I have a friend named Joe. Joe is the one who took the pictures of me in my Bubbleyumm costume. Joe was so impressed that I would put so much effort into a costume, and then wear it at work, that he went out and bought the game. He's now playing with the kind of addiction we've all come to face. Sometimes Joe has to call me and ask questions. There are some things about the game that just *arent* anywhere online. Things that we figured out by stumbling over them. I'd like to compile these things, the tips and links and tools, that we've learned over the years. Please read through this post and any replies, and then reply with your own insights. Maybe we can get a *real* beginner's guide together.

Enhancements: There are basically three kinds of enhancements: Training Origin (TO), Dual Origin (DO) and Single Origin (SO). TOs are the enhancements that keep getting dropped on you when you fight badguys to start. They have a sliver or white ring around the edge. DOs come a little later, at about level 12. The left and right edges of these enhancements will reflect two origins of the following five: natural, mutation, science, technology and magic. A DO may, for instance, be natural/science. As long as one of the origins matches your own, you can use that enhancement. The edge of SOs will obviously reflect one of the five origins, and come at about level 22.

The types and origins of enhancements that are dropped by baddies (or "mobs") that you defeat is pretty much random. The origin of enhancements used to in some way correlate to the type of mob, but no longer. You can either delete or sell enhancements once you have too many. You will make more money if you sell the enhancement at the store of it's origin. (Sell magic enhancements at the magic store.)

Enhancements can only be used if they are within your level range. At level 10, you can no longer drop a level 1 enhancement into a slot. By this time, the power is stronger than the enhancement, so it does no good. You *can* still use that level 1 enhancement to combine with, say, a level 10 enhancement. Drag and drop enhancements into the slots you want to use them in. To combine, click on the power's name. This will bring you to the combine screen. Click on the enhancement from the power, and the same type (damage, accuracy, etc) of enhancement in your tray. The percent chance of success will appear to let you know how likely the combination is to "stick." If the combine succeeds (for a lvl 10 and lvl 1, for instance) you will have a 10+ enhancement put back in your power. 10+ is the same as 11. 10++ would be 12. You can only combine things to a maximum of two pluses. However, if the enhancements to be combined are of sufficiently distant levels, they will still combine. For instance, you can combine a 10++ with a 15, but not a 10++ with an 11. If the combination fails, the higher of the two enhancements will be placed back in your power, and the lower will be lost.

If you change your mind about what kind of enhancement you want in a particular slot, simply drag the new enhancement over-top of the slot. Dropping another enhancement on a slot will overwrite the existing enhancement.

There are "rare" enhancements that can only be obtained by special missions. These include Hamidon Origin Enhancements (HOs or Hami-Os), which can only be obtained by fighting Hamidon. Hamidon is a giant monster in The Hive, you must be level 45 or greater to enter The Hive. Hami-Os are great, because they enhance more than one thing at once. Instead of just boosting your damage, it may boost damage and accuracy, for example. There are many kinds of Hami-Os (though they all look the same), and after each "HamiRaid" people stand around trading for the HO that they want. There are also Hydra Origin Enhancements (Hydra-Os) that are earned by defeating the Hydra in the Sewer Trial. There is also a level requirement for the sewer trial. (I believe 38?) So these are obviously not enhancements you are going to be getting right away. There is a new contact introduced in the Faultline zone that has his own enhancements, but someone more knowledgeable can cover those.

It's a bad idea to put more than three of any type (damage, accuracy, etc) of enhancement in any one power. "Enhancement Diversification" or ED assures diminishing returns with more enhancements. I will give a very basic, brief example, if you want more detail check out this guide on the official forums.

A "white" (as in, your level) TO will give you an approximate 8% boost. (Notice I said "approximate.") Red (lower than your level) TOs give you less, obviously, and green (higher than your level) TOs give you more. White DOs give you a little over 16%, and white SOs give you about 33%. That's assuming one enhancement. Each additional enhancement of that type gives you slightly less of a boost. For instance, the first damage SO will give you 33%, the second one gives you about 33%, the third gives you 25%. After that you really start losing effectiveness, with something like 15%, 12% and 7%. Again, these are approximates, but you can see that it's *really* a waste to put more than three damage enhancements into a power.

Not all white SOs give a 33% boost. Some enhancements, mostly the "buffs" - give 20%. This includes tohit-debuffs, defense buffs, and more. A menu should pop up when you're about to drop an enhancement into a power to tell you just what kind of boost you're going to get from it. Pay attention to this, so you don't waste your money.

(Anyone please feel free to add to or correct my information. Also please reply with your links, tools, tips, guides and whatever other info you think is good for a new player to have.)

Supergroups are basically whatever you make them to be. Some SGs have requirements to enter. Some SGs invite everyone who isn't already in one. Some SGs are full of great players, some just plain suck. There's no reason to join or not join other than what you feel like. If you're not connecting with your SG, feel free to quit and join a new one, or start your own.

There's more to SGs than that, such as being in "SG mode," earning prestige and salvage, etc. But that's beyond the scope of this tip.

You can create your own Supergroup by going to the registrar in City Hall (Atlas Park zone, a desk behind the City Representative found in the lobby).

You must be at least 10^th level to create your own Supergroup, but you can join someone else's SG at any level. Many bozos can be found in Atlas Park and Galaxy City spamming the broadcast chat channel with advertisements for their SG. They do this for the Prestige bonuses a SG gets when a new member joins.

"Yes, they really did just puke on you"


Question I get asked the most.

