We need new mission maps, not new zones!
By
Aura_Familia,
Posted on: 2012-02-10 12:29 in Suggestions and Ideas
Some nice fungal caves, like in the UG trial. Or a lab where the DE have started to invade.
Plants would be nice. Especially if they could do a "dirty" skin and a "clean" skin for it.
A power station would be nice. I'm not talking Terra Volta, something more high tech and clean looking.
Be cool if we could get some "forests". Just make an area, wall it off with trees, make tunnels through it with treetops being the roof, maybe the odd clearing?
Moon zone/space stations, good!
To go with the water ideas, an underwater base? Lots of curves etc and maybe glass roofs with some nice textures of stuff swimming around?
Convention halls.
Tram/train tunnels.
Can't think of any more but /signed for more maps, not zones. Double signed if we can have them on the AE asap!
At one time, I would've been all for new zones but after watching red-side's and Praetoria's lack of population numbers found on blue-side; not so much.
At this point, I want to see them use their tech (like phasing, variant dialogue, etc) to consolidate the faction maps (one world map as opposed to three). Utilizing a lot of what was done in Praetoria, with keeping opposing factions on the same world map, could work on the whole of Primal as well. (All of this so that players don't have to resort to Alignment switching to have the whole map open to them)
I do agree that the game can decrease its monotony by periodically releasing more instanced maps:
Full hospital maps (with elevators, cafeterias, etc - mod one of the larger office maps if they have to)
Partial and full shopping mall maps (both 1 story and mega mall style)
More factories (auto makers, faction factories (Sky Raider, Arachnos, Crey etc))
School campuses (college and high school)
Movie-plexes
Amusement parks
etc
then add variants to the above
Shoot, even using the Holiday events as an excuse to bring out more variants would be interesting (expand the ice on the lake tech to both world and other instanced maps; Halloween up the standard indoor maps; give some christmas or valentines decor to office maps, etc)
Apparently, I play "City of Shakespeare"
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I've only been playing for two months, and the biggest gripe I have with the game is the repetitiveness of the mission maps.
The stories are good. It's just that everything looks the same.
I've just levelled my first Praetorian, and it was very refreshing.
I dislike the sewer and grotto maps the most, as everything looks the same, they're cramped to navigate with large characters as the camera bumps into the ceiling, and there is very little contrast so it's hard to see where you are, where you are going and what the layout of the area is.
Every now and then you run into a nice mission map, bit it apparently only gets used once. I really liked the oil rig on the Villain -> Rogue final mission. I liked a lot of the maps in the story from Dean MacArthur about this clone. Things like that I would not mind to see re-used.
By far the best looking outdoor map I've seen so far is Praetoria. It would be a great place if everyone was allowed to go there, like Pocket D.
To me it seems that you get a lot of the old and boring stuff all the time, and the new and varied stuff is only used very little.
The starting experience in the Rogue Isles is very bad compared to Praetoria. I understand the devs want to give nice stuff to their paying customers, but I would make Praetoria and the newer content much more the focus for new players trying out the game, if they're interested in attracting new players to this game.
My highest level toon is 27, so I can't comment on the high level stuff, but that's my 2 euro cents.
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Ive pretty much left the forums, and wouldnt even have spotted this except for an email from a friend. Instead of trying to knock a suggestion that's been around for over 7 years. Why don't you try and suggest new ideas (as you did later in this thread). You dont need to disparage one thing to get another. From what I see you didn't even read the Moon Hazard Zone. It might be titled a hazard zone, but it isn't. You would have known that had you read the first paragraph. It was explained. |
Originally Posted by Captain-Electric
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. |
have a nice day.
[color=gold][b][size=5]♪ Sometimes you feel like a Tank, Sometimes you don't! ♪[/size][/color][/b]
[url=http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=114726][color=black][b][size=5]Moon [color=red]Hazard [color=black]Zone![/size][/color][/color][/color][/b][/url]
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Your name wasn't mentioned anywhere in this paragraph. He's talking about the general idea of a moon zone and offering his opinion on that.|
Originally Posted by Golden_Ace
Ive pretty much left the forums, and wouldnt even have spotted this except for an email from a friend. Instead of trying to knock a suggestion that's been around for over 7 years. Why don't you try and suggest new ideas (as you did later in this thread). You dont need to disparage one thing to get another. From what I see you didn't even read the Moon Hazard Zone. It might be titled a hazard zone, but it isn't. You would have known that had you read the first paragraph. It was explained.
have a nice day. |
Don't take it so personally.
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It was quite obvious he was referring to my thread.
