I have some general questions about the game.
By
Abbadon,
Posted on: 2011-03-07 08:37 in Player Questions
Welcome, you've been through a lot to get here. Solidarity!
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1. Leveling is fast. Too fast. You will breeze right past content and stories even if you solo. If you team, you might blow past huge things that you don't want to miss. You can always roll another character, or "flash back" and replay content you missed with your current character, though. So don't worry.|
Originally Posted by Abbadon
How is leveling? Is it looking for a item that drops 2% of the time of a creature that spawns always? Or is a 100% drop that gets you closer to the epic boss battle?
How is the instances or end game content? Thanks for reading and I'm sorry if this is in the wrong sub forum. |
2. There are no real "item hunts" in game, that your leveling is dependent upon. Sure, some older content may ask you to "defeat 25 guys that are wandering around near you," but that's not hard. If a missions asks you to find something, or several somethings, they are ALL in that one mission, flash, and make a loud noise so you can't miss them.
3. Instances are one of the primary features of City of Heroes--you may not realize how many people are actually playing, because they're all inside of separate instanced missions. Sure, there is some "neighborhood" stuff, but by and large you won't have any trouble finding people to play with in or out of an instanced map. Does that answer the question?
4. End game. For the past 6+ years, the end game in City of Heroes has been taking your characters through everything the game has to offer. Or rolling new characters and seeing the whole game from a separate perspective. It's a biiiig game. But if you jump in now, you can check out the first new "real" endgame City of Heroes has ever had, the Incarnate system. It's for level 50 (the maximum level) characters--and joining now means you'll be par with everyone else. There is one "level" of it out now, with another four coming within a few weeks.
Lay out some more questions. Other people will have better and different answers than I do, and you'll find that the City forums are markedly different than any others you've visited.
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.
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'Gear' (enhancements in CoH) matters very, very little. The baseline enhancement is SOs, and even the end-game content can be done on those. They can be slightly hard to afford on your first character, but they're pretty damn cheap in the larger scheme of things--after you have some idea of how the game works, it's almost trivial to keep slotted up with good ones. The higher-level enhancements, Invention Origins, are pretty much strictly a luxury item--they're nice to have, but nobody's going to kick you out of a team over not having them. Like I said, you can do all the end-game stuff on SOs that cost a pittance.
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Originally Posted by Abbadon
How is leveling? Is it looking for a item that drops 2% of the time of a creature that spawns always? Or is a 100% drop that gets you closer to the epic boss battle?
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Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
Welcome to the game.
If/when you sign up for a full account, make sure you join your server's global channels. It will let you know about events like task forces forming or people looking for teams (or for people to join teams). Also, visit your server's subforum and get to know the community! 
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First off, welcome the game. You can unpack your stuff; you'll be staying a while.|
Originally Posted by Abbadon
I just got done with DC Universe Online after going thru WOW and EvE:Online. I'm never playing WOW again because it always seems my gear-score is never high enough for someone else. EvE:Online lost its luster after I burned out hard trying to make isk to pay for my account and the amount of BS the devs let the playerbase do. DC Universe needs another 6 months at least of polishing. DC is a great game but PVP was a nightmare as it was dominated by hackers and the pve queues system is usually not working. Even with a league I asked if anyone needed a healer for instances and no one responded and when the instance poped 3 hours later 3/4 people in the group were from my league. The leveling they had was ok however to many of the boss fights required that I had another person with me. This lead to waiting for hours for a person to log on that would help me in a 150 man league. As there are a few gapes in questing at levels 17, 21 and 25 this also lead to twiddling my fingers waiting.
I'm playing thru the trial of this game right now and I am amazed at all the features. Which leads me to my questions. How is leveling? Is it looking for a item that drops 2% of the time of a creature that spawns always? Or is a 100% drop that gets you closer to the epic boss battle? How is the instances or end game content? Thanks for reading and I'm sorry if this is in the wrong sub forum. |
Second, except for rare cases, you are typically not forced to team up if you don't want to. Anyone, of any AT, should be able to solo the game. The devs have instituted a difficulty slider that increases/decreases the mob size and/or mob level differential to your liking within instanced missions. You can also choose to fight Boss level bad guys, or not.
