Team VanGuard

2010-11-20T14:26:00.000-06:00

this would be great for CoH

Origins Booster in Nov!

2010-10-20T15:25:00.003-05:00

A bit better than the Party Pack, a new cape and two auras for each origin all available at the beginning of character creation. Gonna have to get this one.
10 auras at level one? Yes please!

Edit: Additional info on this one, the release date is Nov 3 and the price will be $9.99 US.

Issue 19 reveals from NY Comic Con

2010-10-10T05:46:00.003-05:00

A whole bunch of details have emerged from the City of Heroes panel at NY Comic Con...
Many of which can be seen at the wiki here... as well as forum goer, James Joyce's video on Youtube...

Rumor is that closed beta starts this coming week! And for the clothes horses out there, yes it will have new costume parts in this issue... pieces from the Imperial Defense Force!

Two New Auras Leaked to Live!

2010-09-29T10:04:00.003-05:00

The last patch to live accidentally added two entirely new auras to the costume creator for those who have their auras unlocked at lvl 30... Fireflies and Snow! No word on when or if these are to be removed, if they are actually part of Issue 19 or a booster or anything yet.

2010-09-08T04:05:00.000-05:00

Aion:

The Good:
1. PVP can be very challenging and rewarding.
2. Story content “if you actually read it”
3. Game engine is great, able to run on lower system specs and still look great. Even at max setting the game is not terribly taxing on a decent PC.
4. The Dev’s have been doing a great job keep up with player suggestions
5. Character creator, while not terribly detailed, but you can still modify the look of your character quite well. Being able to scale the hands/feet/arms/legs …etc really shines

The Bad:
1. PVP, while very fun, you have players that love abusing the system.
2. Bots, you what they are and they are in every MMO out there.
3. Price/rates/earning can be very very challenging, it can get down right irritating and they really is no reason behind it.
4. Forced grouping/teaming, a big turn off for people that like to go solo

City of Heroes/Villains:

The Good:
1. Some PVP content is very rewarding
2. Paragon Studios is doing a great job listening to their player base.
3. Character creator, probably one of the best out there.
4. Story content and Area maps/zones are quite large
5. Probably one of the best games for grouping/teaming. Lv40’s toons playing at Lv10 and still getting their respective EXP and drops or vice versa.

The Bad:
1. Old game engine
2. Old game engine with new “add on” game code or as they call it “Ultra Mode” it does really hurt the game. I understand what they tried to do, but when compared to Aion “and how much less Aion uses your systems resources maxed out” Paragon Studios really should have just started a new game engine from the ground up OR implemented CoH/V into the Crytek Engine as Aion has done/is.
3. What the Character creator lacks. The scaling in the creator is horrid in my opinion. There are a few options to change the scaling for the body, but not enough to really make characters stand apart from everyone else.
4. “The Nerf” many fun things aboutCoH/V has been nurfed over the years and for no apparent reason. I understand people abusing the game mechanics, but nerfing certain thing in the game for no apparent reason is very irritating. One of my personal irritations is the nerf they implemented with Tanks and being able to aggro a solid 3 eight man mobs, it can’t be done anymore.

Final Fantasy 14 “just started the Open Beta”

My review: “so far”
1. The game engine seems nice, but very taxing. I can’t see many people playing on low end PC’s with what I would call decent graphics.
2. Updates and initial download via torrent ….. Simply idiotic. 8 hours to download the game on an 8Meg connection. It shouldn’t have taken any where near that amount of time.
3. Configuring the game “right now” has to be done with the game shut down.
4. Starting the game and playing, not for the new to MMO players. Not at all in the way of help tips or hints
5. Character Creator…..worst I’ve seen aside from Final Fantasy 11. They might as well just said “here is a toon, now go play” The options are ridiculously narrow. It seems like the creator was an after thought and not a priority. I give it a -10 very disappointed with it.
6. With all the MMO’s out there, Square could have taken some hints for Controls/Targeting/HUD/Chat and all of thee above. Not sure what they were thinking. I can say it’s much much better than Final Fantasy 11, but much worse than any other MMO I have played in the last 4 years. Again it seems an after thought and not a priority.

I ‘m certainly going to give it more time, I really do want to like the game. The targeting and such will take sometime to learn “more than most” but I’ll push through it.

I will say that Square needs to pay attention to what is on the market now. Not because they should be cookie cutter, but so new players can hop right in and have fun instead of taking a week or two to learn the mechanics. They can be original with story content, add-ons and the character creator “which as I said is incredibly bad”.

Anyway, just my 2 cents on Final Fantasy 14. I know a lot of die hard fans will not agree.

PAX Issue 19 & 20 info!

2010-09-04T20:29:00.003-05:00

All of this has been culled from the ongoing forum thread located here...

"Issue 19: Alpha Strike

Released in Fall 2010
Alpha incarnate slot which will be story driven and ties to the game lore
'Alpha Strike' task force for Alpha enabled characters - Apex is the contact
Primal earth characters can enter Praetoria
More tip missions
Image from @Gothess: http://twitpic.com/2l8hvy - Is that a new enemy?
Image from @Gothess: http://twitpic.com/2l8n5a - Apex in what appears to be RWZ
Image from @Gothess: http://twitpic.com/2l912q - Not sure what this is o.0

Other info (some may be i19 info, will post here unless it's been confirmed for i19)

Incarnate content will be included in every issue
Issue 20 closed beta starts in a week (with signed NDA)
Mission maps will get a minor update
Fitness pool becomes inherent
'Issue 19 will have a normal beta after issue 20. Issue 20 includes a lot a of new systems that will require more beta time.'

Q&A Info

Changing character without logging out has not been implemented and has no timeline
'Will Paragon and Rogue Isles get yellow targets?' 'Probably not but maybe'
No new news on hero/villain coalitions or base access for tourists
No new news on personal bases, but they are talking about it
Old zones may see an update to make them look nicer
There will be 'casual paths and new features'
They have been looking into animated facial features and fingers but it won't be any time soon
Alternate animations might be coming in a bit
Praetorian Epic ATs may be coming
They are working on updating old costumes and new costume sets but Sexy Jay is apparently overwhelmed
Tip missions will be getting a bit of a tone update
They have looked at taking down the paragon war walls but won't happen anytime soon
'Will hero get more arachnos missions in paragon?' 'Yes we can do that'
'Will we get and automatic team finder? Maybe?' (I'm not sure who said what here)
Cross server teaming exists on a priority list no more details
'Are power pools going to be expanded?' 'It's been discussed but no timeline'
Power pool customization is on the radar but not a priority
Ouroborus mission to explore what happened to dark astoria? Very possible to do may happen"

And later on in the thread...

" Quote:

Originally Posted by Leese

Heya Castle, can you clarify whether the Inherent Fitness powers will be slottable?

Yes, they are enhanceable and you can add up to 5 additional slots to them, just like the current versions. The powers are all available either at level 1 or 2 (I forget at the moment) -- no waiting 'til 20 for Stamina."

WOW! Health & Stamina at lvl 1 or 2! This will totally change how we play the game!

GR is LIVE!!!

2010-08-16T18:03:00.002-05:00

YAY! It's like saturday morning AND christmas all in one!

And here's your patch notes, as per this post:

"COMBINED

Merging Hero and Villain Economies

Influence, Infamy and Information are being combined into a unified currency called ‘INF’. All characters will be able to trade ‘inf.’, salvage, recipes and enhancements between each other.
Wentworth’s Consignment House and the Black Market now share inventories. Capitalism at its best.
- All outstanding Buy and Sell orders will be cancelled as part of the market merge. All items and bids will be refunded and stored in the auction inventory. Listing fees for unsold items will be refunded.

Auction House

You can now tab forward and back (shift-tab) through stored items. The price text gets reset when you move to a new item.
You can tab forward and back through the search field, min level, max level, bid price and bid quantity fields. Their text auto-selects so you can type to replace it. Similarly the bid price and quantity auto-select when you click on them (the others already did).

Global Email

Any player can claim enhancements, inf, inspiration, recipes, and salvage regardless of alignment.
Global attachments can no longer be claimed while in an Arena match.

Chat

If you send a tell to a player with a Trial account, an auto-reply will be sent explaining that players with Trial accounts cannot send tells.
You should no longer see the message "You can now receive global emails from any player not on your ignore list” spamming your chat. It’s still true, though.
The channel admin command /chan_timeout [channel name> [duration>” is working correctly now. The minimum time that can be set for timeout has been increased from 7 days to 30 days. Channels that have already been set to a timeout period of less than 30 days will be unchanged.
Players can now right-click another player, and if that other player is in a group, the player can select to send a “Tell” to the team leader

Pop Help

Pop help adds exclamation point icons to the side of your screen as you play, providing useful help and information.
Left clicking on the icons will display a window with the information.
- The icon will disappear after the information has been displayed.
You may have more than 5 pop help items available at any one time, but only 5 will display on the side of your screen at any one time.

Team Search Improvements

This color scheme came about along with other behind-the-scenes work to make searching more useful in Going Rogue. It used to be that heroes could see heroes and villains could see villains and that was that. With Vigilantes going to Rogue Isles and so on, we needed a more sophisticated approach. Now the people you see are people you could team with, and who are in the same part of the game world as you (eg. people in the Rogue Isles can't see people in Paragon City and vice versa, regardless of their alignment).
The new color scheme works like this:
- [font >Jade green[/font>: Same team as you
- [font >Red[/font>: They have 'not looking for group' set
- [font >Yellow[/font>: They can't be invited to team with you because they're on a mission map or in an arena match
- [font >Orange[/font>: They're the opposite faction to you and not on a mixed team, so you have to go to their map to team with them
- [font >Violet[/font>: They're the leader of a team with less than 8 people on it
- [font >Pale blue[/font>: They're not on a team and you can invite them
- [font >Green/grey[/font>: They're on a team but not the leader, so you can't invite them and they can't invite you

Costume Sets

The following costume sets are available as part of the Going Rogue expansion:
- Sports
- Overguard
- Syndicate
- Clockwork
- Resistance
- Praetorian Police
These additional sets are available through purchase of the City of Heroes Going Rogue(TM) Complete Collection.
- Alpha
- Omega

Combat Auras

All in-game Auras can now be set to only activate while in combat.

GOING ROGUE

Alignment System

The Going Rogue Alignment System is a new feature that allows you to change your faction from Hero to Villain and from Villain to Hero. The Going Rogue Alignment System allows you to experience all sides of the game content with a single character. It introduces two additional alignments, Vigilantes and Rogues. These new factions represent the moral gray line between Hero and Villain, and will benefit from unique rewards.
Upon reaching Level 20, defeated enemies that are Level 20 or higher will now have the chance to “drop” a Contact Tip. These Contact Tips are similar to existing contacts except they have a dialog tree attached to the front of it. You can investigate Tips by clicking the “Investigate” button. This opens a description of the Tip and then leads into a dialog tree where you can choose how you want to act upon this information. All Tips will have two flavors to them, either Vigilante and Heroes for characters based in Paragon City or Rogue and Villains for characters based in the Rogue Isles. Depending on the choice you make with the information you're given, you will receive a specific alignment mission of that flavor. Once the mission is complete, you're another notch closer towards reaching that alignment and the Tip is cleared out of the contact window.
- A Tip will be written as if it was information picked up off of a defeated enemy. For Example: "You found a small torn piece of paper that appears to have some interesting information on it."
You can work on multiple different alignment missions at any given time. After completing 10 Tip missions towards a chosen alignment, a Morality mission is unlocked. This mission is also tied to the “Contact Tip Drop” system. Once you've done enough Alignment Tip Missions to qualify for a Morality mission, the Morality mission drop will be an alignment drop of that type. The Morality missions make the actual hard switch from one alignment to the next.
Characters that change their alignment from Hero to Vigilante or Villain to Rogue may choose to switch back to their original alignment (i.e. Vigilante to Hero / Rogue to Villain), however once a character makes the final switch to the polar opposite alignment, characters must move forward to redeem their Villain to become a Hero, or fall from grace as a Hero to a Villain.
- For example, a Hero can become a Vigilante, and return back to a Hero. If the Vigilante falls from grace to become a Villain, that Villain character must go on the path of redemption to a Rogue alignment before becoming a Hero again.
Players can defeat enemies and collect Tips that they can act upon, making adjustments to the character's alignment.
- Change sides from Hero to Vigilante to Villain or Villain to Rogue to Hero.
After 10 Alignment Points are earned in an Alignment Pool, a Morality mission drop becomes possible.
Vigilantes and Rogues that visit the other cities will con “friendly” to native Heroes and Villains in all PvE areas.
Tourists: Vigilantes can travel to the Rogue Isles, and Villains turning Rogues can travel to Paragon City. While there, the Vigilante or Rogue is considered a moral ‘Tourist’.
Vigilantes and Rogues must become ‘Tourists’ to earn the alignment points needed to complete their switch to Villains or Heroes.
Players can earn a limited amount of fame for their alignment-related deeds. To earn more fame, the public has to first lose interest in your old deeds. The public will hold interest in no more than five deeds, and their interest will last for 20 hours after the deed occurred.
The player also has the option to reinforce their standing as their current alignment. Continuing to complete Tips tied to the player’s current alignment will give them the chance to complete the Moral mission once again, thereby reinforcing their existing moral beliefs. This cycle of reinforcement can be completed as many times as the player likes.
- This can earn them Hero Award Merits or Villain Award Merits.
- Heroes will earn Hero Award Merits for reinforcing their alignment, redeemable at the vendor found within Fort Trident.
- Villains will earn Villain Award Merits for reinforcing their alignment, redeemable at the vendor found within The Crucible.
Players can earn alignment powers after they have spent a certain amount of time as a Vigilante or Rogue.
Players who make the switch from Villain all the way to Hero or Hero all the way to Villain will no longer be able to lead their previous alignment’s Super Group.
In PvP zones or Arena matches, Vigilantes are considered “Heroes” and Rogues are considered “Villains”.
Stores, Tailors, and Respec contacts will interact with tourists.
- Some exceptions to this are Store NPCs in Brickstown, Founders Falls, and Peregrine Island.
- These NPCs require a mission completion to unlock their stores but NPCs do not grant missions to tourists.
- Tourists in Paragon City can travel to the Midnighter Club, Rikti War Zone or back to Rogue Isles to purchase Single Origin Enhancements.
Tourists may run radio or newspaper missions. They can complete Safeguard or Mayhem missions and gain new contacts, but they cannot interact with those new contacts until they complete the switch to Hero in Paragon City or Villain in Rogue Isles.
Alignment Merits:
- Hero and Villain reinforcing Morality Missions will now award 50 Reward Merits on the first reinforcement and 1 Hero or Villain Merit on the second and subsequent reinforcements.
- The Conversion cost for Hero and Villain Merits is 50 Reward Merits and 20 Million Inf.
Tips do not transfer from Villain side to Hero side and vice versa.
- They will go into Escrow when a character moves from the Rogue Isles to Paragon City and back.
Players cannot read Tips in Hazard, Trial, or PVP zones.
Tips will not drop while in missions from Architect Entertainment.
Tips will continue to drop in Co-Op zones, but cannot be investigated unless the player is within a standard Hero/Villain area.
When in Task Force mode (Task Forces, Strike Forces, Flashback missions), Tips will drop for players, but they will not show up in the Tips tab until they leave Task Force mode.
The Pocket D Teleporter will prompt you to verify your wish to teleport if you would switch from Hero to Villain content in doing so.
Team members assisting on a Morality Mission who are not eligible for an alignment switch or reinforcement will receive an alignment point towards the alignment of the Morality Mission instead, as long as they have an available alignment slot.
Tourists may use either Consignment House (Paragon City) or Black Market (Rogue Isles) Transporters, providing they are in the appropriate city at the time.
All alignment switch opportunities present a choice table which includes additional warnings of consequences for alignment switching.
You should not immediately receive the same Alignment tip after just recently completing or discarding it.
Characters may join and remain in leveling pacts regardless of alignment.
When a Supergroup leader tries to switch sides, a popup appears telling them the consequences of the alignment shift, which is that they will be removed from their leader rank if they switch their alignment to the opposing side.
- If they do switch alignment all the way to polar opposite of the SG, leadership will pass to the next highest ranking/senior member of the SG.
Vigilantes and Rogues should now see progress meters for side-restricted Day Job badges. However, side-restricted Day Jobs do require a full switch to Hero or Villain to actually earn the badge and/or accolade. Vigilantes cannot become full fledged Arachnos Agents, etc. though they can start making headway.
Alignment Guides: When a player receives their first tips, a new contact will show up on the Tips menu who can be contacted via cell phone. They do not give missions, but will explain Tips, Morality Missions, and how to change alignments.
- These guides can be reached in person from inside Pocket D

Zones

Fort Trident and The Crucible
- Players who maintain either a Hero or Villain alignment through reinforcement will now find they are welcome to enter Fort Trident (Hero) or The Crucible (Villain). Located in Atlas Park and Cap au Diable, these zones allow the Hero or Villain to relax, meet well known signature characters, teleport to their Task Force/Strike Forces, and also purchase purple recipes and PVP recipes from special vendors with earned Hero or Villain Merits.

