Simple guide for newcomers. Money making amongst other things.

[Sovera]

Since I've typed this a number of times in-game and otherwise I've decided to consolidate it in a single post that I can then simply link to.

 

 

Are you completely 100% new and everything looks complicated?
 

Spoiler

 

- Take your first two attacks since they recharge the fastest and can be respecced out later.

 

- Any character will do fine but if you have no idea what to play then I suggest picking a Sentinel. They are ranged, sturdy, come with CC protection, and if picking Hover you can mostly be safe hitting mobs from the air. Later on when feeling more grounded to the game it will be time to try different things but Sentinels are a good first pick.

 

- Take the free attacks from the P2W vendor (especially the free IOs). Take the double XP. Very much in particular take 8 of each Amplifier (8 of each will cost 23k which is nothing) at level 1. If you don't have those 23k then don't fret, no need to beg a random bystander. Instead try not to reach level 2 before doing this tour (because Amplifiers become more expensive the higher we level) and you will get 5 merits (more on merits later in the guide). Return to the Atlas City Hall (big building behind the trainer NPC), find the ATM in the corner, trade the merits for Converters, type /ah, open your Salvage (little tab on the bar where your powers are), drag the Converters to the AH and put one for sale for 1 inf. This should sell for enough to pay your Amplifiers and you can transfer the 23k to your next alt instead of doing the Tour again.

 

- If you have absolutely no money then consider doing the tour mentioned above and then doing the early storylines (there are a lot of different contacts and early missions that can be done, this is just what I usually start with). Talk with this guy:

 

Spoiler

 

After finishing his storyline he gives a second contact. After finishing that contact it gives a third contact. Finishing three stories will give 9 merits and can be done in a total of 20 minutes-ish.

 

Doing the tour and selling the Merits earns around 1 million (5 Merits, each Merit worth 3 Converters so 15 Converters, each converter worth around 70k so 70x15=1 million).  Add the 20 minutes to do the three storylines and it's another 9 Merits. 9 Merits = 1.8 million. So by level 9 and combining both you should have almost 3 million. The three million will buy all the generic IOs your build will need, and that's in the first half hour of playing!

 

- Buy generic IOs (/ah - Enhancements - Crafted - Other) but not SOs as the vendor sold SOs turn bad after 5 levels and need to be re-bought where generic IOs stay good until 50. Caveat: it's fine to do this until level 10-15 since SOs give a large boost and low level IOs are rare in the AH forcing us to go craft ourselves. Vendor bought SOs save time and even if they go red they can be upgraded in the powers window (where we slot IOs).

 

- Use your Origin Power. This power is super useful up to level 15-20 or so and is meant to help with the lack of early powers. By level 20 there is barely a point in using it since it will just chip an enemy and we will still be using one of our attacks to kill a mob anyway, but I find myself using it as a filler until the 15s or have a better fleshed out attack chain.

 

- Use and abuse inspirations. Purple ones (Luck) are the strongest so try to keep a few in reserve for when in trouble, yellow ones are the ones I find super niche and not worth keeping (your mileage may vary) and if you're playing any of the melee classes or a Sentinel then the protection against mez inspirations are also useless once you get the power that protects against those (ranged classes other than Sentinel don't natively get CC protection so keep one or two). Get rid of those and make use of the more useful purple, greens and reds. Replenish these via the /ah command between missions since /ah can be used anywhere as long as it is the open world.

 

- If you haven't picked the program that opens the builds posted over the forums do it here: https://www.midsreborn.com/

 

- Hero side is the oldest contest, a bit outdated in that the old devs were learning their craft. But it is the one with the smoothest and easiest start for a new character. It is also uncontested the most populated side.

 

- Villain side shows what the devs learned from doing the Hero side. Things are snappier, quests are generally better. But it is harder than the Hero side with NPCs ready to take your lunch money.

 

- Praetoria is a bit messy for a new player and a lot harder than the first two. I would gently advise to try it at your leisure but a lot of the lore is based off Hero side so it will both be like jumping into the middle of a book as well as going straight into some pretty tough starting enemies. By around level 20-ish the plot finishes and you will leave this zone and continue either Hero or Villain.

 

- Villains can go and do the Hero side content and vice versa so it partly cosmetic and partly based on which side you'd rather do your leveling in with the caveat that there are fewer teams on the Villain side.

 

- Which ever you pick try to do taskforces or story arcs to the end for the merit rewards. Sell or craft the merits as this guide explains. Buy stuff from the auction house via the /ah command.

 

- Everything will be expensive at first but money is pretty easy to make so start by buying generic IOs (they are in Crafted/Other in the auction house) which are super cheap and will last you to level 50 (remember to buy/replace for level 25 IOs at level 22, but there is no need to replace them after 25 other than set IOs). This will cheaply slot your powers for a pittance so you don't go around 'naked' and then as you earn more money you replace the cheap generic IOs for the set IOs.

 

This guide shows how to transfer or resell those IOs so it's not wasted money since gear is not a money sink like in other games. Here you buy something expensive and then you can transfer it to another character instead of having to spend that sum again for the other character.

 

 

Simple way to start a new character:

 

Spoiler

New character, level one:

 

- Locate the Pay2Win vendor (https://imgur.com/a/aX2boMG).

- Obtain all five Prestige Enhancements (split between single target attacks with emphasis on the longer recharging ones). Only one of each can be slotted in but they can be removed and trashed and duplicates re-purchased to be placed in different powers (free). These stop being useful at level 21 and at 22 ought to be replaced by SOs/generic IOs.

- Obtain double XP (be sure to pick the 100% version and ignore the fact it will prevent the gains of influence since these are a drop in the ocean that is selling Merits) and be sure to stack it eight times (free).

- If money was transferred from another character buy eight Defensive + Offensive + Survival Amplifiers (only really worth to do at level 1 since it becomes too expensive afterwards, but level 1-22 is when we will appreciate it the most and it is VERY good). Buying eight of each only costs 22k total which is a pittance for becoming a demi god for the next eight hours. Try not to waste those hours AFK though.

- Obtain Secondary Mutation (Free. it's a small random buff, but it's free so why not?).

- If having the money for it buy both Base Transporter (one million) and Long Range Teleporter (one million, but alternatively can be obtained by staying in Pocket D for an hour. This unlocks Fast Travel which is what ought to be dragged to your skill bar.).

- In the low levels endurance is a problem especially once we hit the clockwork faction. To combat this I suggest stocking up on Recovery Serums since they are cheap at 50k for 5 charges. If short on funds and wishing to be parsimonious then buy just two or three and then restock according to need.

- Obtain the Jump Pack if intending to use Fly (despite its name it also increases flying speed). Before taking Evasive Maneuvers in the Flight  pool the Jump Pack will greatly boost Fly's speed and help Afterburner reach maximum speed. Even after picking Evasive Maneuvers the Steam Pack remains relevant for when Afterburner is on cooldown or even used in conjunction with Afterburner to reach the flying speed cap.

 

 

Now the path forks:

 

Option A) Soloing missions. Use the Contacts tab for NPCs and try to follow their arcs to the end for the Merits reward. A problem with this is that we will sometimes (often) out level a contact who abruptly stops giving missions before we reached the end of the story arc just because we passed its level range. A nice option to go around this is going to Ouroboros (going to any player hub like Atlas or Pocket D and asking in local for an Ouro portal is the easiest way to obtain one) and go through the missions there since it condenses all contacts in a single list even when we are too high level for the contacts to give us missions when in the open world. This list is found at one the crystals inside the building. This option opens at level 15 (the devs should really allow it straight from level 1).