Teaming is relatively easy. I say relatively, because some servers are more populated than others. For a new player just joining the game, I would suggest Virtue. It is one of the top two servers as far as population goes, minus the RMT and AE farm spamming that typically goes on in the Freedom server.
Leveling is extremely easy in this game. Take your time reading the mission dialogues, and learning the game at your own pace. Team every once in a while, but teaming will make you zoom past some very important content real quick. As many here will say, this game is about the journey to 50. So enjoy it.
There's alot of helpful information within these forums. It may be a bit overwhelming at first, but as you play the game, it will make sense. The playerbase is extremely friendly, so don't hesitate to post questions.
I'm sure someone will come along and discuss the Mentor Project. Take advantage of it.
There are 3 main "loot" systems in CoX:
Enhancements - These come in several flavours: Training, Dual Origin & Single Origin are the 3 core ones that drop during normal combat and can be purchased from stores. They span a 5 level range of usefulness (so a Lv20 enhancement can be used from Lv18-22) and you probably won't be able to afford full sets of them until you're Lv30+ on your first couple of characters.
Invention Salvage/Recipes - These are used to craft Invention Enhancements which are more powerful than the standard ones and come in both "Singles" and Sets. The Sets grant additional bonuses based on how many you have slotted in a single power. Again, these drop during normal combat, although some can only be obtained from running Task Forces (A series of linked missions for teams).
Both Invention stuff and Enhancements can also be traded at the Auction House.
The Incarnate stuff is rarer and only drops at Lv50+ and can't be traded.
It's more than possible to get by with just basic enhancements, but if you want to put the time/effort into IOs and Incarnate stuff then you can make your characters extremely powerful.
The other thing that's important and most other games lack is the Sidekick/Lackey and Exemplar/Malefactor systems that mean you can team with players at totally different levels without being too under or overpowered. It means that even if your friends are 20 or 30 levels above or behind you, you can still team with them.
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Neither. |
Originally Posted by Abbadon
I'm playing thru the trial of this game right now and I am amazed at all the features. Which leads me to my questions.
How is leveling? Is it looking for a item that drops 2% of the time of a creature that spawns always? Or is a 100% drop that gets you closer to the epic boss battle? |
City of Heroes is largely not a "loot" based game such as those you are accustomed to. In City of Heroes we have Enhancements, which you can read about over on Pargaon Wiki: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Enhancements
Basic Enhancements can be bought with various in-game rewards, such as Influence, Infamy, or Information: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Influence
More powerful enhancements can be purchased with Merits that are rewarded for completing story arcs, task forces, or strike forces: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Merit_Rewards
There are also Hero Merit and Villain Merit rewards that are granted for playing as a Pure Hero or Pure Villain in the Tip Missions. These "Alignment Merits" can be used to buy the most powerful enhancements in the game: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Alignment_Merit
There are also other unique in-game rewards, such as Candy Canes, Vanguard Merits, and the Halloween Salvage, that all unlock specific benefits or bonus's. Candy Canes, for example, can be used to purchase the Winter's Gift set of Travel Enhancments.
Now, the forums can be a bit misleading here. Most of the players offering or seeking build help on the forum are using highly specialized builds using Rare Invention Origin Enhancements to receive a particular series or set of buffs to their character.
The Invention System is entirely optional.
You can slot up a character with single origin enhancements and still be an effective team player.
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| How is the instances |
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| end game content? |
Case in point is Super Sidekick System. Players currently earn Experience and Inf regardless of if they are exemplared or sidekicked. So if you are a level 35 Blaster, and you head over to the Hollows to join your buddies who are only level 8... you'll still gain experience despite your lowered level.
It's only been since last year that the developers set aside resources to focus on providing what they call Incarnate Content.
Given that there are only two Incarnate Content Task Forces and one story-arc in the game (Apex TF, Tin Mage TF, and Mender Remials introduction arc), no real accurate judgment can be made on the end-game system as of right now. Issue releases 20 and 21 will be bringing more Incarnate Content to the game.
