Tutorial for migrants from other games?
By
jwbullfrog,
Posted on: 2009-08-12 05:32 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
I know that the biggest holdover from other games is "The Trinity" and the thought that teams cannot succeed without "the proper team build." I've seen, and been a part of "broken" teams (all Defenders/all <insert At here>, ect.) that have been very successful. There really is no single AT that is wildly superior to the others in normal PvE play. Really it comes down to the skill of the actual player.
Another holdover from other games (WoW being the biggest example) is the idea of "must have the best gear to succeed." City doesn't really need that. A player slotting IO's isn't really that much more effective than a player using SO's in a PvE situation. Again, it comes down to knowing what you can do with what you have. Yes, you can gain some advantage from "teh Uber" but it's not that much.
These are just a couple of things that come to mind. Not having a lot of experience with other games, I don't thing I could write a whole guide but, amybe, we can come up with something as a group here.
Writer of In-Game fiction: Just Completed: My Summer Vacation. My older things are now being archived at Fanfiction.net http://www.fanfiction.net/~jwbullfrog until I come up with a better solution.
Guildwars is 8 skills btw 
And then you say 'why only 8'? You ever seen how many powers you effectivly use in WoW for example? I wonder if i even gonna hit 8. Guildwars remains quite unique with their skill-system, you build your character based on over 500 skills, so dynamic that each mission you can walk around with different skills. Imaging yourself a Hero, you can pick 20 powers of _all_ powers available, how long it will take you to find perfect balance? (ok, in this game the limitation actualy creates balance).
I wrote an article for a magazine years ago, mostly regarding from WoW to other games, and its kinda impossible to write a solid tutorial. Some people are mechanic freaks, numbers, stats, system, everything. Others however are purely lore people, care little for the numbers only for juice stories. Some prefer this, others prefer that, some like this, some want that. Some play pure for end-content, stuff they might not find here (in the same content).
I played alot MMO's, really alot. But in no way i can tell any player of those games how CoH is, how it works. Plain by a Q&A its way easier to explain 'in their language' how CoH works. Sometimes you just cant tell all the exact differences, specialy if its a totaly different 'theme'. (fantasy vs medival vs heroes vs ancient china).
However, you can find simularities (proper spelling?). WoW has a very steep start, just like CoH. Endurance is a huge issue, enhancements(=gear) is a issue, survivability, running around the world for quests etc. You can tell bits about expected end content.
So i think its easier/better to make 'cases'. Someone tells a story wich game he plays, what he likes and others can reply this how this is done in CoH. Personal replies to personal preferences.
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Another area where CoH is different from most games is the scaling. Most games that I have played were not solo friendly, or were only solo friendly for certain classes. You could maybe take one enemy by yourself, but if you got adds, you were in trouble.
I was playing Everquest when I started this game. In that game, very few classes could solo an enemy that was worth much exp at all, and they had to use such tactics as kiting, fear kiting, and charming pets. For a straight up fight, you had to either solo greens or get a team.
I was a bit concerned the first time I attacked two Hellions attempting a mugging in Atlas Park.
The ability to handle larger groups of enemies is one of the reasons why I love CoH. You really feel heroic (or villainous) when you take down hordes of enemies.
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.