CoH Podcast Speical Episode 10

CoH Podcast has released a new special episode and it's a very different and very good one featuring player interviews.

Check it out at the CoH Podcast website.

Issue 16 Live

Read about it at the official website.

Happy Birthday to Blog

This blog turned 1 year old on September 3rd. And no, I couldn't be bothered to post yesterday so I'm doing it now. :p

Meanwhile, City of Heroes announces the official beginning of the guest author program. They even have LOLBAT onboard. And yeah, Troy "I'm not Tracy" Hickman. Man's a damn good writer, too. I wonder what kind of farms these guys will make? :p

Of course, I won't be happy until the thawing of Jack Schiff is complete. His farms would be the best farms of all. ;)

Read about the guest farm author program at the official site.

New Assassin's Strikes Video by adrius

Issue 16 Video By onimonkii

Issue 16 Enters Open Beta

That was a quick closed beta. I'm sitting out until I16 goes live myself, but if you're in the mood by all means load up the Test Server client and check it out. In other words, you open beta, I'm CoX fatigued. Issue 16 will probably be live in 2-3 weeks at this rate.

Chat about it in the official Issue 16 forum.

Metaplace

So I checked out Raph Koster's Metaplace. It feels distinctly low-tech, both in graphics and sound. The worlds I visited were ok I guess, but I wasn't impressed. Some of them were even frustrating.

They're working on improving avatar customization, which is good because right now it's nowhere near good enough (CoX has me spoiled).

Imbedding videos is interesting. Reminds me of Second Life.

I haven't been back since my initial login. Not a good sign, but I need to get back and give it more of a chance. I can see the promise in it.

Watch The Guild

Positron on Issue 16 at MMORPG.com

Chris "Back Alley Brawler" Bruce just might be the coolest dev of all time.

Issue 16 Closed Beta Underway

I just wanted to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.

Whine and moan that you didn't get in yet on the official forums.

Positron: Pets Zone With Owner in Issue 16

According to Positron's Twitter, pets will be zoning with their owners in I16. Masterminds just got even faster to play.

Discuss the good news at the official forums.

Double XP Log

Magnaniman, INV/SS Tanker, from level 35 to 37.

Caterbrawler, WP/EN Tanker, from level 18 to 20.

Quinine, SS/SR Brute, from level 12 to 14.

This represents about 3 hours of play time over the 3 days of double XP. I was suffering from CoX fatigue so I didn't get the 6 hours over 3 days I was planning on.

Yes, I'm playing Tankers now. What changed? Patrol XP and dual builds helps tremendously with the lackluster early game Tankers have (lackluster is being kind; it outright stinks and is really unfun. Tankers do mature very nicely though. They're very playable in the mid-to-late game). I build my Tankers as Scrankers, of course. Solo all the way. I can't wait until you can set missions up with full team spawns (Issue 16). That will make Tankers very, very fun! Even solo.

Champions Forumites: 8 is Enough

The very idea that 8 slots is enough in a customizable superhero game would be laughed at by most City of Heroes players. Guess what? Champions Online forumites love the idea of limiting it to 8. Why, I have no idea. What is gained by limiting the available slots? Precisely nothing.

Here's hoping Champions gets a clue and ups the slot count. By a lot.

Read and laugh at the cluelessness at the CO official forums.

[For comparison, City of Heroes launched with approximately 88 slots, and that was increased 50% when City of Villains (RIP) launched.]

City of Heroes Podcast Releases Episode 48

Episode "48" of the podfading CoH Podcast is out. Where episodes 42-46 went is anyone's guess.

Check it out at the official CoH Podcast site.

Hype Won by ratspaw

Trouble Logging Into the New Forums?

If you're having trouble logging into the new forums, try using your game account password (the password you use to log into the game).

I preferred having separate passwords for the two for better security, but it is what it is.

Forums Up!

Check out the new City of Heroes forums.

I seem to have forgotten my password lol. :p

Double XP Up; Forums Still Down

Forums are still down, but double XP is on through midnight Sunday. And no, Patrol XP isn't used with double XP (it'll still be used to pay debt, however).

Mabinogi is Looking Good

I played it for a few hours about a year ago, and it charmed the pants off me. Just a cute, charming, fanciful game. With the latest expansion, I'm tempted to pick it back up. Free to play with microtransactions. The game looks very good, but the system requirements are very low (smart move on the developers' part).

Shot Across Champion's Bow: Loyalty Program

If you keep your City of Heroes subscription active during August 15 to November 15 (just so happening to coincide with Champion's Online launch window) you get access to the Going Rogue closed beta.

