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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.
City of Heroes' newest Intrepid Informer discusses Incarnate additions
City of Heroes was once known as a game without much of an endgame, but the Incarnate system, which launched about a year ago, changed all that. In today's Intrepid Informer, Jeff "Arbiter Hawk" Hamilton discusses the upgrades to the Incarnate system that are rolling out as part of Issue 21's special Media Blitz update. The original Incarnate ability slots will each see new power options, including a self-targeted cone for Judgement, a mass-teleport skill for Destiny, multi-proc'ing debuffs for Interface, and a variety of control, support, and tanking boosts for Alpha. According to Jeff: The biggest challenge in making new abilities in the existing Incarnate slots is that they have to be desirable in order to be worth creating, but they can't completely supplant the existing abilities. If they were numerically superior to the original powers in the slot, we'd just be shoehorning players into taking the new powers, when our true objective is to increase the number of choices a player can make in building their character. The Incarnate system is available only to VIP players with level 50 characters. The official City of Heroes website has the full Intrepid Informer with all the details on the upcoming additions.
New Incarnate Trials coming with City of Heroes' Media Blitz
Paragon Studios has announced that a special City of Heroes Issue 21 content update is on the horizon. The update is known as Media Blitz, but Paragon assures players this is not related to any sort of Journalist power set (though on second thought, maybe it should be). When the update hits, VIP players will be given the opportunity to take part in a brand-new Incarnate Trial known as the TPN Campus. This new Incarnate Trial will see players infiltrating the TPN Campus in order to confront "a mighty adversary whom [they] will want to keep an eye on." Who is this mysterious rival? Well, there's only one way to find out! Paragon also notes that a second Incarnate Trial will also come with the update, though the studio isn't quite ready to give the specifics. To top it all off, players "will also be able to unlock brand new abilities for [their] Alpha, Destiny, Interface, and Judgment Incarnate Slots" in order to further progress their characters. Stay tuned for more details on the new Issue 21 update as they become available.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Post-survival
So we've had a week to adjust to the new state of being for City of Heroes. OK, maybe a bit less than a week, what with all of the server issues and maintenance, but it's been something close to a week. That means that as a collective playerbase, we can start looking back at the launch and taking a slightly more critical eye. We're no longer running on speculation about how the launch will go; we're running in the wake of the relaunch, expansion, whatever you want to call it. Last week, for those of you who've forgotten already, I wrote a piece specifically about surviving the release when it went live. Now that we've had a chance to go through it, there are some things I got wrong, some things that need more elaboration, and some things that I've just revised my opinion on. Since we've all survived the head start at this point, let's look at what it actually entailed, yes?
Take a walk through the underground in City of Heroes
City of Heroes players are currently getting to enjoy all of the improvements within City of Heroes Freedom prior to the change in business models, but there's more in the update. For example, there's the newest Incarnate Trial, which sends players deep beneath Praetoria to investigate the areas into which Hamidon is creeping despite Cole's best efforts. But this is a collision of more than just Hamidon and Praetoria: Statesman, Desdemona, and the Incarnates of Primal Earth are tied up in a search for Praetoria's Vanessa DeVore. It can be a bit confusing at first glance, but the official site has just posted a guide to the lore and the process through the trial. Players will join up with Desdemona during the march through the tunnels, which culminates in a fight against one of the Seeds of Hamidon deep beneath the world's surface. Since players have the option to unlock the Alpha Slot or level the other Incarnate Slots via the trial, the guide should come in handy for players diving into the endgame options in the wake of Issue 21.
Patch notes available for City of Heroes Freedom head start
The day has come for the subscribers of City of Heroes to get in on all the new content for City of Heroes Freedom. Actually, the day came and went, but when you consider the amount of maintenance required and the errors that the servers encountered, for many people, now is the time when the game can actually be played. So it's probably for the best that now is also the time for the full rundown of the patch notes for the newest issue. While the large changes, such as the inclusion of all the Freedom enhancements, have been known for some time, there are also a number of other improvements for players to enjoy. Power pools have been improved all around, with travel powers now universally available at level 4 and new top-tier powers for those pools. Ancillary and Patron pools are now available starting at 35 instead of 41. And if that alone isn't enough for you, there are also some new bonuses available in the Paragon Market for you to spend your free subscriber points on -- a definite incentive.
Paragon Studios introduces MARTy to City of Heroes for Issue 21
There's someone special for players to meet with the newest update to City of Heroes -- MARTy. From the name you might think that MARTy is a Clockwork NPC, or a Freakshow, or maybe even a new developer. But MARTy is none of the above. MARTy is an acronym for Metric Activated Reward Throttle (plus a "y"), and it's a new system being put into place to help ensure that the game remains free of exploits for free players and paying players alike. So what does MARTy do? Scan for exploitative behavior and cut it short. The system monitors player activity for exploitative experience, influence, or reward gains, and people who trip the system stop receiving rewards for a short time. The official FAQ on the system makes it clear, however, that even players aggressively leveling with experience boosters shouldn't hit MARTy's radar. The only way to hit it is by exploiting the game engine for overly accelerated gains, at which point you get shut down. And with City of Heroes Freedom opening the door to everyone, it might be good to have an anti-exploit gatekeeper in place.
