Transcript of CoH Going Rogue Live Dev Q&A on 8/16 brought to you by Razer


bAss_ackwards

 

Posted

EMpulse:
Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us for today's live Dev Q&A with the City of Heroes developers! It's an exciting time for the game right now with the impending release of the Going Rogue expansion and we're pleased to be able to take a little time to talk to you directly and answer some of your questions!

EMpulse:
Today we have with us Design Lead, Melissa "War Witch" Bianco, Lead Systems Designer, Matt "Positron" Miller, Development Producer, Jesse "Ghost Falcon" Caceres and of course our Art Lead, David "Noble Savage" Nakayama.

Castle:
And Castle. /glares at Em

EMpulse:
I forgot to mention the fabulous Floyd "Castle" Grubb our Senior Game Designer who is also here! Sorry Floyd!

EMpulse:
Without any further delay, let's get to some of your questions! We're going to start with some that were pre-submitted by players who were unable to make today's session. Then we'll go into some sumbitted by those of you here. Away we go!


[Comment From CoH Fan CoH Fan : ]
With the success of GR what is next?


War Witch:
I'll get this one. Well, we've just introduced this amazing world of Praetoria so I plan on adding to that. Players are really itching for end game content, so that's already in the works under the amazingness that is Matt Miller. And, since our players love content, we plan to give them a lot more of it. I want to make sure that we continue to raise the stakes high, not only for ourselves, but for other games as well.

Positron:
We'll be unveiling more of our future plans at PAX Prime.

[Comment From CoH Fan CoH Fan : ]
With all the positive feedback about Going Rogue... what did you learn from the negative feedback?

War Witch:
Negative feedback can be as necessary as positive. We've received a tremendous amount of positive feedback on this expansion, which is awesome, but you're never going to get it perfect right out of the gate.

So the negative feedback as much as it pains us to hear, is what forces us to look at issues or features in a different way, maybe we missed something, maybe we didn't consider X effect on Y. To dismiss it is to miss an opportunity. Having said that, there's always going to be types of negative feedback that isn't in any way constructive so we give that kind of criticism the attention it deserves.

Castle:
The Negative Feedback is essential for the powers, missions and other design related activities. People lettings us know what they did not like is key to getting things changed and updated.

[Comment From CoH Fan CoH Fan : ]
What is the first thing you're going to do when Going Rogue goes live on Tuesday?

Castle:
Playing my new Praetorian!


Positron:
Well, with GR's soft-launch today, I played my Dominator and did a few Rogue tip missions

Ghost Falcon:
Once I get home, I'll be firing up my accounts and will be taking many of my Heroes to the Rogue Isles!

War Witch: I'll hang out in Nova Praetoria and listen to the response of how people see it for the first time. I did this when we launched City of Heroes in Atlas Park and again when we launched City of Villains, I skulked around Mercy Island and Port Oakes. (And yeah, I sat in Striga listening and Faultline, too!)

Noble Savage:
We built the zones w/ hundreds of players in mind of course, so I'll just be taking that in. Finally completes the picture for me, y'know?


[Comment From CoH Fan CoH Fan : ]
Will my L50 character be able to visit Praetoria?

War Witch:
Yes, but not right off the bat. Right now, we want to give Praetorians as pure an experience as possible and it's hard to give them that if some Paragonian or Rogue Islander shows up, breaking their immersion. So for a little while, we'll keep it Praetorian-only, then as things settle down, we'll open up the link to Primals.

[Comment From CoH Fan CoH Fan : ]
I've really enjoyed the Super Booster packs you have been releasing, especially the Magic and Mutant boosters. What other types of Booster Packs are you working on?

War Witch:
Dude...are these all mine? LOL So...Funny you should ask that, we'll be announcing some new Boosters by the end of August, so stay tuned. As for the next Super Booster, we're in the works on that now and you've been asking for it. As for what we'll do in the future, well, we have lots of thoughts from you guys, but now that we're done with Origins, we can do anything we want. So start thinking about what YOU want.

War Witch:
BTW... The Art Team and David "Noble Savage" has kicked **** on the latest packs.

Noble Savage:
Thanks, WW.

Ghost Falcon:
(btw, we're reviewing the many questions coming in)


[Comment From shadewe shadewe : ]
When are they going to allow costume parts from in-game villians. Like the Carnivals

War Witch:
Yay, David, that one's yours.

Noble Savage:
The philosophy going forward is to convert every villain groups parts over to players. As much as we can possibly convert.

