Sneak Peek

If you haven't received an invite to closed beta yet (like me), you can still go to test and look at new costumes and the shield/pain sets. You can create a toon just can't keep it. Looks great, but the read up on shields leaves me the feeling it isn't gonna be too hardy in the early stages.

Day Jobs

Write Up on Day Jobs Find out how Day Jobs can enhance your character and their wardrobe!

Should anyone be interested, there is a new PvPEC event going on! "Gimps Against the World!" This tourney is designed to use toons that do not excel at PvP! For more information, go here!

As Woodpeckers go...

...This one is O so Wicked.

So this is my action shot for my entry in the Costume Contest. O Wicked Woodpecker is O so sexy.

Contests!

The first contest is a Character Creator contest, sponsored by City of Heroes and Palit and AMD Video Cards! Can you create an amazing character both in costume and bio? If so, read here for details! You could win a video card or even the grand prize of a custom gaming PC!

If that's too much work for you, come out Sunday at 6pm pacific to Pocket D and run some gladiator matches! No worries about dying and just a laid back time! I will be hosting this and if there's enough people interested, I'll set up a tournament!

Otelo also rescheduled his 200 million mixed duo tourney for the end of the month! I'd link to it, but the boards are down at the moment. :( Furiya is a breath away from 45 so she should be ready in time!

If you are also interested in some new power tweaks, read here for an update from Castle on what will be changing PvE wise for powers! This includes stuff like no toggle drops when held (unless it affects the enemy), kheld changes, changes to /EA brutes, and the Invulnerability set!

They're Back!

The Rikti have focused another effort on invading our world! Intelligence reports their efforts will be exhausted by October 2nd. So if you are looking for the accolade or the badges, get out there Soldier!

Well my Freakshow recruitment poster did not win, I'm sorry to say. This was it below:


The level 4 Fights on Protector were well attended but it was the most challenging tournament I have ever run due to the limited attention span and the pouty people who left mid tournament cause they were losing. I doubt I will make a tournament geared towards PvErs ever again! Heather is hosting Friday Night Fights still so show up for a bit of PvP. Lots of people with non-FOTM toons and skills there, so don't feel like you have to be an expert. She normally starts around 5pm pacific.

Hazbyn needs Synapse and Citadel still. Anyone up for it? Maybe tonight around 8pm pacific?

Hold Your Horses!

Well, I know you were all looking forward to the new issue 13. Positron recently announced a sweeping change to the schedule, most importantly, delaying the Mission Architect until early 2009. Players clamored for customized characters and the dev team decided to hold off on the Architect until this feature could be included.

However, he also mentioned some new additions to 13:

Issue 13: Power and Responsibility will contain the bulk of features announced previously, including:

• Shield and Pain Domination powersets
• Merit Reward system
• Day Jobs (that include a suite of new costume pieces)
• Additional Cimerora and Midnight Squad mission arcs

In addition, there are some other new exciting features to reveal that will be included in Issue 13: Power and Responsibility. These include:

• Leveling Pact
• Multi-Builds (woo hoo! But you better start saving up since you'll have to enhance both)
• PvE & PvP Powers rebalancing
• Villain Patron Power Respec
• Supergroup Base Repricing

For the complete announcement, go here!

There is also an interview with Positron over this announcement which goes into a little more detail here!

Reminders!

Stabuli Katan battles the mighty Scirocco!
The "Get Your Freak On!" Level 4 Fights by the PvPEC is happening THIS Saturday at 4pm pacific! It's over on the Protector server so be sure to get your toon built and ready! You'll win a special code that'll allow you to dress up any of your toons as a Freakshow tank!

Also this Saturday is the 200 mill 2v2 on Triumph. One villain, one hero (one must be ranged, one must be melee), this tourney starts at 7pm pacific! Tonight is the cutoff for sign-ups however, so get your team entered!

The Wailer Lord against the small but powerful, Furiya
There is an interview with Positron at IGN.com if you are interested. And if you haven't heard yet, there is a new add-on pack "Cyborg" for all you robot fans available now in the COH store!

DAMN YOU COX CABLE!

Why can't you gimme a single, stable connection!?!

