Travelling The Hollows (and elsewhere) safely
By
Angry_Citizen,
Posted on: 2006-07-30 10:31 in Player Guides
Good guide! This should help anyone who has trouble. And welcome to the forums 
Doom.
Yep.
This is really doom.
Good guide, but honestly, we shouldnt have to go through this. Starting the hollows at level 5 and contacts making us go past level 15s is a No No. Let alone walking over 1 mile.
A better guide would be:
Once your told to talk to David Wincott in the hollows, talk to him but Do Not Accept Any Missions. Go back to the previous contact and do his/her missions.
Definitely a good guide!
I have a slight disagreement about wakies however, since I feel they can actually be useful in the Hollows, you just have to know when it's worth using them, and when you might as well just go to the hospital. You should rarely be actually getting killed in the middle of a spawn group you're trying to avoid, and it more often happens (IMHO) when you're actually getting away from them and they get that last lick in to put you down. If you're out of their spawn area (they ran after you), they will usually return to where they were after a few seconds and leave you clear for a wakie. Likewise, if you're at the edge of their aggro radius you can usually pop one, then stumble your way around a corner just to be safe.
YMMV, but there have been more then a few times where I've been able to save my team 10 minutes simply because I had an awaken and used it rather then making the long trip back from the hospital.
A couple of other little points: Illusion Controllers can take Invisibility as part of their power set. Superior Invisibility + Recall Friend = safe travel for everyone on the team, and is a HUGE benefit if you eventually do the Caverns of Trancendence TF to complete the story arc in the Hollows. Group Invisibility lets the Illusion controller share the power with others for a while, but it is a good idea to stay near the caster so that the invis can be recast when it runs out.
Force Field/* Defenders and */FF controllers get Personal Force Field (PFF) as their tier 1 power. It protects you from most of the damage you will get in running around before you get your travel power . . . but don't get too cocky. Purples and Reds can often hit you through the shield, so you still need to pay some attention to your surroundings.
Still, with PFF, you can provide a special benefit to your team. You may be able to run near to that large crowd of yellow and orange trolls and get their attention, pulling them away from the path that your team needs to travel to get to the destination. A Force Field Defender can bear up under more aggro than a tank at low levels.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
I am aware of the helpful invisibility of the illusion controller 
However, I felt it came a little too late to deserve special mention in this particular guide.
Also, although FF is quite adept at keeping damage away, I didn't want to specifically mention any particular power set, because this was supposed to be a general faq: I didn't want to have to go in to the points of each primary and secondary, not to mention I don't have experience with quite a few Plus, I would hope that, in picking power sets, the individual player is aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the powers they choose.
On a side note, I would like to point out that swift and hurdle (fitness) are like a poor man's travel power Neither are nearly as fast as the ones you can pick at 14, but they both get you there faster than sprint
"I've played with Pur. Pur is truth." - MarvelatMee
"Pur is hardcore yo." - Swansu
"You're a weirdo, but I guess you're our weirdo now :P" - Aisynia
"...it's possible to go from 1 to 50 in about 1.5 weeks if you're ... Pur." - TopDoc
By the way, I should have mentioned, to post a helpful guide like this for new players is pretty impressive for your first post . . .
For Illusion controllers, Superior Invis becomes available at level 8, and Group Invis is available at 12. Depending on the teams you run with, I don't think that tips making use of a level 8 power is too late to be considered for travel through the Hollows. It may also affect the player's choice of a travel power (Teleport!) if the player understands the benefits of Invisibility + Recall Friend.
The specific reason I mentioned the benefits of Personal Force Field is that I recently rolled up a Mind/FF controller, and I actually used the 'Troller-in-a-Bubble-as-a-lure trick a few days ago. It was fresh on my mind . . .
There is an interesting Guide on How to Get a Travel Power by Level 8, discussing the benefits of using Hurdle + Sprint + Combat Jumping as your travel power. It actually works pretty well, as I tried it out with a low level character. It is not as safe as the other forms of travel, but this can be made up by adding Stealth (which sort of defeats the purpose of saving a power slot . . . )
If you are going to continue to be this helpful to people on these boards, PLEASE, keep posting!!
