page 3 [OPEN BETA] Patch Notes for December 5th, 2025

[Maelwys]

5 minutes ago, kelika2 said:

Did anyone test the 50% IO bonus thing yet?  do i still need to spend 9 extra slots to get 1kb protection?

I mean, it's getting +1.5 KB Protection now instead of +1.4 from 3x Gladiator's Armor.
And that's considerably better than before when fighting +2s and higher because reasons.

But you still need a Set Bonus (like 3x Gladiator's Armor) rather than a Global Bonus (like Karma/Steadfast/Zephyr) which grants KB protection for them to inherit it.

[bAss_ackwards]

On the topic of T9 Defensives:

 

I've always disliked the full crash they incurred. Then along came T9s in later sets (Strength of Will, One with the Shield, etc.) that had a lower recharge, lower duration, and far less significant crash. These I found tolerable. From then on I could make use of T9s that wouldn't go from one end of hot to the other end of cold. And now, with the crashes removed I'm considering all my Scrappers to include their T9s.

 

This change has changed my attitude from ignore T9s (or set mule but don't use) to finding a way to update my Scrapper builds to include them. The same thing happened when additional functionalities were added to the self-res powers that were in defensive sets. I would 100% always ignore them, because honestly I didn't die with my builds all that often, and if I needed to get back up I could use an awaken or temp power. Now I enjoy the multipurpose use of said self-res powers in my builds.

Edited Sunday at 01:48 AM by bAss_ackwards

[Chaos Ex Machina]

15 hours ago, Fira said:

 

To do aggro control you need to use Passive too, otherwise pets will hit targets and overwrite their aggro list.

Then we need some technique that can remove the stealth

[Lunar Ronin]

Yeah.  Using henchmen to pull is an issue.  When soloing or playing on a duo or trio and I or we encounter a tight area with multiple mob groups close together, I'll occasionally tell a henchmen or two to move out and pull some mobs back to me or us.  That will no longer be viable.  I don't much care for speed running, but this solves an issue for speed runners which is the majority at this point in time.  The needs of the many, yadda yadda.  Just have to take the good with the bad.

 

Also, FWIW in regards to personal attacks, with the Electrical Affinity secondary, I've found that it's simply not possible to use personal attacks.  I simply do not have the time to use one, between micromanaging henchmen and spamming Electrical Affinity powers.  With most other secondary power sets, I'm able to use one or two personal attacks fine.

[Vanden]

4 hours ago, Uun said:

I'm aware, but it only amounts to 4 weeks instead of 2. It took me weeks to test just the MM/Beast/Thugs changes in the last patch or the tank cone/AoE changes in the prior one. In this patch there are changes to at least 8 specific sets I want to test (only 2 of which are on the same character).

 

These changes aren't going live in 4 weeks. Some time in February or even March is what you should expect for this patch.

[Chaos Ex Machina]

23 minutes ago, Lunar Ronin said:

Yeah.  Using henchmen to pull is an issue.  When soloing or playing on a duo or trio and I or we encounter a tight area with multiple mob groups close together, I'll occasionally tell a henchmen or two to move out and pull some mobs back to me or us.  That will no longer be viable.  I don't much care for speed running, but this solves an issue for speed runners which is the majority at this point in time.  The needs of the many, yadda yadda.  Just have to take the good with the bad.

Speedrunners should definitely be not the only focus

The mastermind is a sort of tanking archetype

the best niche of the archetype for TFs and teaming is maximum aggro

This turns the mastermind to a defender that can run solo but be worse for teams

Also on the subject would love some inherent taunt or ability to slot optional taunt for mastermind powers (the mastermind henchmen already get bonus to aggro)

Edited Sunday at 02:16 AM by Chaos Ex Machina

[Faultline]

2 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

The incremental amount shows a similarly insignificant impact. For example, the amount of XP needed to reach the next level will look something like this:

1 to 2 = 100 xp (6 less xp than current amount required)

2 to 3 = 300 (37 less)

3 to 4 = 600 (18 more)

4 to 5 = 800 (same)

5 to 6 = 1200 (37 less)

6 to 7 = 1600 (25 more)

7 to 8 = 1900 (50 less)

8 to 9 = 2700 (20 more)

9 to 10 = 3000 (125 less)

and so on...

