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

[Captain Powerhouse]

5 hours ago, mechahamham said:

A while back, I seriously tried to roll a defender that relied on the Fighting pool for his damage. He took the entire pool, and tried to use the synergy between them to replace blast powers.

 

I expected the damage to be lacking. What I did not expect was for it to be almost completely ineffective. Sure, I did the occasional stun, knock, and end drain, but still couldn't really use the fighting pool to solo +0/x1

 

 

Defenders are in an odd position because their melee damage modifiers are noticeably lower than their ranged ones. No promises but we might look into that in the future. This particular change was exclusively focused on removing the epic/pool/mastermind "endurance tax" though. We can only look at so many things at once.

[Captain Powerhouse]

Note on the Crashing T9 power changes:

 

We have decided to roll these changes back. At least at this point there are no plans to revisit them in the future. That of course might always be subject to change.

 

This applies exclusively to the crashing T9 changes, so specifically:

• Energy Aura > Overload
• Invulnerability > Unstoppable
• Ninjitsu > Kuji-In Retsu
• Radiation Armor > Meltdown
• Shield Defense > One With the Shield
• Super Reflexes > Elude
• Willpower > Strength of Will

Due to the holiday break, not sure when the rollback will be hitting the open beta server, so if anyone still wants to play around with the current versions for any reason you might have a few days to do so.

 

Other changes to any of the sets those powers are in will likely continue testing and iterating and we will continue to gather feedback. Do note nothing is considered final until it reaches release candidate status.

[PyroBeetle]

25 minutes ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

Note on the Crashing T9 power changes:

 

We have decided to roll these changes back. At least at this point there are no plans to revisit them in the future. That of course might always be subject to change.

 

This applies exclusively to the crashing T9 changes, so specifically:

• Energy Aura > Overload
• Invulnerability > Unstoppable
• Ninjitsu > Kuji-In Retsu
• Radiation Armor > Meltdown
• Shield Defense > One With the Shield
• Super Reflexes > Elude
• Willpower > Strength of Will

Not that all of these T9s were used this way but enough of them are, by rotating the crash able long duration T9s with Melee Hybrid, Unleashed or RoP, and Barrier timing, you are able to achieve functional invulnerability without relying on slotting your other powers. So we are catering to that extreme edge of playstyle as opposed to making T9s functional for the rest of the player base and across the levels as opposed to just Incarnate endgame content?

[Myrmidon]

31 minutes ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

Note on the Crashing T9 power changes:

 

We have decided to roll these changes back. At least at this point there are no plans to revisit them in the future. That of course might always be subject to change.

 

This applies exclusively to the crashing T9 changes, so specifically:

• Energy Aura > Overload
• Invulnerability > Unstoppable
• Ninjitsu > Kuji-In Retsu
• Radiation Armor > Meltdown
• Shield Defense > One With the Shield
• Super Reflexes > Elude
• Willpower > Strength of Will

Due to the holiday break, not sure when the rollback will be hitting the open beta server, so if anyone still wants to play around with the current versions for any reason you might have a few days to do so.

 

Other changes to any of the sets those powers are in will likely continue testing and iterating and we will continue to gather feedback. Do note nothing is considered final until it reaches release candidate status.

 

Armor T9s are staying in their mostly trash/niche “don’t bother taking most of them” state.
 

Got it, thanks Captain.

 

 

 

That just means less Respecs this patch.😁

[Catalyze]

While cleaning the cat's boxes, I thought about "Why would a Dev even look at Ninja armor? Nobody clamors about it being The Meta. So why would They waste their limited time to nerf the endurance return power by 40%?"  (Live Note: 45 Endurance/18 second cd = 2.5 end/second .... Beta Note: 45 endurance/30 second = 1.5 end/second. These are the figures from 1 of my coped to beta toons)

 

Then as the sand slowly sifted through the cat sand scoop, I realized the Devs are looking at Every armor set that is popular and seeing why it is chosen so much. Then they nerf that ability into mediocrity. They call it "adjusting it to be more inline with other powers". They are looking toward every armor set being workable but Not Outstanding in anything. In Live you could make some real Bad Choices on armor and power set combos. Then the Devs said "Do a Respec Trial with your bad performing toon and hope your team carries you." The Future holds no such scenario. There will be no underperforming or overperforming Anything. All armor will Work at a mediocre level. Each will have something to make it different to play BUT NOT perform differently. It will all keep you alive mostly and have enough diversity in slotting so you really feel like you created something OP. Armors will become Dunkin' Doughnut Armors. It's all the same doughnut with some colorful frosting (for the RP players) and subtle taste variations. It's all the same doughnut underneath, all the jelly filled ones are gone (Bye Bye Raspberry Bio filling). 