Will City of Heroes end-game be comparable to any other end-game content? Probably not.
In many games the End-Game basically means you turn around and change what you do... completely. E.G. Tabula Rasa. You played 50 levels of a squad-based PvE shooter, then at level 50 found yourself with a third-person PvP shooter. That didn't work out too well for Destination Games.
As far as we, the players know, there is no intent on the part of Paragon Studios to use Incarnate Content to make a completely different game. The intent, so far, is to make Incarnate Content... Content. Yes, it will be difficult. Yes it will require strategy and tactics. Yes you will need to be max level to run it, and have unlocked and slotted an incarnate power... but that's pretty much the extent of it.
My brain just exploded at all these amazing concepts thanks for answering my questions guys. One more question I have 460GTX running in SLI and I am able to get 15-20 FPS outside and about 50-60 inside is that normal? Also how are the servers are there any I should avoid? If I can get these ansered I'll be able to decide weather or not to shoot over to Gamestop to get this game right when they open (lol one of the benefits of being nocturnal).
You should be getting better than that - although a lot depends on the graphical detail level. I've got an 8800GT and I find that Ultra is just a tiny bit too laggy for me, but I'm not sure how the game handles SLI these days (I've only just come back to it so I'm a little behind on these things).
I presume you're playing on the US servers? In which case I'm not the guy to ask about them 
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Yes / no / not really.|
Originally Posted by Abbadon
My brain just exploded at all these amazing concepts thanks for answering my questions guys. One more question I have 460GTX running in SLI and I am able to get 15-20 FPS outside and about 50-60 inside is that normal?
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SLI support is still very early on Nvidia's part. There are a few known regressions (*cough GTX 295 cough*). You may actually get more stable performance turning off SLI for this game.
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| Also how are the servers are there any I should avoid? |
The other server is Triumph. I don't have anything good to say about that server. Out of all of the servers I've played on, I've encountered more people who have left this game... permanently... will not give CoH another chance... due to the behavior of various players associated with the Triumph Server.
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| If I can get these answered I'll be able to decide weather or not to shoot over to Gamestop to get this game right when they open (lol one of the benefits of being nocturnal). |
100% of the money from the NCSoft store goes to the developers. A larger percentage of the money from Steam goes to the developers compared to buying from a brick and mortar store.
TBH I wouldn't recommend Steam here, normally it's great, but it's not really designed to work that well with games that have their own updaters, such as CoX and I've had a couple of issues with it since I bought the Going Rogue expansion.
As you've already got the game downloaded, all you need to play "fully" is an activation code, so plaync.com is probably the way to go
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granted, I wouldn't either, but I know some players have had problems buying through NCSoft's online store that they didn't get with Steam.
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Originally Posted by The_Spad_EU
TBH I wouldn't recommend Steam here, normally it's great, but it's not really designed to work that well with games that have their own updaters, such as CoX and I've had a couple of issues with it since I bought the Going Rogue expansion.
As you've already got the game downloaded, all you need to play "fully" is an activation code, so plaync.com is probably the way to go |
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Originally Posted by je_saist
granted, I wouldn't either, but I know some players have had problems buying through NCSoft's online store that they didn't get with Steam.
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I like steam and have purchased many games from their store but for back up purposes as I wipe my computer every 6 months I'd much rather have a physical copy of the game. Even with 7mbps of bandwith steam has its shortfalls with me.
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Haha, and you're still waiting for a "stfu-gtfo noob" post, right? So what forum are you on? What ATs have you tried out? Comments, questions, complaints? |
Originally Posted by Abbadon
My brain just exploded at all these amazing concepts thanks for answering my questions guys. One more question I have 460GTX running in SLI and I am able to get 15-20 FPS outside and about 50-60 inside is that normal? Also how are the servers are there any I should avoid? If I can get these ansered I'll be able to decide weather or not to shoot over to Gamestop to get this game right when they open (lol one of the benefits of being nocturnal).
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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.
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Virtue = Official RP server|
Originally Posted by Abbadon
Also how are the servers are there any I should avoid?