Badges

When you open the Badge menu after changing alignment, a popup will appear to explain the changes to your badge names.
- No badges or accolade powers are lost.
Players who possess Hero or Villain specific accolade powers will now automatically be granted the other side's corresponding badge and accolade power when they switch sides. Only one side's accolade powers are enabled at any one time.
Many Badges which were previously side-specific (and now accessible to both sides after Going Rogue) have had the previously inaccessible titles and/or texts updated to reflect the effects of side-switching and provide a new side's take on your past actions and experiences.
Removed Hero/Villain Requirements from the following Badges:
- Firebug
- Hero Slayer
- Impounder
- Outlaw
- Safecracker
- Vandal
- Swashbuckler
- Arachnos Rising
- Villain Disruptor
Corrected an issue where the icons for Clothes Horse, Fashionable, and Ostentatious were not showing up properly.
The Hero title of The Justicar badge for defeating a Rogues Gallery boss has been renamed to Judge & Jury.
Mother Mayhem has been added to the requirements for Dimensional Warder.

Super Groups

Players remain in their Super Group if they change alignments to the opposing side.
- Hero and Vigilante are considered blue-side, and Villain and Rogue are considered red-side for this purpose, no matter where they happen to be.
Players that are in a Super Group of the opposing side are considered to have “gone dark”.
- Dark members aren’t allowed to access their Super Group base.
- Dark members aren’t given most Super Group permissions.
  - Dark members are allowed to pay base rent and to talk in Coalition chat.
If the Super Group leader goes dark, the leader will then be demoted from their rank.
- A different non-dark member will be automatically promoted to the leadership position.
- The Super Group leader will be notified with a pop-up if they attempt to complete a Morality mission that would change their alignment such that they would go dark. The leader must confirm that they are fine with going dark and getting demoted before being allowed to switch to the new alignment.
- If they do switch alignment all the way to polar opposite of the SG, leadership will pass to the next highest ranking/senior member of the SG.

POWERS

Ancillary/Patron Powers

Ancillary Power Pools are now available to all characters that reach Level 41, regardless of Hero or Villain status.
Once a Patron Pool has been unlocked as a Villain, it remains unlocked even if you later switch sides.
Patron and Ancillary equivalencies are as follows:
- Scrappers get Stalker Patron Powers, and vice versa.
- Tankers get Brute Patron Powers, and vice versa
- Blasters get Mastermind Patron Powers, and vice versa
- Defenders get Corruptor Patron Powers, and vice versa
- Controllers get Dominator Patron Powers, and vice versa
Specific power instances were altered to eliminate duplication of powers.

New Power Sets

The following four Power Sets are available as part of the Going Rogue Expansion.

Kinetic Melee

Kinetic Melee is a melee attack set based upon siphoning your opponent's energy and using it to power your own attacks. Each individual attack adds a damage debuff to the target (strength and duration dependent upon the tier of the power used) and Tankers inflict even stronger debuffs than the other ATs. Additionally, if Power Siphon is active, the caster gains a damage buff.
The following Kinetic Melee powers are intended for Scrappers, Tankers and Brutes:
- Quick Strike
- Body Blow
- Smashing Blow
- Taunt
- Repulsing Torrent
- Power Siphon
- Burst
- Focused Burst
- Concentrated Strike
The following Kinetic Melee powers are intended for Stalkers:
- Quick Strike
- Body Blow
- Smashing Blow
- Assassins Strike
- Build Up
- Placate
- Burst
- Focused Burst
- Concentrated Strike

Electric Control

Electric Control is a power set that can be used by Dominators and Controllers.
Electric control offers a mastery of using electricity to negate enemy attacks and keep them off balance. Many effects will arc from one nearby enemy to another, creating dazzling chains of electrical energy. It offers a wide variety of short duration soft controls in the form of stuns, confuses, and knockback.
Arcing controls tend to be short duration, but can hit multiple foes and recharge quickly.
All arcing controls will be able to use enhancements, allowing players to enhance the Damage, Stun, Immobilize or other effects of the power.
The Electric Control Power Set is comprised of the following powers:
- Electric Fence
- Tesla Cage
- Chain Fences
- Jolting Chain
- Conductive Aura
- Static Field
- Paralyzing Blast
- Synaptic Overload
- Generate Gremlins

Dual Pistols

This set is a primary power choice for Blasters and Corruptors and a secondary choice for Defenders. Dual Pistols is also the power set of choice for the Going Rogue signature character Maelstrom.
What differentiates Dual Pistols from the Assault Rifle power set is the ability to modify every attack's secondary damage and the effect that has on your target. 70% of damage dealt by most attacks is lethal, the other 30% is modifiable from pure damage to cold, toxic, or fire. This versatility comes at the cost of slightly weaker secondary effects when compared to other power sets. In short, Dual Pistols is a set that can adapt to most situations by bringing a wide variety of debuffs and damage types.
The Dual Pistols Power Set is comprised of the following powers:
- Pistols
- Dual Wield
- Empty Clips
- Swap Ammo
- Bullet Rain
- Suppressive Fire
- Executioner's Shot
- Piercing Rounds
- Hail of Bullets

Demon Summoning

Demon Summoning is a primary power choice for the Mastermind archetype and is also the power set used by the Going Rogue signature character Desdemona.
This power set allows the player to summon elemental demons that can manipulate flame, cold and hellfire. However, what truly sets this power set apart from other Mastermind primary power sets are the summoner's Hellfire Whip attacks that deal both fire and toxic damage and reduce the target's damage resistance.
The Demon Summoning Power Set is comprised of the following powers:
- Corruption
- Summon Demonlings
- Lash
- Enchant Demon
- Crack Whip
- Summon Demons
- Hell of Earth
- Summon Demon Prince
- Abyssal Empowerment

Fiery Embrace Change

Fiery Embrace power now adds bonus fire damage for all Melee Power Set attacks instead of being a normal damage Buff. All Melee Power Set attacks made for 20 seconds after activating Fiery Embrace will do bonus damage based on that attack’s damage. This bonus damage IS affected by enhancements and outside buff/debuff effects. At low levels, this means Fiery Embrace will have lower impact than the old implementation, while at high levels or on teams with lots of +Damage effects, you will see increased damage output.
Critical damage is not affected by the new Fiery Embrace
Spines Toxic Damage Over Time effect is not affected by the new Fiery Embrace
In PvP, Fiery Embrace uses the previous Damage Buff version.
Fixed Thunder Strike Fiery Embrace bonus – it was not properly applying the split radius effect.

Electric Melee

Corrected combat spam for Lightning Rod

Shield Charge Changes

Made several changes to correct balance problems introduced a few months back:
Brute Version: Damage broken into 2 stages -- stage one has a 5' radius and does scale 1.8 Stage 2 has a 20' radius and does scale 1.275
Tanker Version: Damage broken into 2 stages -- stage one has a 5' radius and does scale 2.04 Stage 2 has a 20' radius and does scale 1.445
Scrapper Version: Damage broken into 2 stages -- stage one has a 5' radius and does scale 2.7 Stage 2 has a 20' radius and does scale 1.9125

Fiery Aura

Burn – changed power substantially:
- Added initial hit damage
- Removed Fear effect
- Decreased tick rate by 4 (now ticks every 0.8 seconds, instead of 0.2 seconds)
Consume: Added Recovery boost per target hit and flat Endurance Drain Resistance value.

Martial Arts

Cobra Strike:
- Decreased Recharge Time from 20 seconds to 10 seconds
- Increased Endurance Cost from 10.14 to 10.19
- Increased damage scale from 0.25 to 1.96
- Reduced Stun chance from 100% to 75%
Stalkers Eagle Claw: Increased Recharge time from 12 seconds to 16 seconds, increased damage from 2.28 to 2.92, increased End Cost from 11.86 to 15.18
Scrappers Eagle Claw: Eagles Claw now increases the Critical Chance of Martial Arts attacks by 33% for 2 seconds after it has been activated.
Crippling Axe Kick – increased recharge to 11 seconds, and increased damage and endurance cost appropriately. Added 10 second scale 1 Defense Debuff.

Brutes

Fiery Aura/Fiery Embrace – The Brute version of this power had a 30 second duration on the Fire Damage buff. This was inconsistent with the Tanker and Scrapper versions and has been reduced to 20 seconds. Note with the changes above, this only applies in PVP.
Dark Armor/Aura of Fear – The Brute version of this power has a magnitude was set to 3. This was inconsistent with the Tanker and Scrapper versions and has been reduced to 2.
Decreased Brute Damage Cap from 850% to 775%.
Modified the Brute Fury Formula so that there is a more gradual degradation of Fury Build Up while attacking/being attacked instead of a sharp fall off at 80%. The fall off begins at 30%.
Reduced Fury Decay Rate from 2 points per second to 0.75 points per second.
The overall result of these two changes to Fury Generation is that it will be easier to maintain low levels of Fury, while gaining very high levels of Fury will be more difficult.
Fixed a bug which prevented bonus Fury generation when attacking other players or very difficult targets such as Archvillains. The bonus is a flat 5 points per qualifying target hit by the attack, up to 70% Fury. Note that unlike standard Fury generation, this bonus only applies if the attack hits the target.

Controllers

Fixed an issue with Controller Kinetics Siphon Power which caused it to spam the Combat Log. It now matches other versions of the power and will only report the initial hit.

Defenders

Added continuing FX to Defender version of Hail of Bullets while using Toxic ammunition to match other versions of the power

Dominators

Corrected an issue which prevented Dominators with the Primal Forces APP from taking the final 3 powers.
Changed display name of Fiery Embrace for Dominators to Embrace of Fire

Scrappers

Scrappers will no longer "Drift" more than other AT's when coming to a stop while Flying or Hovering.

Stalkers

Stalkers will no longer "Drift" more than other AT's when coming to a stop while Flying or Hovering.
Stalker Offensive Toggle powers will now affect no targets while the Stalker is Hidden. As soon as the Stalker becomes unhidden, the toggle will begin to affect targets as normal. This means these toggles can be run while in Hide and they will not break the Hide state, because they will not hit anything until Hide is broken by some other event.
- Includes Dark Armor/Cloak of Fear, Dark Armor/Oppressive Gloom, and Energy Aura/Repulse.
Broadsword/Head Splitter now correctly accepts Melee AoE IO Sets instead of Melee Damage IO Sets.

Tankers

Added Bruising effect to Tanker Secondary Tier 1 powers. Bruising is a 20% resistible damage resistance debuff which lasts for 10 seconds. Note: only one application of this effect on a given target is possible at a time.
Increased Tanker Maximum Health multiplier from 2 to 2.2. At level 50, this means a Tanker's maximum health when buffed increases from 3213 to 3534.

General

Archery/Trick Arrow (All) - Cast Time and Animation Changes
- Explosive Arrow cast time reduced from 1.83s to 1.00s
- Stunning Shot cast time reduced from 1.83s to 1.00s
- Flash Arrow cast time reduced from 1.83s to 1.00s
- Ice Arrow cast time reduced from 1.83s to 1.67s
Archery/Trick Arrow (All) - Improved the lighting reliability of Oil Slick Arrow.
Traps (All) - Corrected an error with the animations for Triage Beacon, Poison Trap and Acid Mortar. The result of this is the reported animation time has been increased from 2.17 seconds to 2.77 seconds. The *actual* animation time has been reduced from 2.83 seconds to 2.77 seconds.
Power Pools/Fitness/Health – Fixed a bug that made this power selectable at level 12 instead of level 14.
Purchasable Raptor Packs are no longer usable on 'Master of' attempts
To reduce the travel times involved in larger zones, we've made a couple QOL changes to some movement powers:
- Increased base Flight Speeds by 50%
- Sprint now improves Runspeed by an additional unenhancable portion equal to its previous value (0.5 scale enhancable + 0.5 scale unenhanceable buff)
Changed Cast Time for Enforced Morale and Clear Mind to 1.00 seconds to match the new animation

PVP

Corruptor Trick Arrows, Entangling Arrow, and Freezing Arrow PVP durations set to the correct value.
Widow Indomitable Will immobilize protection will no longer suppress in PVP.
Ancillary version of Telekinesis now behaves the same in PVP as non-ancillary versions.
Tanker and Scrapper versions of Fiery Embrace were set to cause Travel Suppression in PVP, while Brute and Dominator versions were not. The Tanker and Scrapper versions have had the Travel Suppression flag removed.
Teleportation Resistance is no longer subject to Diminishing Returns in PVP.

Mission Architect

Introducing: the Designated Helper

We are removing the reduction to rewards based on the number of allied NPCs in a mission, since that had undesirable side effects and limited legitimate story telling options.
Instead, a team can only get assistance in the form of buffs and debuffs (and Autopowers) from a single ally in the amission. That ally becomes “The Designated Helper”.
There can only be one Designated Helper in a map.
If there are multiple candidates for Helper, the FIRST eligible ally the team encounters that uses its powers will become the Designated Helper.
In order for an entity to be a candidate for Designated Helper, the following rules need to be true:
- The candidate must Follow the player:
  - Added via choosing an Advanced Mission Goal of:
    - Add an Ally
    - Add An Escort
    - NOTE: If the Author chooses “Release a Captive,” the Captive will not follow players and is not a candidate for Designated Helper.
  - The candidate must have the “Follow “ behavior set in the goal Settings
    - Ally: “Ally Behavior” is “Follow”
    - Escort: “Arrival Behavior” is “Follow”
- The candidate must have its combat abilities set to either:
  - Aggressive
  - Fight Defensive
- The ally becomes the Designated Helper once it USES its powers, and Defensive allies only use powers defensively, so if the team meets an Aggressive ally before the Defensive ally uses its powers, the Defensive entity will NOT become the Designated Helper.
- It is possible for the team to end up with a Designated Helper with no buff/debuff powers if the first candidate the player meets does not have Buff/Debuff powers but is set to Aggressive or Fight Defensive.
- NOTE: Allies with combat abilities set to “Non Combat” or “Pacifist” will not be the Designated Helper
- No other allies in the map will use their buff/debuff abilities. They also won’t use any Autopowers, summon any pets or use location-based attacks (like Rain of Fire) or chaining attacks (like Chain Induction).
  - Including any friendly bosses, patrols, ambushes, etc.
  - Including any Designated Helper candidates after the first
If the author adds more than one buffing ally to the map, and sets those allies to follow the team, after the first ally they will not use their buffing powers. They will still follow the team so goals can be completed and will use offensive powers to attack enemies, but only one ally will use their non-offensive abilities. If the non-DH allies do not have offensive capabilities, they will not do anything other than follow, much like a non-combat escort/ally.

General

Players can now fight Doppelganger versions of themselves. This can be found in the Boss Enemy Group "Doppelganger". Players can mix and match to create different types of doppelgangers. The following choices are available:
- Shadow
- Demon
- Reverse
- Random Powers
- Ghost
- Inverse
- Angel
- Black and White
Custom Critters - fixed several small errors in the amount of XP weight certain powers were awarding in the custom XP calculations.
Alignment Tips will not drop in missions from Architect Entertainment.

Invention

Smoothed the INF cost to create Set IOs across various levels. Previous instances where a recipe cost more to create than a recipe of the same enhancement at higher level have been corrected by reducing the outlying costs. All Set IO creation costs should only now increase with level.

Arena

Fixed a bug where rated Gladiator matches could not be started.
Fixed a bug that caused the Swiss Draw Arena option to be unselectable.
Fixed the bug where the Arena scoreboard didn't update while open during an Arena match.

Tailor

Characters will no longer be granted additional costume slots if they already have 5 or more.
- You can no longer switch to any costume beyond the first 5.
- Soldiers of Arachnos and widows are still able to unlock a 6th slot.

Combat Mode Auras

Players now have the ability to set all Auras to “Combat Mode”.
- Combat Mode Only versions of all auras have been added to the Tailor and Facemaker. These auras will only turn on when your character engages in combat. They are selectable from Aura -> Effect menu. (Note: The option for persistent Auras (always on) is still available.)
Pocket D – The Tiki Room - Trina the Body Sculptress has looked into a mirror and didn't like what she saw. She's undergone a fabulous makeover.

TASKS

Cathedral of Pain

Issue 18: Shades of Gray reintroduces the long-awaited Cathedral of Pain Trial. The Cathedral of Pain is the name of one of the strongholds of Rularuu the Ravager, a cosmic entity with unimaginable powers. Inside the heavily defended Cathedral of Pain, Rularuu is attempting to pierce the barrier between his realm and our reality. If he succeeds, Rularuu gains ultimate power, and our dimension will be obliterated.
Only you and your allies can stop Rularuu.
The Cathedral of Pain is one of the most challenging trials in City of Heroes. Up to 24 Level 35 to 50 characters can work together to take down the Soldiers of Rularuu, Psionic Resonators, and ultimately an aspect of Rularuu himself. You have only one hour to complete your mission.
If your group manages to stop Rularuu's insane scheme, your courage will be rewarded! You can earn Merit Rewards, or even earn a rare badge to celebrate this epic victory. But be on guard--Rularuu will return.
- The Cathedral of Pain is available to Supergroups equipped with a Mission Computer or an Oracle and a Raid Telepad or Raid Portal for play.
- This Trial is balanced for 3 teams of level 50 players, though players as low as level 35 can participate.
- Each Team Leader must be in the hosting Supergroup, but the remaining team members may be visitors, so long as your base is set to allow them.
- Rewards for completing the Cathedral successfully include Temporary Powers and badges.

General

Police Band missions and Newspaper missions are available to players regardless of alignment. So Rogues can pick up Police Band missions and Vigilantes can pick up Newspaper missions.
- Mayhem/Safeguard missions will grant new contacts to Tourists, even though they cannot talk to those contacts yet.
Rogues can participate in Task Forces
Vigilantes can participate in Strike Forces.