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Great guide- many things I wish I had known way back when! (And lessons learned painfully with a boulder to the back of the head!)
One minor nitpick:
[ QUOTE ]
Swift and hurdle (fitness) can help in getting over obstacles and getting out of aggro range faster. Pick which one will compliment your playing style. Also, if you plan on taking super speed in the future, swift is a good choice. Take hurdle for super jump.
[/ QUOTE ]
If you plan on getting SuperSpeed, Swift may be somewhat redundant since the tiny boost Swift gives you will be totally drowned out by the speed of SS. Also, many people take Hurdle with SS to compensate for the lack of vertical mobility in SS. Hurdle can also be useful with SJ, since Hurdle+CJ can be a pseudo travel power on its own- and unsuppressable!
Regardless, Swift or Hurdle are usually only taken as stepping stones to the Health/Stamina powers. Neither is particularly powerful, but both can be fun- and both will help you get around the Hollows just that little bit easier. Take whatever fits your character concept unless you are going for the Hurdle+CJ lvl8 travel.
And I also agree with the above poster- on my last couple of toons I completely skipped the hollows content and never missed it. Independent of travel problems and 1.5-mile death runs, there's just something about Hollows PUGs that results in a lot of debt and/or frustration. 
"Don't unravel them-- your ears were meant to be that way."
-Steve Aylett
Great guide! I can only add:
Walkies, I: You will eventually learn "safer" routes through the Hollows, though no way is safe unless you're high, high above it.
* If heading south from Atlas, sticking to close to the wall is generally best.
* If crossing Cherry Hills, with your zoomed out camera (as the original poster wisely suggested) you should be able to give wide berth to most any spawn, although be careful running into mobs chasing another hero who may be fleeing them. Running atop the viaducts is also a good idea. Beware Outcast/Troll gang wars, because they *will* stop what they're doing just to harrass you.
* Skirting the edge of Grendel's Gulch can be surprisingly safe -- but only if you are confident in your control over your hero's movement. Falling in and landing on Pumicites is pretty darn hair-raising, but if you can manage to jump cracks without slipping down, much of the western side of the Gulch has those handy fences around it, through which you rarely are spotted or attacked
* Do everything in your power to avoid Circle of Thorns at your lower security levels unless you have mind protection or are in groups. Madness mages hang out all through the south and west, way into Eastgate Hills, and they like nothing more than turning the brains of young heroes into tapioca.
* Those explosive kegs at Red River dam that the Trolls are setting up? Resist the temptation to blow them up unless a) you can do it in one or two shots unnoticed or b) you can get away very, very quickly and outrun hurled boulders (hint: if they're conning orange and above, you can't).
* Speaking of the Red River, travelling in the middle of it is quite safe until you approach the dam Trolls (heh). I don't believe you're penalized for terrain, and swimming and running speeds are identical (or not noticeably different), although it appears that most of the River is shallow enough to run on in any case.
Walkies, II: "Bisecting" the mobs. With your wide view, you can eye the midpoint between two spawns that are reasonably apart from each other. You'll find that you can usually angle towards that point in safety and tack around groups and landscape features. You'll eventually get the feel for how far they can see you (as the author also mentioned, you'll have to check the limits of their perception and the effect of any debuffs you might have on it (e.g. Shadowfall, Flash Arrow)). Your route from A to B will seldom be a straight line anyway (even with a travel power later on, you'll have to go around or over buildings, unless you're teleporting and can see around them), so you may as well spend the seconds and take the safe route.
Also when travelling the mountain areas to the south east of the map you can jump along the sides of the mountains. The spawns are rarely near the edges.
Very good guide!
I always took the "Red River Route"- turn right from the gate, and hug the wall and avoid mobs like crazy till you hit the river. Then it's pretty much home free from there. Just stay in the middle!
Anyway, I avoid the Hollows now. Great learning experiences down there when I first began, though.
Great guide.
I would like to contribute one tidbit.
