Heraclea

Eventually, Cimerora became her second home.



D'oh.

If I had known of this thread, I might not have set up this one.

My basic opinion is that this game would be a much bigger deal now than it actually is if it weren't for all the early nerfs. Though I can see they paved the way for something better, if you had played before it was pretty tough to keep playing after. I really only got interested again after IOs made it possible to build characters that were close enough to being as strong as they used to be.

I have a sinking feeling just looking at the computer now.

It seemed to me that the devs always had some kind of issue with emerging playstyles in the game. The people I kept playing with liked the steamroller style. It wasn't available in any other MMO. It was damn fun, and kept your attention. Not like some MMO boss fight where the strategy and where they have to stand during each phase has to be explained to the noob.

The constant complaint was, 'you're levelling too fast, you're running the TF too fast.' But these were challenges we set ourselves. This was the fun. Playing this game became a sort of cat and mouse with the developers. The game got a reputation for heavy handed nerfs; the global defense nerf followed by 'enhancement diversification' is almost as notorious as the Star Wars Galaxies 'new game experience'. This was the first time I left for WoW. Inventions brought me back, and Cimerora got me hooked again.

I lost interest towards the end again, and this is my greatest regret. I had more than 20 level 50s on my main server, Victory. Unlocking the Alpha slot on all of them and some of my other server 50s was enough of a slog. Incarnates did not interest me; it sounded like some other game's endgame grind, the sort of thing I played CoX to get away from. So I moved on and became less active, obliviously confident that the game would always be here for me when I chose to come back. Stupid of me.

I ran into Gail Simone a couple times. She played on Virtue, and I don't recall her global, but I know she played around 2005-06.

She's a Valley Girl, a Valley Girl......

5./ Travel powers. Easily superior to anything I've seen in any game. Every corner of every zone, with the possible exception of some rooftops in Steel Canyon, was available to explore.

4./ Mission Architect. That kept me logging in every day for six months alone. Like others, I grew disenchanted with the system, but it was a great addition to the game. I am glad that I got to be the one who translated so many forum memes (lesbian hellions, kill skuls, jerk hackers, purpling your warshade) into MA hooks.

3./ Steamroller play. Actual team play in this game remains more engaging than other games, because of its fast pace. That's the result of our dynamic scaling of game content, and the fact that this game gets the balance of power between player characters and enemies mostly right. There's no trinity here. No standing around waiting to recruit tanks or healers. You join your friends (of almost any level, thanks to sidekicking) and you go massacre stuff.

2./ Character customization. Again, the best that's ever been. A minigame in itself.

1./ You. Look at any other MMO forum. You folks are friendly and helpful compared. Pat yourselves on the back.

Steam: Heraclea

The past year and a half or so I have been heavily playing Age of Conan, now on the Set server.

I am Heraclea there, but there are no globals; other characters I am often on are Hippolyte, Nhutruong, and Turandot. Feel free to look me up. The guild I belong to is:

http://shadowcompany.guildportal.com...3&TabID=373406

This is the game I thought I would always have to come back to, though.

I too will miss this place.

The music will live on.

Howdy, kinfolk.

First screenshot in my folder. Heraclea contemplates life from a dumpster in King's Row. Datestamp is Dec. 28, 2004. She would have been four days old at the time.



This one from January 2005 has some historic significance. There was a rather confusing picture, an official screenshot with a spines scrapper, illustrating the game play on Wikipedia. I cropped and uploaded this to replace it. Heraclea, again. At least you can tell who the hero and the villain is here.



Some months later. Grandma Gnosis, my first controller (ill/emp) takes to the skies over Talos.

Not the first, I think; she started with pants. But very early on, definitely pre-Cim.

Always follow the tanker.

Doc Delilah

Thank you. This is simply the best MMO ever made, and still is. No other game I've played features its dynamic leveling of missions based on the team size and difficulty slider, the lack of need for tanks or healers, or the uniquely fast pace of play. I will always feel fortunate for having had the chance to play it.

I find myself now regretting the reasons I didn't play all that actively the last year and a half or so. Frustration with MA was one of them. (I believe all of my arcs are now functional except for Lesbian Hellion Liberation, which I refuse to take down. Let it stand as a monument to what might have been.)

I still enjoyed this feature of the game immensely and got a great deal of pleasure making up arcs of my own and playing other folks's.

I frequently suggested that ancient Greek or Roman themed costume pieces be added to the game. That's the first thing that comes to mind.

The MMO I'm currently playing most of is Age of Conan. This has turned into a fairly pleasant and polished MMO. It does have sidekicking; unfortunately its group content requires a trinity. Heraclea is there; unfortunately there are no globals.

I enjoyed SWTOR and DCUO until their endgames.

I won't be happy until I find another game that lets me fill a dozen server with alts, and lets me bind multiple battlecries with name and other variables on the numpad for each.

I remember when Unyielding would root you.

I remember a particularly epic mistell involving fur and chocolate syrup.

I remember all the ITFs we used to run, over and over again. Cimerora is still my favorite zone.

I will remember you all.

Getting the Master of Statesman TF badge on Omphale.

Dressing up Heraclea as a Champion of War..... Of all the character classes I've ever played in any game, this one is my absolute favorite.



Will definitely try to be there this Tuesday on Damage Cushion. I will miss you all.

Thank you. The community of this game has always been head and shoulders above the community of any other online game I have played. Thank you for helping to make it so.

Heraclea was made on Christmas Day, 2004. Since then I have been continually subscribed. While my interest in the game has risen and ebbed periodically, I have never been completely absent.

City was always the good old game, the one I always thought I could come back to.

Over the years, I've gotten quite a few level 50s.

Heraclea (Victory), tanker
Daisy May (Victory), tanker
Toxotes (Victory), blaster
Melaena (Victory), tanker
Androphonissa (Victory), tanker
Grignr (Victory), scrapper
Baroness Munchhausen (Victory), scrapper
Yansan (Victory), tanker
Omphale (Victory), tanker
Androphonissa (Victory), tanker
Maiden Heaven (Victory), scrapper
Wolf Witch (Victory), controller
Betsy Ross (Victory), scrapper
Jade Emperor (Victory), defender
William Shakespeare (Victory), defender
Mayahuel (Victory), blaster
Camilla (Virtue), tanker
Damage Cushion (Champion), tanker
Ekphobippe (Champion), tanker
Beata Beatrix (Victory), brute
Anactoria (Victory), brute
Madame Nhu (Victory), widow
Camilla (Virtue), tanker
Xinnia (Freedom), tanker
Firemullet Groupie (Freedom), scrapper

I played a few tankers. I played every tanker primary and secondary to 50. My favorite combination was invulnerability/dark melee.

I'm going to need to make a bunch of screen shots soon.

"Evergreen" is the theme song from A Star is Born.

Nymphs and shepherds characterize the pastoral genre.

Hellgrammites are good bait for bass.