Rogue Theories

With the launch of CoX's "Going Rogue", I expect many changes throughout the game. Some I cannot seem to wrap my head around and would like to discuss theories for how you think certain things will work:

1. Supergroups: Will rogue villians be able to join hero supergroups and vise versa? Are they going to make supergroups co-op?

2. For a villian that has turned heroic, will they have to return to Grandville for their patron pool powers? Or will a new set of Epic/Patron Powers be introduced?

I'm sure there are many more questions, so lets all theorize as much as we can and keep in mind--Unless you have proven facts, this is THEORY! None of this fact yet.

-Kid

My theory is that only toons in Praetoria will be switching sides. Once you are back in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles you will be back to what you always were. It's only a theory and not based on any fact, rumor or desire on my part. It's just how I think it will probably wind up working.

I think we've heard something about starting as a neutral though (not totally heroic or villainous) and if that is the case, I wonder, will you be able to level pact with someone and continue it on whilst they're on the opposite side of the good/evil divide?

Sunstroke, I agree that you'll probably only be able to switch sides in Praetoria but once a hero has become a villain, they'll be heading back to Rogue Isles, not Paragon City, so their choice of Epic Pool powers will have to be different. Same with Villains gone good not likely being able to get Patron powers, I doubt that after turning your back on a criminal lifestyle you'd then swear fealty to one of Recluse's cronies.

edit: I theorise that these 2 power sets will just swap around. Go hero, get Epic powers, go villain, get the chance to have Patron powers. Simple.

I imagine you'll just be kicked from your SG automatically.

I think Craggy has it.

Like everyone else I have virtually no facts to back up any of my theories but here goes.

I believe villains will be able to enter Paragon City and heroes to enter the Isles but at a price. When you switch sides you will enter your new home naked as a babe. All your slotted enhancements will be gone, all influence/infamy erased and nothing in your inventory will remain. No tickets, no merits, no salvage.

These are my guesses:
Current Heroes and Villains won't have access to Praetoria until they're a higher level - like 35, as that seems to be the dev choice for co-op to start, whuch makes sense as a low level Hero hasn't really done enough to fall yet, and a low level Villain hasn't done enough to need redeeming.

Moral choice missions will only be in Praetoria, and only they will give you good or evil rep points that can shift your morallity.

New avatars will have the choice of starting in Praetoria as well as Paragon City or the Rogue Isles.
Players who start as Heroes or Vilains will still be restricted to the current AT choices for their side - but players who choose to start in Praetoria will be neutral, and can select any Hero or Villain AT.

Depending on if the devs want there to be a genuine third Neutral/Mercenary faction, it'd be possible for those who start in Praetoria to level all the way to 50 in a fully fleshed out territory, like Heroes in PC, or Villains in the RI.
If this isn't the case, then at some point, players who started off as neutral would have to make a choice which side they were going to join - and once they'd made it, they'd be restricted to either Hero or Villain content only.

I'm thinking that Rush Bolt just tackled the Patron/Epic theory there. That seems to make the most sense. Though a friend of mine brought up an idea. New Epic power sets, given by Tyrant's lackeys or contacts of the like. Don't know how feasible that is though.
As for getting kicked from your supergroup... I've started to wonder something. Even though Rogue is definatley widening the line between hero and villian, it is also slightly combining the two sides. I'm thinking that this will close the gap between heroes and villians since it allowing access to both factions on either side.
That being said, supergroups may cover all of CoX instead of just heroes or just villians.

As for the neutral party... I think we have concluded that the morality bar can only be adjusted there. Each contact giving two mission options-- one with a good outcome and one with a villianous one.
I think that we will be given a third option as to which zone to start in, Praetoria of course. But I think access to Praetoria will be given to all level characters. But if they get rid of my level 50 invention sets when I go evil for a while, I will be very upset.

Steelclaw's Predictions/Theories about Going Rogue...

* Upon creating a character they will automatically get a Praetorian Counterpart. This 2nd version of your character is run by the game and will turn up randomly throughout your career; always the opposite alignment of whatever your character is at that time. They have all the same powers, the same appearance, except their combat level is +2 to yours. They will also start impersonating you at parties, social events and just walking down the street, ruining your reputation. As time passes they will steal your lover, your money, your identity and even your dog. Eventually your account will be cancelled and the Praetorian version of your character (run by the computer) will go on to 50th level and send you gloating emails about its accomplishments.

