City of Heroes: Issue #5 Preview, part 2

Once again, we return to Jason Schachat's extremely complete guide to the new update coming to City of Heroes. He has some speculation here, but you know what? I trust him. He's a catgirl and I'm not.

We are so screwed up here.

The badges discovered so far are Corsair and Spectral.

Though the Corsair events are supposed to actually be Special Events (i.e. limited) rather than Zone Events, they're probably a part of Statesman's event-filled Croatoa smorgasbord.

"All the big stuff is around Croatoa. There are new contacts, missions, task forces and the like all taking place in the zone. We used Striga as an example when it came to content, so expect the same level of detail. We are working on more raid-style content, but that is not ready for I5."

Fire Chief, Firefighter, Volunteer Firefighter

In “Ask Statesman – Issue #6” it was revealed that non-combat missions – saving citizens from a fire specifically – are on their way. Considering we saw some odd buildings on fire in Steel Canyon when I4 went on test, you can bet this is coming in I5.

Statesman teased us with news that "...the Hellions have taken up arson as a new past time, and the Paragon Fire Department is looking for a few good Heroes to help out."

And the following dialogue exchanges have been "mined" from the game:

That new advanced pack would involve the new extinguisher, "the Fire Fighter 3000, developed by Positron, (that) uses a potassium bicarbonate powder to smother flames. It has 15 charges."

Troll Raver Roundup, Troll Supasmasher
Concerning the Troll event, Statesman revealed, "it seems that the Trolls have a new supply of Superadine, and they are having HUGE parties to celebrate... parties that have unfortunate consequences for the citizens of Skyway."

But this still doesn't explain the current "wars" in the Hollows, where actual NPC vs. NPC fighting can be triggered in certain large Troll/Outcast conflicts ala the 5th Column/Council war.

A tweak to the XP debt system will occur. The “debt free” level range will be extended from 1–5 to 1-10. Also, the amount of debt incurred with be halved when the hero is on a mission map.

Store locations will be added to all zone maps.

Some sort of change may be made to controllers. States has been saying that they have been looking at controllers for a while now. Whether it will be a buff or "nerf" is anyone's guess.

Statesman says, "Pre-32 Controllers are too hard... we are still in the process of testing things right now, but you should expect that ALL controllers, regardless of level, will gain more non-pet offense. Controllers - ALL of them - are being evaluated for I5."

New objectives or methods for winning in the arena.
Many players have suggested things from fighting monsters/AVs to introducing lava pits for players to fall into. Statesman has been very open to suggestion on this, and he genuinely seemed to like the ideas. However, there is no guarantee the Arena will be tweaked at all in I5.

From Statesman: "We are looking into all sorts of things to make the Arenas more appealing to players. We are currently designing some fun mini-games for a wider variety of players to enjoy. More than just straight up PvP."

Some kind of improvement made to Blasters.
Many have complained that Blaster damage does not scale up well enough, especially in the post 40 game, and States has promised to look into it.

Statesman agrees, saying, "big problem areas: Blasters being too squishy..."

Possible:

Some sort of improvements made to Peregrine Island, "Eden", the Rikti Crash site, and other high level zones. This might include a new travel system to make getting to and from these zones easier.

Statesman's words were, "we're making a few changes to make Shadow Shard and Crash Site more accessible. For instance - putting a teleporter in Peregrine Island so that player 40's can get to and from easily."

As for new accolades, we have no proof they will go live any time soon (or if the info on them is even correct), but we do have some recently discovered Accolades, including...

Unlikely for Issue 5 but things we will still see in the future:

New costume options.
One of the City of Heroes community members reported that he had talked to some of the development team at a convention, and they hinted at more costume options coming in I5. This is far from certain.

More new powersets.
While they have not been hinted at for release in I5, there are numerous powersets that people have been asking for. In the past the dev team has confirmed that these sets are being worked on, or at least considered. This list includes Plant Control, Magnetic Control, Street Fighting (Scrapper), Bo/Staff (Scrapper), Shield (Tanker), and Pistols (Scrapper).

Quoth the Statesman, "we have bows for Blasters and Defenders... shields is still a ways off though; it's a LOT of specialized animations. I'd love to see more weapons like quarterstaffs and lances become powersets of their own as well someday."

The new skills system.
Not much is known for sure about this, but it will probably create alternative ways to completed mission objectives, and/or create a form of "crafting" that would fit well into the CoH universe. Heroes will learn and perfect these skills at the University, which will have three campuses around the city (in a similar fashion to the arena). These "schools" are currently under construction on Live following I4.

Note: I moved this one from 'Confirmed' to 'Unlikely' in compliance with Statesman's recent comments. It still seems highly suspect to have construction sites going for multiple Issues, but we can all understand how complicated implementing skills might be.

The probable skills include Accuracy, Chemistry, Computers, Engineer, Forensics, History, Idea Cost, Idea Regen, Language, Medicine, Mysticism, Recharge Rate, Security, Streetwise, Tracking, Underworld and Wisdom

For some reason, Streetwise and Underworld have the same icon. Kinda iffy.

