Servers and missions

Hi All,

I'm new to CoH, joining up after finsing the usual "left click bad guy, wait while your character attacks, maybe press bandage macro" fighting of UO quite boring after a while - so I'm here to check this game out, wish me luck.

This may have been covered already, but does anybody think the way servers are apportoined does not actually help the game but instead hinder it?

I started with the trial download (Which covers the american version by the way, still haven't seen a european version) which was packed so full of americans my poor system nearly died on me if I went anywhere near atlas itself.

After being happy with the trial I purchased the game (European version) and asked 3 of my friends to consider taking a look at this game. I have since lost my character from my trial version (American) and also found that if my friends do join, I can' play with 2 of them because they are american.

Does anybody else think that maybe we dont need two English servers (Defiant is almost dead), but merge Defiant and union into one server to get the populace running smoothly then grant us access to the american servers and vice versa?

Also as a question, do we have story arcs occur in this game? That would add something different to the game for me. At the moment its just repetitive stand alone missions that sometimes same a little samey.

Aside from me having a little whinge this is actually a good game with a lot of potential, but it could be so much more.

Let me know what you think people, and happy gaming.

Stumbling into minefields here, you are. Server merges are a hellaciously touchy topic around here, if only because names are server-unique and people are rather attached to them. Server list merges (sticking the US and EU lists together) are becoming a popular idea though.

Story arcs kinda hapen by themselves if you keep doing missions from contacts. The later ones are a lot better than the early ones in most cases, since they were made when the writers/devs had more experience to draw on.

Welcome to ze game also! Almost forgot mah social graces there.

A common request to merge Union and Defiant.

Personally, since I don't tend to play on the EU servers anymore despite being a Brit, I can't say how the server population is but I've been told that peak time Union and Defiant offer the same amount of people as peak time Champion and Liberty, it's only Virtue and Freedom that are the big heavy hitters of the American servers.

I agree with merging server lists though, especially now the whole point of having a seperate EU server cluster (different to US servers maintenance times, EU located support) is completely redundant and pretty much everything is done for the convience of the bigger playerbase in the US, so I say just get it over with and merge the server lists.

You WILL get story arc missions but the starting out content in heroes is...to say the least...poor...

It consists of a lot of stand alone missions and fedexs. Once you hit level 5, head to the Hollows and that provides decent story arcs.

Once you get to 15+ Story arcs get more prevelant, the best one of that level range is two story arcs focusing on Vazhilok and ends with you fighting the head honcho himself Dr Vazhilok, it offers closure to that group and story as you move on to bigger threats.

For real story focused content, head to Faultline at level 15, it's based on the CoV model and is a self contained zone with a massive overarcing storyline.

From there, at level 20, head to Striga Isle for another zone with a main story focus behind all the missions offered.

So for decent story content and not the damn awful generic mission content of most of low level CoH it goes.

Level 5: Kings row for 3 news paper missions and a safeguard to get your jetpack temp travel power and then head to the Hollows which should see you upto level 15.

Level 15: Head to Faultline, do all the story arcs there.

Level 20-25: Head to Striga and do all the content there.

Don't forget the Arcs in Croatoa. Those are quite decent as well.

I know how you feel playing on the EU servers. I am this close to moving to the US servers myself. I second what Dr Mechano said about the need to merge the server lists. I also would not mind of merging some depopulated servers for that matter as well.

About finding great story arcs. The best arcs can be found on the red side (villains). Best part, those story arcs start at level 1. For example, when you choose Burke as contact, the next contact he got is a mad scientist who make you feel depraved and evil. We also got a radio as contact. A must!

Go to the red side, you know you want to.

Personally, I feel that having a European version of the game is a mistake in itself. I can't speak for the logistics benefits of having one, but I DO know that the localization benefits are nigh-on meaningless. All that does is split the player base.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Hi there started playing EU version 3 months ago myself, after steam essentially forced me there. Its great fun (when everyone isn't hiding in Beta).

Paragon wiki sorted out most of my questions about arcs and badges.

Things that weren't obvious:
Cape quest level 20 see city representative. Same deal with Auras later.
Ourobouros Portal is the best travel short cut in game.
Montague Castinalary arc gives you access to a zone later in game.
Glowies make a noise. Did huge facepalm when someone on team said "I hear glowies"

Biggest gripe is character slots. Starting to run out. You need those extra Union/Defiant slots. If you are better at learning languages than me then still only 2 other servers worth. I am much too old to learn French and German just for this admittedly lovely game.

Oh and if you used pay pal because you don't have a credit card forget about in game store (no more slots)

Just a idea but server mergers would not be that big of a deal IF our toons names were tied to our chat handles ( similar to CO) so duplicate names would not be a problem.

I'd like to see the US and EU server list merged.

I'd alos like the localisation ability used for the EU to be used to create an extra Spanish language server on that merged list.

The Global issue is a big deal, just look at the _NA/_EU issue on these forums and how that upset a good number of people.

Dr Mechano has some excellent suggestions.

there's also the Vazhilok plague story arc, given by Dr. Ann-Marie Engles in Skyway. It is...well...interesting. Do it, and you'll see what I mean. You might wish to team for some of the latter part of the arc, but its not required.

IMO a server list merge is outright necessary to grow the game and make the EU sub worth the money compared to the US sub.
We now have all the disadvantages of seperate lists, with none of the benefits.

Anyhoo, I agree with the notion that the EU and NA servers should not be segregated from each other. It certainly doesn't help the players.

Welcome to the forums, Lee Williams

Welcome to the game. If you are really into story arcs then you should know that you can turn xp off under the general tab in options. This allows you to avoid outleveling your contacts. Once you reach level 25 you can always use the Ouroborous portal to run some of your arcs in flashback. You should also check out Task Forces for Heroes and Strike Forces for Villains.