Hahaha, I should really take a video of my kid running around (and barfing) like a Vahzilok zombie. He does the Embalmed "push", too.

There are three bars that every player has: Green (health), Blue (endurance) and Purple (experience). Some archetypes have an additional bar, but that's beyond the scope of this tip.

Next to these bars you will see a circle, which has been divided into 10 sections. These sections are called pips, dots, bars, bubbles, and several other terms. As you earn experience, the large purple bar fills up. Once it fills up all the way, it fills in one of the circle's sections. You must fill all ten sections to level up.

Once you are ready to level up, a flashing green arrow appears in the middle of that circle. Hit the M key on your keyboard to open the map. There are very useful icons on this map. Look for the white circle with the green person in it. You may have to mouse-over to see all the icons in a given spot. You can click on the white circle with the green person. That is the zone's "trainer." Talk to that person and you can level up. You can level up with any trainer in any zone.

You are awarded different things based on your level:
1: pick one power from primary pool, assigned first power from secondary pool, access to "sprint."
2: Pick a new power, access to "rest"
3: slots
4: power
5: slots
6: power (access to power pools)
7-33 odds: slots
8-32 evens: powers
34: slots
35: power
36, 37: slots
38: power
39, 40: slots
41: power, access to epic/ancillary pools
42, 43: slots
44: power
45, 46: slots
47: power
48: slots
49: power
50: slots

OMG you forgot Brawl!!!1

Up until level 10, you get debt protection. This means you can die and not get debt. At level 10 and beyond, every time you die, you get a little bit of debt. This is represented by the purple experience bar getting dark.

When you have debt, half of all the experience you earn will go toward paying off debt. The other half goes toward actual experience. So if you're 10XP away from leveling up, and you die, you need to earn 20XP to actually level up. You cannot "lose a level" from debt.

You get less debt from dieing in missions than you do from the streets. You get no debt from being killed by another player in a PvP zone, though NPCs in PvP zones will give you debt. Some rez powers give you so many seconds of debt protection.

You can have a maximum of 2.5 bars of debt. After you hit the debt cap, death will not result in more debt. Be happy that the cap is only 2.5 bars, it used to be 5.

The higher level you are, the more experience it takes to level up. You may have gotten from level 1 to level 2 in ten minutes, but it's going to take a LOT of hours to get from 49 to 50. By extension, the higher level you are, the more debt you get with each death. The *proportion* is the same, though. It's a percentage of what you need to level up.

Note that debt isn't necessarily a bad thing, although some people treat it like the end of the world (see also Pick Up Groups).

You get badges for taking damage, and for working off debt. Also, while working off debt, you level faster, which means you've got more time to experience more content. Everyone loves content!

The plus signs in your Enhancement section have gone awol.

Uh, weird. *fix* Thanks :D

Unless you're really attached to the Science origin or have taken Lethal damage attacks (Archery, Assault Rifle, Axe, Broadsword, Claws, Katana, etc.), Science should be considered an "advanced" origin on the hero side. If you take it, and choose to run your first five levels' worth of missions, you'll be facing almost nothing but Vazhilok, which are weak against lethal damage attacks, but strong against smashing and dark attacks, come in packs of four when soloing, as opposed to most enemy groups that come in packs of three, and have lots of attacks with one of the least-resisted damage types in the game, Toxic damage. In addition, the lieutenants of the Vazhilok group, or Vazh, can resurrect zombies after they die, if you can't keep up a steady stream of damage against the lt. Later on, in the 5+ range, some Vazh zombies gain the ability to explode, inflicting massive damage.

Although slightly less hardcore, the Clockwork are similarly dangerous. Taking the Technology origin pits you against the Clocks on the hero side. Clocks have energy damage attacks, which most heroes don't have defenses against at low levels. In addition, Clocks' energy attacks are electrical in nature, which means that they will drain your endurance each time you hit them. They are uniformly resistant to Lethal damage, but the minions and, I believe, the lts are weak against Smashing and Psionic attacks. One of the Clocks' lieutenants is the Tesla Knight, which can hit you with a ranged Sleep attack. Toggle-using characters, particularly Tankers and Scrappers, should be aware that if they are Slept, Held, or Disoriented, their toggles will turn off and have to be reactivated. One amusing sidenote is that Clocks are weak against the Knockback effect, so hitting them with an attack that causes Knockback tends to make them fly very far.

they will drain your endurance each time you hit them.

shouldn't this be "they hit you"?

It's not actually neccessary to talk to contacts and get missions. My main got to level 50 without doing any of her own missions (except costume missions). All she did was team with other people. Though, this has made it difficult to get many of the badges associated with missions. It's not advantageous in any way to not do your own missions, but it's possible.

This should be noted right alongside BCJ's "Science is an Advanced Origin" comment above. If you do (for concept or whatever reason) want to roll a Science Origin character, it can help a great deal to have a same-level "buddy" whose missions you can run instead of yours until you get to level 5.

You are shown the con (consider) system in the tutorial, but for review:

Gray - three or more levels below you
Green - two levels below you
Blue - one level below you
White - your level
Yellow - one level above you
Orange - two levels above you
Red - three levels above you
Purple - four or more levels above you

Keep in mind, this is "relative" level. For instance:

If you are level ten, and a minion is level ten, he will con white to you.

Lieutenants are harder to beat than minions. Not only do they have more hit points, but they're also more resistant to some attacks, hit you harder, etc. Even though he's the same "actual" level, his "relative" level is higher. Bosses are even harder. One white boss is harder (to me, anyway) than three yellow minions. It goes on from there. So, here's a table, showing the strength of each type of baddie.

