Can I start as a Hero, with a Villain Archetype?

[Gunnarr]

Been gone from the game for many years, out of the blue my wife noticed it and said "I'd like to try this as a duo" and after coffee we are going to give it a go. She's pretty simple in her play style (you've never met anyone more 'scream and leap' than her) so I'll be following along trying to keep her from getting flatlined as she shoots/kicks/splodes things.

However the whole 'hero vs villain' thing has given us pause. If she wants to play a Brute (style/animations, rage) but be a hero in Paragon City, can she start there? Likewise, if I play a MM (necro/dark, or bots/thermal) can I start there? Or must we start in the Villain/Red side and make our way to someplace else and then go to the Blue side?

 

[A Cat]

Yep. To start as a villain class but be a hero, just choose City of Heroes (as opposed to going rogue), make your character, then choose to go to Paragon skipping the tutorial, choose the outbreak tutorial, or to save Blue Spectrum in the Galaxy City tutorial. 

[Jacktar]

Hi welcome to the game 😀

When you create your alt you can choose any combo’s that are on offer and then you also get the choice of starting as a Hero or Villian.

So you can go ahead and roll a Hero side Brute no problem.

Enjoy

 

[Gunnarr]

Outstanding! Thanks everyone for the prompt, clear answers! Time to roll up our toons. See you on Torchbearer!

[biostem]

Only the soldiers of arachnos/fortunatas must begin villain-side.  Even then, you can easily travel to pocket d and talk to null the gull to switch sides at any time.

[Scarlet Shocker]

Welcome home! Enjoy it

[Grouchybeast]

Everyone else has already answered your actual question, but as some unrequested advice, may I suggest that your wife looks at a Dual Pistols/Martial Combat blaster?  As a fellow afficionado of the scream-and-leap playstyle, it's the most scream-and-leap character I've ever had.  (Definitely roll the /thermal to go with it.  I duoed my DP/MC with a Thermal defender and they had a hell of a job keeping me upright but it was SO MUCH fun.)

[Luminara]

3 hours ago, Gunnarr said:

She's pretty simple in her play style (you've never met anyone more 'scream and leap' than her)

 

👍

[JasperStone]

1 hour ago, Grouchybeast said:

Everyone else has already answered your actual question, but as some unrequested advice, may I suggest that your wife looks at a Dual Pistols/Martial Combat blaster?  As a fellow afficionado of the scream-and-leap playstyle, it's the most scream-and-leap character I've ever had.  (Definitely roll the /thermal to go with it.  I duoed my DP/MC with a Thermal defender and they had a hell of a job keeping me upright but it was SO MUCH fun.)

Yes

....

But Dual Pistols/Ninja Training with Combat Teleport

gives you

 

[Grouchybeast]

6 minutes ago, JasperStone said:

Yes

....

But Dual Pistols/Ninja Training with Combat Teleport

gives you

 

 

I'm a simple soul, I just want to kick mobs in the face, and send them flying backwards through the air while I cackle madly and try to kill arrest them with bullets before they hit the ground.

[Gunnarr]

She decided to make a Natural-origin Dual Blade/SR Brute, with the Sai weapon form to simulate Black Widow from the Avengers. There isn't anything that really does 'dual batons' well, as far as we could see, but it let her get in the game and run amok. I ended up doing a Magic-origin Necro/Dark MM (mostly because I saw someone using 'Mystic Flight' and said 'OK, that looks amazing'). I've played Bots/x MM many times in the past, so this is a pretty different flavor for me. My zombie's name is Larry.

I'd forgotten how different COH is from other MMOs, so here are some moments from yesterday's "First Day in COH" that reminded me.

My wife:

-spends more than an hour in the character creator getting her costume just right, while taking notes on cool things that aren't right for THIS toon, but maybe a future alt...

-gets stuck in the Outbreak tutorial, because she was trying to enter a mission door that another player used instead of the one across the street with the yellow arrow...
-gets the Void Skiff free flight disc power (a random nice person gave each of us each 1.5m Inf as a 'welcome to the game' gift!) then spends fifteen minutes zooming, crashing, swooping while laughing and squealing - her first ever game where she can personally fly.

