City of Heroes: Going Rogue Announced
NCsoft announced the development of City of Heroes Going Rogue, the first major expansion for the City of Heroes franchise since the launch of City of Villains in 2005. Going Rogue hopes to open up the worlds of Heroes and Villains to both sides for the first time using an alignment system. This will be possible by creating a new parallel universe known as Praetoria, which is governed by Tyrant, the evil incarnation of the game’s main protagonist, Statesman.
The new alignment system will encourage players to explore the shades of gray by allowing hero characters you become villains and vice versa. This means that the archetypes restricted to each region will be able to take on missions in the Rogue Isles and Paragon City. Clearly marked missions, in addition to behaviors and decisions made by the player, will move a hero’s or villain’s moral compass, which could eventually change the hero’s or villain’s alignment. Going Rogue will also introduce two primary new fictional characters representative of this alignment shift in the game’s lore: Maelstrom, a pistol-wielding hero gone rogue, and Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain who has been redeemed.
NCsoft will share more details on Going Rogue in the coming months. The biggest challenge I see is in balancing these missions to work with a whole new set of archetypes. How will the various Paragon City missions be affected by an archetype like the Mastermind? It will be interesting to see how it all works out. In the meantime, check out the FAQ ripped from the official City of Heroes page, after the break.
City of Heroes Going Rogue Announcement
FAQ – May 12, 2009
Q: When will City of Heroes Going Rogue launch?
A: When it’s ready. We are not announcing the date at this time.
Q: Do I have to own City of Heroes or City of Villains to be able to play the Going Rogue expansion?
A: Yes.
Q: Do I have to change sides in order to play the expansion?
A: No.
Q: If you change over to the opposite alignment, can you change back?
A: Yes.
Q: Can you tell us anything else about the game zones, features, systems, etc.?
A: Not at this time. We will announce more details about this product later this year.
Q: Will there be a preorder for City of Heroes Going Rogue?
A: Yes. It will be announced later this year.
Q: Will there be more free updates/Issues between now and the launch of Going Rogue?
A: Yes, in fact we recently announced Issue 15 Anniversary, launching early this summer.
Q: Will there be a beta test for Going Rogue?
A: Yes, we plan to have an open beta for the product
