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Focused Feedback: Story Arc Updates (Release Candidates)


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  • City Council

 This is a Focused Feedback Thread

  • Please note that Focused Feedback threads are heavily moderated to ensure they remain on topic.
    • Any off-topic posts in these threads will be removed without warning.
    • The thread will be locked when no more feedback is required, but you are more than welcome to continue the discussion in a new thread.
  • The most up-to-date version of the changes will be listed in the first post.
  • The changes in each build will be posted as replies.
    • Most changes from the previous beta build are listed in green.
      • Green text will become white text in the next set of patch notes.
    • Any changes or fixes that are only relevant to the beta builds (ie: fixes / tweaks to new features) are listed in blue.
      • Blue text will be deleted in the next set of patch notes as it is only relevant to highlight changes between beta builds, not a changes from live.
    • Known issues are listed in purple.

 



Patch Notes for April 10th, 2021 - Issue 27: Second Chances, Page 2 (Release Candidate 1)

 

Story Arc Updates

The Graveyard Shift (Agent Watkins, Blueside)

  • Intro
    • Made a more obvious note that "Ask about available missions" bypasses the intro text when starting it organically in the 20-30 range
  • Mission 1 (Forum Brawl)
    • Zoombies
      • Ambushes all reduced to 1 (From 2)
      • More susceptible to control effects - Sleep, Hold, Stun, Immob and Confusion
      • Slowed them down slightly
      • Made them spawn from further away to give players a moment of reaction time
      • Explosion damage decreased, accuracy increased, radius increased (15ft > 22ft), target cap increased (12 > 30)
        • 1s activation added to explosion - there will not be a telegraphed animation.
      • Added -fly to their vomit
      • -Fly should now actually take it away instead of gifting it
      • -Fly potency increased, duration 15s
      • Zoombies can barf from a range of 30 (was 10)
      • Barf animation changed to the quick projectile barf
      • Zoombies will disappear properly whether the explosion hits or not
      • Zoombie explosion autohits entities friendly to it
      • AI issues resolved
      • Zoombie backpack solved
  • Mission 2 (Cannibal Corpses)
    • Moved mission location to Steel Canyon
    • Added dialog to explain that Dubstitch was the brains behind the Zoombies
    • Added additional context mob for more flavor text
    • Zoombie ambush should show up during, not after, the Dubstitch fight
    • Added resistances and sonic resistance field to Dubstitch
    • Dubstitch's Zoombies should not spawn directly on top of you
      • I mean, in theory anyway
      • Bring inspirations just in case!
    • Dubstitch ambush properly functions
  • Mission 3 (Freak Rave)
    • Rebalanced entry mob density in front room after lobby
    • Replaced one instance of an LT spawn with a Minion, which should make the spawns more in line in terms of expectation of difficulty
  • Mission 4 (Investigation)
    • Added a Bypass dialog function that will allow you to skip the entire investigation and move forward to the next mission in the Rivet
      • For people who don't want to read, or teams of people who don't want to stand around
  • Mission 5 (Rusty Rivet)
    • Added additional UsePower functions for Salamander and Grey Matter (DNA Siphon and Psychic Shockwave, respectively)
    • Added some additional dialog to the mission intro explaining Mander is Salamander
    • Added an objective on Nav to rescue hostages
  • Mission 6 (Pathogen)
    • Added more lab equipment to the Pathogen fight room, made all of them throughout mission much easier to destroy
    • Debuffed the Viral Cocktail and added an element of randomness to the power:
      • ALWAYS:
        • -Regen, -MaxHP, -Def
          • No longer debuffs Max Endurance or Recovery by default. However...
      • 10% chance every 10.5s for each of the following debuffs:
        • -End, -Recovery, 15s
        • -ToHit, 15s
        • -Recharge, 15s
      • 2.5% chance every 10.5s for...
        • A chance to stop and vomit for a moment. Heroes get upset tummies too!
    • To offset this change, the lab equipment will now:
      • ALWAYS:
        • +Regen, +MaxHP, +Def, 60s (Double what the debuff was taking away, 4x the duration of the debuff)
      • 85% chance for:
        • +MaxEnd, +Recovery, 40s
      • 80% chance for:
        • +Recharge, 40s
      • 75% chance for:
        • +ToHit, 40s
    • The fires are now friendly to NOBODY and do half the previous damage, or 1/4 of the first iteration (for those keeping track)
    • Rewrote the "I failed the timer" mission branch to the finale, including CDC Commander dialog
      • Players should not feel miserable for failing that mission now
      • Softened and altered Watkins' dialog to accommodate an improvement to his personality
    • Pathogen now applies -Fly with several of their attacks
  • Mission 7 (Finale)
    • Cortex confuse recharge increased to 30s from 20s
  • Souvenirs
    • Adjusted all souvenirs to reflect changes

Freakish Lab of Dr. Vahzilok (Doc Buzzsaw, Redside)

  • Mission 3 (Vah's Lab)
    • Fixed some hostage code errors
  • Mission 4_1 (Council Base)
    • Vandal
      • No longer has Detention Field
      • Added an occasional repel power
      • Added an AOE Knockup power called Drill Strike
      • Added status protection
      • PBAoE Smashing Damage with 75% chance for Knockup
      • All remaining powers in his toolkit have been reduced by a decent margin
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Other versions are unchanged)
      • Fixed his KB/KD/Repel resistance only existing for 5s
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Vandal
        • Vandal should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Drill Strike recharge lowered to 15s
  • Mission 4_2 (Crey Lab)
    • Hopkins
      • Damage needs to be evaluated in teams, solo, and against various build types and ATs
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Manticore TF unchanged)
      • Removed overlapping resistance powers
      • Should be easier to fight now
      • Gave in to my dark temptations anyway, so:
        • Total Focus removed
        • Whirling Hands removed
        • Spinning Strike added
        • Crushing Uppercut added
        • Initial Strike added
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Hopkins
        • Should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Fixed bug causing loop between just Initial Strike and Barrage
      • Hopkins should no longer have the Street Justice combo system factoring into his attacks
    • Tavish Bell
      • Resistances buffed
    • Immature Paragon Protectors
      • Death Gas removed from their powersets within the mission
      • Death Gas will return to their future incarnations
  • Mission 4_3 (Bile's Hideout)
    • TechDeck given additional insurance to not be accidentally killed before you can interrogate him

 

Edited by GM Arcanum

Please contact me on the Homecoming Discord for a faster response! Arcanum#7164


Got time to spare? Want to see Homecoming thrive? Consider volunteering as a Game Master!

