CITY OF HEROES: GOING ROGUE Concept Art

[dnakayama]

Hey, everybody. So I've finally got something to post! CITY OF HEROES' 2nd major expansion, entitled COH: GOING ROGUE, just shipped this week, so it seemed like a great time to finally share some the artwork I created for the project. And there's even more concept art available at the Official CITY OF HEROES: GOING ROGUE Website, which is here: http://goingrogue.na.cityofheroes.com/en/ Hope you enjoy it.


New signature character Noble Savage. A mysterious and tragic figure who players will encounter in the Underground.



Isometric view of The Magisterium, seat of government and power in Praetoria.



Magisterium signature buildings.



Emperor Cole's Tower. Highest building in the city.



Praetor White, aka Marauder. Heads up the Praetorian security forces.



Praetor Berry, aka Neuron. Emperor Cole's chief scientist.



Praetor Tilman, aka Mother. Queen bee of the Seer psychic network.



Cole Memorial Hospital.



Imperial City skyline, as seen from People's Park.



Imperial City flyover at night.



Signature character Bobcat, who players will meet in an Imperial City nightclub.



Calvin Scott, leader of the Resistance movement opposed to Cole.



Bonus! 'Organic Armor' concept from the recently released Super Booster V: Mutation.

[1n5ane]

look's great. Don't play the game, buts concepts are great!

[dnakayama]

Thanks, man. I'll probably have a few more to post shortly.

[Dock]

So cool to see all of this stuff! I used to play COH like crazy when it first came out. I fizzled out a bit after City of Villains, but this art makes me want to pick it back up!

[legionare]

I like your clean technique and characters too. Thanks for post.

[dnakayama]

So cool to see all of this stuff! I used to play COH like crazy when it first came out. I fizzled out a bit after City of Villains, but this art makes me want to pick it back up!

The entire dev team's extremely proud of the new expansion and all the ways it pushes the game forward, and it's been great to see all the servers packed to capacity since the launch. This is the first big expansion since COV--you might want to check it out.

[Bayani]

City of Heroes/Villains is looking pretty and I'm having fun in the game again.

[dnakayama]

City of Heroes/Villains is looking pretty and I'm having fun in the game again.

Thanks, Bayani. Would love to hear what you specifically like (or don't like) in Praetoria. We're very open to feedback.

[Eddy_Swan]

Loving your work for the expansion and it all came out tremendously, the new zones and characters are spectacular.

[Bayani]

Thanks, Bayani. Would love to hear what you specifically like (or don't like) in Praetoria. We're very open to feedback.

I've had enough of an experience and explored quite a bit of the expansion to give more in-depth feedback now, so sure why not?

My initial impression for the actual gameplay direction-wise is that it feels much like Bioware's action-rpgs: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. Players make choices that will affect the "destiny" of your character, but the great thing is that the choices don't lock the player in. Ithad been lacking lately imo is that there wasn't a whole lot focused into the "RP" part of the MMORPG. Largely, it's been left to the populace to create/add that element. Players in MMOs though (myself included) happen to be largely self-centered though when it comes to the RP aspects of the game and so alot of the RP driven folks in my experience tend to ignore the game canon, which can lead to segmentation of the community. The Going Rogue storylines however, do a fantastic job of putting the players' characters in the limelight...they have to make choices (tough ones too). I believe that this direction of storytelling will encourage more people to create and tailor characters to fit the City of Heroes world and be more involved, which would really be something.

Mechanics wise, slow-starting toons are at a disadvantage in Praetoria. There are *alot* of ambushes in Praetoria. While that fits thematically for the world (the odds are supposed to be stacked against "deviants" from the utopia), there are ATs that will breeze through it (Brutes, Scrappers, Masterminds, Blasters)...others that will get through it albeit tediously (Corruptors, Controllers, Tanks, Dominators) and then there are ATs that just get crushed (Defenders, Stalkers). While teaming solves those issues, the players level so much more quickly that they'll end up seeing less of the storylines etc.

The art is very impressive and I like the direction it's taking. It's modern but I don't see them going out of style any time soon; it's not as nutty as say...90s Image Comics character designs. The signature characters are all very iconic looking. I wish the rest of the game can get a facelift but I understand that there aren't enough resources to do that *and* still provide completely brand new content.

That's my general overview, are there specific things you want me to evaluate, I'd be happy to discuss those.