How Contacts Work (or, "Getting Specific Mission")

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about how contacts and missions are assigned, so here goes:

The quick summary is that each contact in a given tier corresponds with a specific origin, and thus the missions/arcs available. It's no coincidence you get five new contacts in each tier, and there are five origins. In other words, all the missions/arcs are available to you regardless of who your specific contacts are.

Here's the details and some caveats:

First of all, I'll refer to contacts by their tiers. i.e. Tier 1 is your original contact, Tier 5 is the level 5-10 contacts, Tier 10 is the level 10-15 contacts, and so on.

When you first start the game, you are automatically assigned the contact which directly corresponds with your origin. A caveat here is that the missions your original contact gives you will differ, based on which city you start in. No big deal.

When you start getting your Tier 5 contacts, your original contact will introduce you to the Tier 5 contact which corresponds with her origin. From level 10 onwards this is always true; e.g. a Technology contact will introduce you to another Technology contact.

Tier 5 is the one big exception because you only get 3 contacts, which means you won't get contacts (and thus missions) for 2 of the origins. As I've said above, your first Tier 5 contact will be of your origin -- you don't have a choice in the matter. The next two are usually your pick, so you should choose wisely.

For example, if you want to get the Negotiator badge, that's a Clockworks mission, thus it's a Technology origin who can give you that mission. Make sure one of your two Tier 5 contacts is Technology (i.e. offers Clockwork missions). This is the only Tier where you can miss out on a particular origins/mission/badge. From Tier 10 and onwards, all missions/arcs are available because you'll have five contacts.

How do you determine what origin a given contact is? There's several ways. First of all, you know your starting contact is of your origin, thus the contact they introduce you to (and the contact they later introduce you to) will all be of your origin.

What about the others? Pay attention to the types of gangs they deal in, and what kind of enhancements are available from them. A contact who deals with the Circle of Thorns is going to be of Magic origin, and anyone they introduce you to later on will also be Magic.

Also, the enhancements they give out are a dead giveaway because they are of the same origin as the contact. So if a contact can provide Inventions (Sci/Tech) and Gadgets (Nat/Tech), you know that contact is of Tech origin because that's the common origin between those DOs. The contacts which sell SOs are no-brainers.

So with that clue, you can always determine a contact's origin, even if you're unsure what the origin is of the gang(s) they specialize in.

Now some more explanations: In a given tier, you will have one contact which corresponds with each of the origins. There may be more than one contact for a given origin (of which you'll get one), but all the contacts of a given origin assign the same missions! i.e. Whether you end up with Athena Currie (SC), Carla Brunelli (SW) or Everett Daniels (SW) doesn't matter -- they're all Tech, and thus offer the same missions.

So from Tier 10 onwards, all missions/arcs/badges are available because you'll have a contact corresponding with each origin. You just have to pump the contact whose origin matches the mission/badge/gang you're looking for, or in the case of story arcs, have a "arc slot" free. (You're only allowed to have two story arcs ongoing, and until you clear one of them, other story arcs won't be offered.)

Except for the Tier 5 contacts (of which you only get 3 of the 5 origins), the randomness between contacts is just for variety; i.e. you can't "screw up" selecting a contact, or get locked out of a specific mission, unless your "arc slots" are maxxed.

A small, unimportant caveat is that at Tier 40 and onwards, the five contacts don't all represent a specific origin (some are of generic origin) -- but at that point, everyone gets the same contacts, so no guide is needed.

Also the Hollows, Striga and Shadow Shard are also linearly assigned and "extracurricular." (i.e. You don't need a guide for those either.)

Hope that made some sense. If anything is unclear, post here, and answer and try to update this guide accordingly. (Incidentally, yes, I have compiled my own list of all the contacts, their tiers, their origin, the gangs they deal in, and what enhancements they sell -- and thus what missions/badges/arcs they have. Unfortunately, the list isn't in digital form and I'm too lazy to type them all in now -- because that would be the Ultimate Guide, a simple table with exact information, instead of this long, drawn out guide. )

Supurb post! Five stars!

Correction:

You are allowed 5 tier 5 contacts. You usually get introduced to them after doing a mission for your latest contact.

IE: Joe1 (tier 1 contact) introduces Joe51 (tier 5 contact 1). Do a mission for Joe 51, and then Joe51 introduces Joe 52 (tier5 contact 2). Joe 52 -> Joe53 -> Joe45 -> Joe55 and viola, 5 tier 5 contacts. You just have to do at least one mission from each contact before they give you a new one.

