focus stacks up to 3 times. Using Assassin's Strike outside of hide will remove all stacks of Assassins's Focus.
- Stalker Buffed Max HP modifier has been increased from 1 to 1.3. This results in Stalker's potential Buffed Max HP increasing from 1606 to 2088 at level 50. This will allow powers like Dull Pain and Frostworks as well as +Max HP set bonuses to have a greater potential effect.
- The above changes have been made to remove some unnecessary archetype penalties (low buffed max HP) as well as to allow Stalkers to deal more competitive single target burst damage.
- Darkness Mastery now properly accepts To-Hit Debuff Enhancement sets.
- Assassin's Focus now has a unique icon that should help distinguish it from other auto powers.
- Assassin's Strike: This power will now gain an orange highlight ring when the user has 3 stacks of Assassin's Focus.
Blaster- Devices/Gun Drone - When summoned in midair, Gun Drone should now fly to the user's location, rather than dropping to the ground and then flying up.
- Dark Blast - Aim now uses the Darkness-themed effects.
Tanker- Titan Weapons/Defensive Sweep: Fixed a bug that prevented this power from applying Bruising to its primary target while the user has Momentum.
Warshade- Sunless Mire no longer says it accepts To-Hit Debuff Enhancement Sets as it should not.
Trick Arrow- Poison Gas Arrow now accepts Accuracy enhancements.
- Poison Gas Arrow now has a 100% chance to apply its sleep to affected targets, up from 66%.
Titan Weapons- Crushing Blow's PvP damage has been increased to reflect its activation time.
PvP Powers
Scrapper/Kinetic Melee- This power set was unintentionally receiving the Tanker damage bonus in PVP. This has been corrected, and all of the powers should now be doing their proper damage.
- Fixed an issue where Concentrated Strike would deal double its intended damage in PvP.
Controller/Mind Control- Total Domination, Terrify, and Mass Confusion have had their PvP duration properly set to 4 seconds.
Dominator/Earth Assault- Seismic Smash and Fissure have had their PvP durations properly set to 4 seconds.
Dominator/Earth Control- Fossilize's duration in PvP has been reduced to its intended duration of 4 seconds.
Incarnate Powers- Interface procs now all respect combat mods due to level differences or level shifts.
- Fixed Incarnate Destiny Incandescence power so that it is fully customizable with bright and dark palettes
- Incandescence Destiny powers can now teleport leaguemates who have been defeated, as well as leaguemates who are still alive.
- All offensive Lore pet powers now properly receive the benefits of Alpha slot bonuses.
Pets- The Mini SnowBeast companion pet should no longer be targetable.
- Added 25% typed defense to most damage types and to AoE attacks to Jack Frost's resistance power, with 35% defense for Fire and Cold attacks.
- Added 30% resistance to most damage types to Giant Fly Trap, with 0% resistance to Lethal and Fire. Added a very large regeneration bonus to Giant Fly Trap.
- Fixed an issue where Giant Fly Trap would very rarely use Entangle. It should now use this power with much more frequency.
- Added 30% smashing and lethal resistance to Gremlins, in addition to the 40% energy resistance they already posessed.
Self Resurrection Powers- Regeneration / Revive now grants a 15 second window of immunity to most damage after use.
- Willpower / Resurgence now grants a 15 second window of immunity to most damage after use.
- Luminous Aura / Restore Essence now grants a 15 second window of immunity to most damage after use.
Enhancements- Hamidon, Synthetic Hamidon, Titan and Hydra Enhancements will no longer incorrectly enhance attributes other than those specified by the enhancement.
- Scrapper's Strike: Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus: Improved this enhancement's long help and also increased the critical hit bonus from 1/2% to 2/4%. This means that Scrappers' primary power set attacks will have a 7% chance to critically hit against minions, underlings and players and a 14% chance to critically hit against everything else while this enhancement is slotted.
- Superior Scrapper's Strike: Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus: Fixed a bug that prevented this enhancement from granting a critical hit bonus. Improved this enhancement's long help and also increased the critical hit bonus from 2/4% to 3/6%. This means that Scrappers' primary power set attacks will have an 8% chance to critically hit against minions, underlings and players and a 16% chance to critically hit against everything else while this enhancement is slotted.
- Stalker's Guile: Recharge/Chance to Hide: Removed the reference to percent chance to trigger. This enhancement uses procs per minute.
