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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Freedom content
So last week, I had meant to cover all of the impressions from the head start of City of Heroes Freedom. What I actually managed to cover was the Paragon Market, which is to the whole of City of Heroes what my nose is to the rest of my face. It's not the first time that a small part has taken over a column, though, and so we're bravely forging ahead into the actual content updates that came along with this patch. And let's be honest, they're pretty significant -- a new zone, a new signature arc, changed power pools, and so forth. Unfortunately, my time with the new content hasn't been as extensive as I would have liked, so there are some parts of the update that I really haven't gotten to sink my teeth into just yet. But I can definitely offer my feedback on what I have seen so far and hopefully rectify the stuff that I've still missed out on in the near future. So is this update all that and a bag of chips, or is it somewhat less awesome than advertised?
City of Heroes Freedom goes live
City of Heroes is not what it used to be as of today. It's something more, in fact, with the launch of City of Heroes Freedom. While the launch of the game's hybrid subscription model was announced some three months back, today is the day that the gates are open and players can begin enjoying the game's content as a paid subscriber or a free player. This comes on the heels of the head start program, bringing in new content, zones, and story arcs for players to enjoy. If you're a returning veteran, you can enjoy all of the content for the game that you had previously purchased, as well as existing veteran rewards. Meanwhile, new players can just log in and start enjoying all of the game's seven years of content and updates. Whether you're an old or new player, however, you can take a look at the launch trailer just after the jump for a glimpse at what awaits everyone within City of Heroes Freedom at launch.
City of Heroes bringing early Freedom to lapsed subscribers
It's quite possible that you've fallen out of love with City of Heroes over the years. Actually, it's quite possible that that itself was some time ago, and while you've been eying the game every so often, you've never quite found the time to come back. But if you've got an old account and you're curious about what things will be like after the free-to-play conversion, you're getting to sign on board for part of the head start as well. Throughout the weekend, the team at Paragon Studios will be reactivating lapsed accounts as premium members, the tier for players who were once subscribers but decided to take a break from the game. And while you won't get all of the VIP content for free, you will be able to enjoy the game and your old characters without owing a dime. So if you've got an old account, keeping checking in to see if you can get a little early play on City of Heroes Freedom over the weekend... and if you don't, you can look forward to the servers opening up sometime next week.
The first part of the first signature arc now available for City of Heroes
It's no real secret, but the Surviving Eight of City of Heroes are soon to be the Surviving Seven And There Used To Be One Other Guy. The first installment of the arc is now available for players on the live server, with the arc available in the store for free players coming in after the fact. It's a chance for players to interact in a big way with some of the game's major lore characters and see which of the setting-defining heroes is going to be taking a permanent trip to the land of wind and ghosts. So what was the process behind the arc? As is often the case these days, Paragon Studios has furnished players with a new installment of the Intrepid Informer with more details on what the arcs entail and the major challenges of design. To the surprise of almost no one, the biggest issue that the designers faced was the simple question of relevance -- making sure that players felt important as they played through an arc focusing on the life and death of several NPCs. How successfully that goal was met remains to be seen, but CoH players can judge the first installment on its own merits right now.
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.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Surviving a headstart
Last week, I promised more villains. And I really did plan on doing just that, before it became clear that the headstart program for City of Heroes Freedom was kicking off... well, yesterday. That's one of those pieces of news that's just a bit bigger than chatting about villain groups, so it takes priority. Sure, it's not quite the opening of the gates and the acceptance of free accounts just yet, but it's enough to get players exploring the new content before the non-VIP side of the screen gets to experience the hybrid setup. As those of you with astute memories or a good sense of pattern recognition have probably already surmised, this is a bit problematic from my point of view, as I'm writing this column before the headstart has actually happened, but we're going to be live right after it starts. As a result, I can't tell you with certainty what the launch has brought thus far. But I can certainly speculate on the world being overrun by players flush with new powersets and the new starting areas, not to mention some new costume pieces to help spice up the deal. So what are my survival tips for the first moments of the headstart program?
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.
City of Heroes tackles the hard questions about rocket boards
As long as people have been around, we've realized that transportation was possible by our own two feet, but it would be vastly improved if we were standing on a moving board. This has led directly to the creation of boards to move across the sea, the land, and large snow-covered mountains. Sadly, the rocket board designed to let us fly through the air has remained firmly in the realm of fiction... but for City of Heroes, this hypothetical board of the future is right there to ensure that you can look totally cool while taking to the sky. So how did rocket boards come about, and why did they take so long to get in the game? The latest installment of the Intrepid Informer features Colin Brown discussing what it took to put the idea into practice. As he puts it, the major issue from the art side was a simple technical limitation, since it required a theoretical new set of animations for seven years worth of powers. But the hurdles were overcome, and now players can move through the air in the way humans move through things best -- standing on a board.
