Welcome to City of Heroes! I hope you are reading this before you get too far into the game, because your very first decision is going to affect whether or not you can recieve your first badge. After creating your character, you will be asked if you want to go into the tutorial. The correct answer is "yes". If you have already answered "no", or you are reading this after you have already left the tutorial, you have to decide how important the first badge is to you. If it's important, then it's time to go back and reroll a new character. Anyway, presuming you are in the tutorial, it's time to earn your first badge. Be sure NOT to talk to Coyote after finishing his mission (the door mission) until you've gotten the Isolator badge. Here it is:
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Isolator | Villian | 1 | 2 | Outbreak | To get this badge, you must do the tutorial, which is the only place in the game you will find the needed villians, the Contaminated. The easiest way to finish this badge is to run through the entire tutorial (finishing the door mission). After completing the door mission, DO NOT return to Coyote (if you do, you will be dropped out of Outbreak). Instead, go back to the hazard areas and start taking down the Contaminated. You need 100 of them. There is no counter for this badge, so either keep track of your arrests or just keep going until you get the badge. |
Congratulations, you've gotten your first badge! Now it's safe to go talk to Coyote. At this point you'll have a choice between Atlas Park and Galaxy City. Pick whichever you want, it really makes very little difference. I'm going to presume you've chosen Atlas Park, but if not, just skip down a section to the Galaxy City badges, do those, then come back up here to do the Atlas Park badges.
It's now time to do some footwork. There are two types of badges which don't involve any sort of combat, the Exploration and the History badges. The former will take you on a tour of the city, while the latter will give you a bit of history and background so that you know what things were like before you arrived on the scene. Before we can start, you need to know how to get your coordinate locations. Simply type in the chat bar "/loc". This gives you three numbers. The first is the east-west number, the second is the up-down number, and the last is the north-south number (not the way I would have presented them, but it's what the designers gave us, so we're stuck with it). If you can't figure out where a badge is from the location description, you can use it's coordinates to track it down.
With that out of the way, let's go get the Exploration badges. There are a couple more than are shown here, but they're out of reach at the moment. We'll come back to them. These should keep you busy for a bit:
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Hero Corps Insider | Exploration | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(286, 16, -881) | Near City Hall. The contact Peter Wong is standing right next to it. |
| Patriot | Exploration | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(151, -768, -674) | Inside City Hall, next to the supergroup registration desk. |
| Silent Sentinel | Exploration | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(-608, 70, -1888) | On a building ledge. It can be gotten without one of the travel powers if you are a skilled jumper. Watch out for the train! |
| Undefeated | Exploration | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(633, 85, -2328) | On a rooftop with a billboard. There is a fire escape you can climb around the back of the building. |
And just like that you now have 5 badges. Now let's start the History badges. You won't actually earn any badges from this yet, because you have to read multiple plaques for each badge, and they are scattered across the city. But we can at least get them started. Be sure to actually read them, the story they tell is pretty interesting:
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
Expert
(Part 1 of 4) | History | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(631, 0, 963) | The plaque is on the pedestal the statue is standing on, around back. |
Intellectual
(Part 1 of 6) | History | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(2547, 0 -1179) | The plaque is mounted on a pedestal on the sidewalk. |
Pupil
(Part 1 of 5) | History | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(512, 1, -1151) | On a street corner, just outside city hall. |
Student
(Part 1 of 5) | History | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(-1149, -16, -171) | On the inside wall of a park. |
Student
(Part 2 of 5) | History | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(1328, 4, 414) | Tucked into a corner next to a building. |
Digger
(Part 1 of 5) | History | 1 | 50 | Atlas Park
(1159, 42, -776) | This plaque, which is the first of the Digger history badge plaques (and first introduced in Issue 3) sits almost exactly on top of the Prometheus Park map marker. |
I'm about to tell you to hop on the tram and head to Galaxy City. But before you do, let me give you this bit of advice. If you haven't already, train to level 2, and do a few of your contact's missions. Don't ignore the rest of the game for the sake of the badges! Your game ought to be a balance between missions, badge hunting, and socializing. In fact, you may just want to do missions for a while until your contact sends you to other city districts (probably King's Row). Don't worry, you aren't going to outlevel any badges at this stage of the game.
