The Sex Machine : Home : City of Heroes/Villains (COH) SuperTeam Site at GuildPortal

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.
Day Job P-strings may be visible in some cases.
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)

Issue 13 PvP Powers Changes
By Floyd “Castle” Grubb

Hello again everyone. Last time, I told you about the PVE powers changes we have planned for Issue 13. This time, we're going to talk about PvP.

Player vs. Player combat (PvP) is a fun topic. Currently, we have a small portion of our players actively engage in PvP on a regular basis. We think this is in part due to problems in how PvP is implemented in our game. We want to take some steps to help make Player vs. Player encounters more attractive to a larger group of players, while at the same time opening up more "character build" options for the existing dedicated PvP players. This is a challenging issue to tackle, given the scope of the proposed changes, but we feel the time is right to address these issues.

Our first step was to look at what archetypes (AT) were actually doing in PvP. What we found was there are two distinct different PvP categories: Zone PvP and Arena PvP. This isn’t very surprising, since we originally wanted there to be differences between the two. However, the actual differences were different from what we'd initially planned. Zone PvP was less hyper specialized and formulized than Arena PvP. Zone PvP is more open to new PvPers, but more likely to see the new PvPer 'griefed' and driven out of the playzone (often, never to return.) Arena PvP by contrast, is much more civil but has a huge barrier to entry -- if your character isn't up to par, you are not likely to contribute much.

We wanted to spend time working on revamps for the existing PvP zones; but due to the massive amount of work involved we’ll need to address this in a future release. That meant that we had to focus almost entirely on Base Raids and Arena PvP. We did a lot of work on Bases, Raiding and the Cathedral, but we have to save that for later -- those are all works in progress for a future update. Arena PvP, though, was a self contained area which could be isolated and worked with. It also provides an excellent testbed for Base Raids, since the two are at least in the most basic terms similar. That's where we focused our attention.

We began by looking at the disparities that existed, and discussed how to address them. Ultimately, we decided that in order to allow better competition between the AT's and powersets, we needed to take some drastic measures. We decided that a different rule set needed to apply in PvP than in PvE. By changing the basic rules, we hope to encourage a greater variety of character builds in Arena PvP, and ultimately in Base Raids and Zone PVP.

At the core, many of the power effects are the same: Heals still heal, attacks still deal damage, and holds still hold. However, the new system makes a number of adjustments that should be friendlier to a wider range of AT's and skill levels. The goal is for players to be able to bring any AT and powerset combination into PVP and to be competitive and have fun! Furthermore, with the Issue 13’s Multiple builds feature, players can design a PvP specific build and not have it affect their normal character.

There are still a number of balance factors which we are working through; the prevalence of Phase Shift type defenses, "caging" and "Spiking" to name a few. These are things we are working on in the beta process to find the correct balance.

So, without further ado, here is the list of the current changes and how they were implemented. Please keep in mind that there is still more testing and tuning to be done.

Diminishing Returns
Nearly all attributes characters have are now subject to Diminishing Returns. The specific numbers vary from attribute to attribute, and from class to class (it's easier to Buff Resistance and Defense on a Tanker, than on a Blaster.)
* In general, a single buff will have near full effect, while additional buffs begin to offer less and less benefit. Example: Under the old system, Aim + Build up might provide a combined 67% To Hit buff, while under this system it provides a combined 49% To Hit Buff.
* The calculation is based on the sum of all buffs, so the order the buffs are applied in does not matter.
* It is important to note that the Real Numbers tool will not always report the results of diminishing returns accurately, at least initially. This is specifically true of Damage Buffs, which always display the Pre-Diminished value.

Melee Attacks
* Changed Melee Range to 7'. Since this is essentially a buff, this effect will be present in PVE as well.

Travel Powers
* PvE Travel Suppression continues to work as it has since it was introduced. PvP Travel Suppression will be handled differently, however (see below.)
* All Teleportation and Summonable Teleportals are Disabled while PvP Travel Suppression is active.
The Duration of Movement Suppression in PvP is now variable based on the most recent suppression event applicable to the character. In case of multiple events applicable on the same server tick, only the longest value is applied.
Suppression events are:
Activating a foe TargetedRange (range > 7') damaging Power: 3s * Sum of damage scales.
Example1: Power Bolt has a damage Scale of 1.0 (0.1 + 0.9) resulting in a Suppression Duration of 3 seconds.
o Example2: Power Burst has a damage scale of 2.12 resulting in a Suppression Duration of 6.39 seconds.
* Activating a foe Targeted Melee (Range >0' && Range => 7') damaging Power: 2s* Sum of damage scales.
o Example1: Swipe has a damage scale of 0.76 resulting in a suppression time of 1.52 seconds.
o Example2: Eviscerate has a damage scale of 1.99 resulting in a suppression time of 3.98 seconds.
* Activating a foe targeted Range debuff or control power: 3.5s
* Activating a foe targeted Melee debuff or control power: 2.5s
* Placing a Location Based Entity: 4s
* Activating a self or friend targeted Heal power: 4s
* Activating a Friend targeted Buff power: 4s
* Being the target of an attack: 2s

