War Witch

Man I love reading these.

WW

(And I apparently say "man" too much, maybe I should put that on the list along with that-bar-comment.)

Happy Friday, everyone!

Man, what a great week. Do you ever have those days when you just go, "Ok, so I know life isn't perfect and there are some things that could be better, but right now I just feel like I am glad to be here and I sure do like the people around me."? (Ask me Monday if I still feel this way. Ha ha!)

That's how I feel this morning. There are some great people that I work with every day who make my job more fun, who teach me in ways I don't think they even realize, and who are just some really wonderful people.

And so with that very "general" appreciation, here's a few more for this Friday. Bear in mind, that I'm digging deep into the archives sometimes because City of Heroes, for me, has been a (as of next month) 9-year experience. (I've probably forgotten more than I remember at this point.)

So here goes!

• Those early Design lunches when we all fit into my minivan
• My early morning walks to Starbucks with The Television
• My early morning walks back in Los Gatos with Positron and Hero 1
• My very first trip to Brighton for a Player Meet 'n Greet -- I was so scared that I'd be too shy, but I ended up having so much fun and everyone there was so so so wonderful to me
• The arcade game machines in the kitchen at Paragon -- even though I suck at it, Tetris is super fun

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

War Witch

Ok, it's well past my bed-time, but I was reading every single one of these. Some of them made me smile, some of them made my heart ache for you guys (but glad that you persevere!), and some of them cracked me up.

I'll be adding my next installment on, well, you guessed it, Friday.

Thanks, everyone, for not letting this go the way of leg warmers, krimping irons, and Lip Smackers lip gloss (which I refuse to stop using because not only is it cool, it tastes yummy when you wear it)!

You guys are awesome.

WW

Hey everyone,

I was out on my walk at lunch today in the beautiful Northern California sunshine when I started to reflect on how lucky I feel to be working on City of Heroes and I began to do a mental checklist of what, specifically, I appreciate. So it triggered an idea of Friday Appreciation Day and what it is about City of Heroes I’m grateful for. So, being a positive sort of woman, and trying to be more pro-active about letting people know what I admire, appreciate or value about them as part of my New Year’s Resolution, I thought I’d start this thread.

So this #FAD could go the way of Bass Mouth Billy and Chia Pets or it could pick up steam and give you guys an opportunity to tell each other something that will make you guys feel – well – appreciated. It could be that you met your wife playing City of Heroes, or you love your Supergroup, or you were having a really bad day and read some freaking hysterical NPC dialogue that turned it around for you, or you love to fly and CoH let you do it for the first time. Truly, ideas and impressions are up to you guys.

I only have a few requests and I hope that you honour them.

• Keep it positive and be sincere
• Don’t hijack this thread to hop on a soap box about a non-related issue that picks you

That’s about it, actually. I like to keep things simple!

So I’m going to start us off, and you’ll notice that my appreciations aren’t just about the game, but about all different aspects of City of Heroes from NCsoft to coworkers to the players.

*cracks knuckles*

Okay, here I go. Don’t feel like you have to compete with me, as we all know, I’m a talker! One or two would probably suffice! But, since I instigated this craziness, I’m going to dig deep into several years of memories.

I appreciate / am thankful for / like the fact that / love / find enjoyment in:

