One thing that I enjoy about CoH now that it's gone...

[Rust]

...is the fact that the game world itself had a built in "End Point". Granted we were working up to preventing that End Point, but the fact of the matter is, it's amusing and oddly reassuring that the game world had that built in as a narrative device.

The Coming Storm came, and the world ended. For all our might and power, there are some things bigger then even the mightiest of heroes.

I like to think my heroes spent their last moments shepherding civilians to and from Peregrine Island, to the possible safety of another world via Portal Corp. Possibly even one or two of my Villains (Ironically, I could see my "Professor of Panic" actually using his mental abilities to keep people calm and orderly in such a situation). The rest of them probably died screaming or - in Grinmace's case - laughing.

[Epelesker]

I've honestly never subscribed to this way of thinking about the game ending. It's one way of looking at it, though!

[Safehouse]

Ahhhhh but see, after the Coming Storm was supposed to come the Dimensionless! I'm really curious what they would have looked like. Maybe one day we'll have an opportunity to come back to combat them, finding out that after the Coming Storm ousted US, THEY ousted the Coming Storm...

[Triplash]

Yeah, the Portal Corps ending is pretty much how all my characters rolled credits. One day they'll step out of that portal into another city... a similar place but not the one they left.

And of course, by the time all the citizens were helped through to the colonization site, the wormhole had begun to turn unstable. So when it was the supers' turn to go through they were taking a chance with their very lives. Thus when they arrive at the other end they're probably going to look fairly different; their powers will be reset to nearly nothing and will most likely work differently; and some of them may take a little longer to arrive than others.

Travel through time and space... it's tricksy. ;)

[Captain Electric]

A while after arriving in the Champions universe, the Courageous Captain Electric (the character, yes he has a corny prefix) met heroes who assured him they'd left a quiet Paragon City behind in peacetime; and still others who explained that Paragon City, or even Primal Earth and its universe, was no more. Some said Earth had been conquered, others said destroyed. On some Earths, heroes were rebuilding, on others, there were none left to rebuild.

Who am I to argue? So, this became my narrative--all of the above. Some of my characters will be exiles from a broken world; others are do-gooders alongside Portal Corp and the ever-watchful Vanguard. Others stay, and stand watch. Just goes to show, the multiverse is at least as big as our collective imagination.

As for Captain-Electric? Long-established RP has it that the cosmic incident that empowered him also bound him to the Primal dimension--a bright opposite to his arch nemesis who was bound to a darker dimension. While he could visit other dimensions, staying for too long would result in an echo becoming imprinted there, thematically diverging with the passage of time. By the game's closure, there were 12 Captains in existence across the multiverse (including a Steampunk Cap!). The one in Champions is an older echo from a one-month visit back in 2011 to check out that game. But the Fantastic Captain-Electric some of you knew on Virtue, he's still there, inventing weird science in his network of high-rise labs, fixing Detective Marvel's fusion gauntlets whenever they break, patrolling and occasionally saving a [relatively] peaceful Primal Earth, and keeping the lights on at the Justice Supreme's super group base.

Financially, of course, outside the context of the game world, Paragon Studios would have only earned our ire had they shut down all the servers the day after the Battalion arrived. We would have beaten the aliens, maybe at some cost fictionally speaking, but there would have been an issue 26. NCSoft wasn't our narrator, Paragon Studios was and we were, and in respect to that, there will always be a universe out there where Paragon City stands alongside its heroes. I'll make damn sure of it and I know I'm not alone.

[Safehouse]

A while after arriving in the Champions universe, the Courageous Captain Electric (the character, yes he has a corny prefix) met heroes who assured him they'd left a quiet Paragon City behind in peacetime; and still others who explained that Paragon City, or even Primal Earth and its universe, was no more. Some said Earth had been conquered, others said destroyed. On some Earths, heroes were rebuilding, on others, there were none left to rebuild.

Who am I to argue? So, this became my narrative--all of the above. Some of my characters will be exiles from a broken world; others are do-gooders alongside Portal Corp and the ever-watchful Vanguard. Others stay, and stand watch. Just goes to show, the multiverse is at least as big as our collective imagination.

