As an Update to Wilzon's answer, which is right on the money, there has been some changes. With the newest patch update, Riding Training has been lowered to level 20. That's right!!! Within 24 hours, you can be riding a mount of your very own! As reputation within the factions does warrant a discount on mounts and riding training... At level 20, this system is irrelevant. A flat fee of 4 gold for Riding Training, and a meager 1 gold for the mount of your race. Its only 5 gold all together, so muster all your friends and mount-up!

*Note: Shaman and Druid get Travel Forms which allow them to shapeshift into their own mounts (perse.) This is attainable at a much earlier level, only costing about 17 silver at their class trainer.

There are several player classes with the ability to summon minions. Hopefully, such a question as this refers to the Warlock Minion Summoning. Warlocks start by summoning an Imp. This foul-mouthed fire caster is a result of head-start gaming. With almost every cool thing in World of Warcraft, it involves a quest. Head-start gamers are determined and hard working, they get the job done and wait for noone. The Warlock trainer eventually gives access to training an Imp around level 5. Of course with every minion learnable to summon, theres several hoops to jump through. If you burn through this series of quests, an Imp can be summoned as early as level 3. If these quests are overlooked, usually by missing the prequisite quest, a minion is never learned until you ask, "How do I summon a minion?"

If the Warlock trainer has no way to train for Summoning a Minion, and you're already level 10... Look for a lonely quest giver in the starter zone of your character race. This is not a stupid question, as it happens quite frequently.

In reference to Wilzon's answer, which is the best by far, there is now more details involved. Not only do you get the exclusive zebra-unicorn (Zhevra) mount if your friend goes from trial-to-full. But you also share the XP Bonus and Referral tokens. If several of these friends stack together, the leveling possibilities are phenominal (and may even be nerf'd or limited later.) Within the Undercity, I seen one of these gifted individuals redeem these tokens. I have no idea where his friends were (as they must also redeem their tokens, at the same moment, for the LEVEL-FEST to occur.) In a matter of seconds, without moving an inch, this individual went from level 20 to 60+ right before my eyes. My biggest question was: How the heck is he gonna do anything in the Outlands with level 20 gear? lol

The evolution of Used Account Sales is quite intriguing. Level 60 accounts were a valuable commodity, depending upon how the characters were geared. EBay was the major gateway for these killer PvP monsters. Other services offered the same thing, lacking the *WYSIWYG concept. A Tier Gear killing machine was where it was at.

Then, the Burning Crusade expansion was released. These high-dollar behemoths became vendor trash overnite. All hope was lost... Every level 60 newlywed, looking for a quick buck, let their hard-earned dust collector just fade away. Much like all those other thongs GameWidows dislike, Mega Gear'd level 60s became buried beneath the sands of time.

Wrath of the Lich King rekindled the worth of level 60 characters with just a hint of their newest player class... The Death Knight. Everyone wanted to roll one, just to taste the newness of this 8th Wonder of Azeroth. All it took was an account holder to have a level 55 character. Thus, level 55s hit the market. Who cares what gear they got, they could even be wearing starter gear. 60s became a priceless commodity once again.

*WYSIWYG: What you see is what you get.

Matt named pretty much your best bets... Not many out there for other genres. Even Pirates of the Caribbean requires a download. The less the download time, the better. Browser-based games run on Java, Flash (or Shockwave,) and even Gameguard. All requiring a lil wait for downloading the application. Looking for an addictive RPG to accomidate your library, computer lab, or study hall fix? Runescape is probably your best bet. Remember... What happens in Runescape, stays in Runescape. Never mention it upon the message boards of other MMOs, you'll get heavily flamed (bring the smores.) Alas, this poor man's World of Warcraft does pack a punch with it's newer graphics and sound bites. The Hi-Def version does require a lil longer for load-time.

TELNET: Remember this age-old interfacing system? Its how the net was born. MU*s are the older version of MMOs, and they're still out there. MU* is short for many different names. MUSH is a Multi-User Shared Hallucination, while MUX is a Multi-User eXperience. These various versions of the same thing is a text-based RPG, capabale of being used by TELNET interface. Most users will attest utilizing a Mu* Client, such as SimpleMU and Pueblo. These games cover an unlimited range of genres. Although City of Heroes and World of Warcraft stole many members of these classics, they still somewhat thrive. Cosmic Muffin Mux, AnimeMuck, and Heroes Unlimited Mux are a few I frequented. I know they'll be glad to see a new face, get new ideas, and roleplay the heck outta you. :D

Task Forces, is what most people say. I somewhat agree, but teaming with complete strangers in a Live-or-Die series of missions could pose more problems than not. I've seen some of the fastest levelers come from this stock.

