This is great, I was just trying to explain this concept to a friend of mine and your guide eased the job considerably. Thank you
Tygyr Tygyr Burning Bright
my pleasure. I'm glad at least someone found this useful!
Hehe great read, excellent post!
I quit playing CoH just before Issue 2 came out (at that point most of the "quality of life" features that make this game so fun hadn't been impemented yet). Missions later in the game offered less reward than a single boss mob kill gave, the difficulty slider wasn't in, and the archetypes were totally unbalanced. I powered my Fire/Ice Burn Tanker to level 36 in about 2 weeks (the cap was 40), and quit in disgust.
After 11 months of WoW, which is the EPITOME of what you describe above, I came back to the much improved CoH and am having an utter blast.
To tell you the truth, I think I'm about done with "traditional" MMORPGS... WoW is pretty much the most polished, easiest and funnest of them all... and, frankly, I think it sucks. I started a guild, levelled 2 characters to 60, geared the heck out of them, and started grinding on end-game content... which ended up being, for me, about 1000 hours total of nodding off at the keyboard while me and 39 other people did the same thing in the same orange cave over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Once a week or so one or two of us got an "epic item"... which usually raised someone's "to hit" chance by 1% or added 14 to their spell damage or something barely noticeable like that.
Traditional end game content boils down to two things in one thinly disguised package: obvious time sinks and a lottery. You do something that takes hundreds of hours, resulting in a 1 or 2% chance of getting a reward. At this point, I feel stupid for playing the game in the first place, though my first tour through the endgame raids was pretty fun.
Sorry for the rant and the rambling, but your guide here really struck a chord with me - and I agree completely: in CoH the journey IS the reward!
If nothing else, this post has made me feel much better about the fact that my highest character is 14 after a month of solid playing.
Thanks!
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I am level 50 and there is very little to do. Any plans for a better Endgame?
Statesman has definitely heard you guys about the lack of an Endgame for CoH, and has personally designed a system that will allow your characters to grow in power. He pitched it to the senior designers and we all love it. You definitely WILL be dusting off those retired 50s when this hits.
-Positron
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yep, its official. They are adding more level 50 content. When I heard about this I took my level 50 scrapper, and played with him for 6 hours.... just to get rid of debt 
. not sure what this means exactly.... but it means something
Absolutely excellent post, thank you for writing this.
CoV and I6 will change some of this. There will be crafting for one.
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my pleasure. I'm glad at least someone found this useful!
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Add another person to that list. This is my first MMO and I haven't really played any other RPGs either. Now I have some insight to the PL'ers mind set.
Also, your guide also makes me feel better for not having a lvl 50 Hero even though I've been playing since the day I1 went live.
I just wanted to say what an awesome post! I agree totally!! 100%.
I've lost a couple of buddies because, "There's nothing else to do."
They just didn't get it.
I tried to explain to him on multiple occasions, I wanted to "Play the game" and not get PL'd. He never understood what I was trying to say. He's now playing Guild Wars and doing the same thing....
HIGHJACK:
I also don't get the whinner's [censored] about the issues. Each issue they have come out with has improved the game.
I remember a time when my buddies and I were taking on an AV, we were 46 and he of course brought one of his six 50's an Invul/Fire Tank. He had to leave in the middle of the fight for like 10 minutes. He never got hurt, just standing there. That IMO is just wrong. An even level AV, she spawned at 47 couldn't hurt him.... Mind boggling to me. There are fixes to the game the needed to be done and they are changing the game and making it better.
Thanks again for the awesome post!
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CoV and I6 will change some of this. There will be crafting for one.
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Yea, there will be crafting, and I'll address that sometime soon after I experience it... but its not exactly the kind of crafting from other games. However, my opinion may change after experiencing it.
man this is a great guide makes me think twice why im making new alts even thought im lvl 33
either way i liked all those referances to strangely named items and how there is no crafting stuff in CoH or killing super monsters all day(kinda is but there is no KBd raiding teams to get D meds like who would want to get valuable lvls just go do that)
Well, I reckon you're talking to me. I started playing EQ in Mar of 99 with the original release (I got the extra free month because of the screwed up launch). I've played EQ, DAoC, Earth & Beyond, SWG, EQII, and gone back to previous games quite a few times. In all those games I've never managed to get a character to max level. I never even got over lvl 50 in EQ until they raised the cap to 60 and you didn't have hours long waits in Lguk for a spot at an XP camp.
