Monday 20 November 2006

Pic of the day: To the left Itland the regenerating were-porcupine, in his newest look. The girl confronting him is not an enemy but an ally, Re-Cycle gUrl (capitalization uncertain), a Broadsword/Regen scrapper. Their enemy is the broken rag doll on the ground, as is good and proper. The green glow is the symtom of healing energy in this game. Itland is, as usual, full of it.

CoH Regen Scrappers again

I have played much less than usual this month, because of the National Novel Writing Month. For instance, the "generation" of heroes that founded Paladins of the Night (on the Virtue server) is now in their early 30es (levels, not age of players!) and norally I would have been too, as I've mostly kept the same pace. But I am still below 30 and so can not take part in their Wednesday task force. Waah! But it is all worth it to finally win NaNoWriMo!

What little I play, is nearly exclusively my regenerating Scrappers. And in fact, one chapter in my romance novel will be dedicated to a girl playing a Regen Scrapper. Because Regen Scrappers are a lot more interesting than romance! Next year I definitely want to write a novel about a computer game, if I am there at all. Either City of Heroes or The Sims 2.

And in CoH, it is now very hard for me to imagine playing something other than a Regen Scrapper for a long time. A whole evening, for instance. Playing anything else makes me feel like I'm missing a couple cards from the full deck. (Of course, some may think this fits me...) But it hasn't always been like that.

***

My first character, the one I recreated after the beta test, was in fact a Spine/Regen Scrapper. But this was not because I thought the powerset was better, I did not have enough experience with the game to have a strong opinion on that. Rather Itland the were-porcupine was based on my roleplaying character from the Acid Reflux forum. His backstory was that he was able to transform into a battle form where he was covered in lethal spines, which could also be thrown, and the nanomachines in his body would repair any damage less than death. So I was pleased to find a combination of powers in the game that reflected this passably, although the spines graphics were nothing like the drawings of my were-porcupine. Rather these spines look like bones protruding from the body. But you can't be picky at times like these. It was the only superhero MMORPG at the time (and still is, though there is some development on a competing project by the same developers).

I was not so familiar with the game as I am now, and I found the Scrapper hard to play. I particularly hate being defeated ("killed" in other games, though no one actually dies in CoH, at worst you are teleported to the hospital). So I created a new character that was a Tanker, the type of hero that can withstand a lot of damage without crumbling. The other side of the coin is that they do less damage than Scrappers (close range fighters) and Blasters (ranged attacks) and they lack the special abilities of Defenders (healing and protection) or Controllers (elemental control, immobilizing enemies). I did not care if the going was a bit slow, as long as I did not get defeated and as long as I defeated my opponent in the end. Which I usually did - Tankers were tougher back then. They are weaker now, but still formidable.

I played other archetypes too, but not for long. I think my record was getting a Controller to level 14, something I was not eager to try again anytime soon. But a bit over a year ago, things changed. Partly because Tankers were weakened over and over, and I was not used to it. I switched to Defenders, and one Dark Defender in particular became my highest level character so far, at 41 I think. I never maxed any of my characters to 50. This would probably have happened to Magus Andlit, if the move did not render me without Internet access for two months. When I came back, the people I had teamed with in our supergroup were already level 50 and had created new characters. They didn't seem to notice that I was back at all. So I stopped playing him, because he was a very team-oriented character, and random teams tend to not be very good. And the glow of magic was gone again, just like it was with Tankers before.

I am not sure why I started with Scrappers next. Probably because they are the best for soloing, and at the time that was what I felt like doing. As far as I was concerned, I would just as well had played CoH as a single-player game. What was the point of making friends who pull ahead of you and disappear? The documentation with the game, and what I had seen during nearly three years, convinced me that the Scrapper was the way to go. And from what I saw and heard, regeneration was still a viable alternative. I woke up my original Spine/Regen scrapper, who was lvl 8 or so (out of 50 available). What I saw impressed me. I had not understood the strengths of this character type. Now I gradually did, as I played more and more. Then I made the Dark/Regen Scrapper who is in Paladins of the Night. (Remember how my guild in DAoC was named "Guardians of the Darkness" and I played a Paladin there? Eerie, is it not? I had no say in creating those names.)

***

Now those two characters are in their late twenties and they just get more and more fun to play with each level. It is hard to say which is the best. I had thought Spine/Regen would be clearly superior. After all, spines can be thrown at a distance and immobilize most enemies. Spines also have a power (available around level 18, I think) that continually shoots a small shower of spines in a short radius around the hero, so that anyone who comes close gets hurt. Apart from the symbolic meaning of this (which I think we should save for a different entry) it is nifty when fighting more than one enemy at a time. You keep whittling them down even when you are not attacking them diractly, as long as they attack you at a close range. (There are enemies who attack at a distance, but in that case you take the fight to them. Besides, ranged attacks are usually weaker. And Spine Scrappers do have a ranged attack, which for good measure freezes them to the spot so they cant run away again.)

As awesome as the Spine powerset is, I am surprised to find that at this point the Dark Scrapper is pretty much equally easy to play. His attacks are more focused, not vague and cloudlike, but they do quite a bit of damage, especially the signature attack, Shadow Maul, which consists of several rapid punches doing negative energy damage. Taking Hasten was a good choice with this character. It often is with scrappers, but particularly when you have one super attack that you want to fire off as often as possible. Hasten has a problem in that it drains endurance: You get to attack faster but your energy does not replenish faster. This is one area where Regeneration shines: It has a power that regenerates endurance (energy), even more powerful than the popular Stamina power. (You can take them both if you really feel like it, but it doesn't seem like you need Stamina before level 30 at least, even with Hasten).

Both of the powersets have secondary effects. Spines slow down the enemy a bit, while Dark reduces accuracy and damage potential in enemies that are hit by it. The effect seems to be stronger with Dark, in my experience. On the other hand, as mentioned, you rarely hit more than one enemy at a time with a Dark attack, while Spines have several radius attacks and one wider cone attack. So perhaps it evens out.

As of today, I am very happy with my Regen Scrappers, and think of them as the greatest possible power set. Then again, my history shows that these fixations don't always last. Perhaps I find out something I had not noticed about some other hero type. Or even villain type... I am still curious about Mastermind, the Villain type that can have several henchmen that operate partly on their own and partly under orders. It is a fascinating concept, and I would have played it more if not for the whole evil aura of the City of Villains part of the game. I much prefer being a hero. That's just the kind of guy I am... in my dreams.