The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
[CoH/CoV] I14 is live, now go make some catgirl arcs
Lepwave
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
OP shamelessly stolen from Bitstream, who shamelessly stole it from Hylian Bunny, who shamelessly stole it(but tweaked slightly!) from Gear Girl, who shamelessly stole it from Bucketman, who shamelessly stole it from Accualt. Pretty much all of the credit goes to them.
BREAKING NEWS!
Architect on Test now! Detailed Notes in quote below, spoil'd for largeness.
REAL INFO ABOUT ISSUE 13 - Power & Responsibility!Patch notes for anyone too lazy to go to the CoH forums.OPEN BETA RELEASE NOTES:
March 17, 2009
COMBINED
Architect Overview
Issue 14 takes City of Heroes® another giant step, allowing players to design their own missions and story arcs to share with the entire City of Heroes community across all of our live servers.
Using an intuitive interface, players can browse through other player created missions and create their own missions from the ground up. Players will determine details ranging from environments, mission objectives, and enemies, to written fiction and character dialogue; giving their stories nearly infinite depth and personalization.
Creators can pick from hundreds of maps and thousands of characters. They can use existing characters or create their own custom enemies. They can get even more detailed and create full enemy groups, giving each enemy unique costumes and powers.
Players can write all of the dialog for their story as well as decide on level of difficulty and enemy placement. Players have the ability to trigger one mission goal off of another, creating a chain of events within a single mission. Each story can have up to five chapters or missions and each mission can hold up to a maximum of 25 achievable goals. As people play content, they’ll be able to rate that content from one to five stars. Creators will actually get in game benefits for making content that gets highly rated. We even offer a Dev Choice and Hall of Fame standing for the best of the best.Create Stories - Present your story to other players in the game through the story title, description, and character dialogue. Stories can be as short as a single mission and as long as five.
Create Characters - Use existing characters from City of Heroes lore or create your own characters from scratch using the costume creator and a robust powers selection interface. Create individual characters which can be used as enemies, allies and contacts or create whole enemy groups to fill your missions.
Write Dialogue - Every character that you place into a story or mission has its own dialogue. Whether it's the contact that directs characters to their mission, the hostages that you rescue, or the enemies that you must defeat, they all speak through text bubbles at various points during your encounters.
Define Objectives- Defend, collect, defeat, destroy, rescue, and more. Mission architects can string objectives together making missions as simple or complex as desired, using up to a current maximum of 25 objectives per mission.
Use Advanced Options - For characters and missions select alignment, placement, difficulty, animations, behavior and more. Every mission objective has multiple advanced options, allowing you to truly customize how you want your story to play out.
Test and Iterate Before Publishing - Take as much time as you want to create your content and test it by yourself or with others. Once your masterpiece is complete, you can Publish it for other players to enjoy and rate.
Find / Browse Other Stories
For people who just want to play the user created content, players have access to the mission browser that shows all the generated content. Players can sort these stories by name, highest rated, lengthy and recently added. Players can also filter content to show only those with specific ratings, arcs they have or haven’t played as well as the alignment of the story.Sort Stories and Search for Key Criteria - Players can use the Mission Browser to sort published stories by rating, date, length, and title, or search for content using key words like the character who created them or the subject matter within the stories.
Hall of Fame - Stories that have achieved a critical combination of high player ratings and number of views will be elevated into Hall of Fame status and will be listed under the Hall of Fame section.
Developer's Choice - Stories that are hand-picked by the developer will be deemed Developer's Choice and listed within the Developer's Choice section.
Players create content in-game through a computer terminal within one of the Architect Entertainment buildings. Architect Entertainment is the name of an in-game company that’s developed this type of ‘simulated experience’ for heroes and villains of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.
- Architect Entertainment Buildings are located at Atlas Park, Galaxy City, King Row, Steel Canyon, Skyway City, Faultline, Talos Island, Independence Port, Croatoa, Founder Falls, Brickstown, Peregrine Island, Rikti War Zone, Mercy Island, Port Oakes, Cap Au Diable, Sharkhead Isle, Nerva Archipelago, and St. Martial. All Architect Entertainment buildings have map icons.