Sorry about the vanishing act last night Baba. I think I may have to stay out of longer things until they quit messing around with storm clean up.

:(

Doc T

DB FTW

Well, I entered the w00t contest. Can you pick out which artwork is mine?

Ebon and I are signed up for the 200 million inf tourney. I sense a buttload of death coming Azrharn's way. Too bad I can't get Furiya to 50. Or can I?!? Heather is hosting Fight Nights every Saturday so if you wanna get some practice in, it's a newb friendly place to get your smackdown on!

What characters have you been working on? We've become a bit quiet lately and I'm not liking it! :) Hazbyn is at 47 now, and so is Britney Blades.

Any TFs we want to do? Maybe we can do Faathim for those who have not done it? We also need to do a LRSF with our new villain 50s!

Cold/Ice PVP build. HELP!

In looking at this guy on mid's I have joined the hair club for men as I have pulled all mine out. There just seems to be too many powers I want (probably the way it goes for anyone). I have posted this question on the boards and have gotten some feed back but would like some confirmation.

One of the suggestions is to take CJ, SJ, and Acro. To take this I would have to get rid of the leadership pool. How sad. Other pools are concealment, fitness, and super speed topped off with the epic, power build up.

As far as prim/sec goes all cold dom powers are good enough to keep giving me a balance of buff/debuff. The question is secondary powers. Freeze ray seems like such an obvious choice but I am having trouble fitting it in. What I have in it right now is ice bolt, ice blast, and bitter ice blast. I suppose I could get rid of Ice blast.

Any how all suggestions are welcome :)

Repel Ball! Sunday 9/14 6pm pac

Heather and I are scheduling a repel ball match for our SGs this Sunday! What is repel ball, you ask? It's set up in base raid fashion. Everyone rolls a level 2 kinetic defender with the repel power. A MM zones in and drops a low level pet on passive. The two teams try to repel the pet into their goals.



So who's up for it? This will be on the Test Server in a PvPEC base that has the court.

Caption Contest!

Get cracking!

Meg

Freaky Fun Times

Hopkins, the AV from Manticore
Why ya'll have been a bit quiet lately! Gimme something to read at work, darn you! :)

Anyway, so what is happening in the COH universe that might appeal to you? There are a lot of Freak VIP contests going on. The PvPEC is doing a Level 4 Fight Night on Protector and handing out a few as prizes. It'll take you all of 10 minutes to roll a level 4 something so try to come out! It's easy-going PvP where you don't have to worry about build or skill, just get your kill-steal on! I'll be there on Honeymoon (a fire/fire blaster)! Oh and even if you could give a flip about an ingame Freakshow costume, please know one of these codes just sold for $300 on Ebay, so it might be worth your while!

If the Protector server offends you, Otelo (a Triumph PvPEC rep) is hosting a 2v2 tournament with a 200 million inf prize! It should be a challenge because the teams must be one hero and one villain and there needs to be a melee on the team. I don't think I have anything at 50 that's melee. :(

Lastly, w00t studios is giving away some VIP codes for creative screenshot/artwork submissions. Find out the details here!

Oh and if you saw one and didn't know where it came from, the jetpack below is the one from the Game Cards that are available at Target and Best Buy. It's an actual subscription, not a time card though. I heard it might be available as an add-on, but haven't seen anything at official store.

Bring on the Pain but Don't Quit Your Day Job

Official announcement on Issue 13!

---

The following is a letter to the players from Matt "Positron" Miller detailing Issue 13!

MATT MILLER ANNOUNCEMENT OF ISSUE 13

Good morning Players!

I wanted to be the first to let you all know that the primary Feature list for Issue 13: Architect is now live! That said, I’d like to take this opportunity to talk to you about some of the new features, more in depth.

First off is the issue name, Architect. I liked the correlation that the name has between some of the improvements we are making to bases (in the way new things are purchased for them) and to our Mission Architect feature. Players can now be architects of their own story arcs that other players can play. When I first mentioned this system in the 4th Anniversary post, I had no idea how wildly popular that single concept would be. The thread that followed that post had a plethora of ideas of how such a system could, and should work from a player’s perspective.

