Interaction and exploration in CoH/CoV

[Typhon]

(posted this in suggestions, also posting here for the hell of it)

I'd like to see the devs increase the immersion of the zones a bit more.  Currently the landmarks in a zone are of only secondary importance to the contacts and brokers.  Spontaneously going out and exploring the countryside has little purpose other then badges (and hunting, of course).

A good example are the devils peaks in Cap Au Diablo.  Very interesting land mark.  I flew out there and flew around for a half an hour and couldn't figure out what was up.  Apparently there is some mystical force at work, but also apparent is that Arachnos is mining something (oil?).  I'm sure there is a story somewhere within one of the contact arcs, but with the 4 hero's I've leveled through the Cap I've yet to have a clue about what is going on.

I know that there are badges, but collecting them is more a matter of reading a website to find where other folks have found them, and then going and collecting my badge - if this makes me a 'bad person who doesn't do things the right way',... whatever.

I know that the special story-arc contacts don't require that you be introduced (you can just go up and click on them if you are level-appropriate), but nothing in the zone or on the map specifically leads you to those contacts for discovery (again, you depend on other contacts or internet sites to point you that way).

I'm just suggesting that there are doors on in the zones (level independent, or autoexemplar, if possible) that open (maybe once per team leader) into a mission that ends up telling alittle about that location.  Not every point of interest needs an entire story arc, some points of interest could have only a single mission that told a bit about that location (like the backstory stuff Manticor was writing).

Examples: haunted theater, bar that ends up errupting into a mook-versus-family firefight, etc.

Edit: removed crap at the end

[Alkiera]

the 4 hero's I've leveled through the Cap

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble seeing the difference.  CoV's missions, with some intro/epilogue text aside, are identical to CoH.  Identical.

Alkiera

[Glazius]

I'm sure there is a story somewhere within one of the contact arcs, but with the 4 hero's I've leveled through the Cap I've yet to have a clue about what is going on.

Marshall Brass has the information you need. In his first arc, even.

Though I agree about the POI stuff, 110%. "Hey, a map shop! I'm gonna smash the glass and get a treasure map! ...whaddaya mean 'You cannot enter'? I've got a --ing stone mallet that weighs more than my entire --ing body!"

--GF

[Typhon]

Marshall Brass has the information you need. In his first arc, even.

Awesome, thanks.  I only got him once so far, and by the time I got him he didnt want to talk to me.

[Glazius]

Marshall Brass has the information you need. In his first arc, even.

Awesome, thanks.  I only got him once so far, and by the time I got him he didnt want to talk to me.

Make sure you keep what you've actually done in mind when you finish the arc, if you decide not to fail the last mission (you get the scratch either way, but the souvenir changes). Seeing how the man spins what you do for his superiors put me somewhere between awe and all-out laughter.

--GF

The bit at the end where he kills you and destroys all evidence of your existence was _great_.

[dEOS]

  Spontaneously going out and exploring the countryside has little purpose other then badges (and hunting, of course).

Sadly... exploration was killed by the addition of travel powers & stealth. Going somewhere is not challenge in CoH/CoV. So there is little to be added as rewards for exploration.

[Glazius]

  Spontaneously going out and exploring the countryside has little purpose other then badges (and hunting, of course).

Sadly... exploration was killed by the addition of travel powers & stealth. Going somewhere is not challenge in CoH/CoV. So there is little to be added as rewards for exploration.

That's right on par with complaining that the combat is flawed because it doesn't let you walk away from the keyboard and make a sandwich.

--GF

And character creation is flawed because level 1s can look original!

[Typhon]

Sadly... exploration was killed by the addition of travel powers & stealth. Going somewhere is not challenge in CoH/CoV. So there is little to be added as rewards for exploration.

It's not the challenge that makes me explore, it's the chance to see interesting things, and get possibly get rewarded with an "easter egg", that does it for me.

Even without the easter egg, I have to say I still do explore if only to see interesting things.   I went to the volcano in Stryga even though I never did the TF.  I flew around the horns in Cap, even though I have never successfully gotten the Marshal set of missions on any of my characters.  I go cause they make the area look interesting, but I leave not having a clue as to what (if any) back story has been created.  I just wish they'd link point of interest (POI) exploration with POI storylines, and not force everything through a contact (or not start everything through a contact) that you may/may not get depending on how fast you level (I don't want to level slower).

What I'm suggesting is that they put in a single-shot way of getting a single-mission-length story arc that hooks you up with whatever contact has the mission set for that region (or tells yous you why you aren't eligible for that contact).  Example: an outdoor glowie in a less obvious position near the point of interest (POI).  Click the glowie, enter the mission (potentially being auto-exempt down to the right level).  End of mission ends with you getting the contact that has the story arc for that area.

Also what I'm suggesting is single-mission stories generated from a glowie near a point of interest could allow for a more in-game way to deliver manticore-style back story info into the game.  I'd also like for exploration badges to be given for completing these location-missions, rather then just flying over a button on the map (i.e. going out to a CoH mapsite and finding exploration locations and going to point X, Y with little/no actual interest in what's up with that particular location).

[Xanthippe]

What I'm suggesting is that they put in a single-shot way of getting a single-mission-length story arc that hooks you up with whatever contact has the mission set for that region (or tells yous you why you aren't eligible for that contact).  Example: an outdoor glowie in a less obvious position near the point of interest (POI).  Click the glowie, enter the mission (potentially being auto-exempt down to the right level).  End of mission ends with you getting the contact that has the story arc for that area.

Also what I'm suggesting is single-mission stories generated from a glowie near a point of interest could allow for a more in-game way to deliver manticore-style back story info into the game.  I'd also like for exploration badges to be given for completing these location-missions, rather then just flying over a button on the map (i.e. going out to a CoH mapsite and finding exploration locations and going to point X, Y with little/no actual interest in what's up with that particular location).

What a great idea!

[dEOS]

That's a good idea, Typhon. Finding new contacts through exploration would be neat.

However what you describe to me as "exploration" is IMHO rather sight-seeing than truly rewarded exploration. It's nice to have but not reusable content.

My idea of exploration would be rather to have huge zones with rare mobs for instance that when killed give rare salvage (and not rarely give salvage...). Outdoor hunting is dead now in CoH/CoV. Lots of the 15+ hazard zones are left unused in CoH. They are so useless that the Devs didn't even think it was necessary to have some in CoV.

Maybe I am biased... I liked running around in Asheron's Call 1. Finding new sights of course but also hunting rare mobs.... finding myself in moutainous area with snow covering the landscape... looking at the map and finding myself 15 minutes-run away from any civilization.

[Typhon]

However what you describe to me as "exploration" is IMHO rather sight-seeing than truly rewarded exploration. It's nice to have but not reusable content.

I guess my definition would be: Exploration is going somewhere you haven't been before cause your feet are itchy.  Dev's support exploration by putting value in out of the way or interesting places.  Once you've been to a location, the exploration desire has been fulfilled.

Hunting is going somewhere you've heard has good stuff, getting it, and doing it again when the mood strikes you, making it repeatable.

The two desires/playstyles are certainly not mutually exclusive... although there are explorers that do not hunt, and hunters who do not explore (I do not define reading a website and going to point X,Y as exploration).