Taking Back the City

This suggestion may fall within the realm of too hard to implement for what it's worth, I don't know. I'm a roleplaying gamer who likes to have a visible effect on the game world around me. From this perspective CoH is a disappointment, as the world is absolutely static, changing only when a new Issue is released. This suggestion addresses my desire to have an effect on the game.

There are "hazard zones" in Paragon City... places where, essentially, the villains have won. Boomtown, Perez Park, Faultline, Crey's Folly, the Hollows... All are areas of the city which have been gated off from the rest of the community, as they're inhabited only by monsters and criminals. But what if the heroes of Paragon City united to take back these neighborhoods? What if they could be reopened to the "public"? That would be a heroic accomplishment. What I'm talking about here is a system by which heroes, working from the guarded gate and gradually into the zone, could take and hold more and more real estate, preventing the criminal element from taking hold again. After a certain amount of "protected" time (I'm talking days, weeks or even months here), the police drones would move their lines into this area, villains would no longer spawn there, and gradually the scenery would revert to normal city graphics... perhaps evolving from abandoned and destroyed, to construction, to restored cityscape.

Obviously, from the players' perspective, this is a large scale undertaking akin to defeating the octopus in Independence Port, only on a longer term basis. It would be very difficult and take a huge commitment of time from the hero community as a whole. As a reward, mission sized experience bonuses would be issued to everyone who contributed to clearing a predetermined area (perhaps similar to a force fielded zone in "board the train" missions). When the area is finally reclaimed by the police drones, badges would be awarded to everyone who contributed to keeping the area cleared. Finally, if the entire zone is reclaimed, badges are awarded again. The difficulty of obtaining this one would drive collectors nuts, which might not necessarily be a bad motivator. I, for one, would feel like I'd accomplished something. Perhaps this kind of "forced renovation" could be coordinated with the opening of new zones such as Croatoa coming up in Issue 5.