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CoX Winter Event timing announced
As previously noted, NCsoft is bringing the Winter Event back to Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. While it's been running -- off and on -- on the Test server for a while, the official start and end times are now known. According to Community Relations Manager Lighthouse, the Winter Event will start on December 17th and end the first week in January. More details will be forthcoming in the official forums, but it's time to start gearing up for next Monday. Good luck on the slopes, y'all, and don't forget to help out Father Time ... I hear he likes that.
CoX PvP ladder results announced
Want a custom forum title for your Supergroup? Well, then, fight for it! VORI from Champion server currently holds the top seat in both SG and VG challenges, and has been granted the title #1 PvP VG Team. But don't despair: if your group can knock them out of the standings, you take the top honor, and they roll into the PvPEC Hall of Fame. Just make sure that you read -- and follow -- the rules necessary to compete, and good luck. Who knows, you may see your group's name on the CoH/CoV official threads, and here at Massively, next month!
Latest patch for CoX now live
At 9 a.m. Eastern Time, NCsoft pushed patch 16.20071128.3T from the CoX Test server to the live servers. This patch allows accolades to be used even when exemplared to lower levels, corrected the "Rectified Reticle – Increased Perception" IO issue that prevented proper leveling behavior, adjusted graphical, sound, and timing effects for a multitude of powers, and ensured that global commands issued by a Global Chat Operator would appear regardless of whether or not the operator was using the /ghide command. Those who partake of Flashback missions will be pleased to note that they'll now have access to all of the contact stores, whether or not they ever had the opportunity to visit those contacts "back in the day," and here's one that should delight all of us: Mapserver stability has been increased.
CoX developers open their virtual wallets
The band Spinal Tap once sang the song "Gimme Some Money," and NCsoft decided to take the lyrics to heart. Although the initial base prestige grant had already been given to the CoX live servers, they provided the Test server prestige grant to the live bases, as well. Oh, sure, they're trying to pass it off as an error, but you know those crazy developers: I'm positive they just wanted all of us to enjoy our bases expanding as much as our waistlines over the holiday season.
Gifts for the City dwellers
Whatever you celebrate this time of year, December seems to be when the majority of gifts are exchanged among friends and family. Everyone has their own idea of what is and isn't appropriate in a gift-giving manner, and it's difficult to decide what's best to give, and what we most want to receive. Well, that's where we come in.We have the good fortune of having two of the fae here -- one from the Rogue Isles, and one from Paragon City -- to share with us their views of appropriate gifts for those of you who are playing in NCsoft's realms this holiday season. Their selections range from cost-free, in-game offerings up to something you can tuck under the tree ... or the computer desk, as the case may be.
One Shots: Introducing Rikti
Apparently yesterday's display from City of Heroes has inspired some of our readers to send in their City of Villains action shots. We highly encourage this sort of friendly competition -- because thus far it has resulted in some incredible screenshots.This shot was taken top of the arena in Port Oakes during one of the recent Rikti Invasions. Now that's something you don't see every day...Do you have any screenshots that capture the chaos of combat in your MMO of choice? We want to see them for our next One Shots! We can only post what you send us -- so send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com. You may see it featured here tomorrow, same time, same place! %Gallery-9798%
One Shots: Into Terra Volta
Reader Julien sends in this spectacular action shot from City of Heroes. We're looking down at a Terra Volta respec trial (in case you didn't know, in CoX you must complete a quest in order to reselect your powers) where two tanks (fire and stone) were gathering Freaks. Julien explains, "I was a warshade in Nova (flying squid) form hovering right on top of them. Just before blowing them away, I snapped this shot."Do you have any screenshots that capture the chaos of combat in your MMO of choice? We want to see them for our next One Shots! We can only post what you send us -- so send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com. You may see it featured here tomorrow, same time, same place! %Gallery-9798%
