The Rikti will step up their invasion efforts starting Friday, April 18, continuing through Thursday, April 24.

The Rikti Return!

The looming threat of the Rikti Invasion Force still hangs like a dark pall over Earth. Despite the best efforts of humanity, aggressive Rikti incursions still plague the planet. Advance warning systems indicate the Rikti are massing for attacks on the following dates throughout the year:

• April 18th through April 24th
• June 13th through June 19th
• August 1st through August 7th
• Sept 26th through Oct 2nd
• November 14th through November 20th

Prepare for a desperate battle to save Earth from the Rikti Invasion Force! Aggressive Rikti forces will attack Paragon City and Rogue Isle with increased frequency at any time during the above dates! Some important items to remember about Rikti Invasions:

• When Zones within the cities are under attack, a world-wide alert will be issued by Vanguard. This alert will show up in your Chat window on the System channel, warning you in which zone attack is imminent.
  
• While the invasion is occurring, players do not receive debt while outdoors in an invaded zone.
  
• Those in that zone that do not wish to be at risk of Rikti attack are asked to take shelter immediately. They can do so by leaving the zone, or moving inside buildings or under cover (overpasses, parking garages, etc.).
  
• The combative inhabitants in a zone will move off the streets and to safer locations when a Rikti Invasion takes place.
  
• Rikti bombs appear to be unstable and not 100% reliable. Some do not explode on impact and only embed themselves in the ground. These bombs have been noted to detonate after a time, so take caution when you see these. They can be disarmed or delayed by inflicting damage upon them.
  

Tune into The Cape at 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, April 3 for a special live interview with City of Heroes/City of Villains developers as we discuss the announcement about adding optional in-game advertising to the game.

[ Click here for the official announcement ]

[ Click here for more information on the Cape interview ]

Featured guests: Brian Clayton, general manager of NCSoft NorCal Studio, Matt "Positron" Miller, senior lead designer, and Lighthouse, community relations manager.

This Cape exclusive, hosted by DJ Templar and DJ Shecky, will feature a live one-hour Q&A with Clayton and Positron, followed by a one-hour segment with Lighthouse.

The Cape will share your questions with the developers, which you can post in our forums.

[ Click here to access The Cape forums ]

For those unable to tune in, we will provide a podcast of the interview, which will be available both here at thecaperadio.com and at cityofheroes.com.

From the CoH Announcements forum:

A New Age Dawns!

NCsoft® Corp, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today announced the formation of a new development studio in Mountain View, California. The announcement comes as the company begins a renewed push to further develop the City of Heroes® property, which is now 100 percent owned by NCsoft. Previous to today, ownership of the intellectual property (IP) was split between NCsoft and Cryptic Studios, the original developer of the project.

There are a handful of articles and FAQs that go into further detail about the acquisition, the reasons for it, and what it means for CoH players.

Full announcement

NCSoft Press Release

Discussion thread, complete with wild rumors, "D00M" predictions and hysterics

Here are some things NCSoft is handing out to express its gratitude to CoH players:

You are the lifeblood of our game. In celebration of our new studio and our exciting plans, and in order to thank you for the fantastic community that you have built, we are pleased to announce the following.

Full Access to City of Heroes and City of Villains®
All players with City of Heroes retail* accounts will now have access to City of Villains, and all City of Villains retail* accounts will now have access to City of Heroes. Players that didn't previously have access to "the other side" will find that they do now. Just log in to check it out!

Debt Wipe
After the launch of Issue 11: A Stitch in Time this Fall, we are removing Debt from all characters and giving you a fresh start. Actual date will be announced shortly. Have fun in the mean time.

20,000 Prestige
Also after the launch of Issue 11, all Supergroups will receive an additional 20,000 Prestige per Supergroup member, meaning SGs could acquire up to 3 million Prestige based upon their Supergroup membership roster! Actual date will be announced shortly.

It appears that the dev team will remain largely intact with a few exceptions. The general feeling is Cryptic has sold off CoH so it can focus on other projects, such as the planned Marvel MMO. Jack "Statesman" Emmert, who hasn't been an actual part of the CoH team for some time, is remaining at Cryptic.

No word yet on whether NCSoft will implement a "walking" emote.

Grab those dual swords! Suck it up and get some willpower! The open beta for Issue 11: "A Stitch in Time" began Monday, Oct. 29 on the Training Server.

Oh yes, and there's something about the Ouroboros flashback system, too. And new hair, by God!

Read the official announcement

Now placing bets on how many Drizzt clones we'll see on launch day!

From Lighthouse, official CoH forums:

By popular demand, the Rikti Invasion will return for limited engagements across Paragon City and the Rogue Isles through September! If you didn’t accumulate your badges from the event, this will be your chance to get in on the action!

The below schedule are dates in which a 24 hour Rikti Invasion will take place. You can plan on the event starting at approximately 10 AM Central (11 AM Eastern) on each day and then turning off at approximately the same time the following day. For example, at apx. 10 AM Central on Tuesday, August 14th, we will start the invasion event. It will run for 24 hours and then turn off at apx. 10 AM Central on Wednesday, August 15th.

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

Happy Rikti hunting!

To discuss this announcement, please join us on this thread.