I sort of liked City of Heroes: Freedom. Enough so that I wanted to spend a little money on the game. But for whatever reason, NCSoft refuses my paypal and my credit card because of "risk management" (to use support's terms) and I couldn't buy any points. So basically if I wanted to join a guild or chat I had to buy a boxed set...

I picked up Going Rogue for a slight discount ($25) since it seemed the best deal (ironically, using the same payment method NCSoft refused).

My two existing characters were 13 and 10th level (Hero/Villain respectively), so I decided I would re-roll a Praetorian character to see what that was like.

That dimension is far more interesting. I had felt that the Hero part of CoH Freedom felt almost more like a cyberpunk game (Shadowrun actually) than superhero (since at the point where I had gotten, you mostly fought street gangs). But Praetoria feels almost like Star Wars crossed with Shadowrun.

And for whatever reason, my characters in Praetoria have leveled up faster and seem less wimpy. Maybe it's my choices - I went with a magic blaster (Fire and Mental something ) for my hero character, he dies constantly. But my Praetorian guy is a Brute - not only can he take on more than 2 guys at once, he kills much quicker. No longer is combat slower than LOTRO.

( I also tried a Praetorian Blaster, this time one with a Rifle, and while somewhat squishy, also seems to kill better.)

Of course, once my VIP status runs out, I'm a bit screwed, as apparently I won't get any extra character slots for GR (since I added the code after the F2P switch) and I won't have enough points to buy a character slot (they are 480, I only have 400) and probably won't be able to purchase anymore, because of NCSoft's "risk management" crap.

But still, I'm having a lot of fun. Well worth the purchase.

Odd, most people seem to find the GR content harder than the CoH or CoV content.  Largely because the enemies tend to have better attacks and status protection.  I personally kind of like it, but it can be annoying on a dominator or controller due to status resists on low-level enemies.

I'm not really sure why combat would feel faster in Praetoria over the standard content though.  Maybe it was the mental secondary for your blaster, it has some slowish animations.  Though pairing fire and mental will end up putting out some absurd AoE damage later in the game.

That is kind of lousy about your card and paypal though.  Their billing department can't do anything about it at all?  I have a friend who had an issue once with her card but managed to get it fixed after talking to them for a bit.  I suppose if you wanted to buy points or whatever enough you could always try a prepaid card, though that might be a bit too convoluted.  At least if you do have to drop down to premium you'll keep all the GR content and be able to pick which 2 of your characters you want to keep active.  It's not much but it's something I guess.

I rarely see anybody praising Gold side.  Some say it is one and done as far as playing through it.  Technically, there are four base paths (Hero Loyalist/Hero Resistance and Villain Loyalist/Villain Resistance).

I actually prefer Gold side, and my only issue with it is the number of graphical glitches that I have on it compared to Red or Blue.

CoH will always have a special place in my heart, and I still consider it to be possibly the best MMORPG I've ever played. Going Rogue was amazing, and managed to revitalize my interest in the game  after I'd gotten tired of it. Unfortunately, it was switfly killed by their move to F2P. I'll still log in occassionally, but unfortunately, this F2P nonsense has ruined  yet another of my favorite titles (the other other being LotRO).

Hey Trance, folks,

I am no epxert (have a couple of 50's & a supergroup or 2) but I would *suggest* that doing bad or well depends largely on three things:

1) Know your toon. A blaster has *crazy* damage output, but you have to move. Move. MOVE. Every single time one of my blasters dies, I mantra "I Am Not A Tank' 8-)

2) The content.. The previous poster is right: GR is not easy. It's fun because of the fact it's kinda new (I have not been in Freedom yet, but will return for the 5th time to my all time MMORPG fav out of over 75 played pretty soon) and you can muck about with the whole Zone Events & Alignment Issues. At least that's what I thought. Not easy...but fun.

3) The *type* of character you have. Some toons (specifically 'trollers & defs) do not really 'get into' their own right until say, level 32. My personal favs (many, but most of all Scrappers) usually get crackin' at around 20-25. Be patient. Try to craft yourself into higher performance, if it is an issue. Forget Training, DO or SO: get IO's at 17/32/47 or if you have enough money (play that market :p) at 12/17/22/ (maybe 27), /32/42 - then sets.

This game is a typical example of: first time I do ok. Second time I do a lot better. Third time I'm... I never used this term before...rockin'!

Have a ball.

Lucas aka Xin Yue/Eruptic...well 14 others :p

Originally posted by dreamscaper

 Unfortunately, it was switfly killed by their move to F2P. I'll still log in occassionally, but unfortunately, this F2P nonsense has ruined  yet another of my favorite titles (the other other being LotRO).

I'm puzzled by this.  I mean, unless you're paying a subscription they locked some aspects of the game behind purchases and the like, but the transition to 'FTP' didn't actually change anything about the game itself.  I still subscribe to the game and about all that's changed is the number of people I see in-game (which of course means more good players and more bad).

It changes the mindset of the developers in a way that is not subtle in the least. With P2P, their goal is to create engaging and addictive gameplay and content that will make you want to keep your subscription active. With F2P, there goal is to focus on inconvenience and barriers to progression to make you want to buy from the store. It has been my experience that this causes the quality of the content to drop considerably. I thought this was very noticable in RoI - it was the first expansion I've ever bought from Turbine that I actually regretted purchasing.