OPTIONS

Alienware Lighting Support

There is a new AlienFX section under Menu -> Options -> Graphics and Audio.
AlienFX support is defaulted to “on” so any player with the AlienFX Command Center and appropriate hardware will instantly see color changes.
- In City of Heroes / City of Villains, the lights will change as a player’s character changes their alignment from Hero to Vigilante to Villain to Rogue.
- In Praetoria the lights will change as players make moral choices between Resistance or Loyalist.

Razer Naga Mouse Tray

An extra custom power tray can be enabled under Menu -> Options -> Controls -> Mouse
This tray is set up to match the layout of the Razer Naga(TM) Expert MMO Gaming Mouse with 11 and 12 used to toggle between trays.
- When this power tray is active, it becomes the default, #, followed by the lowest tray for alt+#

CITY OF HEROES

Tasks

Steel Canyon – Montague Castanella: During the “Craft Lost cure” mission, the temp power ‘The Lost Cure’ will continue to work if temp powers are disabled in the mission, making it able to be completed..
Tina Macintyre's missions that involve Praetorians have been updated, story-wise, to make more sense to characters with more knowledge of Praetoria and its politics. The old Story Arc (The Praetorian War) is accessible through Ouroboros.
Maria Jenkin’s missions have received the same treatment. The old Story Arc (A Hero’s Hero) is accessible through Ouroboros.

PRAETORIA

Welcome to Praetoria, the dark mirror version of Primal Earth. Its reflection is one of a utopia where there is little to no crime and to look down upon the city from on high, you would believe it to be a peaceful, happy place. Marcus Cole, the Emperor of Praetorian Earth is looked upon as a savior, but others know there's more to the story that isn't written in the history books. Most citizens of Praetorian Earth respect him or even love him. Some who know the truth fear him, and fewer still dare to stand against the lies. No matter what he is called in the halls of power or history books, no one can stop the hushed whispers in the streets and back alleys of his empire where he is called by another name...Tyrant.

ZONES

Nova Praetoria

Level Range 1 to 10
Access to Nova Praetoria:
- Players arrive in Nova Praetoria following the tutorial. They will also start here when the tutorial is bypassed.
Significant Buildings:
- Cole Transport Authority (CTA)
  - Players travel between zones at the CTA subway system.
- Imperial Bank of Praetoria
  - Players are able to store salvage at the Imperial Bank
- Loyalist Lounge
  - This is the lounge for those most dear to Emperor Cole and his senators. Only the most trusted of his citizenry may venture here.
Significant Contacts
- Trainer
  - Praetor Duncan – Located in the Magisterium courtyard.
- Vendors
  - Vendor 56-925 and Merit Vendors are located in the Magesterium.
  - Vendors may also be found in the north and south ends of the island.
Mission Contacts
- Praetor White – Located in the Magesterium, this is the first contact for all members of the Powers Division (Resistance and Loyalist)
- Provost Marchand and Calvin Scott are your handlers as members of the Loyalists or Resistance.
- At level 5, Calvin Scott will lead you to Robert Flores; or Santiago, who directs you to meet Ricochet in the Underground. At this point you may choose the path of a Warden or Crusader.
- At level 5, Provost Marchand will offer you a choice between the Deputy Assistant of Information and Chief Interrogator Washington. This will start you down the paths of Power or Responsibility.

Underground – Nova Praetoria

Significant Locations
- Resistance Hub
Significant Contacts – All located in the Resistance Hub.
- Trainer
  - Vanessa DeVore
- Mission Contacts
  - Ricochet
  - Jack Hammer
- Splice

Imperial City

Level Range 9 to 15
Access to Imperial City:
- Players can reach this zone via the CTA subway system, the Underground, or by simply travelling towards the city seen in the distance from Nova Praetoria.
- In Pocket D, Praetorians can return to Imperial City’s Studio 55 where they can continue their party in their own dimension.
Significant Buildings:
- Cole Transport Authority (CTA)
  - Players travel between zones at the CTA subway system.
- Cultural Direction and Education Center (CDEC)
  - The CDEC is where all of Emperor Cole’s “propaganda” is created and distributed and where Praetorian citizens gather for higher learning and cultural wisdom. The CDEC is also where they are able to access invention tables to create all things for the glory of Cole.
- Imperial Bank of Praetoria
  - Players are able to store salvage at the Imperial Bank
- Studio 55
  - Studio 55 is the place to see and be seen.
- Trading House
  - The Trading House allows players to buy and sell in Praetoria..
Significant Contacts:
- Trainer
  - Nightstar – Located in front of the CTA Building (near People’s Park)
- Respec Trainer
  - John Snow – Located in Studio 55
- Tailor
  - Rita Mayfair – Located outside of the Tailor shop in Aureas
- Inventions
  - Relations Expert Verna Arcola - Invention Tutorial starting contact at Level 10.

Vista Zoning Tech

Your character can reach Imperial City by flying, running, teleporting, jumping, swimming or walking to it from any point along the border of the two zones.
- Expected behavior: Your character should appear at a similar location on the “opposite” side of the zone border. (For example, if your character crosses a bridge to Imperial City, the character should not appear in the water on the other side.).

Underground – Imperial City

Significant Locations
- Resistance Hub
Significant Contacts (Resistance Hub)
- Storage Assistant – you can store your salvage
- Marcus / Cerys – Resistance who have secretly tapped into the Trading House pipeline.
- Tailor – Tailor 4-5264

Neutropolis

Level Range 16 to 20
Access to Neutropolis:
- Players can reach this zone via the CTA subway system or by simply travelling towards the city seen in the distance to the west of Imperial City.
Significant Buildings:
- Cole Transport Authority (CTA)
  - Players travel between zones at the CTA subway system.
- Neuron Technologies Unlimited
  - The headquarters of Neuron is quite something to behold. He has money and lots of it and it has not gone to waste here. His building is the second tallest in Praetoria, the shiniest, and is the center of technological innovation in Praetoria.
- Keyes Reactor
  - The source of the city's power, this island is devoted solely to supporting the reactor and everyone who works there.
  - The most notable feature of the anti-matter reactor are the cooling towers. Nearly ten stories in height, these high-tech marvels bear the singular design aesthetic common to all of Anti-Matter's structures. At the base of the towers are the industrial installations essential to the reactor's functioning: platforms sandwiched atop each other, threaded with pipes and conduits, while catwalks connect to other ancillary structures.
- Imperial Bank of Praetoria
  - Players are able to store salvage at the Imperial Bank
Significant Contacts can be found beneath Neuron’s Tower
- Trainer
  - Battle Maiden
- Vendors:
  - Vendors 36-287
  - Merit Vendors

New Villain Groups

Ghouls
Praetorian Police Department
Praetorian Clockwork
Resistance
Seers
Syndicate
Destroyers

Critter Leashing

All spawns in Nova Praetoria, Imperial City and Neutropolis will now ‘leash’ to their spawn locations after 210ft, when engaged in combat.
- Enemies which leash to their location will cease attacking players, will return to full health and endurance, and will become untargetable and unselectable while returning to the vicinity of their spawn location.
- Leashed spawns cannot be re-engaged until they have reached their spawn area, at which point they will become targetable and selectable again.
- Leashing is used in these three zones only and in no other zones.

Invention

The Backup Radio Invention Temporary Power summons a Resistance Veteran for Resistance Members and a Praetorian PD Sergeant for Loyalists."

So what are ya waiting for!?! Get in there and fight!

FYI

2010-07-28T20:59:00.001-05:00

I have re-activated my account, at least for a while. I needed a reality trip.

Max Capacitor electric tanker

City of Heroes Going Rogue Soundtrack

2010-07-12T17:57:00.003-05:00

Here's something odd... Paragon Studios has released an offical soundtrack to the upcoming expansion. All of the tracks are available through Amazon for $.99 each or the entire album for $8.99!
Head on over for a load of samples to listen to!

Issue 18 : Shades of Gray

2010-07-08T15:19:00.003-05:00

As per this page:
"The eighteenth free expansion for City of Heroes® introduces major new game upgrades and is the milestone for the release of the content in the City of Heroes Going Rogue™ expansion.

Tips System

The Tips System gives players a new way to find missions. During play, foes Level 20 or higher may drop notes or clues, or offer information. These Tips start new mission arcs, allowing characters to face new opponents and challenges--and perhaps even change their destiny.

One Auction House for All

Players of all alignments, whether they are Heroes, Villains, Vigilantes, or Rogues, can now use any Wentworth's Consignment House or Black Market venue.

Trading Between Alignments

Heroes and Villains can now trade Inspirations in co-op zones. Players can even mail certain items to their own characters using the global email system.

Mission Architect Additions

With the inclusion of doppelgangers, your character can now fight against himself or herself!

New Hardware Support

City of Heroes now supports Alienware AlienFX®.

Cathedral of Pain

Issue 18: Shades of Gray reintroduces the long-awaited Cathedral of Pain Trial. The Cathedral of Pain is the name of one of the strongholds of Ruularu the Ravager, a cosmic entity with unimaginable powers. Inside the heavily defended Cathedral of Pain, Ruularu is attempting to pierce the barrier between his realm and our reality. If he succeeds, Ruularu gains ultimate power, and our dimension will be obliterated.

Only you and your allies can stop Ruularu.

The Cathedral of Pain is one of the most challenging trials in City of Heroes. Up to 24 Level 50 characters can work together to take down the Soldiers of Ruularu, Psionic Resonators, and ultimately an aspect of Ruularu himself. You have only one hour to complete your mission.

If your group manages to stop Ruularu's insane scheme, your courage will be rewarded! You can earn Merit Rewards, or even earn a rare badge to celebrate this epic victory. But be on guard--Ruularu will return."

The page noted also has more screenshots of the next issue and Going Rogue to check out.

Whats up Guys?

2010-07-01T13:10:00.001-05:00

Do You guys still play regularly?

I am considering Re-upping.

Super Booster V: Mutant now available!

2010-06-25T03:49:00.002-05:00

"Harness the powers of mutation in City of Heroes® Super Booster V: Mutant now available at the NCsoft® store. This new super booster evolves character customization to a higher order with its fantastic Organic Armor and Bioluminescent costume sets.

For the first time ever, costume pieces can also have their own unique glows! Super Booster V: Mutant also comes with three bizarre costume change emotes and the new Secondary Mutation power, which unlocks the incredible potential within your character's DNA!

After much excitement generated by the testing of Super Booster V: Mutant on the North American Training Room, our European and North American code giveaway as well as the posting of the new costume change emotes on our Facebook page, the wait is now over! So wait no more and head over to the NCsoft store now to embrace the mutant within!"

Not my favorite out of the packs, but playing around with it on test has shown it's uses. The power is quite useful though.

Going Rogue Releae Date Revealed

2010-06-22T13:51:00.002-05:00

As per this posting:

NCsoft and Paragon Studios are proud to announce that players will have the opportunity to walk the line between good and evil (or cross it), on 17th August 2010 with the release of City of Heroes Going Rogue™. City of Heroes Going Rogue is the second paid expansion in the City of Heroes® franchise. For the first time in any super-powered MMORPG, the moral choices players make will affect their characters' game play experiences. Heroes can fall from grace to become villains, while villains can redeem themselves to become Heroes. In addition, players can now access the alternate universe of Praetoria where they can enjoy new missions, zones, costume sets, fight new villain groups, and play with new power sets including Demon Summoning, Dual Pistols, Electric Control and Kinetic Melee.

"I was proud when we launched City of Heroes® back in 2004 and even prouder when we unveiled the City of Villains® expansion in 2005, but Going Rogue is by far the best work that this team has ever done. Paragon Studios has distinguished itself as a premier studio committed to excellence with every issue and we've raised the bar on this expansion. I'm so honored to be a part of this team and I believe that our players will be absolutely amazed when they see what we've done." - Melissa Bianco, Lead Designer of City of Heroes.

City of Heroes Going Rogue will be available as an expansion-only, or as part of the City of Heroes Going Rogue Complete Collection, which includes both City of Heroes® and City of Villains®. Both versions of City of Heroes Going Rogue will be available from the NCsoft store.

It's Offical... Hell Has Frozen over.

2010-06-22T13:43:00.001-05:00

As per this posting:

"Hey everyone,

I know you’ve been asking for some new Going Rogue information, and I’ve got some exciting news that I’d like to share with all of you.

Here at Paragon Studios, we’ve been hard at work preparing our newest expansion, Going Rogue, for prime time. One of our major features, the alignment system that allows our players to switch sides, has presented the perfect opportunity for us to improve Hero and Villain auction and trading dynamics. In order to make the alignment switching system the most fun and rewarding experience possible, we’ve made a few key improvements based on beta tester and internal studio feedback.

Here’s a brief list of these upgrades:

Heroes and Villains can now trade and gift each other in Co-Op zones (except in PvP zones)
Players can Global Email (GleeMail) INF and most items to their characters regardless of alignment (some restrictions apply)
The Auction House markets for Heroes and Villains will become ONE

Wait. What?

Yes. You heard me, we’re merging the markets. After looking at how the system has performed in beta, we thought long and hard about the Markets themselves. This important improvement seemed to make everything more accessible and streamlined, allowing every character to participate. Keeping the markets divided would require significant on-going development support, and we needed to take this into consideration. But, most importantly we wanted to produce the most fun system possible, and this decision reflects that.

These changes are very exciting and will simplify not only the way we create content, but provide freedom for you to play your characters the way you choose.

War Witch

P.S. An informative FAQ is available for questions you may have regarding these major changes. "

Thor's Movie Suit - Full Monty

2010-06-03T15:04:00.002-05:00

The First Avenger: Captain America Movie Costume

2010-06-02T14:32:00.004-05:00

As per Ain't It Cool News... a pretty reliable source.

ViDoc #1: Prelude to Going Rogue

2010-06-02T10:01:00.000-05:00

The Cape

2010-05-18T15:12:00.000-05:00

I haven't heard anything about this, But it looks pretty good

2010-05-10T21:55:00.000-05:00

Thought You might get a kick out of this.

God of Thunder?

2010-04-30T11:39:00.005-05:00

First Look at Thor for next years movie.

City of Heroes 6 Year Anniversary

2010-04-22T04:34:00.004-05:00

As per this posting:

"It's that time of year again...for heroes and villains to reflect and rejoice!

We're turning six years old and want you to help us celebrate.

With Issue 17 on the way and Going Rogue™ just around the corner, the phrase: You're not getting older, you're just getting better has never been so true.
So many of you have been with us from the very beginning, and while we could never do enough to truly show you our gratitude and appreciation, we do have some fun activities planned to help us ring in our anniversary with style!

Please join us for a month of celebration starting on our birthday, April 28th and continuing on throughout the month of May.

Read on and plan accordingly so you don't miss any of the fun!

Issue 17: Dark Mirror
We'll start with the biggest news first. In honor of our Six Year Anniversary we are proud to announce that Issue 17: Dark Mirror will officially release on our birthday, April 28th!
The amazing visuals made possible by Ultra Mode plus new story arcs, player emotes, numerous Mission Architect additions, the introduction of animated tails and much more will hit the live servers for your enjoyment next Wednesday.

As part of this release you will be receiving:

1 Free Respec (so use up your current one if you still have it to make room for this one!)
1 Costume Token per unlocked costume slot.

So on anniversary day, see City of Heroes® in a whole new light (literally) and help us celebrate by playing and enjoying this latest free content update!

In-Game Events
Gameplay Fun!
You may have noticed that things tend to get a little... "out of hand" in-game on our anniversaries. Well, this year will be no exception! On Monday, April 26th and Tuesday, April 27th, get ready for chaos to break loose on a server near you! Don't miss out on this opportunity to band together with your fellow players to defeat giant obstacles, earn merits, badges, XP and maybe even pick up a 30 day anniversary title!
*Click here for the list of days, servers and times!

In-Game Training Room Meet and Greet with the Devs!
The developers want to wish you happy anniversary personally on Wednesday the 28th, so please join us at the following times in Pocket D on the North American and European Training Rooms:

*EU Training Room - 9am - 1pm PST, Wednesday, April 28th

9-10am PST (12-1pm EST / 5-6pm British Time / 18:00-19:00 Central European Summer Time) - Melissa "War Witch" Bianco, Sean "Dr. Aeon" McCann
10am- 12:00pm PST (1-3pm EST / 6-8pm British Time / 19:00-21:00 Central European Summer Time) - Matt "Positron" Miller
10am-11am PST (1-2pm EST / 6-7pm British Time / 19:00-20:00 Central European Summer Time) - Floyd "Castle" Grub
11am-12pm PST (2-3pm EST / 7-8pm British Time / 20:00-21:00 Central European Summer Time) - Matt "The Television" Stults
12pm-1pm PST (3-4pm EST / 8-9pm British Time / 21:00-22:00 Central European Summer Time) - Chris "Back Alley Brawler" Bruce, Jesse "Ghost Falcon" Caceres

*NA Training Room - 3pm - 7pm PST, Wednesday, April 28th

3-4pm PST(6-7pm EST) - Melissa "War Witch" Bianco, Sean "Dr. Aeon" McCann
4pm- 6pm PST (6-8pm EST) - Matt "Positron" Miller
4pm-5pm PST (7-8pm EST) - Jesse "Ghost Falcon" Caceres
5pm-6pm PST (8-9pm EST) - Floyd "Castle" Grub
6pm-7pm PST (9-10pm EST) - Chris "Back Alley Brawler" Bruce, Matt "The Television" Stults

*In some cases (and depending on availability), certain Devs may stay beyond their scheduled 'appearance' times.

