Lost returning players

[Sarah_]

Hello!

 

we’re trying to play again on homecoming (we were old CoH players) but it seems things have changed! 
 

Here come loads of random questions:

1- What’s the “normal” way to level up?

Doing missions seems to be very slow. There was the trials back in the days but there doesn’t seem to be many running when we’re online?

Is there anything new we missed?

 

2- Is the a fix to reverse power creep?

 It feels the more we level up the weaker we get. We tried buying enhancement but it’s very expensive and you have to change them too often for our income.

 

3- What’s new on Homecoming compared to old school CoH? As content? In general?

 

4- Is there any hidden tips we should know about?

 

Thanks for your help! 🥹

[Doc Spectre]

If I need Inf for enhancements I tend to sell my rare (orange) salvage on the Auction House (Wentworths). They tend to sell for about 400 000 each. I also purchase Enhancement Boosters (at merit vendor, special salvage) with Reward Merits from doing story arcs, taskforces and giant monster hunts. I sell the Enhancement Boosters on the Auction House, they tend to steel from about 750k or 1 million inf each.

 

You can craft common Invention Origin enhancements IOs with common salvage and dropped recipes or purchase from crafting stations (see tutorial at Steel Canyon university). IOs don’t change their value when your characters level changes.

You can also find ‘cheaper’ common IOs on the Auction because player make loads for the crafting badges.

 

I personally find the way I like to level is to join Taskforces in the LFG channel.

 

Also welcome back and Excelsior server is usually fairly active.

Edited yesterday at 11:47 AM by Doc Spectre

[Ghost]

Welcome back!!!

 

Task forces form regularly on excelsior.  There are still trials, but other than DFB and ITrials, you don’t see them advertised much until they are the Weekly.

 

Your first run to 50 can be financially challenging.  IMO the best thing to do is sell, sell, sell.

Once you hit 50, influence is very easy to come by.

 

Lotsa new stuff.  New ATs.  New powers.  Free stuff, like being able to build and fully decorate a SG base for free.  New missions/trials/TFs.  Hard mode content.  New stuff is added a couple times a year.

 

Someone offers free tours to collect all the exploration badges.  Once done, spend 1 hour in Pocket D - you’ll get a long range teleported enabling you to port around the different cities.

Dont be afraid to ask questions on the Help channel - lots of people will respond (some 20 minutes later with an answer unrelated to what you asked)

 

Hope to see you around

 

Edited yesterday at 12:31 PM by Ghost

[Snarky]

Converting merits to sellable goods is a solid way to earn at low levels

[mistagoat]

Welcome back!

There are lots of good ways to level up.

At lower levels street sweeping is still plenty viable (hunt bosses for the big xp), Positron Task Force, DFB Trial, Hollows story arcs (you can start at 5 and end up around 20 if you do all 4 contacts at just +1x2 plus you get a ton of merits).

Mid range there are lots of Task Forces to do, Yin, Moonfire, Citadel, Synapse plus at lvl 15 you have access to the pillars in Oro to do flashback story arcs. I like to level up in flashback arcs since you get merits at the end and your level won't change while in a flashback so your xp stays consistent.

Higher levels you've got the ITF (Imperious TF, you need Midnighter badge to get there. Just go to Night Ward and enter the big mansion in the middle, then use LFG to get to Cim), Numina, Market Crash. There is a flashback arc that I love in the 30-34 range (so you have powers up to 39), The Freakshow War, It's all Freakshow and Council on good maps (no caves) and if you can take stuff at +1/2 x8 is an assload of XP (probably 4-9 levels depending how much you kill) and 55 merits at the end. I also use this arc as a merit farm, if you set it to +0x1 it can be speed ran in under 30 min.

 

Now you have a ton of merits, turn them into something valuable to sell to fund your toon. Even the cheaper set IOs make a big difference and should help combat you feeling weaker as you level up. All through the 20s and low 30s you'll probably feel that bit though, you just don't have enough slots to really meaningfully set out your powers.

 

Oh at level 1, go to pocket D and visit the start vendor and buy 8 of each power amplifier. At level 1 this will cost you 24k total (the cost goes up every time you level) If you need inf Email me @Slappo or @Mistagoat and I'll happily send you some inf (I'm usually on Slappo account). You can also get free xp boosters here if that's something you'd like to explore, certainly not required and they will reduce or negate inf income.

