Grandpa, tell me about the old days...

[srmalloy]

2 hours ago, FeeFyeFoeFum said:

I remember no aggro or target cap. Watching a tanker run round an entire instance map, with all the mobs trailing behind them. They would then jump inside a dumpster and the entire population of the map would jump and follow them inside. Cue the 7 blasters that would target the inside of the dumpster and watch the mobs melt and the xp flow. leave the mission and reset

The full form of this required a flying /Devices blaster. While the tank was running around aggro'ing the map, the blaster was in the dumpster setting trip mines. When the tank called out that they were headed to the dumpster, the blaster would fly high up into the air. Trip mines have a hidden weakness -- if the blaster who set them is too far away, they won't trigger. So now the tank jumps into the dumpster, and the aggro'd mobs follow them, while the trip mines just sit there. CoH has a collision-model quirk -- NPC collision is checked only horizontally, so if a mob jumps right on top of another mob, it just lands overlapping the first mob; this allows all of the aggro'd mobs to fit into the dumpster with the tank. When the tank decides that they've got all they're going to get into the dumpster, they call for the blaster, who dives back toward the dumpster; when the blaster gets within the activation range of the trip mines, they all go off, killing defeating everything in the dumpster but the tank.

 

This would result in everyone's enhancement tray instantly filling, several hundred thousand points of XP, and one of the funnier demonstrations of the limits of the game: if you were too close to the dumpster when the trip mines went off, you would get a Windows pop-up from the game engine with the error message "Too many effects to render".

[Faelia]

I don't remember much but one thing I fondly remember was leveling many alts during Christmas with the Winter Lords in Atlas. Man, a noob PLing was such a mistake. Still got to try many builds(man, Ice/mace tank back then was horrid)

Edited February 14, 2023 by Faelia

[StrikerFox]

I remember having a SS/Fire Tanker I used to farm. Some big wig showed up in game and everyone flocked to the zone for a meet and greet. His character in game was literally Statesman. So I'm there with a crowd of people and when I clicked on him, saw he was only level 27 or something. I offered to farm him, he declined. Next issue, i6, a few months later, Burn was nerfed to oblivion. Taunt/aggro had a 10 target max. Movement speed got a penalty when attacking. It hurt farmers severely. Dreck farming became nonexistent. I like to think I was the cause of that. Haha!

[Shred Monkey]

I think one of the things I miss the most about the original game is the comic books that came out every month.  That was a really cool idea.  It was a way to introduce us to Lore without having to read it on the screen or interfering with the flow of gameplay.  I still have mine somewhere.   

[Greycat]

24 minutes ago, Shred Monkey said:

I think one of the things I miss the most about the original game is the comic books that came out every month.  That was a really cool idea.  It was a way to introduce us to Lore without having to read it on the screen or interfering with the flow of gameplay.  I still have mine somewhere.   

 

Still online.

http://www.cityofheroes.ca/media-and-downloads/comic-archive/

[UltraAlt]

On 2/13/2023 at 2:26 PM, Black Space said:

I recall the "taxi service" in Hollows

 

The Taxibots did a great service for us all back-in-the-day.

 

On 2/13/2023 at 2:26 PM, Black Space said:

Debt was a real problem - so when you got your travel power at 14 - it was a thrilling experience.

 

Yep. Ding-ing in the City used to be something that was really a reason to get excited about.

And that was an increasing excitement as the game when on. I agree that 14 (and 20) were a big deal back then.

 

`

[UltraAlt]

1 hour ago, Shred Monkey said:

I think one of the things I miss the most about the original game is the comic books that came out every month.  That was a really cool idea.  It was a way to introduce us to Lore without having to read it on the screen or interfering with the flow of gameplay.  I still have mine somewhere.   

 

Haha. Yeah. The comic books.

If I understand this correctly from all those years ago ...

As the CoH comic books were  part of the subscription ... it made the City of Heroes comic book the highest print-run comic book on the market while it was being released.

But comic book retailers didn't want to admit that the high publishing number was "sales", because the high "sales" numbers were not going through the retail system as the rest of comic books.

That isn't to say that it wasn't sold directly through retailers, but, if you would be interested in a City of Heroes comic book, you were probably already subscribing to the game.

