Did you know... The unofficial history thread
By
0zymandous,
Posted on: 2006-03-23 01:22 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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The comic used to be free with the City of Heroes subscription, but that got too expensive.
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Actually, I don't think they changed to a digital distribution because of expenses, but rather because:
A) There were problems making sure everyone was actually getting the comic,
B) There were many requests for Digital Distribution (Especially from those in foreign Countries, including a certain loudmouth Aussie who I wont name, even though his name starts with R ends with k and has "ipperjac" in the middle)
C) The original contract with Blue King Studios prevented them from doing Digital Distribution, but their new contract with Top Cow lets them do it.
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The Rularuu first appeared when the Circle of Thorns got a big ol' mallet and brought them here.
... isn't that like Superboy-Prime punching the walls of reality? 
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Actually, a lot of evidence points to Crey and/or Nemesis being responsible for the Rularuu invasion. The only events directly attributed to the Malleus Mundi are the Halloween invasion of 2004, and the opening of Croatoa in Salamanca.
(SPOILERS)
In a late game arc, Dr. Quarterfield from Firebase Zulu sends you to investigate several Crey facilities operating within the Shadow Shard. You learn that Crey, using technology first created by Nemesis, has been able to travel to other dimensions (or, at least, just the Shadow Shard) undetected by Portal Corp. We know, already, that Nemesis has been able to contact other dimensions before, including Rikti Earth (being partially responsible for the invasion, himself). So, with that in mind, it's possible that either Nemesis or Crey had left the barrier between Earth and the Shadow Shard weak enough for the Rularuu to invade.
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But I don't see why, though. AFAIK, portal tech, even illegal portal tech, does not have any official in-canon issues that would somehow weaken dimensional barriers.
However, the Malleus Mundi is specifically described as having the ability to tear dimensional walls asunder.
Really the only event source that has not been identified is the Winter '04 event. It's not clear whether or not that was another Malleus Mundi mishap (woo!) or a self-contained event or if it was influenced by another party (like the Gamester).
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
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-That singularity for gravity controllers never existed. I can't remember when it was added, but a power called "Fold Space" used to take its place. It was basically Team Teleport, and was rarely used, so the devs took it out.
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Just to be technical, Fold Space was actually the second to last power and Wormhole was the level 32 power. And this was when Wormhole was a single target and had no disorient attached to it. IIRC, Singularity was added around the Purple Patch.
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Really the only event source that has not been identified is the Winter '04 event. It's not clear whether or not that was another Malleus Mundi mishap (woo!) or a self-contained event or if it was influenced by another party (like the Gamester).
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The giant walking snowmen clearly were NOT related to the Malleus Mundi! You know the song...
"There must have been some evil,
in that old silk hat they found,
for when they placed it on his head,
he slew all the kids around!"
"OK, first of all... Shut Up." - My 13-Year-Old Daughter
29973 "The Running of the Bulls" [SFMA] - WINNER of the Mighty Big Story Arc Contest !
- The Stellar Wind Orbital Space Platform
Did you know...
That I don't know a single interesting, "secret" thing about this game?!
I thought the Winter Lords were caused by Old Man Winter raining down upon Paragon.
Either that or LaserGod thought all the XP would be Totaly Sweet.
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Did you know that an 'open, unbalanced' (any character could choose any power) system was designed and completed (to the point of in-game movies being released) for CoH in it's alpha state? And that, at great expense and the cost of years of production, it was declared unworkable and turned into the Archetype System?
For proof, check out the 'Initial Gamplay Demo' here.
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First, I already said this.
Second, it was never announced that it was the Alpha version of the game so therefore we should assume it was pre-alpha. Plus I was there.
Also there was only 1 movie ever released.
Did you know... Guardian was the first server to conduct a successful assault on the Hamidon?
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The Rularuu first appeared when the Circle of Thorns got a big ol' mallet and brought them here.
... isn't that like Superboy-Prime punching the walls of reality?
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, a lot of evidence points to Crey and/or Nemesis being responsible for the Rularuu invasion. The only events directly attributed to the Malleus Mundi are the Halloween invasion of 2004, and the opening of Croatoa in Salamanca.
