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July 24, 2007

Rikti Invasion, First Blood

Ran around with Rita and Runt, beating up Rikti.  Fun times.  Nice content.  Margie's well familiar with the stuff from her beta testing, but I enjoyed it.  There were four RWZ instances on Victory -- but, interestingly, no Rikti invasion raids while we were on.

RWZ requires Level 35+, which means for us:

1. Rita and Runt (at 36)
2. Torchy and Hildy (at 49 - we should really do their ding mission some time)
3. Psi-clone and Amorpha (at 50)

Solo, I have Lynn at 34, pretty close to 35.  We also have P-siren and Velvet at 32, but I don't see playing them any time soon, unless teaming were involved.

Posted by Dave at 10:54 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Gameplay

I10 Patch Notes

Patch notes:

---

Issue 10: INVASION!

The skies over Paragon City are filled with dark, grey thunderheads. It is the same in the Rogue Isles, Europe, and across the globe. Small ships dart through the heavy weather … and there are so very many of them.

 The Rikti have returned.

HEADLINES:

Rikti World Invasion: The Rikti have been fought off before.  But now, prepare for a desperate battle to save Earth from the new Rikti Invasion Force!  Aggressive Rikti forces can attack Paragon City and Rogue Isle areas at any time and with little warning!

Rikti War Zone: Heroes and villains are asked to put aside their differences and co-operate to assist Vanguard, the all volunteer force funded by the United Nations Security Council, to stem the flood of Rikti and their attempts to salvage their downed Mother Ship.  Earn Vanguard Merits to obtain new costume items and other cool stuff!  [Okay, i can believe in super-heroes.  I can believe in alien invaders.  But believing an effective, active, aggressive UN Security Council?  Naaaaah ...]

Rikti Co-op Task Force: Lady Grey, leader of Vanguard, has a series of missions for a proven team of superpowered individuals, security clearance 45 to 50, designed to take the fight to heart of the Rikti Invasion!

INVASION!

“The Rikti Return! The Vanguard needs YOU! All super powered beings are encouraged to join the effort! This isn’t about your history, but about OUR future. Join now.”

• The Rikti have somehow found a way to bridge the dimensional gap between their world and ours once again and are staging raids on Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.
• When Zones within the cities are under attack, a world-wide alert will be issued by Vanguard. This alert will show up in your Chat window, warning you in which zone attack is imminent. 
• While the invasion is occurring, players do not receive debt while outdoors in an invaded zone.
• Those in that zone that do not wish to be at risk of Rikti attack are asked to take shelter immediately. They can do so by leaving the zone, or moving inside buildings or under cover (overpasses, parking garages, etc.).
• Rikti bombs appear to be unstable and not 100% reliable. Some do not explode on impact and only embed themselves in the ground. These bombs have been noted to detonate after a time, so take caution when you see these. They can be disarmed or delayed by inflicting damage upon them.
  

Revamped Zone: Rikti Crash Site is now Rikti War Zone

The region previously known as the Crash Site has erupted into a War Zone!  All non-combatants are advised to stay well clear of the area!

This zone is now co-operative, Heroes and Villains can both enter into the zone and team together while here.  Heroes and Villains cannot fight against each other in this area. They will both arrive into the zone in the Vanguard Base that has been established there.

Entry points can be found in Vanguard Bases in the following zones:

• Paragon City:
  • Atlas Park
  • Founders Falls [Conveniently next to the new tram.]
  • Peregrine Island
• Rogue Isles:
  • Cap au Diable
  • St. Martial
  • Grandville

The SWAT entrance from Crey’s Folly is sealed. [Awwww ... that was a convenient way to get back to FF from Crey's Folly.]

• The zone is now scaled for levels 35 to 50.
• While in the Rikti War Zone, debt obtained will be 50% of normal.
• When you enter the zone, Levantera, one of the directors of Vanguard, will be auto-issued to you as a contact. Complete her missions to get a feel for the area, as well as be inducted as an honorary member of Vanguard and be able to obtain merits.
• Borea has repeatable missions for you in the Rikti War Zone.
• Other characters that have missions available are Gaussian, Dark Watcher, and Serpent Drummer. They can all be found in the Vanguard Base
• By joining Vanguard you will earn Vanguard Merits for defeating Rikti as well as completing missions for Vanguard. These Merits can be exchanged for Costume Pieces (of the Vanguard Armor), as well as some other cool stuff. The device for purchasing these items are special crafting tables located within the Vanguard base. Vanguard Merits can not be used at other crafting tables.
• You can view Vanguard Merits earned from the Salvage window under the Special Tab.