 

None of the levels will require more experience, it's always a downward adjustment (the last two digits of the cumulative column in the wiki become 00, or 000 for levels >= 50). There's nothing too significant about the change; the experience table needed to be redone with numbers up to level 60 to fix an issue with the higher level critters (and veteran levels now directly use the experience table instead of a hardcoded value) so while rewriting it I rounded everything down to make it look nicer. 

 

The reason there's a patch note is just so people wouldn't be confused about a stealth change. Now you're confused about a documented change.

[Faultline]

5 hours ago, WindDemon21 said:

I get that, but it devalues those IOs themselves, where clearly this is all happening because the MMs need BUFFs. While maybe a net buff still, these IO globals just feel really subpar now like they need some extra compensation.

 

No, the IO sets won't get anything extra. This is something where I overrode the powers team (who wanted to change the procs entirely) so you can blame it on me. 

 

The reason is simple: at the moment the changes to supremacy are just in testing, and even if they make it live, the powers team is not shy of reverting things every now and then.

 

By only lowering the ATO numbers without changing them in any other way, it is easy to bring them back up to the original values if needed. If they get something else, then people who got the IOs because of the new thing will be rightfully ticked off if they are changed back.

 

Yes, the Mastermind ATOs will feel pretty underwhelming now. That's fine. If you think they're a waste of a slot now, then congratulations, you now have an extra slot to put something more useful in. 

[Catalyze]

Congratulations to the Devs for doing something about Kinetic Melee!! It's even more convoluted that it was, but you have made an attempt at making it more attractive. When you all have finished with eggnog and mistletoe antics, please make Archery's "nuke" a fixed 3 waves of arrows and not RNG 1-3. I don't want a King Cake nuke where I hope I find the figurine in my slice.

 

I would have love to have seen the whiteboard on MM problems that you all decided to alleviate. Apparently not 1 of you said "lets just cover it with more +2 Hit/mission level above 50, and lets slap the same amount of damage/mission level above 50." They hit better and they do more damage against out New Improved Higher Level Content and we leave low level content ALONE. I am just glad to not have to clean the wall that ideas were thrown against. Keep at it and you will get the +7 X 8 players happy.

 

T9 changes are not really applicable to me. They mostly contained crashes like coming off of 2 scoop pre workout highs. Good luck with them, but I do fine without them so change away.

 

Broadsword looks like maybe the Dev who changed Axe snuck their changes into the Pile of Powers folder. Props to that sneaky genius! Keep your head low and continue to improve power sets without nerfs.

 

Marine. What a lovely set arrival. I play it and love it. MM's splash about in it like a water dish of love. However, anything new needs a dent in its appearance to scuff off that newness. So nerf away just a touch with knowledge that it could be "revisited" at any time for further denting.

 

Bio. LOL. For 6 years it has been the "only the skilled need apply" armor set. It paid glorious dividends to those who could anticipate/react with quick clicks. It confused even streamers in their attempts to show mastery. It was in a perfect place. If you knew, you knew. If you didn't know, you died and learned or chose something else. Nobody was jealous (if you were, just go roll one) and it affected nobody's gameplay. Apparently that Nerf Bio meatball that was thrown at your wall ......... stuck. I wasn't aware of teams shouting in LFG "Need more Bio armor members or we fail". It seemed mostly T4 Barrier wanted but I could have missed some.

 

Good luck wading through umpteen pages of opinions (with a smattering of hard data) and no focused feedback. Oh, a Mr. Clean Eraser will get those stains off your Idea Wall.

 

 

 

 

 

[WindDemon21]

3 hours ago, kelika2 said:

Did anyone test the 50% IO bonus thing yet?  do i still need to spend 9 extra slots to get 1kb protection?

