Prof_Backfire

Create an elaborate word-switchout system that replaces CoX and game-related terms with work-related terms.

I once had this problem too. I think it was my power supply as well. Though I also think my video card fan was busted since I swapped that out and it started working again.

The RWZ's kinda cool for stuff like that. There's EBs out in the open, Pylons and the RWZ challenge for powergamers to test their builds, and a base to make any SG jealous.

And given that Rikti in their natural environment are an absolute pain in the butt for most players to fight, I'm not complaining. That's the kind of farming that you need to already be good at the game for after all.

City of Heroes is the first MMO I've ever played, I'd never really understood the concept before I used that free trial I got in an issue of PC Powerplay. Still, the game seemed to be pretty simple and easy to learn, but then again I tend to seek out all the information I can on absolutely everything due to a terminal case of geekery, while a lot of people don't seem to be so curious.

The only other game I've tried was Guild Wars (short version: Diablo ripoff, generic as setting, why only 7 skill icons?), which I really didn't think had that much in common with this game, at the basic level anyway. But I wonder, for someone who once swore by another MMO, what would be their first impressions of City of Heroes? What skills, expectations and preconceptions are they likely to bring with them?

And the main question: How would you write a guide to getting started in CoH, for the perspective of someone who'd come from another MMO? WoW, Guild Wars, Everquest, SWG, whichev, there's already plenty of ex-players of other games here, maybe we could attract some more.

If you're gonna have a 'restart from level 1' respec... you might as well just roll an alt.

Face it, powerset respecs are a terrible idea, they're not happening.

This game can't attract an entirely different audience demographic now. That ship has sailed. This game already has an ingrained reputation for terrible PVP and nothing is gonna change that.

There's another game that implemented massive changes in attempts to attract a new target demographic. It ended up causing almost their entire existing playerbase to quit, and failed to attract any new players at all- in fact, the exodus of players pretty much destroyed the game's reputation forever. Yes, I mean Star Wars Galaxies.

...Dual Pistols are already coming to Blasters, Defenders and Corruptors in Going Rogue.

No, there's never going to be a pistol melee set, that's an inherently retarded concept.

Note that if there is an expection to that 'rule of thumb', it's definitely Blasters, whose secondary powersets often include highly damaging melee attacks.

Sure, Corruptors have better blasts. On the other hand, Defenders have better buffs.

Since when does any remotely competent player turn down anyone for a team anyway? I'd figure defenders and corrs would be pretty much interchangeable.

Hey, your space marine catgirl has the same hairstyle and monocle as mine!

Solution: Teach your dog to farm.

They recently changed the spawn system (from what I hear, they may have fixed it to the way it was originally supposed to work) so that bosses are more likely to spawn.

I guess they figure that if you can handle one boss at the end of a mission, you can handle more.

Mine are all named after the cast of Apocalypse Now.

The Commando is Kurtz, of course.

Best to tell us your build and your budget. In the Tanker forum that is, you'll see specialists there.

That and TF2 basically imposes the class structure on a completely different genre- it's only natural that it's mould breaking.

The whole 'make everyone Jacks' seems to be that CO is doing, for better or worse. I've heard that 'everyone is a Scrapper or Blaster', and as a result there's little reason to team up.

Sort of.

Going Rogue is a boxed expansion set, the first one this game's had in years. It'll probably be released alongside I16, and the data for it will be in the same download for convenience purposes. Going Rogue will, from what we know, include several new zones, apparently some exclusive powersets (Dual Pistols, a blast set for Blasters, Corruptors and Defenders, and Demon Summoning, a new pet set for Masterminds).

Don't ask me why it took so long- but the fact that until relatively recently the dev team consisted of 15 people might have something to do with it. With the formation of Paragon Studios and a massive injection of funding and manpower earlier this year, suddenly the devs have a lot more time, money and resources to put into making the game bigger and better, and finally getting around to doing all those things we've been asking for all this time.

Or if we can't cut people with our katana we hit them with the blunt end of the katana, because katanas are too awesome not to use.

That reminds me, I've been considering rolling a Bots/Storm mastermind... I presume they would fall under this heading, if you liked robots?

Given that this game has an uncanny knack for drawing back people who have been away for years, sometimes since launch, keeping their names safe is probably a good thing to do.

They can't... Yet.

The new expansion coming out, Going Rogue, is touting the option to switch sides- heroes can go bad, villains can go good. However, we don't know the specifics yet. Limited information on it has been released, we're not even sure when it's coming out. Presumably it'll be out in time to compete with Champions Online.