City of Heroes/TrialZones

Trial Zones in City of Heroes

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Eastgate

Better known as The Hollows, Eastgate boasts some beautiful riverside views and impressive nightlife if you are into makeshift fireworks. Visitors are welcome to house hunt and the landlord Frostfire is a fair one if you can stand temperatures ranging from -50 to 360 degrees Celsius. If you find yourself house hunting in the popular Grendel's Gulch (AKA the 'Nooblet's Graveyard), be warned! It is very hard to get out of and the current residents, The Minions of Igneous, are not very inviting and will rudely pelt you with large, painful boulders if you happen to stroll too close. If you do in fact find a comfortable place to live, then consider visiting the mountains where simply taking a walk will earn you a badge. In these mountains, you can watch the magical Circle of Thorns perform soul extractions as they plunge their soul thorns into the hearts of unknowing and unwilling citizens! WOW!

Perez Park

Perez Park is a undeniably lovely place. Complete with The Bendis lakeside restaurant, an ampitheatre that resembles the one in Eastgate, and a pleasant bridge, Perez is the most inviting place in the city. Even the Vahzilok will perform miracle street surgery for your amusement. Arrive at the right time and Kraken the friendly blob will dance for you, but don't get too close because he can get too friendly. Perez Park also offers a world class fountain which many a hero will undoubtedly spend one frivolous moment whilst they gather a badge. You are welcome to sit outside The Bendis lakeside restaurant and feed the Hydra that flourish in the pollution rich waters of Everett Lake, but be warned that out of palm feeding is not recommended. Those who are not into walking the winding paths of Perez can hang out on the outside where little actually happens. There are a few enemies out here and you can try talking to them but this interrupts their loops and they get quite pissed off about it. House hunting in Perez Park is very expensive, as you will have to pay off all the hippies that are petitioning for it to be burned down. The Bendis lakeside restaurant was recently put up for sale when the owner played host to a particularly naughty group of Clockwork. Buy now and save! A recently constructed wall just out of the reach of your average jumper keeps the meddlesome heroes out as they run alongside it for miles upon miles trying to find an entrance or exit.

Baumton

For the rustic resident. Baumton is often referred to as Boomtown because a certain Rikti mothership was thrown upon it by Statesman, who thought he was being a good hero(Hello! Collateral damage?). But when you think about it, Baumton is still Baumton, it just has a few more holes in it. Which is why now is the time to buy if you are interested in, as was previously said, a rustic lifestyle. The good news is that the zone is surprisingly barren of Rikti, none at all can be found in the zone! If this disapoints some, take heart in the fact that there are more Clockwork in this zone than many of the others. If you are really lucky, you will get to meet Babbage! Babbage is one of the more social Clockwork in the game who will actually run a fair distance just to say hello.

Overbrook

If you are into cliffside views(some of which that lean right over or even into the cliff), then Overbrook is for you. The zone has been called "Faultline", but the reason for this is open to argument. Some say it was because of the villain that sent his earthquake devices rippling through the ground. The other is because after the incident, no "one" person received the blame. Everyone did. This zone boasts some of the least hero traffic in the entire city, allowing for a peaceful lifestyle among the villains. Many of the houses in this area are, put simply, sort of decimated and unihabitable. But take heart! There is room for improvement as even the famous Renovation Rescue team visited Overbrook...and disappeared down a fissure. But the Clockwork are kind enough to offer their hand at making this place more livable. They just didn't say for whom. Those interested in committing suicide are advised to pay a visit to the Reservoir neighborhood, an area that has some of the longest drops in the city!

Overbrook has recently undergone massive repairs. The fruits of the months of labor that went into the reconstruction of Overbrook can pretty much be summed up by one donut shop, which is pretty much the only reason people go here anymore. This donut shop had some nasty side effects, though. You see, the Donut shop, out of fear of future earthquakes, has a concrete base that goes 2 miles beneath the earth's surface. This caused the dam to crack which flooded some of Overbrook, killing thousands, and this resulted in Arachnos and the Sky Raiders moving in. But it was a good cause...comaaawn...Donut Shop!