* Demon Summoning will be the best set ever as Demon pets will allow for a here-to-for unheard of level of control and AI programming. You will be able to create actual situational tactics where they react automatically in specific circumstances. You will even be able to send them out to street sweep while you barter in the Market! Unfortunately, as with normal demon summoning, this WILL cost you your immortal soul.

* Dual Pistols will also be a magnificent addition to your power lists. You will be able to designate two separate targets to attack during combat or both shots on one. The addition of specialty rounds such as explosive, armor piercing and toxic just to name a few will add some great buffs/debuffs to the set. Unfortunately two weeks after release the Devs will decide this is all much too powerful and will nerf it back to a straw, some spit and a sheet of torn and wadded up paper pellets.

* Super groups will be a thing of the past as will Villain Groups. They will solve the alignment conflict issue by making all of them Secret Societies. All people going into their Secret Society base will be cloaked from head to toe in black sack cloth so no one knows who is a hero and who's a villain. Since no one can know your identity there will be no need for campaigning for members. Instead people simply sign up for the SS of choice at their local Secret Society registry. SS Chat channels will also protect their members by naming everyone Bob with a number designator after it.

* Everyone will start out as completely neutral and answer a questionaire that will determine their leanings with subtle, probing questions like: "You find a man drunk on the sidewalk with twenty dollar bills hanging out of his pocket... do you (A) help him to his feet, tuck the bills deeper into the pocket and get him home or (B) club him like a baby harp seal, take the cash and harvest his organs for sale to the Vahzilok?" With the help of this psychological profiling your alignment will be carefully calculated by the system.

I wonder if this will merge the markets.

I hope what Golden Girl suggested is right, because it would be fantastic. I'd be very into "moral choice missions", hopefully that are more in-depth and subtle than "Burn a box of kittens OR build robotic parents for every sad orphan". I'd also hope that you can see your "Good/Evil points" so that if you're intent on being heroic, you can get more hero points, or vice versa with villains, or keep track of just *how* villainous or heroic you are. I know I'd try a character that made the same honest decisions that I would, to see where I landed.

I know it's all theory, but it's a great one.

Patron and Epic powersets are designed around specific classes, so I'm 99% certain that hero classes who go evil will keep the same epics, and villains who turn good will retain patrons. If they switch sides before unlocking patron pools there will be able to do it via another badge. This is the reason for the code change that made patron powers respecable.

Heroes turned villains will still be able to do a patron arc and get the badge, but it won't unlock anything.

Am I the only one that has realized that when you select a mission that some say "Hero"/"Villain" next to them and some don't?
Maybe that'll have some kinda determining factor in the morality compass.

As what with Golden Girl just said, if they implemented that kinda thing into the game then maybe they'll do it INSIDE the mission with the hostage working as the morality trigger, kinda like when you go to save the hostages in Warburg, you click them and you can select "Follow Me" or the other one.
What if they changed it to something like "Leade Hostage out" and "Kidnap Hostage"?

That would be pretty neat.

More likely for the most part you will be given lists of missions some that say Hero and some Villain. You will gain rep depending upon which one you choose.

They have also talked about "choice" missions but I find it unlikely that every mission will allow you to choose between being a hero or villain. For one thing that severely limits what they can do in missions since you can't have, say, a bank robbery mission as there is no way to make yourself into a hero at the end of it based on some choice. I see choice as being more like "Recover children's innoculations from the Lost" and after you do it gives you a choice of returning them to the poor orphans (heroic) or selling them on the black market for cash (NOT inf, there is no reason to encourage villains over heros). There are lots of missions where villains make money which isn't part of the game, this should be no different.

The ideal solution on the PP/Epics would be to allow players to choose from whatever they are now. This would allow a whole new level of flexibility but would require coming up with epic sets for all the villain ATs. While that is more work it would remove some of the "epics are unbalanced" arguements.

I could see an argument for keeping Influence/Infamy. Let's say you're a big-time hero, lots of Influence. Then you turn evil. All the villains already know of you and probably feared you in the first place. BING! Infamy. On the flip side, I could see villains still being "infamous" in their own way... if an ex-villain came into my shop I know I'd give him what he wanted.

It's not exactly the same, granted, but it might work...