Journal of a first-time MMORG player
By
187nut,
Posted on: 2005-01-20 01:10 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Yay! Glad to see another of your posts, and though I am saddened to see you drifting away somewhat, I am glad to see such an insightful post.
Making a game used to be like making a movie: the audience saw the final product, voted with their wallets, and that was that.
Now, you see everyone from Comic Book authors to Soap Opera writers taking their cues from the 'instant feedback' that is the Internet, while also trying to be creative, innovative and daring.
Strange days indeed...
Story Arcs I created:
Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!
Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!
Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!
Entry 126
Its a rumble on the test server! I run updates for the test server and the live server finally, making sure Im current with the latest versions of the Issue 7 release. We meet up in the Arena for a change, which is cool, because I have not spent a whole lot of time there. At first its a Last Man Standing fight, with no travel powers allowed, so of course Martial Master gets his clock cleaned, as he cant even get close to the Gravity Controller. I turn into an invisible camera once Im defeated, and I am supposed to be invisible and intangible, but whenever someone uses Propel, I can always shift around the objects they throw. Neat!
We go again, with travel powers allowed. Some of the characters fly around, but whenever they land, Im on them like bees on honey. After a few minutes, its down to me and the Claws/Regen. I keep typing in, pant pant as I fight, chewing through a couple reds to see if that will help me any. I win! No way! Yes way! I dont know how surprised the others are, but I was amazed, Ive never taken out a Regen unaided before.
Next we try teams, and the Grav Controller is on mine. I keep Elude off until the going gets really tough, and whenever Elude drops, it feels like the other two teams attack me all at once. An Ice Blaster is tough, I never seem to be able to get the health down enough before the team Defender comes along. Just to make any progress at all, I have to chase her across the map, sometimes stopping to eliminate the Ice pet, just to make any headway at all. Shes back before I can put a dent in the blaster, though, who ends up winning the team competition. A friend visiting from out of town makes me have to log off sooner than I had planned, but the small amount I was able to hang around was great! Sigh, there really isnt enough time, is there?
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Love the posts tpull. Happy Birthday!!
Why, thanks!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 127
Got the Celebrity badge for M II! Heroic is just too easy anymore, so I bump it up to Invincible, see how things look at level 29. I literally use the last of my END on a Freak; then I check a corner of the map and stumble across two orange-cons, but Im in the Red on health as well. I pull back to finally use Rest, and one of the Freaks has rezzed on me! Meh, I still take him down easy.
Right about here is where I quit playing for about a month and a half. Part of it is just real life, and part of it is my girlfriend having an issue with me every time I went to play. I had to disassociate her pouty face with the game itself! Part of it was also burn-out, with these ever-present spelling errors, team-requiring task forces when I dont have enough free time to do it, and general feeling that its all gotten to be too much work trying to keep track of everything. I take a vacation and play the Movies for a little while, and even drag out Starcraft and have fun with it. Part of the reason is my best friend, Red Haven, moved out of town, and we just couldnt synch up schedules to play together anymore. Its hard to trudge along solo when you have a long experience of playing in a social setting for that long.
Then, one evening, I log on just to see how it feels. I ignore the spelling mistake that just popped up upon accepting a mission, and head on in. Its a little bit hectic, since Im on Invincible setting with MM II, but I just need to pop some candy every now and then. I sign off for the night, and figure if I just dont put any pressure on myself, dont feel I have to get every single badge as I go, I can relax a little and enjoy the game again. I already think the overlapping buff symbols are a great quality of life improvement.
A couple nights later, I try again, and have some fun, but then am confronted by a mission requiring a team-up. I mull it over, thinking about switching to a different mission or even logging off, because there arent many people near my level online. I realize I have regressed back to my lone wolf attitude back when I first started playing the game, and decide to change that attitude right away! I fire off tells to the four people near my level, and three accept. We head on in
and we rock!
