Why do you play City of Heroes?

to kill things and take their stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eltonio This is over the top mental slavery.

While I'm not actively playing, I will always love CoH. CoH was my first MMORPG but I've tried many since.

Without question, CoH grants a player the greatest freedom in creating their characters. Virtually every other MMORPG I've played has considerable limits on your character concept as they have to match the overall lore of the game.

With CoH, you can make virtually any character and weave it into CoH lore. Robot from the future, no problem. Gladiator from the past, no problem. Emo Cat in a tu-tu...what floats your boat. Trans-dimensional winged creature with an aversion to clothing and an affinity for darkness...fits right in.

To the best of my knowledge, there isn't another MMORPG that grants this level of freedom in character creation. I suspect players in CoH have a much stronger attachment to their characters then they'll experience in any other game.

I've been playing this game for...over 3 years?

I've been around since CoV beta, dropped round i10, came back a year later, dropped again, then came back round oct. when I heard about GR.

Why? Why is DV here? this guy is insane most think, that may be true but this is why I am here...

CREATIVITY, it flows out of me like blood, it seeps into my veins and I want to bring my creations to life.

When I was a kid, I had pretty much all the He-Man figures, Thunder-Cats, and even Terminator and Aliens action figures. I used to spend hours making a world of my own of what I had, and turned my creative dreams to life.

This game is a ADHD creative madmans playground. I don't play Heroes, but my villains are wide ranged and if you saw them, you'd see how creative I can be and how glorious my alts look.

When I play I dream. When I dream I create a world of my own to which I am the master, and what alt i use is a persona of my own inner self, and how I view the world and what I want to do with it.

Only problem I have about this game is that it is an RPG and not an ActionMMO, like what I hear DCUO will be, I HATE leveling my alts, my MM has been in it's 30's for think for a month, and I just want it to hit 50 so I can create more and even give you guys my dreams within the structures of AE.

I'm a lazy-perfectionist, I am compelled to make my alts perfect like what I designed on my MIDS, so leveling and farming for my IO's takes allot of my time, and dulls me out sometimes.

But yea..

Creativity, to make my own and give it life, that's why I play, and will continue to till I deem something can further my creative means to dream.

The freedom the game allows. It is very customizable, bases, MA, and SO many character options. Obviously great for making super heroes or villains, but if you WANT the fantasy characters you have them. If you want a monk, you got it. If you want a SPACE monk, you got it. (I have one).

I also have some fantastic friends in this game, and have met some great people.

Thank you everyone for your input. The rough copy of the result of this question is this:

Current consumers of City of Heroes play the game because of the freedom in creation of the characters, the ability to casually play for as long as is desired, the stress relief the game provides without adding to the stress of everyday life, the ability to add to the game through user-created content, the fantastic community, and the simple ability to be the hero they always dreamed of being, or villain they had nightmares about.

Again, thank you! This is a lot of fun to read, and I'm interested in learning more about why we are here.

wait you forget my reason!

Pretty much all the reasons you listed Viv and Justaris said a lot of what i would say as my reasons too. But it's the community probably more than anything, the sheer choice of things to do or spend your time. I can potter around on a character, get into a major task force knee deep in enemies where you don't have time to breathe, or just chill somewhere quiet and literally toon watch and do nothing. It's being able to create and bring to life my own little characters, it's the fact it isn't majorly grind filled and i don't have to play 24/7 to keep up with everyone else. It's comfortable and habitual almost now, just being able to log in and do something even if the servers are empty at the time and relax is good. It's the MMO that stopped me being scared of MMO's. But really it's the fact mainly 99% of people, especially on victory, are golden and friendly and awesome and i miss my pals. I just love everyone i've gotten to know in my time playing in this huge, fun, exciting, crazy world. Especially when that love is sometimes the dirty, naughty kind rofl

This may be a bit much but:

I first started playing because as a kid I was always into DC comics, my older brother forbid me to collect Marvel since that was his thing. And not wanting to risk a beat down, I complied. Well I stopped collecting them once I graduated HS, but I was still an avid video game player. Years rolled by with me playing console games, you name the system and I had it. Although I loved playing RPGs such as Zelda, Phantasy Star, Persona etc I never thought of playing a MMORPG.

