cov
Latest
Issue 11 adventures in beta
Omnitron of the Central Nexus spent some time the other day to give us his thoughts and experiences in the Issue 11 beta for CoX. He gives us some great insights into what we can expect when the update hits. First of all, he lets us know that Willpower is awesome. Every brawler and scrapper out there is going to want to pick up that power set. A note of interest I haven't seen mentioned anywhere is the 42-month veteran reward he found on the test server. Rather than simply getting the Fervent badge, players now receive the Assemble the Team power, which summons your entire team to you once every 30-minutes. If that isn't an incentive to keep your account active, I don't know what is. He lets us know that there's some potential weirdness down the line with the time travel Ouroboros missions. It seems that since you are deleveling down to say level 9 and are running around Paragon City weak as can be, turning in the mission could be challenging, since you have to get to a special island to do so. You might need to be sidekicked or something in order to complete your task. It sounds a little weird, and hopefully it will get ironed out before the Issue pushes through to the live servers. As Issue 11 nears, we'll keep an eye out on any further information and let you know.
City of Civilians and City of Aliens?
Ten Ton Hammer is reporting today on the rumor that NCsoft is adding a new "City of" title to the IP of their newly acquired CoX franchise. Well of course they are, they've been listening in on my conversations. I literally had this discussion with a friend of mine just a couple of days ago. The way I see it, you have heroes and villains duking it out in the city, but the citizens go along their humdrum lives without personality or purpose. So I am thinking, why not a Sims in Paragon City? The other idea I had as I was slicing up Rikti the other day was playing as the alien invading race. Sure they're trying to destroy mankind, but that's what makes good entertainment, no? I really think I have something here. With the civilians concept you could bring in a whole crowd of MMO lovers that want get a chance to build a virtual life within Paragon, and with the aliens you could start out on an invading vessel and port in to do damage and cause chaos. You heard it here first people. I so should be working for these guys.
The Digital Continuum: Don't Fear The Re: Console
Massively Multiplayer Online Games have always been the slaves to their PC masters, rarely able to exist on anything other than the PC platform. That isn't to say there haven't been partial attempts in the past such as Final Fantasy XI, but since launch that game has been developed for three different platforms including the PC. Developers still have yet to create a console MMOG that becomes as financially successful as some of the more popular PC titles. In all reality, it still remains easier to make and maintain MMOGs for PCs. The reason MMOG developers find creating and sustaining their games on the PC easier is the very problem with a console exclusive. When creating any Massively Multiplayer Online Game for the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 that problem happens to be that as advanced as those consoles are they do not offer the flexibility of a PC. A large part of Blizzard's longterm success with World of Warcraft comes from the depth of the community tools and game customization. It's the wonderful ability to alter your user interface and the incredibly addicting habit of alt-tabbing back and forth from game window, forum posts or online game guides. I'm personally unable count the number of times I've been playing City of Heroes windowed while listening to various albums, simultaneously browsing news, guild forum posts or maybe just checking my email. You may be able to get a browser onto your PS3 and you might manage custom music on both the 360/PS3 but in the end would it be as easy as a keystroke to flip back and forth between both of those functions?
Marvel Universe Online info still lacking - will it kill CoX off?
When is it coming? The one question everyone is anticipating an answer to, and so far all we know is sometime this decade! How did this all come about? Lots of suits, lots of money, strings of piano wire, and some body bags -- you know the basic necessities when it comes to building a MMOG. Hopping back in the way-back time machine to a few months after Comic-Con 2006 edition, Cryptic Studios, creators of City of Heroes and City of Villains, decided to unleash some sparkle magic, dropping the industry bomb that they held Marvel Universe Online in their clutches in conjunction with Microsoft Game Studios as their new cohort and publisher. When I read the news, it felt as if I was kicked in the gut by some fat man wearing a Spiderman Speedo (I love my Spidey Speedo) because Marvel had slapped Cryptic Studios with a lawsuit. Apparently, Marvel thought CoH's character creation system infringed on their intellectual property, otherwise referred to as the super hero awesome sauce. Well, to make a long story short, Marvel lost and Cryptic rejoiced -- freedom for players to create look-alikes won out and everyone got a cute puppy. Marvel mended fences and reached out to Crypic, all the melted faces were contorted back into sleek shape! But, what is there to know about Marvel Universe Online, and does it spell doom for City of Heroes and City of Villains?
