Whatever Happened To: Those City of Heroes Successors


Every once in a while I get an email asking “Connor, why don’t you talk about those various City of Heroes successor games?” That’s an oddly specific question, and one that harkens back to a time where any article I wrote about NCSoft would result in a flurry of emails threatening to boycott my website or trying to get me fired for not mentioning whatever CoH successor was crowdfunding. Now I’m not going to name names (because I don’t actually remember who did it) but having a PR rep from a volunteer project reach out to chastise me for not mentioning their game in an article about City of Heroes, and to imply that I was being paid by another project to not mention them? Eventually it’s not worth talking about anybody.

But 2020 is a new year and a new decade and the fervor over NCSoft is over, and I’d like to know where the Kickstarter money I threw in seven years ago went, so it’s time to catch up on those City of Heroes successors. Do we even need these titles now that they have taken so long to release that a secret underground moleman community has been discovered and shared their private server with the world? Who knows. Are any of these games actually going to see their way to completion? It’s been eight years.

In no particular order because God forbid I get emails asking why one project was listed above another, let’s just dive in.

1. Valiance Online – It’s In Alpha

Valiance Online is the Unity-built successor to City of Heroes and one of the few on this list that did not run a (successful) Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaign. The investor alpha was made available back in October 2017 and those interested in getting in on the project can donate a minimum of $25 to gain access to founders perks. From a quick glance it looks like the alpha server was taken down back in November 2019 for a big update and has not yet come back up.

If there is one complaint that can be lobbied at the Valiance Online people it is that their communication is terrible. The news section hasn’t seen an update since November 2018, the forum is a mess to navigate, and the Twitter also has not been updated since November 2019 during the latest maintenance update. As a title that started very early compared to the other COH successors, I feel like Valiance Online may have blew its load too soon. I remember playing a pre-alpha four or five years ago and just very quickly losing interest as the game was many years off of release.

Who knows, Valiance Online is clearly in active development with things to show for it. Hopefully they can take that stretch toward beta and make the game more widely available.

2. Ship of Heroes – Character Creator Beta

Ship of Heroes has progressed far enough to have released a character creator beta test back in November where players could go in and create characters, have a costume contest, and even test out their powers and walk around the ship. Ship of Heroes is a City of Heroes successor set on a spaceship traveling through space (as they do). It is built on the Unreal Engine and pretty regularly puts out news updates with screenshots of how the game is progressing.

Of the games on this list, Ship of Heroes seems to be in the best position to put out a launch product first considering it is being run by an actual company with faces instead of a rag tag group of unpaid volunteers. Not to diminish the work of the other games on this list, but Ship of Heroes just seems to be in the strongest position as an organization of developers.

3. City of Titans – Character Creator

Of course I would be remiss to talk about Ship of Heroes launching its character creator tool without also mentioning City of Titans by Missing Worlds Media who launched their own character creator a couple weeks earlier. Out of everything on this list, I have to say City of Titans feels like the closest to an actual spiritual successor to City of Heroes. Where the other games on the list are creating a modern superhero MMO, the videos and screenshots released by Missing Worlds Media make the game look like it is trying to stay true to form and bring gamers back to the world that they had once lost but can incidentally now play again.

Admittedly out of everything on this list, City of Titans is the game I’m most looking forward to.

Missing Worlds Media is a bit of an enigma for me as they regularly want to have their cake and eat it too. City of Titans was funded in 2013 to the tune of 678 thousand smackers, yet whenever I talk about the game coming along at a snail’s pace and far beyond the campaign’s original delivery date, I get inundated with comments about how the team is staffed by unpaid volunteers and that I should just shut my stupid face about it. I don’t know what to tell you; you’re either a dev pulling 700 grand plus to fund development or you’re a group of volunteers making this game for free in your spare time (ie; people complaining about efficiency should shut up). You can’t expect to be treated as both when it’s most convenient.

4. Heroes & Villains – ??????????????

Heroes and Villains is a superhero MMO created and run by the players with an official website that looks like it was optimized to run on Windows 95. Of the current titles on the list (#5 notwithstanding), Heroes & Villains gives me the least confidence. If the team is working hard behind the scenes, they are keeping a very tight hold on things. They regularly update the website with new notes about progress being made but it’s three or four lines of commentary with nothing of actual substance to show or back up that the game is making any real progress.

