Alright, well back when CoH first came out, i gave it a try, but i just couldn't get too deep into gameplay, so i stuck with FFXI for a while. But since im a comic geek, i had to give it one more shot. In the following paragraphs i will be describing my new "first impressions".

Alright, well i started out browsing through all the different types of characters, trying out different archtypes just to see which one's playstyle fit me. Originally i began by making hero characters. As righteous as they may be, i can flat out say that the game really didn't pull me in from the beginning. It was like "lets see, i can be a hero who shoots things, or a hero who uses weapons to melee"  Yes, yes i know there were other options which seemed more "Super" but after going through the different Archtypes, they just weren't that interesting.

So, hoping for the game to pull me in, i went to the dark side. I have to say, just from the selection screen everything seemed more enticing. I am not too sure if it was because i have a weakness for the dark side, or it was just flat out more interesting. So after scrolling through all the options i decided to make a Mastermind. Not just any mastermind, a mastermind who's lakeys were ninjas.

Alright, cool. Not many games with ninjas in them. As for my second power i went with this shadow specialty which had a healing spell, and a few other interesting ones down the line. So i spend about thirty minutes making my character, and finally get in game. Now first thing that i noticed once i got to fighting is how crazy the damage of my ninja was compared to the damage of other players at that level. It was by itself as strong, if not stronger than a tanker (maybe lacking a bit in hp though). I was also given a Ninja Star ability since i chose the Ninja mastery. So basically i would send my pet in and just stand back and throw ninja stars, and be able to plow through my enemies with no problem at all.If my minion's health ever got low, i would just have to go stand next to him, and then cast one of my shadow spells on an enemy and Walaa back to full health.

Alright so at level two and four, i was able to pick some new skills. Most of the Shadow or dark based skills were mainly debuffs on the enemies, so i decided to take the two from the Ninja side. These two skills let me use a bow, one that did minor damage with a fast cooldown and one that did moderate, with a moderate cooldown.

So now, it feels like i am a blaster, with a ninja. Taking on 4-5 monsters at a time was easily doable.

End conclusion: I find CoV to be more interesting, yet oddly easier than CoH. The games are worth trying out though. I would probably be suckedi nto resubscribing if only WAR wasn't around the corner.

I always prefer CoH due to them having better tanks, brutes in CoV are more like scrappers

I do however like the atmosphere of CoV, and yes Masterminds *i think they're called?* are addictive. I suppose mayhem missions are funner than safeguard's as well, I enjoy robbing banks and kicking ass. 

CoX is an overlooked game I think, im enjoying for the last few months :)

That particular type of ninja will get weaker eventually, but of course you get more to make up for that. Make sure you get your upgrades, more attacks are good.

Ninja/Dark is a great combination, but you will find that without your buffs & debuffs, they will die when faced with tough enemies. Yet you would squish easily if you took too much aggro on yourself. So get to know the "Bodyguard Mode" (Defensive Follow) and the other commands.

As for comparison to other types, Tank is a good comparison. Masterminds do more damage than tanks, and similarly can soak up a lot of aggro. But in terms of keeping an enemy focused, tanks will of course be king.

Overall, that's one of the big differences with Villains - every AT is damage-focused.

I have to agree, CoV is a lot more interesting in a lot of ways. It reminds me of the way I liked Guild Wars factions a lot more than I liked the original Guild Wars. I think both games got better then their original counterparts because the developers had the oppertunity to see what people liked and didn't like about their original creations and thus were able to improve on their work the second time around.

But CoV is like Guild Wars Factions in another signifiant way: It doesn't have as much content and it gets a LOT harder later on.

I went back to my hero character in CoH after my villian character in CoV (also a mastermind) started getting his ass kicked by these annoying guys who throw explosives and had a tendancy to kill off my minions in fairly short order. Since then I've enjoyed my hero character a lot more than my villian and have noticed how many more places there are to go and how much more stuff there is to do in CoH than in CoV, even if the 'atmosphere' isn't quite as good.

I hope the rumors that NCsoft is planning another expansion for this game are true because I think this is a very solid game with a reliable future. It just needs to have its content expanded a bit for both hero and villian characters. Some drivable vehicles, more areas to explore and maybe some NPC sidekicks (similar to the Guild Wars hero system) could really put the finishing touches on this game in my opinion.