(SPOILERS)
In a late game arc, Dr. Quarterfield from Firebase Zulu sends you to investigate several Crey facilities operating within the Shadow Shard. You learn that Crey, using technology first created by Nemesis, has been able to travel to other dimensions (or, at least, just the Shadow Shard) undetected by Portal Corp. We know, already, that Nemesis has been able to contact other dimensions before, including Rikti Earth (being partially responsible for the invasion, himself). So, with that in mind, it's possible that either Nemesis or Crey had left the barrier between Earth and the Shadow Shard weak enough for the Rularuu to invade.
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But I don't see why, though. AFAIK, portal tech, even illegal portal tech, does not have any official in-canon issues that would somehow weaken dimensional barriers.
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During the course of Dr. Quarterfield's task force, you learn that the Rularuu have always known how to traverse dimensions, lacking only the components. At the end of the task force (third to last mission, I think), you stop the Rularuu from completing two portals they were putting together from salvaged Crey technology. However, another team of Rularuu complete a portal and invade Paragon City (in a much smaller force than the event, obviously).
So, before this task force is in the game, the Rularuu invade. Even before that task force, they have the knowledge needed to travel to our dimension. Whether they did so with technology stolen from Nemesis or Crey, or did so because of the Malleus Mundi (not so much being summoned, but using the hammering of the dimensional barrier to their advantage), we can only assume. I'm just assuming it's something I've personally seen over something I haven't.
...that Regen originally wasn't able to regen until they got to level 28? Integration had no regen component, Fast healing was much less effective, so a regens only real defense for 28 levels was reconstruction. This was why Instant Healings massive healing capability as a toggle was regarded as reasonable, as it you had to go through 28 levels of getting your [censored] kicked first before you finally got some payback. 
...Regen, SR and Ice Armour were quite popular, because they were the only defence sets to give mobile status protection. Nearly all Inv and stone tanks had Teleport so they could move around with status protection up. Fire tanks had hardly any status protection .
...in the first few months after release, blasters made up a huge proportion of the player base, as mobs had much lower hit points and range. This allowed blasters to wipe out entire spawns by throwing 2-3 AoEs while hovering out of range. Blasters would often refuse to join groups as the levelled faster and felt safer solo. This period of the game is occasionally referred to as "City of Blasters".
...scrappers didn't originally have criticals. They were added to give the scrapper the role of "boss killer" as scrappers had no real role in teams, and were usually passed over for the other classes.
...hitting a moving mob with a melee attack used to be a real pain, as the system did not queue attacks until the mob came in range, as it does now. Melee attacks just displayed "out of range" and refused to fire. Using a melee attack on a running mob therefore meant chasing after it, overtakking it, standing in its path and hoping to get the timing right so that your attack would fire as the mob ran past you, before it got out of range.
....the above used to cause scrappers and tankers to issue death threats to anyone who user fear powers or excessive knockback (fear originally made mobs turn and run).
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Really the only event source that has not been identified is the Winter '04 event. It's not clear whether or not that was another Malleus Mundi mishap (woo!) or a self-contained event or if it was influenced by another party (like the Gamester).
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From Cuppa's Announcement, she mentions a "Winter King". I've always wondered if this king is the archvillain of the winter horde, or if it was a typo and supposed to be winter lord.
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The Winter King has awakened from his slumber, casting an icy gaze over Paragon City. What cold ambitions lie in his frigid soul? What devastating powers will he unleash on the unsuspecting citizens of our fair city? Keep on your guard, as with icy breath, he approaches swiftly, silently, to freeze the very heart of the City of Heroes.
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The Dark Blade
"I've felt your mouse on me before, you perv...." - Troy Hickman
Paragon Wiki
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...hitting a moving mob with a melee attack used to be a real pain, as the system did not queue attacks until the mob came in range, as it does now. Melee attacks just displayed "out of range" and refused to fire. Using a melee attack on a running mob therefore meant chasing after it, overtakking it, standing in its path and hoping to get the timing right so that your attack would fire as the mob ran past you, before it got out of range.
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Oh, how I hated that. I deleted several melee characters before they even got to level 6 just because I hated running after all those Hellions and Skulls. Totally unheroic. I've made some melee characters since and have had a lot of fun with them.
Which reminds me...
