Official Thread: Response to Positron's Letter
By
8_Ball,
Posted on: 2006-09-27 11:34 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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CoT might get more consistent Mu related powers.
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But the CoT were the ones fighting AGAINST the people of Mu. They were not Mu themselves.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
Fledgeling heroes also don't get neat travel temp powers either. That has got to be my favorite feature from villain-side. That and Brutes. 
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
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Heroes dont have Mayhem or Newspaper missions. Issue Eight fixes that. Thats what he means about content.
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But...
Villains don't have 13 TFs/Trials (Not counting Respecs).
Villains don't have 27 zones.
Villains don't have any Hazard zones.
Why does he feel the need to rectify one without commenting on the other?
Thanks for eight fun years, Paragon.
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Its good for cryptic that they got the deal and they definately deserve congrats in a business sense ( Smooth setup - your competition is yourself) - but I dont think this bodes well at all for the MMO or Superhero game genre unless they get some new blood with some fresh ideas of balance, fun and *true* comic book sensibility.
That or they keep the old developer guard under high, high scrutiny when developing this title.
Because if im logging in to play The Hulk im not going to be interested in *needing* someone with me to play Storm so I can take on a named villain and live up to my own namesake.
I could just log into this game if I wanted that.
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Just play the HULK on heroic
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Nah.
Been there, done that and bought the "Balance Vision" T-Shirt already thanks.
I'd rather have more "Super-Hero" and less MMO, like many others.
Only way thats gonna happen is if theres new blood developing this title.
Hopefully Marvel will put enough pressure on the new Cryptic guys who will be on the Marvel title to step up the comic-book power-levels.
And hopefully we'll actually be able to play Marvel characters.
If we do thats good news for me personally - I dont know of many successful characters ( or really *any* for that matter) in the Marvel universe that have to spam heal, inspiration-jack or buff thier fellow heroes to take on thier hero or villain counterparts.
But like I said..
I can just play this game if I want that.
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Hopefully Marvel will put enough pressure on the new Cryptic guys who will be on the Marvel title to step up the comic-book power-levels.
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Definitely. Try The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction for true comic-book power levels while still facing serious challenges. Once they can translate a game like that into an MMO format, I'm in.
It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
-- Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
Whew a lot of responses already....
But firstly: it's gotta be the 5th Column. Count me in on the Reichsman camp.
As to the Marvel MMO..... VERY ironic. But I'm with Tal-N on this one. Congratulations on the contract. As a new/fledgling software company it's always good to land a big contract to buoy your business. I understand all of that and hope this one does well for all parties: MS, Marvel, and Cryptic.
How do I feel about it? I feel that if the MMO goes live, and if they mean what they say about being fully dedicated to the CoX product line, then sequels as others have mentioned, is a must. In the form of sequels that integrate into the current game (with its current user data).
I'm not entirely sure that the Marvel MMO will be a direct compete with CoX. For one thing, this is one game for both PC and 360. The controls, if they don't want to force 360'ers to use keyboards, will be "dumbed down" some. The goal of the consoles is to reach out to hard as well as casual gamers. Marvel would love to have their game do exactly that. Being able to interact with PC players from 360.... the scheme will just be completely different, IMO, than CoX right now.
What will keep me subscribing to CoX when MUO is online? Newness..... storylines that move the world forward..... long stories that my character has weaved and has helped change the world, like super heroes do. Archvillains catered for me that keep pestering me.... more diverse missions past the create instance, arrest everyone inside....
(Incidentally, where is that feature they promised where you can turn evil or good?)
If the flexibility, complexity, community, and freshness is upkept by the devs on CoX, then I think it will last for a while and I will continue to be a customer. Honestly, the world in CoX right now needs to concentrate on making us, the players, the "go-to" people. That would definitely differentiate the experience from MUO. I mean, who wants to be a super hero in Marvel when you know the missions that matter can be done/had by Spiderman?
And I'm sure there'll be some system where players can play the Marvel characters. They'll be crazy not to do that. But the mechanic is the key there. Cuz obviously you don't want Wolverine to run around yelling "n00b n00b I pwn'd jo0!!1!"
