The Players' Guide to the Cities/Player vs. Player

PvP and You

Unlike missions and street sweeping where you fight computer-controlled opponents, player vs. player combat pits you against the cleverest and most devious foes out there—other players! PvP battles require cunning and skill to overcome the unexpected resourcefulness of your fellow players.

PvP combat can occur in three ways. One, players can go to the arenas and take part in matches and battles there. Two, players can go to special PvP zones. Three, super groups can take part in base raids against other super groups. These battles may be villain vs. hero, villain vs. villain, or even hero vs. hero depending on the situation.

Experience and Debt

Because PvP combat is more challenging and dangerous compared to player vs. environment battles, the rules for experience and debt are changed. First and most important, players do not gain debt if they are defeated in PvP combat. Be warned though—if a PvE foe defeats you while you are battling another player (in a PvP zone for example), you will incur debt normally.

Second, to prevent abuses, the amount of experience you earn for defeating another player is reduced. You will only earn a small amount of XP when you defeat another player, just enough to record your victory.

Reputation

With PvP, your character gains a new statistic: Reputation. This is a measure of your skill and dedication to PvP combat. You earn reputation points for defeating other players in the arena, in PvP zones, and in base raids. However, you can also lose points if you defeat players of significantly lower level. Occasionally defeating a lower level player will have little effect, but if you unfairly take advantage of your greater powers and abilities, your reputation score can even drop to negative values. Note that sidekicks, exemplars, lackeys, and malefactors are counted at their adjusted levels, not their actual character levels.

Unlike experience, reputation is not permanent. Your reputation score goes down over time (as other villains and heroes forget what you have accomplished). It will never drop below 0, however. A negative reputation never changes with time. To improve it, you must go out and defeat players of equal or greater level than yourself. A high reputation score can earn you both temporary and permanent rewards.

PvP Zones

Villains can’t just run into Paragon City proper and start smashing new heroes, and vice-versa. Such actions are only tolerated in one of four crossover "PvP zones".

Bloody Bay

Long ago, slavers coming to the Americas used the tiny town of Oceanview as a sort of "sorting pen." In 1817, one group of slaves, perhaps encouraged by spirits of the long-lost Mu founders, rose up in rebellion. A massive battle was waged, and it is said the bay ran red with blood. The island was forever after called "Bloody Bay." Its dark past was eventually forgotten by all but those who visited the sacred cemeteries in the Upland Woods, and by the 1900s, Bloody Bay prospered.

Then came Shiva, the destroyer of worlds.

In 1989, shards of a potentially world-shattering meteor destroyed in the 1960s rained down on the island. Besides the damage caused by the impact and radiation, residents reported a far more sinister phenomenon—the dead rose. But these were no mere zombies. The dead seemed to be infected by some sort of alien life-form. Corpses rose from the earth surrounded by bluish protoplasm, and attacked any living thing they crossed.

The island was quickly evacuated and abandoned to the horrific "Shivans" by Arachnos.

Recently, it was discovered that the asteroids that crashed on Bloody Bay have valuable properties desired by both Longbow and Arachnos. Teams from both organizations have established bases on the island to study the samples, but gathering fragments is incredibly difficult thanks to the presence of the monstrous Shivans and other scavengers.

Gameplay

Your goal in Bloody Bay is to collect fragments from each of the six scattered meteors. As the first researcher to spot the meteor was Indian, the meteor fragments are numbered in Hindi: Ek, Do, Teen, Char, Panch, and Jay.

After receiving an Ore Extractor temporary power from your initial contact, you can visit each of the meteor shards and extract a sample. Simply target the meteor while standing close to it, and use the Ore Extractor. You’ll see a meteor shard appear in a special inventory beneath your Navigation Bar.

When you have a fragment from all six meteors, you can go to one of the many Firebase processing stations scattered around the isle. You’ll know them when you see them—they’re protected by a ring of automated turrets that must be defeated before you can override the station.

Once you’ve done so, process the meteor fragments with the Ore Converter inside the Firebase into a "Sample." Take this to your initial contact and he’ll reward you with a very special temporary power!

Spoils of War: If you take out an opposing player, his fragments or sample is randomly distributed to your team.

See also:

• Shiva Strike Mission

Siren’s Call

Randall the Cunning wasn’t a very good pirate. He’d been driven off and repelled at sea over a dozen times, and had never taken a good prize in his decade-long career in and around the Rogue Isles. But he was clever. And mean. When the French cracked down on the pirates of the isles, Randall headed inland. On the northeastern shores of what would later become Paragon City, the pirate found a small village called Fossburg. Randall hid his ship and pretended to be a captain of the "Colonial Coastal Defenses." His men were his crew, and the "Captain" said he’d been sent to erect a lighthouse along Fossburg’s dangerous shoals. The locals shrugged, put their backs into it, and created a lighthouse exactly where Randall told them to.

