Content updates are the lifeblood of any MMORPG. You can directly tie the success of an online title to the strength of its content updates.
City of Heroes has released its first content update, titled “Through the Looking Glass” and it is as ambiguously fun and energetic as the title itself. On its surface, City of Heroes does not look like a game with much longevity. You create a character, fight bad guys, advance levels. No crafting skills, no “open exploration”, none of the things that have made some of the other MMORPGs so successful. And just like City of Heroes, Update 1 doesn’t appear to offer much of an update.
The good news is that high level characters, levels 30 to 50, who I feel were largely overlooked in the initial product release, will reap the largest rewards from the new updates. The bad news is that low and mid level character will see very little from this update.
We’re going to skim over many of the features from the update and focus on the key features that really make this update worthwhile.
First up is the ability to make costume changes after a certain level. Of all the updates, this is probably the one that most of the players clamored for. Now, a character can use some of their points to have their costume altered.
Two other updates that most players will benefit from are the changes to the mission system. Instanced outdoor mission and enhanced indoor missions. Not exactly earth shattering in their magnitude, they do show that Cryptic is thoroughly thinking about their content updates. The new outdoor missions are similar to the indoor mission but variations specific to the outdoor environment. The indoor mission enhancements include such things as being “captured” by a villain group instead of being sent to the hospital. The hero must then fight their way out of the prison cell.
Three new villain groups have been added, the Malta Group, the Carnival of Shadows and the Praetorians. Each of these groups reflects certain aspects of existing groups but is unique in their appearance, actions and capabilities. The Malta group for instance is a high powered, high tech army with massive battle “mechs” that not only looks cool but are really tough opponents.
The real gold is in the new high level areas that were added to “Through the Looking Glass”.
Not for the timid of faint of heart, Peregrine Island is a playground for some wicked villains and home of the Portal Corporation. I spent a lot of time on Peregrine Island and I think this is the crown jewel of “Through the Looking Glass”. The map and terrain are excellent. The mixtures of large and small islands, boats, beaches and skyscrapers lend a very real, earthy quality that is missing from most of the other zones of Paragon City. In addition you will find all manner of high level bad boys running through this zone. I’ve seen everything from a level 35 Death Mage to a level 45 Rikti Mentalist. And that’s just the beginning. In addition the Rikti and Circle of Thorns, you’ll find groups such as Devouring Earth, Nemesis, Carnies, and more.
The Portal Corporation is another in a long list of enigma for Paragon City. Their dimensional portal technology is largely responsible for the defeat of the Rikti during the invasion. But the technology is dangerous and shrouded in secrecy. All across Peregrine Island a hero can find evidence to suggest that the portal technology being used in the bowels of Portal Corp are actually having widespread effects on Paragon City. Watch and be wary.
And finally we come to the Rikti Crash site. This is flat out cool. As a map it isn’t that great and the tortured terrain is difficult to navigate, but that is what adds to the realism of the area. Here a hero of any level will find themselves on a quick trip to the nearest hospital if they don’t come equipped with a squad of super friends and their head in the action. Squads of Rikti soldiers can be seen teleporting into any location on the map, ready to rumble with the soldiers of the U.S. Military desperately trying to keep the Rikti from breaking into the other regions of Paragon City and the world. Missile batteries and tanks cruise the streets while squads of soldiers firefight with squads of Rikti. But don’t expect any help from the military, like other aspects of the game AI, the tanks, soldiers and missile batteries don’t exactly interact well. In fact it is a common sight to see two or three soldiers clearly outmanned and outgunned, squatting behind the wreckage of a deliver truck while a column of tanks and missile roll by and do nothing. If they won’t help each other out, the certainly won’t help out the heroes.
Yes, this update has a lot to offer for the small population of upper level heroes looking for bold new battles to fight, but the majority of the population of Paragon City will not see a great deal of benefit from this update. However, it is good to see the Cryptic fully understands the necessity of a strong content update strategy and it is also heartening to see that while low level character may not experience many of the best features from this update, they have not been completely left out as Cryptic has crafted an update that has at least a little to offer everyone.
Not materially relevant to this update, or any other for that matter, but something I would like to see in future content updates is more additions to the base powers and costumes. New clothing options could be added and heroes could update their costumes with the new features when they reach appropriate levels for costume alteration. Additionally it would be beneficial to see more and varied power sets and power combinations. This needs to be handled carefully for reasons of play balance, but it would help keep the character creation process from stagnating and also increase the already prolific individuality of each hero.
