Issue 11 of City of Heroes to feature weapon customization

If you’re already excited about the new dual-wielding feature NCsoft is planning to implement in Issue 11 of its City of Heroes and City of Villains, then you’ll be pleased to know the developers have more in store for the many would-be heroes and villains in their super-powered MMORPG.

Matt “Positron” Miller, lead designer of City of Heroes and City of Villains, discusses the weapon customization feature that they will be adding in the Issue 11 update. Miller and his team took into consideration the many requests sent in by fans to include more customization options for the game.

The two games already sport a wide array of extensive costume customization to tweak a player’s character appearance. However, players wanted more than just cosmetic changes to their costumes – they wanted fully blown effects added in depending on their character’s powers.

Jack Emmert, Creative Director at Cryptic Studios, then conducted a poll to ask players what they wanted in the way of powers. While most melee characters still voted for the former power customization feature, what defensive characters wanted most were customizable shield items.

It was then that the dev team found out that it was a whole lot simpler trying to swap weapon geometries and still keep the animations intact compared to revamping the effects altogether. However, while melee characters will be given a lot of love in Issue 11, defensive characters will have to wait for a later update to get their spiffy new shields due to the massive amount of content already involved with the current Issue.

For the ambitious heroes and villains out there, they also have a chance to obtain special weapons from enemies they’re closely related to. Examples of these are the Thorn sword from the Circle of Thorns, the Red Cap’s daggers and more. Once players obtain these “prestige” weapons, they have a chance to customize them further as well as show them off as well-deserved trophies to the rest of the superhuman community.

You can check out the complete list of weapons the developers will be testing out for Issue 11 right after the jump!

If you’re already excited about the new dual-wielding feature NCsoft is planning to implement in Issue 11 of its City of Heroes and City of Villains, then you’ll be pleased to know the developers have more in store for the many would-be heroes and villains in their super-powered MMORPG.

Matt “Positron” Miller, lead designer of City of Heroes and City of Villains, discusses the weapon customization feature that they will be adding in the Issue 11 update. Miller and his team took into consideration the many requests sent in by fans to include more customization options for the game.

The two games already sport a wide array of extensive costume customization to tweak a player’s character appearance. However, players wanted more than just cosmetic changes to their costumes – they wanted fully blown effects added in depending on their character’s powers.

Jack Emmert, Creative Director at Cryptic Studios, then conducted a poll to ask players what they wanted in the way of powers. While most melee characters still voted for the former power customization feature, what defensive characters wanted most were customizable shield items.

It was then that the dev team found out that it was a whole lot simpler trying to swap weapon geometries and still keep the animations intact compared to revamping the effects altogether. However, while melee characters will be given a lot of love in Issue 11, defensive characters will have to wait for a later update to get their spiffy new shields due to the massive amount of content already involved with the current Issue.

For the ambitious heroes and villains out there, they also have a chance to obtain special weapons from enemies they’re closely related to. Examples of these are the Thorn sword from the Circle of Thorns, the Red Cap’s daggers and more. Once players obtain these “prestige” weapons, they have a chance to customize them further as well as show them off as well-deserved trophies to the rest of the superhuman community.

Here’s a list of the weapons the developers will be testing during Issue 11:

Assault Rifle

• Assault Rifle
• Merc. Assault Weapon
• M-14/M-380
• Tactical Assault Weapon
• Tommy Gun
• Council Assault Weapon
• Council Sub-Machine Gun
• Nemesis Rifle
• Vanguard ‘Redding’ Rifle

Axes

• Battle Axe
• Pickaxe
• Hatchet
• Shovel
• Rikti Axe

Dual Blades

• Scimitar
• Longsword
• Falcata
• Khopesh
• Gladius
• Redcap Dagger
• Faer Dagger
• Dragon Dagger
• Katana
• Wakazashi
• Ninja Blade
• Tanto
• Sai
• Rapier (Right Hand Only)
• Main Gauche (Left Hand Only)

Bows

• Recurved Bow
• Arcane Bow
• Compound Bow

Claws

• Hero Claws
• Villain Claws
• Fury Claws
• Talsorian Blades
• Shadow Blades

Katanas

• Katana
• Ninja Blade
• Fantasy Blade

Maces

• War Mace
• War Mace 2
• Flanged Mace
• Studded Mace
• Warhammer
• Sledge Hammer
• Baseball Bat
• Club
• Shillelagh
• Skull Club
• Bone
• Carnival Mallet
• Shovel
• Tech Mace
• Fantasy Mace

Pistols

• Semi-Auto
• Revolver
• Magnum Revolver
• Revolver w/Laser Sight
• Match Compensator
• Tactical Sidearm
• Flintlock
• Mini-Uzi

Pulse Rifles

• Pulse Rifle
• Crey Pulse Blaster
• Rikti Blaster
• Rikti Rifle
• Retro Rifle

Broadswords

• Broadsword
• Flamberge
• Shadow Bane
• Cutlass
• Thorn Blade
• Tsoo ‘Katana’
• Rikti Sword