Sure! I'm bored...
Terra Volta: This mid-level zone-within-a-zone (IP) exists for only one reason: The Terra Volta respec trial. It's intentionally designed to be hazardous to get through, and it's a right-of passage for any super speedster (or worse, anyone with no travel power) to successfully make it from one end to the other.
Aside from the trial, it's a good place to farm Lost, Freakshow, and Sky Raider bosses.
My personal beef with the zone is that the power plant which power Paragon's war walls and the entire city is not only impossible to get to for a normal human, but is surrounded by the most dangerous foes at that point in the game... No one should be able to get there to man it! I mean, can you imagine THAT commute every day? "Drive off a bridge, avoid sky raider missiles, go two miles around the outside of the zone just to look for a parking space, hoof it to climb over the wall..." and here's hoping your car is still THERE when you leave at the end of the day!
Dark Astoria This zone, accessible only from Talos Island, is covered in perpetual fog, making it hard to see any further than a few feet ahead of you, and has a very NOT mild zombie infestation problem. There are npc ghosts who wander around, giving the place a nice, eerie touch.
Enemies include Banished Pantheon (and a BP Giant Monster called Adamastor), Circle of Thorns, and Tsoo.
Overall, it's an "interesting" zone to navigate. Even without the fog, a super speeder would have to go pretty far out of their way just to get to where they're going.
Brickstown: This zone is home to Zigarsky Penitentiary, aka The Zig. It takes up a full fourth of the zone, making a sizable obstacle (Gordon Stacy, one of the more prolific contacts in the game, is located directly opposite the train station on the other side of the zig... running to see him is always a pain). A new player will notice many prison escapees, and the reason they're all free is quite simple: The front gate is wide open!
This "green" zone also has other annoying features, not the least of which is that some missions appear UNDER the main map. Even expert players sometimes have trouble finding their way into the underground labyrinth.
Brickstown is accessible via Green Line, Independence Port, and has the only entrance to Crey's Folly. It is also home to Manticore's Task Force
Crey's Folly: Formally called New Venice, this once beautiful, though industrialized, area became a polluted wasteland during the Rikti invasion, due to an accident or two at Crey's chemical plants. Crey, Rikti, Freakshow, and Devouring Earth are highly present here, including a GM named Jurassik (fun fact, he uses a freakin CAR on the end of a TREE as a club. Try not to get hit!). The Nemesis also make their first zone appearance here.
In addition to the water-logged and half destroyed geometry, snipers are abundant in this zone, making navigating the zone "interesting". This zone is good for farming Ritki monkeys, who appear in abundance on the roofs of the first several buildings. Also, there's a great area in the back of the zone called "The Circus", home to the freakshow, with appropriately techno clown music as a motif.
New players may be confused by a CLOSED zone door at the end of the zone. This used to be the only way into the former "Rikti Crash Site" (short of a portal in Peregrine Island), but when the Vanguard took over the area and renamed it the "Ritki War Zone" on the advent of the second Ritki invasion, they closed the door. They did this because they didn't want the villains in their employ to have access to the rest of Paragon City... or the Rikti, for that matter.
Abandoned Sewer Network An exact replica of the existing Sewer system, only lower down, this is a trial zone accessible by heroes over level 39 via a door to your right when you first enter the sewers. To start the trial, there's a contact standing outside the Atlas Park sewer entrance, which for a while threw off veteran players because the contact used to be in Founder's Falls.
The ASN features loads and loads of Rikti, trying to siphon the power of the Hydra, a giant, sentient booger. It's difficult to get through, which makes it an annoying trial to accomplish.
Founder's Falls: Founder's Falls is home to a University/Midnighter Club, a Pocket D entrance, a Vanguard DPO, and is one of the exit options you're given when in Ouroboros, and of course a Green Line train, making FF a decent travel cross point (The Talos entrance is out of the way, making it virtually unused). It's also the only entrance into Eden. There's also an Icon tailor, and two TFs to be done: Numina and the higher level Kahn/5th Column TF. It's also a common spawning point for the Malta's Chronos Titan (as the mission that spawns its ambush is set in FF and takes extra effort by the player to make it spawn elsewhere). Enemies include some Council, but Crey, Rikti, Circle of Thorns and Devouring Earth are far more prolific.
Overall, the Devs have done their best to make this water-logged zone important to mid and high level players alike. It's an interesting zone, but largely ignored for actual gameplay purposes for one major reason: No enhancement stores! Depending on your origin, you have to do a special mission for one of five contacts, three of which are in Brickstown. Also, at that level range, there are far more interesting and lucrative options, such as Cimerora and the RWZ. Also, the contacts in the zone are few, and often send you out-of-zone to do their missions.
Eagle eyed players will also notice that the "Red River" from the Hollows also goes through here.
Eden Accessible only from Founder's Falls, this zone is over-run with trees, trees, and... Devouring Earth, who've made this area their home. All evidence that man was ever there is slowly being erased by nature gone wild. The huge mountain in the middle of this formally urban area is a clue that you're wandering into really warped territory. There's also Crey and Nemesis, but they're largely a secondary concern. This zone is notable for the "Eden Trial", with one of the more interesting maps in the game. Also, the last mission of the Numina Task Force sends you here, and forces you to run through a maze of trees to find the entrance... guarded by powerful D-E monsters.
Finally, this zone contains the ONLY entrance to "The Hive" (not to be confused with the small chunk of this zone also called The Hive...).
Cimerora Welcome to thousands of years ago! Literally. Acquired through less than honest means, the Midnighter Club has attuned a Crystal of Ice and Flame to send you back here to deal with a threat stemming from our own time. It should be noted that you can also get here via Ouroboros or the Crystal of Ice and Flame base detail by selecting Deadalus's arc, having the crystal teleport you to contact, and quiting the mission.
The zone is small, but highly, beautifully, detailed. The only thing to do here is some repeatable missions, a couple of faction-dependent arcs, and the ever awesome Imperious Task Force, which contains the bulk of the zone's story. You'll find many 35-50 level characters here, if they're not in AE.
Peregrine Island: The only "green" high level zone, this area is notable for not having a war wall, so if you swim/fly too far south, you're kicked to Talos island, so be careful! There's no real zone story, but is home to some of the most notable non-tf content in the game, pitting you against soul-sucking Carnies, evil counterparts of the Freedom Phalanx, and the Malta.
Relatively easy and safe to make your way around, still beware of snipers at night or large groups of foes. One odd feature is the legions of Devouring Earth around the portal corp building... who con at level 39, well below the level for the zone. Of course, a trip to the north will reveal islands full of DE GMs, if you and your team are looking for a challenge. This zone offers no TFs, but is the only entrance to the Shadow Shard.
It's also home to Ghost Falcon, a supposed "alternate reality" version of the hero Red Falcon, who, according to game lore, was killed by the Crey, who used his DNA to make Paragon Protectors. So don't begrudge him too much when he buys your SOs for about half of their actual worth at a normal store.
Rikti Crash Site: The former name of the now "Rikti War Zone", this place was almost never used. It was the area of the city where Statesman single-handily downed a Rikti Mothership... but seeing the damage he caused, he had to change his plan of attack and toss the ships into the ocean. He was then cited by an agent of the Environmental Protection Agency for polluting the water and causing an explosion.
Yes your honor, it's true. This man has no dick.
Sorry, I was kidding about that last part. This zone, as it was, no longer exists, so it's hardly worth the write-up.
Rikti War Zone: The former "Rikti Crash site" was revamped following the second invasion into a far more interesting and story-centric zone. The UN-backed "Vanguard" have taken command of the zone, setting up multiple bases to repel the Rikti threat. They've even made a deal with Lord Recluse to use some of his "Destined Ones" to repel the invasion, so expect to see some "friendly" faces. The Devouring Earth have set up a small encampment for themselves, and the Council have also made a cozy little base for themselves, giving the zone some life. Arachnos, Crey, and Malta are also around to give you no end of grief.
The zone is notable for multiple firefights between factions. You can't cross the zone without seeing some kind of action, making the zone truly feel alive. The downed Ritki mothership, once just a decoration, is now surrounded by a forcefield powered by multiple pylons placed throughout the zone. Several teams can work together to take out the pylons, then attack the ship directly.
Doing this will grant you a large number of "Vanguard Merits", which can be used to buy costume pieces, emotes, and temp powers. The zone is also home to some very tight story arcs and an epic TF... so epic that the badge you get for completing it is called "Saved The World!" if that means anything to you. The zone also provides a set of fresh "radio" missions which you can do over and over again, meaning you can stick around for a while if you wish and always have something to do.
The only "negative" is the recent inclusion of an AE building, which looks rather out of place... and you gotta wonder how/why the Rikti allowed it to go up. But ah well, it's currently the only avenue for AE cross-teaming, so it's not all bad.
The Hive There's only a few features of this mostly barren zone. First, hordes and hordes of DE GMs. There's also a Portal Corp building to the North West, which, if i remember correctly, was where Dr. Webb breached the dimensional barrier, thus making way for the Rikti invasion, the Praetorian war, and other messed up events. THANKS DOC.
Anyway, there's one more thing... can't rememebr what... it's probably not important... oh, right. If you defeat a random number of the GMs, the uber-monster Hamidon spawns in the middle of the zone! This over-sized, single cell monstrosity takes multiple teams using strategy and cohesion to defeat... because how dare he just stand there harmlessly!
Firebase Zulu
Cascade Archipelago
The Chantry
The Storm Palace
^Don't feel like doing these^
Bloody Bay
Siren's Call
Warburg
Recluse's Victory
^Tired, will do these later if no one else does^
What defeat badge for heroes comes after spider smasher but before longbow and takes 200 to complete?