I just need to make sure they let ME play the White Queen... cuz I want to prove firsthand how she can possibly keep her outfit up.... errr, you know... for uh... SCIENTIFIC reasons. Yeah, yeah...... something about... um... GRAVITY.... and uh....... biology! YEAH!
Ok I'll shut up now.
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To me, the villain group that becomes a major threat to both sides will be Rikti with the unleashing of the Rikti Homeworld zone...
[/ QUOTE ]i was thinking/hoping for the coralax, and the underwater zones to appear. think of it, they are violent, so heores woudl be after them, and the villians are already fighting them, it fits. most likely it will be the 5th column, we have been told they were coming back, and they could threaten both heros and villians(heros morally, and villians because they are competition) so ill hope it coralax, but im expecting 5th column. i wouldnt mind rikti though.
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Heroes dont have Mayhem or Newspaper missions. Issue Eight fixes that. Thats what he means about content.
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But...
Villains don't have 13 TFs/Trials (Not counting Respecs).
Villains don't have 27 zones.
Villains don't have any Hazard zones.
Why does he feel the need to rectify one without commenting on the other?
[/ QUOTE ]i think we will see more side stuff as well, papers and mayhems use existing art, so they are easier, and they affect he pace of leveling substantially, new villian zonse definitly SHOULD happen, they just might take longer. some of the best zones for heroes have been the new zones with their running storylines, i would think it was a lock that vill will be getting new themed zones.
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Cryptic Studios and Microsofts
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And lo, the heavens did shake, the earth did crumble, as the great hero makers of Cryptic meandered, nay, vaulted into bed with the greatest evil known to man.
On the other hand, does this mean a directx version of CoH/V is forthcoming?
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Maybe it means Cryptic will begin making a series of crappily animated cartoons? Or possibly we'll get Ultimate CoH which will simply be CoH with a lot of words like EXTREME and EDGY tacked onto it... possibly even "gritty."
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I'm not saying this just because I'm a "city of" fan, like most of us who post on these forums are, but..
I don't see how a marvel based mmo could succeed. The thing about "City of" is that the heroes and villains are completely original. With a game based on Marvel everyone will be clamoring to be Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, etc. The Originality factor goes to the wind.
I'll be sticking to "City of" thank you. 
The variety of costume options in this game speaks bounds for what this game is about-- ORIGINALITY. A Marvel game will never be able to top this game on that count.
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Are you serious? If what you posit is true, Hollywood would never make a sequel or remake of anything.
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And really, for the most part, the world would be a better place...
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But...
Villains don't have 13 TFs/Trials (Not counting Respecs).
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You are correct, they don't have a bunch of TFs that are just a bunch of the same old regular mission strung together with an AV at the end, some of which can take eight hours or more to complete. Some (e.g. in the Shadow Shard) are so long and tedious that few people ever bother to attempt them. Some are so repetitive, why bother? Citadel, for example, has about nine missions that are virtually identical...same basic map, frequently at the same door, and ALL Council....with an AV at the end of the last one. The other two mission in that TF are a "Defeat 40 Council" and a "Take the doodads to So and So."
In fact, that's the way most of the hero-side TFs are. CoV is no poorer for not having those sorts of TFs.
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Villains don't have 27 zones.
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Correct. Instead, they have seven zone that are 2-4 times the size of most CoH zones. And those zones are much more "alive" and vibrant.
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Villains don't have any Hazard zones.
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Correct, and neither do they need them. The CoV zones have sections that are just as dangerous as any Hazard Zone...bigger spawns, more bosses, and so on. Plus, most of the Hazard zones in CoH are virtual ghost towns, with the exception of the more dynamic, newer ones like Hollows and Striga Isle. Crey's Folly and Perez Park get a modest amount of traffic because quite a few contacts send you there for door and "defeat X" missions, and Eden has the trial...but hardly anyone ever CHOOSES to go to those places for any other reason (unlike Striga).
We can all agree that CoV certainly needs more content, but counting up zones and TFs isn't quite the same thing.
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Pay more attention to PVP please, thanks.
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ARENA KIOSKS IN POCKET D! DIDN'T YOU HEAR?!
Currently roleplaying, badgehunting, and laughing at the PvPers of CoX. lol, PvP.
