I'm a bit confused about contacts and missions in the game. Can I
only get missions from someone if they are my official contact, or
should I be trying to talk to all the NPCs to see if any have
missions?
Can I have more than one contact at a time?

I had hit level 5 with a character, and I was pretty sure Azuria
had asked me to go to King's Row when I exhausted her short
list of tasks. I restarted the character (fixing up the costume
and such). Next time though, Azuria sent me to some guy in
Galaxy city who immediately sent me to the Hollows, not
King's Row. Does this mean that the contact is chosen
randomly? The Hollows was *extremely* hard for my level 4/5
character, even in a group of 2 people, so I felt for awhile that
something was wrong. (I want to only do missions, without
"grinding" to raise levels, is this possible in CoH?)

Checking online, I see that for levels 5-9 there is a "Negotiators"
badge quest. Do I get sent to this automatically if I follow along
the missions, or do I have to hunt this down myself?

I also see that contacts will stop giving you missions if you exceed
their level. Not too sad given my current set of missions. But if
they ever do get more interesting, would I screw up any story lines
if I wait so long to do them that I level up too much? Will the
contact at least send me to a new contact even though I haven't
finished the mission chain?

--
Darin Johnson

On Aug 29, 2:33 pm, Darin Johnson <da...@usa.net> wrote:
> I'm a bit confused about contacts and missions in the game. Can I
> only get missions from someone if they are my official contact, or
> should I be trying to talk to all the NPCs to see if any have
> missions?
> Can I have more than one contact at a time?
>
> I had hit level 5 with a character, and I was pretty sure Azuria
> had asked me to go to King's Row when I exhausted her short
> list of tasks. I restarted the character (fixing up the costume
> and such). Next time though, Azuria sent me to some guy in
> Galaxy city who immediately sent me to the Hollows, not
> King's Row. Does this mean that the contact is chosen
> randomly? The Hollows was *extremely* hard for my level 4/5
> character, even in a group of 2 people, so I felt for awhile that
> something was wrong. (I want to only do missions, without
> "grinding" to raise levels, is this possible in CoH?)
>
> Checking online, I see that for levels 5-9 there is a "Negotiators"
> badge quest. Do I get sent to this automatically if I follow along
> the missions, or do I have to hunt this down myself?
>
> I also see that contacts will stop giving you missions if you exceed
> their level. Not too sad given my current set of missions. But if
> they ever do get more interesting, would I screw up any story lines
> if I wait so long to do them that I level up too much? Will the
> contact at least send me to a new contact even though I haven't
> finished the mission chain?
>
> --
> Darin Johnson

A lot of players get routed through the Hollows.
Since I'm firewalled at work I can't go to the info sites to get the
right names.
BUT.

I started with the policeman you meet right inside the hollows.
Then he sent me to see a rebel outcast
Then the outcast dude sent me to see Julius the Troll
Julius sent me to meet an immortal mage
The Mage sent me to meet with a hostile CoT who is the contact to
start the Caverns of Transcendence trial (which I plan to play this
weekend),
At which point I will have leveled out of the Hollows.

Right now, I have no new contacts, or missions.

I suspect that if I went back to my Atlas Park contact I might get
introduced to a new contact, but even if I don't, there are always the
Police Scanner missions.

It seems like all my new alts get the Hollows. I'd love to get a KR
series with missions in Perez Park.

I think the Negotiators badge comes with breaking up a rumble between
the rival street gangs.

Check the links for Badge Sites, I know they are all documented for
the Badge Crazy Collectors.

I've had heroes that I was busy with other people's missions and
advance to the point where I go to the new contact and he immediately
points me to two new contacts, after which he has nothing more for
you. Some particular contacts lead to particular missions, but that
is a level of detail I don't know about. If you can get involved in
the "STORY ARC" for the Vazhilok (sp) you end up fighting the Good
Doctor himself at the end of the Arc and its a lot of fun. Completing
story arcs meant getting a really good enhancement. The Dr. V arc
gave me my first SO for Spectrum. (sniff).

Please notice if they give you a choice of contacts to choose
carefully, as the contact you choose determines generally what
villians you fight. If you are a tech or a mutant, you might not want
to grind through a CoT story arc because you will get a ton of magic
drops. I'm embarassed to admit I don't know what group gives the
most mutation drops. Before the excitement of bases and inventions,
one of the fun things was to hunt for badges. The easter egg badge in
Faultline will have you pulling out your hair. By level 40+ you will
have many many contacts, most of whom will be glad to hear from you
but don't have anything worthwhile for you to do anymore. Some
contacts tell you to come back when you have reached a higher
experience level. If you have too many active/unfinished missions
they will comment that you are too busy and to come back when you have
less on your plate.