 

No Wrong Combinations on Anything. That's what the Devs want. No learning curves (you are so toast Kheldians), nothing Underperforms (according to an average they set) and nothing will Stand Out.  Stats will show them what is Too Popular and Too Ignored. Then will come the Revisit so everything is a mediocre choice with colored frosting (or sparkling glitter columns).

[BigJimPringle]

15 minutes ago, Catalyze said:

The Future holds no such scenario. There will be no underperforming or overperforming Anything. All armor will Work at a mediocre level. 

Indeed, the future really is looking like the endless reign of mediocre slop. Because the pinnacle of gaming is wallowing in absolute mediocrity that varies only in vfx and color. If nothing is allowed to be good then everything must be made bad. It's for our own good, i promise!

[Bionic_Flea]

1 hour ago, Catalyze said:

No Wrong Combinations on Anything. That's what the Devs want. No learning curves (you are so toast Kheldians), nothing Underperforms (according to an average they set) and nothing will Stand Out.  Stats will show them what is Too Popular and Too Ignored. Then will come the Revisit so everything is a mediocre choice with colored frosting (or sparkling glitter columns).

 

If you are interested in that kind of fiction, may I suggest Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

[Crysis]

On 12/5/2025 at 5:52 PM, Maelwys said:

 

I’m assuming this patch was the “bedlam” you inferred when discussing the MM fixes?

[Crysis]

1 hour ago, Catalyze said:

While cleaning the cat's boxes, I thought about "Why would a Dev even look at Ninja armor? Nobody clamors about it being The Meta. So why would They waste their limited time to nerf the endurance return power by 40%?"  (Live Note: 45 Endurance/18 second cd = 2.5 end/second .... Beta Note: 45 endurance/30 second = 1.5 end/second. These are the figures from 1 of my coped to beta toons)

 

Then as the sand slowly sifted through the cat sand scoop, I realized the Devs are looking at Every armor set that is popular and seeing why it is chosen so much. Then they nerf that ability into mediocrity. They call it "adjusting it to be more inline with other powers". They are looking toward every armor set being workable but Not Outstanding in anything. In Live you could make some real Bad Choices on armor and power set combos. Then the Devs said "Do a Respec Trial with your bad performing toon and hope your team carries you." The Future holds no such scenario. There will be no underperforming or overperforming Anything. All armor will Work at a mediocre level. Each will have something to make it different to play BUT NOT perform differently. It will all keep you alive mostly and have enough diversity in slotting so you really feel like you created something OP. Armors will become Dunkin' Doughnut Armors. It's all the same doughnut with some colorful frosting (for the RP players) and subtle taste variations. It's all the same doughnut underneath, all the jelly filled ones are gone (Bye Bye Raspberry Bio filling). 

 

No Wrong Combinations on Anything. That's what the Devs want. No learning curves (you are so toast Kheldians), nothing Underperforms (according to an average they set) and nothing will Stand Out.  Stats will show them what is Too Popular and Too Ignored. Then will come the Revisit so everything is a mediocre choice with colored frosting (or sparkling glitter columns).

TLDR; “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.”

[Crysis]

9 hours ago, Maelwys said:

You're parsing the line incorrectly, although to be fair it's ambiguously worded.

 

The +Res portion got reduced to +2.5% (from +7.5%) on the Normal version of the ATO and reduced to +5 (from 15%) on the Superior version of the ATO.

The +Regen portion got reduced to +25% (from +75%) on the Normal version of the ATO and reduced to +50 (from 150%) on the Superior version of the ATO.

 

The Devs then took the removed portion of +Res and +Regen from the SUPERIOR version of the ATOs and crammed it into Supremacy. Where it also has a larger radius.

Appreciate you spelling this out for us.  I was in middle of trying to read this entire thread to better understand this.  

MM’s are so slot hungry (as are EATs/VEATs) that I see this overall as a big plus up for the AT.  

[Shin Magmus]

37 minutes ago, Bionic_Flea said:

 

If you are interested in that kind of fiction, may I suggest Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

   This is an incredible reference and there are poignant short film adaptations as well.  The Handicapper General doles out punishments to those too good-looking, smart, or otherwise gifted in order to bring everyone down to the same maladjusted baseline incompetence.

 

[BrandX]

3 hours ago, Captain Powerhouse said:

Note on the Crashing T9 power changes:

 

We have decided to roll these changes back. At least at this point there are no plans to revisit them in the future. That of course might always be subject to change.

