That being said, I'm sure there are still a number of masochists out there who are more than happy to keep eating the same dish, those who, for instance, love a good level grind. There are things missing from Heroes that might catch you off guard at first. Gone are items, weapons, armor, spells, crafting, and any semblance of an economy. Of course, without crafting and an economy, there's no way to screw it up, and without items and equipment there's no need to farm for cash or camp rare spawn locations. Mainly what have gone are the multitudes of time sinks present in most MMOs that are there just to keep you dishing out more money each month. That works for some, but the solid gameplay in Heroes is what keeps me coming back day after day and week after week. Again, good gameplay in an MMO may not be what some of you are looking for, you know who you are Outaru.

I guess in order to tell this story right, we need to back up to the beginning and look at the extraordinary hero creation system. The hero creation is so much fun, a super fan has created a small program that replicates the process, and it almost feels like a game in itself. You start with an origin and an archetype for your character. Your origin is where you came from, be it Mutant, Magic, Science, Technology, or Natural. Your archetype is your character class, and the choices are Blaster, Tanker, Defender, Controller, or Scrapper. After that, it's on the power selection screen where you get to specialize within an archetype. A Controller who commands the Earth can play totally different than one who concentrates on the power of mind control. Within your newly chosen power categories, you then get to choose your first two powers, with each new power awarded every even level thereafter. From the powers screen, you finally get to design your avatar. There are three builds (female, male, and hulking male) to choose from and thousands upon thousands of costume pieces and accessory combinations at your disposal. There are so many possibilities that I end up sitting around city hall or the train station just looking at what people have come up with. Along with your name, you also get a chance to write a background story for you hero, which are fun to read when people take the time to do it.

Ok, when I said solid gameplay, I meant, "Oh my god, the combat is fun!" For starters, forget about targeting a bad guy and toggling on attack. Even your basic punch must be activated each time it's ready to use. Without straying too much from the formula of powers being activated and then recharging, they've put the action back into fighting. Most main offensive powers recharge in a matter of seconds, and not too long after starting, there will be a number of them at your disposal.

I think above all else, though, the highest point of the game for me is the sheer number of enemies you will face at one time. Rarely outside of the beginning of the game, if ever, will you find a bad guy standing around or committing a crime by himself. You fight against groups in City of Heroes, which makes more sense considering you are supposed to be powerful enough to take on more than one random thug at a time. Those random thugs turn into some pretty powerful enemies later in the game, complete with arch-villain super powers of their own. This single vs. group and group vs. group gameplay is totally out of control. My friends and I used to joke that the only fun fights we had in other MMOs was when a pull went bad or you got an unexpected add and had to think on your feet. To put it simply, that is every fight in City of Heroes. What good are all the area of effect spells in FFXI if you can't use them without running the risk of having to fight more than one mo nster, spelling certain doom? Try Heroes where the controller intentionally holds as many minions in a group as they can while the blaster rains fire (literally) on the whole lot of them.

A few other major issues fly away in Heroes, downtime, camping, and forced or stringent grouping. So, your group just laid waste to 12 or so bad guys, guess you better sit and rest for a few minutes before you pull the next mob. Well, no. Nobody is pulling anything anywhere. As soon as you finished that fight, you're running to the next group of guys while your endurance is getting close to topping off, and you're starting right up again. A lot of your fighting is going to be done in instanced missions, which I'll talk about a little later, where your job is to clear a building or sewer or cave. This means, no standing around in one spot while one person pulls the next (singular) enemy back to camp. Even when fighting outside in hazard zones, our group never sits around in one spot, we are constantly running seeking out other groups to fight. What's great about running around is that you end up seeing wildly different compositions of groups. Not only different types (soldiers, mages, etc.) but also different sizes and structures (no bosses, 1 boss and 3 lieutenants, etc.). It's hard to put the chaos of the fights into words, but it really makes you look forward to the next day of fighting.

Not only is soloing possible at nearly all levels for most archetypes (really all of them can, even my Controller who has very little offense), grouping is also very convenient. The motto should be two heroes are better than one. Really, if you pair up with anyone else, even it they are the same type as you, fights will immediately become easier. Add a few more, and you're really rolling. This is due in part, to a lot of archetypes being able to heal themselves or others, negating the stereotypical wait for a healer most groups go through. In over a month of playing, it has never taken me more than five minutes to get in a group and begin fighting. Sure, if you tried for the perfect combination (you know: tanker, healer, crowd control, damage), things might be even easier, but you really don't have to worry about it. Take whoever is available at or around your level and you're off. That reminds me, you know how it sucks to be out-leveled by your friends to where you can't group together anymore? Forget about that. City of Heroes introduces a sidekick (clever) system where you can bring up a friend from his lower level to fight one level below you, making the two of you an effective Duo.

Traveling also cuts out a lot of downtime, even from the very first level of play. Everyone starts with a sprint ability, which can help you make it to most places within a zone pretty quickly, but there are many other things to aid in the process. There is a common power available that teleports a friend to you. There are a multitude of powers available at level 14 to speed things up like super jumping (think Hulk), super speed, and flying. There are also elevated trains that run from zone to zone to help you navigate the city much faster.

The reason you need to move around so much is because you will constantly be assigned missions. You receive personal contacts in the game like news reporters, scientists, and police officers. They give you a background on some of the criminal activities that they would like you to investigate for them. These missions often involve what we call, door missions. The door missions, give you and your group your very own instance of an area complete with enemies scaled to your level and size of your group. Not only do these instances break up the monotony of fighting random groups on the street, they also move along some story lines. These story arcs piece clues, that you find, together into a comic book sized story sometimes leading to a big boss fight at the end. The interface for the missions is very user friendly too. Contacts are stored in a window and active missions are stored in another. Anytime you click on a contact or a mission, your compass and your map will point you to the exact location to go. No need to worry about following vague clues to find the location of building you need to clear.

Like any young MMORPG, City of Heroes is not without bugs and balancing issues. The developers are fantastic and spend a lot of their time answering questions and addressing concerns on the official message board. Already a lot of powers have been retouched, most buffed up and a few toned down, and that makes me a little nervous. We've already seen screens and gotten lots of info on the next, content patch, which will introduce a bunch of new enemy groups and more. That's one of the fun things about MMOs is watching the game grow, especially when you truly enjoy it in the beginning. I also think without some more ingenuity, the missions will begin to get stale. There has to be more to do in the future other than "clear this room" or "defeat 10 of this type of enemy."

City of Heroes has me thinking twice about World of Warcraft. I don't know if I can ever go back to single pulling, auto attack type battles. You don't even have to be into MMOs to enjoy this game. It's a great starting point for someone new to the genre. If you love to complain about the current state of MMOs, then this is the perfect game for you to try out. Hope to see you all online.