Hi All, I decided to create this guide/tips thread for leveling up your toon to make it worth your experience in leveling up. Here are my reasons: 1. Most guides out there are for leveling fast and somehow miss the experience of what could be the intended difficulty for that level. 2. The tendency to level up fast is to make the most of the monthly subscription. They have to level as many toons for each powerset as fast as they can. In this case I believe that they can somehow breeze thru leveling from 1-30 specially if they already experience all the story lines of all the 6 mentors. But then if you look at those who are new in the game they might miss out the intended experience. 3. There are some people who unwittingly/unintentionally leveled up fast or got a higher CR that they skipped the CR bracket recommended for the mission and end up earning no Marks. Thus they had a hard time earning Marks on the mission with upper level CR. 4. There are some people who wants to get challenged but just like in #3 they got a higher CR for that mission thus they did not experience that difficulty intended for it. 5. In short, there are players who want to enjoy a "natural" progression of the game and somehow they got no idea. I will answer those concerns and give more tips as this is currently a Work In Progress. Thank you.
Maximizing you money From Free to Legendary/Premium[this part is unofficial - it is really up to you to maximize your money] If you're a newbie or moving to another account and want to maximize your real life money you can do the following. A. Starting from free account: 1. Choose from a free powerset: Fire, Ice, Nature, Sorcery,Mental and Gadgets. 2. Create toons 1 to each side: Hero and Villain. This is to see both sides. of course you may choose both of your toon to be only at one side, however you might miss out the experience of exploring the Headquarters and safe houses and mission just for each factions. 3. Level them up until your toons are 30. Then play tiers 1 missions. You can still play up to upper tier missions however you'll miss some Lantern and Flash related mission on the tier 2 and 3, and more. 4. Now here comes your decision to play Legendary or Premium. there are many combinations and scenarios that you can do to play further along. for simplicity sake I'll choose Legendary. 5. I can create toons that are not from the free powersets. actually I would create all characters that I can, play them out of the brainiac ship and get back to them later. 6. Here I would decide to play which powerset should I play. I could continue with 2 of my level 30 toons or level up a new toon that I like to play for the end game. If I ever reach the maximum tier missions played once or twice I'll level the rest as much as I can within that month. 7. you'll now be premium and you have to choose which of the 6 toons you want to maintain. I could go legendary again for all of them to level up or buy bundles. A. all the point here is that you get to level 2 toons for free. B. since you get to familiarize with both sides you can level the rest of your toons faster. C. experience leveling up to maximum CR during legendary. D. level-up the rest of your toon if you become premium. E. you can go legendary or buy bundless to level the rest of your toons for the endgame. ----- Creating a Toon with a Theme: Some of us a particular about the character we want to play from name, to power, to how it looks and more. A. Decide first what is the main idea of your Toon. If you want to play as Superman , Batman or Wonder Woman and their villain counterparts there are templates available for them. However, what if you want to have unique or does not fit it within the templates? I suggest that you choose something near to the templates available. Also if you prefer a costume on the onset, consider the costume first because it is easier to change the other attributes later. Example: My first toon was female because we have the expression "Ladies first". Since I am a slowpoke I decided to have Super Speed as movement mode. And there was a "mental" institution near our locality thus I choose mental for powers. I explored the templates and it was a mix of Wonder Woman and the Flash. Woman Woman template has Wonder Woman as Mentor, Mental for Powers, and Flight for movement mode. Flash template has Superman as Mentor, Fire for Powers, and Super Speed for movement mode. I choose WW first but the costume does not fit the style I wanted. I was tedious to change it to Flash's so decide to choose Flash template then change the other attributes. B. Name that Toon. I know very well that what you have in mind could be possibly be taken already. So during your character creation it would be either stop or force to have a new name and/or spelling. There could be times you're exasperated changing names and end up with something you don't want. One of the ways is to list alternative names or spellings. however there are still times they were already been taken. So in short you wish that there is way to know if you're name is already been taken. Well! good news! there is one, You can check this link http://www.dcuolive.com/Character/Search Some found a way to simplify like creating a unique toon name for his first and Toon then using the same name plus either another unique second name or name of power so as to easily distinguish them. C. Powers If you got a power that already exists that would great but for powers that are not yet available but you still want to play then choose the next best thing or don't create it yet (simple right!). As to the former there are Super heroes you want play as like Martian Manhunter, he is both mental and nature (animal morphing). Obviously you have to settle for just one. Now just to have them both power you might try creating toons for each power. Another example would be like before there was no Lantern powers so a player decided to create a Toon for that Lantern but choose mental. D. Movement. Other than the theme of your toon you might consider the role that your powers can play. Usually it is recommended to have superspeed for controllers as it has Speed Drain that can quickly replenish mana/power for you and your team mates. At times it is also recommended for healers and tanks as it also does the same for them. E. Mentor. This one is easy. So as long as you know what you want to be the main storyline that you want to play during your level up. But there are considerations like Renown. F. Costume. Like I said before you might consider a template near the ideal costume you want. However there style that you can pick-up as you level-up. you might to explore them with this link http://dcuniverseonline.wikia.com/wiki/Styles Putting them altogether. I'll be focusing more on Power and movement combo. You can make a list or table of the Toons you want to create. By combining both Powers and Movements you can produce a theme for each combo and thus the names you can come up with. You can plan the next Toons that you want to create.
