Tips For A New Player

Hello! New player here, just upgraded my trial account 2 days ago after defecting from my first MMO (WoW)

This game isn't as easy as WoW, which is a good thing. Means alot of customizing and variation. But I am looking for tips to help me get acclimated to the game. I am a level 6 Technology Blaster and as of right now the only contacts I have are in zones of lvl 12s. lol. I could use tips on finding level appropriate contacts, class roles, etc etc. Tips can be written or links to sources I can reference but any help is appreciated.

Level 6? Your best bet right now is Kings Row (5-10). Here's a handy tip I gave out just yesterday.

Go to the train and go to Kings Row. When you enter, there should be a Police contact listed as your waypoint (if not, he should be in your contact list). Go to him and he will give you access to the police radio (it will appear at the top of your contacts). Do three missions from the radio and return to the police contact. He will give you a SafeGuard mission where your goal is to stop a bank robbery. When you get into the mission, the bank will be marked with a $. Get there as quickly as possible and stop the robbery. If you do, you will receive a free jetpack called the Raptor Pack that you can use for 2 hours of actual "on" time (timer stops when you shut it off). A very valuable and helpful tool for lowbies. EDIT: Separate note...you don't have to leave the mission on mission complete. If you go out the door of the bank, you can still clean up on the mobs around, and will discover that defeating some of them will give you little "side-missions" that are fun, too. Stopping those, and stopping Vandals (this stuff will be announced in big red letters and appear on your map) gains you extra time, as well.

SafeGuards containing other special powers and tools are available the same way (sometimes you have to do more than 3 radios) every five levels, but this is the most useful/important one.

Also as far as I've been told, the game actually becomes easier than WoW, but is a bit more complex at the start.

LEGION OF VALOR - Be a part of the Legend!

Absolutely. There is a tramway between zones, marked on your map with a big T. This is called The Yellow Line. As you progress, you will encounter the Green Line (north end of Steel Canyon, south end of Skyway City) that will take you to higher level zones.

LEGION OF VALOR - Be a part of the Legend!

Welcome to the game

As you progress in the game you'll be able to unlock the Travel power (available at lvl 14 if you have the prerequisite) they are: fly, super jump, super speed and teleport. This will make your travel time shorter by a lot.

Also, if you join a super group you will probably have access to the zone teleporter. (I say probably because not every SG has them or all of them). These will be inside your SG base and allow you to teleport to any zone.

There are other perks that can make your travel faster and thus the game more enjoyable:
The Ouroboros portal (available at lvl25 IIRC): gives you access to the Ouroboros zone where you can do mission you missed from other contacts and also teleport to multiple zones.

The mission transporter: allows you to teleport directly to the mission door from anywhere in the city (on a 1h recharge timer), this is part of the Mac special edition.

The Wentworth transporter: this will allow you to teleport to any Wentworth office (market) form any zone. It is gained by logging out at the market. Each day logged out will give you 1 charge to the power. After 21 days you will get the "Day job" which recharges your charge faster to a maximum of 10.

This is all FYI, you don't need all of it and really shouldn't think they are required or expected by your team. Some are for higher level so don't worry about them for now. There is a great source of information on Paragon wiki

Have fun and take your time to learn the game, if you need help don't be afraid to ask, we got a great community that just loves to help (sometimes maybe too much lol)

Pro-tip: Click on the circles on the map (for example, the "T" for tram station). This adds them as a waypoint on your navigation bar, and your current distance to them appears in the main window when you're facing towards them.

Thanks for great tips guys

p.s. sorry for hijacking your thread Terrifying Terror

A few things I thought about when I read other people's tips.

• At level 6, anywhere the Green Line can take you will kill you dead in seconds.
• It's an easy jog through Perigrine Island, if you stay on the road centerline and no one's ambush was left lying around, to get to Fire Base Zulu and buy a Raptor Pack for 10k. I do this ASAP on any toon I make. Remeber though, PI is level 45+, so don't go peeking at the giant demons, etc, in the parking lots or you'll be toast.
• Some of the temporary powers you can buy are also really swank. If you have the means, I highly recommend Backup Radio, which is just plain cool.
• You can select the tank, or some other melee, and you will target their target. If you keep to single target attacks after they land the first blow, it's rare the enemy will aggro onto you instead. But, if you're a AoE freak, I'd make a bind that says "Help! Too much Aggro!!!" Which, actually, I do.
• Make money. The game gets much easier when you can enhance your powers well.

