Some COH Questions

[The Lionfist]

Hi.

I am playing some COH Trial. I played at release, and so many things have changed that its disorienting, and I don't know what alot of this stuff is.

I have some questions, and I cant ask them on the offical boards, because it appears trial accounts can't post.

1) Some NPC offered to take me from Heroic to some other type of person for 350 influence. I noticed when I was grouped that other people's missions some say Heroic and some say other things. What is this mechanism all about?

2) I went to the hollows (I am empath healer, so I have beeen getting groups willynilly) and went from 8 to 13 really fast. I now have ancient missions. How do I get back to level appropriate missions? When I played at release it seemed to have taken longer and I had more missions and contacts.

3) The last Hollows FF group I did, the xp is starting to slow down. Where do I go now? How long do I stay in Hollows?

4) How do I get a cape? I heard it was a quest at level 20, but how do you equip it, and also, how do you setup the alternate costumes. That was added about the time I left.

edit for #4, I found out on the main page that at 20, you basically just get a new slot from the quest, and do a new costume with that slot. What slots do you get at 30, and 40 though?

5) How does XP work when exemplar'd down? Unless they did something, wouldn't everyone just exemplar down to a sewer group?

6) I saw a website that listed what levels were for DO's and SO's. SO's appeared to be 25 and 40(?), can you get other SO's from drops and if so, is there a market for them or some kind of AH or Bazaar?

7) Are there any known balance or class issues in COH? I have noticed (limited time playing) that groups that are blaster heavy just seemed to be doing better than my melee heavy groups. This is coming from me, the main healer, on these groups. It might have just been a coincidence.

8) I saw they changed enhancements to penalize you for overdoing one kind. Do people still overdo it, or balance? How bad is the penalty. For my heals, it just makes sense to keep jacking the healing amount up, but otoh, maybe I should be doing some recharge reduction if the returns are being diminished so bad.

9) Travel Powers. How many slots should I do for these. I am going TP for lore/rp and just cause I like it (I have it on another older char so I know all about using it and its + and -) but my question is how do you slot travel powers, is it a waste to put more than 2 on them. I like the idea of adding some range to my TP.

That's all for now, I have some others that I am forgetting, but will post later.

Thanks!

[Dalantia]

Whee, lots of questions.

1) That is your difficulty setting. Heroic is the easiest, Invincible the toughest. The setting changes as follows:

Heroic: Normal +0 mission, no bosses when solo, AVs only with 4 on the team
Tenacious: +0 mission with larger groups and more lts, end enemy will be a boss, AVs with 4 on the team
Rugged: Normal +1 mission, boss at the end, AVs with 3 on the team.
Unyielding: +1 mission with larger groups and more lts, end enemy will be a boss, AVs with 2 on the team.
Invincible: +2 mission, end enemy will be a boss, there is no AV to EB conversion.

2) Do them in order to clear them out. Then talk to your contact (not the Hollows contacts) in order to get a mission contact that is your level. That new contact you will get will give you missions suited to your level.

3) At 15, the Hollows missions are outlevelled - from there, it's Skyway and Steel Canyon for City Zones, Faultline and Boomtown for hazard zones.

4) You earn your cape (and aura) by doing missions for the City Representative in Atlas Park. Cape is at 20, Aura at 30. To earn additional costume slots (alternate costumes), you must do a task for the tailor in Steel Canyon at 20, Independence Port at 30, and Founder's Falls at 40.

5) You gain -no- experience as an exemplar. If you have debt, you earn debt relief (all xp you would have earned goes toward paying off debt). If you have no debt, all experience you would have earned grants you influence.

6) DOs are best for 15 and 20. 25 and 30 SOs are in the same place. There are stores marked on your maps in every zone that will let you buy them of the proper origin. There's no AH/Bazaar because most people don't need that sort of thing in order to kit themselves out. The only rare enhancements are those granted from teh Hydra trial and the Hamidon encounter - one being an 8-man trial, the other being a skirmish that anyone over 45 can get in on.