Rikti Co-op Task Force:

The UNSC backs Vanguard for billions. With the second Rikti invasion bearing down upon us, the United Nations Security Council has essentially given Vanguard a blank check to cover the costs of fighting the Rikti, “We don’t have time to haggle over budgets,” says a senior level official in the UNSC. “Vanguard has always been about defeating the Rikti, no matter what. We fully support Lady Grey and her team.”

• Lady Grey gives out a Strike/Task Force for 8 super powered individuals with security clearance from 45 to 50.  The mission attempts to stop the Rikti before they can get a foothold in our dimension.  Be wary, the Rikti are single-minded in the pursuit of their objectives!

Take the fight to the crashed Rikti ship!

• The Rikti have erected energy pylons throughout the area surrounding their crashed ship in the Rikti War Zone. Vanguard engineers have discovered a way to detect Rikti Pylons.  To view waypoints to these pylons, check the ‘Special’ option in your map display window.
• Destroying all pylons before the Rikti can replace them, will lower the shield on the Rikti Mother Ship in the zone.
  
• Heroes and Villains are asked to plant explosives inside the ventilation systems of the ship to cripple the Mother Ship repair effort the Rikti have in progress.
• Once enough bombs are planted, the Master at Arms will arrive to clear out non-Rikti interlopers!
• Characters that participate with this will be rewarded with Vanguard Merits.

Rikti Villain Group Revamp

• The Rikti Villain group has undergone an art and powers revamp.
• The new art vastly upgrades the look of the Rikti and now allows us to use more animations with the Rikti soldiers. [Though I will miss the nekkid Rikti.]
• One major change is the Rikti swords now have a ranged energy weapon in them, allowing them to use both melee and ranged attacks without switching weapons.

Powers

Added support for villain archtypes for Kheldian inherent bonus powers. Here is the new help text:

• Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Warshades’ absorbing nature allows them to draw on the power of their teammates’ power to increase their own. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Stalker, Brute or Blaster teammate. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited Protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power.
• Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Peacebringers’ metamorphic nature allows them to bring balance to their team. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Brute, Stalker or Blaster teammate. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited Protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power.
• Jack Frost pets and Animated Stone pets should be more willing to engage in melee combat due to a change to their AI values.
• Crey Juggernauts will turn off their Personal Force Field after 15 seconds rather than leaving it on indefinitely.
• Bitter Ice Freeze Ray’s attack time has been shortened from 3.7 seconds to 2.5 seconds for both Blasters and Corruptors.

Critter Powers

• Critters with area of effect Confuse powers have had the duration of those powers greatly reduced.

Power Effects

• Graphical Effects for Ice Armor powers have been modified to improve performance by reducing redundant effects.
• Corrected an issue with Piston Boots steam effects so that they no longer pick up incorrect tinting from the costume piece.
• Stone Melee/Hurl Boulder and Super Strength/Hurl – slight tweak to improve performance.
• Minor camera shake added to some Super Strength hit effects. [Yay!]
• New Geometry and effects for the Blackwand temporary/veteran power.
• New graphical effects for Sonic Resonance.
• “Place Trap” animation will now play while flying. Animation also plays a bit faster, reducing the amount of time the player is rooted while activating.

Costumes

• New “Stealth” costume set available
• New “Exo Proto” costume set available
• New Vanguard costume set available for purchase with merits
• 39 month Veteran Reward added: Boxing costume items
• Miniskirt 1 tweaked a little
• Reorganized skirts and added new Pencil Skirt and Leather Versions. [Can always use more skirts, though it would be nice (if impractical) to have longer ones.]
• Female Dragon wings sized up a little
• Female Burned wings moved up and in a little
• Female cap reweighted to reduce clipping
• “Small padded glove” for females have a pad on both hands
• Masks fixed for full helms/Chitin \\
• Neck on full helmets reweighted to reduce clipping
• Peg leg and pirate hook now available for females [Arr!  Female pirates!]
• Tech Sleek boots available in more categories
• New Female Boot called high heel available.
• Greek letters unified and PI added
• New Bunny tail costume piece available. [Yay!]
• Female Hellenic Sandals Reweighted to fix clipping issues.
• Santa boots and heart patterns are once again available at the Tailor.
• Tin Crown hat added
• Fabo Hair style added
• Formal Hair style added
• V neck & V deep pattern added to female skin tops
• Eye Tendrils added to Tendrils/Head Costume Aura for Female models.
• Whiskers added to face detail option.
• Rocket Boots color mask improved
• Samurai belts shouldn’t disappear underwater
• Female Burned wings moved up and in a little.
• “Small padded glove” added to jackets for female. 