Somewhere, Darin Johnson wrote:
> Can I only get missions from someone if they are my official contact,
> or should I be trying to talk to all the NPCs to see if any have
> missions?

You can only get missions from contacts you are assigned, which is why
it's important to keep working your contacts for missions and then for
references to new contacts. If you level too fast without doing missions
from contacts, you can find yourself stuck with very low (=no XP)
missions you have to grind through, or tedious strings of contacts that
just hand you to higher ones, or even miss some of the critical game
content.

> Can I have more than one contact at a time?

Yes. You accumulate them and never lose them. (It would be nice to
delete, hide or categorize your contacts, especially as you now get the
police-mission contact in every zone you visit... gets cluttered.

> I had hit level 5 with a character, and I was pretty sure Azuria
> had asked me to go to King's Row when I exhausted her short
> list of tasks. I restarted the character (fixing up the costume
> and such). Next time though, Azuria sent me to some guy in
> Galaxy city who immediately sent me to the Hollows, not
> King's Row. Does this mean that the contact is chosen
> randomly?

Yes, there is some randomness to the chains of contacts, and you're
often given a choice. Read the descriptions carefully and pick the one
who will offer foes you can handle - that is, if you're a type sensitive
to toxic damage, you'll want to avoid Vahzilok missions, if you deal
smashing damage you want to avoid foes that are resistant to smash, etc.
You'll learn which is which.

> The Hollows was *extremely* hard for my level 4/5
> character, even in a group of 2 people, so I felt for awhile that
> something was wrong.

The Hollows is a bitch at the level they send you to it. In the future,
take the mission to talk to the police rep but DO NOT take his mission.
That will let you continue getting missions from the contact who sent
you there. The Hollows was added about halfway through the life of CoH
and it's always been a nasty death trap for those under 10. (And a debt
trap for those 10 and up.) You might want to run the mission arc there
with a big team - the capstone mission is fun, once - but otherwise
avoid it with other alts like most experienced players do.

> (I want to only do missions, without
> "grinding" to raise levels, is this possible in CoH?)

There used to be flat spots where you had to go all or most of a level
(sometimes two) without any missions. Some changes, the police-scanner
missions and teaming will get you past those that remain. Yes, you can
run missions all the way to 50, at least until you run into the "parade
of archvillains" in the 40s.

--
= The UPDATED v1.80 Keybind, Macro & Emote Guide for I8
= is available on HEROICA! - http://www.dgath.com/coh/
= @Shenanigunner (Victory server) & the ALTGAMESCOH channel

"Darin Johnson" <darin@usa.net> wrote in message
news:1188419592.476650.106650@k79g2000hse.googlegr oups.com...
| I'm a bit confused about contacts and missions in the game. Can I
| only get missions from someone if they are my official contact, or
| should I be trying to talk to all the NPCs to see if any have
| missions?
| Can I have more than one contact at a time?
|
| I had hit level 5 with a character, and I was pretty sure Azuria
| had asked me to go to King's Row when I exhausted her short
| list of tasks. I restarted the character (fixing up the costume
| and such). Next time though, Azuria sent me to some guy in
| Galaxy city who immediately sent me to the Hollows, not
| King's Row. Does this mean that the contact is chosen
| randomly? The Hollows was *extremely* hard for my level 4/5
| character, even in a group of 2 people, so I felt for awhile that
| something was wrong. (I want to only do missions, without
| "grinding" to raise levels, is this possible in CoH?)
|
| Checking online, I see that for levels 5-9 there is a "Negotiators"
| badge quest. Do I get sent to this automatically if I follow along
| the missions, or do I have to hunt this down myself?
|
| I also see that contacts will stop giving you missions if you exceed
| their level. Not too sad given my current set of missions. But if
| they ever do get more interesting, would I screw up any story lines
| if I wait so long to do them that I level up too much? Will the
| contact at least send me to a new contact even though I haven't
| finished the mission chain?
|
| --
| Darin Johnson

A good source of basic info is PARAGON WIKI.
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Note that they are moving from Wikipedia and are soon to be hosted at:
http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
(I have no idea why they are moving, but usually there are hosting
issues for the reason)

The current webpage at the new website is not very informative right
now.

