The Dead Zone and other unused or bad areas.
By
Acanous_Quietus,
Posted on: 2005-01-10 11:30 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
I mostly agree, but I think that the Hollows is fine. My evidence is that it's always full, so it must be working for someone.
The Shadow Shard (Fire Base Zulu and points beyond) is a little weird, but it's definately different and interesting. I lived out there from 45-50, but I had a flying blaster, so the Rularuu were decent solo opponents.
I would also add Boomtown to the list of fairly uninhabited zones. Not as bad as Faultline, but fairly empty.
Yeah, I dont get that, everyone I know hates the hollows, but it always has lof people.
Im guessing it has to do with debt hurting so little at that level and people who are on alts looking for something different. I still think it could be improved some.
As to boomtown I list that as on the bad side of adequate, it has its good points. Enough that there are more than a few people there at any time.
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.
Kings Row-the Hollows has basically out done this zone. I now as soon as I say it, someone will pop up & flame me I HUNT THERE ALL THE TIME, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT. But not many people are their any more at all. I love the zone & make sure all of my alts take missions there. My main was done with those levels before the hollows was born.
I love to hate the Hollows. I wouldn't change a thing there.
The Hollows is great. Big thumbs up.
Firebase Zulu is the most interesting, best looking, and most fun zone in the game! I love the gravity geisers! Love em! Don't change a thing. Add more contacts and more missions. Revamp the first Firebase Zulu TF to be more reasonable as far as time required to complete it, and number of people to start (more like 3-4).
I'd love to see zones with obstacles to overcome to reach farther in. Enemy bases, killable, Arch Villian class walls (like Eden), and even instanced zones between city zones. So, to get to a particular zone, you would have to fight through an instanced maze, tunnel system, enemy base, etc.! Fabulous!
So, in response, just because a zone is populated doesn't mean it's great, or even good. It just means it caters to the lowest common denominator of players. A game full of PI and Talos zones is not a good game.
Just my thoughts. Some of us like it tough. Some of us like to explore.
Hazard and trial zones are fine the way they are. They should be abandoned most of the time. Why do you think they are overrun with the criminal element? Teams go there when they have a reason to go there. If you don't understand this simple fact then you don't understand the game.
Oh the crash site has tons of crey, and there are nemesis in there. Also DE. Only one rikti boss type uses psy. Most scrappers and tanks and controllers loved the crash site since it was incredible xp.
Firebase Zulu is on Peregrine Island where most of the level 40 and up contacts are. Tons of Nemesis, Crey there. Most people who take the ten minutes to learn about the zone find it wonderfull for xp.
The zones are fine. They already have attractive qualites and easy disposable mobs to the solo archtypes.
People who say they hate the hollows cannot express why without sounding like a bunch of [censored] liars.
Most people don't even know there are shard tfs or the kora fruit missions. You cannot have people complain lack of people going to a hazrard or trial when most people are too chicken [censored] to go there and look around.
I think the Hollows is great, aside from being fresh from Atlas and getting a mission on the other side of the map in the middle of the foothills infested with purple CoT. But I seem to remember reading they were going to fix that.
I must be a glutton for punishment, because I really enjoy the Shard too. It's the prettiest zone in the game bar none, and I think getting around it is actually fun (you need a map of the gysers, of course).
A caveat: I would HATE taking my super speed blaster there. HATE HATE HATE it. My superleap scrapper gets around just fine though.
It would be nice if you could "lease" a jetpack that gave you hover capability from the general....
I haven't made it to the Rikti crash site yet, so no comment.
The only zone in the game I intensely dislike and avoid like the plague is Faultline.
It's great to look at but hell to adventure in, and chock full of the least appealing enemies available at that level (zombies AND clocks AND CoT? Guh!)
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
I actually spent most of level 49 in the Rikti Crash Site soloing after I3 went live. The changes to fire tanker status protection made it possible and exp was very good thanks to the bump given unpopular mobs.
The main reason people don't like the Crash Site isn't the psionic damage (though Chief Mesmerists can really dish it out now) so much as the fact that every Rikti spawn includes 2-3 controllers that are quite capable of locking down anyone who doesn't have some form of status protection.
"Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good and let me be judged accordingly. The rest is silence." -- Dinobot
I am pro Hollows too. I got my a.. handed to me in the lower levels of several of my toons. The Hollows forced me to change my play style for the better. It is a big map with a diverse poulation of baddies for all to enjoy. There is never a shortage of people looking to team up there. In low to mid teen levels it is the place to hunt and have fun. 