City Zones

• Siren’s Call: Fixed hole in the ground that allowed players to get under the map.
• Recluse’s Victory – Fixed bug that allowed some players to get outside the map.

 Badges:

• There are a number of new badges
• Coralax Gladiator badge should now correctly count all Coralax bosses toward badge progression
• Supergroup Fusion Generator badge is no longer given for time spent in PvP zones; it is now given for 750 PvP kills while in supergroup mode.  

Rewards

• Costume Piece Recipes have been moved into their own drop pool and the chance of getting one has been increased. Costume Piece Recipes will ONLY drop off of Minion-level entities. Lieutenants and higher have no chance of giving out a costume recipe. [Yay!]

Auction House

• Fixed bug that sometimes prevented the highest bid from winning an auction, or prevented the lowest offer from being sold first.

User Interface

• Added commas to Trade windows (so 1000 now appears as 1,000) [Yay!]
• Added commas to numeric displays of experience and influence/infamy when a critter is overcome.
•  Trades are now limited to 9,999,999 influence or infamy. [Not a bad number.]

Game

• Improved Arena stability. 
  

Supergroup Bases

• There are now teleport beacons that can be obtained to travel to the Rikti War Zone.

Inventions

• The price of Invention Enhancements, when sold through the process of a respec is now based on memorized prices, not the normal build price.
• Impervium Armor: Psionic Resistance - no longer causes a character to have a "Psi Aura" when slotted.
• Impervious Skin: Status Resistance - value reduced from 30% to 7.5% and unique status removed. Players can now slot this enhancement up to 5 times for the bonus.

 

CITY OF HEROES

 Power Effects

• Peacebringer effects are updated to improve performance
• Kheldians in Dwarf or Nova form should no longer repeatedly play the boost animation when receiving a buff from an empowerment station.

Powers

• Blaster Charged Brawl now accepts Sleep Enhancements and Sleep IO Sets.

Tasks

• Founder’s Falls – Angus McQueen no longer gives missions to fight Rikti in the Rikti Crash Site.  These missions have been updated and now count Rikti defeated in the Rikti War Zone.
• Major Richard Flagg, a NPC Terra Volta Respecification Trial contact (level 44+) has been moved out of the Rikti Crash Site (now the Rikti War Zone) and has been moved to Peregrine Island near the Portal Corp. building.

City Zones

• Faultline – Fixed hole in the ground.  More gophers!

 

CITY OF VILLAINS

Powers

• Fixed an issue with Brute Energy Punch which could cause it to generate Fury much faster than designed.
• Corruptor Sonic Resonance Liquefy now accepts damage enhancements and, as a result, may now be slotted with Targeted AoE Sets.

City Zones

• Breakout – Fixed bug that allowed some players to get past the fence into the area where Longbow and Arachnos are fighting.  [Awwww ...]

Graphical Effects

• Drain Psyche effect altered slightly to improve performance.

Posted by Dave at 9:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Resources & Rules

Yup, it's up

I10 ahoy.  Watch for Falling Rikti.

Posted by Dave at 8:39 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Resources & Rules

July 23, 2007

My pal Al

So, several geological ages ago, I built Al McGordo, a Rad/Rad Offender.  He was a great concept (radioactive cowboy from New Mexico, of course), and I really loved the whole eye-beams thang, etc.

Never did much with him -- just never quite clicked.

Then, this evening, Doyce and Kate were looking for someone to help start up the Posi TF, and I asked Margie, "Well, do they want any help?"

Natch, all we had in-level-range (10-15) was Al (at 10) and Margie's squid, Lunulata, at 11.  Running with Hang Time at 12 and DeepFreeze Deputante at 14.

Which, given the front-loading "THOU SHALLT NOT FARM!" of Posi meant we were going up against All Purple, All the Time.

We slogged through the first mish (many Purple Vahz -- thank heavens for the Holiday Spirit I still had), then into the second mish ("Demons, Mr. Rico!  Zillions of 'em!"), where we decided that Debt was not a good way of life for the entire frelling party, and we broke up the TF.

