Positron interview at OnRPG.com

"If I were to get any costume set it would be a Japanese anime-style mecha suit, that sort of angled, venty, armor that was big in the 1980’s and 90’s."


Oh Posi you tease!

Revamp Perez into a true 5 - 20 range zone! Finally having good hellion/skulls/hydra arcs would be a blessing for my lowbies!

I dunno if Kings would be the best choice for a revamp. Right now, you blow through 1-10 pretty quick, and you're shuffled off to Steel, which already has the two new arcs, the Midnighter arc, the Posi TFs, etc, and you're out of there pretty quick. Seems mid-range would be the best place to devote some attention to. If that means revamping Kings into a 30-40ish zone, giving it some gritty cop drama staring Blue Steel and Back Alley Brawler, then I'm all for it. But if it means hyper saturating the level range you already blow through? Eh, I'll pass.

A lot of the low level zones/arcs need to be reconfigured and revamped. As stated, the arcs in Atlas alone shoot you up through levels pretty fast. You can hit close to 10 just doing Hasheby and Shining Stars, and we've got DFB to power level you up to 14 or so.

That isn't to say that a bit more low level content wouldn't be nice, to give us some variety so we're not shoe horned into so few options. But it's made a lot of zones almost obsolete in terms of being places to hang out and run arcs, they're just pit stops as you do other missions. Worse, because of the new contacts we're not introduced into the contact chains like we used to so you -have- to run newspaper missions if you want to jump into them.

Kings Row seems like a logical next step, I suppose, though I've personally never thought the zone looked that bad. While I'm aware that the textures in the area are just as old as any of the other aged zones it still manages to have a unique theme to it that is different from the bright happy blue industrial metropolis that is ordinarily Paragon City. It still manages to be refreshing despite its' age.

If I was going to redesign a zone it probably would be somewhere nobody *ever* goes like Boomtown, Independence Port, or Stirga Island.

I dont like the idea they abandoned the proyect of new armor for Positron.
If I were in charge of the game...All the heroes would get a new unique costume (except Mirror Spirit and Foreshadow, they are the only ones awesome).
Also I think its better to give old zones a new look and purpose, like Atlas Park or Dark Astoria, better than adding new zones.
The more revamped zone and content I see, the more revamps I want and less need for new zones.

Great interview!

So many of these turn out as if the interviewer is just checking off bullet points from some press release, with answers that have been generated by the marketing code-bot and repeated word-for-word in interview after interview. This was refreshing, and honestly how it should be done more often.

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Originally Posted by InfamousBrad Am I the only one who likes King's Row the way it is?

Nope. Not at all. It's kind of awesome in its gritty realness.

Quote:

And I'll tell you why: ever since issue 4, stepping off the tram into King's Row is the first minute I feel like I'm actually needed. The people of King's Row need heroes, because, even with Blue Steel standing there, even with Paragon PD headquarters in the zone, it is obvious just walking through it: ever since Statesman bankrupted the King Garment Works for their Family ties, King's Row is the neighborhood that everybody else left behind, that nobody cares about.

Yes, exactly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xzero45 ...I have to agree that Kings Row does an outstanding job as is conveying that feeling of it being a slummish, back alley part of Paragon City. I only have a couple issues with it, one being I wish the police HQ had an awesome interior, kind of like City Hall only filled with all sorts of police officers and superheroes not obsessed with glory, but hard at work. ... But I'd honestly love to see Kings Row get a new, actual story arc involving PPD, gang wars and violence, drug smuggling and distribution, and an overall behind-the-scenes plot that alludes to higher level content and enemy groups without actually having you come in contact with them just yet.

Given its size, the police HQ is highly under-utilized. I agree, let us go inside. Heck, make it the centerpiece for for a new Kings Row story. The PPD Trial or something.

I'd love to see the STORIES in Kings Row get updated, and I'd love to see more (something, anything) done with Police HQ. But I don't need to see the physical zone itself revamped much at all.

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Kings Row revamped to be the "Gotham" to Atlas Park's "Metropolis" sounds like a fantastic idea. I like the gritty, industrial mood of Kings Row and would hope that any revamp keeps that theme.

Perez was always a weird zone. I remember it being around before the Hollows though, all the low level teams wound up in that place way back in the day.

It'd be great to see some dymic content for that zone. The outer perimeter is suppossed to be somewhat of a battle ground between the Skulls and Hellions, though I'm uncertain if there's ever been any clear indication as to why.

