Server Downtime - July 24, 2013 - Game Update 28!

All servers will be taken offline Wednesday, July 24, 2013, at 6:00AM Pacific, for Game Update 28. Downtime is expected to last about 5 hours. Players may notice the following changes:

Tides of War
The Atlantean Warships have left the straits of Metropolis once again bringing an end to the Tides of War.

Tier 5 Ring Sockets Added!
Colored sockets have been added to all rings Tier 5 and above. This should include any ring greater than Item Level 80. DPS rings will receive Red sockets with Precision as a bonus, Tank rings will receive Blue sockets with Dominance as a bonus, Healer rings will receive Yellow sockets with Restoration as a bonus, and Controller rings will receive Yellow sockets with Vitalization as a bonus.

2v2 Legends Lair Battles
Team up with an ally as your favorite Legends characters to assault or defend a Lair in a 2v2 sudden death battle! Teams of 2 will go head to head in 5 fast paced rounds of Legends PvP action inside a players Base. Look for this new addition coming soon to the Legends lineup in the On Duty menu.

Targeting Improvements
Many improvements have been made to both the soft and hard targeting systems! Players will notice a more fluid soft targeting system that now takes range of targets into consideration, and a hard targeting system that now functions more accurately. The targeting system will also now react better when changing targets while channeling certain abilities, including Light Minigun and Light Fan, and most basic weapon attacks.

Combat Vulnerability Tuning and Improvements
Players will now notice persistent icons for the three weapon vulnerability states; Vulnerable to Block, Vulnerable to Interrupt, and Vulnerable to Block Breaker. These three weapon vulnerability states are now messaged with the same familiar icons that appear when those attacks apply a counter. These will appear as faint blue icons over the players head for the duration of the vulnerability window. In addition to these icons, we have made slight adjustments to weapon attack vulnerability windows. See below for more detailed information on these changes.

Movement Tree Ability Improvements
Each Movement skill tree has had additional functionality given to three of their movement powers! This added functionality allows players access to PvP role counters, regardless of what role they are currently in. In addition to this added functionality, the Movement skill trees have been adjusted so that all Movement types will be granted all movement enhancements for a 1 point investment. See below for a detailed breakdown of the added functionality and skill tree changes.

Speed Force Ruptures Move
All of the Speed Force ruptures throughout Gotham City and Metropolis have been sealed and all current rupture activity has been contained to Central City. Players can still help seal these ruptures and bring order back to Central City by entering the Lightning Strikes Central City teleporter, located in the Hall of Doom and Watchtower.

Vote to Excuse/Vote to Disband Iteration
We have re-enabled Vote to Disband option after making adjustments based on feedback. This option is now located for players in the Social Menu. The Disband option is available to players in groups of three or more. Duo groups will not have this option but will be unaffected by the deserter penalty. If the vote to Disband is passed, players who voted in favor will be removed from the instance without a deserter penalty. Any players that voted against will remain in the instance, the “Open for Matchmaking” option will no longer be available (new players must be invited and accept), and the deserter penalty will be disabled after the initial, successful vote to disband.

Players now have the option to initiate a vote to excuse themselves from an instance. This feature has a few situational restrictions. See the notes below for a detailed breakdown of the restrictions of this feature.

Linkdeath
Linkdeath is a feature that allows players a small grace period to log back into the game when they are incorrectly disconnected. This will give players a chance to return to their group and get back in the action more quickly. Once your character is Linkdead, you must log in to that character before you are allowed to switch to another character.

Base Lair Themes

·Eastern Lair - Round door frames are back. They are destructible now, to avoid roadblocks.

Combat

·NPC Combat

o NPCs using One Handed Focused Blast attack will no longer miss when they are blocked by allies.

o NPC Tornado Kicks that are vulnerable to block now be able to be blocked reliably

·Counter Mechanics

oThe damage prevention effect of “Counter Immunity” is now capped at 20% of your maximum Health.

FX

·When removed prematurely, the Light Bubble iconic power shield visual FX should disappear.

Items

·OMAC Nanite Circuitry: Removed the defense debuff while in Tank role. All other stat bonuses are now equal no matter what role a character is in when activated

·Updated the description for shielding consumable items to note they apply Healing type shielding effects.