Did you know that the original animation for "Storm Kick" from the Martial Arts set was completely different? It used to throw up a leg and deliver several swift kicks in succession. But the animation time was very long and there were many complaints, so it was changed to the Storm Kick we have today. I still miss the original, since it made me feel really awesome... but it was a really long animation.
~Missi
http://tinyurl.com/yhy333s
Miss Informed in 2016! She can't be worse than all those other guys!
Did you know that everyone used to be ALOT more powerfull then they are today!?
The power Rage, from super strength, did not always have the less of 25 end and the 10 seconds of downtime. When Rage wore off you were hit with a very large disorient. The mag of it was just below the max protection of your mez shield. So any minor mezzing attack would break through ans stun you.
So as long as you were not mezzed you could fighting with perma, sometimes stacked, Rage with no downtime.
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From Cuppa's Announcement,
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Speaking of Cuppa, did you know that she was not always our Mistress of Forums? Back in the Alpha and Beta days it was Aura. They then added Cuppa sometime after Gold, and Aura went to only occasionally showing up around the posts. Finally, Aura moved on to other projects and Cuppa became our permenant Zookeeper.
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Did you know...
That I don't know a single interesting, "secret" thing about this game?!
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I bet you knew this:
Did you know.....
...that the Rikti monkeys used to NOT have the stupidly annoying and utterly ridiculous Psi powers. ( I mean - if the regular troops can't Psi you to death how in the HELL can their pet monkeys develop this power????)
...that the escaped prisoners used to actually hand out normal experience for defeating minions. Both of the above villain types were farmed so often that the Devs went back and implemented changes making them relatively useless to hunt unless you are working on badges.
There were several other minion/villain types altered as well, but these two really stick out in my mind for needing some further tweaks.
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The Rularuu first appeared when the Circle of Thorns got a big ol' mallet and brought them here.
... isn't that like Superboy-Prime punching the walls of reality?
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, a lot of evidence points to Crey and/or Nemesis being responsible for the Rularuu invasion. The only events directly attributed to the Malleus Mundi are the Halloween invasion of 2004, and the opening of Croatoa in Salamanca.
(SPOILERS)
In a late game arc, Dr. Quarterfield from Firebase Zulu sends you to investigate several Crey facilities operating within the Shadow Shard. You learn that Crey, using technology first created by Nemesis, has been able to travel to other dimensions (or, at least, just the Shadow Shard) undetected by Portal Corp. We know, already, that Nemesis has been able to contact other dimensions before, including Rikti Earth (being partially responsible for the invasion, himself). So, with that in mind, it's possible that either Nemesis or Crey had left the barrier between Earth and the Shadow Shard weak enough for the Rularuu to invade.
[/ QUOTE ]
But I don't see why, though. AFAIK, portal tech, even illegal portal tech, does not have any official in-canon issues that would somehow weaken dimensional barriers.
[/ QUOTE ]
During the course of Dr. Quarterfield's task force, you learn that the Rularuu have always known how to traverse dimensions, lacking only the components. At the end of the task force (third to last mission, I think), you stop the Rularuu from completing two portals they were putting together from salvaged Crey technology. However, another team of Rularuu complete a portal and invade Paragon City (in a much smaller force than the event, obviously).
So, before this task force is in the game, the Rularuu invade. Even before that task force, they have the knowledge needed to travel to our dimension. Whether they did so with technology stolen from Nemesis or Crey, or did so because of the Malleus Mundi (not so much being summoned, but using the hammering of the dimensional barrier to their advantage), we can only assume. I'm just assuming it's something I've personally seen over something I haven't.
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I'll hammer your dimensional barrier.
....I'm so sorry! I've been possesed by Bob again!
Did you know....
...The Tanker power "Unyielding Stance" (the primary mez protection for Inv. tanks), used to be a rooted power. Meaning, when it was toggled on, your character couldn't move.
...(spoiler!) Statesman and Lord Recluse are brothers-in-law!
Did you know that Statesman's origin is Magic while Lord Recluse's origin is Science...even though they got their powers from the same source (the Fountain of Zeus)?
This is because Statesman (aka Marcus Cole) believed that the water from the fountain was magical. Lord Recluse (aka Stefan Richter), on the other hand, believed that there was science behind it.
