# City of Heroes



## Hatchling Dragon (Apr 28, 2004)

Well, just gave into my on-going addiction and picked-up my (reserved ) copy of City of Heroes.  Got to wondering how many others in EN land had also caved-in and picked up a copy.

At about 3:30 CST I tried to set up an account, and 10 minutes later I have yet to recieve my account verification E-mail 

Standard Questions:

What server are you going to play on, so we can all hang meet and mabye team up sometimes.

What do you plan on playing, and if you already know, what's the character's name?

When can you play, so it's easier to know who to pester for grouping 

Anything else you can think of of course.

I myself don't know enough about the game to answer any of my own questions of course 

Hatchling Dragon


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## KenM (Apr 28, 2004)

Another great MMMORPG launch.  "We Promate the crap out of it, then say 'we did not anticipate the demand being so high' when launch day comes"


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## Dreeble (Apr 29, 2004)

Heya:

 I got the game Tuesday but couldn't play that night since it wasn't officially starting until Wednesday at noon.  Not a huge deal.  Wednesday night activating my account was a snap.  I was actually surprised, thinking the registration server (or whatever) would be congested.  Note: I did get an email confirmation fron NCSoft but it wasn't needed.  Probably because I already had an account from playing in the Lineage 2 Open Beta the last few weeks.

 I made an itsy bitsy Magic Controller (Illusion/Kinetics) heroine named "Mirage Mistress" on the Liberty server and enjoyed the heck out of it.  The tutorial is pretty good at introducing the core game concepts.  The game is very similar in terms of interface to what I remember from Everquest.  By this I most mean the slash commands like /who, /friends, etc.  I got the strategy guide and simple macros can be hotkeyed and hotbuttoned as well.

 Towards the end of the night (as Mirage approached 5th level), I got a few crashes (it puts up a dialog informing you of the crash and asks if you want to type in information explaining what you were doing at the time of the crash, after which it exits to the desktop).  Kind of annoying.

 I played some more today at lunch and got a LOT more of these crashes.  I was typing in the box, "Turned left and crashed.", "Heading back to my contact and crashed.", "Exited tram and crashed before control was returned to me."  Ugh.  I read the forums today and I'm going to try two things: Disable Geometry Buffers and Reduce Level Of Detail To Medium (heck, I'll reduce to minimum if it'll let me play reliably).

 I also made a Tank called Frost Golem and a Scrapper called Aurumvorax (ooh, guess his color scheme!).  I think I prefer ranged fighting, though so I'll stick with either a Controller or a Blaster.

 An ENWorld Supergroup would be tons of fun, assuming more than 3 people from ENWorld play the game.   Any server would be fine.  Oh, and how do you send tells?  I tried /p personname Hey and it didn't work.

Take care,
Dreeble


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## Simplicity (Apr 30, 2004)

This game is awesome.  It hasn't crashed on me once yet, and I haven't
experienced any lag...

On opening day, that's amazingly good for a MMORPG.

I created Brine Justice, the hapless victim a salt-water fishery accident.
Using armbands of various metals, Brine Justice's body is like a giant
battery which electrocutes those who would batter his fishy friends.

The best part about the game...  The heroes are so configurable, my character kind of looks like he's part shrimp.  No kidding.  There are a LOT of choices for customizing your hero.

(BTW, I play on Infinity server...  Happy Hero-ing....)


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## javapadawan (Apr 30, 2004)

I'd love to be part of an ENWorld Supergroup, or just bash evil heads with other folks from these parts. I'm currently addicted to the character creator and have made a toon on just abuot every server. These are the ones I play the most:

Justice: Killer Tomato (Science Defender, Radiation Emission/RadiationBlast) 
Pinnacle: Kid Cthulhu (Mutant Defender, Dark Miasma/Dark Blast)
Freedom: Carcharodon (Natural Tanker, Invulnerability/Super Strength)
Infinity: The Weasel (Science Scrapper, Claws/Regeneration)

I play just about every night, with the exception of tonight and Sunday when I'll be playing D&D.


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## Hatchling Dragon (May 1, 2004)

Heh, typical me, I start the thread and then don't get out of game/sleep/work mode long enough to *reply* to the silly thing!  

Champion server (duh, I love the HERO game)
Heroine ("/broadcast Does anyone need some Heroine?")  
Defender:  Empathy/Electrical/Teleporter 10th

Seeing a lot of Perez Park of course right now.  Joined this characte with what seems to be a pretty fun crew over-all (ie: joined Enigma Force), even if they're a bit Suicidal (oh, BIG shock there right? )

Plan on making up other characters of course, which is not my SOP in these games, just cuz I come up with a new idea for a name/concept and just _have to_ try it out 

So many powers, so little time in the day!


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## Hatchling Dragon (May 1, 2004)

Dreeble said:
			
		

> Any server would be fine.  Oh, and how do you send tells?  I tried /p personname Hey and it didn't work.




Oh, almost forgot about this bit.  Just type in '/tell <name>, <message>'   It's the comma after the name that's the part I'm _always_ forgetting myself.  And if you get a reply you can just hit *Backspace* to do an autoreply.

Happy Heroing!

Heroine of Champion!


