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January 12

There's a lot of easy combinations. I think most folks would recommend a melee character - either a scrapper or a brute. Play hero side (avoid Going Rogue) since most people will be on as heroes and can team/assist you.

Just about any scrapper or brute will be easy, though I recommend a resistance or a resistance/defense based secondary just because a defensive build (super reflexes, energy aura) tends to take a bit of investment and slots to really see it shine.

January 11

So I've been hanging out in Excelsior lately soaking up the vibe of a very crowded server. I'm beginning to see a lot of names that use substitute characters, spaces or other tricks since they weren't able to get the first choice name. Examples (made up to protect the innocent):

B L O O D

Bl00d

B1ood

B.l.o.o.d.

You get the idea. Probably the only one I might personally go for is B.l.o.o.d. Maybe some sort of android or robot which uses an acronym intentionally? The others are not acceptable to me at all. I'd much rather have a hero named Blood Maven or Blood Baroness than some of the examples. However, there are other folks who are quite content or have higher tolerance for inexact names.

January 10

2 minutes ago, Oubliette_Red said:

As I reminded someone last night, don't ask in Atlas Park if "anyone is running a fire farm in AE".

For veteran players, I'd recommend taking off LFG, broadcast, General and Help and putting them into their own tab.

This isolates 'Sitter LF FF' spam which honestly is kind of pitiful to see in Excelsior/Everlasting public channels, and immersion breaking.

January 10

8 minutes ago, lemming said:

Does she leave her position if someone brings a target nearby? Positron & Valkyrie often leave their post to gank an outcast.

Not sure. Penelope Yin does the same in IP, but she stays stationary with ranged attacks.

January 10

So I wanted to verify I wasn't seeing things, but Ms. Liberty is out of her spot in Atlas Park in Excelsior.

On Excelsior:

On Indomitable:

Hordes of new players around Ms. Liberty is pretty crushing. The screenshot was when the numbers of players was somewhat modest. I really think they should figure out a place where Back Alley Brawler is a bit more accessible to balance this a bit.

January 9

Game play is designed around the journey not the end. The most fun you'll have is the journey to level 50, not after level 50.
Experiment. Try out a number of archetypes and power sets. Some will grab you more than others. Don't really worry about money (influence) because enhancements don't really play much of a factor until level 10+.
Team up. This game has one of the absolute best teaming mechanisms among MMOs, and you can get a better understanding as to why some players like to play controllers, defenders, corruptors.
Spend time in making up a costume and a bio. This isn't your typical sword and fantasy MMO. You are a hero, and the more you get into it, the more fun it will be.
Ask for help. The help channel or most of the public channels will be filled with people who can point you in the right direction, if not give you more direct aid. This game is full of veterans and people who somewhat embody superhero virtues like helping others.

January 9

37 minutes ago, Eyeborn said:

I cannot play the game the servers are running so slow.

Was on Excelsior an hour ago. No issues here.

Depending on your setup, I'd first try to see how things are on other servers. Excelsior is really busy, but the other servers less so. If this is the first time you've connected to Homecoming, changing graphic settings can make a big difference. COH is not a graphic intensive game compared to modern games, but its graphics technology is dated and works best with OGL compatible GPUs. It can run on an integrated GPU (most laptops) but not at high settings.

January 9

3 hours ago, Damoklese said:

The weaknesses im trying to avoid:

-Endurance hogs

-No Mez protection

-Annoying perma-power toggling (i.e. having to keep hasten and dom up, rather than just having a single auto-cast ability)

-Inability to solo bosses

-Boring/repetitive playstyle, or a lack of engagement (i.e. Illusion control is effective, but super boring without some fun additions from other sets)

On top of that I just want to feel powerful. Knocking things around and such. Maybe a big damage number occasionally.

I feel like you're looking for some sort of Diablo-like character who uses damage auras. The first character type that came to mind were either a Spines/Dark or Spines/Fire brute, but you did mention you don't want to be in your face.

The next option is something with damage auras, pets or a lot of pseudo pets. Sets that fit that are:

Fire - Hotfeet, Bonfire, Fire Imps

Darkness - Haunt, Umbra Beast

Plant Control - Spirit Tree, Carrion Creepers, Fly Trap

Secondary powers which have mez protection:

Traps

Force Fields (this one has rather low damage)

Sonic Resonance

Of the weaknesses you mention, I'd forgo mez protection. I find that with IOs and incarnate powers, mezzes are mitigated that the duration is rather short. Personally, I think a set with a lot pets and soft controls (area slow, knockbacks) are what you're aiming for. Darkness Control/Storm? Darkness Control/Traps? Fire/Traps?

But I agree with the others, there doesn't seem to be a combination that fits everything you want.

January 6

17 minutes ago, Sume said:

I ended up deleting and redoing the character. Kept everything the same though. As I found the tutorial for Going Rogue was broken. I did the same server but went hero side. I had to ask for help to find Ms Liberty. I was like omg once shown where she was.

Don’t be afraid to start a few different characters with different power sets and archetypes. One of the things you’ll notice is that they’ll play quite differently. Some combinations are powerful right out the gate and others require considerable investment. That is not saying those combinations are worse, just longer developing with a payoff later in your character career.

You’ll find some combinations will draw you in more than others. The best thing about COH is the range of choices. Many will advise to start with a concept and pick powers sets that match what you have in mind. I find that characters with a strong concept tend to be less throwaway and get played more.

There are a lot of concepts that fit a stealthy archer character, including power sets that you may not know have archery based powers such as Illusion/Trick Archery controllers. The Archery blast sets are common to Blasters, Corruptors and I believe Sentinels (not sure about the last because I’ve only rolled one Sentinel character) and Trick Arrow, which is a debuff set, is available to Defenders, Corruptors and Controllers.

Finally, welcome to the City of Heroes. If you need any further assistance, let us know here or in-game. I’d be happy to jump on for a few minutes and show you around.

January 3

2 hours ago, Riot Siren said:

I do agree with the nuke thing, unfortunately like you said, too late on that. At 50 I think what people really underestimate is the Alpha level shift, which basically removes the highest level of difficulty in most content from the game. From my experience there is a fairly significant jump in difficulty from +3 to +4, particularly in enemy survivability, that no longer exist for anyone with the alpha slot above t3. It's effectively the point where the game starts to punish you for going after enemies much higher level then you. While it's certainly not the only reason why players are more powerful these days, I think its a nice low hanging fruit that could be adjusted, as it could be regulated to Incarnate content only like the other level shifts, without really effecting player builds.

One thing that Rebirth does that may be of interest is that they time gate the acquisition of Incarnate abilities. Heather Townsend and all the other Dark Astoria based contacts are on a 24-hour timer for rewards. The fastest way you can get Incarnate powers is doing the iTrials that are hosted by the Rebirth community once a week. I farmed with my level 50 tank for 2-3 weeks and I have a full T4 Alpha, T1 in Interface and a T1 in Judgment; I also have Lore and Destiny 50% unlocked. Generally, if you are playing solo, it will take you a lot of time to unlock Incarnate powers on Rebirth.

Now with that said, Rebirth is a mature community so you have players with T4 in every Incarnate power, but these are characters that have been around for years. What you do notice is that there are a fair amount of level 50s without any Incarnate powers at all or those with just their Alpha unlocked.

I'm not suggesting that they implement this sort of thing in Homecoming, but it does strike me as a way to limit Incarnate powers from a freshly PL'ed level 50.

January 3

7 hours ago, MoonSheep said:

hey, this was a really interesting read - thanks for taking the time to make the post. i think a lot of us - including me, can get lost in the HC echo chamber and assume the way things currently are is the only way to play CoH

this does cause me some frustration at times. i often find you can play with a lvl 50 who has no real idea on how to play the character they've logged into - they PL to 50, get a defensive build from the forum and play every alt, including doms/controllers/support ATs as a scrapper. this is often disappointing when teaming as you think you're getting a kin or a great thermal defender who was going to stack shields between missions etc.. when really you someone who should have stuck to being a scrapper and doesn't know to click any of their primary set powers. on live, slower progression generally meant a lvl 50 knew what they were doing

this relates to the part i've quoted below about IOs - the prevelance of them has help to break archetypes. on the server where IOS were rare, was there more team cooperation to achieve objectives?

