History of City of Heroes and City of Villains

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The massively multiplayer online role-playing computer games City of Heroes and City of Villains are continually being expanded by the games' developers.

[edit] Updates

The developers continually expand City of Heroes with free downloadable patches/updates. City of Villains was released as a quasi expansion for City of Heroes, because both games will stand alone, but there will be some zones where heroes and villains will clash.

  • Issue #1: Through the Looking Glass (June 29, 2004) - high level content (levels 40-50), new zones (Peregrine Island and the Rikti Crash Site), instanced outdoor missions, the ability to have multiple costumes and tailors to allow costumes to be altered after character creation.
  • Issue #2: Shadows of the Past (September 16, 2004) - added capes and "aura" costume effects, six new zones (The Hollows, Troll Tunnels and the four Shadow Shard zones), new villains, respecification of powers, badge hunting, Exemplars (reverse sidekicks) and the Pocket D dance club.
  • Issue #3: A Council of War (January 4, 2005) - Epic Archetypes (Kheldians, split into Peacebringer and Warshade archetypes), the 5th Column enemy group is replaced by the Council, Ancillary Power Pools, new zone (Striga Isle), global chat (Completed in March 16, 2005), new task forces, new zone events (Giant Octopus, Ghost Ship, Clockwork Paladin), mission difficulty settings, and new "toxic" and "Quantum" damage types. Kheldians are particularly vulnerable to Quantum damage, which does not affect other archetypes.
  • Issue #4: Colosseum (May 4, 2005) - Player versus player Arena combat, Anime-centric costume extensions, body part proportions adjustable by slider, new mouse controls, multi-supergroup coalition chat system.
  • Issue #5: Forest of Dread (August 31, 2005) - Four new power sets (two Archery and two Sonic) for use by the Blaster, Controller and Defender archetypes, new Blaster Epic power set "Electric Mastery," new Blaster automatic power "Defiance," new Controller automatic power "Containment," a new zone called Croatoa (magically themed; with missions, task forces and some new villains geared to security levels 25-35), new events, new missions, and new task forces. A new Defender automatic power, "Vigilance," and new inspirations for damage resistance were added in an update following Issue 5. Virtual teammates in missions who assist you when rescued, as well as NPC's in missions which need to be escorted to the exit.
  • Issue #6: Along Came a Spider (October 27, 2005) - Integration with CoV including; Super Group bases and badges, three new PvP zones (Bloody Bay, Siren's Call, and Warburg), additions to the PvP Arenas, changes to enhancements, pet management window and longer character names.
  • City of Villains (released October 31, 2005) - A stand-alone game in its own right as well as interoperating with City of Heroes (dubbed "Expanshalone" by one of the developers); new zones, fully-realized PVP system, supergroup bases and base raids, improved graphics, improved physics and game mechanics.
  • Issue #7: Destiny Manifest (June 6, 2006) - High level content (41-50) for City of Villains, including the PvE zone Grandville and Patron power pools. A new PvP zone, "Recluse's Victory". New power sets, including Electric Melee / Electric Armor (Brute) and Thugs (Mastermind). "Mayhem Missions" for villains, with destructible environments. New supergroup base features, including Storage Items, Empowerment Stations, Supergroup Banners, and Base Color Tinting. City of Heroes/Villains gain new global chat and UI improvements, and City of Heroes gains reflective windows, added bump and specular mapping, a variety of higher resolution textures, and full screen depth of field effects. Also, for those who own both games, all costume options from each game were made available in the other game.
  • Issue #8: To Protect And Serve (November 28, 2006) - Veterans' Reward system--a thank-you to long time subscribers, with gifts not limited to powers, costumes (such as trenchcoats for 3-month veterans [1]), and base items. Police Band and Safeguard missions for heroes, new costume options, and PvP in the Pocket D dance club. The City of Heroes hazard zone 'Faultline' was reworked and reclassified as a city zone with new missions and content.
  • Issue #9: Breakthrough (pending, 2007) - New content in the form of a story-arc. New "Inventions" system that allows players to craft Enhancements and costume pieces using recipes and salvage [2]. Statesman’s Task Force, the Hero equivalent to the Recluse Strike Force, will be introduced [3]. Revised content in the form of revamping zones in City of Heroes using the lessons learned in the design of more recent zones such as those for City of Villains, and adding new content to underutilized zones. New zones, new mission tile sets.

[edit] Pending content for both games

Below is content that is planned to be in future expansions of City of Heroes and City of Villains that was mentioned by the developers.

