Hollows, how do you feel about the zone?

[Redlynne]

The Hollows would be a perfect place to put a Hogger-like mob so we could have some CoH equivalent of the Hogger raids in WoW.

 

LF39M Hogger

[Solarverse]

I think this zone misses a wandering Giant Monster

 

The Hollows would be a perfect place to put a Hogger-like mob so we could have some CoH equivalent of the Hogger raids in WoW.

 

That would be an awesome idea!

[Leogunner]

 

 

How I felt about it back then?

"Aw shit,  Hollows missions?" *sprints across zone, avoiding baddies, only to find mission door camped by purples who kill him before he can get to the door*

 

That was EXACTLY what I loved about it back then! It was called a hazard zone for a reason, now...it's just another zone to me.

 

Yeah, well, most sane people hated when missions were placed deep in them pretty much blocking off progress because you can't reach the door...

 

To a sane person, they just zoomed out the camera and noticed, if you go around the building and squeak along the wall, there's just enough room to slide through the door without them noticing.

[Zolgar]

 

 

How I felt about it back then?

"Aw shit,  Hollows missions?" *sprints across zone, avoiding baddies, only to find mission door camped by purples who kill him before he can get to the door*

 

That was EXACTLY what I loved about it back then! It was called a hazard zone for a reason, now...it's just another zone to me.

 

Yeah, well, most sane people hated when missions were placed deep in them pretty much blocking off progress because you can't reach the door...

 

To a sane person, they just zoomed out the camera and noticed, if you go around the building and squeak along the wall, there's just enough room to slide through the door without them noticing.

 

... sometimes.

 

[Zep]

I like having options and alternate paths to level up alts.

 

Ultimately in my mind the awesome thing to do would be to flesh out all (well maybe not Eden) hazzard zones and add new ones effectively growing the city slowly outward as it recovers from the Rikti war.

[Placta]

I'm of two minds here.

 

On the one hand, traveling across the gulch dodging purple enemies to make the mission door is something everyone who was around then remembers. Like trying to fly across Steel Canyon to the tailor, or wondering why the tram won't let you on.

 

On the other... it's not something I miss.

 

The only complaint I have about the new Hollows is all the Skulls, Hellions, and Lost in the first area make hunting Outcasts and Trolls harder than it should be.

[Jaguaratron]

There are masses of mission that are not in oroboros which should be, add them all in, give them a measly 1 merit reward, more content isnt going to hurt.

[greenstalker]

Old Hollows was less frustrating for me for two reasons first one was I was SR so unless something was lucky they would not hit me while i was running in the zone having prestige slide helped alot and I think i hit 14 in Hollows when I took super speed which made mobs in there almost impossible to stop my progress. When I tried to do zone with another toon however lets say debt was high enough for me to quit playing said toon until dayjobs were introduced.

[eiynp]

the main change was getting travel powers at level 4/6, and/or access to ninja run

 

hollows was hard/"dangerous" back in the day because the only way to get across it for most players was to either sprint your way across, or hope for the beneficence of a taxibot.

 

It was a fun time back in the day but I did it the other day on an alt for nostalgia, and aside from the frostfire mission it's pretty dull.

[greenstalker]

the main change was getting travel powers at level 4/6, and/or access to ninja run

 

hollows was hard/"dangerous" back in the day because the only way to get across it for most players was to either sprint your way across, or hope for the beneficence of a taxibot.

 

It was a fun time back in the day but I did it the other day on an alt for nostalgia, and aside from the frostfire mission it's pretty dull.

 

Actually among hazard zones Hollows was the one that changed most. First they dropped the size of mob to half or 1/4th of its original they also lowered the levels of mobs by at least 3 or 4 near the gate lastly they added a hospital in the zone so you wouldn't need to run from Atlas one. They removed spelunker badge (or atlas medallion I only remember it was required to get atlas medallion and it was somewhat connected to spelunker) requirement of trial of trancedence which can only be done if you did all of hollows story arcs and I think ouroboros was released at same time as those changes so before that your only option was doing trial with someone who already unlocked it.

