For all you mentioned, Grandville is one of the few places in City of Heroes where traveling TO a mission is part of the gameplay. In most zones, travel’s insignificant- a distraction or time-sink. In Grandville, you’ve got to work at getting to the mission doors. That can be a good thing, but not when there are other alternatives that are easier and give reasonable reward.

The game gives half-debt for defeat within a mission along with a significant enough end-of-mission reward that nobody wants to risk fighting in the streets anymore. We’d prefer to get to those mission doors as fast as possible. Perhaps if that was re-thought, the encounters outside the door wouldn’t seem nearly as outrageous.