Atlas > Mercy (maybe we could fix that)

[Troo]

Atlas as a starting zone is just easier than Mercy with higher QoL.

 

Maybe this contributes to less players Redside.

 

People can be lazy.

• It's one reason folks ask for builds rather than figuring it out.
• It's one reason folks glom to one server over another. (easier to team: DFB, get PL'd, TFs)

 

Atlas is just an easier starting zone.

• Players don't have to navigate a maze of buildings or dodge enemies to access Pocket D.
• The Train Station, Ouro, and Tunnel System are more readily available.
• Most of the zones exploration badges are in the safe zone or a safe spot.
• Little resistance running to the Market and Merit Vendor. (pretty sure folks could Walk and not get attacked)

 

One could argue that once past Mercy, redside zones are actually better than blue until Grandville. (easy to navigate and missions tend to be... less running all over)

 

Suggestions

• Move Pocket D Truck to area opposite the Base Portal near the Elevators.
• Have a flashing Crucible marker on the map, or a different brighter symbol.
• Add a Reward Merit Vendor to the Crucible.
• Move the Crucible entrance to under the bridge against the building rather than hidden around the corner. 
• Add a Tunnel System access point at the corner of the Hungry Dragon.
• Add a privateer style contact. Not evil, not good. One that offers contracts and bounties (could use many of the same existing missions).
  • This contact could provide an Ouro portal or guide players to it.
  • Have a contest to create the content for this Contact and it gets named after the winner.
• Add an 'instagram' location(s). 
  • Great lighting, epic view.
  • Place at least one head height and in local chat range of Arbiter Richard with room for several characters.
  • Used to be able to stand on the hedge behind the quartermaster, this got harder for some reason.
  • This one is meant as a joke but folks sure like to pose 'look at me style' in Atlas so maybe there is something to it.

 

Minor QoL adjustments and/or minor additions would be helpful to those of us who DO redside.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14 by Troo

[lemming]

No issue, though I don't think that's the reason for lack of redside population.    Mercy does annoy me at times when I'm navigating around since I will say "Why isn't X is a more logical spot?"    It's like the place was designed by people with no oversight.

[Troo]

Agreed, more a contributing symptom.

[Talen Lee]

I did the Mercy plotlines for the first time in years this week and there are some odd choices there. Particularly, I was surprised how hard it was to fulfill one of the hunts for a pre-change plotline (Snakes). It definitely underscored how much the whole space is hostile in a really interesting way.

 

Also there's a lot of space that doesn't feel... used? like there's a lot of spaces that are just 'more back alleys between cramped spaces,' rather than the way that Atlas feels like it has spaces designed for living/doing/hanging.

[Rudra]

15 minutes ago, Talen Lee said:

Particularly, I was surprised how hard it was to fulfill one of the hunts for a pre-change plotline (Snakes).

Snakes aren't really that bad most times. While yes you can see them in the odd fight against a Wolf Spider, they most often spawn in a particular alley in the city (where there is an open area behind a group of buildings as their alley), on the rooftops (which can be a nuisance at low levels), and in the crater/depression area by the water treatment facility where the Infected drink their water from the standing pools. (Edit: They also like to pop out of snake holes in ambush in the west end of the city itself if I am remembering city layout right.) That said, they did used to have more areas where they spawned more frequently before the Mercy Island revamp.

 

Edited February 15 by Rudra

[Troo]

14 hours ago, Rudra said:

Snakes aren't really that bad most times.

 

It's not that the snakes are difficult. It's that the old Mercy layout had them easier to find. 

There remains a defeat x amount of snakes objective which has a lowbie wandering around Mercy looking for snakes and finding mostly Infected, Police and Longbow.

As opposed to Atlas which on multiple occasions sends a lowbie to specific areas outdoors.

 

Edited February 15 by Troo

[keyguardactive]

I wouldn't mind some more snakes. Maybe just a minor revamp of a section of the map where the snakes have taken over a neighborhood. 