SDCC 2011: New City of Heroes: Freedom screenshots, trailer
Following hot on the heels of our preview of the new powersets coming to City of Heroes, NCSoft and Paragon Studios have let loose a flood of new assets for the upcoming additions to the game. The images cover the new powersets, the updated tutorial, the new Paragon Reward system, and all the other nifty new features that will finally see the light of day with City of Heroes' Issue 21. We've also got a new trailer for you to allow you to see all of the new content in action, and we have to say it looks like City of Heroes fans have a great deal to look forward to. So if you're a City of Heroes player anxiously anticipating Issue 21, jump on past the cut for the new trailer. Hopefully it will keep your appetite sated for just a while longer. %Gallery-9156%
City of Heroes previews First Ward
It's important for City of Heroes players to remember that Issue 21 isn't just bringing City of Heroes Freedom -- it's also bringing several pieces of new content, including the foreboding First Ward. The official site has just put up a preview of the new region, the site of Emperor Cole's first attempt at making his perfect society... and the site of his greatest failure in that goal. Because First Ward was the start of Praetoria, one that ended in destruction and death despite everything. Protected by a prototype system of sonic fencing which would later be used around Praetoria proper, First Ward was able to repulse the Devouring Earth for quite some time. But Hamidon had a secret plan to burst up from within the city, leading to widespread death and destruction across the landscape. The city remains as a place where the veil between dead and living has been weakened to near the breaking point while the Devouring Earth stalk the streets, and while something may be blossoming within the city, it's certainly not Cole's dream. City of Heroes players can check out the official site for the full details on what has happened to the city.
Powersets are spreading the love in City of Heroes
With new powersets on deck for Issue 21 of City of Heroes, you might have reasonably assumed that there wouldn't be anything more to see in the powers department. But as the newest issue of the Intrepid Informer makes clear, you won't just have brand-new powers to kick around when City of Heroes Freedom launches. You'll also be able to play around with powers that are new to each archetype, with the newest round of powerset proliferation hitting the game at the same time. Aside from Dominators, every archetype is getting at least one new power set, ranging from the melee options that were always odd omissions (such as War Mace for Scrappers and Broad Sword for Brutes and Tankers) to sets that had previously been confined to a single archetype (Ice Armor for Stalkers, Poison for Corruptors). City of Heroes players looking to play a new flavor of an old favorite should take a look at the full rundown of upcoming proliferations, as it promises a lot of new options even without the new stuff.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Freedom
I know, I promised you all Stalkers today. But in case you haven't noticed, something sort of trumped the last archetype under discussion. Something like City of Heroes making one of the biggest announcements in the history of the game. And the weirdest part is, I'm writing this before most of the world knows about it, after being on the phone with Paragon Studios and talking about all of the cool stuff that's coming along with City of Heroes Freedom. Working in game journalism means knowing about what's coming up before other people much of the time. I knew that there was something big en route when I sat down on the call, but honestly I had expected another expansion pack. And that's really what we're getting here, albeit not quite in the format that most players would expect. This is another major expansion to the game, one that will open up the playerbase as well as offering new content to existing players. So this is one of those times when it's almost difficult to sit down and focus clearly enough to write about what's coming, just because the net effects are so far-reaching.
Looking back on busy times for City of Heroes with the development staff
There's been so much going on with City of Heroes over the past few months -- we've seen a new spin on older content and the anniversary and the new endgame system engaging the game's players in new content. It's a lot to take in all at once, and it's easier to process when you have the chance to talk it over with some of the development staff. During a special NCsoft event, our own Bree Royce had just such a chance to get some questions answered directly by the development team about Issue 20, the Incarnate system, and the state of the game both at present and going forward. Matt Miller and Nate Birkholz shared reflections on what has worked and what has gone a bit awry in the development, something that should be of interest to every City of Heroes player. Sadly, the discussion does not include any zombie catgirls -- just the parts that worked and the parts that wound up being problems.
City of Heroes producer's letter talks story and solo-friendliness
City of Heroes is the latest MMORPG to feature story in its marketing materials, as producer Nate "Second Measure" Birkholz outlines a number of narrative-based initiatives in store for the seven-year old superhero title. "We view City of Heroes as a storytelling medium. We have a lot of long-term plans for the main story, and all of these plans are intended to provide a backdrop for the stories you tell with your characters every day," Birkholz explains. He also spends a bit of time reflecting on the massive changes that CoX has experienced during its live cycle, noting that the game is much more casual-friendly than it once was. More changes are coming too, among them a new zone in Issue 21 and "alternative ways to experience the Incarnate System, especially options that are more accessible to solo players and small groups." You can read the full text at the official CoX website.
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.
