Filed under: City of Villains

The 5th Column returns as City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary goes live

by James Egan Jun 29th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Game mechanics, Patches, News items

It was only a few weeks ago that we wrote about the City of Heroes Issue 15 beta testing, but this latest update to the game, Anniversary, has gone live. Issue 15 brings a host of improvements to City of Heroes particularly in terms of hero and villain character customization. There are 20 new character faces to choose from, two new costume sets, and costume change emotes, which provide flashy transitions between costumes for your characters.

Issue 15: Anniversary also marks the return of The 5th Column and The Reichsman, and thus new missions at levels 45-50 -- with Villain Strikeforce and Hero Taskforce arcs, depending upon which side of the law you're on. NCsoft has more info about Issue 15 on their Anniversary overview site, and asks, "What does the opening of the Omega Team Time Capsule hold in store for Paragon City and the Rogue Isles?" The answers, we suspect, should be clear as City of Heroes and City of Villains players explore the new Issue 15 content.

City of Heroes dev blog talks character customization

by Dev Blogger Jun 10th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Expansions, Game mechanics, MMO industry

Massively is proud to host a new dev diary from the folks at Paragon Studios. This particular dev diary was written by Christopher Bruce, Senior Lead Animator/VFX Artist for City of Heroes, and it pertains to the character customization options that have been improved with Issue 15. Enjoy!

In addition to supporting the two new task forces for Issue 15, we also wanted to focus some attention on expanding our character creation system. Character customization is a hallmark of City of Heroes and we're always striving to improve and expand upon our players' ability to create a truly unique super powered hero or villain.

For Issue 15, there are two new costume sets available to everyone, created by the newest addition to our character artist team, Cheryl Austin. "Vines" is a new pattern while "Ulterior" is a new texture set, both of which work with most of the existing costume pieces. Cheryl has also created over twenty new face textures, something we haven't done since City of Villains launched. While our options for individual costume pieces and sets have continued to expand over the years, our selection of faces hasn't received the same amount of attention. Her goal was to create a set of new face textures that were a bit more subtle and realistic and while also working well across our full range skin tones.

Gallery: City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary

City of Heroes senior designer Bruce Harlick on return of The 5th Column

by James Egan May 29th 2009 at 3:30PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Lore, MMO industry

Massively mentioned yesterday that City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary has gone into open beta testing. Along with that announcement and an overview of the Issue 15 features, Paragon Studios senior designer Bruce Harlick has written a developer diary titled "A Circle of Fifths: Designing the Ultimate Fifth Anniversary Task Force and Strike Force"

Harlick writes that when Paragon Studios was hashing through ideas for the game's strike force and task force for the City of Heroes 5th Anniversary, bringing the 5th Column back to Paragon City seemed the right thing to do. It also lets them bring The Reichsman into the game, leading to some interesting mission arcs. Harlick writes, "I didn't want the two arcs to be simple mirrors of each others, with the villains doing something and the heroes stopping it." He adds, "I wanted the villains to succeed with their plan and to deal with the consequences, and I wanted the heroes to deal with an emerging big problem."

Have a look at Bruce Harlick's developer diary on City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary, for more about what he describes as "a story that's worthy of the return of one of the biggest threats to ever hit Paragon City and the Rogue Islands."

Gallery: City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary

City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary open beta begins

by James Egan May 28th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Patches

NCsoft has announced that City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary has entered open beta. They write, "We are pleased to announce that City of Heroes content Update Issue 15: Anniversary has gone straight into Open Beta phase. Now is your change to celebrate the return of The 5th Column by playing and giving feedback on the new Task Force and Strike Force."

But what will Issue 15: Anniversary introduce to City of Heroes? They've put together an overview of the update that gives more info on the Villain Strikeforce and the Hero Taskforce (both Levels 45-50), new costumes and costume change emotes (colorful transitions between costumes on a given character), as well as greater character customization options. If you're interested in checking out the Issue 15: Anniversary open beta, they've got a forum thread that will walk you through getting set up to play on the Training Room test server.

