This week’s Intrepid Informer is once again a special edition! We do try and bring you the latest on City of Heroes as soon as we hear about it!
In this issue, Phil “Synapse” Zeleski, takes the stage and tells you more about the much awaited continuation of Power Set Proliferation, a.k.a. Power Set proliferation 3.0!
Read on for a breakdown of what you can expect to see in game in the future!
Power Set Proliferation - 3.0
by Phil “Synapse” Zeleski
Over the past couple of years there’s been few power related features requested more often than Power Set Proliferation. So, I’m happy to say that we’re kicking off the next round by Proliferating a healthy batch of powers sets to other archetypes. Below is the full list:
Hero Archetypes
Blaster
Dark Blast (Primary)
Darkness Manipulation (Secondary)
Controller
Poison (Secondary)
Defender
Thermal Radiation (Primary)
Fire Blast (Secondary)
Scrapper
Battle Axe (Primary)
War Mace (Primary)
Energy Aura (Secondary)
Tanker
Super Reflexes (Primary)
Martial Arts (Secondary)
Villain Archetypes
Brute
Katana (Primary)
Broad Sword (Primary)
Regeneration (Secondary)
Corruptor
Psychic Blast (Primary)
Poison (Secondary)
Dominator
None
Mastermind
Sonic Resonance (Secondary)
Stalker
Ice Armor (Secondary)
Highlights
Below I’d like to talk about some of the highlights of this round of Power Set Proliferation. These include changes made to the proliferated sets as well as some interesting, but related tangents.
Dark Blast and Darkness Manipulation for Blasters
We chose Dark Blast as it would be a fun control centric blast set for Blasters. The power set was changed slightly to make it a better fit for Blasters. Dark Pit was removed, Torrent and Nightfall were merged into a single power: Umbral Torrent, and then Aim and a new power Abyssal Gaze (a single target hold with a DoT component) were added to round out the set.
Darkness Manipulation made a lot of sense as it was fairly low hanging fruit and would be a perfect pairing for Dark Blast. The set is made up of powers that are found in Dark Armor, Defender Dark Blast and Dark Miasma. The set can deliver crushing melee damage as well as provide a measure of crowd control and self buffs.
Poison for Controllers and Corruptors
This set has been requested for proliferation for a great while and we thought now would be a great time to release it. This set is very much like the Mastermind version, however Noxious Gas (a pet targeted AoE debuff power) was replaced by Venomous Gas. This new power is a PBAoE toggle that significantly weakens enemies in close proximity to the user.
Ice Armor for Stalkers
We chose Ice Armor this time around as it was a fun and thematically interesting power set and it was the only option that didn’t require substantial art time. Since our talented artists are working their rear ends off making content in Issue 21 shine, this round of Power Set Proliferation required that there would be no art time used. Ice Armor had to have some changes made to make it compatible with the Stalker play style. First we removed Icicles to make room for Hide and then we removed Hibernate and replaced it with Icy Bastion. This change was made because Stalkers already have access to Hibernate from their Leviathan Patron Pool. The new power Icy Bastion is a click power that provides a short, but significant, burst of Resistance, Regeneration and Recovery.
What about Dominators?
You’ve probably noticed that Dominators didn’t get new powers this time around. We have exciting future plans for the archetype that we can’t talk about right now that will most likely occur post Issue 21. So, stay tuned!
Energy Aura Revamp
The most exciting part of any powers work for me personally is making improvements to existing power sets. So, porting over Energy Aura to Scrappers gave us a really good opportunity to make some changes to the set. The changes we chose to make were intended to make thematic sense and build upon strengths instead of filling intended weak spots. I won’t list the lengthy patch notes here, but I will sum them up for you:
Resistance on the set’s auto powers were slightly increased and now include endurance drain protection and slow resistance.
Entropy Shield is now Entropic Aura for Scrappers and Brutes. This power is a taunt aura that grants the user a scaling recharge buff based on the number of foes surrounding the user. The Stalker version of the set doesn’t have a taunt aura, but it offers a small Recharge bonus.