Anyway, definately not a power leveler, but the thing I enjoyed most in those games was crafting stuff. I finally quit EQ after figuring out that I would have to camp non-exp, practically non-loot mobs for about 200 hours to get all the items I needed to advance my smithing skill to 250 to have a chance at making some of the best items, which I couldn't get the ingredients to anyway, since I wasn't lvl 65 and in an Uber-guild.
I bought the CoV pre-order, but not until last weekend, so I only played the beta for a couple of days. Right now I'm using the 14 day CoH free trial and got up to lvl 4 in an hour or two this morning.
Excellent post; good points.
I'm still agitated over ED, and I'm wondering - OPEN TO DISCUSSION, NOT A WHINE - if ED will make many builds even more 'cookie cutter' than others since maximum return will be fairly easy to figure out. Will that make characters more similar? And if they're similar, will that reduce the pleasure of the journey?
I love running into 'toons who've got something slotted very differently and they make it work for their playstyle. My bud loves Handclap; I despise it. But... slotted up it's great for him - I think it's 1 Acc/5 Disorents. He didn't use Unyeilding (ever) so he needed time to recover.
The WoW and other comparisons where a power gets 1% better are also good. I left my 1-month free of WoW in part to the sense that I was the same as all other characters at my level. +5% here or there didn't make much difference, IMHO. But back in CoH, I could jazz things up *and* change what was in my slots, influence permitting. THAT also was fun.
Again - gratz on a nice, coherent point. I think I need more coffee...
I agree with you also, Im having more "fun per minute" than i have in any other mmorpg. If you just dont think about the grind, or Pling, and just have fun playing your hero that you created, its soo much more fun than spending hundreds of hours to get that epic lewtz or other uber stuff...
the moment i read your post, i came to realise the distinct difference between this game and most other mmorpgs out there in the market.
thanks guys!
I'll be revising this guide for i6 in a few days to include information on bases/crafting, IoPs and the fundimental difference in combat.
I appreciate the feedback.
A susinct, if snarky, apology for the general lack of vision of the game.
Coming from the burden of economy and obligations of games like SWG and EQ2, CoH at first seemed liberating: no monetary upkeep on armor or weapons (other than influence/enhancement issues), no crafting or collecting sidelines to divide your attention. Just pure and simple "fighting the good fight" and flying. Pretty soon though, that simplicity reveals the essential flaw: it's so simple that it becomes tedious. It's a one trick pony, that may work for the OCD crowd, but lacks, as all games in this model do, any variety of experience. New settings, new costumes, new power animations do not a new challenge make. The content that so many ask for is new WAYS to fight, new WAYS to use your powers to resolve issues. Me, I wouldn't care if we only had 1 villain group to fight, as long as the conflicts and their resolutions were different, or even, by archetype, the solutions were different - meaning a Tanker would solve a mission one way, where a controller could solve it completely differently. As it stands now, the solutions are just a matter of number of hit points taken from your opponent, be it with your fists, beams, or pets.
You speak with virulent disdain regarding the ancillary "content" of other games, but CoH is no different. CoH doesn't have the added avenues of empty-colorie activities, but that's hardly a virtue, but rather a recognition of the lack of vision of established MMO's.
They have taken stabs at messing around with the idea - the firefighting event in Steel Canyon comes to mind. Though it doesn't take more than a moment to realize it's the same old thing: there's only one way to fight the fire (with the temp power of "fire extinguisher" that does x amount of damage to the bits of fire that have x # of hitpoints.) Why can't a hero with Whirlwind damage the fire? Or an Ice blaster/tanker etc bring the temperatue down? A super strength hero knock over the water tower on the adjoining building onto the fire?
What all these games offer is the lure of the genres: be it fantasy adventures with wizards and mighty warriors, starspanning opera with lasers and strange aliens, or spandex thrills saving the city. What they don't offer is what the stories give us: the oportunity to excell, to outthink the paradigm. It's not the game's job to make us Superman, but to give us the oportunity to craft our own destiny and stand beside him as peers. They need to provide the universe, the functionality for us to find our own inner hero. You can hardly call yourself a hero/champion/Luke Skywalker/Batman if all it takes is following a recipie: go to this place, hit x number of enemies, rinse and repeat, till you're a hero. If that's the message they're putting out, it's insidious, and given the attitudes of "heroes" who hang around Warburg, the damage is done.
As the games (all MMo's) stand now, you could easily change the costume creator to give us CAL/OSHA approved coveralls, swap out "superspeed" for "improved productivity", and collect our "mission" from our contact (foreman): a timed mission to assemble 20 Tsoo action figures, or we're "fired".
Cheers!
Max
================================
Without the "hero" in superhero, you're just a bully.
Engremore/IronMax/Jackalope/BaronMind - Infinity server
Engremore/IronMax/Doc Martian- Triumph Server
Just Click on City of Heroes
i have to say I disagree with your opinion max, though that doesn't make it wrong.
I will point out that in the steel canyon firefighting, characters with ice powers can damage those fires. (if not now, then VERY soon, as ice powered heroes can do so in CoV).
I will also say that I find the lack of loot & economy as refreshing now, as I did when I first started. My snark and sarcasm when describing loot runs in other games, or the "end game content" is well founded. I did it. I hated it. It was really a sad excuse for content in my opinion. Once again though, that is just my opinion. Some people like raiding for 15 hours with 50-100 other people to lottery for the 1 elite item drop they need (which wasnt even garunteed to drop in the 1st place). I don't. And I'm the first to say that if you DO enjoy that kind of game, CoH isnt for you. You will get bored. You will leave. Its that simple.
My little guide was simply intended to express the differences that CoH has from other MMOs. To make people understand that unlike other games, there is no reason to PL, no reason to spawn camp, no unique loot that you can get only at the expense of another. Yes, CoH can get boring with its repetitive play. Yes, the missions are similar. Yes, content is added at a slower rate than we all wish it was. But if you enjoy the game for what it *is*, rather than what you want it to be, you'll still be here months and even years later.
My main just hit 50 after 513 hours, my 2 primary alts are both in their high 30s. I've been here since right after issue 1 hit. Still not bored, and still loving it. YMMV.
(though I wont lie... I am playing CoV as well, and its a much better game)
Yea, CoH has pretty much ruined me for other games. And this is coming from a diehard DAoC fan, mind you. Simply put, CoH appeals to the control freak in me 
I hate not having control over what my character wears. I hate being at the mercy of others for crafting for my character's effectiveness and/or camping for loot. This is not to say these are bad things, I just find I have less time and patience for doing them. Every time I think I'm ready to head back to one of those 'harder' games, I just get annoyed at all the busywork. As angry as I am about how ED was handled, I find there are no other games out there that really interest me, dammit.
Killjoy - AR/Kin Cor | Grimwind - Dark/Cold Corr
Fallowlord - Plant/Ice Dom | Game Warden - TA/A Def
Thought Police - Mind/Psi Dom | Gammarauder - Rad/Traps
As much as I think the way in which ED was introduced was inexcusably inept, I think the concept is good in that it frees up slots overall. So I think it *will* have the effect of increasing the diversity of how things are slotted. Some players may have the same 3 powers but one 6 slots all of them with 1 accuracy/3 damage/2 end while someone else may choose to boost the secondary and someone else may double slot accuracy (or triple slot it in the case of AE attacks, who knows?); others will choose to 4 slot the power so they can take other powers, etc. etc. etc.
I also think it frees some folks from the tyranny of Hasten and Stamina. No one was holding a gun to anyone's head, but boy if you were missing one of those powers people would just act like you had a hole in your head (my spines scrapper never had and never will have hasten and I cannot tell you how many 'helpful' comments I got recommending I take it).
As to the downside, the effect on tankers and defensive sets grates on my nerves. And the way in which it was introduced and the subsequent spin has significantly eroded my respect for the devs. So badly in fact that as far as I'm concerned CoH is dead to me -- I'm just pretending it doesn't exist anymore and I'm a little sorry they de-coupled the fee structure so I could cancel my CoH account to play CoV alone.
Killjoy - AR/Kin Cor | Grimwind - Dark/Cold Corr
Fallowlord - Plant/Ice Dom | Game Warden - TA/A Def
Thought Police - Mind/Psi Dom | Gammarauder - Rad/Traps
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Other than that though, your character has essentially retired. Sorry, no way for you to spend another 1000 man hours raiding the depressing elemental plane of sadness where Lord EMO god of whining and mediocre music reigns supreme, just to beat him and hope you are the one person out of your 50 player raid group to get the hat of Xanax (+35 save against confusion and fear) to further tweak your stats.
