Game Update 25

Update 25 Notes from the Test Server taken from:

http://forums.station.sony.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/next-on-pc-test-game-update-25.9556/

Players may notice the following changes:

Spring is in the air! Poison Ivy is once again back to wreak havoc on the people of Gotham! This year we’ve added a new boss fight where players will be sent to the depths of Gotham’s sewers to confront (Villains) or cure (Heroes) Swamp Thing! With the boss fight, we’ve added two new Feats, new Spring-themed base items and a new Spring-themed style item. Additionally, many new Spring themed base items are available for purchase from the seasonal vendor! Villains can learn more about Poison Ivy’s plans by speaking to her in the Hall of Doom’s Pit, while Heroes can speak to Swamp Thing in the Watchtower’s Aquacultural Area to help bring down Ivy and her minions. Speak to Veronica Cale (Villains) or Doctor Sarah Charles (Heroes) to find out more about taking on Swamp Thing!

Marketplace Improvements We have streamlined our Marketplace interface by consolidating items and by adding a few new categories; DLC, On Sale, and Suits. The On Sale category will provide players an easy way to see all items that are on sale. This category will only be present when a sale is occurring. In the Suits category, we have organized certain style items into sets. If you already own pieces from a set, but not the full set, you can still purchase the new bundled suit item to receive the rest of the pieces you do not own.

Base Tracking Improvements We have added Base Tracking to our Map UI, giving players a better, more efficient way to manage the bases they have access to. Using the Base Tracking option, players can pick and choose which bases they want to see, and these choices will dynamically update on the Map. The tracker will also allow you to see the position of bases of a city you aren’t currently in. Any settings made with the tracker persist, so you do not have to update your choices between login sessions.

Chat Visibility Improvements The Chat UI window will now remain up and available for players to switch between when opening other UIs, such as the PDA. PC players can simply click between the focused UI and the Chat window. PS3 players can toggle between using the SELECT button. You can even now use chat while knocked out – PS3 players can still use the SELECT button, while PC players will need to hit the / (slash) key.

Respec Tokens are now Account Bound! All respec token types have been converted to Account Bound items and can now be traded to any other character on your account.

Mod Recovery Mod Recovery allows players to take Mods that they have constructed and break them back down into Exobytes. This process can be performed at any Research and Development station and can even recover Exobytes from Mods that have already been slotted in your equipment! Players will also need to acquire Deconstruction Kits to breakdown Mods. These kits vary in quality: lesser kits will be sold from vendors, while better kits can be collected from drops or by making your own kits.

New Weapon Tree Stats! All weapon trees now have four new six-point skill traits available that will give players a new way to boost existing stats.

PvP Map Rotation Five maps are now available to queue for at any given time for both Arena and Legends PvP. The maps are categorized by team size. There are 1v1, 2v2, 4v4, 5v5, and 8v8 maps available for both PvP modes. The available maps will rotate over time. This will help us achieve the following:


 * Limit the number of maps that can be queued which will in turn help improve queue times.


 * Allow us to add new maps and gameplay modes without impacting queues or progression.


 * Keep things fresh by rotating content with brand new offerings and old favorites with new twists.

The following maps are available for Arena PvP:


 * Lair Battles (1v1)


 * Inner Sanctum (2v2)


 * City Safehouses: Graviton Tech Recovery (4v4)


 * Arkham Asylum (5v5)


 * Fortress of Solitude (8v8)

The following maps are available for Legends PvP:


 * Batcave (1v1)


 * Inner Sanctum (2v2)


 * Temple of Isis (4v4)


 * Arkham Asylum (5v5)


 * Fortress of Solitude (8v8)

PvP Season 1 Gear!


 * Get ready for an all-new season of competition! Season 1 PvP Gear is now available for purchase from PvP vendors located in your headquarters.


 * The new gear offers stats that are superior to the previously available PvP sets to start everyone off on an even footing.


 * There is a cash purchasable set to get players started in their run to the top! This set starts at PvP Combat Rating 77, just below the old Tier 4 PvP set.


 * Advanced tiers of gear will be purchased using Marks of Valor which will be acquired from participating in PvP matches. These higher tiered gear sets range in power from PvP Combat Rating 81 up to 84.


 * Each tier of gear will become available for purchase after raising your PvP Combat Rating by collecting the entire previous tiered set.

