City of Heroes Vade Mecum "Unofficial Guide"
By
Aett_Thorn,
Posted on: 2010-06-09 05:58 in Player Questions
Well even if it is a good guide given the fluid nature of changes I still think you'd be better off asking questions here and checking out searches on Paragonwiki.com
The answer crew here is pretty fast and paragonwiki is kept very up to date.
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
There is, seriously, a ridiculous amount of information available for free. People like me, the problem is getting us to SHUT UP. The Wiki is solid and accurate. Here's an example of a new kid question. There's at least four people in that thread who will answer almost ANY new kid question fast, patiently, accurately, and clearly.
The only thing I can see a guide helping with is things that you "didn't know you didn't know"- like that there are temp powers to help with a lot of things, or how to get a jetpack/jump pack, or what the Fitness pool does or whatever.
EDIT: Or that there are global channels full of helpful people.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
Quote:
/this.|
Originally Posted by Fulmens
There is, seriously, a ridiculous amount of information available for free. People like me, the problem is getting us to SHUT UP. The Wiki is solid and accurate. Here's an example of a new kid question. There's at least four people in that thread who will answer almost ANY new kid question fast, patiently, accurately, and clearly.
The only thing I can see a guide helping with is things that you "didn't know you didn't know"- like that there are temp powers to help with a lot of things, or how to get a jetpack/jump pack, or what the Fitness pool does or whatever. EDIT: Or that there are global channels full of helpful people. |
Better to go with the free and constantly updating approach versus the paid for and out-of-date-quickly approach.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
I do check the Wiki when I need to know something specific. As you can see from my post count here, though, I am not so inclined to ask questions (I Google and search these forums often, but don't like to bother people -- especially when I'm looking for general information about the game).
The nature of the strategy guide I am asking about is supposedly different from a straightforward manual (like the Wiki, which answers straightforward questions such as where to go to get x badge).
From the bullet points of the advertisement it contains:
* Secret leveling locations from 1 to 50
* How to make more influence than you could ever spend
* Character creation guide for new and advanced players
* The hidden mechanics of the combat system
* Efficient tactics against every type of villain
* Powersets in detail
* Cutting-edge soloing strategies
* How to play a grouped character. Flawless.
They also claim it is updated regularly to keep consistent with current game rules. This is typical of all the MMO guides sold by Killer Guides.
The advertising copy for the guide makes some bold (but very general) claims. I'm just hoping that someone here who has already made the investment can provide a more realistic estimation of it's usefulness.
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Sorry, I can't help it: LOL
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Originally Posted by Mantic
* Secret leveling locations from 1 to 50
* How to make more influence than you could ever spend * Character creation guide for new and advanced players * The hidden mechanics of the combat system * Efficient tactics against every type of villain * Powersets in detail * Cutting-edge soloing strategies * How to play a grouped character. Flawless. |
There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
Still with just a minimal amount of time on these forums you can find the answer to all those questions, What's more you will get multiple points of view as quite often there's more than one correct answer. Don't waste your money, imo.
Spines/ D A lvl 50 Scrap, stone/wm lvl 50 tank, Kat/reg lvl 50 Scrap
Grav/Kin lvl 50 Cont, Fire/Enegry lvl 50 Blast
Warshade lvl 50, PB lvl 39, nightwidow lvl 50, crab lvl 42
plant/thorns lvl 50 dom, ice/fire lvl 40 dom, grav/nrg lvl 41 dom
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Point by point commentary on their claims:|
Originally Posted by Mantic
I do check the Wiki when I need to know something specific. As you can see from my post count here, though, I am not so inclined to ask questions (I Google and search these forums often, but don't like to bother people -- especially when I'm looking for general information about the game).
The nature of the strategy guide I am asking about is supposedly different from a straightforward manual (like the Wiki, which answers straightforward questions such as where to go to get x badge). From the bullet points of the advertisement it contains: * Secret leveling locations from 1 to 50 * How to make more influence than you could ever spend * Character creation guide for new and advanced players * The hidden mechanics of the combat system * Efficient tactics against every type of villain * Powersets in detail * Cutting-edge soloing strategies * How to play a grouped character. Flawless. They also claim it is updated regularly to keep consistent with current game rules. This is typical of all the MMO guides sold by Killer Guides. The advertising copy for the guide makes some bold (but very general) claims. I'm just hoping that someone here who has already made the investment can provide a more realistic estimation of it's usefulness. |
* There are no secret leveling locations 1-50. There might be exploits but there are no secret locations.
