Faultline & Boomtown = Ghostown

Boomtown is a great spot now for AoE hunting. My friend's blaster and my controller loved it til we out grew it. The problem with Faultline is SS is horrid there, and even teleport a PITA.

THz

Keep in mind that fun can be considered a reward. Make a zone more enjoyable and interesting to encourage people to go there!

Similarly, lack of fun effectively reduces the reward of a zone. As has been noted, adding a hospital and store to hazard zones would go a long way.

Beyond that, missions and trials are keen.

[ QUOTE ]
It is great that the staff is looking for ways to get players to use the "ignored" zones.

One suggestion that might work:

Actually have the Faultline Trial running.
Faultline is a trial zone... yet there is no trial running in it.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not a Trial Zone. It's a Hazard Zone. Just meaning it's hazardous for someone to try and solo that zone if they're at even con due to the overwhelming size of groups.

way to overgeneralize, there...so my martial artist is supposed to magically teleport? Or sprout wings?

Maybe if they had, oh say temporary powers like jetpacks, for instance, it wouldn't be so much of an issue to have to traverse long distances in faultline and TV (of which there are no door missions in) for those of us who don't feel like being forced to commit (or can afford to) another power pool, or one which doesn't jibe with their character. Lots of missions in perez, boom, and hollows, even DA and Crey's Folly- consequently you have more traffic. If those missions weren't there, I'd wager you'd see just as steep of a decline in traffic as you do in, oh Eden, for example. How many people are farming the DE in Eden? Not many...

The biggest benefit to adding a specific contact at the entrance of each hazard zone would be teen-twenty level trial missions. I absolutely loved the hydra (for the skill required) and eden (for the map and huge fun smashin stuff! and hero NPCs helping out) trials. Why aren't there trials for Faultline and Boomtown and DA and CF, for example? There is a dearth of fun long term group stuff to do ( I hear the transcendence trial is boring...however) until you hit the really late levels, eginning with respec, and then again at the hydra. The TF is nice to do once, but since they are groups of missions, the trials offer specific obstacles and strategies to implement, making them more enjoyable. And faultline is a trial zone- they never implemented the trial.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Equal treatment of travel powers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got no problems with things being made easier for speeders. Ramps, run up walls, whatever.

IF Flight gets upped to the speed of Super Jump and TP gets a big End Cost Reduction. Equal Treatment baby.

[/ QUOTE ]
hmm

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Equal treatment of travel powers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got no problems with things being made easier for speeders. Ramps, run up walls, whatever.

IF Flight gets upped to the speed of Super Jump and TP gets a big End Cost Reduction. Equal Treatment baby.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, I guess the Flight, Leaping, and Teleportation pools will need powers that are the equivalent of Hasten then, don't want to treat anyone "unfairly". My main has SS and Flight and I never have any problems getting anywhere. TV and Shadow Shard are the only zones where Super Speed is really a problem. It's the last power that needs to be looked at or tweaked.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Equal treatment of travel powers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got no problems with things being made easier for speeders. Ramps, run up walls, whatever.

IF Flight gets upped to the speed of Super Jump and TP gets a big End Cost Reduction. Equal Treatment baby.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, I guess the Flight, Leaping, and Teleportation pools will need powers that are the equivalent of Hasten then, don't want to treat anyone "unfairly". My main has SS and Flight and I never have any problems getting anywhere. TV and Shadow Shard are the only zones where Super Speed is really a problem. It's the last power that needs to be looked at or tweaked.

[/ QUOTE ]what about more usefulpowers like glide inwhick it could have been the fourth power pool for sj

This may have been mentioned, but the biggest reason Faultline is ignored, IMHO, is because there are no door missions there. The Hollows is practically forced down our throats, while Faultline is left with nothing. Heck, even Boomtown has door missions in it, and quite frequently during the upper teens IIRC.

Now, there may be missions besides hunt x in FL, but I've never gotten one on the 6 or 7 alts I have taken to the 20s. Perhaps some story flavor like in the Hollows would help. Why are the CoT there in such force? Why do the Vahz hang around when there are no cemetaries or obvious sources of 'materials'. The CW are obviously there to scavenge, but why do they avoid the area near the dam?

