In this episode we discuss:

• We are Parsec Finalists again this year !!!
• We are going to Dragon Con!
• We’ll be dropping a special episode with Tee Morris into the feed soon, discussing movies from comic books
• Paragon Studios team hits Twitter
  • @Positron_CoH
  • @Niviene_CoH
  • @MelissaBianco (WarWitch)
  • @CoH_OCR (the community relations team)
  • Honorable mentions include: @plaync, @thetitannetwork
  • Of course, you can follow us too as: @choochus, and @vividmuse
• Paragon Studios at Comic Con
• Issue 15: Anniversary Releases info from forums
• Issue 15: Anniversary Releases info from news
• Double XP Save The Date
• Issue 16: Power Spectrum
• Migration of the message boards part 1 and part 2
• Purchase new MA story slots
• Issue 15: Anniversary Full Release Notes (cwned!)
• Promo: Mur Lafferty’s WAR
  

Here’s the linkage:

• Super Booster II: Magic Pack Now on Sale
• i14 Architect – Release Notes – 4/8/09
• Mission Architect Video and Guide!
• Issue 14 Follow-Up From Positron!
• Justice Girls Summer Heat – Virtue – May 9 – 8-11pm Eastern
• Bumper: Cheyenne Wright
• Promo: The Seanachai

Linkage:

• Details About Mac Version & Perks
• New Video Ads for Mac!
• Massively.com gives City of Heroes 2008 Award!!
• URGENT! – Do NOT Use Witch Leather Top
• City of Heroes Featured on Apple Games!
• Live Patch — 1.22.09
• Announcing 57 & 60 Month Veteran Rewards!
• Mur Lafferty’s favorite character
• Promo:Movie Mantras

Clicky to see the full text for Part 4 of Fantastic Foe’s IO Sets feature

The following is the (more or less) final installment in the Fantastic Foe IO Set Featurettes, presenting specific character attributes and the IO sets that support them as bonuses.

I’ll be presenting the following topics based on protections to damage type, with commonly associated damages merged: ie. smashing and lethal, fire and cold, energy and negative energy, etc.

The percentage bonuses are rather small, and obviously aren’t meant to replace powersets.

When discussing resistances and defenses, I’d like to make a few statements:

1) 1% defense is roughly equivalent to 2% of resistance. The reasoning behind this non-binding law of protective equivalence has been hashed out in the forums. It’s not an exact science, but for lightweight discussions, it works okay.

2) % bonuses seem small, but they are worthwhile. +5% defense is the same benefit granted a character using a shield in Dungeons and Dragons, or any other +1 bonus to armor class, and I rarely in my days of gaming saw anyone forgo the use of a shield when it was available to them to have one on the basis that the bonus was too small.

SMASHING/LETHAL RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
Smashing/Lethal is not only the most common damage type in the game, but it is often a component of energy and elemental based attacks (i.e. being hit by a cold/smashing attack or fire/lethal) so improving Smashing/Lethal resistance or defense is usually a good investment.

Sadly, your options are limited when it comes to IO set bonuses versus Smash/Lethal.

Smashing/Lethal Resistance
Sets providing Smash/Lethal Resistance bonuses with 3 IOs:

Knockback: Kinetic Crash +2.5% Smashing Resistance

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Resistance bonuses with 4 IOs:

Targeted AOE: Air Burst   + 0.63 Smash/Lethal Resist
Pet: Edict of the Master   + 2.5% Lethal Resist
Sleep: Hibernation   +1.25% Smash Resist [4 out of 5 required]

Smashing Lethal Defense
Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 2 IOs:

To Hit Buff: Rectified Reticle  +0.95% Smash/Lethal [2 of 3 required]

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 3 IOs:

Taunt: Annoyance   +0.63 Smash/Lethal  Def [3 of 3 required]
Taunt: Triumphant Insult   +0.95 Smash/Lethal Defense [3/3]
To Hit Debuff: Discouraging Words   +0.63 S/L Defense [3/3]

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 4 IOs:

Sleep:Lethargic Repose   +1.88% Smashing Defense
Slow: Curtail Speed +1.25% Lethal Defense [4/5]
Immob: Enfeebled Operation +2.5% Lethal Defense
Taunt: Mocking Beratement  +1.26% Smash/Lethal Defense

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 6 IOs:

Taunt: Perfect Zinger +1.58% Smash/Lethal Defense

And that’s it. More defense options are available than resistance, which is fine if you want marginal gains in defense since the defensive pool powers, ( i.e. combat jumping, hover, etc. ) offer very small defensive bonuses, even when slotted to explicitly improve defense. (I think the base is 2.5%, triple slotting with defense hits around 4% total)

FIRE/COLD RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
Interestingly enough, all but one of the following sets provide either protections against the elemental damage of fire or cold attacks with only an investment of 3 set IOs. So Fire and Cold protections can be interwoven with other 2 and 3 IO set combinations.

When I first began researching IO bonuses against Fire and Cold, I assumed that there would be many sets that only provided protections against cold, or only against fire. That way one could reinforce a particular concept for a character, like you might do in the Champions pen and paper RPG.  Say a character might be particularly resistant or particularly vulnerable to fire, totally unrelated to how they react against other damage types, such as cold damage. But in almost all cases in City of Heroes, bonuses from IO sets for fire apply to bonuses for cold.

Fire/Cold Damage Resistance
Sets providing Fire/Cold Resistance bonuses with 3 IOs:

PBAOE: Multi-Strike +0.95% Fire/Cold Resist
Ranged: Salvo +1.26% Fire/Cold Resist [3 of 3 required]
Targeted AOE: Positron’s Blast +1.58% Fire/Cold Resist
Sniper: Executioner’s Contract +3.13% COLD Resist
Heal: Doctored Wounds +1.26% Fire/Cold Resist

Defense: Gift of the Ancients +2.5% FIRE Resist
Defense: Red Fortune +1.26% Fire/Cold Resist

Immob: Debilitative Action +2.5% COLD Resist
Stun: Rope a Dope +0.95% Fire/Cold Resist

The following are from the rare unique level 50 sets (still 3 IOs):

Melee: Hecatomb +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
PBAOE: Armageddon +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Targeted AOE: Ragnarok +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Sleep: Fortunata Hypnosis +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Immob: Gravitational Anchor +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Stun: Absolute Amazement +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance

Fire/Cold Attack Defense
Sets providing Fire/Cold Defense bonuses with 3 IOs:

Ranged: Maelstrom’s Fury +1.88% COLD Def  [3 of 4 needed]
Sniper: Exploit Weakness +0.63% Fire/Cold Def  [3/4]
Pet: Blood Mandate +0.95% Fire/Cold Defense
Resist: Aegis +1.58% Fire/Cold Defense
Stun:Stagger +0.63% Fire/Cold Defense

And the exception to all other Fire/Cold bonus sets:
Set providing Fire/Cold Defense bonus with 5 IOs

Taunt: Mocking Beratement +1.58% Fire/Cold Defense

Alright, there are more options for boosting fire/cold and the percentages are larger than the smash/lethal set, although that is tempered by the fact that many of the resistance sets are unique and therefore part of an expensive pool of IOs. Still, you might be able to with very little effort get 3-4% defense, or 7-8% resistance to fire/cold attacks. That’s not too bad on defense, since it’ll stack with hover/combat jumping, and of course with the benefits of a Force Field: Insulation shield. (I say of course, like I know… but for all I know they don’t… I leave that answer as an exercise for the listener…)

ENERGY/NEGATIVE ENERGY RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
I should probably refer to energy attacks such as the energy component in Energy Blast or Radiation as “Positive Energy” since “Energy” in general should encompass “Negative Energy” as well. But I’m lazy, and that’s like 8 whole characters, so take it on spec that Energy and Negative Energy are Positive Energy and Negative Energy respectively. Capiche?

