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Jukebox Heroes: City of Heroes' soundtrack
Really, how could it be anything else this week? By the first of December, a major MMO influence on my life will be gone for good. We will talk about it in the past tense with wistful tones, remembering the superheroic escapades and villainous schemes. It will be given a place of honor in many of our memories, and I truly believe that City of Heroes will echo throughout the industry and community for years to come. One of those echoes is the game's score, which will endure, as does every MMO's soundtrack. When I first started playing City of Heroes in 2004, the music made a big impression on me. It painted a picture of the game's locale and atmosphere perhaps better than anything else. Heck, you could play the game with your eyes closed and know which zone you were in by the music cues. That's how integral the score was to the game. So this is my final send-off to City of Heroes: a look at the highlight from its soundtrack from the launch through Freedom. Goodbye, City of Heroes... I'm going to really miss you. I won't miss the whine from the force field bubble, but I'll miss almost everything else.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: A critical year
It's been a little over two years now that I've been writing a regular column on City of Heroes, and in one sense that still feels very strange to me. I'm guessing that the novelty of doing this for a living is never going to entirely go away, for reasons that really have nothing to do with the topic of this column. But I'm not going to dwell on the more meta facts here; I'm going to focus instead on the past year of the column. This year was a try for something slightly different in both the tone and approach that I'd been taking with these columns. I finished off one major project, started another one, and along the way, I found that I gathered a very different attitude over time. In relationship terms, the first year of A Mild-Mannered Reporter was apparently still the "gushing" phase of a new relationship. This year has been much more about the flaws that City of Heroes has, both in structure and in design choices.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Issue 22 is all juiced out
On Christmas, Ms. Lady and I received a power juicer. This wasn't a bad present by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a present that left us momentarily baffled. We hadn't asked for a power juicer, we didn't feel a great need for a power juicer, and we weren't even sure exactly what to do with a power juicer. (Make juice, obviously, but beyond that?) It was a great present but one that struck us as so far out of left field that we really weren't quite sure how to use it at first, much less what it would offer us. Issue 22 of City of Heroes strikes me in much the same way. It's not that the update is bad or unwanted or unnecessary; it's that the entire thing is essentially aimed in a direction away from my own playstyle. I imagine a lot of free players are going to run into the same issue because even though it's being touted as the game's newest free update, there's precious little in there that's actually changed on the free side.
City of Heroes performs 'Death of a Statesman'
He's been the face on the package, the man on the cover, the big guy above all other big guys. But today, he is no more. Statesman, the most iconic hero in the City of Heroes lore, is going to meet his end, and it's time for everyone to say goodbye. Episode 5 of the signature story arc is live today, and while the titular question "Who Will Die?" has been answered, it's time to see what happens when Statesman does meet his end. There's more to do than just go play through the arc, however. A new issue of the Intrepid Informer is available in which Matt Miller discusses why the team decided that now is the right time to kill off the game's biggest hero. And if you need a little more help catching up with the story so far, the final vidoc on the arc is embedded just past the cut, giving players a recap of what the Freedom Phalanx is, what is represents, and what this death means for Paragon City.
City of Heroes opens up friend referrals once again
Are you the sort that gets by with a little help from your friends? How about getting a free month of game time with a little help from your friends? City of Heroes has rolled out a revamped version of its referral program, giving players goodies for successfully referred players, whether the person in question has never picked up the game before or has just been a lapsed player. And if your referral target subscribes, you both get a bonus. Any player who does not have an active City of Heroes account or has an account that's been inactive for 90 days is eligible for the referral, which can be processed through the official site or via the in-game market. Assuming your target subscribes for at least one month, you receive an extra month for free, and the referred player receives a bonus of 500 Paragon Points in the market. Paragon Studios, meanwhile, gets another player. So really, everyone wins.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The power reset
Respecs are a powerful tool in MMOs. They're a way for you to feel confident that no matter what choices you make when developing a character, you can make better ones further on down the line. Instead of worrying with each character decision that you're locked in to something you never wanted, you know with confidence that you can always back out if turns out that your abilities are actively causing you to die in horrible and unwanted ways. And in City of Heroes, you get three of them. This is the sort of thing that raises a few eyebrows, since having a limited number of choices to rectify your already-limited number of choices is not something to inspire confidence. And I'm not going to lie to you: It's certainly not the brightest decision in the world. But the hard limits on the total number of respecs you get doesn't actually mean you're forever locked in to terrible decisions. The fact of the matter is that for a number of reasons, you won't really care.
