How To Make Your Hero (or whatever) AWESOME!
By
Angelxman81,
Posted on: 2012-01-08 17:20 in Player Guides
Very very nice.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
This is an awesome resume and very useful tips.
Im glad I follow those steps after 5 years playing, good to know Im on the right track hehe.
Excellent guide thanks for posting this - makes a good recap even for somebody who has lots of 50s already.
Only thing I think you missed out is the advantage gained by temp powers from the Safeguard/Bank missions. Some useful stuff there and some badges too.
Thelonious Monk
How To Make Your Hero (or whatever) AWESOME!
This guide is intended to help folks pick up on the little (and not so little) things that separate the average COX characters from the awesome ones. Im assuming that folks reading this are VIPs (I dont have any experience with F2P characters). Hopefully there will be tips that are useful to both people with 50s and to new players. There is a lot of good information expanding on these tips in greater detail at
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page
Additionally, the map pack from Vidiotmaps can be very useful in helping you get exploration and history badges.
http://www.badge-hunter.com/index.php?/page/maps.php
Get to 50
One of the most important things you can do to make your hero awesome is get to level 50. You dont have to powerlevel (in fact, there are many things you can do on the way to 50 that will make your hero more awesome that youd have to go back and do via flashback anyway). That said, playing a level 50 will give you more influence and better rewards than goofing off at lower levels. There are many things you can do with a level 50 that you cannot do with a lower level hero. Keep that in mind, but enjoy the ride.
Death From Below
Many people run DFB over and over because its good xp. If you do this, you might have to double back and get content you outleveled. One thing to remember about DFB is that it gives you a boost at the end as a reward that lasts one week or until you hit level 22. These boosts can be selected once, so if you run it 4 times youll have all of them. They help make you more powerful until you get to level 22 (when you can slot single-origin enhancements).
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Death_From_Below
Get to the O-zone
The Ouroboros zone is an extradimensional space where heros (and others) can access flashback mission as well as level 50 incarnate content. If you earn the badge Entrusted With The Secret you will get a temporary power that allows you to access the O-zone. You can use this to travel between different zones, which makes travel easier. You can gain access to the O-zone at level 14, most folks would be happy to meet you somewhere to open an O-zone portal for you. You can obtain the Entrusted With The Secret badge by flying up to the top of the spire in the O-zone and getting the Chrononaut exploration badge .
Get a Jetpack
If you dont have fly or hover, you can purchase a jetpack for 10,000 inf from a jetpack vendor located in Firebase Zulu (access via a portal in Peregrine Island) or in Grandville. You can also earn a temporary power Raptor Pack by doing the level 5-10 safeguard/mayhem mission. To get safeguard missions, talk with the police detective in KR and do scanner missions (villains talk with their broker and do paper missions).
Become a Midnighter
You can earn the badge Midnight Squad once youve reached level 10 by doing a story arc by Montague Castanella (Ashley McKnight for villains). This allows you access to the Midnighter Club, which youll need in order to access the zone of Cimeroa (where the Imperious Task Force is run).
Join Vanguard
At level 35, you can earn the Member of Vanguard badge by doing the introductory mission from Levantra in the Rikti War Zone. This will allow you to earn Vanguard Merits by defeating Rikti.
Run Tip Missions
Starting at level 21, you can earn tips by defeating foes level 21 or higher. If you click on your contacts tab, youll see a tab for Tips. By selecting tips, you can choose missions that will allow you to change your alignment or reaffirm your alignment. You can get credit for doing up to 5 tip missions in a 20 hour period. After youve earned 10 points toward the alignment you are working towards, a special tip for a morality mission may drop. By doing that mission, you can change your alignment or reaffirm your alignment. The first time you reaffirm your alignment, you get 50 reward merits, and afterwards will earn hero merits (or villain merits) which can be exchanged for stuff at Ft. Trident in Atlas Park or The Crucible in Cap Au Diable.
Run Signature Story Arcs
Signature Story Arcs are special story arcs that give extra rewards. The first time you run each arc on a character, you get a free reward. Afterwards all the story arcs are on a timer so that you can get each reward only once per week. If you have reaffirmed your hero/villain status, you can choose a hero/villain Merit as the reward. Currently there are 4 SSAs in the game.
Do Task Forces or Story Arcs
Task Forces and Story Arcs give merit rewards upon completion. These can be exchanged for other rewards at vendors. Each week there is a different Weekly Task Force (Strike Force) that gives double bonuses. Many Task Forces will allow you to easily earn various Defeat Badges for defeating certain foes. Some of these badges are necessary for accolades which give you useful powers.
Use Global Channels
Most servers have one or more global chat channels dedicated to helping players find groups to do content with. Be polite and youll find plenty of people to play with and often some very, very good advice
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Global_Chat_Channels
Earn Badges
Most zones have 8 exploration badges, and if you earn all 8 you will receive an accolade and 5 merits as a reward. Many zones also have history badges which can be earned by clicking on different plaques or pedestals to learn about the history of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. I like to go back and pick off all the badges in a zone at once just to make sure I have them. Some exploration badges and history badges are necessary for accolades which give you useful powers.
Earn Accolades
Heres a list of accolade powers:
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Hero_Accolade_Powers
Of particular use are the ones that give you +HP and +END. This will help you be more sturdy and keep your blue bar from going dry as fast.
