Focused Feedback: Kallisti Wharf Zone Comes To Life!

[The Curator]

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Kallisti Wharf Zone Comes To Life!

• Kallisti Wharf has been given a substantial amount of work to bring the zone to life/parity with other city zones!

 At last! Kallisti Wharf is a fully realized zone! 

 

Zone Improvements

• As stated on the tram/submarine destination, Kallisti Wharf is a Level 40-50 co-op zone.
• Kallisti Wharf now has eight standard exploration badges and an accolade, same as other zones.
  • New Tour Guides are available to help people locate all the new badges!
• Many areas of the zone were given expansive polish passes and detail work.
• All neighborhoods given music. No more silence!
  • The zone is using a mix of new Homecoming-original compositions, a few previously unused tracks, and a couple of favorite older classics!

 

Enemies Encountered

• Added ambient atmospheric/combat spawns to the entirety of the zone.
• The following are the main enemy groups found in Kallisti Wharf:
  • Blackwing Industries [NEW]
  • Freaklok
  • Crey
  • Freakshow
  • Warriors
  • Skulls
  • The Awakened
  • Unified People's Army (UPA)
  • Wyvern

 

 Watch out, the Freaklok are out in force! 

 

Giant Monster Event

• New Giant Monster spawn, the P.E.A.C.E. Keeper, has been added to the zone. They are spawned manually by defeating 200 points worth of Blackwing Industries enemies in the zone. Minions = 1 point; Lieutenant = 2 points; Boss = 3 points; Elite Boss = 4 points.
  • The P.E.A.C.E. Keeper will spawn in One Statesman Plaza and fly a patrol around the outside of the tower in the center of the zone; If not engaged in fighting, they should default back to patrolling the tower.
  • Only one P.E.A.C.E. Keeper can be spawned at any moment.

 

• Drops six (6) Reward Merits, two (2) Monstrous Aether on defeat, and a low chance (10%) for Pet: Mini P.E.A.C.E. Keeper invention recipe.
  • This recipe can be freely traded like other Giant Monster vanity pet recipes, and also drops from the randomized pet recipe pool found on the Benevolabs vendors located inside Vault Reserve locations.
  • P.E.A.C.E. Keeper's dropped rewards are on an 18-hour cooldown per character.

 

 Blackwing Industries is dedicated to ensuring the safety and security of Kallisti Wharf! 

 

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Kallisti Wharf

• Zone now has eight standard exploration badges and an accolade, same as other zones.
• Many areas of the zone were given expansive polish passes and detail work.
• All neighborhoods given music. No more silence!
  • The zone is using a mix of new Homecoming-original compositions, a few unused tracks, and a couple of favorite older classics!
• Added ambient atmospheric/combat spawns to the entirety of the zone.
• New Giant Monster spawn, the P.E.A.C.E. Keeper, has been added to the zone. They are spawned manually by defeating 200 points worth of Blackwing Industries enemies in the zone. Minions = 1 point; Lieutenant = 2 points; Boss = 3 points; Elite Boss = 4 points.
  • The P.E.A.C.E. Keeper will spawn in One Statesman Plaza and fly a patrol around the outside of the tower in the center of the zone; If not engaged in fighting, they should default back to patrolling the tower.
  • Only one P.E.A.C.E. Keeper can be spawned at any moment.
  • P.E.A.C.E. Keeper's dropped rewards are on an 18-hour cooldown per character.
• Relocated 200th Anniversary Plaque in Kallisti Wharf to Theatre Row. New coordinates are [2380, 56, 1132].
• Mini-map markers added for the following locations:
  • Crey Towers
  • Vanguard Outpost
  • Langston Corp Factory
• A Vanguard Merit invention station has been added to the Vanguard Outpost location near the helipad.

 

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[lemming]

And while this would be more Hero centric, but could the destination pop you out next to the Train?

 

Or even have two destinations?   Too bad there isn't ferry service to Kallisti, but maybe next to the smuggler sub?

[lemming]

Figure getting another way to get to Kallisti with the upcoming page.  (Wish I had thought of it during testing)

[Glacier Peak]

Probably not the most important comment to address, but when the page update patch note goes live there is a lot of duplicate information on this section for Kallisti Wharf. Cut it in half and make sure the section about the 200th anniversary badge and below gets included. 

Edited Tuesday at 10:28 PM by Glacier Peak

[BillyMailman]

So, part of the overhaul seems to be that the zone's neighbourhood/etc. markers on the map got updated. I've found a couple of problems with that.

