Can you describe how the new alignments will affect characters and character creation in the game?

We have had two alignments in the past: Hero and Villain. Now we have Hero, Vigilante, Villain, and Rogue. The fall from grace takes you from Hero, to Vigilante, to Villain. The road to redemption transitions you from Villain, to Rogue, to Hero. The circular path provides a few perks for the morally gray areas such as Vigilante and Rogue because they are now allowed to meander over to the other side and get a taste of how the other half lives. As for characters and character creation, you can still create your favorite Hero or Villain with all of the power sets that apply to that alignment, but the benefit is that you can take your Mastermind (previously relegated to Rogue Isles only) to Paragon City and typically Hero-aligned characters such as Defenders and Blasters can now morally 'unencumber' themselves and see what's what in the Rogue Isles. Some players may decide to create a brand new character, expressly to role-play the experience of falling from grace or path to redemption just so that they can enjoy the entire progression the moment they reach level 20.

What sorts of new missions can we expect to see in Going Rogue?

There are plenty of missions centering on Praetoria as a new land to explore and all of its citizens and figures, some new and others that players will recognize, as well as missions that support the new Going Rogue system in the form of tip missions and morality missions. We're also introducing dialogue trees in missions as a form of information distribution, in-zone objectives, and moral choices that affect a player's moral character progression. We've included hundreds of new missions for this expansion so there will be plenty of things for players to experience both in Praetoria and Paragon City or the Rogue Isles. And, of course, we have the odd trick up our sleeves when it comes to bells and whistles, too.

What new enemies and enemy groups will be put into the expansion?

We have introduced several new villain groups in Going Rogue, such as: The Destroyers, a disgruntled band of ruthless soldiers abandoned after the Hamidon Wars; the Praetoria Police Department, a peacekeeping force utterly loyal to Emperor Cole who enforce the peace using any means necessary; The Resistance, a rag-tag group of misfits whose only common objective is taking down Cole any way they can; The Syndicate, a group of highly modern mobs who have taken organized crime to the next level; Ghouls, a group of zombie-like creatures with high-tech arm and leg bands that indicate that they are no accident; and The Seers, a division of the PPD whose psychic abilities have been finely honed to ensure that the people of Praetoria are thinking appropriate thoughts.

A familiar villain group, the Clockwork has received a make-over as Praetorian Clockwork and their presence in Praetoria is signified by a sleek and futuristic appearance as "helper" droids built for menial tasks, programmed to be 100% loyal to Emperor Cole, and outfitted with attack powers to help "keep the peace" as necessary.
What other new features will be put into Going Rogue?

Under the guidance of Matt "Positron" Miller, we're adding a teaser of the Incarnate System which is an end game content system for level 50s so that they can experience a whole new level of challenging game-play. We have four new zones that take place in Praetoria and with this new universe we're introducing some new mission map sets as well. We added four new power sets (Electric Control, Kinetic Melee, Demon Summoning, and Dual Pistols) which adds a new power set for each of the basic archetypes and we've done some serious upgrades to the Mission Architect system in the form of new maps, new mobs and a special new feature we introduced in Issue 17 in the form of doppelganger technology. The new alignment system and all the creativity and access that will provide is pretty exciting. Did I mention we are throwing in new costume sets, auras, and plenty of emotes? There is an even longer list of game-play features that will make the new missions more advanced and fun than you've ever seen in City of Heroes. That's just a taste of it, there's plenty more I'm probably forgetting.

After the expansion is released what plans are there for further free content updates?

We have big plans for our free updates, actually. We intend to expand on the Going Rogue system in the form of additional missions (tip and morality), add more End Game zones and events, unlock more Incarnate Slots (though you will need to have the Expansion to play them), and continue to add content, costumes, power sets, and a few little things I have up my sleeve, which I will not tell you, even on pain of dismemberment.


Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Going Rogue and the future of City of Heroes?

I've been working on City of Heroes since before it launched (I started way back in 2002) and I have been around for every issue, the CoV expansion, and every little booster pack we've ever done, but I have to say that I couldn't be more proud of the work that we have done on the Going Rogue expansion. Visually speaking, the alternate world of Praetoria will impress existing players and absolutely stun new or returning players with the graphical update and all of the features and systems we've added since we launched in 2004. I do want to thank all of our incredible players who've been enjoying our game for the past six years. Thank you for helping us to make the world's best super powered MMO. The next few months are going to blow your mind away.