Gear Sets:


 * Tier 4 (item level 84): Punchline (Villain), Vengeance (Hero)


 * Tier 3 (item level 83): Logistics Officer


 * Tier 2 (item level 82): Aeronaut


 * Tier 1 (item level 81): Avatar Bombardier and all 6 Existing Iconic Sets (Current tier 1-3 Hero, + 3 Villain)

PvP Combat Rating


 * Players will now see a PvP Combat Rating on their PvP gear, and on your player's Stats Tab in the Inventory UI.


 * This rating, much like PVE Combat Rating, measures your effectiveness in PvP based on the best equipment in your possession. PvP Combat Rating is not affected by mods.


 * It increases only by getting higher rated gear for any particular slot.

PvP Missives In effort to support rotating PvP Maps, PvP missives are no longer map specific. They are now grouped by size of the arena. For example, a missive that before had the requirement of KO 5 Speedsters in Ace Chemicals, would now be KO 5 Speedsters in any 5v5 Arena.

Currency Conversion + Tokens for Merit


 * Along with PvP Season 1, we have made some changes to the marks that are used to buy gear. In order to accommodate this change we have added conversion kits. These conversion kits can be used to convert currencies that can no longer purchase gear to those that can.


 * For Legends we have phased out the use of Marks of Lore and will only be using Marks of Legend.


 * For Arena PvP Gear we will be using Marks of Valor instead of Marks of Strategy and Marks of Tactics.


 * Conversion kits for these currencies have been added to the conversion kit vendor found in the magic wing of both Headquarters.


 * Conversion kits will provide a different rate of exchange for currency based on its relative value.


 * In addition we have added Tokens of Merit for the new currency Marks of Valor, which can be located on the existing vendors in each headquarters.

Alerts


 * Ace Chemicals: Clownsanity will no longer attack players who rally behind the gate.


 * South Gotham Courthouse:Braniac Constables will always release their jurors once they reach the top of the "jury box" platform.

Duos Metropolis City Hall


 * John Stewart’s abilities now appear properly in the Combat Log.

Old Gotham Subway


 * Penguin will no longer flash red and remain on the mini map when defeated.

OMAC Base


 * Ensured all counters properly reset whenever both players are defeated during the "Defeat OMAC Sigma" stage.

Feats PvP


 * The number of wins necessary to earn the map specific Arena and Legends win feats has been reduced significantly. If your current win count is higher than the new reduced count, the feat will trigger on the next win for that map.


 * New PVP Gear Feats:


 * Feats have been added for collecting the new Vengeance and Punchline PvP gear sets.


 * Feats have been added for collecting the new variant pieces for each of the following sets: Avatar Bombardier, Aeronaut, and Logistics Officer.

General


 * Fixed an issue where auto lock-on setting could cause target switching mid fight.


 * Radar enhancements will no longer be removed when entering Legends PvP.


 * Power over time effects will update on gear change.


 * Certain S.T.A.R. Labs employees will now have appropriate beam rifles that have real laser sounds.


 * Fixed issue where Field deploying attacks would not proc for the attacker.


 * Fixed an issue where Suppressed NPCs would not break out properly.


 * The Sub-Avatars of Meta in South Gotham will now fire the correct projectile.


 * The entrance to the treadmill room in the Flash Museum has been widened to allow for easier access.


 * Fixed disappearing pants on the Mesa body type when equipping large boots while wearing the Checkmate Operative pants.


 * Fixed a bug that would cause the camera to snap back to a default zoom level and then blend back to the user's settings when the server moved you in situations like respawning and zoning.


 * PvE Vendors in the Watchtower and Hall of Doom will now only display armor for the appropriate role of the character and the DPS set.


 * The tier 3 DPS role vendor has been repurposed, and tier 3 DPS gear is now available on the other tier 3 armor vendors in the Watchtower and Hall of Doom.

Lairs


 * Decoration Mode: One of the Base item placement nodes has been adjusted to allow for large wall items as is intended.

Mainframe


 * Boost II level Henchmen/Back-up will now heal themselves less often.


 * Sidekick/Accomplice - These pets will now do less damage.


 * Henchmen/Back-up - These pets now have less health.

Marketplace


 * Made adjustments to reduce the bloom on the Fiery Cestus Weapon in the Fiery Weapon Style Pack.