If you don't currently have a copy of your character on The Training Room, make sure to transfer him/her there so that you can pay the Devs a visit! Go here to transfer your character now.

*Please note: Due to the content release on this day, if any problems with Issue 17 arise that require Dev attention, we reserve the right to reschedule the North American Training Room In-game "Meet and Greet" Event to another day/time.

Global Anniversary Address From War Witch
This year, the baton has been passed to War Witch who will present the 6 Year Anniversary Address to players. At approximately 8pm EST in-game (and shortly thereafter on the website), she will share some words of wisdom that will no doubt reflect on the past and help us all look forward to the future!

Declare Your Loyalty Anniversary Contest!
Leave your mark on Praetoria forever! Be watching the website within the next week for the debut of our "Declare Your Loyalty" Anniversary Contest which will allow Loyalists to create a piece of propaganda for a billboard in Praetoria and Resistance supporters to create a piece of graffiti that will appear around the city. The best thing about this contest? Winning entries in both categories will all be considered for inclusion in the game! There will be other great prizes too, of course!

Specifics are coming soon, but you only have three weeks to enter, start thinking creatively now about the piece of propaganda or graffiti that you want to submit. With any luck it will become a part of City of Heroes® for the rest of time!

Player Run Activities/Events
We're pleased to share that our players are getting involved by throwing their own anniversary-related activities and events. Keep an eye on the website and message board for what the "Off The Cape" Podcast and thecaperadio.com are up to for our six year anniversary. If you're planning on doing something for your fellow heroes/villains to mark the occasion, let us know! Send an email to cohcommunity@ncsoft.com and we'll help you promote it!

6 Year Anniversary Badge
Another year means another commemorative badge!

Beginning at 11am EST on Saturday, May 1st, 2010 and continuing until 11:59pm EST on Monday, May 31st, we will be issuing each individual character you log into the game with, the following 6 Year Anniversary badge:

Just a reminder - this badge will be awarded per character, not per account, so be sure to log those characters into the game starting next Saturday, May 1st, if you want them to get the anniversary badge!

It all starts this coming Monday the 26th and we hope you'll join us celebrate the fact that we're six years and going strong!

Thanks for helping us make City of Heroes® the longest-running and most popular comic book-inspired MMO in existence.

Happy Anniversary!"

Issue 17 in Open Beta

2010-04-15T12:20:00.001-05:00

As per This post:

"The Open Beta for Issue 17: Dark Mirror has now started!

Experience the many thrills coming with the next city of Heroes® content update before it hits the live servers. Crank up the graphics with Ultra Mode, experience brand new story arcs, revisit your characters thanks to even more costume options, and more!

To check out the Open Beta, all you need to do is log into the North American or European Training Room! If you are not familiar with the process to access the test server, please read this post for our North American players or this one for our European players.

Also please keep in mind that this is a beta version, which means you might encounter bugs or other gameplay issues. We strongly encourage you to report them using the /bug command ingame, and we'll be happy to collect any comments you might want to share with us on our official boards. Your feedback is as always very valuable to us!"

Hermione's Stalker

2010-04-03T04:17:00.001-05:00

PAX Going Rogue Info

2010-03-27T22:54:00.004-05:00

Updated with better quality video:

Iron Man 2 = BAD ASS!

2010-03-08T16:01:00.000-06:00

Okay, now I am officially psyched up for this!

New Going Rogue Website & Pre-Purchase!

2010-03-02T14:23:00.003-06:00

As per this post:

In honor of the expansion coming this July, we're happy to unveil a brand new Going Rogue website!

Along with its new look comes Dual Pistols information (including screenshots and a video), details on new enemy groups like the Praetorian Police Department (PPD) and Resistance, plus a lot more. Check it out for yourself and enjoy!

And this one:

The prepurchase option for City of Heroes® Going Rogue has arrived! Whether your first instinct will be to create a Praetorian, or turn Rogue or Vigilante with one of your existing characters, by prepurchasing for $29.99 you'll be ready on launch day to check out all the new content Going Rogue has to offer.

But there are also special advantages to prepurchasing! When you prepurchase Going Rogue you'll get early access to both the Dual Pistols and the Demon Summoning power sets. Dual Pistols will be available immediately upon prepurchase, and Demon Summoning will come shortly thereafter with the launch of Issue 17. And let's not forget about the City of Heroes® Double XP/Reactivation Weekend March 4th-7th. If you act right away, you can wield Dual Pistols as you rack up all that extra XP, Influence and Infamy!

So go take a look at the new and improved Going Rogue website and prepurchase your copy of Going Rogue today!

Issue 17 Overview

2010-02-23T15:06:00.001-06:00

As per this updated page:

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

With the release of April's Issue 17: Dark Mirror, the newest free update of City of Heroes®, the game you love now has the visual depth, contrast, and richness it deserves! Dark Mirror includes a superior graphics rendering process, dubbed "Ultra Mode," that gives City of Heroes a heightened level of detail in lighting, reflections, shadows, and water effects. Paragon City™ and the Rogue Isles™ have never looked better.

In addition to Ultra Mode, as part of Issue 17, you will confront a new and nefarious foe who will be able to match your character blow for blow.

Other Issue 17: Dark Mirror features include:

Epic archetypes are now unlocked at level 20.
Animated character tails.
New missions, new badges, and new player emotes.
Quality of life enhancements to the UI and game systems.
Improvements and additions to Mission Architect.

Features

Ultra Mode

Ultra Mode includes a superior graphics rendering process for players who have higher-end graphic cards. Each feature can be enabled or disabled in the graphics menu options and will be scalable. Ultra Mode works on both Macs and PCs. In specific, it offers dynamic shadows, screen-space ambient occlusion, and dynamic environment reflections (including planar reflections and environment mapping of reflective surfaces).

Epic Archetypes Unlocked at Level 20

Previously, you had to have at least one character at level 50 to make an epic archetype character. No more! Now you can create an epic archetype character as long as you have any one character at level 20 or higher.

Animated Tails

No more tails lying about like dead weight! You will now be able to select tail body parts that will react to your movement and have a swaying or swishing idle animation mode. You will need to go to a tailor to upgrade to the animated version.

Content

New Story Arcs: Issue 17: Dark Mirror features two new Hero and two new Villain story arcs for levels 20-30. Each of these story arcs has four missions, and the story arcs highlight the Dark Mirror's sinister new enemy. Acquire first Hero story arc in Talos Island, and the first Villain arc in Sharkhead Isle.

Silver Mantis Strike Force Update: The Silver Mantis Strike Force will now be available to all Villains, not just supergroups. You now can access the Silver Mantis Strike Force via Silver Mantis, located in Sharkhead Isle. You can also run this Task Force from your supergroup computer.

Positron Task Force Update: This Task Force has been split into two halves and dramatically upgraded and updated to ramp up the fun. The final battle of the Task Force takes place in the Faultline Dam and incorporates the new Dark Mirror enemy.

New Badges: Along with adding badges for 500 Badges Earned, 750 Badges Earned, and 1,000 Badges Earned, we are adding new exploration badges to city zones, almost doubling the number of exploration badges. You can learn new Accolades for finding all of the exploration badges in each city zone.

New Player Emotes: We'll let you know more about the new emotes soon.

Quality of Life Improvements

Craftable Temporary Powers: You will now have a much cleaner and more consistent way of finding and crafting temporary powers.

Increased Mission Count: You can now have seven active missions (previously three).

Show Last Objective: This UI improvement lets you find your last objective on a mission map, making it easier to find something you've missed.

Auction House: The UI gives you new options for sorting search results, your Auction House inventory is now separated by clearly marked tabs based on the item's status, the Auction House text entry box now autocompletes, and a single click on a recipe displays all salvage needed for that recipe.

In-Game E-mail: You can now use in-game e-mails to send Influence/Infamy to your own characters or to other players' characters via in-game e-mails. (You still cannot send Influence, Infamy, or items from a Hero to a Villain or vice versa.)

Mission Architect Improvements

Experience: You can now handpick the powers for custom enemies and still receive experience for them (within game balance limits).

New Maps: We have added approximately 20 new unique maps.

Giant Monsters: You can now add giant monsters to some outdoor maps.

Exit Mission on Complete: You can now specify that players have to leave the mission manually on completion.

Escort Missions: "Lead to place" technology allows you more control over escort objectives."

Going Rogue Pre-PURCHASE Details

2010-02-19T04:47:00.001-06:00

As per this post:

"There have been a lot of questions about the City of Heroes® Going Rogue prepurchase program, the Complete Collection and the Item Pack. We’d like to take a moment and try to clarify this for all of you.

There are two different ways to get the City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion: as a separate expansion, or as part of the Complete Collection.

The separate City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion costs $29.99 (€19.99 / £17.99) and requires you to already have City of Heroes. The separate expansion doesn’t include game time, so you must be an active subscriber to play. The separate expansion does not include the Complete Collection Item Pack. The separate expansion will only be available digitally, and will be available for prepurchase starting in March (see below for more information on what you get from prepurchasing this separate expansion).

The City of Heroes Going Rogue: Complete Collection costs $39.99 (€29.99 / £26.99) and includes City of Heroes Going Rogue as well as City of Heroes, City of Villains, 30 days of game time, and the Complete Collection Item Pack. With the game time and previous expansions included, it is ideal for those who are new to City of Heroes franchise (perhaps as a gift!), but also a good value for players not interested in prepurchasing. The Complete Collection will be available both digitally and at retail (in North America) starting in July and cannot be prepurchased (only the separate expansion can be prepurchased).

Starting at launch in July, players who prepurchased or bought just the separate City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion will be able to upgrade to the Complete Collection. The upgrade will include the Complete Collection Item Pack, but it won’t include any game time.

Prepurchase

Only the separate City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion will be available for prepurchase. The Complete Collection will not be available for prepurchase, nor are there any incentives for preordering it at retail.

Prepurchasing the separate City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion will give you early access to the Dual Pistols and Demon Summoning power sets. Dual Pistols will be available immediately once the prepurchase program starts in early March. Demon Summoning will become available starting in April. You will get both power sets early if you prepurchase.

Complete Collection Item Pack

For those who prepurchase the separate City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion, but also want the Complete Collection Item Pack, starting on launch day in July, we will offer an upgrade to the Complete Collection. The upgrade will include the Complete Collection Item Pack but will not include any game time. The pricing for the upgrade hasn’t been set yet.

We hope this clears the majority of your questions up"

Aion

2010-02-16T00:43:00.003-06:00

Well guys, I have tried Aion and I have to say I do enjoy. It seems like a perfect blend. Graphically it destroys WoW and has the beauty of the Final Fantasy games. Story wise it could use some work, but over all much better than a lot of games out there.

I just reached level 10. So far that looks to be when you get your "wings" literally. The weapons are customizable and the character creation screen is great. It is missing some features such as costume design, but it really does not hurt the game. What features it does have would be great if CoH would use them. Things like changing the size of hands and feet, arms and legs....even the size of the neck.

Check it out. Aion Forums

Double XP and Re-activation Weekend!

2010-02-11T04:46:00.002-06:00

"Get excited because one of your favorite times of the year is quickly approaching - Double XP Weekend! All the fun begins on March 4th!

What is a Double Experience Weekend? It's a three day stretch of time during which all participating Hero and Villain characters receive double the XP, Influence, and Infamy for their accomplishments in game. All you have to do is log in and take advantage of this opportunity to level up your favorite characters twice as quickly as normal! And if you pre-purchase Going Rogue, you'll be able to take advantage of all that Double XP has to offer while wielding the Dual Pistols power set!

But it doesn't end there. We're also having an Account Reactivation at the same time! This means that all inactive accounts in good standing will be re-activated free of charge and given access to City of Heroes and City of Villains® during Double XP weekend! So grab your friends and loved ones and get them back into the game so that you can play and rack-up the phat loot together!

If you or any of your friends haven't played in a while, visit the City of Heroes Website for all the latest game news. Download the PC game client or the Mac game client, or visit our official message forums for a wealth of other information.

Double XP and Re-activation Weekend Start: Thursday, March 4th at 8:59am Pacific Time (11:59am Eastern Time / 8:59am GMT / 9:59 Central European Time)
Double XP and Re-activation Weekend End: Sunday, March 7th at 11:59pm Pacific (2:59am Eastern Time / 11:59pm GMT / 0:59 Central European Time)

Please note: if your account expires after the reactivation weekend has started, it will not get automatically reactivated. To participate in the Double XP Weekend, you will need to reactivate your account via the usual method. Please check our Knowledge Base (European Knowledge Base available here) for more information on how to reactivate your game account.

We hope you take advantage of all the advantages a Double XP/Reactivation Weekend has to offer! Enjoy and have fun...see you in-game on March 4th!"

Issue 17: Dark Mirror Announced

2010-02-09T10:55:00.006-06:00

Via MMORPG

"NCsoft has announced today that players can look forward to Issue 17, which has been titled "Dark Mirror," this April! Most players expected to find the new graphical updates featured in Going Rogue with the release of the upcoming expansion, however, it appears that the previously announced "Ultra Mode" will make it in with Issue 17!

Ultra Mode is an optional enhancement mode, enabling players that have the hardware to take advantage of the new bells and whistles to do so, without disturbing the game for those still running City of Heroes on their toasters. The mode will enhance the game with a "a new look and feel with a heightened level of detail in lighting, reflections, shadows and water effects."

Issue 17 will also introduce a "new and nefarious foe" that will be able to match players "blow for blow." (edit: Confirmed by War Witch not to be a Nemesis system) Given the Issue's title, I'm guessing it will be your doppelganger, but for now Paragon Studios isn't saying anything more than that.

A short rundown of the issues other features is available below:

* New badges, new missions and new player emotes
* Epic Archetypes now available at level 20
* Improvements and additions to Mission Architect
* Enhancements to UI and game systems
* And dozens more

Was all that not exciting enough? How about the fact that beginning on March 2nd, those who pre-order Going Rogue will receive early access to the expansion's two new powersets, Dual Pistols, and Demon Summoning in April?!

The Going Rogue "Complete Edition" has also been announced, featuring both City of Heroes & City of Villains, 30 days of game time, and the "Complete Collection Item Pack," which contains Alpha and Omega costume sets and auras, four stance emotes, and The Shadowy Presence invisibility power.

The Going Rogue beta will begin this Spring, with the expansion's full release expected in July."

Head over to the original article for some wicked screen shots!

Update!: The main site has been updated with more info HERE! Including pricing on both Going Rogue (MSRP $29.99) and the Going Rogue: Complete Collection (MSRP $39.99)! Woo-Hoo! Now I just need to find out where to and when to pre-order!

Sorry about all the red highlights... I'm just so excited! WHEEEE!!!!!

Aquaman's Lament

2010-02-08T16:55:00.001-06:00

Cobra: The Musical

2010-01-28T04:20:00.003-06:00

Part 1:

The rest of it are available on Youtube... enjoy!

Sweep the leg, Johnny

2010-01-24T09:46:00.000-06:00

A few Going Rogue tidbits!

2010-01-22T14:41:00.007-06:00

From left to right: Rogues, Resistance, Praetorian, and Vigilante icons.

And a screen shot!

I really hope the glowing costume parts are also available to players. They are wicked.

Electrik can't post vids

2010-01-22T01:20:00.001-06:00

Posted by Electrik

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvjDr8KKtsE

Sigh, here you go bro.... learn2interweb.

Say it!

2010-01-12T15:08:00.001-06:00

Damn blog, click the pic for better resolution!

Introducing Lily Ann Buckmaster

2010-01-06T21:33:00.004-06:00

Baby New Year

2010-01-05T11:45:00.001-06:00

Lily Ann Buckmaster was born on Jan 4 at 11:23 AM.
8 pounds 4 ounces 22 inches long
Mommy and Baby are doing fine

2009-12-31T05:29:00.002-06:00

Teen girl assassin movie + the banana splits

2009-12-23T20:08:00.002-06:00

It's AE... baby, yeah! /Mike Myers

2009-12-20T08:22:00.000-06:00

2009-12-16T01:40:00.001-06:00

Winter Event 2009

2009-12-15T15:25:00.002-06:00

As per this post

"The 2009 Winter Event has reached Paragon City™ and the Rogue Isles™ and there is much rejoicing to be had again this year! But don't fall into the trap and keep your senses alert as a new menace is also looming in the horizon threatening to bring the holidays to an abrupt end! Will you be able to defeat Lord Winter before he succeeds?

This year's Winter Event goodies include a new "throw snowflakes" emote and a character respec (both bought by candy cane salvage), and two new holiday badges--Festive and Lord of Winter/Lady of Winter! All the temporary powers, badges, and fuzzy earmuffs from last year are also back, bringing nostalgic cheer. Along with streets and rooftops loaded with Father Time's gifts, you'll still encounter snow beasts and Winter Lords, Father Time's mission, ski challenges, candy canes, and more in this fun-filled feast of holiday festiveness!

Starts: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 8:59 a.m. PST (11:59 a.m. EST / 4:59 p.m. GMT / 17:59 Central European Time)
Ends: Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. PST (2:59 a.m. EST / 11:59 p.m. GMT / 00:59 Central European Time)

Before you launch yourselves into the action, here are a few facts you should bear in mind to enjoy the 2009 Winter Event to its fullest:

If you are in Lord Winter's Realm and the event timer runs out, you will be returned to Atlas Park (Heroes) or Mercy Island (Villains) rather than the zone you originally entered from (unless you entered from a PvP zone).
The Winter Lord may not spawn in Mercy Island and Port Oakes.
The Winter Event does not run in the Co-operative or Hazard zones.
The Winter Lord will spawn in Bloody Bay, Siren's Call and Warburg but not in Recluse's Victory. Be careful though, since they are PvP zones, you may accidentally attack another player through the 'Tab' keyboard button or through your pets.
If your team gets split to two different maps of Lord Winter's Realm due to the zone cap, you can rejoin each other through Lord Winter's Realm Portal. Please note that the primary purpose of Lord Winter's Realm Portal is to allow split teams to rejoin one another.

