Appreciating the open city from a roof-runner's perspective

Hello all!

Instead of my usual commentary on what I think the game should be like in 2010 or wondering what kind of video card I should buy for Ultra Mode, I thought I'd mention something I've come to appreciate a lot more in this game, and the very thing that tends to almost be neglected in a very ironic sense.

And that is the City of Heroes (and Villains) itself(selves).

Now, like most people I made my character, had fun with powers and probably like most people again I took my travel power of choice at level 15 and skipped all over the place from mission to mission. And when Ouroboros and the Pocket D VIP power came along, I had suddenly convenient shortcuts to the zones I needed to get to (and sometimes in a hurry if I was teamed up).

But then late last year I decided (as a Virtue player and roleplayer) to create a themed character that was Golden Age of comics inspired. So I made Green Taipan, an Australian superhero whose sole visible power were a pair of fighting 'claws' that looked like green blades.

And no ability to fly, teleport, leap or run without some sort of technological aid.

Now, this is a deliberate choice on my part. The Natural Booster was out, and the Ninja Run's animations and better-than-average travel speed suited the concept perfectly. Had I gimped myself? I'd never really taken a character this way before.

So I got out into Atlas Park and tried it out. And to my absolutely pleased and genuine surprise, it was great. Instead of aiming my flying character at a zoning point and pressing 'R' for auto-run, I had to make conscious decisions about where I was running and how I was getting there. Walls were obstacles, fire escapes were my friend. If I was totally and utterly stuck, I could rely on a Raptor Pack or one of the temp jetpacks you can buy (which has a great steampunk/golden age feel to it, I might add) to get me somewhere where Ninja Run couldn't.

And the city really came alive for me in a way I hadn't appreciated before. Past a certain point, I was running through the city to keep with the theme and wasn't doing it in a self-preservation kind of way as I had done in my earlier levels. Atlas Park had roaming gangs hiding out in its industrial areas, or behind the Architect Entertainment building. Kings Row was a hotbed of clandestine activity and there was a surprise at every turn of a fire escape.

And Steel Canyon was a revelation, with ledges and spots to bounce off continually.

I realised that in a sense, even though it works to COH's advantage to have instanced mission maps, we're missing out on the city somewhat. A case in point is Founders Falls, which is almost Venetian in design, with bridges and canals and tunnels and tightly-packed buildings, but noone goes there. For a character with no significant travel power, Ninja Run was made for this area. Scooting in and out of the tunnels particularly and sometimes finding things I hadn't seen or completely forgotten about as I flew, jumped, ran or teleported past them.

I should point out I'm not advocating an open world style of game here, ala Champions Online. And the major reasons I say that is that the griefing and the queueing that goes on in an open-world style of game not only breaks your immersion in the world, it's also time-consuming and in some ways discourages cooperation, at least in my personal opinion.

But.

I would hope that in some way that City Of...encourages people to be a city, and not just an urban landscape we pass through on the way to the next mission. Going Rogue's Praetoria City sounds very promising with no War Walls, underground sewer systems (that might be connected in a more logical fashion than Paragon City's) and open spaces to roam through.

But I also hope it's not just a tourist attraction. Champions Online I thought fell down in the sense that there was too much happening in their streets, sometimes literally just across the street from one event to another. Their buildings might have people who could be rescued from them or be more enterable, but it also felt like they weren't being used. Everyone was out on the streets being a criminal or being harassed by one.

I want to be out in Paragon City, hunting the rooftops for where the Circle of Thorns cabal is conducting their terrible scheme, and not just in some warehouse I know where exactly it is. If that's the case, why not just send some Longbow/cops/other NPC organisation in?

I hope other people feel similarly inspired to rejoin their city and not just pass overhead or through it without seeing what's there on offer. And I also hope that any redname reading this takes a moment to think about this and decides that not all crime happens indoors.


S.

I did this same thing with my MA/SR scrapper. Quickness + Sprint + Swift + Hurdle = travel power. I can move pretty quickly, use the Jump Jet or Raptor Pack for a second or two to go over obstacles, and I'm almost never the last to the mission. I made it to 50 and still have over an hour left on each of the Raptor and 0-G packs.

One thing that CO did that I would like to see in CoH is having civilians run up to you on the street and offer a mission, such as , "I just saw some guys robbing that jewelry store. Can you help?" I though it was a great mix of open-world and instanced. It provides an interesting departure from street sweeping while not being an open-world mission where you have to compete with other players to complete the mission.

I've always felt that way about the city maps, especially redside. From time to time I like to steetsweep just to take a look around. Considering the "more debt if you die outside" thing though, it's hard to get many people to spend much time doing that, maybe they should rescind it.

Without advocating for any particular changes in this direction (Which, I don't really think was the point of the OP, just saying) I made a character over a year ago with no true travel power and love it as well. An Archery/Dev Blaster (So, no SR Quickness). I love it. Honestly, I never really feel too slow (Even when teamed and heading to missions. Occasionally, Recall Friend form someone who knows my character's slower travel works out great).