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Great post. Only one thing. Why get the hat of Xanax when I can just craft the Alprazolam Cap for cheaper, and the stats are just as good (since U.S F.D.A rules require that stringent testing and quality standards be applied to assure that my generic item is just as good as the brand name before it can be used by 1337z0r consumers).
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Other than that though, your character has essentially retired. Sorry, no way for you to spend another 1000 man hours raiding the depressing elemental plane of sadness where Lord EMO god of whining and mediocre music reigns supreme, just to beat him and hope you are the one person out of your 50 player raid group to get the hat of Xanax (+35 save against confusion and fear) to further tweak your stats.
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Great post. Only one thing. Why get the hat of Xanax when I can just craft the Alprazolam Cap for cheaper, and the stats are just as good (since U.S F.D.A rules require that stringent testing and quality standards be applied to assure that my generic item is just as good as the brand name before it can be used by 1337z0r consumers).
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strong, nick lambert... strong.
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I will also say that I find the lack of loot & economy as refreshing now, as I did when I first started. My snark and sarcasm when describing loot runs in other games, or the "end game content" is well founded. I did it. I hated it. It was really a sad excuse for content in my opinion. Once again though, that is just my opinion.
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Oh I in no way defend the l33t loot concept, though as flavoring it might not be bad. My primary complaint with CoH is "Is that all there is?" Endless quota fighting is no different from CoH to WoW to SWG. For me, the 50 retirement in CoH is akin to going to the police academy and ritiring at graduation - you finally have all the skills you'll need to fight crime, and it's over. As far as I'm concerned, 50 is when the game should really start. Your character has got all his powers, respecced and studied and honed, and now should be ready to handle the real content.
I can't be satisfied and enjoy the game indefinitely if all it is is a fighting game. If all I have to look forward to is doing the same thing with different powers, fighting villains that only differ in look and powers, then I may as well leave the game to kids who like seeing pretty images flashing by over and over. It's certainly not comic books, otherwise Batman would have faded out 50 years ago. Favored genres of course have certain immutibles, which help define them, but it's the things that differ that make us pick up the next and the next and the next one. If all you have to look forward to is Superman punching something in the next issue, then there's no reason to buy it. However, it's the challenge and how he addresses it, what he does or doesn't do that has you picking it up month after month. That's one of the reasons the idea of an MMO is so appealing - the human factor. What other people will bring to the table. As loathe as I am to admit it, it was the player built cities, the crafted items that varied in quality depending on the craftsman's skills and resources, the (in retrospect) fairly varied story arcs that made SWG as engaging as it was - and I ran screaming from the day-to-day grind of being a merchant on the side there (after all, you went to a galaxy far far away to be Luke AFTER he met Obi Wan, not Luke on the farm maintaining the vaporators).
Task Forces shouldn't be the gems, they should be the staple in our superhero diet. The gems should be something like ... the Hammidon takes a stroll, or someone failed the Vhaz mission and the plague got loose. A batallion of Malta Titans settling over Atlas Park. I loved it when the big eyeball guys were popping up all over. I love seeing someone's way too high ambush running loose in the streets.
I've been in CoH for about as long as you, and while I can still enjoy finishing a story arc, and LOVE to just fly around sometimes, I can't help but hope an airplane will fall from the sky and only I can stop it, or a villain will arise leaving clues that only I can unravel before stumbling into his deathtrap and escaping by my wits. I want a name that is tied to events that not everyone else in the game went through.
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But if you enjoy the game for what it *is*, rather than what you want it to be, you'll still be here months and even years later.
[/ QUOTE ] That's like saying that if a woman would only accept that her mate beats her, cheats on her, and generally ignores her, she can remain happily married for years. If that were the case, everyone would still be playing Pong. It is only by expecting more, and demanding more, that we get more. As is, despite the pretty graphics, we are subsisting on a banquet of crumbs.
================================
Without the "hero" in superhero, you're just a bully.
