What are your tips for new players?

Thank you everyone for posting!

The response to this thread has been overwhelming, and there is just too much good advice here! I compiled a list of the advice, broke it down into a few categories, and am posting it here! I will update this list as new advice is posted. Credit for these tips goes to those in this thread who shared their expertise with us! If you want to know who had a specific tip, simply search the thread!

Also, I may have broken up some of the advice simply because of how I organized it.


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Things you should know about City of Heroes:
Don't Be Afraid To Say Your New.

Don't get overwhelmed. I remember thinking how expansive everything seemed when I logged in the first time. I was afraid I'd miss something cool, or make a bad decision early on that would affect my character. This isn't a problem. There are respec's to change things you don't like about your character's build, and there are now ways to go back to a story you may have missed Hero and Villain side, so just relax and have enjoy the experience! However, Praetoria doesn't have the option to replay stories yet, so you have to be a little more careful there.

Most importantly- Have fun! Don't let yourself get caught up in a playstyle that you don't enjoy. I've seen players that have gotten very frustrated and chased themselves away from the game because they felt they 'had' to play a way they didn't like to 'get ahead' or for social acceptance. That's part of finding the right server and community for you. Take the time to find players that enjoy the same playstyle you do and have a blast!

Healing is, for the most part, less important in teaming and big fights than buffing and debuffing. Support classes are more about force multiplication than keeping up the green bar. For example, while Empathy is about half healing powers, it is not a healing exclusive set. It's also got some of the most powerful defensive buffs in the game.

Know Your Acronyms! uide to CoH Abbreviations
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/archi.../t-111486.html

We don't have guilds, we have super/villain groups.

We don't have realms, we have servers or shards.

We don't have "healers", we have so much more.

We don't have to rely on the holy trinity, in fact we laugh at it.

We don't have skills, we have powers.

We don't have adds, we have ambushes.

This isn't another game, this is City of Heroes/Villains/Going Rogue.

The social aspect:
Find the right server for you. Each server has different communities/personalities. Some are more populated/social than others, and some enjoy Role Playing, others PvP, etc. The easiest way right off the bat is to look at their respective forum threads to get ideas of the communities in each server.

Knowing global channels and ways people find teams on that server helps a lot! Again, every server is different, and often has a number of global channels that they use to find teams based on different interests. Find the ones that are right for you!

Just because a channel is private and you need permission to post, doesn't mean they don't want you. Sometimes that's where all the conversation is at.

Important tip regarding global channels. They will carry over to every character you have, but will not automatically add them to your chat tab(s). You have to do this manually for each of your characters.

Put a "player note" on everyone with whom you have significant interaction, even if it's fairly inane, like "Ran Posi TF with my Scrapper, chatty." This is a great way to help yourself recognize people you might otherwise not remember, as well as helping you appear aware and involved. You can start adding the good ones to your friends lists and maybe joining channels and supergroups.

This game makes it much easier than some games for new players to participate on a somewhat more equal footing with established players and groups. Taker advantage of that. Don't be a stranger!

Random SG invites = Bad. Play with some folks in the SG before you ask to join or accept the invite.

If you receive a yellow-colored message, it is a tell, or private message, from a specific player. To reply to this, press the "Backspace" (or on Mac keyboards, "Delete") key. It will automatically pull up the necessary prefix script in the chat box to reply to the last player who sent you a tell.

Creating your first character:
Roll something soloable.

I highly recommend a Blaster or Dominator (depending on where you start) as a first character. You will learn how to stay alive without relying on defensive powers (using line-of-sight, inspirations, hard/soft control, etc.), and you will still put out enough damage to make you feel "super" from level 1.

Read the Tutorial. Twice. After a month, go back and read it yet again. Do the tutorial Outbreak until you can do it in your sleep! Read it every time because you may have missed something!

Killing 100 Contaminated in Outbreak will get you a badge.


When making a costume, try the random button a while to give you an idea of what is possible.


Builds and slotting:
Don't ever let anyone 'tell' you how to build your character. Listening to advice from experiened players is great though, there's always better ways to do things, or consider things you hadn't thought of.

