General Discussion

NCsoft has released this new developer diary talking about the upcoming Issue 10: Invasion that will see the game's storyline advanced.

When the design team sits down to discuss what is going to be in the next issue for the "City Of" games, we generally have some high level goals that we want to accomplish in that issue. With Issue 8 it was bringing more parity to the games of City of Heroes and City of Villains with Safeguard missions, and Issue 9 was adding a brand new far-reaching system with the Invention System.

With Issue 10 we decided to advance the storyline. Like any ongoing game we have many unresolved plot threads and each is a great opportunity for introducing new game content. Our first thought for Issue 10 was to bring back the 5th Column, a villain group that disappeared when the Council was introduced in Issue 3. But in the end we decided to focus on one of the greatest threats to Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, the aliens known as the Rikti. We had revealed a lot about the Rikti in the past, but there was always the looming specter of a second Rikti War. There were already plenty of missions that involve shutting down attempts by stranded Rikti to contact their homeworld. For current players, Rikti are a familiar enemy and remain a giant pain in the butt.

Read the whole article here.

Sounds like it'll be a *lot* of fun, I can't wait! :D

(also: First! :p )

This should be great fun if it lives up to the hype.  I remember when the Council did its coup of the 5th Column, they had 5th and Council troops fighting in the streets.

In other games I've played world events were usually the better content patches, even when they weren't done well they were still quite fun and memorable. 

I love the idea of fighting the Rikti NPCs along side some of the signature Hero NPCs.
It would be cool if they call out your name for assistance and exchange banter, warnings, encouragement, praises and use emotes like thumbs ups with the players...

They could even sort of lead players into the fray by proposing targets.. maybe for bonus XP... almost like an active Task Force where the contact just sort of happens impromptu...

I'm sure this is taking it way further then what they're planning but that kind of stuff could open up to a new sort of mission type... if you help a hero NPC fight and clear a way deep into enemy lines... it could spawn an instance with that hero NPC... that'd be pretty wicked.

Just the fact that players now can tricker small World-events at random locations, when they are doing the new taskforce / strikeforce mission, is a huge step in the right direction. More games should allow the players to have influence on the game world, even if it's only a small one-zone attack, it still makes it more dynamical, instead of the good ol' static MMO worlds we know.

Talking about triggering events....

I remember the first time I saw Babbage.  I was in a 3-man team in skyway we were waiting for one person to sell when the 30 ft PO'ed robot spawned like 10 ft from us.

*pop*

RAWR!!

*splat*

ow...

Althought that rather sucked at that particular moment, I find it rather amusing now.  

I said it before... And for the last dang time.. With all this "New content" were is the content that was promised over a year ago?? You know IOP's "Items of Power" that they teased us with for a few months just to take them back again.. And Villain Epic Unlock able toons??? these 2 things are the things I been waiting for to come out so I can start playing this game again.. I started in Issue 2, Heros. played all the way thru villains beta, then quit in issue 8.. have not played in issue 9. and it looks like I wont come back in issue 10, why? BECAUSE THE STILL HAVE NOT RELEASED THE 2 MAIN THINGS THAT THEY PROMISED ME OVER A YEAR AGO!!!

Well first off XxjagoxX, crafting has been asked for far longer than the Villain Epic AT.  With Issue 9 we have markets now and a way to craft that doesn't "break" the game or force you to start camping mobs.  It's a fun Issue as the IO's are typically better than DO's for my teens Level toons.

Second, they said they are working on Villain Epic AT but do not want it to just be "evil peacebringers".  Coming up with 2 villainous EAT to compare with the PB/WS but being distinctly different is not an easy thing to do.  Plus, even after it's made they have to balance the powers out.  Also, if they are Kheldian-like you then have to rework all the old missions to add Quantum and Void-like mobs.

With I10 they are doing a world event that people have been asking for.  They are doing more hero/villain coop like people have been asking for.  They are dusting off an old villain group and advancing the storyline like people have been asking for.  They can only do so much per Issue after all.  So right now there was more demand for this than the Villain EAT.  I have a 50 MM, I'd surely love to get my EAT rollin' but I am glad to be seeing a world event like this, should be fun. 

Beta looks promising...lets hope they work out the balance issues...looks to be a lot of fun.