Is the CoH Game Actually Good?


Aett_Thorn

 

Posted

So i bought CoH Deluxe version. The update is running now. Ive bought one month to see what it is like.

Im a real gamer and i love fantasy games because they are fun.
But is the game good?

Like the graphics, the missions, powers, the people etc?
And can you join guilds/clans? Is there such a thing?

Im sure this thread has been posted somewhere before by someone else so apologies for the spam if there has been. >.<

Thanks


 

Posted

No its terrible. We've got players who've been subscirbed for 7 years.

















In all seriousness, I enjoy it. Graphics are great in Praetoria. Powers are second to none. Great people. Super groups.

also what is 'deluxe version' ?


 

Posted

First off, welcome to the game!

As to whether or not the game is good, I certainly think so! I've been here since August 2004, and having a blast the entire time. However, it's going to be very subjective. As such, give it a try, and if you like it, stay. If you don't, find something else that you do find fun!

Yes, you can join what you would know as a guild or clan. We call them supergroups here, though, but it's mainly a semantic difference.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask here, or join the Mentor Project (found at the top of the Player Questions section here). They're a good group of people who are very interested in helping new players out.


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

No, we all hate it

Seriously, you're probably asking the wrong type of people if it's good since we're all paying to play it here pretty much.

Yes, you can join clans/guilds. They're called Super Groups in this game, but the concept is the same.

The people around here are great. There's some jerks and stuff, but most of the people you're going to meet, especially around this section of the forums, are nice and friendly (as long as you're nice and friendly to us of course).

The graphics/missions/powers question is pretty subjective and you're best off playing to see if you like it. Feel free to ask questions around here if you have anything.

http://www.paragonwiki.com is a really, really good resource for finding answers to questions on your own by the way. I'd definitely give it a look over, especially if somebody says a term you're not familiar with. You can look up pretty much anything over there and find out what it is. (NOTE: If you come across a cityofheroes.wikia.com, it is NOT paragonwiki. Do not use it, it's no longer updated. The only two URLS to access the real wiki is paragonwiki.com and wiki.cohtitan.com)


 

Posted

Been playing 79 months here so I think this is a great game. Hope you like it as much as I do.


 

Posted

Welcome to the madhouse! Get to know the Mentor Project and the Paragon Wiki - they are some of your best sources of help, suggestions, and advice. Also, join a few channels and chat with folks.

(And if you see this weird woman running around in-game shouting, "I'm filming this, everyone look cool!" in Broadcast, that's me.)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite


Dark_Respite's Farewell Video: "One Last Day"
THE COURSE OF SUPERHERO ROMANCE CONTINUES!
Book I: A Tale of Nerd Flirting! ~*~ Book II: Courtship and Crime Fighting - Chap Nine live!
MA Arcs - 3430: Hell Hath No Fury / 3515: Positron Gets Some / 6600: Dyne of the Times / 351572: For All the Wrong Reasons
378944: Too Clever by Half / 459581: Kill or Cure / 551680: Clerical Errors (NEW!)

 

Posted

Also, to the OP, if you're coming from other games, you may find yourself wondering if this game is empty. It's not, it's just deceiving. Much of this game is in Instances, and so you won't see many people at once in the wide world. Those you do see there will either be on their way to a mission, leveling up, going to contacts to get new missions, or just generally hanging out. Most of the people "doing stuff" will be in instances.

So don't let this fool you. Joining a good Super group, or even better, a global channel (check out your server's global channels in the server-specific forums below for some good ones) will let you communicate with friendly people where ever they are.


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

Like any game, this one has its strengths and weaknesses.

The Strengths:

Extremely varied powers: not only will different archetypes play completely differently, different power sets within each powers et will be a totally different play experience. To go even further, even the interaction between your primary and secondary can make the game play differently. A character with fire blast will play veeerry differently than one that uses an assault rifle, or sonic attacks.

Excellent multi-player co-op play: you won't really need any particular player on your team, but just about any new player can compliment the team in some way. Not only that, but different types of team mates change the dynamic while staying pretty darned good. (Just note: this works best when all members are comfortable/knowledgeable of what their characters are capable of.)

Fun explosions: You can make characters that are capable of crazy feats of madness, blowing up stuff, controlling it, punching it, you name it.

Excellent customization: You can make a unique, memorable character to suit a huge many concepts, thanks to the excellent character creator and power customization.

Soloability: many characters can easily solo from level one to level 50, should teaming be less your thing, or less opportune.

The weaknesses:

Old engine: this game was made a while back, so it has pretty distinct limitations. Lots of new additions, but it definitely has its quirks. Also, the game can be pretty demanding on CPU hardware.

Kill stuff: most of the game is about pounding on stuff. This is very much a combat, stat-based game.

