City of Villains Stress Test - No Sub Required

[Heretic Machine]

Fileplanet is giving out beta keys to the City of Villains stress test beta right now, even to non-subscribers. I just got my key, so if you have any interest in this game at all, you should probably rush over to Fileplanet (http://www.fileplanet.com) to get your own!

[DocOblivion]

Ah, and now to find a torrent of the rather large client...

[Savok]

Any place where you don't have to give them your life's history?

[Cerebus]

I just gave them a bunch of fake info on the form. They give you the key on the next page after one of those "type in the numbers" confirmation thingys so there is really no need to give them accurate information.

Heywood Jablowme is ready to play!

[NoName]

Any place where you don't have to give them your life's history?
The only required fields are your e-mail and your birthdate. I gave them my normal junk e-mail address for internet forms and put in my birthday, walla, key.

[DCJoeDog]

I hate paranoid people.

[Lint of Death]

Hmm, Firefox's Download Manager seems to have gone berserk downloading this file. Around the time when it should have been done, I checked the progress and it now reads -1877500 KB at -406.8 KB/sec. Both values are inexplicably (increasing?) to zero. WTF m8.

EDIT: looking at the actual file on my computer, the beta is apparently being downloaded in a perfectly normal fashion.. Phew

[Cerebus]

I hate paranoid people.

Yes, because we all know that IGN/Fileplanet/Gamespy have our best interests at heart. I'm sorry, if my university can lose my personal information to hackers, I'm not going to bother to trust one biggest and most retarded corporate conglomerates on the web.

In another 15 hours or so I may actually have the COV client. Thanks for the dowload speed cap fileplanet!

Anybody find a better way to get this thing yet?

[Ernst_Jager]

I'm getting a nice 550Kb/s off the free servers myself.

[Cupelix]

Just finished downloading it and...YAY THE FILE IS CORRUPT. Thanks a million, FP.

[Kagger]

I just rememberd that I set up a Kagger gmail account...and that is now the game box

[Spooky]

Why people clamor like madmen to play a stress test is beyond me. Your asking for a terrible, lag-ridden, bug-filled experience. That said, this should be a good game.

[Cupelix]

Its still a sneak peek into the archtypes and powersets. That's honestly what I'm most interested in seeing first hand. That, and the costume options.

[Zeal]

This is a pretty good game, but the stress test is pointless in playing. After completing a few missions, I can honestly say that the lag is so bad that you literally cannot play the game.

Also, there is no way you're going to be able to advance far enough to see much, considering the stress test ends in a few days. The client is also gigantic.

Not worth the download.

[Heretic Machine]

Yes, because we all know that IGN/Fileplanet/Gamespy have our best interests at heart. I'm sorry, if my university can lose my personal information to hackers, I'm not going to bother to trust one biggest and most retarded corporate conglomerates on the web.

Ok... appearently you don't know this yet. Chances are good that your University (and any other) is more incompetent than any corporation on the whole planet.

Why people clamor like madmen to play a stress test is beyond me. Your asking for a terrible, lag-ridden, bug-filled experience. That said, this should be a good game.

Because City of Heroes has turned into a big pile or shit and I'd like to know if this is worth buying, at all?

[Kefkataran]

Because City of Heroes has turned into a big pile or shit and I'd like to know if this is worth buying, at all?

Well, like he said, a stress test isn't a very accurate view of what the game will play like, since it's going to be so laggy. Probably not so much bug-ridden, but certainly still a few of those around. Nothing game-stopping, I'm sure.

Luckily for you, I can answer the worth-buying question:

The game will be an absolute blast for the first couple months until they start nerfing everything left and right. This will be for two reasons. Reason the first: villains will be insanely overpowered compared to heroes and PvP must be balanced. Reason the second: Statesman loves to make us squirm. He gets off on it. He's fucking sick.

That said, I preordered the game but just cancelled my CoH account when I found out about the enhancement nerf bullshit. I'm sure I'll play both again at some point, but not until some of this mess is cleaned up.

[bstiff]

well downloaded it and tried it for a few minutes. The new archetypes were a little interesting but as for game play seems like the same old same old COH w/ new achetypes. will probably unistall it later. If you had problems with not being able to extract the client you may have to update your winrar. I had problems at first then updated and it worked fine.

[Cerebus]

Ok... appearently you don't know this yet. Chances are good that your University (and any other) is more incompetent than any corporation on the whole planet.

More incompetent than Fileplanet/IGN/Gamespy? I highly doubt it. Now you are just insulting higher education. They can't even get their websites to run correctly. They are so badly designed and loaded down with bullshit flash ads that they alienate 3/4s of the web population because their pages take too damn long to load and aren't even worth seeing when they do. I remember cruising these sites on dial-up before they became like this, and now, even with broadband they are shit.