First, Vanguard Headquarters' map marker is tagged as a Gate, a transition to another location. It isn't. The only clickable thing anywhere on that building, is the access door to the roof with the helicopter/V Merit Vendor. Same applies to Crey Towers, and probably the Langston Corp Factory as long is it's not enterable. Plaza Tower and Abandoned Lab are fine still being Gate, since they actually do have transitions to inside the buildings, which Gate gets used for in various places.

Second, the actual neighbourhood marker for the park got moved about a hundred feet south, even though the boundaries of the neighbourhood don't seem to have changed. And yet, it's still just pointing at random rocks. If this is gonna move, probably it should point to either the fire or the actual memorial right next to where it's now located. Also, related to the boundaries, I found out today that apparently the zone starts on the far side of the street to the North, but the near side to the East/South, which is very silly, but also very minor.

 

 

Also, one last thing. I don't know if it's an EB rebalance thing, the specific enemy, or what, but I ran into one thing while exploring Kallisti, and am gonna post it here for lack of being entirely sure which Feedback thread it properly belongs in. The new EBs that are just standing around in Kallisti, definitely engage players from a further distance than normal. I had one attack me while I was a full eighty feet away, much more than the usual 54' distance enemies normally engage at. This happened whether or not there were Phantoms nearby, who are the only enemy the patch notes called out anything perception-related with. If there are going to be stray EBs accosting players from what I've now tested to be an 85' aggro radius, that should probably be called out somewhere.

[Arc-Mage]

Just a quick fly around, the zone feels lived in. The new baddies look cool. The diversification of the Freekshow feels...like something they would do. 

 

Some of the vehicle pathing is wonky. In the middle of some of the straight roads, the Cars will "spin around 360" and then continue on their path.

 

Overall, whoever worked on the "look" of the zone did a great job.

[KaizenSoze]

35 minutes ago, Arc-Mage said:

Some of the vehicle pathing is wonky. In the middle of some of the straight roads, the Cars will "spin around 360" and then continue on their path.

You can post a /loc where you are seeing that. The devs fix them when have time. There were a lot of them at the beginning.

Edited Wednesday at 01:27 AM by KaizenSoze

[CarthianRaver]

The demonization of the PPD in making Kallisti come to life seems less like it fits with the setting and more akin to the pushing of real world anti-cop rhetoric into the game. The lore does not support that the PPD are corrupt. There are what? 1 maybe 2 instances/missions in the entire game where the PPD are shown as such and the missions are you taking them down, given by PPD (iirc both are radio missions). For the most part it is cops being brutalized (ie KR), you dont see them beating on gang members or others. The Psi - cops also make the likelyhood of police corruption not very likely as they'd detect it before it happened.

You also list in the plaque that the reason the cops became cold & authoritive was they dont live there? Guess what, in real life cops dont usually live in the suburbs/ districts / boroughs / etc they see over, either for their safety or deparment policy. So this reason falls flat and makes no sense. You also with the badge/plaque below make it sound like the PPD has been corrupt for a while, which lore does not support that.

So if you are going to replace the PPD use a reason that makes sense and fits the lore & setting, not just shoehorning it in and trying to force us to believe this is how it's been. It would make much more sense to have the new enemies in the zone be too much for the PPD, or not enough funding and for BWI to come in to assist where they use the Citizen Crime Fighting Act as a reason they do so. And as BWI are against metas/supers it would make more sense to highlight the corruption of capes (not following the proper procedures for law enforcement that the CCFA states is to be used). Also if you make the enemies just now swarming the zone, instead of trying to retcon they'd always been there would make more sense and make the story more "living" and dynamic. Doing the retcon will screw with lore and peoples backgrounds/RP history. I get the game doesnt revolve around RPers but the way this seems to be happening feels like bad writing trying to force their story the way they want without proper build up. The whole down 46% in the last 5 years also breaks suspension of disbelief when the zone was unpopulated since it's release.
 

Also when did the killing of Kieran Holt happen? 2008 or 2018? You have a typo between badge & plaque.

[Velvet Violet]

3 minutes ago, CarthianRaver said:

The demonization of the PPD in making Kallisti come to life seems less like it fits with the setting and more akin to the pushing of real world anti-cop rhetoric into the game. The lore does not support that the PPD are corrupt. There are what? 1 maybe 2 instances/missions in the entire game where the PPD are shown as such and the missions are you taking them down, given by PPD (iirc both are radio missions). For the most part it is cops being brutalized (ie KR), you dont see them beating on gang members or others. The Psi - cops also make the likelyhood of police corruption not very likely as they'd detect it before it happened.

 

It was only the KW precinct that had become corrupt. The rest of the PPD remains the same as it always was.