Originally posted by dreamscaper

It changes the mindset of the developers in a way that is not subtle in the least. With P2P, their goal is to create engaging and addictive gameplay and content that will make you want to keep your subscription active. With F2P, there goal is to focus on inconvenience and barriers to progression to make you want to buy from the store. It has been my experience that this causes the quality of the content to drop considerably. I thought this was very noticable in RoI - it was the first expansion I've ever bought from Turbine that I actually regretted purchasing.

good points to keep in mind.

Originally posted by dreamscaper

It changes the mindset of the developers in a way that is not subtle in the least. With P2P, their goal is to create engaging and addictive gameplay and content that will make you want to keep your subscription active. With F2P, there goal is to focus on inconvenience and barriers to progression to make you want to buy from the store. It has been my experience that this causes the quality of the content to drop considerably. I thought this was very noticable in RoI - it was the first expansion I've ever bought from Turbine that I actually regretted purchasing.

The thing is.....City of Heroes is not (exclusively) F2P as everyone claims, it's a hybrid model.  Inconveniences people may complain about (access to Inventions/Auction House/Archtypes/character slots) can be mitigated by opting to either pay for a subscription (as always in the past) or a smaller fee (one-time only or very small monthly fee). 

Originally posted by therain93

Originally posted by dreamscaper

It changes the mindset of the developers in a way that is not subtle in the least. With P2P, their goal is to create engaging and addictive gameplay and content that will make you want to keep your subscription active. With F2P, there goal is to focus on inconvenience and barriers to progression to make you want to buy from the store. It has been my experience that this causes the quality of the content to drop considerably. I thought this was very noticable in RoI - it was the first expansion I've ever bought from Turbine that I actually regretted purchasing.

The thing is.....City of Heroes is not (exclusively) F2P as everyone claims, it's a hybrid model.  Inconveniences people may complain about (access to Inventions/Auction House/Archtypes/character slots) can be mitigated by opting to either pay for a subscription (as always in the past) or a smaller fee (one-time only or very small monthly fee). 

 I recently d/l this game to give it another try (played beta) I played it for about 10-12 days. But, I quit playing and uninstalled, reasons of this are.

Originally posted by dreamscaper

It changes the mindset of the developers in a way that is not subtle in the least. With P2P, their goal is to create engaging and addictive gameplay and content that will make you want to keep your subscription active. With F2P, there goal is to focus on inconvenience and barriers to progression to make you want to buy from the store. It has been my experience that this causes the quality of the content to drop considerably. I thought this was very noticable in RoI - it was the first expansion I've ever bought from Turbine that I actually regretted purchasing.

I can see how something like that could happen, and I have no doubt it has in games before.  I'm just not seeing it in CoH yet.  The content they released for the 'First Ward' zone was quite good, the hero side low-level content they added was fun (I've not played it but I've seen complaints for the villain side low-level content), and the Signature Story Arcs aren't perfect but they're reasonably entertaining so far for lower level content.

Your opinions might obviously varry (opinions have been known to do that), but as for myself I'm going to give them an issue or two before I really try and extrapolate out how things are going to go.

Originally posted by Blackrayn

Originally posted by therain93

Originally posted by dreamscaper

It changes the mindset of the developers in a way that is not subtle in the least. With P2P, their goal is to create engaging and addictive gameplay and content that will make you want to keep your subscription active. With F2P, there goal is to focus on inconvenience and barriers to progression to make you want to buy from the store. It has been my experience that this causes the quality of the content to drop considerably. I thought this was very noticable in RoI - it was the first expansion I've ever bought from Turbine that I actually regretted purchasing.

The thing is.....City of Heroes is not (exclusively) F2P as everyone claims, it's a hybrid model.  Inconveniences people may complain about (access to Inventions/Auction House/Archtypes/character slots) can be mitigated by opting to either pay for a subscription (as always in the past) or a smaller fee (one-time only or very small monthly fee). 

 

 I recently d/l this game to give it another try (played beta) I played it for about 10-12 days. But, I quit playing and uninstalled, reasons of this are.

 Why I understand F2P is gonna be gated, this game gates way to much. I'm fine with limited character slots, archtypes and the player made quests and so forth. But, locking out the crafting (inventions) and AH are two integral parts of most games. And if I'm ever going to give a sub fee or pay money to a game, I would like to experience said things! Your gonna say sub or buy in store to get these things, true! But, my point is this game never interested me enough to play before it went F2P, so why after it goes F2P would I ever give it money, if I can't experience certain aspects of the game that I'm wanting to experience? I enjoy the crafting part in any game! If I could have tried out this aspect of the game, they very well could be collecting my sub fee as I write this!

 

 I understand the model of F2P, I do! But, if there wanting people to eat there desert, then the desert has to be more appealing to want to eat is all I'm saying!

Of course, it's gated -- they're here to make money.  The difference is, you can pay $15/month for access to all of it or you can pay $2/month to have access to inventions plus another $2/month fo have access to the auction house.  Or you can pay nothing and have access to most of the game, but $4/month gets you what you're looking for.....if you really mean it when you write "I would like to experience said things".  Mind you, the auction house and inventions are not integral to the game -- that's your opinion, but those systems are strictly optional and the game is balanced around SOs. 

Ultimately, this isn't free2play, but a freemium model where you pay for as much game as you want.  I fully subscribe, some pay nothing, and others find a happy middle ground just paying $2/month for IO access and others pay a 1-time fee for access to masterminds.  The dessert is free, but if you want sprinkles, jimmies, or hot fudge, that costs extra.

The problem is you ran a Blaster through Paragon City and a Brute through Praetoria. Try running a Blaster through Praetoria and a Brute through Paragon City and compare.