In many MMO's most of the content is for low level characters, but most characters will spend most of their time at the end game level playing only the highest level content. To date the best solution for this has been Guild Wars 2's method, which is lowering the level of high level characters when entering a low level area. This method isn't acceptable for City of Titans, because superhero games need to make the heroes feel powerful. I recommend that high level characters bring a different response from low level enemies. Upon seeing a powerful character low level enemies would begin organizing an appropriate response. Players would see enemies screaming into their cell phones for back up, and busily running around, trying to get into position. We would start to see enemies go into buildings and come back out with powerful rocket launchers and plasma rifles. Then the the distinct sound of attack helicopters circling the elevated threat would cue. And there we have it, a challenging encounter for a high level character in a starting zone. You're welcome world.
The system could even work the other way. Low level characters may be able to enter higher level areas because the higher level enemies would tend to ignore them more than more powerful characters. For example, Darkseid wouldn't stop everything he is doing to run after the Flash, but if the Flash gets too close he would fire off an Omega Beam in his direction.
Would this system make low level areas playable for you?
I'm sorry, but this is not correct. 'Most Characters' are lower-level. Most CoH players spent Considerable time in the low-level areas, simply due to the fact that CoH was weighted towards multiple Alts, rather than a single Main. My high-level characters moved all over the City, they were not 'stuck' in high-end content.
The 'problem' with putting higher-level content in a lower-level zone is that the NPCs do NOT 'ignore' lower-level characters. They actively seek characters with lower hit-points, so as to destroy them and deny their power to the enemy. The only thing that prevents this, is Aggro, which sticks them to whatever Player-character has been hurting and taunting them. If aggro is lost, then they go looking for the quick-win and that means finishing-off the weak.
Lower-level zones were 're-used' in City of Heroes, only in Partial instances and in zone-events using 'Giant Monster code'.
Be Well!
Fireheart
I found that the mentoring system in CoH was sufficient to get full use of all zones, since I could take a high level character, join a low level team, and do missions / street sweep / run a task force in any zone. My level auto-adjusted to the team leader's, so I could earn experience and currency. There were a few downsides, notably that I could not make full use of my powers (some were disabled) and enhancements ("gear" would become less effective and then shut off below a certain level), and that certain higher level rewards would not drop (endgame shards/threads and desirable crafting recipes). I suppose that minor adjustments to these limitations could be made to improve the fun factor, without breaking game balance.
I could also use the Ouroboros mission-replay feature to repeat lower level missions that I had enjoyed, or any that I had missed while leveling. Doing so sent me back into those lower level zones at a level that matched the enemies nearby. Rewards and gameplay followed the same pattern as mentioned above.
YES making zones relevant to all levels as much as possible is key. It is an easy way to effectively add fun, playable content. I enjoyed Mentoring down and the Ouroborus--I just RP'd both in my head as earlier adventures in my character's story--I even switched to an earlier iteration of his uniform for it.
I agree with Fire and Scott that CoH did a good job, but I would like to see this further improved in CoT. I would have LOVED to have a reason to go back to and/or kick around the new Faultline OTHER than Mentoring or starting a new character.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
I agree with Scott Jackson. I would add that I did a lot if Posi and Synapse Task Forces long after I had outleveled them, just to get the badge, or because it was the WST that week, or whatever.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
How about the super-snakes mish redside that had you going back to Mercy up in the late 40s? I loved going back to where I started and having contacts reminisce about when I was a lowbie.
On the other hand, some of the folks who were just starting characters didn't appreciate the Malta ambush from the previous mish I had completed -- an ambush that I had far outdistanced and therefore never even noticed till someone sent a broadcast and I turned back to clean up my mess. :-o
Spurn all ye kindle.
While I had little issue with the CoH answer to this, I did have some once I explored Blueside for the first time (simply because they had more zones).
Also, instance-heavy missions make a lot of leveling in zones irrelevant (esp. if your travel power isn't super jump).
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Avatar by MikeNovember
So very true... The thing is, CoX players seemed to hate the "go to X zone for a mission" ... but with the heavy instancing for the missions, it could be done without really messing up the game play for the lower levels in that zone. Just make sure that ambushes only happen in the zones relevant for the player (level wise), or at least make them use GM code so that even the "lowbies" could stand a chance of surviving....
I think some of the suburb zones in CoH were just a little too big. Skyway City , Boomtown, Indyport, etc were just so HUGE you couldn't get from one end to the other very quickly, even with super speed, and there was so much vast empty space for that reason. The smaller zones, like Atlas Park, Galaxy City, Talos and Peregrine Island were somewhat closer to ideal size, and Talos and Peregrine only get a pass because you didn;t have to travel tot he far northern islands if you didn't want to (usually).
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
I agree IF the zones are mostly combined on one big map as they say they are for the City. I think in a game with travel power some vast zones gave the game an expansive feel. Some games have felt cramped and small to me since CoH. And I loved finding little obscure nooks and crannies, especially when there were little surprises in them.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)