Officially Unofficial Weekly Discussion #23: Zone Events

[SeraphimKensai]

Welcome to another week of our revolving conversation. This week we delve into zone events. Examples being, but not exclusive, Steel Canyon Fires, Skyway Troll Raves,.Ghost Ship sightings, Brickstown Prison Escape, Caleb, Ghost of Scrapyard, Syndicate Takedown, or the Protest. Note that zone events are different than special events like: Halloween, Winter, Valentine's, Mapserver events that require a Dev or script to trigger.

 

What is your favorite and least favorite zone events? Why is that? How often do you participate in a zone event? Do you find the rewards balanced versus the time and effort required for the event? What would you do to improve zone events overall? How would you design a new zone event if given the opportunity?

 

As always thanks.

[DougGraves]

I almost never participate in zone events because they seem to be just a way of fast leveling by standing in a group fighting fast spawns.  They aren't events, they are just incredibly boring stand in place combat - even worse than MSRs.

 

I love Guild Wars 2 open world events, but those are far beyond CoH.

[SeraphimKensai]

40 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

I almost never participate in zone events because they seem to be just a way of fast leveling by standing in a group fighting fast spawns.  They aren't events, they are just incredibly boring stand in place combat - even worse than MSRs.

 

I love Guild Wars 2 open world events, but those are far beyond CoH.

I'd say that's true of the portions of the Halloween event and the majority of the Mapserver event. However those events are special events that require a Dev to trigger them, and not the focus of at least this week's thread.

 

Your run of the mil zone events often times don't really have much of an XP incentive outside of other content (Hellions Arson in Steel Canyon, Troll Raves, The Protest). Giant monsters each give 6 merits a piece, but it can be niche player created events to summon multiple ones with Synapse TFs and World Wide Red arcs. It seems the main lure on a lot of the regular zone events is for badgers as they typically have at least one badge involved.

 

Is there a particular zone event that you see as a stand still XP grind similar to an MSR?

[FupDup]

55 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

I almost never participate in zone events because they seem to be just a way of fast leveling by standing in a group fighting fast spawns.  They aren't events, they are just incredibly boring stand in place combat - even worse than MSRs.

They're also super laggy which can make the game barely playable when you're standing in the middle of them. 

 

My favorite "event," if we could call it that, is when Kronos Titans spawn in zones that they're not supposed to (which seems to happen several times a day nowadays). The most I saw spawn in a row was like 7 of them in Talos, like an endless horde. 

[SeraphimKensai]

37 minutes ago, FupDup said:

My favorite "event," if we could call it that, is when Kronos Titans spawn in zones that they're not supposed to (which seems to happen several times a day nowadays). The most I saw spawn in a row was like 7 of them in Talos, like an endless horde. 

That requires a player or team to complete a 14 mission story arc, warp to their base and then zone into Talos to get it to summon there. Then to get 7 of them, would require coordination of 7 individuals or teams completing the arc as the same time and then zoning to the same zone.

 

The summonable Babbage requires similar efforts.

[Clave Dark 5]

I'm neither here nor there on zone events like this.  I kind of like the Croatoa ones because I just like the zone, but eh. 

 

I mean, we're lucky to say we're bored with playing some of the content here, to be fair.  😃

[Rishidian]

54 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

That requires a player or team to complete a 14 mission story arc, warp to their base and then zone into Talos to get it to summon there. Then to get 7 of them, would require coordination of 7 individuals or teams completing the arc as the same time and then zoning to the same zone.

 

The summonable Babbage requires similar efforts.

I just sacrifice a chicken.

[TheZag]

The kronos titan is definitely broken.  I did the mission on Torchbearer and went to atlas park after.  Turns out atlas is a safe zone and no spawn was allowed there which makes sense so i went to skyway and killed it......5 times.  I am certain that 4 other people on torch didnt spawn a kronos in skyway with me,  it just kept respawning near me each time it was killed.

 

For the more regular zone events,  i want to go inside the buildings that arent accessible.  In the burning one to rescue citizens,  in the troll rave one to stop them from juicing up on superadine.  And i would like to see larger resistance to our efforts as we are successful.  Have a hellion elite boss come to put more fire on the building and supa trolls that actually are supa.

 

Have all the enemies in zone events be the level less variety so i can bring my lvl 50 and have something to do other than let my damage aura kill everything.  And have level less enemies in the +1 +2 +3 +4 variety so they arent all white,  lets get some orange and reds going.

