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[[File:COHMontage440x330_2938.jpg|frame]]
''
''City of Heroes''
The subsequent ''Going Rogue'' expansion then allowed characters to change alignment repeatedly and expanded a mirror universe previously used as the setting for several adventure arcs into a third complete starting location.
Some of ''CoH/CoV'''s most innovative features
The game was also the first major MMO to include user created content, in the form of its Mission Architect system and player-created story arcs.
Originally, a variety of (back)story was told through the developers' adopted avatars—known collectively as the Avengers-esque super-team the Freedom Phalanx—with the hero Statesman as their (in
With an update (that also changed the game from
Former Hero archetypes
* [[Stone Wall|Tanker]] (High-defense, low-damage melee and great "aggro management" capabilities to protect allies)
* [[The Berserker|Scrapper]] (medium-defense, high-damage melee with a chance for double damage in a critical hit.)
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* [[Glass Cannon|Blaster]] (High-damage ranged and high-damage melee attacks, but few defenses)
There
Former Villain archetypes
* [[The Brute|Brute]] (Medium-defense and medium-damage melee whose damage
* Corruptor (Medium-damage ranged attack with "critical hits" as the enemy life is whittled down backed by buffs/debuffs)
* Dominator (Primarily enemy control with a mix of medium-damage ranged and melee attacks to back it up.)
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* [[The Minion Master|Master]][[The Beast Master|mind]] (Commands [[Mooks|minions]] or "pets" and backs them up with buffs/debuffs)
Just like the heroes, there
Upon the revival of the game (see below), a new hero archetype, the Sentinel, was added. The Sentinel combines substantial ranged combat abilities with mid-level protective powers, as well as protection against control powers.
The second major expansion, ''Going Rogue'', opened a third beginning to the game, the [[Mirror Universe|Praetorians]]. Praetorian characters are able to play as ''any'' of the non-epic archetypes and start off neither good nor evil; instead they have multiple opportunities over the course of the first twenty levels to chose whether they will be a Loyalist of the tyrannical Emperor Cole or join the terrorist Resistance against him, and if they will be ethical/noble or not in that role. It also introduced the ability to change alignment via [[Face Heel Turn]] or [[Heel Face Turn]], allowing a hero to become a villain or vice versa as well as opening up the in-between alignments of [[Vigilante Man|Vigilante]] and [[Anti-Hero|Rogue]].
In addition to their powersets, characters also choose an origin. Outside of Peacebringer (Natural), Warshade (Science), and the Arachnos archetypes (Natural), there were no limits placed on which origin can be used with what archetype/powers. It is possible to make one of your characters' powers, say, "Assault Rifle" with Magic Origins, and it doesn't make a bit of difference to your abilities. The effects of origins tend to be seen in choices of contacts and mission offers instead, although you are never "locked in" to any particular series of contacts or arcs. Later, with the revamp of the opening game this was substantially reduced, leaving choice of origin more a "flavor" element than a game mechanic.
The origins are:
* [[Weird Science|Science]]—Characters that got their powers via scientific means. Super serums, [[I Love Nuclear Power|radiation]], [[Freak Lab Accident|experiments gone wrong]], experiments gone ''right'', etc. Examples include [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]], Marvel's Sandman and the [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]. In universe example: Synapse of the Freedom Phalanx.
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* [[Badass Normal|Natural]]—Characters who got where they are through the strenuous training of their bodies—and also characters whose species naturally have the abilities. Examples include [[Superman]], [[Batman]], [[The Punisher]], J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter and Kingpin. In universe example: Manticore of the Freedom Phalanx.
Heroes
There have been two novels based on it, ''Web of Arachnos'' and ''The Freedom Phalanx'', as well as two comic book series, one published by Blue King and the other by [[Dark Horse Comics]]. A movie and T.V. series based on the game were at one point in [[Development Hell]], but are no doubt entirely dead now.
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''City of Heroes'' managed to stay alive for so long despite being only a few months older than the massive ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' juggernaut largely by occupying a niche market and having a die-hard, rabidly-devoted fanbase. However, this was not sufficient to keep owners [[wikipedia:NCSOFT|NCSoft]] from shutting down the game (albeit with several months' notice) in late 2012. The move came as a complete surprise to the staff of Paragon Studios, who were in the process of designing and implementing at least a year's worth of new content at the time, and who were unceremoniously canned simultaneously with the announcement of the game's impending demise. Exactly ''why'' NCSoft killed a popular, groundbreaking game that earned them in excess of US$2 million every month is unknown. The company's few "explanations" were vague and confusing; industry observers and pundits generally agreed that the move made little to no sense. Additionally, NCSoft rebuffed all efforts to buy or license the game from them, apparently preferring to lock it up and throw away the key rather than earn ''any'' kind of money on the property. One of the more interesting speculations about their motivation was that it was a combination of face-saving for the Korean company and a deliberate slap at former NCSoft executive Richard [[Ultima|"Lord British"]] Garriott, who had overseen ''COH'''s creation and had just won US$32 million in damages from NCSoft in a lawsuit over how they'd forced him out of the company. (Another, very detailed, analysis for the death of ''COH'' can be seen [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YahAati0d2c here].)
In April 2019, after many failed attempts to reverse
Meanwhile, the established "clean-room" efforts to create or recreate ''City of Heroes'' servers continued, ignoring the existence of the original code. Additionally there is ''[[City of Titans]]'', an entirely new game designed as a [[Spiritual Successor]] and loaded with [[Shout-Out]]s to ''CoH'', which underwent a successful [[Kickstarter]] campaign and as of early 2022 is releasing in-development alphas.
{{tropenamer}}
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{{tropelist|''City of Heroes''/''City of Villains'' provided examples of:}}
== 0-9 ==
* [[100% Heroism Rating]]
== A-D ==
* [[Abandoned Warehouse]]: ''Everywhere,'' at least in the earlier parts of the game. There are zones where you can't swing a dead catgirl without hitting an abandoned warehouse. And there are supervillains in ''every freaking one''.
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** Hinted at with the main game, after all the reason the War Walls exist is to keep the Rikti Invaders out...and even then they sometimes fail...so just what is going on outside Paragon City?
*** Mainly because they would be really hard to tear down they also act as containment so if something is going badly in one area it doesn't spill over.
* [[AI Roulette]]: Found in more recent{{when}} [[Mook]]s.
** Deliberately added to the {{spoiler|Flawed Clone during the battle with Ajax}}. Some players have reported the {{spoiler|Flawed Clone}} to be amazingly competent. Others just watched as it performed the chicken dance in the corner during the whole fight.
** Possibly deliberately lampshaded in a bit of NPC dialogue, wherein a Circle of Thorns Spectral Demon demands a Thorn Wielder turn over his magic knife because he's too stupid to use it properly.
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* [[And This Is For]]: The minor NPC villain known as Shock Treatment, whom you can find an Arachnos Base, trying to get vengeance on behalf of her appliances.
{{quote|'''Shock Treatment:''' For my toothbrush!}}
* [[And Your Reward Is Clothes]]: Perhaps the most eagerly pursued rewards too, despite their purely aesthetic effect. Averted since the 2019 revival, which among other changes made ''all'' costume parts available to players from the start.
* [[Animal Motifs]]: [[Meaningful Name|Arachnos really likes spiders]]. We're not kidding, damn near ''every single unit type'' is named after a kind of spider, up to [[Evil Overlord|Lord Recluse]] himself.
** And he's got robot spiders as a common minion.
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* [[Animate Inanimate Object]]: Possibly the Radio contact in Port Oakes and definitely the Television contact in Grandville. Radio is either some [[Voice with an Internet Connection|DJ with a lot of contacts]] or a sentient machine that keeps tabs on you. Television appears to be the [[Avatar]] of this form of media, as it speaks to you using the characters in various TV shows. It's deliberately left ambiguous, though.