Earn Invention and Consignment Badges
Many people hate crafting and the market. Some of the badges you can earn, however, will boost the number of recipe, salvage, or auction house slots you have. Each level 25/30 Invention badge you earn will give you +2 salvage slots. Each 45-50 badge you earn will give you an extra recipe slot. Here is a link to the Invention badge page:
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Invention_Badges
You have to sell a lot of stuff to get the extra AH slots, it sort of takes care of itself.
You can buy recipes on the Market, or you can buy them from a crafting table. Personally for the level 25-30 recipes I just buy them from a crafting table unless there are a ton for sale cheap. Level 50 recipes are best bought on the market. I like to knock them out one by one in my spare time so I can keep track of how many I need to craft. Some crafted IOs can sell well, others are basically junk and I delete them. If you do this patiently, you can make a little bit of influence or at least break even.
Day Jobs
You can earn Day Job powers by logging off in certain locations. This also gives you small bonuses. Once youve earned a day job badge, you can recharge the day job power by logging of in that location. Not game-changing, but not nothing. Might as well log out somewhere useful.
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Hero_Day_Job_Badges
Empowerment Buffs
If you are in supergroup with a base and an empowerment station, you can use salvage to craft empowerment buffs. These are small bonuses that last for one hour. Not game changing, but some are useful.
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Empowerment_Buffs
Shivan Shard and Warburg Nukes
There are several temporary powers you can earn in PVP zones, but IMO the most useful ones are Shivan Shards and Warburg Nukes
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Shivan_Shard
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Warburg_Nuke
These rock on hard missions, such as in TFs. Having these powers handy can make a difficult encounter easy. They can be earned again after you use them, so might as well earn them and use them.
Other Temporary Powers
There are lot of temp powers you can earn in game or buy recipes off the market and craft.
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Temporary_Powers
Might as well craft them and use them. I like Envenomed Dagger for AV fights because it debuffs regeneration and can make them easier to defeat.
Inspirations
I always like to try and keep an open spot or two in my inspiration tray so that more inspirations will drop. You can combine 3 inspirations of one type into 1 of another type so you can get rid of ones you dont want, or you can delete them or give them to teammates. Oh, and you can always eat them!
Incarnate Slots
At level 50, you can run Mender Ramiels arc in the O-Zone to unlock your Alpha Slot. You can craft incarnate abilities that will give you bonuses or extra powers. Slots beyond Alpha must be unlocked by running incarnate trials. Each ability has 4 tiers. If you have a 3rd or 4th tier Alpha ability equipped, you get a Level Shift making you 50+1 so that you fight as if you were level 51. If you have a 3rd or 4th tier Lore or Destiny ability equipped, you get an incarnate level shift (it only applies when doing incarnate content).
Getting a 3rd tier alpha ability equipped should be a priority once you hit 50. In addition to the level shift, you get bonuses (½ of which are not affected by the diminishing returns of Enhancement Diversification).
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Incarnate_System
Use IOs
There are many individual IOs and IO sets that will help make you more powerful. IOing your hero can be so specific that a general purpose guide would not even begin to scratch the surface. Here are some guidelines to pick some low-hanging fruit, and look at more specific guides for additional insight.
Special IOs
There are some IOs that give bonuses by themselves. Some of them act as procs, some as set bonuses. Some are unique, some can be slotted more than once. Here is a link for more information about special IOs:
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Table_of_Special_IOs
Of general interest to all heros who have issues with endurance, there are 3 special IOs that will help. Miracle +rec (2 Hero Merits), Numinas Convalescence +rec/+regen (2 Hero Merits), and Performance Shifter chance for +end (1 Hero Merit). You can slot them as soon as you reach the minimum level, higher levels do not mean higher performance. They can be very expensive so I would recommend using Hero Merits to buy the recipes and craft them yourself. Performance Shifter works best as a 3rd slot in Stamina, especially after you have earned the +max endurance accolades. Miracle goes in your default Health slot, put another slot in Health once you have Numina.
Reasonable IO Sets
Thunderstrike, Crushing Impact, and Multistrike are uncommon set IOs that give solid bonuses and also give good enhancement value. Over level 30, the level of the recipe really doesnt matter to terribly much (although youll get more enhancement value out of the higher level recipes). Some people wait till level 50 and put everything with level 50 IOs, but depending on how fast you level it can be good fun to enjoy them earlier. You can get these on the market at reasonable prices if you arent picky about the level and are willing to put in lowball bids and be patient. If they fill, cool, if not, no sweat. You dont need to use all the IOs in a set, you can slot 2 from one set and get the 2 slot bonus and put four in from another set, or 5 from one set and a random 6th one, etc.
Frankenslot
You can also basically ignore set bonuses altogether and get some extra oomph from your IOs by mixing and matching IOs from different sets to get maximum enhancement value. Often you can get recipes from worthless sets that lack nice bonuses for very cheap. Ruin or Focused Smite are great places to look for bargains.
Expensive IO sets
Rares, purples, or PVP IOs are extremely expensive. You probably need to do more research on your own before investing heavily in them. The exception that proves the rule is the Positrons Blast set. There really arent any other great TAOE sets, the purple TAOE set isnt twice as good and is way, way more expensive. You can get bits and pieces of Positrons Blast from the market at decent prices, filling in hard to get ones via Hero Merits if necessary.
Learn To Market
Read the market forums with an open mind and a willingness to learn. There are a number of ways to get lots of INF depending on what you like to do in the game.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading, please add any suggestions in comments.