EAT at War Witch's - Epic ATs as of 9/2010

Now, this makes sense, and ties up where we were back when Posi was doing some work on COV, initially planning on bringing Nictus over to redside (we did, of course, get VEATs instead.) He had, at the time, stated that they wanted to do Incarnates later - and now we know, far from being an EAT of their own, the Incarnate system is meant to extend Level 50s and provide end game content.

So, with Incarnates being an EGGS (Epic Game Growth System - ok, yes, I had to do that) instead of an EAT, we can generally say that there aren't any other EATs being worked on on the moment. So, where do the previously mentioned ones stand?

Terminology

Yeah, boring stuff, some of this is basic, there's not a lot to worry about though.
APP - Anciliary power pool. Also called Epic power pool, with a different meaning of "Epic" than Epic ATs use.
AT - Archetype. What you are. Blaster, Defender, Corrupter, Brute, that sort of thing.
EAT - Epic Archetype. An archetype that has, from examples so far, a story and origin tied to it by default.
HEAT - Rarely used. Hero Epic Archetype.
Kheld - Short for Kheldian, the overall "race" for Peacebringers, Warshades, and (non player obtainable) Nictus.
PPP - Patron power pool. Villainside version of an APP, requires running an arc for a patron.
SOA - Soldiers of Arachnos. Bane spiders, Crab spiders, Night Widows and Fortunatas.
VEAT - If you got the above, you can guess this. Villain Epic Archetype.

First, what is an Epic AT?

This is open to a lot of interpretation, I'll be honest. Let's start with what they are not - they are NOT "God mode." In all the time I've run Kheldians, I'd seen that idea more than a few times, with people getting disappointed that they weren't clearing maps in one shot at level 1. (That's not always hyperbole.)

"Epic," by the definition we're given as the Developer focus with these ATs, generally refers to being tied to a story. This has some pros and cons, going by the examples we have so far:

Pro - You're going to get story arcs not available to the basic Archetypes. Right off the bat, you get a special contact, and every five levels a special arc from that contact in addition to the ones you get from regular contacts.

Pro - There's usually some sort of twist to gameplay and/or building the character, some special variation that regular ATs don't experience. Kheldians have the option of "forms" to shapeshift into, and get built in travel powers. SoAs "branch" into their specialty at level 24 with a required respec.

Con - So far, there's always been some sort of limitation. Origin, typically, with Khelds and SOAs. Khelds are locked out of the Flight and Teleportation travel pools, and don't get seperate APPs. SoAs are always Natural origin, and the first slot is taken up by their Arachnos-themed costume. (The parts are not available to the other costume slots.)

It's probably safest to look at it this way. With the regular story arcs, you get a wide overview of a lot of things. An Epic goes into detail on one specific part of the City Of world's story.

How do you start an Epic AT?

This is subject to change for future EATs, should they be released.

When Kheldians were released, you had to have a hero character (there were no villains) on the live server up to level 50, when they would unlock. Test and live are different. A level 50 villain would not unlock Kheldians.

For the sake of parity, when SoAs were finally released in Issue 12, it was decided you'd have to have a villain at level 50 to unlock them. A hero at 50, again, would not do so.

The developers have stated in the past that they felt the level 50 requirement was not the best idea. And in Issue 17, the requirements were dropped to having a level 20 Hero or Villain - no Praetorians unlock these (yet.) Future EATs may be unlocked other ways - say, doing a strike force/task force, getting certain badges, or hitting specific levels.

Positron's quote:

All right, enough of that. Now for the status update of previously announced Epic ATs:

Kheldians

Back in Issue 3, Striga Isle was introduced. The Fifth Column and Council had a war. And some funky shapeshifting aliens known as Kheldians were introduced.

These aliens were tied in to some of the Council backstory, having come to continue their war against the Nictus. Instead of going into the whole backstory, I'm just going to refer you to my Kheldian backstory guide.

Status:
Peacebringers: Active on live servers.
Warshades: Active on live servers.
Nictus: Not live. Presumed cancelled in favor of SoAs.

