Issue 27 Page 6

See also: Issue 27

April 25th, 2023

General

Marquee Features

• New Mission Content: John Houston & Dr. Stribbling - Two brand new story arcs!
• New Power Set! Storm Blast! ⛈️

Powers & Gameplay Adjustments

• Redraw Revamp - All Weapon Power Sets

Various Adjustments, Improvements & Fixes

• Aether Rewards - Wave 3
• Base Item & Costume Part additions!
• ...and much more!

Marquee Features

New Mission Content: John Houston

• Fixed an issue that was causing a clue to be rewarded from Zephyr prematurely.
• Fixed an issue that was causing certain enemies to con hostile to Zephyr unintentionally.

New Story Arc: <Noble Intentions> [John Houston] - Rogue, Levels 40-44

John Houston, WSPDR's new star reporter, is following a lead that has taken him all the way to Independence Port where he was supposed to meet up with a source to get hold of some juicy information. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, his source was kidnapped and now he is in desperate need of some morally dubious help.

Players will get a chance to influence the politics of Paragon City for years to come while checking in on old friends, and making powerful enemies. It's all in a day's work for the free-wheeling entrepreneurial type.

• Story Arc Contact: John Houston, Independence Port
  • Located near the Smuggler's Ship icon on the map in Independence Port.
    • /thumbtack -872.5 0.3 -3852.8 will place a map waypoint near John Houston while in Independence Port.
  • The leader of the team must be of the Rogue alignment to take on these missions.

New Mission Content: Dr. Stribbling

New Story Arc: <Troubled Times> [Dr. Stribbling] - Vigilante, Levels 30-34

Those who toe the line of legality in Paragon City will have the chance to answer the call of Dr. Stribbling, a multidisciplinary scientist better known for his theory than his results. He's run into a bit of a problem: Someone broke into his lab and he does not want information on his experiments to leak to the public.

Players who are willing to get their hands a little dirty will find themselves drawn into a web of moral quandaries that will have them wondering, "Did I make the right call?"

• Story Arc Contact: Dr. Stribbling, Brickstown
  • Located NW of the basketball courts in the Crescent neighborhood of Brickstown.
    • /thumbtack -1143.7 16.0 -1623.5 will place a map waypoint near Dr. Stribbling while in Brickstown.
  • The leader of the team must be of the Vigilante alignment to take on these missions.

New Power Set - Storm Blast

New primary for Blasters, Corruptors, and Sentinels. New secondary for Defenders. Storm Blast conjures violent weather to attack your foes. The use of your storm attacks will empower your created storm cells.

Powers

• Gust Ranged, DMG(Smash), Foe -Fly
  • You create a chaotic change in atmospheric pressure, causing a sudden gust of wind to deliver a small amount of Smashing damage and knock foes out of the sky.
  • While in a Storm Cell, targets experience additional Smashing damage over time.
• Hailstones Ranged, DMG(Cold), Chance for KD
  • You cause the air around the foe to rapidly condense, causing hailstones to crash down, dealing Cold damage. There is a chance that an especially large chunk of hail will form, knocking the target down.
  • While in a Storm Cell, targets are much more likely to get knocked down by large chunks of hail.
• Jet Stream Ranged Cone, DMG(Smashing), Foe Repel or Knockdown
  • You call forth a cone of rapidly moving air that repels enemies, causing Smashing damage.
  • Enemies who are within a Storm Cell will not be repelled, but instead will be knocked down.
• Storm Cell Ranged Location AoE, Foe -Recharge, -SPD, Special
  • You conjure a storm in the area that defines the boundaries of your stormy powers. Rain from this power will slightly lower a foe's movement and chance to hit. The use of your Storm Blast attacks may create high winds and lightning within the storm cell, delivering stronger debuffs and causing damage. Additionally, Storm Blast attacks will be enhanced when used against foes victimized by Storm Cell.
• Intensify Self +To Hit, +DMG, +Special
  • Greatly increases the chance to hit of your attacks for a few seconds. Slightly increases damage and your storm strength.
• Direct Strike (non-Sentinel) Sniper, DMG(Energy), Foe -End, Special
  • You channel your storm powers into a direct hit, jolting the enemy with a bolt of lightning that deals Energy damage and saps some endurance. If fired outside of combat, it can be interrupted by enemies, but will do bonus damage. If you are engaged in battle, this attack becomes instant-cast.
  • While in a Storm Cell, targets have a chance to be stunned.
  • Lightning Strike (Sentinel only), Ranged, DMG(Energy), Foe -End, Special
    • You channel your storm powers into a lightning strike, jolting the enemy with Energy damage and sapping some endurance.
    • While in a Storm Cell, the target has a chance to be stunned.
• Chain Lightning Ranged Chain, DMG(Energy), Foe -End
  • Calls a bolt of lightning from the clouds to strike your target, which then chains outward to additional enemies. Creatures unfortunate enough to be struck will be dealt Energy damage and be sapped of some endurance.
  • While in a Storm Cell, the main target of Chain Lightning will experience additional endurance drain over time.
• Cloudburst Ranged, DoT(Cold), Special
  • Unleashes a cloud that drops a torrent of freezing rain on your target, causing Cold damage.
  • While in a Storm Cell, targets experience Recharge, ToHit, and Movement Speed debuffs.
• Category Five Ranged (Location AoE), DoT(Energy) Foe Knock
  • Summons a severe storm that begins light, but that grows in power until it becomes a raging engine of destruction. Left on its own, the Category Five storm is capable of delivering moderate damage over time, and as it grows in power, will eventually begin to fling foes through the air. In addition, each use of your Storm Blast powers builds its electrical power, rendering it capable of delivering lightning attacks that deal Energy damage.

