Merchant of Chaos

New player here! I've had the game for a few days now but I'm still in the process of trying out a few archetypes to see what appeals to me.

I haven't done a ton of research, mainly because I don't understand a tenth of all the terms you guys use, but from what I understand Dual Pistols are kind of underwhelming performance-wise.

However, I find it really fun to play, so I was wondering what the best secondary would be for a Dual Pistols blaster who wants to see as much of the game as he can solo?

Thanks in advance!

New issue.

I'm trying to upgrade my account with the serial key but it won't let me. It's asking me to put in a game card or credit card info. I just want the 30 free days that come with the game.

Thank you very much guys. <3

Okay, so immediately after I post this, I realize the serial is in the quickstart guide. Whoops.

My other question still stands though!

I ordered it online from Best Buy - it got here today. I've been playing a trial in the meantime.

I can't seem to find a serial key. When I opened the case, there was the disc, a quick-start guide, a short manual, and a map of Praetoria/Paragon/Rogue Isles.

I haven't checked every individual page of the manual yet, but I'm doing so now, and I can't find a serial key.

Also, another question, if I'm on day 3 of a trial what happens when I upgrade? Do I lose the rest of my trial days and start to consume the 30 free days immediately?

Thanks for the warm welcome! :]

It makes little sense to me.

The graphics and plot is better, but gameplay-wise there's no real reason to force this requirement on new players.

Praetoria content is quite a bit harder than level 1-20 content in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles. It would actually make more sense to have players 'unlock' Praetoria by getting to level 20 as a Hero or Villain first. It seems like an 'advanced' newbie area, for people with experience in the game already.

There are some difficult mechanics at play in many Praetoria missions - packs of more than a half-dozen +1 minions, sometimes with a +2 lieutenant mixed in. Waves of enemies rushing in without a moment's pause, overwhelming the player. Missions that barely give players a chance to rest or go AFK for a bit, spawning minions that continually sneak up behind the player to bug him until he completes the mission.

I understand that new players only need to complete the brief tutorial to gain access to heroes and villains, but odds are they're going to remain in Praetoria for their newbie experience. They don't know the other newbie experiences are easier yet - they'll have to ask around to figure out that they'll have an easier time elsewhere. Is that really the newbie experience Paragon wants for new players?

Some people like the challenge of Praetoria. That's fine with me. But if the content is designed to be challenging, why strongly nudge newbies into starting their CoX experience with it? Either make it clear that Praetoria is for advanced players, or tone down the difficulty somehow. Put in a notoriety-changing NPC. It feels like an oversight that they don't exist in Praetoria - as though the developers have already made the choice for us, and told the NPC we want to fight enemies +2 to our level and that we're as good as 3 standard heroes.

Some of you are so pro that this doesn't bother you. Sincere congrats, I look up to people so skilled. But not all of us are that good, especially those of us who are just starting or coming back after a very long departure.

To us, Praetoria is just frustrating. I've already used the 3-day cooldown on mission-skipping twice, not because of bugs but because of extreme difficulty. I feel like I'm playing CoH on some sort of 'hard mode'. It reminds me of how it feels when you try to solo a group quest in other MMORPGs, except Praetoria is supposed to be completely soloable. Something just doesn't add up.

I'll continue banging my head against brick walls, but hopefully soon there's some sort of relief. Right now, my experience with Praetoria is akin to a tourist buying a travel package to a beach resort and being taken to a military boot camp instead.

Anyone else, perhaps a wee bit more helpful?

I'm not just giving out a free month, I actually want someone to talk to and maybe get a tiny bit of help from as I learn the game. So please, give me some info to work with. :P

Can I have some information on how to contact you or your SG ingame?

Hey all. I just picked up the Going Rogue Complete Collection and figured I'd start off with a free trial for a little bit of a head start - time is money, after all. Especially when it comes to MMORPGs!

The refer-a-friend trial is 10 days, the standard trial is only 7, there's a three-day incentive! Plus you'd get a free month out of the deal.

All I'm looking for in return is a nice, helpful Supergroup on Virtue who would be able to answer the occasional question. That's all I ask.

Of course, I checked with my friends, but I only know one former CoH player and he has no plans to return. So I came here looking for a kind stranger.

My e-mail is moregrammarplz@aol.com .

