Why is this game so good?

[Tankshock]

Lots of good answers in here.  No other game comes close to making you feel like a superhero.  Rather than put limits on you, CoH is fine with casual players smacking x8 even level.  But that doesn't mean there aren't challenges, they are just the challenges we place on ourselves. There is a ton of both strategy and tactics to this game, in a huge sandbox playstyle. How much more money did SWTOR spend on development, yet compare flying in both games. Or character development. Or combat. 

 

Also, it really does seem to attract a great community. MRCAPTAINMAN, wow.

[Pixie_Knight]

There's so many factors. You get to feel like a super hero. You feel like you're making a difference. If one takes the time to read mission briefings and clues, what you're doing matters. And later story arcs actually reference earlier events in a sensible way. If your contact asks for you to patrol IP, you're actually patrolling IP. If you're asked to put a stop to The Family shaking down businessmen, you are actually fighting Family goons who were harassing businessmen. You work along side an uncover cop, and help rescue other cops from gang members. After which the undercover cop mentions that sometimes he has trouble remembering that he is a cop and things like what you just helped him achieve are what keep him from 'going native'. When you're doing missions, the bad guys recognize you. If you die you can opt to respawn in a completely safe location. Little things like that stand out so much. Especially when compared to other games.

 

I mean, take Everquest. When I tried that game I got one quest where the quest giver made a big point of going on about how orcs were attacking a town to the west and the town needed help right away. So, you're thinking the quest sends you west to help that town, right? Wrong! The quest has you going east and hunting spiders for no apparent reason, and the quest giver wants you to bring back a bunch of spider rib bones as proof of your deed. Wait, WHAT?! Spider... rib bones?! Or when my ranger was making their level 20 Class armor, green steel armor. What is needed to make a suit of green steel armor? Uhm, let's see here... Copper (lots and lots of copper), orc ribs, orc eyes, orc livers... Why am I only getting copper off of dead orcs?! Why do I need ribs, eyes, and livers to make my steel armor?! This makes absolutely no sense!

[_NOPE_]

• Fantasty escapism
  
• You get to be a HERO!
  
• FANTASTIC community
  
• Easy gameplay
  
• You get to be a HERO!
  
• Easy on newbies
  
• Easy on families/busy people - casual friendly
  
• You get to be a HERO!
  
• FREEM! Fun sound effects and comicy visuals
  
• Total character customization
  
• You get to be a  HERO!
  
• Total power customization
  
• You get to be a  VILLAIN!
  
• You get to be a  ROGUE!
  
• You get to be a  HERO!
  

[RubyRed]

I don't think it's as much to do with nostalgia .. I didn't play on live (much, I think I tried out CoH for a month or so when it came out originally), but my wife recently got me into this now and I love it. Two things that stand out for me:

 

1) Sheer amount of character customization. If I have an idea, I can make it in some form or another. I love that you can not only mix and match power sets, but you can also customize how they look. And the sheer number costume options is wonderful.

 

2) Feeling like a real hero -- a lot of other MMOs say you're powerful, but then even a group you don't want to pull more than a couple guys or you get wiped. Here you can just round up giant herds of crunchy Council goons or whatever and blast them away! Feels like you're really powerful :3

[BelleSorciere]

A fifteen year old base engine (albeit with some upgrades). A game that's been essentially dormant since 2012. It's more fun than most AA games put out in the last year.

 

Is that all just nostalgia?

 

Nope. It's genuinely fun.

[Force Redux]

I feel what makes this game so good is and will always be the community. Out of every single MMO I've played, this community is hands down the best one I have ever encounter in all my years of gaming. It truly brings the game together. The amount of different personality and types characters you run into. Who are all positive and honestly leave a smile on my face everyday.. Sure there are your trolls, but they are a minority in the game.

This right here.

[Clave Dark 5]

As a filthy casual, it's that I can just hop on and play.  I don't have to worry about my build and plug hours into working on it, I don't have to play like a twitch gamer, and I don't face dying every damn five seconds.

 

I also like the customization, basically designing your own action figure and then getting to play with it.

[GamerKate]

As a filthy casual, it's that I can just hop on and play.  I don't have to worry about my build and plug hours into working on it, I don't have to play like a twitch gamer, and I don't face dying every damn five seconds.

 

I also like the customization, basically designing your own action figure and then getting to play with it.