Faultline needs some story lovin besides the 2 paragraph origin the security chief gives you. Perhaps you could rock the area with a second earthquake that cracks the damn. Thus requiring a group of heroes to defend the construction crews while they make repairs. A little work can go a long way toward fixing the problem.

[ QUOTE ]
Faultline needs some story lovin besides the 2 paragraph origin the security chief gives you. Perhaps you could rock the area with a second earthquake that cracks the damn. Thus requiring a group of heroes to defend the construction crews while they make repairs. A little work can go a long way toward fixing the problem.

[/ QUOTE ]
That would be awesome, like a low level Terra Volta trial with some type of big reward at the end. I know that would get me into FL.

I think all the Hazard and Trial zones are pretty much ghost towns. Few people go to these places just to look for teams and hunt around. They are usually hard to get around in, spawn larger groups with more bosses/lts, are far away from contacts and stores where you can sell enhancements and buy inspirations.

Most groups prefer the safety of the City where enemy groups can be taken down quickly. There isn't a need to take down nine enemies at once when you can just take down three groups of three, with less risk, in the same amount of time. All the while doing so while closer to contacts and stores.

There is no other real benefit from these zones. No extra special enhancements that you can only find in these places. No rare monsters, except Babbage which I have yet to see except in a Task Force. I mean, its like the developers were trying to make people not want to go to these areas.

I've been saying for a long time they should give these places some real incentive. These areas are the coolest in the game. Terra Volta, Dark Astoria, Faultline, these areas are awesome! They should be full of people, not ghost towns. But, maybe the developers felt like it makes more sense that the City is more populated and these high-danger areas have a feeling of desolation.

It just seems like a shame given how cool these areas are.

Humm Fault Line ...where is that ?

No really, I went there once with my main now lvl 38 , I have
2 alts both in the teens 14 and 18 respectively and I dont plan on going to FL with either even if it means skiping a contact/story line.

the reason? Its boring, no one is there , no story line, no door missions, and lots of bosses. this has all basicly been said the the other post here though.

My point..... Give me (US) a reason to go there

maybe if enough of us say that someone will listen

--------------------------------------------------------------------

My SG used to say " say when " Now its just whenever Rosie rushes they say " try to keep up there she goes" . (I love being a scraper)

[ QUOTE ]
Why do the Vahz hang around when there are no cemetaries or obvious sources of 'materials'.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd think an earthquake that big would leave a lot of "materials".

But I fully agree with your suggestions.

Me thinks the higher-lvl hazard zones have less problems as more ppl can solo them. My scrapper was able to solo from 22+ in DA and i saw many others do the same there. Missions stop being a a challenge in higher lvls for many builds so hazard-zone-soloing is a viable alternative.

But pre22.....well i dont think that there are many who prefer attacking 20 mobs instead of 3 solo.....maybe some areaBlasters but they are more the exception then. That leaves those zones for teams only.....lol i cant remember ever being part of a "Lets go to Faultline, kick some [censored] and fall in the canyon" - Team. If you build a team there are good chances that 1 or 2 teammembers are SS and you have the choice of doing a mish with them or break the team to go to fault with the non-SS.....easy decision imo.

Love the hollows btw - cool are, cool contacts, cool missions. When you do some missions there you get familiar with the are and while exploring you find some spots which you remember later for good hunting. But this is not the case for faultline.....noone motivates you to explore this area - mubbe there are some cool spots, but i save myself the time to find out with my SS-char.

Btw i like some of the ideas mentioned here - mobile army hospital and that.

My idea is a bit different:
Give temporary Powers as rewards in the hazard-zones.
Lets see.....you bring a contact into each zone. He could give ya missions like "Defeat X mobs Y". Then he gives you a temporary power which is good vs those mobs and only active in this zone.
Like a "Holy Sword" in Dark Astoria or the "Torch of Trollslaying" in Boomtown

This way ppl would be motivated to go to these Hazard-Zones for several reasons:

1) The fun.
Experiencing these temporary powers in missions was always great fun. Getting them for hunting in a dedicated area would be fun too.

