What are you playing now? Share with everyone

[Eoraptor]

the past couple weeks I've been trying champions... but it just feels like button mashing to me.

I diddled with marvel and DCUO. but again, formed no great connection with them.

instead I'm more apt to lose myself into my solo games, Civ IV, Armada2 Fleet Ops, occasionally some Roller Coaster Tycoon. Yes, I am a moderately old school gamer.

[silvers1]

I've been trying out Neverwinter, but have pretty much had my fill after leveling a rogue to 60.

My main issues:
1.  Lack of PUGs / hard to find teams
2.  "2 Deaths and Your out" penalty in dungeons - game breaker IMO
3.  Constantly having to play dodgem with the red patches of death - becomes
totally ridiculous in dungeon boss fights.
4.  Lack of variation in classes - reliance on the old  Tank/Healer/DPS paradigm.
5.  Everyone looks just like you - lack of variation in costumes.
6.  Needed items, such as an equal level companion, bags, etc. cost major amounts of real money.
F2P?  More like pay2win.

Man, I miss CoH.

[therain93]

Wishing I could afford to buy the PS3 (or at least justify it as I have an XBox360) just to play The Last of Us.  Yes, I know, zombie games are a dime a dozen, but this one looks awesome.

With the PS4 on the way, I'm sure you'll be able to score a deal on one soon as some people prepare to dump them (although, I readily admit, I'll probably keep my ps3 and get a ps4).  Other Naughty Dog classics include Uncharted 1,2,3 which should also compel you to get a ps3 ( ' ;

[detour]

Nothing. Without CoX, nothing works for me.  No heroic MMO comes close to the ease of play, nothing feels like home, or like it could be home. 

[JetFlash]

Currently finishing off System Shock 2 for the first time.  Been a while since I played a game with so many irritations but could not stop playing due to it being so damn entertaining.

Otherwise, still in SWTOR, also playing a Witch Doctor in Diablo 3.  Also picked up Strike Suit Zero for a shoot 'em up.

[General Idiot]

Most recently I've been playing a lot of Firefall, which for those who don't know is a free to play MMOFPS that just went into open beta last week. Aside from being a bit grindy a lot of the time and doing the same 'open beta in name only, we'll take your cash just fine' thing that Neverwinter did, it's pretty good. Wish my graphics card hadn't died so I could play it with all the shinies turned on.

If you enjoy MMOs, shooters or both then I'd definitely recommend giving it a try, it's completely free to download and most of the stuff in the cash shop is cosmetic or convenience rather than straight up power. If you're looking for character customisation though, there's not a lot. You get your usual selection of faces, hairstyles and such and you can pick from a number of colour schemes for your armor but that's it. There's a fair bit of customisation in powers though.

[DoctorHugh]

Didn't play much for a couple months after CoH/V, was pretty down actually. Funny how a game that you play occasionally for thrills & giggles can affect you that way, but then, it was 7 years of thrills & giggles for me.

First tried Champions, not bad, but I didn't really warm to the comics-in-motion overall look. Okay power system, found the grouping was a little less easy than CoH.

Then I tried The Secret World, quite interesting, engaging, amazingly (and I mean *amazingly*) well produced in many areas. Again, the grouping was less fast & friendly than in CoH, and I missed that. Bit of a grim atmosphere overall (after all, it IS the Zombie Apocalypse, Final Days, and Hell Rising sorta all rolled into one), and because it was sub-only at the time, and I had just been burned on that, I moved on.

Went to World of Tanks, and it was SO much of a change from CoH I could really get into it. Spent over 6 months pounding tanks into scrap metal, got a few friends and family into it. Was and is a very good game, but since it's pure battle 6 months was all it could hold me.

Dipped a toe into MechWarrior Online - a game I was prepared in advance to love - because I have enjoyed the heck out of every incarnation of Battletech to date. Even though it is quite well done, it IS still mostly pure battle, and I had just done 6 months of that in WoT. Hammered metal into scrap for 2 months, parked my giant engines of doom, and went looking.

Tried a couple FTP downloads, even some older ones, Vindictus was likely the most interesting of those, played 2 weeks, moved on. Considered the new version of EverQuest because it was 'EverCrack Online' that got me started on this kick in the *first* place...

