The serious PVP SGs play on Test. That may change after the upcoming changes (allowing dual-builds for example, not to mention the PVP changes directly), but I suspect it will continue to be true.

Most important is to find a good PVP supergroup. I would pop into the PvP board on the official forum and talk with people there, to see who is recruiting and active.

There's a small but vocal minority on the forums that frequently worries about leveling too fast.

Specifically this time they were worried about the bonus you get after your character has been logged off. They asked for a way to decline that specifically. Since that isn't possible, they put in a "no XP at all" option.

Actually there is a rare instance when I might find use for this - when I haven't done a Mayhem/Safeguard yet and am about to leave the range (on a TF for example). I might take the no-xp option for a little while rather than get in a position of trying to find and join someone else's safeguard. (That would of course be unnecessary if those were available Flashback-style, but they aren't.)

People have different interpretations of the word "grind". So I can't really answer that as it is. However, if you would like to specify just what you consider "grind" as opposed to what you consider "fun play", then I can answer.

They would also have to account for the serious issue of what happens to duplicate names across servers.

It's not going to happen. They'd sooner move to a serverless environment (rearranging the hardware so that everyone isn't pre-segregated).

Well it primarily started before extra server slots. Since you could only have 8 characters in one place, and a lot of people became attached to one server, they added a second (or third) account.

The most common reason I would wager is when it's ostensibly two people on the accounts (husband/wife for example) but either one plays either or both. Some may keep it up in spirit (oh yeah this is my wife's account) even though the other almost never plays so it's usually the one person on both.

Benefits include :
* balancing out for duoing (pvp or pve)
* being able to PL your own characters
* being able to invite yourself into your own sg
* if you're on a TF situation where you want to run your blaster, but they really need a tank, you can often compromise and dual-box.

I've also known a few people who can dual-box better than some people play single-focused. But on average I don't approve of that as it robs the team of a real contributor.

I had seen the new website, but hadn't dug around much or noticed anything about novels. Doesn't sound like my thing, but I think it's nice that they are expanding the IP.

Captain America is a dumbass. Why would you throw away your only protection?

Anyway, you know there are at least 1 and reportedly 2 attack powers in the set, right? Just like Fire Aura has Burn, or the auras in many sets, a defense set can still have an attack.

Hehe.

I'll say this too: nothing like a new event to spark life into things. Last night even the smaller servers had to expand to Grandville 2. Villains don't usually overcrowd the place like that.

(Of course it was really laggy in the main spawn area, but that comes with the territory I guess.)

Two words: Zombie Invasions

[quote]Originally posted by wootin
Thanks, that helps a lot :) Have you seen any videos anywhere that show more of what the game is really about? I'd like to get my friend's opinion. CoH may be a game we can all play with his kids.[/b][/quote]
As the others said, the point in that video wasn't to show real combat. It was to show off some new animations all by their lonesome so we could "ooh" and "ah" over it at our leisure. :)

Here is a reasonable example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AWg2kXsRs4

The beginning combat should be easier than he makes it look, and the final boss there is harder than he looks (the guy popped some power-up "inpsirations" right before that fight.) But it's a pretty good sense of gameplay. 1:30 shows a decent fight that demonstrates he's being reasonably challenged.

I should also mention he's only 18ish there, so it's still a bit early as far as player and enemy complexity goes.

Here is another example I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVq52sWtEOU&feature=related

It's done from a Blaster's point of view, which means range, which means you can't see the enemies so close up in that video. But it shows off a full team working together. And that's probably a slower team even than the ones I run. (Though probably about average. I tend to be impatient. :) )

I describe combat in this game as "fast." Anything you saw video of was likely unusual, which is why it was shown but probably not representative.

The basic rule on which fights are built is 1 hero = 3 minion enemies at a time. Now with skill and good build you can move from 3 at your level to 3 higher level. Or with the right AOEs you can handle many more than 3 at a time. Or a defensive archetype could survive many more but doesn't get any offensive advantage out of it.

This results in a full team of 8 constantly encountering spawns of 16 enemies of varying rank (Boss, Lieutenant, and Minion.) The concept of a "pull" - although it works reasonably well when you want to - is not a core part of the experience here like it may be in another game. If you insist on pulling one enemy at a time then you are doing something wrong.

