city-of-heroes posts

Developer Paragon Studios and publisher NCsoft still plan to release Going Rogue, the commercial expansion pack for its super hero MMO City of Heroes, in mid-August. But players of the game will still be getting free content updates. This week the game's official web site revealed plans for the latest such update: Issue 18 - Shades of Gray.

In addition to adding a major new "trial" for City of Heroes players to fight through called Cathedral of Pain (sounds kinky) Shades of Gray will add a number of new features like a tips system that lets enemies drop notes or clues that are the start of a new mission. The game's auction house will be open to all players (good or bad) and more additions are planned. There's no word yet on when Shades of Gray will be released but it should be at or near the time Going Rogue is released.

With City of Heroes: Going Rogue, players will be able to choose a path for their characters. By making moral decisions during certain missions, heroes can turn into vigilantes and eventually full blown villains. On the flip side, villains can start doing good deeds to become rogues, and eventually become fully redeemed to become heroes. This video documentary also gives a first look at the Praetorian faction. All Praetorian characters start with a neutral alignment and steadily become either heroic or villainous. Players will have a chance to choose sides when the expansion releases in August.

Download HD City of Heroes: Going Rogue Video Documentary #2 (480 MB)
Check out all Going Rogue downloads

Even though City of Heroes is about to release a new expansion pack in August, the super hero MMO is still giving its players a chance to purchase some new content for their characters. Today publisher NCsoft announced that City of Heroes player can now access the new Mutant set of powers and costume sets for the game for a one time purchase of $9.99.

That price gives players access to the organic armor and bioluminescence costume sets that also include "tintable costume pieces" that give the player a way to give some costume pieces a unique color glow. There are also some new costume change emotes and new secondary mutant powers like Acute Senses, Tough Hide, Pain Tolerance, Quick Reflexes and Heightened Speed.

Publisher NCsoft has set over word that their commercial expansion pack to its super hero MMO City of Heroes has had its release date pushed back a few weeks. Originally set for release sometime in July, the expansion, Going Rogue, will now be coming out on August 17. The expansion will also be included in the new retail box release City of Heroes Going Rogue Complete Collection. The new box set will contain the original game, City of Villains, and Going Rogue along with all of the previously released free expansions for $39.99.

People who pre-order the collection at GameStop will get access to five new in-game character enhancements along with an exclusive skin that can be applied to the Razer Sphex mousing surface (which you can see above this post). The collection also comes with a $5 coupon for any Razer product.

NCsoft also has plans to promote Going Rogue at the San Diego Comic-Con in July. If you are attending the sold out event you can check out a panel with the Paragon Studios team, get special giveaways at the NCsoft booth and attend the Going Rogue Preview Event at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego on July 23,

First there was the City of Heroes. Then came the City of Villains. There wasn't much confusion about this set up. One was all good and the other was all evil. Yet the super hero MMO titles from developer Paragon Studios (taking over from the game's original creators Cryptic Studios) have continued to expand, thanks to free content updates and more recently the launch of the player-based Mission Architect.

Now the studio and publisher NCsoft are close to releasing City of Heroes: Going Rogue. This new commercial expansion puts in some shades of gray in our heroes and villains as we explore a new parallel universe. Big Download got the game's lead designer Melissa Bianco to answer our questions about Going Rogue which is due out this July.

In City of Heroes and City of Villains, players have the chance to create custom superheroes (or villains) and battle it out in Liberty City for the fate of the world. The newest expansion, Going Rogue, is expected to release next month and it will take the game to a whole new level by allowing villainous characters redeem themselves to become heroes or vice versa. Characters can also make a complete circle in their progression, as is often done in comic books. Players will have a chance to go rogue when the game releases on July 20th.

Download City of Heroes: Going Rogue Developer Video, Part 1 (44 MB)
Check out all City of Heroes: Going Rogue downloads

City of Heroes celebrates its sixth year of giving players a chance to put on tights and battle villains (or fight as villains) with its newest update, Issue 17: Dark Mirror. The update includes Ultra Mode, which gives the game a full graphical revamp for high performance systems. Other improvements include additional features to the Architect system and a chance for characters to battle their dopplegangers.

Download HD City of Heroes Issue 17 Launch Trailer (90 MB)
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Next week, developer Paragon Studios and publisher NCsoft celebrate the sixth anniversary of the launch of their super hero MMO City of Heroes. The actual anniversary date is on Wednesday, April 28. That's also the day when the developer releases their latest free content update, Issue 17: Dark Mirror. As we have reported before this new update adds the Ultra Mode graphics upgrade to the game along with new missions and other new additions.

The game's web site has info on all the other sixth anniversary events. They include some special in-game events, a free respec and costume toke and more. And of course there is the upcoming Going Rogue expansion pack that's due out in July.

Yes, we know it's pretty late in the day but if you still have a few more hours to take at vantage of a new one-day only sale at Amazon.com today. The retail web site has cut the prices of two of NCsoft's games, Guild Wars and City of Heroes. You can choose to get the Guild Wars: Game Of the Year Edition for just $9.98 or the Guild Wars Trilogy edition (with Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, and Guild Wars Nightfall) for a mere $27.98.

You can also get City of Heroes: Architect Edition from Amazon.com for just $9.98 today. With the super hero MMO's Going Rogue expansion pack due out later this summer this is the perfect time to jump into this long running title.

[Via Massively]

We are a bit surprised that it took NCsoft this long to do this but it apparently happened just a few days ago. The publisher has just registered its trademark for the title City of Heroes 2, indicating the publisher at least wants to keep its options open on making a full fledged sequel to their long running super hero MMO.

Of course, the game's current developer Paragon Studios has a lot of stuff on its plate already. The internal studio took over from City of Heroes' original dev team Cryptic Studios some time ago and are developing the game's second commercial expansion pack, City of Heroes Going Rogue, for release sometime later in 2010.

[Via superannuation]