Talk:Trial Zone

Hazard Zone versus Trial Zone

What exactly is the official distinction between a Hazard Zone and a Trial Zone? From a gameplay perspective they're basically the same thing so I'm wondering if it might be worth merging them into one topic for clarity's sake since the distinction seems to be pretty much artificial. CmdrAdeon 00:52, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

They are labeled this way in-game.

Hazard zones have no other content - trial zones have trials contained in them. User:Aggelakis/Sig1 02:28, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Fair enough. I'd still be inclined to merge them into a single Hazard and Trial Zones article since the differences are minimal. CmdrAdeon 06:24, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Among the zones listed as Trial Zones: Cimerora doesn't have Trial, it has a Strask Force; The Hive, Abyss; and RWZ don't have trials, they have Raids and a Strask Force; the Shard Zones have TFs and no Trials; and the Sewers has nothing going on. Not to mention that the villain respecification trials don't have their own zone but happen within the regular 'city zone' and that the Caverns of Transcendence Trial uses the Tunnels of the Trolls which is internally labeled a Hazard Zone. This question also revolves around the age old debate of the difference between Trials and Task/Strike Forces, since recent changes have blurred the distinctions. Besides being an internal label on certain maps and a distinction which used to be distinct in the first few Issues, the differences are now meaningless. A true Trial zone would be one that has a Trial door in it, like Terra Volta, Eden, or the ASN. So, that's just three zones for which the term fits. Or, we can simply call them Hazard zones which happen to have a Trial Door in them. Besides a few wonks (like me) who know enough to use language that distinguishes Trial from Hazard zones; the vast majority simply call them all Hazard zones (or hopelessly confuse them). So, should we be prescriptivist grammarians who insist on 'proper usage' long after the populace have shifted the meanings, or be descriptivists and calls things what they are: "Hazards zones, some of which contain Trial Doors"?

The distinction between "Hazard" and "Trial" has definitely become murky over the years.

If I remember correctly Hamidon raids are technically "trials" as far as the dev team is concerned. This makes the multi-aspect enhancements rewarded for defeating Hami consistent with the multi-aspect enhancements rewarded for completing the Abandoned Sewer and Eden Trials. Early on, those and the Respecs were the only Trials available, so everything was pretty consistent - Trial Zones were central to Trials and Hazard Zones weren't. It didn't take long to blur that line since the additon of the Cavern of Transcendence labeled the Hollows and the Troll tunnels both as Hazard Zones. It's all been downhill from there.

Changing the designation for some (or all) of the existing Trial Zones to Hazard Zones certainly has some logic. I think the line is only going to become less distinct with the advent of super-sidekicking and the elimination of the minimum level barrier on all but the Hive and Abyss.

What I'd really like to see is some dev input on redefining the terms "Hazard" and "Trial". Not that I'd particularly expect to get any feedback very quickly - if at all. --Eabrace 21:49, 25 August 2009 (UTC)