(I compare this to my brief experience in WoW where the team would desperately try to peel off enemies 1 at a time. 2 we could handle, 3 was a tough fight, and 4 meant we're screwed. It always seemed slow to me, and that is not going to be the case in City of Heroes.)

As befits that type of combat, some offense-specced characters can even kill an enemy in one shot. In other games that might seem crazy, or trivially easy. But if you are facing multiple enemies at a time, one-shotting one does nothing to protect you from the other two so you aren't out of the woods yet. So that's why I describe this as "fast." You see a lot of enemies at once, and take them down quickly. Then keep moving to the nest group.

(For another example, teammate buffs last 2-5 minutes here before needing to be reapplied. Things just aren't meant to take that long, and when it does it's the rare exception for a particular challenge.)

I should also mention that there is no such thing as a "default attack" that you click on and sit back. You have a tray of powers chosen as you level up, and you chain them as you see fit. There is an ability to set one power to auto-fire (control-click it) but that is hardly the same as the "basic attack" choice would be elsewhere. That again means combat is very active, because if you're not hitting powers then you're not doing anything.

Now the other way you could interpret your question regards the AI. It's better than it used to be, but still has flaws. First though I should point out something that should be universally true for all games but isn't. Geometry matters. You can hide behind a wall, or stack of crates, or dumpster. And the enemy can't see you, and can't shoot through it. (Though they do know where you went if you already aggroed them.)

This is wonderful to me, and makes pulling powerful and running possible. However, it also means that you can pretty much always get an enemy to come to you. This has lead to Herding, where a Tanker will get as much aggro as possible, duck around a corner, and they will follow. And some people insist on playing this routine way. I personally find it takes the challenge out by turning the behavior predictable. There are times when it really is the best strategy to survive, but I (and thankfully many others) don't get so routine about it for every day play.

One of the AI updates made enemies a little smarter there. They seem to reach an agreement where only a few will charge up to melee level, while others will stay back and used ranged attacks. (Until the melee ones die, since melee does more damage.) Similarly, when they run around a corner to find someone, a few of the mobs will take wide corners to stay at range rather than running into a trap. But still the basic technique works.

(Oh, and yes when an enemy gets low on life, or sees his buddies just died, he will sometimes decide to run. It's not a big deal though, since they almost always come back eventually.)

I could get into a few more details but that is the gyst of PvE. PvP is a different animal, and it's currently getting an overhaul which I (as a mostly non-PvPer who pays attention to it) think is a positive change. But we haven't even been able to test it yet, it has only just been announced.

If you are interested in a trial, there should be keys floating around. If you can't find them, send me a PM and I should have 1 or 2 I can spare.

I googled "Spartan Helmet" because I have no idea what you mean by that. I know there were a ton of Sparta-inspired heroes even before the Roman addition though, right after 300.

Here are the roman costumes (unlocked by doing the TF there):
http://www.cityofheroes.com/images/issue12/costumes_i12_roman001_full.jpg

What I saw off google had protection coming down the sides and over the noese, with eye slits that connected into an open mouth area. The two on the left have that look. As you may be able to tell from the image, it's not actually part of the helmet. Rather it's the Roman face mask, and you can use it with any of several helmets (or helmet additions like the brush or the horns) to get just the look you want.

So if that's what you mean by "spartan helmet" then you are in luck.

I'm pretty sure you can read the forums even without being subscribed. If you are logged in on a cancelled account it may give you problems. But delete the cookie and it won't recognize you, thus you can browse.

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One: For the enemy editor, will you be able to make enemies with powers you choose or will you be limited to just taking existing chassis and giving them a new costume?

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However, I would almost certainly say "no" on tweaking the AI. Castle has frequently complained that he has practically no control over the AI himself. So there's no way that we do.

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Will the missions from the mission editor be incorporated into the actual game, for xp, or will it be 'danger room simulator' type missions with no xp?

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Some people (not a lot) have said that paying $5 a month to never spend a power choice on travel is a bargain. Considering I know many people with double or triple accounts, I guess it's not that much of a hurdle.

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Originally posted by themilton
Can you do a Rikti mothershihp raid with only 1 team?

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And what was that buggy CoT raid that finally just took toatlly off line?

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And some of the GMs?

