My suggestion is to go smorgasboard. Try everything for a good 20 to 25 levels and then continue on with whatever characters you enjoyed the most. 
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From a villain point of view the Villain Archtypes you may want to consider either a Brute, Corruptor or possibly Mastermind.|
Originally Posted by LightinDark132
I'm completely new to this game, if the title name wasn't obvious enough. I don't really know much about the game but I know that I normally enjoy playing "Tanks" or Healers in most other games.(Also I plan on playing a villain with my friend) Any tips/suggestions?
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* Brute - these toons revel in being in the thick of combat, they gain a damage boost via their inherent power 'Fury' for each time they attack and are attacked. So although their main function is hit stuff they also have some tools (e.g. Taunt) to help manage agro for a group.
* Corruptors - these toons have a mixture of damage and support. The classic 'healer' isn't as present in CoX as it is in other MMOs. Some of the support powersets contain heals or varying strength but their main focus is either buffs or debuffs which can be very powerful.
* Masterminds - these toons are a self contain team in themselves. Their primary powers is summoning their pets which do their damage and their secondary powers are the same as a corruptors and are designed to buff/debuff.
If you and your friend venture hero side (or you are around for Going Rogue expansion) you may want to consider:
* Tanker - these toons main job is to manage agro for a team. They have an inherent power which agros the target of their attack and those around them. They have strong defences and some decent damage (although not as strong as Brutes, but Brutes don't have the survivability of the Tanker).
* Defender - these toons are the opposite to a corruptor. They get the same powers but their primary and secondary powersets are reversed. They get strong buffs/debuffs (and some heals) but do less damage.
* Scrapper - These toons are pure melee attackers, although not as naturally as good as managing agro as a Tanker or Brute particular combos are still good at it.
Hope that helps
Edit - but as Willowpaw says (very rightly!) give lots of different things a try. CoH encourages playing different alts (including allowing 12 character slots on each server and being able to buy/earn upto another 24 per server on top of that!). Also different powersets within an Archtype play very differently to each other.
Member of GGRRR, a SG on Defiant - check out our website - GGRRR
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
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If you ever go Blue side, you may also want to take a look at Controllers. They combine Mez sets with buff/debuff sets. The end result is (typically) a low damage AT with high support capabilities.
-This Space Intentionally Left Blank.-
*nod nod*I may try blue side eventually but for now i'll go villain and I think i'll go for brute. Suggestions/tips for a brute? and what kind of powers should I go for?
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Just want to throw out there, that this isn't most other games. Healing is greatly overshadowed by buffs/debuffs when it comes to support.|
Originally Posted by LightinDark132
Healers in most other games.
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Other than that, welcome to the game!
The Brute is probably the easiest, toughest-out-the-box starter Archetype you could try to play. If this is your first, then I'd recommend Super Strength as a primary and Willpower as a secondary. Super Strength gets its hard hitter attack at an early level 8 or so and is very powerful (and smashy!) in general, whereas Willpower is nice and passive while still being strong and has no true weaknesses.
At higher levels it can even tank reasonably well, although a Brute's true role will always be to smash things. Also, they're fun - I'll warn you, the Fury bar can become very addicting.
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I think Tired Angel gave a good break down but I would just like to expand a bit.|
Originally Posted by LightinDark132
I'm completely new to this game, if the title name wasn't obvious enough. I don't really know much about the game but I know that I normally enjoy playing "Tanks" or Healers in most other games.(Also I plan on playing a villain with my friend) Any tips/suggestions?
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This game does not follow the classic Tank/Healer/DPS model that a lot of other MMOs use. There are characters that can fulfill those roles but they aren't required. Additionally all characters are designed to provide decent damage and while some provide more than others all characters provide some. This is even more noticeable with the Villain ATs than it is with the Hero ones.
Additionally due to the way buffs and debuffs are handled in the game Healing is actually the weakest form of damage mitigation. It's not useless but once you get above the mid levels it gets outperformed by other types of buffs and debuffs.
As Tired angel said if you like Tanks you'll probably enjoy Brutes. They aren't as tough as blueside Tankers but they have plenty of aggro control and lots of SMASH!
The redside "healer" types are Corruptors. However it's important to note that they are attackers first and support second. Pain Domination is the closest to the traditional "healer" but it's not the greatest set out there. Dark, Rad and Kin are all very good sets which have an AoE heal if you want a Corruptor who can do a bit of healing in between debuffing enemies and blasting their guts out. Thermal and Cold are probably the best options if you want a more Buff oriented character.