Leveling your toon from 1-30 1. Just take the missions presented to you from safehouses. Take those related that of the main mission when during your performance so you can finish them both at the same time. note: some would say that you should skip those related missions, however this could help you boost your leveling up aside from the additional rewards that you'll get. also finishing the story arcs related you your main mission could help you get feats early and thus you'll earn more skill points early on. 2. Along the way you'll get a booster for leveling up. I used it during level 12 or 13 because the the first 12 levels are easy. however when you reach level 16 missions you'll notice how hard to kill minions if you are a level below them. 3. Doing Alerts. It is advisable to do alerts when you are at least 2 to 3 levels above the mission level. this would give you a slight edge over the minions. Some players skips them until they reach level 30. For those would like challenges well obviously you can do that mission at your current level. 4. Skip Wanted missions and PVP. Wanted mission are hard to do so its better to do it when you at a high level and with a group. 5. Do check your gear if they are at par with you level. especially If you found yourself challenged to kill minions during your missions. buy something appropriately. Recommended is that maximum level of gear allowed on your level. Level 30, upon reaching , do the following: For newbies a. Familiarized yourself with the duty tab. b. Re-explore Safe houses and Headquarters. c. Examine Feats menu so you can decide which feats you want to perform. d. Review Renown. These are for specific feats and gears. it could add Skill Points later on. e. Check out Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 gears available at your Headquarters. You also check PVP gears. for newbies and veterans: -clean up your mission backlogs on your journal. You might want to go back to those level alerts and wanted missions below level 30 that you have skipped before. - do the Booster gold exploration missions. you might want to do some exploration feats along the way. -always check out the Vault and Toy Man Missions as they could easily give Marks of Victory after performing those duties. -perform races in between queuing for duties or you may allot a specific time to do these. I prefer the former.
Endgame leveling up ( Managing CR upgrade) Take note of the ff: 1. There is a 100 maximum limit for Marks of Victory. you will lose anything excess of that thus you need to spend it. if you play a mission that you will earn MoVs and you currently have 100 MoVs you will not get the new MoVs. 2. if you level up your CR very fast you might miss the opportunity to earn MoVs when you go back to lower tier missions. 3. You can earn high tier gears during missions. 4. You might get a groupmate with higher or very high CR during Duos, Alerts, or Raids. 5. remember the main 8 gears : (1) Head (2) Shoulders (3) Chest (4) Back (5) Belt (6) Legs (7) Gloves (8) Shoes 6. Accessories are : (1) Weapon (2) Trinket (3) Rings (4) Mask (5) Neck 7. During end-game level up 2 rounds of doing the Tier Missions is the minimum recommendation. A. Gearing for Missions Since some of us are cheapskates even with our in-game money thus some us might not buy a T0 or T1 gear after newly leveling to 30. Some of us might be dependent on Note#3 hoping to get a gear drop. Also Unless you get Note#4 you'll have team mates that can help you breeze thru the missions but or now we are covering Solo Missions. But lets look at the other hand, this would present some problems. There is a possibility that you'll be under geared for missions. When I say under geared what I mean is that you're not equipped with enough gear to at least survive the whole mission ergo you'll be a burden for group mates. The more times you die that more chances your gears are damaged the more times you need to repair and this aside from. you are slowing down the rest. - try doing the easiest solo mission without a new gear. if you don't die then do the next easiest until you find something hard. -after finding a mission that can kill you before even reaching the main boss, buy a tier 1 main gear Note#5. your options: >> buy to replace 1 of main 8 gears that has the lowest CR. >>if 2 more are lowest then buy the cheapest. -continue until you reach until you get a second tier 1 gear -if you still have problems dying then you can buy some T1 accessories Note#6 -The recommended CR limit for T1 solos would be CR 37. this is based from 1/3 of CR 30 to CR 53 in which you can earn MoVs doing these Solo T1 Missions. This would cover the hard part. from CR 38 to CR 45 is medium. CR 46 to CR 56 is easy. Also that 2nd 1/3 CR is enough gap to cover T1 equivalent gear that you're get from solos, duos, alerts and raids. -or- -if you want to skip testing you can buy 2 t1 main gear and/or accessories just upon leveling to 30, just remember the CR 37 limit -if you want and easier just buy until you have 42 CR at most. *just remember to apply the CR limits of 1/3 or 1/2 to each Tier missions B. Earning Statistical Points We earn SP by doing feats. For every 100 feat points we earn 1 SP. so we