City of Heroes/City of Villains Issue 7 Previews

Both GameSpot and Ten Ton Hammer have written up a previews of Cryptic Studios’ Issue 7 update for City of Heroes and City of Villains. A snip from GameSpot’s article:

If villains capture a nearby pillbox, the area will become covered in graffiti and propaganda for Recluse. Things get more interesting when players take control of heavies, which are gigantic killer robots tied to specific spawning platforms and can be given orders in battle by the first players to seize them. Although the zone, which periodically resets for further captures in round-based matches, can be conquered by capturing six of the seven pillboxes, by the time either team captures four, the remaining pillboxes will become reinforced by computer-controlled signature heroes and villains of the series, up to and including Lord Recluse himself and Statesman, the alter ego of City of Heroes creative director Jack Emmert. After Recluse’s Victory has been secured by either team, there is a five-minute victory period, during which players can continue to pummel each other and environmental enemies for additional prestige points.

And a snip from Ten Ton Hammer’s article:

Recluse’s Victory, or what the Heroes know as Atlas Park, is the first PvP zone for the series. Heroes and Villains will vie for 7 strongpoints, called “pillboxes” places around the map. Waypoints to these pillboxes are always one click away (no fullscreen map fiddle-faddling needed) and have 4 heavy turrets a piece, which must be destroyed before the pillbox can be captured (and don’t forget that you’ll have to deal with PvP aggression in the meantime!). And when the pillbox is captured… I hope you’re sitting down for this…. a “temporal anchor” is placed, and the buildings around you dynamically re-skin to fit the faction’s vision- reskin not just for you, but for everyone in the zone! In Villain areas, drabness, dead trees, proganda posters, and other signs of Recluse’s influence is everywhere to be seen. Even the large Atlas statue turns to, you guessed it, Lord Recluse with arachnid legs wrapped tightly around the world. In Hero areas, it’s goody two-shoes cheerful cleanliness, flora and fauna, and Justice League banners. When one side captures all the pillboxes, they get five minutes of victory time to try to gain 1,000 PvP points as everyone jockeys for postion. Doing so yields you temporal enhancements that you can take out of the instance, such as a robotic tank. But the real show stopped is this zone-wide dynamic reskinning. It’s never been done before in any MMO, and it’s at least as cool as it sounds.