* There are so many guides on how to make influence and infamy in The Guides and Market sections.
* I am sure an advanced player does not need any help creating a character and we have character builders free to use as well as every AT forum has people who can help. For free.
* Hidden mechanics from whom? Again all that kind of info is widely available for free.
* Efficient tactics against every villain? Pop inspirations and stay awake.
* Powersets in detail. See Paragonwiki, Red Tomax's site, Mids, etc.
* Cutting edge soloing strategies? Cutting edge? Soloing is easy.
* How to play a grouped character. Flawless? I wonder what you do when the team fails to allow you to be flawless.
I don't have to buy something to tell from the ads it's not worth buying but why would you accept the blind words of someone on a forum that something is or is not worth buying?
There are people who post here who think Star Trek V was a good movie.
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
Quote:
Agreed with the LOL above.|
Originally Posted by Mantic
I do check the Wiki when I need to know something specific. As you can see from my post count here, though, I am not so inclined to ask questions (I Google and search these forums often, but don't like to bother people -- especially when I'm looking for general information about the game).
The nature of the strategy guide I am asking about is supposedly different from a straightforward manual (like the Wiki, which answers straightforward questions such as where to go to get x badge). From the bullet points of the advertisement it contains: * Secret leveling locations from 1 to 50 * How to make more influence than you could ever spend * Character creation guide for new and advanced players * The hidden mechanics of the combat system * Efficient tactics against every type of villain * Powersets in detail * Cutting-edge soloing strategies * How to play a grouped character. Flawless. They also claim it is updated regularly to keep consistent with current game rules. This is typical of all the MMO guides sold by Killer Guides. The advertising copy for the guide makes some bold (but very general) claims. I'm just hoping that someone here who has already made the investment can provide a more realistic estimation of it's usefulness. |
Most of those things aren't 'secret'. There are no secret leveling locations in this game. If you want to know the best places to get XP at any level, we can let you know that.
The market forum has many ways to make a ton of influence, if that is your desire (also, killing enemies gets you a ton of influence at level 50, which is a decent way to start).
Character Creation guides just sound lol-worthy. You can make a character any way that you want here, and since we don't have 'stats,' you can't really mess up a character at level 1, or at any level really. Especially since you can't lock yourself out of powers by choosing the wrong stat to put points in or anything like that.
The 'hidden mechanics' of the combat system are only useful for theory-crafting and bug-finding. Otherwise, you really don't need to know them.
I find that the most efficient tactics against EVERY group of villains doesn't change much. Only when there is a troublesome minion or something does this change. Even then, it doesn't change that much.
Powersets in detail are definitely handled by the Wiki. Or, if you're looking for more numbers, Mid's might be a better choice.
"Cutting Edge" soloing strategies? LOL. Kill stuff. It ain't that hard.
"How to play grouped characters" also gets a LOL from me. Contribute. However you want to. Just use your powers in a way that doesn't hurt the team too much. 8-man groups, unless most of the team is a bunch of idiots, will steamroll most of the content in the game.
I would say that this guide isn't worth the money.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
Quote:
Initially I LOLed but then my b.s. detector kicked in and I got angry about what a lying ripoff it would have to be to make some of those claims.
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Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
Sorry, I can't help it: LOL
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total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
Quote:
It was too pathetic an attempt for me to even take it seriously. OP, many of us have been playing this game for more than half a decade. We're crazy about this game, and we know more ins and outs than any three guides put together. |
Originally Posted by SwellGuy
Initially I LOLed but then my b.s. detector kicked in and I got angry about what a lying ripoff it would have to be to make some of those claims.
|
Stick with us, and you'll be set.
So ask us another question.
There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
Smells like someone wants money for taking readily available info and gathering it all in one place (and using misleading advertisement). I consider that a con. Just do the legwork for free.
Dec out.