- The Ticket award system: Each type of enemy has a chance to drop a small, medium and large value of tickets. Harder enemies will grant more tickets than weaker enemies. Also, enemies that you defeat that are higher level than you will drop more tickets than enemies that are lower level than you. (Example: Bosses drop more tickets than minions).
- **Keep in mind that items in the store may have their prices fluctuate throughout the beta to adjust to this new reward system.
Architect Reward System
- Characters with pets will get credit for their pets’ kills in architect missions.
- Profanity filter works on all aspects of the Mission Architect but do make use of the report function if you spot anything reprehensible.
Among other rewards, architects who create extraordinary content will garner acclaim and reputation. Community feedback will be paramount and some missions will elevate in status, unlocking new rewards and benefits for their creators.
- Account wide architect rewards have been implemented. You can buy tokens in the store which will unlock architect options for every character on your account.
- If the mission server is not running, you will not be able to access this content (you can tell the mission server is down if you cannot search for published missions or publish new missions).
- Random recipe drop rewards have been implemented and can be purchased from the Architect Ticket Vendors with Architect Tickets. These random rolls come in 3 categories:
- Bronze Reward Roll: This random reward will award both uncommon and rare recipes that are normally dropped from defeating enemies. The likelihood of receiving an uncommon recipe is 8 times greater than that of a rare recipe. This is consistent with rewards granted from defeating enemies. This reward table does not include purple reward drops, nor does it include temporary powers or respec recipes. The Bronze Reward Roll is the least expensive of the three random reward categories.
- Silver Reward Roll: This random reward will award both rare recipes that are normally dropped from defeating enemies and recipes earned upon completing missions. The likelihood of receiving a rare recipe is 50% greater than that of a mission complete recipe. This reward table does not include temporary powers or respec recipes. The Silver Reward Roll is the second most expensive of the three random reward categories.
- Gold Reward Roll: This random reward will award recipes that were previously dropped upon completing taskforces and trials and now very rare drops off bosses and purchasable with merits. The Gold Reward Roll is the most expensive of the random reward categories as the rewards granted are very powerful.
Architect Custom Critter Creation
- Note that ticket prices for awards the ticket vendor are subject to change during beta. These random reward tables are “weighted” differently than tables from defeating enemies and completing missions. Recipes that are can be slotted into more powers and/or are slotted more often by players will have a greater chance of dropping. (Example: the Devastation ranged damage IO recipe set would be more likely to drop than the Trap of the Hunter immobilize IO recipe set. This is because Devastation can be slotted into a greater percentage of existing powers and is more often slotted by players than Trap of the Hunter.)
- Unlockable costume pieces are now available.
- Unlockable items should have icons associated with them.
- A pop up window should appear upon earning your first ticket. This window will explain what tickets are for.
- Custom Critters’ Toggle powers should suppress when Held, Stunned, or slept, exactly the same as player powers. Defense/Resist and other aspects of powers suppress. Status protection aspects of powers do not.
- Mastermind pets to mastermind sets: they are summoned when the NPC is attacked.
- Minion Masterminds Summon 1 minion at -1 level, LT masterminds summon 2 minions at -1, and a LT at -1. Boss Masterminds and above summon all henchmen as normal.
- Controllers summon pets when attacked.
We hope you enjoy Issue 14: Architect Open Beta!
~The Development Team~
Day Jobs (Offline Character Progression)
Scholar? Caregiver? City Official? Now when players log out of City of Heroes / Villains they’re just getting started! A character’s day job is determined by the actual in-game location from which he or she logs out. If players log out from a University their day job is considered to be a Scholar. If they log out from City Hall they're a City Official. The benefits are thematically appropriate to the location. For example, a City Official earns extra Influence, a Scholar is granted Salvage, a Caregiver is granted Health Regeneration Buffs, etc.
Once characters have accumulated the required amount of time for each Day Job, they are rewarded with the appropriate Day Job Badge and Title, increasing their “earnings” for that job. Multiple Badges can be combined to unlock Accolades and the ability to accumulate additional new rewards. Almost every location within Paragon City and the Rogue Isles has an associated Day Job, resulting in a wide selection of jobs and rewards!