 

I also solo Taskforces since they are required for an Accolade that gives a permanent 5% HP. Since Taskforces give XP, and I need XP to level, and then also give Merits, and then the accolade, it's just efficient. But after the Nth time this can be dull to repeat so, again, consider Ouroboros and pick a random arc. Soloing taskforces is a bit advanced for one sole reason which is that the end boss is an arch-villain, which is usually not so much about doing a lot of damage (which varies) but how they regenerate their HP faster than can be removed if the build is not damage heavy. This can be worked around by going to Pocket D and find the P2W vendor over the red side of the club and then purchase Envenomed Daggers that greatly slow regeneration.

 

The downside with both the Ouroboros and the soloing of Taskforces is that we cannot invite others until the whole story arc is finished.

 

Using the Architect (the AE icon on the map located in most maps and in the Pocket D as well) is also a good way to play a new character. There are a ton of farm maps (do yourself a favor and avoid this despite temptation at least until bored with leveling because of so many alts. It gives no money, does not teach how to play a character, and while faster than regular leveling let us not exaggerate because with the 100% XP buff we can level a character to max in 3-4 days to a week), but also nice fun stories that are just as good as the old dev's work (sometimes better too. The 'Dev's Choice' awards are not all inclusive since the devs cannot possibly play ALL the missions but it is a good start). There are so many player made stories that we can do it for a long long time without repeating content. The downside is half XP and no Merits but for those who want to level at their pace with new content it's a good option.

 

Option B) Teaming! City of Heroes is a game that wants the players to team unlike 99% of other MMOs out there. No slogging through content if having picked a buff or healing character with piddly damage. Straight from level one players are encouraged to play together. Even I who solo taskforces at +1x8 and reap all the XP instead of sharing it know that I am losing XP because with eight players the TF would be finished sooner and another could be run.

 

If committing for an hour is too long for the player on a lunch break then there are radio missions that can be done in five minutes be it solo or in a team. This is the fast food of CoH and the downside is no Merits, and if having picked the 100% XP buff also no money from enemies, thus not an option I would recommend as a steady diet (see how far I went with the fast food analogy??).

 

This is how I personally do it: Level 1. Do the above with the P2W vendor. Create a Death from Below group, do the thing, pick Recovery as my buff. Once finished I am close to level 8. After doing whatever to reach level 8 I then do Positron part one and part two taskforce. By then I am level 22 and I sell the Merits I earned for two-ish million and these pay for my generic IOs. I then continue through the Synapse taskforce, Penelope Yin taskforce, Moonfire taskforce, Citadel taskforce, Manticore taskforce and Numina taskforce which leaves me at around 36-37, permanent 5% HP accolade to my name, and without having had to repeat content plus a boatload of Merits to my name.

 

My last advice for players on this subject is to not be shy and form your own groups to run the content you want to. Just typing '/lfg Looking for more to do X around level Z' is enough to bring at least some interested and unlike more strict MMOs the 'leading' in CoH is basically clicking the Contact tab and request another mission. No big strategies, no particular team composition, no need to fish for a Tank or a Healer.

 

 

Simple way to travel:

 

Spoiler

A simple way to travel the game is using base macros. Every server has their own portal hub(s) and the easiest way to find out which one is asking for it in /lfg. As I play on Everlasting this is for that server, but replace the code for your server.

 

This will create a button in your skill bar which can be clicked and will lead to a base with portals to near all zones: /macro Portals "enterbasefrompasscode ZONE-8888".  Alternatively instead of having an extra button on your bar it can be keybound such as /keybind numpad9 enterbasefrompasscode ZONE-8888. This now only works near a base portal or by first using Fast Travel/Base Transporter.

 

Another simple way of traveling as mentioned above is using the Ouroboros portal obtained the first time a character travels to Ouroboros. Ask somewhere busy such as Atlas or Pocket D if someone can place down a portal and then step into it to get your own. The portal itself has limited choices but recharges in 5 minutes. One of the choices is Talos which is right close to a tram that leads to most of the game.

 

 

Simple way to make money:

 

Spoiler

Taskforces or doing missions arcs will award Merits (doing radio missions or Architect Missions will not). If you are to click on Salvage (on the skill bar where your powers are) you will see how many of these you have. You can then go to Atlas, go into Atlas Hall (behind the trainer), locate the ATM in the corner of the room, click on it, click on Salvage in the ATM's menu, scroll down to Enhancement Converters, and then spend all your hard earned Merits on them.

 

Afterwards type /ah, open your Salvage tab (atop your skill bar) and drag the Enhancement Converters into the Auction House window (anywhere on the window will do). Check prices. At the time I am writing this I sell my Converters for 70k a piece (which roughly makes one Merit worth 210k since one Merit is worth three Converters). If you are short on cash to pay the deposit sell a few Converters cheap, say 50k. That will fund the rest of your posting.

 

A SG colleague who had been doing nothing but story arcs reached level 22 and thought she had no money to purchase things only to discover she had 120 merits, which translated to about 35 million at the time. More than enough to purchase all that she needed.

 

 

Simple way to make money once at level 50:

 

Spoiler

Once reaching level 50 there is incarnate content to do which vastly empowers a character. It cannot be understated how much it makes a character stronger. One of this content is two quick TFs colloquially known as Tinpex since they are ran together. They are the Tin Mage and Apex TFs. These give a choice for incarnate salvage material (the best choice out of the three offered) and 40 merits each. At 20 minutes or less for each that's 80 merits.

 

Another good daily thing to do is try to go to the Hamidon raids that happen twice a day. Myself being an Euro I can only go to one of them, but an Hamidon raid is something also ran in less than half hour despite usually being done twice in a row. Choosing merits as the reward both times grants 120 merits. If able to join both Hamidon raids that's 240 merits. On top of the 80 merits from Tinpex. So that's a daily 320 merits not including whatever else is done (doing an Imperious TF at level 50 gives something between 10 to 15 million inf in raw money not including the merits and drops).

 

 

Simple way to save money, or how to use your converters instead of selling them:

 

Spoiler

Finished a TF or taking a break? Time to sell. But instead of vendoring all the recipes that were worth nothing on the Auction House check with a crafting table which of them do NOT require orange salvage. Craft those. Use converters and choose 'convert to rarity'. Keep converting until getting resist damage, or defense, or heals, or melee, or AoEs.

 

Once having fallen into one of these categories keep converting but now choose 'convert in <category>' which will be defense/resist/healing whatever you got. If you get a Preventive Medicine it sells for about 3-4 million. If a Luck of the Gambler then 5-6 million. Unbreakable guard? 3-4 million. This from a recipe you were going to vendor for 1k and that depending on level cost 30k to 500k total to craft.

 

If you need any of these for your final build then just use them. Even buying a catalyst for 1 million you will still save 2-3 million per slot.

 

Got a random defense recipe? Craft it. Convert it using the option to convert into a random defense set. Keep doing it until it lands on a Luck of the Gambler. Now convert that until it becomes a Luck of the Gambler 7.5%. Now buy and use a catalyst if intending to use it, or skip this step if just intending to throw it into the Auction House. Total may have cost two millions to two and a half instead of 5-7 million.

