Good Night Paragon City!

December 1st marks the end of City of Heroes MMO.

For Colonel John Battlerock, aka Battlerock X, the character for whom this blog site was created, his final battle on this day was against the Rikti, the very monsters that nearly deprived him of his life ten years ago. A fitting way to end his story, overcoming his greatest threat and still standing.

Thank you to those of you who have enjoyed the entries, articles, images, videos, and reviews. This will not be the last entry, there will be more to come, but for now it is time for this old soldier to stand down and go home.

Vanguard Warning: Rikti Incursion Soon!

The following transmission was intercepted from the Rikti:

Humanity: doomed.
We: conquer.

Heroes: demoralized.
Villains: eliminated.

Preparations: commencing.

Invasion: imminent.

Vanguard agents estimate that the incursion will occur starting around 9am EDT on Friday, August 3rd and lasting until 9am EDT on Monday, August 6th.

Tactical files on dealing with Rikti Incursions will be forthcoming.

Getting Ready for Death Incarnate!

On March 6th, Paragon Studios will be releasing Issue 22: Death Incarnate. Another part of Paragon City closes up and new powers are unlocked.

Here is a preview of what to expect courtesy of Samuraiko:

RIP Statesman (1896-2012)

News reports are still coming in, but it appears that Paragon City's iconic hero, Stateman, has been killed.

Everything Will Go!

The folks at NCSoft/Paragon Studios have announced that with the coming Free-2-Play model (aka City of Heroes: Freedom), all of their booster and expansion packs are going to be taken off the market on August 30th.

That means that if you haven't gotten the booster packs or expansion packs that you want, you better do so now before the 30th, or else wait until after FREEDOM goes online.

On the plus side, from now until the 29th, you can get the original City of Heroes program for $1.99 and the physical retail box (with all of the added goodies that go with it) for $9.99.

Good deals, so get them now or forever hold your peace until FREEDOM.

Go Retro with Steam!

Feeling a little overwhelmed by all of the tech stuff in Paragon City?

Cross-dimensional devices just blowing your mind?

Want a life a little more simplistic?

Well now you can go RETRO with the new Steampunk Booster Pack!

Now you can go "Old School" with over 60 costume pieces designed to bring out the best of the 19th Century. These include old-style faces, hair styles, hats, beards, cameos, jackets, boots, gloves, pants, belts, and skirts.

How about wings? We have the best in wind-up wings. Need something a little more potent? We have a special Steam-Powered jump pack that will give you super-leaping abilities for a limited period of time.

How about hardware? We have the best weapons the 19th Century can give you! Remarkable pistols and rifles! And how about a rucksack? You've never had a rucksack before, have you? NEVER!

And because the 19th Century really wasn't that CLEAN, we have some new auras that show just how messy tinkering with oils and screws and springs can be. You can even change your outfits with either steam or oil. Or you can have some Victorian-style glyphs to show off your classic features to show how "prim and proper" you can be, even while you're thrashing your opponents thusly!

Oh, and as with other booster packs, these are all available from the start, so either new or seasoned characters.

Got you interested? Good, because it's only an affordable $9.95 (in 21st Century coin) over at the NCSoft Store. So get on over there and partake!

Happy Seven Years of Super!

It was seven years ago today that NCsoft and Cryptic Studios launched a new Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game called "City of Heroes", inviting people of all ages to come to Paragon City in Rhode Island and be heroes and superheroes.

This was a time when Worlds of Warcraft was the 800-lbs gorilla for MMO activity. Often-imitated, never duplicated, and with big money to have celebrity advertising. It still is the king for its genre. You'll find plenty of similar games trying to be like them, trying to replace them, and many people still want to put City of Heroes in the same category.

It's not.

City of Heroes has gone through two expansions and twenty updates or "issues". In 2005, one year after the launch of the game, the "City of Villains" expansion was launched, giving players the ability to go through MMO life as a villain. In 2010, "Going Rogue" opened a whole new world, and the means to go from a hero to a villain and back again by the alignment system. In between these events there have been invasions, bank robberies, time travel, zombie apocalypses, and hundreds of new ways to customize and improve one's character. All this without big name celebrities and mainstream media commercials.

