New player: trying to get my feet under me
By
Aett_Thorn,
Posted on: 2009-07-23 13:54 in Player Questions
First off, wlecome back to the forums! I'm glad that you felt comfortable coming back with more questions.
Now, to answer your specific remarks:
1) The missions in this game are faily linear, with you getting one mission from a contact, doing that, and then getting another one from him or being passed up the line.
However, you can have up to three missions in your queue if you want. Take different contacts, and they will send you to different places to fight different kinds of foes.
2) The Perez Park mission was one of the original missions from way back in Issue 0. Perez is a Hazard Zone, and was meant to be done with teams. Way back in the day, it was a popular zone, so getting that mission wasn't a problem. Nowadays, it is, since the CoT are hard to take out for newer players, and there's few people in that zone to help.
My suggestion on this is to go back to your contact that gave you that mission, and use the option to drop it. It's a pain in the butt mission, and should be dropped, if you ask me.
3) For fun story lines in the lower levels, head to the Hollows, and talk to Mr. Wincott there, who should be standing near the entrance. He'll start you down a path to exploring the area and the foes there. always good to run through that zone's arc at least once.
4) You will get faster travel powers when you reach level 14. Hover is pretty slow without any enhancements in it, but Flight is pretty respectable. You'll get there in no time, so have no fear.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
Ahh, that "hunt Circle of Thorns in Perez Park" mission. My best advice for that one? Return to the contact, select "drop current mission". ( AFTER you talk to the security chief, of course. If you do it before that point, you'll just be moved up to the next step after talking to him, which is the "hunt" step. Call back your contact after you talk to the chief and it'll finish the mission for you ). Dropping missions can be done once every 3 days. You get full mission complete rewards. It's meant to be used if a mission is bugged or just too hard for you to finish. Note certain missions can't be dropped - timed missions and missions that award badges primarily. The mission in question is soloable, but not at the earliest level it's offered unless you don't mind 1-2 kills at a time before having to run back from the hospital. 
At that low level range, story arcs hero side are thin. You start getting most of your full story arcs after 10, though the Hollows does have arcs.
Travel is slow at low levels, and Hover is not a real travel power. It's mainly a defensive power, but it's also handy for getting over walls and onto roofs. Your actual travel powers become available at 14, and only if you've taken one of the first two powers in the pool. ( For example, for Fly, you need to take EITHER Hover OR Air Superiority out of the Flight pool. You've taken Hover, so you can pick up Fly at 14 ) Before then, in King's Row, visit the Detective contact ( He'll be on your map ) to get a Police Scanner. Open your contact window, click it at the top, and pick up a mission it offers. Do this 3 times, then talk to the Detective again for a Safeguard mission. The goal to these is to stop thieves robbing a bank, and the one you get level 5-10 is set an instanced version of Atlas Park. Complete the Safeguard mission in this level range, and the reward is a temporary jet pack. It's still a bit on the slow side, but it is faster than Hover. The jet pack has 2 hours of use time on it, and there are people who can stretch that out into their 30s and, thus, bypass taking a travel power as long as they can.
Virtue Server
Avatar art by Daggerpoint
Welcome to the game!
Perez Park is what is known as a hazard zone - there is no content there. If you are sent to Perez Park, it will be to hunt a certain group, or to go to a door mission in that zone.
At the high single digits, like 8 or 9, head to the Hollows and do David Wincott's arc. It's a nice little story and has a great completion bonus. Alternatively, head to Kings Row, talk to your detective (he'll show up on your map automatically) and follow his directions to get some new contacts and some temporary travel powers.
Regarding inter-zone travel:
The fastest way is to take the tram, which is a little blue T on your map. This will take you between 5 of the lower level zones. There is another tram line that takes you between 7 of the higher level zones. At level 14 you can get one of 4 permanent travel powers - flight, super jump, super speed or teleportation - that will let you travel quickly inside zones. You'll still use the tram to travel between zones, though.
Check out ParagonWiki for all the info you'll ever want, and if you can't find something, ask it here!
...I forgot what experience means.
Yeah, the Defeat 10 Circle of Thorns in Peres Park, the lowest who are level 10, have been a common complaint since launch, I think. Anyway, leave the mission alone for a few levels.
Head over to Kings Row, using the Tram (open your Map, look for the T = train station). If you haven't already been given a Kings Row contact by one of your starter contacts at Atlas Park or Galaxy City, you can start with the Police Radio.
