A pure, old school server

[scandroid]

I love the homecoming servers so far, playing on two of them at the moment. But what I would like to see is another server added. This new server will be for purists of the game. The AE is non-existent. There is no P2W vendor, and no DFB. If you want to respec your character, you have to do the Respec trial. If you want to get some xp fast, maybe run the sewers with a bunch of other lowbies. Or perhaps take the team to Perez Park or The Hollows and street sweep. There is no double XP on the server, just standard XP.

[FoulVileTerror]

I believe it's out there and called Rebirth?

I'm sorry that I don't have more details.  Hopefully someone with a better handle on it can provide the information you need.

[Outrider_01]

None the things listed are required to place HC, except for friends.  So, make some friends with a like minded view, slot SO, and avoid the AE or evil scary P2W lady.  Its like, its already there....just have to choose not to use it.

Edited September 28, 2020 by Outrider_01

[Alchemystic]

Rebirth is the 'classic' server, instanced in a pre-issue 24 version of CoH with none of the new additions introduced by SCORE, Leandro or Homecoming.

 

It will still have AE, but the rewards/drops are the same as on live, and there's no P2W vendors.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Tyrannical

[Ruin Mage]

As they said, Rebirth or do it by choice.

Otherwise, no thanks.

[AerialAssault]

Contrary to popular belief, it is not as simple as pressing 'Undo'.

 

Other servers have managed to do this because it was their primary goal. The Devs here have made it pretty clear that they want to take the game forward, not backward, in the future.

 

In the meantime, if playing on Rebirth isn't your style you can still level the old way. Just don't use the P2W Vendor or AE and you're golden.

[Solarverse]

I get where you are coming from, I personally preferred the pre i5 days with the enhancement system, the no limit aggro system, the harder to kill mobs and the fright of getting around in the Hollows before the revamp with no travel powers till level 14, no capes till level 20 and no auras till level 30, the old Debt system in place, the ambush mobs that we no longer have in game,  pretty much everything the game was pre i5. I would love to see a server like this that ports over all the costume options and new powers and new missions and I would be happier than a pig in s**t.

Sadly for us I think people like me are either rare or have moved on from the game when the game was made to be easier to play over the years, so there doesn't seem to be enough of us left that preferred the game pre i5, so most requests like this one get shot down pretty fast. And since there are not enough of us left, I don't think there will be any hope of having a populated server if somebody were to make one either. And I crave the population, so I wouldn't be able to play an old school server like that unless there were plenty of people to hang out with. Not to mention, I have grown a certain attachment to a lot of people in this game, hell, I even have a certain kind of fondness to a lot of the people who post these very forums...you kind of get used to them and actually start liking their smart asses, lol...so it would be hard to leave either way.

But just know, you aren't alone, we are just a dying breed is all.

[Rathulfr]

10 hours ago, FoulVileTerror said:

I believe it's out there and called Rebirth?

I'm sorry that I don't have more details.  Hopefully someone with a better handle on it can provide the information you need.

https://www.cityofheroesrebirth.com/public/

[Golden Azrael]

15 hours ago, scandroid said:

I love the homecoming servers so far, playing on two of them at the moment. But what I would like to see is another server added. This new server will be for purists of the game. The AE is non-existent. There is no P2W vendor, and no DFB. If you want to respec your character, you have to do the Respec trial. If you want to get some xp fast, maybe run the sewers with a bunch of other lowbies. Or perhaps take the team to Perez Park or The Hollows and street sweep. There is no double XP on the server, just standard XP.

...and no IOs or Loot or issue 4.

 

My vote is a lock on Issue 3.  That would be my 'pure' 'old school' server.

 

Remembers when perma hasten could be SO slotted.

 

Azrael.

[Golden Azrael]

8 hours ago, Solarverse said:

I get where you are coming from, I personally preferred the pre i5 days with the enhancement system, the no limit aggro system, the harder to kill mobs and the fright of getting around in the Hollows before the revamp with no travel powers till level 14, no capes till level 20 and no auras till level 30, the old Debt system in place, the ambush mobs that we no longer have in game,  pretty much everything the game was pre i5. I would love to see a server like this that ports over all the costume options and new powers and new missions and I would be happier than a pig in s**t.

Sadly for us I think people like me are either rare or have moved on from the game when the game was made to be easier to play over the years, so there doesn't seem to be enough of us left that preferred the game pre i5, so most requests like this one get shot down pretty fast. And since there are not enough of us left, I don't think there will be any hope of having a populated server if somebody were to make one either. And I crave the population, so I wouldn't be able to play an old school server like that unless there were plenty of people to hang out with. Not to mention, I have grown a certain attachment to a lot of people in this game, hell, I even have a certain kind of fondness to a lot of the people who post these very forums...you kind of get used to them and actually start liking their smart asses, lol...so it would be hard to leave either way.

But just know, you aren't alone, we are just a dying breed is all.

You had me at 'Hello.'

 

Tanks that could herd the Hollows.