Then I stumbled across an ad that I hadn't even been looking for, saying The Secret World had gone Buy-To-Play (pay for the game then play free forever with options to buy upgrades - sort of like Guild Wars model). And hey, I had already bought that one! So I gave it another whirl...

Well, it's been over a month, and I've happily thrown a little more money at TSW, got a few things I wanted, played through about 1/3 of the 'story' content (which isn't ALL the content btw) and been more impressed than I have been by any game in years.

It is one of the most lovingly produced, true-to-story, and well balanced games (with a few exceptions) that I have ever seen. It is also the ONLY game I have played in 20 years of online gaming that I literally rarely go two days without seeing a thread like this one:
http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=73089

Here is a video to give a 'feel' for the game:
http://vimeo.com/48081693

That isn't a patched-together media splash video btw, that is all actual in-game content, some cutscene but mostly player PoV, and at a lower quality than the game itself. (The song is from outside game of course)

Is it finished and polished and all it's meant to be? Not yet. Keep in mind where City of Heroes was 1 year after release, and what it came to be after 5-6-7 years of loving development, and you can see TSW has serious potential. The grouping is a lot better now that more people are in and know what they want to/can do together. Roleplaying is evident and growing. Character creation/decoration options still well behind CoH but enough variety there to keep it interesting.

There is a chat channel for CoH refugees (use /chat join CoH-Refugees), not terribly active at the moment because of course the flow of CoH'ers has slowed over time. I hope some CoH people might give it another (or a first) look.

Won't say TSW has replaced CoH in my heart, or that I am not following developments in a 'respawn' for CoH and looking for ways to help that happen. And I sure as hell want MY heroes back!

But in the meantime, I'm pretty sure I've found a place to stretch my arms, crack my knuckles, and wonder "Now how shall I save the world TODAY?"

Regards,

Doctor Hugh

[DoctorHugh]

Okay, so my previous post inspired me to do a couple searches, see what news had occurred in the CoH Afterworld since the last time I looked.

Ran across this, give it a watch if you haven't already (CoH/V Documentary):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGcFC197rfQ&feature=share

I am unashamed to admit that at several points in this video, I literally had a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat, AND IT'S NOT EVEN A SENTIMENTAL VIDEO!

Damn, when did I become such a sap? I have high hopes for TSW, but man, that City...

Doctor Hugh

[Exxar]

The closest game that came to feel like "home" for me is Path of Exile, an online-only action rpg and the true successor to Diablo 2 IMHO. You can't customize the look of your character, but it has the deepest and most complex power/stat customization I've seen since CoH. It's also one of the rare games I've tried in the meantime that support having many alts.

Other games I've tried include:

• SWTOR: excellent atmosphere but power customization is nonexistent, you're only as strong as your gear and leveling alts is extremely boring for the most part even though the different class stories are the game's best feature
• Rift: probably the closest MMO to CoH currently live I think, but also not much more than an improved version of WoW so it kinda feels run of the mill and that caused me to drift away
• Defiance: fun for a while but becomes repetitive, nonexistent chat functionality
• DCUO: clunky combat system and practically raid-only the last time I checked, worst costume customization of the 3 superhero MMOs
• Marvel Heroes: ehh... this game has a fair share of problems but I didn't quit because of that... once it went live it didn't allow me to upgrade my beta client to the live version and instead insisted that I redownload the whole game so I left in disgust. The cash shop is unbelievably expensive.
• The Secret World: 2nd best power customization since CoH, excellent atmosphere, story and quests but not much interesting to do once you play through all of them, and also no point in having more than 1 character - warning: I've played it for the last time half a year after launch, from what I'm hearing it has gotten quite a lot of new content as well as systems
• Champions Online: excellent character customization on both costume and powers front, but the gameplay itself quickly becomes boring
• Star Trek Online: was falling asleep during ship combat and since that can't be avoided, I've drifted off
• Neverwinter: quite good I must say, I'd place it near the top together with PoE, TSW and Rift, but I never reached the endgame so I can't comment on that and leveling alts is quite boring (this was near the end of open beta)
• Firefall: should be great once it's out of beta since the systems and gameplay are excellent but currently PvE content is severely lacking
• Guild Wars 2: great ride to the top for the first and perhaps another one or two times, but starts feeling very repetitive once you get to max level - this is from a purely PvE perspective so your experience may be vastly different if you PvP, also I don't like most of the weapon skills since they've clearly been designed primarily for PvP and a lot of them seem useless in PvE, and the new monthly content they've been adding may as well not exist since it's on a limited time basis and then it goes away, so there would be comparatively very little new content to play if I were to return

[Kyriani]

I've gone back to retro gaming with games I know I like... the original Final Fantasy for the NES (thank goodness for emulators!), Neverwinter Nights 1 for the PC, and the Baldur's Gate series for PC.

