Knock!

The "Destroy the Vampyr Lab" map from Tobias Hansen's arc. It's mostly a normal Council cave map, but I love the hatches you have to drop through to get deeper into the caves. They give the map a nice vampire-lair atmosphere. And the Transformation Capsules are cool too. I think the last mission in the Ernesto Hess TF reuses much of that map, but it adds the "giant robot inside a volcano" room at the end, which is pretty great too.

The Prima strategy guides for CoH and CoV listed weaknesses and resistances for various minions, LTs, bosses, and AVs of most (all?) of the villain groups that were in the game when they came out. No real numbers in those guides, but at least they tell you the damage types. I had the CoH guide from launch (and that was based on the beta test), but I know they published one for CoH up through issue 6 and another for early CoV. You can find them both at the Internet Archive.

I had a copy of the old table version in a spreadsheet, so I've mostly just updated the dates in the old format for anyone who liked that version. I haven't confirmed the merit values. I think some of them aren't quite correct. Fall 2021 Winter 2022 Spring 2021 Summer 2022 Weekly Strike Targets Merits x2 Missions Hero, Villain, or Co-op Week 1 Mon Sep 27 - Mon Dec 27 - Mon Mar 28 - Mon Jun 27 - The Rule of Three (Positron, Level 8-15) 11 22 7 H Sun Oct 3 Sun Jan 2 Sun Apr 3 Sun Jul 3 Dam Hero (Positron, Level 11-16) 15 30 7 H Beast of the Mountain (Virgil Tarikoss, Level 15-20) 13 26 6 V Week 2 Mon Oct 4 - Mon Jan 3 - Mon Apr 4 - Mon Jul 4 - The Praetorian Offensive (Tin Mage Mark II, Lvl 50 + Alpha) 40 80 3 C Sun Oct 10 Sun Jan 9 Sun Apr 10 Sun Jul 10 Alpha Strike (Apex, Level 50 + Alpha Slot) 40 80 2 C Explorers and Exploiters (Dr. Quaterfield, Level 40-45) 122 244 24 H Week 3 Mon Oct 11 - Mon Jan 10 - Mon Apr 11 - Mon Jul 11 - The Fall of the Clockwork King (Synapse, Level 15-20) 58 116 15 H Sun Oct 17 Sun Jan 16 Sun Apr 17 Sun Jul 17 The Legend of Ruladak (Sara Moore, Level 44-50) 63 126 15 H Pirates of the Skies (Silver Mantis, Level 20-25) 42 84 6 V Week 4 Mon Oct 18 - Mon Jan 17 - Mon Apr 18 - Mon Jul 18 - Time's Arrow (Imperious, Level 35-50) 28 56 5 H Sun Oct 24 Sun Jan 23 Sun Apr 24 Sun Jul 24 The Saga of Faathim (Justin Augustine, Level 44-50) 42 84 32 H Temple of the Waters (Operative Renault, Level 25-30) 24 48 14 V Week 5 Mon Oct 25 - Mon Jan 24 - Mon Apr 25 - Mon Jul 25 - A Clamor for the People (Penelope Yin, Level 20-25) 20 40 4 H Sun Oct 31 Sun Jan 30 Sun May 1 Sun Jul 31 The Saga of Lanaru (Faathim the Kind, Level 44-50) 73 146 12 H The Crystal of Seraphina (Ice Mistral, Level 35-40) 26 52 7 V Week 6 Mon Nov 1 - Mon Jan 31 - Mon May 2 - Mon Aug 1 - Ms. Liberty TF (Ms. Liberty, Level 45-50) 38 76 5 H Sun Nov 7 Sun Feb 6 Sun May 8 Sun Aug 7 Future of Freedom (Lord Recluse, Level 45-50) 25 50 7 V Abandoned Sewer Trial (Mairenn MacGregor, Level 38-50) 28 56 2 H Week 7 Mon Nov 8 - Mon Feb 7 - Mon May 9 - Mon Aug 8 - Citadel's Children (Citadel, Level 25-30) 40 80 11 H Sun Nov 14 Sun Feb 13 Sun May 15 Sun Aug 14 Beast of the Mountain (Virgil Tarikoss, Level 15-20) 13 26 6 V The Eden Trial (Woodsman, Level 39-41) 6 12 2 H Week 8 Mon Nov 15 - Mon Feb 14 - Mon May 16 - Mon Aug 15 - The Lady Grey TF (Lady Grey, Level 35-50) 39 78 5 C Sun Nov 21 Sun Feb 20 Sun May 22 Sun Aug 21 The MegaMech Cometh (Ernesto Hess, 25-30) 19 38 9 H Pirates of the Skies (Silver Mantis, Level 20-25) 42 84 6 V Week 9 Mon Nov 22 - Mon Feb 21 - Mon May 23 - Mon Aug 22 - Following Countess Crey (Manticore, Level 30-35) 32 64 10 H Sun Nov 28 Sun Feb 27 Sun May 29 Sun Aug 28 The Sky is Falling (Admiral Sutter, Level 20-40) 22 44 3 H The Fire and the Flames (Mortimer Kal, Level 20-40) 22 44 4 V Week 10 Mon Nov 29 - Mon Feb 28 - Mon May 30 - Mon Aug 29 - Market Crash (Ada Wellington, Level 40-50) 20 40 3 C Sun Dec 5 Sun Mar 6 Sun Jun 5 Sun Sep 4 Temple of the Waters (Operative Renault, Level 25-30) 24 48 14 V The Kheldian War (Moonfire, Level 23-28) 31 62 11 H Week 11 Mon Dec 6 - Mon Mar 7 - Mon Jun 6 - Mon Sep 5 - Soul of the Woodsman (Numina, Level 35-40) 36 72 23 H Sun Dec 12 Sun Mar 13 Sun Jun 12 Sun Sep 11 The Crystal of Seraphina (Ice Mistral, Level 35-40) 26 52 7 V A Tangled Plot (Katie Hannon, Level 30-34) 9 18 4 H Week 12 Mon Dec 13 - Mon Mar 14 - Mon Jun 13 - Mon Sep 12 - Return of the Reichsman (Dr. Kahn, Level 45-50) 20 40 5 H Sun Dec 19 Sun Mar 20 Sun Jun 19 Sun Sep 18 Thus Spoke the Reichsman (Barracuda, Level 45-50) 20 40 9 V Cavern of Transcendence (Karsis, Level 12-15) 7 14 1 H Week 13 Mon Dec 20 - Mon Mar 21 - Mon Jun 20 - Mon Sep 19 - Terra Volta Respec #1 (Jane Hallaway, Level 24-33) 28 56 3 H Sun Dec 26 Mon Mar 27 Sun Jun 26 Sun Sep 25 Tree of Thorns Respec #1 (Sparcetriel, Level 24-33) 14 28 3 V Terra Volta Respec #2 (James Harlan, Level 34-43) 20 40 3 H Tree of Thorns Respec #2 (Trepsarciel, Level 34-43) 14 28 3 V Terra Volta Respec #3 (Richard Flagg, Level 44-50) 20 40 5 H Tree of Thorns Respec #3 (Ractespriel, Level 44-50) 15 30 3 V

