Reflections of the Last Four Years (LONG)
By
BadStorm,
Posted on: 2008-05-01 07:39 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Remembering the thrill I got the first time I zoned into Atlas and heard the music play still makes me smile.
I've been playing since June 1, 2004 (with a 3 month break) and I still find things to keep my interest.
Other notable wow moments form the early days include:
The thrill of getting hover at lvl 6 and hovering to the top of the Atlas globe.
The first time I saw Phantam Army in in action! I immediately rolled an illusion controller and it was my first lvl 50 and still my main hero.
Getting inertial reduction and speed from a kin def in Atlas.
@cozmic
Kid Kozmic - lvl 50 Ill/Emp Controller
Agent Chance - lvl 50 Traps/DP Defender
Venatores - lvl 50 Broadsword/Shield Scrapper
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Or hovering accross Preze Park because running was WAY to dangerious... and i could use the time to make a snack...
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Heh, did that too; I'd heard about how dangerous Perez was, and picked up hover because I'd had a mission to get CoTs on top of buildings in KR, and I couldn't find any *other* way to get up there, and no doubt this would be the start of many, many future missions on tops of buildings, right? 
But it turned dark in Perez, and a group of heros were fighting clockwork at the boathouse below me. Electric arcs crossing streams of fire and green bolts in the dusk below, it was like something out of a movie. . .
March 30, 2004.
I took a break for 7 or 8 months around the time of I4, but I always knew I'd come back, and I probably always will. It's my greatest gaming love, and although my affections may stray from time to time, I'll always bring my passion back home to Paragon.
There's nothing like a fling with some hot brainless bimbo like WoW to make a guy realize just how lucky he is to have CoH. 
I also created my account on May 6, 2004. Then as I was installing the game, I found out I would need a new graphics card to play it. So, a little while later, I finally got the card and gave life to Spectreblade, the hero that had been adventuring in my head for the past month. That time between when I had the game installed but couldn't play it was agonizing, but it did give me plenty of time to read the manual and refine Spectreblade's concept. Since then I've made several other upgrades to my computer for the sake of this game. And I've made several other characters in that time.
Some of my most memorable moments were:
Entering Paragon City proper from the tutorial for the first time. Nothing says "Welcome to your new life as a hero!" like the Atlas/Freedom Plaza music. Then talking to Back-Alley Brawler for my first training session, and reporting to Gregor Richardson for my first mission.
Entering Steel Canyon for the first time. That was the kind of landscape you typically think about when you think of superheroes, and reaching the level where I could get missions there was like finally starting to come into my own as a hero.
Getting my travel power. I took the Leaping pool on Spectreblade, and it felt so awesome that I could literally leap tall buildings in a single bound, I had to show my family.
Defeating Dr. Vahzilok. After he infected me with that damn wasting disease, he was going down! He would be the first AV I ever fought, and I let out a cheer when he went down, making my family wonder what was going on.
When badges were first introduced. I logged in and a torrent of "badge earned" messages washed over me as I stood in the Talos Island magic SO store where I logged out from the last time. It was like it was raining candy.
Now, I'm going to be getting my 4 year vet reward any day now, and I'm still going strong.
Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.
My real anniversary's not until early fall (check the date under my avatar). I've been a supers fan for years, but as a result, was well aware of the many failed attempts to bring the genre to the computer screen (and the successes, like Freedom Force); I was wary of CoH after how long it had been in beta (aka "development hell") and the reports that filtered out. Even after it went live and reviewers started gushing about it, I managed to stay away all summer... until some of my online friends got into it, and I finally gave in and tried it. Like many, I was hooked from the moment I saw the costume screen.
I had a slightly frustrating beginning - my video card was minimum spec back then, and wouldn't run the game at better than a crawl... until I updated my drivers, and it worked just fine. (Still a bit surprised that new software on same hardware made that much of a difference.) But I got past that, and soon I was up and running with my first two heroes. I made level 6 on one in a couple of days (with what I know now, I could probably do that in hours, but I was still learning everything), got Hover, and took the slow elevator to the top of the globe. (This was between Issues 1 and 2, before there was a badge up there.) Then I floated back down and spent the half-hour "night" dancing under Atlas in celebration.