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  • City Council

Build 1 - March 13th

Spoiler

Story Arc Updates

The Graveyard Shift (Agent Watkins, Blueside)

  • Intro
    • Made a more obvious note that "Ask about available missions" bypasses the intro text when starting it organically in the 20-30 range
  • Mission 1 (Forum Brawl)
    • Zoombies
      • Ambushes all reduced to 1 (From 2)
      • More susceptible to control effects - Sleep, Hold, Stun, Immob and Confusion
      • Slowed them down slightly
      • Made them spawn from further away to give players a moment of reaction time
      • Explosion damage decreased, accuracy increased, radius increased (15ft > 22ft), target cap increased (12 > 30)
      • Added -fly to their vomit
      • -Fly should now actually take it away instead of gifting it.
      • -Fly potency increased, duration 15s
      • Zoombies can barf from a range of 30 (was 10)
      • Barf animation changed to the quick projectile barf
      • Zoombies will disappear properly whether the explosion hits or not
      • Zoombie explosion autohits entities friendly to it
      • AI issues resolved
      • Zoombie backpack solved
  • Mission 2 (Cannibal Corpses)
    • Moved mission location to Steel Canyon
    • Added dialog to explain that Dubstitch was the brains behind the Zoombies
    • Added additional context mob for more flavor text.
    • Zoombie ambush should show up during, not after, the Dubstitch fight
    • Added resistances and sonic resistance field to Dubstitch
    • Dubstitch's Zoombies should not spawn directly on top of you
      • I mean, in theory anyway
      • Bring inspirations just in case!
    • Dubstitch ambush properly functions
  • Mission 3 (Freak Rave)
    • Rebalanced entry mob density in front room after lobby
    • Replaced one instance of an LT spawn with a Minion, which should make the spawns more in line in terms of expectation of difficulty
  • Mission 4 (Investigation)
    • Added a Bypass dialog function that will allow you to skip the entire investigation and move forward to the next mission in the Rivet
      • For people who don't want to read, or teams of people who don't want to stand around
  • Mission 5 (Rusty Rivet)
    • Added additional UsePower functions for Salamander and Grey Matter (DNA Siphon and Psychic Shockwave, respectively)
    • Added some additional dialog to the mission intro explaining Mander is Salamander
    • Added an objective on Nav to rescue hostages
  • Mission 6 (Pathogen)
    • Added more lab equipment to the Pathogen fight room, made all of them throughout mission much easier to destroy
    • Debuffed the Viral Cocktail and added an element of randomness to the power:
      • ALWAYS:
        • -Regen, -MaxHP, -Def
          • No longer debuffs Max Endurance or Recovery by default. However...
      • 10% chance every 10.5s for each of the following debuffs:
        • -End, -Recovery, 15s
        • -ToHit, 15s
        • -Recharge, 15s
      • 2.5% chance every 10.5s for...
        • A chance to stop and vomit for a moment. Heroes get upset tummies too!
    • To offset this change, the lab equipment will now:
      • ALWAYS:
        • +Regen, +MaxHP, +Def, 60s (Double what the debuff was taking away, 4x the duration of the debuff)
      • 85% chance for:
        • +MaxEnd, +Recovery, 40s
      • 80% chance for:
        • +Recharge, 40s
      • 75% chance for:
        • +ToHit, 40s
    • The fires are now friendly to NOBODY and do half the previous damage, or 1/4 of the first iteration (for those keeping track)
    • Rewrote the "I failed the timer" mission branch to the finale, including CDC Commander dialog
      • Players should not feel miserable for failing that mission now
      • Softened and altered Watkins' dialog to accommodate an improvement to his personality
    • Pathogen now applies -Fly with several of their attacks
  • Mission 7 (Finale)
    • Cortex confuse recharge increased to 30s from 20s
  • Souvenirs
    • Adjusted all souvenirs to reflect changes

Freakish Lab of Dr. Vahzilok (Doc Buzzsaw, Redside)

  • Mission 4_1 (Council Base)
    • Vandal
      • No longer has Detention Field
      • Added an occasional repel power
      • Added an AOE Knockup power called Drill Strike
      • Added status protection
      • PBAoE Smashing Damage with 75% chance for Knockup
      • All remaining powers in his toolkit have been reduced by a decent margin
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Other versions are unchanged)
      • Fixed his KB/KD/Repel resistance only existing for 5s
  • Mission 4_2 (Crey Lab)
    • Hopkins
      • Damage needs to be evaluated in teams, solo, and against various build types and ATs
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Manticore TF unchanged)
      • Removed overlapping resistance powers
      • Should be easier to fight now
      • Gave in to my dark temptations anyway, so:
        • Total Focus removed
        • Whirling Hands removed
        • Spinning Strike added
        • Crushing Uppercut added
        • Initial Strike added
    • Tavish Bell
      • Resistances buffed
    • Immature Paragon Protectors
      • Death Gas removed from their powersets within the mission
      • Death Gas will return to their future incarnations
  • Mission 4_3 (Bile's Hideout)
    • TechDeck given additional insurance to not be accidentally killed before you can interrogate him

 

Please contact me on the Homecoming Discord for a faster response! Arcanum#7164


Got time to spare? Want to see Homecoming thrive? Consider volunteering as a Game Master!

