Faultline & Boomtown = Ghostown
By
9783_Dollar_Man,
Posted on: 2004-11-15 08:36 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
The Hollows I think is a better version of faultline. Faultline should have been deleted long ago. I've been to that zone once or twice maybe and thats combing all my toons.
Boomtown should stay it's a nice little zone for those who get to Steel Canyon level.
I'd think that a few high level earth controlers could straighten those places out quickly.
They were a huge pain until i took Fly as a power.
Dark Astoria is rather empty too. That place just creeps me out.
Ah I remember my boomtown days. I loved that map! It's where I met a lot of my long time friends and SG members. The hunting there was always so good at that lvl. Faultline on the other hand was one of those places I always tried to avoid.
i think that the reason those areas are hero free is that the groups there are too big to solo and there are areas with equal experience that are easier to navigate. I love looking around Boomtown. Faultline is too annoying to travel around unless your too high a level to be there.
I like to pretend my character lives in Dark Astoria
Most of the Hazard Zones are empty (except Hallows and Perez) I know Faultline and Dark A. are empty alot. I went into the Crashsite and found no one there as well! I remember when Boomtown was the place to go.
I guess people are more into doing missions and getting badges than grinding. Pitty. You can always find a sweet spot where spawns happen and make quick level.
I think everyone should be in the Hazard Zones more regular. I mean, that where all the baddies take refuge, LETS GO ARREST THEM.
I speak for infinity on this matter
Boomtown is my favorite late teen hunting zone. I go there often at that lvl. Faultline I avoid like the plague. NO fun, pre travel power, to fall down those crevasses.
I also imagine that, with the massive proliferation of Super Speeders that many people just don't go there at all.
Yeah the fact that noone uses the hazard zones is a shame, most of them are visually very cool and the large groups of villians allow for some really exciting battles and uber xp. They were great fun when the game first came out, I could always find a group there. People would get together big groups of 8 and go hunting all the time. Nowadays I can't get a group outside my sg to save my life, for anything . It took me like 2 or three lvls to clear my tv hunt miss's, picking off 30 skyraiders, w/ my blaster that went down in 3 hits, one by one. I saw a few people there, but they all ignored my pleas and declined my invites, running off into the smog alone. How they were soloing it I don't know, I had nearly max debt. I really don't understand it at all- I do have a sneaking suspicion that it might have something to do with the confusing (well to me anyway) but widespread aversion to grouping. It must be, because although I can see travel difficulties disuading ppl from doing something like fault- why else would people stay away from dark astoria, or boom ?
Boom is still a great palce to hunt from level 12 to 16. I see people there all the time. Granted not in the numbers they use to be though.
Faultline is another case though. I have always disliked faultline. It's impossible to navigate unless you fly or have TP. SS and SJ can be very unfriendly in Faultline. Faultline also has my most hated mobs in it. COT and way too many Vahz. I go there when my contacts send me on the arrest X missions other than that I avoid it like the plague.
I think now that the Hollows has pretty much the same look and feel to Faultline that they should redo the zone as something else.
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Dark Astoria is rather empty too. That place just creeps me out.
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I don't know, I saw another player there. Once.
A search for other players in that area generally yields one other character, a high-level who's probably on their way to a door mission.
It's a shame, because that is an awesome-looking area. My first time walking into that place is a game highlight, right along with getting Hover for the first time and taking in the view from atop the Morway Theater sign.
Boomtown is a ton of fun. I always enjoy hunting or missions in that zone, even with my hero that uses SS to get around.
Dark Astoria: Even better! I love the spooky feel of that zone. Especially the Moth Cemetary section.
On the other hand, Faultline gives me a headache. Literally. Something about the uneven terrain makes me reach for aspirin after a little while. The zone is visually impressive, but unless a mission drags me there or I'm in a mood to go sight-seeing (via Flight, above the crevices), I generally avoid it.
I usually see a fair amount of heroes in each zone though.
I recently explored Faultline to get all the Explorer Badges and History plaques. I was greatly impressed. It's a very cool zone! But yes, I can see how people would want to avoid it. It's too bad, because the general layout is very cool.
I've always found Boomtown to be pretty boring. There's always 10-20 people there, however.
DA has a decent population as well. 10-20 people on Virtue.
Faultline is an awesome zone design wise. But I totally understand why people don't want to go there. It's just too easy to have someone fall down a pit and your group gets split and whiped. However, a good group there could clean up crazy style in the back in the 18-20 levels.
