Faultline & Boomtown = Ghostown
By
9783_Dollar_Man,
Posted on: 2004-11-15 08:36 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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And we like the lack of loot, generally.
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I love you folks! I really do! Please, please, please keep us loot free!!!
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Costume options and temporary powers are "loot" too. Special titles, decorations for bases etc.
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The office buildings crack me up too. Paragon City University offers advanced degrees in anti-ergonomics.
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The candy machine companies must lose money by the bucketful since you apparently have to have been raised by circus monkeys if you want to leave your office to buy a Snickers.
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Lol, every time I get an office mission, I ask myself the same sorts of questions at least once:
"Why the HELL would they have a staircase leading to a series of blank halls that leads to a single windowless office? And why, in order to access said staircase, do you have to climb a different set of stairs and then jump over a railing?"
I'd hate to work in Paragon City. 
On-topic, I think Balanced has the right idea for a dynamic environment. There's an single- and multi-player RPG called Sacred that does this, on a small scale: when you complete enough quests (toning down hostility in the region), groups of monsters spawn less, the people react more favorably to you, and the merchants' stock improves. It makes you feel like you're actually accomplishing something.
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There is already a bonus for doing missions, why not have a small XP bonus for hunting in Hazard zones? Hazard pay doesn't seem unreasonable. Just make it so people have to decide if the extra time and risk it takes to go to these places and hunt is worth the small xp bonus.
Maybe zone specific monsters like the Hydra in Perez?
Or, what if a security guard near the gate can turn a team into a 'patrol'. The team is locked togeather like a Task Force, only you don't get a long series of door missions. Maybe he just gives your patrol direction, or like a "Defeat 100 Clockwork" or "Defeat 25 Clockwork Bosses" that must be completed while in that zone, with a bonus for completion. Task Forces are far to long for the casual gamer, maybe something like a mini-task force, or patrol, would be better utilized?
I don't see how this could be exploited any more or faster than people doing missions who just skip the mission and search for hostages/flashy/boss. I've been on teams who scream through missions and just reap the XP bonus at the end. I guess there isn't an infinate supply of easy XP missions, but at least with this 'patrol' you would still have to do some work for your XP.
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I dig this idea a lot, I think this could work really well and encourage grouping in Hazzard/Trial Zones.
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Thanks. Someone actually liked one of my ideas. A strange day indeed.
In response to the guy who said, 'No one would go hunt Vahz in Faultline when you can go to Boom and hunt 5th" I say that people can already make that choice not to hunt Vahz. At least this way if you did decide to go to Faultline (usually because its more suitable for your level) you wouldn't then choose to skip Vahz in favor of, say, Clockwork. This is because the Security Guard would tell you which gang to hunt. The incentive would come in the form of a more structured 'street hunting' team who receives a bonus for teaming up in a Hazard/Trial zone for a certian amount of 'Defeats'.
It would encourage more teaming, and it would encourge people to visit these zones. It would also maybe give casual gamers something else to do for an hour or two. It would be a quick pick up team with a set goal that doesn't require a ton of traveling and finding teams for such patrols would seem easy because everyone who wants to join can just go to these zones, like people do for Task Forces.
Boomtown is awesome. If you want fast xp fighting outside go there.
Yeah they looked cool, but they were horribly repetitive. Personally, I'm a mission man. I was so happy the mission xp was improved. My lvl 20 blaster has not been to Perez, Boom, or Faultline except to run missions.
Probably why they're deserted now.
I can understand why Dark Astoria is so empty sometimes. Zombies. Those bastards are pretty good resistances. I know they are resistant to Smash, Psychic, Cold and Lethal. Perhaps more stuff but that's all I know.
Faultine is the suxs pre-travel and even punishes super speeders. Boomtown on the other hand is pretty good, met alot of people there. Fighting Lost and Clocks were pretty fun and now that it has Babbage makes it even better.
