CoH Issue 13: Architect announced

Zloth

Zloth

I smell a... wumpus!?
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NCNC announced it's next free expansion today. There's also a post on the official boards giving more detail. Big headliners:

  • Custom Missions: player made missions with rewards for making highly rated missions. Sounds like they are trying very hard to have some sort of reward for running the missions without making them exploitable.
  • Day Jobs: where you log out determines what your character does while you aren't playing. If you don't want your character doing such mundane stuff, you can just leave your character to patrol (heroes) or do random crimes (villains).
  • Tokens: kinda unclear but it sounds like we'll be getting tokens as a reward for the more epic tasks in the game. The tokens can then be exchanged for specific rewards instead of the current random recipe.
  • Two new powersets: Shields and Pain Domination. The latter will be used by villains to heal.
Also mentioned - some zones getting spruced up, new invention set enhancements, new missions in the ancient Rome zone (Cimerora - introduced in I12), more costumes, and the ability for villains to change patrons. Not on the list but mentioned often in other posts are additions to the Base functionality.

The official post also mentioned new "booster packs." Pay $10 and get even more costume options (because, for some folks, CoH's massive customization still isn't enough).
 
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We got some more info regarding the tokens. They accomplish two things in the game. First, the reduce the randomness we get from the random recipe option for certain game tasks. Second, they give the developers a way to scale the reward for the tasks. A quick and relatively easy task like the Croatoa's will give fewer tokens than a long, punishing task force out in the Storm Palace zone.
 
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NCNC has released a new booster pack for City of Heroes/Villains.
 
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The booster pack is alright. It let me make a Crab Spider's secondary costume extra shiny, which was fun, but I find the pieces don't go particularly well with non-booster pack pieces.

Self destruction is amusing, though, even if horribly buggy at the moment. All in all probably not worth the 10 dollars... 5 would have been more reasonable.
 
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There have been a lot - plus updates between the issues. I've been keeping track of them on a web page.
 
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D'oh! Make that "Issue 14: Architect." The mission customization has been pushed out to I14. Everything else about I13 is still there, though, and we have more details about it.

Issue 13 Info
Issue 14 Info
Full post from Positron

That multi-builds thing sounds pretty neat. Has any other MMO let you have 2+ different character builds before?

Edit: And now it's raining interviews! Massively's interview on super booster packs, on Issue 13 features, and on PvP changes. MMORPG has an interview as well.

Regarding the new "leveling pact" feature that locks two characters together so they always have equal xp, Pohsyb has posted that the design actually allows for multiple people to enter a pact but they are only going to have 2 player pacts at first.
 
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The only thing I'm hoping is that you can level pact two of your own characters.

But that's about all that's interested me about 13/14 so far. Sigh. Still, there's some big things coming in those issues and worth the subscription fee ... even if I have little interest in the mission architect I'm sure I'll try a few user created stories.
 
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I'm thinking both characters will have to be online at the same time to start the pact, but you never know.

The multi-build feature sounds pretty fun to me. Set one build up for solo and small team work, set another one up for large teams. My tank is centered on strong defence and taunt to the point that he can barely hurt anything. Now I can make a second build that's lighter on defense and stronger on offense for solo work.
 
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Is CoH any good for PVE or is it all PvP.

Plus do you do any skills like crafting in it?

I'm playing War at the moment but CoH keeps popping up so Im curious, has anyone played the two, how's it compare?

oops please ignore as I've just seen the above thread about the state of the game. Looks like it may not be what I look for in an MMO. Oh well
 
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I13s in open beta right now. The PVP system, which I always found horrible, got reworked into something... still horrible. Oh well.

The new Shield set isn't very good, but it's very, very pretty. Pain Domination's ok.

All in all, the changes I like most are to some of the powers and the multi-build thing. Not a great issue, per se, but it doesn't have me scrambling for the unsubscribe button (would take a lot, really: I plan on being there when the servers go dark).
 
