issue 27 [Beta] Patch Notes for May 25th, 2021

[Jimmy]

Colour Key

• 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 changes from live.

Powers

•  Sorcery > Arcane Bolt / Arcane Power
  • Activating and deactivating toggles will no longer grant Arcane Power
    • For real this time
  • Removed the "...crackle at your fingertips" combat log message, this was mainly for testing purposes
  • Removed the "ARCANE POWER" floating message
    • With the VFX and yellow ring around Arcane Bolt, the added floating message was overkill as it kept triggering if you didn't make use of the proc
•  Inherent > Walk
  • Movement speed cap adjusted from 3.15mph to 3.25mph (to match NPC walking speed)
  • Jumping speed cap increased to 14.32mph (the base jumping speed)

Miscellaneous

• Removed Arachnos ambushes from delivery missions to Mercy Island in the Temple of the Waters SF
• Removed Malta ambush from delivery missions to Mercy Island in Vernun von Grun's story arc.
• Removed Crey ambush from door mission to Mercy Island in Operative Grillo's story arc.
• Renamed the Shopkeeper badge to Proprietor (as Shop Keeper already exists as a day job badge)

• The minimum level to start the Lady Grey TF has been changed back to 45 as it was on live

  • The Weakened Hamidon can now spawn from level 45 to 54

  • Weakened Hamidon buds now spawn down to level 45

Arena

• You can no longer begin observing an arena match if you had any combat activity in the past 10 seconds
• Arena Observer / Gladiator modes will now automatically kill all pets on entry (certain pets could still be summoned when entering an arena match)

Pocket D

• DJ Zero has added some additional entrances to the club
  • An Atlas Park entrance has been added to the Hero-side lobby
  • Mercy Island and Nova Praetoria entrances have been added to the Villain-side lobby
• The minimap has been updated to reflect these changes (and also include the Tiki Lounge, Monkey Fight Club and Architect Entertainment areas)

 

Bug Fixes

• Firebase Zulu: Closed holes in the collision boundary of the zone
• The Chantry: Closed holes in the collision boundary of the zone
• Echo Plaza: Added a collision boundary around the zone to fix issues with teleportation powers
• Talos Island: A number of floating rocks and bushes have been brought back to the ground
  • The Paragon City Hall has issued its monthly statement reminding Gravity Control heroes that this isn't funny
• Cleaned up some unintended behaviour with the Fortunata Hypnosis proc

• Fixed the geometry of certain Goldbrickers NPCs that had a major hole in their neck

• Fixed the animation of Tech Generator objects inside missions using the tech base lair so it animates properly

• Fixed the Ally Revive script used in the Brickstown story arcs

• Fixed an issue with Cognitive and Spectral Interface Procs

  • This was a bug introduced last year when Interface DoT procs got fixed

  • It turned out that the procs were missing the tag needed to turn on the effect group

[Jimmy]

Brainstorm Only

Freebies Menu

• Updated to the latest version from @AboveTheChemist
  • Fixed a minor issue with one IO set

Bug Fixes

These are untested fixes which might not make it into the next live build.

• Ambrosia and Essence of the Earth inspirations should now be usable even if the player is under Untouchable state
  • Henchmen in Untouchable state, if any, will still see no benefit from these inspirations
• EMP Arrow: Possibly fixed a bug that made procs use the unintended pseudopet formula instead of the original click formula

PvP Powers Changes

These changes will not be going live in this patch - they are for testing only. Please provide your feedback if you would or would not like to see these changes go live!

• All travel power speed cap increases from Issue 27, Page 2 now also apply in PvP

• Modified the PvP diminishing return curves for travel speeds for testing purposes per a recommendation from Alouu

  • SpeedRunning set to 0.37, SpeedFlying set to 0.75, SpeedJumping set to 0.35

• Sorcery > Arcane Bolt / Arcane Power
  • Arcane Power can now trigger in PvP
  • Damage bonus in PvP is 50% of the base damage rather than 100%
• Fortunata Hypnosis (IO proc): PvP placate effect reduced from 5.336s to 4s
  • This puts it in line with the Presence pool's Pacify, which also does 8s PvE and 4s PvP

[TemporalVileTerror]

I popped in and out of a few of the new Pocket D doors with some various Primal Alignments.  Everything seems to be working appropriately, although I admittedly didn't try all four doors in each of the wings with each Alignment.  I just couldn't stand all the loading screens.  But they all seem to be working as intended, I think.

Didn't test anything with any Praetorian or unaligned characters though.

[Rathulfr]

 

21 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Pocket D

• DJ Zero has added some additional entrances to the club
  • An Atlas Park entrance has been added to the Hero-side lobby
  • Mercy Island and Nova Praetoria entrances have been added to the Villain-side lobby
• The minimap has been updated to reflect these changes (and also include the Tiki Lounge, Monkey Fight Club and Architect Entertainment areas)

 

Adding new entrances to Pocket D without removing any existing ones?  Excellent choice.  Thank you!

 

[Glacier Peak]

I dig it

 

[Glacier Peak]

Great to see this memorial character added in to Pocket D. (Added in Issue 27).

