Abraxus

Ah! The "Sees NO SMOKING sign, and immediately feels the need to light up", and "Keep off the Grass...Hey! Let's dance on it" kinda guy! Got it! 8)

It's that lack of time that makes this the only game I really want to play. Because I have so little to devote to gaming, I literally don't have time to be invested in multiple games, and out of the possible choices, this is the one that checks all the boxes for me. So, it is where I am, and where I will continue to be going forward.

My only REAL complaint, is that I don't get to play as often as I really want to! Sure, it's not perfect. But, I don't expect it to be perfect. My expectations don't run that way at this stage in life. This is an extremely rare second chance, and one that I will fully appreciate, and embrace. If there is one thing I'd like to happen more often, with regard to my gaming experience, is for my sons to play with me more often than they do. So far, it has been once for each of them since the game came back. They are older, and have their own things going on. Real "Cats in the Cradle" moments going on there. But, outside of that, I'm just excited to log into the game, each and every time I have the opportunity to do so!

Currently, I have 17 characters so far, with the highest at 48, and the others at various levels from 25 on down. I am playing with friends, and PuGs alike, and I am having the best time! It's what I look forward to doing once I am off work, and it's what I think about when I'm not actually playing. Things like "I should have put a range enhancement instead of another damage on that power", or "Wow! This would be a cool concept for another character. Time to get on the character creator!" The people I play with have been great, and while I know there were faster ways to 50 than the ones I have used, I have enjoyed the journey, and appreciated each step more than I did in the original run of the game, because now I know what it feels like to NOT be able to do this. I don't take it for granted, and I'm going to keep playing as long as it exists! Just my .02 of a dollar's worth on my experience. Obviously, your mileage may vary, but for me...this is really the only game I have any desire to play.

+1 Inf to you sir! Bravo!

I don't disagree with anything on that list. However, I will add that I LOVE having the opportunity to loath these things once again! I would rather fight Malta, and Tsoo for every friggin' mission than ever lose this game again!

I love that site! I keep a browser tab open on it whenever I play!

I'll jump in and say that both of my boys played from the time they were around 8, and 10 respectively. The older one didn't play CoH for long, after moving on to other things. But, the younger one stuck with it, and eventually got to be a better player, with more in-depth knowledge of the game than me! Now that it's back, that same kid, now 20, is giving me advice about how to make your first billion in-game, and how to properly slot my L40 Dominator. He learned a lot from playing in those years. Analytical skills, the concept of using resources wisely, and having to make choices that benefit the present vs. those that will benefit long term. Valuable stuff there. He is a very smart young man, and I believe that his formative years playing CoH almost exclusively, will turn out to be one of the things that contribute to his eventual success in life. So, for me, I say let them play. Hopefully, when they are really young, you can play with them, to show them the ropes of the game, but also of interacting with other players. What to do, what not to do. Give them a good start, so that eventually, when they start playing on their own, you know you have given them a good start, with all the tools to be a great player, and not be taken in by anyone with potential ulterior motives. We can't protect them from everything. All we can do is give them the tools to make the right decisions when the moment comes. If you do that, you have accomplished what a parent should be doing. The rest should take care of itself.

Interesting tidbit on one of "the other" server providers: "drbrainToday at 12:27 PM @everyone @here Tldr; talk to IRS lady. Very friendly. We are all good on everything but she wants me to file a corporate meeting form/board meeting form with a focus on charity work for kids play the video game(Cox) as the goal to keep it relevant. I also have to file our earnings with the IRS by May 15th 2020 but she prefers it by the same time people receive W2's so like January. We will be hosting a charity event for Kids with Lukemia (St. Jude most likely) through Twitch.tv in game. We will be running costume contests, raid rushes and more. I haven't fleshed everything fully out yet as I just had the phone call today. Also someone tipped them off for them to contact me via phone. Our earnings was not a concern as long as it's taken into account in the filings. They also didn't mind about us hosting the game. I do have to refile a 501c with an update to our freakin' goals because they demand us to run a charity once a year at minimum. That'll be around 500-600 dollars out of my pocket here soon ☹️. I am kind of excited to use our server to help kids in need so this is nice. Hopefully you all enjoy it too. Also @everyone @here a warning to other server owners. The IRS do know about all of us hosting this game and know about NCsoft stuff so be smart and get yourself protected at some point soon. It is coming." To hear him tell it, the IRS knows about all of this, and will be contacting the admin teams for them. Not sure how much validity there is to it, but I thought it worth mentioning.