A bit later, as Margie and I were running through the University Invention Tutorial, Doyce pinged us to see if we wanted to actually hit things we could actually hit.

So we did a mish in Kings Row, then (as I opined that I'd loooooove a travel power, even a temp one) the KR Safeguard mish - which, with a bit of fumbling around, we actually succeeded at, more-or-less (foiled the bank robbery, did one side mish successfully, timed out on the second).

And, by end-of-evening, both of us had levelled, and I, at least, was beginning to get the hang of the whole Offender thing.

Hmmm.  Which, I guess, means it's time to put Al back into the deep freeze for another year.  :-)

Posted by Dave at 10:13 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Gameplay

July 19, 2007

Villainy

Played a bit with Mr Ravenous and Charity at Home last night for the first time in yikes.  I'd forgotten how much fun the Brutish running-between-melees schtick was, and Margie did her usual bang-up job of heals and resist debuffs.  Hilarity and bloodshed ensued.

Posted by Dave at 6:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Gameplay

July 17, 2007

Server Transfer and Character Renaming - woot!

Discussion on the boards about ... Holy Mother of Pearl ... could it be?  Yes!

Server Transfer and Renaming features being tested.

It's ... about ... time.

Quoth Lighthouse:

Starting on Tuesday, July 17th, the Training Room Test Server will have two new game features enabled for testing: Character Transfer and Character Rename.
Character Transfer will allow customers to move characters from one server to another.
Character Rename will allow customers to rename a selected character.

Both of these features are not part of Issue 10: Invasion. Although we are beginning to test them now, we anticipate that they will not be enabled on the live service until after the launch of Issue 10.

We estimate that both features, Character Transfer and Character Rename, will carry a transaction fee of $9.99 each per use (there will be no fee for transfers to or renames on the Training Room). Should a Character Transfer have a name conflict on the destination server, a free Character Rename will be made available to resolve the conflict and rename the moving character.

So, at $10, not something people will do casually.  But it would be very nice to be able to do it -- and, honestly, to the extent that I do any teaming, I would be willing to shift most characters someplace else for some sort of group TF/SF activity.

We feel the price of these features is enough to prevent potential abuse, but also reasonable enough to not be prohibitive for those who want to improve their gaming experience by moving servers or changing a character name.

I'm sure people have detailed it somewhere on the boards, but lacking the motivation to ferret it out ... what sort of "potential abuse" is there in server transfer?  (Or, really, in renaming?)

Will "GenericHero003497" be able to rename him/herself, I wonder?

Interesting bit here:

IMPORTANT! Customers who are interested in taking advantage of the Character Transfer service should know that it is possible in the future that we may make changes to the game that would remove the need to Transfer servers. One example of such a change would be a "server-less" game configuration where all players can group with anyone, without the restriction of which server they play on. We are not committing to this "server-less" configuration, and in fact there are no plans to implement a "server-less" environment this calendar year, but because we are charging a fee for these services, it is important that our players understand that the possibility exists. We want to be very clear in this regard so that those who do decide to make use of a Server Transfer, when it becomes available, understand that they may not need it in the future.

I have no idea how something like this would work (various DC "Crisis" comics would indicate the answer is "badly"), but ... well, good on them for giving a warning.

Some official ramificaitions:

All purchases are final and non-refundable.

Any disputed credit card charge can lead to a permanent account closure. Please ensure that the card on file that you are using is the correct one you wish to make the charge to!

Keep in mind that after the character is moved, your Friend's list of players on that server will no longer be valid and you will be removed from any Supergroup that character was included in.

Taskforces or Strikeforces in progress will be abandonded.

Kiosk stats will be preserved, but rating positions will likely change.

We cannot guarantee that your character's name will be available on the destination server you move to.  Should there be a name conflict, your character will be issued a free character rename to change the name.

Some other Red Name (mostly Lighthouse) observations on this:

• It could be, in the future, be a Vet Reward.
• It's cheaper than other MMORPGs ... though I still don't understand the pricing.
• Is it time for another inactive name purge?  Maybe.
• No copies, just transfers.  Hmmmm.  Not sure why not, though.
• Once you move, your name is freed up on your old server.  Some interesting RP possibilities there ("I want to keep Lvl 50 Psi-clone, but start off a new Lvl 1 Psi-clone, too.")
• Friends lists won't be updated (in the case of renames) until you zone or log.
• Worried that "Psi-clone" is already taken on Virtue, and you're afraid if you move him you'll have to rename him to something else?  Try creating a character there by that name first and see if the name is taken.