It works in three tiers:

1. 60+ month vets

2. Loyalty Program (those who keep their account active Aug 15 to November 15)

3. Those who pre-order Going Rogue

I presume tier 1 gets in first, then 2 later on and finally 3.

Well played devs. Well played.

September is going to be a very interesting time to see what happens in the very first superhero MMO competition. My prediction? A year from September both City of Heroes and Champions Online will have a player base of about 150,000 players each. After DC? It's anyone's guess. Whoever comes up with the WoW of superhero MMOs will be the winner in the long run, though. With their recent announcement that they are making another go at the MMO superhero market, Marvel just might be the one to do it, if they can learn from the strength's and weaknesses of CoH, CO and DCUO.

You heard it here first. Marvel's MMO will rule the roost (in 2014 lol).

Zakrian_Immortal's Issue 16 Videos at YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHd7oA5HSLo&feature=channel

Forums Down; VBulletin Soon

Follow the progress on Twitter.

Issue 16 Videos Courtesy Zekiran_Immortal

http://www.droppin-the-fork.com/coh/sdcc/

If I Designed Invulnerability

Invulnerability to me is a very straight-forward thing. The way it's depicted in City of Heroes is very mish-mashy and thematically odd: Resists, +HPs, Heal, Defense. The way it's depicted in comics is actually very simple; stuff hits you and you don't care.

If I had designed Invulnerability for CoH, it would look like this:

Tankers (all numbers assuming full SO enhancement):

Resists: Smash/Lethal: 90%; Fire/Cold: 33%; Energy/Negative: 26%; Toxic: 16%; Psi: 0%

+Hit Points: 1004 (+53.5%)

And that's it. You are all but immune to Smash/Lethal, but the further away from a "physical" attack an attack gets the more damaging it becomes until we reach the completely "nonphysical" Psi to which you are nearly defenseless (you still have a heap of HPs to help though).

The godmode would probably be +57% Resist to all but Psi on top of your existing Resists, along with 100% Slow Resist/complete immunity to mez ("Nobody can stop the Juggernaut!" lol). Endurance crash, no Health crash.

Brutes/Scrappers (I think I'm getting these right based on what Tankers get):

Resists: Smash/Lethal: 67.5%; Fire/Cold: 24.75%; Energy/Negative: 19.5%; Toxic: 12%; Psi: 0%

+Hit Points: Brutes: 802 (+53.5%); Scrappers: 716 (+53.5%)

Same godmode but with 50.25% Resist All but Psi.

The set would be pretty easily Health capped with just a few set bonuses/accolades (you only need another +5-6%). +Regen bonuses would probably be very potent and most likely the best way to IO for survivability. +Defense wouldn't be bad, though.

The only real downside I can see is even with Smash/Lethal it would only be a matter of time before you were defeated, but the +HPs, and taking Health, and getting the above-mentioned +Regen bonuses would probably cover that for the most part.

Issue 15 Was OK...Issue 16 Will Blow You Away!

After the travesty of charging extra for height slider/body type adjustments and a weak (but ultimately a-OK) Issue 15, Issue 16 promises to be a real pot boiler!

Some of my favorite features:

Earth Assault for Doms

Alternate Super Strength and Martial Arts animations

Power colorization (which we knew was going to be in)

Claws for Brutes

Enhanced Difficulty settings (you can set for 8 with no fills; thank goodness for this! No more fill requests! And my solo Tankers can get a true challenge!)

Read the good news at the official site.

Discuss the awesome at the official forums.

Issue 15 Trailer

City of Heroes Podcast: New Episode

Episode 47 (last I saw was episode 41; where'd the other 6 go? lol) of the podfading but still good CoH Podcast has been released. It's a good one, too.

My condolences to the hosts for their loss of a family member (chooch's brother). If chooch is any indicator, his brother was a fine man.

Official CoH Podcast site.

Issue 15 Goes Live

Two Task Forces, some really cruddy costume pieces, excellent improvements to Dominators and the Mission Architect, and basic game features you have to pay for if you want them (height/bodytype/gender change). This Issue has it all good, bad and ugly.

Read about it at the official forums.

City of Heroes Raises the Customization Stakes!

EDIT: I just realized that the Super Tailor feature is part of the Super Science Booster Pack. Charging for the ability to customize height, bodytype and gender is just so cluelessly LAME. Here's hoping I'm misinterpreting that and it'll be available to all. This kind of stuff belongs in the base costume creator! Not happy. Now on to our regularly scheduled post:

We all know the competition is just around the corner, and they have some amazing customization options. Well, CoH is rising to the challenge with the announcement of power colorization and now changeable genders and bodytypes. A whole new range of concepts are now possible!