I remember the first time I defeated a Clockwork Prince, watching in relief as it collapsed with my health and endurance bars in the red... then jumped as it dropped a litter of kittens (Gears). Somehow I managed to avoid a hospital visit. Instead, my mediport ride came when I saw something odd while I was flying across Skyway City and went down to investigate. (Hint: it was someone's high-level ambush.)
I remember when the respec trial was new, standing in front of Terra Volta and watching whole teams come out of the door and belly-flop on the pavement. Intimidating.
I remember the chaos of the first Halloween event, and the first Winter event, with the Winter Lord spawning in the city zones - rarely at first, then almost constantly. Many a character of mine got through the 5-15 doldrums (one as far as 20) off Winter Lord xp. I remember the pitched street battles between the familiar Fifth Column and these new guys, the Council, who were mostly the same but with more boring uniforms. (More recently, I remember my utter glee at seeing the Fifth again in Ouro content.)
I remember my first 50, a year and a half after I started. I'd rerolled the other of my first two heroes, to change his Origin from Tech to Natural, and so he was still in the 20s while MJ was getting her Hero of the City medal from Ms. Liberty. He's up to 41 now - won't be much longer. I've also got three other 50s, two villains and another hero.
Let's see, what else...
I remember City of Blasters, when Smoke Grenade made you invincible because of a missed decimal place, and the complaints when it got fixed. I remember the days of wolf herding and portal/behemoth farming (I was invited along on one of the latter, and my screen turned into a slideshow - low spec vid card, remember?) I remember the Paragon Dance Party, before and after they moved the door, and I remember when it was replaced by Pocket D.
I remember CoV beta, and my brute getting to punch out Statesman at the end. I remember my first bank robbery and Mayhem mission, and how much fun they were.
I remember lots of great teams, and some not-so-great ones, and good times and stories with my friends. I remember being inspired to write about my characters.
It's been a great four - eh, three and a half - years. And now, with lots of interesting new stuff coming up (and more character slots, so I don't have to leave Virtue to feed my alt habit), I'm looking forward to more.
My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City
Okay...I have to ask...
How many of us have listened to "The Theme From Superman" while we've flown around?
>raises hand<
~ Jonathan
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Okay...I have to ask...
How many of us have listened to "The Theme From Superman" while we've flown around?
>raises hand<
~ Jonathan
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This one?
Teams are the number one killer of soloists.
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Hiya Templar. Thanks for sharing. I've been a comic book geek since I was 5. I remember my Mego action figures, playing Champions from grade school through college, and can probably rattle off animated shows from the original Super Friends to Ben 10: Alien Force that I enjoy to feed my superhero addiction.
But nothing beats being in Paragon City. I've been here since December of '05, and the wife started around three weeks after me. We supported one supergroup, founded another, and have good friends both inside and outside of the game. I think I speak for everyone when I say...
FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!
- Green Lantern
"Say, Jim...woo! That's a bad out-FIT!" - Superman: The Movie
Me 'n my posse: http://www.citygametracker.com/site/....php?user=5608
That was actually pretty impressive...haven't seen that before.
~ Jonathan
April 28, 2004.
I wasn't the least bit interested in this game, as the concept of having hundreds, if not thousands, of player-heroes running about in a city seemed odd to me. I wanted info on the next Freedom Force game, really. <_<;;
However, another forum I was in had many folks that joined the Closed Beta, and when Open was coming up, they strongly suggested everybody try to get in. Meh, superhero MMO, who needed that? >_>
And then the pictures started coming in, along with lengthy descriptions of how things worked. It just sounded... well, pretty darn cool. Too late to join the Beta, I made sure I picked up the game on its Launch Day.
By the time the game was installed, and patched, I already knew what AT, powersets, name, background, I was choosing. Costumes were another issue (didn't realize how many things there were), but my first hero, an MA/Regen scrapper, went about and clobbered Hellions left and right!
Until I watched an Energy Blaster at work... ooh, powers-envy. =O_O=
Then I saw Energy Melee on Tankers....
Then a Force Field Defender....
Then an Illusion Controller....
Altitis was setting in. =0_o=
After Issue 2, I settled into the cat theme, which I use on almost all of my characters anymore.