Today, City of Heroes is the measuring stick for the superhero-genre MMO. Champions Online (created by the same people that started City of Heroes) and DC Universe Online both compete against City of Heroes and are measured BY City of Heroes standards. Sure they provide some things that City of Heroes don't, and DC obviously has the mighty corporate dollar behind them for advertising. But money doesn't provide experience or a track record of loyalty and dedication. Even during hard times, City of Heroes players find ways to go online and keep the game going.

No, City of Heroes is not Worlds of Warcraft, and it doesn't try to be Worlds of Warcraft. It doesn't have to.

Happy Super-Seventh.

Issue 20 is now LIVE!

The Age of Incarnates is here with Issue 20!

Mender Ramiel's mission is now clear. From his timeline, the Well of the Furies, the source of godhood, has chosen the WRONG Marcus Cole as its champion.

Emperor Cole, the Praetorian Tyrant, would soon have the power to take over not just the Primal Universe, but ALL of the Omniverse itself!

Ramiel's plan is to disrupt Tyrant's operation and force the Well to choose another champion. New Incarnates face Tyrant's lieutenants to stop them from creating the invasion force needed. To do that, the BAF and the ultra-secret Lambda Sector need to go. Take out Nightstar, Siege, and Marauder, and you MIGHT be able to take on Emperor Cole himself and undo a dark future.

There are also new missions for medium-level operatives. Medium-level heroes join up with Admiral Sutter and the USS Mason to confront a new floating fortress from the Praetorian Universe creating portals for invasion, then race to stop the already-arriving forces from decimating Talos Island and Skyway City.

Meanwhile, medium-level villains follow an opportunity by Moritmer Kal to steal the Flames of Prometheus from Positron, and make sure the other villain groups don't then take it from them.

But there is a reason why this new Issue is called INCARNATES, and that is that new Incarnates get FOUR new levels. Combined with their initial Alpha slot, they are now halfway to reaching their ultimate potential.

There are a few other goodies as well. The teamwork system has been updated with a new grouping of teams into larger Leagues. This allows operatives to take on larger missions such as the Hamidon and Rikti raids. A new Teamwork Teleporter system has been incorporated as well so players looking for teams can register for any team available, and then are automatically teleported into a League.

One more feature for villains is the expansion of the Black Helicopter Line so every zone in the Rogue Isles now has at least ONE Black Helicopter point.

The multiverse that is City of Heroes is getting more and more interesting.

(Note: Going Rogue Expansion is required for many of the new features.)

Breaking News! The City is Running Out of XP!

Apparently there was a reason why there was an 11-hour cosmic downtime yesterday, and for once it had NOTHING to do with Cosmic Rikti Monkeys (no doubt they're pleased to hear that).

Apparently the City of Heroes is running out of... EXPERIENCE POINTS!

Don't believe me? Well take a look...



(Oh, and check the calendar.)

Let's get BEASTLY! (Updated Again!)

This was something that was hinted at for a while now, not to mention being on plenty of wish lists, but soon it'll be coming to the City of Heroes...

The ANIMAL PACK!



Beastly creatures sort of were hinted at... there were the occasional dog/bear/chupacabra faces, some lizards, a few cat-like features, and of course the tails and wings, but no real ANIMAL creatures. No birds, no bulls, no actual wolves or tigers or lions.

Now there soon will be, along with the Beast Run travel power so you can run with the tigers.

The good thing is that according to the official announcement, there will be over SIXTY new costume pieces and patterns along with the Beast Run power. This is far more than the handful of pieces from recent add-on packs, so this could very well be worth the money.

Get ready, because the creatures of Doctor Moreau are coming! And they're going to be hungry!


UPDATE: The official release date has now been set at February 23rd.