Underling
Minion
Lieutenant
Boss
Elite Boss (EB)
Arch Villain (AV)
Monster
Giant Monster (GM)

So obviously, an AV, even if he's your exact same level, is going to appear purple to you.

Giant Monsters (and I believe Monsters as well) will always appear purple to you. They have no level. You will always affect them (and they you) as if you were the same level. If I'm level ten, I'm going to hit Eochai as if he were level ten (and since Giant Monsters are six tiers above minions, he's actually +6 to me as far as difficulty is concerned).

There is a theory that if you are fighting a giant monster, it doesnt matter if you're side-kicked up or not. Since GMs always affect you (and you them) as if you were both the same level, what's the point of side-kicking up? But there is a point. Several, in fact.

If you are in any way capable of buffing the team, with heals or any other kind of buffs, it is to your advantage to be as high level as possible. The higher level you are, the more HP you can heal on someone else, and the stronger your buffs and defenses will be.

Also, GMs have a specific number of hitpoints. His hitpoints don't scale based on your level. So if you can get SKed up and do a little more damage (though your chances to hit are the same), go for it. The damage you do is also not a percentage based on levels. If you're higher level, you do more damage, and can widdle the GM down faster.

(The SKing on GM teams may spark a debate. I hope not.)

Additional notes on conning and levels:

Purple is also sometimes referred to as pink.

The con color will also change based on the enemy rank.

Underling -1 color
Minion +0 color
Lieutenant +1 color
Boss +2 color
Elite Boss (EB) +2 color
Arch Villain (AV) +3? color

Giant Monsters are always purple.

As an example, if you see a yellow minion, that means they are +1 level to you. A yellow lieutenant is the same level as you. A yellow boss or elite boss is -1 level to you. A yellow Arch Villain is -2 (I believe) levels to you.

You won't encounter Arch Villains until later, around level 14 or 15 at the earliest. If you are soloing and you go into a mission that is supposed to have an AV in it, the AV will be converted into an Elite Boss, unless you are on the hardest difficulty level.

Defense and Resistance

Defense and Resistance are the two primary damage avoidance types in the game, and they work in somewhat different ways. Defense is an all-or-nothing form of avoidance. Resistance is a partial form of avoidance.

Every time an attack is thrown in the game, there is a to-hit roll to see if it connects. Defense affects this roll. The numbers and calculation I'm about to use are simplified, but are basically accurate. If a minion in the game has a 50% chance to hit an equal-level character, that means that half the time they throw an attack, they will hit. If the character they are attacking has defense, their chance to hit = 50 - character defense. For example, if a character has a defense of 20%, then the minion will have a to-hit chance of 50 - 20 = 30%.

Resistance takes effect after the character is hit and shaves off a portion of the damage taken. For example, if a character is hit with a 100 point Lethal damage attack, and they have 30% resistance to Lethal damage, they will take 100 * (1 - .3) = 70 points of damage.

Defense can be positional or damage-type based. Resistance is always damage-type based.

Positional types are melee, ranged, or Area of Effect (AoE). A pistol is an example of a ranged attack, a punch is a melee attack, and a grenade is an AoE attack. Also important to note is that the shotguns used by enemies are firing in a cone, which is a type of AoE, so ranged defense does not help against them.

Damage types are Smashing (baseball bats, fists), Lethal (claws, swords, guns), Fire (flamethrowers, fire blasts), Cold (freeze rays, ice blasts), Energy (electricity, sonic, generic energy blasts), Negative Energy (sometimes referred to as Darkness), Psionic (mental blasts) and Toxic (poison, acid). Smashing and Lethal are the most common types of damage, and also the most commonly resisted. Fire and Energy are probably next, then Dark, Cold, Toxic, and Psionic.

Actually, enhancements that are red are no longer giving any buffs. Enhancements that are +3 levels to you will give you the most boost, enhancements that are the same level will give you a standard boost, and enhancements that are lower level than you give lesser and lesser buffs, until they are -3 levels, and they are then doing nothing. Even if you have an SO in there, you'll do better to slot a white TO in your power than leave that in there, for effect. Of course, you can't combine a SO with a TO, but for your power, there you go.

Also, if you have a DO slotted in, say, Magic/Natural, and you get another enhancement which is a different half origin, say, Natural/Tech, you can combine them in your enhancements.

If you drag an enhancement over a slotted enhancement that it can combine with, it will bring up the combination screen with both enhancements in the slots.

First and foremost, play a character that you like. Don't pay any attention to people who say "You must play a character this way or you'll never be the PVP wonder", etc. Playing a character you like will get you further than any build guide.

Having friends to play with makes the game more interesting.

Hitting the right ALT key will bring up another power tray perminently. Using Ctrl+# will activate powers in that second tray. Keep all of your regular attacks in numbers 1-6, and in Ctrl 1-6, leave 7-0 and Ctrl 7-0 for click powers (powers you don't need that often, so you can just click on them).

Once you get your character set up the way you want, as far as the keyboard and all, do a /bindsave (or was it /savebind?) and then, when you start a new character, you can do /loadbind (or was it /bindload?) and won't have to spend 15 minutes resetting up all of your key binds, and keyboard shortcuts.

Also, if you have a DO slotted in, say, Magic/Natural, and you get another enhancement which is a different half origin, say, Natural/Tech, you can combine them in your enhancements.

This is true, but should be specified as working only if the common one is your origin.