Happy holidays to you all!"

What to give the guy who thinks he has everything?

2009-12-13T12:15:00.002-06:00

You show him something he's never seen... Happy birthday, little bro! To celebrate here's a "saturday morning" tv show pilot that is sure to give you many sleepless nights...

Kimba's Cave - watch more funny videos

I could have posted a birfday song vid, but this was crueler.

Happy Holidays... or not?

2009-12-11T15:51:00.000-06:00

(Fair warning... video not suitable for little ones)

Any way the wind blows...

2009-11-24T15:35:00.000-06:00

Super Booster IV: Martial Arts is out!

2009-11-12T14:29:00.002-06:00

As per this post...

"Get ready to channel your chi and embrace your inner shinobi! City of Heroes® Super Booster IV: Martial Arts is now available for $9.99 on the NCsoft® store.

Not only does Super Booster IV: Martial Arts offer you a stealthy new costume set, brazen emotes, and ninja-inspired costume change techniques, but you'll gain access to the exclusive Ninja Run travel power so you can dash through the city with the agility of a ninja! Use Ninja Run to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies as you increase your run speed and leaping abilities. What's the best part? It doesn't use one of your power selections!

This purchase enables these features for all characters on your game account from level 1, but the costume change emotes do require that you unlock at least one additional costume slot. This can be accomplished by completing costume slot missions at levels 20, 30, and 40; and by using Halloween Event salvage (which can also be bought, sold or traded via the in-game Consignment Houses).

Martial Arts themed costume set:

The Martial Arts themed male, female and huge costume parts include robes, shoulders, legs, gloves, footwear, mask, belt and head pieces, as well as new hair styles, chest emblems, and weapons. Male and huge characters also have the option to select the top knot hair style, while females will have the option for braided buns!

Character Emotes:

/em bringit
/em pushup

Costume Change Emotes:
Activate the following martial arts themed 'costume change emotes' using the costume change interface, selectable from the main Menu.

Smokebomb
Ninja Leap

Ninja Run power:
Dash through the city with the agility of a ninja! The Ninja Run power is a travel power enabled through the purchase of Super Booster IV: Martial Arts and is available for use at level 4. Use Ninja Run to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies as you increase your run speed and leaping abilities, and the best part? It doesn't use one of your power selections!

NOTE FOR ABOVE

By default characters only have one costume slot, and must unlock additional costume slots through activities in the game. This can be accomplished by completing costume slot missions at levels 20, 30, and 40; and by using Halloween Event salvage (which can also be bought, sold or traded via the in-game Consignment Houses)."

First off, worth it for the travel power alone... wicked awesome.
Secondly, this pack was tailor made (no pun intended), for my brother's perverse love of anything Mortal Combat-like.

City of Pedestrians

2009-11-04T17:02:00.002-06:00

This just in one the latest patch notes to the test server...

Walk Power - All characters will now have access to a new inherent power -- Walk! This toggle power enables characters to move at a comfortable walking pace.
The “Walk” power is an Inherent toggle power given to all characters at Level 2 (like Sprint).
Please Note that powers or jumping (i.e. pressing the Space Bar) cannot be used while walking.
This power is not intended for use in combat.

And no, it's not a joke.

The Cup of Tears

2009-10-27T15:39:00.001-05:00

Stand back, I've got this...

2009-10-21T13:54:00.000-05:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Believe it or Not!

2009-10-18T17:41:00.001-05:00

Halloween Event 2009

2009-10-14T14:23:00.007-05:00

"Brace yourself for the apocalypse as our annual Halloween Event returns to City of Heroes® !
Legions of Zombies, Werewolves, Jack-o-Lanterns, and other foul denizens are preparing to descend upon Paragon City™ and the Rogue Isles™. This year they're bringing even more powerful allies! The apocalypse is deadlier than ever as mysterious monstrosities are joining forces with the Eidolons, Shivans, and others. Paragon City and the Rogue Isles could be in terrible peril, and only the greatest Heroes and Villains can turn back the tide.
- Starts: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 8:59 a.m. PST (11:59 a.m. EST)
- Ends: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PST (2:59 a.m. EST)"

-Via e-mail

And now a word from our sponsors...

2009-10-12T14:51:00.001-05:00

Haven't heard from you guys in a while.....

2009-10-10T06:42:00.001-05:00

Hows everyone doing?

Ready for the holidays?

City of Heroes Halloween Event 2009

2009-10-03T05:09:00.003-05:00

So, the test server ran the new Halloween event yesterday... Expect the usual trick o' treats and zombies again this year. However, there has been a new event added into the mix...

"Heroes and Villains who enable the “Zone Event” Channel on their Chat Tab will be alerted to the new Deadly Apocalypse Event. (Noted as “Supernatural activity”.

Deadly Apocalypse Event

The fog has rolled in, the sky has darkened, and something is not right. A howling wolf sounds in the night and players are alerted, via Global Alert, that the event is happening in a City Zone (Trial Zones, Hazard Zones, PvP Zones, and Co-Op zones do not have the event running in those zones).

As the Halloween Deadly Apocalypse occurs in a zone, the sky changes to a different color.

If the Deadly Apocalypse Event is not already running in a zone, Costume salvage redemption at Annah / Granny Beldam has a chance to trigger the Deadly Apocalypse event across all viable zones
4 Haunting Banners (destructible objects) appear across a zone, but are surrounded by a magical barrier (they appear on the MiniMap)
Each Haunting Banner is protected by one of four Haunting Defenders/Ambushers who protect the magical barrier
There is a chance that Elite Bosses appear as Defenders, depending on the size of the group
Players must defeat Defenders (of each "type") before the magical barrier goes down and they can attack the Banner itself
If all 4 Haunting Banners are destroyed before the timer runs out, an Aspect of the Sigil (Giant Monster) appears
If all 4 Haunting Banners are not destroyed before the timer runs out, the Aspect of the Sigil does NOT spawn and the event cleans itself up
If either condition is fulfilled, the event cleans itself up

NOTE:

Players who are within 250 feet of a Banner will have their User Interface (UI) taken over by the Event UI which shows the timer and their status
If players travel outside of the radius of the Banner, the UI goes away
UI displays a progress bar which shows how close they are to defeating the themed type of mob
The status of each Haunting Banner is represented by an Icon in the Event UI. When all Banners appear in the zone, they are shown in the Event UI. Once a particular Banner is defeated (i.e. Transparent Terrors), its representative icon is “blacked out”.
The Red Progress bar indicates how close the player is to bringing the Banner to “vulnerability”. As blue creeps in and takes over, that shows the player is making progress towards making the Banner vulnerable.

If the Players do not manage to defeat all four Banners in time, the Giant Monster will not appear and the event will clean itself up. The Player will be alerted to the end of the event because the zone will revert to "normal" and a closing sound effect will sound.

Badges

The following badges can be earned by participating in the Deadly Apocalypse (Halloween) Event:

Dark Fiend - participate in defeat of Dark Fiend Banner
Hell Hath No Fury - participate in defeat of Women Scorned Banner
Terror - participate in defeat of the Transparent Terrors Banner
Monster Masher - participate in defeat of the Monster Mayhem Banner
Monstrous - participate in the defeat of the Aspect of the Sigil Giant Monster
Hell and Back (Accolade) - receive Dark Fiend, Hell Hath No Fury, Terror, Monster Masher, and Monstrous badges to earn this Accolade"

Source Post

So get ready for the big spooky party, heroes!!!!

A Day in the Life of Gary the Cylon

2009-09-29T21:16:00.000-05:00

2009-09-11T02:29:00.001-05:00

Unofficial I16 updated Mid's

2009-09-02T20:52:00.002-05:00

WOOT!

Hot Girl in the Comic Shop

2009-09-02T10:20:00.000-05:00

2009-08-31T09:54:00.001-05:00

Issue 16 goes Open Beta!

2009-08-27T16:00:00.003-05:00

As you may know, Issue 16 is now Open on the test server. I gotta tell ya, this may be one of my favorite issues yet. The new Super-side-kicking option is freaking great. I can't wait for this one to go live. Here's the most recent patch notes so you can see what's going to be changed...

"Combined Release Notes for Issue 16
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

COMBINED

Animations

Psychic Shockwave – Fixed minor error in particle scripts (Rings that emanate from character’s body weren’t moving towards the ground).
Activating Willpower/Heightened Senses while flying should no longer play the Martial Arts/Dragon’s Tail animation.
Devices/Targeting Drone now uses the wristband activation animation.

Arena

Players may now use the Arena menu option or the /arenalist command to access the Arenas from any location.
Added the ability to enable and disable inspirations by size class to the Arena.

Fixed Sudden Death in Arenas. Now, instead of setting everyone to 1 health at the start of the sudden death, all participants' maximum health is slowly reduced over the one minute of Sudden Death.

Badges

The Vanguard Recruit day job badge now requires the user to be level 35 or greater, to unlock this badge. NOTE: Players who already have this badge and are lower than level 35 will not lose the badge.

The following bages have had their requirements changed:

Back From the Future: Reduced this badge’s requirements from taking over 1000 pillboxes to taking over 100 pillboxes.
Coldhearted: Reduced this badge’s requirements from defeating 200 cold demons to 100 cold demons.
Celebrity/Bling: Reduced this badge’s requirements from earning 1,000,000 influence/infamy to 500,000 influence/infamy.
Confined: Reduced this badge’s requirements from being mezzed for 20 hours to being mezzed for 3 hours.
Caged: Reduced this badge’s requirements from being mezzed for 40 hours to being mezzed for 6 hours.
Deathless: Reduced the amount of required paid off XP debt to earn this badge from 1,200,000 to 400,000.
Demolitionist: Reduced this badge’s required 25 bombs placed to 10 bombs placed.
Electrician: Reduced the number of required 200 defeated Cap Au Diable Gremlins to 100 Gremlins.
Empath: Reduced this badge’s requirements from healing others for 100,000,000 points of damage to 10,000,000.
Entangled/Sleepy: Reduced this badge’s requirements from being mezzed for 120 minutes to being mezzed for 30 minutes
Exalted: Reduced the amount of required paid off XP debt to earn this badge from 10,000,000 to 1,000,000.
Fabricator: Reduced this badge’s requirements from 10,000 crafted enhancements to 2,000 crafted enhancements.
Hero Slayer: Reduced this badge’s required defeats of 100 named Paragon Heroes to 25 defeats to be on par with the hero badge “Villain Disruptor”.
Illusionist: This badge now requires the player to defeat 100 Illusionists and Phantasms summoned by the Carnival Master Illusionist. NOTE: Phantasm defeats were not tracked until this patch. Previous defeats of these enemies will not count toward the total defeats required for this badge. However, defeating summoned illusionists and phantasms going forward WILL earn credit toward this badge.
Invulnerable: Reduced the amount of damage taken required to earn this badge from 500,000,000 to 50,000,000.
Immortal: Reduced the amount of damage taken required to earn this badge from 1,000,000,000 to 100,000,000.
Impounder: Reduced the number of destroyed cars necessary to unlock this badge from 200 to 100, updated progress bar text to match this.
Imprisoned/Dazed and Confused: Reduced this badge’s requirements from being mezzed for 600 minutes to being mezzed for 60 minutes.
Jailed: Reduced this badge’s requirements from being mezzed for 80 hours to being mezzed for 12 hours.
Leader: Reduced this badge’s requirements from earning 2,000,000,000 influence/infamy to 500,000,000 influence/infamy.
Medical Specialist: Reduced this badge’s requirements from healing others for 10,000,000 points of damage to 3,000,000.
Medicine Man/Woman: Reduced this badge’s requirements from healing others for 50,000,000 points of damage to 5,000,000.
Nigh Indestructible: Reduced the amount of damage taken required to earn this badge from 100,000,000 to 25,000,000.
Popular: Reduced this badge’s requirements from earning 1,000,000,000 influence/infamy to 250,000,000 influence/infamy.
Protectorate/Devourer of Earth: Reduced this badge’s required 500 defeated Devouring Earth eminators to 100 defeated eminators.
Restrained/Slacker: Reduced this badge’s requirements from being mezzed for 30 minutes to being mezzed for 10 minutes
Sensation/Mr. Big/Ms. Big: Reduced this badge’s requirements from earning 10,000,000 influence/infamy to 2,500,000 influence/infamy.
Superstar/Midas Touch: Reduced this badge’s requirements from earning 20,000,000 influence/infamy to 10,000,000 influence/infamy.
Somewhere in Time: Reduced this badge’s requirements from taking over 100 pillboxes to taking over 50 pillboxes.
The Unwavering/Punch Drunk: Reduced the amount of required paid off XP debt to earn this badge from 100,000 to 50,000.
The Unyielding/Unbroken: Reduced the amount of required paid off XP debt to earn this badge from 400,000 to 100,000.
The Unbroken Spirit/Relentless: Reduced the amount of required paid off XP debt to earn this badge from 800,000 to 200,000.
Toy Collector: Reduced this badge’s requirements from opening 200 presents during the winter event to 100 presents.
Trendsetter: Reduced this badge’s requirements from earning 100,000,000 influence/infamy to 50,000,000 influence/infamy.
Undying: Reduced the amount of required paid off XP debt to earn this badge from 2,000,000 to 600,000.
Untouchable: This badge now requires the player to defeat 100 Consiglieres and Underbosses.
Venomous: Reduced this badge’s required 200 defeated Toxic Tarantulas to 50 Toxic Tarantulas.
- Accolades
- Born in Battle: This Villain Accolade now requires:
  - Earn the Iron Man badge (1,000,000 points of damage taken) instead of the Unbreakable badge (10,000,000 points of damage taken).
  - Earn the Hammer Down badge instead of the Raider badge.
  - No long requires the Lanista badge.
  - NOTE: Even though this badge’s requirements are changing, players who already have this Accolade should keep this Accolade even if they don’t have the Hammer Down badge.

Character Creation

Returning to the Body Type screen at any time during the character creation process will no longer reset body scale changes made to the character

Zones

The Minimum Entry Level has been removed from many Hazard and Trial Zones in order to support upgrades to the Sidekicking System.
- Zones Affected:
  - Abandoned Sewers
  - Boomtown
  - Crey’s Folly
  - Dark Astoria
  - Eden
  - Perez Park
  - Shadow Shard – Cascade Archipelago
  - Shadow Shard – Firebase Zulu
  - Shadow Shard – The Chantry
  - Shadow Shard – The Storm Palace
  - Striga Isle
  - Terra Volta
  - The Hollows
  - The Sewers
  - The Tunnels

Co-Op Zones

The Minimum Entry Level of the Rikti War Zone has been removed in order to support upgrades to the Sidekicking System

Email

There is now an in-game email setting to block all email except from those on your friends list or in your supergroup.

Emotes

Super Science Pack: The Drink Formula costume change emote (/cce <#> CCDrinkFormula) now behaves consistently (the flash and smoke animations used to be out of sync with each other depending on your character model).

Flashback

Flashback Missions now use combat level instead of security level.

Graphics/FX

Display issues with Stone Prison and Plasma Shield fixed.

Mission Architect

Defender: Oil Slick Arrow no longer cons friendly and can again be targeted by player in a MA mission.

The experience rewards for custom mobs in Mission Architect have been changed.

Enemies created using the Standard setting will reward 75% of normal experience.
Enemies created using the Hard and Extreme setting will reward 100% of normal experience.
The total amount of experience an enemy is worth is split evenly between their two powerset choices. Their primary set adds an amount to the experience, and then the secondary set adds an amount.
The specifics numbers for individual sets are as followed:

Standard: 37.5%
Hard/Extreme: 50%
If you create a mob that has a standard primary and a hard secondary, they’ll be worth 87.5% of the normal experience (37.5% + 50%)
A mob created with a hard primary and a hard secondary will be worth 100% experience (50% + 50%)

NPCs

Fixed a bug where generic spawns of The Lost at level 30 or higher spawn as Rikti using The Lost animations. Level 30 or higher Lost spawns now spawn as Rikti with correct Rikti animations.

Powers

Electric Melee (All versions) - Removed erroneous reference to Fury from Chain Inductions Long Help

Reduced Endurance cost of Origin Based powers Apprentice Charm, Taser Dart, Tranq Dart, Throwing Knives, and Mutagen from 6.5 per activation to 2.08 per activation.
The Inherent power Brawl no longer costs Endurance when used.
All dismissable pets will now zone with you, but will lose their buffs.

PVP Powers

Fixed PVP duration of Ninjitsu/Blinding Powder’s confuse.
Powers with knockback and repel protection should no longer suppress knockback or repel protection when held, stunned, or slept.

oIncludes all Brute, Scrapper, Stalker, and Tanker versions of Entropy Shield, Unyielding, Active Defense, Rooted, Granite Armor, Integration, Wet Ice, and indomitable will. Acrobatics also will not suppress the knockback portion.

