Poll: City of Heroes is on sale on Steam today. Anyone have any experience with the game?

[NeutralDrow]

My first and still my favorite MMO. The character creation and customization is insane, especially since they also figured out how the make the powers and weapons take different appearances, and Going Rogue was released a few months ago

Wait, why the hell am I still talking here? I was waiting for Going Rogue for over a year. I need to sign back up...

Try a Dark Defender. Take Darkest night at level 2 and use it all the time. You'll quickly see why Buff/Debuff dominates the game.

Umbramancer approves of this message.

...though I kinda focused on my Blast set that early. Darkest Night is wonderful in a group or if you have no endurance problems, but that early? Better to go for solo viability.

Not that you don't have a good point. Hell, Tar Patch and Darkest Night alone. Translation: they move like snails, take more damage, and can't hit you back worth shit.

 

[NeutralDrow]

It was kind of fun, but as I recall there wasn't a whole lot that separated the low level area from the holy-shit-these-guys-are-50-levels-higher-than-me areas

As I recall, that's mainly to support the sidekicking system. Kinda pointless to have the low level players tag along if they can't even get to the non-hazard zone missions.

Besides, it was one of the happiest moments in the game when I first got Invisibility and started exploring Talos Island, Croatoa, Founder's Falls, and Peregrine Island at level 18. I mean, yeah, it was ended pretty abruptly by some giant rock monsters with (apparently) really good eyesight, but still!

i think its going F2P in Q1 or 2, or maybe thats the other superhero MMO, or the third, either way i would wait it out as its guaranteed to go F2P soon.

It's the other one. Champions is supposed to be doing that this year.

Its utterly dead since aion and Champions online came online. Even the highest populated server pre-aion/CO was reduced to a ghost town.

Yeah...I doubt that very much. Champions may have had some effect, but by NC Soft's own numbers, the game is hardly "dead."

 

[d3structor]

I played it and had fun for a couple years, beware the altitis like the people above me said.

only online game I ever remember coming to a complete stalemate in.
Regeneration scrapper vs stone armor tank: 10 mins later "call it a draw?"

 

[joshuaayt]

"Or". Not awful, and decently fun- it's like champions online, but you need to plan a build before you start. Combat is as monotonous as any MMO, and you'll never feel anything like badass (unless you go Scrapper- they can handle themselves ok).

The game is fairly balanced- I remember once, in Champions, I was soloing an entire hard 5+ player area with electricity-regen...- so you'll have a consistent challenge.

All in all, I'd suggest trying the first month, then making a more concrete, expensive decision.

Oh, right- since Going Rogue, the game is populated again- Freedom server was even orange, at one point. It might have dropped since I last checked, but it should be all good.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I was there the day it died. Freedom was normally yellow or red, after aion, it turned green (this means a HUGE drop on the highest populated server, a "green" day on freedom is the day hell freezes over). Virtue, which has a cultist following of role players, died. I know this since Pocket D was empty all day along with the starting point hero-side. They are NEVER abandoned the entire day. People just left shortly after that. It required the going rogue expansion to even save it. I left before going rogue came out, so it may have recovered somewhat. The last i saw of it, a lot of the huge guilds lost a lot of people and some even died off completely. Funny part is people got "loyalty benefits" if they stayed after aion and even then it didn't stop the exodus from the game.

And again, it apparently still has around 100,000 subscribers (with Going Rogue). I think the highest it's ever had was around 130k. That's hardly "dying."

Did you just pick the day everyone was trying out the new MMO? People playing other games with something new and exciting happening is hardly jumping ship.

 

[Sixcess]

No, i played for a couple months after that (every day), before going rogue was released. Have you played it at all?

I'm going to half agree here. The game did go through something of a slump in the immediate run up to GR. It had been a while since the release of any significant new content and player attention was drifting elsewhere.

That said, when Going Rogue went live every single server went yellow for a solid month, and Freedom and Virtue, and sometimes others, were regularly red. I've been mostly away from the game for the last couple of months, but when I logged in briefly on New Year's Eve there were 4 or 5 yellow servers, including Freedom and Virtue. That's pretty good going for a game that's older than WoW.

I don't think CoH will be going F2P anytime soon. Champions barely scratched it, and DCUO has a different style of gameplay that's just not going to appeal to the CoH loyalists.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

Only do it if you're not expecting huge endgame content, but a lot of incentive for creating new characters.

