Aura

Hey Everyone!

I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to the amazingly gifted yet evil-to-the-core Alexa, who will be serving Lord Recluse himself (and Cryptic Studios) as your brand-spanking-new NCsoft Online Community Rep for City of Villains. You can count on her to bring you the latest deliciously vile news regarding the project as it becomes available...but let's take it easy on her, as she's just joined the wicked ranks and needs some time to educate herself before she can educate you.

Alexa is a seriously hard core gamer (online and offline) with great online community experience, so we're lucky to have her! From this point forward, she will be frequenting the Villains section of this message board and will continue to do so until we get a new Villains web site with boards of its own. Please keep in mind that Alexa is Villains-specific, so please continue to send your CoH-related comments, questions, etc. to everyone's favorite warm beverage, CuppaJo.

Please help us roll out the red carpet to the newest member of our online family! Welcome to the villainy, Alexa!

-Aura

Hi folks.

The following has just gone up on the web site.

Congrats to all the winners!

-Aura

____________

Costume Contest Winners!
Monday, November 15, 2004

Congratulations!

After much deliberation and much discussion, the winners and runner-ups of the City of Heroes Halloween Costume Contest have been selected. It goes without saying, but the excellent quality and quantity of entries made picking the winners both highly enjoyable and very difficult. A big round of applause to all the imaginative and inspired players who submitted their incredible pictures!

Costumes were submitted for the following categories:

Best Male
Best Female
Best Gargantuan
Most Daring
Most Humorous
Best Overall
The costumes were judged on creativity, difficulty (intricacy of design) and best recreation of their in-game character. In addition, per the contest rules, only entries that were obviously taken in public, showed a FULL frontal shot (head to toe), and included a City of Heroes logo ON the costume, were considered.

So, without further ado, the winners and runner-ups of the CoH Halloween Costume Contest can be found here.

To see all the contest entries, please visit our Costume Gallery.

Congratulations!

Thanks again for all your hard work. Look for more fun contest events in the future!

Hi folks.

The following has just gone up on the web site.

Congrats to all the winners!

-Aura

____________

Costume Contest Winners!
Monday, November 15, 2004

Congratulations!

After much deliberation and much discussion, the winners and runner-ups of the City of Heroes Halloween Costume Contest have been selected. It goes without saying, but the excellent quality and quantity of entries made picking the winners both highly enjoyable and very difficult. A big round of applause to all the imaginative and inspired players who submitted their incredible pictures!

Costumes were submitted for the following categories:

Best Male
Best Female
Best Gargantuan
Most Daring
Most Humorous
Best Overall
The costumes were judged on creativity, difficulty (intricacy of design) and best recreation of their in-game character. In addition, per the contest rules, only entries that were obviously taken in public, showed a FULL frontal shot (head to toe), and included a City of Heroes logo ON the costume, were considered.

So, without further ado, the winners and runner-ups of the CoH Halloween Costume Contest can be found here.

To see all the contest entries, please visit our Costume Gallery.

Congratulations!

Thanks again for all your hard work. Look for more fun contest events in the future!

Hi all.

Per the front page of the web site.

Have a good night,

-Aura

_________________

Paragon City Film Festival
Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Honorable Mentions Part 2

Continuing last week’s showcase of our Honorable Mentions, we have the last three videos we’d like to share with the community: “The Operatives in ‘Crash Landing’” and "Ambush in Perez Park" in the Action category and for Comedy, “Hype Won." Enjoy!

Hi everyone.

Here’s the latest on the main issues concerning you in the Shadows of the Past Update. We’re working hard to resolve all issues.

Right now (2am CDT), the following hot fixes are being pushed to The Training Room (Test Server). Soon thereafter, during Friday’s normal maintenance window (between 8-10am CDT), these hot fixes will be pushed to the live servers:

• Missions
-Adjusting the difficulty of the final mission of the Terra Volta trial.

• Villains
-Fixing bug with the Rikti causing their swords to inflict far too much damage.

• The Hollows
-Lowering the maximum level of spawns near the entrances to the zone.

• Badges
- The Freedom badge will have an icon.
- Fixing several Accolades so that players now receive the correct bonus.
- Fixing bug related to Accolades and leveling up that made characters appear to have the wrong number of Enhancement slots while training.

• Powers
-Fixing a display bug with Hasten where, if Hasten ended while a Power with a long recharge time was recharging, the Power would appear as ready to use before it had finished recharging. Actual recharge times will remain unchanged.

• Server Stability
-Fixing various server stability problems.

So hang tight everyone! Serious improvements are on the way. We apologize for any/all frustrations you are experiencing in the meantime but appreciate your patience while we make things right so you can enjoy Issue #2: Shadow of the Past to the fullest!

