Lighthouse_NA

Hello everyone,

Cricket and I will be hanging out with our hosts Ponitails and Glacial over at POJRadio on November 20th starting at 7 PM Eastern (4 PM Pacific). We'll be talking about all sorts of things from the game's community, to music, to game development and more!

The interview will be broadcast on Winamp, Media Player and Itunes formats. To listen in, just go to POJRadio and click on the appropriate player. Be sure to tune in early for the build up prior. See you there!

This thread is for discussion involving Issue 8's new Title Change Feature.

Please play before you post! Try out the new things in-game and see them for your self before posting. And, as always, please keep your posts constructive! Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

• Players may now change their title at levels 15, 25, 35, and 45. These title changes do not stack (if you do not use the one you get at level 25 when you reach level 35, you only have the level 35 change, and lose the level 25 one). At 50, players may change their title without restriction. Talk to any trainer to change your title in this manner.

This thread is for discussion involving changes in Issue 8 to Giant Monster Spawning frequency.

Please play before you post! Try out the new things in-game and see them for your self before posting. And, as always, please keep your posts constructive! Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

• The following Giant Monster Spawns have had their frequency increased:
o Kraken - Perez Park
o Babbage - Boomtown
o Jack in Irons (non-scripted, individual) - Croatoa
o Eochai (non-scripted, individual) - Croatoa
o Adamastor - Dark Astoria
o Jurassik - Crey's Folly

This thread is for discussion involving Issue 8 Police Band Missions.

Please play before you post! Try out the new things in-game and see them for your self before posting. And, as always, please keep your posts constructive! Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

Paragon Police Department contacts have been added to all City Zones except for Atlas Park and Galaxy City. They will be added to a Hero’s contact list as soon as they enter a zone. These contacts will direct characters to missions aiding the PPD in fighting crime in Paragon City.

• Once you talk to a PPD Contact, your contact list will have a "Police Band Tuner" added to the top of the list. Clicking this will bring up an assortment of crimes-in-progress.

• You will fight level-appropriate Villain Groups in random maps and random mission objectives. Once you have outlevelled a zone, however, you will no longer be able to get Police Band missions in that zone.

• In addition to normal missions, the PPD will give out Safeguard Missions. You get Safeguard missions after performing three to five Police Band missions.

This thread is for discussion involving Issue 8 changes to Pocket D.

Please play before you post! Try out the new things in-game and see them for your self before posting. And, as always, please keep your posts constructive! Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

• Arena Kiosks: These Kiosks will allow Heroes and Villains to fight against each other more easily if they want to settle personal issues.

• In front of the bars are two arena officials, an "Arena Information Operator", who will provide information on how to use the kiosks; and a "Games Information Operator", who will provide detailed information on each of the game types of the arena.

• Rikti Monkey Fight Club: Due to a combination of the Family cutting in to the RMFC profits in Sharkhead, and an offer from DJ Zero to expand their enterprise, Joe Young and Cornelius have moved their "entertainment concern" on up to the Pocket D. They have set up a new "Lounge" on the hero side of the club. “It’s a lot classier than the old place”, says Joe Young.

• It’s loud in Pocket D! Local chat in Pocket D will only be heard by players within 50ft of each other now.

This thread is for discussion involving Issue 8 Safeguard Missions

Please play before you post! Try out the new things in-game and see them for your self before posting. And, as always, please keep your posts constructive! Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

Safeguard missions allow the Hero player to enter a large outdoor mission map and defend the city from invading villains. The goal is to defeat the Villain behind the attack, preventing a bank robbery, but there are lots of other things going on, too. Safeguard missions are set up for single players and teams.

