Is city of heroes any good?

MMORPGLOVERS

It seems interesting but I don't wanna waste downloading time and stuff.

What you people thought about it?

 

Thanks

Rayx0r

Originally posted by MMORPGLOVERS


It seems interesting but I don't wanna waste downloading time and stuff.
What you people thought about it?
 
Thanks

personally I think its awesome for a casual game.  Is it worth 14.99 a month?  not really. 

Its a game you might play the first month and enjoy it and come back occassionally for a month or two.  Myself, I couldnt really play it longer than 2 months at a time.  Its just too repetitive, but is very fun and addictive in short spurts.

Manmadegod

Not enough template character customization... Plenty of ways to look but with no gear or anything meaningful to strive for... It's lack luster and repetative.

Deathstrike2

Great graphics, fast gameplay, great customization, repetative gameplay, solo and group friendly.   One of the better MMOs I've played, but it can get old after a few months.  I usually take a break every 3-6 months, and then come back again to see what's changed when they update (2-3 updates per year).

ianubisi

Yes, it's good.

MMORPGLOVERS

Originally posted by Deathstrike2


Great graphics, fast gameplay, great customization, repetative gameplay, solo and group friendly.   One of the better MMOs I've played, but it can get old after a few months.  I usually take a break every 3-6 months, and then come back again to see what's changed when they update (2-3 updates per year).

If you take breaks often, it might not be my kind of games...

I need a more addictive one

Rayx0r

Originally posted by MMORPGLOVERS


 
Originally posted by Deathstrike2


Great graphics, fast gameplay, great customization, repetative gameplay, solo and group friendly.   One of the better MMOs I've played, but it can get old after a few months.  I usually take a break every 3-6 months, and then come back again to see what's changed when they update (2-3 updates per year).

If you take breaks often, it might not be my kind of games...

 

I need a more addictive one

its very addictive.. in short spurts

Bhazir

Originally posted by Manmadegod


Not enough template character customization... Plenty of ways to look but with no gear or anything meaningful to strive for... It's lack luster and repetative.

seems you haven't played it a lot then. Never came across another player that had the same template as me

 

And I have to agree with the others, it is good for short periods. I mostly do 3 months then take a break of a few months.

Liliane

CoH is more like action mmorpgs. You do missions because You want to get You next superpower. The movement, character customation, powers and combat are really good in that game. But it's also pretty much all what it is. It will fit very well for casual players and if You don't get teams faster enough, You can solo easyly.

 

Yes, it's good PvE game, but not all players like it. Try it.

Solrek

It is worth the download to try the trial. I prefer the Villain side. The latest version has a lot to do in it with a huge number of character builds to try. It is good for both the casual and hardcore player. Casual players can do a few missions in an hour, hardcore players can start  PvP at level 15.  Unlike many other MMOs the focus is on character power selection and customization through enhancement distribution, rather than collecting loot.

I was very surprised that I enjoyed this game after trying it because I like "sandbox" games, but with some friends the missions are pretty fun, especially since you can adjust the difficulty level, creating more of a challenge. Also, it's great that there are so many different power combinations running around. It also has the funnest "pet class" class I have ever played, the Mastermind. Especially if you are into the genre, or interested in trying a non-fantasy setting, you will probably have some fun.

 

    "Not enough template character customization" - Manmadegod

 

I am not sure what this person is talking about. There are 11 classes. A single class, such as the Villain Stalker, can have up to 30 combinations of powersets to choose from with 6 primary powersets, and 5 secondary powersets. Afterwards you can customize how you want each power to work by adding enhancement slots and buffing specific effects of the power. You can create a character unique enough that you will not see anyone else with the same build. It is easy to understand and get into, but very deep.

zethcarn

If it were free to play I'd probably still play it.  It's fun in short bursts.   But I doubt I would ever pay to go back to it.

JakeSim

I think its a good game, like many people said its repetitive but it may be more fun playing with someone in a duo or w/e from start to group up

Zarraa

 

Other than EQI, CoX is the only group centric MMO I've played where it's actually more fun to group.Is COH alone worth the 14.99 subscription fee..not quite but coupled with CoV it's a great bargain.