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Testing on a level 29 mercs/traps MM using only SO's. Going on +0/x0. Missions 1 and 2 were fairly easy, as you'd expect for a MM. Caltrops and poison gas ensure nothing really got to even touch me, not even the zoombies. Though I did get hit by 1 zoombie explosion, and it wasn't nearly as punishing as on live, where one explosion could kill half of my henchman. But it did seriously wound my henchman and I had to react quickly to every zoombie afterwards to prevent a wipe.

Mission 3: There is a bug, at least on this test. I'd have to replay it to find out if it is consistent. In the final room, where Raverobber is located, the entire concrete floored area makes my character stutter an insane amount. Not my henchman, not the mobs, but just my character. It is nearly unplayabled. Hovering slightly above ground, you will still stutter. So going about 5 feet off the ground was necessary for me to react, however as a /traps character this presented problems.

Raverobber himself was quite fun and challenging for me. He managed to kill my commando, all the T1s, and a T2 before I could down him. Luckily with the MM changes I was able to prevent a wipe by resummoning and equipping, while also not going completely empty on endurance and still capable of using other abilities to slow him down.

Have not gotten any further so far.

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3 hours ago, Gigaburger said:

Testing on a level 29 mercs/traps MM using only SO's. Going on +0/x0. Missions 1 and 2 were fairly easy, as you'd expect for a MM. Caltrops and poison gas ensure nothing really got to even touch me, not even the zoombies. Though I did get hit by 1 zoombie explosion, and it wasn't nearly as punishing as on live, where one explosion could kill half of my henchman. But it did seriously wound my henchman and I had to react quickly to every zoombie afterwards to prevent a wipe.

Mission 3: There is a bug, at least on this test. I'd have to replay it to find out if it is consistent. In the final room, where Raverobber is located, the entire concrete floored area makes my character stutter an insane amount. Not my henchman, not the mobs, but just my character. It is nearly unplayabled. Hovering slightly above ground, you will still stutter. So going about 5 feet off the ground was necessary for me to react, however as a /traps character this presented problems.

Raverobber himself was quite fun and challenging for me. He managed to kill my commando, all the T1s, and a T2 before I could down him. Luckily with the MM changes I was able to prevent a wipe by resummoning and equipping, while also not going completely empty on endurance and still capable of using other abilities to slow him down.

Have not gotten any further so far.

I experienced the same issue in the third mission, final room so I added it to the Beta Bug Report section.

Edited by Glacier Peak
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5 hours ago, Gigaburger said:

Testing on a level 29 mercs/traps MM using only SO's. Going on +0/x0. Missions 1 and 2 were fairly easy, as you'd expect for a MM. Caltrops and poison gas ensure nothing really got to even touch me, not even the zoombies. Though I did get hit by 1 zoombie explosion, and it wasn't nearly as punishing as on live, where one explosion could kill half of my henchman. But it did seriously wound my henchman and I had to react quickly to every zoombie afterwards to prevent a wipe.

Mission 3: There is a bug, at least on this test. I'd have to replay it to find out if it is consistent. In the final room, where Raverobber is located, the entire concrete floored area makes my character stutter an insane amount. Not my henchman, not the mobs, but just my character. It is nearly unplayabled. Hovering slightly above ground, you will still stutter. So going about 5 feet off the ground was necessary for me to react, however as a /traps character this presented problems.

Raverobber himself was quite fun and challenging for me. He managed to kill my commando, all the T1s, and a T2 before I could down him. Luckily with the MM changes I was able to prevent a wipe by resummoning and equipping, while also not going completely empty on endurance and still capable of using other abilities to slow him down.

Have not gotten any further so far.

 

Layered FX on the floor might be the culprit. What's your video card?

 

Weird this wasn't reported before now. 

"Science. Science, my friend, requires radical gambles and adventures in malpractice sometimes. Take solace in the fact that I tested the majority of these things on the dead, the re-dead, and the nearly departed before I went to live trials.

 

Honestly, most of my "specimens" were several iterations past being considered a human being with their original fingerprints, teeth, or IDs. So it was rather a lot like experimenting on moaning clay putty."

 


Got time to spare? Want to see Homecoming thrive? Consider volunteering as a Game Master! For science and community!

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OK, I finished testing the various different EB versions (and one AV version) of Vandal and Hopkins.  All were at level 30 and even with my test toon (an Elect/Rad Tanker) on Cryptic.

 

The ones in Freakish Lab are freakishly weak.  I think their lack of offense is masked by the fact that both trigger waves of ambushes.

  • Hopkins
    • The AE version of Hopkins uses 5 attacks.  In order of frequency they are Barrage, Whirling Hands, Energy Punch, Bone Smasher and Total Focus.  As a level 30 EB against an even level foe with no Resistance they do 221.8, 326.3, 424.2, 535.3 and 652.8 points of damage respectively (this was calculated by backing out the Resistances of the toon I was using).  I ran the test for 10:40.  Assuming he hit with every attack he would have done 117.7 damage/second.
    • The Freakish Lab version of Hopkins used 6 attacks.  In order of frequency they were Energy Punch, Bone Smasher, Initial Strike, Foot Stomp, Spinning Strike and N2 Cannon.  The last he only used once.  I let the test run 23 minutes and 32 seconds.  He used it to start the fight and then never used it again.  Other than EP and BS he used his other attacks quite infrequently.  He used Initial Strike 15 times, Foot Stomp was used 10 times and Spinning Strike 8.  The damage done by the attacks was:  Energy Punch 326.3, Bone Smasher 424.2, Initial Strike 274.1, Foot Stomp 195.8 and Spinning Strike 391.6.  N2 missed, so I don't know what its damage would be.  Overall he would have done 55.1 damage/second.
  • Vandal
    • The Citadel AV version of Vandal uses 4 attacks.  Again, in order of frequency, these are Energy Punch, Bone Smasher, Missile Launch and Power Blast.  They do 378.8, 621.3, 227.3 and 377.3 points of damage respectively.  In the 10:30 run he averaged a potential (that is if all attacks hit against no Resistance) of 147.5 damage/second.
    • The AE Citadel uses just 2 attacks:  Energy Punch and Bone Smasher (in that order of frequency).  They did 326.3 and 535.2 points of damage with my Resistances backed out.  His average potential output (again assuming all hits and no Resistances) over a 9:07 trial was 119.4 damage/second.
    • The Freakish Lab version of Vandal (Injured Vandal) used 4 attacks.  Like the FL Hopkins one of those was used just once.  In this case Drill Strike.  The other attacks (in order of frequency) are Power Thrust, Whirling Hands and Total Focus.  The damage for the 4 attacks (with Resistances backed out) were:  Power Thrust 195.7, Whirling Hands 261.0, Total Focus 489.5 and Drill Strike 181.9.  His potential average damage output (100% hits, 0% Res) was 49.2 damage/second.

