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City of Heroes Game Overview
City of Heroes (CoH) is a MMO massively multiplayer online role-playing game MMORPG based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft
In the game, players create superhero player characters that can team up with others to complete missions and fight villains belonging to various gangs and organizations in Paragon City and its surrounding areas
City of Heroes players begin by using the game's extensive character creation system to first select an archetype and Power Sets, then design a unique costume, and finally optionally write a backstory or description and battle cry for their hero as they choose a name. The name may be changed at a later time for a one time charge, and the description and battle cry may be changed at anytime.
Players may start their adventure in a tutorial zone known as "Outbreak" that teaches them how to play the game. It is here they learn about the level system and how to determine which enemies to attack. Players may choose to skip this tutorial if they like and head straight to one of two starting areas (Atlas Park and Galaxy City).
As a hero's security level increases by earning experience points from missions and by defeating foes, and then returning to a contact marked on the in-game map, at which time they gain benefits for rising in level such as more health, more powers, more slots for holding temporary power-ups called Inspirations, and more enhancement slots for powers. Enhancements are power-ups which players can socket onto powers to improve them on more permanent terms.
City of Heroes's Paragon City, the game's primary setting, is divided into different zones by giant energy walls known as "war walls." In story terms, the walls are used to prevent large scale attacks upon the city and to prevent high level enemies from entering low level areas. Zones are usually connected by road tunnels, but other transportation is provided, such as two monorail lines for convenience, and ferries and helicopters for zones not geographically contiguous. Especially dangerous zones called hazard or trial zones, which teem with large groups of enemies, are connected by passages in the war walls guarded by the police and access is restricted to heroes with a minimum security level.
City of Heroes players initially move around the zones by slowly jogging or using a minor speed increasing power available from level 1 to all characters, such as Sprint or a series of functionally identical Prestige Powers available to players who pre-ordered the game in 2004, purchased the special DVD version of the game, or have earned veteran rewards. As heroes grow in level and accumulate more powers, they gain the ability to choose among four higher speed traveling powers: teleportation, superspeed, superjump, and fly, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. While each archetype has its own unique set of powers and abilities, all players have access to the powers from the ten Power Pools at level six. The Power Pools contain the aforementioned travel powers, as well as other generic, usually utilitarian powers falling under categories such as Fitness, Concealment, and Leadership.
There are a variety of different villain organizations and gangs in City of Heroes, each with unique attributes. Groups of villains, all from the same gang and usually all with similar security levels, roam around areas of Paragon City. Certain gangs are more likely to appear in different zones. For instance, Circle of Thorns (a magic using villain group) members can always be found in the hazard zone of Perez Park.
Missions � the City of Heroes equivalent of the quests typically found in other MMORPGs � are given by non-player character (NPC) contacts and consist of either a "hunt" mission, where heroes are given the task of arresting a certain number of villains from one of the villain groups, or a private "instanced" mission map created solely for the player's team which is inhabited by a particular gang. When heroes reach approximately level 20, they begin to receive outdoor instanced missions set in fenced-off areas as well. As heroes venture further into the mission zone, they usually have to confront a Boss villain, rescue hostages, or find a particular clue. Upon completion, heroes will be rewarded with an XP bonus, influence and occasionally a badge, a publicly displayable reward. Most missions may be completed at the hero's leisure, but others will have a set time limit which begins counting down as soon as the mission has been accepted from the contact. It is usually stated directly in a mission's description whether the mission is timed before accepting it.
Heroes can venture into mission maps together if they form a team and choose a particular member's mission as the team's objective. The difficulty level and number of the villains is adjusted according to the strength and number of the heroes grouped together. Since the release of the Issue 3 content update "A Council of War," the player is now able to set the difficulty of the missions by visiting a special NPC, the Hero Corps Field Analyst.
Amid the missions, story arcs will emerge. These are a series of missions which form a larger story, often giving the player new insights into the history and mythos of Paragon City. Sometimes, these story arcs affect the player hero directly as well. Once a story arc is completed, the hero is rewarded with experience points, enhancements and a souvenir, serving as a reminder of the character's actions.
For players who can devote a block of several hours to the game, two other types of missions with deeper storylines are available�the Task Force and the Trial. Task Forces always require a team, and consist of a series of linked missions that must be run to completion by that same team before its members may take on any additional missions. Once a Task Force has been started, additional players will not be able to join the team. In addition, Leadership of the Task Force can not be reassigned. If a Task Force member voluntarily leaves the team while the Task Force is in progress, he is unable to rejoin it. In the case somebody is involuntarily disconnected, then he will return to the Task Force when reconnected. Trials are similar to Task Forces but are usually shorter and more challenging; some share the team restrictions of a Task Force but others are taken as individual missions, though teams are still practically required. Upon completion, both Task Forces and Trials usually (but not always) provide all participants with a badge as well as a reward�either a Single Origin or a special enhancement. Several specially-designated Trials reward players with an opportunity to "respecify" their characters by choosing a different complement of superpowers within their selected power sets and reassigning enhancements.
Teamwork is a large part of City of Heroes. Players can form supergroups (similar to other MMORPGs' guilds) reminiscent of classic comic book groups such as the X-Men or Justice League of America. Supergroups pick a name, a motto, an emblem, and two colors. Heroes can then enter "Supergroup Mode" and change the colors and emblem of their normal avatar to those of their Supergroup. Players can also form teams with other players to go on missions and fight villains together. Unlike many MMORPGs, City of Heroes has a system where players of vastly different power levels can team together; a lower-leveled player may play as the sidekick of a higher-leveled one and participate in missions which the player would normally be too weak for, or a higher-level player may act as an exemplar to a lower-leveled player, temporarily reducing the exemplar's combat level to match the lower-level player's.
In addition, as characters level up, they gain access to new quality of life features, including the ability to possess more than a single costume, with a maximum of five, and the ability to add capes and "auras", special particle effects, to their costumes at level 20 and 30, respectively. The costume slots are gained in two ways, first by level, gained by performing missions for special contacts at levels 20, 30, and 40, and the last slot gained by turning in special items gained in the Halloween event starting in 2006. The special salvage items can still be obtained, through trading with other players, or by purchasing the items on the in-game auction houses added to the game in Issue 9.
City of Heroes Servers Include Champion Defiant - EU Freedom Guardian Infinity Justice Liberty Pinnacle Protector Triumph Union - EU Victory Vigilance - EU Virtue Zukunft - EU
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Game Time Codes