On almost every outdoor map, if you travel directly in the middle between two mobs you will be out of their perception range. Use commons sense, occasionally sometimes mob spawn practically on top of each other, but more often than not mobs spawn far enough apart that their perception range does not overlap, so it's safe to travel in the gap between them.
Now there are places where the terrain makes this impossible like the woods in Perez or the the upper right corner of the Hollows.
I routinely run my lowbies on any map in the game without getting ganked by mobs. The Hollows missions can usually be reached safely by staying on the roads or hugging the outside walls, and avoiding the Pumicite Infested Gulch. I would also like to mention that the using fences to block line of sight, like the guide suggested, is essential in the Hollows and is a tactic quite often missed by those unfamiliar with the zone.
Centinull
Guide to travelling in The Hollows (and other places)
). If you are one of these people, TURN IT BACK ON...NOW! Unlike the tab button, you can hear NPC chatter from around corners and behind obstacles: this can alert you to mobs hiding around a corner a lot faster. Plus, once you start to recognize the names of your mobs, you can identify what type of baddies are lying in wait, and what they are doing, and the approximate make-up of the group (all one type, a single different type, or about half and half).
(I'm mentioning The Hollows specifically because it's the first (and really the only) hazard zone you must go to without a travel power: this can make navigation difficult)
Okay, so you just became level 5 and your most recent contact has sent you to Wincott in The Hollows. This seems to be an easy enough task. But then Wincott proceeds to give you missions which take you farther and farther from the safety of Atlas Gate, and you find yourself dying from mobs more than ten levels higher than you. This isn't such an inconvenience for you, but if you are on a team, and trying to get to a mission on the other side of the map, half the team dying and needing to start over again can get pretty frustrating.
One way around this is to get one person with recall friend - which you can't get until level 6 - send them on ahead, and proceed to bring in the rest of the crew. This is all well and fine, but they still need to be alive when they get there.
Wakies don't generally work too well either, as you usually wake up right in the middle of the mob that killed you.
So how do you get where you want to go?
First things first:
1. Zoom WAY WAY out, and move your camera when needed
You know how to work your camera view, right? If not, learn. It's not just handy for travelling, but for fighting and finding things, too.
The first thing you want to do is zoom your camera out to as far as it can go. You can see the most terrain that way, and will be better informed as to the location of baddies.
So, you're running...you don't see anything...and suddenly you get blasted from behind and die. What happened? There was nobody there! MAKE SURE TO LOOK AROUND CORNERS. If you don't want to waste the time, just give corners a wide berth. In the civilian zones at least, baddies like to hang around street corners. The Hollows isn't as bad for this, as they tend to stand right in the middle of the street.
2. Find your TAB button
Not a lot of people find this useful in a fight, but it's quite useful for finding hard-to-see baddies. You'll actually use this more often in cities, where mobs can look like citizens from far away, but it's also helpful in hazard areas, as well.
While you're travelling, if there are any obstacles around, try hitting tab constantly as you move. It may be annoying at first, but you'll thank me when a mob you couldn't see because a tree was in your way suddenly shows up on your radar.
If you've changed your "find next baddie" button to something else, locate it and use it. It will be your best friend next to zoom.
3. Fences
YOU may be able to see through fences, but most mobs can't! Think of it this way; if you can't go through it, they can't see through it. Granted this is a very loose approximation, and you should still take care to stay as far away as possible, but if you must pass close by, see if there's a fence you can stick inbetween you and the bad guys. Even those flimsy chain link fences, or the ones that only go knee-high with the fancy metal work on top make a good barrier.
4. Travel with a team
This can be both a good thing, and a bad thing. Sure you can take on bigger and badder mobs together, but it can also lead to party wipes if one or all of you aggro the wrong group. If one of your members has an area toggle (doubtful at this low level), then sticking together may in fact be the best idea. However, most of the time, I would advise against it.