 

The pre-neutered Hollows.

 

Perma Hasten.

 

Earning your cape...no Travel Powers to 14...

 

Ah...memories...from the corner of my mind.  (*sings Streisand.)

 

Azrael.

[SableShrike]

Stuck in a dealership waiting on a maintenance appointment, so forgive me being longwinded here.
 

The two things that’ve kept me off Rebirth are population and powersets.

 

I’m over in Europe now, so when I log on a North American server it’s definitely not peak hours.  On HC I can still find enough crew to run a TF (or even solo one as we are given that option on HC).

 

The other big thing is AT and power set fixes/balance.  HC is far ahead of any other server in terms of quality control.  Savage on Rebirth is still missing attack animations specific to the set, et cetera.  Homecoming simply has more options and done a more polished job of it.

 

On the difficulty thing, I’ve taken to running Ouro gigs.  My plan is to run every single one on my Tanker.  There’s a lot of options to jack difficulty in Ouro arcs.  Homecoming actually makes cranking difficulty up easier than a vanilla server would.

 

I think what we’re all nostalgic for isn’t difficulty per se, but the community play that a more difficult environment fostered.

 

I made a lot of friends while beating my head against the old Positron that took two or more hours and had everything conning red or purple to us (on TOs or DOs to boot).  The first half hour was usually brutal, but people would then gain a few levels and really start to work as a tight team.  Timing controls, burning down problem bosses or Lts. first, jumping past to Taunt spawns to draw AoE away from the rest of the team...

 

You had to learn how to do these things, or you would wind up sucking serious debt.  Homecoming does have the option to do these same things, but that “optional” part is the difference.  Most new players would get seriously discouraged by an old-style Positron against purple-conning Vahzilok.  That’s a very steep leaning curve, and I can see why the Live and HC team realized they had to lessen the incline.

 

For me the low-level game on HC is fine as is, but I will admit 30+ is a little crazy.  Incarnates may need some tweaking (which Live devs never got a chance to do), and Resistance and Defense caps may need to be looked at given that we can turn everything into tankmages.

 

Perhaps we can have differing Defense caps for ATs like we have for Resistance and Damage.  Maybe only Tanks and Brutes could come close to what we currently have for softcap.  Maybe make it so even the melee ATs couldn’t hit softcap without inspirs or third-party buffs.  Give us Force Fielders a real job again.

 

HC’s devs have said they’re specifically working on a balance pass for Issue 6 and beyond, and given the work they’ve done to date I trust they won’t just half-ass it.

 

Just know that it’s coming “Soon”.

[golstat2003]

I doubt the balance pass will make it feel like the old days. I think it will just be balanced buffs and nerfs. Nothing to the scale people expect. This team simply doesn't have the manpower.

 

I would advise everyone to temper their expectations.

[siolfir]

3 hours ago, SableShrike said:

Perhaps we can have differing Defense caps for ATs like we have for Resistance and Damage.  Maybe only Tanks and Brutes could come close to what we currently have for softcap.  Maybe make it so even the melee ATs couldn’t hit softcap without inspirs or third-party buffs.  Give us Force Fielders a real job again.

There actually are differing defense caps for ATs, and Brutes and Tankers have the highest cap, but since the lowest one is more than 100% above the incarnate soft cap it simply doesn't matter that they're different. And some mobs get +to-hit enough that even at hard capped defense they'll still hit you more often than not.

 

But people tend to avoid those.

[Greycat]

6 hours ago, Golden Azrael said:

Earning your cape...no Travel Powers to 14...

*old Warshades and Peacebringers wave hi.* >.>

[ShardWarrior]

On 9/27/2020 at 1:19 PM, scandroid said:

I love the homecoming servers so far, playing on two of them at the moment. But what I would like to see is another server added. This new server will be for purists of the game. The AE is non-existent. There is no P2W vendor, and no DFB. If you want to respec your character, you have to do the Respec trial. If you want to get some xp fast, maybe run the sewers with a bunch of other lowbies. Or perhaps take the team to Perez Park or The Hollows and street sweep. There is no double XP on the server, just standard XP.

I think everyone can appreciate the sentiment however you can achieve what you are looking for already right here.  Avoid the AE, do not use the P2W vendor, do not join DFB teams, run through the sewers or Hollows and street sweep and run respec trials. 

[siolfir]

3 hours ago, ShardWarrior said:

I think everyone can appreciate the sentiment however you can achieve what you are looking for already right here.  Avoid the AE, do not use the P2W vendor, do not join DFB teams, run through the sewers or Hollows and street sweep and run respec trials. 

Eh... not really. You still end up with Fitness at level 2 whether you want it or not, nukes still won't crash, and zones and enemy groups will still be updated. I can't say that I miss having to work Stamina into my builds at level 20, but it does mean that you don't get to experience the "old school" even if you're using a set that wasn't updated and avoid all of the things you listed.

