Location of Missions in Westview in Relation to XP Level

As was brought up in the Top 5 things MMOs should learn in the new year topic here:

http://forums.station.sony.com/mxo/..._id=36300027219

There seems to be some uncertainty over how mission locations in Westview are chosen once you've reached the level at which you start getting sent there.

• What is your experience with this?
• At what level are you sent to what area of Westview?
• Does it matter if you start the mission from somewhere in Westview as opposed to somewhere in Richland?
  

• What is your experience with this?
  
  It's a bit irritating, if you're running, say, Escort missions, since the spawn will attack the escort NPC, but I actually factored this into my RP: one of my alts is a wierd Exile who hunts Exiles for their code, so it was second nature that she'd be hunting stronger and fiercer prey as she grows and develops.
  
  
• At what level are you sent to what area of Westview?
  
  I think I was around lvl 18 or so when I started getting sent to Westview.
  
  
• Does it matter if you start the mission from somewhere in Westview as opposed to somewhere in Richland?
  
  Depends on the part of Richland you're in. It seemed like I got sent to Westview when I tried starting in central or southern Richland (ie. Camon Heights and southward)

• What is your experience with this?

I hated Westview with a passion, the NPC's there were brutal, in large packs and generally were 5-6 levels above you. Escorting anyone through the area is a lost cause and just annoyed me to the point of logging off. In my experience a LOT of new players have quit the game around the time they start missioning in Westview, generally a combination of the lvl 100 Agent spawns and the Gangs infesting the area (I try to get them the access nodes quickly to get rid of the lvl 255 agents). I'm not blaming Westview entirely but more than once the last comment I have seen in faction chat from a lowbie has been words to the effect of "I logged on to have fun but these *Expletive* Agents/Gangs are just getting me angry, I'm logging off".

• At what level are you sent to what area of Westview?

As early as lvl 16 I was being sent to Westview, once I was lvl 18 I was constantly sent to Rogers Way where the ASP took great delight in killing me over and over right up until I was lvl 26 or so.

• Does it matter if you start the mission from somewhere in Westview as opposed to somewhere in Richland?

If I started the mission Richland or a low level of Westview I was sent to Rogers Way, if I started it in a higher level area (Eg Stamos) then the mission would be there.

In my opinion the Devs REALLY need to look at making Westview an easier place to mission in, or raise the level of the player before they are sent to the more brutal areas. I strongly encourage nearly all lowbies in my faction to mission in International and generally avoid Westview completely.

I dont know if this is, or ever was true, but I remember being told once when I was a lower level that you will be sent into westview after you reach a certain reputation in your org.  Until you reach a higher reputation...50? 100? im not sure on the exact number...you will continue to have missions start in richland but end up in Westview. 

A easy way to overcome this is to run missions in International.  The majority of my solo grind missions were done there.

 When I was leveling Tesma I had a hard time leveling in westview because it would send me into a zone where they were purple or just to many of them and they ganged up on me so I gave up after awhile and went to international, so when I leveled my 3rd character I just skipped westview all together and went international.

Tygrius wrote:

I dont know if this is, or ever was true, but I remember being told once when I was a lower level that you will be sent into westview after you reach a certain reputation in your org.  Until you reach a higher reputation...50? 100? im not sure on the exact number...you will continue to have missions start in richland but end up in Westview. 

A easy way to overcome this is to run missions in International.  The majority of my solo grind missions were done there.

Being sent into Westview is actually dependant upon experience level.  To my knowledge, reputation doesn't affect where you are sent on missions.

Shinryu wrote:

• Does it matter if you start the mission from somewhere in Westview as opposed to somewhere in Richland?
  

I think its just the closest mission area in westview to where you are. If your in mara it will be stamos if your in appolyon it will be sobra/ gracy if your in zia it will be lucero point or rodger way generally anyways and the other steps after the first stage can take you to completely different areas.

IZeac wrote:

Shinryu wrote:

• Does it matter if you start the mission from somewhere in Westview as opposed to somewhere in Richland?
  

I think its just the closest mission area in westview to where you are. If your in mara it will be stamos if your in appolyon it will be sobra/ gracy if your in zia it will be lucero point or rodger way generally anyways and the other steps after the first stage can take you to completely different areas.

