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Under The Hood: Character Customization
One of the biggest complaints about Tabula Rasa (as well as one of my personal issues with the game) was the lack of impact character customization had on your actual character. More and more players are putting stock into a large amount of customization options, wishing to look, move, and sound different from their herd of fellow players. When a game, such as Tabula Rasa, ignores this vital aspect of the social experience of MMOs, they garner a lot of criticism. Especially from very vocal British expatriates.
City of Heroes double XP to return this weekend
If you're lacking plans for the coming weekend and have an active copy of City of Heroes lying around, don't forget to login sometime this weekend and play. Because this weekend there's going to be plenty of other players doing the same thing for the double XP weekend. Starting on February 8th players will receive doubled experience, prestige, influence and infamy. All the double XP goodness ends the night of February 10th -- or this coming Sunday if you're bad with calendars like us.Those of us that play CoX here at Massively will definitely be online at least one day leveling up in double-time fashion. We're just glad that all servers have gone through upgrades before this weekend. Since memories of the last time a double XP weekend hit were full of good times marred with lag and disconnects.
What if a professional artist recreated your character?
One of the best parts of being in a guild is that players help each other out, right? What if one of your fellow players was an award-winning artist? Doug Shuler is a fantastic artist, a man whose works have graced fantasy works for years. If you've ever played Magic: The Gathering, you might recall the art for the original Serra Angel card. That was Doug.Zubon over at Kill Ten Rats noted that Doug is a big fan of City of Heroes. Such a big fan, apparently, that he has made several computer-rendered versions of his fellow players. Above is a rendering of his entire Supergroup, but his official website has a number of other avatar models. Some of the comments there indicates that he's taken on commissions, too. It'd be amazing to have your CoH avatar recreated, right?If someone was going to draw/render your primary avatar, what would it look like? Do you have an artist that you'd like to do it?
Want to work for NCsoft?
As we mentioned a few days ago, the gang at Dungeon Runners is looking for a few good dungeon builders. Turns out, NCsoft in general is looking for some new blood in their Austin (TX) office as well as their two offices in California.Aside from the DR jobs in Austin, there's an interesting hybrid position NCsoft calls the Minigame Designer-Programmer now open. they also need an Associate Community Coordinator for Lineage II, and a Web Production Manager. The QA department needs an experienced tester and some folks in Tech Support. The brand new NorCal studio in Mountain View is where City of Heroes has been moved to. They are looking to hire "a ton of people" in the near future: Art: Animators, Character Artists, Concept/2D Artists, Technical Artists, User Interface Artists and VFX Artists. Engineering: Game Engineers, Junior Software Engineers, Server Engineers and Software Engineers. Design: Missions, Powers, Systems and Worlds. Aliso Viejo is down in SoCal (Orange County to be exact) are working on "a top, top secret project." They need qualified peeps for a Lead Quest Designer and a Lead Level Designer. If you're interested (and qualified), view all of their openings at the NCsoft Job List. Good luck!
CoX updates now on Test
Starting today, CoX patch 16.20080122.0 is live on the Test server. Both sides will see some important changes. Aside from a Combat Attribute window and Attribute monitor, a number of playability enhancements have been made. Debt is lowered across the board, Tasks can be dropped more often, Powers were tweaked, a large number of changes were made to Inventions, Server Transfers were clarified, a few Graphical Effects were adjusted, Base Storage is now more understandable, and the 45 Month Veteran Reward grants a free Respec. For City of Heroes players, changes were made to the Scrapper, Blaster, Defender and Tanker ATs, while City of Villains players will find changes to the Masterminds and Stalkers, instead. For both, graphical and sound effects have been adjusted for wristband summoning and strafing transitions.If you've been dealing with the known issue of spammers sending you influence and power leveling offers in-game, you needn't worry about them any longer. One of the changes in this patch is that characters below 10th level cannot send in-game email. For most players, this means their first two or three days of game play will see them blocked from sending (but not from receiving, reading, or deleting) mail, but it should also keep the spammers from flooding our inboxes. Speaking of known issues, if you run CoX in Vista, Vista-compatible cursors are now part of the build. As Lighthouse mentioned previously, though, changes on Test may be altered or reverted before going live. Now go forth, ye spandex-clad legions, and test that update.
