Do there need to be villain/praetorian hazard zones? It has been said that the zones of the Rogue Isles are a bit more difficult than Paragon City, which makes up for the lack of Hazard zones. I havent really found that to be true. What I have found are places like Fort Hades, Agincourt, Villa Requin, Vagabond Hills, Fortunes Wheel, and The Fab. Very few of your missions ever take you into these neighborhoods; but if you go explore them, the fighting is pretty good. Monster Isle might be the only actual red-side hazard zone, but is sooo boring. Access to the Rikti War Zone was huge. So there is certainly demand and potential for a new hazard zone or two (Id love to know where that bridge in Imperial City leads). But Im inclined to ask that the existing zones be improved first.
Do the Hazard zones need to be co-operative? Once a villain reaches level 20, he/she can switch to Rogue alignment and gain access to the Hazard zones - which skips over the content of The Sewers, Perez Park, the Tunnels, and Boomtown. If you stay true to the villain path, then you have to wait for the War Zone. I can see the dangers behind Dark Astoria, Eden, and the Shadow Shard zones making them co-operative. And Strigas a pretty tough place, so why invite even more trouble by messing with the enemy camp too (call it non-combative). But why would villains care about Creys Folly, Terra Volta, or The Abandoned Sewers? My vote is some, but not all. Even to the point of Praetorians sneaking into Primal Earth.
I like the non-combative idea where multiple alignments can co-exist but not interact. They wont interfere with each other, but they wont help each other by teaming up with the enemy. Great trigger for a zone event would be when two teams, one from each alignment, meet up causing a third group say the Council in Striga to discover them both and attack. Do they go back-to-back and take on the entire garrison, or does one team abandon the other. An opportunity for content that might allow/require some reluctant interaction from both sides.
Can Hazard Zones be made fun? And by fun, I mean can you make players want to go there. When The Hollows was first added, it was all Hazard zone, but it had a story line that played out in the mission arcs leading to a Trial for a finale. That was fun. Then Faultline got rebuilt with its own story arc, but became a city zone (only the area behind the dam remained Hazard). That was also fun, but no longer qualifies. Striga is a great Hazard zone that not only has a story line but 2 task forces within. Then the Crash Site became the co-operative Rikti War Zone with a story line, repeatable missions, and a trial. So absolutely they can be made fun. And now that there are triggered zone events, the possibilities are endless for fun in the Hazard zones!
Any chance the forum guards can make a topic for each hazard zone within the suggestions section for us to post our collective wish list? A place to collect the ideas of the fans for each of these zones?
Here are some of the things Id like to see in these zones:
Perez Park knock the hazard region down to just the park area. Make the northwest corner of Bettis Hills an abandoned zoo or amusement park thats in the same state of disrepair. It could even contain an underground section extending under the park border and street to the old Park Parking garage. Using a small building near the Atlas gate create the chapter house of the Loyal Order of Lions, a civic group that fosters involvement between the ordinary and heroic citizens of the city. Here, elderly contacts talk about the park in its heyday, and signature heroes make public appearances for various charities. On the Galaxy side put a police substation. Much like Borea and Meg Mason these are simply repeatable mission contacts. Both offer missions to knock down the populations of different gangs and/or in different neighborhoods. The Lions also recruit heroes to escort groups of citizens to various park landmarks; while the police enlist heroes to go into the park looking for lost children or to rescue foolish citizens who wandered in by themselves.
Actually the one Villain Hazard zone Id love to see would be underneath Port Oaks and Cap Au Diablo running from the closed tunnel in Port Oakes to the ruins beneath Aeon City. On the one side, grottos filled with Coralax and caverns used as hiding places by pirates of old and mobsters of today. In the center you access the labyrinth of caves used by the Power Transfer Authority, filled with Arachnos agents and electric demons dueling for control. And finally to the west the ruins of the old town over which Aeon City was built, filled with Luddites and Clockwork and Vaziloks all probing the ruins.