I totally get that there are those that just don't feel comfortable forming a team, and the anxiety issues underlying that reticence. I understand. I have a son that has some pretty noticeable social anxiety issues, which we are doing our best to help him deal with, and hopefully break through. So, when I encourage those that feel their experience is lacking in game, to do for themselves what they complain is missing, please know that I absolutely am not pointing to the folks dealing with these issues. I know this, because the folks who feel this kind of anxiety, are typically not the ones doing the complaining about their experience (or lack there of), in-game. In fact, I believe the ones who do complain in this way, are the ones who absolutely could form a team of their own, but just lack the experience of doing so, or just don't want the burden. For the folks who are content to join in whatever becomes available, I say "I will always be around to form those teams, and welcome any of you aboard!". In true CoH spirit, I believe we all rise to assist those who want/need it, and to fight alongside those who don't. Together, the teams are stronger with you, than without you!

Yeah, I think things have started to level out since the new shards were introduced. I'm just overjoyed to see the game flourishing as it is. It surely went before its time, and now that it's back, I think the level of support from the players across all of the various CoH projects that have sprung up, are a pure testament to the fact that this game was too good to keep down. There was nothing like it back in the day, and there is still nothing like it. It has it's own place in the gaming world, and now that place is cemented forever!

Yup! I agree with ALL of the above. The game is a blast, and the people are great. But, if you're waiting for someone else to make your experience work for you, typically you will be disappointed. I think the rule of thumb here is, if you want to do something, put out the word. There are always a few out there who will be happy come along!

My favorites tend to change with what I am in the mood to play long term, but overall, I'd say that when the original run of the game was over, Scrappers were my thing. These days, it's shifted greatly to Dominators.

Just as a bit of perspective, Kotaku has an article about the custom quests players are creating in Assassin's Creed Odyssey to farm levels and stats with essentially no work. The article mentions that a cardinal rule of video games seems to be the immediate exploitation of whatever tools you give your players. People are going to push the edges of what they can get away with for their own benefit, and trying to stop it because you don't approve of their choice of playstyle just breeds division and antipathy. CoH is big enough to accommodate a wide variety of playstyles. Quite true! It is big enough to handle a wide variety of play styles. I don't typically partake of the exploitable aspects of the game, but my son is an avid AE farmer, so I couldn't very well complain about others that do that, without doing the same for him. However, I don't admonish him for playing differently than I do. Heck, he is probably a much more accomplished player than I am at this point (having been practically raised on this game). We just have different goals in terms of what we want from CoH, and we find ample accommodation for whatever we have time to do, and find fun. So, it's all good!

That's right where I am!

Cudos, and well said Skyeye! Like you, I have been playing this game since the earliest days, and like you, I have more days behind than ahead. I don't have time, nor inclination to get embroiled in debates about things that should just be common sense. I'm here to play the game I love, having been given a rare second chance to do so, and converse with the folks who love it too. That doesn't mean I think it's perfect, and needs no change, or improvement. Just means I trust the Devs to take care of the game, since they have taken on the mantel of being it's heart and soul, and that I have the ability to play what I like, and avoid what isn't fun for me. The choices are so wide and varied, there is something for most anyone in this 8 years of content.

We all want our particular builds, whether they be damage, control, support, or a mixture of one or all of the above; to be the best they can be, even if it might not be absolutely necessary in all situations. I find on large teams with a lot of damage, any damage I might do with my Emp/Psi defender is nothing more than a blip on the radar, while the heals/buffs are not as necessary because the team typically tears through most opposition so fast that hardly any damage is done to them. So, I tend to feel a little redundant. However, on smaller teams, I find that the EMP skills have a lot more impact, and the damage I can do still really does not amount to anything significant. I will probably take more from my secondary later on (he is currently only L20), but right now, he is still in what I consider the "building phase", where I am laying down the foundations for what he will become in his 30s, and 40s. By the time he gets to 32, or so, he will have more from secondary. But, right now, I see other things as more important. Of course, that is MY play style, with this character. I don't expect everyone to agree, or emulate. It's what I am doing, and what works for me, and the folks I play with most frequently. So long as I am allowed to do so without undue criticism, everything is good!