Actually... I found an error in my parser that screwed up the numbers for the long FL Hopkins test.  Re-writing it now to get corrected numbers. [Edit:]  OK, I fixed that (the parser miscalculated the elapsed time of two combined logs).

Edited by csr
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31 minutes ago, csr said:

Mistaken reply.

 

OK, subjective feedback on those two EBs in Freakish Lab.  I think they're both fine as is.  With the ambushes they are roughly on par with the Longbow Ballista and his two snipers.

 

The Kraken is relatively weak, but that room is tough enough as is.  The special Rikti bosses, those annoying bees and that pile o' hit points Pylon are challenging enough as is.  Though the last two are mostly just annoyances unless you've blown it and get the bee -Recharge while in a real fight.

Edited by csr
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1 hour ago, Piecemeal said:

 

Layered FX on the floor might be the culprit. What's your video card?

 

Weird this wasn't reported before now. 

MSI GTX 1080 8G

 

Yeah I made a beta bug report for it, but I don't remember it occurring on live when I ran it.

Edited by Glacier Peak
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This issue, if I understand the black magic voodoo, should be resolved with an update pushed to the HC Launcher, as it appears to be a clientside issue.

 

Let me know.

"Science. Science, my friend, requires radical gambles and adventures in malpractice sometimes. Take solace in the fact that I tested the majority of these things on the dead, the re-dead, and the nearly departed before I went to live trials.

 

Honestly, most of my "specimens" were several iterations past being considered a human being with their original fingerprints, teeth, or IDs. So it was rather a lot like experimenting on moaning clay putty."

 


Got time to spare? Want to see Homecoming thrive? Consider volunteering as a Game Master! For science and community!

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9 hours ago, Piecemeal said:

This issue, if I understand the black magic voodoo, should be resolved with an update pushed to the HC Launcher, as it appears to be a clientside issue.

 

Let me know.

@Piecemeal, apologies for it taking so long to get back to you, but I ran Mission 3 again and got to the end - whatever you and the team did worked! No issues with stuttering or whatnot on the floor of the last room. I appreciate the quick fix! I'll be running Freakish Lab of Doc Vaz next, feedback will be forthcoming.

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  • City Council

Build 2 - March 20th

 

Story Arc Updates

The Graveyard Shift (Agent Watkins, Blueside)

  • Intro
    • Made a more obvious note that "Ask about available missions" bypasses the intro text when starting it organically in the 20-30 range
  • Mission 1 (Forum Brawl)
    • Zoombies
      • Ambushes all reduced to 1 (From 2)
      • More susceptible to control effects - Sleep, Hold, Stun, Immob and Confusion
      • Slowed them down slightly
      • Made them spawn from further away to give players a moment of reaction time
      • Explosion damage decreased, accuracy increased, radius increased (15ft > 22ft), target cap increased (12 > 30)
        • 1s activation added to explosion - there will not be a telegraphed animation.
      • Added -fly to their vomit
      • -Fly should now actually take it away instead of gifting it
      • -Fly potency increased, duration 15s
      • Zoombies can barf from a range of 30 (was 10)
      • Barf animation changed to the quick projectile barf
      • Zoombies will disappear properly whether the explosion hits or not
        •  
      • Zoombie explosion autohits entities friendly to it
      • AI issues resolved
      • Zoombie backpack solved
  • Mission 2 (Cannibal Corpses)
    • Moved mission location to Steel Canyon
    • Added dialog to explain that Dubstitch was the brains behind the Zoombies
    • Added additional context mob for more flavor text
    • Zoombie ambush should show up during, not after, the Dubstitch fight
    • Added resistances and sonic resistance field to Dubstitch
    • Dubstitch's Zoombies should not spawn directly on top of you
      • I mean, in theory anyway
      • Bring inspirations just in case!
    • Dubstitch ambush properly functions
  • Mission 3 (Freak Rave)
    • Rebalanced entry mob density in front room after lobby
    • Replaced one instance of an LT spawn with a Minion, which should make the spawns more in line in terms of expectation of difficulty
  • Mission 4 (Investigation)
    • Added a Bypass dialog function that will allow you to skip the entire investigation and move forward to the next mission in the Rivet
      • For people who don't want to read, or teams of people who don't want to stand around
  • Mission 5 (Rusty Rivet)
    • Added additional UsePower functions for Salamander and Grey Matter (DNA Siphon and Psychic Shockwave, respectively)
    • Added some additional dialog to the mission intro explaining Mander is Salamander
    • Added an objective on Nav to rescue hostages
  • Mission 6 (Pathogen)
    • Added more lab equipment to the Pathogen fight room, made all of them throughout mission much easier to destroy
    • Debuffed the Viral Cocktail and added an element of randomness to the power:
      • ALWAYS:
        • -Regen, -MaxHP, -Def
          • No longer debuffs Max Endurance or Recovery by default. However...
      • 10% chance every 10.5s for each of the following debuffs:
        • -End, -Recovery, 15s
        • -ToHit, 15s
        • -Recharge, 15s
      • 2.5% chance every 10.5s for...
        • A chance to stop and vomit for a moment. Heroes get upset tummies too!
    • To offset this change, the lab equipment will now:
      • ALWAYS:
        • +Regen, +MaxHP, +Def, 60s (Double what the debuff was taking away, 4x the duration of the debuff)
      • 85% chance for:
        • +MaxEnd, +Recovery, 40s
      • 80% chance for:
        • +Recharge, 40s
      • 75% chance for:
        • +ToHit, 40s
    • The fires are now friendly to NOBODY and do half the previous damage, or 1/4 of the first iteration (for those keeping track)
    • Rewrote the "I failed the timer" mission branch to the finale, including CDC Commander dialog
      • Players should not feel miserable for failing that mission now
      • Softened and altered Watkins' dialog to accommodate an improvement to his personality
    • Pathogen now applies -Fly with several of their attacks
  • Mission 7 (Finale)
    • Cortex confuse recharge increased to 30s from 20s
  • Souvenirs
    • Adjusted all souvenirs to reflect changes