Anyone who plays it will tell you that it's the journey to level 50 that makes the game fun, unlike with WoW (prior-Cataclysm) where all the really fun stuff is at the end. All the really fun stuff is in between levels 5 and 50.

If you love customisation definately give it a go. You will not regret it.

Sigh... All this talk brings back fond memories of my RP Supergroup and our antics. I'm beginning to get very tempted to get back into it.

P.S: Any EU-side people from the Handies or Nighthunters?

 

[AnAngryMoose]

My first and still my favorite MMO. The character creation and customization is insane, especially since they also figured out how the make the powers and weapons take different appearances, and Going Rogue was released a few months ago

Wait, why the hell am I still talking here? I was waiting for Going Rogue for over a year. I need to sign back up...

Try a Dark Defender. Take Darkest night at level 2 and use it all the time. You'll quickly see why Buff/Debuff dominates the game.

Umbramancer approves of this message.

...though I kinda focused on my Blast set that early. Darkest Night is wonderful in a group or if you have no endurance problems, but that early? Better to go for solo viability.

Not that you don't have a good point. Hell, Tar Patch and Darkest Night alone. Translation: they move like snails, take more damage, and can't hit you back worth shit.

Talking about Darkest Night brings back painful memories of fighting Circle of Thorns soloing with just a Dark/Thermal Corrupter and not being able to hit shit and them hurting me faster than I could heal. Having said that, once I used Mids to sort my build out they were a piece of piss.

Am I the only CoH player who finds Circle of Thorns not that bad to fight?

 

[compensating]

CoH/V/R

Is my absolute favorite MMO. It's a great social and gameplay experience when compared to most other mmo's. As long as you're not a PvP only kind of person you'll love it.

 

[Sixcess]

Am I the only CoH player who finds Circle of Thorns not that bad to fight?

The Circle are a nightmare to fight early on - basically once the Spectrals start showing up and trashing your accuracy, and I still remember the shock the first time I got Held by a Mage. But In the late game I find them pretty easy - not Council easy, but a lot easier than say Malta.

Vahzilok are the worst at low levels. Easy in small controlled numbers, but those stacking slows and the massive toxic damage can turn a fight into a disaster very quick.

I haven't fought any of the new groups at high levels yet. If they're anything like their low level counterparts they're going to be tough.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I was there the day it died. Freedom was normally yellow or red, after aion, it turned green (this means a HUGE drop on the highest populated server, a "green" day on freedom is the day hell freezes over). Virtue, which has a cultist following of role players, died. I know this since Pocket D was empty all day along with the starting point hero-side. They are NEVER abandoned the entire day. People just left shortly after that. It required the going rogue expansion to even save it. I left before going rogue came out, so it may have recovered somewhat. The last i saw of it, a lot of the huge guilds lost a lot of people and some even died off completely. Funny part is people got "loyalty benefits" if they stayed after aion and even then it didn't stop the exodus from the game.

And again, it apparently still has around 100,000 subscribers (with Going Rogue). I think the highest it's ever had was around 130k. That's hardly "dying."

Did you just pick the day everyone was trying out the new MMO? People playing other games with something new and exciting happening is hardly jumping ship.

No, i played for a couple months after that (every day), before going rogue was released. Have you played it at all?

I've played once since the release of Aion, yes (about April 2010, had to stop after a month due to school pressures, but thems the breaks). The only thing "ghost town" -like I noticed was that the usual hang spots were all replaced by the mission architect.

Hell, I think I left several of my characters there, as well, for the day job benefits.

Talking about Darkest Night brings back painful memories of fighting Circle of Thorns soloing with just a Dark/Thermal Corrupter and not being able to hit shit and them hurting me faster than I could heal. Having said that, once I used Mids to sort my build out they were a piece of piss.

Am I the only CoH player who finds Circle of Thorns not that bad to fight?

I find them more of a pain redside. Blueside, the only trouble I have is when I'm playing my D3 main, and only because they just take longer to kill with negative energy...and because I have endurance problems. Never bothered to take Stamina, and only a few of my sets slot for End Reduction.

Heard they were making the Fitness pool inherent. Have they done that, yet?

I haven't fought any of the new groups at high levels yet. If they're anything like their low level counterparts they're going to be tough.

Hm? You mean they added new villain groups? Or they buffed some lower-level ones?

