"So What's Good?": Advice For New Players

[subbacultchas]

I would ignore the last two points of this. The first is a personal stance that shouldn't be really applied to others. The second is off because kb to kd is fairly easy to get in IO form (or Summer BB), and storm is really good, especially with kb to kd but even without it.

[subbacultchas]

If you plan on using double xp, have a rich alt or an alternative means of making money, as it will set your influence gains to 0.

 

If you're new to a TF or Trial, let people know. Rarely will they kick you, most often they will help walk you through it.

 

Instead of SO's get a set of IO's at 25, and slowly replace them along the way with either set IOs or attuned versions.

 

Use Pine's planner if you intend to get the character to 50 and beyond. It's not totally necessary, but having a solid game plan along the way helps you in both end-game and figure out how your character works best.

 

At 30-34 run Buck Salinger's quest line for the Katie Hannon TF. If you miss it, you can get it via Ouroboros 35+.

 

If you're using a knockback heavy toon, get some kb to kd IOs. It will make your teaming experience much better, although some powers used wisely don't need it.

 

 

[EiricEPadraig]

EVERYTHING is viable, but not everything is for everybody. The build you disdain just obviously isn't meant for you or your interests and playstyle.

 

+1 Inf

 

Well said, good sir!

 

As to the point of the OP, and that new players should be welcomed to try anything, and they don't really need pushing into one direction or another. If a new player wants to test a concept, they can easily just do the tutorial and DFB Trial and by then they usually know if it is something they like or not. Total time invested: maybe 30 minutes, depending on how long it took to create the character.

 

I personally love trying new builds, especially the ones that seem silly or not conceptually wise. Some of these characters I build for TFs and Trials, some for going back and soloing for content, others just for AE, and one was built specifically for me to run Ouros missions (it's an RP thing).

 

My point is, as some others have said, anything can be viable (emphasis on can). It really is just dependent on how you want to play. And the only way to learn how you want to play is to play the game yourself and learn from your own experience.

 

It really is that simple.

[biostem]

Now, I'm not going to pretend to be as wise or experienced as some of the fine folks on these forums, but having just come back to CoX after nearly 10 years, here are a few tips I have for new or returning players:

 

When you're selecting a particular power, see if there's a button or box that says something like "show more info" or something to that effect.  It's usually in the column to the left or right of where you're making the selection, and it'll show you the recharge time, accuracy, damage, and other vital statistics for your potential power pick, (and other powers in the set, depending upon which screen you're looking at).  You don't need to be fully versed in all the stats, but if you don't like a lot of down-time early on, then maybe a set with shorter recharge times will be more to your liking.

 

Generally speaking, there's an opportunity cost with regard to range and damage - if you're primarily playing a ranged attacker, then be aware of the tools available to you, to keep enemies at bay - immobilizes, holds, or even just taking hover from the flight power pool, can make a lot of difference.  Similarly, not every power set or archetype can heal themselves, and even though you can eventually take "aid self" from the medicine power pool, it has some draw backs that makes it less than ideal in an emergency situation.  Green inspirations are great, but you may not always have some on hand.  Certain powers, like a placate or teleport, may be able to save your life as well.

 

At some point before CoX originally shut down, the fitness power pool was made inherent.  What this means is that somewhere around level 2-4, you get swift, hurdle, health, and stamina for free.  Now, while these 4 powers aren't amazingly powerful on their own, what they do is make you heal, run/fly & recover endurance a little faster.  If you throw a couple slots into stamina in particular and slot in some end recovery enhancements, it'll provide a better stream of "fuel" for your powers.  hurdle is also very useful for those opting to take superspeed, since you can clear obstacles a bit more easily.  I wouldn't bother devoting slots to the other powers, unless you really have ones to spare, (maybe looking to take advantage of an iO set bonus or such).

 

My experience with powersets may not be too applicable to the game in its current form, since I left the game before players could cross over from hero to villain or visa-versa, but here are my thoughts:

 

I leveled a stone armor tanker to 50, as well as a kinetics defender, and both are (or at least, were), really great on teams.  It's a little slow going solo in either case, but still fun.  I had a dark/regen scrapper who was quite powerful and very self sufficient.  I also enjoyed playing my mercs/traps mastermind, (though the soldiers do mostly lethal damage, which gets highly resisted in the later levels).  Traps had some great debuffs that made up for it, though.  I also had a shield/super strength tanker, who was a beast, and could really bowl through group after group of enemies.  I had a radiation/radiation defender who was quite powerful solo and on teams, but took some time to build them up, and I recall there being a lot of toggles and short-range powers to manage/position yourself for.  I also vaguely recall playing a claws/ninjitsu stalker, who I enjoyed playing because you got 1-2 mid-range attacks.

 

I think I've rambled on for long enough, but I just want to leave off by saying that if you don't fall in love with a particular power set with the first 10 levels or so, then you may be better off rerolling from scratch, instead of continuing to punish yourself.  Cheers!

[Xaeon]

All powers are viable, but some are more viable than others and require far less work to be made good or have far higher ceilings of power that can be attained and some while workable, are at a point where you might want to ask if it's really worth the effort to make it good.

 

Except Mercenary Serum and Unrelenting; they're garbage and no amount of sets will ever make them not a waste of a power pick. :U  And Unrelenting's problem is more that it's locked behind a power pool full of meh choices that aren't particularly handy to most builds and some of its advertised features are straight up lies.  Mercenary Serum is the one power that truly, and absolutely, is unworkable trash because it was designed that way and is absolutely (not) working as intended.