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
Faultline's issue seems far less to do with it being tough for SSers to get around in (cry me a river!) as it does there's just.. nothing to do there. Its trial never materialised, there are no contacts, and the only missions you get for it are for random street sweeps that you can complete a whole 30 seconds from the zone entrance. I remember this place being packed at launch; no one did missions, they just swept PP til 14, then move to Faultline.
If players are never directed towards these zones, a lot of them won't bother exploring; they'll just follow missions, or their team's missions, around to zones with other stuff.
Think about finally introducing Faultline's trial, complete with the special enhancements you were supposed to be able to receive (effects two variables, like Damage + Accuracy, and is usable +/- 5 levels). You could even connect Hollows and Faultine via tunnels, have the tunnels empty out into the sunken area in Faultline. No more complaints about getting "trapped" at least.
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The Shard doesnt need to be more accessible... it needs to have something in it... I like that it's hard to get there... and eventually it will make vehicules a necessity.
-There should be a random Monster spawn... like the octopus but Rularuu like...
-The long TFs are fine... but another shorter one (other then Saga of Faathim... which is nice) would help
-Stuff to discover... like a field of Kora fruits in the way off regions...
-The Paladin quest is nice...
-Give story arcs to the contacts...
-badges...
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Agreed but there is a badge in there!! overseeer! 
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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.
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Not portals... instanced outdoor missions. Create a single zone that's an airport -- Family trying to control the baggage handlers, Freakshow trying to dismantle aircraft in the hangars, CoT kidnapping travellers for arcane rituals, etc. Place a Hero Corps contact in the zone, somewhere in the main terminal, who will hand out missions to anyone who comes to him with a group of four or more. These missions, built from a set of templates, represent Hero Corps sending you on an international mission, so you could have -- with enough graphics work to create different environments, you could get sent almost anywhere in the world (and it makes a relatively easy point to tack in new content).
"But in our enthusiasm, we could not resist a radical overhaul of the system, in which all of its major weaknesses have been exposed, analyzed, and replaced with new weaknesses."
-- Bruce Leverett, Register Allocation in Optimizing Compilers
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Couple of things...
We're fixing the DE spawns in Eden so no more 41's with 30's.
And we're making a few changes to make Shadow Shard and Crash Site more accessible. For instance - putting a teleporter in Peregrine Island so that player 40's can get to and from easily.
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Was this supposed to be something new or just the standard portal inside portal corp to reach FBZ?
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Couple of things...
We're fixing the DE spawns in Eden so no more 41's with 30's.
And we're making a few changes to make Shadow Shard and Crash Site more accessible. For instance - putting a teleporter in Peregrine Island so that player 40's can get to and from easily.
[/ QUOTE ] Was this supposed to be something new or just the standard portal inside portal corp to reach FBZ?
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One assumes that this meant more Mole Points in the Shard, and some kind of teleport gate system similar to them in Peregrine to access the RCS.
Presumably it'll still get implemented someday.
@Mindshadow
what ever came of this?
Begone, vile necromancer!!
Do not mock my apprentice!
SLAY the necromancers 
Now we aren't ready quite yet to let the catgirls out of the bag.... (quote from ex libris)
Do not force me to use my awesome powers on you
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The Hollows ought to get a MASH unit in the fortified area where the cops are.
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And please, please, please put a train station in Founders.
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Though necro-posting is a bit of a "no-no", I think it's kind of interesting to see how suggestions from long ago ended up coming true. 
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The Hollows ought to get a MASH unit in the fortified area where the cops are.
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And please, please, please put a train station in Founders.
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Though necro-posting is a bit of a "no-no", I think it's kind of interesting to see how suggestions from long ago ended up coming true.
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One: Why is it a "no-no"??
Two: Shame on me. I started to read the thread from page one. Saw TomTrumpski and thought "Wow, Tom is back??" Then I saw the date!! 
"every defender needs to fight. I don't care if you have to use BRAWL!"
When I read the OP and following comments I was momentarily confused... until I saw the date. This thread teaches us that any good suggestion could be made game-fact in about 2 to 3 years.
who would have thought someone would learn something because of me?
AHHH KILL THE UNDEAD THREAD!
This is actually a rare necro-post that's interesting. The original post was made in January 2005, shortly after Issue 3 launched.
Let's look at the zones Shubbie mentions and compare to where we are now, three and a half years later.
Rikti Crash Site: this was revamped into the Rikti War Zone in Issue 10. The Vanguard portals made the zone much easier to access, it got all-new contacts and story arcs, a ship raid and was opened up to co-op play for both heroes and villains. The physical zone also underwent some reworking, although the overall feel remains the same.
Firebase Zulu: Portals and store contacts for selling were added to the four Shadow Shard zones around Issue 5 (August 2005). More was promised but has yet to be delivered on. A quasi-addition to the zone is the massive Nemesis base added for a villainside story arc (but is only available there).
The Hollows: Well, they didn't shrink the zone by 100% as Shubbie might have liked. 
But we just got a complete revamp of the zone's spawns and mission doors in Issue 12. A trainer, hospital and contact with repeatable missions rounded out the improvements to this zone, although the core content/story arcs remain unchanged.