Cinemassively: The Revenge of Dr. Mechanico
We like this machinima not only because it's made by one of our favorite machinima studios, Stone Falcon Productions, but also because it's set in City of Heroes, which seems to have a rather limited machinima community. Though The Revenge of Dr. Mechanico, like most of Stone Falcon's pieces, is a comedy, it's also the story of an epic battle between good and evil. (Over -- what else? -- a girl!)
CoX's Double XP weekend announced
You've been waiting, hungering for it, and now it's here. NCsoft announced today that the next CoX Double XP weekend will start immediately after the weekly maintenance on Friday, 8 February, and will end on Sunday, 10 February. For those of you who've never experienced a Double XP weekend, it's not just the XP that gets doubled, it's everything. During the course of the weekend, you'll wind up with twice as much XP, prestige, and influence/infamy. Don't worry, though: debt penalties aren't doubled, only the sweet taste of success. So plan on pressing your capes and brushing the dust off your winged sandals, the Rogue Isles and Paragon City are in for some serious server hits in February. As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to bring them up in the official forums.
When gold farmers attack!
There you are zipping around Paragon City looking for a criminal skull or two to bust when suddenly a "hero" (or villain if you're playing CoV) named "jlaksjdflakd" clad in pink spandex and green skin suddenly pops into your peripheral. No, it's not a small childlike noob entering the city for the first time. It's something far, far worse. It's... the attack of the bottom feeding, scum sucking gold farmer!!We've all had similar experiences. No MMO is immune to these ne'er-do-wells. But the CoX universe has remained relatively unscathed. Until now. Thankfully, gamers don't have to take this laying down... and neither do the developers. In fact, they're fighting back. W00t Studios head honcho Jester just began a recurring feature called The Fight Against Spam. The series will highlight the valiant efforts of various game developers as they fight the good fight against the nefarious Real Money Traders (RMT).This first entry highlights what NCsoft has done to hinder spammers in CoX. Several months ago they implemented the "/ignore_spammer" command which lets players ignore (and automatically report to the GM's) a would be trouble maker. Once several reports against the same account are logged, they're banned. The tide of battle seems to have swung in their favor, but the supergroup at NCsoft isn't resting on their laurels. As of yesterday the in-game mail system has been drastically restricted. Now players under level 12 no longer have mail privileges, forcing these malevolent miscreants to their knees by making them do some leveling work of their own. Granted, it may only slow them down... but it's a giant step in the right direction.
City of Heroes server improvement details
The City of Heroes team announced in their 2008 "State of the Game" post that there we some server upgrades coming soon in preparation of double experience weekend and Valentine's Day events. Considering that the end of January is nearly a week away, you may be wondering just exactly when all these upgrades are going to happen. The answer is soon, very soon. Beginning today (on January 22nd) the server upgrades start. Keep in mind that with each server getting an overhaul it's no normal weekly maintenance. You can expect server downtime to be spread out over different servers for the next two days as well. Champion, Guardian, Justice, Protector and Virtue (also, the training server) are all going down for the first round of upgrades today. Then, tomorrow all servers not upgraded today go down as well. Thankfully, there's a handy forum post concerning all downtimes this week. Expect some more upgrade downtime next week as well, according to the NCsoft Norcal developer post.
City of Heroes state of the game '08
The team behind City of Heroes have put up their 2008 state of the game announcement. It consists of all sorts of gooey fun bits, so listen on in for all of the scoop.The City Vault is on its way to the official website and for those of you not in the know it will showcase every Hero and Villain throughout Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. It's essentially a search tool that lets you find your friends (or enemies) and view them. This includes images, different costumes, powers, badges, their friends, stats by zone and who knows what else. Thankfully players will be able to manage what information can be seen, so don't worry about privacy.Another double XP weekend is on its way sometime in February. Thankfully, before this happens there will be a server upgrade that should lessen the lag over the weekend. Anyone who's played through a double XP weekend knows lag can be a huge issue. Also, we can expect another Valentine's Day event in February as well. Apparently there are a few new twists coming and a special surprise. Your guess is as good as ours on this one.Beyond events and all the commotion that comes with them, there are some pretty cool things the team mentions. They say Issue 12 is on its way, but give no details as to what we'll get from it. The Fanzine is looking for more submissions, so if you're a writer or an artist go check it out. The last two thing that really have us excited are announcements regarding actual stats and smoothing out the XP curve. A new functionality will be added that will allow players to see the "real" numbers behind all characters and powers. The smoothing of the XP curve is largely about tweaking the amount of experience characters gain from enemies in an effort to smooth out the levels where many character seem to be getting stuck. Overall, it sounds like a lot of good things are on their way for the City of Heroes community, we'll keep our ears out for any more information on upcoming changes.
