So …

I think — as may be blindingly obvious to most folks still hanging out here, waiting for me to post — that it’s over.

Yeah.  I think I’m done, mostly, with CoX. Mostly.

It’s not anything the game has done.  Indeed, the most recent Issues have been great — faboo content, wonderful character customizations, etc.  Yeah, the whole crafting bit left me cold, but that’s minor.  The game is, I declare, better than ever.

But it just doesn’t move me, any more.  I don’t feel any desire to go out there and pound on the same (or even different) bad guys any more (or good guys, for the few characters I have over in the CoV side of things).  I’m not even feeling the burn to duo up with My Favorite Player, which irks me greatly, but there it is.  We’re not talking “I no longer obsess all day waiting to get home so I can play CoH.”  We’re talking “Playing CoH no longer crosses my mind as something I feel like doing right now.”

So now what?

Well, I’m not canceling my account yet.  There may still be hope, or the occasional impulse to play.  Margie’s said the duo door is always open …

I do want to do a lot of screen caps and notes on the stable of characters I’ve developed.  I have a nascent idea for a super-hero novel, and that’s all grist for the mill.

It’s possible I’ll eventually “migrate” over to another MMORPG (hopefully with Margie).  If so, it would most likely be LOTRO (for a variety of reasons) — but, at the moment, I’m not feeling any sort of MMO drive, so don’t expect anything soon.

The general ennui extends to this site, alas.  Been a while since I’ve updated, and I’m falling far behind on keeping up on red-name posts and the like.  If something happens to attract my attention, I’ll post it here, so if you’ve an interest, I recommend either keeping me on an RSS feed or using the FeedBurner e-mail subscription, so you get notification at such time as something more shows up here.

It’s been a great run.  City of Heroes/Villains was and is a faboo game — and for all those still actively in the fray … give those bad guys a good kick for me.  🙂  Perhaps I’ll see you again when both of us least expect …

I11 is a-coming …

… tomorrow. 

We are pleased to announce that Issue 11: A Stitch In Time will be made available on the Live City of Heroes servers on Wednesday, November 28th. All servers will be coming down for extended maintenance starting at 7 AM Eastern (4 AM Pacific) and we estimate they will be back up by 1 PM Eastern (10 AM Pacific).

  • Free Costume Token
    Given the debut of Weapon Customization in Issue 11, a free costume token will be granted to all characters on Wednesday, November 28th with the launch of the Issue.
  • Free Respec
    Additionally, with the many changes to powers included in Issue 11, we will be making a Free Respec available to all characters on Friday, December 7th. Read the full announcement of that here.

If you are not familiar with the many features included in the 11th free expansion to City of Heroes, click here to read the highlights!

It sure seems like this has been an exceedingly long beta — but there’s been a lot of numbers / power tweaking behind the scenes beyond the big flashy new features which has needed testing.

It’s a good new issue.  I look forward to playing it Real Soon Now.

Unswerving!

Signed in this afternoon to discover I hit my 33 month Vet Award — Nemmie Staff or Blackwand.  Woot!

From what I’ve been able to glean (since I paid only academic attention at the time the vet awards went in*):

Category

Nemesis Staff

Blackwand
Damage:

Moderate (176 at 50)

Moderate (176 at 50)
Damage Bonus:

+50% for Tech, Science, Nat ATs

+50% for Magic, Mutant, Nat ATs
Damage Type:

Smashing

Negative Energy

Damage Type Resisted:

Frequently

Rarely
Secondary Effect:

Knockback

-ACC**
Recharge:

2.5 cast, 8 recharge

2.5 cast, 8 recharge
Endurance:

10.7

6.5
Range:

100 ft.

80 ft.

Coolness!

* Also noted in some locations as ToHit Debuff, which is not exactly the same thing as -ACC.

** Note that post was exactly one year ago today.

NCSoft! Cryptic! Gah!

Big shuffle-up (kinda) in the whole CoX development realm, per this announcement.

NCsoft® Corp, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today announced the formation of a new development studio in Mountain View, California. The announcement comes as the company begins a renewed push to further develop the City of Heroes® property, which is now 100 percent owned by NCsoft. Previous to today, ownership of the intellectual property (IP) was split between NCsoft and Cryptic Studios, the original developer of the project.