Massively's massive giveaways
You know what video games and comic books have in common? Give up? We think it's the fact that both have had the misfortune of having some of the worst movie adaptations ever. Luckily, we have the ability to tell our own stories in CoX -- and hey, budding machinimators can use this world to create their own superhero or super villain movies. So for all you movie fans, comic fans, and perhaps budding machinimators out there, it's time for the last round of CoX prizes. This time we're giving away a 60-day game card, and one of the truly amazing CoX art books that came with the Collector's Edition of the game. There's only one catch (well, okay, outside of the official rules which say you have to be 18 years old and a US resident) -- we want to know what you think the absolute best comic-book movie adaptation has been to date?Leave your opinion in the comments by 8:00 PM EDT tomorrow, and you could win. Far better than sitting through bad comic-book movies, no?
Massively's massive giveaways - CoX, redux
We remember the first time we landed in City of Heroes, sometime back in 2004. After years of haunting our respective local comic book stores and following our favorite comic book characters, the time had come... We were going to get a chance to create and play our own superheroes! Of course, most of us then spent the next five hours playing with character customization options. Best. Mini-game. Ever.But to get back to the point -- for this giveaway, we're offering a 60-day CoX gamecard or a very cool CoX banner for two lucky random winners who answer the following question. Who was the comic book hero that inspired you when you were younger? Do you still have one that is your favorite? Tell us in the comments by 6:00 PM EDT tomorrow, and you could walk away with some NCsoft goodies! I keep thinking I'll jump in game and create Official Rules Man, with a battle cry of "18 and up, US residents only!" but that's probably right out. I mean, what kind of powerset would that guy have? Sleep?
Massively's massive giveaways: Good vs. Evil edition
For today's round of giveaways, we're focusing on NCsoft's City of Heroes and City of Villains. While we already have two 60-day game card giveaways in progress (and more to come -- check our giveaway page for the latest giveaways), this giveaway is focused for the poor individuals in the audience who have not yet had a chance to enjoy playing CoH or CoV. We have two copies of the Good Versus Evil Edition, which includes both CoH and CoV in one convenient package, donated by NCsoft, which we're passing on to you! To win, you have to be a US resident of age 18 or older and leave us a comment between now and 4:00 PM EST tomorrow, November 6th, telling us what type of hero or villain you'd create if you won this copy of the game. (Please check our full official rules before entering.) That said... what are you waiting for? Tell us all about your hero or villain to be!
Massively's massive giveaways: Day 4 - City of Giveaways!
Today is the day we feature those two NCsoft titles many of us have come to know and love; City of Heroes and City of Villains. We love our spandexed heroes and armored villains, so this hour we're featuring something that we know many of you will love. Our first choice winner will get a 60-day game card for CoX, and our second prize winner will get the combined CoX art (flip!) book, perfect for making your coffee table reflect your love of gaming and art -- for whatever side you happen to call home.All you need to do is to tell us in comments below, your favorite heroic or villainous superpower! It can be any type of power, really. Just leave a comment with that between now and tomorrow at 2:00 PM EDT (remember, the clocks changed!) and you're entered to win. Of course, we have to remind you that there are official rules involved, otherwise the Rikti will beam down and vaporize the lot of us, and that would make our editors sad.So tell us -- what's your favorite superpower? Prizes await!
Massively's massive giveaways: Day 4
While I know this is usually a misnomer, I'd like to wish you all a very happy Monday! What's so happy about it, you ask? Well, it's day four of our series of truly massive giveaways, and today we've got a pile of goodies for the City of Heroes and City of Villains fans in the audience, coming your way courtesy of Massively and NCsoft. We've got four more giveaways scheduled throughout the evening, so check back every even hour for another chance to win!And these giveaways are kicking off right now! Leave a comment on this post between 12:00 PM EST today, November 5th, and 12:00 PM EST tomorrow, November 6th (you must be over the age of 18 and a resident of the US to be eligible -- check the official rules for all the gory details). We'll pick two winners from the bunch -- first place will take home a 60-day game time card and second place will walk away with a City of Villains banner.
