City of Heroes

[N/A]

EDIT: I decided to repost these links at the top of the thread, so they wouldn't get buried.

If you're going to play City of Heroes, then you should get the Mids Hero Designer. It's an invaluable tool for planning your characters, and the best source of concrete information on what each power actually does for each archetype.

I also highly recommend the Vidiot Maps overlays. Make an account, download the map pack, and then install it. It will go into your CoH game files and replace the zone maps with annoated maps marking the location of every exploration badge marker, every plaque that contributes to a history/lore badge, etc.

And, of course, the best CoH resource on the web is the Paragon Wiki. There are imitators, but this one's the real deal.

For the few, the proud, who shell out their hard-earned cash to prowl the streets of Paragon City.

I play on the Justice server. My global ID is @ShaenTheBrain. The supergroup all my heroes belong to is The Sanctuary (#55 on the Top 100 last time I checked). My characters of note are:

The Maltese Tiger: Level 50 Natural-Origin Stalker, Martial Arts / Ninjutsu, Hero or Vigilante (he bounces back and forth), Incarnate

Kharmilla: Level 50 Mutant-Origin Controller, Mind Control / Kinetics, Hero, Incarnate

Santa Muerte: Level 47 Science-Origin Warshade, Umbral Blast / Umbral Aura, Hero

I'll probably post pictures and/or videos eventually. Maybe even builds.

If you create a hero on Justice, yes, I can get you into a supergroup with a sweet base, and yes, I can toss you some cash to help pimp out your character.

[Supercape]

Well, once we get the global server thingy, Ill roll something up on Justice to say hi! For now, im on Union and Defiant with far too many alts to count!

[Dr Archeville]

CoH going free to play.

[Dr Archeville]

So I spent much of the weekend playing the 7 day free trial of CoH.

First thing I notice: the game runs slow on my not-built-for-gaming comp. I had to crank the graphics all the way down for it to run smoothly. Also, there's an annoying tendency for it to completely lock up when I talk to people (twice w/ one of the guys in the tutorial, twice w/ Praetor White, once w/ Robert Flores; doesn't happen all the time, just sometimes). No idea what's causing that.

I've got one char on the Virtue server (which seems to be the one most folks here use), Dedd Hedd (Dead Head was unavailable ) Tanker, Willpower/Dark Melee, level 7. Not sure what Power Pool to go with or him -- Concealment, Leaping, Speed, and Teleport all look fun. With the Resistance, will try and stay on the heroic path for him.

Not sure what to make for Doktor Archeville. Leaning towards Mastermind (Robots!), but am stuck on what to give him for Secondary; both Force Field and Traps look tempting. (The Inventor Archetype in Champs Online has a mix of all three of those, and has served me well there.) Power Pools, Concealment, Flight, Medicine, and Teleport all look good. Would probably make him a Loyalist (for variety), on a Hero-Villain-Hero revolving door.

So who else is playing, and what are your characters? I know we've got a few, but don't know who/what.

[N/A]

I think trial accounts cap out at Level 14, so any real "long-term" planning is theoretical for now.

I've got one char on the Virtue server (which seems to be the one most folks here use), Dedd Hedd (Dead Head was unavailable ) Tanker, Willpower/Dark Melee, level 7. Not sure what Power Pool to go with or him -- Concealment, Leaping, Speed, and Teleport all look fun.

You can have up to 4 power pool sets on a character. Some form of movement power makes the game much more convenient, especially at higher levels where the game becomes much more 3-D.

Superleap is a really fast, fun, and thus, popular movement power. One of the 1st-tier powers, Combat Jumping, gives you a significant movement boost (it's almost a mini-travel power itself) and Defense bonus for a neglible Endurance cost, so it's popular even among people who take a different movement power (or none at all).

Super-Speed is also a fun, popular movement power. Partially because it lets you run literally as fast as it's possible for the game to render, partially because it gives a stealth bonus vs NPCs, and partially because of the 1st-tier power, Haste (which gives every power you have a recharge boost equal to 2 Single-Origin recharge enhancements for 2 minutes).

