Post the latest and greatest news concerning the "City of Heroes". Be sure to reference where you got the information, too!

Rob

The latest and greatest going on in the Test Server (cut-n-pasted from the CoH Official Forums).

__________________________________________________ _________________________

Now Testing in the Training Room - 7/28/05

Powers

Corrected Hold length on Defender/Liquefy. It was 4 times longer than the Controller version.

Increased Recharge rate of Disruption Arrow to 120 for Defender and Controller.

Added the ability to add Accuracy Enhancements to Flash Arrow.

Reduced Duration of Glue Arrow from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.

Increased Recharge time of Glue Arrow to 120 seconds from 20 seconds. (Dev note: balancing)

Reduced base Accuracy of Ice Arrow. It was 120% of normal and should not have been.

Reduced Duration of Poison Gas Arrow's debuff to 20 seconds, and the duration of the cloud to 20 seconds.

Devouring Earth Herders should summon fewer Swarms now.

Fixed Long help description on Poison Gas Arrow to match new functionality.

Reduced damage on Sonic Attack/Shriek to match its recharge time. Reduced End cost to match new damage.

Reduced damage on Sonic Attack/Scream to match its recharge time. It was slightly too high.

Reduced damage on Sonic Attack/Howl to match its recharge time. Reduced End cost to match new damage.

Slightly increased the Recharge time on Sonic Attack/Shout. Reduced End cost slightly.

Changed Voltaic Sentinal so that only one can be out at a time.

Reduced duration of Ancillary/Darkness Mastery/Petrifying Gaze to match changes made to the Defender version.

Reduced Accuracy of Minion level Turrets from 75% to 58%.
Reduced Accuracy of Lieutenant level Turrets from 94% to 65%.
Reduced Accuracy of Boss level Turrets from 113% to 75%.
Reduced Accuracy of Snipers from 75% to 65%.
Reduced Accuracy of Archvillains from 90% to 75%.
Reduced Accuracy of Giant Monsters from 90% to 75%.
Reduced Accuracy of Monument Minions from 75% to 58%.
Reduced Accuracy of Rularuu Bosses from 90% to 75%.

Added Psionic Defnse to Force Field/Dispersion Bubble.

Fix Pool/Stealth and Blaster/Devices/Cloaking Device so only SOME of the Defense bonus is supressed if you attack.

Reduced the Duration of the Fire Damage Boost for Fiery Embrace (it is now 20 seconds. Boost to other damage types is still 10 seconds).

Increased the recharge time of Burn. Decreased its damage.

Fixed Gravity Control/Propel. It was not doing double damage to a controller target.

Fixed Fire Imps - 3rd imp wasn't always summoning.

Fix for Controller criticals with pool powers.

Slight increase to Invulnerability/unyeilding damage resistance (Fire, Cold, Energy, Negative Energy). Reduced Defense debuff.

Slightly Increased Duration of most Controller AoE Holds, Disorients and Sleeps by about 20%.

Slightly decreased duration of Disorient from Gravity Controllers/Wormhole, but added a chance to Disorient Bosses to be consistent with similar powers (Disorient duration for Wormhole is still higher than other Controller AoE Disorient powers).

Significantly increased duration of Controller high level pets. They are effectively permanent until you zone, log out or are defeated.

Swapped availability of Ice arrow and flash arrow.

Removed Recharge debuff from Net arrow.

Increased recharge and decreased duration of Ice Arrow. Reduced Slow debuff.

Removed Recharge debuff from Poison Gas Arrow. Reduced its duration and reduced the chance to sleep.

Reduced Damage Resistance debuff of Acid Arrow and Disruption arrow.
Fixed some short and long help errors.

Increased Recharge of Liquefy. Reduced Damage and magnitude of its Hold. Reduced it Chance to Knockdown. Reduced its lifetime.

Fixed Poison Gas Arrow and Glue arrow visual f/x.

with the new changes, i found that earthquake (presumably ice slick as well), needed 4 SO recharge enhancements and perma hasten in order to keep it on screen continuously.

They definitely lowered damage on the Sonic set (blaster)...i figured it would happen (it needed to), but it was fun while it lasted

Quote: Originally Posted by droeblek9 They definitely lowered damage on the Sonic set (blaster)...i figured it would happen (it needed to), but it was fun while it lasted

I figured that they would. I have a Sonic Blaster on the test server named....(hehe)....My Ex-Fiance (get it....aw shucks, go read the power list for Sonic Blasters then you'll understand). Probably the most powerful blaster that I've ever seen.

They do need to slightly increase the dmg on the Defender's archery set, though. Pretty week, in my own opinion, for the options they have.

Rob

EDIT:

Forgot to mention...the official CoH website now has a fan web site kit available for download. I've looked through it and it's got some pretty great art. Check it out if you've got the time.

LINK

Shamelessly ripped off of a post that Rob made on PR:

Wait until you read about this nerf, CoH'ers.....