On February 18th, the developers will be giving away free codes to random people in Pocket D that are dressed in their best "Ready for the Jungle" attire. They will also be giving those codes away on Facebook, Twitter, and the Forums... first use-first get. (And it's a jungle getting it that way.) Check the announcement page for dates and times.

UPDATE 2: The back is NOW available. And at $9.99, for once they have a pack WORTH its price!

Click here to view the details and purchase the game at NCSoft.

Update on Seven Stars Reward

"City Of" officials have announced that a grace period for the Seventh Anniversary loyalty program has been put in place.

Apparently some Praetorians were getting their brains scrubbed out by Praetor Tilman and didn't catch the announcement of the grace period starting on February 1st. (At least they didn't blame it on those smelly Cosmic Rikti Monkeys.)

Because of this, the Loyalty Period has been pushed back to February 14th. The end date is still set for April 18th, and the Vanguard Pack will still be unlocked on the 7th Anniversary on April 28th.

So if you're still on the periphery of being a hero, villain, or Praetorian, NOW is truly the time to join in and get ready to take part in the Seven Stars of Super!

Ski for Free!

Earlier this week the walls of reality were once again tampered with by those d@mn cosmic Rikti monkeys.

In gratitude for the masses not revolting, the Ski Chalet has once again appeared next to Pocket D for those who wish to brush up on their slalom times.

The Chalet will be open from 9am February 4th until the 3am February 8th.

This does not mean that the Winter Event has resumed. The Winter Hoard and the presents and the Baby New Year missions are done for the year. It's just that for the next few days you'll get to enjoy the slopes and chill out at some place festive.

Enjoy it, because it's not that often this comes around.

Issue 19 pre-loading now

Okay CoH/CoV/GR operatives... you may have noticed a little "update" slipped in after you logged off of the system.

Yes, Issue 19 is pre-loading.

Which is strange for me because when I think "Issue 19", I'm not thinking "Alpha Strike". I'm thinking "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight". Both of these WILL be out this month!

Oh, and don't tell anyone this (*wink-wink*) but here's the cover to the GotD Issue 19...


Looks good, huh? Yeah, it's "Phase 2" of the "Time and Changes" storyline, and this one will have some surprises you won't expect! Some names and faces from "Issue 0" will be returning.

Anyway, back to "Alpha Strike"...

For those who are not familiar with the pre-load, this is a way for the developers to get most of the big changes put in without being TOO much of an inconvenience.

So, for instance, you have 100mb worth of changes you want to put in. You COULD load them up before the game starts, like all of the other updates... but this would take a lot of time, especially for those who don't have high speed cable access.

OR... you could load the bulk of the changes after the player exits the game. So all of the maps, characters, mission data, sound files, additional features, will all be there prior to launch, and then on the day of the upgrade launch, you just send a small file with what few bug fixes need to be made and a code to switch the data. It saves a lot of time and hassle.

Plus the pre-load lets you know that the developers are REALLY CLOSE to releasing that new update, because they wouldn't be doing this if they weren't confident in about 95% of the material (giving that extra 5% for bug fixes and tweaks).

SO... next time you log off, give the devs those few minutes to pre-load Issue 19. You'll thank yourself later.

AND for the COMIC Issue 19, also due out in the next few weeks, check out the OFFICIAL Guardians website at:

GuardiansOfTheDawn.wordpress.com

Is THIS The Coming Storm?

City of Heroes is getting ready to release Issue 19: Alpha Strike, the first post-Going Rogue update in the City of Heroes universe.

With it, we see the debut of a character that was previously only seen in the comics: Apex.

Yes, the star of the original "City of Heroes" comic series is back, and just in time as Tyrant has launched his new campaign to take over the Paraverse!



Will the evil version of Statesman succeed? That's up to the heroes. And is THIS what Mender Silos warned was the "Coming Storm"? We'll just have to find out.

There will be a few more things with the update... such as the merging of transport systems, so you can use one subway or one ferry to go anywhere. Speaking of transports, if you have Going Rogue, your non-Praetorian characters WILL be able to access that universe through Pocket D.