Please feel free to check these changes out for yourself on The Training Room at your earliest convenience.

Thanks much,

-Aura

Hi all.

Cryptic/NCsoft doesn't discriminate against individuals due to sex, race/ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, etc.

Likewise, we don't favor or make special concessions for any of the above.

We try to bring you the latest, greatest content we possibly can, as soon as we can. We feel that we owe that to you as our customer. The requirements for releasing a new Free Expansion Update are as follows:

1. Is it ready?
2. Are the relevant employees in the office to push it live and oversee its deployment in case there are any problems?
3. Are there players online actively awaiting it?

If the answer to all three of those are "Yes" it's going to go live -- period. Nothing else is taken into consideration, nor should it be...for it's our job is to bring you the game. We're sorry if it's not the best time for all of you, but it's never going to be quite the right time for everyone, so we just bring it to you when it's ready and you enjoy it when you can.

By the way, L'Shana Tova to those of you observing today.

This thread is now officially closed.

Thanks much everyone,

-Aura

Folks -

CoH Fan Fests are definitely something Cryptic/NCsoft wants to do for our players. As Statesman mentioned, however, the first one may be a little while off. We promise to bring you details as soon as it's closer to becoming a reality!

-Aura

Hi all.

Please note that The Training Room server will be unavailable this evening at approximately 6:30pm CDT in order for us to conduct some general server maintanence. The downtime is expected to take approximately an hour and we appreciate your patience until it's back up and running again.

Thanks much,

-Aura

Hello! It’s come to our attention that some customers are purchasing illegally obtained CoH serial codes from questionable 3rd party retailers (such as ebay or Amazon Merchants and Marketplace sellers). Please be aware that if you purchase such a code, your account will be cancelled. It is strongly recommended that you only purchase sealed box copies from known retailers (such as Gamestop, Best Buy, EB, CompUSA, Fry’s, etc.) or, for international customers, directly from the PlayNC website. Thank you.

Attention all you budding Raimis, Spielbergs and Jacksons!

The chance to show off your cinematic skills by creating an award-winning short film is coming soon in our first ever Paragon City Film Festival!

Using demo game footage, show us the city through the eyes of your hero or team. Be the ultimate CoH film director, show us your editing skills, create your own exciting story, add captions, music, voiceovers—be creative! Take us on flights of daring, show us spectacular battles, heroic rescues or zany antics. Submitted films will be judged in two categories: Best Action and Best Comedy. Selected films will be awarded super prizes! If you wish to add a musical score to your work, NCsoft and Cryptic Studios will be supplying original music for your use. Due to legal issues, films that use trademarked characters or copyrighted music and/or sound (including voice) clips will be disqualified from the contest.

We’ll be providing more film festival specifics (official rules, contest dates, etc) soon, so while we encourage you to start formulating your ideas, please hold off on the actual filming of your award-winning film project until we bring you all the details. Stay tuned!

Come one, come all, to Comic-Con!

NCsoft and Cryptic Studios are pleased to be taking City of Heroes on the road next week to the granddaddy of all comic book conventions -- The 2004 San Diego Comic-Con!

The show runs from Thurs, July 22nd to Sun, July 25th with a special ‘preview night’ occurring Wed, July 21st. Jack “Statesman” Emmert and CoH comic book writer Rick Dakan will be the special guests at the NCsoft booth – meeting and greeting fans and hosting comic book and CoH trivia contests throughout the show.

So come on over to the NCsoft Booth, #4323, located in the electronic entertainment section of the show floor. If you aren’t attending the show yourself but have some friends going who you’d like to introduce to City of Heroes, be sure to let them know!

For complete show times and more information about the San Diego Comic-Con, please visit: www.comic-con.org

Hope to see you all there!

Awesome job!

Check out this thread and send me the requested info...please.

-Aura

Hi folks.

I'm posting this on behalf of Manticore.

Cheers and thanks,

-Aura

____________


Greetings heroes!

This is Sean “Manticore” Fish, Game Designer for Cryptic Studios. I am going to be helping out with an event at GenCon that I know you will all want to check out. It’s called True Heroes and I know anyone that enjoys City of Heroes will have a great time. The event is being put on by the True Adventures folks, who are heroes in their own right. The event is presented by Upper Deck and let me assure you, the VS. SYSTEM Trading Card Game (that the event is loosely based on), is in fact, the best thing since sliced bread.

I also wanted to let all you stalwart City of Heroes players know that the True Adventures gang are looking for more volunteers to help them out with this great event. Check out the info below and get in touch if you are interested in coming out to the show and helping with the event. I know I am looking forward to it. See you there!

This is Manticore signing off from Brickstown.
__________________

Please join True Adventures, Ltd. (makers of the famous True Dungeon event) at GenCon Indianapolis, August 17-22, as we launch our newest game: True Heroes.

