What kind of missions should I be doing at about 20?

I came back to the game recently, and I opted for the VIP membership (paying every three months). I've been playing a bunch of noobie chars up to about 20 in Praetoria, which is kind of fun, but I keep getting the impression that I am missing a good portion of the game somewhere. So, I'm looking for advice on things I should be doing (to explore all of the different options available). I understand that it's a somewhat open game, so you should do whatever you want to do, but that answer doesn't help when you're not aware of what YOU CAN do, if that makes any sense.

So, what kind of fun things are available for me to start exploring in this game? I've been on a few team missions, but that's about as far as I've explored so far. And part of the problem in exploring is I haven't a clue what's actually available and possible. I keep getting this impression that I'm walking right by the really engaging content and not even realizing it's there.

Simple answer: there is no simple answer.

There is a ton of content (now) in this game, from level 20 up. While there are some bad eggs out there in terms of content, most of it is pretty good. For instance, First Ward at level 20 has a good storyline to it.

Using the "Find a Contact" feature can be handy, as it will show you some of the contacts for your level range. By doing that, you can get right into their stories (and can even teleport right to the contact). Since this works on either side, you can just pick which contacts you feel like meeting, and run some of their missions.

Since you are VIP, once you choose a side, the signature story arcs (SSAs) are a series of missions separated into shorter (3-4 mission) arcs. You can start doing them at level 10, and the later parts of the arc are higher level, so you can kind of progress through them.


If you're going for story, all you really need to do is avoid doing newspaper/radio missions and tips, since those are more self-contained missions. But I would go through enough of them so that you can affirm your alignment (hero or villain) so that you can get hero or villain merits from the other content you may run.

There's additional Praetoria content starting at 20, but you have to leave there first.

On blue side there's 1/2 half of Faultline, Striga, Talos, IP and the Terra Volta. At level 25 Croatoa opens up. Once you get an Ouroboros Portal you get access to a lot of earlier content that you hadn't played at all, being a Praetorian.

That's actually pretty interesting. I knew there was more they were offering me to do in Praetoria, but I figured it was just stuff I hadn't completed upon turning 20 (as I figured it was all over at 20 and then I had to go back to the "real" world).

The 20-29 range arguably has more good content in it than anywhere else in the game. Your main choices are:
First Ward- the continuation of the Praetorian storylines; won't take you all the way to 29

Or, you can choose to become either a hero or a villain in Primal Earth.
Heroside: The original mission arcs in Talos Island and Independence arcs are pretty good stories, though the mission design leaves a lot to be desired. You may have to run a series of scanner missions and a safeguard to get an introduction, though.

There are several newer storyarcs, too. Keith Nance and Ray Cooling will introduce themselves to you immediately; they're both in Talos.

The "find contact" button will take you to the two new storyarc contacts in Steel Canyon.

Finally, you'll get an intro from Montague Castanella in Steel Canyon. His arc is no longer necessary to gain access to the Midnighters, but isn't bad. If you do gain access to the Midnighters, you get an intro from Mercedes Shelton, who has a series of 3 20-29 arcs.

There are also three "story zones" in the level, which offer a series of story arcs that relate to each other. Faultline is a 15-24 level, but at level 20 you may still be able to run the first two contacts in the sequence. It's probably my single favorite arc in the game and well worth running.

Striga Island is 20-30; I'm not a fan of the story, but there are some nice temp powers to be gained from it.

Croatoa opens up at 25 and has a pretty good set of arcs as well.

Villainside: One option is to run a series of newspaper missions and a mayhem mission and get introduced to a contact in Sharkhead and run the arcs that lead from them. All of them set up a chain of contacts in the zone, though their stories don't always relate to each other.

There are also several newer arcs added in. Darren Wade, Vincent Ross and Dean MacArthur will introduce themselves to you. And the Find Contact button will get you to two contacts in Cap au Diable.

At level 25, content starts to be available in Nerva Archipelago; run newspaper missions/Mayhem mission to be introduced to one.

On both sides, you can unlock a new costume slot at 20- talk to Serge in Steel Canyon or the Facemaker in Cap au Diable to get a mission to do that. You can also run a mission to earn a cape.

And that's just the soloable stuff; I haven't mentioned the Task/Strike Forces.

Also, if you are adventuring on primal earth "tips" may drop. You can access them on your contacts bar, and choose how you respond to them. If you are a hero, you can choose a mission that will be "heroic" or if you want to try a darker version, you can choose the "vigilante" mission. You can do up to 5 tip missions in a 20-hour period. Once you have accumulated 10 points towards either Heroic or Vigilante alignment, a special tip that leads to a morality mission can drop. You can choose to do the morality mission and change your alignment or to reconfirm it.

http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Tip_Missions

If you do a series of tip missions and reconfirm your heroic alignment (or villain, if you are redside) then when you do SSAs you have the option to earn Alignment Merits. Alignment Merits can be used to buy rare recipes. For example an expensive recipe like the LOTG +7.5% recharge can be bought for 2 Alignment Merits. I find them a slow and steady way to improve my characters.

If you're villainside, I believe they have removed badge restrictions from the contacts there that had them. Doc Buzzsaw (she's in Sharkhead) should be in that range and was a fun contact. Man, I haven't run her arc in years... might have to do that tonight.