There are European, US, and Asian datacenters that do not intermix for City of Heroes, but if you have the appropriate version for the region you could play from anywhere in the world. I know I’ve played with plenty of people from other continents.
Hey now, I have the Phantom Hitchhiker in the group (With what I think is one of my better character descriptions.) Admittedly, I haven’t played her for a few months, but I have a good reason.
And this is the major reason I haven’t been on the Live servers. I have been playing on Test since Closed beta on I9. The Invention system and CH are a very nice additions to the game, but can easily be ignored if you want. I think it works very well with the casual feel of COH/V. Much better than the types of crafting systems used in other games would have.
And there is a CECIL SG branch and channel on Test, although I am the only member of the SG and Suomi and I are the only people ever on the channel.
Lok, I should join the CECIL channel on Test – I have been spending some time there of late.
And I have Suspended Animator in the Urban Legends, as well as One True King (aka Gas-Pumpin’ Elvis)
Pfft. Graphics.
Well, the only MMORPG I have every played is FFXI, so I cant really help out much. I wish I could recommend you to try again, but I cant in good conscience, not with the description in your OP. 10-15 hours a week is not enough to do much of anything in FFXI. FFXI is a great game with gorgeous zones, wonderful community, extremely fun group activities, etc etc, but it’s a time-sink. It’s a huuuuuuge time sink. I played maybe 40 hours a week one summer and I was nowhere near the best level 75 Thief.
Also, lately botting has become really bad, and the gil (gold) selling market in China is also ridiculous. Between inflation and the cheaters, it’s why I dont play really anymore. Still am paying for my account though, just in case. That and I cant bring myself to delete it. I met my first real-life lover through it and many other good memories :)
Anyway, I am hoping the new Warhammer MMORPG will be good. I hear the new Middle Earth one sucks eggs.
It’s essentially Guild Wars with a Tolkien skin, which I don’t mind one bit.
Brainy, I have really been enjoying the stuff on Test. I have taken a native Test character from level 10 to 29, heavily loaded with debt, doing all the story arcs, Safeguard, missions (Except Atlas Park :() and badge missions, including Faultline, Striga, and Croatoa. All I have skipped is The Hollows and the various TFs. Despite having most of the missions before it has been a lot of fun. At least part of that is the new stuff coming with the Inventions system. Of course, more people in the SG would help get the base tricked out a bit. It is taking forever to get even a power room in it because of the expense. The combo room for small bases doesnt’ really have enough power for rez and teleporting.
I have heard people describe the LOTR MMO as a WoW knockoff. I can’t tell from personal experince, since I have never played WoW, but I have enjoyed the LOTR enough to get the prepay. If I have anything left from some work on my house in the next month, I will probably shell out the $200 for the lifetime subscription. Lord knows I have given a lot more than that to Cryptic/NCSoft over the last 3 years for CoH/V. And almost that for EVEOnline in the last year. (Addicted to MMOs? Nah, not me. But Auto Assault is a lot of fun…)
I hear that it’s more “blah”; pretty but unoriginal. As I heard it put on another forum; “It’s a rip off of WOW, which was a rip-off of Tolkien; the rip off circle has closed.” 
I always have to post that Eve Online rocks.
But I see by your location that you’ve already figured that out.
cya in 0.0 with my NOSDomi
I’ll check her spam filter today, she hasn’t seen it yet.
In no particular order:
Yeah, EVE Online ruled my world for about a year. I got bored with it because I ran with a corp of people who never QUITE got big enough for 0.0, and when they disbanded I made a tidy profit selling my account (since we’d managed to loot a battle site where two medium-sized megacorp fleets had almost literally wiped each other out near Caldari space) and ships.
FFXI would be so much fun if they’d fix the economy. I had a lv75 dragoon, and I’m pretty sure I was one of the top five dragoons on Diabolos.
I’m loving City of Heroes so far, have a level 6 Tanker hero (Archangel Zeriel) on Virtue, and a Mastermind villan on Protector (Dr. Communism). MrsZer hasn’t seen her trial code in her e-mail and she’s loathe to kick me off my own machine and play, even though I’ve told her it’s cool to do so–but from the half-hour she’s played, she’s liking it a lot.
I’ve been staying off the doper chat channels until I decide if I’m going to do it permanantly.
Thanks, all, for all the good responses.
Unoriginal, but not necessarily blah. I never really played EQ or WoW, other than for trial subscriptions, but I can see how close LotRO is to those games. Not having worked the grind in those games, I can enjoy LotRO more. Turbine did well with their first MMO; different enough from EQ (this was before WoW) and interesting. Rather than recreating WoW, they should have reskinned the first Asheron’s Call.
Come to the Doper channel, at the very least, it’ll make finding teams easier.
BTW, I should have a couple of trial codes floating around, if anyone needs them.
If I decide to subscribe, is there a Doper outpost in Auto Assault?
I don’t know of one. My account is dormant right now, I have it because of Beta and a free re-activation they did a couple of months ago. Fun game really, but my list of MMOs is already too long. (Thank ghu for long skill training times in EVEOnline. :p)
Guess I’ll start an Auto Assault thread if/when I decide to subscribe.
I’ve got a semi-current account, and I’m waiting like mad for the PlayNC Pass. It’s no CoH, but it’ll do.
I guess it’s subjective. Even two and a half years after its release, I think EQ2 has the best graphics of any MMORPG. I can’t say that I actually play it though (other than checking it out again when they send me something for a free week).
Oops. Wrong thread. I posted the offer in the ‘PC Games you want Remade.’ You need a code for Auto Assault, I have a few.
Lok, I will look you up next time I am on Test and get some characters into the SG so you can play with the base.
And I guess I should try out the LOTR MMO now… curse you! 