All zones have level ranges where you can run into enemies a fair bit higher than your current level, but only in certain "neighborhoods" of each zone. Zone "Neighborhoods" are outlined by a color border that will show on your map... but you may not always be able to see the neighborhood borders before uncovering the "fog of war" on the map.

Depending on the zone, there can be a greater disparity in enemy levels depending on the border color, but here is a small breakdown of Atlas Park and it's neighborhood border colors as an example:

Argosy Industrial Park (Red – Level 5-6)
Atlas Plaza (Green – Level 1-2) <-- This is where the large Atlas statue is, and where you first start if you chose atlas park from the tutorial.
Downside (Red – Level 5-6)
Hyperion Way (Orange – Level 3-6)
The Promenade (Yellow – Level 3-4)
Prometheus Park (Yellow – Level 1-4)

Atlas isn't too bad, but as you travel into higher zones, the level range can be higher also. Hazard Zones, for example, can have a HUGE level range in comparison to regular zones.

One of the first zones you'll be introduced to from Atlas Park or Galaxy City (which are both "starting" zones) is a Hazard Zone called "The Hollows", your first contact will send you to talk to Lt. David Wincott (who will also give you missions) when you reach the appropriate level to enter the zone.

The Hollows is considered a "Hazard Zone" because you can come across enemies considerably higher in level than yourself. The Hollows is the ONLY hazard zone that has a hospital, a store and a trainer. The Hollows level range is 5-15 and its neighborhood border colors/levels are as follows:

Cherry Hills (Green - Level 5-7)
Eastgate Heights (Red - Level 13-15)
Eastgate Park (Orange - Level 10-12)
Four Seasons (Yellow - Level 8-10)
Grendel's Gulch (Red - Level 13-15)
Red River (Yellow - Level 8-10)

As you can see, travelling into the wrong neighborhood, without being careful, could be very dangerous... especially if you're on the low-end of the level range. Enemies aren't too difficult to avoid if you keep an eye out, but if you don't watch where you're going you could get into trouble! I highly suggest going to King's Row and getting your Raptor Pack around level 5-6 first (Decorum gave good instructions how to do this a few posts above) before doing the hollows missions, it will make travelling there (and in general) much more pleasant, and you should be around level 8 or so by the time you get the Raptor, which will also make things a bit easier on you travelling in the hollows.

Some Useful Tools

Paragon Wiki

Info for the neighborhood levels and border colors here was taken from the Paragon Wiki at : http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page

Paragon Wiki is an invaluable resource to information on City of Heroes and City of Villains. Check the Table of Contents on the left navigation bar for a sectional listing of all the information available, and for fun, try typing the name of your first contact (or any contact) into the search and it will tell you everything about them, including their level range and who they'll introduce you to next, as well as a breakdown of the missions they give and more!

Vidiotmaps

Vidiotmaps will help you get familiar with the different zones and zone connections in the game, so you don't need to memorize things right away. They also have a downloadable map overlay that lists neighborhood enemy types and levels right on your in-game map, which is extremely useful for outdoor "hunt" missions where you need to beat a certain number of a specific enemy type on the world map (i.e. defeat 20 hellions, etc.).

here's a link to the vidiotmaps site: http://www.badge-hunter.com/index.php?/page/maps.php


Mids Hero Designer

Mids Hero Designer is a downloadable application that can help you plan the development of your character, get detailed power info for every powerset, and familiarize yourself with all the different types of enhancements, temporary powers and accolade powers available in the game.

visit http://www.cohplanner.com/ to download Mids Hero Designer!

Have fun and good luck!

No one has mentioned it yet, so I figured I would for the people coming from WoW.

Forget everything you learned about teaming in WoW. The "holy trinity" of Tank/Healer/DPS is not necessary here.

It can be effective, and there's nothing wrong with using that method, but it is not nearly as mandatory as it is in WoW. At high levels, our tanks can hold their own against most things in the game and don't need to be constantly healed. Our heals pale in comparison to our buffs and debuffs, in fact I consider them to be the last resort before a faceplant. It is better to prevent damage in the first place than to heal it back once it's happened. Don't get me wrong, heals are nice to have, but they are not nearly as important as in WoW.