From the official forums:
"When visiting the Tailor or Facemaker in City of Heroes or City of Villains, a new NPC is available. The NPC will allow you to change the inherent body type of your character. You can choose Male, Female or Huge body types. Additionally, you will be able to change your character’s height. So characters can change from a short, skinny civilian to a HUGE powered brute!"

Could the Huge female bodytype be far behind? My guess is we'll be seeing it before long.

My character Hammer Man will finally be able to realize his concept of being a child who found a magic hammer that transforms him into an unreasoning mass of destructive muscle. :)

Read how you can grow and shrink at the official forums.

IGN Video: City of Heroes PC Games Walkthrough - Tutorial #3

IGN Video: City of Heroes PC Games Walkthrough - Tutorial #3

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IGN Video: City of Heroes PC Games Walkthrough - Tutorial #2

IGN Video: City of Heroes PC Games Walkthrough - Tutorial #2

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IGN Video: City of Heroes PC Games Walkthrough - Architect Tutorial

IGN Video: City of Heroes PC Games Walkthrough - Architect Tutorial

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Issue 16: Beginning of Power Customization?

Positron just made a post on the official forums hinting at what Issue 16 has in store, and confirming Issue 16 is not Going Rogue.

View the fascinating pics at the official forums.

My I15 Dom Buff Prediction Comes True

Sometimes I'm better than even I realize. :p The Dom buffs got into I15 after all.

Read the good news at the official forums.

Cool Lore Thread

If you're like me, you really love the City of Heroes lore. Manticore started a really great thread that will be updated with more information as questions are posed and answered in the questions and answers thread.

Great stuff for Mission Architects or just all around lore geeks!

Initial Issue 15 Impressions

My hopes were pinned on the Vines set being cool, and the Dom changes coming along for the ride in I15. Turns out the Vines set is perhaps the worst costume pattern in the game, and the Dom changes aren't coming until I15 hits live.

Lame.

I don't normally do TF/SFs, but the reviews going on for those added in I15 have been almost uniformly negative.

The Mission Architect features are getting rave reviews, as well they should they really are great.

And the "tights sleek" option is now available for boots and gloves. It only took them 5 years to get that one in. I'm happy about it be come on, that should have been there from day 1.

Badge drama. I'm irked to be getting my "Executioner" badge pulled. I found it very appropriate for my Bane.

They say more stuff is going to be added in as beta chugs along. I'm skeptical, but willing to be shown.

Lamest Issue ever? It just might be. So far.

Issue 15 Now in Clopen Beta

Issue 15 is now in clopen (closed-open, get it? :p) beta on the test server.

Patch notes.

A Task Force, a Special Forces, two costume sets, 20 faces and bug fixes. Mission Architect search and functionality improvements (very nice ones, too). Definitely a light Issue, but a solid one. Dominator changes aren't in yet. Here's hoping they're in before live. I consider it the Issue's main feature lol.

Purple Drop!

Funky Flames (47 Fiery/Fiery Scrapper) has been out of commission for a while with a broken build, but I used the freespec to get him in shape and he's funkier than ever! So much so that he got a Purple drop (Hold double). That makes 2 Purple drops in 17 days or so IIRC. w00t!

Also, I forgot just how quickly he defeats mobs. I have him specced to single target, but he defeats everything so quickly he is an AOE. He seems to generate about 6 million Inf an hour (compare to Daemodand 50 MA/SR Scrapper who generates about 3 million an hour). Yeah, he basically prints money.

His one downside is he plays a lot like a Blaster in that he either defeats something quickly, or gets defeated. Once you get a good amount of practice with Burn and Healing Flames so they're used at the right times, Fiery Scrappers are quite survivable. But if you have a lapse of concentration or misjudge...faceplant. That's probably part of why I find him so entertaining to play. He demands constant attention and proper concentration. That's unusual for a Scrapper.

Dominator Buff Confirmed for I15

On paper, Dominators are my favorite Archetype in the game. I don't roll that many of them because in the end, the play is just too subpar compared to every other Archetype in the game to justify the time spent (though I reiterate I do love them and still want a "complete set" some day).

According to one of the best powers guys in the business Castle, "To that end, I am proposing the following changes to Dominators, effective in the I15 release. The overall effect of these changes will be refocusing the AT from Control primary with Damage as a weak secondary, to effectively giving the Dominator dual primary purposes of Control and Damage. While this sounds unbalancing, it is apparent from how the ATs are being used that this is actually the proper method of addressing the issues of this AT."

Two primaries no waiting. Sounds exciting!

Read it and weep/Venture rejoice.

My Brute

It's a great little casual game, and I've set Daemodand up in it. Come fight my Brute!

Purple Drop!

