The year is 2004...

[NNDeepdish]

You just got accepted into the Beta for CoH. You've created an account and downloaded the beta client. You log in for the first time and begin to create your character. 

You're not sure what to expect. You've read about this game online and seen screenshots and have been active on the forums and everything sounds amazing and exciting and you hope it lives up to the hype.

 

Here we go! Character creation.

 

The archetypes are laid out before you.. Tanker, Scrapper, Defender, Controller, Blaster. You click over each one and review the available powers… they all sound fun. How do you decide what to play first?

 

The character creator was more robust than you could have imagined. There hasn't been this level of customization in any other MMORPG you've played… what costume do you make first? 

 

For me…

I went with Assault Rifle, mostly because an rpg with a combat system like this that had GUNS was sort of the first of its kind. I was playing Anarchy Online at the time and I was a soldier (for the same reason, guns) but the sci-fi setting wasn't my favorite and the combat system was way different and tbh a little boring. I saw assault rifle and was like "Ok! trying that one first!"

 

What AT and powers did you try out first and why?

What costume did you make first?

 

 

[Rathulfr]

Energy/Energy Blaster was my first, and main, from 2004 (I2, though) to 2012.  I really dig the Iron Man vibe (my first costume was pretty similar to Iron Man, though not an exact clone).

Edited January 20, 2020 by Rathulfr

[Snarky]

A big old SS/Invul Brute that i re-rolled literally countless times.  My current main and highest level is a SS/Invul Brute Rogue with 50 vet levels. Oh yeah. It was right from the first swing at the prison door breaking out of the Zig.  I wish we could still start characters there and have the constant stream out of the perfectly named Fort Darwin.  How many times did we run across Mercy to team at the infected warehouse and get our first couple levels?   

Edited January 20, 2020 by Snarky

[roleki]

I went EN/EN first as well; while it wasn't my first 50, it was the character (and power combo) that got me hooked on CoH.  Even today, the Energy Blast SFX are still my favorite sound in-game.  You just know something's getting lit up when you hear it.

[EmmySky]

I went Defender, because helping out my fellow heroes seemed cool.  I chose storm because it sounded awesome (it is awesome).  Then I flubbed.  I chose energy.  I figured energy comes from lightning storms (Ben Franklin tyvm) and didn't realize the mechanics of KB defeating the purpose of many of my storm powers.  She was a tiny little toon in white shorts and a basic top with the long flared sleeves.  She sported tennis shoes (no socks) and a top knot.  Over the years, on her journey to 50, she wore many costumes, mostly white with a bright, almost dayglow, accent color.  

 

It was a love/hate relationship.  I will never pair storm and energy again but I loved her spunk.  

Edited January 20, 2020 by EmmySky
The autocorrect got me!

[Drakwatch]

I went with Claws / Invulnerability as my first toon on live.  My reasoning I think was almost completely random - I was like 11 and I just got the game for my birthday back in 2004.  But after learning how to play the game with him and other toons and even after the claws animation changes, it was still a solid combo. He had a terrible costume though - big blue baggy shirt with an electricity pattern. He eventually morphed into a red leather version of Wolverine.

[Abraxus]

My first character (actually created about two-weeks after go-live in 2004, and pictured in my avatar) took about 3 hours to create.  Between searching for the perfect name, deciding on the AT, then putting together the look, and picking the powersets, it took a considerable chunk of time!  His look evolved a bit after the addition of more effects, and costume pieces.  His powersets also changed when he was reborn here on Homecoming.  But, he is still my "first", and while he wasn't the first to reach L50 either in "live", or on Homecoming, he was always my main.

[Marine X]

I started Goldfever first, ( Illusion/Kinetic Controller ) then Marine X a few weeks later ( Invulnerable/ Super Strength Tank ) in Issue 0, couldn't do beta because needed to get Broadband installed. Had Marine and 2 other Tanks to 50 before Goldfever Did. Tanking for me was the better fit.

[TheAltOption]

My first and still my favorite is en/en blaster.  Felt kind of Dragonball to me.  There isn't another power in the game as satisfying as the energy snipe in sound, animation, and outcome.  His first costume has long gone to the waste bin of the internet (I didn't see the "link colors" option at the bottom of the screen my first go through) but he still looks the same as he did in 2005 when I joined.  Some of my choices don't quite line up, but he's looked the same for so long it would feel wrong to update him now!