Welcome to the game, and the forums!
As this is an MMO, you're probably gonna want to be teaming up with some other Villains sooner or later, so may I offer a tip:
The only way to guarantee you're always on a fun team is to form one yourself...
Here's how.
Some notes :
Armor sets for Tanks, Scrappers, and Brutes USUALLY include some kind of agro aura. Either a DoT aura, or for willpower (as an example) there is Rise to the Challenge which debuffs and taunts nearby foes without doing actual damage (while boosting your regen).
Willpower isn't a bad starter set - this is probably the only armor without a heal (unless you go stalker) I would say that. The others without heals are a little more tricky to learn, usually.
Most sets follow some basic rules for their secondary effects. Fire is usually more damge, Ice, slows and control, dark -to hit and control, earth -defense, etc (as far as foes go).
One big things about this game.
Each archetype has it's own modifiers for buffs, controls, attacks, defense, etc. So the same power set will play somewhat different between different archetypes.
Defenders and controllers, for example, both have the forcefield power set.
Defenders Deflection Shield gives a 15% bonus to the defenses it buffs, vs. controllers only giving a 11.25% bonus. But Detention field - a control power - is half again as strong for a controller vs. a defender (as far as what foes it can affect).
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.
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One of the biggest tips I can give for a budding Brute: DON'T let people snare you in to the idea that your only role in groups is to tank. Brutes are built to dish out tons of damage, but still be able to take a beating. They aren't Tankers, an archetype built - as the name implies - specifically to tank for a group.|
Originally Posted by LightinDark132
*nod nod*I may try blue side eventually but for now i'll go villain and I think i'll go for brute. Suggestions/tips for a brute? and what kind of powers should I go for?
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I've heard of too many Brutes being kicked from groups or having people quit the group because "they weren't tanking enough." A Brute focuses on dealing damage efficiently enough to kill things before they can do serious harm to your team mates, rather than soaking up all the damage the enemies dish out. They have a Taunt, and can tank to some extent, yes, but that will never be their primary role.
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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This is pretty much true for all villain archetypes; don't let others shoehorn you into any perceived roll. While hero archtypes are largely specialized, Each villain does at least two different things well, one of which is usually dishing out decent damage.|
Originally Posted by Staccato
I've heard of too many Brutes being kicked from groups or having people quit the group because "they weren't tanking enough." A Brute focuses on dealing damage efficiently enough to kill things before they can do serious harm to your team mates, rather than soaking up all the damage the enemies dish out. They have a Taunt, and can tank to some extent, yes, but that will never be their primary role.
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Even blue side, some sets for certain archetypes allow players to go beyond their regular roles (although sometimes it requires a little creative enhancing)
"My inner mind has become a reality-cracking overgod. He torments me! Help!"
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Fun fact: Masterminds were originally meant to be the tanks. And they still can be very good ones.|
Originally Posted by The Grim Heaper
This is pretty much true for all villain archetypes; don't let others shoehorn you into any perceived roll. While hero archtypes are largely specialized, Each villain does at least two different things well, one of which is usually dishing out decent damage.
Even blue side, some sets for certain archetypes allow players to go beyond their regular roles (although sometimes it requires a little creative enhancing) |
But yeah, CoV just emphasised the gameplay style that CoH has become; specific roles are broken down as much as possible.
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A prime example of this would be the Fire/Kin Controller, who does more damaging/buffing than controlling.|
Originally Posted by The Grim Heaper
Even blue side, some sets for certain archetypes allow players to go beyond their regular roles (although sometimes it requires a little creative enhancing)
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This is even truer now that we have dual builds. One build can be specialized for one thing while the other can be specialized for something else.
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.
Next up, "the rush to 50!"
Fun in this game exists at all levels. No need to rush to the cap to get to "the real game". It starts in the costume creator!
Besides, features like Level-Pacts, and Supersidekicking make level differences much less of an issue.
Don't know what level-pacting and supersidekicking are?
www.paragonwiki.com
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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Hell, the endgame content can more or less be summed up as "roll an alt." :P
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Originally Posted by Xalaqia
Fun in this game exists at all levels. No need to rush to the cap to get to "the real game".
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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'm restricting myself to one bit of advice [like I try to for new players; my "off" button is hard to find.] Enhancements/money, I choose you!
For your first character, my advice is to stick with the enhancements the game sells in stores (or if you feel like getting fancy, generic IO's at level 30.) Training enhancements, then at level 12 dual-origins, then at level 22 single-origins.