 

All Supergroup Base stuff is free now, making a little personal base is pretty easy and offers you an unparalleled world of convenience. Check the Base Builder forums for starter guides.

Edited yesterday at 01:49 PM by mistagoat
explaining xp boosters

[UltraAlt]

6 hours ago, Sarah_ said:

1- What’s the “normal” way to level up?

Doing missions seems to be very slow. There was the trials back in the days but there doesn’t seem to be many running when we’re online?

Is there anything new we missed?

 

Depends on how you want to play it.

You can go the old school way. The Hero Origin contacts are still in the basement in City Hall in Atlas Park. This is a good way to get reacquainted with the game.

 

If you want to speed up the leveling process you can get the x2 XP thingy from the START vendor (to the left of Miss Liberty and around the corner) aka the P2W vendor, but you don't get any infl while it is running.

And you can join or run/recruit for a DFB (Death From Below) that starts at level one. Bonus is that it drops SO's that your character can most likely use. 2 runs of DFB with the x2XP booster will generally get your character to level 8, which is high enough to join a Posi 1 task force. (each run takes less than 30 minutes. I've never timed it)

If your character joins a Posi 1 task force team that runs all but the last mission set at level +2 (I set the final mission on flat for most teams), that will generally get you enough xp with the x2 xp booster to get to level 14 which is enough for Posi 2. (Posi 1 usually takes between 30-60 minutes averaging around 45 minutes)

If you get on a Posi 2 team that runs through the whole thing at +2, your character is going to get awfully close to level 20. (Posi 2 usually takes between 30-60 minutes averaging around 45 minutes)

At level 20, you can run the Yin task force (Yin usually takes between 30-60 minutes averaging around 45 minutes) ... and so it goes. (except most of the task forces take longer)

 

If you hit points between task forces you can always help out on a DFB or another lower level task force and/or run contact missions, police scanner missings, or tip missions until your character has leveled up enough to join the next task force.

 

Watch the /lfg channel for teams that recruiting or use it to recruit for your own team. Astrophobia is still a much a common ailment in Homecoming as it was before the Sunset. As they say "build it and they will come", so say I "recruit and they will join".

 

I suggest going a teaming route where you actually play the game by running contact missions -or- the DFB and task forces if you want to level quickly.

I think that is a more enjoyable way to play than joining a level 50 police scanner teams Peregrine or doorsit while other players farm.

 

6 hours ago, Sarah_ said:

2- Is the a fix to reverse power creep?

 It feels the more we level up the weaker we get. We tried buying enhancement but it’s very expensive and you have to change them too often for our income.

 

The same thing was happening to me when I first started playing CoH back in Episode 2. It resolved pretty quickly when crafting and the Market episode was added.

Now you don't have to go Wentworths any more to market. Anywhere in the open world you can use AH.

 

Who knows how the other roll? Any SOs that drop on my character get put on the market for 1 inf. 

You can put your stuff for sale on the market buy and craft stuff for other to use (HINT: once you start buying crafted IO Sets always buy the attuned ones. Attuned enhancements can slot at the lowest level that they can slot and level up with the character through level 50.)

 

If you need a little infl, ask your teammates. Players like to help each other out here.

 

And once you have your character setup with some enhances that you know are going to remain slotted, you don't have to buy higher level Training, DO's or SO's you can level them all up at once price in the management screen. As you get enough to replace a training or DO with an SO or swap in an SO that drops, do it.
 

Back on live before the Sunset, I has a defender that was stuck with empty slots at mid teens somewhere, and they were having no way to advance on-slotting until crafting came out and then I started crafting to build up infl. That being said, it was my other melee characters that had enough influence to start using them to do the crafting and the emailing the defender enough to crafting and ... and as they gained enough inf from crafting to then email to another alt to start crafting ... and ... so the crafting spread through all my characters and I was never short on infl again.

But I know crafting and market PvP isn't for everyone.

 

Some people farm to get infl. I make my infl by selling to farmers and anyone else that thinks my price is low enough.

 

6 hours ago, Sarah_ said:

3- What’s new on Homecoming compared to old school CoH? As content? In general?

 

The contact menu give you a list of contacts to choose from, and it will let you teleport to them instead of having to travel normally to them.

