Twoflower

The speculation going around (SPECULATION, note!) is that this is due to the engine rights.

They were passed to Cryptic, to Atari, then to Perfect World... who wanted to shut down a competing MMO. So, when the five year renewal came around, they refused to renew and thus COH has to shut down despite being reasonably successful.

It makes more sense than having active development going so strong just days before the shutdown. If COH was bleeding money I think we'd have more warning, too. But, again, just speculation.

The game industry is not a beacon of stability.

EDIT: Beaten by 12 seconds by Rangle. Curses! Well, better to quote than to reiterate, so read the above post.

I haz a sad.

I've been with City of Heroes since beta. I wrote MA arcs, I leveled many, MANY alts, and met almost all of my online friends here. CoH will be missed terribly.

Honestly, if it was anything other than Kirby Dots, I wouldn't mind the exclusivity. But this is a traditional staple of the entire artform, a tribute to one of the greatest artists ever to grace it... and it's going to be incredibly limited in availability. It'll be completely down to dumb luck whether you get it or not.

I'd much rather it be sold in the market, and the codes be simply free copies of it alongside the sale copies. Like giving away codes for Water Blast or something, so you COULD get it for free, or you could just pony up the cash.

Hopefully that'll be the path this goes, eventually. I finally got a Freak Tank costume in the market, after all, after years of being only available in contests. But, ugh... years.

Solo or on teams, a well built Defender rocks and rocks hard. They may not murder things quite as fast as a Corruptor, but they'll be far safer while they do it and will have equivalent base damage thanks to superior Assault bonuses and Vigilance solo damage bonuses. I played a Traps / Dual Pistols and could solo very, very effectively thanks to lots of point-blank AOE attacks and debuffs and such, for instance.

Now, that said, some powerset combos do not do a great job of keeping the Defender alive when solo -- they're far more focused on team support. You need to choose wisely and build well to make it work, whereas Corruptors can be played like slightly watery Blasters regardless of their supporting role.

It's all about different taste, I suppose. But get on a team with 3-4 Defenders and it's like tossing field mice into a adamantium wheat thresher...

I like #1. Yeah, #2 is more dynamic, but I like the poses better in #1.

Plus, #2 overemphasizes Skullcrotch McCrotchyskull's notable lower body feature.

I'd like to address the other side of the equation -- how do you handle it when an EB is TOO challenging?

After the City of Villains launch, which had you staring down the barrel of an EB in most of the level 6-10 mission arcs, I decided I would never again play an "unsoloable" combo, someone who wasn't strong enough to take out an EB. That meant few Blasters (heavy damage but too fragile) or Controllers (plenty of mez but little damage to overcome the HP tank of an EB). I stuck to power combos I knew would get me through the occasional random EB that the game threw at me when solo and lowbie... which was terrific given Going Rogue's tendency to do this too.

But I'd love to play the less optimized combos going into the future, or not have to worry about nailing the defense cap on every character I play, etc. I want to be able to solo the Mender Ramiel arc without having to rely on buying an unlock instead or hoping some of my friends are available. And that means EBs which don't hit like a truck and take a truckworth of hitting before they go down.

I guess this rolls into the idea of "Pick Yer Own Challenge Level," ala Army of Me. Some folks have ridiculous powerset combos that laugh at EBs. I have a few of those characters, myself. But others struggle against a brick wall when they run into a particularly gruesome EB. How can they be supported while maintaining adequate (likely lowered) rewards, to allow them to progress forward at some rate without hitting a wall?

Something to think about.

Silence thyself and accept mine currencies.

I'll throw in a vote for 'backpacks too big'. Otherwise this is looking great. Are the glowing accordian pieces for the shoulders finalized, though? They look oddly untextured at the moment (shiny, though!)

Who am I to deny you desire to take Justice to the Streets? I'll upload it later tonight.

I had a special tribute boss in this arc which would be appropriate as well but decided to hold him back for the DIY Weather Dominator arc, which involves City Hall. Let's just say that Paragon City's newest elected official will make this your Final Fight.

EDIT: Okay, it's Arc 497412. Contact doesn't look right since I don't have Think Tank unlocked in beta, but.

Derp? You mean to the I22 open beta servers? I guess, but why?

I'd like the Blinkenlightzen box Chest Detail to be an independently selectable option, no matter which set wins. That way, you can add it if you want to use it, or not. It'd work fine on A, B, or C.

I'm curious about something. Will the head covering be hardwired into the helmet, or will we have a few hairstyles to pick from as well? Even if not all of them are ported over I think we'd end up too same-y from character to character if there are no options there.

Is the suit going to be unisex? Or are we only voting on the male version at this point?

I was kinda looking forward to the 'space disco with floating glowing ringlets' outfits for superscience girls.

Definitely C. Stock! Fuel tube! Nice barrel with a sight! All good. F is okay but two-pronged is a bit specialized.

If it's Penelope Yin, I'm iffy on what looks like Standard Heroine Combat Lingerie. Latex garter belts and high heels don't really fit the more innocent and idealistic character they've developed her into.

Whee! Thanks -- tough competition there, too!

Feedback on the arc really helped it. Partway into the voting, someone made the suggestion of giving the villain a hipster chick sidekick, and it strengthened the story overall. I was also able to remove a plot hole and fix some other lingering issues. Gotta love the AE community; we strengthen each other's work.

I've got more arcs to roll out, just haven't had time because Paragon Studios made too damn compelling of a game to PLAY for me to take time out to write. But, I've got time off coming soon, I can get some polish on 'em and roll them out the door...

HOW TO CLAIM THE BONUS TIME WHEN YOU'RE ALREADY ON A LONG SUB WHICH DOESN'T RENEW UNTIL LATER ON:

1. Visit https://secure.ncsoft.com and log in.
2. My Accounts, City of Heroes VIP.
3. There should be a big graphic button with Desdemona in a santa hat offering you to claim your bonus time.
4. Pick the 6+1 or 12+2 plan.

Done! Next time your sub rolls over, you'll get the bonus time. It's also a good opportunity to swap plans, if you like.

Bots/Time here.

Power Boost + Farsight + Scorpion Shield and set bonuses and I am capped to S/L. My bots are capped to hell and back. I debuff tohit just by wading into the thick of things. If anything actually DOES get through to my unstoppable robotic army of teflon coated doom, one heal patches things back up and by then, everything is usually dead.

Now, it's not flawless. You can't be sloppy; you have to spot the mezzers and take them out, or let the bots primarily take the aggro so the mezzers ignore you. If you do get mezzed, TJ goes down... but PB+FS+SS means you still have a good amount of mitigation, and once you unmez, you can heal back anything you got smacked with.

I wouldn't call it god tier, but it's absolutely a very solid combination. I usually wade right into spawns with the pets on Aggressive Follow and any doom which occurs tilts in favor of me and against the mobs.

Thank you so much!

I was worried these questions would get lost in the shuffle, from the Three Dark and Mysterious Unknowable Panels. Good to hear -- the zone offering up everything we normally get in trials is great, as are the Stalker changes! Can't wait to test it all!

It's definitely good news. I've always been in favor of the LFG teleporter actually being USED for things like Incarnate trials. I mean, that's all we do when we go to RWZ or Pocket D and broadcast "LFT!".

I just hope that the system refuses to launch until you're near the maximum capacity of the trial. That's the main reason people assemble leagues manually, because the LFG system seems to love doing 8-man Lambdas and other failtastic combos.