The City of Heroes team has unleashed three new screenshots full of action-packed combat so you can picture what it will be like for your hero to charge into battle.
You can check out what the ice slide ability looks like, view an example of melee combat and watch as Foxbat gets a surprise.
The screenshots are available in our updated City of Heroes gallery, or you can find them on the game's official Web site. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
City of Heroes will be celebrating its 5-year anniversary on Tuesday, April 28, and the team behind the game has a ton of events planned for the next month so players can enjoy the momentous occasion. The fun starts at 11 a.m. EDT on April 28 will an in-game event. While the team isn't giving away any secrets, they did say "all CHAOS is going to break loose" and you can expect to earn merits, badges and XP. The event will end at midnight.
Lead Designer Positron will be giving a global anniversary address on April 28 at 8 p.m. EDT in-game, which will also appear afterward on the official Web site. The only way to find out what information he plans on sharing is to listen to the address!
From April 28 until May 3, you'll be able to use your expired account to access the live server and join in on the fun. Also, any character who logs in from April 29 to May 31 will receive a 5-Year Anniversary Badge. And lastly, there will be a T-shirt logo contest and a video-making contest for you creative players out there. So make sure to log in on April 28 to celebrate 5 years with a bang!
Matt "Positron" Miller has written a response to the City of Heroes community following the recent launch of Issue 14. The letter is full of numbers that put this update into perspective in the scheme of the game's lifespan. For example, Miller said players created 360 Mission Arcs in the first 60 minutes after the update went live. In 24 hours, there were 3,800 arcs created. This surpasses the amount of content the developers have created in the past 5 years.
More than 20,000 published arcs are now playable one week after launch; 2,860 earned a 5-star rating from players and 580 received 1 star. Also, according to Miller, 70 percent of the published arcs use Custom Enemy groups, which are unique enemies created by players. He said this has sparked new life in the game.
Overall, Miller said Issue 14 has surpassed the team's expectations and thanked the players for their support. You can read the full letter below.
The developers of City of Heroes have changed their name from NCsoft NorCal to Paragon Studios. The developer seems to have been named after Paragon City, the fictional setting of City of Heroes. Brian Clayton, Paragon Studios' General Manager said that "The renaming of our studio to Paragon Studios represents our devotion to the present and future of the City of Heroes series".
The studio now employs over 50 staff, up from just 20 when it was formed in 2007.
City of Heroes claims to be the first MMORPG to offer user-created content, but is this really the case? Golemizer, a free, browser-based MMORPG has offered user-created content since October of last year - months before City of Heroes' "Architect " update. City of Heroes may be the first major MMO to offer user-created content, but Golemizer seems to have got there first.
As always, we'd like to share with you our ZAM features and noteworthy news stories of the week in case you missed any of them. All of the links can be found below and after the jump, including a story on PETA's decision to protest the slaughter of seals through a World of Warcraft event that generated a lot of discussion in our forums.
ZAM Features
A History of Competitive WoW: Part I: Editor Christopher "Pwyff" Tom begins to delve into the history of World of Warcraft as an eSport. Find out when and how PvP became a sponsored event that made players take notice.
League of Legends Interview: Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle sits down with Tom Cadwell, the director of systems design for League of Legends, to discuss the game, which is modeled around a Warcraft III mod.
Killer N.I.C. - Worth the Price?: We spoke with Harlan Beverly, co-founder of Bigfoot Networks, about the next generation of Killer cards. You can even watch a World of Warcraft jump delay demonstration video to see exactly how Killer can affect your machine.
Exploring Ether Saga Online: We interview Product Manager Craig Beers to find out what's going on with the upcoming Ether Saga Online MMO. The game is currently in open beta.
The lastest booster pack for City of Heroes, "Super Booster II: Magic", will launch on 14th April. The pack will be available for $9.99 through the PlayNC Store, as well as being provided free to anyone with the "Architect Edition" of City of Heroes. The booster includes new costume pieces, costume change emotes and the "Mystic Fortune" power, which grants characters a random buff - or debuff - for a period of 20 minutes.
More details on Super Booster II can be found on the official City of Heroes forums.
Just as we expected, Issue 14 is going live today in City of Heroes, which will give players access to the extensive Mission Architect system. According to the server status page, the status of most servers is currently unknown. Keep checking the page to see when your server is available, or just try logging in and prepare to create your own missions and story arcs.
While you wait, you can find out more about Issue 14 here on the game's official Web site, or read our preview of the Architect system.
Here's our regular list of ZAM features and noteworthy news articles for the week. Keep reading below and after the jump for links to all the stories you may have missed.
ZAM features
Our Top 5 MMO Complaints: Y'know what really grinds Christopher "Pywff" Tom's gears? Keep reading to find out. Here's a hint: he's not a fan of slaying rats.
Warhammer Online: On Trial: Sam "azerian" Maxted gave the Warhammer online free trial a try to see what impression it could give to people thinking about buying the game.
Introducing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Online: This may have been our April Fools joke, but we still love the thought of running through the sewers in a TMNT MMO.
UI Policy Change? We're Calling a Lawyer!: We sat down with lawyer Connie Mableson to discuss Blizzard's decision to formalize the design and distribution guidelines for add-ons in World of Warcraft.
A post on the European City of Heroes forums seems to point to an 8th April release date for Issue 14: Architect:
Issue 14 is just around the corner, and with many powers changing in this Issue we will be granting (1) free respec per character on the day that Issue 14: Architect is launched.
This notification is to give you at least 7 days notice that a respec is coming!
As City of Heroes is normally patched on a Wednesday (and the mention of "7 days" is pretty specific), 8th April looks to be the most likely release date for the game's latest update.
