Sick of SWG? Looking for something to fill the time before World of Warcraft? Look no further, City of Heroes is for you!

For the uninitiated, City of Heroes is a MMORPG where you play as a custom-designed Superhero. It is the least RPGish RPG I've ever played. You still have a list of moves, things are still decided by the roll of a dice, and there's still a story line that you follow through interactions with NPCs. There is no inventory. What you're carrying doesnt really matter. It's all about fun. This game is fun. You can play it for 5 minutes, you can play it for 5 hours, there's always something fun you can log on and do.

First things first though, you get to design your Superhero from the ground up. The character creation screen is amazing. There are so many variables you will never see a clone of yourself running around. Ever. Appearance is only half the fun though, you also get to pick the superpowers you want. The list of available powers includes:

• Flying
• Teleportation
• Super speed
• Super jumping
• Invisibility
• Elemental control (ice, fire, earth, electricity, weather) ranging from summoning minions, to lancing electricity or lightning bolts at foes from a distance, to lighting it up in firey armor like the Human Torch, to icy cages that detain criminals from moving or attacking
• Gravity control
• Mind control
• Radiation
• Kinetics
• Force fields
• Super reflexes
• Regeneration

And more!
Sure, powers are fun, but how bout some good old fashioned Superhero weaponary? Weapons available to Superheros in Paragon City include:

• Wolverine-style Claws
• A wide range of Blaster (ranged) attack options including fire and ice
• Assault rifle
• Katana
• Dark melee
• Broad sword
• Martial arts
• Spines
• Battle axe
• War mace

And more!

Any of these appeal to you? Got your character planned already? I know I did

Come join Brian and I in Paragon City (Justice server).

Control amazing powers:



Fight tremendous evil:




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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

See the sights:



Customize your character:


Looks good, eh?

More things I havent mentioned so far:

- Amazing group dynamics. Every class is useful and has a job to do.
- Wonderfully detailed world. The city is very alive. Stroll down the street and break up a robbery in progress.
- Best. Interface in a MMORPG. Ever. It's so easy to use. Everything is accessable.
- Wide range of characters and character levels already. Finding a team to fight with is easy. Everyone seems to think their character is the most powerful, there is no blatent 'this class rules, this class sucks'.
- Death is a minor setback, not a frustrating complication as in so many other MMORPGs.
- There are 5 different archetypes, each with 5 different primary power sets, 5 secondary power sets, each set has 9 different powers, and then there's 11 different pool power sets each with 4 powers each to chose from. Characters are very individual.
- 8 character slots per account per server. Plenty of room for experimentation.

My only doubt about City of Heroes is longevity. Yeah getting missions and killing stuff is a lot of fun, but when it comes down to it there really isnt much to do other than get missions and kill stuff. But hey, the first month is free (no subscription fee), and sure as hell and enjoying my first month. A full month is more time than I've been bothered invested in heaps of the games sitting on my shelves.

Oh, and here's a shot of my first (now rerolled) Claw character I though looked cool:



City of Heroes, Justice server. Brian and I are waiting for ya

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

MMO's are evil.

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There are two asses in Massassi... and I'm one of them.
The Matrix Unplugged|My Portfolio|My Levels

i would, if i could run CoH

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<S51> Give a man a sandwich and you'll feed him for an hour, teach him to make a sandwich and he'll get pissed, hit you and tell you to make him another sandwich.

Recommended (not minimum) specs on the box: 1.7ghz processor, 512 RAM.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

I have an AR/Devices guy on Guardian. Is it really worth re-rolling to come join you guys? (I admit he's only level 7..)

Oh, and Spork, you have waaay too many pool powers! Oh, and is that the name of your Supergroup? Massassi Justice League?

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Have a good one,
Freelancer

[This message has been edited by Freelancer (edited June 07, 2004).]

Yes

Heh that's not me, pulled that pic off the net. My guy is better

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

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<landfish> FastGamerr > Satan

You forgot to list your ingame names so we can ask you for an invite.

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Have a good one,
Freelancer

Good point... I am Tabe (or sometimes Sinuous), Brian is Krenshaw.

Oh and I havent actually formed a super group yet (or even talked to Brian about it for that matter, heh), just an idea that's worth investigating if enough Massassians are interested

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

[This message has been edited by Spork (edited June 07, 2004).]

So.. tempted...

I so want to play this... but my computer sucks.

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<Outlaw_Torn> you mean your related to that damned sasquatch, Mech?
<MechWarrior> Lets just say the part of the family tree that does fork has bossy the goat in it.

<ubuu> does hitler have a last name?

For those that enjoy a more traditional MMORPG, and don't have the supercomputer or superconnection to enjoy EQ2, World of Warcraft is for you!
Choose one of 9 classes;
Paladin, Rogue, Priest, Hunter, Warlock, Druid, Warrior, Mage or Shaman
With one of 8 races;
Humans, Night Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, Tauren, Undead, or Trolls.
All set in the Warcraft universe!
See it here.

Actually it takes a pretty hefty computer/connection to play, so I hear.


And City of Heroes looks...interesting. Definitely.

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There is no signature

Use the Spork signal!

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)

-------@%

The Massassi JO/JA Single Player contest info

Spork, Go ahead, I will join you. I would create it but you seem to know more about it and everything so you should be the leader.

Brian

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EvilMagic.net: Brian's Web Log

No, WoW is very scaleable and should be perfectly playable on low-spec computers. The graphics aren't really ground-breaking. Some of the beta players are on 56k and say they have no problem with it either.

Kiramin plays CoH on his 56k all the time and he says he gets no lag. And he's played a lot of MMORPGs on many different connections so I believe what he says.

