I'm a CoV player only (EBGames didn't have CoH when I was in the mood to grab a new game, so I work for the dark side), and my primary's a flying Brute -- SS/Inv, just because I was in the mood to play a Superman/Captain Marvel sorta guy. I spend almost all my time in PvE, and the vast majority of that time is spent solo'ing (especially with this character, Shadow Paragon). I tried to make a guy that can move around on his own, is fairly tough on his own, and can deal out some damage on his own. I'm still no expert -- I've got a few secondaries up to 8th or 10th level -- but this guy, he's still pretty solid, I think.
So, as a level 20 Brute with cool black tights and a dead sexy new cape, I was feeling pretty tough, pretty strong, pretty good about myself -- so I thought I'd go see what's what.
My first encounter with heroes? One was -- really -- a big blue guy with a red S on his chest. A flying Tanker, no less. I punched him a few times, he punched me a few times, it all felt very visceral and exciting. Two super strong guys, dukin' it out! This is just like in the comics! This is just what I made my guy to do! This was --woah! Fight interrupted, NPCs! The both of us had plenty of knockback goin' on, and I ended up Aerial Superiority'ing him right out of the sky and into the middle of a horrible, monstrous, street gang. He's level 25 (but hurtin'), I'm level 20 (and terrified), all these gangers are 25th level. I frantically fly away as he's face-planted by some random thug with a shiv or something. A buddy of his comes flying in just a bit too late to help out, and I'm flying just a bit too fast for him to kill me.
But right up 'till then, it was really cool.
Since then, I've still had fun there, a little bit. I'm 22nd level now, and all the mobs still have a few levels on me. I take patrol missions, swoop from phone booth to phone booth, and the whole thing just has an aura of "danger" to it that's missing in the normal PvE environment. You never know when some pesky hero is gonna come flying outta nowhere and kick your butt the way only another player character can, y'know?
No one forces me to go there. I haven't changed my build on account of my visits. I stock up on Inspirations before making the trip, but I don't buy anything I don't normally try to keep on-hand anyways. It's no big deal, really. It just adds a different feel to the game, and I can go back to PvE whenever I want to. No fuss, no muss.
