MMORPG.com's Carl Cascone writes this preview of Paragon Studios' upcoming Issue 16 release for their popular superhero MMO, City of Heroes.

City of Heroes remains the champion of character and player customization. Players can customize their characters right down to the levels of accessories, and with a little time and creativity, players can create exactly the characters they envision. Whether a player wants to play a masked crusader from the old four color days of the Golden Age, a mage from the pages of sword and sorcery, or the ever popular tropes from Manga and Japanese animation, the character creator from City of Heroes can oblige. Customization is not limited to character creation, as players can create their own canon or non-canon related stories and missions for other players to enjoy. The release of the long awaited Issue 16 will increase this customization even further. Powers will now be fully customizable , and each player will have increased control over standard City of Heroes missions. Matt Miller (Positron) Senior Lead Designer, Bruce Harlick (Horatio) Lead Designer, and Adam King, City of Heroes Brand Manager were kind enough to give MMORPG.com a tour of Issue 16 Paragon City, and showcase some of the projected new features.

Read the Issue 16 Hands-On Preview

This game just gets better and better.   Team with anyone else, regardless of level.   Customize the look of your powers, customize your missions.   No MMO on the market offers this level of control.

Originally posted by SwampRob

This game just gets better and better.   Team with anyone else, regardless of level.   Customize the look of your powers, customize your missions.   No MMO on the market offers this level of control.

except the other cryptic superhero mmo :P

Originally posted by nekollx

Originally posted by SwampRob

This game just gets better and better.   Team with anyone else, regardless of level.   Customize the look of your powers, customize your missions.   No MMO on the market offers this level of control.

 

except the other cryptic superhero mmo :P

The other one?   The one that does not let you create your own missions?  The one that doesn't let you set your missions at various levels of difficulty?   The one that doesn't let you set them for anywhere from a team of one through eight?   The one that doesn't auto sidekick your friends regardless of their level so that you can always team together?    Right, that one.

Originally posted by nekollx

Originally posted by SwampRob

This game just gets better and better.   Team with anyone else, regardless of level.   Customize the look of your powers, customize your missions.   No MMO on the market offers this level of control.

 

except the other cryptic superhero mmo :P

Unless I'm remembering wrong, the only member of the original Cryptic team who left CoH was Jack Emmert after he sold the game to NCSoft. Most, if not all, of the game development staff stayed to work for Paragon. From where I'm sitting, it looks like Mr. Emmert scampered off with a trunkload of ideas the CoH devs were already working on, things, I might add, that we were told could not be implemented in the game.
 

It's interesting that Jack was always so deathly afraid of the "Tank Mage" concept, even when the game was strictly PvE. It looks like he got over that when work started on Marvel Universe Champions Online.

Originally posted by SwampRob

Originally posted by nekollx

Originally posted by SwampRob

This game just gets better and better.   Team with anyone else, regardless of level.   Customize the look of your powers, customize your missions.   No MMO on the market offers this level of control.

 

except the other cryptic superhero mmo :P

The other one?   The one that does not let you create your own missions?  The one that doesn't let you set your missions at various levels of difficulty?   The one that doesn't let you set them for anywhere from a team of one through eight?   The one that doesn't auto sidekick your friends regardless of their level so that you can always team together?    Right, that one.

actually it does do the last one...

And since most missions are outdoors (in my experiences) it's a bit harder to set "world difficulty"

Originally posted by SwampRob

Originally posted by nekollx

Originally posted by SwampRob

This game just gets better and better.   Team with anyone else, regardless of level.   Customize the look of your powers, customize your missions.   No MMO on the market offers this level of control.

 

except the other cryptic superhero mmo :P

The other one?   The one that does not let you create your own missions?  The one that doesn't let you set your missions at various levels of difficulty?   The one that doesn't let you set them for anywhere from a team of one through eight?   The one that doesn't auto sidekick your friends regardless of their level so that you can always team together?    Right, that one.

A lot of those features CoH didn't have at launch.  In my opinion, the mission architect is what really destroyed the game.  That's why a lot of us left.  There is also a sidekicking ability in CO.

give it some time, I love the AE, hell i have 8 story arc published and with a number of plays all of them rated 4 stars. Sure Ae was abused, but that's the nature of the beast. Gives 300,000 popsicles and i GARETEE you a small percentage ofthem will find out how to make 5 more free.