Here's to many more years of fun stuff in the City of Heroes and Villains! =^_^=\/
Dungeoncleaners! (ID#125715): Slay the Adventurers! Rescue the Monsters! Return the Treasure!
Peppermint Cat-- Lv50 Mewtant Ice/Eng Bls
May 20th, 2006.
I came straight to this game from a trial version (I'd recently given up on World of Warcraft thanks to the mind-numbing repetitiveness and just outright disinteresting generic fantasy of the game ) and discovered a trial for something called City of Villians (I had no idea of City of Heroes til a little later) and was thrilled that I could custom-design this little Stalker (bad choice much?) who was my ninja and the breakout out of the Zig was inspired. This was MY story, MY adventure.
My love affair blossomed on the hero side, however. Being a fan of comics for a very long time, one of my favorite characters was and remains the Hulk. A simple way of learning the game for me was to take a SuperStrength/Invulnerability combination (I understood the principles if not the gameplay of them) and proceeded to make a homage character, but with a distinctly Australian feel, style and even backstory.
I didn't feel really that super at first....yes, I could hit with some force, and I was tough....but it REALLY clicked when I took Super Jump. And then Thunderclap. Here were visual representations of powers I'd only seen a little while ago in the Hulk movie.
And the further I went up in levels, more powers seemed to literally be unlocking his potential. Knockout Blow. Foot Stomp. And the leaps....oh my lord, the leaps. They got longer and longer. How can I describe the giddiness of having buildings or objects rush by me at ridiculous heights?
The community events also made life great, moreso than any game I've come across. The ski chalet brings out so many people! And the Valentine's Day event from this year....I really hope it inspires other couples who play this game to renew their vows online for other people to enjoy.
No other game I know of has had people who work on the game so invested that they would not only BE characters on the game, but also show something of themselves through them. That shows a love and desire to be a part of things here.
Now as my first hero approaches level 50 (I'm your poster child for casual play here), I can honestly reflect upon that as an acheivement, something that has meaning and emotion attached to it, so unlike other games I have played and am playing.
And that says so much for a game that seems to CARE so much about who plays it.
I don't think you see that nearly enough these days.
S.
Part of Sister Flame's Clickey-Clack Posse
My official start date was May 24, 2004. After trying a few other MMOs and hating them, i was a bit skeptical, yet optimistic that this would finally be one i'd actually enjoy playing.
I would have started at launch but i was still saving up for that new shiny computer to play all the latest games, specifically with COH in mind. After assembling my new toy i bought COH and found that my ancient, non open GL graphics card wasn't adequate for being a superhero. A couple of days later, after ordering an appropriate card through new egg.com i finally took my first step into Atlas City and i've been hooked ever since.
I had to take two 6 month sabbaticals so i'm only at the 39 month mark right now, but at least i convinced my Fiancee to try the game. Now she's the pro who's done and tried everything and i'm the hopeless altoholic who still has that "one more" combo i've always been wanting to try.
It's been a fun ride and I look forward to continuing untill CO steals my interest away (if it lives up to the hype and i can get over the "cartoony" graphics) or COH 2 becomes a reality. Either way, i'm grateful that someone took a chance on all the "comic" nerds out there and gave us an alternative to the endless Elves, Orcs, Dragons, and such.
Hi, my name is (insert name here) and i'm an altoholic!
Wow, I love this response, and I appreciate it!!
You know, when CoV came to life, I went in and made my villains too and that same feeling I had the first time I made a character in CoH.. in fact, my first villain was basically created as the ultimate evil alter ego of Ms. Thunderbird. Her name is Sindreama Hades, and she is hell bent (my storyline) on destroying Ms. Thunderbird. She is nearly the mirror image (evil version) of Ms. Thunderbird!
Hades is a Brute with electric aura.. seeing that red electricity shoot out around her just made my altitis even worse... I was hooked all over again with worse side effects (hehe)... and it just keeps rolling. I have tried SO HARD to force myself to keep my alts under 20 in number, but with the new issues coming.. I know I wont be able to hold myself to that personal degree... which is ok.. hehe..
My entire imagination as it comes to my long thought of hero stories is so easy to create in COH/V.. it will forever continue... I love this game FAR TOO MUCH.. hehe oh well..
May 10, 2004.