Nah, Till you are a few levels above the highest gang in the district (Richland/Westview it's 33 and International I think it's around about 26) you will always be sent to Neighbourhoods where you can be attacked by people around your level.

If you start as a level 20 in Stamos you'll be sent to Gracy or Rogers Way because thats where the majority of your levels are otherwise you could just do missions in Southard till your level 33.

• What is your experience with this?

I personally gave up on missions in westview except on the odd Archive crit which needed a Richland building because in general it's difficult to move around without just HJ all over the area. The hardest part is as many other people have stated trying to complete escort missions because the escort always feels the need to attack the gang NPCs and there is an imbalance with the NPC's in there where usually at certain levels you're missioning in area's which have red - purple NPCs.

• At what level are you sent to what area of Westview?

Usually it's around the same level of the lowest gang member in that neighbourhood. But obviously theres a difference that can span 3-4 levels because they're fitting in a 18 level gap into 6 or 7 neighbourhoods?

The movement into Westview is one of the most jarring levelling experiences I've seen to date, I've never quite understood why the mission system didn't gradually start shifting you into locations based off the relation of their "neighbourhood" level (which they must have, based off the different maps colours) and the players level.

You know, south through Richland then across into Sobra and back up north, instead of straight up shoving you into Stamos.

I did a little testing with this last night and found some interesting results.  Using a level 15 and a level 17 (on Vector and Recursion respectively, though I doubt server has any impact), I was not always sent into Westview with either character. Also, the 2 level difference between characters didn't seem to make any difference even though one was still basically within Richland's level range and one was beyond it.

I didn't take down all of the numbers but, in short, my results were:

• If you're in the right general area XP level wise, you tend to get missions in the same general area.  For example, if you're already in Appolyon or Eshean, you will get mission locations in Appolyon or Eshean.  Even with the level 17, I wasn't sent from Appolyon/Eshean into Westview.
  
• If you're far away from the appropriate area for your level, the mission location seems much more random.  Starting from Tabor or Uriah, the farthest I could get from the "right" area XP level wise, I would get sent to Appolyon/Eshean or I would get sent to a random location in Westview.  The Westview locations ranged from the "tough but doable" Guiness Lake and Sobra Shores to the "Umm.. no?" locations of Roger's Way and northern Stamos.
• If you're already in Westview, you tend to get a mission area close to your own location regardless of neighbourhood.  Starting a mish in Guiness sent me to somewhere else in Guiness, starting a mish in Lucero Point sent me to somewhere else in Lucero, etc.
• Adjustable parameters such as difficulty level, time and mission type (Courier, Escort, etc.) had no effect on the mission area location.  Neither did the first stage's objective (Talk to X, Search PC, Escort X, etc.).

To test, I simply hardlined into an area and started a general mission from the contact menu while standing next to the hardline.  I did not actually complete any missions; just started the mish, checked the location of the mission building, and then aborted.  I also tested disbanding my mish team between attempts, but this didn't seem to have any particular impact.

My workaround for missons in Westview: start doing missons in International, then you don't get sent to Westview. Granted you still have "gangs" several levels above you but the buildings themselves are easier to navigate around in. I got the nodes for International and did missons there between levels 18 (or so) and 35 (or so) when I could choose the area without getting sent to Westview.

Has anyone else ever wondered what a fire marshall would do with the mazes in the buildings we get sent into. Can you imagine living or working in a building where you absolutely cannot get to point B directly from point A but have to run a maze?  OK, I suspend my disbelief but still folks!

caillech wrote:

My workaround for missons in Westview: start doing missons in International, then you don't get sent to Westview.

This does work perfectly and, based upon the difficulty level in International, really does seem like it's the way you are intended to do things.  Problem is, unless a new player is told by someone that already knows the game or they get lucky and get a Int access key drop to "open their eyes to the possibility" there is no way for them to know this.  A simple pop up message upon reaching level 10 or 11 would be ideal as that's when you have to go into either Westview or Int to get your new abilities anyway.  Of course, that's just a bandaid for the difficulty flow issue and not a real solution.

It would be simpler if the difficulty flowed from Richland to Westview then Int, but I guess Int has a nice change of scenery for a new player.

