Round we go again, and this time, I'm back in City of Heroes. While I've been playing the game on and off for a good few months, a recent change in the wind has seen me move over the Forces of Justice, and City of Heroes proper, on the Union server and whole new gang of rather unconventional superheroes.
I'd tried Heroside a bit, quite a while back, but a combination of The Hollows Hazard Zone and the hellish Positron Task Force, and a general nagging worry that really, Heroes ought not to pummel first and ask questions later, all conspired to turn me to the dark side, and City of Villains, which is where I've pretty much stayed ever since. City of Heroes itself then, is a fairly newish game for me.
The move to Union came with the unexpected surprise that my original Trial Account Ice Armor/Ice Melee Tanker was waiting there patiently for me all along, so rather than start entirely from scratch, I've picked her up again, and now find myself front-and-centre, being beaten on for a living, which is quite a departure from my previous subtle Mind/Psi Domination Evilside. I've moved my previous diabolical schemer across too though, so not giving up on that. The whole process was surprisingly painless actually. It cost £6, which was a bit steep, I thought, but was entirely handled within the game client, with three clicks, and took place more or less immediately. I'd prefer it if it was cheaper to do, but can't fault the mechanisms involved in the slightest.
Mostly though, its about ICY-FIST-OF-DEATH-FOR-GREAT-JUSTICE!, and thanks to all my new friends, this seems to be going very well. One common gripe I'd endured with the game, (on both sides), in the past, is how slow soloing can be, (Esp. as Tanker or Dominator) and The Grind of it all has caused me to hang the thing up a few times in the past, but as I'm sure is obvious to many, its not really a game about soloing particularly. The game practically bends over backwards to make it very easy to fit in in any group, so there isn't really much excuse, and hanging out with the, er...'RAF Rofflecopter Assault Force' over the last few weeks has pretty much transformed the game for me.
As well as the sheer rightness of approaching these missions in a large boisterous (and only marginally in-control) group, and the ensuing pandemonium of it all, I've been taking my first nervous steps into the world of TeamSpeak. Well, what with one thing and another, the 'I'm shy' excuse doesn't really hold as much water as it did this time last year, so when they told me to 'get on TS', I pretty much had to. Still, its one thing to podcast into the void from a relaxed, if somewhat seismically vulnerable studio, but quite another to be doing the Talking Thing while actually playing a game, but you soon get the hang of it and the seasoned veterans already in there soon had me at my ease, and then variously doing bad Wookie Impressions, quoting from Shaun of the Dead, and for a large part of the evening, giggling uncontrollably.
Certainly made the main event of last week bearable, that's for sure. The Positron Task Force is very old, and shows. Consisting of little more than ten very normal missions, chained in a gruelling row, it really does make a terrible first impression for the new Hero, and was instrumental in sending me off to Villainside for a very long time. The sheer logistics of keeping a team together for the necessary duration is hard enough; unable to leave the group until its done, and the Villain equivalent is much better put together, more spectacular, rewarding and most of all, realistically manageable in an evening.
We gave it a go though, and did very well. Staying Power is the real enemy here, rather than any kind of technical or choreographic requirement, and without the constant gibbering on TS, I'm not sure I'd have made it through. It took us over four hours to complete in the end, and I begin to somewhat sympathise with End Game WoW-folk. Not something I'd want to try again in a hurry, but we have the badge now, and I'm assured that subsequent Task Forces are nowhere near as painful. Positron still wants a damned good Redesign though, if you ask me.
The other bane of my CoH life was also addressed earlier in the week, with me finally finishing the Frostfire story arc, an mission that my Tanker seemed to have had outstanding for over a year! Despite having earned no xp at all since joining Union (always sidekicked down), I'm having a blast and almost certainly seeing that rarest of things in my gaming life, an MMO As Intended. Good things ahead, I'm sure.
The RAF Rofflecopter Assault Force, with four hours of Clockworks, Vahziok and Circle of Thorns still ahead of them; various pimpage to: Limited Edition, Teppotastic, To The Blogmobile!, and Welshtroll
Annnnd, four hours later, we'd only lost one member through sheer exhaustion, although another member subsequently had a lot of Apologising to do, thanks to the protracted marathon it turned into...
Everyone loves the Cyborg Addon Pack, mostly because it lets you explode in a rather spectacular manner. You see a lot of the above when out with us. I'm the one Not Going Thermonuclear, cos I already paid £6 for Extras this month, thank you very much! Also, I am not chipping in toward the Civic Restoration Claim when it arrives, kthx.
And here we are goofing about on the Ice Halfpipe in the final Frostfire mission. Fifteen minutes to kill Frostfire, forty-five minutes mindless skidding about on the ramps. I was particularly impressed with Welshtroll and Foxybimbo's synchronised double-axle wall-plant. Ten points!