The City of Heroes MMO Thread

[Matthean]

Because we were overtaking the 2011 MMO thread. :lol:

Also see:
COH\COV Roll Call Part Deux: Virtue Server - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=60794)
2011 MMORPG Thread - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=80272)

I soloed a stalker through Praet. and I have to say I'm rather impressed with the zone at this point. I really liked a number of the missions in terms of story lines and dialog. I had to chuckle at Crow saying he preferred straight ahead action and me being on my stalker going into hide and him taking the brunt of the alpha since he wasn't hidden. I did the Resistance arc and ended up likely the more extremist option on there. I should have gotten the more pacifist contact going for the last part and went back to them after I finished the other contacts because now I'm level 19.1 with no arcs so I have to solo the missions found via the one guy who just gives you random missions.

Oh, and I rolled a stalker. This considering I had beta access to CoV and only rolled one stalker way early. I got him to maybe level 8 seeing how the AT played out only to find out if you are ambushed you aren't hidden anymore. I was so pissed I wrote off the AT from that point on. Now, I am looking for things I haven't really done in the game and having a stalker is one of the few. My playing one this time has been fun from the get go and I've accepted the more scrapper side of the AT. It almost feels like I should go, "Why didn't you people tell me it was this fun from the beginning?" :D It's a Kin/nin for those curious. The more I play it the more Elec/nin sounds rather nice, but I'm just going to stick with this one. My altism suffers from "the grass is greener" syndrome even though what I'm playing is fun.

I really like bruising on tanks. I grabbed my SD/ss and ran around Atlas taking on +level mobs and using very little inspirs for it.

I finally broke down and did the revamped Posi. So much better even if there is at least one annoying mission in there. I just need to do it enough to get familiar with it. The last mission I was clueless where to go most of the time.

[Marmel]

I play on Virtue and Protector, almost exclusively. Anyone can add me to your global friends list. I'll team anytime or offer help to any newer players whenever needs.

@beach lifeguard

[JeeberD]

I've recently started playing again (on Virtue), usually weekday mornings/early afternoons. If I'm around I'll be happy to team up with y'all, though I've been pretty much exclusively soloing since I've been back, so it may take me a bit to relearn the team dynamic.

@JeeberD

[cuervo72]

I play blue-side on Virtue and red-side on Champion. My play times are the diametric opposite of Jeeber's - typically in the 10PM - 1AM range (sometimes a little earlier if it's a slow weekday). :D

I solo a lot - typically I'm just looking for a little relaxation with not much interaction (anonymously joining trials actually isn't bad for that - I can get in, do my job and get out with nary a word spoken). Run some tips, do a little crafting, hop between characters, etc; no real set plan (one EARLY complaint I got when FOBLers were still playing - well, mostly just from al_hill - was that I JUST WOULDN'T STICK TO HELPING OUT WITH MY TANK. I was off leveling alts while other mains outleveled me. Not a concern now, but it made teaming harder in 2005.)

[Matthean]

Blue side: Freedom, Virtue, Victory
Red side: Freedom
Superteam: Justice(Hardcore SG)

I got level 35 commons in my Ice/ice blaster and Dark/stone tank so I can start to push them on. I tried out the tank to see what I could due in terms of difficulty setting and the lack of damage cuts into making it worth while to solo on large mobs for now. I finally started to use merits to get recipes and I had a character with 400+ merits so I picked up the +end proc for my tank, but that's still a rather brutal build for end usage. It's not even a post i19 build where I would toss in Tough and Weave. I need to get Acro out of there so there is one less toggle, but that's also fitting in +KB prot. IOs as well. Thankfully this is a build I'm going to invest being an Incarnate on so end issues will be taken care off in the end.

[cuervo72]

Good time to buy/upgrade, $14.99 @ GameStop:

http://www.gamestop.com/pc/games/city-of-heroes-going-rogue-complete-collection/77978

Haven't been able to play this week outside of one trial on my Fire/Fire (travel, only have laptop access). Went ok despite three dc's. I think blasting away at things on the BAF will be fun, hope to do a bunch with her when I can.

[cuervo72]

Ok - back home and running trials. Went something like this:

1. Blu Blazes (fire blaster) - BAF. Was THE FASTEST I've been on. Extremely smooth. Got either an uncommon or a rare, I forget.

2. Blu Blazes - BAF. This was the same group I think, trying for MoBAF. It...did not go well. Failed, in fact. Would have much rather just gone for a regular; instead we were greedy and got nothing. Worth noting though that it appeared that both AVs were down, but apparently they weren't in time and both respawned. Fell apart after that.

3. Astrasmash (Grav/Storm) - Lambda. Completed...and got the 10 thread booby prize. Huzzah, the game thinks I door sit.

4. Astrasmash - BAF. Actually I think she did a couple of these. Snagged a rare in one, and finished off her MoBAF badge.

5. Spectral Shot - BAF. Got an uncommon I think.

6. Lady Elixir - Lambda. Was tough, but I got through it. Got an uncommon.
7. Lady Elixir - Lambda. Was tough, got through it, but the game thought I was a leech again. 10 threads.
8. Lady Elixir - BAF. Pulled to adds spawn point, went smoothly. Uncommon.

Despite the poor rolls, Lady E unlocked Interface and slotted it with [Paralytic Radial Interface]. At least she has something incarnate slotted now (and a Tier 2 to boot).

[hoopsguy]

Is it still $15/mo?

[cuervo72]

Yes.

[cuervo72]

Time for another update, and I'll copy this over from the other thread:

There's no way I'm going to be able to trick out all of my characters though. Going through this for 15 50s? Not happening. Heck, not all of them even have Alpha unlocked. I think the order of preference will be:

Ill/TA Troller - has the +1 Alpha, is near perma-PA, is versatile and just generally fun.

Emp/Psi Def - Because, well, she can't do much by herself. But, I do like the character. So content where teaming is required seems like a pretty good thing for her to do.

WM/SD Brute - the most complete of my villains. For whatever reason I don't really like teaming with my melee types (some burden of leadership), but I wouldn't mind it with him.

Fire/Fire Blaster - fun factor. I love blasting, blasting and more blasting.

Grav/Storm troller - again, versatility. Plus she's my only other toon with the +1 from Alpha thus far.


After that, probably nobody gets much focus.

KM/EA brute - possibly. A recent 50 that does get played still.
Mind/Kin troller - maybe. Would be useful for the kin, not so sure otherwise.
Inv/EM tank - bleh.
BS/Regen - eh, probably not.
DB/WP - not too exciting.
Night Widow - never feel like playing her much.
Plant/Thorn dom - ditto. Usually even forget I have him at 50.
Ice/MM blaster - nice, but not as fun as the Fire.
NRG/Kin corr - eh, she's just a mess.
Mercs/Poison MM - getting tired just *thinking* about the resummoning.


Actually as things are going...I could see maybe doing this eventually on quite a few 50s, to experience the trials on a wider array of characters and to have a variety of Incarnate power combos.

So far though, I have only focused on the ones I had singled out, with the exception of the WM/SD brute.

Grav/Storm - probably the most advanced at this point. +1 in Alpha ([Cardiac]), +1 from Lore ([Warworks Total Core Improved Ally]). [Gravimetric] in the Interface slot, I forget if it is 2nd or 3rd tier (Gravimetric might not be a popular choice overall, but she IS a Grav, and I was thinking -speed might actually be handy on things like the BAF escape phase). [Cryonic] in Judgement, though again I forget how far up the chain I am. Thinking of going Total Radial for even more -speed/rech. Go for the total overkill. The only thing I need to do is unlock Destiny. I am thinking [Clarion] there, as mez protection is never bad for a toon w/o it already.

Emp/Psi - Been playing her more the last couple days, and have even gotten to and destroyed objectives in the Lambda! And not gotten just threads! Finally slotted [Spiritual Boost] in my Alpha (Radial next), has...ah geez, what does she have in Lore? I honestly need to check. But it's slotted. Going to get that Tier 3 if it already isn't, then work on Lore (going [Seers]) and Destiny [Ageless]). For a Psi toon that carries a Medieval mantle (if not actually surviving FROM the period), both make sense. I'll go Ion if no Psi-based Judgement power comes along, though hopefully it will.

Ill/TA - has [Musculature Total Radial Revamp] in Alpha, and I wouldn't mind eventually getting Tier 4 there. Started with [Void] in Judgement, haven't unlocked the others. Will probably go [Reactive], [Clockwork] (kinda match the faceless PA), [Clarion] (again).

Fire/Fire Blaster - has still only done a couple of BAF, have to run more. Man, it is fun blowing **** up. Needs to progress with [Cardiac], will go [Pyronic] (duh), [Reactive] (MOAR FIRE), [IDF] (something different). Not really sure on the Destiny buff.

---------------

I wasn't aware before that you could also build Alpha components from trial salvage. I'm MUCH more likely to do trials than TF, so this makes me happy. They just seem to work better for me. And if I were to reassess my list, I'd probably bump my NRG/Kin corr well up the list of who to run considering I can unlock Alpha and also find a decent role at least on the BAF.

[Matthean]

Leaving off from the previous thread, pretty much all the IOs I was crafting bottomed out in terms of profit and I was stuck with a number of guys simply holding them. I pulled and relisted just to get rid of them and moved on to other IOs. I'm doing better than before and got my main up to 1.991 billion with something like 100 mill to be sold so I consider them capped. I'll still hit the market with her and just skim off the top whatever I'm getting back extra and e-mail it to alts.

I had another character hit the billion mark, but they donated heavily to my Kat/sr so I could IO out that build. They are back within range of a billion, so I'll send off another amount to another character and likely work on getting a third character on a 3rd server set up so I can just have three characters using what extra they get to loan out to whoever needs it on their particular server.

I'm working on IOing my level 21 Kin/nin via frankenslotting and they will be my character for A-merits. After that I need to do the same for my level 24 Spines/elec and have them work tickets/prestige.

[Marmel]

Hey Matthean, when do the Iron Eagles meet, and do you usually have room for newcomers?

[Matthean]

Thursday at 8pm eastern. We usually do midsized teams so we always have room for more. I haven't posted on the thread for it, but I'm changing jobs so I'll be getting on a little later 9ish maybe, but I'll be there when I can. We usually run 8-10, and then some take a break. I know there are some who come back, but I'm usually in bed. That will change shortly though.

Iron Eagles II - Defeat is Permanent SG J/H - City of Heroes Forums (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=218530)

Just go to the end of the thread.

[Matthean]

Hardcore night for anybody interested. Iron Eagles is the channel. 8pm is the start time. Justice is the server. We do tend to have a rule that the first 10 levels are free. If you want to stick to any death rule, that's up to you. Even with ten free levels, getting to 20 is an accomplishment. We went lowbies last week, but that might change based on who shows up.

[Schmidty]

Is there a trial for this game?

[Matthean]

Is there a trial for this game?

Yes, for the standard 14 days. I personally find the restrictions rather annoying. They used to be decent(level restricted to 14 and that's about it I thought), but that got changed.

[Dodgerchick]

Awww, miss HellSpirit and Angel Azul

[Dodgerchick]

Oh and Lori Swifthands too!

[Marmel]

Since it is 8:40 and I am just getting home, i obviously missed the Iron Eagles tonight, but I'll try again next week.

Also, for anybody who used to have an account, May 10-18 is free reactivation week. Come try the game back out for free for a week!

[Matthean]

I guess I was due. I have yet to delete an IE character since coming back to the SG. I have a level 25 blaster and while it's fun, it does a lot of knockback which at the end of the day I kind of feel sorry for the melee characters we play with. I have a high level Ice/ice elsewhere that I love so I figure I would roll one for the IEs and I had locked into my head that it was going to outdo my other blaster since Ice/ice is one of the most defensive blasters. We were cruising along and I committed CoH 101 newbie kind of an error. I flew too low to the rooftops in Steel. Anybody who has played CoH knows what's coming. Clockwork. Freaking high level clockwork nailed my level 11 Ice/ice blaster out of the sky. *sigh*

And yes, I'm rerolling the build, but I'm going to wait until my other blasters are done and then just use an Ice/ice as my one pick for when I want to use a blaster.

[Matthean]

Another pump for hardcore night. Should be interesting with the event going on and the mass lag that it causes.

[Bonegavel]

Ugh. I shouldn't have looked at this thread. It's been many moons since I've cancelled my subscription but I do remember having good times with the group.

[Dodgerchick]

^^ fun times indeed!

[Qwikshot]

Ugh. I shouldn't have looked at this thread. It's been many moons since I've cancelled my subscription but I do remember having good times with the group.

Man I remember a ton of us playing this when it first came out, Hangfire has been dormant for a loooooonnnnnnggggg time.

[Matthean]

Ugh. I shouldn't have looked at this thread. It's been many moons since I've cancelled my subscription but I do remember having good times with the group.

So I shouldn't post pics of characters? :lol:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/5715988275_fb272bea6f_o.gif

Outfit via the Mac item pack.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2696/5716552638_e0a52e2317_o.gif

Spines/elec scrapper using power customization for both sets.

And yes, be happy I don't have the Animal pack. Some of that is done rather well. One of my favorite looks is an animal looking character with a weapon and Shield power set.

[Bonegavel]

Sigh. I reactivated my account. Downloading the 4gb of files as I type this. I have my daughter this weekend so I may or may not be on since I'm not sure what we are doing. Will probably jump on tonight after she goes to bed. :)

Yes Qwik and DC! I'm curious to see if my characters are still there or if they've died of old age.

[hoopsguy]

Wonder if I could still retrieve Don the Baptist?

[Matthean]

This is reactivation weekend, so you should get some free time to check things out.

[Izulde]

Yeah this just isn't grabbing me. Oh well. :)

[Bonegavel]

Wonder if I could still retrieve Don the Baptist?

Heh, remember Penolope [sic] ? I hit my friends list and it showed her in Pocket D!! I almost gasped proper-like and we proceeded to chat for about 15 mins. And Don the Baptist is still on my friends list there too. Ahh the memories.

[Bonegavel]

Speaking of memories (it's been 4 years since I've last logged in and all my characters are there) I ran around town as my level 50 guy and while the key combos for super run and fly came back to me in an instant, the rest is a bit more forgotten.

[Matthean]

Speaking of memories (it's been 4 years since I've last logged in and all my characters are there) I ran around town as my level 50 guy and while the key combos for super run and fly came back to me in an instant, the rest is a bit more forgotten.

Play your old favorites, but since you have been gone for so long, I would roll a new character and kind of relearn the game from there. There has been a lot changed since you last played. I would do the standard sewer team until level 5ish and then go to Kings Row and do scanner missions(contact instantly shows up as a target when you zone) until you get a jet pack as a temp travel power.

You can continue doing those for as long as you like, but the Hollows got reworked so you might want to see the changes there. It's basically been made newbie proof and Frostfire gets a cut scene now.

Once you hit level 12 so you can slot DOs, run both parts of the reworked Posi TF. It's the Weekly TF until Tuesday so you will get bonus rewards for completing the first part.

Another thing to note is the fitness pool is an inherit now, you can slot it the same, so there is a lot less end issues in the game early. Any build that had Fitness still has it. Once you respec, you get it at level 2 by default, so plan ahead if you are actually doing a respec.

A couple of nice tools will be Mid's planner and Titian Sentinel. Mid's lets you plan out builds. Sentinel, among other things, let's you log into a guy and then grab a copy of your active build in Mid's form.

CoH Planner - Home to Mids' Hero Designer and SuckerPunch's Online Planner (http://www.cohplanner.com/)
Titan Sentinel - Titan Network's Original Character Tracker (http://cit.cohtitan.com/sentinel/)

You should need to register, but get the map overlay from Vidiotmaps.

Badge-Hunter & Vidiotmaps -> Vidiotmaps Downloads -> Vidiotmaps Map Pack -> Vidiotmaps Map Pack Overlay (http://www.badge-hunter.com/index.php?/files/file/10-vidiotmaps-map-pack-overlay/)

[Marmel]

For anybody who wants to return for the free promotion, hit me up @beach lifeguard. I'll be on a bunch tonight. I'll team up on any server at any level range. I'll even start up new toons if you want to start fresh.

[Matthean]

I'll likely be on Victory for much of the weekend in terms of playing. I am aiming for two more Posi TFs on a couple of guys there.

I soloed my SD/ss tank to 11 and was aiming for 12 so I could slot DOs/IOs in it and thus be ready to do a Posi TF. I got a team invite from a higher team and when I was done I was at level 17. It's early and getting on only one team and it being decent does cloud things, but I really like the build. With Rage, Footstomp, and Shield Charge to go, I think I'm willing to deal with the Rage crash. Once that is taken care of, it's all good from there.

[hoopsguy]

I'm back in the mix, breaking Don the Baptist (Level 42, soon to be 43, Tanker) out of the cobwebs after about 4 years of inactivity.

[Matthean]

Victory's lower pop strikes again. I just got to where sometimes I don't feel like putting in the effort to lead a team every time I do something there and that's hoping you get enough to actually do a TF. There was nothing in terms of options for a Posi TF. So yeah, I did a Posi TF on Virtue instead with the above pictured Spines/elec. Dinged 28. For those who that doesn't make 100% sense, you can still earn exp while you are exempted down now.

Somebody in the main channel I use on Virtue was willing to sell a LotG Def/+Recharge for 75 mill. I found I had an extra LotG: Def so I crafted both and will take the earnings to buy two LotG Def/+Recharges. :lol: Today I was looking at finding a way to get 5 of those. Now I'm down to 3. I put bids out for the IOs I need for Stamina and once those are in the build it will be close enough to where I can play it even if I'm not using everything just yet. If I hadn't IOed out the build, I would have two people at the influ cap. Instead the one is merely at 500 mill. I don't think I'm gonna IO a build out until I have a bunch of merits and A-merits stored up to cut down the cost.

[hoopsguy]

I went ahead and rolled up a new alt on Victory today, decided to check out the "Going Rogue" storyline. I'm up to Level 9, having a lot of fun playing as a Loyalist undercover (deep, deep undercover based on my actions) with the Resistance.

On the verge of leaving the first city, and realizing that I need to start actually investing in my character rather than just slotting what I find as I've been doing so far.

[Matthean]

I went ahead and rolled up a new alt on Victory today, decided to check out the "Going Rogue" storyline. I'm up to Level 9, having a lot of fun playing as a Loyalist undercover (deep, deep undercover based on my actions) with the Resistance.

On the verge of leaving the first city, and realizing that I need to start actually investing in my character rather than just slotting what I find as I've been doing so far.

You need to be level 20 to leave Praet. I HATED that area to start because teams didn't know how to handle the mobs and the mobs had a unusual amount of ranged energy attacks, which hardly anybody has resistance, or defense to at that point. I saw countless teams run in and get mowed down instantly. Traveling around was annoying to start since you had to look around some times to figure out where to go in the underground. Having taken time to go through the zone a number of times and solo it with my stalker I think it's one of the best areas in the game. Whoever did the mission writing and story arcs really put some time and effort into. I ended up doing the extremist Resistance arcs and liked those the most.

Dinged 50 on my Kat/sr on Virtue that had been sitting at 49 for some time, 47 on my Ill/rad on Freedom, and 48 on my Plant/storm that's on Victory. Both controllers have yet to use their epic pools for any of the Weekly Task Forces(W.T.Fs). Lady Grey TF(level 45-50) is the W.T.F. next week starting Tuesday will change that finally. The Plant/storm should ding 50. I think my Ill/rad will be close. 2 out of my next 3 for being the next to get pushed to 50 have their enhancements done. Just got to update my Ice/ice tank on Virtue and then I'm ready to go.

[Bonegavel]

In addition to a few hours with Marmel, I managed to stumble into a few good team-ups this weekend and did the Positron TF with my Don-the-Baptist inspired Axe/Inv Tank. The servers seem horrifically empty and I consider myself lucky to have found these groups. I really enjoy group efforts but the soloing through the same old arcs with low levels is almost torture especially when you have to run a mile on sprint at level 5.

My handle is @bonegavel

[Matthean]

In addition to a few hours with Marmel, I managed to stumble into a few good team-ups this weekend and did the Positron TF with my Don-the-Baptist inspired Axe/Inv Tank. The servers seem horrifically empty and I consider myself lucky to have found these groups. I really enjoy group efforts but the soloing through the same old arcs with low levels is almost torture especially when you have to run a mile on sprint at level 5.

My handle is @bonegavel

If you aren't doing the end game trials, farming, or the W.T.F., teams will be bare even on the more popular servers. Part of me likes Victory since I started there, but doing normal teams there is rather difficult. I've caved to the idea of leveling via TFs only. I solo characters to 12 so I can get some DOs and start the run of TFs. Another thing, if I am soloing for the lower levels, I tend to use the mission creator that's in game since the contacts are right there. You just really need to be careful in terms of what arcs you select so you don't want something with overly difficult content in it.

If you want a chance for regular teams, Freedom and Virtue are the best places to do it.

[cuervo72]

I'm the oddball here...but up until you start being able to do radio missions I just like to street sweep. I rolled a Traps/DP defender on Freedom a couple weeks ago ("Global Badge") and just beat up on Hellions, Clocks and Vahz in Galaxy. Before I knew it I was level 6 and off to KR.

[Marmel]

In addition to a few hours with Marmel, I managed to stumble into a few good team-ups this weekend and did the Positron TF with my Don-the-Baptist inspired Axe/Inv Tank. The servers seem horrifically empty and I consider myself lucky to have found these groups. I really enjoy group efforts but the soloing through the same old arcs with low levels is almost torture especially when you have to run a mile on sprint at level 5.

My handle is @bonegavel

For teams, make toons on Virtue or Freedom. I prefer Virtue, but Freedom has its supporters. I never have a problem getting a team. Join global channels. This is where a lot of teaming starts up. I can give you some great ones on virtue.

As for low levels hero side, sewers teams are almost always forming and that is a quick way to get from 1-7 or 8. Then jump to Kings row, do 3 missions and a safeguard and you have a temp travel power. I think the game takes off at level 15. You get your travel power at 14, and then Faultline arcs open at 15, which are some of the best in the game. There are 2 more at level 20 over there. Striga missions at level 20 are good. Croatoa at 25 and 30 for 4 more story arcs with great end of arc XP bonuses. Level 22 gets you to SO enhancements. The early 30's are a tiny bit of a slowdown, but you get your tier 9 power at 32. Level 35 opens up Ritki War Zone. Late 30's have always been and still are a slow go, particularly 38-40. After 40 there is just tons of stuff to do.

