Flay

I'm normally turned away by MMORPG's, but this one has me excited enough to preorder. City of Heroes is released next week on the 27th. The first month is free, then it's $15 a month.

I'm mostly interested because it seems to break away from the typical standard of MMORPG's.

1. The object of the game isn't to have the greatest gear. There are no items to obtain, thus putting the focus on the action.
2. There is no trade economy, thus no need for trade skills. People don't have to stand around for hours making crap to sell.
3. There is no camping for enemy mobs, because crime never happens within your line of site. You have to keep patroling the city to find the evildoers.
4. The customization options are so vast, you will probably never find someone with the exact same costume or set of powers.
5. Having sidekicks allows you to group with anyone, weak or strong; not just people who are your equal. You also have the ability to create your own "Justice League" or "X-Men".

Anyway, I'm going to try out the game next week. From the info I've read, the beta test has gone very well. If you want to check out the game go here: http://www.cityofheroes.com

stingo

This looked interesting to me also. I wonder how the characters are differentiated - by costume perhaps? I mean, if character a and character b are the same class/race and have max abilities - are they the same for all intents and purposes? Or is there a limit on how many abilities you can have so that you have to really think about which ones to use?

nickdawgy

Looks cool, but MMORPG's= no thx

I learned my lesson with Everquest

Flay

Power customization example:

First you choose between 5 Origins which effects the quests in the game. Are you born with superpowers? Did you use science to create them? Did you mutate?

Then you choose between 5 Archetypes. A Blaster uses energy to blast at enemies. A Scrapper uses hand to hand. A Defender uses long range attacks

Then you choose between 5-6 primary Power Sets which all have 9-10 subpowers to develop and 5-6 different, secondary power sets all with subpowers. You also choose which subpowers to focus on.

Finally, As you progress through the game you get a choice of 30 enhancements that increase and change your powers. The amount of combinations is staggering.

The odds that another character is exactly the same powers as you is slim. But, yes the costumes will also diferentiate between people.

Ghym

I bought the pre-order box and have been playing a couple weeks. It's pretty fun. I've played various MMORPGs and haven't been addicted to one since I first played EQ. I don't know how long this will stay fun, but right now I'm having a lot of fun and will keep playing when the game goes live.

My friends and I have been having fun. We created a group of Oompa Loompas. We've got Willy Wonka, about 5 Oompa Loompas, The Golden Ticket, and The Gobstopper. Roleplaying with that group makes it pretty fun when we get tired of fighting stuff. We'll just hang out in Atlas Park worshipping The Wonka. We get all sorts of people stopping to watch us or mock us. It's pretty fun. I'll have to post some screenshots.

The best part was when a GM sent a tell to my friend asking if he could have a Gobstopper, then followed us all over the map. He complimented us on our costumes and said we were the best theme group he'd seen. It was great. There really are endless combinations for costumes.

BizRodian

Sounds fun Ghym!

No MMORPGs for me though

njchris

Biz, I have been pretty bored with MMORPG's since EQ. While some of the other ones coming out were fun, none of them REALLY hooked me like EQ did.

However, I've been playing City of Heroes beta for a bit and it is SO MUCH fun. The amount of customization of your character is amazing. You will be hard pressed to find two people looking exactly the same. THere are SO many costume choices, including coloring and designs of each part (face, mask, torso, gloves, legs, boots all can be different).

And there's something satisfying in taking down a few thugs that are robbing someone and that "person" run up to you after it's over to say thanks.

The game is just plain fun. :-)

Setzer

EQ Sucked!

City of Heroes looks like it will be a fun MMO. My friend is presently in beta and is having a blast with it. We both play Dark Age of Camelot and I haven't seen him in game since he got beta for Heroes and that says alot because he was really hooked on Dark Age.

flashburn

This does sound like a pretty cool idea. I do wish you could choose between being a super hero and villian, though. I have not found an MMO game to hook me like EQ and Dark Age Of Camelot did, maybe this will be the one, since I am totally sick of the medieval theme.
Sounds like I'll have to get this at work, for "testing" purposes.

Flay

After launch, they will release info on the 'City of Villians' expansion pack. Rumor has it that PvP will be added at that time.

flashburn

That would be awesome, if true. I will probably try this one out, one way or another.

Groucho

A great concept for a MMORPG, but personally I'm waiting for Guild Wars: no monthly fee.

Ghym

Oh come on, play.

