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City of Heroes "lifehacks"


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Not super useful but AE buildings have doors on the "2nd floor" where the mission start area is. Just jump or fly up to the small ledge and click the doors. It's more like 10 floors up or something looking from the outside, but stops you from having to go in the lobby, then the elevator, then down the stairs.

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My bind for toggling between Hover and Fly on a single key press:

 

/bind F12 "powexectoggleon Hover$$powexectoggleon Fly"

 

I don't currently know where to find it, but back in the day I had a script that was in game that would automatically switch to fly when moving with wasd and automatically switch back to hover when not moving.  Was wonderful for playing a flying blaster, because it eliminated the accidental acc debuff from leaving fly on.

Fly only had an acc debuff for, like, a month as I remember it.

 

Scratch that, I remember now. Fly had an acc debuff from launch or so until travel suppression got implemented; it was Super Jump and Super Speed that only briefly had the acc debuff, before the devs settled on travel suppression.

 

Oh is that what happens now?  It's been so long since I've flown.  Most of my characters end up jumping.

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My bind tip is to make good use of CTRL and SHIFT! Particularly with WASD. For example, here's a bind I have with my PB

 

SHIFT+W "powexec_toggleon Quantum Acceleration$$powexec_toggleon Energy Flight$$e flypose2"

 

If I start hovering forward by pressing W, I can tap Shift to sequentially activate Energy Flight and Quantum Acceleration. It's like shifting up in gears! Plus it puts me in a cool pose.

 

My Mastermind was similar. Most guides seem to put their pet controls on the numpad, but I put them on CTRL+Q/W/E/A/S/D/Z/X/C/V

 

CTRL+Q/W/E giving commands

CTRL+A/S/D setting stances

CTRL+Z/X/C/V picking which pets I'm giving orders to.

 

Since my hand is over WASD, it means I don't need to move it or take my other hand off the mouse to control my pets. Some nice stuff in there too, like CTRL and W being follow. I could start running with W and tap CTRL to get my pets to follow me.

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I use the keymapping in the game to run all my powers with my right hand on the numpad.  For my dual blades scrapper, I set up the power order to make running the combos easier.

 

1 - Nimble Slash

2 - Ablating Strike

3 - Typhoon's Edge

4 - Power Slice

5 - Vengeful Slice

6 - Blinding Feint

7 - Free

8 - Sweeping Strike

9 - Free

0 - One Thousand Cuts

 

This makes the combinations 1-2-3, 1-2-6, 2-5-8, and 0-4-3.  The last one is a bit awkward, but isn't used very often.

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Slot Force Feedback Chance for Recharge in every one of your KB powers.

 

Slot Achilles Heel and Armageddon -res procs in all of your -def and Targeted AoE powers.

 

Overwhelming Force in Bonfire makes it Ice Slick but better.

 

Preventive Medicine absorb proc in Health gives you a free emergency shield every 90 seconds.

 

Recovery Serum temp power from the P2W vendor is cheap and gives you basically unlimited endurance.

 

The Reveal prestige power in P2W vendor lets you fully reveal zone maps (and thus everything on them) as well as mission maps.

 

/bind shift+lbutton "powexecname burst of speed"

 

Always take Max HP over resist.

 

/ah

 

/macro vault toggle vault

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Am I correct in remembering that there was a way to save your window setup from one character and load it quick on others? Did someone already give that and I missed it? What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

It's under Options>Windows.

 

There's also an option to save your chat settings as a default

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Am I correct in remembering that there was a way to save your window setup from one character and load it quick on others? Did someone already give that and I missed it? What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

There's also an option to save your chat settings as a default

NANI?!?!?!?!
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Some people prefer Mastermind binds on the number pad, but I have one hand on WASD and the other on the mouse, so instead, I have my MM binds on:

 

Shit/ Ctrl / Alt PLUS:

QWE

ASD

ZXC

 

 

I use Shift, Ctrl, and Alt for various things, like Goto, Follow, Defensive, Aggressive, Summon, Release, etc. That way I can still use WASD to move, and then use Shift / Ctrl/ Alt + a key to do pet-related stuff.

