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City of Heroes: Getting Your Cape
MMORPG.com City of Heroes Correspondent Marjorie Rhoadhouse writes this handy guide for players looking for get their capes at level 20 in NCsoft's City of Heroes.
The Facts:
Must be Level 20+ - Need Empty Mission Slot – See City Rep in City Hall Once the Talk-to’s Are Complete, Door Mission is Relatively Quick Soloing is Possible Depending on AT and Reputation (Difficulty)
Some History:
Capes were introduced in Issue 2, in September of 2004. The Cape Mission establishes in-game lore as to why heroes are barred from wearing capes until they are Level 20, and to give each a chance to prove himself worthy of wearing that most wondrous earmark of the proverbial superhero.
Sssshh:
Nowhere in the game is the player informed of how and when to get a cape. Nor does the contact for the Cape Mission make herself available for the asking. Once a hero is Level 20, and if that hero has an empty mission slot and by chance happens to click on the City Rep, she’ll offer the mission.
A Caveat:
There is one exception to the Capes-at-Level-20 rule. Heroes of any level can sport a cape if they belong to a player who’s been in the game for at least 21 months. That cape is a Veteran Reward and graces only one shoulder of the hero. Even a Veteran Player hero must complete wait until Level 20 and complete a Cape Mission to wear a full cape.
The Confusion:
The Cape Mission and Second Costume Mission are easily confused because the two are available at the same time.
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A Makeover?
Expecting to learn about the cape mission, the hero turns 20, and is told it’s time for a makeover; visit the tailor shop. Nothing is said about a cape. The question is often seen in Broadcast: “Where do I get my cape?” The simple --- and truthful --- reply: “The tailor shop.” So off goes the hero to the tailor. There, he accepts the Second Costume Mission. Upon its completion, he receives a second slot for a new costume, but no cape. Yes, the cape is retrieved at the tailor shop, but there is a mission to complete first, the contact for which is in Atlas Park, not the tailor shop.
Mission Prep:
Clear a mission slot. Depending on your approach to this mission, be it a cakewalk or an XP bonanza, you might want to visit a Hero Corps Analyst to adjust the difficulty setting. Then go to the City Rep inside City Hall, in Atlas Park. Start the round of talk-to’s, for a total of three.
Travel Tip:
If you’ve got a team and a team-mate can “Recall Friend,” send him out to Justin Greene, near the Training Enhancement Shop in the northwest corner of Independence Port. Justin is the last contact and it’s a long journey, no matter what mode of travel. By the time the other talk-to’s are done, your mate could be ready to teleport you to Justin’s side. This will prevent other team-mates from getting antsy.
Justin directs you to the memorial housing a time-capsule created by Hero1 and Omega Team. He doesn’t mention villains. But once you leave Justin, the previously empty mission slot reads, “Defeat All Villains in Memorial.” The villains are The Lost, with plenty of mezzers. If your hero cannot protect himself from being mezzed, he should stock up on Break Frees. I also advise bringing a Bounce-Back or Restoration (the heavy-duty Awakens) because even though you may be able to run to the hospital or use your base if you get defeated, the mission may fail while you are en-route. If you can’t get them from a friend or the Inspiration Collector in your base, they can usually be found at Wentworth’s.
The Mission:
The location is usually Perez Park or Talos. Upon entering, a text window pops up, which in every other mission tells you some inane detail that’s not been added to the tileset. This time however, the text is important. It tells you that, because there are villains present, you must protect the memorial. That word, “protect” in missions past meant defeating the mobs and clicking on the blinky. In THIS mission, the mobs in a back corner on an upper floor are actually hacking and slashing away at the time-capsule while your hero is trying to fight his way to its position. If they break open the capsule, he’ll get tossed from the mission --- never to know why. The only way to repeat the mission (and most new players are not aware that it can be repeated), is to do the whole round of go-to’s all over again, starting with another visit to the City Rep.
Take your time on the first floor. The villains upstairs wont act against the time-capsule until a hero arrives on their floor and triggers aggro. If teamed, make sure no one goes scouting upstairs; else the mobs may destroy the capsule by the time the team has regrouped. “Defeat ALL,” but once upstairs, get to the time capsule first. Head straight for the back or if teamed, send someone straight back. A Controller with Invisibility and a Hold can delay those with intent to harm the capsule.
Once the mission is complete, return to the City Rep in Atlas Park. She rewards you by “unlocking” a new costume part. You will not see the cape until you buy it from a tailor at Icons. At level 20, a cape costs 9,020 Influence, including the tailor’s fee. To save yourself a second fee, wait on the cape. Do the Costume Mission; then buy both costume and cape together.
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The Second Costume:
For this your hero needs another empty mission slot --- the one vacated by the Cape Mission will do just fine. Go to the Icons (aka tailor shop) in the northwest corner of Steel Canyon. Speak to Serge. He stands at the back counter and sends your hero on a simple street hunt to defeat 30 Tsoo. He suggests the hunt takes place in Talos, as do I if you want good XP. The Tsoo hanging out in Steel Canyon also fulfill the mission. If your hero is close to leveling, a Steel Canyon hunt would be the better choice. A costume and cape are cheaper at Level 20 than at Level 21.
