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City of Heroes, Going Rouge...and Beyond

Overview

• Introductions
• Pre Going Rouge Launch
• The Going Rouge Era
• Post Mortem - GR
• Anatomy of a Feature
• ... and Beyond

Introductions

• Eric Cleaver, Community Manager
• Melissa Bianco, Lead Designer
• Nate Birkholz, Producer
• Eric Johnsen, Producer
• Matt Miller, Lead Systems Designer

The Pre Going Rouge Times

• A game divided: A whole new world
• Limited cross-faction content: ability to “Go Rouge”!
• Basic tutorial: updating the new player experience
• 2005-era graphics: Ultra Mode graphics
• Good vs. Evil: Shades of gray morality

Going Rouge Launch

• August 16th: Our “Soft Launch”, one day early
• Overwhelmingly positive feedback
• Martuk, Ten Ton Hammer: “Dual pistols are to say the least one of the flashiest power sets. What good is it to slay the world and not look good while doing it?”
• Eliot Lefebvre, Massively.com: “it’s a perfect time for new players to jump on”; “so tricking out your character is easier, leveling is easier, and the game is already stuffed to the brim with awesome. In summary, Going Rouge is my happy place, the end, good night!”
• Active Characters Since Launch:
  • 65% have taken part in the Alignment System
  • Nearly 70% of all new characters are Praetorians
  • Dominators, Scrappers, and Controllers are the most popular Praetorian Archetypes
  • 20% of Corruptors have become Heroes, while 8% of Defenders have become Villains

POST MORTEM - Going Rogue

• What went right?
  • Created “too much” content
  • very quickly found the “voice of missions and story
  • Going Rouge system needed only tweaks and iterations
  • Praetoria exceeded all expectations
• What Challenges arose?
  • Highly iterative approach to content creation
  • Doing everything to a higher quality level
  • Writing Praetoria as “not a RetCon” but “expanded point of view”
  • Zowies*
  • Sonic Fencing*
• Lessons Learned
  • Do a few “awesome” things as opposed to a tone of “average” things
  • Consider what the players are asking for versus what you have designed
  • Stick to your concept
  • Never let an edge-case bring you down
• Focus on Praetorian Visuals
  • Challenges
    • Environmental Reflections
    • Vista Geometry
  • Opportunities
    • Ultra Mode
  • End Result
• End of the Day
  • Paragon is very pleased with the product
  • Going Rouge was a successful execution of the resourcefulness of the studio
  • Professional attitude towards feature creep kept up on-target across multiple departments