Ironik

Welcome to the game, Michael.

I'd start in City of Heroes first, as that's the basis for the two expansions. As ZephyrWind says, make your first character a throw-away -- don't even make a costume or give him a name. Then make your second one a Hero and start in the tutorial.

READ everything in the tutorial. It will give you a solid basis for the entire rest of the game.

Important tips:

Servers are listed according to population. The ones with the most players are on the bottom. However, the last server you were on is always at the top, no matter how many people are on it. The three most-populated servers are Freedom, Virtue and Infinity, in that order. Virtue is the unofficial roleplaying server.

Good names are harder to get on more populated servers, but there are plenty to be had. Names like "Xx Superdude xX" are viewed with derision and often ridiculed in-game. If you really want a name like "Buzzsaw" but it's taken, try a variation like "Captain Buzzsaw" or "Commander Buzzsaw" or whatever.

Do NOT try to recreate a character from another game, movie, TV show, etc. That will get your character genericked, meaning your name will be deleted and replaced with something like "Generic Hero 000 302 6789" and your costume will be reset to the default plain one. You can make one that is inspired by another work, but it's better to come up with your own concept and go from there.

If you want help designing a costume, check out the "Costume Re-Design" thread in the "Screenshots and Fan Art" subforum.

The Hero archetypes (known informally as ATs):
Blasters are the hardest hitters, but they die easily. They are known as "glass cannons". Fire Blasters have the most powerful attacks, while Dual Pistols are the weakest.
Defenders are the weakest when it comes to attacks and soloing but are often unstoppable in a group.
Tankers are the hardest to kill, generally speaking, but they have fairly low damage output. Fire Tanks and Dark Tanks *do* have some decent damage output, however.
Scrappers -- especially Scrappers who have Willpower as their secondary -- are the easiest to play for a new player such as yourself. They have defenses almost as good as Tanks and attacks nearly as powerful as Blasters.
Controllers eventually become quite powerful, but it takes a very long time for that to happen. In the early stages of the game, they are pretty weak and can be frustrating to play.

ParagonWiki will answer other questions you might have.

I find the sexism in this thread appalling.

I'm also annoyed no one has yet said, "It's hammer time!"

Hey all, back from the Apple what is Big. Awesome trip, terrific dog show (at which I took over 900 photos, so those will be sorted a bit later) and saw Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark yesterday afternoon. While the photos are uploading, I'll give a quick review of the musical.

I didn't know this before I left (or bought the tickets), but the music is by Bono and The Edge, which is to say it's music by U2. Like much of U2's music, the score is forgettable. There isn't a single song that you leave the theatre humming to yourself -- it's more Rock Opera than Broadway Musical, all electric guitars, bass and drums. It's not bad, it's just not great. I did, however, like one song early on when Pete and MJ are feeling sorry for themselves. Peter's been bullied at school and Uncle Ben has told him to "rise above it" and Mary Jane comes home to her abusive, alcoholic father and they sing a duet-that's-not-a-duet where his refrain is "Anyone but me" and hers is "Anywhere but here" and they go back and forth in their separate houses taking turns singing until they eventually start singing at the same time. That was the most "Broadway" moment of the score.

The staging though... man, what a spectacle! Most people have probably heard about the injuries on the show (the stuntman who suffered the worst one has returned, but I surprised he wasn't killed after that fall) and I have to say that given the astonishing complexity and intricacy of what they're doing, I'm amazed more people haven't been hurt. They are flying all over the theatre -- and I mean ALL OVER: one platform they use is way up on the second balcony near where I was sitting -- and they have multiple people zinging around at the same time. It's really something.

It's directed by Julie Taymor, who did The Lion King, and she's really gone overboard to outdo herself. She's succeeded. This show is a new take on the origin story, using the myth of Arachne as a basis for Peter’s powers. (I’m not crazy about the fantasy aspect of what is otherwise a straightforward Science origin, but I can let it slide without getting too geekily bent out of shape.) The opening is very cool, as six of Arachne’s handmaidens/chorus descend from the ceiling on wide golden silk streamers each, three of the girls swinging forward as three are swinging backward. As they lower towards the floor, horizontal streamers rise upward, effectively doing a gigantic basket weave in real time. It was a very cool and clever effect.

The really amazing thing about the staging is how the set seems to shift perspective on a moment’s notice. One second you’re inside an office or an apartment and presto-change-o you’re on top a building with little cars driving by on the street below then suddenly everything is upside down. Yet it all makes sense. Honestly, without the incredible staging I would probably agree with the critics that it’s not a great show. The music is meh and the story feels rushed, basically hitting the high notes of Peter’s story. However, once I got my mind around the concept they were going for, I did like the meta-commentary aspect of the story. There are 4 kids who are talking about the show as if it’s a comic book, which at first feels a little odd, but later they start interacting with the show as if their passion for the character and his story have so overwhelmed them that they are transported by it. And I have to admit, that is the exact feeling I had myself when I first read these books as a kid, so the way Taymor staged that feeling of immersion and getting lost in the world and caring about these characters was ingenious.

There is one bizarre “feels like a filler number” that has Arachne and her eight-legged freaky handmaidens go shoe shopping because Arachne is jealous that Pete loves MJ, but it’s still kind of weirdly interesting in a surrealist sort of way.



There are also funny moments, too. The wrestling scene from Spidey’s origin is Peter against a giant inflatable “Bonesaw McGraw” that’s played for laughs and it looks like the actor is having fun bouncing off the guy. One of the best lines goes to J. Jonah Jameson as he’s writing a headline describing the Green Goblin tying MJ to a piano and throwing her off the Chrysler building while Spidey tries to stop it: “Okay, I’ve got it! ‘Spider-man And Goblin Working In Concert, Piano Their Forte!’ Man, I’m really good!”

I especially like the boots and gloves on that.