Preface
You know, it's really amazing how many of my suggestions have been implemented over the last year or two since I originally wrote this article. I'm not saying what I wrote had anything to do with it, but it appears that the Devs are certainly striving to make the game more fun and interesting all the time and I think that's awesome. So the last thing I'll say is…
WEATHER! GIVE. ME. WEATHER!
Anyway, read on, though keep in mind some of these suggestions haven't been updated in the last year or two:
Suggestions
Haven't you ever had "superhero syndrome?" Superhero syndrome is the effect of wanting great power, great wealth, or great happiness without having to work for it. One day you're Normal Boringstein and the next you're leaping over buildings and punching holes through the worthless jerks that used to taunt you.
Everyone wants to be a super hero. City of Heroes gives you the ability to enter a world where you are that hero. You can save innocent people, lay waste to the forces of evil, and grow ever stronger day after day. You will see and do things no normal citizen ever would.
That's why I love this game so much and why I'd love to see them make the kinds of changes I know would draw more people and keep the ones that are already there longer.
Let's be very clear about this: CoH/V is an excellent game that has a very reasonable price and offers many free upgrades. They do a lot of things right such as keeping characters on the servers indefinitely (so someone like me can quit and come back later).
However, there are some things that they could do that would really make the game rule. Here is a consolidated list of my suggestions for improvement to coh.
Characters
With the extensive character creator, you bring to life almost any character you can think of. You can spend hours planning out the characters look, their color scheme, their costume, their power combinations, their story and of course; their name.
As you play through the game, you watch your character mature in the hero you made them to be. Unique in all respects from any that came before and any that will come after… Well, not quite.
Power Customization
As I said, building a one-of-a-kind hero is one of the great pleasures of the game. Not only should your selection of powers impress, but the look and execution of those powers. As many different combinations of powersets as there are, I still see people that look and act the exact same. How different can you really make your D3 from mine?
Each power should have several different execution styles. For example, maybe a crane kick could have stlightly different animations. Each variation would have a different effect. For example, option one would be a longer animation that does more damage. Option two is very fast and has a higher chance to disorient, but does little damage. Option three is the normal way it is now.
And again,they've done this. They've already started adding alternate animations and it's just as cool as I imagined! If they have at least 2 or 3 alternates for most powers, it will be as much as I could have asked for.
By varying the look and the effect of powers, heroes would be more unique even in the same at and powersets.
Permenant "Temporary" powers
Well… I used to recommend that we have a way to get various temp powers that we could keep, but since I said that, they've done it. I don't think anything I said had anything to do with it, but they've done it and bravo!
Character options
Not only should my character be unique in powers, but in look. No matter how hard I work to make my character unique, I still sometimes see another hero with a very similar style. Some very minor changes would make a big difference.
- More hair styles
- Ability to modify hairstyles – maybe I really like it, but want it to be less full or a little longer/shorter
- Ability to combine faces with different expressions
- Choice of Eye color
"Real" Exploration
Is there anything as exciting as discovery? How many famous stories revolve around finding that hidden treasure, secret room, magic item? Didn't you ever look into a tunnel and imagine that there was another world at the other end?
Unfortunately, CoH/V doesn't have many secret places and even those don't benefit you much. Badges are nice, but they're mapped out online and eventually become commonplace too. I want to see some places that are out of the way and have some cool stuff hiding in them. The Wolf's throat in Striga is close to what I'm talking about in that it's hard to find and has some cool scenery in it. However, nothing really special or interesting happens wherever you go in the council base.
Hidden places
Why can't I wander through an abandoned building? Can't there be garages or sheds with slightly open doors that I can enter and hide in? Think of that cool spot that Flux is hiding in at the Hallows. There should be secret caves, hidden spots between (or in) buildings, and under bridges. Most importantly, these hidden places should require no zoning (like when you enter a mission).
My motivation for this is simple. Whenever I ride the train and see the empty sheds and cool tunnelways, I think of how cool it would be if CoH/V had terrain like that. I see a dark alley that dead ends and think of the secret nook that would be there in the game. I fly up through the center of one of the buildings in King's Row and am dissapointed to see that nothing special is there.
The only thing close to "secret places" that they have now are the places that no one goes like the crypt in Dark Astoria. Not only should there be secret places, there should be a reason to go there (which brings me to my next point).
Hidden treasure
As you wander the city, perhaps you take a side alley that you normally wouldn't pay any attention to. As you pass by a broken vending machine, you notice a soft pulsing sound. While it doesn't actually glow and the noise is much fainter than in missions, you've found a city map glowie.
The places these things are found is always random and can be almost anything in the whole zone, including certain enemies (creating a bonus for killing that particular thing).
These secret glowies can be under rocks, on the underside of a bridge, in the water, or whatever. The prize you get could vary from an enhancement, to influence, a special badge, a special costume option, a "temp pool" power, or nothing more complex than starting a special kind of mission. Not only would this make the maps more fun, but people wouldn't ignore zones like they do now. It's almost sad that my map through Crey's Folly is over 60% black (and likely to stay that way, there's just nothing to see in the dark corners of the zone).
At the higher levels, it's easy to travel through a zone taking the same path every time and ignoring everything around you. There's just no reason to spend any time or effort looking around.
Hidden enemies
Think of the troll raves in Skyway. It spawns the "supa" that are somewhat rare and a lot more interesting than the normal enemies in the zone. This is a step in the right direction. How about one of the things they can put in the secret places I talked about was special enemies or enemy clusters.
For example, maybe a infestation of Swarms even in Galaxy City? What if you discovered a hydra lurking in a dark alley of King's Row? What if every now and then you could find a City of Villains enemy lurking in the corners of Paragon City? Each of these secret enemies could be worth extra experience or such. This would also encourage exploration.
Enemy Characteristics
Enemies get a little dull after a while too. It's not that CoH/V is lacking for variety in enemy types, but they have the same powers as you and do the same animations too. I think that enemies should have some powers that players don't or at least should be able to perform them differently.
Powers
This would also tie in with my previous example of power customizations and hidden treasure. Maybe the type of power execution used by enemies in the game was locked unless you managed to find a special glowie that unlocked it. This way, people who had explored more and took the time to "smell the roses" would be more likely to have special hard-to-get customizations. Even then, it would be hard or nearly impossible to have ALL of the customizations that enemies use so there would still be some variety to the way enemies use the powers compared to players.
Enemy Actions
Once again, the Devs have been actively working this one so I withdraw my recommendation. Granted, I think that it could go a little further to promote variety of actions, but with Issue 14 and players being put in the driver's seat for missions, this could get very, very interesting.
Zones
Cryptic tends to add new zones to CoH/V with each new issue, but I think what we need is more content in the zones we have. For example, Eden is a very cool zone, but all I've ever done is fly to various missions pretty much ignoring most of the zone. Boomtown is similar.
Random Events
This is actually something they do fairly well (ex. the various holiday events), but it can be done better. For example, what if there was a small outbreak of low level Shivans in Steel or whatever? There are a lot of zones and as a high-level player, you get used to the fairly common enemies there which makes it boring.
Sure the Ghost Ship will go through Talos now and then (a very good random event), but even that becomes a little dull when it's the only thing that ever happens there. How about story changing events like a Freakshow invasion (like the massive amount of clocks that spawn in King's Row now and then, but this would go on for hours instead of minutes)? It should also burns down some of the neighborhood. For realism, the buildings could stay burned for a few days before being "rebuilt".
The way it works now, an event starts and people broadcast it and form teams then tackle it (Giant Monsters for example), which is fine, but how many times can you see Lusca before the novelty wears off? The key is to have more events that are smaller, but more frequent.
How about a car chase? Random police battles where you actually see police run TOWARDS a problem? How about a hostage event? How about a "nest" of enemies where you find a few low level enemies on the outer edges with a high concentration deeper in (think large mob meeting, gang hideout, fortified base of operations etc). There are many possibilities.
Hidden Treasures and Secret places
Like I said before, this would make the game more interesting and also give people reasons to look around in zones that normally people ignore.
Realism
Mission realism
How about an office building with actual windows? Or an open lobby that goes up several floors like in I Robot? I want to go up floors with the same elevator like in FF7, not find 10 elevators that all go up only one floor. Why can't the mission start in the sewers below the building or in the dark basement where all the pipes and electrical are and work its way up to the ritzy offices at the top (or vice-versa)?
Mix it up a little. How about a cave that goes to a high-tech lab buried deep in the ground (like the Ernesto Hess TF or the mission in Croatoa that goes from a sewer to a cave? This is good, we need more of it. Perhaps you start in one building at the top, fight your way down, through a sewer grate, and back up into a warehouse where the gang's hideout is?
Zone Realism
Can I just say, the Green and Yellow Metro lines should meet at ONE station like they would in real life. How about a traffic jam now and then? Maybe a monster could appear and start throwing cars. How about breaking those design barriers and connecting two tall building by arches or walkways? How about a fire plug getting smashed and spraying water all over the street for a while?
Filed under: Uncategorized — Jeremy
About Teams
You will need to team at some point no matter what you do. Teams can be fun and interesting plus earn great exp or they can be a waste of your time and cause you to scream obscenities at your computer making people nearby questions your sanity. There are steps you can take to reduce the latter variety.
As of issue 4 (the fourth version of the game), you can enter a custom message that people seeking team members will see next to your name. Use this feature to weed out teams you don’t want. For example, “no blind invites” means you will automatically refuse anyone who sends you a team invite without sending a tell first (a tell is a private message from one player to another which can be done to and from anywhere in the game at any time as long as you’re both online and on the same server (and one of you isn’t ignoring the other)).
The important things you need to know when joining a team are: what are they doing (hunting/missions/TF), what level are they (did some shmuck at level 10 invite you when you’re level 14?), and what types are the team members (You will quickly learn that certain types of missions require certain types of players).
Whenever you have a good team experience, add the key players to your friends list These would be people who play well, have a good personality, and don’t worry about a lot of questions you might have about the game.
When someone on your friend list is online, you will receive a notification so you can message them if you need help/want company. Right now, you won’t know anything about the player other than you liked them enough to add to your friends list because CoH doesn’t allow you to attach comments to friends’ names (*hint hint) which is particularly a problem for the casual gamer, but it’s still better than nothing.
One tip for being invited to higher level teams (where everyone is higher level than you), hang out in a zone where the enemies are all at your level or higher, select “looking for any” in the team window and just do some hunting until a local team decided they need another scrapper. Team leaders will often look for people in the same zone so the team doesn’t have to take much time to gather together.
Don’t bother forming a team yourself until you’ve been in a few so you can see how it works. Also get a good idea of how they types work together and their roles so you know who to kick when necessary. It’s surprising how often you’ll get a rogue player who won’t listen to the rest of the team and constantly gets you all killed. To avoid this, don’t be afraid to kick a player from your team and know what everyone should be doing (and make sure they know it too).
Having said that…
ARCHETYPE ROLES
*Tanker – Meat shield. They take the hits and make sure that everyone in a mob is paying attention to them (they hold the aggro (aggression/attention) of all the enemies). They have enough hitpoints to survive most battles alone, but not enough damage to always kill everything before they themselves die. Essential for battles with large numbers of enemies at and above your level.
*Blaster – Damage dealers. These are snipers of the game. It’s not glorious, but their job is to hide and fire, not draw attention and to NEVER jump into the middle of a mob. They need to stay away from the action and unload lethal damage from afar.
NOTE: A blaster will pretty much die (and often does) as soon as an enemy notices them, but most blasters I’ve played with don’t seem to know this. Of all types in the game, I’ve seen blasters die more often than all other characters in a team because they fire on a crowd before the tank has their attention or because they won’t stop firing and run when they start to lose significant life.
Blasters almost always throw the team off balance so be careful about the blasters you team with. They really can be useful if played correctly, but I very rarely saw that happen.
*Controller – Crowd Control. Controllers are one of the two types that require teams (early on anyway) because they are so squishy (low on hit points). They do crowd control and with a strong controller, you don’t even need a tank because the enemies will be frozen, confused, held or whatever. They have almost no hit points and should never focus on offense until later levels or when the crowd is firmly under control or they have the ability to summon pets. Controllers are great support characters and will often take teleport, resurrect, healing, or other team powers.