The difficulty level (or reputation) of your character determines how hard your missions are. Since the settings are called something different for heroside and villainside, I will just say "there are five settings."

Assuming you are soloing, and you are on the lowest level, most groups of baddies will have 2-3 people. Minions in the mission will generally con white to you. There will be a few yellow LTs. The "end boss" of the mission will be an LT.

If you go up one or more levels, the "end boss" will be a boss or elite boss, or in special missions, an AV.

Up one level increases the size of groups. There will be 3-4 baddies in each group. They will still con white to you, for the most part.

Up two levels drops the group size back down to 2-3, however everything in the mission will be one level higher than it would be on the normal setting.

Up three levels brings groups to 3-4, and everything is one level higher than it would be on normal setting.

Up four levels brings groups to 4-5 mobs each, and everything is one level higher than it would be on normal setting.

Up give levels has groups of 4-5 mobs, and everything is two levels higher than it would be on normal setting.

Again, this only applies when you are soloing. Adding teammates will increase mobs per group and mob level.

You can change your reputation by talking to agents in each zone. They are marked on the map as "Hero Corps Field Analyst" (heroside) and "Fortuna Fateweaver"

To clarify:

The second and fourth settings will spawn enemies based on the size of your group plus one more person. So if you're in a team of four, those settings will create enemy group sizes based on a team of five.

The first setting will spawn enemies at even or +1 level. It is entirely possible, if unlikely (unless you're unlucky), to have a mission set on the first level filled entirely with +1 Lts, all conning orange.

The third setting, similarly, will spawn enemies at +1 or +2 level, and the fifth at +2 or +3 level.

On the first setting, any boss encountered solo in a mission will be downgraded to a Lt. They will still technically be the same enemy type, but with their stats scaled down accordingly. Adding just one more person in the team will cause that boss to spawn as a boss.

"Natural" Elite Bosses (ie Elite Bosses that were not Arch-Villains before) will always remain Elite Bosses regardless of team size or difficulty.

Arch-Villains (sometimes, on villainside, "Heroes") may be downgraded to Elite Boss rank depending on your team size and difficulty setting. They will spawn as AVs with these many people (ie that last person on the team will cause the AV to spawn as an AV, rather than an Elite Boss):

First level: 6 people
Second level: 5 people
Third level: 4 people
Fourth level: 3 people
Fifth level: One person (ie always spawn as AV)

Arch-Villains will retain their "purple triangles" even when downgraded. "Natural" Elite Bosses generally do not have them.

(I'm not sure whether to start on the spiel about mez protection and magnitudes, and how it is actually harder to hold a downgraded AV than a natural AV...)

My biggest advice to new players isn't technical, really. But it's simple:

Don't worry about being new to the game. Don't be afraid to ask questions, or to ask for help. When you run with your first few teams, be sure your teammates know you're new to the game. They will give you a TON of help and advice.

I still remember my first few weeks on the game, and I was astonished at how much people were willing to help you, as long as you owned up to being new to things. I got a ton of advice, and was even taken on a Teleport Tour to grab exploration badges. I got influence and enhancement donations, too. The first PuG I ran with was hugely helpful, and I made several friends.

Yes, there were plenty of people who were all "LOL n00b" but so what else is new.

Damage Types

There are several different types of damage. Different powers do various types of damage (some do multiple types of damage). Different powers provide different levels of resistance to different type of damage. Also, mobs usually are resistant to some types, yet vulnerable to others.

Additionally, damage types usually have some sort of secondary effect which works both against your enemies and against you.

* Smashing - This is usually hand-to-hand impact damage. Smashing damage is relatively common (especially in the early levels) and is one of the ones you'll find the most resistance to throughout the game. Secondary effects vary according to the power set involved.
* Lethal - This is the more garden variety nasty damage - guns, swords, etc. Like smashing, this is relatively common and thus resistance to it is relatively common. And like Smashing, secondary effects vary.
* Fire - You know, fire. Fire damage does damage over time (it keeps hurting after the first hit). You see this a lot once you get into places like the Hollows and Steel Canyon when you begin to encounter Outcast, though Hellion bosses also do fire damage.
* Cold - Cold and ice. Cold damage has a slowing effect, dropping movement and recharge speeds. Like Fire, you see a lot of this in the Hollows and Steel Canyon because of Outcasts
* Negative - Negative energy is based off of the Netherworld, and decreases the accuracy of the target. Early on, you'll mainly see this from Skull bosses.
* Energy - Energy is a catch-all term for various types energy attacks, and can be subdivided into smaller categories. Electrical attacks drain endurance (this is especially a problem at lower levels with Clockworks, as they use electricity). Sonic attacks reduce the targets damage resistance. Radiation bypasses part of the target's defense. Generic Energy does Knockback.
* Toxic - Toxic damage is nasty stuff. Resistance to Toxic is relatively rare. But it's also dangerous at lover levels, as Vahzilok deal toxic damage a lot (yes, that zombie-thing DID just vomit on you). Toxic has a variety of secondary effects, often debuffs of various sorts.
* Psionic - Power of the mind and all that. Resistance for Psionic is pretty rare, both for players and mobs, so it can be powerful. But robotic mobs have a huge resistance to psionic, so it's nigh on useless against them.

(Corrections, additions welcome!)

There is no such thing as Toxic Defense. None at all. (This should not be confused with Toxic Resistance, which does exist.) There is no way to include Toxic Defense into the game without massive recoding. However, Toxic attacks may be defended against based on position.

