The HeroCon Keynote Address was a veritable blow out of information and footage of City of Heroes/Villains' upcoming expansion, Going Rogue. The team at Cape Radio were on hand to film the address and Cape Radio's Vange1us has posted the full three part keynote on YouTube.

To start out, there will be a new starting area called Praetoria which will run content from around 1-20. Players who create new characters can choose between Hero, Villain, or Praetorian, but Praetorian characters will ultimately have to make a choice as to whether they want to be a Hero or Villain. There will be ample opportunities for Praetorian characters to sample both sides throughout their progress, as well. Praetoria is also designed from the ground up with entirely new assets. They've built new roads, buildings, etc for the zone and it looks nothing like previous City of Heroes zones, including the lack of war walls!

Praetoria will also be home to the Praetorian signature heroes, who have all received a makeover and are sporting some snazzy new looks. You'll even get to encounter Tyrant when he's not all dolled up in shiny armor. There will also be new enemy groups in Praetoria, including Praetorian clockwork, whose costume pieces will be available to players as well. The Praetorian clockwork help keep the city running and will generally not bother you as long as you don't bother them.

Another group to be introduced with Praetoria are the Seers. The Seers are the disciples of Mother Mayhem (the Praetorian version of Sister Psyche) and are part of her all-female "Psychic Friends Network" if you will. They make sure that everyone in the city is behaving appropriately by monitoring their thoughts.

There are also two new factions that players can actually join in Praetoria. The first are the Resistance, who are a steampunk-themed group fighting against Cole's (Tyrant) Empire. Praetorian characters who join this faction will be on their path to becoming a hero, and they will also recognize some familiar faces from City of Heroes/Villains in The Resistance, not the least of which is Ghost Widow, everyone's favorite ethereal super villainess.

The second group is the Praetorian Police Department, which will set Praetorian characters on the path to becoming a villain. The PPPD fight back against the Resistance.

And finally, there is the Syndicate. The Syndicate are basically a group of organized criminals from a variety of backgrounds. The group consists of criminal groups who have been significantly set back by the heroes and have banded together to try and push back.

Going Rogue will also introduce many new graphical upgrades in what is being called "Ultra Mode". Ultra mode is a fully optional mode that players with higher end rigs can run City of Heroes in to experience the game in a whole new light. Praetoria, as well as older City of Heroes/Villains zones will get major improvements to reflections, shadows, and water.

Of course, how can we forget about the new powersets? Demon Summoning (Masterminds) and Dual Pistols will be two new powersets to make their debut in Going Rogue, and the latter was actually demo'd at HeroCon. Needless to say if you're a fan of John Woo movies or gunkata moves, you're in for a treat! Dual Pistols players will also be able to select from several different ammo types including: Cryo, Incendiary, Chemical, and Normal.

Finally, we have beta and release date information. The beta is set to start in very early 2010 and will be done in waves, as usual. The first testers will be Friends & Family of the company and Positron assures you the game is so rough in this stage that you wouldn't want to play it anyways. Next would be the Hero Con attendees, and then five year veterans of the game. Following that are players eligible for the Loyalty Program, and then finally customers who pre-ordered Going Rogue.

City of Heroes/Villains: Going Rogue is set to release in Q2 2010.

For more information, including a Q&A session, watch the HeroCon Keynote here!