Truedusk - Human Rogue
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I can't wait for all of this stuff.
I really hope that Flashback does come however and that Hami is gone altogether. I would like to see Heroes and Villains working together, but I don't see how the 5th is a big enough threat.
Overall this will get me to stay for a very long time 
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The 5th will take control of hamidon and make him into the Hamidon Ubermenschen Vampyri and it will own our characters to the point of it owning our souls.
50Soulsunder: DM/Regen Scrapper
50Limitshift: EM/WP Brute
Victoria Nox: Dark/Dark Dominator
And about 5 others that change constantly...
Hey, Pos... will we still be able to craft Temp Powers with Inventions? Or only enhances and costumey stuff? Also, any ETA on the Nictus for CoV? And the extra powersets? Thanks. I'm really excited for I8 and for Inventions...keep up the good work, and when you start making all that Marvel money, distribute some of it CoH's way, both as thanks for the game that got you the contract, and to keep us happy and our game up to the speed of it's new, Joe Quesada-approved rival.
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Issue 10 is a ways out, but it will bring us an update to an old familiar villain group. This group will have their power center altered
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Right, let's list all the villains that have a power centre.
1) The Council
2) ...
3) Er
4) That's it.
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Banished Pantheon...Vahzilok...(shudders)...Rikti...5th Column
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I'm in the dark, what was Posi referring to when he mentioned a project between Cryptic and Microsoft?
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Go here.
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If it were xbox only, I'd understand this move. As it's ported to PC as well, I have no idead what the hell Cryptic is thinking.
"Gee, let's have 2 superhero MMOs! We'll compete with ourselves!"
Thus diluting both player bases.
I don't get it.
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here's a reply for ya
[quote="Infinite Abyss"][quote="Mytee Isis"]Developing a game that works on multiple platforms (neither of which has made it to market yet..) sounds like a HUGE job. I'd be willing to bet 2-3 years. They have a head start, however, in that they have a baseline to start from -- COX.
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Actually, not necessarily. Vista and Xbox360 share many of the same tools, including XNA, which makes porting games between both platforms effortless (think of it as a unified set of 3-d tools). *nod*
As for an MMO's lifespan, that all depends on -us-. Remember, everyone votes with their wallets... and if the wallets are not supporting COH down the line as strongly as it is now let's say, then yes it's a very real possibility that COH might start waning. For instance, FFXI is almost 2 years older than CoH, yet it's still running quite strong (nowhere near earlier years, but still strong).
Right now, it just seems logical... Marvel wanted to make their MMO, and they more than likely thought "Hey, Cryptic has done a really nice Superhero MMO that's actually quite good... maybe we can hire them to do the same". Cryptic, being a studio founded under NCSoft, well... think about it. These people have familes and life to look at, and they're also going to migrate to where the money is. If Marvel/MS is offering me a bigger paycheck, you better believe I'd also be considering the offer.
What does this mean for us? Well, who knows. Again, it all depends on the vote of the consumer and their wallets... this has less to do with Marvel/MS, and more to do with how many people stay subscribed to CoX.
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Praeotorian Lord Recluse? think it was said in one of the books what he was called on there world...
I, too, wish to know the meaning of:
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This is a hero-centric Issue that finally levels the playing field between Heroes and Villains.
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The only thing that makes sense is the addition of Safeguard and Police band missions, but that hardly 'levels a playing field'.
CoH and CoV are different games. The only interaction (aside from the snaptooth missions) between them is in PvP, and I have not heard much in the way of saying villains are too powerful.
A playing field implies that both sides are in the same area, and levelling it means eliminating an unfair advantage. As levels are not that great of a factor in the PvP zones, what could this mean? Nerfs? Buffs?
In a press release like this, there's no way that remark is without merit. I'm not quite sure I like the implication that Heroes are underperforming in direct contests with Villains.
Put me down as a player in search of a P.S. to this message.
My Motto: "Debt is merely another Goal."
"Wow Abalest--you manage to start a discussion even when you ain't given a topic" -Ghostman
Abalests on Infinity:
Miss Fulcrum
Dark Soul Golem
Power Drain
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Heroes dont have Mayhem or Newspaper missions. Issue Eight fixes that. Thats what he means about content.