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by TheZag

[MoonSheep]

i’ve always loved supa troll raves, exciting when you get a good rave all to yourself and make good progress towards the badge

 

if you’re in skyway and suddenly see a glowing supa troll it’s always exciting - there’s a party happening nearby!

[High_Beam]

Zone events have never been about XP for me, they are what I like to call seasoning events, meaning they add a little flavor to an otherwise bland zone.

 

Take Skyway and the Troll Rave.  That zone sucks, terrible for navigation at low levels and boring.  You go there for Synapse Task Force or when it pops in a triggered event like Nemesis or the recent Mapserver thingy.  But the Troll Rave is a thing you see pop up and run over to catch some Supa's.  Its for badgers and in general its done well beyond the zone level so you are sweeping easily.  But still, it adds a sense of "life" to the zone, the cops putitng down these drug addled clown shoes.

 

Steel Canyon Fires, again seasoning but also a curious thing as even if you have totally outlevelled every thing you can still die if you dont get the fire out and the building blows.  I always found it a little odd that it was Hellions who you have fundamentally outleveled once you leave AP.  But since Outcasts do cold and electricity and earth, I guess they had to go all fire.  But it works and you kind of feel heroic.

 

Ghost ship is not so much one I am a fan of.  Oh I do the badge run but the fact that so much of its transit is through water (yes it's a ship, I get it), but the ghosts don't spawn on water.  Also there exploration badges on Striga relating to that ill fated ship yet it doesn't spawn there.  Personally I would love to see the even altered to where it starts its pass through then docks, as if it has reached its original destination and then disgorges swarms of ghosts that scale like in other triggered events like Nemesis or Rikti or Zombie's (Think Ghostbusters II, terrible move but good scene)

 

Brickstown - Well that is a classic example of bad advertising coupled with lack of interest.  I have done it once, on my badger and never looked at it again.  Ironically its actually a pretty crazy chaos event.

 

Praetorian - Those are all nice actually, fitting to the zone but plagued by the utter absence of players in the zone.  However they are the kind of events that should be used as a templat for creating new events (see below)

 

Scrapyard - Yeah that pushes all the right buttons, badges, applicability to the environment and while you and your team might be over leveled to his lackeys he is a GM and takes work.  The nature of the event (roving around) means if you made his minion spawn level similar to those seen in events like Nemesis then they would be a hazard/impedence to the zone.  The key is his mob following him, not spawning around people in zone.  Imagine a zone equal toon in Sharkhead accidently stumbling on the ass mob of  keyed up Scrapyarders.

 

I consider Caleb, Lusca, The Clockwork Paladin, The Babbage/GWW deal in Boom and the Paladin as non-event events.  Thats just me.  The War in the Vale in Coratoa is more of an event like the above items becuase of its design.

 

Now additional zones events for flavor, I can think of a couple (along with the ghost ship revamp).

 

Kings Row - It's the Row and it's the Skulls so naturally, at least to me it would be an opportunity to go a little further with the Lords of Death story Arc;

 

Spoiler

Maybe its some kind of who tries to take control since Veles and Cherno have been taken out, or maybe trick it up and have Morana grasp for power, I mean she did roll out with Atta after all before the warehouse fire.

 

Independence Port - This would be a perfect place to design up some sort of "Mob War" type event perhaps following the template of the Syndacate one in Praetoria or maybe trick it up by doing some kind of keep the balance thing where you have to take down just enough Marcones and enough Verandi's (or Frosts or whatever) . . . dont let Family X take over the rackets.

 

Talos Island - If you do a revamped Ghost ship I would disgorge them here.  Otherwise the zone needs something.  The Tsoo seem underserved as a whole so maybe a different kind of gang War that plays upon the actions in that Arc with Sun Xiong.  You know what would be great, do some kind of Big Trouble in Little China thing!  OMG that would be great!

 

 

Founders Falls - Okay work with me here . . . pigeons . . . swarms of pigeons . . . it works in Venice so why not the Venice of the Northeast (as opposed to the Venice District known as Crey's Folly.  But seriously, how about a real deal high level Circle of Thorns event.  Like they are coming after Infernal or maybe coming after the Midnighter facility in FF.  Waves of the dead, especially ones that are generally only common on the V Side like Hellfrosts and Succcubus.  But come up with another named behemoth like Baphomet leading an army.  LIke defeat X spawn from X ports before timer expires then holy crap they are inside the club and crazy magic stuff (like the craziness of the Animus Arcanus in Praetoria and final demon battle summoning power from artifacts in the Midnight Club!

