Handbook of the Union Universe:Community Portal
From Handbook of the Union Universe
[edit] City of Heroes/Villains Announcements
- Bringing you news of game mechanics that may affect your roleplaying world.
[edit] 25 Sept 08 - Architect
Issue 14: Architect
Mission Architect
First the City of Heroes Character Creator set a new standard for player creation and customisation. Now, Issue 14 takes another giant step, allowing players to design their own missions and story arcs to share with the entire City of Heroes community. Using an intuitive interface similar to the game’s detailed Character Creator, players can create missions from the ground up. Players will determine details ranging from environments, mission objectives, and enemies, to written fiction and character dialogue, giving their stories nearly infinite depth and personalisation.
Among other rewards, authors and architects who create the most extraordinary content will garner acclaim and reputation. Community feedback will be paramount and some missions will elevate in status unlocking new rewards and benefits for their creators.
More details to come!
[edit] 25 Sept 08 - Power & Responsibility
Issue 13: Power and Responsibility
Day Jobs (Offline Character Progression)
Scholar? Caregiver? City Official? Now when players log out of City of Heroes / Villains they’re just getting started! A character’s day job is determined by the actual in-game location from which he or she logs out. If players log out from a University their day job is considered to be a Scholar. If they log out from City Hall they’re a City Official. The benefits are thematically appropriate to the location. For example, a City Official earns extra Influence, a Scholar is granted Salvage, a Caregiver is granted Health Regeneration Buffs, etc.
Once characters have accumulated the required amount of time for each Day Job, they are rewarded with the appropriate Day Job Badge and Title, increasing their “earnings” for that job. Multiple Badges can be combined to unlock Accolades and the ability to accumulate additional new rewards. Almost every location within Paragon City™ and the Rogue Isles™ has an associated Day Job, resulting in a wide selection of jobs and rewards!
Multiple Builds
Another character customisation option and City of Heroes innovation, Issue 13 delivers the ability to have two different build-outs for each character, including which powers are selected and which Enhancements are slotted. With this feature it will now be possible for all characters to diversify their game experience by visiting any Trainer and switching the entire build of their character to an alternate one. You can use this separate build for whatever you like: if you wish to use different power selections for soloing and groups, you can do that. This even makes it possible to have different sets slotted for PVP and PVE. This new system gives characters the added depth and flexibility to tackle any challenge!
New Powersets
Shields – Heft a Shield for Heroic or Villainous Ends! This new powerset brings a classic power to City of Heroes: Shields! Now, you can arm Tankers, Scrappers, and Brutes with a powerful shield to protect both themselves and their allies.
Pain Domination – Villains can now bend the power of pain to serve their own ends! Those playing a Corruptor or Mastermind have access to this new powerset. The antithesis of the Hero healing powerset “Empathy,” Pain Domination brings parity between Heroes and Villains with a distinctively evil flair.
Levelling Pact
A new innovation to MMOs, this system allows you and a friend to create new characters and have your XP permanently in sync, whether both characters are online or not. You will always be the same level, even if your friend plays ten times more often than you do! It’s sort of like “Extreme Sidekicking.”
The Merit Rewards System
A new game system that allows players to earn tokens by completing Trials, Task Forces, Strike Forces, Raids, etc. The most challenging and time consuming tasks grant the most reward tokens, which can be redeemed throughout Hero and Villain zones for recipes, enhancements, salvage, costume pieces, badges, inspirations and other game items.
Villain Patron Power Respec
Villains level 40 and above can respec (re-select) their Patron Powers, offering the same flexibility that heroes are afforded with Ancillary Powers.
Supergroup Base Repricing
Base Salvage is being replaced with Invention Salvage and all Base room and item prices are being adjusted to more accessible levels. Remaining base salvage can be traded in for invention salvage, or can continue to be stored in base and personal storage.
PvE and PvP Powers Rebalancing
More details to come shortly, directly from Powers Designer Floyd “Castle” Grubb.
New Cimerora Missions
New Hero and Villain story arcs expand upon the history and lore, and delve into the players and politics of Cimerora.
Other features include new Invention Origin Sets, new Costume Sets, Zone Refinements, and more!
[edit] 01 Aug 08 - Rikti Force Returns!
The looming threat of the Rikti Invasion Force still hangs like a dark pall over Earth. Despite the best efforts of humanity, aggressive Rikti incursions still plague the planet. Advance warning systems indicate the Rikti are massing for attacks on the following dates throughout the year:
March 7th through March 13th
April 25th through May 1st
June 13th through June 19th
August 1st through August 7th
Sept 26th through Oct 2nd
November 14th through November 20th
Prepare for a desperate battle to save Earth from the Rikti Invasion Force! Aggressive Rikti forces will attack Paragon City and the Rogue Isles with increased frequency at any time during the above dates!