Cliques: many players have been in the game awhile, with established social groups. As such, often times they do not associate much outside of these groups. As a newcomer, meeting people can be a trick as they are often in instanced missions, using global channels, or involved in other group events. As a newcomer, it's sometimes tough to get accepted without a track record.

Not much competitive play: this isn't big for me, but the player vs. player aspect is very small.

Graphics: the original art is quite blocky and plain. They've made a good number improvements, and the new stuff is quite good, but the old engine/models are still there.


 

Posted

ok thanks guys. You seem to have all been here ages... I'm going to suck at this game if i come across you lot, i don't want to like... die. D:

Thanks for the welcome.

But yeah, i actually cannot wait now.
And Deluxe Version, i think its the same (of course) it just comes with extra little things like a comic and free trial disk thing, that all

And Paragon wiki, I'll remember that too, thanks.

Well i can't wait to play it and i will probably see y'all out there when i get use to then controls etc. haha.

And of course ill be nice :')

Thanks again and see you around...


 

Posted

Sounds old. very old.

I'd suggest creating characters on one of the following servers although most are good;
Freedom: unofficial pvp server, all the pvpers moved here. Freedom and Virtue are the two highest population servers
Virtue: unofficial RP server
Justice/Champion/Infinity the runners up for most populated server.


 

Posted

Honest questions, "please" and "thanks" go a loooooong way in this game's community. And if you preface questions with, "hey guys, I'm new... how do I/where do I/what do I...?", generally people cheerfully help you on your way.

People make mistakes (it happens), and sometimes they're goofy ones. (Notable favorites - trying to enter the tram from the wrong side, waiting for the tram sign to change before clicking on the doors, crashing into walls, etc.)

And you will run into the occasional a**hat loudmouth schmuck. Don't let them ruin it for you. Just ignore them and carry on.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite


Dark_Respite's Farewell Video: "One Last Day"
THE COURSE OF SUPERHERO ROMANCE CONTINUES!
Book I: A Tale of Nerd Flirting! ~*~ Book II: Courtship and Crime Fighting - Chap Nine live!
MA Arcs - 3430: Hell Hath No Fury / 3515: Positron Gets Some / 6600: Dyne of the Times / 351572: For All the Wrong Reasons
378944: Too Clever by Half / 459581: Kill or Cure / 551680: Clerical Errors (NEW!)

 

Posted

AHAHAHA, those noteable favourites of yours are the kind if thing i do in real life x)

And you say its old, I can't find the date but it is telling me another 3 hours until update finished -____- which means it most likely is.

But yeah, sounds fun


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by ItsJames View Post
ok thanks guys. You seem to have all been here ages... I'm going to suck at this game if i come across you lot, i don't want to like... die. D:
The game doesn't work that way.

You only see pvp if you actually enter one of the few pvp zones.

__________________
Currently listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's Live Alive


Chief Hamster of the Fist of Justice / Shadows of Victory
Victory Server: Join Victory Forum for team forming and general game chat and IRC Chat: irc.hashmark.net #victory for offline chatting.
Rock, rock on Hamster.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Satanic_Hamster View Post
The game doesn't work that way.

You only see pvp if you actually enter one of the few pvp zones.

__________________
Currently listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's Live Alive

sorry... pvp? haha x) I will get use to these terms, eventually.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by ItsJames View Post
ok thanks guys. You seem to have all been here ages... I'm going to suck at this game if i come across you lot, i don't want to like... die. D:
Most of the folks you see in game, new or old, are going to be fine with someone new. (And vice versa.)

If you've played MMOs before, COH can be a bit of a culture shock. Other games (at least that I've played) tend to have a lot of things outdoors ("Go get 30 vials of bat snot," "Go save this person,") so you see a lot of people running around - and sitting and waiting for spawn points to reset, and complaining about campers, respawn times and the like.

Here, almost everything is instanced. There are zone events triggered by various things or on timers, as well as special events (go check out the ski slopes while they're around - head to Pocket D.) But if you have to, say, take down Terra (a later mission dealing with a group known as the Devouring Earth - check out the wiki link in the signature) you don't have to wait. You'll go to that mission, enter it via door, portal or train, and have one just for you and your team.

Now, not everything IS instanced - we'll have zombie and Rikti raids, sometimes triggered by the devs (and announced ahead of time,) sometimes triggered by players taking certain actions. Those are outdoors and shared by everyone who wants to participate. But by and large, you don't have to worry that "Bad guy 35's spawn point is being camped, I can't get my kill."

Team-wise, many other games seem stuck in the "holy trinity" - tank, healer to keep them alive, and DPS. Here, pretty much any team will work for anything (and sometimes, the "squishiest," lowest-damage ATs, when put together, can be a holy terror. And a LOT of fun.) You don't *need* a tank, or a "healer" (don't call a Defender that, they do so much more - and yes, some sets have no heal at all in them.) Just people willing to work together.

