I'm about to start playing CoX and while I'm sure folks around here have seen more than enough discussions about CoH vs. CoV, I'd like to get some input comparing the two.

I am not just asking people to express their personal preference although I understand some of my questions require that.  I would like to know what the relevant differences are in gameplay.  From the get go I can see that the different ATs are a major difference.  Beyond that though, I'm wondering:

-Are missions in this game exclusive to one side or the other, and if so does one have more (or higher quality) missions?

-Are there geographical limitations to being one side vs the other, and if so, does either side have an advantage?

-Are the in-game resources accessed through NPCs (I'm assuming there have to be stores, rewards, etc) different for each side and if so does one have an advantage?

-Are there any extremely compelling storylines that I would miss out on by being one side or the other, and if so are they fairly evenly balanced?

Ultimately I'm guessing I will end up playing for whichever side seems like more fun, but it would be nice to know just in case the game is heavily tilted toward one side or the other.  Thanks for any help!

Admittedly, it's been a while since I played, but here's what I remember about the two:

There's more running around in CoH than there is in CoV.  In other words, in CoV, most of my missions kept me in the same zone as my contacts.  In CoH, I found myself contantly running to one zone to get missions and then back over 3 zones to actually do the missions.  It was very annoying.

CoH ATs seemed to be more suited for teamplay than CoV's.  While I felt like I could solo about any AT in either game, the CoV ATs seemed to be designed to solo better.  That could have been me, but it certainly felt that way.

CoH Patron Powers are better than CoV Patron Powers.  At least they were when I played.

I know they're introducing an Epic Villain AT, but for the longest time, only CoH had an Epic AT. 

The CoV zones can be depressing and bland when compared to the CoH world.  CoH is much more colorful and upbeat/sunny.

That's about all I can remember off hand.  Both sides have some great missions and you're going to miss them either way you go. 

Hi there. CoX is still doing pretty well. It's got its niche. To answer your questions:

- Yes, the vast majority of missions are exclusive to one side. Heroes do heroic missions and villains do significantly less heroic missions. I find that heroes tend to have way more missions, having been around longer, but villains have more quality missions, as most were made more recently.

- I'm not sure what you mean by geographical limitations.

- Stores and the like are all basically the same for heroes and villains, though heroes tend to run the epic stuff more often (at least on the Virtue server), and have easier epic stuff to do, and so their market tends to have more goodies readily available.

- Both sides have very compelling story lines.  Note that the majority of people tend to play heroes.

Hope this helps.

Originally posted by dmiasek

- I'm not sure what you mean by geographical limitations.


Hope this helps.

I guess I was under the impression that CoH and CoX take place in the same game world.  Is this not the case?  Are Paragon City and the Islands totally different environments that don't overlap at all?  By geographical limitations I meant (assuming there was some crossover) does either side have exclusive geographical areas that are better than the  other side?

The PvP zones and Rikti Warzone are the only shared zones. Everything else is seperate, ie, you won't see a villian on the hero zones.

Originally posted by Sanctus_Mors

The PvP zones and Rikti Warzone are the only shared zones. Everything else is seperate, ie, you won't see a villian on the hero zones.

Both sides exist in the same universe, but Heroes cannot go to the regions of the Rogue Isles and Villains cannot go to the Regions of Paragon City. Paragon City is significantly larger than the Rogue Isles, it has far more zones. The Rogue Isles are quite linear in their progression and as mentioned earlier you pretty much stay in one area. I've started playing my Scrapper again (level 40) and I've been to more zones in the past 2 weeks doing missions than Rogue Isles has combined.

When CoV was made they more or less listened to some of the major complaints from people playing CoH, traveling all over BFE for a single mission was nuked in CoV because CoH players didn't like it. More "solo"-ability in CoV because that was something CoH players wanted.

There are less zones for villians, but over all you get the same amount of missions, more zones doesn't mean better game. It is more linear yes, but in CoH at least on pinnacle and freedom there are some areas that are always vacant like Faultline and,, uhh, the zone that's infested with all the pantheon of the lost, can't remember it. So all those extra zones are more often than not empty so why bother even counting them.

You get story arc missions more often in villians than you do in heros, or so it seems to me.

In a nutshell, CoV was designed to fix the flaws in the overall game of CoH.

If you like pet classes, Masterminds are CoV only.

Originally posted by Nightbringe1

If you like pet classes, Masterminds are CoV only.

Controllers are the same as Dominators on the Heroes side again obtaining the pet at 32 unless you're an Illusion Troller which you get Phantom Army at 18.

Hope it helps !

Firstly, you should know that most people play both sides. In fact, most people have many alts in this game - so many that the 12 slots per server were deemed "not enough" and with the new issue release up to 36 per server will be possible.