Posted by CuppaJo on the CoH forums (CuppaJo is a GM for CoH)

Quote:

We have a problem with the new patch that just went live. If you were a member of a Task Force before the patch went live this morning, when you log in post-patch you are exemplard down to level ZERO until you exit the Task Force. We are looking for an automated way to fix this.

http://forums.pimprig.com/showthread...740#post409740 (post #14)

I'll edit and add to this post as anything else crops up.

FREAKING W00T!!!!!!!
The Devs have buffed endurance costs for some/many powers in i5 and will be doing so again after the patch goes live!

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...=&sb=5&o=&vc=1
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...=&sb=5&o=&vc=1

i've read that some Empathy powers have had the END cost reduced by as much as 25%
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...v=#Post3481762 (third post).

Hot d4mn, i'm now officially stoked

i5 is available for download. does this mean the release of it is imminent? it starts to download after you quit the game.

Still no official release date. It's sounds as if the work on the powers/patch is about finished on the test server, so i think we can expect i5 sooner than later. Rob found some threads on CoH forums about the downloads that we're getting, and told me that they are in preparation for the patch - maps, etc. (i still can't find the dogone threads so i can't link to anything).

I tried to find the thread that talked about it over on the CoH forums, but with no luck.

From what I heard, you are actually just downloading the new maps, numbers, equations, etc. for the new patch, which will significantly decrease the time spent for when I5 goes live and you actually download the coding that enables the new maps, numbers...etc., blah, blah, blah.

No worries about that download as nothing will change while you play. It's only meant to decrease the downloading time of the new patch (which is why you are downloading it after you log off).

Rob

P.S.

Picked up Issue #4 of the CoH comic and let me tell you, it's freakin' great! Tons of comedy and character development in this one.

Rob, i hate to break this to you, but : "Pool/Phase Shift: Although still a Toggle power, Phase Shift will desctivate if you leave it on for more than 30 seconds. Increased its Recharge Time."

On a brighter note, the leadership pool powers got buffed (very nicely, i might add).

Those are a few of the aspects of the patch that took down the test server on friday. Full patch notes here: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#2092861

Now that really bites!

Guess I know where those three slots that I'm freeing up when I get rid of Fire Shield are going....three recharge slots for Phase Shift.

Rob

phase shift only works for 30 seconds now? jeesh . ..

Quote: Originally Posted by Enko phase shift only works for 30 seconds now? jeesh . ..

well, that's part of the newest patch on the test server. Hopefully it'll get buffed a bit before it makes it to the live servers (don't hold your breath, though).

If anyone has PS on a toon that they can take to the test server, it would be really cool to get the skinny on recharge time, etc (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...*cough*Rob*cough*).

EDIT:

found the answer to the PS question:

I just logged on to test and confirmed that the 30 second duration on Phase Shift is PvE. Recharge was 110 seconds at level 37 with 6 level 40 SO's in Hasten.

Grrr...


found here (about half way down the page - posted by Rathstar) - http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...&fpart=17&vc=1

Bump for possible i5 release date:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/644/644567p1.html

At the very end of the article, ign puts the release date for i5 as 8-31-05 (next wednesday). However, i still haven't seen anything from the Devs on the CoH forums, so your guess is as good as mine

Been speaking with one of the more knowledgable GMs and from what I could gather from the conversation...

Sally in Croatoa is a multi-defeat badge. They wouldn't tell me how many times you have to defeat her but it isn't ten times. Apparently most of the GMs have been getting it mixed up with Mary, who you have to defeat 10 times in the Croatoa TF to unlock the 10 Times the Victor accolade (which unlocks the hat, too). I'm thinking that you might have to defeat Sally at least three times, but nothing he/she said would indicate that...just a feeling, that's all.

They are not going to retroactively award badges to the Task Forces (i.e., Moonfire). Too much work, they said. Also, I asked about the badge looking like an exploration badge and vidiotmaps showing a different badge. The GM said he/she would send a bug report for me. Who knows what's going to happen.

The GM also said that the third and the fourth lvl task forces in the Shadow Shard are bugged and are not awarding the badges upon completion. He/she said that it's been reported and it's being worked on. So, don't do the third and fourth level task force yet.

About this time, the GM said they had to split. I ran a "click glowie" mish and couldn't find the last one so I hollared for a GM. Got them to talking but I could tell that they didn't really want to talk about the game.

Anyway, that's what I've found out.

Rob

Haha! Looks like the GM I talked to either knew about the upcoming patch or was just an idiot like the rest of them. Here is a post from the CoH forums DIRECT FROM CUPPAJO HERSELF!!! For those of you who don't know, she's one of the moderators of the official CoH forums.

Quote: Originally Posted by CuppaJo I finally got permission to post this - You have to attack Sally 10 different times currently to get the badge. In a future patch it will be reduced to 2. edit - and you need every Croatoa badge to get the Accolade.