The first time you enter Kings Row, you are assigned to a Detective. He'll show up on your Contacts window and/or you might see an arrow marker to lead you to him. When you talk to the Detective, he'll give you a Police Radio. This shows up as another contact in your Contacts window (at the top). Click on it to get a choice of 3 random, generic missions. Do 3 "radio" missions and it'll tell you to talk to the Detective again. He'll offer you a Bank mission, which is timed once you enter. Complete it and you'll be granted a Jet Pack to help you get around (2 hours of real time usage). The Detective will also introduce you to a new contact.
Note: in the hero side, at every multiple of 5 level, all your current contacts in the regular city zones will offer to introduce you to a new contact. This corresponds to the 5 origins. There was a purpose to this in the past, but it doesn't mean anything now. Still, hero side, talk to all your current contacts to get 5 new ones or do some radio missions to get an intro. If you have less than 5 contacts per 5th level, talk to all your older contacts to see if you missed someone.
Note: the story zones (The Hollows, Faultline, Striga Island, etc) have their own independent set of contacts. You'll get the first contact of the zone added to your Contacts window the first time you enter.
Teams are the number one killer of soloists.
Do the bank missions at level 5 and 10 to get temporary travel powers to get you to level 14 easier. You do 3 radio missions at 5 and 10 to get the bank mission as the 4th mission. You go to the detective contact you get when you zone to King's row to receive your radio for a contact.
First, welcome to Paragon!
Second, you're already doing the thing I always hope new people will do: wander around, do the missions, read the text, see the city. If someone invites you into Architect Entertainment [AE] teams, chances are you're going to get spat out 20 levels later, still with no more idea about how the world works.
Third, the part where I write five times as much as you needed to know. . . sorry. I do that.
CONTACTS:
At some point your current contact will give you someone else to go to (so you have two contacts.) Eventually three, then four, and so forth. The story lines, I guess, start around level 10 maybe? You're not going to have a lot of story in the 7-10 range. If you have a Clockwork or Vazhilok contact, you'll get a couple of neat [but tricky at parts] stories.
Oh, and Perez is kinda tough on your own at level 8. Yes. You might want to try recruiting a team... although a lot of whiney little people are like "Perez sucks! You get lost and big bunches of people three levels above you beat you flat!" They're right. That's why you're building a team. I like roaming Perez with four or five teammates, every once in a while. You get in big fights and you win.
There are about five story arcs per level range in the main city. There are also zones which each have a story arc going through them. For instance, the Hollows has about four contacts, and you will get passed from one to the next, and that can get you from roughly level 5 to roughly level 14. The downside of this is, everyone in the Hollows is doing the same missions from the same contacts, so if you join a team it's like opening a book -which you have read half of- to a random page and starting to read.
Other "zone arcs":
* Faultline [starts at 16+, goes to somewhere in the 20's I think]
* Striga [starts at 20, goes to about 30]
* Croatoa [don't remember where it starts or ends... level 34 maybe for the end?]
* Rikti War Zone [35-50].
TRAVEL POWERS:
At level 6 they opened up travel pools... and you took hover. Which I think is actually slower than sprint, although it got a big boost in speed lately. At level 14 you can take Fly which is considerably faster.
There are ways to get temporary travel powers, if you can't wait that long:
In Kings Row, get a police scanner from the detective and do three [or so] "Radio missions". These are little filler missions. You can then get a "Safeguard mission" which means stopping villains from robbing the bank. If you succeed in the Safeguard mission, at level 5-10 you get a flight pack [faster than sprint, but just barely] and at level 11-15 you get a jump pack [much faster than sprint or the flight pack... but you may land in a group of very high-con badguys who use you for target practice. So it goes.]
WAY TOO MUCH DETAIL ON SAFEGUARDS:
Safeguards are tricky if you're doing them for the first time or two: You zone in and, about five minutes later, villains start to rob the bank. You have to get to the bank [there will be villains on the street, so you have to avoid getting distracted], fight your way to the main villain, who has been trying to break into the vault. Probably they'll break into the vault; no big deal, you get to try to stop them on the way out. DO NOT be distracted by the new marker on your navbar [and spot on your map]- that's where the villains have their escape vehicle. That's where they're heading. Ideally you're in the bank with all the villains already, and they have to get past you.
This will be a named villain boss, so kinda tough if you're solo and new. Take two or three purple inspirations at the start of the fight.
If neither the main villain, or any of their cronies, get away, you get a goodie. As mentioned, the level 5-10 and 11-15 goodies are "early travel powers". Later, you get things like little bonuses to endurance, to hit points, to runspeed. Eventually they all run out, but they're nice while you have them.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
Wow! Quick responses, and extremely helpful! I had the hollows mission, got thoroughly confused about how to get there (kept getting killed as I was clearly passing through an area way too difficult for me) then dropped it in the hopes of getting a different kind of quest. I'll head back to the map (I'm getting more comfortable with it) and find a way to the hollows.