Noting your "you guys will kill me," don't worry about open-world PVP. It doesn't exist. You're not going to be playing your Controller and get skewered by a Stalker. You *can* go to one of four PVP zones (depending on level - see signature, PVEers guide to PVP) or the Arena if you want a fight. PVP's not *huge* in this game, though, and with changes made some time ago, there's a bit of a learning cliff to deal with. (Edit: seeing your later response, PVP - Player vs Player combat.)

The game's very alt-friendly (and generally encouraging.) Go ahead and fill up your slots. Don't limit yourself to one server - they've got different 'personalities' and different events, groups and the like. Check out the server section at the bottom of the forums. (Personally, I started on Pinnacle. I've got 250+ characters over two accounts, spread across all servers. But Pinnacle and Victory are my "home.")

Site to bookmark - http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Main_Page - Paragon Wiki. (You can also just go to cohtitan.com, register there, and pick up things like Mids hero designer, poke through Ouroboros portal and the like. Both are very useful sites.)


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by ItsJames View Post
sorry... pvp? haha x) I will get use to these terms, eventually.
PvP is short hand for "Player versus Player". The other game play type is called "PvE", for "Player versus Environment" (Environment, in this case, includes all programmer-created obstacles, including the non-player characters (NPCs) you'll find around the game.)

Players are often called PCs, for "Player Characters" (as opposed to non-player characters I referenced above.)


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eiko-chan View Post
PvP is short hand for "Player versus Player". The other game play type is called "PvE", for "Player versus Environment" (Environment, in this case, includes all programmer-created obstacles, including the non-player characters (NPCs) you'll find around the game.)

Players are often called PCs, for "Player Characters" (as opposed to non-player characters I referenced above.)
Oh right, thanks for the info.
I just wanna make my PC NOW!!!! but the updater is still.. updating -__-


 

Posted

Hey, welcome to the game! I earned my 81 months badge last month.


There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.

 

Posted

Other differences from other games:
- We can't take your stuff. Once you have a piece of "gear" (generally called either "Enhancements" or "Temporary powers" or "inf") on your character, there is no way for any other character to take it away from you.
- Death is easy. The penalty for dying/defeat is.... not much. If you die, you earn something called "debt", which just reduces the rate at which you earn experience for a little while. You don't lose any money or stuff, you don't have to find your old body, etc. Most of the time, the biggest inconvenice of dying is the time it takes to run back from the hopsital.


 

Posted

Once ya get it launched, have fun! Don't worry about grinding, Ive played over 6 yrs and didn 't even hit my first lvl 50 till after about 5 yrs. Lots of different power combo/toons to play with. Just have fun


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by ThugOne View Post
- Death is easy. The penalty for dying/defeat is.... not much. If you die, you earn something called "debt", which just reduces the rate at which you earn experience for a little while. You don't lose any money or stuff gear, you don't have to find your old body, etc. Most of the time, the biggest inconvenice of dying is the time it takes to run back from the hopsital.
... little more on this.

- You don't get *any* debt until level 10. Which, yes, you reach quickly. Doesn't matter if you go to, say, Crey's Folly at level 1 and run into spawns of +29 enemies to you repeatedly, you won't get debt until 10.

- If you have patrol XP (automatically built up whenever you're logged off, providing 1.5x XP for a time,) debt is taken from that first. So you may, depending on your altitis, never *see* debt for quite some time.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaos Creator View Post
also what is 'deluxe version' ?
The 'Deluxe version' was only available in Europe I believe.


Union/Defiant
@Wistaria.
@Dark Relic

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wistaria View Post
The 'Deluxe version' was only available in Europe I believe.
Steam.

__________________
Currently listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985


Chief Hamster of the Fist of Justice / Shadows of Victory
Victory Server: Join Victory Forum for team forming and general game chat and IRC Chat: irc.hashmark.net #victory for offline chatting.
Rock, rock on Hamster.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Satanic_Hamster View Post
Steam.
With a comic and a disk?


Welcome to the game, ItsJames!

If you did buy one of the old box sets, then you won't have access to the new low-level areas of the game, called Praetoria. This is available as a paid expansion, but you don't need it to check out the game -- you'll still find people in the old lower-level zones.

If you're joining the EU server lists (as I think the Deluxe version was sold in the EU) then it's probably helpful to know that Defiant and Union are the English langauge servers, while Vigilance is the French language server and Zukunft the German one.


Arc#314490: Zombie Ninja Pirates!
Defiant @Grouchybeast
Death is part of my attack chain.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by ItsJames View Post
Oh right, thanks for the info.
I just wanna make my PC NOW!!!! but the updater is still.. updating -__-
I think you'll find that making your first character takes longer than patching the game. Unlike other systems this one gives you almost all of the best costume options right off the bat. There are some good ones you can unlock, but the sheer number of options in the character generator are amazing and sometimes overwhelming.