** Definitely the Slot Machine contact in Saint Martial—it's {{spoiler|An artificially-intelligent slot machine trying to get you to rescue its inventor.}}
** HD
* [[Another Dimension]]: Portal Corp runs on this, as do the Praetoria and Rikti factions...
* [[Antagonist in Mourning]]: According to a short story on the now-defunct official website, Lord Nemesis
* [[Anti-Hero]]
** A few of the redside contacts are [[Anti-Villain]]s. Most notable is a demon hunter who gives you missions where rescuing the demons' victims is mandatory.
* [[Apotheosis]]:
** Characters who continue on into the endgame Incarnate System after reaching maximum level are by definition (and description) undergoing a slow apotheosis, in which they gather scraps of divine power to themselves and use them to forge new abilities that set them apart even from other superhumans.
** Strictly speaking, given the [[Mass Empowering Event]] in its [[Backstory]], ''all'' supers in the ''City of X'' games are to one degree or another extremely minor divinities whether they realize it or not, with their apotheoses being their personal origin stories.
* [[Arc Words]]: Any arc involving Ghost Widow will usually have the phrase "The Dead can't change."
* [[Art Evolution]]: Take a look at [https://web.archive.org/web/20101229061836/http://www.cityofheroes.com/media_and_downloads/screenshots/screenshot_gallery.html?category=23 these screenshots from issue 1.]
** Now look at ''these'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120801113032/http://goingrogue.na.cityofheroes.com/en/media/screenshots.html screenshots from Going Rogue/Issue 18].
* [[Artificial Atmospheric Actions]]: Combined with [[Gang Up on the Human]], if you encountered opposed factions engaged in a standoff (a very common situation), attacking either one in defense of the other was likely to make ''both'' of them attack you!
* [[Artifact of Doom]]: Lots, but the most important one is {{spoiler|the Well of the Furies -- i.e., ''the source of Incarnate powers''. It doesn't like [[Big Good|Statesman]] because he protects the status quo, and it thinks [[Evil Overlord|Lord Recluse]] is a ''poser''.}}
* [[Artistic License Geography]]: Rhode Island has no place on its coastline that has ocean access to the ''north,'' the way Paragon City does.
* [[Ascended Extra]]: The entirety of [[Mirror Universe|Praetorian Earth]], in a way; these
** There's also the Yin family; they began as largely background NPCs in the Faultline zone's redesign, though Penelope was known as a very powerful psychic, with a nebulous connection to the Clockwork King. Later on, Penelope Yin reappeared in the Lady Grey Task Force, as possibly the most powerful psychic on Earth. Come ''Going Rogue'', we met her Praetorian counterpart, a questionably
*** {{spoiler|And now she's taken Sister Psyche's place in the Freedom Phalanx -- and as the contact for what used to be the Sister Psyche Task Force.}}
* [[Asteroids Monster]]: Clockwork Princes and Devoured Earth rock and crystal monsters randomly spawn Underling-class enemies after death.
* [[The Atoner]]: As of ''Going Rogue'', villains can receive missions that allow them to repent and change alignment. Of course, heroes can receive [[Start of Darkness]] missions to switch sides, too.
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* [[The Chosen One]]: Framing device in ''City of Villains.'' Before ''Freedom'', new villain characters were broken out of the Zig due to their potential to become the Destined One. {{spoiler|Turns out you ''are'' the Destined One. And so is ''everyone else''. But by the end of the story arc, you aren't anymore.}}
** You are a hero in a city of heroes. And you are The Chosen One. And so is everybody else out there.
* [[The Chosen Many]]: In addition to the whole "Destined One" thing, there's the issue of "Incarnates", characters with a fragment of divine power. At first, it appears that Statesman and Lord Recluse are the only Incarnates. Then, it turned out several other characters (such as Sstheno and Trapdoor) can claim Incarnate powers. Then, as of Issue 19, player characters began acquiring Incarnate powers by drawing upon the Well of the Furies. (Sadly, the instant super-power-up Statesman, Recluse and the others got is no longer available, so you're forced to [[Level Grinding|slowly acquire divine power a little at a time]].)
* [[Circus of Fear]]: The Carnival of Shadows.
* [[City Guards]]: The invincible Police and Arbiter drones, as well as Longbow and the Paragon Police Department in ''City of Heroes''
* [[City of Adventure]]: The whole city.
* [[City of Canals]]: Founder's Falls, aka "Super-Venice". Also Crey's Folly, whose original name actually ''was'' "Venice".
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* [[Clock Punk]]: 99.9% of all Clockwork enemies.
* [[Cloning Blues]]: In the story arcs added for Issue 17, the player villain takes over {{spoiler|a cloning factory}}. It eventually ventures into [[Me's a Crowd]] territory. See [[Doppelganger]] for the "blue side" equivalent.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Penelope Yin. Her Primal Version seems oblivious (at least the first time you encounter her, apparently in her mid-teens) to the fact that she's the most powerful psychic in existence. She sees the personal guard of Clockwork following her around as a perfectly normal thing, and acts confused and upset when she can't mentally communicate with her father like she can with most people. (Later in the game, she's more mature and quite aware of her abilities.) Her Praetorian version on the other hand, consistently calls the player "Rusty", seems convinced that she's the princess of "The Mirror Kingdom" and uses amusing childish terminology when giving missions. (Clockwork become "Teddy Bears", Seers become "Playtime Friends"...) {{spoiler|Considering that she's in the "tender care" of Mother Mayhem, many believe that this is [[Obfuscating Insanity]] on Praetorian Yin's part. (This is at least partially confirmed by Dark Watcher near the end of her mission arc.)}}
** Also, a minor NPC villain known as Shock Treatment. At one point, you find her fighting in an Arachnos Base, trying to get vengeance on behalf of her appliances.
{{quote|'''Shock Treatment:''' For my toothbrush!}}
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* [[Cognizant Limbs]]: Lusca has cognizant tentacles. The Hydra has cognizant tentacles with faces on them. The Hamidon has cognizant ''mitochondria''.
* [[Colon Cancer]]: Rikti communication: in this manner, with the Mark II translators. Mark III translators, the first time they're used, cause the Rikti using it to comment on our adorably primitive causation structures.
* [[
** Other neutral zones will also color the designated hero and villain exits in blue and red, respectively. The Midnighter's Club is one example. An exception probably occurs in The Rikti War Zone: the exits have "PARAGON CITY" and "ROGUE ISLES" painted on the walls because the Vanguard base is too well lit to accommodate the blue and red color code.
** The Vanguard organization's colors are grey (white + black) and purple (blue + red), indicating they work with both sides.
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* [[Combo-Platter Powers]]: Every player (except epic archetypes) gets to pick a primary power set and a secondary one. Usually sets can be paired thematically, but you are under no obligation (and rarely any penalty) to pick said combos; you can choose to have one fire-based and one ice-based set for example.
** The most commonly cited synchronicity is [[The Straight and Arrow Path|Trick Arrow/Archery]], where if you pick both, you generally keep your bow drawn, making both power sets faster. This has been a source of contention between the players and developers; the players have always insisted this was true while the developers have vacillated.
* [[Commanding Officer Powers]]: Exists by implication with the Leadership Pool, which includes powers that when activated increase the attack and defense abilities of the character and his team/league-mates. Even when possessed by characters of origins other than Natural, it can be argued that there is nothing paranormal about them. At the same time though, this trope is subverted, as they affect the team whether or not the character possessing them is the team leader; more, ''every'' member of a team can possess these powers and simultaneously buff themselves and each other with them.
* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]]: Anyone with Teleport can use it to teleport almost anywhere they can see up to a certain (variable) range. For players, this means they can't teleport through walls in indoor missions. For enemy critters, this restriction does not apply; teleporting enemies can and will instantaneously transport halfway across the mission map, through several walls, to escape you.
