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Player help system added to City of Heroes
If you're looking for a game that's friendly to new players, you could do far worse than City of Heroes. After all, it's friendly to groups or solo players, has a plethora of powers and archetypes available for every playstyle, and offers a broad range of content for everyone. But it can also be intimidating, what with seven years of backlog. That's why among its many other features, Issue 20 included a brand-new player mentoring system to help new players find the help they need. Players who log on for the first time since the patch launch will see a dialog box with three options -- "Helper," "Help Me!" or "Neither." The last category is an opt out, but choosing to be a helper gives you the temporary Helper title as well as a golden name. The brand-new Help Channel has also been added to the global chat channels, allowing players to ask for help and guidance from the City of Heroes community as needed. So go forth, enjoy the update, and know that help is just a "Help Me!" away!
City of Heroes offers an Issue 20 overview and development journal
PAX East is just around the corner, and it marks the second east coast appearance of the Paragon Studios team. Last year the developers had an upcoming expansion to preview, but this year nevertheless promises to still have plenty of revelations for the City of Heroes fans, starting with the new Issue 20 overview page available today. Aside from the two known Incarnate Trials, the page also previews two new task forces for characters in the 20-40 range as well as more respec trials available for heroes or villains who change alignment. If the overview alone isn't enough to get you fired up for the upcoming Issue 20, the latest installment of the Intrepid Informer previews one of the new areas designed for the patch: a fortress made of lashed-together ships. Gilbert Martinez, one of the game's art leads, explains the process that led to creating an evocative new piece of scenery. City of Heroes players have plenty to look forward to in the near future, not the least of which being an upcoming patch with some pretty interesting content.
City of Heroes offering a sneak peek of Issue 20 content
The team at Paragon Studios is talking a pretty big game for Issue 20 of City of Heroes. We've already seen a preview of one of the major additions of content, which will also herald several new features to the game, including an auto-team queueing function. Not sure how it will be implemented? Then jump on in for the special sneak preview event on Wednesday, starting at 7:00 p.m. EST, when players on the test server will get to try out the upcoming Behavioral Adjustment Facility for themselves. As this event is taking place on the test servers, the usual caveats that content may change significantly before release do apply. That being said, it's an opportunity to put the major new systems into play, giving players a chance to test out the queue system as well as the League setup, and of course, the Incarnate trial. If that's not incitement enough, the development team will be on-hand to answer questions and take part in the experience. City of Heroes players with a bit of free time on Wednesday are encouraged to head over and adjust some behaviors with extreme prejudice.
Adjust your behavior in City of Heroes
The war between Primal Earth and Praetoria continues in City of Heroes, and the battlefields are expanding. Emperor Cole's Praetorians struck the first blow, but the residents of Primal Earth are fighting back, starting with the Behavioral Adjustment Facility in the Imperial City. That's the site of the new Incarnate Trial previewed today, a trial in which heroes and villains alike are racing to stop the plans of Siege and Nightstar, two searingly intelligent Clockwork overseeing the process known as "Mindwashing." Starting with players attempting to break into the facility, the trial sends players against several facility guards. Successfully cutting down the opposition will start a confrontation with Nightstar and her cadre of Victoria-class Clockwork defenders. Her defeat, unfortunately, signals the release of the Mindwashed prisoners, forcing players to engage in a battle against several control-immune enemies before moving on to fight Siege. But that alone doesn't spell the end of the trial -- there's one more fight in the wings, a battle that should prompt players to think outside the box if they want to emerge victorious. City of Heroes players should take a gander at the full preview and get ready to take the war to Praetoria when Issue 20 goes live.
City of Heroes talks about the Animal Pack and endgame accessibility
Yesterday saw the announcement of the newest add-on pack for City of Heroes, but that's hardly the only news to come out for the game this week. A new developer diary has been released which details the creation of the Animal Pack -- what elements are in the pack, what elements were left out, and why some animals were picked over others. It sheds some light on both the genesis of this specific pack and the usual development process for the additions. But if you're more content-minded, you'll probably be even happier about the latest Producer's Letter by Nate Birkholz, detailing the upcoming Incarnate Trials of Issue 20 and the team's plans to address endgame accessibility. The Incarnate Trials are a step toward ensuring that any player with a level 50 character and the expansion can take part in the Incarnate system, with looser group requirements and a new queueing system to let players jump in without a pre-formed group. There's also more talk about allowing more liberal acquisition of Incarnate Shards, even if you're level-matched to a lower-level character. It's the sort of accessibility and general freedom that's always been center stage for City of Heroes, which the new letter takes pains to stress.
City of Heroes developer diary: Going Rogue, new powersets, new enemies, new problems
As of right now, City of Heroes is in a state of flux. Like any game with a new expansion, the superhero game boasts features that are changing and endgame structures that are being disrupted, and the changes of Issue 19 promise to introduce an actual endgame into a game that's long lacked one. But it all started with the most recent expansion, one that gave players the chance to switch sides back in August -- Going Rogue. Much like Rome, the foundation for the expansion wasn't laid in a day. We were granted an early look at a developer diary by Floyd "Castle" Grubb, longtime veteran of the Paragon Studios team and lead designer for the Powers and Entities team. Take a look past the cut for his diary, explaining the various ways in which the powersets of the expansion were developed and fine-tuned, as well as highlights the new additions for both enemies and players.