Drinking it up in the City of Heroes
With New Year's Eve only three weeks away you better start thinking about how you intend to ring in 2008 because it'll be here before you can take down an Arch Villain. If you're like me - a City of Heroes altaholic and semi-alcoholic - you may think about staying within the comfy confines of your humble abode. Far, far away from the temptation to operate anything more complicated than your keyboard. Sound dull and boring? Think again!Ghost Legion, one of Liberty servers oldest Supergroups, is holding their Third Annual New Year's Eve Bash... and they plan on ushering in '08 with a lot more flair and pizazz than Dick Clark or Ryan Seacrest! How? With a drinking game of course! The rules are simple. During the course of the evening's Skull bashing and Hamidon raiding should your virtual hero die you in reality must take two big swigs of your favorite adult beverage. If someone on your team gets defeated - everyone drinks! Long time CoX players have experienced the dreadful "team wipeout." Should the dulcet sounds of the Beach Boy's song Wipeout jingle your ears, and this fate befalls you during the festivities... everyone drinks double! BAM!This event is open to all players, including minors. The law however dictates that minors can not drink alcoholic beverages, so Ghost Legion strongly suggests those under the legal drinking age suck down some soda or milk.The event takes place on Monday, December 31, and starts at 9:00 PM EDT. Hop on the Liberty Server and head over to Warburg for all the rockin' and rollin' you can handle, and be sure to check Ghost Legion's website for all the details.
Under The Hood: The Ouroboros System
In most MMOs, once you hit a certain level, quests from before you hit that level turn useless and defunct. This sort of mechanic keeps players from going back and experiencing old stories because they leveled too fast, and really detracts from the overall feel of a game. What if I wanted to go back and play old quests (World of Warcraft, I'm looking right at you) and get some reward for them? Well, thankfully, City of Heroes/Villains has just implemented the Ouroboros System to allow you to go back and play previous missions you couldn't. But how is this going to affect the industry?
The Daily Grind: To forum, or not to forum?
It seems like no matter where you go on this World Wild Web, you can't help but stumble across all manner of trolls. Out of game, you can hear the echoes of "qq moar nub" as they rampage around. Indeed, this is why we suspect some games are loath to spend man-hours creating and manning forums, such as Tabula Rasa's stance on them. As routinely surfing forums on the lookout for news is part of our job, we can't help but notice that some companies do a fantastic job of keeping their forums under control, such as the CoX team. Other forums such as the WoW official forums are an absolute epidemic of trolls that seem to be far more pronounced than just about anywhere else. Now while we would definitely agree that the WoW forums undoubtedly suffer from more trolls due to sheer population density in comparison to other titles, we can't help but wonder... What would it be like if game companies opted to move all official forums to player-run and maintained setups and just popped in like Tabula Rasa has? Would it make more sense to do so and let the communities police themselves? Some of the player-run forums we read, such as different EQ, EQ2, and even WoW resources, seem to do a very good job of policing themselves and keeping the trolls to a minimum. There also isn't backlash into the games overall as they're completely separate. If you do something stupid on a player-run forum, you simply get banned more often than not. The trolls can't argue that they're a paying subscriber and deserve special treatment. (Not that it tends to hold a lot of weight on the WoW forums when you throw that around after a CM has gotten to you.) There are also generally lots of folks who will volunteer time just from the sheer love of the game, getting nothing in return save for a troll-free environment in which to talk about their favorite games. So this morning we ask you. Is it better to let the players run the forums, or the game companies? Do you think that player-run forums tend to be, on the whole, better than official forums, or do you really think it depends on the title involved? Are there any benefits you see with one over the other, or does it all perhaps just come down to a question of official forums needing more staff to deal with the trolls in their communities?