 

 

Not so simple way to make money (but actually the best way, yes, even better than farming 24/7):

 

Spoiler

Instead of waiting for recipes to drop they can be purchased from the Auction house directly. No need to earn merits to turn them into Converters as well since they can be bought from the Auction House.  This link has a number of sets that can be used and the methodology to earn more than a farmer does in an hour all while reading some manga on the side or watching Netflix.

 

I did this with my latest iron man challenge (no IO or cash transfers) and in two hours of being semi AFK and half tabbed out of the game I went from 8 million and being half clad in generic IOs to being 100% covered in IO sets having bough five LotG, a full Preventive Medicine, three powers slotted with four Unbreakable Guards, a Kinetic Combat, full Synapse's Shock, a full ATO six slots and whatever else I may be forgetting, and after buying around 30 catalysts (around 1 mill each) to attune all of these I still had 80 million left even with all the crafting costs, converters bought and etc.

 

Again, I started with 8 million,

 

 

I will say for those who dislike this method that it is not necessary, just like farming is not. I have a solitary billion in raw influence to my name (where marketeers regularly post their 'I made a billion starting from zero just to test myself' or 'I wanted try making 50 billion in a week') and this is plenty enough because I scour my alts when I decide to try playing something else. All the IOs are moved to the next alt and in doing so I do not need to buy them all over again.

 

Eventually I ended with a billion inf and five or six enhancement tables packed to the brim and decided to stop doing this IF I find a a favourite. So now I have 2-4 characters expensively slotted, my enhancements tables are still fat, and I still have 1 billion in raw inf. All of this achieved simply by playing, collecting merits, selling, no fussing with the Market and converting, no locking myself to farm. At the very start when I needed money to slot a new character what I would do is throw myself at all the TFs being formed, or forming my own, do my once-a-day-Tinpex-and-Hami, then sell the merits.

 

Understandably not everyone wants to spend those 5 minutes using /respec twice and throwing all the IOs into the tables, especially if on a character they might want to revisit later. But Respec recipes cost 2 million tops and those 5 minutes are worth to transfer 800 million worth of gear between characters.

 

At least until filthy rich.

 

 

Simple way to slot:

 

Spoiler

Before level 22? No need. Sort of trust me on this. The gains are minimal and not truly worth either the hassle of going to the vendors to purchase things or the money. Only once reaching 22 is it worth it to finally slot things. But don't go to a shop to purchase Single Origins gear since these need to be replaced every five levels. The cheaper and better option is to purchase generic Invention Origins. We obtain these by typing /ah, click on Enhancements, Crafted, Other.

 

The above is left here for posterity but it's old information. The devs have since allowed SOs to be slotted since level 1. While IOs are still worthwhile to not bother replacing every X levels the truth is that no one bothers crafting lowbie generic IOs which forces us to go and do it ourselves. UGH. No, with being able to slot SOs from level 1 and them being so powerful it's best to use them and only switch at 22 for generic IOs who will stop going bad every 5 levels. Until 22 slot something and when it goes red you can click on 'upgrade' in the slotting window (where we drag IOs to slot our powers).

 

I advise one accuracy, three damage, and then one recharge and one endurance reduction. If you find your endurance depleting too fast replace the recharge for a second endurance reduction.

 

 

But that said I also agree with what was brought up:

 

On 3/6/2020 at 8:36 PM, DougGraves said:

Slotting from level 12 on is totally worth it for characters that level normally.  It is not worth it for power levelers.  But if you play normally you spend a long time going from 12 to 22 and the DO and SO enhancements make a huge difference in play.

 

Doug has a good point that I should have touched on before glibly assuming everyone is like me. For me who reaches level 22 in about an hour and a half in a full team there is not much point. For someone soloing or taking it easy and who will take much longer then that extra boost combined with the low low prices has no reason to be skipped.

 

I am going to say that there is no need to wait for level 12 though. Level 10 generic IOs which can be equipped at level 7 are very cheap at around 5-10k and are worth around 10% in stats each. Since we have a hard limit of 95% but only have six slots this means a 60% boost in damage or recharge if we six slot them.

 

With one caveat which is I suggest not buying Training Origin or Dual Origin. The reason for this is that they will go 'bad' in three levels. This is a common thing I see when people type in the team chat that they need to go buy new enhancements since theirs turned red. Do not buy TO/DOs, type /ah, go to Enhancements, Crafted, Other, and then purchase what you need.

 

These will never turn red.

 

 

More advanced way to slot:

 

Spoiler

You are making looooads of money now and buying generic IOs is cheap, so allow me to introduce you to the method to melt all that money! The first thing I want to say is that buying expensive things is never a waste. We are not playing other games where we purchase something and it becomes soulbound. In CoH we can purchase an expensive thing, use it, then take it out and give it to an alt or just sell it again. So it is never a waste to glance at this part of the guide and buy a few things because you can transfer them to your next alt who will be making their own money, but have the nice things that they can slot right away.

 

 

Expensive(r) IOs you will enjoy having:

 

- Panacea: Chance for  Health&Endurance. Slotted in heal or regeneration powers. Best slotted in something passive like Health since it's always on. By order of importance this is the best one slot for endurance recovery and to boot it can be slotted straight at level 7. There can only be one slotted in since it's a unique IO, but it can go into Health.

 

- Performance Shifter: Chance for Endurance. Slotted in endurance powers. Best slotted in something passive that is always on such as Stamina. Second best tied closely with the next. It is not an unique so slot one of these everywhere you can. Stamina, but if playing /Regen, /Bio Armor, /Willpower or etc there will be another power that accepts one of these.

 

- Miracle: +Recovery. Slotted in heal or regeneration powers. Best slotted in something passive like Health since it's always on. Third option, but pretty much shoulder to shoulder with the second option. Another unique that can go into Health and that will give a boost to recovery.

 

- Numina's Convalescence: +Regeneration/+Recovery. Slotted in heal or regeneration powers. Best slotted in something passive like Health since it's always on. The last and least of the holy quartet for endurance. Having all of these four will do a chunk of mitigation for the blue bar though they do not replace slotting endurance reduction in attacks (much more important than slotting endurance reduction in toggles).

 

- Steadfast Protection Resistance +3% Defense/Gladiator's Armor Teleport Resistance 3% Defense. Slotted into resistance powers. I am lumping these two together since they usually go together. While this is not the guide for an advanced purview into builds we want to reach 45% defense when such a thing is possible. Those two IOs will give 3% each so that's 6% already accounted for.

 

- Shield Wall 5% Teleport Resistance. It can be slotted in defense powers. Another one that can be slotted straight at level 7. It gives 5% resistance to ALL damage. Which, isn't a lot, but it's a start and one of the few that can be slotted that early.

 

- Archetype origins. These tend to be moderately expensive and are locked to the AT that you purchase them for (for example a Scrapper ATO can only be used by Scrappers, not Brutes, or Defenders, etc) but are very good for a variety of reasons. The first one is that they can be slotted right at level ten. The second reason is that the bonuses these ATOs give are also usually very very good with special procs. A Tanker gets one with a chance to increase their resistances and another that gives a small absorb shield, a Scrapper gets one that increases the chance to do critical damage and another that gives 50% for the next skills to crit, a Stalker gets one that makes them go into Hide again (enabling their 100% chance to crit if they attack while in Hide) and another that resets their Build-Up power, etc.

 

- Sudden Acceleration: Knockback to Knockdown. Any power that you really like but dammit, it throws the enemies flying away from you and it's annoying? Slot one of these babies in and suddenly they are no longer sent flying away but just sent flying up.