Four other sets have been included in previous lists but have been removed in the update that included the new icons (or modified to become new skills):

Theories on acquiring skills have ranged from needing to trade inherent power slots to acquire them to simply choosing a "skill AT" you will develop. What IS clear is that skill checks will add a whole other dimension to the game and its storytelling devices.

The current plan is to have challenges rated on a three point scale which would go as follows:

Routine: "A Routine Skill check should be do-able by any character with some ability in the related Field"

Ambitious: "An Ambitious challenge is easily do-able by any character with the right ability in the related Expertise"

Daunting: "A Daunting Challenge should be difficult, even for a person with the proper Expertise"

To balance this out, we'll be getting the new skill inspirations.

New zones for high level players.
People want something done about crowding in Peregrine Island.

New end game content.
Statesman has hinted at more massive encounters like Hamidon, but the devs may have something else up their sleeve.

Statesman has commented, "The largest challenge the Hamidon offers is coordinating enough heroes to bring it down. The actual encounter itself is rather easy. ..You hit the nail on the head. High end encounters should not be about coordination, but more about cooperation and more than a little bit of luck. We want to design high end encounters that make the players pump their fist in the air when they finally emerge victorious. I'm right now contemplating 'end game' things..."

"There's going to be some more 'tough' critters, like Hamidon (though not as big as Hamidon), coming soon. More importantly, however, is that we come up with something that is ALWAYS fun - that's not a grind - for 50's. My priorities have been this...

Exploration - check (badges)
Definitive goals - check (capes and ongoing f/x)
Out of combat activities - check (skills)
player housing - check (bases in CoV)
PvP - check (the Arena and CoV)

End Game...I'm a HUGE kaiju fan (giant monsters). I collect all the figures, the theatrical posters, etc. (Derek vouches for this -- he's been in Statesman's office) I've got Godzillas from the past two movies all around my office. And a Godzilla: Final Wars mousepad."

A new Epic AT.
There are conflicting reports as to whether we will get a new one in I5, but the general consensus seems to think it will be later on. According to one poster on the City of Heroes boards, Statesman said the Epics have been delayed until after the release of CoV. The Epics include the Coralax, Avilan, Incarnate, and Blood of the Blackstream. Methods for unlocking them are unknown, but States confirmed that it will be something different from reaching level 50 (possibly a TF or accolade).

"The winged AT is still a bit off," he offered.

Manticore has added, "Please remember that Statesman has had a long career. Although he began as a Tanker his powers have evolved to Incarnate status," perhaps implying that certain new ATs may build upon current ones rather than force you to restart from square one. Aside from that, a few primitive prototype images are all that has been pilfered from the game concerning Winged ATs.

Weapon and power customization.
The devs have set no date for this, and it appears to be quite difficult to implement. The current plan is to let players change the colors and animations of powers, and change the look of weapons. Other changes have been suggested, including sound and relocating the point on the body where a power comes from.

Trenchcoats!

Vehicles as a powerpool, or perhaps a completely separate new way to get travel.
Statesman commented, "my current thinking is that Vehicles wouldn't be a Power Pool, but rather something that could be leveled up independently and customized via Influence. But nothing is imminent here - I've only sketched out ideas."

Personal bases.
This will be coming with the CoV expansion and it will allow SGs to purchase and customize a base, completely with some form of vault to keep valuables. The valuable include "objects of great power" that will somehow give an advantage to the group that has them. The bases will also allow for raids between player heroes and villains, as well as players villians attacking other villains.

An underwater zone and space zone.

"Reward clothing."
Personally one of my favorite future additions, this will bridge the gap between CoH's unnoffical no loot policy and the playerbase's desire to have unique items as a reward. This feature will create special and unique items to be worn by heroes; presumably they will not give any stat or performance boosts, but they should look damn cool. It is unknown whether they will be dropped like traditional loot or only found in missions objectives and as accolades.

Swinging as a travel power, a la Spiderman or Catwoman (who sometimes uses a whip to swing between rooftops and out of moviegoers' hearts forever).

An archnemesis system.
This would allow a villain to constantly plague a hero, complete with a storyline that spans the entire game. These villains could be customizable and certains aspects of them could be "traded" (according to an interview with Statesman).

One new power for every powerset.
This is coming, but there is no estimation whatsoever.

One new power for each powerpool.
Same as above.

Reportedly States is considering a Respec Trial for level 50s, and this would give heroes at the cap an unlimited amount of respecs to play around with.

NOTE: The categories are fairly accurate but certainly not ironclad. Something under "Unlikely for I5" could very well be in Issue 5 after all.

A big thanks to the player named Irish Wolfhound for his help with research, even though he is a stinking canine.

Earlier City of Heroes coverage:

The Fifth Column vs. The Council

Interview with The Statesman, Jack Emmert

Review of the game

Jason Schachat