To Boldly Go....

In an interview Posi did say GR would consist of "multiple zones".

What exactly do you want out of an expansion, Voo? Since you're not interested in rolling new characters, do you just want more robust end-game content, or do you actually want (gasp!) a level cap increase?

The sad part is, with the exception of totally new power sets and primary/secondary respecs, we should have all those things in the game already.

Why does everyone here misses the point that GR is not merely there for giving new content... but is meant to be upgrading the whole game!!!

As it is the game we play has 3-5 year old tech. GR will upgrade a lot of that starting with a complete gfx upgrade. It also will bridge COH and COV as it has become clear that the hard border between those two splitted the community in two.

The 2 power sets dual pistols and Demon summoning are actually 2 complete new sets. Not rehashed stuff. The powers are completely new.

COV hardly had new NPC groups. GR will be swarmned with reworked/new NPC groups.

Also the new zone may well be without any war walls. That is also new tech that maybe reproduced later in the old zones too. A zoneless environment is one of the impossible features we received lately. Like colorisation of powers. Something that was impossible to do before.

All upgrades we had till now have been working on kicking this game to modern levels while trying not to loose old ones. I say lets give the dev's a chance. That is a huge undertaking.

I... think that's kind of what we're saying, though. It sounds like they're trying to rework graphics and what 50s can do, among other things.

Unfortunately, they've been very quiet about all this, so we don't know much about what to expect, what to look forward to, etc. I was rather surprised that Herocon really only discussed the graphics update and a little of side-switching. That's nice, but not really a whole lot.

As I said earlier, hopefully their PR machine will get going soon so we can have something to look forward to. I don't want to still be wondering about this now, let alone in February or even up to when beta starts.

Voo, none of the animations for Dual Pistols are being re-used from the Mastermind set (which I think grabbed from the animation for Gunslingers). I watched that video a few times of Herocon, and it's not similar at all. The Mastermind attacks are more "traditional" pistol attacks, and the Blast set looks nothing like it. They do have less fancy non-Gunkata like attacks, too, but they're not the same as what is in game now.

You're also supposed to be able to change your ammunition as you go, adjusting to the mob (as I have read it, hopefully someone wasn't communicating that wrong from Herocon), which is completely different for a set as well. It's going to feel pretty different with all of that, and I'm looking forward to it. I completely understand if that still doesn't draw you, but I figured I would let you know.

From the concept art from the Herocon video, they are not reusing demons from the game, but creating new forms (which has some excited about the possibility four-legged skeletons). BAB also created new animations for the whip, which apparently were quite difficult to do. No way to know if they'll look good, but I've liked most of the new animations the game has gotten over the past couple of years.

No info on what the powers for demon summoning will be, but what you summon and the whip animations will make the set feel quite different, too.

Mind you, I do want a lot more from GR, but I think the two sets coming with it will be quite robust... I just wish I would want to try an MM again (let alone a demon summoning one, which I find iffy, personally), which I don't. I get to take a Pistols Blaster for a spin at least.

For the sake of clarity; Going Rogue will not make or break CoH for me personally. I expect I'll be playing CoH until they shut down the servers and kick us out. My hiatus has nothing to do with GR. GR is just a convenient point for me to jump back in to the game but any arbitrary point would suffice.

The "make or break" of GR is what I feel public perception regarding CoH. While I generally don't care about public perception, I recognize it will affect how long CoH continues operating.

I think we've actually been told most of what will be in the expansion.

Praetoria, I believe, won't have war walls, because they have not been attacked by the Rikti.

From what they have leaked to us, I expect about 7-8 new foe groups. Expect reworked Clockwork, DE, rebels, Tyrant's forces, the Syndicate, and a few others, like maybe Circle, Crey, and 5th Column.

I think they've said there will be 4 small zones. I may be off on that, but it seems appropriate for a lvl1-20 experience. (In CoV you only need 3 zones to get to 20.)

There's been no word so far of a Praetorian TF. I think there will eventually be one or two of them, but I figure they will arrive in a later issue and not be exclusive to the GR expansion.

There's a few things I think won't be limited to GR, and that's the two new power sets (DP and DS) and the new enhancement feature for level 50s. There's also supposed to be a new zone (space station?) for upper level play, which someone on the forum said would be situated in Praetoria, but I don't see the devs limiting it to just those with the GR expansion. Also, the relatively minor graphics enhancements (shadows and reflections) appear to be already completed, and are likely to be given to the player base before GR is released.

From what the devs have said, I think GR is going to be a few zones (mainly different zones to house the different factions, plus maybe a high level zone), a few arcs for lowbie leveling and side-switching, and a few goatee-ish versions of existing enemy groups and NPC bosses/allies.

Yes, there will be a new Praetorian story that is told, but I expect 90% of it to be buried in clues that most players don't read as well as simply omitted, as has been the MO for this MMO.

I think the single best thing the devs could do is implement a set of rules and tools for telling story better, and then use them for revamps and new content, but I don't expect to see anything along those lines for GR.

Konshu, you're assuming a lot more than I feel safe to. From the videos and people who were at Herocon, there were a lot of questions asked about GR that the devs "could not respond to yet." Besides that, their track record certainly proves they're willing to expand the game and add a lot of stuff, so I'm reasonably hopeful that there is a lot more to hear... they're just not saying it yet. Which I do think is an issue.

As for the "clues not being read by players," that's partially a player thing. If you're not going to read the clues, etc., you're missing out on a lot of the game. And reading stuff like that isn't all that uncommon for any game.

They have added cutscenes, but you mostly want to add those for flavor, and not give a lot of detail. There is a balancing point for cutscenes, as not every player wants to sit through them (especially if they've seen them before). Using cutscenes with written content is probably a good approach to that issue, I would say.

I haven't seen a lot of omissions in stories for CoX, as you seem to suggest. Yes, they have ongoing stories that are still being revealed, but I would hardly call that an omission. They should get to adding more to those storylines, though.

Given the chance, I'd kick the people who put in the STF cutscene straight in the nards. Even if they're a wolfman.

Hey, he has a point.

I mean, the Rogue Islands don't have war walls!

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Currently listening to Modern Rock 1984-1985 by Time Life Music

As Des said... And there's nothing that's a bigger drag on a team than a constant "Going two zones over to hit the contact." And let's not forget the classic; "Sorry guys, this contact wants me to do hunt missions first."

Besides a few Portal missions and 1st respec, how often does anyone do a Family, Sky Raider, BP, Tsoo, Vaz, Clockwork, Skull, Hellion, Troll, Warrior, or even Freakshow arcs?