CoX Winter Event on Test server
Dust off the sleigh bells and strap on your rocket-propelled skis, boys and girls, it's that time of year again: NCsoft has once again released the CoX Winter Event into Test. Now, a word of warning: it's not always up, and it could be pulled at any time for further tweaking, but it is there, waiting for you to discover it just like a tasty digital sugarplum in the bottom of your spandex stocking.This year, prep for some serious competition on the ski slopes: the slalom course is now timed, and you can win medals badges depending on your placement. And don't worry, Old favorites like Father Time and his missions have returned, and the Gamester is still putting out gifts for those who are naughty or nice. One intriguing element this year is new salvage: Candy Canes. This sweet treat can be redeemed in Pocket D for holiday rewards. Sorry to disappoint the fan community, though, but Sexy Jay's not collecting them, the Candy Keeper is. So ... who's up for hot cocoa and cool gaming, hm?
CoX: new patch is ready for download
NCsoft's latest patch for CoX, 16.20071128.2T, is now online. The patch addresses timing in the Winter Event slalom, an update to the Rectified Reticle IO enhancement set, badges, spawning, and City of Heroes-specific Blaster powers. As usual, it will be automatically installed once you exit the game, so that you'll have a fresh, shiny experience with your next login. As well, the Test server will be down today from 5 p.m. Eastern to approximately 6 p.m. Eastern.
CoX Flashback Friday event
Want to warm up the winter evening in a thermonuclear manner? Looking for a weapon of mass destruction to send to your friends? Well look no further, because POJRadio's got your back. They're putting the Ho-Ho-Ho back in "Holy Hannah" by taking everyone to CoX's Test server and setting them free in groups of four to launch missiles. Of course, you have to face the Rogues who don't want you to succeed, run the risk of falling prey to roving bands of villainous swine, take your lives into your own hands with other PvP-minded folks, and be the first to launch the missile, but then that's what this holiday season is all about, isn't it? Let's give 'til it hurts.The event is tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. Eastern, you MUST sign up beforehand, and it's being held on Test so that any alt (who's able to reach Warburg, of course) from any server can attend. Why attend, you ask? Well, aside from the warm fuzzies you'll receive from irradiating those who have displeased you, there's an actual prize involved: John Becaro will be crafting a free sketch of the winning team. So get your Fannys over there and launch that missile! And if you can't attend -- or just want to know what's going on -- tune into POJRadio during the event to keep up with the mayhem.
Additional notes on the NCsoft Q&A
Earlier this week we gave you a glimpse of what went on during NCsoft's City of Heroes/City of Villains Meet & Greet held in Milpitas California on November 30th. Before going into detail about the event, however, we'd like to make one correction to our earlier article. When we said that "some in the audience seemed unhappy that all their enhancements and abilities would be viewable by their PvP opponents," we made it sound as though all of your build information would always be visible on the City Vault, and this is not the case. As noted back on the 20th of November, "you will have the option of hiding your Statistics, Powers, Badges, and Friends list from inclusion on the public web page." You'll have to live with knowing your character's name, image, level, server, archetype, and origin are searchable via the Vault, but -- based on what the developers have told us in the past, and what they reiterated at the Meet & Greet -- you'll have control of everything else. They also advised us that a Leader Board listing will be part of the City Vault: if you're a PvP fanatic, you'll always know where you stand. Gallery: CoX Meet and greet - general Gallery: CoX Meet and greet - Q and A session
Who's in on the 700MHz auction?