And the full announcement:

Today we announced the acquisition of City of Heroes from Cryptic Studios™ and the formation of our new Northern California studio which we are informally calling NCsoft® NorCal (click here to read the press release). Nearly the entire City of Heroes team from Cryptic Studios has joined the NCsoft team and together we have formed the core of our new studio.

The City of Heroes franchise has been a tremendous success for both NCsoft and Cryptic. More than three years after the City of Heroes launch, our community is strong and thriving. There are so many great ideas and plans, both from our development team and from the players, and we can’t wait to make them a reality. Our team is 100% dedicated to City of Heroes and we are extremely excited about the present and the future!

Click here to read the Dev Corner chat with General Manager Brian Clayton and learn more details.

Special Thanks to Our Players

Now back to you, the players. You are the lifeblood of our game. In celebration of our new studio and our exciting plans, and in order to thank you for the fantastic community that you have built, we are pleased to announce the following.

Full Access to City of Heroes and City of Villains®
All players with City of Heroes retail* accounts will now have access to City of Villains, and all City of Villains retail* accounts will now have access to City of Heroes. Players that didn’t previously have access to “the other side” will find that they do now. Just log in to check it out!

Debt Wipe
After the launch of Issue 11: A Stitch in Time this Fall, we are removing Debt from all characters and giving you a fresh start. Actual date will be announced shortly. Have fun in the mean time.

20,000 Prestige
Also after the launch of Issue 11, all Supergroups will receive an additional 20,000 Prestige per Supergroup member, meaning SGs could acquire up to 3 million Prestige based upon their Supergroup membership roster! Actual date will be announced shortly.

In the near future we will begin to share more information about our development plans. With this major reinvestment and effort ahead of us, we will take City of Heroes to new heights!

Huh.  All very exciting — almost too much so.

That more-detailed link above?

This has been an exciting week for NCsoft®! On the heels of the major new release of Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa®, we are happy to announce the full acquisition of the City of Heroes intellectual property (IP) and formation of a new studio in northern California dedicated to the ongoing development of the City of Heroes Franchise! This is the first step in a major reinvestment back into City of Heroes and City of Villains®. Over the coming years, we plan to aggressively develop and expand the franchise. I’m sure this raises questions about what this means for our awesome community of players and what the future means for their favorite heroes and villains. Rest assured, the future is indeed bright!

While we’ve acquired the full rights to the City of Heroes IP, we’ve also brought on board the solid core team of developers from Cryptic Studios: Matt “Positron” Miller (lead designer), Aaron Brady (lead engineer), and Ken Morse (lead artist). The management of City of Heroes will transition fully to NCsoft. I [Bryan Clayton] will still be the executive producer, my production team along with Ross Borden the director of business and marketing will also remain. We’ve been with the game since the early days and are committed to its long term success. Our community team, which has always been part of NCsoft, will also continue to be an integral part of the new studio. In the coming months we’ll be looking to add literally dozens more employees. We’ll have a full-fledged development studio to achieve our goals and we’ll be undergoing substantial, but careful, growth to get there.

I’m sure that you’re also asking, “What will happen to City of Heroes?” In the short term, you’ll see our major content expansions, the Issues, continue. Issue #11 is due out shortly and plans for Issue #12 and beyond are already underway. [..] We don’t expect the transition to the new studio to make a noticeable dent in our free Issue scheduling. As a player you shouldn’t see any ill-effects of this transition from a development or customer support perspective. In fact, you should see a significant positive impact on your game experience within the few months and beyond. Cryptic Studios is giving us all of the support we’ve asked for and has been tremendously helpful in this transitional process. All parties involved want what’s best for the franchise.

At this time, we’re not quite ready to disclose longer term plans. We’ll have the usual slate of announcements when we’re ready to reveal our plans. But, what I can say is that we’re building this new studio not just to maintain the status quo. We’re looking beyond the normal slate of free Issues for City of Heroes. We want to use City of Heroes as a focal point and really build on this franchise. We absolutely value the City of Heroes IP with its unique focus on the superhero genre, we’re really thrilled at the opportunities that full ownership brings to the table, and we can’t wait for the “City of” community to see all that we have in store for them. Now is the right time to get started on the next chapter!