Under The Hood: Of Titles, Badges, and Achievements
Say what you will about achievement points on the Xbox 360. They may cheapen the experience, or reduce elements of skill down to raw numbers, but anyone who has ever played a 360 knows how addictive the little "Achievement unlocked!" message is. So what happens when you toss that into an MMO? Titles. It seems that a recent trend in MMOs is "titles". When they first debuted in the mainstream with City of Heroes, they didn't do much. All they did was add bragging rights for the person who has them, and a displayable title above the person's head. They were worthless (Well, mostly worthless). And most of the titles in CoX are still worthless. "Oh, I killed 200 Circle of Thorn members. I've got that sweet new title." Some MMOs are actually starting to change things up now, though, including the pioneers of the "Titles" system. Getting the exploration titles in City of Heroes/Villains will enable your Supergroup to teleport to that map from your Supergroup base. Getting certain titles in Guild Wars will allow you to increase your holding cap on faction. Getting all titles in an area in Tabula Rasa gets you a huge experience bonus (noticing a trend here? NCsoft developers seem to love the use of titles).
Heads of Cerberus and strike force number 1
I love in-character tales. There is just something about reading the exploits of a CoX group from the perspective of the characters that just makes my day all shiny and happy, REM style. For that reason, I dove right in when I stumbled on Van Hemlock's recounting of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of The Heads of Cerberus, his CoV supergroup. His most recent story has to do with the first Strike Force mission the little level 15 supergroup encountered, taking them deep into Cap Au Diable. I don't want to spoil the read for you, but suffice it to say, they had some tough times, and kicked much do-gooder butt.
The Making of City of Heroes
The blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun has been delighting PC gamers since July of this year with spot-on interviews, commentary, and diatribes on everything from FPSes to MMOGs. This week they have up an interview done by journalist Kieron Gillen talking with designer Jack Emmert about City of Heroes. The topic? Nothing less than how the world of Paragon City came to be.The interview is from back in 2004, so some of the comments are a bit dated, but it's a great look back at the concepts the designers were tossing around all the way back at the game's origin. One of Jack's most interesting comments is on the desire to get the game's scope as tight as it could be, as early as possible: "You can only do so much well," Jack insists, "It was just a decision we made in January/February of 2003. We just said that "We really should start focusing on what this game is going to be". We wanted it to be everything, but it wasn't realistic. We'd run into too many issues. We thought it was better to have a really stable, fun game and then add to it. The essence of a superhero is combat, so that's what we did, knowing we could grow the game over time and add more through patches. And to be honest, it's a mistake many MMOs make, is that they try to be everything that Everquest does... forgetting that Everquest wasn't Everquest when it released."
CoX veteran perks revealed at long last
City of Heroes lead designer, better known as Positron, has lifted the curtain on the new 42 month Veteran reward going live in Issue 11. I know the suspense is killing you, so we'll defer to Positron himself. "We are going with a 'Recall Team' Veteran power, usable once every 30 minutes. We like this as a Vet Reward because it is a nice perk we can give our Veteran players that shouldn't make players who don't have it feel left out. The power can be used only once every 30 minutes, and this can't be reduced by Hasten or other recharge reducing methods. This makes it very handy in certain situations, but obviously not required by any stretch of the imagination."There we have it! We'll find out more about the 45 month reward after Issue 11 goes live (which shouldn't be long, it's already pre-loaded) and we get closer to the actual 45 month mark.
Trick or treating in CoX
I have been having an unhealthy amount of fun Trick-or-Treating in CoX these days. Admittedly, this might be because it's the first time I actually have every participated in this Halloween ritual. In any case I spent several hours the other day knocking on doors and awaiting my fate. I got a treat about one fifth of the time, so the ratio is pretty high. I currently have seven different temporary costumes, ranging from the Goldbricker to my favorite the Freak Zapper. These last a few minutes, and enable me to get a taste of what it must be like to play a hoodlum. I also got two costume salvage rewards, but when I went to Croatoa to turn them in, not only was I not able to find Annah, the place was infested with armies of Streng so I thought better of my attempt and figured I might just keep them in my inventory as mementos of all the fun I had.