7) I refuse to speak to PvP, but. Tankers feel that their defenses are too weak to allow them to take the alpha, let alone take an entire spawn's aggro, without excessive backup from a Defender. Defenders feel that Controllers encroach too heavily on Defender territory from both ends - that Controllers not only outdamage them (thanks to Pets and Containment), but many Defender primaries (Trick Arrow and Storm) actually work better in the hands of a Controller (which is working as intended, though that design philosophy may change.), while the rest don't have a very large difference between Defender and Controller. Fire Manipulation is considered the weakest secondary for Blasters. The rest is mostly I wish stuff (Kheldians would love some minor status protection in shields, Scrappers would like dual pistols.).

If you want PvP whining, I can't help you. Sorry. :)

8) After three slots, the dropoff becomes very pronounced, once you have SOs - what was 33% becomes around 5-7ish percent. Generally, after the third slot, it's time to slot something else. Note that this only applies to SO enhancements.

9) I don't usually slot travel powers beyond the first space, personally. If you want to, and feel you have the slots spare, go for it. :)

Anything else?

[The Lionfist]

Thanks

As for "Anything else?"

Heroic vs. Harder ones:

When do people chose the tougher ones? I am mostly a team oriented char as emp/psi, should I be taking the harder ones under the assumption I am always teamed up?

Costume Slots:

So Aura and Costume are the two new kinds of Char Creation elements you can get? I assume the Aura is just a glow-y color? If I get the jist, you basically unlock the ability to have 2 extra Char creation choices, then make a new costume with the extra 2 options?

Also, you cant get a 2nd costume until 20?

SO's:

So you are saying that from 25 onward, you can always buy SO's with influence and never have a gap where they go out of use? I thought that people had to buy them from other people, but I guess not.

So, there is no economy at all in COH between players?

Balance:

I was asking about PVE. I have just noticed that at my level, blaster heavy groups > melee heavy groups.

Slots:

Thanks, I guess for the ones you 6 slot, you want to go, like 3 healing, 3 reuse redux kinda thing?

Some new ones:

A) What is up with salvage? I have two things, what do I do with them?

B) Whats the best way to get team XP, just sorta lft and do people's missions? I am crappy solo, although I hear it gets better with some of the better PSI talents.

C) How many non pri/sec power pools do people usually take? I am looking over the slots, and trying to figure out if I it makes sense to take speed (hasten), travel, AND Fitness (4 stamina)

Thanks!

[Dalantia]

In general, unless you have a team that wants you to bump it up (Or a steady team whose capabilities you know well), I would tell you to leave it on Heroic.


Auras and Capes are two extra costume option categories, yes.

There are a lot of Auras, honestly. Flames, Electricity, glowing auras, sparkles, tendrils, crumbling earth, steam, etc etc. My Transcendant (As in "regards the laws of physics as mere suggestions") has a blue aura around him all the time. My Emp/Elec Defender has electricity running up and down his arms in his heavy battlesuit and letter jacket, while the electricity criss-crosses all over his body on the light combat suit. My highest Scrapper has silvery sparkles when he's in his armor, while he has a silvery aura when he's in his street samurai garb (white leather jacket, white slacks, white sunglasses). My Tanker has a bright white aura in armor, while when he's just in his T-shirt and slacks, he has fire around his hands. (I can get pictures of all of these, if you want.)

Lots of options. The character must reach 20 and 30 and do the mission in order to get access to these options, though - my 28 Defender does not get an aura because my 50 tanker has done the mission.

Yes, you get your first new costume slot at 20.

When you get a new costume, it automagically copies the costume in your first slot to the new slot - you can take that and modify it as you see fit.

In order to actually change the costume itself, you must pay Influence. There's a flat fee for just colors, and the cost grows quickly if you actually change actual options. You can modify any costume at any time, as long as you have enough Influence to pay for the changes.


From 22 onward, you can, if you have the Influence, buy SOs from the vendors. At 32 and 42, you'll need to do a mission for the vendor in the level-appropriate zone, in order to get access to the vendors that sell that level range of SOs, but otherwise, if you have the Inf, you can buy all of your SOs. So, the player economy mostly consists of salvage exchanges, Prestige farming (There are supergroups out there that hire themselves out in exchange for influence and infamy - they join your group, farm prestige for a while, and when they're done, return to their own supergroup. On Virtue, failure to pay RIMA/PCMA if you hire them is considered extremely bad form and will probably get people to blacklist you.), and handing out influence for costume contests, to alts, and the like.


