Giving This A Peek


Aett_Thorn

 

Posted

Hey everyone!

I am a long time WoWer since beta who hung it it up in December of last year, and looking for something a bit more lighthearted and casual. I've always been a huge fan of the superhero genre, and decided to snag the trial, and hopefully, full versions of CoH/CoV.

As a PST player, which server would be the best for me to find folks active in the evening hours during the week? I tried browsing some of the server forums for more detailed information, but couldn't manage to unearth any.


 

Posted

Well, the American servers aren't really split up into time zones. Yes, some are physically located on the east and west coast (Virginia and California, respectively). However, that doesn't really impact the populations on them at all.

Your best bet is to find a server that suits your needs. Do you like PvP? Roleplaying? Drinking while playing? Do you like more populated servers or less?

Just so you know, the servers in the server list are in an order. It goes as follows:

Last server visited
Least busy server
...
...
...
...
Most busy server


Now, population is one of the larger factors in how busy the server is, but we've been told by the Devs that a handful of players doing the wrong thing at the same time could make any server appear to be the busiest, so take that as you will. The two most populous servers are Freedom and Virtue, but the others are still fine.


Whatever server you choose, I would advise you to head down into that Server's forum, and ask what global channels a new player should use on that channel. Standing around stating that you're looking for a team isn't the best way to get teams. Global channels tend to be a lot better.


Welcome to the game and to the forums! Don't be afraid to ask questions!



Edit -> Also, I forgot about this. Check out this thread: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=212083

It's got a lot of hopefully useful information for new players looking to get started in the game.


Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus

 

Posted

Welcome from a fellow CoH noob. I just came here after playing LOTRO for 2+ years. A very good friend of mine recommended CoH and I am completely amazed--it's an incredibly deep game with tons to do and from a new player's perspective seems to have infinite character development options.

I don't know about other servers, but I've been on Freedom and it seems to be pretty busy, especially evenings like 7pm-midnight EST (I don't know if it slows down after midnight EST, it's just that's when I've been logging so I don't know either way). There seem to be a lot of groups forming and stuff going on there.


 

Posted

Best advice I can give you is try and remember that unlike Wow this game is more about the trip to the lvl cap then a race to it. There is a Huge amount of stuff to do all the way up and some great story lines to experience.

as every one has said,
Freedom - is the high pop server you will find pug (pick up group) teams here the easiest.

Virtue - Is the RP hot zone if you want to really pretend your in paragon this is the server for you, its also the second most pop'ed so teams are easy to come by.

Some find this game a bit odd compared other MMO's since its HIGHLY instanced. meaning most players will be on a mish map and not out in the world wee they are easily seen, this gives the impression sometimes that an area is deserted when in truth there may be half a dozen teams running about.

Anyhow Welcome to the City of "X" Good Luck & Have Fun :P


There is but one truth. Time is limited. ndnw its over

 

Posted

Thanks for all of the great information. One of the things that drew me to CoH is that it is more about the journey to cap, and not a race there so that I can begin end game stuff.

I'll probably check out Freedom, as it's got the highest population. Though, I'll definitely check out the various server boards to ask about other PST players. Once I decide, I'll be sure to let everyone here know!

Thanks again.


 

Posted

One cool thing is you don't have to be limited to one server- prior to the last big update, we had no ability to "mail" anything - now we can mail things to ourselves, cross server even, just not cross-faction, which helps negate the "new server pain".

Also, groups like Repeat Offenders (www.repeat-offenders.net) exist on several servers. To keep together, groups like that have a global (aka cross-server) channel.

Also, the main go-to info source for this game is www.paragonwiki.com

And the in-game help channel is talked in via /hc

Welcome.


Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net

Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrumtrelescent View Post
Welcome from a fellow CoH noob. I just came here after playing LOTRO for 2+ years. A very good friend of mine recommended CoH and I am completely amazed--it's an incredibly deep game with tons to do and from a new player's perspective seems to have infinite character development options.
Trust me, that doesn't change as time goes on. There's always more to see/do!!