Ambush:
Be prepared. The moment your hero steps outside Icons, he will be ambushed.
Once the Second Costume Mission is complete, return to Serge and claim a second slot for the new costume. Now is the time to add that cape.
The Cape:
Capes are offered at the bottom of the costume creation screen, under the heading of Back Details (which includes Wings), and is sometimes not visible unless you scroll down through the entire costume menu. Wings and Capes cannot be worn together. Ditto for trench coats. You must choose. Also if your hero is currently wearing a trench coat, the choice of Back Details will never show itself. You must first remove it (without ever exiting the costume creation screen). Removing the trench coat will likely mess up whatever costuming is worn beneath the coat, but it’s easily reapplied. The point is, once the trench coat is gone, the option for Back Details will present itself.
One final note is that it’s a good idea to add the cape to your original costume slot, even if this means making over your original costume into the new Second Costume. If you want to keep the original, leave it in its duplicate form in the second slot. The reason? The first slot is the “parent” by which the filler-costumes in each future slot is modeled. If the first slot displays a cape, every new slot added thereafter (for a total of five) will display a cape, one you won’t have to pay for. Yes, you might change the look of the cape, which costs something --- but not as much as adding the cape itself. And if you decide not to cape the outfit in that slot, removing a cape from a costume costs nothing. At Level 50, when a change of costume can cost bizillions, this is important.
Whether a cape is practical super gear is a topic I refuse to broach. Validation by a good back-story wins over some naysayers but for those who wear them and those who admire them, the mystery and glamour of a cape need no interpretation.
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Many Many thanks for the article. I wish I had known a bunch of this stuff years ago. Even so, much of it is still very helpful.
Victory Server:
Tiberion: Level 50 Defender
Brothur Bear: Level 50 Peace Bringer
And for those who don't know go see the same contact st level 30 as she will also start you off on your "Aura" mission.
Excellent guide for a poorly implemented feature that should have been in launch and available to characters of all levels. Something like this probably wasn't needed when they first came out, because everyone was talking about them, but hopefully this will be seen by newer players that have no idea how to get started on their cape.
As the story goes, Desirar, there was unforseen difficulty in applying the code for a free-flowing cape to all the many and varied costume combinations offered by CoH's character/costume creator. I believe the cape was present in Beta Testing but even in the best of situations, it clipped through the toon's torso as it blew round. Rather than present at launch an inferior example of that proverbial mark of superhero status, capes were yanked until they were perfected. The final solution was to build an entirely separate skelaton for the cape and attach it to the skeleton of the toon, which was then ready for release in the first expansion. However, lore was built into launch, explaining that to honor the loss of Hero1 and Omega Team, all heroes were hanging up their capes.
When the first expansion came out, a decree was issued that Paragon City's period of mourning was over and Heroes (level 20 and up) from far and wide crowded around City Hall to prove themselves worthy to the City Rep.
My toons were too young at the time, so I never got the memo, lol, but apparently there was some instruction on how to go about getting the cape AT THAT TIME. Unfortunately it was never integrated into the game.
My thanks to you and to the others who were first on the scene here, for your kind words about my article. I must say I'm very excited to be a part of this. This is my first showing here in an official capacity for MMORPG.com, and I am hoping for much feedback. =)
--- Marjorie Rhoadhouse
Foxy, don't feel alone! In trying to make a serious dent into my next article for this site, I turned the days housework and the care of my sick cat over to my daughter --- who swore me to an evening of Lord of the Rings Online before she would concede. Hence I too have not yet been able to explore Issue 13 on the live servers.
--Marjorie Rhoadhouse
Oh, I knew the lore. The lack of "unregistered heroes" or "completely mercenary villains" (was there even a lore explaining why villains didn't have capes at level 1?) is as bad as the lame story of Hero 1. Rather than turning a failure on the part of the developers into a "carrot" for leveling, they should have been given to characters of all levels with an apology that covered the front page of the game's website. At the very least, unlocking capes should be attached to an account - finish the mission on one character on any server, and all of your characters would have access.
I've been busy with other games and haven't rotated back to CoH in a while (darn Gamer ADD), how many new players pick up the game that need to know how to get their capes have there been? The only MMO that seems to get advertising outside of gaming magazines is WoW, so I wouldn't expect a large influx of players in any other game.
Aw comeon, the legend of Hero1 is not lame...just...under-developed! After all, prgrammers are not known for their writing skills! Now see if they hired someone like me to write their lore for them: Wheeeee!
Oh and also --- its probably just the way you worded it --- but just to clarify from my end: City of Villains didnt exist when Heroes was released. When Villains launched (as a stand-alone expansion pack in those days), there was no need to explain the missing capes. A villain got his cape by stealing a hero's, and if the heroes weren't wearing them, well then... (How smart was your Villain?)