CoH Fanzine looking for submissions
Hear ye hear ye... calling all writers and artists, the City of Heroes Fanzine is looking for a few good submissions to include in their next issue! So you live in the city that never sleeps. No, not Las Vegas. Or New York. You "live" in the City of Heroes. You've been patrolling the mean streets of Paragon City for a few years now and you think you've got what it takes. You're big, bad and altogether mean. But can you write or draw? If so... head on over to the Fan Submissions web page, read up on all the legal mumbo jumbo about how the stuff you submit no longer belongs to you once it's submitted... yadda yadda yadda. If you're game (pardon the pun)... get crackin' and let the Fanzine showcase your dazzling work. The deadline for submissions is February 11th, so get your pen stroke on!
Raid Rx: Pigeon-holing healers
Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. In the spirit of pigeons, the picture to the right reminded me of the old adage "It's more efficient to rez you." There are 9 classes that can dps, but only 4 that can heal. Warrior bandage sets don't count, sorry! While the raid damage doers are all about "providing massive quantities of steady and sustained DPS", you can often go it alone for the most part, assuming you know your place on the threat meter. Healers, on the other hand, have to work together as a team from the first pull to the last. Why? Because dps's damage stacks, while healing can cancel each other out. Gone are the days of Mana Conserve. /sniff sniff Compounding the issue is most healers have only played their class into end game content. If you were crazy like me and rerolled a second healer when your guild was already on Morogrim, more power to you! But if you say anything that starts with "Back when my other healer ran <insert Pre-BC raid>..." then you prolly got my Mana Conserve reference, but your actual raiding experience of the current class design is low at best. Instead you're stuck reading the EJ forums and other references for classes you don't play. See Anonymous39857? That's me trying to read up on Resto Shamans. So what does that all mean? You have 7 people with 4 different classes that have to work together while only ever played one class at their current content level. They might have the book smarts of what's going on around them, but no shoes that can be walked in. (Swapping chars is baaad for you and the raid, plus you'll go to Blizz jail.) Lots of commenters for my previous posts have offered their opinions on which class should be doing what and on whom. With all the interest in this particular subject, I wanted to put together something concise.
CoX: player-written guide updates
CoX Community Coordinator Ex_Libris would like to remind y'all that the Player Guide Section in the official forums is in need of updating, and they'd like to have all updates completed by the end of the month. That being said, if you've built a guide, please make sure that it's both up-to-date and listed in the Guide of Guides section.Aside from assisting your fellow spandex-clad heroes and spangle-bedecked villains, building a guide is a great way to make sure that you're rock-solid on everything that you need to know about your specific archetype. And please remember, if you need to delete an old or incorrect version of your guide, send a message to Zombie_Man, and he'll take care of it for you.
Cinemassively: It's great to be a super hero
Moo is out today, and so instead I'm picking a movie for you Cinemassively fans this afternoon. Now, it's pretty clear that I don't have Moo's taste for machinima-- this isn't exactly an epic piece of work. But it amuses me to no end (and it's from City of Heroes, a game that I've never gotten the chance to play, but also a game that I think could make for some very awesome machinima), so here you go.Anyway, this is just a funny groove to tide you over until Moo gets back tomorrow (although I do like some of the editing choices-- that train cracked me up). It really is great to be a super hero.