Teleport is really fast, but it's also an Endurance hog. One of the 1st tier powers, Recall Friend (colloquially known as "TP Friend"), is so useful for quality-of-life that a lot of people wind up taking it regardless of concept. It's especially common for people to take it "for the good of the group" if they have a resurrection power, stealth (bypass enemies, go straight to the objective, then TP everyone else in), or a movement power that gives them a lot of freedom (like Flight or Teleport).

Most people who take Flight take it for either concept or convenience/safety. It's a solid choice, but not "uber." Because of the difficulty in rendering in three dimensions, the game cannot support a flight speed anywhere near as fast as the run speed, so Flight is much slower than Super-Speed.

I personally love having enough concealment to run around invisible until I start attacking people. It just makes the game so much more convenient.

You can find out how to do so here. Short answer: For a Tanker, you'd need either the Invisibility power (2nd tier in the Concealment pool), or some combination of two of the following: Super-Speed (2nd tier in the Speed pool), Stealth (1st tier in the Concealment pool), and/or a unique Stealth invention enhancement (which you can get from either random drops, the market, or from a Merit Vendor). That will screen you from like 99% of the NPCs in the game. The only exceptions will be Snipers (a special type of LT which only a couple of factions have), Giant Monsters, and the handful of NPCs who just plain ignore stealth (the Knives of Artemis, the floating eyeballs of Rularuu, etc.).

On a side note, Willpower is an awesome set, but so is Dark Armor. I'd seriously consider doing him as a Dark/Dark. Dark Armor is almost exclusively a Resistance set, as opposed to the Defense/Regeneration/Resistance hybrid of Willpower, so it's less a Jack-of-all-trades and more a Master-of-One. But it also has some nice tools (Dark Regen), and some synergy with Dark Melee (stacking fears, stacking Accuracy penalties, etc.). I'd also seriously consider doing him as a Scrapper instead of a Tanker. The former are much easier to solo and more user-friendly, so they're a great Baby's First CoH PC (no offense).

Not sure what to make for Doktor Archeville. Leaning towards Mastermind (Robots!), but am stuck on what to give him for Secondary; both Force Field and Traps look tempting. (The Inventor Archetype in Champs Online has a mix of all three of those, and has served me well there.) Power Pools, Concealment, Flight, Medicine, and Teleport all look good.

You're torn because both of those secondaries are really good. Choose Force Fields if you prefer more of a "passive" game. Just throw up the buffs, occasionally renew, let your robots kill everything, and become more or less invulnerable. Traps is more for an "active" playstyle, where you're laying down a mix of buffs and debuffs. Personally, I prefer a more "frantic" playstyle, but I know it's not for everyone.

Either Flight or Teleport would work great for Dok Ark conceptually. When you Teleport to a point in mid-air, you only get a couple seconds of hovering before you start to fall. So a lot of Teleporters take Hover, the 1st-tier Flight power, especially if they have slow hardware like you do. Hover costs a lot less Endurance than Flight, and it gives a small Defense bonus (like Combat Jumping), but it's really, really slow.

[Cyroa]

I'm on Virtue as well. (Just joined)

Same name here as there (Cyroa). Have 1 char I'm using mainly Blue Torque (defender tech focus). Really its me getting a handle on the game. I have Dark Sky as well (Dark Star was taken). And have Emerald Spear (Peacebringer) though he's just started; wanted to try it out. *shrug*

Still learning the system and what ideas are good. My hardest part is coming up with names that aren't taken!

[N/A]

I have Dark Sky as well (Dark Star was taken).

My hardest part is coming up with names that aren't taken!

Dark Star was taken. Did you try "Dark-Star," "Darkstar," etc.?

[Cyroa]

Hmm...I suppose I coudl try that. I had him as a Controller. Not sure about the secondary though.

[Dr Archeville]

I think trial accounts cap out at Level 14, so any real "long-term" planning is theoretical for now.

ah, well, knew there had to be some drawbacks.