Issue 11 preloading now
The 74.2MB content update for City of Heroes/City of Villains free expansion Issue #11 is streaming to players as we speak. Issue #11, called "A Stitch In Time" features new power sets, time travel, new inventions, dual-weapons, weapon customization, and did I mention time travel? As usual, the download will trigger when you exit a game session. You can cancel it any time, and let it resume later. You know you want to grab it before Issue 11 opens officially and the update servers get slow.
An in-depth look at Issue 11 power sets in CoX
Floyd "Castle" Grubb sat down recently and recorded a video explanation of the upcoming power sets available in Issue 11: A Stitch in Time for City of Heroes/City of Villains. Since the video is only available as a download, we'll give you the complete rundown here on Massively of what we can expect from the two new power sets being added into the game. The first thing Castle mentioned was the fact that these power sets were added to the game because they were what the players asked for most. When asked, the players most requested Willpower for a defensive power set, and dual blades for an offensive set.
Halloween festivities for NCsoft titles
We already filled you in on CoX getting some Halloween fun underway, but NCsoft has now let 1Up know what their plans are for their other titles.Guild Wars players can expect the return of the infamous Mad King Thorn. This joker typically visits different areas of towns telling people what to do, rewarding those that listen and destroying those that don't. The two cities he will make appearances at are Lion's Arch and Kamadan, and you'll need to be around between October 26th and midnight October 31st to catch him.Lineage II fans will see the "Trick or Transmutation" event for their Halloween celebration. This will involve a treasure hunt for some Alchemist's Chests, to create Philosopher's Stones and unlock rewards. Some of these rewards will reportedly be unique to this event, and if you're interested in trying your hand at the hunt, the event begins October 26th.Finally, NCsoft is even infusing their unreleased MMO Tabula Rasa with Halloween madness. Those who have preordered the game will get to play a few days early, in the headstart promotion, and will be able to go on missions to earn special Halloween masks.If you want to find out about the celebrations already going on in CoX check out our previous coverage, and a link to 1Up's article is provided below.
Pocket Guide to Inventions in CoX
Just like Amanda, I have recently returned to CoH/CoV from a long hiatus and I find there is a lot of new and wonderful stuff happening in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. I'm particularly excited about the Invention system and was happy to see that there is an in-game tutorial for learning about crafting.In order to complete the Invention Tutorial, you need to attend a University. Heroes go to the University in Steel Canyon while Villains attend the one in Cap Au Diablo. You get a badge, experience, Influence/Infamy and a nice Invention Enhancement for completing the tutorial, so it is well worth it.The info in the Invention Tutorial is invaluable, but a bit tedious to read through. So I've put together the basics of Inventions in this handy pocket guide. All of the tutorial info is included here, so if you just breezed through it to get the goodies, you won't have missed out on the essentials.What you need to create an Invention: Some Salvage (appropriate for the item you are creating) A Recipe A Workbench Influence or Infamy Enough room in your inventory (if not a Costume Piece)
CoX halloween event starts today
Today Halloween has come to Paragon City. The holiday event we've been waiting for is finally here, and will be with us until November 4th. There are plenty of activities during these few weeks that you'll want to take part in. First off, there are classic costumes available to collect. Wish you could trick-or-treat as a Coralax Minion or Paragon Protector? Wish granted. There is also a Halloween costume contest, which you can participate in if you happen to be in New York and going to the ComicsOnline.com event.Baddies from years past are also back to join in the fun, err fight. The Unseelie Court is sending their minions to Paragon City, and that means that just about every nightmarish monster will be roaming the streets needing to receive some swift justice: werewolves, witches, vampires and more. I personally cannot wait to log in and see it all for myself. I have been away from the game for several years and haven't had the joy of knowing what a holiday event like this does to CoX.
Which supervillain are you?
In keeping with my fascinating with my mastermind in City of Villains of late and her growing ninja horde, I thought I would share with you a cute little quiz linked from Adventures in Azeroth. Normally this is the sort of thing people would post on their Myspace, but seeing as how mine is woefully neglected and I just plain like you guys better, I thought I would share it with you?Who am I most like? Mystique, which makes me all kinds of happy. She actually one of my favorite comic book characters anyway, and now I realize exactly why: we're connected, she and I, we share the same qualities, the same mysterious past, the same blue skin...well not that, but you get the idea. And I even collect the comic book about her (okay, so I'm that kind of geek, I'll admit it.) Take the quiz and tell us which supervillain you are most like.
