Superhero MMO Showdown (Poll for Ep. 12)
Ever since DC Universe Online went free to play all of… a few weeks ago, I’ve been bombarded with requests and inquiries as to whether or not I’m going to look at it. While the interest is there, I am noticing that a LOT of people were also requesting City of Heroes and Champions Online, two much older, formerly subscription based, and now Free-to-Play MMOs that I have previous experience with.
Since both CoH and CO put up an initial good fight in the last poll, and the interest in DCUO is there, I figured… why not pit all three against each other?
Same poll rules apply as last time.
- Poll closes the Saturday night before the previous episode is released. In other words, just before Episode 11 airs. (Sunday Dec. 11th, 12:01 a.m.)
- In the event I am unable to run the game that wins, for whatever reason, the next highest voted game will be chosen.
I added a new twist this time around. Now you will not be able to see the results in the poll, so you won’t be able to vote stack the game that’s currently winning to ensure its victory. Have fun now.
Posted on November 15, 2011, in News and Updates. Bookmark the permalink. 24 Comments.
MMO Grinder 
So… it ended up being City of Heroes afterall. @Arkaelis is my global on there.
@Turbo-Ski here,
Having played all 3, I got to say DCUO and CO fail to live up to 7 year old CoH. This isn’t just solely the game either, but the CoH community is one of the best I’ve experienced of MMOs in general.
*High fives Thor’s Assassin and Kitsune9tails*
Should be noted Thor’s Assassin probably holds the record for most OC art done of an MMO character. Plug: http://thorsassassin.deviantart.com/
Heya.
I’ve alpha/beta’d both CO and DCUO, and have maintained a subscription for COH since its own beta period in April 2004.
I gave a hard look at CO and DCUO (and to COH too in the various betas I’ve participated in), and for each game, only COH has found “THE formula” to make superheroic gameplay work in such a way as to be fun and challenging without being overboard in one direction or the other.
As such, while I love the DC Universe (Green Lantern was my first and most favorite hero, besides Marvel’s ‘ROM Spaceknight’), and while I respect the gang at Cryptic for their MMO work, my vote for your next piece has to be for City of Heroes.
Because when you’re old enough to be in the 2nd grade and still drawing new players while keeping the old ones… there’s something to be said there. Even with CO and DCUO on the field, COH stands unique.
Thank you for your time.
-T.
Hey if Champions Online wins then maybe you can get LordKat to revive the LordKaT mafia on Champions. That would be cool.
Voted. DC Universe was the only MMO I played from the ones listed in the poll. I want to see if some of the issues I had will turn up on your future episode (if it wins).
I’ll be honest: I’m a City fanboi, and have been for years.
That being said, I decided it was only fair to give both Champions and DCUO a fair shake. How could I possibly know if I was playing the best superhero MMO without trying the others?
So, I tried Champions Online first. The fact that you can take powers from all over was interesting, and led to a couple truly interesting characters, but then they lacked in battle power when I tried to pull from TOO many places. That, and the art style, made me stop before I was barely out of the teens. (Seriously, Cryptic, you’re the ones that helped develop City’s original in-depth character creator — why didn’t you learn from your own setup?)
Then, after DCUO went free to play, I decided to give it a chance. Character creation is the most limited of the three by a long shot. I tentatively like the combat system, because it’s more about “here’s your weapon, spam these mouse buttons to use it” than the purely power-based attacks both other games have. Lack of customization, however, is a big no-no for me, and when I promptly started dying every 2-3 minutes once I was out of the tutorial, I felt like the game was telling me I wasn’t good enough to solo. Since I am an unabashed solo artist, that offended me greatly.
TL;DR:: Champions tries to be City and fails. DCUO tries to be different, and succeeds, but not in a good way. City’s been around for a LONG time, and it shines from all its polishing.
I have tried all 3 games. CoH I have Subscription but I am also running a F2P account. CO I have a F2P account but haven’t been on for months. DConline I have tried but looks like what it is a console game that can run on a PC.
So my vote went to CoH.
City of Heroes is the superior game here.
Champions seems to be the former CoH developer trying to make the same game twice and failing. (funny how everything COH does, CO does a few months later). Seems we know where most of the ideas were coming from now.
DCUO is so wrapped up in making it’s own signature heroes the stars of the game that your character is basically a B-list also-ran. You know, your character is the one who gets killed so the REAL hero has someone to avenge. Strangely enough, not many people want to be the sidekick when they play a superhero game, they want to be THE HERO.
I have played all 3 and without a shadow of a doubt, City of Heroes rules in the super hero genre.
Might try doing a three-way comparison, with less immersion to each of the three, but giving a “If you prefer this style, than X is the superhero MMO for you, otherwise try Y. Don’t even look at Z because either of the other two do it better.” or something to that effect.
COH is lightyears beyond the other two so there really is no contest. When you take a 7 year old king of the genre, turn it into a free2play hybrid, and stack the market with goodies… Beats the socks off the one track DCU and the button mashing CO.
Kitsune9tails from City of Heroes here, and I will also be glad to help guide you through the City whenever you try or review it. :D I look forward to seeing you there!
DConline? Champions Online? I never even heard of those games.
anything but CoH is a nemisis plot!
I completely agree ;D
I don’t see how DCUO and CO could even compare to CoH. Less items in cash shop, less zones, less powers, less costume choices, less end game play, less players, less missions. But most importantly less fun. In every aspect neither DCUO or CO compare to CoH.
If you have yet to try CoH, you really should. If you enjoy anything about the other games you’ll quickly find that CoH is far better in every aspect.
Since I already know DC Universe Online I didn’t vote for it. Truthfully, I don’t really care which one wins because even if DCUO wins, at least I will find out how the cash shop is implemented in it now (I played it little while after launch) and how much it has changed since it became Free-to-Play.
City of Heroes and Champions Online are both completely unknown to me. I know the games, but never took the time to actually try them out.
So I just wanted to comment while I would like to see City of Heroes because its my favorite..
…What would be highly interesting is to actually do an extended episode and review all 3 of them in a single video and compare and contrast them. Since they were all pay to play ones that all went free to play near around the same time as each other.
Not only how they are different, but how they are same and how they compare to each other.
I wouldnt say to actually grade them as which one is best..but simply compare and contrast.
If Champions Online wins, I’ll be happy to join you in a game run through. I’m @Eishtmo, just add me as a friend.
Same here, I wouldnt have a problem reinstalling and creating a new character if CO wins the poll.
I voted, as well, but is there any way to see the poll results so far? The system accused me of double-dipping and all I wanted to know was how the numbers are stacking up.
Never mind, I’m an idiot. Read post first, THEN comment. Lesson learned.
You are quite crafty in your poll strategy. Voted.
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