HeroCon: Opening Ceremonies

They introduced people, talked about stuff etc.

The things you all probably want to know about though are the following.

New MA Guest Authors; Mercedes Lackey and Troy Hickman.

Posi was wearing a cape... That he took off Jacks Cold Dead Body! Crowd lol'ed.

Going Rogue:
Heroes Fall from Grace
Villains Redeem themselves
Not a Light Switch Effect.

Moral Missions facilitate switch.
Black Market is only for Villians.
Wentworths is only for Heroes.

If you change sides, you cannot use their market system.
You will have access to both Rogue Islands and Paragon City if you switch sides. You will be able to team with Villains as a Hero or Heroes as a Villain. You are not confined to an alternate dimension.

New Powersets:
Blaster, Defender, Corruptor: Dual Pistols.
They showed a demo and I was immediately reminded of Equilibrium.
Their are four different types of Ammo that you can use that change the effects of the powers. The demo they showed us seriously had the crowd wild and cheering.

Demon Summoning:
Mastermind. They haven't given us much in the way of details at the moment, except that the Personal Power is... Flame Whip. No video Demo as of yet.

New Zones:
We saw a glimpse of Nova Praetoria which was COMPLETELY different from what you've seen before. Most importantly... No War Walls.
However there are more graphical updates I'll get into in a second.

New Enemy Groups:

Seers Network - Work for Mother Mayhem in Praetoria to read minds, etc.

The Syndicate - If you repress crime, they just get more organized.

The Resistance - These fight Cole (Tyrants Twin) which you will have an opportunity to join them and their cause.

The Praetorian Police Department - Also an opportunity to join their cause.

And the Praetorian Clockwork. They are the serving class of Praetoria. They do most of the manual labor, etc. They are neutral most of the time. If you ignore them, they'll ignore you. But if you aggro them... It gets fun.

There are several new zones with no war walls in Praetoria as well as new storylines to introduce people to the game again.

When you start the game you'll have the option to create a Hero, Villain or a Praetorian. Praetorians are not inherently good or evil, but throughout their level 1-20 careers they will have the option to make several choices which will help decide their path to "Hero" or "Villain".

We didn't ask if the Praetorians will have their own Marketplace for their first 20 levels. I will at some point.

Graphical Update:

Min specs will remain as close to what they are as possible.
However... All zones will have an "Ultra Mode" applied to them if you like, though will require a newer card with more power to support.

Environmental Reflections - Building Windows actually reflect a fuzzy reflection of the environment. Building Windows reflect a crisper reflection of Characters. It was a two part system that I forgot what they called it.

Shadows - Shadows that reminded me of Aion... Except for a few things. The shadows shorten or lengthen depending on the sun. They actually moved the sun back and forth and it was like watching a sunset in motion. The shadows crept across the ground and lengthened.

Same sort of Reflection Effects will work off of Costumes!!
Glass, Metal, Etc. They showed us an example off of a Praetorian Clockwork as well as a character. A Metal Helmet reflected the Skyline.

Going Rogue is expected to be released 2nd Quarter of 2010.
Beta Early 2010 in several waves.

First Beta will be Friends and Family of the Studio. The version that will be the most buggy that we don't want to play.

In no particular order will also be 5 Year Vets, Loyalty Program Members, and HeroCon attendees (Which will be one of the first waves)

Badge System:
Already can handle it. Most badges they change whether you are a hero or a villain. However Exploration badges would be a 'new' badge for the character. There will be no Double Dipping of Accolades.

SG/VG effects of changing sides:
They are working on a system that will make the most amount of people the happiest. I.e. No news.

Mastermind Customization:
They can't talk about that at this time.

Overhaul of the Character Builder:
Not something that is on their plate at present.

Base Raids:
Want to do but they are not in the near future according to my interpretation of what they said. They have many things they need to do in steps before hand (which they did say) before they can implement it again.

New Graphical Effects in Bases:
Ambient Occlusion will work in bases.
Shadows will not.
Water might be a real option in the future. But reflections 'should' work.

Power Pool/Epic Pool Customization:
From the mouth of Matt "Positron" Miller, "It will happen"

--- If you want to know anything else, let me know and I'll try to hunt a dev down.

sweeeeeet

Could you ask if Sideswitched toons can join pvp?

Like a sideswitched stalker can enter RV as a hero?

Or a sideswitched blaster can enter RV as a villain?

That's be super awesome to know, i've been dying to hear from a dev about it

Questions asked of the In Costume Ms. Liberty:

DF: How do you feel about your Grandfather going to Champions Online?
Ms. Liberty: I'm going to answer this like Miss South Carolina, Uhhh... Umm... er....

DF: Does Posi treat you poorly because you are related to States?
Ms. Liberty: (completely serious look) Yes. Absolutely.

the above is 100% true....AND WAS FUNNY AS HELL TO WATCH.
Ms. Liberty, we salute you...

Can you ask if we will ever get player housing??? Some of us like AngieB, Steel, and myself miss that kind of stuff from SWG and Player Housing and an Alter Ego mode had been mentioned lightly but never answered seriously!

Also... has anything been revealed about i17 - i19 since GR is not coming till i20? It does seem like the focus is all on GR but what do we play to pass the time till April through June (GR Release Span)???

Im hating all you fools for being there and I'm not, nothing but hate on my part! Seriously great post and thanks for keeping us updated. It'll be really cool to finally meet up with all of you one day and meet the people behind the mask. Please keep the info coming and all of the question I had peeps are already asking.

Videos of the opening keynote by Vangelus:
Part 1 and
Part 2
It's like you're really there! If you listen closely you can alos hear Horus shouting nonsense.

Here's one:

Can we access either side through Ouroboros, since we're going to want more than (speculating) Pocket D to transfer back and forth to access the market?

I would've liked to have gone but me, living in the a**hole of the planet is unwilling to fork out $2000 just for the plane ticket.

But anyways, great post! Thx for keepin us up to date on the goings on!
Sounds like some awesome things are in the works!

Member of the Stoned Templars

{|-|} Easy Kills {|-|} A&TC {|-|}

AHHH! Troy Hickman! RUN!!

Thanks soooo much Tom for the video. The graphics updates look amazing!!

Trev.

Good updates y'all, sounds like some fun stuff coming down the road.

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