We're sending out word that the City of Heroes MMORPG has recently celebrated its fourth year anniversary. In line with this, NCSoft has lined up some special events, along with a special "thank you" letter written by lead designer Matt Miller for the fans. Further details are available in the full article.

Have you ever wondered what it must be like for employees of NCsoft and Cryptic Studios to work in a new studio under new management? Wonder no more, as NCsoft Senior Lead Designer Matt Miller tells us all about it.

He also explains what the implications of this experience will be for upcoming City of Heroes Issues. Check the full article after the jump for more details.

NCsoft Team Lead Designer Matt Miller has revealed that levelling up in City of Heroes and City of Villains will be a lot easier after their team has placed the new feature XP Curve Smoothing on or before February 14.

So what exactly is XP Curve Smoothing? Matt Miller provided a lot of information and explanations which can be accessed via the "read more" link below.

NCsoft Europe and Cryptic Studios have released the newest expansion to City of Heroes/City of Villains Issue 10: Invasion. For the first time, CoH and CoV players can join forces to repel an assault by the evil Rikti.

The expansion includes a revamp of the Rikti Crash Site zone, now renamed as the Rikti warzone and is designed for players carrying 35 to 50 level characters. This area allows both heroes and villains to work together on missions. In the same light, the developers have also introduced the Rikti co-op task force which is geared towards players with level 45 to 50 characters. It has been said that this addition "delivers high-level adventures for teams composed of both heroes and villains."

In lieu of this expansion's release Cryptic Studio’s lead designer for City of Heroes and City of Villains Matt Miller shared a few words:

The Rikti maintain a very powerful position in the lore of City of Heroes and the Rikti invasion event we had during the beta stage of the game is still talked about by veteran players. We felt the time was right and it fit into the narrative of the game to unleash another invasion -- with a vengeance -- and transform the Rikti Crash site into the heart of the new alien incursion.

This new expansion looks to be a lot of fun, and adds another layer of depth and complexity to this MMORPG in terms of strategy and tactics. It also adds another element that RPers will enjoy playing out, the tension of having to work with your foes to thwart this alien menace. So suit up comrades and get ready, for the Rikti has arrived.

We've already covered a lot of ground on City of Heroes and City of Villains' new invention system, but what about the other new features that are being introduced in Issue 9? Matt Miller recently sat down for an interview with Gamespot, and here are his words regarding the new Auction House features in CoH and CoV.

Players will be able to pick a selling price of how much they are willing to take for whatever they are selling. Buyers and sellers have a sell history of each item to help them gauge the market value of what they want to buy or sell. Buyers don't get to see the price the seller is wanting for the item, though. They simply locate what they want to buy, and make an offer.

If what they offer is equal to or greater than what the seller wants for it, then the transaction goes through and the seller receives what the buyer offered (minus the appropriate fees, of course). This means that sellers who don't know the value of what they have have a greater chance of getting what they deserve for the item, no matter how low they personally value it.

The new auction houses in CoH and CoV will also be getting a new feature called a "buy order." Miller says that the buy order is a request to buy something that isn't currently being sold. "You put in the price you want to pay," said Miller, "and if a seller ever posts that item for that price or less, you immediately buy it, even if you are offline."

All of the auction houses are also cross-server, which means that players can buy something off of someone in, say, the Virtue server even if the buyer is in the Justice server. Miller said that he believes this will "result in a wealth of items to buy, and a wealth of buyers to sell to."

The Invention System in NCSoft's City of Heroes went through a whole lot of trial and error process before actually coming to fruition. As Matt Miller, lead game designer, would reveal in his dev diary, what they originally wanted was to add an "out of combat" system to the game. "...Something that gives players gameplay outside of the typical combat scenarios that City of Heroes has to offer."

According to Miller, this was supposed to be a Skill System wherein you could train up in various skills as well as complete tasks in missions "that would otherwise be unavailable to  your character." And so they went on to creating about six versions of the said system, only to come out of it unhappy.

And then came the Invention System. Miller further narrates in his diary:

We tried to think of new, exciting things that Enhancements could bring to the game. We determined that adding mini-powers to your existing ones had a lot of potential, as the sky would nearly be the limit on what we could accomplish with these new Enhancements. In addition we wanted Enhancements that never expired, because nothing was worse than leveling up in a mission to a point where the majority of your Enhancements turned red (useless), and instead of that level-up making you more powerful, it actually made you less.

To gain more understanding on the Invention System and its corresponding elements, feel free to read up on the rest of his dev diary entry by clicking on our Via link below.

Developer Cryptic Studios has always been proud of its MMO titles City of Heroes and City of Villains. And for quite a while now, they have been boasting of the games' new Veteran Rewards System. In a nutshell, the system awards players with special powers, base items, badges and costume pieces every three months.

Actually, the above mentioned system was included in the recently released expansion - Issue 8: To Protect and Serve. In case some of you are still to get this freebie, we were thinking that an interview with Positron">Matt Miller (aka Positron) regarding the matter would finally persuade you to do so. After all, Positron himself is claiming that the Veteran Rewards was one of the coolest things he'd done so far as a lead designer.

"It was really a challenge to come up with cool rewards that players have been asking for while at the same time making sure that nothing became the end-all-be-all reward," Positron argued. He added that he'd always wanted to make the veteran players' lives easier by providing items that are both flashy and useful.