Control Powers
Control power changes are fairly extensive. The goal here was to make control effects less binary in nature. The shorter durations of status effects, combined with the change from status Protection to Status resistance means that these powers will now how impact on a PvP situation more frequently, but are no longer quite as severe a deciding factor.
* For Controllers: Change Duration base to 4 seconds for Stun, Sleep, Hold, Immobilize, Terrorize, Confuse, Untouchable, Intangible attributes. Duration of Status Effects (Hold, Sleep, etc.) no longer scale by level; instead they have fixed base durations.
* For Dominators: Change normal control Duration base to 4 seconds for Stun, Sleep, Hold, Immobilize, Terrorize, Confuse, Untouchable, Intangible attributes. Duration of Status Effects (Hold, Sleep, etc.) no longer scale by level; instead they have fixed base durations. Change Domination control Duration base to 4 seconds for Stun, Sleep, Hold, Immobilize, Terrorize, Confuse, Untouchable, Intangible attribs. Duration of Status Effects (Hold, Sleep, etc.) no longer scale by level; instead they have fixed base durations. Change Magnitude bonus from +3 to +1.
* For ALL OTHERS: Change control Duration base to 2 seconds for Stun, Sleep, Hold, Immobilize, Terrorize, Confuse, Untouchable, Intangible attributes. Duration of Status Effects (Hold, Sleep, etc.) no longer scale by level; instead they have fixed base durations.
* For Tankers: Change Taunt to a fixed 6 second duration.
* For Scrappers and Brutes: Change Taunt to a fixed 4 second duration.
* For the Manipulation Pool: Change Taunt to a fixed 4 second duration.
* For Stalkers: Change Placate to a fixed 10 second duration.
* For VEATs: Change Placate to a fixed 4 second duration.

Buff and Heal Powers
* A Heal Event now imposes a 25% Resistance to further heals on the character, regardless of source. This Resistance to heals will last for 15 seconds, and stacks with itself. This means that if you are healed 4 times, no further healing will affect you until the resistance duration ends.
* Status Protection attributes for all statuses except Knockback and Knock up changed to Status Resist. For example, a Tanker running Unyielding at level 50 has 12.975 points of protection in PVE, while in PVP he has 129.75% Hold Resistance. That will convert an 8 second hold into a 3.48 second hold.

Damage Powers
* Powers now calculate damage based on their activation time, instead of their recharge.
* Lower activation time powers get a slight bonus to damage, due to chaining low damage powers being difficult in PvP.
* Longer Recharge time powers also get a slight damage bonus, so higher level powers with long recharge times deal extra damage.
* Damage has been adjusted for all AT's, reducing the damage gap between each AT.

Resistance Powers
* Each AT now recieves a bonus resist buff while in PVP, in order to set each AT closer in overall survivability. This resist primarily reduces up the gap in hitpoints between lower hitpoint AT's and higher hitpoint AT's
* Epic armors and Tough (Pool Power) now provide resistance to all damage types while in PVP.
* Any armor set lacking a type of resist or defense will now provide it while in PvP zones.

Taunt Powers (NOTE: These changes are effective in PVE as well! They are essentially accross the board buffs which should give greater crowd control ability to those who possess these power.)
* Add 75% Range Debuff to Tanker Taunt (full aoe)
* Add 75% Range Debuff to Scrapper Confront (and equivalents.) These remain single target.
* Add 75% Range Debuff to Brute Taunt/Confront powers. The Range Debuff should have radius outer set to 0 so it only affects the main target.

Classes Tables
* Increased MAX RESIST value for all status effect attribs. This means status resistance effects will have more meaning. This also affects PVE.
* IncreaseRange STR MIN value to 25%. This means no player or critter powers range can be decreased to more than 25% of its original range. So, an 80' attack can never be debuffed below 25'. This also effects PVE.

