Open Beta!

Ok, spill your guts...

"Sorry bucko, but CoH and CoV are the same game." -BackAlleyBrawler
"Silly villain, CoX is for Heroes!" -Saicho

I was snubbed this round. Didn't get an invite.

Well, I can say I16 is looking awesome - not sure if that's news or not

There's also 5th Column troops fighting the Council on the streets again too.

I did, but it was pretty clearly last wave lol

It looks good - there are some odd bugs I've been reporting, just little things so far. Since I primarily solo I still dont' have the chance to test anything bigger for em.

Test Teasers!

I was all set to fix all of my animations and POW, no test server. I did get a chance to play with an Archery/Traps corruptor for a minute. Interesting....

"Sorry bucko, but CoH and CoV are the same game." -BackAlleyBrawler
"Silly villain, CoX is for Heroes!" -Saicho

Went out last night, but about 10 minutes before my ride showed up, I saw the Open Beta announcement and my jaw dropped.

So, after I got back, I was up till midnight designing an Archery/TA Corruptor and a Traps Defender. Loved the Traps Def's look, but I won't be making her on Live till we get Pistols. Not sure if I really like the A/TA Corr's look yet, so I'll be messing around with it.

Tonight I'm gonna work on costumes for the Claws Brute and Broadsword Stalker that I also want to make when I16 goes Live.

And then I'm gonna be trying to thoroughly test the performance of Trick Arrows on Corruptors, because I'm not convinced it will do well, personally. I already bugged PGA's damage buff being lower than its supposed to be.

Trickshooter's Characters | @Trickshooter @Brightside

To the person that gave me the

"Sorry bucko, but CoH and CoV are the same game." -BackAlleyBrawler
"Silly villain, CoX is for Heroes!" -Saicho

This is a good summary of what you'll find in beta.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=188050

Note: After re-reading through all the info at the above link, it is really important stuff. If it all makes it to live, and at this point it likely will, there are some major game changing items listed there.

Oh... and this too.



Issue 16: Power Spectrum Release Notes

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City of Heroes® Issue 16: Power Spectrum



Welcome to the Beta for City of Heroes’ latest offering, Issue 16: Power Spectrum


You wanted more control over what your characters’ powers look like, and you are getting it! Issue 16: Power Spectrum takes City of Heroes’ unparalleled character creator to the next level by unveiling a kaleidoscope of colors for your characters’ powers. Become your own pyrotechnician as you select themes for your characters’ powers and color coordinate the hues of the power effects.


Issue 16: Power Spectrum has the following features:



_______________________________________________





Powers Customization:

Hundreds of powers have been updated to allow new color selections and customization. Players can now pick new Themes for each powerset, adjusting colors, appearance, and even animations for some sets.
Key Features:

Thousands of Tintable particle and geometry effects for powers, such as Energy Blasts and Stone Mallet colors.
Customizable Primary and Secondary colors for powersets, with color choices themed to match the selected powerset.
Powerset Themes selectable for a complete set, or individual powers.
Powerset Themes selectable at character creation, as well as in the tailor screens.
Independant Theme selection for each character costume.

New Theme selections:

New Themes for Spines and Thorny Assault available, including Themes of Thorns, Metal Spines, Crystal Spines, and Slate Spines.
New Crystal and Lava Themes for Stone Melee, Stone Armor, Earth Control and Earth Assault.
New animation Themes for Super Strength and Martial Arts.
Huge variety of color customizable powersets, including Cold Domination, Dark Armor, Dark Blast, Dark Melee, Dark Miasma, Devices, Earth Control, Stone Melee, Electric Armor, Electric Assault, Electric Blast, Electric Melee, Electricity Manipulation, Empathy, Energy Assault, Energy Aura, Energy Blast, Energy Manipulation, Energy Melee, Fiery Aura, Fire Assault, Fire Blast, Fire Control, Fire Manipulation, Fire Melee, Force Field, Gravity Control, Ice Armor, Ice Assault, Ice Blast, Ice Control, Ice Manipulation, Ice Melee, Illusion, Invulnerability, Kinetics, Mental Manipulation, Mind Control, Necromancy, Plant Control, Psionic Assault, Psychic Blast, Radiation Blast, Radiation Emission, Regeneration, Sonic Resonance, Sonic Blast, Spines, Stone Armor, Storm Summoning, Super Reflexes, Thermal Radiation, Thorny Assault, Traps, and Willpower.




