Just got back after 2 yrs - holy cow - where do I start?

I'd love any advice you can give me on how to re-acclimate to CoH after a long absence. I have my 36 month badge and was pretty experienced when I left, but holy moley have things changed.

Specifically:
- Leveling: MA Farms?
Do most people get new toons through the low levels with MA farms? I got started last night an a very nice player (tyvm NBK!) got me from level 3-23 in one farm - holy cow! Is this how people level now - race to the end game?

- Zones:
It looks like the order and level of zones have changed - any links or guides on where to go after Atlas Park?

- Teaming:
I like CoH best in teams. When I left, I used to go to a zone that was my level, spam General to get a few folks together, and then we'd grind on Radio missions. How do people form groups these days? Are the Radio missions still the primary content? Or do people use Death From Below, Mission Arch, and other maps?

- Community:
What is the best way to get back into the Virtue community? Do people still hang out in Atlas and chat? Key server wide chat channels?

- Other:
Any other advice for a returning player? Should I be checking any new zones/content? Playing with Inventions? Figuring out what the heck an Incarnate is and what to do with my old lv 50 troller?

TYVM for your patience in helping a returning newb

-People still farm, although the "beginning level" farms have faded out and been replaced by the DFB trial. A low level trial that... you already appear to know about it.


It's like AE farming, but without being as lazy. Keyword as.


-Zones are still the same, you still go from Atlas Park to Kings Row to Steel Canyon etc. KR is usually skipped as once many people are done with the DFB they've already outleveled Kings Row.


-Teaming is generally the same. The new Group Finder doesn't really work so you're still going to be spamming broadcast.

But hey! There's a specific LFG channel now, so that helps.


-Some people still hang around Atlas, but since DFB its too spammy for much conversation. The "big" hangout place is still, regrettably, Pocket D.


-Also, Incarnate stuff is pretty easyish to get into, and theres some cool powers and costume/emotes to unlock, so its worth your time if you're bored. Forewarned though, you're either going to have Trial your eyes out, or spend months in Dark Astoria slowly slowly slowly doing missions there.

Well if you are a VIP I recommend the Praetorian storylines, I really enjoyed some of them.

If you have a 50, go for the incarnate stuff by talking to Mender Remiel in Ouro. The Dark Astoria storyline is really good.

You might also try the signature arc storylines again I thoink only if you are VIP. Not sure if these things can be unlocked or not.

Otherwise welcome back!

Premium accounts can buy the Signature Stories on the Paragon Market for an amount of points.

Praetoria and the rest of the Going Rogue expansion content is agreeably very good, but not very many people run it these days. Soloing it is doable but the difficulty curve is a little higher than average.

RP: The D is probably still the "center" of off-the-cuff RP; if that place isn't your cup of tea, though, it's worth poking around current and slightly older threads here in the Virtue Forum to see if there are any groups or concepts out there that pique your interest.

Leveling/Teaming: DFB is all the rage, and probably rightfully so; it's an easy, canonical way to quickly bypass--at the very least--the Training Origin Enhancement levels. However, there are some pretty neat new low-level arcs dealing with both the destruction of Galaxy City and the Praetorian War; you can access those via Ouro (which is in turn now accessible at level 15 rather than 25), so don't worry if you zip past Twinshot (a new level 5 Contact; but really her teammate Dillo is the star of that show). One of the nice upsides of DFB is that there seems to be an increase in the amount of Positron TFs being undertaken, a TF which is now Less Horrible due to being split into two separate TFs, and completely reworked. There are also more Synapses being run, and the sometimes laborious Sister Psyche TF has been replaced by the always awesome Penelope Yin TF (because Reasons). So it's pretty easy to blast through half of the requirements for TF Commander, while having more fun and less Urrrrgh than previously.

my idiosyncratic personal odyssey as a returning player is available via the link in my sig.

and welcome back!

welcome back
hope your enjoy the new content and powers and stay for a long time

Hey, I just stopped in to say "Welcome Back", Mashuguna!

Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls. (still)