New Player FAQ
If you are very new to CoH, there are a lot of nuances and "hidden" things that are pretty esoteric if no one advises you on what these things are. Here are some hints and advice from my experience, as well as things I learned from my CoH-veteran friends along the way. Pick up some more interesting tips from veteran players on the Shortcuts and Tricks from CoH Veterans page.
Quick Click List
- Where Can You Log Out in a Police Station?
- Combining Inspirations to Make What You Need
- How Can You Get Wings For Your Character?
- When Can You Take the Flight Power?
- Using Auto-Fly
- Quick-Targeting Enemies
- Giving Away Inspirations
- Restocking Inspirations
Where Can You Log Out at a Police Station?
Police Stations are hard to find, since they are not marked on the in-game map. However, logging out in a Police Station is the only way to get the Law Enforcer badge. How can you find them without having to comb every zone street by street?
Simple: check your map to see if there is a Detective contact listed in your current zone. When you've found his or her icon on the map, click it to make it a waypoint, and then travel towards it. Once you find the Detective, look around--usually, Detectives are located very near the Police Station or actually within the Police Station itself! Be sure you're inside the Police Station building before you log out, otherwise you won't get the bonus.
Note: The only zone that the Detective trick won't work for is Atlas Park. Instead, look for Back Alley Brawler on your Map--he is marked as a Level-Up Trainer (turn on your map symbols if you don't have them on already). He is standing in the front lobby of the Atlas Park PPD building.
Combining Inspirations to Make What You Need
If you have three or more of a particular Inspiration (say, Damage), and you desperately need a Respite or Catch a Breath, combine 3 of the un-needed Inspiration into what you need! This can be done fairly quickly, even in the heat of battle, and once the new Inspiration is made, you can use it right away. You can also pass it to a teammate (whether they are alive or defeated) to help them out.
I actually used this trick with my Tanker during a particularly difficult team mission. There were 3 Blasters and me on this team, so we had no healer, and during one skirmish with a few orange and red bosses, all three Blasters ended up ambushed by all the bosses' lackeys and were defeated one by one. Thankfully, the room was almost clear by the time the last Blaster dropped, and I managed to finish off the few remaining enemies. However, I didn’t want my teammates sending themselves to the hospital and having to trek all the way back to the mission location--a couple of them had to log off in a few minutes, but still wanted to finish this mission. So, I made 3 Awakens from my accumulated stores of Damages and Accuracies, and passed them out to each of my teammates. After they had gotten over the 30 seconds of being stunned and had Rested, we were ready to go on to the next part of the mission! (It was fun to use my Tank as a healer for a few minutes! :D)
How Can You Get Wings for Your Character?
This is a very common question for new players, since the process seems to be fairly mysterious. How DID these higher-level players get these cool wings? Well, what follows is the step-by-step process to getting your own pair of wings. Be sure you have a good amount of influence on hand (at least 500,000, and maybe closer to 1.5 million inf if you want Draconic Wings). Getting wings is a fairly expensive process, as I found out by unfortunate experience. (The influence needed is probably one reason why many people wait until higher levels to get wings.)
- First, you need the Costume Piece recipe for the kind of wings you want. There are many different kinds of wings--a complete list (complete with pictures) can be found at Paragon Wiki here. (Note: You cannot buy Angel or Demon Wings--those must be earned through playing CoH for 15 months.) Once you know what kind of wings you want, you will need to go to Wentworth's and purchase the recipe. Search for "Costume Piece", and that should bring up a list of available Costume Piece recipes. Scroll through until you see the recipe you want.
- Next, you will need to bid on that recipe, just like you were buying it on eBay. Click on the recipe listing to expand it out slightly, and you can see how much the last 5 players who won that item paid for it. Bid closely around those numbers, either just a little lower or just a little higher. You may have to submit several bids in order to win yourself the recipe. Be sure that you have enough influence to actually buy the recipe--some wings are very expensive (to the tune of 1 or 2 million influence).
- Once you have gotten the recipe, you'll need to look at it to see what kinds of Invention Salvage you need to build the wings. Click on "Recipes" (on your Power Tray bar) to bring up your Recipe Inventory in a new window. In the new window, click on the gray bar labeled "Invention" to see the recipe listed. Click on the recipe's name to expand it out, and you will see what kinds of salvage you need and how much influence you need to be able to build the wings.
