Anyone know enough about what all you can actually out-level and miss = as of Issue 22/(or 23).
And/Or what can't be done by Flashback...
I.E. = Badges that can't be snagged, Story Arcs & accompanying Temp Powers that can be missed, or that sort of thing?? :confused:

As an Altaholic, and Completionist - I could really use a updated checklist of these sorta things - so I could at least KNOW what I may or might not be missing out on with some characters.
I've been fighting myself as to whether or not to force myself to just ignore stuff & finally level-up some older(or newer?) characters...
There's a whole lot I haven't played thru at all = yet...
Like the L50/Incarnate stuff, haven't done any one it. And I want to get to it before the servers eventually come down some day.:eek:

Because at my current rate of leveling on so many Alts/Servers, with SG's+Bases, and Badging, Marketing, IO'ing, Etc. = I simply won't...;)

Hello

I've been looking through the forums and outside websites for strategies to use during the bomb section of a Master of Underground trial and have found helpful but general information and advice. When I chat with different people about what strategy they used to get their Preservation Specialist badge, I often hear very specific strategies, particularly for the hallway of 6 bombs. So I thought it might be helpful to have a thread on this topic. Links to helpful sites and forum posts will be added in my next post on this thread.

I have seen two general approaches to the bombs (rushing or sniping) and the strategies for each differ for the individual bombs in the hallways vs for the eight bombs at the end of the bomb section of the map. Personally, I like the approach of rushing the individual bombs and sniping the last 8. What strategy is the best?

STRATEGIES FOR INDIVIDUAL BOMBS IN THE SPORE INFESTATED TUNNELS

RUSHING: One person spots bombs; the entire league waits until spotter types “GO” into league chat, then rushes the bomb, destroying it within 10 seconds of triggering it.

PROS: the whole league is involved in the process, so it’s arguably more fun. Also, this is an option when the league doesn’t have 3 players with snipe powers.
CONS: any one person in the league could misunderstand instructions and/or jump ahead at any time and set off a bomb.

SNIPING: Players with snipe powers (in excess of 150 feet) snipe the bombs from a distance before they detonate. The rest of the league stays behind and cleans up any mobs of Devouring Earth.

PROS: the number of players who may jump ahead and accidentally trigger a bomb is reduced to 3. Non-snipers get to take a break during the bomb section. The snipers can be moved to a separate team so they can use team chat to coordinate the sniping. This method can be a real advantage when some members of the league aren’t following instructions given on league chat.
CONS: best to have at least 3 snipers because the snipe powers have such a long recharge and activation time that one sniper alone might not destroy the bomb within 10 seconds. Also, sometimes a snipe may miss. Devouring Earth can be a problem, especially in the side hallways. Two of the bombs must be attacked at fairly close range because the map obstructs a long-range attack. For these two bombs, the snipers may consider switching to short-range attacks with faster recharge, or judgment.

STRATEGIES FOR FINAL SET OF BOMBS (IN HALLWAY AND ROOM WITH IDF GUARDS)

RUSHING: The league must move very quickly through the hallway, attacking each bomb and moving immediately to the next bomb. Because the bombs are so close to one another, any rushing attack on the first bomb could trigger the second bomb, and etc.

I have heard players recommend using judgment in this section, but I worry that using judgment will just trigger the bombs farther down the hallway, so effectively the league will have 10 seconds to clear the entire hallway of bombs.

Because the team probably will keep running through and out of the hallway, it is a good idea to plan to rush the final 2 bombs in the last room immediately. Assign one team to each of the 2 bombs and have the team leaders remain at the front of the league to lead their teams to the bombs as all players emerge from the hall.

PROS: again the entire league gets to play together, which may be more fun. And this strategy is available when the league lacks snipers.
CONS: everyone must understand the instructions before the league attacks. And everyone must be prepared to move fast. There are 2 bombs outside the hallway which are more difficult to spot, and there are also IDF forces in the room with the last 2 bombs.

SNIPING: Because the hallway bombs are in close proximity to each other, it is important to have groups of snipers targeting the same bomb, and to have no missed snipes. This could be done with a group of three who all target through one player. I have also heard of using 6 snipers and having two teams of three (or 3 teams of 2) targeting the bombs in succession (Team1 targets Bomb1, Team2 simultaneously targets Bomb2; when Bomb1 is down, Team1 targets Bomb3, and so on.) When the hallway is clear, the snipe team also snipes the two bombs in the last room.

PROS: using snipers reduces the time pressure, which may give a better chance of success by allowing the players to be more under control.
CONS: any missed snipe probably will trigger another bomb, so accuracy is essential. Because the bombs are so close together and snipe powers have such long distances, a missed snipe might trigger something 2 or 3 bombs ahead. Consider using multiple yellow inspirations (Insight) per sniper for maximum accuracy during this section.

The Preamble

This guide is intended to be a performance-based attempt to answer the popular question “Which Lore pets should I take?”

Before we begin, a major credit is due to Deus Otiosus for the initial Lore DPS analysis that I've been using as a reference. The intial impetus for my own testing came about when I linked that thread in answer to a question in the AT&Powers forum and Arbiter Hawk posted to say that he had done a couple of balance adjustments, and Deus' numbers might be out of date. I decided to expand the project after reviewing the thread and noting that some people had tried to do analysis of the AoE performance of the various Lore pets, but no solid conclusions had been reached.

The Method

I could make this really easy on myself and just link you the spreadsheet, but I want to talk for a minute first about the setup I used to obtain the results, since data without method is suspect.

My testing character was my Claws/Fire farming brute, since I already had him on Beta for some other testing. For the majority of the tests, the only Incarnate power he had equipped was the relevant Core Superior Lore pet and a Musculature Total Core Revamp. Judgement and Interface were left unslotted for all tests. Destiny was unslotted for almost all tests, I'll note the one exception later in the guide.

For single-target dps testing, I used the ever popular Rikti Pylons in RWZ. I engaged the pylon solo with Taunt set to auto, then dropped the pets off to the side and started the timer. If the pets were able to defeat the pylon unaided, I noted the kill time, otherwise I noted the Pylon's HP remaining at the 5 minute mark. The formula used to calculate DPS from that is ((30677-HP)/0.80)/(Time in Sec)+127. For the non-math types, that's basically the HP lost divided by 80% to account for the Pylon's 20% resistance to all types, divided by how many seconds it took. 127 is the base DPS required to beat the Pylon's regeneration.

