Author: Neuronia
3,555 Views
6 Comments
|
Hello all. For those of you who don’t know me, I have been playing City of Heroes for close to 5 months now, some would say obsessively in the case of my main, Neuronia.
As I grow closer and closer to level 50, I look back on the early levels.
Let me start by defining a “Lowbie” I mean by this, a superhero levels 10 and below, and more than likely level 5 and below.
Lowbies are vital for the renewal and health of the game, for a variety of reasons.
The Importance of Lowbies
Whether they are a grizzled vet trying out a new archetype or simply a new player starting out in this wonderful game, Lowbies are easy to spot. They are wandering around Atlas Park, Galaxy City or The Hollows, looking for a team and fighting Clockwork, Vahzilok, Hellions, Council or a host of other baddies that swarm these areas.
They are often “LFT” or asking questions or just hanging out “under Atlas.”
We, the higher level ‘toons, can help them if and when needed.
How? Read on to find out.
i) The Broadcast Channel
This is the most obvious and first place to look, as there is always an abundance of people who need a team, and we all remember how rough it can be, especially in The Hollows where you need to fight countless amounts of Outcasts or Trolls. Even in Atlas Park, you can run into any number of heroes or opponents.
Scan the broadcast channel for anyone asking questions, and either answer in Broadcast or send a tell (using /t (Name), ) to them to help them out.
This is also a quick way to find out who they are, what they look like, what their archetype (AT) is, and so on.
If you choose to join a team, you have two choices open to you:
a) Exemplar
A player who exemplars lowers his abilities to that of the person he or she is helping. This means if you are Neuronia, a level 41 Mind/Force Field Controller exemplaring to NewHero1, a level 5 Fire/Ice Tanker, your powers all fall to level 5!
You will not gain any experience, but rather work off debt, and once done that, collect influence. This is a great way to work off all that excess debt gained fighting Crey, Carnival of Shadows and Arch-Villains.
Exemplaring also gives you a fresh look on the game, as it reminds you how it was to fight things at that level, and that’s fun in and of itself!
b) Sidekick
You can offer a Sidekick position to your young hero friend. Doing so raises their combat ability and thus makes them have a little more enjoyment out of fighting lower-level foes.
The drawback to this is that you may not gain any experience points of this and neither may your sidekick if you kill too many things. Still, it is a worthwhile endeavor.
ii) The “Costume Contest”
At higher levels, you tend to have an abundance of spare influence. Since there are always many people hanging out “under Atlas”, you can start one of these with 5 minutes notice, get people to line-up and see what they look like! This is a great ice-breaker and you can donate anything you want, really. Generally, I give 200,000 to 1st and then 50,000 to 2nd and 3rd. Invite the appealing heroes to a team, and then talk to them and give them their prize. Most people will love this activity, but be warned, there is often some grumbling from the peanut gallery from those not chosen.
iii) The “Random Act of Kindness”
I personally enjoy this method:
Stand under Atlas and say “Any Hero level 5 or below that says ‘Hi!’ to me will get X,000 Influence!” where X is generally 5,000 or 10,000 or so.
While this amount may not seem very high at first glance, remember those lower levels where Training Enhancements costs 1,000 or 5,000 and so on…and Inspirations add up as well! That 10,000 will help for quite some time.
Other Random Acts of Kindness: Flying/Superjumping around and seeing any “Orange” (dead) status heroes lying around and offering resurrection or escort or awakens. Helping people complete their cape or aura mission is always a lot of fun too.
Sometimes people will ask for influence so they can buy DOs or so on…if you feel like helping, do so!
iv) The Hollows
We all remember The Hollows. It’s a vast wasteland filled with Trolls, Pumicites, Outcasts and one of the more irritating trials in the game (The Cavern of Transcendance.)
This zone is ALWAYS densely populated and people are always looking for help. If you happen to have Recall Friend, you can offer your services as a “TP to Atlas Gate” or to missions and find many grateful takers. If you have quick movement powers, you can cross the Hollows quickly and find all sorts of missions to Exemplar into.
Frostfire is still a favorite of mine, and I occasionally go to The Hollows and Exemplar down to have some fun as I did it now seems so long ago.
v) Your “Team” window
We all have a message we can display to others who seek a teammate in the various zones. Mine right now is: “Glad to help! Level 41 Mind/Bubbler Controller lft”
If you make this message newbie-friendly, you may get all sorts of tells that can lead you to helping others including…
vi) Task Forces
Task Forces are a great way to work off excess debt and gain influence. I had the Positron one to finish (I had skipped over it at lower levels) and joined. I generally make it clear how important the TF is by offering influence to all other members at completion. A level 12 is getting to the point where she needs Dual-Origin Enhancements, and that extra influence can help.
vii) Be courteous
Don’t be obsequious, but politely answer questions and be helpful whenever you are in a team. Don’t kill steal! This has taken me a while to understand, but the creature you slay may be what someone needs to get a badge and so on…and speaking of badges.
viii) Badge-hunting
This is a great way to show Lowbies around. Badges have that wide appeal. They are pretty, they tell you something about Paragon City, and you can wear them so others see them (I wish the Devs would show the badge picture as well under you name, but that’s a quibble) and they are a great way for people to explore cities. While badge-hunting, you can fight baddies, do missions, and so on.
These are but a few suggestions to get people’s minds rolling.
Remember: The longer newer, lower-level superheroes experience City of Heroes content and enjoy it, the longer they will play and learn more about this incredible game world.
Look me up on Champion server, and don’t take it personally if my connection crashes ;)
|