The more PR-related announcement comes here.

And an interesting note on the boards here (from Ex Libris):

The decision for Cryptic Studios to sell COH was difficult as COH/COV was the foundation of their studio. A year ago Cryptic Studios signed a deal with Microsoft to develop Marvel Universe Online, which is due to the nature and genre of the material a directly competitive product.

Ultimately this decision was the best decision for the game and the community, as there is now clearly two separate groups working on both projects.

Statesman has been involved with MUO since that deal was signed, he has had a great influence on COH/COV and the development decisions in the past but currently and moving forward those decisions have rested on the shoulders of Matt ‘Positron’ Miller.

And yes, MUO is competition.

And here, from same:

You have probably answered most of these by now but:

i)Will we have a game to play over the next year or so?

ii)Does this move signal faster release of issues?

iii)Will there be a new ‘Statesman’?

iv)Will City of Villains see new content added to it?

v)Will sub fees increase?

Thanks!


i) The game will remain online and constant for the next year with our regular publishing schedule intact. We are in negotiations now about hardware upgrades for the servers, so there may be some down time associated with that, but it should be minor and we will be in communication with the community when that transpires.

ii) We hope this signifies faster iteration, with more people, more resources, and less communication sticking points all arrows point to yes.

iii) Statesman as the signature character will be determined, if I had my druthers it would be something the Community Team would acquire rights to, one can dream right?

iv) City of Heroes and City of Villains will be seeing new content. Both are award winning titles, and both deserve some attention, with additional resources we hope to be bringing the community wish lists to fruition.

v) Subscription fees will be determined by NCsoft, NCsoft has been researching every possible business model possible and will not make any decision affecting the community without clearly determining the bonus/backlash.

And here:

Manticore as in the person behind the sig Sean Fish, left COH and Cryptic after COV launch…ironically he works for NCsoft in Austin on some other project, but I heard rumors that he and Positron have been discussing the COH/COV Bible lately.

The person in charge of COH’s lore is Hero One, and speaking of shy… I’m still trying to get this guy to take a step out and introduce himself.

If you have been following the story arcs for Ouroboros this is our guy, his name is Joe Morrissey, and speaking of creative efforts, this guy is expecting his first arrival, un-known gender at this time sometime this week.

We’ll get him to pop on the boards and say hello soon.

And on the Statesman theme:

Statesman is part of the Intellectual Property that NCsoft just purchased.

Jack Emmert played that role while he was working on the project, Jack has since moved on to work on MUO and posts from a different name on the MUO forums.

And related:

Everyone from the current team signed on with NCsoft, this includes.

Sexy Jay
Ghost Widow
War Witch
BAB’s
Castle
Positron
all the programmers and other design staff that are not currently under signature names.

CuppaJo is working on Tabula Rasa and that is a project that she has been on for over a year and is very dedicated and excited about. Not to say she didn’t love COH/COV but she made the choice to move to that project and I don’t foresee that changing in the near future, especially since they just launched last week.

And here:

 I know this hasn’t been posted in this thread but here is a link to the newly updated hiring page for NCsoft. For the COH/COV project check out the Mountain View location.

There are 19 positions that were just announced.

For those interested in gainful gaming employment, check out the NCsoft North America Jobs Listing. Positions for “Mountain View” would be in our newly formed NCsoft NorCal Studio.

Hmmm.  If I mentioned I was raised in Mountain View, would I get a discount?

This all sounds like a generally good thing.  Time will, of course, tell.

A scosh quiet hereabouts

Haven’t had a lot of play time lately.  Margie’s been sick, I’ve been distracted with some other projects, etc.  I feel like I did my beta testing, and I don’t want to invest a lot of time on beta generating characters or doing story stuff that won’t transfer over to perm.  Most of the board traffic (for red names) has been fairly repetitive, so not a lot to report, either.

Expect more soonish.