Most attacks (not all, but the large majority) also have a "positional" type: Melee, Ranged, and AoE (Area of Effect). A Council member's punch will be Smashing and Melee, a Hellion's pistol will be Lethal and Ranged, a Clockwork's electrified punch will be Smashing, Energy, and Melee.

Defense is calculated based on damage type or position that one has the most defense in. For example, if you have 50% Smashing Defense and 10% Energy Defense, and an enemy sends a Smashing/Energy attack at you, you will have 50% Defense against that attack. Defense of the same type stacks, and is additive: if you have 80% Smashing defense and get 5% more Smashing defense, you will now have 85% Smashing defense.

There are also certain special damage types that will not be seen until very late in the game: Titan damage and Untyped damage. These are outside the scope of a beginner's guide, but suffice to say that Titan damage cannot be protected against without special methods, and Untyped damage cannot be protected against at all.

My advice to new players pretty much goes:

Read the text. Read all the text, carefully and with great attention, especially in the tutorial. Don't be afraid to ask other people about things you aren't sure about.

Corollary:

When they say that you might need a team, most of the time, they're not kidding.

Damage "subtypes", secondary effects, and enemy groups

I use "subtypes" in quotes, because there aren't really any subtypes in terms of how the game treats them damagewise. Energy is Energy is Energy when dealing with Defense and Resistance, even if one is electrical energy, one is sonic energy, and one is generic energy blast energy.

However, the way a type of damage is described int he game is often a good indicator of secondary effects, like Endurance Drain, Knockback, Slow, etc.

Cold/Ice - Slows. Your powers will recharge a little slower, and you'll run/fly a little bit slower. Some Outcasts use cold.
Dark - Darkness attacks tend to give a -tohit, meaning that it's harder to hit enemies when you're under the effects of the attack. Skull bosses uses this, as do Circle of Thorns.
Electricity - Almost always will include some amount of end drain. In the first 10 levels, you're going to see this from pretty much every Clockwork and some Outcasts.
Energy - If an energy attack doesn't have a more specific descriptor, like electricity or sonic, it's probably going to cause knockback, or at least have a chance to. At low levels, this one doesn't really come up much, that I can think of. You might run into a bank robber on a Safeguard mission that uses it.
Fire - Fire tends to do a little bit of extra Damage Over Time, or DoT. About once a second for every few seconds, you'll take a small bit of damage. Hellion bosses and some Outcasts use this, as do Council Flamethrowers.
Lethal - Not all attacks, or even the majority have an extra effect. However, probably the most common additional effect is -defense. The usual indicator for -defense is little dark purple shields dropping around your character. Everybody uses lethal except maybe the Clocks, but especially the street gang and military minions like Hellions, Outcasts, Council, etc.
Poison - Usually slows the enemy. At low levels, Vazh Reapers and Mortificators use this a lot.
Radiation - Radiation attacks usually give -defense. Some Vazhilok bosses use this.
Smashing - Like Lethal, it varies from attack to attack. If a Smashing attack has an extra effect, it will usually be Disorient or, more commonly, Knockback. Lots of enemies use Smashing damage, and it's probably the only more common type of damage than Lethal at low levels.
Sonic - Sonic attacks tend to drain resistance. In other words, if you've got a 20% resistance to Smashing damage, a 10% resistance to Cold, and 0% resistance to all other types, then get hit with a sonic attack, there's a good chance that, until it wears off, you're going to have a 15% resistance to Smashing, 5% to Cold and -5% resistance to all other types, meaning that you'll actually take extra damage from them. You can usually tell if you've taken a -resistance effect because there are little dark orange shields dropping around your character. I don't believe there's a level 10 enemy that uses this, but the Council will start using sonic weapons shortly after that.

Energy, when in a melee attack, also has a tendency to have a disorient secondary effect.

I know this will sound really dumb but when I ran across a respec for the first time I thought I could change a power set. More correctly, change my primary or secondary power set. Boy was I disappointed when I realized you could not go from one primary or secondary to a completely new one.

Some hero-side respec tidbits...

Clicking on the glowies in the door missions does not increase the difficulty of the core battle. They are just there for the backstory. Likewise, you don't have to clear all the side rooms of the big control room in the final mish ("Terror Volta")... that doesn't effect the core battle spawns, either. You may still want to clear that hallway leading up to the core, just in case you have to check it later to see if one of the badmens from the core spawn has found its way there.

And, just on a style note, if you are on a respec team with someone who is convinced that clicking the glowies will make the core battle harder, please don't run around clicking them just to piss that person off.

Mobs will attack you when they see you; for most mobs, especially at low levels, you have to be pretty close. This means that you can find a way around anyone or anything that is in your way to an objective. This is not necessarily easy or safe, but by moving between or around groups of mobs, you can get past them to an objective.

This means that when you are a low level and assigned a mission in the back hills of The Hollows, you can get there. People don't like receiving this mission because being careful means taking a lot of time, and one slip can mean starting over again because a purple-con just sent you to the hospital. Do *not* go into The Gulch (in The Hollows) at a low level, being careful won't help.

(You never have to do missions from contacts in The Hollows; you can talk to your first contact there and leave without taking missions, no penalty.)

If you are below level 14 and get sent to Boomtown, being careful will get you there. I prefer travelling up the east side of Steel Canyon to get there, others prefer following the road up the middle of the zone.