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Faultline is an awesome zone design wise. But I totally understand why people don't want to go there. It's just too easy to have someone fall down a pit and your group gets split and whiped. However, a good group there could clean up crazy style in the back in the 18-20 levels.
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True, but Boomtown has the same lvl spawns as Faultline, most likely yet another reason people avoid it. As far as people avoiding Dark Astoria, some people just can't handle a little adversity to their gaming. (DA sux, u kant see!!11)
Lets look at the mobs in faultline....
Vaz: Whee! Paks of heavy damage puke, multiple eidalons, and more slow darts than I can shake a stick at...
Clocks: End drain, energy damage, holds, flyers
CoT: Madness mages, oh the joy, other suicide mages. Spectral foes that phase and sly into places annoying to reach
Tanks tend to have protection vs lethal and smash, and are working on their energy, or perish the thought, one attack. Scrappers defenses are relatively low. Fair amount of status effects. And thats just from mobs.
Terrain layout sucks for superspeed. It isnt a pleasure with teleport eitgher, since it takes multiple ports to get out of a hole. 1 up, 1 diagnally down if landing spot looks good, otherwise 1 over then 1 down. Faultline isnt a fun zone to traverse for many, and the exp is the same as anywhere else per mob. Exp/time is less because the mobs are harder.
Boomtown always had a fair number in it. 5th column arent annoying w status effects. Lost minions are gun toting weenies. Hunt those for the win!
On to DA. I liked DA a lot as my fire tanker, this was post reduction of zombie fire weakness too. The fog does suck to TP in, and mobs have a habit of "spawning" on top of you w superspeed, but overall a decent zone.
TV - sky raiders. AKA chumps. They might be a tad more formidable with sky skiffs now, I havenmt hunted through this zone, but it was a gravy train of easy exp back in the day. Kind of annoying for superspeed, but worth running around.
And then you are in brickstown until 36, then you can go into the abandoned sewers.
Creys folley sucks. Big areas w nothing but swarms and monkies. Spawns with level 40 lt's in with 33 mobs, etc. mobs are poorly distributed in level ranges, packs of high level mobs mixed in with lower levels. Groups of 32 and 37 fighting side by side. This zone coudl be good if it wasnt buggy.
Eden: Same spawn problems as Crey's Folly, with packs have at least one +7 lt in them. Nothing like an uber cairn to make the game fun. Full of devouring earth, so multiple emanators per group, not to mention them spewing underlings, whcih take time and endurance to kill, and give nothing in return.
Abandoned sewers - Good zone imo.
Awarding a hazard zone exp bonus might help. Recognizing that some factions are simply harder than others and giving them an exp boost (similar to how prisoners exp was nerfed) might get people to fight different stuff.
Another factor is sidekicks. In my group of real life friends who play, our levels range from 41 to 25. We cant bring our friends into hazard zones, so dont hunt there.
Yeah, the hazard zone concept doesn't seem to be working as intended. Supposedly, soloers should be hunting small packs in city zones while groups should be raking in XP in hazard zones, but it's quite the opposite.
Both my AR/Dev (44) and Fire/Dev (42) blasters farmed minions in hazard zones like Boomtown or Terra Volta - mostly solo. Conversely, my defender gets annoyed when a group of 5 kill-steals the pack of 3 or 4 minions he had just Fulcrum shifted in Brickstown.
I think the problem is many people who play the game don't really want to deal with the challenges posed by hazard zones. They are difiicult to get to, inconvenient if you need to sell or go to the hospital, and hard to get around in unless you have certain travel powers (the ones the FOTM builds tell you are a waste to get). And there are easier ways to get XP.
50 Fire/Dev | 50 AR/Dev | 50 Ninjas/FF MM | 50 Bots/Dark | 50 Kin/Rad |
44 EM/Regen | 39 BS/Regen | 38 Kin/Elec | 27 Thugs/Pain
"Rare is the man so noble that he will always give thanks for that which is freely given." -Jock_Tamson
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Yeah, the hazard zone concept doesn't seem to be working as intended. Supposedly, soloers should be hunting small packs in city zones while groups should be raking in XP in hazard zones, but it's quite the opposite.
Both my AR/Dev (44) and Fire/Dev (42) blasters farmed minions in hazard zones like Boomtown or Terra Volta - mostly solo. Conversely, my defender gets annoyed when a group of 5 kill-steals the pack of 3 or 4 minions he had just Fulcrum shifted in Brickstown.