 

This applies exclusively to the crashing T9 changes, so specifically:

• Energy Aura > Overload
• Invulnerability > Unstoppable
• Ninjitsu > Kuji-In Retsu
• Radiation Armor > Meltdown
• Shield Defense > One With the Shield
• Super Reflexes > Elude
• Willpower > Strength of Will

Due to the holiday break, not sure when the rollback will be hitting the open beta server, so if anyone still wants to play around with the current versions for any reason you might have a few days to do so.

 

Other changes to any of the sets those powers are in will likely continue testing and iterating and we will continue to gather feedback. Do note nothing is considered final until it reaches release candidate status.

 

I'm curious, as someone who didn't hate them, why the roll back?  

[Championess]

13 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

I'm curious, as someone who didn't hate them, why the roll back?  

 

It's too bad that it's going on the backburner but it is probably better to do them in stages rather than one fell swoop as well intentioned as it may be.

 

The worst ones I hope they circle back to like Elude where it really offers you nothing as it is or the ones with harsh hp crashes like Unstoppable.  

Edited Tuesday at 05:28 PM by Championess

[Riverdusk]

1 minute ago, Championess said:

 

It's too bad that it's going on the backburner but it is probably better to do them in stages rather than one fell swoop as well intentioned as it may be.

 

The worst ones I hope they circle back to like Elude where it really offers you nothing as it is or the ones with harsh hp crashes like Unstoppable.  

 

To me I'm actually more sad about shield and willpowers.  They have a lessor crash, but also honestly didn't really offer enough imo to make them worth using.  I can't remember a time when I hit one and went "wow, this really saved me from dying!"  It was always more like, "Meh, I don't even really notice a difference".   They became an always skip.

 

I really liked they were getting some significant buffs....that are now gone.

[Championess]

19 minutes ago, Riverdusk said:

 

To me I'm actually more sad about shield and willpowers.  They have a lessor crash, but also honestly didn't really offer enough imo to make them worth using.  I can't remember a time when I hit one and went "wow, this really saved me from dying!"  It was always more like, "Meh, I don't even really notice a difference".   They became an always skip.

 

I really liked they were getting some significant buffs....that are now gone.

 

Honestly I didn't like the change to Shield's t9.  Sure it's an emergency use type of thing but it does cap my hp and some more of my resists.  I'd take it and mule a set into it, I could manage that hasten-like endurance crash.

 

The minor damage it did with kb was neat but you can't slot it for more damage, maybe it would have felt neater with a Mighty-like animation smashing the shield into the ground.  Sporatic more resists was meh to me.  The worst was the reduction in hp to get some absorb on it.  I slotted some heal sets into it to beef up the absorb/hp and was still getting less hp than before with a minor 500ish absorb.  If I really want absorbs I'd find a way to slot the entomb and tanker ATO which I do.

Edited Tuesday at 05:52 PM by Championess

[mechahamham]

My testing for Dual Pistols:

 

I took my level 33 DP/Time Manip blaster to Brickstown and found a Crey Vigilant to shoot both on Excel and on Brainstorm. The copy of the character on Brainstorm is a fresh copy, so the two have absolutely the same build and any extraneous buffs. I didn't use any powers but the three listed. The Vigilant was an even-con level 33 in both cases.

 

Excelsior:

You activated the Executioner's Shot power.
HIT Vigilant! Your Executioner's Shot power had a 95.00% chance to hit, you rolled a 78.80.
You hit Vigilant with your Executioner's Shot for 135.23 points of Lethal damage.
You hit Vigilant with your Executioner's Shot for 57.95 points of Fire damage.
You hit Vigilant with your Executioner's Shot for 15.39 points of Fire damage over time.
You activated the Dual Wield power.
You hit Vigilant with your Executioner's Shot for 15.39 points of Fire damage over time.
HIT Vigilant! Your Dual Wield power had a 95.00% chance to hit, you rolled a 65.24.
You hit Vigilant with your Dual Wield for 71.29 points of Lethal damage.
You hit Vigilant with your Dual Wield for 30.55 points of Fire damage.
You hit Vigilant with your Dual Wield for 8.71 points of Fire damage over time.
You gain 218 influence.

