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Champions Online dev diary details Power Armor review process
After seeing a certain summer superhero film, some people may have been overwhelmed by the urge to fly around in an awesome high-tech armor suit that makes things go boom. Unfortunately, we can't all be Tony Stark, but Cryptic is here to help with a detailed post on the recent additions to Champions Online's Power Armor powerset. The post outlines the entire process behind designing and implementing the myriad improvements while highlighting some of the new abilities being brought to the table. The process begins with the gathering of community feedback, after which the developers sit down and hash out ideas based on power designer Matt Danuser's "vision for the set, including any new power or mechanic fixes... it needs." Then the designers, artists, and programmers kick into high gear by implementing the powers in the game, creating graphics for them, and making sure that there are no glaring imbalances in the mechanics. Then it's off to the public test shard for more community feedback. For Danuser's full blog on the subject, head on over to the Champions Online official site.
Walk softly and carry a big stick with City of Heroes' new Staff Fighting powerset
In the high-fantasy-laden MMO space, staves have long been relegated to the realm of things-for-spellcasters-to-hold-while-finger-wiggling, but what happened to the good ol' days of just bludgeoning the daylights out of someone with a big stick? Well, thanks to City of Heroes, those days are back courtesy of the new Staff Fighting powerset, though there's no word as to whether it will also allow you to walk softly. What it will allow you to do, though, is fight in one of three different forms (Body, Mind, or Soul), each of which provides you with a unique stacking buff that can then be consumed to execute the powerful Eye of the Storm and Sky Splitter abilities. The new powerset is available for the Brute, Scrapper, Stalker, and Tanker archetypes, and would-be kung-fu masters can pick it up from the Paragon Market for 800 Paragon Points.
Embrace the darkness with City of Heroes' Issue 22
City of Heroes players better prepare themselves for another descent into the realm of Dark Astoria because in the upcoming Issue 22, Paragon Studios is sending them right back to the twisted realm. Of course, there's a catch: Dark Astoria is being twisted and transformed "into a Level 50 Incarnate co-op zone, with missions that can unlock Incarnate abilities for both Heroes and Villains." But high-level Incarnate players aren't the only ones getting goodies in Issue 22; a new low-level trial -- morbidly titled Drowning in Blood -- is also being introduced in the update. And who could forget the new powersets? Not us! Controllers and Dominators are being given access to the Darkness Control main powerset as well as the Darkness Affinity and Dark Assault secondary sets (for Controllers and Dominators, respectively). For the full preview of City of Heroes' Issue 22, just click on through the link below to the game's official site.
City of Heroes takes to the shadows with new Darkness Control info
It's time for yet another issue of The Intrepid Informer, and this time the spotlight is on one of City of Heroes' upcoming new power set, Darkness Control. Darkness Control does exactly what it says on the tin, granting players dominion over the powers of darkness in order to subjugate and control their enemies. With a number of roots, debuffs, and even a couple of pets, the Darkness Control powerset is sure to please Controllers and Dominators of all varieties. But wait, that's not all. In addition to the Darkness Control power set, Paragon Studios is introducing two new secondary power sets: Darkness Affinity for Controllers and Dark Assault for Dominators. All of these new power sets will be free to VIP players, though premium players will have to purchase the Darkness Control set on the Paragon Market. Oh, and before we forget, be sure to drop into City of Heroes March 16th to 19th for a double XP weekend. For the full details on the new power set as well as some handy tips and tricks from the designers, just click on past the link below to the City of Heroes official site.
City of Heroes Intrepid Informer grapples with the Titan Weapons powerset
City of Heroes' Intrepid Informer is on the scene again, and this time it's highlighting a new powerset: Titan Weapons. The powerset is exactly what its name suggests. It focuses on wielding massive tools of destruction and cutting a swath through enemies with brutal swipes. Titan Weapons users will use a new mechanic known as momentum. As you might imagine, momentum starts out building slowly, but once a player has some momentum built, he can unleash a flurry of AoE attacks to finish off his foes. For a complete run-down of the powers available to Titan Weapons characters and the details on what each one does, head on over to the official site.
DC Universe Online's Lightning Strikes DLC pack announced
DC Universe Online has had a lot to say about its recent free-to-play transition, with the game boasting a one million player increase since the change took place. But that's in the past already; what's en route in the near future? Well, today Sony Online Entertainment is announcing the latest round of DLC for the freshly F2P superhero game. The new DLC is entitled Lightning Strikes, and it focuses on everyone's favorite speedster, Flash. The update will bring a variety of new content for veteran and fledgling players alike. So what can players look forward to when Lightning Strikes? We sat down with some of the game's developers to find out, so follow on past the cut and have a gander.
Take justice to the streets in City of Heroes
If you're not satisfied taking out thugs with merely a katana or a kick, then Paragon Studios has your answer: Street Justice. It's a brand-new powerset just released in City of Heroes Freedom, available to Scrappers, Brutes, Stalkers, and Tankers. It looks like a flashier mashup of the Martial Arts and Super Strength sets, and according to a post by Paragon's Phil "Synapse" Zeleski, Street Justice is like many of the newer CoH sets in that it comes with a special mechanic, in this case, combo levels and finishing moves that give more freedom to the player than does the similar gameplay hook of Dual Blades. Street Justice is available for purchase in the game's cash shop for 800 Paragon Points (about $10 US). It is one of two new powersets not granted freely to VIP subscribers. Check out the video after the break to peek before you buy.
