Hellguard

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I'd be very unimpressed if the Epic Villains are Kheldians. Unless they make them substantially different somehow. Otherwise, it's one big "meh!"

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Hopefully you won't be unimpressed with villain Kheldians, then, because it's pretty obvious that they're gonna be the first villain Epic AT...

And I do think they'll make them substantially different. That, and the fact that they have to create several storyarcs to match the hero versions' storyline to 50, is undoubtedly what's taking them so long to produce.

The Villain Epic AT FAQ v1.0

Since new "omg the Devs hate villains where r our epics?!" posts pop up about 50* times a day on these forums, I thought I'd throw together a little FAQ about everything known so far about the upcoming Villain Epic Archetype. (I'm getting a little tired of digging through old links and stuff to post everytime someone asks about them or says something silly like "But we won't need level 50 villains to unlock villain Khelds, right?!")

(*exaggerated for emphasis)

Q: What will the (first? last? only?) Villian Epic AT be?

A: Evil versions of Peacebringers and Warshades.

Q: OMG, there's no redname posts saying that! Are you making this up?!

A: No, I'm not. The first reference to villain Kheldians came in a Boomtown.net interview with Positron just before Issue 7 came out. There, he said:

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There’s an epic archetype planned for the retail expansion, but until then we are looking at introducing Warshades to City of Villains. You’ll not get access to the new epic AT just by hitting level 50 this time. Instead we’ll send you on a special Strike Force or trial.

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Q: Whew! I was afraid I'd have to get a level 50 villain to get a villain Kheld!

A: Reading comprehension FTW, buddy. Posi didn't say you wouldn't. He said the NEW epic AT from the boxed expansion (which has been scrapped, btw) wouldn't require a level 50. He never said villain Kheldians would have different unlocking requirements from the hero version.

Q: You think you're so smart, but that statement is a little confusing. Did Positron ever say FOR SURE that you'd need a level 50 villain to unlock villain Kheldians?

A: As a matter of fact, he did. It was in a w00t radio interview on 8/9/06. You can find a link to download the interview on this page. It's Jester's Court, Episode 33. The relevant discussion on villain Kheldians begins around the 52 minute mark, in which Posi discusses villainous versions of both Peacebringers and Warshades (calling them Nictus), as well as clarifying the level 50 unlocking requirement. (On a side note, he also talks about Incarnates, saying that they're the epic AT they want to introduce "after bringing Nictus to CoV.")

Q: Ok, you win this one. Now, do we have any idea when villain Kheldians will appear?

A: We have "an idea." It's not set in stone, of course, and it's complicated by the fact that epic ATs are always the first thing to get pushed back on the schedule when they're making new issues. But in a recent Gamedaily interview, Posi said "We want to try to squeeze those in early next year, but it's still up in the air." Note that he doesn't specifically call out villain Khelds by name, but given that they're the only CoV epic AT to be discussed with any detail, it's a safe assumption that he's talking about villain Khelds.

Well, that's about all the info out there about CoV Epic ATs (at this point I'm not considering the once-mentioned Coralax or Blood of the Black Stream to even be possibilities, given how long it's taking to port Khelds over). If anyone has any other sources or tidbits of info and would like me to include them in a future version of this FAQ, let me know and I'll be sure to credit ya.

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I have never created a character that the name was taken.
But, I do feel that if an account is not active for more than 90 days.... characters names should not be reserved at all befor lvl 40.
I think paying customers should win out on the naming policy.

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/agreed. They should at least make it the same as it was last time (had to be 35+ to reserve the name).

Didn't see this reported in this thread, but I've done 3 missions this evening on my PB where my toggles were turned off upon loading into the mission. The first time it happened, I thought maybe I'd imagined it (thought maybe I'd had a LF crash and forgot to turn everything back on, but didn't really think that was the case). The 2nd and 3rd time I know for sure the toggles were running when I clicked to enter the mission door, but not when I got into the mission.

Character name: Hellguard 2.0
Server: Triumph
Missions: Gaussian's last and next-to-last mission, Dark Watcher's first mission
What: Toggles de-toggling upon entering mission
When: 7/30/07 between 8:00 and 9:15pm EST

I thought I'd seen this bug reported in another separate thread but a quick glance didn't turn up anything and I figured it should be in this thread anyway.

EDIT: Appears to be repeatable; I've gone in and out of Dark Watcher's first mission several times. Entering RWZ, everything is running, but going back in the mission turns off the toggles I'm running (SS, Shining Shield, Quantum Shield). My Stealth IO also appears to be "turned off," i.e., it's not lasting 120 seconds after SS is shut off.