Dainty little hands

One of the new things in I11 is weapon scaling — having weapons (broadswords, katanas, ARs (?), axes, claws, etc. scale appropriately to at least the body type (female, male, huge).  This isn’t universal — there is a “legacy broadsword” (etc.) that remains unscaled.

Folks have objected to the female weapons now being too small.  While rejecting the idea of a weapons scale slider before, BAB noted:

We scaled all of the weapons based on the scale and proportions of the player models, particularly the hands. The female models just happen to have small and dainty hands. Up until this point, the exact same weapon models was shared between all 3 body types, so they had to be scaled large enough to at least fit in the huge model’s hands…which are roughly the size of the female model’s head. It’s something that’s bothered us for a long time, but we weren’t able to change it. Now that we can, we did.

I’m certainly not opposed to gigantic, anime style weapons but we don’t to create those in a haphazard way by just taking something that’s designed to be hand sized and scaling it up to a ridiculous scale. I’d much rather create a completely new piece of geometry that is a gigantic, anime style weapon but still looks like it could be held and wielded by the player model it’s attached to…rather than having the small, dainty female hand buried completely in the grip the size of her forearm.

The answer, of course, seems obvious — get rid of / redesign those ridiculously dainty Female hands.  No, seriously, they’re laughably small.  I have any number of brawling female toons who I’ve put “Large” gloves onto just so that they have ratiionally sized hands (especially when you consider that Male hands are actually oversized to scale).

Maybe we need hand size sliders …

Now It Can Be Told

I11 is now in Open Beta.

What can be told is that both Margie and I were in the Closed Beta.

It appears that a lot of what drives invitations to the Closed Beta is time spent in the Test instance.  I, myself, almost never do that — but we’ve been known to let Kitten run in Test while we’re on Prod doing stuff.  Presumably, that’s how I got the invite.

Notes on I11:

  1. The new weapon styles seriously rock.  Seriously.  CoX’s greatest strength has always been being able to create a hero/villain who looks just how you want, and now you can do so even better.  Worth the price of admission right there.  It’s almost enough to make me want to run a Mace Tanker.  Or another AR Blaster.
  2. The Ourobous missions are a hoot-and-a-half.  We pulled out Psi-clone and Amorpha, and had triffic fun, from the “running in Outbreak as Lvl 1 characters” to various missions with Freedom Phalanx and Vindicator heroes running against Lord Recluse’s lieuts.  Excellent stuff.  New content rocks.
  3. Dual Blades is a spiffy power.  My only objection to it is that too many of the blades are not available with the existing blade powers (Broadsword and Katana).
  4. Willpower is an interesting defensive set.  I don’t know if it’s under- or over-powered, but it has a little bit of everything (except a freaking Heal!).  A good add.

Overall, an excellent issue.

Halloween

Is up live.  As noted earlier. in addition to the normal hitting doors and fighting things, the prizes this year include costume “temp powers” — make your character look like one of the various villain (and hero) groups.  Cool beans, even if they don’t last nearly long enough, and I think it’s grossly unfair they don’t work in the PVP zones …

Halloween runs through 4 November.

“Alts, Mister Rico! Zillions of ’em!”

My gaming activities over the past week have led to all sorts of fine ideas for even more alts.  Because that is, of course, exactly what I need.  (If I said I was running out of space across all servers with alts I’ve generated, one should not be surprised.)

Some of the fun ones …

  1. The return of Honeygun, in various flavors.  I found the AR Blaster set to be really annoying back in the day, but that’s because the “super soaker” AR was a butt-ugly weapon to be carrying around.  I11 will provide some much more attractive alternatives.
  2. A Sten analog, complete with 80s-paperback-cover hair, cool camoflage tech outfit, and both a Gurkha kukri and a crystal dagger.  That would be the plan under the Dual Weapons primary, of course, planned for I11 but available to those lucky souls who are in the closed beta.
  3. “Punchin’ Judy” — okay, I admit that I saw someone with that name, and determined I must have an alt with the same name.
  4. “Warm Fuzzy.”  Surely one can create a teddy-bear Fire Controller.
  5. “Carmine Zuigiber” — a red-haired, red-garbed war correspondent and (as envisioned) some-sort-of-weaponed fire aura brute.

