Drunkard's Walk Forums

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Paragon Studiosâ„¢ is proud to
officially announce the next City of Heroes® expansion, City of Heroes Going Rogueâ„¢! This will be the first major expansion for the
City of Heroes franchise since the launch of City of Villains® in 2005.
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Praetoria, a utopian mirror to our
own world, hides a dark secret. Exploring this mysterious alternate earth, the heroes and villains of this world feel an uneasiness of doubt creep over
them. Loyalties are questioned. Choices are made. Lines are drawn. As they search for the truth behind Emperor Cole and his Praetorian guard, brutal foes
and fierce allies emerge, turning this once blissful paradise into a battle ground.
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City of Heroes Going
Rogue officially opens the "mirror universe" of Praetoria and an all-new alignment system that explores the shades of gray that lie
between Heroes and Villains. For the first time, Hero characters can become Villains and vice versa, enabling Heroes to cross over to the Rogue Islesâ„¢
and Villains to experience Paragon Cityâ„¢.
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For more information, read
the official press release and check out our new Going Rogue website to view the announcement trailer and register for the latest news and updates for
City of Heroes Going Rogue
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this could be quite amazing
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

In case you're curious what the email looked like (basically)
http://www.newzyouwant.com/NCsoft/Cityo ... ue_V1.html

http://www.cityofheroes.com/goingrogue/

Website's live with a trailer.

That's not Tyrant.

This is something entirely new....
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

Arrgh!

There goes the MA arc I was writing!

This could be interesting.

Edit: We have RedName Confirmation!

Okay, so, one too many watches through this, here's what I've gleaned.

1. Praetoria is not Praetorian Earth

Immediately upon reading the release, I assumed we'd finally see Praetorian Earth as a fully realized zone, but the Devs appear to have
misled us accidentally on that. While Emperor Cole is yet another dictator Statesman analogue(do we ever meet any NICE alternate Statesmen? Reichsman, Tyrant,
now Emperor Cole? Sheesh), he's NOT Tyrant by any stretch, unless they did a massive reimagining of Tyrant's look on par with the pre and post Invasion
Rikti. Side by side comparison:

Link to ZOMGHUGE Pic

Similarly, Emperor Cole's Earth is visibly a utopia, but apparently gets darker the deeper you look into it, according to the press release. A far cry from
Praetorian Earth, where supervillian versions of the Freedom Phalanx rule with an iron fist not bothered to be covered by a velvet glove.

2. New Powerset Hints

While Emperor Cole's backup minion, the Enigmatic Masked Guy, is almost definitely dual pistols of some kind(they pay waaaaaay too much attention to his
using pistols with a dramatic gun cock for him not to have them as part of his powerset), the other headliner for Going Rogue is more enigmatic. Her brief
monologue highlights the "changing sides" dynamic with red and blue fire/plasma of some kind, but we get very little hint at what her powerset really
is.

However, along with Dual Pistols, Positron earlier confirmed the existence of another new powerset being prepared: Demon Summoning. Given our Unnamed Heroic
Female seems to have a monologue and imagery suggesting a shift from a redsider to a bluesider, it's possible that these two are both showing off the side
switching dynamic and also the new powersets that make perfect sense to be released with the expansion, possibly making her a blueside Demon Summoning
Mastermind. This is, of course, blatant speculation, but I'll throw it out there.

3. Ambiguous Implications

Part of the trailer focuses on signature characters already in the game. While Statesman and Recluse obviously embody the blue and redsides
by their very presence, Manticore is definitely a good fit for the moral ambiguity implied by Going Rogue. However, on the redside, we aren't treated to
the more expectable Scirocco, but rather Ghost Widow. While she's certainly not the most down and out evil of the Patrons, she's not really shown hints
of wanting to LEAVE Arachnos, though it could be argued she has no choice in the matter. Speculation abounds about what this may spell for her....
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

*Runs around making 'SQUEE!' noises.*

Innnteresting.

This could also be, not one zone, but a whole set of zones, where you can start characters and play, much like CoV was when it first came out...
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

DO WANT!

this makes me all kinds of happy
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

*grin* They are, after all, billing it as "the first major expansion since City of Villains".

That tells me that it's going to be more than MA or a single new zone. They've done both of those before and it hasn't been billed like this.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

Y'know, strange as it may seem, its the 'Walking the line' part that gets me, not the crossing over. I've always felt I wasn't playing Reyshal correctly, since she can't be as *ruthless* as I imagined her when I created her. That's going to be fun..

EDIT: Re-checked the press release:

Quote:Clearly marked missions, in addition to behaviors and decisions made by the player, will move a hero's or villain's moral compass, which could eventually change the hero's or villain's alignment. Going Rogue will also introduce two primary new fictional characters representative of this alignment shift in the game's lore: Maelstrom, a pistol-wielding hero gone rogue, and Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain who has been redeemed.

Answers that question, dunnit?

This will be epic Awesome. Especially since I have a couple toons that fit Blueside personality wise, but Redside powers wise, and/or vice versa.