Feel free to shout it out in the comments, we know y'all are gunning for a piece. What's that? Don't quite have enough change in the couch to hit the $4.6 billion minimum bid on the 700MHz C block? How lame. Lucky for us, there are quite a few companies out there that do have that kind of cash earmarked for this and other highly desirable parts of the spectrum, which should make for some exciting bidding. Too bad FCC's auction process, which begins on January 24th, is totally blind, and with the exception of the few companies that have publicly stated their intentions to bid, we won't know much about how the auction went down until February or March. The following, however, are confirmed: AT&T; T-Mobile says it already has plenty. Cox Communications; Time Warner and Comcast aren't biting. Frontline; gunning for the D block. Google; might just do the minimum to ensure the C block is "open." Verizon; Sprint is busy with WiMAX. Sounds like slim pickings, but there a bunch of wild cards out there, including satellite providers, smaller wireless carriers and even big box retailers.[Via paidContent.org]
Gamer Interrupted: Duos are good for relationships
Each week, Robin Torres contributes Gamer Interrupted, a column about balancing real life with MMOs.Sharing your leisure time with a friend and/or loved one is a great way to strengthen your relationship. This is not a controversial statement. But if that leisure time includes video games, we are getting into much debated territory -- though things are improving. Newer studies are finding that social games do in fact make people more social, rather than the basement dwelling stereotypes that exist. In my opinion, MMOs are a great way to spend quality time together with friends, family and significant others -- particularly when some are in different physical locations. Couples can have in-game dates where they spend only the money that they are already spending on their account fees and with the kids sleeping nearby. Separated friends can spend time together even if they are in different countries. And, in my favorite story (though I am biased), brothers who have never met can get to know each other though they are hundreds of miles apart.
Cox North Virginia adds eleven HD channels
Cox has added 11 new HD channels to its lineup in Northern Virginia, bringing the tally to 31. With the additions, Cox has almost doubled its HD count since the beginning of 2007. Kudos, not a bad showing at all. There's some good stuff in the new channels, too: History Channel, Science Channel, Animal Planet, CNN, Versus/Golf, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, TLC, Discovery and NHL Network. Nice going, Cox, but why did you have to put in the bit about this being "more than any local competitor?" This may be technically true, but it's pretty misleading; last time we checked, DirecTV is available in Virginia.
CoX Issue 11 patch live on Test server
Affecting client version 16.20071113.3T, NCsoft has released a new patch for the CoX properties, and it's currently active on the Test server. The new patch addresses power set activation times, accolades, graphical and sound effects, Flashback missions, and global chat tweaks for all players. As well, two new costume sets were introduced: an Enforcer set and a Jester set. Attendees of last week's Meet & Greet had the opportunity to see the costumes a week ahead of time, when Sexy Jay showcased his work. Aside from the costume sets themselves, two new pattern sets for existing costume customization are also available.For this particular Issue 11 patch, Heroes will see Scrapper, Blaster, and Defender changes, as well as some adjustment done to Badge levels in Flashback missions. Villains will find some improvement to the Mastermind set, and that Snake Eggs will once again hatch. While there's no stated release date for the patch to go live on the regular servers, if you have the opportunity to so do, download and try it out on Test.
Player vs Radio: the volume is fading
DJ Krelo is one of the owners of Player vs Radio, and she handles both the administrative end and personnel support. Even though NCsoft's CoX Meet & Greet was fairly high-energy, she was kind enough to take some time out of her event coverage to give us an interview about PvR, its history, and what it's looking forward to in the future.PvR is a cross-MMO station -- meaning that they don't limit themselves to the City of Heroes and City of Villains properties, but broadcast within a wide range of MMO titles such as Vanguard, World of Warcraft, and Second Life -- and their music rotation is based on player requests. DJ Krelo herself is focused on Gothic, Industrial, Trance, Techno, and Synth-Pop, but every DJ has their own range of music they play. DJ Krelo has been broadcasting for almost two years -- starting with a former station, and moving to PvR after they opened a little over a year ago -- while PvR itself has been broadcasting continuously since they started, save for a brief hiatus during the RIAA royalties debacle.
Cox says it's bidding on 700MHz spectrum
Looks like being partners in a company called "SpectrumCo" just isn't what it seems -- although Comcast and Time Warner Communications have already dropped out of the 700MHz auction running, upstart Cox Communications has announced that it's ready to bid at least the $4.6B minimum in January's auction to try and get a little piece of the pie. Cox says it's trying to bundle all its products together, and that the airwaves will allow for greater mobility and convergence -- or, put more simply, "We like having options." Of course, it's got to muscle out all the other players first, but at this point it certainly seems like anything could happen.