On a side note, Willpower is an awesome set, but so is Dark Armor. I'd seriously consider doing him as a Dark/Dark. Dark Armor is almost exclusively a Resistance set, as opposed to the Defense/Regeneration/Resistance hybrid of Willpower, so it's less a Jack-of-all-trades and more a Master-of-One. But it also has some nice tools (Dark Regen), and some synergy with Dark Melee (stacking fears, stacking Accuracy penalties, etc.). I'd also seriously consider doing him as a Scrapper instead of a Tanker. The former are much easier to solo and more user-friendly, so they're a great Baby's First CoH PC (no offense).

Hunh, I'd often heard Tankers were the best "Baby's First MMO char" (and that's what I'd made Dead Head as in Champs Online). I do like the Regen/Resistance combo of Willpower (it fits how Dead Head is here), but if I do remake him as a Scrapper, I'll def give the Dark/Dark a try.

[N/A]

I had him as a Controller. Not sure about the secondary though.

Conceptually, I'd go with Gravity Control as the primary set, and either Kinetics or Radiation for the secondary set.

Hunh, I'd often heard Tankers were the best "Baby's First MMO char" (and that's what I'd made Dead Head as in Champs Online). I do like the Regen/Resistance combo of Willpower (it fits how Dead Head is here), but if I do remake him as a Scrapper, I'll def give the Dark/Dark a try.

Heh. That is so wrong. Scrappers do a lot more damage than Tankers, and have slightly lower resistances and hit points, which makes them significantly easier to solo. If you want user-friendly self-sufficiency, you want a Scrapper.

[Dr Archeville]

See, I'd always heard the opposite, that the higher hit points & resistances of a Tanker made for a more forgiving experience (since you could withstand a lot more damage and would thus be less likely to die/would not die so often). Plus, the "everyone gangs up on [the hideous undead]" mechanic of Tankers seems fitting.

[Quinn]

Another option is Dead Head as a Battle Axe/Willpower Tanker; Battleaxe users can change the appearance of said axe to a shovel!

[Supercape]

ill just throw my 2 influence in here, as a CoH addict...

Firstly, there is only really one golden rule in CoH. 3 Slots in stamina and put good enhancements in them! (Single Origin, or lvl 25+ Invention Origin, or whatever your best enhancements are).

Other than that, as long as you dont set out to stuff yourself, it is really really hard to make a bad toon. And you don't need to min/max or uberise. CoH is a nice comfortable wooly jumper. You can play how you want, and even the hardest content is doable with characters slotted with the cheapest enhancements. So, kick back, enjoy, and experiment.

I have played over 50 alts and have 27 at level 50. Some work a little better than others, but none are gimped, and I enjoy them all. About the only way I can see of truly stuffing yourself is to play a Radiation Emission / Energy Blast Defender (The former set relies only closely knit enemies for good effectiveness, the second set has a tendency to knock em all over the place) but even that is potentially workable.

One thing to consider however, is that some toons are better in teams, mediocre solo, and other toons the reverse. Most fall somewhere in-between.

Scrappers (and stalkers villainside) are however the most extreme example of "solo" toons. They solo great, and are designed for it. The perfect mix of damage and protection. Now, they do of course function in teams, and scrappers will bleat on about how they pull there weight in teams. But I really can assure you they dont - they only seem to do because they are buffed up to the hilt by other toons and other toons are crippling the enemies.

Defenders (and to a lesser degree controllers) are the most extreme example of "Team" toons. They can solo, but its slow and sometimes dangerous. Put them in a team and they rock.

As far as tanks go, they are much loved in teams. Solo, its a case of "slow but steady". They won't die, but they dont go very fast. Masterminds tend to be somewhat "middle of the road". They functinon pretty well solo and in teams without being optimised for either.

This is all slightly generalised, as it does to a degree depend on how you build your toon, how you slot it, and what sets you get, but its a pretty good rule of thumb. "Hero" ATs seem to be designed in general more specialist (and thus better in teams), "Villain" ATs are deisgned to function more independently.

I mention this because its worth considering when you choose what AT to play. If you are going to solo a lot, dont choose a tank when you can choose a brute or scrapper equivilent (for instance). The same applies in reverse.

You can, of course, get away with playing anyway anyhow in CoH. Optimisation and min/maxing is not part of the culture or required. But its worth considering.

