CoH

City of Heroes. They tried to make it 'the game that breaks the mold' but ended up with a MMO that was just like every other except for being late to add PvP and content.

Basically your 'heroes' are the standard archetypes of every single MMO in existance. Tanks and scrappers are warriors, controllers and defenders are clerics, and blasters are mages. How more unoriginal could you possibly be?

Well, now PVP turns out to henge on how often you farm the only end game content for special enhancements, after they made a big fuss over how loot would not be involved in their game and how farming was some sort of damnable sin in any MMO.

The whole time I played the game I always felt this strong arrogance from those who created it, as they claimed that any story, character, artwork, or even an idea for a hero belonged solely to them. Marvel seems to have had enough of this, and though its somewhat old news, they are appearantly fighting it out with Cryptic for these rights. I certainly hope they win, one because I think its wrong for Cryptic to claim ownership of the original ideas and creations of others, not just Marvel's characters but of the individual players.

An update: most of Marvel's claims got eaten. Boo hoo.

As someone who's never played the game, I'm going to tell you you're wrong.  Here's why:

CoH is an original game that uses twitch based action combat with queue based special moves and skills.  It focuses on three types of heroes:

City based "street level" heroes.  These heroes patrol the streets and rely on agility and a wide assortment of moves to get out of any situation, including stealth, hand to hand combat, gadgetry, and diplomacy.

"Super" heroes, these are heroes who have typical powers such as flying, blocking bullets, and shooting laserbeams out of their eye sockets.  These heroes typically fight other super powered beings, but rely on street level heroes to track down elusive villains and criminal masterminds.

Galactic heroes, these are heroes who inhabit space and other dimensions.  They typically fight villains around the same level, and rely on the two former groups to track down their respective villains, who are usually in control of galactic level villains and superweapons in one form or another.

Now, heroes can do just fine solo, but in many cases a team is recommended to take on groups of villains and to use an assortment of strengths and weaknesses to take on large creatures and mechanical creations. 

The problem with teams is that one player must be the leader, and others must follow his orders, including mission selection and goals.  If the leader chooses missions innappropriate for the team, then the team will most likely get slaughtered.  The team leader also gets to design a team uniform which all members must wear.  These are the main reasons most players prefer a solo or "lone wolf" character, though there are greater rewards in team based play.

Missions are intertwined with mission goals, which lead to other missions.  For example, if a hero finds a uniquely generated ray gun, he can continue to use it, or discover its creators are another supervillain team, or that a desperate tribe of savages needs it to defend against unknown monsters.  By randomly associating mission results with newly generated missions, an ongoing series of plot twists and turns presents itself to the player.

The upcoming expansion, City of Villains, will introduce the solo and team dynamic of villain characters, who must choose missions that run counter to heroes' goals.  For example, a low level villain team must rob a small bank.  If no heroes arrive to intervene, the villains succeed in their mission and gain experience.  If the heroes do arrive in time to stop them, then a battle commences within the mission area.  The villains can try to fight the heroes off, or complete the mission and try to make a run for it at 50% experience. 

Encountered heroes are added on to the villains "enemy" list, while encountered villains are added on to the heroes "wanted" list.  As both player groups try to level up and gain new skills and technology, they may encounter each other time and time again, leading to conflicts and rivalries.

Eventually, heroes and villains gain the ability to create their own missions, which include ways to trap the opposing side.  For example, a bank robbery can be staged, so that arriving heroes are met with a room full of gangsters instead of innocent hostages.  Or, a villain can disguise themselves as a new hero recruit, and enlist in a hero team before backstabbing them. 

Players who frequently switch sides gain a reputation for doing so, and are often mistrusted.  They do gain the advantage of being exposed to both hero and villain equipment and technology, and make excellent villains later on, with the disadvantage of being on other player's "wanted" list, including other villains.   

Finally, villains and heroes can fight each other in designated arenas:

Training grounds- hero vs hero or villain vs villain combat, designed to test new abilities and prove eligibility for teams.
Spectator arena- hero vs villain combat, for boasting and prestige.
Confrontation- hero vs villain combat in one of several zones.  More serious pvp combat, where stakes include mission results, mission rewards, and exclusive mission generation.  For example, a hero team issues a confrontation against a villain team, with the intention of gaining a valuable piece of technology.  If the hero team loses, then it forfeits one of its own mission items needed for later missions.  Stakes can also be in the form of money, hostages, informants, scientists, energy sources, and sidekicks.

Again, coming from someone who's never played it, I'd say it's a pretty good game.

>>3

As someone who has played the game, I can honestly say I have no idea where the hell this idiot pulled the above bullshit from.

While half of it makes sense the rest of it seems to have been made up on the spot, sounding more like how the game /should/ play than how it /actually/ plays.

Then again the above post is more than likely a troll that I'm willingly falling prey to. But why the hell not? I've got nothing better to do with my time today.

Explaining why all the above points are wrong would be pretty fun.. but I'm not going to waste that sort of time. Suffice to say >>3 is an idiot and I >>4 am the voice of correct reason.

But I have to ask myself. How many of you actually read what was posted above? How many are actually reading this? So many lines of text.. paragraphs even.. it doesn't seem possible that world4ch's average poster is still paying any attention.

Regardless this pointlessly long post continues as I ramble on and on about useless shit that no one cares about. Might I point out that a long post can be just as pointless as a one liner? Anonymous does not forgive the elitist idiocy that so called 'intelligent' posters like to throw around.

So, in conclusion. Blah blah blah, random shit random shit. I'm talking, everyone listen to me! Right now I demand it.

Again, coming from someone who's played the game, bullshit.

>>3

... um. What the hell? Back to Marvel with you.

>>4

As far as I can tell, CoH gets a fair amount of grief from people who play 'real' MMOs for some strange reason or another. Maybe because it's too 'American' or something, I dunno. Anyway, I play it and love it, and anyone who thinks otherwise can leap up my ass and spin.

Also, Marvel might as well drop the case now; all the big teeth got ripped out, and CoH is rolling along merrily. Issue 4 be a-comin'! (The fact that the only other Co* I might actually have to buy in terms of software is City of Villains makes me happy in my happy place.)

>>5

I've grown tired of MMO's that have no other point to them than the constant slaying of mobs.. it gets real old real fast. CoH currently has no other gameplay mechanic to interest me for too long, beyond leveling what the hell can I do? Sure socialize with the other people.. but I do that just fine in MU*s.

Anyway, I've given up on MMO's until a suitibly deep one presents itself..

>>6
Well... you can try to climb buildings, by jumping up the windowframes.  That's always fun for a few weeks.  Or you can stand in one spot and count how many times you can jump before your computer freezes - I was doing that for days, once.

>>7
I got tired of scaling buildings within the first few minutes of the tutorial after I got over the invisible wall.

Fighting spam, one bump at a time!

i am gay