O-portal question

[Techwright]

What was the original developers' thinking behind the specific selection of zones one can exit to from within Ouroboros via the front portal? 

 

Was it every updated as the game expanded?

 

In your opinion, is the list good, or can it be improved?

[MTeague]

I usually prefer oldschool travel. I'll use Ouro when I'm on a team (just to keep pace), or when I actually plan to GO to Ouro for a flashback. 

Not much otherwise.

[Turric]

IMO, there should have been more of a crossroads or central hub in the city. Red side does better with this as Cap au Diable serves that function. Talos Island somewhat serves that function. The central hub zone should have ALL amenities that are not zone specific. That includes a P2W vendor, which should be in both Cap and Talos. Then there is the end game zones, which are PI / Grandville.

 

So, I think the Ouro choices make sense for the most part --> beginning zones, middle zones & crossroads, end game zones. I think Founders Falls was in there for the ease of access to the Midnighter Club and then Cimeroa. I think Independence Port could be removed but whatever. Is Nerva one of the choices, I cannot remember.

 

If I had my druthers, I would revamp the entire travel system and even the way the zones are planned out. I would have merged the Rogue Isles with Paragon City from the very start so that villains were actually IN the city too, but just had different trainers and services. The actual Rogue Isle zones would have become part of Paragon, though some would have been hazard zones. Lord Arachnos would have his own island. There would also be some zones entered only via special helicopters or airplanes that took you to different parts of the world for doing special missions, like a jungle island (i.e Primeval section of Nerva, kind of like a Savage Island), a Madripoor like foreign city, an arctic area (perhaps the North Pole), undersea Atlantis and so forth. Also, the Portal Corporation would have a single portal and the places it would take you would have more internal story cohesion. I never understood why there are 3 portals in 3 different building basements. It is annoying popping back and forth between.

 

I have gone off topic. I apologize.

[Veracor]

The two exit portals should be able to teleport to each other.  Because it's Ouroboros.

[Clave Dark 5]

When it was first introduced, Ouroboros was part of the "let's start the Incarnate trip now" stuff, wasn't it?  So it was intended to be, generally, for higher level character use.  Also, I'm guessing they didn't want to make it too easy for everyone to now ignore the tram system because you're paying for the game and the more time you waste ion transit the better (plus people hate getting rid of their old systems).  I don't think it was ever meant to be the end-all and be-all of hub TP.

[CaptainLupis]

7 hours ago, MTeague said:

I usually prefer oldschool travel. I'll use Ouro when I'm on a team (just to keep pace), or when I actually plan to GO to Ouro for a flashback. 

Not much otherwise.

There is one other thing it is good for, "board transit" missions when you are nowhere near a tram or ferry (like at portal corp in PI), as the majority of those missions can be accessed from the exit portal from Ouroboros.

[Snarky]

1 hour ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

When it was first introduced, Ouroboros was part of the "let's start the Incarnate trip now" stuff, wasn't it?  So it was intended to be, generally, for higher level character use.  Also, I'm guessing they didn't want to make it too easy for everyone to now ignore the tram system because you're paying for the game and the more time you waste ion transit the better (plus people hate getting rid of their old systems).  I don't think it was ever meant to be the end-all and be-all of hub TP.

Ouro predated Incarnate content by....years?  Our main wish for it live was a way to hit banks for badges.  Which was a near constant meme thread on the boards.

[Apparition]

2 hours ago, CaptainLupis said:

There is one other thing it is good for, "board transit" missions when you are nowhere near a tram or ferry (like at portal corp in PI), as the majority of those missions can be accessed from the exit portal from Ouroboros.

 

 

I much prefer Team Transporter for that.  Having everyone shuffle off to Ouroboros can result in losing the difficulty setting.

[CaptainLupis]

8 minutes ago, Apparition said:

 

 

I much prefer Team Transporter for that.  Having everyone shuffle off to Ouroboros can result in losing the difficulty setting.

I could see losing the dificulty as an issue when teaming, especially on a PUG, but the people I regularly team with all know to wait until the mission holder is in the zone before entering the mission. Personally I like using the quicker recharging Ouro portal than use the longer recharging team transporter for it, but that's just personal preference.

[srmalloy]

23 minutes ago, Apparition said:

 

 

I much prefer Team Transporter for that.  Having everyone shuffle off to Ouroboros can result in losing the difficulty setting.

However, there is one good reason to hit Ouroboros for a 'board transit' mission -- the hospital. Look at the position of hospitals relative to the tram stations/ferries. In the last mission of Posi 1, if you took the tram in south Steel Canyon to enter the mission, and get defeated, you'll have to schlep the width of Steel to get back to the mission. From Ouro, you rez at the stations in the back, and the portal's right there.

[Burk]

5 hours ago, Apparition said:

 

 

I much prefer Team Transporter for that.  Having everyone shuffle off to Ouroboros can result in losing the difficulty setting.

 

Except Team Transporter doesn't work for "Board Transit" missions.

[Apparition]

14 minutes ago, Burk said:

 

Except Team Transporter doesn't work for "Board Transit" missions.

As of Issue 27, Page One, yes, yes it does.  I use it for the last mission in Positron 1 TF, the last mission of the Dr. Kahn TF, the Maria Jenkins story arc, and others.  Try it.  It works.  I have done it numerous times over the past couple of months.

