City of Heroes

Ok, I am seeing more info on this one lately and a release date of March 2004. Is that correct? This game actually looks interesting to me, and I have to say it did not at first. I don’t usually like the idea of superhero games because they are very hard to pull off. but this one is intriguing me. I like the number of options and the apparent depth of the gameworld (the different types of bad guys look hilarious and seem to really be diverse).

is anyone playing in the beta? How many of you are planning to try this one out? This may be the first MMORPG I will try since DAoC, which I haven’t played in over a year. I’d like to hear some unbiased info on it from the people around here.

March 2004 is not going to happen. They are still in early closed beta. However, in an inevitable development, their presell of the game includes a guaranteed beta spot. Now you can officially pay to test MMORPG’s. :)

I’m pretty jazzed about this one. I’ll probably even preorder.

Yeah, I tried to see if there was a press beta available, and was told to check back after the 20th.

I’m certainly interested, though once you get beyond the superhero setting, I’m not sure how different it is from other MMOs.

For me, that’s enough. It will also offer an interesting mission and contacts system and claims there will be little downtime–but other MMO’s are planning that, too. I’m just jazzed to play a superhero–flying should be fun, and the hated focus on phat loot found in other RPG’s isn’t appropriate to a hero setting.

Instead of loot you’ll get power-ups. Could be cool, could be weird.

The instanced adventures do sound interesting. I had a taste of those with Dungeons of Norrath and enjoyed it. Like you say, many of the upcoming MMOs are doing that as well.

Yeah, the superhero angle definitely sells me. I should be able to get in the beta. I’ll post something about the game if I do.

No capes though!

Or wings. I really want to recreate my favorite Champions character, a hairy, demonic, winged vigilante that I played back in the 80’s. I suspect wings/capes/villains/etc are all scheduled for expansions.

I am also interested in this, b/c of the subject matter and the instanced missions, which I hope will be a lot more enjoyable than the standard MMORPG camp N grind action.

Also they seem to have interesting ideas in a few areas. For example, on the issue of playing with your friends if you outlevel them. They have a “sidekick” system where a more experienced character and a less experienced one can agree to have a protagonist/sidekick relationship and the less experienced char can then go along with the more experienced character on quests and instanced missions and the sidekick will fight as if he was the senior character’s level. As I understand it the sidekick will not get powerleveled as a result of this, he will gain experience as if he was fighting level appropriate opposition. If this works it could be a good way for people to play with their friends of all experience level without the attendant twinking and powerleveling problems of other games. We’ll see. I certainly think its a worthwhile attempt to resolve one of the continuing problems of other games.

Dan

I have some interest, but not until it leaves beta and is vouched for by credible sources. The super-hero theme is not a huge hook for me – might be fun, might be stupid, who knows.

It all comes down to the flexibility of the power/costume creation systems for me. If they seem cool, this might be my first MMORPG. Can’t figure out why. I despise superhero tomfoolery about as much as D&D stuff.

I can’t believe no capes.

Cloth animation is too hard to do well.

I love the super-hero theme, being a Freedom Force junkie and all, but the one thing that killed any interest I had in this game: no PvP.

As no one can play villains yet (this may be in an expansion some day) there’s no conflict other than player vs. environment, and I just find the level grind too dull.

I’m a firm believer that to be fully successful, a modern MMORPG needs to support both PvE and PvP playstyles, and with equal attention. Horizons is one extreme of this (PvE only, no PvP option) and Shadowbane is the other (PvE content barely registers, PvP all the time). I don’t mind levelling up if the process is fun, but eventually I tire of the grind and want a bigger challenge. That’s where being able to engage in some sort of conflict with other human beings starts to matter.

I think WoW may be the first game to get this right, they seem to be taking huge steps to make levelling painless (and dare I dream, enjoyable!) and have mentioned some interesting PvP tidbits that give me a lot of hope. I do very much hope for a PvP WoW server, but I’ll settle for the already mentioned zone-specific PvP if that’s all that’s offered.

City of Heroes may one day add PvP, but I’m not going to start playing until something concrete along those lines is already implemented. No more getting burned by the overused MMORPG-developer mantra of “We’ll patch it in later!”.

/Eph

I agree that the lack of PvP is a bit of a drawback to City of Heroes. The game will really have to be interesting to hold my attention more than a couple of months if it has no PvP.

The lack of PvP is a bit of a bad sign as far as the likely level grind goes, too. I can’t imagine I’ll be done leveling a character in two months if fighting the AI is all there is to do in the game. I suspect that their chief tool for player retention will be to extend the leveling process.

Still, if I get two months of fun out of the game, I’ll be happy. From a player viewpoint, I think that’s fine. I can always resubscribe once they add PvP to the game.

Yeah, I’m still a bit surprised that there’s no super-villian option. Playing a superhero would be fun. But you could go all out in designing a super-villian.

Heck if I get a few weeks of play I’ll be happy. I hate MMORPG but can’t resist Superheros

that’s my thinking as well. However, if leveling takes too long, I don’t know if I will enjoy it. I don’t have to see quick advances if the gameplay is compelling enough, but I have never seen that in a MMORPG. I would love a game where I could play a different character every month or two and level him/her all the way up. I guess that dynamic wouldn’t keep most people hooked long enough, or someone would have tried it.

that’s my thinking as well. However, if leveling takes too long, I don’t know if I will enjoy it. I don’t have to see quick advances if the gameplay is compelling enough, but I have never seen that in a MMORPG. I would love a game where I could play a different character every month or two and level him/her all the way up. I guess that dynamic wouldn’t keep most people hooked long enough, or someone would have tried it.[/quote]

You can do that in Shadowbane. You do have to play quite a bit to finish leveling a character in one month – probably 50 hours at least – but it’s doable.

I love the classes in DAoC. I’d be more than happy to play each one if I could level a character in a month. They’d have plenty of retention for someone like me if that was the case. Knowing it will take me 3-6 months (or longer) to level a character in DAoC is just a drag.

Exactly! DAoC is a nearly perfect game, IMO, except that the leveling just takes too damned long. I quit playing in frustration. If they would half the level grind, it would still be a bit long, but I would play it then. And like you, I would try all the classes in every realm…one a month or so. I would easily be playing for a couple of years!

I am hoping CoH will compel me to try different hero types and powers and such. However, if the low levels are boring and it takes forever to level up then I won’t play more than a month or two.

Cloth animation is too hard to do well.[/quote]

Sure, but it’s such a fundamental part of the superhero aesthetic. You’d think they’d just put a lot more effort into cape technology than other games.

I don’t really see the big deal about capes. Maybe because I grew up with Marvel instead of DC. Most Marvel characters are too cool to wear capes.

Why was that I wonder? What made Marvel creators shun the cape? Dr. Strange is the only hero I can think of that had one…