Team-Up Teleporter- Players can now enter and remain in the Team-Up Teleporter queue while completing instanced missions or traveling to Supergroup bases. Accepting a TUT invitation on a mission will cause mid-way progress on that mission to be abandoned. Players returning from a TUT event map will return to the last non-instance map they traveled to.
- Players can now queue up for all regular Task Forces, Strike Forces, and Trials via the Team-Up Teleporter. Players can queue for any TF, SF or trial they can begin based upon level range, alignment, and any additional requirements such as the Alpha Slot Unlock or completion of a pre-requisite task. Rogues and Vigilantes can queue for content for either city regardless of current location.
- The TUT will assemble teams from the queue between the minimum and maximum players for the event and teleport accepting members to the Contact which starts the TF, SF, or Trial. Once players are teleported to that location and assembled into the team, the TUT is no longer involved in the process. The leader of the newly formed team can invite more players or talk to the Contact to start the content at their discretion.
- Features such as Join In Progress, Event Locking, and Vote Kick do not apply to these events. They are features specific to TUT-mediated events such as Death From Below and the Incarnate Trials.
- The TUT window now also displays an indicator for the current Weekly Strike Targets. The event will be highlighted and its tooltip will indicate the WST bonus.
- Challenge Trials such as Death From Below and Incarnate Trials should no longer modify their spawns based upon the lead player's difficulty settings.
TASKS
Missions (General)- Rescue and escort encounters should no longer remain captive when the only living captors are untargetable pets and objects like Caltrops or Poison Gas Arrow.
- Escort, Pet and Kidnap characters should now follow characters properly again on missions throughout the game.
Signature Story Arc 2- Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on the first wormhole portal in the third mission.
Signature Story Arc 3- Fixed issues with Signature Story Arc Volume 1 Episode 3 final mission completion on both Hero and Villain side.
Apex Task Force- Fixed an issue with mini-map icons appearing in the first mission of the Apex TF.
Tin Mage Task Force- Removed the incorrect mini map markers from the first mission map.
Numina Task Force- Mission 3 - Fixed an issue where the Warhulk scout was not showing up.
Mortimer Kal Strike Force- Corrected an issue with speaking to the terminal on the final mission of Mortimer Kal's Strike Force.
Roy Cooling- Fixed an issue in mission 1 where Louie Dogger could be talked to multiple times.
Unity Plague Arc- Ms. Liberty will now properly reference going to Blue Steel instead of Back Alley Brawler.
Ghost Widow's Patron Arc- Fixed an issue where high level Fortunata minions would spawn in the mission "Replace Crystals".
Alignment Missions- In the vigilante tip mission, "Infiltrate the Rally" the objective to talk to the Rally Guest Speaker now displays properly.
- The Vigilante Morality Mission, "The End Justifies the Means", no longer tries to send players to Sharkhead Isle.
Death from Below- Fixed an issue where the mini-map of the final room was not displaying properly.
- Fixed an issue where Rogues would see exists listed as villain zones on the mini map.
Freedom Tutorial- An effect has been added around Blue Spectrum to make him stand out more.
- Replaced Numina with Back Alley Brawler due to issues with seeing Numina in the area.
- Players can teleport directly to Atlas and Mercy via dialog trees at the end of the tutorial.
Flashback- The story arcs "A Mind in Danger", "Twisted Reflections", "Looking Through the Glass" and "Bad People, Good Intentions" should now award the appropriate level range of challenge badges when played in Flashback.
- Laura Lockhart now phases out correctly when playing her arc in Flashback mode.
- Players who use Ouroboros to complete Laura Lockhart's storyarc will no longer be kicked from the mission map while still speaking with Leon
- Doc Buzzsaw's arcs are available in Ouroboros for Praetorians who have the Who's Who badge and meet the other requirements.
Arbiter Rein- Fixed an issue where Arbiter Rein would ask players lower than level 40 to return to him at level 40 after they had already chosen a patron.
Buck Salinger- Firbolg summoned by Walter Daschle on "Seek clues from Red Caps" are no longer hostile to the player.
First Ward- Contact introductions for Blind Makwa, Cerulean, Master Midnight, and Vanessa DeVore are no longer mixed up.
Praetorian Zone Events- Ensured that all entities created during the Resistance-sided version of the Protest are cleaned up when the event ends.
Mission Architect- When creating a character in Mission Architect, the character rotation arrows in the Body screen are now positioned below the character.