Gallery: City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary

The Daily Grind: How do you choose a side?

by Lesley Smith May 15th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, The Daily Grind

This morning I'm finally getting 'round to installing City of Heroes. But while the game downloads and patches, I've been reading the manuals and trying to figure out which side I want to join. Normally I follow my friends or take the moral high-ground by picking the 'good' side.

Granted, in many fantasy MMOs, the line between good and evil is a blurry mess. Take WoW for example. The Alliance are not angels but neither are the Horde completely without merit or compassion. City of Heroes is stark in its choices and definitions of good and evil; there's a line. So readers, I ask you, how do you choose a side? Do you prefer playing as good or evil characters? Do you think our definitions of good and bad have the same ramifications in the virtual world as they do in reality?

NCsoft announces City of Heroes: Going Rogue expansion

by Shawn Schuster May 12th 2009 at 9:30AM

Filed under: Super-hero, Trailers, Video, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Expansions, Game mechanics

Two worlds collide. Loyalties will change. Where will you stand? This is the question posed to us as NCsoft announces the first major expansion for the City of Heroes franchise since the launch of City of Villains in 2005. Going Rogue will be a new experience for CoH fans introducing the 'mirror universe' of Praetoria and an all-new alignment system that blurs the lines between Heroes and Villains.

For the first time ever, Heroes can become Villains, and Villains can become Heroes. This is yet another groundbreaking game mechanic that the Paragon Studios folks have introduced in a recent whirlwind of exciting new features. Look out Champions Online and DC Universe Online; City of Heroes is raising the standard of superhero MMOs.

Check out the exciting new teaser trailer right after the jump, and to answer any questions you may have, they've compiled a handy FAQ.

Matt "Positron" Miller prepares his radioactive banhammer against mission architect abusers

by Colin Brennan May 5th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Business models, Culture, Exploits, Forums, Game mechanics, News items, PvE

Mission architect -- an amazing system that allows a very creative player-base to finally take the reigns of creation and make amazing in-game arcs that feature personalized stories, personalized characters, farming, well made.... wait, what?

Yes, you heard that right, people have already began to leverage City of Heroes's architect system into nothing more than powerleveling tool, and the community doesn't find that to be too enjoyable. Luckily, Matt "Positron" Miller, the lead designer, has already stepped up with a post to the community on the City of Heroes message board about how they plan on dealing with these problems.

The team wishes to remove the rewards some characters may have gained through powerleveling, all the way up to removing access to characters that were solely leveled up via mission architect exploits. Past working on a player by player bases, some badges will be changed while others may be removed entirely due to the exploiting groups surrounding them. Lastly, but certainly not least, the team will be proactively banning missions that are created to exploit the system.

For Matt's full plan, check out his post over on the City of Heroes message board.

Samuraiko releases City of Heroes: History in the Making video

by Lesley Smith Apr 29th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Video, City of Heroes, City of Villains, News items

Just in time for City of Heroes' fifth birthday, Samuraiko Productions have released an epic video which looks back at some of the biggest in-game events over the last five years. It's bound to send long-time players into nostalgic reveries as well as inspiring those who, like me, haven't visited Paragon City yet.

It's a fascinating video which is superbly edited and features a catchy soundtrack. You also get to see twenty of the biggest in-game happenings which seems to revolve around the demise of numerous villains and a couple of heroes. This is one of those cases when a video says more than a thousand words, so check it out after the jump.

City of Heroes 5 anniversary homage contest announced

by Lesley Smith Apr 29th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Contests, Events, real-world, Events, in-game

As we mentioned last week, City of Heroes is celebrating its fifth birthday this month and celebrations are now in full swing. Yesterday the full details of the homage contest was finally revealed and it sounds quite fun, if you're in to that sort of stuff.