• Being hired on this project in the first place; as a part-time office manager I just wanted to be part of something special, even if it was to file papers or clean out waste bins
• Having a job that allows me to take care of my family
• Having the opportunity to do something creative and exciting
• Knowing that what I do in the game makes people smile, even if it’s just to read some silly dialogue or find an easter egg
• The friendships I’ve made over the last (nearly) 9 years of developing City of Heroes
• The support from Real World Hero who promoted not only the MS Walk I participated in, but the Susan G. Komen 3 Days for the Cure walk as well (and, of course, everyone who donated so that I could participate!)
• The gifts that players have sent me over the years because they’re so kind (amazingly gorgeous rock formations, a scarf, brownies, Ascendant O’s, letters, chocolate, cookies (even Italian cookies!), gift baskets, Valentines (even if they were – technically – just to War Witch the character, not the dev), etc.
• Meet and Greets and Conventions where I’ve had the blessing to meet you guys, so I could encounter the real person behind the avatar or forum name
• The first time I ever loaded the game (being so used to fantasy) and standing in a real city and then, oh my gosh, FLYING
• The pranks we’ve played on each other over the years, even the early ones, where I’ve been punked several times from Oreo toothpaste cookies, electro-shock pens, Tootsie Roll shenanigans, and Bertie Bot barf-flavored jelly beans
• The wonderful company events the work has provided over the years from parties to celebrations to contests – just to keep us employees happy (my other jobs never did that!)
• Double monitors – where else would I get to have TWO (I never thought I needed two massive monitors until I actually got them)
• Special friends I’ve met in the game who have touched my heart – they know who they are (you are sweet and courageous and wonderful, each of you)
• Seeing City of Heroes on the shelves for the first time and every box since!
• Rikti Beta where I got to attack all our beta testers as a Rikti! That was super fun. They took it all in stride!
• Spending time with players in game with them never knowing who I am
• Laughing out loud as I read the Ascendant dialogue with Saul on the other end of the line – sheer brilliance
• The wonderful videos that players have put together using City of Heroes as a backdrop (Samuraiko – I bow to your skillz, too!)
• The stories about how City of Heroes has helped people through hard times

Ok, I could see myself going on for a few more pages here, so I’m going to cut myself off. But you get the idea!

Have fun! It’s Friday Appreciation Day! (By the way, this works outside of the game, too, so tell your neighbor, your co-worker, your mailman just what you appreciate about them. You'll make their day.)

Melissa “War Witch” Bianco

You throw CoH-isms into everyday conversation.

You can quote Television story dialogue verbatim.

You've started talking like Resistance.

You've decoded the Praetorian Clockwork and have created your own dictionary.

I love Paragon Studios!!!!!!

And I'm quite happy.

Happy Monday.

After six years, I still create the LARGEST female ever, no matter what concept I create for her. She's got to be a gagillion feet tall, small waist, and long legs.

Without fail.

AND... I still giggle whenever I read some dialogue I thought was cute.

WW

Congrats congrats congrats!!!!!!!

I'm so happy for you two!!!

War Witch

Hey all,

I wanted to update you on the release of Issue 19: Alpha Strike! The development team here at Paragon Studios has been working really hard to get Issue 19 to you as quickly as possible. Issue 19 comes with some pretty sweet improvements to the game as a whole and we know that you guys are really excited for it to go live (which, obviously, we are too).

Unfortunately, we’ve encountered what we in the studio call a “showstopper” bug that is keeping us from launching the update when we planned. Our goal is to release Issue 19: Alpha Strike! as soon as we can after the Thanksgiving Holidays (November 25th through November 28th). So you can start gearing up now for the content that Massively.com calls, “well worth the wait.”

Also, since I’m here, I want to do a shout out to all of the Beta Testers who put their time and energy into testing to help make this Issue great and help us iterate on features and find those bugs. Your ongoing feedback is essential to the development process and we will continue to monitor it as we get closer to the release of Issue 19. Thank you very much! You guys are awesome at finding these things and we really do appreciate it.

So I’m sad you’ll have to wait a bit, but I do wish you guys in the US a great Thanksgiving and thank all of you for kicking the crap out of our beta servers so that we can find these bugs in the first place.

War Witch

To discuss this announcement, please go here.

Hey all,

Right now, when a Praetorian character leaves Praetoria for Primal Earth and joins a Supergroup in the Rogue Isles or Paragon City, that Supergroup receives a bonus to their Prestige of an additional 100,000P for each Praetorian that joins. The reason for the bump in Prestige is to make up for the fact that a Praetorian cannot form/join a Supergroup while in Praetoria so isn’t contributing to a Supergroup until they leave Praetoria at level 20. The bump is to bring them in line with other Primals in the Supergroup.

Before Issue 19, if a Praetorian left their Supergorup, the prestige would go with them. (Which is probably what the complaints of Supergroups “losing hundreds of thousands” of Prestige is about.)

With Issue 19, the 100K Prestige bump is still given, but it’s only given to the first (and only the first) Supergroup that a Praetorian joins upon arriving in Primal Earth. If they choose to leave their Supergroup, that Prestige no longer goes with them.

