Trem's Zone Revamp ideas

Hearing about how Dark Astoria is going to be the next Zone revamped, it's started the gears turning in my head. Here's a few basic ideas of how I'd like to see the Hazard and Trial zones revamped to bring more players to them. These are just rough ideas, though.

Hazard Zone Revamps:

Perez Park -
A war is brewing between the Hellions (with artifacts acquired from the MAGI Vault) and the Skulls (with 'soldiers' provided by the Vahz). Meanwhile, the Circle of Thorns are close to summoning a powerful demon, a Lost Pariah has started to form his own 'flock' separate from the Rikti collective, and the Clockwork are acting stranger than normal, fighting each other over scraps.

Boomtown -
Reconstruction has begun near the SC gate, but the Trolls, Outcasts, and Lost are all hindering work. Meanwhile, the 5th Column and the Council are both building bases from the rubble in preparation for a new conflict, the Vahz are trying to raise an army of zombies, and a massive Clockwork Fortress has sprung up in the northern end with strange sounds coming from within.

Dark Astoria -
The Midnight Squad are investigating rumors that The Circle of Thorns, Warriors, and Tsoo are all in a race to secure a hidden trove of magical artifacts, while the Legacy Chain tries to keep the Pantheon from shattering the barrier preventing their dark masters from returning. And to make things worse, the Shadows are coming to life, attacking everyone in attempt to free their Shadow King from the Netherworld.

Crey's Folly -
Crey Industries, in an attempt to improve their corporate image, are attempting to clean up the mess, but the Rikti continue to interfere, as if hiding something. Meanwhile, the Freaks of Carnival Town are under attack by the Devouring Earth, and Nemesis has begun testing a new, more powerful weapon in the fight against Heroes.

Trial Zone Revamps:

Eden -
Nemesis is put on the defensive as the Devouring Earth renews it's assault on the gate to Founder's Falls with new, yet familiar troops! Meanwhile, Crey has developed a new weapon against the Devouring Earth, but they've lost contact with the lab where it was being created.

Terra Volta -
A new contender for Dreck's leadership of the Freakshow has begun a reign of destruction in Terra Volta, but is he more than what he seems? Meanwhile, the Lost are acting stranger than usual, and the Sky Raiders have begun building a new weapon to use against the Terra Volta reactor itself.

"It's hard for you to be yourself, if you don't know who you really are."

I like the idea you've posed...I'd also like to see a real Hmong-town in Skyway.

Other zone revamps:

Skyway City: The old meandering overpasses are torn down and rerouted - in the center of the zone is a massive new open-air sports stadium/convention center/community center which the new skyways provide access to. Skyway becomes a place to travel TO, not just THROUGH.

Kings Row: Greater architectural variety in the old brick apartment buildings, put something new and interesting into the dirt construction pit between the tram station and the police plaza where Blue Steel is at. Add some new LIGHT manufacturing facilities. Turn some of the old fabric plants into "abandoned" facilities/modern ruins.

Faultline: Advance the reconstruction a bit more.

Talos: I think we could lose the far NE chunk of the zone. It's just a lot of empty space - mostly water - and nothing there to do. I really dislike wasted space. A mile of open water with a few uninteresting islands and "street" mobs standing around waiting for something to happen in an area where nothing ever does. USE it or lose it.

Steel Canyon: I got the idea for an "Avenue of Heroes" down the middle of the zone - a row of giant statues lining a grand avenue. Instead of the big square pits of water give us a beautiful set of terraces up to the street along the war walls. Maybe a nice "scenic view" platform that projects out over it complete with those old quarter-operated binocular thingies - sort of someplace to pose your hero for photos.

I wish we could go "underwater" because there is a metric buttload of things you could start to do with zones and new critters and threats we could fight. I know it ain't ever gonna happen but I can dream.

Actually, I was looking at the city zone map the other day and thinking about something similar. I'll add some recommendations:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TremDei Perez Park - A war is brewing between the Hellions (with artifacts acquired from the MAGI Vault) and the Skulls (with 'soldiers' provided by the Vahz). Meanwhile, the Circle of Thorns are close to summoning a powerful demon, a Lost Pariah has started to form his own 'flock' separate from the Rikti collective, and the Clockwork are acting stranger than normal, fighting each other over scraps.

Near the old Galaxy City enterance, there could be a refugee camp of sorts for people who have fled the destruction in GC. Not everyone could fit in Atlas Park, after all. There's opportunity for an entirely new quest hub there to secure medicine, food, supplies, etc., from the various gang factions. It's also a good chance to allow low leverl characters to run arcs that don't steam roll you through tutorials like in Atlas. We could also get a little more background on Kraken, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TremDei Boomtown - Reconstruction has begun near the SC gate, but the Trolls, Outcasts, and Lost are all hindering work. Meanwhile, the 5th Column and the Council are both building bases from the rubble in preparation for a new conflict, the Vahz are trying to raise an army of zombies, and a massive Clockwork Fortress has sprung up in the northern end with strange sounds coming from within.

Look at the city map. There is a huge water-way between Steel Canyon and Boomtown but the in-game play doesn't dive that impression at all. I think the southern side of Boomtown should be extended to show a large bridge perhaps akin to some of the more famous bridges in America. The area on the south side of the brdige could be inhabited like the north side of Faultline, with quest hub, some shops, etc.

North of the bridge, you have some reconstruction efforts but they are clearly hampered by the mayhem going on there. I would pull out the trolls-- they get enough game play elsewhere. Instead, turn the mid-part of the zone into a true battlefield between the Council and 5th Column. Meanwhile, in the far north, the Clockwork King has made some serious renovations -- entire buildings have been harvested, turning that area into a vast scrap yard full of new 2nd geneartion clockwork. You don't honestly believe that with the influx from Praetoria that he wouldn't have seized on the opportunity to make some upgrades among his own forces? I can imagine that area turning into a freakish steampunk nightmare with giant turning gears, a paladin and babbage construction zone, etc.

