TVG Exclusive: City Of Heroes/Villains Issue 12 Feature

Hello everyone!

I, Doctor Brainstorm, have unlocked the secrets of the universe! In the coming weeks you will see a lot of powers used by archetypes who never had access to them before, and I wanted to give you some forewarning of what you can expect/achieve with this new Powerset Proliferation!

With all the coming new powersets, I know you are anxious to find out who got what, and that is exactly what I am going to tell you. I will also go into a little detail on the "hows and whys" that certain choices were made.

From a development angle Plant Control just made sense for a Controller. I mean, it has the word "Control" right in the title! Controllers also get access to Thermal Radiation, to keep those spores, trees, and fly traps enveloped in the growing warmth of their own solar powers, as well as being a good thematic match to the current Fire Control powers they have access to.

With these formerly villain only powersets now in the hands of a heroic archetype, we also find out that the opposite is now true. Brutes get access to Battleaxes and War Maces, weapon-based powersets that they have been asking for. And with Issue 11's Weapon Customization they have all the different implements of destruction at their disposal that Tankers do. For their secondary they get access to Super Reflexes, which is very good at helping them generate Fury while avoiding damage.

Now before I go on a lot of Brute players have been asking for Ice-based powers, and I should point out that in the City of Villains beta, there were... problems... with Ice Brutes. You see, when Ice attacks land, they tend to slow down the attacks of the opponent. For Tankers this is fine, but Brutes live and die by their Fury bar. The Fury bar relies on attacks coming in on you at a steady pace, and so slowing down that pace with Ice powers is self defeating. Ice Brutes had problems generating Fury, and so they were cut from City of Villains, and sadly won't be returning, even in this new Proliferation.

Now on brighter news, Storm Summoning was a natural fit for Corruptors who want to be masters of the elements. Nothing better than corrupting Mother Nature herself with new, evil, uses for Gale, Freezing Rain, and Hurricane. With the addition of O2 Boost, we villains now have another avenue of healing available to us as well. To couple with that, Corruptors get Electrical Blast as a Primary power set for their lightning based attacks.

And that brings us to Psychic Blast Blasters. I know a lot of jaws dropped when they saw this was going to be a reality, but Psychic damage is one of those "all or little" damage types. It is either highly resisted, or not at all. The "newish" Secondary set of Mental Manipulation gives some moderate control options as well. This will shake up the PvP game for sure, and the developers will be keeping a VERY close eye on this powerset to make sure that it is not overpowered in the hands of Blasters.

And then there are other Archetypes we have not discussed at all before. Tankers will get Dark Armor and Dark Melee as Primary and Secondary powersets, so they have an avenue into Negative Energy damage that was previously unavailable to them. Scrappers get nice matched sets as well with Fiery Melee and Fiery Aura, another "newish" set allowing players to make better themed characters.

Stalkers get to share in their Brute cousin's love for all things electrical with their own version of Electric Melee and Electric Armor. Assassin's Strike and Hide have stealthily made their way into these powersets giving the Stalkers the tools they need and love.

I would be remiss if I didn't discuss Dominators. They get access to Earth control, which of course keeps them grounded for their new access to Electricity Manipulation as well. All the villain electrical effects are of course tinted in the evil red that City of Villain players have come to be familiar with.

Finally Masterminds get access to the Storm Summoning Secondary powerset along with Corruptors. Yes, yes, I know a lot of Masterminds were looking forward to the possibility of Kinetics as their new choice, but the gods are not that crazy... yet. They will have to settle for the knockback of a well placed Gale or Hurricane instead.

Oh, I seem to have forgotten about Defenders. They now get access to Cold Domination and Ice Blast allowing them to put Ice and Glacial shields on their allies, as well as throw Ice Bolts and Freeze Rays. I always said it would be a cold day in Paragon City when Defenders would get access to Cold-based powers, and I guess my prediction came true!

There you have it, the final word on Power Proliferation... next week I will do my best to answer any burning questions you have left about these new powersets

List of New Primary and Secondary Powersets added in Issue 12

Blaster New Primary - Psychic Blast New Secondary - Mental Manipulation

Corruptor New Primary - Electrical Blast New Secondary - Storm Summoning

Controller New Primary - Plant Control New Secondary - Thermal Radiation

Dominator New Primary - Earth Control New Secondary - Electricity Manipulation

Defender New Primary - Cold Domination New Secondary - Ice Blast

Mastermind New Secondary - Storm Summoning

Brute New Primary - Battle Axe New Primary - War Mace New Secondary - Super Reflexes

Stalker New Primary - Electric Melee New Secondary - Electric Armor

Tank New Primary - Dark Armor New Secondary - Dark Melee

Scrapper New Primary - Fiery Melee New Secondary - Fiery Aura

Issue 12 of City of Heroes/Villains is due out shortly.