City of Heroes® Issue 12: Midnight Hour Announced

Wednesday 12th March/... Brighton, England - NCsoft® Europe, the world's leading publisher and developer online games, today announced the first details for City of Heroes Issue 12: Midnight Hour.

The stars of this issue are The Midnight Squad, a clandestine organization who will take players back to ancient Roman times where mystery awaits and secrets will be revealed. Further changes include numerous 'Quality of Life' improvements such as an overhauled Contacts display and eight new configurable power trays; The Hollows zone receives a significant redesign; and Powerset Proliferation will see over twenty existing powersets made available to additional Archetypes, increasing the possibilities available for character combinations.

Also, there will be an interview with the lead designer, Matt Miller, which will be available to read on the City of Heroes/Villains websites at the following link:

http://eu.cityofheroes.com/game-guide/feature-updates/issue_12_dev_corner/

THE MIDNIGHT SQUAD

JOIN THE MIDNIGHT SQUAD (LEVELS 10 - 20)

The clandestine organisation of mystics, scholars and mages, known only as the Midnight Squad, seeks to rebuild its numbers since the devastating assault of the Rikti Invasion. The Midnighters hold a secret that could bring the alien assault to an end, but without the help of the Heroes of Paragon City it will remain Lost forever.

NEW ROMAN-STYLE ZONE MAPS (LEVELS 35 - 50)

The Midnighters hold many secrets within their walls, including a highly coveted Ouroboros crystal, enabling them to travel to the far reaches of time. There is a familiar threat in an ancient land and the Midnighters need the help of both Heroes and Villains to stop it. Players step foot upon the ancient land of the Roman Cimeroran Peninsula, where they battle deadly creatures, defend an ancient city and ultimately come face to face with the enemy of time itself. Throughout this journey players uncover the mysteries of power and the origins that guide them today.

UNLOCK ROMAN-STYLE ARMOR COSTUMES

Through their accomplishments, players unlock the new Roman themed armour costume set.

VILLAIN EPIC ARCHETYPES

Infiltrate the Arachnos organisation from within! Upon reaching level 50, Villains unlock two new Epic Archetypes; Wolf Spiders and Blood Widows. They have their own unique storyline and missions, power combinations and costume sets. Branching powersets allow the Wolf Spider to specialise as either a Bane Spider or Crab Spider and the Blood Widow chooses from the Fortunata and Night Widow branches. Each brings with it unique costumes for your Arachnos duties, as well as your newfound role as a Destined One.

POWERSET PROLIFERATION

Using his newly built Resonance Manipulator, the Villain scientist known as Dr. Brainstorm has discovered a way to alter the energy strands which connect every Hero and Villain to their powers. This discovery has not only opened the door to new powers for his fellow Villains in the Rogue Isles, but has also done the same for the Heroes of Paragon City ! Specifically, new characters of almost every Hero and Villain archetype gain access to an additional primary and secondary powerset that they didn't have access to previously. Details to come!

HOLLOWS ZONE "GAMEPLAY MAKEOVER"

Significant changes have been made to the Hollows zone to make it more fun! NPC encounters have been rebalanced, including new spawns, new villain groups, mission door improvements, and a mobile hospital has been added to the entrance of the zone. Additionally, Meg Mason, a new contact, has been added to give out repeatable missions.

MAJOR GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS

Eight configurable new power trays let players customise their User Interface by placing them anywhere on the screen.

Contact display redesign: Contacts are now listed separately as Active and Inactive, and players can sort contacts by a range of criteria including Name, Zone, and Level Range.

Inspiration Conversion: Right click an inspiration to convert three of that kind into any one inspiration of another kind.

Level Up Boost: Upon reaching enough XP to level up (at all levels), one of each type of large inspiration is immediately cast upon your character, and health and endurance bars are immediately filled.

Chat improvements: Right click on character names in chat window to ignore, add to friends list, invite to team, etc. Drag any item (enhancement, inspiration, salvage, etc.) into the chat window so that you and others can click a hotlink to view the complete info box.

More Real Numbers: Players can now display stats on powers before they choose them enabling more informed power selection and new temporary powers allow players to display enemy stats.

Product Specifications:

Title: City of Heroes® (including City of Villains®)

Publisher: NCsoft

Developer: NCsoft NorCal

Category: Massively Multiplayer Online

Websites: http://eu.cityofheroes.com & http://eu.cityofvillains.com

Pricing: Free Update for subscribers

Release: Spring, 2008

Ends.

® 2004-2008 NCsoft Europe Ltd. All rights reserved. City of Heroes, City of Villains, Paragon City, Dr. Brainstorm, Rogue Isles, NCsoft, the Interlocking NC Logo, and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. Cryptic Studios is a trademark of Cryptic Studios, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

About NCsoft Europe

NCsoft Europe (NCE) is headquartered in Brighton, United Kingdom and is wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation, the world's leading developer and publisher of online games. NCsoft operates publishing offices within North America, Japan, Taiwan, China and Thailand and has development studios in Seattle, Austin, California (North America) and Seoul (Korea). NCE recently announced the formation of the first European development studio, based within the UK.

NCE began operations on 1st September 2004 and serves as a central hub for all NCsoft sales, marketing and distribution operations in Europe, via its European distribution network. The company has successfully launched multiple online titles and continues to support its franchises, which include Lineage® II (November 2004), City of Heroes® (4th February 2005), Guild Wars® (28th April 2005), City of Villains (31st October 2005), Guild Wars Factions (28th April 2006), Guild Wars Nightfall (27th October 2006), Guild Wars: Eye of the North (31st August 2007) and Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa (2nd November 2007).

NCsoft will introduce a brand new title to its innovative portfolio in 2008; Aion - The Tower of Eternity, due for launch Q3 2008. More information about NCsoft Europe can be found at http://eu.plaync.com.