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Glacier Peak

[TemporalVileTerror]

There's also someone new at the villain elevator, replacing the old bouncer.

[Bionic_Flea]

But Jimmy, why don't you listen to feedback and just do whatever?  😁

 

Thanks for listening and expanding the Pocket D entrances instead of exchanging them.

[Wavicle]

Listening to feedback and responding with an appropriate fix THE NEXT DAY. Thank you devs!

[Wavicle]

A couple suggestions regarding the new Pocket D design though:

The graffiti at the Atlas exit doesn't really say anything to me, while the Mercy art (Snakes) and the Nova art (Don't drink the Cole-Aid) are very recognizable. Maybe something that says "Hellions"? TBH, the Founders art never made any sense either.

 

The truck in Atlas should probably be facing the other way. It looks a little odd that the truck Backed into a parking space (and not well, lol).

 

It WOULD have made sense for the Nova exit to be (like Faultline) just a sewer instead of a door, but not a big deal.

[Wavicle]

heck, the Imperial entrance could have some art too...

[csr]

The Faultline manholes can't be clicked while open at either end (entrance or exit).  All other entrances and exits - including the SM and FF entrances and Nova Praetoria entrance and exit via manhole - can be clicked while open (though the NP entrance manhole seems to be harder to click than the others).

 

Just to be thorough I tested the 4 red zones, 5 blue zones, 2 gold zones and Echo Plaza for each Primal alignment.  There were no anomalies save the FL entrance/exit:  I was denied blue-side as a Villain and red-side as a Hero and was able to zone otherwise.  I got the normal warnings on all red and blue zones when Rogue or Vigilante.

 

As subjective feedback... I do find traveling to Echo Plaza in the Shadow Shard by truck to be rather odd.  IMO, a portal a la Imperial City would be better.

Edited May 25, 2021 by csr

[TemporalVileTerror]

I believe the truck is thematically appropriate, as DJ Zero has a trucking fetish.

[Placta]

As a Praetorian (Resistance), when I clicked the exit to Atlas Park, it let me through, although I was promptly kicked to Nova with a few extra loading screens and a "mapserver disconnected" message.

[Jimmy]

Some posts have been hidden. This isn’t the place to talk about dead players. Thanks.

[Bionic_Flea]

But Jimmy, I'm not dead  . . . yet.  Even though you keep on trying to cut me!

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, Bionic_Flea said:

But Jimmy, I'm not dead  . . . yet.  Even though you keep on trying to cut me!

 

He's not trying to cut you, he's trying to shave those hairy legs.  A sexy flea is a clean-shaven flea!

[Faultline]

5 hours ago, Wavicle said:

The graffiti at the Atlas exit doesn't really say anything to me

 

It says "Paragon".

 

[ZorkNemesis]

Why not have the seal of Paragon City on the Atlas door (similar to how Sharkhead has the Cage Consortum logo)?  Given that city hall is in Atlas it would make sense.

[siolfir]

6 minutes ago, Faultline said:

 

It says "Paragon".

 

I like the asset and it seems a shame to waste it, but since there's confusion maybe you can put it centered overlaying the silhouette of the most obvious landmark for Atlas Park - the statue of Atlas - and that would probably eliminate any questions.

 

I mean, the exits are labeled on the map and so it really doesn't need it, but my first thought for the image for AP was the statue and I'm probably not alone in that - heck, you could even add a graffiti Atlas holding the O in Paragon to represent the statue if you want something more subtle than just "hey, look at the statue again!"

[Luminara]

29 minutes ago, Faultline said:

 

It says "Paragon".

 

 

It looks like someone sneezed while saying Paragon.

[Faultline]

19 minutes ago, Luminara said:

It looks like someone sneezed while saying Paragon.

 

That's graffiti for you.

[TemporalVileTerror]

Given that Atlas Park is such a squeaky-clean zone, perhaps the graffiti isn't the most appropriate visual indicator of the zone.

If someone on the art team (or maybe, if the Devs are willing, just one of us regular plebeian players) could whip up a decal of an Atlas statue spray.

For that matter . . . it may be worthwhile to have EACH zone receive a unique decal, representing the most prominent feature in the zone's skyline or notable landmark.  The Cage Consortium logo is an ideal exemplar of this in practice.  I NEVER fail to recognize Sharkhead's exit, which is how I determine which one is St. Martial, frankly.  Process of elimination.

 

Direct reply addressing an error in my statement here:  https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/29160-beta-patch-notes-for-may-25th-2021/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-365692

 

Edited May 26, 2021 by TemporalVileTerror
Well, that's embarrassing. But: Thank you, @Cinnder

[Faultline]

10 minutes ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

If someone on the art team (or maybe, if the Devs are willing, just one of us regular plebeian players) could whip up a decal of an Atlas statue spray.

 

Feel free to come up with something of sufficient quality - I am certainly no artist. I've been browsing the texture library to find a useable version of the Atlas statue, but the versions that exist were built for other purposes and don't work as graffiti or wall signage.

[TemporalVileTerror]

Cool!
What parameters do you want to set?
1200 x 1200, PNG with transparency?  

Something else?