Redraw Revamp

Summary

• Weapon powers now play a draw animation the first time you use a weapon after your character is has been in an idle / non-combat animation. With typical mission pacing, this should mean each weapon will only play its draw animation the first time you use it in combat on a mission map, unless you idle somewhere on the map for long enough for your character to return to the idle state.

Power Sets Impacted:

• Beam Rifle
• Dual Pistols
• Dual Blades
• Battle Axe
• War Mace
• Broadsword
• Staff Fighting
• Arachnos Soldiers
• Arachnos Widows
• Archery / Trick Arrow / Tactical Arrow
• Claws
• Spines
• Thorny Assault
• Plant Manipulation
• Experimentation > Experimental Injection
• Assault Rifle
• Mastermind Pets

• The /sheathe command has been added - it immediately puts away all weapons. This command forces the draw animation to be played the next time they're used and can be used to intentionally draw weapons for RP or other purposes.

Powers & Gameplay Adjustments

Blast Power Set Updates

Assault Rifle

• Slug
  • Cast time lowered from 1.67s to 1.4s.
• Beanbag
  • Lowered cooldown to 10s.
  • Increased damage to scale 0.98.
  • Added PvP Damage (1.43 scale).
• Sniper Rifle (Quick)
  • Cast time lowered from 1.67s to 1.17s.
• Ignite
  • Incinerator replaced with Ignite for Sentinels
  • Lowered cooldown to 14s.
  • Now does DoT over 5.5 seconds to a single target, for a total of 3.146 scale damage. Partially front-loaded.
  • If target is on the ground, Ignite leaves a fire patch at the target's feet. Other foes standing on the patch take fire damage and will try to flee.
  • Can target flying enemies.
• Flamethrower
  • DoT now is applied over 4.7s, down from 7.1s (same damage).
• Full Auto
  • Arc increased from 20 to 90 degrees.

Dark Blast

• Gloom
  • Cast time reduced from 1.67s to 1.1s. (Blasters only).
• Abyssal Gaze
  • Cooldown lowered from 20s to 11s.
  • Damage increased from scale 0.472 to scale 0.707.
  • Hold Duration reduced from scale 8 to scale 4.4.

Dual Pistols

• Suppressive Fire
  • Cast time reduced from 1.67s to 1.5s.
  • Recharge reduced from 20s to 8s for non-standard ammo.
  • Incendiary: Scale 2 duration Mag 3 hold (stacks). Damage increased to 1.64 scale.
  • Cryo: Scale 4 duration Mag 4 hold (replace). Damage increased to 1.64 scale.
  • Chemical: Scale 8 duration Mag 3 hold (stacks). Damage increased to 0.87 scale.
  • Standard: No change from Live. Still 20s cooldown.
• Piercing Rounds
  • Resistance debuff now is applied while using any round type, stacking changed to replace.
  • Duration of debuff increased to 15s.
  • A ring icon now pops up to indicate the last use of Piercing Rounds was over 13s ago. This QoL change helps optimize reapplications of the debuff on a single target.

Fire Blast (Blaster and Sentinels only)

• Fire Blast
  • Cast time lowered from 1.67s to 1.2s to match Defender/Corruptor version.

