After the scheduled maintenance today - which was to start at 6am EST and is to end at 11am EST, the Character Rename and Transfer service will be implemented on to the servers. For those not familiar with what all the renaming and transfer of characters entails, you can check out this thread on the official forums. As well you can check out this thread for more information on the entire dealy with the server maintenance.

City of Heroes Player "The Defuser" has become the latest competitor to win on the SciFi Channels TV show "Who Wants to be a Superhero". The Defuser has apparently been a long time City of Heroes player and posts on the official forum under the name of Detective2416. Sadly - or not - depending how you look at it, I missed every episode of this show except for the first season. Congratulations to The Defuser but I'm sure he was no Fat Momma.

Cryptic patched the game today, the notes are as follows:

New Anti Chat-Spam Command

This version includes a new chat command.

/ignore_spammer

By using this command, a user will let our customer support know that they consider the person they added to their ignore list as one that is �spamming.� For example, if a player receives an in-game tell advertising for a real money trade web site, they can use the /ignore_spammer command, followed by the name of the character they received this advertisement tell from to put them on ignore.

Ideally, the user can then follow up with a /petition to also let us know of the disruptive behavior via that method.


Other Changes

Game

* Corrected an issue with a missing Arachnos Base Map. Players should now correctly enter the base, rather than the empty void of nothingness they may have experienced previously.

Our topic of the week this time around is concerning the User Interface for City of Heroes/Villains. Games Like WarCrack WarCraft have plenty of UI mods that allow the player to set up the UI to a more user friendly and more information at your finger tips kind of set up. Would you want a custom UI that incorporated more information for your City of Heroes gaming? I wouldn't mind one that would show where anyone on your friends list was on the map and not just team mates. That would be sweet. What say you? Anything you would like to see? Leave a comment and let us know!

If you have a dull and boring desktop and happen to forget what day of the month it is quite often, then we can help you kill two birds with one stone! The CoX Vault is happy to announce the return of our awesomeness that is desktop wallpapers with all the kudos go out to Rhyssa_Fireheart and the Vault Art team. You can select which size fits your desktop best from the choices below!



1024x768
1280x960
1280x1024
1440x900
1600x1200
1920x1200

If you are a frequent visitor to the site and would to give us a helping hand in getting everything up to date, then why not become a member of the staff? We are looking for some extra hands and dedicated people to help out with the databases and getting them up to speed with the current releases. Although the positions open are voluntary, you be the envy of all your friends and can finally show that girl who dumped you in high school how far you have come! Hit up our job page for more information on applying and positions that are open.

It's about that time for a new poll since the old one was getting a little stale and stinky. This time around we are asking you fine folks if you think vehicles would be groovin or not so much as travel powers. I myself am still wanting a pogo stick but others such as motorbikes and customized jetpacks could work as well. Let us know what you think and be sure to leave a comment on whether or not you would like to see vehicles as travel powers!

The poll results for the previous poll found - not surprisingly - that the majority of players did not think it was too early for Issue 10 to be released right after Issue 9.

There is a new patch hanging out awaiting your arrival as you log into the servers. Here's what you can expect to find in it.:

COMBINED NOTES

Game

* Improved game stability.
* Fixed Check Name tool to include apostrophes.

CITY of HEROES

Tasks

* Fixed a bug in 3rd respec trial that would sometimes send players to a mission door in the old Rikti Crash Site.

You can check out the official patch notes here on the official site.

A poster over on the official CoH forums, Mindripper had a chance to visit the Penny Arcade Expo - PAX - and was able to get the goods on some info for the upcoming Issue 11 release. Some of the juicy involves the 5th column, new power sets and level 50 activities. You can check out the thread right here!

This week's topic of the week focuses on when you have played too much or simply just feel burnt out on the game. What are some measures you take to get your interest back up? Do you simply take a break and come back or do you wait for new additions? Or have you never felt that way about CoH but perhaps another game? Leave your comments and let's discuss!

Over at MMORPG.com, they have been given the opportunity to pass out more 14 day free trials to anyone looking to get in on the crime fighting/causing action. The invite allows players to check out all the great additions that were added for Issue 10 and as well, they have posted up and video that shows off some of the cool content Issue 10 threw our way. You can get more info on the 14 day trial here and check out the video here!

In case you missed out on all the invasion fun when it first kicked off, City of Heroes/Villians will be having those pointy headed aliens return for some more good times. If you had missed getting your badges the first time around, this is the perfect chance for you to get them! The Invasions will start on August 14th at 11am EST and will run for 24 hours. For each invasion day, through September, they will run at the same times. Here's a schedule of when the attacks will take place.

Tuesday, August 14th
Saturday, August 18th
Thursday, August 23rd
Sunday, August 26th
Friday, August 31st
Sunday, September 2nd
Wednesday, September 12th
Saturday, September 15th
Monday, September 17th
Saturday, September 22nd

Good luck Heroes and Villians!

Issue 20 of the Top Cow City of Heroes comic is now available for download as a PDF from the official CoH/V web site. Issue 20, �Passing the Torch,� is the final issue in the Top Cow run.

You can check out Issue #20 here.

Game Trailers.com have put together their list of the top ten comic book video games of all time. Is our City of Heroes/Villians on the list? You'll have to watch and find out! I must say though, I sure do agree with number one!

Okay so it is Friday and I shall leave you with something to discuss over the weekend. Issue 11. We know it is coming. Unless they skip over 11 and go straight to 12, but not likely so anyways, our question to you is "what would you like to see take place in Issue 11?" Presumably it will continue the story of the Rikti invasion after their retreat, but what are some story features or twists you would like to see happen? Go ahead and leave a comment on our forums!

Well it seems Vanguard and the concentrated efforts of heroes and villains have paid off, the Rikti seem to be in a state of retreat!

Read more about this, here.

As per the GMOTD:

In celebration of the launch of Issue 10: Invasion, we have reactivated the accounts of our former players in good standing through late Sunday night (August, 11:59 PM Eastern). Spread the word to your supergroup or guild mates and online friends who might not be playing CoH that now is the time to come back and check out the great new Issue 10, for free!

We hope everyone has a great "City of" weekend!

Ex Libris has made a post over on the official forums letting everyone know that the game has reinstated the character name policy and will be in effect starting on Wednesday, August 29, 2007. Basically what it means is that if you have a character that is under lvl 6 and has not been active for the past 90 days, the name of that character will become unreserved and up for grabs by anyone creating a new character and wishing to use it. Level 6. Really? You can read the full post right here!

So with the release of Issue 10, the city of Paragon and the Rogue Isles are under attack by the Rikti who have returned. While it's pretty sweet to be traveling through a zone and suddenly have it come under attack, our question this week is "How long do you want the Invasion to last"? Would you like it to be a permanent thing, just for the summer, or perhaps just until the next Issue release? I still have a ways to get my character up to 35 so I can do some Vanguard missions so I hope it sticks around awhile, but what say you?

Matt ' Positron' Miller goes over the Rikti Invasion in the latest Developer's Diary and discusses how many parts of the story line came to be. Be warned though, the article does contain a fair bit of spoilers, so if you haven't had a chance to indulge yourself in the glory of the invasion, you may want to take a run at that first. You can check out the Developer Diary right here!