Plus, the Fitness Power Pool will now become an inherent power pool. SO if you've already loaded up on heath, stamina, speed, and leaping, you'll probably have to shuffle things around again. Good thing you have those Respecs, right?

AND Issue 19 will be the start of a new level of play... with the first step in becoming an INCARNATE!

Oh, and should I also mention that Halloween is approaching? Get your days in the sun out of the way, because on October 21st, it'll go dark and stay dark until November 1st.

New Party Pack

Normally I'm pretty excited about new add-ons for City of Heroes/Villains/Going Rogue.

Normally I am... but not this time.

Okay, here's the skinny... NCSoft/Paragon Studios/the people behind City of Heroes/Villains/Going Rogue have released a special add-on pack called the PARTY PACK.

Here's the trailer.



Now with previous add-ons, there are a few additional features such as costume pieces, emotes, special weapons or objects, transformation sequences, and then that little "extra" feature that really makes it worth the purchase.

But... what you see in the trailer is really what you get with this add-on. Eight emotion (emote) commands; three involving dancing, three dealing with sports, one that involves opening an exploding gift box (which is the same as the holiday gifts you get), and one where you're doing air guitar. THAT'S IT!

No additional costumes, no extra items... just eight emotes that can keep you busy.

Not too much of a quality of life improvement there, guys.

Oh, and by sports, I don't mean your characters actually PLAY the sports in question. Sure you can dribble the basketball, but you're not PLAYING basketball. You can kick the soccer ball, but you're not PLAYING soccer. You're chalking the pool cue, but you're not PLAYING pool, even if you're in front of the pool table.

And then there's the price... $7.99. When normal booster packs with even MORE stuff to use costs $9.99, charging $7.99 is just way too much. $3.99 maybe. Or better still they should have just included it in Issue 18 that was just released to coincide with Going Rogue, or held off until Issue 19.

In fact it would have been BETTER to include it in Issue 18 because as a standalone upgrade without Going Rogue, it was pretty weak.

In short, folks, I really can't say that you should get this feature. It's just not worth the price they want for eight idle emotes. If you have the money to spend and if you REALLY NEED those emotes, then maybe. But it's not really an earth-shattering gimme feature like other add-ons.

Sorry NCSoft/Paragon Studios, but you dropped the ball on this one.

Going Rogue IS LIVE!

After all of the hype, it's finally here...

CITY OF HEROES: GOING ROGUE



The world of online gaming has now gone beyond "good" and "evil". The lines from here on in become blurred as a whole new universe is opened up for you to explore!

No more will good guys stay in Paragon City and bad guys stay in the Rogue Isles. Now good guys can go bad, and bad guys can redeem themselves.

Be a hero, be a villain, or be a PRAETORIAN!

City of Heroes Issue 18 Details

NCSoft/Paragon Studios have just released the details about the next update issue for the City of Heroes MMO.

Issue 18: Shades of Gray is the issue that will not only herald the launch of the Going Rogue expansion but will also bring back a much-requested challenge and an old supervillain.

The Cathedral of Pain was the one and only mission that supergroups could take part in together. Located in the Shadow Shard universe, this was the dimensional prison of the demigod Rularuu the Ravager and his minions. Rularuu had attempted to pierce the barriers and enter our universe, but had been turned back first by the Midnight Squad, and then in 2006 by various hero groups that could have the devices needed to pierce the dimensions.

Paragon City may have forgotten about the threat of Rularuu... but Rularuu hasn't forgotten.

In Issue 18, Rularuu tries once again to cross over. And if he succeeds, then our world is destroyed!

But that's not all going on.