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.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Matter of pact
We're back online in this neck of the woods, and that means that I can catch up on all of the things that I missed over the past week. And even within the fairly focused sphere of City of Heroes, there was a lot going on -- a headstart for subscribers, the removal of leveling pacts, more details on the rewards you can uncover for Signature Arcs, and the lowdown of the Seed of Hamidon event. Interesting stuff, all around, but it was the pact removal that first jumped out at me. One of the things that CoH has been loath to do over the years is remove things. That's part of why the game has become so all-encompassing for so many players -- every new system has built upon its predecessors, adding new options, moving in new directions. So the removal of one of the game's interesting features struck me as a little odd just because it's something that's nearly without precedent in its lifespan.
City of Heroes pledges to pump out more frequent updates
As the Paragon Studios team puts a wrap on August, the latest City of Heroes producer's letter reiterates the studio's key philosophy: Content is king. Along those lines, the letter discusses several exciting developments in store for the game's future, including the upcoming Haunted Mansion for the Halloween season, new Incarnate Trials, and more content for the Winter Event. The team is also focusing on delivering "more regular updates" than has been seen previously, so expect to see CoH upping the frequency of in-game goodies from here on out. As part of the "content is king" philosophy, Paragon will be releasing a monthly Signature Story that will be free for VIP (subscribing) players. These will not only tell intriguing stories, but will reward superheroes with increased rewards. The team is also going to put new items into the in-game Paragon Market store on a weekly basis, including costume pieces and power sets. City of Heroes is preparing to launch Freedom, its free-to-play version of the game, at an unspecified point in the future. Subscribers will be able to get a head start when Freedom arrives, and they will enjoy spending the 400 points that their VIP status entitles them to each month.
City of Heroes Freedom invaded by Hamidon again
Hamidon is returning to City of Heroes Freedom in a big way. How can you get bigger than a gigantic gelatinous blob like the first Hamidon? In this latest dev diary, Jeff "Arbiter Hawk" Hamilton gives us all the slimy details. The zone-wide encounter starts with a new monstrosity called the Seed of Hamidon, which drops seedlings throughout the Sunken City neighborhood of First Ward. These seedlings begin the spread of the Tellurian Plague. It is in the best interest of heroes, villains, loyalists, and resistance rebels alike to end the spread of this plague before it conquers everything, as it did on Praetorian Earth. Arbiter Hawk suggests an eight-person group for this encounter, which takes place in two distinct phases. In the first phase, it's up to players to take out both the ground and air seedlings. Don't worry, non-flying characters, because as these ground-based seedlings are destroyed, they grant Buoyant Membranes that allow players and nearby allies to take flight. The Seed weakens as players defeat the seedlings until the Seed is forced to extinguish the remaining seedlings in order to regenerate power. This is when you attack and the second phase begins. Take out the Seed quickly before it is able to completely recharge -- or the cycle starts over again. The dev diary contains many of the deadly details of the seedlings as well as more advice from Arbiter Hawk; be sure to read the entire thing before battling this globular fiend.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: PAXflop
It's been anything but a quiet weekend in my neck of the woods. I'm currently writing this with no real ETA on when I'm going to have power back, which is a bit of an issue considering that my job sort of requires a functional internet connection and a computer to type and play things on. Also, there was a hurricane that sort of prompted that string of events, which made things all sorts of interesting and has led to a variety of interesting circumstances at home and abroad. In short, thank you, but I could really do without living in these particular interesting times. You know what was remarkably quiet, however? PAX Prime. OK, that's not true; there was a lot of interesting information to be seen on display over the course of the event, not the least of which being previews of WildStar, which only increased my enthusiasm for the title. But for me and my fellow City of Heroes fans, despite the game's staff's having a definite presence, there wasn't a whole lot to be said about the proceedings that I saw. (Admittedly, that may have something to do with the fact that, as mentioned, I'm kind of limited in my current ability to correspond with the outside world.) So what happened? When did City of Heroes fall off the radar?
City of Heroes Freedom announces VIP head start, Level Pact changes
City of Heroes Freedom is on the horizon, and it will allow players to get a taste of the super-powered fun without paying a dime. However, Paragon Studios has promised that its VIP subscribers would continue to reap benefits for their loyalty to the game. The first of these benefits is a head start on the official launch of City of Heroes Freedom. While the studio hasn't yet given a start date for the head start, VIP subscribers can rest assured that their loyalty will not go unrewarded. In addition to this news, Paragon has also announced that Level Pacts will be seeing some changes "in order to have them work within the constraints of the upcoming systems." During the VIP head start, Level Pacts will remain active. However, at the end of the event, Level Pacts will be disabled until the team has the opportunity to revisit and redesign them. So, as Paragon sums it up, Level Pacts created before or during the VIP head start will continue to work, but after the game's launch, new Level Pacts will not be available. So get your pacts up and running now if you want to take advantage of them at the launch of City of Heroes Freedom.