Some important items to remember about Rikti Invasions:
When Zones within the cities are under attack, a world-wide alert will be issued by Vanguard. This alert will show up in your Chat window on the System channel, warning you in which zone attack is imminent.
While the invasion is occurring, players do not receive debt while outdoors in an invaded zone.
Those in that zone that do not wish to be at risk of Rikti attack are asked to take shelter immediately. They can do so by leaving the zone, or moving inside buildings or under cover (overpasses, parking garages, etc.).
The combative inhabitants in a zone will move off the streets and to safer locations when a Rikti Invasion takes place.
Rikti bombs appear to be unstable and not 100% reliable. Some do not explode on impact and only embed themselves in the ground. These bombs have been noted to detonate after a time, so take caution when you see these. They can be disarmed or delayed by inflicting damage upon them.
[edit] 24 Oct 07 - Weapon Customisation
Take a glimpse on Willpower and Dual Blades and the new, incredible Weapon Customisation features
This trailer, narrated by Cryptic Studio’s own Floyd “Castle” Grubb, allows you to see some of the new exciting features coming with Issue #11: A Stitch in Time.
Learn how Willpower and Dual Blades work and what they can do for your Hero or Villain and see how you can customise your character’s weapon here.
[edit] 22 Oct 07 - Halloween Event
As autumn slowly creeps in, many of the super-powered denizens in Paragon City cast a thought to Halloween. This year’s celebrations take an all-new twist as Heroes don costumes of an altogether different nature - from the Coralax Minion to the Paragon Protector, all the way to a Vahzilok Eidolon!
[edit] 04 Oct 07 - Character Rename
New Features: Character Transfer and Character Rename
Tired of that character you accidentally named “Keernsky”? Now you can correct that spelling mistake.
Or did you spend hours creating that cool looking character but then realised that you were on the wrong server? Well, then teleport him to your home server!
Today we have turned on the Character Transfer and Character Rename features on all European servers. Now you can transfer your characters from one server to another and rename your characters.
Also we have freed-up thousands of names - giving you a wider choice of names again.
More on this in today’s feature update!
[edit] 02 Oct 07 - A Stitch in Time
Issue #11: A Stitch in Time reveals that all that is and was is not as it should be!
The day has come to reveal some of the hottest features players have been waiting for!
- “Flashback" - travel through time and relive major events from the history of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles!
- Two brand new power sets: Dual Blades and Willpower
- Weapon Customization
- New “Very Rare” purple invention sets
Find more on these exciting new features in our Feature updates!
Update: Detailed Walkthroughs for both features are now available under the new “Walkthrough" section.
[edit] 20 Sep 07 - Valentine Event
Spring Event Re-run
Summer is over, but was it really even here to begin with? Too much rain and not enough sun has left us all feeling a little depressed and in need of some love…
Well that’s where we come in, bringing a little ray of sunshine back into your lives by re-running the Valentine’s event from February!
Team up with Villains and Heroes and work together once more, to complete the special event mission and get your chance to receive the Valentine’s heart pattern costume set.
Put your differences aside and head to Pocket D where you can join Ganymede, Emissary of Eros, as he harnesses the passionate and powerful forces of love. But be warned, not everyone will be feeling affectionate - the dreaded Snaptooth also returns to sour the mood!
The Spring event will be re-run from Tuesday 25/09/2007 at 10.00 BST until Tuesday 02/10/2007 at noon BST.
But that’s not all! At the end of the event Ganymede has more in store for you! He promised us that all debt accumulated on your characters will miraculously disappear by the end of the event!
A great way to welcome Autumn into our lives!
[edit] 16 Aug 07 - Rikti Invasion
Invasion troops have regrouped and are now attacking again!
Last Tuesday not only saw the roll-out of the next Issue #10 game patch but also the return of the Rikti Invasion World Event!
Vanguard has intercepted Rikti transmission and deciphered their communication. According to this, the Rikti have scheduled their next invasion waves for the following dates:
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Friday, 31 August 2007
Wednesday, 05 September 2007
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Monday, 17 September 2007
Sunday, 23 September 2007
Our intelligence reports state that they have set their invasion to start at or around 10am BST (11:00 CEST) and last for at least 24 hours.
Experts are still arguing why the Rikti leaders have set such a strict schedule but assume that internal power struggles between different Rikti factions might be involved. We advise all Heroes and Villains to be on guard!
