To Crush Your Enemies. To See Them Driven Before You. And To Hear The Lamentations Of their Women.
This is what makes CoH good!
Rarrrrr!!!!! I need some red meat now!
------->"Sic Semper Tyrannis"<-------
SWOTR is pretty expansive as well, with a LOT more *detailed* customization when it comes to face/hair/eye including colors. Body, and size is also highly modifiable, not to mention costumes.
Might be pretty dangerous.
Quote:
Another recently released MMO takes this to all new heights of silly:|
Originally Posted by Nalrok_AthZim
I personally hate any other MMO because of how travel is handled. Take Blizzard's Gorilla, for instance.
1-39: Run, unless you're a specific class. 40: Spend an absurd amount of cash buying a travel power. 41: Spend an absurd amount of cash (and a quest) LEARNING HOW TO USE SAID POWER. 42-60: Spend an inconceivable amount of cash to buy an 'epic' travel power. 60: Spend even more frivolous amounts of cash to buy a flying travel power. 60: Spend even even more frivolous amounts of cash to TRAIN TO FLY THE POWER. 70: Spend money on the most expensive thing in the entire game to buy an 'epic' flying travel power. City of Heroes: Hit level 4. |
1-10: walk
10-25: jog
25-40: buy travel skill, separately buy travel vehicle, can't use everywhere, being hit while using it immediately detoggles it.
40+: spend even more money, add 10% more speed.
Best possible rate of travel through personal motion: about slotted sprint here. Degrees of freedom: moving horizontally, or falling to your death.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
Quote:
I was briefly considering trying that MMO. Not any more.
|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Another recently released MMO takes this to all new heights of silly:
1-10: walk 10-25: jog 25-40: buy travel skill, separately buy travel vehicle, can't use everywhere, being hit while using it immediately detoggles it. 40+: spend even more money, add 10% more speed. Best possible rate of travel through personal motion: about slotted sprint here. Degrees of freedom: moving horizontally, or falling to your death. |
My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
Quote:
City of heroes sucks|
Originally Posted by _ACFU_
I have been playing COH since sometime around Issue 2 or 3. And in that time I have dabbled in a couple other MMO's from time to time but I always find myself thinking that COH did things better. So what did COH do that is so much better than those other games? Here is my list. Feel free to add your own bullets.
Character Customization Pt 1 (The Costume) Not only do we have the literally thousands if not hundreds of thousands of possible costume combinations to choose from, but we have multiple slots to save off different costumes for different occasions. In fact our costume creator is so good, that one of the complaints of the game I hear from time to time is that certain powers obstruct the costume in some way. Character Customization Pt 2 (The Type) Assuming you have a VIP subscription and the Epics unlocked, you have 14 different AT's to choose from when creating your character. Each of which plays different from the rest. Not only that, but even characters within the same AT can be very different when selecting different Primary and Secondary Powersets. Taking that into consideration, you have hundreds of different characters to choose from each of which is unique. Going even deeper, you could even argue that two characters that are the same AT, with the same Powersets could be very different based on their personal choices of which powers to choose and focus on. Travel Powers I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am to have travel powers early on. In other games I quickly get tired of running all the time until I can finally train into and afford some kind of speedier method of travel. In COH I can pick up a Travel power as early as level 6, or level 4 for things like Ninja Run. Mission Architect The ability to create your own missions is simply just awesome. It adds a whole new level to making the game fit your own personal story. Sidekick / Exemplar system For me this is the biggest and best part of what makes COH so great. I can team up with anyone, at any level and not be penalized. I honestly don't know why this feature isn't in more games. |
/end thread
Virtue: @Santorican
Dark/Shield Build Thread
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Santorican
City of heroes sucks
/end thread |
My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
Quote:
The fact that it adheres to the MMO norm of appearance being tied to functional gear (except for certain exceptions like helmets) makes its appearance customization options not directly competitive to City of Heroes, where people specifically want appearance options that are free from performance constraints.|
Originally Posted by Lulipop
SWOTR is pretty expansive as well, with a LOT more *detailed* customization when it comes to face/hair/eye including colors. Body, and size is also highly modifiable, not to mention costumes.