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## TheStiegler (May 1, 2004)

I'm playing City of Heroes as well.  I play on Pinnacle under the name Bronze Burner.

I had similar crashing problems all during the beta and didn't even try turning down the graphics settings in game because I knew I had a decent video card.  But turning character detail to low stops it.  I can't even get past the loading screen if I have it set on high.


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## CrusaderX (May 2, 2004)

This game is a blast, and runs surprisingly smooth and stable for me.  

My character is Crusader Ultra, on the Virtue server.


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## Mystic Eye (May 2, 2004)

CrusaderX said:
			
		

> This game is a blast, and runs surprisingly smooth and stable for me.
> 
> My character is Crusader Ultra, on the Virtue server.




COH is awesome. I think it is the most enjoyable massive multi-player game since the original Everquest first came out.

I have not had a great deal of time to play but I am on the Victory server with a few other folks. My primary character is currently a level 10 Magic/ Defender with Negative Engergy powers called Soul Judge. I also have an natural scrapper (Katana) named Ken-Jitsu, a technology tanker called King Bee, A Natural Blaster named Diamond Jack, and a Magic Controller names Gale-Force.
Each character is so different in appearance and ability they are all fun to play. I love the missions and how they work (spawned specifically for  your hero) and the villains are cool.
If you are not playing this game go get it. You will love it.


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## Farganger (May 3, 2004)

Simplicity said:
			
		

> I created Brine Justice, the hapless victim a salt-water fishery accident.
> Using armbands of various metals, Brine Justice's body is like a giant
> battery which electrocutes those who would batter his fishy friends.
> 
> ...




Brine Justice!  I saw him actually, but before I read this thread.

Sounds like a few of us have characters on Infinity.  (I'm still experimenting around with five or six, and a few more ideas to try before I even begin to commit.)

If I see Brine Justice or the Weasel around, I'll be sure to say "Hi".


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## Simplicity (May 3, 2004)

Brine was on a large team last night, and we took an office mission.
OMG, that was a blast.  The hallways were so full of undead you couldn't 
see anything.  After getting swarmed by Abominations, Brine died a salty death.  After being revived at the hospital, however, he seemed to be able to see the whole city...  From beneath its foundation.  And he was falling...  falling into a blue nothingness under the city.

Luckily, the doctors brought him back... But somehow a Sorcerer has broken into the hospital (no kidding) and was torching anyone who dared to revive.
Brine zipped past the sorcerer and ran back to the office to help his overwhelmed team.

(Last night was just a little bit buggy.  It was pretty entertaining, however).


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## Simplicity (May 4, 2004)

Brine Justice's Superhero Tips:
1) After a mission that occurs in a building/dungeon, click on the explosion next to the Mission Completed in the Nav Tray to be sent back to the entrance.

2) Enhancements can be combined.  If you've got two level 5 damage enhancements, and you're level 6, first put one of the enhancements in an enhancement slot.  Now click that power to bring up a combining UI.  Place the assigned enhancement before the plus, and the non-assigned duplicate after the plus.  You'll get a 5+ damage enhancement!

3) Look for stores.  Sure, it's fine to get Training enhancements, but it's better to get enhancements that match your origin.  Cooke's Electronics sells Technology/Science enhancements and Technology/Natural Enhancements, for example.  Stores can be found using the map that came with the game.  They're the little orange boxes.

4) Sell unused enhancements.  You can sell enhancements to the red and white spandex lovers in the City Hall in Atlas Park.  I'm sure there are simliar buyers in Galaxy City, and perhaps even near the other trainers.


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## javapadawan (May 4, 2004)

Simplicity said:
			
		

> Brine Justice's Superhero Tips




Good stuff to note. In addition, if you have two (or more) slots on a power, you can slot in more than one of the same enhancement type (they'll stack... which of course came as a complete surprise to me  )

For example, my level 8 radiation based defender has two 10+ accuracy debuffs slotted in his radiation infection power, and I've found that I can handle larger groups of baddies because of it (those infected will miss more often than not).

Lastly, if you're having trouble saving up the influence to buy better enhancements, spend some time patrolling the streets. Look for civilians in trouble and save them. Afterwards, wait for them to run up and thank you. On most occasions you'll be rewarded with some extra influence (although they also give inspirations and even ehancements on occasion).


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## DMFirebow (May 5, 2004)

Do you feel like it is worth the $$ and the monthly fee?


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## Simplicity (May 5, 2004)

DMFirebow said:
			
		

> Do you feel like it is worth the $$ and the monthly fee?




I think it's absolutely worth it so far.  The game does come with a free month (typical for most MMORPGs now).  A game's got to be pretty good to last longer than a month at my house anyways.  If this game lasts me more than a month (which I'm sure it will), it'll be worth the money since I would have been out there spending it on other videogames anyways.  

I haven't even gotten around to trying out a second hero type yet...
My first character is almost able to fly...  Must ... get... flight.


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## Zhure (May 6, 2004)

Champion server. Look for Inkling, a mystic/scrapper/quill/regen. But don't bother chatting, I keep the chat box off for now.

I think an EN league would rock. 

