OK, I don't get it

[Tenzhi]

In my experience, Smoke Bomb is a bit wonky about dropping aggro.

[Empyrean]

I'm not posting this just to have a go at CO; convince me I'm wrong.

Here goes...

I'm an 8 year CoH vet who knew most CoH content by heart.  CoH was my first and only MMO for 8 years, being more of a comic book fan than a "gamer".  My 17 year old son played CoH as long as I did and my Fiancee played for the last two years, and I had two accounts and we played together a lot.  About a month before we were unable to stop the Coming Storm and The Battalion (e.g. a major game company that will go unnamed) gang, uh, "made love to" our beloved universe, I started playing CO on the side as my own plan Z--while still mainly playing CoH and fully supporting all Titan efforts, I should add.

I went at CO in fits and starts, hitting walls like the overly cartoony look, playstyle, hokey feel, seeming lack of content, and relative lack of ingame and especially out-of-game resources to understand the game.  We were indeed lucky to have fully-developed game like CoH.  But here's the good news.  I hung in there (while still fully supporting Titans Save Paragon City efforts), and I found that on the other side of this unnecessarily difficult in inaccessible noob experience--which we need to pressure them to fix for the future of the game--was a truly great game with TONS of potential.  The game is just still young and hasn't had as much attention as CoH.

I found that, with tweaking, I could make MY hero look great and correct the excessive "cartoonyness", and that higher-level content was less hokey and that the new content seems to be moving in a more "mature" direction.  I found that there is more and better content than it seemed at first, and that they have as a resource a truly rich content source rivaling CoH in the Champions PnP game that really fleshes things out.  Then I got on the CoX channel and was able to access our AWESOME community to ask about all of the things I was foundering on about the game.  AND I found that the part of our community that had moved there, while grumbly at first, is becoming increasingly pleased with the game as they settle in get their bearings.

So, what I've learned is that CO is still a young game when it comes to development, and it takes PATIENCE.  More than it should.  It's actually something that needs to be fixed for the game to thrive.  BUT, the good news is, if you stay at it, it really pays off.  My hope is that IF we can't get CoH 2 going, more of our community adopts CO and gets a dialogue going with the company and devs like we had at CoH to really make the game what it can be.  I mean, if you get through the horrible noob stage, it's pretty awesome already.  If we had the likes of Titan supporting the game--such potential!

And the PRIMUS Database is their Virtue/Union Verse.

Anywho, maybe I'm an optimist, but CO is a diamond in the rough.  It's a young but GOOD game with some unfortunate but fixable mistakes--mostly on the front end--that make it hard to get into at first.

[SARobb]

In my experience, Smoke Bomb is a bit wonky about dropping aggro.

imho, aggro is a bit wonky sometimes. Though I will admit that I'm still getting used to it.

[SARobb]

Here goes...

I'm an 8 year CoH vet who knew most CoH content by heart. 

snip...

Anywho, maybe I'm an optimist, but CO is a diamond in the rough.  It's a GOOD game with some unfortunate but fixable mistakes--mostly on the front end--that make it hard to get into at first.

/signed

Everything Empyrean says is true.  The beginning few missions (*cough*tutorial*cough) are horrible, but they've added some pretty good content. They've put out quite a few power sets since release (one of which is my favorite - Celestial)

[Kistulot]

I actually like the Faultline arc, Elite Bosses or no, but I was more observing this depends on when you joined. Back in the day, Faultline was a pointless ruin, like Boomtown only much harder to get around, and the Hollows...

1) The position of mission doors was not closely related to difficulty - a level 5 mission could well be on the other side to the AP door. You'd die en route. Repeatedly.
2) No-one had a travel power - no buying jetpacks from the Arena, or getting them from Safeguard missions. If you were really lucky a Force Fielder could superbubble up and walk across, or a Hoverer could Hover across - then Recall Friend.
3) There was no hospital in the Hollows. Anyone who couldn't be rezzed in-mission was walking back from Atlas Park.
4) Lots of people thought Invincible was just a title, not a difficulty setting.
5) To put the icing on the cake, lots of Hollows PUGs wouldn't move an inch in-mission if anyone was walking back from hospital, because "they'll miss out on XP" - never mind that the practical effect of this policy was that no-one got any XP because you spent 95% of your time waiting.

