If you had to only pick a few zones, which would they be?

In my opinion, the City of Heroes world is getting too big for its population, there's too many zones that look too much alike with content that's too spread apart. I think it was a good first step to destroy Galaxy City, but if you had to whittle City of Heroes down to say 20 zones total - Hero, Villain, Praetorian, and co-op (leave out Praetoria if you wish). Which would they be?

Feel free to add concepts for zones that don't exist as well, and feel free to swap around level ranges.

I'd roll Kings Row into Skyway for a single gritty urban wasteland zone, roll Talos and Striga into one zone, with the ferry being a fast link between the 2 islands if you didn't want to travel the full distance across the sea, roll Independence Port and Terra Volta into one zone, split like Faultline is with the dam to reduce the size of the port part of the zone, roll Eden and the Hive into one zone, but with more emphasis on the changes made by the DE, so progress from the ruins of Eden to the Hamidon valley would be more dramatic, like the changes on the way through the UG Trial - Atlas Park, Steel Canyon, Boomtown, Perez Park, the Hollows, Croatoa, Crey's Folly, Founder's Falls, Peregrine Island, RWZ, Cimerora and Ouroboros are all ok as spearate zones - along with Dark Astoria
Brickstown is a bit of a problem, as it's another gritty urban zone - so it could be rolled into Kings Row instead of Skyway - rolling Brickstown and Skyway into one zone wouldn't work, as the huge visual impact of the Zig would be lost among all the freeway bridges.
The vast size of the Shadow Shard could also be fixed by rolling it all into one ginormous zone, with different areas of it having the look of the 4 current zones, to add more variety.
Praetoria's fine the way it is - and red side is probably fine the way it it so too

EDIT: Also, I'd roll the 2 sewer networks into one zone, and make the middle area the abandoned part, with the outer parts of the zone the normal sewer network - the abandoned part would be much darker and creepier.

there are more than 25 zones?

I want there to be sets of zones heroside, each with a theme: 4 color heroes, street, magic, sci-fi.

4 color would be Atlas 1-10, Steel 10-20, Talos 20-30, FF 30-40, PI 40-50

Street would be King's Row 1-10, Skyway 10-20, Striga 20-30, Brickstown 30-40, Crey's Folly 40-50

Magic would be Hollows 1-10, Perez 10-20, Croatoa 20-30, ??? 30-40, Dark Astoria 40-50

Sci-Fi would be the shadow shard zones

I kind of agree and disagree. I don't think the game has too many zones per se, so much as Heroside has too many zones that are essentially ghost towns. IE, the hazard zones. There's really just so little to do and it is so easy to get around that pretty much the only time you spend any time in them is either A) when they have story arcs (Faultline, The Hollows, First Ward, Croatoa) or B) When missions send you there (Dark Astoria, Perez Park, Crey's Folley, Eden, etc).

And even the ones with story arcs, it's always just a -single- story thread usually spread over about 4-5 contacts, sometimes ending in a Task Force.

Compare it to the 'City' zones that have a plethora of contacts, anywhere between 6-10 usually covering different plot lines and different enemy groups, plus all the amenities like stores, markets, etc. There's just more to do in them. So I'm kind of glad that an old fairly unused zone like Dark Astoria is getting a face lift to turn it more into an Incarnate Hub (at least that's my hope, but they've said it'll have story arcs and shops and things).

Anyway, whittling it down to 25? Ok.

Villainside is already small and lacking content as it is. Same with praetoria. So all of those zones stay. First Ward... yes too, but it needs more content, at least another story arc if not a Taskforce and another live event like the seed.

Heroside, I don't really see a major reason to cut out the main city zones, so Atlas, Skyway, Steel Canyon, Talos, Founder's, Brickstown, and Peregrine. They all have lots of content to do and they're generally active player hubs, especially Talos and Peregrine.

Faultline, Striga Island, and Croatoa I could take or leave. I really enjoy the story arcs in both of them, but there just isn't that much to do. Croatoa at least has the 2 GMs, the halloween costume vendor, and a Taskforce. But none really have 'enough' to do.

Hazard zones... well, new Dark Astoria, totally. I love the feel of the old one, but it goes so unused and is such an empty place. I'd keep the Hollows too, but it needs more content too. Another arc and trial/taskforce.

Realistically, I'd probably trim Perez, Crey's Folly, Eden. I don't dislike the areas, but there's next to nothing in them except mission doors and GMs.

Co-op zones... I'd really like a few more to be honest. I haven't bothered with the PvP zones so, again, take or leave. But Co-op is kinda neat. Pocket D isn't bad, I like the different year round events. I wouldn't mind something you could do any time. Rikti War Zone is excellent. It's got all the amenities you could ask for, all centrally located, it's got several task forces, it's got a major zone event, nice wide level range and Repeatable missions (Psstt devs <--- This is what I want the new Dark Astoria to be like. Give me lots of things to do in it). Cimerora.... needs an update.

