Black Pebble

You are all correct. That scene does not occur in game, and was staged for the purpose of that screenshot.

Hello all,


Lots of questions, and I'll do my best to answer what I can.

Vanguard Shield
Yes, the Vanguard Shield is included with the Vanguard Pack.

Vanguard Chest Emblem
This is not included, as it's already a part of the 30 Month Veteran Reward.

Where do the Vanguard costume pieces show up?
At the tailor/character creator screen.

MVAS
It's very, very cute. The art team did a great job in setting up the summoning animation for it. I'll see about getting y'all a picture.

Define Active/Uninterrupted
Let's say your subscription gets renewed on 3/1. This is fine. As long as your account is active each day from 2/1 to 4/18, you're eligible. You'd be ineligible if say, you cancelled your account on 2/28, then waited until 3/1 to turn it back on.

Define Account-Wide
All existing characters, all new characters. Even if you've already unlocked some of these features already. So your L50 Ill/Rad controller that's run 30 mothership raids this month will obviously have the Vanguard hat, but so will your L1 SS/Fire brute you're going to create on June 1st.



What is Account-Wide?

• All Vanguard costume pieces that can be purchased via Vanguard Merits in-game today.
• The Vanguard Costume Change Emote.
• All Vanguard weapons customization options that can be purchased via Vanguard Merits in-game today.
• The MVAS non-combat pet.
• The Loyalty emote (and to clarify, technically there are actually 4 of them, one for each alignment. I'm confident the Paragon Wiki folks will figure out their actual names.).
• The "Constant" badge.
• The "Seven Stars" chest emblem.

Everything else not explicitly listed above, is still on a per-character basis, and still requires Vanguard Merits. (e.g., additional inventory space, curse-breaker, HVAS, Gr'ai Matter).

What that means is, even if you've managed to unlock every single Vanguard item, the one unique reward you'll get is the Vanguard MVAS. And that's just from the Vanguard Pack.

The badge, chest emblem, emotes, are 100% unique for all players.


More answers forthcoming.

There have been some questions regarding this promotion that I'd like to take the time to address.

Q1) If I have time remaining on my subscription, how can I take advantage of this offer?

A1) Starting at 9:00AM EST, on November 29th, 2010 through 11:59PM EST, December 13th, 2010, log into your NCsoft account management page. There will be a clickable banner ad promoting this opportunity. If you click on it, it will take you to a page where you can change your payment plan without cancelling your account.

Q2) When will I be charged for the new plan?
A2) This is a payment plan. You only pay when the billing cycle comes to renew again. So there is no payment required to select the promo payment plan.

Q3) If I’m set to auto renew in between the dates of the promotion, will I get the benefit?
A3) No. However, during the time of the promotion, you can reselect your billing plan and get the bonus time.

Q4) What are the steps we should take if we want to take advantage of this deal?
A4) See Question 1. There is no URL beforehand that you can go to.

Q5) If I got the bonus gametime during the last promotion, am I eligible for this new promotion?
A5) Yes, you are.

Q6) Do I need to cancel my plan in order to take part in this promotion?
A6) While the bonus gametime promotion is active, you do not need to cancel your subscription plan in order to take part in the offer. Clicking on the banner ad in your account management page will allow you to select a new plan without cancelling your subscription plan.

To answer some questions:

Price
The City of Heroes Origins Pack will retail for $9.99 /€ 8.99 /£5.99.

When
November 2nd does sound like a good day. I think November 3rd is a better date though.

The Capes
It may not be obvious in the trailer, but the Impervium Mantle cape is Ultra-moded. The art team did some miraculous things to make that happen.

Nature Origin
It turns out that there is no Nature Origin, however, there is a Natural origin, which the updated trailer now reflects.

What's so Mutant about Founder's Falls
Penny Preston is in Founder's Falls. Plus it's a really cool looking zone.


Finally, as Ocho noted, these are themed. Your Technology Origin Praetorian Robot Corrupter is free to runaround with the Autumnal Cape and Bio Plasma aura, starting at Level 1.

The City of Heroes Going Rogue Complete Collection and the Complete Collection Item Pack, will be available as a digital download for our NA and EU customers from the NCsoft store on Tuesday, August 17th. Both the digital and retail edition of the Complete Collection include the Complete Collection Item Pack and 1 month of gametime.

