Outbreak

"Outbreak" is a Hazard Zone in Paragon City in the now-defunct City of Heroes MMO

History

The area known as "Outbreak" is unique for Paragon City because it is the one area that did not have a designation before the First Rikti Invasion of 2002. Located in the outskirts of Steel Canyon, this small area of only a few city blocks became a war zone for berserk drug addicts.

Much of the city was still being catalogued and re-zoned when city officials discovered this area. They originally began calling it "Rivera", which is the name of the lone hospital in that area. But as soon as Crey specialists and members of the Paragon City Police Department began making a sweep of the area, they discovered something was horribly wrong there.

The residents of the area, looking for supplies and anything else they could salvage, discovered something new from one of the nearby Crey buildings: a supposed "miracle drug" that would allow people to work harder, longer, and without food or sleep. They did not know that these drugs were based on Rikti chemicals, or that they had dangerous side-effects that would transform them into violent rage monsters.

The police created secure barriers with their drones to keep the infected contained to the parts of the zone already damaged by their rampages. Registered heroes Coyote and Flower Knight were summoned to help see what they could do to resolve the situation. But when traditional treatments failed, city officials simply washed their hands clean of the whole area and designated it "Outbreak".

Heroes new to Paragon City were sent through to Outbreak to test their worth before moving on to other parts of the city. The Rivera Medical Center was kept open, and both the police and Crey kept their people there to ensure the infected would not try to leave.

Finally, in 2011, the decision was made by City Hall to permanently seal off Outbreak. Flower Knight and Coyote and the Crey and PPD officials were pulled out of there and all access was sealed shut. It was believed that the infected would only live for a few more years on just the supplies and drugs in the area before they would die of starvation and lack of water. It was not a decision city officials wanted to make, but they made sure it was kept quiet.

Related Information

(Please see the area's Paragon Wiki entry for more information.)

Outbreak was the original tutorial area for the MMO. It allowed new players to get used to gameplay. It also provided easy high-end inspirations that could be re-sold for high amounts in Wentworth's. It was replaced in 2011 by an alignment-neutral tutorial involving the demise of Galaxy City.

The Outbreak missions were also accessible through Ouroboros.