** NPCs that are meant to resemble player characters often have powers at far lower levels than players can get them (Rogues' Gallery epic blasts, Desdemona and Doppelgangers being the worst offenders) or have different, better versions (such as Longbow Wardens' undisableable Quills or Carnival Illusionists' super-phase).
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** [[Continuity Snarl]]: The one use of it caused this, and the death of its inventor, {{spoiler|when he tried to turn the hero Faultline into a villain, as well as misinterpreting his powers. As a result, a lot of information on Faultline is... confused.}}
*** Well generally {{spoiler|when you try to brute force a change in reality with absolutely no idea what you're doing, it tends to make things go wonky. We're lucky he didn't cause a [[Critical Existence Failure]] to reality.}}
* [[Curse Escape Clause]]: It is possible for a PC in ''City of Villains'' to get cursed by the Circle of Thorns to suffer something truly nasty; the curse can be broken by killing the demon intended to finish fulfilling it.
* [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check]]: NPCs will hold victims hostage, hide out after a heist, or just make a base of operations for their goal in caves that are littered with gem stones the size of coffee tables. Never once do they think to mine this huge rock and sell it.
** Because large quantities of gemstones being readily available to the market lowers their value.
* [[Cutscene]]: Implemented as of Issue 6. Some hate them, others wish there were more.
** Interestingly,
** In the Lambda Sector incarnate task force, it is possible to position your toon in the same location as the villain will appear in for his cutscene, allowing you to "augment" it with your own contributions and comments.
* [[Cyberpunk]]: The Freakshow.
* [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]]: Not literally, but one of the Incarnate components was actually ''called'' Forbidden Technique!
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* [[Dark World]]: The Night Ward.
* [[Deadly Doctor]]: Dr. Vahzilok, and all the living mooks.
* [[Deal with the Devil]]: Player characters' origins aside, the Hellions are a Satan-worshiping street-gang whose leaders have gained flame powers (and the occasional succubus girlfriend). The Circle of Thorns are sorcerers who long ago made a deal with demons to defeat their enemies, and have had a lot of time to regret it. In ''City of Villains'', one mission arc has you helping the beneficiary of such a deal to weasel out of it.
* [[Death Is a Slap on The Wrist]]: Above level 10, dying resulted in a certain amount of experience debt, where half of the XP earned went to paying off that debt, while the other half was used to progress as normal. Also justified in-game, in that all heroes and villains were issued medicom patches that stabilize the wearer and teleport them to a hospital in the case of their vital signs dipping below a certain point.
** Later updates added "patrol XP" which doubles-ish your XP gain for a time proportional to how long you'd been logged off—dying while you have any will reduce that time, and you won't even accrue debt.
** There's even a "Debt Paid" line of badges, so dying a lot earns you a [[Cosmetic Award]] or six.
* [[Degraded Boss]]{{context}}
* [[Determinator]]: Many characters in-story, of course. The Willpower set is an example of just showing true grit while not technically being related to super powers.
** The Arachnos Soldier and Arachnos Widow classes are ''so'' determined that {{spoiler|according to Kalinda they warped reality. They weren't originally Destined Ones, but they ''become'' them by sheer force of will}}.
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Ancient goddess rousing her people to revolt and conquer the world? Go beat her up. Alone if you have to. She won't even be as powerful as that one guy possessed by a space alien.
** See also the ''Cherry Tapping'' entry above.
* [[Die, Chair, Die!]]: Mayhem missions in ''City Of Villains'', where you get extra time for destroying scenery. There is even a powerup available that has an amount of property damage among its prerequisites.<ref>100 cars, 25 hydrants, 25 mailboxes, 25 newspaper stands, 25 pay phones, 10 bank vaults, 10 burned buildings, 1000 cops, 1000 Longbow and 25 hero NPCs</ref>
* [[Door to Before]]: The "Exit Mission" button.
* [[Doppelganger]]: In the story arcs added for Issue 17, every player hero has one. {{spoiler|Two, actually; one's your standard [[Evil Twin]], the other is nobler than you from a [[Mirror Universe]].}} See [[Cloning Blues]] for the "red side" equivalent.
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* [[Enemy Civil War]]: Warburg breaking off from the Rogue Isles and the Rikti's clash between the Traditionalists and the Restructurists.
** Also, the Council splintered off from the 5th Column, and there was a civil war in-game when the group was introduced. With the return of the 5th Column in a later update, the two groups occasionally go at it again in some zones.
* [[Enemy Chatter]]: A wide and often entertaining variety of enemy dialogue can be overheard.
* [[Enemy Mine]]: Heroes and Villains can fight together during various special events in [[Bad Guy Bar|Pocket D]], as well as in the Rikti War Zone against [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|the Rikti]] and in the ancient Roman peninsula of Cimerora.
** Issue 19 also saw an invasion of Primal Earth from Praetoria, giving both sides of the alignment spectrum (and everyone in between) an enemy that could only be fought off by pooling resources.
** All Incarnate content, so far, is alignment-neutral. The Incarnate Trials all currently involve fighting against the Praetorians, and the one Incarnate Zone, Dark Astoria, is a Cooperative Zone dominated by the death god Mot, who [[Evil Versus Oblivion|even villains oppose]].
* [[Enemy Switch-Out]]: The "Teleport Foe" power from the Teleportation power set lets you bring a single enemy to you, allowing large mobs to be slowly picked off one-by-one without aggro, or pull many bosses out of their protective encirclement of minions to where they can be beaten down by the team without alerting their bodyguards.
* [[Enemy Without]]: Inverted: Rularuu the Ravager, a god-like being from [[Another Dimension]], has a Hero Without in the form of Faathim the Kind.
* [[Energy Beings]]: Kheldians.
* [[Escort Mission]]: With varying degrees of [[Scrappy Level|scrappyness]]; most of the time the escort-ee cannot actually be attacked, sometimes they are a powerful ally and capable of taking care of themselves, and sometimes [[Artificial Stupidity|they run off and attack]] [[Leeroy Jenkins|every foe in sight like an idiot.]]
** Hi, Lady Jane! My completely full team on the lowest difficulty level is here to help you, even with the [[Demonic Spiders|Circle of Thorns being absolutely ridiculous at this level]], I hope we ca—Oh. You've died.
*** Thankfully, they managed to tone her down in a
** On the Lady Grey Task Force, you got an escort mission of two superhero sisters—Infernia and Glacia—whom you had to lead back to the door for successful mission. However, Infernia was such a [[Expletive Deleted]] chatterer ''who won't shut up'' that a good number of teams simply allowed the ambushes to kill her and be done with it.
*** "Die, Infernia, DIE!!!"
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* [[Expanded Universe]]: Comics and novels.
* [[Expansion Pack]]: ''City of Villains''; marketed as an "expandalone", since it could be played as a separate game. The game's major updates (known as Issues) fall in this category as well, happily adding a full pack's worth of content for free each time. ''Going Rogue'' was a traditional paid expansion pack, though it was also be available in a ''Complete Edition'' with the base CoX game, [[And Your Reward Is Clothes|bonus costume pack]], and 30 days of game time that you'd get even if you already own the base game.
* [[Face Heel Turn]]
** Within the game storylines, the heroine Flambeaux (found outside the Atlas Park Wentworth's and in the Shining Stars arc) eventually becomes a villain because she's not getting enough recognition as a hero; she becomes a frequent antagonist in hero tip missions.
** The 2019 revival introduces Null the Gull, a contact in Pocket D who (among other things) can change your alignment on demand, allowing you to run the entire spectrum from hero to villain and back again in a matter of minutes.
* [[Faceless Eye]]: Some of the inhabitants of the Shadow Shard.
* [[Faceless Goons]]: Some of them literally so!
* [[Fan Disservice]]: The default female Zombie costume is [[Stripperiffic]].
