So..This is a new feeling.

Generally I am a good gamer. I understand game mechanics and numbers and all of that kind of stuff. But I don't understand this game nor can I find the information to understand the powers and what they are capable of. Which brings me to the problem that I don't understand what most people are talking about on the archetype boards. Has anyone got a link to a source that could help me understand how to optimize a character in this game?

Specific questions would be better, but you can use the Paragon Wiki to find a lot of info.

Another useful item would be Mid's Hero Designer which you can download at CoHPlanner.com. When you build your character with that, you'll get all the nitty gritty numbers.

All the information you need about what powers are capable of is available in-game, visible when you select powers or enhance them.

I think his question is more about what is softcap, Enhancement Diversification (ED), Global defense nerf (GDN)... etc and how they affect the way you build a character for min/max.

Again, most (if not all) of these are in the wiki or you can post questions about them here or in the AT forums.

you can also pm me if you need any help, i'll do my best

Honestly, my advice is to not try. From your registration date, post count, and the general vagueness of your comment, I'm assuming that you're new. If this is the case, then the best thing to do would be to create a few characters that you know will be throw-away or eventually pretty radically changed in their power selection choice. Go through the tutorial and intro missions, maybe to level 25 or so, and then create another character.

Lather, rinse, and repeat for two or three weeks until you get a firm grasp on what kinds of things you like and don't like about powersets, then settle on (or create) a "main" that you level up to 50. Don't power-level or farm--those things actually suck the fun out of the game, especially for relatively new players. Just run missions, do some task forces now and then, and enjoy.

I assure you that within a month to two, you'll have a firm grasp on the mechanics of the game, a really good start on what does what, where to find more information you're looking for, and the quesitons you post here will be specifically about nitty-gritty things that you need to shore up your knowledge base.

In other words, don't get too far ahead of yourself. It's a little like programming. Don't start off by trying to write Microsoft Windows. First, get "Hello, world!" working, and go from there.

Well, as others have directed, go to Paragonwiki.com. There is a lot of source info there, not just on game mechanics but on enemy groups, contacts, task forces, enhancements, badges... lots and lots of info.

But to start with, it sounds like you'll want to look up

Enhancement Diversification
Attack Mechanics
Damage
Status Effects
Purple Patch
Defense
Resistance (Mechanics)

And check out any of the hotlinks provided on those pages to give you further resources to help you learn to min-max.

Once you have an understanding of basic game mechanics, then you will need to understand the powers and precisely what they do. For this, "detailed info" of each power in-game is probably the most current info, but a slightly outdated online compendium of powers exists at:

http://coh.redtomax.com/data/powers/

City of Data is a good resource, just bear in mind that it hasn't been updated since i14 (iirc).

Hope these help.

Well, since the question has mainly been answered, I will only add this: OP, welcome to the game and to the forums!


Also, off topic, ElectroHawk, what game is that in your avatar?

I wondered to, he answered in another thread, its a templar from Aion he said there.....hehe looking at that gets me thinking....no must resist lol

This game was designed to not be "number heavy", and in fact when it was first released the devs considered it a policy NOT to give any of the details about the powers. That's why the power descriptions say things like "Minor" or "Extreme" for damage, and "Fast" or "Slow" for recharge. The idea is, it's supposed to be flexible and broad enough in design that you can't gimp yourself seriously with bad slotting. You might not be as good as you could be, but your character has wide enough range of strengths, and few enough weaknesses, that you can get by.

The truth, of course, is that number crunchers will be number crunchers. Even WITHOUT stats, the players went and gathered them anyway. Now, there are stats built into the game, open your Powers display and select Combat Attributes. This will show you values like damage buffs, your defense and resistance levels, HP and End regen rates, and so on. You can also right click on any Power to bring up its Info Window, and there will be a tab giving it's exact stats, in damage done at your current level, actual recharge times in seconds, and more.

In the Enhancement Screen, to help you anticipate ED, it shows you the % boost each Enhancement is giving you in your powers. Note this is % of the BOOST, not the actual strength of the power, a weak power that has only a little effect will still be weaker at +100% than a strong power. In other words, twice nothing is still nothing. You really need to weight the individual power and the amount of Enhancement you already have against each other, you want to Enhance strong powers first so you get the greatest numeric benefit from each Enhancement slotted. (That is, if you have a power with 20% Defence and one with 3.5% Defense, slot the 20% one first)

In short, ED says that you should never slot more than 3 Enhancements of the same type. 3 Damage Enhancements, for instance, will give you 100% enhancement, or double the base damage. 6 Damage Enhancements, even though you have room in the tray, will be subject to diminished returns, rather strict diminishing returns, as you can really only get about 110%-120%, and no more. And keep in mind that some Enhancement types will "cap" at 60% instead of 100%, or at other values.

Paragonwiki and these boards can be a big help, but those rules of thumb should cover everything unless you are a dedicated min/maxer that always pushes things right up to the cap. And you likely won't be capable of that until you are near 50 anyway. (And you'll need to invest in IOs)

Hmmm...I might have to look into Aion some more then. That power just looks really cool.

Another thing you can do is check out the Mentor Project at the top of this forum for some individualized help in game.

Another thing, don't get too concerned about gimping your toon. Try things and test things. Once you've progressed to a certain level and decided you don't like a power you chose, or how you slotted something, you can go to a trainer and switch to a second build. The first time you do this you will have to pick all your powers from level 1 up.

You can't change your AT type, or your Primary or Secondary Powers but you can change which powers from those sets you want, and to some extent change the order in which you picked them. You'll also be able to totally change out your power pools, so if you don't like the travel power you selected, you can change it.

This second build is independent of your first build, meaning you will have to buy new enhancements to fill the slots, but it gives you a second chance to redo your toon's powers.

After the first time you use your second build, you can't go back and make any changes without something called a respec token (Character re-specification)

"The one thing that can stop a full team of MasterMinds dead in its tracks... a doorway!" --Frogfather