This game is very forgiving. Compared to other MMO's, there's little to lose by trying new things (except maybe a little debt, that in the end is just another badge ). Most AT/Power combinations can solo to varying degree and feel powerful. Also, don't be afraid to pick up a power or two 'just for fun' over functionality.

Experiment with slotting and new powers on your own before you start asking people to make builds for you. (The people who make and rate builds are generally only interested in maximizing peformance, and may frown upon certain power choices that you feel are worth taking.)

Not all archetypes and power sets are created equal. Don't worry about falling in love with something "unpopular" or "broken". Always play what you enjoy.

Alternate builds are available at level 10! You can have your newb build and when you are ready, you can have your 'Oh now I get it' build

Stamina should get 3 slots for endurance modification on nearly every single character you will build.

Don't worry too much about getting The One True Build. Experiment a bit, ask questions, and don't obsess too much about optimizing or getting the maximum performance build. CoH is a surprisingly forgiving game and the vast bulk of the content quite accessible to anyone even if they're not interested in IO set bonuses and just stick to generic IOs or even Single Origin Enhancements.

The enhancement system is the only part of City of Heroes that is at all complex and that is significantly different from whatever other games you've played. Here are the most important new-player rules of thumb, dealing with enhancements, that I've learned:

Slot most damage-oriented attacks for at least +50% accuracy. These should be the first enhancements you drop into any power that requires a to-hit check. (Yes, there are exceptions to this rule. If you need to care about them, you're not a new player.)

Slot all attacks with one endurance reduction enhancement, as soon as you get them up to that accuracy number. This, not your toggles or your lack of slotting in Stamina, is why you're constantly out of endurance and other people aren't; your attack chain consumes 3/4ths or more of your endurance per minute, and the classic beginner's mistake is to assume the opposite.

As a general rule of thumb, put your earliest slots into your primary powers. By definition, your secondary powers are "things you don't do very well," things where your base stats for those powers already stink. You get more bang for the buck adding +20% (or whatever) to a large number than to a small number.

If/when you start a melee character - Brute, Scrapper, Stalker or Tanker - DO NOT skip the Mez/Status Protection power for the defensive powerset. I did this on my first melee character, a Broadsword Regeneration scrapper. I was so used to being mezzed (i.e., held, disoriented, knocked back, slept, immobilized) on my blaster that I thought it was normal. I was such a newb that when I read the description of the Regeneration mez/status protection power (Integration) I didn't think it sounded all that useful. Finally a friend with more experience clued me in. The power will say something like this (taken from Unyielding in the Invulnerability powerset): "When you toggle on this power, you become Unyielding. You are resistant to all damage except Psionics, as well as Knockback, Slow, Sleep, Hold, Immobilize, and Disorient effects."


Inspirations are your friends:
Right clicking (default option, i think) on any Inspiration you have 3 of, you can create 1 different one.

Once you hit level 10, you can email rezes to yourself, instead of keeping them on your bar. Your email will go to all of your characters.

Using an Awaken to resurrect does not prevent XP debt.

3 or 4 Luck (purple shield) inspirations will put you close to the defense cap and make you nearly untouchable until they wear off. It's a good idea to have 3 ready before fighting most bosses solo.

You will always get more inspirations. Don't be afraid to use them!

Combat:
Learn about enemy aggro - don't make a blaster and run into enemies before an armored teammate does. You will catch on after awhile.


Mission Help:
There is a Difficulty Slider contact in almost every zone, you do NOT have to go to Kings Row every time to adjust your settings.

Make sure you do the missions from Montague in Steel Canyon. After you finish a bunch of them, you will get access to the Midnighters Club. Which gives you a couple more map jumps and two badges.

When a mission says to defeat a boss, you have to defeat all of his helpers in the room even if they are on a higher or lower floor to get credit.

Capes and Auras can be obtained by the City Representative in City Hall, Atlas Park, or by Kalinda or Burke (whoever you started with) in Mercy Island at levels 20 (for Capes) and 30 (for Auras).

You miss out on his missions, which is a pity -- you should do his missions at least once -- but if you choose Kalinda rather than Burke for your first contact redside and do her missions, when you reach levels 20 and 30 you will be able to call her to get your cape and aura missions. Blueside, you have to physically go to the City Representative in AP to get those missions.

Architect Entertainment has some wonderful story arcs, entirely player generated. Many of them, however, are based on in-game content, so are more fun if you have played the regular content.