- Random Medium Inspiration rewards purchasable with Architect Tickets now require the user to either be a VIP subscriber or have a Paragon Reward level of 4 or greater.
- Random Large Inspiration rewards purchasable with Architect Tickets now require the user to either be a VIP subscriber or have a Paragon Reward level of 8 or greater.
Badges- The badge awarded for the epilogue mission in Dark Astoria has been removed and is no longer required for the zone Accolade.
- Dimensional Warder: Players who own the Minds of Mayhem completion badge will retroactively receive credit for defeating both Mother Mayhem and Malaise as part of the Dimensional Warder badge.
- Malaise will now also immediately give credit for Dimensional Warder if he is defeated by a character who does not already have credit for Malaise.
- Shalice Tilman's final battle form will now also immediately give credit for Dimensional Warder if she is defeated by a character who does not already have credit for Mother Mayhem.
- Mother Yin, Mother Mayhem (Aurora Battle), Mother Malaise and Shalice Tilman (Well Battle) do not give credit toward Dimensional Warder.
- Null the Gull will accurately reflect the status of Malaise and Mother Mayhem credit toward Dimensional Warder if the Minds of Mayhem completion badge is owned.
-
The fog has cleared from the streets of Dark Astoria, revealing a horror so terrifying that even the restless spirits dare not roam its streets. Heroes and Villains alike seek to master the powers of darkness that rest with the Demon God, Mot. Experience the all new revamped Dark Astoria, the new Dilemma Diabolique Incarnate Trial and the all new, free for VIPs Power Set: Darkness Control! Issue 22: Death Incarnate has arrived to your favorite super heroic MMORPG, City of Heroes Freedom!
With tons of new content, including the all new mid level trial Drowning in Blood, new Powersets, the new Olympian Guard costume set (free for all VIP subscribers), new low level missions found in Steel Canyon, and the much anticipated solo Incarnate Path in the newly revamped Dark Astoria, Issue 22: Death Incarnate is a great time for you to take to the skies in City of Heroes Freedom! So log in today and experience what's new to Paragon City!
You can find the Patch Notes for Issue 22: Death Incarnate here!
Join the community discussion here! -
The fog has cleared from the streets of Dark Astoria, revealing a horror so terrifying that even the restless spirits dare not roam its streets. Heroes and Villains alike seek to master the powers of darkness that rest with the Demon God, Mot. Experience the all new revamped Dark Astoria, the new Dilemma Diabolique Incarnate Trial and the all new, free for VIPs Power Set: Darkness Control! Issue 22: Death Incarnate has arrived to your favorite super heroic MMORPG, City of Heroes Freedom!
With tons of new content, including the all new mid level trial Drowning in Blood, new Powersets, the new Olympian Guard costume set (free for all VIP subscribers), new low level missions found in Steel Canyon, and the much anticipated solo Incarnate Path in the newly revamped Dark Astoria, Issue 22: Death Incarnate is a great time for you to take to the skies in City of Heroes Freedom! So log in today and experience what's new to Paragon City!
You can find the Patch Notes for Issue 22: Death Incarnate <a href="http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/patch_notes/index.php">here</a>! -
The Known Issues list has been updated.
~Freitag -
On Tuesday, March 6th, 2012, the Live North American and European City of Heroes servers will be taken offline to publish Issue 22: Death Incarnate. The expected downtime is eight hours.
Start time: 4:00 AM PST/ 7:00 AM EST/ 12:00 PM GMT/ 13:00 CET
Expected finish time: 12:00 PM PST/ 3:00 PM EST/ 8:00 PM GMT/ 21:00 CET
Patch notes for Issue 22 will be available as soon as possible following the publish.
We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience. -
The New Allied Fighters Issue #1
(PDF version)
The Premiere Issue of the Major Deej Universe line of digital comics in conjunction with the incredible help of the City of Comics Creators!!
This first issue of the New Allied Fighters introduces you to the Legendary WWII Hero, Major Invader!
In his cantankerous quest to rebel against retirement, sobriety and his grandson, the Major discovers that an old dog CAN learn new tricks, and that it may actually be time to retire...or will the ominous return of a dangerous WWII nemesis herald the reformation of Major Invader's WWII supergroup as "The New Allied Fighters"?