For AoE testing I considered a few different approaches, and opted for the simplest one I could think of that promised vaguely accurate results. I set up a custom AE map, densely populated with Council Empire (they clump nicely for AoE, and they have zero resistances/defenses). I set the map to 0x5, bosses enabled, and turned the pets loose on them. I used a couple of Team/Dual Def/Res insps on each run to eliminate concerns about survivability, and I unslotted Blazing Aura and left it running to keep the mobs from simply scattering to the winds. For the actual “test value”, I used my Influence stash, and calculated how much Inf the pets could earn me before they died off.

The Data

Full Results can be viewed at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...0eE9odEE#gid=0

It's not the prettiest spreadsheet ever, but I know some of you want to see the whole of the data collected. For those of you that just want some lists and conclusions, feel free to skip that one.

The Charts

Single-Target DPS (aka Pylon DPS)
AoE Score (aka Inf Earned)
The Oddities

As is normal in testing of any system this complex, there were a few outliers and oddities, and I feel that I should point these out as they might be indicative of bugs or balance concerns.

Several of the Lt-class pets had substantial endurance issues on the pylon test. Carnival and Storm Elementals Bosses also had endurance issues. For the Lts it's probably a minor issue, but if I calculated DPS based on partial times, both Carnival and Storm Elementals ended up ~15 dps higher than their final posted times. Given that we can't slot them, we can't feed them blues, and mob AI is completely incapable of doing anything intelligent about end management, it's kinda a problem that a couple of pets are getting gimped by something we can't mitigate. (As a special note, I equipped my Ageless and re-ran the Storm Elementals through the AoE test. With the endurance issues removed from play, they snatched the crown on that test from the Polar Lights.)

The Longbow Cataphract never once used his Cone AoE attack against the Pylon, but was quite happy to use it against the Council Empire. This is a problem for them, because the Cone is both highest damage-per-activation and highest damage-per-animation-second of its available attacks. As it stands, 1/3-2/3rds of the Longbow's posted DPS is actually the effect of the 500% -regen available, and their “true dps” is shockingly bad against a single hard target. This makes their overall effectiveness highly dependent on the relative value of -Regen. All of the other pets were happy to use all of their available attacks against any available targets.

The Conclusions

Here's where I give some generic advice for people that just want easy answers, and then ramble on a bit about some non-DPS-based advantages. The vast majority of this section is going to be OPINION, refer to the charts and spreadsheets for objectivity.

Cimerorans are really good. Like, shockingly good for ST. At 41% over the number two contender, they're almost kinda too good, but we've known they were awesome since they came out, so they're probably safe from the nerf bat at this point.

Warworks are odd. They're 2nd from the top for ST, and 3rd from the bottom for AoE. Given that they don't have any AoE, that's not too surprising, but it really points up how much context matters. On the flipside, Storm Elementals go from 3rd from the bottom on ST to 3rd (or 4th/1st if they have help with End) on the AoE list.

You can't go wrong with Rularuu, they're a solid contender in both lists, plus Giant Eyeball. Similarly, Nemesis, IDF, Carnival, and Phantoms have solidly balanced performance.

Seers are horrible. They're just flat out bad, and are crying for some kinda of buff. Clockwork aren't quite as bad, but they also have nothing much to recommend in favor.

Two out of the three top contenders for AoE are spamming AoE KB powers. If you're like me and uncontrolled KB makes your teeth itch, then you're either taking Storm Elementals, or you're taking 2nd tier AoE performance. (There's a small but significant gap between #3 and #4 on the AoE list).

Honorable Mention for “Control”, because I've seen it asked, goes to the Rikti Mentalist. Twice during his duration, he'll cast a powerful AoE Hold, and he's spamming an ST Sleep in his primary chain. Secondary mentions go to Rularuu, for a fast recharging ST Hold (albeit damageless), Carnival for spamming AoE Knockup, and Longbow, Polar Lights, and Nemesis for spamming AoE KB.

Honorable Mentions for Buff/Debuff:

• Longbow Boss, for -500% Regen, stackable
• Carnival Support, for perma Forge, +20% ToHit, +15% Dmg
• IDF, Warworks, and Robotic Drones Support, for a mini Force Field Generator
• Phantoms Support, for Adrenaline Boost (two casts, 60s each)
• Rikti Support, for Accelerate Metabolism (two casts, 60s each)
• Storm Elementals Support, for a non-Repelling Hurricane
• Rulauu Support for AoE +50% Dmg, (two casts, 30s each)
• Seers Support, for Fortitude (5% ToHit/Defense, 15% Damage, but see also “Seers are bad”)
• Clockwork Support, for 7.5% Typed and 5% Positional Defense

And one final note. Take all of this testing with a rather large grain of salt. I didn't do nearly enough runs at it to get real statistical validity, my methods might be flawed or biased in some way that I didn't detect. There might be bugs. The devs might do another balance pass. I'd love to have the time to do 5 or 6 runs with each pet, set up multiple variant tests for AoE performance, or something better than a simple farm for “real world” conditions. But at 15 minutes minimum per test run, times 16 different Lore pets (not even going to mention Radial Superior variations), there's just too much to do. So you get a rough sketch of some numbers that are probably vaguely accurate enough to maybe influence your decisions. But outside of a handful of outliers, most of them are respectably balanced, and so you should never feel bad about taking Longbow just because Giant Robots OMG!!.

So You Want to Be a Corruptor? (A Guide, v2.2)

Wayyyyyy back in July, 2006, I was surprised nobody had gotten around to writing a general Corruptor guide. I mean, every other AT had gotten that love...so unfair. So in the interest of equal rights for all ATs, I whacked one out. Five years and 14.5 Issues later, after a regretful but necessary leave of absence starting right around when I promised all my guide updates, I returned to update this guide not only for Going Rogue, but for Freem! Spoiler Alert: I failed. I made a half-hearted attempt to update before we had full information on Time, and before Power Proliferation had run its course.
So now I present to you, 2.2, a guide current through Issue 22! Warning: Shenanigans may or may not follow.

******

So, you want to be a Corruptor? Well, whether you picked the AT (that’s Archetype, if you’re still learning the lingo) because the name sounds cool, because you were a Blaster Hero or Defender Hero who wants to reap the fruits of villainy, or just Joe shmuck who picked up the box and rolled up a random toon, here's the skinny.

A few abbreviations before starting: Dmg = Damage, Acc = Accuracy, Def = Defense, Res = Resists, Rch = Recharge, End = Endurance, Spd = Speed, AoE = Area of Effect, KB = Knockback (D for Down).

First, credit North Star (Truth): Disclaimer:
Corrupters are a balanced hybrid; they do both damage and group support (in the form of heals, buffs, and debuffs.) Both roles are important; a corrupter overly focused on damage is just a gimped blaster; a corrupter focused on support is nothing but a gimped defender. As a personal preference, I want a character who can solo effectively, bring a lot to groups, and be viable in PvP. There's a lot of ways to play a corrupter; this is my personal opinion. Mileage may vary.


