Post originally by Truemortality at 2005-03-02 10:25:44
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It's a little known fact, but if you really hate those spikes on your boots there's a tailor in Steel Canyon that will allow you to modify your costume.
Post originally by Narf at 2005-03-02 12:29:40
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Yep, you can just get out there and start fighting again. The only cost is a small XP debt, about 1/20 of the amount to the next level. Your XP will be split half-and-half to pay it off.
Post originally by Narf at 2005-03-02 12:30:48
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North-west corner of Steel Canyon. If you're cautious, you can get there with a level 6 character. You just need to know what the villian attack radius is.
Post originally by Joe Grendel at 2005-03-02 17:21:42
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City of Heroes is a hoot, for a while.
Really, it's not a game that really benefits from the MMORPG format, as there's nothing that happens in the game that couldn't be done on a peer-to-peer game like Diablo II. That would save everyone a lot of money, and allow people to make up whatever names they wanted, play with whomever they wanted, and play without an Internet connection.
The game is very, very thin. While it's an outstanding busting heads simulator -- it absolutely captures the visceral thrill of Spider-Man, Batman or Daredevil jumping down from the rafters of a warehouse into a horde of thugs and letting fly with fists and feet -- after a while, you realize there's nothing else to it. Even the quests (missions) are just linked series of busting heads, with (very) rarely something else interposed between head busting sessions. There's no secret identities, no building wacky super science, no exploration for its own sake, not even any hero vs. hero conflict. (Some of this is coming, eventually, in free additions to the game or in a pay expansion, but arguably most of it should have been in from Day One.)
This is not a failing of all MMORPGs -- a new player will find almost too much to do in Ultima Online, World of Warcraft or EverQuest II. City of Heroes, while brilliant in the things it does do, ultimately suffers from a failure of ambition. It's the superhero MMORPG that will pave the way for the truly great superhero MMORPG. The one that comes along and builds on what CoH did, and adds to it, much as Dark Ages of Camelot (among others) built on what EverQuest I did and added new features, will be the game to play.
I got to level 20 in City of Heroes (this name, Guardian server, darkness/regeneration scrapper) before giving up in exhaustion. On the other hand, I played EQ1 to level 65 and I'm still playing WoW, and up to level 56 now.
City of Heroes is a great game to come back to after a break, but for long-term continuous play (the normal model for MMORPGs), it's too much bread and not enough meat.
Post originally by camazotz at 2005-03-02 22:07:00
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Yep. I've been playing and loving WoW and CoH; the CoH method is probably the least irritating "death penalty" I've encountered....at least, when you awaken in the hospital, on the way back to your mission point you can take out your aggression on the Hellions, zombies, and wind up tesla robots along the way ;-)
Actually, until CoH and WoW came along, I don't know how I survived playing MMOGs before.....I can't even think about SW Galaxies, EQ, or any of the others I've tried (Shadowbane, DaoC, etc.)
Post originally by Stephen Mortimer at 2005-03-03 02:02:50
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So I've been playing CoH for quite a while now, I imported the game and play it on the US Servers, and there are a couple of extra things you should be aware of...
1. As you said you can get your cape at lvl 20, you can also do a mission for Serge at the Icon tailors store in the north west of steel canyon to unlock a second costume slot.
2. At lvl 30 you can do another mission to unlock a third costume slot at Icon, you can also do a mission for the city hall rep to get your Aura.
3. The documentation, the reason you don't get the book with the UK release is that the book bears little or no resemblence to the game anymore. Many powers have been changed since release and many extra features have been added to the classes, like the scrapper criticals and the Tanker punchvoke.
4. The zones, you can kind of figure out the challenge level ahead of time by clicking on the bad guys nearest the station, if the overall colour is red or purple then consider going somewhere else. In addition http://www.vidiotmaps.com/coh/index.php?nav=maps has an excellent compilation of maps for the zones, which in addition to many other very useful things lists the level range for that zone.
5. Enhancements. Ok these are useful up to level 12, then they become important up to level 22, then they become essential. The reason for this is type, the weakest kind of enhancement is a Training enhancement. Trainings can be used by any origin and give about 8% bonus. Next up are dual origins that you buy from specific stores in Steel Canyon and from contacts, you can start taking them at level 12, these give about a 16% bonus. Finally there are Single Origins, these are specific to one type of origin and are purchased from stores in Independence Port and Talos Island, from contacts and eventaully from NPC Stores in Founders Falls, these give a whopping 30% boost.
6. Task Forces. You can team up with other heroes to make a task force, you do a specific linked story arc of missions which are usually quite challenging. In return for which you will be awarded mondo xp. You can usually get 1 or 2 levels out a a TF. Be aware though that they can last up to 7 hours.
Finally, and for me this is the deal maker, the monthly subscription to CoH is inclusive of all updates. Let me say that one more time INCLUSIVE OF ALL UPDATES. WOW! There is an issue update about every 4-6 months and they are always great. The last big one was Issue 3, that added updated powers, new villans and a whole new zone. Basically all the stuff you would have to pay £17 for in an Everquest Expansion pack, these issue updates come out regularly and are included in your subscription. The next planned update is issue 4 which will add PvP Arena matches, body part scaling and Anime type costume options. After that there will be more goodies comming, like the Out of Combat Skills System and new powersets like the pistol scrapper (think Equilibrum).
Basically I love this game and will be playing it for a ling time yet. Drop me a line on steve@kiasyd.dircon.co.uk if you want to chat about it or have any questions.
Post originally by Tim Gray at 2005-03-03 02:06:34
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I thought you had to be a highish level to do that sort of stuff. But I'm probably thinking of the extra costumes you can have later. I'm not sure why anyone wants more costumes - it's not in the genre - but I've heard of so,me people using them for a set of "civilian" clothes.
Post originally by Tim Gray at 2005-03-03 02:12:43
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Actually the XP debt is a consequence of the defeat, not the trip to hospital.
When you get knocked out you have the option of hospital. One of the inspiration types lets you revive on the spot, but you're groggy and weak and if the bad guys are still standing around they'll knock you down again. Some powers let you resurrect other characters, at least one with full health and endurance. This makes you Very Popular. So with a good team and/or preparation you can carry on from where you were after a slight pause.
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