I just checked three of my characters on Live, and all had their Tier 5 contacts maxxed out, but none of them had been introduced to more Tier 5 contacts. (i.e. All three of them have only three Tier 5 contacts, despite having maxxed out those three.). Can anyone confirm akars' findings?

One more minor caveat I forgot to mention, it's not uncommon to only get introduced to four of the Tier 40 contacts, but as akars as pointed out, after doing some more missions, you'll get introduced to the rest. So don't freak out if initially you're only introduced to 4 of the Tier 40 contacts.

I can confirm getting 5 contacts in the level 5-10 range. It usually happens in the order he suggested. On all my characters so far, barring the use of the Hollows, have always had 5 contacts. As for the 35+ range, you'll typically get 5 contacts if all of your other contacts are maxed. However, 35-45 there are 6 contacts because there are 6 story arcs. You get the sixth during your mission progression.

Is there a way to delete a Contact that you don't want?

And is there a way to get new Contacts? (Other than being introduced, I mean.)

No, you can't delete contacts.

For what most people consider "normal" contacts, you must be introduced. Of course, there are "non-standard" contacts which you can go up and talk to, such as Trial contacts, tailors, origin contacts, etc.

Yet another caveat I missed before: There are only 4 Tier 45 contacts, not counting the Shadow Shard ones.

I was playing a new alt today, and yes, you can get 5 Tier 5 contacts. I think the reason I may not have noticed it before is because I would work a particular contact until she was completed before moving onto another. So I would outlevel Tier 5 before I was introduced to all 5 contacts.

So although it always possible to get the Negotiator badge, I would recommend picking the Technology contact (Clockworks) ASAP; or follow the advice above and do at least 1 mission for each Tier 5 contact until you get all 5 contacts.

Is it possible to do all the story arcs for tier 5 and higher contacts? By this, I mean, with just one character?

Anyway, excellent post! It's very informative. Especially the one with the 'Specializing in Inventions and Gadgets'. I've been having a hard time looking for contacts that sell Science SOs for my lvl 30 character.

As far as I can tell, yes you can do every story arc with one character. You have to make a concerted effort pre level 30 to do missions though, or you will outlevel them.

Yep, I find it all too easy to blow through 5-10 and 10-15. If one is serious about doing all the arcs/missions, consider suiciding several times to accumulate debt / slow down advancement.

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As far as I can tell, yes you can do every story arc with one character. You have to make a concerted effort pre level 30 to do missions though, or you will outlevel them.

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I don't think that's exactly true. Specific contacts give specific story arc missions, and it is entirely possible to get all of your contacts at a particular tier (usually you get a max of 5 contacts per tier) and miss one of the arc (for instance, "The Rise of the Vampyri" is given out only by Jose Escalante or Merisel Valenzuela, and if you end up with neither of these contacts you will never get that particular story arc).

You *can* do every story arc with one character, but you'd have to be extremely lucky (since mostly contacts are assigned, not chosen).

At least, that's how I understand it

Hey SinisterStairs, I wrote such an electronic guide to contacts a while back. Would you mind checking it against your list for correctness? Some of it I'm not entirely convinced is right (it's hard to confirm all these things since you don't get every single contact in the game, heh).

It's here: CoH Contact Guide

Ron

Not sure if all contact are there.
But this site should help a bit already.
Contacts

The story arcs go by contact origin, and you have the ability to gain 1 contact from each origin at each tier, with a few exeptions. So in the instance of "The Rise of the Vampyri" availible from Jose Escalante or Merisel Valenzuela. Those are both mutant origin contacts. From my understanding you will never get both, but always get one of them (assuming you persue geting the macimum number of contacts). So when 3 contacts give the same story arc, they are always of the same origin, and you will always be able to get one of them, but only one of them.

All of my charachters follow this progression.

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The story arcs go by contact origin, and you have the ability to gain 1 contact from each origin at each tier, with a few exeptions.

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Yes, I agree this is the case.

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So in the instance of "The Rise of the Vampyri" availible from Jose Escalante or Merisel Valenzuela. Those are both mutant origin contacts. From my understanding you will never get both, but always get one of them (assuming you persue geting the macimum number of contacts).