And now back to your scheduled programming:
Rule numbah 1: You are NOT a Blaster.
Rule numbah 1A: You are NOT a Defender.
Rule numbah 2: You can put them both to shame.


I'll go back over these rules in the "CoH rehab" section, but for now, we'll stick with more generics. Corruptors ARE the ranged damage AT for villains, and are also the primary buff/debuff class. Yes, it's true that Doms pack some ranged damage, but their true purpose is to DOMINATE a spawn. Yes, Masterminds have many (and now many more!) of the same secondaries we do, but their job is to be a mindful master...sometimes of MELEE minions. How barbaric. This means you're filling TWO roles, because your job is Corrupting things! That means making it {better/worse} {and/or} killing {it/its-target}. While you don't have to choose, you do need to manage them both (or all four, depending). This means (first and foremost) you have to put up with people who want a healer. No, seriously, you WILL have to put up with people who think your only job is to heal. The two most common misconceptions about what you do are covered in Rule numbah 1. So what's the deal?

Your primary is identical to a Blaster Primary (or Defender secondary, which gives you access to a Blast set that Blasters, alas, no longer cry themselves to sleep at night because they can't have). Almost. Although you're technically supposed to look at your Damage as being 115% of a Defender, it helps to look at it as 75% Blaster damage. You also get Scourge, which gives you free critical hits more often the lower an enemies' health gets. So, a Scourge attack actually does 150% Blaster damage! For those of you who missed that, that means you're more effective picking off weaker targets than starting on one at full health. In team settings, be the vulture, at least when you start out.

Only there's that other lingering catch, your Secondary. Your secondaries look a lot like Defender Primaries...but you aren't as effective as theirs are on a power by power basis. This is not an excuse to not take your buffs if you have them! Any buff is well appreciated by team-mates, and the longer your team-mates are alive, the longer YOU'RE alive. Even if you take every power in your Blast set, make sure to pick up the better powers from your secondary, or you're going to regret it in the long haul. No-one wants to play a gimped Blaster (too much Primary, not enough Secondary) or a gimped Defender (too much Secondary, not enough Primary), but will love playing the mix that gets to solo well and be welcomed on teams.

"But Mr. Nemo, you can’t take my FREEDO-"
*slap* Knock it off with the Braveheart, I was getting there. With Freem alive and kicking, it's important to mention that Going Rogue will be premium content, but still purchasable by non-subscribers. So while TRULY free players will be restricted to their faction's side, all VIPs and anyone willing to purchase it directly will be able to visit any gosh-dern zone they please. So how do you, as a Corruptor, contend with Blasters and Defenders, and cope with the rush of Kheldians, Tankers, Scrappers, and Controllers you will inevitably see? By being the same Corruptor you've always been. You still bring support to the table that Blasters can't match, and Scourge can push you past Offender levels of damage (Defenders are still offended by this). Since teams allow for eight players, and leagues for many, many more, pure villain teams and leagues can still punish the same content pure hero and mixed-faction teams defeat. So don't get worked up about the competition, just focus on being the Corruptor you are.

Before I go more into the actual power-sets, I need to talk for a moment about Power Proliferation. It’s like Arms proliferation, except instead of giving everyone the same guns, archetypes with overlapping powers share more of the same power-sets than originally granted to them. When v1.0 was written, Psychic Blast was Defenders only, Blasters still couldn’t have Dark OR Radiation, Pain Domination didn’t exist, and Poison was a Mastermind only secondary. This has opened up new play styles and damage types closer to defender and Mastermind play...but you are STILL A CORRUPTOR. All in all, Power Proliferation is a good thing, but if you really want to play like that other Archetype, roll a character of that AT. You’ll have more fun, trust me.

Here's a look, more from a power-set perspective. Your concept character is great...but here's a (very) basic overview of what your sets DO:

Primary

1) Archery - Not exactly Assault Rifle's little sister. In the words of a friend "You do everything Assault Rifle does, except worse. But you hit the target." You don't get Flamethrower and Flame Patch...you get Flaming Arrow and Explosive Arrow. ((blows a kazoo)) Worse, despite the tooltip you DON'T actually get a ToHit buff D= oh noez! Instead, you get a base-accuracy boost in every power of essentially 10%. This means, in fact, that ToHit Buffs and Accuracy enhancements work BETTER for you...and you will pretty much hit everything with your dinky arrows. It’s worth noting your powers also recharge faster than Assault Rifle, so your full damage output doesn’t lag behind.

2) Assault Rifle - Grab bag. You have top of the line ammunition (and a flamethrower!), and are a high damage, high endurance cost set. Smashing and Lethal damage (your bread and butter) are often resisted in-game. Despite this, your damage output is still often as good or better than other sets (unless you PvP, in which case you're sporked because everyone and their grandmother seems to have a S/L Resist and/or Defense power; sorry, dem's the breaks). Instead of a Nuke, you get Full Auto, which recharges far faster and can be very useful to follow up AoEs from teammates (especially with Scourge!).

3) Beam Rifle - Pure energy damage, joining the ranks of Electric and Radiation. Your secondary mechanic is Disintegration, which in addition to a minor DoT adds bonus effects to your attacks, though this is generally MORE damage (not complaining!). Your attacks also spread the effect around. Good setup and spread of Disintegration does rely on luck, but can let you stun groups and be a real damage terror.

4) Dark Blast - An interesting middle of the road set in terms of damage, you do Negative Energy damage, which is not often resisted by NPCs or Players (but when it is, it’s by a lot). You get reasonable damage and some interesting powers (some with DoT). Your attacks also leave a target with a -Acc penalty...and every bit less they hit you and your team helps. You also get some soft control (Immobilize) and even a minor self heal. You may be trading damage for utility, but that utility facilitates more damage.

5) Dual Pistols - You know GunFu! Woah. Firstly: Dual Pistols is NOT a strict re-do of Assault Rifle or Archery. You can change your damage essentially at will from 100% Lethal to 70% and 30% of your choice of Fire, Cold, or Toxic. TOXIC. This also changes your secondary effect from Knockback to DoT, Slow, and -Dmg, respectively. You also get two powers that are not in the standard 'shooter' repertoire: Executioner's Shot is the very-close range, high-damage power from other Blast sets, and Piercing Rounds replaces a Snipe with something in between an AoE and another ranged blast. On top of this, one of your AoEs is a brief rain, and your token control is a ranged Disorient.

