City of Heroes Freedom is coming soon, but the game isn't free-to-play just yet. It is, however, available for only $1.99 to new subscribers during the Declaration of Freedom sale! The super low price went into effect this morning and will be offered until August 29 at 4 p.m. PDT.

Sound like a good deal? Then head over to the NCsoft store and pick up City of Heroes before it goes free-to-play! The $1.99 price tag gives you access to the full City of Heroes and City of Villains games, as well as one month of game time.

Are you a City of Heroes subscriber who wants to get a hands-on look at the upcoming free-to-play update? Then you'll be interested to know that the City of Heroes Freedom and Issue 21 VIP beta kicks off today, August 9, at 4 p.m. PDT. Here are the features you'll be able to try out:

"Delve into the next evolution of City of Heroes starting from the new Character creator and its myriad of improvements and additions, straight into the brand new combined tutorial and the updated Atlas Park and Mercy Island! And while you're at it, browse through the Paragon Market as well as the brand new Paragon Rewards system that supersedes the Veteran Program!"

Players will also get the opportunity to test out the new Time Manipulation Power Set in the VIP beta. You can take a look behind the themes, aesthetics and mechanics of the set in the design notes.

For more details on the Freedom update, check out the Issue 21 Overview page and the City of Heroes Freedom mini-site.

City of Heroes will be adopting a free-to-play hybrid model with the upcoming launch of the Freedom update, which means the superhero MMO needs a store where you can purchase in-game items and services. That store is called the Paragon Market, and the details were unveiled today on the official City of Heroes site.

The Paragon Market will use a new currency called Paragon Points. The anticipated exchange rate will set 400 Paragon Points at $5, but that's subject to change before City of Heroes Freedom launches. VIP players will receive 400 Paragon Points per month as part of their subscription.

The sample prices that were released range from $0.25 for a Wizard Beard to $20 for five character slots. Again, these prices could change. You can view all of the sample prices after the jump.

New in-game items and account services are coming in the Paragon Market, including dual and team inspirations, two more enhancement trays, five more costume slots and 12 more character slots. For more details, check out the Paragon Market overview.

Paragon Studios has released a trailer for Issue 21: Convergence, which is coming with City of Heroes Freedom. Watch it below to see the new First Wars zone, the Underground Incarnate Trial, the Seed of Hamidon zone event, new costume sets, the Time Manipulation power set and the new Galaxy City tutorial.

City of Heroes will be adopting a hybrid free-to-play model with the launch of Freedom later this year. The team just released details on the Paragon Rewards program that's coming in the update, which will give subscribers tokens that can be used to unlock various rewards.

Paragon Studios will be hosting a double XP weekend in City of Heroes from July 28 at 9 a.m. PDT to July 31 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Not only will you get bonus XP to help level up your characters, but you'll also earn double the Inf and double the Prestige!

If you're already a City of Heroes player, this will be the perfect opportunity to get your characters ready for the upcoming free-to-play switch, which will coincide with the launch of Issue 21: Convergence.

NCsoft and Paragon Studios have released a preview of the First Ward zone that's coming to City of Heroes with the launch of the free-to-play Freedom update and Issue 21. The zone certainly has a tragic history. While sonic fencing placed around the city was able to keep Devouring Earth creatures at bay, great tentacles erupted from the steets and destroyed the city from within.

To face the threat, Emperor Cole approved an operation that turned the sonic fencing in on the city, causing a catastrophic frequency loop. While the Devouring Earth attack was stopped, the rest of the city was categorized indefinitely as a disaster area and tens of thousands died or went missing.

For more details on First Ward, check out the preview and view some screenshots in our gallery.

When City of Heroes Freedom launches, it will bring with it a new tutorial that will help introduce new players to the game. In the latest issue of the Intrepid Informer, the Paragon Studios team explains how the tutorial will inject players directly into the destruction of Galaxy City with the help of a five-page comic book that will be shown through loading screens.

The bulk of the article explains the design process behind the comic book tutorial, which was the brain child of Matt "Positron" Miller and Sean "Dr. Aeon" McCann. "A unique aspect of the storytelling is that we incorporate you as players within its pages in the form of first-person views in several panels," they said.

Keep an eye out for the comic and new tutorial when City of Heroes adopts a free-to-play hybrid model later this year.

While last week's big news was that City of Heroes is adopting a free-to-play hybrid model later this year, Paragon Studios has still been hard at work creating new content for the game. Today marks the launch of Issue 20: Incarnates Ascend, which introduces the Keyes Island Incarnate Trial, new Lore pets and Merit Rewards, quality of life upgrades and an expansion of the League system.

All of this new content stems from Issue 20: Incarnates, which launched back in April. We recently had the chance to explore Issue 20 with members of the Paragon team, so be sure to check that out to see what this major patch originally added to City of Heroes.

It's been a busy week for City of Heroes. On Tuesday, they announced that the game will soon be adopting a free-to-play hybrid model. On Wednesday, Nate "Second Measure" Birkholz wrote a producer's letter that explains the team's logic behind the switch. And today, Lead Designer Matt "Positron" Miller discussed what went into designing Freedom's business model.

The following quote sums up Miller's entire letter: "One thing that I was making clear to everyone is that we needed to treat our subscribers, past as well as present, with the respect they deserve." That could be Paragon's motto for City of Heroes Freedom.

According to Miller, the team members did everything in their power to ensure this hybrid model actually treats subscriber VIPs as Very Important Persons and gives returning players some perks to honor their previous time with the game. They also looked at other hybrid MMOs to weigh the pros and cons of the model and pick a format that works for City of Heroes.

Want more details? Read Miller's letter after the jump!

Following yesterday's announcement that City of Heroes will soon be adopting a free-to-play hybrid model, Nate "Second Measure" Birkholz has written a producer's letter that explains the team's logic behind the switch. In fact, this is the letter he's been "looking forward to the most" since he started writing them back in February.

Throughout the letter, Birkholz emphasizes that Paragon Studios is dedicated to the City of Heroes community. "We want to deliver more content, new features, and even better rewards for your loyalty, and yes, to bring in more people to play your favorite super-powered MMO," he said.

For the past year, they've divided into strike teams to generate content and adapt the game for the launch of City of Heroes Freedom. Birkholz believes Issue 21: Convergence is going to be their "best issue ever," and the all-new tutorial will introduce new players to the game like never before.

Birkholz covers a lot of ground in his letter, so be sure to check it out after the jump.