Keep peace in Boomtown

[Robothenri]

Can anyone tell me why this mission exists? It's a mission you get at around level 9... in Boomtown... kill 10 purple clockworks... at level 9... why? If you so much as google Boomtown at level 9, you die instantly. If you even hear someone mention Boomtown at level 9, you spontaneously combust. Why is this stupid mission there?

[Peacemoon]

Sounds like a very old mission. Boomtown is a hazard zone and in the old old days, people would only go there with a full group. The zone is not meant for people soloing.

[PeregrineFalcon]

Clearly you don't remember The Hollows. Where we'd go at level 9 and have to sneak past level 14 mobs just to get to our mission door.

 

Taxi Bots, players who would help other players by teleporting them to their mission doors in The Hollows, were a big deal back then.

[Glacier Peak]

As @Peacemoon said, it's likely a remnant of the original zone intent, as hazard zones were only intended to be braved with full teams. 

[ZorkNemesis]

It's actually a pretty good question as to why a level 9 mission is sending you to Boomtown in the first place.  You couldn't even enter the zone before reaching level 10 prior to issue 16.

[TheZag]

18 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Clearly you don't remember The Hollows. Where we'd go at level 9 and have to sneak past level 14 mobs just to get to our mission door.

 

Taxi Bots, players who would help other players by teleporting them to their mission doors in The Hollows, were a big deal back then.

 

People would also take hover to fly across the zone.  The good ol' days back when it took 25 minutes to get everyone to the mission.  3-4 team deaths when moving between missions.  And the mission itself wasnt enough xp to clear the debt you earned trying to get there.

[srmalloy]

13 hours ago, ZorkNemesis said:

It's actually a pretty good question as to why a level 9 mission is sending you to Boomtown in the first place.  You couldn't even enter the zone before reaching level 10 prior to issue 16.

That mission, like all the other 'Talk to the [zone] security chief' missions, is the "I've run out of missions to give you" or "You've outleveled my mission range" handout from contacts. Sometimes it was ugly -- you could get the "Talk to the Perez Park security chief" mission at level 6 and be told to go defeat the clusters of level 9+ CoT in the paths through the trees. They were there to encourage people to team, so they'd get introduced to it -- and since people would team up because they had the mission, too, it introduced them to the "You have completed a mission that you have, too" mechanic.

[Zhym]

6 hours ago, TheZag said:

People would also take hover to fly across the zone.  The good ol' days back when it took 25 minutes to get everyone to the mission.  3-4 team deaths when moving between missions.  And the mission itself wasnt enough xp to clear the debt you earned trying to get there.

Good times, man.  Good times.

[DoctorDitko]

One of my favorite in-game memories was when my FF controller was making his way across the Hollows with Hover.

 

Normally, I'd be repainting the bathroom while I waited, but this time I stuck around. And below me, a teammate from the previous night was slowly going down before a crowd of Pumices. I hit him with every bubble I had, and he killed them all. I felt like a real hero that day, and he was ecstatic!

 

Good times, indeed!

[MTeague]

8 hours ago, TheZag said:

People would also take hover to fly across the zone.  The good ol' days back when it took 25 minutes to get everyone to the mission.  3-4 team deaths when moving between missions.  And the mission itself wasnt enough xp to clear the debt you earned trying to get there.

 

<Grumpy Old Man Voice>  "And we liked it that way!  We liked it right fine!  Gol-Durn Whippersnappers these days..."

[Yomo Kimyata]

Suicide express was a enormous time saver.

[Darmian]

2 hours ago, srmalloy said:

That mission, like all the other 'Talk to the [zone] security chief' missions, is the "I've run out of missions to give you" or "You've outleveled my mission range" handout from contacts. Sometimes it was ugly -- you could get the "Talk to the Perez Park security chief" mission at level 6 and be told to go defeat the clusters of level 9+ CoT in the paths through the trees. They were there to encourage people to team, so they'd get introduced to it -- and since people would team up because they had the mission, too, it introduced them to the "You have completed a mission that you have, too" mechanic.

I also remember us team wiping, which generated the "ok, now we angry!  Let's go get those guys!" with the team.  Ok, we then died a lot more, but by now we're getting the hang of dying.

[DoctorDitko]

35 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

Suicide express was a enormous time saver.

Truth! Once you hit the debt cap, it was free, too!

[tidge]

While not really coming close to the one-off "go to this hazard zone and fight N +5 (btw the minions are in spawns of 8)" missions, I've been reliving some of the "charm" of the early days while collecting Oroborous badges without travel powers (AT-only powers also kinda works). As a long-time arc-player I have a general sense of which ones will be less painful than others, but dear gawd there are a lot of arcs of the type "go to this corner of Talos, then take to Azuria, then go to this corner of Talos..."