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Here's where I have the problem. And that's a bad example, because you WILL get one of them (those are the only two mutation origin contacts at that tier). However, take a real world example from another tier group. This is my actual contact list from my character for Tier 4 (levels 20-24):
Amanda Loomis (Mut)
John Strobel (Nat)
Oliver Haak (Mag)
Andrew Fiore (Tech)
Kevin Cordell (Sci)

As you say, I have one contact from each origin. However, if you cross reference this list against my site list, you will see none of these contacts give out the Tsoo Coop. The Tsoo Coop is given out by the Mutation origin contacts (Hinkley Rasmussen, Manuel Ruiz, Tyler French, or Dennis Ewell). I have Amanda Loomis for a mutation contact, but she doesn't give that mission, and therefore I cannot get the Tsoo Coop ever with this character.

That is, of course, presuming my contact guide is correct, and it's entirely possible there are errors in it. If it turns out Amanda Loomis gives me the Tsoo Coop, I will correct my guide, but so far I haven't found any problems with it.

There are a LOT of contacts that don't give any particular story arc or badge mission. I think that, as a contact, just because you *are* a member of a particular origin doesn't necessarily mean you *will* give out the story arc mission.

I could be wrong through In fact, I hope I am, I'd like to be able to do every story arc mission in the game.

Ron

Hey Akars,

Because you peaked my curiosity, I decided to work Amanda for a while, and in fact, she did eventually give me the Tsoo Coup story arc. I've fixed my guide accordingly.

So, I now have the ability to do every story arc through level 24 (Tier 4), and I've done every story arc below that as well. It seems unlikely at this point that that's random, so I'm beginning to believe you and SS that the game is designed such that you can do every story arc mission if you don't outlevel your contacts.

However, the only evidence I have is purely anecdotal at this point, and it would mean I have severe problems with my contact guide (as there should be virtually NO contacts without a story arc mission, and I have quite a lot). I'm not yet willing to go on faith and just change them all based on their origin. If anyone has gotten a story arc from a contact that I have listed as "no known missions", please let me know about it. If I get much more evidence that what you say is true (say another 5 or 10 contacts with missions) I'm going to concede that you're right and change them all.

Ron

There's something else I think you should add to this guide...

Edit: Actually, I think perhaps I'll post this as a completely new thread too, it's great information that I wish I'd known about long before I heard about it.

"How to get Story Arcs you missed"

Note that this ONLY works for Story Arcs, not for badge missions. It also will NOT work for the Hollows or Striga Isle special story arcs that have multiple contacts. This is for Story Arcs you didn't even start - ones you already started you can continue without having to do anything special.

Step 1) Outlevel a story arc without ever actually doing it. Oops!

Step 2) Complete any Story Arcs you are currently in the middle of - make sure none are active (not just that you have no missions for them currently in your mission list, but that you aren't in the middle of a story arc AT ALL).

Step 3) Look in a guide and figure out which contact you had that would have given you the missed Story Arc.

Step 4) Physically go to that contact (calling them will NOT work!).

Step 5) Click on them and see if they have text you can click on to look at missions, or if they just say they can't help you any more. If they have clickable text, it will lead to them offering the start of your missed story arc. If not, go to step 6.

Step 6) Click on "Ask about this contact". Then click on "Talk about what else is going on." See if they now have text you can click on, or if they still insist that they can't help you.

Step 7) Repeat step 6, over and over, until they eventually change what they say and offer you a mission that starts your missed story arc! Shouldn't take more than about 15 times, although it did once take about 25 times one one particular contact for me, and I had just about given up when the mission was finally offered.

Step 8) Do the story arc, but be aware that you will be fighting greys and you will get no xp for any of it. You will get the Souvenier at the end though!

And yes, I have personally done this, within the last few weeks. I went back and did all my tier 10 and tier 15 story arcs at level 27 because I hadn't bothered doing many missions in the first 20 levels. When I saw the dev post explaining how to do this I didn't believe it would actually work until I tried it itself. Also, I have had old contacts that hadn't even given me their phone number yet still give me a story arc with this method, so the rumor that they have to be maxxed out to give you a missed story arc is not true AFAIK.

This also means it is possible to do all story arcs even if you do level too fast.

I have a character that leveled so fast, she only got 2 Tier 5 contacts. Those 2 Tier 5 contacts gave me only 2 Tier 10 contacts. The character is now level 13 and I'm worried that I'm going to be stuck with only 2 contacts in each tier for the rest of this charater's career. Will the Tier 10 contacts send me to other Tier 10 contacts if I keep doing missions for them?

Go talk to your old tier 5 contacts again too. If you keep contacting your older tier 5 contacts and your tier 10 contacts as you level up, eventually they WILL give you a total of 5 contacts in your current level range (although if you are unlucky, it might not be until tier 15). I found this out by personal experience.