I am joined by Hydrus, Tradewind, and Harper. We move fast, everybody is quietly professional, and I only pop a few jokes here and there, which is fine, since Im feeling in a more relaxed state, not up to the energy level where I am constantly fighting and frenetically typing in quips in the middle of a fight. Its a pick-up team from the cold, with nobody knowing anyone else, and after all the horror stories I have read constantly on the boards, and all the quiet dread that had me putting off talking to anyone else in the game, I found that I was having a great experience with like-minded gamers who all knew their own powers and limitations. We jumped unhesitatingly into the toughest mission we could, and came out smelling like a rose. Oops, one death once near the end, but not that big a deal, the player didnt raise a fuss about it or anything. We rocked, we rolled, and we parted ways at the end of the mission, and I think I am getting back into the groove of enjoying the game. I have to admit, even in the past two years, real life takes up more of my time, as I have to devote time and attention to working out to stay in shape, and spend time with friends and family, etc. But I think I still want to come back whenever I can and fight evil. I just dont know how Batman does it every night. Maybe I just need to hire a butler to handle all the mundane stuff
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
It's the Sim's First Law, man. Hire a maid. THEN get a job...
Story Arcs I created:
Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!
Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!
Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!
TPull has fallen into the whirlwind of a girlfriend. Whether he will return or survive remains to be seen.
[ QUOTE ]
TPull has fallen into the whirlwind of a girlfriend. Whether he will return or survive remains to be seen.
[/ QUOTE ]
I can lend a cattle prod to convince him to return.
Lady_Ath, if his girl sees you on here, she'll never allow him online again! Shoo! Hide! 
Story Arcs I created:
Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!
Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!
Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!
[ QUOTE ]
TPull has fallen into the whirlwind of a girlfriend. Whether he will return or survive remains to be seen.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, the girlfriend is great, but my computer was taken over by viruses and such for the past three to four months, so that's the big reason why I've been away. Now I've got an upgrade, so look for some updated action coming soon to a forum near you!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
TPull has fallen into the whirlwind of a girlfriend. Whether he will return or survive remains to be seen.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, the girlfriend is great, but my computer was taken over by viruses and such for the past three to four months, so that's the big reason why I've been away. Now I've got an upgrade, so look for some updated action coming soon to a forum near you!
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, the number of times I've gone out with a girl and ended up with a virus.
... on my computer, I mean...
*cough*
Oh man! No wonder I haven't seen your entries around tpull. That sucks that it got a virus. Maybe feed it some chicken soup and put some blankets over it?
...err, wait. Don't actually do that. 
Playstation 3 - XBox 360 - Wii - PSP
Remember kids, crack is whack!
Samuel_Tow: Your avatar is... I think I like it
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
TPull has fallen into the whirlwind of a girlfriend. Whether he will return or survive remains to be seen.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, the girlfriend is great, but my computer was taken over by viruses and such for the past three to four months, so that's the big reason why I've been away. Now I've got an upgrade, so look for some updated action coming soon to a forum near you!
[/ QUOTE ]
Ah, viruses.
Advice for TPull and everyone else who's interested.
Antivirus can fail.
Firewalls can fail.
Even routers can fail.
Don't run with admin privileges. Use the "run as..." feature in more modern incarnations of Windows to install things, or boot into admin if absolutely necessary, but spend most of your time as a normal user. If you can't mess up your system, neither can a virus, neither can a trojan.
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
Entry 128
The last year has been a challenging one, but rather than bore you with real life stories, let me just describe things from the perspective of a player who is no longer a newb, but will have plenty of newbie experiences, just from playing so little in the last year. The only thing I managed to do was log in Martial Master for the Rikti Invasion, but on an older computer, so the lag was super-heavy. Even so, it was a lot of fun.
It takes a little more than three months for my system to get fixed, because I wanted to save some of the data I had put on my desktop for the last two years, much of it about City of Heroes. After downloading the game to what has essentially become a new system, I figure out how to get around the firewall and jump in.
I pull up Meltworks, a level 3 Science Blaster, just to see how the game handles. The speed and graphics are as good as ever, if not better. I pull up the graphics controls and over-crank the world details. I get to see details that are new to me, like the steam coming up from the sewer grates in the streets. Im not quite as rusty as I had thought I might be, and I hit level 4 after one mission. Getting back into the swing of things! The problem I have upon return is one of too many choices. Do I take my level 50 out for a stroll, or do I strategically target some of the newer, renovated zones like Faultline? Or do I go check out my buddys base, or spend a little bit of time working on an Invention?
I try for another mission and end up getting killed by the Vahzilok. Then, sure enough, an emergency comes up and someone asks me to do something in real life, taking a blissful couple of hours away from me. When I get back, my character is running into the walls for some reason, but the happy accident makes me run through the cave from the first-person view, which I dont normally do. Turns out, its a lot of fun, since the music from the speakers is the background music of a cave, with sounds coming from everywhere, and the dark light glinting off of my purple costume in an eerie way. Its actually a little spooky! I have five different Prestige Power runs now, and I try them all out. My favorites are Slide and Quick, which is weird, because Slide can sometimes be annoying, but it fits the look of my character. The Veteran Rewards have given me additional powers to help dispatch bad guys quickly, but the Vahzilock still manage to kill me once more. Drat their damage over time!