Where are you getting that from? Generally most pets that take resist in the pet armors can just slot 3 pvps and get 1.5 points of kb protection (I still think all inherently should, certainly at least like "melee" pets), but you can still get that 1.5pts at least. They really still should allow globals to cross over to the pets as well and honestly the full values. This still makes MM's lack a good bit behind other ATs who can fully utilize this but this is at least a start.

[BlackSpectre]

1 hour ago, Faultline said:

I rounded everything down to make it look nicer. 

I wagered that was the reason. Looks nice!

 

1 hour ago, Faultline said:

 

The reason there's a patch note is just so people wouldn't be confused about a stealth change.

Thanks for the patch note and the additional info you gave here. Much appreciated!

1 hour ago, Faultline said:

Now you're confused about a documented change.

Not so much confused as merely wondering why the change? Curiosity. So thanks for the explanation! I do have one wondering about that... since veteran levels will be referencing a table, will it have a limit on how many veteran levels will be able to be seen in our Info window?  Will each veteran level still require the same amount of xp? In other words, any significant change to veteran levels or how we experience them? (I'm guessing no, but you never really know until you ask...)

 

I have a couple toons with veteran levels in the mid 300s, and I know there are players out there with far, far more than I have. 

 

Oh. Maybe you thought I was confused about why some numbers were rounded down to the nearest hundred and some to the nearest thousand?  I simply noticed you didn't mention anything about rounding down to the nearest thousand and yet at least one level was, that's all. 

 

Well, we love you guys!!!! Our developers are awesome. At least I will never throw personal attacks your way, call into question your intelligence, or any other disparaging remarks. In fact, you will never see any sort of condemnation from me. I have only respect and admiration for all of our developers... and that means you too, @Faultline! I feel so strongly about you guys that I will always read what you write with the utmost of sincerity and import. What you write matters, and I want to treat it with the respect your words deserve. That also means that I will absolutely attempt to understand what you write and apply it to what I see in the game. It's about understanding, that's all. 

 

Patch notes help me a lot, personally. Not only do they help me play the game better, but they absolutely help me keep the Wiki updated. They're super important. So thanks for them!

 

[kelika2]

1 hour ago, WindDemon21 said:

Where are you getting that from? Generally most pets that take resist in the pet armors can just slot 3 pvps and get 1.5 points of kb protection (I still think all inherently should, certainly at least like "melee" pets), but you can still get that 1.5pts at least. They really still should allow globals to cross over to the pets as well and honestly the full values. This still makes MM's lack a good bit behind other ATs who can fully utilize this but this is at least a start.

either way using that many slots, both power and enhancement slots to get a smidge of kb protection is not the way to do this

not to mention the cost, sure all us old timers can afford it but a little staggering for a new person

and now that personal attacks matter now more than ever the tightness of builds is going to keep growing

im going to wait for part 3 or 4 of this mastermind overhaul thing before busting out the engineering cliche of "too many moving parts" tho

[ivanhedgehog]

8 hours ago, Fira said:

But why are you going by the assumption things have to be "unilaterally buffed" exactly?

Also i believe "best possible MMs" were, in fact, setting the records for pylon testing, unless I missed something.

is this city of pylons? do pylon kills resemble much at all of the rest of the game?

[Fira]

54 minutes ago, ivanhedgehog said:

is this city of pylons? do pylon kills resemble much at all of the rest of the game?

 

I was just mentioning this because poster literally mentioned that "MMs do not set any records", if you bother to read the context. I do not consider pylon testing to be relevant, no. Please leave the spot for the next person to state the obvious. Calling number 4...

[Catalyze]

I copied a dark armor scrapper over to Beta just now. I take back past compliments of you improving endurance recovery and healing

with changes to Obscure Sustenance. This is what You accomplished:

1. Scrapper Beta: 13hp/sec and 3.44 end/sec           Just armor running staring at the clouds.

2. Obscure Sustenance Beta: 41hp/sec and 3.85 end/sec    Okay, we jumped up heal/second and end/second.

3. Dark Regeneration Beta: 810 health/mob within 25 yards.... every 10 seconds.  That looks to be 81 health per second average.