The first character that I can REMEMBER making was Greystroke... an old mafia boss who changed his ways after one of his men decided to give himself a promotion.... Somehow (I don't remember how I figured it out) Greystroke survived and obtained possession of an ancient Aztec necklace that gave him the ability to control people's thoughts and generate force fields (of course). Skin as pale as a ghost, the "Old man face" when there WAS only one old face.... but he still wore his old fedora and dark gray pinstripe suit.....
So I guess that means that a Mind/FF Controller was my first.
I remember distinctly around level 6 heading into Kings Row at night hunting for CoT on the roofs of the buildings, stalking along the back alleyways with Stealth on and feeling VERY cool as an anti-hero night stalker.
Good times.
It was a week or so before I signed up, I was visiting a friend for the weekend so we both could go shooting. He was planning on introducing me to guns and telling me everything I could learn about gun safety, care and use.
Before we left, his brother and the brother's best friend came back and loaded up a game on the brother's computer. The friend called me in to see, and he played his Invul/Mace Tanker, Techo Destructo. After watching him play for about 10 minutes, I shook my head and frowned; "I don't think I could get into a game like that." I hadn't wanted to get into the MMO genre, seeing no reason to constantly pay for a game.
After a week, I decided to try it. What the heck, $15 ain't much to lose, and I picked up a book with some cool pictures and jokes in it at least as well (Back when Prima had their not-as-horrible-as-the-ring-binder Guide to it).
I install the game, and on Feb 17, 2005 it began.
So horrible was my first character that he didn't last past lvl 21. He was an AR/Energy blaster, a normal US Soldier augmented by implants to have energy attacks and the ability to fly.
Hearing the music for the first time as I entered Atlas Park, I felt overwhelmed. I had just completed the tutorial and was glad to find my computer was better than my friend's brother's comp, so my graphic settings were higher with a greater resolution.
I also went on eBay and found the entire collection of City of Heroes comics, and bid on them right away. I anxiously waited for them all, so I could read what I had missed when my first free issue arrived.
I almost cried finding out that the 5th Column were gone in the game. The Prima Guide said they were in there, so why weren't they in there? They were in the comics too! Where were my Nazis to pummel?
I missed seeing the 5th Column in their hey-day by just a few weeks, and soon after I started playing the constant patches and updates in the gear-up for Issue4 was sending my Anti-virus software into fits. It almost made me quit.
But I stayed, and made a few new characters, most of them are still alive today on my old home server of Champion, the same server that was used by the two who introduced me to this game (those who have been deleted have been rerolled on other servers). I've since moved to Freedom, where my SG/VG are housed, and to Virtue for all my rollplaying needs (I'd have moved there first had I known it was the RP server) with other alts on Justice, Infinity and Pinnacle. Yes, altitus is alive and well in me, and I'll be buying slots on Freedom and Virtue once I have the money.
I remember hearing that hundreds of players stood at attention silently in Atlas Park when the news of Christopher Reeve's death hit, something that I missed and only got word about from Broadcast, every player there weeping inside and out over the loss. It's something I've wanted to see for a long time, if only to see what it looked like.
I still fondly and vividly remember getting into the game and getting a tell from the brother and joining his team, me being SKed and trying to shoot things before I even has DOs slotted. We fought against Sky Raiders in Indy Port, a mission of his and I marveled at what happened seeing the bubble bot being spawned, watching his toon, a blaster, run into the mob like a tanker and melting everything in sight in a couple hits. He died many times that mission, but it was no problem for him, he didn't care about debt, just going ape against the enemies and laughing like a madman while doing it. Deadman Inc, his blaster, was an inspiration to me, to have fun above all else in this game, be it RP or me, however I find it.
I was such a n00b back then. Things were slotted so wrong, powers were chosen at random, I wasted untold amounts of cash getting more TOs and DOs, then finding out Web Grenade is an 'immobilize' and not a 'hold' "Wha? Why? It holds them there to the ground!" and getting even more cash from my friend when I needed more. I'm not even sure HOW much money I wasted changing my original character's costume and making his second.
I remember when I had just gotten to Kings Row for the first time, trying to find CoTs and asked in Broadcast. "Look on the roofs at night!" was the only reply, and I looked up. . . and up. . . and up.
