2007-11-10

Tale of Halloween Glory (as told by Spartan Warlady)

The following is the recent account of Spartan Warlady’s quest to get the extra costume slot during the 2007 Halloween Event. At the time of this entry, she was a level 8 mastermind (ninjas/trick arrows) with 2 “Spartans” at her disposal.


My loyal Spartan warriors informed me that there was a prime opportunity for glory in the form of an extra costume change. Normally we Spartans do not care about such frivolities. To do battle against an opponent and die with honor is reward in and of itself, and this season called “Halloween” produced many such battles. But then my warriors told me that this glory would require us to travel deep into the Rogue Isles, into lands never before touched by Spartan Warriors since the days of noble Lord Marshand, and locate an old oracle named Granny Bedlam that would not be easily found.

This kind of challenge, facing off against powerful adversaries, and travelling deep into Arachnos territory, is worth the glory it brings.

Before we could make the journey, however, we needed some items to bribe this oracle. Oracles are always strange, and this one was no different. She required some useless junk called “Halloween costume pieces”. I am told that these are cheap representations of the masks of Statesman and Lord Recluse, the gloves of Back Alley Brawler, and the representation of a monster named Hamidon. We Spartans do not care for such junk. We would rather display the real items after we acquire them through defeating these warriors and monsters in battle. But this oracle deems them worthy, as do many others, and therefore we must have them to make our quest.

My warriors told me that we only had three of such items, and one that was spare. Although I dislike the market, time was not our ally. It would be a long journey and we did not have enough time to make it unless we had that fourth item. We sold the spare for a hefty price and then quickly purchased the fourth item. With all four items in our care, we began our journey.

We travelled by boat to Port Oaks. From there we took the waterways and rocks to the next boat to Cap Au Diable. From here, the journey became more perilous. We would have to travel deep within the island to reach the Rogue Island Ferry. There were water passages that we took which allowed us to avoid several of the adversaries, but we still had to face combat. My warriors died in battle as I acquired others to join in my quest.

Finally we reached Nerva Archipelago. My warriors told me that this oracle lived on a small island north of Arbiter Frederick. Many of my loyal Spartan warriors died in battle against the dreaded Family, and I was defeated alongside them, only to be granted another chance by the gods to fight and finish my quest.

To travel by land from the hospital was also perilous as I faced not just one but SEVERAL warring enemies. Enemies whose attentions quickly turned to me and my Spartan warriors as we approached. Once again we fell bravely in battle only to be returned by the gods.

Again I made my trek, this time using the special winged chariot provided by the gods to get me closer to the Arbiter, only to once again fall in battle. But the gods were not through with me, and I returned to battle again.

Finally I discovered a small water passageway that went between the warring factions. By the grace of Neptune, I somehow found myself not only beyond the threats, but also north of the Arbiter, with the small islands ahead of me. The smaller of the two islands was empty. But on the second island, I soon found the oracle’s lair. She was a bothersome witch who barely acknowledged the courage of such a low-level warrior to make the journey. She only cared for the worthless junk, which we gave her. She gave me the costume slot and told me “begone”.

The sight of such callousness was more than reason for me to make a quick return, but not before visiting the face-maker to change my attire to one worthy of the gods. But this Granny Bedlam had best change her attitude when we next meet, or she will find that Spartans are not above teaching humility to oracles. We have felled messengers; we have felled kings, monsters, and even corrupt politicians in our own camps. Oracles are no different to us Spartans.

We Spartans know that true glory comes from achievement, not in trinkets, but for this season, I can at least boast that we indeed had some tales of glory, and can prove it by my new attire.



Above: Original attire before the quest. Below: New attire after the quest.

2007-11-09

The BIG NEWS!

Well for the past few days there was talk about something BIG in the works. Couldn't say what it was... but people had plenty of guesses. Something new. Something wonderful. Something EARTH-SHATTERING!

So this week it came out...

THE MULTIVERSE IS BACK!

Oh wait... sorry, that was DC Comics.

CAPTAIN AMERICA IS BACK!

No... that's Marvel Comics.

YOUNGBLOOD IS...

Oh, that's Image... and of course if Liefeld is doing it, you can probably expect that to be delayed to infinity again.

No no... THE REAL BIG NEWS IS....

NC Soft now owns 100% of the City of Heroes and City of Villains franchise!

For the longest time, NC Soft has been working with Cryptic Studios on the City of Heroes/City of Villains operation. NC Soft provided the network and financing, and Cryptic would provide the content. Now NC Soft has picked up the whole operation, including most (but not all) of the developers from Cryptic.

So what does that mean? Well it means that NC Soft will be calling the shots now instead of it being a joint operation. They have their own special studio set up just for City of X and the key people are excited about being able to bring the whole game to the next level of interaction.

There are plenty of things in the works right now... and Battlerock X has his ear to the ground on this! So keep checking in with the Chronicles, because things ARE happening!

What's on Paragon TV?

Thursday nights are HERO nights on PBC!

At 8pm, it's the wacky tales of a school teacher who gets an alien supersuit and learns the hard way about being a hero.

It's... PARAGON'S GREATEST HERO!



This week's special guest is the legendary Back Alley Brawler.

At 9pm, learn how a group of dysfunctional heroes manage to live together and not kill each other. You'll laugh! You'll cry! You'll tear your hair out in frustration!

It's... QUEENS OF KING'S!



And at 10pm it's MOON HILL THEATER!



Thursday nights is time for HEROES!

Only on PBC TV!
Paragon City's #1 Network!
Come SOAR with us!

2007-11-03

Halloween Event 2007

Things have been busy in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. This is the time of Halloween, and this year we have a week-long Trick-or-Treat event.

Here's how it works: you knock on any normal door on the game (also works for the back of delivery trucks and manhole covers) and you get one of three things. You either get an outright TREAT, a TRICK (Halloween-themed bad guys to fight), or a CHALLENGE... namely a really BIG bad guy to fight.

Now you defeat the BIG bad guy and you get serious bonus points including some badges that look good on your profile. You defeat enough regular Halloween-themed bad guys in the TRICK and you get some badges.

But the TREAT has the fun stuff! You get can get one of several temporary costumes, and if you collect enough of those, you get some badges too. You can get "a rock"... which is a temporary power in homage to the legendary Charles "Charlie" Brown. Or you can get some VALUABLE salvage pieces.

How valuable? Well there are four special salvage pieces that are specifically themed for Halloween. They are joke costume parts... such as rubber imitations of Back Street Brawler's trademarked gloves, or a mask of either Statesman or Lord Recluse, or a cheap plastic Hamidon Monster toy. They seem like nothing, but when you have all FOUR of them (one each), you can take them over to a special witch and she will give you an extra costume slot. So for lower-level characters, this is a great opportunity to develop that "alternate outfit" instead of having to wait until you attain that first available slot of Level 20.

Now the bad news... this little deal only applies during the Halloween Event, which ends this Sunday. And the temporary costumes themselves also expire after a certain number of days. The extra costume slot, though, stays. So the badges and the costume slots are really the treasures for this event.

So far there is one hero (Superion Prime) and one villain (Spartan Warlady) here in the Chronicles who managed to get enough pieces together and make the trek to get that extra costume slot. And in truth, it was harder for the villain to make it than the hero (nothing really heroic about simply getting off the Green Line and walking a few dozen yards), so I'll have her give her account of the experience.

2007-11-01

More info on Issue 11

Have some more previews of Issue 11... which should come out SOON!

First is a taste of the whole Ourboros experience:



And now a little behind-the-scenes look at the two new powers and how they got selected. This comes from one of the developers himself!