Oh, and more bang for the buck, by adding a bridge area, you add a water area beneath and being so close to Siren's Call, you now conveniently have an access point and potential quest hub for villains as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TremDei Dark Astoria - The Midnight Squad are investigating rumors that The Circle of Thorns, Warriors, and Tsoo are all in a race to secure a hidden trove of magical artifacts, while the Legacy Chain tries to keep the Pantheon from shattering the barrier preventing their dark masters from returning. And to make things worse, the Shadows are coming to life, attacking everyone in attempt to free their Shadow King from the Netherworld.

Meh, not going to bother with DA... they're already redesigning it. But again, easily extendable to the water's edge based on the city map, so easy access for villains too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TremDei Crey's Folly - Crey Industries, in an attempt to improve their corporate image, are attempting to clean up the mess, but the Rikti continue to interfere, as if hiding something. Meanwhile, the Freaks of Carnival Town are under attack by the Devouring Earth, and Nemesis has begun testing a new, more powerful weapon in the fight against Heroes.

The trick with Crey's Folly is that it is a place we could easily have our preconceptions of villains groups turned on their heads. First and foremost, I think there needs to be an access point from Independence Port -- not just Brickstown. A huge water gate (sealed) would correspond to a similar gate in southern IP while beside it there would be the standard entry point for players. Yes, it means getting rid of some docks in southern IP but... seriously? There are plenty of docks in IP.

Next, you come back to the nature of CF and it's positioning. You could have rival factions at cross purposes here. Corporate-wise, you could have Crey and a competitor .... one is trying to clean up CF while the other is trying to keep it polluted as a deterrant to the Rikti since the war zone is just to the west.

Meanwhile, I can see the Rikti leading harvesting expeditions into the zone through underground tunnels to try and collect materials out from under the eyesight of the normal civillians protecting the main city. This puts them at odds with the Freakshow who also want those components and also use CF as their home turf. In addition, you have Vanguard who want to stem the tide of the Rikti so they may be deputizing some Freak elements into their ranks here. Also a chance to see rikti-fied Freaks and freak-ified Rikti.

Then you have the Devouring Earth. Here's the chance to see them sympathetically instead of as all consuming monsters. The toxicity of the area hurts them, hurts the environment, etc. They want to clean up CF -- ostensibly so they can spread and thrive -- but perhaps you have a super-powered version of Greenpeace (such as Fauna First)speaking in some misguided way on their behalf and trying to recruit people to help clean up the environment with the Devouring Earth helping them in the short term. "See, we can befriend the Hamidon..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by TremDei Trial Zone Revamps: Eden - Nemesis is put on the defensive as the Devouring Earth renews it's assault on the gate to Founder's Falls with new, yet familiar troops! Meanwhile, Crey has developed a new weapon against the Devouring Earth, but they've lost contact with the lab where it was being created.

My only point with Eden is... look at the city map. Where is the Hive? Technically it's where the southern half of Faultline is. They need to fix that and move the Hive to the south of Eden.

But as long as we're on the subject... why aren't the Devouring Earth trying to corrupt the dam at Faultline? Some Hamidon juice in the drinking water and they could be spreading influence like wildfire down there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TremDei Terra Volta - A new contender for Dreck's leadership of the Freakshow has begun a reign of destruction in Terra Volta, but is he more than what he seems? Meanwhile, the Lost are acting stranger than usual, and the Sky Raiders have begun building a new weapon to use against the Terra Volta reactor itself.

Terra Volta... terra volta... an entire zone existing just to house the entrance to a respec trial. Personally, I think we need some seriously beefed up security for that reactor, a heavily patrolled access corridor with PPD hard suits, corporate security, etc. This would also be a good place for the devs to utilize their new phasing tech. As the zone is secured it becomes more and more cleaned up and modern looking. Perhaps heroes could work with Positron to upgrade the reactor, improve its power output while increasing its security protocols... perhaps even setting up an entirely separate reactor in another part of the zone so it doesn't interfere with the respec trial "lore". It's easy enough to just lock the zone from zone events like the Rikti invasion or Halloween apocalypse.

Wouldn't a zone revamp for Terra Volta be more in line of getting rid of the Lost, as we went about curing them?

As for Perez I'd rather not to see more "MAGI Vault has been robbed!" storylines myself.

The Banished Phantoms should be the next mayjor Villain Group after The Pretorians cause I would want to fight the leaders of the Banished Pantoms. There also should be 3 new zones for them as well and the 3rd zone that start from Dark Astoria also starting of new Story arcs on the major villain group in Dark Astoria. Also there should be more new features for the level 50 players with more endgame stuff like the incarnate stuff.

I love those ideas purely because Crey is being depicted as "good" guys, trying to keep a good image with Paragon City's civilians and heroes while obviously they have ulterior motives to what they do that are more sinister.

Right now, Crey is just as obviously evil as Arachnos, but we're expected to believe they can possibly be considered as beneficial to society for some raisin. But that's another rant. Point it, good ideas. also love the zone events.

Twigman, STormbird was being sarcastic about how Dark Astoria is being turned into a lv. 50+ zone, as opposed to remaining open to everyone content-wise. His comments have nothing to do with my original thoughts at the start of the thread.

Also, I hadn't thought about Zone Events for the revamps. Mr. Notorion, those are some great ideas.

"It's hard for you to be yourself, if you don't know who you really are."