If you could tell a noob one thing...

"Welcome to the best gaming community around, just don't post on the forums if you want it to stay that way" I jest, kinda, sorta....( ' ;

But seriously, I would say "welcome" and "throw away all of your previous notions about MMOs, because they don't apply here; now go have fun!"

One of the things that's a consequence of the game being so big is that there are LOTS of things to try. My advice is to try them.

Seriously, some people play one character on one server with one supergroup and only really learn that AT and powersets. You can do that if you want, but after 7 years I find I keep discovering new powers, powersets, missions, and other cool things I hadn't really tried before.

It's okay to concentrate on one character, but don't hesitate to try new things, you may be very pleasantly surprised.

Also, although this is common to many games, it bears repeating -- you may start out weak, but you will get stronger, so don't feel too frustrated if it's tough at first.

Lastly, there's a button above your power trays called "powers." If you expand that, there's a button above THAT called "Combat Attributes." Clicking that will let you look at a vast number of stats showing your defenses, percentages, speeds, etc. You can right-mouse on any stat and display it continuously on your playing area (up to a total of ten stats). This is very handy for a tracking a variety of things. One I always monitor is "Last hit chance" (found under "Base" stats). When the Last Hit bottoms out, it usually means some power has debuffed my to-hit, or that the enemy has activated a good defense power. Then I can take action to fix the problem.

I am a noob myself, but have learned a few things.

1) Mail to yourself. That includes pez (inspirations) and influence. Your other characters can use the boost.

2) Do the Hydra run early. It's a great leveling tool, drops fantastic enhancements (you may have to run it a few times) and some good titles. Also a great way to get introduced to how things work in this game and what the players are like.

3) AE early on is good for dual enhancements, can't use them until your 12 or 13 methinks but you can still build up some tickets when you are ready. Look for maps in your level range, especially ones recognized by the devs.

4) With the exception of some of the new freedom quest lines most early quests are generated. That means you could use AE to level and not miss a thing.

5) You can get an additional costume slot and unlock capes for each individual character at level 20. Look up the quests and do them. It's worth it. Also, changing your costume is pretty cheap. Keep at it until you get the look you want. Don't be worried about making mistakes. Invest in your toon's look.

6) You can only respec within your chosen power sets...you can not choose another primary power set. If you don't like your build...toss it. Roll a new toon. But, you can choose new supplemental power sets if you chose one you didnt like (like fighting, flying, etc).

7) You are not limited to one supplemental power set. You can choose a new one if you want to go with the prior choices. Flying AND Speed for instance.

8) You can't afford to buy things off the auction house. You also do not have enough vault space.

9) This is not your ordinary MMO. A few rules:

-Unlearn almost everything you know.
-Players are not mean in this game. Really. Don't expect them to be.
-Opinions in the game are embraced. Opinions in the forums are reviled.
-Try a stealth/melee combination. You might be surprised how fun it can be in this game.
-Go Hero first.
-You can sell your recipes and salvage early in the game. Really. You won't regret it. Don't be a pack rat. Space is scarce.
-Inventory counts total items, not stacks.
-Travel is a time sink.
-You will be attacked as you travel. Sometimes you will die. XP debt is not the end of the world.
-Strategy is your friend. Especially if you like to solo.
-Raiding is easy breezy in this game. It is NOT like other games. Don't be afraid to join a Raid. Your gear and/or build means next to nothing to most players, at least early on. Get this...people here play FOR FUN.
-Purple+Solo=Death.

10) Save your costumes. There is no limit, you never know when you might need to pull back up the design. Save and load buttons are in the designer UI. And the great thing...you can save costumes that have locked items. For a future "unlock and then just load the saved costume to save time" thing.

11) You can change 3 same pez into a different single different pez. If you can't buy the pez you need, buy three of what they offer and change it to one of what you want.

12) Throw a few rez pez into your mail to yourself. You will need them.

13) Con colors are bit different here.

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Con_System

That explains it all. Get used to the colors, and note whether or not your target is a minion, lieutenant, boss, etc. It MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

14) You can increase your action bar to three bars, and also add floating bars that you can place anywhere you want. Not only that, the floating bars have different configurations you can use if you wish.

15) Have an older graphics card? No problem. Fog is your friend. Reduce world detail to 65 percent, now you can have nice shadows and good character detail and not lose frames.

One final piece of advice...and you will know what I mean when it happens. It's a good idea to kill EVERYONE in the bank, not just the robber...and don't let anyone escape out of the door. Trust me, it's good advice.


That's it for now.

One thing I completely forgot to suggest; Global Channels.

Have a look in the "Servers" section of the forums for whichever server you're playing on and have a look around for the server-specific global channels on offer as they're an excellent way to find teams/events and also ask for advice - they also allow you to start characters on one server without losing touch with what's happening on others (As the global channels are always available, whichever server or character you're logged into).

One thing I think is important to point out to new players:

You can set the difficulty level. If you want to fight large groups that are 3 levels higher than you, no problem. Want to fight lower level enemies, that's not a problem either. Exceptions are the street level missions and playing on someone else's team. Most of the game however is instanced door missions. Since this selection is per character, if you feel the character is too powerful or not powerful enough, it's easy to fix that.

Find lot of purple enemy and give them hugs. Lots and lots of hugs.

If to say anything to new player that helpful I notice recently like in beginning there is confusion of using awakens (rez inspiration) in middle of enemy that killing you. I always explaining that use awaken, breakfree, heal/green, then blue. Breakfree stops dizzy effect of waking and usually you able to get out of situation as long as you not running into other enemy.

Good luck!

Wow quickfire you're the only person I ever heard to say that travel is a timesink in this game. Made my laugh... sorry no offense.

Turn around, my personal pony, I'm mountin' ya. To Maria Jenkins! Giddyap!!!

I would tell you to be cautious about blindly accepting supergroup invites.

As a new player, I did so, and was quite disappointed in the result. Depending on your servers population, you may find that you run into the same people as you level. If you find their chatting to be amusing, or perhaps intelligent, I suggest you friend them. Don't worry about the caliber of their play, as we have our own learning curves, and it took me 50 levels to realize that I really don't enjoy playing a stone tank.

It is easy to make friends in this game. It also requires effort to make enemies. Part of what draws many people to this game, and one server more than another is the interaction among players.

I would suggest you make a toon on each server and play to level 5 or so. It's only a glimpse, but it might help you find a server that shines out above the rest.
Lastly, join one of the public global channels on the server you play. Ask questions there or on the forums. Many of us think we know it all and would love to share.

Don't be fooled into thinking you have to reach level 50 a.s.a.p.

There are so many rewards to doing as many contacts as possible by turning off xp earning so that you don't out level them.

So you're using teleport for your travel power, was it?

Try typing in the following...

/bind SHIFT+LCLICK powexec_name Teleport

You can now hold down shift and click places to more easily teleport about! You can of course change SHIFT to CTRL/ALT or LCLICK to RCLICK if you like.