Again, most Energy and Neg. Energy protection bonuses are found in the 3 IO range, which leaves nice options for franken-slotting,Also, about half of the IO sets only apply a bonus to positive energy or negative energy but not both.

Energy/Negative Damage Resistance
Sets providing Energy Resistance bonuses with 3 IOs:

PBAOE: Scirocco’s Dervish +3.13% Negative Energy Resis.
Ranged: Tempest +0.63% Energy/Neg Energy Resis. [3 of 4]
Targeted AOE: Detonation +1.88% Energy Resis.
Immob: Enfeebled Operation +1.88% Neg. Energy Resis.
Hold: Paralytic +0.63% Energy/Neg Energy Resis [ 3 of 5]
Fear: Unspeakable Terror +2.5% Negative Energy Resis
To Hit Buff: Adjusted Targeting + 1.26% NRG/Neg. NRG Res

Set providing Energy Resistance bonus with 4 IOs:

To Hit Debuff: Dampened Spirits +2.5% Neg. Energy Res.

Energy/Negative Energy Defense
Sets providing Energy/Negative Energy Defense bonuses with 3 IOs:

Melee: Pulverizing Fisticuffs +0.65% NRG/Neg NRG Def [3/4]
Melee: Pounding Slugfest +0.63% Energy/Neg Energy Def[3/4]

PBAOE: Cleaving Blow +1.25% Energy Defense [3/4]
Ranged: Thundersrtrike +2.5% Energy Defense

Sniper: Calibrated Accuracy +0.95% Energy/Neg Energy Def
Sniper: Sting of the manticore +0.95% Energy/Neg Energy Def

Resist Dam:Reactive Armor +1.25% Energy Defense
Sleep: Lethargic Repose +1.88% Energy Defense
Fear: Nightmare +1.88% Negative Energy Defense

There’s not a huge number of sets, particularly that only half or so apply both to positive and negative flavored energy damage, but the percentages aren’t too bad, and you could probably get a +5% defense (or possible an equivalent combo of defense and resistance.) This might help plug a hole or two, but doesn’t seem super exciting. Certainly, IO set bonuses can easily improve the 2.5% unenhanced defense Hover gives (4% triple SO enhanced.)

TOXIC/PSIONIC RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
Although Toxic damage and Psionic damage are unrelated, bonuses that protect against them tend to be linked in the IO set bonuses. So, for purposes of this featurette, they are related. So say we all.

With one exception, all Toxic Resistance, Psionic Resistance, and Psionic Defense bonus set IOs require total commitment: 6 IOs. (There is no Toxic Defense, by the way, as Toxic-damaging attacks have an attack vector (usually, I think) of ranged/special. The arcana involving an attack’s damage type and attack vector type might be a worthwhile feature one day….)

So, if you want to get any significant bonuses against Psionic or Toxic, prepare to pay. (Since any investment is probably going to be expensive, I don’t separate out the unique sets from the regular sets, since it’s all going to cost a ton.)

Toxic/Psionic Resistance
Sets that offer resistance bonuses against toxic or psionic damage for a mere 6 IOs:

Melee: Crushing Impact +2.5% Psi Res
Melee:Hecatomb +5% Toxic Res

PBAOE:Armageddon +5% Toxic Res
Ranged: Decimation +1.58% Toxic/Psi Res

Target AOE:Detonation +1.88% Toxic Res
Target AOE:Positron’s Blast +3.13% Res
Target AOE: Ragnarok +5% Toxic Res

Sniper: Sting of the Manticore +3.13% Toxic Res

Pet: Brilliant Leadership +1.26% Toxic/Psi Res
Pet:Edict of the Master +1.26% Toxic/Psi Res

Heal:Harmonized Healing +1.88% Toxic Res
Heal: Doctored Wounds +1.26% Toxic/Pis Res

Resist Damage: Impervium Armor +3.13% Psi Res
Resist Damage: Reactive Armor +1.25% Toxic Res
Resist Damage: Aegis +3.13% Toxic Res

Defense: Serendipity +1.25% Toxic Res
Defense: Gift of the Ancients +2.5% Psi Res
Defense: Luck of the Gambler +3.13% Psi Res

Confuse: Perplex +0.95% Toxic/Psi Res

Sleep: Lethargic Repose +1.88% Toxic Res
Sleep: Call of the Sandman +1.58% Toxic/Psi Res
Sleep: Fortunata Hypnosis +5% Toxic Res

Immob: Debilitative Action +2.5% Toxic Res
Immob: Gravitational Anchor +5% Toxic Res

Hold: Ghost Widow’s Embrace +3.13% Psi Res
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint +5% Toxic Res

Fear: Unspeakable Horror +2.5% Psi Res
Fear: Glimpse of the Abyss +3.13% Psi Res
Fear: Nightmare +0.95% Toxic/Psi Res

Stun: Absolute Amazement +5% Toxic Res
To Hit Debuff: Dark Watcher’s Despair +3.75% Psi Res

Psionic Defense (There is no toxic defense!)

Sets providing Psionic Defense bonuses with 2 IOs
Resist: Impervium Armor    +1.88 Psi Defense

Sets providing Psionic Defense bonuses with 6 IOs
PBAOE:Scirocco’s Dervish  +3.13% Psi Defense

Ranged: Devastation  +3.75% Psi Defense
Ranged: Apocalypse  +5% Psi Defense

Pet: Soulbound Allegiance  +5% Psi Defense
Heal: Miracle  +1.88% Psi Defense
Defense:Gift of the Ancients  +2.5% Psi Defense
Stun: Rope a Dope  +1.88% Psi Defense

Now, that’s a pretty fair amount of protective bonus sets, although of course I’ve munged (fancy technical term for moooshing…) Toxic and Psionic, but usually a set that protects against one does so against the other. Usually.

Anyway, if you have mad influence to burn to complete 6 IOs pieces, I mean a lot of influence, then it looks like you could rack up Resistance percentages easily from 5-15%. I mean, boatloads of influence, and the availability of the pieces in the market.

Defense, eh, you could probably easily (given cash and availability) hit 10% defense. Sure, 10% doesn’t sound that much, but that’s a +2 in D and D terms!

POSITIONAL (MELEE, RANGED, AOE) DEFENSE
This category of sets that contribute to positional defenses is a looooong list.

The previous defenses worked against attacks based on the type of damage that they did or roughly on the kind of elemental attack that it was. Positional defense is different in that it works regardless of the damage type of an attack; it defends against the vector or positional characteristic of the attack. Is it a melee attack like a punch? A ranged attack like a blast? Or an area of effect attack like an explosion? So Positional Defense is usually either a ranged defense, melee defense, or AOE defense

Since positional defenses work equally well regardless of the damage (a flaming sword attack or a kick are both melee, so melee defense can apply to both equally) they are intrinsically more useful than “typed” defenses, where you might have defense against lethal, fire, cold, energy, negative energy, psionic, and then get hit by a 100% smashing baseball.