Noble Savage:
Would like to go back and get the coolest older stuff as well. Stay tuned...

Castle:
Some of those costume parts won't actually work for players

Noble Savage:
That's why we can't get all of 'em. We'll get the VAST majority though.

[Comment From Snugglefundles Snugglefundles : ]
Will my hero lose his/her accolades when she becomes a villain?

Positron:
You will not lose your accolades, but you can only have ONE of the accolade powers at any given time. You'll automatically get the equivalent Hero accolade on your Villain when you move over.

Positron:
If we let you have both powers then that would be overpowering, and make switching be almost required

[Comment From Zack Corand Zack Corand : ]
How many times can your character switch to and from being a Hero to a Villain?

Ghost Falcon:
THere is no limit to the number of times your character switches alignments. Your character(s) can switch as many times as you want.

Positron:
As long as you put in the time

[Comment From Lokien Lokien : ]
Whats goin on for razer naga users :O !?!?!/

Ghost Falcon:
Essentially, if you have a Razer mouse, you can go into Menu-->Options and enable the Razer Naga UI setting

Ghost Falcon:
the Razer mouse buttons will duplicate powers set within the Naga Razer tray.

Ghost Falcon:
as shown in the screenshot
Monday August 16, 2010 4:18 Ghost Falcon

[Comment From Snugglefundles Snugglefundles : ]
Will the influence I have on my hero directly transfer over when he/she becomes a vilain?

Positron:
Inf. is Inf. no matter if it's Influence, Infamy, or Information, it all converts to whatever side you are on

[Comment From jackie jackie : ]
what gave you the idea of Going Rogue?

Positron:
When we made CoV we wanted the ability to side switch. Unfortunately we never had the time to do it right while we were with our former developer.
Monday August 16, 2010 4:20 Positron

Castle:
That question came up way back in COV development. We've wanted to add the functionality since then.

War Witch:
I remember that meeting. We had a meeting where we all wanted a list of things that we thought would be important and/or fun for the game. Side-switching was one of the first things to come up. To answer Matt's comment, now we've had the time and this is the result. Pretty sweet.

Ghost Falcon:
When we formed Paragon Studios/NCNC studios in 2007, we combined both City of Heroes and City of Villains into one product. Naturally, we refocused back upon the Going Rogue system as a long-term objective for our newly formed studio.
Monday August 16, 2010 4:21 Ghost Falcon

[Comment From Snugglefundles Snugglefundles : ]
What is your personal favorite AT?


Positron:
Dominator. Fire/Energy I love the access to Fire Mastery now too.

Castle:
Brute.

Ghost Falcon:
I love controllers. They can both mitigate and cause damage with holds, and mitigate damage with their buffs/debuffs
Monday August 16, 2010 4:22 Ghost Falcon

War Witch:
Defender!

Noble Savage:
Scrapper. I tend to solo b/c I keep weird hours.

[Comment From FreddieMercurysMustache FreddieMercurysMustache : ]
Will there be more zones added to Praetoria as time goes on, or is this the scope of what you wanted for it and that's it?

War Witch:
If I have any say in the matter, which I do, yes. We will add to Praetoria. It's too amazing and rich a universe to introduce it and forget about it. We've just scratched the surface on what's going on there, so I'd like players to see what else is going on.

Noble Savage:
The Art Department fully supports you in this. ;p

War Witch:
:P

[Comment From Kazuo Kiriyama Kazuo Kiriyama : ]
Does that mean we'll be granted the Accolade badge?

Positron:
Yes

EMpulse:
Hey everyone - let's try to go ahead and aim our questions specifically around Going Rogue.


Noble Savage:
If you like the lights, then yes, it is a Sliders reference--good eye, Dr. Darkspeed.

Noble Savage:
If you don't like them, then no.

[Comment From jackolantern1 jackolantern1: ]
are you gonig to go on live with other people on?

Noble Savage:
Heck, yes.

Positron:
I've been playing since noon. I stopped to do this Q&A.
Monday August 16, 2010 4:29 Positron

Castle:
I was playing during my lunch hour and will be on more tonight

Ghost Falcon:
I was also playing during my lunch hour!

War Witch:
Me, too. I've been in Praetoria since noon. (Well, except for, er, now...that is.) It's been awesome.

Praetoria has their own Pocket D, called "Studio 55" in Imperial City

War Witch:
And it does, in fact, connect to Pocket D. But only for Praetorians. RIght now, Primals can't follow them back. (And Praetorians can't leave Pocket D.)