 

 

 

/bind f "pow_exec_name fly"

/bind lshift "pow_exec_name teleport"

 

 

/macro Nova "powexec_name Bright Nova$$goto_tray 9"

 

 

/macro Nova "powexec_name White Dwarf$$goto_tray 8"

 

 

/macro human "powexec_toggleoff Bright Nova$$powexec_toggleoff White Dwarf$$goto_tray 1

 

 

Those are my big hacks of the moment.... will add a super speeder in a bit.

 

 

I use similar macros, but I also bound Shift+E to Shadowstep, which is incredibly handy for zipping around zones without having to resort to (slower) Nova flight.

Obsidius

Excelsior Server | The Nightwatch

NW-738

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Fix Camera Combat

While in combat, by default the camera always uses its Artificial Intelligent to automatically turn facing the opponent without asking you. If you feel annoyed by it, go to Options->Controls-> Free Camera Movement, set it Enabled.

 

While in Mission, Missing Cut-scene Captions??? WTF

That is because you have Global Chat Tab edited before and you have removed NPC Dialog and/or Cutscene Caption. Try put it back.

 

Window for Numeric Health Point/Endurance Point/Infamy$$/etc..and more (I think limit to 10 status)

click Power->Combat Attributes->Base->Right Click "Current Hit Point"-> Monitor Current Hit Point.

    """ Ta Ta """ a new status window pops-up.

Repeat with any of the stats on the Base List like "Current Endurance", "Regeneration Rate", "Recovery Rate", "To-Hit Bonus". "Accuracy Bonus", and Most important "Infamy" your $$$$.

 

Thanks and Enjoy your life in COH.

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  • 11 months later

I'm wondering that nobody mentioned a mousechord bind. I use these two for switching on and off my travel powers:

 

/bind MouseChord "powexec_slot 10"

/bind alt+MouseChord "powexec_MouseChord "powexec_slot 10"

 

Slot 10 is fly, alt slot 10 is run for example. MouseChord is a right-left-click with the mouse.

 

Gamma_Sig_300.png.b3555a4381484348083a1d07e1ac38f9.png

 

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Life hacks:

Travel

*Where the base portal and Ouro drops you off is different, use it to your advantage. 
*You can access ‘tram’ missions from the Ouro portal

*You can slot stealth enhancement into sprint. Pair this with any other stealth for full invisibility (super speed works well). Great for stealthing missions.

*Some TFs/Storyarcs have specific doors for each missions, like Yin TF, so you can start travelling before the mission is set if you remember where to go.

*The mission teleport power from P2W has a 30 min cooldown. Save it for when you get a mission which is a few zones away. Or on TFs like Posi 2 for when it switches from Steel Canyon to Faultline.

*Bind your travel power and sprint to the same key no matter character you are playing.

 

 

Binds 

*Use same keybinds across all characters for the same type of powers, where possible. E.g. always have your travel power, self heal, hasten, crowd control, incarnate powers, bound to the same place. That way when you swap characters it will still feel intuitive.

*Change the keybinds for slots 6-0 in your action bar so they are more usable. I bind slots 6,7,8,9,0 to keys q,w,e,r,t (plus alt and Ctrl variants). This makes them more usable and keeps all your combat powers in one place.

*Create 2 different trays for your ‘always on toggles’ and other miscellaneous powers that aren’t combat oriented.

*bind /ah to a button. 
*use an afk macro so it shows when you’re typing. Bind return “afk typing...$$startchat”

*Once you’ve set up all your binds and windows, save them to the default so that any new character has them straight away.

*Customise your characters speech bubble, title and ui to match their colour scheme!

 

Combat 

*Knowledge is power, try to understand what powers your enemies use so you know which to prioritise. E.g Incarnate Banished Pantheon I always go for the ‘Sorrow’ mobs first (they do massive -def) as they are the most dangerous. Once they’re dead I can relax.

*You can choose to monitor some combat attributes which puts them in a small box which is always visible. Ranged defence is a good one to monitor, also 'last chance to hit' which shows the accuracy chance of the last attack you used. Right click on the stat from combat attributes and choose monitor.

*Movement is key - keep moving and repositioning to maximise your potential.

*If a room is all spaced out and mobs can’t all be hit by your debuffs then it can be dangerous; try pulling and using LoS to group them up near a corner or doorway.