Nothing on the horizon has me excited.

Elder Scrolls Online is basically a non-starter for me cause its following the trend of "action" rpg combat (like Tera) using similar combat and camera controls as the other Elder Scrolls games (which actually makes sense for ESO when you consider it's staying consistent with the single player ES games). I loved Skyrim but I can't play a real time MMO with that kind of combat system and enjoy it. Nothing infuriates me more than my camera moving with my mouse when I don't want it to. Call me old fashioned but I like my action bars and tab targeting and things hitting or missing based on calculations and not a targeting recticle. If I wanted to play a shooter game I'd grab a shotgun blow my brains out.

Archage looks like it might have some potential but I am just so jaded and cynical about anything and everything that I am not holding my breath on it and expect it to disappoint me like everything else has. When I find games I like the look of, the mechanics or unrestrained pvp turn me off (Aion is a great example of that). When I find games I like the mechanics off (or at least can tolerate) the aesthetics turn me off (Champions Online is a perfect example of this). I expect Archeage will end up as another grind type game with intrusive unwanted pvp elements and anything I like about its aesthetics or mechanics will end up being overshadowed by those things.

I've played WoW. I can't say too many bad things about it. Being jaded and cynical are probably big factors for me not playing currently. I just don't feel like there's a point in playing anymore. The treadmills have just become too obvious to me. I mean I know all these games tend to have their treadmills but they are supposed to be disguised and wow just seems like they arent bothering to hide it anymore. I dont like that every xpac invalidates whatever you did in the previous xpac. From vanilla to BC was awesome. All my success in vanilla carried over into BC and many pieces of gear carried me to the new level cap. I was even still using one item from vanilla in sunwell cause it was just that good (and I hadn't gotten anything better as a drop unfortunately). Wrath changed all that. My favored class/spec kept being changed... and still is it seems like every patch just making it not fun to play. I don't like having to relearn how to play every couple months. Unlike many people, I enjoyed Cataclysm. It had its flaws dont get me wrong but ultimately I did enjoy it. MoP isn't "bad" it just didn't engage me the way I hoped it would and everything became dailies and rep grinds. Every patch added more of both and I just didn't feel like it had a point. Why not save the money from a sub and just wait till the final patch of the xpac, grab the easy "catch up" gear that far exceeds anything from launch and go back and barrel through any content I felt like... only why would I want to? What's the point? I ask myself that every time I consider resubbing.

I've played Rift. I can't say too many bad things about this game either to be honest. I just think its again me being jaded and cynical. I wish customization at creation was better. I wish character aesthetics were better (the world looks fine to me). I wish it wasn't so "zone in a box" where almost every zone is ringed with mountains or invisible walls. But mechanics wise I like the soul system and the fact that it plays the way I like with targeting and action bars. Rift gives me some similar thoughts to WoW. "What's the point?" The answer is the point is to have fun and if I am not then I need to play something else. It may not be the game's fault. It could very likely just be me.

I tried FFXIV-ARR Beta. It's ok. But it just doesn't engage me. The fact that its designed with consoles in mind is a turn off. It shows in the game play and the controls and the world building. Little things like no water above the ankles and invisible walls galore leave me wanting.

Marvel Heroes is ok for some mindless hack/slash. Small doses of this game can be fun for me. But while I have played it and probably will again, it's not something I could ever be invested in. Its not MY character and it's not really an RPG with exploration and storytelling.

I could go on but all in all I think the problem with games is me these days. I want a certain "feeling" from the game and I am not getting it. It could very well be that I have "seen and done it all" and nothing is really "new" to me anymore. On the other hand I am not sure "new" or "different" is what I want. I think if Dragon Age 1 was turned into an MMO I could probably get invested in such a game (assuming the story telling, engaging characters remained and customization expanded). I just find it difficult to really say what I am looking for these days. But I do know it's not a combat oriented game like Tera or a full on pvp game. I like many of the features of sandbox games but I also like a little "on the rails" play as well. Basically I want a game that has a story I can be a part of but also lets me step off the tracks to explore and find my own stories.