Crafting:
You can craft most inventions in a non-combat, player created AE Arc (#487283, "The Crafter's Cafe") instead of visiting a University or having a Base crafting table.

You can also craft inventions in the Rikti War Zone base which is connected to Atlas Park.

Earning currency:
Skip training enhancements and sell them as often as possible. Dual Origin enhancements, or DOs can be bought at 12 (level 15 enhancements) and you will need to save up money as much as you can in the beginning.

Pricing anything at the auction house for 1 inf is asking to lose money. Because if it does get bought for 1 inf, then you lose money because you had to pay 5 inf to post it. I've had it happen to me. I find it better to put the minimum a little above what the vendors will pay because there will always be rich and impatient characters who will pay more to get it now. It's also worth checking on uncommon and rare salvage to see what it's going for and if there are people bidding on it. Some IO's are better to have at a lower level so you don't lose its bonus if you exemp down. Also, some costume and temp power recipes will need lower level uncommon and rare salvage which can keep the price high.

Also, sell or auction all level 10 common IO recipes. Don't waste your salvage and inf crafting them. Wait till level 12 and craft lvl 15 IO's if you can since they are about the same as dual-origin enhancements and you don't have to worry about outleveling them for a while. I'd wait to to the crafting tutorial till level 12 so you can get a free lvl 15 IO out of it.

Other than accepting a donation from a higher-level friend, the single most reliable way to afford to fully-enhance your character is to use the auction house to vend low-level common salvage.

Do the tutorial - this will get you two large inspirations that you can sell on the market for some early money.


Navigation within the world:
Log off in the Auction House to earn a Day Job badge and a rechargeable temp power that can teleport you to any Auction House. It's a great way to get to Steel Canyon and the university crafting tables in a hurry.

There is no XP debt before level 10, so you can use the Hospital teleporter to quickly cross zones by just being defeated.

Combat Jumping will let you "walk" up most high walls as long as they are not perfectly vertical.

You can get to the roof of most buildings without a travel power. Simply hop from window sill to window sill til you reach the top. Many buildings also have ramps/stairs.

If you run past some enemies, they will take a shot at you. If you keep running and don't attack them back, they will lose interest pretty quickly.

The first two Bank/Mayhem missions grant you each a travel power that lasts for two hours of USE time. Very useful for lowlevel areas (Yes, i am looking at you, Hollows!). Get them.

General Tips:
You can change your costume in the Rikti War Zone base connected to Atlas Park.

You can save your Options, Window Settings, and Chat Settings in the options menu and simply load them up from the options menu when you make a new character.

Keep your map open - you can detach it and resize it.

Stay out of farms until you get your first 50, and play your character as much as you can. But at the same time, don't rush it... make as many alts as you want.

Immersion can be fun. This game has rich, deep and vibrant lore that has been expanding for 7 years. It's worth taking the time to explore the back stories of signature characters, enemy and ally groups, as well as the zones themselves. The vast majority can be found at Paragonwiki. It can often help when coming up with character concepts. At the very least it'll provide an entertaining read.

Take advice, heck, anything from the forums with a grain of salt and feel free to do your own thing. People like to complain, and everything causes wails of DOOOOOM. Ignore the Doom and don't feed it.



Important Links:
ParagonWiki.com
Boards.CityofHeroes.com
Vidiotmaps.com
Guide to CoH Abbreviations


In the end:
Ask questions. That's the best advice I can give to new players. We have a great, helpful community here, and asking questions will always net you an answer. Don't be afraid to ask for help in game or on the boards if you don't know something; there's no stigma in not knowing all of the mechanics right off the bat.

Roll something that can solo well.

Look for somebody who has been on the server a while and ask them what method that server uses for team finding/taskforces.

Know math.

Hmm..

(1) you can lock your powers into your tray. My powers went all over the place until I discovered this.

(2) /cleartray is a real timesaver when it comes to doing respecs

(3) You can try out new power choices/respecs on the Test server before going live with it.

(4) Do not fight with Sprint on unless you have the endurance to do so.

That's all I can think of right now.

Lisa.

Pretending to be a girl can get you very far.