Edited March 31, 2021 by Apparition

[Techwright]

1 hour ago, Apparition said:

As of Issue 27, Page One, yes, yes it does.  I use it for the last mission in Positron 1 TF, the last mission of the Dr. Kahn TF, the Maria Jenkins story arc, and others.  Try it.  It works.  I have done it numerous times over the past couple of months.

Where does that drop you if you have to go to the hospital?  I am one of those who loves the Ouroboros hospital for proximity to getting back in the fight ( and the inspiration vendor is not terribly far either).

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Techwright

[Apparition]

11 minutes ago, Techwright said:

Where does that drop you if you have to go to the hospital?  I am one of those who loves the Ouroboros hospital for proximity to getting back in the fight ( and the inspiration vendor is not terribly far either).

 

 

If you have to go to the hospital, it takes you to the hospital of whatever zone you were last in.  That can be a little bit of a haul, but I'd rather deal with that than deal with the crowd of people camping the Ouroboros portal, and possibly losing the mission difficulty setting.  To each his or her own. :D

Edited March 31, 2021 by Apparition

[Coyotedancer]

13 hours ago, Turric said:

I think Independence Port could be removed but whatever.

 

Hard no on that. 

The Indy Ouro exit is the one closest to a train station. That makes it useful. 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Coyotedancer

[Doomguide2005]

9 hours ago, Snarky said:

Ouro predated Incarnate content by....years?  Our main wish for it live was a way to hit banks for badges.  Which was a near constant meme thread on the boards.

Perhaps so, but clearly the Live Devs had plans *insert evil laughter here* given the Incarnate story lines presented by the Menders now

[Techwright]

3 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

 

Hard no on that. 

The Indy Ouro exit is the one closest to a train station. That makes it useful. 

 

 

My OP wasn't actually asking for removals, just people's thoughts on the topic.  That said, Talos exit is to the hill next to the train station, so...close.  There's also the matter that the Homecoming developers moved some of the base portals to more practical spots.  Should an Ouro exit, as you phrase it, be in an awkward location, perhaps they can look into moving it as well.

[Placta]

23 hours ago, Techwright said:

What was the original developers' thinking behind the specific selection of zones one can exit to from within Ouroboros via the front portal? 

 

Was it every updated as the game expanded?

 

In your opinion, is the list good, or can it be improved?

 

When Ouroboros was introduced, it required level 25+ to access, so it has most of the high-level (city) zones, leaving out Croatoa and Brickstown, and one low-level zone for each side (Atlas and Cap).

 

The main list was never expanded, but they added an echo portal for Galaxy when it was blown up, and later DA when Mot ate it.

 

It's mostly fine, although I think IP is kind of redundant and Steel being missing feels wrong.

[srmalloy]

17 minutes ago, Placta said:

When Ouroboros was introduced, it required level 25+ to access,

15+, IIRC. Typically acquired through either the PychoChronoMetron arc in Faultline or begging in AP for someone to drop a portal.

[Placta]

10 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

15+, IIRC. Typically acquired through either the PychoChronoMetron arc in Faultline or begging in AP for someone to drop a portal.

 

You could earn the Entrusted badge/portal before, but it required 25 to enter. Later lowered to 14 with the free-to-play launch.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Placta

[Hyperstrike]

3 hours ago, Placta said:

 

You could earn the Entrusted badge/portal before, but it required 25 to enter. Later lowered to 14 with the free-to-play launch.

Now, with access to a base and the Shadow zones, and you can get Entrusted at Level 1.

[Turric]

7 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

 

Hard no on that. 

The Indy Ouro exit is the one closest to a train station. That makes it useful. 

 

 

 

My point being that the difference between the distance to the train for Talos and Independence was minimal and Talos had more services located very close, such as a trainer / Tunnel Gate / Vault / Pocket D, making it a better crossroads IMO. And the Smuggler Ship to Striga is closer, though both are kind of far away. I wasn't advocating for IP's removal, just that it seemed superfluous to me. 

[CaptainLupis]

2 hours ago, Turric said:

 

My point being that the difference between the distance to the train for Talos and Independence was minimal and Talos had more services located very close, such as a trainer / Tunnel Gate / Vault / Pocket D, making it a better crossroads IMO. And the Smuggler Ship to Striga is closer, though both are kind of far away. I wasn't advocating for IP's removal, just that it seemed superfluous to me. 

I'd actually consider moving the IP exit point to the north west of the map.  There is no other quick way to get to that side and there are some contacts I always avoid when I get them as I can't be bothered traipsing all the way up there for missions. At least that way it would have some added functionality for being in IP. The Talos exit point is on the hill so it's hardly far to the tram line if that's what people want.

[Sovera]

15 hours ago, Apparition said:

As of Issue 27, Page One, yes, yes it does.  I use it for the last mission in Positron 1 TF, the last mission of the Dr. Kahn TF, the Maria Jenkins story arc, and others.  Try it.  It works.  I have done it numerous times over the past couple of months.

 

It does/did if everyone in the team is of the same alignment. Which means sometimes it worked and sometimes we get an error message. I use it on Market Crash's since the tram is sooooooooooo far away but it only works half the time.

[SuperPlyx]

I think but not sure it goes: if everyone is Hero/Vigilante OR everyone is Villain/Rogue the TT works.