City of Heroes: A Shadow of the Past now available

NCsoft and Cryptic Studios have released the second expansion pack for their insanely addictive, MMORPG City of Heroes. Titled, A Shadow of the Past, this latest update brings capes to the scene, but only available to players that have reached level 20 and above. You'll also have a chance to adjust your powers (Level 24) in a special mission, and add other effects like auras (Level 30) to your character's appearance. Besides the fashion trends, the gameplay will see some additions too, as all players will participate in fending off the Shadow Shard invasion (effective immediately). Also, a new hazard zone, the Hollows, has been specifically created for levels 5 to 15 featuring several new threats, the Magmites and Pumicites. On top of this, a whole slew of new trial missions have been scattered about, and a lot of the interface has been updated, including the sidekick system. Finally, a new chat system was created to provide communication across servers and to allow custom chat channels. In our humble opinion, this is one heck of an expansion!