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I log on very sporadically but when I log on I usually end up in RP, if not from a global friend whisping me then I'll head to D and bully someone who looks lonely.

It's a private server in murky water concerning legality. While it's well run by the team it is still a private server not owned, ran or managed by the original creators in any way. Any talk of legality concerning what happens on the server can be wavered because it's blowing hot air, it has no ground to stand on. The decent thing to do for those with access to the back-end chat logs is to discuss incidents as a team 'Yes this player is a problem, permabanned.' and not reveal the details to those that play on the server because it just begins a vortex of never-ending drama and back and forth, they are the arbiters and could ban anyone for anything if they so desired, there is no 'petition' system akin to a corporation like NCSoft might run, most likely this is why they wrote a 'Code of Conduct' so that the rulings they dish out are consistent. As for being harassed I just global ignore, multibox is a problem if that is the case and it's not a one-off you've plenty of evidence to get them perma banned. It's a shit situation either way, I've been on the sharp end of some vile hate-tells myself, I just blank them then when I've screenshotted their rant show my friends, have a laugh, global ignore and move on.

Defeat, genuine defeat near-death, grave injury or psychological trauma will add more to your character than any victory ever will. Don't be afraid of losing, put everything on the line and feel the thrill of it as your creation is not invincible but tangible, real and not immune to the dices fate. My most memorable characters were the ones that came back from defeat because the defeat warped their perception of things, gave them new drive, new outlook, a newfound determination. In one of my characters cases it became vengeance to which she was willing to do unthinkable things, self sacrifice and betraying others to achieve it, many good stories have defeat as one of the key points in a characters story, defeat creates drive, drive creates character motivation, character motivation gives character goals, character goals create Roleplay and plotlines.

Club RP for me - at least in D - is picking out the outliers, the characters that mostly just watch what's going on. I read their character bio, check their costume and if they have some interesting traits I bring them up while displaying my characters own traits so that they have plenty to work off and collab with. Non-public invite only Clubs are dreadful in my experience, they can be the most extreme clique of any place where even if you make any and all attempts to integrate characters would rather gravitate toward other characters they already know and those that attempt to rope outliers into the clique so to speak are quickly reeled in by people they know. It's not much different to the real Club scene, if you go out you take a friend and form your own group in a group.

Overwatch style graphics, this graphics style is very popular right now and works extremely well to highlight unique character designs, it can be colourful and still be grim at times. A theme/lore that doesn't piggyback at all off established superhero mantra. Avengers, DC Universe? It's all been done a million times time to split off and create something a bit more unique which would be Adult in nature. (For me the Invincible series managed this) Embrace the ideas that made City of Heroes mechanically superior, every mission being a 'raid', excellent chat system. Have every mission scale to 24 people instead and make Arch-Villains/Heroes deadlier, maybe some missions require people to group up. The open world should not be limited by the Rikti walls, instead I should be able to fly from Atlas to Mercy Island if I so chose. Open world PVP and territory control with a fully dynamic destructible environment, work on aerial Hero v Villain battles to make fighting in the air feel as visceral as Zod v Superman. IO System is good but suffers badly from power creep, something new needs to be done with itemization, I'd make crafting it's own class. Your mad scientist character is actually the go-to guy to get gear from. Allow player-characters to adapt and change the story outcomes of the actual games story. (Matrix Online did this iirc where key characters were Roleplayed by Devs at huge events) So basically Overwatch MMO with a GTA-esque open world coupled with SWG's crafting system, where crafting was extremely complex indepth and time critical and Warframe style combat that scales up to 24 player in 'normal' missions that turn into raids in large groups.

I love writing bio's and love giving and receiving compliments based on them, it's a good conversation starter and a good place to attract like minded players especially those who might be intrigued by my characters concept or brief synopsis.

The Roleplayer that impresses me has a multi-faceted, multi-layered character grounded in some degree of City of Heroes/Villains' setting, you've done your homework with the lore and created a character that fits perfectly in it, you could be outlandish but somehow you make it work. Every time I discover something about your character there is another layer you have ready that is simply insatiable and I want to find out more about your written artwork. You collaborate with my own characters, the back and forth is pure magic of organic roleplay with very little OOC input. You leave OOC arrangements at the wayside and always use initiative to make meetings in-character by using every feasible IC tool there is, you laid the groundwork for plots where you offer my character opportunity to shape yours via my characters actions and vice versa, Hero vs Villain or moral decisions that are not foreseeable because the surprises haven't been ruined. There is OOC friendship but not OOC obsessiveness, we're in it to collaborate write together and have fun no matter what type of scene is underway, action, romance, drama, loss. One more important factor would be a player that sees loss for what it is; there isn't a Superhero alive in any media where 'loss' didn't shape them, didn't drive them, defeat is one of the most character-changing events that can ever occur and the Roleplayer that impresses me knows this and doesn't blow up OOC when confronted with character-changing events.