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But...
Villains don't have 13 TFs/Trials (Not counting Respecs).
Villains don't have 27 zones.
Villains don't have any Hazard zones.
Why does he feel the need to rectify one without commenting on the other?
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Because the others aren't coming right now? Or because some of those things they put in CoH have been deemd to be a mistake and wont be added to CoV? We know whats coming in I8, and he's told us I9 is about the Invention system. If no new TFs or zones are coming for villains until after those issues, theres no point talking about something so far out that the plans will most likely change five times before they happen.
Numerous zones is not a huge boon. The spread out the playerbase more, and often overlap, leading to more travel time. CoV zones are larger than CoH zones, and contain within them areas that have hazard stone style spawns.
Hazard zones without content in them are pretty much ghost towns. They add almost no value to the game. They're just boxes with mobs in them. I think the devs saw that and decided not to include them in CoV.
Villains hasn't been out as long, so it doesnt have as many TFs. Thats perhaps unfortunate, but lots of those heroe TFs are tedious. The Positron TF and the Dr. Quarterfield are widely held to be among the worst experiences in the game. My Supergroup for example, has only ever run Dr. Q once, and was so disgusted by it they've never gone back.
You can total up numeric lists of differences to try and make a point, but I feel that its vastly oversimplfying the situation.
And here's the best reason why he's commenting on improving the Hero game right now:
City of Heroes has not had a PvE Content addition in over a year. You know, the game that made CoV possible. The game whose development has been more or less stagant to support CoV.
Now, if I were Lead Designer, and the flagship product of my Studio had not seen content additions to the most important part of its game play for over a year, I'm pretty sure I'd want to talk that up.
Heroes
Dysmal
Lumynous
Sam Steele
Pluck
Wile
Slagheap
Pressure Wave
Rhiannon Bel
Verified
Stellaric
Syd Mallorn
Villains
Jotunheim Skald
Saer Maen
Jen Corbae
Illuminance
Venator Arawn
Taiga Dryad
Tarranos
I am happy. Thank you for that Letter.
I hope that it won't be a one shot thing but will be renewed every month or so.
THought information is scarce about the system. All we know is it has long been put off because it couldnt be done correctly. My only fear now is that since they have been slow to get a "personal lair" idea up and running for our heroes and villians an invention system that is basicly a crafting system is likely to still require use of a SG base. First off requiring you to have COV in order to use it, since as was mentioned before all base stuff is a COV feature that requires both boxes in order to have it in COH, and what about people that dont join SGs?
My only hope would be two things, either finally getting the ability to make the "Qui-Cave" just for my own use, not rquiring hours upon hours of prestige farming to make it useful, or that some kinda of "Public" crafting tables come to pass so that using this ability doesnt require either joining a group you dont care to be in or spending to much time worrying about earning enough prestige to build that table for your SG.
Though they say not to worry i cant help but worry that all of our feature for the next few issues are going to be basicly testing how things will run best in the Marvel MMO. Seems like a huge conflict of intrest for one developer to have 2 competing MMOs in the market place, both dealing with similar content.
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Great idea. Comdemn a game before you've seen anything about it other than Marvel and Cryptic are working together to make it.
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I'm not sure why someone should be all that optimistic or pessimistic about the Marvel/Microsoft deal. While the potential is there for 'blue skies' results for MUO and CoX, there are several concerns as well. I'm not sure why discussion of that should stop now, considering that people have been discussing just this scenario since MUO was first announced many moons ago.
Microsoft's track record is mixed at best, there's been many long-winded discussions over the last couple of years about how there are more pitfalls to creating a superhero MMOG using pre-existing corporate IP as opposed to studio owned IP, and most people remember how well having "two separate dev teams" worked with CoV. This deal has obvious benefits for Cryptic Studios, but I'd have to agree that for current subscribers all this deal does is create this big unknown factor for the next couple years. Cryptic doesn't have a sterling track record of developing two properties with similar code bases and engines, let alone a track record of managing two dev teams working on completely different code bases and engines. In fact, few studios have a good track record of developing multiple MMOGs - this isn't just a concern because Cryptic is doing it.