[Comment From Oneirohero Oneirohero : ]
"For the developer formerly known as David Nakayama, what inspired you to take the mantle 'Noble Savage' and what does he mean to you now?"

Noble Savage:
I created the concept art for Noble Savage, and really enjoyed learning about his backstory in the process. When it came time to adopt a proper handle, this one made a lot of sense.

[Comment From Quietcruelty Quietcruelty : ]
In the most recent video online, a character using electric control had some electric "creatures" in front of him. Is that like a mastermind thing?

Castle:
Those are the Gremlins from the Electricity Control powerset for Dominators and Controllers.

War Witch:
Yay, one for you, Floyd.

Will Praetoria get their own giant monsters?

War Witch:
Sure!

Castle:
Mmm...Monsters!

Ghost Falcon:
we're not ready to talk more about it right now

War Witch:
I get to be Good Cop and Ghost Falcon is Bad Cop. I think I like Good Cop better.

[Comment From Prince of Fire Prince of Fire: ]
will we be seeing any new costume parts in Roing Rogue
?

Noble Savage:
yeah, lots.

Noble Savage:
7 new sets in total: Praetoria Police, Resistance, Clockwork, Sport, Overguard.


Plus Alpha and Omega if you buy the Complete Collection.

[Comment From General Pyro General Pyro: ]
Is there a counterpart to Lord Recluse in Praetoria?


Positron:
Stephan Richter was killed by Marcus Cole at the Well of the Furies in the Praetorian Earth.

Positron:
But of course, we are a COMIC book game...

[Comment From Obsidius Obsidius : ]
What sort of pop culture inspirations were used in the creation of Praetoria?


Castle:
There are a TON!

Noble Savage:
One of my favs is the Resistance grafitti, esp. the Banksy-styled icons.

War Witch:
Oh man...where do we start? The sonic fencing perimeter is a reference to Lost and the signs to keep track of Resistance among you is obviously an homage to Battlestar Gallactica. Oh, I could go on...

Noble Savage:
A little like those Che Guevarra pics too.

Ghost Falcon:
Neutropolis at night....think 'Tron'

[Comment From Cybo-Wrath Cybo-Wrath : ]
Will the Complete Collection exclusives be released as a Super Booster?


Positron:
You can get the the Complete Collection pack tomorrow for $6.99.

[Comment From robdee robdee : ]
Is power customization coming to pool powers?


Positron:
We'd like to do it, just looking for the time

Ghost Falcon:
underscore "schedule permitting"....

Castle:
We talk about it frequently. It's a lot of work, so...some day.

[Comment From tomzak tomzak : ]
can heroes and villains be in the same super group?


Positron:
Not yet, but we're re-looking at how to make that happen, because we know a lot of you are asking for it. Don't want to break the game to make it happen though

[Comment From Loreleii Loreleii: ]
Will there be special inspirations available in GR that are not available in CoX?


War Witch:
Not with Going Rogue, but stay tuned...

Castle:
Super-Inspirations exist...they just aren't given out yet.

[Comment From Chase Chase : ]
can heros switch to villans? if so how do you switch?


Positron:
To switch sides, you are looking for Tip Drops when you defeat enemies. For heroes to become villains you need to do Vigilante missions from the Tips, for Villains to become Heroes you need to do Rogue missions from the Tips

[Comment From Snugglefundles Snugglefundles : ]
Will I automatically be kicked from my SG/VG whenever I switch sides?


Ghost Falcon:
Players who switch alignments will *not* be kicked from their SG/VG. However they will have restricted access to some of the services provided by their base.

[Comment From MsCats MsCats: ]
I can send inf to my new alts in pretoria?


Positron:
Yes, using the GlobalMail option

[Comment From Jeriko Jeriko: ]
If you choose to stay with your current alignment, what; if any; benefit do we receive
?

Ghost Falcon:
If you re-affirm your Hero or Villain alignment, you have the ability to earn "Hero and Villain" merits. Players can then redeem those Hero / Villain Merits in Fort Trident and the Crucible for purple recipes.

[Comment From CoH Fan CoH Fan: ]
Can we get clarification on the Praetorian counterparts, please?
Have they been retconned into extremist versions of their Primal personalities, or are they still evil and just hide it better, or is there no rule at all?

War Witch:
Good question. We've been asked this before so I'm giving the official Protean answer since he's the lore guy.

The Praetorian counterparts were re-imagined with their original presentation kept in mind (we didn't want to retcon unless we had to *cough*suggestionsofinappropriatefamilialrelations hips*cough*.) (WW: That's him, not me.)