6) Energy Blast - My personal favorite (but I'm heavily biased in this case). This, like Assault Rifle is a fairly high damage, high endurance set, but is not as draining. As mostly Energy damage, it's kind of hit or miss: mobs that resist it resist it a lot, but for the most part only certain groups do. The other portion of your damage is actually Smashing/Lethal, which is also hit-or-miss. However, you have KnockBack in every power (except Aim), and managing this can be the key to both a great solo career and a happy team. Mismanaging it can lead to a dead you and a pretty angry team.

7) Electrical Blast - You do energy damage! Unlike Energy or Sonic, however, it's ALL Energy damage, there's no Smashing or Lethal lurking around. You'll annihilate Freakshow and despise the Devouring Earth with every fiber of your being. For a change of pace, you are sufficiently different from other Blast sets that we get to call you weird. You get a damage pet, a Hold, your nuke is targeted AoE instead of Personal based, and you get Short-Circuit [which is amazing]. While your endurance drain won't impress Elite Bosses and up, you can make Underlings through Bosses hate you...and not be able to do a thing about it.

8) Fire Blast - Damage. Lots of it. And then some more. There isn’t a cherry on top, because you incinerated it. You get high single target damage with nice area blasting capacity and Damage over Time (DoTs) for hit targets. However, this damage and lingering damage mean you WILL draw hate on teams, so you'll learn fast (or die trying). Fire actually surpasses Smashing and Lethal in terms of enemy resists later in the game, but this is because some enemy groups (or specific enemies within a group) resist fire a lot, while most groups as a whole still lack super-high resist levels. Don’t let this stop you, as you will still burn the world down around them.

9) Ice Blast - This set gives cold damage (fairly rarely resisted) and slows, along with TWO Holds! None of that token crowd-control crap. You also get a Rain (like Fire), and your Nuke is a super-rain. You actually debuff a fair amount with Slow in everything, plenty of -Rch, and some -ToHit thrown in for good measure.

10) Psychic Blast - Definitely not standard, even on top of doing all Psi damage. Your secondary effect is -Rch, increasing the time between attacks and abilities of foes. You have multiple ranged control effects, and Psionic Tornado can even throw baddies around. While you may actually want to pass on your Sleep and have a strange combination of AoEs, Psychic Blast can be both fun and rewarding to play…just watch out for Dark themed and certain other enemies with obscenely high Psi resist.

11) Radiation Blast - Fast recharges lead to decent Energy damage, and -Def to hit targets (which facilitates more hit targets). Built like a "Standard" Blast set, it's anything but standard. Blasters wailed and wailed for access to this set...and the devs had pity..but still left them in the dark. Get it? Because they didn't give Blasters Dark Bl...oh, nevermind, they gave them that too. Pansies.

12) Sonic Blast - Never been with a screamer before? They're great. With -Res in every attack, you facilitate more damage to hit targets, and while your first attack (as Smashing/Lethal, mostly) may not be THAT impressive, follow-ups (from teammates, too) will look and work better. Strangely, you get a cone Sleep power, but this can be put to good use when crowd control is needed...if you can convince your team to stop being lunkheads and just let sleeping dogs lie.



Secondaries

1) Cold Domination- Perhaps misnamed (you're no Dominator), this set still has some wicked buff/debuff potential, at the expense of no healing or rez. You have two ally shields (one VERY situational), an area buff, and an ally HP buff (Brutes will love it), as well as Dmg/Res debuff (with KD), a Dmg debuff, and an endurance killer.

2) Dark Miasma - Debuffer. Dark will debuff the enemy, keep them still, and has an accuracy dependent heal that's gonna make a Thermal jealous. You do have an ally AoE buff, a drop, a pet, a target toggle debuff, some fear...did I mention the debuff? This set is perhaps one of the most survivable secondaries available to you.

3) Fire!!! *cough* I mean, Thermal Radiation - You prove that setting things on fire is good for them. With heals, ally shields, three great ally buffs, a rez, and a killer debuff and End drain power, you've got a lot going for you. The common misconception, however, is that this is "Empath Lite." You are not an Empath. Debuffing enemies so they fall faster is a wonderful thing to do, and something you should do often. Heal, but don't put up with any team that tries to say that that's all you should be doing (and it may not be wise to stick with a team that you're scrambling to heal, despite your other pluses).

4) Kinetics - Whirling Whirlwind Shredder Team of DOOOOOoooom(tm). This set breaks the mold play-style wise: you WANT to be in melee. You also want accuracy, since you can buff and debuff in one go, but need Acc to do it. Few things will make you sadder than seeing 'MISS' when you use Transfusion. With some -regen, lots of -Dmg, plenty of -spd and -rch and the accompanying (magnified) +Dmg, +Spd, +Rch, and even nice +End Recovery and AoE target Heal (rivaling even Twilight Grasp from Dark), this late blooming set will make the end game on large teams a thing of joy.

5) Pain Domination - Again with the Domination thing...what's a Corruptor to do? The new kid on the block, PD is predominately a healing set. And at first glance, it's build like Empathy. Don't be fooled: you're STILL not an Empath. No, you really aren't. You are a very active buffer and debuffer, even if somewhat limited by your direct means, and are better at buffing offensive abilities than defensive ones...in fact, you get no mitigation, which is the cost of being such a powerful healer. Your enemies will be easier to hit and easier to rough up through -Def/Res. Your allies will hit like a semi with nitro boosters, but you need to be active to do it. The beatings will stop when morale improves.

6) Poison - You debuff hard. Some is AoE, but Poison is really a single target set, and you do get a weak but fast heal that provides toxic resist. While you have a hold, your control really comes from sinking the enemy’s stats…in fact, you can reduce the secondary effects of enemy powers, which really takes the sting out of control heavy enemies in a way even Radiation and Trick Arrows can’t match. Noxious Gas is an ally targeted AoE, making it perfect to throw on your most survivable in-the-fray ally.

7) Radiation Emission - Considered the AV killer set, and it's not hard to see why. You can debuff just about everything straight to heck (AoE, no less), have a self based AoE Hold (and a nice AoE one-shot hold). You can also rez fallen allies (after using them to blow the bippy out of the spawn with Fallout) and you STILL have the fabled Accelerate Metabolism (+Dmg, +Spd, +Rch).

8) Sonic Resonance - This set gets little love, because it's misunderstood. This set is heavy on the -Res debuffs and +Res buffs. You can't rez or heal (a major minus in most playbooks), but you have two good ally shields, some AoE buffs, an ALLY TARGET AoE debuff (rather unique, and a great way to debuff things around a Brute), and -Res debuffs that are nothing to dismiss offhand. You can even give (some fairly impressive) Mez protection to your buddies. In a pinch, you can also set up a field to repulse enemies from either you or an ally or Capture [read: phase out] a foe. Honestly, it's a shame more players can't seem to fall in love with this set.