Freakish Lab of Dr. Vahzilok (Doc Buzzsaw, Redside)

  • Mission 3 (Vah's Lab)
    • Fixed some hostage code errors
  • Mission 4_1 (Council Base)
    • Vandal
      • No longer has Detention Field
      • Added an occasional repel power
      • Added an AOE Knockup power called Drill Strike
      • Added status protection
      • PBAoE Smashing Damage with 75% chance for Knockup
      • All remaining powers in his toolkit have been reduced by a decent margin
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Other versions are unchanged)
      • Fixed his KB/KD/Repel resistance only existing for 5s
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Vandal
        • Vandal should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Drill Strike recharge lowered to 15s
  • Mission 4_2 (Crey Lab)
    • Hopkins
      • Damage needs to be evaluated in teams, solo, and against various build types and ATs
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Manticore TF unchanged)
      • Removed overlapping resistance powers
      • Should be easier to fight now
      • Gave in to my dark temptations anyway, so:
        • Total Focus removed
        • Whirling Hands removed
        • Spinning Strike added
        • Crushing Uppercut added
        • Initial Strike added
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Hopkins
        • Should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Fixed bug causing loop between just Initial Strike and Barrage
      • Hopkins should no longer have the Street Justice combo system factoring into his attacks
    • Tavish Bell
      • Resistances buffed
    • Immature Paragon Protectors
      • Death Gas removed from their powersets within the mission
      • Death Gas will return to their future incarnations
  • Mission 4_3 (Bile's Hideout)
    • TechDeck given additional insurance to not be accidentally killed before you can interrogate him
Edited by GM Arcanum

Please contact me on the Homecoming Discord for a faster response! Arcanum#7164


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  • 2 weeks later
  • City Council

Build 3 - March 28th

Spoiler

Story Arc Updates

The Graveyard Shift (Agent Watkins, Blueside)

  • Intro
    • Made a more obvious note that "Ask about available missions" bypasses the intro text when starting it organically in the 20-30 range
  • Mission 1 (Forum Brawl)
    • Zoombies
      • Ambushes all reduced to 1 (From 2)
      • More susceptible to control effects - Sleep, Hold, Stun, Immob and Confusion
      • Slowed them down slightly
      • Made them spawn from further away to give players a moment of reaction time
      • Explosion damage decreased, accuracy increased, radius increased (15ft > 22ft), target cap increased (12 > 30)
        • 1s activation added to explosion - there will not be a telegraphed animation.
      • Added -fly to their vomit
      • -Fly should now actually take it away instead of gifting it
      • -Fly potency increased, duration 15s
      • Zoombies can barf from a range of 30 (was 10)
      • Barf animation changed to the quick projectile barf
      • Zoombies will disappear properly whether the explosion hits or not
      • Zoombie explosion autohits entities friendly to it
      • AI issues resolved
      • Zoombie backpack solved
  • Mission 2 (Cannibal Corpses)
    • Moved mission location to Steel Canyon
    • Added dialog to explain that Dubstitch was the brains behind the Zoombies
    • Added additional context mob for more flavor text
    • Zoombie ambush should show up during, not after, the Dubstitch fight
    • Added resistances and sonic resistance field to Dubstitch
    • Dubstitch's Zoombies should not spawn directly on top of you
      • I mean, in theory anyway
      • Bring inspirations just in case!
    • Dubstitch ambush properly functions
  • Mission 3 (Freak Rave)
    • Rebalanced entry mob density in front room after lobby
    • Replaced one instance of an LT spawn with a Minion, which should make the spawns more in line in terms of expectation of difficulty
  • Mission 4 (Investigation)
    • Added a Bypass dialog function that will allow you to skip the entire investigation and move forward to the next mission in the Rivet
      • For people who don't want to read, or teams of people who don't want to stand around
  • Mission 5 (Rusty Rivet)
    • Added additional UsePower functions for Salamander and Grey Matter (DNA Siphon and Psychic Shockwave, respectively)
    • Added some additional dialog to the mission intro explaining Mander is Salamander
    • Added an objective on Nav to rescue hostages
  • Mission 6 (Pathogen)
    • Added more lab equipment to the Pathogen fight room, made all of them throughout mission much easier to destroy
    • Debuffed the Viral Cocktail and added an element of randomness to the power:
      • ALWAYS:
        • -Regen, -MaxHP, -Def
          • No longer debuffs Max Endurance or Recovery by default. However...
      • 10% chance every 10.5s for each of the following debuffs:
        • -End, -Recovery, 15s
        • -ToHit, 15s
        • -Recharge, 15s
      • 2.5% chance every 10.5s for...
        • A chance to stop and vomit for a moment. Heroes get upset tummies too!
    • To offset this change, the lab equipment will now:
      • ALWAYS:
        • +Regen, +MaxHP, +Def, 60s (Double what the debuff was taking away, 4x the duration of the debuff)
      • 85% chance for:
        • +MaxEnd, +Recovery, 40s
      • 80% chance for:
        • +Recharge, 40s
      • 75% chance for:
        • +ToHit, 40s
    • The fires are now friendly to NOBODY and do half the previous damage, or 1/4 of the first iteration (for those keeping track)
    • Rewrote the "I failed the timer" mission branch to the finale, including CDC Commander dialog
      • Players should not feel miserable for failing that mission now
      • Softened and altered Watkins' dialog to accommodate an improvement to his personality
    • Pathogen now applies -Fly with several of their attacks
  • Mission 7 (Finale)
    • Cortex confuse recharge increased to 30s from 20s
  • Souvenirs
    • Adjusted all souvenirs to reflect changes

