I’d start to quote this fabulous essay as to why the author (as I) enjoys Shootin’ Things Up Real Good, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop …
And it suddenly hit me that I was spending a Friday night doing inventory management. Last time I checked, I get enough bean counting at my day job; do I really need to spend my weekends pondering whether I should carry an extra set of warhammers just in case I run into a merchant who might be able to buy them off me? Sure, I enjoy having a virtual life — but as a virtual accountant?
Yeah, no.
Moments like that make me re-appreciate the true value of a good first-person shooter: its raw, modernist simplicity. Like a cool, refreshing glass of water on a smog-choked summer day, a shooter cuts through the fog of everyday life.
That’s what made Halo the top-selling game for the Xbox, after all. Everyone blathered on and on about the immersive story, the fleshed-out characters, the great script, yadda yadda. But that wasn’t why they played it. No, they played it because of what the designers called the game’s ability to deliver “30 seconds of fun,” over and over again. And those 30 seconds didn’t consist of moderating a frickin’ guild meeting, if you know what I mean. Nosiree: They consisted of wasting every last freaky alien that wandered anywhere near your muzzle.
City of Heroes isn’t quite your standard FPS, but …
Well, I enjoy doing RP in CoX. I enjoy some of the organizational bits and meta-play and all that. I enjoy the story arcs and plot lines.
But, y’know? A lot of what I enjoy about it is pounding the bad guys into the pavement.
‘Nuff said.
Amen, brother. Sing it.
I actually had a lot of fun last night doing two things I’ve never done in CoH:
1. PvP Zones (I genuinely enjoy Siren’s call just for the mob-bashing of the “hot spots” (which keeps you moving all over the map constantly and feels very FPS to me), but screwing up Stalkers with Hype’s damage aura didn’t suck either 🙂 It actually made me want to respec to rearrange the order he acquired his powers, actually.
2. A couple of 2 on 2 (and a 1 on 1) arena bouts for Sean’s “Battle of Champions” thing. I faced off against the acknowledge master of PvP in the Alliance and apparently fared very well, we got owned in one match and did the owning in the next. (And the group we beat had already beat the team that beat us… so that was funny.)
I have more to say about PVP that I won’t here, but all in all, it was a good time that had me babbling excitedly on the phone for a half-hour afterwards… and it’s hard to find a downside there.
Really?
I didn’t see PoJustice Stryke PoUnknown Badge or PoVicki there….hmmm.
Yes, Zazi Tank rocked team Hypers world, but then Team Frostblade’s low level denied Zazi Practiced Brawler (L28) and she chewed through her 5 breakfree’s in the first 4 minutes of the contest.
Against Team Hyper: Practiced Brawler and her powerful don’t hit me build did it’s job nicely. That and the big swing knockback attacks of Golden Dragonfly and Soaring Dragon kept Syn on her back and hampered her ability to use her Kenitics powers. Zazi even got close to dropping Hype with three Crits in a row while Syn was regening. 🙂
One thing I did notice which did annoy me: Every attack but one of Zazi’s does defense debuffing, and that was not showing up during the combat. I do not know if that was a graphics issue or it is nerfed for Arena. It is one of the reasons that Zazi can get so many crits normally.
Against Team Frostblade: Breakfrees, nothing but Breakfrees if we go up against them again. I *missed* practiced brawler big time in this one and I will pack about 15 of the little buggers nest time.
Coolness. I’ve not enjoyed the PvP side of things very much, but I’m glad other folks do. 🙂
Actually, now that you mention it, I’ve not done anything in the Arena. Maybe in a bit.
For Arena…
It depends really.
This is fun just because of the why, and it is the third time that I have done it (the first time was Zazi beating Reese 🙂 ).
The Gladiator thing is very funny and entertaining.
But this is really it for me in Arena.
But, for the most part I avoid PvP except for Zot, who, as long as she avoids certain types of tanks and Dark defense Scrappers, rocks in the PvP zones. The main thing is to go in with a group of people you know how to play with and NOT get on a PvP PUG.
Well, the thing with Zazi’s defense dropping… Hype’s defense rating is already zero, so it’s not like it can drop that far — he doesnt’ have any powers that give him defense.
And… well, close to dropping Hype is kinda relative: I just had to notice that I was getting low and hit my heal… in that match, I had more to worry about with Taunt not really… you know… working. At all. Frustrating.
Hype did get redder in that match than in the one with Frostblade, certainly… I don’t think I got below 80% in that one. The only time anyone actually dropped me was 1 on 1 with Grave Spider — I think with about 10 break-frees I might even have been able to avoid dropping in that match as well, though god knows I can’t take down ANYONE, solo.
Strat? Strat I’d like to take into PvP, yes indeed.
PvP Coh Random thoughts
As noted here, in the comments, I messed around with some PvP stuff last night with Hype, both in PvP…
What is the “Gladiator thing”? I’ve unlocked a gazillion Gladiotor badges, but have no idea what that’s all about.
I was seriously thinking of entering Sean’s Tourney with Zepher-Storm….since the only thing that has managed to touch her with anything resembling serious damage has been blasters, with a lot of Acc bonuses.
Between Hurricane, and Lightning Storm, hand-to-hand against her is nigh impossible for a stalker,(unless he gets the drop on her). I’ve had her in Sirens a couple times and done the “Fight-Club” thing there.
Against a controller, or blaster though, she’d be toast.
As far as Strat in the Arena…Give me a bit longer to get level 26 or higher, and he can run into his former sidekick. /:)
Avo…
Gladiator is another Arena feature but instead of the people fighting you have you little minions fight.
It is kind of like Warhammer or Necromunda in some ways where you have “X” amounts of points to put together a team, and then you fight. Mac kept cleaning my clock becuase she had I type I did not that “Pwnd” everything I had at my disposal.