I think the problem is many people who play the game don't really want to deal with the challenges posed by hazard zones. They are difiicult to get to, inconvenient if you need to sell or go to the hospital, and hard to get around in unless you have certain travel powers (the ones the FOTM builds tell you are a waste to get). And there are easier ways to get XP.
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I think this sums it up perfectly, I think this should be a priority for the Devs to address this. As stated above I think an XP bonus would be a nice incentive to battle there, also I think more of the trials and TFs could focus there as well. As an example when you do Synapses TF instead of taking out the Clockwork in Steel Canyon perhaps you have to take out 35 Clocks in Faultline. Make the Hazzard and Trial Zones more integrated into the storylines.
Exactly, why should anyone spend time in the much more interesting yet difficult zone when they can stand in one friggin place in a safe city zone and get XP faster. 
I love when people complain about the game being boring. Go take a group of 4 or 5 into faultline and hunt down by the broken damn. the game gets really interesting, really quick.
i love going to these "crap zones". No competition for mobs, all the free time in the world to jump around and figure out where good spots are, or if I'm in the mood, start in one corner and pull a clean sweep across the zone.
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲
Yeah, I was just talking to a friend of mine about how there is more to see and more places to combat evil. I plan to make a concerted effort to make my presence felt in these areas, especially when I duo/trio with friends. I still hope they add some sort of interesting game element to promote hero activity there...seems kind of lame that those areas just sit there baron and desolate most times.
I think some of these zones are design for different travel powers...
I have to agree the faultline is design for flyers.... any other travel powers (including teleport) is VERY hard to get around..
I love boomtown.. I usually get a team around that level (12-16) and just hunt there... mobs spawn fast and less competition 
Dark Astoria.... I love it.. I wish I can go there with more people (defender/controller mainly) but I'm working on a scrapper
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Exactly, why should anyone spend time in the much more interesting yet difficult zone when they can stand in one friggin place in a safe city zone and get XP faster. I love when people complain about the game being boring. Go take a group of 4 or 5 into faultline and hunt down by the broken damn. the game gets really interesting, really quick.
i love going to these "crap zones". No competition for mobs, all the free time in the world to jump around and figure out where good spots are, or if I'm in the mood, start in one corner and pull a clean sweep across the zone.
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The only hazard zone where I've ever had to compete for mobs is in PP and even then it's usually just two groups competing.
My Fire Tanker sat on the lvl 18-19 Lost circuit from lvls 16 to 20 in one day at peak times. Never saw another player.
Since i've hit 22 i've really only hunted in hazard zones. 99.9% of the time I do it solo. I've been in TV for the past 4 levels and finding groups of captains is good xp. And I've also noticed that lag isn't as bad as the main zones. Sometimes it gets so bad around the train stations i can barely move. So Hazard zones have become my best friend. 
Hazard zones are challenging, particularly faultline. People generally gravitate towards the path of least resistence. Faultline is not the path of least resistence.
It's a shame really. I love both zones, even as a SS guy. Particularly as a SS guy actually. Faultline is hard to get around with SS, but that kind of makes it really really fun.
That said the grand graphical scale of the Dam in the back doesn't take on its full luster till seen from the air.
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I think the problem is many people who play the game don't really want to deal with the challenges posed by hazard zones. They are difiicult to get to, inconvenient if you need to sell or go to the hospital, and hard to get around in unless you have certain travel powers (the ones the FOTM builds tell you are a waste to get). And there are easier ways to get XP.
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It's kinda different strokes, too. I know some people find missions repetitive and boring, but I tend to be the opposite... I usually find hunting in hazard zones really boring compared to missions... especially in Boomtown or Fautline. There's an overall interesting look to both places, but they get repetitive really fast for me. I wouldn't go to Faultline, either, without flight.
My word, these places are perpetual ghost towns. Its a shame really because they are such nice changes layout wise and the scale is fabulous (especially Faultline). The wierd angles and vertical contrast is really cool, unless youre a Super Speedster of course.
I swore that Faultline was supposed to be a trial zone, the place is a wasteland the villains should all move there cause I dont see any heroes there (3 at the most usually).
I'm on Pinnacle so I cant speak for other servers, but I remember when Boomtown used to be fairly packed with players. I go there now and I see tumbleweeds and can hear a pin drop lol.
I would love to see more than arrest xxx in Boomtown/Faultline. Its not like the Hollows or Perez Park where the places are packed with Heroes at any given time.
What could make these places more desirable to combat in? Badges, trails, unique villains?