Peregrine Island: Issue 5 brought a (now removed) portal to the Rikti Crash Site. But apart from adding rotating spawns to the ships at the docks and a trainer, nothing else has really been done with this zone.
Faultline: This zone underwent a dramatic revision in Issue 8, with a large section of the map flooded, better access in the still-destroyed section and a newly revitalized area at the Skyway entrance. It lost its trial zone designation, got contacts and new missions, introduced Arachnos as CoH zone spawns and finally opened up the area behind the dam.
Talos Island: Shubbie liked Talos but complained about its interconnectedness. The addition of a Vault Reserve and Wentworths (near the tram, no less) has probably not done much to keep it from becoming what he called "Lagos Island". They haven't connected it to any more zones, though!
Overall, the developers have been pretty good at revisiting and revising zones. It's taken years in some cases but they still eventually got around to it.
The next question would be: What zones still need a re-do?
Well, the obvious answer (to me anyway) is Boomtown... it's a whole lot of nothing. But they still can do something with FBZ, Eden is still underused, it would really be nice to have some story contacts in Dark Astoria, and as people have pointed out before, IP is a massive wasteland of real estate not being put to very effective use, except as the playground of a giant octopus.
Would still like to see a couple more zones red side too, even if it's just some kind of access to a hero zone like Dark Astoria. Something, at least.
my lil RWZ Challenge vid
QR
One zone I am surprised no one has mentioned is the original level 5-15 hot spot. Before radios and before the Hollows there was one option. Perez Park.
I loved Perez Park. I know getting lost in the woods could be very annoying but the spawn sizes combined with a good team would guarantee a swift trip through the low levels into the teens. I remember street sweep teams that would form and first take out Hellions and Skulls on the outer rim then head in the Park itself for CoT Vahzilok and Clockwork. Eventually you would hit the Lost and Hydra. Perez Park was certainly risky but the reward was well worth it in my eyes. It will always have a special place in my memory.
I would love to see a Perez Park and Boomtown revamp. When I say revamp I do not mean a miraculous rebuilding and reforming of the zone but just some story arcs, a hospital and trainer. Stores wouldn't hurt either I like the way those zones look currently because it gives them flavor. Boomtown is a place I would envision for an epic hero vs villain fight. Someplace where no citizens can get hurt and you can use all you strongest most destructive abilities. Perez Park in one of a kind to me. No other zone is made the same way.
I hate the way they changed the Hollows in I12 (well just the spawn sizes/mob types really everything else was cool) and Faultline, though much more useful and less annoying, doesn't have the same dangerous, epic feel to it. I preferred it as a hazard zone in some ways than a messed up city zone. I hope they do not do the same thing to Perez or Boomtown.
I know a lot of people will bring up the maze aspect of Perez but if you REALLY think about it, you know deep down the Hollows has caused way more strife and suffering than Perez ever did. Bring back Perez Park!
I think the revamps were mainly focused on the most dead and notorious zones of all. Boomtown and Perez are ghost towns but at least not too hard to get around, while old Faultline was a living hell to get around, the Rikti Crash Site was near impossible to get to and the Hollows... well, we all know about that.
Personally I'd still like to see a bit more villainside content before they redo another zone. That or they redo low-level Hero content in general, it's seriously showing its age.
I think your reasoning is flawed. The RWZ is one of the biggest, newest and most popular areas of the game prior to I12 going live. The reason for the change isn't that the zone is a failure, it's that Cimerora is the new kid on the block and shares the same entry requirements of the RWZ by being for 35-50 players.
Faultline turned out to be unpopular for the reasons you mentioned because its in an obscure corner of the game world compared to other places. A lot of players don't even know Faultline exists despite it having some excellent story arcs and great scenery.
The Shadow Shard in general is also a hidden secret, many people don't know its there because the Rularuu are a bearly mentioned group and none of the missions really send you there. Yes, it's a zone with tons of potential but none of it realized but we knew that for ages.
Faultline is unpopular? 
I never fail to find a team there.
Prof, this is a necrothread, from back in '05.
You can't spell Slaughter without laughter
All your gonna do is just farm behemoths anyways.
My thoughts on November 30.
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Firebase Zulu: Portals and store contacts for selling were added to the four Shadow Shard zones around Issue 5 (August 2005). More was promised but has yet to be delivered on. A quasi-addition to the zone is the massive Nemesis base added for a villainside story arc (but is only available there).
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It appears in the RWZ arcs as well. (Dark Watcher IIRC)
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
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Prof, this is a necrothread, from back in '05.
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I know that, I just didn't get what he was saying.
Was Faultline in the original release or was it added later?
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Through another portal..... Ancient Egypt. All sand. The inhabitants are the laser gun toting Incas.
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In other news, Marvel's lawsuit against Cryptic was joined by UPN, claiming infringment of their popular 'Stargate SG-1' franchise.
Great idea.
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(That's just sarcasm... it's not happening)
But you got to admit that naming the first dude you see when walking into the Shard, "General Hammond" was kind of pushing the envolloppe