New Powersets
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Shields – Heft a Shield for Heroic of Villainous Ends! This new powerset brings a classic power to City of Heroes: Shields! Now, you can arm Tankers, Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers with a powerful shield to protect themselves and their allies.
- Pain Domination – Villains can now bend the power of pain to serve their own ends! Those playing a Corruptor or Mastermind have access to this new powerset. The antithesis of the Hero healing powerset “Empathy,” Pain Domination brings parity between Heroes and Villains with a distinctively evil flair.
Leveling Pacts
A new innovation to MMOs, this system allows you and a friend to create new characters and have your XP be permanently in sync, whether both characters are online or not. You will always be the same level, even if your friend plays ten times more often than you do!
New Cimerora Missions
New Hero and Villain story arcs expand upon the history and lore, and delve into the players and politics of Cimerora.
The Merit Rewards System
A new game system that allows players to earn tokens by completing Trials, Task Forces, Strike Forces, Raids, etc. The most challenging and time consuming tasks grant the most reward tokens, which can be redeemed throughout Hero and Villain zones for recipes, enhancements, salvage, costume pieces, badges, inspirations and other game items.
Multiple Builds
Ever want a build solely for PvE or for PvP? Now you can have both at the same time with Dual Builds. Second build acts like a respec where you can re-choose all your powers, but keep in mind enhancements do not copy over to the second build, you will have to recycle or re-buy enhancements.
Other features
New Invention Origin Sets, new Costume Sets, a Patron Power Respec, Zone Refinements, and more!
INFORMATION FOR ISSUE 12 - MIDNIGHT HOUR!
What's new in Issue 12?
The Midnight Squad
An organization of mystics, the Midnight Squad has a secret to end the Rikti Invasion, but without your help, it will remain 'Lost' forever...
Cimerora
"The Midnighters hold many secrets within their walls, including a highly coveted Ouroboros crystal, enabling them to travel to the far reaches of time. There is a familiar threat in an ancient land and the Midnighters need the help of both Heroes and Villains to stop it. Players step foot upon the ancient land of the Roman Cimeroran Peninsula, where they battle deadly creatures, defend an ancient city and ultimately come face to face with the enemy of time itself. Throughout this journey players uncover the mysteries of power and the origins that guide them today."
Roman Style Costumes
Unlocked through achievements ingame, make your Hero or Villain look like a true gladiator.
Epic Archetypes...for Villains!
When a villain hits level 50, they now have two epic archetypes available: Wolf Spiders and Blood Widows. Each of these can branch off into their own different powersets - Wolf Spiders can work as either Bane or Crab Spiders and Blood Widows as Fortunata or Night Widows. All of this comes with a unique story, costume set, missions, and more.
Powerset Proliferation
With Issue 12 comes a brand new opportunity - almost every Hero and Villain archetype will gain access to powers that they didn't have access to before!
Hollows Zone "Gameplay Makeover"
"Significant changes have been made to the Hollows zone to make it more fun! NPC encounters have been rebalanced, including new spawns, new villain groups, mission door improvements, and a mobile hospital has been added to the entrance of the zone. Additionally, Meg Mason, a new contact, has been added to give out repeatable missions."
What else?
Configurable new power trays - customize your UI by placing them anywhere you want.
Contact display redesign - display your contacts as active and inactive, sorting them by a number of criteria.
Inspiration conversion - change three of one kind of inspiration into one of another.
Level-up boost - gain a massive (if temporary) boost to your stats on a level up, as well as full HP and Endurance.
Chat improvements - right click on character names in chat window to ignore, add to friends list, invite to team, etc. Drag any item (enhancement, inspiration, salvage, etc.) into the chat window so that you and others can click a hotlink to view the complete info box.
More real numbers - players can now display stats on powers before they choose them enabling more informed power selection and new temporary powers allow players to display enemy stats.
Credit for the following belongs to Accault.
How good is CoX?
In this thread we discuss all things City of Heroes and City of Villains. For those new to our world here is a brief FAQ.
City of Villains___________________________________________________________________________________________City of Heroes
Get ready to put the tights on because Cryptic is serving up a 10 Day Free Trial. What does that mean? It means you get a the chance to play the Best Super Hero based MMO of All Time*for FREE!
*By best we mean only, though it is very good.