[justicebeliever]

Solarverse, so glad you wrote this.  I loved the Hollows, but I will admit to not having been back since HC.

 

I wrote a post in the original forums called Everything I needed to learn about CoH, I learned in the Hollows

• Navigation - Once you've learned to navigate around Trolls, Igneous, CoT and giant cracks in the ground, all without a travel power, you really know how to get around it City of Heroes.
  
• Playing Smart - After you've had to run from the Atlas Park hospital back to the same Hollows mission map 3 times in a row, you start to think about things like tactics, and bringing Inspirations with you
  
• Value of Teamwork - Want to take down Frostfire? You need a team.  Unless you really love soloing, at some point the Hollows teach the basics of LFG and how to invite and manage a team  
  
• Helping Hand - Hanging on by a thread against those Trolls?  Who doesn't love a little buff now and then to win the day.  Fallen in the deepest darkest crevice?
  Hello TaxiBot.  After the Hollows I become much more aware of how I can help out my fellow heroes now & then
  
• Chatting - There is nothing more fun that starting a nice snarky chat while laying face-planted in the middle of cave.  Running back from Atlas - better learn to run and chat at the same time
  

 

I know it's changes a bunch from those days - Trainer and Field Medic in the Zone, Travel powers at level 4, LFG Team tab...and maybe some of that is why I haven't been back...I think there is a lot of truth to what's been said - sometimes you just can't go back home and relive the glory days...

 

I need to revisit Julius and Office Wincott on my next character, because really and truly some of my best CoH experiences are from the Hollows...

[Solarverse]

 

 

The only complaint I have about the new Hollows is all the Skulls, Hellions, and Lost in the first area make hunting Outcasts and Trolls harder than it should be.

 

I agree, that is super annoying at times.

[THEDarkTyger]

Nobody was forced to go there

 

Except, you know, when you were still low level and had all 3 mission doors buried deep in The Hollows...

 

It was a severely under utilized zone. Like all the Hazard zones. It was revamped for the same reason Faultline was. Having such a low traffic zone was a waste of resources. They were planning on revamping all of the hazard zones, as I recall.

[Generator]

 

 

How I felt about it back then?

"Aw shit,  Hollows missions?" *sprints across zone, avoiding baddies, only to find mission door camped by purples who kill him before he can get to the door*

 

That was EXACTLY what I loved about it back then! It was called a hazard zone for a reason, now...it's just another zone to me.

 

Yeah, well, most sane people hated when missions were placed deep in them pretty much blocking off progress because you can't reach the door...

 

I'm with you on this.

 

Hollows 2.0 > original recipe

[Solarverse]

Solarverse, so glad you wrote this.  I loved the Hollows, but I will admit to not having been back since HC.

 

I wrote a post in the original forums called Everything I needed to learn about CoH, I learned in the Hollows

• Navigation - Once you've learned to navigate around Trolls, Igneous, CoT and giant cracks in the ground, all without a travel power, you really know how to get around it City of Heroes.
  
• Playing Smart - After you've had to run from the Atlas Park hospital back to the same Hollows mission map 3 times in a row, you start to think about things like tactics, and bringing Inspirations with you
  
• Value of Teamwork - Want to take down Frostfire? You need a team.  Unless you really love soloing, at some point the Hollows teach the basics of LFG and how to invite and manage a team  
  
• Helping Hand - Hanging on by a thread against those Trolls?  Who doesn't love a little buff now and then to win the day.  Fallen in the deepest darkest crevice?
  Hello TaxiBot.  After the Hollows I become much more aware of how I can help out my fellow heroes now & then
  
• Chatting - There is nothing more fun that starting a nice snarky chat while laying face-planted in the middle of cave.  Running back from Atlas - better learn to run and chat at the same time
  

 

I know it's changes a bunch from those days - Trainer and Field Medic in the Zone, Travel powers at level 4, LFG Team tab...and maybe some of that is why I haven't been back...I think there is a lot of truth to what's been said - sometimes you just can't go back home and relive the glory days...