It's an SG thing for sure to find those multi-layered character strings. Deeper plots require deeper connections, requires more time investment and connection with like-minded people. You're not going to find out a characters fatal flaw on Week 1 of meeting them, that might be a Supergroup plot in itself. Roleplayers that approach plot-themed Roleplay with the idea in mind being strong makes your char interesting could not be more wrong, character flaws make characters interesting, conflict of interest, temptation to cross lines of morality due to driving factors like vengeance or hate, dozens more driving factors not tied to outright strength, your character shapes itself when presented with difficult situations. As for the emotes and description in Roleplay you are doing more than speaking, it's equally important to showcase body language or odd/quirky character traits. I play a sentient robot for example and when she moves servos and pistons ignite into life to give her those human-like movements, the tone of her voice is important, the texture or of her clothing or state of her chassis, if her chassis was dented, scratched perhaps she was recently in a fight? Every emote should be a hook you set out to fish and entice your fellow Roleplayer, raise questions to keep conversation above the stale stagnant level of "How are you?" you want to passively put across your character through not even talking at times. or describe things that are simply not accomplished in game with the costume creator, the only limiter here is your imagination, absorb that inspiration from things you enjoy, manifest it into a character and think about every tiny nuance that would make it interesting. This is how you add layers to a character, layers that each lead off to interesting lines of conversation. Got a scar? How'd you get it? In a fight with an archvillain? Why is your cape red with a black star? Perhaps it's a flag of some hidden civilization. Your costume has a spatter of blood on it, your Hero might not be all they seem. Think about these things when creating the character in the game world itself, it's like environmental storytelling in video games, telling a story without having to speak it due to placement of a few props.

Rogue here! My character sees truth in Humanity when it comes to the Rogue Isles. Humans are willing to claw, scratch and kill each other should opportunities be too difficult to pass up and the Rogue Isles is very much that; "Survival of the fittest." it's a baseline truth, but she sees humans as having two sides the opposite side is false facades built on gleaming statues of self-narcissism in Paragon City. Her view of Heroes is rather jaded, they're tolerated for as long as it's useful to her own goals. Shes not a Vigilante pushing the barrier of mortality to do good but as a Rogue as she is not particularly evil either, humans are just evolved apes that can pull a trigger. A Praetorian elitist who also thought Emperor Cole was doing right until Primal Earth meddled in another dimensions affairs and she mostly blames PE's Humans for that, thus not beyond killing meta-humans.

Yep, it's plausible they had further plans for the zone. I view it equally as interesting as Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, it's the disconnect with timelines that really hinders Roleplayers to, well, Roleplay there, but it suits being an origin story or a dedicated Supergroup area.

I am absorbing this juicy Clockwork lore, I'm all over that!

The Origin of Superman is also the origin of General Zod who I think is one of the best "Villains" of all time, it's an example of how this trope can define several characters that are drastically different and still interesting. You could argue any Hero or Villain from Praetoria is in the same vein, a dying dimension/world that has technology far above that of Primal Earth.

Some good advice - on SG/VG's I'm more Villain oriented, my character is more on the fence, I've not really seen one that fits the character or me yet! As for hooks, what sort of thing might catch your eye? What would have you approach a character? Would you eyeroll at a player typing out a paragraph after arriving at the bar? I find a lot of people use fluff in intro's, like a paragraph about ordering a certain drink doesn't strike me as interesting.