2) The raised effectivness
If the temporary power is good then it will raise the effectiveness of a team bringing bigger XP. If a contact would let you even choose between 2 different powers (1 heal, 1 attack) then it would be even better.

Just an idea

Probably depends some on the archetype/powers as well. Most of my alts avoided Boomtown & Faultline except where required. My Fire/Fire tanker, on the other hand, enjoyed both in his duo with an Empathy/Psychic Blast defender. Doodlebug would provoke & roast (slow roasting with Fiery Aura or fast roasting with Burn later), while his Empathy partner kept him alive and protected from status effects. Ideal in zones with large groups of villains, and the Psychic Lance helped finish off bosses in Faultline. Hard to beat.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It is great that the staff is looking for ways to get players to use the "ignored" zones.

One suggestion that might work:

Actually have the Faultline Trial running.
Faultline is a trial zone... yet there is no trial running in it.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not a Trial Zone. It's a Hazard Zone. Just meaning it's hazardous for someone to try and solo that zone if they're at even con due to the overwhelming size of groups.

[/ QUOTE ]

WRONG! Faultline IS a Trial Zone. Just As TerraVolta has always been as well. The fact that there's atleast one Boss in every pack is your first clue, just like in Terra. ...There's just apparently no actual "Trial" in the zone. Perez, Boomtown, Dark Astoria, and Crey's Folly for some reason are all just Hazard zones though.

Yeah it doesn't make sense right now but it will once more Content is built into the game.

[ QUOTE ]
Just for the record, making risk=reward is definitely one of our goals - we're trying to add spice and reward to bring people to the harder/underutilized zones.

[/ QUOTE ]

Putting a couple more monsters who give badges in those zones might help.

[ QUOTE ]
many players tend to go and do whatever the easiest source of XP is and ignore most everything else.

[/ QUOTE ]

I truly think that hits it on the head. I think the travel problem really has little to do with it. People don't hunt in the hazard zones because of the risk. The reward is there for the taking, but most aren't willing to risk it.

From Boomtown to the Shadowshard, if you know what your doing and where you are, you'll be fine. Most just aren't willing to learn the best ways to get around, or what they can take and what they cannot. The zones don't need be adjusted for travel. They can be navigated with any travel power, and for the Shadow Shard, you don't need a travel power.

The only reason that Faultline is barren is like someone else said, its horrible to navigate. Its easy to get lost in, there is no room to avoid enemies in the canyons and when you go in by any depth you simply cannot get out without flight or fighting your way back. The enemies also spawn so close together in the canyons that any form of retreat usually leads you into another group.

i too have found PP to be sliding away from the busy hub it once was, and i'm on pinnical. i truely feel that is for two major reasons.
one is the forest, lets face facts. hunt teams do the street and the hydra but stay clear of the forest, even at high lvls when a mission calls for going into the messy maze i dread it.
the second is because of the hallows. the mob lvls ther are just as broad (and they seem to respawn faster) but you can enter sooner, and it has the trail.
as far as boom and faultline go i agree that niether see heavy trafic but i too love boom and despise faultline and i have sj. they both feel "out of the way" at the lvls they become active and seem to be at that rough time in a char's life when they are trying to pick up the travel powers and get fitness in hand, and by default are not comeing from the strongest stand point in a chars career. i think it would totally help if there were hospitals in those zones. Dark Astoria, Rikti crash Site do, and Crey's folly has one just out of the zone but Terra does not and i only go there for the same reasons i went to the booms and fault. and thats for the missions.

Never got lost in Faultline and it is easy to avoid the mobs.

Just don't fall in the pit. SS users know superspeed stands for stupid spazzer. They often fall into the hydra during the sewer trial and hate mazzes since they don't look around where they are going.

Hasten isn't all that. Most people get along without it and I have seen far more blasters and scrappers kill far faster then hasten using blasters and scrappers.