So yeah, an alumni database at my university was hacked into and personal information probably stolen. At least the university sent me a letter about it and told me to put a fraud alert on my credit report. I seriously doubt that these yahoos over at Fileplanet could give a rat's ass if someone stole my information from their database.

[Savok]

For those complaining about the enhancement nerf, States has hinted at 50% enhs now. I think he's going to make that the end game, let us earn back what we already had, but hey, it's progress.

[Kefkataran]

For those complaining about the enhancement nerf, States has hinted at 50% enhs now. I think he's going to make that the end game, let us earn back what we already had, but hey, it's progress.

He's probably just toying with us. Statesman is such a fucking cocktease.

[Heretic Machine]

More incompetent than Fileplanet/IGN/Gamespy? I highly doubt it.

Then you're a freshman, shut up.

Now you are just insulting higher education.

Higher education involves reading lots of books on your own time. Universities have no association with higher education. They are in the business of selling $60,000 pieces of paper that society requires all people to get these days.

[Klade]

Higher education involves reading lots of books on your own time. Universities have no association with higher education. They are in the business of selling $60,000 pieces of paper that society requires all people to get these days.

Not quite that bad but still pretty bad. At my undergraduate we had a saying that if a virgin ever graduated our (bronze statue) mascot would get up and walk away. The return to this statement was "but that will never happen since the university screws everyone over at least once".

I found this statement to be very very true. I think it was berkeley where they lost a bunch of their students personal information when they left a laptop filled with unencrypted info (like SSN, addresses, birthdays etc) lying out in the open.

Thats pretty fucking stupid from where I'm standing.

[Klade]

Just finished downloading it and...YAY THE FILE IS CORRUPT. Thanks a million, FP.

Email I got said that this requires at least winzip 9. Make sure your usng winzip 9 or above.

[Kefkataran]

They are in the business of selling $60,000 pieces of paper that society requires all people to get these days.

Not to continue the off-topic talk, but I'd say it's a stretch to say that society requires all people to get degrees. It just increases your chances of getting a higher-paying job, and even then it's far from a guarantee, just as not having one is far from a guarantee of not getting a higher-paying job.

Also: university bureaucracy sucks, but as to whether or not the education portion is actually good, I'd say that depends completely on where you are and who is teaching you. Just like any classroom setting, a good teacher makes or breaks a class.

[Cerebus]

Then you're a freshman, shut up.

I'll just chalk this up to you either having a bad day or just bad experience with universities in general. I'm doing my best not to assume that you are a complete asshole all the time.

Anyway, the time it is taking to download this thing, along with the resports I am getting of the terrible lag are seriously making me reconsider. Let's see if I can be patient enough to withstand the wait. I really want to see the character creator.

[DCJoeDog]

ALOT of the time, the file is NOT corrupt, you just need to get the latest version of winzip, FP seems ot update when they do.

[Heretic Machine]

Not to continue the off-topic talk, but I'd say it's a stretch to say that society requires all people to get degrees.

Every day from the day I began kindergarden it has been drilled into my head by guidance counsellors, teachers, and even my parents that if I didn't get a degree then I was pretty much worthless. That is how my generation has been raised to think. So when I go out and try to get a job with one of these people who have been taught to think this way, I won't get it if I don't have a degree.

Anyway, CoV was fun. I like the Mastermind archtype a lot. Robots, Ninjas, Zombies and Mercenaries... wooh! I made a Robotics Mastermind named Tech Support :p

[Klade]

Just got it installed.

In character creation for females there is a "chest" slider. So all I can say is:


BOOBIES!!

[Lekon]

Hey guys, they just lifted the NDA on beta, so I can say some stuff fromhaving been in it awhile.

The lag these last few days (Since Wednesday) has been really up and down. More ups than down. Thursday I had 9 Mapserver probles in 1 hour.

Since the stress test, I haven't had any problems in the higher up (30+ zones) or any problems with the low level zone (Mercey) on the second server they just put in. Im to scared to go to mercey island on the Main Test Server.

Game's a lot more fun than COH felt to me. All those classes/ideas relating to defence are pretty much poofed. Villans are rather offensive. And I like the classes feel. Hard to explain.
(Edit: hit post too soon)

THe five archetypes all fit well together, Brutes Smash, Dominators Are controllers with a useful secondary for a change, Stalkers are the rouges from DAoC and other games, Corruptors are the real version of all the "Offender" defenders from COH, and Masterminds are just nifty.

Nothing like going into a fight with a whole pack of ninjas.
Any questions? NDA is lifted so I don't have to be quiet!

[Expugnare]

How big IS this file? I have been downloading it for about 2.5 hours. HOLY CRAP it says I have NEGATIVE data and transfer rate

[omnithrope]

Higher education involves reading lots of books on your own time. Universities have no association with higher education. They are in the business of selling $60,000 pieces of paper that society requires all people to get these days.

