NCSoft has announced the latest free expansion for the City of Heroes and City of Villains MMORPG, and along with new power sets, new inventions, and the long-awaited ability to customize your weapons to suit your character's style, guys both good and bad will get a chance to journey back through time and experience the history of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. The update will introduce the Menders of Ouroboros, a mysterious organization with the power to send characters back through time to experience epic struggles that shaped the City of universe into what it is today. As well as historical missions, the Ouroboros system will let players experience story arcs they might have missed on the first go-round, automatically powering down your character to the appropriate level. Neat! More details on Ouroboros as well as the new power sets, Dual Blades and Willpower, after a brief message from our gallery.

City of Heroes / City of Villains - Issue 11: A Stitch in Time

First details of the latest free expansion pack, A Stitch in Time.

Wednesday 3rd October/... NCSoft Europe proudly brings you the the eleventh free expansion to the City of Heroes® universe, introducing a whole new level of depth, gameplay and excitement to the franchise.

SUMMARY
Issue 11: A Stitch in Time reveals that all that is and was is not as it should be! The mysterious Ouroboros organization, a group of beings from the ends of time, enlists the aid of Heroes and Villains to rewrite the past. Heroes and Villains are able to travel through time using the new Ouroboros System, which opens the gates to both new and existing content for players. Issue 11 also unleashes two brand new power sets: Dual Blades and Willpower, giving Heroes and Villains a slew of new power options. Additionally, Dual Blades offers Weapon Customization - taking the "City of" Character Creator to the next level! And the Inventions system is enhanced with new "Very Rare" Purple invention sets.

OUROBOROS SYSTEM
Through the mysterious Menders of Ouroboros, players gain the ability to "Flashback", that is to travel through time and relive major events from the history of Paragon City™ and the Rogue Isles™. Heroes who travel back in time will embark on missions such as preventing the Circle of Thorns from unleashing a devastating demon on a defenseless world, a story originally presented in the City of Heroes comic book. Villains who journey through time will get the chance to assist Lord Recluse™ in his initial campaign to conquer the Rogue Isles, and much more.

Heroes and Villains also use the Ouroboros System to return to story arcs that they may have missed and replay hundreds of missions from earlier in the game. Players will even get to set mission parameters for these missions to earn special badges. Heroes and Villains will be auto-exemplared to the appropriate level for each story arc to ensure the challenge level remains constant.

WEAPON CUSTOMIZATION
Sometimes an assault rifle just isn't the right tool for the job, or character, especially when he or she should be using a sniper rifle instead. Players can now change their weapons in the same way that they change their costume parts! From within the costume creator and tailor screen players select the new "Weapons" region. A number of new options are now available for appropriate power sets. Current power sets that benefit from this upgrade include Assault Rifle, Mercenaries/Assault Rifle, Bow, Broadsword, Claws, Villain Claws, Dual Blades (see below), Katana, Ninja Blade, Mace, Robotics/Pulse Rifle, and Thugs/Dual Pistols.

TWO NEW POWER SETS
The City of... universe expands with two new amazing power sets: Dual Blades and Willpower.

DUAL BLADES
With a flashing blade in each hand, the Stalker made quick work of the Coralax hybrids guarding the shipwreck.
Now Heroes and Villains can wield paired weapons to devastating effect! Use the new Weapon Customization interface to choose from several types of weapons. Dual Blades also uses a brutal new Combo system, where the order of your strikes can create new advantages for you to take down your foes! Dual Blades is available to Brutes, Scrappers, Stalkers and Tankers!

WILLPOWER
Available to Tankers, Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers, the Willpower set offers a strong mix of resistance, defense and regeneration powers. This is the perfect power set for those characters who have the mental will and determination - the willpower - to ignore pain and press on through insurmountable odds!

NEW INVENTIONS
Issue 11 brings with it new invention sets including "Very Rare" Purple sets, as well as brand new invention sets for Taunt, Buff and Debuff powers, among others