The Complete Collection Item pack, which is included in the Complete Collection, will also be available as a separate download from the NCsoft store tomorrow for customers who do not have the Complete Collection but would still like the additional items. ($6.99/€5.99/£4.99)

Hello everyone,

I am happy to confirm that we are now accepting your questions for the June Razer Dev Q+A. Please submit your questions to us at the e-mail address listed in the announcement (rogueqa@ncsoft.com). This will help ensure your security and provide a fair way for everyone to participate. We will be awarding up to 3 Razer Naga Mice to 3 randomly chosen submitters. Both the Q+A and prize drawing are open to our US and EU customers.

Please make sure to read the Official Rules and Conditions and follow the correct submission directions in order to be eligible for the drawing.
I appreciated your patience while we worked this out, and we look forward to answering your questions at the Q+A on Wednesday, June 30th.

Hello,

As you’re aware, we announced a Going Rogue Developer Q&A today where you can submit your questions on Formspring. A new twist we’re introducing this time is that we will be awarding up to three submitters a Razer Naga mouse. Unfortunately, as some of you have already noticed, Formspring’s word limitation does not allow you to submit your questions and all of the necessary information we require of you. We are currently working on another solution. In the meantime, we have disabled the CoH Formspring page.

We are planning to have a more functional method in place to allow you to submit your questions and enter the contest soon. We will be able to update you on Monday what that method will be. Until then, what I would ask is that you hold onto your questions for now. The Dev Q+A will still take place, and we will still be giving away prizes.

Thank you for your time and understanding!

Thank you all for the feedback regarding this promotion. I would like to answer some of the more commonly asked questions.



Many of your questions are answered in the Going Rogue FAQ. As for some of the others:

• As with most of our physical boxed products, the retail (boxed) version of the City of Heroes Going Rogue Complete Collection is stackable once, even if you have already bought or prepurchased the separate Going Rogue Expansion or the digital version of the Complete Collection.
• Thus, if you prepurchased Going Rogue, and you also buy the Complete Collection at GameStop, you can enjoy the benefits from both purchases.
• The five enhancements will not be purchasable separately when Going Rogue is launched. They will be exclusive to GameStop at launch.
• The five enhancements will be provided via a code that is printed on your receipt when you receive your Complete Collection retail box from GameStop.
• The digital version of the Complete Collection will be available from NCsoft for our US and EU customers on launch day.
• The Complete Collection Item Pack will also be available for our prepurchase customers on launch day.

Today, we announced a new promotion with GameStop and Razer. For those of you who may not have seen this information, customers who place an early reserve for the City of Heroes Going Rogue: Complete Collection at GameStop will receive a Razer Sphex gaming desktop skin with a Going Rogue design, five unique enhancements and a $5 off coupon for use at the Razer store. These benefits are in limited quantities.

I would like to take this time to provide some insight as to how this initiative came about.

What is the Goal of this Promotion?
As many of you have picked up on, City of Heroes Going Rogue: Complete Collection is really designed to attract new players to the game. One of the greatest challenges new MMO players face is learning how the game works. The enhancements are designed to make the starting experience even more convenient for these new players, but we didn’t want them to be game-breaking, or make our veteran players feel like they had to have them as well.

This is why these are only provided to new characters and cannot be sold/traded/stacked. First, you can’t have enough of them to 6-slot out any power. Secondly, for a L1 character, that 16% damage/recharge boost is nice, but once you hit L20+, IO’s start getting a lot more competitive. The proc rate is low to begin with, and at L21 they won’t even kick in anymore. A L50 character could use these enhancements if they chose to, of course.

We believe this would benefit the new players much more, as our veteran players have a better understanding of the options available to them.

Why Now?
When we launched the prepurchase program, we did not plan on offering incentives for preordering the Complete Collection. A preorder program is different from a prepurchase, and we did not see a value in offering competing programs.

Since we launched our prepurchase program, we have been having discussions with GameStop, Razer and some of our other partners about new ways to promote the launch of Going Rogue. As some of you have mentioned, as a new expansion for a major MMO, Going Rogue deserves a lot of attention. We agree with you, and so did our partners. But evaluating ideas and nailing down the details took a good amount of time, which is why you haven’t heard about it until now.

Why Are We Doing This?
As you probably know, GameStop is the top gaming-focused retailer in the US. When they expressed interest in putting together this new program, it felt like a great way to get the word out on Going Rogue and to make sure every GameStop store in the country was promoting our launch.