*Defender – Healers. I really like defenders because they have a good balance of attack/control and healing/support powers. They are very versatile, but for the most part, they are your healers. A team depends on the defenders to keep healing, passing out ispirations (too large a topic to explain here), and debuffing (weakening) enemies so that the rest of the crew can focus on their job instead of watching their health and trying to stay alive. A really good defender knows to only use their attacks when soloing or when the team is fighting weak mobs. During tough battles, the defender should only be doing support actions so they don’t draw aggro and die.
*Scrapper – High damage, medium hit points. The scrapper’s primary job during a team battle is to add damage to what the tank does and take out the problem enemies quickly. They will often focus on bosses because of their ability to take enemies far above their level and are also important for protecting the squishies (low hit point characters) from enemies that for whatever reason aren’t paying attention to the tank (or being held by the controller).
This is what I chose for solo play. The primary advantage to the scrapper for solo over the tank is that tanks focus on killing many enemies from one or so levels above them to a level or two below. Scrappers can often take on enemies 4 or more levels higher than themselves as long as there aren’t too many. As you get higher level, you will begin to manage groups of enemies at or above your level instead of just one or two at a time.
*Peacebringer/Warshade – Flying Squiddy Blasters. Basically they’re blasters with flight and a bunch of nifty, unique powers from level 1. You can only play them if you get a character to level 50 first so you can USUALLY assume that anyone playing one of these knows how to play the game.
However, in my experience, PB and WS players are one of two types: one of the most patient and friendliest team players in the game, or dumb as a post. Treat them as a blaster as far as team play goes.
For the most part, it’s just easier to assume that whoever has the star (the yellow star next to name signifies that character is the current team leader) is in command. When there’s indecision about where to go or what to do, let them choose and support their decision with the rest of the group. There’s nothing worse than a group full of “leaders”.
However, if the leader makes enough bad decisions, you can “kick” them by having all members quit from the team and reform with a new leader leaving the dummy out (but this is not common). Much more common is where everyone chooses a new leader and the previous takes a back seat.
The most annoying people in the game will constantly flood the team chat channel during or out of battle with meaningless crap. One member I was with hit all the auto talk buttons “HELP”, “WAIT”, “READY”, etc. all the time. Others would write talk dirty or act otherwise very juvenile. Be an adult. Even if playing in character (where you talk and act as if you ARE the character you created), treat others with respect and you will get respect in return.
Pay attention to the team chat window. People (other than the annoying ones I just mentioned) who take the time to type something do so for a reason. There are times you will want to kick back and just chat about things, but for the most part, you should be paying attention to what your team is saying.
If you have something to say that should be private, send a tell to that player. Don’t complain about your “worthless leader” or the like in the main team window.
Try not to chat during battles unless the battle is very much under control or your team is just in that kind of mode. Sometimes you will get into a group that’s just out to have fun and doesn’t care about debt (negative experience points you receive as punishment for losing battles (but not before level 5)). These will be the best experiences you will have in the game (another reason it’s important to add great people to your friends list (and why CoH should have a feature for adding comments to people in your friends list (>>>>>>HINT HINT<<<<<).
One of the things that can take longest in the game (especially on TFs) is getting around. Of course, you eventually get standard travel powers at or above level 14 which helps a lot, but there are many paths to travel if you only know where to find them.
This guide will run you through the tips, tricks, and options for traveling quickly from place to place in either City of Heroes or City of Villains.
Jeremy's Advanced Travel Guide
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When you reach level 50 and unlock the epic archetypes ("Peacebringer" and "Warshade"), your first choice will be which type to make.
Similarities
First Inherent Power – Team Power
Each type gets bonuses depending on the team they're in (thus kheldians are designed to be team ats). They are as follows:
Peacebringer – Cosmic Balance
- For each Scrapper or Blaster – Increased resistance to damage (10% per)
- For each Tanker or Defender – Increased damage (20% per)
- For each Controller – Increased resistance to holds/sleep/stun etc (+2 mag)
Warshade – Dark Sustenance
- For each Tanker or Defender – Increased resistance to damage (10% per)
- For each Scrapper or Blaster – Increased damage (20% per)
- For each Controller – Increased resistance to holds/sleep/stun etc (+2 mag)
The specific percentages are from the official forums, but I'm not sure of their accuracy. Also note that the teammates have to be within 150ish yards.