Thanks for the advice on the Tram too. I thought I had seen something about it, but couldn't find anything about it.
Thanks again!
Well, geez, I WANTED to answer your questions, but I got beat to the punch.
You can have up to three missions active, and that happens if you talk to a different contact before completing a current mission. Totally fine. Heroes and villains are capable of multi-tasking.
The missions from the police scanner which lead to the safeguard mission/temp jet pack are infinite and randomized. They don't really have a story, although they often have humour, or tie into game lore. Like rescuing Lois Watson, for example.
For big stories, see, as mentioned previously, Officer Wincott in the Hollows, who will pass you to an undercover operative who I cannot name for fear of compromising his/her identity. ( The undercover person is not Meg Mason. She is a "police scanner" for the Hollows. her missions are randomized, and infinitely repeatable.)
At level 10, you can do the second part of the Hollows Story Arc, featuring a runt Troll and a mysterious mystical mystery man.
At level 15, there is the Faultline story arc, again in a 15-20 and a 20-25 section. Say hi to Doc Delilah for me, just point your eyes somewhere polite.
That should keep you going for a while. Welcome!
www.paragonwiki.com is a great source of information for this game.
New or returning to the game? Want advice from experienced players who want to help YOU?
The Mentor Project: Part of the New Player Council.
Thee Winnah an' still champeen, with ah complete ansah in seven minits: Aett_Thorn! 
Welcome to the Game, Calrissian. You can get a kind of "map" for the missions with either Redtomax or Paragonwiki. The former is easier to read at a glance; the latter has more detail. Missing from the Redtomax list, but highly recommended as it is the most recent hero-specific content added, is the Faultline contacts from lv15-lv25. Faultline has excellent story to it.
This is a casual game and there is no need to rush through the levels. The game starts at lv1, not at lv50. So take your time and Have Fun 
.
For a low level player, head to Atlas Park (Level 1-5 enemies) and go to the East side. There is a gate to the Hollows.
The other way is through Skyway (Level 10-20 enemies). Not easy for a level 8!
To do the "mob dodge" (travel on the ground while avoiding aggro) use fences, and obstacles to break line of sight. keep maximum distance between yourself and enemies. You'll figure out their perception radius pretty quick. Zoom out your camera to max to keep a big picture of the situation.
Alternatively, if a member of a supergroup, your supergroup base may have a teleporter to the Hollows.
www.paragonwiki.com is a great source of information for this game.
New or returning to the game? Want advice from experienced players who want to help YOU?
The Mentor Project: Part of the New Player Council.
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Wow! Quick responses, and extremely helpful! I had the hollows mission, got thoroughly confused about how to get there (kept getting killed as I was clearly passing through an area way too difficult for me) then dropped it in the hopes of getting a different kind of quest. I'll head back to the map (I'm getting more comfortable with it) and find a way to the hollows.
Thanks for the advice on the Tram too. I thought I had seen something about it, but couldn't find anything about it.
Thanks again!
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Easiest way into the Hollows is from a door in the East wall of Atlas Park, which is a minimum-level zone. Since it's a Hazard Zone, there is no direct train-service to the Hollows.
Use Vidiotmaps for your navigation needs.
One thing to remember - it is 99% possible to find a way past outdoor mobs in the game and get anywhere you want to go, even on foot with no travel powers. I've been able to take level 1 characters all the way into high level zones like Brickstown or Peregrine Island. So there is no need to get killed getting anywhere if you are careful.
Learn the aggro radius of mobs. Know that mobs tend to spawn with ample room between them to skitter past. Use fences and terrain to your advantage. The devs made it possible to find ways up most vertical surfaces if you look hard enough.
These skills will prove valuable in the Hollows Especially if you don't have any temp travel powers from the Safeguard missions.
And welcome to Paragon!
53 Bots/FF/Mace Mastermind | 53 NRG/FF/Electricity Defender | 50 Time/Dual Pistols/Soul Defender | 50 Demons/FF/Mace Mastermind | 51 Necro/Dark/Soul Mastermind | 50 Thugs/Time/Mace Mastermind | 50 Ice/Ice/Arctic Tanker | 50 Plant/Rad/Earth Controller | 50 Illusion/Trick Arrow Controller | 50 Gravity/Force Field Controller
Yes, I like Force Fields.
