Issue 17: Dark Mirror and Going Rogue preorder goodies announced. The pre-order gives early access to Dual Pistols & Demon Summoning. Issue 17 will have the Ultra Mode graphics improvement, along with some other stuff.
They did say that if they had Ultra Mode ready soon enough that they’d release it before GR along with whatever else they could; looks like they did.
War Witch ( who is now Lead Designer if you didn’t hear, Positron is now working on some mysterious End Game Content System ) did feel it necessary to clarify that despite the Issue name, there’s no Nemesis system involved in Issue 17.
I should have thought to update this thread; I 17 has been in Open Beta for quite a while. It’s due to be released on the 28th. Free respecs will be handed out then; since they don’t stack, if you have any you want to use do it soon.
I was a beta tester for City of Heroes: Going Rogue. The NDA was lifted so I figured I would post some observations here:
I focused my testing on starting new characters in Praetoria (the new zone) so I did not really try the side switching all that much but I am familiar with it.
The new zones are beautiful. I recently bought a new PC and was able to upgrade to Ultra Mode and it really shows in Praetroia. There are three main zones, Nova Praetoria, Imperial City and Neutropolis. There are no War walls, you can see each zone from another in the distance and you can fly, walk or swim to them (there is still a lading screen though once you cross a certain point). each zone also has an “Underground Zone” where the Resistance lurks.
There are basically 4 story tracks you can take with a Praetorian character. I forget their official names but they boil down to: Heroic Resistance, Chaotic Resistance, Law and Order Loyalist and Selfish Loyalist. The stories are very well written with a lot of twist and turns and at points you can make choices that point you into a Loyalist or Resistance direction. what makes it even more interesting is you can actually have an effect on you environment now. If you kill a certain contact within a mission, that contact disappears from the game world for you. Others can see them but your character won’t anymore. Very cool. Also, in a related improvement, you can have missions that have “glowies” out in the open world that only you see/hear.
A few QOL improvements: people’s team status is now color coded in the team search window. tankers get a new inherent power called bruising which gives enemies a damage resistance debuff as you punch them, effectively upping the tanker’s damage. markets are being merged.
the new power sets were fun. min/maxers may not like them but I enjoyed playing with Kinetic Melee and electric control.
The tutorial for Praetoria has modernized the process. Plus as new things happen you get pop up tips (which you can turn off). I was impressed by the new tutorial.
That’s it for now. I am looking forward to it being on live. Plan to spend more time with the side switching.
I didn’t see my invite until long after my access became active. I learned I was in by noticing I access to the hidden beta forums. I think Prerders are now in anyway (that was why they lifted the NDA) so if you want a week long preview, you should give it a shot.
When I encountered this, I was amazed at how cool it was. I had killed a contact in a mission and fully expected to be able to run back to them after the mission and get some “But I got better!” dialogue. Instead there was empty sidewalk where they once stood. Really made me feel as though I was influencing the world.
I already had these screen shots uploaded for another forum if anyone just wants to see what the expansion looks like. They’re more “tourist” shots than action shots or a catalog of new mob factions but they look pretty. Some are shot at a lower graphics setting than others, hence the differences in shadow quality.
I really like the new missions. They’re much more varied and dynamic than nearly all of the older content, and they actually require you to make some weighty choices in places. Some of them don’t have “right” answers. Not long ago, someone complained in a thread here about the lack of substantial moral choices in games, and I had to bite my tongue because of the NDA. I can’t find the thread now, though.
The Praetorian factions are distinctive without being black-and-white, at least in the early arcs. I think the Resistance Wardens are about the closest thing to outright “good guys”, but they keep some rather nasty company. The other factions variously seem to do the wrong things for the right reasons, the right things for the wrong reasons, and superficially right things that turn out to be less right (or outright horrible) in big picture terms for a mix of reasons.
Something I like that hasn’t gotten as much discussion as I expected are the items that will be available via Hero/Villain merits. Purple and PvP IO recipes will be purchasable, making them more accessible to characters that aren’t suited to farming massive numbers of enemies and players who loathe PvP. It will also be possible to buy specific rare IO recipes directly. Since most of my characters are poorly suited to farming and I hate PvP, this suits me well. I think it will help rein in some of the insane prices on the market as well, for those who prefer to trade with other players for such items.
I think everyone loves this tunnel scene. Golden Girl has a similar screenshot on the City forums that has stirred up quite a bit of comment.
Slug is a brilliant Resistance propaganda artist, and Cecil is his half-witted sidekick.
Finally found out what was really going on with my computer. Seems that the exhaust fan in the El Cheapo power supply that came with my latest computer went dead at the same time I started playing again. Fortunately, I had a 600W supply sitting in an unused case.
I hope we can find another SG or two to team up with for the Cathedral of Pain (after Castle tweaks it just a bit more). I was on several attempts at it in Beta, and it’s very cool. Unfortunately, right now, it’s more or less random chance that a raid even reaches the second phase, and the odds aren’t good. It’s right on the edge between “you must have excellent coordination and teamwork” and “you should pray that the random number generator is merciful”.
I’ve been playing a Ninja / TA mastermind through the Resistance side of the Praetorian storyline. I’ve never played a Ninja MM before so that’s been new fun too.
Just reached 12 last night, and I plan on going hero-side after 20. I’m curious if the epic mission arc that involves dopplegangers would work right for MMs. Will I be facing myself and my minions in that arc, could be pretty interesting.
The zones are amazing. And the missions are cool, sometimes pretty intense though. I was in one where wave after wave of ghouls was rushing at me. I had my 2 minions in bodyguard mode, I used 2 purples, there were 2 other npcs helping me, and I still went through a couple green insps.
Luckily glue arrow kept the ghouls away from me when it was up, but that was a truly intense fight.
When I logged onto virtue last night to play, there was a queue of about 240. I just went and did something else for a while, and the queue went by pretty fast, I was in about 10 minutes later.