Anyway, yeah... There is a great thrill and enjoyment for some of us to be had in keeping and maintaining that element of figuring out paths through the city and the physical obstacles, enemy encounters, interesting scenery that you experience when in the thick of things and not blazing by it all.

Some people may not find that fun, but, definitely, some of us do, very much so.

I would love to see some more dynamic content that can be had outdoors, no doubt (As I think the Devs would also like to be able to provide it).
Nothing to force people out of indoor missions and onto the streets... Just more options.

Think about the side missions from the Safeguard and Mayhem missions. Those actually have a bit of that feel.

Remember, the contacts do give you the options for simply taking out x number of such and such enemies.
Take those missions... prowl the streets and roof tops. It is definitely a blast and you can really feel more like a part of the city, you are right.

Ninja Run, honestly, is pretty damn fast, hehe. Try it without that even

I remember, back in the day... We only had walk... No wait... we didn't have walk... Ah, never mind... Everything was uphill though!

I have this quite often, I use NR + 3 slotted Hurdle as my primary travel power on a lot of characters now. It's not far off the jump speed cap, and only takes up one power (that is a prerequisite to Stamina anyway).

The only time I don't is when it's extremely inappropriate build wise or theme wise.

I have a scrapper from back a couple years ago that has never had a travel power. He uses swift and hurdle to get around. I only added one slot to each and when I toggle on sprint he is very fast. Another benefit is that he is that fast in missions also.

Also, since Ninja Run has been available I have started completely skipping travel powers. I find it plenty fast enough with either hurdle or swift.

Yeah, Ninja Run sure has been nice - I sure hate that gawdawful running animation, but the jumping is awesome. Hoping those 'stances' they're talking about for I17 gives some alternatives when using Ninga Run *hopes hard*

As for running around the city - yeah that's fun. I like trying to bound the rooftops when Ninja Running

If you can find and are willing to pay for it, the CoH Collector's Edition has the prestige sprint, Slide, which overrides the run style of Ninja Run.

I love Ninja Run. Most of my new characters don't even get travel powers anymore and some of my older characters have even respec'd out of their travel powers.

This is the one thing I always mention as one of the positives about City of Heroes. You can really explore the entire city from the deepest nooks in Skyway City almost to the tallest towers. I like just setting out to explore the city every once in a while leaping from rooftop to rooftop or just running through the streets.

One thing I'd love to see is more life and more stuff in the city so that it is a more interesting places. Having random buildings you could enter for special missions or just to look around the building would be cool. I'd like to be able to sit in the coffee shop in Faultline or some of the buildings in Founder's Falls.

Most of my characters eschew travel powers, unless concept absolutely demands one. I don't even care much for the Liefield "Spine? What spine?" look that I get from Ninja Run, though I'll use it if I'm feeling particularly anxious to get to a destination.

Three slots in Hurdle, default Combat Jumping, a few +Movement/Jump bonuses from IO sets and I'm a happy bunny. Been in love with Hurdle + CJ travel since I5 and it's still one of the main reasons I keep playing this game.

Ah the joys on no travel power. My Ill/TA has only sprint + swift + hurdle + CJ + Superior Invis. The most fun I ever had was hunting for the Lost defeat badge in Terra Volta. It was quite an adventure getting back out of that damnable trench where they hide out but it was pretty darn cool getting there.

Another bonus besides the geometry is the NPC dialogue, with my invis up I can get nice and close and listen in on some of the priceless comments. You could almost make a drinking game out of it... take a shot every time you read a movie quote. WARNING: unless you want to die of alcohol poisoning don't do this around the Sky Raiders in Terra Volta .

*Deleted because the forums choked on my first post*

Sounds like I should get the Martial Arts pack.

Even just using Super Jump gives you a new appreciation for the scenery, or hitting doors on Halloween and just street sweeping. Reminds me of GTA.

Hey, remember that not taking a travel power frees you up at least one power. Although some are good for IO sets if you have cash.

I have a number of toons that tend to use the NR+Sprint combo partially because it worked with their theme:

Cherry and Lemon: My two combat Maids (DB/SR Scrapper and WP/WM Tanker)
Monkey-Suit: He's a monkey. 'Nuff said.
Silent Blossom, Raiiki, and (Ninja MM whose name escapes me): Ninjas. Also nuff said.

I have a few others I can't quite recall. But usually, I look to the theme and see if a travel power or NR fits better (Like my Inv/SS Tanker Bruno Mishka. A hulk of a guy who SL seemed to fit)

And I have to agree with the original post. There's something to be said about the enjoyment of going superhero parkour with NR+sprint (Tending to take both fitness tree powers as well).

Nearly all my characters (as in, all but 1) take Fly as their travel power, but I still fly at times at street level or just above and navigate around the buildings. I'd like to see more outdoor activities as well. I hunt for the defeat badges a lot, but once gotten then to keep hunting for that target has lost its appeal. I'd like to see some other small goals for my characters to achieve, besides gaining in strength (i.e., levels and powers).

I have fly and ss, but I still like to just wander around and look at things - especially now that we've gotten walk - you can like just take a stroll from one end of Steel Canyon to the other