With the superside-kicking, you can exempt down now and still earn full XP. Even better, you still keep powers 5 levels within the exemp level. For instance, a level 38 exemping down to do level 30 stuff still keeps their level 32 and 35 powers. Also, high level players usually have no problem inviting any level to join high level stuff with the new super sidekicking system. Don't feel locked into doing team stuff at your level only.

Edited to add: I believe you can craft a temporary travel power from level 1 at the market/university. That cash I gave you should buy you a few thousand jet packs! :)

Also, for the brave at heart, you can buy a jet pack in Firebase Zulu for 10,000. I think it last 2 hours of game time. You can get there at any level, but talk about a long ass walk for a level 1. Though it would be cool to see a level 1 with all the Shadow Shard exploration badges! :)

[Marmel]

Confirmed: You can buy a Jet Pack recipe and the salvage to create it at Wentworths, then jump over to the University and craft it. It is good for 30 minutes of game time. Wentworths and the University are right next door to each other in the South part of Steel Canyon. A level 1 can do this walk and craft in 5 minutes, easily.

[Marmel]

I'll keep going:

New players often overlook the great benefits of the temp powers that are next to free at the market. Some great supplemental attacks, heals, and other stuff. If you are playing a defender or something that doesn't do a lot of damage, this stuff helps!

[Matthean]

I'll keep going:

New players often overlook the great benefits of the temp powers that are next to free at the market. Some great supplemental attacks, heals, and other stuff. If you are playing a defender or something that doesn't do a lot of damage, this stuff helps!

And those temp attacks are easier to use if you have any way to debuff defense. Thankfully, the lower damage ATs, defenders and controllers, have access to def debuffs on some of their support sets. You also can use yellow inspirations to boost your acc for them to be easier to work. Levels 1-20 they also made it easier to hit as a way to help people level during those levels.

[Matthean]

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FRO1dh4JaHo" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="640"></iframe>

Steampunk pack trailer.

[Bonegavel]

Good info! I miss the days where you couldn't swing a dead Hellion without hitting a group in search of members.

If I have a free respec on my characters... A) how do I know and B) how do I redeem it?

[hoopsguy]

Yes, for the standard 14 days. I personally find the restrictions rather annoying. They used to be decent(level restricted to 14 and that's about it I thought), but that got changed.

Banged into the Level 14 cap for the trial/reactivation last night. Bummer, would have liked to keep exploring the storylines for another few days but hard to be motivated playing a character without gaining XP. Which is odd, since I knew I was 99% going to be walking away from the game again at the end of the trial. Doesn't intuitively make sense, but I know that I was pretty frustrated when I realized I had not been getting XP for a couple of missions.

[Marmel]

Banged into the Level 14 cap for the trial/reactivation last night. Bummer, would have liked to keep exploring the storylines for another few days but hard to be motivated playing a character without gaining XP. Which is odd, since I knew I was 99% going to be walking away from the game again at the end of the trial. Doesn't intuitively make sense, but I know that I was pretty frustrated when I realized I had not been getting XP for a couple of missions.

Re-subscribe! :D

[Marmel]

Good info! I miss the days where you couldn't swing a dead Hellion without hitting a group in search of members.

If I have a free respec on my characters... A) how do I know and B) how do I redeem it?

First, try typing: /respec
That will take you right to your respec if you have one.

Otherwise, you might get a message when you type that that says go see.........Jack Wolff???? I think that is who it is. Either way, it is the guy in City Hall in Galaxy City.

Finally, if you have some vet badges, you might be able to redeem a respec. For those, I think you have to click on the badge and then go see Wolff.

Edited to add: If none of that works, then you don't have one. You can buy one on the market. The prices have come down somewhat, but I think they are still over 100 million. Also, I am not sure, but I thought you could buy one for real money, but don't quote me on that. It could have just been a rumor.

[Marmel]

First, try typing: /respec
That will take you right to your respec if you have one.

Otherwise, you might get a message when you type that that says go see.........Jack Wolff???? I think that is who it is. Either way, it is the guy in City Hall in Galaxy City.

Finally, if you have some vet badges, you might be able to redeem a respec. For those, I think you have to click on the badge and then go see Wolff.

Edited to add: If none of that works, then you don't have one. You can buy one on the market. The prices have come down somewhat, but I think they are still over 100 million. Also, I am not sure, but I thought you could buy one for real money, but don't quote me on that. It could have just been a rumor.

And then there is the most obvious way that I somehow forgot. Do a respec trial. You get a respec plus a bunch of XP.

[Bonegavel]

Thanks. Yep, good 'ole "/respec" did the trick. Stuff is coming back to me slowly-but-surely and there is so much that is new. What isn't new is the grind for characters that aren't strong soloists.

[Matthean]

Dinged 50 on my Kat/sr on Virtue that had been sitting at 49 for some time, 47 on my Ill/rad on Freedom, and 48 on my Plant/storm that's on Victory. Both controllers have yet to use their epic pools for any of the Weekly Task Forces(W.T.Fs). Lady Grey TF(level 45-50) is the W.T.F. next week starting Tuesday will change that finally. The Plant/storm should ding 50. I think my Ill/rad will be close. 2 out of my next 3 for being the next to get pushed to 50 have their enhancements done. Just got to update my Ice/ice tank on Virtue and then I'm ready to go.

Dinged 50 on my Plant/storm. I got to 48.9 on my Ill/rad on a speed LGTF.

[Marmel]

Created a SS/Fire/Mu brute and ran firefarms in the AE buildng exclusively. Reached level 50 in 2 weeks of sporatic playing. It can run specific missions at +4 /x8 with bosses. Solo. And that is with a 500million dollar build. Not expensive all things considered. That was a fun change of pace. And now I can powerlevel my toons or others and rake in the AE tickets. Not sure how much of that I'll actually do, but it is fun to play that toon. I took it Rogue so I can visit both sides.

Level 50 content is becoming a bit obsolete due to all the incarnate powers. The level 45-50 task forces are so easy because a bunch of people are running them with all the incarnate powers.

So, I have taken to badging the last couple of weeks on my main. I now have 725 badges. There are some I'll never get (healing badges on a brute, probably the pvp ones) but a goal of getting 1000 badges seems challenging, but doable and forces me to run stuff and do stuff I've never done before. It has been a lot of fun, surprisingly! Although the last 10 or 15 Fake Nemesis last night was getting tedious it was cool to get them all and get the Freedom Phalax accolade. +10% health is sweet!

[Matthean]

Created a SS/Fire/Mu brute and ran firefarms in the AE buildng exclusively. Reached level 50 in 2 weeks of sporatic playing. It can run specific missions at +4 /x8 with bosses. Solo. And that is with a 500million dollar build. Not expensive all things considered. That was a fun change of pace. And now I can powerlevel my toons or others and rake in the AE tickets. Not sure how much of that I'll actually do, but it is fun to play that toon. I took it Rogue so I can visit both sides.

Level 50 content is becoming a bit obsolete due to all the incarnate powers. The level 45-50 task forces are so easy because a bunch of people are running them with all the incarnate powers.

People on the forum talked about how easy it was to level a SS/fire brute solo and I seriously questioned what they said being a typo and they informed me it wasn't. I have yet to do it and I may go DB/fire just because I can make the swords look like fire blades, but I'm not sure. It also earns bonus points for not being *that* build. I kind of have no room on my servers as is and I don't feel like having a farmer type character on a different server than everything else.

Agreed on the end game content. Even if the trials get bumped up, the non-incarnate ones will need to be looked at. People were mentioning speed runs can be done around the same time with one character as they use to take teams. Granted, the reactive fix is coming so rain powers will work how they should in terms of once per ten seconds versus once per tick. As it stands, controls and powers with long animations are virtually irrelevant in the end game.

[Matthean]

New info on Issue 20.5

Keyes Island Guide | City of Heroes (http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_20/keyes_island_guide.html)
Issue 20: Incarnates Ascend Overview | City of Heroes (http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_20/issue_20_incarnates_ascend_ove.html)

If nothing else, there are some rather nice QoL issues being dealt with.

[Matthean]

Finally broke down and did my first trial and I ended up doing both. I got a purple IO and VR drop on the second. I'm rather close to being able to get all of the LotG +recharges for the build and then it's down to some procs and Numi's. Everything beyond that is just commons.

[Matthean]

I got to 48.9 on my Ill/rad on a speed LGTF.

I hit 49.95 on a Sutter TF so I went and did a mission to ding 50. I'm up to 8 level 50s. I got 5-6 builds I want to get to 50, but beyond that I think I'm mostly playing new builds for pure looks, or trying out new to me sets.

[Marmel]

Congrats on your newest 50.

My latest project is taking my best level 50, a fire/wp brute and making it unstoppable. I have tier 3's in all of the incarnate slots and I've spent about 3.5 billion on IOs with a few more luck of the gamblers to go. I solo'd (the non-lambda trial) Marauder when he conned as a level 51 AV. I'm gonna try and take on more AVs one on one and try some monsters too. I can run +4/x8 farms, but haven't tried those with bosses yet. It hurt to spend all that money, which was a good % of what I have but worth it in the end I think.

[Matthean]

I got Cardiac T3 alpha on my Kat/sr and went and got a A-Merit as well. Mostly doing those during some down time. He's completely IOed out so any extra money he has will be sent elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure I had one, or more of my hardcore guys die since I last posted. I was rather surprised my Inv/dark tank died at 16.9. CoT are hell on an Invul without Invincibility. I rerolled a Elec/dark since Elec gets all of it's main toys early.

Took my Plant/storm on a BAF and got reminded how feeble controllers can be during the escapee phase.

Made a Claws/fire brute and soloed him to the AE building and haven't left. It took some learning the fire farm ropes, but I got up to 25 and I'm doing 2x8 with bosses now.

[cuervo72]

Took my Plant/storm on a BAF and got reminded how feeble controllers can be during the escapee phase.

See, I still disagree with this, at least depending on the type of controller. My Ill/TA, ok, he's not the best (though at least he has Oil Slick and Glue Arrow in TA to help a bit). My Grav/Storm though? AoE immob, ST holds, Lore Pets, Singularity (keep it right in the path for bouncing fun), Freezing Rain, Tornado, Lightning Storm...pretty much everyone is moving nowhere or moving slowly through obstacles. Lts at least take a decent amount of damage. If I'm not lagging, I can just about shut down a door by myself.

Yesterday I was on a BAF with my Fire Blaster, who can almost do the same. Problem was, I was finding that not only was I having mobs come at me from one side (I was on the far west of the south kill box), they were coming from the *other* side too. I almost never see that. We ended up failing the escapee stage - which I don't think I'd ever experienced either. When I looked at the team makeup after the fact, I noticed we had just one Dominator -- and zero controllers (a lot of scrappers and brutes though).

[Marmel]

Purples anyone? I've had an amazing run of purples. I took my SS/FA/Mu brute into my demon farm and ran it 12 times since Friday in an effort to recoup the money I spent on my other build. 7 purple drops. I'm taking another break from the trials. I get burned out fast on them.

[Matthean]

See, I still disagree with this, at least depending on the type of controller. My Ill/TA, ok, he's not the best (though at least he has Oil Slick and Glue Arrow in TA to help a bit). My Grav/Storm though? AoE immob, ST holds, Lore Pets, Singularity (keep it right in the path for bouncing fun), Freezing Rain, Tornado, Lightning Storm...pretty much everyone is moving nowhere or moving slowly through obstacles. Lts at least take a decent amount of damage. If I'm not lagging, I can just about shut down a door by myself.

Yesterday I was on a BAF with my Fire Blaster, who can almost do the same. Problem was, I was finding that not only was I having mobs come at me from one side (I was on the far west of the south kill box), they were coming from the *other* side too. I almost never see that. We ended up failing the escapee stage - which I don't think I'd ever experienced either. When I looked at the team makeup after the fact, I noticed we had just one Dominator -- and zero controllers (a lot of scrappers and brutes though).

Take away Lore Pets, which I don't have yet, and no Singularity. The current most well known Ill/rad player even started a thread on the forum on how useless he felt playing the build. Ill/rad is one of my other 3 controllers at 50. Yes, the /storm side of things helped a lot, but any controller primary is mostly reduced to spamming their AoE immobilization power for them to be effective. I friend said he did one with a Mind controller and felt useless as well. I think there's becoming a good reason why you don't see so many controllers doing trials, or at least BAFs. I haven't done many, but there's always a low number of them on any trial I have done.

We failed the BAF(a first for me), and the makeup on the team was much like yours. Scrappers, brutes, and blasters I think are three of the top 4 played at 50 ATs. There has to be a reason that maybe the number two AT played at 50 is hardly showing up for BAFs.

I did take mental notes and figure my next time doing it should go smoother.

[Matthean]

I'm taking another break from the trials. I get burned out fast on them.

Having done them enough to see where they are going, I have little desire to do them outside of getting a T3 in my alpha.

[cuervo72]

Yeah, I think I saw a thread on Local_Man's woes somewhere. It does depend on the combo, but those that do have AoE immobs are valuable just for that, IMO. Which yeah, doesn't include my Mind/Kin. Looking forward to it on my Elec/Sonic though.

[Matthean]

And I even just went and unlocked my alpha slot on my Ill/rad. My Mind controller is a Mind/kin although at this point it's been sitting at 30-32 for so long I'll likely just see it sitting at 50 and not really going Incarnate. There's no way I'm going to Incarnate everything that hits 50.

[Bonegavel]

Getting back into the grove and feeling fairly comfortable with most things except the auction house. It's a bit cumbersome IMHO. I have a lot of recipes and, of course, I don't have all the salvage. Guess I need to spend more time figuring out how to buy it vs. finding it via a drop.

I seem to be able to find great groups every 3rd or 4th session I log into. Other than that I find myself trying to solo and it is painful with most of my builds. I make sure I Broadcast LFT often enough and I switch my status to Looking For Team (which seems almost useless)... any other advice on finding teams? A place that teams gather, etc?

[Matthean]

Server channels help. Which server are you on? For salvage, I get the commons via tickets from AE. The uncommons and rares you can tend to get at decent prices on the market, but commons can be horribly overpriced.

[Marmel]

Not free to play, but Freedom:

Announcing City of Heroes Freedom and Issue 21: Convergence! - City of Heroes Forums (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=263588)

I hate the elitism shown in that thread. Anything to increase the population of the game is fine by me.

[Matthean]

Not free to play, but Freedom:

Announcing City of Heroes Freedom and Issue 21: Convergence! - City of Heroes Forums (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=263588)

I hate the elitism shown in that thread. Anything to increase the population of the game is fine by me.

It's F2P with the sub option, which is what most of the successful F2P MMOs are doing these days. The F2P option is way too restricted for me to go with it. I would simply unsub, play something else, and then sub when I came back. If I was new to the game, then sure, F2P and then go from there.

I see no use for the VIP server although I could have the most outside chance of moving one SG over there with the easy chance of getting all of the names I would want and it would hopefully be easier to get on teams. The SG is hardly built so it would be easy to get it back to what it it now. I could make a /fire brute and farm the prestige for it.

[Thomkal]

Very happy to see CoH go the F2P (or whatever they are calling it) route, I think they were dragged into by the success of the F2P model, and had no choice when Champions went that route, no matter what the producer said about it being in the works since the game was created basically. And given the limits on free players and even premium players for those of us who used to play, you can tell they really don't want to do this. I mean c'mon a total of 2 character slots (and no more purchasable?) for free and premium players (unless the premiums unlocked some extra slots while they were a subscriber) in one of the most heavily "altitis" MMO's out there. That's just a slap in the face.

For free players, no mail, can't write on message boards, limited chat, limited support, etc they are making it clear they are going to be treated like third class citizens. And premium players don't get it too much better it looks like.

If I was new to COH, I'd certainly play not knowing about all the good stuff they will not get to experience, but having been there since day 1 of the game till I had to quit for financial reasons, its going to be tough to be so limited. I had been thinking about coming back for a while now, as its still my favorite MMO, so it may be worth it to reactivate my account and check to see if I any extra character slots to activate then go back to premium when Freedom goes live.

[Matthean]

I had zero faith Paragon Studios/NCSoft in making a F2P player getting decent options based on their trial version they ran. I actually like how DDO and LotR do theirs. I probably like LotR best just because DDO with their pop up window can be kind of annoying. Premium is actually a nice middle ground though.

[Marmel]

Ping bonegavel: you need to turn on the option to receive tells from heroes/villains when u are playing the other side, that's why you weren't getting my responses.

[Marmel]

I'll try to type up a short fa brute guide for you soon

[Marmel]

OK, quick and dirty guide:

Start around level 6, make sure you took the damage aura (burning aura its called, i think).

Try AE mission arc #482818 (then you can also play: 459239, 493497, 472577, or just search for fire farms, there are a ton of them. Any map with ambushes, fire damage enemies - because fire armor is highly resistant to their damage - and auto rez enemies will be fine)

Start with even level enemies, times 8 (as if you were on a team of 8) and turn bosses off.

Pop a bunch of purple and reds before you enter the mission. There is an inspiration vendor right in the AE building, right next to the door for the hospital. Continue using reds and purples and then green and blues as needed. They drop as fast as you can use them, plus every time you level you get a full set of extra large inspirations. This is key to success. Combine 3 similar ones into reds and purples as you go along. There is actually a bind that will do this for you automatically, but i dont have it.

Increase the level of the enemies you face and add bosses when you think you can handle it. Eventually you want to be x4/x8 w/bosses.

The concept here is that Fire Armor does such incredible damage (I know...it is supposed to be your armor, but I guess a great offense is your best defense with this set) you just want to pop purples to keep you alive and pop reds to keep you at the damage cap so you can kill as fast as possible. You want to build the toon with a single focus: recharge.

Once in the 40's, run a patron arc (remember to lower your settings down to x0/x1, no bosses for this arc) to unlock the epic powers and take Mu (lighting fences and ball lightning).

At that point you'll have the following AOE's: Burning Aura, Burn, Footstomp, Fences and Ball Lightning. I can help you with slotting later.

After you unlock the villain epic pools, you can run 10 tips and an alignment mission to go rogue and then you can play both sides of the game. I would recommend going all the way hero at first and then getting the demon farm from Harvey Maylor, this way you can farm tickets and XP in the ae building and also farm purples from the demon mission.

If you want to play regular content and trials when you are 50 then I would recommend having 2 builds. (see a trainer to switch builds). On your regular content build, don't take MU, but take the Dark power pool instead. But some people just like to have the ss/fire/mu to earn enough money to IO out their other favorite toons.

I'll run some with you if you are having trouble getting it going.

Don't forget the ticket cap is 9,999 so cash them in every so often. You'll make a ton of money with a few lucky drops. A lot of people recommend rolling silver or bronze rolls, but i like to roll gold just because it is quicker and easier - some gold recipes can sell for over 100mil each and more if you take the few minutes to craft them Try to time your rolls when you are level 20-25-30-etc. those seem to sell quicker and for a bit more than an off level, like 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, etc. If you roll gold roll the highest level you can, but once you are level 40, only roll gold in the 35-39 range (because the Miracle set caps at 40 and the Kinetic Combat set caps at 35 and these sets have 2 of the 5 big jackpot rolls: Miracle + Recovery; Numina Unique; Luck of the Gambler + Recharge; Kinetic Combat Triple; Obliteration Quad ). Silver and bronze rolls are best in the 10-14 and lower stuff like that.


On another topic:
Also, I know you enjoy regen, but you should try willpower. I put a lot of money into mine but it can solo AV's, which I can't imagine a regen doing. I always tell people to play what is fun, and regen is fun, but willpower just seems to be a better, non-clicky version of regen.

[Matthean]

Nitpicks, and clarifications.

- It's Blazing Aura.

- You can start at level 2 with low level maps since that's when BA opens up. I would start at level 3 since you get more inspir slots so it makes it a little easier.

- #460877, #482818, #423253. Cyborg is popular, but it's actually one of the worst ambush style farms. The short version is it's a clunky map to deal with and actually slows you down. Plus, it's only one mission so you get bogged down in getting it over and over again.

- Lowbie Farming Maps - City of Heroes Forums (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=263212) Here's the thread for lower level based farms and they can be better than the above farms depending on certain things, ie DB, or Claws with /fire will beat SS/fire since you are looking at having two AoEs and low enemy HP.

- Very Best Farmer? - City of Heroes Forums (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=250051) The infamous SS/fa thread that's long, but can be scanned for build's. I grabbed ultrawatt's 80/20 build. 80% of the performance for 20% of the cost. City of Heroes Forums - View Single Post - Very Best Farmer? (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showpost.php?p=3510069&postcount=243)

- 'Best' PvE Generalist SS/FA Build - City of Heroes Forums (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=265540) Here's a small thread with a couple generalist builds.

- The "Dark" patron is called Soul.

- Ticket cap per mission is 1.5K. You can hit it by doing at least +2x8 if not lower. If you are trying to do +4x8 with bosses, it's only really useful for PLing others, or if you are looking to farm prestige.

- City of Heroes Forums - View Single Post - Very Best Farmer? (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showpost.php?p=3527475&postcount=341) Here's a post on the inspir bind info.

- /regen can solo AVs, but you are really only looking at BS, Kat, or Dark as being ideal to try with /regen.

[Matthean]

I also dinged level 32 on my Hardcore blaster. At one point there were a number of times I thought we were going to be stuck with 3-4 people playing on Thursdays. We are up to needing to start with two teams and being close to having those get full.

[Matthean]

Dev Chat Highlights, July 20: Paragon Rewards - City of Heroes Forums (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=266298)

Thread on the dev chat talking about the rewards system. I think I'll be tier 8 when it hits. Kind of annoying to be a VIP and not tier 9, but I'll get there shortly enough.

2x Exp Weekend at the end of the month.

[Matthean]

Open beta for i21 hits today at 7pm eastern. Not sure why they would do it the week of 2x exp weekend, but there it is.