At your level, Tankers/Scrappers haven't bloomed yet, while Tri-form and Nova Bi-form Kheldians are on the upswing (Warshades just now getting Mire, Peacebringers getting Build Up and Essence Boost), and Human-Only/Dwarf Bi-Form Kheldians are struggling toward their Extreme damage melee hold. Their defenses are still fairly weak, while their damage is outshone enough by Blasters that the overwhelming offense schtick works. In the 20s, Blasters start getting more fragile, while those mobs with status effects start getting somewhat common. In the 30s and 40s, melees' status protection helps them stay relatively low-maintenance, while you'll be handing out Clear Mind to Blasters/Defenders/Controllers left and right.


Empathy slotting.. *gets out Seth*

I only six-slotted Heal Other because that's his Schtick™, absorbing the pain of others. That was slotted 3 heal, 2 recharge, 1 range.

For your healing powers, 3 healing, 1 recharge, one endred, and then 1 of whatever you want if you're six-slotting works, in general. Resurrect is going to want 3 recharge reduction, as will Fortitude, Recovery Aura, and Adrenaline Boost. You will probably want Regeneration Aura, as it is a -very- effective regeneration boost. (I cannot take it for character concept reasons.) I went 2 endred in Heal Other and Resurrect, mostly because I'm running a staminaless build, that also has two Leadership powers running most of the time. He also has an additional slot in his Fly, for an Endred.

The four Elec Blast powers that are "in concept" for him that he's taken so far (Short Circuit, Zapp, Charged Bolts, and Lightning Bolt) are all four-slotted, one acc, 3 damage (except for Short Circuit, which is one acc, 3 endmod). (He'll be picking up Tesla Cage and Thunderous Blast soon, then moving to the Electric Mastery Auxiliary set.)

For Psi, you want to forget Mental Blast exists. I try, every day. Will Domination, TK Blast will be your devastators. We've got a nice AE or two in Scream and Tornado. I'm told that Subdue is a nice Immob, along with doing great damage, but, again that character can't take that due to concept reasons.


Salvage is used for crafting. You must be in a supergroup with a functional base, along with having CoV, in order to make use of Salvage. This can be used To Make Stuff for adding on to bases, like teleport pads, power sources, and the like. In Issue 7, Empowerment Stations will be added that allow you to exchange salvage for 15 minute buffs.


In general, teaming up and doing missions for the highest in the party, making sure everyone's capable of handling it and contributing, is the best way of getting experience. Herding is no longer the way of today.


As to power pools, it depends on how much of their pri/sec they feel they can skip, how many they want, et cetera. In general, I usually stick to only two (Fitness and one other) depending on the concept of the character. My Tri-Form Kheldians will probably have no pools at all (Though Kheldians come with travel powers as inherents, and have 14 powers in their primary, 12 in the secondary). My Kin/Psi (and human focused Peacebringer) has only Fitness (which might be chucked when I respec, in favor of Concealment), mostly due to having a travel power in his primary.

Fun fact: the base 5 ATs require you to take at least two powers from the pools sometime during the life of your character. From 1-40, you have 20 power choices, 2 more than you would have if you took every single power from your primary and secondary.


If you have other questions, you can post them here or send a tell to @Dalantia - I'll respond as quick as I can, if I'm online and/or not in the middle of a fight.

[The Lionfist]

Thanks for the responses so far.

Here's a few more...

a) Where do you buy/sell inspirations? Everywhere I go I see "can't sell here" for them.

