Going Rogue

Overview

City of Heroes: Going Rogue will be the second expansion of the City of Heroes universe (the first being City of Villains, of course!). No dates or much information is known about this exciting new development. It will be a new box featuring a whole new world, where a character's choices may decide whether they end up a hero or villain.

At the Official Going Rogue site, there is teaser trailer available, which introduces Maelstrom, a pistol-wielding hero gone bad, and Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain turned hero.

Note that the skyline for the title logo is a new outline; speculation is that is the Praetoria skyline (or a city in Praetoria's skyline), like City of Heroes has Paragon City skyline and City of Villains has Spider City (Grandville)'s skyline.

Features

In a Boomtown.net interview with Positron on June 27, 2009 and a Dev Diary posting on July 13, 2009, the following features were revealed:

• Several new zones in Praetoria
• The ability to switch from hero to villain and vice versa
• Difficult tasks for level 50s to do that make them more powerful
• Demon Summoning powerset for Masterminds
• Dual Pistols powerset for Blasters

Confirmations

Several players, though reportedly not all players, received the following email late in the evening on May 11, 2009:

Paragon Studios™ is proud to officially announce the next City of Heroes® expansion, City of Heroes Going Rogue™! This will be the first major expansion for the City of Heroes franchise since the launch of City of Villains® in 2005.

Praetoria, a utopian mirror to our own world, hides a dark secret. Exploring this mysterious alternate earth, the heroes and villains of this world feel an uneasiness of doubt creep over them. Loyalties are questioned. Choices are made. Lines are drawn. As they search for the truth behind Emperor Cole and his Praetorian guard, brutal foes and fierce allies emerge, turning this once blissful paradise into a battle ground.

City of Heroes Going Rogue officially opens the "mirror universe" of Praetoria and an all-new alignment system that explores the shades of gray that lie between Heroes and Villains. For the first time, Hero characters can become Villains and vice versa, enabling Heroes to cross over to the Rogue Isles™ and Villains to experience Paragon City™.

In response[1] to a post on the forums, Castle said:

[quoted] If this is a joke, I am quitting this game right then and there.

It's not a joke. I can't say more about it now, though. Stay tuned for more info!

Soon after this was posted, the Going Rogue website, which was non-functional at the time the newsletter was sent out, went live. It includes a 3D teaser video, a 14-day free trial offer (currently for the Architect Edition of City of Heroes), a way to register for newsletter updates, and a "Hall of Fame" that tracks the top five people who have sent Going Rogue details to their friends.

Early the next morning, the press release was posted to NCsoft's news log, and a FAQ was posted on the forums by Niviene.

On June 19, 2009, Positron posted on the game's official forums, "Issue 16 is NOT Going Rogue."[2]

During the 4/28/2009 anniversary event, Positron mentioned Dual Pistols and Demon Summoning, but it is not necessarily linked with a specific Issue release (partial chatlog):

04-28-2009 18:33:30 [Local] Sicari: Can we expect to see mor epower proliferation in new issues to come?
04-28-2009 18:33:34 [Local] Positron: Demon Summoning? Dual Pistols?

However, in Positron's Dev Diary on July 13, 2009, Positron says that Dual Pistols and Demon Summoning are part of the Going Rogue expansion.

On July 29, 2009, a newsletter was sent out, containing a few tidbits pertaining to Going Rogue:

All City of Heroes® and City of Villains® players who maintain an active account for the time period beginning August 15, 2009 and ending November 15, 2009 will receive a set of special rewards for their loyalty to Paragon City™ and The Rogue Isles™:

• Closed Beta access for City of Heroes Going Rogue™
• Exclusive loyalty badges: "Vigilant" for Heroes and "Determined" for Villains

Going Rogue Closed Beta Access will be granted using a three-tier system:

• Tier One: City of Heroes Veterans with 60+ months of paid time.
• Tier Two: Loyalty Program players
• Tier Three: Players who Pre-Order Going Rogue (Preorder details to be announced at a later date)

Badges will be enabled within one week after the promotional period has ended.

External Links

• Press Release at ncsoft.com
• Going Rogue Website at cityofheroes.com
• Teaser Email at newzyouwant.com
• Going Rogue FAQ by Niviene
• I15 Interview at boomtown.net
• Going Rogue Dev Diary by Positron
• Closed Beta Teaser Email at newzyouwant.com