powerset-proliferation
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Powersets are spreading the love in City of Heroes
With new powersets on deck for Issue 21 of City of Heroes, you might have reasonably assumed that there wouldn't be anything more to see in the powers department. But as the newest issue of the Intrepid Informer makes clear, you won't just have brand-new powers to kick around when City of Heroes Freedom launches. You'll also be able to play around with powers that are new to each archetype, with the newest round of powerset proliferation hitting the game at the same time. Aside from Dominators, every archetype is getting at least one new power set, ranging from the melee options that were always odd omissions (such as War Mace for Scrappers and Broad Sword for Brutes and Tankers) to sets that had previously been confined to a single archetype (Ice Armor for Stalkers, Poison for Corruptors). City of Heroes players looking to play a new flavor of an old favorite should take a look at the full rundown of upcoming proliferations, as it promises a lot of new options even without the new stuff.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Everybody needs a question answered sometime
If you haven't read Jason Vuic's excellent history of the Yugo, you're doing yourself a disservice -- at least, if you have any interest in terrible cars, history, or just the crazy stylings of Malcolm Bricklin. What does that have to do with today's bevvy of City of Heroes questions, hot on the heels of our anniversary? Well, not everyone can afford the Batmobile. There are places where the Paragon Monorail (aka Justice Mass Transit) won't take you. And on those occasions, well, you truly wish that you'd just dropped the ten dollars on the Martial Arts booster or taken the darn travel power. Onward! Dashel asked: "When will Blasters get more secondaries, original or proliferated?" Soon! Maybe. I've heard tell that we may well be due for another wave of powerset proliferation with the release of Going Rogue, although that's far from a confirmed fact. So Blasters can expect to get some more love there. But we don't have any idea of exactly when we'll see more secondaries as opposed to more primary sets. The trouble is that as Blasters have been designed, they have the undesirable trait that Masterminds share: they've got a setup for one of their sets that nobody else shares.
City of Heroes opens Issue 16: Power Spectrum
NCsoft has deployed Issue 16 for City of Heroes/Villains, bringing in a bunch of delicious new options for Paragon City's finest (and the Rogue Islands' worst). Powerset proliferation is ongoing, bringing formerly barred powersets to archetypes that were previously denied them. This issue brings a particularly pleasing improvement: Being able to jump from one part of the character creator to another, without having to complete it all in a fixed-order. That's a huge help for players looking to refine their look and character-concept during design.
Hints keep coming for future content in CoX
It's a month and a half since City of Heroes Issue 12: Midnight Hour went live, and by now the developers will have been hard at work on Issue 13 for some time. While there has been little in the way of concrete information, over time the Developers have given out a multitude of hints and comments that have enabled us to put together a speculative look at some of the coming content. As we'll see, there's been a lot more hinted at concerning powers and game systems than new mission content or zones.The safest bet for Issue 13 is the introduction of the Shields powerset, which Back Alley Brawler has described at length: 'Shields will be a defensive powerset, not an AT. They'll also be useable with any unarmed or right handed weapon powerset... because Shields require their own combat mode animations, they have to work with every attack power, every buff, debuff, hit reaction, pool power, ancillary power, and patron power that might be used while holding a shield out in front of you. So the bulk of work on Shields is just all the animations.' The bulk of those animations were completed with Issue 12, as many of the Cimeroran NPCs use shields. Since the NPC hero Blue Steel is famous for his shield, we'd be surprised not to see him play an active part in the game at last.
Strong hint at Broadsword for Villains in CoX
Back Alley Brawler of City of Heroes has made a brief but encouraging comment on the official forums, hinting strongly at a new piece of Powerset Proliferation in Issue 13. Villains who had complained of not having access to the funky new Nictus Sword have been reminded that they don't have the necessary sets 'yet'. Unless this is a cruel tease, this means Villains will be getting broadsword soon - and despite Back Alley Brawler's habit of turning into a shark when he visits the Test Server, we don't think he's that mean.We already know that more Powerset Proliferation is coming in Issue 13, because Positron and Castle have told us it'll bring the villain equivalent of Empathy (which won't, of course, be called Empathy). Issue 13 is also an ideal time to give Villains the Broadsword set, as it should be bringing Shields, too. We've already learned that Shields will be a defensive powerset, usable with one-handed and unarmed sets; this opens up the possibility of Broadsword and Shield wielding Brutes, surely an obvious combination to go for. The Shield animations are now largely done, courtesy of the Roman NPCs in the Cimerora zone released with Issue 12, so we can't see any reason why they'd miss Issue 13.
