Lighthouse_NA

Hi LadyExxotica,

Thanks for taking the time to post your feelings and concerns. I have also received feedback on this same topic since I started. This is home for a good number of people and they've let me know (and some of the Dev's too!) how they feel it is being handled. Some people have expressed they like the change of pace and felt that the forums had grown a bit unruly. Some others let me know they felt I was being overly prohibitive and stifling. I respect the fact that I'm the newcomer here and do my best to keep the feelings of our posters in mind.

I do lament that I don't have as much time as I'd like to just involve myself in discussions on the forums. Unfortunately, that means that a lot of times when I post into a thread, it is as you said, to address some concern with how the topic is progressing or to shut something down. So, that is to say, I can understand your feelings about my presence on the forums. It is something I'm aware of and working to address.

We do have good reason for the Message Forum Rules and Guidelines that govern conduct on these forums. This place is not an open soapbox for anyone who wants to stand up and rant and bash the game or to talk about topics not on the game. We have these forums to help players get the most out of the game and those rules are a good part of keeping that experience a positive one.

I welcome any input and feelings about how we run things around here. If you don't want to voice that here, please feel free to write me a private message.

Respectfully yours,
Lighthouse

Are you looking for a challenging career opportunity in the gaming industry? Do you have the communication and people skills to be a voice for this excellent online community? (and keep the forum trolls in their caves?) Any interest to work for a guy who was ostentatious enough to name himself after a Lighthouse? If so we want to hear from you! Point your web browser to NCsoft's Jobs List and send in your resume today!

Please keep in mind that this opportunity is located in lovely Los Gatos, CA on site with the Cryptic Studios Development Team.

_Castle_ posted on this earlier here but it, regrettably, didn't make it into the patch notes from 12/7/06.

[ QUOTE ]
Blaster Devices Smoke Grenade: No longer requires a 'to hit' check for the Perception Debuff. The other effects of the power still require a successful to hit check.

[/ QUOTE ]

This change is now included in the patch notes for reference. Happy blasting!

The respec was granted on the morning of Dec. 12th. Happy respecing!

Characters on all US servers will be granted a free respec during the maintenance window starting at 6 AM PST (9 AM EST) on Tuesday, December 12th.

For more information about the respecs or respec commands, please scroll up to my earlier post or browse there directly from this URL.

A note on the free respec: It does not stack with any existing free respecs your characters may have. So, if you want to make the best use of this opportunity, use any current free respecs via the /respec command and receive the new one that is coming up.

You can tell a free respec apart from one you have earned through actions in the game, as the free ones function via the /respec command and the earned ones require you to interact with an NPC to obtain.

For more information about character respecs visit the City of Heroes and Villains Support Pages or Search Support for "Respec" or visit the forum guide section:

Guide to Guides
Respec 101: So you want to be a NEW hero?
A Respec / Respecification Guide

Virtue Respec:
We wanted to update everyone on the status of the free respec on Virtue. For those players with characters on the Virtue server we will be applying a free respec during the maintenance window on the morning of December 8th.

Free Respec for Everyone:
We understand that previously, free respecs have had prior notification given out to the community so they could make the best use of them for their characters. Unfortunately, we did not do that with this most recent respec. To amend this we are scheduling another free respec to be given out during the week of December 11th to the 15th. We will update everyone here on the forums with the exact date next week with at least a days notice. Our apologies for the lack of notification on the prior respec and hope that you are all able to make good use of this coming additional one.

Are you looking for some news sites that carry City of Heroes happenings? Take a look at the list of sites who picked up our News Release announcing Issue 8: To Protect and Serve!

2404

CGonline

Digital Game Developer

GameingGroove

GamersHell

Gaming Trend News

GameSpy

GroovyGames

Hollywood Industry

IGN

Kotaku

MMORPG.com

MMORPG Blog

Total Video Games

Warcry

Worthplaying

Discuss this announcement on the General Discussion forum.

For any Supergroups who currently have Items of Power from the Cathedral of Pain, please know that we will be removing them in a maintenance period this week. While we understand that people will not be happy that they are being removed, please know that they were designed to decay after 21 days and also that it really isn't fair that some Supergroups have them while others do not and are not able to obtain them with the Cathedral of Pain offline. We will post the specific date when they will be removed shortly.

We know that everyone is looking for when the Cathedral of Pain will be available on the Live servers. It is something that is being worked on, but we do not have specifics to discuss as to when it will return. When it does, it will likely make a visit first to the Training Room Test Server, so keep your eye there for new patch notes. Thanks in advance for your understanding

To discuss this announcement, please visit this thread in the Supergroups forum.

This issue has been resolved. Happy Heroing or Villaining!