personally i think this is what an MMO is meant to be about. i only play two alts and invest in those alts, though i recognise my playstyle is a minority in the era of people having 50+ alts. i have always believed in having a "main" which receives the primary benefit of IOs etc. i think this plays into the concept of an MMO also, investing time in your main to make it the best it can be

i have been discussing on the forums for a while on whether IOs broke CoH and led to the game being too easy, but i think this also comes into player ability. when i first started playing CoH it felt more challenging as i expect i was rather awful at playing it. when you know how the various mechanics work, even without IOs it becomes a lot easier - though a fully IOd out build will help a lot.

the lack of IOs and readily available enhancements creates a stronger desire for support ATs, which is where i primarily spend my time. i yearn to be useful!

There is farming and PL'ing on Rebirth as well. There's even some on Thunderspy though I haven't personally experienced it. However, on Rebirth it's harder. AE spits out influence and tickets, so a new player would have to do some conversions. So unfortunately, you wouldn't be fully able to escaped the PL'ed noob over on other servers as well too.

Most of the TFs and teaming I did on Rebirth were done with characters without any set bonuses, so generic IOs or SOs. The most commonly played ATs on Rebirth are Corruptors, Scrappers, Brutes and MMs. I'd say Dominators, Controllers and Tanks were rare. I mained a Tank. Some of the teams were optimal (tank, damage, buff/debuff) and some were honestly not (me as a tank, and a mixture of damage). I didn't see much difference in team performance. Both types of teams pretty much rolled through the content.

January 3

So I've taken a break from Homecoming. My last login reflects that it's been 66 days since I've logged onto a Homecoming character. Mostly, I've been spending some time on other servers and experiencing firsthand the differences in implementation of an old MMO.

I think Homecoming succeeds greatly in what it attempts to do. It's probably the best sandbox experience among all the servers. Take a concept, figure out the power sets you want to play and then quickly level up what you imagine. Influence/infamy isn't an issue due to the Converter-based economy. And there's very little need to farm. Progression is fast with double xp boosts easily available. An experienced player can reach 50 within a day and be a fully T4 incarnate within a week. If this is the game play experience you seek, Homecoming does it pretty well. It even makes the journey to 50 a lot smoother since the market is abundant with trinkets to twink your character to your heart's content. This really hits a sweet spot as a nostalgia machine since you can enjoy the fun aspects of the game with very little of the struggle.

I contrast this with the experience on other servers. Thunderspy has the most radical departure and has largely stubbed out the market and to some extent the invention system from the game. It's focus is on the wide variety of costumes/customization and a story-based leveling process since you never outlevel your contacts. I will admit not worrying about kitting out my characters (the enhancements you buy never expire) is refreshing, but I did miss having a few goodies while leveling up. I'm actually surprised that Thunderspy isn't more popular. I think it unfortunately suffers from a low population which is a self-fulfilling prophecy - players go to high population areas more frequently, keeping low population servers low.

Rebirth has tried to keep things truer to what the original live devs intended. There's a market, but it's bleak and the supply of IOs and recipes are scarce/non-existent until your character is largely finished with leveling to 50. There is no twinking in Rebirth, and generally, you are leveling up with SOs, generic IOs and any self-found recipes you get from drops. I found the lack of influence rather annoying and ran out a couple of times as I leveled up my first 50. The self-fund mechanism most commonly used in Rebirth is farming AE tickets to purchase rare salvage, which typically sells for 2M influence apiece.

Rebirth offers more challenge for a solo player but it's mostly due to scarcity. Due to market scarcity (and maybe influence if self-funding), the vast majority of the sub-level 50 characters you encounter use SOs or generic IOs; you will rarely see a set bonus. I thought the net effect of this would be to make content harder. However, that didn't turn out to be true at all. Experienced players with a lot in-game knowledge trivialize any of the old content. Every low level TF I joined was a cake walk (really no different from Homecoming) and the weekly Incarnate Trials they host while tougher were done quickly, typically back-to-back.