Movement


 * Zip Tie will no longer trigger a legacy skill test.

Missions


 * Grab and Smash: Corrected an issue where players could not interact with the computer terminals unless the mission was being tracked in their journals. This fix was made for both Hero and Villain versions.


 * The Root of Evil: Fixed an issue with the Sequoia Lord not properly "dying" upon defeat.


 * Rite Wronged: Improved the mission description text.


 * Mechanical Mech: The Nuclear Winter Leader will occasionally be stunned by his own overpowered attack, possibly making your recovery of the black box easier.


 * Nest Egg: Players can now interact with the terminals throughout the Old Gotham Subway if they do not have the mission currently tracked.


 * Outbreak: As part of their continued efforts to improve life in Gotham, the HAZMAT team have adjusted their cleanse rifles to now only do minimal damage against other players when used in duels (while continuing to remain as powerful as ever against the intended targets of the Ace Chemicals clean-up operation).


 * Spirit Guide: The final boss of this missive is now an Ardent Vengeful Sprit. This is so he is consistent with the red aura the other Ardents in the missives have.

Powers


 * Fixed an issue where powers that could be used while controlled, but were not specifically breakout abilities, were causing juggle and levitate to end early.


 * Corrected issue with Dominance scaling for Healing.

The following abilities will now properly debuff targets that are in Control or Healer role: Sleep Dart, Vortex Cannon, Grasping Hand, Weight Spin, Cryokinesis, and Terrorize. Earth


 * Sandblast: "[Vulnerable to Interrupt]" has been added to this ability's tooltip. (Note: Although this information is new to the tooltip, the ability was already working like this; no change has been made to the functions of the ability, only to the tooltip.)

Gadgets


 * The Tricks tree description has been fixed to state that when attacking a Nature, Sorcery, or Electricity user they gain Confidence and get a brief damage boost of 35%.

Light


 * Light Barrier: "[Usable While Controlled]" has been added to this ability's tooltip. (Note: Although this information is new to the tooltip, the ability was already working like this; no change has been made to the functions of the ability, only to the tooltip.)


 * Corrected a loophole with certain weapons that prevented characters from becoming interruptible after repeated spamming of ranged construct combos against a target.

Nature


 * Impaling Thorns: "[Vulnerable to Interrupt]" has been added to this ability's tooltip. (Note: Although this information is new to the tooltip, the ability was already working like this; no change has been made to the functions of the ability, only to the tooltip.)

Sorcery


 * Soul Storm: "[Vulnerable to Interrupt]" has been added to this ability's tooltip. (Note: Although this information is new to the tooltip, the ability was already working like this; no change has been made to the functions of the ability, only to the tooltip.)


 * Circle of Destruction: This ability is now flagged as harmful and will now trigger the Escalating Might tactical mod.


 * The Watcher: This pet will now only heal others when the owner is in the Healer role.

PvP


 * Influence will no longer be awarded.


 * PvP Supply Boxes and Legacy Colas remain available from the new PvP vendors for a limited time so be certain to spend any remaining influence.


 * The following DLC specific Exobyte data have updated and now cost 85 Marks of Legend to purchase: Arkillo, Bizarro, Kilowog, Amon Sur, Ursa, Powergirl, John Stewart, Doctor Fate and Felix Faust.


 * Harmful shape shift abilities no longer affect players in PvP. Instead of shapeshifting, when used against players these abilities apply a short grounding effect and prevent the use of all abilities until the duration expires or the player breaks out.


 * The abilities specifically affected include: Horrific Visage, Vengeance, Weapon of Destiny, Wrath, Baleful Transmogrification and Polymorph.

Legends


 * Steel’s pulse hammer stun is now easier to escape and he is more susceptible to control effects while performing that ability.


 * All acrobatic characters now have both glide and zip-line abilities. This affects the following Legends characters: Arkham Asylum Joker, Joker, Bane and Two Face.