City of Heroes rolls out the Media Blitz
It's time to take the war against Praetoria to the airwaves, time to find out who is really at risk of death, and time to hoist a railroad crossing sign as a weapon. All of these things are true for the latest patch to City of Heroes -- Issue 21's special update Media Blitz hitting the servers today. The update features not one but two new Incarnate trials, with players facing off against Maelstrom and Mother Mayhem in a battle for the hearts and minds of the people of Praetoria. Today also sees the rollout of the fourth installment in the Signature Story Arc, which brings players still closer to knowing who is going to die among the Surviving Eight. Players can also toy around with the new Titan Weapons powerset, which gives everyone a chance at wielding a huge two-handed weapon with aplomb -- and if that doesn't sound like a fun ride, you may feel differently after checking out the preview video just past the break.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The Incarnate divide
The other week, our regular feature Global Chat featured an interesting comment by Blackcat7k regarding the City of Heroes Incarnate system. I'm not going to duplicate the entire comment here, but I'd encourage you to go read it so that we're all on the same page. In case you're in too much of a hurry to read, however, let me sum up: It's essentially lamenting that the Incarnate system has fundamentally broken the game's leveling and endgame structure, forcing players down a very narrow path in order to participate in most of the recent content additions. Long-time readers and perpetual archive trawlers will remember that I did an article about precisely what could happen when the Incarnate system went live about a year ago. Well, we've had quite some time to see the system in action and find out what works, what doesn't, and so forth. And the thing is, the comment was right. The bad outcome has come to pass, in many ways. The endgame is the Incarnate rush, and if you're not a part of it, you're on the sidelines. Of course, I'm not entirely convinced this isn't the best that could be hoped for.
City of Heroes aims at accessorizing with the new Gunslinger Set
Do you find yourself frequently dealing in lead in City of Heroes? Then perhaps your hero could use the accoutrements to match his or her habit of solving every problem with gunplay. The Gunslinger Set is a new featured item in the market, and it brings with it the usual assortment of costume pieces for making your perfect Western-themed hero, including a fine selection of new firearms for any would-be gunslinger looking to snipe at some criminals. The whole package is available for 400 points in the store, but if you'd rather buy items piecemeal the option remains as always. And if you've mostly been kept away from the game's subscription fee by the lack of proper gunslinging attire, you'll be happy to know that the game is also offering players a special subscription deal through the end of December, giving players extra VIP subscription time when purchasing a membership for six months or a year at a time.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Spotlight on the Snakes
For the first several villain group spotlights, I haven't been focusing on problems that are unique to the Rogue Isles. This is not entirely by accident -- City of Heroes was what came first, and generally speaking, I'd say the most relevant villain groups started out in Paragon City. And most of those groups do wind up interfering with your activities for Arachnos, too, so it sort of balances out. But Mercy Island faces its own problem, one that starts slithering up from the depths... Unfortunately, this is also a threat that very quickly gets sent back underground. The Snakes are not really what you'd call a big-ticket villain group; they skulk in the shadows and are very quickly supplanted by other villainous organizations. And with the revamp to Mercy Island, they're no longer even your first enemies off the boat. So it's probably for the best that we remember the Snakes now because there might be no more Snakes to remember tomorrow.
Newest installment of the City of Heroes signature arc now available
By the end of the first signature arc for City of Heroes, one of the game's signature heroes from the Freedom Phalanx will be dead. But we're not even quite at the halfway point, as the third part has just been released to the Paragon Market. VIP subscribers, of course, get access to the arc for free. This installment sees Marshal Blitz of the Rogue Arachnos faction calling for a truce between heroes and villains... but is he genuine, or just trying to get Statesman's daughter into a vulnerable spot? If the new installment of the arc isn't your speed -- perhaps you don't have a character at or about level 30 -- there are also a few more toys in the Paragon Market, including a steep discount on the Temporal Manipulation powerset and a few low-level Enhancement sets. But if you've been following the story, you'll probably want to buy the arc -- or if you're a subscriber, just log in and start checking out the newest part.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Choose your side or don't
Do you remember Going Rogue? Of course you do, even if it's had some of its thunder retroactively stolen by City of Heroes Freedom. And of course you remember that one of its big selling points -- its only selling point at launch for existing characters, arguably -- was that you could swap between the alignments of the game. Villains could become Heroes, go back to being Villains, hang out as a Rogue for a while, and so on. It seemed like the sort of thing that would be a real game changer. Well, it's been more than a year since we first started seeing the groups swap sides, and surprisingly enough -- or not -- the much bigger change was in the business model alteration and the ensuing changes to the game environment. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but it brings to mind a question: Has there really been any long-term effect of the alignment system? If you aren't roleplaying the swap, does being one faction or the other even matter in the long run?
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Spotlight on the Circle of Thorns
Most of the lower-level enemies you face in City of Heroes are temporary threats at best. They're there, definitely, and you have to deal with them, but they aren't going to stick with you for the long term. You move on from the starter zones and they drift out of your memory. The only real exception are the cultists you occasionally run across, robed and whispering about destiny as they abduct citizens for very visual rituals. The Circle of Thorns never quite goes away. It's one of the most insidious groups within the game's setting, made all the worse because of its dogged persistence. And the funny part is that the group's not even particularly concerned with the heroes or villains of the setting. It's busy trying to finish a war that happened centuries ago, a war of gods and great sorcery, and everyone who gets killed is just collateral damage.