9) Storm Summoning - Another gift of Power Proliferation, you are a strange mix, but thrive on slows and knockback. You're stuck with a useful cone KB power, have access to a direct heal, and a toggle team +Stealth/Def. The rest of your powers mix debuff and control through -ToHit, Knockback, Fear, Disorient, -Range, -Spd/Rch, and -Def/Res. Oh, and Lightning Storm definitely strikes twice. Storm Summoning is a pain in the keister to master, but makes you a serious pain to others.

10) Time Manipulation - Active and field-based, Time Manipulation is a mix of control, debuffing, buffing, and healing. You are able to choose a single ally and single enemy to receive magnified effects from all your powers, as well as Hold a single target, but the rest of your arsenal affects an area. Reduce your enemies’ chance to hit, damage, speed, defense, and resistance. Buff your allies’ Dam, Rech, Regen, ToHit, Def, Recovery, and throw some HoTs around.

11) Traps - Traps is an odd set, to be sure, and is different from the Blaster version. Your odd grab bag includes the famous Caltrops and Web Grenade, with a limited pet, a mobile ally +Def buff, a locational +Regen buff, Seeker Drones, and the also famous Trip Mine (and its not-nearly-as-loved red headed stepchild: Timed Bomb).

12) Trick Arrow - Say what, now? Oh, right, because we have Archers now. Trick Arrow is actually a pretty sweet set, but the redraw for using anything but Archery can get pretty annoying when you have to keep swapping back and forth. That said, you're capable of a fair bit of control and can debuff just about every game stat there is…in fact, more stats than Rad, but not quite as awesomely…to large groups for a substantial amount of time. On top of this, you get damage through Oil Slick, and have both a single target Hold and an AoE sleep. You are Jack of Everything, and you look good doing it. Rock on.


Pairing What you Wear aka 1 + 2 =/= 3
When in doubt, matching your Primary and Secondary is never a bad thing. Yet most Primaries and Secondaries play just fine together in the sandbox, and leave your particular combo up to you. That said, the reason it’s never bad to match your sets is that they usually have secondary effects that mesh well. While the secondary effects never actually counteract one another, it’s important to consider the fine line between expanding what you do and gimping yourself by spreading too thin. If your {Insert Effect Here} leave the enemy controlled or face-planted, expanding is fine. But if your effects simply aren’t having the desired effect against generic enemies, you should be trying to get MORE of the SAME, not trying to expand the pot.

This particularly applies to the weapon sets (Archery, Assault Rifle, Beam Rifle, Dual Pistols / Trick Arrow) because of a quirk called redraw. Some powers will not make you put away a weapon you are holding…but most that have a true cast animation will if they don’t share the weapon. In the end, it’s still your fun…but consider if you are REALLY willing to put up with drawing your weapon EVERY time you do something when matching more active sets with a weapon. Your enemies and allies may not notice, but trust me when I say that YOU will. The devs have shown some mercy in this regard, as many powers that originally forced redraw no longer do so. But the list is still long and potentially aggravating.

There are a lot of Corruptor Guides available, and each one will give you tips and tricks. Some will tell you how to put out truly impressive damage, others will give you a solo powerhouse or PvP monster, and others will give you a toon built for team-play. Your play-style is up to you (it's YOUR fun, not mine), but I recommend the balance mentioned above, since even if just to help yourself out, every secondary has plenty of gems that are also great team-play buttons. That said, there are a few more subjects that bear mentioning…

Power Pools
…AND STAMINA FOR ALL!!! aka The Case for Leadership
There was a time when builds were tight. Everyone wanted Stamina, but had to use three powers and one of their tertiary power-pool accesses to get it. The devs realized that everyone and their grandmother felt that they NEEDED Stamina so badly, not taking the power was just not an option. So, in the interest of making every character more powerful (and opening up the possibility for power sets with even HIGHER endurance costs), the ENTIRE Fitness pool was granted to everyone. Most people still put one or two slots into stamina for End Recovery, but they no longer have to spend three power choices to do it! This opens up more possibilities for ANY build. With new tier-5 travel powers and plenty of other options available, I leave it to you to choose how to fill the newfound space. That said…

Leadership powers are toggles that affect both you and your team. As a Corruptor, you get the second best available values for all three, and can provide about +15% damage, ~+15% ToHit , and ~+5% Def through slotting. To yourself! AND to your entire team, their pets, the whole nine yards. Not all sets are really compatible with leadership. Not all players are fully comfortable with it. Certainly, the damage and ToHit are the most noticeable for soloing, and Maneuvers is only really good when stacked with other defense benefits. But if you haven’t seen a team running around with the benefits of stacked Leadership, you have been denied a powerful aspect of the game. Only Soldiers of Arachnos and Defenders can match or surpass the power you can bring to your team through Leadership toggles. No, I don’t run all three on all my Corruptors, and some of them have no Leadership at all. On top of that, I rarely take Vengeance because Corruptors kind of got the shaft on the values for that sweet, sweet, power. But I carefully considered the power brought to the table every time, and you should too.

Patrons are Ancillary
Also once upon a time, villains only had access to Patron Pools, and heroes did not. Power Proliferation has made all Archetypes gain access to a modified form of both the Ancillary (often called Epic) AND Patron Pools. This opens up a lot of options for rounding out or specializing further, especially since you no longer have to wait until after level 40 to take these pool powers. In fact, you can start taking them before your crown-gem in your Secondary! Of course, your Epics match up to Defender Ancillaries, and they got access to our Patrons, but overall this is a good thing. Better still, there are many builds that actually pass over Patron or Epic powers altogether, and do not suffer for it, although it is certainly a trade of benefits. OPTIONS, not limitations! The advice of 1 +2 =/= 3 applies full force here.