Fine, but what about people who don’t have a GameStop nearby, or don’t shop there? That’s where Razer comes in. As part of the GR launch, Razer will be launching their own GR site, promoting CoH in all of their forums, newsletters, providing a coupon for GR customers and even designing a brand new mouse pad with our help.

So we decided to pool our resources to create one powerful marketing campaign, designed to create an opportunity that seemed so interesting that someone who doesn’t yet play CoH would be interested enough to try this game.

Our goal is not to force anyone’s hand, or cause you to feel regrets. This was an amazing opportunity to have two of the strongest names in the gaming industry support the launch of Going Rogue, and we feel confident that it will provide some of the visibility and buzz you have been asking for. One of the biggest features in Going Rogue is that we are redefining the new player experience. Our partners are helping us make that experience even more attractive.

Will There be Any Other Preorder Programs?
We have no plans at this time to have any other preorder program.

What About Prepurchasers?
We do understand that some of our prepurchase customers may have decided differently had they known upfront that this preorder program was coming. This is why we tried to make the in-game goodies something that would have a stronger value for new players than for existing veterans. We do hope you’ve enjoyed these past few months with early access to Dual Pistols and Demon Summoning. Prepurchasing Going Rogue is still the only way to get early access to these two awesome new power sets.

If you have any other questions or concerns that were not addressed by me, or in the information released by GameStop or Razer, please let me know in this thread. I want to make sure that you have all of the information available to you, and that details of this promotion are as transparent as possible.

Hi.

I am taking notes on a lot of the ideas I’m seeing on the forums. A couple of the ones in this thread are compelling enough where I am looking into them. Once I have more information, I’ll update you on them. Feel free to keep tossing out new ideas.

Here’s my feedback on some of the things you have brought up:


Standalone Costume Creator
Obviously, this was before my time. It’s not a bad idea but if it was easy enough to execute on I’d have to think that it would have been done a long time ago.


Guest Authors
If you know Piers Anthony, I’ll talk to him.


Smartphone Apps
I think mass acceptance of mobile apps for MMO’s are inevitable. It’s trickier in the US due to the competing technologies. It’s not just Windows Mobile vs. iPhone vs Android. It’s CDMA vs. GSM. I think that’s one of the reasons why smartphone usage in the US is not as widespread as it is in other parts of the world.

It’s also why building an iPhone app may be pretty cool, but if you don’t make an Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, etc. version, you just cut out every Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint customer in the US. It’s not impossible, but offering the same functionality across platforms is tough, particularly when you’re not reaching the majority of your customers. Heck, even on Android, you still have folks running on 1.6 while others are rocking 2.1. And the apps aren’t universally compatible between versions.

Winding back to my point, I agree, an Android/Windows Mobile/iPhone CoH app would be pretty neat. It can be nearly as difficult, or even more challenging, then building out entirely new functionalities within CoH. At that point, we need to decide – is this app worth giving up some new feature we have planned?

I believe at some point, there’s at least a chance that the answer will be yes.


Free Comic Book Day
We’ll consider it for next year.


More CoH Comic Books
They’re fun to do but they are difficult to manage. You guys remember how often your copies would get lost in the mail, or trashed by the postal service? That’s the least of the hurdles. Print comics are a good visual aid, but the resources they require and time they take don’t make them a realistic initiative any longer.

We went digital with our comics for a while and while I doubt very much we’ll start that up again, I’ll at least look into it.


“Sprunk” Cola
It sounds to me like it could be perceived as promoting Coca Cola, instead of promoting CoH. Once that happens, we just force-fed an unwanted ad on our players. In that specific case, the more likely situation is we pay Coca-Cola to produce cans of “Sprunk” which isn’t very likely.


Why I Don’t Talk More About What We’re Doing
There are a few reasons why I don’t go into specifics regarding marketing initiatives.
· I like offering concrete responses to serious questions. If I can’t, I’d prefer not to waste your time with speculation.
· We’re working on it, but it’s not locked in stone. Any news is better than no news, right? Not if the signal to noise ratio is askew. This is usually resolved with time.
· There are legal restrictions, particularly when partners are involved. This can be resolved when the dotted lines are signed.
· I’ve already answered the question.
· It’s a fine line, providing the answers you want, versus offering speculation. The more I get to know all of you, and the more you get to know me, the better I expect our communications to be.