Engremore/IronMax/Jackalope/BaronMind - Infinity server
Engremore/IronMax/Doc Martian- Triumph Server
Just Click on City of Heroes
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But if you enjoy the game for what it *is*, rather than what you want it to be, you'll still be here months and even years later.
[/ QUOTE ] That's like saying that if a woman would only accept that her mate beats her, cheats on her, and generally ignores her, she can remain happily married for years.
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which is precisely why my girlfriend and I have been so happy for the last 3 years.
i keed i keed...
in seriousness though: there is still a ton of stuff to do at 50.
Shadow shard, auto exemping, PvP zones, building bases, old TFs, the soon to be legends & skills systems.
I agree though that 50 seems like a retirement. However, to use your comic book analogy:
I don't see level 50 as bruce wayne finally finishing batman: year 1 and being ready to tackle what the city has to offer. I see level 50 as bruce wayne during Kingdom Come... he's reached his apex, he's done all he can do, and he's finished. But if the world really needs his help, he'll be there for one more go.
levels 1-10 your character: origin.
10-20 your character: year 1
20-40: the prime time
40+ the end game
I sincerely hope more things are added that 50s can partake of (and I await eagerly for further challanges that A d a m - 7 can meet) but I am also content that he reached the end to his story. That being said... lets see what the "legends" system can offer us.
I know they're affectionately calling each new release "issues" as part of the comic book terminology, but truth be told what they need to do IS release issues in more of the comic book style - each "issue" should include new content, and by that I mean new things for your existing charaters to do. Not meddling with powers, that's what patches are for. Content - the idea of Croatoa initially is great;a magical crossover zone, a world caught between our world and a strange magical dimension. That said though, the activities there don't differ at all from what you would do anywhere else. What it needs is to be a magical zone where our heroes need to use their wits because the magic of the zone doesn't react in the same way as say..the science in another zone. It needs random weirdness that forces us to improvise since our accepted way of doing things don't work there.
Issue 1: new "tf/story arc" style missions in each zone - they can use existing assets (models, animations, powers) but combine them differently. Create missions, arcs, etc, that have different styles of objectives. The cheapest (codingwise) part of the game is the writing. We've seen in CoV that they have started doing cut scenes - give us more. Have the villains talk to us more, tell us more, conciously or unconciously giving us clues. I want to come out of a mission with a full clue bag, and no pointer for where I go next, and have to figure it out based on the clues. That alone could keep me in the game for a long long time. I've been reading comics since the early 70's, and have enjoyed going back even further, absorbing their golden/silver age antecedents.
Same old same old (not always creating new villains/models, etc)? Batman has been fighting the Joker since almost day one. Almost 70 years. What keeps us coming back is the NEW things, and our past knowledge about these characters. When we see the signs of the Joker, we know that we can expect unsettling viciousness with a goofy edge. With Catwoman we expect a certain degree of sophistication and inner conflict - we have to stop her, but all we really wanna do is "date" her.
Issue 2 (a month or two later): see Issue 1, rinse and repeat.
In this way, I'll retire my character when I get tired of his fight. As currently is, when I reach 50, I won't feel I've even scratched his surface - I've been using a supercomputer as a pocket calculator. Just crunching the numbers of "arrests" and enhancement diversification... Sure, as you advance with villain groups, they introduce new ranks of them: with the 5th, you started out with foot soldiers, then progressed up to soldiers with things like our powers, then vampyri and war wolves and mechs, but ultimately there was no difference between them - our only means of dealing with them was hitting them. Which is what you do in WoW, or SWG, or EQ2. If I have a problem with CoH, it's not comparing it to a superior alternative but that it doesn't try to rise above it's limits. I have had it pointed out to me on a number of occasions that CoH is NOT a comic a book - it uses the trappings of them, but that it's a game. Well I've played this game already in any number of different guises. If they want to draw me in via the comic book analogy, then they need to give me what comic book do: Content. Story. Adventure. I have also heard the old saw that _I_ am supposed to provide the story. That's rubbish. No other form of entertainment requires that. If you walked into a movie theatre and they just had a bunch of actors standing onscreen with their backstories printed above their heads, and you were required to fill in the story, you'd demand your money back. Yes, there are story arcs, yes there are "clues" and "souveniers" but they are so thin, so "tacked on" as to make them irrelevant.