The question should begin at level 5, that's where the fun really begins. Many people railroad their way into level 5, straight from a series of failed and successful sewer teams (Atlas Park: lvl 1-5.) It doesn't matter how you get to level five, but utilizing your first contacts may be somewhat crutial. Upon level 5, your 2nd contact will assign you to Dave Wincott's Troll Task Force (Hollows: lvl 5-18.) This is no means a REAL task force, just a series of missions introducing you to the Hollows (aka. Circle of Thorns Central!) The problem starts with Trolls, later developing into Dave Wincott being kidnapped by Circle of Thorns mystics (Task Force: Halls of Transcendence.) We'll coin this as Option #1...

Personally, I hit the tram and head straight to Kings Row (5-12) as soon as lvl 5 hits. Upon arrival, I'm greeted by a new contact (one of two police detectives.) Look for them, they're in your contact list and on your mini-map. Head to the Police station, talk to your newest buddy, and gain access to Radio Missions. These missions are accessible straight from your contact list, no tedious running back and forth. After a few successful missions, your buddy will need to talk to you personally. He has a special assignment, the Atlas Park Bank is being robbed!! May need to grab a team for this one, as baddies don't give-up their loot that easily. Need a team? No problem, as Radio Mission Teams are very popular. Upon successful completion, you have been granted a temporary travel power (Raptor Pack: Flight, available at lvl 5.) Good going, gumshoe. Keep going at these Radio Missions, Fly to the Hollows, or talk to new contacts aquired after every thwarted bank robber. At level 10, a new bank robbery will be added to the mix. Kings Row bank is being robbed!! Upon thwarting this new bank robber, you'll be granted an additional temporary travel power (Zero-G Pack: Super Leaping, available at lvl 10.) These two temporary powers will make it much easier and very much faster to get around. We'll coin this as Option #2...

A combination of both options may be used, as the Hollows is very traversable with a flight pack. The Hollows is the main reason behind debt protection for characters under level 10. lol Traversing this hole of death has brought ill ware to millions of heroes. Now, with a little detour, you can fly well over this nigh-unavoidable death trap.

Once aquiring the Zero-G Jump Pack, Radio Missions continue with new detectives in Skyway City and Steel Canyon (Task Force: Positron.) From here, level 14 is so close you can smell it. Getting there is all you. Just remember... You're a Blaster, not a Tank. XD

City of Villains is actually a little more complicated than City of Heroes. Most people would beg to differ, as proclaiming the opposite or both as one-in-the-same. Personally, going from CoH into Villains Beta was a wake-up call. As villains went mainstream, it got more hardware hungry.

Of course, CoV has better sound and graphics. If you got all your City of Heroes settings maxed, better think twice before doing the same here. Don't get discouraged if the 'Auto-Detect' feature places your settings halfway. If it places your sliders to the max, better watch your CPU and Graphics temperatures.

Back to the difficulty factor... After playing City of Villains and going back to City of Heroes, it made me an even better Superhero. If you're a CoH veteran, looking for ways to improve, jump to City of Villains for awhile. If City of Villains is your starting place, City of Heroes will seem somewhat easy (with a little adjustment in play style, if any.)

Hands down, the most populated server is Freedom (with Virtue coming-in a close second.) Although its not official, I have speculated the Training Room Server is actually 'piggy-backed' upon the Virtue server. If this is in fact true, Freedom is clearly in the leading populace. In all reality, you either have a character on Freedom or you should.

I personally do not condone the PL process (aka. Power Leveling.) Its best to learn the game, learn the mechanics, and learn the people. Once you feel comfortable in these aspects, get your posterior to Peregrine Island.

Peregrine Island, by far the best way to PL, is accessible by ferry (via. Talos Island.) Get yourself some friends, hopefully well contected ones. Jump aboard a PL Team and jump thru a *farming mission portal. The best thing to remember... Don't complete the mission! Nothing gets you banned from PL Teams faster than completing a farm mission. Once aboard, enter the portal and just sit-back (watch the levels fly!) As you level significantly, the time it takes to attain new levels increase. The quickest span is lvl 1-35ish in about 5-10 minutes. After that it may go slower, or you may even be asked to participate.

The new craze is Architect Entertainment missions. AE is accessible in any zone within Paragon City. Leveling is attained in the same manor, but is significantly slower. Its gain in popularity is primairly caused by its ease of access. Many players attain several maximum level characters a week this way. Yet, they know nothing of the game, its various locations, or what its even about. Most players addicted to AE know nothing beyond those double doors...

*Farming Mission: A mission set to is highet level of difficulty, usually a 'Defeat All.' The key to these is the mass number of baddies. Just remember not to kill everyone, or the mission will be spent (thus, no longer being a farm mission.) 'Farm' represents the harvesting of xp and the replenishment of the mission by leaving prematurely and resetting it.

This is the easiest question, by far. But you'll probably not like the answer. The strongest archetype in City of Heroes is... drumroll please?

Whatever you feel most comfortable playing!!!

I know, thats a pretty cheesy answer. Not to mention the lengthy protests which will soon follow. City of Heroes is sooo balanced and player oriented, any archetype can outperform another. It all relies upon the players gaming style, knowledge, and feel (or liking) for the character they play.