 

- Force Feedback: Chance for Recharge. This only works on powers that do knockback/knockup/knockdown, but what it does is give a chance for 100% recharge for 5 seconds. This is very good especially in AoE powers so it marries itself very well with the previous IO.

 

- Luck of the Gambler: 7.5% Recharge. Only five can be slotted in. They can also only be slotted in powers that give Defense (Combat Jumping, Hover, Afterburner, most Stealth powers, and then the shields Scrappers/Brutes get, etc). While moderately expensive remember that they can be transferred to another alt.

 

 

Simple explanation on attuned and crafted IOs.

 

Spoiler

Quoting from someone else that summarizes things:

 

Quote

Example While Leveling Up

For instance, the Focused Smite set range is level 25-40.

At level 22-25, it functions as a level 25 enhancement for aspect purposes.
At 26, it functions as if it were level 26
At 29, if functions as if it were level 29
At 31, it function as if it were level 31... and so on up to...
At level 40 and above, it functions as if it were level 40, its maximum.

Effects of Exemplaring on Aspect Enhancement Values:

When exemplaring, the effective aspect enhancement is figured as if it were the current natural level of the character, or, the maximum level of the range of enhancement if the character has outleveled it. Then the normal Exemplar Effects on Enhancements apply.

So, e.g., if the Attuned Enhancement had a range of 30-40 and the character was level 45 exemplaring to level 15, then the effective aspect enhancements would be the same as a level 40 enhancement exemplared to 15. . . .

 

Effects of Exemplaring on Set Bonuses:

For the sake of Bonus Sets, the bonus effects cut out when exemplaring more than three levels below the minimum of the Attuned Enhancement's range.

So. e.g., a level 20-40 Attuned Enhancement would have its Bonuses cut out at 16 and below but would still be 'on' at level 17 and above.

The downside is you can't "boost" attuned enhancements with enhancement boosters.

 

For a more complete overview of the system this thread has good information.

 

 

Simple decisions on whether to buy attuned or crafted IOs:

 

Spoiler

If buying from the Auction House then always buy attuned IOs.

 

Let us say a player found something that they could use. Let us, for example, say it was a Preventive Medicine: Heal. Lets say it was a level 22 one. In this scenario it is something that the player could use, so it was crafted and used it. The raw stats it provides at level 22 are 32% but since it is not attuned it will always be 32%. If an attuned version had been available then it would have kept on growing as the player levelled. At level 50 its stats would have been 42%. The player can get around this by buying a Catalyst from the auction house and using it on the IO that they crafted.

 

This combines with the previous topic. Let us say the player buys the full Preventive Medicine set at level 50 but does so with the Crafted (normal) version? The moment that they exemplar down further than level 47 they lose all the bonuses including the juicy 7.5% recharge.

 

For example a Luck of the Gambler can be slotted at 22. So an attuned LotG can be slotted at 22 and will grow with us to 50 (something that gives 32% at level 22 will give 42% at level 50), and if we exemplar down to 22 it will still work, but not if 21 (not the bonuses, but the raw stats will still be there). A crafted/boosted LotG can be slotted at 22 but the raw stats it gives at that level will never change.

 

This would not happen with the attuned version, so, again, always purchase attuned.

 

 

Simple decisions on whether to boost (+5) IOs:

 

Spoiler

Kind of but in niche cases.

 

The first thing to consider is ED. ED, or Enhancement Diversification, gives diminishing returns the closer to 100% a stat is. We can slot 6 level 50 damage IOs and have 254% damage, but ED lowers it to 118%.

 

While people will swear on +5 every single IO the benefits are very shallow since ED makes sure of that. Some IOs can't even be +5 like ATOs and event IOs.

 

+5 is useful for a few things though. Two +5 level 50 recharges in Hasten will save one slot there as simply two level 50 recharge will give 83% but by +5-ing the two it goes to 95%.

 

Frankenslotting bits and bobs and wanting to reach certain goals (accuracy or damage for example) then +5 helps. For example in a power where I have only three slots and want to boost damage and recharge I can slot three separate IOs that have damage/recharge. That will give me 78%. But if I +5 those three IOs I will get 94% (actually 106%) which is bordering ED anyway. I could have slotted three normal damage and have 99% (actually 127%, but the ED nation attacked), or slot three recharge and have the same, but by slotting and +5 the three damage/recharge IOs I got both.

 

Do remember that the previous section still applies. Most of the time it's better to ensure that IOs are attuned instead of boosted because when attuned the IO bonuses travel with you up and down the level range to the limit of the set. A crafted (or boosted) level 50 is fine for 50, but if we exemplar to anything lower than 47 the bonuses will disappear. But an attuned level 50 can go down to whatever level it can first be slotted.

 

Finally remember you cannot have an IO both attuned and boosted. It is one or the other and attuning a +5 will lose the boosts and boosting an attuned will lose the attunement.

 

 

You can check the boosted effects in Mids. When you are picking your IO and before you click on it you press + five times on your keyboard to increase its boosted level, then you click on the specific IO.

 

 

Simple decisions on which salvage/recipes to keep:

 

Spoiler

White or yellow salvage can be vendored. Some of the yellow salvage can be worth as much as 5-10k. I find this peanuts and not worth the time to check the prices considering the millions that can come in from selling merits, but it's a decision that the player can make for themselves. Keeping white and yellow salvage to craft with is not worth for the casual player since they are so cheap to obtain and we will obtain far more salvage than we will ever be able to use for casual play.

 

Orange salvage can be sold in the AH. It goes between 400-500k at the time I write this.

 

Recipes are a mixed bag. In time the player will learn which is worth what, but even nowadays I still throw everything to the AH and check the prices. Some recipes can be worth as much as 10 million, but most are worth as low as 100 inf. Refer to the section on using Converters.

 

Even if deciding to keep it simple and not fuss with the market and using Converters it is still a rule of thumb that if a recipe is worth 200k and upwards it will be worth to craft it. Even with the cost of the crafting materials and the cost of the crafting itself the profit will pretty much always be at a minimum a third more than selling the recipe, if not double, or quadrupled. A new player that wants to make that extra bit of cash should verify the price of the attuned IO that the recipe will craft.

 

 

Simple decisions on whether to attune an IO ourselves:

 

Spoiler

Yes if we are going to use it. No if is just meant to be sold.

 

Exception: Archetype Origins (described as ATOs) and event IOs. The normal version of these can be slotted as early as level 10 and are worth half the price of their Superior counterparts. If trying to use a Catalyst on them they will become their Superior counterparts that have better stats and better set bonuses, but can only be slotted at level 50 (so if doing it while leveling and they are slotted they will become useless until reaching 50).

 

But it is much cheaper to purchase the normal version and level with them, and then at level 50 purchase Catalysts and upgrade them. As a rule of thumb a normal ATO is worth between 8 to 10 mill and a Catalyst is worth 1 million while the Superior version of the ATO is usually between 20 to 25 million. The math does not add up and that only works because not enough people have read this guide 😛

 

 

Simple decisions on whether to purchase recipes from the ATM:

 

Spoiler

Maybe. It is basic math so if the player wants to do it, do so, but check prices first.

 

If each merit is worth X, is it worth it to spend 100 merits on a recipe? Check the AH. How much is the IO going for? How many merits would it cost to buy the recipe? How much are merits going for?