Making it so that if Heroes focus too much attention on Hellions, the Skulls begin to take their territory or the otherway around would be pretty neat. Having certain objectives to force both sides back for their story arc would be neat.

Allow villain access and give them arcs that let the player choose which side to manipulate so that one side appears to win over the other so they villain gets what they want out of it.

Do this for both heroes and villains, and have the stories later involve the other factions present in the area going all the way up to the Hydra.

This way, you have the following Hazard zones:
Hollows: 5-15
Perez Park changed to 10-20 hero / villain zone
Faultline 15-25
Croatoa 20-30
Striga 25-35

Here's what I'd like to see:

Perez Park - The Storyline focuses on retaking the zone for the Galaxy City Refugees, and for any refugees from Praetoria and other such places. The Skulls and the Hellions get a revamp, as you work to push them out of the zone. A new tunnel leads to Kings Row.

Kings Row - Follows after Perez Park. The gang warfare has escalated in the zone after the Skulls and Hellions were pressed into there, and the Clockwork King plans something big after years of his Paladin being defeated, which includes his forces getting a revamp.

Skyway City - Grendel returns to lead the Trolls, and the Outcasts struggle with a power vacuum after Frostfire's turn to heroism. Their conflict spills out into Skyway City, while the Lost work to secure their power base in the south of the zone in an attempt to claim Faultline for themselves.

Steel Canyon - The Clockwork King's plans extend into Steel Canyon, a faction of Outcasts begins to recruit new blood and hone their talents under the guide of a charasmatic new leader with more on his mind than petty crimes, and new business ventures may have sinister backers that attract the ire of several of the city's older gangs.

Independance Port - Remenants of the Syndicate have come to Primal Earth, and are soon starting to regroup in the zone. Meanwhile, the Marcone family seek to expand into the zone. With the Frost Family rallying their forces to fend off these two new threats, the PPD and the heroes of the area are faced with fending off a triple threat.

Talos Island - The Tsoo and the Warriors enmity reaches new heights, and as the Circle seek to solidify their claim on the northern islands and force the Devouring Earth off, something stirs among the Freakshow as news comes down from the 'top'.

Brickstown - Under the city, Arachnos attempt to build a power base, tapping into the glut of new inmates in the Zig. Crey makes a deal to bring employment and revitalization to the area, looking to reclaim 'Crey's Folly'. The Syndicate continue their struggle, and the extreme environmentalists that support the Devouring Earth plan new actions under the guise and deception of the self-appointed force of nature.

There's plenty of ways to revamp enemies and give places a story that interacts with others as well standing by themselves. Some Vigilante/Rogue Content would be neat too.

I pretty much only team to do TFs (and trials), but I would consider paying 800 points for a team zone TP that wasn't on something like a 1-2 hour recharge.

I agree - makes a very nice change to see an interview NOT based off a press release, and willing to ask a few different questions. I also wish we could have seen what the alternate look for Posi's armor would have been (and exactly how that was supposed to relate to his involvement with Numina)...

*grins*

And guess who her interviewee is for her next week's column?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I'd try something new with KR and shoot for a no level sort of thing. A place you can go to regardless of level and have adventures there. This makes it an unlimited option for any player to do regardless of level. Storyarcs would be TF's that have the ability to be started by a single person ala the SSA arcs. Each could deal with a different faction Hero arcs, vig arcs, Villian arcs and Rogue arcs. Each one dealing with a different enemy group found with in it. A Trial that deals with Paladin attacking the city, and another Trial that causes Paladin to attack the city for villains.

There are lots of hero and villain tales to tell within a zone like that. Stories that are timeless. I'd just like to see something different then oh its a 5-20 zone, or 15-30.. a zone that you can just go back to whenever you want to experience the content within, without having to flashback down and run all over creation to do so.

Jumping into the Kings Row topic...

Yeah, The Row is one of my favorite places. Possibly because it has always reminded me of a NY borough like Brooklyn (and reminded me of some of the old Spider-Man backdrops).
Brad and others have said good things about it that I agree with. It definitely has that understated, underclass aspect about it that makes it a wonderful backdrop to good super hero stories and the perpetual human struggles.

Of course, this could all be captured and maintained through a revamp, so I am not entirely against a revamp (I imagine a revamp may come for most every zone eventually, if the game continues to be successful enough).

However, being a lover of The Row, I am certainly apprehensive about a revamp... simply because it is easy to change things, but it is quite difficult to keep as-good or make better.

