Say what you want, but I’ve been a fan of the super booster packs that Paragon Studios has been bringing out for City of Heroes. And the latest, full of Ninja-y goodness is one of the best yet. Let’s see: new weapons for those who wield blades, great costume parts from Sexy Jay, and a little something called Ninja Run What an excellent power! Starting at level 4, you can run faster than sprint, jump higher than hurdle, and look crazy awesome as you flip while jumping. As could be expected, Atlas Park is currently City of Ninjas, but once the initial excitement dies down I think things will fall back into balance. With only one super booster origin to go (Mutation), now all I can do is wait anxiously for the Going Rogue beta. Hopefully it starts in time for my birthday in February!

Fire is the best blaster set.

Let that sink in. FIRE is the best blaster primary power set.
“Uncle Dave, why is Fire the best blaster primary set?”
I’m glad you asked, children. Answer me this; what is a blaster’s job?
“Ranged damage!”
Correct. Now every set has a signature secondary effect. Ice has nifty Slow, Electricity has end drain, Assault Rife has a mixed bag of knockback and debuff, Archery has… uh… hmm… suck (but that’s a whole nother post). The point is; Fire’s secondary effect is: more damage! No other set gives you more unresisted damage options. Let’s have a look…

A great article on MMORPG.com discusses the storylines behind Issue 12, including some great little hints about the branching mission dialogue and mission arcs we can expect. I, for one, really loved this bit:

The image I have in my head is of a stodgy old Midnighter rolling a big crate out in front of the Freedom Phalanx. The lettering on the crate reads, “The Arc of the Covenant”. With a smile, the Midnighter asks the group of heroes, “You gentlemen think you could put this dusty old thing to use?”

Read the entire issue here:
Issue 12: The Midnight Hour and Me

Have you downloaded yours yet? It’s not only gorgeous, it’s a fun way to look back and remember just how far we’ve come. I picked up my copy of CoH the week it launched, and four years later I’m still just as addicted as I was at the beginning.

The 4 year anniversary calendar page

Every time I think they have blown me away and can’t make me any happier, they say something like this:

I can’t tell you how excited I am for our game’s future, and although we have some major announcements yet to be made, one of the things I can talk about is a feature that we are planning. Similar in concept to our character creator, it allows you, the players, to create missions and story arcs for your characters and others to participate in. You’ll be able to pick the map, villain group, and objectives, as well as write the dialog and any clues needed for the missions. When you are satisfied with it, you can upload it and have other players across all servers play it and rate it. Fame will come to the players whose stories rate the best overall. It is features like these that we never dreamed of including when we first shipped, but are excited to be able to offer players very soon.

Just a quick note to let you know that Issue 12 Open Beta will be starting next Tuesday, May 6. I don’t know about you but i intend to take a sick day so I can explore all the things I’ve been waiting for. I’m told by little birdies that so far the updates are fantastic!

OK, this issue looks to be so full of “SQUEE” goodness I almost couldn’t read it out loud to Blue. Let’s see - Villain epic archetypes that do NOT suck, new powersets for every single AT (including plant controllers and storm corrupters) new stuff for level 10-20 AND levels 35-50. And a Hollows zone makeover. And new roman themed stuff. And more power trays.

Yeah, I’m hyperventilating. But you can read it all right here: http://www.cityofheroes.com/game_update12.html