I havn't experienced the +10 side of the Hallows but I also consider that place a debt-zone without a proper Empath/FF defender/controller on your side.
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I havn't experienced the +10 side of the Hallows but I also consider that place a debt-zone without a proper Empath/FF defender/controller on your side.
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It's a bit better since they nerfed a lot of the mobs there, but it can still be a pretty dangerous place since most don't have travel powers yet. I remember one night my whole group died a couple of time traveling to a mission WAY across the zone. Finally, I had to log out, get my Emp defender TP everyone to the mission, rez them, and then log back in my lower-level character and travel to them by myself. It was definitely a pain.
Even the higher level stuff can be a bit of a challange...can you say Igneous? Super-speeding rock men that attack you in packs and hit like Gardvords. All in all I think it's a cool zone though. The zone-wide story arc (of sorts) is very cool.
Dwimble
Try getting kill 45 Crey in Rikti Crash site and there you not only have move problemss but you have large groups of Rikti 2-3 lvl above me tp'ing right on top of you in an instant --SS is fun there you run around and set off all the tping rikti and see them appear before you(beware getting stunned or your DEAD DEAD DEAD and Crey are almost impossibe to find except the occasional sniper (and he usually finds you Lol)
SFC America Assault/Dev Blaster LVL 50
Cpt Patriot Inv/SS Tanker LVL 40+
Entropy MA/Inv Scrapper LVL 30+
Warbot En/En Blaster LVL 40 +
Closer to the ship there are big mobs of Crey on the rooftops, oftentimes it's three Paragon Protectors and a couple Tanks.
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In response to the guy who said, 'No one would go hunt Vahz in Faultline when you can go to Boom and hunt 5th" I say that people can already make that choice not to hunt Vahz. At least this way if you did decide to go to Faultline (usually because its more suitable for your level) you wouldn't then choose to skip Vahz in favor of, say, Clockwork. This is because the Security Guard would tell you which gang to hunt. The incentive would come in the form of a more structured 'street hunting' team who receives a bonus for teaming up in a Hazard/Trial zone for a certian amount of 'Defeats'.
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Right. I liked the idea, what I meant to add was a way to expand it. Put timers on mobs when they spawn. At a certain point, increase their exp and influence value for these style missions. So, generally, hunting mobs in boom will yield more than on the streets. Hunting mobs in faultline will yield more than hunting them in either, because its less traversed. Hunting unpopular factions in either zone will yield more than popular factions. I think that would encourage spreading out and going to new places, and fighting things which might ordinarily be more trouble than they are worth, compared to easier targets worth the same exp. I didnt mean to bash the idea, merely expand it.
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4) Missions to defeat 35 of a specific type of mob (like badges) i.e. defeat 25 Behemoths in Faultline. This prevents people from "jackleing" missions - that is sniping weak mobs at the edges of groups to complete missions without ever engaging the group.
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Change it to 'Take down Z xp worth of Y faction'.
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No while that would stop people from hunting greys, what my point was is to make them have to engage whole groups because the boss is the only mob they actually need and splitting a boss from a large group is pretty much not worth even trying. Except maybe Outcast bosses in SC and Prisoners in Brick both of whom almost never stand and fight, they run while the rest of their group fights. This still seems backward to me.
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You can't please everyone, so lets concentrate on me.
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Except maybe Outcast bosses in SC and Prisoners in Brick both of whom almost never stand and fight, they run while the rest of their group fights. This still seems backward to me.
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You think to much like a hero. Standard Villian boss thinking goes like this -- Can we beat them? No. Ok all you minions throw yourselves at them while I make a run for it.
