Cobalt Arachne

I don't believe that the x2 Boosters are the ONLY cause of the imbalances, just one of the various factors, it's a complex game with many facets. The team has been having on-going discussions regarding the difficulty of maintaining an SO build while leveling due to various factors. A bit off-topic now, can't say much else yet because decisions about that aren't made, but we're absolutely aware of that Influence deficit and are looking for solutions.

Disagree, that is not an alternative suggestion because it does not achieve the same goal. ATs are not roles. Simply bringing 5 different ATs does not promote healthier team composition balance because all five could technically be the same one or two roles.

If you've got alternative suggestions on any names that communicate the bonus's goal and function, I'd love to hear them! The name can be changed effortlessly, it's a single string to adjust; If somebody has a better sounding idea, please let me know. 🙂

That's fine, if you'd like to suggest an alternative solution to mine that would achieve the same design goals then go ahead I'd love to read it, otherwise I will disagree with you on your point. I believe our players are smart enough to understand the context of the game and know through common-sense that the main roles one is expected to perform when joining a team of strangers does not equate to them being the only things a character can possibly contribute.

As the designer, I spent the time creating the recipes, the mini pets models, and the drop system for the purpose of supporting the Giant Monster system and making it more rewarding for those who like fighting Giant Monsters, ending with it giving them a unique sourced drop they can market to other players. If you can get these rewards by doing non-Giant Monster content, that throws the entire purpose of this feature out the window. Giant Monsters are already one of the most popular activities in the game, despite the fact they reward very little for the relative time spent; So that doesn't really apply here.

Not a simple problem to solve due, one of the primary reasons that low level players are so poor is that Double Experience Boosters turns off their Influence gains and so, as a result, they have no money to buy SOs. Changing boosters is a very complicated/touchy affair, as they're already quite the controversial topic to begin with. We could suggest players not default to using the Double Experience Boosters if they want to earn Influence, but we sort of know how that goes because we're having the Influence problem in the first place.

I've added a level 50 dummy to the level ranged area, and also added dividers so that it's not possible to accidentally hit more than one with AoEs.

So let me explain the reasoning behind this free bonus: In most MMOs on the market, they function with the holy trinity of Tank / DPS / Healer. However, City of Heroes does not function this way, and rather has a more diverse set of roles that players take while playing on a team together. This new bonus is to help guide players who are unfamiliar with City of Heroes to the basic fundamentals of team building and archetype roles, and then giving a small reward to teams that are inclusive and bring every type of player role. Perhaps the name of the reward should be changed to 'Role Inclusivity Bonus'? From experience, chasing rewards can oftentimes work better than tutorials for guiding players to more natural success in their gameplay, so that's why this was decided. Lastly, it puts a little more Prismatic Aether into everyone's pocket for minimal effort, which helps new players by virtue of being able to convert it to influence on the AH which also stimulates the player economy and also teaches new players to utilize the AH while working on their characters. For a new player, a single Prismatic Aether could potentially fund their entire build on SO enhancements; Extremely valuable for somebody just starting out. FAQ: The roles were chosen so that the full classic team of all five Hero or Villain archetypes would complete the free bonus; This is reflected in the challenge icon. One role per AT for simplicity & fairness; There are too many ATs that would count for more and others that would count for less. Epic ATs count for three roles because their inherent powers all deal with teams, so this makes them extremely appealing for team invites and is in-line with their design goal. Corruptors are listed as Damage because their Inherent power, Scourge, only deals with doing more damage, not support. This free bonus was not in any way an attempt to sway or influence Advanced Mode team compositions; This free bonus reward is far too low to have any kind of impact on regular runners of that content. This free bonus is not an attempt to disrupt the City of Heroes element of 'any team can work', because while that's always been true... 'any team can work well' has never been a guarantee and there have been plenty of teams I've joined that have been rough experiences because the composition just wasn't considered while forming the team. While lopsided teams can always work, they shouldn't be considered the ideal or baseline experience to strive for giving our new players.

This would not work because it would mean that people who have amassed lots of Prismatic Aether in the past could simply buy hundreds of new pet recipes the moment the patch goes live instead of actually participating in defeating any of the newly re-tuned Giant Monsters. The point is to promote the new content, if people who have amassed currency from the past doing other activities can simply buy-in to new rewards without participating in the new content, that defeats the purpose of the incentive.

That's a fair concern! The dummies and training pylons are set to respawn within a few seconds; Let me know if they're not immediately respawning upon defeat. Instanced dummies... That's something we can look into but won't be Page 7.

There shouldn't be much difficulty in adding that; I'll look into it.

I'll look into getting this fixed. Thanks for the report!

