CGW's CoV Article

[iggy880]

Well, today I got a new Computer Gaming World, and to my joyus surprise, CoV makes the cover with a pretty long article. While I couldn't find the article online for you guys, I will quote a bit that was on the powersets and ATs.
Bizarro World
Of course, being an evildoer is what CoV is all about, something tht was made redily apparent by the abundance of bones, chains, and spikes in the costume-creation interface. There are also five devious character archetypes, four of which are quite literally the exact opposite of those in COH: with one exception, each template is a mirror image of it's heroic counterpart, swapping primary and secondary power sets and adding a few new options. According to lead designer Jack Emmert these "inverse" archetypes will add some new twists to CoV, providing fresh experiences for CoH players who have seen it all.
"The brute is the melee monster," says Emmert, referring to the reverse tanker. "His attacks are devastating, but as a consequence, he attracts the attention of the toughest foes. In game terms, we expect him to [lock down] bosses and archvillains. [He also] has an inherent rage ability, so the longer the battle goes on, the greater the damage he does."
Moving on to the scrappers evil counterpartpart, Emmert says: "The stalker can be [even more] devastating than the brute. But instead of raw power, he relies on stealth to accomplish his evil deeds. A stalker will sneek his way into a group of foes and unleash a deadly alpha strike. He also has abilities that [allow him to] escape the attention of his enemies."
Beware My Power
But not everyone is a frontline heavy hitter, as players of controller characters well know. "After th stalker ambushes a group and the brute tackles a tough foe," Emmert explains, "the dominator freezes the rest of the enemies in their tracks. [This archetype] is all about subjugating the will of those around him. He possesses the ability to mesmerize and immobilize, which is absolutely invaluable in locking down numerous minions that might otherwise swarm his teammates."
The destroyer archetype, resembling a twisted amalgamation of the defender and the blaster, provides backup. "The destroyer is a living dynamo. He has mastered the elements [and is] probably the most versatile of all the villain archetypes [with] ranged, buff, and debuff abilities." Emmert remarks. He goes on to explain that the destroyer is "the only real 'healing' archetype among villains."
Rather then redefining an existing hero template, the final villain archetype is a tribute to classic villain overlords. "The mastermind is the 'leader' archetype," says Emmert. "Each power set summons a different sort of lackey, like thugs, ninjas, soldiers, and robots. The mastermind can upgrade his troops, buff them, or equip them with new super weapons. He uses his powers to protect the support archetypes.

I typed that by had, no copy and paste, so sorry for typos, and that wass all on one page, so you need to get this one. It even gives a little info on the evildoers in the E3 trailer. As for me, I'm planning a robot/ninja mastermind. Maybe Taiko-tron, or something.

[Solario]

I'm so definently making a Mastermind. I'm thinking... Soldiers or Robots. To go with my Mad Scientist idea.

[Kinetix]

Thank you Iggy, that was very informative.

Lotta good info on ATs

[iggy880]

I was worried someone would beat me to the punch, sadly thats about all I've read, but it will keep me busy as my account is in the billing limbo.

[Poison]

Thanks a lot for typing that.
I am of course interested in the stalker, but the destroyer sounds like I'd have fun with it, too.

[8 Ball]

Personally I like the sounds of all the AT's (the jaded part of me thinks this is what the CoH AT's SHOULD be :D) I'm gearing towards playing a Brute and/or Destroyer..but the Mastermind sounds extremely interesting. I am a little concerned about minion customization though, we have enough ninja's running around as is :P.

[iggy880]

I like destroyer, since I love my current blaster (but there is something about minions) It also sounds like destroyer will pretty much be the better, more rounded, blaster we've been wanting.

Edit: Something else I want to add from the article is that there are now cutscenes that are added to increase the story, and so I don't have to do a quote again, I'll just say that the villains that act as Arachnos generals (in the trailer) are part of the story because when a villain reaches level 40, he can join arachnos, and work for the generals, get special powers, and costume options, and its supposedly a villain goal to get that chance (but not necessary to character development) I won't spoil anything else, even though I want to, the article also talks about the zones.