With virtually no information to go on, some people very much underestimated what would be possible with the Mission Architect. Some got it spot on, and some people wanted features that were simply impossible to get into the system at launch. Even so, we are very proud of the system as it stands. Players can make their own story arcs using a customized version of the tool used by our mission writers, in some cases rivaling our own internal tools in ease-of-use. I am really looking forward to playing the stories you all create with this amazing tool!

I should probably take this moment to talk about what the Mission Architect is not meant for. It is not meant for “easy leveling” or “badging” or “farming”. Those are things that we specifically wanted the Mission Architect NOT to do. This may be a disappointment to some, I know. The goal was to give creative minds an outlet to tell the stories they have in their heads. We didn’t want the system clogged with Farm missions, so actually finding someone’s story that they lovingly crafted became more a chore than it was worth.

To that end, the Rewards in the Mission Architect are something we, ahem, discussed with raised voices time and time again. How much was too much? How little was too little? What limits needed to be put into place to stop farming? Should we even have such limits? Etc. In the end, we have a system that we believe is the best suited for what Mission Architect was made for, and is not abusable. Time and testing will tell if that is really the case though. Like the Invention System, there will be many iterations on the Mission Architect to make sure we get it right before it goes to the Live servers.

Next I want to talk about Day Jobs. This started out as a kind of “secret identity” system, but we wanted to save the term Secret Identity for a system that fit that name better. Day Jobs works well because it is “what your character is doing when not being a Hero or a Villain”. It’s their “day job”. A character who logs out in the Hospital is assumed to be working in a medicinal capacity, and they will receive a themed bonus when they log back in, that sort of thing. We even made it possible to have your character’s Day Job to be “On Patrol” or “Committing Crimes”, just in case you couldn’t envision your character having a “normal life” while you were not actively playing them.

There are plenty of other features in Issue 13: Architect as well, like the new powersets, including the much requested “Villainous Version of Empathy” called Pain Domination. We’re also adding some great new missions to Issue 12’s Roman Zone “Cimerora,” as well as a brand new reward system that will hopefully see the end of “necessary” Task Force farming trying to get that one specific Recipe you have been dying to get. The Issue 13 Feature List explains more about that. We’ll be announcing more specifics of each of these features between now and the beta testing for Issue 13.

Finally, I want to tell you about two “Booster Packs” that will be available in a month or so. Many players have requested the ability to buy the 30 day temporary jetpack that comes with the new City of Heroes Game Cards. Once the retailer exclusive period ends next month, we are making the same jetpack available for purchase for $4.99 (which is the cost difference between the one month game time and the $20 Game Card price). We are also excited to launch our Super Booster I: Cyborg Pack for $9.99. This pack has an awesome set of costume pieces, emotes, auras and a power. We’ll be sharing all of the details shortly.

So thank you players for the enthusiastic support and I can’t wait to get these new features into your hands and to answer your questions about Issue 13 over the coming months and at Hero-Con in October.

Happy hunting!

Matt “Positron” Miller
Lead Designer, City of Heroes/Villains

****************************************************************************

ISSUE 13: ARCHITECT FEATURE LIST

City of Heroes® Issue 13: Architect

Mission Architect:
First the City of Heroes Character Creator set a new standard for player creation and customization. Now, Issue 13 takes another giant step, allowing players to design their own missions and story arcs to share with the entire City of Heroes community. Using an intuitive interface similar to the game’s detailed Character Creator, players can create missions from the ground up. Players will determine details ranging from environments, mission objectives, and enemies, to written fiction and character dialogue; giving their stories nearly infinite depth and personalization.

Among other rewards, authors and architects who create the most extraordinary content will garner acclaim and reputation. Community feedback will be paramount and some missions will elevate in status unlocking new rewards and benefits for their creators.

Day Jobs (Offline Character Progression)
Scholar? Caregiver? City Official? Now when players log out of City of Heroes / Villains they’re just getting started! A character’s day job is determined by the actual in-game location from which he or she logs out. If players log out from a University their day job is considered to be a Scholar. If they log out from City Hall they're a City Official. The benefits are thematically appropriate to the location. For example, a City Official earns extra Influence, a Scholar is granted Salvage, a Caregiver is granted Health Regeneration Buffs, etc.