If you have any questions, you can contact a Game Master through the petition system and they can give you details as to exactly what happened with your particular Supergroup.

War Witch

Thanks, Samuraiko!

Beautifully done and worth the wait.

WW

Hey, everyone!

I am so excited about introducing our newest expansion, City of Heroes: Going Rogue!! Everyone here at Paragon Studios has been working tirelessly on it, dedicating their time, creativity, and talent to ensure that it not only fulfills our promise of bringing you more of what you love but also creates a fun and unique experience for our veteran and new players alike! Missions! Zones! Going Rogue system! Villain Groups! Costumes! Emotes! (Okay, I could go on, but then it’ll just get silly). Our goal for this expansion was to reinvent City of Heroes and I truly believe we’ve achieved it.

There were times when I logged into our new Praetorian zones with Ultra Mode on and I went, “WHOA. This is amazing!” I hope that all of you have just as many “oooh”, ahh”, and “aha!” moments when you discover the new zones, missions, features, and – of course – easter eggs that await your exploration.

This is the best work that we have ever done and that’s saying something since we’ve put out some pretty fantastic content over the years. When you look at how far we’ve come, both in learning what works and in paying attention to how you respond to our content, we are constantly forcing ourselves to be better. In a space where an MMO has very little time to distinguish itself and gain a community, it says something that we started strong and have continued to be successful for over 6 years! It comes down to you the players so we take our development role seriously. This expansion is also an important accomplishment for Paragon Studios because we strive to not only distinguish ourselves from our previous work, but set the standard for how we will move forward as a studio, as a leader in our industry, and as a litmus test to determine how best to support City of Heroes moving forward.

We’ve received excellent feedback from you during the Going Rogue Closed Beta period, which has directly affected many of the features you see in the Going Rogue expansion and I want to thank all of you that participated and took the time to write up your comments – both from a “broken” perspective AND from a subjective perspective because even if something is functional, it doesn’t mean it’s fun. The iteration on feedback has paid off because we made some significant changes that have made our features more enjoyable!

So I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for your loyalty, your passion, and your commitment to City of Heroes and I hope that you enjoy all of the work that we have put into it. Thank you so much for making City of Heroes an amazing game to work on, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and excitement about this Going Rogue expansion (and beyond!), and – most of all - thank you for playing!

Melissa “War Witch” Bianco

A few of you have made comments about the RP aspects of this merger, so I’d like to discuss that a bit.

Influence and Infamy have always encompassed more than just the “kindness and goodwill of the citizens of Paragon” and the “fear and terror which allows you to extort denizens of the Rogue Isles.” Yes, some if of it is actual resources which can be taken with you. It’s also assumed that if you are leaving one city for another that you would “cash out” and call in every favor you’re due on the way out. This is all handled for you behind the scenes, but from an in-character perspective that’s effectively what’s going on.

If you feel as though some of that “goodwill” and “extortion” earned is something you shouldn’t be able to take with you, stay tuned to Going Rogue information for something in this vein. However, it will not be INF in any fashion.

As for the Market Merge, two recent developments in Primal Earth are responsible for this change:

One is the sudden emergence of a large number of fallen heroes and redeemed villains moving between the spheres of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, calling neither place home. These powered individuals live in shades of grey, and facilitate the trading of goods and services in secret between the two worlds.

The other is not quite such common knowledge. Out of nowhere, Wentworth’s has gained access to new suppliers, but all suspicions and investigations have been stymied by the immaculate paperwork of their new partners. Likewise, the Black Market has suddenly seen a rise in activity, though no one has looked too closely at the ‘why’ so long as the goods are solid. For now, it remains a mystery.

Hmmm....

War Witch

Hey everyone,

I know you’ve been asking for some new Going Rogue information, and I’ve got some exciting news that I’d like to share with all of you.

Here at Paragon Studios, we’ve been hard at work preparing our newest expansion, Going Rogue, for prime time. One of our major features, the alignment system that allows our players to switch sides, has presented the perfect opportunity for us to improve Hero and Villain auction and trading dynamics. In order to make the alignment switching system the most fun and rewarding experience possible, we’ve made a few key improvements based on beta tester and internal studio feedback.