[Solario]

I am a little concerned about minion customization though, we have enough ninja's running around as is :P.

But remember unlike the other ninjas, they'll actually look alike, and hopefully not like some Daredevil rejects with little sense of color coding.

I'm really excited about this whole mastermind idea.

[sheld0n]

Is it just me, or do the Brute and the Stalker sound alot like the Warrior and Rogue from WoW, respectively?
Oh well :rolleyes:

Anyway, this could be interesting, and im very curious to see how this turns out.

On another note, i wonder how will Brutes and Scrappers-Turned-Evil compare.

[ShadowSoldier]

I'm really looking forward to stalkers, for some weird reason I already try and sneak around foes hoping my accuracy will be better or something.

[sheld0n]

Actually, stealth + super leap is a very good pulling technique. And it looks neat, too.

[iggy880]

I am a little concerned about minion customization though, we have enough ninja's running around as is :P.

Well, they actually showed a picture of a 'ninja fight' with two ninja based characters doing PvP (though one might have been a ninja) What I want is the ability to truly customize a minion as much as a character so i could make werewolf robot ninjas.

[Solario]

Well, they actually showed a picture of a 'ninja fight' with two ninja based characters doing PvP (though one might have been a ninja) What I want is the ability to truly customize a minion as much as a character so i could make werewolf robot ninjas.

Me too. I have very specific ideas for my soldier minions or robot minions. Hmm.. I wonder if they will allow me to have both?..

[Xanatos]

Whoah! Mastermind all the way!

[iggy880]

Is it just me or do we all seem to have a desire to command evil minions? I think I will make an all mastermind villain group of evil in beta, and maybe even live. Who's with me?

[Charon]

Is it only me who read that as -

"Brute is a tank with powersets reversed."
"Stalker is a scrapper with stealth."
"Destroyer is a defender with a classy villain name."
"Dominator does the same **** as a controller."
"Oh... and we thought we needed something original and blasters R teh suxxorz so we made this. Kk?"

[iggy880]

Yeah, just you.

[Morcalivan7]

Well, you could always just make a villain group and call every last member a 'minion' with a few 'henchmen' for captains.

[Charon]

Yeah, just you.

Haha, fair enough, fair enough...

[Astartus]

Hmm.....

me likes Tanks, me like brute guys bashing big bossies....me like Brutes...
and me like Destroyes...me confused by information...

Me also likes pushing puny minions around, but me fears of 80% masterminds everywhere.....

[Esbat]

Mastermind = New Scrapper

Everyone's got a scrapper 'cause they can solo or at least look cool before making a faceplant... now a Mastermind has minions/pets and is a bad ass while doing it... :sarcasm:

I'm still making a mastermind tho :D

[Solario]

I still think it might end up as the villain equivalence of a Controller, people are really intriged by it at first, but after a while, only a handful of people still play them.

[ChairLegOfTruth]

Hmm... Out of my villain comcepts:

Iron Brew is a Brute
The Reptoid [working title] is a Stalker
Imperator Perfidious a Destroyer or Dominator

I don't have a concept for a mastermind.

[sheld0n]

I wonder if they'll include "no xp if you dont attack too" rule for masterminds, like they did with pet controllers.

[iggy880]

Well, I will add for your pleasure that at the end it said that if you want to make your hero go to the dark side, you have to wait for the first expanison to CoV where you will have that option, and maybe even a character's own private apartment. As for a villain, I was thinking up one to start off as a hero, then recreat in CoV.

Zandorn- Start as mutant tank with a large steel chest and gloves but mutant like body with a story of an energy tank because he has so much power that to not endanger civilians he has to be restrained by armor. But when CoV comes around, he will see the chance to shed his armor, and go evil, using his full power, in maybe a destroyer style with some of the new costume options.