The reason the hollows is bad is simple. ITS HUGE.. its too big for characters that havent gotten movement powers yet, Im sure it will be fine once i get my kheldian in a few days. But for non kheldians the missions dont give enough exp to compensate for the time lost. Use a parser, spend an hour doing missions in hollows and doing missions in KR you will double the exp in Kr, its small compact and easy to get around.
Its a time sink based on slow movement.
I dont know why but I had trouble getting around with my Superjumper, I jumped off too many times it was annoying. I woudnt even touch the place with superspeed. Now something to consider.
If you are a real powerbuilder, alot of tanks are going to be respecing out of Superjump since they dont need acrobatics and into superspeed. This will empty this zone out even more.
Now I admit hollows does get people, but as for the others. Last night 3 pols taken on virtue. Sometimes there are a few people in Shadow shard, though I only polled firebase Zulu.
Ritki crash site 0, 0, and 1
Faultine 0,0,0
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.
They were very ambitious when building the Hollows for the Story they developed for it.
COnsidering its size and how much ground you have to cover doing the story missions, having Travel powers makes it much simpler, problem is by the time you get Travel powers at 14 it is almost too late to finish all the missions in the Zone.
There really are too many zones that suck. I think the way forward is to add more parallel dimension type zones. I think this way you could have so much variety and not just the same old things.
You could travel to The Frozen Wastelands for instance. It's all ice landscapes with some mountains, something that looks cool and different to what we are used to seeing. The people who live there are some kind of crazy eskimo types.
Through another portal..... Ancient Egypt. All sand. The inhabitants are the laser gun toting Incas.
Stuff like that.
I think thats the main problem with a lot of the zones is that they are just too similar to each other.
I think a solution to Rikti Crash Site and Peregrine Island (not enough and too much) would be to place another city zone (not hazard zone) inbetween the Crash Site and Indy Port (there's plenty of room).
Make it 35-44 or 40-50, and have it include Carnies and Malta (another place to hunt each). It would also include another entrance to the Crash Site (further north of the current one), which could have its own DMZ.
In addtion to this, put another Ferry in Indy Port near the entrance to this new city zone (which could be around the Tech store (across the water from Bricks), so that there would be another way to Peregrine Island that doesn't involve Talos (and it would be near this other high level zone... plus Bricks, if the new zone contains 35+ enemies).
Perhaps in the future... 
Dungeoncleaners! (ID#125715): Slay the Adventurers! Rescue the Monsters! Return the Treasure!
Peppermint Cat-- Lv50 Mewtant Ice/Eng Bls
Best solution Ive seen yet
we can only hope the devs read that.
This would solve ALOT of the problems.
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.
I agree to the idea of making a 35-45 normal city zone. I'm personally getting a little sick of Founders' Falls and Brickstown. As long as I can get to it with the green line tram.
I LOVE Firebase Zulu. I was out in the Chantry the other night (on the way to the Storm Palace..which I entered and turned and ran back!) and was the only one out there. That was kind of a bummer. But, I like the spawns there -- mostly minion groups, with a single boss and maybe lieutennant -- not 2 bosses a group like in the Ritki Crash Site. As a blaster, I just can't take damage from all those at the same time.
Again, though, I'm a flight person. I can put it on autorun/fly for the 4 mile hike through the Chantry. I'd never go there if I had a land-based movement, but then, I'm not likely to, even with an alt. The geysers are so very cool, but such a PITA.
I'd rather see some new door mission maps than new outdoor zones...I can't tell you how absolutely sick I am of the Crey tech maps. I don't think I've had a mission with a different map in two levels, except in FBZ.
- jen
Le Chat Noir, 44 Fire/Elec Blaster, Liberty
I don't like the Hollows because it isn't as solo-friendly as King's Row. I know some players solo it, and I've done soloing there and in Perez and Boomtown, depending on my build, but generally, it is tedious to solo. Of course, I'm not knocking the zone. Its presence keeps many people out of KR which makes it easier for me to solo un-interrupted.
I also don't like the Hollows because the story arcs, being newer, are harder, and filled with more named bosses, and stuff like that. I hear the story is good. I've even done most or all of the missions while in teams doing other people's missions. I never take missions there though because they are less likely to be soloable.
What I DO like about the Hollows is that I usually like to solo until about level 10 or so (when KR dries up). Steel Canyon is a tough nut to crack solo (since just before I2 came out, when they upped mob levels by 1-2, added LTs and Bosses, and increased pack sizes) until 12-14 depending on the character. So, the Hollows, being the hot spot for teaming these days, is a good place to jump in a team and play for 1-8 hours straight doing mindless killing. I'm not saying I don't use tactics. I'm saying its mindless because, since its not my mission, I have no personal interest in the outcome or time schedules of any particular mission I'm on. Therefore I can focus to the fullest while still feeling relaxed. While I still do Perez and Boomtown team hunts I have found that the Hollows is good for that too, especially getting me over the hump so I can cut it in Steel Canyon for soloing.
