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Goes online on 10/31 (But you can start playing this Friday if you pre-ordered.) It's kind of a hybrid stand-alone/expansion-pack to the game City of Heroes. They will be interactive. That is, CoH players will be able to enter villain zones, and vice-versa. There will be PvP options, but PvP isn't mandatory for either game. If you have CoH, buying CoV will give you new options for building home bases and some other stuff, but you don't have to buy it to continue playing CoH.
There will still be a monthly server access fee to play the games, but it will only be one fee, even if you play both games.
I'm excited. I really enjoy playing CoH with Chris, and we're both looking forward to the new zones and costume options. I've already bought us each a copy of CoV, so we'll get the head-start on Friday. (So no need to ask what I'll be doing this weekend. )
Oh, btw, we're on "Liberty" server if you wanna hook up. Lately I'm online as "Orion Quint" and Chris is "Cyreen". (I think my global chat ID is Figmint.)
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I would be totally tempted, if I didn't get terribly bored of City of Heroes.
In my opinion, CoH's is an amazing game for the first few days you play it. Totally addictive.
But then you are doing the exact same things over and over and over and over again. For very little reward.
You start out fighting low level thugs with guns. After 50+ hours of playing, you are now fighting guys who look pretty much exactly the same, but are just a higher level. There's some variety, but not enough to keep me interested.
The addition of PVP may help things, but from what I hear its not enough to get me to renew my subcription.
Contrast that with World of Warcraft, and all the crafting, trading, mining, finding herbs, and all sorts of things you can do which aren't fighting. Plus the quests in WoW are of HUGE variety, where every quest in CoH is EXACTLY THE SAME. There are two types of missions. The first is to kill X number of some bad guy. No room for variety there. The next are the actual "quest" missions. You go into an instanced office building, warehouse, or cave (which looks pretty much exactly like every other office building, warehouse, or cave in the game) and you kill every bad guy in there.
Don't get me wrong, its a total blast the first few dozen times you do it. But when you've done the mission a hundred times before, it just becomes a level grind.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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I won't argue with your perception of the game. Your points are mostly valid, though obviously I disagree. The missions do get somewhat repetitive, but I don't know how log ago it was you played. They are continually (every few months) adding new zones and new types of maps. For the past several months, there are instanced missions that take place in outdoor settings. There are "kill everyone" quests, but there are also "rescue X" quests, prevent the destruction of <item> quests, and quests where you have to rescue someone and escort them to safety, all while avoiding "area spawned" foe, as well as foes that roam the mission map and foes that appear in ambush when you complete certain portions. There are also many non-mission things to do. There are giant monsters that periodically spawn in certain zones and take several heroes to subdue. There are buildings that catch fire which you can help put out. You can earn badges for various non-mission things, or for completing specific missions. With the addition of CoV, those things are just going to expand even further. I've been playing for over a year and there are still a couple of zones I haven't even been to yet.
Add to that the different archetypes of heroes you can create and the game play can be pretty varied. If I get bored playing my blaster, I can play my healer, or my tank. Each one is a different approach to the game.
I think the variety is pretty good, all things considered, and it is continually growing. I'll admit that since I started playing, I've gotten bored at times and layed off the game a little, but over all, the free updates come often enough to keep me interested.
A big part of the fun, too, depends on who you are playing with. I'm lucky that I always have a great teammate when I log on (Chris), but we also know a few heroes who are a lot of fun to play with.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote: In my opinion, CoH's is an amazing game for the first few days you play it. Totally addictive.
But then you are doing the exact same things over and over and over and over again. For very little reward.
This was my experience, too. I gave up around level 21 because it was just too much of the same; the powers scaled almost perfectly with the enemies' abilities, so there was never any real change in the environment.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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They've address that issue by allowing you to set your difficulty level. If you don't find the missions challenging, you can set them higher, prompting more villains and higher level villains per mission.
The game today is different from the original in many ways and is continually being upgraded and tweaked. (To the annoyance of some, especially if it involves making the game more challenging.) But it's still CoH. If you got bored really quickly with the original CoH, those changes might not be enough to keep your interest long. YMMV. I have fun, though.
But the point of the thread isn't really to debate the merits of CoH. I was just wondering if anyone is interested in CoV. Apparently not. Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote:But the point of the thread isn't really to debate the merits of CoH. I was just wondering if anyone is interested in CoV. Apparently not.
Sorry Karl, didn't mean to derail it in such a way. I am glad you are still having fun with the game . I have a lot of fond memories of it.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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quote: If you don't find the missions challenging, you can set them higher, prompting more villains and higher level villains per mission.
