Ah, CoH, why won't you let me go...

So, it’s a double xp weekend for CoH.

CoH. I have such a plethora of mixed emotions about this mmorpg. I love it, I loathe it, and I keep going back to it, just to remember why I left it in the first place.

I keep going back for the eye candy. The combat effects are wonderful, but mostly it’s the character creation that gives me optical cavities. No game yet has matched the flexibility and the creativity that CoH allows a player when they create their visual identity in the game. It is nice to be able to be an individual, and to recognize another character on sight, just by their particular suit. It’s nice to be recognized on sight.

I am disappointed that in WoW every tier 2 rogue looks like every other tier 2 rogue. I hate that when I was leveling I looked like I got dressed in the dark and walked out of the house with a blindfold on. At least in UO there were leather dye tubs, and colored ore. (If only UO had never implemented neon and flame gear *shudder*)

But once the novelty of a couple of hours of playing Barbie dress up with my toons wears off, I remember why I left CoH.

The Grind.

The Grind.

The Grind.

City of Villains helped a little. A little. But it is still a very, very basic level grind. Kill massive amounts of a certain type of ai mob. Rinse. Repeat. Level. Start all over.

Bleh.

Granted, most mmorpgs follow that simple formula, but in my experience there have at least been alternative ways to spend your time progressing in game…non combat skills like fishing and cooking, crafting skills, or the lovely, lovely housing system in UO (*drools* okay, give me a break, I am a girl, and I will not rebuke the stereotype). There have been quests that are not combat related, and little bits of fluff content here and there to soften the sharp edges of the mob kill for exp cycle.

In the well intentioned effort to create a simple, pretty, streamlined game, they neglected to think of the depth of the environment. CoH could be so, so much more.

And yet, even after all of that, I still look at the email sitting in my inbox, and think about going back. Just for a little while. Just to play Barbie dress up.