Here's information that was released at Herocon, it sounds pretty cool.
Release / Beta info
Release is currently targeted for Q2 2010, with beta starting early 2010.
Beta waves:
* Friends & Family
* Hero Con attendees
* 5 year veterans
* Loyalty Program participants
* People who pre-order Going Rogue
New Factions
The Praetorian Guard
* These are the Preatorians you may have already met in game: The opposites of the signature heroes
* They are all receiving a graphical update
The Praetorian Clockwork
* Appearance: Sleek, Robotic, Overly shiny
* These are the 'serving race', and act as maintenance for Cole's Empire
* Their costume pieces will be unlockable
The Seers
* Appearance: Sleek, smooth, creamy silver
* They float around and make sure everyone is behaving appropriatley!
* Also known as 'Mother Mayhem's Psychic Friend Network'
* All female
* May be the Praetorian Fortunatas (?)
The Resistance
* Appearnce: Gritty Steampunk
* They are a group of super powered renegades fighting against Cole's regime
* They are a career path for players who start in Praetoria that will lead them to becoming a hero
* May be the Praetorian Freakshow (?)
The Praetorian Police Department
* Appearance: Like the Paragon police, but a bit more regal/imperial looking
* They are the first line of defense against The Resistance
* They are also a career path for players who start in Praetoria, but this will lead them to becoming a villain
The Syndicate
* Appearance: Yakuza, Cyberpunk, Black colours, Jackets, Multiracial
* They are one, huge group of organized criminals
Ultra Graphics Mode
Ultra Graphics Mode is a new, OPTIONAL mode that allows you to turn on a whole host of new, awesome graphical improvements. Some of these are:
* Environmental reflections in glass, metal, and water
* Glass reflections have imperfections, just like in the real world
* Shiny costume pieces also have full reflection
* Realtime dynamic shadows that change with the time of day
* Water distorts shadows
* Ambient Occlusion
And some other info:
* Minimum specs will remain relatively the same
* Preatoria was build with Ultra Mode in mind, but it is not required to play in Praetoria
* Will be available throughout the rest of the CoH universe as well
New Powersets
Dual Pistols
For Blasters, Defenders, and Corruptors.
Some attacks seem to emit Doves, it is not known if this is final or if it impacts gameplay.
Four types of bullets that change 30% of the damage dealt and the secondary effect:
1. Regular (100% Lethal dmg)
2. Incendiary (70% Lethal dmg/30% Fire dmg + DoT)
3. Cryo (70% Lethal dmg/30% Cold dmg + Speed debuff)
4. Chemical (70% Lethal dmg/30% Toxic dmg + Debuff of some sort(TBC))
Possible powers:
1. Epic PBAoE: Character spins around firing bullets in all directions. Best animation EVAR. (Comparable to: Psi Shockwave w/ a longer animation (Psionic Assault))
2. Cone attack: Character shoots bullets at all opponents in front of him. (Comparable to: Empty Clips (Thugs))
3. Targeted AoE (?): Character fires bullets in the air that somehow then rain down on his opponents. (Comparable to: Rain of fire Fire Blast)
4. Single Target Short: Player fires a single shot at his target (Comparable to: Pistols (Thugs))
5. Single Target Long: Player fires two shots at his target (Comparable to: Dual Weild (Thugs))
6. Change Ammo: Allows you to change your ammo type (Comparable to: Nothing. It's just that awesome)
Demon Summoning
For Masterminds only.
Your personal weapon is a Fire Whip.
Your pets' tails will sway.
The pets all have the same general look: Red, demonic, with skeleton masks/heads.
Possible powers (NOTE: All speculation, nothing has been confirmed):
1. Summon Tier 1: Summons 3 small, demonic rat like creatures. (Comparable to: Call Genin (Ninjas))
2. Summon Tier 2: Summons 2 demonic gorilla like creatures. (Comparable to: Call Jounin (Ninjas))
3. Summon Tier 3: Summons a huge demonic gorilla of d (Comparable to: Oni (Ninjas))
4. Upgrade 1: Upgrades your demon pets to give them additional abilities (Comparable to: Train Ninjas (Ninjas))
5. Upgrade 2: Upgrades your demon pets to give them better additional abilities (Comparable to: Kuzi In Zen (Ninjas))
6. Whip attack of some sort: Attacks your opponent with a whip (Comparable to: ???)
Going Rogue System
It is not a 'light switch' or '$30 charge', it is an actual change you will experience over time.
The scale of Good - Evil is:
Hero - Vigilante - Praetorian - Rogue - Villain
Heroes can:
* Access Paragon City and Praetoria
* Access Wentworths
Vigilantes can:
* Access Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, and Praetoria
* Access Wentworths
Praetorians can:
* Access Praetoria (and ???)
* (Access ???)
Rogues can:
* Access Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, and Praetoria
* Access the Black Market
Villains can:
* Access the Rogue Isles and Praetoria
* Access the Black Market
You change your morality by completing special 'Morale' arcs in Preatoria:
* Redeeming Villains will become Rogues, and will then become ?? (Preatorian, Vigilante, Hero?)
* Falling Heroes will become Vigilantes, and will then become ?? (Praetorian, Rogue, Villain?)
There will be Morale arcs available at all levels available in Praetoria.
Praetoria
* No War Walls
* Civilians actually interact with each other and the environment:
o They sit on benches
o They talk to each other
o They drink coffee with each other
o However, in the video, they seemed to be blissfully unaware of the small skirmish happening right in front of them
* Tyrant's Tower can be seen from almost anywhere due to his epicness
* One of the areas is called 'Nova Praetoria', Nova meaning 'New', as it is the newest part of Praetoria
Starting in Praetoria
* New characters can start in Praetoria instead of Paragon City or he Rogue Isles
* These characters can side with the Resistance (Hero) or the Preatorian Police Department (villain)
* Once they reach level 20 (or before?), they can choose to go to Paragon City and be a Hero, or go to the Rogue Isles and be a villain, even if they chose to side with the opposite faction in Praetoria
* You can choose any of the base 10 Hero or Villain archetypes, but not any of the Epic (Kheldian/Arachnos) archetypes
Misc Info
* Mercedes Lacky and Troy Hickman Architect Entertainment guest author arcs coming soon
* Someone asked Positron about MM customization; He turned to Marketing, who told us we cannot answer
* They have Base Raid ideas/tech, but not full, and no ETA
* No word on the new high-level content - More information on that in the months leading up to beta
* Full power customization in Issue 18
* More Cimerora/Coming Storm content coming
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