newbie content- proper order/skipping things
By
Alteisen,
Posted on: 2009-06-27 17:10 in Player Questions
I'm just going to jump in and answer number 3 on your list.
NO. There is no "right way" to progress through CoX. For example: I usually avoid the hollows. Not for any particular reason, I'm just not crazy about it.
The best way to see all of the story content is to either run multiple characters or to go back with the Oroborous feature. Actually, whichever way is the most enjoyable for you is the correct one.
Writer of In-Game fiction: Just Completed: My Summer Vacation. My older things are now being archived at Fanfiction.net http://www.fanfiction.net/~jwbullfrog until I come up with a better solution.
There's... well, a lot of content here and there. It won't impact you at level 30, say, if you skip your 1-5 stuff (Kheldians aside - they've got a nice set of arcs, regardless.) You will miss some story stuff, such as information about the Clockwork King's background, a bit about the Skulls, but not massive information like, say, you get with the organ grinders arc in the 30s.
Besides, there's a lot of story, you *will* likely miss some of it. You can skip the Hollows, for instance - though it's a big, self-contained story (with a few mini ones,) or do the Hollows and miss some of what's in King's Row, do (or skip) Faultline - there are a lot of paths in the game.
Yep, there's no "right way" and you should, indeed, play in whatever way you happen to like best (although I would frown upon powerlevelling from 1 to 50 without pausing to actually learn how to play your character). That said, if you're looking for good arcs to play pre-20, here are two that I recommend:
Flux the Outcast (5-9): I think this is the first time in a hero's career where you really get to feel "super". Okay, no one likes running around the Hollows without a travel power, but the last mission looks cool and it's a unique map, so you won't see it again except in AE and via Flashback.
All of the Faultline story arcs (starts at level 15): There's several of these, but I tend to think of them all as one massive story arc because they tie in to each other. You get introduced to characters that you can actually give a damn about, not these random faceless contacts. The plot here actually progresses and resembles something like a plot you might find in a book. Oh, and a couple of people you meet here show up again later in high-level content, which is cool.
But again, this is all personal preference, so your mileage may vary.
[ QUOTE ]
1. Is any of the very lowby content (pre-20 missions) something I want to do for the sake of knowing what is going on in the CoH universe?
[/ QUOTE ]
Sure. All the contacts and arcs give you info on the world. It depends on if you want to know it or not.
[ QUOTE ]
2. Are there any 'must do' sorts of things pre-20? Or is it just a grind? I'm not being derrogetory, I literally don't know the answer.
[/ QUOTE ]
There are tons of things to do. You do not need to farm your way to 20.
Atlas, Galaxy, Kings Row, the Hollows, Perez Park, Steel Canyon, and Skyway City are all pre-level 20 zones.
There are many "normal" arcs to do from contacts.
There are police missions to do Kings Row, Steel Canyon, and Skyway City.
There is a "police like" contact (actual contact, does not use radio, but functions the same) in the Hollows where you can do Hollows-style police missions.
[ QUOTE ]
3. Is there a 'right way' to progress through CoH? typically I skip Kings Row because I can go to Hollows... what would I miss there? Is that a bad idea? See? I'm confused. Is it more free, or is there a good/better/best way to go through the content.
[/ QUOTE ]
The wrong way is to get power-leveled or farm your way through to the higher levels. If you are exploiting the game, you are playing it the "wrong" way.
I skip the Hollows and go to Kings Row and run Police missions so I can get the Raptor Pack and/or jump pack temp travel powers. The content in the Hollows is fun and I have run it many times.
It is a bad idea to miss content if you want to know everything about the game. The main question is - "are you having fun?"
I like PuG-ing and experiencing the game in a kind of free and open manner. I alt-jump and server-jump a lot. So I'm always a different AT, level, or side. Some of the content kind of gets a bit blurred for me.
The best way to go through the content is the way that you enjoy it the most. For me that means teaming up and playing challenging missions.