_______________________________________________





New Character Creator:

The Character creator and Tailor screen have been updated to be easier to use and even preview the animation and color choices for powers!
Key features:

Tabbed Character Creator: Jump between Archetype, Power Sets, Costumes, and Character ID in any order without losing progress.
New Powers Customization screen, for adjusting powers and previewing animations.
Select colors and themes for each individual power, or apply it to the entire power set!
Preview live animations of all powers, showing the selected Theme and color choices.
Save and Load Theme settings for each powerset, saving colors and selections for all powers.

Costume slots: Your active costume slot is stored when you log off will be the costume slot used when you log back in. It will also display that costume in the character selection screen.



_______________________________________________



Powerset Proliferation: More power sets are now in the hands of Archetypes who couldn’t use them previously!


Archetype - Blasters

Radiation Blast

Archetype - Brutes

Claws

Archetype - Controllers

Cold Domination

Archetype - Corruptors

Archery
Trick Arrow

Archetype - Defenders

Assault Rifle
Traps

Archetype - Dominators

Earth Assault

Archetype -Masterminds

Thermal Radiation

Archetype -Scrappers

Electric Melee
Electric Armor

Archetype -Tankers

Electric Melee
Electric Armor

Archetype -Stalkers

Broadsword



_______________________________________________



Enhanced Difficulty Options: The old notoriety system has been removed and replaced with a new difficulty system of independent settings. You can now fine-tune the difficulty levels of the missions you play by telling the game exactly how you want to be treated:


Choose to fight monsters between a -1 to +4 level difference from the player's level.
Choose to set your personal team size (1-8).
Choose if you want bosses to scale down to Lieutenants when soloing or not
Choose to have AVs scale down to EBs.

The difficulty settings of the mission owner dictate how the mission is handled. Actual team size overrides any difficulty setting, so you will always get Arch-Villains if the team has 6 or more members. The difficulty setting is per task, so personal team member sizes do not add together.

You can change your difficulty settings at any Hero Corp.’s Representative in Paragon City or Fateweaver in the Rogue Isles.




_______________________________________________



Sidekicking Changes: Super-Sidekicking! One player can now sidekick or exemplar the whole team, everyone can always player together!

Each player in the group's level is set to the level of the owner of the active team task. If no team task is selected, everyone in the group's level will be set to the level of the team leader.
When the team level changes, players will be notified via a dialog and have the option to quit the team or immediately accept. The dialog will time out after 30 seconds at which point acceptance is implied.
While in the pending state, players cannot receive rewards and any critters they damage will be worth no experience.
Players can choose to auto-accept team level changes 0 to 50 levels above or below their current level.
Exemplars will now earn XP and retain access to powers up to 5 levels above their aspirant. A level capped person will get XP converted into influence like exemplars used to.


_______________________________________________



New Badges: Last issue we announced our future plans and design direction for new badges. Here’s a list of the new badges that can be obtained in Issue 16:


Master of Reichsman Strike Force
Master of Reichsman Task Force
Master of Imperious Task Force



_______________________________________________




Epic/Patron Powers Pools: The balance between the Epic/Patron power pools has been revisited. Now all Epic power pools have 5 powers to choose from.