* [[Feelies]]: Available occasionally during the original release of the game, including [[Hero Clix]] of the signature characters.
* [[Fetch Quest]]: Plenty of them, the repeatable ones often revolve around "Beat up this many members of a gang" but many also require you to be some kind of FedEx service between researchers, even though you'd be better off fighting crime. There are some seriously lazy people living in that city—and apparently a distinct lack of faxes, email, and courier services.
* [[Flying Face]]: The Banished Pantheon spirit masks.
* [[Flying Firepower]]: Mix a ranged ability with flight, and you are one.
* [[Fighting a Shadow]]: The "shadows" are actually a ''basic boss'' for the Nemesis faction—being the [[Magnificent Bastard]] that their titular leader is, his [[Power Armor]]s have a very advanced AI that can work on its own. "Fake Nemeses" are, as one might guess, spare suits that have been activated to serve as field commanders/doppelgangers.
** One arc ends with the party literally fighting shadow versions of themselves in the lower level of Paragon City Hall.
* [[Five-Bad Band]]: The leaders of Arachnos.
* [[Flash Back]]: Via the aptly-named Flashback system, complete with [[Deliberately Monochrome|sepia tones]] at the beginning and end of missions.
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** [[Lightning Bruiser]]: Any Tanker/Scrapper with the Speed travel power.
* [[Freemium]]: Since the ''Freedom'' expansion. The majority of the game's content really was free, but endgame content, a special arc, certain archetypes, and a whole lot of costume options had to be paid for. Also, anyone who never spent any money on the game labored under some extra limitations.
** No longer applies to the resurrected version of the game.
* [[Fog of War]]: While most zone maps are completely visible from the start, the various hazard zones must be revealed via exploration. Averted for some players in that the "Reveal" power -- originally a high-level Veteran's Award, but now available from a vendor for in-game currency -- negates this.
** To a far smaller degree, the Steamy Mist power from the Storm Summoning set is quite literally a small-radius movable Fog of War centered on the user's person.
*** A full group of high level players fighting for their lives can send up a truly epic amount of particle spam, making it effectively impossible to see what is going on on your screen.
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** [http://threepanelsoul.com/2007/08/13/on-corruption/ DID YOU JUST MAKE ME FLAMING??]
** Enemy NPCs with Confuse powers can force you to treat them this way.
* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: The P.L.O.T. Device. The Rogue Island Police (RIP).
* [[Gambit Roulette]]: [[Magnificent Bastard|Lord Nemesis]].
* [[Game Breaker]]: Incarnate abilities are this in-universe, especially the fully-developed, not-controlled-by-the-Well version. Players will (likely) never get the full extent shown in one future flashback mission where Archvillains (the toughest regular foes in the game) are defeated with laughable ease.
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* [[Get on the Boat]]
* [[Ghost Planet]]: Several of the [[Another Dimension|other dimensions]] you get to visit. How they got that way is usually [[Nightmare Fuel]].
* [[Giant Germs]]: [[
* [[Glass Cannon]]: Blasters' tendency to get killed in any particular fight has lead to Blaster players referring to themselves as members of the "Floor inspectors' union".
** Fiery Aura, in compared to other armor sets, also counts. No defense, lower resists compared to Electric Armor and Dark Armor, but has a Area of Effect attack, damage aura and a damage boosting power.
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* [[Good Guy Bar]]: Pocket D is a neutral-zone club for all characters.
* [[Gradual Grinder]]: Controller/Dominator primaries work that way. Debuff-based Defenders when soloing.
* [[Great Wall]]: The War Walls surrounding the neighborhoods of Paragon City are a combination of [[Force Field]] barriers atop massive concrete walls, towering hundreds of feet above the adjacent streets. They were created to protect the city from Rikti forces during the [[Alien Invasion|Rikti War]] in the [[Backstory]] of the game. Smaller than the default Great Wall, they still count because they encompass ''all'' of the playable area of the game.
* [[Grey and Grey Morality]]: [[Utopia Justifies the Means|The Loyalists]] versus [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized|The Resistance]] in [[Mirror Universe|Praetoria]]. To put it another way, would you rather defend a society where free thought is abolished and civil rights barely exist... or would you rather destroy the last remnants of civilized society in the name of "freedom?" Tyranny or Anarchy, take your pick! (And no, you don't get a [[Take a Third Option|third option.]]) A character from either side can become a hero or villain, depending on your specific choices during game play.
** And within each side, there's a [[Black and White Morality]]. Loyalists can take the [[Glory Hound|Power]] or [[I Did What I Had to Do|Responsibility]] paths, and Resistance can take the [[The Revolution Will Not Be Villified|Warden]] or [[Omnicidal Maniac|Crusader]] paths.
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* [[Hammerspace]]: Characters draw their weapons from thin air. Occasionally, enemies already with a weapon will put it away or leave it slung across their back, and draw another, different weapon from nowhere. Valkyrie is the primary example of the latter.
* [[Hand Blast]]: The Blaster archetype runs on this. For at least half of the power sets, the first few powers involve firing fire, ice, radiation, energy, etc. from the hands.
* [[Handwraps of Awesome]]:
* [[Hello, Insert Name Here]]
* [[He Knows About Timed Hits]]
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* [[Hope Springs Eternal]]: The very last message on at least one server, sent moments before the November 2012 shutdown (and documented on a YouTube video) was a "looking for team" request.
* [[Humongous Mecha]]: Malta Titans, especially the Kronos Class Titan. Depending on the definition, the Clockwork giant monsters may also apply. Also the {{spoiler|Giant Zenith Mech from the last mission in the Hess Task Force on Striga Isle and the two repainted clones of it in the Imperius Task Force in Cimerora, although they're more properly part of the setting rather than an opponent}}.
* [[Idle Animation]]: The character cycles between several stances, including standing boldly with chest outthrust, crossing his/her arms, and placing their hands on their hips. The player can also pick one for AFK if they wish, such as reading a newspaper or listening to a police radio.
** Also happens for NPCs. The default is punching a fist into a palm and the odd "bring it on!" gesture, but some enemy groups have their own, like standing at attention, sitting on boxes and cleaning weapons, or ''reading books and making tea.''
* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: A lot of the reasoning that shows up in Vigilante tip missions. Also the default justification for the Loyalist/Responsibility path in Praetoria.
* [[I Just Want to Be Loved]]: Motivation and frequent line of dialogue for NPC ex-heroine Flambeaux.
* [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]]: Your chance of hitting with ranged attacks is determined by your accuracy stat, and if you miss, the projectile physically misses the target. If you're firing at point-blank range, this can result in you shooting sideways, or straight up in the air.
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* [[Inn Between the Worlds]]: Pocket D, an interdimensional Night Club.
* [[Instant Death Radius]]: Anything based on fire.
* [[Instant Plastic Surgery]]: Thanks to the good people at Icon (or the somewhat less morally inclined folk employed by the Facemaker), heroes and villains can easily change the size and shape of their bodies, even switch genders. Of course, in a world where there is a black market for magical artifacts and [[Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome|super science is used daily]], this is pretty well [[Justified]]. During the game's original run this was only available to those players who had purchased the Super Science Super Booster, but with the game's resurrection in 2019 has become available to all.
* [[Interface Screw]]:
** The Confusion status effect, which only allows you to target friendlies with your attacks and enemies with your support.
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** Lacking a clearly defined team role isn't necessarily a bad thing, since the Scrapper can make a good stand-in for an aggressive Tank. Their greatest team-centric let-down is that they ''must'' run into a fight to land a hit, so you mustn't get too mad at them for going on ahead; they're a Melee class and their powers demand close-up fighting. As a result they get knocked out quite a lot in a team and are sometimes known as "Rug-Munchers".
** Since side-switching became available, the Brute has fallen into this. Offensively, they're weaker than Scrappers, but stronger than Tankers (and vice-versa for defenses).