You may encounter a mission that has you going into Perez Park to defeat Circle of Thorns mystics while you are at a low level. If you enter Perez Park through Galaxy City, cross into the main park (through the gate in the wall), walk east until you get to the river, then head north (remember - carefully!) and you should find a group of CoT that can be defeated by a level 7 or 8 hero. Attack one and they will all return fire, but they should only approach you one or two at a time. A few green inspirations (heals) or purple inspirations (+defense) will help you get through the encounter.

Customizing your character is one of the great joys of this game, and you have to travel to an Icon store to change your costume. The lowest level zone that contains an Icon store is Steel Canyon, but the store in Independence Port is easier for a low-level character to get to. Travel to Kings Row on the Yellow Line train, the exit to IP on the west side of the map. Carefully(!) follow the road for a block or two to get to Icon.

You can get to the top of most buildings by jumping up from window ledges.

The building tops just south-east of Blue Steel in Kings Row are the best places to hunt for Circle of Thorns mystics.

This could go on forever...

Founder's Falls is even easier to get to. Kings Row > Pocket D > Founder's Falls. (I forget which direction you go in the canal; consult your map. I BELIEVE it's to the right.) Swim through the canal and there's a ramp up to the street almost directly in front of the Icon. I have personally never seen mobs anywhere within aggro range of that route in Founder's, but that just might be luck.

Mez (short for "mesmerize", from general MMO jargon) are basically status effects that change the status of the target (as opposed to buffs/debuffs, which change the stats of the target). The mezzes in the game (thus far) are Holds, Sleeps, Immobilizes, Disorients (sometimes called Stun), Fear, Confuse, Knocks (knockback, knockup, knockdown), and Intangibility (sometimes called Phase).

Mez in this game is binary: either the target is mezzed, or it isn't. Defense (using the general definition of the word, as opposed to the CoH/V-specific) against mez comes in two forms (not including actual CoH/V-defined Defense based on position or type, since the best defense is not to get hit in the first place): mez protection, and mez resistance. (Note: in the game and in offhand comments by the devs, these terms have been confused. This is generally incorrect usage, but hey, they're the devs.) Each mez type is considered separate: a certain target may be particularly susceptible to Sleep but no other, or indeed strong against, say, Confuse.

Mez resistance determines the duration of the mez. Generally speaking, the higher level the target is in relation to the mez-caster, the less time it takes for the mez to wear off. Vice versa, the lower level the target in relation to the mez-caster, the more time it takes. Certain powers/buffs or innate resistances will also affect this.

Mez protection determines the "magnitude" (mag for short) of the mez needed to mez the target. Every AT in the game (at start), and most "generic" minions (ie no special protection against certain mezzes), have a -1 mag protection against all mez. Lts have a -2, bosses have a -3, and Elite Bosses have a -6. AVs and above are a special case, to be clarified later. To mez them, one must bring their mag above 0; +1 means that they have been mezzed, but 0 means they have not. Each mez type is calculated separately, and must be applied individually.

Mezzes, for the most part, can "stack": if a player applies a mag 3 Hold to a "fresh" boss, the boss now has a mez protection of mag 0, meaning that any more Holds will cause it to be Held. So if the player (or another) is able to apply another Hold of at least mag 1, then so long as the total Hold mag is 4 or above, the boss will remain held. If, at any point, perhaps due to a Hold wearing off, the Hold mag falls below 4, then the boss will be unheld.

Controllers generally have mag 3 mezzes, with a chance to "critical mez" (ie cause a mag 6 mez, double the original mag). Dominators do not have this ability, but their Domination AT inherent will allow the Dominator's mezzes to be mag 6 (I think; could be wrong) while Domination is active.

AVs (and AVS that have been downgraded to EBs) have "purple triangles", which can be (very) faintly seen orbiting the AV's head (or head-equivalent). These triangles randomly switch going up and down, to the tune of perhaps 65% up and 35% down overall (I think; could be wrong). Taking a "natural" AV (ie an AV that spawns as an AV), when the triangles are down, the AV has boss-level (mag -3) protection against mez. When the purple triangles are up, the AV has around mag -50 protection against mez, unless it is specifically susceptible to it (which mez depends on which AV). If the AV has spawned as an Elite Boss, then when the purple triangles are up, the mag -50 protection is there, but when the purple triangles are down, the downgraded AV now has Elite Boss-level protection, ie mag -6. Therefore, it is actually slightly more difficult to mez a downgraded AV than a "natural" one.

Almost all enhancements related to mezzing will increase the duration, not the mez, with the exception of two: Knocks and Intangibility. Intangibility enhancements increase magnitude. Knockback enhancements (there are only that type for Knocks) increase the distance; knockdowns and knockups are technically knockbacks with a distance of 0.

I've been playing since launch, and I've never seen these "purple triangles." Either I haven't been paying attention, or really I've just been playing on too low of a graphics setting. Now that I have a better video card, I'll have to look.

UNLESS you're talking about the triangles just above the reticle square, below the name. Those triangles I've seen on grays, greens and blues.

While a lot of folks end up skipping the Hollows after a while, I personally think it is a good thing for new players to experience. In many ways it is a horribly mean zone to travel though, but if you can learn to navigate it safely, then you will also have learned how to judge the aggro range of groups and how to thread your way through the blind spots between them. That is a skill that will be handy many times later in the game. It is a good opportunity to learn other skills you will continue to use, like pulling groups to separate them from other groups before fighting them, or to try to pull part of a group in order to winnow down its size.

It is a zone where it is relatively easy to find a team, and to meet other new players. I offer that as a plus since I think hanging out with new players and coming up with crazy theories that you later find out are wrong is part of the charm of a new game. In doing that, you often make bonds with folks that will last throughout your time in the game (and, sometimes, beyond that). The flip side of crazy theories is that you should take what you hear there with a grain of salt, even if the person telling you the information heard it from their "friend who has a level 50".