Rewards

Characters must be level 35 or greater to earn Vanguard Merits.
Merit Rewards – Merits awarded per task are receiving another update. The formula used to calculate the number of merits for Story Arcs has been changed from granting 40% of normal merits to 60% of normal merits. In short, many story arc tasks received a significant boost in merits awarded. Another notable item is that Villain Patron arcs now give 10 merits per arc instead of 5. Below is a list of story arcs that had their values changed. Arcs not listed didn't have their merits change:

Piercing the Veil
Old Total - 10
New Total - 16

Crossing Over
Old Total - 8
New Total - 12

Hatred's Hungry Heart
Old Total - 5
New Total - 7

The Origin of Power
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

War of the Fir Bolg
Old Total - 7
New Total - 10

Eden Trial
Old Total - 6
New Total - 7

Flux the Outcast
Old Total - 7
New Total - 11

Julius the Kind Hearted Troll
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Cavern of Transcendence Trial
Old Total - 7
New Total - 8

The Heart of the Hollows
Old Total - 11
New Total - 18

Officer Wincott vs. the Trolls
Old Total - 2
New Total - 4

War and Peacebringers
Old Total - 8
New Total - 13

Warshades and Peace
Old Total - 7
New Total - 8

The Clockwork Captive
Old Total - 9
New Total - 13

The Peace Slayers
Old Total - 9
New Total - 14

The Council Cargo
Old Total - 4
New Total - 5

Bonefire
Old Total - 9
New Total - 14

Positron Taskforce
Old Total - 64
New Total - 66

The Vahzilok Pollutant Plot
Old Total - 13
New Total - 21

An Absence of Shadows
Old Total - 4
New Total - 7

The Mind of a King
Old Total - 10
New Total - 14

Shadow Science
Old Total - 8
New Total - 13

Synapse Taskforce
Old Total - 57
New Total - 58

Tsoo Shenanigans
Old Total - 12
New Total - 17

The Vahzilok Plague
Old Total - 8
New Total - 12

The Wheel of Destruction
Old Total - 9
New Total - 14

Hand of Iron
Old Total - 8
New Total - 14

The Sky Raider Secret
Old Total - 6
New Total - 9

The Tsoo Coup
Old Total - 9
New Total - 26

Ubelmann the Unknown
Old Total - 11
New Total - 17

The Scroll of Tielekku
Old Total - 9
New Total - 14

An Unnatural Order
Old Total - 10
New Total - 18

The Freaklympics
Old Total - 20
New Total - 34

Fear and Loathing on Striga Isle
Old Total - 11
New Total - 9

The Mysterious General Z
Old Total - 9
New Total - 15

The Rise Of the Vampyri
Old Total - 17
New Total - 25

The Library of Souls
Old Total - 10
New Total - 21

Corporate Culture
Old Total - 12
New Total - 17

The Unity Plague
Old Total - 10
New Total - 26

The Freakshow War
Old Total - 11
New Total - 33

Scary Monsters
Old Total - 7
New Total - 12

A Path into Darkness
Old Total - 16
New Total - 27

The Envoy of Shadow
Old Total - 9
New Total - 15

Revenant Hero Project
Old Total - 12
New Total - 16

The Terra Conspiracy
Old Total - 11
New Total - 19

The Nictus Alliance
Old Total - 7
New Total - 11

Mass Duplicity
Old Total - 18
New Total - 28

The Organ Grinders
Old Total - 20
New Total - 21

To Save a Soul
Old Total - 15
New Total - 37

On the Run
Old Total - 17
New Total - 31

The Nictus Insurrection
Old Total - 4
New Total - 8

Melvin and the Mysterious Malta Group
Old Total - 19
New Total - 35

The Eternal Nemesis
Old Total - 19
New Total - 29

The Praetorian War
Old Total - 29
New Total - 43

Division: Line
Old Total - 21
New Total - 33

Upon the Psychic Plane
Old Total - 27
New Total - 49

The Final Darkness
Old Total - 6
New Total - 13

Operation: World Wide Red
Old Total - 17
New Total - 30

To Save a Thousand Worlds
Old Total - 32
New Total - 43

Portal Corp Story Arc 2
Old Total - 4
New Total - 5

A Hero's Hero
Old Total - 24
New Total - 36

Statesman's Taskforce
Old Total - 38
New Total - 37

Sewer Trial
Old Total - 28
New Total - 29

The Origins of the Snakes
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Weird Science
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Earning Arachnos' Favor
Old Total - 2
New Total - 4

Snake Uprising
Old Total - 2
New Total - 5

The Vahzilok Conference
Old Total - 5
New Total - 7

Spy Hunt
Old Total - 10
New Total - 16

Midnight's Hand
Old Total - 5
New Total - 9

The Origin of Power
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

Midas Touched
Old Total - 7
New Total - 11

Breaking Bows
Old Total - 2
New Total - 5

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Old Total - 2
New Total - 5

The Hit List
Old Total - 4
New Total - 5

An Arachnos Ghost Story
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

Power of the Spirit
Old Total - 4
New Total - 5

Lost and Found
Old Total - 4
New Total - 8

Give 'em Hellion!
Old Total - 5
New Total - 8

Family War
Old Total - 7
New Total - 9

The Book and the Burning
Old Total - 4
New Total - 1

Retrieve the Loa Bone
Old Total - 1
New Total - 2

Hurt the Traitorous Vendetti
Old Total - 1
New Total - 1

Beast of the Mountain Strikeforce
Old Total - 12
New Total - 13

Echo Down the Aeons
Old Total - 3
New Total - 9

The Aeon Conspiracy
Old Total - 7
New Total - 10

High-Tech Gold
Old Total - 4
New Total - 10

Breakout at the Zig
Old Total - 8
New Total - 11

Master of Destruction
Old Total - 5
New Total - 8

There's a Sucker Born Every Minute
Old Total - 12
New Total - 17

Rumblings of the Past
Old Total - 4
New Total - 5

I Lost my Daddy!
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Choose Your Own Adventure
Old Total - 1
New Total - 3

Oh, Wretched Man!
Old Total - 6
New Total - 8

Ouroboros Initiation
Old Total - 4
New Total - 7

Ouroboros Initiation
Old Total - 3
New Total - 6

A Faultline in the Sands of Time
Old Total - 10
New Total - 15

The Buried Past
Old Total - 3
New Total - 6

If At First You Don't Succeed
Old Total - 1
New Total - 2

Pirates of the Skies Strikeforce
Old Total - 38
New Total - 42

Iron Widow
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Kings of the Sky
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Operation Skyhook
Old Total - 4
New Total - 7

Coral Bonanza
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

Breaking the Cage
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Any Body Will Do
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

Disturbing the Dead
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

Carpe Diem
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

A Web of Intrigue
Old Total - 9
New Total - 11

Crown of Glory
Old Total - 9
New Total - 4

Dirge of Chaos
Old Total - 7
New Total - 4

The Magic Man
Old Total - 7
New Total - 3

The Miracle River
Old Total - 1
New Total - 2

Aurora Fades
Old Total - 1
New Total - 3

Power Mine
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

Sabotage!
Old Total - 4
New Total - 7

Trust and Betrayal
Old Total - 5
New Total - 7

Zag Breakout!
Old Total - 3
New Total - 7

First Respec Trial
Old Total - 15
New Total - 14

Forging the Blackwand
Old Total - 8
New Total - 11

Midnight Draws Near
Old Total - 6
New Total - 10

Die by the Freak!
Old Total - 4
New Total - 7

Heavy Metal Doctoring
Old Total - 3
New Total - 7

The Cult of the Shaper
Old Total - 5
New Total - 8

On the Trail of the Leviathan
Old Total - 2
New Total - 5

Temple of the Waters Strikeforce
Old Total - 22
New Total - 24

Smoke and Mirrors
Old Total - 3
New Total - 7

The Spider Weaves His Web
Old Total - 4
New Total - 8

Taming the Tigress
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

Brawling with the Big Boys
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

Snuffing the Light
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Into Valhalla
Old Total - 7
New Total - 9

Nictus Dissection
Old Total - 2
New Total - 4

Psimon Sez
Old Total - 5
New Total - 11

Strange Memories
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Lost and Found
Old Total - 5
New Total - 12

Breaking the Streak
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

Silver-Tongued Devil
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

Sold for a Song
Old Total - 7
New Total - 12

Miss Fortune's Wheel
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

High Roller's Last Gamble
Old Total - 4
New Total - 5

Chaos Unbound
Old Total - 5
New Total - 8

The 5th Column Overthrow
Old Total - 6
New Total - 10

The Dead Man's Deck
Old Total - 5
New Total - 2

Second Respec Trial
Old Total - 15
New Total - 14

Crystal of Seraphina Strikeforce
Old Total - 25
New Total - 26

No One Gets It
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

Crossfire
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

A Traitorous History
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

The Secret of the Circle
Old Total - 6
New Total - 12

Bravo for the Shadow Shard
Old Total - 5
New Total - 7

Automatic Villainy
Old Total - 5
New Total - 7

Blurring the Lines
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

The Strange Case of Benjamin A. Decker
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

Welcome to the Vanguard
Old Total - 5
New Total - 9

Fat Cat City
Old Total - 4
New Total - 5

Pied Piper
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

Chaos Affair
Old Total - 5
New Total - 8

The Missing Maidens
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

Johnny's Squeeze
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

Devil May Care
Old Total - 10
New Total - 14

Future Threat
Old Total - 7
New Total - 5

Power from the Past
Old Total - 2
New Total - 2

Stolen Power
Old Total - 2
New Total - 2

Breaking Knives
Old Total - 4
New Total - 9

Absolute Vengeance
Old Total - 2
New Total - 4

The Arachnoid Cure
Old Total - 2
New Total - 4

Arachnoid Appetizers
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

Building a Better Vermin
Old Total - 5
New Total - 8

Project Fury
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

Countess Coup
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

Kuhr'Rekt Diplomacy
Old Total - 3
New Total - 6

Kuhr'Rekt Revenge
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

Apt Pupil
Old Total - 5
New Total - 9

Miss Francine the Freakshow teacher
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

The Rebels
Old Total - 2
New Total - 4

The Bane of the Heart
Old Total - 5
New Total - 10

Shucking Souls
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

The Hunt
Old Total - 5
New Total - 7

The Circle's Plot
Old Total - 6
New Total - 9

Dreams of Peace and Acts of War
Old Total - 10
New Total - 9

Sara Moore Taskforce
Old Total - 63
New Total - 64

Dr. Quaterfield Taskforce
Old Total - 111
New Total -122

Politics, Cimeroran Style
Old Total - 8
New Total - 5

Trading Places
Old Total - 10
New Total - 14

Trading Places
Old Total - 6
New Total - 10

Time's Arrow
Old Total - 28
New Total - 26

Vindication
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

Light and Darkness
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

Ancient History
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

Escaped!
Old Total - 2
New Total - 3

Snake Fest
Old Total - 6
New Total - 9

Alone in the Darque
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

Indigo Hunt
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

Crimson Hunt
Old Total - 2
New Total - 4

The Code Merlin
Old Total - 4
New Total - 6

Vigilante Justice
Old Total - 4
New Total - 7

The TV Report
Old Total - 5
New Total - 7

The TV Invasion
Old Total - 3
New Total - 7

The Conference of Evil
Old Total - 8
New Total - 13

Von Grun's science
Old Total - 3
New Total - 4

The Great Grun Gathering
Old Total - 3
New Total - 5

Von Grun's Lament
Old Total - 2
New Total -3

Von Grun's Redemption
Old Total - 7
New Total - 12

The Red and the Black
Old Total - 7
New Total - 14

Lady Grey Taskforce
Old Total - 39
New Total - 37

The Horror of War
Old Total - 8
New Total - 18

Justin Augustine Taskforce
Old Total - 24
New Total - 42

Ernesto Hess Taskforce
Old Total - 19
New Total -19

Hear and Now
Old Total - 10
New Total - 16

A Madman's Council
Old Total - 5
New Total - 8

Moonfire Taskforce
Old Total - 31
New Total - 32

Ring of Peebles
Old Total - 10
New Total - 15

Return to Vampyr Mountain
Old Total - 9
New Total - 13

Terra Volta Respec Trial 1
Old Total - 27
New Total - 28

All Villain Patron Arcs
Old Total - 5
New Total - 10

Sidekicks/Exemplars

Players exemplared for any reason (teaming, flashbacks, zone, arenas) will now be able to use powers gained up to 5 levels above the exemplar level.
- Example: A 20 exemplared to 1 will have their first 5 power choices instead of 2.
- Example: A 50 exemplared to 45 will have access to all their powers.

Rewards

Characters must be level 35 or greater to earn Vanguard Merits.

User Interface

Removed "Suppress Extra Player FX" option. It wasn’t actually doing anything

Fixed a bug that would cause players to sometimes lose their Global Friends list.
Items in the Options Menu have been slightly reorganized and contain tool tip buttons.
On the login screen, players will see their current costume instead of costume 1.

XP Curve Adjustment

To go along with our new changes to sidekicking and exemplaring, we've made some adjustments to the experience awarded from minions, lieutenants and bosses in the level 5 to 24 range. In short these enemies are on average receiving a 20% experience and influence increase. This will slightly speed up the pace at which heroes and villains advance through the 5 to 24 range

City of Heroes

Powers

Controllers

Kinetics/Fulcrum Shift: This power will now correctly use Controller buff modifiers instead of Defender buff modifiers, resulting in a 20% damage buff per target and a 40% damage buff on self, instead of a 25% damage buff per target and a 50% damage buff on self.
Cold Domination: All of these powers should now accept the correct IO Sets.

Scrappers

Electric Melee - Removed the ability to slot powers within this set with Taunt enhancements as these powers do not have a taunt component.
Electric Armor - Lightning Field: Removed the ability to slot this power with Taunt enhancements as this power does not have a taunt component.
Electric Armor/ Power Sink: This power should no longer accept taunt enhancements.

Tankers

Invulnerability - Invincibility no longer accepts Taunt IO sets. This makes it match similar powers available to other ATs.
Electric Armor/Lighting Field: This power will now accept Taunt enhancements and Taunt IO sets.
Electric Melee - Fixed Gauntlet for Charged Brawl, Havoc Punch, and Chain induction to not allow procing on all nearby targets.

City of Villains

General

Fixed a bug that would prevent a Villain from being able to trade with other Villains after a respec.

Powers

Brutes

Claws - Corrected a decimal shift error in the Recharge Time of Slash. Now recharges in 6.4 seconds, not 0.64 seconds.
Claws/Slash - Slightly increased this power’s damage to be in line with its recharge time
Claws - Eviscerate: Corrected this power’s long help, it erroneously stated that this power had a chance to critically hit, which it does not
Claws - Powers in this set are now slottable for Taunt enhancements and Taunt IO sets.

Corruptors

Archery/Rain of Arrows – This power will now correctly Scourge enemies allowing for critical hits on enemies with low health
Kinetics/Fulcrum Shift: This power will now correctly use Corruptor buff modifiers instead of Defender buff modifiers, resulting in a 20% damage buff per target and a 40% damage buff on self, instead of a 25% damage buff per target and a 50% damage buff on self.
Trick Arrow/Acid Arrow - Fixed a bug that caused this power to deal additional damage to immobilized, held, or disoriented targets

Pain Domination - Soothing Aura is properly suppressed when the recipient is mezzed.

Dominators

Earth Assault/Mud Pots - This power’s long help will no longer get cut off at the end
Earth Assault/Fissure - This power’s long help will no longer get cut off at the end
Earth Assault - Tremor, Slightly reduced chance of knockdown.
Earth Assault - Fissure, Adjusted damage, recharge, and endurance cost down moderately. Slightly reduced chance of knockdown and stun.

Masterminds

Dark Miasma - Removed erroneous Jump Speed slow effect from Shadow Fall.
Pets will now zone with their Mastermind owner and will keep their buffs
Necromancy - Zombies, Skeletons and Lich should use the selected custom colors for their enchanted and empowered particle effects.
Thugs/Gang War now summons the Posse correctly
Pain Domination - Soothing Aura is properly suppressed when the recipient is mezzed."

Batman & Sons

2009-08-18T12:00:00.005-05:00

I gotta admit. When I first saw the premise of this web comic I was all "WTF?"... But after reading a few (especially check out "The Rivalry") I was hooked. The damn thing is brilliant.

It's Break Time

2009-08-18T06:13:00.001-05:00

2009-08-18T03:44:00.001-05:00

Super-Sidekicking in Issue 16

2009-08-12T13:52:00.006-05:00

As per this forum post by Positron:

"I am pleased to tell you that in Issue 16: Power Spectrum we have two new features that are made to better facilitate the game experience by streamlining many processes that players spend time setting up.

The first of these is the new difficulty settings. A lot of in-game Broadcasts are powerful characters looking for “pads” so they can artificially increase their team-size to provide more of a challenge for greater rewards. With the new difficulty settings, these players can set their team size without having to bother other players with their Broadcasts. If they want to be treated as a team of 8, even when solo, they can.

The second feature is what we have come to call “Super-Sidekicking” but actually applies to all types of Sidekicking: Exemplaring, Lackeying, and Malefactoring as well. With this system, everyone in the team will find themselves automatically level adjusted to the level of the owner of the Mission that is currently selected. If there is no mission that is currently active, then the level is set to the leader of the Team.

If you are below the level you are getting set to, you are automatically sidekicked up to one level below the owner’s level, just as if you had sidekicked to them. If you are above the level, then you will be lowered to the level of the owner, just as if you exemplared down.