Greg


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## DMScott (May 6, 2004)

CoH is two tons of fun. The character builder is amazing, it's hard to settle on a single look  . Sidekicks are also a brilliant concept - basically, it allows a lower level character to team up with someone three or more levels higher and have their abilities increased to just below the higher level character's for the duration of their teamup. Great for friends to play together even if one is much higher level.

When I can break my reroll habit, I mostly play as Ugly Jim Studly on the Virtue server.


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## Simplicity (May 6, 2004)

DMScott said:
			
		

> CoH is two tons of fun. The character builder is amazing, it's hard to settle on a single look  . Sidekicks are also a brilliant concept - basically, it allows a lower level character to team up with someone three or more levels higher and have their abilities increased to just below the higher level character's for the duration of their teamup. Great for friends to play together even if one is much higher level.
> 
> When I can break my reroll habit, I mostly play as Ugly Jim Studly on the Virtue server.




Plus the sidekick gains XP as if they were at their old level...  It's a great way to gain XP.


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## Express (May 7, 2004)

I had to register here after a looong absence for this thread. Im really enjoying CoH. I tend to be a MMO junkie, but grow tired of the grind. But CoH is a pure stripped down experience. NO trading, or crafting- just grouping and bad guy beatdowns. Only time will tell if this evolves into something that can hold the attention and be worth 15 bucks. For now it is to me-I love the fact I can find a group get xp and have fun in the space of a couple of hours- no real long runs or camping so far.

I play on Infinity. Im Robonaut a currently lvl 10 tech energy/energy blaster, and Cinderblock, a level 6 science earth/fire tanker. (Simplicity, Im the one who /tell 'ed you the other day.)

Ive been playing since literally the first minute of launch but its taken me a week to settle on characters I like (and that look ok to me).

Anyway, if enworlders on Infinity ever need a tank/sidekick holler. I hate soloing. And if you all decide on a SG, Im in.


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## javapadawan (May 7, 2004)

DMFirebow said:
			
		

> Do you feel like it is worth the $$ and the monthly fee?




I always find this a difficult question to answer unless I'm speaking to someone whose tastes I'm familiar with. For myself, the answer is a resounding yes. I have a lot of fun playing this game, with my biggest problem being deciding which character, of the dozen or so I've created so far, to play. 

I'm a bit leery of the first announced expansion, City of Villains, which will bring PvP into the game. That's just not my playstyle, and Cryptic's implementation of it will likely decide whether I'll keep playing CoH or not once it goes live.


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## KenM (May 7, 2004)

They should have non PvP servers when the expansion is out. At least I hope, or they may loose alot of people.


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## Simplicity (May 7, 2004)

javapadawan said:
			
		

> I always find this a difficult question to answer unless I'm speaking to someone whose tastes I'm familiar with. For myself, the answer is a resounding yes. I have a lot of fun playing this game, with my biggest problem being deciding which character, of the dozen or so I've created so far, to play.
> 
> I'm a bit leery of the first announced expansion, City of Villains, which will bring PvP into the game. That's just not my playstyle, and Cryptic's implementation of it will likely decide whether I'll keep playing CoH or not once it goes live.




It really depends on how they do it.  You COULD only allow PVP between people with missions.  For example: You might get a mission to hunt down a hero or villain.  That hero or villain would be your level.  In that very restricted case of PVP, it might actually be exciting, rather than really spiteful and annoying, like most PVP MMORPGs.


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## Express (May 7, 2004)

javapadawan said:
			
		

> I always find this a difficult question to answer unless I'm speaking to someone whose tastes I'm familiar with. For myself, the answer is a resounding yes. I have a lot of fun playing this game, with my biggest problem being deciding which character, of the dozen or so I've created so far, to play.
> 
> I'm a bit leery of the first announced expansion, City of Villains, which will bring PvP into the game. That's just not my playstyle, and Cryptic's implementation of it will likely decide whether I'll keep playing CoH or not once it goes live.




Well according to a release by Cryptic shortly after CoH went live, CoV won't change the core gameplay of the game. I guess alot of ppl were concerned about this and of finding themselves in an archetype that is useless for PvP. But if I recall they said something to the effect that PvP will be consensual.


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## Simplicity (May 8, 2004)

Express said:
			
		

> Well according to a release by Cryptic shortly after CoH went live, CoV won't change the core gameplay of the game. I guess alot of ppl were concerned about this and of finding themselves in an archetype that is useless for PvP. But if I recall they said something to the effect that PvP will be consensual.




I just hope it's in the mission structure they already have and not a flag that says: Look at me, I'm marked for death.


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## DMScott (May 8, 2004)

javapadawan said:
			
		

> I'm a bit leery of the first announced expansion, City of Villains, which will bring PvP into the game. That's just not my playstyle, and Cryptic's implementation of it will likely decide whether I'll keep playing CoH or not once it goes live.




Most MMORPGs wait about a year until their first for-pay expansion, so even if Cryptic try an early cash grab I wouldn't expect to see CoV in stores before Christmas. So I wouldn't base a decision on whether to pick it up on CoV. They'll probably have to add in a bunch more general content before then, in order to keep people playing (somebody, or more likely some guild with a common character, has already hit the current level cap of 40).


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## KenM (May 8, 2004)

I tryed EQ and hated it, but do any of you that have played CoH think its worth it? It looks interesting and I keep hearing about all the options you have with how your character looks, i might give it a shot as long as its not another EQ.