The new Market system, invention features, Statesmans Taskforce, New Hamidon raids and The Rikkti invasion makes CoX the most lively title on the market atm.

CoX is definitively worth a trial..

Irony

I started last wednesday, lack of time so I'm only lvl 8 and yes you will find it repetitive, but the great customization at the beginning and seeing yourself clobber those vile good people to death, is very much worth it.

 

I wonder what endgame is like though ^^ ( grouping is also a blast)

 

Bama1267

Originally posted by Zarraa


 
Other than EQI, CoX is the only group centric MMO I've played where it's actually more fun to group.Is COH alone worth the 14.99 subscription fee..not quite but coupled with CoV it's a great bargain.
The new Market system, invention features, Statesmans Taskforce, New Hamidon raids and The Rikkti invasion makes CoX the most lively title on the market atm.
CoX is definitively worth a trial..

 Its more fun to group because solo is a bore fest after the first 10 missions. However this game is good for a trial , even worth playing perhaps casually for a month or 2. Hopefully cryptic does a better job with missions or quests in the next superhero one they are doing.

therain93

Warning 1:  this is a long post

Warning 2: I am biased in favor of CoX but I will try to be as fair as possible.

I think City of Heroes and City of Villains, collectively known as CoX, is the best mmo on the market (although it comes with all the trappings of the mmo genre as well.)

• It still has the best customization of character appearance going, breaking down the body into multiple parts that can be mixed and matched with an ever-increasing number of models and 180 colors (as well as color patterns).  Your toon is recognizeable.  By default, for each character you are given 4 costume slots, with the possibilty of adding a fifth from a Halloween event.  You can create totally different costumes as well as change an existing one at the tailor, the only exceptions being that you can't change the model type (male/female/HUGE) or the height.  Lastly, if you join a supergroup and enter supergroup mode, your character can customize how the supergroup colors appear on your costume.  There is no problem of running into 30 people who look just like you...

• It has 12 different classes (Hero: Tanker, scrapper, blaster, controller, defender, peacebringer, warshade;  Villain: Mastermind, dominator, stalker, corruptor, brute).  Each class breaks down into a group of 5-6 primary power sets and 5-6 secondary sets making for a ridiculous number of combinations alone.  Couple this with the fact that you can further customize your powers from up to 4 different power pools that each contain 4 different powers and lastly an epic power pool with 4 different powers.  Does this sound like there isn't that much diversity?  Unless you hit upon the truest of min/maxer, you won't often see similar builds and even then....  

                                          Character creation:       http://youtube.com/watch?v=_Ds0MlN2l2Y

• Powers are further customized with Enhancement slots, upwards of 6 of them, that can affect damage output, knockback, hold duration, recharge time, etc.  With the 9th (nineth!) free issue, inventions were implemented into the game.  Inventions, among other things, combine different power enhancements (like accuracy and damage) into a single slot.  Furthermore, like other games, you can have sets of enhancements that bestow additional benefits as you acquire more of them.

• I say this again and again -- combat in CoX is arguably the best, fastest and most epic in an mmo, short of not being a first person shooter.  There is no attack queue, you are absolutely active and engaged.  There is collision detection for all objects -- tanks really do tank and prevent melee mobs from breaking through the lines, going straight for the squishies.  There is a Z-access: In addition to multi-level battles, air battles are not only possible but the norm.  As a hero, your toon is designed to be able to take on roughly 3 even-conned mobs....meaning groups battles can entail 25+ mobs at once.  Of course, where's the challenge of that you ask?  Well, aside from mass numbers, those thugs have lieutenants and bosses ordering them around... they're stronger and quite capable.  Of course, we shouldn't forget the Villains, Arch Villains and Giant Monsters (the lattermostusually takes a raid-szie group of players to take down.)  For example (http://youtube.com/watch?v=xFpNMZde-mE)

• The AI in the game is pretty decent.  Someone (Anofayle?) had a great post on it but to summarize.  At the lowest levels, you'll see thugs basically switch between ranged and melee attacks and occasionally flee.  Bosses will start using status effects.  Eventually, as early as the mid-teens, you'll encounter mobs like the Tsoo sorcerer who ninja heals his comrades.  And then later on you see Sky Raider engineers plunking down shield generators to protect his comrades while duking it out. 