There's a hard technical limitation there... All Aether costumes have to run on player sequencers, which is what allows them to execute and animate all powers that players can possibly access. For non-humanoid models, if they cannot activate a power because their sequencer doesn't have animation compatibility, the game will simply not allow the activation of the power at all. TLDR: Non-humanoid models cannot activate many player powers, which means they're not compatible as Aether costumes.

The surface's functional test dummies are tooled towards the level 50 player environment, which is typically when players are caring about/running number tests. At least personally, I haven't seen players who are still working on leveling that are also focusing much on their numerical benchmarks.

Lightning was an error on the patch notes; It's already been corrected to 'Murder of Crows'. Sorry for the mix-up!

The Clockwork Blaster setup currently only works for right-hands at this time but we'll be looking into expanding that to both hands.

The new currency was added as "bad luck protection" so that it's not possible for a player who wants a pet recipe to fight many Giant Monsters without ever getting one. For those who don't care about the pet recipes in any capacity, the conversion option was added so they can convert it to something else. Also the name of the salvage was already shortened to "Prismatic Aether", it's in the Page 7 patch notes.

It will be less noticeable in the costume editor but more so in-game when in dark locations. Try them out in Atlas Park at night and you'll notice the difference.

Future is looking bright!

🎃 Happy Homecoming Halloween! 👻

I learned that, unfortunately, the texture swap appears to be something that has to be patched manually, and since we didn't do any patches for Halloween this year, it was missed/overlooked. Something we'll have to account for in the future, thanks for prompting us to take a look.

I'll investigate this, I noticed myself they aren't there as well.

Those map changes happen during Eternal Night, which starts during the second half of the month.

The Fir Bolg, Ancient Vampire, and Arisen Mummy were seasonal costumes introduced last year. There aren't any new costumes for the Halloween event itself, but there will be new prestige costumes added later in Page 7.