Positional Defense bonuses from IO sets are also rather expensive, since most sets that offer any positional defenses usually require at least 5 IOs from a set. On the plus side, most percentages are at least +1.25%, so there’s no dinking around with 0.68% bonuses or similar nonsense.

And now, the list:
Sets providing Positional Defense bonuses with 3 IOs

Defense Debuff: Exploited Vulnerability  +1.25% MELEE Def
Defense Debuff: Achilles Heel  +1.88% AOE Def

Sets providing Positional Defense bonuses with 5 IOs
PBAOE:Multi Strike  +1.88% AOE Def
PBAOE:Scirocco’s Dervish  +3.13% AOE Def

Ranged:Ruin  +1.88% AOE Def
Targeted AOE:Detonation  +1.88% AOE Def
Sniper:Extreme Measures  +2.5% AOE Def

Pets:Commanding Presence  +1.88% AOE Def
Pets:Blood Mandate  +3.75% AOE Def

Heal:Harmonized Healing  +1.88% AOE Def
Heal:Miracle  +1.88% AOE Def

Resist Damage:Reactive Armor  +1.25% AOE Def
Resist Damage:Aegis  +3.13% AOE Def

Confuse:Cacophony  +2.5% AOE Def
Confuse:Perplex  +1.88% AOE Def

Sleep:Lethargic Repose  +1.88% AOE Def
Immob:Debilitative Action  +2.5% AOE Def
Stun: Razzle Dazzle  +2.5% MELEE Def

Sets providing Positional Defense bonuses with 6 IOs
Melee:Touch of Death  +3.13% MELEE Def
Melee:Mako’s Bite  +3.75% RANGED Def

PBAOE:Multistrike  +1.88% MELEE Def
Ranged:Thunderstrike  +2.5% RANGED Def

Sniper:Calibrated Accuracy  +3.13% RANGED Def
Sniper:Executioners Contract  +1.88% RANGED Def
Sniper:Extreme Measures  +2.5% MELEE Def

Pets:Blood Mandate  +3.75% RANGED Def
Pets:Sovereign Right  +3.13% MELEE Def

Resist Damage:Titanium Coating  +2.5% MELEE Def
Defense:Red Fortune  +2.5% RANGED Def

Confuse:Malaise’s Illusions  +3.13% RANGED Def
Confuse:Coercive Persuasion  +5% RANGED Def

Sleep:Induced Coma  +2.5% MELEE Def

Slow:Impeded Swiftness  +2.5% MELEE Def
Slow:Tempered Readiness  +1.88% RANGED Def
Slow:Pacing of the Turtle  +3.13% RANGED Def

Immob:Enfeebled Operation  +3.13% MELEE Def
Immob:Trap of the Hunter  +3.13% RANGED Def

Hold:Neuronic Shutdown  +2.5% RANGED Def
Hold:Essence of Curare  +1.88% RANGED Def

Stun:Razzle Dazzle  +2.5% AOE Def
Stun:Stupefy  +3.13% RANGED Def

Knockback:Force Feedback  +3.13% AOE Def
Endurance Mod:Performance Shifter  +3.13% AOE Def

To Hit Buff:Gaussian’s Synchronized Fire Control  +2.5% AOE, Melee, Ranged Def
Defense Debuff:Undermined Defense  +2.5% AOE Def

Now, there are a lot of Sets that contribute to one of the three aspects of positional defense, and there are enough variations in percentages that, should you possess a ginormous supply of influence and the ability to make people sell some valuable IOs in the market, you could rack up some healthy percentages.

Totally as a thought experiment, lets say you could 5-stack three of the common percentages, 1.88, 2.5, and 3.13. That’s probably impossible, but lets just say you could. It is numerically impossible that you could do this for all three of the positional defense flavors, so mentally just pick your favorite, Melee, Ranged, or AOE.

(1.88 + 2.5 + 3.13) * 5 = 37.55%! Since the average even con minion only has a 50% to hit you, if you could mythically slot such a bonus, a bad guy when attacking on the vector you’re protected against would only have a 12.45 % chance of hitting. (More or less. I’m way simplifying the complicated To Hit calculation for conceptual reasons…I would encourage listeners more versed in the To Hit mechanics to confirm or refute my simplified math.)

Now, it’s doubtful you could slot 15 powers of the 24 (for non-Kheldians and not counting inherents) that we get during game to get such a godlike defense (against one of ranged, melee, *or* AOE) but it is reasonable that you could get a 10% bonus perhaps against one, two, or all three position vectors. Reasonable given availability of IOs and your cash reserves, of course.

If I can offer some general opinions on positional defense: even if percentages are small, defense is nice to have and positional defense is nicer than typed defense.

Traditional “hardened” types, Tanks, Scrappers, Brutes, and yes, even Peacebringers (even Human-Form PBs I consider hardened) probably don’t need the extra defense, but it always helps. Percentage bonuses of defense are always worth more to characters when adding to an existing base (this is true of resistance too, but I’m talking defense in this section, so move along with me.)

Non-hardened archetypes can certainly supplement what defenses they might have, and based on their play-styles, a particular kind of defense might be better than others. I tend to suggest AOE defense to characters who don’t want to necessarily be in melee, but end up their anyway, either because they want to get the benefit of an AOE heal being cast on the team tank’s opponent, or they’re using their hurricane to pin enemies in a corner, or they are standing next to a bad guy who happens to be the anchor of a mighty debuff effect. Or they just like being near the tank.

Being next to a tank doesn’t sound bad. Even if he’s not taunting, his gauntlet will be getting attention, and if you get in trouble the tank can start knocking down anyone bullying you, and the team defender (should they possess heals and have been keeping an eye on the tank) has you on their radar.

But… then the boss villain drops a Nuke. Even if none of the enemies are paying attention to you standing in the tank’s shadow, the grenade from that Council Lieutenant, or the missiles from that Malta Titan just don’t care, they are going to blow up next to you anyway while bouncing off the tank. So AOE defense can go a long way.

Second up would be Ranged defense, since characters not planning on melee’ing can usually maneuver out of melee range. But since it seems that every enemy has a ranged attack that waaay exceeds a player’s range, maneuvering beyond melee just gets you shot at. So, ratgned defense cuts down on the times your defeated by madly fleeing. Just stay out of range of the AOE flamethrowers.

But, if you really want Melee defense I’m not going to argue. Melee attacks usually do more damage than ranged, and if you know you’re going to get punched at, stabbed at, clawed, thumped etc, by all means, try to get some melee defense and reduce how often that happens.

Just be aware, positional defense bonuses usually don’t work with the traditional power pool defenses, like Combat Jumping or Hover. Those powers are usually good against all Damage Types, defense vs fire, cold, smashing, lethal, negative energy, etc. Typed Defense values and Positional Defense values don’t stack. I discovered this when Real Numbers became available, and I could monitor the defenses on my Super Reflexes scrapper, who now no longer turns on Combat Jumping.

Again, please correct me if I am talking out of my nether region. You know what I mean.

HOLD AND STUN RESISTANCE
I’m introducing Holds and Stuns together, since thematically they are similar, but I’ll present the sets that support protections separately.

Stun resistance is mostly in the 4 IO range, and Hold resistance is in the 5 IO range, but except for two sets, the bonuses for slotting against hold or against stun are from entirely different supersets of IOs.