Massively's guide to PAX 2011
What can be said about PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington that hasn't been said already? Everyone knows that it is the largest public gaming event in North America. Attendance totaled 67,600 last year, not including press and exhibitors. And this year, even more gamers will descend on the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. The latest and greatest games -- released and unreleased -- will be available for public consumption. Developers will mill around the showroom floor, answering your questions. Not to mention that no one will look at you funny because you play video games! This year, MMORPGs really stand out in the crowd. Seattle native NCsoft has a huge presence at the convention, borrowing a theater just to showcase its games. BioWare comes armed with its heavy-hitter, Star Wars: The Old Republic. And free-to-play titles like Firefall, Lord of the Rings Online, and Wakfu promise to strut their stuff at this year's PAX. Punch past the break as Massively outlines the must-see booths for MMO fans. And don't forget the panels, including a couple of MMO spotlights for PAX Dev, the gathering of fans and developers at Sheraton Seattle Hotel on the 24th and 25th.
Antec to sell NCsoft-themed PC enclosures
So it's official, Antec and NCsoft are going out. OK, maybe it's not quite that creepy, but a new press release does note that the two companies have an "official relationship," which will be publicly consummated at next week's PAX Prime event. Antec, known primarily for its PC hardware and upgrade components, will be opening an online boutique featuring custom PC cases emblazoned with artwork from NCsoft franchises including Aion, City of Heroes, and Guild Wars. Antec's PAX Prime booth will also be hosting an exclusive City of Heroes Freedom demo for convention attendees, and you can read all the details via the full press release at MarketWire. [Thanks to Jessie for the tip!]
City of Heroes profiles the Carnival of Light
Attention all City of Heroes Freedom players! We have a new dossier from the Direct Urban Strike Team regarding the organization known as the Carnival of Light. Unfortunately, due to the sheer amount of Carnival counterintelligence, the dossier is regrettably incomplete. At first glance, the Carnival seems to be made up of your garden-variety magicians, mediums, and mystics, with a smattering of civilian members (often under psychic control). The decentralized nature of the organization's leadership makes it difficult to pinpoint a figurehead, but Vanessa DeVore seems to feature prominently within the Carnival's membership, and kill teams are ready to take her out as soon as the order is given. Lastly, there are rumors that the organization is behind the Resistance, but the veracity of said rumor is dubious at best. To be certain, the Carnival is a force to be reckoned with and preferably eliminated. The full dossier is available at the official City of Heroes site, in case you need to brush up on your intel before you take to the streets.
City of Heroes art lead contemplates the Hamidon redesign
City of Heroes Freedom brings not only changes to the payment model of the premiere superhero MMO but also to the art design for some of the existing creatures. In a developer diary posted on PC Gamer, Art Lead Gilbert Martinez explains the process behind creating a new threatening version of the Hamidon. One of our goals for the new Praetorian incarnations of Hamidon was to raise their threat level while keeping them tied visually to the original blob-like mass players are familiar with. We felt that it was important to design these creatures in a way that emphasized their power and scale and made it clear that they are worthy of going toe-to-toe with the all-powerful Tyrant. Martinez does not explain if this new incarnation of the monster will take 50+ heroes to defeat like its predecessor, but we are looking at a completely different creature than the former giant congealed mass. PC gamer hosts the whole diary on its website, which includes new screenshots of the Hamidon and a gigantic monster called the Shivan from the redesigned tutorial. And next week, City of Heroes hosts two panels at PAX. Massively will have reporters on the scene giving you the latest news for Paragon City!
Exploring the design of the newest City of Heroes powerset
Is time on your side? Well, it will be for City of Heroes players who choose to take advantage of the upcoming Temporal Manipulation powerset, which launches alongside the free-to-play conversion later this year. But some pretty visuals alone don't make for a compelling new powerset, which is why players will no doubt be happy to see the recent rundown of the abilities within the set as well as the rationale behind each of the given powers. As Temporal Manipulation is a set for Defenders, Corruptors, and Controllers, it's no surprise that there's a solid mix of debuffs and buffs for players to explore. In addition, Temporal Manipulation allows players to juggle a specific set of buffs and debuffs, with certain powers Delaying enemies or Accelerating allies and certain other powers having additional effects on those who are Delayed or Accelerated. The document also contains advice for players once the powers go live -- a bit far in the future, perhaps, but this would be the set where that's appropriate.