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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrumtrelescent View Post
Welcome from a fellow CoH noob. I just came here after playing LOTRO for 2+ years. A very good friend of mine recommended CoH and I am completely amazed--it's an incredibly deep game with tons to do and from a new player's perspective seems to have infinite character development options.
I agree with this 100%. I've been playing 2 and a half years, so I'm not exactly new, but by no means an 'old-timer'. Currently I have 65 characters on my "somewhat active" roster. Some more active than others, of course. Ten of those are level 50, six are level 10 or below, and overall they have an average level of 26. That's playing fairly casually, mind you, mostly on weekends with some friends.

Despite all the different combinations I've tried, I'm still coming up with new ideas, and there are some themes I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of. I have a friend who has well over a hundred characters, and still hasn't tried everything.

Quote:
Originally Posted by optigray View Post
I'll probably check out Freedom, as it's got the highest population. Though, I'll definitely check out the various server boards to ask about other PST players. Once I decide, I'll be sure to let everyone here know!
I tend to prefer lower population servers, but if you like seeing lots of people running around outside (and spamming broadcast channels ), Freedom is the place to be. Virtue is close in population, and may even surpass Freedom some days.

Whichever server you pick, keep in mind that CoH is a heavily instanced game, so if people are on missions you may never see them. Find out what global channels are active on your server and join them -- that seems to be a good way to keep up with who's doing what.


 

Posted

People have mentioned the "You don't find groups the same way in this game that you do in WoW" thing, so I'm going to mention the other thing that WoW'ers seem to get caught by.

There is no "holy trinity", no "If you play this, you get no teams ever* " class, no One Right Way. Eight defenders is a steamroller team; tank, three blasters, two scrappers, two defenders is a steamroller team; six blasters, a Force Fields defender and ANY OTHER CHARACTER is a steamroller team.

More importantly, healing is not king. This is a game where one player [a Force Field Defender, L17 or higher, in this case] can make everyone else on the team around 10 times tougher. That's the "heal-equivalent" of healing people for 10x their hit points, every fight. And they can do that in 25% of their playtime, leaving the rest open for hobbies.

And Force Field defenders are not the most powerful support character out there. I just picked 'em because they do one thing, which is very easy to explain. There are support characters that add 30% to everyone's damage, that cut incoming damage by half or more, that give the whole team stealth- and that's only one character, using only one of their two powersets.

"Pulling" is often used to refer to bringing groups of ten.

*OK, maybe stalkers don't get teams.


Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.

So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.

 

Posted

Welcome to CoH! You don't have to pick just one server. My main server is Guardian, since that's where a lot of folks I know are. Guardian has a fairly silly bunch of people who love to share virtual cookies and bacon (long story). However, I have a bunch of characters on Pinnacle (known as the "drunk" server) and mostly villains on Infinity. I have a few on Freedom for when I feel like taking my chances with a Pick-up Group and some on Protector and several other servers.


LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control

 

Posted

Indeed, I never pointed out anything wrong with your previous post that included a well-spelled "lolcoh".


Paragon Wiki: http://www.paragonwiki.com
City Info Terminal: http://cit.cohtitan.com
Mids Hero Designer: http://www.cohplanner.com
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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by optigray View Post
Thanks for all of the great information. One of the things that drew me to CoH is that it is more about the journey to cap, and not a race there so that I can begin end game stuff.

I'll probably check out Freedom, as it's got the highest population. Though, I'll definitely check out the various server boards to ask about other PST players. Once I decide, I'll be sure to let everyone here know!

Thanks again.
Champion is a great server. It's low-medium population, there are a number of friendly players and it has an awesome community. This is my main server. We have our fair share of loldrama, but it keeps it interesting. There seems to be a nice mix of both PST-based and EST-based players.

I'm a casual player myself, and often duo with my wife (another casual player), but we'd love you to join us, if you'd like. Look me up in-game (@Bramphousian is my global), and I'd be happy to give you some tips, or team if I'm available.




Thank you, Champion.

 

Posted

Wow! Look at all of the great responses! What a great community this is; very willing to help out. That's great, and certainly sets an impression.

After giving it much thought, I'm going to try and make toons on several different servers. This afternoon, I went ahead and drew up characters that I'd be interested in playing, so we'll see how the game play fares.

Thanks as well for the kind PMs, I'll certainly be checking things out, and reaching out to people, moving forward.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by optigray View Post
Wow! Look at all of the great responses! What a great community this is; very willing to help out. That's great, and certainly sets an impression.

