City of Heroes going back in time

by Justin McElroy { Oct 3rd 2007 at 3:58PM }

NCsoft has pulled the glasses off of its next update and revealed its secret identity. Issue 11, "A Stitch in Time," will allow players to travel into the past of the City of Heroes universe and relive (or live for the first time) some of the major events that helped to shape Paragon City.

Of course, there will also be the requisite new power sets ("Dual blades" is obvious, but we're curious about "Willpower") and enhanced customization of weapons to match the depth of the costume creation system in the game. It all sounds cool, but we're curious: Are any of you still playing CoH?

[Via TVG]

Tags: cityofheroes, ncsoft, updates

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

jaybird1905 @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:06PM

Yea, right.

GamerCrusader @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:07PM

CoH and CoV subscription at 180 something every year.. Dont think I will cancel it, even though I don't play it all that much anymore.

Gavin @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:51PM

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I logged in the other day for just a bit but it is time for another update to get me back in again. When I do log in there are people playing still.

Dio @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:45PM

Whoa, not even.
1 month - $14.99* after included bonus time period
3 months - $41.85* (the equivalent of $13.95 per month) after included bonus time period
6 months - $77.70* (the equivalent of $12.95 per month) after included bonus time period
12 months - $143.40* (the equivalent of $11.95 per month) after included bonus time period

(Example: If you purchase the 3 month plan your credit card will be billed for $41.85 in one payment. The $13.95 simply shows the average monthly rate and is not the amount you will be billed.)

Michael C. Sherrin @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:10PM

I'm really happy to see City of Heroes still chugging along. New updates, powers, and this time travel could be interesting if played out the right way. And it's not a World of Warcraft clone which is a nice bonus.

******

Michael C. Sherrin
http://www.prodigeek.com/

Powerlord @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:19PM

The irony is... this update copies the idea behind WoW's Caverns of Time dungeon(s).

sambo @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:12PM

too little to late, this game got really boring a long time ago.

l0tus @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:14PM

I still play pretty regularly, and never have problems finding teams. If you actually played the game, you'd know there were still a ton of people interested in the CoX universe, and wouldn't feel the need to end the article with such an inane question.

Werbal @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:26PM

People complain about WoW being repetitive, this game is mind-numbing in its repetition.

Every quest is ENTER BUILDING/CAVE/SEWERS and BEAT UP X NUMBER OF BADGUYS or FIND OBJECT X. I plowed through to level 20 to get my cape and then realized there was no compelling reason to keep playing.

The create-a-character feature is fantastic, however, and still the most varied of the MMORPGS. Too bad people seem to only use it to make Anime Catgirls or SUPER-ULTRA-MEGA DARK AND MYSTERIOUS CHARACTERS.

jaybird1905 @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:27PM

If it's not WoW or THE HALLOW THREE then Joystiq doesn't consider it a popular game.

Fullmetal Salchemist @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:35PM

City of Heroes? Is that the Freedom Force MMORPG?

Lemmo @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:49PM

Does anyone still play City of Heroes. Psh. This is why gaming sites suck as news sites. Every post has to be a snarky op-ed.

Justin McElroy @ Oct 4th 2007 7:08AM

Lemmo,

I can see how you'd get that, and (most days) you'd be right. But I honestly wasn't trying to be snarky in this case. I honestly don't know many people that are still playing CoH and you don't hear a ton about it.

Unless we ask every once in a while if it's something you guys care about, it's hard for us to judge.

Love,

Justin

Lemmo @ Oct 4th 2007 9:58AM

The only reason I'd assume you're being sarcastic with such a comment is because if someone without a podium had the same question, they might go out onto the internet and investigate. The community for City of Heroes can be seen quite vividly on the cityofheroes.com forums, fan sites such as paragonwiki.com, badge-hunter.com or virtueverse.com, not to mention the more mainstream displays of fandom such as MySpace and LiveJournal.

But if you want personal examples, I just sold my XBox 360 because I spend my gaming time playing CoH with my fiancée and roommates instead. So that's where I'm at. Perhaps from my perspective, the question sounds a little more ludicrous.

Psyclerk @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:52PM

Yeah, it's not a WoW clone. It's not quite a tenth as fun as WoW. Going back in time to witness key events in the game universe? Where I have seen that before... (WoW's Caverns of Time, about eight months ago)

BananaBoat @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:55PM

City of Heroes is in the same boat as Star Wars Galaxies; Awesome premise that never quite lived up to it's potential. It's a shame really, because it truly was a good idea "Be a superhero!!" if only EVERYONE didn't get to be a superhero (and thus cheapen being a superhero) it would have been great. Oh well, maybe they will revisit the idea in the future.

Sean @ Oct 3rd 2007 4:57PM

I quite enjoyed CoH when I played it way back when.

CJC @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:03PM

Since no one else has mentioned it, I suppose I will.

That picture is fantastic. It got a pretty good laugh out of me, at least.

colin @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:18PM

you beat me to it ... arrghh

blooh (CDF - Ass Ring) @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:38PM

i liked CoV for about 5 months, then i added CoH and played em both for another 2 months. It was fun, but by the time you hit level 20 or so the grind became real noticable

now they have items and auction houses and stuff, bleh

I'm waiting for the next superhero MMO, maybe it'll be cel-shaded and just be set in the 50's to start with, that'd be great

best parts of CoH/V:
-character customization (and the 4 costume slots)
-travel powers

Dio @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:39PM

This update is also for City of Villains -_-

It looks great, too bad my subscription ran out a few days ago XD

Perhaps you should read this?
http://www.cityofheroes.com/game_update11.html

Willpower sounds awesome. When I get back on I'll probably create a Stalker, since I only played as a Corruptor recently.

Werbal @ Oct 3rd 2007 6:06PM

CoV was overall a bigger disappointment than CoH because it was EXACTLY the same. "Hey I can be a villain! Do I get to beat up civilians and police officers?" Nope. You fight other villains, just in a city that's more run down.

Honestly, CoV is just worth buying to get more costume pieces for CoH. Otherwise, it was a pretty big wasted opportunity.

Dio @ Oct 7th 2007 2:56AM

Actually, they added PvP zones and you could fight Heroes as well.

The archetypes are much better and players have overall better costume designs.

Gel @ Oct 3rd 2007 6:29PM

CoH/CoV is a great game. It has several features that should make it one of the MMORPG leaders in its class. User Scalable missions (Pick your difficulty), PvP Zones, PvP Missions, an involved and evolving storyline, the best character customisation bar none ever in a MMORPG, wide range of classes and powersets.

So why aren't I still playing it? The mission environments got monotonous. It was the same warehouse, same cave over and over again. Character progression was difficult, because unlike every other MMORPG out there CoH/CoV hides your character's stats from you. The recharge on a power is Long, Moderate, Short or things in-between. The damage is High, Good, Moderate, Extreme etc. Your resistance is 'Good'. When you are trying to pick powers and distribute hard earned Enhancements this gets annoying fast. There was a time when the majority of posts on the class forums were people trying to do the math themselves and figure out exactly what Moderate, High and Good meant, and we found out it meant different things for different powers. When I realised that I was spending more time reading message forums to find out what exactly my powers did, was when I switched to WoW and Guild Wars.

KiraXD @ Oct 3rd 2007 6:47PM

sooooo this basically rips off FFXI's new expansion "Wings of the Goddess" in terms of Time Travel eh?

Powerlord @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:29PM

As was pointed out by both myself and others... WoW has had this since the Burning Crusade came out with the Caverns of Time dungeons.

Granted, with WoW it wasn't an entire expansion, but it's the *exact* same idea.

For example, Old Hillsbrad Foothills is a back-in-time version of an existing zone.

Lemmo @ Oct 4th 2007 10:03AM

Well, City of Heroes has had alternate dimension mission travel since the introduction of Portal Corporation for the last two and a half years. So this concept isn't entirely new for the CoH community, either. I think it's a bigger deal that you can now scale down your level and do old missions without having to tag along with a lowbie.

KiraXD @ Oct 4th 2007 11:41AM

hmm if thats the case.. then i got nothin'....

lol oh well, FFXI is still my mmorpg of choice, graphically, stylistically, and rewardingly it trumps CoH, and wow

Colarmel @ Oct 3rd 2007 9:10PM

I play occasionally, but my console library expanded significantly when toys R Us sale met my birthday, so I've dropped it for now, this may be worth reupping though

hotnutz @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:22PM

I dropped out for about 2 years and signed back up a couple of months ago to find a lot of new features added. I love it for the quick action and the feeling of being a super hero who can fly in to wipe out a huge group of enemies with a giant nova blast.