Contacts are the lifeblood of heroes' missions. Many also sell inspirations
and enhancements as well. As you progress through the game, you will meet
more and more contacts who will assign you missions.
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Contacts

Articles in category "Unlockable Contacts"
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/index.ph...kable_Contacts
Unlockable Contacts, as the name implies, are contacts that you have to
unlock in order to obtain missions. After they are unlocked, they will
assign you missions and sell you enhancements and inspirations. At present,
unlockable contacts only appear in the Rogue Isles. The only method to
unlock them are through obtaining various badges and being in a required
level range. It is possible to outlevel them and not be able to complete
their missions.

The RESPEC CONTACTS can be click-contacted so long as you have a team of
the right size and are in the correct level range (or have a team leader
that is in the correct level range).

The INVENTION CONTACTS can be unlocked if you are in the correct level
range.

The TASK FORCE CONTACTS can be click-contacted so long as you have a
team of the right size and are in the correct level range (or have a team
leader that is in the correct level range).

Generally I would suggest looking under MISSIONS as well as CONTACTS for
hints on whom to contact and where in the game.

On Aug 29, 2:08 pm, Shenanigunner <n...@NOnitrosyncreticSPAM.com>
wrote:
> Read the descriptions carefully and pick the one
> who will offer foes you can handle

That only works if you know what's what. I guess
I'm naively assuming the game is balanced and won't
send me on anything too tough or inappropriate.

--
Darin Johnson

On Aug 29, 2:03 pm, Amigoid <lbrown-amig...@comcast.net> wrote:
> A lot of players get routed through the Hollows.

Luckily, my friend was questing there at the same
time. He claimed it was harder than it actually was.
He went into some mission with 4 other players and
they all got killed, but when we did it with two it
was pretty straight forward. The hard part was the
"kill 10 trolls" and such, where they're outside, in
large groups much higher level than I am. Getting to
the missions involved just running blindly in the
direction of the arrow trying to avoid any hostiles
and not get trapped. It felt wrong to play this way.


> but even if I don't, there are always the
> Police Scanner missions.

What is this?

> I think the Negotiators badge comes with breaking up a rumble between
> the rival street gangs.

But how do you get this mission chain, and do you
get it "normally". That is, do I have to go to the
web and look up documentation, or will my contacts
lead me there naturally, or am I expected to bump
into this person while wandering around aimlessly
and think "I wonder what happens if I talk to
this guy"?

So far, all the missions feel very strongly like
they're random, sort of like Daggerfall style.
There's no back story, minimal information given,
no clues or hints, and so far it's all "kill X
guys" or "kill all guys inside this building" or
"kill all guys in this building and click on 4
things while there".

I want to play as if the game is going to lead
me along correctly, and I'll get appropriate
encounters and see a sizable portion of the
game's backstory and "content". That's the role
playing side of me. But I'm worried that I have
to break out and search the web before doing
anything, lest I miss out on interesting content,
and that turns the game into a boring tactical
simulator instead of an immersive role playing
game. (granted, most MMO players only want
the tactical stuff)

I don't want to have to do this, to check badge
sites to find the name of the person to talk to.
If doing this mission is considered a "normal"
part of the gaming experience, then I also expect
to run into it naturally. If this is just a
neat-o easter-egg mission that most players never
discover, then I'm happy skipping it.

--
Darin Johnson

Darin Johnson wrote:

> I want to play as if the game is going to lead
> me along correctly, and I'll get appropriate
> encounters and see a sizable portion of the
> game's backstory and "content". That's the role
> playing side of me. But I'm worried that I have
> to break out and search the web before doing
> anything, lest I miss out on interesting content

No, no, no. Just play the game. It's all interesting.

Darin Johnson <darin@usa.net> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>On Aug 29, 2:03 pm, Amigoid <lbrown-amig...@comcast.net> wrote:
>> A lot of players get routed through the Hollows.
>
>Luckily, my friend was questing there at the same
>time. He claimed it was harder than it actually was.
>He went into some mission with 4 other players and
>they all got killed, but when we did it with two it
>was pretty straight forward. The hard part was the
>"kill 10 trolls" and such, where they're outside, in
>large groups much higher level than I am. Getting to
>the missions involved just running blindly in the
>direction of the arrow trying to avoid any hostiles
>and not get trapped. It felt wrong to play this way.

You don't actually have to do any Hollows missions, although, since it
was a later addition, it has a unified story arc that is kinda neat, but
a bit of a pain.

Your second contact will generally send you to see Wincott in the
Hollows, but you can circumvent this by just going there and talking to
him once before getting the second contact.

It used to be that everyone was sent to Perez Park, but now it's the
Hollows - the hollows is actually easier over all in my opinion since
it's more spread out.

>> but even if I don't, there are always the
>> Police Scanner missions.
>
>What is this?