These would be mine...From my experience playing my toon Rift-Dancer

Regardless of being a villain, or Hero

1) Try each AT type out. This will help you learn the role of each AT and ultimately how to best support your team.

2) Don't feel compelled to follow min maxing or flavor of the month builds.

3) IO's and sets. Read what they offer and look at the "Allowed Sets" These are optional things and expensive in some cases. They do not expire however. This is a good thing to know.

4) The market. Look for the number "Bidding" and the number for "Sale" You can make really good coin if you keep track of the bidding number and forcing the price higher than what the highest bidding price is listed at. if there is 0 for sale, then you will walk away richer than before.

5) Start your own team and LFM redside. Otherwise teaming is not as common

Talk to people and be willing to listen. I am (by nature) very shy and introverted until I get to know someone.

Making in-game friends gives you people to talk to, and if you are new, people who probably know more about the game than you.

Some people are jerks, some people are pushy jerks, but most people are actually nice and willing to help.

Also... download and use MIDs. It is almost as fun as the game!

If you are wanting to team, the best and easiest way is to get on one of the popular channels on your server. Search channels in the chat by right clicking and finding that option.

Also, if you want to level fast and don't want to be PLed, do task forces. It is the easiest way to have a consistent team for an extended time, to get xp, and to not spend so much time always looking for players. A bonus blueside is that there is an accolade power if you do the "main" ones (Posi, synapse, sister psyche, citadel, manticore, numina)

Great advice, keep it coming

(even the snarky advice! Lol)

Tips for new players...

* When the Vahzilok squats... he is NOT offering you a piggy back ride.

* You CAN run a 1st level Mastermind in Paragon... just choose a female with the least amount of clothes possible and consider the perv players who follow you around to be your pets.

* Badges = Heroin.

* Six slotting Brawl is like putting a spiked collar on a miniature french poodle.

* It doesn't matter what your archetype is... until you learn what you're doing you're squishy.

* Friends don't let friends do AE farms.

* The voices offering to sell you influence for real money are not real... seek counselling.

* There's this great thing called Incarnate powers. You don't need to worry about getting them right now... you just need to know that's why you're all alone in Atlas.

* Every time you kill steal from a street sweeping player Lord Nemesis plots to kick a puppy.

* Praetoria: Entertaining Bi-Polar players since 2010.

* RELAX: No matter what you do... no matter how you play the game... there's someone out there who will adamantly swear you're doing it the wrong way.

I would start with either a Scrapper(Hero) or Brute(Villain) to get use to the game.

Heroes: Talk to Wincot mission. after you click on him click leave and go back to your contact. You don't have to do his missions. There many missions like that, just so you know. You can do his missions if you want, but you don't have to.

Put a "player note" on everyone with whom you have significant interaction, even if it's fairly inane, like "Ran Posi TF with my Scrapper, chatty." This is a great way to help yourself recognize people you might otherwise not remember, as well as helping you appear aware and involved. You can start adding the good ones to your friends lists and maybe joining channels and supergroups.

This game makes it much easier than some games for new players to participate on a somewhat more equal footing with established players and groups. Taker advantage of that. Don't be a stranger!

-Find the right server for you. Each server has different communities/personalities. Some are more populated/social than others, and some enjoy Role Playing, others PvP, etc. The easiest way right off the bat is to look at their respective forum threads to get ideas of the communities in each server.

-Knowing global channels and ways people find teams on that server helps a lot! Again, every server is different, and often has a number of global channels that they use to find teams based on different interests. Find the ones that are right for you!

-Important tip regarding global channels. They will carry over to every character you have, but will not automatically add them to your chat tab(s). You have to do this manually for each of your characters.

-Don't ever let anyone 'tell' you how to build your character. Listening to advice from experiened players is great though, there's always better ways to do things, or consider things you hadn't thought of.

-This game is very forgiving. Compared to other MMO's, there's little to lose by trying new things (except maybe a little debt, that in the end is just another badge ). Most AT/Power combinations can solo to varying degree and feel powerful. Also, don't be afraid to pick up a power or two 'just for fun' over functionality.