Dark Astoria Being the outer side of Paragon Bay, I feel the zone should not have so much urban development and should extend all the way north to a lonely point where the Minden Lighthouse stands. The Moth Cemetery should be back to back with Elleusia (in the Talos zone) while Argo Highway connects with Romero Heights. All the other neighborhoods should take on a small town flavor making Astoria more of a neighboring town or suburb rather than yet another district of Paragon City. Add Coralax living off the coast who hate the bright light of the lighthouse and attack it every night. They might also attack random container ships approaching the bay (triggered by heroes going out to check on the vessels).
Keep the motif of the Moth Cemetery for war dead, but make it known that many heroes from Paragon City are also buried here. In each neighborhood, have The Fog apply an environmental debuff to perception range, which also applies to Confusion, Fear and Sleep protection. But change the system from random spawns of Banished Pantheon foes milling about to a system where Pantheon lieutenants and bosses go into the cemetery, raise a mob of minions, and then march into the other neighborhoods causing random destruction. They attack specific locations (building or park or parking lot, etc). As each location is smashed, the value of the Fog goes up in that neighborhood, and the mob deactivates (cue the mindless milling). Some of the resurrection parties do not spawn mobs, instead they seek out the graves of Paragon Citys heroes from earlier times, intent on re-animating them into elite boss zombies to serve the Pantheon. Once the Fog reaches a certain value in Moth Cemetery, the conditions are right to summon Adamastor. Milling packs from other neighborhoods are re-activated to return to the cemetery. They converge, perform their dread ritual, and combine the energies of their minions plus one Mask into the mighty monster (much the way the Clockwork create Paladins). There is a minimum number of minions required, so if heroes interrupt the process, more of the marauding mobs will be recalled, which lessens the Fog factor, and could eventually cause the Pantheon to give up the attempt. As heroes defeat Pantheon enemies, and restore damaged targets; the Fog in that neighborhood weakens.
Create a Task Force about a Banished Pantheon plot to uncover the resting place of Atlas or Talos. They plan to re-animate the giant hero to spread terror and despair in Paragon City. Successful completion not only proves the usual rewards, but resets the environmental debuff to its starting value and eliminates all outstanding mobs in the zone. As the Fog thickens (threatens?), the Tsoo and the Circle of Thorns also appear in greater numbers to combat the plans of the Banished Pantheon. Once the Fog reaches a critical level, a desperate Tsoo or Circle of Thorns contact in Sharkhead might offer to smuggle villains into the zone for the purpose of combating the Banished Pantheon (not the heroes). Villains who agree are then smuggled into the zone as if it were co-operative. There might even be a Strike Force mission where the Circle of Thorns or the Tsoo hire villains to scout out what exactly the Banished Pantheon is up to, which again allows villains to enter the zone co-operatively as they proceed through the story.
Monster Island Its called a villain trial zone, but there doesnt seem to be any actual trial. Its the same Tempest Quay and Cutlass Islands that are part of the Peregrine Island hero city zone (which is also marked a Trial Zone on the map that comes with the game). Why not cut it free from the city zone and make it co-operative. Create contacts in Peregrine and Grandville who enlist the players to go there and search for evidence that Arachnos/Longbow was secretly behind the facility that was studying the Rikti monkeys. Perhaps they were experimenting on some which now have weird mutated powers? Or maybe the Devouring Earth have infected some of the monkeys creating hybrid Rikti/DE critters.
Eden what would make Eden great would be moving the remains of the old Portal Corp. buildings from the Hive into the Hive neighborhood which Praetorian characters use to access the zone to learn more about the Devouring Earth and Coles war with them. But alas, Praetorians dont come in high enough levels to be effective in Eden. However, the DE hang out in Terra Volta which is just about the right level for finishing Praetorians, so maybe this idea could be used there instead.
The Shadow Shard Zones need to be co-operative. The Beta site needs a place on the map so that villains can enter. Some Arachnos agents should be scattered about to hand out repeatable missions that are tailored towards exploiting the Shard Zones. Their presence is annoying, but not something the Shard Expeditionary Forces is prepared to tackle right now. All contacts (SEF and Arachnos) will offer their missions to anyone willing to take them, which should often be at crossed purposes.
Voice your own ideas about the possibilities of the different hazard zones.
Just call me "The Pool Guy" - cause I believe that power pools are the ultimate in powerset proliferation. Fewer powers to develop and available to all.
"ADVERBS - we define action!"
"ADVERSE - we are action!"