Im very glad to be back doing this. Everyone has enjoyed simpler games, but the developers are constantly working on the video and the audio, giving us new elements of play, and working hard to make sure we have variety and newness. They are pretty much guaranteed to keep ahead of me, since this is their daily job, and Ill be playing only about once a week if Im lucky. Such are the responsibilities of real life demands; it seems I am forced into the ranks of the casual player more than ever before. Lets see how much I can make of it!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Glad to hear from you again, tpull
Story Arcs I created:
Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!
Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!
Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!
Thanks, Kitsune9tails! It's great to see some familiar forum names.
Entry 129
On my way through Kings Row, I spot an undercover PPD officer. Cute! I also stop to look at all the movie posters in the nearby theatre. Lots of neat little touches that were harder to make out before with the lesser graphics now add a touch of nice detail to the environment. I go to speak to my Kings Row contact, and Detective Becktrees is now in a police station! Awesome! Freedom Corps posters on the wall, full vending machines (none that talk, though), this is great. This is how we get the radio missions which were so popular in CoV. Ooh, goody, I get to do something new with a lower-level character! I wander through the wrong exit, and end up in their holding area for prisoners. It doesnt let me use my power on the door, so I cant break anybody out. Not that I would do that sort of thing, of course. When I go back up the elevator, there are a couple Paragon Police Department cops there, who werent there a minute ago. Or maybe they were and I wasnt paying attention. Next up, visiting the store, that Kings Row now has, after who-knows how long of people crying out for it.
After a couple of missions, I level up and take Air Superiority. Im kicking myself for not getting Swift, but AS should keep me alive as I encounter orange- and red-cons, as I have a tendency to do. Once, while hunting Vahzilock, I witness an entirely new kind of rubber-banding, as a Reaper tries to run away and ends up almost flying right past me in the opposite direction. Weird! I find a Vault Reserve and dump all my Salvage. I dont see a number, so I hope I can find it again! I have to round up a few Vahz, so when Im in Atlas, I take out a massive grouping of ten, so my level 6 hero feels all big and powerful. I skip the Mire Eidolon that orange-cons to me on my way to the sewers, though. Why is it when I want someVahz, I can never find them, but during daylight theyre filthy between me and my missions?
I level up inside a new mission as I take out an Embalmed Cadaver. I love that! Afterwords, I have done enough radio missions to go on my first safeguard mission. I enter a Special Tactics PPD van, take out a few criminals, and get killed in the bank! Then the Vahz jump past me to the escape van, and as Im attacking one of them, the other opens the van doors. I have failed! Oh, the inhumanity!
I cant stay downbeat for long, as I am reminded that you can still skate down the fences if you hit them at the right angle. I head into a Circle of thorns mission, the classic Jewels of Hera story, and GM_Sven helps me out. I am so rusty, I cant make it to the top of the cave. Hey, its not my fault its so dark in there! Im so glad I took Air superiority, so I can get Flight soon. Next its a visit with Char, who sends me to the hospital when he has just a few hit points left. Grr. He tends to do that to my Blaster characters every time. The classic revisiting of some of these missions has left me with some good feelings of nostalgia, but they have been intermixed with new features of the game which help to prevent the feeling of same old, same old. Oh, but to fly again
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 130
I wasnt sure how much I would like the veteran power rewards, since Sands of Mu is mostly Flurry, but when I tie them up with my Web Grenade, the bad guys dance like puppets from Sands of Mu punches! I am easily amused when I use Sands of Mu on a Sprocket. They fall apart so nicely!
Ive noticed that having Vigilance makes me play like my Scrapper, I always want to wait and see how much I can do with what I have left. It tends to make me go to the hospital as often as not, but Im playing solo for now, so it doesnt hurt anyone. Gotta get those debt badges somehow! Hmm, I wonder if we could institute a debt-trading plan, so those who want the badges can add debt, and players who hate debt can trade theirs away
My next mission is the classic, disarm 5 bombs, rescue 5 hostages. The improved physics of the video allows me to auto-follow an enemy, then jump on some stairs and gun the Skull down. It looks like something straight out of an action movie. If I were more web-savvy, I would have taped it. A hostage runs up to me and calls me by name. It is so cool that the victims know my name, Im only level 10! Whoops, until I level up in the mission. That makes clearing the rest of it a tad easier. As part of the animation of using my Power Blast, I hunch over one of the last bad guy as I blast him, and I can just imagine myself yelling, And stay down!