There are three "branches" of Kheldians - Peacebringers, Warshades, and Nictus.
Peacebringers and Warshades are the heroside Kheldians, and have been around since issue 3.
Nictus have been NPCs. Initially, Nictus were supposed to be introduced (as well as "evil Peacebringers") as the initial Villainside epic. An interview of Positron even had them mention "We'll release Nictus, then we want to do Incarnates (another EAT) next."

Those plans got scrapped. Nictus were pushed aside. For all intents and purposes, they are off the table. The reason given, when I'd asked some time ago, was that the development team wanted to introduce something "more tied in with the story of the Rogue Isles." While I, and several others, would like to see the "other side" of the Kheldian war arcs, this looks like it won't come to pass, especially with Mission Architect and side-switching now in the game.

Specifics

* Two unique contacts - one for Warshades, one for Peacebringers, though the arcs merge after a few are run.
* Tied into origin - Natural for Peacebringers, Science for Warshades.
* Optional "forms" (Nova - with flight and ranged attacks, but no defense - and Dwarf - with teleport and melee attacks, a tank form.)
* Locked out of Teleport and Flight power pools.
* No Ancillary power pools, but the primary and secondary lists are much larger than regular ATs (13 as opposed to 9 powers, plus extra powers in each form.)

Soldiers of Arachnos

For several issues after the release of City of Villains, villain players wanted (among other things) an Epic Archetype of their own, a reward for getting to 50. There was much debate back and forth about the desire (or lack thereof) of seeing Kheldians. Initially, the Nictus (see above) were due to be the first VEAT released.

That changed suddenly and the Soldiers of Arachnos burst onto the scene in Issue 12.

These are based on the same NPCs you see throughout your villainous rise - Blood Widows and Spiders, Fortunatas, Night Widows, Banes and Crab spiders. In fact, it's somewhat hard to describe this as two ATs, when you have multiple means of building them. With a (required, and free) respec at 24, you can keep your base powers, or branch into Fortunata, Widow, Bane or Crab spider - or keep going as a basic "SoA."

The two...er, four... the SoAs all share the same starting contact, and are introduced to a chain of contacts unique to SoAs as they progress, working through their 1-50 story arc. (Personal opinion, the arcs aren't as good as the Kheldian ones, but feel free to disagree. You may like them.)

Status:
All live. We know of no extra types that were canceled.

Specifics

* Special "Branching" mechanic with required respec on training at level 24. Pick a path - Fortunata, Night Widow, Bane spider or Crab (with special backpack.)
* Costume slot 1 dedicated to an Arachnos themed costume. Cannot be copied to other slots, nor can parts be used elsewhere.
* Unique chain of contacts lead you through the story throughout the zones.
* Built in Leadership powers available
* Patron power pools available (must, like a standard AT, unlock them.)

That's the grand total of the live Epics. Now for the "Where are they?" These are other EATs that have been mentioned, and what we know of them.

Confirmed canceled:

Avilans

This was a winged archetype, mentioned by Statesman, back when they felt wings as an add on piece would be "too difficult." It's assumed that the "human, but hollow and lighter" skull you find in one heroside arc would have been tied into the Avilans. We have no idea what their story arc would have touched on.

Confirmed dead in IRC chat with Positron during an event.

Nictus

The "Bad guys" of the Kheldian war story. See the Kheldian section. Cancelled in favor of Soldiers of Arachnos. I don't have a direct "They're dead, jim" from anyone, but the comments made with the SoA release strongly indicate the concept is off the shelf. And with side switching introduced in Going Rogue combined with AE, I don't see us getting specific redside contacts (though I'd love to see it still.)

Positron interview at Boomtown
No longer an EAT:

Incarnates

This is what Statesman and Lord Recluse (as well as some NPCs, such as Sstheno) are defined as now - imbued with the power of the gods. They seem to be hinted at in Cimerora, as well, with the "lost sixth origin." Also, in the same (pre-SoA release) interview with Positron, he commented that after they released Nictus, "We want to work on Incarnates, we're just not sure how to work them into the story."