So the idea that you need to pick one side is a little flawed. You should play whatever jumps out at you, and switch whenever you feel like it.

You're absolutely right on the ATs, those make a big difference in play style even without switching sides.

Here are the facts (with a little bit of "consensus" thrown in and not much of my opinion since I play everything.

• Heroes was around about a year and a half before villains existed. Despite swinging to whatever is new, for the most part there are more Heroes than Villains on at any time.
• Because heroes were around first and were the main product (vs standalone expansion) it has more content.
• Because heroes were around first, much of the content is less technically developed. Some of the more popular features - like earned powers, unique "Elite Bosses", NPC assistants, rival NPC groups... these were conceived and explored after most of the Hero content was developed, but before (or as) Villain missions and zones were designed. Now since then they've added more hero content, and updated some of the older stuff, so it's not as glaring. Still, the average villain mission has better tech.
• Heroes have more zones. But each zone is more uniform. This seems like a benefit for exploring at first, but in practice just tends to mean more running. Villains have fewer zones, but it's common for one zone to have 2-4 dramatically different looks in various parts.
• Hero and Villain stories are for the most part different. Some of the newer stuff is shared, allowing heroes & villains to team up. But for the most part they are completely separate. As you would expect given that they have different goals.
• Many people feel that the villain missions don't feel very villainous. I think this is because Villians are by nature pro-active (inventing a brand new scheme) but that doesn't work very well for a computer game. On the other hand Heroes see an event and react, which works great. So many of the villain missions could be better described as "anti-hero." That said, some of the 40+ stuff does feel downright evil.
• For similar reasons, Villains are often considered harder to roleplay. Just by the nature of how games work, you're generally running missions for someone. So it feels a little "lackey-ish" when you can't just invent your own crimes.
• There are some minor differences in the way Stores work. For villains it's just a guy for each origin standing around somewhere buying and selling the right level stuff to anyone. For Heroes there are two types - physical stores you enter into (and then talk to a guy) and contacts. The contacts you have to run a mission for before they'll sell to you. So the short answer is, stores are easier but less fancy for villains. It's a pretty small difference though.
• Villains tend to take the lead in early to mid-level PvP. Heroes get a better selection of powers in the 40s, so they are generally considered to be dominant at the endgame PvP. That said, the difference between any two characters on the same side can be huge, so it's more a matter of just choosing wisely. Also, steps are still being taken to balance this better.

That's all that springs to mind at the moment. As I said a lot of it comes from the fact that they already had 1.5 years of live experience before Villains was released. To me, there's a visible difference (improvement) in how each successive bit of contact was designed, as they learned to be more intricate and interactive. So villains has that, but it has also been 2.5 years since CoV came out so all that new content tends to wash it over.

You sound fairly knowledgeable, have you already played a trial? If not, you should pick up a trial code (PM me if you need one) before installing the main game. Even if you're sure you want it, why not add two weeks on free?

And of course, feel free to ask any other questions.

Originally posted by Amarsir

Firstly, you should know that most people play both sides. In fact, most people have many alts in this game - so many that the 12 slots per server were deemed "not enough" and with the new issue release up to 36 per server will be possible.

<snip>

You sound fairly knowledgeable, have you already played a trial? If not, you should pick up a trial code (PM me if you need one) before installing the main game. Even if you're sure you want it, why not add two weeks on free?

And of course, feel free to ask any other questions.

Well actually I bought the Good vs. Evil version last night and started playing.  Now that I understand how different CoV and COH are (I had it in my mind it would be more like the Alliance and Horde in WoW having access to the same missions etc.) I can see that I won't be satisfied limiting myself to playing one side. 

I haven't played a trial before, but I've done enough hoping from one MMO to the next to have a decent idea what to look for.  Or at the very least, I've gotten into the habit of doing some research before jumping in head first.

So far CoX has actually been an eye opener.  Like I said, I try a lot of new games, and for the most part within and hour of entering a new MMO I'm already in the mindset of "ok how do I min/max my abilities and where do I get good loot?"  I can honestly say after playing for several hours last night that those types of thoughts didn't even enter my mind - I was a Nurv Damage the scientist fighting evil with mind control and radioactive inventions!  Here's to hoping that the immersion factor can hold out - I've really been looking for a game that made me want play it because its fun rather than just grind for whatever.

I've been playing for years and to be honest, you will feel some grind. When that happens, step back. There has been those times when I felt the grind. I stopped playing, giving my SG a heads up on that and after a month or so, I'd get the itch again to bash guys.

One think I really enjoy is that I can hop on for 10 min, bash some guys with friends or alone and even if I didn't "Ding" I had fun.

You dont have to hop zones. I just get on in CoH and join a team and start doing radio missions. While this is grinding becuase im in a group of 5+ people its not bad and I enjoy it.