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City of Heroes Leveling: Our City of Heroes Strategy Guide provides you with a thorough quick leveling walkthrough up to level 50 with all locations you have to visit, all missions that have to be accomplished and the character changing measures that have to be taken along the way. In addition you are furnished with information about every individual zone and strategies enabling you to take down even the nastiest villain. City of Heroes Influence: Influence is your currency while wandering around on the world of City of Heroes and it's not that easy to come by. The Influence section in our CoH Strategy reference does not only show you some effective ways of earning Influence, it also gives you tips on Influence management showing you the right times to purchase Enhancements and giving you recommendations on what to consider when doing so. CoH Characters: The CoH Strategy Guide includes a character creation section with an overview of each archetype's abilities and uses for group and solo playing, thus making it easy for you to choose a character build that suits your playing style from the beginning. City of Heroes Villains: The author supplies you with a list of all different types of foes that you will encounter throughout the game, their individual powers and strategies on how to deal with them. You'll also learn to divide your enemies into different categories and recognize at a glance how easy they will be to defeat for your individual character. City of Heroes Combat: The combat section gives you a broad overview on the way the 'Brawl Index' works, the different damage types you can cause, such as Smashing, Fire, Energy, Toxic up to even Psionic damage, divides them into damage styles such as melee or AoE and shows you the different defence types. Ultimately our CoH Strategy manual includes a further section with the different types of status attacks, what they do and gives recommendations on which to choose when building your character. Our up-to-date CoH Strategy guide also includes a thorough overview about every attack any archetype can dish out with stats for endurance cost, activation time, range, damage etc. on 30+ pages for each archetype! CoH Powersets: Powersets play a vital role in City of Heroes as they define the attacks you can perform as well as their strength. Furthermore they usually have secondary effects you can stack with further powers such as defensive powers to make your defence more effective, which can be the difference between life and death, e.g. when soloing with a Blaster. Additionally this section gives you an overview about every individual pool power, such as the traveling abilities, in all of their development stages plus stats. Solo vs. group playing: Like in many current MMORPGs, grouping is vital for certain missions where you have to disarm two bombs simultaneously or conquer elite bosses that regain health faster then you can dish out hits points. So you will find a section about planning your solo build and which character to choose for it as well as a section on how to set up the ideal group for team play, thus satisfying both, the soloing superhero and the more sociable team heroes. Furthermore you are furnished with detailed, proven and commented solo build recommendations, power leveling hints, an overview of all different types of missions and a dedicated accolade and badge acquisition section. Free updates: All future updates of this guide are of course included in the purchase price. When an update is published, you will receive a notification. Just log into your account and download the update for free! |
OMG, this makes the game sound HARD. WOW.
"...influence not that easy to come by..." What a joke.
There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
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Actually they prove they aren't worth buying with |
Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
OMG, this makes the game sound HARD. WOW.
"...influence not that easy to come by..." What a joke. |
Quote:
| it also gives you tips on Influence management showing you the right times to purchase Enhancements and giving you recommendations on what to consider when doing so. |
And not one mention of inventions?
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
Look at this picture:
(The picture was removed from this post, but not by me...so I'm not going to put it back. Sorry.)
It's so unofficial, it's for a completely different game. Look at that hair, the costume.
Then again, half of the guides these guys sell are simply called "[GAME NAME] GOLD MAKING GUIDE"
EDIT: Well blown me down, this guy sounds like he beat the game:
Quote:
| Mike Jatczak is a mostly unpublished writer from the abyss known as Detroit, Michigan. He is the world's foremost expert in the Dark Melee/Dark Armor Scrappers in the City of Heroes MMORPG, soloing three separate characters to level 50. Prior to CoH, he has achieved much success in Asheron's Call I & II, as well as thorough exposure to many other MMORPGs. He is an IT professional during the week and a fantasy football fanatic on the weekends, with all free time devoted to his wife and son. |
There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
Has anyone even used the "Brawl Index" since real numbers came out, anyways? That's quite the antiquated damage comparison metric there.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
Quote:
The Brawl Index! This guide will clearly be useful if you ever fall into a time machine and end up in 2007.| The combat section gives you a broad overview on the way the 'Brawl Index' works |
Edit: Curse you, Aett! I have been out-mocked!
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
About the author of the guide:
Quote:
He soloed three whole separate characters to level 50!| (name) is a mostly unpublished writer from the abyss known as Detroit, Michigan. He is the world's foremost expert in the Dark Melee/Dark Armor Scrappers in the City of Heroes MMORPG, soloing three separate characters to level 50. Prior to CoH, he has achieved much success in Asheron's Call I & II, as well as thorough exposure to many other MMORPGs. He is an IT professional during the week and a fantasy football fanatic on the weekends, with all free time devoted to his wife and son. |
Let's see I have mostly soloed to 50:
Inv/SS Tanker
Peacebringer
Fire/Psi Dominator (after the changes to Psi)
Energy Melee/Energy Aura Stalker (after the changes to EM)
Fire Melee/Fire Aura Brute
Spines/Fire Aura Scrapper
Arachnos Soldier (Crab)
Grav/Rad Controller
Dark Melee/Inv Scrapper
Warshade
Robotics/FF Mastermind
Fire/Fire Blaster
And I duoed to 50:
Ill/Storm Controller
My widow (fort) is currently 44 and the night widow is 35.