Force Mastery (Blaster)
Existing Powers

Personal Force Field
Repulsion Field
Temporary Invulnerability
Force of Nature
New Powers

Repulsion Bomb - Ranged (Targeted AoE), Moderate Damage(Smash/Energy), Foe Knockdown

Flame Mastery (Blaster)
Existing Powers
Bonfire
Char
Fire Shield
Rise of the Phoenix
New Powers

Melt Armor - Ranged (Targeted AoE), Foe -Res, -Def

Fire Mastery (Controller)
Existing Powers

Fire Blast
Fire Ball
Fire Shield
Consume
New Powers

Rise of the phoenix - Self Rez, Special

Psionic Mastery (Controller)
Existing Powers

Mental Blast
Indomitable Will
Mind Over Body
Psionic Tornado
New Powers

World of Confusion - PBAoE, Minor DoT(Psionic), Foe Confuse

Dark Mastery (Defender)
Existing Powers

Oppressive Gloom
Dark Consumption
Dark Embrace
Soul Drain
New Powers

Soul Transfer - Self Rez, Special

Power Mastery (Defender)
Existing Powers
Conserve Power
Power Build Up
Temp Invulnerability
Total Focus
New Powers

Force of Nature - +Res(All but Psionics)

Blaze Mastery (Scrapper) NEW
Existing Powers

None
New Powers

Ring of Fire - Ranged, Moderate DoT(Fire), Foe Immobilize
Char - Ranged, Minor DoT(Fire), Foe Hold
Fire Blast - Ranged, Moderate DMG(Fire)
Melt Armor - Ranged (Targeted AoE), Foe -Res, -DEF
Fire Ball - Ranged (Targeted AoE), Moderate DMG(Fire/Smash)

Body Mastery (Scrapper)
Existing Powers

Conserve Power
Focused Accuracy
Laser Beam Eyes
Energy Torrent
New Powers

Physical Perfection - Auto, +Regen, +Recovery (50% of the values offered by Stamina and Health)

Darkness Mastery (Scrapper)
Existing Powers

Torrent
Petrifying Gaze
Dark Blast
Tenebrous Tentacles
New Powers

Nightfall - Ranged (Cone), Moderate DMG(Negative), Foe –To Hit.

Energy Mastery (Tanker)
Existing Powers

Conserve Power
Focused Accuracy
Laser Beam Eyes
Energy Torrent
New Powers

Physical Perfection - Auto, +Regen, +Recovery (50% of the values offered by Stamina and Health.

Soul Mastery (VEAT)
Existing Powers

Gloom
Soul Tentacles
Darkest Night
Dark Obliteration
Summon Widow
New Powers

Darkest Night - Toggle: Ranged (Targeted AoE), Foe -DMG -To Hit

Leviathan Mastery (VEAT)
Existing Powers

Spirit Shark
School of Sharks
Bile Spray
Summon Guardian
New Powers

Arctic Breath - Ranged (Cone), Minor DoT(Cold), Foe -Speed, -Recharge, -DEF -Res, knock down

Mace Mastery (VEAT)
Existing Powers

Mace Blast
Web Envelop
Disruptor Blast
Summon Blaster
New Powers

Focused Accuracy - Toggle: Self +To Hit, +ACC, +Perception, Res(DeBuff To Hit)

Mu Mastery (VEAT)
Existing Powers

Mu Lightning
Electrifying Fences
Ball Lightning
Summon Striker
New Powers

Static Discharge - Ranged (Cone), Moderate DMG(Energy), -END

Mu Mastery (Brute)
Existing Powers

Mu Lightning
Electrifying Fences
Ball Lightning
Summon Striker
New Powers

Static Discharge - Ranged (Cone), Moderate DMG(Energy), -END


_______________________________________________




Mission Architect: Check out the improvements made to the Mission Architect:


Custom Critter XP Scaling

Custom Critters with Custom powers now reward XP proportional to the number of powers added to the critter.
Critters with no powers are allowed, but they are worth no XP.
Standard and hard critters are worth less than extreme critters.

