page 3 [OPEN BETA] Patch Notes for December 19th, 2025

[macskull]

4 minutes ago, VPrime said:

What's the reasoning for removing Unleashed Might?

 

I've been waiting for this patch to hit live specifically for that change in Super Strength.

To give the Super Strength changes more time in the oven.

 

I do think trying to change the Rage crash (again) was A Bad Idea which definitely didn't help.

[Captain Fabulous]

1 hour ago, Psyonico said:

I'm sad to see the Unleashed Might changes removed.  Can we just have Rage as it is now and add Unleashed Might as well?  I think the Rage ragers' biggest complaint was the -resistance.  If rage stays as it is now, people who like double stacking still have things exactly the way they like it while those of us who hate the rage crash have an alternative choice.

 

I know that there will still be people complaining about Unleashed Might making rage less useful, but that's just a perception thing and those are people who are going to complain about *any* change.

But those are the devs' beloved players to whom they always cater and cave to, so no, we can't get anything new or improved.

[kelika2]

I just want to make sure I got this right.

Supremacy now has pet buffs baked into it, but does not stack with mastermind ATO pet buffs?

[Ghostcub]

1 hour ago, Psyonico said:

I'm sad to see the Unleashed Might changes removed.  Can we just have Rage as it is now and add Unleashed Might as well?  I think the Rage ragers' biggest complaint was the -resistance.  If rage stays as it is now, people who like double stacking still have things exactly the way they like it while those of us who hate the rage crash have an alternative choice.

 

I know that there will still be people complaining about Unleashed Might making rage less useful, but that's just a perception thing and those are people who are going to complain about *any* change.

I can give a PvP'ers (SS/Regen Brute) perspective which, I completely understand is not very valid to the community as a whole as a vast majority do PvE.  But I use SS to fight and have tried my best to be successful with it.

Rage (which let me be clear, I'd love something changed with it) is my main way of upping my accuracy and just doing damage as a whole, as it increases damage by 80%, otherwise SS doesn't do much damage.  Rage crash comes with a punishing crash of -20% defense, -25% Endurance, and -9990% damage debuff for 10 seconds. In my testing, the damage output of Unleashed Might (20%) was significantly lower (roughly 30%-50% less effective in burst windows).  While it removes the 10-second crash, the 'passive' nature of the power makes the set feel even more underpowered that normal during active engagements.

In the 10-minute duels I participate in, a flat 20% buff from Unleashed Might lacks the necessary pressure to secure a win. Even factoring in the total 'crash' time over a 10-minute window, the 80% Rage bonus provides a significantly higher average damage floor and the burst potential required to break an opponent's recovery—something a 20% passive simply cannot do.

 

I would love to see a genuine buff or a new mechanic for Super Strength, but Unleashed Might feels like a step backward into a 'passive stat stick' playstyle. Unless I was specifically building around Hand Clap procs, I wouldn't sacrifice the 80% damage ceiling for Unleashed Might.  It makes the set feel less like "Super Strength" and more like a passive stat stick.  I'm glad the devs are taking a more nuanced approach to find a middle ground that maintains the set's identity while addressing the crash.

[VPrime]

2 minutes ago, Ghostcub said:

I can give a PvP'ers (SS/Regen Brute) perspective which, I completely understand is not very valid to the community as a whole as a vast majority do PvE.  But I use SS to fight and have tried my best to be successful with it.

Rage (which let me be clear, I'd love something changed with it) is my main way of upping my accuracy and just doing damage as a whole, as it increases damage by 80%, otherwise SS doesn't do much damage.  Rage crash comes with a punishing crash of -20% defense, -25% Endurance, and -9990% damage debuff for 10 seconds. In my testing, the damage output of Unleashed Might (20%) was significantly lower (roughly 30%-50% less effective in burst windows).  While it removes the 10-second crash, the 'passive' nature of the power makes the set feel even more underpowered that normal during active engagements.

In the 10-minute duels I participate in, a flat 20% buff from Unleashed Might lacks the necessary pressure to secure a win. Even factoring in the total 'crash' time over a 10-minute window, the 80% Rage bonus provides a significantly higher average damage floor and the burst potential required to break an opponent's recovery—something a 20% passive simply cannot do.

 

I would love to see a genuine buff or a new mechanic for Super Strength, but Unleashed Might feels like a step backward into a 'passive stat stick' playstyle. Unless I was specifically building around Hand Clap procs, I wouldn't sacrifice the 80% damage ceiling for Unleashed Might.  It makes the set feel less like "Super Strength" and more like a passive stat stick.  I'm glad the devs are taking a more nuanced approach to find a middle ground that maintains the set's identity while addressing the crash.

