Champions has zones with stories going on in a linear fashion. You could goback to the prior zones, but there is no reason to. Once you're donewith it, you're done. No "Go back and drop this off and clean up thestreets". This also means level wise you're pretty segregated anddon't expect to see much of friends unless they're similar level. The stat system is really complex and somewhat confusing. Each statistic has different innate effects on your game play. The following isa NON COMPREHENSIVE, and NON FINAL list:
Strength: Knockback, Knockback Resistance, Picking stuff up, Throwing stuff.
Dexterity: Chance to crit, amount of damage avoided when you successfully dodge.
Constitution: Hit points, hit point recovery.
Intellect: Reduces the cost of all powers, Stealth detection, Pet DPS.
Ego: Crit Severity, Strength of hold effects, ability to free yourself from some holds.
Presence: Threat Scaling more in Offensive role, less in Defensive Role. Also, some stuff for buff powers and pet HP.
Recovery: Equilibrium, energy generated by your fighting attacks.
Endurance: Energy max, energy generated by your fighting attacks.
None of these stats will *directly* increase your damage(or, they won’t increase it ~much~, more later).
That’s where SUPER Stats come in. Over your career,you get to pick 2 stats to be “super”. These stats 1) automaticallygrow over time, and 2) are the stats that increase your damage.
How do you get stats? First, you start with some. Then, you pick an Origin. Each Origin gives you many happy chunky stats to start off your epic adventures. Finally, you get stats from Gear, and the aforementioned Superstats.