The five most annoying griefs in CoX, and how they were quashed
As a rule, we don't like to highlight griefing behavior here at Massively. For the most part, it's not only puerile, it's tedious. But our ongoing mission to highlight aspects of City of Heroes lore and culture wouldn't be complete without a mention of some of the ways players have tried to break the game in order to annoy others, and more importantly, how a new player can now protect himself using the tools the developers have provided. Knowing is half the battle, right?
Many of the most notorious griefing tactics are now ancient history, so now that their teeth have been pulled, we thought we'd run down the top five, as if surveying stuffed heads on the wall. The following tactics have all been identified and addressed some time ago, either by making them impossible, or by allowing cautious players to protect themselves via selectable permissions.
5: Malicious teleportation
This blogger clearly remembers the view from the top of a burning skyscraper in Boomtown. It was breathtaking. It was apocalyptic. It was the last thing he saw before there was a curious grinding flash and suddenly the world was zooming away really fast. There was a slam, and suddenly the health bar was down to one point, which an obliging 5th Columnist shot away. Hello, hospital.
A teammate with the Teleport Friend power (the word 'friend' has a pretty short expiry date here) can help out tremendously by zapping you to his side from huge distances away. Because he can place the reticle where you end up, he can also choose where you land. This can be in the middle of a group of bad guys, next to an angry boss, or as mentioned above, on to thin air beside a drop.
How the Devs dealt with it: You can set an option (on by default) to prompt before accepting a teleport. This is on by default, so you never have to be teleported without your consent again.
4: Zap, you're stuck! Or have debt
More annoying than Teleport Friend is Teleport Foe, one of the powers beloved of the more gank-happy PvPers. Being forcibly jaunted across the map and finding yourself on mines, or within range of a two-fisted overhead Energy Melee wallop, is bad enough: but worse was being neatly plonked into an inescapable container.
The sentry turrets in the Siren's Call zone were the destination of choice. A player who was ported into one of those was stuck fast. Only a fellow player with Teleport Friend could reliably get you out.
The other really nasty grief with Teleport Foe was to beam someone next to a drone. This is still done, and is technically legit in PvP, but it used to get you debt.
How the Devs dealt with it: The geometry's now changed so that teleporting people into a stuck condition isn't possible. You can also take orange inspirations (which increase Damage Resistance) to protect yourself against hostile teleportation. Drones don't give debt any more, fortunately.
3. The Kronos has a hold, noob!
The old-style Hamidon Raids were often long, predictable and a bit dull. Everyone knew what to do, and it wasn't hard to do it. People made their own entertainment, usually with 'more cowbell' jokes. Then some ingenious scamp realised that the Kronos Titan ambush is triggered by a certain mission finishing, and is focused on the team leader. So if the team leader were in a Hamidon raid and the rest of the team finished the trigger mission simultaneously...
The result was the appearance of a gigantic hostile robot in the middle of a raid. The usual self-congratulatory videos appeared.
How the Devs dealt with it: The Kronos Titan just won't show up any more if players try to do this. The Devs took an extremely dim view of Hamidon Raid griefing.
2. Giant Monsters in Portal Court
Portal Court was, and to some extent still is, the place for annoying PL-seekers to hang out. Low level characters would make the hazardous journey all the way from the starting zones to the level 40-50 zone of Peregrine Island, and stand in Portal Court begging for high-level characters to powerlevel them.
Power level seekers aren't popular, but the 'solution' to their presence that some people came up with was worse. They went and pestered the monsters on faraway Monster Island, and lured them all the way to Portal Court. The resulting carnage annoyed lots of people and solved nothing. Even now, some people will argue that this behavior was justified. It's not, and it can get you banned.
How the Devs dealt with it: There are now police drones in Portal Court. Even a Giant Monster can't withstand a hit from one of those.
1. Nova in Atlas Park
Controversy raged over this one. The people who set it up swore blind that everyone involved was a voluntary participant. Whether this is true or not, it is probably the most infamous act of griefing ever seen in CoX. Atlas Park is a social hub, the first zone many newcomers will see, and it remains a gathering place throughout the game. Costume contests are often held there. Naturally, someone had to figure out a way to spoil it.
The culprits worked out a way to chain Confuse effects. Someone in a PvP zone would get confused by a villain, causing him to see friendly targets as hostile. He would then cast a Confuse effect on someone else, which was possible since the other hero was temporarily appearing as an enemy... and so on, all the way down to the blaster with the nuke. Asshattery ensued.
How the Devs dealt with it: All mez effects, including Confuse, are now stripped from you when you zone.
There are, of course, many more examples of player-on-player annoyance. We haven't touched on bases, for example: the golden rule is to be careful who you trust with base permissions, as a nastily-inclined player can empty out your salvage bins, or sell all of your base furniture and replace it with several hundred identical water coolers.
And if you get griefed? Don't hesitate to /petition. It's your game, and you have a right to play and enjoy it.
