Sad indeed

[Nightmarer]

Ah well, turns out I was on a team earlier on with a lot of new people and, after a particularly hurtful wipe on an Arachnos radio mish, someone just said "let's do something easier, let's go street sweeping in Hollows" and I think that is very SAD.

 

I miss the old Hollows (and the old Defiance btw), it is a sad day when newcomers think that The Hollows are an easy area, guess it can't be helped but i thought I'd share while servers are rebooted.

[Baronesa]

I'm still scared of The Hollows after all these years... LOVE it... but.. it was NOT easy

[larrymcg421]

The Hollows used to be much worse back in the day when there was no hospital there. If you died, you'd go all the way back to the Atlas Park hospital.

[Misguidance]

Literally just got my ass handed to me in the Hollows before the server went down.

I went looking for a TF because I wanted to feel successful at something for a bit.

[Xenon]

most fun i had as a scrapper, bs/wp, was a team of 8 in some troll-filled tunnels. 7 team members were down, and tellin me to run. nope. so i popped all my inspirations at once (making room for an awaken to drop) and cleared the aggro. we had over-pulled several groups which caused the near-wipe. then after, i handed awakens out to the healers and we were able to continue onward.

 

if anything, my problem is leveling too fast for all the content i want to see. explore badges in the bank missions is one of those things you can miss as you level, if you dont pay attention. took me a bit to remember how to do those.

 

[Demoriel]

I remember when the game launched they didn't have The Hollows, you had to go to Kings Row. Hollows was pretty scary, especially since you didn't get travel powers till level 10? i can't recall.

[larrymcg421]

Used to get travel powers at lvl 14. My Grav/FF controller was very useful back then, because I could run to any mission in Personal Force Field, then use Recall Friend to get everyone there.

[Misguidance]

Ah yes, I remember people slowly hovering across the Hollows because it was more fun than being beaten to a pulp every 5 steps on the ground. XD

[Panache]

Some of my fondest early in-game memories were running with the Paragon City Search and Rescue SG on Infinity; the Hollows is where the need seemed to be greatest. Good times, good times.

[Generator]

The first iteration of the Hollows wasn't "fun" hard, it was "badly designed and frustrating" hard.  Third time back from the hospital, you finally get to the door... and there's a red-conning spawn ten feet from it.

 

I'm very comfortable saying I don't miss that.

[Sirus]

Ah yes, I remember people slowly hovering across the Hollows because it was more fun than being beaten to a pulp every 5 steps on the ground. XD

Ugh, I just felt a shiver run down my spine at those memories. There was this one time when I guess I strayed too close to a rooftop that had bad guys on it. My Internet wasn't all that great at the time, and I recall the game lagging suddenly before I found myself dead on the ground. I was so close to my mission, too.

[The Smoking Demon]

The Hollows gave me my nether regions in a box with a hastily tied bow and no wrapping paper and called it a badge.  I was lucky enough to get a card which read, 'Enjoy the walk back'.  The Hollows truly taught you aggro ranges, patience, endurance management, how to get your profile perfect whilst you waited for others, and most of all if you had the prettiest costume, it was going to murder you first.  You could sometimes tell back then if people had cut their teeth there or not by the way they played.  Great mythology too.

[Jaguaratron]

I remember crossing the hollows with hover........ and people complain about queue times....

[Erydanus]

When War Witch edited the Hollows, she pulled out the official documentation on how hazard zones were supposed to be constructed and balanced, looked at Hollows 1.0 and declared it to be FAR in excess of the standard. Far. So I am grateful she turned it from a deathtrap to a good zone for grouping.

[Sanguinesun]

I remember when the game launched they didn't have The Hollows, you had to go to Kings Row. Hollows was pretty scary, especially since you didn't get travel powers till level 10? i can't recall.

 

No no,  Perez Park street sweeping teams with storm controllers herding the masses to one spot for everyone to let loose on.

 

Those were the days.

[wtl]

The original Hollows were a blast- and made me pretty terrified of going into any hazard zone.

[Knyghte]

It was the risk that made the Hollows fun.  And being able to finally go in and solo that area back in the day was the test of ... hero-hood.

[JPax]

most fun i had as a scrapper, bs/wp, was a team of 8 in some troll-filled tunnels. 7 team members were down, and tellin me to run. nope. so i popped all my inspirations at once (making room for an awaken to drop) and cleared the aggro. we had over-pulled several groups which caused the near-wipe. then after, i handed awakens out to the healers and we were able to continue onward.

 

if anything, my problem is leveling too fast for all the content i want to see. explore badges in the bank missions is one of those things you can miss as you level, if you dont pay attention. took me a bit to remember how to do those.

 

OMG I had completely forgotten about inspirations! Saving the day with them haha! I'm just installing the revival now, and by god I'm at the point of tears, of joy of course!

[SteelRat70]

The Hollows is one my favourite zones in the game.  SO many good lessons can be learned there that will keep you in good stead for the rest of it.  The Hollows is also awesome, simply because, Frostfire.

[xyzzysqrl]

When War Witch edited the Hollows, she pulled out the official documentation on how hazard zones were supposed to be constructed and balanced, looked at Hollows 1.0 and declared it to be FAR in excess of the standard. Far. So I am grateful she turned it from a deathtrap to a good zone for grouping.

 

I actually want to hear more about this! Do you have a link or anything?

[Piledriver]

The first iteration of the Hollows wasn't "fun" hard, it was "badly designed and frustrating" hard.  Third time back from the hospital, you finally get to the door... and there's a red-conning spawn ten feet from it.

 

I'm very comfortable saying I don't miss that.

 

Nostalgia makes everything better. I get a lot of mileage out of tales of the belt, for instance. Why, you must be a coddled millennial with a shelf full of participation trophies or somethin' if you don't have tales of pleading for mercy at the top of your lungs while permanent stripes were being laid across your backside.

[wtl]

When War Witch edited the Hollows, she pulled out the official documentation on how hazard zones were supposed to be constructed and balanced, looked at Hollows 1.0 and declared it to be FAR in excess of the standard. Far. So I am grateful she turned it from a deathtrap to a good zone for grouping.

 

I actually want to hear more about this! Do you have a link or anything?

 

I searched around and I believe this is it: https://city-of-heroes.livejournal.com/2717339.html

[Generator]

Nostalgia makes everything better. I get a lot of mileage out of tales of the belt, for instance. Why, you must be a coddled millennial with a shelf full of participation trophies or somethin' if you don't have tales of pleading for mercy at the top of your lungs while permanent stripes were being laid across your backside.

 

Tired Gen-Xer who never had the patience for that nonsense, but po-tay-to, po-tah-to.  :D

[Erydanus]

Nice find, Wtl. I'm quoting from memory an additional comment or two she dropped on the official forums in addition to that dev diary.

 

Similarly later on she suddenly piped up one day and said she'd nuked a bunch of the really pain-in-the-ass to get to doors in Perez park. Her husband had been playing City with friends and she heard all their complaints over voice chat about mission doors that were crazy hard to get to both from the labyrinth design and the mob placement and thought, "ok that's it, we're done with those real nasty doors."

[Generator]

Wow, now Perez Park misadventures, those I remember fondly.  I recall blundering through the undergrowth, then suddenly seeing a lamppost and being all, "I'm saved!  Follow that to freedom!"