Part 1: THE NEWS SCREEN
This is the screen that will be the default "Home" screen that pops up after logging on to HCO. All of your navigation will be able to be done from this screen. Note that "News" is highlighted in orange at the top of the image. The main body of this page is divided into two parts. There is the "Top News" section that lets you know of any major overhauls or changes to the main issues that have been coming up for a good number of players. The section below that is the "Patch Notes" section which lets players know of the smaller fixes that have been updated with each of the data pushes that the developers have made. Each of the two sections are dated to let you know when these updates happened. To the right of these sections is your player info/ranking. Here you can see your tournament ranking and your win/loss/quit record. Pay no attention to MY record :)
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/80851/HCRealms.com/201105/image048.jpg" class="imageleft" / >
Part 2: THE LOBBY
As soon as you click on the Lobby tab at the top of the screen an immediate subsection that appears with the subsections. "Public Matches" is the first of the options which is what the Lobby always defaults to. This displays any games that are currently open to join in the large white box. Next to the public matches option is the "Tournaments" section. Here is where you will find any created tournaments that are waiting for anybody to sign up for them. Next to that is the "My Tournaments" section where you can check on the status and who has signed up for the tournaments that you yourself have created. To the far right of these options is the "History" button and can be clicked on to see your tournament history. On either the "Public Matches" or "Tournaments" sections, you can click on any matches that are in the white qeue box and select "Join Match." You can then select your build for the desired game and hit accept. We will get into building teams as well as match and tournament creation in later sections, though.
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/80851/HCRealms.com/201105/image049.jpg" class="imageleft" / >
Part 3: COLLECTIONS
As with the Lobby tab at the top, the "Collections" tab also has a subsection of tabs that pops up when you click on it at the top of the main menu. The subsections are "My Collection" which shows all of the characters that are in your inventory as well as their Name, collector number, point cost, and so on. Next the "My Collection" button is the "My Forces" button. You can see your collection in this screen as well, but this is also a section that can be used to assemble your different forces. More on this section later. Finally, there is the "All Heroclix" section. As of right now, this section has no function.
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/80851/HCRealms.com/201105/image050.jpg" class="imageleft" / >
Part 4: AUCTIONS
The next tab over in our journey through the main screens is the Auction screen. Here you are able to put up figures that you have in your collection for auction. As with several other screens, it also has several subsections that are fairly self explanatory, but I will give a brief outline of their functions. The default section is the "All" or "All Auctions" section. Her you will see every members' current auctions currently on the auction block. The next tab over is the "Mine" or "My Auctions" section. This displays the auctions that you yourself have created. Next up on the tab bar is the "Watched" section. This is where you can get a quick snapshot of the auctions that you are keeping an eye on. The last stop on this tab is the "Create" button. This is where you actually create auctions to place on the market. In future articles, I will go more in depth on how to use the various sections in this tab.
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/80851/HCRealms.com/201105/image051.jpg" class="imageleft" / >
Part 5: THE STORE
When you're first getting started with HCO, this is probably the first place you're going to want to hit up. Obviously you need to get your figures before you can do anything else, right? The whole point is to play the game, so step on up to the checkout counter and buy your forces. Toward the bottom right hand side of this screen you will notice that you have a certain alotment of "Clixbux" to bolster your inventory. Here there are a few single figures as well as alternate team abilities, objects, boosters, and booster bricks. As this is one of the first things you will have to do when you get started, this will be the first expanded help section article that will be posted beyond this introduction.
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/80851/HCRealms.com/201105/image052.jpg" class="imageleft" / >
Part 6: SUPPORT
For the time being there isn't much of anything to see or do in this screen. There is plans in the works to eventually have video tutorials and "How To's" in this tab, but as they are not up yet, what you see is what you get.
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/80851/HCRealms.com/201105/image053.jpg" class="imageleft" / >
SEND BUG REPORT
As Heroclix Online is still in beta testing, this could possibly be one of the most important things that I bring to everybody's attention. If we want to make this a sucessful venture and to make it a well oiled machine, we have to make sure we get all of the bugs out. The "Send Bug Report" button is the first option located in a dark orange bar right above the previously mentioned home page tabs. If you experience ANYTHING that seems like a glitch in the interaction of rules, graphics, interface, etc. please be sure to fill out the form with all of the information that it asks for to the best of your ability/recollection to help fix any problems that arise. This form can also be reached in game via a button that looks like a white circle with a "B" in it.
<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/80851/HCRealms.com/201105/image057.jpg" class="imageleft" / >
Join me in just a few short days when I go in depth into the "Store" and the "Collections" tabs to go into extensive detail as to how to utilize and navigate those areas.