*Backpeddling is a good way to get mobs to line up nicely for a cone.

*Whether mobs are within range, or inside your cone attack or not, is all calculated the moment you hit the power, so if they subsequently all split up or run off, or run out of LoS, then you will still hit them all providing they were within range when you activated your power. Can be used to great effect with cones.

*If you’re heavily debuffed then take cover out of LoS, wait for debuffs to expire, heal up if you can and then jump back in. 
*Inspirations!

*Endurance recovery is calculated as a % of max endurance; raise your max endurance (by accolades or set bonuses) to increase your recovery in real terms, even if your recovery powers remain the same. 

 

Auction House

*When you sell something on Homecoming, you’re selling the ‘concept’ of the item rather than the specific item itself. The AH will automatically convert the concept to whatever specifics the buyer wants. E.g. if you are selling a level 34 Positron damage enhancement for 2 million, a buyer could buy that as a level 50 version, a level 25 version, or an attuned version, for 2 million.

*As such low levels can make good money selling enhancements, as they have very low crafting fees and people can buy their low level enhancement ‘concepts’ as attuned or high level variants as desired, which lets them make millions.
*Level 50s have a harder time crafting to sell as most enhancements cost 500k as a flat fee to craft, which plus materials means you struggle to make a profit. But 50s make lots of money just by defeating mobs, whereas lowbies are well positioned to make money by crafting and selling.

*When you sell salvage you aren’t selling the specific salvage you are putting on but the rarity. Which means you are selling common, uncommon or rare salvage, and they all sell for the same price according to their rarity. This is why Lucky Charms are no longer 10 times as much!
*It costs the same amount to buy an attuned version as a non-attuned version of an enhancement on the AH. If you want to convert a crafted enhancement to attuned, you can sell it for the market price, then use that money to buy it back again as attuned. 
*Purple enhancements are always attuned, so don’t accidentally buy them as attuned! Always buy them as regular and then boost them.

*If you don’t want specific set bonuses available at low levels, boost your enhancements to 50+5. Where it makes the most difference is where you’re boosting a stat that isn’t hitting the diminished returns ceiling. E.g. boosting the damage/endurance enhancement for the extra endurance reduction.

*If you no longer need an enhancement, use an unslotter and store it in your base storage for another character or another day. Also use unslotters to experiment between procs for cheap.

*Use enhancement converters to convert low value enhancements to their higher value procs for selling. E.g. any luck of the gambler enhancement could be converted to the global recharge and sold. 
*Epic enhancements can be converted to different sets quite easily as there aren’t many sets. So any excess epics store them in your base, ready to be converted for any new alts that make it to 50.

 

Okay that’s all I’ve got for now ☺️

 

 

Edited by Peacemoon
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Retired, October 2022.

Fallout Engineer Rad/AR Defender || Peacemoon Empathy/Psi Defender || Svarteir Dark/Dark Controller

Everlasting || UK Timezone

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5 minutes ago, Peacemoon said:

*You can slot stealth enhancement into sprint. Pair this with any other stealth for full invisibility (super speed works well). Great for stealthing missions.

Getting the variant sprints from the P2W vendor is actually worth doing for this reason - you can have a stealth sprint and a speedy sprint if you want to, as well as several of the Universal Travel unique enhancements at a cost of zero slots. A couple of the sprints have a side effect of making you much easier to visually track while moving making teaming with a stealthed player less frustrating as you no longer have to look for a floating nametag (as I discovered playing with my increasingly frustrated brother yesterday).

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I play on two different systems, my home PC and my laptop when at work or on the road. I set up all my windows the way I like on my PC and then went into options and saved the setting to the default file. Because the laptop has a different screen, everything would be smushed and I would have to re-arrange the windows again. Then it dawned on me that the default files are saved locally. So, I set all my windows up on my laptop and saved them to the default file.

When I switch machines, I just type /wdwload and the windows switch to whatever machine I am using. 

(I use the default files - windows, key mapping, chat, and options for every new toon I create. Saves so much time because I remap almost all of my power tray keys to my numpad.)

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On the "power monitoring" tip one very useful thing to monitor is "last hit chance". It's always at the end of my list, for easy reference, and lets me know if a certain enemy got massively buffed or something. For example with Rikti drones are typically hard to hit but often ill be fighting a Lieut apparently exactly like all the others but my ToHit is down in the teens because they got buffed.

