gameboy1234

You mean maybe if you were wearing a white opaque dome on your head?

Think he means: he went from Premium, to VIP, and now back to Premium. Will the exact same slots he unlocked as a premium the first time still be the unlocked slots for the second period as a premium, or will he get to pick new slots to unlock?

Personally, I don't know. Good question for someone who has done it, or for Zwill to answer.

Here's a public transit pdf map, which shows Palo Alto, Caltrain, VTA and San Jose airport. Should be helpful to you out of towners.

http://www.vta.org/schedules/pdf/system_map.pdf

This is actually a good idea too. It's one reason why I think that new players should be handed a "menu" of options which are already worked out, because there's really a ton of work in deciding how to spend your money.

I'll point out at then end of your three months you'll only have 2 server slots to go around. You'll likely have to spend your points for slots (which I think you can only afford 3). However, in addition to the points you'll also have 3 server transfers, so that might help you consolidate on one server, if you wish to.

Both your and my suggestions permanently unlock all chat channels. $45 - $50 spent will do that.

This stuff is getting complicated.

I was going to suggest that new options be added for Null the Gull, but what would be better is if each of the contacts had a line/button/option in their starting text to tell you want your current status is.

So talk to Theoden, he should have an extra option to tell you:
- You are/are not eligible for the bonus "first time" merit on this character.
- You /are eligible for an Alignment Merit reward/will be eligible on Month Date at HH:MM.

Since NPCs are apparently easier to program than UI elements, hopefully this could be add at minimal cost.

Wow, OK, that, I didn't know. Buying $50 in one go looks like the better option to me now.

(There's just all sorts of new stuff to learn with the new market. Seriously, I think a bit more education slash advertising is required here.)

Is that due to the current sale, Aggelakis? I thought all purchases would yield the same amount of bonus.

Yes, I was looking for things that are more "needed," as in everybody needs to have, rather than options.

Another thought, by at least level 30 or 35, buy the Alignment System ($15). Primarily to get Tips and Alignment Merits, which are really handy once you start to IO a character. Consider buying this earlier, as you can make a ton of cash selling good recipes on the market, or you can just slowly accumulate Alignment Merits to have when you are ready for them.

Here's the gist of a conversation that happened over Champion's help channel today. Given that a free player wants the best bang for their buck, and that they are free and not returning (i.e., no high level characters), what should the buy from the market?

Assume they want to stay Premium for now (let's say they have no 50's so Incarnate content doesn't appeal to them), and other content like First Ward isn't pressing because all the legacy content is still novel and interesting to them.

Here's a rough outline I came up with.

1. Play for free up to about level 20 to see if you like the game.
   
2. If you do decide to stay, spend $40 bucks in store. This'll get you some channel unlocks. Buy:
   
   1. 5 character slots on your favorite server. You should have 7 slots available on that one server now, which is over half the regular total. Pretty good for free.
      
   2. Assuming you made it to level 20, buy the Auction House and Invention System unlocks. You'll need salvage for money, and a place to sell them. This let's you play the game for $4 per month, less than half the VIP total, for 5 months.
3. After 5 months buy $20 worth of more points for continuing to play $4 for month for those two licenses.

This way you can play for 10 months for about the same cost as a brand new game, while having access to the most important systems that a new, low level player will need to make progress with his characters, plus 7 characters on one server to play with.

(Personally I think the rewards and market are baroque enough that some "education" (read: advertising) about how to get started in CoH as a premium player would be helpful. As an aside, there was also some commentary in the help channel at the same time as the Premium discussion about how WoW "sucks ballz" and City of Heroes is much better. And this is from the new players. Give yourself a pat on the back, devs! )

So what would you advise a new player to get, as the most beneficial purchases for premium play?

We need badger melee.

And throwing badgers.

What's the required number of players for the Halloween Trial? Because I tried to get in solo, and no-go. Is it 2-4? 4 exactly?

Thanks!

Being untargetable and stuck is a reoccurring problem that I'd like to see fixed, or at least reduced in frequency.