After nearly five years in the Razor Alliance, OV EVE has changed direction. The demands of 0.0 life, and the lack of succession planning had caused burnout at the top levels of the corp and it was decided that the only way to continue in 0.0 was to move into the RG corporation. Nearly all pilots have joined the RG corp within razor which will allow them to continue to fight the good fights under the RZR banner and the directors to go back to enjoying themselves instead of fuelling POS for the rest of their mortal lives. The OV banner has been returned to the control of its founder Tar-om who has taken it back to empire for a life of retirement. OV in EVE will now become a rest home for aged EVE players who want to chill out and chat, and perhaps raid the odd wormhole for fun and profit. If you want to join (or re-join) us then just sling in an app.

The excitement is palpable among heroes and villains alike. Issue 16: Power Spectrum is now available across Paragon City and the Rogue Isles for all to make heroic (or villainous) use of! With this much-anticipated update, players can use the all new character creator and customize most of their powers by selecting themes or changing the colors and animations of specific powers.

Whether you feel the need to match your hero's powers with their bright outfit or want your villain's powers to look even more nefarious, the palette is yours!

But that is far from being all that Issue 16 has to offer. Take a look at the Issue 16 Release Notes to familiarize yourselves with the list of additions in City of Heroes. These include new Mission Difficulty settings for players seeking the ultimate challenge and the all new Super Sidekicking system, making Sidekicking easier and more fun than ever with the convenience of never having to find and wait for someone else to sidekick you again! Powerset Proliferation has also brought select powers to several new Archetypes.

Don't take our word for it though; it's all happening now on a live City of Heroes server near you!

See the Issue 16 trailer here.

Issue 14 goes live!

First City of Heroes set a new standard for player creation and customization in MMOs with its Character Creator. Now, with Issue 14, this game takes another giant step, allowing players to design their own missions and story arcs to share with the entire City of Heroes community across all of our live servers. Using an intuitive interface, players can browse through other player created missions and create their own missions from the ground up. Players will determine details ranging from environments, mission objectives, and enemies, to written fiction and character dialogue; giving their stories nearly infinite depth and personalization.

Read more here.

5 year anniversary celebrations!

Five years ago a trumpet call rung out for heroes...

From around the globe that call was answered and the streets, rooftops, and skies of Paragon City were filled with the widest variety of costumed crusaders ever seen. These stalwart players brought with them the courage, fellowship, and dedication that made Paragon once again a true City of Heroes!

Since that fateful day much has changed. Enemies have fallen and new ones have risen in their place, proving that evil never sleeps. Threats came from alternate dimensions, mystical realms, other times, and even from our own world itself. Lord Recluse loosed an army of villains into the world, turning the Rogue Isles into the largest den of villainy in recorded history. His destined ones showed remarkable will, cunning, and determination in this City of Villains. Heroes and villains came into direct conflict with PvP battles, uncovered new powers, found new worlds to explore... or conquer, broke through with new inventions, and flashed back through time. The most recent development has provided the tools for players to architect all new adventures and help take us into the future.

Now it is a time to celebrate all the triumphs of the last five years and so Paragon Studios has cooked up some special gifts for all our loyal fans.

Please join us for a month of celebration starting on our birthday, April 28th and continuing on throughout the month of May!

Read more here.

What's the only thing as good as City of Heroes on the PC? City of Heroes on the Macintosh, of course! NCsoft is proud to announce the availability of our super-powered MMO on the Mac for those players out there who choose to make it their gaming console of choice. The Mac Special Edition is a digital only download and includes special in-game items that you're not going to want to miss out on!

Check out the official press release here.

Issue 13: Power And Responsibility has arrived on the live servers and is now open!

Some of the main features are:

• Midnight Squad Story Arcs (for Level 20-25 Heroes, Level 30-35 Villains)
• Cimerora Story Arcs (for Level 40-50 Heroes and Level 35-50 Villains)
• The Merit Rewards System
• Day Jobs
• Leveling Pact
• New Shield and Pain Domination Powersets
• Multiple Builds
• PVP Revamp
• Plus a whole host of tweaks, new invention sets, QoL changes and bug fixes

CCP has released the Trinity Expansion, and after some highly embarassing boot.ini nukeage it is now up and running. The main feature is a totally new graphics engine which is available in two flavours: Standard and Premium. Both are designed to take advantage of modern graphics hardware, specifically hardware shaders which were not available when the original was produced. This has unloaded the CPU from shader tasks and allowed CCP to increase responsiveness and frame rates overall.