How would giving other players the option to use Unleashed Might instead of Rage effect your gameplay?

[Ghostcub]

7 minutes ago, VPrime said:

How would giving other players the option to use Unleashed Might instead of Rage effect your gameplay?

That is a fair question.  It wouldn't affect me directly, but I worry that if the alternative (Unleashed Might) is tuned too low, it might prevent the devs from giving Super Strength the more meaningful, high-impact buff the set actually needs.

[Ukase]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

Once in a while I come back

This is you. You can only speak for yourself. I know plenty of folks that play all day, every day. And I don't even get out much. 

The game is getting better with age. 

[Lockely]

2 hours ago, Psyonico said:

I'm sad to see the Unleashed Might changes removed.  Can we just have Rage as it is now and add Unleashed Might as well?  I think the Rage ragers' biggest complaint was the -resistance.  If rage stays as it is now, people who like double stacking still have things exactly the way they like it while those of us who hate the rage crash have an alternative choice.

 

I know that there will still be people complaining about Unleashed Might making rage less useful, but that's just a perception thing and those are people who are going to complain about *any* change.

 

Trying to view this from a dev perspective, if Unleashed Might just overall seems like a better choice than Rage, then they need to address the problems overall with Rage so it doesn't become a situation the same way Reactive Regeneration has completely overtaken Instant Healing on Regen. They would, ideally, want to release that in the same patch that UM comes out so that it's an actual choice between both and Rage doesn't fall into the community "this is terrible never take it" bucket the same way Instant Healing has.

[Ukase]

24 minutes ago, Ghostcub said:

I would love to see a genuine buff or a new mechanic for Super Strength, but Unleashed Might feels like a step backward into a 'passive stat stick' playstyle.

I appreciate the math you did, and your perspective. But for me - passive stats are what I like! I don't want to manage a rage crash. 
I thought my tank on Brainstorm was doing just fine with Unleashed might. And I didn't do any math. I didn't need to. I was having fun with it, and to me that's the only test that I was concerned with. The damage was nice. I didn't try to tackle a pylon or Trapdoor or anything. I just played content the way I normally would. It's fine the way it is. Would I like more? Sure. But I don't have any evidence to suggest it needs more. 

Now your math may say something different, which is fine. But I don't see why they can't add it, and change it later. It's not like that hasn't been done before. 

[VPrime]

2 minutes ago, Lockely said:

 

Trying to view this from a dev perspective, if Unleashed Might just overall seems like a better choice than Rage, then they need to address the problems overall with Rage so it doesn't become a situation the same way Reactive Regeneration has completely overtaken Instant Healing on Regen. They would, ideally, want to release that in the same patch that UM comes out so that it's an actual choice between both and Rage doesn't fall into the community "this is terrible never take it" bucket the same way Instant Healing has.

So give the players nothing at all? That makes zero sense.

 

Just roll back the Rage changes and release Unleashed Might.

 

Update Rage in a future patch.

 

Seems pretty straightforward.

 

Also, you can't compare to Regen, because people on live currently make Super Strength characters with Rage as is. So it's not like people are not making Super Strength characters because they believe Rage is "terrible".

[Zahnee]

Unleashed Might on Tankers clears slower than molasses. 1 min slower pylon, 2 mins slower clear speed on arc 23935 vs Rage. Don’t be an excel warrior or a napkin math professor. Let’s see builds and results comparing the two on the next go around.

[Super Atom]

ground zero

[Psi-bolt]

27 minutes ago, Lockely said:

 

Trying to view this from a dev perspective, if Unleashed Might just overall seems like a better choice than Rage, then they need to address the problems overall with Rage so it doesn't become a situation the same way Reactive Regeneration has completely overtaken Instant Healing on Regen. They would, ideally, want to release that in the same patch that UM comes out so that it's an actual choice between both and Rage doesn't fall into the community "this is terrible never take it" bucket the same way Instant Healing has.

 It was always clear that Instant Healing was being effectively deprecated in favor of Reactive Regeneration.  IH wasn’t intended to be a valid choice any longer.  They just didn’t want to force a respec or take away a tool if people still wanted to use it for whatever reason.

 

So as it would have been with Rage.  EXCEPT, there are some folks so incredibly addicted to damage (to be fair the game’s reward system enables them) that they wouldn’t give up Rage AND were annoyed that there was a new toy for others who were willing to trade some optimal damage for consistency.