The website has concept art from 2013-2015 and the Youtube channel was last updated three years ago with test animations while most of the forum has been abandoned for years. Plan Z is made up of volunteers similar to City of Titans but unlike Missing Worlds Media doesn’t have $700 grand in crowdfunding revenue to work with. Out of everything on this list (again, #5 notwithstanding) it is literally a hobby project that some folks are working on in their spare time.

If this game does launch or for that matter even release a beta, it will be quite a surprise.

5. Redside – Dead As A Corpse

Redside was an attempt by Brass Lampworks to make a City of Villains successor. Unfortunately the project launched its Kickstarter to the complete disinterest of nearly everyone with a dollar to spare and ultimately pulled in $170 from four backers. The website for developer Brass Lampworks is no longer in operation and it’s clear that the game has been killed in the crib.

“This game is designed in the spirit of NCSoft’s closed MMO “City of Villains”  This MMO will work the same premise, but a new direction.  We will have a cast of completely different characters on masterfully crafted storylines, updated graphics, cross platform functionality, and possible VR in future updates.”

Maybe it’s because the Kickstarter expressly stated that the money was to “get the ball rolling” and not to create an actual product. Maybe it’s because the creator was not a game developer and had no idea what he was doing, instilling no confidence that pumping money into this void would result in anything except a bunch of backers getting swindled by someone playing on their nostalgia.

In Conclusion

If you want to play City of Heroes, you can absolutely do so right now thanks to the Homecoming server. It is just as jank as you remember and boy howdy is it glorious.

Review: Avabel On Steam Is Lowest Of Low Effort


What can I say about Avabel Online?

Its interface is hideous.

The translation is as low effort as it gets.

The game doesn’t work half the time.

And it literally suggests starting out with auto-quest on before you’ve even taken your first step. Yes, Avabel makes no pretence on being fun to play, just throw that auto-play on and maybe toss developer Asobimo a few hundred bucks for the privilege of having a dull, uninspired ripoff of a mobile game play itself.

Now that Bluestacks is bridging the gap between low effort mobile games and low effort PC games, any fly by night developer can pay $100 to have their mobile title developed on the budget of a White Castle slider foisted onto the Steam Store where it will get buried under a sea of other low effort cash grabs with the only hopes of coverage in the form of ridicule from some loser living in his own basement.

Final Score: 0/10 – I’m sure at least one desperate fanboy will tell me that this game is better than anything that came out on PC.

Black Desert Releases Kunoichi (XB1) and Valkyrie (PS4) Classes


If you play Black Desert on either console, you now have a new toy to play with.

Pearl Abyss announced this week the release of two new classes for console Black Desert players bringing both titles a little more in line with the PC version. The first class is the Kunoichi, mistress of the blades, available now on the Xbox One. The Kunoichi class uses the kunai shortsword to deliver a flurry attack. The second class which will be available on Playstation 4 tomorrow is the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie uses a sword and shield for offensive and defensive abilities.

Xbox players can take part in a Kunoichi level up event running from today (Jan. 8) to January 21 and receive rewards for creating and leveling up a Kunoichi character. More information on Black Desert can be found at the official website.

Source: Press release

Blizzard Messes Up Server Sale, Customers Report Busted Shipments


What could be cooler than owning a server blade from World of Warcraft? Eating a life size elf statue made of rum cake, I suppose. Let’s meet in the middle and agree on receiving that product you paid a fair amount for in a state that is not broken.

If you were lucky enough, you may have gotten on Blizzard’s store back in September to buy a server blade with 100% of the price going toward charity; specifically the Pencils of Promise charity, a global education organization creating schools, programs, and global communities around the common goal of education for all. Those who bought the server blades for the not at all cheap price are starting to receive their product and the results are not great.

Maybe Pencils of Promise should educate Blizzard on how to pack a box. Players are reporting that their servers have been smashed in transit with a common thread being cheap housing and shoddy efforts in ensuring that the server blades don’t bang around in transit.

Several users who were able to get hold of Blizzard support have received a response that the company is figuring out a solution to all of the broken hardware. Unfortunately due to the nature of the item (a collectible piece of retired hardware) it is unlikely that a replacement is in the bag. Unless Blizzard has a heap of server blades sitting around unused, the best they may be able to do is to eat the cost and provide a refund.

I have provided a number of customer notes below. There are a lot more reports of broken blades/cases on the forums.

(Shoutout to Kimset in the Discord for bringing this to my attention)

“I got mine today and it arrived with random pieces of the server floating around inside of the case, giant scuff on the inside of the plastic cover from things rubbing it during shipping, and one of the plastic “pins” or whatever snapped off so the plastic doesn’t actually stay on the server itself and I almost lost the whole thing when taking it out of the box because I didn’t know it was fcked before I even got it. Really bummed after looking forward to receiving this for a long time and missing my chance at one of the original ones.”