NCsoft want you to create a video that's two minutes long or less showing you (and your friends) professing your love for the game. They've given some nice suggestions on what to do: sing a wrong, recite a poem, dress up, all that jazz. Why should you do this? Well , of course there's cool swag involved for the lucky first prize winner:

One Limited Edition Lord Recluse City of Villains statue

One Limited Edition Statesman City of Heroes statue

One Free Year Subscription to City of Heroes

One Copy of City of Heroes® Architect Edition signed by the Dev Team

One Paragon Police Department Hard Suit Costume Power

One Freakshow Boss Costume

One Carnival Harlequin Costume Power

One City of Heroes Wedding Pack

One City of Heroes Super Booster I: Cyborg

One City of Heroes Super Booster II: Magic

One City of Heroes Hero Gear Kit

One City of Heroes 5 Year Anniversary T-Shirt

To find out the complete rules, as well as the swag that the second and third prize winners could get their hands on, check out the official site.

Massively Exclusive: An anniversary chat with Matt Miller

by Krystalle Voecks Apr 28th 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Interviews, MMO industry, News items

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you undoubtedly know that today is the 5th anniversary since the launch of City of Heroes - an MMO giving players the chance to don tights and fight for truth, justice, and the fun of it. Recently, we had the chance to catch up with Matt "Positron" Miller, Senior Lead Designer for Paragon Studios, who gave us some of his personal insights into what the last five years have been like - and a bit about what players can expect in the next five. Be sure and join us after the break to read more about what's planned for Paragon City and the Rogue Isles!

Massively: You've got five great years of City of Heroes under your belt. What's it been like watching your MMO grow and develop over that time? How about staying together through everything your team has been through, to finally becoming Paragon Studios?

Matt "Positron" Miller: I think that it's a testament to the game that so many of us who were here at the launch are still on the project. Watching CoH grow up year after year is awesome. I look back to what CoH shipped with compared to where it is today and I am blown away by how much quality free content we have added and given back to our players over the last five years.

City of Heroes celebrates their 5th Anniversary with Issue 15

by Krystalle Voecks Apr 28th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Patches, News items

Been hoping to hear some more details on Issue 15? Well, true believers, your wait has ended! Earlier this morning, the newly rebranded Paragon Studios (formerly NC NorCal) announced their plans for Issue 15, aptly titled Anniversary! Along with some improvements to the Architect system introduced in Issue 14, I15 brings with it a new Fifth Column Taskforce; and not just the exact same one for Heroes and Villains, either. While the story arcs are based on the same premise, they will be told from different perspectives, thus giving the Villains some of that unique content they've been asking for.

In addition to this, the Paragon Studios team is adding in a series of costume-changing emotes for players, supplementing the ones recently introduced in the Magic super booster. Also, for those of you who are as addicted to the character creation part of the game as we are, there are 20 new faces to check out. This, of course, ensures that several people will be heading for ICON, and perhaps even dusting off a costume change Veteran reward token for a makeover. (Like we really need an excuse for that!)

The Daily Grind: Your favorite Heroic or Villainous memories?

by Krystalle Voecks Apr 28th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor

Has it really been five years since we started patrolling the streets of Paragon City, searching for villains to defeat in City of Heroes? Our calendar says yes, even if those first memories seem like yesterday. In the last five years, we've seen lots and lots of missions, defeated tons of enemies, made even more friends, gone badge hunting, Invented, built bases, danced at Pocket D, and so much more. This morning we thought we'd ask you what some of your standout moments from the last five years of City of Heroes - and the later addition City of Villains - are?

For me personally, I could name a couple dozen moments without batting an eyelash, but there are two things that I hold up as being memorable moments. The first was doing the entire Positron TF arc with only three people early in the game; it took us five evenings to complete. (Yes, we were insane, and no, we had no idea what we were getting into when we started - the game was still new.) The second thing that sticks out to me was the fun of being one of the original TaxiBots on Virtue. (TaxiBot 7, who I still have.) I remember writing out complicated 'story' macros and teleporting people around for badge tours, or hanging out in zones like The Hollows back when the zone was much more dangerous, and other players could use a friendly recall to the Atlas Park gate.