Well, looks like I'm done playing with Ammon-Ra now for a while. Might log on every now and then and if I manage to hit Sally twice, then that's it for camping out there. Oh, and I know where "there" is. I'm only going to reveal that to my fellow SG members ingame...:p

So...there you have it.

Rob

Quote: Now Testing in the Training Room - 9/9/05 Game Improved game stability City Zones Peregrine Island - Added police drones to the area near the Portal Corp entrance

Two of the most important things that should have been patched prior to I5 anyway...

Now Testing in the Training Room - 9/16/05

Powers

Fixed runspeed buff duration of Elude (it was expiring too soon).

Ruladak's Energy Aura is no longer Auto Hit. This is to make Defensive sets more effective against him.

Acrobatics had a bug in which for 1/4 of a second it offered no knockback resistance. This has been corrected.

Changed Summon power of Tuatha Boss so it no longer summons incorrect level pets

Fixed Lt. run speed (they were slower than minions).

Added Damage Resistance Inspirations (Reduces the damage you take from an attack). Drop rate for non-defensive Inspirations has not changed. 50% of defensive Inspirations that drop will be the old Defense (avoid getting hit) Inspirations, and 50% will be the new Damage Resistance Inspiration.

Made several changes to the Force Field powersets for Defenders and Controllers:

Deflection Field now has Defense to Melee attacks, in addition to its old effects.
Insulation Field now has Defense to Ranged attacks, in addition to its old effects
Dispersion Bubble now has Defense to Area of Effect attacks, in addition to its old effects

Dev Note:These changes will not increase the effectiveness of these Force Field Powers. However, they will allow these Force Field powers to more efficiently stack with Melee and Ranged type defense powers like Super Reflexes.

Significantly Reduced the Endurance cost of Force Bubble. Also, added a small chance to knock down foes.

Added new inherent power to Defenders: Vigilance. As a Defenders teammates lose Health, the Defender gains an Endurance Discount.

Fixed Blaster Assault Rifle so their KnockBack effects wont chain in PvP.
Set Blaster/Fire Blast/Inferno Recharge time to 360 seconds so it is consistent with all other last Blaster powers.

Reduced duration of XP Debt protection in Resurrect Powers.

Reduced 'Per Hit' endurance cost on Whirlwind, Repel and Repulsion Field.

Corrected Long Help Description for Propel. It said the Recharge was Long, when it should be Moderate.

Fixed duration of Mind Control/Confuse in PvP. It was lasting shorter than it should have. (PvE unaffected).

Fixed a bug that was making the Disorient effect in Gravity Control/Wormhole unresistable in some cases.

Peacebringer Quantum Flight will now impose a growing Endurance Penalty after 45 seconds of use.

Warshade Nebulous Form will disable after 60 seconds.

Fixed Text for Hibernate. It said it would deactivate in 60 seconds when it actually deactivates in 30.

Decreased Recharge time of Police Bot attack.

Reduced recharge time of Rest.

Psychic Blast/Subdue: Increased Damage, Decreased its Recharge and Endurance Cost.

Pool/Leadership/Tactics now also grants resistance to Fear.
Updated Inspiration Help Text.

Reduced the Slow Debuff on Lingering Radiation. The Defender version had a decimal place error which reduced any targets attack speed to the minimum. Reduced the Controller version slightly and brought the Defender version back in line.

Various text error fixes

Stores

Fixed Contact stores so that Contacts now sell proper Enhancements. (Doesn't affect all Contact Stores).

Game

Disabled stencil shadows (world shadows) on Intel Extreme/ATI 7500 class cards for performance reasons.

Improved game stability

UI

Fixed SuperGroup naming problem

Readded tech 7 pants to armored set

Tasks

Fixed bugs with escort NPCs:
Fixed bug in some missions where if a hostage is killed, the mission does not end.
Fixed bug that could cause escort NPCs to become hostile and attack players.
Fixed bug that caused escort NPCs to despawn 10 minutes after being freed.
Removed invisible turrets that appeared in some missions.

Badges

Reduced requirement for Believer badge.
Defeating Tyrant will now properly award Statesman's Pal badge

City Zones

Crotoa: fixed holes in geometry

So, anyone here think that Vigilance will equal Defiance? My thoughts exactly...

Rob

As of today, that patch has gone to Live.
Nothing in the patch notes about the looping sound crashes (there are 3-4 crashes at different addresses)...lordy, i hope that a fix made it into this patch.

All in all, i'm excited about the majority of the patch (ie: the bug fixes and power buffs).

Vigilance: i'll dust off my Emp and see how it works out (honestly, in the lower levels, anything that will allow me to heal longer is cool with me).

EDIT

vigilance kicks 4ss! I'll have do more play testing, but it was enough of an End reduction to seriously make me consider skipping Stamina (in the fitness pool)...and that's with Hasten running and the team (7 members) taking huge amounts of aggro/damage. I like this power!!!