Psychic Blast

• Will Domination (Blaster Only)
  • Renamed to Dominate Will.
  • Recharge lowered from 20s to 4s.
  • Cast time lowered from 1.1 seconds to 1 second.
  • Damage lowered from 1.24 scale to 1.0 scale.
  • Sleep duration reduced to scale 8.
  • Moved to T1.
• Will Domination (Defender/Corruptor)
  • Recharge lowered from 14s to 10s (Damage unchanged).
  • Moved from T6 to T5.
• Psionic Lance (Defender/Corruptor)
  • Moved from T3 to T6.
• Psionic Dart (Blaster Only)
  • Renamed to Psionic Darts.
  • This power is now a 10 target cone (60', 30 degrees).
  • Recharge increased to 12s.
  • Damage lowered from 1.0 scale to 0.8321 scale.
  • Moved to T4
• Telekinetic Blast (Defender/Corruptor)
  • Moved from T5 to T3.
• Mental Blast (Defender/Corruptor)
  • Recharged increased from 4s to 6s.
  • Damage increased from scale 1.0 to scale 1.32.
• Subdue (Defender/Corruptor)
  • Cast time reduced from 1.67s to 1s.
  • Recharged lowered from 6s to 4s.
  • Damage reduced from scale 1.32 to scale 1.0.
• Psychic Scream (Defender/Corruptor/Sentinel)
  • Cast time lowered from 2.67s to 1.87s.
• Psionic Tornado (Blaster/Defender/Corruptor)
  • Cast time lowered from 2.37s to 1.83s. (Applies to Sentinels as well)
  • Radius reduced from 20 feet to 15 feet.
  • Damage increased from scale 0.89 to scale 1.1.
• Scramble Thoughts (Blaster/Defender/Corruptor)
  • Renamed to Scramble Minds.
  • Now a chain.
  • Cast time lowered from 3s to 2s.
  • Main target will be stunned, additional targets might get hit with a randomized status effect of either Sleep, Immobilize, Placate, Terrorize, or Hold.
  • Damage increased from 0.25 scale to 1.0 scale.

Seismic Blast

• Timing adjustments in Seismic Stress buildup, players should be able to more quickly notice orange rings and decide what power to use next based on this visual information.

Water Blast

• Powers should build up Tidal Force stacks even if they miss.
• Enhanced Water Jet
  • This power no longer has a lockout window.
• Tidal Forces
  • Tidal Forces should clear all existing stacks of Tidal Power before applying 3 stacks.

Accolades

• Vanguard MDC
  • The Vanguard MDC can no longer be summoned inside of missions or in Pocket D. This is now mentioned in the accolade's power description.

PvP Changes

• Various AoE powers now use Single-Target damage on the main target only.
  • Fighting/Cross Punch
  • Archery/Explosive Arrow
  • Assault Rifle/M30 Grenade
  • Beam Rifle/Piercing Beam (now uses ST damage on all foes)
  • Dark Blast/Tenebrous Tentacles (also, AoE damage was undertuned. Now uses proper AoE damage scale for secondary targets)
  • Dual Pistols/Bullet Rain
  • Energy Blast/Explosive Blast (also, AoE damage was undertuned. Now uses proper AoE damage scale for secondary targets)
  • Fire Blast/Fire Breath
  • Ice Blast/Frost Breath
  • Psychic Blast/Scramble Minds
  • Radiation Blast/Electron Haze (also, AoE damage was undertuned. Now uses proper AoE damage scale for secondary targets)
  • Seismic Blast/Upthrust
  • Sonic Attack/Howl
  • Storm Blast/Chain Lightning
  • Water Blast/Steam Spray (also, AoE damage was overtuned. Now uses proper AoE damage scale for secondary targets)

Power Bug Fixes

• Mace Mastery/Summon Tarantula (Controller/Dominator): Added ability to slot Slow Sets.
• Soul Mastery/Summon Widow (Brute/Tanker): Can no longer slot ToHit Debuff Sets.
• Symphony Control/Impassioned Serenade: Removed Line-of-Sight (LoS) check on the executed confuse power. The power already checked LoS on cast, the double check caused loss of the effect if player or target moved outside of LoS during the delay in execution.
• Brute/Radiation Melee/Taunt: Now hits 5 targets (was set to 10 before).
• Scrapper/Fiery Melee/Confront: Scale duration on Taunt effect corrected.
• Sentinels/Inherent/Vulnerability: Updated description to state the effects of Vulnerability to not stack with other Sentinels.
• Hero Epic AT/Inherent/Dark Sustenance and Cosmic Balance: Updated description to include Sentinel's contribution.
• Stone Armor/Brimstone Armor/Brimstone Proc: Fixed bug where the damage proc would not turn off when in Granite Armor.
• Experimentation/Corrosive Vial: Fixed defense debuff effect applied from pseudopet. Duration now set to 5s.
• Pools > Speed > Speed Phase: Speed Phase's continuing sound fx radius has been reduced from 80ft to 5ft and will fade away 5s later.
• Traps > Acid Mortar: Mortar base will now follow the mortar in the event the mortar moves (e.g. exiting a mission door while it is still active, teleport and GM commands to move entities)
• Radiation Armor > Radiation Therapy: Fixed "Bright" palette erroneously using "Dark" palette
• Atomic Manipulation > Positron Cell: Fixed "Dark" palette erroneously using "Bright" palette
• Radiation Melee > Atom Smasher: Fixed "Dark" palette erroneously using "Bright" palette
• Radiation Melee > Irradiated Ground Pet: Fixed "Dark" palette erroneously using "Bright" palette
• Radiation Melee > Radiation Siphon: Fixed "Bright" palette erroneously using "Dark" palette

Character Customization Improvements

Costumes

New Costume Parts

All:

• All Categories > Metallic 3 (cleaner version of Metallic 2)
• Half & Full Helmet Detail(s) > Bot Shield 2 (Glow version)
• Half & Full Helmet Detail(s) > Bunker Shield 2 (Glow version)
• Half & Full Helmet Detail(s) > Tek Shield 2 (Glow version)
• Detail(s) > Blast Goggles 2 (Glow version)
• Detail 1 > 3-D Glasses (Standard, Low, High)
• Detail 1 > Sporty 1 (Transparent: Standard, Low, High)
• Detail 1 > Sporty 1S (Solid: Standard, Low, High)
• Detail 1 > Sporty 2 (Transparent: Standard, Low, High)
• Detail 1 > Sporty 2S (Solid: Standard, Low, High)
• Detail 1 > Shield 1 (Transparent: Standard, Low, High)
• Detail 1 > Shield 1S (Solid: Standard, Low, High)
• Auras > Mycelium > Mushrooms
• Auras > Mycelium > Mushrooms Tintable
• Auras > Mycelium > Original Min Fx
• Auras > Mycelium > Tintable Min Fx
• Auras > Mycelium > Mushrooms - Combat
• Auras > Mycelium > Mushrooms Tintable - Combat
• Auras > Mycelium > Original Min Fx - Combat
• Auras > Mycelium > Tintable Min Fx - Combat
• Patterns > Chest, Gloves, Hips, Boots > Diamond Cut (by @Marbing)
• VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Gloves > Custom Alt"
• VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Gloves > Custom Long Alt"
• VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Gloves > Custom Short Alt"
• VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Pants > Custom Alt"
• VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Boots > Custom Alt"

Male, Huge:

• VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Pants > Custom Armored Alt" (Females will receive these at a later date)

Female, Huge:

• All Categories > Metallic 2 (Female & Huge were missing them)

Female, Male:

• VEAT: "Bane/Crab > Chest > Custom Alt" (Huge does not have the tricep spikes that utilize the swapped secondary color.)

Female:

• Detail 1 > Sweetheart 1 (Transparent: Standard, Low, High)
• Detail 1 > Sweetheart 1S (Solid: Standard, Low, High)

Costume Bug Fixes

All:

• Fixed "Asymmetric Shoulder Pads > Ascension Armor" 2 missing FX options.
• Fixed "Full Helmets > Detail 2 > Tech Knight Faceplate" receiving incorrect ambient lighting.
• Fixed "Lower Body > Boots > Piston" option not loading from saved .costume files.
• Fixed "Lower Body > Boots > Rocket" option not loading from saved .costume files.
• Fixed "Lower Body > Boots > Winged" option not loading from saved .costume files.
• Fixed "Auras > Wealthy > Effect > Trail" aura not loading from saved .costume files.
• Fixed "Auras > Wealthy > Effect > Trail" aura duplicate of "Body". It should now load properly and only leave behind a trail when moving.

Male:

• Fixed "Male > Sleeveless Jackets > Chest > Tanker" missing costume option.
• Fixed "Male > Lower Body > Boots > Victorian Steampunk" missing tint option.

Female:

• Fixed "Female > Boots > Stilettos >" resetting to "Roman Sandal" upon entering "Lower Body" after loading a costume with Bio-Organic, Stone or Chiton patterns and masks.
• Fixed "Female > Lower Body > Bottom > Omega" being reset after loading a costume file.
• Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Shirts > Student Shirt" bad tangent vectors across the front.
• Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Robotic Arm" compatibility with chest details when chest slider is set to max.
• Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Chest Details > Talons" missing costume part names and categories (now known as Etched and Clean).
• Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Sleeves > Retro" hole with no skin.
• Alpha sorting re-enabled on "Female > Gunslinger Bow". *Report any obvious flickering and background windowing when out in the world, particularly when NPCs are obscured by the veil or bow's transparent layers.
• QC Fix: Updated compression quality on base female skin.
• Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Gloves > Tights Sleek" missing from some asymmetric categories.
• Fixed "Female > Upper Body > Gloves > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file.
• Fixed "Female > Lower Body > Bottoms > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file.
• Fixed "Female > Lower Body > Boots > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file.

Huge:

• Fixed "Huge > Shoulders > Overguard" appearing twice with bulky tops.
• Fixed "Huge > Upper Body > Chest > Omega" being reset after loading a costume file.
• Fixed "Huge > Lower Body > Bottom > Omega" being reset after loading a costume file.
• Fixed "Huge > Lower Body > Boots > Victorian Steampunk" missing tint option.
• Fixed "Huge > Upper Body > Gloves > Tights Sleek" missing from some asymmetric categories.
• Fixed "Huge > Upper Body > Gloves > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file.
• Fixed "Huge > Lower Body > Bottoms > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file.
• Fixed "Huge > Lower Body > Boots > Defense" being reset after loading a costume file.