 

Peregrine Island - Its the end-game zone and the event should reflect it . . . other dimensional leakage from Portal Corp spawns variants of the Thousand worlds.  Take the existing crazy.  Use the tech from the Shadow Simuncrums used in Posi 1 and the clone missions later but amp them up so you are facing you from other dimensions.  Hell Russian roulette powers on them to mix it up.  Double down on overpowered versions of Statesman, or get freaky with things like gather allies which include good guy Recluse from Dimension X and a non-plotting Nemesis.  Hell give us no power having Phalanxers who are generic citizens who have to be rescued.  Mend the rifts and escort the people back to their dimension.  There is so much whacky fun you could have here.

 

Anyway that's my two cents.

 

Oh the question was favorite - Steel Canyon Fires.

Edited April 5, 2023 by High_Beam
Didn't actually answer the question.

[DougGraves]

2 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

other content (Hellions Arson in Steel Canyon, Troll Raves, The Protest).

 

Right.  The problem with these is that I am basically never the exact right level.  If you are higher level it is just wiping out greys.  So I don't do these events because they are not fun at all.

 

GW2 auto sets you to the level of the zone you are in (actually the part of the zone you are in).  If CoH did that so when you went to Skyway you were the right level for the troll rave to be a challenge it would be fun.  But as it is now it is just greys wandering about.

[SeraphimKensai]

37 minutes ago, TheZag said:

Have all the enemies in zone events be the level less variety so i can bring my lvl 50 and have something to do other than let my damage aura kill everything.  And have level less enemies in the +1 +2 +3 +4 variety so they arent all white,  leta get some orange and reds going.

I actually like this idea on as a general rule of practice for any type of zone event.

[UltraAlt]

3 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

What is your favorite and least favorite zone events?

 

By And Large, I ignore the zone events these days, so - as far as judging them - I can't really do that in any kind of fair capacity.

 

Oh, wait, as both Syndicate Takedown and the Protest are in the Forgotten Realm... er I mean The Grey Land...er the  "Gold" side? ...uh, Praetorian stuff? I have not participated in these zone events as I don't play CoH:GR content (I played it when I came out and didn't enjoy it and never felt bad about turning my back and forgetting about it)

So I guess that would make them my least favorite zone events.

 

3 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

How often do you participate in a zone event?

 

My participation in Zone Events is generally associated with the character I'm playing.

As indicated above, I generally don't even pay attention to them. I have some characters that I still don't have the event chat channels activated.

 

If I'm on an Ice or Water character I might do the fire event in steel. They are more effective against fires than the fire extinguishers.

However, the last character that I had achieve the firefighter badges did not have water or ice powers.

 

The Troll Rave can be fun, but you really need a team to run it and it's the most fun when all the players are around the same level.

I rarely go out of my way to fight the SupaTrolls, but, if I run into them, I'm going to fight them until they defeat me or I get bored. Usually they are all grey to my characters.

 

I only pay attention to the Ghost Ship when I'm playing a supernatural or supernatural hunter character. In which case, if I'm in the zone, and I see it, I'll go to try to fight the ghosts.

 

Brickstown Prison Escape, Caleb, and Ghost of Scrapyard - I haven't taken part in any of these zone events since before the Sunset.

 

As indicate I don't participate with CoH:GR content so  Syndicate Takedown and the Protest - Praetorian Zone Events in general - are  ignored by all my characters.

 

I'm not a badger so the zone events really don't have a huge impact on my playstyle.

I remember when it was a big deal to chase events to get the badges when they were first released.

 

3 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Do you find the rewards balanced versus the time and effort required for the event?

 

I can't comment on this.

Generally, if I end up getting badges for an event, it is because I have been involved with the zone event multiple times.

 

4 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

What would you do to improve zone events overall?

 

Caleb, and Ghost of Scrapyard are giant monsters, so if you are really throwing these in as zone events then what about all the other giant monsters?

Or are these two included because they get Zone Event announcements?

I'm assuming you get merits for defeating both Caleb, and Ghost of Scrapyard or is that not the case?

 

Do you get merits if you stop the fire from destroying the building in Steel Canyon (and likewise for the other non-giant monster events)?

I don't think so. 

