Jumping off from bigangry's post, I'm going to say that issue 16 is my favorite so far. And I've been playing for about 4 and a half years.

Why?

Last night, the husband and I decided to roll new alts; he wanted to try out an elec/shield scrapper and I wanted to roll a blaster (haven't played one since before new defiance and I want to eventually get one of each AT to 50). So he rolled his scrapper and I rolled my new baby sonic/mental blaster. We 'pacted them, ran through early contact missions to get to 5, and headed over to King's Row.

There were *people* in King's Row. Lots of them. Paladin was up, teams were forming, and we took down Paladin. I can't even remember the last time that happened when I was on. A bunch of people joined us and we ran radio missions and the Atlas safeguard for the jetpack. Lost a few people, gained a few people, nobody cared about level because we were all getting XP, and we steamrolled our way to the early teens.

Hands down, that was the most enjoyable evening I've spent in the City in a long time, and it was all PuG-ing! No stress, lots of fun, lots of XP. And that's not even counting the time spent in Icon changing her sonic blasts to gold/white and mental powers to blue/green.

Best issue ever!

(couple people have seen this before, sorry to them)

Well, now that Issue 16 is here I can finally do what I've been postponing for weeks -- try to set up weekly get-togethers on various servers!

Here's my plan. Now that we have SSK, and there's no more mentor tetris (have I mentioned I love that description?), I'm going to start signing on to Justice on Monday evenings. Whomever wants to run with me is welcome. I'd like to get something a bit like the Gravy Train going; impromptu team arrangement, but lots of fun and regular people. I'm going to use Wiktorie to start up a new SG called the Last Alliance, with a loose theme of "heroes against the damned Rikti". This is any kind of hero, with the additional general idea that if it weren't for the Rikti, they wouldn't have allied at all and might even hunt each other down. So, anti-heroes, mercenaries, and the like are very very welcome and encouraged.

I will probably also try to use that time to pick up some of the TFs that Naienko is missing (outside of the SS TFs). But mostly this is an idea to get together and have fun with regular people, but not necessarily regular characters. After a while, I'm going to start changing servers. After all, there's the Wee Free Men on Liberty to be leveled, and I've got some Triumph toons, and villains are always fun. But I'm going to start on Justice.

I know there's already SG stuff on Mondays. However, Monday is the only day of the week that works for me, and I don't care if I go solo some weeks.

First, here's the link to what appears to be the official NCsoft trailer for Issue 16 (over at MMORPG.COM... why the hell Paragon Studios isn't using this to promote the hell out of the issue, I don't know).

And then here's mine, as per usual on YouTube and on my website. :)



Michelle
aka
Samurai_ko

... never being splattered in a mayhem bank rush because your mentor went looking for longbow -- who went looking for you.
... never having to wait to rez for your mentor to return.
... never seeing your pets die because your mentor got out of range.
... always being able to break out of the jail cells.
... being able to go afk without missing out on xp.
... never getting splattered at a hot door inside a mish.
... never feeling like you can't contribute to the team.
... being able to do anyone's missions and still get xp.

... never having to play mentor tetris again.

Welcome to Issue 16: Power Spectrum

You wanted more control over what your characters’ powers look like, and you are getting it! Issue 16: Power Spectrum takes City of Heroes’ unparalleled character creator to the next level by unveiling a kaleidoscope of colors for your characters’ powers. Become your own pyrotechnician as you select themes for your characters’ powers and color coordinate the hues of the power effects.

( Issue 16: Power Spectrum has the following features: )

( Issue 16 Patch Notes )

I took it upon myself to play test and I got to say wow! I love the color changing schemes and everything. The 4XP is way better than the old system, and most of all..My fire/rad troller is now super powered! Why you might say? cause now I can have 3 PBAoE toggles going all at once, Hot Feet (I'll probably franken slot it for acc/dam/end redux) Choking Cloud (2 end redux and 4 proc's) and world of confusion (2 end redux, a few procs, and maybe damage or confuse duration). I respec'd and tried her out in cimeroa on the wall...awesome!
Then i found a battle maiden farm at +1 (and then +2) with bosses.....piece of cake. I can finally see the graphics and everything melts! granted recovery will have to be slotted for, but i think i am gaining ground on fire/kins. no other combonation can run 3 procs at once, though i see hot feet/WoC being the new hot duo for fire/kins. the procs in CC...when they hit it is so sweet! anyone elses thoughts from test?

What are your thoughts of Power Customization vs. Going Rogue?

I realize that GR is going to add more content to the game, and I am very much looking forward to it, but honestly I find myself MORE excited about Power Customization. To be fair though, I'm a tweaker. Two of my main heroes used to be broke AND out of tailor tokens AND out of vet tailor tokens, because I spend so much time at Icon. So PC just does a lot more for me than GR (which again, don't get me wrong, I am totally looking forward to GR too!)

So how do you feel about the two?

Also, do you feel that these will help CoX compete in the hero MMO marketplace? Or do you think they'll just allow CoX to "keep up"?

I16 pre-download on Live when you log off!

I16 on Sept 9th, perhaps?

Current Mood: excited

First the link:
Open Beta I16 Patch Notes

( text of link behind cut: NSFW due to potential nerdgasm/squeeage )

Ja

Rei

Current Mood: NERDGASM!

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=188364

The Open Beta for Issue 16: Power Spectrum is now available to all our City of Heroes and City of Villains players!

To check out the Open Beta, all you need to do is log into the Training Room Test Server! If you are not familiar with the process to access the test server, please read this post: How to get on the test server (and char copy tool).

Also please keep in mind that this is a beta version, which means you might encounter bugs or other gameplay issues. We strongly encourage you to report them using the /bug command ingame, and we'll be happy to collect any comments you might want to share with us on our official boards. Your feedback is very valuable to us!

that I16 is going into open beta tomorrow...

Edit: To clarify - I'm not in closed beta and I have no contact with the devs, no definite information and did no hacking, covert searching, etc. What little I can see is likely the result of a software glitch.

So, with I16 closing in on us, I've started thinking about what colors I can manipulate to make new sets. My first plan is to take Energy Manipulation and make it green and call it Radiation Manipulation, so I can have a rad/rad blaster.

What are you planning to proliferate through customization?

Also, powers list for Earth Assault.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm?feature=3399&page=1&game=3&bhcp=1

Earth Assault, like other Assault sets, combines a good mix of Ranged and Melee powers. It has a healthy dose of soft control, good damage, and with Mud Pots - one of the best Damage Auras available.

Earth Assault:

1 Stone Spears
2 Stone Mallet
4 Tremor
10 Hurl Boulder
16 Power Boost
20 Heavy mallet
28 Seismic Smash
35 Mud Pots
38 Fissure

Additionally, we also conducted a mini-proliferation pass on the Ancillary and Patron Power Pools, adding 5th powers to most Pools and adding Blaze Mastery for Scrappers. This has been something which people have been asking for since Fire primaries and secondary's were given to them.

Current Mood: ecstatic

Source
( I16: Super-Sidekicking Explained )

MMORPG dev journal by Positron on Powers Customization

With screenshots

Nothing new as such.

Small tidbit from Positron
I can't believe we forgot the patch note about Pets zoning with their owners in I16.

EDIT:
part 2
To those that think I am pulling your leg. I am not, and Pohsyb is "da man" for making this dream of mine come true.

Tweeted Positron:

I16 Closed Beta... today!

Issue 16 closed beta today. I believe that anyone can access the character creator/power customization without actually logging into game

Training room is down to get fix for only closed beta testers being able to log in to character creator working.

There are 6 clips from Comic-con's floor demos (demoes?) courtesy of forum user Zekiran_Immortal, located HERE -- Thoughts and revelations past the ( cut! )

BONUS ADDITION!! 63-month Vet Reward (fog of war removal) in action! Super-sweet animation! (Takes place at 7 seconds in, the rest is just random fighting)

From this thread on the forums...

Beta timeframe:

"Within 2 weeks, last word from Posi and crew. Early August, when they're all back and settled in again and the forums are moved. Remember, they had enough of the powers customization to show off at the comic con. They've been working on this project for over a year now - it's come a long way."

Something big...

"Yes, I firmly believe that with JUST the colorization it'd be enough to get some folks back out - but that's NOT all that is going in I16. I haven't been told what else there is but apparently it is HUGE. HUGE. So... yeah."

"... wha?! As well as the powerset proliferation AND power customization AND the new difficulty thingy, there's something else and it's HUGE?"

"Yes. Ocho didn't say what, but he indicated there's WAY more than what we're seeing. Yeh I'm like.... WHAT IS IT?!"

Also, game is not dying: (from another thread)

"Then let me quell this right now: Ocho told me (no real numbers) that already the subscription and active player rate is way beyond what they even expected with I15+. The subscriber rates are up. UP. Like, UP. *eyebrow waggle and wide-eyes* UP."

From The Official Forums

"The character design process looks exactly the same as it was, with two exceptions. After your costume design, the 'Next' button takes you to the Powers screen, where you can alter the colors of your powers. In addition, across the top of the screen are text labels for the segments of character creation -- Archetype, Origin, Primary, Secondary, Body Type, Costume, Powers, Name; clicking on one takes you to that section without losing progress, so you can jump around through character creation in any order.

The powers section has drop-down sections for Primary and Secondary powers [...] These open up into a list of all the powers for that powerset. The powerset has a color choice box -- 'Default', 'Custom', 'Bright [power]', and 'Dark [power]' (i.e., 'Bright Fire' and 'Dark Fire'). When you pick 'Bright', you get additive color changes -- the colors you pick brighten the power (i.e., the standard Energy Blast colors are 'Bright'), and when you pick 'Dark', you get subtractive color changes -- the colors you pick darken the power (i.e., the standard Pain Domination is 'Dark'). You have an "Apply colors over entire character' button that works for powers the same way the similar button does for costumes, and each power has the same options individually (except 'Custom', which appears for the powerset when you set colors individually for the powers)."

There's more, but that's the stuff I was most interested to hear. :]

Edit: And there are screenshots!