So... there was no client-side patch then? Ex kept using the word "patch," but I didn't get a patch and the version # on the updater is the same as it was before.

Well, I finally decided to get some screenies of my base and show 'em off here. This is Hero Depot's base on Triumph. Default plot size. Cost is around 4.5 mil prestige, although that could have been significantly lessened if I'd stayed with the 4 2x2 TP rooms instead of the big 5x5 one. I just really like the way the telepads look in the 5x5, and it gives you a lot of room for other stuff in the room.

Overview
Entrance shot 1, showing trophy wall
Entrance shot 2, showing lounge area
Transport Room
Transport Room, showing Longbow Chasers with roofhatch
Coalition/Meeting Room
Medbay
Mystically powered Energy Room
Control Room
Workshop

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Finally something good to have but the $9.99 fee is a bit much dont you think? How will I explain to the wife how $200 just disappeared? I was thinking this was going to be something more reasonable like $1.00 per use. If anything hardly anyone is going to use it at that $9.99 price.

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I'd be willing to bet that character transfers aren't something that they've figured out how to do without a human being actually making the transfer. I mean, sure, we have the character copy tool to the Test Server, but that thing is so unreliable it's not funny. With that fee (which isn't all that much, really, but it's a little higher than I figured it would be), I don't see it being an automated process.

Big news, and totally unexpected. But the thing I think I'm most excited about is the "server-less game configuration." I realize you say that something like that won't happen anytime soon, but I had no idea that it was even an idea to be considered.

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And the Passport badge (If you have it like I do) allows you to server hop...

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Is that the accolode you get for soloing at least 5 AVs without shivans or nukes?

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Ultimus wouldn't have it if it meant "soloing" them without Shivans or nukes...

(A friend of mine also has the Passport badge, but it's just a bug that anyone on the US servers has it, of course.)

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My guide is definitive. Reality, however, often gets it wrong. (Which is to say, I'll fix it tomorrow, thanks. )

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Heh. All the other dates were correct, including issue 2's. For some reason a lot of people like to point out that issue 2 came out on a Friday... but it didn't.

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Somebody in an earlier post said that there used to be only one boat to Strigia?

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Pretty sure that was only while issue 3 was on Test. There was only the ferry in Talos, and some players complained that Talos was laggy enough as it was, and that having a 2nd ferry (in IP, which was a logical place) would maybe lessen the lag.

Of course, that was long before the Talos WW's *right by the tram.*

EDIT: Zloth, the date you have in your guide for issue 3 is incorrect. It's 1/4/05 , not 1/5/05.

The ability to have a printable version is a very nice addition! Really been enjoying this every week.

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There's at least one big patch to test coming. That may be as early as tomorrow, so it's up over the weekend. If that's mostly clean, there's no real reason it couldn't go live in the first or second week of July. They have had a lot of good bug reports on the stuff that's broken, they've had a goodly amount of time to code the changes, I think it's going to be soon. Remember, the wouldn't have opened the beta if they thought there were a lot of things they wanted to fix. Open beta is for load testing what they're almost ready to push.

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I still think it's doubtful to be next week, if for no other reason than the holiday. Still, i10 is MUCH closer to being "ready for prime time" than i9 was when they opened its beta, so who knows? I'm thinking 2nd week of July, as long as no big problems come up from the next big patch.

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I'm thinking it'd be at least the week after July 4th for i10 Open Beta.

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Well, Open Beta starts TODAY... : ) So release to live in July is likely, but the 4th would be a bit soon probably...

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It actually started yesterday, but yeah. We won't see it by next week, but unless anything major pops up, it'll be out in July sometime. July 28th is the first possible date for the 39th month Veteran Reward, which is included in the code for i10, so I would imagine they're going to do everything they can to get it out absolutely no later than that.

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Serdar may not know how English statements get translated to Board speak.

Developer says:
In the next few issues

Board people hear:
The next issue


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If it had been translated as "the next issue," then we all would have expected something in issue 9, since that was "the next issue" at the time of the interview. Thinking that "the next few issues" might include issues 9 and/or 10 isn't unreasonable in the least.

Like I said before, it's fine if things don't work out the way they planned. But you can't say that there wasn't good reason for people to expect something by now. Yes, nothing was promised for issue 10, but expectations *were* given for "the next few issues" before issue 9 went live, so it's not like it was just some player-made speculation created out of thin air.

If issue 11 turns out to have a bunch of sg and base lovin', then Serdar's statement will still be perfectly valid. Here's hoping.