Another thing I like about the Hollows is that it is a pretty zone, it looks cool, and has its own style, despite borrowing from traits of other zones.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
Hollows - The only problem I really see with the Hollows is being level 8 and getting a mission in the hills with all the level 14 mobs. At that level, you have no travel powers nor stealth and can't avoid being pounded. My friends and I died several times getting to a mission and then just had to give up when we died within the mission since we didn't want to trek back.
Peregrine Island - The zone is crowded, but I think it's more problematic of just how the spawns are in the zone. Probably 75% of the main island is made up of Rikti and Nemesis spawns. Getting Carnies, Malta, and even Devouring Earth can be a pain in the [censored] in your lower 40s. They need vary the mob spawns better.
I also don't understand why they don't understand why they don't use the rooftops more. Why not stick some Malta up on the roofs to create more spawn points?
Shadow Shard - Shadow Shard is probably one of the biggest areas I read complaints about, and it's sad to see such a creative area going to waste, especially since it makes up four hazard zones. The biggest complaint is probably how difficult it is to get around. My biggest complaint, however, is that there is no real story to the zone unless you do one of the task forces. Of course, the task forces require 8 people, and since it's difficult to find anyone in the zone, it's hard to get one going. Personally, I wish they'd turn two of the task forces into story arcs instead.
I'd have to agree with all of your zone ratings.
Rikti Crash Site and Shadow Shard, in addition to their other problems, give my computer a heart attack. I'm fine everywhere else but these zones drop me to 3 fps when I'm the only one there. Yuck! Probably has to do with too many mobs spawning on the map and nobody doing anything about them.
Faultline is just so much of a pain in the butt for travel, it should be made a 30s or 40s zone and filled with high level Council/Malta/Nem.
Eden is another wasteland. Its a neat-looking zone. However, I almost never see anyone in there.
There are countless groups of 34-35 devouring earth minions and leutenants, a boss or two, and on top of it all a level 41 in their midst. They also spawn in extremely dense concentrations, its often hard to determine how many villains are in a group. It looks like someone with crazy with a map editor when they populated the zone with villains.
Faultline is a cool zone just to explore, beyond that there isn't much in there and its hard to get around. I hope they finally do something with the dam at the other end.
The Hollows is a great zone. I like that its a large zone, although I realize that we've been spoiled by our travel powers. I like the scenery change from one end of the zone to the other. There are always a good number of heroes in there regardless. It is a bit tough compared to King's Row. Especially for players new to the game to be sent there after the relative security of Atlas Park and Galaxy City.
[ QUOTE ]
I think a solution to Rikti Crash Site and Peregrine Island (not enough and too much) would be to place another city zone (not hazard zone) inbetween the Crash Site and Indy Port (there's plenty of room).
Make it 35-44 or 40-50, and have it include Carnies and Malta (another place to hunt each). It would also include another entrance to the Crash Site (further north of the current one), which could have its own DMZ.
In addtion to this, put another Ferry in Indy Port near the entrance to this new city zone (which could be around the Tech store (across the water from Bricks), so that there would be another way to Peregrine Island that doesn't involve Talos (and it would be near this other high level zone... plus Bricks, if the new zone contains 35+ enemies).
Perhaps in the future...
[/ QUOTE ]
Awesome idea!
I think the main reason there are so many players in the Hollows is the fact that you get Wincott as your second/third contact, and most new players don't realize they can refuse to take his missions and get back out into the city. When I told a new player that, they were really surprised. Most players seem to just go from First Contact --> Wincott --> Flux --> Julius --> that magician guy, all without knowing they can skip it.
I don't like the Hollows because of its size. I don't die running from one end to the other, but then I have ten months of play under my belt. It's just tedious to make those long runs. I've soloed everything except the Cavern of Transcendance (which no one can solo) and haven't found any of them much more difficult than most other missions, but getting to them is a chore.
Shadow Shard and FBZ are hands-down the coolest areas, but no one ever visits. I helped a couple guys out with a mission there, and the three of us were the only ones there. The risk v. reward is pretty lame, as well, and those geysers are just dangerous. A couple of times I landed in the middle of big groups of mobs. Fortunately I was just messing around since I had fly, but having to depend on the geysers would bite. Not going back voluntarily, that's for sure. (I asked the mission-owner who the contact was so I can avoid him in future. General Hammond. Funny, if you're an SG-1 fan, but I'm not going anywhere near him.)
