City of Heroes Freedom™ New User Guide

Welcome to City of Heroes Freedom™! Once you've made your account and installed the game, this guide gives you starting information and brief tips to help you jump into the game.

Table of Contents

• Create a Character
• Play the Tutorial
• Meet Your Contact
• Choose Your Adventure
• Return From Defeat
• Quick Tips
• Game Controls and Commands
• Navigating the Game UI

Create a Character

1. Launch the game, log in with your account information, and select a server. While playing for free, you can unlock up to two character slots in your account: two on one server, or one on two different servers.
   
   • Tip: If you plan to play with friends, make sure you select the server they play on.
2. Click on a character slot to unlock for your first character. (Character slots have a padlock icon to the left of them and are labeled "Unlockable.") Read the Character Slot Redemption Warning to make sure that you are unlocking a slot in the server you intended to. If you are sure, click the Accept button.
3. Choose Create Character for the slot you just unlocked and click the large City of Heroes Freedom logo. Then build your character by choosing the Origin of your powers, your playstyle, Archetype, primary and secondary power sets and their first powers, and your character's look. Type in a character name.
   
   
   
   • Tip: You can go back and forth between character creation screens, using the angled tabs at the top of the page, to change any of these choices until you complete character creation.
4. Complete character creation by clicking the Yes button in response to the question "Complete character creation and enter game?" This takes you to the Galaxy City's Last Stand tutorial.

Play the Tutorial

1. Click Next to view a comic describing the story behind the Galaxy City's Last Stand tutorial and begin to orient yourself in the City of Heroes Freedom game universe. You can also click Enter Game at any time to begin the tutorial.
   
2. When your character first appears in the tutorial, a number of windows also appear. The large, central window shows recent changes or announcements. Take a few seconds to read it, then click OK to dismiss it.
   • Tip: Click the transparent edge of any window to drag it. Click the small button with a red X at the top or bottom right of a window to close it.
   • Tip: You can click the exclamation points at the far right of the screen to review game tips and information.
3. Use the W, A, S, and D keys or the arrow keys to move, and the Spacebar key to jump. Move forward and follow the tutorial instructions.
   

   • Tip: Turn on your speakers or use headphones. Sound effects help orient you, and an in-game voiceover gives you important information.
4. Use a power by clicking a button in the power tray at the bottom right of the screen or by typing the corresponding number key for that button. When you use a power, its button becomes small to indicate that the power is recharging. The button gradually returns to full size when that power has recharged. If you try to use a power while is it still recharging, a "Recharging . . ." text message lets you know, and you hear an electronic whooshing tone.
   • Tip: You can organize the powers in your tray by dragging and dropping them. You can add powers from the Powers menu to the tray by dragging them, or remove powers from the tray by right-clicking them.
5. You can interact with others by right-clicking a character and selecting one of the interaction options listed.
   
   • Tip: If you want to talk in the game, click the empty chat line at the bottom left (in the chat window), type your message, then hit the Enter (or Return) key. Hit the Backspace (or Delete key) to reply to someone's message.
   • Tip: Clicking one of the tiny channel buttons above the chat line changes the chat channel to Local, Broadcast (yell), Team, Request (trade), Friends, or the current active channel.
6. The navigation window at the top of the screen (which displays the compass) provides ongoing tips about what to do next in the tutorial mission.
7. As you play, you gain experience. When you gain a level, a big, green, upward-pointing arrow appears in the circle at the top right superimposed over the number of the level you've reached. Each time you gain a level, you need to train. During the tutorial, you'll have an opportunity to train. Click on and interact with the trainer to choose new powers or access new perks for the level you have gained.
   
   • Tip: Trainers can be large robots or ghostly characters, although they usually look like costumed characters. There are trainers in many zones in the game. You can locate a trainer at any time by clicking Map in your navigation window. Trainers are marked on the map with a green icon inside a white circle.
   • Tip: When you get a new power, make sure to put it in your power tray.
8. Near the end of the tutorial, you must make a moral choice that sets you on the road to becoming a Hero or a Villain. The tutorial lets you know when you are making this choice and that the choice is important. If you choose to become a Hero, you will play missions in Atlas Park, where all Heroes start. If you choose to become a Villain, you will play missions in Mercy Island, home of Villains.

Meet Your Contact

When you finish the tutorial, you are sent to your new contact. Throughout the game, contacts give you missions, which lead to other missions. A waypoint, which indicates the direction you need to move in order to locate this contact, appears on the compass in the navigation window at the top center of the screen. Move toward the contact and interact with him.

Hero: Heroes are sent to Matthew Habashy, who is located in Atlas Park.

Villain: Villains are sent to Operative Kuzmin, who is located in Mercy Island.

• Tip: If you lose your bearings, check your contacts list by clicking Contacts in the navigation window at the top center of the screen to find a contact.

Choose Your Adventure

You choose what you want to do next. You can go on missions or you can join a group for a trial.

• Play a Training Mission: At level 5, either Twinshot (Heroes) or Dr. Graves (Villains) offers you ongoing training missions. To continue leveling, you can accept and complete as many as you desire.
  
  
  
• Join a Trial: You can immediately join the Death from Below trial, where you team up with up to seven others to accomplish a larger-scale mission. Click the LFG (Looking for Group) tab at the top of the chat window. Select Death From Below from the list of available missions. Click the Queue button. You are automatically teamed with other characters, and the mission begins when your team has assembled.