When traveling to a destination on the other side of the Hollows, it is safest (but not fastest) to skirt around the collapsed section in the center of the map, at least until you get used to the zone. The levels of the badmens are high down there, the terrain is often very uneven, and it is sometimes tricky to find the way back up again on the other side.

The Red River is usually something of a travel sanctuary. If part of your trip can be done in the river, that is a pretty easy way to lower the stress level. :) The only really dangerous riverwater area is the spot by the high bridge where the 3rd zone contact, Julius the Troll, is located. There are groups of level 13 trolls milling about the the water area underneath the bridge.

Speaking of which, Julius will give you a hunter mission which those trolls will satisfy ("Stop damming in Red River bed (Defeat 10 Trolls)"). If you don't feel like mixing it up with surly level 13's (complete with bosses), there are many level 5 Troll groups up the hill that leads to the buildings (I assume the devs provide them for that purpose, since the other groups in the area are higher level). As long as you pull the troll into the water before it is defeated, it will count for the hunter mish.

When traveling in the center and southwestern parts of the zone, watch the smooth stretches of ground for flames. That indicates a spot where Igneous are waiting, just beneath the surface, to pop up and ruin your day.

A great place to watch the sunrise in the Hollows is the top of the buildings just to the northwest of David Wincott. Depending on your level, you may need to clear the space of trolls or outcasts in order to have a peaceful viewing experience, however.

Skipping the Hollows is pretty simple. You can just talk to David Wincott and not take any missions, then go to one of your other contacts to get a non-Hollows mission.

Everyone should do The Hollows with at least one character.

That way, they can commiserate with the rest of us who slogged through there. :-)

How about a Most Misunderstood Powers section, to counteract some of the just plain wrong "information" that new players receive from "helpful" people in Atlas Park? The primary power of this sort that comes to mind for me is Confuse/Deceive (I play a lot of Controllers), but I suspect there are others.

(The trick would be keeping that section objective...)

Red (lower than your level) TOs give you less, obviously,

This line from your enhancements guide should read yellow. Red doesn't help your powers at all.

Otherwise nice job!

You're right, I just had a brainfart, apparently. :P And thank you!

*Note all things listed vary based on what powers a character actually has so do not assume just because they have whichever primary they are capable of all things listed.*

Empathy This is the true healer oriented power set for defenders, though that is not all they are capable of. They also have very effective end recovery powers, powerful ally buffs, and a mez protection power. They also have the option of a power that will resurrect (rez) a fallen ally.

Radiation The primary debuffs in this set are defense debuff, accuracy debuff, resistance debuff, and a slow. Two of the main debuffs rely on what is commonly referred to as an "anchor." The two main debufss are toggles which are placed on a foe who is then infected and will infect all other foes within a certain radius.

Radiation also has an option of two hold powers. It has a group buff which increases end recovery, damage, speed/ recharge, and lowers duration of mezzes against you. A group heal, and a rez are available as is a power that will turn any fallen allies into an attack.

Dark This set is another debuffing set, which relies a lot on anchors. The primary affects that are debuffed by this set are: accuracy resistance, speed/ recharge. The set also has a cone fear attack which is a quasi hold and can be very effective, as well as one single target hold, and an intangibility power, it makes all foes it hits unable to hit or be hit.

Dark comes with one group heal as well as a toggle that when active will increase the defense and resistance of all allies in range of it as well as make them difficult to see. It also has the only "group rez" in the game, meaning as opposed to rezzing only one fallen ally it will rez any fallen ally in range.

This set also has a "pet" power that will mimmick a few of the powers in this set as well as the dark blast set.

Kinetics This set is very commonly misunderstood. The kineticist will bring out the full potential of allies by debuffing foes. This is a heavy debuff/buff set, which to be optimally beneficial, the team must either be in close proximity to the foes or the defender. The main powers of the set will debuff a target's (and possibly surrounding foes as well) damage and transfer the damage potential back to the defender and nearby allies. The set also has a slow debuff that in turn will increase speed/recharge of the defender.

The set also has a targetted group heal, meaning if you are not nearby the target the hold is executed on you will not be healed. It also has an end recovery power that works in same way. The set also comes with ally buffs that increase speed/rech, end recovery, resistance and mez protaction. The set also has built in travel powers.

Force Fields Lovingly referred to as bubbles. This set has no built in heals. The primary effect of bubbles is defense, teammates of a forcefield defender are less likely to be hit. The set has an array of ally bubbles and self bubbles. It also has powers that repel foes, as well as an intangibility power.

Sonic Resonance This set is much like bubbles, except instead of defense they grant increased resistance. The set also comes with an array of resistance debuffs for foes, as well as an intangibility and knockback powers. Again, no heals built into this set, but effective nontheless.

Storm Summoning Primarily a debuff set. Storm has powers that will debuff pretty much everything. Heavy with slow debuffs, also has defense, resistance, accuracy and range. It also comes with a group disorient power, and a knockback power. The higher tier powers also bring in a few quasipet type powers.

The set comes with one single target heal, which also gives mez protection and a toggle which will increase all allies (within range) defense, resistance and make them stealthy.

Trick Arrow There isn't much, if anything, this set doesn't debuff. It debuffs accuracy, defense, resistance, damage, end recovery, speed/rech. It takes a jack of all trades approach to debuffing. It also comes with immobilizations, holds and knock backs. The set relies on debuffing as there are no team/ ally buffs or heals.