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Step 6) Click on "Ask about this contact". Then click on "Talk about what else is going on." See if they now have text you can click on, or if they still insist that they can't help you.

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I haven't tried this, but I will tonight. I wanted to do a 20-25 arc, and hadn't done any of the earlier arcs. I visited several contacts, and none offered till I got to the Vahz Pollutant (level 10-15). After I finished that I got the Clockwork prisoner (also 10-15), followed by Bonefire (also 10-15). It looks to me like they offer arcs lowest to highest. But given your advice above, maybe they just cycle, and you can increment the cycle by staying at a contact and asking again.

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Step 4) Physically go to that contact (calling them will NOT work!).

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Correct, but I noticed this interesting trick. All contacts have a unique DONE message that they give you when you have either outleveled them or completed all of their missions. Something like "My plate is clean, try another contact." They also have 2 or 3 AVAILABLE messages which indicate they have an available mission. Something like "I could really use your help on something." I was trying to do some old arcs, and I found that one contact that gave me an AVAILABLE message but no missions. When I physically visited that contact, they offered the story arc. All of the others I called while experimenting gave me the usual DONE message.

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Also, I have had old contacts that hadn't even given me their phone number yet still give me a story arc with this method, so the rumor that they have to be maxxed out to give you a missed story arc is not true AFAIK.

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I heard that you have to do at least one mission for some (which?) contacts to "open" them up. You'll see this when you visit them for the first time and they only offer you 1 mission, rather than the usual Hunt + Door pair. (UNCONFIRMED) If you get a contact but don't "open" them before you outlevel them, they won't ever offer a story arc. Unfortunately, I don't know which contacts this applies to, so I can't be sure.

Does going back and talking to the outdated contact only work for Storyarcs or does it work for badge missions also? I have a lot of pre-20 stuff that I need to go back and do. Also, now that I am level 35 I have 6 contacts and 6 Storyarcs.

To get a particular contact to start a Storyarc if they don't initially give you a Storyarc mission, just do several of the missions that they offer until you get past aquaintance status (whatever that first marker is on their status bar). They will finally give you the Storyarc, but you can't have more than 2 arcs going at once.

One thing that I do on missions is do as little as possible in the mission... if it is not 'defeat all' then I try to never defeat all. That way I can get the most missions I can from the contact to make sure that I will be introduced to the next contact. Once I get through all of their door missions I will go back and call them and stack the outdoor missions. Such as, try to find more than 1 contact who has a 'defeat x' of the same villain group. The bonus is double after defeating the villains.

Here some more info on contacts...

CONTACT TYPES...

There are several different types of contacts. The Tutorial contacts only exist while you're doing the Tutorial, and they disappear forever after that. The first contact you get in Atlas Park or Galaxy City is an Origin Contact. Most of the contacts you meet are Origin Contacts. At higher levels there are Extra Contacts (Steven Sheridan and 1 other maybe?). There are temporary Store Contacts at levels 30 & 40. There are Costume Contacts. There are TF & Trial Contacts. Finally, there are Update Contacts in the Hollows and Shadow Shard.

Origin and Extra Contacts will not have anything to do with you unless they are properly introduced (see below). All other contacts will talk politely to you and offer missions (if you're at the right level) without an introduction.

MISSIONS...

All Origin Contacts of the same level and Origin have the exact same pool of missions they will offer. Some missions are in 2 pools, and can be offered by 2 different Origins (you see this a lot at level 30+). The pools gets bigger as you level up. Early on it is easy to outlevel your contacts before draining the pools. Later on the situation is reversed. Extra Contacts (Steven Sheridan) have a pool and look very similar to Origin Contacts in the way they offer missions.

There is one Store Contact for each Origin type. They will offer you a mission at level 30+. Once you do the mission, they will let you buy SOs. Store Contacts do not show up on your contact list. (What about during their mission?)

Costume Contacts include the City Representative and 1 person in each Icon store. At certain levels, they will offer you a costume related mission (extra costume slot, cape, or aura). They do not show up in your contact list. (What about during their mission?)

TF Contacts (Positron, Synapse, Sister Psyche, ...) offer you a small pool of missions in a mostly fixed order. You have to form a TF to do this, and the TF Contact becomes your ONLY contact while on a TF. After that they disappear from your contact list.

Trial Contacts (Sewer one is the only one I know) offer you a small set of fixed order missions. I assume they come and go similar to TF Contacts, but you don't have to form a TF to do them.