Spoken like someone with a chip on his shoulder because he doesn't have a degree.

[Klade]

How big IS this file? I have been downloading it for about 2.5 hours. HOLY CRAP it says I have NEGATIVE data and transfer rate

2.5 gigs? Somewhere around there. Once you have you have to get another 210meg patch or there abouts.

Well I've played it for a few short minutes. The servers keep dying on me but between shutdowns I've had a chance to get a feel for things. It seems they took everything the CoH character creator had in it and then added about 10 or 12 new skins, models, to each catagory that they had from before. Essentially you could create a hero and a villian that look identical to each other.

The low level powers are very similar from what I remember of CoH. And the intro is also very similar. Can't say much more about it then that though. I doubt very much that I'll be picking this one up. I dropped CoH way back before the 2nd content pack was released because the gameplay was too repetative. Looks like theres more of that in CoV. Oh well.

[codswallop]

Spoken like someone with a chip on his shoulder because he doesn't have a degree.
And speaking as someone who doesn't have a university-level degree, but works alongside (and manages) people who do, I can tell you that (at least in my experience, in the IT industry) real-world experience is much more valuable.

Of course, having some sort of vocational training is important, IMO. I just happened to be too lazy to want to spend so long on obtaining a degree.

[Heretic Machine]

Spoken like someone with a chip on his shoulder because he doesn't have a degree.

Or someone who realized that Unversity level education has died. Yes, you can learn a lot in YOUR major. But that's about it. Too bad they make you take dozens of completly worthless classes taught by people who could never get a job outside of a University enviroment. Don't get me started on how Universities basically steal their students money these days...

[Dabombpizza]

Hmm...well so much for preordering to get into the beta. I preorder right when the boxes hit and have not had so much as a word from Cryptic. The fact that I have to use the fileplanet stress test over my preorder "guaranteed beta entrace" is crap.

[Savok]

Too bad they make you take dozens of completly worthless classes taught by people who could never get a job outside of a University enviroment.
Too true

I actually left school before I finished High School (three years before, got out as soon as I could), the Australian education system is just too ultra left wing for me, we weren't learning anything expect how conversatives are evil.

Sad part is, people I've met with degrees (and not just ones in Liberal Arts), I'm usually a lot smarter than, and I don't consider myself a genius.

[Savok]

They STILL haven't got some of the beta invite stuff working, they really fucked up that one.

[Ernst_Jager]

The game doesn't seem Evil enough for my tastes. I wanted to kill kittens and steal candy from kids. The Stalker is brutal so far though. I can kill even cons in one assassinate attack. Mastermind also seems extremely over powered. Really the game is almost exactly the same as CoH but with 'villian' skins. I would recommend pass if you didn't like CoH.

[Kefkataran]

Or someone who realized that Unversity level education has died. Yes, you can learn a lot in YOUR major. But that's about it. Too bad they make you take dozens of completly worthless classes taught by people who could never get a job outside of a University enviroment.

Again, this is just so much based on where you are and who's teaching you. Of course in any university you're bound to come up with professors who are less good than you'd like, but it's the same with life -- you're always going to bump into and have to deal with incompetent people at some points.

Sad part is, people I've met with degrees (and not just ones in Liberal Arts), I'm usually a lot smarter than, and I don't consider myself a genius.

It's not that hard to get a degree. Certain ones especially don't require a lot in the smarts department. Music majors, I'm looking at you. And yet again, though, place is always a huge factor.

[Deadend]

I made a mastermind... I kinda wish I could have more, but weaker guys... as having my own army sounds fun.

I also wish my ninjas appeared in a puff of smoke.

I like the changes that have been made to the game, I noticed that the powers for the villians do have more potential paths for upgrading than heros, so the whole enhancement thing doesn't look like it would hurt potential villians as much.

Mercy Island is also a much cooler area than Atlas Park, or Galaxy City. Hell, the artists just seem to have gone totalyl crazy making better looking things, that look cool.

CoV may take the crown for best art and style in a MMO.

[Heretic Machine]

Music majors, I'm looking at you.

I heard about a class, something like "Music Theory" that would kick your ass... I think it's a requirment for Music majors here.

[Savok]

You can include degrees in business and managment as well for things which require no brain power.

Jack Thompson, he'd of had to get a law degree right? I rest my case.

[Kefkataran]

I heard about a class, something like "Music Theory" that would kick your ass... I think it's a requirment for Music majors here.

Yeah, pretty sure Music Theory's a requirement for music majors here as well. Not sure why it would kick my ass though. A bit complex? Possibly. More complex than, say, physics? Eh...

You can include degrees in business and managment as well for things which require no brain power.

