With a little less than two weeks before the scheduled shutdown of City of Heroes, I think it's time I made a proper farewell post. Now, this might not be my last post on these boards. I might end up seeing something worth commenting on between now and the shutdown, but this will be the post where I'll be doing my reminiscing about the game that has been such a huge part of my leisure activites during my transition from teenager to adult.
When I first heard about City of Heroes, I was still a high-school student and City of Heroes was in its very early development. The only computer I owned was a really old one that was donated from my school and was basically a hand-me-down. I had no internet access with it, and the only thing it was good for was typing up reports on for those teachers who would not accept handwritten assignments and insisted on having them typed and printed.
There were thankfully few such teachers when I was in high school, as computers were only just beginning to take their place as a fixture of the modern home. But some of the computers at school had internet access, which was where I'd first heard of City of Heroes. I'd heard of MMORPG's before, from a strategy guide for Everquest printed in Gamepro magazine. But the idea of a superhero MMO really appealed to me. I grew up watching superhero cartoons on Saturday mornings and Weekday afternoons. I watched all kinds of superhero shows with a wide range of tones, from more serious ones like Batman and Superman, to sillier ones like the Tick and Darkwing Duck. I always wanted to be able to write stories like that myself. With CoH, I'd be able to get that opportunity ... if I ever got a computer capable of running it.
But soon, I would graduate from high school and start college. My old hand-me-down computer just wasn't going to cut it anymore for schoolwork. I had to get a real computer, which I eventually did early in the first semester of college. A little over a year later, City of Heroes was officially released to the public, and I got it about a week or two later. But when I got home, I found my computer's video card was one that would not work with the game. So it'd be another few weeks before I could buy and install a new video card. But soon after, I'd created my first character; Spectreblade, the modern-day knight who wore armor possessed by the soul of its original owner, and I was off to fight crime.
I'd eventually make more upgrades to the computer to get the game to run more smoothly. I got more RAM for it. Then I upgraded my internet connection from dial-up to broadband. I'd eventually get another whole new computer. Then I switched from broadband to cable modem after my internet connection on broadband became increasingly unreliable in keeping me connected.
As my computing power grew, so did my character, at first by leveling up through gameplay, and through patch updates that took my secondary powerset of Dark Armor from an absolute joke to being a respectable defensive set. Then came the IO system, and then the Incarnate content after that.
In addition to the game itself, there's also these forums. I didn't join the forums until a year or two after I started playing the game, preferring to lurk here occasionally in my early days of hero-ing. Mostly I was too busy playing the game to get on the boards and talk about it. But I did eventually come here and started replying to threads and making my own. I wasn't really one for the major flame-wars. Usually I just put in my two influence on a topic that interested me, then followed it silently. Back when the boards still had a reputation system, the only time I'd ever gotten any rep, positive or negative, was in a thread about the reputation system where I'd mentioned that I had no rep either way and someone gave me some positive rep in response. or I'd post my RSVP in threads about in-game player-run events. While I never counted myself among the greats on these boards, I hope that my posts over the years have at least made it a slightly better place than it would have been otherwise.
In the time that has passed, I've also grown as a person. When I first started playing, I was a mere college student. I've long since graduated college, and now I'm an adult with a steady job, and my own car. And throughout all those times, there was always City of Heroes.
But just like my adolescence, City of Heroes will soon come to an end, barring any last-minute miracle or future revival. While I wish luck to those who are trying to make that happen, the time for me to bring this chapter of my life to a close is fast approaching. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do to fill the void this game is going to leave. Perhaps I might take up a less sedentary hobby and get myself some much-needed exercise, or do something else that will get me away from the computer monitor and out into the world.
But, if by some miracle City of Heroes is saved or later revived, I'll be dusting off the old armor. Until then, it's been fun!
With a little less than two weeks before the scheduled shutdown of City of Heroes, I think it's time I made a proper farewell post. Now, this might not be my last post on these boards. I might end up seeing something worth commenting on between now and the shutdown, but this will be the post where I'll be doing my reminiscing about the game that has been such a huge part of my leisure activites during my transition from teenager to adult.
When I first heard about City of Heroes, I was still a high-school student and City of Heroes was in its very early development. The only computer I owned was a really old one that was donated from my school and was basically a hand-me-down. I had no internet access with it, and the only thing it was good for was typing up reports on for those teachers who would not accept handwritten assignments and insisted on having them typed and printed.
There were thankfully few such teachers when I was in high school, as computers were only just beginning to take their place as a fixture of the modern home. But some of the computers at school had internet access, which was where I'd first heard of City of Heroes. I'd heard of MMORPG's before, from a strategy guide for Everquest printed in Gamepro magazine. But the idea of a superhero MMO really appealed to me. I grew up watching superhero cartoons on Saturday mornings and Weekday afternoons. I watched all kinds of superhero shows with a wide range of tones, from more serious ones like Batman and Superman, to sillier ones like the Tick and Darkwing Duck. I always wanted to be able to write stories like that myself. With CoH, I'd be able to get that opportunity ... if I ever got a computer capable of running it.
But soon, I would graduate from high school and start college. My old hand-me-down computer just wasn't going to cut it anymore for schoolwork. I had to get a real computer, which I eventually did early in the first semester of college. A little over a year later, City of Heroes was officially released to the public, and I got it about a week or two later. But when I got home, I found my computer's video card was one that would not work with the game. So it'd be another few weeks before I could buy and install a new video card. But soon after, I'd created my first character; Spectreblade, the modern-day knight who wore armor possessed by the soul of its original owner, and I was off to fight crime.
I'd eventually make more upgrades to the computer to get the game to run more smoothly. I got more RAM for it. Then I upgraded my internet connection from dial-up to broadband. I'd eventually get another whole new computer. Then I switched from broadband to cable modem after my internet connection on broadband became increasingly unreliable in keeping me connected.
As my computing power grew, so did my character, at first by leveling up through gameplay, and through patch updates that took my secondary powerset of Dark Armor from an absolute joke to being a respectable defensive set. Then came the IO system, and then the Incarnate content after that.
In addition to the game itself, there's also these forums. I didn't join the forums until a year or two after I started playing the game, preferring to lurk here occasionally in my early days of hero-ing. Mostly I was too busy playing the game to get on the boards and talk about it. But I did eventually come here and started replying to threads and making my own. I wasn't really one for the major flame-wars. Usually I just put in my two influence on a topic that interested me, then followed it silently. Back when the boards still had a reputation system, the only time I'd ever gotten any rep, positive or negative, was in a thread about the reputation system where I'd mentioned that I had no rep either way and someone gave me some positive rep in response. or I'd post my RSVP in threads about in-game player-run events. While I never counted myself among the greats on these boards, I hope that my posts over the years have at least made it a slightly better place than it would have been otherwise.
In the time that has passed, I've also grown as a person. When I first started playing, I was a mere college student. I've long since graduated college, and now I'm an adult with a steady job, and my own car. And throughout all those times, there was always City of Heroes.
But just like my adolescence, City of Heroes will soon come to an end, barring any last-minute miracle or future revival. While I wish luck to those who are trying to make that happen, the time for me to bring this chapter of my life to a close is fast approaching. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do to fill the void this game is going to leave. Perhaps I might take up a less sedentary hobby and get myself some much-needed exercise, or do something else that will get me away from the computer monitor and out into the world.
But, if by some miracle City of Heroes is saved or later revived, I'll be dusting off the old armor. Until then, it's been fun!
Currently published Mission Architect arcs:
Arc ID# 70466: From the Abyss.
Arc ID# 403174: The Serpent's Revenge.
Arc ID# 534236: The Clockwork Angel.