We are pleased to announce that City of Heroes new power set Dual Pistols has now gone into Open Beta phase. Now is your chance to test and share your feedback on the new power set obtainable when you pre-purchase City of Heroes Going Rogue!
How do you get in and start playing? Instructions on how to get to the Training Room / Open Beta server can be found here for North American players, and here for our European players!
Paragon Studios Brings Improved Graphics and Content with Issue 17 and Excites Fans with Going Rogue Expansion Pre-Purchase Details
The world's most popular super-powered hero MMORPG continues to delight players with its new super-powered graphics, content and game enhancements coming with Issue 17 "Dark Mirror" this April. The free update includes a superior graphics rendering process, dubbed "Ultra Mode," that will give City of Heroes a new look and feel with a heightened level of detail in lighting, reflections, shadows and water effects. Ultra Mode will be scalable to ensure that all City of Heroes fans can enjoy their favorite comic-inspired game.
In addition to Ultra Mode enhancements, as part of Issue 17 players will confront a new and nefarious foe who will be able to match them blow for blow. Other features within Issue 17 "Dark Mirror" include:
New badges, new missions and new player emotes
Epic Archetypes now available at level 20
Improvements and additions to Mission Architect
Enhancements to UI and game systems
And dozens more
As players embark on the last major update to City of Heroes before the highly anticipated Going Rogue expansion, NCsoft is giving players a chance to enjoy early access to two Going Rogue power sets. Beginning March 2, players who pre-purchase City of Heroes Going Rogue (MSRP $29.99 USD) will be given immediate early access to the Dual Pistols power set, and access to the Demon Summoning power set starting in April.
Additionally, gamers new to the City of Heroes franchise can purchase the City of Heroes Going Rogue: Complete Collection (MSRP $39.99 USD), which includes City of Heroes, City of Villains and City of Heroes Going Rogue, as well as 30 days of free game time. Those who purchase this bundle at retail will be rewarded with the Complete Collection Item Pack featuring the following bonus items:
Alpha- and Omega-themed auras
Alpha and Omega themed costumed sets
Four stance emotes
The Shadowy Presence invisibility power
City of Heroes fans will get their chance to explore the grey area between heroism and villainy in Going Rogue this July with the beta beginning in the Spring.
Good news! Due to popular demand, free Character Server Transfers have been extended until February 28th (at 11:59 p.m. PST / 2:59 a.m. EST)!
We know a lot of you have been using the service to hop between servers to participate in in-game events, meet up with friends, or just explore and experience new communities. We also know that you've been asking for the opportunity to continue doing it! So, consider your wish granted for another month.
For those of you who haven't fully taken advantage of this limited time offer, here are a few things you should bear in mind before initiating a character transfer to a different server:
Transfers are not available between North American and European servers.
You will be able to complete up to 6 transfers a week [7-day period] per account.
Not all possessions will transfer over with your character so be sure to read the corresponding Knowledge Base article before you decide to transfer a character.
Super-group affiliation, Prestige and access to your Supergroup base items will be lost.
You may lose your character's name when transferring from a server.
We hope you keep transferring away and enjoying yourself!
Brace yourself for the new apocalypse as our annual Halloween Event returns to City of Heroes?! Legions of Zombies, Werewolves, Jack-o-Lanterns, and other foul denizens are preparing to descend upon Paragon City? and the Rogue Isles?. This year they're bringing even more powerful allies! The new apocalypse is deadlier than ever as mysterious monstrosities are joining forces with the Eidolons, Shivans, and others. Paragon City and the Rogue Isles could be in terrible peril, and only the greatest Heroes and Villains can turn back the tide.
* Starts: Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 8:59 a.m. Pacific Time (11:59 a.m. Eastern Time)
* Ends: Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PacificTime (2:59 a.m. Eastern Time).
Deadly Apocalypse
As if our Heroes and Villains didn't have enough foul-smelling fiends with rotting flesh to deal with during a zombie apocalypse, this year Heroes and Villains have to come up with new strategies to tackle a new terror. When Haunted Sigils appear, destroy them quickly and prepare for wave after wave of relentless foes. Only after all the foes have been defeated will you be rewarded with a ghoulish surprise. It's a trick and treat!
Badges, Temporary Costumes, and Other Rewards
The greater the challenge, the greater the reward! This year our Heroes and Villains receive new trick or treat prizes. Everyone who completes the various stages of the Deadly Apocalypse will receive a badge, and all of last year's goodies will be back for players who missed them.
Be sure to visit Ravenwing Cabbal's Annah in Croatoa or Granny Beldam in Nerva Archipelago to learn more about the 2009 Halloween Event activities.
But before you launch yourself into the action, there are a couple of things we need to make you aware of:
* You should enable the Events Channel on your Chat channel Tab to see in which zone the Deadly Apocalypse (announced as 'Supernatural activity detected in Zone X') or the Zombie Invasion is occurring.
* If the Halloween Event kicks off in a Zone that has multiple instances, it is only occurring in ONE zone (for example, if there are two instances of Atlas Park, check both Atlas Park and Atlas Park 2).
SEATTLE, Washington - May 12, 2009 - NCsoft®, the world's premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), and Paragon Studios™, the developer of City of Heroes®, today announced the development of City of Heroes Going Rogue™, the first major expansion for the City of Heroes franchise since the launch of City of Villains® in 2005. As the name implies, Going Rogue will blur the line between heroes and villains in the first and longest-running super-powered comic book MMO game.
