City of Heroes: Correspondent - Septermber Overview
MMORPG.com City of Heroes Correspondent Michael Mcnutt writes this overview of the most recent happenings in the world of City of Heroes / City of Villains including some tips for Issue 12 and a look ahead at Issue 13.
My spider sense is tingling, and something tells me that when City of Heroes/Villains releases Issue 13, their next free expansion, I’ll be teleported to a new wondrous world of adventure, exhilaration and unfortunately Girlfriend-Aggro.
So go the pros and cons of living a second life on an MMO.
Issue 13, which has been named “Architect”, enables a feature called mission maker/simulator which will allow players to design their own missions and story arcs to share with the entire City of Heroes/Villains community. Using an intuitive interface similar to the game’s detailed Character Creator, players can create missions from the ground up. Players will determine details ranging from environments, mission objectives, and enemies, to written fiction and character dialogue; giving their stories nearly infinite depth and personalization. One of the most popular aspects of the City of Heroes/Villains community has been Role Playing. This feature will allow these role players to make their twisted missions of doom come to fruition.
Get a job!
Also included in Issue 13 is the ability to give your character a day job. Now when players log out of City of Heroes /Villains they’re just getting started! A character’s day job is determined by the actual in-game location from which he or she logs out. If players log out from a University their day job is considered to be a Scholar. If they log out from City Hall they're a City Official. The benefits are thematically appropriate to the location. For example: City Officials earns extra Influence, Scholars are granted Salvage, Caregivers are granted Health Regeneration Buffs, etc.
Once characters have accumulated the required amount of time for each Day Job, they are rewarded with the appropriate Day Job Badge and Title, increasing their “earnings” for that job. Multiple Badges can be combined to unlock Accolades and the ability to accumulate additional new rewards. Almost every location within Paragon City and the Rogue Isles has an associated Day Job, resulting in a wide selection of jobs and rewards! Hmmm, I always wanted my secret identity to be a donut maker.
New power sets will be added. Shields, which will be a melee/defensive set and A villainous version of Empathy, call Pain Domination. Ouch, even the name sounds ominous.
Well until my Warshade decides to lay the Kheldian smack down, that is. In the month of October, usually around Halloween, the City of heroes/Villains Community usually celebrates the month of ghost, ghouls and witches by participating in their annual holiday event, which includes trick or treating, beating up giant monsters, and costume contests galore. This year, a Zombie Apocalypse is set to rise. So keep those snicker bars in a safe place.
The Merit Rewards System
A new game system that allows players to earn tokens by completing Trials, Task Forces, Strike Forces, Raids, etc. The most challenging and time consuming tasks grant the most reward tokens, which can be redeemed throughout Hero and Villain zones for recipes, enhancements, salvage, costume pieces, badges, inspirations and other game items.
Show your face
City of Heroes/Villains also joins the world of Facebook. The community team has been working to create a new page on Facebook where you can receive news feeds, share images and videos with the community.
Check it out here.
Come to the dark side
City of Heroes/Villains also allies itself with Toyota, in the form of a contest for the chance to win a 2009 Matrix. The contest entices the fans to create a video, brandishing their dark side. Selective finalist entries can be viewed here.
Issue 12 guides
I've compiled some hints, strategies and guides to Issue 12: (credit toZombie_Man)
Midnighter Club
- The Zone: The level of the Midnighter Club Zone is 10+ for heroes and 30+ for villains (although if you tag along with someone who has the mission, you can get in as early as level 1). Think Pocket D and you'll get the hang of it quickly. There is one Villains' entrance on one side (the Cap University), and three Heroes' entrances on the other (the 3 universities in Steel, Croatoa, and Founders). The map is blacked out, so, I made a crude ASCII drawing below (doesn't look right on the red-skinned villains board, go blue to see it line up right).
- Heroes: Montague Castanella (level 10 – 50) inside the Steel Canyon University. Arc: Lost and Found. Makes you a member of the Midnighters and grants access to the Midnighter Club.
- Villains: Ashley McKnight (level 30-50) in Cap standing outside a university building. Arc: Midnight's Hand. Makes you a member of the Midnighters and grants you access to the Midnighter Club.