And the solution is so EASY: write more. Yes, writing is an art, so I'm not suggesting that it's "easy" per se, but then there are a LOT of writers out there who would love a chance to do something like this. Given that, the rest has already been shown to be a cookie cutter process - the combat situations are stock already on hand. When I say easy, I simply mean it's not like creating new assets that have to work on their own as well as in relation to everything else in the game, requiring lots of coders and animators and modelers etc just for one new asset.
Fact of the matter is, I am rapidly reaching the point where I can no longer enjoy a game that consists solely of running around hitting things. And that just may mean it's time for me to get back into making things again in rl. My job rl already consists of making the fantastical happen - I work in motion picture and television special effects. I get my quota daily of seeing cool vistas and unnatural feats - so I guess what I need from a game just isn't out there yet. Hence my wishing, hectoring, cajoling to get the game to do more.
This may be the end of IronMax's story, a least in this venue. It may mean he may have to enter the real world, or maybe a comic where he can finally stretch his wings.... because he's starving in-game.
Cheers!
Max
================================
Without the "hero" in superhero, you're just a bully.
Engremore/IronMax/Jackalope/BaronMind - Infinity server
Engremore/IronMax/Doc Martian- Triumph Server
Just Click on City of Heroes
-or-
ADAM-7s guide to the heart of CoH.
This guide is geared toward players from other MMOs coming here and wondering why the things they are used to arent present. Why the style and feel of play from other games are not mirrored here. Why there is no traditional MMO end game content. Additionally, this will also touch on the oft controversial topic of power leveling (in a non inflammatory way). And if any of you follow my posts, you will see things i have said before here, just in a complied format.
Anyway, lets start:
Adam, what makes City of Heroes different, and what is this paradigm shift of which you speak?
Unlike any other MMO out there, City of Heroes is NOT about the end game. Its a paradigm shift that a lot of people have trouble swallowing, but its the way the game was made.
In nearly every other MMO out there, the levels leading up to the max level end game are just gravy. They are meant to make you put in the effort or grind to reach the fun: max level raiding, equipment, crafting. Essentially, the meat of the game occurs after your level is maxed out and you are fine tuning your stuff (whether that be powers or equipment or rabid chipmunk pet of DOOOMZXORS). That is NOT CoH. (this is why many people who PL to reach the end become unsatisfied very quickly; they are missing the point of this game)
PLers just don't "get" this game. There is no end game content that extends ones enjoyment. Unlike WoW or EQ or DAoC, you don't have high level raid content or PvP uber rewards. When you hit 50, the Devs expect you to roll an alt, and bring your 50 out for 50 content (when its made), PvP arena, PvP base raids (and crossover CoV content), and playing with your friends. They have expanded what your 50 can do with the exemplar and auto exemplar for TF features.
Other than that though, your character has essentially retired. Sorry, no way for you to spend another 1000 man hours raiding the depressing elemental plane of sadness where Lord EMO god of whining and mediocre music reigns supreme, just to beat him and hope you are the one person out of your 50 player raid group to get the hat of Xanax (+35 save against confusion and fear) to further tweak your stats. Thats not this game. And when they DO make end game content, people will exhaust it and cry out for more within weeks. Why? Because no matter WHAT endgame content CoH adds, it will not be the kind of end game content these people want.
But Adam, why NOT? I want my content!
Most (gross generalization) people who are currently crying over lack of end game content are looking for the kind of content that EQ or DAoC or WoW has. When your character hits the highest level the can get, there are still uber items out there to increase their power. These items require hours and hours and hours of raiding to acquire, and you aren't even guaranteed the item at the end of that time. So what happens? In an obsessive race to optimize their character to the max, people who have already hit max level are still willing to spend 50+ hours to get all the min/max'ed equipment. And in many cases, they dont even GET the equipment they need from the drop, but rather the raw materials they need in order to spend yet MORE hours crafting the equipment they need, with no guarantee of success! That kind of end game content allows a person to feel like their character (who can no longer get experience) is still advancing. Even if it takes them hundreds of hours to do so. They are still getting stronger as a result of all the time spent. They feel like their character doesn't need to be shelved because there is still room to grow.
And ONCE they have optimized themselves to have only the best, there is still PvP raids to keep them busy, because PvP provides rewards in both PvP AND PvE. And those rewards are good! And though many people like this, there remains a problem with that in reference to CoH.