10 Day Free Trials, EXCELSIOR!
Any active (or inactive) subscriber can send out a few Friend Invites which have a 10 Day Free Trial. We simply need your e-mail to do so. If you decide you like the game and subscribe for two months the person who sent out the invite gets a free month of game time. Very niiiice.
PA plays on the Virtue server.
If you want in, make with the post asking for someone to PM you, then respond with your e-mail. We don't want to accidentally send one person multiple invites since there are only a limited number available. If you end up liking it you can buy the Good vs Evil edition in stores or online for $30 which gives you access to both games and a free month or get just CoH or CoV from the NCSoft store for $20 each. They also include a free month so for $40 you can get two months...meaning you pay $10 for the client instead of $15 when buying the GvE edition. It should be noted GvE comes with some special costume parts, badge, and a jump jet thingy that is okay. ALSO, if you are ACTUALLY INTERESTED and are WILLING TO PAY A MONTHLY FEE for a game someone MIGHT be able to hook you up with a Buddy Pass. All active CoXers got ONE Buddy Pass, which is a 10 day trial that lets you start playing the game for $15 a month afterwards without having to buy the client. Don't be a douche and try to get a Buddy Pass if you don't think you'll actually pay to play the game.
The 411 on City of Heroes/Villains, yo.
Character Creation is likened onto a game of its own.
At launch CoH had something like 3 trillion potentially different costume configurations. Since then they have easily doubled the number of costume pieces, not to mention added face scalers, particle effects, wings, capes, trench coats, etc. So the current number of potential costumes numbers somewhere in the range of awholefuckinglot.
If you've ever wanted to be a robotic undead pirate with a leather fetish and fondness of 80's colorful fashion who can shoot electricity from his hands THIS is the game for you.
Download Mid's Hero Designer for a list of all powers and Archetypes in the game.
OP and Second Post is in progress.
Lepwave on
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CoH/V has your standard MMO ability bar where you click it and perform your special attacks but it isn't really your standard MMO combat.
* Regular mobs die faster and you fight a hell of a lot more than one at a time. The bigger stuff, like Bosses or Giant Monsters, obviously take longer to kill.
* You can strategically use Line of Sight and Knockback to your advantage.
* Combat in large teams can quickly turn into chaos because of the number of enemies being fought at once. You'll see ten guys get blown off the balcony you are fighting on by an Energy Blaster while the Mind Controller forces the Boss to beat up his minions as the Tanker hordes another 15 enemies on him after the Defender just buffed the Scrapper to godhood who proceeds to run off and kill the next spawn over.
* A small army of Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, etc under your control.
* Ragdoll physics make you feel like a man. Mobs crumple when they die or get knocked around instead of playing the same animation every time.
* Lasers...from your eyes. And various other places.
* Mount? You don't need no mount! Flight, Super Speed, Teleportation, or Super Jump are obtainable at lvl 14 and allow you to haul ass around Paragon and the Rogue Isles instead of just walking. As early as lvl 5 you can obtain a temporary Jetpack to fly around with, just ask how in game.
* PvP so fast it'll make you feel like a twitch gamer. Various PvP zones with different goals and rewards, like Battlefield style capture points or obtaining your own nuclear missile. No joke, you can get your own orbital nuke (store up to three) to use at anytime.
* Badges which are like Xbox 360 Achievements for your character. You get EXP for finding exploration ones, you get others for killing X number of mobs or doing certian missions or finishing Task Forces, etc. If you get the right combination of badges it will unlock special powers or permanent Health and Endurance boosts.
* Special "GTA" style missions. Stop a bank from being robbed, defeat some vandals, prevent an arson, stop a jail brake, etc. Alternatively as villain rob a bank, vandalize everything, start an arson, break a fellow villain out of jail, etc.
* Physics engine that leaves shell casings, blown up robotic parts, ect on the ground that you AND your powers can interact with. Knock an enemy into a tree and a shower of leaves fall. Use Tornado in an alley and garbage gets thrown up from the dumpsters. Kick a guy of a balcony only to see his neck get caught between the railings so he dangles there in a gruesome, gruesome way.
Here are trailers for the five most recent major updates.