earn feats by doing something right? some of them once and some of them by repetition. Here are the tips: 1. Toyman Missions - do this once that you're logged in. It could earn you Marks Of Victory each of the 3 missions that you perform. And this resets everyday thus you earn 3 MoVs each day you do this. *I've notice that upon stepping into CR 64 that I get reward boxes instead of MoVs. I will check this upon creating a new toon. 2. Solo and Duo Missions - do this while waiting for your queue in Raids and Alerts. It would also earn you MoVs once that you are within the CR bracket of its Tier, rewards if you are over its Tier Bracket. There are lots of survival, speed, and special feats that you can earn. There is a journal mission each to complete a set solo and duo mission. each would earn you additional MoVs. 3. Renown. For Solo missions and Bounty you would also earn Renown. another way is to buy them with 5 MoVs though this is not recommended. for more information you may check this link http://dcuniverseonline.wikia.com/wiki/Renown If you are able to reach cooperative status you may able to buy T0 gear. In turn after acquiring styles for the whole set you would earn feat points. available gear are the main gear (see Note#5). each gear is worth 1 MoV. Also if you earn Trusted status, you can earn their Emblem. earning all 3 Emblem could give another feat. Renown are carried over from the old system so as to continue your goal in doing more missions under the factions. you can buy T0 gear for meta and tech factions.As of my understanding that it was intended to earn this cooperative status first then buy T0 gear before earning T1 gear. For the sake of practicality we could just skip this and just buy them to earn style feat points. I can not recommend that you try to earn T0 gear first before buying a T1 because it would entail lots of difficulty. 4. Alerts and Raids. queuing takes time for this longer than duos and some of the alerts and raids takes much longer than others. That is why while queuing we recommend that you do toyman, solos, duos, races, metropolis and gotham explorations, pvp, duels, and occasional management of Powers, SP, gear and inventories. There are lots of exploration, survival, speed, and special feats that you can earn. my recommendations for these are: - whenever you do easy Raid versions first. these are for the Batcave and Fortress raids. - for better appreciation of storylines do the raids with this sequence. Batcave: Outer Caverns , Inner Sanctum, Brainiac Subconstruct Fortress of Solitude: Chasm, Power Core , Sunstone Matrix -when in doubt doing Raids and Alerts, do these only when you are 1/2 or 2/3 of your Cr bracket. 5. Explorations. Most explorations of raids and alerts are done during your performance of that mission. but for the rest they are not so you have to check the Feats Menu. if you have skipped booster gold's explorations during you're leveling up you might want to include the spots the are you are exploring on the feats you need to fulfill. allocate a time like a day each week so you can complete these feats. 6. Races. the easiest feats to get are those in front of the starting safe houses. but rest are scatter over metropolis and gotham. just like explorations, allocate a time like a day each week. 7. Styles - aside from collecting them to make a fashion statement. you can earn feats by the number of styles you acquired. you also earn by completing a set whether iconic or theme styles. for more information you might want to check the ff. links: http://dcuniverseonline.wikia.com/wiki/Styles_Feats http://dcuniverseonline.wikia.com/wiki/Iconic_Styles_Feats http://dcuniverseonline.wikia.com/wiki/Theme_Styles_Feats Now what would be my recommendations? - For acquiring iconic styles remember Vendor 00. If you got a loot or bought a higher tier for that gear you can always buy the styles of the lower tier from that vendor. - For cheapskates hope for acquiring loots equivalent or higher than the said gear style. -in case you want to staying longer within the tier or CR bracket. instead of buying a new gear, you might want to buy the styles of the gear equivalent of the loot within the same tier. - of course if you buy Tiered (iconic) gears, complete the lower tiers sets first. - in reference of doing the old fashion way: before there were Marks for each tiers and no styles can bought from vendors for iconic styles. thus we are forced to buy them all gears and of each factions. So Tier 1 and Tier 2 we need to buy all of those 6 set of styles at full price. that being said, focus 1 iconic set before collecting the other styles within the same tier. -just like the old fashion way. no one leaves their tier until they collected all the iconic styles. this could become a basis for staying within the tier/CR level during end game. you might want to try but not fully recommended.
edit history: 1. created first post. made 2 placeholders. - Aug 20, 2015 2. posted initial guide tips on post#2. added 2 placeholders. - Aug 20, 2015 3. spread the initial post for tips into 3. updated each parts. - Aug 22, 2015 4. updated first part with character creation. - Aug 24, 2015 5. updated third part with skill points. - Aug 24, 2015