• Although you can effectively solo any class based on its own capabilities, CoX shines as a group game.  Everybody has a job -- crowd control, pets, buffers, tankers, damage dealers.  When players come together, synergies naturally come about (unless you have a few weenies in the group -- can't stop that after all....)   Need another perk?  Perhaps it's the hero mentality, but the community is among the nicest out there and pick up groups (PUG) are EXCEPTIONALLY easy to find.  Given the powerset diversity, there's also no formula to a group.  Largely any combination can be plugged in (although 8 controllers in a group might be slow going...) 

• CoX may have been the first to address the problem of outleveling your friends.  They implemented a sidekick/exemplar system that allows 2 players to pair up, either boosting the existing powers of a lowbie up to his friend's level or reducing the character level of a player back down to his lowbie friend's level.  This sytem allows xp to be doled out reasonably well and everyone can still participate.

• Because of how easy it is to get a PUG, the game is casual friendly.  There is raid content at the end, namely the Hamidon encounter but issue 10 also implemented zone-wide conflicts in the form of Rikti alien invasions and the Rikti crash-site encounter.  There are also a few dedicated PvP zones including Recluse's Victory whose graphics changs as control changes hands between villains and heroes.  Otherwise, the game is storyline driven with several missions per story arc per level as well ad-hoc, randomly generated missions (from police scanners and newspapers for heroes and villains respectively.)

• Because it's the superhero genre set in the modern day, it can pull in any storyline without breaking continuity.  We have purse snatchers, cultists, mobsters, mad scientists, aliens, supernatural beings, mutants, ninjas and ghost pirates all looking for a piece of the action in Paragon City.

• Techologically-speaking, the game is fairly sophisticated with very nice graphics (not photo realistic thought), excellent sound and music as well as physics rendering (regardless if youhave a Phys-X card, software can render everything ifyou have the cpu.)

• The game is heavily supported by the developers and they do interact with community.  Cryptic Studios has opted to release roughly 3 free issues/updates per year (this is year 3.25, free issue #10 released 2 weeks ago) rather than go the expansion route, with the exception of the City of Villains game.  And these aren't piddly little updates -- Epic character classes have been introduced, new powersets implemented, inventions and the consignment house have been released, new zones and revamps of old zones to keep them fresh as well as new costume parts, bug updates, etc.

So, what's the down side to all of this goodness? Well....

• the biggest complaint against CoX is that it is repetitive and grindy.  So far as gameplay goes, you can attribute that to any MMO out there -- I think it's a matter of how well you can immerse yourself into any game. There are simply a set number of mission types: patrols, kill x, defeat this mob, retrieve this, talk to him, escort so and so -- every game has them but I think the comic-book fan wants a bit more.   if you play 5 hours a day, every day, you will burn out the game.  Honestly, I don't see how anyone can do that.  I myself took what equaled a 21 month break (II'm an 18 month veteran, the 39 month veteran reward just came out so...) to follow my friends to wow but came back to CoX in November and have throughly enjoyed myself since.  One last note about repetition is that even though most missions in CoX are instanced, the diversity of maps is quite lacking, particualrly cave and warehouse maps.  New maps get slipped in with updates but it's noticeable still.

• the second biggest complaint is that PvP hasn't lived up to expectations (Vajuras has posted about this quite a bit).  PvP was first introduced with Arena battles as the game was heroes only initially.  With the release of CoV, there are 4 dedicated zones for pvp.  Supergroup raids don't really happen that often.  Many of the old-timers blame the implementation of PvP (even with arenas) for the nerf bat that has been taken to some of the classes.

