Meta’s Verse: CoH Issue 24
By Meticulous Meta, OnRPG Paragon Reporter
I had been prepared to talk about the upcoming Shark week events. The fact that double XP is coming this weekend. When out of nowhere, big news! The overview page for Issue 24 goes live. We’ve been hearing all sorts of news for weeks now. The upcoming changes to Blasters and Power Pools, new powersets and costumes. I knew that wasn’t everything. I knew there would be more. But how much more, I had no idea. And now my mind is blown. What we’ve heard so far…I wouldn’t even say it was one fourth of what is coming. Some of the changes are small, some of them are big. Everything put together gives us an awesome issue that has left everyone wishing they had a time machine. And since I mentioned time I’ll say it now. No, there isn’t a date yet, are we surprised? And no, it isn’t in beta yet but it sounds like it will be coming soon.
I’m not going to talk about the things I’ve already covered. If you want to know more about what you may have missed check out these articles.
Blaster Changes: http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/City-of-Heroes/review/Metas-Verse-Issue-24-Blaster-Changes
Power Pool Changes Part 1: http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/City-of-Heroes/review/Metas-Verse-Power-Pool-Changes
Power Pool Changes Part 2: http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/City-of-Heroes/review/Metas-Verse-Power-Pool-Changes-Part-2
Martial Combat & Martial Assault: http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/City-of-Heroes/review/Metas-Verse-Martial-Madness
So what am I going to talk about? Well how do some IO changes, new Lore abilities, an Incarnate Arc and some zone changes sound? That’s not even going into what the story is going to be about. Which of course we won’t really fully know until we’ve played the content. So let’s jump right in!
IO Changes
I’m funny about enhancements. Unless I need to put in some endurance enhancements I typically will go without all the way to 50. I know, abnormal. But I enjoy it. And it gives me a project for the 40s. And since I have a tank right now that I’m going to be starting a build for quite soon I was very pleased to hear that some of the set bonuses would be changing. Some of the less useful bonuses are being replaced. So say goodbye to debt protection and some of the mez/mental control resistances. Say hello to more powerful resistances for a broader range of damage types. Hopefully more details will come out before Issue 24, best case scenario Mids gets them so we can start playing with them. But that isn’t the only IO news. Oh no. We’re also getting new IO sets. There are four in total and each very different.
Annihilation, Targeted AoE
Unbreakable Guard, Damage Resistance
Reactive Defenses, Defense
Preventive Medicine, Healing
They’re said to offer different and very specific set bonuses like decreasing resistances, increasing hit points, improving your own resistances and even granting absorption shields.
Lore Abilities
It seems like these days whenever there is new content they throw in a few new Lore Incarnate abilities. I’m not complaining. Variety is the spice of life and we certainly have lots of it! Starting in Issue 24 we can add Banished Pantheon, Knives of Vengeance, Talons of Vengeance, and the Tsoo to the impressive list we’re collecting.
New Incarnate Arc
Here there be spoilers. So if you aren’t all caught up skip to the last paragraph in the article. You don’t want to read what is coming next. (I know you really do though.) Only one small corner of Praetoria remains standing after the destruction that came with the end of the war. This small island of civilization is at risk of crumbling away under the pressure of the constant attacks from the Devouring Earth. It will take Incarnates to fight these powerful forces. This new arc can be grabbed from Vanguard scientist Number Six in the Rikti War Zone.
Three zones will be getting new events and with them new missions.
Kings Row in Crisis
With Galaxy City in ruins, survivors have poured into neighboring zones. Back Alley Brawler has called for heroes to protect these poor souls from the gangs which call Kings Row home. Not only are gangs a problem but Paladin is taking advantage of all the chaos and trying to destroy Kings Row. He and his minions now rampage through the High Park district trying to claim it as their own. The Shining Stars are making a stand, but they can’t do it alone. The mission is intended for levels 7-20 while the Paladin zone event is much like any other zone event and scales.
Brickstown’s New Alliances
With the Praetorian war over and their world lost, those that remain from the Praetorian Army work with Vanguard in Brickstown forging a new alliance between these once bitter enemies to protect from threats from Praetoria and Primal Earth. The contact for these missions is Provost Marchand in Brickstown. But that isn’t all that is happening in Brickstown. Prisoners are escaping from the Zig in the new Prison Break zone event. This is an event that people have been hoping for since launch. And it may just become my second favorite. (You can’t beat Sally)
St. Martial’s Secrets
Arachnos has set up a portal to Praetoria with the intention of looting the devastated world. But villains find a way in first. What villains find in Praetoria will surprise them and possibly even help their schemes back home. In addition a new zone event called Family Raid is coming. Longbow discovers there are weapons hidden throughout the Family’s casinos in St. Martial. Before they can raid though word hits the streets. Villains have the chance to stop the attack and take the weapons for themselves. The missions are level 30-50.
And that is Issue 24 in a nutshell. There is only one thing left to do really and that’s to tell you the name. Issue 24 is called Resurgence. Don’t forget that Double XP Weekend is coming up in just a couple of days and all of next week is Captain Mako Week. The full calendar of events can be seen on the official forums here.