Second Inherent Power – Travel Power
Some things about the two are identical. For example, both have a travel power from level one and the power is inherent so you don't have to waste a power slot for it. For Peacebringers, this is fly and for Warshades, it's teleport.
Each is identical to the regular
power pool powers with slight changes. The Peacebringer has a custom sound effect and nifty trailing light when flying. The Warshade has a inky purple/black/blue/pink cloud that surrounds them when teleporting.
Either way, it's really nice to have a travel power at level 1 🙂
Third Inherent Power – Free Pool Power
This power is received automatically at level 10. Like the travel powers, they have fancy names and look different, but are otherwise the same powers you know and love. For Peacebringers, it's hover and Warshades it's Recall Friend.
As I describe in my Character Generation Intro guide, the more you customize the look, the story, and Binds for a character, the more you generally like and play them. If you really want to have a good time with your Kheldian, you need to expend some time and effort to develop them. Plan to set the following for your new characters:
- Custom HUD
- Custom Binds
- Custom Macros
Custom HUD
HUD stands for Human User Display (or something like that) and refers to the controls and windows all over the screen (chat window, target window, power tray). You can't customize them much, but here are some suggestions that I have:
- Change the color to something other than the default. For me, I made it match my character's color (which was the kheldian's color scheme). This is VERY easy to do. Go to the menu, select options, find the graphics and audio tab and there are sliders for selecting the color of the HUD.
- Change your chat color to something other than the default. I also have this themed based on my character's colors. The very last option in the graphics and audio tab is the one for changing the chat bubble's colors. You can change background and text (not border apparently.
- Use your power tray wisely! One tray for Nova Form and one for Dwarf. You can put all of the powers and macros that are used for one form in a single which makes it a lot easier to use.
Custom Binds
Binds are almost necessary when using kheldians, but they're fun all the time if you use them right :). See my Binds Guide for some generic character binds and see below for Kheldian specific ones:
Rapid Human Form
/bind left "powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_name Unchain Essence"
/bind left "powexec_toggle_off White Dwarf$$powexec_toggle_off Bright Nova$$powexec_name Build Up"
This will put you in human form and instantly fire one of the powers that makes the most sense. For Warshades, Unchain Essence can be a hard to use power in the middle of battle, but not anymore. Just kill an enemy then hit left and it fires automatically!
For the Peacebringer, I had Build Up, but always forgot to use it. This way, when I switch from Dwarf or Nova to human for a beat down, I've already launched my damage boost power. While in human form, if you want to launch Build Up quickly, just hit left again.
Rapid Nova Form
/bind up "powexec_toggle_on Dark Nova$$goto_tray 3"
/bind up "powexec_toggle_on Bright Nova$$goto_tray 3"
The important things to note about this bind are that it uses a "toggle_on" instead of "toggle" or just "powexec_name" because if you hit the button rapidly (as I tend to do when lagging or overly excited), this will prevent you from going into Nova form then out of it again accidentally. The other thing it does is change your power tray to your "Nova" tray.
Rapid Dwarf Form
/bind down "powexec_toggle_on Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 4"
/bind down "powexec_toggle_on White Dwarf$$goto_tray 4"
Same thing, but for Dwarf form.
Dwarf TP Bind
/bind ctrl+lbutton "powexec_name Black Dwarf Step"
/bind ctrl+lbutton "powexec_name White Dwarf Step"
This allows you to point the mouse at a position on the screen, hold the ctrl button and click the left mouse button to teleport to that location. This will not give you the target that normal teleport does, but I don't find that to be a problem when it Dwarf form. I'm either starting an attack with people who are close to me or running away, neither of which requires careful targeting like actual travel does.
Macros
First remember that macros and binds are the same thing, just that a macro is listed as a power in your tray. Binds are often faster, but there are some important reasons to do a macro instead:
- You start to forget which key is what especially for different characters. If you have more trouble remembering what does what, use a macro
- Macros can be edited by right clicking them and selecting edit. This allows you change it slightly as needed without having to save your binds to a text file, find and modify the right bind, and re-enter it manually
- Since macros take a place in your power tray, they're easy to organize by form.
