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Presumably non-players, ex-players with a bone to pick, etc. On the other hand, one would expect current players to tell you that it's not dead. |
Originally Posted by Dantia
but everyone keeps telling us that no one plays anymore and that the servers are all but dead.
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| Is it still hopping? |
Is it more active than it has been in a while? Yes.
They keep coming out with new stuff to retain interest and get new players. Also, there are changes coming up that I think will significantly increase the population. This would also appear to be the opinion of the developers as they ran a server load test not too long ago - getting as many people as possible logged into one server to test performance. (As I recall, they got over 4,000 people logged into one server simultaneously.)
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| Is getting the game now a good investment or will we be looking at a waste of money in a few months? |
However, will YOU personally like the game? That's a tough one. We get lots of people who try this game and don't like it because it doesn't follow a lot of the standard patterns of other MMO's. On the other hand, we get a lot of people who *DO* like it - for exactly the same reason. Only time will tell.
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Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
Also, check out the Mentor project, located at the top of the Player Questions forum. Lots of people willing to help out new players there.
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Link to the Mentor Project post is in my sig.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
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This is one of the major reasons that I've stayed here since '05. I've played other MMOs and none of them have nearly as wonderful a community as CoH.|
Originally Posted by Dantia
Mostly because of how nice everyone was here. It's not often in an MMO community where you can actually ask questions and get help without being smacked over the head with some sort of "thou-shalt-not-be-a-newb" stick.
So thanks again and I'll definitely be back with more questions after I can stop playing for longer than five minutes.=) |
And come back with your questions any time, someone will always be here to help.
@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters
Not much to add to the excellent advice Aett and others have given, but I did want to say welcome to the game and the forum, to both you and your husband! 
Leader of Legion of Valor/Fallen Legion (Victory server)
http://legionofvalor.guildportal.com / http://fallenlegion.guildportal.com
StainedGlassScarlet - L50 Spines/Inv Scrapper | Badges: 1,396
Avatar detail taken from full-size piece by Douglas Shuler here
Welcome to the game!!
Not only do we have a great community here but we've also got great player created resources such as;
paragonwiki.com Your one stop place for instant answers.
as well as a wonderful program that lets you plan out builds while offline.
Mid's Hero Builder
Maestro Mavius - Infinity
Capt. Biohazrd - PCSAR
Talsor Tech - Talsorian Guard
Keep Calm & Chive On!
Anyone mention the "N P C" global channel yet? I believe the command is /chanjoin N P C
[spaces are necessary.] Place for new players to get help and support from more experienced players.
My wife and I have been playing since mid-2004, so we may not be good references for how easy it is to learn and find teams and make new friends in the game, but I think it's a pretty good environment. Don't be shy with /friend [lets your specific character keep track of other people's specific characters] and /gfriend [lets your account keep track of other people's accounts; other people can choose to not accept /gfriend invites, but don't take it personally. There's a limit on the size of the list.]
I ask only one thing: Do not judge us by Atlas Park on Freedom Server. Don't go there and if you do, run away as soon as possible. As I understand it, it's relatively mild by MMO standards but it's still got a lot of bad lessons to teach.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
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Its worth a sub. As for as the server being dead issue that varies by server. The best way to avoid this is to pick the more populated ones from the start, just not the highest populated ones as those tend to have the more crazy players. The servers are sorted by population for least to greatest upon log in at that point in time after the top server the in the listing. In other words pick servers near the bottom that arent freedom or virtue and you will be fine.
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Originally Posted by Dantia
My friends and I were thinking about starting into this game because of the deal on steam, but everyone keeps telling us that no one plays anymore and that the servers are all but dead. Now I don't just believe what 'everyone says' so I thought I'd come here to ask about the general level of activity. Is it still hopping? Is getting the game now a good investment or will we be looking at a waste of money in a few months? What are the best servers to play on? and basically anything that you guys think could help us out.
Thanks in advance, Dantia |
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
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Let me emphasize this, I don't think I've EVER heard this kind of thing on these forums, and even if it did happen the rest of the population would bend over backwards to make it up to you. The players here, and especially the forum goers tend to be intelligent, educated and mature adults. Most of us are in our mid 20's to mid 50's and the younger kids who play (ok, I guess I'm one of the... ah, experienced players in that I remember when Dad brought home the brand new Pong game... that actually plugged into your TV!|
Originally Posted by Dantia
Thanks for all the input! =) I've (well we really, 'cause I dl'ed the trial to both my computer and my husbands.) actually been making a character for awhile and played through the tutorial. There does seem to be plenty of people around, but not too many so that the gameplay is clogged. I think we are going to take the special offer on steam. Mostly because of how nice everyone was here. It's not often in an MMO community where you can actually ask questions and get help without being smacked over the head with some sort of "thou-shalt-not-be-a-newb" stick.
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) tend to be quite mature and good players. It's the community here that keeps me playing for going on 7 years now. Everyone was a new player at one time; that's unavoidable. And nearly every one of us ran across someone in the game who helped us learn our way around. Because of this we're pretty big on paying it forward by helping new players.In game you will run into the occasional jerk but they're few and far between on most of the servers. The majority of players will be more than happy to welcome you to the game and show you the ropes.