That’s not keeping me from exercising my current burgeoning stable of alts.  I just dinged Lady Zebra to 23, for example.

Zoning with War Witch

Melissa Bianco (War Witch) talks about how they go about designing a new (or revamped) zone in CoX.

When we decided to redo Faultline, we assumed it would be quick and easy because we weren’t starting from scratch, we were just ‘moving a few things around’. Yeah, we were wrong. We eliminated 1/3 of the zone and added access to the ‘hazard’ area. We raised it up and flattened it out. Yes, many elements stayed the same, but it was so much work to incorporate the new geometry that it was far from simple because every single neighborhood had a fundamental layout change to it. Live and learn!

Rikti War Zone was easier because the changes were more subtle. Well, except for a few places where I chose massive changes (i.e. the path leading to the Rikti ship and the Vanguard Base), but even the Base was a piece that I could do “underneath” the world so it didn’t affect the zone ‘topside’ too much (except for the compound), even that was added on to the existing zone by adding a cubby hole.

Good stuff.

New weapons

Someone’s doing screen caps (legitimately, despite the closed beta) of all the weapon options.  Nice stuff, as well as making notes of which are or aren’t colorable.

Insert litany of complaints on the boards about (a) “They didn’t include my favorite!” (b) “This AT power got more options than that AT power” and (c) “That’s not a Glaive-Guisarme, that’s a Lucerne Hammer”  Etc.  BAB comments.

Additional textures have to be created to fully support color tinting of weapons. They also have to be set up and exported a different way, hooked into the costume menu slightly different, additional scripts have to be written for them. It’s not a ton of work, but overall it’s just a couple of extra steps that we simply haven’t had time to do on every single weapon we’ve pulled out of the library of existing things. Bows, on top of all of that, have another couple of extra steps because they have to be animated to match the player animations.

Why so many maces and swords and not bows or claws? Because our existing library of weapon models is full of that type of stuff. Not a lot of bows on the other hand…what was there is basically in.

The original plan was to have only 3 unique options for each weapon set. The default weapon, the villain version if it existed, an arcane version and a tech version. I really pushed to get as many things in as we could with the intent of filling in the rest later as time permitted. If it’s really that big of a deal to you guys that there are just more options available to mace than bows, we can very easily go in and comment everything out so that everyone has an exactly equal number of options available. But I really don’t think that’s what anyone wants, is it?

All I can say is that we will continue to create new weapon models, obviously starting with the sets that are a bit sparse right now.

Recent gaming

A little of this, a little of that.

Margie noticed me playing a lot with Old Saucy Jack (BS/Reg Scrapper), and enjoyed my telling of the Mid Life Crisis SG he’s in, so she’ quick ran up My Thyme (BS/RS Scrapper), and we’re now only a level or two apart.  BS is one of the prettiest sets out there, visually and audibly, and now that I have Whirling Blade (at 20), I’m a very happy man.

We’ve not done a lot with our other duos — a bit with Rita & Runt (high 30s now, I think) and Kitsune-Chan (Ill/Rad Controller) and  Ex-Terra (Spines/?? Scrapper).

My hottest solo character at the moment is Miss Crackle (Elec/Nrg Blaster), who I’m having a lot of fun with at 16.  Electricity is a fine power set.  A bit of action with Djinn Taniq (Storm/Nrg Def, 6), too.

Been doing some low level tank action, both Ike Berg (Ice/Ice, 8) and Unlikely Ally (Fire/Fire, 9).  I’m seeing a lot more tanks on PUGs these days, which makes me think the AT is coming back into style.

A bit of Mastermind play with Jack Byzantine (Nec/Dark, 8) and Oni of Shadows (Nin/Arch, 10).

I11 interview with Posi

Nice article, going into more detail on the time travel mishes and other new stuff.  Most interesting is that there’s little to no mention of what’s engendered the most commentary (at least red names) on the boards, weapon customization.

And, yes, issues have been coming faster.