JVB
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For all those who didn't like me suggesting zones that screw over fliers, leapers, and porters as badly as some zones do superspeeders ... and seemed to imply in their responses that my perrogative was one of self interest ... let me enlighten you:
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It didnt sound like self interest, it sounded like a disinterest in balance---SJ Has mobility resists, Flight has the best mobility and TP has speed (to a point, I think Hurdle plus SJ is faster), Superspeed has Hasten and in a game with a thousand MinMAX builds involving Hasten AND a limit on Power Pools it seems unwise to change that without a very good reason
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It is worthy of note that the player base's absenteeism in zones where movement is problematic says volumes about how the bulk of the populace feels. While I happen to disagree with that, as I, too, like different zone experiences, I cannot argue the power of numbers, here. What it seems people enjoy most are zones they can get around in without much impediment; that's what the numbers via whoall to see zone usage suggest.
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Personally, I believe the void is due to how hard it is to reach the zone, the amount of down time (not gaming and having fun) running to the Hospital Leveling and Selling---every good Boom or FaultLine group I've been in usually ended when everybody wanted to level or sell, or you are sitting on your hands for 10min trying not to leave out half your team...or the group disolves 
You still sound like you want all the advantages for SS and the other movement power to 'feel your pain' rather than talk about the Ghost town, IMHO
I think the MASH unit with Superhero Liason to level and contacts to sell would be UBER, and solve the problem to a underused, Incredible-Looking zone 
People sometimes tell me I'm both pessimistic and paranoid but I think that's just because all you optimists are out to get me.
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Personally I don't like "street sweeping" for exp. I can play EQ if I just want to kill the same mobs over and over without any story or logic. What is really needed is some interesting missions for groups in these zones. Sort of Mini-Task force kind of things. Like:
1) Escort a NPC across the zone or to a building with reward only if NPC makes it and your group defeats a minimum number of mobs on the way (to avoid exploiting) or possibly with ambushes along the way that can only be defeated by the group (no one else can effect them in any way and they ignore everyone outside the group and the NPC).
2) Phone missions that trigger ambushes which again must be defeated by members of the group only.
3) Badges for # of defeated in that zone that only include blue (white?) or better mobs. Personally I'l love to see some badges of this type with a lower count but challenging battles. A few hard fights are much more fun than farming a trillion grey monkeys.
4) Missions to defeat 35 of a specific type of mob (like badges) i.e. defeat 25 Behemoths in Faultline. This prevents people from "jackleing" missions - that is sniping weak mobs at the edges of groups to complete missions without ever engaging the group.
Or whatever, Devs have been consistently better at designing the game than me so far so they probably have better ideas.
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DAMN fine thinking, I hope the devs read your post! 
People sometimes tell me I'm both pessimistic and paranoid but I think that's just because all you optimists are out to get me.
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5) I have long been an advocate of reduced END cost for TP (and heck, clean up its usability, it's clunky) as well as speed cap increases AND ACC penalty removal on flight; travel powers should be a matter of taste/style ... but because of these kinds of issues, travel powers end up being number crunching decisions among the min/max crowd (and with good reason). ...
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This point I agree with. If the travel powers were equalized more it wouldn't be a min/max'ed City of Speeders.
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6) I personally think that high grav zones that spork flight/leaping ... and/or high magnetics zones that spork teleportation would be every bit as interesting as huge pits in the ground or high walls that spork superspeed. I find it humourous that people suggest said pits in the ground and said high walls add flavour ... but when suggestions are made to add similar flavour that spork other travel powers, they find the flavour distasteful. ....
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The thing is, you mentioned a handful of zones where SS is penalised. That is how Flight feels in EVERY OTHER ZONE. The zones that give SS/SJ problems are there to even out the problems when comparing Flight and SS/SJ, to give Flight an advantage in a handful of zones.
What you and some others were asking for is it to have the one limitation of SS removed, and as I said I would be all for it if other sets like Flight and TP had theirs removed. Until the devs are willing to do things like reduce TP's end cost and up flight's speed though, I have a feeling you are just going to have to live with the fact that SS has its limits just like all the others.
