BZRKR

With regards to leadership on Tanker/Brute/Scrapper/Etc: Most of the armor sets have Mez types that they do not protect against. IF you find that you have room in your build, some leadership toggles will help cover these (from the hcwiki): Assault Toggle PBAoE Team +DMG Res(Taunt, Placate) Tactics Toggle PBAoE Team +ACC Res(Confuse, Fear) +Perception Sure they may be edge cases, and it's sometimes fun as a Tanker to get confused 🙂 but don't dismiss Assault and Tactics without considering everything they offer.

This gives me an idea! What if we used Ouroboros to travel to FUTURE versions of the hazard zones where high level enemies threaten to take over unless we can shift events in that given timeline? Stuff like: A Shivan Meteor landed in Boomtown, which became the center of their conquered territory. Missions could be given by a rag tag group of Vanguard and Hero Corps survivors. The Sky Raiders have acquired Praetorian IDF technology and used their strength to take over the whole of Terra Volta for themselves. What are they up to with a whole city's worth of power in their grasp? Working with their Rikti allies, Arachnos scientists have unlocked a way to control the Hydra and have been working to mutate them into something even more horrific. Waves of stronger and stranger Hydra are set to boil forth from the Abandoned Sewers.

I like it too, as it would also be an elegant way to get all of the Mercs into throwing range of a target. And the image of every Merc stopping what they are doing and making a coordinated attack just screams "trained and disciplined combatants".

These are the exact kind kinds of QoL improvements that I'd like to see if VEATS ever get a QoL pass. Bon Travail!

RE: Colored Zone Text Big Thumbs UP! I like the color choices as is, but would not be mad if the Shadow Shard was a slightly bluer purple (but I do like that they are easily differentiated.) I like that the Rogue Isles zones are orange so that Red is still available for other uses (such as some kind of "Long Range Teleporter System Outage" event, or to show what zones of the Cities are being attacked by Battalion or whatever).

Yes, absolutely. Setting aside the non-Tankers, I have a squeaky new Shield/EM that I'll probably play up through the low levels to get a feel for new EM and a Bio/Mace tanker that I feel deserves more attention after Galaxy Brain's recent post. How exactly one should maximize Bio Armor for more than "capped S/L resists, as best as you can get on the others, the best defenses you can scrape together, and then the most hella big absorb shields you can get" is beyond me, at least for now.

The Bearded King has spoken! Through the use of smileys and fun colors, I had hoped that my joke would have been more obvious. I'll try to do better next time.

Yeah, that's the joke 🙂 Radiation is fine in the RWZ with a proper build in place.

What you like: I love the feeling of "going beyond lvl 50", and the extra bells and whistles you can bolt onto a character, extending the time you spend "growing" each character. I like the power and the performance you can reach. And even for an unfinished system, there is a whole lot of stuff to look ant and consider using. What don't you like: Mostly that they system is unfinished and that that the content designed to designed to challenge Incarnate characters is still limited. However, I understand why things are the way they are, and hope that the Homecoming team can find ways to expand Incarnate level content. Balance of the sets: This is tricky because I have not played every single option. I'll just say that when I look at Interface Slot Abilities in the wiki, it's hard to get excited about a 2% chance for confuse when I could get a 75% chance for a damage DoT. I'm sure that there's a use for every power, but not all of them grab me. The crafting system: I figured it out, but it would be nice for it to be more accessible. The fact that you earn materials by gaining Veteran levels (to 99 that is) softens the blow if you craft something that you end up not using. If Incarnate material gains were to become throttled, then I would want the crafting and power info systems to be made more streamlined and robust to make help ensure that players didn't make an irrevocable mistake. Where you'd like to see them go: Until there was content ready to support it, I wouldn't want to see Incarnate powers "go" anywhere 🙂. What we have is great, and the unreleased (uncreated?) slots would only complicate things further unless there was a specific time and place where you could use them. Ideally, Genesis, Vitae, Mind, and Omega slots would be released individually with a League sized and maybe a Team sized activity designed with the new slots in mind.

And Radiation too! 🙂 But seriously, thank you Galaxy Brain for taking the time to do this testing and present the findings in a digestible format. If you plan on doing further permutations of this test, may I suggest one where the enemy group is: 2 level 54 Rikti Magi 2 level 54 Rikti Priests 7 level 54 Rikti Headmen … just off the top of my head, for no specific reason *whistle*

Awesome work to all involved! What an outstanding monument to why CoH is the best game that has ever been made!

Hmmm. So what if: - Ms Liberty goes rogue and fortifies the Longbow base in Nerva as a center of operations. Or even moves into Warburg. And then she becomes the focus of new content (Hero side Task Force and Villain side Story Arc?) that helps to evolve the Rogue Isles. - Dominatrix becomes the new Ms Liberty (undercover or as the "next with the name") as a vigilante and sets up shop somewhere in Downside in Atlas to be a trainer and to provide info about alignment and tip missions in a kind of "You can be a good guy without being so much of a good guy" way. - Back Alley Brawler moves into Atlas plaza to welcome newly made heroes.

Ahhh yes, Mercs.... Buckshot is not a Melee power, but maybe the hand taser that Malta has? Is there a combat knife attack? Crippling axe kick (like the Council guys use) fits-ish, but does it do too much damage for the Mercenary "Theme" (ha!).

Very nice work! You know, I see "Guardian" and "Overseer" and I can't help but think that this idea could be crossposted to the Praetorian Epic Archetype discussion.

Well, okay but not all of them are tentacled: https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/The_Awakened And mostly I was thinking about all of their weird powers and special effects that are already in game and ripe for the repurposing.

Don't forget another Praetorian group that could be mined for ideas: The Awakened.