There's several things that you may find strange if you're used to other MMO's; for one there is no dedicated "healer" class... and in fact pure heals are much less valuable than the buffs and debuffs that our support characters have. Those buffs and debuffs are far more powerful than in most games. As a for instance, you can have one character who can heal 1/4 of a character's hit points or another who can make 19 out of 20 enemy attacks completely miss. Which of those is the more valuable?
Another difference is that there's no "holy trinity" of tank/DPS/healing, virtually any combination of characters can succeed in the game quite nicely. Yes, some combinations are better than others but nearly anything will work, and many will work much better than the traditional holy trinity. A team of all controllers? It can absolutely destroy the game between the control, stacking buffs and debuffs and damage. Oh, did I forget to mention that not only are buffs and debuffs very powerful but they can stack from multiple characters to absolutely massive levels.
Welcome to the game, and I hope you enjoy your stay as much as I've enjoyed mine.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
The community is a major draw and one of the reasons I have been playing this game as long as I have (over 7 years now). Not only is the overall community generally a civil and welcoming one, but the individual servers each have their own community, core group of very active players, and slightly different flavor or 'culture' if you will, so after wandering a bit it's likely you will run across a group that you click with in some way. That or you may end up like me and wander all over the place with your fingers in a bit of every pie.
As others have mentioned, the game is heavily instanced, which means that once you get beyond the tutorial and early game practically everyone is in missions and you don't see many people overland, which can create the false impression of an empty game. What's more, as players level up they gain fast-travel powers and access to various teleport mechanics which further shortens the travel time between instances, which means you see even less of them.
For this reason, you will likely want to look into global channels for the server or servers you end up settling on as these can be seen by players in missions, unlike the broadcast (shout) channel which only reaches players in the same instance as yourself. More often than not when players complain that the game is dead or that they can't find people, it is because they are trying to use an open-world approach in a heavily instanced game. That, or they're jerks and word has got around about 'em.
Welcome, and enjoy the game.
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
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CRAZY?! That's completely fish!!|
Originally Posted by EvilRyu
The best way to avoid this is to pick the more populated ones from the start, just not the highest populated ones as those tend to have the more crazy players.
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{also, welcome to CoH, the game and forums alike}
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Sort of. The N P C channel is part of the Mentor Project, which was mentioned at least twice. (Link in my sig....)|
Originally Posted by Fulmens
Anyone mention the "N P C" global channel yet? I believe the command is /chanjoin N P C
[spaces are necessary.] Place for new players to get help and support from more experienced players. |
Also, when you are using a chat line command that includes a channel name with spaces in it, I believe you need to enclose it in quotes, i.e. /chanjoin "n p c"
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
I play characters on each of the NA servers (though I think of Virtue as home). Even with a small global friends list and even smaller server friend lists, I have no trouble finding teams on any of the servers while playing any sort of AT in no particular level range.
Some zones will look empty a lot of the time but knowing of the heavy instanced nature of the game and a few global channels (along with a server channel for your server of choice) and you should be able to swing right into the middle of things at your leisure.
The only people who can't find teams aren't trying hard enough or perhaps aren't "really" wanting to team.
Welcome to the game! This place is great. I've been here for years now on a couple of accounts and I get treated the same (warmly and welcomed) when I log in months apart from my last log in or seven nights straight. Nothing quite like that in any other MMO (and I've tried a lot).
Also,
if you're feeling pantsless try Triumph.
Also,
Do yourself a favor and regardless of whatever you've played and preferred in any other MMO, try EACH AT. A few times. And then again for good measure. There are so many possible combinations of excellence available across the board that even thinking of cookie cutting your build should be a crime worthy of a million golden winky faces.
feel free to not reach me in the City @Does Not Exist.
All other locations I can not be reached in are =
XBL- BigBlueMachine/Steam - BigBlueMachine/PSN-BigBlueMachine/ RL aggro - "Husband","Daddy","HeyYou!" and "blue"
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*Ahem* It's spelled "ghoti".|
Originally Posted by Quinch
CRAZY?! That's completely fish!!
{also, welcome to CoH, the game and forums alike} |
Welcome to the forums and the game, Dantia.
One thing to keep in mind is that even on the lower population servers there are global channels that make it fairly easy to find other players, it's just that you're less likely to random tells asking you if you want to team up.
i also have to agree that overall CoH has the friendliest and most helpful community of any MMOP i've ever seen. That said there are of course some posterior headgarments here. i think they're here mostly to remind of us what other MMO communities are generally like. (Although i'm mostly here because i like playing the game.)
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
Good for you, and welcome.
The next thing to think about I'd say is to visit the forum of whatever server you decide to call home, say "Hi" and ask about global channels. Those global channels will get you effectively in a "guild" of 2500 people and will greatly increase your chances of teaming, getting on Task Forces, Trials and Raids, and having fun in general.
Good luck!