 

I find it a bit ironic that I consider myself a filthy casual, and I also think coH is perfect for filthy casuals like me, but I can happily play it from morning till bedtime with small breaks for food lol

 

MCM

[DSorrow]

For me it's the combination of the following:

• CoX is inherently low stress: in general the gameplay isn't very fast paced and the difficulty is set so that you don't need to focus 100% or have a fully optimized build to finish stuff. Other notable casual gaming benefits: nothing in the game requires voice chat which is sometimes a big plus as well as the fact that one person going AFK for a bit doesn't stop the whole team.
  
• On the other end of the spectrum the game allows a significant degree of build optimization if you want to create a demi-god level character capable of silly things like soloing GMs or multiple AVs at once.
  
• Cookie cutter builds don't really exist in the sense they do in most other MMOs. Sure, you can pick the FoTM powersets but you can customize it a lot with your own IO build while still being extremely powerful
  
• You can create a truly unique character. The character creation has billions of options for different costume/AT/powerset combinations and when you add IO builds and potentially your own backstory to this, you're able to create a character that is literally unique.
  
• No holy trinity. Just pick whoever wants to join your team and 99% of the time you're good to go, which allows people to play something they actually enjoy rather than something that allows them to get into teams.
  
• Reasonable time commitments. I can hop on for half an hour and progress by doing just about anything or if I have more time, most TFs can be done in an hour. When it comes to long-term achievements, at least on Homecoming you can level up to 50 and fully kit out your character in a matter of weeks. You're never stuck with the class you picked first because everything takes so long that you don't have time to get alts to end-game.
  
• No fear of missing out. I absolutely despise that element in many games where you have a million different weekly/daily resets that force a gaming schedule on you if you want to keep up. In CoX it doesn't matter too much if I miss a couple of days worth of gaming because I don't lose a limited chance of progressing.
  

 

I guess the friendliness towards casuals and hardcore players at the same time is also what makes the community great. In most other MMOs having a teammate with a non-standard build is a detriment to my enjoyment while in CoX a bad build only affects the player using that build most of the time. Basically, I don't have to care at all whether my teammates have optimized builds or if they're using perfected attack chains and that is awesome. Also being able to look like a superhero from the start is great compared to being a space/fantasy hobo until end-game.

[Pixie_Knight]

You know, now that I think about it the success of CoH was kind of a fluke. The game that was released was nothing like the game that initially was being made. There were flaws and problems that the developers were still trying to fix years after release. Hell, they never did permanently fix the memory leak did they? Seemed like every major patch reintroduced it. In fact, the game was such a mess of spaghetti code that every time they tried to fix something or add a new feature, something else would break. The intended game balance was that a player was equal to three even level minions, one even level Lt and one minion, or a single even boss. But that's only actually true at low levels. And that's always been the case. Hell, certain melee builds broke that dynamic as early as level 4. And in a very niche market that only really wanted high fantasy games which all played pretty much identically, it was a superhero game that broke every single mold and convention. Instead of a level cap of 80+, the level cap was 40 initially. It later got raised to 50. Instead of having 50+ ways of doing the same three things each character gets 20 (later 24) powers total, each of which is unique and useful.  Buffs are shorter duration, but have much greater effect then in the competition. Debuffs are strong enough to actually matter. And each player is powerful enough to quickly handle things that in other games require a full team to slowly work their way through. Thus negating the entire need for a team, most of the time.

 

The game had all the ingredients of failure. It was too different, too ambitious, and too solo friendly to make it as an MMO in the market of the time. And yet, those exact same things are why it succeeded. People were growing tired of the Ultima Online and Everquest Online model of MMO. They wanted something new and different. And for all it's many flaws, City of Heroes arrived in that perfect moment. But most importantly, the game proved to be fun. And it still is today.

 

Best thing in the industry I can think of to compare it to is the Nintendo Wii. When you think about it, the Wii should have been a flop. Motion controls are an interesting gimmick, but hardly something that can hold a person's interest for long. The system was massively under powered compared to it's competition. And yet, the system sold like hot cakes. The game for it range from amazing to PoS shovelware, with more falling in the latter category. But it was immensely successful. Unlike the attempts at motion control gaming Sony and Microsoft put out. Sure, I like the Kinect. But I'll be the first to admit the games for it are mostly unplayable messes with poor detection. The wii just came out at just the right time and was just different enough to capture the world's interest.

 

And like with Nintendo's motion control system, City of Heroes spawned imitators. And while they can have their good points (I do enjoy DCUO), they just fail to live up to the magic that is City of Heroes.