Current Dark Astoria vs. Old Dark Astoria... Whether the new is better or not, everyone I know had an enormous reaction to the first time they stepped into the old Dark Astoria, due to the fog and the ghostly pedestrians that quickly vanish. That was a large part of the reason that, as Posi mentioned, the community had a lot of love for Dark Astoria.

Whenever you make changes, there might be sacrifices made to what used to exist. And it becomes a subjective matter for how much those changes may or may not spoil the enjoyment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montaugh I'd try something new with KR and shoot for a no level sort of thing. A place you can go to regardless of level and have adventures there. This makes it an unlimited option for any player to do regardless of level. Storyarcs would be TF's that have the ability to be started by a single person ala the SSA arcs. Each could deal with a different faction Hero arcs, vig arcs, Villian arcs and Rogue arcs. Each one dealing with a different enemy group found with in it. A Trial that deals with Paladin attacking the city, and another Trial that causes Paladin to attack the city for villains. There are lots of hero and villain tales to tell within a zone like that. Stories that are timeless. I'd just like to see something different then oh its a 5-20 zone, or 15-30.. a zone that you can just go back to whenever you want to experience the content within, without having to flashback down and run all over creation to do so.

This is an idea I pretty much love.
I've always wanted such zones in CoH. I'm not a fan of levels being such controlling factors for zones. I'd say that I'd love this idea, while keeping the street spawns all within the old Kings Row level range.
I'd also love to see other zones done with such a design. However, Kings Row could be a great zone to do this for... as it has such character and importance, but (due to how quickly one can level past the level range) has become a zone very easily completely missed/avoided.

I am shocked that a conversation about revamping zones only mentions Boomtown twice. Most of the other zones brought up on this thread so far at least get some sort of foot traffic, even if it's for the sake of passing through, the odd mission or certain amenities. Boomtown is pretty much a big, useless nothing and is in as desperate a need to be made relevant again as Dark Astoria was before issue 22.

As for Kings, I'd be all for new environmental art as long as it maintains or enhances the overall "bad part of town" feel of the area. Add a community center, or a red light district, or a run down public school or housing projects etc. etc. Maybe sprinkle in one or two destroyed buildings, bombed out or burned down by the gang violence. Let there be a pre-Halloween event where the Hellions set the whole area on fire.

I wouldn't necessarily want Kings Row to be Gothamized though, at least not the Tim Burton sense. The Rogue Isles handles that look just fine.

Yeah, I think that is what concerns me when it comes to redoing Kings Row...
People say "bad part of town" and the like, but it is that sort of thing that has greatly varying personal definitions.
What I'd hate to see is Kings Row made into a completely menacing-looking, coolicized darkity dark dark,back-alley sort of town... zone-wide.
Really, as zzMDude says, I wouldn't want to see it "Gothamized".

I like how it looks during the daylight... the brownstone buildings. A lot of ugliness as well. Not stylized ugliness, but uncaring, industrial and low end development ugliness. I could see adding in a small, twisted, back-alley area in there with a bit more of a gothic-pizazz. So long as it doesn't come close to dominating the zone.

Just my opinions.


EDIT:
Basically, I want to see it stay as a place that you could realistically expect to find a decent, hardworking, low-income family living there. Kings Row works so well for me, because it is a realistic bad place. A nice backdrop for fighting crime is a place where (possibly down-trodden, but) good families live in humble apartment complexes and try to keep to themselves and avoid the gangsters.

IMO, Kings Row should be the goto zone for urban vigilantes and dark crusaders of all levels to fight more 'street level' threats and when they need a more gritty and, shall we say, gothic backdrop for content. It saddens me when I make such characters and have to leave the environment perfect for them.

Contrast that Steel Canyon which should be upscale, all gleaming towers suited for high flying men and women of tomorrow.


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A good KR revamp would put in some story arcs, expand the level range to 20 or so (make it an alternate to Steel Canyon/Skyway) and maybe add some more unique structures to certain areas of the zone, to better distinguish the districts. Like many of the game's original zones, KR suffers from copy/paste design where a small set of buildings have been stamped over the map in semi-random (and sometimes nonsensical) arrangements, especially with regard to street layout, though it fares better than other original zones, partly due to its generally more intimate scale.

I would also not want to see it 'Gothamized'. It doesn't need the gritty equivalent of Dark Astoria's red (EVIL!) war walls.