Truly Epic: Corruption Incarnate
Incarnate Powers are not like other power pools. The very ability must be unlocked through additional XP after level 50, and each ability must be crafted. There is no difference between Archetypes when it comes to Incarnate Power. For this reason, the existing Incarnate guides will better serve you than a dissertation here. However, you are a Corruptor, and remembering this should guide your power choices. It is your choice whether you want to be strong and rounded, or highly specialized around a certain effect, and Incarnate powers open up both potentials. The effects you call are YOUR Destiny, the damage you throw is YOUR Judgment, the pets that aid you are YOUR Lore, and secondary affects you empower are YOUR Interface. With that said, I still have some general advice:
-Alpha slot is wonderful for filling a hole. If you are always struggling with endurance, NEED your powers up more often, find your damage [or hit rate] lacking, or [new to the game] find you just desperately want more control, endurance modification, or resistance buffs for your shields, Alpha can fill that hole. The flip side of this coin is that you find yourself with no particular needs you can simply empower what you do best.
-Judgment: Ionic by default. All Judgments are impressive, but Ionic is by far the easiest to use and the least picky about how your enemies have decided to arrange themselves. If you’ve mastered a particular type of AoE or are confident you can, go nuts and build whatever you want. But if you are lazy, learning, or wind up in too many difficult fights, Ionic will take you far.
-Interface: Reactive by default. You can always use more damage and benefit from lower enemy resists. ALWAYS. The various Interface options are wonderfully devious and varied, and I actually recommend building multiple trees of this Incarnate slot for a Corruptor more than any other if you can spare the resources. Control, defense, offense, the choice is yours. But if you JUST CAN’T CHOOSE, Reactive has your back.
-Lore requires you to DO THE RESEARCH if you are trying to optimize. On the other hand, Lore doesn’t really punish you for going with your heart and choosing your favorite NPC faction or concept-friendly group. But most Lore powers pack secondary effects based on the power-sets of the group they pull from, making them wonderful complements to your own potential.
-Destiny provides great power for your team, and like Alpha is great for filling a gaping hole or, if you are rounded, bettering what you do best. You must choose your own Destiny, youngling (but I’m personally a sucker for Clarion).
-Hybrid, at the time of this writing, is up in the air, up for debate, and up to shenanigans. I’m hoping the dust will settle in time for me to simply edit this guide, but if not I’ll at least provide either v2.21 or v2.3 depending on how the cookie crumbles.


Now, if you're new, there are plenty of other guides to help you out, and I can't really help you much more. However, if you played in City of Heroes it's time for rehabilitation.


(Thinking you're a) Blaster Rehab
The Blaster mindset has issues if ported over to a Corruptor toon. Part of this is that with the exception of Kinetics (and having certain, specific power combos from other sets), getting into melee at all is likely a death sentence, unlike Blasters who can Blap. You get no special damage buff for being in melee, you get no melee powers, even. Unless you have Kinetics or a specific build built for it: STAY OUT OF MELEE. Also, (us) Blasters tend to love opening fights with attacks and making things fall over fast. As a Corruptor, doing so will get you agg you don't need, and you have less hit-points to take it with. Until your toolbox includes the debuffs and/or control you need to open a fight, avoid doing so. Even then, co-ordinate with your team for agg mitigation to someone who can handle it (and you can sometimes heal). You're better off sniping from the edge of the battlefield, setting up the team as a mighty hammer, and playing vulture (that's what Scourge does, after all). If you have a Nuke, however, there may potentially be ways to open that DON'T involve a faceplant and still involve lots of dead mobs. Many Corruptors can self buff to an extent, and when teamed with other Corruptors (especially Kinetics buddies) can reach the damage cap and really explode into fights by buffing each other. Whatever the guides tell you, if you find yourself faceplanting, it's time to rethink your tactics, and maybe consider dropping a Range SO into your attacks (an extra 16' or so does more than many realize). Use your tools, and if you constantly remember Rule numbah 1, you can go a long ways towards obeying Rule numbah 2.


(Thinking you're a) Defender Rehab
If you've played a Defender, you actually may not have too much to go over, since you are likely used to managing when to buff/debuff, setting up chains and combos properly, managing aggro for your squishy self, and blasting. It doesn't require too much rethinking to shift to the new equilibrium you'll find as a Corruptor. If, however, you don't play Defenders too much, are trying for a more Empathic style of play, or have misconceptions about what Defenders actually do and how they contribute with both buffing/healing AND their debuffing and blasts, you are gonna be in trouble carrying that over as a Corruptor. Playing a team-friendly or solely team build is nice...but you're a villain! Picking up EVERY power in your secondary isn't always wise, and even if it is, you need the right Blast powers. I mean, come on, you're freezing your allies, summoning the darkness of the Netherworld around them, setting your allies on fire (SETTING...THEM...ON...FIRE!!!!), breaking the laws of physics (and probably allies' bodies), actively manipulating their pain response, injecting them with toxins, overextending their bodies' resources, infecting them with (potentially lethal) radiation, screaming at them constantly, covering them in wind/sleet/hail and a freaking hurricane, forking with their temporal mechanics, using hazardous inventions around them, or firing sharp sticks with gimmick payloads willy-nilly into their midst. You are obviously not nice. You do more damage to wounded things!!! Ay carumba. Keep your allies alive, but remember that defeating enemies is also 100% damage mitigation from that mob. Don't hesitate to be a vulture and pick off the wounded so that your allies can move to other threats. You don't want too many Blast powers (barring some exceptions), but you want an attack chain at least. If you have an attack chain (for when things are going sweepingly well), a buff/debuff suite (for helping things go well), and learn to use utility powers and soft (or even hard) control, you can fill both your roles, and learn to balance things to do both when needed.


The moral of the story: learn your primary. Learn your secondary. Always remember that both are equally important, and find the balance that's right for you. Now go prove that you're what Defenders wish they could grow up to be and make those Blasters jealous!



Thanks to all you Corruptor guide writers out there, and thanks for sticking with me. I'd also like to thank everyone who has voiced their support over the iterations of this guide and helped with corrections! If you spot typos or have other input about how this guide can be better, either post in this thread or PM me! This guide is not meant to be the definitive "C0rrupt07 1s j00" guide, but instead something to help any Corruptor choose what they want and run with it. Help make it better for all the fledgling villains out there, so that Paragon City will fall that much faster.

I'm CC'ing my two 'Guides' to this forum as they are applicable and I didn't see it listed in the 'no-no' section of the rules. Note: I may not be able to udpate later based on account status (IE: Sub-lapsing periods of time) so check the original threads for updates.


Original Link



This guide assumes that you have enough working knowledge of Windows to be able to Drag/Drop, Open/Close, and Edit files. I will discuss a couple registry related things, but the instructions are pretty straight forward. The purpose of the guide is to give a revised method for backing up &/or migrating your installation of City of Heroes. In the past this was rather problematic because of things like checksum files and read-only properties, but for once the Launcher is on our side! The most important thing to note about this guide is that I do Not have access to an intel Mac, so this will be for Windows/Bootcamp users only.

