Advice for someone returning to Paragon City?

As you may be aware, City of Heroes won the vote earlier this week to be featured as part of Massively's new "Choose My Adventure" series. Part 1 of the series can be found here.

The author of the story, MJ, hasn't played since 2009. As you and I both know, a lot has changed in that time! While we certainly don't want to influence the decisions she makes along the way (that's for her readers to do) we do want to give her pointers on what things she should or shouldn't be doing in order to get the most out of her time in game!

So, what advice would you give to someone who's just logging into the game for the first time in two or three years?

Keep in mind that many decisions will be made for her along the way based on readers' votes. Red vs Blue side, AT selection will all be decided for her.

Thanks and make sure you follow her series on Massively.com!

Thanks!

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Jessie Lawrence
Assistant Community Manager
Paragon Studios
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Run DFB three times right out of the gate. They'll see the new trial and queue system, players and gameplay (both in and out of the DFB) will show them how level adjustment works, and they will quickly push past the early levels to a point where they have their basic power setup. They'll be at the neat lowbie Steel Canyon arcs very quickly.

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Don't exceed certain levels until you have done all the contacts within those levels. Some contacts give badges which lead to extra powers, QOL items. It also builds up INF.

If you exceed the levels 4/9/14/19/24/29/34/39/44 you may miss some crucial badges that are a pain to get later on.

From options you can stop earning XP to remain at a certain level.

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1. Play a stalker
2. Do the tutorial
3. Do the Atlas arcs
4. do Death From Below
5. do Drowning in Blood
6. Sutter's Task Force

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I'd suggest all the Atlas arcs, Twinshot 1, DFB until 10, Twinshot 2, possibly Montague Castanella, DFB to 15, Twinshot 3, Graham Easton and Faultline, followed by First Ward, Keith Nance, Jenni Adair and Roy Cooling, with a bit of DIB thrown in too.

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@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

Interesting vote results so far.

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My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom

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@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

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My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom

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@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

Hmm, I notice that in that article, she says she has a hard time getting past the character creator. Would it be bad to point out all the costume packs that have been released, and that you can look at all of those packs in the character creator even if you haven't bought them?

OK, I'll actually try to be helpful with this one. If she has costume-itis, she can bypass the costume creator if she saves a costume on one character and then loads it on another. She can visit Ms. Liberty to freshen up her costume, save one current costume she likes right there in Atlas Park, then quickly create a new AT for the article and load the same costume in a flash.

Gotta agree with running DFB three or four times right off the bat. It's fun, and will get you powers and levels fast, which is helpful when your trying to get your article written quickly.

Question is, where do we send her next: Montegue in Steel? Start her on Frosty's arc in Hollows? Skyway? Faultline? Or RP with the cat girls in Pocket D?

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1)Roll on a moderate pop server like Infinity, Champion or Pinnacle.
2)Run heroside for more teams.
3)Do Death from Below ONCE then do content.
4)Join some global channels if you can.
5)Try different alts/powersets.

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Questions about the game, either side? /t @Neuronia or @Neuronium, with your queries!
168760: A Death in the Gish. 3 missions, 1-14. Easy to solo.
Infinity Villains
Champion, Pinnacle, Virtue Heroes

My Advice and only my opinion.. as a player who only began in November.

DO NOT run Death From below. you miss out on some great beginning arcs and new lore ( all the ones i think Golden girl mentioned). Save that for your second/third alt.

Ignore all the complaining and AT power set comparing in Help channel and Make your own character a lot of NEW power sets worth exploring.

Do not worry about your initial costume make something cute and fun you can always go back to the tailor and tweak it!

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Advice for anyone returning to the holy mothership of crazy:

- Bookmark the correct Paragon Wiki. There's two sites. The right one is your bible. http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Main_Page

- Take or make a friend. You can't be a newb if you have your own sidekick in tow.

- Re-start with what you enjoy. If you like writing, make a simple AE mission. If you used to PvP, go to RV and pretend you're badging.

