Acyl

As the answers here indicate, the community is quite divided about the new PvP changes.

You won't get a single coherent answer. Some people like it. Some people hate it.

But there are still people PvPing, even if the detractors insist it's dead.

Therefore: try it and see. Start with arena matches if you're not confident about heading to the zones.

There are three different versions of Captain Mako in the Mission Architect. Namely:-

Captain Mako (Arch-villain 40-54) - This is the normal version you fight. The blueside Mender Silos should feature this Mako.
Captain Mako (Arch-villain 54-54) - This is the level 54 Mako from the STF
Captain Mako (Boss Signature Pets 40-54) - This is the weaker Mako you get in the redside Mender Silos, as an ally.

The one you're thinking of is the normal 40-54 AV/EB Mako. You will need to purchase a character unlock with tickets to get access to all versions of Mako.

I'm pretty sure you can get the new CoH: Architect Edition in Canada. Someone asked about it a while ago, and a Canadian player reported that the Architect Edition boxes were available in game stores.

There are quite a few Canadian players in my SG, and I'm pretty sure they bought their copies off the shelf as well.

If you haven't seen CoH in stores, it's possible the game boxes aren't in your area (or sold out, etc). But they certainly do sell the game in your country.

If your local game stores don't have any boxes on hand right now, you could always ask them to order a copy for you.

Well, first, you do realise you need to buy the game, right? I'm just making sure, since you've not actually indicated that in any of your replies so far.

Not a time card, but the GAME ITSELF. The one that comes in a box. You need the serial code from that.

What we're saying is - you need the game code to upgrade your account from a trial to a functioning one. However it seems the upgrade process requires a credit card.

If Winged One is correct, you can circumvent that by immediately adding a time card.

If my current understanding is right, though, you shouldn't have any problems using a credit card for this process.

They want your credit card details - so they have a card on file.

But they won't charge anything to the card yet. That's because the game comes with a month of free time.

So you can register a card, and then go into account management and cancel billing. If you do this before your 30-day free period is up, they shouldn't bill you for a further subscription when that month expires.

You can then proceed with whatever alternative method of paying for game time you prefer - be it adding game time codes or using a gift 'credit' card.

That is my understanding of the situation from what's been said here, and what I know of the system. If I got anything wrong in the above explanation, someone please correct me.

Okay, then it looks like the OP's still going to need someone's debit or credit card information to at least set up the account...

...or, well, apply a game time code straight away, if that worked for you. So the OP's going to need:

a) a City of Heroes game code (Likely GvE, Architect Edition, or Mac)
b) a City of Heroes/NCSoft game time card

That shouldn't be too hard.

As mentioned, you can't use that 30 day card straight away. You do need to buy the game. That's not expensive nowadays, though. You've already got the client installed, of course, and an account - but you need a full game code.

Any version of the game box will do, just get the one that's cheapest for you...or the one that comes with extras you want. =) They all come with a month of time as well.

EDIT: Do you really need a credit card to fully activate an account, even if you aren't using it for billing? Is that a new anti-spammer measure? I don't recall needing that when I started playing. I don't recall having a credit card then - on the other hand, I was working, so I might have. My memory fails me.

[ QUOTE ]
Isn't profit measured by income - overheads? Overheads can change in time. I'm not saying there's hard proof one way or another, but it's entirely feasible given how small the team for CoX got, overheads might have gotten to be teeny-tiny by comparison to before.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a tricky one - there's different kinds of cost. Obviously NCsoft/Cryptic spent cash to get CoH developed, published, and out the door way back when the game launched. More recently, they've spent money to acquire the property from Cryptic and relocate the dev team. In economic terms, I'd say those are sunk costs. Without that money we wouldn't be here today. It can't precisely be recovered - it doesn't matter in terms of calculations.

There's also however much they're spending to put out "Going Rogue" - presumably this entails a new monetary investment.

There's costs like monthly salaries and however much they need to maintain the servers and hardware. Those costs may indeed have gone up recently; there are more devs. On the other hand, NCsoft wasn't paying the devs directly until the changeover, so it makes a comparison with the Cryptic era difficult to calculate.

Well, if this were an intentional change, we'd all be seeing it. I'm not. Missions are perfectly normal for me. I've done a bit of soloing on heroic over the past two days.

It is entirely possible you're seeing a bug of some sort, of course - but then, as noted, nobody else has reported such a thing on the forums.