Many of us came to CoH to break out of that grind. We got tired of having to spend hundreds of hours to get enough lvl 265 spectral wombat pelts to make the phasing wombat boots of doom which allow us to finally cross the phased rainbow bridge of despair into the shadowed castle of shadows, only to fight the twilight squirrel (with 400 other players) in hopes of being the one person to get the fabled nut of destruction. (Because, as you know, if you DON'T have the nut of destruction, you are teh noobxzors in PvP and no one will invite you to their l337 gank squad)
End game content in CoH will most likely just be more missions. Perhaps requiring multiple teams (in the vein of hamidon, but in smaller scale). They may require whole supergroups. But regardless, the will not give loot, and the will not give continued and extended character advancement. (Key word is extended, they may provide some limited further advancement, but not to the end of 100+ hours to get your full set of death badger armor).
Okay Adam, Im starting to follow you, so are you implying I shouldnt PL my first character?
Well, most PLers in other game level themselves because to EQ or DAoC, the meat of the game is at the end. In other words, to EQ players, the fun isnt in getting to max level, but rather, once you get there. They prize the destination, not the journey (if you dont mind the cliché) *a funny aside, most new players in EQ get turned off immediately as its tremendously difficult to find lower level teams, as everyone is being PLd to join the fun in the end game*
This being the case, the solution to powerleveling should become kind of obvious, but lets sum up what we know now, first:
1. CoH has no ph4t l3wt. There are no items of power to increase your characters stats.
2. CoH has no extended play end game. You hit 50 and retire. Kthxbye.
3. CoH has no crafting. You cannot spend hours and hours refining your vampire bunny teeth to make your singing vorpral sword of slaying.
4. There will be no steep rewards for PvP victories. Our items of power that our SGs (will) hold do not open up a super dungeon where even uber-er items can be found, or give us +100,000,000 hp & unlimited endurance.
These three things all tie in together and they also form the crux of end game content, and the goal of powerlevelers in the other games. People PL for these reasons (in other MMOs). People want to get to the meat of the game immediately (2) because that is where the most fun is had in the game. However, to get to this fun they must be outfitted with the best equipment (1). To get this equipment they must raid and get the raw materials and (3) craft em or get em from a drop. All in the hopes to even further optimize their characters (4).
So what, then, is the meat of City of Heroes if its not extended advancement?
As shown above, CoH has NONE of these things. CoH is unique in the fact that the focus of the game isnt max level pvp raiding. Nor is it max level dragon (or hamidon) slaying. This game is about bringing your hero up from an outbreak stopping scrub at lvl 1, to a dimension saving portal jockey at 50. All the content they need to accomplish this isnt there yet, but if the khelds are any indication they are certainly trying. They are attempting to put in so much content that each character can take a different path through the game with different experiences.
They are succeeding somewhat when you consider you can now take a character though the hollows, then to striga, then to croatoa, then to the shadow shard. Thats a lot of contacts and content ( 5 35, 40-50) if I recall correctly) that is different from what you are used to. They have expanded missions to change the things you have done already. They have adjusted tile sets, enemy mob powers, and AVs to make things different from your first time through.
They WILL eventually have level 50 only content, but its not going to be the crafting, stat tweaking, 500 hour obsessive compulsive gotta catch it all tedium that other MMOs bill as end game content. The devs want you to enjoy each level, not rush through them to join all the fun raiding the dark shadowed fortress of darkness which can only be reached if you get the key of twilight content flag by killing Shad-or, the black dragon of inky night inside his den of eternal evening.
Once you understand this kind of paradigm shift, you may find yourself not only looking at City of Heroes in a different light, but enjoying it more. I have never played a MMO before where it is a perfectly acceptable practice to take a few months off, and come back for the new issue to see what content was added. Nor have I ever played a MMO that is so accommodating for that (the fact that no characters have been forcefully deleted yet speaks volumes about Cryptics view of their fans. Once you understand the idea that the fun of this game is in the playing, not the end game stat tweak PvP castle elemental dragon raid II: super ultra mega champion edition, you will also understand why I dont give suggestions on how to dissuade PLing from the populace at large: There is no reason to. Rampant PLers will play this game a bit, max out, get bored and move on. Those of us who enjoy the game for what is IS, rather than what we want it to be, will most likely still be here bringing another alt up from 1-50.