 

On villain and Praetorian side it is basically the same. A little more content added to the villain side.

 

Hero side is pretty much the way that I think it ended up being at the Sunset. I'm not 100% sure as I stopped subscribing almost exactly a year before the Sunset.

Funneling is in place, so you don't directed to the origin contacts in Atlas Park City Hall. Galaxy City isn't accessible. I don't like the Twinshot and Hasherby (or whatever) contact arcs myself. There are a couple of new Homecoming arcs added on the hero side.

The game doesn't direct you to Perez Park or Striga Island (that I recall). I think it does give you the option to pick the Hollows starting contact (but no other Hollows contact if you outlevel the first one). 

 

 

Pretty much all the mini-pack stuff (costumes and emotes) are all free and accessible to all characters from the get go (including capes). I think there is some really rare stuff that needs an unlock but not many.

All the veteran and P2W powers are are available at the START vendor (was P2W Vendor).

 

New zombie NPC costumes have been added to the Zombie Invasion events.

There is an Anniversary with time capsules that get strewn around that can be opened for anniversary tokens, other stuff, and/or mobs jump out of various types to fight.

This year there were treasure chests around THE CITY on talk like a pirate day. It was like an event in progress still being worked on.

 

Now there have been a ton of power changes for balance, cosmetic options, etc.

The Sentinel archetype has been added.

New power sets have been added.

Some new crafted IO enhancement sets have been added.

 

There is a fast travel menu now that unlocks when you get like 6-7 explore badges. Once you have that unlocked,  you can teleport to the base portal in any zone that you have found an explore marker for.

 

If you take out certain number of enemies in a zone in the open world, it will drop a exploration tip mission that will direct you to an exploration badge in the zone that you haven't unlocked yet.

 

I don't know if they had passcodes on bases the last time you played but if you get a base code from someone, you can use a base portal to access their base (many of which have teleporters to all zones).

And, yeah, no need for prestiged in order to build bases any more. Build what you want. As big and grandiose as you want. No base rent.

Invite your own alts to (one) of your supergroups with /altinvite charactername

 

 

I'm sure there is more stuff, but I have already typed a lot.

 

6 hours ago, Sarah_ said:

4- Is there any hidden tips we should know about?

 

Click on the channel name to get a list of channels to change to rather than trying to click on those tiny bubbles to change channels.

 

Always by attuned IO Set enhances instead of ones for a certain level.

 

The people that still hate knockback as still as obnoxious about hating knockback as they always were.

 

Be ready for any content you play to be turned into a "speed" whatever when some 50 (or more) is on the team only really want the merits and don't care about other people having fun or working to level up their characters through playing leveling content. One minute you are having fun fighting enemies and the next minute someone is teleporting you to the end of the map to fight the end boss, someone runs off to fight everything on their own (or maybe just "cores" mobs - takes out the LT and bosses and leaves the minions behind for everyone else to clean up), or the mission suddenly ends because someone ran off to stealth to the glowies. Needless to say, those that do this don't tend to say that they are doing it - they just decide for you.

(If I recruit, I got the star, that means I have the boot for the reason. And I use it when people decide that they are the leader. I like playing the content and that's why I as recruiting to "play" the content and not "rush" through it.)

 

Avoid the Twinshot contact arc like the Vahzilok Plague. (but that may just be me.)

 

Don't get suckered into thinking the only way to play CoH is by playing the end-game. It is called the "end" game for a reason. The actual "game" is what some would call the "leveling content". The "end" game is what was stuck on the "end" of the game. (I will begrudgingly admit that Incarnate content isn't as much of a pain-in-the-butt that it was before the Sunset).

 

If you played before the Sunset, I really don't know for sure what else to mention.

[Scarlet Shocker]

Play the game, experiment. See what works for you best, what fits your preferences and playstyle. Profit

 

Welcome home! 

[MonteCarla]

+1 to everyone saying earn a few merits, and sell converters/boosters on the auction house.
This absolutely changed the game for me when I came back, by allowing me to buy all the SO's I needed as I levelled up.

 

You get 5 merits for collecting all 8 exploration badges in each zone.

The wiki has little [Copy] tags on pages like these that will thumbtack each badge for you. Doing this for Atlas Park and Kings Row will get you your first couple of million, or close. 

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Atlas_Park#Exploration_Badges