The players don’t need to do anything for this to happen, it all happens automatically. This means that no matter what level ranges you have in your group, you can ALWAYS play together and you can ALWAYS get XP. Yes, we are even changing the way exemplaring works so that you get XP while you are fighting at a lower level. There will be an option of having the “old way” of exemplaring, and earning extra Inf. instead, for those players who want to earn some more Inf. instead of levels.

Gone are the days of having to play “Mentor Tetris” (as we’ve come to call it) to make sure everyone in the team is SK’ed/EX’ed to the right person so that everyone is receiving XP, or having to tell your friend that they can’t join your team because you don’t have enough people to make sure everyone is SK’ed and earning rewards.

One of the other advantages to this system is that the level adjustments take place no matter where you are in the game. No more “My sidekick is out of range” messages. If you are about to undergo a large level shift, you will have a dialog box pop-up giving you warning and the ability to leave the team (handy if you are in combat at the time and don’t want to suddenly be fighting at a lower level). The range of levels that this dialog pops up is adjustable in the Options screen.

Now we are aware of a couple things that this system doesn’t do so well, and we are attempting to address most of them in the coming weeks. The first of this is the fact that you lose access to powers, especially the most-recently earned ones, when you Exemplar down. We are looking into some sort of fix for this.

Next is the fact that sometimes you just want to un-exemplar and kick some butt, especially when things look bad for the team. If you leave the team you will automatically start fighting at your superior level. This will enable you to save your team’s bacon at the cost of eating up any of the rewards they might have earned for those guys you defeat.

Badge hunters in the closed beta have pointed out that some badges are simply favorable to get once you outlevel the content where they are given. Since Super-Sidekicking makes manipulating the levels more difficult, we’re going to re-examine the requirements on some badges, and lower them where appropriate. Mentor badge credit is still given whenever you are the Mission Owner, and someone is auto-sidekicked to you.

Now one thing that is getting removed by this new system that is not going to be fixed is the ability to “bridge”. Bridging is the practice of sidekicking a low level character to JUST the right level to cap their XP earning on each entity defeated by the group. This was a side effect of how the Sidekicking system worked. While we have made adjustments to the Sidekicking system many times over the course of the life of the game to combat this, Super-Sidekicking eliminates bridging completely, since all rewards will be in parity.

Before we went and removed this playstyle completely from City of Heroes we wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing. We did extensive datamines to see how many accounts were actually participating in a “bridge” team, and were surprised to see just how low of a percentage it actually was. This may be a case where it is possible that the “advertising” in /broadcasts for bridge teams actually made the practice seem more pervasive than it really was.

With the ability to bridge removed, we should see an end to those Broadcasts, in addition to /tells to characters who are in the right level range for being a bridge. To us cutting down on annoying spam only makes your game experience better. (Which reminds me, we’ve added new features to the in-game Email system to either shut it off entirely, or only receive emails from people on your friends list and/or people in your Supergroup. Another step in the battle against annoying in-game spam.)

With both the new difficulty levels and Super-Sidekicking, players can use the difficulty slider to increase the level of the entities in the mission so that they can earn more rewards. But this, at least, comes with the risk inherent with fighting higher level entities and larger spawns. As for low level characters missing out on accelerated leveling speeds, we are increasing the rewards they earn from level 1 to 20 (about 20% across the board) so that every player can get through the lower levels faster, not just those that know “the tricks”.

(These changes are currently being tested in the Closed Beta for Issue 16, and may be changed/modified by the time they reach the Live servers)"

Edit for coolness, Q&A by Positron:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mysterious_J

Now just tell me you'll eliminate the Security Level requirements on hazard zones, so that teams don't have to avoid arcs that send you into them because there are SKs present...

Yup, but the requirements still exist on the Hamidon zones and the PVP zones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaos_Creator

How does this affect a player who out-levels their own mission?

They outlevel it, just like normal. Super-Sidekicking cares about the level of the mission OWNER, not the level of the mission.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AquaJAWS

Wait...so we can get into the RWZ to team with villains in the AE at level 1 now?

You bet!

Quote:

Originally Posted by bAss_ackwards

Hey I just realized something: With the abolition of the level restrictions for hazard zones, this means that the ability to get a jetpack temp power at level 1 is no longer exclusive to Villains. Rejoice! You can go to the Shadow Shard at level 1 and procure a jetpack of your very own soon!

This is huge for the folks on the Hero side that want to put off getting a travel power or forgo it altogether!

Just trying something new...

2009-08-06T15:38:00.003-05:00

This show would have F'ING ROCKED!

2009-08-05T18:46:00.001-05:00

Damn you Nickelodeon for denying me a whole season of this... damn you to hell.

Double Expees Part Duex (Pic Unrelated)

2009-08-04T20:04:00.003-05:00

As stated here...

"Due to the stability issues that occurred with the North American servers this past Double XP Weekend, we plan to offer another Double XP Weekend in North America after Issue 16 launches.

We would like to take this opportunity to apologize to those of you who were unable to enjoy the event as a result of this, and would like to thank you for your patience as we work to resolve these types of issues in the future.

We appreciate your continued support.

The City of Heroes Team"

Tron Legacy

2009-07-27T16:44:00.001-05:00

Issue 16 Screenshots

2009-07-23T14:51:00.009-05:00

A few screen shots of the Issue 16 build have been leaked to the press, so here they are in all their technicolor glory. FYI, it's going into closed beta NEXT WEEK! How's that for a turn over?

2009-07-20T19:05:00.000-05:00

This might make you laugh

2009-07-19T20:02:00.000-05:00

Uh huh, Check your nuts! Check your nuts! Check your nuts!

2009-07-18T14:40:00.000-05:00

Issue 16 Announced!

2009-07-16T13:37:00.004-05:00

"City of Heroes' latest offering, Issue 16: Power Spectrum, forever changes the way all super powered beings will look at their powers. Now, changing the colors of your powers is as easy as changing the colors of your cape!

At last, our next free content update unveils the all new, much requested and long awaited Powers Customization system! You wanted more control over what your characters' powers look like, and you are getting it! Issue 16: Power Spectrum takes City of Heroes' unparalleled character creator to the next level by unveiling a kaleidoscope of colors for your characters' powers. Become your own pyrotechnician as you select themes for your characters' powers and color coordinate the hues of the power effects.

New Character Creator

Not only does the newly updated Character Creator allow players to jump directly between Archetype, Powersets, Costumes and Character ID in any order without losing progress, but it also allows you to select your colors and theme for each individual power or apply it to the entire powerset. These themes will allow for color tinting of geometry and particle effects such as energy blast colors and force field colors. The primary and secondary colors of any power effect can be changed individually for each power in the set.

Customizable Powers

Customizable powersets include Cold Domination, Dark Armor, Dark Blast, Dark Melee, Dark Miasma, Earth Control, Earth Melee, Electric Armor, Electric Assault, Electric Blast, Electric Melee, Electricity Manipulation, Empathy, Energy Assault, Energy Aura, Energy Blast, Energy Manipulation, Energy Melee, Fiery Aura, Fire Assault, Fire Blast, Fire Control, Fire Manipulation, Fire Melee, Force Field, Gravity Control, Ice Armor, Ice Assault, Ice Blast, Ice Control, Ice Manipulation, Ice Melee, Illusion, Invulnerability, Kinetics, Mental Manipulation, Mind Control, Necromancy, Plant Control, Psionic Assault, Psychic Blast, Radiation Blast, Radiation Emission, Regeneration, Sonic Resonance, Sonic Blast, Spines, Stone Armor, Storm Summoning, Super Reflexes, Thermal Radiation, Thorny Assault and Willpower.

Super Strength and Martial Arts will each receive an alternate animation for their powers, and Stone Armor and Necromancy will include limited customization.

Other Issue 16 Features

Powerset Proliferation - More powersets are now in the hands of Archetypes who couldn't use them previously! Blasters will have access to Radiation Blast, Brutes will get their Claws on, Controllers can now freeze it up with Cold Domination, and Corruptors get to feel the "twang" of Archery and Trick Arrow. Defenders can go high-tech with Assault Rifle and Traps, and Dominators can pulverize their enemies with Earth Assault. Masterminds heat things up with Thermal Radiation, Scrappers and Tankers get ready to fry their foes with Electric Melee and Electric Armor, and finally Stalkers get to swing their own mighty Broadsword.

Enhanced Difficulty Options - Players can now fine-tune their difficulty levels by telling the game exactly how they want to be treated. They can choose to be regarded as a specific size team (even if they are soloing), and even have control over the level they are detected to be when it comes to the dynamic spawn system. So if you ever wanted to see if your Scrapper could take on a map that is populated for an 8 person team, four levels higher than your own, now you can! The difficulty settings of the mission owner dictate how the mission is handled, just as before, and you can change your difficulty settings at any Hero Corp.'s Representative in Paragon City or Fateweaver in the Rogue Isles.

Other features to be announced."

All i can say is... Holy Crap! This game just gets more awesome as time goes on. It really is the PERFECT game.

Super Booster III: Super Science Released!

2009-07-15T18:05:00.002-05:00

It's on sale!!! Go buy it now!

"City of Heroes® Super Booster III: Superscience gives you all the tools you need to show those fools at the Institute why they should have listened to you! Super Booster III: Superscience grants your character an eccentric new costume set, electrifying emotes to express yourself or change character costumes, and access to a new Super Tailor called the Cosmetic Surgeon. Combine these for the ultimate mad scientist transformations between genders and body types! This purchase enables these features for all characters on your game account from level 1, but the costume change emotes* do require that you unlock at least one additional costume slot.

Superscience themed costume set:

The Superscience themed male, female and huge costume parts include jackets, sleeves, gloves and boots, as well as several new goggles and masks, neck bolts, and more. Additionally, male and huge characters get mad scientist hair!

Character Emotes:

/em experiment (or /em mixformula)

/em calculate

Costume Change Emotes:

Activate the following science themed 'costume change emotes' using the costume change interface, selectable from the main Menu.

Drink Formula

Super Serum

Super Tailor - AKA the Cosmetic Surgeon:

They said some things couldn't be changed, but you'll show them all! The Super Tailor is a new Tailor NPC called the Cosmetic Surgeon, located near existing Tailors and enabled through purchase of Super Booster III: Superscience. The Cosmetic Surgeon can modify your character's height, build, body type, and even gender in each of your costume slots. Transform from a 98-pound weakling into a huge beast! Experience spontaneous gender reversal! These amazing things are possible with-science!

NOTE FOR ABOVE

* By default characters only have one costume slot, and must unlock additional costume slots through activities in the game. This can be accomplished by completing costume slot missions at levels 20, 30, and 40; and by using Halloween Event salvage (which can also be bought, sold or traded via the in-game Consignment Houses)."

Time for Telecockney! Time for Telecockney!

2009-07-05T07:31:00.001-05:00

Doubles Expees!!!!

2009-06-30T14:43:00.003-05:00

"Save The Date - Next Double XP Weekend July 31st- August 2nd!

We know you've been waiting to hear so that you can meticulously craft your plan of attack! So go ahead - take off work, ignore all of your other responsibilities and stock up on easily grab-able snacks and beverages - we won't tell anyone! Just make sure to save the date because the next City of Heroes® Double XP weekend will begin Friday, July 31st 2009, at 8:59am PST (11:59am EST) and concludes Sunday, August 2nd 2009, 8:59pm PST (11:59pm EST). Don't miss out"

Super Booster III: Super Science

2009-06-25T17:20:00.002-05:00

As per the Test Server patch notes for 6/24/09...

"It contains new science themed costume pieces, emotes, and costume change emotes… as well as the new Super Tailor feature that will allow you to change the inherent body type of your character to Male, Female or Huge for each costume slot!

Costume Pieces:

Head
Hair (M,H)

Mad Science

Detail 1 (M,F,H)

Welder Goggles
Safety Goggles
Modern Goggles
Retro Goggles
Maverick Goggles
Death Goggles
Reflector

Detail 2 (M,F,H)

Breather 1
Breather 2
Breather 3
Breather 4
Breather 5
Breather 6
Death Guard
Neck Bolts

Upper Body
Jackets (M,F,H)

Scientist Single
Scientist Double

Sleeves (M,F,H)

Scientist

Gloves (M,F,H)

Rubber

Lower Body
Boots (M,F,H)

Rubber

Emotes:

/em experiment

/em calculate

Costume Change Emotes:

/cce # ccdrinkformula

/cce # ccsuperserum

Super Tailor Feature:

When visiting the Tailor or Facemaker in City of Heroes or City of Villains, a new NPC is available. The NPC will allow you to change the inherent body type of your character. You can choose Male, Female or Huge body types. Additionally, you will be able to change your character’s height. So characters can change from a short, skinny civilian to a HUGE powered brute!

*Note : The described scenario will only work if you have an additional costume slot available at Level 20 or through the redemption of Halloween Salvage.

**The Super Science Booster is only available for a limited time on the Test Server in order to make sure we iron out any bugs that may still be lingering. (This is your chance to get a free sneak peek before it goes live) Characters that were not copied over to test prior to the patch will not have access to the Super Science Booster.

*** Please also note that we have disabled a back end process that copies over ‘active’ account status. This means that if your subscription ends today, or through the end of the week, you will be unable to access the Training Room until we re-enable that back end process. All active accounts that are not set to expire today (or through the rest of the week) will be unaffected."

Is it worth coming back for a bit?

2009-06-23T20:07:00.000-05:00

Do you guys still play semi regularly?

New Billboard Graphics for CoH

2009-06-13T18:31:00.014-05:00

Hey guys, Mouse-Man here with some new billboards to use with your City of Heroes game via Splasher!
I was getting a little bored with my old boards so I threw these together for a bit of flavor to the dull ol' Paragon background. If you have any ideas for more leave a comment. Enjoy!
Woot! Bonus! Movie Posters!

Vanguard Sigil Costume Change from Issue 15

2009-06-10T05:53:00.003-05:00

For those of you not on the Test server, or those who are but do not have the 100 Vanguard Merits to purchase it yet, here's the new costume change emote courtesy of Leandro from the CoH boards.

Transformers 2 Theme

2009-06-09T15:36:00.004-05:00

"Transformers 2: The Rise of the Fallen" has officially been elevated to really freaking awesome by this one simple thing...

Cheap Trick has recorded the theme song for the soundtrack. Kick ass... end of discussion.

And if that isn't enough giant robot for ya... then head to Japan and check this bad boy out...

Yes.. it's cool. And yes... it is REAL... Not CGI. Not a photoshop. 59 feet of Gundam metal standing around in Odaiba, Japan. Kind speechless aren't ya?

Real Life Supers

2009-06-04T23:55:00.000-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/06/04/real.life.superheroes/index.html

Interesting....

2009-05-31T14:47:00.001-05:00

Muppets Eleven

Green Lantern the Movie Fan Trailer

2009-05-27T07:04:00.001-05:00

How freaking awesome is that? I know it isn't real, but I still want to see it.

MA Badges Nerfed

2009-05-21T20:18:00.001-05:00

Cut & Pasted from the CoH boards...

"Greetings everyone,

I wanted to fill you all in on our plans for the Mission Architect badges and also our plans for future badges as well. We really didn't want the Mission Architect to be an environment that encourages farming for XP, Rewards or Badges, and we thought long and hard about the current Architect badge situation. Ultimately we'd like it to be a place where you go to play great player created content.

So, going forward--beginning with the Mission Architect badges--we've decided to move away from "count" badges that might encourage farming and/or aberrant game play. Instead, we'd like to encourage players to try all of our content by offering badges for completing 1 time accomplishments and achievements. What this means for the Mission Architect badges is that many of them are going to be removed in Issue 15. This is because they encouraged farming, because they encouraged aberrant behavior by doing one thing over and over again, they were unobtainable by a large portion of our players, or earning them was completely out of a player's hands and in the hands of other players.

I'd like to outline the Architect badge changes to show you precisely what will be happening in Issue 15. Below is a list of badges that are being removed:

Adventurer
Plugged In
Escapist
Hardcore Gamer
Ticket Hound
Ticket Fiend
Ticket Master
Golden Ticket
Creator
Story Teller
Writer
Bard
Acclaimed
Illustrious
Renowned
Living Legend
The Chosen One
Discerning
Aficionado
Maven
Connoisseur
Button Masher
Impulsive
Unpredictable
Pressed the Red Button
Virtual Victor
Virtual Destroyer
Virtual Warrior
Virtual Soldier
Virtual Slayer
Virtual Button Masher
Virtually Curious
Virtually Erratic
Evaluator
Reviewer
Judge
Two Thumbs Up
Windfall
Bounty
Premium
Bonanza
Jackpot
Virtual Ticket Taker
Virtual Ticket Hound
Virtual Ticket Fiend
Virtual Ticket Master
Virtual Golden Ticket
Activated
Encouraged
Motivated
Galvanized
Hall of Famer
Builder
Constructor
Engineer
Designer
Master Builder
Resolute
Undaunted
Virtuous
Champion of Justice
Evildoer
Malefactor
Nefarious
Diabolical
Show Off
Hotshot
Went the Extra Mile
Overachiever
Do Gooder
Safekeeper
Savior
To The Rescue
Virtual Do Gooder
Virtual Guardian
Virtual Savior
Virtual Rescuer
Decimator
Obliterator
Marauder
Cataclysmic
Virtual Decimation
Virtual Obliteration
Virtual Marauder
Virtual Cataclysm
Eliminator
Liquidator
Executioner
Terminator

Below is a list of Architect badges that will remain:

Thrill Seeker
Gamer
Ticket Taker
Author
Recognized
Mission Engineer
Early Bird
Admiring
Poor Impulse Control
Virtually Impulsive
Critic
Customizer
Bug Fixer
Energized
Among Friends
Heroic
Villainous
Workaholic
Virtual Victim
Payoff
Extractor
Virtual Extractor
Destructive
Assassin

Now, as a player myself after reading this I would have a ton of questions: What does this mean for pre-I14 badges? What about future badges? Why did the Dev Choice and Hall of Famer badges go away?