City of Heroes to get frickin' laser beams [Updated]
If there's one common cry on the City of Heroes forums, it's "give us new power sets!" Fortunately, the upcoming Freedom expansion aims to deliver just that. This morning, CoH's Phil "Synapse" Zeleski offered up a new dev blog outlining one of the planned power sets, Beam Rifle. Available to Blasters and Corruptors (as a primary set) and Defenders (as a secondary set), Beam Rifle is heavy on the AoE and features a signature cascading Disintegrate effect, which can be spread to nearby enemies and causes targets to take ever more damage from the power set's attacks. In a nod to style, Synapse noted that "plasma beams from movies, games, and other sources were the inspiration for the style of beam used by this power set" and that it has "a synthetic, futuristic sound with some 'grime' added [to make it] sound powerful." In related news, Paragon Studios has reiterated that various CoH-flavored purchasables on the NCsoft store website, including the booster packs and expansion boxes, will be discontinued in advance of the looming F2P conversion. If you can't live without a Steampunk costume in the meantime, you have until August 30th to get your fix. [Update: A second dev blog outlining each of Beam Rifle's powers in-depth is also now available on the official website.]
The Daily Grind: What in-game sounds drive you bonkers?
Way back when I first started playing City of Heroes, I became enamored with the Defender archetype. I made Defender after Defender until all my slots were full, and then deleted some to make even more. But the one powerset I'd never choose, even on the pain of death, torture and Arby's, was Force Fields. Why? It's really quite simple: the sounds. Oh, those high-pitched whiny sounds that set my teeth on edge! I hated grouping with anyone who had those turned on, and for years I deeply wished that NCsoft would allow us to disable some game sounds while retaining all of the others. But I don't mean to pick on just City of Heroes here. Every game has sounds that annoy and grate on our ears, and today we want to hear about your most-hated in-game noises. Which sounds do you wish developers would change or eliminate altogether? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Alter-Ego: Five favorite Fire tank powers
I'll admit it: Of all the powers I've played with in DC Universe Online thus far, the Fire and Ice powersets are undoubtedly my two personal favorites. Normally I'm not so much the tanking type, but there's something about these two trees that just satisfies the comic book nerd in me. I grew up watching my favorite heroes taking on incredible odds, being beaten down, and triumphing at the end of the day. However, as in any MMO involving endgame raiding, no man is an island. While I might enjoy standing toe-to-toe with the bad guys, if I don't have a good group behind me, there's only so much I can do before I'm spending quality time with the defeat button. This is where I have to note that specific endgame "builds" don't appear to be quite as easy to create in DC Universe Online as they are in other games such as World of Warcraft. As DCUO is still in its infancy, there are many players who are working hard on theorycrafting statistics. This means that there simply aren't any 100%-perfect cookie-cutter builds everyone adheres to as yet. Still, there are some power choices that seem to be fairly popular for Fire tanks in this early stage, which is what we'll be taking a look at this week.
Shocking revelations in the newest City of Heroes developer diary
It's fair to say that Going Rogue is going to be a fairly big shock to the system of City of Heroes -- especially if the control-oriented archetypes have anything to say about it. The fourth powerset included with the expansion, Electrical Control, hasn't gotten quite as much press time as Kinetic Melee, Dual Pistols, or Demon Summoning. But it's got just as much spark as the others -- more, in fact -- and a new offsite developer diary by Floyd "Castle" Grubb and Keetsie Braz da Cunha focuses on both the visual and mechanical design of the powers. As Castle describes it, the powerset wasn't originally designed for player use, but as a testbed of several concepts to see how they would play out in the game engine. It was converted to a player set when Going Rogue approached, however... which required a re-design of several parts of the set. The visuals were a hurdle as well, seeing as the set had to feel visually distinct from the many other electricity-themed powers the game already possesses. Take a look at the full diary to see how the problems were solved, showing City of Heroes players another peek at how the development team is conducted.
Meet the ultimate City of Heroes Issue 13 guide, Infoman
Walking down the street, you're suddenly stopped by a man wearing a fedora and trench coat. "Hey you, yeah you!" he spits out in hushed tones. "Uh, what's up?" you respond cautiously."Yo, the name's Infoman," he looks about nervously, like someone may be watching him, "check out the merchandise" opening his jacket to reveal countless links for articles all about the recent City of Heroes' Issue 13 update. Everything from the Positron interview at Joystiq to in-depth fan-made videos of all the new systems added into the game."It's all free, take whatever ya like." says the calm street walker, who now seems like a pretty nice guy. "I'll take that Floyd 'Castle' Grubb interview about the new powersets." you say. He nods, hands it over and says, "I gots more if'n you want it, kid. Be down at the docks." and struts off down the street whistling a tune.
The 26 Shields of City of Heroes
When we logged into City of Heroes to check out the new Shield powerset released in yesterday's Issue 13 patch, the one thing that we were not expecting was to find 26 shield types to choose from. It took us quite a while to settle on a shield, as our impulse was to have them all. Once we did make our selection though, it dawned on us that we should share this amazing catalogue of bodily protection with the rest of the world.We'd like to stress that this isn't every mutation of all the shields, otherwise this would be called "The 4,532 Shields of City of Heroes" and that just doesn't have the same ring to it. Plus, we value what little social lives we actually have. So without further day we present to you, our dear Massively readers, the 26 shields of City of Heroes.%Gallery-38575%