I would really like to buy some self-rezes as a rezzer of others.

b) Do people, with ED now, no longer 6-slot things? I see all these guides pre ED, that are like, 6 slot this, 6 slot that, but now it just seems to make more sense to stop at 4 or 5 or even 3, and spread around the slot love a little more (<- that sounded bad lol).

c) I get so many drive-by-invites, that I have almost just gotten used to it. In other games, drive-by-invites are a major turn-off but the seem almost the status quo in COH, is this a cultural norm for COH?

d) I totally missed Prestige, what is this business about farming it?

e) I went to Icon and I seem to have at least one free costume redo (this character, despite being level 13 is almost 2 years old), I think this is why I must have gotten a costume repsec or something -- it keeps saying fee waived.

f) Are there any downloadable UI mods like EQ/EQ2/WoW? I dont mind the interface, but I wouldnt mind experimenting to get something better. I particularly seem to have too much info coming into the chat windows, which I have "edit tabbed" some, but still.

g) I dont see mission xp rewards. I have rewards and exp messages going to the right tab or so I thought, but for some reason, when I complete missions the others see the exact amount of mish xp and get a message, but I seem to just get the xp with no message.

h) What accolade is the most popular for healer types, and just how hard are these to get? It appears on the www, that accolades are like meta-badges, made out of getting sub badges, is this correct?

i) Since exemplars work off debt easily, is it common to pop down and do a lower group to get it off, or does it just make more sense to do your level appropriate stuff. How about the influence you get instead of XP, is that worth anything.

j) How do people farm for influence? It seems like you dont get any from lower mobs, so how do you amass it for all these SO's and stuff.

Thanks for the response!

[Taallyn]

Let's see here:

a) You can buy inspirations from your Contacts. You will unlock different types of inspirations as you do more missions for them. I think you can sell them to contacts as well, but that's not something I think I've ever done. You can sell them to a base inspiration disperser.

b) There are still reasons to 6-slot many powers. Attacks will typically get 1-2 accuracies, 3 damages, 0-2 endurance reducers, 0-2 recharge, etc. Some powers can no longer really be six slotted though, like the passive defense powers in the melee sets.

c) Blind invites are an epidemic. I simply refuse to join any groups via blind invites as I've had too many bad experiences with them.

d) Prestige is the currency used to purchase items for supergroup bases. You earn it by fighting in supergroup mode. At low levels you will earn Prestige along with XP and Influence/infamy. However, at higher levels you will earn less and less Influence/infamy while in Supergroup mode until you stop earning any Influence/Infamy. People "farm" Prestige because base items, rooms, etc. are very expensive.

e) The Devs have been handing out free costume "tokens" for different events and updates for quite a while now. So you probably have several of them banked up if your character has been dormant for as long as you say it has been.

f) There are no downloadable GUI modes per-se like with WoW or EQII that radically change how it looks. There is one mode called HeroStats that will display additional information such as DPS/ability, buff timers, etc. I don't have any experience using it though.

g) Make certain that the chat tab you have those messages is active in that particular stack, i.e. that the tab is colored green. If it isn't, then one of the other tabs is hiding those messages. I always move the combat tab to tab 1 rather than keeping it with the Global tab.

h) All of the Accolades are desireable for all characters. None of them are particularly specific for a given AT or playstyle. They are over-arching, super-Badges that reward you for collecting a lot of the other badges. However, many of them require going to high level hazard zones, or fighting X number of high level targets, or completing certain missions. Thus, don't worry about them for the most part. Do your Contact's missions. Explore other the zones in off time, and you'll get the badges naturally without focused grinding ... thankfully, the Devs changed the Zookeeper badge which as originally a huge grindfest.

i) A lot of people will exemplar down to work off debt or make influence. It is supposedly a very good return as far as influence goes though by a certain level you have influence coming out of your ears anyway.

j) Everyone is poor in the lower levels unless you have a higher level character to twink with, and even then you have to have a friend serve as a go-between for you. Around 40th level you really start making a lot more influence via increased mission rewards and selling back SO enhancments that there is little reason to worry about upgrading your enhancements or changing costumes around. A suggestion here is to always make certain you sell enhancements at the appropriate stores. Sell Science origin enhancements to a Science Store, Magic enhancements to a magic store, Tech to a Tech Store, etc. You get more influence that way than if you sold them to a contact or a different origin vendor.

[Dalantia]

You can only sell inspirations to base inspiration vendors.