Step One: Data Gathering

The first thing you need to do is to find out where you have the game installed. You need to find the following folders: City of Heroes & Launcher. By default, I believe that they are both installed to: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes & C:\Program Files\NCSoft\Launcher. The locations should be similar in Vista and Windows 7, but I think they’re in C:\Program Files(x86)\. The following is where I have them installed so that’ll be what I reference here:

D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher (Houses the Launcher)
D:\Games\NCSoft\City of Heroes (Houses the Live version of the game)
D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHBeta (Houses the Beta version of the game)
D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHTest (Houses the Test version of the game)

Once you know where everything is, then you need to figure out how &/or where you’re going to back them up. If you decide on going the DVD-R option (because CD’s would be ridiculous :-p), then you need to keep in mind that while you may be able to squeeze say the Launcher & City of Heroes onto a single disc and CoHTest onto its own disc, the likelihood of getting CoHBeta to fit onto a single disc is going to be iffy. As it stands right now my Launcher & City of Heroes folders take up about 3.8Gb, CoHTest sits at 4.02Gb, and CoHBeta tops them all at 4.97Gb. Keep in mind that a single layer DVD-R can only hold 4.7Gb of data. This is why I highly suggest backing up to an external hard drive if you don’t already.

Note: For those that use any of the 3rd party addon content like custom maps, icons, Mids, etc; the impact of the related file sizes to your backup are negligible at most. You’re more likely to have more Mb in screenshots, custom costumes/powers, AE content, etc than those.

I almost forgot about the Desktop Icons! I’m not sure what your system looks like, but I have atleast the following three game related icons: NCSoft Launcher, Titan Sentinel, and Mids Hero & Villain Designer. You will want to include these in your backup so that you can simply throw them back on the desktop during the restore.

Step Two: Backing Up

Once you decide on your backup method, then it’s simply a matter of copying the folders mentioned above. In my case, all I have to do is copy the entire contents of the D:\Games\NCSoft folder as it houses all related game content even my addons.

Note: For those who use Mids, by default it saves your character files in My Documents\Hero & Villain Builds so you’ll want to copy that folder as well.

Keep in mind that when it comes time to restore/migrate these files you must retain the original file locations in order for this to work properly. It is possible to change the file locations and still have it work, but it requires a number of corrections to a file we’re going to look at later. This is beyond the scope of this guide so I’m not going to go into that.

Game Settings:

Ever wonder how to keep those pesky graphics settings you finally had all worked out the last time you played? Well here’s the quick way to back those up too! Again, this assumes that you are not going to change the location of your installation during the restore. Windows UAC may ask for your approval (gotta love that built-in ‘protection’ Vista/7 have), but we’re not doing anything bad/harmful so go ahead and tell it yes.

Make sure to follow these instructions to the letter!

1. Hold the Windows Key and press R. This will bring up the Run command;
2. Type regedit and hit enter. This will bring up the registry editor, but we’re not going to be editing just backing up a few keys;
3. Hold the Control Key and press F. This will bring up the Find command within the registry editor;
4. Type Cryptic in the box and hit Find Next. This will go to the key that houses the game’s general settings that it loads on startup;
5. Right Click the cursor on the word Cryptic. This will bring up the list of options you have available for this key;
6. Choose the Export option and it will give you a window that will let you both Name the file that you are exporting as well as choose where to export it too. A good place to export this would be within the NCSoft/Launcher folder that you’re backing up. I would name the file something like Cryptic just to make it easier to remember. The resulting file will read Cryptic.reg. Note: Make sure that the Export Range is set to Selected Branch otherwise you’ll be backing up the Whole registry! The Selected Branch should read something like HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cryptic and shouldn’t be changed;
7. Close the registry window and you’re all set!

It’s important to note that while you don’t have to follow this step in order for this to work; if you don’t make a copy of these keys, then you’ll end up with the default graphics settings when you get to step four.


Step Three: Restore/Migration

Ok, so at this point you’ve backed up the folders as talked about above, you’ve got your system otherwise the way you want it, and you’re ready to enjoy a simple drag/drop experience. Keeping in mind that you must retain the same file paths that you had before in order for this to go smoothly. Simply goto the location that the files need to be (D:\Games\NCSoft\) and Drag/Drop them from your backup drive to their new home. Next, place your icons onto the desktop. Finally, Right Click the Cryptic.reg file you created and choose the Merge option. Windows will ask if you’re sure that you want to add the information to the existing registry and the UAC may popup as well, but it’s ok to go ahead and tell them both ok.

Step Four: Play!

If you followed all of that to the letter, then all you have to do now is run the launcher shortcut that you copied back to the desktop!

Tech Notes:

The launcher uses a combination of the GamesAddendum.xml file located in the D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher\Config\Default folder and any settings listed in the registry to create a combined set of game settings updating both locations accordingly.

EDIT: I've found that if you follow the steps as listed, then the launcher retains your settings, but the game loses the UI settings so don't forget those Registry files or you'll have to re-edit them ingame (the first time you re-enter the game).

General Notes:

This process results in a backup that is current as of the moment you copy the files to the backup drive. Any patches that are pushed out between that moment and the moment that you restore them will be triggered to download when you run the launcher post-restore/migration.

I hope this helps people understand the new way to do things and how easy it has become thanks to the launcher!

I'm CC'ing my two 'Guides' to this forum as they are applicable and I didn't see it listed in the 'no-no' section of the rules. Note: I may not be able to udpate later based on account status (IE: Sub-lapsing periods of time) so check the original threads for updates.

Original Link



Installing the Launcher:

Firstly, you’ll need to download the NCSoft Launcher so that we can pull down the current version of City of Heroes. As of this writing you can find it here:

http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/my_account/download_game_client/download_city_of_heroes.php

This will download the file COH_Installer.exe into a folder that you choose or have set to default for downloads. Once that is downloaded, then you need to decide where you want to install the Launcher, Live game, etc. Personally, I find it better for me to have my games separated from the rest of my apps into a Games folder and not the standard Program Files folder that XP likes to use. I also do this for Windows 7 (when I was using it) because of other issues that I read about on here related to permissions or some other OS related game issues.

Basically this is what my directory looks like with windows being on its own partition (C:) and my applications/games on a separate partition (D:). You can still do this with a single partition just make sure to change the drive letter to C: where I’ll have D: listed below. I would go ahead and create these folders ahead of time so that you can simply point the game’s installation to them.

D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher (Houses the Launcher)
D:\Games\NCSoft\City of Heroes (Houses the Live version of the game)
D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHBeta (Houses the Beta version of the game)
D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHTest (Houses the Test version of the game)

Now that those are setup, go ahead and run the COH_Installer.exe file. The first thing it talks about is system requirements (you need .Net 2.0 and the Launcher) so you can go ahead and hit the next button. The second screen is the User License Agreement, you’re obviously agreeing because you want to play the game! IE: Hit the “I accept” and then Next button again. Now it asks where you want to install the Launcher. This is where you point it to the folder we created above (D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher). Once you have that entered hit the Install button (I think that’s what it says) and let it finish. It will complete by having the Launcher loaded in front of you.