We are currently working to address an issue that is keeping some customers from accessing the following servers:

Virtue
Champion
Protector
Justice
Guardian

Our apologies for this inconvenience for any affected. We do not have an estimated time for a fix, but are working to resolve it as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience.

Jack Emmert, Cryptic Studio's Creative Director and former City of Heroes Lead Designer, who we all know as Statesman, talks with MMORPG.com about inspirations for City of Heroes, Comics, coming games and more.

Visit MMORPG.com to read the full article.

Join us in the Comic and Hero/Villain Culture forum to talk about this article.

Winter is blowing in across the bay to Paragon City™, and settling on the Rogue Isles™ like an icy blanket. Snow seekers are making their way to the ski slopes to find fresh new powder! New presents and threats await both heroes and villains this holiday season!

Visit the Training Room Test Server and see our latest version of the game, which includes the Winter Event. The event will be available for testing starting December 8 through the 11th, so be sure to log in and check it out!

Here are the things to look for in testing the event:

Log in:
When you first log in you will receive two temporary powers as well as have a holiday costume piece unlocked. The temporary powers are as follows:
• The Holiday Spirit Temporary Power: This power will grant you 24 hours of debt protection. It is a one use power that, once turned on, will keep you from getting debt for the next 24 hours of real time passed.
• The Holiday Cheer Power: This power has one use only, so choose your target wisely! Target another player who you want to give a Mystery Gift to! They can then use their Mystery Gift temporary power to get a bonus! They will likely receive 250 influence or infamy (or prestige if they are in Supergroup mode) or they might receive 1 of a variety of bonus gifts! You can obtain more Mystery Gifts through Phase 2 of the Winter Event (see below).

Use this thread to discuss the Winter Event Log in features .


Ski Chalet:
The mountains have fresh snow and winter fun for all! Make your way to Pocket D and through the shadow shard to enjoy this piece of winter wonderland!

Use this thread to discuss the Ski Chalet .


Father Time’s Mission:
You can find Father Time enjoying the snow and fresh mountain air in the Ski Chalet. However, issues weigh heavy on Father Time and he is looking for assistance from both Heroes and Villains. In fact, Heroes and Villains may band together to tackle this task

Use this thread to discuss Father Time's Mission.


Phase 2:
Starting later in the weekend, we will turn on the second phase of the event. This will add presents that spawn randomly across areas of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. Click on the presents for fun!

We won't spoil all the things you can obtain or experience from the presents, but we do want to mention that one thing you can get is another of the 1 use Mystery Gift temporary powers you obtain when you first log in.

Use this thread to discuss Phase 2 of the Winter Event.

If you have not visited the Training Room Test Server before, please visit this Thread for instructions.

This thread is for discussion of any performance differences from playing before Issue 8 and after. When posting, please stick to your actual play experience.

Also, please be as detailed and concise as possible with your feedback, which makes it much easier for us to pull important details out of it. As for details, if you can, your video card, driver version, system RAM and which CPU you are using can be helpful.

[ QUOTE ]
So, will these be the old style 1 Free costume change per Costume Slot tokens? (eg, if you had 3 costume slots unlocked, that character would get three free changes) Or like the new vet reward Costume Changes which are good for one change total?

Also, theres probably going to be a comment about the value of the veteran reward costume tokens in relation to these free ones any minute now.

[/ QUOTE ]

To follow up on this, the script is the "old style" you mention above that can give up to an additional 4 costume change tokens and should (barring any sun spots, tidal waves or other fun things) become available with the server maintenance on 11/30/06.

We do realize that there are players who might have characters with up to 5 costume slots. We felt it was more important to deliver the free tokens in a timely manner so those who want to alter costumes as a result of Issue 8 can do so quickly.

Again, our apologies for any angst over changed costumes and our thanks in advance for your understanding.

MMORPG.com has an exclusive article from Matt "Positron" Miller sharing some of the thought and ideas behind Issue 8’s Veteran Rewards. Read the full story here.

While you are at MMORPG.com you might also want to read their preview of Veteran Rewards here. Also, be sure to log in and cast your vote for City of Heroes and City of Villains in their 2006 Reader’s Choice Awards.

Use this thread for discussion of the above.

MMORPG.com has an exclusive article from Matt "Positron" Miller sharing some of the thought and ideas behind Issue 8’s Veteran Rewards. Read the full story here.

While you are at MMORPG.com you might also want to read their preview of Veteran Rewards here. Also, be sure to log in and cast your vote for City of Heroes and City of Villains in their 2006 Reader’s Choice Awards.

To discuss these articles, visit the General Discussion Forum.

[ QUOTE ]
So, will these be the old style 1 Free costume change per Costume Slot tokens? (eg, if you had 3 costume slots unlocked, that character would get three free changes) Or like the new vet reward Costume Changes which are good for one change total?

Also, theres probably going to be a comment about the value of the veteran reward costume tokens in relation to these free ones any minute now.

[/ QUOTE ]

To be honest, I'm not sure. Blame me as the newbie I'd wager that they will likely be in the style of free ones given out in the past. Take that for what you will


EDIT: To follow up on this, the script is planned to give an additional 4 costume change tokens and should (barring any sun spots, tidal waves or other fun things) go up with the maintenance on 11/30/06.

We will be issuing a free costume change token to all characters soon, pending testing. We wanted to let people know this so they can better plan out any costume changes they may be considering.

Our apologies for any inconvenience caused with costume changes.

We will be issuing a free costume change token to all characters soon, pending testing. We wanted to let people know this so they can better plan out any costume changes they may be considering.

Our apologies for any inconvenience caused with costume changes.

To discuss this, visit the General Discussion Forum.

This thread is for discussions involving Issue 8 Known Issues, workarounds or things to be aware of when first playing on Issue 8. Please do not post any specific account information: this thread is for general guidance only. If you discover an issue where you need specific assistance with your account, please contact our support team through the "Ask A Question" tab.

Known Issues:

1. The Citadel Task Force is currently spawning some critters that are too high level for the intended difficulty. This could mean your group will not be able to comple the Task Force. The in-game support team is unable to adjust the critter's levels. Because of this we are asking for Heroes to refrain from attempting this Task Force until a fix is in place.

2. If you are experiencing any issues with chat windows taking up the whole screen please use this workaround:
1) Click on Menu, then Options.
2) Select the Graphics and Audio tab and scroll to the section where it has the Screen/UI Resolution and 3D Resolution Scaling.
3) Change the 3D Resolution Scaling to match the Screen/UI Resolution.
4) Click "Save Changes" and this should resolve this issue.

3. Workaround for changing the inside color of Veteran Reward Trenchcoats:
For characters who have already unlocked a Cape:
- Equip a cape and set the colors you desire for your Trenchcoat
- Switch back to the Trenchcoat
For characters who have not unlocked a Cape:
- Select the Trenchcoat, use the "copy color to all" button, select the color you want for the inside of the tail. Select any other costume option then de-select the "copy color to all" button.

4. Mastermind Thug Pets may not display upgrades properly.

5. Contacts Dr. Gregy Lenk and Dr. John Yu do not have any missions to offer.

6. Some extra objects or flavor items in missions may not be visible, but their collision volume is still in effect. This can lead to players may then run into things (like a box) and not see them.

7. There is an intermittant issue with passing insperations to team mates that may not allow the transfer to occur. The trade window can be used as a fall back means to make such transfers. Also, Villains and Heros can not trade, even if teamed for the Holiday Mission.

8. Supergroup base teleporters to Faultline may send Heroes to a location within the Doughnut shop where it may be necessary to use a teleportation device (such as the Pock D V.I.P Pass) or have someone with Teleport power Recall Friend to take you out of the Shop.

9. Gauntlet and other Inherent Taunt powers currently do not effect Lieutenant, Bosses or Underling rank critters.

For those that missed the live broadcast of the interview of Cricket and Lighthouse on POJRadio with John "Glacial Ice", you can now listen to the recording.

Point your web browser here and follow the link to the interview. If you are using Internet Explorer, you may need to right click the link and choose "Save As" to get the interview file.

To discuss this interview with your fellow players visit this thread on the general forums.

We want to thank everyone for their continued testing efforts on the Training Room server.

Issue 8 is in it's final stages of testing. We've recently made a couple tweaks which we feel has properly prepared Issue 8 for a post-Thanksgiving Launch. We really appreciate everyone’s patience with the testing process as we work to ensure a smooth release.

Read the latest patch notes of Issue 8 on the Training Room test server.

Discuss this announcement with your fellow players on the Training Room Forum

Hi gang,

I just wanted to comment that this isn't a scientific foray into poll making Cricket and I have been talking more about doing more regular Forum Polls and we put this one together to see how things would go over.

Looks like it started up some good conversation. I'm sure we will be doing more polls in the future!

As if you all weren't excited enough for Issue 8, we tease you further with our friends at Gamespot who have the exclusive first look at the Official Issue 8 Movie

Click here to see all the great City of Heroes / Villains movies on Gamespot!

We are still testing Issue 8 on the Training Room. Click here for instructions on how to get on the Training Room or click here to read the Issue 8 patch notes on the Training Room.

Want to talk about this movie with your fellow Heroes and Villains? Visit this thread on the General Forums.