[Virlouny]

TSW: The Secret World. It's a nice mix of Okay., WFT?, OMG!, and That's cool. It also uses "real logic" rather than the "video game logic" that players are so used to these days.

[AlphaFerret]

I just picked up a copy of TSW.  I don't have a lot of gaming time during the summer, so that will sit unopened until the fall.  In the meantime, I plan on messing around with the free levels of Warhammer Online.  It is pretty much a no stress hackfest.  Good times, but not Great times...

[DBadger]

I found the story of TSW great but I couldn't play due to awful combat/animations

[Rust]

Been giving Mount & Blade: Warband a roll since I picked up the whole collection off this year's Steam Summer Sale.

Once I figured out what the heck I was doing...the game is actually a lot of fun. Also very sadistic if you play on "Realistic", because one bad battle can send you spiraling back into nothingness and the game seems to delight in punishing you mercilessly as you try to recoup your losses.

Got really far with a Merchant-type character in Rhodoks but he ended up getting crushed hard when I sent him to work with the Nords. I also failed a lot of quests for the Nobility in Rhodoks, so he found himself penniless, companionless (Ever been captured by bandits so many times *all* your companions and Horse disappears?), and trapped in the middle of hostile territory.

I'm presently having success with my Khanate character. I built a solid core of Calvary, then went to Rhodoks to recruit some of their forces (Which are designed to be Anti-Calvary), and have proceeded to hunt down Steppe Bandits for fun and profit. Also discovering Steppe Bandit Loot tends to include Horses means I'm getting pretty dang rich off the bandit-cleaning trade. Got a 50 man Warband now comprised of 25 Khanate Calvary, 15 Rhodoks Spearmen and Crossbow users, and 10 Vaegirs who are ultimately cheerleaders...because the battle's essentially over by the time they get into the fray. I want to recruit some Swadia for Heavy Calvary, but my Weekly Budget is already closing in on 400 Denar, and now that the war between the Khanate and the Sultanate is over, I'm back to Bandit Chasing.

Granted, ransoming back the Sultanate Noble for almost 5000 Denar put a nice little bulge in the purse, but against Bandits there really is no need to get "bigger". I have to chase the buggers all over anyway.

Also not heavily relying on Companions this time around.

[Shinobu]

I actually went back to Everquest (the original).  I played that game from 1999 to about 2003, then did other things for about a year before picking up CoH for the first time.  Anyway, EQ is nothing like CoH of course, but it was nostalgic to be able to go back to some of the places I'd been ten years or more prior.  When I left the game I had a level 56 shaman on the Test Server named Jalia McMarrin (when max level was 65), with skills in the 100 to 200 range on a number of tradeskills.  Since May I've gotten a new shaman on a new account named Jalia McMarrin to 65 on Fironia Vie (max level is now 100), with alchemy to 300 and tailoring and baking to 200+.  I did a bunch of selling at the market too... but I've gotten bored.  I've done absolutely everything solo, haven't grouped once, haven't made any new friends really, and I've pretty much gotten as much as I wanted out of the whole "neat, I remember being in this zone years ago!" thing.  I haven't logged in in a week now.

The game has improved a lot and is much easier to play, but not all zones have been updated and the old ones are incredibly ugly.  Although I hated having to travel by boat, I'm sad that you're not even allowed to do that anymore.  The world is much larger than it was... it's incredibly massive... but the population has dropped, so it's very easy to be the only person in a given zone.  It's still technically one of the most complex mmo games I've ever played, but combat is still incredibly straightforward and boring.  Just being in the game makes me nostalgic for what it used to be.  I can't imagine anyone will ever again design an MMO that has something like 16 different playable races and 18 starting cities/newbie zones... it wouldn't be practical.

These days everyone seems to powerlevel to 65 or 75 as quickly as possible (so that they can powerlevel the rest of the way, then stand around in the Plane of Knowledge, near as I can tell).  Rare gear that used to be coveted is worthless.  Meh, I hate gear-based mmo's anyway.

[DBadger]

I re downloaded EQ2 then once i logged in and couldn't equip any gear (it was all legendary) or use any abilities (they were all master level) remembered why i hated Sonys F2P model for that game and uninstalled.