 

1 hour ago, Shred Monkey said:

I still have mine somewhere.

 

Mine are in my comic book collection. Not sure which box.

[Greycat]

Come to think of it, I think I saw the comics a time or two at CompUSA, of all places...

[BazookaTwo]

I started in 2004, right after the game hit stores. I played on Champion mostly. I don't like that it took forever to hit 50, and post 22 every ten levels or so things just slowed to a crawl. 

 

What I miss is my old SG, but I can't think of the name. I stopped playing about 2006 or so, when my career took off. 

 

Anyhow our SG was cool. We had an in SG costume contest to determine an SG uniform, and wearing it was highly encouraged in a group, especially if two or more of you were on the team. 

 

This meant you were more visible to the community, had to play well with others because of that visibility, and eventually people recognized your sg as good to group with. The SG was so active, you got to really meet everyone, and there was almost always a couple groups running. We had max of 3-5 characters allowed in the SG at any given time, and that made you have less altitis. We also coordinated on Ventrillo during SG events, and you got to really get to make friends. We also participated in base raids when pvp came out and that felt great too. Like we had our own Danger Room setup for raiders to deal with. 

 

I miss all of that. I just wish I could remember the SG name or any of the players. 

[biostem]

I remember running around in beta as my rad/rad defender, basically spamming neutrino bolt, x-ray beam, and radiant aura, with a rikti ship hanging over AP.  When the game did go live, I rolled a dm/regen scrapper - all I basically did was street sweep, and I was nigh-unkillable w/ IH as a toggle.

 

I took a break from the game around 2009, but I also have fond memories of playing an ice/stone tanker.  I vaguely recall participating in the old mothership raid with that character, (and the naked Rikti!)

 

Besides that, I came back around 2010 or 2011 when the game went F2P, and recall reading which perks were best to spend the tokens on from the time I had paid for sub time previously.

 

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by biostem

[Go0gleplex]

I totally forgot about the comics. Ahhh...nostalgia.  Does anyone even organize Hydra hunts in Perez anymore. Not run into a single mission related to them since I came back. Weirdness.

[BazookaTwo]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:16 PM, Frostbiter said:

Back in the old days everyone got directed to Perez Park then the Hollows. Atlas Park and Galaxy City had missions we assumed but no one ever got sent to them. No, you got sent to Perez Park to defeat 500 Skulls and then to the Hollows so you could become intimately familiar with running from the hospital to the Hollows over and over again.

 

When I started The Hollows didn't exist. Neither did Boomtown for that matter. 

[BazookaTwo]

I have to add more...

My first toon was Bazooka Tooth, an AR/EM toon. I thought knockback was great fun, and caused lots of team wipes. But I also recall when boost range was ridiculous, and I'd hang out as far away from the Kronos as possible and try to get the kill shot with like a half mile boost range. 

 

I recall playing my original toons as though they all had different personalities... And I sorta still do. My bubble/elec defender was super friendly and helpful. My ill/kin  loved to kill steal and grief.  

 

I remember playing a spines/fire scrapper before farming was a thing. I felt like I'd discovered the best murderball in the game. 

 

I miss teleporting into the geometry of the game, and hunting for those spots before they closed them all. Under the floor in Atlas City Hall was a primo spot, and so we're the labs in Portal Corps. 

[UltraAlt]

43 minutes ago, Go0gleplex said:

Does anyone even organize Hydra hunts in Perez anymore. Not run into a single mission related to them since I came back.

 

About the only reason I have gone to Perez Park was for Kraken hunts.

My Magic Origin Arc character was sent there to do a door or two and some defeat X number of Y, but they weren't given any Hydra hunts.

It's too bad, the whole area over there by that dock with the badge is located is pretty cool.

 

Maybe it is time for some Hazard Zone contacts like the detectives. I don't care if they are all hunt X number of Y missions. It would give a reason to go to the hazard zones and could make up for the reduced street-sweeping xp.

I have the feeling that the extra server work caused by street-sweeping isn't the kind of server-end issue that it used to be.

[Frostbiter]

46 minutes ago, BazookaTwo said:

 

When I started The Hollows didn't exist. Neither did Boomtown for that matter. 