The PvP zone they show is plays like a game of BF1942 with capturing strategic points. The zone actually changes looks based on who is winning. If one side is losing too badly their signature Heroes/Villains spawn to assist.
Issue 8 - To Protect and Serve
Safeguard missions and a great zone redesign for Faultline along with vet rewards.
Issue 9 - Breakthrough
Invention System: We get Ph@t L00ts! Some amazing new enhancements including Diablo style set bonuses. Plus some new high level challenges for Heroes and Villains.
Issue 10 - Invasion
Invasion! The Rikti return and only the combined might of both heroes and villains will be able to repel them.
Issue 11 - A Stitch In Time
The mysterious Ouroboros organization, a group of beings from the ends of time, enlists the aid of Heroes and Villains to rewrite the past.
Great CoX Resources
ParagonWiki is all kinds of useful and ever growing.
Red Tomax's Guide is really clean and efficient, very nice.
Who are Power's Allegory/Affliction?
Some random SG that Accualt threw together.
What server are the PA super groups on?
Virtue, the unofficial RP server. Not that we really RP.
How do I join the PA Chat Channel?
To join simply type /chanjoin "Penny Arcade" and hit enter. Then right click a chat tab, click edit, and add Penny Arcade to the tab.
A useful bind is /bind l beginchat /send "Penny Arcade" This way every time you hit l (or any key you choose) it lets you talk to every member of the PAcrew who is on, no matter what character they are playing as. Alternatively you can just right click on the chat window and select the Penny Arcade channel and type away. Also you could simply set the Penny Arcade channel to the default in your chat tab and hit the little A button to type.
Yeah but how do I get in the Super Group?
The best way to go about this is to ask if anyone in the Global Chat can invite you.
What PA SGs are there?
Hero
Power's Allegory - Virtue - Main Hero SG
Power's Allegory - Victory - Secondary Server SG
Power's Academy - Virtue - Alt Hero SG
Power's Apex - Virtue - 50s Retirement SG
Phantom Alliance - Virtue - All Illusion Controller SG
Squadron - Virtue - Alien Police Themed SG(See Squadron Thread)
Heroes of Warcraft - Virtue - Warcraft Themed SG
Villain
Power's Affliction - Virtue - Main Villain SG
Power's Affliction - Victory - Secondary Server SG
Social Entropy - Virtue - Alt Villain SG
Union of HARM(Henchman and Rogue Minions) - Virtue - Enemy Group Deserter Themed SG
Private Attractions - Virtue - Escort Service Themed SG(See Whore Thread)
Are there any rules for the SGs?
Don't be a giant ass, we don't like asses. Well we do but only when they are p.h.a.t.
The SG activity fluctuates so sometimes we have to boot inactive members. We do so based on last time they logged in.
The SG humbly requests everyone play in SG mode as much as possible as that is how we earn Prestige/Infamy to keep our base (and the teleporters) open.
Editor's Note: The SG limit has been increased so point two is less of an issue
I'm in! Now how does this SG costume work?
Click Super on the text window, Settings in the section that pops up, click accept on this new page, now toy around with the colors. You can opt to turn the SG emblem on or hide it. To turn on SG mode click the Enter/Exit Costume Mode in the Super window. While in SG mode you don't earn as much Influence/Infamy (after lvl 25, before you earn all Prestige and Influence/Infamy) but you do earn Prestige (used to pimp out SG bases) and have a chance to get Salvage (used to "craft" items for the SG bases).
Also of note many SG members use one of their extra costume slots to make a SG themed costume. For Power's Allegory the colors are any shade of blue and silver. We request that you use the darkest version of Blue instead of any black on the costume. For Power's Affliction the colors are any shade of red and silver. Red vs Blue...yeah, we are dorks.
Just download Mid's Hero Designer. It will be much easier for all of us.
Is there an easy way to find badges/plagues? I'm lost in Perez Park! Why can't I find any Circle of Thorns?
Whine, whine, whine. Back in my day we didn't know where anything was and we liked it. Now we have an easier way...you cheater. Here is a link to a webpage with a download that replaces all in-game maps with ones that have badges, plaques, mobs, and even Perez Park trails in them. Enjoy.
The game runs slowly for me: is there anything I can do to improve that?
Buy a new computer.