I deleted a ton of toons, and no doubt will delete some more. The best thing about CoH is just to kick back and enjoy. People much prefer a great costume, funny bio, and amusing battle cry than whether you have "uber" enhancements (they dont really care at all about the latter). You cant go wrong. Most importantly, Its not WoW!

[N/A]

ill just throw my 2 influence in here, as a CoH addict...

Firstly, there is only really one golden rule in CoH. 3 Slots in stamina and put good enhancements in them! (Single Origin, or lvl 25+ Invention Origin, or whatever your best enhancements are).

Other than that, as long as you dont set out to stuff yourself, it is really really hard to make a bad toon. And you don't need to min/max or uberise. CoH is a nice comfortable wooly jumper. You can play how you want, and even the hardest content is doable with characters slotted with the cheapest enhancements. So, kick back, enjoy, and experiment.

I have played over 50 alts and have 27 at level 50. Some work a little better than others, but none are gimped, and I enjoy them all. About the only way I can see of truly stuffing yourself is to play a Radiation Emission / Energy Blast Defender (The former set relies only closely knit enemies for good effectiveness, the second set has a tendency to knock em all over the place) but even that is potentially workable.

I agree. CoH is just plain easier than most other MMOs. The margin for error is greater. It's a more relaxed game overall. There are no archetypes or powers or combinations that you "need" to have in order to accomplish any given task. You can just throw together a team of whatever and it'll most likely work. And that's what I love most about it.

There are a handful of possible power combinations which work at odds with each other, but those are (thankfully) rare, and usually obvious at a glance, for issues like the one Supercape touched on (don't combine a set that works better while surrounded by lots of bad guys with a set that knocks them back all over the place).

One thing to consider however, is that some toons are better in teams, mediocre solo, and other toons the reverse. Most fall somewhere in-between.

Scrappers (and stalkers villainside) are however the most extreme example of "solo" toons. They solo great, and are designed for it. The perfect mix of damage and protection. Now, they do of course function in teams, and scrappers will bleat on about how they pull there weight in teams. But I really can assure you they dont - they only seem to do because they are buffed up to the hilt by other toons and other toons are crippling the enemies.

Defenders (and to a lesser degree controllers) are the most extreme example of "Team" toons. They can solo, but its slow and sometimes dangerous. Put them in a team and they rock.

As far as tanks go, they are much loved in teams. Solo, its a case of "slow but steady". They won't die, but they dont go very fast. Masterminds tend to be somewhat "middle of the road". They functinon pretty well solo and in teams without being optimised for either.

I agree that Scrappers and Stalkers are noticeably better solo than on teams, but I'd never refuse one a spot on my team. More damage is always a good thing.

I agree with the assessment of Defenders and Tankers, but I'd counter that while Controllers solo relatively slowly, they also provide the safest soloing experience I've ever had.

This is all slightly generalised, as it does to a degree depend on how you build your toon, how you slot it, and what sets you get, but its a pretty good rule of thumb. "Hero" ATs seem to be designed in general more specialist (and thus better in teams), "Villain" ATs are deisgned to function more independently.

I absolutely agree here. And that's why I prefer the villain archetypes: They're all meant to be relatively self-sufficient.

I mention this because its worth considering when you choose what AT to play. If you are going to solo a lot, dont choose a tank when you can choose a brute or scrapper equivilent (for instance). The same applies in reverse.

You can, of course, get away with playing anyway anyhow in CoH. Optimisation and min/maxing is not part of the culture or required. But its worth considering.

Again, agreed. There is optimization and min-maxing out there for people who want it, but it's hardly required.

I deleted a ton of toons, and no doubt will delete some more. The best thing about CoH is just to kick back and enjoy. People much prefer a great costume, funny bio, and amusing battle cry than whether you have "uber" enhancements (they dont really care at all about the latter). You cant go wrong. Most importantly, Its not WoW!

No it is not, and that is the best selling point it has.

[Dr Archeville]

Another option is Dead Head as a Battle Axe/Willpower Tanker; Battleaxe users can change the appearance of said axe to a shovel!

Great, now I'm torn between making Dead Head a Dark Armor/Battleaxe Tanker or an Invulnerability/Battle Ax Tanker!