I have no issue with that, so long as they don't take away the choices to grab veteran/subscriber gear. Some don't like it, because they say it is another one of those things that makes the game too easy. Especially, at the formative levels. Personally, I see it as a choice you can make to take the gear, or not take the gear. If you want to tough it out with 1 or 2 powers in the first few levels, great! If not, you don't have to. I'm all about offering more choices, as opposed to taking anything away that some don't like. IMHO, everyone playing has the ability to make the game as tough, or as easy as they like, based on their preferences, their skill level, and their available time to play. So long as the choices we have remain, I don't mind seeing more ways to customize our experience. Did you post that in the thread(s) marked for suggestions/improvements?

Thanks for everything you do!

Opinions are fine, as are complaints, so long as they are positive in presentation, valid in content, and placed in the appropriate area of the forum. There are sections for reporting bugs, and making content suggestions, so please put them there so that I can see all of them in the right place (as can the Devs), without having to peruse every thread to collate the information. If you are posting a complaint about flagrant violations of rules, great. If you want to complain that the game is not as good as it could be, because of how other people play, which you don't like...well perhaps not the best use of your time. If you have an opinion, or a suggestion, express them courteously, honestly, and with no expectation of forum-wide approval, or validation. If you are doing it for any of those reasons, it will inevitably end in disappointment, or dismay for the poster, or the folks who read it. If you do so with the expectation that anyone who disagrees is less informed, or less intelligent because they don't agree with you, nothing good will come from such a discussion. We have already seen it often around these forums, and it typically ends in someone storming off in a huff, or best case scenario, just agreeing to disagree.

I'm sure the homecoming team would completely disagree with you. Do you think they are done after the first release, will just ignore bugs, balance issues, and everything else? Do you think they are going to leave things as they are now and just say: 'Screw it. It's good enough. This is our home. The players don't mean anything we'll just ignore everybody, even people with valid suggestions.' I don't think so. Expect some major patches. My attack wasn't aimed towards the awesome team working on this, it was towards YOU, and the ho-humming ridiculous notion that just because they revived a dead game they are going to stop there. That this world is perfect now because said dead game is back. We can all just breathe deep and accept the bugs and brute overlords and leave every other AT in the garbage. You, my good sir, are the epitome of SLOTH. Go ahead and pull out your Porky Pig mask and tell people: 'that's all folks!' If that's what you got out of everything I have been saying since the very beginning, then you are so wrapped up in your own little bubble of reality, that you read into it what you wanted. I never said they would not be changing things, or even that some things didn't need to be fixed. I look forward to everything coming down the road. I have total faith in their ability to take the game in fun directions. My whole point is that, while I have faith these things will happen, and am perfectly willing to wait for it to be done the right way. I am in no rush, because there is no need to be. There is so much to enjoy about the game, that I don't dwell on the things that might need some changing/tweeking. I just keep playing, and having fun, in anticipation of the next great thing coming our way. But, I don't, or condone those that do, resort to complaining about minutiae that waits for fixing, or bang the table for big changes to come my way. In other words, I'm not in it for the short term. I'm in it for the long haul, just like I was during the original 8 years I played it when it was live. So, take your "attacks" no matter whom they are aimed at, and go elsewhere with them. I have no interest, and refuse to validate any of your entitle perspective on this game. Feel free to head over to the Cox/g environment where other trolls gather. Backed ME into a corner? You give yourself FAR too much credit sir. I appreciate you standing up for yourself. *extends a hand* That is all that I am saying. This server is great, but there are things that need addressed. *hand accepted as a handshake, rather than any attempt to require being lifted from the ground* The Homecoming team is great. The game is great, and deserving of every improvement, and update that the Homecoming team will give it in the future. I look forward to all of it. Apparently, in these things we agree. As for standing up for myself, never mistake my civility with the reticence to aggressively defend myself, as weakness. I can assure you that is not the case. If I didn't know how beforehand, my time in the Marine Corps (likely before you were even born) opened my eyes to a lot of the unpleasant truths of the world. So debating over a game is not something I typically feel the need to go the the extremes to engage, or defend. No denigration intended. Just the truth of the matter.