The use of certain Trinkets and Consumables are being restricted in PvP Arenas. The following items are included in this restriction:


 * 25th Century Communicator


 * Death Blossom Seed


 * Sentinel's Sunken Rune


 * Ritualist's Sunken Rune


 * Slayer's Sunken Rune


 * Chanter's Sunken Rune


 * Creepy Jack


 * Scary Jack


 * Spooky Jack


 * Eerie Jack


 * Mister Boo


 * Ms Boo


 * Collector's Edition Drone Control Device


 * Toy Copter


 * Toy Blimp


 * Holiday Rocket Sled


 * OMAC Nanite Circuitry


 * Heart of Devotion


 * Heart of Scorn


 * Phantom Zone Kryptonite Chunk


 * Sinister Clockwork Key


 * Manhunter Circuitry


 * Clown Nose


 * Demon Figurine


 * Lion Tooth Juju


 * Guise: Small Robot


 * Guise: Zombie Civilian


 * Guise: Hillbilly Zombie


 * Guise: Hallucination


 * Expendable Guise: Brainiac Unit


 * Expendable Guise: Morrowbot


 * Expendable Guise: HIVE Drone


 * Expendable Guise: Amazon


 * Expendable Guise: Assassin


 * Form: Robot Pterosaur


 * Form: Angry Gorilla


 * Form: Snowman


 * Proto Repair-Bot


 * Proto Bank-Bot


 * Proto Mail-Bot


 * Portable Workstation


 * Proto Broker-Bot


 * Boogie Bomb


 * Snow Globe Bomb


 * Frosty Bomb

PvP Rewards


 * Mark of Tactics and Marks of Strategy are no longer awarded for participating in PvP.


 * Rewards are now only earned through winning in Arena and Legend PvP maps.


 * Daily win awards for Arena PvP are now Marks of Valor.


 * Daily win awards for Legends PvP are now Marks of Legend and Marks of Valor.


 * Weekly win awards for Arenas provide additional Marks of Valor and a bonus item.


 * Weekly win awards for Legends provide additional Marks of Legend and a bonus item.

PvP Map Updates


 * Legends Batcave is now a 1 vs. 1 map.


 * Arkham Asylum for both Legends and Arena is now a 5 vs. 5 map.

Raids


 * Power Core: The Sunstone Sentries have been reprogrammed and will now attack the Resonator Crystal properly during the protect event.

Research and Development


 * Due to scientific breakthroughs, certain equipment Mods can now be salvaged.


 * Mod recipe vendors will no longer show recipes in their lists that you have already learned.

UI


 * Updated weapon tool tips to indicate equip-able status.


 * Legends PvP maps in the On Duty menu are now only visible when you reach level 5 and can actually queue for them.


 * Some missions will now have the mission acceptance dialog open after the voice over.


 * The HUD should no longer re-appear after opening and closing the PDA during a cut scene.

Inventory


 * Items in inventory overflow storage are moved into empty slots as available rather than shifting all items forward one slot.


 * Awards from Legends arenas are now placed into overflow if your inventory is full.

Mail


 * Fixed an issue with text being cut off with the "Attach Item" button.


 * Fixed an issue where the message list from a previous tab would display briefly when changing tabs.

Map


 * The tracking of base entrances to which you have been given permission can now be done through the Map UI in the PDA.

Marketplace


 * Added On Sale category. Item bundles will now show in their original category as well as the On Sale/Featured categories.


 * Added Suits, Base Items, and Weapon Style categories.

Weapons


 * Reduced the interrupt vulnerability window for players after performing block breaking attacks to 1.35 seconds based on community feedback that the window was too large.


 * Adjusted the button press timings on a number weapon specific area effect animations to prevent abilities sometimes double firing if you hit the button rapidly while using certain super powers. This could affect a wide variety of abilities but was reported frequently in association with Savage Growth.

Dual Pistol


 * Purchasing the Sweep Shot weapon skill now also causes your Full Auto ability to fire one additional shot after the attack is activated and after switching directions of fire. When Sweep Shot is purchased Full Auto always causes additional damage regardless of supercharge level.

Hand Blaster


 * Fist Slam: Now applies pushback if the player has 1000 or more Supercharge.


 * Solar Flare: Adjusted button input timing to improve feel and prevent unintentional activation of subsequent abilities.


 * Objects will no longer count against non-object AOE target limits on Meteor Blast.


 * Solar Flame now damages enemies in an area around the target.


 * Charged Blast now damages enemies in an area around the target.

Rifle


 * Mortar's damage is now split between three fast ticks of damage and will trigger three hits on the combo counter.