Update Contacts are new contacts added with the updates. Once you talk to them, they get added to your contact list, and will give you missions from a pool similar to Origin Contacts.

INTRODUCTIONS (Origin and Extra Contacts)...

You start the game (after the Tutorial if you did it) with 1 Origin Contact in your starting city zone. With 5 origins and 2 zones that makes 10 different first contacts. This is a level 0 Origin Contact.

You can only have 1 level 0 Origin Contact. You can have 5 of every tier above that to 40. An Origin Contact of level X will introduce you to another Origin or Extra Contact at level X ONCE after you do 1 mission for them if there are any left. An Origin Contact of level X will introduce you to a corresponding level X+5 Origin Contact when you reach level X+5 if you've done at least one mission for them, or when you reach level X+4 if you're a Confidant.

Assuming you do lots of missions, this goes as follows. If you're a Magic character in Atlas Park, you get Azuria as your level 0 Origin Contact. At level 4 she introduces you to a level 5 Magic Origin Contact. At level 5 after 1 mission, that new Magic Origin Contact intriduces you to a non-Magic level 5 Origin Contact (say Mutant). I haven't ever checked to see if this follows any sort of pattern. After one mission for the Mutant Origin Contact, they introduce you to another, say Tech. After a Tech mission, you meet the Sci Contact. After a Sci mission, you meet the Natural Contact. You have met every level 5 Origin Contact you will ever meet. At level 9, assuming they are all at the Confidant level, they will all introduce you to one of the level 10 Origin Contacts corresponding to their origin. This procedure repeats for many levels.

At level 35 you have 5 Origin Contacts. After you do a mission for one, they introduce you to Extra Contact Steven Sheridan. At level 39 with 6 Confidants, your 5 Origin Contacts will introduce you to a level 40 Origin Contact, but Steven Sheridan will not.

What happens if you don't do missions? The same thing applies. I believe your first Origin Contact will always offer to introduce you to your Level 5 Origin Contact after you hit level 5. The Level 5 Origin Contact will introduce you to the Level 10 one, and they will pass you up the line. Eventually you will hit a contact that will offer you missions. Once you do a mission for that contact, you will be introduced to another Origin Contact at that level, and you can repeat the process to get a full set.

What happens if you never do a mission for your Level 5 Origin Contact? I don't think you will ever be introduced to any other Level 5 Origin contacts. The same applies at higher levels. That means you may not be able to ever do certain badge missions or story arcs, as you don't have a contact of the right origin to give you the mission.

INTRODUCTIONS (Update Contacts)...

Update Contacts will introduce you to other Update Contacts along a certain chain similar to Tutorial Contacts. For example, Sgt. David Wincott will introduce you to Flux, who introduces you to Julius the Troll, who introduces you to Talshak the Mystic. There are certain level restrictions too, similar to Origin Contacts.

There's a contact list HERE.

This has been some really helpful information, and has in the case of my blaster, who has skipped the Hollows entirely, been in keeping with her experience. I'm REALLY hoping some others come back and read this as it's a tad on the oldish side...

The math just does not work for my lvl 36 healer, who has a grand total of 18 contacts, 4 of which are in the Hollows. She's gone back and talked to every 'outworld' contact and every one has nothing for her. At 5 per tier, she should be up to at LEAST 31 contacts by now. My lvl 20 blaster just got her next round and is up to 25 contacts. Anbody have a CLUE as to what might have happened? For the time being, I'm blaming The Hollows...

Sounds like you missed some lower contacts then outleveled their tier. That's not unusual for support ATs, who generally don't get their missions completed and contacts advanced (compared to damage dealing ATs). That's no big deal, since outleveled contacts are really only good for buying inspirations.

A friend's controller only had a grand whopping total of 3 contacts at level 33 -- none at his previous tier, so he couldn't get introductions to current contacts.

He went back and talked to all three of his contacts (T1 and T2 ) and did outdated missions they offered. He got introduced to successive tier contacts, until finally he was introduced to a current tier contact.

I don't believe he regained all the possible contacts per outleveled tier, but he did get fully caught up at his current tier.

Hepcat's seen this link on the Victory forum, but for everyone else, here's a useful resource on contacts. For most players, this is all you'll care about: List of contacts

Yea, I'll buy that. *BIG sigh of relief* OK, I feel much better now. Thanks a lot for the great info. Glad to know my healer is maybe gimped but not bugged in the contact department. I'll have my tanker husband SHARE the agenda from now on...