Trench coats, Greek chest emblems, Samurai armors are the items to be given first to three-month-old players. Wings were supposed to be included also but were pulled out at the last minute. Positron explained, "Since I had promised wings in Issue 8, we decided that two wing styles would be made "preview" pieces, available only as Veteran rewards for fifteen months." The full crafting system concerning Wings will be the highlight of the next expansion, Issue 9.

Most of the Temporary Powers are now being used as permanent powers available to characters. This here is quite interesting as it first appeared before as bug. While Cryptic corrected the anomaly at once, Positron on the other hand is amused by it. "We fixed the bug ages ago, but I really liked the idea that players would work temp powers into their character's story, so I wanted to make sure that the Veteran Rewards allowed them to do just that," he quipped.

Finally, the Veteran Rewards System wouldn't be called that if the most veteran of players wouldn't benefit from it the most. Positron happily announced, "For our 36 month reward this coming April, players will be able to select from five non-combat pets; a small Demon, a renegade Clockwork, a docile Red Cap, a domesticated Rikti Monkey, and a refurbished Robot."

Admittedly, we haven't been playing City of Heroes/Villains for quite that long yet. But we will be looking forward to get that cute Rikti Monkey...

Today marks the release of NCSoft and Cryptic Studios' eighth free expansion for City of Heroes. Issue 8: To Protect and Serve brings new mission styles, new story content, and a veteran awards program to one of the most successful comic-book themed PC games ever. Issue 8 also reintroduces the newly-revitalized Faultline neighborhood as a brand new city zone now that the zombies and other evil beings that plagued it have been kicked out.

One of the new features in the expansion is the veteran awards program. This feature gives a wide-variety of veteran rewards for players who have had a City of Heroes or City of Villains account for at least three months. The rewards are given in increments of three months or active play and include special powers, base items, badges and costume pieces such as wings. This rewards program will be applicable to all characters within a qualified account.

Issue 8 also introduces players to Safeguard Missions, where heroes are given only a limited time to halt major crimes being committed by supervillains and their less-than-super henchmen. Heroes can scan for these missions using the new police band contacts, effectively making the "patrolling" aspect of being a superhero more frantic and frenzied than ever before.

"Issue 8 continues to build on a great game, giving players new adventures, areas to explore and rewards for their loyalty," said Matt Miller, Cryptic Studio’s lead designer for City of Heroes and City of Villains. "The action of the new Safeguard Missions is amazing and gives players a way to really feel heroic, which is one of the keys to why City of Heroes has been so successful."

A little factoid for you guys - October 31st may be meaningless to most of you, but for City of Villains gamers, it is one eventful day. Why is that? That date marks the anniversary of the game and if you could recall, the game was launched Halloween of 2005. Yup, time sure moves fast, and to talk more about that milestone is Cryptic Lead Designer Matt Miller, more commonly known as Positron.

In this MMORPG.com interview, Positron shared that City of Villains has thought him a lot of lessons - one of which is that he now listens more to users. He has learned to value insights, be it a negative or a positive one, from their passionate gamers. These insights have became really valuable as the design progresses.

Of course, when one talks of CoV, talking about City of Heroes is inevitable. When he was asked about which aspects of each game he prefers over the other, he mentions that Heroes has this unmatched aspect of playing a hero. On the other hand, Villains has a more proactive feeling to it.

He also divulges their plans to further integrate the two games by planning a co-op zone where both sides band together to combat a mutual threat. He then mentions that "there are times when the enemy of my enemy becomes a friend, no matter who they are."

For those longing for the return of Cathedral of Pain, you might have to wait a little longer. He mentioned that it brought a certain exploit "that can not be fixed quickly, and involves a rework of some of the systems involved. If I were to use my crystal ball I would say Issue 9, but there is always the possibility of it getting in before then."

Aside from that, he shares that this favorite villain archetype is Dominator because it couples Control abilities and considerable damage output.

His real name is Matt Miller, but City Of Heroes fans know him better as Positron.  By either name, he is well known in the industry as a developer and a communicator. His career recently took a step forward: he's now the lead developer for the CoX games at Cryptic Studios.

What about creative director Jack Emmert, the original brains behind the series? "CoH and CoV are still Jack [Emmert’s] games, but he has entrusted me to lead the games’ direction. I’ve always wanted to make them more story driven and have worked for a long period to achieve that. While he still has his say, I now decide which systems and features we work on, how we implement them, which zones we create or rework and so on," says Matt. He is determined to continue keeping the gaming community informed via forums and bulletin boards, however.

Now that Positron is in the driver's seat, where will he be taking CoH and CoV? Changes that are forthcoming include a new system that will improve Level 50 characters - so players will spend more time on that level before advancing to 60. According to Matt, this will "allows us to create more room on the top." This system, called "Enhancement Diversification," give players "the fat loot," making them stronger.

There'll be some changes in how archvillains and monsters work, although the archenemy system has been delayed because of implementation issues. Matt hopes to have this in place in the next 12-18 months. There will also be some improvements in the veteran reward system, which will include base items, free respecs and temporal powers. "There’s even a chance we’ll see the beloved Christmas jet pack again," adds Matt.

Issue 8 should be out sometime in September.