I wish Cryptic the best, honestly. I just don't think anyone should get too excited or depressed at this news. How can anybody outside of Cryptic and Marvel and Microsoft feel anything about this, really? There are far too many unproven, unknown factors involved as far as the consumer is concerned.
It's interesting, and that's about it, as far anyone outside the company can judge at this point.
Not to mention that it is in the far distant computer-gaming future of two or three years away...a veritable eternity. So, anything can happen between now and then, and everything is blind guesswork at this point.
The Only Thing I can add to this discussion is
DO NOT allow MS & Marvel to pressure you into deploying a inferior product because THEY want to make more money faster. Marvel is known to rushing things out the door because they want to; advertise the release of a movie or game, and we dont even need to start on Microsoft
and their wants
Release the game when its GOOD and running solidly not when they say
We need this by X day to make more money for X movie.
"My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely pretty and well preserved, but rather I will skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming...WOW...What a Ride"
By the by, there's a cotton candy interview with Statesman and a suit each from Marvel and Microsoft here.
I think I lost a a few ounces from the negative caloric value while reading it. Banal corporate interviews are heart-wise and slimming! 
*********WARNING EVERYTHING POSTED HERE IS MOLDS OPINON AND NOTHING MORE*************
Ok, last night was sleepless for Mold (Mold has a cold). So as Mold laid staring at the ceiling, the news of the day kept rolling around in Molds feverish head. Question came to mind. How much longer does CoX have with NC Soft as a publisher? Mold isn't worried about Cryptic's side of things (one known project and atleast one more hinted at), its NC Soft that scares Mold.So Mold got to digging and think about past the past year.
What we know:
NC Soft laid off a bunch of employees.
The stock price is about half of what it was last Nov. CoV launch.
NC Soft is banking on Tabula Rasa (or Protect Aion in Korea).
Auto Assault failed.
CoX sales where down 15% last quarter and 5% for the year.
Cryptic is developing Marvels MMO for Microsoft.
What Mold Guessdamates:
The Retail expansion was cancelled because NC Soft is cutting the content development money for CoX.
CoX Good vs. Evil extras are all the content that had been developed for the retail expansion. (Mold had seen a combo box in Sams Club of Coh and Cov the week before the announcement, the following week there were no combo boxes on the shelves.)
The connection to servers has been increasingly unstable because NC Soft has gone for a cheaper ISP. This would include all the LCMS, huge spikes in lag and packet lost, and the download speeds on their end have been throttled back.(The servers and the connection to them are all on NC Soft not Cryptic.)
NC Soft had to approve the Microsoft deal. (If they didnt I think there would be law suits by now.)
Is Mold saying the end is near for CoX? No, Mold thinks there will be signs of that. First will be no server transfers. Then less and less new content including no new power sets and less communication from Cryptic. Next will be server consolidation, Mold thinks down to 2 West Coast and 2 East Coast first then down to one. Mold thinks the last sign will be opening the code to players to develop their own content (if possible). When we start seeing these signs it will be time to think about a new game.
PS Mold doesnt think this will be here long.
PSS The villain group is the Hellions. Just kidding but not really.
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Dear Positron,
Thank you for the letter. It's so good to receive real mail in this digital age.
I had two questions about what you had to say:
Are any of our prior Devs now working on the Marvel/Microsoft MMO?
When you say this:
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Id like to start out by mentioning Issue 8: To Protect and Serve. This is a hero-centric Issue that finally levels the playing field between Heroes and Villains.
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What do you mean? Content-wise, Heroes still have more to do than villains (More TFs, more trials, more zones, etc). Levelling the playing field PvP-wise? Yeah, heroes have that advantage as well.
Please tell me your thoughts Positron, and until next time!
xoxoxox
- Moses
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Heroes dont have Mayhem or Newspaper missions. Issue Eight fixes that. Thats what he means about content.
Heroes
Dysmal
Lumynous
Sam Steele
Pluck
Wile
Slagheap
Pressure Wave
Rhiannon Bel
Verified
Stellaric
Syd Mallorn
Villains
Jotunheim Skald
Saer Maen
Jen Corbae
Illuminance
Venator Arawn
Taiga Dryad
Tarranos