• Safeguard missions will issue a door in the zone the player is in when mission is accepted (i.e Kings Row Safeguard mission will lead the player to the Kings Row PPD truck door).
• When you enter the instance, the bank is immediately being robbed. Don’t delay in getting to the bank, or the crooks could get away with the cash, failing the mission.
• A 15 minute timer starts once the bank heist has been stopped and the mission is completed. At this point you can use the given time to secure the map, explore and fight for additional badges and rewards. This allows the players to end the mission quickly, or hunt for additional XP and rewards if they choose.
• There are several goals and multiple side missions that can be unlocked and played once the bank robbery has been thwarted. Completing any section of goals or each side mission rewards the players with a special bonus (such as extra XP, temp powers, or unique salvage) and will add some time back to the counter. The more they complete the longer they have to try and complete more goals, so the better they do the higher their rewards.

This is a good area to post any miscellaneous (minor) issues discovered under Issue 8. This isn't tailored for any particular new feature. If we have an official thread for your topic already (safeguard missions, etc.) please use the appropriate thread.

Please play before you post! Try out the new things in-game and see them for your self before posting. And, as always, please keep your posts constructive! Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

This thread is for discussion involving the changes to Faultline included in Issue 8.

Please play before you post! Try out the new things in-game and see them for your self before posting. Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

Faultline Reborn!

This thread is for discussion involving Issue 8 changes to the Dominator Archetype.

Please play before you post! Try out the new things and see them for your self in-game before posting. Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

· Dominators will now build Domination faster depending on the size of the Team they are grouped with. Each member of the team (aside from the Dominator himself) increases the speed of Domination gain by approximately 16%. Note that this bonus does NOT apply to the existing bonus Assault powers gain in PvP. The maximum bonus to Domination will happen in a full 8 person group.

· Base Domination gain increased by 50% (to 3 points per attack up from 2 points per attack.)

This thread is for discussion involving the changes to PlayNC.com's Account Management Page, where you can log in and view details of your account and what Veteran Rewards are available to you.

Please try out the new things and see them for your self before posting. Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

This thread is for discussion involving Issue 8 Travel Power Changes.

Please play before you post! Try out the new things and see them for your self in-game before posting. Thanks!

Issue 8 Patch Notes

· Increased the base flight speed of Hover by 10%.

· Added a slight delay to the usage of Team Teleport. This should alleviate the issue of Teammates randomly being left behind after a Teleport.

· Fixed some animation issues with the Jump Jet Pack power granted from the Good vs. Evil Edition.

This thread is for discussions involving new Issue 8 Costume Pieces or changes to existing costume pieces made in Issue 8.

Note: This is not the place for Veteran Reward costume pieces. For that, visit the Veteran Reward thread.

Please play before you post! Try out the new things and see them for your self in-game before posting simply about what the Patch Notes say.

Issue 8 Patch Notes

Tailor
• Characters can have tails and wear trenchcoats at the same time
• Several new costume pieces added
• New costume pieces are available at the Tailor and at Character Generation:
• Male/Huge/Female
(Head – Detail 1): Galactic Glasses, Government Glasses, Blast Goggles up
(Head – Ears): Floppy, Bunny, Cat, Rat, Teddy, Wildcat
• Female
(Upper Body - Chest - Tops with Skin): Angelic, Assassin, Excess, Savage, Tanker,
(Lower body - Legs - Bottoms with Skin): Angelic, Assassin, Excess, Savage
• Face masks revamped to prevent texture neck streaking.
• Face masks "Ghost" & "Neck Cover"
• A few female hair styles tweaked to fit better.
• "Ponytails Fat" added to female hair styles.
• Thin stripes 1 & 2 added.
• Excess patterns revamped.
• Assassin pattern added to gloves and boots.
• Players with only Hero access can now use the Elf Ear, Imp Ear, Fairy Ear, Demon Ear, and Vampire Ear costume selections.

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Long and the short of it, while there are some small PvP thingies getting some attention (like _Castle_ posting about Brute Fury in PvP a few days ago) there are not any big PvP issues on the nearer term feature lists.

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That is the best thing I've heard from a redname in a goodly amount of time. No offense to the PvPers, but imo the devs have already invested way too much time in what is at best a minority interest.