[EggKookoo]

My pet theory about the community is that most CoH players come to the game already passionate about or affectionate toward the genre. Most of us probably read comics, or watched a lot of X-Man cartoons, or (more recently) got really in the the MCU. That stuff comes first, then we get to go play a game that caters to it. I think it fosters a sense of camaraderie, and we all seem to want to share our appreciation of it with each other.

 

For most other games, gaming is the primary genre that functions as the core of their respective communities. Many players will care about the setting or in-game lore, but most are there to play and compete. It creates a very different community dynamic. Not knocking it -- it works for many of the people there -- but it's a very different thing.

[Lockpick]

The AA titles has changed from a focus on gaming to a focus on gambling and how to design games so they get people to pay money again and again.

 

Just look at what monetized cosmetics has done to your ability to customize your character in modern games. A freeform system like CoH will never be created again because the AA companies want you to pay money for your appearance.

 

Older games were about the experience, the excitement of adventure and the joy of overcoming challenges. Modern games are about how to make the experience only fun while you keep on paying money.

 

So yeah it  is not only nostalgia, CoH belonged to a golden era of games which is mostly gone now.

 

I unfortunately should point out that, toward the end, CoH had early loot boxes. Those Superpacks.

 

This might get brickbats thrown my way, but...

 

Now that you mention it - perhaps it's FORTUNATE that City of Heroes was closed when it was.

 

Yeah - I said it!

 

Because that whole turn of games from experience to gambling lootboxes is CLEARLY where NCSoft was going - and trying to push COH towards. In retrospect it's obvious that the Devs fought that as much as possible. But it really HAD infected the game in the last year - the Free-to-Play model, the transactions for costumes. The entire ATs that you had to BUY? Remember controllers and masterminds had to be unlocked by paying for them? Even if you'd created them before?

 

Oh yes - Look at NCSoft - and EA - and Activision. All of them going in that direction. How POISONED would COH have become given a few more years of that?

 

Think of the work that the Secret Server - and Homecoming and the rest - had to do to the code to strip back and de-activate the pay shop elements? And that was only for the one year that COH had been like that. How hard would it have been to undo SEVERAL years worth of that crap? Imagine a new lockbox every quarter? Or every MONTH? Imagine entire powersets and ATs that could ONLY be had through lockboxes? Champions Online does that even now! STO has ships you can only acquire through lockboxes.

 

We have the game code. NCSoft can't stop it. And the game exists in multiple modes - but NONE of them force anyone to pay anything at all. That's ideal. That's as good as it gets - assuming the various servers can maintain basic funding for the servers themselves on a non-profit basis.

 

Sure - the COH community had to wait 6 years. But at least our game is as it SHOULD be. And perhaps even a bit better than it was at shutdown.

 

I'll take that trade and consider it a bargain!

 

I don't know about brickbats, but the reality is that when you move to a free to play game the gaming company still has to make money.  That is why Paragon had to charge for power sets, SSA, and Super Packs.  Nothing is free and they had to pay their staff and keep the game running.

[Neuronia]

There are achievement-based goals (Accolades, Badges) to keep those types going.

There are endless costume options and naming options, to get that perfect look and feel.

Even though the base adventures are the same (blasting stuff), mob placements and reactions are different enugh in each instance.

Levelling is pretty quick these days...

[Pixie_Knight]

Leveling was pretty easy to begin with. I got my first villain to 40 (the current cap) within a month of City of Villains launching, and to 50 within a week of the level cap being raised. And that only took so long because I was playing other characters too. I got Madam Enigma to level 38 within months, but that again also was because I had a lot of other characters I was also playing. Getting to 40 took longer, but that was mainly because Madam Enigma had ran out of missions and street sweeping for xp got boring. Especially when you've mostly out leveled the zones you have access to. The addition of Warburg let me power through the last two levels to reach 40, and I'd hit 50 within days after that. And that was without bothering with power leveling.

[Murcielago]

I'm going to be burned at the stake for this, but I believe City of Heroes is not a well made game. It is, however, radiant in that fact. Enemies ragdoll in on themselves, it's extremely easy to make something operate on a broken and absurd level, and generally even with the same powerset combinations, two characters will play exactly the same. City of Heroes is that one favorite stuffed animal that shouldn't still be in one piece after everything it got put through.

 

[Koda651]

I don't have to worry about my build and plug hours into working on it

Yet this very same game appeals to someone like me who enjoys spending hours and hours in Mid's/Pine's planning and tweaking almost as much as he does playing the game.

 

This game is a rare breed.  It has something for nearly everybody.  Spreadsheet gamers AND sane people alike.

