nightroarer

I don't know if anyone will find these helpful, but I put together a couple of docs for reference when I am naming a new character. One lists name components by powers or character attributes (not all powersets are filled in yet; it is still a work in progress), the other is a list of titles (military, royalty, colors, and so forth). sh_name_prefix_suffix.doc super_name_components.doc

I have on rare occasions used a misspelling--but only if the look and feel suggested personality and fit the superhero theme, not just a way around a name being taken. Most of the time, I can work out a good name for my character without having to use odd workarounds. One workaround that I have used once (because I really wanted the name for that character) was to add the initials of our supergroup after his name. To me, that is not part of his name, but simply a SG identifier (e.g., CharacterName TW--supergroup is Twilight Watch). I do make good use of a thesaurus as needed (to the extent of creating text reference docs with synonyms/terms I like for different powersets and character attributes). However, there is a danger with thesaurus use: just grabbing a synonym does not necessarily make a good superhero name. For example, Fireball sounds like a comic book superhero name; Conflagration Spheroid just sounds silly as a name. 🙂 But I agree that the idea of linking our character names to our global names has merit. I've seen it work well in other games. Whether it is feasible with the CoH tech is another question.

One thing to remember about names: In general a name cannot be copyrighted (hence characters of the same name, but different looks, powers, etc.) across comics companies. For example, when Marvel won the lawsuit against DC over the name Captain Marvel, DC was still able to keep the name for its character, it just could not use it on the comic cover (so the comic title became Shazam, but the character remained Captain Marvel). Certain names, like Superman and Spider-Man are copyrighted because they are uncommon combinations of words that make them unique. However, names like Inferno, Parasite, and Gigawatt cannot legally be copyrighted because they are common, non-unique words. Usually the issue is Trademark, which includes the look, background, and powers coupled with the name. If you want every single name used by a comic book company to be nixed, be prepared to lose a bunch of names, including some you have never heard of before. I'm all for keeping trademarked characters out of the game, but draconian measures over names themselves can be devastating to players and completely unnecessary from a copyright/trademark law perspective.

I haven't worked through the whole powerset package, but swinging and/or wallcrawling/leaping travel powers would help round out the travel powers.

I don't often use the trainers or the shops, unless I'm on the go and pressed for time. My SG bases have tailors, trainers, and quartermasters. 🙂

Sludgeslinger (water/poison corrupter) - Sentient sewer sludge in a containment suit, spraying sinister slime throughout the city.

[edit] Just to clarify my response below, I was assuming you are talking about a PvP encounter with another player. I'm not familiar with asynchronous PvP. If you are talking about a PvE event defined by a PvPer, I have no interest at all. If I want customized challenges, I'll go to the AE. For myself, I'm just not interested in PvP and would prefer it did not impact my gameplay at all. That said, in the scenario you present here it would be instanced for those who choose to participate. Those of us who do not wish to participate would not even be aware of it. That still keeps it in the spirit of "separate" spaces for each. I would prefer that it be a separate panel that players could reference to see if said events were available. I do not want it to pop up on my screen as an option when I enter a bank mission or at any other time. If something like this were to be implemented it should be an "opt in" system, not an "opt out."

This. I'm very happy with PvP and PvE being separate spaces where players can focus on what they like best.

Ah, so 0% for me. With the exception of my main crafter kind of working on memorizing all of the tiers, I have no particular goals (stats, incarnates, builds, IO sets, etc.) in mind. One of these days, one of my 80+ characters (and counting) may hit level 50. I figure they'll let me know when they get there. 🙂

Understood. Please don't take my comment as a swipe at yours; that wasn't the intention. We all have favorite playstyles--and opinions as to which is the most fun. 🙂 I will say this when it comes to full teams: CoH is a lot more fun than other games I've played.

