What's new?

[Uncle Yuan]

It's been about 7,8,9 months since I last played CoX.  I've been toying with the idea of coming back, for at least a little while.  I haven't been following what's changed, though.  Could somebody give me the highlights?  I'm a little worried that I'll be so far out of it that I'll either be overwhelmed or so outdated in my character/play as to be ineffective.

Also, what's the state of the FR community?  Last time I was on it seems like everyone had migrated to non-Freedom servers and even the FR/NRF channel chatter was pretty low.  This kind of put me at the mercy of the noobs, which I did not find a very satifying gaming experience.

[BlueBard]

It's been about 7,8,9 months since I last played CoX.  I've been toying with the idea of coming back, for at least a little while.  I haven't been following what's changed, though.  Could somebody give me the highlights?  I'm a little worried that I'll be so far out of it that I'll either be overwhelmed or so outdated in my character/play as to be ineffective.

Also, what's the state of the FR community?  Last time I was on it seems like everyone had migrated to non-Freedom servers and even the FR/NRF channel chatter was pretty low.  This kind of put me at the mercy of the noobs, which I did not find a very satifying gaming experience.

To answer the questions...

The most recent big new things are the introduction of Shields, a Pain/Empathy powerset for villains, the option to have two different builds for your characters, and Day Jobs.

Day Jobs are what happens to your character as a result of logging out in specific locations.  You get an immediate short-term benefit/buff when you log back in.  If you're logged out at certain locations over the cumulative period of a month or so, you get a badge that relates to that location.  Combinations of badges will get you Accolades with limited use powers/benefits that you can recharge.

Most of my time lately has been spent running all of my alts from one location to another so I can rack up the Accolades.

Next up is the long-awaited Mission Architect for player-created missions.   

[MJB]

Also, what's the state of the FR community?  Last time I was on it seems like everyone had migrated to non-Freedom servers and even the FR/NRF channel chatter was pretty low.  This kind of put me at the mercy of the noobs, which I did not find a very satifying gaming experience.

The channel isn't as full as it used to be but we are quite talkative and team often. Most of the time we spend together is spent playing as the bad guys though.

Monday and Wednesday evening is a bit empty due to Heroes and Lost airing on TV. Other than that most days you'll find someone in there.

-MJB