I’m not a huge fan of the bonuses available. To accumulate a serious effect, you would probably have to take either Acrobatics to reduce time Held, and  use Aid Self proactively to reduce time Stunned, and add bonuses from IO sets on top of that. Other than that, I suspect you can easily get 10% reductions in time spent stunned or held. I would be interested if anyone could get in the 30% range in either (particular in Stun resistance.)

Stun Resistance
Sets that offer Stun resistance bonuses for 4 IOs:

PBAOE:Multi-Strike  +1.65% Stun Resistance
Ranged: Maelstrom’s Fury  +1.65% Stun Resistance

Pet:Blood Mandate  +1.65% Stun Resistance
Pet: Sovereign Right  +2.75% Stun Resistance

Resist Damage: Titanium Coating  +2.2% Stun Resistance

Confuse:Befuddling Aura  +1.1% Stun Resistance
Confuse:Cacophony  +2.2% Stun Resistance

Slow:Impeded Swiftness  +2.2% Stun Resistance
Hold:Essence of Curare  +1.65% Stun Resistance
Fear:Horror  +1.1% Stun Resistance

Set that offers Stun resistance for 5 IOs:
Stun:Stagger +1% Stun Resistance [ 5 of 5 required]

Hold Resistance
Set that offers Hold resistance for 3 IOs:
Taunt: Mocking Beratement +2.75% Hold Resistance

Sets that offer Hold resistance for 5 IOs:
Melee:Touch of Death  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Melee:Mako’s Bite  +3.3% Hold Resistance

Ranged Damage:Devastation  +3.3% Hold Resistance
Sniper:Executioner’s Contract  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Pet:Edict of the Master  +2.2% Hold Resistance
Pet:Sovereign Right  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Pet:Soulbound Allegiance  +4.4% Hold Resistance

Heal:Numina’s Convalescence  +3.3% Hold Resistance

Resist Damage:Impervium Armor  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Resist Damage:Titanium Coating  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Defense: Gift of the Ancients  +2.2% Hold Resistance
Defense: Luck of the Gambler  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Slow: Impeded Swiftness  +2.2% Hold Resistance
Slow: Pacing of the Turtle  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Immob: Trap of the Hunter  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Fear: Nightmare  +1.65% Hold Resistance
Stun: Rope a Dope  +1.88% Hold Resistance

I find it interesting that the inexpensive set for Hold Resistance is a Taunt set, since the classic Taunter, the Tank, usually has excellent Hold protections for PVE. PVP might be different…

AND THAT IS THAT! I’M DONE!
Well, not exactly. There were a handful of other attributes, but I’m passing on them by mentioning them this way. Some of the Heal IO sets improve all your healing, some of the Slow IO sets improve your slows, Confuse sets improve confuses, Fear sets improve Fear durations, etc. You’ll run into those bonuses pretty much as you gather up set IOs just to slot the usual enhancement bonuses. Those will jump out at you, and there’s no need to state them here.

I’d like to thank ParagonWiki’s page on Invention Origin sets, which saved me from making a big matrix of what each set offers. I appreciated being able to look at bonus values without having to look at recipes or crafted IO enhancements in Wentworths.

That being said, I take responsibility for any errors or irregularities in this report. In my defense, there were a lot of notes being taken and shuffled around, with bits of info being added to, amended, errors found, etc. I would have had my editor wife assist me or proofread, but I can’t afford her rates, the mercenary.

I hope that this report provides some value. I know I’d been wanting to beef up my level 50s, but had not really been putting the time in to see what I could do. After cataloging the values from IO sets, it gave me certain goals to achieve for my characters, which helped me draft up some recipe shopping lists, which of course gave me an Influence goal and prompted me to start in on playing them again.

Any reason to play my 50s is a good reason

Click through for the full patch notes.

Issue 13: Power & Responsibility Release Notes

Issue 13: Power & Responsibility
Midnight Squad Story Arcs (for Level 20-25 Heroes, Level 30-35 Villains)

• The Midnight Squad has need of its members in recovering some stolen artifacts. Heroes and Villains should speak to Mercedes Sheldon who can be found inside the Midnighter Club in the side wing that leads to the Hero Zone Steel Canyon.

Cimerora Story Arcs (for Level 40-50 Heroes and Level 35-50 Villains)

• Players can journey through time back to the ancient land of the Roman Cimeroran peninsula where they can talk to Daedalus (for Heroes) or Sister Airlia (for Villains) to encounter new challenges.

The Merit Rewards System

• A new game system that allows players to earn tokens by completing Trials, Task Forces, Strike Forces, Story Arcs, defeating Giant Monsters, and more. The most challenging and time consuming tasks grant the most reward tokens, which can be redeemed throughout Hero and Villain zones for recipes, enhancements, salvage, inspirations and other game items. Merit Representatives will show up on your minimap in all undisputed city zones.
• For more information about Merit Rewards: Read the Developer & Community Q&A

Day Jobs

• Day Jobs takes the concept of offline character progression to a new level, incorporating a variety of potential rewards and allowing players to add further depth to their character’s identity and back-story. Is your Hero a Banker when not out stopping crime, or maybe a simple Shop Keeper? Is your Villain an avid Clubber, or perhaps a Smuggler? Whatever you choose, Badges and Accolades await in addition to other bonuses!
• For more information about Issue 13′s Day Jobs feature, please visit the web article: Dev Diary: Designing Issue 13′s Day Jobs

New Powersets
Shields

• Heft a Shield for Heroic or Villainous Ends! This new powerset brings a classic power to City of Heroes: Shields! Now, you can arm Tankers, Scrappers and Brutes with a powerful shield to protect themselves and their allies.

Pain Domination

• Villains can now bend the power of pain to serve their own ends! Those playing a Corruptor or Mastermind have access to this new powerset. The antithesis of the Hero healing powerset “Empathy,” Pain Domination brings parity between Heroes and Villains with a distinctively evil flair.

Leveling Pact

• A new innovation to MMOs, this system allows you and a friend to create new characters and have your XP be permanently in sync, whether both characters are online or not. You will always be the same level, even if your friend plays ten times more often than you do!
  • A pact can only be created between characters who are Level 5 and under.
  • To begin a pact, right-click on your friend’s character and choose “Invite to Leveling Pact”.
  • XP and Influence are split between both players.

Multiple Builds

• Characters can create a second build with different power selections and enhancement slotting, and switch between builds by talking to any Trainer for Heroes or any Arbiter for Villains. Now you can have separate builds for soloing and grouping, or for PvP.

  The second build works like a respec, so you can change anything except your Primary and Secondary powersets.

  Enhancements are not shared between builds. The second build is slotted with enhancements separately from your first build.

  You can swap builds once every 15 minutes.

  All powers fully recharge when switching builds.

  Switching between builds has no influence or infamy costs.

Villain Patron Powers Unlocked

• Now any Villain that has unlocked any Patron Power Pool can freely select another when respeccing or making Multiple Builds, offering the same flexibility that heroes are afforded with Ancillary Powers.