 

In many of the times I have seen players do this they lost money in it. At the time I type this a purple IO can cost between 17-20 million. Buying the recipe from the ATM costs 100 merits. That's, roughly, 21 million if simply sold. Then they will have the crafting costs (490k) plus the crafting materials (invariably three orange salvage so another 1.5 million ish) = 23 million.

 

 

Simple way to transfer IOs from one character to the next:

 

Spoiler

Alright, you made your character, bought a lot of nice stuff but now you are not feeling it anymore and want to play something else but you have all your expensive IOs slotted in. Type /respec. You get one every 10 levels. Even when you run out of the free ones you can get more by running a specific taskforce, or more simply, simply purchase a Respec recipe from the Auction House. At the time I type this they cost around two million which as we saw above regarding Merits is not very expensive.

 

If only one, or two, or three IOs are to be removed from a build then Unslotters can be purchased from the AH.  They cost around 100k each so make a decision based between cost of a Respec recipe (keeping in mind five respecs are free) and Unslotters. Once purchased just drag the slotted IO to remove it.

 

The simplest possible way to transfer the IOs is to mail them to the new character but only one IO can be mailed at a time which makes the simplest way not the easiest way.

 

The easiest way is:

 

- Return to Atlas Hall

- See the Super Group registry NPC

- Create a SG.

- Leave the Atlas Hall, locate the SG base entrance (blue portal in the distance on top of my character https://imgur.com/a/jJxAfe9) and go in.

- Once inside hit the Base Editor, search for Enhancement Table and lay down two or three down. Click Options, then Exit Base Editor.

- Click on each Enhancement Table and make sure to tweak the settings of each into allowing members to place and remove IOs from them. Now drop all the IOs into the tables.

- Assuming that you have made the alt (lets call him AwesomeDude) you then invite the alt so it can come in. We do this by typing /altinvite AwesomeDude.

 

This is it, none of this needs to be done again. From now on every alt you make can throw their IOs into the tables and the new alts can go pick them up after having been /altinvite-d.

 

Do remember that only the Super Group owner can alter the settings of the tables, so remember which character it is and don't just delete it without transferring the SG leadership.

 

 

Simple way to acquire all accolades, or why do I want accolades?

 

Spoiler

There are several accolades in the game which all consist in an achievement from collecting *other* achievements. Some will grant temporary powers, some will grant a small but permanent boost in stats. It is the later that this part will address.

 

Why do do we even want these? It is just a bit of end game min maxing. For example on one of my Sentinel builds with accolades my endgame HP is 1814 HP and my recovery is 3.57 per second. Without the accolades I would have 1573 HP and 3.27 recovery.

 

So I added another 241 HP to the build and 0.30 recovery.

 

On a Tanker with a beefier HP pool I have 2558 HP and 3.79 recovery with accolades. Without them it goes to 2183 HP and 3.46 recovery, or 375 HP and 0.33 recovery.

 

Not so much the HP but the recovery can be the difference between a healthy blue bar or struggling with it. But it is very end gamey very min maxy, and something saved for a favourite character since it may take between 2 to 4 hours to get it all done.

 

There are two ways to obtain these. One involves doing in the heroside and the other in the villainside (changing sides is as simple as going to Pocket D and on the ground floor of the red side bar there will be a van with a gull on top of it. Speak with the gull) but I will focus on the blue side and all the exploration badges will be compiled at the end to avoid rethreading the same zones for a different badge.

 

 

The simplest is Task Force Commander that awards 5% HP as it simply requires doing the TFs while leveling. No need to get extra badges or explore, just do:

 

- Positron part 1 (minimum level eight) and 2 (minimum level 11) over Steel Canyon.

- Synapse (minimum level 15) over Skyway.

- Yin (minimum level 20) over Independence Port.

- Citadel (minimum level 25) over Talos Island.

- Manticore (minimum level 30) over Brickstown.

- Numina (minimum level 35) over Founder's Fall.

 

 

Portal Jockey that grants 5% HP and 5% Endurance:

 

Use Ouroboros and the crystal to do these flashback arcs:

 

- Hero's Epic (50)

- Hero's Hero (50) only until the third mission and defeating Siege.

- Instant Army (40-49)

- Just enter and leave Black Shroud Dimension (50) to get the badge from there. No need to actually do the mission or defeat anything.

- Same with Hydra Dimension (40-49 ).

 

 

Atlas Medallion that grants 5% endurance:

 

- Use Ourobouros and do Rescue the Mystic from the Circle of Thorns (10-14).
- While leveling I suggest doing a Moonfire (minimum level 23) over Striga as it should be enough to get The Slayer badge from the first mission and The Silver Bullet badge from the second mission (and we're leveling so we need XP anyway, right?). Just in case of missing a few and not wishing to do the full TF then set it to -1x8 and farm either the first (vampyrs) or the second mission (werewolves) depending on what is lacking.

 

 

Freedom Phalanx Reserve that grants 10% HP:

 

- Doing Yin during levelling serves the double purpose of fighting enough Freakshow Tanks to get the Tank Buster badge (gotta love efficiency).

- Having done Synapse while leveling will also have granted the Gearsmasher badge (efficiencyyyyyyy).

- The Unveiler badge requires defeating 100 Fake Nemesis. The easiest way to do this is going to Steel Canyon and find the red book icon (Heldenjaegger) that has the 'TF' which can be set as as -1x8. We are not examplared if we do it at 50 and thus do not lose powers or IO bonuses. Set yourself as no bosses and Fake Nemesis will spawn as lieutenants who can be two-shotted. Don't fight the whole map or the mobs will get Vengeance stacked. I just flew around cherry picking Fakel Nemesis and then logged out and back in to get around 25 of them each time.

 

 

This is a compilation of all the badges needed for the above accolades:

 

1. Atlas Park /thumbtack 511, 5, -1151
2. Atlas Park /thumbtack 134, 314, -340
3. Perez Park /thumbtack -1174, -29, 2252
4. Steel Canyon /thumbtack -2428, 48, -3408
5. Boomtown /thumbtack -448, 42, 2170
6. Kings Row /thumbtack -400, 4, 1760
7. Kings Row /thumbtack -940.5, -41.7, 2977.4
8. Kings Row /thumbtack -170, -42, -1467
9. Kings Row /thumbtack -2175.9, 97.0, 1142.5
10. Skyway City /thumbtack -1085, -16, -7612
11. Talos Island /thumbtack 1777, 22, 7843
12. Founders' Falls /thumbtack 1725, -8, 2400
13. Brickstown /thumbtack -229, 8, -370
14. Brickstown /thumbtack -3463, 4, 2062
15. Independence Port /thumbtack -1615, 80, -1872
16. Independence Port /thumbtack -1035, 36, -2441
17. Independence Port /thumbtack 910, 100, -4175
18. Terra Volta /thumbtack 351, 196, -3605
19. Echo: Dark Astoria /thumbtack 3420, 46, 3038
20. Echo: Galaxy City /thumbtack -752, 5, -1550
21. Echo: Galaxy City /thumbtack -1184, 63, -936

 

Because of the changes to the teleports it's no longer viable to jump leap from zone to zone with them. The route is now a bit more optimized for using travel powers with two cut off points where teleports to a different zone altogether is needed. One is from Boomtown to KR and the other from Founders to Bricks, leaving the last one as requiring an Ouroboros portal for the Echo zones (they are behind the building and not inside).

 

 

Simply explanation about Incarnates:

 

Spoiler

  Incarnates are a bit complicated but not unduly so. I would say they are counter-intuitive rather than complicated.