Do note that there's a certain luck of the draw when it comes to soloing on heroic. I mean, it's either your level or +1. Sometimes you get more whites. Sometimes you get more yellows...

You shouldn't be seeing a red con LT on a heroic mission, though. That's the only eyebrow-raising thing you've said.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The mass of the playerbase have voted with their dollars, and this game is just as profitable as ever, if not more, than it was five years ago.

[/ QUOTE ]

The bold part is an outright fallacy.

The subscriber base dropped off not long after CoV and then leveled out thereafter. The only time there's a noticable population spike is during free weekends.

Since the subscription itself is still 14.99 a month and there's less people playing now that there were five years ago (before there was the 500 pound gorilla in the room named Warcraft) and since the retail game client, itself, has dropped to sub-$20, the game is nowhere near "as profitable as", let alone "more profitable than", 5 years ago.

[/ QUOTE ]

We don't have numbers pertaining to new box purchases. Just because the game is cheaper doesn't mean that NC's making less profit from sales. It all depends on how much they're selling, and we don't know.

Monthly subscriptions? Well, NCsoft doesn't publish total subscriber numbers anymore in their quarterly reports, they instead emphasise total concurrent users as a measure of activity. So once again, we don't know how much NC's earning.

Furthermore, when CoH launched there were only two revenue sources from the players - the initial game purchase and the monthly subscription. Now people are paying for costume booster packs, server transfers, renames, respecs, and so on. How much additional revenue is this bringing for NCsoft? We don't know.

Maybe you're correct, and NCsoft is being foolish by investing so much additional money in a game that's already five years old. Or maybe you're wrong. I don't know. Neither do you. Nobody knows except NCsoft.

As Inokis said, you can't add another trial to your existing account. Obviously you can only do a free trial once. Of course, as Inokis suggested, you could make another trial account with a separate trial code.

Here's the thing - I have no idea what you mean by a '60-day trial'. I don't think we have those. All the trial codes I'm familiar with are 10 or 14 day ones.

I ain't saying you're wrong, just that I'm not familiar with this.

There are 60-day game time cards. I don't think they make those anymore, but at one point they did sell CoH/CoV 60 day cards.

However you can't use those on a trial account, because you still need to buy the game first... you'd have to apply a regular game code first, before adding the game card time.

Let's be fair. He said 'main healer', and I agree, that's the wrong terminology to use in this game.

But he did mention 'res sets', which indicates he's at least thinking about the buffing capability.

Thermal isn't a heal set. It isn't. If we're talking straight healing, it's behind Empathy/Pain Domination. Thermal is inferior in terms of utility buffs. In terms of shields, well, Sonic does a better job than Thermal. Thermal doesn't debuff as well as Dark, Ice, or Rad.

But Thermal has a bit of everything. It's good not because it shines in any one area, but because it's a jack of all trades. Thinking that Thermal is 'ZOMG BEST HEALER' is missing the point.

What server was this on? Some servers have 'Name Watch' threads where people post suggestions - lists of cool stuff they've thought of that is still open. Folks also can request names (there's always the chance the person who has it is willing to give it up). Or you can ask for suggestions.

I know Pinnacle and Virtue have such threads, stickied in the server forums.

Even if your server doesn't have a thread like that, you can always take a look at the name threads from other servers and see if cool stuff there is open on yours too...

[ QUOTE ]
It might be a name that's been added to a list of invalid names and you slipped in several years ago but something that wouldn't get by today.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah. Most likely it's a name that wasn't prohibited or blocked when you originally created the character, but is now. They won't force you to give up a name if you already have it, but if you delete the character, you're out of luck.

Why does stuff get added to the banned list? Well, y'know, the comic book industry does come up with new characters from time to time. Stuff becomes more popular, more mainstream - and makes it to the list.

The GMs will generic Naruto clones now, for instance. At one point they didn't seem to care. And yes, I realise 'Naruto clone' is probably a redundant statement, but you know what I mean. I remember when I first started the game, in 2004, they used to host player-submitted screenshots on the official CoH webpage. One of them prominently showed a guy who was a dead ringer for Rock Lee, the Naruto character...hell, I think he was even NAMED that, or something very close. I really really doubt you'd be able to get away with such a thing today. Back then, the GMs probably didn't know Naruto. Now? They do.