I have no idea how much advantage I'm liable to take of this feature at the moment.  $10 is enough to make it not something I'd do casually, but if I really wanted to move some folks onto Champs, I have some other character (which I don't want to delete) that I could move elsewhere (which would cost me $20, which is steep, but not utterly, completely out of the question).

Anyhow ... it's definitely something that's been asked for, and I'm glad it's here.

Posted by Dave at 10:08 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Character Design , Resources & Rules

July 10, 2007

Vet Rewards

So I've passed the 27 Months ("Dedicated") Vet Reward.

At the end of this month (7/29), I'll hit the 30 Month ("Committed") reward, which is some costume bits, some base decor, and a costume change.  Meh.

At Halloween (10/29), I'll hit 33 Months ("Unswerving"), which will give me  the (huzzah!) permanent Nemmie Staff or Blackwand.  Yay!  I know some characters who will jones for that.

At the end of January (1/29), I'll hit the magic 36 Months ("Addicted" - ya think?), which gives me a little non-combat pet.  Which is both goofy and fun.

Coolness.

Posted by Dave at 10:48 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Resources & Rules

July 6, 2007

Developer Diary

Posi's description of what went into the design decisions for I10.  Interesting.

With Issue 10 we decided to advance the storyline. Like any ongoing game we have many unresolved plot threads and each is a great opportunity for introducing new game content. Our first thought for Issue 10 was to bring back the 5th Column, a villain group that disappeared when the Council was introduced in Issue 3. But in the end we decided to focus on one of the greatest threats to Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, the aliens known as the Rikti. We had revealed a lot about the Rikti in the past, but there was always the looming specter of a second Rikti War. There were already plenty of missions that involve shutting down attempts by stranded Rikti to contact their homeworld. For current players, Rikti are a familiar enemy and remain a giant pain in the butt.

Sean Fish (aka Manticore) had already determined what happened with the Omega Team who sealed the Rikti in their home dimension to end the first Rikti War, but this was knowledge hidden to the players. They only knew that Hero 1 and a small band of magic heroes closed the portals from the other side, never to be heard from again. We knew that this was a big question that needed an answer for the players, so it became a central point not only to the game, but the comic book we publish with Top Cow as well.

Posted by Dave at 11:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Resources & Rules

Catching up with the boards

I was a few weeks behind on the boards -- which is probably okay, since a lot of it was beta testing this-n-that.

Btw, I've been watching over Margie's shoulder as she betas I10 (both the original closed and now the open beta).  It looks like it will be much fun.

Stuff to pass on:

1. Sonic Shields:  Now a much more close-fitting orange wavery effect, rather than epilepsy-inducing sonic cages.  I don't think they look as good, but, then, the old ones didn't (literally) cause me to vomit.
2. Super-Strength:  A couple of the high-power attacks (KO, Haymaker) will actually make the screen shake.  Must ... play ... more ... Velvet.
3. Big interview with Positron about I10.  The "Second Rikti Invasion" will be an all-out event for a couple of weeks when it goes live, then settle down some.
4. New Co-Op Task Force (45-50).  Yay!
5. Spiffy I10 Teaser Video. (Hi-Res Version)
6. Vanguard backgrounder.

Posted by Dave at 5:36 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Media , Resources & Rules

Foodies

Doyce sent out an invite across the [Monday Munchies] mail list to see if we could hop on and get some of the Hostess Heroes up to the Rikti invasion zone level 35 minimum in time for I10 to hit.  Ginger Snap and Bear Claws are at 30, I think; Ho Ho and Princess Peep are 28.

Got on late (just as I was returning from karate, in fact), but still had a fun time.  Managed to ding Ho Ho to 29 (Peep tends to get chewed on more).  Despite the Red Cap Mission from Hell, it was still enjoyable, and a blaster / scrapper / tank / defender team is, by nature, pretty well balanced.

Gotta do that some more some time.

Posted by Dave at 8:09 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Gameplay

July 2, 2007

Beautiful Boring

Ran the Brickstown Bank safeguard mish last night. No simple getaway van for the Nemesis bank robbers -- hell, no, they've got this beautiful boring machine.  Glee!

Posted by Dave at 3:27 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Gameplay