Cobalt Arachne

I'll check... But I want to say the hair on them are something weird, like a chest detail; Will verify though!

No, but I don't want to change that part because it's a unifying visual element I like; If they all are very distinctly different colors they stop feeling like a uniformed unit of the same force. I liked the suggestion somebody made for arm band coloration, so that's what I went with.

So! I'm thinking the following visuals for the most dangerous/high priority members of the Blackwing crew? The Phantoms have had their purple-ness bulked up and given green eyes to make them stand out. Then Medics, Phantoms, Ballistiers, Commanders, Coordinators, and Neutralizers will have distinct shoulder pad coloration to differentiate them more easily. Take a look below, let me know if we're feeling like this is enough to make them feel more distinct for Build 3. 🙂

All Focused Feedback threads have been updated with Build 2's changes. Thanks everyone for all your testing!

This Page? Unfortunately, I've only mapped out as far that it's worth looking into (Freakshow arms exist on all three body types, there's arm-less torsos for players already, etc) Next Page! I've already added looking into it to my to-do list... I need to investigate the existing NPC arms, confirm there's no compatibility issues with how the Freakshow arms might attach to player models when brought over to their sequencers, playerize them to take tinting color, and add them to the costume menu. Be aware, the player Freakshow arms would likely appear under the Robotic Arms options, and would work similarly to the new Awakened Torso. In that when you have Freakshow arms selected, you can not use any shoulder pads at all on them. It might also require a new category of double Robotic Arms that locks you into a glove choice, similar to the other option available. For the single-armed Freakshow option, you'd only be able to use Asymmetrical Shoulder Pads on the arm that is not a Freakshow arm. This all being, 'It seems doable in my head and I see no obvious issues for implementing it.', but since this is City of Heroes, something could be unexpected spaghetti and throw my idea out. TLDR; I'm aware of the demand for Freakshow arms, and will be looking into them for next Page, but that's not a promise until I've guaranteed they work. 🙂

Yes they were added, just missed on the notes; I've added a line about them in Build 2.

Are there existing female PPD officer models? If there are, I can certainly look into adding them for next Page's Aether goodies.

Hmm... It's not hard to tweak them. Which specific Blackwing enemies do you feel currently warrant immediate identification due to their threat level but currently don't have an outfit that makes it easy to do so? The PEACE Phantom LT is the only one that immediately comes to mind... The bosses and medic should be easier to tell apart. Otherwise, the single PEACE Engineer per spawn who looks like all the other minions was specifically designed to require ID'ing them before you pull, so their drone summon can be interrupted (works the exact same way as Sky Raider Engineers).

Mistakenly on the patch notes; That preset had issues and had to be shelved. Just fixed the notes.

Been made aware of a bug with the Remote Bomb/Temporal Bomb fix... I will look into it.

I'll look into proliferating the Excelsion theme out to every single power in Force Fields, shouldn't be that much extra work. 🙂

I can reverse lookup that string's ID and adjust it to mention both places.

Updated the notes here to match the clarified Open Beta notes: General - Task & Strike Forces The level bracket maximum of Task/Strike Force content is no longer enforced, except for Ms. Liberty and Lord Recluse's (Level 50+ only). Example: Previously the Manticore Task Force was always set at 35, but allowed 30+ characters. Now the Manticore TF's missions would be set at 30 if that's the leader's level, rather than 35+, and presenting those players with +5 or higher enemies.

No real reason, are there other powers that should get it? I'm not a powers developer, and I haven't played a Force Field character myself; I just grabbed the same powers that the NPC's use the new visuals for. Let me know! 🙂

Here you go! A freshly minted teaser image from content debuting in Issue 28, Page 3! Huh? ...Page 2? What do you mean, Page 2?🤨

This is WAI because the Recall Marker is an invisible pet, who warps you to it when it dies, and changing level causes pets to die.

We're investigating this issue... What level was the character who spawned these Rikti? Edit: We've identified the bug and how to fix it; We'll look into getting that resolved! 🙂

I've poked the admins, with any luck we can get the Anniversary event script running on Brainstorm in short order. Edit: The event is now running on Brainstorm!

Hah, it's a fun idea! 😄 Being truthful though, that badge with Becky has been a constant headache since we added it, due to the less-than-reliable nature of NPC pathfinding (I've been trying XYZ to get it working better for years, with ASF fixes as recent as i28p1!) If we ever did another badge like it, I would probably try to find a better way to implement it that doesn't cause so many support tickets about the NPC getting stuck. 😱

Will look into this, most likely a model definition mismatch in the FX. All fixed! Expect it to go live with Page 2. Thanks!