So what did I take away from all of this? I didn't enjoy the older style of progression offered by Rebirth. I think the brokenness of the low level market has an outsized, negative effect on the leveling experience there. Given that I leveled up multiple characters to 50 both live and on private servers, I didn't have the expected sense of accomplishment that I thought I would have with my first 50 on Rebirth. Mostly, I came away with the feeling that Rebirth could use some changes. I think the solution offered by Thunderspy works a lot better on a low population server.

I also came away with the conclusion that IOs and even incarnate powers are not the root of why the current game seems so easy. I think for veteran players, the game offers little in the way of surprises, and honestly an inadequate level of challenge. COH when live wasn't a hard game, but content was new and there was a larger range of experience among the player base. The lack of challenge works well in the context of a sandbox, but I think if falls short if someone is looking for challenge progression that they'd find in other MMOs or even RPGs.

Oh, one note. The COH communities on Thunderspy and Rebirth were just like what you'd expect - positive and helpful. I asked a lot of questions on General chat on both servers and the responses were overwhelmingly positive. There is something to be said about people who play a superhero MMO in general - that seems to carry over to their general helpfulness in game.

December 23, 2023

This is absolutely the easiest COH environment to make influence. HC simply rewards you with merits just for completing all the exploration badges in a zone. Convert that into converters and list them at 10 and you have almost a million inf just for Atlas Park. This can be completed for every zone and you get even more merits for every story arc completed.

This is by no means the best way to even use converters to make influence, but it’s brain dead simple and requires zero knowledge of market trends.

I understand complaints for inf in other COH interations but not here.

December 4, 2023

Gacha games

Fell into a group that played Monster Super League, which is mostly a standard turn based game with a capture mechanic like Pokemon. Anyway from there, Fire Emblem Heroes, Azure Lane, and probably dozens of titles I've forgotten. With most of them, I was able to have a pretty good time even being a very small spender (about $10 month). I did end up splurging on a few of them, and before it got real bad, I dropped them cold turkey.

November 12, 2023

The game feels like it’s from a different era. Where a character wearing patriotic color represents the best of American values not the sometimes very different view that it evokes today.

I like the lack of cynicism. That despite wielding a huge axe, I’m merely arresting the bad guys for proper rehabilitation. That a character can be committed to self-sacrifice without the modern day lens that wonders how such activities can be monetized for views.

Like the phone booths you see in game, City of Heroes epitomizes a very, arguably a more optimistic outlook that has few sources anywhere else. I treasure such sources. The world today can definitely use a few heroes.

October 31, 2023

Back in the day, your character's origin sort of mattered. Enhancements you can slot would drop from certain enemies, and if you had a preference, you picked certain origins. Same with the location of enhancement stores. With some stores being strategically close to the tram, a low-level character, often without a travel power, could reach them safely. A few issues later, an origin specific temp power was given to make the low-level experience not as painful. With Homecoming, these anachronisms rarely apply anymore. Origin is basically flavor text at this point.

I find that specific origins are generally easier to craft as backgrounds.

Mutants - uh, something spontaneously happened to my body or I was born that way. Easy peasy.
Technology - I am super smart or knows someone who's super smart and I use a lot of unique toys
Magic - You're a wizard, Harry! Or some variation of the same.
Science - Kind of tougher than the previously three because I think you have to either intentionally play around with exotic chemicals or be put into a Frankenstein monster situation, where you're experimented on. Science characters aren't really as spontaneous, and you could argue are more intentionally made.
Natural - the origin is relatively easy - because of training or natural gifts, you are faster/stronger/tougher than your normal human. The problem becomes justifying scaling. Easy to believe you can bust your local Skulls drug den, and maybe take on the Tsoo with their magic tattoos. However, take on the Rikti or the dwellers of the Shadow Shard? Not quite as believable.

Looking at my characters, I find I have the most Mutant origin characters. Their backgrounds are easy, arguably the laziest from a creativity standpoint. They were simply born that way or became that way during adolescence. In some darker-themed backgrounds, a nefarious organization created harsh conditions to trigger a latent mutation (you can somewhat argue this is a science origin instead). Technology origin and Magic origin characters generally look most like what you'd expect. Tech characters sport techy augments (power themed gauntlets, rocket boots, etc.) while magic characters either look like a witch or like a fae who just walked out of the mystic woods. Natural characters either look a lot like normal civilians or are given a clean, spandex treatment akin to athletic wear.