Last year, it was decided that the pace of Issue releases would be increased so that one new Issue would be released every four months. The launch of Issue 11, which is scheduled for Fall 2007 or before December 21st, will mean that that goal has been reached.

“It’s a testament to the team,” Miller said, talking about their dedication to getting new systems, elements, missions and other content to the players. “[We’re] making sure we give [the players] the best quality product we can”

It’s almost (dare I say it) too fast a pace.  🙂

 

I11 – OMGASM!

At least that’s how Margie characterized 99% of the forum response to the announcement of I11 coming out Real Soon Now and what it will have.

Issue 11: A Stitch in Time reveals that all that is and was is not as it should be! The mysterious Ouroboros organization, a group of beings from the ends of time, enlists the aid of Heroes and Villains to rewrite the past. Heroes and Villains are able to travel through time using the new Ouroboros System, which opens the gates to both new and existing content for players. Issue 11 also unleashes two brand new power sets: Dual Blades and Willpower, giving Heroes and Villains a slew of new power options. Additionally, Dual Blades offers Weapon Customization – taking the “City of” Character Creator to the next level! And the Inventions system is enhanced with new “Very Rare” Purple invention sets.

Okay, sounds interesting.

Ouroboros System

Through the mysterious Menders of Ouroboros, players gain the ability to “Flashback”, that is to travel through time and relive major events from the history of Paragon City™ and the Rogue Isles™. Heroes who travel back in time will embark on missions such as preventing the Circle of Thorns from unleashing a devastating demon on a defenseless world, a story originally presented in the City of Heroes comic book. Villains who journey through time will get the chance to assist Lord Recluse™ in his initial campaign to conquer the Rogue Isles, and much more.

Heroes and Villains also use the Ouroboros System to return to story arcs that they may have missed and replay hundreds of missions from earlier in the game. Players will even get to set mission parameters for these missions to earn special badges. Heroes and Villains will be auto-exemplared to the appropriate level for each story arc to ensure the challenge level remains constant.

Interesting. “Flashback” is the feature that was being talked about earlier as a long-term request that the devs wanted to do — for those completists who wanted to go back and run arcs (and get badges) that they’d bypassed on the way up.

The addition of doing it as a time travel device for added content, though, is a very cool bit.

The “mission parameters” include “Time Limits, Lives, No Inspirations, No Temp Powers, self-nerf, (as well as others).”

Weapon Customization

Sometimes an assault rifle just isn’t the right tool for the job, or character, especially when he or she should be using a sniper rifle instead. Players can now change their weapons in the same way that they change their costume parts! From within the costume creator and tailor screen players select the new “Weapons” region. A number of new options are now available for appropriate power sets. Current power sets that benefit from this upgrade include Assault Rifle, Mercenaries/Assault Rifle, Bow, Broadsword, Claws, Villain Claws, Dual Blades (see below), Katana, Ninja Blade, Mace, Robotics/Pulse Rifle, and Thugs/Dual Pistols.

Okay, this is definitely worth of an OMGASM.  First off, though AR is an annoying set to begin with, it’s a *really* annoying look.  But the idea that we can now tailor the various swords, axes (not mentioned here, but included elsewhere), and other such discrete weapons is extremely cool.  Granted, folks will now want tailored/customized power effects, but that’s a different technical battle (which includes spines).

Well done.

That customization, btw, seems to include (based on the pics) colors for weapons.  Hmmmm … Jack could use a bloody sword …

And though it’s not mentioned above, axe is part of the customizable set.

It’s also mentioned elsewhere that mace includes as variants, war hammer, pipe wrench, and sledge hammer.  And dual blades includes sais and faerie daggers and red cap daggers.  Oh, and tommy guns for AR.  And, somewhere, shovels. And compound bows.  And, for the dual pistols (me wants for non-MM character!) “Revolvers, semi-autos, flintlocks” — and “color-tinable laser sights.”

Another note that customization refers “for Masterminds it’s the bow, pistols, assault rifle, and pulse rifle for Ninja, Thugs, Mercenaries, and Robotics powersets.”