 

Similarly with Carnies I can easily miss that theres a Dark Servant somewhere in the bloom cloud. Checking my last ToHit at a glance let's me confirm one of the buggers is in here somewhere and I should try and use my quick animating attacks to take him out (cos wiffing a quick attack is much less annoying than with a 3 second heavy hitter) and maybe pop a few yellows.

Edited by Carnifax
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1 minute ago, Carnifax said:

On the "power monitoring" tip one very useful thing to monitor is "last hit chance". It's always at the end of my list, for easy reference, and lets me know if a certain enemy got massively buffed or something. For example with Rikti drones are typically hard to hit but often ill be fighting a Lieut apparently exactly like all the others but my ToHit is down in the teens because they got buffed.

 

Similarly with Carnies I can easily miss that theres a Dark Servant somewhere in the bloom cloud. Checking my last ToHit at a glance let's me confirm one of the buggers is in here somewhere and I should try and use my quick animating attacks to take him out (cos wiffing a quick attack is much less annoying than with a 3 second heavy hitter)

Yes I meant to add that, also its a reassurance that I'm still at 95% but just been really unlucky!

Retired, October 2022.

Fallout Engineer Rad/AR Defender || Peacemoon Empathy/Psi Defender || Svarteir Dark/Dark Controller

Everlasting || UK Timezone

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not going through 4 pages to figure out if this is posted already but:

 

Costume changes are free before level 10.  If you go to pocket D you can use War Witch to both make alternate costumes and work toward Pocket D VIP badge for the teleporter.

What this team needs is more Defenders

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You can use the LFG tab to teleport around. Open the tab, lock the group at the bottom, and que up for a TF or trial, and it will take you to the contact.

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Shadowspawn - Excelsior Dark/Dark Stalker | Pyro Kinetic -Everlasting Fire/Kinetic Corrupter | Nova Pyre - Everlasting Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster (OMG)

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I often monitor PvE Stealth Radius, because it can be easier to tell when I restealth from combat, depending on what else is happening onscreen. 
 

I also monitor influence as well, because it’s easier than bringing up the character ID screen, the crafting screen, or the auction house. 
 

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11 hours ago, ZekeStenzland said:

I often monitor PvE Stealth Radius, because it can be easier to tell when I restealth from combat, depending on what else is happening onscreen. 
 

I also monitor influence as well, because it’s easier than bringing up the character ID screen, the crafting screen, or the auction house. 
 

I hadn’t though if monitoring stealth radius, great tip!

Retired, October 2022.

Fallout Engineer Rad/AR Defender || Peacemoon Empathy/Psi Defender || Svarteir Dark/Dark Controller

Everlasting || UK Timezone

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you can effectively have more then one autocast power by binding frequently used keys to autocast a power and then exec another file to bind that same key to something else

For example

 

Forward.txt: w "+forward$$pow_exec_auto hasten$$bind_load_file_silent c:\dombinds\Forward2.txt"

 

Forward2.txt: w "+forward$$pow_exec_auto Domination$$bind_load_file_silent c:\dombinds\Forward.txt"

 

And then as you press w you will be able to use the key as normal and it will cycle between hasten and domination as you press the keys.

 

What I do is I bind such things to each of the WASD keys, and then I never end up having to even worry about those powers again.

 

You can do this to effectively put multiple powers onto power keypresses too, as an example here are cfgs from one of my characters who uses a spammable nuke on the q key that also swaps to casting voltaic sentinel with the q key:

sent.txt: q "powexec_slot 4$$bind_load_file_silent e:\corrbind\sent2.txt"

 

sent2.txt q "powexec_location me Voltaic Sentinel$$bind_load_file_silent e:\corrbind\sent.txt"

 

 

The downside to this of course is that you might have power animations firing off when you really needed to be doing something else, so that's something to consider when choosing to do this sort've thing. This trade off will probably cost you your life (or somebody else's!) once in awhile but it can be a pretty good quality of life improvement.

 

I especially love doing this for sets with vital buffs that are short duration, such as /shield and /nin's cc buff, and shadow meld

Edited by Frunobulax
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