"Well, there's gotta be some way to get up there." I said to myself, and started jumping up the windows. "DUDE! I'm doin' it like Spiderman! " was running through my mind as I hopped my way up the building, giggling with every successful hop.
I never even saw the fire escapes on the other side.
I haven't left the game since, and my subscription has been active every month, with me faithfully waiting for the next issue, my mind thinking up new characters, new RP stories, new powers I'd like to try with each passing week.
I still weep inside for missing the chance to fight the 5th Column, and I giggled like a schoolgirl seeing them thanks to Oroboros. I still hope that they'll return in full force, an old Katana/SR Scrapper of mine would be reborn once they do. He was made specifically as a guy who wants them taken down after losing his arms to a stray grenade one fired during a battle, forcing him to get cybernetic implants. I deleted him when I found out that the 5th Column were gone completely from the game, but he's still floating in my mind, waiting for a chance to find his home on another server.
I can't see myself leaving this game, not until I get the e-mail saying "We're sorry, but City of Heroes is no more. The servers are shutting down. Thank you for staying with us as long as you did." This game got me hooked because of its player base, the costume creator, the ongoing story and ease of playing. I even got a friend overseas hooked, and she still plays it to this day. I can also proudly say my loved one has been playing too, with the both of us making duos, RPing relationships with characters, and building tight stories that expand more and more as new characters are made between us.
It's been a great time since I started playing this game, and the best is yet to come.
I sit in my zen of not being able to do anything right while simultaniously not being able to do anything wrong. Om. -CuppaJo
It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion.
So many stories.. it is so awesome to read and re-read the posts here.
How many of you just stood there and watched as the CoT did their rituals or watched the Clockwork do their tasks?
How many of you would swim through the lakes and streams to get to your destinations so you could avoid the mobs of enemies? How many of you wanted to stand on top of EVERY hero statue?
How many of you ran through the construction sites where the Arenas and the Universities would be?
Been there, done that.. and smile at the memory of it.
The Winter Lord, the Halloween specials, the appearance of all the GMs that were created for different zones.
I remember when the Hollows first opened and that I still probably havent travelled every inch of that zone.
..and of course, all the great heroes and villains with their awesome costumes and backgrounds... I wish I could meet them all...
what a ride it has been and continues to be.
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Hiya Templar. Thanks for sharing. I've been a comic book geek since I was 5. I remember my Mego action figures, playing Champions from grade school through college, and can probably rattle off animated shows from the original Super Friends to Ben 10: Alien Force that I enjoy to feed my superhero addiction.
But nothing beats being in Paragon City. I've been here since December of '05, and the wife started around three weeks after me. We supported one supergroup, founded another, and have good friends both inside and outside of the game. I think I speak for everyone when I say...
FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!
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And a great big HELLO back to ya Green Lantern 68!!
June xx 2005
. I was amazed at the colors, and sounds, and powers, and everything. I probably played until 3am that day and I made sure that I purchased the game so that when my free trial ended, I'd still be able to play without interruption.
First of all the music in Atlas still sends shivers up my spine. It's majestic, proud and definitely sounds like what a Hero should hear after, well doing heroic things!
I remember my first night, I had been playing Anarchy Online, which was my first MMO and one of the most team-unfriendly games I'd played. Came across a free 10-day trial for CoH and on that Saturday night after the wife and kids went to bed I fired it up.
Spent at least an hour in the costume creator getting the costume just right (still do that to this day, if I can actually), came out on the Guardian Server with my brand new Fire/Axe tanker. According to the instructions, Tankers had the most survivability.
I wandered around Atlas for a bit, and was invited to a team! After helping me to the mish door, the team then took the time to explain to me what to do: Stand here, hit that mob, use your axe, etc. They were VERY kind and VERY friendly AND they complemented me on my costume
Being an avid comic book reader, I've been reading them for about 42 years, and have about 1700 in my collection, this game is right up my alley.
I'm torn with the announcement of Champions Online. I will definitely check it out, but it would take an awful lot to tear me away from my Beloved CoX. I have 2 accounts presently so 1 solution might be to have 1 here and 1 there. Another possibility is that C.O. might deplete the playerbase of CoX to the point where teaming opportunities dwindle away, and THEN I might consider jumping ship.
But yeah, it's been an exciting 2 years, 11 months for me...