Of course I would never claim to be the foremost expert in any of them.
[edit] Darn you, Dumple! Going back and adding the about the author!
total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
When I got CoH back in summer 2004 I also *invested* (read: wasted) a few dollars into the Official Prima Guide.
I keep it for sentimental reasons, since almost every single page of it has irrelevant information in regards to today's CoH.
ParagonWiki is the definitive spot to check.
Also, if you check out the link in my sig for the Mentor Project, you can join in the N P C channel and ask anything game-related at any time. It may be targeted for new players or returning heroes/villains who need a quick update, but it's a public channel open for anyone who needs it. 
█ Players Guide to the Cities
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HAHAHAHA! According to whom?|
DumpleBerry gives us a crack-up of a bio: Mike Jatczak is a mostly unpublished writer from the abyss known as Detroit, Michigan. He is the world's foremost expert in the Dark Melee/Dark Armor Scrappers in the City of Heroes MMORPG, |
Quote:
| soloing three separate characters to level 50. |
Quote:
| Prior to CoH, he has achieved much success in Asheron's Call I & II, as well as thorough exposure to many other MMORPGs. He is an IT professional during the week and a fantasy football fanatic on the weekends, with all free time devoted to his wife and son. |
Dec out.
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Ah ha! Take that, you carpet-bagger! :b
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Originally Posted by Kelenar
The Brawl Index! This guide will clearly be useful if you ever fall into a time machine and end up in 2007.
Edit: Curse you, Aett! I have been out-mocked! |
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
To the OP:
1) Don't feel that asking questions is "bothering" anyone here on the forums, that's WHY we are here.
2) ALL of the info in that "guide" is freely available from other sources and/or the forums.
3) Save yourself some grief (and the 30 bucks) and don't buy it. Spend the 30 bucks on game-time or booster purchases You'll get a heck of a lot more use out of it than that "guide" would provide.
Fin.
6000+ levels gained and 8 level 50's
Hello, my name is Soulwind and I have Alt-Itis.
OP, as you can see, we're awfully helpful about everything and anything we can be. At least, until it comes to some punk trying to scam people out of money edging into our turf.
Then the knives and pipes come out.
Just like this:
There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
I notice that all of you guys responding are long-time CoH veterans. I certainly respect your knowledge of the game, but I wonder if you really grasp my perspective on the game.
As I mentioned, though I've been playing for a few years (since March 2007, off and on), I'm only on a few days a month at best. I've missed whole months a couple of times, even when paying for the account. In that time I've started a couple of templates from the forum, but each time they wound up obsolete before I got halfway through -- I've only been able to grow toons quickly by having higher-level players get together and power-level me.
So if there is a streamlined guide of where to go and what to do from 1-50 to efficiently grow a toon up, especially solo, that would be very helpful to me. I might actually get a second character to level 50 someday.
Making Inf on the market is one of the least interesting points. Being offline for weeks at a time or longer allows lots of bids to come in, so I do pretty well on that front for the time invested. Too bad Inf can't buy XP... but at least I can buy a purple once in awhile.
As mentioned, I've tried following templates from the forum here, and not had great results. If there is a guide that actually pairs templates with tailored rapid-leveling tactics, I would consider that worth money. And I have looked -- people have not been putting that much work in for nothing.
The rest of the bullet points do suggest material that is available on the Wiki, and which may not be of any practical use. Presentation could make a difference, though.
All of which is why I'm looking for someone who has actually seen the guide to clarify it's contents.
General advice is to just play the game, you'll get to 50 quickly enough. There's no need to rush. XP and influence are easy to come by and Super Sidekicking greatly reduces the need to be a high level. This game's about the journey, not the endpoint.
Dec out.
The "City of Heroes Vade Mecum" is a commercial strategy guide written by Mike Jatczak that is being sold on the interwebs, and I'm curious if anyone here has purchased it and can offer opinions.
This thread is not intended as an advertisement and for that reason I will not provide a direct link to the product page, but I will say that it is being sold by Killer Guides (who publish hint books for a number of MMO games).
I'm an infrequent player here and if this guide can really make what time I spend in CoH more productive it would be worth the money. But I can't find reviews anywhere, and that makes me leery of dropping $30 on a PDF file. For all I know, this guy could have just copied the CoH Wiki...