(Vigilant was defeated)

total 334.51 damage

 

Brainstorm:

You activated the Executioner's Shot power.
HIT Vigilant! Your Executioner's Shot power had a 95.00% chance to hit, you rolled a 94.73.
You hit Vigilant with your Executioner's Shot for 193.19 points of Fire damage.
You hit Vigilant with your Executioner's Shot for 15.39 points of Fire damage over time.
You activated the Dual Wield power.
HIT Vigilant! Your Dual Wield power had a 95.00% chance to hit, you rolled a 50.71.
You hit Vigilant with your Dual Wield for 101.84 points of Fire damage.
You activated the Pistols power.
HIT Vigilant! Your Pistols power had a 95.00% chance to hit, you rolled a 7.88.
You hit Vigilant with your Pistols for 70.4 points of Fire damage.
You gain 218 influence.

(Vigilant was defeated)

total 380.92 damage

 

So, yeah. He died before I could get Pistols to hit him on Excelsior and lasted until Pistols hit him on Brainstorm despite being the same enemy at the same level. It's gonna be kinda hard to get an apples to apples comparison that way. I did more total damage on Brainstorm because he didn't die as quickly.

 

The damage amounts, so far as I can tell, are exactly the same. Under the new Brainstorm build, they're all the Ammo damage type rather than Ammo + Lethal, which is true to the patch notes. So against enemies that are vulnerable to that damage type, it's certainly going to be a buff, but in the majority of cases, it's only going to be a very minor change.

[Maelwys]

1 hour ago, Crysis said:

I’m assuming this patch was the “bedlam” you inferred when discussing the MM fixes?

 

Whitecap and Bio armour nerfs, Sentinel Crits, T9 armour power changes, Super Strength rework, Spines and Kinetic Melee etc buffs, Brute and Stalker buffs, and myriad other changes plus a smattering of MM tweaks (including a change to their inherent)?

 

Yeah I'd say that qualifies as pretty bedlam inducing. CPH noted that the change count alone was going to be daunting, and I think that's a very fair assessment of what just landed.

 

(Although full disclosure: at least one of the biggish things that I was envisioning landing simultaneously with all this didn't make it to Open Beta. Yet.)

[Captain Fabulous]

Oh I see we're back to "y'all really need to go outside and touch some grass" status. And people wonder why I ignore the forums like they're a plague. Cause they are.

Anywhoo, disappointed with the T9 rollbacks. But an honest question: why can't you just take out the crashes and leave them as-is? I've been mulling this over the past few days and I'm genuinely not understanding the goal as to what utility you want the T9s to be. At ~30 seconds they're good for an alpha or short fight, but won't help much for longer tougher battles which one could argue is their main current use (and some would argue is of more value than a short duration boost that can be achieved with inspirations and temp powers).

So maybe in the short-term just remove the crash to make the T9s more useful, and then at some point in the future revisit and revamp them if necessary. I would like to think this would be seen by most of us as a good solution.

[arcane]

+1 to “I guess thank you for keeping many T9’s useless because now I have fewer respecs to do?”

[Monkerlotus]

id just make all T9s work like  one with the shield does, or Will PowersP, take away rech bonuses from them, make them crashless, boom, melees get their tough moments button

[UltraAlt]

15 hours ago, Faultline said:

As many others have pointed out, the buff was moved from the IO to be built into Supremacy (the Mastermind inherent). There is no difference to final numbers if you have the enhancement slot, and a large improvement if you don't. The IO can only be slotted by Masterminds, there's not a single character with this IO slotted that will see a reduction in its effects.

 

Thanks.

My math was correct.

 

It seems to me like it reduces the reason to slot the two ATOs that have had the bulk of the reason for their slotting moved to Supremacy other than to get the set bonuses.

Overall, more people will be slotting the entire sets as they can now be slotted into non-henchmen powers, so maybe that trade off helps.

[brass_eagle]

17 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

• Mark of Supremacy
  • +Res/+Regen buffs lowered to +2.5%/+5% and +25%/+50% for Regular/Superior versions respectively

In what math system is 2.5 not 1/10th of 25?

I guess that would be the same math system where 5 is not 1/10 if 50.

 

 

Specifically, the IO is 1/2'ing it's bonuses:

 

--> Resistance bonus on test is going from 5% to 2.5% (decimal)

--> Regeneration bonus on test is going from 50% down to 25% (no decimal)

 

The note could be written better, and the operative word is respectively. Taking my knowledge of the IO in question into account, I think you are reading it wrong. It would be a lot worse as you claim and might believe if it was "1/10"ing... but it's "1/2"ing and moving most of those bonuses & better ones to the MM inherent (not all). But look at the IOs on live and test before asking for me to explain it to you. I'm not sure if you have used them before, or are aware of the bonuses but a 25% resistance aura for minions in an IO would be ludicrous and has never existed in an ATO IO.