There are hints, btw, that some weapon options (at least) will be unlockable or based on combat defeats of enemies that wield them.  That feels appropriate on the one hand (a combat trophy) and annoying on the other (no “I start off as a rebel Family guy with the tommy gun”).  That includes at least a couple of Rikti weapons, as well as the aforementioned tommy gun. Or, as another example, “Vanguard Talsorian blades (claws) and the Redding Rail Rifle (Assault Rifle) are purchased with Vanguard Merits, if you are of the correct AT and powerset.”

And because it’s costume system based, it means (a) you can have different variations in different costume slots (“Today I feel like wielding a pipe wrench”), and (b) it doesn’t open up for you until you start using the costume system (Icon).  Though that will, I suspect, start folks using all those unused veteran costume tokens they’ve (well, I’ve) not seen much use from.

Two New Power Sets

The City of… universe expands with two new amazing power sets: Dual Blades and Willpower.

    Dual Blades

    With a flashing blade in each hand, the Stalker made quick work of the Coralax hybrids guarding the shipwreck.

    Now Heroes and Villains can wield paired weapons to devastating effect! Use the new Weapon Customization interface to choose from several types of weapons. Dual Blades also uses a brutal new Combo system, where the order of your strikes can create new advantages for you to take down your foes! Dual Blades is available to Brutes, Scrappers, Stalkers and Tankers!

Okay, I will be curious to see how this “Combo” system works — and when/if it gets retrofitted to other power sets.  More variations in the Attack Chain is a good thing.

    Willpower

    Available to Tankers, Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers, the Willpower set offers a strong mix of resistance, defense and regeneration powers. This is the perfect power set for those characters who have the mental will and determination – the  willpower – to ignore pain and press on through insurmountable odds!

And (as I understand it from previous posts) who want minimum fx around their defensive set.  Though the picture used is anything but.

More images via here.

New Inventions

Issue 11 brings with it new invention sets including “Very Rare” Purple sets, as well as brand new invention sets for Taunt, Buff and Debuff powers, among others.

/em shrug

It also looks like (from the illustration) that we’re going to see more cut scenes, as in CoV.  I have mixed feelings about those.  On the one hand, they provide some nice flavor.  On the other hand, they are always startling out-of-the-moment intrusions, and (when repeating a mission for the Nth time) annoying.

Whew.  Good stuff.  And, interestingly, what’s drawing the most commentary (or the most red-name reaction) is the customization bits, which ties into the general acknowledged strength of CoX in toon design.

RUAGIRL?

Given that I have quite a number of female alts in CoX (it runs about 50%, interestingly enough), it’s a good thing I don’t play in China:

Shanda (Nasdaq: SNDA) subsidiary Aurora Technology has frozen game accounts of male players who chose to play female in-game characters in its in-house developed MMORPG King of the World, reports 17173. Aurora stipulates that only female gamers can play female characters in the game, and it requires gamers who chose female characters to prove their biological sex with a webcam, according to the report.

Yikes.

(via BoingBoing)

Targeting priorities

Doyce points out this fine Penny Arcade comic, and suggests it pretty much applies to any game.

I’ll agree as a broad principle, to wit, “Don’t just target the biggest, most menacing thing in the room.”  In actuality — in CoX terms, at least — I’ll further qualify that some.

My General Targeting Priorities (when I get a chance to actually select targets):

  1. Anything manageable that’s liable to one- or two-shot a team member (e.g., Quantums if you have Squids, Embalmed Vahz).  (By manageable, I mean that take no longer to take down than any other target, vs. a Boss who is a big threat to everyone but takes a while to deal with.)
  2. Anything that’s going to stop (mez) me from defeating the enemy (e.g., Malta Sappers, Avalanche Mages, Tesla Clocks). (This is the main reason to take down Aberrant Lost first — not because they are big and nasty, but because at the levels they appear they can mez most of the group.)
  3. Anything that’s going to buff/heal the enemy (as PA notes) (e.g., Rikti Guardians, Mortificators, Tsoo Sorcerers, Crey Geneticists/Radiologists, anything that turns on Leaderhip pool attributes).
  4. The enemy, biggest to smallest (self-explanatory).

I suspect the principle can, indeed, be applied to any game.