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## CrusaderX (May 9, 2004)

Alot of people who hate EQ are really loving CoH.  The game is just a heck of alot of fun.

It would be cool to put together an EN World superteam.  We're probably all scattered on different servers, but we could start from scratch on a common server sometime.  That's one of the great things about the game - there are SO many cool characters to create, and its alot of fun to try new power sets and character concepts.


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## Hatchling Dragon (May 10, 2004)

Zhure said:
			
		

> Champion server. Look for Inkling, a mystic/scrapper/quill/regen. But don't bother chatting, I keep the chat box off for now.
> 
> I think an EN league would rock.
> 
> Greg




Ok, I'm confused now.  How would I 'connect' with you if you aren't replying to chat?  How would we get any sort of EN Heroes going if you aren't responding to chat?  Heh, just thought I'd ask.

Heroine


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## Hatchling Dragon (May 10, 2004)

Simplicity said:
			
		

> Brine Justice's Superhero Tips:
> 1) After a mission that occurs in a building/dungeon, click on the explosion next to the Mission Completed in the Nav Tray to be sent back to the entrance.




You can just click in the box nearly anywhere and it'll teleport you to just outside the mission building.



> 2) Enhancements can be combined.  If you've got two level 5 damage enhancements, and you're level 6, first put one of the enhancements in an enhancement slot.  Now click that power to bring up a combining UI.  Place the assigned enhancement before the plus, and the non-assigned duplicate after the plus.  You'll get a 5+ damage enhancement!




Actualy you can do this twice, so you could have a 5++ in a slot.  Maybe it's because I'm broke and don't ever seem to have enough of the right sort of Enhancements, but I've discovered it's "cheaper" if you just leave stuff at the #+ level, and then upgrade it when you gain levels and/or find better Enhancements.  Thus if you have a 15+ and find a 16 or better you can just do the usual Combine thingy and end up with a 16+.  You'll be needing that Influence (the game's money system) later when you start buying those Dual- and Single-Origin Enhancements.



> 4) Sell unused enhancements.  You can sell enhancements to the red and white spandex lovers in the City Hall in Atlas Park.  I'm sure there are simliar buyers in Galaxy City, and perhaps even near the other trainers.




You can sell them at most stores, or so I've been doing.  I only visit a couple stores so I can't speak for them all.

Heroine's Hero Helpers:
*Elevators* are your friends as no enemy, not even teleporters, will follow you through them.  This gives your Ressurectors time to do thier thing.  You *did* have a healer/ressurector that can _Teleport Friend_ didn't you?  
Save those Enhancments that aren't quite high enough for you to use, it saves you Influence when you're upgrading.  Example:  Upgrading to 15's on your Blaster, just save the 14 or lowers and buy a 15 for the slot you want to upgrade.  Slot in the 15, then use the lower levels Enhancements to upgrade that 15 to a ++.

Heroine - Hero of Champion


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## Agamon (May 10, 2004)

Did anyone here play in the beta, think it wasn't much fun, but stuck with it and are now enjoying themselves?  Has it changed much since beta?

I thought the game would be great, but upon experiencing it in beta, for about a month, up until they closed for launch, I found it wasn't fun enough to pay the monthly fee.  I have a lot of fun on PW servers in NWN already, it just didn't make any sense to me.  Sure, it looked awesome, and PC generation is way cool (I made pics for my PbP MnM games with it ), but the play was a bit dull, I thought.

I actually talked some friends into checking it out, and their now playing it, but I'm still not convinced to fork over that amount of cash for something that didn't really appeal to me when I got to try it for free.


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## javapadawan (May 10, 2004)

Express said:
			
		

> Well according to a release by Cryptic shortly after CoH went live, CoV won't change the core gameplay of the game. I guess alot of ppl were concerned about this and of finding themselves in an archetype that is useless for PvP. But if I recall they said something to the effect that PvP will be consensual.




True, I would probably be more surprised if the PvP _wasn't_ consentual. Plus, as DMScott pointed out, it will likely be awhile before I'll even need to worry about it.




			
				Agamon said:
			
		

> Did anyone here play in the beta, think it wasn't much fun, but stuck with it and are now enjoying themselves? Has it changed much since beta?




I started in the beta around the same time you did, roughly a month before launch, and from what I can tell, the game has changed very little. Unfortunately, if you didn't care for it before, it's unlikely you'll find any significant difference now.




			
				CrusaderX said:
			
		

> It would be cool to put together an EN World superteam. We're probably all scattered on different servers, but we could start from scratch on a common server sometime. That's one of the great things about the game - there are SO many cool characters to create, and its alot of fun to try new power sets and character concepts.




I agree. Maybe we can set up a poll, see what server most people would prefer? (I think these boards have that feature, don't they? I know I've seen them around, but I don't know how to post one.) Server names are: Champion, Freedom, Guardian, Infinity, Justice, Liberty, Pinnacle, Protector, Triumph, Victory, and Virtue, if anyone is so inclined.


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## Express (May 10, 2004)

KenM said:
			
		

> I tryed EQ and hated it, but do any of you that have played CoH think its worth it? It looks interesting and I keep hearing about all the options you have with how your character looks, i might give it a shot as long as its not another EQ.