There is also no gearscore, or whatever the metric is to determine how powerful a character is. You will probably never be refused a team because you don't have oodles of set bonuses in your info. And if you ARE refused a team for that reason, the people doing the refusing are elitist jerks, and you probably don't want to be on their team anyway. Most people are happy with a warm body behind the keyboard, and are very happy if that warm body displays some competence in what they're doing Just let people know that you are new, and most newbie mistakes will be forgiven, and a lot of times a more experienced player will point out what you did wrong. I've been playing for almost 5 years, and I have to say our community is overall very friendly and helpful. (there are jerks everywhere, but thankfully they are not very common here)

Just thought I'd throw that out there. Welcome to the game guys!

Claws left off the other tip I usually see given to people more familiar with WoW, which is: Level 50 really doesn't matter that much. There are a few bits of content that are level 45+ only, but the content is pretty evenly spread out from 1-50. So don't really worry about rushing to the top level. It doesn't take too horribly long to hit 50 anyway, so most people play several (or in a lot of cases, a dozen or six) different characters instead of focusing on a single one.

And while archetypes are our analogs of classes, different powersets within an archetype can play radically differently. My Traps/Dark Defender, for example, does pathetic damage but can effectively turn a spawn into fuzzy kittens, while my Storm/Archery Defender can wipe most of a spawn off the map at once. So, don't be afraid to experiment a little with new powersets. If there's any particular role you enjoy, somebody on here can probably recommend something.

Hi and welcome,

most important tip is: when using the trains remember that the arrivals and departures areas are two seperate bits

Confused the **** out of me the first time I used the train As in "I just got off the stupid thing so why can't I just get back on again!"

Have fun

Didn't someone write a "Coming from WoW? Welcome to Paragon City" guide a while back? With stuff in it ranging from "We don't say quest we say mission" to proper strategy guides.

Or is that just something my foggy brain made up? (I need another beer).

//Jack

Wow, thanks for the awesome tips! I was curious as to how the grouping would be different than WoW. I am also glad there is no gearscore as that was one of the reasons I left. (How can I get ICC gear if you won't let me IN ICC!?!? /facepalm)

FYI, in case you didn't notice, on most of the (game) windows, there is a header or bottom bar which has a red and a blue dot. You've probably already figured out the red dot is to close the window. The blue dot is to detach the window.

The previous posts referred you to checking your Map. The Map while it is still attached to your Compass window is pretty big and is difficult to see around. So, click the blue dot and detach it. Once detached, you can drag a corner of it and scale the Map window down. I suggest that you leave the shrunken Map window always open and shoved into a corner of your screen. It's got a scroll bar for zooming and, of course, you can stretch out again if you need to get a better view or to select a destination. You can shift the other info windows aside if you need to. See example of my GUI layout.

One thing to note, if it hasn't been mentioned - in City of Heroes, instances normally scale to the size of your team. If you have a full eight player team, there will be huge groups of enemies. Enter the same mission by yourself, and the groups will be much smaller, and will probably be missing the more elite versions of the opposition. In WoW, instanced dungeons are "team only" content, and can't normally be done solo until long after you've leveled past the content. In CoH, there is very little of that sort of thing. Generally, the only reason you *must* have a team is if a specific Boss happens to be something your AT is weak against. (Bosses that like to chain holds can be a problem for ATs that have no resistance against that type of attack.)

When you start to combine enhancements you can drag them from your tray on top of the one you want to combine and it will take you to the combine enhancement manager screen. After clicking on combine you can immediatly click on exit and rinse and repeat.

The combine animation for the enhancements is pretty long and this (for me) saves a lot of time when doing a lot of combining of enhancements.

Random advice: if you're on a full account (not trial, unfortunately), have a look at the Mentor Project. There are lots of very knowledgeable veterans that can answer specific questions, or provide other help like zone tours, or in-depth help with some of the game systems.

Welcome to the city.

First of all, let me second the advice that you should run the first two Safeguard Missions at levels 5 and 10. Run the first as fast as you can, so you don't outlevel it. Then when you get to 10 do the second one. You get a jet pack for the first, and a jump pack with the second, they respectively give you Flying and Super Leap. Between the two, you can easily get to 14 or even 20 or 30 without having to suffer through the lower levels without a Travel Power.

You certainly want them if you ever go into The Hollows.

Anyway, my tips are as follows:

1) Whenever you get a new power, resist the temptation to try it out, and then go, "This thing is useless!" and refuse to use it. Unlike WoW or games like that, your new powers AREN'T intended to replace your old ones. So they're not stronger than your old powers, just different. And once you get into the 20s and 30, you HAVE to slot them before they can compete with your fully slotted powers. Wait until you gain a level, drop some slots into it and some Enhancements, and see how it performs. If you're still dissatisfied, then you can respec out of it.

