Issue 15

This article contains information about a major update to City of Heroes Freedom. It is provided for historical purposes.

Overview

Issue 15, titled Anniversary, was a major revision to City of Heroes and City of Villains, released on Wednesday, June 29, 2009. Anniversary brought forth a powerful enemy, Mission Architect updates, an almost complete revamp of the Dominator archetype, and more.

This article summarizes some of the major features in Issue 15. For more complete details, see the release date's patch notes.

• Issue 15 did not have a Closed Beta process.
• On May 27, 2009, the Training Room was opened up for Issue 15 Open Beta.
• Issue 15 was released to the Live Servers on June 29, 2009.

Confirmed Content

5th Column Task Force

Hero 1's Time Capsule underneath City Hall

Villain Strikeforce

Barracuda Strike Force

Levels 45 - 50: 5 Missions

The Villains are hired for what seems like a simple, high-paying job: Steal information from the Hero 1 Time Capsule. Things go awry when the job ends up leading to the return of an enemy from the past. Now the villains have to deal with the mess they've made - while trying to make as much profit from it as possible.

Hero Taskforce

Dr. Kahn Task Force

Levels 45 - 50: 5 Missions

The Heroes follow the trail of some stolen information to find that an old foe is returning... in a big way! Forced to deal with an invasion, the Heroes must scramble to find a way to defeat a seemingly unstoppable enemy.

Costume Creator

Ulterior Costume Set

Vines Costume Mask

New Costume Parts

New Issue 15 costumes include the Vines costume mask and the Ulterior themed costume set and costume mask.

New Costume Change Emotes

Just recently introduced in Super Booster II: Magic, Costume Change Emotes represent a brand new feature type that provide fun and colorful transitions between two different costumes for a given character. Players activate them using the costume change interface, selectable from the main Menu, or through the /cce slash command.

1. Backflip
2. Salute
3. Howl
4. Evil Laugh
5. Peacebringer Transform (Kheldians only)
6. Warshade Transform (Kheldians only)
7. Vanguard Sigil

New Character Faces

Over 20 new character faces provide even more options for character customization.

Mission Architect Updates

1. Architect toolbox allows players to better and more easily polish their content before sharing it with the public.
2. Missions can now be selected for both "Hall of Fame" and "Dev Choice". "Dev Choice" missions also have selectable reward types.
3. Enhanced searching and navigation options like key phrase tagging and arc difficulty display help players find the content they're looking for even faster
4. New Server-wide Architect Chat channel
5. Plus several other features and improvements to Mission Architect

Posted separately from the above changes, Sunstorm added:

1. They will be setting up a custom power selection mode. Critters will start with the standard powers for their rank, and any other power in the set can be added individually.

A large number of Architect Entertainment Badges will be removed according to Synapse, due to the developers' desire for Mission Architect to be about playing Story Arcs rather than grinding for badges. Requirements for Mission Engineer Badge will be altered due to this. The list of badges to be removed can be found on the Official Forums. [1]

Dominator AT Revamp

Powers designer Castle posted on the forums on April 28, 2009, that there would be a buff to Dominators sometime "post I15 launch". This was changed to be part of I15 during the test period, due to tight timelines for subsequent work making it "now or never" (""Never" being an indeterminate period extending between now and I17"[2]).

The stated goals for the buff are to:

• Eliminate Jeckyll and Hyde feeling.
• Improve "feel" of low level play.
• Have minimal impact on "perma-dom" players.
  • A side effect (not a goal) is that players who are double or triple stacking Domination will have their overall damage reduced.
• Increase Dominator vs. Controller viability.

Castle provided more details on the buff in a May 13, 2009, forum post. The damage bonus provided by Domination would be removed, but would be added to the base damage value of the AT.

On June 9, 2009, TheOcho posted the complete details of the Dominator changes. The base Damage Scale for melee will be increased from .75 to 1.05, and ranged from .65 to .95, a significant increase. In addition, many assault powers have had tweaks to their endurance, recharge, and damage, and Psionic Assault has had a complete overhaul so that PSW is not "carrying" the powerset.

Other Changes

• The "soundscape" has been updated:
  • New footstep sounds when walking across different surfaces
  • New landing sound when coming down from a jump or fall (depending on surface type)
  • A new "splash" sound
  • New door open/close sounds
• Trina the Seamstress gets a new title: Trina the Body Sculptress.
• Certain Icon Employees are now Icon Cosmetic Surgeons.
• Pets that are the objectives of missions (hostages, rescued NPCs) now show up on the map as smaller green arrows. A player's pets, including henchmen, do not show up.
• A Mastermind's pets no longer block the character's movement.

External Links

• Official Feature Update
• Official Release Announcement
• Developer Diary #1: A Circle of Fifths
• Developer Diary #2: A Paragon of Customization

• Massively interview
• IGN interview
• Gaming Nexus interview
• TenTonHammer article from Bruce Harlick about designing the new Task/Strike Forces