suggestion Make other contacts optional objectives

[Miss Victory]

So I was doing the galaxy city storyline when I found out there is literally a major moral decision  with contacts
Unlike preatorian where it is based on character morals, this is a hero playthrough. So the choice of contacts even if nothing happens/is mainatained in game. You know that there either be a murder, or people won't get help
And since this isn't a villain playthrough(other's can go in a hole), or a prime earth play though(Either rebel or praetorian+Ruthless or paragon) you are a hero failing to help others. I understand if a contact gives story contacts. So I propose for hero contacts if it isn't related to main story(e.g. you have to choose a spymaster to sneak inside or choose a military man to go loud wouldn't make sense since they are only helping prepare for a mission but instead a whole story like the medical or the murder are whole ministories/arcs) the other contact is given as a optional contact/storyline either after choosing(Contact chosen is flagged for main story), or after completing the other contacts story.

Anyways I also need help choosing a contact, idk who to choose...

[SuperJames]

I think the idea is that you can't be everywhere at once and can't save everyone on your own. Rest assured, another new hero will be right along to help whoever you can't.

 

Later in the game, when you discover time travel through Ouroboros, you can do the other contact arc.

 

Right now, for a low-level hero, Officer Fields has you fighting Vahzilok, which are tougher enemies and more likely to send you to the hospital. There are a few groups of them around Atlas Park, so you could try fighting them and see how it goes. Hope this helps.

[SuperJames]

These are both heroic story arcs. At higher levels, you will get alignment missions which do give you the choice of being a hero or a vigilante. Usually heroes save people while vigilantes leave them to go after the perpetrators.

[Miss Victory]

39 minutes ago, SuperJames said:

I think the idea is that you can't be everywhere at once and can't save everyone on your own. Rest assured, another new hero will be right along to help whoever you can't.

 

Later in the game, when you discover time travel through Ouroboros, you can do the other contact arc.

 

Right now, for a low-level hero, Officer Fields has you fighting Vahzilok, which are tougher enemies and more likely to send you to the hospital. There are a few groups of them around Atlas Park, so you could try fighting them and see how it goes. Hope this helps.

Alright fair enough, at least I know I can help the murders later... Maybe... Though I hope it is true some hero will hopefully help with the murders. I do the hospital missions in the meantime.

31 minutes ago, SuperJames said:

These are both heroic story arcs. At higher levels, you will get alignment missions which do give you the choice of being a hero or a vigilante. Usually heroes save people while vigilantes leave them to go after the perpetrators.

Well I mean I chose hero in the galaxy city portion so of course it is hero arc... But that is a fun little tedbit to learn that heroes save people and vigilantes just fight crime :3

[Uun]

There's no way to play through all the low level hero contacts at natural level before you outlevel them. There are too many of them and you gain XP too quickly to get through more than 1-2 at each level range. You can either a) turn off XP; b) go back and do the story arcs later though Ouroboros; or c) create another character to run the content you skipped. When the game was created, XP gain and level progression were much slower and multiple contacts were required to ensure players didn't run out of content (this actually used to happen frequently at the lvl 35-39 range).

[gameboy1234]

8 hours ago, SuperJames said:

I think the idea is that you can't be everywhere at once and can't save everyone on your own. Rest assured, another new hero will be right along to help whoever you can't.

 

Exactly what I was going to say.  In story, you have to pick someone to help because you can't do it all yourself.  Someone else will help the contact you don't pick.

 

Also, there are a ton of power combos in game, and a ton of ideas in the character creator.  You will run these missions more than once, and you will probably run them many times.  Trust me, I've saved Atlas Park enough times to get a repeat discount.  Between all the primary and secondary combinations, and all the character classes (ok, it's "Archetype," not class) you will want to restart from level 1 many times to try out different power combinations and different costume designs.  This is in addition to what you can do with Ouroboros.  If you don't run a mission or contact with one character, just run it with another.  It works out, trust me.

 

For example, in the future, after you finish Matthew's arc, head over to The Hollows and do David Wincott's arc (and all those that follow).  They're cool.

 

Final newbie help:  Costume changes are free at Icon or Ms. Liberty before level 10, and you have 5 free costume slots at level 1.  Gotta design them all!

 

[MTeague]

I tend to do a combination of

• turning off XP for each character until I choose to outlevel a certain range of arcs as my characters level
• choosing which arcs to run based on my characters concept / backstory.  (my magic based mind controller goes all in for the Circle of Thorns and Banished Pantheon, my science defender whos backstory has a burning grudge against Crey spends a lot of time vs Crey, etc.)
• making more and more characters.

A couple will flashback until they hit nearly everything. Doing all the flashbacks on all my characters? Highly improbable. Maybe if I retire from my real life job. Maybe. But the ones I really enjoy playing the most, sure.

 

Of course, some of these decisons are easier to make if you're not brand spanking new to the game. 

If this is your first character or two, then just run with it and enjoy. Don't overstress. Unlike most MMO's that seem to punish you for spending time on alts that you "should have spent" gearing up your main, City of Heroes is gloriously Alt-Friendly.

 

When you get into your 20's?  Don't forget the Tip Missions. They're Very well written. And they do vary by Alignment, and by Level Range. You absolutely do not need them to change alignments anymore, but the Vigilante tip missions are different from the Hero, which are different from the Rogue, which are different from the Villain.  At least,  I find them vastly more compelling than another generic "go beat up some sky raiders or council" mission.