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It is worthy of note that the player base's absenteeism in zones where movement is problematic says volumes about how the bulk of the populace feels. While I happen to disagree with that, as I, too, like different zone experiences, I cannot argue the power of numbers, here. What it seems people enjoy most are zones they can get around in without much impediment; that's what the numbers via whoall to see zone usage suggest.
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Sounds like these zones need taxi service! Sadly, that won't happen when they are empty because it's no fun to taxi for no one. We have a catch 22 that can't resolve until someones favourite travel power gets nerfed!
I've tried to taxi faultline because I know *I* have wanted a taxi there more than once, but there was just no action.
1. Place a Freedom Corps hero trainer at the entrance of hazard zones. In other words, the guys who sell training enhancements and buy enhancements. They are inferior to seeking out a store, but better than destroying enhancements with the contstant need to confirm each and every one.
2. When a character is defeated, have them respawn at the entrance of the hazard zone as if they had used an awaken inspiration as an option.
3. Allow sidekicks to enter higher level hazard zones, change the system so that if out of range of your mentor you simply fail to get experience and influence instead of losing your temporary fighting level.
4. Add "free" contacts to the zones, for those who have exhausted their missions and have hit a dry patch.
5. Increase the grouping bonus inside hazard zones.
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Everything about it says Trial Zone... except for the fact that there is no Trial in it. Why the proposed Trial was removed and Faultline's TZ status was not changed, I do not know. I do know though, that Faultline would likely see a surge in population if a trial (any trial) was put in there.
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Besides, don't all the Hazard Zones have a monster in them? Perez has the Kraken, Boomtown has Babbage, Dark Astoria has Adamastor, etc. I don't think Faultline has such a critter.
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The thing is, you mentioned a handful of zones where SS is penalised. That is how Flight feels in EVERY OTHER ZONE. The zones that give SS/SJ problems are there to even out the problems when comparing Flight and SS/SJ, to give Flight an advantage in a handful of zones.
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I don't get this. I've had flight on two characters now and never felt the least bit limited, unless you're talking about speedwise, and then a couple of slots will fix that easily. No amount of slotting will make Faultline a happy place for speedsters.
Unless they slot Hurdle (or combat Jump), and I gotta think pretty much any SSer gets hurdle instead of Swift as their power. Yea, I know hurdle does so little it's tough to waste slots on, but I feel the same way about fly.
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I think the MASH unit with Superhero Liason to level and contacts to sell would be UBER, and solve the problem to a underused, Incredible-Looking zone
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Really this is a better idea than some weird XP system for making these zones more attractive. Put the unit's at the zone entrances, too.
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I can understand why Dark Astoria is so empty sometimes. Zombies. Those bastards are pretty good resistances. I know they are resistant to Smash, Psychic, Cold and Lethal. Perhaps more stuff but that's all I know.
Faultine is the suxs pre-travel and even punishes super speeders. Boomtown on the other hand is pretty good, met alot of people there. Fighting Lost and Clocks were pretty fun and now that it has Babbage makes it even better.
I havn't experienced the +10 side of the Hallows but I also consider that place a debt-zone without a proper Empath/FF defender/controller on your side.
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Actually, the Hollows is a treasure trove of xp. It's just a matter of getting used to the hazards and paying attention when you run around. First time I went there I died like a pig multiple times without ever getting to the mission.
But I learned, and my reward was some of the most challenging, enjoyable missions the game offers.
New thought for Faultline... what about making it a playground for highers? like 40s <currently we only really have PI and FF to play in> and it would be a great place for us bigger guys. Say level 35-45?
You could have a group come and kick all the mages and the
like out. Shrug... just a thought.
<Xamber/G33kGrrl on Protector>
Make Faultline and Boomtown accessible from Talos Island. Because TI is already the travel choke point, might as well capitalize on that.
--NT
They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.
But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!
If I became a red name, I would be all "and what would you mere mortals like to entertain me with today, mu hu ha ha ha!" ~Arcanaville
Yeah, it's a shame that they are under utiliazed.