Meta’s Verse: New Toys

By Meticulous Meta, OnRPG’s Paragon City Journalist

I started out writing my City of Heroes series last week and initially intended to write about the signature story arc going on right now. But as I got to actually writing I realized it wasn’t right to give things away. And the article without giving the story away just didn’t feel right. So I decided to write about the mid issue update that came out. But then that turned out to be somewhat of a small disaster and lacking some of the big things we had originally expected to be included.

What happened you ask? Firstly the two trials that were expected have been held back for a bit more work. Now the only reason this really matters, other than everyone wanting them is that the update was named Media Blitz for one of the trials. It’s unfortunate that the biggest part of the update wasn’t there. But I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m glad we didn’t get something that wasn’t ready. Not so bad, right? That was only the beginning.

User Interfaces that had been customized by people would reset every time you logged in and sometimes even when you went into a new zone. Armor lost its glow. An arrow made it so you couldn’t complete a mission. But the most amusing thing that happened was Vanessa DeVore, leader of the Carnival of Shadows, was appearing as a generic boss and bases would attack anyone who came inside. All of these have been fixed now except for the base attack which the crew the crew was still tweaking with at the time I wrote this article.

But that’s not what I’m writing about. Today is all about the new toys that have come out on the Paragon Market since it went live. Every week something new is added to the market. Sometimes it’s something big, sometimes it’s small.

German Shepherd

This week something came out that has been long wanted and now that it’s finally here it really opens up new options that were never there before. The German Shepherd non-combat pet. Now he (or she) isn’t color customizable and doesn’t fight, but at least it lays the ground work for future four legged companions! I’m personally hoping for some animal control Masterminds. We got a glimpse of the four legged rig early in the Haunted House at Halloween time with the wolf that seems to follow you at the mansion. This got people excited at the prospect of what is now possible in the game.

Autumn Path Aura

Path auras have become a popular new addition to City of Heroes since they were released. They allow you to leave a trail of fire behind you as you speed through the city, or do your best Nyan Cat impression with a rainbow trailing behind you. The newest path gets us in the spirit of the season change with a path of leaves behind you as you walk. It is supposedly color customizable though people have commented on the fact that it can only be one color. Personally I think it looks amazing and more realistic because its only one color. FYI potential buyers, it doesn’t work while flying. The best part about it is that it recognizes when you’ve jumped and makes a bigger pile of leaves when you land. I can see a lot of plant dominators and controllers using this aura.

Halloween Costume Pack

The Halloween costume pack allows you to be a vampire, a fish monster or Medusa, but the most popular part of the pack was the brain in a jar. These pieces were all insanely popular over the Halloween season. But now that it’s over I’m seeing fewer and fewer of the pieces being used. Though I know the brain in a jar spawned requests to have headless models be an option. Which was something already hinted at during a recent Ustream broadcast. Sadly the pack is only available for a limited time. Which is understandable and means people will look forward to next Halloween when they’ll be able to buy it again. That is assuming they don’t bring it back on the market in the meantime for special deals.

The Undead Survival Kit

The Undead Survival Kit came out just after the Halloween event finished. Which was really unfortunate timing as it really would have been perfect to have during the weeks of near constant zombie invasions. It features a collection of items which are all available for free in game if you put in time to go through several story arcs. It comes with:

• 75 Charges of Holy Shotgun Shells
• 30 Charges of St. Louis Slammer
• 5 Charges of Warwolf Whistle
• 5 Charges of a Self Resurrection Power
• 5 Large Inspirations

The only real downside to the kit is that there is no backpack or physical representation of the kit on your body.

Volcanic Aura

Volcanic Aura is much like any other aura that has been in the game for years. It has everything you could want to be your own walking volcano. It is color customizable except for the puffs of cloud which remain dark no matter what color you pick. The lava is explosive. Imagine if you will something similar to volcanoes in Hawaii with lava bursting out. The aura can go anywhere on the body, including the eyes which sounds painful to say the least!

These are only a few of the new toys that have come out recently in the Paragon Market so be sure to take a look for yourself at all the goodies available. I’ll cover the recent major updates in my next article, such as the new powersets and costume sets. I can’t wait to see what they come out with next week!

This week the strike targets are Moonfire and Renault.

Meta’s Verse is written by Meticulous Meta who lives in Atlas Park and needs a second job to support her market purchase habit.