This is where they began to seperate and see things differently.
50s: Silent Spy - MA/Regen Scrapper | Tinkerhell - SS/Inv Brute | Extrasensory - Psi/Men Blaster | Ana Cruz - DP/PD Corruptor | Sara Thunderbird - Elec/Elec Scrapper | Pinstrike - Spines/SR Scrapper | Cold Feet - Cold/Cold Blaster
@Silent Spy, Champion Server
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From Cuppa's Announcement,
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Speaking of Cuppa, did you know that she was not always our Mistress of Forums? Back in the Alpha and Beta days it was Aura. They then added Cuppa sometime after Gold, and Aura went to only occasionally showing up around the posts. Finally, Aura moved on to other projects and Cuppa became our permenant Zookeeper.
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Cuppa was always there! At least, in all of our hearts.
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Did you know that the original animation for "Storm Kick" from the Martial Arts set was completely different? It used to throw up a leg and deliver several swift kicks in succession. But the animation time was very long and there were many complaints, so it was changed to the Storm Kick we have today. I still miss the original, since it made me feel really awesome... but it was a really long animation.
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Part of the reason Storm Kick had it's animation changed was due to animation time (In fact, most of MA's attacks had their animations shortened, except for Storm Kick's which was completly changed).
The other reason was because of the way Storm Kick actually worked. Originally, Storm Kick was a 4-hit DoT. The problem was that the system couldn't be set to check ToHit's for each individual strike (Or "Kick"). So Storm Kick was either an all or nothing attack. You either did all four hits of damage, or you missed every single one.
Suffice to say, being rooted in place for a two to three minute animation when you missed was NOT very fun. So they changed the animation AND the way Storm Kick itself worked. Other changes to MA's included removing the "Pose" from Crane Kick (Where you struck a Karate Kid-Style Pose before kicking), and shortened Dragons Kick and Eagles Claw.
Did you know...
...that it used to be possible to color your character's skin and costume identically, leading to a few people making 'naked' characters. After complaints by concerned citizens, this was changed so that costumes use a slightly different palette than skin tones.
Chests and breasts used to have nipple geometry, too.
For similar reasons, for a long time, characters were not allowed letters or numbers as chest emblems.
In Beta, there was a huge thread of screenshots of 'homage' character designs. Gone now, for obvious reasons.
In CoV Beta, there were a couple of scantily-clad npcs near Mercy (I think) called Tart and Vixen that would make 'suggestive offers' to passers-by.
Story Arcs I created:
Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!
Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!
Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!
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The other reason was because of the way Storm Kick actually worked. Originally, Storm Kick was a 4-hit DoT. The problem was that the system couldn't be set to check ToHit's for each individual strike (Or "Kick"). So Storm Kick was either an all or nothing attack. You either did all four hits of damage, or you missed every single one.
Suffice to say, being rooted in place for a two to three minute animation when you missed was NOT very fun. So they changed the animation AND the way Storm Kick itself worked.
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Shadow Maul, anyone? Missing with Shadow Maul is the most humiliating experience. You stand there and punch air for many many seconds and do no damage at all.
~Missi
http://tinyurl.com/yhy333s
Miss Informed in 2016! She can't be worse than all those other guys!
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In CoV Beta, there were a couple of scantily-clad npcs near Mercy (I think) called Tart and Vixen that would make 'suggestive offers' to passers-by.
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Port Oakes, mostly. They're not there anymore? 
Never surrender! Never give up!
Help keep Paragon City alive with the unofficial City of Heroes Tabletop Role Playing Game!
Did you know that an 'open, unbalanced' (any character could choose any power) system was designed and completed (to the point of in-game movies being released) for CoH in it's alpha state? And that, at great expense and the cost of years of production, it was declared unworkable and turned into the Archetype System?
For proof, check out the 'Initial Gamplay Demo' here.
Note the Villain groups that flash by that we haven't seen yet:
Revelation, Seraphim, Twilight Men, Killing Crew, Fear Factor
Did you know that I think we ought to have CuppaJo move this thread to the Player Guides section, where it won't get deleted if there is a gap in updates?
Story Arcs I created:
Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!
Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!
Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!