Plus, what does Aethyta, an original member of the WWII Allied Fighters have to do with Emperor Cole and what does their association mean to Primal Earth? Also, do you know the predestination of the Predominator?
Lots of questions! Check out this issue to get some answers (or maybe start asking even more questions...)!
-
KK Comics Continues!
Countdown to Gawd Complex Cross Title Story arc continues.
Confessions of A Teenage Blapper, Series TWO, #2
Countdown to Gawd Complex - 2
Rona and The 'Goddess' are attacked by Anti-Kinetic Kitten! Paragon's Premiere Catgurl to the rescue?
2-21-12
Don't forget to catch up if you haven't yet, and check out the 70+ Comics we have below!!!
See this issue, and the ENTIRE Storyline so far at.....
Countdown to Gawd Complex
More to come very soon!!!!!!!
www.kkcomics.com
Home of the Evil Malibu Barbie Series
Thanks to all,
TechSpider/Kinetic Kitten -
COMBINED
Alignment Change- Fixed an issue where Villains and Rogues could retain active status on some Broker contacts when changing alignment.
Character Creator/Tailor- An unintended secondary color option has been removed from the Quilted Jacket sleeves.
Pocket D Valentine Costume- Fixed strapped heels so that when purchased from the store they are correctly granted to the user. Characters who previously bought the casual dress shirt and were granted access to the strapped heels will no longer have access to the heels until purchased. Characters who purchased the strapped heels and did not get access to them will now have access to them.
- The Metallic Dress Top should no longer show a regular upper arm when worn with Robotic Arm 3
- Fixed some clipping with the leather studded belt on huge models.
- The casual shirt should no longer clip through the abdomen on male body types.
- Female baggy jeans should have less clipping with many types of belts
- Casual dress shirt sleeves should no longer appear see-through during hands on hip idle animation.
- A visible seam has been cleaned up on the right side of the huge casual dress shirt collar.
- Chest and sleeves of casual dress shirt have been cleaned up for huge models.
Fire and Ice- Phoenix wings are now consistently attached in male, female and huge body types.
- The female version of the left Fire and Ice - Elemental Dual Blade sword now fits properly in the left hand.
POWERS
General- Prevented a bug which allowed infinite numbers of non-combat pets from being summoned.
- Removed a misaligned hasten effect from the Coyote Travel Power.
- Fixed some clipping issues with Flying Carpet and High Collar Capes.
Ninja Run- Jumping to the left while a Titan Weapon is drawn should no longer appear to stab your character.
Enhancements- Fixed a bug that would revent the attuned version of Armageddon: Damage/Endurance to be slottable if Armageddon: Chance for Fire damage is slotted.
- Fixed a bug that would cause Defender's Bastion: Recharge/Chance for Minor PBAoE Heal and Superior Defender's Bastion: Recharge/Chance for Minor PBAoE heal to not trigger reliably on nearby allies.
- Brute's Fury: +Recharge/+Chance for +Fury - Fixed a bug that granted +Fury per target hit instead of per activation of the power.
ZONES
Rikti War Zone- Covered up a few holes in the ground with some catwalk ground pieces.
Neutropolis- The Great Escape - Resolved an issue that caused some of the critters in this encounter to spawn at inappropriate levels based on the participating players.
Join the community discussion here! -
COMBINED
Alignment Change- Fixed an issue where Villains and Rogues could retain active status on some Broker contacts when changing alignment.
Character Creator/Tailor- An unintended secondary color option has been removed from the Quilted Jacket sleeves.
Pocket D Valentine Costume- Fixed strapped heels so that when purchased from the store they are correctly granted to the user. Characters who previously bought the casual dress shirt and were granted access to the strapped heels will no longer have access to the heels until purchased. Characters who purchased the strapped heels and did not get access to them will now have access to them.
- The Metallic Dress Top should no longer show a regular upper arm when worn with Robotic Arm 3
- Fixed some clipping with the leather studded belt on huge models.
- The casual shirt should no longer clip through the abdomen on male body types.
- Female baggy jeans should have less clipping with many types of belts
- Casual dress shirt sleeves should no longer appear see-through during hands on hip idle animation.
- A visible seam has been cleaned up on the right side of the huge casual dress shirt collar.
- Chest and sleeves of casual dress shirt have been cleaned up for huge models.
Fire and Ice- Phoenix wings are now consistently attached in male, female and huge body types.
- The female version of the left Fire and Ice - Elemental Dual Blade sword now fits properly in the left hand.
