The two most populated US Servers are Freedom and Virtue. Freedom has a high population of power-gamers and PvPers. Virtue has a higher population of RPers. Of course you can find people doing all three activities on both servers. The other servers all have a lower population and different communities. In general the Hero population is larger than the villain population.
The main difference between Heroes and Villains are the archetypes available to them. The Villain ATs tend to be more well rounded while the Hero ATs are closer to the old-fashioned Tank-DPS-Support style. Note however that the Tank-DPS-Support combination is not required for hero side play, they ATs were just originally designed with it in mind and their power choices reflect it.
The most popular starting ATs are probably the Blaster (ranged damage dealer), Scrapper (melee damage dealer) and Brute (melee damage dealer). That being said all of the ATs are playable those three just have a shallower learning curve.
Oh yeah, welcome to the game.
A little point to ponder, that another new player mentioned to me....
Your in-game global handle is separate from your account/login name.
Your in-game global handle defaults to the name of the very first character you create.
Your global handle is essentially your "player name", that is attached to you no matter what toon or server you are playing on. So, make sure your first character has a name that you are comfortable with being known by. 
You do have ONE chance to change your global handle, but lots of folks like to keep that ace up their sleeve for later.
Also, it is generally not recommended to make your global name or forum name the same as your account name.
Welcome to the game, and to the forums.
Check out some of the other threads recently posted by other new players... lots of good info in them. 
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Don�t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. - R.W. Emerson |
YUMMY Low-Hanging Fruit for BASE LUV
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Well, we all have a different definition of what's a good server... if you want the highest population then it's either Freedom or Virtue. Be aware that Freedom does tend to attract a larger number of rude players than most. Of course there are a lot of very good players there as well, but with high population comes a higher number of players you'd generally prefer to avoid.|
Originally Posted by geremyd
I just opened my account today and haven't even started the game yet. What is a good USA server to start on? What is the big difference between heroes and villians?
any suggestions or help would be great. thanks, Geremy |
Virtue is usually a near-dead heat with Freedom population wise and is our unofficial role playing server; you'll run across a number of players who prefer to play "in character" which if you aren't familiar with it can come across a bit confusing.
Personally I like the Guardian or Pinnacle servers... they're both mid range or slightly below in population and tend to have good communities. While you unfortunately find jerks on all servers they're pretty rare on these servers.
I'd suggest picking a server and seeing what it's like, you'll find good people on all of them who'd be willing to show you the ropes.
The way the population goes on the servers:
The server on top of the list is the last one you logged into.
Below that is the lowest population (at the time)
At the bottom are the highest population, again at the time.
Villain or Hero is really up to you... the Heroside population is double or more the Villainside though so that may be something for you to consider. Also I consider the Heroside zones to be considerably easier to navigate... Mercy Island (the Villain starter zone) is rather difficult to navigate. I have played both sides and have level 50's on both sides. I still prefer playing Blue (Hero) side.
Assuming you play a Hero I'd suggest rolling a Scrapper as your first character... they're the most straightforward to play. See the bad guy, run up and punch him in the face until he drops, then get his buddies. Simple, direct and you'll have enough survivability to be forgiving of new player mistakes. After you've learned the ropes you may well want to play a different type of character and that's perfectly ok, you have 12 character slots per server to experiment with.
I started with a Scrapper as a first throw-away character, then rolled a Blaster (which I didn't like at the time and eventually deleted around level 22) followed by my namesake Tanker who became my first level 50. Over the years I've played every AT heroside to 50, several multiple times. All AT's (AT = Archetype; - Scrapper, Blaster, Tank etc.) can be a lot of fun to play but some will seem to click with some players while others don't.
One thing to keep in mind... death isn't a disaster, you WILL get killed and you'll recover from it. Sometimes it happens because you did something stupid (and ALL of us do that on occasion, even 6 year vets) and sometimes it happens because a teammate did something stupid... it happens frequently because of simple bad luck as well. Just pick yourself up, dust off and give it another try. The "penalty" for dying now is so small that it's really pointless... you get XP "Debt" which has to be paid off. What that means is you'll get 50% XP until your debt is gone, and that debt is usually gone in a matter of minutes.