They seem to have figured them out. They'll no longer be an "Epic AT," but a way to make your level 50 characters more powerful. They're still tied to the lore - specifically, to the Praetorian invasion and indirectly to the "Coming Storm." Issue 19 launched the system and was greatly centered on it - we've also seen half-issues launched to expand it since then. It has gone from an Archetype to End Game Content. Let's call it an Epic Game Growth System (EGGS.)

For all intents and purposes, I tend to regard this system as the "Praetorian Epic AT." Right now, it's very heavily tied into the Praetorian lore - like an EAT would be - and has... well, one story arc (Mender Ramiel) and multiple trials dedicated specifically to it (with more coming.)

Mentioned by Statesman here. (11/13/04)

And since it was mentioned in the quote above, we'll start the next section with the Coralax.

In progress

Now, by "In progress," don't take that as meaning "Coming out in this issue +1." This is just a section for Epic ATs that have been hinted at and talked about, but not confirmed dead. We have no progress reports, but the name isn't gathering dust.

Coralax

The Coralax are probably the best developed group of any unplayable character type. They're dealt with quite heavily on the COV side, and in Issue 12, started making their appearance in the Hollows. Aside from Statesman's mention, they (and a race enslaved by them, the Virtea) have been touched on with some heroside clues for years, though not named as such.

What we know

The very first thing to do is go look at the villain group information on the main site.

Read more here.

We have some idea of what their powers *might* be from looking at the City of Villains side. We don't know what type of role the player would have, if this Epic finally sees the light of day. The majority of Coralax seen villainside are Hybrids, humans mutated by the Coralax. (Captain Mako's lieutenant, Barracuda, is one of these, so they're not neccessarily pushovers.) In several of the arcs, though, we run across a Shaper (and a Cult of the Shaper,) as mentioned above - the leaders of the Coralax civilization.

Last but not least, City of Villains does have "leviathan mastery" - water (typically shark) and cold based powers - as one of its Patron pools.

We also know they do not like humans, period.

Some of the comments in the arcs (specifically by the Freakshow in the Cult arcs) are interesting, as well, mentioning how those not of the cult "do not flow." Whether this is some hint at shapeshifting or not, or just a reference to it being an underwater civilization, we don't know.

Piece of trivia - think Cimerora was the first area to have "swimmable" water? Think again. There used to be a small pool of clear water (it stands out among the other brackish ponds) just outside the walls of Grandville you could swim in. You could dive in, swim around - and look at the Coralax taking notes. Currently, it's not "swimmable" - you just sink. Whether that was removed or it's just currently broken, I don't know.


Blood of the Black Stream

Long ago, there was a City of Heroes collectible card game. At one point, there was a contest, which had a player created character made into a card. An Egyptian themed character won - and Sean Fish (aka Manticore) found it tied into an idea for an Epic AT, modifying the blurb slightly, making them one of the Blood of the Black Stream.

Here's the card.

The description:
In any case, the Blood of the Black Stream has been kicked around a bit. We do know bits and pieces about them. They're supposed to be shapeshifters. They're based in Egypt. They're touched on, primarily in Mr. Bocor's arc, as being involved in Gadzul Oil. And they seem to have a techno/magic mix going on, as one of their projects (link needed) involved building a world-sized computer, tapping into ley lines and other places of energy... one of which is visible if you fly above the tanker in Port Oakes. (The Eye of Horus-shaped oil spill.)

This is the lastest word we've had (5/11/2010) about the Blood of the Black Stream. They haven't been forgotten, but they haven't apparently been worked on either.

Keep pestering, oh powers man.

So where does that leave us?

A little more informed, perhaps.

None of these, to my knowledge, are confirmed specific to one side or the other. Most seem like they'd work for both, or even a "third, unaligned" faction - especially with the Morality and Alignments introduced in Going Rogue. (For instance, I tend to see the BotBS similar to the Midnighters - standing apart from the whole 'good vs evil' for their own ends. Coralax could be hostile to both. Incarnates, being a system, will of course work on both sides.)

Hopefully as I run across links and quotes I'll be able to add them to this.

Thanks to Oceanborn for the original guide, for the devs for the quotes (and concepts,) and for the general interest from the payerbase.

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