Might be pretty dangerous. |
This was touched on in another thread recently, but I would say that what is great about this game that isn't remotely common elsewhere, is:
1. Appearance largely independent of performance. What you look like is normally not constrained by what you can do, or how you perform. You do not have the "silly hat problem" (on the one hand, the hat looks silly, on the other hand it increases my armor class by 20, decisions decisions).
2. Nearly unlimited travel. We can go anywhere and everywhere, and relatively fast, and relatively soon. This is not just a convenience for players to get to where they want to go quickly, it also strongly contributes to our ability to team impromptu with each other no matter where we are and what we're doing at that moment.
3. Global chat. We have the best ability to chat with each other in-game, in zones, across servers, and across the entire game.
4. Extremely casual friendly PvE experience. You actually have to work hard to fail continuously at most of the PvE content. We're balanced to be able to take almost all of it on. And when we're not, we have few restrictions on the amount of help we can bring to bear: temp powers, inspirations - all stackable, with essentially no global cooldown. You can make yourself indestructible and unstoppable for a few minutes, and the game is perfectly fine with that.
5. Teaming is rarely forced. Many games have a percentage of the content intended to be soloable, and a large fraction specifically intended to be handled by a group, and the developers tend to make sure you simply can't solo what's meant for a group. Here, 99% of the PvE content is designed to be soloable. Of the 1% that isn't designed to be soloable, more than half can be soloed anyway.
6. Huge legitimate diversity in player character functional design. We can be offensive juggernauts, literally indestructible tanks, massive pet wranglers, stealth ninjas, buffers, debuffers, you name it. You can make almost anything work, and even within the City of Heroes mainstream there are lots of options that wouldn't raise a single eyebrow. We aren't limited to the Tank/DPS/Healer trinity. Here, we have lots of damage sources, lots of aggro control sources, lots of buff/debuff sources. Its hard to be completely useless, and its hard to make a random team that can't make their assemblage of abilities work.
There are games where you can make all kinds of different things, but people tend not to because those different things are so suboptimal compared to the standard formulas most players adhere to. Here, you don't have to spec as a healer, or spec for maximum DPS, or spec for perfect damage mitigation. Just build, and you'll be ok. The margin for error is so high in our content that no one is even going to know you only have four slots in heal other rather than six. No one is going to care if you did not slot accelerate metabolism for endurance recovery.
Basically, for all that the exceptions are the things most commented on, you can look however you want, be whatever you want, go where ever you want, do whatever you want, and you can do it with whoever you want. That's crazy talk in conventional MMOs. Here, that's just a normal day.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
The Titan Network!
*may be slightly biased...
We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.
(If you love this game as much as I do, please read that post.)
I can't believe I forgot Global Friends! I don't have to add every individual character of my friends. I can even see them online when they are playing on a different server or make a new toon.
Teaming. I've been gifted a 6 month sub of the other superhero MMO. I read about how much it had improved since launch so I was eager to try it out again. Game is fun, great gfx, love the combat, you get a travel power earlier than CoH if you skip the tutorial, awesome customization and powers, etc. Looks like it would be the ideal game for me when I don't want to play CoH since I spend more time burned out on it than ingame these days.
But... NO TEAMING. I'll try to level a toon to the cap there since I have 6 months but... Dammit, even the forum addict veterans there say that you're not expected to find teams before the last ten levels or so in some trials or whatever (so only in special missions, not regular ones). I had that experience in other MMOs I tried before. For the most part, it's like a single player game where you see other players killing stuff and people talking about their experiences in the chat channels, but very rarely actually playing with each other.
Quote:
I'll have to agree with this, because it's also an homage to the greatest playerbase I've run into in my limited MMO experience. Few of the MMO's I have tried have as comprehensive a wealth of information I find on the Paragonwiki. It is truly a labor of love.|
Originally Posted by TonyV
The Titan Network!
*may be slightly biased... |
Actually, I can agree with most folk's reasons why CoH is the best. So, taking all that into account, I'll add in another that is easily overlooked. Just as important as the ammount of character customization, is the ease of mission setting and the communications customization.
Communications and mission setting options. This may not be unique to City of, but in my experience it is. As the leader (and even not) I can literally SEE everyone's missions, and if I choose, where on the map it is. As the leader, I can SET them so everyone will readily know where to go, and what the mission is. They can even read the text themselves if they're so inclined as to click the red star on the nav menu to see the story about it (or 'more' in the mission roster tab if the mission isn't set). There's (for premium and above) an ease of access to channels that you may get/participate in to meet any number of your special interestes. Even for Free there's at least one Global channel (Help) that they can talk to EVERYONE they share the server with if they wish (and if those who want to see it, wish).