[gameboy1234]

I mostly agree.  My list of "do something with Mercy" would be different, but I agree that something does indeed need to be done.  I think also it would be fine to make changes iteratively, and smaller changes as the Devs get time, that way it doesn't have to be a huge workload for someone.  "Big changes" I think are what got Mercy into the mess it is in now.  Smaller changes allow feedback after each change, so successive changes can learn from the feedback and make corrections when needed.  One big change is putting all your eggs in one basket, and you might end up making things worse with no resources for additional changes.  Small changes leave resources for later, after feedback can be heard.

 

This is starting to be an almost evergreen topic, Mercy is so bad.  Previous threads:

 

Add an Ouro exit to Mercy.

 

Can we fix Mercy island?

 

And I know there's been other requests too, like in the Focused Feedback threads.

 

[gameboy1234]

8 minutes ago, keyguardactive said:

I wouldn't mind some more snakes. Maybe just a minor revamp of a section of the map where the snakes have taken over a neighborhood. 

 

I'd also like to see some of the Longbow spawn rates reduced.  Especially longbow and I think it's the legacy chain were designed back on live for quick spawning new player quests, and their are just too many of them now and they respawn much too fast.  Far fewer spawn, for starters.  Then reduce the spawn rate after that is tested.  Maybe "a few more snakes" could be done at the same time, the reduced spawn for Longbow and LC would leave room for the snakes to be added (but not too many!).

 

 

[gameboy1234]

22 hours ago, Troo said:

Add an 'instagram' location(s). 

• Great lighting, epic view.

 

 

I think there's too much geometry red side, it's much too busy.  That central area your talking about could have a few details removed, like the hedges and benches.  Make is smooth and clean like the area under Atlas in AP.  (Or smoother, it doesn't have to be completely flat.)  Put Kalinda right in the middle of it.  (No joke, I once helped a clearly somewhat experienced player who was new to redside and couldn't find the starting contacts.  It's really hard to figure out if you don't already know.)  Add a new mission from Kalinda to point you to the level up arbiter (Richards) and the arbiter store too.  Then she can start her regular missions.

 

Stuff like this is basic QoL and new player experience, and yet it never seems to happen.  Kinda frustrating really.

 

Edited February 15 by gameboy1234

[Troo]

Another example.

 

Note:

Don't get me wrong, I love redside. I bought City of Villains. I never really knew anything different so it was what it was and I thought it was great. 

When I did go to blueside it was much much later and it was just easier. 

So I can see why those who start blueside get turned off when they give redside a try. Why bother if all the ATs and other stuff are available from Atlas.

 

Entering the game message

You have arrived in Mercy Isle.

If you want to work with Arachnos, report to Operative Kuzmin. If you are a Destined One, contact Kalinda. If you prefer mercenary work, talk to Matthew Burke. 

Use the Find Contact button in your Contact window if you need help to locate them.

 

{Didn't read that before you closed it, good luck..}

 

We could also provide a little better direction here for anyone who skipped the tutorial.

• "If you want to work with for Arachnos, report to Operative Kuzmin."
• "If you are a Destined One, contact Kalinda." (what the heck is a Destined One?!) (This contact is closest and easiest to find)
• Burke.. Given the feedback players have provided over the years, WHY NOT MAKE THIS THE FIRST EASIEST CHOICE! 
• Burke is not easily accessible. Being around the other side of a building out in the hazard area. A player may have to get past a number of purples..

• "Use the Find Contact button in your Contact window if you need help to locate them." (What? Where is the Contact window? They aren't on the map or highlighted?)

Edited February 15 by Troo

[gameboy1234]

6 minutes ago, Troo said:

{Didn't read that before you closed it, good luck..}

 

This is why I like having Kalinda (or some other starting contact) actually direct you to talk with other starting NPCs.  If you get it as a mish, go there, and do it, you're less likely to forget later, and there's less chance of "too bad you missed it."

 

[gameboy1234]

8 minutes ago, Troo said:

Being around the other side of a building out in the hazard area. A player may have to get past a number of purples..