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Originally Posted by Xzero45
Your name wasn't mentioned anywhere in this paragraph. He's talking about the general idea of a moon zone and offering his opinion on that.
Don't take it so personally. |
[color=gold][b][size=5]♪ Sometimes you feel like a Tank, Sometimes you don't! ♪[/size][/color][/b]
[url=http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=114726][color=black][b][size=5]Moon [color=red]Hazard [color=black]Zone![/size][/color][/color][/color][/b][/url]
/signed
This would be a vast improvement because it would feel like getting more than a zone and a few missions which i would also like. Heck if they would just re-skin some of the old maps would be nice with some of the updated graphic's. Maybe add some effects to the maps as well like steam pipes for smoke or fog like effects, flooded areas, some lava caves and please redo the blue caves of death with a better texture more like a real cave.
Some of my suggestions from posts i have done
boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=195762&highlight=dbhellfist
boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=278178&highlight=dbhellfist
Here is all My toons
http://img261.imagevenue.com/gallery...9625081-24.php
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To be honest, I wasn't even aware you had a thread to begin with. A moon zone is the most popular zone suggestion among these forums, so just because it involves the moon doesn't make it about you.
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Originally Posted by Golden_Ace
It was quite obvious he was referring to my thread.
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Aye, I was actually talking with some friends the other day about how CoH really could do with a shopping mall as it would a) be a good place for putting some enhancement shops and an ICON together, b) make for an awesome site for a mayhem mission and c) be excellent for RP purposes. Plus also - are you seriously trying to tell me that Paragon city *doesn't* have at least one shopping mall?
Roleplayer and member of "The Unity Vigil"
Characters: Union (Heroes) -
White Warlock Lv50 Ill/Storm Controller
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I like a new zones but I'll agree that game needs new interior maps. One of my old suggestion was real catacombs in Striga, Sharkhead and perhaps in some other zones. Also I'll support the idea of realistic city interiors. (Mall or gas station would be cool)
edit. I forget The prison in Bricktown. So much potential there.
Prunejuice is warriors drink.
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No, it's not. I didn't even know about your thread and I knew about the Moon Zone concept. They've had locations for launch pads since I8 or so. People on Test a long time ago found a hole in the map and found interiors for this launch pad with NPCs that talked about the moon. A moon zone is about as abstract a concept as the underwater zone. When people refer to it, they're usually referring to this abstract concept, not to anyone's particular implementation of it via suggestions. Unless you or your thread are named specifically, you really should have no reason to be angry.|
Originally Posted by Golden_Ace
It was quite obvious he was referring to my thread.
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And for what it's worth, that point is valid. In a mission titled "we need new mission maps, not new zones," the point that it's better to have a moon base instance tileset than to have a moon base zone is not just a legitimate one, but a natural one to make.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
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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Originally Posted by Xzero45
To be honest, I wasn't even aware you had a thread to begin with. A moon zone is the most popular zone suggestion among these forums, so just because it involves the moon doesn't make it about you.
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Then you shouldn't have inserted yourself into a conversation that you knew nothing about. Just because you were unaware doesn't mean others were similarly incapacitated.
had he just been railing against a moon zone I wouldn't even have posted.
[color=gold][b][size=5]♪ Sometimes you feel like a Tank, Sometimes you don't! ♪[/size][/color][/b]
[url=http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=114726][color=black][b][size=5]Moon [color=red]Hazard [color=black]Zone![/size][/color][/color][/color][/b][/url]
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I'm still failing to see how he took a jab at you at all, but whatever. You obviously just want to get mad over something.
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Originally Posted by Golden_Ace
Then you shouldn't have inserted yourself into a conversation that you knew nothing about. Just because you were unaware doesn't mean others were similarly incapacitated.
had he just been railing against a moon zone I wouldn't even have posted. |
Be careful with Moon zones. I'm keeping my martian star fleet there back side of the Moon.
Prunejuice is warriors drink.
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Originally Posted by Captain-Electric
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? |
I vote YES for more mission maps. Your ideas are awesome, I would really to fight on those maps!
Just some crazy ideas I am going to throw out there:
"The neighborhood shop clerks feel too scared to keep their stores open, you need to go to the stores marked on your map, help save small business economy!"
--You enter the convenience store and have to repel waves of gangs that keep trying to hit the place, last out the countdown. The npc's that attempt to shop lift will have dialogue (ex: "wheres the vault gram-pa", "empty the register", "I have a five-finger discount"...etc.). There should be a cowardly looking hostage behind the register (use a layout similar to the tech-gadget store, but with music constantly playing in the background, soda dispensers, shelf with a cereal featuring Statesman, gumball machines, etc.) It would be hilarious if there was a store sensor door beep whenever a thug enters.