Here’s a brief list of these upgrades:

• Heroes and Villains can now trade and gift each other in Co-Op zones (except in PvP zones)
• Players can Global Email (GleeMail) INF and most items to their characters regardless of alignment (some restrictions apply)
• The Auction House markets for Heroes and Villains will become ONE

Wait. What?

Yes. You heard me, we’re merging the markets. After looking at how the system has performed in beta, we thought long and hard about the Markets themselves. This important improvement seemed to make everything more accessible and streamlined, allowing every character to participate. Keeping the markets divided would require significant on-going development support, and we needed to take this into consideration. But, most importantly we wanted to produce the most fun system possible, and this decision reflects that.

These changes are very exciting and will simplify not only the way we create content, but provide freedom for you to play your characters the way you choose.


War Witch

P.S. An informative FAQ is available for questions you may have regarding these major change.

(Note from Avatea: War Witch has also posted an in-game explanation of the Market merge in this thread. It is available here.)

Okay, I'm NOT losing my mind. I was in a meeting when that...thing...wandered by.

HAPPY BIRFDAY, EM!!!!!

WW

Hey everyone!

It is my pleasure to introduce to you John “Protean” Hegner, an extremely talented designer who leads our Mission Department on City of Heroes and is directly involved in all things missions and lore, especially as the stories and world of Praetoria has developed over the last year or so. He has been been driving his mission designers to create engaging, interesting, and gripping missions for not only Going Rogue (the system), but Praetoria mission content as well.

If you have any questions, queries, or comments about anything and everything Mission or Lore-related, Protean is your guy. I wouldn’t trust him, but who can trust Protean anyway? (I kid.) Welcome to the boards, Protean, now get to work!

War Witch

Hello everyone!

This is War Witch and we’re six-years strong today, but can you believe it - this is my very first Anniversary address. How exciting! (Seriously. It's a thrill for me!)

I am so proud to be working on a game that, year after year, provides enjoyment for its players and is a project that is near and dear not only to my heart, but my fellow Paragonians as well.

How cool is it that Issue 17 is coming out TODAY on our Anniversary? New storyarcs, updated Positron Task Force (can I get a “yeah, baby!”??), animated tails (which you have been clamouring for!), Auction House UI/performance upgrades, Global Mail attachments (I like to call it “GleeMail”, not sure if it’ll stick), and more Mission Architect upgrades, new emotes, Level 20 access to Epic Archetypes, and (as the marketing guys like to say)…much more!

I’m also extremely excited about the City of Heroes Going Rogue Expansion this summer! Everyone here at Paragon Studios has put their hearts into it and it’s going to be a lot of fun! This is our premier expansion and we’re very excited to see all our hard work over the last year make it to you guys!

So there is a lot in store for you with new Power Sets, new zones (in the awesomeness that is Praetoria), more missions, and the Going Rogue system (with has lots of missions, too). Not only that, but familiar characters that you met in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles make a re-appearance in this alternate universe, and a teensy tinsy introduction to the Incarnate System should keep you level 50s busy for some time!

Plus, we have more costumes and emotes so you can truly experience what it is like to be a Praetorian. You may have already chosen your side before ever having seen the content, but you will definitely learn that in the world of Praetoria, everything is shades of gray; no one is a true villain, or hero, for that matter.

It has been an amazing time for me, especially in this last year, and I want to thank all of you for being the wonderful and loyal players that you are. I especially want to thank you for taking our game and making it richer and deeper by infusing your own stories, your own lives and friendships, and your own experiences into it. I say this loudly and proudly; I believe that we have the best community in the entire MMO space – loyal and passionate, caring and sincere, respectful and creative.

Happy Anniversary!

War Witch

P.S. Last year, I made an unofficial “Happy Anniversary” post and gave you my big long list of things I fondly remember about City of Heroes. This year, I’m putting the ball in your court.

What is your favourite memory over the last 6 years playing City of Heroes?

Mine is probably listening to Ascendant standing next to a phone booth talking to his agent, Saul, about the Ascendant-O’s cereal issue. Yes, it was me who put in the atmospheric dialogue, “Ascendant who? Sorry, you have the wrong number,” as an homage to his comedic brilliance.