We need new mission maps, not new zones!
Yes. Very yes. /Signed
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Let me ask you this. Would you rather have one moon base zone, or a pile of new mission maps
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I like all of these, the 1930s one in particular.
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I'll /sign this.
There's a few map sets we need that would be fairly simple: like any of the present outdoors maps without war walls
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I think this is exactly the sort of philosophy that the devs are currently following, which will become increasingly obvious with time.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
Other ideas for mission maps:
Museums (art galleries, dinosaur statues, sculptures)
Strip malls and / or indoor malls
Amusement parks
Ocean liners / cruise ships
Space Stations and Rocket Ships
Hospitals
All great ideas. And I totally agree. New zones fill up quickly, then fade out fast in favor of the RWZ and AP and it's DFB/AE. Give us a TF that takes us to the moon or an actual space station that isn't just a Praetorian lab map, and I'm sure the playerbase would love that TF to forever. Give us an entire zone that would probably take four Issues to create and only has three contacts worth of content in it, and one zone event, and it'll be forgotten about by the next Issue.
I very much agree. As diverse as the stories go, the maps almost all come down to: office, warehouse, sewer, cave, tech lab.
C'mon.
The new praetorian tiles sets are cool, but even those office/warehouse ones are reskins in many spots.
What I'd like to see:
- Mansion tile sets: pristine/run down variants.
They have something along these lines already for manticore's mansion/the Halloween trial, but I mean full multi-floored sets for missions. - Museum/government building/grand public building tile set: night/day versions.
I'm sorry, with the number of magical artifacts that get stolen, dignitaries that are threatened, and all of that this just makes sense. Maps would have high white ceilings and walls, marble floors, grand stairways and ornamental statues, relics, etc. - Manufacturing plant: chemical/mechanical variants
For stopping a villain group's plot to make a chemical weapon, create a terror device, etc.
I'd be all for it if the recent mission map designs weren't 1) monochrome buildings swiped from original KOTOR (praetorian labs) or 2) basically older maps but with more crap on the floor to make them lag (new council maps, big rooms in lambda grenade side, etc.).
If they actually did cool stuff like the OP suggested and didn't make the maps too busy to keep lag down, /signed.
/signed
I'm very sick of office building/warehouse/cave/sewer.
@Joshua.
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The positive responses are a pleasant surprise. I rarely click the New Thread button and I don't view it as my personal soapbox. I hoped this topic would matter to you. Well, there isn't a single negative reply or derail. Maybe it's because you know as well as I do where the core of your gameplay takes place. Instanced missions.
Two of you have wondered aloud why we can't just have both. In describing their struggles and conflicts over allocation of resources, I feel the devs have done a pretty good job of explaining this problem. My either/or angle is a reflection of the impression I've received over the last several months, in discussions like the gunslinger debacle, the superhero tights debates, and the spacesuit polls. An impression which hints at tight development schedules and resources. When the communication lines are open, we are always asked to choose, or given explanations for why the devs have always had to choose.
In summary, in framing my question to ya'll, I parroted Noble Savage. I know that doesn't answer your question to me ("Why can't we have both?"), but at least it describes my motives, which are aimed at historically accurate expectations.
But it's more than that. The next time you're on a team, inside a mission, ask the people you're with how badly the game needs a greater variety of environments in mission maps. Following that, ask the next team. And again, and again. Watch the number of people who say 'yes' skyrocket. Give them some of my examples above, if not your own. Sometimes you have to whet peoples appetites before they go "Hmm." THIS is why I do not even WANT to talk about outside zones. We are sitting on a gold mine over here!
Museums, mansions, manufacturing plants? There are some fracking awesome ideas here (and 1930s era Paragon seems to be a hit). Otherworldly surfaces? Space stations overlooking other worlds, or stars? You know what *I* think the devs hate? WINDOWS!!!
How about a couple of more maps designed specifically for small or medium-sized teams, like for Halloween? How about maps designed around non-combat-oriented goals, such as solving puzzles?
What other kinds of environments can we dream up in this thread?