[ QUOTE ]
4) Equal treatment of travel powers. Either make these zones friendly to all movement types or make equivalent high gravity or high magnetics zones that make getting around with flight, leaping, or teleport just as much of a pain/timesink as these zones are to runners. The former seems to be the best approach...

<SNIP LONG RANT ON HOW RUNNING SUCKS>


[/ QUOTE ]

Running has stealth, costs almost no endurance, and is YOUR CHOICE.

For crying out loud, why does everything in MMORPGs have an assumed need for some kind of zen balance with power harmony in the natural order of blah blah blah.

TP has it's up and downs, so does jumping, so does flight. And, yup, running, too. 8 zones bad on speed? Practice more. Learn the ramps. Learn the shortcuts.

This is coming from a player with SS on almost every character. If you can't learn to play with SS, don't choose it.

"But my character concept... whine whine whine..."

If your character concept is SS, then your character concept is gonna have to learn when to jump, how to manuever, or where to buy its cheese.

Faultline and Boomtown aren't ghostowns because incompetent speeders don't like it.

BTW- All the other ideas in that post (hospitals, black market, trials, etc) were really fantastic ideas.

Can we lay off the Power Word: BALANCE arguments for a bit?

[ QUOTE ]
For one, everyone takes SS now because everyone takes hasten, and noone wants to deal with the annoyance of the varied elevations. Two, Faultline has tons of vahz and CoTs, lots of mezzers.. hellions and trolls are easier to defeat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally agree.

If Fly was faster and without acc penalty (a pain to constantly switch hover and fly), maybe ppl will tale Fly rather than SS. And if every AT can have a CC protection in one all of their sets, they will go fight groups of mezzers. Eden is a vey nice place but I will not go there until forced with my blaster (or my healer who can't even use Clear mind on himself) since there are tons of Devouring Earth there.

First toon you make, you choose RP powers and visit every map carefully. For others toons, you take the usual Hasten - SS and Stamina ways and so, avoid places like Faultline. And, if you're not a scrapper, avoid also places which contains mezzers.

I have lots of pleasure with my new scrapper that have SS, Quick recovery and Integration but it's due to chain mez and slow powers.

One big thing each of the zones (hazard/trial) needs is the one thing that Hallow's has, that makes it differant. It's own personal story.

What makes Hallow's so used is: early on, you get a mission to go see a contact in that area, and once you do, he becomes a contact. From there you end up in a nice little story leading up to the cavern of transcendence trial.

Now the other areas don't necesarily need the trial at the end (although it would rock), but contacts inside the zones that only give you missions dealling directly with the zone would be darn cool. Maybe even slap an AV fight or two into the trail zones.. I think it would up the populace in places like boom, fault, and DA if they had more of a purpose then just being really kick butt tile sets (BTW, MAJOR kudos to all the artists, graphic designers, and devs who worked on these zone, as each of them create environments that really make you feel the sheer size/power/depth of the area and it's destruction.)

So, moral of the post is: Add 3 or 4 contacts with a few missions each to all of these zones, and let people run through the history/current situation of each of the zones. Would be cool.

(BTW..would also like to see some alternate Portal zones where you go to these zones when they are NOT destroyed...perhaps even to stop them from being destroyed....would be a nice little additive (not sure if this is in near the end or not, but have never seen nor heard anything about missions like this))

I think Faultline should be made to be a higher lvl trial zone, higher lvls are looking for a zone, other than the Shadow Shard, to hunt in without the lag from lower lvls being PLed (ex. Peregrine Island). Its a great map structure and I wish it would be a bigger part of the game.

I imagine all of these things are in the works....my main beef with these zones is that Boomtown and Faultline are too damn similar. If Faultline has some Vahz and some CoT, why not have a big tower with green smoke going alllll the way to the sky on one side, and a slaughterhouse/factory that Dr. Vahz uses to pump out chumps to fight? Give Faultline some LIFE!!! That and maybe considering having SOME of Boomtown get fixed up, maybe with a military presence.....so it looks like the heroes are making progress?