It isn't so much that all of Westview is impossibly difficult it's that players are sent to the most hostile area's too quickly. By level 19 I was being sent to Rogers Way on a regular basis to get brutally gunned down by the ASP gang. And by lvl 23 when I could start surviving there I was then redirected to Stamos, where the lvl 30 gangs there began the process all over again.

I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but if it was, sorry.

Don't forget that some neighborhood gangs have changed levels since MxO and the mission system was originally set up as.  Not huge difference, but some. 

I actually find it quite fun in Westview

Always need to be weary of you're surroundings, and think of the best path to take between the mission areas. Of course it is annoying when you have to escort people. Stupid npcs and not hyperjumping ha ha oh and of course the shape of the mission areas. Annoying as heck ha ha especially no mish map

It does seem as though you get sent to some of the places a bit kinda early, like being lvl 19 running about with lvl 24 gangs or being lvl 24 and running about with lvl 28 - 30 gangs. But hey, i didn't expect/want the game to get easier. If i have to die a couple of times in a mission, its not the end of the world. Recon and out another hardline.

God, I hate Westview with a passion.

Seriously, I seemed to be stuck dealing with theoASP for so long, I really hated them. It was getting to the point where I was going to quit.

If it wasn't for the fact that international was so much fun, I probably wouldn't be here!

The_Bruceter wrote:

I actually find it quite fun in Westview

Now that I know what I'm doing, I find it rather fun too... outside of escort missions anyway, but as a new player the first time around.. not so fun hehe

It took me a few characters to finally realize the actual flow and how screwy it is.

I think for some wacked out reason Richland and Westview are put right close together - but the lvling flowchart is actually intended as:

Richland --> International --> Westview --> Downtown

Not:

Richland ---> Missions send player automaticaly to ---> Westview (regaurdless of lvl) ---> International ----> Downtown

You missions start sending you into Westview from Richland about level ... 13-14 or so >.o  And it's 20 - 30 area where International is your 1 to 20 area.  I believe this is more due to the fact that Richland and Westview are all one big piece, and so close together, and International (Chinatown) is more or less a completely separated construct, like Downtown.  You can thank Monolith for this ... they set the play flow order order of the gang lvls all wrong in my opinion.  How it SHOULD be is Richland and Westview should be more like Richland and International - switch the lvls of the Westview gangs with the Chinatown gangs (in theory).  And then you should have a proper play flow. 

Most new players don't even know they are supposed to go to International as their next step in their teen lvls, since it just starts pushing them into Westview by default. I know back in '06 when I started I spent so much frustrated time being sent to Westview - and didn't even know Chinatown existed.

But ... it's MxO ... for whatever reason it wasn't done the logical way.  But, if you like the challange - of course it's always there and you are free to continue braving the wilds of Westview if you please.

Those are my just observations and my opinions on the subject.

Proposed solution

1. Quests by level, starting as zion, with option to betray after RSI level 5. Depending on your actions, Tyndall recommends you for promotion, retirement from the simulation, or "freelance" without an org. You are then coached behind the scenes during the final intro missions by merv and mech reps (Gray and Flood piping in with their two cents about Tyndall and Zion ways) until you have full selection for standard missions. This gives you flavor and impression.
2. Level 15, you are sent by your org rep to unlock an international district. Now you have a HL and one area unlocked, and can do whatever, org missions or archives or farming or etc. until you are experienced with international.
3. Level 20, you are sent by your org rep to unlock a westview district. Now you have a HL and one area in WV unlocked, and can do whatever etc. until you are experienced in Westview.
4. Lvl 30, you are sent by your org rep to unlock a Downtown district. Now you have a HL and one area in DT unlocked, and can do whatever etc. until you are experienced in Downtown.

• Special: at lvl 15, you are sent to retrieve a cosntruct analysis by your org rep. This gives you knowledge about how archivists work, how much the cost, and now you have knowledge of things to do that aren't just farming or missions, in the constructs.
  
• At lvl 35, you're sent to retrieve another analysis, but by an opposing org rep. Should you succeed somehow, you lose ten rep points but gain a sweet "infiltrator" badge which you can turn in for any one archive construct reward item.
• At lvl 30, you are sent by your org rep to steal something from the Archaeologist. This gives you awareness of him and can get you started on Pandora boxes.

Hopefully this basic layout will improve the flow of the game for soloists as well as team players, and keep new folks from giving up in sheer frustration and lack of direction.