Alternatively, add this to the Target bar in the shortcut to the game:
-useTexEnvCombine
After turning all the settings down, you should be able to get a decent framerate. Though meant for laptops, this could also give you a better experience if you're using an ATI graphics card.
How do mobs spawn in missions?
How does Experience work in CoH?
Here is Statesman with detailed answers just before I4s release.
Where can I download the client, if I need to?
Click this Linky. The CoH and CoV client are one in the same.
Any questions? Ask away. Need free sex? Ask Gear's Mom :winky:
That's next issue.
You should maybe post the second post of the old thread as well. Some useful information in there.
Edit: Also if you do post it change the old paragonwiki link to where it is now.
Edit Edit: Also probably just remove the team/scheme night stuff from the second post. I'm sure if we try this again there will be a new thread.
Always tweaking Macro. You gotta lay off the stuff.
Sorely.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
We're letting Lepwave start threads now? What is this nonsense?
Also does anyone want to do a TF/SF later on Sunday night?
There are no links to the trailers anymore for some reason. Actually no link to Mid's(in the second post) either.
Link here for mid's. You need to change the mid's link in the first post as well.
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Since the other thread was lock, I couldn't quote for the pictures, I'll have to re-add the trailers whenever I feel like it. Fix the Mid's links also.
What TF should we do? LGTF and ITF are the most available I would imagine for most people.
Paragon Wiki got its domain back, so both the paragonwiki.com and wiki.cohtitan.com or whatever links are official now.
Over the last few months, were electric / electric brutes buffed at all?
Virtue server...prepare for The Konami Code!
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
When the game crashes, does the sound still work? Is it a looping chunk of sfx? Try disabling sounds in-game; if that helps, update the sound drivers. Hopefully it's that simple.
Just, y'know, putting that out there.
That's pretty sick. I still don't even know what the changes WERE to Patron Pools and the Hero versions.
Also, Henroid, no change that I know of. But Elec/Elec Brutes are pretty sick in PvE once the build has matured.
I guess I ought to start slotting my abilities that drain endurance with enhancements that affect that.
Edit - Also, where / how can I respec?
Err, unless you mean Power Sink (I think Elec/Elec Brutes get that?) don't bother. The endurance drain in your punches is basically just a minor bonus - don't focus on that. The only class that can get away with that is a Defender, and then only because their damage stinks.
Basically, you want to slot attacks with cheap inventions (if they exist anymore) that boost accuracy, damage, endurance and recharge, with at least 30% in accuracy, and as close to 100% in damage and recharge (and endurance too) as possible. Max your resistances, get recharge in your endurance recovery power, and go to town.
See, I recently started an energy / energy brute just to dink around and the dazing side effect from the attacks makes a huge difference in things. I was thinking that slotting to boost that, even just a bit, would help tons. So I started thinking back to my elec/elec brute (who is my highest level character ever in this game at 28) and thought I should do the same there for the endurance draining.
Edit - That town comment was a joke btw. :P
If you have a freespec you can just type /respec and it will begin. If you don't but you have regular respecs available go to Jack Wolfe inside the Freedom Plaza in Galaxy City for heroes and Arbiter Lupin in Nerva Archipelago for villains.
If you haven't got any respecs and are 24 or higher you can go do the respec trial with a group. You can google stuff about that pretty easy or just ask to get a group together in the PA channel.
As a villain, Arbiter Lupin, yeah. (See above)
The Stun effects from Energy Melee are a binary thing - they're either stunned (and helpless) or not. Endurance Drain isn't like that - there are degrees of drainage, and even when drained, they'll just be reduced to a slow-recycling basic attack. Electric Melee's big thing is that it's flashy and has some nice AoE. Not sure how it stacks up to Fire Melee, but the big attack at 32 is just plain AMAZING.
Also, Knockdown in Thunder Strike is great for an Elec/Elec Brute. You could always benefit from Air Superiority though, but just about everyone takes that. My Elec/Elec BLASTER has AirSup.
I mean, other than "Dear God, don't do it!!"
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Ignore the damagey parts of your secondary, for the most part. Take the controlly powers. Defender are really best on a team, so take powers that make up for the fact that your damage is a horrible joke.
how can I apply this advice to a dark/elec defender?