Once characters have accumulated the required amount of time for each Day Job, they are rewarded with the appropriate Day Job Badge and Title, increasing their “earnings” for that job. Multiple Badges can be combined to unlock Accolades and the ability to accumulate additional new rewards. Almost every location within Paragon City™ and the Rogue Isles™ has an associated Day Job, resulting in a wide selection of jobs and rewards!

New Powersets
• Shields – Heft a Shield for Heroic of Villainous Ends! This new powerset brings a classic power to City of Heroes: Shields! Now, you can arm Tankers, Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers with a powerful shield to protect themselves and their allies.
• Pain Domination – Villains can now bend the power of pain to serve their own ends! Those playing a Corruptor or Mastermind have access to this new powerset. The antithesis of the Hero healing powerset “Empathy,” Pain Domination brings parity between Heroes and Villains with a distinctively evil flair.
New Cimerora Missions – New Hero and Villain story arcs expand upon the history and lore, and delve into the players and politics of Cimerora.

The Merit Rewards System is a new game system that allows players to earn tokens by completing Trials, Task Forces, Strike Forces, Raids, etc. The most challenging and time consuming tasks grant the most reward tokens, which can be redeemed throughout Hero and Villain zones for recipes, enhancements, salvage, costume pieces, badges, inspirations and other game items.

Other features include new Invention Origin Sets, new Costume Sets, a Patron Power Respec, Zone Refinements, and more!

Free loot

OK I finally got my crafting table power on Ed. If you see any IOs in storage in the base that has the name Eduardo Foster on it, feel free to take 'em. Make sure to leave Az's stuff in the energy room alone or she'll kill you. Most are in this storage table near the salvage vault and base crafting table (in picture). It cost me well over $100 million to get it done and I doubt I will replicate it on any other toons lol. It occurred to me now that I have it, I really don't need it since I crafted anything I ever needed working to get it. Hahhaha, once again I look up to the sky and scream in my best Captain Kirk voice, PositronnnnnnnN!

I have come to hate...

...the stench of robot exhaust.

But Doc Technophilia has finally popped the big 50!

Lordy, has that been a long time coming.

Now, what kinda baddie epic to make... Any suggestions?

Also, for a change of pace, Meg needs an number of taskforce badges. They include Imperious, Lady Grey, and all of the Ourubourous taskforces. Along with such sundry things such as the Shadow Shard task forces, and ,ahem, Positron and his lowbie Death/Debt March. Yes, I've been slacking, sue me. Life ain't fair right now.

Any takers for a poor ice/mace tank looking to add to her badge collection? :)

Megeara/Doctor Technophilia

A Saturday of Evil and Coming Soon?

Furiya and the Crabs, Andronid, Aribiter Kreed and Rust Crab)
Well Ebon is family free this weekend, so he is putting in lots of game time! Last night we opted to be bad guys and ran the Tesserect SF followed by the Officer Renault one. We blasted our ways through scores of Loyal Citizens and washed it down with smearing the floor with the Coralaxes. Then we poked a big eyeball until it popped.

Then the crabs played in the water spouts, flying about the room like fall leaves. :) Much fun.


In case you hadn't seen "the survey", here is a link to it. Please note, it's a "survey" and does not mean it's Issue 13. But it does hold some interesting tidbits of what we might be getting in the future! Anything look fun to you in it? Just you wait on the Azrhiaz TF! :D

Warburg Rumble

Come one, come all to the beat up town of Warburg! Level 30 minimum! If there's enough of us, we can put a team together!

Fight Night

Hotheaded Heather (from Dark Knights) and I are hosting a Friday Night Fights event this Friday at 7pm pacific. C'mon out and have a bit of fun in the arena.

Reminder: Base Raid tomorrow!

That's right folks! Sunday August 3rd at 3pm pacific is a rematch with the Dark Knights of Overkill!

In case you haven't noticed, the Rikti have returned!

They have also made an option of buying respecs for your character if you run out in game and cannot afford to spend a ton of loot at the auction house.