MarsCon landing for CoX
The Stars of Paragon are hosting a booth at MarsCon 18 from 18-20 January 2008. If you're going to be in the vicinity of Williamsburg, Virginia, it may well behoove you to check it out. They're currently planning panel discussions -- based on interest and participation, of course -- and an LCD projector to show City of Villains and City of Heroes goodness to the other participants who have, sadly, not embraced NCsoft's gaming glory.Whether you're attending in order to sip Superadine and Rage punch handed out by glamorous super heroines, or get some assistance in building a character for teaming or soloing, feel free to drop by. It is, after all, a combination of educational forum and meet & greet, so you never know who you might see there. Incidentally, if you're an experienced player, please let Mike Halo know if you're available to assist with character builds and walkthroughs. Kudos to the Stars of Paragon for setting this up, and here's hoping to see some of you at MarsCon.
One of CoX's P.E.R.C.s
Whether you're feeling valorous or villainous on Virtue, you're in good hands. In fact, whichever server is your home du jour, you'll find plenty of P.E.R.C.s in asking for assistance. The Player Event Resource Committee is here to help you plan, support, and run events, whether they're server-specific or game-wide.Need some help setting up a raid in City of Villains? They're here to help. Want to build a cross-server smackdown of evil in City of Heroes? They can assist with that, as well. They've brought together players from each server, and they're focused on enhancing the CoX experience by making sure your events run smoothly. So far, it sounds as though they're doing a bang-up job of making sure they're meeting the goals stated in their charter.
Be a hero: put on The Cape
If you like good music, good conversation, and a good lineup of DJs, then it's a good idea to put on The Cape. And please, don't forget the commercials: listening to Lord Recluse talk about the Rogue Islands Pet Shelter is enough to make even a hero weep with laughter.The Cape radio is one of Virtue's best-known and most enjoyed web-based radio stations, and you can access it via Winamp, iTunes, or the WIndows Media Player at http://www.thecaperadio.com:8000. Whether you enjoy thwarting villainy in Paragon City, or embracing it in the Rogue Isles, you'll have a soundtrack to match your deeds with The Cape fluttering behind you.
One Shots: The Rikti Invasion
Reader Julien sends in this shot from the Rikti Invasion event introduced to City of Heroes (and Villains!) in Issue 11. We're looking at one of the Rikti dropships closeup, as it sails the skies prepared to fire, Julien tells us, at any arrogant heroes or villains getting too close. Oh, good times, good times!Snapped any good screenshots recently? Send them to us so we can feature your screenshot and story for tomorrow's One Shots! It's easy to participate -- just send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com. %Gallery-9798%
The 'proud nails' of City of Heroes design
Zubon, of the award-winning Kill Ten Rats cooperative blog, has a great design discussion up on on the site concerning the 'proud nails' of City of Heroes' elder game. The term 'proud nail' is one that Zubon and I both enjoy from the design discussions on the official Wizards of the Coast website. Wizards makes the tabletop RPG Dungeons and Dragons, and many of the observations they make there are easily transposable to Massively Multiplayer games.Proud nails are 'design snags', problems that screw up the smooth movement of design mechanics. On the D&D site, examples include 'ten foot square' horses, crazily random lists of special abilities for monsters, and the strange way that bow ranges are calculated. Zubon's 'proud nail' list for City of Heroes focuses on the insanity of pitting high-level heroes primarily against a single villain group called the Carnival of Shadows. The Carnival has some serious issues, primarily stemming from their annoying attack moves and the famously weak amount of content at CoH's highest levels.I think 'proud nail' is a really useful term ... can anyone else point out a proud nail from any other games that immediately spring to mind?
Cinemassively: Time to Start
I'm constantly amazed at the creativity of people that play games where it's not easy to make Machinima. They don't have custom animations, model viewers, chromakeying, or just about anything else. City of Heroes and City of Villains are two of those games.Samuraiko Productions has created an energetic, fist-pumping music video, set to Blue Man Group's "Time to Start." Our very own CoX lead, Jonathan Northwood, wrote about her talent just last month! Set in Pocket D, one of the most recognizable areas in the game, both heroes and villains were able to to contribute to the video. If you liked it, she also has a high quality version available.[Thanks, Jonathan!]