On my Dark/Savage I skipped Shadowy Binds, Haunt, Maiming Slash, and Spot Prey. Of those, Shadowy Binds and Maiming Slash were relatively easy to skip. Spot Prey got dropped because I felt that my IO bonuses provided enough +accuracy and I needed a Luck of the Gambler mule. Haunt got dropped because I decided I liked the look of the Umbra Beast better and I needed another Luck of the Gambler mule. Taking Unkindness is an emotional requirement because I love the animation and sound of it, and Savage Leap + Rending Flurry is one of the reasons I chose to build with /Savage in the first place. Dark/ Savage is a great power set combo, and there are many effective ways to build it.

This is a change that might not happen until a future update. It's still possible we might re-brand TAoE as "Ranged AoE" and PBAoE as "Melee AoE" but that likely wont be this update (not ruling it out but hands are full all around,) this might mean this power will go as is for now and be changed in the future, but until we are sure to go that way we will follow the same standard as Street Justice. From a build point of view, I find it very valuable to see a variety of options for IO types in power sets.

Running a Yin to test is a good idea! I ran the new Graveyard Shift arc (max lvl 29) with my Radiation/TW Tanker. On the team I had two blasters (Sonic/Sonic Manipulation and an Archery/TA) and a Fire/Dark controller. I won't say that there was no corpse swinging, but not as much as on Live. I do concede that as a Tanker, I also use my non-momentum taunt a lot, especially on wounded enemies that just need to look at me, not the team. In general, running the new arcs with this team was enough to allay my fears about the TW changes, at least on a Tanker.

Ran this yesterday with friends. We noticed that the callboxes and the trips from Skyway, to the Hollows, back to Skyway felt like "Monthly subscription mission design". However, if the amount of legwork you have to do is based on what choices you make in the dialogue then a) that's friggen awesome! and b) it's kind of a funny troll on mission leaders who just click through the text 🙂 Two things that I was able to screenshot: First, when we saw a mission text that said "Investigate" we assumed that we could use Team Transport to go to a mission door. Instead we needed to talk to a contact. This caused some confusion when TT didn't work, and felt bad when we got to Doctor Pierce: Second, I spotted this and screenshotted it: Discrete vs . Discreet Overall, this arc (and the villain side one) are awesome and I am very impressed with all of the work that clearly went into it, and look forward to more! Thank you @Piecemeal!

Ha yes! How about a Freaklok Tank Smasher that has mounted himself in place of a scavenged War Walker's head in "homage" to Dr. Vahzilok's body arrangement!

I have a Radiation/SS/Mu Tanker with Ground Zero, and I pretty much fire it off whenever it's up and I have enemies in range. Currently, I have it 5-slotted with Avalanche Acc/Dam, KD Proc; Fury of the Gladiator Acc/Dam, -Res Proc, and An Eradication Energy Damage Proc. The knockdown is nice for mitigation, the extra -Res proc helps out everyone, and the Energy Damage proc is icing on the cake. However, if you were chasing +recharge, you could 5-slot it with Panacea for a +7.5% recharge bonus, and it would heal your friends really well. Then, if you had another slot to assign to it, you could add a Damage or Utility proc and be all set.

How about giving Kallisti Wharf a "Halloween Makeover" mode, like the excellent work done in Atlas Park this year? Then, set it to be "All Night, All of the Time" for the duration of the Halloween event. There would be no enemies except level-less event mobs, so any level character that can make it to a Tram/Ferry/Supergroup Base could join. It's a co-op zone so all alignments could join. It's really big so there would be plenty of doors. To my knowledge, only Market Crash takes place there, so night-averse folks would be unlikely to be routed there for mission arcs. Costume Contests during Halloween would be in the appropriate atmosphere. Disclaimer: I have no idea if such a thing is possible, and of course it uses precious, precious Dev resources, but it's just a suggestion.

On my Radiation/Titan Weapon: Alpha: Musculature Radial - Only the Immobilize bonus is unused, and it gives +EndMod Judgement: Vorpal Radial: 40 Targets, 120ft cone AoE, +def, with a unique targeting mechanic. Great for pulling on MSR Interface: Reactive Core. Also has Paralytic Radial available. Lore: Knives of Vengeance Core - stylish winged ladies ftw Destiny: Barrier Core - Used more for the team than for myself, it's still nice to "turn off" incoming damage. Hybrid: Assault Core. I also have Assault Radial, but I don't like that I can't see when doublehit occurs. On my Bio/ War Mace: Alpha: Agility Radial, for the +defense. I'm not sure this is the best choice. Judgement: Vorpal Radial: see above, the best pulling judgement in my opinion. Interface: Paralytic Core for -def Lore: Banished Pantheon Radial: Ice Monsters were more in theme, and that radial pet is hilarious until he gets "adjusted" Destiny: Barrier Core - Vital for creating time for debuffs to fall off. Hybrid: Melee Core for front loaded +Regen and Resistance. On My Super Reflexes/ Claws: Alpha: Musculature Radial - Damage, End Mod and the Defense Debuff Judgement: Vorpal Radial: Have you spotted the pattern yet? 🙂 Interface: Degenerative Core. The -HP seems more valuable on Claws Lore: Longbow Radial - I wanted the -Regen Bot, and the Warden heals Destiny: Rebirth Core - I read on the forums that SR/ could use a heal, so here we are 🙂 Hybrid: Assault Core - Again, I'm following the SR/ pioneers here.

As a stress response, the mutant's body goes into overdrive and heals more? The onboard damage control systems flood the body-chassis with more reconstructive nanites? The wards and enchantments trigger and auto-cast more spells in response to damage? The mind of the combatant subconsciously directs more interdimensional energy to heal wounds at an accelerated rate? The grizzled combat veteran swallows an experimental energy supplement?