Presented by Upper Deck Entertainment, True Heroes is the walkthrough super hero game for comic lovers, gamers or anyone out for a good time. The game blends the Marvel Vs. TCG with live interaction and challenging puzzles.

We are looking for volunteers to work guiding players through the event, operating props behind the scenes, and coordinating and signing up players.

All volunteers will receive FREE admission to GenCon, FREE lodging at the Hyatt Regency -- located just across the street from the convention--and FREE True Heroes staff T-Shirts. Also, one lucky volunteer will be chosen randomly to receive a full box of Vs. DC booster packs. For more information, please visit:

http://www.truedungeon.com/1/articles.php?articleId=34 or contact steve@truedungeon.com

Hi all.

I'm seeing some WONDERFUL CoH player-made videos here in the Screenshots section of the board! Great job, folks!

I'd like to start an archive of these, right here in this thread -- just one long list of player-created videos that someone can come to and play one right after the other. Now, this doesn't mean that the creators of these videos can't post seperate threads in the Screenshots section, so that others can give feedback, etc-- in fact, I whole-heartedly encourage that. But I'd also like to ask creators to send me their links as well, so I may put them on this list - which will be in a locked thread.

So here's my official "call out" to all of you who have created videos! Please write to me at cohsubmissions@plaync.com. Put "Player Created Video" in the subject heading of your email and then a link to the video footage in the body of the message. Please name or "title" your video and make that the name of the link. Then, I'd like you to supply your forum or "display" name. For example, Here's what I'd like the list to look like:

CoH Dance Party Video
by Aura

On The Wings of a Hero
by MisterMidnight

etc...

I'd like the CREATORS only, to please to submit their videos. BUT, if you would like to help this process along by telling a creator to submit their video via this process...that would be GREAT!

So send me your videos so we can get them all up for everyone to see! Thanks folks!

-Aura

_____________

<font size="7" face="Mistral">CoH Player-made Videos![/color]

Victory! Shiny Style 320x240 Resolution
Victory! Shiny Style 640x480 Resolution
Victory! Shiny Style 640x480 Resolution with higher picture quality

by Poison_Mistress
----

The Family (Free FilePlanet Registration needed to view)
by Captain_Safety
----

Arachnidman: Fitness Instructor

by PeterMacD
----

Bonnie Tyler

Rikti Invasion

Summer Party

by Pirate King
----

The Origin of The Green Funk

Larger (~45 MB)

Smaller(~20 MB)

Holding Out For a Hero

Larger (~50MB)

Smaller (~20 MB)

by The Green Funk
----

Memories in Vain

by Padawer
----

Paragon Vice Intro

by Particle Storm and Chernobyl Chick
----

Stomp to My Beat

by Sapphire
----

Blood Lion's Origin

by Sumoslap
----

Liberty Justice: Special Agent of DoIDD Trailer

by Liberty Justice
----

If They Want Blood (They Got It)

Learning to Fly

Kick Your [censored]

by Miss Abyss (ldg5066 on the forums)
----

Open Talos

by Kevin Philips
----

The Origin of Plextor's Sidekick, The Pot of Power!

by Plextor and the Pot of Power
----

Thana (HQ)

Thana (LQ)

by Matt aka Thana Storm
----

PvP Supergroove

by Elle
----

Boom! (High Quality) (50.0MB) - <a href=”http://nopulse.org/~djgibb/boom_ultra_edition_high.wmv”> Download it!</a>

Boom! (Med Quality) (22.0MB) - <a href=”http://www.cityofvillans.com/mirrors/Djgibb/coh_boom_med.wmv”> Download it!</a>

Boom! (Low Quality) (8.7MB) - <a href=”http://www.cityofvillans.com/mirrors/Djgibb/coh_boom_low.wmv”> Download it!</a>

SOTE! (High Quality) (48.0MB) - <a href=”http://www.cityofvillans.com/mirrors/Djgibb/coh_sote_high.wmv”> Download it!</a>

SOTE! (Med Quality) (22.0MB) - <a href=”http://www.rnetinc.net/~mwpw/Files/coh_sote_med.wmv”> Download it!</a>

SOTE! (Low Quality) (8.7MB) - Download it!

by Reno
----

The Rescue of Statesman

by Foe Hammer
----

Cops? and Running Through My Mind

by Richard Moon
----


My Life part 1

My Life part 2

by Raindrop (Mysterna on the forums)
----

Times Like These in Paragon City

By 8 Seconds
----

Leone’s Day Off

Alliance of Heroes

By Leone'
----

An Arresting Passion. Low Rez - 25Mb (please right click and use save as...)

