All the power of Zeus laid bare… hah!

If you’ve ever played or even looked at pretty much anything City of Heroes related, you’re likely to have seen the muscle-bound, tights wearing, Magneto-helm-stealing, cape-fluttering boy scout that has been the face of the franchise since it’s launch. However, as of today, the very icon of City of Heroes lays dead and it would seem like he’s not coming back. I know, I know… comics.

Having run their “Who Will Die?” series of monthly missions since the relaunch of the game to a Free to Play model, NCSoft and the City of Heroes team have been trying to ramp up attention and activity in their aging but never the less enjoyable guilty-pleasure MMO. Having gone to a Microtransaction Free to Play model has reinvigorated the game and with the money-stuffed coffers, the game has seen it’s share of changes and developments. The “Who Will Die?” series of missions caps the game’s stated point of Evolution quite nicely, as from the very beginning it was said one of the established characters was going to meet their end… and now we know who they mean.

Now, while we could go over the huge background of all of this… a short video documentary will sum it up nicely! It’s short and help makes the point…

Skip it? At it’s core, the main point to state is that in-game, the players have become progressively more and more powerful. More powerful than even the game’s own core of (developer named) Freedom Phalanx heroes… and with that state of affairs, it seemed likely to change things up to turn the focus of the game more towards the players. And what better way to make that point than to start killing off your big named heroes? It’s also no small coincidence, in my never-humble opinion, that it’s also a way to purge the ranks of developer-named/sponsored Super Heroes who no longer work for the company outside the game.

But this represents a strong change in MMO-Game thinking. Looking at the players expanding power base, and instead of just increasing the Big Named NPCs power level accordingly (World of Warcraft as one of the biggest offenders to this) to match the players increase, NCSoft has decided to do away with, and make a great story out of, the changing times and the fall of the Old Guard, so to speak. As a City of Heroes (Villains) player myself, I have enjoyed all 5 of the “Who Will Die?” mission arcs so far… but there are still 2 remaining.

Will the last 2 change things all the more?
Will the Freedom Phalanx fall for good?
Or will Statesman return more powerful than ever and nothing at all changes?!

Stick around! Same spandexy-hero time! Same spandexy-hero channel!
(To check out City of Heroes and get in on the wild Free to Play comic book Superhero/Villain madness, head to www.cityofheroes.com and get it, for free.)City of Heroes: Death of Statesman is Live, 4.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

Nobunaga

An eccentric millionaire bent on world domination, or at least trying to find happiness and ponder the existentialism-… oh who are we kidding he's just an evil eccentric who wants to take over the world while having an amazing time playing whatever games strike his fancy. Known amongst the Blizzard community as "The Dreadmist Man".

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