Welcome to the game, and enjoy your stay. Many of us have been here for years... several have been here since Beta. I've been here for over 5 years now myself and I'm still having fun. Apparently there's something being done right in the game
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
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I second this and want to say don't let all the "jerks abound" talk keep you from playing a high pop server. Its like someone telling you to not move to NYC b/c there are more idiots there VS Dental Floss, Kentucky. Of course this is obvious...but the same can be said that there are more "nice" people as well. Unlike real life, you can always press the ignore button on in-game dummies you don't care for.
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Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Welcome to the game and the forums, Geremyd
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"Forum PvP doesn't give drops. Just so all of you who participated in this thread are aware." -Mod08-
"when a stalker goes blue side, assassination strike should be renamed "bunny hugs", and a rainbow should fly out" -Harbinger-
wow thanks guys for the warm welcome. I'm about to make my first character will see how this goes.
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No problem, if you run into anything you don't understand/need help with, feel free to ask. As long as you're willing to learn, our community is generally willing to help.|
Originally Posted by geremyd
wow thanks guys for the warm welcome. I'm about to make my first character will see how this goes.
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One of the best sources of game-related information we have is Paragon Wiki. I highly recommend bookmarking it if you plan to stay for any length of time. (be careful when googling it... the version at the old wikia host is no longer supported, and I hear talk of goldfarmers and malware at that site.)
"My inner mind has become a reality-cracking overgod. He torments me! Help!"
note to self don't click "self destruct" lol
I decided to make a character on Guardian named Browser.
Yeah, about that self-destruct button.....
Oh, you figured it out.
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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It can be useful. For example, level 10+, if you are defeated you get XP debt (half of your exp earned is eaten up on a 1-for-1 basis until the debt is gone). Self-Destruct doesn't give debt.
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Originally Posted by geremyd
note to self don't click "self destruct" lol
I decided to make a character on Guardian named Browser. |
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.
Self Destruct can be a handy 1 hour recharge teleport to base or hospital as well. That seems to be what I use it for the most.
That and it does lots of damage.
I love taking those suckers with me.
If I'm on a team and I'm about to level, I'll often use Self Destruct just for ishts and giggles.
I find it amusing to be vaporized and then appear out of nowhere without a scratch on me. The fact that I can obliterate any baddie careless enough to be near me when I go off is just gravy. :P
To this 4/4 beat, I'm in time with you. To this 4/4 beat, I would die for you. Your lovesick melody is going to get the best of me tonight, but you won't get to me 'cause I won't sing.
so I'm lvl 4 now with my scrapper... So far the game is fun but seems a little slow I'm assuming after you gain more skills it gets better. What level do you get to fly at? Is the best way to lvl questing or helping suvillians? Do you buy stuff in this game if so how? Also I noticed hwen I created my guy that I had to decide how he evolved tchnology mutation stuff like that does it make a big dif?
thanks
ps I'm typing this on my phone if there are spelling mistakes
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Well, TECHNICALLY you could fly at level one if you went to Firebase Zulu and bought a Raptor Pack.|
Originally Posted by geremyd
so I'm lvl 4 now with my scrapper... So far the game is fun but seems a little slow I'm assuming after you gain more skills it gets better. What level do you get to fly at? Is the best way to lvl questing or helping suvillians? Do you buy stuff in this game if so how? Also I noticed hwen I created my guy that I had to decide how he evolved tchnology mutation stuff like that does it make a big dif?
thanks ps I'm typing this on my phone if there are spelling mistakes |
But, since you're new, I doubt you'd be able to do that so we'll assume we're talking about normal travel powers. Since that's the case, you can get Fly at level 14. You must have first gotten either Hover or Air Superiority from the Flight power pool (available from level 6 on) to get Fly.
The combat does start a bit slow, but yes, once you get more powers it'll become quite fun.
The origins are mostly for backstory purposes. They allow you to create a backstory of how he came upon his powers. If he was born with them, you'd pick Mutation. If he got them through some magic ritual, you'd pick Magic. It's personal taste, though. They do have some SLIGHT impact on the game but nothing major. The inherent power you get at level one differs depending on the Origin you choose. Natural gets Throwing Knives, Mutation gets the Mutagen, Magic gets the Apprentice Charm, etc. You typically won't use this power very far in to your career, however. I usually stop using them by the time I hit level 6 or so, if not before. They're so weak that they become obsolete very quickly, similar to Brawl.
Origin also determines what type of enhancements you'll be able to use later on (Dual-Origin and Single-Origin Enhancements). If you're Natural origin, you can only use DOs/SOs that are Natural origin as well. You wouldn't be able to use Tech or Science origins, etc. This doesn't matter very much.