Mission Browser Improvements

Author Hyperlink: Author names are now hyperlinked and will underline on mouseover. Clicking on the name of the author in the Mission Browser will do a search for all the other arcs that author has also published.

Mission Creation Improvements

Runaway Boss Dialog: The boss now has dialog when he runs away.
Health Dialog on Allies: Allies and Escorts can be set to say things as they lose health.
Betrayal Options: Allies and Escorts can now be set to betray on any normal objective. They can also say something when they betray.
Drag & Drop Mission Goals: Goals in Architect missions can now be dragged and dropped to change their order.
Objective Counts: A count is listed on each detail creation button of the number of details that can still be placed.
Custom Villain Groups

If a player has all three basic critter types in their CVG, they will receive full rewards for the mission. If one critter type is missing they will receive 50% rewards. If two critter types are missing they will receive 25% rewards, and if none of the core critter types are in the CVG, there are no rewards.
This only effects mobs that are auto-spawned by the mission. You can still place unique bosses inside of a unique group under "Fight a Boss" and have them reward full experience



XP Curve Adjustment

To go along with our new changes to sidekicking and exemplaring, we've made some adjustments to the experience awarded from minions, lieutenants and bosses in the level 5 to 24 range. In short these enemies are on average receiving a 20% experience and influence increase. This will slightly speed up the pace at which heroes and villains advance through the 5 to 24 range

This is kinda important...

The experience rewards for custom mobs in Mission Architect have been changed.
Enemies created using the Standard setting will reward 75% of normal experience.
Enemies created using the Hard and Extreme setting will reward 100% of normal experience.
The total amount of experience an enemy is worth is split evenly between their two powerset choices. Their primary set adds an amount to the experience, and then the secondary set adds an amount.

The specifics numbers for individual sets are as followed:

Standard: 37.5%
Hard/Extreme: 50%
If you create a mob that has a standard primary and a hard secondary, they’ll be worth 87.5% of the normal experience (37.5% + 50%)
A mob created with a hard primary and a hard secondary will be worth 100% experience (50% + 50%)

Master of Imperious TF? Easy enough, I think.

Master of Reichsman TF? Probably easy, too.

Master of Reichmsn SF? >_> Is that a joke? It's not funny if it is! It can be hard enough to just finish with some teams, let alone finish with no deaths.

Trickshooter's Characters | @Trickshooter @Brightside

FYI there big guy, you were SOOOOO right about me in the tailor. It will probably be more than a week before I get done.

"Sorry bucko, but CoH and CoV are the same game." -BackAlleyBrawler
"Silly villain, CoX is for Heroes!" -Saicho

I've been successful on all of the Barracuda SF's that I have ran, but a Master run is just plain crazy. I'm glad I never did make a badging villain.

*Cough Cough*

OMG a challenge? Sign Me Up

I was able to update the Test server copy of CoH on my gaming laptop last night, and I logged for about an hour (11 PM - 12 PM EDT).

I tried to upload a copy of Kreetch at level 50, but when I logged in it wasn't there, so I used a level 48 copy of the same toon from a previous romp on the Test server.

As soon as I logged him in, I was greeted by 8 new badges

I was in RWZ, so I went to the tailor there and I tried on the newer animations for Invulnerability and Super Strength.

Some are fun (Two-handed backhand swing for Knockout Blow - WHAM!), some are meh (Punching the ground to do a Foot Stomp ???), but I can imagine some people will be spending hours and hours tweaking their costumes slots (let's see... 38 costumes slots spread on 26 toons, at roughly 20 minutes average for a makeover... YIKES !)

Is it me, or did they add some new incidental music in RWZ ?

I will try to log in again tonight and create a new toon, to see in details the changes to the Character Creator. Any suggestions as for the archetype / powersets I should try ?

I'm guessing the Ground Punch came about from that scene in Sky High, myself.

Blue flames may not be likely for me...looks more like a gas or energy or something...not quite fire. And you can't change epic power colors.