Trial Zones and Hazard Zones

[thunderforce]

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Trial_Zone seems confused. It looks like it wants to be a list of the Hazard Zones that include trials... but since when does the Storm Palace? (And if so, why say "Many of these zones contain Task Forces, Strike Forces, or Trials"?)

 

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Hazard_Zone would then presumably be all the Hazard Zones that don't have trials... except there's "Eden" again.

 

I wonder if I am missing some long-forgotten statement in the early days of the game as to which zone was which kind. If not, I suggest I merge the two pages into "Hazard Zone" leaving a redirect and note on the combined page which zones have Trials.

[Aberrant]

The only place in game that it's said as far as I'm aware is the Reconnaissance Officer NPC in the zone, usually near the zone entrance. For instance, in the Hollows the recon officer says: " You have arrived in The Hollows, which is considered a Hazard zone".  The rules for what constitutes a Trial or Hazard Zone have been weird and inconsistent since day 1 however. Ultimately the classification of these zones comes down to what the Reconnaissance Officer NPC in the zone says.

 

Edit: Found a page which has them all listed: https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Reconnaissance_Officer but yeah, they definitely don't all say. So according to the recon officers:

The Hollows: Hazard

Boomtown: Hazard

Striga Isle: Hazard

Crey's Folly: Hazard

The Abyss: Trial

 

Generally, I'd say anything that's not a city zone is by default a Hazard zone, and some Hazard zones are also Trial zones. 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Aberrant
Recon details

[thunderforce]

3 hours ago, Aberrant said:

Generally, I'd say anything that's not a city zone is by default a Hazard zone, and some Hazard zones are also Trial zones. 

Absent any reply saying why that's not so, in the next few days I'll do the proposed merge.

[Rikmach]

To answer “How are Trial Zones different from Hazard Zones?”  It was originally fairly simple:

 

1. More Dangerous than Hazard Zones (Larger and more dangerous spawns).

2. Intended to contain a Trial.

 

However, due to technical and Developmental difficulties and changes in philosophy, this became a confusing mess.  I’ll go over it in chronological order, with the caveat that information about the Beta is based on my memories.  If anyone has corrections, please share.

 

Back in Beta, there were five Hazard Zones:

 

The Sewer Network

Eden

The Hive

Terra Volta

Faultline

 

However, something interesting happened during the Beta:  The Sewer Network became a popular option to travel between the Low-level zones it connected to (The trams originally only brought you to the next stop in line, and you could only board them when the tram arrived, meaning if you knew the way, the sewer network could be much faster with fewer loading screens),  However, since it was restricted to level 36, it was usable at the levels it would be most useful at.  So the devs created a duplicate zone- the Abandoned Sewer Network- to hold the planned Trial, and lowered the level of the Sewer Network to level 1.

 

As for the Trials themselves, two of them were tested:  Faultline and Terra Volta.   Terra Volta’s tests were successful, however the respecification system itself was not completed, so there was no reward, therefore it was decided to not include it in the initial release.  As for the Faultline trial, apparently it was incredibly buggy and testing was discontinued during the beta, and the trial was shelved, planned to be released later like the other trials.   For the curious, it was supposed to function similar to the Terra Volta Trial:   Heroes were tasked with defending the southern part of the Reservoir (The area that was off-limits before the Faultline revamp) from waves of Clockwork, Vahzilok and Circle of Thorns.  Plot-wise, it was the culmination of the Positron Task Force, the actual assault upon the Dam that was discussed in that Task Force.

 

That said, there *was* one functional trial in Beta…  technically, depending on what you consider a trial:   Hamidon was present in the Hive since day one.  Most people call it a Raid, but it was a big Climatic battle that is situated in a Trial Zone, so it might technically count.

 

As for Eden and the Abandoned Sewer Network, No Trials were present in Beta, nor was there any testing on them that I am aware of.

 

The first actual Trial came out in issue 1.   The Abandoned Sewer Trial was released, bringing the number of functional trials to two.

 

Issue 2 was eventful:  The Eden Trial, Terra Volta Trial, and The Cavern of Transcendence trials were all released.   Also, two new Trial Zones were added:  The Rikti Crash Site and The Storm Palace.  Both lacked Trials, but presumably it was planned for ones to be added in the future.

 

This also led to one of the first inconsistencies (besides the Trial Zones lacking trials):  The Hollows was a new Hazard Zone-  But it contained a Trial.

 

Issue 6 was City of Villains.   It added Nerva Archipelago, which contained a Trial: The Tree of Thorns.   It was the first City Zone containing a trial, once again introducing an inconsistency in the meaning of Trial zones. This is presumably because City of Villains did not initially have the "Hazard" or "Trial" zone distinctions initially, only having City and PvP zones. (Though a Trial and Hazard Zone was added later)   The PvP Zone, Bloody Bay was added, which will be relevant later.

 

Issue 8 resulted in something interesting:  Faultline was revamped, changing it from a trial zone to a city zone, and presumably the plans for the Faultline Trial were shelved forever.  I spoke with the people who have access to the code, and they say there’s no sign of the Faultline Trial in the code anymore.  Likely it was removed at or around this point.

 

There was also a Trial added in this issue:  The Cathedral of Pain.  This is the first instance of something interesting:  Trials that are disconnected from their Trial Zones.  Story-wise, this Trial takes place inside the Storm Palace, but it’s Accessed through the Supergroup bases.  That said, there was a Game-Breaking bug found in the raid, and it was quickly removed.

 

Issue 9 Added a new Trial Zone to the Rogue Isles, the Abyss, which contained a Duplicate of the Hamidon Raid.

 

Issue 10 contains the second Revamp:  The Rikti Crash Site is replaced by the Rikti War Zone, and the Rikti Mothership Raid is added to it.

 

Issue 12 is interesting.  Cimerora is added, and is listed as a Trial Zone, but no trial is ever created for it.   Presumably, it was planned to have a Trial, but those plans never came to fruition.

 

Issue 18 sees the return of the Cathedral of Pain, with the game breaking bug gone- but due to the associated superbase raid system being scrapped, the Items of Power are no longer rewarded.

 

Issue 21 adds “Death from Below”, a Trial set in The Sewer Network, but accessed through the new Looking For Group system.

 

Finally, Issue 22 adds “Drowning in Blood”, a Trial set in Bloody Bay, also accessed through the LFG system.

 

In summary:

Trial Zones that contain trials directly:

 

Eden

Terra Volta

The Abandoned Sewer Network

 

Trials Zones that contain Trials indirectly:

 

The Sewer Network

The Storm Palace

 

Trial Zones that were revamped before ever containing trials:

 

Faultline

Rikti Crash Site

 

Trial Zones that contain Raids:

 

The Hive

The Abyss

Rikti War Zone

 

Hazard Zones that contain Trials:

 

The Hollows

 

City Zones that contain Trials:

 

Nerva Archipelago

 

PvP Zones that contain Trials Indirectly:

 

Bloody Bay

 

Trial Zones that do not contain Trials:

 

Cimerora

Edited November 2, 2023 by Rikmach

[thunderforce]

Thank you. That was interesting to read, and I'm glad I didn't do the merge back in the day - another victory for Captain Procrastination.

 

ETA: Hm, I can't decide now if I still want to merge them or not.

Edited May 7, 2023 by thunderforce

[thunderforce]

I did the merge. If people feel that's too drastic, yell at me or undo it.