There are two parallel systems of enhancement: the first one, and only one for about the first four years, is where you go to a store when your enhancements start "going yellow" and buy new ones. As you go up levels, the old enhancements will start to rot and work less well. You can use from +3 to -2; after that they "go red" and give you NOTHING. Sometimes you will get a drop you can use, which is a rare bonus.
The newer system is the "Invention system." You get recipes [1-shot blueprints, basically] and salvage from badguys. You can try to sell these things to other players at Wentworth's (or the Black Market) or you can try to use them; you can buy other things. So if you need "two blobs and a gear" and you have only one blob and two gears, you can try to sell a gear and buy a blob with the money.
You can get considerably more power from inventions, but with very few exceptions you don't need them. I'm going to give seemingly-bad advice here and recommend you get ripped off. The auction system is "highest bid gets lowest sale price" so if you list everything for 1 inf you will get the highest bid out there. Which may still be very low as someone tries to get bargains by underpaying.
If you list every piece of salvage and every recipe for 1 inf, you will get between 1/3 and 99% of what you could get if you were really, really clever and aggressive and got the "true value". This is still enough inf that you can afford all the SO's you will ever need, with a lot of money left over. There's bizarre inflation in the game, so there are individual items that sell for, like, the price of ALL THE ENHANCEMENTSS YOU WILL EVER NEED FROM LEVEL 1 to 50. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing depends on whether you're buying or selling.
So until you are interested in the invention system, just list everything for 1 and take what you get. (I'm not a marketer who will rip you off. I hunt much larger game.) If you ever run short on cash following this advice, send a tell to @Boltcutter and I will set you up with 10 million inf.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
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Another fun fact: Plant Dominators and Controllers can also tank quite well once they have their Creeper Vines and Fly Traps (or even just the Creeper Vines). Come to think of it, Illusion Controllers can also tank with Phantom Army, Phantasm, and Spooky.
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Originally Posted by Prof_Backfire
Fun fact: Masterminds were originally meant to be the tanks. And they still can be very good ones.
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Yeah, thing is about this game, everybody can do a lot of different things, some are better than others at it, but you never need the absolute best.
You can assemble a functional team out of literally anything, as long as you've got somewhat competent players with a positive attitude.
Most solo friendly: Brute, Scrapper
Most powerful teamed: Controller, Corruptor, Defender
Most powerful late-game: Controller, Mastermind
Most powerful early game: Blaster
Best at earning rewards: Controller, Brute, Blaster, Scrapper, Dominator
Most fun to play: Subjective
Most tank-like: Tanks, obviously
Most healer-like: Some Defenders, some Corruptors, some Controllers (although in CoH the buffs greatly outshine the heals)
I'd include Masterminds under "Most solo friendly", considering how they're the easiest AT to get to the point where you can effortlessly solo AVs or x8 spawns.
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This. You have TONS of free slots on TONS of servers. Use them and try everything until you find something you like!|
Originally Posted by Willowpaw
My suggestion is to go smorgasboard. Try everything for a good 20 to 25 levels and then continue on with whatever characters you enjoyed the most.
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And welcome to the game!
If you're like me, though, you'll find Masterminds painfully boring to play.
The most active you'll be is summoning and buffing your pets. After that they more or less do all the work. :P
My first and only level 50 Villain is a Thugs Mastermind, and I haven't played her since she hit 50. lol
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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Just to nitpick I've found they can take the Alpha and then lock down the spawn pretty well but it's not really Tanking, especially in the case of Illusion where it tends to get rather chaotic. Spooky is great at soft-controlling the spawn but aggro will tend to bleed away from the Controller or their pets a bit as enemies are attacked.|
Originally Posted by Willowpaw
Another fun fact: Plant Dominators and Controllers can also tank quite well once they have their Creeper Vines and Fly Traps (or even just the Creeper Vines). Come to think of it, Illusion Controllers can also tank with Phantom Army, Phantasm, and Spooky.
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It is hilariously fun in both cases though, as evidenced by the PuG I was on yesterday which had 4 controllers including my Plant and an Illusion. A new Blaster joined the team, we entered the mish and they said "Shouldn't we wait for the AFK Tank" and was good humouredly mocked.*
I'm completely new to this game, if the title name wasn't obvious enough. I don't really know much about the game but I know that I normally enjoy playing "Tanks" or Healers in most other games.(Also I plan on playing a villain with my friend) Any tips/suggestions?