Gonna be interesting to see if we can straddle as "purpleside" with careful effort. ESPECIALLY IF Nogi and Inari can pull it off.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

I don't usually react very strongly when viewing stuff online, but this solicited an OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD...man, lucky my neighbours aren't in. =D
THIS IS TOTALLY AWESOME. A whole new city to explore. If they're billing this as a new expansion, then it's GOT to have AT LEAST the kind of content City of Villains shipped with. New story arcs spanning the whole level range, a new set of zones to roam through from level 1 on up...
And side-switching, damn, that's gonna change everything about how I plan alts from now on. ZOMGWHOA. I've wanted a Grav/Energy Dom blueside for, like...forever, because that's what Light Errant is supposed to be. And will be, now - I'll have to rename the current defender version of him to something else. That alone makes me fantastically happy. You have to realise, Light's based on a design I've had since I was like...what, eight years old? Nine? And he's always, always, needed a mix of red energy blasts and glowing fists to work...plus invisible-effect gravity powers. Grav dom was always perfect, but, y'know. Villain. Now, however...now, oh yes. Yes.
-- Acyl

I know clank is going blueside, if only to get access to all that nice portal corps tech.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

EEEEE BLUE CLANK!
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

Information that ain't linked here, and is relevant to our interests:-

Press Release and FAQ

The press release confirms that this is indeed the Praetorian world we all know and love. Emperor Cole is Tyrant - it makes sense that he doesn't, y'know, call himself that in front of his people. =D

Quote:In the Going Rogue expansion, hero and villain characters will become immersed in the new parallel universe known as Praetoria, which is governed by Tyrant™, the evil incarnation of the game's main protagonist, Statesman™. As gamers search for Tyrant and the rest of his Praetorian guard, implacable foes and fierce resistance will arise to face them from all sides, causing heroes and villains alike to question their loyalties.

I think that's a wise choice. Best to build on what's already established in the game lore, even if it constitutes mild retconning here and there. We're all familiar with the Praetorian concept by now, so this works very well.

Also, regarding the two characters featured prominently in this expansion:-

Quote:Going Rogue will also introduce two primary new fictional characters representative of this alignment shift in the game's lore: Maelstrom, a pistol-wielding hero gone rogue, and Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain who has been redeemed.

I'm kinda disappointed that it isn't an EVIL FORESHADOW, because it looked a whole lot like that visually. But who knows, there might still be some kinda connection.

From the FAQ, the official launch date is still under wraps.

Critically, according to the FAQ...Going Rogue is not a stand-alone expansion. You must have City of Heroes/City of Villains to play. This suggests it might not have full 1-50 content. I dunno. Too early to say what will be in it.

The FAQ does make it clear that side-switching is not a one-time decision; you can go back and forth. There will be an open beta for Going Rogue, also.
-- Acyl

EDIT: There's reasonable speculation floating around that Going Rogue's launch will be Issue 16. How do we know this?
The unsubscribe button in the publicity e-mail points here - ie. it refers to itself as the Issue 16 mailing list. =D
Anyway.
As someone pointed out, Jack Emmert used the name 'Going Rogue' for the side-switching mechanism during an interview in 2005. That shows they've had the name for a while, at least. Also:-
CoH May 2008 Calendar
Remember those calendars they had which would list both significant game-universe dates and real-world game events (like open beta, double XP weekend)? Right, Maelstrom's birthday is listed. I vaguely recall when that came out, folks asked...'Hey, who the hell is Maelstrom?'. Well, now we know. IIRC he's not the only strange unknown character name present on those calendars...
-- Acyl

So, being the detail maniac that I am, I decided to go back through the wiki and see what I could find on the Praetorians.

...next to nothing.

The notable mentions of the Praetorians being evil rat bastards:

- Malaise inflicts his madness on people directly to cause them to see his warped view of reality

- Mother Mayhem has special asylums where she breaks people into psychotic killing machines.

- Dominatrix killed a respected and famed heroine (Miss Liberty)

- Tyrant's reign is said to be "heavy handed" and it's "only by the assistance of Neuron that he retains his throne so easily"

The notable exceptions:

- Anti-Matter's boss level minion has a mention that it must be carefully deployed when around civilians due to its high levels of radiation.

- Battle Maiden's troopers have a whole theme of loyalty to their master and one another, and even remembrance of the dead on the other side of the battle
line.

- Bobcat's minions come from essentially the same recruitment pool as the Lost: the downtrodden and homeless, which she integrates into her minions based
on how trustworthy they are to her.

Conclusion:

Any of the above bits, including Tyrant's flavor text, can be ignored by the simple addition of some kind of secret police that ferrets out potentials for
the various Praetorians' personal guard. With that in place, the "paradise" of Praetoria is about as much of a retcon as Kryptonite. Game, set,
match. Well done, devs. You know your lore better than WoW's devs do theirs.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

The only exception to this is some of the art in the CoH comic, and that can easily be ignored.

hmmm, aslong as this side swaping dosn't efect Kelds and spiders, i'll be happy, but will this expasion have level 50 unlock. i.e. get a toon thats
swaped sides to 50 and get a epic class?

Tell me about the lack of details regarding the Praetorians. You try using them in an MA arc with any sort of detail in it... you have to start guessing real
quick.

Other then that...

Do Want Now