The City of Heroes Summer Event starts TOMORROW! Intrepid Informer Issue 22

The holidays are always a great opportunity to introduce something light-hearted and fun to the game. 2012 introduces to City of Heroes the Summer Blockbuster Double Feature, available for teams of 4 players, levels 15-50. The Double Feature places you in two new movies, exclusive to the City of Heroes Universe.

My goal with this event was to do something unlike anything we've done before. The Summer Blockbuster has provided me the opportunity to make homage to the over-the-top movies that I love while providing a unique play experience for City of Heroes that also has appeal to our international audience. Our art department has been hard at work, crafting some of the most stand-out locations in the game thus far for this event.

In 'Time Gladiator,' players must battle Minotaurs, Ninjas, Robots and Gunslingers on the sandy grounds of an immense Roman coliseum. Wave after wave of enemies assails the players and they must survive at any cost to become the new champions. The coliseum crowd is the ultimate judge of your team's performance and they will scream and cheer for a proper show. Should you oblige them, the God-Champion of the coliseum may reveal himself and subject your team to the ultimate challenge.

In 'Casino Heist," you find yourself knocking over the posh and luxurious casino, Tyrant's Palace. Each with their own roles, your team will con, sneak, hack and steal its way through the security defenses of the casino. Just as you're about to get away with your haul, the Chief of Security will appear to settle the score. Taking the Tyrant's Palace Casino for everything it's worth will require specialized expertise and finesse.

Time Gladiator was my opportunity to get a bit campy and humorous with the Summer Event. Each of the coliseum champions that you'll face is more and more futuristic and absurd for the setting. In between Minotaurs, Gunslingers and Giant Robots, you'll be assaulted by Ninjas and Rikti Monkeys while a loud-mouthed announcer blithely heralds each new champion. Some of the badges I created for the double feature reflect the tongue-and-cheek approach I took while creating the event - have fun getting that Ninja Monkey badge!

The Coliseum also features the Favor mechanic, a system you'll use to gain buffs, access badges and fight special opponents. The Favor mechanic is simple; you'll earn favor by defeating enemies and inciting the crowd. You'll lose favor naturally over time and if you're defeated. If your team can fill the favor bar, they'll get to fight the bonus stage at the very end: The God-Champion of the Coliseum comes to fight you along with the three main Champions from the previous stages. The "Incite the Crowd" temporary power will be accessible at several times throughout the event and using it within a time limit will grant you a damage buff and gain you favor for your team.

The combatants in the Coliseum provide complicated and engaging fights - each one has a panoply of cool special abilities. The three main Champions are Cornutus the Minotaur, Frank 'Hunnerd Yard' McCain and Gotterdammerung, but each of them have henchmen that assist them as they fight. Cornutus has some powerful charge attacks, Frank gets more powerful as his dogs are defeated and Gotterdammerung explodes when taken out, but only emerges after you defeat one of his henchmen, Apocalypse or Armageddon.

While Time Gladiator is a straight up arena fight with a few twists, Casino Heist is like nothing we've done before, assigning unique roles and specialized tasks to each of the four players during the heist of the Tyrant's Palace Casino. You will assume the role of the Hacker, Hitter, Grifter and the Thief. Each of these roles will have a few different objectives, ranging from smashing generators to teaching casino patrons how to count cards.

Once you've got the cash, your task your task has just begun. You've got to defend it! Thugs Sylvia Rexson and Ted Dubois will show up at your hideout to reclaim the lost cash. Your performance in the previous sections will determine how complex these fights are as well as whether you get to fight the bonus enemy: back-up security and part-time crooner, Jimmy Crescendo.

While Waiting for the Time Gladiator or Casino Heist movies, you'll be sent to the lobby. Our brand new Theater Lobby shows off the winning player submissions from our recent Design a Movie Poster contest. Also, be sure to head to the Concession Stand to check out their selection of refreshments served up by Theater Popcorn Man!

While the order of the event is random, players will have to complete both movies of the double feature in order to get the final reward- a new universal damage IO set. This set has near-universal appeal for players of all level ranges and also includes a special new proc that will convert the knockback of a power to knockdown. Individual characters are time-restricted to earning no more than one random enhancement of this set every 20 hours.

I'm especially proud of the work that the team has put toward this unique event. So, take some time out this summer to go have fun at the movies, City of Heroes style.

We originally planned on launching the Summer Event on July 10, 2012 but no movie is truly great without a plot twist! Our Double Feature will have its premier tomorrow, June 27, 2012 at 10:30AM PDT!

See you in the movies!

Cord "ThinkTank" Carney

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