These changes were supposed to be released previously but mistakenly were not at the time on 2020-12-03:

• Fixed Huge : "Kitten" & "Panda" left/right alignment in Legacy & Asymmetry mode.
• Fixed Huge : "Celestial Armor" left shoulder pad in Legacy & Asymmetry mode.
• Fixed Huge : "Cyborg Shield" left shoulder pad in Asymmetry mode.

Custom Weapons

New Custom Weapons

Arachnos Mace:

• 'Scepter of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection. Mace's eye glow FX are tintable.

Broadsword:

• 'Fang of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection.

Dual Blades:

• 'Fang of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection.

Staff Fighting:

• 'Staff of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection. Staff's eye glow FX are tintable.

War Mace:

• 'Scepter of Stheno' option added to custom weapon selection. Mace's eye glow FX are tintable.

Custom Weapons Fixes

Arachnos / Assault / Munitions Rifles:

• Fixed an issue that was causing the DUST, Resistance, and Runesoldier rifles to render upside down.

Bows:

• Fixed an issue with legacy bow model's bowstrings that was causing them to not take transparency properly with certain attacks.

Dual Blades:

• Fixed an issue that was causing the left-handed Vanguard Katana to render backwards on Female/Huge characters when sheathing was enabled.

Katana / Ninja Blade:

• Fixed "Katana > Custom Weapon > Rularuu Blade" left eyeball not animating in combat stance.

Various Additions, Enhancements, & Fixes

Badges

New Badges

• - 'Unforgettable': Log-in during the month of City of Heroes' 19th anniversary.
• - 'Pollster': Complete the Hero-alignment ending of the John Houston story arc, 'Noble Intentions'.
• - 'Underdog': Complete the Rogue-alignment ending of the John Houston story arc, 'Noble Intentions'.
• - 'Loop Hero': Reach and complete the conclusion of the Dr. Stribbling story arc, 'Troubled Times'.

Aether Rewards - Wave 3

Tier 3 Reward Additions

• New cosmetic effects added to the Tier 3 Aether reward vendor offerings:
  • Effect: Flames
  • Effect: Chill
  • Effect: Earthen
  • Effect: Shocking
  • Effect: Psionic
  • Effect: Photosynthesis
• These new Wave 3 Tier 3 cosmetic effects cannot be used in PvP, older Tier 3 rewards are unchanged.

Tier 4 Reward Expansion

• Undefined Mode and Undefined Mini Mode now have two additional customization options available:
  • Undefined Silver
  • Undefined Evil

Aether Reward Fixes

• Fixed missing halo aura on Legacy Ruin Mage costume.
• Fixed a few broken pointers in the meta costume accolade menu.

Supergroup Bases

New Supergroup Base Themes

• Open Sky (Passthrough)

New Supergroup Base Items

• Editor Helpers:
  • Collision Wall 8x8
  • Collision Wall 32x32
  • Collision Wall 64x64
  • Collision Wall 16x16
  • Collision Wall 128x128
  • Collision Wall 512x512
  • Collision Wall 1024x1024
  • Axis Gizmo
  • Axis Gizmo (Z Up)
  • Surface Aligner
  • Axis Aligner
  • Surface Tower
  • Surface Tile 32x32
  • Surface Tile 64x64
  • Surface Tile 128x128
  • Surface Tile 512x512
  • Surface Tower (Collision)
  • Surface Tile 32x32 (Collision)
  • Surface Tile 64x64 (Collision)
  • Surface Tile 128x128 (Collision)
  • Surface Tile 512x512 (Collision)
  • Fit Gizmo
  • Collision Gizmo
  • Smooth Water Fill
  • Smooth Water Fill (No Sound)
  • Rough Water Fill
  • Rough Water Fill (No Sound)
• Alphabet:
  • Paragon City Alphabet (Tiny, Small, Medium versions of 68 standard US keyboard characters. No lowercase.)
  • Motiva Sans Bold Alphabet (Tiny, Small, Medium versions of 94 standard US keyboard characters.)
• Bath & Kitchen:
  • Coffee Mug (Arachnos)
  • Coffee Mug (Paragon)
  • Coffee Mug (Winter)
  • Coffee Mug (Winter Filled)
  • Coffee Mug (Tintable)
  • Coffee Mug (SG Logo 1)
  • Coffee Mug (SG Logo 2)
  • Mug Shelf 1
  • Mug Shelf 2
  • Mug Shelf 3
  • Gigantic Sign
  • Restroom Sign
  • Universal Sign
• Casino:
  • Cue Ball
• Lighting:
  • White Bunker Light
• Slums & Wastes:
  • Junk Burnt Mattress 2
• Tech:
  • Praetorian WarWorks (Tintable)
• Wall Details:
  • Tech Console 1
  • Arcane Console 1
• Skies:
  • Sky: Dimensional Ripple

Supergroup Base Item Notes

• Collision walls: Construction of a perfect cube corner or seam will still allow a determined player's camera to slip through (as it can and does anywhere else in the game). While this follows teleport rules (teleport check will work as intended), glitches and updates to teleport that may break this behavior are always a possibility and you should never rely on these to protect your base items (that's what item permissions are for) or to prevent determined individuals from viewing behind the "curtain" of your base. They are merely to deter visitors from traveling to off limit areas, such as outside the plot of a vertical building or behind a bank vault desk.