Cash Contests
We have no plans to hold contests with cash rewards.


My Forum Lifespan
I plan to be on the forums for a while. There may be times when I may wish to run away in tears, but I think that’s a fair price.


PS – I did say non-existent booster pack.

Hi, I’m back.

I actually managed to read through this entire thread. Then you guys just kept asking more questions..... So I'll answer as many questions as I can in approximate order, but it will take me a while to get to some of them.

Before I start answering some of the 8,225 questions, I would like to set your expectations. I will answer as many new questions as possible. Not answering you doesn't mean you're being ignored, it means that either I just don’t have any information for you about it right now or this is not the right time to share any news I might have. Or, more likely, I’m swamped. I do read the forums a lot, but I’m unable to duplicate my onslaught of responses from last month. If you do have something that you believe is important enough to require my personal attention, please PM TheOcho, and he’ll pass it along to me.

I am also still new to Paragon. So if you really want to, you can ask me about PvP, or tell me why you did not like Issue 11 or why your game crashes all the time.....but I am not the best person to answer those questions. Just as I'm not the person you would ask to do your taxes, rebuild your engine, or design a house for you.

I understand that you may have 10 questions you want addressed, and it may be frustrating if I can only answer 4 of them. However, if my options are to either answer 4 of your questions versus none, I would much rather give you at least some answers. As a customer, I know I prefer to hear any news versus no news, but I definitely want to hear specifics vs. vague statements. So I will do my best to be specific in my responses, but there will be answers that I must be ambiguous on, because they’re part of programs that are in active development.


In-Game Advertising
As the thread shows, players are still divided on in-game advertising. The last time they were implemented, the overwhelming response was no ads, regardless of content or distribution. If they were to be re-introduced, there would need to be a way to deliver valuable, interesting ads only to those players who wish to see them. These ads cannot break immersion, or gameplay. At the same time, advertisers would need reassurance that they would reach the right customers.

I won’t say it will or will not happen, but it’s something that requires careful planning and execution.


Licensing + New Items For Sale
Licensed products are great for existing players, but they’re part of a different marketing campaign. Some folks love merchandise, others can do without it. And it can be a hefty investment with potentially high risk. However, all is not lost. We are working on programs that should allow you greater access to some items you’ve been asking for.


More Ads on TV/Comics/Movies/Websites
You will see more CoH as we get closer to the release date for Going Rogue. Product Placement is cool, but it’s also a dice roll. For those of you who suggested specific movie, media placements, I would also like to add that there are not insignificant logistical challenges in getting your direct competitors to promote your game over theirs.


Guest Author Program
We will continue to get diverse, interesting writers. Some of whom you have already suggested. Keep on tossing names, and if you happen to personally know anyone of interest, please let me know.


Future Questions For Me
Clear, concise bullet points work best!


About Me
I can make balloon animals. I still play COH. My Super Group is pretty cool, but I keep a low profile. I miss my 12 fire imps. And yes, I do find it not at all ironic that the initials BP are in the media a lot.


Conventions
We’ll officially be at Comic-Con San Diego and PAX West this year. But perhaps an even better question is: Where we will be throwing Meet and Greets? There will be 4 opportunities across the country where you can come to meet us in person, and one of them is still being decided on.

We do listen to your feedback on where you’d like us to be. As I mentioned earlier, this is our first year we visited the east coast, and that’s directly a result from your efforts. Even if we cannot be at your local convention, we would still like to help if possible.



Facebook/Twitter/Forums/Etc.
At the end of the day, we want to reach as many existing, former and new customers as possible. This means spreading the message everywhere it can be heard. You guys want more ads in public places? This is step 1. Not everyone reads the forums. Not everyone likes Facebook. Some folks don’t know what Twitter is. If we want to reach inactive or new customers, where do you think they’ll go to first? But if we want to work with the existing, loyal customers, where should we go first?

So let’s make sure everyone hears about CoH, no matter what they like to use.

There will never be any big game related announcements where we’ll force you to rely on only one source to get your information. There may be some content that some channel gets first dibs on, but very quickly, every piece of information, video, etc. will find its way everywhere you see City of Heroes/Villains. If we have a contest on the forums, I think it’s only fair we also have a contest on Facebook or Twitter, and vice versa. I want everyone to know about COH. I don’t’ want people to feel like they have only one way to get goodies.