 

[Sixcess]

The only thing "ghost town" -like I noticed was that the usual hang spots were all replaced by the mission architect.

MA has been brought under control (or beaten senseless with the nerf bat, depending on your perspective.) People are back out in the world now.

Heard they were making the Fitness pool inherent. Have they done that, yet?

Yup, as of the December update. I never saw the pool as a must-have early on as so many people do, but it's nice to have.

Hm? You mean they added new villain groups? Or they buffed some lower-level ones?

Going Rogue released in August, and all of the enemy groups in Praetoria are new. They're a good deal tougher and more interesting to fight than most blue and redside enemies in the 1-20 range, but since Praetoria is currently only 1-20 content (plus a Task Force or two I think) I have not fought them at high levels yet.

Praetoria, incidentally, is beautifully done. It looks amazing (no War Walls) and the story content is the best they've ever done.

 

[NeutralDrow]

The only thing "ghost town" -like I noticed was that the usual hang spots were all replaced by the mission architect.

MA has been brought under control (or beaten senseless with the nerf bat, depending on your perspective.) People are back out in the world now.

The only change they could possibly make to MA that would mildly upset me is making pieces of rare salvage harder to obtain through it.

And even then, that's not a given. I went into the thing wanting to write stories, not farm.

Heard they were making the Fitness pool inherent. Have they done that, yet?

Yup, as of the December update. I never saw the pool as a must-have early on as so many people do, but it's nice to have.

I like having it when I'm delaying getting a travel power, or complementing my character's concept; fits one of my mains, a Willpower Tanker, pretty well.

...oh, that reminds me. Have they added any new attack animations in the past few issues? I nearly burst into dance when I saw the new ones for Martial Arts and Super Strength last time I played.

Hm? You mean they added new villain groups? Or they buffed some lower-level ones?

Going Rogue released in August, and all of the enemy groups in Praetoria are new. They're a good deal tougher and more interesting to fight than most blue and redside enemies in the 1-20 range, but since Praetoria is currently only 1-20 content (plus a Task Force or two I think) I have not fought them at high levels yet.

Praetoria, incidentally, is beautifully done. It looks amazing (no War Walls) and the story content is the best they've ever done.

Ooh...

Hmm, I'll be reactivating my account before long, so I'll probably get the answer to this, anyway, but is it possible for characters above level 20 to take advantage of the side-switching thing? Three of my six Masterminds are more amoral more than villainous...and the other three have been overtly heroic since I created them.

 

[Sixcess]

...oh, that reminds me. Have they added any new attack animations in the past few issues? I nearly burst into dance when I saw the new ones for Martial Arts and Super Strength last time I played.

Not that I've seen. Four new powersets though - Dual Pistols, Demon Summoning, Electric Control and Kinetic Melee.

Ooh...

Hmm, I'll be reactivating my account before long, so I'll probably get the answer to this, anyway, but is it possible for characters above level 20 to take advantage of the side-switching thing? Three of my six Masterminds are more amoral more than villainous...and the other three have been overtly heroic since I created them.

Yes. From lvl 20 on you start getting a new mission type called Tip Missions. Once you do a certain number of these (3 I think) you get a morality mission, and once you complete that you can switch from Hero to Vigilante, or Vigilante to Rogue, or Rogue to Villain or vice versa. So yes, any character can side switch, or switch back again.

 

[NeutralDrow]

...oh, that reminds me. Have they added any new attack animations in the past few issues? I nearly burst into dance when I saw the new ones for Martial Arts and Super Strength last time I played.

Not that I've seen. Four new powersets though - Dual Pistols, Demon Summoning, Electric Control and Kinetic Melee.

The first two I've been playing and love, but...electric control and kinetic melee? Those are new to me!

Ooh...

Hmm, I'll be reactivating my account before long, so I'll probably get the answer to this, anyway, but is it possible for characters above level 20 to take advantage of the side-switching thing? Three of my six Masterminds are more amoral more than villainous...and the other three have been overtly heroic since I created them.

Yes. From lvl 20 on you start getting a new mission type called Tip Missions. Once you do a certain number of these (3 I think) you get a morality mission, and once you complete that you can switch from Hero to Vigilante, or Vigilante to Rogue, or Rogue to Villain or vice versa. So yes, any character can side switch, or switch back again.

I can't wait. Thanks!