K, first off apologies if this has already been mentioned, im sure to an extent it has and i'm almost certain you'll be implementing this in the game.
That said I cannot express how important this and exemplaring are to me.
One of the things that todays MMOs seem to be lacking is those first two M's. They generally seem to consist of a series of linear, unrepeatable quests with a bit of pvp tacked on and a number of other players doing the same thing, some of whom you may team up with for a bit.
The thing that made COH for me was the community spirit and the fact that people teamed! The main reasons for this were, i think:
- the nature of the player base - almost everyone seemed to be friendly and there was a distinct lact of l33t players only looking to grind
- teaming was fun! - i'm fed up with only being able to team in groups of 4, hell even lotro only had 6 - explain that to Merry and Pippin (they're the two i'd have left out of my fellowship) - 8 super heroes, all with different power sets, AT, customisations was absolutely awesome!
- teaming actually benefited you in the misions, more xp and again more fun!
- travel powers and transit systems - allowed you to get from one end of paragon to another in minutes!
- the mision sytem & sharing made it easy to pickup new misions and continue teaming without everyone having to cross vast distances to hand in quests or to pick up new misions, the option to choose to either complete or not complete a mision you had which the group had just completed was also a huge bonus and you could even repeat misions you'd already completed if someone else had it
- sidekicking & Exemplaring (this is possibly my main point) meant ANYONE could team with ANYONE ELSE It didn't matter if i'd been on holiday for 2 weeks and my friends had outlevelled me of if i saw a new guy in the hollows asking for help. Irrespective of level there was a benefit to anyone teaming with anyone else, no reason not to and a game mechanic that allowed it!
Apologies, i've somewhat digressed here, i was originally only going to talk about exemplaring but i got a bit side tracked on the teaming elements of coh. Other than the character customisations/ATs/powers the teaming element is the main thing i miss and it is missing from every other MMO I have ever played.
Please, please, please ensure this is taken into account in city of Titans.
Amen to that !!!!
Yes the way COH handled different level teaming with its Super Sidekick (SSK) system was perfect.
It didn't matter if I was a level 30 running around with my level 35-40 mates. Sure id be a bit under powered due to lack of their additional powers/slots and ENH levels but I wasn't a total waste and could CONTRIBUTE.
If it was the other way around and I run my level 50 with my level 35 mates the same thing - I wouldn't be overpowered, all my extra powers were greyed out and the extra slots effectively gone as well. I didn't ruin the teaming with my mates just sitting there doing SFA as I one shot everything. It was still a team.
So yes please keep the teaming aspect like in CoH with SSK :)
The Phoenix Rising Initiative Rules Lawyer
+1
I have not really enjoyed teaming in any other game. It's always more limited and more complicated. Sidekick/Exemping just made everything easy peasy and fun. So much so that even as a primarily solo player I teamed quite a bit. I've teamed MUCH less in Champions, DCUO, and TSW. Generally only when FORCED to.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Sidekicking is one of the things that CoH did really well - and I hope that CoT doesn't stray from that formula (unless they have better ideas of course).
Same here. It certainly made teaming a lot more attractive to a mostly-solo player like me -- I'd say it was instrumental in luring me in when I wasn't sure whether I was in a solo or team mood.
Whoa, I think we've found the Holy Grail of this forum: something on which everyone seems to agree!
Spurn all ye kindle.
In every other game i've always been more of a solo player. I still can't quite work out how coh did it but i think a combination of community and ease/availability of teaming. Yeah pugs could be a bit of a mess and go pear shaped but it was almost always fun. (sole exception for me being my first respec reactor trial with a pug of completely gimped toons all desperately in need of a respec!)
I think that may be it in a nutshell, teaming was easy and fun...
The sidekick/exemplar was such a breakthrough in MMO design. I still can't believe every MMO that has launched since CoH did not steal this concept. But that is just a part of the team experience in CoH. Even when I first started playing, I felt that CoH was built around teaming. That isn't to say it was unsatisfying to run solo, but I've yet to play another game in any genre that rewarded you (both mechanically and emotionally) for playing in a team the way CoH did.
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I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame