The Players' Guide to the Cities/Your First Game Session
< The Players' Guide to the Cities
When you have finished creating your character, you may begin your adventure. You will be given the option to either play through or skip the game tutorials when you leave the Character ID screen. Playing through a tutorial will help to demonstrate to you the basics of movement, navigation, combat, and interacting with non-player characters (NPCs). In addition, upon completion of the tutorial, your character will have enough experience to progress to level 2.
Remember, don't just rely on the text messages from NPCs in the tutorial; you must also pay attention to the reminders automatically placed on your map and other informational screens.
The Outbreak (hero) and Breakout (villain) tutorials are detailed on their own pages. These tutorials are less flashy than Galaxy City, but explain more of the game.
Galaxy City Tutorial
Approximately halfway through the Tutorial you will come across Blue Spectrum, at which point you will be able to choose whether to begin the game as a Hero or a Villain. Heroes begin the game in Atlas Park whilst Villains begin on Mercy Island.
Heroes: Your First Day on Patrol
After skipping or completing the tutorial, you will start your career in Atlas Park. Your first contact will be Matthew Habashy located outside Paragon City Hall. Your contact will offer you a series of missions.
You can either patrol the streets looking for criminals to arrest or go ahead and tackle your first mission. It's up to you. Pay attention to your map, which will reveal more and more of the zone as you explore. Be cautious when crossing the yellow or red lines on your map as these mark off more dangerous areas within the zone.
When you have enough experience to train to level 2, you will need to visit Ms. Liberty. Speak to them to train.
Villains: The Struggle for Survival Begins
After skipping or completing the tutorial, you will start your career in Mercy Island. Your first contact will be Operative Kuzmin. Your contact will offer you a series of missions.
You can either roam the streets of Mercy Island beating on anything unfortunate enough to be in your path or you can go ahead and run missions. The choice is entirely up to you. Pay attention to the map. As you move around the zone, you will clear away the fog of war and reveal more of the map. Use caution when crossing the yellow or red borders on the map which indicate you have entered into one of the zone's more dangerous areas.
When you have enough experience to train to level 2, speak to Arbiter Richard in Mercy to train.
Training
When you speak to your trainer and tell them that you are ready to train to level 2, you will be granted the inherent power Rest, another row of inspiration slots, and your choice of one new power. Your 3rd primary and 2nd secondary powers are now available, giving you a total of three powers to choose from.
As you progress throughout your career, you will find other trainers you may speak to in other zones. It is not necessary to always return to your initial trainer throughout your career; any trainer will do once you are ready for your next level.
Ending Your Game Session
When you are ready to end your game session, open the Menu Window from the Status Window and select "Quit". You will be given the option of quitting to the login screen or quitting to your desktop. Quitting to the login screen will allow you to log back in to continue with another character or create another character. Quitting to the desktop will exit the game client entirely.
When logging out, you will remain visible and can still be attacked for 30 seconds. If you press any key during this time, the countdown will be aborted and you will not log out. When the countdown reaches zero, you will either be sent back to the login screen or sent back to your desktop.
If quitting to the desktop, you will have the option to quit out of the game before the 30 second timer has expired. If you do this, you will be sent out to the desktop, but your character will remain visible and may still be attacked until the remainder of your 30 second timer has expired.