city of heroes

Official Site: City of Heroes
Studio: Paragon Studios/NCsoft
Launch Date: April 27, 2004
Sunset Date: November 30, 2012
Homecoming License Date: January 4, 2024
Genre: Superhero Hybrid Themepark
Business Model: Hybrid F2P (Optional Sub, Cash Shop)
Platform: PC, Mac

Our more specific coverage of the City of Heroes revival is also binned here; you can find the tighter chronology of community rogue server posts right here; regular coverage following the official licensing of the Homecoming servers resumes under the regular City of Heroes tag.

Forever and ever.

Perfect Ten: Early versions of MMOs that were rougher than you remember

8
Despite our nostalgia goggles and cries for legacy versions of MMORPGs, the real truth is that most 1.0 versions of our online games were...

The Daily Grind: What are the most challenging upgrade systems in MMORPGs?

20
The thing I love about City of Heroes is that it scales remarkably well. If I want to just play the game or a...

Massively Overthinking: The one about open-world randos in MMOs

9
MOP's Chris is fast becoming my muse: It was his remark about Marvel Heroes that inspired this week's Massively Overthinking. "Some of the best fun...

Ship of Heroes calls attention to its ‘gorgeous’ visuals and how they serve game design as donations reopen

3
One would expect that a game set in a sci-fi superheroic setting would have a lot of dynamic things to look at, and Ship...
Effing OOPS

Perfect Ten: The accursed MMORPG dungeons of no return

15
So it came to be that I did face my Judgment, and I sat between that greatest of all Game-Masters o'er all the online...

Massively OP Podcast Episode 513: The MMORPG PvP theme show

11
Justin and Bree sit for a special themeshow all about MMORPG PvP in its many (many) forms, in addition to adventures in the LOTRO housing chaos.

The Stream Team: A quick jaunt in City of Heroes Homecoming just for the heck of it

0
Sometimes there are reasons why OPTV focuses on a game. Maybe it's the "it" title for our streamers. Maybe it's gotten a big update....
How near, how far.

Whatever happened to superhero MMO Valiance Online? (2025 edition)

5
It's been a couple of years since we heard much out of Valiance Online, one of the original superhero MMORPGs that spawned in the...

City of Titans’ Q1 update heralds progress on Unreal 5.5 upgrade, landscapes, and NPCs

0
Just ahead of the new year, Kickstarted superhero MMORPG City of Titans resurfaced from a year of tragedy and mourning to post a development...

Battle Bards: The Final Refrain

5
It’s been a very long while, but the Battle Bards haven’t fully abandoned you — at least not without a goodbye! In the grand...

DC Universe Online’s latest Day of Reckoning chapter, Aftershock, arrives with cross-faction leagues

0
The Day of Reckoning saga continues to play out in DC Universe Online, as the superhero MMO patches in Aftershock today. "Prepare for the arrival...
Never hitting the winner's circle.

Design Mockument: How would a Marvel MMORPG actually work?

15
We've had an awful lot of Marvel-related online projects that never quite get over the finish line into an MMORPG. Sure, we have had...

Massively Overthinking: Toxic positivity in the land of MMORPGs

38
As I type this, we've been watching the Lord of the Rings Online transfer situation unfold for over a week now, and I've personally...

One Shots: Clean up on aisle everything

6
If you came here hoping to find beauty and wonder encapsulated in a single picture, look away, for Minimalistway is bringing you nothing but...
Dive! DIVE!

MMO Hype Train: Ship of Heroes’ greatest challenge is its spiritual predecessor

15
So Ship of Heroes is expected to launch this year, perhaps around summertime? That should be good news -- even great news -- for...
bang

The Daily Grind: What’s your favorite villain group in an MMORPG?

18
I admit the temptation to talk about Star Wars Galaxies' Meatlumps today because they are fun and weird and such a fun little piece...

City of Heroes Rebirth shares footage of Issue 7’s new streetwear-styled costume options

4
It's been a couple of months since rogue server City of Heroes: Rebirth announced a delay of Issue 7 into sometime in 2025, though...

One Shots: A happy birthday for a death idol

8
You never stop to think about it -- because seriously, why would you? -- but even lonely cave idols celebrate their special birthdays. Their...

Casually Classic: Why vanilla Classic’s quest system was an industry revolution

15
In every retrospective covering World of Warcraft's explosive success out of the gate, there's a lot of effort spent trying to put a finger...

Massively Overthinking: MMOs that suck in interesting ways

10
This week's Massively Overthinking is entirely inspired by a fantastic argument made by YouTuber on Bluesky. Iron Pineapple declared that "a good game can...

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