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NCsoft announces City of Heroes: Going Rogue expansion

by Shawn Schuster on May 12th 2009 9:30AM

Super-hero, Trailers, Video, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Expansions, Game Mechanics

Two worlds collide. Loyalties will change. Where will you stand? This is the question posed to us as NCsoft announces the first major expansion for the City of Heroes franchise since the launch of City of Villains in 2005. Going Rogue will be a new experience for CoH fans introducing the 'mirror universe' of Praetoria and an all-new alignment system that blurs the lines between Heroes and Villains.

For the first time ever, Heroes can become Villains, and Villains can become Heroes. This is yet another groundbreaking game mechanic that the Paragon Studios folks have introduced in a recent whirlwind of exciting new features. Look out Champions Online and DC Universe Online; City of Heroes is raising the standard of superhero MMOs.

Check out the exciting new teaser trailer right after the jump, and to answer any questions you may have, they've compiled a handy FAQ.

Source

Tags: breaking, breakingnews, city-of-heroes, expansion, going-rogue, heroes, ncsoft, superhero, villains

Reader Comments (22)

does this include new engine? or are they grafting this on to the already bloated current engine? if so ouch...

this looks awesome, will try it but main mmo for me this year will be champions online i think.

i know isn't it free?

http://www.massively.com/2008/08/09/alleged-ncsoft-survey-may-lay-out-spectacular-new-cox-direction/

Remember this?

'The Going Rogue system is a new game dynamic for City of Heroes and City of Villains that allows players to alter the morality of their characters, eventually opening up the opportunity to turn their Hero into a Villain or vice versa.'

Re-read the old article. Mission Architect is in there, too.

That was all unconfirmed "market research". Now it's confirmed.

And the answer about what the franchise was going to do to answer the two threats to it's sub numbers is here.

Very cool, I don't feel like hunting it down, but there was a survey sent to CoH players about a year or so ago about an Xpac, that talked about going rouge.

It also mentioned:
extended lvl 50 play
new ATs (not power sets)
A zone on the moon
power custimization
and several other things. They put all that in a box, and I might be inclined to play.

If it's JUST "play an MM in paragon" I'll pass.

Also, I don't know why the email says it but the webpage doesn't, but they're opening up the Praetorian dimension as a new world to play in. That's what the video glimpses at. As long as it's redesigned zones and not just a palette swap (like Recluse's Victory is to Atlas Park), then I think it'll add more playground to enjoy.

bah! I'm to slow

Last time I looked into CoX, which was admittedly a few years ago after CoV came out, I didn't understand the purpose of hero vs. villain as they didn't collide and just fought different mobs in their own separate zones. Is this changing (or even, has it already changed)? Or will the Going Rogue expansion merely allow players to switch factions, with little to no actual incidence on the game?

Honestly the CoX graphics are becoming slightly dated. Will this X-Pac feature updated visuals?

I've been asking myself the same thing about WoW for a couple of years now.

CoX is going to have to pull out all the stops if they plan to survive against Champions Online and DC Universe. I don't think there is enough market share to support 3 superhero themed MMO's, and both of the new ones are likely to bring alot more to the table than what CoX has right now.

This expansion appears to be a step in the right direction though--as long as they introduce new play zones, and really, they need to raise the level cap and give people more to do at the level cap than just PvP.

Ooooh !
I've always wanted to play a Superhero Mastermind, so this sounds likely to draw me back for another month's subscription whenever it lands.

Two queries though :

1] Is there a new engine/graphical overhaul. I would try to word it less harshly than HeavyTank, but it was the first concern that sprang to mind for me too - great new features abound but CoH is looking so old now it is hard to keep spending money on it.

2] Referring to as the first 'major expansion since City Of Villains' does set off alarm bells that this puppy has a price beyond the subscritpion fee. I can understand why it might, but (as I just said) I don't think I could bring myself to spend new-game money on something that looks & plays like it's 5 years old...

Remember, CoV was a graphic overhaul/partial new engine.

I'd say there's a good chance for a rebuild. Notice 'War Witch' has a ball of energy change from redbad to bluegood in her hands.

And it'd take a complete engine overhaul to fix powers so they could change colors. We know that.

And yeah, this is going to be a retail box you buy.

Mmm-hmmm. A chance to be a real hero, fighting for freedom. Sweetness.

For those asking questions about this...you might want to check the Faq sheet posted with their announcement.

And incase anyone is wondering...this one will not be for free.

I'm skeptical. I'm waiting to see if it's simply reused old zones or something entirely new. They'd also have to have new powers and maybe new AT's. I just don't know if I could go back, the FAQ is useless and the video is vague at best. Nothing so far makes me want to jump back.

I was expecting something in the future, but nothing this big. I'm very excited to see another expansion to the game after such a long time.

Nice. Also interesting -- both "Duel Pistols" and "Demon Summoning" have been heavily suggested as the next powers we'd see, and this would seem to all-but-confirm that.

The graphics don't bother me so much - an MMO is all about playing with the most people, and the hardcore gamers with machines hewn from magical black obsidian that can run Crysis at full detail don't remotely form the majority of the market. I can run CoX really well on a $300 computer from Staples and a midrange videocard; the CO Beta... not so well. The so-called 'dated graphics' are a FEATURE for some of us.

That said, I'd expect this expansion to offer as much 'new' as CoV did - which was, in effect, another whole game. I would expect Co..R for Rogues? P for Praetoria?... the new expansion to allow you use both hero and villain archetypes in new Praetorian Earth content from 1 to 50 at minimum.

I've been out of CoX for over a year now, but this officially gave me the shivers...The video brings up so many questions!

I'm not sold, myself. I was hoping that the next retail x-pac would simply expand the baseline game world, first and foremost.

As others have said, if we're simply, for the most part, going to be gaming in "alternative universe" versions of the same places we've already been playing in all these years, that won't bring me back.

I loved CoX, and played from launch until a few months after the Auction Houses went live, but when you play as much as I did, the static sameness of the locations gets a bit toxic.

I'm looking at Champions Online now. That looks to be a living, growing superhero world, and that's what I need.

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NCsoft announces City of Heroes: Going Rogue expansion

Reader Comments (22)

Posted: May 12th 2009 10:48AM HeavyTank said

Posted: May 12th 2009 9:43AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2009 4:04PM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 12th 2009 9:43AM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 12th 2009 9:45AM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 12th 2009 9:58AM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 12th 2009 10:28AM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 12th 2009 10:03AM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 12th 2009 10:31AM Crsh said

Posted: May 12th 2009 10:46AM Thac0 said

Posted: May 12th 2009 11:22AM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 12th 2009 11:09AM Minofan said

Posted: May 12th 2009 11:20AM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 12th 2009 12:22PM Its Utakata stupid said

Posted: May 12th 2009 2:23PM Interitus said

Posted: May 12th 2009 2:38PM Snorii said

Posted: May 12th 2009 3:31PM bjooks said

Posted: May 12th 2009 5:56PM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 12th 2009 9:39PM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 13th 2009 12:51AM mysecretid said

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