[Heatstroke]

Love the music added and love the addition of mobs and vehicles.. but maybe its just me but it seems to be missing people.. like there should be more people milling about

 

[KaizenSoze]

Just now, Mars121 said:

That doesn't exactly inspire confidence, its a direct parallel to a certain controversy in the US involving a strikingly similar situation, it is still an injection of a major political issue and personal politics on a certain aspect of the game and its community.  We all should be above such things.

We have had corrupt police or "good" groups with bad branches in the game pretty much since the beginning.

 

There are rogue PPD all over on the red side. Rogue PPD in Talos arcs. Rogue Longbow and Vanguard. Even rogue PPD Awakened.

 

This is pretty much standard story telling. Nothing to do with real life.

[Mars121]

24 minutes ago, KaizenSoze said:

We have had corrupt police or "good" groups with bad branches in the game pretty much since the beginning.

 

There are rogue PPD all over on the red side. Rogue PPD in Talos arcs. Rogue Longbow and Vanguard. Even rogue PPD Awakened.

 

This is pretty much standard story telling. Nothing to do with real life.

The way they went about the instigating issue is a DIRECT parallel to the incident with George Floyd, which as I am sure you remember was an incredibly heated, violent and controversial period of instability.  By doing this it is injecting politics into the game which I am very much NOT a fan of, this is Paragon City, the city of tomorrow, we should be BETTER.

There are SEVERAL other ways to bring up change in the zone instead of injecting personal bias into a game we play to escape such things and feels self defeating.

Also there is no rogue PPD in the isles, the Isles are OUTSIDE of the US and Paragon City is in Rhode Island, you are referring to the RIPD.  As for the Talos arc that was instigated by a villain group goading disgruntled officers who were only doing it as a way to protest how the city's porter network was ONLY used for Heroes and not for cops, firefighters, EMT's and civilians.  If I recall right they did not intend for things to unfold as they did and things only went out of control when the villain group secretly supplying them made their move.

Edited Wednesday at 06:08 PM by Mars121

[PresidentDSG]

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Might_for_Right_Act

[ViridianDev]

1 hour ago, Heatstroke said:

Love the music added and love the addition of mobs and vehicles.. but maybe its just me but it seems to be missing people.. like there should be more people milling about

 

 

Are there areas you feel are missing civilians? Unfortunately with the way the zone was built at shutdown, the strolling civilians are pretty baked into the map, so we ran into issues making sure pedestrians felt prevalent; that's why the Paragon Trade Center has a bunch of manually-placed civilians chatting/sitting/doing NPC things.

If you can point out areas that feel a bit empty, I can see what I can do.

Note: One Statesman Plaza is purposefully not populated, there are plans for the island but we didn't have enough time to finish them for this page, so it'll be in a follow-up update.

[Ruin Mage]

City of Heroes has had a lot of politics. Especially since it was made in 2004 and its lifetime was until aboooout 2012.

As long as there's no direct rips of IRL events, the way its written is nothing new for City of Heroes.

We also don't have a full story yet on the KW PPD Precinct or BWI's history. So, chill.

[Seed22]

Ignoring the sheer sad cringe that was that wall of text, KW….feel great to see the zone lived in.

 

I could theoretically headcanon some toons of mine having a home in the zone and operating in and around it, and I’m not even a RPer.

 

Good work on this one. I’ll probably do the arcs minus the mergers one because idgaf about Crey.

[Super Atom]

Feel free to say its not the vibes you're looking for and it's kinda small potatoes anyway

 

 

This part feels odd because its not moving, even with the tug boat

What if you put freaklok on it and maybe add a fire? give it a reason to be static, could have been attacked upon reentry by freaklok or anyone else really.

 

Also makes for a funny segue into the "villain"  side of the zone

[DemonSeed]

The gold backing of the Adamstown infirmary is translucent on the bottom.

[High_Beam]

So, I just did a fly through and spawn attack pass of KW.

 

Factoring out the argument from some about politicization (or not) I don't like the idea of there being a bad precinct as an excuse.  That needs to be shit canned right away and replaced with one of a dozen different more game lore compatible excuses.  There are Crey crawling all over and they wanted the Paragon Protectors to be a for hire force.  Hero Corps (Rebecca Foss's group) originally was to be capes for hire till they got pushback.  The concept of a district possibly outsourcing some policing functions to a corporation like we have with the prison system in RL and in some cities (San Francisco used to have Police Specials, trained but not part of the PD) is believable.  PPD has always relied upon capes to help fill the gaps and the biggies.  But yeah, I am not onboard with the bad precinct line.  You really should re-evaluate the story line, my two cents there.