[drbuzzard]

Started in i1 with an AR/Dev blaster. Eventually I found out about the smoke grenade bug which helped, but I never actually exploited it fully. I ended up making a fire/fire tank and rode that all the way to 50 for my first while the blaster languished in his 30s. Getting killed by snipers in FF just pissed me off too much.

[Sakura Tenshi]

>mfw unrepentant weeb especially as a 16 year old

>Loved kenshin

 

I'll just let you figure it out from there what my first character was.

[catsi563]

ny First ever was a Invuln SS tank Adam Black on Freedom. Played him all the way to 8 am the next morning without even realizing the sun was coming up.

[VileTerror]

I started in Issue 0, and I didn't even realize City of Heroes was a new game at the time.  I have ZERO recollection on how I even found out about it (and that frankly bothers me).  The only other MMOs I had tried up to this point were little things like Eternal Lands and Knight Online (the 2000s one, not the 2010s one).  I had a budding interest in tabletop roleplaying games, and had just started my career in the games industry as many do; in QA.

 

While waiting for the game to download on my dial-up connection, I read the City of Heroes website front-to-back.  I knew going in that the Rikti were from another dimension, and that the Lost were being transformed in to Rikti thanks to the chemical/drug from Outbreak.  (Still boggles my mind that people think of that connection as some kind of spoilable twist surprise.)

I had already made up my mind on what I wanted to play:  Fire / Kinetics Controller.  

Why?  Because that combination fit the closest to my namesake concept which predates my exploration of structured roleplay.  I had no idea just how powerful that combo would end up being at the time.

 

I played in a time before sliders.  I chose the female model since it was lankier and narrower, which best fit my concept.  However, those hips, butt, and breasts just kind of spoiled it for me.  Male and Huge, however, were much further from my intended look.  One of my first posts in the official forums was a poorly-done Photoshop mock-up of my character with reduced breast size and hip width, and a plea for the Devs to implement some kind of feature to allow me to make my character's intended appearance a possibility.

I was overjoyed when sliders were added, although I still feel that they could stand to go a bit lower than the current bottom limit.

 

I rerolled my main twice back then; first time because Respecs weren't a thing yet, and I ended up not liking the Immobilize Powers.  The second time . . . probably for the sliders, since I don't think Icon was added until later . . . maybe.  In any event, by the time Badges were introduced, I was determined not to reroll ever again!  By golly, I had made it to level 15 or something, and that was too high to start all over again.

Oh, how young I was.  Oh, how little I knew back then.

[Charistoph]

I honestly can't remember what I played during Beta (or even if I was in Beta).  I have a huge amount of altoholism and like to explore every class and powerset I can get my hands on.  The first character that I remember devoting enough time to that I would consider it my first character was a female Mutant Kin/Rad Defender with a hairstyle and face reminiscent of Jean Grey and went with the Chitin body suit theme with green and I think red.  Maybe I should bring her back on Homecoming.

 

I had been playing as a Theurgist in Dark Age of Camelot, and enjoyed that class a lot, but I also liked the debuff and buff aspect of the Kinetics.  Radiation Blast was brought in to play to make it easier for the Kinetics to hit.

[Hyperstrike]

2004, I'd been out of the Army for 10 years.
Had left my nursing job, and was finishing up one of my degrees.
I DESPERATELY wanted to play CoH.
But my computer at the time didn't meet minimum spec.
Also, I was stuck on craptastic dialup after my landlord tossed Comcast out and went to some fly-by-night DSL reseller who offered them big kickbacks.

A couple years later I'd finally bumped slightly to an IDSL line, and had built a newer computer.
So, 07/04/2008, Hyperstrike stepped into Outbreak...

[Call Me Awesome]

It was sometime in the summer or fall of 2005, late issue 2 or early issue 3; I can't recall exactly.  I saw the box at Best Buy and though it looked interesting.