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EvilMagic.net: Brian's Web Log

Spork: When you make the guild, please choose dark greenish/blackish colors for the team colors! Otherwise I can never wear them.

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EvilMagic.net: Brian's Web Log

GuildWars is free, so STFU to all your MMO's.

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OSC Empire | A.H.N.U.L.D.
[Jim7 PING reply]: 666secs

Your logic is astounding, SAJN.

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Have a good one,
Freelancer

Minesweeper is free, so to heck with all your 'computer games'.

So how much is the monthly fee?

How many super powers and weapons can you have max on a character?

When will I get a computer that can run such a beast?

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"We came, we saw, we conquered, we...woke up!"

Man.. The first MMO I played was earth and beyond.. Was good, got boring.. Then we got FF Online for PS2.. Was good, got to be too much I didnt stop playing for hours on end.. So my fiancee threatened me to sleep on the couch with no bed play.. So I understood that MMOs are very evil.. And it really does waste your life away if it gets to be too much.. So I stick with dungeon seige, and diablo2..

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-- [url="mailto:Jatso_jk1@hotmail.com"]mailto:Jatso_jk1@hotmail.com[/url]Jatso_jk1@hotmail.com</A>--The Bounty Hunters Arc Forum--Firehound Inc.--

Well, i'm already paying for galaxies, though i haven't played in a long time (will be remedied soon. Yay summer!) and so i'm siding with SAJN on this one

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"No good can ever come from staying with normal people"
-Outlaw Star
"Some people play tennis. I erode the human soul"
-Tycho, Penny Arcade
"I'm a Cannabal-Vegitarian. I will BBQ an employee if there is no veggie option"
-DX:IW
A Knight's Tail
Exile: A Tale of Light in Dark
The Never Ending Story²[/i]

Sounds like the MMORPG I've been waiting for... But it's missing two things that would make me buy it: PVP, and a theme that I like...

If my parents let me, im gonna buy it.
Whats the video card requirement?

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"It's OK for us to randomly attack people!"
-BV

I hope one of you guys come up with a slogan like the Green Lantern.

Well, i found the minimum requirements, and it would seem ill be able to run it, so thats fine. Ill probably buy it, and start playing next week (vacation this week, so i dont wanna waste 5 days of free useage )

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"It's OK for us to randomly attack people!"
-BV

PvP is comming in the expansion pack City of Villians. You dont like Superheroes?



Minimum: Geforce 2 or Radeon 8500

I run everything on maximum at 1280x1024, never misses a beat. Admittedly I have a nice PC, but my GeForce 4 is able to keep up no sweat.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

I don't really dislike superheroes, I just adore a fantasy/medieval setting. And I don't wanna waste my money - I want to really like the first MMORPG that I invest in I have the cash, I just don't want it to be wasted.

If WoW is as quality as CoH, I'll play that for sure...

Just to let you guys know, I play with default settings with a geforce 2, and it runs like a dream. Of course, I have 768 megs of ram and an athlon xp 1800+, but still..

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Have a good one,
Freelancer

If you're big on PvP, EQ2 might be the thing for you. But only if you have broadband and a supercomputer. Actually, Lineage 2 would probably be more your thing as that's totally PvP, but I don't know many Americans or Europeans that play it.

If anyone is interested in seeing the game in action, there are some movies to download over at the official CoH site:

http://www.cityofheroes.com/media/movies.html

The Initial Gameplay Demo is a good place to start, everything in there is in-game footage from way back in beta (things actually look better now!). The First Update Trailer thing is looking really cool with some sort of giant Mech thing, cant wait to get the crap kicked outta me by that.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

I may play if the PVP expansion comes out sometime soon. I've got the cash, and school is almost over... but I'm awfully frightened by the lack of items. Does this mean that there is less potential to "deck-out" your character? One of the best parts of PVP is finding/forging items and discovering skill combinations that allow you to be superior than other competitors.

I really wish they would leave PvP out of CoH. PvP leads to min-maxers like connection problem here.

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Have a good one,
Freelancer

[This message has been edited by Freelancer (edited June 08, 2004).]

The skill trees are so numerous and deep you're unlikely to ever run into a character with the exact same powers as you.

Basically, you get a primary power group, a secondary power group, and pool powers from up to 4 different groups (pool powers are things like transportation). If you take all the skills in your primary and secondary power groups then you'll only have room for 2 pool powers (powers, not groups), which is rather limiting. There's a lot of tough choices as to which skills to leave out, which pool powers to go for etc., and the competition for who has the best template is very fierce. There's also a lot of inter-power relations; getting this power makes that one more effective for example, which makes things even more complicated.

Every time you hit an even level you get a new power, every time you hit an odd level you get 2 new enhancement slots. Enhancements enhance the power of a power (wow, that was redundant). You can add up to 5 slots per power. Sometimes you get an enhancement for defeating a foe (loot), or you can simply buy them in shops from NPCs. There are generic enhancements which arent that powerful, but once you get to level 13 you can start looking into origin-specific enhancements (origin is where your superpowers come from when you create your character; mutant, science, magic, technology, or natural) which are much more powerful. This is where the 'decking out' comes in. Getting a full set of the right enhancements for your powers and your level and your origin is expensive and difficult, yet very rewarding.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

[This message has been edited by Spork (edited June 08, 2004).]

Ok, I've made 2 characters so far and can't decide which I like more.. The names are Bandito and HaveBlue, so contact me if you want to.

Yay!

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

...

i'd rahter be playing galaxies



Well. I dunno. I want to play SWG, and I want to play this... but I don't want to pay for something I won't play.

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Violets are blue, roses are red, living like this we were already dead.