It's a retrofit to coh.
When CoV was released it had a different contact system in that contacts
did refer you to new contacts but only in the same zone. When you went
to a new zone (starting with Port Oakes) you saw a broker and did
newspaper missions. Once you had done enough news missions the broker
sent you on a mayhem mission and on the completion of that you got a
contact.

Starting in Kings Row you'll have a detective contact in each zone that
will give safeguard missions (the reverse of a mayhem) and instead of
newspaper ads it's a police radio you are getting these random missions
from.
You have to visit the first detective to get the radio, and radio
missions will appear in your contact list at the top.

I bind it to n instead of going through the contact list (and this
really shows it's a retrofit, since the window is called newspaper as it
is in CoV. /bind n "newspaper")

In CoH it's actually quite easy to forget the radio exists, since it's a
retrofit and contacts pass you to other contacts.

But it's a good idea to do them, because on successful completion (the
first time) you get bonus temp powers.
Atlas safeguard gives you a sky raider jet pack good for 90 minutes of
use, KR safeguard gives a jump pack (like superjump) for 90 minutes,
etc.

>> I think the Negotiators badge comes with breaking up a rumble between
>> the rival street gangs.
>
>But how do you get this mission chain, and do you
>get it "normally". That is, do I have to go to the
>web and look up documentation, or will my contacts
>lead me there naturally, or am I expected to bump
>into this person while wandering around aimlessly
>and think "I wonder what happens if I talk to
>this guy"?

It's a normal mission chain, and it's between skulls and clockwork as I
recall (did it just the other day on my new controller.)

>So far, all the missions feel very strongly like
>they're random, sort of like Daggerfall style.
>There's no back story, minimal information given,
>no clues or hints, and so far it's all "kill X
>guys" or "kill all guys inside this building" or
>"kill all guys in this building and click on 4
>things while there".

Most of the older missions are very much like this, but there are story
arcs - chains of missions that have a story to them.
These are indicated by a sort of scroll/book logo that appears on the
contact window after you do the first mission of one.
Faultline has a bunch of these that are intertwined.

>I want to play as if the game is going to lead
>me along correctly, and I'll get appropriate
>encounters and see a sizable portion of the
>game's backstory and "content". That's the role
>playing side of me. But I'm worried that I have
>to break out and search the web before doing
>anything, lest I miss out on interesting content,
>and that turns the game into a boring tactical
>simulator instead of an immersive role playing
>game. (granted, most MMO players only want
>the tactical stuff)

Just playing along normally will run you through the storylines - the
only way to miss it is to street hunt (as the power levelers do) instead
of doing contacts.

>I don't want to have to do this, to check badge
>sites to find the name of the person to talk to.
>If doing this mission is considered a "normal"
>part of the gaming experience, then I also expect
>to run into it naturally. If this is just a
>neat-o easter-egg mission that most players never
>discover, then I'm happy skipping it.

The only thing you really need to visit sites for is badge locations and
other metagaming stuff.
Some of the mission badges, like the spelunker badge for the rescue
fortuneteller mission are requisites for accolades that have nice
effects.
Playing normally will generally run you into these missions anyway, but
it's possible to miss some if you level too fast.
Even then you can always group with someone else who has that mission
and get it that way.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

On Aug 30, 4:34 am, Xocyll <Xoc...@kingston.net> wrote:
> Starting in Kings Row you'll have a detective contact in each zone


Yeah, I ran across the police scanner by accident.
I was leaving Pocket D, which dumped me in King's Row.
Checking my map for the tram to take me back to
Atlas City, I saw what looked like a contact. So
I ran that way, and the detective refused to talk
to me and said to talk to his partner. I headed in
the police station to look around, and one of the guys
gave me the police scanner.

--
Darin Johnson

Somewhere, Darin Johnson wrote:
> Yeah, I ran across the police scanner by accident.
> I was leaving Pocket D, which dumped me in King's Row.
> Checking my map for the tram to take me back to
> Atlas City, I saw what looked like a contact. So
> I ran that way, and the detective refused to talk
> to me and said to talk to his partner. I headed in
> the police station to look around, and one of the guys
> gave me the police scanner.

That's pretty much how I learned the game, way back when, before there were
many help sites or guides available. It may be the best way, but it's also
slow and frustrating.

(Hey, I hit level 4 with my first alt before I figured out what was
happening and found a trainer!)

--
= The UPDATED v1.80 Keybind, Macro & Emote Guide for I8
= is available on HEROICA! - http://www.dgath.com/coh/
= @Shenanigunner (Victory server) & the ALTGAMESCOH channel