I played EQ as well as almost every other MMO. City of Heroes doesnt do anything all that different than most MMOs. Its not really revolutionary. But it is so streamilined.

First there is creation which really makes you invest in your toon. And you can tweak the kind of powers you want by picking the primary and secondary power for your archetype.

Also for me, thw whole superhero mileu just gives it a different vibe. So many characters are now appropriate: elven wizards, goth tankers, alien controllers of gravity, undead cowboys, giant fighting robots. All fit in and slightly irreverent names work here too, names that are more suited for the Tick than Superman. So self expression is a big appeal.

Gameply wise, there is no real loot, no crafting and really no real economy (this will certainly change Im sure when layers begin to gain high levels and are able to trade single origin enchancements). Gameplyboils down to grabbing a group or going solo to do missions or cruising around the city fighting the numerous enemies in the city. Combat basically.

Grouping seems a bit different in CoH IMHO. Turn on your seek team flag and someone will invite you. Theres often little /tell "do you want to join our group" talk. Everyone can see the mission waypoint and rendevous, so things usually get rolling fairly quickly. And the archetypes are very flexible in filling a teams needs, so there no hanging aorund trying to find a "cleric" although helaers are often very sought after.

In short, everything seems to move quicker, groups are often fluid with ppl coming and going. Battle can get quite large involving large numbers of enemies.

My only gripe with the game is the bad manners of some players. While most missions are "instanced" and private for just you and your team, some missions are outside ones that involve, for instance, killing 10 bad guys. This, along with the design of some zones seems to cause some of the rampant killstealing that occurs in some areas. This isnt helped by the fact that 3 of the 5 archetypes have ranged attacks. However, if you partake in combat you still get a share of the xp, but its annoying. Hopefully as the noobs settle down and the servers get older and etiqutte develops this will die down.

But enough of my rambling. Its not EQ, but a distant cousin. Its really just combat but its soo much fun.




			
				javapadawan said:
			
		

> I agree. Maybe we can set up a poll, see what server most people would prefer? (I think these boards have that feature, don't they? I know I've seen them around, but I don't know how to post one.) Server names are: Champion, Freedom, Guardian, Infinity, Justice, Liberty, Pinnacle, Protector, Triumph, Victory, and Virtue, if anyone is so inclined.





As for a server, Id vote for one of the  few that still have light loads most of the time like Protector or Champion. All the servers seem to hit medium on the weekends. Let the poll commence!


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## Hatchling Dragon (May 11, 2004)

*Asketh for a Poll and thou shalt recieveth!*

Naturaly I'm going to go with Champions, as that's where I am now and as stated it tends to stay pretty light on load.

I've left the poll open to multiple servers, but please try to limit your choices to the main and a back-up 'meeting server' to keep the eventual choices clearer.


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## Enforcer (May 11, 2004)

I voted for Virtue, that's where all my folks currently are. But, I'd be more than willing to create a new guy (or create a twin of one of my current ones) on a new server for some EN World fun.


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## Dreeble (May 12, 2004)

Heya:

 Something quick about the game: Super Jump is my absolute favorite power.  This is what it's like being the Hulk.  Well, maybe not 2 mile jumps, but certainly 2 football field jumps (with a height of, say, 5 stories?).  Totally love it as a travel power.  Great for escaping, too.  I have a toggle that goes between Combat Jumping and Super Jump.  Click it and immediately jump away.  Also, for bad guys that run or port, autofollow the mob and super jump to them.  Wonderful.

Take care,
Dreeble (Frangere on Liberty, 17th lvl Magic Dark Melee/Super Reflexes Scrapper)


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## javapadawan (May 14, 2004)

Express said:
			
		

> Let the poll commence!




Great! I put in my vote, but of course, I'll play on any server.

On another note, the official City of Villains site has gone live. Not too much there yet, but the info page does mention a few interesting tidbits. I'm cautiously optimistic.


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## bolen (May 14, 2004)

Has anyone played this on a 56K modem,  do I need DSL if I want to play rather then waaaaaiiittt?


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## DMScott (May 15, 2004)

bolen said:
			
		

> Has anyone played this on a 56K modem,  do I need DSL if I want to play rather then waaaaaiiittt?




The box lists 56K as minimum, broadband recommended. I don't personally know anyone who plays on a modem, but some folks who do have posted on the vault and the official boards, sounds like it's playable on 56K though a bit laggy in crowded situations.


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## WanderingMonster (May 16, 2004)

Great game!  Tons of fun.

Code Blue, Triumph server, Level 4 Mutation Defender.


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## Blastin (May 16, 2004)

Any consensus on this yet? I've been toling around pretty much solo till now and would love to get into a group, and I think an ENworld group would be great....
  Right now I have characters on victory and guardian.
  Blastin


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## javapadawan (May 19, 2004)

Well, so far it looks like Champion is in the lead. Maybe we should start thinking about group name, colors, and leader(s)? By the time we get that sorted out, we should be able to settle on a server.

I kind of like EN League, originally mentioned by Zhure. Or maybe the League of Extraordinary Gamers.  