As for Captain-Electric? Long-established RP has it that the cosmic incident that empowered him also bound him to the Primal dimension--a bright opposite to his arch nemesis who was bound to a darker dimension. While he could visit other dimensions, staying for too long would result in an echo becoming imprinted there, thematically diverging with the passage of time. By the game's closure, there were 12 Captains in existence across the multiverse (including a Steampunk Cap!). The one in Champions is an older echo from a one-month visit back in 2011 to check out that game. But the Fantastic Captain-Electric some of you knew on Virtue, he's still there, inventing weird science in his network of high-rise labs, fixing Detective Marvel's fusion gauntlets whenever they break, patrolling and occasionally saving a [relatively] peaceful Primal Earth, and keeping the lights on at the Justice Supreme's super group base.

Financially, of course, outside the context of the game world, Paragon Studios would have only earned our ire had they shut down all the servers the day after the Battalion arrived. We would have beaten the aliens, maybe at some cost fictionally speaking, but there would have been an issue 26. NCSoft wasn't our narrator, Paragon Studios was and we were, and in respect to that, there will always be a universe out there where Paragon City stands alongside its heroes. I'll make damn sure of it and I know I'm not alone.

See that's a beautiful narrative right there. I like that idea behind it. I kind of like to think that all my characters (Safehouse, specifically), are still in Paragon, fighting the good fight and doing what they've been doing for so long. Well, for me, only three years, but with my altitis it might as well have been the full eight.

On a side note, so there IS a CoH community base in CO? I went into CO for, like, five seconds, and I left because I just felt so detached from the community - kind of like I was a guest and not a real member. I couldn't find the CoH refugees though :(

[Golden Ace]

My Main came from a future devastated earth.  He would have did his best to save as many as possible, but seeing the world destroyed again would have broken his heart.

[Cinnder]

... Thus when they arrive at the other end they're probably going to look fairly different...

Yeah, in some other universes they suddenly look childish and cartoony.  :P

[0nehanklap]

On a side note, so there IS a CoH community base in CO? I went into CO for, like, five seconds, and I left because I just felt so detached from the community - kind of like I was a guest and not a real member. I couldn't find the CoH refugees though :(

If you come in, use /channeljoin CoX and you can join in the chatter with many former Paragon City Residents in a friendly atmosphere, though it is not by any measure "like" City.  There is still a noticeable CoH community in CO, but the game architecture does not support community in the same way.  The chat system is muddled and not really conducive to grouping, with sone chat frequently degenerating into NSFK wowisms.  Missions don't require teams, unless you are on the most difficult settings.  Teams are limited in size and roles are fuzzy, and the sidekicking system is clunky and unrewarding (I think of it as the sidekick penal system).  The Mission Alert system provides a lot of spontaneous action & quick rewards in team play, but they are quick & dirty & done so they still don't promote community, often nothing is even said in team chat other than the occasional "grats".   There is no Server-based community because there is only the one server.

Friends can still join friends in SGs, but they are uncohesive and have few benefits, so they REQUIRE off-site web-based community structure in order to function as a community.   SGs do not have their own Bases & Event structures.  It's possible to use your own "Hideout" (a pretty good game feature) for meetings/get-togethers, but only a few can get in at a time, and you can't grant permanent access - they have to be invited each time.  Of course, several members may have hideouts available, but it's still grasping for a meeting place, and everyone is not invited.  Only the owner's account storage is available there, you have to actually go to the bank for SG bank access - and that is itself clunky and insecure.  I actually joined a large CoX-Based SG when I arrived, whose only requirement was that we shared that history.  It worked better than most, with someone always around if you needed a friendly hand, until the leader just didn't show again.  They reorganized, invited everyone to transfer out & rejoin, then changed the requirements - which of course locked out most of my toons, and so that's the last I've heard of either group.

I really don't mean to put you off the game.  It has its own charm, it's just NOT City, and will never be.  It is a Cryptic product, based on the PnP Champions, just like City in the early days, but its more like City would have been without Paragon Studios intervention and player input.  They carried some of their City development over, so that it's recognizable in the CC, but lost a lot of personality in the process.  A Lot of the personality of the City came with us, but we've lost some cohesion.  Come in, give a shout in the CoX channel, ask about an SG, reminisce and commiserate if you like.  Make something new or remake an old favorite, ask for a team, friend a few people.  It still won't be City, but we knew that Paragon City was a place like no other, just enjoy what you can until another sunrise.

[Safehouse]

That seems to be a bit of what I've heard about it. As I said, I went on once and I didn't make it much past the tutorial, which confused me. I think part of it was that the UI felt alien and clunky to me, and another part of it was that I somehow felt... dirty... like I was betraying CoH - at this time CoH was still in operation but I was trying to find alternative games for when the inevitable happened. I just couldn't find the enjoyment. Also, with the free to play there were roughly two options for archetypes to try.

But the big thing was def community. As my signature says I was not a vocal member of the community - I said little to nothing and kept pretty much to myself until the last couple months before the shutdown was announced. HOWEVER, I always had my eye on the chat. It was so fun to just see what was being discussed and it was clear that I was a part of (though not vocally so) a conscientious, considerate and kind community that grew to mean so much to me. The amount of times I'd be doing an INCREDIBLY SERIOUS storyline (Death of Statesman comes to mind) and would be laughing out loud at what people were saying on the chat at all the most inappropriate moments were more than I could count. That's something I've been looking for.

I may go back to CO and give it another gander. I'll take your advice and try it out. So far, I've logged a few hours in The Secret World and I'm finding I really enjoy it. It's definitely not for everyone, but no game is. In a strange way it reminds me of a darker, grittier City of Heroes, while simultaneously being NOTHING like it. I think the nothing like it part is good - I'm not spending a lot of time comparing the two and I'm getting genuine enjoyment out of it - I love the story too. But the community issue is still there - it's a very small and not particularly vocal community. The chat box stays pretty vacant. It's okay with me - not ALL important - but it still would be nice to see some joking around or just chatting about life.

[JaguarX]

On a side note, so there IS a CoH community base in CO? I went into CO for, like, five seconds, and I left because I just felt so detached from the community - kind of like I was a guest and not a real member. I couldn't find the CoH refugees though :(

(I wouldnt recommend reading all of this in one sitting.)


There is a COX channel on CO and even if I recall a Tanker Tuesday that still happens.

5 seconds is not long t o judge any community I think. The first 5 minutes even in COX I didnt know anyone, no one came rushing to me with welcomes, and sure as hell no SG invites. I dont think they even know I existed. But after hanging around a bit, starting convo, small talk, here and there and sometimes just answering the forming a team call, met some interesting people. Same with CO where the process start a new.

In alerts, many people do the two minute alerts, down dirty, quic kas someone mentioned. If looking to connect with people ya team with, keep the two minute alert teaming to a minimum as the short time translate into not much time for chatter or anything besides trying to defeat the mobs. On other alerts like the resourse ones that dont have a timer, there is no reason nor anything stopping small chatter besides people waiting for someone else to start a convo. You know, I qued for one of those non-timed alerts and just to test it I decided to do something a little different and alien on one of my more vocal and off-kilter toons (Krazy). Of course at first on the first part I just quietly went along then out of the blue I started talking Krazy. Lo and behold, people started to respond and some even got into character themselves. What I took from it is that many times people do the timed alerts so much that they forget there isnt a timer for all alerts or missions and thus dont speak or forget they had time or could do that. It was as if they were waiting for someone to start. Ironically even on timed missions, some people always find time to yell and berate someone for something like a knockback or pressing the revive button in the Gravitar alert.  Always time for that it seems. And the same thing can go for when teaming.