Randall had been trained as an engineer and did in fact know what he was doing. But the lighthouse wasn’t designed to steer ships clear of the rocks—it was designed to lure them onto it from the larger cities across the bay.

After many a terrible wreck, the villagers finally caught on to the ruse. Randall’s crew was captured and hung. Randall himself escaped, along with most of his treasure, and was never seen again.

Fossburg was ever after called Siren's Call, after the sirens of Greek myth that lured ships to their doom. Its name was officially changed when the area was incorporated into Paragon City decades later.

Sunburst and the Aeon Bomb

A few years ago, the War Walls in the northeastern corner of the Siren’s Call were demolished by a massive blast. A relatively new hero known as Sunburst chased a small-time crook out to the docks. The crook stole a small boat and Sunburst pursued. The hero had often had trouble controlling his incredible powers, and according to witnesses on the Gazdul oil rig, literally went supernova and exploded while trying to stop the thief’s boat.

A tragedy to be sure, but far worse was that Sunburst destroyed Siren’s Call’s War Walls.

Since then, villains from the Rogue Isles have been trickling in. There are far worse dangers confronting the good people of Paragon right now, however, so repairing the War Walls has been given low priority. Or perhaps, as some in the press have theorized, it is all a clever trap to lure in the worst of Lord Recluse’s minions.

Gameplay

Siren’s Call is all about taking the fight to your opponent! If you’re playing a villain, you’ll succeed by smashing Longbow and player heroes wherever you can find them. If you’re a hero, you must stop the infiltration of Arachnos and hordes of player villains looking to exploit the hole in the War Walls.

Look for "hotspots" that move about Siren’s Call. This is where a fight between agents of Arachnos and Longbow is currently raging. Defeat your opponents and you’ll help your side, as well as earning "bounty points" for yourself.

In addition, your initial contact will give you the name of a player opponent to track down. Find this individual and defeat him or her, and you’ll gain a substantial bounty award.

Bounty points can be turned in to your initial contact to buy various different awards, such as inspirations and temporary powers!

Stores: If your side is winning, you’ll find stores where you can purchase special powers that can dramatically improve your chances of defeating your foes. Get behind and your opponents have this advantage instead!

Fleeing Foes: If your target leaves the zone, visit your initial contact to get a new one. Note that your foe won’t know he’s been targeted, and you won’t know if someone has a contract with your name on it either!

MiniMap Mayhem: Your assigned target will show up on your mini-map, but it only updates periodically. You can use it to home in on your foe, but you’ll need to look around once you get there. If you think you’re being hunted, make sure you don’t stay in the same place for long!

Warburg

Warburg was home to a Council base during the world’s long Cold War. Missile silos were erected, secret weapons were developed in deep underground bunkers, and spies lived in the cold gray towers that dot the island’s surface.

The Council was "forcibly evicted" in the late 1960s by Lord Recluse and their facilities taken over by Arachnos. Scientists and eventually a support economy of civilian workers rose on the surface and slowly began to build homes and businesses.

Warburg Rocket

The underground labs the Council left behind were rechristened "the Web," and most of the old missiles destroyed. One large rocket-firing platform at the center of the island remained, but even it was hidden by the false façade of a building.

Until recently.

Marshal Jason Blitz believed Lord Recluse wasn’t acting fast enough in his bid to take over the world. He found it tragic that the Web had developed so many incredible weapons and none of them were being used on the hated heroes!

When Blitz learned he was dying of cancer, he decided to speed things up a bit so that he could live to see the defeat of Paragon City. He murdered Governor Melody Harkness and took over the city with a cadre of troops loyal to him. Soon after, he demolished the false façade on the Warburg Rocket at the center of his city and started firing warheads armed with various toxins on Paragon City.

Lord Recluse promised the UN he would rectify the situation, but his troops have so far been stalemated by their rivals. (Or so Recluse claims.)

Since the Warburg Weapons are being used on American soil, Longbow has taken it upon themselves—-with presidential approval-—to "intervene" in the Rogue Isles and take down Marshal Blitz. They’ve asked for help from Paragon City’s numerous heroes, and they’ve begun arriving in force.

Recluse has sent minimal troops to the area to stop Blitz, but has instead asked for help from the numerous super-powered villains who dwell on his isles. Most believe Recluse is not only content to let Blitz wreak havoc on Paragon City, but is interested in seeing which villains prove themselves in this Darwinian game of survival.

Gameplay

In Warburg, your hero or villain and his companions can not only strike a blow against their foes by defeating them in personal combat, but also secure a particularly useful asset—-a Warburg Rocket strike!

To launch the rocket, your team must first find Warburg Scientists trapped in the underground Web and escort them to special bunkers on the surface. Be careful down there, for there are rumors that horrible creatures created by Arachnos’ research gone horribly wrong are free and wandering the cramped tunnels in search of prey!