For that reason, they are mostly for badgers and most players need not get involved with them especially since they don't adjust for levels like Giant Monsters do.

 

I think if the zone events were scaled to level and provided merit rewards that there would be much more participation.

 

4 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

How would you design a new zone event if given the opportunity?

 

Good one.

 

Based on the list, it is hard to confirm if a zone event includes giant monsters or not.

Perhaps the villain side gets 2 giant monsters as events to entice players to take characters to the villain side - as it was alway an issue getting enough players to play on the villain side.

I do believe that both of the villain side giant monsters require player behavior to activate them - which also differentiates them from at least the events on the Hero side (I can't talk to the Praetorian zone events).

 

I think if the zone events were scaled to level and provided merit rewards that there would be much more participation.

 

Atlas Park: I think that the industrial area on the west side of Atlas is under used. I think it is built in the system for a gang war between the Council and 5th Column to happen there. It so that could be levered into a zone event with badges for putting a stop to it (defeating all with maybe an AV thrown in on both sides).

 

The Hollows: I would go with an Minions of Igneous invasion along with an AV. The Minions rise up in mass and head out to the areas around Grendel's Gulch from AV guarded a spawn point. AV has to be defeated to close the pathway into the underground where the Minions of Igneous are emerging from.

 

Skyway: would be great for a flying invasion of some sort, but it already had the Supa Troll Rave.

 

Faultline: An attack on the Donut Shop seems to be a must. AV involved. possibly npc heroes randomly coming out of the Donut Shop periodically to fight the AV. Not sure what villain group I would assign to this.

 

Founders Falls: only at night. The CoT start a summoning. If they complete it. They unleash a Giant Monster that roams around battling any Rikti that it finds.

 

 

 

[Snarky]

Oooooh I was about to start a thread about Skyway lol.  

 

I have been on my Dark Dar Tank and badging with him.  Now, Skyway Troll Rave, (if I am alone) I can get both badges in one event.  

 

Anyone that knows the event knows how. You leave them alone, they evolve into Supers, you kill Super Trolls until you get that badge.  Then murder trolls like they kicked your dog.

 

I have shown up at the last two raves.  To be joined by....lets just say it...newbs.

 

They do not want to team. They do not want (or cannot see chat?) how to do the event.  

 

Just a waste of time.  No Super Troll badge.  

[BazookaTwo]

I love all of these. I like the temp powers for the fun of them. I would like to see more events like this in every zone. But I also want to see them scale with your level. 

 

My favorite is the Zig. But yes I'd rather be able to go INTO the Zig for the event

[Snarky]

2 minutes ago, BazookaTwo said:

I love all of these. I like the temp powers for the fun of them. I would like to see more events like this in every zone. But I also want to see them scale with your level. 

 

My favorite is the Zig. But yes I'd rather be able to go INTO the Zig for the event

Start redside and do the tutorial.  the experience is a ...little different.... but definitely immersive

[BazookaTwo]

Yeah, I want more floors, a whole new map etc

[Greycat]

I participate in them... eh, less, these days.

 

Steel Canyon fires are fun with a water or ice user, since you don't have to deal with the backpack. (And occasionally finding *that* spot that doesn't get affected by the blast, if you're not there right away or not quick enough.)

 

The Zig escape would be more fun if it weren't so easy to *break* by having a mob (typically a Freakshow) run off and get lost/killed outside the "event zone" so it needs to be reset. Have the PPD "put up a containment field" or something.

 

The Syndicate takedown's at least ... involved. (I'm not fond of the interior portion, but... eh. Mostly a matter of the maps.) It's a reasonable event.  The ghoul one is... meh. So's the protest. Stand in place and hit things.

 

The shining stars/paladin ... thing... I think they disabled, going back to the (more fun, IMHO) old paladin event. Honestly, this one I *like* somewhat because you have some control over it... IF you can find the construction. It's a little tedious just continually fighting the construction and bringing it down, sure, but it feels like you're more in control. Plus a badge for that. And if you don't get there, well, GM and merits. (Should probably be a merit reward for stopping the construction, too. It's a time sink and nobody would feel "cheated" out of 6 merits for stopping it.) Clues for where it is should be given, though.