But in CO, soloing is just as efficient if not more efficient than teaming unlike in COX where it was enmcouraged with rewards and perks. Which give me the theory that people talk this teamign for community mess, but really only team if it's the fast track or more effecient than soloing. In CO, there is not much mechanics that give teaming an advantage as far as rewards and thus it's not as widespread it seems for the content. And a side effect of that is sometimes the lack of community feel where in COX sometimes teaming wasa neccesity and given the length of TF, people cant be silent that long. Also keep in mind, many people here been playing COX for years, half a decade to nearl ya decade so of course it feels like home and the people feel like neighbors. All most people are feeling in CO when they go over there is the same feeling that new people felt every day in COX and other games. For example if someone say that teamign may be hard to find in COX, it's quick to perk up and say no it isnt, you have to talk to people without realizing that person may be new and dont know as many people and the community is alien. When part of the community and there for years many people know when to play for teaming ,which servers, who is most likely one, the good SGs, the hang out spots and the proper approach to find a team. A new person may not and the method they used in the other game may not work as well i nthe new game they tranfer to.

There actually is a very active, social community outside the COX channel. CORP is one of them and many times is more active than the COX channel. There been many times in the early evening my chat box is filled with CORP and various other channels but not a single peep from COX until I say something then people start to perk up. And CORP is a RP channel for those that are interested in that and think there is no RP in CO. I'm not a heavy RPer but they are friendly to anyone and chat ranges of course from the usual chat channel (outside ZOne chat that is a whole different animal. If people that may not be very mature annoy you, take heed: STAY OFF ZONE CHAT! If you have patience and used to general internet intelligence, zone chat wont bother you and go ahead and dive right in.) CORP even have a website for RPing.

SGs, eh...nothing like SG in COX. While it's like the casual SGs that are just a loose group of people with a SG title, people who are looking to create their own inner circle with an SG complete with a spot to hang out and goof off will find it lacking in CO. It's better off to just add them to the friend list as the SG is nothing special. But there are a couple of COX SGs, RPing SGs, and Non-RPing SGs that are pretty active and generall ystick to their own members. Yet come to think of it, out of all the SGs I ever been in COX I think I only visited on a regular one or two of the bases and never seen anyone else there regardless of time of day. Especially after the streamlining of the travel between zones in COX. In CO, you have individual bases but not near as customizable as SG bases in COX but that could be good and bad. While in COX it was a cool feature, I dont think the general population realized the potential and used that SG base customization stuff and since base raiding became near extinct as the dodo, it seemed like a waste in the end and cool spot for serious SGs to meet up but many casual SGs hardly ever used the base for anything besides a teleport and storage. In CO a system like that, with teaming not seemingly anywhere near popular or needed, that system of SG bases might be a total waste although cool to have for those that like it and partake. As it stand right now though, public spots mostly are more convient and easier to meet which takes the bite out of having an inner circle SG.

Sidekicking, is a jumbled mess. It's tolerable once you get the hang of it though but needs work, needs serious work. But then again, with teaming not needed and not many people forming teams just to form teams, it probably is low on the priority list to improve.


Overall, dont be afraid to conversate with people. Most people there wont bite your head off for starting small talk anymore than they did in COX. While its been ages ago since some of us havent been famous and the work of 8 years playing social life in a game, and it can suck to have to start over, it can be done. Remeber even the COX community didnt start by falling on people it started by the people. In CO though, there is no game mechanic to nudge people to be social or "community". That is left up to the players except it seems many are wall flowers hoping someone will magically just speak to them. And dotn be afraid to go beyond the COX channel or else you will never feel part of the community but only a part of a refugee camp in a foreign land. It will take stepping out side the comfort zone that many havent stepped out in years. Oh yeah, going around in CO saying how it's not like COX in this respect or COX did it better, or COX was better, and how they should od it like COX usually will get some quizzacle looks if not downright hostility or shunning outside the COX channel. It's the same concept with people in COX that got annoyed and shunned people and or flamed people that constantly said that WoW was better, and they did it like this and that in WoW, and COX should do it like this because they did it liek this in WoW, and how COX will never be WoW and etc. CO is not COX like COX was not WoW. Things will be different, things are supposed to be different and just liek it was annoying having someone in COX constantly downing it, it's the same concept there. And that seems to have taken it's toll on the perception of many COX refugees there as being a group of complainers that always bellyache how CO is not as good as COX and how they should do it like COX. On the forum, it seems to be generally taken a bit better as it's seems to be common knowledge that CO needs work. In game, I guess that is where people try to forget CO pitfalls and enjoy and having a constant reminder or complainer depending on which side a person view it, is a fun killer.