For those of us that will be making new heroes on the chosen server for the EN group, there's a hero planner tool available for free download here:
http://coh.warcry.com/index.php/content/community/plannertool/heroplanner.php

Very handy, and lets you plan out your enhancement slots as well.


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## WanderingMonster (May 20, 2004)

As soon as it's nailed down,. I'm there!


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## Shard O'Glase (May 20, 2004)

I'm all over playing an illusion controller, not sure if I should go illusion storm or illusion kinetic.


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## mistergone (May 21, 2004)

I play on Pinnacle as:

Lazarus Gone, level 14 Magic Defender and chairman of The Night Watch.

Mega Mite, level 9 Mutation Scrapper and all-around good guy!

Jetboy Dark, level 4 (or 5?) Technology Blaster.

Feel free to look me up in-game any time.


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## CrusaderX (May 22, 2004)

I'm ready when everyone else is.  Maybe we could plan on meeting up during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend?  That gives us a week or so to hammer things out.


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## javapadawan (May 24, 2004)

CrusaderX said:
			
		

> Maybe we could plan on meeting up during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend? That gives us a week or so to hammer things out.




Sounds good to me. Date and time?

(Ack, just noticed that Champion and Infinity are tied now.  Any CoH players who haven't voted yet care to break that?)


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## Greywarden (May 25, 2004)

I have two Heroes on Pinnacle (_Direwraith / Greywarden_) that I don't play much at the moment, but will get back to shortly.

I have two Heroes on Infinity (_Arcadian Hunter / Warlock Arkad_) that I'm currently playing.

And my Pen and Paper RPG group is plotting some combined efforts on Triumph in the near future.


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## Enforcer (May 27, 2004)

Hi everybody! This thread prompted me to start a City of Heroes Roll Call thread (see my sig). Post there if you want your characters listed in the index. This way, we can hopefully get multiple EN teams/supergroups started across all the servers. I look forward to meeting some of you online!


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## Hatchling Dragon (May 28, 2004)

Just an FYI to all that need or care to know.  Heroine, a 25th level Defender (Empathy / Lightening) is retiring, period.

Basicaly I just did my first, and of course last, Task Force mission and was unimpressed.  It's just more of the same, you're out 'killing mobs'.  Costume and power selections are fun but the core is just too repetative.

Hope to see you all in Worlds of Warcraft, or whatever comes out next, in my eternal search for the ultimate MMORPG.

Hatchling Dragon


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## javapadawan (May 30, 2004)

Sorry to hear that Hatchling. 

Don't know if it matters, but the first big update is supposed to go live soon, adding new types of instanced indoor missions, plus instanced outdoor missions and a couple new areas and villain groups. Still, if its the gameplay that bores you, I doubt these will do much to bring you back.

Guess I'll see you in WoW!


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## Felon (Jun 16, 2004)

Man, I keep reading good stuff about City of Heroes. It's tempting me into foregoing my "wait 6 months" rule for new MMORPG's.

So let me ask you guys about some stuff I'm not clear on after doing all that reading. First off, is it correct that there's no real type of stealthy character to build? Or are there powers like invisibility or intangibilty? If I show up at an instanced mission, do I just plow into bad guys immediately, regardless or whether I'm Batman or The Hulk, or do I get to do any sneaking around corners or creeping along catwalks? 

I heard that characters do things in missions like find clues, download files from computers, and disarm bombs. Does this really add any dimension to doing missions? It seems like those elements would affect your tactics and perhaps encourage a degree of subtlety, but if they're just things you do to complete a mission after beating the snot out of the bad guys, then that's not really the case.

Do origins really mean anything for your character? So far, it sounds like the devs copped-out on doing anything with them. I know that there are different types of enhancements for different origins, but if one origin can all get the same enhancements that every other origin can get (just with different names), then that's not a meaningful distinction.


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## Enforcer (Jun 16, 2004)

Felon said:
			
		

> So let me ask you guys about some stuff I'm not clear on after doing all that reading. First off, is it correct that there's no real type of stealthy character to build? Or are there powers like invisibility or intangibilty? If I show up at an instanced mission, do I just plow into bad guys immediately, regardless or whether I'm Batman or The Hulk, or do I get to do any sneaking around corners or creeping along catwalks?




There are stealth powers. My character, The Water Dragon, has a power called Stealth, actually. It makes him shadowy looking, makes him move slower (but attack speed isn't affected), and gives him a healthy AC bonus. It's also a prereq for Invisibility. The Stealth set is a Power Pool. These are powers that any character may get, if they want. Other Power Pools include: Leaping, Flying, and Leadership. There are lots of others too.



> I heard that characters do things in missions like find clues, download files from computers, and disarm bombs. Does this really add any dimension to doing missions? It seems like those elements would affect your tactics and perhaps encourage a degree of subtlety, but if they're just things you do to complete a mission after beating the snot out of the bad guys, then that's not really the case.




As far as changing strategies, no, they don't really affect anything. Though, I suppose you could run around with Invisibility active and just defuse bombs... Most people still kill all the mooks for the XP. But, there are cool missions where you get to try out special R&D tech--basically new, temporary powers. Stuff like Flashbangs and Electric Gloves that are especially fun for Scrappers and Tankers, because they're ranged attacks.