I'm a main-o-holic, works for me! My Kat/Bio Scrapper though~

Whether you're new or old every MMO Roleplayer knows this issue. Your character is created, you made what you think is an awesome bio, your costumes are hours long labors of love, you might of even hit max level and enjoyed the gameplay of City of Heroes. But now it's time to Roleplay! You have your backstory set and sort of figured out what kind of personality you want for your character, you don't know many Players and know no Characters at all so your best chance is to probably hit up Pocket D and see what happens. You head there and emote away, no one seems interested in approaching you after half an hour of emote laden hints and enough hooks thrown out you give in. Everyone seemed busy within their own circles of people and weren't too willing to engage with a character they don't know even if some of your emotes were purposefully written to be eye-catching or raise a few questions (character hooks). The next day you try again but this time you're more... assertive? Instead of emotes you have your character approach and speak directly to others. Most of the time you'll be shrugged off by the cliques, sometimes you'll get a bite but it's so rare you may as well be actually fishing, hopefully you established some sort of connection to Roleplay again. ---- I have been in similar situations and have been outright ignored when I've tried to engage with a group of characters. My limited appearances in the game often means developing new connections and that can be quite a tiresome pain in the butt. How do you break the ice and use the proverbial RP crowbar to establish and form new connections?

This is spot on. Options like this give something for everyone. Options are like costume parts or music taste, we all like different things.

I get the feeling players want easier more casual encounters. The same players probably wonder why player retention is a problem and was even a problem back when the game was live. The game has next to no challenge from my experience. I can log on my Kat/Bio Scrapper whom has a finished build and decimate any level of content effortlessly, whenever I join Hami raids my HP doesn't dip below 99% I take a hit and the insane level of stacked incarnate buff, capped DEF and RES, capped DMG, extreme +Rech, it poses no challenge. Even Developers back in the day could not control the Pandoras Box of Set IO's and the gross imbalance it caused, they went from balancing a static powerset diversity to trying to balance characters who had covered up the holes in their powersets innate weaknesses. The lack of challenge in City of Heroes played a part in why it wasn't as popular as NCSoft wanted it to be and I'm of the opposite spectrum, the game needed content purpose-made for T4 Incarnates that have a fully finished IO build, a challenge that may take weeks of execution to successfully defeat like rival MMO's that came out at the same time and are still operational. This isn't 'Make every MMO like X or Y' but rather 'Make CoH have satisfying hurdles to overcome'.

It's not based on a Trinity but it's most certainly based on roles and the fantasies of said roles therein. The immoveable object tank, the selfless healer, etc. In hindsight I'd add some sort of mechanic for Controllers and Dominators to be essential for, just like the current Hamidon. And the Hamidon you refer to is The Seed of Hamidon, it isn't the actual big bad boss Hamidon imo.

Introduce Praetorian Hamidon as a brand new Raid Encounter- this won't upset anyone missing old Hamidon and will bring a new challenge to those that seek it; Praetorian Hamidon Phase One - 100% - 65% Any deaths during the fight become Mind Controlled. Mind Controlled Players deal massive Psionic AOE Damage to the entire raid and are attackable by other players, they have 300% increased HP it should take ten DPS around 3 seconds to kill them. Ground based fight in phase 1. Utilize the technology we seen in the Shivan at the Tutorial. Damage zones that mess you up, 'don't stand here' telegraphs. Have these boss telegraphs gib anyone that stands in them, pierces all defenses and resistances, certain death. These telegraphs need to be clearly marked and somewhat easily avoided unless you are not paying attention. The first Tank AT that uses Taunt becomes the Main Tank. Boss targets Main Tank, hits tanks for 25% HP every 2 seconds, flat damage, no RES or DEF helps, this means Healers, specifically multiple Empaths are extremely valuable. This hit puts a stacking Debuff on the Main Tank, if MT takes 5 stacks consecutively he dies and becomes Mind Controlled. MC'd tanks are especially dangerous due to the +300% HP, this is by design to deter Brute stacking for DPS. Off Tank will be designated by the Second Tank AT to use Taunt on the boss. Boss has a massive HP Pool so 48 players can't just DPS burn through this. Phase Two - 65% - 25% Hamidon splits into two bosses, It's the exact same mechanics as Phase One, but will require an organized split of players including two more Tanks and dedicated Healers and DPS. The catch here is that one of the Hamidon is now aerial, static, and the telegraphs will be a clockwise affair, you have to circle the Boss every two seconds to avoid dying to the telegraph. First Hamidon that didn't split has an AOE mechanic that forces players out of Melee or die. Moments later the 24 person raid must 'hug' the boss to 'soak' and split a damage AOE this puts major pressure on Healers and DPS to keep themselves at max HP ready for the damage soak. It's a true test of endurance as there is twice the chance of something going wrong. To top it off both of these have to die at the same time. Phase Three - 25% - 0% Praetorian Hamidon manifests into something that looks straight out of the Outer Dark. Aggro Reset and no aggro/threat, Tanks have done their Jobs, 25% is a burn phase, Hamidon targets players at random, the boss is static and uses ranged attacks. Hamidon does a huge telegraphed AOE every 10 seconds with a 3 second wind up. Anyone inside the AOE dies. Mind Control mechanic is upped for this phase, MC'd players have their HP increased by 1000%. (ALL of the DPS must target them and kill quick.) It's a pure burn phase where mistakes are heavily punished and people without any defense in their builds are a massive hindrance to the raid group, everyone needs enough survivability to take one hit off Hamidon as it randomly targets Heroes and Villains. Hamidon Defeat Drops exclusive Costume Parts, this should make everyone want to learn the fight and partake. You get one Account-wide costume unlock per kill, everyone in the raid does but they must be T4 Incarnate to be eligible, It will take 7 kills to collect all of the costume pieces. Badge for defeating Praetorian Hamidon. Badge for being Mind Controlled. Badge for having no Mind Controlled Players. Badge for killing 15 Mind Controlled Players. This series of Badges will play into the theme of Hamidon, players will have to trust each other to not be Mind Controlled, only very organized groups will manage the harder Badges. A vision of Emperor Cole comes forth in a cinematic at the end, he thanks you, Praetoria is rebuilt from it's ruins but in the next chapter Hamidons spores still linger! This cinematic expands on Praetoria and offers up new challenges and the toughest enemies, Praetoria becomes a level 54 zone and takes a similar route to what Dark Astoria did, basically it's no longer a dead zone but a zone everyone has purpose to go to in the endgame. I had fun writing this gibberish, I feel the key to any raid boss is for everyone to have a role. Healers are needed, Buffers and Debuffers are needed, Tanks are needed, DPS are needed, utilizing cooldowns for Phase Three is essential, this should be the hardest challenge in the game so... I wrote it that way!