Do there need to be villain/praetorian hazard zones? It has been said that the zones of the Rogue Isles are a bit more difficult than Paragon City, which makes up for the lack of Hazard zones. I havent really found that to be true. What I have found are places like Fort Hades, Agincourt, Villa Requin, Vagabond Hills, Fortunes Wheel, and The Fab. Very few of your missions ever take you into these neighborhoods; but if you go explore them, the fighting is pretty good. Monster Isle might be the only actual red-side hazard zone, but is sooo boring. Access to the Rikti War Zone was huge. So there is certainly demand and potential for a new hazard zone or two (Id love to know where that bridge in Imperial City leads). But Im inclined to ask that the existing zones be improved first.
Do the Hazard zones need to be co-operative? Once a villain reaches level 20, he/she can switch to Rogue alignment and gain access to the Hazard zones - which skips over the content of The Sewers, Perez Park, the Tunnels, and Boomtown. If you stay true to the villain path, then you have to wait for the War Zone. I can see the dangers behind Dark Astoria, Eden, and the Shadow Shard zones making them co-operative. And Strigas a pretty tough place, so why invite even more trouble by messing with the enemy camp too (call it non-combative). But why would villains care about Creys Folly, Terra Volta, or The Abandoned Sewers? My vote is some, but not all. Even to the point of Praetorians sneaking into Primal Earth.
I like the non-combative idea where multiple alignments can co-exist but not interact. They wont interfere with each other, but they wont help each other by teaming up with the enemy. Great trigger for a zone event would be when two teams, one from each alignment, meet up causing a third group say the Council in Striga to discover them both and attack. Do they go back-to-back and take on the entire garrison, or does one team abandon the other. An opportunity for content that might allow/require some reluctant interaction from both sides.
Can Hazard Zones be made fun? And by fun, I mean can you make players want to go there. When The Hollows was first added, it was all Hazard zone, but it had a story line that played out in the mission arcs leading to a Trial for a finale. That was fun. Then Faultline got rebuilt with its own story arc, but became a city zone (only the area behind the dam remained Hazard). That was also fun, but no longer qualifies. Striga is a great Hazard zone that not only has a story line but 2 task forces within. Then the Crash Site became the co-operative Rikti War Zone with a story line, repeatable missions, and a trial. So absolutely they can be made fun. And now that there are triggered zone events, the possibilities are endless for fun in the Hazard zones!
Any chance the forum guards can make a topic for each hazard zone within the suggestions section for us to post our collective wish list? A place to collect the ideas of the fans for each of these zones?
Here are some of the things Id like to see in these zones:
Perez Park knock the hazard region down to just the park area. Make the northwest corner of Bettis Hills an abandoned zoo or amusement park thats in the same state of disrepair. It could even contain an underground section extending under the park border and street to the old Park Parking garage. Using a small building near the Atlas gate create the chapter house of the Loyal Order of Lions, a civic group that fosters involvement between the ordinary and heroic citizens of the city. Here, elderly contacts talk about the park in its heyday, and signature heroes make public appearances for various charities. On the Galaxy side put a police substation. Much like Borea and Meg Mason these are simply repeatable mission contacts. Both offer missions to knock down the populations of different gangs and/or in different neighborhoods. The Lions also recruit heroes to escort groups of citizens to various park landmarks; while the police enlist heroes to go into the park looking for lost children or to rescue foolish citizens who wandered in by themselves.
Actually the one Villain Hazard zone Id love to see would be underneath Port Oaks and Cap Au Diablo running from the closed tunnel in Port Oakes to the ruins beneath Aeon City. On the one side, grottos filled with Coralax and caverns used as hiding places by pirates of old and mobsters of today. In the center you access the labyrinth of caves used by the Power Transfer Authority, filled with Arachnos agents and electric demons dueling for control. And finally to the west the ruins of the old town over which Aeon City was built, filled with Luddites and Clockwork and Vaziloks all probing the ruins.