Legends PvP

·Kryptonian eye beams and breath attacks will no longer continue if your target is KO'ed

·Steel’s Hammerang attack’s cooldown is now 18 seconds

Missions

·Batwoman has agreed to no longer use an irresistible encasement in the Home Turf instance of Arkham Asylum

·The Villain version of the 8th Precinct Raven's Destiny mission now has improved cut scenes

·Raven Bound

1.The Trigonic Vortexes around the Science Police Headquarters should be more visible now

Operations

·Wayward Souls

oSolomon Grundy will no longer use an irresistible encasement

Powers

·Nature

oInsectoid Form's Acid Spit is now a hold channel and will end when you release the range button or the duration expires.

·Iconic Powers

oUpdated the description for Hard Light Shield to note it applies a Healing type shielding effect.

PvP

·While role de-buffed, Healer type shielding effects are now prevented from being reapplied for the duration of the de-buff.

·Controller shields used in Damage role can be removed by players using super powers while in Tank role

·Shadowlands 1v1

oCapture node size has been slightly reduced to allow for more tactical fighting

Raids

·Nexus of Reality

oTreasure from the Final Iconic Boss Fight now drops as soon as the Final Iconic Boss Fight is defeated

Skills

·Block

oCorrected an issue where quickly blocking after performing a block breaking attack would leave you in an interruptible state for the entire duration of your block

·Due to significant changes to all Movement skill trees, skill points have been refunded and skill points must be re-spent

oAcrobatics

§The Grapple Line and Glide Line movement abilities are now automatically granted when you purchase Rocket Assisted Glide.The skill point boxes for these abilities have been removed from the tree.

§Forward Flip Attack now also removes Controller type shielding effects from one target regardless of role. When the target is in Controller Role their Vitalization is reduced hampering their ability to restore power to allies and themselves

§Throwing Knives now also removes Tank type defensive effects from one target regardless of role

§Zip Tie Attack now also removes Healing type shielding effects from one target regardless of role. When the target is in Healing Role their ability to heal is reduced

oFlight

§Whirlwind Attack now also removes Controller type shielding effects from one target regardless of role. When the target is in Controller Role their Vitalization is reduced hampering their ability to restore power to allies and themselves

§Swoop Attack now also removes Tank type defensive effects from one target regardless of role

§Downdraft now also removes Healing type shielding effects from one target regardless of role. When the target is in Healing Role their ability to heal is reduced

§Downdraft now causes instant damage, knockdown is no longer vulnerable to interrupt and no longer has a casting time.

oSuperspeed

§The Inertial Flywheel movement ability is now automatically granted when you purchase Speed Force and this box has been removed from the tree.

§Vortex Trap now also removes Controller type shielding effects from one target regardless of role. When the target is in Controller Role their Vitalization is reduced hampering their ability to restore power to allies and themselves

§Cyclone Push now also removes Tank type defensive effects from one target regardless of role

§Tornado Pull now also removes Healing type shielding effects from one target regardless of role. When the target is in Healing Role their ability to heal is reduced

UI

·The menu item to begin a vote to disband an instance has been moved from the Actions Menu to the Social menu under the Group heading.

Weapons

·Channeled weapon attacks can now be held for their full duration, even if the target is knocked out

·Brawling

o Jump canceling Stomp Smash before it fully completes will also reduce the window of interrupt vulnerability to 0.85 seconds

·Shield

o Jump canceling Sidearm Throw before the attack fully completes will also reduce the window of interrupt vulnerability to 0.85 seconds

·Two Handed

oJump canceling Hammer Throw before the first attack hits will also reduce the window of interrupt vulnerability to 0.85 seconds.

Vote to Kick

·The Vote to Kick timer has been shortened to 30 seconds but you can still not kick anyone within the initial five minute time of them entering an instance.

Vote to Excuse

·The Vote to Excuse option cannot be initiated in the following situations:

oThe group is already in the process of voting

oIt is a PvP map

oThere are less than 3 people currently in the instance

oYou’ve asked to be excused more than three times

oThere is pending group loot

oYou are in combat

All servers are now online! Thank you for your patience.