- Many binds that people do are just powers with emotes or some text. If that's all you want to do, remove the power icon from your tray and replace it with a macro to the same power with the extra emote/text added.
Nova Macros
These are just samples so you can see what I mean. You'll have to figure out what macros work for you and your character style.
/macro Hug "$target, give me a big squiddy hug!"
/macro Boom "Furious Nova destruction commencing!"
Dwarf Macros
These are just samples so you can see what I mean. You'll have to figure out what macros work for you and your character style.
/macro Runr "local $target, you can run, but Imma gonna git ya!"
/macro Grr "em roar$$local RAWR!"
While your power pools are set ahead of time, you can build your costume and story around the concept of the Kheldians and which type you chose to play. For example, I knew that I wanted to play both a pb and a ws. Since I really loved Jordan Yen, I developed an ingenious plan (Mua ha ha ha!)
Jordan Yen's last day as a human
Note, that if you're not a fan of stories, this could bore you and you may want to skip it 😀
Jordan loved being a hero, though at first it wasn't easy. Wielding the powers of darkness tended to give people the wrong impression. It might be more accurate to say that most people couldn't tell if she was there to save them or feed them to demons.
But in only two years, her hard work and dedication were recognized and she was given the title of "Hero of the City". Though she was only 16 years old, she was sitting among the greatest heroes of Paragon City waiting for a portal to spawn for their latest operation.
She glanced around the room and had to stifle a laugh when she thought about the stark contrast between the legend and reality of these famous leaders. Each was revered as a mentor and model to all heroes, but she wondered if opinions would change if people knew what they were actually like.
Manticore, who was actually quite vain, was standing in the back of the room picking barely noticeable specks from his suit. Jordan knew that he was keeping his distance to avoid the dust kicked up during portal activation.
Citidel stood guard directly in front of the portal scanning for problems or signs of attack from the target site. Rolling her eyes, Jordan verified with a glance that no one else was worried. She had to admit that he was a well seasoned hero, but she tried to avoid him. His idea of conversation was a long one-sided lecture. The others would joke about how he could arrest villains by boring them into submission.
In contrast, there was Positron who was chatting amiably with Sister Psyche. Being encased in a technological suit tends to make you look stiff and hard. But when Jordan first met him and shook his hand, she was stuck by an electrical charge so strong she thought her heart might stop. With his face hidden, she might never have known that he'd done it on purpose if he hadn't started laughing so hard.
It turns out that Positron was an incurable prankster and often drove the others crazy with his thoughtless practical jokes. But like the others, Jordan found she could never stay mad at him for long. He'd always find a way to make her laugh and forgive him even if she didn't want to.
Statesman was leaning against a wall trying to look suave while talking to Swan. Jordan thought back to the first time she met him at Pocket D during a party and blushed. He might be old enough to be her father, but that didn't stop him from shamelessly flirting with her.
She snapped out of her musings as she noticed the others making their way towards the portal. She stood up and brushed herself off. As a new Hero of the City, she and several others would now be personally trained by the Freedom Phalanx in Firebase Zulu. The senior Heroes walked towards the portal as it finished forming and stepped through one by one.
Jordan's day-dreaming had cost her in that she now stood at the end of the line. She drummed her fingers impatiently on her arm until it was finally her turn. Mere inches from the portal, she stopped as a siren blared accompanied by technicians loud yells. She spun around to see what was wrong, not noticing the frenetic turbulence forming in the portal behind her.
Everyone fled in panic, except for one man who stopped long enough to excitedly shout something and beckon wildly to her before he disappeared behind the blast door. The portal screamed like a thousand discordant birds and out of the corner of her eye she saw it flex like it had been struck by a giant fist. With practiced reflexes, she bent down and dug in her feet for an all-out run. Even as she shifted her weight to take the first stride, in a instant that seemed to take hours, the portal's spinning tendrils of energy collapsed to a single point, then burst. Trapped in a agonizing moment, she horrifically felt the energy first envelope her back foot, her hips, head, and finally outstretched arm as her world exploded in light and sound all around her.
And then there was nothing.
Yin or Yang?
Click a picture to continue