Dark Astoria Being the outer side of Paragon Bay, I feel the zone should not have so much urban development and should extend all the way north to a lonely point where the Minden Lighthouse stands. The Moth Cemetery should be back to back with Elleusia (in the Talos zone) while Argo Highway connects with Romero Heights. All the other neighborhoods should take on a small town flavor making Astoria more of a neighboring town or suburb rather than yet another district of Paragon City. Add Coralax living off the coast who hate the bright light of the lighthouse and attack it every night. They might also attack random container ships approaching the bay (triggered by heroes going out to check on the vessels).
Keep the motif of the Moth Cemetery for war dead, but make it known that many heroes from Paragon City are also buried here. In each neighborhood, have The Fog apply an environmental debuff to perception range, which also applies to Confusion, Fear and Sleep protection. But change the system from random spawns of Banished Pantheon foes milling about to a system where Pantheon lieutenants and bosses go into the cemetery, raise a mob of minions, and then march into the other neighborhoods causing random destruction. They attack specific locations (building or park or parking lot, etc). As each location is smashed, the value of the Fog goes up in that neighborhood, and the mob deactivates (cue the mindless milling). Some of the resurrection parties do not spawn mobs, instead they seek out the graves of Paragon Citys heroes from earlier times, intent on re-animating them into elite boss zombies to serve the Pantheon. Once the Fog reaches a certain value in Moth Cemetery, the conditions are right to summon Adamastor. Milling packs from other neighborhoods are re-activated to return to the cemetery. They converge, perform their dread ritual, and combine the energies of their minions plus one Mask into the mighty monster (much the way the Clockwork create Paladins). There is a minimum number of minions required, so if heroes interrupt the process, more of the marauding mobs will be recalled, which lessens the Fog factor, and could eventually cause the Pantheon to give up the attempt. As heroes defeat Pantheon enemies, and restore damaged targets; the Fog in that neighborhood weakens.
Create a Task Force about a Banished Pantheon plot to uncover the resting place of Atlas or Talos. They plan to re-animate the giant hero to spread terror and despair in Paragon City. Successful completion not only proves the usual rewards, but resets the environmental debuff to its starting value and eliminates all outstanding mobs in the zone. As the Fog thickens (threatens?), the Tsoo and the Circle of Thorns also appear in greater numbers to combat the plans of the Banished Pantheon. Once the Fog reaches a critical level, a desperate Tsoo or Circle of Thorns contact in Sharkhead might offer to smuggle villains into the zone for the purpose of combating the Banished Pantheon (not the heroes). Villains who agree are then smuggled into the zone as if it were co-operative. There might even be a Strike Force mission where the Circle of Thorns or the Tsoo hire villains to scout out what exactly the Banished Pantheon is up to, which again allows villains to enter the zone co-operatively as they proceed through the story.
Monster Island Its called a villain trial zone, but there doesnt seem to be any actual trial. Its the same Tempest Quay and Cutlass Islands that are part of the Peregrine Island hero city zone (which is also marked a Trial Zone on the map that comes with the game). Why not cut it free from the city zone and make it co-operative. Create contacts in Peregrine and Grandville who enlist the players to go there and search for evidence that Arachnos/Longbow was secretly behind the facility that was studying the Rikti monkeys. Perhaps they were experimenting on some which now have weird mutated powers? Or maybe the Devouring Earth have infected some of the monkeys creating hybrid Rikti/DE critters.
Eden what would make Eden great would be moving the remains of the old Portal Corp. buildings from the Hive into the Hive neighborhood which Praetorian characters use to access the zone to learn more about the Devouring Earth and Coles war with them. But alas, Praetorians dont come in high enough levels to be effective in Eden. However, the DE hang out in Terra Volta which is just about the right level for finishing Praetorians, so maybe this idea could be used there instead.
The Shadow Shard Zones need to be co-operative. The Beta site needs a place on the map so that villains can enter. Some Arachnos agents should be scattered about to hand out repeatable missions that are tailored towards exploiting the Shard Zones. Their presence is annoying, but not something the Shard Expeditionary Forces is prepared to tackle right now. All contacts (SEF and Arachnos) will offer their missions to anyone willing to take them, which should often be at crossed purposes.
Voice your own ideas about the possibilities of the different hazard zones.
Just call me "The Pool Guy" - cause I believe that power pools are the ultimate in powerset proliferation. Fewer powers to develop and available to all.
"ADVERBS - we define action!"
"ADVERSE - we are action!"