Wanna be a hero? Or maybe you'd rather be a shadier shade of evil? Or maybe you just like wearing tights -- we're not here to judge. City of Heroes: Going Rogue launches today, a new expansion to the City of Heroes MMO that brings in an entirely new alternate universe, a wholly different "moral alignment system," and lots more.
Up until now, players had to choose between the Villain and Hero factions, the proverbial black and white. Going Rogue lets you explore the shades of gray, introducing two new alignments, Rogue and Vigilante. For the first time, your character's morality and the decisions you make will affect your experience in the game.
Heroes will be able to access the Rogue Isles, and Villains will finally get to Paragon City, opening up tons of new possibilities. In fact, you don't even start off as a clear-cut Hero or Villain; instead, you begin as a neutral Praetorian, decide to join up with the Loyalists or Resistance, and evolve into a Hero or Villain based on your choices.
"Praetorian, huh?" Oh, right, that's a denizen of Going Rogue's new alternate universe, dubbed Praetoria, and it's massive: a bunch of new zones, new missions, hidden secrets, and new foes to take on. Developer NC Soft boasts that the new universe was built from the ground up to support "Ultra Mode graphics," so expect to see more detailed shadows, lighting, reflections, and other eye candy, if your Mac is up to snuff. (Ultra Mode requires at least 3GB of RAM and either an Nvidia GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon 3870 or better -- see full system requirements here.)
Going Rogue also features new power sets such as Dual Pistols and Demon Summoning, new costumes of course (City of Heroes players love to look good), new badges, slots for additional characters, and so on -- it's a lot of content for an expansion.
And it can all be yours. Going Rogue retails for $29.99 (a full version of City of Heroes or City of Villains is required for the expansion), with a $14.99 monthly fee (a 7-day free trial is available). If you're not already playing City of Heroes, the Complete Collection ($39.99) includes all the content released so far: City of Heroes, City of Villains, and Going Rogue, as well as a Going Rogue item pack.
PLUS, we're giving away 10 license codes for the Going Rogue expansion pack, as well as one grand prize, a license code for the Complete Collection. To win, just leave a comment below -- the deadline is 11:59pm Pacific Daylight Time tonight, August 17, 2010. We'll choose 10 runners-up and one grand-prize winner at random. Good luck!
lilsproutnlou
September 24, 2010 at 10:22am
How cool is this game? Absolutely mesmerizing. Please pick me.
Hutif
August 18, 2010 at 10:40pm
My only problem is that none of my friends are City of Heroes players. Maybe I'd have to coerce a couple into getting their own copies...
jk5ace
August 18, 2010 at 5:43pm
about 3 years of subscription fees into this game...free expansion code would be real nice :) very excited.
flagmancomics
August 18, 2010 at 3:13pm
This game continues to be fun year after year. It just keeps getting better!
Vaole
August 18, 2010 at 4:47am
Emperor? Since when? Join the Resistance and triumph good over evil. With underground tunnels, we can pop up anywhere and defeat that army that is trying to dupe the citizens and steal all they have. Posing as a Power hero, I can aid the Resistance and turn the tide. (The new missions and the new scenes are great. When my toons are doing the same mishes over and over, it is great to have something new to look forward to. In fact I am like a newbie not knowing where anything is! And as always "older" toons are helpful showing us where to find things. CoH - live forever!)
ShowtimeSoftwear
August 17, 2010 at 11:12pm
I am here to rid evil from the streets, and to maintain the peace.
tb100k
August 17, 2010 at 11:01pm
Going Rogue looks pretty awesome! Started playing COH again after a long break and was really enjoying it and then i found out an expansion is coming out soon. By the looks of it it's giving the game those little extra things that it needs without going crazily over the top like most other MMO expansions. More customization, new starting zones and more choices. Hmmm to switch sides... or not?
Looks epic!
Good luck everyone, whoever wins is so lucky!
austin716
August 17, 2010 at 10:21pm
You know what, if Chuck Norris was here he'd just shut down the website with his website mind hacking powers and take the codes for himself. Too bad Bruce Lee killed him in The Way of the Dragon.....
Xenos
August 17, 2010 at 8:21pm
I've been with this game since the original beta...over 6 years ago...and it's still going strong. It's great to see a developer team that works really hard to constantly expand and improve the game.
Time for people other than ex-Alaskan governors to go rogue!
snuggle92
August 17, 2010 at 8:08pm
oh man, i cant wait to get my hands on Going Rogue. Been looking forward to this for a while now. Im really looking forward to starting off as the Praetorian so i can decide which side to align myself to.