An Arresting Passion. High Rez - 50Mb (please right click and use save as...)

by Wivelr0d
----

"Hero of the Day" Video

by Metallica_Dan
----

Of Life and Death

by GalenWilding and Tylaara
----

Land of Confusion

by Gender Gap
----

Yinn the Fire Tanker

by Baz00ka J0e
----

Legions of Doom recruitment video

by Legions of Doom
----

Buffer Overrun RAD SG and the Video of Destruction

by TacRedline
----

So You Want to be a Superhero?

by UGCThorn
----

"Crash Site" Hazard Zones Overview

by Miss Kiddy Can
----

Empathy Nights

by Choggler
----

Dr. Vahzilok Defeated

by UNISOL GR-44
----

The Talons of Freedom No. 1

The Talons of Freedom No. 1 – The Outtakes

by Darkestrike
----

Pyro Barbie and the Invasion of the Winter Lords

Project: Infinite

by Johnny Pinkeye
----

NRA Avenger

by NRA Avenger
----

Missy K: The Nameless Past

by Missy K
----

What is a test server?

It’s your chance to preview upcoming changes and updates and provide feedback to the developers.

The test server is set up specifically for the testing of updates *before* they are incorporated into the game itself. Players can login, preview/test the planned new features, fixes, changes, tweaks and offer up bug reports or suggestions.

How does a test server differ from a “live” server?

Due to the nature and purpose of a test server, the operative word to keep in mind is “temporary.”

· Content and characters could be wiped at anytime as game specific updates and changes are published, tested and removed.

· Players can expect lower levels of support, since the bulk of this service is centered around our live servers.

· Normal bug reporting and petitions will be handled a bit differently, as all issues need to be given more time for in-depth study, review and reproduction.

Here’s how to install the test server client:

1. Locate the “CohUpdater.exe” file. If you installed the game from the retail cd, this will be in the game directory, which is “C:\Program Files\City of Heroes” by default.

2. Create a shortcut to this file.

3. Open the Properties for the newly created shortcut. In the “Target” window, add the following flag to the end of the line:
[space]-test

5. Run this shortcut.

The first time you run the shortcut, you will be asked if you want to install the test client to the default directory. Choose “Yes” if you want to install it there, or choose “No” if you want to choose a different directory. It is recommended that you install the test client in a different location than your normal game client.

Once the test client is installed, you can launch the test client by using this same shortcut.

Additional Information:

· The test client does not include an uninstall program. To remove it, you will have to delete it manually.

· If you uninstall the normal game client, it will remove the “CohUpdater.exe” file. If you plan to remove the normal game client but continue to use the test client, be sure to make a copy of this file first.

**We have a new CoH board forum entitled “The Training Room” where you can post your comments, bugs, suggestions and other feedback. So please visit!**

Thank you for participating! We look forward to your feedback!

CoH First Features Update!

Through the Looking Glass is Coming!

New zones! Enhanced missions! Tweak your hero’s costume! New Villains! A great game gets even better with its first major update. Check out our Features Update page and get all the much-anticipated information.

From time to time you may come across a bug or oddity in the game. This may be something simple like a floating box or as complex as a mission that breaks at the very end. So if you find yourself face to face with an in-game bug what should you do?

You have two options…

The first is the simplest to use. /bug When you type this command in game, you’ll be able to give a description of the bug you have found. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when using /bug.
1.) Type a description – Tell us what’s going on with the bug.
2.) Type /bug from the location of the bug – The report includes your character’s location. So if you run off or finish your mission then report the bug, the QA team isn’t getting an accurate report or location of the bug.
3.) You WILL NOT be contacted by a member of QA – Keep this in mind when using /bug. If you feel the QA team needs important information, provide it in your description.


The second option you can use to report bugs is /petition. When using this command in-game, it will create a ticket for customer support. Unlike /bug, this command DOES NOT provide us with any information about your character. Keep these things in mind when using /petition.

1.) Tell us about the bug – Make sure you provide us with all your information such as;
a. Account name (not password)
b. What bug you are seeing or experiencing
c. If it’s a mission bug tell us the mission name, the contact that gave you the mission, which zone.
d. If it a power bug tell us which power sets you have, origin and archetype of your character.

2.) Make sure you provide us with your system specs.
3.) Someone WILL reply to your ticket in a timely manner – If you do not need or wish a reply, use /bug.
4.) Give us a step by step account of how to reproduce the bug.

The QA team is constantly working to ensure your game play runs smoothly and bug free.

The very first round of information about City of Villains has been made available on the new City of Villains web site!

In celebration of this, we've created a new section under "Development" entitled "City of Villains" so that you may discuss information as it is released. Please use it and refrain from using the other sections of the board to discuss CoV.

Thanks everyone!

-Aura