Remember the old Comic Book CoH Ad?

I've been rereading old All-Star Comics, All-Star Squadron, and made my way up into the JSA series to issue 61,
Hal Jordon is the Spectre at that point and the Spirit King has come back to cause some supernatural mischief. There is a great two-page title/splash page and I turn the page to see that great two-page CoH ad!

Wow. It has been a while since I saw that thing.

I don't remember if I saw an article in Game Informer or that 2-page ad in a comic first, but I know just seeing that there was a game like this made me so excited that I had to go out and get a copy - even though I didn't have a computer with high enough specs to run it! If there was a game this cool, I was going to save up and buy a computer that could run it!
I was psyched.
Having been a long time player of Champions the RPG, I had always wanted to see a superhero "video" game that would allow me to create my own superhero creations in a "virtual reality space".

The game has evolved a lot since then.
The marketing ... well ... I haven't seen a CoH ad in a comic since way back then.

Do you remember that ad?

I guess the Idea is ::

How were you introduced to CoH?
What made you want to try it out?

It wasn't until 2008 that I had a PC with enough graphics capability to run an MMO. I discovered the genre through a F2P called Requiem, and was intrigued enough to start looking at other titles.

My only previous exposure to CoH was a half remembered snippet from a video game review tv show that ran very late at night called, I think, Bitz, which had ran a story on City when it was released. It must have made an impression, though I just remembered some stuff about superheroes and flying and alien invasions...

So I suppose I tried it because I wanted to use super powers and fly and fight alien invasions. Handily enough during my trial period a Rikti Invasion was triggered in KR, so I got that

Even during my trial period I couldn't get my head around the idea of paying for a game over and over and over again - i.e. the monthly subscription. But those two weeks were a lot of fun (and really showed me the difference between F2P and P2P MMOs) and a few weeks later I decided I really missed my trial characters and signed up (incidentally bringing the 10 day WoW trial I was on at the time to an abrupt end...)

Is this a suggestion or a question?

I was first exposed to CoH through the PvP comics by Scott Kurtz. There was one where an old lady is getting mugged by a Hellion or something and a hero runs by, she screams for help and then the hero explains that he won't help because her muggers are far too low level and he won't get XP. That one was funny. Then there was the comic where one hero runs up some stairs to a ledge while the other hero uses hover and takes a minute to get up. When I first played CoH and first got hover it was exactly like that for me. Who cared that hover was so slow, you were flying!!

Anyway, I think one good way to keep CoH in the limelight is to send tips on upcoming CoH news to various video game and MMORPG websites. For example, if you send a note saying "City of Heroes announces Issue 17 and features" and include a relavent link then there is a chance they will publish the latest CoH news on the site and increase the game's exposure. In my experience people generally talk favourably of CoH on gaming websites. This game is generally considered one of the "good" MMOs (unlike say Star trek Online.)

City of Heroes has an excellent community as evidenced by these forums, so why can't we, as a community, harness our devotion to this game by gaining it more exposure in the outside world. Personally, I think NCSoft and/or Paragon Studios has been very lax in the marketing department. The community can help make up for that shortfall.

...this would probably fit in GD better then here...you did not provide and idea or suggestion...

ORIGINALLY I was exposed to CoH through that comic ad - youare referring to the one showing statesman, sister psyche and a number of others fighting 5th column bots in the streets, yes?

I believe it was a teen titans comic or somesuch, some sort of invasion on an island kingdom of supervillains, I don't really remember it all that well. there were a lot of both heroes and villains, so it was entertaining enough. anyway, the ad really caught my eye, and I would pause over it every time I read the comic, pondering how it was the game went about creating original superheroes, wondering how much variety there was to the powers, etc.
eventually, I forgot about the ad, but somehow over a number of years, the name stuck with me, and I was reading through he PVP webcomic when I saw the short series about the game, and I got excited remembering it. I finally plugged it into google, found the home site, and in another two months I was bashing vahzilok in atlas park.


I think that something that's vital to underline in advertisements is the sheer variety of customization, and the amount of stuff to do. I think the old comercial did wellwith those final shots, showing several hundred heroes all gathered in atlas Plaza, but in future I'de reccomend using the actual graphics, perhaps an amalgamation of some large events, or even just a group photo.

(by the way, I was a bit disapointed to find that there weren't anysort of 5th column invasion evens or anything. why don't the military style goups do that? I could totally see a Nemesis invasion being done in calm, orderly ranks.)

Edit: and another thing, CONTRACT DARK RESPITE, her work goes beyond awesome and outdoes any comercial you've made yet. the voice acting in the GR trailer was... jarring, to say the least. hersuff tends to be on the subtler side. GO! make it so!

Actually, the ad you're talking about (the heroes vs the Fifth Column bots) is also available as a poster. I have it hanging on the wall of my study. Personally, though, the coolest ad I remember seeing for CoH was the one of Recluse beating the living crap out of Statesman (which I also have as a poster).

And I do think more ads - print or otherwise - would certainly not be amiss... there are certainly enough gaming related magazines on the market today (not to mention gaming websites) that a really well-designed ad could catch quite a bit of notice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evilanna City of Heroes has an excellent community as evidenced by these forums, so why can't we, as a community, harness our devotion to this game by gaining it more exposure in the outside world. Personally, I think NCSoft and/or Paragon Studios has been very lax in the marketing department. The community can help make up for that shortfall.

*busily continues planning her I-17 and GOING ROGUE trailers*

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoctorParadox Edit: and another thing, CONTRACT DARK RESPITE, her work goes beyond awesome and outdoes any comercial you've made yet. the voice acting in the GR trailer was... jarring, to say the least. hersuff tends to be on the subtler side. GO! make it so!

*grins*

There's "suggestion" and then there's "demand." Unfortunately, though, I don't think they're going to listen to this one. But thank you very much for the compliment.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite