MMORPG.com City of Heroes Correspondent Cecil Adkins writes this look at Issue 16: Power Spectrum, and what it adds to Paragon Studios' original superhero game.

Let me start by saying that at first I was prepared to consider Issue 16 a "light" issue for me. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I thought it might be disappointing, but the biggest feature of the issue - powers customization - is one on which I never placed much importance. Obviously, many other City of Heroes players have talked about it, wanted it, for years now. For me, I always thought that the developers' time could be better spent creating "real" content for the game instead of just giving us the "fluff" of recoloring our powers. However, I realized the need for City of Heroes to include this feature because something very similar is a big selling point for newcomer Champions Online.

Read Looking at a Colorful Future

Thanks for this excellent review!

I left CoX after MA was launched when I saw the horrifc exploits it was causing in terms of PLing.

I was banking on CO being "The next big thing." For many reasons well known in the MMO community far and wide it was certainly not the next big thing....unless that big thing was to be a flop, in which case it was definitely that.

I have been considering going back to CoX to check out  I16 it sounds like the exploits have been fixed and the power customization options sound great!

I was also really looking forward to the release of the expansion and couple with I16 being as good as the writer says, I may well be giving my subscription funds back to NC Soft for CoX as it certainly won't be going to Cryptic next month when my first free month is up of CO.

Originally posted by Babylon9000

Thanks for this excellent review!

I left CoX after MA was launched when I saw the horrifc exploits it was causing in terms of PLing.

I was banking on CO being "The next big thing." For many reasons well known in the MMO community far and wide it was certainly not the next big thing....unless that big thing was to be a flop, in which case it was definitely that.

I have been considering going back to CoX to check out  I16 it sounds like the exploits have been fixed and the power customization options sound great!

I was also really looking forward to the release of the expansion and couple with I16 being as good as the writer says, I may well be giving my subscription funds back to NC Soft for CoX as it certainly won't be going to Cryptic next month when my first free month is up of CO.

while i never canced CoX i have to agree. With the Daily power balances in a game i am PAYING for CO feels like "Pay-To-Beta-Test"

CoH desperately needs new dev made content. New systems are like a coat of paint on a car that's otherwise neglected. The ITF was the last really good thing to come out of CoH. I hope Going Rogue can exceed that or it won't be worth retail prices.

Jer

Great so they are going to just play catch up to Champions now by adding features that should have been in the game a looooonnngg time ago.  Glad i quit this game back when i realized they had no clue how to add end game content.

Considering that it took an expanded dev team a year to set up Power Customization, there would have been a lot less content added had they done this a LOOOOOONG time ago.   Blame the original coding for making it a painstaking exercise.

It does look great now.  And it was always better looking than any of it's competition.

Word is that the Going Rogue expansion will have some things in it to deal with/expand end game content.

Originally posted by Arglebargle

Considering that it took an expanded dev team a year to set up Power Customization, there would have been a lot less content added had they done this a LOOOOOONG time ago.   Blame the original coding for making it a painstaking exercise.

 

It does look great now.  And it was always better looking than any of it's competition.

 

Word is that the Going Rogue expansion will have some things in it to deal with/expand end game content.

Pretorian heroes

Good masterminds

Villianious Defenders

Pistol Blasters/Corrupters!

Demon Summoning Masterminds!

Snazzy new costumes.....

It's surprising how much mileage you can get from something so simple as changing you power FX.

I-16 breathes new life into many of my characters. Invulnerability isn't nearly as obnoxious looking as it used to be, and Super Strength and Martial Arts really benefit from a choice of new animations. Can't comment on the changes to AE XP, don't use Architect much and farming is pointless in this game. Supersidekicking and the new difficulty settings for missions have been great so far.

All that being said, power customization is something that should have been done YEARS ago. And, no, I never considered  "WAAAH! It's too much work" to be a reasonable excuse. Now that there's some competition, we'll see good things from this game. The Devs need to stop sitting on their hands and they know it.

CoH got much better after Emmert left, and considering he apparently hasn't learned anything from his past experiences, City of Heroes is set to bulldoze CO if they're willing to put the work into it.  

Originally posted by X-Porter

It's surprising how much mileage you can get from something so simple as changing you power FX.

I-16 breathes new life into many of my characters. Invulnerability isn't nearly as obnoxious looking as it used to be, and Super Strength and Martial Arts really benefit from a choice of new animations. Can't comment on the changes to AE XP, don't use Architect much and farming is pointless in this game. Supersidekicking and the new difficulty settings for missions have been great so far.

All that being said, power customization is something that should have been done YEARS ago. And, no, I never considered  "WAAAH! It's too much work" to be a reasonable excuse. Now that there's some competition, we'll see good things from this game. The Devs need to stop sitting on their hands and they know it.

CoH got much better after Emmert left, and considering he apparently hasn't learned anything from his past experiences, City of Heroes is set to bulldoze CO if they're willing to put the work into it.  

to give you a point of reference, before 16 was complet,e like 2 months before Back Ally Brawker posted the work...

over 1,200 animaion changes...

So yes it WAS a lot of work, it took them a long time to get it where it worked. Long before CO was in closed beta. Want to blame somone, blame cryptic for the orginal engine.

     I resubbed  after a long long (years!) vacation and it's been more fun than I thought possible on a game this old.  Seriously I was expecting a light distraction for a few weeks and I find myself drawn back into coh like it was my first time around.  The changes in the last few years are superb and the temp powers make leveling from lowbie to 50 and much more pleasant experience (no more travel power requirements!! ).  I'm playing my first blaster past 25 and it's been great.  Radiation/mental blaster is pretty much the most addicting thing I've ever experienced 8 )  2 damage/accuracy buff powers stacked with 4 or 5 aoe damage powers is just a reduculous amount of damage and debuffs ... I've never felt so super.

CoH is still a great game, and I'm glad they're adding all the stuff players have been asking for for years. Every issue improves this game to a great degree.

I've already played around with the powers customization and I like it so far. My ninja stalker now looks more realistic, as I imagined her, with no colours that light up with her ninjistu power set. My spines scrapper looks far more deadly with metal spikes instead of giant bananas. Love it.

Originally posted by kcypher2000

Great so they are going to just play catch up to Champions now by adding features that should have been in the game a looooonnngg time ago.  Glad i quit this game back when i realized they had no clue how to add end game content.

I wouldn't say they are playing catch up to CO.  Power customization has been asked for since before CO was even announced and back in the day it was brushed off as nearly impossible due to the coding issues.  Although, I don't think it was a coincidence that issue 16 happened around CO's launch.

Originally posted by Verkain

Originally posted by kcypher2000

Great so they are going to just play catch up to Champions now by adding features that should have been in the game a looooonnngg time ago.  Glad i quit this game back when i realized they had no clue how to add end game content.

 I wouldn't say they are playing catch up to CO.  Power customization has been asked for since before CO was even announced and back in the day it was brushed off as nearly impossible due to the coding issues.  Although, I don't think it was a coincidence that issue 16 happened around CO's launch.

The conspiracy theorists would say NCSoft been planning this since CO was announced (or maybe before) and were just keeping the card up their sleeve. ***shifty eyes***

I left this game when the Mission Architect  was released.  In one foul swoop, they destroyed the game for me.  The zones were virtually empty and the only teams you found were farmers.  After playing the game for four years, they finally made it unplayable for someone like me.  I returned a few months back and noticed that nothing had changed.  The only team invites I got were from farmers at the AE.

CO has kept my attention the last two months.  The devs have shown their incompetence a few times, but no where close to the laziness that was the Mission Architect.  I find myself attached to my toons once again, like I used to be in CoX.

This being said,  I'm very happy that CoX is still getting some love from NCSoft.  It was a fun game.  I just don't think they can gain my attention back.  CO still has a lot of features that CoX doesn't.  The larger maps, the open-world quests, being able to choose any power, the overall graphics, and other features are just things CoX doesn't have, stuff that I enjoy.  CoX has a lot of catching-up to do.

My best wishes to CoX and those that play it.  I could just never go back now.