Don't get me wrong. The graphics are fine. It -looks- beautiful. But there's -nothing- to do there except the ITF, the *tiny* Senator's arc and then the single Hero/Villain arcs that largely take place -outside- of the zone. It's a crying shame because it's a gorgeous zone with an interesting villain group and it's a complete ghost town, not to mention kind of a pain to get into.

Yeah I guess I've gone offtrack horribly. Basically, less 'cut zones' more 'revamp zones'.

Personally, I think the game should have less city zones overall. I like the nice starting Atlas Park, especially since it just got revamped. I think there should be a more slummy or run down city zone, like maybe revamp Kings Row to make it more of that type of zone. I think there should also be a nice high end city zone which would be a good fit for Peregrine Island.

Independence Port/Terra Volta is a good concept for a docks type zone, although it doesn't need to be *that* large, unless there's a lot more to do in there, *and* if the missions are packed closer together for more of a progression through the zone rather than skipping around opposite sides of the zone haphazardly.

Faultline is a good all around zone, though I wouldn't be opposed to seeing a new arc put in there. Boomtown and the Hollows are too similar to each other as a "destroyed city zone". Croatoa is great for a more magical/natural zone, and Eden is a pretty nice zone in itself though it could use some more content in there.

I'd like to see more high-tech sci-fi style zones like the oft-requested moonbase zone and maybe a high-tech city zone as well. Oroboros would be a nice starting point for expansion.

Cimerora is another great zone that barely used. It's a beautiful, unique zone that we barely have a reason to go to.

Villainside I think is set up pretty great, though I could easily see a continued revamp of Mercy Island, adding more content to it and destroying Port Oakes to go straight to Cap Au Diablo. Other than the supergroup registrar, Port Oakes is imminently skippable.

Praetoria obviously just needs more content in First Ward, there's enough room to add content for at least 5 more levels and then one more zone to finish out the level range to 50.

Kings Row could be revamped into our Gotham

Red side?

Step 1. Destroy Praetoria - no one uses it now anyway.

Step 2. Destroy the Rogue Isles - no one uses it now anyway.

Step 3. Destroy the Shadow Shard - no one uses it anyway.

Step 4. Turn Independence Port into a level 20 - 25 zone.

Step 5. Turn Talos Island into a level 25 - 30 zone.

Get rid of the Hollows, Perez Park, Boomtown, Skyway City, Striga Isle, Terra Volta, Brickstown, and Crey's Folly.

Basically, that would leave Atlas Park, Kings' Row, Steel Canyon, Faultline, Independence Port, Talos Island, Croatoa, Founders' Falls, Eden, Peregrine Island, Cimerora, Ouroboros, the Rikti War Zone, the Hive, and Dark Astoria. I think this would be much more manageable.

Praetoria is one of the best things ever added to the game.

[The only zones i'll mention are from the CoH Universe]

These are the zones which i'ld keep . . . . . .

• Atlas
• Reduce skyway city/kings row and combine the two
• Steel Canyon [needs more story there though for it to stay]
• Talos Island
• Striga Island
• Croatoa
• Brickstown
• Independence Port needs to be cut in half
• Terra Volta
• The Hollows
• Sirens Call
• Rikti War Zone
• Eden
• The Tunnels
• Perigine Island
• Cimerora
• Ouroboros

Praetoria: I like First Ward, but not so much the rest o' Praetoria. I will admit that First Ward might not've been as great if I didn't have the other zones to weigh it against. Better by comparison, I suppose.

Rogue Isles: Nerva for the Tree of Thorns, Cap for the PTS, Mercy for the Snakes, and Sharkhead for the Leviathan, PO for Mr. Bocor alone, St. Martial for the Golden Giza and Johnny Sonata's story. I don't really care for Grandville, although The Web is nifty, but not enough so to make it stick out in my mind terribly. I also like the Abyss.

Paragon City: Faultline for the time travel, Croatoa for the folklore, DA for the atmosphere, Striga for the fact there's a base in a freakin' volcano and the storyarcs are shiny, all the Shadow Shard zones, Eden and the Hive for Hami.

Co-op: Cimerora for that time travel feel and the uniqueness o' the zone. Rikti Warzone since you can literally fight an alien mothership's horde o' bad guys.

PvP: BB for the Shivans, Warburg for the missile launches and Rogue Arachnos elements, and RV for the temporal zone changes.

Edit: Oh, yeah, Ouroboros and Pocket D too. I got a theory.