* [[Jedi Mind Trick]]: Doctor Stephen Fayte may or may not be doing this to ''everyone''. See his entry under ''Running Gag'' below.
** Definitely the schtick of the villain Dollface from the Doctor Graves arc in the earliest part of ''City of Villains''. With the verbal equivalent of a magician's "force", she can even use it on ''the player character'' if you attempt to talk to her in her contact location on Mercy Island:
{{quote|Now you're going to walk off and leave me alone, 'kay? Thanks, bub-bye.}}
* [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope]]: Villain missions undertaken as a Vigilante are this, to a hilarious degree—blowing up a Longbow base to teach them a lesson about being complacent, destroying a charity event because no one in the Rogue Isles deserves charity, ''murdering a kidnapped girl, faking a distress call with a promised reward, and then killing any heroes who try to come rescue her since they were probably doing it for the reward''...
** Issue 19 added new tip missions for Vigilantes trying to become Villains and Rogues trying to become Heroes, which are much better written while still playing this trope straight—that is to say, Vigilantes jump off the slippery slope in a much more realistic and believable manner (along with Rogues...
* [[Jump Physics]]
* [[Justified Tutorial]]: Originally the tutorials were containing a viral outbreak in ''City of Heroes'' and breaking out of jail in ''City of Villains''. These were retired when ''Freedom'' launched and replaced with an evacuation from Galaxy City as it's hit by Shivan meteors during which you learn the interface and must make a moral choice that sets you on a heroic or villainous path. With ''Going Rogue'', Prateorian characters found themselves going through Powers Division training and choosing to side with the Resistance or Loyalists.
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** Player characters can become one themselves either as a Vigilante or with the Crusader Resistance faction.
* [[Kryptonite Factor]]: Especially bad for the Peacebringers and Warshades, whose presence on a team [[Kryptonite Is Everywhere|causes special enemies to spawn specifically to hose them]].
* [[Land of the Shattered Empire]]: Paragon City seems to be a small-scale example of this trope, what with all the parts of the ancient city of Oranbega that underlie it. And some players suggest that the United States as a whole may well also have been irrevocably shattered in the wake of the Rikti invasion, given how there is absolutely ''no'' federal-level response to the continued presence of the Rikti in the city, not to mention the military forces of at least two different hostile governments (Arachnos and Nemesis), and a blatantly terroristic NGO (Malta). There are certainly enough wrecked bases and labs as well as other ruins left behind after the invasion to qualify on their own.
* [[Large Ham]]: Romulus Augustus' transformation, right down to larger font.
{{quote|I AM <big>NICTUS!</big>}}
* [[Laughably Evil]]: [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Thaddeous Aeon]]. His scatterbrained megalomania (complete with [[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?]]) is just so ''cute''!
** Ditto up-and-coming Mad Lab Assistant Vernon von Grun. He even tells you to laugh with him at one point. (Anyone who doesn't, for real, is not getting into the spirit of this arc.)
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* [[Lazy Artist]]: The never-ending supply of generic, near-identical warehouses with random floor plans. And the office buildings. And the caves.
* [[Leaked Experience]]
* [[Leave No Witnesses]]: In ''City of Villains'', sometimes an explicit mission objective. Praetoria, too.
* [[Leeroy Jenkins]]: As a [[Shout-Out]], no less.
** And far, far too many players in bad pick-up groups to count.
* [[Leet Lingo]]: The Freakshow tend to speak in l33t. Nobody really knows how they can actually pronounce it. Lampshaded on a regular basis.
* [[Legacy Character]]: The current Manticore took up his father's role after his murder.
** Also, in a Villain-
*** Well technically the mother is Miss Liberty, her daughter is Ms Liberty. Yes, they're confused all the time.
* [[Level Five Onix]]{{context}}
* [[Level Grinding]]: Although the devs do their best to minimize it.
* [[Level Scaling]]: While enemies in open world areas have fixed levels, most missions are instanced, and the instances are scaled to player levels and group sizes. In case of the flashback system that allows high-level heroes to revisit low-level missions, the ''player'' is scaled in level to match the mission difficulty.
** This was especially visible in Architect Entertainment missions: unless the creator overrode the default setting, missions would scale from level 1 to level 54 with the player. (Making it possible under the right circumstances for your level 1 hero to face a ''level 1 Archvillain''.)
* [[Levitating Lotus Position]]: The lotus pose and lotus-with-levitation are stock poses, although the latter is more a fortuitous accident stemming from the various "sit" emotes unintentionally being available to a toon in flight.
* [[Liberty Over Prosperity]]: If you create your character in Praetoria, the squeaky-clean police-state, you defect to Primal Earth (the main game setting) at level 20. Either because you believe that liberty is worth the chaos that comes with it, or because it'll make being a villain easier.
* [[Limited Special Collectors' Ultimate Edition]]: Standard editions, DVD Collector's Editions, Good vs. Evil pack...
** And with the game's resurrection in 2019, just about everything from them but the [[Feelies]] is now available from the start.
* [[Load-Bearing Boss]]: The end of the last mission in the {{spoiler|Ernesto Hess}} Task Force is a nasty shock your first time through...
* [[Loot Boxes]]: The game never had anything along the order of in-universe Loot Boxes, but toward the end of its original run a "Booster Pack" mechanism was added to the game. Players could buy booster packs with real-world cash or in-game merits, and each would give five random drops ranging from common salvage to ultra-rare enhancements and recipes. With the revival of the game in a non-profit form in 2019, boosters became available for in-game currencies only.
** The Incarnate Salvage drops at the end of Incarnate Trials are effectively one-item Loot Boxes without the boxes. There are four tiers of salvage -- Common, Uncommon, Rare and Very Rare -- and the tier a player will be offered at the end of a trial is selected by a random draw weighted to favor the lower levels of rarity. (Interestingly, the player can choose which item they gain from the tier they receive). Incarnate salvage is locked to the character that earned it, though; it is untradeable and unsellable, although it can be broken down into or converted by the expenditure of the primary Incarnate currency, Incarnate Threads.
* [[Lost Forever]]: Formerly the badges from the tutorial missions. Ouroboros was added to the game for the explicit ''purpose'' of averting this trope; today, only the anniversary badges can truly be considered to be [[Lost Forever]].
* [[MacGuffin]]: Including a literal [[Fun with Acronyms|P.L.O.T. Device]].
** Steven Werner's precious item, which is never described in more detail.
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** [[Made of Diamond]]: Some of the Tier 9 moves skyrocket your defense for about 3 minutes. Moment of Glory takes this [[Up to Eleven]] by combining two Tier 9 effects, but only for 15 seconds.
* [[Mad Scientist]]: Several of them, from the Praetorian Anti-Matter to Dr. Aeon.
* [[Magikarp Power]]{{context}}
* [[Mana Meter]]: Called "Endurance" here.
* [[Meta Origin]]: The Well Of The Furies, a [[Broken Base|very controversial]] and often misunderstood bit of lore. Originally described as being a literal [[Applied Phlebotinum|Fountain of Phelebotinum]] that could grant anyone who tasted its waters [[A God Am I|the powers of a deity]], it has since been [[retcon]]ned to become a semi-sentient entity responsible for spreading superpowers throughout the world to fulfill its own mysterious agenda.
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** ''Going Rogue'' brings graphical updates for the Praetorian Clockwork, providing male, female, huge, and Giant Monster flavors of Mecha-Mooks.
* [[Mighty Glacier]]: Stone Tankers and Brutes. As well, Ice Tankers can usually move as fast as anybody else—except when using the tier 9 power, Hibernate, which renders you immobile, invulnerable, and incapable of attacking, but boosts your regen and recovery.
