I do agree with Outcasts having different powers. Before Issue 2 I kept wondering why the dozens of police officers wandering around couldn't arrest a few guys with baseball bats. Now some guys have extraordinary powers that are understandable. However, some of the Outcasts are broken, no matter how hard someone wants to justify them. I'm certain that's what is being addressed by the quote from Statesman that's been copied and pasted at least a dozen times now - those problem mobs are having their abilities adjusted to more closely match their level. The snippet from changes made on Test confirms that - only Lt and Boss Outcast are being altered. Nowhere did it say the Outcast were being dragged into a lab to get their mutations forcibly removed and were then going to be issued bats, pistols and duffel bags from Bad Guys 'R Us.
A couple nights ago, I ran around Steel Canyon with my 13 scrapper, another 13 scrapper and a 13 controller. We took on any group with no more than two Red-con enemies in it - except for Outcasts. Our group was able to take down 5th Column and Clockwork groups with no more than two Reds and in any combination of oranges/yellows/whites up to six enemies total, without getting killed (although there were some rough fights). Any Outcast group that had a combo of three shockers/lead shockers/bricks/lead bricks in any configuration - alone or with minions - would tear us up. Pat yourself on the back all day about how awesome your tactics are, but one group of enemies being far more powerful than others at the same level isn't 'balanced' or a 'refreshing challenge'. Given the option of having a few white/yellow/orange Outcasts kill us, versus beating the snot out of a few yellow/orange/red enemies from any other group, we did the smart thing and earned a ton of experience by hitting those other mobs and avoided the Outcast groups. Unfortunately, you can't choose who to fight if your mission is against the Outcast. Therefore, yes, they need to be adjusted so they provide the same difficulty as the other enemies their level.
As for the Hollows, it is broken. At least the missions are, as the original poster mentioned, because the maps are glitched. My first night in Hollows, Outcast Base #1 (people are calling it the Eel mission), the rest of my group fell through a wall into a blue pit. I finished the mission alone because my character was working under the Exemplar system and was higher than the enemies in the base. The next night on another character I encountered the patrol-in-a-wall phenomenon that I've since seen many more times since. It's happened in both of the Outcast Base missions (Eel and Bedrock) and in a base mission that preceeded Frostfire's, which I forget the name of. When the mission isn't mine, I can log out and bring in my tank to use Teleport Foe to fish the guys out of the stairs so we can complete the mission. Given how many people are suffering from this problem, characters with Teleport Foe could charge to solve the problem and make a fortune. (I wouldn't take advantage of someone else's misfortune, but I know how the online gaming community at large works and am surprised that I haven't seen anyone doing it yet.) I don't think having mobs stuck in a wall is intended as a game feature for making Teleport Foe a more useful power. However, I haven't heard any mention of the mission maps getting holes fixed.