It's also meant for soloers. And duo/trio. And a variety of other playstyles. I've played and enjoyed many of them. I've had a lot of positive experiences with other players in CoH, whether we were running together or just had a quick random chat in passing. Nowadays, I mostly solo or run with my wife and/or daughter. CoH is meant for that as well. That is one of the fantastic things about this game: it supports a variety of playstyles, and all of them are fun. It is great to hear about good group experiences. The more ways to enjoy the game, the better for all of us. Excellent thread. 🙂

My wife, daughter, and I all play CoH. If we celebrate for a while in game, it'll be a toss up between CoH and LOTRO. Or maybe a bit of both. 🙂

I mentioned earlier in the thread that I'm 53. Not telling my wife's age, except to say she's one month older than I am (my dad calls her the cradle robber). But together, my wife and I just turned 30 today (anniversary).

If you are talking about the FR community, I'm Lionheart on that forum (haven't posted in a while, but I do still read the forum).

All good points, Luminara. That sound far more interesting than just dueling or ganking. Still not sure it would be enough to pull me in personally, but it could make it more tantalizing to more players in general.

And there are those us who are competitive but still don't enjoy PvP. Put me at a board game, CCG/TCG, or, in times past when I was young and athletic, on the baseball field or football (American) field, and I am/was fiercely competitive. But PvP in an MMO has just never appealed to me. It's just not my cup of tea (okay, my tea is usually in a glass, because I like it cold). But that is one of the great things about games like CoH; they allow for a variety of playstyles and offer so many different ways to have fun.

For me, you can't. Tried it, didn't like it--regardless of how well I did. Some of it was personalities, but mostly I like to do my own thing, and I enjoy playing story content more. I have nothing against pvp or pvpers (i.e., I'm not anti-pvp), I just don't enjoy it myself.

Believe or not, I remember that post! It was a great story. You are bringing back memories from the way back machine. 🙂

Well, my daughter plays and is 20. But she hasn't posted, so maybe that doesn't count. Ah, I see Jack Power's younguns have taken the roll of youngest so far. To be fair, my daughter was 7 when she started playing originally (with my wife and I, never alone), but only got a couple of years in before the shutdown. It's funny, the three of us were playing Champions Online early last year, and my daughter sighed and said wistfully "I miss City of Heroes." Less than 2 weeks later, I found out about Homecoming. Talk about a Yay! moment. 🙂

Whew! Guess I'm still a youngster. I'm only 53.

Except for the door sitting, we sound like very similar players. 🙂 My wife and I have one new team that is still level 4--even though we have played through multiple contacts. We turned off XP to do all of the original starting contacts in Atlas. We are about to turn on XP again as we have acquired the final missions for each contact. I, too, have characters that follow different leveling paths--or as I prefer, story paths (leveling isn't the main point for me)--and activities. Some are only solo, some team with my wife, some with my daughter, some with both. A few characters have spent more time with base-building or crafting or other more RP-like activities and level slowly. Most of my characters are heroes, but I have a handful of villains and praetorians for a change of pace. There are so many different ways to play characters in this game it's incredible--especially for a writer who loves to create characters and backgrounds.

I don't get the idea that playing story missions is grinding. I think that is doing active content with something to hook your imagination into, not just a mindnumbing repetitive grind. To me, grinding is doing make-work or repetitive tasks to get a reward, as opposed to doing something that engages the imagination. Opinions will, of course, vary. For example, in a fantasy MMO I play, sometimes you have to kill so many wolves on the landscape to complete a deed and level up traits/virtues. No story, just kill mobs repeatedly until you finish the deed. To me, that is grinding. And really boring. Playing story arcs (and other missions) that actually have at least a simple story reason for doing what you are doing is far more engaging. Give me less mindless grind and more to sink my imagination into. 🙂 But I agree: CoH does a tremendous job of giving players a lot of options for how they like to play the game.

Ah, so that explains it!

The problem is on the missions I just ran today, the clickies were not close enough together for a soloer to get to with a limited timer. My vote would be to give a bonus of some sort to those who do it simultaneously, otherwise, let players just treat them like normal individual clickies.

If it'll make you feel any better, I've been playing since I found out about Homecoming June 1 of last year, and I still don't have a level 50 character. My highest level is 30. My CoH playtime is split among 80+ characters, and I feel no need to rush. Any game I play is about the journey. "Endgame" holds no interest for me.