do you want to spend more time in the streets?
Id like to see more outdoor SMALL events. Something I can do solo or with a partner.
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I like the idea of small zone events. The problem with the current ones (Troll Rave, Fire Alarm, etc) is that they're designed for groups rather than individuals. Unless you outlevel the content (and in the case of the Fire Alarm, have a powerset with ice damage), there's no way for one or two people to do the event. If you used the Nemesis code that spawns enemies for each person in the zone, though, then the zone events could scale dynamically for however many people want to take part in the event. It would be something interesting to add, though.
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This right here. Safeguard/Mayhem missions are a great model for how zones can be dynamic. Having dynamic events going on simultaneously in several locations throughout a zone would really help the place feel alive. You don't need full blown story arcs for these things. Leave all the really involved stuff in instances. Street crime and small schemes are exactly what you'd expect to see from villains just hanging around. Nobody plots to take over the world on a street corner (Except the Lost of course
Have random 'rogues gallery' bosses running out of a bank with a sack of loot, have villains smashing up a small area, mayhem mission style, have 2 bosses from different factions having a covert meeting under a bridge - it might not be possible to tell a whole story with a single open world event but you could drop hints of bigger goings on. Hell, if you defeat certain spawns (e.g. a named boss/elite boss), or mobs in a certain area, have the possibility of a specific themed tip mission dropping that continues the story in an instance - kind of like when you broke up a mugging the victim would run back to you to delivery some bonus influence, have something extra for breaking up whatever a group is up to.
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But if you really wanna draw players into open events there need to be consequences for participating or not. Don't bother to stop the Outcasts from robbing some stores? Maybe prices go up slightly on Enhancements for a little bit because of short supply. Conversely, if you and your fellow heroes do get involved and succeed the merchants are so grateful they provide a temporary discount on their merchandise. That kinda thing makes an event feel real and important. It makes players more inclined to get involved than some XP or a badge ever will (It also avoids the use of the somewhat unpredictable phasing tech).
Of course the consequences shouldn't be game breaking in any way. Rewarding or punishing players too much forces them into doing things and that's almost never good. But that balancing would be up to the Devs.
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The zones are horribly underutilized and I'm a reliable advocate for *anything* that gets people out of instances into public spaces.
There was a time (before my time) when street sweeping was popular.
Then it was all door missions. Then door missions started to include outdoor areas, which added much needed variety and just allowed for telling more stories. In the game you really only spend time in the non-instance for short periods between missions. Zones can look empty when there are a bunch of people doing missions in it. So they aren't really in the zone. This question is tricksy because it combines to different ideas. Do you want to spend more time in the non-instanced streets of Paragon (or the Rogue Isles)? and do you want to spend more time in outdoor but instanced maps? |
Mission maps I could care less about- if it's story-appropriate to have an outdoor map, cool, but it wasn't a big deal when they added them to the game. I said "hey, cool", started cracking heads and that was about it. They can be thematically neat from a storytelling perspective, but it's still an instance.
I'd like any kind of "outdoor missions" beyond generic Kill X & Go Talk to This Person/Visit This Location stuff.
I want more City of HEROES, less City of Instances.
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I'd love to see more zone events, ideally using the level-less invasion code as has previously been mentioned. Having areas in zones where bosses are more likely to spawn, and maybe have the possibility of elite bosses, would also be good - I know there's a Longbow Ballista in St Martial but it's the only example I can think of of an open world elite boss.
Have random 'rogues gallery' bosses running out of a bank with a sack of loot, have villains smashing up a small area, mayhem mission style, have 2 bosses from different factions having a covert meeting under a bridge - it might not be possible to tell a whole story with a single open world event but you could drop hints of bigger goings on. Hell, if you defeat certain spawns (e.g. a named boss/elite boss), or mobs in a certain area, have the possibility of a specific themed tip mission dropping that continues the story in an instance - kind of like when you broke up a mugging the victim would run back to you to delivery some bonus influence, have something extra for breaking up whatever a group is up to.
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