- Ashley and Percy Winkley (heroes) offer an additional short arc Origins of Power which is more of a story driven background arc. (30+)
- Villains: Darrin Wade (level 20-29) in Sharkshead. Arc: The Midnight Hour. A nicely villainous arc. And when you do Darrin's arc, you'll realize why villains don't get access to the club until level 30, and that is because Darrin's arc wouldn't make sense if you were already a member.
- A clue-hunt in the Midnighter Club that grants a badge (like the history plaques, only 'hidden').
- Access to Cimerora
Cimerora
- The Zone: (35+ to enter): Whether it's a colony of Rome or its City of Heroes/Villains alternate reality version of Rome, just think, 'Rome.' This co-op zone is small (Atlas Park small), but it has two unique mini-zones attached to it that become accessible in the Task/Strike Force found in Cimerora. New tile sets and unique maps! In some ways, Cimerora is like the Shard in that it exists for the TF and not for a series of regular contact arcs.
- Senator: An intro to the isle arc with background information from the Senator.
- Marcus: An eternal mission generator, Marcus (35+) is just like Borea in RWZ (all timed missions).
- Imperius: A Task/Strike force (35+) from Imperius that rocks! (No need to unlock the Force, just unlock the Midnighter Club to get to Cimerora.)
The Hollows: New and Refurbished.
Added to the Hollows is an eternal mission generator contact named Meg (level5-15).
And to make content there that was often avoided because level 5 toons sprinting across a hazard zone that's up to 10 levels higher than them was a bad idea to begin with, the zone was revamped. Spawn sizes and levels were reduced. The 'doors' to missions were moved to be in the neighbourhood of the contact(and not the other side of the zone). A hospital, 'stores' at both gates, and a trainer were also added. (Everything a normal city zone has except a difficulty level adjuster and a base portal.) The zone is still restricted to level 5 and up to enter.
If you miss the hazards of the old Hollows Hazard Zone, don't worry, you can still find spawn sizes of 7-9 foes that go all the way up to level 15. And the Tunnels of the Trolls is still a packed level 12 Hazard Zone. (And Perez Park is still a densely packed Hazard Zone of the same level as the Hollows.)
VEATs
There will be lots of VEAT (Villain Epic Archetype) threads popping up, let me hit the highlights:
On the forums, the two VEATs are called collectively 'Soldiers of Arachnos. 'One AT is the Arachnos Widow which incorporates three power sets for the Blood Widow, Night Widow, and Fortunata. The other AT is called Arachnos Soldier (and not Arachnos *Spider* for some strange reason). The Soldiers incorporate three power sets for the Soldier (Wolf Spider), Crab Spider, and Bane Spider. Note the confusing terminology of 'Soldiers of Arachnos' for both of the VEATs and 'Arachnos Soldier' as the AT name of one of the VEATs.
You need a level 50 villain to unlock the VEATs. When you create a VEAT you will*not* go into the Tutorial (you have a level 50 villain, what do you need a tutorial for?). But don't worry; you can flashback in Tesseract's arc to pick up the Breakout exploration badge.
You will have a new first level contact other than Kalinda or Burke and then you will discover what your Epic Archetype is all about. Remember: 'Epic' is meant in the sense of a long narrative (i.e., story), not the in the sense of' gigantic' or 'overpowering.' From level 1 – 50, you will have a special series of contacts and arcs that tell your story as a Soldier of Arachnos… and it is*not* what everyone supposed it would be.
One thing you should know now about the VEATs is that at level 24 you're given the opportunity to branch out or remain the same 'type' of Widow or Spider. Wolf Spiders ('Soldiers') can choose either to become Crab Spider or Bane Spiders. Once you pick a power from the Crab or the Bane track, you're locked out of the other track. However, you always have access to most of your base Wolf (Soldier) powers. Or you can chose neither track and just remain a Wolf(with lots of power pools). And the same scenario holds for Blood Widows as they get to choose either the Night Widow or Fortunata track.
Be warned, at level 24 you will be *forced* into a power respecification which allows the reconfiguration of your powers into the new track (even if you don't want either new track, you still have to go through the respec).