The Premium version is for graphics cards which support Shader Model 3 and enables High Dynamic Range lighting, complex shadows and takes advantage of new ship models with at least three times the number of polygons used in the original version along with new and more complex textures. The Standard version is for older cards and uses the original models and textures but still runs on the new engine, allowing the same (or perhaps a greater) performance increase. This is a truly ground breaking expansion for EVE, the original award winning graphics engine was a major factor in the game's initial success and it is hoped that the cutting edge replacement will bring in yet more players over the next few years. Almost as a side note, CCP have introduced 18 new ships in this expansion, each with a highly specialised role.

Full patch notes are available here.

There are two versions of the trailer available: 1080p (102Mb) and 720p (64Mb).

The skies over Paragon City are filled with dark, grey thunderheads. It is the same in the Rogue Isles, Europe, and across the globe. Small ships dart through the heavy weather… And there are so very many of them.

The Rikti have returned.

Major Features

Rikti World Invasion: The Rikti have been fought off before. But now, prepare for a desperate battle to save Earth from the new Rikti Invasion Force! Aggressive Rikti forces can attack Paragon City and Rogue Isle areas at any time and with little warning!

Rikti War Zone: Heroes and villains are asked to put aside their differences and co-operate to assist Vanguard, the volunteer force funded by the United Nations Security Council, to stem the flood of Rikti and their attempts to salvage their downed Mother Ship. Earn Vanguard Merits to obtain new costume items and other cool stuff!

Rikti Co-op Task Force: Lady Grey, leader of Vanguard, has a series of missions for a proven team of superpowered individuals, security clearance 45 to 50, designed to take the fight to heart of the Rikti Invasion!

Combined Notes (CoH and CoV)

Invasion!

“The Rikti Return! The Vanguard needs YOU! All super powered beings are encouraged to join the effort! This isn’t about your history, but about OUR future. Join now."

• The Rikti have somehow found a way to bridge the dimensional gap between their world and ours once again, and are staging raids on Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.
• When Zones within the cities are under attack, a world-wide alert will be issued by Vanguard. This alert will show up in your Chat window, warning you in which zone attack is imminent.
• While the invasion is occurring, players do not receive debt while outdoors in an invaded zone.
• Those in that zone that do not wish to be at risk of Rikti attack are asked to take shelter immediately. They can do so by leaving the zone, or moving inside buildings or under cover (overpasses, parking garages, etc.)
• Rikti bombs appear to be unstable and not 100% reliable. Some do not explode on impact and only embed themselves in the ground. These bombs have been noted to detonate after a time, so take caution when you see these. They can be disarmed or delayed by inflicting damage upon them.

Rikti War Zone

The region previously known as the Crash Site has erupted into a War Zone! All non-combatants are advised to stay well clear of the area!

• This zone is now co-operative - Heroes and Villains can both enter into the zone and team together while here. Heroes and Villains cannot fight in this area. They will both arrive into the zone in the Vanguard Base that has been established there.
• Entry points can be found in Vanguard Bases in the following zones:
  • Paragon City:
    • Atlas Park
    • Founders Falls
    • Peregrine Island
  • Rogue Isles:
    • Cap au Diable
    • St. Martial
    • Grandville
  • The SWAT entrance from Crey’s Folly is now sealed.
• The zone is now scaled for levels 35 to 50.
• While in the Rikti War Zone, debt obtained will be 50% of normal.
• When you enter the zone, Levantera, one of the directors of Vanguard, will be auto-issued to you as a contact. Complete her missions to get a feel for the area, as well as be inducted as an honorary member of Vanguard and be able to obtain merits.
• Borea has repeatable missions for you in the Rikti War Zone.
• Other characters that have missions available are Gaussian, Dark Watcher, and Serpent Drummer. They can all be found in the Vanguard Base.
• By joining Vanguard you will earn Vanguard Merits for defeating Rikti as well as completing missions for Vanguard. These Merits can be exchanged for Costume Pieces (of the Vanguard Armor), as well as some other cool stuff. The devices for purchasing these items are special crafting tables located within the Vanguard base. Vanguard Merits can not be used at other crafting tables.
• You can view Vanguard Merits earned from the Salvage window under the ‘Special’ tab.