Like I said, the origins are pretty much just personal taste. Pick whichever fits the backstory and character concept you've dreamed up for your hero/villain.
To this 4/4 beat, I'm in time with you. To this 4/4 beat, I would die for you. Your lovesick melody is going to get the best of me tonight, but you won't get to me 'cause I won't sing.
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I use the Apprentice Charm all the time. It's secondary effect is a minor resistance debuff. The others get removed from my tray as soon as I can put together an attack chain. | You typically won't use this power very far in to your career |
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| Do you buy stuff in this game if so how? |
There are also Invention Set Enhancements. These are a set of enhancements with a common name (Positron's Blast, Thunderstrike, Crushing Impact, etc.) The sets are made up of between 3 and 6 enhancements, and you get bonuses to your character when you have 2 or more slotted (they must all be slotted in the same power to grant a bonus).
Some of the set pieces are extremely valuable, so if you happen to get one, check it's price at the market before you sell it to a vendor or delete it. A vendor will not pay more that 10,000 influence/infamy for a set piece, but to another player it could be worth millions.
Quick tips:
You already heard how to get a travel power. You must reach level 6 in order to take the prerequisite for that power.
You can have up to 4 Power Pools. These are powers available to any character of any archetype. Choose them carefully, because you are limited in what you can take, and being new you won't have any respecs available to you right away. (A respec lets you re-choose your powers, but you can't change your powersets)
One of the most helpful power pools is the Fitness pool. It includes the power Stamina, which increases the rate you recover endurance. It's not mandatory to take it, but most people agree that it is a very good idea. You must have 2 powers from the pool before you can take Stamina, and Stamina unlocks at level 20. All power pools work the same way, you unlock the first 2 powers at level 6, the third power at level 14, and the 4th power at level 20. You do NOT need to take both of the first two powers, one is all you need to access the third. You can also take both of the first 2 powers and jump straight to the 4th at level 20, but one of the powers is almost always better than the other.
You get a 5th power pool you can choose from later, those are called Epic or Ancillary power pools. But since those don't unlock until level 41 we won't worry about them yet.
Also, another note: You happened to have started the game during a Double XP weekend, until Monday morning you gain twice the normal experience for everything. After it's over you will notice your leveling speed will slow down. That will be the normal leveling speed, and it's supposed to happen. Just wanted to make sure you knew that so you don't go "WTF?!, why am I leveling so slow now?!"
Okay, I've thrown enough information at you for now
Welcome to the game! I hope your stay is long and enjoyable!
Claws
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
claws thanks for the good advice and confusing me a ton lol. Power pools I guess I have to read up on them.
I got a lot to figure out with this game it seems a lot more detailed then other games I have played. I'll be on later tonight working on lvling.
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Welcome to the game!|
Originally Posted by geremyd
claws thanks for the good advice and confusing me a ton lol. Power pools I guess I have to read up on them.
I got a lot to figure out with this game it seems a lot more detailed then other games I have played. I'll be on later tonight working on lvling. |
I know you've already gotten some great advice above, but I'll offer advice anyway.
Don't stress out about making the wrong decision in a character, characters tend to get more and more awesome over time, and a mismanagement here or there gets better later.
You're a scrapper on Guardian, that's fine, Guardian has a large enough population to find teams, but isn't too busy (I'm on Virtue myself...)
Scrappers are in general useful and hardy, so don't worry about taking risks.
When you defeat bad guys, besides experience you'll earn influence. It's not exactly money, but it feels like money, it's used much like money. If you are in a supergroup, you also earn prestige for the SG, which is like money that belongs to the supergroup for improving the supergroup base.
When you defeat bad guys, you often get inspirations, enhancements, recipes, and salvage. There is an influence-based economy in the game involving (largely) enhancements, recipes, and salvage. I recommend not worrying about this too much with your first character, other than slotting enhancements in your powers.
By clicking on the enhancements tab on your power bar, then manage, you'll see all of your powers, and slots to put enhancements. You'll see this screen when you level up early in the game during the odd-levels (level 5, 7, etc.)
Each power can have up to 6 slots for enhancements, and enhancements boost an aspect of a power, making it more accurate, more damage, less tiring to use, increasing the chance it'll be available, etc. Don't stress too much on what percentages you are getting initially, just put slots on powers you feel will be important. It's doesn't hurt to to spread slots around at first, later you'll figure which powers need a lot of slots, which don't.