“mine arrived broken and scuffed as well. cheapest housing i have ever seen. im starting a return on it now”

“I received mine today on the east coast and it was also damaged. The 2 inside hooks were broken off (seems like a weak point anyway), inside front scratched and one of the acrylic screws was almost broken in half. The cover seems too delicate for the blade imo. The shipping box didn’t seem like it had a rough ride and I agree with the packaging not being sufficient. It may have had a much better chance not assembled with each piece protected separately since my damage seemed to be all on the inside cover. I would like a replacement cover rather than refund and I hope BLizz works that out.”

“I also had mine arrived damaged, the case it self was loose the backing was falling apart just picking it up there was scratches on the case as well and 5 pieces broken and floating inside. I am extremely pissed off that I like others spent over 300 dollars USD for this BS. Who ever works at blizzard that that it was a good idea to just have four very thin foam pieces covering just the corners should be fired. And while some people have responded it’s so easy to just return it I do t want it returned I want a exchange. But I am sure that is almost impossible as these were supposed to be one of a kind collecters editions”

“Mine came broken badly as well. I already submitted a ticket and got blown off by the GM that answered it, so ill try the live chat option but im not optimistic at this point based on reading other peoples struggles as well as my experience with the previous GM. 20 minute queue to talk to someone is kind of ridiculous though…”

“I received mine today. The shipping box is in very good shape and not damaged in the slightest. The server blade cover, with the WoW 15th anniversary logo is intact. But the little plastic tabs on the back side of the cover which hold it on are broken off in pieces and the plastic screws at the other end which hold the cover on are sheared off.”

“welp mine arrived completely broken. the whole housing is cheap and plastic and cracked in shipping. returning”

“Mine arrived. Very underwhelming. Case broken, all plastic screws snapped and mysteriously missing, stand broken. Yay charity. At least the engraving is kinda nice. Just dont look at the underside, some 12 year old glued it on.”

Communication Workers Of America Launch Campaign To Unionize Game Devs


The Communication Workers of America have launched a campaign to unionize jobs in gave development and the tech sector.

Talks of unionization in the gaming industry and wider tech sector have been stewing for years, but it looks like real efforts are finally going to be made to push for widespread bargaining efforts following talks between the CWA and Game Workers Unite, an organization pushing for the creation of union to protect workers rights.

The gaming industry has become rather well known for its exploitative habits, with employees forced to work long hours often upwards of 100-hour weeks for months on end in what some industry CEOs have proudly called “crunch” period. Developers generally have rather poor job security with major waves of layoffs coming after big video game launches and in cases like Activision at the start of 2019 after simultaneously reporting record profits and congratulating their executives with big bonus checks. Companies like Google and Riot were shaken by walkouts in response to how accusations of sexual misconduct and discrimination were handled.

Organizers hope for better working conditions and corporate ethics. MMO Fallout will keep an eye on the situation as it progresses.

Source: LA Times

Destiny 2: Devil’s Ruin Exotic Sidearm Available


The Devil’s Ruin Exotice Sidearm is finally available in Destiny 2, and the process to get your hands on it is…surprisingly short.

1. A Lost Relic

First step in getting your hands on the Devil’s Ruin is to actually start the quest by completing a run of the Sundial on Mercury and defeating champions. You don’t actually have to defeat a certain number of champions, just finish the Sundial and the quest step will be available in the same window you pick your reward weapon from at the end of the run. Turn in the quest to Saint-14 at the tower and he’ll give you your next assignment.

2. A Tour Through History

For this step you’ll be sent to a crucible map, but don’t worry! You won’t actually be playing a crucible match. Instead your job is to collect weapon fragments in the Twilight Gap. Head over to the Earth Defense Zone and click on the quest popup in the lower left hand corner. You’ll be taken to an instance zone where you will need to hunt out and find robot corpses scattered throughout the level.

You’ll hear some interesting chatter between Saint-14, Osiris, and Shaxx as friends catch up with each other and talk about the old days.

3. Enjoy The Gun!

Is that it? I told you the quest line was short. No padding, no killing a battalion of enemy troops, nothing. Just a quick trip and a fun conversation.

Devil’s Ruin has the Close The Gap trait which lets you hold the fire button down to charge a staggering laser. It also has the pyrogenesis trait that causes a fully charged laser to refill the magazine from reserves. It is a versatile weapon that should be powerful in either PvE or PvP.

