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Cryptic Studios discusses the game and the lead up to its Monday release
Jack Emmert, aka "The Statesman", is the Creative Director at Cryptic Studios. On Monday, his company released their sophomore title City of Villains, a sequel/expansion to City of Heroes. Just prior to launch, Staff Writer Laura Genender had a chance to submit some questions to him. Here is what he had to say:
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| MMORPG.com: |
At what level will Villains and Heroes start to interact?
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Jack Emmert: |
In the PvP zones, the earliest that player heroes and villains can face off against each other is level 15. Theoretically, a player can take part in a base raid from level 1, but more realistically people join active Super Groups at level 10.
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| MMORPG.com: |
How will PvP match-ups work server wise? Will the City of Villain servers match up with City of Heroes servers, or can you PvP anyone from any server?
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Jack Emmert: |
The servers for City of Heroes and City of Villains are exactly the same. A villain on the server Triumph can fight a hero on the server Triumph in the PvP zones.
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| MMORPG.com: |
How about names? Can there potentially be a hero and a villain with the same name?
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Jack Emmert: |
No – the name list is shared. However, we’ve extended the character name limit from 15 characters to 20 in order to give more flexibility and options. We’ve also cleaned out a lot of names from accounts that are no longer active.
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| MMORPG.com: |
What’s to stop a Mastermind from parking near a group of blue or green enemies, putting their summons on follow, and going semi-AFK while their character power levels?
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Jack Emmert: |
As any good Mastermind will tell you, there’s a little more to managing their minions than point and click. Every minion has its strengths and weaknesses. Plus, a Mastermind needs to keep his lackeys buffed up constantly.
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Is there a Warshade/Peacebringer equivalent in City of Villains? Will there be?
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Jack Emmert: |
There is not right now. We do have plans on extending Kheldians into City of Villains and adding Epic Archetypes to both games.
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| MMORPG.com: |
What sort of costume goodies are you planning to add for City of Villains in the future?
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Jack Emmert: |
We’re planning on adding trenchcoats to both games…eventually. Many other things to come in the future as well.
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How many new instanced zone looks did you add?
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Jack Emmert: |
We retextured all of our old instanced maps and added a brand new set – Arachnos. Players will also be entering missions maps through brand new lobbies and other transition pieces.
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| MMORPG.com: |
How do the Gladiator badges work?
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Jack Emmert: |
Gladiator badges unlock different critters a player can summon in our new “pet” arena. In this battle, two players command hordes of mobs that battle to the death. At the moment, these creatures are drawn from City of Villains lore; these include the mysterious Coralax, the arcane Hordelings, and the countless Arachnos troop types. We’ll be adding more in the future. Some Gladiator badges are earned by defeating certain types of mobs, visiting different places in the world or winning matches in the Arena.
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Between when City of Villains went gold and launch, what were the major hurdles in the time between for the development team to overcome?
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Jack Emmert: |
Eliminating the little bugs – typos, unpolished missions, etc.
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| MMORPG.com: |
What kinds of perks will the Objects of Power give?
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Jack Emmert: |
Items of Power boost a Super Group’s damage, increases their XP gain, etc.
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Thank you to Jack for taking the time.
If you would like to comment on this Q&A, please do so here. Also, with City of Villains now on our released list, you can give it your review here.
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