Inspired by Cyberpunk themes ( Most recently https://i.imgur.com/uNKgfQD.jpg and https://i.imgur.com/V1d51bL.jpg ) a sentient Praetorian Clockwork. Blast pattern on Muscle Gloss top/bottom is modded from the Succubi NPC stuff so it won't look like that on unmodded clients. Not sure who made the patch, sorry!

True enough, it's certainly not on the level of hard math that has been datamined from other MMO's. But, it is the only resource I know that puts in some numbers (aside from Pylon testing), even if some are false or incorrect theres some that are correct, of course that doesn't make it a science but from my experience having played some of the 'top DPS' powersets in the Spreadsheet it 'feels' accurate to some degree, it still isn't accurate though I agree! One thing I've learned about this game is that damage cap is very easy to reach in an optimized team, the thing that brings the pain most of all seems to be -RES, -RES seems to be absolute in bolstering damage and that's how you get insane numbers and it's because -RES doesn't seem to have a cap. I begin to drool when I see a Sonic/Sonic Defender on the team (along with a Kin) cause I know I'm going to be hitting like a truck.

Heavily inspired by Spider Gwen An idea for a Thugs Mastermind I never used.

The closest anyone came to figuring out the hard numbers was this spreadsheet; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19VuZ9zJ_8eKN11JytgaK9mt9Fy-8pjANopb-FGh68Uw/edit#gid=624942285 It doesn't account for changes the Homecoming team have made. IO's also change things immensely- the sheet is largely inaccurate for Homecoming, but accurate enough for i24 which was the official last patch. From my limited understanding Scrappers are the big hitters, Titan Weapons was king. I love my Katana Scrapper though, the flow of the rotation is unlike any other powerset in the game. I have 5 buttons and each of them delivers massive impact and has it's use. I dislike the general trend of 'ability bloat' in City of Heroes or any game for that matter.

Really like this one, sells the game perfectly. Not many games out there that you can describe like that.

I often get talking to friends who are looking out for the next MMORPG and I also often recommend City of Heroes. Most people haven't even heard of the game and I struggle to describe it in modern terms, people are quick to form an opinion so summarizing CoH into something bite-sized seems like a good idea. Make your own character not just Heroes but catgirls and everything in-between, every mission is an 8 player raid, personal loot for everyone, some good min/max endgame, 48 player raids, lots of RP. That's typically how I try to sum it up, how would you sum up the game in a sentence to someone that has never even heard of it?