Supergroup Base Item Bug Fixes

• Fixed incorrect texture on "Short Ceiling Walls" > Industrial" for Supergroup Base themes
• Fixed FX sticking on "Praetorian Reactor 3"
• "Rock 7 (Tintable)" is now actually tintable.
• Iron Gate Frame: Should now be more easily selectable.
• Roman Sailboat: Should no longer leave behind its FX after moving or deleting the object.
• Wet Floor Sign: Small and large should now be level with the floor.
• Renamed "5th Door Bulb" to "Red Bunker Light"
• QoL: The click volume of inspiration containers was lowered by -2 feet, making it clickable through the floor when turned upside down.
• "Glass Wall (Tintable)" has had its alpha sorting adjusted once again. *Report any major breakage in existing bases as its use is widespread. As a reminder, alpha sorting between objects is always a compromise.
• Corrected texture settings for 289 SG emblems. The windowing effect of the alpha should be fixed across those that had the issues, such as "Guns Crossed" or "Bar Code".
• Fixed a number of typos in item names and descriptions.

Emotes

New Emotes

• Added /e watermelon emote.
• Added /e arachnosmug emote.
• Added /e paragonmug emote.
• Added /e wintermug emote.

Emote Bug Fixes

• /e drink: Females should no longer slide their legs across the ground when sipping.
• /e hamburger: Flying while eating hamburgers will now properly cycle instead of constantly chowing down.

Tasks

Task Adjustments & Fixes

Doc Buzzsaw - "The Freakish Lab of Dr. Vahzilok":

• Arc split into two parts:
  • Arc 1 - Up to Lab
  • Arc 2 - Post-Lab to Prison
• Stasis Tubes behave properly, not trapping subjects within.
• Dr. Vahzilok's desk protected from bees and other mean things in the lab.
• Souvenirs split across arcs as well.

Dr. Aeon - "Dr. Aeon's Strike Force":

• Adjustments to prevent some reported exploits.
• Adjusted the Cap Au Diable Aeon Portal's dimensional crystal to be pulsing blue.
• Mission 5
  • The Vanguard leadership now require Apex to be defeated in order to spawn.
  • Added waypoints on the minimap for the third ripple in Mission 5 to help the Portal Corp section be more navigable.
• Mission 7
  • The Gold Bricker blockade lines for the first objective now scale with team size on default difficulty, instead of always spawning at maximum size.
  • Adjusted the D-Rifter's dimensional crystal to be pulsing blue.

Imperious - Advanced Difficulty: "Imperious Task Force":

• Mission 4
  • Fixed Chamber of the Emperor name pop-up and music not triggering properly when entering the finale room.

Ms. Liberty - "Ms. Liberty's Task Force":

• Mission 1
  • Arbiter Sands now drinks his cutscene coffee from an Arachnos mug instead of a generic white cup.

Leonard - "Good Villains Never Die":

• Rampager has been restored to his rampagey nature and once again cons hostile. He can't help himself!

Mayhem Missions:

• Arson completes in Mayhem Missions now give everyone in the group badge credit upon completion.

Spring Fling 2006 Event:

• Scratch/Ganymede: These two contacts will no longer introduce any other contacts, including DJ Zero, who is now unlocked automatically by earning the required Handsome/Beautiful badge from completing the final mission of both contacts.
• DJ Zero: If a player owns the Handsome/Beautiful badge for completing both Scratch & Ganymede's final missions, DJ Zero will now automatically be unlocked and added to the player's contact bar with a pop-up, no longer requiring an introduction from anybody else, and no longer potentially locking players out who qualified but didn't talk to Scratch or Ganymede before the Spring Fling event ended.

LFG / Weekly Strike Target:

• The tool-tip info for the Weekly Strike Target in the LFG tab now mentions the Prismatic Aether currency reward for 50's who complete the Weekly Strike Target, as well as the amount being 1-2 depending on the length of the content you chose and completed for that week.
• Adjusted LFG tab's summary to proper mention that Dr. Quarterfield is now 40-45 instead of 40-44.

NPC Enemies & Factions

Enemy Adjustments

Cimeroran Traitors:

• Added a couple spoken dialog lines to some attacks used by Romulus in the Advanced Difficulty Imperious Task Force:
  • Nictus Romulus Augustus' Barrier Nova Summon
  • Nictus Romulus Augustus' Shadow Slip
  • Nictus Romulus Augustus' Void Judgement
  • Emperor Romulus Augustus' Greater Lore Summon

Freedom Phalanx:

• Manticore has been given a quiver and now holsters his bow on his back when not in-use.