Yes, the fix for that bug should be in the next patch as well.

👀

I underestimated the foot traffic the event was going to see. 😵 We'll be moving Sigil, Kadabra Kill, and the Ouro crystal down to the main floor in Pocket D on *Friday with a fix patch, which should alleviate things.

Bug identified and fixed. Specific to the hero version of the mission due to the way encounters are handled when spawning alignment defined critters.

💟 Hello, Homecoming do-gooders, evil-doers, and other dimensional entities! 💕 Hey everyone, it's Cobalt Arachne! I'm one of the designers here on the Homecoming Team! Hope everyone is having a fabulous February! It’s that time of year again! Spring is a flingin' and to celebrate we’ve added a brand-new event mission! But beyond that, we’ve added a missing piece of City of Heroes history back to the game for the first time, allowing our players to experience what was a pivotal narrative moment in the series’ timeline! Tis the season and romance is the reason! Back during the Spring Fling event of 2008 (Wow… 17 years ago, crazy!), the development team running the game at that time organized a special live in-game event for players to experience a momentous occasion. The developers logged in as their signature characters for a special performance where two of the game’s NPC heroes, Manticore and Sister Psyche, were to be married, and they were going to let the players be a part of it. This was during the heyday of heroes vs. villains, so of course, the wedding would see the Arachnos bad guys interfere, and in the end the whole event devolved into an insane PvP free-for-all, with players having the opportunity to fight alongside and against the developers in a chaotic scrap. It was a unique experience, but one many remembered fondly but also one that many didn’t have the chance to experience, given the limited seating available and the short run of the event. Ah, good old 2008 screen resolution! @Arcanum brought forward a suggestion that we could re-create the wedding event in mission form, with the content added to the game in a way that could be experienced by those who weren’t players back then or didn’t have the opportunity to join the event when it was running. It was a fascinating and unique part of City of Heroes’ history, and we wanted to find a way to bring it back due to how limited the experience was originally. Since I myself also missed this event, the idea of recreating it and bringing it to life for everyone else who missed it to experience was particularly exciting, and I got to work right away on bringing the idea to life. Step aside Sela Vermont, Cobalt's organizing this timeline's wedding! With the idea in hand, I took the lead in designing a new mission experience that would emulate the happenings of the original wedding event, and in a fun way we could add to the game as part of this year’s Spring Fling event. For me, it was about ensuring two things: Faithful to the original event. Channeling the same fun/chaotic vibes. To ensure the first, we found an archived video on YouTube of the original event; From here I transcribed the wedding ceremony text and vows, this ensuring they had 100% historical accuracy. Everything Positron, Manticore, and Sister Psyche say during that ceremony is faithful to the original event. We even fished up the original special map version of Ouroboros that was used in the original and restored it for this occasion! Timelines? Time is not made of lines, it's made of circles! That's why Ouroboros is round! Next, to secure the second goal, after the ceremony we needed to recapture that element of instant chaos, with Lord Recluse appearing without warning and the whole event descending into a mad brawl! I wanted this mission to have something a little more unique, so I gave players a pair of AV helpers, which allowed for the mission design to lean a little more into the chaotic element by letting us have larger groups of enemies, since the AV helpers would ensure players didn’t run into completion issues. This helped in ensuring the vibe felt appropriate to the content! Wow! What a turn out! Seems like everyone was invited! Lastly, the Freedom Phalanx all received special wedding outfits for the original event, and not wanting the villains to feel left out, we gave the Arachnos elite their own brand new fancy outfits! After all, if you're going to crash your nemesis' super group's special occasion, a true super villain knows to do it in style! Evil never looked so fashionable! For those looking for something a little bit spicier at Level 50, might I recommend the team leader talking to Positron when they have both the Best Man / Maid of Honor + Wedding Crasher badges? There might be a dangerous surprise waiting in store! 💫 That's all for this Valentine's dev diary! It's our hope that everyone has fun with this year's Spring Fling event! Additionally, look forward to Issue 28, Page 2 and beyond, coming later this year! Everyone is working hard to create some really impressive stuff for our loyal heroes, villains, and Praetorians! 💌 Thanks for being awesome players, Homecoming! Here's to another year of City of Heroes in 2025! 💞