Finally Hit 50

Ok, I finally got my first 50 (or I will in 4 bars) and was wondering what happens then.
1) How do I get my war shade, or whatever it's call, and what do I do with it once I have it ?

2) What happens to my lvl 50 at that point and what can he do in-game that will be worth anything since he can't earn xps anymore ?

3) Also, what's this about a 2nd build ? I see trainers offering it but I have no idea how it works.

Can someone fill me in on all these (possibly) newbie questions ? Thanks.

1) It will unlock automatically. Just go and create a new character, and the option should be available.

2) Your 50 stays around, exactly as he is. You can still do all of the content in the game, including any arcs that you may have missed, through the Ouroborus system. You can do any of the TFs that you haven't done, or any number of things to keep improving him, if you want to.

3) Your second build basically allows you to have two distinct builds on the same character. It's basically like a respec that allows you to keep your current build as well. You start the build over at level 1, then level it up like you were doing a respec. You will need to slot him by purchasing or making new enhancements, though. What it could let you do is have a build for PvP, and one for PvE. Or one for Teaming, and one for Solo. Things like that.

Congrats on your first 50!

To really enjoy this game, you have to stop playing for XP and start playing because you enjoy the game itself. If you play just to grind out XP, then your going to find yourself burnt out sooner or later. There is a lot in this game to enjoy. Personally, I exemplar all of the time because I like playing those toons even without that carrot being dangled in front of me.

To your questions:

1)When you go to make a new character, you'll have the options now present for a Peacebringer or Warshade. Just select them like you did your original archetype.

2) Nothing happens to your 50. It remains in your list like it always has. The only change is that it is now 50 and level capped.

There are lots of things to do with 50s. You could go back and play missed content, either exemplaring on a team at that level or through Orobourus. TFs are always being run with 50s. Most servers have regular Hami and Mothership raids. There are badges to collect. There's PVP if that is your thing. Then there is always influece and drops and IOing to be done. A lot of people spend a lot of time and take a great amount of pride in making their final build as cool as it can be.

Or, you can just reroll another character. For some, the game is seeing how many 50s they can collect.

3)A second build is just like a respec. You select your second build at the trainer and go through picking your powers again and slotting them. The advantage of a 2nd build is to get more usage out of that singular character. Popular options are to make one build for PVE and another for PVP or one for teaming and one for solo play.

Just an FYI, I found soloing my Warshade extremely difficult in the low levels. Had I not already had experience soloing minimally self buffing Defenders and a pre-Containment Controller, I would have given up on the Warshade. The starter attacks (human form) are very weak solo since your AT inherent is team based.

In addition, the Voids that are present once or twice in every mission becomes depressing really quick. At the low levels, you don't have much to deal with their ranged attacks that do special high damage along with pretty much guaranteed knock down (so you can't run or fight back) that will screw you over constantly. Carry lots of purple inspirations and try to close in on them so they switch to the somewhat not so bad melee attacks.

Edit:
Also it came as a surprise to me, but keep in mind that any Pool powers you pick up (like Fitness or Leadership) work only while you're in Human form. They are not active once you switch to Nova or Drawf forms. However, you'll have so many choices in your Primary and Secondary powersets that you'll have limited opportunities to slip in Pool Powers anyway.

Slotting your powers will require difficult decisions to be made especially if you take Nova and/or Dward forms. You'll have 3 times the attack powers for the same amount of level up slots to allocate. Some people decide to focus on Human form (has more controller-ish powers). I decided to ignore Human form (still had to pick powers in it at times) and concentrate my slots in Nova (blaster-ish) and Dwarf (tanker-ish) for flexibility. You'll will probably come to this decision point yourself.

Obligatory wiki link: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Level_50_Hero_Content

@SpaceNut - My 50s, AE arcs and current projects at ParagonWiki

Try a villain!

1) How do I get my war shade, or whatever it's call, and what do I do with it once I have it ?
You play it like any other character. Although Warshades and Peacebringers can be a bit more complex. (CAN be. You have the option of having multiple forms but some players choose not to.)


2) What happens to my lvl 50 at that point and what can he do in-game that will be worth anything since he can't earn xps anymore ?
Earning XP isn't the point. My first 50 took over 1500 hours of play. (A more typical 'time to 50' is 300-400 hours.) Why? Because I was constantly doing stuff that gave no XP, like task forces lower than my level. While XP is a mark of progress, it bears no direct relationship to fun.

As for what to do with your 50, anything and everything. 95% of the stuff you did on the way to 50 is still available to you. If you don't see a point to playing a character that can no longer earn XP, then don't. Retire him and start a new one. Entirely up to you.