Level Technology Mutation Natural Science Magic 1-5 Rick Davies Antonio Nash Susan Davies Jonathan Smythe Azuria Caitlin Murray Prince Kiros Nandelu Derek Amberson Rebecca Brinell Gregor Richardson Maurice Feldon Juan Jimenez Jose Brogan Henry Peter Wong Genevieve Sanders 5-9 Paula Dempsey Linda Summers Rachel Torres Kip Cantorum Laurence Mansfield Tony Kord Ron Hughes Vic Johansson Samuel Pierce Paco Sanchez Athena Currie Alfonse Rubel Lorenzo DiCosta Jill Pastor Dr. Trevor Seaborn 10-14 Carla Brunelli Sanjay Chandra Wes Schnabel Kyle Peck Haley Phillips Everett Daniels Wilson Zucco Willy Starbuck Tristan Caine Hugo Redding Fareed Abdullah Dr. Ann-Marie Engles Cho Ge Colleen Saramago Kong Bao 15-19 Guy Denson Juliana Nehring Karen Parker Jake Montoya Thao Ku Mark Freeman Olivia Chung Suzanne Bernhard Maggie Greene Virginia Hoffman Tom Bowden Pavel Garnier Warren Trudeau Wyatt Anderson Vitaly Cherenko Claire Childress Jim Bell Oswald Cuthbert Polly Cooper Dr. Cheng 20-24 Andrew Fiore Dennis Ewell Wilson Eziquerra Kevin Cordell Oliver Haak Vic Garland Tyler French Barry Gosford Georgia Fields Piper Irving Jake Kim Amanda Loomis Justin Greene Justine Kelly Josef Keller Lt. Col. Hugh McDougal Hinckley Rasmussen Rondel Jackson Melanie Peebles Andrea Mitchell Wilma Peterson Lt. Manuel Ruiz John Strobel Kirsten Woods Cain Royce 25-29 Collin Larson Ashwin Lannister Christine Lansdale Lorenzo Tate Miriam Bloechl Marvin Weintraub Laurie Pennington Eliza Thorpe Laura Brunetti 30-34 Tina Chung Jose Escalante Phillipa Meraux Jenny Firkins Allison King Neal Kendrick Merisel Valenzuela Lou Pasterelli Peter Stemitz 35-39 Anton Sampson Colleen Nelson Gordon Stacy Ginger Yates Cadao Kestrel 40-44 Maxwell Christopher Indigo Tina Macintyre Janet Kellum Madeleine Casey 45-50 none Crimson Unai Kemen none Harvey Maylor The origin contacts in the same level ranges offer all the same missions. So, e.g., you don't need to do the missions from both Ashwin Lannister and Laurie Pennington. They both offer only the level 25-29 Mutation-origin missions.