[PoptartsNinja]

7 hours ago, Faultline said:

The good news is that the features that didn't get yanked out are most likely going to hit Live much, much earlier than they otherwise would have. The bad news is that a lot of players are taking the reversions personally or blaming other players for it, which is not acceptable.

I can understand why people are frustrated and a bit depressed about this one. Even if you do plan on re-touching Super Strength for Page 3, you showed people two things they were really interested in (Armor T9 changes and a Super Strength rework), and both got pulled. One of which was pulled with a very spitefully worded: "At least at this point there are no plans to revisit them in the future." I'm still hopeful wasn't actually intended to be spiteful, but it's easy to misread a text's tone and for me, that is how it came accross.
 

 

What's clear to me from the current situation is:

1. Interest in seeing Super Strength reworked is very high. I'm glad that one's not going away. People are passionate about it because they want Super Strength to be good, feel good to play, and to keep the core of its identity. It really feels like Unleashed Might and the Handclap change really fit, so people are genuinely upset to see them go (however temporarily). I think the powers team is capable of delivering on a Super Strength rework, so I can be patient.
2. People really do want to see the Armor T9s improved. They just:
   1. Don't want the Armor T9s to be homogenized because different powersets need different tools
   2. Maybe want to see Armor T9 changes trickled out one or two sets at a time so that we can focus our testing time on a set or two instead of all being handled at once in a way that makes it difficult for anyone to test every change to see how it actually works
   3. Would appreciate a bit more dev / power team feedback about what their vision is for each armor set's T9. Having a bit more insight into the design intent would help us provide useful suggestions to how to achieve developer goals without losing the powerset's flavor; or at least would allow us to better explain why we felt a change wasn't meeting the rework goals and offer suggestions for alternatives that did.

The Electric Armor changes went over really well, because Electric Armor has never needed a 'panic button' style power. It's a very durable set, so turning Electric Armor's T9 into a shorter-duration utility tool suited the set's needs pretty perfectly. But just because that design worked for Electric Armor doesn't mean that same design works for other powersets.

 

For example: Ninjutsu already has a good utility toolset, has inherently worse DDR values than Super Reflexes, and it doesn't have the added durability that Super Reflexes' scaling armor provides. Ninjutsu probably really does want a long-duration panic button in some form. It could absolutely use a panic button that's better suited to its actual strengths, but over-capping Ninjutsu's defense values is genuinely useful because it isn't basically immune to -def the way Super Reflexes is.

 

 

I'm glad Super Strength's rework is still on the table, if a bit sad it won't be a (slightly post) Christmas present (that's fine, my birthday's in the spring so it can be a birthday present instead 😄 ).

I really hope you reconsider "not touching" the Armor T9s. People feel strongly about them because most of them really do need an overhaul. Crashes feel awful and aren't good game design, T9 self-rezzes are generally bad, and some sets really do need something that lasts longer than 30 seconds.

[Zahnee]

2 minutes ago, Psi-bolt said:

 It was always clear that Instant Healing was being effectively deprecated in favor of Reactive Regeneration.  IH wasn’t intended to be a valid choice any longer.  They just didn’t want to force a respec or take away a tool if people still wanted to use it for whatever reason.

 

So as it would have been with Rage.  EXCEPT, there are some folks so incredibly addicted to damage (to be fair the game’s reward system enables them) that they wouldn’t give up Rage AND were annoyed that there was a new toy for others who were willing to trade some optimal damage for consistency.

You have this so wrong lmao. 
 

Rage wasn’t left as-is, it was nuked from orbit. Not only did it suck on defense sets still, but now it was suicide on hybrid and resistance sets.

 

Yes people like damage, and when you take a middling performance set like Super Strength and give it 2 options, commit seppuku through nuRage or nuke its damage with UM, people are going to be upset. 

UM was also a backhand to Rage with the Hand Clap modifier. Explain the reason for that other than the desire to phase out Rage. 
 

I’ll die on this hill, because no one has proven me otherwise with objective current game data. 
 

Note: I’m only referencing Tanker damage, because UM is clearly the better option for Brutes due to Fury. 

[VPrime]

4 minutes ago, Zahnee said:

You have this so wrong lmao. 
 

Rage wasn’t left as-is, it was nuked from orbit. Not only did it suck on defense sets still, but now it was suicide on hybrid and resistance sets.

 

Yes people like damage, and when you take a middling performance set like Super Strength and give it 2 options, commit seppuku through nuRage or nuke its damage with UM, people are going to be upset. 

UM was also a backhand to Rage with the Hand Clap modifier. Explain the reason for that other than the desire to phase out Rage. 
 

I’ll die on this hill, because no one has proven me otherwise with objective current game data. 
 