• CoX lacks end game content.  With the exception of the Hamidon encounter, now the Rikti Warzone, some PvP in Recluse's Victory and a few Task Force missions, there isn't much there unlike WoW has chains of Raid Level content.  Here I think, CoX is more about the journey than the end.  There are multiple story arcs that you can't necessarily see with just one toon and the diversity of skillsets  (and character design) lend itself to making multiple alts.  It's not a long-term solution for Hard core players and Achievers but it's a very statisying one for explorers and casual types.

• Many people left after the issue (issue 4) that included "enhancement diversification".  Essentially the developers implemented diminishing returns on ehancements if you slot more than 3 of the same type in a power.  You still get a benefit, it's simply not a straight-line calculation any more.  Many people put this on par with the Star Wars galaxies NGE in terms of radical change to a game and the way the developers thrust it onto the community.  If you came in after the fact, you would never know about it and with the Invention system, it is totally mitigated but some of the old-timers still complain that this happened to the game mechanics and the community.

** begin edit**

• Lastly, some people need loot and the feeling that their character evolves.  Enhancements for powers have always dropped but that wasn't deemed enough.  With issue 9, salvage drops to create invention enhancements as well as costume parts that otherwise inaccessible.  As mentioned earlier, you can change the look of your hero/villain at any time by visiting the tailor but it won't happen because of direct accomplishment. Furthermore, some people need to get the Sword of Slaying that is popular at the moment or else purchase fireball 4 after fireball 1, fireball 2, and fireball 3.  In CoX, as you acquire powers, they scale up in effectiveness as you level and use enhancements rather than simply get replaced -- that was the design decision made on how your character evolves in the game.

**end edit**

But that's it, like anything else, you take the bad with the good --For me,  I think the good far, far outweighs any of the bad and people looking for a new game ought to give it a try if the genre appeals to them.  CoX runs with a population somewhere around 150,000 yet (even with fanbois padding vanguard and lotro) both CoH and CoV remain in the top 5 games ranking list here at mmorpg.com. It doesn't aspire to WoW numbers;  it's a niche game that won't appeal to everyone but it's made many people very happy, even for brief spells.   Aside from the dedicated masses like myself, even the people who leave say that for the 1-6 months they layed, it was great.  Considering the game has a free trial and can be purchased on the cheap (including your first month free), you would be hard pressed to say you did not get value for your time and money.

Irony

Nice post

 

I'm very much enjoying my little piece of meteor with rock/(earth?) powers. I might add a fire Pool to that later on, but currently I'm going to follow the rocky line

Before that I tried an electricity dude, but the constant sound of it surrounding your character, is typically quite frustrating at some point ^^

therain93

Thanks, I actually made on edit to add a youtube linky to character customization. CoX is King! ( ' :

Irony

hehe sweet

Funny thing is, this game might actually move my sister, it's just like the sims :P

Zarraa

Originally posted by Bama1267

Originally posted by Zarraa


 
Other than EQI, CoX is the only group centric MMO I've played where it's actually more fun to group.Is COH alone worth the 14.99 subscription fee..not quite but coupled with CoV it's a great bargain.
The new Market system, invention features, Statesmans Taskforce, New Hamidon raids and The Rikkti invasion makes CoX the most lively title on the market atm.
CoX is definitively worth a trial..

 Its more fun to group because solo is a bore fest after the first 10 missions. However this game is good for a trial , even worth playing perhaps casually for a month or 2. Hopefully cryptic does a better job with missions or quests in the next superhero one they are doing.

I agree soloing is a bore in CoX but such is the case with every MMO I've played. As for missions while not stellar their on par with the majority of MMO's atm.

Running through a base to obtain a formula or breaking out of a cell to rejoin my group isn't rocket science. However it's still more interesting than killing XXX number of beatles, wolves or theives.

While far from perfect CoX is a nice MMO lite game.

 

Solrek

So far the most fun I have had solo are with my Assault Rifle with Traps Corrupter and my Robots with Traps Mastermind. With that Mastermind setup it is almost like playing a real-time strategy game where your control your bots and build "bases" with your Traps. I am also building a Stalker, because generally when I really feel like soloing in an MMO it will be as a stealther in a PvP environment.