Striga Isle

Paragon City's amusement park. Visitors arrive by boat at a pleasant harbor. They can soon go to the forest where they meet the colourfully dressed mascots of Striga Isle. There is Wally the Warwolf, Eduardo the Equinox Parasite and Manny the Zenith Mech Man. They "legally acquired" the rights to Disneyland's "It's A Small World", placed it in The Wolf's Maw sector of Striga Isle, and renamed it "It's Our World And There Is Really Little You Can Do About It". It is commonly overlooked and ignored. Patrons can take a ride in a Sky Skiff and face off against other Skiffs in aerial combat. In the center of the volcano is "The Giant Drop" where patrons can dive into a volcano. This is naturally not recommended for non-supers. House hunters are advised to avoid buying here, as the owners of Striga Isle, The Council, perform frequent raids to increase their ranks. And rest assured, they are not as friendly when not in costume.

Astoria

Be warned that Astoria is very, very frightening. There are zombies and ghouls all about. Often referred to as Dark Astoria, it is the breeding ground of Banished Pantheon zombies and Circle of Thorns cultists. Why, there is even a graveyard with an oversized zombie roaming about. The only ghosts that can be considered friendly are the ghosts of civilians who have not become any braver after their deaths. Fortunately, this zone has a fully functional hospital which is a liberty only two other trial zones can boast. Dark Astoria is a necessary touch, granting the myriad of Heroes that have a "paladin" theme going on something to do.

Terra Volta

Paragon City's biggest source of energy. The Zone is situated in the middle of Independance Port, with an entrance positioned just high enough that Super Speeders can't get inside. The power plant is attacked only a bit less than Ziggursky Prison. With constant attacks from Freakshow, Rikti and Sky Raiders, the employees of the complex spend more time in trauma counselling than at work. The zone hasn't much to offer but the godly items known as Respecs. Although the developers frequently give out Respecs for free, many heroes screw up their builds so often that they have to work for them, leading some members of the city council to question the wisdom of setting such loose restrictions on granting hero licenses.

Croatoa

A zone shrouded in mystery. The most puzzling of which is how you actually pronounce the word. The train drops you off in the middle of Salamanca, a dingy town filled with supernatural activity. Word has it that this town will play host to the next Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events movie. The town is under threat of being pulled into an alternate universe by the evil Red Caps. Red Caps are a more advanced stage in Smurf evolution. They overthrew Papa Smurf and now they all wear red hats. Other enemies that can be found here are the Fir Bolg, a group that got lost on the way to World Of Warcraft, The Tuatha De Dannon, a group that prides itself on spelling, and the Cabal, a coven of witches that can be usually found at the northmost part of Croatoa...dead. Attention house-hunters! The landlord, Jack in Irons is looking for a roommate. Must like skulls. Visitors should also keep their eyes peeled for Sally, the Lake Salamanca Monster. This beautiful beast will usually find half a dozen heroes on it when it appears because if you hit it on the head twice, you get a badge.

Crey's Folly

Crey's old industrial complex. It was called Crey's Folly because the Countess Crey requested buildings be built in it while it was still being blasted at by a certain Rikti Mothership. This explains the large number of abandoned scaffolds throughout the zone. Literally picking up the pieces are the Freakshow. They reside in Carnival Town, a titanium utopia in the northwest corner of the zone. The Freaks live in peace here, with everyone having their own job, i.e., one Freak bakes bread, another is law enforcement, etc. Needless to say, this is actually the finest lodging in the entire city. With a "reuse, reduce, and recycle" attitude, the Freaks make for kind hosts. If you happen to acquire a view of the flooded basins, you may get to see Jurassik wander about. Like some other giant monsters, Jurassik spends most of his time batting away small heroes with a large car-on-a-stick. Crey's Folly is on its way back up and although Countess Crey has shifted her interest elsewhere(she now hopes to build an arboretoreum...ON THE MOON!), The Freaks, Rikti, Nemesis and residual Crey troops have not.