Remember be friendly and more than likely that attitude will be returned. Be a donkey, and more than likely there are people that live for being a donkey out there to show a person how it's supposed to be done. Not to mention being chat banned for 24 hours at a time.

For a more lively crowd and community give CORP a whirl. Then from there jus ttalk to people. There are tons of channels that are actually invite only that is very lively but a new guy wont know about it if they never participate in the community. If they never participate it will be a quiet time beside the nonsense chatter in ZOne chat that never stops. Peep into some costume contests even you are not particpating. Best time I found to go to chat is before it starts, that is how I found out about CORP, the RPing channel. Then there are times in Club Caprice where people also hang out, also a nice spot to meet people is usually MC zone 1 or two around the unofficial PvP area. Most people there are not PvPing and just standign around chatting in local while watching the fights. Generally friendly and ironically not many PvP duel spam. And I dont think I look that intimidating. Sometimes people ask about how to build a certain build, even had a few asking the best way to translate a regen scrapper from COX to there (CO). And sometimes teams are formed there. My first day, I admit I just stumbled across that area because I wanted to see why people were standing around. After about 5 minutes of chatter, someone decided to start a team to do some MC missions. We did and got 5 in less than a minute. It was like teaming in COX from then, with slight differences. That is how I learned about being able to choose which instance I wanted to go to when exiting a mish. Eventually we all got together again a couple a weeks later (coincidence or planned? ) minus one member, and did the NenCom. And me, I'm not much a social bug. 98% of my social is in the chat channels besides that I mostly solo by choice but been invited to numerous teams just by roaming around so it seems that some people still prefer to team regardless of the lack of extra gain. And remember I dont think a person can see your gear, or stats, or even the selected build is near meaningless in CO and so that is not part of the team selection equation. On the flip side you have people that only do alerts from level 6-40 all day every day. If you are looking for community, stay away from that crowd. Not that they are bad people but they are usually about the business of leveling and no time for small talk if they respond at all and many people fall into that alert trap when new because someone told them that is the quick way to level then feel like there is no community. And then when they get to 40 and stop doing alerts and other content, they forget that it's not alert and they can stop and chat.

You know, (on my character Krazy) one thing I do out in the game to break the ice is sometimes hover around the PvP area and when a person loses I do the cannibalize emote. It seems like nothing like a crazy looking face painted lady with bunny ears and torn stockings appearing out of the blue and eating someone to start convo. And many times a SG invite, which leads to people that like to team which know other people that know other people who also may like to team who know more people and boom, you're part of the community.

[Safehouse]

Wow, thanks so much for that incredibly thorough and thoughtful response! I'll definitely keep that in mind as I'm looking into alternatives.

And I definitely don;t want to be a donkey! I prefer being as nice and as helpful as possible and I'll bring that into any gaming community I go to :)

[Rust]

I toyed with the idea of having my characters "flee" through Portals to other worlds. I settled for Alternate Universe copies, however, simply because evaluating my characters none of them with the possible exception of one would be so crass as to try to save themselves when others needed saving first.

And the Villains? They'd be caught up in events by trying to take advantage of the situation. The ones that didn't, as I said before, would likely end up helping the heroes.

EDIT: The only one of my heroes that might save himself wouldn't even do it by his own free will. Poor little Douglas Laursen - The Demon Digger. Typical Teenager but with the misfortune of having a demon skull embedded in his chest and now fighting a (losing) battle against the malevolent force of the entity that gives him his powers.

He was a Spines/Fire Loyalist Scrapper I planned to take down the Rogue Route. He starts out with good intentions, and just by using his abilities he becomes corrupted by them. Had a whole arc set up for him to eventually be "redeemed" and the Skull to become vessel to a Angelic Being rather then a Demonic one. Never panned out.

[Epelesker]

I like how CE's little description just leaves the possibilities open, not just for himself, but for anyone else.

(I'm personally happy with my self-homage skills, though. It's close enough for me.)

[Safehouse]

I am a fan of possibilities :)