Gold Brickers:

• Added a couple spoken dialog lines to some attacks used by Gold Brickers:
  • Golden Brickernaut's Self Destruction
  • Princess Zoe's Burning Shatter
  • Princess Zoe's Absolute-Zero Cannon

The Family:

• Fixed an incorrect weapon bit that was causing certain Tommy Gun attacks to not display the weapon model.

Freaklok:

• Adjusted the boss-class Eidolons to not have an eternal menu of powers to choose from:
  • Females have Luminous powers, not Mire and Murk
  • Males have Murk powers, not Mire or Luminous.

Praetorians:

• Chimera has been given a quiver and now holsters his bow on this back when not in-use.
• Chimera now uses a Ninja Blade which is more appropriate thematically, which sheathes to his back when not in-use.

Tsoo:

• Re-enabled some disabled units for the 35-54 range.
• Fixed weapon bit issue that was causing Ninja Blades to not display on a number of Tsoo enemies.

Vanguard:

• Added a couple spoken dialog lines to some attacks used by Vanguard heroes:
  • Incandescent's Lambent Flame
  • Hero 1's Cry of Despair
  • Hero 1's Rune of Protection

Enemy Fixes

• Certain enemy AnimList behaviors that utilized custom rifles have been fixed those set custom rifles should now display during the animations when set with those specific AnimList behaviors.

Arachnos:

• Fixed a definition typo that was preventing certain non-combat models from appearing in specific Arachnos spawndefs.

Cimeroran Traitors:

• Fixed a bug that was causing the Emperor Romulus Augustus' Crushing Gravity -Fly to apply to himself rather than his opponents in the finale room on Advanced Difficulty.

The Destroyers:

• Fixed an issue that was causing Crusher enemies' Overhead Slam attacks to not render their bat weapon.

Fir Bolg:

• The infinitely summoned enemies created by Eochai (both Croatoa and Halloween versions) no longer drop rewards, matching the standard for all infinitely summoned enemies.

Gold Brickers:

• Removed unintentionally duplicated hold proc on the Bombardier's Ripple Resonator power.
• Fixed an attribute error that was causing King Midas's damage siphoning Ripple Kinetic Melee attacks to not trigger and calculate properly. Players should now notice him properly stealing 7.5% +DMG buff on himself per hit he lands and inflicting a 7.5% -DMG debuff on the hit players for 10 seconds.

Longbow:

• Longbow enemies who were using the base Assault Rifle model should no longer see their weapon go missing during combat.

Praetorians:

• Shadow Hunter has been talked out of committing seppuku due to his dishonor at failing Tyrant and he now handles his weapon properly again, sheathing it to his back when not in-use instead of inside of his ribcage.
• Fixed an issue that would cause Chimera's sword to not render if he drew his bow too recently.
• Fixed a texture error on the legacy Chimera enemies' back katanas.

Praetorian Resistance:

• Fixed an issue that was causing the Heavy Barrel enemies to not animate their cannon attacks properly.

Tuatha de Dannan:

• Fixed a typo with the enemy group's name incorrectly displaying as 'Tuatha de Dannon' in various instances.

Vanguard:

• Fixed a scaling issue with Hero 1's class that was causing his Rune of Protection to grant more resistance than was intended.

Zones

Zone Adjustments

Croatoa:

• All enemy mobs who spawn with the GMs Eochai and Jack In Irons (normal spawns and Vale War), are now set to ignore combat mods, making them level-less and easier to identify which mobs must be defeated to progress or clear these events.
• Eochai and Jack In Iron's solo spawn events now have a Zone Event message that will broadcast when they spawn by themselves.

Striga Island:

• Vigilantes & Rogues are now able to access the Striga Isle hazard zone via the Smuggler's Submarine network.

Zone Fixes

Cimerora:

• Fixed a missing geometry tile on the beach near Castellum Quarter.

Echo Plaza, SE2012 Arena Coliseum:

• Lots of geometry and texture fixes to the Summer Event 2012 coliseum and Echo Plaza coliseum models.

Imperial City:

• Properly found and removed the correct invisible power suppression mooks from the Imperial City Trade House. All alignments should now be able to activate powers while inside the building.

St. Martial:

• Added custom geometry and restored the ghost of "Dead Man's Tree" in St. Martial. (Visuals may change in the future, also still based on /visscale 1.0 for the time being)

Mission Maps:

• Spawnpoint issue fixed with map P_Tech_45_Layout_07_01 which was causing a Praetorian mission from Warrant's "Guns and Money" story arc to not be able to spawn all objectives and become soft-locked.