 

The troll rave is ... eh... there and done, and done by sleeping through it if you're past its level. Plus the Supa Trolls just sort of ... mill around. They should be *doing something.*

 

The ghost ship... more should be done with. I mean, it's a ship... that drops ghosts. That are only really worth fighting in a small level range, outside of which they're either too tough or easy-grey. It could use a revamp.  (The same's true with the ghost trapping redside, but with more annoyance as they run out of the range of the ghost trap - or that trap's range is so frigging short, even if you have someone with taunt.)

 

GMs are ... honestly just boring. Get team, punch for two minutes, get 6 merits. (yes, I know, 10 for adamastor.) Every time I see someone suggest a new GM, I just kind of yawn about another bag of HP. There's nothing interesting to them other than getting a badge and merits.

 

I'd like some of the events to at least *lead to* something. They should be able to be soloed - or at least solo completed on hitting 2-3 of them, if they have some number of mobs. Have the Supa Trolls attack something in a way that seems directed. Get clues, when they get put together, talk to Mynx - if you put them together right, get a special mission arc to investigate this altered 'dyne or something. Which also means you'd have to decide if you're dealing with the rave itself or following the STs.

 

The Ghost Ship's got lore behind it which is just ignored. It should lead to *something* about the Moraine. Unlock an Ouro arc that sends you back to when it was lost, maybe multiple arcs dealing with what Mayor Spanky's up to on the side,, *something* more than "punch a bunch of (probably grey) ghosts to get a badge."

[ZemX]

1 hour ago, TheZag said:

The kronos titan is definitely broken.  I did the mission on Torchbearer and went to atlas park after.  Turns out atlas is a safe zone and no spawn was allowed there which makes sense so i went to skyway and killed it......5 times.  I am certain that 4 other people on torch didnt spawn a kronos in skyway with me,  it just kept respawning near me each time it was killed.

 

Whenever I've seen this, I've always assumed a GameMaster was behind the scenes spawning a few Kronos for fun but it would probably make more sense if zoning through Ouro caused it to glitch like that.  It would also explain why they tend to show up in that area of the map because the zone-in spot from Ouro is just on top of the hill near the tram station.

 

We just did this the normal way on Tanker Tuesday last night.  Two teams running World Wide Red coordinated exiting by mission door into Founders Falls at the same time from the "Stop all Wildflower Agents" mission.  Boom!  Two Titans we brought together for an all-Tank beatdown.  If we'd known we could multiply that... hmmm....

 

3 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

That requires a player or team to complete a 14 mission story arc

 

You don't need to complete the arc.  Exiting the 9th mission spawns the Kronos Titan ambush in the open world.  I think the final mission has another instanced Titan inside of it, tho.

[SeraphimKensai]

44 minutes ago, ZemX said:

You don't need to complete the arc.  Exiting the 9th mission spawns the Kronos Titan ambush in the open world.  I think the final mission has another instanced Titan inside of it, tho.

I stand corrected. I recall there being one in the final but it's been awhile since I ran it.

 

1 hour ago, UltraAlt said:

 

Based on the list, it is hard to confirm if a zone event includes giant monsters or not.

My original post listed a few events as examples. According to Paragonwiki, GM spawns in zones like paladin, babbage, kraken, etc. are considered zone events.

 

The wiki excluded things like seasonal events which don't normally occur unless a Dev essentially flips a switch.

[Shred Monkey]

I like how the red side ones are triggered, which makes it feel more engaging as you're initiating the event as well as defeating the final boss.  Boomtown GWW also achieves this.

 

I think the fire in Steel Canyon deserves a special mention because they built something into the game that's not just slaughtering bad guys.  While I think it would be neat to have a game that provided this kind of activity constantly throughout all levels and zones, I suspect that's a very complicated ask for something with low replay value.

 

The Gold side events that I've stumbled on and done are all pretty cool.  But I suspect most players don't even know they exist.  I know I can't name them all, myself.

 

 

[UltraAlt]

53 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

 

 

2 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

Based on the list, it is hard to confirm if a zone event includes giant monsters or not.

My original post listed a few events as examples. According to Paragonwiki, GM spawns in zones like paladin, babbage, kraken, etc. are considered zone events.

 

The wiki excluded things like seasonal events which don't normally occur unless a Dev essentially flips a switch.

 

I see the ...

 

8 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

but not exclusive,

 

Personally, a Giant monster being there without anything going on to spawn or having some associated effect really doesn't to seem to be much of zone event.

 

I understood that you weren't including seasonal events intentionally.

 

But now I have to ask how much of zone event it is if it doesn't list it in the X Zone Event chat?