Next mish, I snipe a guy just as he stands up, and he flies back head-first, just as if he was about to do a backwards-somersault. Another attacks, and I u se N my Nemesis Staff to throw him back into my Caltrops. Having Knockback is very useful when combined with Devices. Its hard to imagine the graphics getting any better than this.
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Entry 131
The path of the game has led me to the University, which has a new map! Always cool to see new environments. It takes me a while on a mission to figure out there are actually stairs that lead downstairs! I go back to the University and have fun knocking the books off the desk, just because I can. Im still a little confused on how to do everything, but I understand the basics of Recipes and Salvage. Ive been away long enough that I havent gone through the Set Bonuses that have been introduced, but I figure I dont have to worry about those unless Im playing my higher level characters.
Most of the heroes I pass are fairly unimaginative these days, both in name and in lack of origin. I do pass by Rosetta Stone, though, who has an excellent origin. I dont know if new players are unwilling to create a back-story, or if the game is mostly saturated with older players rolling alts, and wanting to get into the game instead of playing around with what I call the flavor elements. For me, the flavor elements that we can add are some of the best things about the game.
I must be at an awkward level, because I start to die a lot. Defiance is a bad idea for me right now, just because I always think my aim will be good enough to connect with one last shot, and it is usually just one more shot that would be needed to take out the last bad guy. On my way back from a hospital, I spot some elements that are new to me in the form of an Embalmed One taking a couple of Skulls out with him when he detonates, and Longbow fighting Hellions in Galaxy City. I kill myself every time in Perez Park, just because its much more convenient than anything else. One knockout takes me to a hospital which is right next to my Contact; presto, next mission! Another Park mission ends with me in a hospital that is really close to the next zone I want to go to. Debt-travel: dont knock it til youve tried it!
Halloween is here, and the costumes we can get are amazing fun. I make a habit of trying each one out as I get it, and zooming around to see how they all look as I make them dance. The Sky Raiders look silly running on the ground with those wings jostling along behind them. Oh, I so hope they do this again, I want people to have the chance to make all sorts of neat videos. If your character can look like a bad guy, imagine all the movies we would be able to make, directing the action rather than trying to maneuver the genuine evil articles into place. Its like working with animals!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Just a minor nitpick. The inherent for Blasters is "Defiance" (formerly Desperation). "Vigilance" (aka negligence) is the Defender inherent.
Teams are the number one killer of soloists.
Right you are, sir. Thanks!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
tpull's description of the "siren's call" of Defiance is spot on. I believe Defiance is part of why Blasters get so much more debt than other Archetypes. Playing a Blaster, Health almost gone, but dang it the Defiance bar is so phat! One last blast will kill that enemy and won't it be great? Then invariably you die and once again realize how Defiance has tricked you into sticking around in a hopeless situation.
The best comics are still 10�!
My City of Heroes Blog Freedom Feature Article: "Going Rageless?"
If you only read one guide this year, make it this one.
Super Reflexes: the Golden Fox of power sets!
WARNING: I bold names.
Entry 132
The graphics are neat these days. I dont know how new this effect is, but I change my character view so Im looking down from above at a wider angle, and put Meltworks right next to the edge of Grendels Gulch. Whatever button Im holding down I dont know, but the entire Hollows spins underneath me, and I feel like Im about to fall into the chasm. Never in my life did I think I would get vertigo from a computer game!
Ive got a ton of costumes for the holiday event, and learn that if you are Stunned, it takes your costume out of play, since its a Temp power that gets turned off from the Stun. Im seeing how much I can handle solo, and go to answer the phone. When I get back, Ive been ambushed right out of the elevator at the next level of the Frostfire mission. Figures, the one time Im afk and out of the room, and thats when the ambush hits. Then I get killed while getting to Julius, so I leave the Hollows and wait to level up before I tackle the next leg of that zone.