-Don't get overwhelmed. I remember thinking how expansive everything seemed when I logged in the first time. I was afraid I'd miss something cool, or make a bad decision early on that would affect my character. This isn't a problem. There are respec's to change things you don't like about your character's build, and there are now ways to go back to a story you may have missed Hero and Villain side, so just relax and have enjoy the experience! However, Praetoria doesn't have the option to replay stories yet, so you have to be a little more careful there.

-Most importantly- Have fun! Don't let yourself get caught up in a playstyle that you don't enjoy. I've seen players that have gotten very frustrated and chased themselves away from the game because they felt they 'had' to play a way they didn't like to 'get ahead' or for social acceptance. That's part of finding the right server and community for you. Take the time to find players that enjoy the same playstyle you do and have a blast!

Hope these work!

Lyc~ the helpful werewolf

1: The market is not your enemy. Learn to use it. You will never be broke again.

2: If you don't know, ASK. If someone calls you a n00b or makes fun of you for asking, ignore them, they're not someone you'd want to know anyway. Chances are you will get an answer, and people won't think any less of you for not knowing. We were all new once.

3: Something that came up frequently in another thread: The train has an "in" door and an "out" door. You can't go in the out door.

4: Debt is just another badge. Don't be afraid to try things that might get you killed. Sure, you might die...or you might learn something. However, charging a Giant Monster by yourself doesn't fall under the list of things you shouldn't be afraid to try, at least not in the beginning.

5: Try all ATs. It'll make you a better player. However, don't feel compelled to keep playing an AT you don't like out of some sense of completionism or because it's "uber" or because "it's good for teams." Collecting them all is an admirable goal if you have fun doing it, all ATs have strengths and weaknesses, and teams will generally take any AT as long as the player behind it isn't a jerk. Above all, do NOT, under any circumstances, make a "healer" because you hear people saying they need one. Many powersets have heals, but those heals represent only a small fraction of those powersets' utility. If someone says they need a "healer," a red flag should go up.

6: When you hit level 5, go to Kings Row and talk to the Detective (hero) or go to Port Oakes and talk to the Broker (villain). Do three paper/scanner missions, then the mayhem/safeguard, and you will get a jetpack. No more running everywhere. Or, you can buy a jetpack recipe on the market and craft one. If you are a Praetorian, that's your only option. If you are a villain you can also take the ferry to Grandville and buy a jetpack for 10,000 inf.

*Do not demand Influence from anyone, ask politely...(if you have too)

*Do not under any circumstances try to copy an exisiting comic character... in terms of costume.... very sad

*Read, then reread, then reread it again... until you understand (don't grind straight away)

*Ask questions, but don't go overboard. Once you know the basics, everything else generally slots into place.

*Don't send blind invites to anyone, send them a /tell first.

*Join an active SG, they will help you so much more than soloing alone...

We don't have guilds, we have super/villain groups.

We don't have realms, we have servers or shards.

We don't have "healers", we have so much more.

We don't have to rely on the holy trinity, in fact we laugh at it.

We don't have skills, we have powers.

We don't have quests, we have missions.

We don't have dungeons, we have maps.

We don't have adds, we have ambushes.

This isn't another game, this is City of Heroes/Villains/Going Rogue.


[Edit- thanks to suggestions]

Don't be afraid to listen to advice, but don't assume that the person giving advice is always right.

Take advice with a grain of salt.

There are a lot of extremely knowledgeable and well-intentioned people out there who can provide sound advice.

There are also some well-intentioned people who aren't so knowledgeable.

Ask lots of questions both in-game and on the boards.

Roll a Mind Control/Cold Domination and the whole world will love you.

Seriously, I tell them to read the mission text and to do some of the more important arcs like Midnighter Club and so on. Find an active SG that doesn't require prestige grinding and go with them on tasks.

Try a little of everything the game has to offer.

Once you hit level 10, you can email rezes to yourself, instead of keeping them on your bar.
Your email will go to all of your characters.
Do the tutorial. KEEP the red and green inspirations until you finish the tutorial. These two inspirations are rares. Kill a few mobs, and then sell those two inspirations on auction house for much profit!
Use your inspirations! You'll get more, and they will help you a lot.

Not all archetypes and power sets are created equal. Don't worry about falling in love with something "unpopular" or "broken". Always play what you enjoy.

Visit the official forum, and use it to get a feel for the game and archtype you've chosen but don't let it dictate or control on how you play.