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New Account Auth Code
March 30, 2008; Dark Insanity
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Spam has been quite a large problem on the Justice Strike Force Forums lately-- not the actual creation of spam messages, but literally dozens of spam accounts are created in a week.
Anyway, to finally put a stop to that, an authorization code is now required to make a new account on the forums. This should work to stop any spammers, or un-JSF related individuals, from creating an account. It will also save me the trouble of having to delete roughly six-billion new accounts every weekend.
The authorization code will change from time to time, and you can get the current code from an officer in-game, or it will usually be posted in the SG's MoTD. Just check the supergroup chat that shows up when you first log-on as your character (that's in the Justice Strike Force, of course).
UPDATE: No new spam accounts today? It appears as though my clever ploy was a success!
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Proliferation for Reals
March 28, 2008; Dark Insanity
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Okay, the list of powersets to be proliferated in Issue 12 was released today, so prepare yourself for extreme joy mixed with waves of massive underwhelmingness.
We start off nice with Controllers: they get Plant Control for their primary, and Thermal Radiation as their secondary. Thermal Radiation is a former Corruptor set that has a nice mix of fire-based shields and heals, and then later a couple of powerful enemy debuffs. Not the /Dark Miasma I was hoping for, but very nice nonetheless; I'll probably be rolling a Fire Control/Thermal Radiation Controller shortly after Issue 12 is released.
Next up for heroes is the psychic Blasters: they get Psychic Blaster for a primary, and Mental Manipulation as a semi-new secondary powerset. This will be very nice to play, as Psychic Blaster should have an awesome mix of damage and range, and I'm pretty excited to see what powers make up Mental Manipulation. However, like I said before, this already has the PvP community cursing the devs and throwing sticks at small children, so I'll definitely be watching to see how that goes down once the i12 beta starts, as well as how badly psychic Blasters have to be nerfed in the first month to stay "balanced."
Okay, here's where I basically go "what?": Tankers get Dark Armor and Dark Melee as primary and secondary powersets.
What?
I've thought about a lot of powersets Tankers could get, and I honestly don't think I ever even imagined, ever even entertained the notion, that Tankers would get Dark/Dark as their new powersets. I mean, I guess it's fine, and we'll get some nice new powerset combinations for Tankers, but... I'm very surprised, to say the least.
Likewise, Scrappers get Fiery Melee and Fiery Aura as their sets. I was surprised at these as well, but almost pleasantly so. I've been asking for elemental sets for Defenders and Scrappers for as long as I can remember, ever since I tried to make an all-elemental based concept group and realized how limited our ATs would be. Anyways, this will make for some interesting combinations, like Fiery Melee/Regeneration, and I'm sure it will be fun to play. I was kind of hoping for a new hero powerset for Tankers or Scrappers, though, such as Electric or Energy Armor. These work, I guess.
And lastly for heroes, Defenders get Cold Domination and Ice Blast. I was pretty happy with this, as now Defenders have an elemental set as well (Storm Summoning was kind of a stretch). I'll definitely want to try out Cold Domination, a mix of ice-based shields and Storm Summoning-esque powers, especially considering it'll basically be a new powerset for me (since I pretty much never play villain-side).
I'm happy with the "new" powersets overall, and can't wait to get my hands on some new combinations! I'll definitely be an altoholic to the power of ten once Issue 12 hits. I'm also looking forward to see what future issues will bring, as it has been said that this is only the first of many waves of Powerset Proliferation. I still want my /Dark Miasma Controllers, dangit!
Oh, and villains get some powersets, too, heh. Brutes got Battle Axe and War Mace primaries, and Super Reflexes secondary. Corruptors got Electrical Blast as a primary, and both Corruptors and Masterminds got Storm Summoning as their new secondary. Dominators got Earth Control and Electricity Assault, and Stalkers got Electric Armor and Electric Melee. Yeah, a lot of City of Villains players have been yelling a lot on the boards lately.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to Issue 12, especially after finally getting to find out what powers we'll be getting! Now I just want to know what this Midnight Squad thing is all about.
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Powerset Proliferation Details
March 27, 2008; Dark Insanity
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The rest of the powers being proliferated in Issue 12 have been revealed!
Not really. Just the backstory on why, in-game, these powers are just now becoming available.
Basically, Dr. Brainstorm, the guy also responsible for the inventions system, caused a massive explosion disrupting the mystical energy streams that connect heroes and villains to their powers, opening the ability for more varied power traits amongst them.
Yeah, that's the weakest backstory for anything I've ever heard, too. You can read it here, if you want.
However, the full list of powers being proliferated will be unveiled tomorrow, so you can look forward to that!!
Oh, and what we know so far is this: Blasters get a Psychic Blast primary, Controllers get a Plant Control primary, Brutes get Battle Axe and War Mace primaries, and Corruptors get a Storm Summoning secondary. Every archetype will get one new primary and secondary, with the exception of Brutes and Masterminds; Brutes get two primaries, and Masterminds get no primary (since, obviously, there are no other Mastermind-like sets to proliferate).
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Hollows Redesign Info
March 19, 2008; Dark Insanity
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The detailed information on the Hollows zone redesign was released today, in this dev digest, by my friend and your's, level designer Melissa "War Witch" Bianco.