If you can successfully bring a scientist from the Web to one of the bunkers above ground, he’ll give your team a Security Key.

Once you have three Security Keys, you must return to the Web, find one of three arming rooms and arm a Warburg Rocket. (There are numerous rockets located in a hidden underground storage facility, so don’t worry if you see someone else launch one first.)

If you successfully arm a rocket, you’re given a Launch Code that’s good for a very short amount of time. Hurry to the Warburg Rocket itself (located at the eastern tip of the isle) and you can launch the rocket into geosynchronous orbit. You’ll be given a temporary power which you can thereafter use to call for your rocket to strike. Stand back-—you don’t want to be under a rocket when it launches!

Know Your Foe: With stakes this high, it’s open season. It’s a free for all, with everyone fighting everyone who’s not on your team!

The Easy Way: If you take out an opponent carrying a Security Key, you’ll take it from him! Take out a foe with a Launch Code and you’ll not only get a Security Key, but take his Launch Code away as well!

Base Busting: Warburg Rockets are particularly useful if your Supergroup is about to go on a base raid. A few of these base-busting warheads can really rattle your foes!

Which Warhead?: The effect of the rocket depends on which warhead you’ve armed it with:

1. Nuclear: The nuclear warhead is an EMP strike that causes significant endurance loss, and has an increased effect on robots.

2. Biological: The biological warhead is laced with an airborne protoplasm that increases regeneration and damage caused for all friendlies within its area of effect.

3. Chemical: The chemical warhead delivers a fine mist that debuffs the accuracy and damage resistance of all enemies within its burst radius.

See also:

• Missile Launch Mission

Recluse's Victory

Recluse's Victory is the result of decades of research by captured scientists from Portal Corp and DATA working for Lord Recluse on Project: Destiny. The scientists’ have managed to create a portal in time--called a Destiny Portal—- that allows for travel to alternate futures.

Lord Recluse uses the Destiny Portal to experiment with the time stream, seeking ways to gain footholds in Paragon City. The control gained by Arachnos over the time stream is maintined by temporal anchors that Arachnos has placed in various locations throughout a future Atlas Park.

But Arachnos machinations do not go unchecked. Longbow has developed their own time portal. With the assistance of Paragon City's heroes, Longbow lauches assaults Recluse and his minions to regain control of the temporal anchors and prevent the defeat of Statesman and the Freedom Phalanx.

Ultimately, it is up to the Paragon City's heroes to deny Lord Recluse and the villains of the Rogue Isles from securing a future where Recluse reigns supreme.

Gameplay

The object in Recluse's Victory is to secure a timeline where either Lord Recluse is prevented from (heroes) or aided in (villains) defeating the Freedome Phalanx and taking over Atlas Park. The more times a side gains control of enough temporal points in the zone, they closer they bring their possible future to reality.

Heroes and villains must battle for control over pillboxes at each temporal anchor point in order to take control of the area. But this won't be an easy fight. Each pillbox is defended by four heavy turrets which must be defeated before control can be established. Once they have control of a pillbox, a hero or villain may stand in the control center where they are protected by a forcefield and operate the turrets to defend the pillbox against enemy attacks.

Should heroes side gain control of four temporal anchors, they will gain the attention of Lord Recluse and his lieutenants who will then attack pillboxes that are under Longbow control. Should villains gain control of four pillboxes, the Freedom Phalanx will come to the aid of the heroes and attack pillboxes under Arachnos control.

When either side manages to gain control over six temporal anchor points, they will have temporarily secured the time stream. After five minutes, the zone will return to a neutral state and the battle will begin anew. The time between victory and reset may be cut short if the losing side rallies with enough force to defeat 100 of the victors before the timer expires.

Temporal Points: Players may gain temporal points by destroying pillbox turrets, capturing pillboxes, defeating other players, defeating signature characters, or being on the side that captures 6 pillboxes. Players lose points for being defeated. If a player has 1000 points at zone reversion, they will be rewarded with a Longbow Mech temporary power.

OPS Maps: In your base you will find an operations situation, or OPS map, located next to one of the NPC information contacts. This map provides you with the following information:

• location of your base
• location of the 7 temporal anchors
• location of your side’s heavy support platforms
• color coded sectors indicating which side currently controls each area of the zone
  • blue for heroes
  • red for villain

Heavies: Each side has 3 Heavy Class robots that can be utilized as pets at its command. These robots are able to take a beating and lend a high amount of damage potential to your attacks. The only real drawback to the heavies is thier slow rate of movement. To take control of a heavy, find one of your side's heavy support platforms (visible on the OPS map). If a heavy is resting inactive on the platform, you can take control of the robot by interacting with the platform's control panel. If a platform does not have a heavy resting on it, someone else has already grabbed that one. Heavies respawn on their platforms after they or the players controlling them have been defeated in combat or the time stream resets.