 

Also, to be honest, there is a lot of garbage mob padding here.  The fact that someone said this was the zone to deploy several upgraded enemy groups is a bad call.  Explain the jump in Skulls skill from essentially King's Row 13-15 to Level 45.  I am not saying that the upgrade is bad (Soul Harvesters, Volkhv Priestesses and such) but there is no lore or logical reason for them to move up in power like that, especially considering they are and continue to be tools of the Family (Lords of Death Arc)  The Freakshow and Freaklok again should be more in level sync with the Fiendish Lab and Graveyard Shift arcs which was mid 20s and 30s respectively.  And don't get me started with the Warriors, cause the level 50s keep spawning with some torn tux shit that looks terrible (terrible costume revamp on that faction as a whole; ruined them).  They don't fit and there's way too many of them there.  These mobs should have been inserted into the more appropriate zones to their presence,  You have this new bad guy group and higher level Crey here, plus some Praetoria refugee stuff.  Why did you need to pad?

 

But here is some constructive feedback that doesn't involve tossing your hard work.  Lower the enemy mob density and increase the civilians density.  There were zero people in the University or outside and practically zero in Hospital.  You have this shiny zone, that you are starting to fill so fill it with people first before you fill it with more purse snatchers than purses to snatch.  I should see people milling about those outdoor cafes by the water front.

 

On to other things in KW.  The adding of music and such is Nice.  Thumbs up there.  The Skull Rave music from the Lords of Death Second Arc is freaking awesome.  Its actually on my iPod.

 

There are several locations with large loops of pedestrians, 347.2 55.0 2176 is one where they loop at the stairs at either end of the loop.

 

 

[Andreah]

40 minutes ago, High_Beam said:

I don't like the idea of there being a bad precinct as an excuse.  That needs to be shit canned right away and replaced with one of a dozen different more game lore compatible excuses.

I agree.

[DemonSeed]

This Patch of grass outside the Blackwing HQ uses a different texture from the rest of the outer grass (including the symmetrical side to the right of the image.)

[Ruin Mage]

I'm just going to put it out there that this is but Part 1 of Kallisti Wharf. There is so much more to come, and what seems like missing pieces is probably answered in the current testable arcs...and in future content.

The zone has been a work in progress for a very very long time.

[CarthianRaver]

 

 

37 minutes ago, StarkWhite said:

The idea that Paragon's police department is pristine and flawless is in itself a political statement. 

No one is saying the PPD are pristine or flawless, I even stated there are a few missions that deal with it, but by lore the corruption is an exception, not the norm, while this makes it seem like it is the norm. As it was enough to incite a protest and then a riot to burn down the city. Replacing the PPD even in 1 zone with a paramilitary group is a huge jump and obviously paralells to real world issues/politics. But look at how badly that has worked in the past to use these outside groups. Longbow being a perfect example of how badly it goes.

 

Most of us dont play this game to deal with those social/political issues here, it is an escape. This just shoves it back in people's faces whether it was your intention or not. And even if it is "just KW" players know that how? Because between the plaque and badge it doesn't sound like it. 

But I also think this zone's incorporation of enemies is taking the easy way. When they could come up with something current to make it happen instead of handwaving it. Have there be invasions like zombie, rikti, etc. as the initiation of why this is happening. Write it as a normally peaceful zone is all of a sudden being attacked by hordes and as such there would be reason why the PPD is unable to respond adequately. Have Blackwing come in to help when it happens (as well as players of course), as a way they get their foot in the door. It makes much more sense then the way it appears to be being done by simply retconning history.

 

2 minutes ago, Seed22 said:

Shh 

 

you’re using common sense. Stop that!

 

change nothing devs, and for the people complaining about the politicization?

 

To put it crudely. Fuck em. 

Last I checked this is supposed to be a discussion about issues with the beta, not to be insulting and confrontational about people's issues and concerns. 

[Ruin Mage]

There is idle dialogue (I.e the type that pops up before engaging groups or passing by NPCs) that lays the hints that BWI is up to something as well. Which means there's likely more to what's going on. Which means there's things to be discovered as KW content rolls out.

 

4 minutes ago, CarthianRaver said:

Most of us dont play this game to deal with those social/political issues here

So, genuine question, but do most people ignore the game's content then? City of Heroes is a product of its time. A number of arcs and enemy groups...are going to draw from political and social issues. The game's lore, such as the Might for Right Act or the 5th Column or Malta or The Council or Nemesis, makes this game quite hard to "escape" from social and political issues. It's the wrong game choice to do escapism in, unfortunate to say.

[StarkWhite]

The superhero genre has *always* had a political stance.

Superman's first foes were corrupt slumlords. The X-Men are and always have been a thinly-veiled allegory about bigotry. Black Panther is a statement on racism and colonialism.

If you're used to pretending that element isn't there, just...keep doing that, I guess.