The article mentions improvements to Architect Entertainment in Issue 16. It'd be nice to know what those are, since the paragraph that talks about AE:

---

Architect Entertainment also will receive some improvements with Issue 16. Some AE missions will fall under the category of Developer Choice Missions. These missions will embody those elements the developers feel make excellent missions, and will be deemed outstanding by the developers. In Developer Choice Missions, the players will be able to select whether the rewards dropped are salvage and enhancements, or AE tickets. Developers Choice Missions are always chosen by the developers, but there is a Hall of Fame category for AE missions which are completely player chosen. The Hall of Fame will make it much easier for the favorite missions to be found.

---

doesn't contain any new information whatsoever. Everything in that paragraph has existed since Issue 14, except for the ability to choose between tickets and regular rewards, which came in Issue 15. No Issue 16 stuff there at all.

Originally posted by ceciladkins

The article mentions improvements to Architect Entertainment in Issue 16. It'd be nice to know what those are, since the paragraph that talks about AE:

 

---

Architect Entertainment also will receive some improvements with Issue 16. Some AE missions will fall under the category of Developer Choice Missions. These missions will embody those elements the developers feel make excellent missions, and will be deemed outstanding by the developers. In Developer Choice Missions, the players will be able to select whether the rewards dropped are salvage and enhancements, or AE tickets. Developers Choice Missions are always chosen by the developers, but there is a Hall of Fame category for AE missions which are completely player chosen. The Hall of Fame will make it much easier for the favorite missions to be found.

---

 

doesn't contain any new information whatsoever. Everything in that paragraph has existed since Issue 14, except for the ability to choose between tickets and regular rewards, which came in Issue 15. No Issue 16 stuff there at all.

Congrats on the title. Truth is i had a aplication waiting for issue 16 to hit for a CoH Correspodent as well. I was going to do in depth runs and reviews of each archtype...oh well guess i do a CO Correspondent :p

---

Congrats on the title. Truth is i had a aplication waiting for issue 16 to hit for a CoH Correspodent as well. I was going to do in depth runs and reviews of each archtype...oh well guess i do a CO Correspondent :p

---

well then I'll hang onto my Ultimate Archetype guides for 16 to hit then and give it a shot. Whose case scanario I got something to post on the forums in the Guides section

It all looks good -- hopefully the mission team is still adding some bit of content too though...

Originally posted by SwampRob

Originally posted by nekollx

Originally posted by SwampRob

This game just gets better and better.   Team with anyone else, regardless of level.   Customize the look of your powers, customize your missions.   No MMO on the market offers this level of control.

 

except the other cryptic superhero mmo :P

The other one?   The one that does not let you create your own missions?  The one that doesn't let you set your missions at various levels of difficulty?   The one that doesn't let you set them for anywhere from a team of one through eight?   The one that doesn't auto sidekick your friends regardless of their level so that you can always team together?    Right, that one.

How could you set difficulties when most of Champion's Online's quests are not even limited to only instanced missions?

Actually, if you didn't notice, COX's new sidekick idea were stolen from Champions Online. 

Yes, the one that have open world questing systems along with public quests and instanced missions. The one that allow players to have a greater customization of their powers, and actually let the players to try them all out before  picking them, The one that offer more travel powers with better animations and does not require a player to grind till level 14 to get them. The one that could allow players to customize their stat points, gears, power ranks upgrade, and power benefits upgrade. The one that doesn't require everyone to waste additional two powers before getting Stamina at level 20 or with any travel powers. The one that is filled with interact able objects in game, like the entire world is a giant Mayhem mission in COX.

IMO to sum it up, the one that has less limitations, better graphics, more powers, better animations,  and  faster game play.

To make it clear, I am not a die hard fan of Champions Online, I think COX was and still is a good game, but thats honestly how I felt about Champions Online during open beta. I just can't stand COX's fan boy making stuff up that's not true.

I'm very excited that I'll finally be able to change the appearance of my Spines Scrapper. To be honest, having giant bananas bursting out of my skin really didn't fit in with my character design.

I like CoH way more than the CO beta... nice to see that it keeps improving. :) 

Originally posted by ceciladkins

The article mentions improvements to Architect Entertainment in Issue 16. It'd be nice to know what those are, since the paragraph that talks about AE:

 

---

Architect Entertainment also will receive some improvements with Issue 16. Some AE missions will fall under the category of Developer Choice Missions. These missions will embody those elements the developers feel make excellent missions, and will be deemed outstanding by the developers. In Developer Choice Missions, the players will be able to select whether the rewards dropped are salvage and enhancements, or AE tickets. Developers Choice Missions are always chosen by the developers, but there is a Hall of Fame category for AE missions which are completely player chosen. The Hall of Fame will make it much easier for the favorite missions to be found.