I'm sure the homecoming team would completely disagree with you. Do you think they are done after the first release, will just ignore bugs, balance issues, and everything else? Do you think they are going to leave things as they are now and just say: 'Screw it. It's good enough. This is our home. The players don't mean anything we'll just ignore everybody, even people with valid suggestions.' I don't think so. Expect some major patches. My attack wasn't aimed towards the awesome team working on this, it was towards YOU, and the ho-humming ridiculous notion that just because they revived a dead game they are going to stop there. That this world is perfect now because said dead game is back. We can all just breathe deep and accept the bugs and brute overlords and leave every other AT in the garbage. You, my good sir, are the epitome of SLOTH. Go ahead and pull out your Porky Pig mask and tell people: 'that's all folks!' If that's what you got out of everything I have been saying since the very beginning, then you are so wrapped up in your own little bubble of reality, that you read into it what you wanted. I never said they would not be changing things, or even that some things didn't need to be fixed. I look forward to everything coming down the road. I have total faith in their ability to take the game in fun directions. My whole point is that, while I have faith these things will happen, and am perfectly willing to wait for it to be done the right way. I am in no rush, because there is no need to be. There is so much to enjoy about the game, that I don't dwell on the things that might need some changing/tweeking. I just keep playing, and having fun, in anticipation of the next great thing coming our way. But, I don't, or condone those that do, resort to complaining about minutiae that waits for fixing, or bang the table for big changes to come my way. In other words, I'm not in it for the short term. I'm in it for the long haul, just like I was during the original 8 years I played it when it was live. So, take your "attacks" no matter whom they are aimed at, and go elsewhere with them. I have no interest, and refuse to validate any of your entitle perspective on this game. Feel free to head over to the Cox/g environment where other trolls gather. Beat ME into a corner? You too easily impress yourself, and give yourself FAR too much credit sir.

Yup! 1. Homecoming = NOT NCSoft. 2. Homecoming = Offers game for no cost, unless you choose to donate. 3. Homecoming = No obligation to anyone. Do they want to improve things? Of course they do. Will what they plan to do ever happen as fast as all players want it to? Of course it won't. Will those changes affect the exact parts of the game that every player sees as THE huge problem with the game? No, it absolutely won't. Will those unhappy players stick around and complain about that, rather than have some patience to see how things develop over the course of a year, as opposed to just two months it's been back in existence? Most likely. Does the Homecoming team, just perhaps, have some insight into the game that regular players are blissfully ignorant of, and that they have to look at things globally, taking into account balance issues, and game mechanics across the board; rather than doing what's popular? Yeah, I think so. Will the aforementioned unhappy players be willing to pitch into the effort, rather than waiting for it to happen, and complaining when the changes made are not the ones they consider to be the bane of the game? Typically their nature is to wait for others to do things for them, and complain about the results. But, I'd love to be proven wrong on that one. Historically speaking though, the odds are against it.

So go and 'address' them? No one is stopping you, the code is out there. While you might be 'seriously tired' that people are grateful to be able to play over whining about pedantic minutiae, I am 'seriously tired' of the entitled attitude of people like you that call for _others_ to do your bidding while not lifting a finger, other than to type out condescending BS. So, you want it 'fixed'? Go fix it, big guy! Absolutely in agreement here! If he thinks the game is just so broken that his experience playing is no longer fun, then he should pick-up a keyboard, join the dev team, and start working on fixing it himself, instead of complaining that others are not giving him what he wants quickly enough.

I am seriously tired of this bullshit excuse to not fix parts of the game. "Oh I'm just glad that City of Heroes is back. Warts and all." Dude, that was like forever ago. That horse is dead and the shock of the game being back is gone too. So absolutely YES, It's best to move on and fix shit that's broken and rebalance everything. You don't just stop and smell the roses in game development and think that things will fix themselves. There are multitudes of problems that need addressed right now. Entitled much? There is absolutely NOTHING these devs owe you, or anyone else. They are already giving of their time, and resources to bring back a game that was DEAD! If you don't like the way it is, and don't have enough faith that once things get into more of a groove, that more changes will come, then perhaps this isn't the place, or the game for you. We are two months in, which is an infinitesimal amount of time on the whole; and in my experience, they have already accomplished miracles on our behalf in that time for nothing more than their love of the game. You obviously don't share that sentiment, which is fine. But, you seem to feel the need to inflict your take on things on the rest of us (who coincidentally make up the vast majority of players here), who are overjoyed with the way things are, and do have faith in the future of the Homecoming project, and the game itself. We also have faith that things we might feel need attention, will get it when more important things have been addressed. In the meantime, we are having an absolute blast playing the game, and appreciating what we have been given. I have no issue with dissenting opinions, except when they attempt to classify everyone else's as moronic, or deluded, because they don't see things as you do. When it crosses that line, my respect for your point of view falls to the point of total disregard.