[ QUOTE ]
My gut says this stuff, while entertaining, isn't essential to progress through the story of CoH. But maybe I'm wrong.
[/ QUOTE ]
What's that?
Missing out on information is missing out on information. If you want to know everything, then you have to work to run all the content. Some of the enemy groups don't show up any more after level 20, so if you don't fight them/run their arcs early - the only way to play those missions would be to exemplar down or run them in the Ouroboros flashback system.
[ QUOTE ]
Should I just try to get those and not worry about the rest of the little missions?
[/ QUOTE ]
That's up to you or your team to decide.
[ QUOTE ]
Some games tend to hand-hold you through go here go there... CoH seems more open and that's fine. I just want to know once and for all if I'll be missing chunks of story.
[/ QUOTE ]
If you don't do all the missions for all of the archetypes, then you will be missing out on parts of the story.
There are lots of complete arcs in the lower levels. It is quite easy to out level some contacts while running ones for another contact.
Some good feedback in this thread.
I'll add that doing missions for your contacts will "open" them as sources of inspirations. Now, some people might scoff and say, "Hey, I can always go to Pocket D or Ouroboros to pick up inspirations." However, if you happen to be exemplaring to play with friends and what not, then having one of your "old" contacts nearby can save you grief.
And if the toon you're playing turns out to become your favorite that you play quite frequently, then you can come to regret not having "opened up" some of those contacts when you were in the early-game, mid-game, and end-game.
-Johnny
As someone else who's recently started the game, I just wanted to mention that, even just following that Hero Story Arcs guide from the Wiki, I've had to use the "turn off XP gain" option at the end of each five level block (14, 19, 24...) in order to have any chance to see all the story arcs. There's far more mission and combat XP in the story arcs than you need to clear their level ranges....
Ultimately by skipping things, you will only miss a teeny, tiny amount of things. That's the filler non-story arc missions that contacts give out. That's it. For everything else you have Ouroboros (aka Flashback). You can go back and do any story arc or reward mission. It's also accessible from the Pillar of Fire and Ice SG base item.
Another option is tht you can turn off the earning of XP. It's a new option that was recently added. So you can turn off XP as to now out level contacts. So you can actually do most everything in the with one character
I wouldn't worry too much. If you want, you can create plenty of alts and go through the game any way you want.
The only thing I recommend a newbie not do is get powerlevelled, in the Architect or otherwise. We've already got an epidemic of level 50 newbies whom nobody wants to team with already, and a lot of them tend to have a terrible attitude. It's not a crime to be a newbie in this game, but you're expected to grow out of it as you level.
Well a long time ago in CoH the order was
Start in either Atlas or Galaxy
Go to Kings Row
at level 10-20 you are sent to Steel and Skyway
at 20-30 you are sent to Talos and IP
at 30-40 you are sent to Bricks and FF
at 40-50 you are sent to PI
1-30 content revolve around a series of "drug" distribution wars starting with Hellions, Skulls and Trolls with the Family getting involved. You start running into merc groups like Sky Raiders and more series gangs like the Tsoo, Warriors and Freakshow. The CoT is a constant annoyance and in the 20s you meet another mystic foe the Banished Pantheon. There are also a few 'independent' groups with their own agendas like the Vahz and Clockwork.
In the 30s and higher you start dealing with the left overs from the original Rikti alien invasion, the 'evil" Crey corporation, merc outfits like Malta and KoA. You also start bumping into the Prussian mastermind an near immortal Nemesis who is behind more than what anyone suspects. Toss in the Carnival with their love of chaos. You are now a big time hero and routinely get sent to parallel worlds to help unravel threats found there including the mirror universe version of our world where out heros are the bad guys.
Then the devs started to add what I call story zones which you can use as an alternate leveling path. First is the Hollows for 5-15. Then Striga from 20-30. New Faultline from 15-25. Croatoa from 25-35. And the Rikti War Zone from 35-50. Contacts in those zones give missions within the zone so little or no zone to zone travel is required other than getting the best prices on selling standard enhancements.