Rikti Co-op Task Force

The UNSC backs Vanguard for billions. With the second Rikti invasion bearing down upon us, the United Nations Security Council has essentially given Vanguard a blank check to cover the costs of fighting the Rikti. “We don’t have time to haggle over budgets,” says a senior level official in the UNSC. “Vanguard has always been about defeating the Rikti, no matter what. We fully support Lady Grey and her team."

• Lady Grey gives out a Strike/Task Force for 8 super powered individuals with security clearance from 45 to 50. The mission attempts to stop the Rikti before they can get a foothold in our dimension. Be wary, the Rikti are single-minded in the pursuit of their objectives!

Take the fight to the crashed Rikti ship!

• The Rikti have erected strange new energy pylons throughout the area surrounding their crashed ship in the Rikti War Zone. Vanguard engineers have discovered a way to detect Rikti Pylons. To view waypoints to these pylons, check the ‘Special’ option in your map display window.
• Destroying all pylons before the Rikti can replace them will lower the shield on the Rikti Mother Ship in the zone.
• Heroes and Villains are asked to plant explosives inside the ventilation systems of the ship to cripple the Mother Ship repair effort the Rikti have in progress.
• Once enough bombs are planted, the Master of War will arrive to clear out non-Rikti interlopers!
• Characters that participate with this will be rewarded with Vanguard Merits.

Rikti Villain Group Revamp

• The Rikti Villain group has undergone an art and powers revamp.
• The new art vastly upgrades the look of the Rikti and now allows us to use more animations with the Rikti soldiers.
• One major change is the Rikti swords now have a ranged energy weapon in them, allowing them to use both melee and ranged attacks without switching weapons.

Full patch notes are available here.

NetDevil announced today that they are working on a significant expansion to their flagship product: Jumpgate. The new product entitled Jumpgate Evolution features a new graphics engine, all new assets, more accessible gameplay and much more. Brand new in-game screen shots as well as a beta sign-up are available here.

Issue #9: Breakthrough, the next free expansion to the City of Heroes universe, introduces an entirely new level of depth and gameplay. Players acquire and invent new items and have the option to buy and sell them using the new hero and villain auction houses. Along with Issue #9's other great features, this brand new system results in a wealth of new options for heroes and villains alike.

Invention System

Using the highly anticipated Invention system, players acquire and collect "loot" in the form of Salvage and Invention Recipes. These are used together to invent über-enhancements, costume pieces, and more. This creates a world of new activities, rewards and character evolution!

Auction Houses

Where better to buy and sell all of these new items than in the new auction houses! Wentworth's Fine Consignments have sprung up throughout Paragon City while the villains prefer to do their bidding alongside "black-market" trucks placed throughout the Rogue Isles.

Statesman's Task Force

This high-level PvE content allows eight heroes to team up in order to face and defeat Paragon's greatest enemies! Completing this difficult challenge results in some of the game's rarest loot!

New Hamidon Encounter

Not only do villains get their own end-game raid encounter with the "Hamidon", but the new experience is also brought to the Heroes side where players must use new tactics to bring down one of the "City of"s greatest threats.

Presents, ski slopes, snow beasts and more!

Winter is blowing in across the bay to Paragon City, and settling on the Rogue Isles like an icy blanket. New presents and threats await both heroes and villains this holiday season. By simply logging in and visiting Paragon City or the Rogue Isles between December 14th and January 2nd, your character will receive the Cold Front badge and a Fuzzy Earmuffs costume piece, so you can look stylish and keep warm while patrolling the streets (or committing nefarious deeds!). You'll also receive the Holiday Spirit Temporary Power, which grants 24 hours of Debt Protection.

And what's more, you'll receive the Holiday Cheer Temporary Power - a real gift of giving. You have to target another player and use Holiday Cheer on them. It will reward them with a random, Mystery Gift - possibly a Temporary Power, a sack full of Influence or Infamy, or maybe even a very recognizable hat.

There's a whole lot more going on this Winter, with familiar faces and presents galore. Check back next week for more details of what's in store for Paragon as the old year comes to a close.