POWERS
General- Prevented a bug which allowed infinite numbers of non-combat pets from being summoned.
- Removed a misaligned hasten effect from the Coyote Travel Power.
- Fixed some clipping issues with Flying Carpet and High Collar Capes.
Ninja Run- Jumping to the left while a Titan Weapon is drawn should no longer appear to stab your character.
Enhancements- Fixed a bug that would revent the attuned version of Armageddon: Damage/Endurance to be slottable if Armageddon: Chance for Fire damage is slotted.
- Fixed a bug that would cause Defender's Bastion: Recharge/Chance for Minor PBAoE Heal and Superior Defender's Bastion: Recharge/Chance for Minor PBAoE heal to not trigger reliably on nearby allies.
- Brute's Fury: +Recharge/+Chance for +Fury - Fixed a bug that granted +Fury per target hit instead of per activation of the power.
ZONES
Rikti War Zone- Covered up a few holes in the ground with some catwalk ground pieces.
Neutropolis- The Great Escape - Resolved an issue that caused some of the critters in this encounter to spawn at inappropriate levels based on the participating players.
-
New featured items in the Paragon Market™!
Imperial Dynasty Costume Bundle - New!
Take command in a costume built from the Imperial Dynasty Costume Bundle! Its intricate pieces are influenced by ancient Chinese court and noble dress. The Imperial Dynasty Costume Bundle is a bundle containing:- Imperial Dynasty Helmet (80 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shoulder 1 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shoulder 2 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Chest Detail (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Gloves 1 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Gloves 2 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shirt (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 1 (30 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 2 (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 3 (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 4 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 5 (30 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Pants 1 (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Pants 2 (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Boots (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Face (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Crown Package 1 (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Crown Package 2 (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Collar - Detail 2 (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Chest (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Bolero (80 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shoulder Detail (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Sleeves (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shoes (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Tights (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Sword (60 Paragon Points)
Market Location: Costumes > Costume Sets > Costume Bundles
Total A La Carte Price: 1120 Paragon Points
Bundle Price: 400 Paragon Points[/B]
*********************************************
Costume Slot 25% Off! - New!
Get another costume slot for all characters on your account!
Market Location: Paragon Picks > Featured
Regular Price: 800 Paragon Points - 25% off
Sale Price: 600 Paragon Points!
*********************************************
Heros and Villains Super Pack
Get a randomized set of items ranging from the new Archetype Enhancements, new Elemental Order Costume Set pieces, valuable Inspirations, Unslotters, or Boosters!
Market Location: Super Packs
1 Pack - 80 Paragon Points
12 Packs - 840 Paragon Points
24 Packs - 1440 Paragon Points
Join the Community Discussion here! -
New featured items in the Paragon Market™!
Imperial Dynasty Costume Bundle - New!
Take command in a costume built from the Imperial Dynasty Costume Bundle! Its intricate pieces are influenced by ancient Chinese court and noble dress. The Imperial Dynasty Costume Bundle is a bundle containing:- Imperial Dynasty Helmet (80 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shoulder 1 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shoulder 2 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Chest Detail (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Gloves 1 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Gloves 2 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shirt (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 1 (30 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 2 (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 3 (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 4 (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Belt 5 (30 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Pants 1 (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Pants 2 (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Boots (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Face (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Crown Package 1 (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Crown Package 2 (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Collar - Detail 2 (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Chest (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Bolero (80 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shoulder Detail (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Sleeves (20 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Shoes (40 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Tights (60 Paragon Points)
- Imperial Dynasty Sword (60 Paragon Points)
Market Location: Costumes > Costume Sets > Costume Bundles
Total A La Carte Price: 1120 Paragon Points
Bundle Price: 400 Paragon Points[/B]
*********************************************
Costume Slot 25% Off! - New!
Get another costume slot for all characters on your account!
Market Location: Paragon Picks > Featured
Regular Price: 800 Paragon Points - 25% off
Sale Price: 600 Paragon Points!
*********************************************
Heros and Villains Super Pack
Get a randomized set of items ranging from the new Archetype Enhancements, new Elemental Order Costume Set pieces, valuable Inspirations, Unslotters, or Boosters!
Market Location: Super Packs
1 Pack - 80 Paragon Points
12 Packs - 840 Paragon Points
24 Packs - 1440 Paragon Points -
Hello everyone!