Note on Sonic Resonance - the graphics in this set have been known to cause a very small set of people significant headaches and nausea. If you have had issues with flashing lights or screens causing problems for you, or play with someone who has that issue), you should avoid this power set.

Occasionally, you may see a player who suddenly shapeshifts into either something that looks like a hovering squid, or a huge vaguely-humanoid armored creature. These are people that have another character that has reached level 50, the highest level attainable in the game; reaching 50 unlocks two archetypes, Warshade and Peacebringer, that are not available to the beginning player. These archetypes, known collectively as Kheldians (after their somewhat complicated origin), allow players to have access to certain types of powers earlier in their game(somewhat different, but complementary, powersets), but also come with a vulnerability to a particular type of enemy. The main liabilities and assets of teaming with a Warshade or Peacebringer are:

1) They have a special vulnerability to certain enemies that spawn randomly in missions that they're in, even if it's not their mission. These enemies have names that begin with either Void (e.g. Void Hunter) or Quantum (a variation on the type of enemy in that mission, in other words, if there are Vazhilok in the mission, you may get a Quantum Reaper). These enemies wield a type of energy rifle that shoots a red-purple bolt, and Kheldians are especially vulnerable to their damage. If you spot one in a group of enemies, announce it over the Team channel so that the Kheldian can take precautions, and if someone else spots it, look for it so that you can concentrate your initial attack on it. Your Kheldian teammate will thank you for it.

2) Just because someone has a Warshade or Peacbringer doesn't necessarily mean that they have had that much experience with the game. They may have gotten a level 50 hero by buying the account on eBay, or they may have been power-leveled to 50.

On the other hand:

3) Assuming that they got their level 50 character the hard way, they may have some decent suggestions for you, particularly if they have a high-level character of your archetype.

4) They can bring certain special benefits to the team; if they're a Warshade, they automatically get their main travel power, a type of teleporation, at level 1, and get another power that can teleport teammates to their location at level 10. In other words, if you want to do missions in the Hollows before you get your main travel power (at level 14), a warshade can beam themselves to a mission location on the far side of Grendel's Gulch and then beam you and your teammates to the mission door, without your having to run the gauntlet of high-level enemies. Also, if they take the Nova (squid) form (an optional power, but most Kheldians opt for it) at level 6, they can do an impressive amount of damage early on, more than compensating for their hiding when you run across a Quantum or Void.

P.S. You will occasionally get another type of Kheldian enemy, that is (thankfully) fairly rare, called a Cyst, which looks like a dark crystal hovering above the ground. If you see one of these, announce it to the group and avoid attacking it until your group can coordinate its attack; improperly engaged, it can wipe out the entire group (not just the Kheldian) in nothing flat.

Trollkin Brawler is my anchor, please kill him last!

An anchor is the baddie on which a debuff (slow, lower their acc, lower their defense) power is cast, like Snow Storm or Radiation Infection. So long as the baddie that it was cast on stays alive the power will debuff the baddie as well as the rest of his friends close to him making them easier to kill.

As soon as the anchor is defeated (or if it drops because the caster has run out of endurance/blue bar), the power shuts off, which can sometimes result in lots of stronger, angry mobs in the vicinity which is why it is a good idea to save the anchor for last. There will always be some visual indicator on the anchor (glowing bright green and whatnot), but it may or may not be obvious in a crowd. The Darkest Night anchor, for example, is particularly hard to spot.

Anchors have a tendency to freak out and run off to get help from their friends. The debuff power (which must feel rather like being dipped in honey and tossed onto a fire ant hill) will irritate any enemies that is affected by it AND they will know exactly who is causing it and where they are.

Controllers or Defenders who use anchored powers are thus more likely to draw enemy attacks to themselves in the second or so that the debuff is taking effect, and if their anchor escapes, they sometimes bring in enemies without meaning to do so.

If you're teaming with someone who uses anchor powers, and you're less squishy than they are, when they turn on the anchor, it can help to attack anything around the anchor to draw off their fire for a few moments.

Keep your eye on your anchor victim, if you're running the anchor, because if they DO freak, you may want to turn off the anchor and move it to someone else. Otherwise, with certain enemies (Diabolique, for instance) you can end up with every enemy on the entire map taking out a contract on you personally.

Paragon Wiki:
http://paragonwiki.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

Powersets:
http://www.nofuture.org.uk/coh/powers/
http://www.nofuture.org.uk/cox

Safeguard Mission Maps:
http://www.badge-hunter.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2226

All Zone Maps:
http://www.vidiotmaps.com/

Character Builder:
http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/

http://www.citygametracker.com/

A program that collects information about your character and automagically uploads it to the CGT site for you. This is most handy for people who have caught altitis, but if you also configure it to upload badge information to http://www.cityinfoterminal.com/ then it is pretty useful even if you only have a couple of toons. An alternate way of uploading to both those sites, plus getting loads of other stats (and a useful ingame display), is to run the HeroStats client on your system.

http://pf-coh.com/planner/

Online character builder (especially handy for folks who are on a machine where they can't install .NET, since sherksilver relies on that). He hasn't added a save feature yet, so you export the design and save that as a text file.

http://www.nofuture.org.uk/coh/

So much info there, but, in particular, I always keep a tab up for http://www.nofuture.org.uk/coh/contacts/ and http://www.nofuture.org.uk/coh/story_arcs/ since they make navigating my character through the content much easier.