Other games I have played, I either depend on the mission holder to guide me to it and explain what needs to be done, or I can participate, but with little explaination as to why I'm doing it, other than the other player needs help with it, but even then I'm dependent on them to actually tell me where to go. Some are obvious if you've played the game long enough, but still, it's either expected you know, or are required to follow someone's instructions without any support from the game itself to help you. Even if I'm the leader of the group. Maybe there's something I'm missing. I solo on those games unless I'm with friends because it's too frustrating compared to here. I cut my MMO teeth on CoH really, so this is what I compare all other MMO's I try, to. None other has been as easy and friendly to teaming as this game has been (which is ironic considering the concept of an MMO).
Other games I have played have the equivalent of Broadcast, Local, Team, and Tell. Well, there's Trade Channels for the outposts or safehouses you may find yourself in but from what I can tell that doesn't really count. Global or player-interest formed channels are nonexistant. (We have a channel here that's just for our SG mates and friends of the SG we like to play with and who like to run with us... just 'cause we can). The games with limited chat channels usually have so much useless trolling and BS that I learn to ignore it alltogether most of the time, which is sad, because I'm sure I miss good nuggets of information and the like amid the vast nuggets of... well I'll leave it at that.
tl;dr version. At the end of the day just going to the mission the team leader sets, be it a regular one or a TF, AND know why I'm doing the mission if I'm that interested enough to find out; AND being able to chat and listen in on the player created channels I share an interest in, no matter where I'm at, or what server I'm on, makes this game the most comfortable and friendly fit for me.
"I play characters. I have to have a very strong visual appearance, backstory, name, etc. to get involved with a character, otherwise I simply won't play it very long. I'm not an RPer by any stretch of the imagination, but character concept is very important for me."- Back Alley Brawler
I couldn't agree more.
Quote:
Only to EA's finances |
Originally Posted by Lulipop
SWOTR is pretty expansive as well, with a LOT more *detailed* customization when it comes to face/hair/eye including colors. Body, and size is also highly modifiable, not to mention costumes.
Might be pretty dangerous. |
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Quote:
the problem with that is, its customization within a constraint. you can make any kind of human you want, and detail the up as much as humans can be detailed, but if i want a character with wings, or a tail, or want my gear to look a certain way while still having specific defenses? not so good. Coh's strength, if i may segue into my answer, is two fold. 1. the customization, its why i came, its why I stay, i can throw together just about anything and make a look that works for me, and it does not majorly affect my appearance. also im largely free of templates. I define what a dragon looks like and what I do and dont want on them, not using a specified race thats just a bunch of presets with little room for me to go with.|
Originally Posted by Lulipop
SWOTR is pretty expansive as well, with a LOT more *detailed* customization when it comes to face/hair/eye including colors. Body, and size is also highly modifiable, not to mention costumes.
Might be pretty dangerous. |
The second reason is, and this may bug some, but its a largely cooperative group, not a competitive one. there is little pvp, and builds are rarely scrutinized. I dont have to follow lockstep in the footsteps of the optimizers if i have a different concept. Optimizers can optimize, and many do and good for them, but so long as it doesnt influence my game, we are all good. In the past i have found mmos with heavy optimizer/pvp centric settings to be unpleasent places to be.(and thats the nicest it can be put)
#1: The community. Hands down, the game is funner than other MMOs I have played simply because the people who play this game are funner than the people who play the other MMOs. Through I suck at roleplay, I don't mind being around it because it is actually entertaining. Other games? Don't see it, ever. Another benefit is that the people who play this game don't do so just to be as rude and offensive as possible. I was actually a mod in a previous MMO, and I was a hated person simply because I stopped people from bullying other players and from linking them to malware. Not just hated by the rulebreakers, but hated by the community in general. The only satisfaction that I got from community interaction was bringing the hammer down on those punks.
In CoX? There's a 90% chance I will like the next random player that I team up with.