I think the average forum goer here probably spends more time on their background than your average Homecoming player. I know that I construct a simple one even for my throwaway characters. They don't seem complete without one.

October 25, 2023

Anybody else do this? I find myself often creating discordant characters. Huge characters who hang back at max range buffing the team and bloodthirsty, tiny gal toons who race to the frontlines.

Since there's no in-game banana for scale, here's a pic of Mo'Hawk during his tutorial.

October 19, 2023

There are a number of auras that slow or applies a debuff of some sort, and many can take damage procs. Not sure if this was what you had in mind, but just adding for the sake of completeness.

October 15, 2023

It's Hasten. Even post-ED. It's probably the most common ability among just about every power build created.

By itself it's pedestrian, but being able to attack faster, use abilities faster and speed up getting your T9s, etc. Even if it was the last power in the speed pool, just about every power build player would probably get it.

Is it mandatory for a power build? Absolutely not. Do I think it makes every build better? Yes.

October 14, 2023

Hmm... I guess I went a bit of different direction.

Mesmermaid, I took more literally as a mind control, fighting maid. Mind control/martial assault dominator?

Intimidate foes with your fearsome mind powers and if that doesn't work, kick em by the short hairs?

Sort of a riff of this character: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/56505/maid-to-kill

October 12, 2023

6 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

Mine is the Well of the Furies.

I junk that shit. The Menders are just hippies on some trip. The real power is from within the character, not some external thing that "lends" you its power because you're already tough.

I truly loathe that episode and it came close to ruining the game for me because it's so poorly told and such a feeble plot line so in my own head it's irrelevant and I do my own thang

I hadn't been paying attention to all the stuff about the Well, and I had a lore-obsessed SG mate who extolled that everything came from the Well of the Furries. Took 2 seconds from another SG mate to exclaim we would be entering into a new Golden Age of the City of Catgirls.

But yeah, I don't like the whole super powered McGuffin is responsible for all powers thing either. Bleh.

October 12, 2023

2 hours ago, Go0gleplex said:

Didn't say it wasn't...I'm a civil engineer tech and know of several towns here on the west coast that are below the adjacent water level. I doubt the NY tunnels have a barge dock in them though. lol Just seems to me though, that if the ghouls or rebels are such an issue...simply flood the tunnels. Problem solved. Though it might knock out your power/comm grid as well...;)

No, that would be too easy. You'll have to retrieve a magical McGuffin from an entire different dimension, talk to some rando reporter who has a lead to turn it into some sort of bomb, and then fight the Praetorian version of the Council (who are good guys) to set the trigger. No common sense stuff like flooding tunnels, cutting power or just nuking from orbit allowed!

October 12, 2023

I have a couple things that are true only in my head, but obviously isn't in the lore.

These two (Janet Kellum and Maxwell Christopher) are totally dating. Janet always considers Maxwell grumpy because he can't ever establish a proper separation between his work and social life. The bartender messing up your Martini is not a Nemesis plot! Meanwhile, Maxwell is both attracted and terrified of Janet because big sis is Valkyrie and she carries a big frickin' spear. The FSBA is both an efficient operation and a scene out of Parks and Recreation.

Also, Azuria secretly moonlights as a hero. She's pretty bad it, and you have to constantly save her in the Rescue the Fortune Teller mission. She always gives a false alias (Lady Rose, Mistress Camille, Mystira, et. al.) because she's embarrassed about her incompetence, and doesn't want folks to know. I think it's leaked because her reputation is somewhat in tatters. I think Montague Castanella, her old friend, knows her secret and hopes that she sticks to her day job.

October 6, 2023

1 minute ago, Techwright said:

Pretty much me, though I tend to put the green as a barrier color between purple and lavender so I don't get confused in the heat of combat.

Why are your most potent skittles at the top and not at the bottom?

Because I hate using inspirations so I use the cheapy/small ones first. I get this strange idea that the bigger ones are harder to come by when they're really not. And yes, they have to be sorted by size, lol. At least for me.

October 6, 2023

12 minutes ago, Frostbiter said:

That would actually kind of kill me because F1 through F4 would all activate a flavor of Respite and I'd have to manually mouse click something else.

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