[golstat2003]

17 minutes ago, siolfir said:

Eh... not really. You still end up with Fitness at level 2 whether you want it or not, nukes still won't crash, and zones and enemy groups will still be updated. I can't say that I miss having to work Stamina into my builds at level 20, but it does mean that you don't get to experience the "old school" even if you're using a set that wasn't updated and avoid all of the things you listed.

I literally shuddered in pain reading all of those "old school" things you mentioned.

[Rathulfr]

This is the classic "careful what you wish for" scenario.  Sure, it would be nice to have the feel and thrill of the good old days, but we tend to fail to remember to bad old days that were concurrent at the same time.  I don't miss:

• having to build around Fitness for Stamina at 20.
• having to pick a pre-req travel power before level 14.
• being unable to solo level a support alt (unless you get a spot on a Dreck or Council Amerika farm team and had an SK bridge).
• failing TFs on the last mission because team members DC/mapserver/quit/logout after hours of struggling.
• not having enough Inf for DO/SO enhancements, every 5 levels (yes, that was a real thing back in the day, especially before WW/BM).
• running the cape and aura missions for every alt that wanted a cape/aura.
• being excluded/kicked from teams for the wrong build (yes, that happened quite a bit, depending on circumstances).

It's exactly the same thing that happened with WoW: Classic.  There was a wave of nostalgia for like the first 30-90 days, and then everybody remembered what a PITA that game could be.  Yes, some folks' pain is someone else's pleasure.  But many WoW: Classic servers are ghost towns now, a year later.  I've logged on a couple times to try again, every now and then, and it's desolate (with a T) there sometimes.

 

[Monos King]

17 minutes ago, Rathulfr said:

running the cape and aura missions for every alt that wanted a cape/aura.

I actually loved that, but I'm pretty sure they added a unlock cape and aura emailable token for like one Empyrean Merit later on. The thing I dislike most about Homecoming is how costume progression was just abandoned entirely. I get why, since these servers weren't really meant to be a running game and were really just a playground for returners who figured they'd never play the game again, but it was a big part of the game. Echoing what Solar said, part of what made the game most wonderous for me was sitting in awe of level 50s and their badges and (often corresponding) awesome outfits, that were symbolic of how much effort they put in. I remember stumbling across RWZ (I never read updates or was on the forums) and seeing the badass vanguard dudes, and the excitement when I actually unlocked their outfits and emote change was such an awesome thing.

[Rathulfr]

10 minutes ago, Monos King said:

I actually loved that, but I'm pretty sure they added a unlock cape and aura emailable token for like one Empyrean Merit later on. The thing I dislike most about Homecoming is how costume progression was just abandoned entirely. I get why, since these servers weren't really meant to be a running game and were really just a playground for returners who figured they'd never play the game again, but it was a big part of the game. Echoing what Solar said, part of what made the game most wonderous for me was sitting in awe of level 50s and their badges and (often corresponding) awesome outfits, that were symbolic of how much effort they put in. I remember stumbling across RWZ (I never read updates or was on the forums) and seeing the badass vanguard dudes, and the excitement when I actually unlocked their outfits and emote change was such an awesome thing.

I don't mind running the cape and aura missions once.  Or even once per shard.  But when I've got 10-20 alts per shard, it gets real old, real fast.

[Monos King]

30 minutes ago, Rathulfr said:

I don't mind running the cape and aura missions once.  Or even once per shard.  But when I've got 10-20 alts per shard, it gets real old, real fast.

Nah that's fair, if we're talking about the capes/auras they could've made it unlock automatically at a certain level once you ran it the first time too and it would've been fine as well.

[Solarverse]

43 minutes ago, Rathulfr said:

I don't mind running the cape and aura missions once.  Or even once per shard.  But when I've got 10-20 alts per shard, it gets real old, real fast.

It honestly never bothered me since it didn't take that long to do. In the early early days it was difficult to solo though because they mobs were set at a certain level. So there was that.

[FrauleinMental]

8 hours ago, Rathulfr said:

• being unable to solo level a support alt (unless you get a spot on a Dreck or Council Amerika farm team and had an SK bridge).

Speaking of bridging...getting bombarded with team requests when you hit 46.  That probably wasn't so bad because suddenly you felt wanted. 🙂 

 

Also, needing to pair off on teams because you could only sidekick one other character.  And sidekicking having a relatively short range.

[Coyotedancer]

4 hours ago, FrauleinMental said:

Speaking of bridging...getting bombarded with team requests when you hit 46.  That probably wasn't so bad because suddenly you felt wanted. 🙂 

 

Also, needing to pair off on teams because you could only sidekick one other character.  And sidekicking having a relatively short range.

That was such a ridiculous pain in the rear... and people WANT THAT BACK?! Yikes. o_O

[Solarverse]

52 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

That was such a ridiculous pain in the rear... and people WANT THAT BACK?! Yikes. o_O

Yes...we do. You may think that is ridiculous, but you gotta understand that those of us who "want that back" find the current state of the game equally rediculous where everyone has everything handed to them up front with no effort at all. That's just not everyone's cup of tea.