Next step is to download and install the Live version of City of Heroes. Notice that it gives you a Customize option on the screen. This is where you can tell it to point to the folder we created above (D:\Games\NCSoft\City of Heroes). It also seems to want to create a desktop shortcut for the game. I don’t use it because that’s one less icon on the desktop, but that’s up to you whether you want it or not. Personally, I have the default Launcher shortcut on the desktop and use it instead of having three different icons primarily because it makes controlling patch downloads easier. Once you have it pointing to the right folder, then let it download/install the game. While it is true that you can gradually use the game while it downloads (in stages) I would recommend just letting it finish the download uninterrupted.

At this point you should have the most current version of the Live game installed. With the launcher still open, let’s go ahead and make some tweaks to the Launcher’s/Game’s settings that’ll pre-empt future headaches. These adjustments should make it so that your overall game experience includes fewer headaches related to stuff like memory leaks and GPU woes.

On the Launcher, go to the File menu and choose Settings. It seems that most people recommend Not having the Launcher running after you load the game so I’ll give you those adjustments even though that’s not what I have. To do this, on the General Tab, make sure that nothing is checked (there are two boxes) and in the “After Launching Game” section choose “Exit Launcher”.

The Auto Update Tab is kind of a personalization thing. You can either leave it alone and it’ll automatically trickle-download game updates while the launcher is open or you can go as far as telling it Not to download giving you full control over the times that you update the game. Again, I leave this one alone.

The Advanced Tab is where one would tell the game to allow you to run “Multiple Instances” or to put it another way, Dual-Box on the same system, thus allowing you to run more than one game account at the same time on the same computer. While I don’t do it often, I do have that option checked. The other option listed talks about sending usage data to NCSoft so that they can troubleshoot issues with the Launcher, etc. Most seem to leave this unchecked, but honestly I’m not sure how big of a system resource impact this poses. Either way I’ll leave that one up to you.

Customizing the Live game settings

Right clicking the arrow next to the City of Heroes button in the Launcher will bring up the options for the game. At this point you want to select Properties so that we can make a tweak that’ll save you headaches later as most of us tend to do things like run to the forums for help or youtube when somebody posts a funny link ingame channel. Under the Extra Command section you’ll want to put the following exactly as written and then hit the OK button:

-maxinactivefps 5

Take my word for it, this will be a good thing!

So at this point you have both the Launcher and Live game installed. From here you can either go play the Live game or follow the next set of steps to do a patch-install of the Beta and Test versions of the game. I say patch-install because the game will patch the pigg files accordingly, but it’s still faster!

Installing Beta

Our first step to installing the Beta version of the game is actually to Copy to Live version into the Beta folder we created above (D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHBeta). Open up the City of Heroes installation folder as well as the CoHBeta folder in two separate windows. Now you want to Copy (not Move!) the files from the Live folder into the Beta folder. Once that is done, then we need to change a file in the Beta folder. Find and open the file named Launcher.ini as we need to change this to reflect the fact that this is located in the CoHBeta folder. This step is quite simple, where it says City of Heroes change it to say CoHBeta (which happens to be the name of the folder you’re in BTW). Save and Close the file as we are done with this part.

Next we need to open the Launcher again. You should see the COH Subscriber Beta option listed. Right click the arrow next to this like we did with the Live version and open the Properties window. Go ahead and put in the same Extra Command like above. The Installation Location should say “Not Installed” at this point so go ahead and click the Browse button to make it point to our newly populated CoHBeta folder. Once all the changes are made, go ahead and hit the Ok button and it will ask if you want to install the Beta version. Obviously we do or we wouldn’t have gone this far so go ahead and hit Ok. Let it do what it wants to do until it’s completed and that will set us up with both the Live and Beta versions installed.

Installing Test

As with the Beta folder, you need to copy the contents of the Live folder into your Test folder (D:\Games\NCSoft\CohTest) and change the LauncherID.ini file within the Test folder so that it refers to CoHTest. This one’s a little trickier as it’s going to involve editing an XML file, but I’ve found that this saves playing with the registry. Assuming you’ve followed this guide as written, then you should find the file named GamesAddendum.xml in the following folder:

D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher\Config\Default

We don’t want to Open the file, but actually edit it as opening the file will simply display its contents in a browser. Right click the file and choose Edit. This should open up the file in Notepad so that we can edit it. I found this rather eye straining, but it is a little safer than the registry. Look for the line that talks about CoHBeta. It should read something like this:
If you look a little higher, then you’ll see something like this referring to CoHTest:
This is where things are easier than the registry. Copy the line that talks about the LastStartLocation for Beta and replace the corresponding line in Test so that test now reads like this:
Save and close this file as you are almost done with Test. Now open the Launcher again so that we can tweak Test just like we did with Live and Beta. Right click the Test link and change the Properties so that the Extra Command matches what we put for Live and Beta. Click Ok when done and Right click Test once more. This time choose Repair instead of Properties as this will update the files within the Test folder as well as make sure the rest of the files are correct. Once that is completed, then you have all three versions of the game installed!

I realize that this was a bit of a read and I said Short(ish) Version, but I feel that this is much easier and faster than messing with the icons and letting the game patch stuff the old way.

Important Notes:

Hyperstrike made a wonderful quick reference Guide to the launcher here: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=254442

If you’re like me and have downloaded the unofficial map add-ons and icon replacements from BadgeHunter.com, then it will save you time if you actually install them right after installing the Live version of the game. This way when you copy those files into Beta/Test, then you’re only installing the add-ons Once! Well, atleast until the i22 related maps are updated, then you’ll need to manually install those files in each folder. Additionally, since I also use things like Mids Hero Designer and Titan Sentinel, I find it easier to install those in either the NCSoft Folder (under Mids/Titan accordingly) or directly in the City of Heroes folder (also using the corresponding Mids/Titan subfolders) just to keep things along the same logic as why I chose the custom folders in the first place.

BadgeHunter: Host to the custom ingame/online Maps and icon packs that likely everyone uses as well as the original(?) badge hunting utility site.
http://www.badge-hunter.com/index.php?app=uportal

Titan Network: Host to everything from the unofficial Paragon Wiki to the popular Mids Hero Designer.
http://www.cohtitan.com/

Thanks for reading! Please be gentle with comments as this is my first attempt at a Guide for CoX. >.<