City of Heroes adding a haunted house to the Halloween event
In a game all about creating colorful costumes, you might expect that Halloween would be a major holiday. And for years that's been the case in City of Heroes, with a special costume slot only available via taking part in the event. But this year it's time to bring back something that's long been missing from the holiday event by instilling a sense of terror. There's a new part to the event now, Dr. Kane's House of Horror, and it's going live on the servers on October 20th. Accessed via the Team-up Teleporter, the house will be a cooperative venture for four players between 15-50, with heroes and villains alike seeking to prevent Dr. Kane from unleashing the unquiet dead upon the world. That's in addition to the usual festivities for the event, which include costume slots and zombie invasions across the game world. With City of Heroes Freedom in full effect, everyone can enjoy the celebration this year, even if you might not make it out of the new haunted house in one piece.
City of Heroes announces a player summit
City of Heroes has always had a development studio keenly interested in keeping players abreast of new developments. That's been reflected in the regular gatherings hosted by Paragon Studios for the players, but with the launch of the game's new business model, the team wants to have a much larger-scale event. That puts it beyond the realm of a mere gathering -- it's now being dubbed the City of Heroes Player Summit, taking place on November 19th in Palo Alto, California. While the details of what will take place at the summit are currently under wraps, the announcement promises that players will have a chance to chat with developers, attend special panels just for the summit, and walk away with a few extra goodies. It might be a bit of a trek if you're not already in the area, but if you're a longtime player of the game, it might be worth a trip to the West Coast just to see what will be on the agenda for the summit.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Begin again again
If you like playing a few hundred different characters, City of Heroes definitely supports your terminal fear of the endgame. Unfortunately for me and my dreams of seeing that endgame with any reliability, I do indeed like playing dozens upon dozens of characters, meaning that my character select screen is an array of dozens of characters in carefully crafted outfits, many of which characters are not yet eligible for capes. It's one of those habits that I would dearly like to break, and so I'd eschewed making a new character despite the promise of a new starter experience for heroes and villains alike. Unfortunately, I am also a recidivist. When I talked about the latest update, more than a few commenters called me out, rightly, on the fact that I hadn't really played through much of the new content that the issue had to offer. So I decided that now was the time. I was going to make myself two new characters -- one hero, one villain -- and I was going to see what the new experience was like. And I was going to do so while smoking because it seemed somehow appropriate.
A look behind the scenes for City of Heroes' first signature arc
The second part of the first signature arc for City of Heroes is now available for players (free for VIP and in the Paragon Market for everyone else), continuing to ask the question of who will die. It's a weighty question when you're dealing with the key NPCs of the game lore for the whole of its lifespan, one that Paragon Studios isn't addressing without a keen understanding of the consequences. A new video documentary has just been released, with the staff discussing the creation of the arc. As laid out in the video, one of the major pushes for the signature arc wasn't just to engage the players who were already committed to the game but to attract new players to City of Heroes Freedom because of the major changes being wrought upon the lore. Check out the full documentary just past the cut, with a few hints about where the arc might end up when the dust settles.
City of Heroes lays out the design for Street Justice
You could argue that City of Heroes has been about street justice since launch, since there is no branch of the US legal system that involves beating people up in the streets with electrical powers. But the Street Justice powerset is the latest addition to the game in the Paragon Market, and as with the previous powersets, a new issue of the Intrepid Informer has been released so that players can understand how the set works, what the designers were thinking, and how to get the most benefit out of it. Written by Phil "Synapse" Zeleski, the diary outlines both the similarities and differences between this set and Dual Blades. While both are combo-oriented sets, Street Justice allows you to build a combo on the fly; by way of contrast, Dual Blades generates a variety of powerful secondary effects with its combos. If the set sounds like the sort of thing that's right up your alley, you may want to pop until the game, drop a couple of dollars, and start breaking some kneecaps. For justice.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Spotlight on the Outcasts
One of the elements that doesn't get explored often enough in MMOs is the concept of the people who didn't quite make it. It's generally accepted on some level that adventurers or superheroes or whatever you play are a cut above normal people, but there's still a point at which you stop being a Assault Rifle/Devices Blaster and start being just a guy with a gun and some toys. And the people just below that mark, just shy of reaching the big time, have a story to tell, just like the player characters. So today's look at City of Heroes' villainous groups highlights one of the game's suggestions about what happens to those people. It's a group composed of those not quite strong enough to make a name beyond thuggery but just strong enough to be more dangerous than the low-level mooks you don't even notice. I'm talking, of course, about the Outcasts, the elemental-themed gang of mutants that terrorizes Steel Canyon, goes to war with the Trolls, and makes a cottage industry out of being almost good enough to hit the big time.
Brian Clayton on the City of Heroes Freedom launch
City of Heroes has launched its free-to-play hybrid model at long last, and all that remains for players to do is enjoy all of the options that City of Heroes Freedom provides. Well, and possibly wonder what the game's development schedule will look like from here on out, maybe ask a few questions about the pricing in the store, debate which player options have the most value, and so forth. Come to think of it, there are a lot of things to still be done. We had the opportunity to ask a few questions of executive producer Brian Clayton about what's going on behind the scenes of City of Heroes Freedom. Jump on past the break for a postmortem of the launch, discussions of what's to come in the store from here on out, and more information about what VIPs can expect from future updates.