5. Be prepared to take the long way around.
Grendul's Gulch located right in the center of the map can be full of nasty baddies, but that's not entirely what I'm talking about. Sure, if you want to avoid the area altogether and stay on the high ground, that's your decision. But what I mean is, if there is a group of baddies blocking the area you need to go through, find another path: don't charge through and trust your natural resilience to take up most of the damage. Even tanks at this level are fairly squishy. Your team would rather wait an extra minute for you to go around a particularly ill-placed mob, than to wait the extra five or more minutes for you to make your way back from Atlas hospital.
6. Learn the colours of baddies.
They walk you through this (briefly) in the tutorial, but some people don't read it, or don't even take the tutorial (which you should, as you get a badge for killing the contaminated). Summary:
Grey, no arrows -->not even a challenge: take on huge groups if you want, they might not even notice you if you're too high
Grey, 3 arrows -->not a challenge, but watch for bosses of this colour, they might do some damage
Green, 2 arrows -->will do damage to you, but not too dangerous in large groups
Blue, 1 arrow -->don't take on big groups, but small groups should be fine
White, no arrows -->at this level, your archetype doesn't matter: unless you're in a group, I wouldn't attempt taking on more than about 5 at the VERY most.
Yellow, 1 arrow -->a group of 3 is probably the most you'll be able to handle: pay attention though
Orange, 2 arrows -->only one at a time, unless you're feeling quite brave: then two
Red, 3 arrows -->don't even try
Purple, no arrows-->RUN AWAY! you may be able to take a hit from these guys, but more than one and you're probably dead.
NOTE: this refers to groups of MINIONS all this colour. If there are lieutenants in the group, look at the description two down the list: if there are bosses, look three.
So, how does this relate to travelling? Well, if you're trying to get somewhere quickly, you gotta know which groups you can handle, and which ones to avoid completely.
You should be pretty safe taking passing damage from up to a green group. The thing you have to remember in The Hollows is that those rocks the trolls and igneous throw can include knockback, which is bad if the group decides to swarm you while you're on the ground. If the group is too high, you might find you can't even get back up until you die. Igneous bosses can also hold you, and the circle have all kinds of wonderful status effects you don't wanna be on the receiving end of.
7. Learn the distance of the mob's perception
In The Hollows at least, there will almost always be room to squeeze between mobs without them noticing, if the terrain isn't too weird. If you need to go between two troll mobs, go right down the middle, and you should be safe. The same with outcasts and circle.
The only mob that needs special mention are the igneous: they hide on or under the ground (those funny looking white rocks you may have noticed, and the fire and smoke) and generally don't pop up unless you're quite close. The white groups have a bit larger area of perception than the flames.
NOTE: White groups will almost never contain bosses: the flames almost always will
8. Listen to the chatter
A lot of people will turn NPC chatter off, because they find it annoying (I personally find it amusing: bad guys say the funniest things sometimes
9. Going over buildings
So, there's a group of baddies blocking every avenue in the direction you wish to go, and you just wish those buildings would get out of your way.
NOTE: while climbing a building, always listen for chatter coming from the roof: you don't want to get to the top just to find another group waiting for you.
Look for handy fire-escapes that will get you up and over the building.
Failing that, most buildings have windows with ledges that stick out just enough to stand on. Go right up to the building under a window and jump. You should land on the window ledge instead of falling to the ground. Press forward into the building, stop, and jump again. Using this method, you should be able to scale even the tallest building.
10. Call for taxi
Once again, you've got to listen to the chatter, but this time of the other players.
You've used the broadcast chat before, right? To announce that you're looking for a team, or members, or just general help. Well, now you're going to be scanning the airwaves for people offering you help. The Hollows usually has one or two high-level characters running around offering healing, resurrection, or travel arrangements to anywhere: they've been through all this before and know how hard it is to get around as a level 5-7.
If you don't see anybody offering, speak up. Announce your need as clearly and in as few words as possible, then wait. If there is anybody on call at that time, they will be watching the broadcasts for just such pleas.
If you die en route, don't hospital right away. Put out a request for a rez. If this doesn't work, then you're just going to have to suck it up and make the journey again.
Taxibots are players that are specifically made for transport. Try calling for a taxibot over the airwaves.