Oh, they are right at the top of my list. Almost all the business and management majors I know are complete morons. Not surprisingly, these are also the guys who come to college more concerned with getting a degree because it looks nice than with learning about stuff they care about. I think that might be an important distinction.

Jack Thompson, he'd of had to get a law degree right? I rest my case.

It's weird that getting a law degree and passing the bar is supposed to be so difficult, yet we end up with morons like him as lawyers. Hell.

[Savok]

To make real music takes massive amounts of talent, skill and knowledge. Depends on school really, though to me a degree for it is worthless, you either have it or you don't, it's not something you learn like how to read, it has to be already in you.

[Kefkataran]

To make real music takes massive amounts of talent, skill and knowledge. Depends on school really, though to me a degree for it is worthless, you either have it or you don't, it's not something you learn like how to read, it has to be already in you.

Oh, I totally agree. I mean, it's obvious from this (and as I've said so before) that I'm in college. But I'm not in college because I'm concerned about having a degree. I'm in college because I want to develop the areas of thought I'm interested in and some other skills I'm interested in. Luckily I got to a school that has good profs in those fields, so I'm doing well. But obviously it isn't in you to start, it won't be later.

And I'm definitely not dissing on musicians. I have a lot of music major friends, and I totally respect them. I just don't think it's the most brain-challenging. That said, though, it's certainly a lot more work than most majors. Hell, if I were just single-majoring in English or political theory, I'd have ten times the amount of free time as most music majors.

[Savok]

Again it depends how much you use your brain. 99.9% of modern music is utterly mindless and comes under pollution laws, whatever people are taught wherever is wrong and they're idiots.

That .1% though, proper musical arrangment and writing is akin to.... imagine how difficult it'd be to balance a game which had CoH vs WoW, while they both retained their respective gameplay mechanics and balance within themselves. Making a truly awesome piece of music is akin to doing that, if everything isn't in balance and doesn't mesh together just right, it sounds wrong.

Again though, in my opinion that's shit you get in the real world with real masters, not some fucking school with a lefty "performance artist" in charge because he couldn't make it in the real world himself.

[Kefkataran]

That .1% though, proper musical arrangment and writing is akin to.... imagine how difficult it'd be to balance a game which had CoH vs WoW, while they both retained their respective gameplay mechanics and balance within themselves.

Very strong metaphor. That's some good work.

Again though, in my opinion that's shit you get in the real world with real masters, not some fucking school with a lefty "performance artist" in charge because he couldn't make it in the real world himself.

You do realize the fact that the "performance artist in charge" is or is not a lefty has nothing to do with how shitty of a teacher he is or is not right? My political theory prof? He's a ridiculously biased, America-hating commie. The first and most important lesson we learn in his class is to take everything he says with a huge grain of salt and challenge him at every step. But despite that seemingly huge shortcoming (or perhaps somewhat because of it), he's almost definitely one of the best profs I have, or at the very least the best guy I could hope to have teaching me poli-theory.

Anywho.

[Savok]

He's like me, a giant warning sign of what not to be in life.

Oh and performance artists are always left, if we had right ones they'd of been shot long ago.

[Kefkataran]

He's like me, a giant warning sign of what not to be in life.

And how we appreciate you for it. From the EA community, through me, to you: <3.

Oh and performance artists are always left, if we had right ones they'd of been shot long ago.

Hahahahaha. Good point.

[bone_matrix]

Where did you guys put the key in? I installed it, loaded it up, and now it asks for my username/password, which I don't have because I don't have an account. If I misssed something small, I woudln't doubt it. Any help would be cool. Thanks guys.

[Xaerin]

Go to PlayNC (http://www.plaync.com) and create an account then click add game and put it in there.

[The Iron Weasel]

It's weird that getting a law degree and passing the bar is supposed to be so difficult, yet we end up with morons like him as lawyers. Hell.

Weasel is on the case, i will go through university and become the VIDEO GAME DEFENDING LAWYER, I'll even have shirts made "The Iron Weasel Presents: The Iron Lawyer". Oh yeah mother fuckers!

[Kefkataran]

Weasel is on the case, i will go through university and become the VIDEO GAME DEFENDING LAWYER, I'll even have shirts made "The Iron Weasel Presents: The Iron Lawyer". Oh yeah mother fuckers!

Shit. I'd give you props for that. :P

[Ventura_DK]

What's your general feeling for the future of the game, Lekon? So far CoV beta is really fun, but I'm afraid a few big nerfs after the release will do to CoV what they've been doing to CoH since Issue 3. :-/

[Heretic Machine]

CoV is fun, but not significantly different than CoH. I don't believe it deserves it's $50 price tag.

[Savok]

It's $35 if you have CoH, that free month still counts and does both.