The NDA has been lifted! I can now tell you that I have been playtesting the soon-to-be-released superhero MMORPG, City of Heroes (CoH). Okay, I've only been playtesting since March 30th (yes, I bought the pre-order box), but still. I have enjoyed being a part of this playtest. Yes, it has been frustrating at times, since I came in at the "stress-test" and "scale-test" portions of the playtest. That meant that the servers crashed -- sometimes alot. But it has been important for the developers to find the best way to optimize and configure the servers. I have not been a big fan of the MMO "genre," and I think I might take a moment to explain why. First of all, when the genre started, Everquest did not even make a "blip" on my gaming radar. I thought, "Hm, fantasy roleplaying game, so what?" I did not realize that it was Massively Multiplayer at the time. Then I started reading about it, and it seemed so limited. Almost exclusively combat-oriented gameplay, that was subject to the annoyance of dealing with other people (who could steal your kills or your loot, or even attack and "kill" your charcater). It seemed too easy for it to become no fun. Then other games came along, and they added other features to limit PvP or "griefing," as well as add non-combat goals, but they came with their own set of problems. Then there came the cost: unlike some others my complaint is not about the monthly fee to play. I fully understand that it takes money to maintain the game servers and constantly develop new content for those servers. What annoys me is that, given the recurring monthly fee, why does the client software cost so d***ed much? Wouldn't it be feasable (and more customer-friendly) to subsidize the cost of client software development in the monthly fee? I understand that the games try to simulate this by giving you your first month of play "free," but that just effectively means that you are paying for your first month when you buy the client software. The latest games cost $40-50 for the client and $12-15 a month. That means that the client software really costs $28-35, with the first month included in the cost. That is not a bad price for a decent single-player (non-online) game, but that single-player game already has at least a month's worth of gameplay (for me, a casual gamer that only has time to play after the wife has gone to bed) -- and many of those single-player games also have online content included, as well as giving you the tools to create your own content (think Half-Life, or Neverwinter Nights). Okay, so how is CoH different? Well, first of all, there is no PvP, nor any loot to steal, and experience for "kills" is based upon who did the most damage (except in teams, where it is distributed among the team). In the place of loot, there are enhancements (which are used to "customize" your powers) and inspirations (which are one shot, temporary "buffs" for your character). These can be traded with other players, or bought & sold at certain locations, but they are never dropped on the ground for another to be able to steal. You can easily find a group to team with for a mission, and the missions automatically scale to fit the size and level of the team. Most missions are "instanced," which means that once you (or your team) enter the mission area, nobody else will enter that same area -- if someone else goes on the same mission, they will enter their own version of that area. The background is quite deep. The developers have worked up a detailed history of Paragon City, the heroes that have protected it in the past, and the villains that have and still threaten it. The Game Features section of the CoH website is definitely worth the time to read. Unfortunately, there is no innovation in terms of cost. That is one reason why I bought the pre-order box, it gave me an "in" to the beta test, and will serve to reduce the cost of the client when it is released (which will be soon -- I saw the "gone gold" announcement today, and the "go live" date is set for April 28). Anyway, I am likely going to join in this game when it goes live. I will post some of my screenshots from my playtest experience later.