Mental_Giant

It won't. Paragon City and RI will remain the same, except with ATs from the opposite side running around, and there's no way they'll make Praetoria an Open PvP area.

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And I think he totally missed the nail and almost whacked his thumb...

Where is the faction slider in this?

Our heroes have been to Preatoria / alternate universe before and never switched alignment.

My guess is that we will have a hero <--> villain meter and doing missions / whatever actions and choices will move that meter one way or the other. If you move beyond a specific point you will no longer be accepted by your old faction but will be able to go to the other. Thus having stalkers and MM under the Atlas statue and scrappers and blasters working for Arachnos.

After all, the only difference between a hero and a villain game mechanic wise is a simple flag...


Anyway, we'll see sooner or later.

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This is correct. I'll go further and say that there will be three Cities when GR hits: Paragon City, Rogue Isles, and Praetoria.

Paragon is Hero only, RI is Villain only, and Praetoria is accessible to everyone. While in Praetoria, you can do stuff that will affect your alignment. If a Hero does enough Bad stuff, he will lose access to Paragon City and only be able to access the Rogue Isles. The same goes for a Villain with the locations reversed, obviously.

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I think one thing that is being overlooked is the following possibility:

Yes, you may switch sides, but ONLY WITH CHARACTERS CREATED WITH THE NEW RELEASE.

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I overlooked it because it's a stupid possibility.

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MMORPG.com: Will what your character does in the parallel universe affect the character in the "real" universe, or are the two separate?

From the mmorpg interview:

MMORPG.com: Will what your character does in the parallel universe affect the character in the "real" universe, or are the two separate?

Matt Miller: The two universes are separate, but joined. What your character does in one only truly affects that one, but that can have repercussions across both worlds.

Ok Im still confused, can you really switch sides or just in mirror universe? If my mastermind can switch sides and go to paragon, but wait is paragon city in alternate universe good or ruled by tyrant? SO really good side becomes rogue isles,,, EEGGGHHHHAAARRGGHHh iM so confused!!!!

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Let me break this down. When GR hits, there will be three Cities: Paragon City, Rogue Isles, and Praetoria.

Paragon is Hero only, RI is Villain only, and Praetoria is accessible to everyone. While in Praetoria, you can do stuff that will affect your alignment. If a Hero does enough Bad stuff, he will lose access to Paragon City and only be able to access the Rogue Isles. The same goes for a Villain with the locations reversed, obviously.

Does this help?

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Not sure what the big deal is about this; characters will just be playing in Praetorian zones with different story arcs, right? New content is nice, I suppose, though.

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The big deal is now both sides will have access to ALL ATs, and it won't be just in the Praetorian zones. Heroes who go rogue will have access to the Rogue Isles, and Villains who are redeemed will have access to Paragon City. It has ramifications for putting together team throughout the game.

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Actually we don't know that. We know that we'll be able to switch sides, but NO idea what that will entail.

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We do know that, from the Press Release, from the email, and from Posi's interview:

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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 Isles™ and Villains to experience Paragon City™.

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Emphasis mine. It's the whole reason I started this thread!

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But is your fallen hero in the Praetorian Rogue Isles only?

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Wait... there's no such thing as the Paretorian Rogue Isles... only Praetoria, which will be co-op. So:

Heroes: Paragon City + Praetoria
Villains: Rogue Isles + Praetoria
Fallen Heroes: Rogue Isles + Praetoria
Redeemed Villains: Paragon City + Praetoria

Bear in mind you can switch sides multiple times, and the survey leaked last year seemed to indicate that you could play a "double agent" role while on the opposite side if you wanted. This last part has not been confirmed, however.

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Not sure what the big deal is about this; characters will just be playing in Praetorian zones with different story arcs, right? New content is nice, I suppose, though.

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The big deal is now both sides will have access to ALL ATs, and it won't be just in the Praetorian zones. Heroes who go rogue will have access to the Rogue Isles, and Villains who are redeemed will have access to Paragon City. It has ramifications for putting together team throughout the game.

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Actually we don't know that. We know that we'll be able to switch sides, but NO idea what that will entail.

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We do know that, from the Press Release, from the email, and from Posi's interview:

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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 Isles™ and Villains to experience Paragon City™.

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Emphasis mine. It's the whole reason I started this thread!

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Seems like a bit of a cop out as far as side switching goes.
So we can go there and be "bad" but we come back to our universe and are still "good" if we're a hero?


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That's what I'm afraid of, that the side-switching will take place in a limited area. Still no way for a Villain to go and hang out in the *real* Paragon City, the place where all the people playing heroes are.

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Have you been reading the same press release the rest of us have? did you read the short interview at MMORPG.COM with Posi? He specifically said it was true side-switching. I'm still confused how so many people feel it'll be temporary..

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Since so many people seem to be confused, here is the actual quote from the original email:

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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 Isles™ and Villains to experience Paragon City™.

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Emphasis mine. They couldn't have made it any more clear and people still think that side switching is only for Praetoria.

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Not sure what the big deal is about this; characters will just be playing in Praetorian zones with different story arcs, right? New content is nice, I suppose, though.

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The big deal is now both sides will have access to ALL ATs, and it won't be just in the Praetorian zones. Heroes who go rogue will have access to the Rogue Isles, and Villains who are redeemed will have access to Paragon City. It has ramifications for putting together team throughout the game.

Meeting no.: 4
Target level: 21/22
Meeting Location: SG Base

The Plan: Sharks

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After seeing 27 views and no responses, I am figuring no one cares.

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They'll care when non-Empaths don't get teams red-side.