PVP Revamp

• PvP combat has been completely revamped in this issue, in an attempt to make it more fun for all ATs and builds. Please note that these changes only take effect in PvP situations; these changes have no effect on PvE. Here are a summary of the major changes:
  • The damage of all attacks has been refigured. Basically, the longer the activation/animation time of an attack power, the more damage the power is going to do. There are adjustments for recharge time and Endurance cost, but the actual time the power takes up in an attack chain is the primary consideration.
  • In general, the base damage of all Archetypes has been increased in PvP zones and Arenas. The Containment bonus for Controllers in PvP has been reduced because of their higher base damage.
  • Being hit by an attack triggers movement suppression, just as making an attack does. Suppression for being hit by an attack is always the same duration. Any power with a negative impact on the target (including all debuff powers) is considered an attack.
  • Note that Teleport powers are completely disabled when suppressed.
  • Healing powers also trigger suppression.
  • The greater the base range of an attack, the longer the suppression for the attacker.
  • Teleport Foe and related powers in Gravity Control and Warshade powersets now grant 3/4 of a second “untouchable” flag on the target.
  • Resistance and defense powers have greater diminishing returns when stacked than in PvE, and lower caps.
  • Healing powers suffer from diminishing returns when several are used in a short period of time.
  • All Archetypes (except Tankers and Masterminds) have some default resistances to all attacks in PVP.
  • Unlike in PvE, defensive toggles do not suppress when you are held/stunned. This means that not only do the toggles not drop, they continue to grant defenses while the player is held/stunned.
  • Melee classes gain extra resistances to all debuffs and to movement slows. These bonuses are linked to the power in each set that gives status protection (Unyielding Stance, Wet Ice, Plasma Shield, etc.).
  • “Buffing” Archetypes (Defenders, Controllers, Corruptors, Dominators and Masterminds) have less ability to benefit from all buffing powers than other ATs (the powers have less effect on them, and their caps are lower).
  • Melee ATs gain more benefit from buffing powers than other Archetypes (the powers have greater effect on them, and their caps are higher).
  • Defeating enemies in PvP can award Influence/Infamy, Inspirations, and rarely Salvage, but no XP.
  • In general, there is no such thing as Status Protection in PvP, only Resistance. The exception is Knockback protection, since Knockback is a binary effect. The base durations of status effects are greatly reduced in PvP (generally 4 seconds for Controllers and Dominators, 2 seconds for all other Archetypes).

COMBINED NOTES
Powers
Toggle Power Change

• All Player defensive Toggle Powers should now “suppress” when you are Held, Stunned or Slept instead of shutting off. The toggles have limited or no functionality when in this state. If you are held while flying, for instance, if the power which held you does not also have a -Fly function, you will remain in the air. Status protection powers still provide Hold, Sleep and Stun protection, even while other defenses are suppressed.
• Offensive Toggles (those that damage or debuff, like Radiation Infection or Icicles or Rise to the Challenge) will still detoggle as before.

Ancillary/Patron Pools Expanded

• Many of these high level power pools have had a new power added at level 44, for a total of 5 powers in the pool. This power unlocks in the same way as the other level 44 power, and also count towards unlocking the level 47 power.

General

• Max status resistance cap for all Archetypes increased. This includes Holds, Stuns, Immobilizes, Sleeps, Terrorize, Fear, Confuse, Intangible and Untouchable.
• The most any powers range can be debuffed has been altered. Minimum Range is now 25% of normal range of the power. In other words, if the power has an 80′ range base, it cannot be debuffed lower than 20′.
• Removed duplicate visual FX from Holiday Rocket Pack Temporary Power.
• The sound effect for Energy Manipulation – Power Thrust was inadvertently changed and has been reverted to its original sound
• The Warburg Nuke Chemical Burn power now correctly states that it reduces the target’s defense and not accuracy in its long help.
• The “No Phase” state (the period of time after leaving a ‘phased’ state of invulnerability before you can enter it again) has been changed to allow you to phase/hibernate for 30 seconds, then disallow such powers for 90 seconds.
• Invulnerability/Unyielding: This power’s activation text should no longer state it reduces the user’s defense.
• Powers granted by the 54 month veteran badge no longer gain a bonus to damage dependent upon the character’s origin.
• The Goldbricker Rocket Pack will no longer function in areas or missions where temporary powers are disabled.
• Web Grenade: All versions of this power now accept slow enhancements and IO sets.
• The Run Speed increase from the Empowerment Station Buff will now correctly buff the player’s run speed directly instead of buffing movement buffs on the player.
• Trick Arrow/Ice Arrow: This power should now properly use the correct FX on a PvP target.
• Electric Blast/Short Circuit: Corrected help menu that stated that it drained endurance and gives it to the user. [This power does not grant endurance to the user.]
• Invulnerability set changes:
  • Unyielding – Removed Defense Debuff
  • Invincibility – Reduce per target Defense Buff to offset the change from Unyielding, no net gain
  • Resist Physical Damage – Add 25% Defense Debuff Resistance
  • Tough Hide – Add 25% Defense Debuff Resistance
  • Resist Energies – Add 25% Endurance Debuff Resistance.
  • Resist Elements – Add 20% Movement Slow Resistance
• Fiery Aura/Temperature Protection – Add 20% Slow Resistance
• War Mace set Changes:
  • Clobber

  Reduce Recharge Time to 16 seconds

  Alter damage scale and endurance cost to match recharge time using the standard formula.

  Reduce Stun Duration from scale 10 to scale 5.

  • Shatter – Reduce Max Targets from 10 to 5
  • Crowd Control – Increase Max Targets from 5 to 10

Tailor

• New Day Job themed costume items added, including Police Officer and a variety of civilian suits.
• Added the ability to save and load player-designed costume configurations to a file saved on the player’s computer.
• The Cyborg Pack Combat Auras will now be available at all levels for all players that purchased them.
• Many costume auras have been optimized for performance. There are also a lot of new combinations for auras that didn’t previously exist.
• Major changes to the supergroup costume color system. Most notably, each costume now has its own set of supergroup colors. We can bid a fond farewell to the days when changing your costume required entry to the supergroup color picker to repair the damage. Additionally, the supergroup color picker has been merged with the tailor screen, solving the problems associated with applying supergroup colors to wings.
• In the Tailor shop, you can check out how your costume looks when in Supergroup mode. Please note, you cannot load or save a costume when the tailor screen is in SG color picker mode.
• Fixed a cosmetic issue with the Cyborg ACCAHUD aura
• Custom Shields
  • The Talsorian Shield is unlocked by redeeming 100 Vanguard Merits at a Vanguard Merit station.
  • Roman Shields should be unlockable by earning the Centurion badge.
  • The Romulus shield is unlocked by defeating Romulus Nictus once.
  • The Romulus Nictus shield is unlocked by defeating Romulus Nictus 5 times.
  • The Rularuu Shield is unlocked by earning the Visionary badge or earning souvenirs from shadow shard task forces and story arcs.