I was getting some play time in with my 50 Bane when I noticed a Purple Recipe (pet triple) dropped.

I've been moving away from running MArcs with characters I'm trying to earn Inf on. You just get a lot more of everything (especially Purples) when you run standard content rather than MArcs. MArcs I think will end up being just for when I really need a change of pace, hear about a really good MArc, or run fully IOed characters on (the ones for which Inf no longer matters).

I love my Bane, but boy Banes really are squishy to an unreasonable degree. Took a defeat or two today that I had zero chance to avoid (Health at 90% then in 1 second flat dead). I hope something is done about that (I vote for a damage output increase; if we're going to have squishy Banes, let them put out Blaster-esque levels of damage, or give us the 20 second Placate back).

NCNC Renamed (What a Relief lol)

The horribly named (but much loved) studio that creates City of Heroes (formerly NCsoft NorCal) is now Paragon Studios. Good riddance to the old, clunky name. Welcome to the new, pretty cool name.

Read the official press release.

City of Comic Creators

CoHComicIndex.com

Buttcapes and 60 Day Market Cap Removed

I was a strong advocate for the removal of the 60-day-inactivity-market-deletion, and with Issue 14 I and those who supported the idea of getting rid of it can claim victory. So long as your account remains active (that is, you're subscribed to the game) the items you put on the market will not be deleted. If your account goes inactive for 60 days, you'll still lose your stuff. There was never any good reason for this arbitrary rule, and data mining probably showed the devs that a lot of players were losing a lot of stuff to the 60-day-deletion rule. An MMO should never deprive you of the rewards you earned. That's my stand, and I'm glad the devs agree. Victory!

In other news, Issue 14 also features the addition of buttcapes (aka waist capes). Unfortunately they're female-only right now, but I'll take it. VEATs just got VEATier. Much crying was heard in the Kheld forums. But really, if you play Khelds, you're used to pain, so no big deal. ;)

Details on the Booster Pack II have been released. All I can say is they had better add collars and costume change emotes to the base game, because charing extra for those features is pretty low. The good news is you get a coupon for a free Booster Pack if you buy the latest boxed edition of City of Heroes. I'll get that as soon as the price drops to $9. ;)

Check Out Cool Custom Content at CustomCoH.com

http://www.customcoh.com/

Long Time No Post & Issue 14 Goes Live

Greetings! Long time no post. Time constraints combined with the fact that playing CoH on a MacBook (which is doable but somewhat painful) means I've not had a lot to say about the game lately. I'll try and get some game time in due to the siren's call of Mission Architect. And speaking of Issue 14:

It's live, but Freedom has to wait extra long due to technical issues. This is why you spread characters out among more than one server (and more than one coast).

Elusivity has been nerfed hard in I14. Cut back by 66%. I think what's hurting Elusivity from a balance perspective is the fact Diminishing Returns was put into the game alongside it. In Arcanaville's original whitepaper on Elusivity, the assumption was made that ToHit would be as high as it used to be. Diminishing Returns pushed ToHit bonuses way down from where they were, so Elusivity ended up looking like a solution that no longer had a problem. I think they'll turn it back up slightly, to about a 50% nerf sometime in the future, but that's just a guess. It was nice while it lasted, and Defense based characters were certainly not unkillable (with the singular exception of Widows), but we'll see what happens.

Mission Architect is looking more promising than I thought. I can see myself leveling characters from 1 to 50 just in MA due to the wide array of enemies you can face compared to the official missions. The ability to make custom enemy groups and assign them custom powers is just amazing. If only the missions weren't "fake".

I got a really good deal on the Good vs. Evil pack ($9!) so I'll get the goodies and some extra play time, almost for free. ;)

Level 1 Can Be Rough

Mac Ads

Back On Mac & My Market Prediction Coming True

Hi! I'm back playing thanks to the recently released Mac client for City of Heroes. It's a not a gaming machine, but after setting the graphics down the game plays well enough for soloing. It'd be nice to see a Linux client for CoX as well.

Remember when I predicted the price of Miracle +Recovery recipes was going to go up? Level 20 Miracle Uniques at the time were averaging 65 million or so. I got back in game recently and checked on the price: even with the Merit duping scandal creating a downward price pressure, the price of the Level 20 Miracle Unique has gone up to about 90 million. I'll bet it hasn't hit the demand cap yet, either.

What's causing this? Getting rid of random rolls, in my opinion. People are choosing to save up for the Miracle Uniques with Merits and using it rather than selling it. That's my theory, anyway.

The solution? Give Merits in addition to random rolls at the end of Task Forces. This will increase supply and drive prices down, making it easier to equip many alts. Will the devs do this? I'll guess no, but anything is possible.