Note: I’m only referencing Tanker damage, because UM is clearly the better option for Brutes due to Fury. 

 

Okay, so just don't add the Handclap change.

 

Keep Rage as is. Add Unleashed Might. Don't change Hand Clap at all.

 

Everyone "wins".

[Psi-bolt]

Just now, Zahnee said:

Explain the reason for that other than the desire to phase out Rage. 

I thought I was clear that the point was exactly that.  Rage was being made a worse choice than UM except that Rage provided better offensive buffs with a big downside.  The only people who still were expected to take Rage were those that value damage over any other consideration.

 

I hate the crash just like you do, but which was why I was going to respec out of Rage on my SS Tanker and pick up UM.  I tank with my Tank and so the Blasters/Scrapper and other damage dealers can do the killing.
 

I think the difference is that I really don’t care where SS with Rage sat via a vis the other sets. So it’s in the middle or worse?  Maybe Tanker SS is the absolute worst performing set with UM.  It wouldn’t bother me in the least.  I’ve been playing this game since 2004.  I’m not in a rush to get rewards.  
 

[Night]

31 minutes ago, PoptartsNinja said:

People really do want to see the Armor T9s improved. They just:

1. Don't want the Armor T9s to be homogenized because different powersets need different tools
2. Maybe want to see Armor T9 changes trickled out one or two sets at a time so that we can focus our testing time on a set or two instead of all being handled at once in a way that makes it difficult for anyone to test every change to see how it actually works
3. Would appreciate a bit more dev / power team feedback about what their vision is for each armor set's T9. Having a bit more insight into the design intent would help us provide useful suggestions to how to achieve developer goals without losing the powerset's flavor; or at least would allow us to better explain why we felt a change wasn't meeting the rework goals and offer suggestions for alternatives that did.

 

 

Mainly that people don't want a shorter, nerfed, costlier version of T9s that don't cover the same bases and use cases as the current ones do, hence my suggestion to have two mutually exclusive versions. Like have current Unstoppable be how it is, and add a shorter duration but quicker recharging version, called Steady Footed or something, since it's not nearly as strong. Ideally just remove crashes on current T9s and see how that goes through testing first rather than doing a massive rework. 

 

Agreed that more dialogue back and forth with the dev team would be really nice, particularly about reasoning behind specific changes. While we get general explanations in patch notes, sometimes questions come up in discussion about very specific details and those tend to go unanswered. 

[Black_Assassin]

33 minutes ago, Psi-bolt said:

I tank with my Tank and so the Blasters/Scrapper and other damage dealers can do the killing.

 

 

Well, you tank 17 targets. After that the Blasters take the rest of the aggro, so hopefully they don't pull more than 1 mob, because at that stage you want damage so you can kill your targets to take new aggro on. 🤷

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

I removed a bunch of posts where players were engaged in a bit of bickering and not addressing the topic, which is the patch notes.  As always, please discuss the topic and not each other.

 

Apologies if your post was hidden for quoting something else that was removed.

 

Wishing all of you and yours a happy holiday filled with excellence!

[Riverdusk]

1 hour ago, PoptartsNinja said:

I can understand why people are frustrated and a bit depressed about this one. Even if you do plan on re-touching Super Strength for Page 3, you showed people two things they were really interested in (Armor T9 changes and a Super Strength rework), and both got pulled. One of which was pulled with a very spitefully worded: "At least at this point there are no plans to revisit them in the future." I'm still hopeful wasn't actually intended to be spiteful, but it's easy to misread a text's tone and for me, that is how it came accross.
 

 

What's clear to me from the current situation is:

1. Interest in seeing Super Strength reworked is very high. I'm glad that one's not going away. People are passionate about it because they want Super Strength to be good, feel good to play, and to keep the core of its identity. It really feels like Unleashed Might and the Handclap change really fit, so people are genuinely upset to see them go (however temporarily). I think the powers team is capable of delivering on a Super Strength rework, so I can be patient.
2. People really do want to see the Armor T9s improved. They just:
   1. Don't want the Armor T9s to be homogenized because different powersets need different tools
   2. Maybe want to see Armor T9 changes trickled out one or two sets at a time so that we can focus our testing time on a set or two instead of all being handled at once in a way that makes it difficult for anyone to test every change to see how it actually works
   3. Would appreciate a bit more dev / power team feedback about what their vision is for each armor set's T9. Having a bit more insight into the design intent would help us provide useful suggestions to how to achieve developer goals without losing the powerset's flavor; or at least would allow us to better explain why we felt a change wasn't meeting the rework goals and offer suggestions for alternatives that did.