Today I joined 7 Unionites for Arc #2260: "The Burning of Hearts by @TheDeepBlue! We had great fun beating up snakes and mooks, and took part in a personal vendetta against the mob! With great dialogue, cool maps (we were even in a casino!) and interesting custom NPC's, this is an arc worth running!
Thank you to Big Fire Blaze, Dangerous Red, Radian Lancer, Neon Tempest, Dave the Civil, Alexander Chill and Flint Spark, as well as all the others who showed up at this late hour for helping out!
~Freitag -
The official City of Heroes Freedom forums will be down for a publish between 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time (1:30 p.m. Eastern Time / 6:30 p.m. GMT / 19:30 CET) and 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time (6:30 p.m. Eastern Time / 11:30 p.m. GMT / 00:30 CET) on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012.
We will keep you posted on our Facebook and Twitter page if there is any status update during the forum downtime. -
Hi Understray,
Are you getting that screen when you are in the Tutorial, or when you are attempting to enter Atlas Park or Mercy Island?
All the best,
~Freitag -
KK Comics Continues!
Countdown to Gawd Complex Cross Title Story arc continues.
Rona LIVE! Season 2, Episode 3
Countdown to Gawd Complex - 3
Rona stumbles on Krusher's investigation, in middle of a Fashion Show?!?
Published
2-16-11
Don't forget the last issue also, to keep up on the story.
See this issue, and the ENTIRE Storyline so far at.....
Countdown to Gawd Complex
More to come very soon!!!!!!!
www.kkcomics.com
Home of the Evil Malibu Barbie Series
Thanks to all,
TechSpider/Kinetic Kitten -
Hello everyone!
Today, I went onto Exalted, and together with 7 "exalted ones", ran Arc #26811: "Love is in the Error" by @Witch Engine! This was a very humorous arc about a hopeless paramour and his quest for love! When you run this arc, be sure to check out all the custom NPC's and their descriptions! If you don't laugh, then you must be a villain! (Oh wait, I'm a villain, and I laughed! D'oh!). With great map choices, and surprises at every turn, this isn't an arc you want to miss!
Thank you to those of you who joined me on this run, and to everyone else who showed up and offered to come along, but for whom there was no space!
Our Team: Real Ultimate, Blazin Shadow Dragon, Revolution, B1oody Hell, Frostusion, Minnie Maul and HOG!
See you next time!
~Freitag -
The Guardian Powers #4
(Please click on the image or this link to download the PDF file.)
Icon Powers is on the hunt for MidKnight X. Can the "retired" superhero manage to talk his one-time otherworld ally out of his quest to single-handedly bring Shadowborn to justice?
Plus, Captain Paragonna digs deeper into "General Income" and his "recruitment program". And find out what happened to "Agent Blue", the assasin that almost prevented Alex Wentworth from becoming District Attorney!
For more information about The Guardian Powers, please visit the official website of the Guardians of the Dawn at... http://GuardiansOfTheDawn.wordpress.com -
Hello everyone!
Today, I returned to Virtue to run Arc #1396: "Grim Riddles" by @Mantid with 7 good players from Virtue! In this arc, we had to solve riddles sent to us by a mad Villain who likes to play with other's lives.
We fought through clever riddles, fun maps, and custom NPC's in order to finally triumph! You'll have to play the arc yourself to find out how it happens.
Thank you to Dark Carnival Lette, Merryl Shockclaw, Farandole, Skye Delcinea, Allatrope, Lady Burlesque and Slavage for joining me on this run!
~Freitag -
I believe Zwillinger's is the 13" :-). Not sure about Hard Drive size though!
~Freitag -
Celebrate Valentine season with the annual Spring Fling in-game event! DJ Zero once again hosts his Pocket D Jubilee! Just head over to Pocket D, the space between Paragon City and the Rogue Isles to enjoy special holiday missions, co-op holiday missions, and special holiday powers. The theme is romance . . . as if your heart hadn't told you!
Check out the Spring Fling overview here!
Join the Community Discussion here! -
Celebrate Valentine season with the annual Spring Fling in-game event! DJ Zero once again hosts his Pocket D Jubilee! Just head over to Pocket D, the space between Paragon City and the Rogue Isles to enjoy special holiday missions, co-op holiday missions, and special holiday powers. The theme is romance . . . as if your heart hadn't told you!
Check out the Spring Fling overview here!