And in [url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/world-titans]that news update[/url], note the updated/official names for the zones, such as Weston instead of Charleston and NRD instead of N.E.R.D. (Though both mean "Northeast Reasearch District", and most of the PCs I know of who work or live there* commonly call it "the NERD.")

*OK, they're mostly my PCs at the moment, but I'm sure I'm not the only one! ^_^

I think that City of Heroes got their city model right from the start. Each zone had a "theme" in the same way that real-world human activities would congregate in certain neighborhoods. If they were comic book-ish, it was because they layered comic book events on top of those normal neighborhoods. In that way, Woodvale (residential area), Venice (industrial park), and Astoria (typical part of Queens, NYC), became Eden (overwhelmed by the Devouring Earth), Crey's Folly (first Rikti invasion unleashing everything Crey kept hidden from the EPA), and Dark Astoria (long buried eldritch horror surfacing in the cemetery). And you'll note that those are all hazard zones. The open zones of Paragon City did a pretty good job of looking like normal parts of a northeastern American city, at least by 2004 video game standards. That normality is much of what gave Paragon City its charm. (And why Millennium City could never live up to that standard. Before Cryptic acquired the license, it was already baked into Champions lore that Detroit was destroyed in 1992 and rebuilt as a "city of the future", so much of the natural evolution of the urban area was lost.)

TL;DR: Marvel's Manhattan is still Manhattan, even with Stark Tower in the middle of it.

Jordan_yen wrote:

Thank you all. It sounds like they're way ahead here and I just need to catch up big time :)
I've been absent from everything for years and, honestly, I'm a bit relieved. It's hard enough to wait one more year and it's been easier on me not even thinking about it. That said, I think I'll start doing some research before posting more questions :D

We're glad you're here now :).

And, yes, the wait has been rough, but lucky for you you're coming around just as the sausage is starting to take shape (that... sounds different than what I meant).