I recall the "taxi service" in Hollows - which was just someone offering to TP folks from one side of the map to the other since it was just a chore(read dangerous) to make it a mission. Debt was a real problem - so when you got your travel power at 14 - it was a thrilling experience.
This was also the time of perma-hasten which allowed multiple pets for controllers out at once. Strongest team I was ever on -was an Issue 4 all controller team - we had 3 fire/kins, 2 Ill/emp, 2 Grav/storm and 1 Ice/FF - EACH toon multiple pets out - Fire kins had about 20 imps out, Illusions had multiple phantom armies and phantasms / and Gravs had 6 singes out ... it was basically a league from an 8 toon team....... everything was obliterated
Finally, you didn't have access to the kinds of resources we do now - (badge trackers, walkthrough websites etc). So you had to really take your time and hope you had a friend that knew what was going on....