 

Thanks for letting me know.

[biostem]

50 minutes ago, BazookaTwo said:

When I started The Hollows didn't exist. Neither did Boomtown for that matter. 

And the level cap was 40.

[Frostbiter]

Boomtown was in the game since launch. The Hollows was added in Issue 2 September 2004.

[twozerofoxtrot]

I hardly qualify as an old timer but I casually played CoV from launch and left a little after inventions were added.

 

My big memory was finding out you could get a jetpack from the Atlas Park Mayhem and a Jump Pack from the Kings Row Mayhem. I was so pumped to do these not only for the sense of chaos but to get travel temp powers before level 10. If I got really sweaty I could snag the KR Mayhem before I burned through the Jetpack usage timer.

 

Also I thought the Tranq Dart temp power was super OP since it usually mezzed the target. This was huge when I was soloing at baby levels! I even made my obviously magical looking characters Science origin just to get it.

[Cix]

It used to be possible for missions to be front- or back-loaded.  You would zone in to a wall of reds and purples and fight your way back to a gray or green boss, or vice-versa.

 

Also, in the beginning bosses showed up in solo missions by default.  The final mission of the Hellions/Skulls gang war arc (Bonefire?) was kind of notorious because at the time there were very few builds that could handle two bosses at the same time solo.

[MHertz]

I had to go back and look to see how early I began — apparently I was playing as of Issue 1, because I remember the Council-Fifth Column battles in Atlas Park.

 

The thing I remember most about those years was doing Stan and Lou and working on the forum newspaper.

[Go0gleplex]

Yeah...I started playing July 2004 and I remember Boom being there....and the mad rush when The Hollows opened up (along with a ton of dirt naps from pumicites). 

Also remember a lot more mobs in the fringe areas of Talos than there are now. The SE red zone is totally deserted...making me wonder why it's still a red zone when it's the safest area on the map now.  The Babbage hunts in Skyway's Land of the Lost were epic as well. I guess now it only shows up in north Boom?

[Doc_Scorpion]

44 minutes ago, Go0gleplex said:

Also remember a lot more mobs in the fringe areas of Talos than there are now. The SE red zone is totally deserted...making me wonder why it's still a red zone when it's the safest area on the map now.

There's usually some BP in the city area, and the open area NE of that is crawling with DE.  Just went and looked, and you're right - the BP have vanished.  Will have to remember to file a bug report.

[starro]

Villain Cape mission:  the story was you could not wear a cape until you took down a hero at level 20.  My stalker and dominator villain died many times on the mission and I usually played solo and I struggled. My dominator villain often died a lot and likely died in a stiff breeze.  I still loved those characters. 

 

I finally traveled to the top of a building, stun the hero, knock back, they drop to one health point and I finish the job. I figured that out by accident the two weeks I was home with pneumonia one summer. 

[UltraAlt]

3 hours ago, MHertz said:

I had to go back and look to see how early I began — apparently I was playing as of Issue 1, because I remember the Council-Fifth Column battles in Atlas Park.

 

"Issue 3 - A Council of War - Introduced a new zone, replaced the Nazi-themed 5th Column enemy group with The Council, added new giant monsters and zone events, added Peacebringers and Warshades, and added Ancillary Power Pools for characters above level 40. - January 4, 2005" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Heroes

 

"The retirement of the 5th Column was somewhat controversial, as it was widely speculated by players that this was done to avoid issues with depicting Nazi propaganda in the European release of City of Heroes, although this was repeatedly denied by the developers. With the release of Issue 11, which included the 5th Column within certain Ouroboros missions, and Issues 12, 15 and 16, which included their more general return, it can be assumed that the speculation was incorrect.

The Council coup d'etat of the 5th Column was seen ingame for only one day following the release of Issue 3. Groups of both 5th Column and Council troops spawned in every zone and fought each other to the death." - https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Issue_3

[MHertz]

13 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

"Issue 3 - A Council of War - Introduced a new zone, replaced the Nazi-themed 5th Column enemy group with The Council, added new giant monsters and zone events…

I also remember when capes and auras were added. I know you went to a lot of work to prove me wrong somehow, but I know which issue it was and when I showed up.