Push the envelope, this is a comic book universe! Please help think of some great new environments, and possibly the kinds of plot lines or enemy groups they could serve. Please do not derail the discussion by arguing over specific 'bad' ideas, just be sure to give a thumbs up to other peoples ideas when you like them!
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The ancient city that I want to visit most is Oranbega, before it sank beneath the Earth.
Possible plot lines could include the Oranbegan-Mu war, or possibly events leading up to it. One of my characters is written as an ancient Oranbegan "resistance member", whose now-forgotten sect fiercely opposed the contract between Demons and the original Circle of Thorns, when they were losing the war.
A round of mission maps in this area of history might include some of the following.
- Majestic Oranbega, a sprawling city that thrived for thousands of years before retreating underground from Hequat's assaults. A place where magic may have advanced to the point of obsoleting the need to ever pursue a technologically advanced civilization. I can imagine parts of the city on the surface, and parts of it suspended in the sky. And in my mind, ancient Oranbega could make an Asgardian god blush.
- The island civilization of Mu.
- The War.
- Battles on ships, at sea, and over sea. Some in the water, some on Mu airships, en route to bombard Oranbega with magical assaults.
- The option to take a side in the war. Four possible sides could be the Oranbegans, the Demons, the Mu, or my Oranbegan Resistance idea.
- Conflicts between the allied Oranbegan and Demon armies, and the Mu.
- Conflicts between the Oranbegans and Demons, when the Oranbegans hesitated to let the Demons completely wipe the Mu off the face of the Earth, as per their contract.
- Resistance Oranbegans fighting Oranbegans and Demons, to help save the remaining Mu. I have a character that really needs this mission.
- The Tower to the Stars.
- "Pre-demonic contract", the botched attempt by the Oranbegans to reach Ermeeth; ergo, a visit to the realm of Hequat. (Though I have no idea how nice a place it is to visit. Few Oranbegans returned, and not with their sanity intact.)
- The original Library of Souls.
- Face off against Hequat. Incarnates, you should bring a league for this. Trust me.
- A big battlefield map. Huge. You're in the middle of the War. Lots of NPCs fighting. Demons flying around, Oranbegan warriors and sorcerers clashing with the Mu, bodies everywhere, sounds of explosions.
- A handful of new NPC factions could come from this. New costume pieces.
- New Midnight Squad arcs (don't tell me THEY wouldn't be involved).
What am I forgetting?
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I'm just replying quickly to say that this is a most excellent point, Captain!
I could see certain types of mission maps possibly taking enough time and resources that the "both" camp could have merit, but - either way- the outward desire for cool places to go should really be aimed at mission maps more than world zones.
I'd be extremely interested to hear a developer's perspective on the amount of work required for a set of mission maps compared to a world zone.
Anyway... I may chime in with more another time!
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
I perfer both new maps and a new zone also some new tip missions instead of doing the same tip missions over and over again on Hero side on level 50 and on villain side on level 50. New maps and a new zone as well as new incarnate trial and some few incarnate trials would be cool as well.
I definitely /sign. I'd like to have a lot of things added to instanced missions that aren't right now. There are some ideas I would like to be... dynamic. I'll explain some of those below. Ideas I have had:
#1: Submarine. There are some "ship" fights that are a long hallway, but what if it was a super-cramped and high-tech looking place with the whirring background noise of a sub? With blue-glass windows to the outside? Awesome.
#2: Aquarium. Blue glow, surrounded by fish, water areas you can enter, ect.
#3: Straight-up underwater fights. Call me a little spoiled on aquaman shows, but this is something CoH needs, and can be done really well. My idea would be that being in the water would give each toon an auto-power that grants flight, but uses swimming animations, and only allows this while in the water areas (My idea would be to have an auto-power that grants a 2 second duration, but pulses every second so you have two stacks, and two seconds outside of water at most). This allows for three-dimensional enemy placement, and a whole branch of enemies that we currently don't have any of in CoH. No word on how breathing will be affected or now any powers can be affected. Right now, no effect. Just map variety.