In my case, it wasn't that the missions weren't necessarily challenging; it was that they weren't dynamic or compelling. Only the ones with time limits ever seemed particularly important.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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No worries, Xav. To each his own. To tell you the truth, part of me would like to play WoW, but I only have time to invest in one online game and Chris is really into CoH, and playing with him is always more rewarding than playing without him.
PH - definitely buy the CoV game first. It will allow everything (at least conceptually) that CoH has, except the creation/playing of Heroe characters. You will be able to visit all the areas of CoH, and I believe the character creation and leveling and basic game play are very much (if not exactly) like CoH. Both games will share the same universe.
On the other hand, CoH players who do not buy CoV will not get to set up their own home-base/lair. I'm guessing they will change that for new purchases of CoH, eventually, but there's no word on that. There are a couple of other things (I think) that CoV owners will have that CoH-Only owners won't have, but the base/lair kit is the most important.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote: If you don't find the missions challenging, you can set them higher, prompting more villains and higher level villains per mission.
In my case, it wasn't that the missions weren't necessarily challenging; it was that they weren't dynamic or compelling. Only the ones with time limits ever seemed particularly important.
Interestingly I don't like the timed ones. I can start a mission and quit it without failing it unless it is timed. If I've only got 30 min to play and all I can get are timed missions, I get annoyed. But re-read my first response above, there are a few more types of missions than when you last played. But I'm not trying to sell you on it again, just trying to drill home that the game does evolve. The makers are very interested in keeping people playing (and paying, of course), so they work hard to keep updating things and shaking things up.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote:To each his own. To tell you the truth, part of me would like to play WoW, but I only have time to invest in one online game and Chris is really into CoH, and playing with him is always more rewarding than playing without him. [Smile]
That's really cool. Having someone to play with all the time is worth a TON when it comes to these types of games.
I'm not a subscriber to WOW either right now. My experience with it came from being a beta tester. I got to play the game for months for free, and then couldn't afford it when the beta test phase ended (I was unemployed). Then when I finally had the money to subscribe to a MMORPG, I picked CoH because I had played in the open beta and had a blast for that one day I played it, and because I had already played WoW a lot.
Then I got bored of CoH after a couple months, and didn't renew my subscription.
I've been tempted to go back to WoW, but I haven't yet (and probably won't for the near future). I bought a PS2 instead, and have been using that for my video gaming needs...
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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The problem with WoW is that it's fantasy, re-baked (I played to level 30-something hunter from the start). I'm not a huge fantasy guy to begin with, mind you, but I don't dislike it. The problem is, I've played the setting of WoW (I know, it's got it's original parts) in UO, Asheron's Call, DAoC, and ShadowBane.
While there is a plethora of quests in WoW, I felt that those got just as repetitive as anything in CoH. Kill everything in an instance, kill x of y, get 5 of z. They did have unique ways to chain quests though.
WoW also breeds a low level antisocial behavior (more so since the battlegrounds and the reputation (or whatever they are called) levels). I've seen a guy at work go from finishing quests, and attacking in structured environs, to the "If it's Red, it's dead" belief. The thing is, as a mostly solo, fairly casual gamer, That means I get my 1-2 hours of gameplay ruined fairly consistently.
I'm a casual gamer that would like some sort of semi-consensual PvP. The PvP shouldn't be static (like battlegrounds in WoW), but I should be able to avoid it somoehow, and still complete my goals.
It appears there is a MMOG coming out soon that will provide this, and isn't fantasy to boot!
Pirates of the Burning Sea. It looks like it will have a lot of Sid Meier's Pirates! gameplay, with an interesting PvP framework
Oh, and I get to bring Dread Pirate FuzzyBoots to bear on other humans! --- As for CoH, I recently unsubscribed... I was in the CoV beta, and it didn't exactly grab me. I still root for it, because the fast-actioned gameplay in CoH is more interesting to me than WoW's (and I played a Hunter, which is about as involved combat as you get in WoW).
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For the record, all PvP in CoH/CoV is consensual. If you don't want it, you don't have to engage in it ever, and it doesn't hamper your gameplay in the least to avoid it.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I liked CoH, but I gave it up...I was at level 44 or 45 with Rangar, my elec/elec blaster, and 3-4 of my others (rad healer, and tanks) were in their teens...with one rad healer in her late 20's.
Once I ran out of people to meet up with the level of fun declined..then they gimped my elec/elec blaster, because he was toasting others too easily in the Arena. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Well, Karl, your experience is a bit skewed. I mean, you're playing with someone who is presumably in the same room (or at least talking without a phone or headset distance). That's much more fun, for any game, massively more fun, even without the other romantic options you get with your fellow gamer Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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quote:I won't argue with your perception of the game. Your points are mostly valid, though obviously I disagree.
What is this?? Stop being so respectful! Get angry, throw some chairs! Show everyone the real meaning of a "raging homosexual"!
