[City of Heroes] Issue 7 is taking a little longer than expected. The ninth teaser for it is out (Hero version). Past issues have had two teasers before things went on patch, while this one has had more than two months of teasers. So the heroes are perhaps a bit restless. I do not think the PR team was expecting to need that many teasers, as they have gone as far as showing off new walls and listing every power in the new power pools and the patrol pools (oh, and getting a patron was its own update), which would be a bit more exciting if most of the powers were not recycled, sometimes with new graphics.
I am still looking forward to Mayhem Missions in Issue 7. As I said a couple of months ago, those are what I was looking for in CoV. Just six months after release, they are on the horizon. There is a trailer video out, which uses the Mayhem Missions to show off the new costume bits, powers, and NPC hero groups, as well as the detonation of pedestrians and objects.
That “six months” thing is an issue, though. Most of Issue 7 is for the villains. Issue 6 was mostly the adjustments needed so that CoH and CoV could PvP. So this issue is taking twice as long, and the heroes are going to be waiting even longer to get much hero-specific content, unless the plan for Issue 7 has changed since the early teasers. CoH got Croatoa in August. If the normal update schedule resumes (quarterly), even if the next patch is chock-full of CoH content, it will still be coming out next August.
Am I wrong, or does that sound a lot like abandoning City of Heroes for a year to focus on the new toy? Also, the big change to CoH during that year was the introduction of the (mostly) hated (but probably necessary) Enhancement Diversification.
There is a 2nd Anniversary message announcing next year’s new box for sale (expansion, not a third kinda stand alone), with what looks like two issues planned before then (Issue 9) (although who knows if Issue 9 will accompany the expansion the way Issue 6 accompanied CoV?), which will bring some City of Heroes content up to City of Villains quality.
Whew, lots of links today. I’m pooped. Notify me if any of them break.
[edit: One more to toss in. Van Hemlock may be glad to see that the upcoming City of Heroes/Villains veterans feature will, in fact, reward you for having been around a long time, rather than for buying in bulk. Follow the link if that makes no sense.]
[edit2: While I was composing, Issue 7 went to pre-download on the test server, which means you can now download the test version even if you cannot play it. This probably means a release to test in early/mid May. So Issue 7 goes live in June?]
: Zubon
Those Mayhem Missions, do they occur in a “mirror” of the hero’s cities or will there be actual heroes running about? And if they are, can they interfere?
Not being more familiar with big MMORPGs, I was foolishly logging in every day in the hopes that I7 would start downloading. It looks really cool, especially with that Mayhem Mission video.
Oh, and everything I’ve read so far suggests Mayhem Missions are instanced. Big name heroes can indeed show up, but they’re computer controlled (not PVP).
That sounds correct to me. While it has never been stated, the assumption is that Mayhem Missions are PvE content.
And Issue 7 is, yes, on test. It is everything you expected and more, which is to say exactly what has been previewed with some balance changes.
How fun are the Mayhem Missions?
Having completed my first Mayhem Mission, I have to say they’re pretty dang fun. Run around a fairly destructible Paragon City makin’ total chaos, with a running time limit until you’ve got to pull out. Stationary objects are unmissable but have “levels” to reflect their relative destructability – big ol’ trucks are level 15, payphones are level 3, exploding barrels are level 5 – and award no XP on destruction. However, taking out the first object of some type gets you a time bonus – 30 seconds for a parking meter, largest I’ve seen is 3 minutes for a car – and some objects later the time bonus will repeat itself. Taking out the cop NPCs and the Longbow who spawn to hunt you down will also give you a time bonus per complete group defeated.
Die and get hucked into jail, but it’s not all bad – you can bust out a villain who got thrown in there with you. Unfortunately since Paragon City is full of hostiles once they’re outside they get distracted easily. My cellmate ended up blowing his fool self up by punching a car until it exploded.
You’re ultimately supposed to make your way to some soft target (like a bank) at the far end of the instanced mayhem zone, and bust inside and get the loot via a normal heist. A special hero with a Longbow escort will show up to stop you, and once they’re down the mission completes and you get a special temp power. You can still stick around causing chaos, though, which is actually kinda recommended since there are other targets besides just the bank that you can wipe out things in the overworld to get keys to. In my mission I only managed to get tipped off to the imprisoned villain, but there were several other doors which reacted like they were locked instead of just unenterable.
–GF
You found a villain to free? Cool. In my Mayhem Mish last night I let myself get caught and then busted down all the doors; nobody was home.
One side mission I did find led to an office building filled with bombs; after setting them off the place caught on fire. We took fire damage until leaving; on the outside the building graphic had changed to show flames coming out of the windows. Very cool.