 

Street sweeping and random encounters don't really have the game play value they did 20 years ago.  A lot of spawn in Mercy (mostly the green starting area, not the whole map) could just be thinned out.  Spawn doesn't always need to be changed, some I think would be better just to remove it.  The area between Arbiter Richards and Burke could have all its spawn removed, just like there's a large "safe area" around city hall in AP.

 

[Troo]

14 minutes ago, gameboy1234 said:

 

Street sweeping and random encounters don't really have the game play value they did 20 years ago.  A lot of spawn in Mercy (mostly the green starting area, not the whole map) could just be thinned out.  Spawn doesn't always need to be changed, some I think would be better just to remove it.  The area between Arbiter Richards and Burke could have all its spawn removed, just like there's a large "safe area" around city hall in AP.

 

 

I'd rather just move Burke into the safe area, off to the side or in a corner. Leave the spawns as is. I like the street sweeping and running back to safety if needed.

[macskull]

Redside has less players than blueside because redside has less players than blueside. Barring any massive, game-upending changes, this is always going to be the case. It's the same reason Excelsior is the highest-population Homecoming shard, and the same reason Homecoming is the highest-population CoH server.

[gameboy1234]

3 hours ago, Troo said:

I'd rather just move Burke into the safe area, off to the side or in a corner. Leave the spawns as is. I like the street sweeping and running back to safety if needed.

 

The current placement of Rippers really isn't "street sweeping" tho.  It's forced street sweeping.  You're going to aggro those mobs all the way through level 5 whether you like it or not.  If the street sweeping is optional, self-directed, that's fine.  Seek out more hazardous areas in the zone and knock yourself out (maybe literally).  But a player really has no choice to interact with those spawn right now, which is a big pain when you just want to talk to Arbiter Richards, level up, and head back to whatever you were doing before.

 

Edit: if you want to street sweep, just go outside the green area and do it all you want.  That spawn I feel should be left alone.  It's fairly dense and some of it really respawns quickly and players can just dump on Rippers and Longbow all they like out there.  It's around the starting areas in particular, and the paths that low levels players *must* take, that I think the spawn should be reduced.  All the mission chains eventually take you outside the green area (I'm sure Graves does, and all players will get a pop up introducing him), the players will learn it's there, so I don't feel that cutting down the spawn inside the green zone is a problem.

 

Edited February 15 by gameboy1234

[Stormwalker]

A lot of valid points here.

 

I wouldn't say that Mercy is the reason I play less redside than blueside -as I've noted elsewhere, I don't find playing evil characters to be very appealing most of the time - but certainly the design of Mercy has caused me some frustration when I do start a character on redside.

 

I definitely agree the spawns in Mercy are too dense.  Half the time I take a mission below level 5 I end up leveling up from defeating the spawns I aggro on the way there and end up having to do the mission at -1 because of it.  At that point I might as well be street sweping.

 

Also, the layout is very unintuitive and it's really easy to get turned around. Just finding your way back to Arbiter Richard is a royal pain, invariably I end up having to open up the map and zoom in on him to find him amongst the forest of icons.  Not a problem in Atlas, where the whole layout of the zone funnels you toward Atlas Plaza.

 

 

Edited February 15 by Stormwalker

[Oubliette_Red]

23 hours ago, Troo said:

 

I'd rather just move Burke into the safe area, off to the side or in a corner. Leave the spawns as is. I like the street sweeping and running back to safety if needed.

 

I think moving everything to the main square would feel like it's all too cramped and jammed together. I don't mind Burke's current location but considering the mobs you have to wade through to get there, the Atlas equivalent would be if alternate starting contacts were put out near BaBs. The spawns around the corner need to be removed/moved and Burke should have couple of guards hanging out near the truck and steps to ward off mobs.

 

Respawn rates should also be extended in some areas (like the outdoor instanced Longbow) as often will happen, you can get shot in the back from the mob you just defeated while taking out the next mob.