Since I am still hopeful that we CoH players can save our beloved game, I thought I’d do a post this week full of similar hope for the future–and what’s more hopeful than creating a new character?

If you’re addicted to making new characters, as I am, the process is likely a familiar one, but can be a little disconcerting. Like getting anything new, you have to break it in, have to conform it to your particular tastes, and it can be a little difficult to remember all your settings from more established characters.

Here’s an easy way to quickly set up your new character, from the first moment you exit the Character Creation studio:

Upon First Arriving in Atlas Park/Mercy Island

• Arrange the various modules on your screen to your preference. For instance, I prefer my Chatbox on the bottom left of my screen, while my boyfriend prefers his on the bottom right.
• Drag and drop your powers on your power tray in your preferred order. For me, I like to have my most-used powers on the first 5 numbers; you may have a different system.
• If you have a supergroup you’d like to be invited to, message one of the admins and ask them to add you to the group.
• Go into Options > Keymapping, and make sure all your keyboard shortcuts and mouse settings are to your preference. For instance, I like my Tab key to target the “Nearest” enemy towards me instead of the “Next” enemy, so I change that every time. I also set up my Inspirations to trigger using the YUIOP keys instead of F1 through F5.
• Go to the nearest Hospital to stock up on Inspirations (the Nurse in the Hospital lobby sells them). Since you only have a few Inspiration slots at level 1, you
• Talk to your first contacts (look under “Contacts” in your Navigation Console, top center of the screen), and begin to run all the missions you can. When one contact runs out of missions, ask to “Be introduced to another contact” so you can keep the XP going.

When You’re Level 2-5

• As you level up and receive new powers, don’t forget to add other supportive powers like Rest, Sprint, Mission Teleporter, Mystic Fortune, etc. Go to your Powers menu (linked on the Chatbox module) and scroll down till you get to the “Inherent Powers” box (on the right-most side of the Powers menu). Click the icon for each power that you want to add to your power tray.
• Use the global email system to transfer a little bit of influence (10-20,000 should suffice) from your other characters. This way, you can buy Training Enhancements for your powers as you level up.
• If you get Training Enhancements you can’t use, sell them off to Vendors so that you can buy the Enhancements you need.
• Explore the available Power Pools before you level up, so you can see what kind of powers you might like to pull off those as you level up. (You can choose your first power from any pool at level 4.)

Interested in Saving City of Heroes?

I generally keep up with all the latest #SaveCoH news on Twitter through my City of Heroes Twitter, @skiesoveratlas. Follow and join the fight!