[Bonegavel]

Thanks for all the tips guys and thanks Marmel for all the in-game help. My brute is now 47 and I'll probably ding 50 today unless something drags me away from my PC.

Matthean, I tried sending a friend request to @amy_amp and I can't enter an underscore so hopefully you get my request.

It will be hard going back to my other characters and having to rely on others to level. Sigh.

[Matthean]

I got your global friend request. It is written wrong here so I changed it. Your global name sounded familiar enough to where I accepted it. It took me seeing this thread before I connected the dots though.

2x exp results

Freedom

Dark/stone tank: 41-44. I was stupid stupid stupid in how I did this. I ran radio missions in PI and cranked diff to as high as the team could stand it. The problem? Radios suck for exp. Those three levels took forever to get. I'm still kicking myself for this. Bonus, I finally got Physical Perfection on the guy and end issues are starting to go away. The IOed out version is going to be running 8 toggles.

Virtue

DB/elec scrapper: 32-35. All that needs to be said is Power Sink. :D I still have a love/hate relationship with DB and it's combos.

Spines/elec scrapper: 32. Started to do some street sweeping, but got bored of it so I switched. It's a build I wanted to play more, but just didn't. This problem is when you are on far too many servers with far too many characters. I'm partly ok with skipping on the guy just because I know he'll be played other times. One of the fun "stupid scrapper tricks" builds.

Ice/ice tank: 41-45. I think I'm finally becoming ok with /ice, but boy does it develop late. I have now tanked an ITF twice and only recall one death. It's still a basic SO/common IO build, so it's only going to get better.

Dark/shield scrapper: 8-27. Via runs on a S/L farm. Glad I got to 27 so I got Soul Drain and can slot level 30s. It's a reroll from a Dark/sr, but I have a level 50 Kat/sr and I just wasn't seeing the advantage of /sr in this case.

Inifinity

SS/elec: 12/14-20. If you want to solo 1-20 during 2x exp, do it in Praet. It's incredibly fast. SS is becoming one of those sets where I go, "Why didn't you people tell me it was this awesome?" and yet the love of SS is all over the forum. I'll likely farm him on some level so I can get to patrons asap and then switch to hero side.

Justice - Hardcore server

En/En blaster: 35-38. As comfortable as I am with the build, the mobs are only getting more and more annoying.

D3: 18-22. Died due to me being on the phone. I'll forever kick myself for the death. As soon as the phone rang I went, "Oh no." It also in part chained together with what ended up causing the team level drop bug happening and thus causing a mass near team wipe. Only one character got out and one person lost their level 46/47 tank. Considering at that time only one IE SG character had ever made 50, yeah....

Traps/dark: 1-16. What the D3 got rerolled into. Traps in my head seems to fit really well with a team that isn't about speed rushing things.

Plant/fire: 11-20. Also out of Praet. Seeds + Roots + Fire Breath backed my FE is really amazing. At 20 I picked up Combustion for even more AoE.

Liberty

MA/shield: 19-24. I'm really hoping MA comes together once I get the final two powers. Right now it's just kind of "meh" to me.

And now back to my SS/fire to abuse the post 2x exp weekend market surge. :lol:

[cuervo72]

I did not have nearly that success with 2XP weekend. It didn't help that my kids had the computer for some rather long stretches (including my son checking out the Beta). Nor did it help that I decided to do my son's AE arc on my lvl 33 PB to get some tickets. This consisted of fighting a mess of soldiers...all equipped with web grenade. And two kill all missions.

[Marmel]

Thanks for all the tips guys and thanks Marmel for all the in-game help. My brute is now 47 and I'll probably ding 50 today unless something drags me away from my PC.

Matthean, I tried sending a friend request to @amy_amp and I can't enter an underscore so hopefully you get my request.

It will be hard going back to my other characters and having to rely on others to level. Sigh.

Congratz Bonegavel. Now you can farm purples to earn money to properly equip your other toons, which will allow you to level them solo and continue the vicious cycle. :)

In all seriousness, you should be able to adequately solo any toon in this game. Some are much quicker than others obviously. For instance I can't stomach solo'ing a defender and the early levels of a controller are just horrible, but otherwise....is it just too slow for you? Are can you not actually do it?


Double XP weekend was spent entirely on my claws/super reflex brute. I went from 35-46 and spent about a billion dollars and a few hero merit purchases (LOTG +recharges) to soft cap all defense types. I wish it would kill Lt's and bosses just a bit quicker, but it can stand in a horde of vanguards (running +2x4) and survive. I don't really have many other toons that can do that. I find them the toughest foes in the game for melee classes and a good test of anyone's survivability.

[Matthean]

I also got my Dark/elec brute on Freedom from 30 to 32. Time to switch over to a post i19 build and add in common IOs to the build. There will be some dual IOs tossed in as well, but that's just in a couple of powers worth frankenslotting.

I also went from 20-22 on my Hardcore Elec/dark tank. This my first Hardcore tank to make it to 22. The others died at 16 and 21.

Since my Dark/shield scrapper got PLed to 27, I went and tested it out tonight. Still needs work, but I can see the potential there.

[Matthean]

CoH is going to be priced at $1.99 August 17th-29th for any new player.

Announcing the Declaration of Freedom Sale in the NCsoft Store! - City of Heroes Forums (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=3814742#post3814742)

[Bonegavel]

I had almost forgotten about my Fire Tank on Victory. At AE I've already gone from 30 to 41 in a few days. I remembered when they nerfed the Fire tank years ago and everyone stopped playing them. Seems they are useful again. I'll have a 50 farmer on Red and Blue after a day or so more.

Matthean, I really enjoyed the Hardcore group as it adds a good dimension with the dead and done at level 10. Now, the only thing about this rule is that I'm guessing it promotes setting the missions at a safe +0 x0?

[Matthean]

Matthean, I really enjoyed the Hardcore group as it adds a good dimension with the dead and done at level 10. Now, the only thing about this rule is that I'm guessing it promotes setting the missions at a safe +0 x0?

We do go above it, but we tend to have to be careful with it since lowbies start to have issues once they started fighting +2/+3 mobs. It's one thing to do it if you are in your 22 and above, but another if you are below SO, or even DO slotting and you are facing Nemesis, Arachos, CoT, Malta, etc...

Some players, and certainly ones with tanks have been known to go above the base diff setting when soloing. I know Top Doc did it with his Dark/sr that made it to 50. Dark Angel II is a tank that made it to 50 and he ran at rather high diff setting. Top Doc took a Fire/fire tank up to the 40s at +1x6. Granted, he didn't make it to 50.

Another thing about the diff setting is squishies will always be squishy. If a tank is moving along and then stops for whatever reason and a squishy continues on, there's a good chance of that squishy falling. A perfect example of this is when going around corners.

Melee characters I think are harder to get to 22 just because they take the brunt of the alpha. They are great once they do hit 22 though. We did have a /fire brute fall at 30 two weeks ago. The level 46 Elec tank that fell due to the team level drop bug was IOed on some level and I even think this was happening at +0, but Nemesis at times completely kicked it's butt even if the tank never fell. Scrappers, for whatever reason, don't seem to do well, but I think people play tanks more versus scrappers. There use to be the highest blaster at 26. I kept mentioning this as I leveled my blaster. I think people caught onto this. Last I knew there were 5 blasters at 25+. Controllers before a recent wave weren't high up either even though defender were about even with high up tanks. I think in part because people play controllers and then use the AoE immobilization power improperly and it draws extra aggro.

[Vince, Pt. II]

So since I'm taking a break from WoW and CoH was only $1.99, this and the Video Games thread got me to break down and check it out. I'm starting to get my feet wet, but still am a little lost with all the differences between the two games. Currently running a level 6 Scrapper, and I've only done some street sweeping and the missions they spoon feed you at the start. My chief complaint to this point is that it seems like there is no elegant way to keep the map open so you know where you are. It's been nice in the way that it's making me pay attention to the actual game world more, since I need to learn my surroundings, but still slow going getting my bearings.

Any tips as to things to make sure I do or avoid while I build my character? It sounds like the game is far less forgiving on respecs than World of Warcraft became. Also, how quickly does the leveling process slow down? I've really only put in about two hours or so and I'm already level 6...I feel like if I knew what I was doing, I'd be much further than that even.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Oh yeah, my Scrapper is @Ironthumb on Victory. Sort of nice how I randomly picked that server, actually.

EDIT: And apparently he's only level 4, maybe my quick leveling concerns are moot :)

[Matthean]

What kind of scrapper? I can probably kick out a build that goes to level 22 if not 50 rather quickly for anything. If you go on the forum and at least post a basic build you can get feedback on it. You are given an alternate build so even if you screw up, you can switch to the alternate build without having to use a respec. There are three respec trials, level 24, 34, 44, so you have plenty of chances to fix things. Free respecs tend to come when new issues come out. You can gain them as you go up in vet status and you can get repsec recipes via the drops, market, and merits.

[cuervo72]

My chief complaint to this point is that it seems like there is no elegant way to keep the map open so you know where you are. It's been nice in the way that it's making me pay attention to the actual game world more, since I need to learn my surroundings, but still slow going getting my bearings.

Vince - it's not immediately apparent, but you can undock the map from the compass. I think there's a little blue dot in the bottom left corner. Uncheck it, and you can move the map out of the middle of your display.

I didn't realize this until I'd played for a looooong time, so I've just gotten used to opening and closing the map, and navigating my arrow on the map at times rather than my character (doesn't work so well in the Lambda trial...).

[Vince, Pt. II]

Vince - it's not immediately apparent, but you can undock the map from the compass. I think there's a little blue dot in the bottom left corner. Uncheck it, and you can move the map out of the middle of your display.

I didn't realize this until I'd played for a looooong time, so I've just gotten used to opening and closing the map, and navigating my arrow on the map at times rather than my character (doesn't work so well in the Lambda trial...).

Thanks cuervo, that will help a lot. My scrapper is Dual Blades. Started up a Fire Tank as well, and will probably give a Blaster a try in the near future. Still sort of getting the hang of things, but it's starting to come more quickly as I go.

[Vince, Pt. II]

So far my biggest challenge has been picking a character to stick with. Thus far I have:

Dual Blades Scrapper
Fire Tanker
Assault Rifle Blaster
Dark Corruptor
Ice Blaster
Ninja Stalker

I've had more fun with the two Villain toons, but again I don't have anyone past 6 I don't think. Are Controllers/Defenders too difficult to solo with? I wouldn't mind trying one, but the Tanker does pretty low damage and if the other two are the same, it'd be frustrating to solo with them.

[Neon_Chaos]

Any news on when Freedom is coming out?

[Matthean]

First of all...

City of Heroes Forums - View Single Post - Iron Eagles II - Defeat is Permanent SG J/H (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showpost.php?p=3827532&postcount=399)

So far my biggest challenge has been picking a character to stick with. Thus far I have:

Dual Blades Scrapper
Fire Tanker
Assault Rifle Blaster
Dark Corruptor
Ice Blaster
Ninja Stalker

I've had more fun with the two Villain toons, but again I don't have anyone past 6 I don't think. Are Controllers/Defenders too difficult to solo with? I wouldn't mind trying one, but the Tanker does pretty low damage and if the other two are the same, it'd be frustrating to solo with them.

