CoH Grinding

CoH Tip No.6 - Confessions Of A Grinder
It's my last day for CoH blab so I thought I would do my top20 tricks. Today's screenshot was taken 10 seconds before I tripped and fell off the crane, into a pile of purple and red bad guys who quickly spanked my ass. LoL I was so embarrassed for falling that I ran to the hospital. haha.

No.1 Inspirations
For some reason, we all stop using inspirations around level 12. inspirations work! If you aren't that tough, buy more damage, if you burn endurance, buy lots of blues. Inspiration helps any player do better, especially when soloing.

No.2 Be Picky About Targets
I've joined a lot of hunting teams that are "Kill! Kill! Kill!" When you kill every group of badguys that you meet, you are most likely not maximizing xp. You will make way more xp per hour of you are selective and picky. Some badguys take forever to kill like paragon protectors and some freaks. Some villians are way to tough and some are way too weak. Find the villians that you like to beat and the ones that are good XP. You do not have to kill everything on the road...it's ok to jog more and look around for a few seconds.

No.3 Small Teams
I really like small teams. Try some 2,3 and 4 man teams and I think you will see your pink XP bar grow a little faster.

No.4 Be Picky About Missions
If you love scenic beauty, then take that Circle Of Thorns missions from hell, but if you like xp...don't! :) You can be selective about missions. Only take the missions you enjoy.

No.5 Find a Strategic Contact
Cities become a lot easier when you get a contact in a key location. A contact is really helpful since they can sell you inspiration! They will also sometimes sell you TOs. At higher levels, the contacts like Serifina, sell you SOs and buy TOs DOs and SOs. Contacts can help you level faster because they save time by providing these services. When I find a contact in a spot I want to hunt, I do all their missions to open up their store...this makes future xp gains easier since I can now buy blues and green, and have way less down time.

No.6 Loops
For every city you can make up small hunting loops. You don't need to jog 100 miles! Here are my three favorite hunting loops in Bricktown as an example. I wend from lvl 28 to 38, almost exclusively in Bricktown.

No.7 One Bub A Day
The best way to level fast is being consistant. Try to stick to a daily plan. My plan is one bub or dot a day. Every 10 days you level, but at the lower levels you can do two bubs a day pretty easily. I also find its easier to grind when you get to 7 out of 10 and can usually finish a level that day or the next. Set a reasonable daily goal and the levels go by steadily.

No.8 Timed Missions
Remember you can always take a timed mission and not do it, and still make a little XP when it times out...kind of a bonus. :D

No.9 Toss Enhancements
Don't be scared to throw away enhancements when you begin to waste time selling them. As you go up in level, eventually TOs are not worth the time to sell unless you have a contact close...toss them and go for all DOs once the DOs start dopping on your regularily. Once you hit the mid 30s, it's even time to start thinking about tossing DOs as you go for all SOs in an effort to manage time better.

No.10 Minion Bowling
If you can get AOE weapons or travel with people that have them, minion bowling is often the fastest XP.

No.11 Power Pools
My favorite power pools continue to be Hasten, Super Speed and Stealth. Consider these powers for your build. They make fighting easier and will help you level faster.

No.12 Defense Works
Think about adding 2-3 defensive powers to your build and you will die less often. Stealth, Combat Jump, Maneuvers, Tough and Weave are all good defensive powers.

No.13 Avoid The Temptation To Re-Roll
We all make mistakes in our builds...don't sweat it. One or two bad choices means nothing in the long run. You don't have to be perfect. Re-rolling can set you days or weaks behind. Learn to use the powers you have. I can't tell you how many times I've choosen a new power and then thought "omfg this power sucks turds!" and then in a week or two...I love that same power. I took fire ring and hated it...now I use it constantly. I just got Inferno a few weeks ago and simply hated in...now I don't know what I would do without it. We are all insecure about choices. Many times the choices turn out fine. Often weapons need to be four or six slotted before they function properly. Sometimes we do get a crummy choice...don't worry...in the long run, three to four bum choices does not matter. We all have a few weak weapons.

No.14 Use the patrol guard
When you want to test the villians of a dangerous new area like Perez or Brick, stick near your friendly neighborhood lvl 50 patrol guard. Try a fight and then run back to them for safety. It's a good way to experiment.

No.15 Always Turn Left
If you are not sure how to solve a map, use the always turn left technique and you will never go wrong since you solve the map in a logical manner with this method.

No.16 Try a Recharge Reducer
One enhancement that is often forgotten is the recharge reducer. Try one of these on all your weaons and I think you will be pleased with the results.

No.17 Sell Enhancements at the correct origin store
By selling at the correct store, you make more money. The exception to this rule is when you would normally toss an enh but see a store close by so you can quickly sell to grab fast cash rather than toss.

No.18 Read the Official Forum
the official forum is helpful. It is super busy and I use it every time I want to choose a new power now. Maybe you are considering power A vs power B, check out the coh forums and you will find tons of info that will help make your decision. Most questions can be answered in the forums.

Np.19 Talk Before a Fight
Some teams never say a word to each other. I prefer teams that talk a little strategy and have a plan. Simple things like "lets all sniper boss first" help the team know what to do and then disappointing deaths are avoided.

No.20 Combine the Best Enhancements
When you are turning a regular enhancement into a + or ++, buy the best one allowed. It seems pricey, but will combine more often than the cheaper one which fails at a level which makes it more expensive.

Those are my Frisky CoH Tips. I hope they are useful and entertaining.