So, there you have it. A whole slew of changes for you to chew over, plan around...and test on the Training Room! We still have a lot of testing and tuning to do. While our initial playtests are showing these changes to be fun, we’ll ultimately look to broader playtests to validate the changes.

Here's hoping you all enjoy it!
Floyd 'Castle' Grubb

Good morning! When we announced Issue 13: Architect a couple weeks back, we were overwhelmed by the positive response. Much of the feedback was centered around the Mission Architect system which allows players to create their own missions and story arcs. We have been actively following forum threads and private messages about the feature, and have even discussed it with players in person at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle.

It became apparent that you guys really want this feature, but in order to fully realize your dreams of writing your own missions you need creative control in one more key area: The ability to create “customized” characters to fight with or against in your missions. Adding custom characters has always been on our Mission Architect feature list, but we had considered it a “stretch goal.” That is, we could launch the system without this feature because our confidence was high that the rest of the system was incredibly robust.

But after listening to you guys, we realize that this feature simply must be in at launch. You have convinced us that it is an integral part of the Mission Architect, and we have reworked schedules and timelines to accomplish this. Rather than push the launch of Issue 13 out completely for one (albeit really cool and very complex) feature, the Mission Architect is going to see a slight delay. What is not going to be delayed is the rest of Issue 13. To that end, the previously announced feature set for Issue 13, together with new features that we are announcing today, will become Issue 13 and Issue 14.

Issue 14 will take on the name "Architect" and contain the Mission Architect feature along with other features we'll announce at a later date. We are planning Issue 14: Architect to be released Winter of 2009. Issue 13 is now called "Issue 13: Power and Responsibility" and be launched in the Fall of 2008.

Issue 13: Power and Responsibility
Issue 13: Power and Responsibility will contain the bulk of features we've announced previously, including:

• Shield and Pain Domination powersets
• Merit Reward system
• Day Jobs (that include a suite of new costume pieces)
• Additional Cimerora and Midnight Squad mission arcs

In addition, we have some other new exciting features to reveal that will be included in Issue 13: Power and Responsibility. These include:

• Leveling Pact
• Multi-Builds
• PvE & PvP Powers rebalancing
• Villain Patron Power Respec
• Supergroup Base Repricing

Over the coming weeks we’ll be providing more details about the above points, but let me give you an overview of some of them now.

The Leveling Pact: A new innovation to MMOs, this groundbreaking system allows you and a buddy 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 buddy plays ten times more often than you do! It’s sort of like “Extreme Sidekicking.”

Multi-Builds: Another innovation to City of Heroes, we are delivering the ability to have two different build-outs of each character, including which powers are selected and which Enhancements are slotted. This will now be possible for characters who want to take advantage of it. By visiting any Trainer you can switch the entire build of your character to an alternate one. You can use this separate build for whatever you like. If you wish to use different power selections for soloing and groups, you can do that. This even makes it possible to have different IO sets slotted for PVP and PVE. It’s up to you.

PvE and PvP Powers Rebalancing: Floyd “Castle” Grubb and the powers designers have been hard at work in finding ways to strike a better balance between the many powers in the game. The scope of what they are doing is too broad to go into details here, but we're very excited and we’ll share more information soon. Suffice it to say that we know that you don’t want your PvE powers adjusted because of how they play in PvP, so we’re taking a new tact in power balancing with Issue 13.

Summary
Issue 13 was so big we had to turn it into two releases, Issue 13: Power and Responsibility and Issue 14: Architect. Issue 13 will be going into beta soon and launching this Fall. It will include most of the previously announced features of Issue 13, and then some. Issue 14: Architect will include the full-featured Mission Architect and is scheduled to launch to the live servers in Q1, 2009. I am really looking forward to getting Issue 13 into your hands as soon as possible, and starting off a kick-[censored] 2009 with the release of Mission Architect.

Matt "Positron" Miller
Lead Designer, City of Heroes/Villains

A GM from Age of Conan gets fired for cybering....with another dude.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/08/conan_gm_cybersexes_troll_with_predictable_results-2.html

Response (Mitch) - 07/01/2008 05:01 PM
Hello,

We have reviewed the names you have responded with, and we are happy to report that your supergroup has been assigned the first appropriate name on your list available on your server. The supergroup previously known as "GenericSG001" has been renamed to "The Original SM".

We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter. Thank you and take care!

I know it sucks, we all loved our name and are Sex Machine at heart, but at least we have a name now.