2) At the lowest levels, go for attacks first. You have to pick an attack at level 1, pick one at level 2, as well. At level 4, you should probably pick an attack, unless you really like that one defensive power that just opened up. It will take you less time to level to 10 if you have a full selection of attacks, and then you can start picking up your defenses.

3) Likewise, do not put slots into any of your defenses until you get to 22. Put slots in attacks only, and concentrate on accuracy. In fact, you can pretty much ignore enhancements until you get to level 12, TOs don't really get you much. By the time you get to DOs, the bonus you get to your to hit for level will start to be wearing off, so slot at least 2 Accuracy DOs to start. Then when you get to level 22, you can replace those two DOs with one SO.

4) In short, 1 DO = 2 TOs and 1 SO = 2 DOs. You want to 3 slot damage in attacks, and have at least 1 SO of accuracy. More than 3 SOs of the same type in any power is a waste, though, because of something called Enhancement Diversification. (ED) You can either stop slotting attacks at 4 slots, or add Enhancement or Recharge Enhancements for the 5th and 6th slots.

5) Same with defenses, don't put more than 3 Defense SOs in a Defense power, or 3 Resistance SOs in a Resistance power. At 22, you can start adding slots to your defenses and beefing them up. It's not worth it before then, but by 22 your attacks should be solid enough that you can start working on defense.

6) Be careful of not having enough defense, though. I feel that you should always have an equal number of offensive and defensive powers. You will slot the offensive powers more heavily, but having more defensive powers means you have more defenses to stack on top of each other. Especially with Scrappers, if you concentrate too much on offense, you won't be able to survive long enough to use those attacks.

7) Know how to "pull". If you're coming from another game, you may think you can shoot a foe and he will come at you. Then you get ganked from a distance and think pulling is a bad tactic. The secret is to use the terrain. Hide behind a wall or an obstacle, and force the foe you aggroed to come to you. It will also protect you from ranged fire until he gets there. Then jump out of your hiding place and clobber the hapless victim. This works great with Stalkers.

8) If you are a ranged fighter, know how to keep foes away from you. There are three tactics here, kiting, hovering, and using slow/immobilize. Kiting is a bit difficult because you cannot move while firing. However, if you reduce your fire rate, you can usually outmanuever a foe. Hovering is the best defense, unless your foe can fly as well, he simply can't ever get in melee with you. Laying out a location slow or immobilizing foes so you can avoid them is the second best strategy, and your best alternative if you don't want to be able to fly. Knockback can be great at keeping foes away, too, and it keeps them from firing back for a few seconds, but watch out for excess aggro. In general, if you have AoE slows to keep foes back you can take on larger spawns, but if you have single target powers that knockback or immobilize you will have to concentrate on smaller groups of tougher foes.

9) Don't be afraid to run away. This is important for Blasters, for obvious reasons, but a good Scrapper knows when to run, too. And he can usually survive ranged fire as he runs better than a Blaster can. Know how to lose aggro, either go through an elevator door, or leave the mission if you can. Otherwise, target a foe, and run from him until he is out of sight. Watch the movement of the reticle, and if he starts getting close, back off some more. Eventually, when he turns around and starts moving away from you, it's safe to move back in.

10) Know what your allies' powers do. For instance, many Tankers (and Scrappers) with the Invulnerability Power Set have a power called Invincibility that provides most of their protection. It only works if there is a large crowd around them. If you knock all of those foes away with an AoE knockback blast, thinking you're helping, you're not. Likewise, Kinetic Defenders have a power called Transfusion that only heals you if you're in combat with the foe it hits. If you yell for the Kin to heal you while hiding in a corner outside of the fight, he will laugh at you.

11) Of course, in general, you should never expect a Defender to JUST be a healer. He has many other buff or debuff powers that will protect you from damage. Understand what he's doing and appreciate it, even if you don't see green numbers over your head. This goes with what others said earlier about "There is no tank/nuker/healer" triad".


12) And finally, the ATs in this game are more hybrids than what you are probably used to. A Blaster, for instance, is a hybrid of a nuker and a meleer. Although you should be cautious going into melee as a Blaster, it's an alternative you should probably take advantage of. Controllers also have really tough defenses, and can deal some damage if you throw in a few melee attacks from the Pool. Experiment with combinations and see what works for you. You can usually adapt any AT to do almost anything you want it to, even if it's not as much as a specialist at that role would be.

And I'll stop there, so there won't be 13 tips.