 

41 healing/second versus 81 healing/second and that 81 is if there is Only 1 Mob Hit. I can heal my full health with 2 mobs every 10 seconds.

The Old Dark Regeneration far outshines Obscure Sustenance. The low 41 hps wont cover much incoming damage. The Live version at 87 hps

( which I can hit for a few seconds then it starts scaling down) is almost comparable to Dark Regeneration at 810 health on a 10 second recharge.

 

But you shout at me "What about that .41 End/second ???" I have a Cardiac Incarnate to cap off my Resists on Dark Armor since I am a scrapper.

I don't need the .41 end/second boost and lose half my heal/second from that nerfed power. Leveling, I would just stuff a Performance Shifter proc

somewhere and mostly cover it.

 

Ninja Time!

Your changes to Kyoyo (Endurance Recovery power) snuck by me for a bit. Then I took one of my Scrappers to Beta. I am slotted to give 45 Endurance back to 

myself. How it works Now:

1. Live: 45 Endurance back every 19 seconds. That equals 2.4 Endurance/Second average.

2. Beta: 45 Endurance back over 30 seconds. That equals 1.5 Endurance/Second average. I have the recharge to bring the 90 second recharge down to 28 seconds.

but ...... Look at your NERF on this power. That is one nasty bit of "Adjustment". And with Your Nerfs, I get to keep mashing that button throughout a fight

since endurance comes back slowly and not in a chunk When I Need It.

 

Super Reflexes!

I can't even claim to understand your reasoning on this one. 

1. Sentinels have the Absorb power since their Resists are baked into their armor toggles. They get Resist and Absorb.

2. The Rest have the Resist power since their armor doesn't bake in the resists they need And they can't get an Absorb power.

3. You are going to Swap the Absorb power and the Resist power and offer a One Choice Only to every AT.

4. My Sentinel will scratch their head and just move the Preventive Medicine set from one to the other...still have baked in Resists....and now the same Absorb.

5. All the other AT's will take the newly named Resist power since they have to or not have any status resists. They will have the same Resists they had and 

nothing more. Not understanding your reasoning one bit. If it is a Buff, I don't see it. If it is a Nerf, you snuck it by me.

 

[Faultline]

@BlackSpectre No changes to how veteran levels work, from a player POV. It was just code cleanup.

[KaizenSoze]

There is an AE mission called, Speed Test, it's available on Open Beta and Live. Folks can use it to alternative to pylon testing. It's a kill all, with a single EB.

 

@Ston created it as I believe an alternative to the Trapdoor tests.

 

I tend to run it at 2x8, aim for three runs.

[arcane]

Very humorous to me that people were trying to defend the changeling exploit by desperately pointing at Bio scrappers and pretending like they represent average performance… and now they’ve had to nerf Bio 😁

[nightchrome]

I am confused by the changes to Broadsword. They're...something, I guess. But if this is all the set ever gets, when we consider what happened to Battle Axe, well it feels more than a little underwhelming. 

Edited Sunday at 02:11 PM by nightchrome

[Eirei07]

Not sure where to post this, so I'll just drop this here.

 

MM 50% set bonus share to pets doesn't seem like it works right in beta. Looking specifically at hp bonus, which is very little for my pets. Below is my MM's combat attributes, below it is T3 pet.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 02:47 PM by Eirei07

[oldskool]

I have not tested anything yet, but in just reading the listing all I can say is... 

THANK YOU. 

Even if some of these changes don't make it, I think the fact you put them out there to test warrants the thanks. 

Why? 

Years ago those of us playing Sentinels got asked about what kind of changes we wanted to see. There were loads of great comments, and the team made significant improvements to the AT. However, what I just read in this list is something I had asked for and felt would have been improvements to the AT. And... I finally see it happening at least in some form. I couldn't be happier. I'm ecstatic about the critical effect, but more than that... The 70% to 75% shift on the defenses brings a smile to my face. 