* [[Mind Screw]]: The villain-side Television contact, which has you taking orders from [[The Simpsons (animation)|Bart Simpson]], burning books and blaming it on
** Some Vigilante-to-Villain morality missions follow the idea that your character is becoming evil via descent into madness. To symbolize this, those missions will delve into [[Mind Screw]] territory.
* [[Mirrored Confrontation Shot]]: The Good vs. Evil box art.
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* [[Nebulous Evil Organisation]]: Malta, Arachnos, the Council, the Nemesis Army...
* [[Nerf Arm]]: Intentionally averted: the developers want customizable weapons to still ''look'' like they should do significant damage. Nevertheless, a Nerf bat option remained one of the more popular requests all the way up to the shutdown.
** That's only because it was ''already'' in the game, but as a dev-only power, which they'd use to smack people dead in one
** That said, some of the options were still not entirely serious-looking (for example, one of the battle axe options was a shovel, one of the shield options was a manhole cover, and among the war mace options were a wooden baseball bat, a variety of pipe wrenches, a shillelagh, a bone club, and... a shovel).
*** You think a shovel doesn't make a good battle axe? Look up "[[World War I|entrenching tool]]" some time.
*** It was also no doubt a reference to [[Flaming Carrot|The]] [[Mystery Men|Shoveler]].
* [[News Travels Fast]]: Even ''backwards in time''. It's amazing how well-informed Roman-era Cimerorans were about events in 21st-Century Rhode Island.
* [[NGO]]:
** Vanguard, a branch of the U.N. specifically created to handle invasions by the Rikti and other outsiders, and coordinate the efforts of both heroes and villains. Occasionally seems to veer into [[NGO Superpower]].
** Malta, whose goal is to wipe out metahumans so that rich oligarchs the world over could feel like they are the most powerful people on the planet again.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Nice Job Breaking It, Vigilante]]: The 30s-range Vigilante Morality Mission revolves around the player character discovering that Frostfire is about to get [[Off on a Technicality]], and deciding to break into the Longbow base where he's being held. So after smacking around hordes of decent members of Longbow, the character meets Frostfire's lawyer, who {{spoiler|refuses to give up the code to Frostfire's cell, even after being smacked around; your only choice is to overload the cells... which releases a bunch of much more dangerous villains who are far too strong to fight and quickly escape, and reveals that Frostfire has since become [[The Atoner]], and does nothing to defend himself as the player character beats him to a pulp.}}
* [[Nigh Invulnerable]]: There are gameplay aspects of this (such as building a tank who mocks whatever the opposition throws at him), but by getting KO'd and paying off the experience debt that comes with it, you eventually earn badges for it. The next to last badge [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade on it]] as so:
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* [[Nintendo Hard]]: The MA critters will go to extremes to teach you exactly how broken player powers are, and that's not even factoring in the bugged powers.
* [[Non-Lethal KO]]
* [[No FEMA Response]]: Paragon City is supposedly a major metropolis in Rhode Island on the East Coast of the United States, but a least five of its neighborhoods are in ruins or completely wiped off the map (The Hollows, Boomtown, Faultline, Eden/The Hive, and the Rikti War Zone) due to supervillain action and/or a recent alien invasion. Further, actual military forces from two foreign governments (Nemesis and Arachnos), a hostile NGO (Malta) and those very same aliens (the Rikti) can be found loitering on street corners in some of the higher-level zones. One would expect ''some'' response from the United States government to ''at least'' the military presences, but the only evidence that the Federal Government even ''exists'' are a couple of FBI agents who act as contacts. Averted slightly with the Faultline zone, which started as a shattered mass of broken buildings and chasms but was converted into a partially-recovered and -reconstructed zone about halfway through the game's original run.
* [[No OSHA Compliance]]
* [[No Swastikas]]: The 5th Column, while explicitly said to be a fascist villain group left over from Nazi Germany, use a skull with the Roman numeral V behind it as their logo. The release of Issue 3 replaced all 5th Column content in the game with the Council, who are an ''Italian'' fascist villain group plus space aliens who co-opted the 5th Column in a hostile takeover. The 5th Column began reappearing in select stories, however, and officially returned in Issue 15.
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* [[Not the Fall That Kills You]]: ...it's the stone thrown at you that [[Cherry Tapping|removes the 1 HP you have left]]!
* [[Notice This]]: Inanimate mission targets glow pulsatingly and emit a distinctive sound.
== O-S ==
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* [[Painted-On Pants]]: ''Extremely'' easy to apply in the character creator.
* [[Parental Incest]]: Actually, make that ''Grand''Parental Incest, implied between Tyrant and Dominatrix (the evil versions of Statesman and Ms. Liberty), especially in the spin-off comic.
** Ironically and explicitly [[Author's Saving Throw|retconned]] as of the ''Going Rogue'' expansion. The official reaction to questions about this could be summed up as "wait, what? *looks* Oh, ewewewewewewewewewewewewewewwwww!"
*** Which suggests the current developers are woefully ignorant of their own setting's lore, the players (who've been joking about it for years) are perverts, or both.
* [[Patchwork Map]]
* [[Pay to Win]]: Despite being owned by a Korean MMORPG company, ''CoX'' averted this trope.
** Since its 2019 resurrection, this is mocked by the in-game "Pay To Win" vendors found in the Galaxy City tutorial, Atlas Park, Mercy Island and possibly a few other areas. They give away both free powers and enhancements, as well as sell all the old temporary and Veteran's Reward powers for the in-game currency.
* [[People Jars]]: Several examples.
** Nemesis Warhulks have their pilots floating in a gold-colored liquid.
** Arachnos bases frequently have creepy glowing tubes mounted on the walls in which various varieties of [[Mooks]] appear to be growing.
** In the "laboratory" portion of the Lambda Sector Incarnate trial, the "containment chambers" which are the targets to be destroyed appear to contain human beings (who disappear when the chambers are broken).
* [[Perpetual Molt]]: For burned wings; this is more like perpetual smoke. The straight version was meant to be put in but was initially pulled due to hardware limitations; as of issue 20.5 it's now available for Incarnates to purchase with Astral or Empyrean merits.
* [[Personal Raincloud]]: One of the top-end powers in the Storm Summoning set lets you create one of these—complete with destructive lightning—over anyone you care to inconvenience. Sadly, it stays put instead of following them.
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* [[Pick Up Group]]: ''COH/COV'' was uncommon, possibly unique, in the overall civility of its player base, making a ''bad'' pick up group (as opposed to a simply unlucky or unsuccessful one) a rare event.
* [[Playable Epilogue]]: In the last few issues before its demise, ''City of Heroes'' started including story arcs that ended with an optional "mission" in which you played a different character and got to see [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue|what happened to them after your part of the story finished]].
* [[Player Versus Player]]
* [[Point Defenseless]]: Averted with the Vanguard Base in the Rikti Warzone. The turrets around the base are level 54, whereas the nearest enemies are, at maximum, level 38. Played straight during missions involving the Vanguard base, as those selfsame turrets spawned to the level of the mission, alongside notably more enemies than they can usually successfully take on. Similarly, the turrets in the Shadow Shard are never shown firing on anything (because they actually predate the Turrets enemy group).
** Additionally, missions involving attacking Longbow or Wyvern at sea. The turrets on these ships can quickly shred an unprepared villain, and the ones ''inside'' the ships can be an unwelcome surprise during the inevitable hero battles that take place within.
* [[Portal Network]]: The TUNNEL Network of [[Swirly Energy Thingy|Swirly Energy Thingies]] that allow users to hop between a wide variety of destinations in Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, Praetoria and elsewhere.
* [[Powers Via Possession]]: Peacebringers and Warshades, lots of villain PCs.
** ''All'' of the {{spoiler|Circle of Thorns, thanks to their use of [[Grand Theft Me]].}}
* [[Power Creep, Power Seep]]: Necessary for game balance, but not handled so well in a certain mission available only to characters who are [[Badass Normal|explicitly highly-trained soldiers]], where they are sent to defeat a [[Flying Brick]] wielding the power of Zeus just to prove how tough they are.