I wish I had taken a snapshot, I manage to catch a Clockwork stuck on sewage equipment, which looks hilarious. The Clockwork also look neat as they run slow on my Caltrops! Outside that mission, I can also see an Outcast Thug with an angry look on his face
dancing. Hee. I wish all these costumes would come back for next Halloween, so that the same character wouldnt have to go door-to-door to obtain them all again. For those who are video-inclined, it would take too long to get all of them again, but if they just came back, they could have a full two weeks to make some cool CoH videos with them! I could write a story that explains why that Death Head Buckshot trying to pry open a manhole cover over there
My next mission I go upstairs and knock an Abomination just-so, he is laying down on the couch! Next I take out a Reaper in mid-leap, it feels like Im in an action movie again. My timing is off though, I level up on mission completion instead of just before a big bad mission boss. Im getting the hang of Blaster tactics finally, as I set up my caltrops better and learn to fire and fall back. I start lasting longer and not trying to rely on Defiance as much. Ooh, Im turning into a one-man army!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp
Another great post tpull, keep it up!
The best comics are still 10�!
My City of Heroes Blog Freedom Feature Article: "Going Rageless?"
If you only read one guide this year, make it this one.
Super Reflexes: the Golden Fox of power sets!
WARNING: I bold names.
Entry 125
Okay, I admit it, Ive been playing hooky. My last time on the game was about a month ago, and it was longer than I had planned. Necronaut took a simple newspaper mission, and went in to beat up some Tsoo. As soon as I came out, I read the newspaper to get a second mission. Why, the next mission is right here in front of me! I cant pass that up. I head in, and beat up some more Tsoo. Outside, I read the paper again. Oh look, another Tsoo mission. Oh look, its the same place again!
Inside, the map has already changed. I was outside for like one minute. Whoever does the interior design work for the Tsoo, I want to use them next time I upgrade my house. They sure can move! Real life calls me away right after that, which has been a disturbing trend for the last few months. Then, I get distracted by another game, The Movies, and end up playing that until two in the morning, just as I used to do with CoH.
While I play a movie mogul, I monitor the boards, taking an intentional leave from the game as Issue 7 comes out. If Im in a beta test, or on the training server, I expect bugs, but I cant stomach all the stuff happening that I read. I decide to sit this out for a while, as they roll back some changes; I figure the fewer times my machine has to update, the better Ill be. The Monster/AV buffs seem a trifle overpowering just upon first glance, and I wonder how things that seem so obvious even made it past the internal servers.
I remember the old adage, do you want it fast, cheap, or correct? We can do two out of the three. Here, we got it late even by their own standards, and not correct. Are we just getting the product at a cheap rate, then? I dont know. Im not sure it matters at this point, either, since I do not seem to have the same driving impulse to keep playing. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy the game, and there are things I want to do, but getting my first character to 50 and rolling 30 alts, exploring for badges, attending rumbles on the training server, I have gotten a lot of mileage out of the game.
One thing that still intrigues me is the opinion that the game should change to suit the players. This is a far cry from board games, or even the game systems that people have been used to. PC games, as well, used to be fairly static. The floodgates have opened, though, and the users are right in the thick of game design instead of just playing what has been presented to them.
I remember when I bought the DC and Marvel versions of Monopoly, and we would create house rules, such as assigning a different super power to each roll of doubles. There was a limit to what you would change, though, and you still stayed with the overall basics of the intended game design. Normally, when I create things, I offer them up to others for comment and suggestions, but it is always up to me for the final word on whether or not I want to incorporate them. The people that offer the comments do not get upset, because they are doing me a favor, and do not have a vested interest in whatever the final product becomes. For CoH, it is different.
Here, people care very much what the outcome is, and even base their choice to continue playing on whether the game updates are sufficient for them. How many of our ideas/demands are too much? How much right do we have to push our visions onto the game designers, past the available means they have given us to make suggestions? I know if someone came tearing through a design of mine with an attitude, I would tend not to go back to them for advice again. How much proprietorship do Statesman, Positron, et al have with this game? This seems like uncharted territory, and it is very exciting. Im happy for the chance to have input to the game, and happy when (good) player ideas are adopted, but the core of this vision came from the original designers, and I still trust them to have the final say, as well. I can only hope that the mood of people on both sides does not spoil in the relationship, with players grumbling about not getting what they want, and the developers grumbling about ungrateful customers or something like that. The entertainment for me is really cool, so Im hoping everyone can collaborate to build something that will last. It is definitely a new type of collaboration, though, and nobody knows the rules!
I have an idea! No wait...it's just gas.
Hellscorp