#2: The game is equal opportunity. If you play any other MMO on the planet, there is going to be an economic system that strictly binds player performance based solely on the materials that they can afford to buy with in-game currency. This system is usually dictated by either a system of random rare drops that coerce the psyche into continuing dedication, or an expensive NPC store that requires mass money farming to afford items that are a necessity. This forms the following class system:
80% Have Nots
10% Enough wealth to enjoy the game
8% With disposable income and higher rank equipment
2% Superelite players who have the peak equipment necessary to preform well in the most entertaining capacities of the game.
And which class you are in is chosen randomly by the prince of darkness himself, the Random Number Generator. It doesn't help that the game builds around the top 10%. Now, in City of Heroes there are three counters to this. First is that the majority of "upper level" stuff in the game isn't too expensive to get. Second, is that the game isn't based around the assumption that you are inevitably building toward that upper stuff and thus makes it required for content. Third, there are ways to obtain every single enhancement in the game that does not involve the RNG. The only non-evil laden way to ascend in those classes is to farm endlessly, which brings up my next point.
#3: No Grinding. I enjoy playing this game from level 1 to level 50. There is not a single point in the game where I have to sit back and go "Hm, I'll need to spend 10 hours doing a repetitive task to get to the part of the game that is actually enjoyable". No, you have fun at the game, and then after you've had enough fun, new stuff opens up that you can have more fun in. With #2 above, there is very little to actually force you to play the game for longer than you want to. Even the most grindy-est part of the game, the Incarnate System, pales in comparison to the length of time I've had to dedicate to other MMOs to actually be entertained. And I couldn't imagine what would be required for a Korean MMO. This doesn't change the fact that the Incarnate trials are fun. They are not "click tree, get wood, click tree, get wood, click tree, don't get wood". They are "quickly position myself between IDF and terminal, use Hurricane and Gale to draw aggro and push them away, run to center room and lay down hazard patches, then position myself to snipe Technician from another terminal I have not Aggroed, then quickly duck Maelstrom's kick".
#4: Open ended non-traditional elements. The game itself isn't about getting armor, being a better mage, or learning magic. The highly customizeable characters and the highly customizeable powers leave you an all but blank canvas for you to create. Do you want an autistic anarchist villain with a self-made power suit? Just make him! Do you want to have a pseudo-demon possessed hero who goes berserk and tries to destroy everything? Just make her, and then make the demon inside of her. Do you want to have a magic powered robot that teaches physics to underprivileged children in Ubekistan while night-lifeing as a masseuse to dentists? There's nothing stopping ya, pal.
#5: The AE/Demorecord. This is the first game where I've found that I was allowed to make my own missions filled with my own enemies or other enemies under my own stories and mechanics. The system itself can't be perfectly fine tuned to always produce the results you want, but if you get creative you can do some interesting stuff. My two favorite things I've done so far is set up a Circle of Thorns civil war with wandering friendlies that fight CoT with you, and an AV battle where you are assisted by a squadron of Crey critters but the AV has a nuke power that only gets used when low on health that wipes out the Crey team that is helping you in one shot. Those elements, the sensation of mortality and chaos that you the player experience, the open ended and dynamic design... I made them! I've run missions in the AE before where I had to use powers that I never had to use before, tactics that I had to invent while on the fly, and bosses so hard that Power Analyzer MK III literally saved the day.
I discovered the true versatility of Demorecord a little more than a week ago. Done on a whim in the middle of the night, I discovered that I can not only record in-game video, but I can also customize and edit that video to do crazy things. I changed the ending of an UG trial to where we were all fighting Statesman, and I was Dr. Vozhlok. I can switch out the maps, characters, movement, motion, camera position, all to create customized images and videos using the games own engine to make. If I wanted to tell a story for this game in a movie, I don't need any expensive video editing software. I just need the knowhow, and Text Edit.
TPN trial guide video / MoM trial guide video / DD trial guide video / BAF trial guide video
/ Lambda trial guide video / Keyes trial guide video / Magisterium trial guide video / Underground trial guide
The O.P. basically nails my top reasons.
Demo Record also is amazingly fabulous and a feature I don't ever want to go without in any potential future mmorpg (if I ever end up in another one).
For me, personally, I have always found the game-play to be a huge draw. The customization (of appearance and AT and powerset choices) certainly factors in, but from the very first time I tried the free trial, I really enjoy executing the attacks and powers and fighting the many enemies, whether it is throughout a warehouse, in caves, out on the street, up on rooftops, on docks... wherever...