> Do origins really mean anything for your character? So far, it sounds like the devs copped-out on doing anything with them. I know that there are different types of enhancements for different origins, but if one origin can all get the same enhancements that every other origin can get (just with different names), then that's not a meaningful distinction.




Not for enhancements, though I think the names on the enhancements do add some flavor. But, your contacts, especially your starting contacts, have a lot to do with your origin. The storylines that unfold have so far been pretty cool.


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## DMScott (Jun 16, 2004)

Enforcer said:
			
		

> As far as changing strategies, no, they don't really affect anything. Though, I suppose you could run around with Invisibility active and just defuse bombs...




Actually, that can have an effect on strategy. Many missions don't require you to take out all the bad guys to complete, so if you're short on time sneaking around and just doing what you need to do is a viable tactic. As well, there's a line of sight component to the aggro code - if you attack a bad guy out of sight of his friends (including behind their backs), they're less likely to wake up and come after you. So if you go straight at a group, you probably end up fighting all of them at once; if you sneak around and find the best angle, you can often pick them off piecemeal.


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## javapadawan (Jun 16, 2004)

Another note about the invisibility stuff... I did read somewhere that the CoH team plans on adding some mission types in which stealth will play a more prominent role. I'm not sure if they were referring to the upcoming patch or a more distant future goal, though.

On an unrelated note, Super Leaping is the best power EVAR.


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## Felon (Jun 17, 2004)

Thanks for the info, guys. You've given me the little push I needed to go buy the game yesterday. Even called in sick to start playing today--so of course, the servers are down. Is this a common occurence?

I made up blaster called Dr. Dynamo on the Infinity server. Looks like each of the different blaster powers has a different effect in addition to damage. Energy and rifle cause knockback, ice slows, fire has a DOT effect, and electricity drains END. I chose electricity as my primary and secondary power, but draining END sounds like the weakest of all the blaster effects--I mean, if the END drain is minimal compared to your damage, I'm gonna knock the guy out before he gets exhausted anyway, right? I mean, the bad guys are designed to go the distance in terms of endurance, aren't they? I can easily rebuild, but I kinda like electrically-powered heroes--they're not terribly overdone in comics, relatively speaking.


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## Simplicity (Jun 17, 2004)

Felon said:
			
		

> Thanks for the info, guys. You've given me the little push I needed to go buy the game yesterday. Even called in sick to start playing today--so of course, the servers are down. Is this a common occurence?
> 
> I made up blaster called Dr. Dynamo on the Infinity server. Looks like each of the different blaster powers has a different effect in addition to damage. Energy and rifle cause knockback, ice slows, fire has a DOT effect, and electricity drains END. I chose electricity as my primary and secondary power, but draining END sounds like the weakest of all the blaster effects--I mean, if the END drain is minimal compared to your damage, I'm gonna knock the guy out before he gets exhausted anyway, right? I mean, the bad guys are designed to go the distance in terms of endurance, aren't they? I can easily rebuild, but I kinda like electrically-powered heroes--they're not terribly overdone in comics, relatively speaking.




Endurance drain actually does seem to be relatively weak against normal schmoe minions.  Against BOSSES, however, endurance drain wins the day 
for me all the time.  Minions don't actually seem to use all that much of their 
endurance...  But bosses go through endurance like crazy.  One shockwave, and they're sitting there staring stupidly at you as you wail on them.  The endurance drain of the actual attacks seems pretty minimal as far as I can tell though, but then, I don't have any enhancements on end drain yet.

Brine Justice is an Electricity Blast/Electricity Manipulation character.
He's certainly not underpowered...  Buildup + Zapp = virtually free xp.


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## Enforcer (Jun 17, 2004)

Felon said:
			
		

> Thanks for the info, guys. You've given me the little push I needed to go buy the game yesterday. Even called in sick to start playing today--so of course, the servers are down. Is this a common occurence?




Yes. Every morning starting at 8am Central, the servers go down for maintenance. The maintenance is scheduled for 8am-10am, but sometimes will be completed before 10am. The City of Heroes Website has a Server Status link that you can use to see if your server is down or not.

Outside of the daily maintenance, I've only ever lost a connection twice (in my many hours of play...though I'm an amateur compared to javapadawan and Greywarden).


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## Greywarden (Jun 18, 2004)

Enforcer said:
			
		

> Outside of the daily maintenance, I've only ever lost a connection twice (in my many hours of play...though I'm an amateur compared to javapadawan and Greywarden).




_Ah yes... the infamous Greywarden. By day (4pm-midnight) a mild-mannered security supervisor by night (midnight-loss of conciousness) a proector of the streets of Paragon City._

Most of my connection losses have been due to local DSL service interuptions, or ISP related difficulties (Despite much mockery from my friends I still use AOL) and the game runs surprisingly well on dial-up as I discovered during one of the above mentioned DSL service interuptions... this is not however a recomendation for playing on dial-up connections. As a whole the game has been far less buggy than most of the non-online games I've played lately... which says quite a bit when you stop and think about the increased complexity of a game like CoH as compared to say ToEE (Buggy but fun).