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Serdar never said I10. In fact, he never said a number.

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Of course not. He did say "over the next few updates," though. The interview was in April. Issues 9 and 10 would fall within "the next few updates," would they not?

I'm fine with issue 10, I think it's great. I understand that plans can change and things may take longer than originally stated. But I also think it was perfectly reasonable to think, given Serdar's statement, that since issue 9 didn't have any real base love, that issue 10 *might* have some. It just would have been nice to have that acknowledgement from Positron rather than him implying that it was just some crazy rumor that materialized out of thin air.

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There is a rumor that Issue 10 will include more base enhancements and upgrades. Care to comment?

I don’t know where the rumor started, but we didn’t have any time to include new base items for Issue 10.

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You don't know where it started? Seriously?

From the Interview with Serdar:

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LadyMage: Positron mentioned back in an interview last year about looking into changing SG membership from 75 characters to 75 accounts. Could we get an update on that? Is it feasible, is it coming, is it backburnered or scrapped, and why? It's a feature I know a lot of SGs, preticularily larger ones are looking forward to.

Serdar Copur: Something along the lines of this is definitely coming. In fact, I will go so far as to say that both Supergroups and Bases will be getting some much needed love over the next few updates. We are fully aware that MMOG’s are all about the social element and we want to support that as much as possible.

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Right hand, allow me to introduce to you left hand.

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Yeah, like I posted in another thread... the above interview happened before issue 9. It's perfectly reasonable that people would have expected at least some of this "love" with either issue 9 or issue 10, but none of it materialized (and no, I don't consider the Inventions stuff or the Fusion Generator to be much in terms of base love). Not sure why Posi's acting like that expectation just came out of nowhere.

It would have been perfectly fine to just say they didn't have time to get around to it or that plans had changed, but to act baffled over why we might think we'd get something for bases this issue is a tad funny.

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since the devs have already said that 'getting a character to level 50' wouldn't be the method of unlocking new, non-Kheldian villain epic ATs

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Fixed for ya.

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We are undetermined, at this point, on how long the initial invasion is going to last. It will go on for at least two weeks, and we may extend that time depending on how players react. But, it will become a permanent part of the game. So, we might re-activate the invasion whenever there is a lull. Also, some of the new content, like completing one of the Rikti War Zone missions, will trigger an attack on a separate game zone.

IMHO I think that it is okay to have the initial invasion lasting a short time but to have this invasion continuely by means of a mission in the Rikti zone and when there are lulls will get old pretty fast. Also it will get annoying for heroes and villians to either duck for cover or take on the Rikti when all they want to do is go to their mission. And more so if it causes alot of debt.

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Before i10 goes live, they're supposed to be making it so debt will be zero within a zone undergoing the Invasion event.

I wasn't one of the top 14, but my wife was. She doesn't post on the boards, so I'll post for her.

Rage, by Lirit LeFey

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It hasn't even been to open testing yet. Sometime in August.

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I really think they're shooting for end of July. The first possible date for the 39th month Veteran Reward is July 28th, and (assuming the VR's are going to continue past 36 months, which I think is a safe assumption) I'm sure they'd like to be able to award it in a timely fashion. I just don't see them pushing a patch forward for *just* the new Vet Rewards; it makes more sense that the next batch is included in the issue 10 code the same way the originals were in the issue 8 code.

That doesn't mean they'll actually be able to get it live by then, but I'm willing to bet they're going to try.

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Unfortunately, the CBC demo I downloaded expired before the final end of the contest, and I'm unable to post it as a pdf (plus a final error that prevented me from submitting it as a PDF in any event).

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Well, you couldn't export it to a PDF with only the trial version of CBC anyway, which was the source of some confusion during the contest period. I don't think it was an "error" exactly; just an option not available without the full version.

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I do not want to start an SG -- it changes reward items percentages.


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No, it doesn't. And I'm curious as to what you've read or heard that you've misinterpreted as something so silly.

Yeah, I see your point now. I guess I was thinking that since they don't have levels, they might be using the Giant Monster code, but they're definitely called "Monsters" instead of GMs. And the DE monsters wouldn't be prone to the "camping" problem that Brainstorm said they wanted to avoid, since it's not like they're hard to find.

Off-topic, does anyone else think "Giant Monster" is kind of a dumb designation anyway? The DE monsters are bigger than many so-called "Giant Monsters." Maybe "Elite Monsters" would be better?

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There's also the fact that they're Monsters not Giant Monsters.

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Aren't DE monsters considered Giant Monsters? (Doctor Brainstorm refers to them in his post about GMs and recipes.)