 

The moment you train to 50 you automatically start building veteran XP to gain veteran levels. Once you start gaining veteran levels you get incarnate crafting materials.

 

Now this is where the counter-intuitiveness starts creeping in:

 

There are TWO types of 'recipes' which you can find here:

 

 

But you go to Create, and, lets say, start with Alpha. Alpha is the most important anyway.

 

Alpha has the 'fix' to whatever your build has. Guzzling endurance? Go Cardiac. Slow recharge? Go Spiritual. More damage? Go Musculature. Playing a Controller and doing lots of CC? Go Intuition.

 

As a rule the two big ones are Musculature and Cardiac but there are niche uses for others such as Agility for a little bit more of recharge, defense, endurance, etc.

 

Musculature is not super useful for a Brute due to Fury diluting its damage boosting but you don't really need need anything since your endurance is taken care of, your recharge is decent, etc.

 

All incarnates will be the same with a left and a right side, and the left or the right side will give slightly different results under the same theme.

 

Musculature's right side is

 

 

And the left side is:

 

 

They are about the same in that both gives +damage (the theme of Musculature) but the secondary buffs are slightly different. Now these bonuses run afoul of Enhancement Diversification (or just ED, the mechanic that clamps stats so they don't go over 100%) so the 45% is actually15% in reality, but it's still 15%. Because of this the damage difference between the 45% version and the 33% version is minor, something like 3-4% (if I recall correctly) which usually has me picking the 33% version as more rounded version. I may not care much about the extra run speed, or defense debuffs, or immobilization duration, but that endurance modification buff is another 0.20-ish per second.

 

 

So, explanation out of the way, how does this work?

 

First one, right at the bottom:

 

 

Both recipes are the same thing, but they use different incarnate materials. The top one, with the Essence of Incarnates, is the 'shards' and actually rarer on Homecoming so you can safely ignore it (this is basic advice for newbies but once you grasp more of the game you can save some materials by using these recipes, but that's for later).

 

The second recipe with the Biomorphic Goo is called the 'threads' recipes and is the type you will always be wanting because it is the one that Homecoming is geared towards. Pretty much everything is geared towards the threads between getting them from drops once we're 50, getting them from veteran level-ups, getting them as rewards from Tinpex or doing Dark Astoria rewards, etc.

 

So, looking at it, you need

 

 

Now lets say you're level 50, got a few veteran levels, so you have some basic materials. You go to Convert:

 

 

 

Incarnate thread. And then you check what you need. A Biomorphic Goo? Right there under Common:

 

 

 

Once you bought all you need return to Create and craft it. Then go to Equip and equip it.

 

Now, part of the clunkyness is that to craft the second tier we need to craft the first tier, AGAIN.

 

So to create

 

 

we need to craft the first one first since it is part of the needed crafting materials.

 

Eventually to craft the very last one you need to craft them all! Which means crafting the first to craft the second to craft the third, then craft the first to craft the second to craft the other third, and finally with both those thirds you can craft the fourth! *pantpantpant*

 

Now you don't need (or have to, or are even expected to) only use threads to craft what you need. Every few levels (it's deterministic and not RNG. For example at the third veteran level we always get 24 empyrian merits) you get better crafting materials, and doing certain content gives Empyrian Merits. These are the ones you should be using to buy everything rare and very rare:

 

 

 

It seems complicated on the surface but it's simpler once getting past the initial phase.

 

 

Now, tips:

 

- Try and do a Tinpex every day once at 50. Either keep an eye on LFG or form one once comfortable with it. Tinpex is actually two extremely short TFs that take about 10-15 minutes each and give a choice of rewards at the end. Always pick the Incarnate Materials reward. It's RNG, but you can luck out and get a Very Rare and save a ton of materials, but even just a common saves 20 threads. Also, each of those TFs gives an enormous 40 merits so you come out of it half an hour in total with 80 merits and two incarnate rewards to help building your materials, AND enough merits to sell and just about buy one purple IO a day (80 merits turn into 240 Converters and at 65k each that becomes roughly 15 million. Purple IOs are about 17-20 million).

- Level ups at 50 also give incarnate materials and it will be common to see people running the Imperious TF (colloquially called ITF) because that TF is a well of XP with a metric ton of enemies.

- As a fresh level 50 try to do a Tinpex before crafting anything. Hey, maybe you'll get the materials needed for the T1 without having to spend a lot of threads.

- Whatever flavour of Alpha you pick make it your first priority to reach one of the third options (colloquially called T3 since third row). Reaching your T3 in any of the alphas gives a +1 level shift. Now all enemies are -1, so if fighting +4... they are now +3. This is a HUGE power boost both in defense and offense so it has first priority. This level shift is only for level 45+ so if exemplaring lower than 45 it goes away.

 

 

 

Keep in mind Incarnates can and should be tailored for your build and playstyle. But this is what I usually pick as bog standard for incarnates:

 

- Musculature for my Alpha and pick the 33% version to have a damage boost and faster replenishing blue bar.

- Barrier (120 seconds version) as my Destiny since it is a massive panic button if I am about to die. It gives a HUGE amount of defenses and resistances for the first 10 seconds, and then that amount slowly decays over a period of 120 seconds. At bare minimum it will always give a permanent 5% resistances and defenses. I say permanent because the recharge is ALSO 120 seconds.

- Degenerative 75% damage DoT as my Interface. Degenerative lowers the maximum HP of enemies. This has little effect on normal enemies but once fighting Giant Monsters or Arch Villains their regeneration is tied to their HP so less HP means less regenerated per second. It makes a big difference in soloing them. The choice of 75% to do damage is trying to milk it so it at least does SOMETHING to normal enemies but it's not much.

- For Hybrid I usually pick Assault and chance for increased damage since I'm always all out on damage (once again, picking the right one for you and your build matters). This one lasts two minutes and then has a two minutes cooldown so it's fire and forget when ever it is up and don't fuss about it.

- For Lore I usually pick either Banished Pantheon or Longbow. Lore summons one/two mobs to help you. But, between the seven minutes cooldown (not a typo) and the summons being squishy so they get evaporated quick means they don't see a lot of use outside of fighting a big boss. They do help a LOT in killing Archvillains.... if they don't get vaporized. There are tricks about keeping control of the AV and trying to not have it face the summons so they don't get hit. Honestly it's the least important incarnate for me.

- Ion from Judgement with the chance to do additional damage. It's a nuke. Blaster envy? You're a Blaster now. Once every two minutes at least. Again it's not the most important incarnate for me and one of the last to pick.

 

Simple things to know:

 

Spoiler

- The difficulty slider is one of the things that sets CoH apart from other games. In other games we can and do walk the whole leveling experience on easy mode often sighing at how we kill one easy enemy after another while doing quests, but in City of Heroes this can be changed to have more enemies, stronger enemies, to have bosses, or not have bosses, to have Arch-Villains, or not. This allows to customize the playing experience. Playing a character who has lots of AoE? Then more enemies can be obtained by going x2, or x3. Playing a character with a strong single target damage but no AoEs? Less enemies but higher level with +1 or +2 so that they give more XP. At some point when very well geared we can even go for the max of fighting enemies +4 to us and set to spawn as if we were in a full eight person team.

 

The difficulty settings are down below on the right corner of the chat window in the little balloon icon. Choose Set Notoriety and mess with the settings. If the difficulty turned out to be too much then lower the settings and relog. The mission will reset with the new difficulty.