As always, it depends. Tanks default attacks now uses a mechanic called bruising. This means when it hits it gives a -res debuff to the target and thus your other attacks will do more damage for a period of time. Some builds will be easier to solo. Fire tanks are offensive so they can be rather easy to solo, but you need to get the powers that help in that regard. Tanks do have a low damage modifier so when using the same sets as scrappers, or brutes they will do less damage, but they are the meat shield class.

Any debuff set matched with /sonic is going to solo rather well for a defender. Defenders get a +30% damage boost while solo and it goes down as they get on bigger teams. Defenders and controllers do suffer from the issue of having no mezz protection so that's an issue they will have to deal with. Ill, Plant, and Fire controllers will be the easiest to solo. Just like a defender, you want a debuff secondary for more ease in soloing.

Generally speaking, hero ATs are built primarily for one thing and they are the best at it. Villain ATs are a bit more balanced and because of it tend to solo easier. Red side content does tend to be harder unless the hero side content is on the newer side.

Since you are missing a dom, a brute, and a MM, you'll likely play these next. Doms are control with ranged and melee damage. The more they attack, the more their domination bar gets filled. Once it's filled you can click on a button to go into domination mode, which increases your controls by a rather nice amount. Brutes are scrapper/tank hybrids. The more attacking they do and attacks they take on, the more fury they get. The more fury, the more damage. Think of Hulk. That's a brute. MMs are trickier to play but often called the PvE gods. They can mow through stuff as easy as anyone, unless they run into certain stuff that will give them fits. I personally don't like the luggage aspect of the AT since you get 6 pets.

Any news on when Freedom is coming out?

Officially unknown, but the $1.99 deal is off on Aug. 29th. Just about everything else in the NCSoft store for CoH is going away on said date as well. We known boosters are going away and they have a end date of Aug. 29th. It's in open beta so it's Soon(tm).

[Marmel]

So far my biggest challenge has been picking a character to stick with. Thus far I have:

Dual Blades Scrapper
Fire Tanker
Assault Rifle Blaster
Dark Corruptor
Ice Blaster
Ninja Stalker

I've had more fun with the two Villain toons, but again I don't have anyone past 6 I don't think. Are Controllers/Defenders too difficult to solo with? I wouldn't mind trying one, but the Tanker does pretty low damage and if the other two are the same, it'd be frustrating to solo with them.

You've been given some good advice already in this thread so let me just say welcome to the City! And get on Virtue Server! :)

[cuervo72]

Any debuff set matched with /sonic is going to solo rather well for a defender. Defenders get a +30% damage boost while solo and it goes down as they get on bigger teams. Defenders and controllers do suffer from the issue of having no mezz protection so that's an issue they will have to deal with. Ill, Plant, and Fire controllers will be the easiest to solo. Just like a defender, you want a debuff secondary for more ease in soloing.

/likes to take partial credit for planting the seed on the defender damage boost ;)

//has soloed Ill, Grav, Mind and (soon) Elec controllers to 50

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'm actually on the Virtue server, mostly by happenstance. I think my global chat handle is @Ironthumb, but I don't know if that changes based on which toon I'm playing. Lately I've been giving my Stalker (Amber Assassin) and Corruptor (Obsidian Obfuscator - I'm very proud of the complete and utter absurdity of that name, by the way) lots of play-time.

Did my first Heist on the Ninja Blade Stalker yesterday. Was a blast to go in and rob a bank, then defeat a hero on the way out. My skillset didn't really help me though - I was able to sneak all the way in to the vault, but then when I blew it up everyone on the planet knew where I was and I burned the rest of the time running away. Next time I'm going to kill everyone on the way in.

I think what I'm finally going to do is pick a character that is pretty easy to level with (probably a heavily damage favored class that is good at AoE) and push through the content pretty quickly, just to see it all and give myself a good taste of the game at each level. Then I'll go back and level my other toons. I've gotten a good grasp on how to build a character now, and how the primary and secondary skill sets interact. I've also got the hang of slotting my abilities, and am looking forward to starting a serious toon. For my solo character, I'm thinking perhaps Assault Rifle/Ice for just massive AoE with good control. I've heard Masterminds are really easy to solo with, but I've never been big on pet classes, so I'm leaning away from this initially.

Anyone want to chime in on character builds they've really enjoyed playing? I'm still very open to trying new things before I get serious with one character.

[cuervo72]

Words of advice on the Mayhem missions.

Basically, take your time and destroy as much as you can of groups of items before you make your way to the bank. Don't sprint there, or you will have scads of Longbow on your tail all at once. Take out:

* bus stops
* boxes
* dumpsters
* crates
* pay phones
* mailboxes
* newspaper stands
* parking meters
* cars
* ppd vehicles

There are surely some that I am missing. But basically, enough of anything destructible will give you a time bonus for that group of items. On the lowest level mayhems, some of the larger items may take longer than they're worth, but there should be enough other things to destroy to safely pad your clock...I think I've gotten mine up in the 30:00 range. Definitely at least up well into the 20s - which should be plenty enough time.

Once you get a feel for the basics of character building, take a look at Mids' Hero Designer. Fantastic planning tool.

[cuervo72]

For my solo character, I'm thinking perhaps Assault Rifle/Ice for just massive AoE with good control. I've heard Masterminds are really easy to solo with, but I've never been big on pet classes, so I'm leaning away from this initially.

I'm trying to play an Assault Rifle, but have been underwhelmed (it is AR/Devices, which doesn't help). If you're looking for damage, Fire/ is hard to beat. And I've not played the /Ice secondary on a blaster, but Ice/ primary does provide decent control (I have an Ice/MM).

Masterminds are a different breed. My son plays one sometimes, but plays it very hands off. Basically lets his bots do their thing, keeping them bubbled. I have a Merc/Poison that I play very differently - I am constantly doing things to keep the aggro on ME ("tankerminding") - taunting, debuffing, attacking - while I stay in bodyguard mode. Good for taking down single, dangerous foes.

[Neon_Chaos]

Masterminds are awesome.

Nothing beats an all-Mastermind group. :)

Of course, I almost crashed my PC after running around with 5 MMs and all our minions out. :D

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'm a touch worried - most of the research I've done is on the CoH forums, and the guides there are all dated i6-i9 - which seems to be 12 builds ago at the earliest. Are there any more recent guides to follow? I'm not at all averse to paving my own way (I rarely, if ever, just blindly follow a guide - I just like a nice base to work from), I just would rather not get to level 25 or so and find out that my build/spec has been rendered obsolete by the nerf bat, based off of what I've been going for.

[Marmel]

Vince, the guides are mostly outdated. Look in the specific sub-forum for whichever AT you are playing and browse through the builds there. You might want to download mids hero builder.

I'll throw out a few toon suggestions:

Fire/WillPower Brute
Katana/WP Scrapper
Claws/SuperReflex Brute

I think WP is my favorite set. It is great for beginners because you just turn the toggles on and forget it, but you can get into some complex IO builds with it as well. It is extremely sturdy with just your basic enhancements too.

[cuervo72]

Wow, Melee much Marm? ;)

I do like WP though, have a Dual Blades/WP scrapper that indeed was very solid. With plenty of IO my War Mace/Shield brute was too.

Once you get a character to 20, I'd also recommend trying out a Widow. I've not played a Claws/SR, but I'd imagine my Night Widow would be somewhat similar.


Really though, I'd just say make as many combos as you feel like trying or have ideas for. Your favorites will shake out.

[Marmel]

Wow, Melee much Marm? ;)



I have a couple of controllers............somewhere. :)

I have 6 brutes, 2 scrappers and a tank to 50. I do have a controller and a blaster to 50 and a corrupter to 42, but yeah, melee is my game.

[Matthean]

I have 5 scrappers on Victory alone. :lol:

[cuervo72]

My list of 50s stands at 3 controllers, two scrappers, two brutes, two blasters, and one each of mastermind, tank, dominator, defender, corruptor, widow.

My next will probably be another controller (currently 46), then warshade (40) and possibly peacebringer (33). At some point I have to actually play a stalker. Figure with Freedom coming up I'll roll one blue side.

I'm pretty slow with things though. I don't run AE or any other farms, typically don't team. I level at a rather methodical pace.

[Matthean]

While it will take some time, I think once various zones get reworked solo leveling will be rather easy. While some of the stuff just doesn't make sense, the missions are so streamlined compared to we have now that it's easy to kick out a number of missions in a hurry.

They disabled level bumps for now on beta, but I'll likely get my Dark/dark blaster, Darz, bumped to 50 and keep playing my Mace/shield, Strong and Bashy, through the content. I got the scrapper up to 7 and then needed a break even if a sweet power comes at 8. There is a bug that resets your camera angle every time you zone so it just got annoying to play. There is a bug with the zone maps as well.

[cuervo72]

Well, I could probably even level faster solo if I wanted to, I'm just slow these days at upping the difficulty. I have bosses off for my WS and PB, and they're still at 0x0. Running tips, there's not much reason to run at a higher setting (an argument could even be made for going -1x0). Do five tips, hop on next toon. Though now that I have Eclipse with decent slotting, I'll probably up it on the WS.

My Elec/Sonic is at least on x2 if not x3. Synaptic Overload works just as well on large groups, after all. :)

[Matthean]

Hardcore night again on Justice. Some will be running the Sister P. TF, but I'm sure we'll have a lowbie team going as well.

[Matthean]

This also does assume the servers get up at some point. :lol: A hotfix was being added about 30 minutes ago.

[Matthean]

Servers are back up.

[Matthean]

Deva ju all over again. Hardcore night with Moonfire TF, but the severs are down and have been I think for 11 hours today. While I like doing the TFs when they are the WTF, it's kind of annoying for teaming since it limits what people can play.

[Raiders Army]

Okay, after two years I'm back. Most of my characters are on Victory, but I created a new scrapper on Virtue: Adult Entertainment.

Is there a SG?

[Matthean]

Okay, after two years I'm back. Most of my characters are on Victory, but I created a new scrapper on Virtue: Adult Entertainment.

Is there a SG?

I don't know of one for FOFCers, but I have basically a solo SG there that only needs to unlock the final beacons and I'll have all the porters for the zones done. Outside of the buff stations, it has everything else.

Also Hardcore night on Justice at 8pm eastern. Going for level 42 on my blaster.

[Bonegavel]

Okay, after two years I'm back. Most of my characters are on Victory, but I created a new scrapper on Virtue: Adult Entertainment.

Is there a SG?

Welcome back!

[Matthean]

CoH is officially F2P.

[Raiders Army]

I joined a SG on Exalted. My character's name is Adult Entertainer. :)

[Glengoyne]

Who is still out there playing? I just restarted and have been playing with my kids. THey have free accounts, and I'm paying for now.

Is there a server with a preponderance of FOFC folks on it? Currently my guys are on Liberty, just because my brother in law gave me 20 Million Inf to get me started.

I'm loving the new newbie sewer trial...It saves me from leveling my umpteen alternates through the same 12 levels over and over again.

[cuervo72]

Well, I'm TRYING to play. Kids have taken up the main computer all weekend playing Minecraft.

Still mostly just solo though.

[Marmel]

Who is still out there playing? I just restarted and have been playing with my kids. THey have free accounts, and I'm paying for now.

