While at Comic Con, MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh caught with with Matt Miller and Joe Morrisey of Paragon Studios to talk about the upcoming Issue 16 update to City of Heroes.

Joe Morrissey, Senior Game Designer and Matt Miller, Senior Design Lead at Paragon Studios are just great people to talk to and we joked around as they waited for a "Marketing Watchdog" to come by before we could start the interview at Comic Con. "Just a mindful presence to keep me from saying too much," Joe quipped.
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"Shhh! Don't tell her about the Ninja Space Monkeys?" Matt hushed him. "Are you sure they weren't Pirate Space Monkeys?" Joe responded "The space expansion? What space expansion?" They chorused, deadpan.

Build 16, which goes into open beta in two weeks, is a response to player requests and primarily consists of the Power Spectrum, which is the ability to customize the colors of your character's powers. A new interface has been created with tabs across the top so that players creating new or tailoring old characters can easily switch from the different customization screens to adjust each of the customizable features of their characters.

Read the Issue 16 Comic Con Interview

They could not talk much more about it other than to say that they would have missions and areas for new characters as well as level 50+ characters.

This means the level 50 cap is finally going to increase?!

Good review.   This has always been my go-to MMO.   It's been out five years and just keeps getting better and better.   Also, for anyone like me, who's sick of the "only raiding/grouping gets the best end-game loot", there's CoH.     I switched to Wow for about 6 months and comparatively it was like playing in slow motion.   I've always loved CoH's flashy combat.   There's nothing quite like being surrounded by a half dozen guys and then sending them all flying.  

Originally posted by green13

They could not talk much more about it other than to say that they would have missions and areas for new characters as well as level 50+ characters.

This means the level 50 cap is finally going to increase?!

Actually no.

They said they wouldn't raise the level cap, and even if we don't know for sure what the new content for lvl 50 characters is gonna be, there have been rumors about "universal slots". Being slots you can earn after you reached 50 and that boost your entire character.

No more info on that tho.

 It seems like all the things Champions Online has that is "flashy" compared to CoX is getting implemented into CoX as well. Thats nice

Like someone else mentioned, everything so far has pointed not to a higher level cap, but to a method of making level 50 characters more powerful.

Anyone else notice so many lvl 50's still hanging around in the game?   When I hit lvl 50 i immediately created new character but there must be something special for level 50's.    PVP?   Or maybe the areas and worlds that we never saw at lower levels.  I do know that not until after the higher lvl 40's did I see some real mind blowing mobs and worlds in the game.   Planets you could portal from one to another, etc.   I have to put my lvl 50 back on some missions but can't pry myself away from a new char created as one of the unlocked types.

It looks like they are taking every step possible to pre-emptively act against Champions new game engine and greater customization.

This is a good thing, I just hope it is enough. Some competition in the genere will be good for the subscribers.

It kinda sucks that they are going to make you pay for  the going rogue expansion. I was wondering when they were going to start charging for expansions again. I have always been against premium games charging for new content, or the flipping or rehashing of old content (like villains playing good side and heros playing evil side). I will still always have a place for CoH in my heart tho.

Originally posted by Shreddi

Anyone else notice so many lvl 50's still hanging around in the game?   When I hit lvl 50 i immediately created new character but there must be something special for level 50's.    PVP?   Or maybe the areas and worlds that we never saw at lower levels.  I do know that not until after the higher lvl 40's did I see some real mind blowing mobs and worlds in the game.   Planets you could portal from one to another, etc.   I have to put my lvl 50 back on some missions but can't pry myself away from a new char created as one of the unlocked types.

Its because your lvl 50 is your money maker. Most play them to either farm or do Taskforces to earn tons of money and/or good enhancement recipes. This can then be transfered down to your alt. I also seem to come back to this game. I've tried many Mmo's and this is one that I always come back to. Its too bad though that most of the Mission Architect missions are used to farm. There are some gems in there though, storywise, if you look for them.

Wow Matt realy has bad Foot in mouth doesnt he...or the editor transcribed wrong. I can see it now...

"Matt said we get 5 base Architect slots and buy 3 more. So why do i only have 3 and had to pay 20 bucks for 5 more! RAGEQUIT"

Originally posted by docfyre

Originally posted by green13

They could not talk much more about it other than to say that they would have missions and areas for new characters as well as level 50+ characters.

This means the level 50 cap is finally going to increase?!

Actually no.

 They said they wouldn't raise the level cap, and even if we don't know for sure what the new content for lvl 50 characters is gonna be, there have been rumors about "universal slots". Being slots you can earn after you reached 50 and that boost your entire character.

No more info on that tho.

I suppose I was kind of resigned to the level 50 cap. I'll just have to wait and see what these turn out to be.

But it sounds like they're finally going to try to offer something by way of 'end-game' content, which is good even if long overdue.

As someone who has played CoX for 2 years, I do not think it needs a higher level cap. That will accomplish nothing. What it needs is more end game fun, like the old hamidon raids that still go on today. The beuatiful thing about these raids is that you dont need to be in a leet raid guild with a cookie cutter build. Read the forums of your respective server and show up at the scheduled raid time of whoevers organizing it, it's that simple. Going Rogue will hopefully add some much needed end game content.

Originally posted by nekollx

Wow Matt realy has bad Foot in mouth doesnt he...or the editor transcribed wrong. I can see it now...

 

"Matt said we get 5 base Architect slots and buy 3 more. So why do i only have 3 and had to pay 20 bucks for 5 more! RAGEQUIT"

Indeed.  I double checked my notes from Comic Con + my notes/article from the Mission Architect then contacted Matt Miller for verification.  You get 3 base Story Arcs that can be published, each with 5 mission capability then have to pay for up to 5 more.  That was added in issue #15.

I love the game, played for a goot time, am happy about the many improvements - but: until they make the game a little bit more diverse, less repetitive, I don't have anything to come back to.

Originally posted by rsreston

I love the game, played for a goot time, am happy about the many improvements - but: until they make the game a little bit more diverse, less repetitive, I don't have anything to come back to.

um...architect....

Nothing new in this interview.

I won't re-subscribe to CoX unless they greatly improve the graphics, get rid off the edgy models and tilesets and make critters more intelligent (Same sight range as players, seeking cover etc. more tactical gameplay much needed).

No challenge, no content, no eyecandy = no subs

MA is no the solution, we're still seeing the old tilesets/maps and multiple storyarcs can't be directly connected to make them an EPIC story. Many stories have little to do with the CoX world, aren't proof-read, have silly custom critters, or are just flat copies of stuff we've seen before.

CoX will soon be the dated and easymode asylum for oldies in the super heroes genre in the same way that WoW is for fantasy stuff. It has it's place but the future is with DCUO and CO.

(beta-ing CO since May and never logged back into CoX since then)

Most of the 50s that I've seen are either farming purple invention recipes, or farming influence, or farming rare recipes to sell at auction, or farming merits. There's a TON of things to collect when you're 50, and let's face it, when you hit 50, most characters are pretty powerful. It's fun to walk into just about any situation and know you have it under control.

That being said, I can't see myself going back to CoX. I played on and off since the game was released, tried both flavors of the epic archetypes on both Good and Evil sides, and saw enough of the content and class combos that there really isn't much left to get me excited over there anymore. I was happy to rehash content for quite awhile while I tried different archetypes, but now I've played pretty much everything that interests me and I'm just looking forward to something completely new (Champions Online). I'm excited to try the open beta next week! I wish CoX all the best, though, I had countless hours of fun there. :)