New Player

I am wondering what would be a good beginner class to play? What would be the best server to start on?

I am going to play this with my granddaughter she is 13 and I am 62, is there family friendly servers?

Thank you for your help.

Scrappers are generally good starter characters. Good defense and good damage, so you can solo. I'd recommend Liberty or Triumph as unofficial friendly servers, but the game is rated T and there's a profanity filter, so no matter where you play it should be cool for a 13 year old.

Welcome to the game!

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

Thank you for your help. I have been reading this site, there is so much to learn! I have the reflexes of a snail so I hope I can keep up.

Welcome to the game! I'd suggest going into the "Guide to My Guides" in my signature and clicking on The Combat Handbook. It should give you a jump start into the game!

Welcome to City of Heroes!

Welcome! I try to restrict myself to one piece of advice per new player ,because otherwise ... well, it's very easy for me to build walls of text.

I'm going to discuss stamina. This is a power which gives you back, as you might expect, a lot more endurance than you had before you took it. To get it you need two other powers from the Fitness Pool. (Pool powers work like this: First or second pool power can be gotten at level 6. Third power can be gotten at level 14, but you need one of the first two as a prerequisite. Fourth power can be gotten at level 20, and you need two of the first three as prerequisites. Another example of a "pool power" is Flight, or any other travel power. Those are third in the pool, so you need Hover or Air Superiority first. )

So Stamina requires a lot of investment, but it is a game-changer. A lot of people will say "You need Stamina by level 20"- that is an exaggeration. I like to have fitness by level 24, unless I have a "workaround"- for instance, Regeneration has a power called Quick Recovery that does the same thing, only better.

Almost every character has a couple of good, important powers that take a BUNCH of endurance between 12 and 20. This makes the levels just before stamina hard on endurance. Teams help with endurance usage (everyone fights, nobody uses as much endurance.)

Here endeth the lesson. If you have any other questions, feel free to send me a private message here, or a global tell in game (format is "/t @Boltcutter, what's this do?" @Boltcutter is my global, /t is "tell", comma before your message. )

Welcome to the game!!

Welcome to the game, both you and your granddaughter, HappyPanda! :-)

I think you'll quickly find that this community is extremely helpful, so feel free to ask whenever you have a question! The game has a bit of a learning curve, but between the people here and your new best friend www.paragonwiki.com, you'll find it's not so bad at all!

I'm going to suggest either a Blaster or Scrapper. They can solo pretty well and if you team, they have the most basic of expectations from the team, ie straight damage. The other archetypes come with more complex expectations. If you haven't played a MMO before, you may want to have some time to observe what they do first.

For example, if you're playing a Tank, many teams expect you to lead the way. They may wait for you to set the direction and pace of the team. You'll be expected to dive into the every batch of foes, whether you think you're able to survive or not, to grab and maintain all their attention on you. And if things go bad, if necessary, you're expected to hold the line and be the last to run or be the one to die so they rest of the team doesn't have to.

A Controller has two roles, primarily to control the flow of battle and secondarily on team maintance. An experienced Controller, once you have enough powers, may be able to handle the tanking (ie manage the foes) for the team. As such, when you're on the team with a Tank, you'll be expected to understand when to use your controls so as not to hinder or negate what the Tank is doing. Oh, and if your team has another Controller, try not to mess up what they're doing too. You'll be using your controls to neutralize enemy movement and impede their ability to fight. And while you're doing all that, you'll also be expected to buff your team mates (ie boost their stats so they'll be more effective and/or keep them alive) and/or debuff the foes (ie lower their stats to handicap them).

A Defender also has two roles, primarily with team buffs and enemy debuffs and secondarily, damage. A Defender's buffs and debuffs are stronger than a Controllers. There's also a bit more variety. A team usually has higher expectation for the Defender to keep them alive and may play more aggressively with one on the team. You'd need to develop the ability to have an overall awareness of the battle field, an understanding of what the other archetypes are doing, an understanding of the special abilities of the different types of foes, and finally a quick reaction time to deal with it all. Note, a well slotted and well played Defender can do some light tanking and controlling for the team. Of course, don't forget that you're expected to deal out some damage. A defeated foe can't hurt your team.

Welcome to you and your granddaughter to the game My advice as an altoholic is to try a few builds and characters for you guys and see what you guys like. There are so many different combos you can try something should stick out. I hope you guys have alot of fun and ill look for you if you are ever on victory server

I appreciate everyone taking the time to reply and for the welcomes. I purchased the game through "Steam" so as soon as I figure that part out I am ready to play!

Hello to the both of you!

One thread you may be interested in is Wyll's now famous "What my Six Year Old Has Learned From Cox" http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=122918

It's getting pretty long by now but it's full of stories of parents and teammates of players much younger than your granddaughter. You'll find plenty of family friendly hints and tips from others. I'm sure you'll both have a great time no matter what server(s) you decide to call home.


And as for keeping up, I don't think you're even old enough to raise our median age. At least not according to this informal poll back in September. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=193064

For heroes, Blasters, Scrappers and Tankers are all the easiest to play. Don't be afraid to have more than one of each, this game encourages altitis after all.

For villains, Brutes are simple as pie, while Masterminds are a bit tricky but very rewarding. Stalkers and even Dominators are probably also not too hard to get the hang of.