The Electric Armor changes went over really well, because Electric Armor has never needed a 'panic button' style power. It's a very durable set, so turning Electric Armor's T9 into a shorter-duration utility tool suited the set's needs pretty perfectly. But just because that design worked for Electric Armor doesn't mean that same design works for other powersets.

 

For example: Ninjutsu already has a good utility toolset, has inherently worse DDR values than Super Reflexes, and it doesn't have the added durability that Super Reflexes' scaling armor provides. Ninjutsu probably really does want a long-duration panic button in some form. It could absolutely use a panic button that's better suited to its actual strengths, but over-capping Ninjutsu's defense values is genuinely useful because it isn't basically immune to -def the way Super Reflexes is.

 

 

I'm glad Super Strength's rework is still on the table, if a bit sad it won't be a (slightly post) Christmas present (that's fine, my birthday's in the spring so it can be a birthday present instead 😄 ).

I really hope you reconsider "not touching" the Armor T9s. People feel strongly about them because most of them really do need an overhaul. Crashes feel awful and aren't good game design, T9 self-rezzes are generally bad, and some sets really do need something that lasts longer than 30 seconds.

 

Well stated.  And I was just thinking I was happy electric armor's tier 9 change was already done (and hence not reverted) as I very much like it. 

 

It probably would be better to actually take those kind of changes slower and concentrate on a set or two at a time to make sure they are done right and appropriate for the set.

[Captain Citadel]

1 hour ago, Zahnee said:

You have this so wrong lmao. 
 

Rage wasn’t left as-is, it was nuked from orbit. Not only did it suck on defense sets still, but now it was suicide on hybrid and resistance sets.

 

Yes people like damage, and when you take a middling performance set like Super Strength and give it 2 options, commit seppuku through nuRage or nuke its damage with UM, people are going to be upset. 

UM was also a backhand to Rage with the Hand Clap modifier. Explain the reason for that other than the desire to phase out Rage. 
 

I’ll die on this hill, because no one has proven me otherwise with objective current game data. 
 

Note: I’m only referencing Tanker damage, because UM is clearly the better option for Brutes due to Fury. 

Can you explain why we shouldn't be phasing out Rage? Because it seems to be the major blocker to a proper rework for this powerset. No other set in the game has a damage and +ToHit buff with so much power and such a long duration. At a certain point I have to wonder why that is, and why SS can't just have a Build Up and much higher base damage.

[Zahnee]

24 minutes ago, Captain Citadel said:

Can you explain why we shouldn't be phasing out Rage? Because it seems to be the major blocker to a proper rework for this powerset. No other set in the game has a damage and +ToHit buff with so much power and such a long duration. At a certain point I have to wonder why that is, and why SS can't just have a Build Up and much higher base damage.

Show me how Rage has “so much power.”

[Biff Pow]

29 minutes ago, Captain Citadel said:

Can you explain why we shouldn't be phasing out Rage? Because it seems to be the major blocker to a proper rework for this powerset. No other set in the game has a damage and +ToHit buff with so much power and such a long duration. At a certain point I have to wonder why that is, and why SS can't just have a Build Up and much higher base damage.

 

Just legacy. It's hard to make major changes in a twenty year old game. It's why in the past I've suggested a new "Mighty Melee" set and leave Super Strength as is for the double-stacked diehards. But the Unleashed Might toggle was a clever workaround, sort of creating a new set while leaving Rage (mostly) as is.

[Captain Fabulous]

26 minutes ago, Riverdusk said:

 

Well stated.  And I was just thinking I was happy electric armor's tier 9 change was already done (and hence not reverted) as I very much like it. 

 

It probably would be better to actually take those kind of changes slower and concentrate on a set or two at a time to make sure they are done right and appropriate for the set.

I think part of the problem the devs have is they think in grand scales where grand scales aren't necessarily needed, at least not all at once. The #1 biggest issue with T9s are the crashes. You could take out the crashes today and no one of consequence would complain, and nearly the entirety of the playerbase would rejoice. One simple little thing that would take virtually no time nor effort on their part. But no, we can't have that because they have grandiose ideas the T9s all need to be completely changed, so until that massive vision becomes a reality we're continued to be stuck with the same powers no one wants. It's OK to make small changes over time. Not everything needs to be rolled out at once as a massive revamp.

Hundreds of testing man hours by dozens of people completely wasted on changes that were all completely reverted, with not even a single crumb given. And this doesn't even touch the number of people who put effort into reworking their builds and creating new characters in anticipation of changes that made it all the way to OPEN BETA.