Hey everyone, sorry about not keeping up on this thread. The best way to contact me in CoH is through the email system in game. You will have a global chat name which you can use to communicate even over other servers and when the recipient is offline. I think your default global name is the name of the first character you log in as (though it's changeable). Mine is @Ya Dead Homie since that was the name of the character I logged into first when they released that addition a long time ago.
Basically just send an in game email (it's on the chat window) to @Ya Dead Homie and I'll get it.
You can also send me tells via /t @ya dead homie, text here
even if you are on another server and I'm offline. There is a limit to the number of offline messages the game stores. I'm not sure about emails but you should be able to reach me in the near future that way. I'll usually login at least once during the day to see whether the dude I used to group with in CoH is on or not and send him some messages if not or team up if so.
I'll read this thread now and edit in some answers for questions and stuff that I know about, though there are a lot of gaps in my knowledge, especially about newer features.
Hmmm. According to the wiki, my hero(lvl 14) is approaching the max level(15) for the earliest task forces and the earliest trial. I don't wanna miss out on them, but I don't have anyone to do them with
EDIT: Wait, there's time travel in this game? Does it extend to task forces, I wonder? Need to do more reading.
EDIT2: Ah, so you automatically exemplar downwards if your level exceeds the max. That's nice to know. Now I don't have to worry about overleveling anymore.
Yep. They made it significantly easier to form groups during my hiatus and you don't have to worry about missing out on stuff.
Also,
It appears you can do all the story arcs and such that you missed while leveling in a special zone called Ouroboros. It's a very, very good system in my opinion. Ouroboros is accessed via a teleporter temporary power. You earn the teleporter power by having a time travel related badge. For returning players, this might be where you had gone back in time to fight the 5th column nazis (where I got mine) Fortunately for you, there is an exploration badge in the Ouroboros zone that qualifies as a time travelling badge. Ask for a kindly person who has an Ouroboros Portal (you can use theirs) in /b chat which is zonewide, arrange to meet them somewhere through tells, and then go through their portal. Then, when you zone in, look up. There is a 'wire' type object that goes to the very top of the floating island's construction. Somewhere up there (small area) is the exploration badge.
How I would recommend leveling up is this: Do your contact's missions. If you can get a group, do so because with time travel you can go back and learn all the intricacies of the story at any time, and you'll be a little more powerful due to having more slotting in your powers by that time (though enhancements scale down to roughly to the effectiveness they should be at that time, there are also more of them.)
The exception to this are the bank missions, which give a useful temporary power. This is because you are introduced to contacts through a 'broker.' This broker will contact you after you do a certain amount of newspaper missions, at which they will direct you you to rob/defend a bank in an alternate instance city zone (these are fun and tricky missions to be handled slowly and with care). If you succeed you get a temp power (low level villains get a jetpack for instance that lasts for 1 hour of in game usage. I recommend conserving by only using it to jump over obstacles, especially if you saved a power pick by only taking superspeed as a travel power in City of Villains, as the Rogue Islands are about as well fortified as you'd expect from a paranoid super villain mastermind.)
Ooh, actually can you even contact me via global as a free player? I sure hope so, that would make it a lot easier to give you some guidance. I remember there were some limits on new free players (not premium which is what I am I guess since I had a subscription at one point) regarding zone wide chats, but I'm not sure if that covers global chat or not.