City of Heroes Freedom

[Shader]

So I walk back to my computer after enjoying (readuffering) a few-ten days R&R away from it and boot it up and down load ye-gods how many emails and start to work through everything...
In the back ground I fire up the NC-Launcher.... interesting Test has a "small" patch going onto it... 182 MB... while Beta has .. ho-boy 1,965 MB ?!? ... what are they doing in there? That's going to take a while for me to chew through on my connection.
I shudder the size of patch when it lands on live and test.
Then I checked the CoH boards for an explanation as the the Test patch and found this note:

Since the announcement of City of Heroes Freedomâ„¢ and Issue 21,
we've been getting a lot of questions about features and
functionalities that will make it into the game. Well, it is now time
for you to experience all those changes first hand, for the VIP Beta for
City of Heroes Freedom and Issue 21 is starting at 4:00 p.m. PDT ( 7:00 p.m. EDT / 12:00 a.m. BST / 1:00 CEST) on August 9 (August 10 in Europe)!

If you've never accessed our Beta server before or need a refresher, get the latest set of instructions to install it here.

Once that's done, 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 Marketâ„¢ as well as the brand new Paragon Rewards system that supersedes the Veteran Program!

City of Heroes Freedom and Issue 21: Convergence have so much to offer, you will want to make sure you check our Issue 21 Overview page as well as our City of Heroes Freedom mini-site before embarking on the Beta adventure.

We're looking forward to seeing you on the Beta server!

And yes at some latter date they are giving out Paragon Points, and its open to all current subscribers....
Now if only a)I could get the patch was downloaded and b)I wasn't going away for the weekend.