City Of Heroes Mastermind Alpha Slot

The Alpha Slot is effectively an enhancement that applies to all powers. The baseline enhancement (“common”) is one of four types (accuracy, damage, endurance, recharge), and improvements add other enhancements like healing, stun, defense buff, etc. Depending on your character, these higher-tier improvements may be more important than the baseline choice.

• City Of Heroes Mastermind Alpha Slot Game
• City Of Heroes Mastermind Alpha Slot Wins

The first good design decision is the ease of creating a common Alpha enhancement. Complete a short story arc with one difficult mission to unlock the slot. Run a level 50 task force, and you will be at least 2/3 of the way to filling it. Everything level 50+ can drop Incarnate Shards, so even a solo player running missions has a chance to participate (slowly). This is the first step, everyone gets to play, and rewards encourage grouping.

By the City of Heroes drop system, every enemy makes the loot roll for every character. It is theoretically possible for one minion to drop an Incarnate Shard for everyone on a team. The odds of that on a full team are estimated at 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, so probably not, but it will happen with elite bosses or archvillains occasionally. No competition for loot rolls, and you do not even need to tell your teammates when you get one.

Alpha Slot The Alpha Slot gives your character the first taste of what it's like to be an Incarnate. The Alpha Slot focuses on universal enhancements for powers. Very rare Alpha Slot abilities can apply a level shift that effectively increases the level at which your character can fight. Well, because Defenders were a pretty clear picture of the design philosophy behind City of Heroes, and if you wanted to explain how the game worked using only one Archetype, you well, you have some really weird thematic restrictions, but you could do worse than Defenders. The Incarnate Alpha Powers affect your slotting, so if you slot Musculature, it's as if you have a +33% Damage Enhancement into all your powers which can take damage enhancements. 27.5% of that enhancement will be affected by ED, so if you're already heavily affected by diminishing returns, you'll see little actual gain from that 27.5%, but the other 5.5% damage bonus is unaffected by ED, and works just like a set bonus.

City Of Heroes Mastermind Alpha Slot Game

Another aspect I like is that, as City of Heroes typically does, these are character unlocks not inventory items. You currently have four common and eight uncommon Alpha Slot options, soon to expand with sixteen rare and eight very rare. [Update: 19.5 is live.] When you build one, your character has it, done. If you decide to switch from yellow to blue, your character can switch back to yellow later with a few clicks. It is like swapping talent trees with pre-built options. If you want to build all eight very rare options, go for it you insane completist. (There is the wrinkle that building an uncommon consumes the common you made along the way, but the only reason you would want that common back is because you are building the other uncommon. If you are a truly insane completist, you can build all eight very rares, then backfill the sixteen rares, then…)

The design problem is the clunky City of Heroes inventory system, most of which was jury-rigged after launch. Incarnate Shards are yet another variety of salvage, so it uses that window, but filling your Alpha Slot is a separate window accessed through the power window, not the crafting or enhancement window. The Incarnate power window itself has elegant tabs, but it is hidden behind that power window. If that is documented in-game, I missed it, spotting the right button while doing something else. It could also be more visible in-game how to get the Incarnate components other than combining shards.

: Zubon

Update note: we have in-game reports that using one of the new rare Alpha Slot options will cause random crashes (pets’ powers not updating to the level shift?). Updates may appear in the comments.

Overview

The Alpha Slot is the first 'level' of the Incarnate System which launched with Issue 19. The Alpha Slot includes a Level Shift at higher tiers.

The Common and Uncommon boosts were released with Issue 19; the Rare and Very Rare boosts were released with the Strike Pack, a post Issue 19 update on February 2, 2011.

Alpha Slot Benefits

The Alpha Slot can be unlocked by defeating foes at level 50. It used to be normally unlocked by completing Mender Ramiel's arc, which is still interesting since it introduces players to the Incarnate System by advancing the in-game story-line and lore, and explaining the mechanics of how the Incarnate System works.

A character can access their Incarnate Abilities Window even before any Incarnate Slots are unlocked, where they can manage all their Incarnate abilities.