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QFT

-- War

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I'm offended. Suppose a red name wrote they won't be spending time on badges (minority group) or bases (another minority group)? We all have opinions on what we'd like the devs to spend time on, but I think it is absurdly rude to come into the PvP forum and essentially kick all the PvPers in the head when a red name has just told them that they don't matter.


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The intention of my post was not to dash all hopes of any change in PvP, but to help illustrate why those changes hadn't been a hot topic with design. I know that a lot of their time, when it isn't currently spent getting Issue 8 out the door, is working on some of the very broad and exciting stuff coming in issue 9 that will add a lot to the game over all (inventions + other goodies).

I do really like the suggestion about trying to re-use the old event where everyone got a level 40 on Training Room to come PvP with. That sounds like it might have some good broad appeal and make for a pretty darn fun weekend. Of course, I haven't investigated it with the dev team and it might not be possible, but still a good idea to follow up on. Besides, I'd like to play a few different Archetypes myself at lvl 40 with a hord of other folks to blast at or along side with. Let's try and focus the discussion on things we can do under the current systems?

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I realize that developer time is scarce and need to be prioritized. I also acknowledge that PvE matters will take precedence. But I do think there is an obvious inequity when a bugged badge or costume adjustment takes precedent over bugs that are, at least to a significant minority of the population, of high importance and extreme in their effect.
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I did want to comment on the issue of the relatively speedy change to costume issues versus server code issues like arena stability. Please keep in mind that the development folks who do the art are different people from the folks who do client/server code. So, while I don't want to diminish your point, I do want to point out that not doing the costume things wouldn't help speed up addressing arena issues.

I remember well all the newbies when City of Heroes first came out. I really loved that about the game. You could tell it was opening up the MMO genere to a whole slew of people who had never played one before.

I'd get into a pick up team and be, "Ok, hang here I'll pull the mobs to us." only to be met with "umm what's a mob?" or "you're pulling what??" or even "dude, stop pulling your finger" Tankers that scrapped, Defenders who played like Blasters, Scrappers who wanted to be Tanks, etc. etc. I made some great friends and while sometimes frustrating, that newbieness was a lot of times a refreshing change

I just wanted to chime in that if you take the time to stop and politely help someone understand the tactics more, or are open to people who want to tell you about their own tactics, a lot of times you can make a good addition to your friends list. In short, ya gotta lub da newbs!

Of course, some jerk who plays like a fool and gets everyone killed and won't listen to anyone is certainly a pain. I usually play a bit more conservatively with a new pick up group to test the waters before I open myself up for the rollercoaster ride to Debt City

I wanted to chime in to 1) show that someone reads your goodly threads 2) let you know that PvP issues are not completely forgotten 3) re-iterate that I do want to do some organized PvP stuffs (like organize a tourney with players, etc.) and lastly (ok here comes the bad stuff) 4) let you know a little about PvP from the dev side.

So, as you all know, City of Heroes was developed as a PvE game. As such, PvE changes affect everyone that plays CoH, unlike PvP which only comes to affect those who chose to engage in it. Long and the short of it, while there are some small PvP thingies getting some attention (like _Castle_ posting about Brute Fury in PvP a few days ago) there are not any big PvP issues on the nearer term feature lists.

However, we still really appreciate the great feedback (and when you guys aren't hazing each other ). Hopefully you can understand the reason and rational behind that.

On the tourney issue, I really want to set one up, but looking at the schedule I'm not sure where in the near term we can cram one in (darn holidays and some travel!). If any players are interested in helping to set one up (or setting it up and having me do a bit of promoting for it) please feel free to PM me on the forums or write me at Lighthouse@ncsoft.com

Dear City of Heroes and Villains Community:

As many of you may know, November 11th is observed by many countries as Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Poppy Day or Veterans Day. This day marks the anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I in 1918.

The current posting guidelines that govern conduct on these message forums prohibits the discussion of topics off the subject of City of Heroes and City of Villains. This is done to remove any subjectivity or bias in what we do or do not allow to be posted, especially when dealing with very controversial topics.