Head over to Galaxy City. We'll do the same routine with grabbing Exploration and History badges. There are quite a few in this district. Again, you won't finish any of the history badges yet, but we'll work off a few more:
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Bird Watcher | Exploration | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(-1099, 48, -2264) | This is a little tricky to get, but possible without any special travel powers. The badge is on a ledge on the second story of a building. Around the back, there is a fire escape. Go up to the fourth level, and carefully walk along the railing to the edge. From there, you can jump and catch the corner of the ledge (which will be slightly below you). |
| Blue Shield | Exploration | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(-1169, 39, -2467) | Use the same building you used to get the Bird Watcher badge, except this time climb all the way up to the first roof. From there jump to the ledge on the building to the east, and then to the rooftop of the building to the north. Now get behind the billboard and jump to it's narrow ledge. The badge is at the end of this ledge. |
| Brawler | Exploration | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(-1185 63 -936) | This badge is on the Mini Mart rooftop, which you can't get to directly. Fortunately, to the right of the Mini Mart is another building (sporting a City of Gyros sign) that has a ramp. Go up this ramp to the roof, and from there you should be able to building hop over to the Mart. Once you're there, use the air conditioning ducts to get yourself up to the top level. The badge is on the west side. |
| Land Locked | Exploration | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(-2035, -44, 1002) | Go to Gemini Park and follow the river southeast. Eventually it will run into a water door against the city wall. At the base of this door is the badge. |
| Tank | Exploration | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(-1181, 73, -587) | The badge is in the hand of the statue (presumably a Tank). It is possible, though not easy, to get this badge without special travel powers. Jump up the back of his foot to the leg, and then up to his belt (where a bit of a ledge gives you room to stand). Now jump up his back to his shoulder, then carefully make your way down his arm into his hand. |
Expert
(Part 2 of 4) | History | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(1158, 32, -717) | About 200 yards west of the Freedom Corps building is a grassy area. You will find the plaque under the tracks next to one of the support pillars. |
Expert
(Part 3 of 4) | History | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(415, 0, 893) | In the Nebula District, about 150 yards southeast of the marker, you will find the plaque mounted on the wall of a building, next to a trash dumpster. |
Intellectual
(Part 2 of 6) | History | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(-520, 0, -484) | On the northern most main street in Constellation Row, you will find the plaque on the north side of the street, near a telephone pole. |
Pupil
(Part 2 of 5) | History | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(-752, 0, -1545) | Go to the Equinox point and look directly north, and you should be looking right at it. Note that this plaque was moved from its original location with the publication of Issue 3. |
Student
(Part 3 of 5) | History | 1 | 50 | Galaxy City
(-1780, 0, 495) | Go to the Gemini Park point, then straight south across the river. The plaque is mounted on the wall at the end of the fence, near a picnic table. |
You may (or may not) have noticed something a bit odd while getting that last set of badges. The badge award message appeared twice! Was this a glitch? Not at all. In fact, you got this badge immediately following getting your 10th badge:
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Tourist | Achievement | 1 | 50 | n/a | You get this badge when you collect your 10th badge (this will be your 11th badge). |
How about that, a badge for getting badges! You should have a total of 11 badges now.
Okay, so far we've been doing a lot of running around, but there hasn't been a whole lot of action. Of course, you've been doing your contact missions, right? Right?!? I hope so, because somewhere between level 5 and 10 you need to aquire a particular mission involving clockwork and skulls. You'll know it because it's a timed mission, you'll have 60 minutes to stop a gang war between the two groups. You should be able to get this mission by steering toward clockwork and skull missions (when you have a choice of missions, do those that involve those two villian groups, and you'll come across this mission eventually). Once you complete the mission, you'll get this badge:
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Negotiator | Accomplishment | 5 | 10 | Mission | You get this badge for completing a timed mission involving stopping a gang war between the clockwork and skulls. |
Once you reach level 5ish, it becomes possible to move around in King's Row without getting a 1-shot trip to the hospital. Your contacts are probably sending you to King's Row around this time anyway, so we might as well start doing the legwork. You should be able to get the following Exploration and History Badges:
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Mystic King | Exploration | 5 | 50 | King's Row
(-376, 71, 244) | The badge is on a rooftop southwest of the Gish marker, but you can't get to the roof directly. Go east two buildings and climb up the fire escape. From there you can building hop to the badge. The gap between the second and third building actually has a bridge in between them. |
| Smokey | Exploration | 5 | 50 | King's Row
(-3043, -42, -1357) | This badge is on the ground in the far northeastern corner of the Royal Refinery. |
| Summoned | Exploration | 5 | 50 | King's Row
(-941, -42, 2978) | This badge is on the ground about 200 yards east of the Industrial Avenue marker. |
| Upgraded | Exploration | 5 | 50 | King's Row
(-495, 102, 769) | On a building top on the southern border of the Gish. There are two fire escapes on the building, but one of them doesn't go all the way to the top. |
Intellectual
(Part 3 of 6) | History | 5 | 50 | King's Row
(627, -42, 972) | Go to the far southwest corner of the Gish and look for a yellow crane. Go directly north and hop the fence. You should see a plaque just before the junk yard. |
Intellectual
(Part 4 of 6) | History | 5 | 50 | King's Row
(-1367, -42, 686) | Near the subway there is a sewer entrance where you often find citizens running in circles. The plaque will explain their behavior. |
Intellectual
(Part 5 of 6) | History | 5 | 50 | King's Row
(-57, -42, -1082) | On the northwestern side of the Gish, there is a brick building with a cement wall around it. The plaque is between the building and the wall, at the northeast corner. |
Pupil
(Part 3 of 5) | History | 5 | 50 | King's Row
(-170, -42, -1467) | On the southeastern border of High Park, the plaque is mounted on the eastern side of a building, near an underpass. |
Pupil
(Part 4 of 5) | History | 5 | 50 | King's Row
(-400, 1, 1758) | About 150 yards northeast of the hospital, tucked into a corner of a building. |
You're up to 16 badges, nice! There are a few other badges you can get at this stage in your career. From several places (Atlas Park, for example) you can go into the Sewer Network at level 5. This is a hazard zone, but it's a fairly easy one. You will find a whole host of Hellions, Lost, and Vahzilok, with lots of bosses. For the Vahzilok, you are actually not after the bosses, you have to take out Embalmed Cadavers and/or Abominations. Be careful, because if you take too long, they explode, and you don't get credit for the kill (not to mention the damage you take if you're too close).