If we make announcement on Twitter first, you will see it on the website, the forums, and on Facebook soon after. If there is a video that is only available on the GR site, it will also be announced via the forums, Facebook, etc. It’s a 10-way street.



The European Community
I have extensively read the pressing issues from our European customers – it was in one of those threads that someone referred to CoH Marketing (and not in the most positive way) as a “Black Pebble” so that’s where I got my board handle from. Although my role focuses on North America, it does not mean Europe is off my radar.


Please know that we are very aware of your concerns, and we are not ignoring them. We are working to increase the visibility of CoH in Europe, but also the attention our European customers get. There are multiple initiatives in place, and once they’re close to fruition, I would love to share the details with all of you. Until then, I can reassure you that our European customers are very important to us, and we want to make certain that the things we do for you provide significant value.

And now for some unrelated random trivia. I interned at the European Parliament library way back when and built their first catalogue database.


Next time
I’ll talk more about conventions, possibly talk about the non-existant Super Booster Pack VII: **B** **C***S, and how I could use some help with my secret origin.

Wow. Page 15. Hey Castle, when was the last time you had a 15 page thread? That's right, run, you monster....

As fun as this is for me, I'm going to have to take a break from the forums for a bit. For starters, I need to catch up on 15 pages worth of questions/ideas/comments, because I really will read everything everyone wrote. Secondly, the next couple weeks are crunch time because of **** ****** ** *****. So give me some time.

I'll look into some of these ideas, and if I'm able to provide you any substantial news, I'll follow up on these forums. Some, I think we can work on soon. Others are going to need a lot more time. Either way, I'll answer everything that I can and answer nothing I can't. As long as we're all willing to work together, I don't see why we can't keep having good discussions.

You won't be left alone. Our Community Team's got some pretty intense things planned for you guys already. You saw one of them already, the Dev Q&A next week. If you think that's neat, it only gets better, and that's just next week. I've seen the schedule they've got planned, and it's safe to say more than a few of you will get what you've asked for very very soon.

In the meanwhile, if it's urgent, feel free to PM me. I can't promise you immediate responses, but I will help if I can. In return for your patience, I may tell you why Castle is evil, and give you an opportunity to humiliate me at your leisure.


Oh and as for getting Herocon goodies outside of Herocon, particularly if you're in the midwest. That I can't fix right away. But if you guys do go to some of these non-Paragon attended events, and are willing to organize a small CoX get-together, I think I can help out. I want the players to enjoy these treats. I don't want them to go to Joe Boe Stranger who'll just plop them on eBay or toss them in the trash. But I'm going to want some juicy stories in exchange.

Showing up for more conventions would be neat. I'd like for us to be more outgoing. Pax East is a good example of working harder to meet the fans. As another poster pointed out, conventions can be pretty tough to manage.

For example, we only have one Positron. Should we have him go to every single convention during peak season? He might like that. I'm sure you guys would. But what happens when we need him to work on XXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX, especially *** *********** that we haven't even announced? How would you feel when you found out that Positron is going to every convention BUT yours....and you get....brr....Castle instead?

Then there's the fact that alas, I do not have demonic henchmen at my beck and call to do my bidding. Although I could when Issue 17 goes live, if I prepurchase City of Heroes® Going Rogue™ . (See what I did there?) We're not infinite or omnipresent, but I think we do a better job than some folks 10 times oure size. And it's only going to get better.

Going Rogue is something I'm very proud of, and I want everyone, from all of you to Joe Bob Stranger in Iowa to play it. This means as all of you pointed out, we have to get in everyone's faces. We will do our best to do so, but if we can't, it doesn't mean you're left out in the cold.

Apparently, next week is the 6th Year Anniversary, and I have it on good authority that there may be an interesting announcement or two. Secondly, if we went to Boston for the first time this year, what do you guys think we'll do the rest of the year? It's not even halfway over.

We do have a booster pack coming out.

And one of the features is something I really really dislike.

There was one which was pretty controversial, and involved a 20 minute discussion on a topic I never imagined could happen in a conference room.

It addresses one of the most frequently asked topics.

One of the posters in this thread correctly guessed one of the features in the booster pack.

Another poster, in another thread this week correctly guessed the theme.

If I told you guys ANY of the feature(s) in it, War Witch won't let me beta test the WWTF. And I really want to try it out.

But I'll try to toss out better hints.