TheOcho (formerly Moderator8) madeĀ an announcement as to what the 63 and 66 month veteran badges and powers will be.
63 Months: Honorable
In addition to the Honorable Badge, each character can claim a power that, when activated, will completely remove any map of Fog of War.
66 Months: Enduring
As well as the Enduring Badge, each character will obtain the following:
I have so much catching up to do. This upcoming issue has me very excited. The first itiration of Power Customization is bringing us the ability to change the colors of our powers, individually, as in every power in a set can be independently colored. Super Strength and Martial Arts have little of this, so they’re getting alternate animations. Some kind of “theme” can be applied to powers. Powerset Proliferation is going in, in a HUGE way. The Character Creator is being updated, and the ability to really fine-tune mission difficulty settings is being added. You can specify how large your “party” is, even if soloing. š
The official announcement can be found here.
Earth Assault for Dominators is apparently a new set, initially developed as a test by Sunstorm, when he joined the development team. Back Alley Brawler said that Poison, Pain Domination and Ninjitsu are supposed to be on the list. He’s looking at Devices and Traps but they may not be done is time for I16’s launch. Demon Summoning may or may not have a customizable Hellfire Whip (now all we need are chains). Martial Arts is getting a bunch of punches (yay) and Spines and Thorns are each going to be able to use each other’s animations, which will be tintable, as well as another set of new animations.
Some background information on the Going Rogue expansion was recently released. This is lore, not game info. Biographies forĀ Maelstrom and Desdemona, two of the featured side-switching characters being introduced with the expansion are available. A biography page for Tyrant is set to follow “soon”.
From the official website. This was released on July 13, 2009.
You knew it was coming…and now it’s officially here. Cater to your inner mad scientist by purchasing the Super Booster III: Superscience pack–now available for purchase at the NCsoft store for $9.99!
You don’t have to be a chemistry or biology enthusiast to love it! Get your hands on new science themed costume pieces, emotes, and costume change emotes.
But there’s more! The Super Tailor is a new Tailor NPC called the Cosmetic Surgeon, located near existing Tailors and enabled through purchase of Super Booster III: Superscience. The Cosmetic Surgeon can modify your character’s height, build, body type, and even gender in each of your costume slots. Transform from a 98-pound weakling into a huge beast! Experience spontaneous gender reversal! These amazing things are possible with–science!
Go here to purchase Super Booster III: Superscience and get your mad scientist groove on!
From the official website:
Just can’t stop designing Mission Architect game play masterpieces? Well now you can increase your repertoire! Additional Mission Architect story slots are available for purchase (1, 2 or 5 them for $5.99, $9.99, and $19.99 respectively) up to a maximum of eight slots per game account.
Note: Existing rules applicable to inherent story slots also apply to purchased story slots. Having one of your published stories awarded with Dev’s Choice will free up one of your slots but getting one of your published stories suspended will result in that particular slot being unavailable for the duration of the suspension.
What are you waiting for? Put those creative juices to work! Login to the character select screen and click on the “Enter Store” to buy additional story slots and then share your new design creations with your City of HeroesĀ® brethren!
DuringĀ my absence from the game, Issue 15: Anniversary, was released. Details can be found here:
Mission Architect Updates included with Issue 15
I’ve only just run a few MA missions, and I do like the new search options, and the ability to choose up to 3 descriptors for missions (from predefined lists). Missions can also be filtered for “your level” and text at the bottom of arc descriptions alert players if difficult options/situations are included in the arc, like mobs set to extreme, arch villains, elite bosses, and the like. Another nice option is searching with the mission’s completion status in mind. Arcs can be marked as finished, looking for feedback, and with other attributes which I can’t remember, to let players know their status. This way, you can be aware if you’re running a work-in-progress, or the final product.
Its been a while since I’ve had time to update this site. Issue 15 is live. Issue 16 has been announced, and the Going Rogue expansion has been announced as well. I’ve only been able to play a bare handful of times in the past few weeks, because of work on the house, but that should get better by next week. I just played “The Liquefactionist Manifesto” on a new villain (Plant/Thorns Dom) and loved it. Its the first mission I’ve ever given 5 stars too. I’ll play it over again and do a little write up for posterity as soon as I can.
I should have posted this a week ago, but I’ve been busy. The garage is basically done and theĀ basement is next. Anyhow, here are the Mission Architect-related updates from the Open Beta for I15. TheĀ list of updates for the entire issue can be found here.
Mission Architect Updates
Architect Toolbox
Mission Architect
Mission Architect Custom Critters
Badges
Mission Architect Badges
The Mission Architect badge experience has gone under a revamp. All series of badges that previously required an objective to be completed a number of times (Click on X objectives, Defeat X enemies, Play X Missions, etc.) have been reduced to a single badge that only requires these objectives to be completed once.
The following Mission Architect badges remain:
The Mission Engineer Accolade now requires the following badges:
My Rating: 3 stars
I wasn’t engrossed by this mission at all, but the author definately put more effort into it than a lot of other missions that I’ve run. He included a custom mob faction, which I don’t see the need for, considering that they didn’t do anything really different from the Family or the Mooks. There have been a few mob-themed missions lately, now that I think of it. Much of the 3 stars which I awarded this mission is due to effort.
The story is this, a wiseguy named Stinky Carbone needs you to kill another mobster named Johny Rachinelli, who has put a hit out on him. Johny did this because Stinky put some dirt out on him to the fuzz to get himself out of a situation at a go-go bar. Anyway, he has you go in, off Johny’s goons and blow the place up. He also asks that you personally off Johny, because he has a tendency to survive anything.
Along the way, you learn that Stinky is also either something of a neurosurgeon or has mental powers, because he somehow lobotomized Johny’s brother Nicoli, who can join you in the mission. In his words, “I severed the lower part of his brainstem from the occipital lobe and… what?Ā A guy can’t have hobbies?” Actually, I liked that. š
The custom mobs (heh) were nicely designed. I liked the costumes, overall. There was dialogue, especially from Johny, but I don’t think it was very witty. Still, effort was definately made,Ā which I appreciate.
Here’s the end scene from the mission:
[NPC] Johny Rachinelli: Alright ya mooks, time to beat up some old ladies and blow up some candy stores!
[NPC] Johny Rachinelli: Say hello to my little friend!
[NPC] Johny Rachinelli: That kinda hurts! You ever considered boxing professionally?
[NPC] Johny Rachinelli: Look, Let me make you an offer you hopefully cannot refuse!
[NPC] Johny Rachinelli: Drop him in the river boys.
He got me once,Ā while I was trying to take screenshots.
[NPC] Johny Rachinelli: Mr Stabby will have his vengence!
You have defeated Johny Rachinelli
[NPC] Johny Rachinelli: You were supposed to wait till mamma dies!
My Rating: 2 stars
There is a plot of sorts here. Nosferatu wants you to break into a school in which students are being engineered into mutant weapons of some sort and then capture them for his use, before they grow up and become heroes. He also wants their teachers eliminated.
A custom faction is in use in this mission. It consists of a male and female student, and a male and female teacher. There was a little descriptive text in their biographies, but it wasn’t very evocative. There was some dialogue from the teachers, but it was also very pedestrian. Overall, I didn’t care for this mission at all.
Oh, and Nosferatu speaks like Cobra Commander’s idiot cousin.
Architect Review Board 