Anyway, it's basically as I said before: a new contact was added, with repeatable missions, so that once your done with the main storyarcs of the zone you can keep running missions there (a la radio missions). The enemy spawns were also changed pretty drastically, so that they're more like city zone-sized spawns in some of the areas, as well as lower levels overall. All existing contacts' mission doors were also changed to be only in the same neighborhood area as the contact, so that there'll be no more, or very, very little, running across the entire zone.
Several new villain groups were also added to the Hollows spawns, such as Lost, Skulls, Vahzilok, Coralax, and Hyrda. Longbow and Paragon Police patrols were also added, and the police that were already there (like at the Atlas Park entrance to the zone) are actually supposed to do something now. Cool. There's also another hero-friendly group, called the Legacy Chain, that's supposed to patrol around, hunting for Circle of Thorns. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a new group of individuals, right? I'm just gonna assume it has something to do with the Midnight Squad stuff coming out in Issue 12, too.
So it looks great and all, especially the new varieties of villains and the more-than-just-animated police, but I think some of the previous zone-defining aspects of the Hollows (yes, including the 1.12 mi runs) will be vacant. Vacant not just in the game, but in our hearts.
Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but still, the Hollows is really going to seem like a new zone, so I'll definitely be running back through there with one of my new proliferated (!) lowbees once Issue 12 is released.
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On Shields
March 17, 2008; Dark Insanity
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So you may be one of many people who like to yell "i want shieldz plz!!1!" all over the forums, in broadcast in Atlas Park, and to random people you see on the street. Well, here's some good news for you: there's a pretty likely chance a shield set is coming in Issue 13!
Okay, I may be exaggerating some. However, Back Alley Brawler himself said that one new villain group in Issue 12 is "pretty much defined by having a shield;" I'm going to guess it has something to do with those Romans over there in the Ancient Rome dealio. Either way, it shows there's a lot of progress going on regarding shield sets. Also, in the same post he also explain that shields would be a powerset, not an archetype, and would be usable by any unarmed or right handed weapon powerset.
Note the emphasis on that last part. Any unarmed or right handed weapon powerset? To me, that spells out "power pool," "temporary power," or "ancillary power pool." Not a full powerset. Of course, I could be incredibly wrong; perhaps it is a full powerset, and he's just referring to the various Tanker, Scrapper, and Brute powersets, that are a mix of unarmed and weapon sets, rather than all the archetypes.
Anyway, that's some info on the shields sets so many people have been asking for. Oh, and here's the original post in which Back Alley Brawler says what this information is based off of, in case you wanted to read and infer for yourself.
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Issue 12 Announced
March 11, 2008; Dark Insanity
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Hey guys, guess what?
Issue 12 was announced!
And guess what else?
It looks pretty freakin' sweet!
Okay, so here's the official announcement, but you can just continue reading here for my own heavily commented upon version.
First thing up is the introduction of the Midnight Squad. Well, for those of you not in the know, in City of Heroes lore the Midnight Squad is basically a secretive supergroup of mages and mystics, and apparently they need the assistance of the other heroes. It has to do with the Ouroboros system, as apparently we will be traveling back to Ancient Roman times (though the content is said to be for levels 10 - 20 and 35- 50). Honestly guys, I'm drawing a big "umm... okay" on this. We've been promised "new Roman-style zone maps," which I guess will be a change of pace, and some Roman-style costume parts that don't really look all that great to me. However, I'm gonna wait until more information is released on this before calling this one.
Villain epic archetypes! A lot of people have been waiting for these for quite a while (not myself, but, ya know, someone is). The two archetypes you'll be able to choose from is a Wolf Spider or a Blood Widow; Arachnos. Okay, so I'm not really sure how that's going to work out, either, but it sounds really interesting, so I'll be waiting with bated breath for more info on that (even if I don't have a 50 villain).
And what I have deemed as the biggest part of Issue 12: Powerset Proliferation!! One new primary and secondary for every archetype!! Sure, they're each just taken from other powersets (so they're not new powersets, per se), but this opens up dozens of more powerset combinations! So far the powersets that have been revealed are Mace and Battle Axe for Brutes, Plant Control for Controllers, and Psychic Blasters (though that last one already has the PvP crowd in an uproar). I'm definitely looking forward to the announcement of the rest of the powersets being "proliferated." Oh, and here's to hoping for /Dark Miasma Controllers!
The last major announcement is the redesign of the Hollows. Apparently they're adding a new contact, and basically making it easier to get around the zone. I'm sure this will be nice, especially for easier leveling, but... the long runs to your level 10 Frostfire missions are kind of what make the Hollows, the Hollows. I'm gonna miss those days...
Anyway, the last few things include an additional five power trays that can be placed anywhere on the screen (as in they don't have to dock with each other, and can even be changed to be vertical!), sortable contact lists, chat improvements, and more "real numbers," among other things.
Looks like Issue 12 is set to be one of the best issues I've seen since I've started playing (since Issue 5), especially if we get some really cool powerset combinations from the Powerset Proliferation. I'll definitely be checking for more information on this issue constantly.
Nice!
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