If an NPC in the game uses a particular name, it'll probably make it to the blocked list. So perhaps 'Maelstrom' wasn't blocked before, but when the devs designed him as a signature character for the new expansion, it probably got added.

[ QUOTE ]
How about I qualify the no drama being no ooc shinanigans and people acting like 5 year olds. I'd expect drama (storytelling) from an rp group.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh. Any sufficiently large group of players is gonna have some drama, I fear. We're human, after all. There's always gonna be competing egos, misunderstandings, and general Internet silliness.

But there's some good groups out there. My own SG doesn't recruit, but I can recommend the Shield of Paragon coalition - not a single RP SG, but a group of 'em. Good folks.

You might also wanna check out the current SuperGroup (Hero) Directory thread, stickied in the Virtue server section.

Good luck finding a group that fits you. Don't be discouraged if you can't find a home straight away - I drifted for quite a bit before I hooked up with the folks I play with now. Cheers!

Yes and no. The Midnighter Club does matter, because it's Cimerora and therefore ITF access. Typically when I finish with an ITF, I exit in Cap and then hit the market or storage. There's less pressure to do so nowadays given that we earn merits instead of getting a recipe roll, but even so...

St. Martial has a lab for crafting? Huh. I didn't know that. Did they add it the same time as the one in Port Oakes? When was that, I13? If so, it's still too recent to change established traffic patterns for players - like I said, I didn't know about it.

So it's not surprising that Cap Au Diable is still crowded, even if there's an 'alternative'.

Besides, St. Martial is a much higher-level zone than Cap Au Diable. That matters.

The cool thing about the Rikti's real nature...it's strongly hinted at in many many places throughout the game.

I'm not certain about redside, but on blueside at least, the RWZ isn't the first arc in the game to explicitly spell things out like that - there's older high-level blueside storyarcs that reveal this too. Indeed the old blueside Rikti arcs is where the 'Omega Clearance' tag comes from.

(QR) Well, as mentioned, a lot of players have a traditional Tank/Heal/DPS mindset - I actually saw a team leader advertise in broadcast like that yesterday:- level 25 team LFM NEED TANK/DPS/HEAL! - yes, with the caps.

I was on an appropriate level tank at the time, and free. But I didn't respond because I was too busy facepalming. My fears were confirmed a few minutes later, when the broadcast message changed to 'level 25 team LFM need HEALER HEALER HEALER'. Yes, he said it thrice. Maybe he wanted three healers. God only knows.

That said, a lot of folks use 'healer' as a catch-all. Folks don't always expect you to heal as such, just do...whatever magical support-type stuff it is that you do. It's just imprecise language, sometimes. Players want something to prop 'em up, it's easier to say they need a 'healer' than anything else.

I play a kin, dark, rad and emp. I used to join teams that requested 'healers' in broadcast, or sent me tells asking if I was one.

Most of the time it really didn't matter what they called me or what they thought I was doing...so long as folks stayed upright, everyone was happy.

But...I have had a few terrible experiences with folks who expected healing healing, and can't understand that a Kinetics user has trouble throwing a Transfusion when you're waaaaaay over there, or that a Dark can't rez with no enemies in range. That sorta thing.

Note, I say can't. That's not the same as don't. If a player's new, or isn't familiar with the powerset, that's fine. I usually take the time to explain - as briefly as I can - how my powers work. But if I tell you that I need an enemy nearby to heal you or that my heal needs a to-hit check...and you continue to insist that your death is my fault, then, well, enh.

This is why I no longer join teams that use the phrase 'healer'. If they mention the word while recruiting, I stay far away. I mean, intellectually I know it probably won't be a big deal, but when that word's in play, there's a chance I'm gonna have to deal with funky expectations. Or be made the scapegoat if the team goes wahoonie-shaped. So I don't join. It's not worth the potential headache.

Many CoH players are way too sensitive about the 'healer' label. It's not that big a deal. But that said... if you've been on the wrong end of it a few times, it's still darn annoying.

Thermal is a hybrid set. At one point it was the closest thing the villains had to Empathy, and was regarded as the villain 'healer' set...but obviously that's changed with the advent of Pain Domination. And of course Controllers have it on blueside these days.

This means that we can better appreciate Thermal for what it is. It ain't a healer set. It's a hybrid set.

Pain and Empathy can heal better. They have better utility buffs.

But Thermal has reasonably comparable healing capacity, mez protection and one utility buff...and shields.

