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June 21, 2007

Disconnected

Off on vacation for a week-and-change.  Not likely to do much, if any, CoX (or posting here), though I'll have some automated amusement over on my regular blog.  Have fun while I'm away!

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June 20, 2007

Content contentment

Expect more after I10.  Quoth Statesman:

 I'll let you into a little secret...

Positron is very focused on advancing the storyline...he really championed the idea of the "second invasion." I think you'll find that future updates will touch more upon the game's background than previous...

Very cool.  I chatted with someone in the closed beta, and, without going into any NDAed details, I10 looks very keen.

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June 18, 2007

We were down ...

But now we're up. 

SQL table problem, which happened on the blog this morning and which I couldn't fix until I got home (since our office firewall blocks the port that CPanel operates under).  Took ten seconds to fix, after a day of frustration.  Sorry about that, chiefs.


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Double XP Weekend - after action report

Well, alas, never did hook up with anyone else for the event, but Margie and I had fun on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon/evening plowing our Mastermind duo, Gifted Kid and Special Educator, from 23 to most of the way through 27.  Which netted Gifted Kid both an additional Protector Bot (dubbed Dr McCoy to go with the extant Dr Franklin) and the (woo-hoo) Assault Bot (dubbed Ah-nold) (for the record, the Battle Bots are dubbed Huey, Dewey, and Louie -- after, of course, the drones in Silent Running -- Gifted Kid is, if nothing else, a geek).

Only died once during the weekend (and debt went away pretty quickly).

Did briefly exchange tells with Ktbuffy, but between a final bank-robbery-a-palooza and a very yummy steak dinner with Margie, never did get with her.


Posted by Dave at 7:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Edit
Filed under: Character Design , Gameplay

June 15, 2007

Costuming

Cool Q&A with Jay Doherty, lead costume designer for CoX.  Here's an interesting one:

Community Qestion (Belga): Can we be given access to the NPC costume pieces? Many players would love to use the Carnival of Shadows pieces, for example, and I'd really like to have access to the Mu Mystics costumes.

Jay Doherty: When NPCs where first made there was no intention to give players those costume pieces, mostly because they would not work with other costume pieces (ex: clipping, overlapping) When the PPD exobot guys were first put into the game, players really wanted those pieces for themselves. Unfortunately all those pieces where made to work with each other not as separate pieces, and they look really silly if you don't have all the pieces on. So to address this we have come up with a few solutions. First, while not completely copying the carnival of shadows I have built a completely new costume set with the flavour of the carnival. Second, there will be a new NPC group that was built with the player in mind, all costume pieces from this NPC group will be something players will be able to wear. Now depending on how the players respond to this is how we'll handle more things in the future. Please don't think that every NPC costume group from this point on will be given to the players, but I will put forth the effort to do as many as possible.

Rumor has it that some of this shows up in I10.

Other topics include scabbards and quivers (not soon), new body types (nope, would have to port over all the costumes), long skirts (nope, too much clipping), I10 stuff (4 new costume sets done so far, 3 of them player-requested), and what he'd most like to put in (A chef costume set, an evil clown costume set, 1930's robot costume set).

 


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June 14, 2007

I10 - Rikti ahoy!

Yowzers!  We have seen the future, and it is content.

The skies over Paragon City are filled with dark grey thunderheads. It is the same in the Rogue Isles, Europe, and across the globe. Small ships dart through the heavy weather … and there are so very many of them.

The Rikti have returned.

Rikti World Invasion

Issue 10 begins with a World Event that spans across numerous zones in both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, as the Rikti return in devastating waves. They are armed with new, brutal weapons and seek to establish a beachhead on Earth, presumably to save their lost brethren and to finish what they started the first time … the destruction of Earth!

Rikti War Zone (Levels 35 – 50)

The site of the crashed Rikti mother ship has become a hot War Zone. Pylons of unknown purpose have appeared around the mother ship, and Rikti presence is extremely heavy. In an attempt to contain the Rikti from breaking out of the area or launching their ship, the government has cordoned off the zone, allowing only select agents access. Government officials have turned the region over to Vanguard, and given them the authority to recruit forces from across the world. This zone is open to both Heroes and Villains, in their combined, desperate struggle to hold the front lines against the second Rikti Invasion.

New Threats

Rikti Pylons are multi-purpose warning and attack devices that surround the crashed mother ship. It takes a concerted effort to take one of these pylons down, but once enough of these are destroyed, access to the ship may be granted. UXBs, “unexploded bombs” that arm, power up, and detonate if not stopped in time, provide a constant threat. Rikti destroyers zip through zones dropping troops, UXB’s, and Rikti Assault Suits.

New Inventions

The Vanguard base contains a special Vanguard Workbench that will allow for special costume pieces (tied to Rikti War Zone recipes). Vanguard Support Machines (“Heavies”) can be requisitioned using Special Salvage (unique to the War Zone). These Heavies function as powerful pets.

New Missions

The first missions in the Rikti War Zone are for characters level 35+. The characters meet a new contact, Levantera, who introduces them to the U.N. security force, Vanguard. They’ll also meet Borea, who sends them on several repeatable missions in the zone. From there, characters meet contact Serpent Drummer, Gaussian, and also talk to the Dark Watcher and learn one of the darkest secrets of Paragon City.