Is there a server with a preponderance of FOFC folks on it? Currently my guys are on Liberty, just because my brother in law gave me 20 Million Inf to get me started.

I'm loving the new newbie sewer trial...It saves me from leveling my umpteen alternates through the same 12 levels over and over again.

Still playing. VIP. Virtue server 95% of the time. I did create a few toons on Exhaulted.

[Raiders Army]

Still playing, although not as much as before. I'm on a few nights during the week. My global handle is @ice cold killa

[Bonegavel]

My account is still good. Between work, my kid, and Minecraft I've been a little distracted. That, and I just picked up Battlefield 3 today. Sigh.

[Thomkal]

So why I am bumping a long dead thread for a long dead game (that many of us here dearly loved?) Because maybe just maybe it might not really be dead:


A fully-functioning City of Heroes private server has somehow been kept secret for six years | PC Gamer (https://www.pcgamer.com/a-fully-functioning-city-of-heroes-private-server-has-somehow-been-kept-secret-for-six-years/?utm_content=buffer41d5e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer-pcgamertw)

[cuervo72]

Oh, wow.

I remember Leandro, I think - IIRC he put together a lot of videos. (I can't find the one I'm thinking of, but this one was easily findable in a search: City of Heroes Remains - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLtqCR6-n3Y) ).

Any contention that this was an open secret way back when is...well, let's just say I didn't have any clue about it.

[Thomkal]

Me either! I think the lawyers will probably come in an close it down now sadly

[cuervo72]

So yeah, now according to the CoH Reddit the code was passed to someone else who is hosting a server, to much excitement and pandemonium.

I've not yet tried to d/l anything. I am pretty sure I had the I24 update, but it's on an old computer which didn't boot up after a power outage some time ago.

Once the boy comes back from school I may have him look into setting things up, though I'm a little hesitant. Really I think I'd prefer running a server locally, like we do with minecraft. Yeah, the auction house wouldn't work too well but I could deal with that.

[Thomkal]

So yeah, now according to the CoH Reddit the code was passed to someone else who is hosting a server, to much excitement and pandemonium.

I've not yet tried to d/l anything. I am pretty sure I had the I24 update, but it's on an old computer which didn't boot up after a power outage some time ago.

Once the boy comes back from school I may have him look into setting things up, though I'm a little hesitant. Really I think I'd prefer running a server locally, like we do with minecraft. Yeah, the auction house wouldn't work too well but I could deal with that.


There's this thread on Reddit about a Public Server:


A Guide for Preparing to Join the Public Server : Cityofheroes (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cityofheroes/comments/bf462j/a_guide_for_preparing_to_join_the_public_server/)

[Thomkal]

Some YouTube gameplay too:


7 Years Of Waiting Is OVER | Let's Play City of Heroes - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRDK7y7SzYs)


City Of Heroes Is Back!! - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSeTarKvmrk)


How To Play City of Heroes In 2019 | Step By Step Tutorial - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrs_B6WRRJM)


the last one is a tutorial for getting the game set up to use today

[Thomkal]

The download of City of Heroes was/is VERY long for me, so much so that it might be best to let most of it download overnight. And while you are waiting for the download to finish, you can have a look at what would have been City of Heroes 2:


The Game That Never Would Be: Leaked Documents Show City of Heroes 2 Concepts - MMORPG.com News (https://www.mmorpg.com/news/the-game-that-never-would-be-leaked-documents-show-city-of-heroes-2-concepts-1000052223)

[larrymcg421]

If you use the torrent link, it's much faster.

I played a bit last night and this morning. It was quite a thrill to hear the Atlas Park music again. I wasn't playing right at the end, so there's lots of new powersets that I didn't know about.

Also, when did they change the transportation power rules? You used to have to wait until lvl 14 to get Flight, Super Speed, Super Jump, etc, but I was able to get it at lvl 4.

[Thomkal]

ah I didn't know there was another link for it-ah well it will end...eventually.



Yeah not sure when the change with travel powers happened, but man I hated waiting to lvl 14 to get them. I love the flight power the most. Didn't use the teleporting one much.


It was such a thrill going on twitch last night and seeing people play COH again. I can still remember what specific zones looked like, and some of the missions they were playing. Can't wait until I get my crack at them again.



What power sets are everybody using?

[Thomkal]

Launch of the non-test Private server, Score will take place on April 27, the game's 15th anniversary:


The live, non-test launch of the SCORE private server comes on the 27th; the game&#x27;s 15th anniversary! : Cityofheroes (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cityofheroes/comments/bfw989/the_live_nontest_launch_of_the_score_private/)

[Fidatelo]

Is there still a possibility that all of this gets shut down? Or is there implicit/explicit approval at this point?

[Thomkal]

Is there still a possibility that all of this gets shut down? Or is there implicit/explicit approval at this point?


I've not heard any official word, but the group working on this have not said too much about NCSoft/Paragon, and just announced the server going live today. Seems like they wouldn't be going any further with this by now if there was any objection. I think their only concern at this point that past customer account info/characters are not part of the reboot.

[Thomkal]

Launch of the non-test Private server, Score will take place on April 27, the game's 15th anniversary:


The live, non-test launch of the SCORE private server comes on the 27th; the game's 15th anniversary! : Cityofheroes (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cityofheroes/comments/bfw989/the_live_nontest_launch_of_the_score_private/)


Forgot to mention that it does look like there will be a character wipe when the non-test server goes live, so it looks like its a good time to not to worry too much about the costume creator and just test out power sets you never tried/are new to you.

[larrymcg421]

And it's been shut down...

[Thomkal]

Yep :(


City of Heroes (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cityofheroes)

[Thomkal]

So now it looks like there was never any actual legal threat against this "rebirth"-someone on the team listened to rumors that legal action was about to be taken and pulled the plug. So City of Heroes may yet indeed live again:


City of Heroes’ first new rogue server shut down over a fake legal threat, but admins say it’s coming back | Massively Overpowered (https://massivelyop.com/2019/04/22/city-of-heroes-rogue-server-has-already-been-shut-down-under-threat-of-legal-action/)

[Thomkal]

Latest on the work ongoing for the new server:


@everyone Our Current Status: At the moment, we have a number of coders (across a few major projects) who are working on migrating the original source code tool chain from Visual Studio 2005 to a newer version of VS. Specifically, the VS2019 mainline. Once this is finished, the source should be fully modernized and other development processes can begin to move forward from there. Once the toolchain for I24 has been modernized and the I25 source code has been sanitized by and provided by SCoRE, our coders should be able to start examining SCoRE's i25 changes with the intent to re-implement them upon modernized I24 source. Currently, there are two main parts that are being studied and used... The first, is the original source of the client and server, that is the I24Beta client that you all had access to when the game was live. The second, is the compiled server that was used and updated by the SCoRE team, that is I25. With i24, we are working on Compatibility with VS2010 toolset and VS2015 with v140 toolset. With i25, we are trying to stabilize the setup of test servers to allow people to play on it.

[Thomkal]

Tony V‏ @TonyV_CoH (https://twitter.com/TonyV_CoH)


The Titan Network is in talks with NCSoft regarding a community-run City of Heroes server. Things are looking positive, so stay strong. We don't have a timeline right now, but we'll provide more updates as soon as we can. <s>#</s>SaveCoH (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveCoH?src=hash)

[Thomkal]

This is not fake news :) Even if you already did this part, you have to recreate your account. So go to the score site, login with your forum account, click game account. Fair warning though the site is incredibly jammed, so you might want to wait a bit to try logging in to Score


https://score.savecoh.com/ (https://t.co/yMvXqgqdbx)

[larrymcg421]

Great news. I see SCORE is back up on the Tequila client, but I can't get into the forums just yet. Will keep checking.

[Thomkal]

I am finally able to login. you might go to the https://score.savecoh.com/account
(https://t.co/yMvXqgqdbx)


then click the login button next to register rather than filling in the username/password boxes. then putting that info in the boxes that show up there. That eventually worked for me

[larrymcg421]

I was able to get in and played for an hour or so. It was awesome. Hope it lasts.

[Thomkal]

I was able to get in and played for an hour or so. It was awesome. Hope it lasts.


Great, glad to hear it. You might not want to go all out on costume creation yet because there is still a chance (a good one?) that these characters might get wiped as they are testing things still.

[Thomkal]

Well made it to Atlas City at last....only took me eight years :) What a blast checking out the sites and smashing a few heads :)

[Thomkal]

played a little in Praetoria-don't think I ever did that in the original game-neat that I might have original content to explore after all these years.

[Thomkal]

Some stats from the Homecoming team:



Peak player count was just over 3,300
16,839 accounts have been created
26,262 characters have been made
255,685,139 XP has been earned
293,306,562 influence held by characters
The highest level player is Dacaleos, a level 39 Brute
Origins:
7,475 Magic
5,647 Mutation
4,712 Natural
4,204 Science
4,136 Technology
Archetypes:
3,482 Blasters
3,435 Brutes
3,350 Masterminds
3,123 Scrappers
2,263 Controllers
2,129 Tankers
1,823 Defenders
1,625 Corruptors
1,334 Sentinels
1,212 Dominators
935 Stalkers
436 Peacebringers
401 Warshades
394 Arachnos Soldiers
246 Arachnos Widows

[larrymcg421]

Having a blast today. I've been playing three different characters so far:

Broadsword/Shield Defense Scrapper
Illusion/Kinetics Controller
Ice/Cold Corruptor

I never played Corruptors or Dominators much back in the day. Mostly just stuck with Brutes and MMs on the villains side. Also never played the PB or Arachnos characters.

[cuervo72]

I've downloaded Tequila and the client (on the laptop, will need to transfer it to other boxes) but have been waiting for the boy to come back to actually sign up and play. Have been trying to keep excitement to reasonable levels in case it doesn't last.

[Thomkal]

I've downloaded Tequila and the client (on the laptop, will need to transfer it to other boxes) but have been waiting for the boy to come back to actually sign up and play. Have been trying to keep excitement to reasonable levels in case it doesn't last.


Yeah glad to hear it Cuervo. Some of my most favorite times gaming was when the FOBL/FOFC gang got together and played COH.


I think the survivability depends on if everyone can keep their ego in check and not piss off NCSoft. This is the closest they have ever been to letting us have the game back, so I hope no one annoys them.


It looks the code is out there though if this doesn't work out-I've seen on the reddit methods for getting the game to work as a single player/local server too. I feel better about its chances at survival then when I first heard about the code being leaked.

[Thomkal]

Over 22,000 accounts have been created! Over 47,000 characters have been made! It is the 15th Anniversary of CITY OF HEROES! The admins announced a DOUBLE XP WEEKEND on both private SCORE-servers to celebrate this event.


Yep there's two servers now

[Fidatelo]

I think I might try playing at some point today. I've never played CoH before but this sounds kind of fun.

[Marmel]

Can you guys post some links and/or instructions for the download and how to get started?

[Thomkal]

Well they have had to add a queue to both servers, and its gonna take a while to get in

[Thomkal]

Can you guys post some links and/or instructions for the download and how to get started?