NPC Critter Changes

• Freedom Corps Sonic Grenades are no longer irresistible.
• Circle of Thorns Cold Thorn Mage Reflections should now use their offensive powers once again.
• Banished Pantheon Masks now range in level from 20-30.
• Infected level range now extends to level 10.
• Tasks
• The Lost and Found story arc will now correctly award salvage for players that are significantly higher levels than the mission levels
• Players can no longer drop Mayhem and Safeguard missions

Bases

• All Supergroup Base room prices and Prestige costs have been rebalanced.
  • Rent has been substantially changed. Rent is no longer charged on a per-plot basis and is instead charged on a per-item basis for certain specific items.
  • Rent Items include all Storage, Empowerment stations, Medical auxes and 2nd or 3rd tier Worktables. It does not include basic Worktables, basic Medical, Control, Energy or Transport items.
  • Refunds for Base Plots, Base Rooms, and Base items will be issued if the price has changed.
  • Players must enter the base before a refund is generated.
• All base crafted items now use invention salvage. Base Salvage should only be needed in recipes that convert base salvage to invention salvage.
  • Base Salvage no longer drops.
• Base raiding is currently being redesigned, and will be in that state for some time. For the duration, all base raiding, including instant raids, will be disabled.
• Removed all raiding related restrictions on placing items in a base. Specifically, items may now intersect and or completely block door to door paths or door to item paths. This change will allow much greater freedom in placing objects in your base.
  • When raids are enabled again, players will be able to choose whether their base will abide by the new raiding-related restrictions.
• Added Teleporter Beacon for Pocket D.
• Added SG badge to access Pocket D beacon.
• Robo-Surgery can be attached to the Basic Reclaimator
• Spirit Signal can be attached to Resurrection Rings
• Base Salvage racks can now hold a limited amount of invention salvage.
• Any crafted items stored on a character in personal inventory will charge the new prices.

User Interface

• Character Selection Screen: Fixed the problem where re-ordering characters on one server would cause the character order data for other servers to be corrupted.
• Badge tracking User Interface window updated to allow sorting by category
• Contacts that are unlocked (through getting a badge or reaching a certain level, e.g.) automatically give you a pop-up box letting you know they’ve been unlocked and are added to your active contact list.
• Changed loading screen message to remove references to Base Salvage.
• Text is now selectable. There are new keyboard shortcuts related to text selection: Ctrl+X will cut the selected text and place it in the clipboard, Ctrl+C will copy the selected text to the clipboard, Ctrl+A will select all of the text where the cursor is, and Escape will clear a text selection. (These keyboard shortcuts cannot be customized by the user.)
• Text in the chat window is now reverse indented to prevent players from spoofing the chat of other players.
• In Options, a player may now choose to have their character earn No Experience.

Badges

• Corrected the badge descriptions of Task Force/ Strike Force challenge badges that referred to stature level 1 as being 1-15 to be 1-14.
• All badges, other than Invention badges, have had their hint text filled in with a greater amount of detail. All badges will explain how many foes need to be defeated and Accolades will explain which badges are needed to obtain them. Meters have been added to all badges where appropriate and badges that track more than 1 kill, event, etc. should now have help text.
• Reduced the amount of healing required to obtain the Empath badge from 1,000,000,000 to 100,000,000
• The Artisan, Master Artisan, Craftsman, Master Craftsman and Fabricator badges should now correctly have their status meter update when the character crafts enhancements.
• Defeating Contaminated will now fill your progress bar for the Isolator badge, which appears after the 15th Contaminated defeated.
• Fixed a bug where Banisher and Outlaw badges were not correctly granting.

Invention

• ToHit Buffs/DeBuff Common IOs should not state they buff or debuff Accuracy any longer.
• Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge was not marked as irresistible, which meant your slow resistance powers decreased its benefit. This has been corrected and is now marked properly.
• Set bonuses that state they increase “Movement Speed” will now boost the base movement of the character instead of enhancing movement speed boosting powers.
• Knockback Sets now improve Knockdown and Knock Up powers, instead of only Knockdown.
• Universal Travel Power enhancement sets can no longer be slotted into Sprint powers.
• Invention Origin enhancement sets that decrease the recharge time on a power should now correctly state +rech instead of -rech

Added new IO Sets and new IO Set Categories:

• PBAoE Damage
  • Eradication, Level 10-30
  • Obliteration, Level 30-50
• Hold
  • Basilisk’s Gaze, Level 10-30
  • Lockdown, Level 30-50
• Universal Travel
  • Blessing of the Zephyr, Level 10-50
• Recharge Intensive Pets
  • Call to Arms, Level 10-30
  • Expedient Reinforcement, Level 30-50
• Accurate Healing
  • Theft of Essence, Level 10-30
  • Touch of the Nictus, Level 30-50
• Accurate Defense Debuff
  • Shield Breaker, Level 10-30
  • Analyze Weakness, Level 30-50
• Accurate To-Hit Debuff
  • Cloud Senses, Level 10-30
  • Siphon Insight, Level 30-50

Chat

• Players should no longer receive messages from those that are Globally Ignored after they zone.
• Chat: Ctrl-C now copies whatever text is selected.

NPCs and City Zones

• There is a Reconnaissance Officer at the entrance to or just inside most hazard zones: Firebase Zulu; just inside the Hollows; at the Steel Canyon gate in Perez Park; in the Hive; Boomtown; in the Sewers; the RWZ base by the portal to the zone. The Recon Officers give you a rundown of the zone including history, known hostiles, and amenities (hospital, trainers, etc…)
• There’s now a jetpack temp power vendor in all the Shadow Shard zones and in Grandville.
• RWZ now has Invention crafting tables off to the side of Lady Grey (for villains and heroes).
• A base portal has been added to Pocket D.
• Trina the Seamstress (a tailor) is now in Pocket D’s VIP Lounge. Note: The VIP Lounge is only accessible for those that purchased the Good versus Evil Edition of the game or the Good versus Evil In-Game Item Pack.

CITY of HEROES Powers Blasters

• Cold Mastery – Added Hoarfrost as a level 44 power.
• Electrical Mastery – Added Power Surge as a level 44 power. New power similar to Force of Nature
• Mental Manipulation/Mind Probe: This power will no longer accept range enhancements. [Due to being a melee power]
• Munitions Mastery – Added Surveillance as a level 44 power.
• Psychic Blast/Psionic Dart: Changed short and long help description of this power from minor damage to moderate damage.
• Psychic Blast/Mental Blast Changed short and long help descriptions of this power from moderate to high damage.
• Normalized Projectile Speeds for Psionic/Psychic blast powers (generally faster).

Controllers

• Ice Mastery – Added Frost Breath as a level 44 power.
• Primal Forces Mastery – Added Energy Torrent as a level 44 power, knockdown version
• Stone Mastery – Added Seismic Smash as a level 44 power. Reduced damage.
• Plant Control/Fly Trap: Plant Control – Fly Trap – Fly Trap had its resistances set too low Resistances increased to intended levels

Defenders

• Archery/Aimed Shot: Changed attack speed from 1.67 to 1 second.
• Cold Domination/Heat Loss once again grants the correct amount of recovery per target.
• Dark Mastery – Oppressive Gloom – Increased Radius
• Dark Mastery – Soul Drain – Increased buff from first target. Minor decrease in buff from additional targets.
• Electricity Mastery – Added Shocking bolt as a level 44 power.
• Psychic Mastery – Added World of Confusion as a level 44 power.
• Vigilance will no longer increase the Defenders endurance costs when grouped with team mates with greater than normal Health values.
• Normalized Projectile Speeds for Psionic/Psychic blast powers (generally faster).

Peacebringers

• Peacebringers can now Activate Dwarf Form shape shifting while Held, Stunned, Slept or Terrorized.
• Peacebringers damage adjusted
  • Increased Melee Damage to 0.85 from 0.75
  • Increased Range Damage to 0.8 from 0.625
  • Increased Melee Dwarf Form Melee Damage to 1.0 from 0.85
• Luminous Blast/Radiant Strike: This power’s long help stated it dealt high damage; this was corrected to state that it deals Superior damage.
• White Dwarf form Taunt powers now have a 75% Range Debuff component. This will have the effect of forcing ranged attackers to move closer to the Taunter.
• Cosmic Balance now grants 10% Recharge Slow Resistance per Peacebringer, Warshade, Arachnos Widow or Arachnos Soldier on their team.
• Cosmic Balance bonus now applies in shapeshifted forms.