Here are some pics of the Wonka Gang. The little gold guy is Golden Ticket and the girl is The Gobstopper. The rest are Willy and the Loompas with various spectators. Saw Strong Badd in game. He asked Willy for scrumdidilyumptious bar. I had to give him props for even trying to spell that.

http://www.old-gods.com/wonka.htm

Pictures are pretty big, so might take a bit to load for slower connections.

jrutz

That is the funniest goddamn thing I've seen in ages!

I might have to play just so I can check you guys out!

I see a villian in the making...WillieWonka falls in a pit of boiling chocolate...

Jeremy

msdmoney

Concept looks interesting, but the lack of pvp will keep me from playing. PVP is a must for an MMO for me to play. Hopefully the "City of Villains expasion will add good PVP.

I also wonder what is it that keeps your interest past the initial fighting mobs, no items sounds too much like SWG for me. Can anyone who has played give the info on what some of the "endgame" is like.

Naan

Long Live the WONKA DEATH BRIGADE!

-WillyWonka

flashburn

Is anyone playing the beta now?

I was wondering what the control scheme is like?

Also, what about communication? Does it just appear over peoples heads or is there some sort of 'chat window'?

Calico

I've been interested in this since first hearing about it. The only concern I have is the lack of something to do besides kick butt. It would be nice if you were assigned missions or something more scenario driven. From what I've heard so far, it sounds a lot like Planetside (fight, win, log out, log in, fight win...etc.) I need some sort of "end game" every now and then.

And $15 a month is what I hear they want to charge. It's going to need more than just kicking butt for me to shell out the $50 spot to buy it then keep playing.

Oh who am I kidding, I get to be a superhero, I'll be in the store when it arrives.

I wanna be Gaard...galactic hockey guy and guardian of the cosmic nexus

flashburn

Wait a second, you mean there are no mission based activities in this game? The idea of the game does sound great, but it does sound lacking, in many areas.

nodeerforamonth

What the hell does MMORPG mean?

Sounds fun, but if I have to pay $10 a month to play it, I'm not going to do it.

flashburn

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game


You're in luck! You have to pay $15 a month.

Setzer

From what I gathered while watching my friend play it, the controls are customizable. He was able to set it up the same way he's playing Dark Age now, as far as movement is concerned. The UI is pretty basic, there is a chat window with tabs like Dark Age and a Quick bar at the bottom which is where your abilities/spells go and just like in Dark Age the number on the bar corresponds to the number on the keyboard. All the windows are moveable don't know if you can adjust how big/small you can make them. It appears your character doesn't have an inventory screen...you don't equip anything, so it's not needed. The drops you get off mobs you kill are automatically picked up for you and so far the only drops appear to be gold and enhancements for your abilites/spells. When he was talking with other people in game I did not notice any bubble over their heads with the text spoken, it's all in the chat window.

The game appears to be pretty straight forward. You start from level 1, get quests from your trainer, and go kill stuff so you can level. Graphics are very nice and the Character creation screen is the best I've ever seen in a game. There is no way, or highly unlikely, two characters will look alike. You can make your guy look pretty much however you want him to look, including how you're outfitted, colors, as well as facial, body and height/weight.

My gripes with this game is what does it have to offer other than a whole lot of PvE. It can become very repetitive to just go around get quests and kill stuff. Since you can't equip weapons, armor, etc there are no unique items to find. Another thing is there's no PvP which may be added later, who knows....and of course there's no trade skills in the game. City of Heroes may be fun to play at first but I think it might get old real fast...who knows. Personally I don't think it's worth $49.99 for the game and $14.99 p/month.

Setzer

Flash,

You still play Dark Age? If so, what server/realm are/were you playing on?

flashburn

It has actually been a long time since I played Dark Age. I started back at launch, played a Druid on Lancelot.

Once I got to level 40 I noticed how much harder it was to find a decent exp'ing group, and started getting a little bored with it. I thoroughly enjoyed the Realm VS Realm stuff, and that is what kept me hooked as long as it did. A lot of the time I didn't have enough time to play for an hour or more, so I would solo RvR, and as a druid, it had its limits.

I eventually quit once I got to around 43-47; I was just getting tired of the game. I rejoined when the shrouded isles expansion came out, and played for another month or so, and quit again due to time constraints. I still don't feel I have enough time to justify playing an MMORPG right now, but hopefully that will change soon.

nickdawgy

This game seems fun, but if I ever tried it, I'd also wait until there was more to do.