[Sword]

"The destroyer is a living dynamo. He has mastered the elements [and is] probably the most versatile of all the villain archetypes [with] ranged, buff, and debuff abilities." Emmert remarks. He goes on to explain that the destroyer is "the only real 'healing' archetype among villains."

Nice giong States, stamping the Villain version of defenders as "Healers" before the game is even in beta :rolleyes:

Anyway, I'm mega-hyped by this info. I'm still really wondering about how the Masterminds minions will look. How, if at all, customizable their look is and all. I'm clearly going to be a Brute as my main. I'll allways want to resort to "punch 'em inna face" at some point during a fight.
but I'm sure as hell making a Mastermind alt too. That sounds really cool.
Problem is, my only villain character that I've come up with so far is a Brute with minions. Sorta like Doc Vahz, and I doubt that's going to work out. I was hoping minions was sotmhing all villains would have access to. Oh well, I will survive :D

[Sword]

Here's the only thread I found about the article on the official boards btw:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=2978773&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

[iggy880]

I must be one of the few people who actually get it. Sadly, I got it through a third party so I didn't get the DVD disk with a free 21 day trial of CoH, the E3 trailer, and a demo of Psychonauts (that game is awasom on Xbox)

Edit/add: Well, since I don't want to be outdone, or leave you guys in the dark, I'll add more from off the top of my head.

Location
The villain areas are islands (I forget the name) that through underhanded ways were able to be protected by UN against takeover and have trained less then heroic power houses. I also remember one area under direct Arachnos control where you get to enjoy a casino.

Missions
You will do more then just rob the bank as that is like thugs, you however may blue up tankers, plant bombs in enemy corporation building, sell yourself out to work as security at an illegal casino or something and much more.

PvP
PvP zones will have missions in there own. One is an area where 6 chunks of a meteor that heroes destroyed crashed, and you must fight heroes (and sometimes each other) to collect chucnks, if you get all six you get a one time temp power that is great, and power ups. The problem is you also have to face alien guards to get to it, and if you are defeated your pieces can be taken away and given to your killer. You also must collect pieces from all 6. There will also be a PvP ranking system of some sort that may be part of the plot, but is not necessary for those of us who do not really believe PvP is needed.

[Poison]

Rogue Islands they're called.
And thanks for the info. It seriously sounds as if the CoV team put a lot of effort into the mission diversity. I hope the CoH team learns from this. I seriously believe that CoV will improve CoH big time.

[Sword]

An idea that somone mentioned on the official boards:
After CoV comes out, new power sets there can be easily converted over to CoH. So once CoV hits, we might actually get a bunch of power sets converted over to CoH.

[Poison]

That I actually doubt. They'll want to keep some powers CoV-specific, as some CoH-powers will be heroically unique. Even if it's just some minor changes like Katana/Ninja-To.

[Morcalivan7]

Or how 'bout things like Dark for controller secondary. Devs have a tendency not to 'spread out' the sets and make'em very specific.

[Graphite]

For the first time, I'm started to get excited about CoV. By this time I had about 10 characters ready to roll for the lanch of Coh, but so far don't have one solid villan idea. This is some very interesting information about the new ATs and sound like alot of fun.

Brute sounds like the tanker we were never allowed to have. Back during I2, Statesman mentioned rage as a possible fix for tankers for at the time it was felt they weren't doing enough damage (especially Superstrength). The idea was for every concecutive the tanker would do more and more damage while developing more and more agro. However, the idea was scrapped because in play testing they were doing more damage than scappers. The new solution being a raised damage base, the new rage for SS, and aoe agro for tanker attacks. Brutes are damage primary and this sounds like very much the same idea which could be alot of fun. Also, this should be be different from rage in WoW. In WoW, rage is the equivilant to Fighter mana except you start at zero. For each attack and hit, you get more and more rage which then allows you to do fighting moves, buffs, etc.

Stalker sounds like the classic MMO rogue type. Hopefully it will have a Supervillain twist and could work very well for those assasian style characters. "A deadly alpha" has certainly qurked my interested. By alpha do they mean one large devestating attack, like backstab, a massive aoe attack, or in the Mechwarrior sense where you use all your attacks at once. The ablity to rehid during combat that I have never heard of in any other game.

