Homecoming Server Update (June 13th): Dev Choice, Hardware, and a Stress Test!

[Jimmy]

Hello everyone - it's been a while since our last update, so there's a few things to go over!

 

New Dev Choice Arcs in Architect Entertainment

First up, we've got two brand new Dev Choice arcs for you to look at!

• Rularularian (Arc ID 848) by @Ankylosaur: We all know the story of how The Omega Team sacrificed themselves to close the portal during the Rikti War, thus saving Paragon City. What ever happened to these mysterious 50 heroes? Discover this player's take on what took place on the other side of the portal and how they connect to this mysterious new group called "The Rularularians" in this exciting story arc!

• River of Fire! (Arc ID 26057) by @Clairvoyance:  This was a great little arc involving the villain group, "The Hellions". We discover there are portraits suddenly combusting into flames all around Paragon City! During the ensuing chaos, the Hellions have been swooping in and robbing the place...almost as if it were part of a master plot! Team up with our quirky contact, Max Action, as we attempt to figure out how the Hellions are pulling off this feat and put an end to their villainy!

Check out GM Arcanum's post for the full details, as well as information about submitting your own arcs for consideration.

 

Stress Test: Miss and Arcanum's Monster Mash Monday! (June 15th)

We're making some changes to our supporting hardware this month. This doesn't impact any of our core infrastructure that the live shards are running on, it's mainly a reconfiguration our the hardware used by our web services, tools, and the testing / development shards. For more details, check out Telephone's excellent breakdown of the changes here.

 

In order to help test the new hardware for the beta shard, GM Miss and GM Arcanum are running a Monster Mash stress test event on Monday evening, at 4pm EST (8pm UTC) on the Brainstorm shard. Please join us if you can - you may even win some prizes!

 

Monthly Costume Contest: Reverse! (June 27th)

Come join us at 5pm EST (9pm UTC) Saturday June 27th in Kallisti Wharf on all shards for our first ever reverse themed costume contest! What does that mean, I hear you ask? We want you to create the silliest, funniest, most off the wall, interesting, whimsical, odd and erratic masterpiece you can think of. 

 

As usual, a myriad of prizes will be up for grabs - check out this thread for the full details.

 

And starting this month, you will be able to judge the GM's costumes! After each monthly costume contest, the GM entries will be posted up on the forum for everyone to judge. Please be gentle.

 

Memory Contest! (Now until July 1st)

MIss wants your memories!

 

To be more specific, we're hosting a contest where we're asking you to post your favourite CoX-related memory - from any point in time, not just in Homecoming. Take a look at Miss' post for more details!

 

---

 

Lastly, I posted a small update on our recent quietness here. TL;DR: We're all still here, but real life has been getting in the way. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, and hope to get back into the swing of things soon!

 

- The Homecoming Team

[GM Miss]

I love all these things. See y'all there! 

[Paulah]

I remember when live was in beta.  If they actually called it that I dont rememer.  I played from beginning to end. I remember when updates brought us new cities and I remember when city of villains opened.  I bought new computers to keep up . Spent almost everyday playing , even on vacation. I love COH but its hard to play without my friends. Not because the game is hard but because every mission I go in , reminds me of the laughter I once shared with some incredible people.  Paragon protectors I miss you. 

[HyperAi]

When I first bought this game I didn't know what a MMO was. I played mostly console games so when I got home and found out there was a subscription fee I almost returned it. But the game looked extremely promising so I subscribed and made my first character.

 

After running around smashing bad guys in Atlas with brawl I wanted to make a few costume changes. I asked around and found out I had to travel to Steel Canyon by tram and locate the Icon store. I was only around level 5 or so and I tried to make my way from the south tram all the way north to Icon with high level baddies all around. I found myself visiting the hospital over and over.

 

I was granted access to the jump pack with a game code and on what seemed like my 10th attempt to make it to Icon I was close to death and used the pack to escape high onto the rooftops. Upon reaching the top I was amazed to see someone was actually up there. A level 50 illusion storm controller. We chatted for awhile and he proceeded to show me all of his powers. As he summoned storm powers with various pets I was in awe. At that moment I knew I was hooked. I had never experienced a game like this in my life. The community was amazing and the gameplay was so addicting.

[Ukase]

57 minutes ago, HyperAi said:

When I first bought this game I didn't know what a MMO was.

I can say the same thing. The only reason I played after I found out was the box included a code for the first month's fee. After that, it was easy to justify. So many learning lessons about slotting, powersets & tactics. I kind of wish I could go back in time and see it brand new (to me) again. Joined a couple weeks before issue 4 hit. 

What kills me is a girlfriend of mine had told me about the beta when it came out - and I passed at the opportunity because of grad school. I kind of regret that.