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My actual advice for MJ:

- Ask NC to unlock every costume option on your account. It's free advertising for them and super swank stuff for you. You'll never leave.

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Nethergoat's returning player diary thread found here is a humorous and informative insight into the experience of...a returning player, oddly enough. I'd point MJ there for funsies.

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seeing as AT, hero/villain, and powerset are all determined by reader's choice, I'd suggest doing the following:

1) Do the new Atlas/Mercy missions and the Tutorial mission arc
2) run DFB and DiB once each
3) Do the Positron TF 1 and 2
4) Do the new 15-20 arcs.
5) Run a few AE Story Arcs.
6) Run Sutter's TF or redside equivilant.
7) Do some Tip Missons
8) Run the new 20-25 arcs

Also buy the Rocket Board.

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Current Published Arcs
#1 "Too Drunk to be Alcoholic" Arc #48942
#2 "To Slay Sleeping Dragons" Arc #111486
#3 "Stop Calling Me"

Let's see...

Paragonwiki is your friend! No if's, and's or but's...
Run the Tutorial, new Atlas Content, then a DfB or two before heading to Kings or Hollows.
Spend $15 (you'll get two Reward Tokens) and get Cape & Aura Unlocks, Pocket D Port Power, and Ninja Run Power.

All I can think right now...

Thank you for the time...

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Arc 5299: Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem Updated!! 09/15/09

Starting Zones?

• Since you were last here there has been major revamps to the early game and whereas before you had the option to start off as a hero or a villain, you now also get the extra option of starting off as a Praetorian.
• As a Praetorian you have content available to you from level 1 - 30 [currently up to 35 in i23] however once you reach level 20 you get a short mission that allows you to leave the world of Praetoria and start your new life as either a hero or a villain.
• First thing you will notice if you start as a hero/villain is that Galaxy City has indeed been destroyed by a new enemy. This is the new CoHF tutorial and while it is very straight forward, it is also a quick and fun experience that i suggest you running through at least once.
• With the exception of VEATs and HEATS, you are now able to start any AT in any of the starting zones so no longer will you be restricted to have your brute playing as a villain or your defender playing the role as the hero!
• Both the starting zones got quite a big makeover since you last played and while Atlas Park did get more of a graphical revamp than Mercy Island, both zones have new starting content for you to play with.
• Each starting zone has 2 new level 1 - 7 arcs which uses the Phase Tech and also gets in the multiple dialogue branch options. Once you get to level 5 you get introduced to the contact of your side that will teach you the ropes [while telling a good story/missions] with 3 arcs that come in the range of 5 - 10, 10 - 15, 15 - 20.
• Finally on starting zones, if story arcs are not your thing and you simply want to get a few levels quickly, then simply join the brand new Sewer Trial which is for level 1+ characters. This is designed for a team of 4 - 8 players and can be entered via using the new LFG tab that you will see next to your email. It is a fast 20 minute trial which on average will get you from level 1 to 7 in a single run.

Powersets?

• Since the CoH expansion Going Rogue and CoHFreedom launched, there has been numerous new powersets launched to really expand and satisfy our needs for our perfect character. Below are the lists of sets that are free to VIPs and ones that everybody must purchase.
• The following new powersets are free to VIPS - Kinetic Melee, Demon Summoning, Dual Pistols, Time Manipulation, Dark Control, Dark Affinity and Dark Assault.
• The following new powersets need to be purchased - Titan Weapons, Staff Melee, Street Justice and Beast Mastery.

Content?

• The first thing that i always tell new or returning players is that if you think you have run out of contacts for your level range [or simply want to get to your favourite one in that range] then you should click the new "find contact" button available. This can be found under the contact tab at the very top of the list, what this does is search for available contacts within your level range that have story arcs available. One thing to remember is that some contacts you are not introduced to via other contacts so it is always a handy idea to check every 5 levels for new contacts.
• Recently there has been a lot of content released in the level 20+ range so this is really where you will get your first taste of some of the best and newest content available to the game.
• The first ones of notice that you should check out are the special agent nance/Dean Macarthur arcs [hero/villain] in that you are placed against possibly your greatest enemy, yourself. With some great action fights and cutscenes during these arcs, they are always a must run for myself and many others during this range.
• Recently there was a new Co-Op zone added to the game which is called First Ward. This zone has the content range of 20 - 30 and is based within Praetoria, however all 3 sides can do the arcs here. This is not a zone for new players however, with tough enemies and ambushes this is a zone that will certainly test returning players like yourself.
• If you are able to get past all this content in your brief returning play then a list of all new content past this range will be added.

Server?

• Which server is best to play on? A common question asked by many and one that has no singular answer. From my own personal point of view, majority of the servers have gotten their own identity that suit certain playstyles and of course each one have their own peak/down times depending on your timezone.
• Sadly, until we [as players] know how you prefer to play and the timeframe you will be playing at, it will be quite difficult to suggest a server for you to play on.
• Lastly it should be remembered that VIPs get a minimum of 12 character slots per server and also access to the VIP only server, Exalted.

How to find teams/chat?

• Since global channels have really hit off, talking in the /hc [help channel] has become frowned upon by many players and/or servers for mindless chit chat and LFTs. Your best bet is to ask in the /hc what global channels your particular server uses and join them.
• For example if you asked in /hc on Union what channel people use to simply talk to eachother, then people would answer with "Union Chat". Which by the way you should join as it is the best chat channel ingame *wink wink*.

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@Damz Find me on the global channel Union Chat. One of the best "chat channels" ingame!

Hmm.
1. Start on blue side.

2. Seconded with "Roll a stalker" unless you absolutely hate melee. Just because the freshly revamped playstyle is quite different now. And if you rolled one before and did AS-placate-run, *don't.*

3. Run Matthew Habashy, Death from below (once) to get introduced to the trial system, and arcs from there. Absolutely try the new/revamped areas out - so, yes, Posi 1 and 2, fit the new Steel Canyon contacts in (they're short and leave room for favored arcs,) the new(ish) Talos arcs, Sutter, etc.

4. As a "freshly returned" player, ignore set IOs (barring a -KB protection one dropping on a character with none) for the moment. Wait 'til the 30s. (But if you still - as a returnign player - have an SG, see if they have common level 15s available for everyone's use when you hit 12, so you can save your INF instead of blowign it on DOs.)

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A small tid-bit that I learned to use myself is the 'Find Contact' button on the Contacts window.

Click it and it will display all valid contacts for your level in all the zones you can get to. Any contacts you know personally will mark the zone or location they are but ones you /haven't met yet/ you can teleport directly to their location to introduce yourself.

Use it anytime you run out of contacts to speak to or simply warp to new contacts. The teleport feature only works before being introduced to them remember!

(Find contact is a blue button in the Contacts window on your nav/compass bar)

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Home server: Victory
Characters on: Victory & Virtue
My first 50(0)! 18/11/11
@Oneirohero

beyond roll a stalker

roll a staff/ninjitsu stalker
may as well try the new powerset as well

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My advice?

Spend about 5 minutes in game, use the rest of the time to interact with the player base on the forums.

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1) Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls.

2) On a more serious note, have fun and ask questions. Seriously. The forum is a great resource...use it. The aforementioned Paragon Wiki is a *wonderful* resource. Use it. Most forumites/players are helpful. Use them. Enjoy your time on either Blue or Red side and try not to get discouraged early on. We were all newbs once.

3) Plan for DOOM but hope for FREEM.

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- Green Lantern
"Say, Jim...woo! That's a bad out-FIT!" - Superman: The Movie

Me 'n my posse: http://www.citygametracker.com/site/....php?user=5608

Reading this is giving me the bug to try the Drowning in Blood and Death From Below.

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total kick to the gut

This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.

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Roll a mastermind. It's the class that's unique to CoX not some WoW rogue rip off.

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