 

I get kind of immersed in the actually gameplay versus the chat a good bit of the time, but I don't remember a good number of Giant Monsters' spawning being listed in the heroes zone event chat.

I don't remember seeing messages about the Kraken, Babbage, or Jurassik spawning for example.

[Greycat]

59 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

I don't remember seeing messages about the Kraken, Babbage, or Jurassik spawning for example.

 

I'm assuming they don't because they're in hazard zones - nobody there to "report" them.

[dtjunkie]

There's a giant robot inside a giant volcano. Let the robot out.

[Techwright]

Probably the two that I want to like and don't are the Skyway Troll Rave and the Ghost Ship.

 

The Ghost Ship offers no real challenge. 

• The ghosts stand in bunches and wait for you to sidle up to them. 
• They'll not attack you once you out-level them 
• The ship itself causes no real damage. 
• I kind of feel like there's not a threat unless you're well below their rank and stupidly attack. 

I'm not quite sure what would be the fix, but I feel it needs to be more dynamic and less static-y.  Perhaps switching them from a level 20ish to a situation where they're always within 5 levels of your character might be a start, though not an end to it.

 

The Troll Rave...ugh.  I really want to like this but there's so many negatives:

• The standard trolls stand around
• The move to enter the doors to "juice" is very sluggish.  Even if you're the only hero working the area, it's unlikely you'll take out all the Super Trolls needed for a badge.
• Super Trolls run slow and in clear, linear pathing, making picking them off easy and boring.
• Rarely does one enter the event alone, and this causes major headaches.  It's highly likely that the other player(s) will not team with you and will start blasting all the standard trolls, the source of Super Trolls, whereas you've been patiently waiting for those rare trolls to make for the door and "juice".  Wiping out all the standard trolls repeatedly, they end the scenario early leaving you holding next to nothing in your goals.  You return later to see this happen again, and again, and again, and none of these impatient types will listen when you try to explain it.  As a result, the event becomes an unlikeable slog to get all the badges, and should you finally succeed, you'll never play it again, at least on that character.

These guys are juiced.  Standing around in nice circles waiting to be hit is very tame for the level of drugs in them.  They should be doing crazy stuff within a wider range, and not all bunched together (to my thinking).  Super Trolls should be happening more often, and they should be speedy and unpredictable in their pathing, including vertical.  It would be interesting if unexpectedly some of the super trolls did a Hulk leap at flying heroes in an attempt to bring them down.  They do need to focus on the threats to them in the area rather than just wander off to throw a boulder or two.  Maybe the police nearby might be threatened, and you need to extend protection to them, with the event ending prematurely if all the police get sent to the hospital. The event somehow needs to address the number of solo players moving through it.  Perhaps giving credit to all within the range of the event, so long as they are fighting, might be a starting point of discussion for redesigning it.  I would like to see this event remodeled in such a way that it is still interesting after completing the badges.  Again, if the Super Trolls remained closer in level to the player's character, regardless of the level, it makes it a tad more interesting, and if there's a chance drop for rare items useful for a 50, that might keep interest as well.

 

Improve zone events overall...hmm...might need to give that a good deal of thought.  One thing that does come to mind is to add a special teleport.  Since these are on a timer, time and opportunity are lost if you're far away.  Maybe make it a purchaseable, limited use effect from the P2W vendor, same as jetpacks, and such.  Or make it a machine as option in a super base.  If you're supergroup has one set up, you'll be connected and will see a site-to-site port button on your control panel.  If multiple events are active, it will give you the option of which one to go to.

 

Designing a new event:  I'd have to give that one some thought as well, however...a long time back a few of us discussed the possibility of a zone event of bleeding time, where time portals popped up sporatically and randomly on land across a zone and opponents poured forth.  You could have 5th column from the I.P. attack that killed Atlas, to Family from the gangster 1920s, Nemesis from Brass Monday, etc.  All random.  Seal enough portals and the zone event stops.  Actually, as the discussion comes back to me, we'd talked about the possibility of entering the portals, taking us to an instance we'd have to clear, then exit to seal one portal.  Using this, might it be possible to actually end up on the IP bridge for a time with an NPC Atlas towering over you (or perhaps having just fallen) as you cleared one wave of 5th column pushing towards the portal?  Same with Brass Monday, or any other special historical event.  It gives you a chance to experience them without having to set up a full task force.