3) Also, what's this about a 2nd build ? I see trainers offering it but I have no idea how it works.
You can talk to the trainer and switch to your second build. This can be done no more often than every 15 minutes. The first time you switch to the 2nd build, you'll have to 'train up' from level 1 to whatever level you really are (I guess 50, if you're talking about the same character).

When you train him up, you keep the same powersets but can choose different powers, different slotting and different power pools. After training to 50, all your enhancement slots will be empty. They don't get carried over from the other build so you'll have to re-equip him from scratch.

At the end of all this, you'll have two completely different builds that can be dramatically different. Lots of people like to have a 'solo build' and a 'team build'. Or a PvE build and PvP build. You may think the Positron task force is the greatest thing ever and make a build with just the right powers for it and not even bother slotting any of the powers you get after level 20.

Once you have the 2nd build all trained and enhanced, it stays that way. You can switch back and forth between the two builds at will (keeping in mind you can only do it at a trainer and at least 15 minutes between changes).

You can respec either build, just make sure you're set to the build you want to change before you respec. When you respec, it affects ONE of the builds only. If you make a 2nd build before you are 50, the inactive build will not be trained as you level. Both builds will be the same level, but you have to pick the powers/slots for each build separately.

Personally, I think it's a really powerful option with limited usefulness. Out of dozens of toons, I have exactly one with a dual build that I use. One other guy has a 2nd build because I wanted to respec him at around level 20 and this was a free way to do it (once). I'll never switch him back to the old build because the new one has some expensive IO's in it.

http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Dual_Builds

http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Kheldian

Sorry, I should have elaborated a little more. I've been around since 2 months after release but since this is only a game to me, I never put a lot of time into it, and stopped for a couple of years during that time for WoW and Real Life, lol.

Here's a few more questions (also probably newbie ones) that I thought up reading the replies here. Which, by the way, reminds me how great of a community we have here. No one flamed me and everyone was happy to put in their 2 cents worth to help a fellow player.

1) How easy is it to go back through and re-do all the missions I missed the first time through ?

2) I know I won't get any xps (even if I could earn them) because the critters will be so low level, but does a mish drop my level to be more in-line ? Like making me lvl 8 for Frost Fire ?

3) How do I go about making IO's ? I've heard they are better than SO's but not sure how much better.

4) I'm a SS/WP Tank so I have to stay that, but I can re-pick all of my powers under that archetype, right ? So I could go Medical instead of Fitness, for instance .. ?

5) Since I won't be getting xps, will the cash rewards be greater than usual or do I have to ex myself to get that ?

Thanks again everyone !

First, congrats on your first 50! (Even if it took you that long -- who cares how long it took, point is you did it! )

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominicus_Saxon 1) How easy is it to go back through and re-do all the missions I missed the first time through ?

VERY easy. There is a zone called "Ouroboros" that
you can use to "flashback" to any story arcs or stand-alone badge missions you may have missed (or just want to repeat for whatever reason). More info can be found at ParagonWiki by clicking the link above.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominicus_Saxon 2) I know I won't get any xps (even if I could earn them) because the critters will be so low level, but does a mish drop my level to be more in-line ? Like making me lvl 8 for Frost Fire ?

If you do it via Ouroboros, yes, you will be exemped down to the range of the mission or arc. Check the wiki for more detailed information.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominicus_Saxon 3) How do I go about making IO's ? I've heard they are better than SO's but not sure how much better.

IOs are an optional part of the game, but many people like their flexibility and the fact that they do not ever grow stale like TOs, DOs and SOs do. More info at the wiki here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominicus_Saxon 4) I'm a SS/WP Tank so I have to stay that, but I can re-pick all of my powers under that archetype, right ? So I could go Medical instead of Fitness, for instance .. ?

You're referring to a "respec" (short for "character respecification"). Correct, you can NOT change your primary or secondary powersets, but you CAN change everything else (i.e., individual power selections within those sets and completely change any or all pool power choices you made previously). Like a broken record, I'll direct you to the wiki for more on respecs (you may want to just click around ParagonWiki for awhile -- the stuff you can learn there is amazing).

5) Since I won't be getting xps, will the cash rewards be greater than usual or do I have to ex myself to get that ?[/QUOTE]
If you are doing arcs via Ouroboros, you will get greater than normal influence awards. Also, if you exemp down and do a mission or arc with a group doing it outside of Ouroboros, you will get higher than normal influence awards. Details on rewards and other stuff regarding SKing and exemping here.

Hope you enjoy the next phase of your CoX life!

I was just curious about the cash, I definately don't need it. I think my tank has like 28 mil or something ridiculous like that and being 50, there's really nothing else to buy. Maybe I will go ahead and start a 2nd build and go around just collecting all the badges i can get. Wish me luck ...