Did finally make Dok last night, Mastermind Robots/Force Field. The fields that he can only apply to allys, not self, can be applied to summoned minions, right? Minions don't count as 'self'?

[N/A]

If you're going to play City of Heroes, then you should get the Mids Hero Designer. It's an invaluable tool for planning your characters, and the best source of concrete information on what each power actually does for each archetype.

I also highly recommend the Vidiot Maps overlays. Make an account, download the map pack, and then install it. It will go into your CoH game files and replace the zone maps with annoated maps marking the location of every exploration badge marker, every plaque that contributes to a history/lore badge, etc.

And, of course, the best CoH resource on the web is the Paragon Wiki. There are imitators, but this one's the real deal.

[N/A]

Great, now I'm torn between making Dead Head a Dark Armor/Battleaxe Tanker or an Invulnerability/Battle Ax Tanker!

Invulnerability is a great set, but it has (by design) a gaping hole called "Psionic Damage." Personally, I prefer either Dark Armor or Willpower. Neither one can reach damage resistances as high as Invulnerability, but they both have Psionic Damage resistance toggles.

I'm biased toward the Darkness power sets, because I'm the kind of player who thinks that a pound of my enemy's food is worth ten of my own. So I prefer scaling buffs that debuff/damage the enemy, even if their effectiveness varies from one situation to the next, rather than static, consistent buffs that benefit me without actively harming the enemy. When forced to choose, I'd rather inflict penalties on the enemy than give myself bonuses. I will concede, however, that the latter type of power and power set is more forgiving and newbie-friendly.

When you talk about CoH, most things come down to personal preference, in terms of either tactical approach or pure aesthetic appeal.

[Gizmo]

I could definitely see Willpower working for Dead Head, it's a good mix of resistances and boosted regeneration that makes sense. As everyone's said, though, CoH is pretty forgiving on the whole, and especially with Scrappers, Tankers and Brutes there aren't a lot of 'bad' choices to make. You're pretty free to follow concept. I practically hobbled Jacque of all Blades by only taking the sword themed attacks from the Fiery Melee set and instead focusing on Super Reflexes, but he's still been hella effective (having better than 30% Defenses while in the low Lvl 20s doesn't hurt).

Oh, and minions (pets) are count as others, yeah. They don't count for some effects like Vengeance out of the Leadership Pool, though, fair warning.

[Dr Archeville]

Game locked up on me 3 times last night, each after about an hour of play.

[Supercape]

Game locked up on me 3 times last night, each after about an hour of play.

Thats unusual, to say the least. I maybe get one mapserver a week, only half the time leading to a lock out. It has been better since I upgraded my computer, I will confess. CoH recently got a demon upgrade to its graphics (I brought an almost top end machine and I cant run it even near top specs...) which might be the reason. On the other hand, occassionally some servers do go through a week or two of "wobbles".

Overall however, my experience has been that the days of disconnects and lockouts in the game are history. Sorry to hear about that experience, Doc.

[Dr Archeville]

I think I've found why my CoH is crashing: NVIDIA driver incompatibility.

[N/A]

That's ironic. For years, it was ATI cards that had endless problems with the game. Now there's a hiccup with NVIDIA?

And yeah, locking and crashing with that frequency is totally not normal for CoH, even on a low-end machine.

[Gizmo]

I've been having a lot of trouble that way, too. I've got a NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, which isn't one of the listed cards, but...

[Dr Archeville]

Installed new (er, older) drivers for my NVIDIA card, and I was able to play for two and a half hours last night!

So how many folks are in Praetoria, and how many just started as a Hero in regular/Primal Earth?

[Gizmo]

Jacque I just started off blueside. I've played through Praetoria a couple of times, and it's definitely the superior content and gives you more archetype flexibility, but you don't unlock any of the epic archetypes by getting a Praetorian up to Level 20. I'm trying to focus on Jacque to finally get someone to 50 - I keep jumping to new ideas and characters - but after that I'll probably slog through redside a bit to unlock the Arachnos Soldiers. After that I guess we'll see how the new intro mission content is, but I expect I'll be hankering for Praetoria again, with the ol' palate cleansed.