Captain-Electric

I'll be here for as long as Paragon Studios keeps being super-heroically awesome. Now, I wouldn't dare suggest to anyone here what they should do with their time. But armchair MMORPG forecasters have been around since the first days (yes, mere days) of UO. And UO has actually outlived several of those naysayers, how about them apples?

Shine on and stay classy, armchair forecasters. I'd finish reading past page one--I usually make it a point to read through a thread before replying--but I believe there's a lady somewhere getting her purse snatched, so I'm needed elsewhere!

Edit: Abbreviated the name of a non-City of Heroes game.

It's funny. After I used up all of my free slots on Virtue, I started using Freedom as a testbed for character concepts, which eventually lead to me using Freedom for hilariously inappropriate (for role play) characters. Over on Virtue, I'm SO serious about the character creation process.

Baby Troll is my dumbest creation yet. Diapers and green skin, he's only a toddler, but he's really into Superadine, and he'll kick your face so hard, man, I don't even know. The good news for Paragon City is, he's severely neglected, and is practically being raised by Saturday morning super hero cartoons (starring Virtue heroes). Baby Troll's source is Superadine Factory, a large, friendly "medical" robot that secretly carries a large Superadine processing plant in its bulbous, glowing belly. It took me forever to get that effect just right.

And yet, none of their super hilarious adventures would be possible without Freedom, whose denizens find them both quite charming. (Last winter, Baby Troll vacationed on Virtue, where he was scowled at and ignored!)

I've been playing for over a year, and I've seen a few issue releases. As soon as three months in, I was searching for Samuraiko's trailers if I heard/read about an impending update. And I'm not even around much on the forums (I'm too hooked on the game itself).

People appreciate you, Samuraiko.

Edit: Hey look, my fiftieth post.

In a super hero comic book-themed world, I'd have to say I'm all for unique names. However, people could probably live with a server-merge in which a one-time exception was made for shared names across the merged servers. (So like-named characters could co-exist, in other words, rather than have their monikers mangled.)

More selfishly, though, I use populated AND not-so-populated servers to my advantage and am in favor of both. My characters on Virtue are all considered to be part of that huge, mind-blowing universe full to the brim of super-powered beings. But not every comic book hero exists in a place like that, right? So I have a couple of natural origin heroes on very low-pop servers who I RP as if they exist in universes with few (or none) super-powered beings.

After a year of playing and sixteen characters, my highest level character is 45, and most of the rest are in their upper 20s or lower 30s. I've toyed with the idea of "killing" one or two (might make for a good AE arc). But you know how death and comics work, so I can't see myself deleting any of them, ever. I even paid for one more character slot, after a much-desired name became available.

The reason is probably the way I approach the character creation process. There are a dozen character concepts saved in my Character Creator, and some of those concepts sat around for a year before coming to fruition. The look, feel, origin story, personality and purpose of the character are what makes or breaks it. While some power sets are really awesome, most of my heroes are fun to play because of WHO THEY ARE, whether or not their power sets are impressive.

I use the Titan Network almost daily, even if it's just for a few minutes to check something. Though lately, I've been reading through all the Task Forces I've completed, but never had time to fully enjoy (reading-wise). Because, well, you know how antsy a big TF team can get. Makes me wish I knew some other players who enjoyed reading the game's content as much as I do, but I digress. The Titan Network has added immensely to my City experience and I greatly appreciate all that you've done with it.

P.S. A skin/version of the CoH Wiki with a black background and white text would be less jarring after/during being in-game for a while.

I'll break from lurking and throw in with everyone else here. As so many of us noticed, the OP made some misguided presumptions about what we're all looking for in City of Heroes.

I read comic books. I especially dig the interconnectedness between many of the personalities in the Marvel universe. Shouldn't be surprising that I play almost exclusively on Virtue, with like-minded people who have put tons of creative thought and effort into their heroes and villains. Of course, insanely creative people can be found playing on every server. Virtue is my favorite alternate universe run amok, but I have, quite purposefully, made a couple of heroes on low population servers, intending to have them "exist in a universe" more like our own, with few (or none) super powered peers; they both actually have natural origins. This has been an enjoyable experience in its own right, and an experience the OP doesn't seem to have discovered an appreciation for.

Even when you take away all the heroes and villains running around, the city itself is pretty spectacular. With all the enormous statues, it's almost like the people respect the city's heroes like Greek gods and demigods.

Great cinematography and excellent timing with the music. Had to watch this more than once!

P.S. Are you going to put this on YouTube?

This may have more to do with the genre than with the eccentricities of NPC designers. Take a look through the racks in your local comic book store, where out-of-towners like Superman and Thor stand tall around 7 feet, and villains like Doctor Octopus loom over their victims, not beneath. But even "ordinary" heroes like Batman seem to stand taller when suited up, just look at them standing next to sidekicks or damsels in distress.

A human like Captain-America, a most relevant example here, looks MUCH different after being exposed to super serum, which is exactly the kind of situation that's going on with the Council (as told in their bios). Those council members who are really very tall have been exposed to some pretty naughty amounts of serum and experimentation.

So, in a nutshell, there is nothing wrong with the game. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. Comic books are controlling the transmission. If they wish to make NPCs taller, they will pump up the super serum.

Thanks folks, and I'm looking forward to another year. My most-played heroes are all just now beginning to stumble upon their biggest, most important arcs yet, so I'm sure their best adventures are still ahead of them.

P.S. Thanks, Hyperstrike, for making the Ultra Mode guide linked in your signature! (I actually built a new PC to prepare for Issue 17, worth every penny.)

HELLO THAR!!! (Oops caps.)

I received my one year veteran badge yesterday. (I don't say much on the forums, although I read a lot here.) I have 12 heroes and 3 villains, with a few sitting on the fence pending Going Rogue. I've bought several of the super boosters now, and pre-purchased Going Rogue. I play almost every night after work (CoH is my wind-down method), even if it's just for a couple of hours; but my highest level is only 43.

I love reading all the stories and clues and contact bios during missions, creating and updating my characters bios as they grow and change throughout their adventures (this might be my favorite part), and just started using Virtueverse.com too.

I read comic books, especially Marvel. I also read and write science-fiction. But for me, personally, there's nothing that can hold a candle to the uniqueness of this nightly fictitious experience that's as much my creation as it is Paragon Studios. Paragon Studios has built a comic book universe that is at once familiar and original, and I've carved my own creations into a corner of that universe.

And it has improved my life. I don't think I've suffered writer's block at all in the past year, having this constant scratch for my creative itch. And it helps me relax (most nights), and clears my head of daily worries about work and bills, as I enter into the fictitious lives of my characters and their friends. I sleep 7 or 8 hours a night now, probably for the first time in my whole life.

I could go on and on. Mostly, I just want to express thanks. Especially for the community that keeps all of this alive; for Matt "Positron" Millar, for his unceasing genius; for War-Witch, for overseeing Going Rogue (and the deeper nuances it will help bring to my characters); and for Rick Dakan, who I understand wrote much of the original storyline and comics.

I never thought an MMO could be good for me--as in healthy--but CoH is good for me!