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Hellspawned | Villian | 5 | 50 | n/a | Defeat 50 Damned (the Hellion bosses). An excellent hunting ground for Damned is Hell's Highway in Perez Park. You might also try the Sewer Network. |
| Gravedigger | Villian | 5 | 50 | n/a | Defeat 100 Embalmed Cadavers / Embalmed Abominations to get this badge. You have to take them down quick, because they explode after a few seconds, and you don't get credit for the defeat. You'll find a fair number of these on the Vahzilok missions, but if you need to hunt them, a couple of suggestions are the Sewer Network, King's Row (especially around King's Garment Works), and Faultline (directly north of the entrance). |
| Finder | Villian | 5 | 50 | n/a | Defeat 100 Lost bosses to earn this badge. As with the other Villian badges, you can find these guys in any number of places. A really good hunting ground, however, is the central area of the Sewer Network. You could also check Perez Park or Skyway City. |
Also at level 5, you will be able to enter the Hollows. With the release of Issue 3, some new exploration and history badges were added. This set completes the Digger history plaques that you started in Atlas Park.
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Gangland Fury | Exploration | 5 | 50 | The Hollows
(-728, -11, -3518) | This badge is about 180 yards south of the Four Seasons map marker. It sits in front of a brick building, just to the right of the double doors in a patch of grass. |
| Backwoodsman | Exploration | 5 | 50 | The Hollows
(-2150, 42, 3332) | In the far southeastern part of the hollows, there is a small grove of trees. The badge is inside the grove. |
| Parapsycologist | Exploration | 5 | 50 | The Hollows
(-704, 379, 886) | This badge is about 300 yards northwest of the Eastgate Heights map marker. It's on the top of a hill in a grassy knoll area. |
| Seeker of Monsters | Exploration | 5 | 50 | The Hollows
(21, -345, -1280) | This badge is on the western side of Grendel's Gulch (about 215 yards from the map marker). It is not very far from Talshak the Mystic. |
| Geologist | Exploration | 5 | 50 | The Hollows
(-749, -539, -1647) | This badge is at the very bottom of the Gulch. You will find it less than 100 yards from the map marker, in the foundation of a mostly destroyed building. |
Digger
(Part 2 of 5) | History | 5 | 50 | The Hollows
(1353, 5, -3063) | This plaque is in Cherry Hills, about 200 yards straight south of the map marker. |
Digger
(Part 3 of 5) | History | 5 | 50 | The Hollows
(-2251, -0, -2363) | This history plaque sits at the very back (eastern side) of the Hollows, on the other side of Grendel's Gulch. The plaque sits between two buildings. |
Digger
(Part 4 of 5) | History | 5 | 50 | The Hollows
(1610, 0, -1945) | The plaque is behind the Downtown Music building, about 570 yards south of the Cherry Hills map marker and 750 yards west of the Grendel's Gulch marker. |
Digger
(Part 5 of 5) | History | 5 | 50 | The Hollows
(875, 65, 3346) | To the far south of The Hollows (in CoT territory), about 570 yards east of the Skyway City entrance, there is a vantage point overlooking the river, with benches and a trash can. The plaque is against the wall. |
When you reach your 25th badge (probably somewhere along the way getting that last bunch of exploration badges), you get another one of those 'get a badge for getting badges' deals.
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Collector | Achievement | 1 | 50 | n/a | Collect 25 badges to earn this badge. This will be your 26th badge. |
As long as you are here in the Hollows, this is a good time to take care of a few villian badges.
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| Name | Catagory | Min Level | Max Level | Location | Notes |
| Regenerator | Villian | 5 | 50 | n/a | To earn this badge, you must defeat 100 Troll bosses (either Ogres or Calibans). The Hollows is a good hunting ground for these guys. |
| Weatherman | Villian | 5 | 50 | n/a | Defeat 100 Outcast bosses (Lead Shockers, Lead Bricks, and so on. Basically any villian with a "Lead" title). The Hollows provides a decent hunting ground for these bosses. |
| Volcanic | Villian | 5 | 50 | n/a | Defeat 100 igneous bosses (such as Magma Lords) to earn this badge. You can often find these creatures at the bottom of Grendel's Gulch in the Hollows. (When they are dormant, they appear as flaming areas on the ground) |
That's about the extent of the badges you can get at this stage of your career, 29 in total (presuming you haven't yet earned any of the non-level dependent badges). We'll pick it up at level 6 in the next section.
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