* [[Public Domain Artifact]]: The hero trainer in Atlas Park had Excalibur on her belt.
* [[Punch Clock Villain]]: A number of mooks are just in it for the reliable paycheck.
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** Dra'Gon of the Rikti.
** And U'Kon G'rai, encountered on Rikti Mothership Raids. ("You con gray", a reference to the game's color-coding of enemy threat level, basically translating to "you register as an inconsequential, easily-defeated twerp to me".)
*** The Incarnate salvage drop from defeating him is called "G'rai Matter".
* [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]]: Male, female, and "huge". While there are no statistic differences, some costume options, like skirts, are specific to certain body types.
** Hilariously lampshaded in places like tram stations, where the bathrooms are divided into three categories ... Male, Female, and Huge.
*** [[Fridge Logic|So why is the Huge door the ''same size'' as the other two?]]
**** Sssh!
* [[Pyromaniac]]: Several flame-powered NPCs, both villains and, to a lesser extent, heroes.
{{quote|'''Pyra:''' I'm just here for the money. Well, the money and a chance to set people on fire.}}
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* [[Recurring Boss]]
* [[The Remnant]]: The Rikti, after their failed [[Alien Invasion]]; specifically, the Reconstructionist faction.
* [[Retcon]]: When the Council replaced the 5th Column, all 5th Column missions and story arcs were rewritten as if they'd always been about the Council, no matter how little sense that made. Mostly averted with ''Going Rogue''; the Praetorian arcs were rewritten, but as sequels to the old arcs, which are still available in Ouroboros. About the only
** There may be another "developer oops" retcon coming up: there is no interpretation of the in-game evidence that permits the most likely candidate for Penelope Yin's mother to have been older than 16 when Penelope was born—and depending on how you interpret "young graduate student" and some other pieces of the in-game timeline, said mother could have been as young as ''[[Squick|
*** And with the death of the game, we'll never know what [[Author's Saving Throw]] would have been used.
**** Resolving this issue has not been a high priority since the game's 2019 resurrection.
** Various retcons involving Stateman and Sister Pysche were being implemented as of the shutdown, to reflect {{spoiler|their deaths in the "Who Will Die?" special arc/storyline}}.
* [[Rewarding Inactivity]]: As an [[Anti-Poopsocking]] measure, logging off—and staying logged off—in certain locations will grant your character a temporary power. The longer he is logged off, the better the power or the more charges it has.
* [[Ride the Lightning]]
* [[Rival Turned Evil]]: [[The Cape (trope)|Statesman]] and [[Big Bad|Lord Recluse]].
* [[Robe and Wizard Hat]]: The Cabal. With the release of the Magic Booster pack, players can join in.
* [[Rogues Gallery]]: Issue 18 introduced the "Rogues Gallery" faction of various enemy supers for the player to fight during Tip Missions.
* [[The Roleplayer]]: Virtue is the unofficial Roleplay Server and, though you'll find roleplayers elsewhere, they're not nearly as common. ([[Broken Base|Or as welcome.]])
* [[Roof Hopping]]: Player characters can do this with the Super Jump power (or with Ninja Run or ordinary jumping if they're someplace like King's Row where buildings are close and generally the same height).
** Even level 1 villains like Hellions and Skulls can jump several stories, and can roofhop if chasing a PC.
* [[Rouge Angles of Satin]]: The ''Going Rogue'' expansion added a badge called "Going Rouge." It's right by the Praetorian tailor.
* [[Run, Don't Walk]]: For over five years, you could take down anything from lowly street thugs to gods of alternate dimensions to next-gen SWAT teams and demonic mystic forces... but you could never ''not'' run. This has finally been changed with the addition of the Walk toggle, although it turns off all other powers, so you shouldn't use it in combat.
** The animation of female characters using the Walk toggle is a form of [[Fan Service]].
* [[Run the Gauntlet]]: In a couple of story arcs.
* [[Saving the World]]: Several different ways, as many times as you like. One such mission even [[Cosmetic Award|awards]] you with a "Saved the World" badge!
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* [[Sequel Escalation]]: If you consider each level tier to be sequels to the previous one, you go from fighting street level thugs with minor powers to [[Saving the World]] multiple times from threats that could [[Warhammer 40,000|flay those earlier thugs alive just by looking at them.]]
* [[The Shepherd (trope)|The Shepherd]]: New players, especially ones who come from other MMORPGs, seemed to be constantly surprised at the relative friendliness of the official forums, especially in the "Player Questions" board, whose motto was "Being a newbie is not a crime." Some half-jokingly treated such players like refugees.
** Since 2019 revival, players are given the option to visibly flag their characters to indicate they are available to help newbies and the confused.
* [[Shoot the Medic First]]: When in [[PVP]], kill off your enemy's healers first, obviously. And the same goes for any villains who can heal other minions. The Tsoo Sorcerers are one of the earlier examples of this trope, especially annoying since they'll heal any other faction you're trying to kill. Later on you may run into the Devouring Earth.
** Confounded by the Praetorian ghouls, who radiate healing energies (that affect only other ghouls) when they die—in other words, shooting them ''turns them into medics''.
* [[Signature Colors]]: When creating a super group, among the decisions to be made is a primary and secondary color, which the members of the group can choose to have automatically replace the existing colors of their costumes to indicate they are on super group business. (Or are just loyal members.)
* [[Significant Anagram]]: The Honoree. Mender Silos.
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism]]: ''City of Heroes'' is generally pegged firmly on the Idealism end of the
* [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World]]: The original Frostfire
* [[Soaperizing]]: In the [[Show Within a Show]].
* [[Solo Class]]:
** The Scrapper is the local soloist-class in ''City of Heroes'' proper. Striking a good balance between absorbing damage and dishing it out, a well-built Scrapper can solo anything short of a full-on Archvillain. (And sometimes even that, depending on the version. Early versions had a few exploits that certain builds of scrappers could use to become virtually immortal at higher levels.) Incarnate scrappers can potentially fight some of the smaller giant monsters to a standstill, which is especially impressive when you realize it normally takes eight (or more) toons to defeat one. Unfortunately they have to get in close for their attacks to land and it can get them knocked out a lot, leading them to be also known as "Rug Munchers".
** In ''City of Villains'', the Brute can play pretty much the same role as the Scrapper, but the real solo-master there is the pet-centric Mastermind-class, who basically get to bring their own army with them wherever they go. At higher levels, you'll have anywhere from
* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]
* [[Squad Controls]]: Masterminds, for their pets.
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* [[Status Quo Is God]]:
** Averted somewhat, since several areas, such as Faultline and the Rikti War Zone, have seen permanent changes.
** ''Going Rogue''{{'}}s release also gave a modern update to the previous Praetorian Earth content, though the old story arcs are still playable through Ouroboros.
** Indeed, almost every mission that was ever available to do is still available.
** Also embraced mercilessly by at least a couple story arcs in ''City of Villains'', sometimes to the point of [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]. At the same time, one Praetorian mission gives you the choice to avert this and permanently remove a major contact from the starting zone.
** An attempt at justification was made, at least where team action was concerned, by informing you upon joining a team that you were now experiencing "the world created by (team leader)'s deeds".
* [[Steampunk]]: Nemesis' favored aesthetic.
** Also, the [[Steampunk]] [[And Your Reward Is Clothes|Costume Part Pack]] makes it much easier for players to use this motif for characters.
* [[Story Arc]]: Dozens, if not hundreds. Most contacts, even the initial ones in the later years of the game, had one or more, and successfully completing them earned you Reward Merits and a "souvenir" which contained a write-up that recapped the events of the arc. The souvenirs were usually that arc's particular [[MacGuffin]].