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I'm sure the COMPANY has 50 employees, but how many of them actually work in the same cubicle farm alongside Positron, War Witch & Co.?

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For reference, I count 47 people in this picture, which is now outdated.

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That picture was taken just a few weeks ago. There might be a few new faces not shown there, but that's a pretty good representation of the people who are here now, at Paragon Studios, in Mountain View, in the same building, in the same 'cubicle farm', working on this game and not any other game.

As others have pointed out, that doesn't reflect the various GMs, tech support people, Customer support, NCSoft West biz peeps, etc etc.

Hopefully, that's clear enough.

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This (long) quote seems appropriate:

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Dilios: And so my king died, and my brothers died, barely a year ago. Long I pondered my king's cryptic talk of victory. Time has proven him wise, for from free Greek to free Greek, the word was spread that bold Leonidas and his three hundred, so far from home, laid down their lives. Not just for Sparta, but for all Greece and the promise this country holds.
[takes his spear from a soldier]
Dilios: Now, here on this ragged patch of earth called Plataea, Xerxes's hordes face obliteration!
Spartan Army: HA-OOH!
Dilios: Just there the barbarians huddle, sheer terror gripping tight their hearts with icy fingers... knowing full well what merciless horrors they suffered at the swords and spears of three hundred. Yet they stare now across the plain at *ten thousand* Spartans commanding thirty thousand free Greeks! HA-OOH!
Spartan Army: HA-OOH! HA-OOH! HA-OOH!
Dilios: The enemy outnumber us a paltry three to one, good odds for any Greek. This day we rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny and usher in a future brighter than anything we can imagine.
[puts on his helmet]
Dilios: Give thanks, men, to Leonidas and the brave 300! TO VICTORY!

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It will be funny to see the first all-Hero AT team demolish the LRSF.

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Watch it be 6 trollers/defs, 1 stone tank, and 1 pity spot for a blaster/scrapper.

...

wait, why does that sound familiar?

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If it's Defenders, they don't need a tank, scrapper, or blaster.

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Exactly... are you and anachro ready for the All Defender LRSF?

Finally, red-side will be able to bathe in the green aura just like the heroes have for five years!

Seriously, though... will red-side Defenders crowd out Corruptors, or will all the Corrs have left to blue-side anyway so it won't matter?

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Something I just thought of, since characters can switch sides, how will they handle Epics / Patrons? Will this allow side switchers to have access to the other's ancillary pools?

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I actually have no idea how they will handle this. I see three possibilities:

1.) You're locked into whatever Patron/Epic you hit first. So, if you're a level 50 Corruptor and you already took GW's Patron set... you're stuck. On the other hand, if you switch to Hero side before you pick a Patron, you get access to Epic sets.

2.) When you switch sides, you auto-respec into the "correct" Epic or Patron pool. Not sure how they would handle this with Heroes switching to Red, unless they made you run the Patron arc before picking.

3.) You keep whatever Epic or Patron you have after you switch sides, but you can respec to the opposite pool if you wish.

A fourth option might be to do away with how Epics and Patrons are handled now and implement a unified Epic pool system, but that sounds drastic.

Better Instanced Content plz.

Watching the news of the expansion spread it's looked like City of Paranoia around here: "The email proves nothing, it's a fake!" "Just because NPCs have new powers doesn't mean players will get them!" "I only saw one pistol, you can't possibly make the leap of faith to assume he has another."

Fact: Dual Pistols and Demon Summoning will be in the Expansion.

Starcraft (and Warcraft, Diablo, etc.) are good examples of games that compare favorably to MMOs for value. That doesn't mean that MMOs aren't a good deal compared to most video games (I finished Fallout 3 in 40 hours, for example, so that's more than a buck an hour there), and almost any non-video game form of entertainment.

People can always complain about for-pay add-ons but we've received a mountain of free content from the devs.

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If that's the case, shouldn't boxed games be going up too? Is Bioshock 2 going to cost $75?

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MMOs are more vulnerable to things like utility prices because the development team continues to operate beyond release of the box. Once Bioshock 2 is developed, pressed, marketed, and shipped, the costs end.

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MMOs are dirt cheap entertainment.

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Let's QFT this. I'm a pretty casual player, and I've logged over 3,100 hours in the game. Based on the yearly sub of $144, for five years I've been paying 23 cents an hour.

A two hour movie costs 10 bucks!

We're making out like bandits.

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Sit on your hands, read the press release, think, and THEN post.

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That third step is really tough for some people.

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I get the impression that 'Going Rogue' was not supposed to be out of the bag for some time yet. I guess someone's got some questions to answer about why this was announced now.

Still, all that aside, this looks really good. I'm glad that we're getting a brand new expansion to play.

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Well, depending on EMPulse's definitions, it wasn't too far out to begin with - I asked how much a little early and he said "not very". Which, combined other bit, makes it sound like it was due today, possibly.

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If you look at the URL for the link in the email (http://www.newzyouwant.com/NCsoft/20...es/header4.jpg) you'll notice the date 20090512, so my guess it was supposed to be sent today, when all the Devs are in the office ready to field questions.

It was sent out 12 hours early, no biggie.

Now there's a FAQ, but not a very useful one.

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Who's the woman on the right side of the picture?! Answer that for me please!!!!!!

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From the Press Release:

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Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain who has been redeemed.

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It won't release by July, but they could easily start the Closed Beta by then and release enough details so that it will be on our radar.

They have to have been working on this behind the scenes. Notice the content-light issues of recent memory: I13, I14, I15 (we were right, GP! ).

Because of that, I think it has the potential to include many of these features beside the new city and side-switching. Power customization sounds like a stretch, but it's possible.