Given the direction we took with Praetoria it made sense for the overtly evil aspects to take second chair to a more morally grey persona that, as you said, is represented as an extremist version of the Primal version. However, there is no given rule to how Praetorians need to be (not all good Primals are evil Praetorians, for example.) So any direction you want to take a Praetorian character is legit given the world we created for you.

Praetoria is a complex other world, not simply an 'evil mirror world'. The aim was to provide players with a world where the line between good and evil is blurred by the conflict between absolute law and the chaos created by those willing to fight for freedom no matter the cost. (*takes a breath and stretches her fingers*)

War Witch:
(And btw, my Praetorian counterpart didn't make it. Sad face. But I have hopes.)

[Comment From CoV fan CoV fan : ]
I heard something about a doppleganger in Issue 17 can you explain that?

Positron:
Dopplegangers show up in some missions in I17, they are copies of your character, costume and powers. In GR/I18, you can use Dopplegangers in Mission Architect too!

[Comment From Metropolitan Metropolitan : ]
Complete Collection pack tomorrow for $6.99 ?? what is it?


Positron:
Complete Collection pack is the digital items from the boxed Complete Collection.

Ghost Falcon:
It contains the Alpha/Omega auras, Alpha & Omega costume sets and the Shadowy Presence power (which is a stealth based power)

[Comment From Vanden Vanden: ]
If I buy Going Rogue, how long will I be able to play in Praetoria?


War Witch:
Content, for now, goes to 20 but you can stay as long as you like.

[Comment From Navix Navix: ]
So, Are we going to run into any Praetorian versions of the Arachnos villains in Praetoria? Like Ghost Widow or Black Scorpion?


Positron:
Ghost Widow is alive and well and fighting for the Resistance under her real name of Belladonna Vetrano

EMpulse:
I'm afraid our time is up for today, everyone, but we'd like to thank you all for coming! Thanks also to our Devs for taking time out of their insane schedules to do this Q&A!

EMpulse:
For those of you who are not aware, Issue 18 plus the Market Merge is available TODAY on the live servers for your playing enjoyment! Going Rogue is also live RIGHT NOW for those of you who pre-purchased the expansion. So what are you waiting for? Go play!

Positron:
Thanks everyone, this was fun.

Ghost Falcon:
Thanks everyone!

Noble Savage:
Thanks! Seeya online.

Castle:
Thanks for coming, all.

EMpulse:
See you at the next Developer Q&A!

War Witch:
Thanks, all! That was entirely too short. Happy playing!


 

Posted

Quote:
[Comment From tomzak tomzak : ]
can heroes and villains be in the same super group?

Positron:
Not yet, but we're re-looking at how to make that happen, because we know a lot of you are asking for it. Don't want to break the game to make it happen though
This single quote has made me far more confident about the direction GR will take from this point, and in the team, given that already a feature that in beta (I think) Posi said would not happen is being looked at again. Thank you for looking into it and listening to requests like this!

Quote:
[Comment From shadewe shadewe : ]
When are they going to allow costume parts from in-game villians. Like the Carnivals

War Witch:
Yay, David, that one's yours.

Noble Savage:
The philosophy going forward is to convert every villain groups parts over to players. As much as we can possibly convert.

Noble Savage:
Would like to go back and get the coolest older stuff as well. Stay tuned...

Castle:
Some of those costume parts won't actually work for players

Noble Savage:
That's why we can't get all of 'em. We'll get the VAST majority though.
That too!


A game is not supposed to be some kind of... place where people enjoy themselves!

 

Posted

Booster packs! I want to know what they are! Bah...


Playstation 3 - XBox 360 - Wii - PSP

Remember kids, crack is whack!

Samuel_Tow: Your avatar is... I think I like it

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by theOcho View Post

[Comment From Chase Chase : ]
can heros switch to villans? if so how do you switch?


Positron:
To switch sides, you are looking for Tip Drops when you defeat enemies. For heroes to become villains you need to do Vigilante missions from the Tips, for Villains to become Heroes you need to do Rogue missions from the Tips
I have this bad feeling that we're going to see half-a-million posts asking this same thing. Or maybe just posts going "Durr, how do i swich sidz? *Derp*"

Other than that though, most of the other questions were pretty informative.


Arc ID: 348998 - Becoming a villain
Arc ID: 373341 - To Save a Hero

Got Inf?

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by theOcho View Post
(we didn't want to retcon unless we had to *cough*suggestionsofinappropriatefamilialrelations hips*cough*.) (WW: That's him, not me.)
Ha!


Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net

Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smash_Zone View Post
I have this bad feeling that we're going to see half-a-million posts asking this same thing. Or maybe just posts going "Durr, how do i swich sidz? *Derp*"

Other than that though, most of the other questions were pretty informative.
I've already closed the window that I keep my global channels in, and it's staying that way for a few days, because they're all nothing but "How do I switch sides?" and "How do I get into Praetoria?"


@Roderick

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roderick View Post
I've already closed the window that I keep my global channels in, and it's staying that way for a few days, because they're all nothing but "How do I switch sides?" and "How do I get into Praetoria?"
I've been answering those questions for the past couple of hours on Freedom


@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
I've been answering those questions for the past couple of hours on Freedom
remember: our support group meets Tuesday night on UT'99 Server Rawkhouse. Our opponents will be the bots: Clueless, Did not Read the Manual, and You mean we have a website?


 

Posted

Quote:
[Comment From tomzak tomzak : ]
can heroes and villains be in the same super group?


Positron:
Not yet, but we're re-looking at how to make that happen, because we know a lot of you are asking for it. Don't want to break the game to make it happen though
THIS is important.

I have a feeling it will become more important as more players get involved in the side-switching aspect... which is the very PREMISE of this expansion. I'm glad to see acknowledgment that this issue needs re-evaluation.

.


Quote:
Don�t say things.
What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. - R.W. Emerson
The BIG consolidated LIST for BASE LUV
YUMMY Low-Hanging Fruit for BASE LUV

 

Posted

I'm sorry to be negative on what was a good read and answers...but half of those can be found reading the fourms come on people jeez.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr_HR View Post
I'm sorry to be negative on what was a good read and answers...but half of those can be found reading the fourms come on people jeez.
that has not stopped people from asking those same questions well after this transcript was posted.


 

Posted

I like the few tidbits we got, but one thing has SEVERELY pissed me off....

[Comment From FreddieMercurysMustache FreddieMercurysMustache : ]
Will there be more zones added to Praetoria as time goes on, or is this the scope of what you wanted for it and that's it?

War Witch:
If I have any say in the matter, which I do, yes. We will add to Praetoria. It's too amazing and rich a universe to introduce it and forget about it. We've just scratched the surface on what's going on there, so I'd like players to see what else is going on.

GEE, COV WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A RICH UNIVERSE AND YOU HAVEN'T DONE JACK WITH IT- nice to know what to expect with Praetoria- based on experience- nada.




"Well, there's going to be some light music and a short note of apology saying, 'The universe ended last week, we're really sorry, we don't know what you're doing here, didn't you get the message?'"- Steve Moffat

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Benchpresser View Post
I like the few tidbits we got, but one thing has SEVERELY pissed me off....

[Comment From FreddieMercurysMustache FreddieMercurysMustache : ]
Will there be more zones added to Praetoria as time goes on, or is this the scope of what you wanted for it and that's it?

War Witch:
If I have any say in the matter, which I do, yes. We will add to Praetoria. It's too amazing and rich a universe to introduce it and forget about it. We've just scratched the surface on what's going on there, so I'd like players to see what else is going on.

GEE, COV WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A RICH UNIVERSE AND YOU HAVEN'T DONE JACK WITH IT- nice to know what to expect with Praetoria- based on experience- nada.
Bench: read this thread: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=233579

It's covered several times in the thread and I went into it in post #38 directly: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...7&postcount=38

Since NCSoft bought City of Heroes out from Cryptic every issue release has been balanced across CoV and CoH, with no side getting more or less content or features than the other.


 

Posted

Oh I know that.. but since that announcement, there have been 2 CoH-side revamps, and a couple co-op zones.. I don't count that as CoV content. No one should- it's really frustrating that in order to have even remotely equal content, you have to make your villain a Rogue. There is still to this day a serious disparity between hero and villain TFs and I'm sorry.. as beautiful as Praetoria is (and I do like it a lot) it is very disappointing to hear that 1/2 your game is still getting shafted after what.. 4 years?




"Well, there's going to be some light music and a short note of apology saying, 'The universe ended last week, we're really sorry, we don't know what you're doing here, didn't you get the message?'"- Steve Moffat

 

Posted

Well as far as quality goes, I think this on-line Q&A fell somewhere in the middle of the last two. Not as bad as the first one they did, but not as good as the second either. Overall, worth the read I think. Especially for the hints and the idea of re-looking at the way SG's will work.