Destroyers just sounds cool. Maybe his ranged damage is between that of a Defender and Blaster. I could be the creation of the Destroyer that is partially why Statesman is looking at Blasters and in the process make them more unique.

Dominator could be fun. Wonder if they will have debuffs primary and holds secondary, and it thats the case how good are their holds. Doesn't fit my play style so doubt I'll make one. If I do, he'l have to be be Math Wiz using Fractal Singularities calling himself the Denominator!

What is there not to like about the Mastermind? A dedicated pet class that you won't have to wait till 18 for! Lots of questions come to mind, like summoning minnions, how many, and if we will be able to issue orders.

All and All, very nice stuff and thanks for the info. I'll have to try to find my own copy so I can see the pics and get the CD. Just stating it, cuase I guess some one should, post this could get ya in trouble with Copyright or something, espeically if you found a link. I know we would have gotten in trouble under Aura in the Prebeta days. Its only an fyi, and I don't think any of us realy care. :chuckle:

[doc thunder]

Did it mention anything about cut scenes in cov. someone on the offical forums said it is in the cgw. also there was some cut scene with minx at e3 05.

[Sword]

The only thing that couold be negative about the Mastermind AT, is that all the minions will be identical. The same as two Fire COntrollers have the same Imps for example.
Very probably you pick one set that defines what kind of minions you have. And then the powers enhaches different aspects of them and perhaps how many you can summon and such.
But if all Robot minions look alike it'll look like al Tech master minds bought their minions at the same shop or something.
*crosses fingers for minion customization*

[iggy880]

Did it mention anything about cut scenes in cov. someone on the offical forums said it is in the cgw. also there was some cut scene with minx at e3 05.

I thought I mentioned that too. It said there will be a cutscene system to continue the plot, and to show you the islands as well.

[Jade_Dragon]

Destroyers just sounds cool. Maybe his ranged damage is between that of a Defender and Blaster. I could be the creation of the Destroyer that is partially why Statesman is looking at Blasters and in the process make them more unique.

Dominator could be fun. Wonder if they will have debuffs primary and holds secondary, and it thats the case how good are their holds. Doesn't fit my play style so doubt I'll make one. If I do, he'l have to be be Math Wiz using Fractal Singularities calling himself the Denominator!

What is there not to like about the Mastermind? A dedicated pet class that you won't have to wait till 18 for! Lots of questions come to mind, like summoning minnions, how many, and if we will be able to issue orders.

My guess is that the Destroyer is going to be the inverse of the Defender. He may actually have less damage than a Blaster, but quite frankly, without another primary ranged damage dealer to compete with, we won't hear all this, "Stop blasting and heal" talk. In fact, people might actually say, "stop healing and blast!"

The Dominator as Debuff/Holds? Nope, I don't think so. For one thing, that's too much like the Controller AND NO PETS. There's no damage, it's unsoloable. So what do I think it will be? Hold/Ranged. Not as damaging as the Destroyer, but with the ability to "root and shoot" it should do as well as a Defender. (A Dark Defender, in fact. It's no coincidence "Dark" is associated with evil) But what's that the inverse of? Hm... could it be... Blasters?

That leaves Mastermind as the inverse of Controller. Debuff/Pets. Not as powerful pets as the Controller, but more of them, and remember, the Mastermind doesn't get the holds. So it's like the pet portion of Controllers, plus the buff/debuffs to strengthen them, but even stronger.

So while Statesman might be looking at Blasters to make them more like Destroyers, he could also be looking at Ranged/Control, as well. Or even a mixture of the two, which could apply to the Dominator, as well. He could have some debuffs and holds, in his Primary, combined with ranged attacks in his secondary.

[iggy880]

I couldn't find it online or at the website. I could try scanning it.

[doc thunder]

The trailer on the cd is it the same as the e3 05 trialer.