[blue side]
-reward: xp + temp. emote=slushy drink
-badge: complete this mission type 50x for the "neighborhood watch" badge
~this could also be an event, much like the Steel Canyon Fire~
"The diamond/radioactive mineral quarry or archeological/dino dig site is under attack! Thwart the raid!"
--large pit mine with excavating equipment, hostages are running around (construction workers using the Shark Isle raid or researchers using doctors as the npc.)
[blue side=stop raid, red side=raid the glowies in the quarry and escape]
-reward: xp + temp. attack power=melee with a large coring sample
"the train is under attack, stop the bandits!"
--you fight your way on top and through a steam locomotive's box carts and then...
[blue side=stop the super villain from robbing the gold, red side=rob the gold within the train]
-reward: xp + temp. travel power=steam powered copter pack
-badge: complete this mission type 50x for the "box cart brawler" badge
"he stole from me, now you steal it back!"
--you fight outside and inside a South American mansion, map has a jungle surrounding the map borders. There would be a large reflecting pond/pool in the center with rows of hedges and some fancy cars. There would be a round-about drive way with a water-fountain. There would be a white mansion with a balcony overlooking the front lawn and a fully bricked patio on the backside of the mansion, there would be lawn ornaments like statues, sun dials, croquet set, garden maze, life-size chest board.
~this could be part of a "The Family" story arc~
-reward: xp + temp. emote= playing croquet
-badge: complete this mission (or a quota) for the "no honor amongst thieves" badge
[red side]
"raid the resistance cabin in the swamp lands"
--you move through a map that has brine/swamp water vegetation/growth. The water is waist high except for small stretches of sand bar like protrusions, the only man made structures is a small wooden cabin with a dock a jet propelled version of a fan boat. There is a constant sound of animal noises in the background, like frogs, crickets, something diving into the water making a splash.
-reward: xp
[gold side]
I may have more ideas to post later on.
We require moon zones, this is the sacred holy gaming ground that we need to be treading and bleeding on!
I think we really need both new maps and zones. New or updated maps are a must, (I hate entering an office door and emerging in a cave mission, very annoying!) but new zones are much needed too, I refuse to accept this as an either/or proposition.
We need shopping mall maps! We're in a huge city, where's the shopping malls!?
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I checked the whole thread looking for somebody saying this
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Originally Posted by Broken_Wings
We need shopping mall maps! We're in a huge city, where's the shopping malls!?
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Ever since the beginning of this game, people have banged the drum for new environmental artwork. I am one of those people, and the monotony of the zones and mission maps was the primary reason I let my subscription end. I would restart my subscription again once or twice, but ultimately reach the same conclusions and move on to something else.
That said, things have come a very long way since April 2004, with many more mission maps or modified base maps, and missions designed to take advantage of them. It's only when you grind the newspapers and play older blue-side content when things start to get ho-hum again.
I'm afraid I'm not as averse to at least working on zones as some in this thread seem to be. There's a lot of currently useless real estate in Paragon City and I'd really like to see those zones made relevant again before adding new zones entirely. Places like Boomtown, Crey's Folly, Perez Park, Brickstown and Skyway City are either totally abandoned or very underused. I'd like to see them all be revamped like Faultline and Dark Astoria. There would be nothing wrong with adding more new interesting places to heavily trafficked zones too. A news building to Steel Canyon, a community center in Kings Row, a museum in Atlas or an aquarium in Talos could all be useful to potential plot lines or just giving the zones more character. How about a trial in The Ziggurat, using assets for the old City of Villains tutorial?
Mission wise, people have already given a lot of good suggestions for new maps, so I don't have much to add but a vote of solidarity for subway maps, either new or abandoned. They'd be the perfect way to break up the monotony of sewer missions, maybe you could even have the subways and sewers transition into each other from time to time. Extra cool points if would able to fight in, or on top of a moving train.
Also, I really think the game could with a carnival style mission map with a bunch of goofy colors and clown faces, fun house mirrors and kids toys mixed in nasty death traps. Think Arcade's Murderworld, or the places Batman often fights Joker, or the places Spider-man fights Mysterio.
If the developers are dead set on taking the game to space, I hope they go big. I feel as if one moon base or space zone or mission map wouldn't really be enough to capture the amount of possibility the setting brings. I guess I'm saying that I would totally pony up for a new full expansion with multiple new zones, storylines and powers for heroes who want to go beyond Earth.
this thread delivers!
I like the idea of having BOTH new maps and new zones!
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