City of Villains E3 Preview
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City of Villains, the first pay expansion slated for a 2005 release (there are unconfirmed rumors are circulating that October 2005 is the date), brings a brand new style of play to the table and some exciting twists to the current CoH formula. As is obvious from the title, players now get to experience how the other half lives. Player villains don't start out with fully functional power sets as their heroic counterparts, but instead must work their way up from being a common thug in order to prove their worth as a criminal and be recruited by a member of an NPC villain organization. An example of one such organization that players can be a part of is S.P.I.D.E.R. (Second Phase Infiltration to Destroy Empires' Resistance). All villains start out on Fallen Isle, a remote island similar to Bermuda. Once the player villain proves his worth and becomes part of a NPC villain group, the villain group (empowers) the thug with superhuman powers. The player then is able to choose an archetype/origin. The available powersets for villains are planned to be similar to those available to heroes currently. City of Villains also introduces optional PvP elements to the game. Jack firmly believes that players should never be forced to do anything in the game that they don't want to do. He feels the method by which PvP is incorporated in the expansion is a (fun, fair choice.) Additionally, headquarters functionality will been added for both hero and villain groups, and an even more interesting feature that Jack shared with me was the addition of great cosmic and supernatural power items that supergroups can acquire to either protect or use for more sinister purposes. Groups that have these items leave themselves open to attack from opposing forces who wish to relocate the item. This should make for some very interesting confrontations in the near future.