Now, with the ball rolling - what are your favorite moments from the last five years? Tell us your super tales!

City of Heroes: Architect Edition giveaway

by Elizabeth Harper Apr 28th 2009 at 7:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Contests, Massively meta

Everyone's favorite superhero MMO, City of Heroes, turns five years old today! And while NCsoft is holding their own celebrations, at Massively we're marking the occasion by giving away three copies of the game's new Architect Edition (worth approximately $20). So for those of you who've not yet gotten in on the fun that is the character creation mini-game (or Mission Architect, the expanded character creation mini-game which allows you to build your own in-game mission arcs), here's your chance!

To enter, just reply to this post with a comment telling us what kind of mission you'd like to make in City of Heroes. Will your mession feature ninjas? Zombies? Velociraptors? [Editor's note: we're not actually sure if missions can feature velociraptors. As mankind's ultimate enemy, they'd obviously be overpowered.] You may enter once per calendar day and all entries must be submitted by 9AM Eastern on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009. So you've the rest of the week to think about it! Three lucky winners will be chosen at random to receive a copy of City of Heroes: Architect Edition. Eligibility is restricted to the legal residents of the 50 United States (including DC) and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 years of age or older. You can find complete rules and restrictions for this giveaway here. And, of course, good luck!

City of Heroes spill the beans on their 5th birthday celebrations

by Lesley Smith Apr 24th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Contests, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, News items

Yes another one of NCSoft's MMOs is celebrating its birthday this week and this time it's City of Heroes. Celebrating its fifth birthday on April 28th and continuing through May, the devs have plenty planned in an attempt to reward existing players and tempt back lapsed heroes and villains to Paragon City.

Whilst being vague about exactly what's going on, the devs have an in-game event planned beginning 11am EDT on April 28th. Apparently 'all CHAOS is going to break loose' until 12am on the 29th. There's the promise of merits, badges and lovely XP. Also at 8pm EDT, there will be a special address from Lead Developer Positron; apparently he has some info to share. What could that be I wonder? The broadcast will also appear shortly after on the game's official website.

Also keen to bring heroes and villains out of retirement, anyone who logs on between 28th April and 3rd May with an expired trial or retail account will be able to access the live servers and join in on the fun. As a final incentive, any character -- that's character not account -- who logs in between 11am on 28th April until 31st of May will find themselves awarded with a special fifth anniversary badge.

There will also be some cool contests running, including one where you get to design a t-shirt logo and another where you can create an homage video. Details will appear on the official site next week, but for now, more details can be found here.

NCSoft adds its titles to Steam

by Lesley Smith Apr 22nd 2009 at 3:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Super-hero, Aion, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Guild Wars, Lineage, Lineage 2, News items, Free-to-play

If you're one of those gamers who prefers the digital minimalist approach as opposed to having game boxes everywhere then you're in luck. MMO-giant NCSoft have announced they will be offering their titles -- including City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and Lineage -- via Steam. They're also planning to offer their latest, most anticipated and shiny MMO, Aion as well when the game launches later this autumn.

The company seem really excited and the press release sent to Massively Towers includes not one but two quotes. NCSoft are especially keen to note that there will be plenty of special offers on their products via the site and it's a great opportunity for anyone who prefers digital downloading.

Massively Features

Featured Games

Events Calendar

Name	Date
Fallen Earth Launch	Q2 2009
Global Agenda Closed Beta	July 2009
CrimeCraft Launch	Aug 25 2009
Champions Online Launch	Sep 1 2009
Cities XL EU Launch	Sep 3 2009
Aion Launch	Sep 22 2009
Earth Eternal Open Beta	Q3 2009