 

 

- So you just made eeeeeeverything perfect on your character. The keybinds are set to the familiar pattern, the extra chat channels  of no interest were removed and the ones who were are added,  the UI was moved just so, everything is JUST right. ...and then a new alt is made and everything is back to the basics. Alright, lets fix this. Log into a character that has everything set perfect as you want and then:

 

Menu, Options, Keybindings, Save to default file (if you had already made a new character and everything is in the basic default then click on 'load default file')

Menu, Options, Windows, scroll all the way down and click Save to default in both Chat Settings File and Windows Settings File (same as above).

 

Now every new character you make will have these settings automatically loaded when they are created, but for characters already created and using the default keybinds and windows then do the above but choose Load Default on each.

 

 

- Would you like to see numbers on your Hit Point and Endurance bar? Well, you cannot have it, but, you can monitor it.

 

Click on Powers on top of your skill bar. Click Combat Attributes. On a character that is aiming to be tanky and that I am slotting for defense I personally choose to monitor: current HP, regeneration rate, recovery rate, slash defense, fire defense, energy defense, last hit chance, recharge, influence. On a character that is not aiming to be tanky I don't monitor the defenses. Personal tastes apply.

 

This is because since slash and smash, and fire and Cold, and energy and negative, are tied together monitoring just one of those is enough.

 

 

- Wishing to see the distance to your target? Menu - Options - Windows - (scroll a bit down to Window) - Show Target Distance.

 

- Trying to buy something in the AH and no prices are being shown? This is a known bug and a work around is to bid for 1 inf and spam click Find.

 

- Want to try a comic book filter for the game? Menu, Options, Graphics&Audio, then click on Experimental Graphics Settings.

 

- Want Time Stamps in your chat? Menu, Options, Windows, Chat, Chat Timestamps.

 

- Want numbers for your cooldowns? Menu, Options, Windows, Powers, Power Recharge Indicator.

 

- Names for players and NPCs are too small to read? Menu, Options, Windows, Reticle, Name Size.

 

- Want to see your FPS? /showfps 1

 

- Names and healthbars over the enemies (if no longer wanted then use 0 instead of 1). This makes locating a boss in a crowd much simpler:

 

/optionset ShowVillainName 1
/optionset ShowVillainBars 1

 

- The map can be detached by clicking on the little blue button at its corner and then moved to anywhere on the screen so it is always visible.

 

- Vis_scale will increase your view distance making things a lot more detailed. But this command resets each time we log off so I have incorporated it into my movement keybinds: /bind w "+forward$$visscale 5"

 

- Don't know where everyone in your team is? There is a little blue arrow on the right side of the team window that shows their location if they aren't in the same zone. The little blue arrow is also useful to see the icons if you are in charge of throwing shields or buffs on the team, but it can become very cluttered. Use this to diminish the icon clutter: /optionset buffsettings 1184529

 

- Simple keybinds that I use:

 

- /bind F10 toggle incarnate

- /bind F11 ah

- /bind F12 toggle costume

- /bind o toggle friends

Edited June 26 by Sovera

[quixoteprog]

I would skip the Secondary Mutation power in favor of Inner Inspiration. The ability to generate 3 inspirations every 25 minutes (IIRC) often big ones, which come up pretty often, that you can sell for 8-60k. Easy money if you don't have a rich sugar dady alt to fund your new guy. Much better than a random power you need to keep refreshing.

 

Also, on a first time toon, you should do the tutorial, where you get two big inspirations. If you save them an sell in the AH you can make 20-50K once you are done. Funding those enhancements you don't think are worth it. Which, by the way, I kind of disagree with. At least that it is worthless. At level 7 a level 10 training enhancement will give about a 20% bonus. Just one. That means a power doing 10 point with two damage enhancements will do 14. Maybe the difference between 2 shotting something instead of 3 shots to kill it.

 

And if you want to power through those levels below 20 without worrying about buying enhancements, all you need to do is make 3-5 runs of DFB with double XP on will get you to level 15-20 easily. And will give you 12% buff to Accuracy, Damage, Defense and Recovery. (One different buff for each run). Which will only last you a couple levels by that time, since they expire at level 22. But then you can do DIB, which I think gives similar buffs that last a few more levels.

[Sovera]

47 minutes ago, quixoteprog said:

I would skip the Secondary Mutation power in favor of Inner Inspiration. The ability to generate 3 inspirations every 25 minutes (IIRC) often big ones, which come up pretty often, that you can sell for 8-60k. Easy money if you don't have a rich sugar dady alt to fund your new guy. Much better than a random power you need to keep refreshing.

 

Also, on a first time toon, you should do the tutorial, where you get two big inspirations. If you save them an sell in the AH you can make 20-50K once you are done. Funding those enhancements you don't think are worth it. Which, by the way, I kind of disagree with. At least that it is worthless. At level 7 a level 10 training enhancement will give about a 20% bonus. Just one. That means a power doing 10 point with two damage enhancements will do 14. Maybe the difference between 2 shotting something instead of 3 shots to kill it.

 

And if you want to power through those levels below 20 without worrying about buying enhancements, all you need to do is make 3-5 runs of DFB with double XP on will get you to level 15-20 easily. And will give you 12% buff to Accuracy, Damage, Defense and Recovery. (One different buff for each run). Which will only last you a couple levels by that time, since they expire at level 22. But then you can do DIB, which I think gives similar buffs that last a few more levels.

I don't find generating inspirations useful. I can go naked from spawning at the steps to doing one DFB, then Posi 1 and 2 and come out A) at level 22, and B) with 26 merits which translates into 78 Converters, which, roughly, translates to 7 million inf. Even just doing Posi 1 alone gives 11 merits which is turned into 33 Converters, and that's about 3 million. So, yeah, I mean, sure, 20-50k isn't BAD, and doing the tutorial for those extra two big inspirations isn't BAD but it's like I said above, a drop in the ocean that is selling Merits.

 

As for slotting TOs and DOs it's a matter of opinion. With all the buffs we get I don't think that they are useful. With double XP on it takes about an hour and a half. It takes longer to go to a shop and purchase them, then replace them when they expire after five levels, than to just move on and get a few more levels. I can see the case being made for a character that is strictly soloing though but even then TOs and DOs will turn red quickly.

[quixoteprog]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

I don't find generating inspirations useful. I can go naked from spawning at the steps to doing one DFB, then Posi 1 and 2 and come out A) at level 22, and B) with 26 merits which translates into 78 Converters, which, roughly, translates to 7 million inf. Even just doing Posi 1 alone gives 11 merits which is turned into 33 Converters, and that's about 3 million. So, yeah, I mean, sure, 20-50k isn't BAD, and doing the tutorial for those extra two big inspirations isn't BAD but it's like I said above, a drop in the ocean that is selling Merits.

 

As for slotting TOs and DOs it's a matter of opinion. With all the buffs we get I don't think that they are useful. With double XP on it takes about an hour and a half. It takes longer to go to a shop and purchase them, then replace them when they expire after five levels, than to just move on and get a few more levels. I can see the case being made for a character that is strictly soloing though but even then TOs and DOs will turn red quickly.

What you seem to be arguing is that Secondary Mutation + running a TF then doing some work in the AH is better at making influence than clicking Inner Inspiration and typing "/ah".  Well... sure?