Freakish Lab of Dr. Vahzilok (Doc Buzzsaw, Redside)

  • Mission 3 (Vah's Lab)
    • Fixed some hostage code errors
  • Mission 4_1 (Council Base)
    • Vandal
      • No longer has Detention Field
      • Added an occasional repel power
      • Added an AOE Knockup power called Drill Strike
      • Added status protection
      • PBAoE Smashing Damage with 75% chance for Knockup
      • All remaining powers in his toolkit have been reduced by a decent margin
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Other versions are unchanged)
      • Fixed his KB/KD/Repel resistance only existing for 5s
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Vandal
        • Vandal should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Drill Strike recharge lowered to 15s
  • Mission 4_2 (Crey Lab)
    • Hopkins
      • Damage needs to be evaluated in teams, solo, and against various build types and ATs
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Manticore TF unchanged)
      • Removed overlapping resistance powers
      • Should be easier to fight now
      • Gave in to my dark temptations anyway, so:
        • Total Focus removed
        • Whirling Hands removed
        • Spinning Strike added
        • Crushing Uppercut added
        • Initial Strike added
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Hopkins
        • Should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Fixed bug causing loop between just Initial Strike and Barrage
      • Hopkins should no longer have the Street Justice combo system factoring into his attacks
    • Tavish Bell
      • Resistances buffed
    • Immature Paragon Protectors
      • Death Gas removed from their powersets within the mission
      • Death Gas will return to their future incarnations
  • Mission 4_3 (Bile's Hideout)
    • TechDeck given additional insurance to not be accidentally killed before you can interrogate him

 

Edited by GM Arcanum

Please contact me on the Homecoming Discord for a faster response! Arcanum#7164


Got time to spare? Want to see Homecoming thrive? Consider volunteering as a Game Master!

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  • Arcanum changed the title to Focused Feedback: Story Arc Updates (Build 3)

Please add more Story Arcs to the LFG.   The low levels need some love and the game is made to direct low level toons to the same missions over and over.  I speak to so many new players who have no idea that there other missions out there!

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17 hours ago, ZaranBlack said:

Please add more Story Arcs to the LFG.   The low levels need some love and the game is made to direct low level toons to the same missions over and over.  I speak to so many new players who have no idea that there other missions out there!

I believe the intention was specifically Signature Story Arcs, not just regular story arcs. The difference being you can access regular story arcs via Ouroboros, while previously you needed to visit the specific signature story arc contact to start them.

 

Quote

Signature Story Arcs in LFG

  • Signature Story Arcs are now available in the "Story Arcs" tab of the Looking For Group window
  • Note that you will only see the Signature Story Arcs for your current alignment

tour3.png.850a62f090d5c3afbeb2952803d68d27.thumb.jpg.8a1c30a0ceed6a020f95c07868db78f9.jpg

 

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Hi All,

 

Really enjoying the changes so far!

 

WATKINS ARC

Completed the Agent Watkins arc (at +0 with Team Size 1 and Elite Bosses) with Temporal (Psy/Time/Mu Blaster). Flow was good and I enjoyed the arc much better -- as indicated by previous posters -- and I was able to solo effectively with a few inspirations and a couple of friends for the final battle (HVAC and Amy Jonsson 🙂). Difficulty was as I expected.

 

Pathogen Battle Object Issue (Spoiler Alert - please highlight to read) 

One thing to note: The 'hitbox' or clickable region for the security terminal object was very far to the right rather than centred when I encountered it. May be confusing for some people who don't think to 'feel around' the glowie object. I'm not sure if that's a fixed geometry thing but I thought I would mention here. I found the terminal just past the main entrance

 

QUICK BASE

While it's not necessary for most folks, I made a quick pocket dimension base for everyone to use with all the beacons et cetera.

SG: BrainStorm

Passcode: BS-14.

 

Enjoy it until it gets wiped 🙂 

 

Edited by Temporal
Correction to Amy's name

--------------------

Reunion: Proximus, Aristomachus, Temporal, Vanadium, Visceral, tenet, Resolve

Formerly of Guardian and Pinnacle

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23 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

I believe the intention was specifically Signature Story Arcs, not just regular story arcs. The difference being you can access regular story arcs via Ouroboros, while previously you needed to visit the specific signature story arc contact to start them.

 

 

Yep. I am happy for this.  I just want the game to also direct low level toons to other content besides twinshot and the skulls arc.  new players do not know about the Hollows nor do they know of radio missions or that they have to physically go to meet contacts because most do not allow us to call them right away.    The LFG window seems like a good way to direct us to all that content.  

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On 3/31/2021 at 3:36 PM, ZaranBlack said:

Yep. I am happy for this.  I just want the game to also direct low level toons to other content besides twinshot and the skulls arc.  new players do not know about the Hollows nor do they know of radio missions or that they have to physically go to meet contacts because most do not allow us to call them right away.    The LFG window seems like a good way to direct us to all that content.  

Here's something you can pass on to those new players:

 

Open the Contacts tab on the Navigation bar. Click 'Find New Contact'. This will show players new contacts based on their level range and even give them the option to 'Teleport to Contact' instantly.

 

 

Edit: And as an aside, the four separate tutorials provide walkthroughs of the contact system.

