Purple Patch

Overview

Purple patch is a colloquial term for a pre-Issue 1 update in which the developers increased the difficulty of enemies higher-level than the player. "Purple" refers to the Con System in the game where enemies four or more con levels will have their name appear as purple in the target window. Before the patch was implemented, full groups of heroes were often able to defeat enemies that were ten levels higher than them.

Indirectly, the purple patch reduced the potential teaming pool. Prior to the patch, a character was still reasonably effective against enemies 5 levels higher, and that character could team with characters +/-5 levels above or below him or her. Post-purple patch, characters were practically limited to fighting enemies 2 to 3 levels above them, with 4 being the absolute practical cap.

When contemporary forum-goers talk about the "purple patch", they may be referring to the way player character effectiveness scales against higher-level enemies:

• Foes that are the same level as you - You have a 75% chance to hit and your powers are 100% effective.
• Foes 1 level above you - You have a 65% chance to hit and your powers are 90% effective.
• Foes 2 levels above you - You have a 56% chance to hit and your powers are 80% effective.
• Foes 3 levels above you - You have a 48% chance to hit and your powers are 65% effective.
• Foes 4 levels above you - You have a 39% chance to hit and your powers are 48% effective.
• Foes 5 levels above you - You have a 30% chance to hit and your powers are 30% effective.
• Foes 6 levels above you - You have a 20% chance to hit and your powers are 15% effective.
• Foes 7 levels above you - You have a 8% chance to hit and your powers are 8% effective.

These power reduction figures are probably no longer correct, and the hit chances are outdated. Although these numbers were official and provided by Geko, they date from the second half of 2004. Nonetheless, the principle behind the purple patch is still in place: player powers have significantly reduced effects versus computer-controlled enemies that are more than 2-3 levels higher, which renders fighting such enemies on a regular basis impractical.

Notes

• Source for current effectiveness table: A Brief Guide to Level Scaling