June 10, 2004

Best online role playing game ever. Of course, it's the first one I've ever played, but I'm convinced it's the best. Create your own superhero and battle evil!! Be amazed at how hours upon hours get sucked into the void! Spend every minute at home playing it, like my husband!
posted by Koko 20 years ago
  • Is it still a treadmill, though? Because that was the singular reason why I stopped playing them in the first place.
  • What does "treadmill" mean in this context?
  • What if you're evil and wanted to "treadmill" superheroes?
  • One of the advantages City of Heroes has over most of the others is the ability to go into a pocket side-quest with a set party. Nobody else can join in, nobody can kill-steal, nobody can train a bunch of monsters on you in these little side quests. Of course, you also can't call for backup, but that's not a terrible thing. It means you can play with your friends without having to worry about levelling up super-high just to be able to enjoy the game. That eliminates some of the treadmill aspect. Kimberly, in a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, a treadmill is the action you get into when you play the game for the sole purpose of making your character higher-level. You don't play for fun, you play because, if you don't, everyone else will be far higher in level than you and you won't be able to do anything fun. It was a serious problem with Everquest back in the day, and also the source of its addiction, because you could play for many, many, many hours/days/weeks/months without overtaxing your mind, while still having goals of, for example, being the highest-level player on the server or similar.
  • Treadmill = Everquest. You kill monsters, wait for them to repopulate, kill them again. Rinse, repeat, change scenery, rinse, repeat ad infinitum. Basically, it's a lot of work and time for just a change of scenery or equipment with little or no reason to interact with other people.
  • Sadly, after alphaing and betaing CoH for a while, a pattern started forming. Run into building, beat up bad guys, rinse, repeat. It's cool for the first few weeks, but it started to drag on me after a while. YMMV. I'm worried about MxO turning out this way as well...
  • I tried to create a superhero who was Intensely Boring, but they don't have that power listed.
  • I am more interested in the expansion: City of Villains.
  • Ahhh. I never knew that's what it was called. I played a mud-type game on a bbs back in the day and that's pretty much what it turned out to be.
  • Alright, does it have bugs and how bad are they? How much does it cost? What's the customer service like? What is the server like, how often does it lag/go offline/get borked? Are the graphics any good? What is the social interraction like? You say the missions are instanced, which is ok, but that might cut down on interraction with a wider group of other players in more random fashion. What kind of machine do I need to run it? What's so good about being a superhero when everyone else is a superhero? What kind of customisation or creative control does a player have over his look, his tools, his powers & his weapons? Just give us a rundown on these things briefly, if you can, so we don't have to trawl thru the actual product site, since it no doubt will not be objective.
  • It's the only MMO game I've played too. Character creation is truly awesome; it's half the fun. The social aspect is pretty good most of the time. The graphics are GTA3-like in more ways than one, but there's much more detail on player characters. A lot of fun, but I hope they come up with more to do.
  • Sadly, after alphaing and betaing CoH for a while, a pattern started forming. Run into building, beat up bad guys, rinse, repeat. It's cool for the first few weeks, but it started to drag on me after a while. YMMV. I'm worried about MxO turning out this way as well... I really hope it doesn't, because I've been anticipating MxO and even signed up for the beta (tho I didn't make the first wave). The good thing is, it looks like MxO characters will only be able to "hold" a certain amount of abilities at a time, so that no one gets Neo-esque enough to dominate the server. Plus, it looks like the designers really put thought into the Matrix world, to the point where it seems like there will be just as many scheming meetings in run-down apartment buildings and night clubs as there will be massive fights. And if that doesn't even things out, there's always the option of playing as a sentient program or a machinist...I really, really want to play as a badass with machine guns and cool clothes, but then again it would be a hell of a lot of fun to play as a sentient program and just mess with people all day. Deja vu.
  • City of Villains Free 14 Day Trial Mr. Koko and I also have 14-day trials of City of Heroes and Lineage II to give away, if anyone is interested. Email is in the profile. This was one of my first FPPs, if not the first. It may well be the lamest.
  • I'll take a city of heroes trial.
  • I'll send you one when I get home.
  • /big thumbs up
  • Sent it just now.