[candidate]

Been playing the open beta of Firefall.

Really cool game, and they are NOT going to wipe chars at launch.

[Lothic]

Archage looks like it might have some potential but I am just so jaded and cynical about anything and everything that I am not holding my breath on it and expect it to disappoint me like everything else has. When I find games I like the look of, the mechanics or unrestrained pvp turn me off (Aion is a great example of that). When I find games I like the mechanics off (or at least can tolerate) the aesthetics turn me off (Champions Online is a perfect example of this). I expect Archeage will end up as another grind type game with intrusive unwanted pvp elements and anything I like about its aesthetics or mechanics will end up being overshadowed by those things.

As a player whose been looking for something that could entertain me the way CoH used to I must admit that ArcheAge does look appealing.  It's obviously not a "superhero" game, but it seems to have many of the fundamental gameplay elements that existed in CoH while adding many other features that were always desired in CoH but never happened.

Among the features that are vast improvements over CoH: cutting-edge character creation/models, gliders, cars, mounts, player housing, detailed crafting, improved emotes/animations, expanded guild features (i.e. family units), working guild vs. guild PvP systems and so on.

It's true this is a Korean-based MMO (like CoH technically was) and Korean MMOs do tend to be more grind and "open PvP" oriented than western games.  But the main Korean developer (a guy named Jake Song) has said that he actually perfers the more western styles of MMO gameplay and is working with Trion games to port it over to the NA/EU market.  My hopes are that the NA/EU version of this game will be as western-leaning as possible as far as that goes.

Do I think ArcheAge will be a true logical/spiritual successor to CoH?  Not by a long shot.
But for now I'm fairly moderately optimistic it'll provide enough enjoyment to be worth trying.

I like many of the features of sandbox games but I also like a little "on the rails" play as well. Basically I want a game that has a story I can be a part of but also lets me step off the tracks to explore and find my own stories.

For what it's worth they are calling ArcheAge a "sandpark" game implying it has the best elements of both a full sandbox experience as well as a structured themepark story.  I'm not sure if they got the mixture completely balanced, but I figure the fact that they're trying to find a good balance between those two things is a positive sign.

[Hellgeist]

Where do I start in describing the post-CoH gaming nausea? New games have this way of making me feel like a conveyor-belt lunch in some shady corporate casino. I mean, they want you to buy the game, shop the store, power level to end game, and then be on my way.

Anyways, this is the line-up of games I've tried playing, in no particular order:
(green = still playing, red = not playing anymore)

Neverwinter: to me, the look and feel was a bold-faced ripoff of Guildwars2 and Warhammer Online. It seemed like the character roles were purely devised from combat-builds, and had completely lost contact with their fantasy origins. I could not push myself to play it more than a couple of days.

Age of Conan: a co-worker suggested this, as he's been playing it since launch. I like the Conan world and stories, especially the writing style, but this is a brutal game designed for heavy pvp. It is a very well made pvp game, with some very nice visual candy. I will play it after work as cheap therapy once in a while, but its not really my cup of tea.

Rift: This is probably the first MMO I ever played in which I forgot what level I was, because I was too busy exploring and doing quests. The cooperative events and ease of finding a team reminds me a lot of CoH, and its nice to be able to get into a RP so easily. I'm still playing this game because its relaxing and I still have lots to explore.

SecondLife: I have had the most amazing roleplay experiences of my life on some of the Rp sims of SecondLife. These worlds have met some hard challenges (mostly economic in terms of time and money), and many of the communities have suffered various forms of political decay. Unfortunately, it seems like the best that was to be found of this kind of play was on the ebb around the same time CoH was closing, and it is not the refuge I thought it could have been.

Skyrim: I never played it until long after everyone else was done with it. I didn't finish it, I got about 1/4 through the main plotline and became distracted with the Creation Kit - I was so spoiled with the unlimited character customization of SecondLife, that I was just not happy with the default game. I stopped playing when playing became more like work than play.

Champions Online: I like playing CO, but without my friends, I feel like my supergroup from CoH is truly dead, and its just lonely. I wish I didnt' feel so sad about CoH but I think I stil have a broken heart.

[Sophronisba]

Hellgeist, is there a CoX chat channel or guild in Rift?