Gamespy Reviews F2P City of Heroes
By
Angelxman81,
Posted on: 2012-02-20 07:52 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Oh good, I'm not the only one who thought that, and was disappointed with the wasted tutorial revamp as a whole?| City of Heroes has recently been graced with fancy-pants new tutorial, which I suppose serves as a faster and probably mostly unnecessary introduction to the basics of how to do stuff like move around with the WASD keys. It features some weirdly out-of-place voice acting which you will never hear again, and finishes with an epic confrontation which you literally can't lose. The most difficult thing I'm required to do is open up the online store and purchase a $0 badge, just so I know how to do that in case I ever find myself in the possession of money I don't feel like I need. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Back-brain kick. |
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| Also roped off are a lot of the newer but not completely essential features, like the crafting system, auction house, and Architect Entertainment, which allows players to make their own elaborate storylines and missions but is mostly used to set up XP farms. |
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| Probably most crippling is the inability to set up or join supergroups, speak in broadcast chat, or even send private messages to other players. I realize that it's a measure that probably helps to cut down spam from gold-farming scammers, but it's easily the biggest obstacle for anyone who wants to play completely free. Meanwhile, those social options are among the very first things to be permanently unlocked on your account should you either spend a few bucks in the store or pony up for a single month's subscription. |
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| I took Copywrong from 1-30 in a few evenings, and while I do find myself missing stuff like the power boost from invention enhancements, I never had a hard time finding pickup groups when I needed them. Really, cutting off in-game /tells and other basic social functions for non-premium players is the most egregiously frustrating thing about the experience. Then again, I'd have a hard time not spending the minimum of five bucks it takes to open those up. |
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| City of Whatevers is definitely a game with a class divide now, with people who throw down their cash enjoying greater power and convenience, but given that the PvP aspect of City of Heroes is deader than JFK it's not something that makes life directly harder for the freebie players. Meanwhile, the decision to proportionately reward players who don't just pay now but have done so at any point in the past is nothing short of brilliant. |
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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I love the new tutorial, voice included.
Well, that's possibly one of the more fair assessment of the current state of CoH that I've run across so far and I'm not just saying that because it was generally positive either.
MA Arcs: Yarmouth 1509 and 58812
I turned the voiceover volume to zero within 30 seconds of logging into that tutorial for the very first time. 
It just feels extraordinarily jarring for a game which otherwise has none at all, and it's not the most superbly acted voiceover ever, either.
@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.
This is what it means to be a tank!
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I like the tutorial voice myself, but wonder if it doesn't lead new players to expect more of it through the game. As it is the only in-game voice you'll hear after the tutorial is Lord Recluse yapping on a giant TV.
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Originally Posted by Angelxman81
I love the new tutorial, voice included.
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@Inquisitor
Vocieovers for the Trials would be awesome - it'd help people who miss the text bubbles with the instrutions and hints - and as most of the Trials are guided by Prometheus, they wouldn't need to hire a large cast either
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
I've been wondering since the new tutorial went live if that is War Witch's voice doing the voice over.
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Isn't the tutorial voice over a guy?
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Originally Posted by warden_de_dios
I've been wondering since the new tutorial went live if that is War Witch's voice doing the voice over.
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The voice that tells you to click on the trainer is a females voice, but there are two voices in the tutorial. A male voice is used in a roleplaying fashion, I assume he's a longbow agent. the female voice is used for metagame information, click on the contact, target enemies.
Last week, Gamespy's dedicated F2P reviewer revisited City of Heroes in its current "Freedom" form:
City of Heroes has recently been graced with fancy-pants new tutorial, which I suppose serves as a faster and probably mostly unnecessary introduction to the basics of how to do stuff like move around with the WASD keys. It features some weirdly out-of-place voice acting which you will never hear again, and finishes with an epic confrontation which you literally can't lose. The most difficult thing I'm required to do is open up the online store and purchase a $0 badge, just so I know how to do that in case I ever find myself in the possession of money I don't feel like I need. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Back-brain kick. {...}
I've personally been more tempted to pick up minor, cheap items and non-essential impulse buys. In addition to whole power-sets and costume bits like deliriously cleavage-baring witch dresses or animal heads for the furry types, they've added "booster packs," which much like collectible card games offer a grab bag of random goodies. One of the items in there is a pitch-black non-combat wolf pet with glowing eyes. The chance of getting one of these is less than one percent, yet I've already seen a half dozen of those just in the last few days of wandering around, and I've heard stories of people dropping more than a hundred bucks on boosters to get one.
I'm not rich or crazy enough for that, but I did spend a few dollars on a "ninja run" ability that has made the early levels of all my characters faster and easier. If you'd rather turn into a coyote or ride a magic carpet, that's there too for about the cost of a six-pack. None of it is "pay to win" stuff, but once you've spent some time playing it's hard not to look at the store and be tempted by even the most frivolous cosmetic features.