After giving it much thought, I'm going to try and make toons on several different servers. This afternoon, I went ahead and drew up characters that I'd be interested in playing, so we'll see how the game play fares.

Thanks as well for the kind PMs, I'll certainly be checking things out, and reaching out to people, moving forward.

Hello, and welcome to the best MMO on the market

I'm sure you'll find that the community here (for the most part) is the most welcoming, friendly and helpful one around. This was my first MMO and I've been here for about 3 years. I've tried WoW and some others during that time, but this one just keeps me coming back, it's a great game and I hope you find it as fun and enjoyable as the rest of us have! If you ever wanna team or need help with anything there are plenty of us ready and willing to offer what assistance we can.

I'm on eastern time, but I'd be on during PST evening time, I'm sure. I also have alts on every server, so shoot me a PM if you'd like to hook up some time.


 

Posted

Chiming in with my welcome - also to ask, what's "PST player" mean? Haven't heard the expression before.

{also come to Virtue - we have cookies. And catgirls. Also Cape Radio.}


 

Posted

Pacific Standard Time - which is currently in PDT - Player. So west coast USA.


Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net

Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.

 

Posted

While I respect the opinions of the people from low population servers, as I did get my first and only 50 on Liberty, if you're doing our lame and limited trial, get on Freedom.

I don't suggest Virtue at first, as you'll think we're all insane with the Role Players [in caps for emphasis of their insanity.] Or, just for fun, go to Pocket-D, the blue side lounge, at night and see the embarrasment. No real offense to you RPers, but omgwtflol.

Our crappy trial keeps you under level 15. I can get to 15 in a few hours [Sewer, then Radio in SC]. You also can only have 50k of influcence [money]. You can buy exactly squat with that.

Please don't judge Freedom by Atlas Park. Please. Pleeeez. Also, a tip, if you put in your search text that you're on trial and can't do PMs, people will blind invite you more. I normally frown, and don't take, blind invites, but as a trial, you have to, which is also sad.

The game is great and even moreso if you have a great graphics card. Watch for zone alerts and find some giant monsters or a Rikti Invasion. It's the only way you'll face the Rikti when on a Trial. And they're my favorite enemy faction. Well, I do like council because they're so easy to pummel to mush.

OH, and not going into detail, one thing you can buy with 10k is a Raptor Pack in Fire Base Zulu. Get there from Atlas via the Vantguard buliding. Use your maps and you'll have no problem finding the guy. [stay on the centerline of the road in Perigrine Island or you'll die very quick.] Raptor Pack = Flight at level 1 if you had the cash [which you can get by selling the isnprirations you got in Outbreak. Right now the heal is going for 111k, which you can't actually hold...hmm.]

I'd tell you to check the global channels or pm me and I'd give you a tour [but I got a task force scheduled for tonight], but you can't pm. I tell ya, we have the lamest trial, and for such a cool game.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fulmens View Post
There is no "holy trinity", no "If you play this, you get no teams ever* " class, no One Right Way. Eight defenders is a steamroller team; tank, three blasters, two scrappers, two defenders is a steamroller team; six blasters, a Force Fields defender and ANY OTHER CHARACTER is a steamroller team.

...

*OK, maybe stalkers don't get teams.
Even petless Masterminds and poolboys can get on teams.
(And Stalkers stopped slowing steamroller teams down ages ago. On a big team, Stalkers get crits like Scrappers, plus the best invisibility* in the game, plus Assassin Strike)

* Technically Illusion Control's Superior Invisibility is better than anything a Stalker can get, but Controllers can't take advantage of that fact

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fulmens View Post
"Pulling" is often used to refer to bringing groups of ten.
Only ten? You slacker


http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt

 

Posted

Alright, so after playing fairly extensively the last two evenings home from work, I went ahead and upgraded my account. What a fun game!

I have 4 characters on the Virtue server, and my global is @Nitronus. Feel free to drop me a line! I got my sister trying the game out via the trial, which I agree is very limited in scope when compared to the official game, but we should have a server picked out soon enough.

Thanks for all the kind words and help!


 

Posted

Glad you decided to stick around Enjoy the weekend.


Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net

Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.