  • More end-game content
  • New power sets for all of the normal Archetypes (For Masterminds, it has been specifically stated that it won't be animal or clown based)
  • New badges
  • The ability to move characters to other servers (May be a paid service)
  • The Inventions System (former Skills system, currently due in Issue 9)
  • New Epic Archetypes:
    • Coralax (Villains)
    • Incarnates (Heroes & Villains)
    • Blood of the Black Stream (Villains)
    • Nictus (evil Kheldian Archetype for Villains)
  • New Task Forces and Strike Forces
  • Villains gaining the ability to enter Paragon City Hazard Zones
  • Sharing of power sets once unique to Villain archetypes to Hero archetypes (Possible example: Fire Blast and Thermal Radiation for Defenders)

[edit] Events

Several special seasonal events have occurred:

  • September 2004 - To coincide with the Issue #2 introduction of the Shadow Shard, the Rularuu "invaded" various city areas, spawning in massive numbers for long periods of time, for nearly two weeks of real time.
  • Halloween weekend 2004 - A variation of "trick-or-treat" was implemented where clicking on non-active doors was answered with either "Trick" (spawning several Halloween-themed opponents) or "Treat" (dispensing inspirations and/or enhancements), with the slight possibility of receiving a single rock (being a ranged temporary power that did minimal damage) in a reference to It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Defeating enough of the Halloween themed opponents earned special badges. Several of the Halloween themed creatures created for the event were recycled in the Croatoa zone released in Issue #5.
  • Late December 2004 - To coincide with the release of Issue #3, a week prior, there was a brief "war" in the city areas between the 5th Column villain group (modeled after remnants of World War II fascist groups) and their usurpers, the new Council villain group. The event seemed to be cut short due to player complaints over the massive scale — in certain areas — of it.
  • January 2005 - A "Winter Lord" and his minions appeared in several zones. Defeating them earned special badges and unique "Gift" inspirations.
  • May 2005 - City of Heroes celebrated its 1 year anniversary by giving all players who logged on during the month a badge and a free respec.
  • December 2005 - A three pronged Holiday event was held.
    • First, every character received use of a special holiday jetpack for thirty days.
    • Second, a special winter Holiday mission was put in place. Villains from the CoV portion of the game steal presents intended for the children of Paragon City, and the heroes have to retrieve the gifts before the holiday is ruined. Completing the mission earns heroes a new badge and the option of wearing a new special costume piece, a Santa Claus-style stocking cap. Conversely, villains in City of Villains have a matching mission, in which they steal the presents in question (earning the hat and a different badge for ruining the holiday).
    • Third, a terrorist named the Gamester placed "presents" all over the city zones of both games. Clicking on these presents would give one of several results. A mystery inspiration or temporary power could be earned, or a group of the Winter Lord's snow minions could be spawned around the character. Badges could be earned for defeating a number of snow minions and for opening a number of the "presents".
  • February 2006 - A Valentine's Day event was held.
    • All characters logging in were awarded a badge and a new "toga" costume piece.
    • Several new missions were opened up in Pocket D that allowed Heroes and Villains to earn more badges. Some of these new missions required heroes and villains to work together to complete the missions.
    • By giving a friend a free trial to City of Villains, both users would also be able to use a new Hellenic Sandal costume piece.
      • If the person who received the free trial also bought a retail copy of the game to continue playing by March, both users would also gain Laurel Branch costume pieces.
  • April 28, 2006 through June 2006 - City of Heroes celebrated its 2 year anniversary. All players who logged on during this time received a badge, and those who also had the 1 year anniversary badge also received a Gladiator (a summon used for PvP matches in the Arena) based off of the 5th Column, an enemy group that was removed from the game.
    • The first night of the anniversary was celebrated through a Silver Age-themed party in Pocket D. To allow this, free tailor sessions were awarded to all players who signed on. In Pocket D, various members of the Development Team appeared as signature characters from the series, awarding temporary titles to some of the populace.
    • Throughout the entire month of April, a sweepstakes was held for any users who logged in during the day.
  • July 21—July 23, 2006 - In gratitude for the patience shown in the long and somewhat difficult run-up to the release of Issue #7, all in-game rewards were doubled for the duration of the weekend. Players received double experience points, double Influence/Infamy, and double Prestige points for defeating enemies and completing missions. Furthermore, every player who was a member of a Supergroup or Villain Group on the morning of July 21st was instantly granted 20,000 Prestige points for his or her group.
  • October 18—October 31, 2006 - Another Trick-or-Treat Halloween Event was enacted in-game, with the same Villain groups from the first Halloween Event with the same Badges. However, Jack-in-Irons, one of the other Giant Monsters from Croatoa, could be encountered in other zones. Also, if a player collected four special pieces of Salvage, they could turn these in to an NPC in Croatoa (for Heroes) or Nerva Archipelago (for Villains) to open up a costume slot, of which the maximum had been increased to five.
  • November 2006 - The first anniversary of City of Villains celebrated by giving badges to every hero (Pursuer) and villain (Elusive) who logs in during the month.
  • December 14, 2006—January 2, 2007 — The Winter Event. Ski slopes open up in the Pocket D area, and a co-operative mission involving rescuing Baby New Year from Snaptooth is implemented. As of December 18 the Gamesters presents appear through the city and the Rogue Isles. Sundry Costume options, badges and temp powers are available to earn during this event.
  • January 26 - January 29, 2007 - Another double experience weekend.
  • February 13 - March 4, 2007 - Another Valentine's Day Event, similar to that of 2006, but with rewards to be chosen by the player. These include heart-patterned costume pieces, the Patrician Toga, Sandals and Wreath costume pieces, new badges, and all previous St. Valentine's badges.
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