I'd like to answer those questions now:

Q: What about non-Mission Architect badges?

A: We have no current plans to revisit old badges at this time, and I don't foresee us doing this really. All badges unrelated to the Mission Architect will remain unaffected by the changes outlined above.

Q: If I've already earned the Architect badges, will I get to keep them?

A: No. Only the badges listed above in the "badges that will remain" section will be kept.

Q: What can you tell me about future badges?

A: As I quickly mentioned above, our plans for future badges excludes many types of "count" badges. This means we will try to avoid badges that require repetitious tasks, aberrant play styles and give the illusion of "grindiness." There may be "count" badges in the future, but they won't be based on something you can grind at to achieve. An example would be a count badge for the number of badges you collect. That's all I can really say right now as I don't want to spoil any of the exciting badges that will go into future issues at this time.

Q: Why did the Dev Choice and Hall of Famer badges get removed?

A: We realize that a lot of players worked really hard for these badges and to create content worthy of these prestigious awards. However, we want badges to be something that everyone can obtain. We also want badges to be completely within a player's grasp, so no outside influence should affect earning these badges. The Hall of Famer badge and the Builder line of badges are a perfect example of why these badges are being removed. We saw a lot of griefing done by certain players against players who had highly rated missions that would prevent them from ever getting into Hall of Fame and earning this badge. We wanted having missions flagged Dev Choice or Hall of Fame to be coveted by authors, not by badgers. Thus these badges are also being removed.

Q: What can you tell me about the badges that remain?

A: These badges have all been modified so that they are granted for a first time accomplishment. For example: The first time you rescue a kidnapped NPC you'll earn the Extractor badge. The same goes for the other badges that will remain in Issue 15. They're much easier to earn, but they require a player to try every aspect of Mission Architect to earn them all.

Q: What about the Mission Engineer Accolade badge?

A: This badge had its required badges changed to the following:

Thrill Seeker
Gamer
Ticket Taker
Author
Recognized
Early Bird
Customizer
Bug Fixer

This means that this accolade will be significantly easier to get now, which means that a lot of players--that published and played Architect missions--will find themselves earning this accolade and find themselves with the really cool ability to edit and publish architect content from anywhere, including your Supergroup base by simply clicking a power icon.

Q: If I have some or all of the badges listed as badges that will remain, will I get to keep them?

A: Absolutely. You should not have to earn the remaining badges again.

I'd like to close by saying that to some of you this might appear be an extreme decision, but we want you to know that this was done to make the Mission Architect fulfill its designed purpose: to be a place where content creators could write to their hearts' content or for players who want to explore the endless content created by other players. We feel that these changes are a step closer to this goal. Also, don't be surprised if you see Architect badges in future issues as well as we make this feature even more robust than was available at launch.

Thanks for reading,
Synapse"

WTF?!?!

2009-05-18T15:50:00.001-05:00

Goin' Rogue... Part 3

2009-05-12T16:27:00.001-05:00

The press release...

NCsoft and Paragon Studios to Challenge Gamers to Walk the Line Between Good and Evil--or Cross it!

SEATTLE, Washington - May 12, 2009 - NCsoft®, the world's premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), and Paragon Studios™, the developer of City of Heroes®, today announced the development of City of Heroes Going Rogue™, the first major expansion for the City of Heroes franchise since the launch of City of Villains® in 2005. As the name implies, Going Rogue will blur the line between heroes and villains in the first and longest-running super-powered comic book MMO game.

In the Going Rogue expansion, hero and villain characters will become immersed in the new parallel universe known as Praetoria, which is governed by Tyrant™, the evil incarnation of the game's main protagonist, Statesman™. As gamers search for Tyrant and the rest of his Praetorian guard, implacable foes and fierce resistance will arise to face them from all sides, causing heroes and villains alike to question their loyalties.

City of Heroes Going Rogue will introduce a new alignment system that helps players explore the shades of gray that lie between good and evil. For the first time, hero characters can become villains and vice versa, enabling hero archetypes to cross over to the Rogue Isles™ and villain archetypes to experience Paragon City™. Clearly marked missions, in addition to behaviors and decisions made by the player, will move a hero's or villain's moral compass, which could eventually change the hero's or villain's alignment. Going Rogue will also introduce two primary new fictional characters representative of this alignment shift in the game's lore: Maelstrom, a pistol-wielding hero gone rogue, and Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain who has been redeemed.

"City of Heroes has brought a fresh new perspective to the MMO stage with its foray into the super-powered hero comic book genre, and we are excited to present gamers with even more innovative content in Going Rogue," said Brian Clayton, general manager and executive producer at Paragon Studios. "For years, players could choose between playing as a hero or a villain. Now we will present a third, malleable path where players can be affected by the results of their actions, enabling them to further develop, unveil new perspectives, and overcome new challenges."

NCsoft will share more details on Going Rogue in the coming months. The game is currently in development by NCsoft's Paragon Studios, the City of Heroes development team that most recently launched the ground-breaking Mission Architect system. The launch of Mission Architect sets a significant milestone for City of Heroes as the first MMO to allow players to create user-generated content. City of Heroes has and continues to set new standards among its MMO peers and player community with its engaging and approachable comic book-inspired universe theme and consistent delivery of concepts that break the standard MMO mold.

For more information about City of Heroes, go to http://www.cityofheroes.com. For more information about Paragon Studios, go to http://paragonstudios.com. For more news about NCsoft, go to http://us.ncsoft.com/en/news or http://us.ncsoft.com/en/news/press-releases.

About NCsoft
NCsoft, headquartered in Seoul, Korea, is the world's premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games, including the critically acclaimed Lineage®, Guild Wars® and City of Heroes® franchises. NCsoft West is a division of NCsoft that holds operating responsibilities for North America, Europe, South America, and Australia/New Zealand. Read more information at http://us.ncsoft.com.

About Paragon Studios
Paragon Studios is a wholly owned development studio of NCsoft West and is dedicated to the growth of the City of Heroes franchise. Located in Mountain View, California, the team at Paragon Studios brings the world of comic books alive in a massively multiplayer 3D online universe. For more about Paragon Studios, visit http://paragonstudios.com. For more information about City of Heroes, go to http://www.cityofheroes.com.

NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, PlayNC, Lineage, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, City of Heroes Going Rogue, City of Villains, Paragon City, Rogue Isles, Statesman, Tyrant, and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Goin' Rogue... Part 2

2009-05-12T14:57:00.004-05:00

Going Rogue... sound familar? What about that survey that popped up last year... Was it really just a bunch of "what-ifs"?

"City of Heroes and City of Villains let players create unique characters and set forth as virtuous Heroes or evil Villains in a MMO comic book inspired universe. This expansion to the City of Heroes/Villains universe blurs the line between good and evil, between hero and villain. The Going Rogue system is a new game dynamic for City of Heroes and City of Villains that allows players to alter the morality of their characters, eventually opening up the opportunity to turn their Hero into a Villain or vice versa. By visiting different contacts in the game, players can start the process of "moving their moral compass" towards being a hero or a villain. Making this choice dramatically alters the gameplay for the player, as they will now be able to bring an Archetype (class) that was previously only available to players of City of Heroes into City of Villains, and vice versa. Once a character has switched sides, they can continue down the path they have chosen, or use the opportunity to subvert their new allies through a series of espionage-style missions. In addition to this new game altering dynamic, new neutral starting zones allow new players to select their Archetype (class) first, and then let their actions determine their hero, villain or rogue identities. At the high levels, rewards for these moral choices will be found in new PVP, PVE and Co-op zones. Accomplishments will lead to rewards that will significantly distinguish level 50 characters from one another.One such reward is the Universal Enhancement Slots. Ten Universal Enhancement Slots are available to be earned in the expansion, and each one has the potential of adding significant power to the character, essentially bringing them to a hypothetical "Level 60" once they have earned all ten slots. For existing City of Heroes and City of Villains players who have previously reached the level cap of 50, the Expansion will take them into outer space where they can now find challenges that test their powers and skills to the max. On an alien space station that mysteriously appears over Earth, Heroes and Villains will race to unlock the secrets of the place and be the first to reap the rewards that are only available to the best of the best. A brand new Spy Archetype (class), power sets and player costume options will lead to a massive amount of new character and gameplay options. And a significantly enhanced character creator system will now allow characters to customize the effects (looks and colors) of their super powered attacks and defenses. Here is some other things that were mentioned in the survey... 1.) New high level Space Station Zones (PVE, PVP, & Co-op) 2.) Characters that do not wish to change sides are rewarded by becoming exemplary heroes or villains, and earning rewards not available any other way 3.) Heroes and villains who go to the other side can also act as Double-Agents 4.) Character Creator 2.0 includes Powers Customization, allowing players to customize not only the character, but also the actual look of its powers 5.) Players undertake missions that define their character's morality and steer them in a more heroic or villainous direction 6.) By switching sides (going from good to bad or bad to good), players can access content "on the other side" (heroes can experience villain zones and content, and villains can experience hero zones and content) 7.) Completely new low-level player experience/zones for new characters in which new characters do not begin a hero or villain, rather become one or the other through early gameplay 8.) New Spy Archetype, Power Sets & Costumes 9.) Universal Enhancement Slots - at level 50, these enhance powers to the character, essentially bringing them to a hypothetical "Level 60" once they have earned all ten slots Here are some of the suggested names you had to choose from for the new content... Rogues or Vigilantes Rogues or Spies Spies or Vigilantes Moral Compass or Morality Meter Shades of Gray or Crossing Over Allegiance or Alliance Now this part of the survey offered information about the new Player Based Mission Content.... This is a new module for City of Heroes, fictionally presented as a training exercise for Heroes and Villains, that allows players to build their own Missions and Story Arcs and share them with others in the game. Using an intuitive interface similar to the game's detailed Character Creator, players can create missions by selecting options like size and type of map/environment, mission objectives and encounter types, and difficulty level of each encounter. Additionally, players can write all mission story fiction and character dialogue. Players can create their own missions and they can play missions that have been created by other players. Once you have finalized and "published" your missions, they are accessible by all players across all servers. All players can rate player created missions and a Mission Browser lets players find available missions and story arcs through a variety of tabs, sorts and filters in an auction house type environment. As missions are played and more people positively rate them, the creator gains rewards and access to unlockable content for his/her missions. Rewards will also be given to players of the missions. Players will gain rewards such as badges and even XP for playing user created missions and StoryArcs. Here is a list of the feature from the player based mission creator... 1.) Write your own dialog for all aspects of the mission. 2.) Build Missions and Story Arcs using a Character Creator-like interface 3.) Players can build powers for some NPCs by selecting from a group of primary and secondary power pools and attaching them to the NPCs 4.)Players can build a boss (and other NPCs) to place within their mission by creating its looks in the Character Creator and assigning it the powers of an existing NPC (non playable character) 5.) Select a variety of components for the overall mission including Level Range, Map, Length, Villain Group, Pacing, Time to Complete, Goals/type of mission, etc. 6.) Customize Encounters to your preference (Place in End Room, Select Villain Group, Name Boss, Select Critter Type, Select Hostage NPC Critter, etc.) 7.) Using an in-game auction house type interface, other players can find user created StoryArcs across all shards 8.) Creators can include their own character as a contact within the mission(s) 9.) Creators don't have access to high level content (environments, NPCs, etc.) until their own characters have encountered/defeated them in the main game. 10.) Using an out-of-game web interface, other players can find user created StoryArcs across all shards 11.) Rewarding creators of the most popular content with exclusive unlockable content such as signature heroes and villains or unique maps 12.) A rating system that allows players to rate missions or flag them for inappropriate content, allowing the developer to remove bad content and potentially ban players 13.) Players can enter the mission maps to adjust placement of the NPC spawns from their pre-selected positions"

Hmm, seems like a lot of this is starting to actually happen... So what about the stuff we haven't seen on the list? Space station? Power customization? Universal Enhancement slots?

2009-05-12T11:55:00.001-05:00

Going Rogue

Looking bad ass.

The upcoming Going Rogue Expansion aims to blur the line between good and evil. Players who have chosen a set path will now be able to experience the other side of the game that they haven't before. General Manager and Executive Producer, Brian Clayton says:

"City of Heroes has brought a fresh new perspective to the MMO stage with its foray into the super-powered hero comic book genre, and we are excited to present gamers with even more innovative content in Going Rogue. For years, players could choose between playing as a hero or a villain. Now we will present a third, malleable path where players can be affected by the results of their actions, enabling them to further develop, unveil new perspectives, and overcome new challenges."

According to NCSoft, More details will be revealed in the coming months.

2009-05-08T04:14:00.000-05:00

Ummmmm....yeah 1960's Batman please go away

The Dark Knight: 1960s Version

And so, the fit hits the shan...

2009-05-05T18:19:00.002-05:00

As per this post by Positron...

"When we created Mission Architect, the goal was to have an outlet for players to craft cool stories, using our assets, that other players could play and participate in. Other players could rate those stories and the best-of-the best would rise to the top.

While we have accomplished some of those goals with the initial launch of Mission Architect, some have found ways to abuse the system we put in place. We are not blind to this happening, nor did we not expect it. However, it is time to take action regarding it, so please be aware that we are about to implement a zero-tolerance stance on the extreme abuse we are seeing in the system.

One thing was made clear to me when I interacted with the players on our Anniversary. It was that you guys really don’t like the powerlevelling that is going on with MA. The constant spam of MA PL teams forming, requests for “Meow” missions, 5 star badge cartels, and the inability to find quality content in the Mission Architect listing are all things I heard complaints about over and over while I was logged in on Tuesday.

So here is a list of things that are going to happen:

• Players that have abused the reward system egregiously may lose benefits they have gained - leading up to and perhaps including losing access to the characters power-leveled in this fashion.

• Currently, some badges are being modified, and some may be removed from the game entirely. The list of changes being made to the MA badge system is not final yet, but you will be made aware when we have a concrete plan.

• Players who knowingly use an exploit when creating an arc, run the risk of having access to MA suspended, or worse- depending on the severity of the action, their account banned.

• Players who have a story arc banned for any reason, will have it continue to use up one of their publishing slots. Players will NOT be able to unpublish this slot without Customer Service’s help. This sets up a “three strikes and you’re out” policy. If an individual gets three story arcs banned, they will no longer be able to publish since their slots will all be used up with banned arcs.
•• This lock will not take place on the first level of “complaint banning”, where an arc has received a larger number of complaints. Players will still have a chance to fix the arc.
•• If Customer Service looks at an arc and determines it was banned in error, they will mark it as “unbannable”. At that point the arc can not be banned for any reason. The unbannable flag will reset if the player makes any changes to the arc at that point, and the arc can be banned again.
•• Remember, publishing slots are account wide, so players will not be able to log in another character on their account and use their slots instead.
•• Players are urged to avoid using common farming terms in their story title and/or descriptions. Even if it’s a joke, DO NOT run the risk of having an arc banned and requiring Customer Support to grant you your publishing slot back.

Some of you have taken the stance of “how does powerlevelling hurt the game?” and “shouldn’t I be able to play the game the way that I want?” What we want to make clear is in order to keep the game fair, balanced, and challenging, we have to maintain a risk:reward ratio. This is a ratio we’ve spent years attempting to achieve. Mission Architect is not immune to this, and we are taking swift action to see that the problems players are seeing and are being exposed to are remedied"

Heavy handed? Yeah, I'd say so... But we saw it coming, from beta. It was always living on borrowed time. The real question is "What becomes of AE now?"
Granted, with every new issue people flock in droves to the new shiny toy and ignore the old content. We saw it with the ITF, Warzone... and now this. But never with the XP being the big drawing allure that an AE mission had.
Mind you, I think this just step one... When the nerfs are done hopefully a great new feature doesn't go the way of the Arena.... When was the last time you stepped inside one?

R.I.P. Captain Chaos

2009-05-05T15:41:00.002-05:00

You were always a hero to me. Godspeed, Dom... thanks for the laughter.

Don't @%&* with Benny the Cop!

2009-04-22T06:49:00.003-05:00

I'm pretty sure this is how my brother sees himself at work.

Arc ID's for VanGuard Unlimited

2009-04-15T02:36:00.007-05:00

Ok guys and ladies

Once a week we will be updating the site with new Arc ID's for us to run and get a large amount of Prestige/XP/Tickets. These will also be nice for power leveling new toons to get them to at least Lv 20. Now and again I'm sure we will not have anything new, just keep a look out. Here are a couple I put together.

Arc ID:73666
The ZoneEnder Plot: 80-Saves 50-patrols 1-Boss
Tickets-3400-3600 per run

This meant for a very large amount of tickets and will be a bit time consuming. Be prepared.

Arc ID:60395
VanGuard Unlimited Prestige: 45-Saves 1-Boss

Much smaller map and groups. This will be for quick runs.

Tap Tap....is this thing on?

2009-04-07T16:26:00.001-05:00

Sorry I missed you when you came up, college can be a wicked mistress.
Hope your trip went well.

Btw....

2009-03-20T06:37:00.001-05:00

Otter,

When are you headed up this way?