For Casual 1-2 hour gaming my wife and I team up for a fun combo. We made demonic themed characters, her as a Spines and Ninjutsu Stalker, myself as a Fire and Ice Dominator. For Pick Up Groups I have a Cyborg themed Superstrength with Electric Armor Brute and on the Hero side a Cyborg themed Martial Artist with Super Reflexes Scrapper.

As far as the quality of missions, I find them entertaining, but mostly because of the setting. I played too many years of Fantasy based MMOs and needed a break from that. However, I still think Guild Wars has the best instanced missions in an MMO, although CoV is still more entertaining to me for now.

 

 

Uproar

Honestly one of the best MMOs out there right now.  You may or may not like it long term -- that like any other MMO is a matter of personal preference more then anything else, but there is simply no reason not to try this game. 

IMO it allows for a very casual gaming experience with a whole lot of fun in terms of generating some fairly unique character details (costume creation is a BLAST, you can earn some pretty cool titles that you can swap between as often as you like, skill sets are fairly customizable-- within class limits and playability to some extent, but with the Superpower skills you can even swap that up a bit). 

Advice:  Try it.

judgebeo

Originally posted by Manmadegod


Not enough template character customization... Plenty of ways to look but with no gear or anything meaningful to strive for... It's lack luster and repetative.

 

Its very strange to look like other one in the game, great char customization... as the mate said before...

You can customize your skills with various pools and also, you can enhance them in diffente way, so the same skill for 2 chars can be very different... as the mate said before... great skill customization...

I dont think its for casual only, it have an original and fun pvp and lot of things to do in pve. Also with the invention system you get your "owns set" and your "own gear".

Also you can get City of Villains too with one fee, think they got the same engine but 2 games for 20$ or €, with 1 fee, and one free month, its not expensive, I think...

Coh got a GREAT comunity, people in the game is really nice, and there is relaxed and you can rp with some if you want. Seems that is a (with no ofense) more mature game that other ones around there, at least, is the feel I get from it.

 

Mishing can be boring soloing sometimes, depending on your archetype, but I almost ever take fun in groups, really massive and great battle that dint see in other games. Also, it gots a good mix of Hunt and instancing, the way, you can do mish alone or in group, with more or less difficult, because it fits to your preferences (difficulty you selected - group size)

 

So, is the game with the greatest customization of all  the mmo market, for me, so, if someone tells you it gots no customization, he didnt played it. Soseems Manmadegod is talking about wow, or perhaps, is his reference, or perhaps is a fanboi!! lol.

 

Give a Try and judge by yourself

 

olepi

There are a couple of things that make the game stand out for me:

 

- it moves very fast. Very. My ice blaster (mage type) can shoot off a spell every second. You can shoot once per second!!

- with superspeed, you can run around 60 mph, while still getting aggro and seeing what is happening

- you can fly

- you can teleport

The feeling is that stuff happens about 5x faster than, say, LOTRO or DAOC.

- the graphics are very intense, much more so than any other MMO I have seen

- there is a vast number of different skill sets, and ways to enhance those powers

I think the game is great!

 

Hexxeity

I've noticed that a lot of the people who dislike the game are those who start out with City of Villains.  The villain side is simply not as good -- some of the classes are interesting, but the environment and the mission arcs over there are not as interesting as on the hero side.

Please note:

• If you HAVE to have equipment, loot, or gear to make yourself happy, this is not the game for you.
• If you want balanced PvP, you would be better served in other games.
• If you want intricately designed quests, you will be disappointed.
• If you like a gigantic world with very long travel times, you will not find it here.

Things CoH is best at:

• Engaging, fast-paced combat
• Endless variations in character appearance
• Extremely customizable character abilities
• High replay value if you like exploring different classes
• THE best grouping interface in any MMOG ever

cujo603

Its a very good game, i played for 18 months and only recently quit.  Theres not alot of depth, and many features are broken, but if you just want a casual game that's different then you might like it. On a down note , its hard to find really active super groups and even if you do they dont last.  Its the easiest game to find teams in if you like to group, but only in the lower levels. after level 20 your mostly on your own.  Freedom and virtue are the only heavily populated servers so i'd pick one of them.