Rudiboy
August 17, 2010 at 5:53pm
I would love to finally try this game. Been on my list to buy forever just never been able to find it in the stores near me!
Falconer
August 17, 2010 at 5:42pm
Long live City of Heroes Goin Rogue! Been waiting for this expansion forever, I can't wait to get in there and enjoy all the features. The story, the graphics, the city itself, Praetoria in Going Rogue is jut the newest step to the greatness that is City of Heroes! : D
@rawll5
August 17, 2010 at 5:29pm
i been playing city of heros for a while ...and with every issue they out do them selves but this .... is beyond amazing for the tip system to the team search system with this new expansion this games population has trippled... every servers has a vast amount of ppl on it tring to either turn bad or turn hero its amazing ..i personaly didnt buy the expansion pac cuz i cant afford..... but thougt i was going to be stuck with ols content but with this expansion u can still have some accesse to the new content i re-did a story ark and it was all new got to see the pratoria world for the 1st time n it was amazing the night light was asume... stars in the sky it was totaly asume ... for people like myself who dont have the new expansion its good to know that the dev of CoH keep us in mind ....
jwhitely
August 17, 2010 at 5:25pm
If I had a super power, it would be that every time I entered a room, the intro to "Crazy Train" would play!
Coregazer
August 17, 2010 at 5:18pm
It has to be said City of Heroes is one of my all time favorite MMOs, I think few can beat it content wise, and I hope all the press it's been getting from this expansion does it some justice! Now... if only I could find me a free code for Going Rogue so I could enjoy all that amazing extra content... I wonder....
rapidicer
August 17, 2010 at 5:14pm
This expansion is going to give us all a whole new playing experience, absolutely can't wait for it!
Teti
August 17, 2010 at 5:00pm
It looks like a fun game, here is to hoping I win a copy for my MBP or iMac!
kakotan
August 17, 2010 at 4:58pm
Are you a hero? Are you a villain? Are you a Praetorian loyalist? Are you a Praetorian revolutionary?
I Choose to be a peaceful Resistance fighter. What do I mean by that? Well I will do what it takes to make sure no innocent lives are lost. So I may have to sneak around the city to find information and change what needs to be changed. Then I show that true information to the people. Let them be informed so they can change and begin to think for them self. Emperor Cole was a good man at one time but he has allowed his blinded ambition to overcloud what should be done.
He is trying to make the people rely on him and his government to much. It should be the people that lead the country and not big Cole government. Cole has to many good men that have gone bad. Granted there is even bad people in the resistance. I will even stand up to them to make sure the people are protected. That is the true reason for this REVOLUTION!!!
geekomancer
August 17, 2010 at 4:51pm
I've been looking forward to this! I'm getting a new MBPro at the end of the month, so I'm waiting to get GR until I get the new MBP. I am so looking forward to playing the new expansion!
Obligo
August 17, 2010 at 4:50pm
The moral choices this new expansion adds to an already incredible MMO are just astounding. The CoH devs have really delved deep with their writing skills in creating all the backstories for Praetoria, right down to options available in missions that players run through.
What's even better is they've added Tip missions for those that just want to go the straight good/evil route. What this means is that pre-existing characters and all new characters that are hero or villain can switch sides, allowing them to see zones, collect badges and fight giant monsters players previously had to run seperate characters for. All this new content will give all City Of players plenty to do in the months to come.
The Ultra Mode graphics are just stunning, the new enemy groups have all been designed very well, and the new zones are just breathtaking. I've been incredibly pleased with the moral options many of the missions have presented to me - this expansion has definitely taken MMO gaming to the next level.
HerogoingRogue
August 17, 2010 at 4:39pm
Wow ...The Graphics are AMAZING , THE SOUNDTRACK AWESOME,NEW POWERSET ..THUMBS UP....Did I say WOW!!!
chellerose
August 17, 2010 at 4:34pm
I played this when it first came out a few years back and would love to play again! Sign me up for the drawing! I'll so install this on my new iMac!
n37runn3r
August 17, 2010 at 4:32pm
I'm already wearing my underwear outside my spandex. Count me in
timed savior
August 17, 2010 at 4:24pm
A new are to conquer, new minions to destroy. new powers to do it with!
f1r3m0th
August 17, 2010 at 4:21pm
The moment my computer was done with the update I was on there, exploring every facet I could! My favourite part so far is that once you start getting the "tips" you can literally hold the fate of people in your hands!
I'd really love to win so I can get full access to everything the game now has to offer!
Jesterfied Homocide
August 17, 2010 at 4:19pm
I need to get to Praetoria! I wanna tear down . . . er see a Utopian society.