Even at low levels, something about the first bunch of powers I got made it feel like I was able to get into the action early on.
Regardless, there's something about the animations, definitely the ragdoll physics and reactions when I'm hitting them and their hitting me (first time I saw a bad guy getting knocked back and hanging onto a railing in an office building was great... and it is STILL great when it happens today... although *cough* the whacky ragdoll squirming since an issue or so ago is getting old...)... The game's action almost plays like a fantastically improved Golden Axe/Double Dragon bash 'em up game and I love that!
Combining that type of gaming with everything else listed previously and the freedom and perpetual nature of an mmorpg and I end up enjoying this game in a lot of different ways from one night to another.
Quote:
That is very much sig worthy!
|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
... you can look however you want, be whatever you want, go where ever you want, do whatever you want, and you can do it with whoever you want. That's crazy talk in conventional MMOs. Here, that's just a normal day.
|
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
Quote:
An upcoming MMO from another developer under NCSoft yoinked this feature wholesale (including the whole team SSK'ing to team leader, and characters auto-exemping down in lower level zones). Absolutely nobody is complaining.
|
Originally Posted by _ACFU_
• Sidekick / Exemplar system
For me this is the biggest and best part of what makes COH so great. I can team up with anyone, at any level and not be penalized. I honestly don't know why this feature isn't in more games. |
Character index
What makes this game so great?
us Villains...without us you'd have nothing :P
Whats also crap about this game...Heroes...You lot are bloody annoying, always trying to ruin our (what we thought) was a well thought out plan lol
Quote:
Meh. Not really. It's missing the ''minor'' details that make it perfect. No eye color options, serious detail to hair, eyebrows, tattoos in any place or geometric placements, and the little nitpicks that make it overwhelmingly incredible.|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Basically, for all that the exceptions are the things most commented on, you can look however you want, be whatever you want, go where ever you want, do whatever you want, and you can do it with whoever you want. That's crazy talk in conventional MMOs. Here, that's just a normal day.
|
Nothing ticks me off more than using a pre-made face that I can only alter so much or that fits perfectly except for the green/black/brown eyes. That's just ARUGH. I'm very picky. If they made eyes/eyebrow/blush/more makeup/pupil sizes customizable I'd probably be here for quite some time to come.
Quote:
I don't know about you, but I would not sacrifice the rest of my costume and power customization for the right eye color. Yes, it would be nice to have both. If one or the other, though, my choice is clear.
|
Originally Posted by Lulipop
Meh. Not really. It's missing the ''minor'' details that make it perfect. No eye color options, serious detail to hair, eyebrows, tattoos in any place or geometric placements, and the little nitpicks that make it overwhelmingly incredible.
Nothing ticks me off more than using a pre-made face that I can only alter so much or that fits perfectly except for the green/black/brown eyes. That's just ARUGH. I'm very picky. If they made eyes/eyebrow/blush/more makeup/pupil sizes customizable I'd probably be here for quite some time to come. |
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
To add to a lot of what's been said -
*Not having to pay, and pay, and pay every time you level up and train.
Yeah, we have to use enhancements - but they can drop from enemies, and you can do a "once and forget" if you use IOs. To do the equivalent of other MMOs in COH, you'd have to pay to unlock everything but your level 1-2 powers, each power tier would cost more (level 1-2, free, level 3, 1000 inf, level 4, 3000, to level 9 costing, say, 1-2 million,) pay for pool powers, and pay for every slot you put in.
I *hate* that. It's one of the things that makes a game feel grindy to me. "I'd love to keep playing, but I need Swing Sword IV and it costs 500,000 Gold. Hope I don't level while I'm doing it, next tier powers cost 650,000 each to train in and there are five powers in it."
Wanted: Origin centric story arcs.
If you've only played an AT once (one set combo) and "hate" it - don't give up. Roll a different combo. It may just be those sets not clicking for you.