Twitch: RuneScape Umbral Packs Now Available


The next set of Twitch Prime items are now available in RuneScape. The pack is free for all Twitch Prime members and includes the umbral cloak, umbral bow, and umbral staff, as well as previous items in the umbral set if you haven’t previously received them. You will need to link your Twitch and RuneScape accounts and the rewards can only be redeemed once.

The umbral pack is available until February 3. Get it here.

Not Massive: Build Your Own MMO In MMORPG Tycoon 2


Ever looked your favorite MMORPG Roma Victor and thought “I could do better than this”? Well now you have the chance to put your money where your mouth is without going through the difficult steps of acquiring millions of dollars to feed a budget.

MMORPG Tycoon 2 is the incidental sequel to the title MMORPG Tycoon. Currently in Early Access on Steam, MMORPG Tycoon puts the player in the role of building their own Azeroth or Gielinor or Club Penguin, whatever your heart desires. Create zones, build towns, give your players what they want and watch that cash flow. You’ll even have to deal with cheaters, obnoxious players, and just those who can’t figure the game out for themselves, as you push toward that revenue goal. You can even get in on the trend and make your game free to play, introducing exorbitant cash shops with pay to win elements if you so desire.

One thing that MMORPG Tycoon 2 is not is an MMO. It is single player and your customers are all bots. Still, it looks like a fun way to prove to the world what a design guru you truly are.

Check it out.

Source: Steam

Kickstarter Ketchup: Eminence: Xander’s Tale Dead Of No Revenue


What do you get when you combine an MMO environment and an RPG dialogue? A game that is dead as a corpse.

In doing my end-of-decade round of Kickstarter follow up stories, I came across Eminence: Xander’s Tale only to discover that the game has very recently been pronounced dead in the water. Eminence is a rather interesting sounding title; a hardcore trading card game that operates on the Yu Gi Oh! Battle City rules of letting the victor take a card from the loser. It was successfully crowdfunded to the tune of £52,037 from 669 backers and launched on Android/iOS in 2017/2018. Eminence launched without the MMORPG part of the Kickstarter campaign.

Will it get there? No. Google Play shows not-so-great install numbers (100+) and the folks at Aeternia Studios posted just a couple of months ago to announce that development is no longer active on Eminence due to the simple fact that nobody wants to play it and as a result nobody wants to fund it. The Eminence domain has also been gone for an undetermined amount of time after May of 2019.

“The Kickstarter funding we raised was not anywhere near enough to finish the first version of the game. Unfortunately, unexpected events happen, we under estimated how much we needed in terms of resource to deliver the game.

So we raised additional funding from some external investors under a new company. With this new funding we were able to deliver the game for both iOS and Android.

However, the game hasn’t made the revenue we hoped to keep supporting the team. We managed to hold on to one of our devs to help support the game for bug fixes and maintenance out of good will. But eventually he too had to move on.

We haven’t given up on the game. But with no funding and resources it’s difficult to provide any support or maintenance hence the lack of updates to the builds.”

It’s a tale as old as time. Dev funds game, does not anticipate the game going over budget, and the game doesn’t see its way to completion. It happens on a daily basis in both indie development and the AAA gaming sector and is an unfortunate reality of this industry and many others.

NM: Iranian Government Summons Children of Morta Dev Over Unislamic Content


Here’s something chilling to mull over for your new years.

Dead Mage team lead Amir Fassihi posted a message on Twitter this week revealing that the team behind Children of Morta had been summoned to court over concerns about their game. What was the concern? The game not upholding Islamic tradition. The tweet which has been (poorly) translated for your pleasure, notes that Iranian officials took umbrage with the game including things like dancing and a burial not complying with Islamic law.

“Children of Morta developer is summoned to the court over the complaint that the game includes dancing, lack of hijab, lack of praising for God, use of magic for fighting demons and also a burial not complying with Islamic laws.”

Children of Morta is an RPG rogue-lite where you take control of the Bergsons family who must fight against encroaching corruption in a procedurally generated dungeon. The game takes place in a fantasy world and the female characters do not wear hijabs.

The original tweet by Fassihi has since been deleted. It’s hard to tell where this proceeding will go, but gamers who were considering buying Children of Morta might want to do so now if just to support the developers financially or to get their hands on the title in case it suddenly gets pulled from the Steam store. Dead Mage is an Iran-based indie developer.

Source: Twitter (archive)