In the Going Rogue expansion, hero and villain characters will become immersed in the new parallel universe known as Praetoria, which is governed by Tyrant™, the evil incarnation of the game's main protagonist, Statesman™. As gamers search for Tyrant and the rest of his Praetorian guard, implacable foes and fierce resistance will arise to face them from all sides, causing heroes and villains alike to question their loyalties.
City of Heroes Going Rogue will introduce a new alignment system that helps players explore the shades of gray that lie between good and evil. For the first time, hero characters can become villains and vice versa, enabling hero archetypes to cross over to the Rogue Isles™ and villain archetypes to experience Paragon City™. Clearly marked missions, in addition to behaviors and decisions made by the player, will move a hero's or villain's moral compass, which could eventually change the hero's or villain's alignment. Going Rogue will also introduce two primary new fictional characters representative of this alignment shift in the game's lore: Maelstrom, a pistol-wielding hero gone rogue, and Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain who has been redeemed.
"City of Heroes has brought a fresh new perspective to the MMO stage with its foray into the super-powered hero comic book genre, and we are excited to present gamers with even more innovative content in Going Rogue," said Brian Clayton, general manager and executive producer at Paragon Studios. "For ye...
Read more about City of Heroes Goes Rogue with New Expansion Pack
According to this report on the F13.net forums, City of Heroes players have been receiving in-game messages from Cryptic Studio's inviting them to beta test Cryptic's Champions Online Game.
Quote:
Let's not pretend for one second that the MMO industry is a friendly place, full of friendship, flowers and bunnies. When a multi-million dollar product and dozens of jobs are on the line, competition will be fierce and taking market share (read: players) from your competition is going to be a basic business practice.
However, there are lines you don't cross because 1) even competition should follow some rules of professional conduct, and 2) it opens the door for everyone to do the same thing to you. Representatives of Cryptic Studios crossed this professional line in the sand recently by going into City of Heroes / Villains (CoH/V) - their old product, which they sold to NCsoft - and, using PMs sent through the forums and allegedly through in-game message systems, attempted to lure players into the Champions Online (ChampO) beta test - their new product.{...}
There is an official comment on this from NC Soft over at the official City of Heros forums :
Quote:
Those of us here at the City of Heroes® franchise wanted to take a moment to comment on solicitations our players may receive from outside sources -- either in-game or through our message board system. We would like to acknowledge that we know these kinds of communications occur. It is unfortunate that people do this...but we also recognize and accept the fact that ultimately, we do not have control over the messages our customers with valid accounts send one another. Although we cannot stop someone from initially communicating with you - whether it be RMT (real money transaction) related, another game company trying to lure you to their competing product, or general spamming...we are in a position to investigate the situation (and potentially take action) once a s...
Read more about Cryptic Studios is playing dirty ....
Good afternoon all you wonder gals and pals. And now for the news from Paragon City. Issue 6 with the much debated Enhancement Diversification has made it to the Training Room. Strangely enough Enhancement Diversification wasnt mentioned in the official announcement post. Enhancement Diversification for those of you not in the know is the new system for slotting enhancements. No longer will you be able to slot powers with 6 of the same enhancement types without severe reduction in effectiveness. The very reason for I6 is to add Enhancement Diversification to CoH and somehow they just forgot to mention it? When a board poster asked about it COH Online Community Representative CuppJo said "ED is in there". The last time I checked the original post about ED there were 396 pages of protests on the boards... Now the thread has been locked due to "forum issues" Let's just say ED is going over like a lead balloon. Now I'm not saying that ED is the end of Super Heroes in CoH but I do think it makes them less Super and more like average citizens imho. Ok so here's the post about I6 making it to the Training Room
Quote: Issue 6 Features
Hey Heroes,
We are working on getting the features update on the website as soon as we can – so I wanted to give you a heads up on Issue 6: Along Came a Spider.
If you only have CoH -
New Zones As they become available to the players of City of Villains, the following PvP Zones will also open up for player of City of Heroes:
• Bloody Bay This is a PvP Zone for Villains and Heroes with a minimum level to entry set at 15.
• Siren’s Call This is a PvP Zone for Villains...
Good afternoon Wonder Gals and Pals. And now the latest news from Paragon City. Issue 5:Forest of Dread is LIVE! I gotta go make my archer. Muwhahaha!
Quote: FEATURES:
New Zone – Croatoa. Designed to challenge characters level 25 to 35 in a mysterious region infamous for its links to powerful magical forces and deadly creatures.
New Villains – The Cabal of witches, the nasty imps called Red Caps, the giant Fir Bolg and the legendary Tuatha de Dannan rule this realm.
New Task Force – Perform missions for contacts in Croatoa to unlock the exclusive task force.
New Power Sets:
Archery for Defenders and Blasters Trick Arrows for Defenders and Controllers Sonic Blast for Blasters and Defenders Sonic Debuff for Defenders and Controllers
New Badges for epic character accomplishments and special badges for events within Croatoa.
New Zone Events:
Hellion Arson – The Hellions are torching buildings and it’s up to the heroes to snuff them out!
Troll Rave – There’s an upgraded Superadine source and the trolls are overdosing to create “Super-Trolls†that are out of control!
New Debt System – Half XP Debt when characters are defeated in missions and no XP Debt until Level 10!
Mission Customization – Many existing missions have been updated with hostage escort missions, villain wave attacks and more!
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Let's just say ED is going over like a lead balloon. Now I'm not saying that ED is the end of Super Heroes in CoH but I do think it makes them less Super and more like average citizens imho. Ok so here's the post about I6 making it to the Training Room 