And two pretty good debuffs.

There are better heal sets. There are better buff sets. There are better debuff sets. What Thermal offers is a mix of everything.

Would I, personally, play a Thermal? No. But I agree, it's awesome.

"Troy Hickman, is that you?"

[ QUOTE ]
Cimerora is a story oriented zone. It lightly touches on the stories started in Ouroboros and the Midnighter Club, and also seems related to the return of the Fifth Column - expect the new stuff in i15 to be connected to the happenings in Cimerora, or at least to reference them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cimerora's two story arc contacts, Sister Airlia and Daedalus, were added in Issue 13. Meaning the devs added more stuff to the zone after its initial launch. Mercedes Sheldon and her story arcs were also added to the Midnighter Club in I13.

As such, it's possible that we'll continue to see stuff added to both areas.

You already know about the repeatable missions. So:-

ParagonWiki on Cimerora

Cimerora is primarily a vehicle for the Imperious Task Force (ITF).

Why is the ITF popular? It's short, pretty cool, and the enemies drop magic salvage (which at one point was in shorter supply and thus more expensive on the market).

Also, there are only two co-op TF/SFs in the game. ITF is shorter than LGTF and is easier to start - much lower minimum requirements.

Please note the Roman costume options - armor, weaponry, shields, etc, are not Veteran rewards. They're rewards gained from the ITF. You'll get the basic Roman armor and some weapon options by completing ITF once. Some of the others may require multiple playthroughs.

The zone also has two regular contacts, Daedalus (for heroes) and Sister Airlia (for villains) were added. Each of them has a couple of story arcs, though in practice the four arcs are somewhat intertwined.

Finally, it's quite profitable for players to kill the level 50 Roman mobs in the zone, as they come in large groups that are easy to find - the so-called 'hitting the walls'. This is not difficult for a properly outfitted solo character.

So. Really. Most people don't care about the co-op missions and the story arcs in the zone. But Cim is a popular place to go because of the ITF and the aforementioned wall hunting. Both the ITF and the wall runs are viewed as giving good rewards per time spent.

[ QUOTE ]
Edit: and I know that the PvP zones have other goals - but not on a scale that encourages casual players. I can't solo the shards in Bloody Bay. And even if I go there - it isn't a contest, there is just someone trying to gank me solely to gank me. It's not a game - it's the devs trying to lure you into an ambush.

[/ QUOTE ]

The PvP zone minigames are pretty much failures, really. I ain't sayin' they suck...but it's clear not many folks really bother with 'em.

I suspect the original CoV developers wanted the zone minigames to be the primary activity in PvP zones. That's not what happened.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm coming from the same direction you are, but saying it is "simply different" is not a stance I could take. Considering all powers had their damage adjusted based on a global code, all AT's were essentially converted into damage AT's, free resistances added in certain places, a baffling system of diminishing returns set in place, all outlandishly different from anything in the game before...

Simply different it is not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mm - true, and this is a good point. Probably one reason why these changes feel like a brick to the head is, well, they all came at once. It's one thing to do incremental tweaks, but...

I'm still not convinced that the changes themselves are that bad (mind, I'm not saying I like 'em, either). BUT I will agree they did way too much, in way too many areas, all at the same time. And that's kinda ennh.

[ QUOTE ]
I feel no anger towards the system, nor feel like its broken, nor like I must adapt to try it out.

The system we have now is just very Daedalean.

They took the Type R right out of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, that reference wins, right there.

Trouble is...'s still kinda subjective. I really dunno. How would you characterise CoH PvP? What made it so much better then, that isn't here today?

(Your point about travel suppression is a good one, and I'm not gonna dispute that)

[ QUOTE ]
If I were Recluse I'd wonder how I ended up in the only dimension with a "good" Statesman

[/ QUOTE ]

Our Statesman's just better at the mastermind business...

It is indeed possible to be logged in on two separate accounts with the same machine - presumably in windowed mode for ease of access. But this would be quite resource-intensive, so how feasible it is depends on how your computer is. Probably not a good idea if you're using a lower-end machine.

However, as Quinch rightly points out, this shouldn't be necessary.

Invite someone else to your SG. If there's REALLY nobody you trust...you don't need to make 'em a leader or anything - you can keep 'em at the basic rank, but simply adjust privs to let all ranks invite. Get 'em to grab all your alts, and then leave.