* [[Stripperiffic]]: Technically it's the choice of the player, but once you've made a female Hero, even the costume options that are in both male and female show off a lot of skin. There's lots of options in leather too, and some ''very'' revealing costume options.
* [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler]]: The 5th Column.
* [[Suicide Mission]]: In the backstory, the Rikti War ended with a suicide mission led by Hero One to cut off the Rikti homeworld from Earth. For a long time, only one survivor, Ajax, was known; Lady Grey's task force reveals that three more survived on the Rikti homeworld: sisters Infernia and Glacia, and {{spoiler|Hero One, turned into a Rikti named [[Significant Anagram|The Honoree]]}}.
* [[Summoning Ritual]]: The Circle of Thorns can be easily located from a distance by their summoning rituals and their habit of stealing souls.
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* [[Superpower Meltdown]]: Subverted with the origin of the Siren's Call zone; played straight {{spoiler|at first glance}} in the origin of Faultline.
* [[Super Reflexes]]: One of the Power Sets for Scrappers, Stalkers, and Brutes.
* [[Super Registration Act]]: Established in the backstory, and generally not seen as a bad thing. You have to register having powers, but it doesn't force you into anything. The last time supers were drafted was [[World War II
** Actually, it used to be a lot worse. The infamous "Might for Right Act" (passed during the [[Cold War]], and used to secretly draft supers—especially minorities who couldn't fight it—into working for the ''CIA'') is a major part of the game's [[Backstory]].
** In Praetoria, anyone with superpowers (or who is talented at martial arts, or just ''owns a weapon'') is forced to join the Praetoria Police's Powers Division.
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* [[Truce Zone]]: Pocket D, the Vanguard Base, the Rikti War Zone, Cimerora.
** Though the latter two are less [[Truce Zone]] and more "enforced [[Enemy Mine]]."
* [[Turned Against Their Masters]]: In a short arc available to characters in their early L30s, the Council accidentally improves their robot A.I. to the point that a group of rogue robots starts not only rebelling against them, but planning to wipe out all of humanity.
* [[Underground Level]]: The many cave maps; [[That One Level|some are hated]].
* [[The Unintelligible]]: Ricochet of the Crusaders part of the Resistance. The Resistance use their own slang but they can be understood. Ricochet uses slang that's so thick that the first thing you do after accepting her first mission is get someone to translate what she just said. The second mission has a question mark next to the mission objective. It doesn't get any better.
* [[Unobtainium]]: An actual [[MacGuffin]], made from Nonesuchium and Yeahrightium. Played straight with Impervium.
** Parodied by the bombs the Lost can be found fiddling with in the central trench of Terra Volta; rather than being matter or antimatter, the bombs are "Doesn't Matter."
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** Played straight with the [[Utopia Justifies the Means|"utopia"]] of [[Mirror Universe|Praetoria]] introduced in [[Expansion Pack|''Going Rogue'']]. [[Big Bad|Emperor Cole]] rules a "meritocracy" where any and all basic needs are provided free of charge, Clockwork robots handle all manual labor, and Praetorian PD officers on every corner have all but eliminated crime. Which happens thanks to {{spoiler|a [[Government Drug Enforcement|drugged water supply]], the psionic [[Seer]]s being literal thought police, the PPD drafting any super-powered individuals, and the [[Secret Police]] under [[Smug Snake|Chimera]] having full authority to "disappear" anyone whom they think is a threat to "the peace." Such threats usually wind up as [[Playing with Syringes|guinea pigs]] for the resident [[Mad Scientist]]s}}.
* [[The Virus]]: The Will of The Earth.
* [[The Wall Around the World]]: The War Walls. The sonic defenses around Praetoria.
* [[Warmup Boss]]: The Giant Shivan at the end of the Galaxy City tutorial. You don't even have to do full damage to it before it retreats and you are congratulated for its successful defeat.
* [[Warp Whistle]]
* [[We Buy Anything]]: Partially subverted, in that stores dedicated to [[Super-Hero Origin|origins]] other than your own won't pay you full price. Also, your contacts will purchase Recipes and Salvage, but not Enhancements, and no NPCs will buy Inspirations.
** Thanks to the auction house, though, players can and do buy anything that has an Inf prices on it.
** Expressed by the quartermaster at the Vanguard base, who will buy anything for maximum price.
* [[Wham! Episode]]: "Who Will Die Part 3". {{spoiler|The identity of [[The Dragon]] is revealed to be Malaise, and Statesman's daughter Miss Liberty is killed - possibly by the [[You Bastard|player villain.]]}}
** {{spoiler|Or [[The Chessmaster]], if the player villains [[Not What I Signed on For|declare they didn't sign up for]] [[Even Evil Has Standards|cold-blooded murder.]]}}
* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]: See ''Playable Epilogue''.
* [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]: Almost every mission in the game involves punching (or shooting or stabbing) someone in the face.
* [[The World Is Not Ready]]: Subverted, to an extent. There's proof that high technology/super science is relatively common among the populace of the Cities' world; however, many ''players'' tend to embrace this trope with Technology-origin characters.
* [[World Half Full]]: Yes, there's mystically powered, drug-fueled, technologically enhanced street gangs running rampant. There's [[Those Wacky Nazis|NeoNazis with werewolves and vampires]], members of an [[Animal Wrongs Group]] gone all [[One-Winged Angel]], [[Zombie Apocalypse|zombies of both scientific and magical nature]], employees of a corrupt [[Mega Corp]], and demons wandering the streets. The world is still recovering from a not-quite-over alien invasion. Oh, and there's a nation ruled by supervillains just off the coast of Virginia/North Carolina. But there are also [[superhero]]es. ''Lots'' of superheroes.
** [[Mirror Universe|Praetoria]] also presents a world where a totalitarian government is fought by [[La Résistance]]. Both sides have bad people trying to either grab power or having no qualms about harming the innocent. It also doesn't help that the ruler of the world is a power-mad supervillain going all [[A God Am I]]. But! There are some people that genuinely do good on both sides of the equation. And no matter who [[Player Character|you]] are and what you decide to become, hero or villain, one day you'll take the fight back to that ruler.
* [[You Break It, You Profit]]: Mayhem missions, Villain-side, allow you to get small rewards for blowing up cars and such.
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** One of the rewards for completing the Baby New Year mission is a temporary power that references Hannukah, while another reward temp power is called "Five Golden Rings". No Festivus or Kwaanza powers yet, though.
* [[Zombie Apocalypse]]: The Halloween 2008 special event, in which the city is besieged by waves of zombies even tougher than the usual, everyday Vahzilok and Banished Pantheon varieties. This has since become a recurring hazard, like the Rikti invasions.
** Featuring a [[Shout-Out]] to another [[Zombie Apocalypse]] in the "[[Resident Evil|Evil's Resident]]" badge, as well as to Michael Jackson's [[Thriller (song)|"Thriller"]](!).
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* [[Good Old Fashioned Fisticuffs]]: The Street Justice powerset, mixing this with a healthy dose of [[Combat Pragmatist]] and, with attacks like Shin Breaker and Rib Cracker, a pinch of [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]].
* [[Green Thumb]]: Plant Control.
* [[Groin Attack]]: Appropriately sized characters can pull this off with the Kick power from the Fighting pool, and, rather intimidatingly, [[Super Strength]]'s [[Megaton Punch|Knockout Blow]]. However, a status of special note belongs to [https://web.archive.org/web/20120325080955/http://thrythlind.deviantart.com/art/Stalactites-195559059 Stalactites] from Earth Control.
** Martial Arts has not one, but two groin-punches: The old animation for Cobra Strike, and for MA Stalkers, the alternate animation for their assassin-strike, "Fist of Annihilation."
** At least one War Mace attack does much the same—there's something disturbingly hilarious about a four-foot fairy bashing some hapless [[Super Soldier]] six feet into the air with a hammer larger than her torso... straight to the junk.
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