Steady's Gaming Blog

I just got a nice tweet about Issue 18: Shades of Grey Overview for City of Heroes. I have to admit it had three words in it, I thought I would never see again, Cathedral of Pain. This is a sore spot for many players in City of Heroes, Especially the PVP crowd.. It use to be a trail were up to 24 level 50’s had an hour to complete missions in order to obtain an Item of Power. This was put in your base, and guarded by any means necessary during base raids. It was a buggy little piece of work that was only live for about 30 days.

It looks like it is back; it also looks like it might have some changes. Makes no mention of base raids, the rewards not look like merits and badges. Come on, how about a few purples. I have a feeling base raids are a thing of the past. This has raid written all over it, I also like the fact that it has to be done in an hour. I always enjoyed the sewer trial, mainly because it has a time limit, and you have to use teamwork to get it done. This looks like more of the same.

Finally, the merging of the Auction house markets on the red and blue side. All I can say is that it is about time. Also you can trade inspirations’ on co-op zones, with the other side. Good deal that was always a pain, not being able to give some one an inspiration so they could rez.

Finally a new tips system; foes will drop clues that can start missions. That is a great way to add content, and not have to make new zones. Looks like another good free expansion is no the way, I cannot wait.

There has been some news about City of Heroes, Going Rogue in the past few weeks. Of course they have let us know how much it is going to cost. It will cost $29.99 for the normal expansion and $39.99 for the collector’s addition. They released details about the next free expansion, Issue 17: Dark Mirrors and Going Rogue. The big news is the new ultra mode, a graphics update. Which honestly does not do much for me; I am not one of those graphics people that think my computer world has to look like the real world. Positron has posted a video card shopping guide on the COH forums, so check it out to see if you will be able to run ultra mode. In a nutshell, I do not play games for the graphics, but some people do, so this will be nice. Also looks like the normal expansion stuff, new powers sets, costumes, and of course new badges. What would a City of Heroes expansion be without a few new badges?

War Witch has been making the rounds with people like Top Ten Hammer, and Becketts Massive Online Gamer. I am not seeing a lot of information here. Yes, there will be two more power sets, and a new zone, you can switch sides, all well and good, but not something I am sure I want to pay for. We just went through this with Champions, unless I am getting a level cap raise, or some killer end game content, why would I pay good more for a few new zones, and powers. Yes I can switch sides, but is that worth $29.99, what am I going to do once I switch, run stuff I have already ran? City of Heroes has always been one of my favorite games, and I hope they are going to give me more then I am seeing here, because if they don’t, I am not sure if I will be Going Rogue. I don’t want to be one of those grumpy gaming bloggers, but the MMO world is getting crowded, and I have to send my kids to college soon, so I am being a bit pickier about where I spend my gaming dollars.

Finally it is time for one of the best weekends of the year. Double XP weekend starts Thrusday, March 4th until Sunday, March 7th. Also if you have an inactive account, you can play free of charge all weekend. So if you are looking for someone to run with, check out the Combat Engineers, on the Freedom, Virtue and Justice servers, or the Dark Combat Engineers on the Freedom Server, if you are playing villains.