Repulse for Stalkers has been replaced by Disrupt, a stun aura.
Energy Drain no longer has a healing component, instead it offers a small defense boost per target hit.
Conserve Energy was replaced by Energize, a self Heal that offers a moderate regeneration and endurance cost reduction boost for a short while. This power works identically to the Electric Armor version.
Well, that wraps up Power Set Proliferation 3.0! We hope you all enjoy this round of Power Set Proliferation. If the power set you wanted proliferated didn’t make it this round, never fear there’s always next time. There’s still plenty of power set goodness to be proliferated and we look forward when we bring those to you.
This week’s Intrepid Informer is once again a special edition! We do try and bring you the latest on City of Heroes as soon as we hear about it!
In this issue, Phil “Synapse” Zeleski, takes the stage and tells you more about the much awaited continuation of Power Set Proliferation, a.k.a. Power Set proliferation 3.0!
Read on for a breakdown of what you can expect to see in game in the future!
Power Set Proliferation - 3.0
by Phil “Synapse” Zeleski
Over the past couple of years there’s been few power related features requested more often than Power Set Proliferation. So, I’m happy to say that we’re kicking off the next round by Proliferating a healthy batch of powers sets to other archetypes. Below is the full list:
Hero Archetypes
Villain Archetypes
Highlights
Below I’d like to talk about some of the highlights of this round of Power Set Proliferation. These include changes made to the proliferated sets as well as some interesting, but related tangents.
Dark Blast and Darkness Manipulation for Blasters
We chose Dark Blast as it would be a fun control centric blast set for Blasters. The power set was changed slightly to make it a better fit for Blasters. Dark Pit was removed, Torrent and Nightfall were merged into a single power: Umbral Torrent, and then Aim and a new power Abyssal Gaze (a single target hold with a DoT component) were added to round out the set.
Darkness Manipulation made a lot of sense as it was fairly low hanging fruit and would be a perfect pairing for Dark Blast. The set is made up of powers that are found in Dark Armor, Defender Dark Blast and Dark Miasma. The set can deliver crushing melee damage as well as provide a measure of crowd control and self buffs.
Poison for Controllers and Corruptors
This set has been requested for proliferation for a great while and we thought now would be a great time to release it. This set is very much like the Mastermind version, however Noxious Gas (a pet targeted AoE debuff power) was replaced by Venomous Gas. This new power is a PBAoE toggle that significantly weakens enemies in close proximity to the user.
Ice Armor for Stalkers
We chose Ice Armor this time around as it was a fun and thematically interesting power set and it was the only option that didn’t require substantial art time. Since our talented artists are working their rear ends off making content in Issue 21 shine, this round of Power Set Proliferation required that there would be no art time used. Ice Armor had to have some changes made to make it compatible with the Stalker play style. First we removed Icicles to make room for Hide and then we removed Hibernate and replaced it with Icy Bastion. This change was made because Stalkers already have access to Hibernate from their Leviathan Patron Pool. The new power Icy Bastion is a click power that provides a short, but significant, burst of Resistance, Regeneration and Recovery.
What about Dominators?
You’ve probably noticed that Dominators didn’t get new powers this time around. We have exciting future plans for the archetype that we can’t talk about right now that will most likely occur post Issue 21. So, stay tuned!
Energy Aura Revamp
The most exciting part of any powers work for me personally is making improvements to existing power sets. So, porting over Energy Aura to Scrappers gave us a really good opportunity to make some changes to the set. The changes we chose to make were intended to make thematic sense and build upon strengths instead of filling intended weak spots. I won’t list the lengthy patch notes here, but I will sum them up for you:
Well, that wraps up Power Set Proliferation 3.0! We hope you all enjoy this round of Power Set Proliferation. If the power set you wanted proliferated didn’t make it this round, never fear there’s always next time. There’s still plenty of power set goodness to be proliferated and we look forward when we bring those to you.
Phil “Synapse” Zeleski
Senior Game Designer
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