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You might find some disagreement around here on that last point. But I agree for the most part. In the early days the CoH devs were just about the best around in terms of communicating with the audience. It put the WoW crew to shame, certainly. Then around 2005 they faded a bit, you got the rare Statesman pop-in with a poorly worded statement. But for the last 2 years or so they have been better than ever, and you can really feel it in the community.

3yo is certainly a bit younger than is suggested on the box, but I've heard of a couple instances like that, where a young child is able to pick up the game surprisingly well and play with their parent. I've even encountered kids as young as 9 running around solo, but if the parents are smart they will insist that he or she ALWAYS make this known immediately to any groups they are in. Being about superheroes does in my mind make it a bit less violent, while still being interesting to us old people. :)

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Originally posted by Menoxz
Well the consequence wasn't that big (I got kicked from a farm group) but still, They could had said like "Keep the chat low"
Also I don't see as playing villain makes me the bad guy*, I just like the power they got. e.g they are more of the damage types.

.(* also e.g I do not find the fun or the point in kill lower levels. If I'm grinding at a spot, then I'm not the one harrasing the other player that is also in the place. Allthought other tends to kill me even if I leave them alone. Most of the time, I'm not the ass, other are.)

I played on Freedom server on the US.
I citate a thing I said in the group "Oh well I guess I'm stuck with you Americans now". Mabye they took it offending?
I said it because I wasn't expecting to find another member of my country.

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(Nor is it unusual for us to find international players. If I'm on in the morning I generally run into a couple Australians playing on Infinity. Fun guys, and lots of banter / joking between us. "Stuck with you Americans" sounds like exactly the sort of thing they might say.

But anyway, you mentioned lots of players and "end game content." I take it you are thinking of "end game content" in terms of Raids and massive group activity. CoH doesn't work that way. There is only one encounter in the whole game (Hamidon) that requires more than a team of 8, and it is limited to 50. Everything else can be done on a team of 8 or less.

So don't feel like you need to seek out the biggest crowd just to be able to play. It really won't limit you.

If you search this forum (and the heroes one) for EU populations, you'll find that people seem to think they're low. But you can't tell from the complainers, sometimes. I have no way of knowing personally, but I also hear Defiant is more populated than Union.

I do know that the population on US servers has been pretty good this year (fading a bit from the last update perhaps, but still a very strong year), and we regularly have players from all over. If you choose to play here, first make sure you order the box correctly to make sure you have a US edition. I'm pretty sure they won't let you buy a US code online. (Again, search for previous comments on that.)

Second, you should grab a trial code if you're starting a new account. The "trial" time will just be a bonus to your free month, and hey why not. If you want a code you can PM me and I'll send you one. Or you can pick one up elsewhere on the site I believe.

gestalt11 has a good explanation of what I would say more generally. I think one way to keep it interesting is to find non-traditional ways of doing things. Lots of different groups like running TFs with just defenders, as he as mentioned.

But many far more random groups like to do similar challenges - I know all-Stalker LRSF teams have run on serveral servers well before the recent buff. And they did that specifically in reaction to all the people doing it the "obvious" way and not wanting Stalkers.

I do pickup groups all the time, and like to see how I can vary depending on what the strengths and weaknesses of the group are. But my personal preference is seeing how *fast* I can do things, because that always adds a challenge. Not even specifically leveling up in hours or anything that broad. But I have a record of 18:22 on the KHTF, 15:30 on the Eden Trial (back when it was bugged so you could cheat past the mold wall), 32:40 on Cap SF (should be able to do that much better). And in line with my first comment, I never insist on a particular make up to do it.

And even when I'm not timing myself, I pride my leadership on being fast so the team is always busy. No pause between groups, minimal time between missions. And chatting between throwing punches, if you type fast. :) I try to make it a very active experience so you can't get bored with it. I think that fits the style of CoH better than a lot of games too. It's a fast-paced MMO with lots of enemies, fast missions, and speedy travel.

And yet, I too take time off now and again. Just this week in fact I felt like it was time for a little break from the game. But I'll be back in it soon enough as always happens.

It's there if you want it. But not a "lot", no.

Actually rather than type it all up again, allow me to refer you to an older post that goes into more depth:

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/1792867#1792867

I think that covers most of it. I was specifically answering a question about "purposeful" pvp and the what the offerings are.