-gets pushed into traffic by an irresistible NPC walking by, is then bumped into by a truck - squawks of outrage until I show her how much the free Athletic Run power boosts her jumping (cue five minutes of running and jumping over everything, more amazement at the jump distance)

-sees two gang members trying to mug an NPC, proceeds to apply the beat down to every mob in sight. Is amazed when an NPC uses her character name in a chat ballon later.

-develops an immediate dislike for other players with vision blocking and noisy pets/effects who join her at a vendor, and is apparently griefed by a Demons MM player who follows her around standing next to her each time. Eventually he goes away, but she wrote his name down for later revenge (she's from Chicago, and holds a grudge like a Sicilian Elephant)

-accidentally walks over the badge behind city hall and then (after I explain how they work) develops a desire to 'get all the badges'

-discovers that fall damage is a thing in a superhero game, while getting the badge on top of Atlas' statue. She is immediately healed and buffed to the eyebrows by a swarm of helpful 50s standing around.

-discovers KB when she uses the nemesis staff to see what it does, then spends a few minutes playing 'Hellion in the Corner Pocket' street pool

-discovers KU when a red street punk shoots her in the chest with a pump shotgun (he regretted that immediately afterwards)

Half a day playing the game, much of it spent on tuning her looks and explaining mechanics, she achieves level 3, and says "That was AMAZING!"

Thank you all again for the help and advice 🙂

Edited January 28 by Gunnarr

[Ironblade]

On 1/27/2024 at 4:40 AM, Gunnarr said:

She's pretty simple in her play style (you've never met anyone more 'scream and leap' than her)

Okay, that says either scrapper or brute to me.  🙂

 

 

On 1/27/2024 at 4:40 AM, Gunnarr said:

If she wants to play a Brute (style/animations, rage) but be a hero in Paragon City, can she start there? Likewise, if I play a MM (necro/dark, or bots/thermal) can I start there?

Yes, you can.  My one recommendation for new players - do NOT start in Praetorian Earth.  That was added much later.  I think it's quite well-written, and has beautiful zones, but the enemies are also a lot harder to deal with at low level.

 

[Ironblade]

12 hours ago, Gunnarr said:

-gets the Void Skiff free flight disc power (a random nice person gave each of us each 1.5m Inf as a 'welcome to the game' gift!)

 

If you need more money, one of the richest people in the game gives 100 million to anyone who asks.

See this thread for info:  https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/43870-yomos-new-and-improved-bang-up-salmagundi-spectacular/

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Gunnarr said:

-develops an immediate dislike for other players with vision blocking and noisy pets/effects who join her at a vendor, and is apparently griefed by a Demons MM player who follows her around standing next to her each time. Eventually he goes away, but she wrote his name down for later revenge (she's from Chicago, and holds a grudge like a Sicilian Elephant)

 

You can right-click on people to bring up a menu.  One of the options is Add Player Note.  You can rate a person 1-5 stars and add a note.  This is stored on YOUR computer and absolutely no one else can see it.  Then, if you go into the game options, you can set it so that the stars will always appear above the persons head when you see them so you can instantly spot trouble-makers (1 star) or your best pals (5 stars) or anything in between.

 

[Derek Icelord]

12 hours ago, Gunnarr said:

My wife:

<snip>

-develops an immediate dislike for other players with vision blocking and noisy pets/effects who join her at a vendor, and is apparently griefed by a Demons MM player who follows her around standing next to her each time. Eventually he goes away, but she wrote his name down for later revenge (she's from Chicago, and holds a grudge like a Sicilian Elephant)

<snip>

 

So, CoH has a player notes system that allows you to add a note to a player and a 1-5 star rating. This is tied to their global name...

 

Also, "holds a grudge like a Sicilian Elephant" had me rolling. Thanks for that!

[ZemX]

On 1/27/2024 at 3:40 AM, Gunnarr said:

She's pretty simple in her play style (you've never met anyone more 'scream and leap' than her)

 

I believe you.

 

...

 

Screaming first would only slow me down.