- Now, depending on how many AE tickets you have, you can either go to the AE building and buy the salvage you need through tickets, or you can stay at Wentworth's and bid on the salvage you need. Buying it with AE tickets can be a great cost-saver if most of the salvage you need is common or uncommon. However, with the cost of rare salvage being either 540 tickets or any kind of amount over at Wentworth's, you may need to comparison-shop before you buy or bid. Some salvage costs a lot less at Wentworth's, and some would be well worth an investment of AE tickets instead of influence. If you are part of a supergroup, you can also look around in your SG's salvage racks to see if there are any pieces you need stored there.
- Once you have the Invention Salvage and enough influence to build the wings, you will need to use an Enhancement Table (narrow and black with blue glowy surface) to build your wings. The Universities in Steel Canyon, Croatoa, and Founders' Falls each have many Enhancement tables in the lobby and library for your use. You can also go to your Supergroup Base if you are in a supergroup that has an Enhancement table in their base.
- When you get to the Enhancement table, click on it, and then scroll down the massive list of labels until you get to "Invention." Click that, and then click on the name of the wings recipe to expand it out. Once it is expanded, click the blue "Create" button at the bottom left of the listing, and your wings will be created!
- To equip your wings, you will need to visit a Tailor. Steel Canyon, Independence Port, and Founders' Falls all have a Tailor, as does Pocket D (in the Tiki Bar portion). You will need enough influence to make the necessary alteration to your costume, but assuming you have enough influence (50,000-75,000 inf is usually plenty), your new wings are just a few clicks away! Select "Back Detail" (all the way at the bottom of the costume edit screen) and start designing!
When Can You Take the Flight Power?
You cannot take the official "Fly" power until level 14, and only after you've taken one of two powers off the Flight power pool.
When you level your character to 6, you will be informed that you can now choose from a set of new power pools instead of just choosing from your primary and secondary power sets. These "power pools" are generic powers that any hero can take, regardless of Origin, Archetype, or power sets. The actual "Fly" power is third on the list of four flight-based powers under the "Flight" power pool--"Hover" is first, then "Air Superiority," then "Fly," and finally "Group Fly."
The positioning of powers on this list is crucial--you MUST take one of the first two powers before you can get access to Fly (and you MUST take two powers off the list before you can get access to Group Fly, but most people don't take this power). But which power to take--Hover or Air Superiority?
For me, it has been worth it to take Air Superiority in favor of Hover--Hover does not cover much ground per second, and Air Superiority is a very strong close-combat attack that knocks an enemy down for a few seconds, giving you a chance to recoup some Endurance for your next attack. However, if you like the idea of flying while in battle, Hover may be your best bet; trying to Fly while attacking renders a slower, almost Matrix-like effect to your moves, and it's harder to act and react while in flight (at least for me).
If you want access to flight as early as possible, be sure to take either Hover or Air Superiority before level 14--this will set you up to be able to take the Fly power when you level up to 14!
Using Auto-Fly
If you have the Fly power, you can save yourself the trouble of holding the “Up” arrow key or “W” every time you’re in for a long flight. Just hit your Auto-Run command (usually “R” on default). Suddenly, you’re on imitation autopilot! Just don’t forget to direct yourself around buildings, unless you like to continually fly into walls and windows.
Quick-Targeting Enemies
Depending on your build, use the Tab key to either “Target Farthest Enemy,” “Target Closest Enemy,” “Target Next Enemy,” or something similar. (Tanks and Scrappers will need to target closest; Controllers will need to target farthest, usually, and Blasters and Defenders are usually okay targeting next enemy.) Whichever command works best for your build, it’s a quick strike of the Tab key to get ready for another battle.
You can change how your character targets by going to "Menu" > "Options," and then clicking the "Keymapping" tab. Find the option that says "Targeting," and change it to whatever you need!
Giving Away Inspirations
During battles, each participating player on a team gets an equal amount of Inspirations. If you happen to end up with a type of Inspiration you don’t need, simply right-click the Inspiration and click “Give to...” and then choose the teammate you wish to give it to. This works well between battles when you have a few seconds to think; teammates can trade the Inspirations they won’t need for the ones they will. Make sure you are close enough to the teammate first; otherwise, you won’t be able to give them the Inspiration.
Restocking Inspirations
Instead of having to trek all the way back to your mission contact to refill Inspirations, visit the nearest Architect Entertainment building and talk to the lady standing to the left of the Medical elevator—-for 50 influence a pop, endless supplies of Respites, Catch a Breaths, and other must-haves are available to you.