Woodvale

A gorgeous national park where the plants literally come to life; a place that admirers and detesters alike affectionatly call "Eden". This zone is like Perez in that it also has a lovely bridge(half of one, anyway). The zone has recently had a smidgeon of conflict and is now quite hard to traverse. The Mayor's "Just-ignore-the-Devouring-Earth-and-maybe-they-will-go-away" idea has yet to show progress, as the Devouring Earth are currently in the process of ripping up the roads to make room for a stone palace for their leader Don Hammy. Crey and Nemesis make frequent appearances here; Crey because they are picking up the pieces of their recently destroyed labs, and Nemesis because Lord Nemesis gets lost on his way to Country Kitchen Buffet. The zone remains beautiful, and in the looming twilight of The Hive, anyone can find beauty at these miracles of severely altered nature.

White Plains

Warzone and tourist attraction of Paragon City. This zone had a large part of it "removed" when a certain Rikti mothership had difficulty parallel parking between two apartment buildings. The town was leveled and is now often referred to by many guides and bumper stickers as "The Rikti Crash Site". As a safety precaution, the mothership has created a large teleport matrix that allows Rikti soldiers to warp in at any time anywhere. The process of which makes an annoying "Shheeyoweeeeehaaaassssss" sound. Take that word, say it really loud 50 times, record it and play it over itself several times. That's what the air around the mothership sounds like. Many a hero can resist numerous gunshot wounds, but few can withstand such an ear-grating noise. Access to the mothership is strictly limited to Rikti unless you have a pass. Talk to a Rikti Communications officer for more info on tours. Warning: Riktours is not responsible for any burnings, flayings, slaughters, conversions, kidnappings, poisonings, mutations, deaths or molestations one may and most likely will experience while touring the Rikti mothership.

The new "Come Visit White Plains" tourist campaign is in full swing, thanks to the international advertising agency Vanguard. Thanks to their work with the Rikti, heroes and villians are welcome to organize tours of the outer surface of the mothership, as well as making special trips to the caverns below the mother ship. Rikti also give away special "merit" tokens that can be redeemed at the Vanguard tour shop, for costume pieces and special trinkets to remember your visit. Vanguard has obviously been planning this for a long time, considering they have been purchasing almost all the billboards throughout Paragon City to advertise these tours, over the last several years. While exploring the surface of the mothership, please feel free to talk to the master of the ship, a Man-at-Arms, so to speak, who will be happy to tell you of her glorious voyage between the stars, before being punched out of the sky by some dope with a gladiator mask on. You are also allowed to set off fireworks on board the mothership, since it's impervious metal coating can't actually be damaged by anything on this planet. The tours of the underside of the mothership will allow you to see amazing architecture, and converse with at least one hero that has visited the Rikti homeworld. A must have experience of any history buff.

The Hive

Don Hammy's evil lair. The leader of the mud-eating eco-terrorists known as the Devouring Earth, he sits at his window waiting for the next mob of heroes to have at him in a vain attempt to get their Don Hammy Origin Enhancers (AKA Hammi-O's, 'part of a nutritious breakfast'). This zone is protected by Don Hammy's amazing invention, The Lag-O-Matic. In an attempt to keep heroes away, Don Hammy has built a machine that emits powerful waves of energy which upset the space/time continuum, resulting in temporal shifts in space. Heroes find themselves skipping this way and that. Sometimes their capes will get stuck in their skulls, or have their Auras stuff up completely. The zone also has a Travel Power Dampening Field that makes all travel powers screw up. Super Speed doesn't really move you anywhere(you just lagskip back to where you started), Super Jump fails to get you off the ground, and Fly behaves much like a combination between Super Speed and Super Jump. As for Teleport? Let's not even go there...let's just say that Don Hammy has this place locked up tighter than Ziggursky Prison(which isn't actually saying much).