Scrappers

• Body Mastery – Focused Accuracy – Decreased to-hit buff, added accuracy buff. Provides a similar bonus in most circumstances in PVE.
• Claws – Corrected the Damage and Endurance cost on Shockwave (damage went up from 1.04 to 1.05 scale, while endurance cost is fixed at 11.56.
• Claws -Reduced Animation time of Slash from 1.5 to 1.33 resulting in a damage scale reduction from 1.4 to 1.32
• Dark Melee – Siphon Life recharge time reduced and damage increased
• Dark Melee – Midnight Grasp – initial damage increased and DoT duration shortened.
• Dark Melee – Soul Drain – Increased buff from first target. Minor decrease in buff from additional targets.
• Martial Arts/Dragon’s Tail: Corrected the critical hit portion of this power so that it is equal to the power’s normal damage.
• Weapon Mastery – Added Targeting Drone (Modified to work like Focus Accuracy) as a level 44 power.
• Weapon Mastery/Web Grenade: This power now correctly grants 10.00 fly protection on target, bringing it on par with other Web Grenade powers.
• Taunt powers in all Primary Scrapper Power sets now have a 75% Range Debuff component. This will have the effect of forcing ranged attackers to move closer to the Taunter.

Tankers

• Arctic Mastery – Added Shiver as a level 44 power.
• Dark Melee – Siphon Life recharge time reduced and damage increased
• Dark Melee – Midnight Grasp – initial damage increased and DoT duration shortened.
• Dark Melee – Soul Drain – Increased buff from first target. Minor decrease in buff from additional targets.
• Earth Mastery – Added Quicksand as a level 44 power, reduced debuff effect
• Energy Mastery – Focused Accuracy – Decreased to-hit buff, added accuracy buff. Provides a similar bonus in most circumstances in PVE.
• Pyre Mastery – Added Melt Armor as a level 44 power. Reduced debuff effect
• Taunt powers in all Secondary Tanker Power sets now have a 75% Range Debuff component. This will have the effect of forcing ranged attackers to move closer to the Taunter.

Warshades

• Warshades can now Activate Dwarf Form shape shifting while Held, Stunned, Slept or Terrorized.
• Warshades damage adjusted
  • increased Melee Damage to 0.85 from 0.75
  • Increased Range Damage to 0.8 from 0.625
  • Increased Dwarf From Melee Damage to 1.0 from 0.85
• Black Dwarf form Taunt powers now have a 75% Range Debuff component. This will have the effect of forcing ranged attackers to move closer to the Taunter.
• Dark Sustenance now grants 10% Recharge Slow Resistance per Peacebringer, Warshade, Arachnos Widow or Arachnos Soldier on their team.
• Dark Sustenance bonus now applies in shapeshifted forms.

Badges

• Heroes owning the Fire Marshal, Bomb Squad, PPD Deputy, Security Expert, Interceptor and Villain Disruptor badges should now award the Force of Justice Accolade. The Force of Justice Accolade does not grant a power.

Emotes

• Kheldians in Dwarf form will now be able to use the emotes from the Wedding Pack and the Super Booster I: Cyborg Pack

City Zones

• Linda Summers, Kings Row contact is no longer on the far side of Kings Row by the Galaxy City exit. Now she is over by Blue Steel. Paula Dempsey also got moved to the plaza at the Yellow Line ramp.
• Two basic stores added in Striga Isle. Smuggler Jimmie is on the docks in Port Noble and Smuggler Freddie is near Ernesto Hess. Both will sell basic inspirations and buy back enhancements, recipes, and salvage.

CITY of VILLAINS Powers Arachnos Soldiers

• Tactical Training/Assault: Corrected long help for this power to state that it grants resistance to placate and taunt, not protection.
• Arachnos Soldier pets will now be usable when completing story arcs in Ouroboros where only the use of Archetype powers has been selected.

Brutes

• Dark Melee – Siphon Life recharge time reduced and damage increased
• Dark Melee – Midnight Grasp – initial damage increased and DoT duration shortened.
• Dark Melee – Soul Drain – Increased buff from first target. Minor decrease in buff from additional targets.
• Energy Aura/Energy Drain – Modified Energy Aura’s Energy Drain heal aspect to have some healing ability. The heal is roughly 3% of your health per target hit.
• Leviathan Mastery – Added Arctic Breath as a level 44 power. This is a cone power with debuff effects similar to those from Freezing rain.
• Mace Mastery – Added Focused Accuracy
• Soul Mastery – Added Darkest Night as a level 44 power, reduced debuff effect
• Super Reflexes/Evasion: The brute version of this power will no longer have its defense affected by attacker’s level.
• Brute Taunt powers in all Primary sets now have a 75% Range Debuff component. This will have the effect of forcing ranged attackers to move closer to the Taunter.

Corruptors

• Leviathan Mastery – Added Hibernate as a level 44 power.
• Mace Mastery – Added Focused Accuracy as a level 44 power..
• Mu Mastery – Conserve Power added as a level 44 power.
• Mu Mastery/Summon Adept now accepts Pet Damage and Recharge Intensive Pet Invention sets.
• Soul Mastery – Power Boost added as a level 44 power.

Dominators

• Icy Assault/Ice Sword Circle: This power correctly accepts slow enhancements and IO sets.
• Soul Mastery – Soul Drain added as a level 44 power.
• Leviathan Mastery – Water Spout – Eliminated knockback and fear effect, reduced chance of knockup and stun.
• Leviathan Mastery – Hibernate added as a level 44 power.
• Mace Mastery – Personal Force Field added as a level 44 power.
• Mu Mastery – Power Surge added as a level 44 power. Identical to Force of Nature
• Psionic Assault/Mind Probe: This power will no longer accept range enhancements. [Due to being a melee power]
• Normalized Projectile Speeds for Psionic/Psychic blast powers (generally faster).
• Plant Control/Fly Trap: Plant Control – Fly Trap – Fly Trap had its resistances set too low Resistances increased to intended levels

Masterminds

• Leviathan Mastery – Knockout Blow added as a level 44 power.
• Mace Mastery – Power Boost added as a level 44 power.
• Mu Mastery – Thunderstrike (AOE version) added as a level 44 power.
• Necromancy/Lich – Liches Torrent power should now only do Knockdown, unless slotted with Knockback Enhancements, or otherwise buffed.
• Ninjas/Aimed Shot: Changed attack speed from 1.67 to 1 second.
• Robotics/Pulse Rifle Blast: This power can no longer be slotted with knockback enhancements as it doesn’t have a knockback component.
• Soul Mastery – Oppressive Gloom added as a level 44 power. Increased radius
• The Ouroboros Portal will now have a description in its info if selected by a Mastermind.
• All Mastermind Upgrade powers will now affect all henchmen within 30′ of the target henchman. Endurance cost for Upgrade Powers has been increased. It now takes approximately 45 endurance (reducible by enhancements) per upgrade power used.