---

 

doesn't contain any new information whatsoever. Everything in that paragraph has existed since Issue 14, except for the ability to choose between tickets and regular rewards, which came in Issue 15. No Issue 16 stuff there at all.

Hey, have they fixed the issue 13 PvP mess yet?  In other words are your powers still suppressed, disabled or diminished in the PvP zones?  I kinda liked actually using the powers I earned, and the crafted enhancements I slotted in them. 

Originally posted by CuppaAL

Originally posted by SwampRob

Originally posted by nekollx

Originally posted by SwampRob

This game just gets better and better.   Team with anyone else, regardless of level.   Customize the look of your powers, customize your missions.   No MMO on the market offers this level of control.

 

except the other cryptic superhero mmo :P

The other one?   The one that does not let you create your own missions?  The one that doesn't let you set your missions at various levels of difficulty?   The one that doesn't let you set them for anywhere from a team of one through eight?   The one that doesn't auto sidekick your friends regardless of their level so that you can always team together?    Right, that one.

 

How could you set difficulties when most of Champion's Online's quests are not even limited to only instanced missions?

Actually, if you didn't notice, COX's new sidekick idea were stolen from Champions Online. 

 

Yes, the one that have open world questing systems along with public quests and instanced missions. The one that allow players to have a greater customization of their powers, and actually let the players to try them all out before  picking them, The one that offer more travel powers with better animations and does not require a player to grind till level 14 to get them. The one that could allow players to customize their stat points, gears, power ranks upgrade, and power benefits upgrade. The one that doesn't require everyone to waste additional two powers before getting Stamina at level 20 or with any travel powers. The one that is filled with interact able objects in game, like the entire world is a giant Mayhem mission in COX.

 

IMO to sum it up, the one that has less limitations, better graphics, more powers, better animations,  and  faster game play.

 

To make it clear, I am not a die hard fan of Champions Online, I think COX was and still is a good game, but thats honestly how I felt about Champions Online during open beta. I just can't stand COX's fan boy making stuff up that's not true.

 

I don't like contradicting anyone, but here are some pertinent facts:

1) The idea of power customisation was floated a year ago in the Paragon Studios offices, so it's not 'stolen' from CO. And the depth of customisation far outweighs that of CO. CO allows a limited number of emanation points and color tinting. That's all. CoX is offering the brightness, color, tinting and in some cases the animation choices for powers. Emanations aren't there yet, but they may be in i16, noone knows just yet.

2)CO has alternate animations, not necessarily better ones.  Yes, they give you the option to have travel powers at level five, but level 15 in CoH is pretty much the equivalent, and you forget the temporary powers that are the stopgap between them.

3) The stat point system in CO is very open to min/maxing and abuse and is no more complex than CoX's slotting system. All CO characters MUST start with a ranged power, so how is that a more open system? Additionally, CO stamina system is entirely dependent on the attack to charge larger attack cycle, no more or less arbitrary than CoX's stamina system. However, CoX's attacks can lead with the more powerful attack, whereas CO does not give the player this option.

4) You're right, CO does have destructible objects and terrain....which originated in CoX. It's vastly unfair to make the comparison to a game that is older and would have to rewrite significant game code to make the environment interactive.

CO has as many limitations, marginally better graphics with more requirements, less variety in customisation, and a DIFFERENT gameplay style than CoX.  Your 'examples' are somewhat biased.

S.

Hell, people have been asking for Power Customization since CoH was going to be loosely based on the FUZION RPG System. . . Of course, one of the parents of FUZION is the HERO System. Where Champions was created. So, I guess what I'm saying is.. it's about time. I'm excited about this.

Originally posted by Sanguinia

Hell, people have been asking for Power Customization since CoH was going to be loosely based on the FUZION RPG System. . . Of course, one of the parents of FUZION is the HERO System. Where Champions was created. So, I guess what I'm saying is.. it's about time. I'm excited about this.

So at a time when the common pnp hero games were DCH, MSH, HU, Champions (Hero), GURPS Supers, M&M.... Champions allowed the most complex customization of all the games.  For many folks, the Hero system was just too damn complicated to be any fun when compared to the other systems.

It is kind of sad to see it reduced to Champions Online, which looks dumbed down compared even to the original MSH game.

That CoX continues to improve upon itself with the various issues speaks well of the game over the years.  CO is just a waste of an IP.