Another autumn's October greetings to all you classy cape wearers & stylish schemers out there! It's almost time for a frightfully good spook! ...what time is that you might ask? Spooky season is once again upon us! Yes yes YES! 🎃 Get ready for the Homecoming: City of Heroes Halloween Event! 🎃 October 3rd - November 1st I wonder if I could rock a traffic cone and be stylish too? So, what does the Halloween event bring? I'm glad you asked! Each year, the fallen fae of the Unseelie Court attempt to invade our world by opening rifts when the spirit realm and the mortal realm are at their closest during the spooky Halloween season. Fortunately for us, they have been thwarted every year by the valiant efforts of Heroes and Villains who stop these spooky beings in their tracks! However, their persistence leads them to bolster their ranks if their attempts at world scaring are to succeed. The Unseelie Court's Hollow Reapers are ever-vigilant at seeking mystic methods to bring frightful fears! These reapers are using their spectral scythes to widen the rifts, allowing even more terrifying creatures of the night to invade when somebody is tricked whilst Trick-or-Treating! This can't be good... 🎃 What is there to do during the Homecoming: City of Heroes Halloween Event? 🎃 https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Halloween_Event Badges, Badges, Badges! There are a ton of event badges to be earned during the Halloween Event each year! Here's a list of all the badges up for grabs! https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Halloween_Event/Badges Zone Trick-or-Treating! https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Halloween_Event/Trick_or_Treat Go to any zone appropriate to your level range, click any mission door, and you'll be surprised with either a Treat reward or a Trick spook! 👻 Treats will reward a variety of things: Halloween costume temporary powers, these come in many flavors! Collecting many rewards badges! Halloween salvage that can be redeemed for an extra costume slot, a spider vanity pet, and more! Talk to the Halloween salvage vendor appropriate for you: Heroes: Annah in Croatoa Villains: Granny Beldam in Nerva Archipelago Praetorians: Acantha in Imperial City If you are wearing a costume power (Halloween or Prestige) while trick-or-treating, you can receive a Whispered Rumor tip mission that allows earning up to six badges! https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Mission:Tip_-_Whispered_Rumor Inspirations! Sometimes though, all you get is a rock... Tricks will spawn Halloween enemies! Worry not, as these enemies can be defeated for badges! Trick-or-Treating Elite Bosses! Five Elite Boss enemies that can spawn while Trick-or-Treating above Level 25! Ancient Vampires Spectral Werewolves Arisen Mummies Crone Matriarchs Hollow Reapers These spooky Elite Bosses will reward five-fold experience and influence for each one defeated! Have any alts that still need some levels? Haven't tried out that one goofy power set combo yet? Want to build a meta character for Advanced Modes? This would be a great opportunity to find some time to go Trick-or-Treating! Each of these Elite Boss mobs also count for the legacy defeat badges. Spectral Werewolves count as both werewolf and ghost defeats! These mobs spawn at a lower rate than other Trick-or-Treat enemies and were designed to be tough. For the best results, try Trick-or-Treating with a team or league! Looking for an efficient Trick-or-Treating spot? Might I recommend the motel near the hospital in Peregrine Island? 👀 Another year of dying to my own creations, I'm so proud / also working off a lot of experience debt... Halloween Event Badges! + Aether Rewards! Five badges for defeating each of the Trick-or-Treat Elite Boss types: Vampiric Heritage - Defeat 5 Ancient Vampires from the Halloween Event to earn this badge. Spectral Anomaly - Defeat 5 Spectral Werewolves from the Halloween Event to earn this badge. Mummy's Curse - Defeat 5 Arisen Mummies from the Halloween Event to earn this badge. Unholy Cabal - Defeat 5 Crone Matriarchs from the Halloween Event to earn this badge. Reaper of Souls - Defeat 5 Hollow Reapers from the Halloween Event to earn this badge. Not only that! But each of these elite boss badges also rewards 2 Prismatic Aether Particle salvage as a bonus, for a grand total of 10 possible on each character! Wow! You can earn progress for these badges at any level, but must be Level 25 to claim the badge / salvage rewards! Buy some costumes! Save up for something fancier! Or just sell it on the AH and rake in some inf! Costume Goodies! Fancy any of those Halloween costumes and wish you could keep them permanently? If you earn all five of elite boss Halloween defeat badges and claim the rewards, you'll have enough Prismatic Aether currency to purchase one permanent Tier 1 Prestige Costume of your choosing from any of the BenevoLabs vendors found at Vault Reserve locations! Nice! The Halloween Salvage vendors are also offering a limited-time Fir Bolg, Ancient Vampire, and Arisen Mummy Prestige Costumes which are available for the entirety of the month of October each year! These Halloween prestige costume costs 10 Prismatic Aether Particles + 50 of each of the four Trick-or-Treat Halloween salvage types. Zone Giant Monster Hunts! https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Halloween_Event/Giant_Monsters For the duration of the Halloween Event, you can find the giant monsters, Eochai and Jack-in-Irons, randomly throughout standard zones! The pair are worth an exclusive badge for the first time defeating each, but every time they're defeated grants 6 Reward Merits to everyone who participated! After being defeated, another Eochai or Jack will respawn somewhere in the same zone shortly afterward, so if you search the zone, they can be defeated many times repeatedly for lots of Reward Merits! Eochai: "I will be sure and 'squash' all of these mortal interlopers!" Zombie Apocalypse Zone Invasions! https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Zombie_Apocalypse Keep an eye on the Zone Event channels! Frequently during the Halloween Event's runtime, zones will be attacked by a Zombie Apocalypse! During this event, waves of zombies will spawn anywhere there are players and can be defeated for badges and experience! Group up somewhere with a lot of allies and mow down zombies for rewards! Don't stand too close to Police Drones though! Deadly Apocalypse Zone Events! https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Deadly_Apocalypse Keep an eye on the Zone Event channels! If a spooky fog and four banners roll in, it's time for a Deadly Apocalypse! In this event, players must coordinate to defeat enemies simultaneously at all four Banner locations marked on the map. As the Banner's defenders are defeated simultaneously at all four locations, the protection on the Banners will gradually weaken. Remember if there aren't people at all four banners fighting, you won't be able to make any progress! Eventually, the Banners will become vulnerable, and players can destroy each one for a total of four badges! Once all four Banners have been destroyed, a Greater Mystic Aspect giant monster will spawn somewhere in the zone! If defeated they will reward players with another badge and choice of a temporary power! Dr. Kane's House of Horrors Trial! https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Dr._Kane's_House_of_Horror Grab four allies and queue for the Dr. Kane's House of Horrors Trial from the Looking For Group (LFG) tab on your chat window! Face lots of spooky enemies and earn plenty of badges in this short trial that's only available during the Halloween Event! Tip: Prestige costumes also count for the 'Tricked Out' badge criteria! Atlas Park Zone Makeover! https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Atlas_Park_Seasonal_Changes#Halloween During the Halloween Event, Atlas Park will get a spooky makeover! Enjoy the change of scenery while it lasts! Eternal Night! For the last two weeks of the Halloween Event, starting on October 17th, most zones will be covered by an eternal night! If you're interested in hunting for enemies that only spawn at certain times of the day like the ghosts in Croatoa! This is a great chance to get those badges! That's everything for Halloween this year! We hope everyone has a grand & spooky time playing City of Heroes! 🎃 Thanks Homecoming for being such awesome players! 🎃