 

My very first character was a Fire/EM blaster that I played up to about level 20 when my unskilled play style clashed with my desire to avoid the floor. I rolled up an Invuln/Stone Melee tanker named Call Me Awesome and found my niche at the time.  CMA became my main, my first level 50 and for the entire run of the live game my most played character with over 5,000 hours at shutdown.  That first blaster was deleted and it wasn't until after Going Rogue that I tried again, ironically with the same Fire/EM combination.  This time I knew what I was doing and had a lot of fun with that character.  In fact, that blaster was the first character I rerolled here on Homecoming and the first 50 I had here.  It took awhile before I turned my attention back to CMA, rerolled him and played him to 50.

[Lazarillo]

I didn't start playing CoH until i5 (the day it was released, in fact, though that was simply coincidence), but the first character I ever played, and the one I'd had my eye on trying for some time before that thanks to the big old 100-page online game manual that showed all the powers, was a Fire/Ice Tanker.  It just looked like such a cool concept, not to mention how all the guides talked about it being a really strong build (little did I know, my first day being i5...).

 

I didn't actually end up playing him very much he never even cracked 40 back in the day.  I did rebuild him for Homecoming, and he...kinda stalled again, right around the same spot.  I'm not sure why I have so much trouble getting him over that hump.

[Ignatz the Insane]

My first was a Katana/SR scrapper.  The first dozen or so levels were a blur.  My most vivid memory was running through the streets in Steel Canyon.  I looked up at the skyscrapers and saw someone super jumping between the buildings.  I'd never seen anything like it.  Needless to say, my next power choice was super jump.  

[Scientist]

Started a couple months after the game start, because I had two good friends who started in Beta and talked me into this, my first MMO.  I hit a bit of a delay because it turned out you had to have one of a number of SPECIFIC graphics cards to play a MMO, who knew? 🙂 

 

First characters were two Rad/Rad defenders, as a science geek doing things with radiation appealed to me and it sounded flexible and effective from the guides and comments.  One was for soloing/PUGs and one was for a static team we set up.  One of those was my first 50, became my main, and is again now my first 50 and main on Homecoming, and despite multiple nerfs to Radiation Emission over the years still a lot of fun to play.  To be fair, I acknowledge some debate between myself and my friends about whether said nerfs were deserved.   Defenders are still my favorite AT, I love helping a team stay alive and go faster, and Radiation is fairly, um, obvious about it. . . 

[biostem]

My very first character was a radiation/radiation defender named "Beta Wave".  My second, (or at least soon after), was my namesake, as a DM/Regen scrapper.  I used to do a *lot* of street sweeping in those early days...

[NNDeepdish]

7 minutes ago, Ignatz the Insane said:

My first was a Katana/SR scrapper.  The first dozen or so levels were a blur.  My most vivid memory was running through the streets in Steel Canyon.  I looked up at the skyscrapers and saw someone super jumping between the buildings.  I'd never seen anything like it.  Needless to say, my next power choice was super jump.  

That's a great topic that I should have included.. what was your first travel power?

 

Mine? Teleportation. Sounded so cool, until I was always out of endurance

[Shred Monkey]

Obviously claws/regen scrapper... because... Hello Wolverine?  He's the only reason we're here to begin with.  But that lasts about 6 levels (2 hours back then) and after seeing a bazillion other claws regen scrappers, I go make a ninja toon Katana/SR who looks like someone from Mortal Kombat, but with a sword.

[Haijinx]

My first Character was a MA/SR.  That character made it to level 4.

 

My second character was an Energy/Energy blaster.  

 

I tried a lot of characters those first few days. I have a bad habit of starting over and over and over again when I start a new game.

[Call Me Awesome]

6 hours ago, NNDeepdish said:

That's a great topic that I should have included.. what was your first travel power?

 

Mine? Teleportation. Sounded so cool, until I was always out of endurance

First travel?  Flight of course.  By the time CMA reached 14 I picked up TP because some idiots had told me how uber it was.  Suffered with it until 24 when I ran the respec mission then I went with Combat Jumping/Super Jump... a combo I've had on many characters since.  That and Fly are the two I end up choosing between on everything.

[Heraclea]

I made Heraclea a tanker because the little pamphlet in the box said that tankers were the class with the most survivability and I wanted more than anything else to avoid frustration.