 

If the value is "1/10thing" from live values please screenshot so we can see.

 

Hell, even the 100% regeneration bonus in Supremacy is better than the damn IO's original value.

 

Please re-read. It's 1/2 from the IO in this patch, not 1/10.

Edited Tuesday at 11:12 PM by brass_eagle

[Maelwys]

10 hours ago, brass_eagle said:

 

Specifically, the IO is 1/2'ing it's bonuses:

 

--> Resistance bonus on test is going from 5% to 2.5% (decimal)

--> Regeneration bonus on test is going from 50% down to 25% (no decimal)

 

Again, No.

 

Each set of ATOs is losing at least two thirds of its bonuses. Not half.

 

It might be helpful to colour-code the statement:

"+Res/+Regen buffs lowered to +2.5%/+5% and +25%/+50% for Regular/Superior versions respectively"

 

The red bit is the Resistance value, the green bit is the Regeneration value.

The First value in each set of figures is for the Regular ATO, and the Second value is for the Superior ATO.

I suspect the main thing that's confusing matters here is that first "/"  between "+Res/+Regen". It's implying that the next two sets of figures are formatted Res/Regen and Res/Regen, whenever they're really formatted as Res[regular]/Res[superior] and Regen[regular]/Regen[superior].

 

 

In any case:

 

On Live the Regular ATO grants 10% Resistance and 100% Regeneration.

On Test it grants 2.5% Resistance and 25% Regeneration.

 

On Live the Superior ATO grants 15% Resistance and 150% Regeneration.

On Test it grants 5% Resistance and 50% Regeneration.

 

On Live Supremacy isn't granting any Resistance or Regeneration.

On Test it grants (up to) 10% Resistance and 100% Regeneration (depending on your level).

 

The upshot is that if you previously took the Superior "Mark of Supremacy" MM ATO then you'll have exactly the same buff strengths as before, but now 2/3rds of that buff is originating from Supremacy not from the ATO. However if you previously did NOT take that ATO then now you're better off.

 

- - - - - - - - - - 

 

And the SAME IS TRUE for the other MM ATO set (Command of the Mastermind).

 

It's being reduced from 15% AoE Defense to 5% AoE Defense [for the Superior version] and from 10% AoE Defense to 2.5% AoE Defense [for the Regular version] with the Supremacy inherent gaining (up to) +10% AoE Defense (depending on your level)

[EDIT] - CPH clarified that the buff strength granted by the Supremacy portion isn't level-dependent anymore. Even better!
 

Edited Wednesday at 09:15 AM by Maelwys

[Wavicle]

3 minutes ago, Maelwys said:

 

Again, No.

 

Each set of ATOs is losing two thirds of its bonuses. Not half.

 

It might be helpful to colour-code the statement:

"+Res/+Regen buffs lowered to +2.5%/+5% and +25%/+50% for Regular/Superior versions respectively"

 

The red bit is the Resistance value, the green bit is the Regeneration value.

The First value in each set of figures is for the Regular ATO, and the Second value is for the Superior ATO.

I suspect the main thing that's confusing matters here is that first "/"  between "+Res/+Regen". It's implying that the next two sets of figures are formatted Res/Regen and Res/Regen, whenever they're really formatted as Res[regular]/Res[superior] and Regen[regular]/Regen[superior].

 

 

In any case:

 

On Live the Regular ATO grants 7.5% Resistance and 75% Regeneration.

On Test it grants 2.5% Resistance and 25% Regeneration.

 

On Live the Superior ATO grants 15% Resistance and 150% Regeneration.

On Test it grants 5% Resistance and 50% Regeneration.

 

On Live Supremacy isn't granting any Resistance or Regeneration.

On Test it grants (up to) 10% Resistance and 100% Regeneration (depending on your level).

 

The upshot is that if you previously took the Superior ATO then you'll have exactly the same buff strengths as before, but now 2/3rds of that buff is originating from Supremacy not from the ATO. However if you previously did NOT take the Superior ATO then now you're better off.

You’re better off in both cases, because the range of supremacy is better than the range of the ATO’s.

[Maelwys]

5 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

You’re better off in both cases, because the range of supremacy is better than the range of the ATO’s.

 

True. Technically Supremacy also has a limitation in that it's buffs only apply to Mastermind Henchmen, not "pets". Meaning that stuff like Forcefield Generator, Barrier Reef and Lore Pets (which do gain full benefit from the ATO buffs!) are technically losing out on the bit of +Res/+Regen/+AoE Def that's been moved into Supremacy. 

 

Powers stuff be complicated.