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Freedom = Freedumb
Pinnacle = Official drunk server (not in a sloppy, i'magonnahitonyourgirlfriend kind of drunk. The good kind)
Triumph = my original home server - sadly it's a wasteland
Justice = Official jerk-hacking dupin server...(why are you looking at me funny? Go read the thread...really, go. NAO.)
I forget what the other servers are known for...
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.
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And here it is ladys and gentlemen, please do NOT take this post seriously at all. Freedom is an awesome server, the highest popolation server, has the most everything server minus roleplay. If you like roleplay your in luck virtue has it and it's the second highest pop. Freedom is my home lots of awesome people but I guess haters gonna hate.
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Originally Posted by je_saist
Honestly, only two. Freedom has the reputation of Freedumb. Let's just say that Freedom server is so bad, I willingly ponied up the cash to move my avatars off there when Server-transfers were first made available. Since then... it's gotten worse. Primary reason being that during one of the free-server transfers offered by the developers saw a significant number of the remaining vocal PvP players head to Freedom. The other server is Triumph. I don't have anything good to say about that server. Out of all of the servers I've played on, I've encountered more people who have left this game... permanently... will not give CoH another chance... due to the behavior of various players associated with the Triumph Server. . |
Heyas Abbadon and Welcome to the City!!
Comic and Hero/Villain Culture
Saturday January 29th, 2005 (12:37 PM) ~ Monday August 9th, 2010
Those Who Lived It Will Remember Long after your Ban Hammer Crumbles and the servers flicker dead.
We Will Remember This One Moment In Time! ~ Shadow Ravenwolf
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*shrug* Never had any problems on Triumph. The regulars on the global channels can get a little... odd... at times (They seem to make a game out of being silenced), but nothing that bad...|
Originally Posted by je_saist
The other server is Triumph. I don't have anything good to say about that server. Out of all of the servers I've played on, I've encountered more people who have left this game... permanently... will not give CoH another chance... due to the behavior of various players associated with the Triumph Server.
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As for freedom - I wouldn't say the idiot ratio is that much higher than than other servers, but it does have the highest population, and it's easier for the jerks to get lost in the crowd rather than sticking out like a sore thumb.
I only recommend against freedom and virtue because their populations are so high that during special events (2x xp weekend) they can sometimes fill to capacity, and you cant get onto your characters. But as long as you diversify and have a couple characters on a lower population server, you should be fine.
"My inner mind has become a reality-cracking overgod. He torments me! Help!"
Come to Pinnacle, and join PinnBadges as soon as you log in.
You won't regret it
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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Yeah. Uh Huh.|
Originally Posted by Lucky666
And here it is ladys and gentlemen, please do NOT take this post seriously at all. Freedom is an awesome server, the highest popolation server, has the most everything server minus roleplay. If you like roleplay your in luck virtue has it and it's the second highest pop. Freedom is my home lots of awesome people but I guess haters gonna hate.
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You have your opinion. I have mine. Is yours more valid than mine? Is mine more valid than yours?
That would really be up for Abbadon to decide for himself.
Will he encounter a Freedom server where a team broadcasting for a kinetics takes a kinetics defender, then promptly kicks the defender because they wanted a fire / kinetics controller to come and farm a map for them?
Will he encounter a Freedom server where players openly discuss how they exploited the game for rewards?
Will he encounter a Freedom server where players openly brag about how they placed the Ourobous portal at exactly the right spot to interfere with other players ability to run the ski-course during the Winter Event?
Will he encounter a Freedom server where players are invited to teams, then have trade windows suddenly opened and the team lead demanding inf before running the mission?
Will he encounter a Freedom server where Atlas Park broadcast is filled with players figuring out ways to get obscenities and profanities around the word filter?
Will he encounter a Freedom Server that ask for a Tank, gets a Fire Tank, and then kicks the Fire Tank?
Will he encounter a Freedom Server where somebody starts a Task Force, then half the team suddenly leaves... only to log back in 2 hours later expecting the TF to be nearly over so they can get the rewards for the TF?
Maybe Abbadon will, maybe Abbadon won't.