 

I need to revisit Julius and Office Wincott on my next character, because really and truly some of my best CoH experiences are from the Hollows...

 

Here here, I'll drink to that good Sir.

[THEDarkTyger]

Value of Teamwork - Want to take down Frostfire? You need a team.  Unless you really love soloing, at some point the Hollows teach the basics of LFG and how to invite and manage a team

 

Always managed it solo just fine. Just took a full pack of inspirations to do it.

[chigiabelo]

The Hollows used to be a zone I would spend just a smidgen of time in; just enough to fulfill whatever requirements my contacts gave me and I would avoid it like other hazard zones, partly because I mostly solo and partly because it comes at levels where I tend to outlevel the required missions there in fairly short order. However, since the game came back, I've built and played so many alts that I've found myself spending more time in the Hollows just to avid the tedium of repeating yet the same arcs with yet the same contacts. In the process, I've come to appreciate the Hollows more and realized there were parts of it that I had not seen before.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

Value of Teamwork - Want to take down Frostfire? You need a team.  Unless you really love soloing, at some point the Hollows teach the basics of LFG and how to invite and manage a team

Always managed it solo just fine. Just took a full pack of inspirations to do it.

Yeah, good use of inspirations lets pretty much any character solo most EBs.

[hastened]

Current/revamped Hollows are fun.  Old Hollows, I either didn't end up needing to go to, or just don't remember (I did play before the revamp, but not that much and went Kings Row more during that level range I think).

 

I did have a good time soloing the entire arc on my stalker, there's not a lot of kill alls so she could easily do the whole arc without outleveling it.  Brought back lots of good memories.

 

I like that it gives another good path into the high teen's.  Can do DFB, can run old mission arcs, Hollows, Shauna Stockwell, Posi TF or newspapers at least as all decent paths to get up into the 20 range.

[Thorazine]

Back in the day it seemed like something I did with all of my characters and me and Wincott became good friends, over and over.  Later on whether I went there higher level to taxi bot or just heal people getting crushed, it was always fun.  When I returned last week, I went and it just felt so empty and full of nothing.

[Kaliselia]

I remember when it first came into the game and it was the place to go and level up your new characters.

 

Lots of other playing there as well and you did not have the drama of getting lost in the Perez Park woods.

 

Now I have not been in there all that much but like Perez Park it is rare to see someone else when you are in there.

 

Lots of mobs so it should see more individuals leveling but most rather run sewers or DFB instead.

[Solarverse]

I remember when it first came into the game and it was the place to go and level up your new characters.

 

Lots of other playing there as well and you did not have the drama of getting lost in the Perez Park woods.

 

Now I have not been in there all that much but like Perez Park it is rare to see someone else when you are in there.

 

Lots of mobs so it should see more individuals leveling but most rather run sewers or DFB instead.

 

Anytime I see somebody call out for Frostfire, I drop DFB in a heartbeat for that mission.  :D

[Charistoph]

Howabout, "With a bit of PTSD".  It's one I've managed with a bit thanks to the changes and exposure therapy.  Keep in mind, I am not one who went around begging for teams to help me accomplish my goals, and my first characters tended to be Defenders and Tankers.  I had a few missions like the ones described in the early days in both Hollows and Perez Park which had me inventing alternative epithets.

 

One of the things I remember was facing Frostfire on my Stone/Energy Tanker after the change, and absolutely gobsmacked when I was frozen in to a pillar of ice WITH ROOTED ON!  It shocked me so much, it's a good thing I couldn't do anything otherwise it would have hurt much more to my ego far more if I could have.  Took the jerk out on my next attempt because I came back with a good bunch of Break Frees to make SURE that he couldn't do that to me again.