[UltraAlt]

On 3/2/2022 at 5:56 PM, Robothenri said:

Can anyone tell me why this mission exists? It's a mission you get at around level 9... in Boomtown... kill 10 purple clockworks... at level 9... why? If you so much as google Boomtown at level 9, you die instantly. If you even hear someone mention Boomtown at level 9, you spontaneously combust. Why is this stupid mission there?

 

Okay, so this is something very real that was put into the game intentionally for a couple of reasons.

So at level 9, what do you do?

You realize you are out-powered by foes in a mission and can't defeat them

1) You learn to respect and, to some extent, fear that enemy ... you level up and then go back and fight and defeat those enemies and it gives you a real sense of power.

2) You get a full team of people around your level and try to pull some away from the mobs and fight them one at a time.

3) You get a level 15 or 20 to join you ... and since it is a hunt. give them the star and you point out the mobs you need and your mentor and you go school them.

 

I mean there is a lot of content where you are out-powered when you first fight a foe and then like 5-10 levels later, they best learn to run from you because they don't stand the chance.

 

This is the thrill of fearing and being a cautious around a foe and then the exhilaration of being able to defeat a foe that was schooling you.

It's a sense of achievement.

 

Like leveling up in the game without 2XP boosters. Getting a Ding really means something.

 

Getting power-leveled and dinging in a farm means nothing. There is no achievement. You door sat through it.

 

Most of the time when I had a mission like this, I just ran another arc until I was high enough level to go back and defeat the foes. Sometime I ran around with others my same level in a team that was large enough size to take on purple enemies. I don't think I ever yelled out in LFT for a mentor to help me school the enemy, but it is a valid option and I'm sure you would get someone heroic-type person to help you out if you asked.

[UltraAlt]

21 hours ago, TheZag said:

People would also take hover to fly across the zone.  The good ol' days back when it took 25 minutes to get everyone to the mission.  3-4 team deaths when moving between missions.  And the mission itself wasnt enough xp to clear the debt you earned trying to get there.

 

People really showed some respect for Recall Friend back then.

 

When it comes down to it you can run through the zones - even the Hollows - without aggravating mobs if you are careful.

 

I remember taking part in one of the Naked Noob races back before the Sunset.

A race at level 1 from Atlas to Portal Corps Plaza without using the trams.

No PW powers. No prestige powers. Just sprint.

It's doable. You can do it without dying.

The real threat for me was other characters dragging mobs into my path and not avoiding the non-aggravated mobs.

 

I even did it sometimes as a challenge by myself for the thrill of it.

 

Yeah, I learned my lesson the hard way a couple of times trying to chase a tank running through the Hollows. The tank benefitted by losing the mobs they agro-ed because they turned to pounce on me instead!

[UltraAlt]

2 hours ago, tidge said:

dear gawd there are a lot of arcs of the type "go to this corner of Talos, then take to Azuria, then go to this corner of Talos..."

 

Ah, yes.

The explore the beauty of Paragon City missions!

I used to love those. A team racing across the city.

It's all instant gratification now. Faster travel powers. TT. ATT.

The City was a much bigger place.

Now it is a small world after all.

[Glacier Peak]

5 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

People really showed some respect for Recall Friend back then.

 

When it comes down to it you can run through the zones - even the Hollows - without aggravating mobs if you are careful.

 

I remember taking part in one of the Naked Noob races back before the Sunset.

A race at level 1 from Atlas to Portal Corps Plaza without using the trams.

No PW powers. No prestige powers. Just sprint.

It's doable. You can do it without dying.

The real threat for me was other characters dragging mobs into my path and not avoiding the non-aggravated mobs.

 

I even did it sometimes as a challenge by myself for the thrill of it.

 

Yeah, I learned my lesson the hard way a couple of times trying to chase a tank running through the Hollows. The tank benefitted by losing the mobs they agro-ed because they turned to pounce on me instead!

It was one of the best feelings when you invited someone to the team in the Hollows and flipped through their player info then powers and saw they had Recall Friend.... AND they were next to a trainer or npc that sold inspirations. Ah man the little things used to mean so much 😄

[Marine X]

I actually used to always take Recall Friend on my Tanks as soon as it was available, made teaming a lot less stressful for everyone. I had memorized routes to the  Mission doors in the Hollows, since they rarely changed locations for most of the missions there. Lot easier to run 1 Tank through there and then TP the rest.