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Return From Defeat

When your Health (the green bar) is reduced to zero, you are defeated and fall to the ground, unconscious. You are revived in one of three ways:

• Resurrection: A teammate or another character can revive or resurrect you. You wake up where you fell.
• Power or Inspiration Use: Use an Inspiration or a power to resurrect yourself. You wake up where you fell.
• The Hospital: If you click Go to the Hospital, you wake up in the hospital or in a corresponding location in your particular game area. If you revive in the hospital, follow the red-lettered Exit signs to the front door, and click on the door to leave.

Now that you're up, return to your mission or trial.

• Tip: View the map to reorient yourself by typing M or clicking Map in the navigation window at the top center of the screen.
• Tip: To review your current mission, click Mission in the navigation window.

Quick Tips

• Look Over the Menu: The main game Menu at the top right of your screen, above the stat bars, contains a number of useful shortcuts and information options.
• Change the Camera Angle: You can pan the camera to see your character and the surroundings from a different perspective by right-clicking and holding the mouse key while you move the mouse. Use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out.
• Use the Map: Click Map on the navigation window to see a map of your location. If the icons overlap, move the cursor over those icons to separate them.
• Follow: Type F to follow a friend or a target, or right-click that character. This is useful in combat if you are playing a melee character who needs to stay close to an enemy.
• Friend Someone: You can add a friend by right-clicking a character and selecting Add Friend from the menu that appears.
• Target an Enemy: To select a target to attack, click on that character. You can switch to a new target by clicking the Tab key.
• Ignore Someone: You can ignore people, and you will no longer see their in-game chat. To ignore someone, click on that character's name in the chat line and select Ignore [name].
• Invite a Friend to Team Up: Invite someone to a team by right-clicking the character and selecting Invite to Team.
• Smoother Movement: You can move more smoothly if you right-click and hold the mouse key while using the W, A, S, D, or arrow movement keys.
• Sprint: Your character has a Sprint power that allows you to run more quickly. Enable this power often to speed up travel time. However, sprinting for a long time uses Endurance, so keep an eye on your Endurance bar.
• Find Help in the Game: Look up game concepts by clicking Menu at the top right above the stat bars and selecting Help. You can also ask other players for help by using chat in the Local channel. Characters with “Helper” tags above their heads represent players who have offered to assist newcomers. You can also click the Paragon Market™ button (a blue button on the right side of the screen, with a shopping cart logo) and then click the Support tab at the top of the Paragon Market page to find FAQs about the game as well as account and technical support.
• Get Help Online: Read posts and answers on the official City of Heroes® website forums, join the conversation on the City of Heroes Facebook page, or look through the information in the Paragon Wiki fansite.
• Quit the Game: You don't have to save your game before you quit. To quit, click Menu, select Quit, then select one of the three options in the pop-up window.
• Invert the Mouse: If the mouse behaves opposite to the way you are used to, click Menu at the top right of the screen, select Options, click the Controls tab, find Invert Mouse in the Mouse section, and depending on what is displayed, click Normal or Inverted to toggle it to the opposite state. Then click the Apply Now button and close the window.
• Toggle Window Mode: Type Alt+Enter (on a PC) or Cmd+Return (on a Mac) to toggle between playing the game in a window or full screen.

Game Controls and Commands

Navigating the Game UI

1. Navigation Window
   Displays a compass, and waypoints if they are marked. Map (zone map), Contact (contact list), Mission (current missions), Clues (current clues), and Badge (badge list) open windows.
2. Stat Bars
   The three bars are the Health bar (green, top), the Endurance bar (blue, middle), and the Experience bar (purple, bottom). Endurance is expended by using some powers. Each full Experience bar is one-tenth of a level. The ten oval bubbles around the circle to the right of the Experience bar track the tenths of a level accrued toward the next.
3. Chat, Tray (power tray), Target, and Nav (navigation) open those windows. Menu opens the main game menu, which holds Options for changing the video and sound options and remapping the keybinds.
4. Paragon Rewards Button
   Select and review your Paragon Rewards choices.
5. Paragon Market™ Button
   Shop for Paragon Points™, VIP player status, and in-game items.
6. Power Tray
   Drag power icons from the powers window to your power tray and arrange them in the 10 numbered circles. Click a power icon, or type the corresponding keyboard number, to use a power. Powers, Inspirations, Enhancements, Salvage, and Recipes open windows that let you manage those items.
7. Chat Window
   Type messages in the chat line at the bottom. After typing, hit Enter (or Return) to send the message. Hit Backspace (or Delete) to reply to someone's message. Team (team list), League (league list), Friends (friends list), Super (Super Group roster), Email, and LFG (Looking for Group) open those windows.
   Channel Buttons: Clicking one of the tiny channel buttons above the chat line changes the chat channel to Local, Broadcast (yell), Team, Request (trade), Friends, or the current active channel.
   Quick Chat Button: Click this button at the right margin of the chat line to see and select from a list of emotes.
   
   • Tip: Some emote actions will continue until you end them. End an emote action by hitting any movement key.
8. Target Window
   Displays a targeted enemy's or ally's name and information. Actions (if available) toggles a list of actions you can take with that target.
   Mouse Controls
   Right Button
   Right-click and hold, then move the mouse to pan the camera.
   Mouse Wheel/Middle Button
   Scroll mouse wheel to zoom or pull back the camera.
   Click mouse wheel/middle button and hold, then move the mouse to right or left to rotate the camera.
   Left Button
   Left-click to target or select an object.