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I liked the game a lot, I specially liked that infamous issue 7, as I always thought heroes were just severely overpowered. I enjoyed the game a lot but then I didn't like the direction it was taking (PvP, crafting, etc) so I left shortly after they introduced the base stuff.
I'm dismayed by the potential sequels (DC online and Champions online) as they seem to be pure twitch combat for the console gamers. I was very sad to learn that.
 
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Errr, base stuff was introduced in issue 6. It came out with City of Villains and the physics engine.

The crafting is totally different than other MMO. Actually, it's more like crafting in Fallout 3, except that you have all blueprints to start with. It's just a matter of finding/buying the right salvage then you can put it together to get your enhancement. Salvage is spread around evenly, too, so you don't have to go to a certain zone or fight a certain enemy to get a piece of salvage.

DC Online and Champions Online are NOT sequels! CO is being made by Cryptic but Cryptic doesn't own City of Heroes now. The games have super heroes in them. The games are MMOs. And that's pretty much the end of the similarities.
 
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Zloth said:
Errr, base stuff was introduced in issue 6. It came out with City of Villains and the physics engine.
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Oh, my aging memory! Then which was the infamous issue when they restricted the 6 slotted powers? That's the one I loved. While most people were crying foul and screaming, the game just turned 10 times more fun for me.
The crafting is totally different than other MMO. Actually, it's more like crafting in Fallout 3, except that you have all blueprints to start with. It's just a matter of finding/buying the right salvage then you can put it together to get your enhancement. Salvage is spread around evenly, too, so you don't have to go to a certain zone or fight a certain enemy to get a piece of salvage.
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No, don't get me wrong, I love crafting, but I just didn't like it being in CoH. If the game was designed differently then yes, if there was a type of heroes that dealt with gadgets I could see some sort of crafting for them, but not in the general game. It alienated what I loved about the game, that heroes were powerful beings without the need of any loot (and in fact, I would have preferred the game is influence was untransferrable)
DC Online and Champions Online are NOT sequels! CO is being made by Cryptic but Cryptic doesn't own City of Heroes now. The games have super heroes in them. The games are MMOs. And that's pretty much the end of the similarities.
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Well, there are almost no real sequels for MMOs (most just add stuff in expansions with lewt for people to keep playing). What I meant was the games I could play instead of CoH in the future are not like it at all. I was hoping I could repeat the great experiences I had there, but sadly, that won't be the case.
 
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Well I've been playing CoH for the last couple weeks its a fun game, however there are some major holes in the system it uses. But its fun and thats what matters.
 
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rune_74 said:
Well I've been playing CoH for the last couple weeks its a fun game, however there are some major holes in the system it uses. But its fun and thats what matters.
Click to expand...

Can you still find groups to play nowadays? All the fun I had was when I was in groups, the bigger the better. When I decided to leave was when it took me forever to find a group. I would connect and advertise for a group, do some solo missions while I found a group, but it was becoming harder and harder to do so. To me, playing CoH soloing was nothing at all compared to fighting in groups.
 
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I'm in a supergroup that is full to the max and they are always advertising groups....so I guess its still easy.
 
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Ah, Enhancement Diversification. That was also Issue 6, and was needed badly. The game was getting silly back before that. A tank character could easily gather up 3 or 4 spawns meant for 8 characters and stand up to them. If the group had some good healing, the tank could stand up against dozens of spawns. It was nuts.

Something is happening with PvP in Issue 13. I haven't looked into it a lot myself but it has the PvP players howling in the streets. More than usual, I mean. Several are threatening to leave.

If you're interested in refreshing your memory, I've been keeping track of the updates on a web page along with a boatload of screenshots. (No way would I have remembered exactly what came out when without it. ;))

Finding groups doesn't seem too hard. Use the team finder feature and don't be afraid to start your own group. You can ask on the broadcast channel, too. Once you find some folks you like playing with, see if you can get in their supergroup.
 
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Issue 13: Power and Responsibility is live!

Overview
Full release notes

The servers had to be taken down for about 45 minutes because of some client-side crashing (wasn't causing me any problems shrug) but they seem to be coming back up now. Time to go fiddle with the SG base more. A lot more. ;)
 
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Holy press storm - quite a few articles on Issue 14.
 
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