 

 

Edited by Faultline
Deleting attachments per request.
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  • City Council

April 6th - Build 4

Story Arc Updates

The Graveyard Shift (Agent Watkins, Blueside)

  • Intro
    • Made a more obvious note that "Ask about available missions" bypasses the intro text when starting it organically in the 20-30 range
  • Mission 1 (Forum Brawl)
    • Zoombies
      • Ambushes all reduced to 1 (From 2)
      • More susceptible to control effects - Sleep, Hold, Stun, Immob and Confusion
      • Slowed them down slightly
      • Made them spawn from further away to give players a moment of reaction time
      • Explosion damage decreased, accuracy increased, radius increased (15ft > 22ft), target cap increased (12 > 30)
        • 1s activation added to explosion - there will not be a telegraphed animation.
      • Added -fly to their vomit
      • -Fly should now actually take it away instead of gifting it
      • -Fly potency increased, duration 15s
      • Zoombies can barf from a range of 30 (was 10)
      • Barf animation changed to the quick projectile barf
      • Zoombies will disappear properly whether the explosion hits or not
      • Zoombie explosion autohits entities friendly to it
      • AI issues resolved
      • Zoombie backpack solved
  • Mission 2 (Cannibal Corpses)
    • Moved mission location to Steel Canyon
    • Added dialog to explain that Dubstitch was the brains behind the Zoombies
    • Added additional context mob for more flavor text
    • Zoombie ambush should show up during, not after, the Dubstitch fight
    • Added resistances and sonic resistance field to Dubstitch
    • Dubstitch's Zoombies should not spawn directly on top of you
      • I mean, in theory anyway
      • Bring inspirations just in case!
    • Dubstitch ambush properly functions
  • Mission 3 (Freak Rave)
    • Rebalanced entry mob density in front room after lobby
    • Replaced one instance of an LT spawn with a Minion, which should make the spawns more in line in terms of expectation of difficulty
  • Mission 4 (Investigation)
    • Added a Bypass dialog function that will allow you to skip the entire investigation and move forward to the next mission in the Rivet
      • For people who don't want to read, or teams of people who don't want to stand around
  • Mission 5 (Rusty Rivet)
    • Added additional UsePower functions for Salamander and Grey Matter (DNA Siphon and Psychic Shockwave, respectively)
    • Added some additional dialog to the mission intro explaining Mander is Salamander
    • Added an objective on Nav to rescue hostages
  • Mission 6 (Pathogen)
    • Added more lab equipment to the Pathogen fight room, made all of them throughout mission much easier to destroy
    • Debuffed the Viral Cocktail and added an element of randomness to the power:
      • ALWAYS:
        • -Regen, -MaxHP, -Def
          • No longer debuffs Max Endurance or Recovery by default. However...
      • 10% chance every 10.5s for each of the following debuffs:
        • -End, -Recovery, 15s
        • -ToHit, 15s
        • -Recharge, 15s
      • 2.5% chance every 10.5s for...
        • A chance to stop and vomit for a moment. Heroes get upset tummies too!
    • To offset this change, the lab equipment will now:
      • ALWAYS:
        • +Regen, +MaxHP, +Def, 60s (Double what the debuff was taking away, 4x the duration of the debuff)
      • 85% chance for:
        • +MaxEnd, +Recovery, 40s
      • 80% chance for:
        • +Recharge, 40s
      • 75% chance for:
        • +ToHit, 40s
    • The fires are now friendly to NOBODY and do half the previous damage, or 1/4 of the first iteration (for those keeping track)
    • Rewrote the "I failed the timer" mission branch to the finale, including CDC Commander dialog
      • Players should not feel miserable for failing that mission now
      • Softened and altered Watkins' dialog to accommodate an improvement to his personality
    • Pathogen now applies -Fly with several of their attacks
  • Mission 7 (Finale)
    • Cortex confuse recharge increased to 30s from 20s
  • Souvenirs
    • Adjusted all souvenirs to reflect changes

Freakish Lab of Dr. Vahzilok (Doc Buzzsaw, Redside)

  • Mission 3 (Vah's Lab)
    • Fixed some hostage code errors
  • Mission 4_1 (Council Base)
    • Vandal
      • No longer has Detention Field
      • Added an occasional repel power
      • Added an AOE Knockup power called Drill Strike
      • Added status protection
      • PBAoE Smashing Damage with 75% chance for Knockup
      • All remaining powers in his toolkit have been reduced by a decent margin
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Other versions are unchanged)
      • Fixed his KB/KD/Repel resistance only existing for 5s
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Vandal
        • Vandal should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Drill Strike recharge lowered to 15s
  • Mission 4_2 (Crey Lab)
    • Hopkins
      • Damage needs to be evaluated in teams, solo, and against various build types and ATs
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Manticore TF unchanged)
      • Removed overlapping resistance powers
      • Should be easier to fight now
      • Gave in to my dark temptations anyway, so:
        • Total Focus removed
        • Whirling Hands removed
        • Spinning Strike added
        • Crushing Uppercut added
        • Initial Strike added
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Hopkins
        • Should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Fixed bug causing loop between just Initial Strike and Barrage
      • Hopkins should no longer have the Street Justice combo system factoring into his attacks
    • Tavish Bell
      • Resistances buffed
    • Immature Paragon Protectors
      • Death Gas removed from their powersets within the mission
      • Death Gas will return to their future incarnations
  • Mission 4_3 (Bile's Hideout)
    • TechDeck given additional insurance to not be accidentally killed before you can interrogate him

Please contact me on the Homecoming Discord for a faster response! Arcanum#7164


Got time to spare? Want to see Homecoming thrive? Consider volunteering as a Game Master!

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  • Arcanum changed the title to Focused Feedback: Story Arc Updates (Build 4)

Hopkins destroys all my bots in 3 hits. He's purple to my level 31 MM.

 

Difficulty is whatever default is. x0 or something, I don't understand the notation.

 

The story is interesting, but the difficulty is... questionable.

 

Vandal defeated me, but at least he was only red. 

 

I'll come back in a few levels.

Edited by Herotu

..It only takes one Beanbag fan saying that they JRANGER it for the devs to revert it.