Marmel, this link goes to the Reddit post that has the instructions on how to download it:


A Guide for Preparing to Join the Public Server : Cityofheroes (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cityofheroes/comments/bf462j/a_guide_for_preparing_to_join_the_public_server/)

[Thomkal]

I think I might try playing at some point today. I've never played CoH before but this sounds kind of fun.


Its one of the very few games that I still have memories of eight years down the road. I can remember character costumes, powers I played, maps, missions, etc. Anyone that's a fan of superhero movies/comic books owe it to themselves to give the game a try. My advice for a first time character is not to fool around with costume creation because you could spend a couple hours there. Just randomize the costume and explore the game. Play as a hero first before trying a villain or Praetorian and just wander the streets in the zone you start out in.

[larrymcg421]

Here are instructions for setting up your own server. I may do this just for solo play and as a backup in case this all gets shut down again.

Setting up a City of Heroes Server Using I25 Binaries - Google Docs (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N63pPUfll-PAiElfGatSqCvX7GHZ8ygHWHAYbAV5il0/preview)

[cuervo72]

Talked to son today -- looks like he already beat me to making an account and logging in. Guess I might as well do the same.

Will have to check out the instructions for setting up a server (or, downloading the VM with a server on it). Of course, I need to figure out how to deal with a bittorrent first...

[Fidatelo]

It took me a few tries to get the client installed, and now I've been queued up in Excelsior for the past hour or so, with another hour probably to go. Setting up my own server might be worthwhile just to get to play :)

[Fidatelo]

I got in eventually and created a new character, which was awesome. So many great choices and customization's.

Played through a portion of the tutorial, so far I'm a little underwhelmed, though I think having to play on my little Surface Pro screen isn't helping. I'll definitely give it another go tomorrow to see if it grows on me more.

[Thomkal]

I got in eventually and created a new character, which was awesome. So many great choices and customization's.

Played through a portion of the tutorial, so far I'm a little underwhelmed, though I think having to play on my little Surface Pro screen isn't helping. I'll definitely give it another go tomorrow to see if it grows on me more.


Yeah the tutorial isn't very noteworthy-get out into your first zone and do missions-don't be in a rush to get to your mission, soak up the atmosphere a bit (while bashing heads of course)

[cuervo72]

Got in after a queue of 550 (that went up to 900 after I joined it).

Fun, and nostalgic. But yeah, this is something I will definitely want to spin up fairly often (while not spending nearly as many hours in it as I once did).

Now, I'm just frustrated with what I don't remember how to do. Like, create a new stat window that shows my influence earned, and xp to level.

[larrymcg421]

There are now 4 servers.

[larrymcg421]

Anyone tried the new Sentinel class? Kind of interesting. Basically a ranged Scrapper.

[Marmel]

Thanks for the link. I'm really dumb with this stuff. Step 2 and 3 are confusing. Are there instructions for dummies lol?

Edit to add: When I run tequila is just seems to download for ever. I've left it for 24 hours now. I even closed it and restarted it and its still just downloading pigg files???

[Vince, Pt. II]

It took me two tries to get it done; I think mine timed out without giving me any warning. Try closing the Tequila app and re-opening it. It should resume where it left off.

Put together a quick Blaster (Radiation/Energy Manipulation) and screwed around for a little bit. Can't wait to get more time to dive back in.

[Coffee Warlord]

Gonna give this a shot tonight, I think. Was that multiple servers I saw? Are we all on a singular server?

[larrymcg421]

Thanks for the link. I'm really dumb with this stuff. Step 2 and 3 are confusing. Are there instructions for dummies lol?

Edit to add: When I run tequila is just seems to download for ever. I've left it for 24 hours now. I even closed it and restarted it and its still just downloading pigg files???

If you can use bittorrent to get the files, that was much quicker for me. The bittorrent address is included in that link.

[Thomkal]

yeah the pigg files are huge, took a while for me to download.

[Thomkal]

Gonna give this a shot tonight, I think. Was that multiple servers I saw? Are we all on a singular server?


Most are on the original server Torchbearer or the second one added Excelsior. The other two were added yesterday, and are probably the easiest to get into when dealing with queues.


Edit; The only one with a queue at this exact moment is Torchbearer

[Marmel]

Thanks guys, it finished downloading but I think I gotta update drivers and stuff. I hope to give it a try tonight!

[Coffee Warlord]

In char creation now on Excelsior.

[Thomkal]

what class are you CW? Don't have a hero character there, so I can create one quick

[Thomkal]

Okay I have created Astronaut a Gravity/Force Field Controller on Excelsior. This was perhaps my most favorite character in the original game. Loved the costume in the original game, but was too impatient to go through the 2 million options that are available now, so settled on this look. He's lvl 1, and not planning on levelling him unless I with friends from here

[Coffee Warlord]

Blaster. I burn things. All the things.

[Thomkal]

Blaster. I burn things. All the things.


Good thing, I have a personal force field then :) what is your character name?

[Thomkal]

I have created chat channel FOFC, right click on the chat window, then click join channel.

[Coffee Warlord]

I'm messing with another guy in chargen right now too. TOO MANY CHOICES.

But he's, of course, "Prince of Fire"

[Thomkal]

yeah its almost as much fun creating a character than it is playing it.

[cuervo72]

Fire/Fire/Fire blaster (Blu Blazes) was perhaps the most fun of my characters to play. I may need to rebuild her should this last.

[Coffee Warlord]

Really, really, really wish they had full length robes.

[Thomkal]

well I need to log off for the night, so have fun heroes!

[Coffee Warlord]

Having fun with the White Druid, a mastermind. :)

[larrymcg421]

What server are you guys on? Should we do a Supergroup?

I have characters on all 4 servers (alt-aholic). I've been playing mostly on Indomitable and Everlasting, since they have double XP until Monday.

[Coffee Warlord]

I haven't gotten anything past like level 5, so I'm game to start a character on whatever server we pick.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I haven't gotten anything past like level 5, so I'm game to start a character on whatever server we pick.

+1

[Thomkal]

Okay I have created Astronaut a Gravity/Force Field Controller on Excelsior. This was perhaps my most favorite character in the original game. Loved the costume in the original game, but was too impatient to go through the 2 million options that are available now, so settled on this look. He's lvl 1, and not planning on levelling him unless I with friends from here


I'm online now on excelsior

[Thomkal]

The rebirth made Newsweek:


What ‘City of Heroes’ Means To Me (https://www.newsweek.com/city-heroes-villains-server-community-1414670)

[Coffee Warlord]

So, I made a Coffee Warlord, a mercenary for hire with his team of elite soldiers, trained in the coffee plantations of South America on Indomitable (a friend of mine is on there, and it's less slammed).

[Coffee Warlord]

I will be on Indomitable tonight for play, prolly around 7:30 - 8:00 pm mountain time.

[Thomkal]

So, I made a Coffee Warlord, a mercenary for hire with his team of elite soldiers, trained in the coffee plantations of South America on Indomitable (a friend of mine is on there, and it's less slammed).


Nice :) I have now created Doctor Mind a very original name with mind control/healing powers on Indomitable.

[larrymcg421]

On Indomitable, I have:

IC3-B0T, a lvl 12 Ice/Ice Sentinel (Hero side)
Betty Blaze, a lvl 10 Fire/Rad Corruptor (Hero side)
Yrral Starblaster, a lvl 10 Beam/Martial Blaster (Praetoria side)
Don Rigatoni, a lvl 11 Thugs/Poison MM (Villain side)

[Coffee Warlord]

Mastermind wasn't a thing when I played way back when, and I can't find the answer to this.

Does anyone know if you have to individually buff each pet when you summon them, or does it work for all of them?

Example: I have mercs. I use 'equip soldier' on one of them. The visual effects on both change, but I'm not sure if it really did buff both of them.

[Thomkal]

Mastermind wasn't a thing when I played way back when, and I can't find the answer to this.

Does anyone know if you have to individually buff each pet when you summon them, or does it work for all of them?

Example: I have mercs. I use 'equip soldier' on one of them. The visual effects on both change, but I'm not sure if it really did buff both of them.


Do you mean equip mercenary power?-if so its one at a time. Not sure about an equip soldier power


Mercenaries | City of Heroes Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia (https://cityofheroes.fandom.com/wiki/Mercenaries)

[Marmel]

I've been playing on indom as well. I still find it pretty hard to believe I'm Playing. So much came back like muscle memory.

I've got my brute up to 35 and various other too's from 8-24.

[larrymcg421]

Do you mean equip mercenary power?-if so its one at a time. Not sure about an equip soldier power


Mercenaries | City of Heroes Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia (https://cityofheroes.fandom.com/wiki/Mercenaries)

The Equip Thugs power now works as a single application. Has this not been updated across all MM powersets?

[Thomkal]

The Equip Thugs power now works as a single application. Has this not been updated across all MM powersets?


Ah did not realize that.

[larrymcg421]

The best way to make sure is to click the arrow right next to your pet window. It shows all of their buffs. One of them should say "Equip" for each character.

[Thomkal]

We now have a server status page:


Status (https://score.savecoh.com/status/)

[cuervo72]

Nice!

I'm primarily playing a Water/Cold Corr on Indomitable named Fountain of Truth. I found my old Mids builds and the xml files from Sentinel and may go about rebuilding certain toons; many of the costumes generated fine (there's another tool to convert Sentinel xml to .costume files) but not all (I had some costume pieces from before they reworked stuff). Also, the Sentinel capture process was such that at the end I just couldn't get to everyone (you had to log into a char, run the tool, then log off to do the next one). I didn't get Oro Liquido -- my first toon -- for instance. I can probably rebuild him well enough from screen caps and memory if I had to though.

[larrymcg421]

I'm loving the DFB trial. That wasn't around when I stopped playing. It's a much better way to level lowbies than just wandering through the sewers. You actually get SO's at a low level.

[larrymcg421]

There's a new server out from the Reddit team that is just the I24 code from shutdown and contains none of the new stuff (like Sentinels) added by the private server team. They're offering a one time one character boost to lvl 50.

Account Portal (https://rdxgamingliberated.com/public/)

[cuervo72]

I rolled a Staff/Bio brute last night named "Color Guardian" - essentially my daughter in one of her winter color guard costumes (had a military theme, so camo cargo pants, boots, etc). I've always mentioned that she should learn to use the flag staff as a weapon, so.... :D

Anyway, I forgot how FUN a brute can be. Played an Axe before but this may be better served to build fury as the attacks seem pretty quick. Bio armor may be interesting as well, but I don't yet have a handle on it yet or a build plan. But so far street sweeping has been nice, and I should probably go at least team size 2 for missions.

[Glengoyne]

Have we got any FOFC members super grouped up or teaming regularly?

My daughter and I picked this up over the weekend, and I've spent too many of my free moments running around Atlas park and King's row.

[Coffee Warlord]

Me and some friends are still playing on Everlasting. I took a break for a month or so, fired it up again at their request over the long weekend, and it got fun again.

@Coffee on there for global friends.

[cuervo72]

I've been playing regularly on Indomitable but I've not teamed yet. Have a Water/Cold corr (Fountain of Truth) at 30 and my brute is up to 35. They've gotten the lion's share of time vs toons that I've remade. Oh, and my Mind/Fire Dom (Refried Confusion) is at 25. Just getting into IO sets on them.