Previously the merchant accounts of Wentworth's Fine Consignment and the Black Markets were completely separate, even though the same items were for sale. What could be considered cheap in Paragon City could be expensive in the Rogue Isles. With Issue 18, that ends. Both marketplace systems will be merged into one, so you will get a fair market value ANYPLACE in the City of Heroes Universe. Plus, you know how bad guys and good guys can get together in places like the Shadow Shard, Pocket D, Ouroboros, and the PvP zones? Well, now you will be able to TRADE with them. You may not be able to trust them, but you WILL be able to trade inspirations

What else is in store? A new Tip System will be created. When you take on adversaries that are at a threat level 20 or higher, they will give you certain tips for other storylines and contacts. This will allow you to take on new challenges, and will set the stage (for those with Going Rogue expansion) to change their alignment. More and more "morally challenging" opportunities will be presented, which means a hero could fall into a vigilante, or a villain could become a rogue.

Shades of Gray indeed.

That's only just skimming the surface, and of course that isn't covering all of the things that will be going live with Going Rogue, including four new powersets and a whole UNIVERSE where the heroes you THOUGHT you knew are the RULERS of the world.

Got your interest yet? You'll just have to wait until August to see it all plays out.

Issue 17 is Pre-Loading NOW

Players for City of Heroes will probably notice a HUGE download after closing their game engines.

Issue 17: Dark Mirror is pre-loading.

"Dark Mirror" sets the foundation for the new "Going Rogue" expansion (which should be released at the same time as Issue 18).

What this means is that GR's new "Ultra Mode" is being installed into the City of Heroes universe. This is a new graphics system that will make the layout of ALL "City of Heroes" locations look more realistic. Reflections, light shadows, textures, will all take on a new vibrant appearance.

Atlas Park

Port Oaks

Wentworth's Fine Consignment in Atlas Park

Cimerora (Ancient Rome)

The good news is if you are using a low-end graphics card, you can turn this feature off.

But that's not all!

All epic archetypes (Kheldians and Arachnos Soldiers) will now be accessible at level 20 instead of 50! That means if you're struggling just to get a character up to the cape mission, you can now enjoy the FULL range of archetypes instead of having to get all the way up to 50. (By the way, if you're using a trial version of the game, you're still screwed, because you can only get up to level 14 without getting the full subscription.)

"Dark Mirror" will also introduce a brand new enemy to the Paraverse, and it's one that you'll face AT level 20! Good thing you got that new help, huh?

Also the Positron Task Force will be split in TWO! Finally! That's the hardest of task forces for anyone to complete, and Battlerock Babe should know! Over on the Villains side, the Silver Mantis Task Force will be available for ALL villains, not just for supergroups.

Plus, new emotes, new TAIL emotes (for those of you with tails), new badges, new Mission Architect options, in-game emails to other players (or other characters), and much, much more.

And that is SOON! The pre-load means the countdown is on!

Get ready for DARK MIRROR!

Best Superhero MMO of 2009!

Yes, congratulations go to City of Heroes for being picked BEST SCI-Fi/SUPERHERO MMO of 2009 by the readers of Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine!!

New rival "Champions Online" didn't even rate in this category, with a distant second going to "Star Wars Galaxies".

Sister MMO Aion also was the clear winner in the category of Best New MMO of 2009.

Be warned, Warcraft. Between Aion and the forthcoming Going Rogue release, we're coming for your "Best MMO" title next!

Spring Fling Is Back!

It may be February, but Spring Fever is in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles!

The annual Spring Fling Celebration will begin starting February 9th, and will last until March 2nd (barring, of course, Rikti Monkey meddling as with previous events).

The party begins, as usual, with DJ Zero in the Pocket D nightclub, where Heroes and Villains are encouraged to work together to resolve a series of challenges that only heroes and villains can do together.

You complete the preliminary tasks and DJ Zero will have you go out on a special mission to thwart Snaptooth, who is STILL carrying a grudge after the whole "Baby New Year" thing. (Although if you read "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" #6 you'd find Snaptooth being just a little TOO eager to get his butt kicked.)

Defeat him and you get the usual party items... Greek clothes, medium inspirations, heart-shaped costume pieces, some extra goodies. It's a great way to work with both heroes and villains, especially since you'll probably be seeing more of them in your neck of the woods when Going Rogue comes out!