DO NOT spam your request. Try one or two times within 2-3 minute intervals. If no one answers, it's because they are not there. Please do not fill the airwaves with trash.
11. Do not fight along the way
If your team is waiting for you at the mission, do not fight every group you think you can take, just because you don't want to go around. This will take way too much time, and can really tick off your team. Avoidance is the best way.
12. Do what you do best
Tankers, your primary powers revolve around making you take less damage. Turn whatever toggles you have on for protection. Since you won't be fighting along the way, you shouldn't have any endurance worries. Just remember: invulnerability does NOT make you invincible
Scrappers, your secondaries are good for protection too. Turn your toggles on
Defenders, a lot of your primaries are just debuffs (which may get you out of a tight situation, but use only when needed if travelling), but some of you have personal and team buffs at this level. Turn on your buffs and, if possible, buff any team members before setting off.
Controllers, you have the same secondaries as the defenders' primaries, so take the same advice. However, you have some pretty cool tricks at your disposal should you be noticed. If at all possible, throw down one of your area immobilizes. You should get pretty far away before it wears off.
Blasters, you're basically screwed at this level. You are all about attack, and though you have some immobilizes etc. in your secondaries, they don't come until much later on. See if you can get one of your defenders to buff you, or travel with a tank who can take some of your damage for you.
13. Pool powers
So, your team, after dying several times, has finally made it to level six and can choose from your pool powers.
The obvious choice to avoid all that hardship is hover (flight pool) then, isn't it? NO! Do not take hover for travel. Though you can go over mobs without being noticed, hover is so infuriatingly slow that your team might even go on without you.
Now, you can take hover, but for the right reasons. Take it to get over obstacles, or up walls, but turn it off when you're past. Take it for added defense, but don't leave it on all the time. Take it for fights so that baddies can't get in melee range. Take it because you eventually want to take flight. But DO NOT take it for travel.
If you're going to be with this group a while, get together with one of your team mates. Have one of you take recall friend (teleportation), and one take grant invisibility (concealment). Invisible the person with recall friend, they take off and keep going until their invisibility has almost worn off. They teleport you to their location. Repeat until you get to where you need to go, then just bring in the rest of the team. Remember these powers are useful afterwards, too.
Stealth (concealment) although imperfect can keep you from being noticed.
Swift and hurdle (fitness) can help in getting over obstacles and getting out of aggro range faster. Pick which one will compliment your playing style. Also, if you plan on taking super speed in the future, swift is a good choice. Take hurdle for super jump.
If traveling together, maneuvers (leadership) can be a good way to boost defence in case of attack. Remember, the leadership powers affect everybody within range, INCLUDING YOU.
Combat jumping adds to defense, and allows you to jump a little higher. It also leads into superjump.
Stimulant (medicine) can help get your teammates away if they've been hit with a status effect, however you have to do one person at a time and IT IS INTERRUPTIBLE.
Presence at this level does not help travelling at all, in fact it hinders it greatly, only giving you taunt abilities.
At this level, speed is no good for travelling, which doesn't sound like it makes sense. But you can only take an attack, or hasten when you're this low, and neither will help. However, both can lead to super speed.
Check your primary and secondary sets, too. If there is something there that will help you more, take it.
14. The return trip
All of these tips have been for getting TO your mission or wherever you need to go. Getting back is a lot simpler. You could call for a taxi to one of the gates (remember, you can get into The Hollows from both Atlas Park and Skyway City), or you can go out, find yourself a choice group, and die. You get no debt at this level anyway
These tips are specifically for the hollows at low levels, but they are useful in any area, the exception being in PvP zones. Just be aware of what's going on around you, and don't think that you're invincible. These should get you through until you get your movement power, and then you usually don't have to worry about things like this, but points still come in useful from time to time. [color:white] [/color]
"I've played with Pur. Pur is truth." - MarvelatMee
"Pur is hardcore yo." - Swansu
"You're a weirdo, but I guess you're our weirdo now :P" - Aisynia
"...it's possible to go from 1 to 50 in about 1.5 weeks if you're ... Pur." - TopDoc