I know most of my friends need about an hour to make a new character and they know most of the options.

In my mind here are the pros and cons:

Pros:
Very casual friendly. You can do virtually everything solo. If you miss something there is almost always a way to do it over. You can play for just 15 or 30 minutes and actually accomplish something meaningful. I love this.

You don't have to level up to play with someone who has a 7-year-old character, you can join them immediately and your level-1 character benefits from the "sidekick" system to be a bit weaker than them, but still able to tag along. Or they can "exemplar" down and join you without being totally overpowered and not having any fun.

If you want to be a pure good guy, you can. One of the things that turned me off to many fantasy games was how so many stories and settings were based on corruption and shades of grey and anti-heroes, and so on. Those can be fun. But now and again I want to be as much a pure good-guy as the modern take on superman. City of Heroes is one of the only games that really lets you.

Almost no limit to how powerful you can get. In other games, the top-end enemies need whole teams to defeat. In this one, people have solo'd almost everything. It's not for the faint of heart, it's not easy, and it takes a staggeringly expensive and specialized build. But the truth is, you can be almost unlimited in power.

Comedy mixed with drama. There is a lot of fun and light-hearted stuff in the game. But it is also mixed in with genuinely tragic stories. Some of the villain-side arcs are brutally cold hearted. Even some of the hero-side have tragic endings. But along the way there are in-jokes, fun references to comics and pop culture, as well as just plain silliness. The mix works for me. By the way, most of the NPC dialog you come across in the game was written by the developer War Witch. Credit where credit is due. =)

Great stories. I stay here for the stories. I love watching them unfold and re-experiencing them in different ways. I wish they were more choose-your-own-adventure style, but they're still great. There are a ton of threads on the "best" and "which ones should you never miss". Don't powerlevel, take the time to read mission text and clues and really talk to your contacts. The developers put a lot of effort into the story and they did a good job.

The Cons:
Repetative gameplay. Most of the missions are very simplified and similar. Go into a building, defeat (a boss or everyone), or rescue someone, or click the important object (glowie). The enemies you face, the reasons you do it, etc those change. But the base actions always come down to those three. Recently we've had some very nice changes, like interrogations. But that is new and there is not a whole lot of it yet.

Too many minions not enough supervillains. You spend a lot of time taking down the henchmen and underlings of villainous groups, gangs and other forces of evil. Even when playing a villain rather than a hero you spend more time taking down your rival villain support network. It is really easy to end up missing the climactic fights with costumed villains/hero enemies. This makes me sad. Some tips: after you pass 5th level there are "newspaper" or "radio" missions that you can do (teams often advertise for these) and every 5th mission you get to rob or protect a bank. There is always a super hero or villain in these. There are new "tip" missions you get after level 20. There is almost always a super hero or villain in these. After level 15 there are team-oriented missions called "task forces" that all but a very few have super hero/villains not just i the climactic fight, but often scattered throughout. And if you're a hero, go to the hollows and help David Wincott, then Flux the Outcast. You will get to fight a super villain named Frostfire. this is one of the most memorable missions in City of Heroes, everyone loves it. You only need to be 5th level if I recall correctly and it is really easy to get a team for this. Like I said, everyone loves it.

No Voices. Partly because it is a comic book game, and partly because of its age, there are no voices for the NPCs. The cutscenes are not high-def cinematics, they all use the in-game graphics. There are no special soundtracks or voice actors for them. You read word bubbles coming out of people's heads. There is one zone with a giant TV where you can watch the main villain Lord Recluse give a speech, and that has sound. I love that TV and the voice actor did a great job. But to my knowledge, that's the only voice acting in the game.

Repetative powers/animations. Many powers have mostly similar animations. For example, there is a slow-motion attack where you jump in the air raise both fists over your head and smash them down into the ground. This attack is used with only slightly altered glowing hands in at least 3 different powersets and I think the full number might be higher. the cool side of this is that there aren't a whole lot of powers the enemies get that you can't duplicate. There are a few, but not a whole lot.

stores, auction house, teaming window and other interactive menus not very user friendly. If you're used to a lot of the fancy side of other games menu systems, this one seems a bit lacking. For example you can earn badges that track what you have accomplished in game. Enemies you defeat major quests/missions you complete, etc. they are very confusingly sorted, have no search feature, and often you can't figure out what you need to do to finish earning the badge. As a direct example, there is one for defeating 13 specific enemy super-villains. The tracking tells you how many out of the 13 you have defeated, but not who they are or who you still need. It is very common for people to get stuck on 12 out of 13 and not know who they missed. You will eventually figure it out but they can be confusing. Feel free to ask here on the forums if anything gives you trouble.


"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.