I'm also overjoyed to see the Ninjutsu, Willpower, and T9 changes. Brutes getting higher base HP will make some of character's lives so much easier like how much more of a struggle it can be to cap HP on Brute Regen than it is on Tankers, Scrappers, etc.. Now, it will be easier for everyone. Simply amazing. Super Strength getting an option to move off Rage? OMG... HELL YES. 

Can't way to test these... I have so many builds positively impacted by what I read here. 

[Troo]

18 hours ago, Neiska said:

"You get these things you asked for, but we are going to take other stuff away!"

 

Folks just don't factor in potential trade offs when they push for/demand/suggest changes. It is irksome.

 

"We want 'X' change" which will result in many changes throughout a set requiring taking more of a set's powers to get the same effectiveness while reducing power selections outside of the set as well as the variety of slotting opportunities in a race toward same-same vanilla-ness as the sets are tuned to one specific predetermined play style that results in self-gimping if that design is not followed.

• Broken existing characters.
• Forced respecifications.
• Potentially marginal improvement for the impact on existing characters.

 

It is not terrible design but it is design with blinders on.

It is also not respectful of the game OR the player base as a whole. The process favors a select few.

 

 

On 12/6/2025 at 5:34 AM, Shin Magmus said:

_______ is going to be retroactively FUCKED by the proposed ________ changes unless you swap power acquisition and order?

20 hours ago, Neiska said:

Especially since the way it works now is by combining all the powers together

 

Hey look at that, y'all might actually be catching on to what's been happening to existing power sets for sometime now.

 

 

[Triumphant]

Just popping in to say thanks to the hardest-working volunteer deveopment team in video gaming.  You guys are amazing!  Very excited about the smoothed out T9's, changes to Sentinels and Brutes (two of my favorite ATs) and heck, I'm even going to roll up a new SS character (Brute? Tank?  Not sure yet) and I only have 1 or 1 SS characters, because hand clap has always made me kind of sad.  But I'm stoked to try it out with unleashed might to see how it plays!

[Night]

While we have developer attention, I was wondering if we could get some behind-the-scenes insight into the reasoning behind some of the proposed T9 changes? Particularly first on the quadrupled endurance activation cost, as much higher cost means it's riskier to use in a fight and when you're already losing and in need of a boost, it's more likely that due to your toggles and power use, you might simply not have enough endurance to activate the power you need to survive.

 

Another point comes from even the patch notes post about the T9s, 

 

On 12/5/2025 at 11:20 PM, The Curator said:

The shorter the duration, the higher the impact the power should have.

 

Which is true as powers like Moment of Glory, Aim or Build Up offer a massive stat buff for a shorter duration, which makes me confused as to why the scaling in many of them has been nerfed instead of buffed? Elude/Overload/Kuji-In Retsu lose a huge chunk of their innate defense, and Meltdown received no stats buffs and only got nerfed aside from the crash removal. Notably Strength of Will uniquely benefits from this suggestion with an actual buff to its resistance values, but it also loses out on 1m 30s of its duration.

 

 

For suggestions again I really think all those affected powers should be introduced as mutually exclusive options to armor T9s rather than replacements, and in the best case scenario, the current/classic T9s would also have their crashes removed with no nerfs or balance changes, just remove their crash. Perhaps even lower their fully-enhanceable recharge (perhaps aside of in Strength of Will's case as its gimmick is lower recharge time but unenhanceable?) by a few minutes. Even if some classic T9s would now be able to be almost permanent, I think that's fine as the amount of sacrifice from your AT and powerset choice, IO slotting focusing on recharge and missing out on other defensive or offensive stats, incarnates requiring a T3 Spiritual and likely T4 Ageless as well, and power/pool power picks to achieve the recharge cap of lowering a single power's recharge to 1/4th of its base recharge time would be a more than adequate cost.

Edited Sunday at 10:33 PM by Night

[arcane]

People seem to think total crash removal was going to be free. Weird thought process IMO.