One thing you will learn is that in general, putting three of the same type of enhancements (like three damage enhancements) more or less is the most you want to slot of that type of enhancement.
Sell enhancements you can't use, or don't want to vendors. Until you learn about the market (heroside is Wentworths, Villainside is the Black market) I'd recommend selling any white or yellow salvage to vendors, but keep the red ones, which are worth millions. Once you get comfortable with the markets, you'll be able to decide how you want to sell your salvage, to NPC vendors or to players in the consignment system.
Once you hit level 6, you'll be able to choose from power pools, as was said above. Power pools are just general purpose powers that everyone can use, and that includes the travel powers in the game.
It never hurts to take powers from the Fitness pool, which can offer Stamina at level 20 (if you've taken two prerequisite powers.) I recommend you build your first character with Stamina, later on, you can try to build characters without the benefit of Stamina. If your scrapper has the regeneration powerset, you can skip Stamina, as long as you have the Quick Recovery power which acts like it. (But having both is very nice too.)
I often think it is better to experience the game first hand painfully than read all about the game, the enemies, the zones, and not be surprised.
Again, welcome to the game,
Virtue Server-
MA: (All SFMA, all technically long/very long, but all play quickly)
#200411 "Exploding Planet" (I apologize in advance for the final mission, but in all likelihood, the planet will explode.)
#144416 "Shadow of Grime Alley"
#161003 "You Don't Know Beanstalk, Jack"
By the way, don't by your enhancements from your Contacts. They rip you off by charging more than a regular store. You can see where the regular stores are on you mini-map as a "$" (note: they may be an NPC standing out in the open or inside a building).
Note: in COV, there are actually store NPC who are up on rooftops. If so, you can enter the building they're on and you'll see elevator doors in the lobby. Click on the elevator doors to get to the rooftop. Or you can just Fly or Super Jump up.
Teams are the number one killer of soloists.
my buddy I work with bought the game as well. I think we are going to make new characters on virtue since it's more populated. We will prob play hero side. How is the blaster? I think I'll like a playing style like that better I'm not a big fan of hand 2 hand combat.
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Something that will help you out a lot is the Paragon Wiki. This site gives information on just about everything (warning there are story spoilers there to).|
Originally Posted by geremyd
claws thanks for the good advice and confusing me a ton lol. Power pools I guess I have to read up on them.
I got a lot to figure out with this game it seems a lot more detailed then other games I have played. I'll be on later tonight working on lvling. |
Just to show you how the information is presented here is some of the topics we have in this thread:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Power_Pools
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Travel_Powers
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Enhancements
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Invent...n_Enhancements
This might also be something good to read over. It'll help with some of the basics to the game: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/The_Pl..._to_the_Cities
Hope this helps and welcome to the game!
--Rad
/whereami:
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Blasters are loads of fun, IMHO. My first character (and first 50) is a blaster. The thing to remember about blasters is they are squishy - that is, they have no or at most very low defenses and not a huge amount of hit points, so they can die easily. Their defense is a good offense...a downed bad guy won't hurt you.
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Originally Posted by geremyd
my buddy I work with bought the game as well. I think we are going to make new characters on virtue since it's more populated. We will prob play hero side. How is the blaster? I think I'll like a playing style like that better I'm not a big fan of hand 2 hand combat.
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If you like a balance between the lower pop servers and the crazy high pop servers, go with Justice. It's usually somewhere between number three and five in the population rankings. AND it's where I play, so that's a double bonus!
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If you're a fan of Wizards and the like in other MMOs, you'll probably love Blaster.|
Originally Posted by geremyd
my buddy I work with bought the game as well. I think we are going to make new characters on virtue since it's more populated. We will prob play hero side. How is the blaster? I think I'll like a playing style like that better I'm not a big fan of hand 2 hand combat.
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They're the typical "ranged nuker" or "glass cannon" character.
Basically, the yin to the Scrapper's yang.
To this 4/4 beat, I'm in time with you. To this 4/4 beat, I would die for you. Your lovesick melody is going to get the best of me tonight, but you won't get to me 'cause I won't sing.
I just opened my account today and haven't even started the game yet. What is a good USA server to start on? What is the big diffference between heroes and villians?
any suggestions or help would be great.
thanks,
Geremy