World Geometry:

• Corrected positions of all ceiling mounted exit signs.
• QC Fix on vet_techconsole_01
• QC Fix on arcconsole_01
• QC Fix on _P_CBlock_IMP_L_07_LOD (Missing Neutropolis and Imperial City LOD)
• QC Fix on _OT_shotgun_roof_01_LOD01 (Missing Neutropolis LOD)
• QC Fix on GEO_Hair_Mimee_01 (zero tangent/normals)

Miscellaneous

Candy Cane Vendor:

• Fixed a display issue that was causing the Snow Beast costume in the Candy Cane vendor's shop to show the Fir Bolg costume text.

Graphics:

• Added a hint for AMD & NVIDIA drivers to prefer the high-performance GPU on systems that have multiple GPUs.

Architect Entertainment:

• Fixed an issue where cosmic background radiation flux could disrupt the appearance of Architect Contact Holograms.

Sound System:

• Added /loudstacking slash command to optionally enable old eardrum-busting sound stacking.

May 2nd, 2023

Powers

• Fixed Water Jet (quick) to use PvP Damage Modifier tables in PvP.
• Updated Full Auto's power description to accurately reflect the Page 6 changes.
• Fixed Flamethrower's endurance cost being too high.
• Fixed MISS floaters and combat log spam being incorrectly delayed on some toggle powers.

Costumes

• Fixed "Auras > Wealthy > Trail - Combat" fx not displaying during combat.
• Fixed some NPC weapons disappearing after being drawn.
• Fixed VEATS > Huge > Bane Spider missing left leg.
• Fixed female sheathed Impervium Ninja Blade impaling the wielder through the chest.
• Fixed Scepter of Stheno subsequently sticking for a sustained span when un-sheathed.

Supergroup Bases

• Added resized click volume for Supergroup inspiration containers instead of just lowering the originals.
• Fixed Dimensional Ripple Sky for bases which were using the wrong textures.
• Tweaked the lighting blend mode of the new SG letters to match the old letters. This change is only applicable to outdoor lighting.

System

• Some client messages now go to a client.log file in addition to the debug console to aid in troubleshooting.

May 16th, 2023

Critters

• The Council Supersoldier has broadened the utility of his rage and may throw heavy objects at flying supers.
• The Council Supersoldier and Little League have had their power toolkit updated to work FOR them instead of against them.
• Little League also has unlocked his Line Drive, a ranged baseball throw for pesky flying supers.
• Vulcannon has had slight adjustments to her power toolkit.
• Warrior Quantums extend their ranks to 54.
• Tsoo have a minor cadre of goons added to the 35-44 range.

Story Arcs

• John Houston
  • Slight dialog adjustments to the Brigadier General in Mission 2.
  • A missing waypoint to talk to Old Toby has been added after you free him.
  • Protestors scatter when engaging Hero Corps during the riots.
  • The City Representative has lost her Contact Ring.
  • The City Representative laments when Hero Corps fails to protect her.
  • Warriors during the hostage cutscene with Alexander should not automatically aggro during the cinematic.
  • Some missing Tsoo and Warrior spawns have been corrected in the riots.
• Dr. Stribbling
  • Fixed alignment rewards not looking for the Mission Complete to award.
  • Fixed some dialog tree issues.

Badges

• Fixed the placement of River Rat badge visit locations that were too high.

Powers & Enhancements

• Fix issue with Exploit Weakness Damage/Range not being accepted by the auction house.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed an error in Pavel Garnier's name.
• Minor geometry fix to improve lighting on base helper water.
• Fixed a geometry hole in Praetorian Tunnels.

May 23rd, 2023

Story Arcs

• John Houston - Mission 4b, Riots in Talos: Alexander Pavlidis' guards are no longer friendly and passive, and can be defeated to complete the objective of freeing Alexander. Mission completion now only requires a player to reach the exit, and no longer requires Alexander to reach the exit.

Powers

• Corrected damage type of Hero Corps Little League's Line Drive power.

Zones

• Updates to pedestrian pathing in Port Oakes and Founders Falls.

June 7th, 2023

Miscellaneous

• Fixed an ancient and longstanding bug in the render code that's been around since retail and could cause random memory corruption under very specific circumstances.
• Removed some extra debugging code that was inserted to locate the root cause of and finally resolve the previous issue.

Diagnostic

• The diagnostic client no longer shows the debug console by default. It can still be enabled using the launcher option if desired.

August 15th, 2023

Miscellaneous

Vanity Pets

• Fixed an issue that was causing Luna in Ouroboros to not properly offer the Mini Tyrant vanity pet for the Going Rogue anniversary month of August.

January 19th, 2024

System

• Fixed a crash that could occur early in client startup during graphics initialization. This crash could be triggered by having one or more pieces of third-party software installed that adds virtual display adapters, such as Spacedesk, Parsec, Meta/Oculus PCVR software, etc., and was more likely with a combination of them installed.

External Links

• Issue 27, Page 6
• May 2nd, 2023
• May 16th, 2023
• May 23rd, 2023
• June 7th, 2023
• August 15th, 2023
• January 19th, 2024