Welcome to the game and the forums.
Everything thats been posted is good advice. Nothing much more I can add to that. However, I can say that we're a pretty friendly bunch here on the forums (unlike other games.) As you've noticed, simple, polite questions usually get a quick answer. Feel free to ask as you get your feet under you. Another good source of game information is Paragon Wiki
Have fun.
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.
As for soloing, you're in luck, this is one of the most soloable games around... though at low levelsespecially, it'll depend heavily on your AT and powersets. Scrappers and Tankers in general solo fairly naturally (scrappers pick it up quick, Tankers are a little slower), Blasters are good too but require some strategy. Defenders and Controllers require some unconventional thinking to solo.
But generally, everything can be done solo by a competent enough player. The Hollows is easy. Of course, old vets will tell you about the days when the Hollows was just as bad as Perez Park, a proving ground for newbies...
Viewpoint is an important factor as well...even with my higher level characters...when moving around a map...i find that zooming all the way out, (or out as far as you are comfortable with), and rocking the camera to a higher vantage point will help me navigate the map and avoid higher level mobs at the same time...situational awareness is key to survival...plus the view looks cool
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Viewpoint is an important factor as well...even with my higher level characters...when moving around a map...i find that zooming all the way out, (or out as far as you are comfortable with), and rocking the camera to a higher vantage point will help me navigate the map and avoid higher level mobs at the same time...situational awareness is key to survival...plus the view looks cool
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Excellent point!
53 Bots/FF/Mace Mastermind | 53 NRG/FF/Electricity Defender | 50 Time/Dual Pistols/Soul Defender | 50 Demons/FF/Mace Mastermind | 51 Necro/Dark/Soul Mastermind | 50 Thugs/Time/Mace Mastermind | 50 Ice/Ice/Arctic Tanker | 50 Plant/Rad/Earth Controller | 50 Illusion/Trick Arrow Controller | 50 Gravity/Force Field Controller
Yes, I like Force Fields.
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My suggestion on this is to go back to your contact that gave you that mission, and use the option to drop it. It's a pain in the butt mission, and should be dropped, if you ask me.
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Note, if the mission is of the "Talk to the Perez Park Security Chief" variety, you do need to talk to that NPC to get the next mission (Defeat X of Y) then go back to the contact and drop that mission. Dropping it while having the talk mission just moves it to the Defeat mission.
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.
Great advice, all. Had a nice session in the Hollows, and made the contact with Meg. Figuring out Hover also gives me some sense of how to navigate. It slowly starts to make sense...
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Great advice, all. Had a nice session in the Hollows, and made the contact with Meg. Figuring out Hover also gives me some sense of how to navigate. It slowly starts to make sense...
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Meg Mason is just infinitely repeatable missions. She isn't part of the Hollows story proper. That comes from the other contacts, starting with Wincott and going onto the Outcast he introduces you to.
As previously mentioned your best bet is hitting up Kings Row via the tram. If no contacts there yet, run scanners (talk to your police contact first to open these up). Run enough scanners for the bank mish, succeed in the bank mish get a temp travel power and get a storyline contact opened.
Welcome to COX and have fun!
And come see us Villain side! The story is much richer and vividly written.
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And come see us Villain side! The story is much richer and vividly written.
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We have free doughnuts. Some of them with sprinkles.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
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And come see us Villain side! The story is much richer and vividly written.
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We have free doughnuts. Some of them with sprinkles.
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And everyone knows that even the greatest heroes will go bad for Doughnuts.
Sorry if I've already posted this, but I think my connection may have failed on my and it didn't get posted. Anyway, I'm in the middle of my trial, and have liked it enough to purchase GvE and try it for another month or so. Still, I'm trying to get my feet under me, and am finding questions along the way. I've only played one other MMO (Lotro) so sorry if I'm just slow on the uptake.
I've leveled my first up to about 8 or so, but I'm not finding a lot of missions to go on. I've pretty much followed a linear track, as the contacts have given one thing to do at a time, then passed me on to someone else. The problem is that the current one I've got has me heading into Perez Park, which seems beyond my at my level (solo anyway). While I'm happy to group up for stuff, I'd like to have story lines to get involved that can be solo'd at my level, as I have an odd playing schedule.
Who should I be talking to to get involved in some fun story lines at low levels? Any other advice for getting my feet under me while new to the game?
Also, is there any way to fast travel from zone to zone? I have hover, but it's really not much faster than sprint at this level, and some of these contacts are just sending me on to other zones, so I'm kind of doing a tour.
Thanks for any advice!