I remember that when they were first introduced, they were leaderboards that tracked things like damage dealt or enemies defeated. And I think they did that for the zone you were in and for the entire game (only blueside then), but that might not be the case. I'm not sure when the character stats they show now were added (nor when the leaderboards were dropped), but they do still work. They even track how many times you visit the top of the Atlas Park globe.

Ballistic. "Of or relating to the science of the motion of projectiles in flight. Behaving like a projectile. Extremely and usually suddenly excited, upset, or angry."

At launch, there were no difficulty settings for missions, so if you wanted to fight foes who were much higher level, you needed to find a high-level team leader (and that leader really wanted to be on a higher-level team himself), or you could street sweep and fight purples where you found them. And before the purple patch, a decent group could easily fight +5s, even +6s and +7s (although it was slow), and you had a chance with +8s. I'm not sure it really was faster than quickly killing +3s and +4s, but most of the people I teamed with wanted to fight +8s if they could. Independence Port was really popular for street sweeping because it had a broad range of baddies in the 20s (when levelling really started to slow down) and it was HUGE, meaning you could find large areas without other teams, for a little while at least. The western edge of IP is a ghost town now, but back then if you went far enough, you'd soon find another team of 8 street sweeping toward you. It's funny that the massive size of zones like IP and Boomtown is a pain now, because that was what we liked about them back at the start: more room to spread out.

They work hard, and they play hard.

Ugh. What I meant to say was, It might be in the case of TT (which can only be used by people on the same team) that only a casting from someone in your team would delete one. But that door after the second mission of Yin is very busy this week. I've seen 3 groups there at one time.

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Not sure if this detail has been mentioned yet, but the Def bonus from Evasive Maneuvers and the extra (out of combat) Def and stealth radius in Stealth take 10 seconds to kick in after you turn on the toggles themselves. This is out of combat, with no other toggles active, no movement, and no buffs from other players (I'm testing it in my base, alone). From scratch, they take 10 seconds to turn on. So Stealth is now also Invisibility, but it has a 10 second activation time no matter what you're doing. And that 10-second suppression restarts if you turn on any toggle (or buff yourself with something like Aim).

Along with Physician, I usually go for Alchemist (Caregiver + Midnighter) for the ally heal power, and the Gladiator accolade (Duelist + Predator) for the Combat Shield power. The Sleep Gas and Tear Gas powers you get with Scientist and Security Chief look like they could come in handy, but I never remember to use them.

This gives me another idea: new Police Radio missions that are only available in a specific Hazard Zone. Completing 3-5 of those missions could earn you a special mission from the zone's Security Officer, like a new kind of Safeguard/Mayhem mission. To make them interesting, they would need to be distinct from Safeguards/Mayhems in some way. . . .

The best Hazard Zones and Trial Zones have story arcs, TFs, or Trials, in addition to the usual large spawns and interesting environments. The lesser ones (Perez, Boomtown, Crey's Folly) only have a giant monster or two. I'd like to see Perez, Boom, and Crey's stay at their current level ranges and get zone-specific TFs/arcs in the style of the Hess and Yin TFs (not too many missions, all in the same zone) or the Hollows/Faultline/Striga arcs. That's a very achievable goal: it doesn't require changes to existing zones beyond adding some new NPCs.

This Google spreadsheet has the icon images and names: CoH Icons