#4: Zero-gravity areas. C'mon, with space and the ever-advancing technologies, there has got to be areas that there are no gravity in. These places would have everyone in perpetual "group fly" from a zone wide-effect, again allowing for more depth in combat. And imagine if this can be turned on and off, like a zonewide mandatory "grant power" thing that can be turned on or off, and can be due to the shifting nature of the map.
#5: More floating island type maps/skyscraper roof fights. During Scirocco's arc, I found a map where you could just fall off the edge into endless bottomness. It was awesome. What if we had more of those, like low-orbit space station outsides maps, or sky scrapers that are high up and you have to jump from one to another to fight enemies that ALSO jump from one to another..
#6: Airplane. We all wish our heroes could've stopped 9/11. Why not let us?
#7:Warzone. Might have to make a "wallpaper" around the edge of the map to get the point across, but it would be awesome.
#8: Maps with destructible walls that lead to other areas of the map. We already have things like Vaults in bank missions, so why not use that technology to let us blow a hole through enemy encampments or make a shortcut "through" a building.
#9: Schools. We've got to save the children!
That is all I can think of for now. But this is quite easy to do. Just go to some place in real life and think "Hm... do I want to beat up freakshow here?" and then put it down.
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There are some semi-new cave maps in I22, and an ultra mode revamp of a 5th Column map.
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Am I the only one who turned that into "Strip clubs" in their mind?
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Lets have an actual fire fighting mission.
How about a paramedic mission that is built with healers in mind. But non healers can get temp med powers.
I agree with the general premise of the thread. I've always felt that, with the exception of villains needing at least one more zone, new zones really aren't that necessary. Zones are cool as a persistent overworld, but for the most part, we spend most of our time inside instances. THOSE are the places where the environment artists need to spend the bulk of their time.
Frankly, I've always felt that old office and warehouse maps should have gotten at least one new room per issue and at least a few new layouts that I don't already know by heart. That's even before we consider entire new tilesets.
We can use a full mansion tileset, a school one, a hospital one, a museum one, an airport one, an apartment building one, a subway one and that's just off the top of my head.
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Tbh..new zones yes plz..but i would like the missions to match the mission doors...entering a mission through a boat and end up in a cave mission or warehouse..erhh how did we get here? at least when using a boat we have a boat time mission look..or like in mercy have docks in which the missions are.
I very much agree. As diverse as the stories go, the maps almost all come down to: office, warehouse, sewer, cave, tech lab.
C'mon. The new praetorian tiles sets are cool, but even those office/warehouse ones are reskins in many spots. What I'd like to see:
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A moon zone isn't the right idea. Let me ask you this. Would you rather have one moon base zone, or a pile of new mission maps featuring space station environments (maybe with giant windows overlooking Earth or Jupiter perhaps), visiting other planetary surfaces, time traveling to wild west towns, 1930s era Paragon, and ancient eastern cities? How would you like to overlook Earth from orbit, or to beam down onto some faraway mountaintop, or desert, or jungle? How would you like to do it all in one evening, fighting bad guys the whole way through?
How are you going to like it when your mission on the Coveted Moon zone sends you to another "tech lab" map, Praetorian lab, or...warehouse? How can we even be THINKING about new zones, with our dire lack of variety in mission maps? You might think you want a moon zone, but the truth is, after people have flown or ran around it a few times, most players won't think twice about it unless it's got a Wentworth's or some other necessity. But then, they won't be going there for the moon zone, will they? "No, a hazard zone," you say? Riiiight. Because we need another one of those SO much more than new mission maps (<-- Sarcasm, for the uninitiated). "Shiny" becomes "last week" quickly in this crowd.
A moon zone isn't as desirable when you consider all the fun that takes place in instances.
What this game needs is more mission maps that take us to a greater variety of environments. Let your imagination run wild here. Be as epic as you want. Because no matter what you can think of (within reason), your idea could be implemented in mission maps--those places you go to for the real action--for a far greater return on the devs investment.
We need to get Paragon Studios excited about making new mission maps, so that we can DO stuff.
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Dark-Eyes � Doctor Serpentine � Stonecaster � Skymaiden � The Blue Jaguar
Guide to Altitis � A Comic for New Players � The Lore Project � Intro to extraterrestrials in CoH