Once the Alpha Slot is unlocked, the character:

• can fill the Alpha Slot with an Alpha Slot Ability which can grant universal power aspect enhancements, a level shift, and bonuses to certain in-game tasks.
• starts getting Incarnate Shards as a drop from defeating foes.
• starts getting Incarnate Components or Incarnate Shards as a reward for certain Raids and Task Forces.
• can access a third build.
• can join activities restricted to Incarnates. This includes the Tin Mage and Apex Task Forces.
  • If the Alpha Slot is empty, the character suffers from a -4 Level Shift during these activities.
  • If the Alpha Slot has an ability slotted, the character does not suffer from the negative shift during these activities.
• can receive the Notice of the Well Incarnate Component from the Weekly Strike Target.

City Of Heroes Mastermind Alpha Slot Wins

The Unlocking Process

The normal course of unlocking the Alpha Slot follows this general plan:

1. Optionally run Mender Ramiel's arc to get some backstory and get the character's first Incarnate Shard
2. Determine which Alpha Slot Ability works best for said character. That will determine which Incarnate Components are required to craft.
3. Gain Veteran Levels to get Incarnate Threads and Empyrean Merits; defeat enemies (who con even or higher) to get Incarnate Shards or Threads; and/or run Incarnate Trials, endgame Task Forces, or missions in Dark Astoria to get Incarnate Components.
4. Craft and equip the Alpha Slot Ability.
5. The character can now work towards another or a higher tiered Alpha Slot Ability.

Alpha Slot Mechanics

• With regard to the Tin Mage and Apex Task Forces, a character is prevented by the game from joining if they do not have the Alpha Slot unlocked. If the Alpha Slot is unlocked, but is not slotted with an Alpha Slot Ability, then they can participate, but at a -4 Level Shift. Thus, they will be at eight levels lower than the Level 54 foes, hitting at 5% of their normal damage due to the Purple Patch.
• All Common and Uncommon Alpha Incarnate Components can be crafted from Incarnate Shards; therefore, no one specific Raid or Task Force is required to create a Common or Uncommon Ability. They can also be crafted from Incarnate Threads. Because Shards can only be used for the Alpha Slot, it is best to craft Components for it from Shards where possible, but drop rates mean it is unlikely that Shards will be sufficient.
• Rare-tier Alpha abilities require a Notice of the Well uncommon salvage which can be acquired by running the Weekly Strike Target.
• Very Rare-tier Alpha Abilities require a Favor of the Well that can be crafted from two Notice of the Well; it also consumes any two Rare-tier Alphas in order to craft the Very Rare one.
• The reason why the Incarnate Component Gr'ai Matter can be bought with Vanguard Merits is because the Rikti Mothership Raid doesn't have a reward table for completing it.
• Characters can switch between Alpha Abilities by simply equipping a new ability. The old ability is not lost, but simply switched out. There is a 5 minute cool down between equips. Also, equipping an ability is prohibited by being in combat and may require additional cool down time or leaving the mission to equip.
  • The Alpha Ability cannot be slotted or changed in Ouroboros.
• Higher-tier Alpha Abilities consume a lower tier ability when crafted. Characters can have several higher-tiered abilities, but if they're in the same 'tree', then they'll have to re-craft the lower tiered ability again for each higher-tiered ability they want to have.

Historical

• The Alpha Slot was initially supposed to launch with Going Rogue, but beta feedback said without content to play with the Alpha Slot, the system felt incomplete, so it was pushed back[1].
• The Alpha Slot was added to the game in Issue 19; at that time, the only way to unlock it was via Mender Ramiel's story arc.
• When Incarnate Experience was added to the game as a reward from the Lambda Sector and Behavioral Adjustment Facility Trials in Issue 20, the Alpha Slot was also made unlockable via both Psychic and Physical Incarnate Experience.
• When Incarnate Merit Vendors were added to the game in Issue 20.5, an Unlock Alpha Slot Token was made available for 5 Astral Merits. This token can be purchased by any character on an account, and is awarded as a Character Item.

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