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  • City Council

Release Candidate 1 - April 10th


Story Arc Updates

The Graveyard Shift (Agent Watkins, Blueside)

  • Intro
    • Made a more obvious note that "Ask about available missions" bypasses the intro text when starting it organically in the 20-30 range
  • Mission 1 (Forum Brawl)
    • Zoombies
      • Ambushes all reduced to 1 (From 2)
      • More susceptible to control effects - Sleep, Hold, Stun, Immob and Confusion
      • Slowed them down slightly
      • Made them spawn from further away to give players a moment of reaction time
      • Explosion damage decreased, accuracy increased, radius increased (15ft > 22ft), target cap increased (12 > 30)
        • 1s activation added to explosion - there will not be a telegraphed animation.
      • Added -fly to their vomit
      • -Fly should now actually take it away instead of gifting it
      • -Fly potency increased, duration 15s
      • Zoombies can barf from a range of 30 (was 10)
      • Barf animation changed to the quick projectile barf
      • Zoombies will disappear properly whether the explosion hits or not
      • Zoombie explosion autohits entities friendly to it
      • AI issues resolved
      • Zoombie backpack solved
  • Mission 2 (Cannibal Corpses)
    • Moved mission location to Steel Canyon
    • Added dialog to explain that Dubstitch was the brains behind the Zoombies
    • Added additional context mob for more flavor text
    • Zoombie ambush should show up during, not after, the Dubstitch fight
    • Added resistances and sonic resistance field to Dubstitch
    • Dubstitch's Zoombies should not spawn directly on top of you
      • I mean, in theory anyway
      • Bring inspirations just in case!
    • Dubstitch ambush properly functions
  • Mission 3 (Freak Rave)
    • Rebalanced entry mob density in front room after lobby
    • Replaced one instance of an LT spawn with a Minion, which should make the spawns more in line in terms of expectation of difficulty
  • Mission 4 (Investigation)
    • Added a Bypass dialog function that will allow you to skip the entire investigation and move forward to the next mission in the Rivet
      • For people who don't want to read, or teams of people who don't want to stand around
  • Mission 5 (Rusty Rivet)
    • Added additional UsePower functions for Salamander and Grey Matter (DNA Siphon and Psychic Shockwave, respectively)
    • Added some additional dialog to the mission intro explaining Mander is Salamander
    • Added an objective on Nav to rescue hostages
  • Mission 6 (Pathogen)
    • Added more lab equipment to the Pathogen fight room, made all of them throughout mission much easier to destroy
    • Debuffed the Viral Cocktail and added an element of randomness to the power:
      • ALWAYS:
        • -Regen, -MaxHP, -Def
          • No longer debuffs Max Endurance or Recovery by default. However...
      • 10% chance every 10.5s for each of the following debuffs:
        • -End, -Recovery, 15s
        • -ToHit, 15s
        • -Recharge, 15s
      • 2.5% chance every 10.5s for...
        • A chance to stop and vomit for a moment. Heroes get upset tummies too!
    • To offset this change, the lab equipment will now:
      • ALWAYS:
        • +Regen, +MaxHP, +Def, 60s (Double what the debuff was taking away, 4x the duration of the debuff)
      • 85% chance for:
        • +MaxEnd, +Recovery, 40s
      • 80% chance for:
        • +Recharge, 40s
      • 75% chance for:
        • +ToHit, 40s
    • The fires are now friendly to NOBODY and do half the previous damage, or 1/4 of the first iteration (for those keeping track)
    • Rewrote the "I failed the timer" mission branch to the finale, including CDC Commander dialog
      • Players should not feel miserable for failing that mission now
      • Softened and altered Watkins' dialog to accommodate an improvement to his personality
    • Pathogen now applies -Fly with several of their attacks
  • Mission 7 (Finale)
    • Cortex confuse recharge increased to 30s from 20s
  • Souvenirs
    • Adjusted all souvenirs to reflect changes

Freakish Lab of Dr. Vahzilok (Doc Buzzsaw, Redside)

  • Mission 3 (Vah's Lab)
    • Fixed some hostage code errors
  • Mission 4_1 (Council Base)
    • Vandal
      • No longer has Detention Field
      • Added an occasional repel power
      • Added an AOE Knockup power called Drill Strike
      • Added status protection
      • PBAoE Smashing Damage with 75% chance for Knockup
      • All remaining powers in his toolkit have been reduced by a decent margin
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Other versions are unchanged)
      • Fixed his KB/KD/Repel resistance only existing for 5s
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Vandal
        • Vandal should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Drill Strike recharge lowered to 15s
  • Mission 4_2 (Crey Lab)
    • Hopkins
      • Damage needs to be evaluated in teams, solo, and against various build types and ATs
      • Coded down to Elite Boss in redside encounter (Manticore TF unchanged)
      • Removed overlapping resistance powers
      • Should be easier to fight now
      • Gave in to my dark temptations anyway, so:
        • Total Focus removed
        • Whirling Hands removed
        • Spinning Strike added
        • Crushing Uppercut added
        • Initial Strike added
      • Changed AI and attack power priorities on Hopkins
        • Should now use both his ranged and melee attacks more frequently
        • Ranged attacks should be seen more often in rotation
        • Fixed bug causing loop between just Initial Strike and Barrage
      • Hopkins should no longer have the Street Justice combo system factoring into his attacks
    • Tavish Bell
      • Resistances buffed
    • Immature Paragon Protectors
      • Death Gas removed from their powersets within the mission
      • Death Gas will return to their future incarnations
  • Mission 4_3 (Bile's Hideout)
    • TechDeck given additional insurance to not be accidentally killed before you can interrogate him

Please contact me on the Homecoming Discord for a faster response! Arcanum#7164


Got time to spare? Want to see Homecoming thrive? Consider volunteering as a Game Master!

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  • Arcanum changed the title to Focused Feedback: Story Arc Updates (Release Candidate 1)
  • Jimmy changed the title to Focused Feedback: Story Arc Updates (Release Candidates)
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