In a sense, I appreciate the Hollows - it was the first Hazard Zone with the "10 levels, 4 contacts, zone arc" format that was so strong in Striga, a definite step forward in game design from the street sweeping zones like Perez. But I still didn't really want to go back there.

A bit late to respond to this, sorry! I'm not very good at webforums sometimes.

I love Faultline. I poorly expressed what I meant, and even a quick glance over what I wrote makes me roll my eyes at myself. I more meant that The Hallows isnt as interesting, engaging, or overall fun except for the end. Wheeee sliding on ice! But when I joined things had already changed significantly. I was new in Issue 12, and things had already been pretty heavily changed.

Thinking of boomtown though, I always kinda wished I had a reason to go there other than badge hunting or a Numina. It was a bit iffy to get around, sure, but it was neat with personality. I'm the sort of person who prefers the city environment for superheroics, but all of these places were right by Paragon and thus pretty important. Crey's Folly, Eden, Boomtown, and Perez really felt like there could have been more to them sometimes. But then again, it did make them more special when you had a mission to go there, so maybe I should just zip my lips

Also, using old hover to actually get around? Oh gods. Horrible. Terrifying. I only got the box after my main was past the hallows so I missed out on jumpjetting around, but hover was so painfully slow. I remember having to turn it off in mission to keep up with everyone!

/signed

Everything Empyrean says is true.  The beginning few missions (*cough*tutorial*cough) are horrible, but they've added some pretty good content. They've put out quite a few power sets since release (one of which is my favorite - Celestial)

While I'll agree it is a game with potential and promise, it's had its devs stolen from it since Beta. I was there when they were already losing resources amidst release. The beta should have been longer, more things should have been done, but Cryptic was more concerned with getting STO out the door quickly as possible.

It paints a pattern that unfortunately doesn't inspire confidence. Unless something changes radically (and CoH's closure could do that theoretically) CO will never, ever become the game it should have been from launch.

[sinister8088]

Agreed, but it's the closest thing I can find to City of Heroes.  I have to like it, otherwise, my alternative is DCUO or nothing.  I don't like either outcome.

[Empyrean]

I would advise approaching it with an empty cup. 

If someone's wife died, would it be healthy for them to approach all women after that by comparing them to her and assessing how close a replacement for her they are?  I think we can all agree that is an unhealthy approach, because, well, it just is.  But it is the standard approach that has been used by most ex-CoH people in "dating" CO.

Now, a certain grieving period is appropriate in both cases, but also in both cases the healthy thing to do is to let go of the old (not forget or stop loving, just let go) to make a place for the new.  Unless something happens (which would be great!) CoH is dead and searching for it in other games is highly unlikely to generate a good outcome.

Now, even with the correct approach, CO might not be the "date" that is "the one", but it garanteed CANNOT be the "the one" if you are really looking for CoH, because, well, it just isn't CoH.  Nothing is.

After reading what I just wrote I realize that could come across as harsh, but I don't mean it that way at all.  I genuinely mean it as a helpful statement so that some of you who COULD be happy with CO don't miss the opportunity.  Though, of course, for some, it just isn't the right game regardless.

Any way, as they say about making love--if everyone's having fun, you're doing it right.

[Kistulot]

If someone's wife died, would it be healthy for them to approach all women after that by comparing them to her and assessing how close a replacement for her they are?

If she didn't die, but was taken to a dark castle to rot away in the dark of obscurity and loneliness, I think you'd probably be better off not moving on. I tried CO, but it was more fun for me as a single player game. Teaming felt frustrating, and the feeling that it will never get devoted attention, no AE (foundry is only a maybe, and a distant one at that) and just so much glitchyness...

Till I can get CoH back, unless something really good happens, I think I just have to be happy with memories of MMOs - there's just nothing out there enough fun to feel like it holds a candle to City for me.

That said, if everyone else is enjoying CO, more power to you