However, we understand well that many Heroes and even Villains have personas that include a patriotic background. Given that background, the holiday and the discussion about it do fit under the umbrella of subjects for these forums. We would ask that posters make use of our Comic and Hero/Villain Culture forum for this discussion.

As always, we ask that you keep the conversation polite, respectful and friendly. Thank you for visiting the forums and being part of the community. Have a wonderful holiday!

Respectfully yours,

Alex “Lighthouse” von Minden

We are pleased to announce that Veteran Rewards are now available on the Training Room Server where Issue 8: To Protect and Serve is currently undergoing testing. We invite any interested player to visit the Training Room and try out the awards available to them!

If you are not sure what Veteran Rewards your account qualifies for, you can visit PlayNC.com’s Account Management System to view the details of your account. This includes your total time accrued toward Veteran Rewards, a list of Veteran Rewards available and any future Veteran Rewards that your current subscription will include.

We are very interested in feedback from you, our customers, about the final implementation of Veteran Rewards and the supporting management system on PlayNC.com. As always, we strive to deliver only quality, bug free updates to the game and input about your experiences on our Training Room Test Server is an important part of achieving that goal. Please visit your account’s PlayNC management page, and try out Veteran Rewards and Issue 8 and then visit the discussion and question and answer threads and post your input. You can find links to these threads and other information below.

Adding the supporting systems to PlayNC.com and Veteran Rewards to the Training Room is the last major step toward finalizing Issue 8 to move to the Live servers. Barring any major issues that come up from play testing, we plan to bring Issue 8 to the live servers with enough lead time so that we will be in a good position to make any adjustments to it prior to the US Thanksgiving holiday (Nov. 23rd). After all, more than a few of us are looking forward to playing Issue 8: To Protect and Serve over the holiday!

For more information visit the following links:
Veteran Reward Program

How to Access the Training Room Test Server

Patch Note Details of Issue 8: To Protect and Serve

PlayNC.com's Account Management System


Discussion Threads:
Question and Answers

Discussion

Hi gang!

I wanted to stop in and say hello. I've only had the opportunity to browse this forum a bit, but I must say there are some really great things going on here! I have a lot of ideas (probably too many for my own good!) for community building, but I thought, as a way to start discussion, I'd come here and ask for your thoughts about things you would like to see happen.

So, let me know what is on your mind! Please keep the conversation City of Heroes / Villains focused. Thanks!

This maintenance has been completed and all servers and services are up and operational.

Emergency network maintenance will be performed on the following servers starting from 10 PM CDT (8 PM PDT / 11 PM EDT) and lasting for up to 2 hours on November 2nd, 2006:

Freedom
Pinnacle
Liberty
Infinity
Victory
Triumph

During this time, players on the above servers may have service interrupted, the ability to log into City of Heroes on any server may be affected as well as global chat channels may be interrupted. Please know that every step to minimize impact to the game’s service will be taken. We sincerely apologize for this disruption and extend our thanks for your understanding.

A number of people have been asking about just when Trick or Treating and the Halloween event will end. As Cricket posted previously the event goes through November 1st to turn off at the next server maintenance period. Once that event is off then we will turn on the event that gives everyone logging in the 1 year City of Villains Anniversary badge through the end of November.

I really like Super Jump. It's pretty active, although you don't have flights nifty, set your course and go get snacks, ability. I like to jump and try and land right on the top of things just "so". You know, catching that wall top just right, or hitting the skylight on a warehouse building, or bouncing off the power lines - so much fun!

Thanks everyone for the comments. Glad you enjoyed it.

Here is a brief story with a background to the in-game persona of "Lighthouse". Enjoy!


The crash of the surf sent salt spray dancing into the air, moistening the rocks and steps of a broad, winding path along the sea. The path followed a long stretch of rocks outlining a point of land that jutted defiantly into the surrounding water. An overcast sky hung heavy and low on the horizon, grey with the endless clouds that clung to this intersection of land and sea.

Along this path two figures walked; a man and a woman, arm in arm. As they walked casually along the path, their idle conversation mixed with the steady roll of surf, the cries of shorebirds and the soft sigh of wind easing through tall grasses.