Speaking for myself and for all of the people I play with, our opinion of Freedom couldn't be lower. We believe that the server has earned the nickname of Freedumb. Most players I know have one horror story or another.
Oh... and lastly.
Freedom's no longer the most populated server. I believe official figures now place Virtue as being the most populated.
Now does raw population mean anything in this game? Again, that's up to the player whose actually playing the game. For all we know Abbadon might enjoy Guardian Server, Pinnacle, or Infinity because he'll get along with the players on those servers. Does it matter if those servers have lower total populations if a player enjoys them?
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Don't worry, I stopped taking Sai seriously a long time ago :P Long live Triumph.
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Originally Posted by Lucky666
And here it is ladys and gentlemen, please do NOT take this post seriously at all.
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<:[ shark goes nom nom nom ]:>
[QUOTE=theOcho;3409811]As to the REAL reason I'll be leaving, I'm afraid it is indeed because Tamaki Revolution dc'd on me during a RSF.[/QUOTE]
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I, personally, think people over exaggerate how good or bad a server is. I play on several servers, but I don't think I hate any of them.|
Originally Posted by Abbadon
Also how are the servers are there any I should avoid?
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Infinity:This is where I started and it tends to be populated enough. I find this server to be the most "adult" friendly server that I play on. I like it because people are respectful and there for the fun. The only downfall to Infinity that I have had is that I haven't found a global channel that helps me find a team as easily as other servers.
Freedom:I think Freedom used to be harder to like because it was so full of new players, but it is now not nearly as bad as everyone likes to think. At least you know that you can get a team on Freedom because of the high population.
Virtue:This server has the RP reputation, but I think just about anyone can jump on and be fine. The population rivals Freedom, so it's a great place to team.
Triumph: I just read the post saying how bad it is, but I don't have this problem. Getting on a TF hasn't been an issue (using Globals) and I haven't found any more jerks there than anywhere else.
Liberty: Same as Triumph, using globals I can always find a team, even though it is less populated. I find the server to have the most "dedicated" players--the ones that are on all the time and welcome anyone to their team.
Victory:This is the only server I have had much recent problems with the player base. I still play here, and it's not a big deal, but if there was a place that I didn't enjoy some of the "main" players, it would be here.
Justice and Champion: I do struggle a bit to find a team on these two, but the players are very nice.
Global Name: Denver Nugget
Playing since i3 on 8 servers
I saw a few people mention passing by content, but I did see anyone mention that you can turn off xp (sorry if I missed it). If a player is concerned that they are leveling too fast, you can go to options and turn of xp and end leveling until you are ready.
Global Name: Denver Nugget
Playing since i3 on 8 servers
Abbadon, there are no bad servers.
Only opinionated posters.
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.
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I agree with this. Regardless of the reputation some have, and contrary to what my list above sounded like, I have toons on every server and I play most of them. |
Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
Abbadon, there are no bad servers.
Only opinionated posters. |
There are no bad servers.
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.
I just got done with DC Universe Online after going thru WOW and EvE:Online. I'm never playing WOW again because it always seems my gear-score is never high enough for someone else. EvE:Online lost its luster after I burned out hard trying to make isk to pay for my account and the amount of BS the devs let the playerbase do. DC Universe needs another 6 months at least of polishing. DC is a great game but PVP was a nightmare as it was dominated by hackers and the pve queues system is usually not working. Even with a league I asked if anyone needed a healer for instances and no one responded and when the instance poped 3 hours later 3/4 people in the group were from my league. The leveling they had was ok however to many of the boss fights required that I had another person with me. This lead to waiting for hours for a person to log on that would help me in a 150 man league. As there are a few gapes in questing at levels 17, 21 and 25 this also lead to twiddling my fingers waiting.
I'm playing thru the trial of this game right now and I am amazed at all the features. Which leads me to my questions.
How is leveling? Is it looking for a item that drops 2% of the time of a creature that spawns always? Or is a 100% drop that gets you closer to the epic boss battle?
How is the instances or end game content?
Thanks for reading and I'm sorry if this is in the wrong sub forum.