[Guffnat]

What makes CoH stand out besides the amazing community is that queuing abilities, ragdoll physix and flashy effects make a rather slow paced combat system feel immersive, engaging and fast paced.

[EggKookoo]

What makes CoH stand out besides the amazing community is that queuing abilities, ragdoll physix and flashy effects make a rather slow paced combat system feel immersive, engaging and fast paced.

 

This is not the first time I've seen someone refer to CoH's combat as slow. Maybe I don't play enough games, but... slow compared to what? It's much faster-paced than combat in, say, WoW. One of my frustrations playing WoW is how slow and clunky everything feels.

 

Maybe it's slow compared to FPS games?

[Pixie_Knight]

What makes CoH stand out besides the amazing community is that queuing abilities, ragdoll physix and flashy effects make a rather slow paced combat system feel immersive, engaging and fast paced.

 

This is not the first time I've seen someone refer to CoH's combat as slow. Maybe I don't play enough games, but... slow compared to what? It's much faster-paced than combat in, say, WoW. One of my frustrations playing WoW is how slow and clunky everything feels.

 

Maybe it's slow compared to FPS games?

 

Other then racing to the next enemy right away, it is actually about the same speed as combat in most MMOs.

[Purple Spy]

With nearly everything having animation lock out, wind up time, and travel time, there is almost nothing truly "instant" in coh. It's definitely a different approach that most games and can probably feel sluggish to players used to games with more instant response to button presses. At the end of the day combat still flows pretty quickly but it requires a different play style to work around the animations.

[Xeres]

Well for me, I like the genre.  The typical fantasy MMO is overdone.  Granted the classes are similar (blaster = mage, stalker = rogue, etc) but it's the setting here that I enjoy.  I want my character to be a superhero.

 

But it's more than that.  One of the most important things for me in an MMO is character progression.  I get a new power and my character feels more powerful.  More slots and my character's effectiveness is increased and it's noticeable (provided I can put an enhancement there).  This happens through out your leveling experience.

 

Also, another great thing about this game is the powersets play differently for the most part.  Yeah some are similar but instead of defense the set affects damage resist for example.

 

And lastly it's simple.  The game isn't overly complicated in what it is and what it does and how you do it.

[GamerKate]

I’m not sure I’d say it’s as simple as Blaster=Mage. My kin/rad Defender feels like a mage. So does my SG mate’s Ill/kin controller.

 

My Emp/Sonic Defender is great at healing but he siloed Sister Psyche’s TF with a few Shivans, so ‘Defender = Healer’ doesn’t work either often.

 

CoH’s ‘classes’ are so flexible compared to other MMOs I have tried. It’s a great game.

 

MCM

[Sothoth]

I think one of the things is that the story isn't on rails.

Like the current arc going on in WoW, there are moral choices you can make, but they are pointless since everyone has to end up at the same point in the story, so your choices are basically meaningless, and they don't even change how you move through the story, you still see the same cut scenes no matter what choice you make.

Here the story telling is open ended, not tied to progression, and not everyone has to end up in the same place cause there isn't a major arc that everyone is involved in.

 

I also think there is more room for error on higher level content so that not everyone has to min/max their character to be effective. You can bring someone into UGT without incarnates and io sets and be fine. That one person who isn't geared doesn't mean the team is going to wipe.

 

You can also have successful teams without a tank. Ran Katie Hannons TF with 4 defs, 2 controllers, a blaster and corrupter, and absolutely destroyed it. You go into a WoW dungeon without a tank and you wont make it past the first group.

[hastened]

The thing I find most important about City of Heroes that seems to be missing in many other MMOs is the difficulty adjustment.  City of Heroes is not a well balanced game.  That would be a significant problem, as it could only appeal to either very casual gamers who don't really want to ever be challenged or would drive those people away....except that they let you pick your own difficulty.  And that makes all the difference in the world.

 

And yes, it is relatively easy to hit the point where you can solo +4/x8 missions....if you pick the enemies.  It is much, much harder to hit the point where you can solo +4/x8 across the entire spectrum of mission types the game can throw at you.  There is enough of a performance ceiling to provide everyone with the amount of challenge they like for fun, and that's an amazing feature that is totally missing from many other MMOs.

 

CoH lets everyone play together, at an appropriate challenge level regardless of personal skill or preference, in an environment that is supportive of multiple different play styles.  It really is pretty much everything for everyone.

[Skyhawke]

You can make a short, squat, green man with leaves all over him, give him plant/nature powers and call him Poke Salad. Name one other game you can do that with.  That, is why this game rules.