Thanks in advance!

Nope, just tried the mission again.

I set up a triage beacon but my robots will not remain in its range. They continue running up to enemies to melee them and die in seconds. I try setting up a beacon right where the enemies are, which works a bit better, but then I'm left waiting for triage beacon to recharge. Way too much downtime.

I'm guessing Mastermind isn't for me. I nearly rolled a scrapper for my first toon but I figured it would have the 'noob' class stereotype. However, if it's less frustrating than Mastermind, I'm all for it now.

Thanks for the help anyway.

Well, I figured out how to switch to a second build, but I had to buy new enhancements for the sockets. I'm broke now, but hopefully this build I found helps out.

EDIT: And thanks for the advice, the new build I got doesn't have any attacks for me besides traps. I guess my robots will be doing most of the damage and I'll be supporting them with traps. Here's hoping it works!

I'm just playing blind, so odds are my build is terrible. How do I respec?

From the Robotics Set, I have Battle Drones, Pulse Rifle Blast, Pulse Rifle Burst, Equip Robot, and Photon Grenade. They're mostly slotted with damage enhancements, though I put in a recharge reduction into Pulse Rifle Blast and Pulse Rifle Burst because I hate standing around waiting for powers to recharge.

Out of Traps, I only have Web Grenade so far. Nothing else looked that useful, at least until now, when Triage Beacon is looking mighty helpful.

I also took Hover so I can get Fly later.

As for mission difficulty, it's Praetoria, where there aren't any mission difficulties - it's all automatic. It's a level 11 mission, though, but I keep running into orange-difficulty Hombres that are tearing me apart.

Hey everyone!

I'm new to CoH, currently my Mastermind is at level 11. I'm a Robotics/Traps MM.

The first 5 levels were quite boring because I only had a couple skills to work with. Then, up until level 9, it was actually quite fun. Now it's getting really difficult, though.

Up until now, my robots were fairly resilient. I gave them a health inspiration a couple times per mission to freshen them up, but ever since I've started doing missions in Imperial City, my robots are dying every couple of fights.

An Hombre can use his rock-throw and take out half my robot's health. I'm also running into missions with orange-difficulty mobs. Even white mobs are making quick work of my bots - I'm currently in a mission where white 'Blast Masters' can take out 25% of both my bot's health with this AoE fire attack.

I got a skill that let me upgrade my bots but it seems to do little difference. They don't even change appearance, so sometimes I accidentally upgrade the same bot twice, wasting a ton of stamina.

They feel so fragile now. What can I do?

The only thing I can think of is pick up Triage Beacon when I hit level 12, though I still have a whole level to go before that, and I've currently been in that same mission I mentioned for about an hour now. The only thing that really works for me now is defeating a group of enemies, then going AFK for 5 minutes so my bots recover their health. This isn't fun.

I was wondering what exactly happens when you hit level 20 on a Praetorian.

So far it sounds like you're forced to leave for Paragon or the Isles when you hit 20, but is there any leeway?

I'm guessing you can't start any new missions after hitting 20, but can you wrap up the ones you've already accepted? Or at least hang around for a couple of levels and do some street sweeping around Praetoria before leaving?

Thank you all for your advice! I'm playing a Mastermind and the first few levels were really boring, but now that I have three assault rifle attacks and two henchmen, things are picking up.

I was wondering if any of you wanted to refer-a-friend me? I'm planning on playing on Virtue, but I don't personally know anyone who plays CoH, so I figured maybe someone who helped me in this thread wanted a free month? :]

I don't know if it's prudent to post my email here in this thread but if you want to refer me, throw me a PM!

Hey everyone. I'm new to the game and so far I'm enjoying it. However, I'm little overwhelmed and underwhelmed with the game's powers.

I'm overwhelmed by how many types of powers there are. There are ten classes, and then each class has like 16 primary and secondary powers. It's staggering.

I decided to try a few different characters out, but this is where I'm underwhelmed - for the first three or four hours of gameplay, I only have maybe three powers to play with alongside 'brawl'. It feels kind of sparse. A lot of my time is spent waiting for my powers to recharge. It also means I can't really get a quick feel for a power set without spending more time than I'm comfortable with.

It feels like there's too many power sets, which makes it hard to test them all, and powers are unlocked too slowly, which makes it even harder to test them.