The long-awaited Issue 13 Architect has been re-named "Power & Responsibility" with the oft-talked about "Architect" feature being postponed to Issue 14 instead to allow more time for development.
Three new features of I13 that caught my eye:
1) the ability to have TWO builds available for any character. This gives the flexibility of say having a toon built for PVP AND PVE, and not just one or the other. Implications - market prices are going to skyrocket, unless they increase the frequency of drops. Will build 1's enhancements be reusable in build 2's? Where do the "spare" enh go?
2) PVP vs PVE powers. From this letter by Positron, it reveals that they're taking a different approach to power-balancing in PVP and PVE. I suppose because of point (1) above, they can now have separate stats for PVP/PVE. Implications - NO MORE NERFING!! YAY!
3) Leveling Pact - This allows two toons to synchronise XP such that they always level together. I suppose this would mean 1 of the toons will get reduced XP if he's playing alone more and the other benefits. hmm..
Edit: it seems I was right -
Here is the gist of how this works, when players enter the leveling pact (level 5 and below) their experience is all flattened to whoever was the lowest. Any incoming experience to any member is effectively split by the member count of the pact (which we are limiting to 2 initially). From that point foward, all members will have the exact same experience and always be the exact same level. If player A logs out and lets player B do all the work, it will take player B twice as long.
And of course more content for my favourite new zone - Cimmerora.