I can't recall whether I found out about CoH on the channel that is now called G4TV or if my younger brother told me about it from reading a Wizard magazine. Either way I figured I'd take a shot at it, pre-purchased the game and signed up for closed beta. I thought that the game was the most unique thing I have ever played, much different from the traditional console RPGs I was used to and didn't have that "medieval" feel. The first two or so years my older and youngest brothers played CoH. The older one went back to WoW, and my younger brother went back to consoles (and I took his account muahahaha); although he comes back from time to time.

Since then many of the players I originally played with have moved on. Even though I've been on that edge my self many a times, and my in-game time has dropped significantly over the past year, the main reason I stay is that the game is a nice way for me to relax after work.

You can have your say. The paper is turned in though, since it was due last night at midnight.

While the MA kinda turned me off of the game a bit, CoH is still my only MMO currently (and I have played many). There are several reasons why...most of which have alreadyt been expressed.

1. It's not yet another Fantasy MMO.

2. It's a super hero MMO that doesn't suck *cough*Champions*cough* (yes I tried it...yes the extra char customization features were nice...but...ugh...shallow, sad game overall).

3. Customization: this has become a real selling point for me, both for PC and console games. I really love all of the look and power features that CoH offers and have yet to find a game that equals it. And the choice of power set combinations? Legendary.

4. Actually...lemme change this to number 1: The Devs LISTEN to the players. Do they input every player idea into the game? No. And it wouldn't make sense to do so. What truly and utterly impesses me about this game, from day one until now, is how incredibly responsive the devs are to player feedback. NO other game matches it. At all. While they can't realistically implement every player whim, what has always impressed me about CoH is that they truly listen to player feedback and implement as much as they possibly can. Much of what is in CoH now originated from player feedback. NO other game has done that. None. That's why even tho' I can no longer play anywhere near as often as I want to, I still subscribe and support this game and company. They value what I have to say as a player and a consumer, with tangable results. This is huge! If they had a fantasy game that did this very thing, they'd conquer WoW...oh laugh if you will, but I know they would.

5> Casual player friendly. I work...a LOT. I utterly love that I can accomplish EVERYTHING that a player with lots of free time can accomplish. Maybe not anywhere near as fast, but I can still do it...and I love that. A game that doesn't punish me for having a life outside of the game...deserves my hard earned dollars.

6. Storyline....the devs have put a ton of effort into it and it shows. What I've always loved i9s how everything is worked in as part of the storyline... like how the universities were being built by the folks we had previously arrested, as community service, before that expansion came out. Most MMOs I have played just throw the expansion in and *poof* it's there, sometimes with a back story or maybe a minor event. The CoH crew is the only one who truly builds that stuff into the lore...very impessive.

7. Community...okay this seems low on my list but it's really not. I play on more than one sever and the communities on all the servers I play on are awesome. And you don't get that in other games...and I think part of it is the CoH Team itself contributing. The staff is very active in the community and I think it has a positive reflection on player behavior overall.

I've played a LOT of MMOs and have worked for one...and what makes me stay with this game overall is how much the company values it's consumer base. I've never ever seen a company that respected and valued it's customers more...and while it suffers from not being mainstream fantasy, I think the sole reason the game has been as successful as it has been is mostly because of the fact that the consumers not only feel, but know their opinion is both respected and valued.

I play for quite a few reason:

- I lets me relax from work
- Lets create Heroes & villain that I could only write about before
- The nice people on Victory (even gonna meet some of em at long last)
- The chance to actually play my creations with others.
- Spend hours trying to make the right build (Thanks for Mids) and I enjoy helping with builds

Just as a note, my project was a 65/70, so yay! Thanks so much!

Gratz!

Overall a C in the class though, which is a boo. Had the middle of the class fall apart on me due to some issues at home, so I've no one to blame but myself, but the C killed my GPA.