I disagree about giving the cape to all toons on one account once you've completed the mission with one. It is supposed to be a test of mettle and worth, and there are too many archetypes and power combinations to make that a free ticket, not to mention interesting.
Hahaha, I do like your phrase, "Gamer ADD". I think there is a lot of that going around, although that's the first time I've heard the diagnosis! Touchette!
--Marjorie Rhoadhouse
I did notice that the transfer of my bulleting went screwy in the list of FACTS, and it now appears that I recommend, "See City Rep in City Hall Once TalkTo's are Complete," as the first step of the mission. (D'oh!)
The facts should be separated as follows:
Must be Level 20+ - Need Empty Mission Slot - See City Rep in City Hall - Once TalkTo's are Complete Door Mission is Reletively Quick - Soloing is Possible Depending on AT and Reputation (Difficulty)
See the difference?
Doesn't she say something about coming back to see her after you've reached security level 20? Same thing Kalinda does once you've finished her arc if you choose her as an initial contact?
To the above poster, capes weren't in at release due to technical limitations. Remember though that they added them in Issue 2, so it wasn't that long after release everyone got capes they been asking about. NCSoft really seems to listen to what their customers want and try to impliment what they can. Issue 13 is adding the Shield powersets that have been asked about for quite some time and the red-version of Empathy.
Doesn't she say something about coming back to see her after you've reached security level 20? Same thing Kalinda does once you've finished her arc if you choose her as an initial contact?
Hi Milton! You know, I don't think she says ANYHTING if you are not already Lev 20. Remember, this woman is not a standard contact for Heroes. She handles the Cape and Aura missions and is a go-between in one or two other story arc's, and that is it. I seem to remember time and again clicking on her in passing and getting nothing, and wondering what the heck she was there for. In researching this article, I approached her as a brand new Lev 20 with full mission slots, and that is when I confirmed that she insists on an empty mission slot, because she says something vague like, "You have much to do before we can talk again."
This is a pretty good article. I just got back into CoH right before I13. I was a player from Beta up until around Issue 5 when my computer became a paper-weight. Now that it's working again, I've been trying to re-learn the game. (And play CoV!) This was a good refresher. Thanks!
Villains initial contact tells them to come back when they are 20. I think the heroes have the city rep pop up as a contact once they level to 20 now. Not 100% sure on that as it's been a while since my heroes were under 20.
sounds right.
I tested the whole Cape Mission from start to finish on the test server during Open Beta for Issue 13, and no contact info was given at that time. It could be, however, now that Issue 13 is live and we are seeing so many contact notices flash up on our screen (which is terrific!) that once a toon trains up to 20, a similar notice is made evident.
If anyone does get a toon to 20 under these new circumstances, and notices a change, I'd sure appreciate a post here to make note of it.
i just realized you made this post.
isn't getting on the test server a bunch of "geek speak" and like... hard or something?
Enough flirting, you two!
if you call kalinda, she says:
There are more tests in your future, <character name> , but not until you get to Threat Level 20.
i'm going on the assumption that players aren't complete idiots and that a player would be like "hey i wonder what that is" and either ask someone or look it up.
but according to the op, getting on test is way hard, so i dunno.
edit: to the person who posted above me... i'm sorry, i'm not part of you guys' sg or your weird online flirting stuff. a correspondent NEEDS to give factual information and not crawfish and try to twist words by claiming to "choose concise terminology", when the terminology used is plain wrong and shows an ignorance of obvious game mechanics (especially to someone who's claimed to play for over four years).
*laughs* What Super Group? Wow, that's the first time someone assumed I was "in the loop", thank you, I'm flattered. Though, I haven't even almost associated with anyone from this site. I play mmos strictly for the content. So, I like to solo. [I was raised an only child.] The rest of your post was wasted on me, however, as was my attempt at humor and sarcasm wasted on you. I wasn't trying to debate you in any way, debate requires an opinion one way or the other. You perhaps may have mixed me up with one of the other posters in the thread. And that's okay. It happens online. I said you two were flirting because you were having an argument [or whatever you want to call it]. No need to get defensive with me, because it wont help your argument that you were having -- with completely other people, I might add.
*laughs* What Super Group? Wow, that's the first time someone assumed I was "in the loop", thank you, I'm flattered. Though, I haven't even almost associated with anyone from this site. I play mmos strictly for the content. So, I like to solo. [I was raised an only child.] The rest of your post was wasted on me, however, as was my attempt at humor and sarcasm wasted on you. I wasn't trying to debate you in any way, debate requires an opinion one way or the other. You perhaps may have mixed me up with one of the other posters in the thread. And that's okay. It happens online. I said you two were flirting because you were having an argument [or whatever you want to call it]. No need to get defensive with me, because it wont help your argument that you were having -- with completely other people, I might add.
lots of words for someone that doesn't care.
I like the way I write/type/speak.