Quote:
To be honest, it is a poor MMO where you *dont* have the cash available to skill up. I dont know if it is because I am a miser and only buy what i need, but i honestly *cannot* remember the last time where i didnt have the cash available to skill up (7 years and counting). Yes, if you go and blow all your cash on stuff on the AH and other miscellaneous stuff you can find yourself in this situation...|
Originally Posted by Stormbird
To add to a lot of what's been said -
*Not having to pay, and pay, and pay every time you level up and train. Yeah, we have to use enhancements - but they can drop from enemies, and you can do a "once and forget" if you use IOs. To do the equivalent of other MMOs in COH, you'd have to pay to unlock everything but your level 1-2 powers, each power tier would cost more (level 1-2, free, level 3, 1000 inf, level 4, 3000, to level 9 costing, say, 1-2 million,) pay for pool powers, and pay for every slot you put in. I *hate* that. It's one of the things that makes a game feel grindy to me. "I'd love to keep playing, but I need Swing Sword IV and it costs 500,000 Gold. Hope I don't level while I'm doing it, next tier powers cost 650,000 each to train in and there are five powers in it." |
But the same can happen for a new player in CoX who spends lots of time in Icon swapping their costume around. Hell, before WW/BM came out, i remember giving players inf so that they could buy new enhancements just because they would go red when they next level up. And this was for the player who *didnt* spend ages in the tailor!
Has stuff changed since then for CoX? Yes it has, and for the better... but it hasn't always been this way
Quote:
Having just spent a month playing Laser Swords & Bad Acting, it is astounding how important this is. With a max group size of 4 and 6 friends playing, it was still a hassle to get a group of similar leveled characters on the same stage of a quest. I'd say 90% of my play time was spent running content 5 levels beneath me for the 5th time just to attempt to get some content we could all play together.|
Originally Posted by _ACFU_
Sidekick / Exemplar system
For me this is the biggest and best part of what makes COH so great. I can team up with anyone, at any level and not be penalized. I honestly don't know why this feature isn't in more games. |
The ability to instantly group with friends at virtually any level (maybe some problems at the extremes) and face content that everyone can contribute to is such a great feature that anyone who doesn't at least try to emulate it isn't really trying to make a good game.
Quote:
Sorry but that still sounds terrible after playing something as easy as COH. Plenty of other MODERN games also make travel incredibly easy. hell one of COH's competitors gives you fast travel at LEVEL ONE.|
Originally Posted by Anchor
That's how the gorilla used to be. These days it only makes you wait until level 20 to get a regular mount and level 40 for a fast mount these days. Mounts and riding skills are also a tiny fraction of what they used to cost. As someone who got an epic land mount before the nerf, I don't miss the old gold grind.
|
There IS NO REASON to gate "fast travel" (lol at what the gorilla calls fast travel) behind 39 or 19 levels of prior suck. At all.
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
Customization in terms of costume/appearance - yeah, there might be a lack of detail in some areas, and some features missing that are in other games, but overall there's a heck of a lot of choice, with so many concepts that you can represent with it.
Customization in terms of build etc - as many ATs as most games have classes, and then the second layer of all the different Primary/Secondary(/Pool/Ancillary) combinations. And that's before even considering enhancements and IO set bonuses. I find CoH superior to pretty much every other MMO when it comes to the number of alts I find myself wanting to make, and the amount of time I (happily) spend planning out potential builds.
Teaming & Sidekick/Exemplar - one thing that really makes CoH for me is that almost all content is potential team content, and almost all content is potential solo content. It doesn't matter what level you are, where you are in your quest chain, or even necessarily what 'class' or 'role' your character fills; anyone can team up with anyone at any time and the game'll scale things (tweaked with difficulty settings) to make it worth your while.
The teaming is probably the thing I miss most when I take a break and play other MMOs for a while (as I'm doing just now). I can put up with the limited appearance options, the handful of generic classes with only a few viable builds, and even the rigid group roles and requirements. But I really miss seeing a friend who's not been online for the last couple weeks log in and be able to immediately jump in and team with them, without worrying about level differences, or whether we're on the same quests, or that maybe two dps will struggle when we hit the elite/heroic/whatever quest (such that we'll probably end up just soloing our own quests and restricting our interaction to chatting only).
I think that it's NOT that it IS so good....it's just that they use subliminal messaging and hypnosis to make us keep coming back.
All hail Hypno-To....Hypno-CoH. O.o
Mr. True Shot
Level 53: Arrows/Devices/Munitions Blaster
....and hopeless Science-Natzi.