Rikti Co-op Task Force

The Rikti Co-Op Task Force is available for both Heroes and Villains. It is for 6 to 8 players, level 45 – 50. The mission is given out by Lady Grey, leader of the Vanguard. Co-operative missions create a new layer of depth and story as heroes and villains work toward a common goal.

This sounds pretty damned spiffy.

Posted by Dave at 11:55 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack | Edit
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June 12, 2007

Double XP Weekend - LFT

So I've been missing big team activities.  I do a little soloing these days, duoing with Margie, and attempted PUGs with various alts around the servers, but a scheduled "Let's get together with some good players and put on a show" kind of thing just hasn't been happening for some time (prolly since the Hostess Heroes got put back on the shelf).

So ... given that this is 2xXP weekend coming up Friday ... anyone interested in a get-together?  Given possible server/space/level issues, Margie's suggestion would be a "How fast can we get a group from 1 to 10?" startup on some server with space on it.  Not requiring or committing to anything beyond this weekend, just a chance to get together with some friends, some known quantities, some good players, and have some kick-ass high-reward fun.

It would be nice to run a team through the Sewers (or the Hollows) (or through the Hollows after doing the Kings Row safeguard mish, so we all have a temp travel power) that was a real team, not Joe "BRB ORDERING PIZZA" and Fred "GOIN TO LVL" and Eddie "LOOK I CAN FALL DOWN AND ALMOST DIE!" and Suzy "LEEERRROOOOOYYYYY!"

All commenters welcome.  Any takers?  Any particular timeframe (Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon, Sunday night)?


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June 8, 2007

Comment feed

I've added an RSS feed for comments here (separate from the posts comments), for those as choose to keep track of such things in such a way.

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June 6, 2007

New patch notes

Once again demonstrating that even if you choose to ignore the whole invention system, it still has an impact because of all the attention being paid to it by the devs.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

This version of the game contains mostly corrections, bug fixes and quality of life changes.  We are always concerned with keeping the game as bug free as possible.  We greatly appreciate the support of players who participate by helping to identify problems, either by playing new versions on the Training Room or submitting /bug reports.  Thanks and enjoy this update!


Invention

Set bonuses were not being granted correctly to players that were exemplared. A set bonus was being removed if a player exemplared below the level at which the set enhancements were slotted. This has been corrected. As of now, a set bonus will be lost while exemplared only if:

  1. The power the set is slotted into is no longer available to the exemplared character.
  2. The character exemplars below the level that the set enhancements can be slotted.  For example, the set bonus from a set of level 25 enhancements will be lost if the character exemplars to level 21 or below, even if the power is still available. The non-set bonuses of the enhancements still apply in this case.

Added the text "(Recipe)" to the description of Enhancement Recipes so players can tell if they are viewing the Recipe or an the actual Enhancement without having to look at the icon.

The following Invention Origin Sets have been changed:

For more information about Enhancement schedules and their different effectiveness rates, please visit the Knowledge Base.


Consignment Market


Rewards

Tailor

Emotes

Sound

Bases

Henchmen

Game

City Zones

User Interface

 

CITY OF HEROES

Powers

Fixed a number of bugs related to IO set enhancements:

Graphics

Rewards

Missions

City Zones


CITY OF VILLAINS


Powers

Fixed a number of bugs related to IO set enhancements:

Graphics

User Interface


Posted by Dave at 10:51 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | Edit
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June 5, 2007

What I10 doesn't have

A Moon zone.

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June 2, 2007

Origin-al Sins

Interesting.  With I9 we got some tweaks (not previously publicized) in who drops what sorts of things.

Council, which used to drop mostly Mutation enhancements, now drop Tech.  (Positron says it's because they used to use the old Fifth Council tables, and the FC were more into mutation experiments than the Council ... if you ignore all the Warwolf and Vampyri stuff, I guess).

The Crey have gone from dropping mostly Natural to mostly Science.  Okay, that makes sense.

Evidently the drop tables got updated from the ground up with all the new Invention System drops.  The consensus on the boards, though, is that there's no good standard villain dropping Mutation enhancements in the 30s -- which, I guess, is also an encouragement for folks to get all into IOs and stuff (and perhaps a sign that the Fifth Column are, indeed, coming back in I10).

 


Posted by Dave at 9:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Edit
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Double XP Weekend

<blockquote>Start: Friday, June 15th at 8:59am PST / 11:59am EST
Finish: Sunday, June 17th, 8:59pm PST / 11:59pm EST</blockquote>

That is, by the bye, Fathers Day weekend.

Need to ponder who, if anyone, I want to have us plow through with.  Might do our MM duo, just to access the later powers faster.


Posted by Dave at 9:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Edit
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I9 Poll

I'm way behind in my forum stuff, having had house guests and then having gotten sick.  Check out the I9 Poll in the forums, if you haven't already.

I am so much more impressed by the little QoL stuff than the whole economy setup, I cannot even give it words.  But the poll results indicate that forum readers (insert discussion of how representative of the general playing population) are ga-ga over inventions.  Ah, well.


Posted by Dave at 9:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Edit
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