 

My argument, however, was that having Inner Insp. is better than SM because you get a constant source of insp. ONE of the things you can do with it are sell the big ones. If however you are rolling in cash because you spent 2 hours running a task force, buying converters, buying enhancements, converting them, listing them, then you can save up your inspirations and use them to kill stuff or survive. Holding on to the ones you can use and having a predictable boost. Just seems much better to me than a random power that may or may not be useful to your AT or for whatever you are doing at the time.

 

I would suggest that if you are wanting to make money, though, then do farming. That is way more fun to me than grinding a TF to get merits. In the time it takes you to do a TF and all the converting and AH stuff you can make 20-30 million influence. Buy 2-3 hero/villain packs that will net you merits, converters and rare enhancements all of which you can use to scratch that "AH wheeler dealer" itch if you like. And no need to spam the LFG channel.

 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by quixoteprog

[Sovera]

2 minutes ago, quixoteprog said:

What you seem to be arguing is that Secondary Mutation + running a TF then doing some work in the AH is better at making influence than clicking Inner Inspiration and typing "/ah".  Well... sure?

 

My argument, however, was that having Inner Insp. is better than SM because you get a constant source of insp. ONE of the things you can do with it are sell the big ones. If however you are rolling in cash because you spent 2 hours running a task force, buying converters, buying enhancements, converting them, listing them, then you can save up your inspirations and use them to kill stuff or survive. Holding on to the ones you can use and having a predictable boost. Just seems much better to me than a random power that may or may not be useful to your AT or for whatever you are doing at the time.

 

I would suggest that if you are wanting to make money, though, then do farming. That is way more fun to me than grinding a TF to get merits. In the time it takes you to do a TF and all the converting and AH stuff you can make 20-30 million influence. Buy 2-3 hero/villain packs that will net you merits, converters and rare enhancements all of which you can use to scratch that "AH wheeler dealer" itch if you like. And no need to spam the LFG channel.

 

 

We seem to be miscommunicating.

 

Posi 1 takes 40 minutes to run and earns 3 million. The second miscommunication appears to be that I am suggesting to to buy Converters, buy enhancements, convert them, then put them on the AH. Please re-read more carefully. I said 'buy converters, type /ah, throw them in there'. And the final miscommunication appears to be grinding TFs. I said leveling a new character. Doing the TFs gives XP that we need to level, doing TFs gives Merits that are worth money, and doing the TFs gives the +HP accolade. So for a new character this is a triple whammy.

 

Once at 50 and if you want to farm in the AE or earn merits and play the AH is up to the person, but has no bearing with what I said and my advice for a leveling route.

 

I rank the selling of insps at the same level of people advising to sell their common salvage for 1 inf because sometimes people will buy for 250 inf and booyah it is all profit, woo. If people want to do it that's fine, but I'm not going to advise anyone to do so when the game throws us inf by the millions where 250 inf or 100k every 25 minutes is a drop in a bucket.

[Sovera]

Added a 'simple things to know' section.

[Mr. Vee]

'(The amplifiers)... are only really worth it at level 1' bit is only true for new broke folks. Once your money situation is fixed they're worth it for every toon, especially defensive amp.

 

Great guide though. A command that might be worth adding is /leaveteam. I see tons of folks in help asking how to reset a mission and it's much easier than finding the exit, getting another mission, setting it, etc. Doesn't work for ouro/tf/ae without killing the arc but great for solo mishes.

[Dazl]

Another way to get quick cash at level 1 is to find all the exploration badges in AP. With the jump pack and ninja run from the PTW vendor, you can do it in about 5 to 10 minutes. After you find all 8 of them you get 5 reward merits which can then buy 15 converters and get you about 1.2 million from the AH.

[Sovera]

2 hours ago, Crimsonpyre said:

Another way to get quick cash at level 1 is to find all the exploration badges in AP. With the jump pack and ninja run from the PTW vendor, you can do it in about 5 to 10 minutes. After you find all 8 of them you get 5 reward merits which can then buy 15 converters and get you about 1.2 million from the AH.

That's not very new player though. It implies having Videot installed and when someone is at the point of having that they should know what they are up to 🙂

[Dazl]

Ok if you don't have VidiotMaps as everyone should here is the links to set it up.

 

If you don't want to use that here is the Paragon Wiki link to badge locations.

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Hero_Exploration_Badges

[olio]

/monitorattribute influence

Shows your influence in a small pop up, which you can drag in your ui wherever you want.

Edited February 20, 2020 by olio

[Herotu]

You may want to look at the AH at some expensive recipes. The prices vary wildly over very short periods of time, so if you can pick the bottom and top of the market for a pricey recipe, you can start flipping great numbers of them. That should get you going, later you might want to find a cheap recipe that crafts into an expensive enhancement. After that you will be a billionaire, I expect.

[Gobbledygook]

Thanks for this Sovera, while I'm not a new player, I have been gone from HC for close to six months, and been even longer since I rolled a new toon, so I'll be using this in the next week or so.

[DougGraves]

Slotting from level 12 on is totally worth it for characters that level normally.  It is not worth it for power levelers.  But if you play normally you spend a long time going from 12 to 22 and the DO and SO enhancements make a huge difference in play.

[Sovera]

On 3/6/2020 at 8:36 PM, DougGraves said:

Slotting from level 12 on is totally worth it for characters that level normally.  It is not worth it for power levelers.  But if you play normally you spend a long time going from 12 to 22 and the DO and SO enhancements make a huge difference in play.

You have a good point and I agree with you. I edited the guide.

[Sovera]

Added some more bits from questions I've answered in-game.

[Sovera]

Reshuffled things so how to travel fast in the game is not a blurb lost in the misc section since it is pretty important and deserved its own section. Also updated with some changes the new patches brought.

[OldLost]

In the first post, in the section titled "Simple explanation on attuned and crafted IOs", the word "aspect" is used but not defined in any way. What does the word mean in the context of enhancements?

[GM Impervium]

On 10/31/2021 at 3:26 AM, OldLost said:

In the first post, in the section titled "Simple explanation on attuned and crafted IOs", the word "aspect" is used but not defined in any way. What does the word mean in the context of enhancements?

 

It means things like Accuracy, Damage, Recharge, etc. The aspects or particular features of the power that the enhancement improves.

[Palehood]

On 1/22/2020 at 11:38 PM, Sovera said:

- Obtain Secondary Mutation (Free. it's a small random buff, but it's free so why not?).

 

 

 

 

What's a Secondary Mutation?

[Sovera]

1 minute ago, Palehood said:

What's a Secondary Mutation?

 

A power that can be obtained from the P2W that grants a small random buff for 20 minutes.

[Dazl]

2 hours ago, Palehood said:

What's a Secondary Mutation?

It can also randomly turn you into a Rikti Monkey as well.

[Golden Azrael]

On 11/1/2021 at 7:00 PM, Dazl said:

It can also randomly turn you into a Rikti Monkey as well.

 

...and get you killed if you activate it in a middle of a mob.  (Which I didn't do, of course.)

 

Great beginners guide.  Authoritative CoH Info'.  A must read for starting and veteran players alike.

 

Azrael.

[Golden Azrael]

On 11/1/2021 at 4:03 PM, Sovera said:

 

A power that can be obtained from the P2W that grants a small random buff for 20 minutes.

 

Yeah.  It's noteworthy.  It can be a couple of defence.  30% end reduction.  30% recharge!

 

Worth getting.  Last's 30 mins.  That's a long time in combat time. 

 

It's free!

Azrael.

[Sovera]

Added more info including the accolades and more details on easy money making, then it was getting to be so spammy that I spoiled everything.