Posts: 3564 | Registered: Sep 2001
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I read jebus's comment last night and meant to respond with:
quote:How about: "Uh UH, Girl! <snaps fingers> You just need to BACK OFF on the CoH dissing. Jus' 'cuz YOU ain't got no fun goin' on don't mean thuh rest of us ain't!
. . . funny how "raging homosexual" sounds a lot like "ghetto girl"
But I didn't take the time. Might have avoided that last exchange if I had, though. Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I don't remember exactly, pH. What I can tell you is that the controls suit either the clicker personality (that's me, it comes from WoW PvP. Very important to be able to switch around quickly) or a (usually) slower mouser.
You can put it on your laptop, but the CoH system requirements are substantial. You'll probably be much more pleased with your desktop performance.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I would be frustrated playing it without a mouse. There are some cases where it is important to "click" on things in a timely manner, at least the way I play.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Yes, you could install it on multiple machines, but each registered copy of the game only allows you to create one server login ID. But any server login ID can log in from any instance of the game.
In short, I could log in on your laptop/desktop with my CoH ID and play with my characters, but in order to create my ID in the first place, I would have to have purchased the game. (make sense?)
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I played this all weekend (except time out for a couple of Halloween parties). In short, I'm very pleased with the game as an addition to City of Heroes. Some of the new things I really like:
1. Character Creation has new options. The archetypes for villains are different than for heroes, making character creation a very different experience from CoH, though with the familiar CoH interface. Also, there are many new costume options, which is really nice considering the options under CoH were already impressively vast.
I'm playing the "Mastermind" archetype, which gives me the power to summon henchmen to fight with me. These aren't just "pets" like some heroes can summon. They actually stay around until killed or until changing zones, and can be upgraded, healed, and individually commanded.
2. They've done some major upgrades to the graphics. First, the art in City of Villains is better (IMO) than CoH, which was already really good. In CoH, however, the zones all seemed created following individual themes, each had its own characteristics, but they were applied across the board so the zone looked like a themepark neighborhood. (For instance, all the King's Row buildings looked uniformly slummy and dirty). In CoV, the cities look much more organic, like some parts are very old, some are brand new. Some are old sections that look to have been renovated/fortified, etc. The NPCs are extremely varied and have many more animations, making them a lot less zombie-ish than in CoH. In one scary section of town, people seemed to be walking along quickly, looking from side to side appropriately paranoid. They've also upgraded the graphics and animation of individual powers (for both CoH and CoV). Fire effects now blossom with gobbets of fire splashing off targets and burning briefly on the ground and walls.
3. Ragdoll engine: This could go under "graphic" issues above, but I want to give it it's own space. WOW! It's sorta creepy the way bodies go flying when hit. They don't just follow the same repeated animation, which produced some hillarious side effects in CoH. (Bodies laying flat, but suspended in mid-air because one toe caught the edge of a staircase, etc). When a foe gets knocked back, he flies, arms flailing, until he hits the ground or a wall, etc. Once he hits, the body interacts with whatever he hit. If it's a slope, the body will slide down the slope, limply, each limb clearly independently animated. Almost makes me sorry for the poor guys I'm fighting.
4. Missions are varied more than in CoH. Yes, they can still be repetitive, and there are still definite "types" of missions, but there are more of them. The ways you can get them are different, too. Sometimes you get orders from semi-official underworld contacts. Other times from free-lance thugs. Sometimes you cull the newspaper for ideas for opportunistic villainy. Sometimes you're sent on bank heists, or sent to rob a casino. Additionally, there are several on-going missions in zones that you can do when you want, without waiting for orders from a contact.
5. Bases. If you create a supergroup, you can also create a base of operations for it. At first it's just a "safe haven" sort of place you can go to. As your SG builds prestige, you can buy upgrades and devices to make the base more useful. You can set up your own hospital room, teleport room, and lab for creating useful devices. Prices are pretty high, so it's clear that the game favors long-term players and large-well organized supergroups. And the bases are customizable. You get a grid on which you can build rooms and decorate and furnish them as you want. I thought the art available for this part was fairly limited at this time, but there is certainly no reason they can't add more artwork/object options in the future.
There is a lot more, but this is what impressed me most. There are several options for PVP, but I haven't checked them out yet, preferring to get a feel for the game before I start bleeding
As with any new game of this size, there are some minor bug issues left to be dealt with, and some small tweaks to be made. All in all, though, I really enjoyed playing this weekend in the head start. If anyone else here is playing CoV, look me up. I'm on Liberty as Dr. Cypher, of "Project Zero". If you're on Liberty server playing a hero, don't bother contacting me ( ), I'll find you soon enough. Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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. I have a lot of fond memories of it.
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