Rikti Crash Site is incredibly dangerous and is just too far away from anything. I soloed some 100 or so villains in there because I had to, but I'm never going back. Too. Far. Away.
To paraphrase the old movie title Mars Needs Women, I just want to say, "Faultline Needs Ramps!" The minute I ever get a mission there with a non-flyer is the minute that toon gets deleted.
Eden, same deal as RCS. Dangerous and distant.
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Actually, on Triumph, there's going to be a "hunt the Crash Site" adventure this Friday night where players are going to walk to the saucer.
And the week after that, we're talking about a major hunting foray into the Shard.
I think Valkarye is going to be organizing them.
Personally, I hunt the Crash Site a lot, but then, I always loved hunting in Eden and Crey's, too.
Mr. Lithuania
Jessica to Nathan in bed: "I'm not really bad, Isaac just drew me that way."
If it weren't for the fact that travel in the shard is a royal PITA, I would spend a good amount of time there. As it is, I loathe trying to get around in that zone unless I team with someone with recall friend or group fly. I haven't even made it to the chantry yet, but I am curious to see it. I have spent way too much time being really ticked off trying to navigate the place to ever bother again with it solo.
The crash site isn't that bad. Quite dangerous certainly, but I think it's a pretty cool location. A bit remote is a true description, but sometimes it is nice to get away from the PL MEEEE!!11!, of PI.
I still think it would be neat to have a TF there which involved breaking into the Rikti ship.
Too many alts to list.
Ritki crash site, went there for a mission last night.. killed 50 ritki left.. noticed it was very quiet since we were spawning the ritki looked at team searh and zone was empty.. completly not one person checked a few times over the course of a few hours.. not a person there..my conclusion zones no one uses do not help the game. I went to peregrine and it was kill steal central there..
Cryptic lets take a look at some of these really bad zones shall we and some good ones too.
Bad zones in order
Ritki Crash site
Problem Its too far from anywhere.. no one wants to spend 15 minutes running form where they are to go hunt. Also its almost completly Ritiki, which shoot physcic which punches through most scrapper and tanker defenses and they stun excesivly.
To Fix, give this zone better access and add in a full variety of mobs to it. Nem, Carnie, Matla, council,
Fire Base Zulu
The same problems as above, its too far from anywhere. The mobs arent very good, this zone does seem to get a few more people than Ritki crash site. Also it is just a pain to move in. Im not sure what could fix this zone other than a complete overhaul.
Hollows
Too BIG, this zone is just too big for the levels its designed for, its easier to put up with the overcrowding in KR than it is to adventure here. IN its defense this zone does get a share of players. It doesnt come close to KR, but it gets enough people.
Pergrine Island
This zone is TOOO CROWDED, way too crowded, its too crowded cause the other zones for this level are bad number 1 and 2. Also they send you here for alot of kill missions that only spawn in a very limited area and basis and it cause alot of competition and kill stealing. Try doing a defeat 50 carnie mission they spawn and 20 players all jump on them trying to get the credit. Okie maybe its not that bad, but it feels like it at time. This zone could easily be fixed by adding more variety to the other 40+ zones and opening the defeat missions so they dont require pergrine. This would solve most if not all of this zones problems.
Faultline
This is one of the few old zones I have here, this zone is AWFUL. Its almost as hard to move around in as Firebase. The mobs for the most part arent good hunting mobs. And there are areas you can fall into that you cant get out of with superspeed. Instant Gm petition.
Talos Island
This is actually a good zone gone bad, good enemies, good placement, good missions and task force. The problem is recent , for some reason the devs decided every zone should link through Talos. FF, Striga, Peregrine, skyway. and the tram , this zone is access central. Ive come to start calling it Lagos island. You get map disconects every 30 seconds during prime time.
Spread out the love devs, or add train access to those zones.
Good Zones
Striga Island... Oh my this is an awesome zone, make more like this and overcrowding will go away. Good missions, good enemies, good placement and variety of bad guys, and the right size for the level. The only problem with this one is it links through Talos and so does every other zone.
Most zones in the game in fact every other, falls somewhere in the middle , mainly adequate for the job they do. They get the proper amount of players for the levels they are. Some are on the good side of adequate, Brickstown, Steal canyon, DA. Some are on the bad side Boomtown, Terra volta.
It all comes down to Risk vs reward vs annoyance. Its usally risk vs reward but if its too annoying people will move to a less annoying place. Right now The bad zones are very very underused, and a zone with no people isnt very helpfull is it? Now if your entire playerbase is telling you they dont want to go to these zones isnt it time for them to change.
Thank you.
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.