Then they mirrored the newspaper/broker mission structure from CoV into CoH as a Police Scanner/Detective missions. These are random, relatively short missions that'll end with a prevent robbery at the bank. Success grant some form of temp power.
Lastly they added 'hub' zones like Ouroboros and the Midnight Squad zone which screw around with time.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
QR
also once you get to lvl 25 you can gain access to Ouroboros which will allow you to do badge missions and run story arcs even if you out lvled the contacts for them.
Onibi---Fire/Fire/fire Blaster
I'm ready to burn it all.
Lets Fight!
ParadigmX City help the city.
[ QUOTE ]
Well a long time ago in CoH the order was
Start in either Atlas or Galaxy
Go to Kings Row
at level 10-20 you are sent to Steel and Skyway
at 20-30 you are sent to Talos and IP
at 30-40 you are sent to Bricks and FF
at 40-50 you are sent to PI
1-30 content revolve around a series of "drug" distribution wars starting with Hellions, Skulls and Trolls with the Family getting involved. You start running into merc groups like Sky Raiders and more series gangs like the Tsoo, Warriors and Freakshow. The CoT is a constant annoyance and in the 20s you meet another mystic foe the Banished Pantheon. There are also a few 'independent' groups with their own agendas like the Vahz and Clockwork.
In the 30s and higher you start dealing with the left overs from the original Rikti alien invasion, the 'evil" Crey corporation, merc outfits like Malta and KoA. You also start bumping into the Prussian mastermind an near immortal Nemesis who is behind more than what anyone suspects. Toss in the Carnival with their love of chaos. You are now a big time hero and routinely get sent to parallel worlds to help unravel threats found there including the mirror universe version of our world where out heros are the bad guys.
Then the devs started to add what I call story zones which you can use as an alternate leveling path. First is the Hollows for 5-15. Then Striga from 20-30. New Faultline from 15-25. Croatoa from 25-35. And the Rikti War Zone from 35-50. Contacts in those zones give missions within the zone so little or no zone to zone travel is required other than getting the best prices on selling standard enhancements.
Then they mirrored the newspaper/broker mission structure from CoV into CoH as a Police Scanner/Detective missions. These are random, relatively short missions that'll end with a prevent robbery at the bank. Success grant some form of temp power.
Lastly they added 'hub' zones like Ouroboros and the Midnight Squad zone which screw around with time.
[/ QUOTE ]
To this I would only add that the Hollows and Rikti War Zone both have Repeatable Mission contacts that will give you infinite missions.
Make a point to do Faultline from 15-25; that zone-story is kind of the jewel of current CoH early-game content.
Running to the Hollows at the first oppurtunity may prevent you from getting one or both of the temporary travel powers from the Atlas and KR Safeguards. And the Exploration badges in each.
[ QUOTE ]
Running to the Hollows at the first oppurtunity may prevent you from getting one or both of the temporary travel powers from the Atlas and KR Safeguards. And the Exploration badges in each.
[/ QUOTE ]
Then again you can always do those missions later with a lowbie friend and if you level to 14 in the Hollows travel time is less of an issue.
You can always alternate as well. What I do to avoid the "I'm tired of the same low level content" complaint is switch it up on alts. If I run Hollows on one toon, I will Kings Row on the next one. Keeps things from getting old and still lets you experience all the content.
There are better people in worse shape....
There are a couple of Badge missions you will need for accolades...Negotiator and Spelunker. Make sure you don't miss those.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Running to the Hollows at the first oppurtunity may prevent you from getting one or both of the temporary travel powers from the Atlas and KR Safeguards. And the Exploration badges in each.
[/ QUOTE ]
Then again you can always do those missions later with a lowbie friend and if you level to 14 in the Hollows travel time is less of an issue.
[/ QUOTE ]
You can do that, but not solo. I find it a bit of a hassle to find a lowbie team that has the Safeguard/Mayhem I want.