I signed up for COV as well and that was well done. It's definitely not as deep as WoW in some aspects but I still enjoy it and I've long since dropped my WoW subscription (mainly because it was the easiest way to break the addiction ;)

Stitch Faced Angel @ Oct 4th 2007 12:10AM

I am still playing after all of this time. Any players on the Triumph server, look up Mad Machine sometime.

I am looking forward to this one, being that I have always wanted to see how this comic universe was shaped.

Ryuukuro @ Oct 4th 2007 12:48AM

I'm not the type to play a MMOs, I suppose. I find the concept a little to constricting since I have to play with other people, although I must say that I have lots of fun when I do play CoH. It just gets to be a little tedious for me--not to mention expensive.

But I still follow CoH news because I like the concept. I think someday they might structure the game better for someone like me who finds the powers and story concepts a little limiting. This new expansion is a small but steady step towards getting me interested in playing regularly instead of only during freebie periods.

jon @ Oct 4th 2007 6:29AM

Yep, still playing. I do get bored of it now and again and I'll have some time away from it, but the updates do add a fair bit of variation to it. MMORPGs aren't for everyone but this suits the casual gamer far better than WoW.

I think to really enjoy it you have to get involved in the community, join a SG and team often otherwise you will get bored of solo'ing very quickly.

Nim @ Oct 6th 2007 11:16AM

I play. So do other people.

Last count: 150 000 subscribers. Seems to be enough to form teams when you want, and make the auction house work.

RMT seem to be nicely squelched, due to moderator invovlment and a vigilant playerbase.

Played for 3 years now. Because it's fun.

The COX Shadow @ Oct 5th 2007 8:10AM

I've been playing COX for 2.5 yrs now. It might be repetitive, but WOW or any of the others out there are the same and more hassles to play.

As for the game itself, I feel this is the best update since COV came out, however think that they still need to do more for the COV side, as they clearly favor the heroes side of the game in their total content.

Current DownSides:
* Under-Utilized and Very Limited Base Design System and Features
* Unimpressive Vet Rewards
* COV side vs COH side content (zones/task forces)
Cathedral of Pain (Implemented then removed - no news on its return.)
* Once level 50 is reached, you only have the same content to go through again, just with a different character. Content and/or Rewards for reaching level 50 non-existant or weak. COH side gets 2 new AT's while COV side gets nada. Once all contacts missions are completed, there is really nothing to do but repeat the same things over or wait for next issue.
* Limited Stats: You have no control over the stats the conceptually base your character. (Which is true of all Real RPG Games - RPG: Paper n Pencil) Psuedo-RPG which is most MMORPG's, rely on the "concept of Role-Playing" over the control.
* Limited Power Conception: Energy Blast, Ice Blast, Fire Blast, Negative Blast (To Semi-Quote Champions RPG: An energy blast is an energy blast is an energy blast - its what you make that energy blast to be that changes it. The differences that players can make between the powers in the game are very limited and an undesired utilization, but its what players want.
* Origin Utilization: At one time your origin meant something if in a limited fashion (what enhancements you'd slot). With the advent of Inventions: Origin means almost nothing. One Vet power (after 3 years in game) has an effect. Nothing else in game does. A concept wasted in implementation.
* At one time the best in Community Representative Interactive Event opportunities. (CuppaJo being the main source of this) The current Community Representatives are good, but don't "Create" events in the same manner that CuppaJo did. They rely on Player created events to promote. Most of which are "Divisive" rather than enjoyed. "Tanker Tuesday" event is the closest to old style "Community" events.

Current Highlights:
* Just Introduced Weapon Customization (Bodes well for the player desired Power Customization)
* Flashback (Player Requested Feature finally put in)
* New Powersets (However, still not the new powerset for all AT's that was promised with a paid expansion.)
* Character Modification : One of the best character appearance systems. Doesn't require "loot" to change and best looks doesn't mean High Level. And every better power doesn't change your base appearance as happens with better armor or such in most fantasy games.
* The only Super-Hero Genre MMO (for now)
* A Good Development Team (when they choose to forthrightly interact with their player-base)

Dio @ Oct 7th 2007 2:58AM

I think it would have been cool to customize the shape, form and color of the attacks. I really wanted a pulse laser but Energy is as close as I can get other than Radiation lol

Nim @ Oct 6th 2007 11:22AM

As for CoH/CoV copying the idea of time travel from WoW, time travel has been in comic books since about at least the 1960's.

"Stitch in Time" will allow players to go back and experience content they've missed because they outlevelled it.

How does the Cavern of Time work?