Stalkers

• Claws/Shockwave – Corrected the Damage and Endurance cost on Shockwave (damage went up from 1.04 to 1.05 scale, while endurance cost is fixed at 11.56.)
• Claws/Slash – Reduced Animation time of Slash from 1.5 to 1.33 resulting in a damage scale reduction from 1.4 to 1.32
• Claws/Build Up – Applied the 20% recharge and endurance discount to Build Up. (Someone was kind enough to point out to me that this should really always have been there.)
• Claws/Eviscerate – Eviscerate is no longer a Cone attack. This means it has a 100% Crit from Hide chance and its damage scale increases from 1.99 to 2.23.
• Claws/Eviscerate – This power will now only accept single target melee IO enhancements.
• Dark Melee – Siphon Life recharge time reduced and damage increased
• Dark Melee – Midnight Grasp – initial damage increased and DoT duration shortened.
• Energy Aura/Energy Drain – Modified Energy Aura’s Energy Drain heal aspect to have some healing ability. The heal is roughly 3% of your health per target hit.
• Leviathan Mastery/Water Spout – Eliminated knockback and fear effect, reduced chance of knockup and stun.
• Leviathan Mastery – Hibernate added as a level 44 power.
• Mace Mastery – Disruptor Blast added as a level 44 power.
• Mu Mastery – Ball Lightning added as a level 44 power.
• Soul Mastery – Shadow Meld – New power added as a level 44 power., +20.25% def, 15 second duration, 90 second recharge)

Tasks

• Alan Desslock now gives a better explanation why you cannot get his final mission from him.

Badges

• The Bane of Danaan badge hint now displays correctly rather than showing up as ???

City Zones

• Breakout: Changed “Escaped Convicts” text to read “Zig Combatants” for the Breakout Tutorial
• New villain Respec Contact — Arbiter Sawyer in Port Oakes
• Added elevator markers to Grandville in similar fashion to Faultline
• Port Oakes got itself a Black Market.
• There is are new ‘Abandoned Labs’ (rows of Invention crafting stations) in Port Oakes and St. Martial.

Known Issues as of December 2, 2008 18.20081105.7T3

• There are issues with random and sporadic client crashing that we are currently working to fix on live.
• Players cannot make open trades without some cases resulting in storage errors. Players can make drag and drop trades, but should be aware of the surroundings and make sure to select the correct target. This issue appears to be limited to trading salvage, inspirations, or recipes.
• Renaming a character may result in lost Day Job progress. Any player wishing to change a character name should first log in on that character to update the progress before logging out to proceed with the name change. Please note that any CS action in game may result in lost Day Job Progress that will not be reimbursed. Please abide by our EULA in regards to player names.
• In the French and German versions of City of Heroes, players cannot move inside their bases. However, players may still access the base editing tools to make changes to the bases.
• Arachnos Soldiers that choose Crab Spider as either a primary or secondary build will not be able to remove the backpack from their costumes.
• Selecting the “Hide…Recipes missing ingredients” option in the Merit Vendor will affect the “Hide…Unowned Recipes” option in Invention Tables. This can cause players to believe they cannot purchase generic recipes from Invention tables because they have inadvertently hidden all unowned recipes.
• Changing chat bubble color through the Options menu will not change the appearance of the player’s chat bubbles in-game.
• The patron plaques have not been updated.
• After accessing a patron plaque once, the scrollbars for the window disappear for future accesses of both that plaque and the other plaques.
• The “Copy Current Colors Across Body” button does not function correctly unless a subcategory is selected.
• If unpinned, the Friends window will continually reopen when closed.
• The south and west walls of Supergroup bases do not allow players to change the height of objects while editing the base.
• The chat box may not always display a notification to inform players they have earned Merit Rewards.
• A rare bug can cause tells to appear with incomplete player names and messages.
• Shields/Costume: Lots of glove costume pieces clips into ALL/some shields.
• Art: Pocket D Super Group beacon is missing art.
• Costume: Female>Lower Body>Pants>Flared Pants are no longer available in the costume creator or tailors
• Global Chat Channel colors can change or rearrange randomly when zoning.
• Protector bots can get stuck on Seeker Drones.
• P-strings sometimes incorrectly appear in Hero Zone Event channels.
• Icon: Genin incorrectly do not show a buff icon after Train Ninjas is used on them.
• Mace art is missing for Arachnos Widows who acquire Patron Mace Mastery powers.
• Fly poses do not work with some toggle powers.
• To create a Villain Epic Archetype, players may need to log in with their Level 50 villain first, and then log back out to the log-in screen. Occasionally, access to Villain Epic Archetypes can be reset by a publish of a new build, server, or network maintenance.
• To create a Hero Epic Archetype, players may need to log in with their Level 50 hero first, and then log back out to the log-in screen. Occasionally, access to Hero Epic Archetypes can be reset by a publish of a new build, server or network maintenance.
• Ice Slick does not show up on Riktitileset.
• Mace art is missing for Crab Spider Soldiers who acquire Patron Mace Mastery powers
• Regeneration/Resilience lacking smashing resistance (it’s always had it)

Its too late for clever.. here are the patch notes

This post has the correct attachment – Episode 25!

This week we discuss

• Mids Joins Titan Network! Issue 12 Version Soon!
• Positron Broadcasts Live on MMORPG.com!
• There was Server Maintenance, Wednesday, May 28th
• May 28th Patch Notes
• Executive Producer Talks with MMOABC.com
• Community Digest is Fixed
• Stone Melee nerfage
• Twilight Guardian from Top Cow, written by Troy Hickman – Support one of our own!
  • Interview with Troy Hickman
  • Review of Twilight Guardian by Wizard Universe
• Calls for Cthulhu
• Promo: Parsec Awards

This episode was recorded last week but was delayed due to some technical difficulties (and minor construction at our base!)

We discuss;

• Ex Libris links to us on the official forums!
• We’re moving our studio around
• Blaster damage bug corrected
• Further veil fixes
• Clarification from Positron on the TF changes
• A new TF change on Test Server to address some of the gripes
• Main topic: Cryptic Studios Champions Online MMO now in development
• Feedback
• Hop into our new Character Gallery to see what our listener’s characters look like — and add your own!
• Promo: JC Hutchin’s Ultra Creatives Interview Series

• Changes to powers for various archetypes (lots for Forcefield Controllers, but some for tankers, blasters, and Kheldians)
• Information on “XP curve adjustments” to help with those tough levels
• The “combat attribute window” and “attribute monitor”
• The CoH Planner
• Changes to base storage tracking
• Some small changes to the User Interface
• Don’t forget – Double XP happens this weekend Starting Friday, February 8, 2008 at 8:59am PST / 11:59am EST and ending Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 8:59pm PST / 11:59pm EST
• Listener Feedback
• New Promo: Playing For Keeps

• Dates for the winter event
• Winterlord’s Holiday Extravaganza
• PERC Costume Contest earlier this year
• Justice Radio (not WOOT! Radio)
• Patch Notes
• Double Prestige boost goof
• Players Choice Awards
• MMORPG.com
• MMOSite.com
• Official COH Forums. Please note, on the podcast I said “forums.coh.com” but it is actually “boards.coh.com“
• The Guild
• New Voicemail Line: 206-338-2911
• So give a call, leave a comment here, or send e-mail to cohpodcast -at- gmail.com and tell us about either Player hosted events, or your SG/VG and we’ll pimp it on the podcast!