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## Felon (Jun 18, 2004)

Simplicity said:
			
		

> Endurance drain actually does seem to be relatively weak against normal schmoe minions.  Against BOSSES, however, endurance drain wins the day for me all the time.  Minions don't actually seem to use all that much of their endurance...  But bosses go through endurance like crazy.  One shockwave, and they're sitting there staring stupidly at you as you wail on them.  The endurance drain of the actual attacks seems pretty minimal as far as I can tell though, but then, I don't have any enhancements on end drain yet.




OK, I'm only 6th-level so I haven't soloed any bosses yet. I'll have to see how that goes. It does sound like knocking foes around would be much more effective for a blaster though. 

Fun game, but I think there needs to be a CoH version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Too many garish costumes out there....guys with pirate eye patches and King Tut beards...man, just 'cause you CAN add a belt and an insignia and shoulder pads and some other design elements to your hero, doesn't mean you mean you HAVE to.


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## Felon (Jun 19, 2004)

Simplicity said:
			
		

> Brine Justice is an Electricity Blast/Electricity Manipulation character. He's certainly not underpowered...  Buildup + Zapp = virtually free xp.




Well, that statement's a bit deceptive. Pretty much every build gets a damage buff like Buildup & a sniper attack like Zapp, don't they?. They just get more out of it if they're consistently getting the benefit of slowing their foes or knocking them down, whereas the END drain is having negligible effect. Fought my first boss, and it became clear that END is all-or-nothing deal. If you don't tap'em completely, you pretty much had no effect.


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## Greywarden (Jun 23, 2004)

*Arcadian Hunter* had his first Task Force (Synapse TF) experience over the weekend (at L20), he looks back on it with mixed emotions. We did not beat the final mission... but this is only because of our original 7 heroes, the other Scrapper lost connection and three other jerks (Tanker, Controller, and Defender) quit at the end of the second to last mission. This left 1 Scrapper (me), 1 Defender, and 1 Controller to finish the TF... We got to the end of the last mission, but could not beat the CW King... We did conquer the surprise at the end of the next to last mission, which ain't too bad for a Scrapper/Controller/Defender trio.

Maybe I'll get a rematch before I hit 22.


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## Greywarden (Jun 24, 2004)

OK so no rematch with the CW King, I leveled before anyone was able to put a TF together. Maybe the next level Task Force will go better... expect to find out this weekend. At least I managed to get a solid working relationship going with the Defender from the last TF. Having a good defender at you back can really make a Scrapper's day.


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## Liminal Syzygy (Jun 24, 2004)

I bought CoH... It's my first MMORPG since I quit EQ in late 2000. 

Honestly playing a MMORPG again is bringing back all kinds of bad feelings and stress for me. Particularly in CoH, heroes seem to be very customizable. On the surface there are only five major archetypes, but there are the primary and secondary powersets, all the tertiary powersets available to anyone, and then on top of that you have to pick which of your powers to specialize in and "slot". It seems to me there is just too much that can go wrong and cause you to gimp your character. It stresses me out. There also seems to be a lot of ongoing fluxuation, things are getting nerfted left and right still. That stresses me out as well when trying to plan a character.

Any advice?


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## Farganger (Jun 24, 2004)

Cordo said:
			
		

> I bought CoH... It's my first MMORPG since I quit EQ in late 2000.
> 
> Honestly playing a MMORPG again is bringing back all kinds of bad feelings and stress for me. Particularly in CoH, heroes seem to be very customizable. On the surface there are only five major archetypes, but there are the primary and secondary powersets, all the tertiary powersets available to anyone, and then on top of that you have to pick which of your powers to specialize in and "slot". It seems to me there is just too much that can go wrong and cause you to gimp your character. It stresses me out. There also seems to be a lot of ongoing fluxuation, things are getting nerfted left and right still. That stresses me out as well when trying to plan a character.
> 
> Any advice?




As you say, there has been and will continue to be a lot of rebalancing and people intent on having a very efficient build get pretty worked up (at least on the CoH boards).  A lot really depends on how you define "gimped".  If all it takes is witnessing a few other PCs outdamaging or outlevelling you for you to feel gimped, I don't think you'll have much fun with this game, or many MMORPGs, but your EQ experience probably already suggests as much,

Believe me, I know how you feel, but I have gotten better at not worrying about it!


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## Greywarden (Jun 24, 2004)

Admittedly, I had no prior MMORPG experiences to biass my views of CoH, but my secret to enjoying the game is to *play my characters* and not worry about the rebalancing/nerfing that everyone else is spending so much time worrying about... curiously enough this is a fair assesment of how I handle PnP games as well.


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## Liminal Syzygy (Jun 28, 2004)

Farganger said:
			
		

> If all it takes is witnessing a few other PCs outdamaging or outlevelling you for you to feel gimped, I don't think you'll have much fun with this game, or many MMORPGs, but your EQ experience probably already suggests as much



Actually I quit EQ just as it wasn't "casual gamer" friendly. After my daughter was born I couldn't afford to put in the time required. I've heard good things about CoH along those lines.


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## GodPhoenix (Jul 1, 2004)

*new roll call*

So I was looking through this thread to find other players on the justice server...but it's really hard to tell what's up to date and what isn't.

Is anyone willing to host a website where people can submit:

Server name
Character name
character type
level (even though this will obviously change with time)


...pls 


ps - Justice - Mentacles - Controller/Radiant Emitter - L 11


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