I have played for a while, and in the begining I continued to play because I enjoyed making new characters, and talking to people when I came on. Eventually I found out that I knew someone in real life that was playing, and played with him for a while. Later I joined an awesome SG with a great coalition of cool people and they are the reason I am still here. In the last few years we have seen people come and go, but they usually come back. I met my boyfriend in game. So I guess I would say it is a combination of the fact that I enjoy this game, and trying to improve my skills, and the people that I play with... without them It would not be the same.

I play the game because I have a need to express myself in ways that I can't in the real world. If I did, I would have been locked up a long time ago. Ha!

OK this is the thing right.

Personally IRL, I have no one in my life. I'm the next thing to an agoraphobic suicidal socialpath. this is litteral. I trust no one anymore, I have no friends or family to speak of, and every person I have ever cared about has abused that and used me to advance and then thrown me in the trash after.

I am self employed so I rarely have to leave my home. The 1 year in the past ten I was working full time out of the house was tourture, but I did it for someone else. When that reason was gone so too was I from life.

Now on to the COV game itself.

I help run a Gaming clan which used to play MANY games, but the one and only division that has survived is City of Villians.

This game runs on current and older equipment. That is a HUGE thing for all of us.

This game is fairly cheap with the monthly subscription.

This game allows us to build up super groups and form online friendships and collect goods for your teammates.

This game allows you to take out your frustrations of life and distract from your own issues.

This game creates a comminuty that you can live or die in as you wish and when the community stinks you can move on and play solo.

Put simpily its a well rounded game that works on just about anything, and you can play it however you want. If you use stratagy then you save up for the best of the best and make the ultimate build.

If your more social its all about the costume creator and your unique look.

Some people prefer making missions, and that is where AE is beautiful.

I pay my subscription till something better comes along. Thus far everything else out there is unappealing. I own STO, WOW, AION, CHAMPIONS, AND GW. the only other game I play or the MMORPG veriaty is Guild Wars. And that is only because it is free to play and always wil be. Guild wars expansions and sequels will ALWAYS and FOREVER get my first spendable dollar because of that factor alone. All the others are bookself fooder, and worse total failures as games. Champions being the WORST I have ever played of any MMORPG EVER!!! When the lifetime subscription came up I was like for what 2 months? No thnaks. A lifetime for COV would be purchased in an instant if ever offered.

COV has all the right aspects in a susseful MMORPG, save for one. It is not 1 game. Rouge fixes that major factor. Future expansions should just be new TF style missions similar to that in RWZ and Chimerora.

The only WRONG aspect that COV has atm is the economy factor on the markets going crazy because of money resellers. Market caps or ceilings SHOULD be in place, or in more reality lowered from 1billion to say 100million MAX. Even purples. Why? Because of the other half of this. Drops formulas need to be readjusted so that playing the game is not a grind for merits or tickets or whatever to get some POS random role, but to be able to play and get a reward for your effort as you used too. 1 Repect should be equal to 1 random drop as it used to be. and so on.

However I continue to play because the design content is fun, the TFs are fun to master, and I try my best to take a different path through contacts through the 30s 40s as much as possibile so each toon has some veriaty in it. But even I have to admit the 1-10 path is so much a waste of my time from boredom, I am looking forward to Rouge so I have a new way to roll a toon. Especially on Heroes side, which I dont think makes much since at all till about lev 30. Its like by the time COV came out they knew how to do missions, and how to orginize them. content from that point on works but prior does not. So Rouge will fix that aspect as well.

A lot rides on Going rouge for me to continue to pay to play. Otherwise once Guild wars 2 comes out I will devote 100% of free time into that game and gladly walk away from COV.
Rouge MUST find a way to keep friends together, must find a way to bring an influx of material to balence out the market. sorry folks no 1 item in the game should EVER be worth more then 100million. thats just insane. At least make the market depreicate or something. If a 1billion item sits on the market for 6 months it needs a discount at the sellers expense or taken out of the market pool so that it will lower to a reasonable price.

IMHO such high prices does nothing but drives people to cheat and break the ROC and EULA in the act of buying in game currency just to keep up. that is NOT a good market. Again that is MY opinion on it. I will never buy game money. I have had banned as many as possible from GW. And i do not believe in it UNLESS the publishing company themselves choose to do so and in doing so change the ROC and EULA.