It was clear that the man was from the nearby military base. His somewhat rumpled khaki uniform and thick leather bomber jacket made that obvious. He was an aviator, and flew on one of the many airplanes that droned endlessly about the nearby runway. The woman could have been from any number of walks of life, with her long pleated skirt, small neat hat and warm wool coat typical of residents of the nearby towns or close by coastal city.

The pair followed the path as it turned up a small rise and came alongside a narrow dirt road that ran out along the promontory of land. The road continued into the distance where a tall pinnacle of stone and mortar jutted up from the rocky, windswept point. This man-made tower stood watch over the treacherous shore, warding away ships with its powerful, searching beam of light; the Lighthouse.

The man paused as they crested the rise, taking in the sight of the Lighthouse. It stood strikingly against the vista of grey skies and expanse of equally grey, lumpy sea. The sea’s thin edge of foam churning against the line of tumbled rock and narrow shore marched up to the Lighthouse’s base, drawing the man’s eye to contemplate it. The man had often seen the Lighthouse’s searchlight in the evenings and early mornings. He had seen it also from the air, as he sat huddled against the cold airframe of the bomber he flew on.

His mind slipped away from the conversation and the panoramic view to consider the tumultuous specter of war that loomed over the far side of the water. Thoughts raced along the many grim possibilities of war and what that might hold for him.

Sharp words brought his attention back to his walking companion. They turned their steps on to the road and started to trace their way inland to complete their walking diversion. The man cast a long glance back over his shoulder to take in the Lighthouse one more time.

Later, the man would look longingly at the Lighthouse from his seat on the bomber as they set out on their most dangerous operation yet. The tall stand of stone and mortar gradually disappeared as they moved through the clouds. The man hoped fervently that he would live to see it again.

While the man would never again see the Lighthouse, it was not from his demise. Somehow, his life was miraculously spared, even though his bomber was torn from the sky by pounding explosions of flak. As he fell he drifted, the wind impossibly loud in his ears, his sight blurred and spinning and his mind reeling with the enormity of his mortality. He found himself looking up, with clouds before him and dark smudges of smoke or planes or something twisting on the edges of his vision. All at once, everything seemed to come into crystal clarity and he turned to look at the rapidly approaching ground. It was a field on the edge of a thick tree line. The ground swam up at him and somehow it was like he was only stepping down off a tall, tall stool. He gently came to rest. As quickly as the clarity had come, it left. He felt the crushing hand of gravity suddenly make itself known, forcing him hard down onto the earth and into the inky blackness of unconsciousness.

In the days, months and years to follow, the man would often reflect back on that day and those long steps down to the ground from his parachute-less free fall. He would search out that clarity, that jelling of the instant, that endless second where he could almost walk outside of time’s boundaries to save himself or someone else. In those dark days after his fall, when he was taken as a prisoner and traveled far into lands he had never known, he had many opportunities to feel the tugging of this clarity.

His body seemed to know more of this clarity than his thinking mind. It seemed to thrive on it. Indeed his mortal form seemed trapped in the youthful vigor of the time just before his fall. As years passed he came to see how time wore more harshly at those around him but left him mostly untouched. What did seem to touch him, however, was trouble. It was like he was a well of gravity that pulled the trouble of others toward him. This only intensified as he tried to make his way further into the world. Through it all he came to better know this clarity of motion and time, to hone it through the saving of his own skin and then to rely on it. Despite the many opportunities to use this clarity for his own gain or to strike the upper hand, the man never used it that way. The clarity really only came through powerfully in the course of saving himself or someone close around him.

He felt almost insane for experiencing it, wondering at just how such could happen. When these thoughts engulfed him, he would sometimes reflect back to that Lighthouse with it’s expanse of stony bound sea, or it’s searching light cutting into the night. He would yearn to return to that place and the relative calm of that time. He marked it as the time before his fall; the bookmark of before the clarity. The time before his death. Or perhaps, it was a time before a second birth.