By avoiding the Hollows and doing scanner missions mixed with regular contacts I push my travel power back to L24 (highest you can push it and still have it in Bloody Bay)
Ok some followup missions then - You mention both KR and Atlas for those Safeguard missions... I did 5 scanner missions and got the bank mission, but it sounds like there is another? Does that start in Atlas since you mentioned Atlas? Or is that the first one?
I'll have to look up Spelunker and Negotiator to figure out what I need to do.
Sounds like there IS more to do than I realized. From my join date you can tell I've been around a long time... but I was gone along time =) and my highest is only 19 or so... so I'm part old-timer (back when there was a rumor that there was a badge on top of the blimp lol) but also very newbish. Its a strange split-brain I have .
Thanks for the info. Someone should think of putting together some of this data and more for new folks... "10 ways to make it it 20 without AE or sewer grinding".... As someone who's tried nearly every MMOG, this game is very free-form to the point of being a little confusing. "Oh two mission choices... oh jeez... do I miss something if I warn Ms Parker rather than take out the Hellions?" And so many contacts... As one person said - there's so much to do that I would need to turn off levelling (which I have no idea how to do btw haha). That sort of overload can lead to what I have termed level apathy. EQII has the same issue. They have revamped it so much that there is far more content than you can complete without turning off levelling. I generally have to abandon lowby quests just because on the 5th, 6th or 18th alt its just not worth it to run through the stuff again.
Anyway, thanks so much for the info. This really helps me as far as deciding what to do.
[ QUOTE ]
Ok some followup missions then - You mention both KR and Atlas for those Safeguard missions... I did 5 scanner missions and got the bank mission, but it sounds like there is another? Does that start in Atlas since you mentioned Atlas? Or is that the first one?
[/ QUOTE ]
That's the first one. They are generated by your current level tier: Atlas (lv5-9), Kings Row (lv10-14), etc.
[ QUOTE ]
I'll have to look up Spelunker and Negotiator to figure out what I need to do.
[/ QUOTE ]
Try using Badge-hunter.com.
[ QUOTE ]
As one person said - there's so much to do that I would need to turn off levelling (which I have no idea how to do btw haha).
[/ QUOTE ]
It's under Menu > Options > General > Miscellaneous.
Actually, Atlas is 5-10 - you have a roughly fifty-fifty chance of either a Kings Row or Atlas Park safeguard/mayhem (hero/villain) at level 10.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
I've been contemplating this as a returning player that never got very far in the game initially and I still don't have a solid answer. Here's a topic I've never seen an answer for.
As you progress through the first 10-20 levels, you are handed off from contact to contact. Each Origin contact seems to have a particular yen for a villain group - some deal with Clockworks, others with Hellions... you get the idea. Sometimes it seems you get on a mini-arc which is nice. But what I don't understand is this -
How much of the overall story do I miss by skipping contacts? There have been times I wind up lvl 8 without trying (sewer runs) and when I go back the contact hands me off to another. Hmmm did I miss anything?
So I guess my questions center around missing out on content.
1. Is any of the very lowby content (pre-20 missions) something I want to do for the sake of knowing what is going on in the CoH universe?
2. Are there any 'must do' sorts of things pre-20? Or is it just a grind? I'm not being derrogetory, I literally don't know the answer.
3. Is there a 'right way' to progress through CoH? typically I skip Kings Row because I can go to Hollows... what would I miss there? Is that a bad idea? See? I'm confused. Is it more free, or is there a good/better/best way to go through the content.
My gut says this stuff, while entertaining, isn't essential to progress through the story of CoH. But maybe I'm wrong.
I found this page on Story Arcs:
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Hero_Story_Arcs
Should I just try to get those and not worry about the rest of the little missions?
Some games tend to hand-hold you through go here go there... CoH seems more open and that's fine. I just want to know once and for all if I'll be missing chunks of story.