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Last year, developer Cryptic Studios and publisher NCSoft released City of Heroes, their long awaited super hero themed MMORPG, to solid sales and reviews. Now the one big thing that most reviewers and players felt was lacking in the original game is about to be taken care of in City of Villains, the stand alone MMO that will give player the chance to try out the dark side. Gamecloud got a chance to chat with the game's lead designer David "Zeb" Cook to find out more about City of Villains.

Gamecloud - First, why did Cryptic make the decision to make City of Villains a stand alone game, rather than an expansion to City of Heroes?

David “Zeb” Cook - It seemed like a natural idea. In City of Heroes we let you play a hero. In City of Villains, you’re a villain so we wanted to give the full experience from the ground up. We didn’t want to put a barrier to people who might be interested in doing that by saying they must have City of Heroes first. That would be forcing them to buy the game. Instead we would rather people said, “Hey, this is fun! I think I’ll check out City of Heroes too.”

At the same time, we’ve made it so City of Villains adds to the City of Heroes game, so that if you already have CoH. Not only do you get to be a villain in CoV, you also add new features to your City of Heroes game.

Gamecloud - How will the character creation for the new game differ from the setup in City of Heroes?

David “Zeb” Cook - Initially there was thought of having you earn your stripes, as it were, that you started as a simple thug and somehow earned your superpowers. In looking at it in more detail, we saw that for players a lot of the fun was that you were cool right out of the box. We didn’t want the “go kill rats, earn your level” model, so we ultimately decided to stick with the idea that you are an ubervillain and you have got powers right from the start. This way we could focus on what made being the bad guy fun.

Gamecloud - What sorts of new archtypes will be put into City of Villains?

David “Zeb” Cook - Because we didn’t want players to play just the same old characters, CoV has 5 all new archetypes that are unique to being a villain. These better match the comic book style of villains too. These are the Brute, a melee guy who gets tougher and meaner the longer he is in combat – he’ll be interesting with other team members because he will want to rush from fight to fight while his Rage is still pumped up; the Stalker, who uses defense and stealth to make quick strikes – but who has to be careful and use his new powers like Placate to keep from being killed; the Destroyer, who combines ranged attacks with buffs/debuffs; the Dominator, a master of control and assault; and the wholly new Mastermind, who can summon minions and support them while they do his fighting.

Gamecloud - What are some of your favorite new powers that will be available in the game?

David “Zeb” Cook - Tough one… The mastermind ability to summon and control minions is certainly one. Nothing like having zombies to order around. There are enough that I haven’t had time to try them all!

Gamecloud - What will the quests be like in City of Villains?

David “Zeb” Cook - For CoV we wanted to give the player more ways to feel in control of his mission selection and do more things to make missions interesting and varied. We’ve added a new type of contact, the broker, who can give you missions based on different groups you might be interested in battling and even point you toward banks that have valuable loot. Our other contacts are more individual each with his own set of missions and storyline that isn’t necessarily shared with other contacts. Players will know that if they go talk to Dimitri they’ll be dealing with Arachnos agents.

Gamecloud - Will there be any hero style NPCs for City of Villains players to combat?

David “Zeb” Cook - Absolutely! One of the things Jack Emmert (our beloved Creative Director) insisted on was that villains have to battle heroes, not just villains. How can you feel like a bad guy otherwise? So we have created groups such as Longbow and the Legacy Chain who are heroes and troublesome pests for all villainous evildoers.

Gamecloud - What kinds of new zones and locations will the game have?

David “Zeb” Cook - There is a completely new set of zones that are set in the Rogue Isles, the home of Lord Recluse (and the leader of Arachnos), along with a new zone for Paragon City. These zones range from the casino island of St. Martial, Port Oakes with it’s old colonial fort, the secret rocket base of Warburg, and the smoking industrial of hell of Sharkhead Isle.

Gamecloud - How will the game's PVP content be handled?

David “Zeb” Cook - One of the big goals of PvP is to make it part of the gameplay without ruining the fun players are already having. PvP play occurs only in special PvP zones. Each of these zones has a special objective. Success in these zones will allow you to gain temporary powers or buy from special stores, for example. Who you get to fight depends on the zone you’re in. In some, it’s every man for himself, while others are purely heroes vs. villains in true comic book fashion.

Gamecloud - What other new gameplay elements will City of Villains have?

David “Zeb” Cook - Base building! With the release of CoV, supergroups in both City of Villains and City of Heroes will be able to build customized bases. We’re creating a system to give as much choice and flexibility as the costume creator did for characters. And then, once you have a base, PvP players will be able to go base raiding against each other.

Gamecloud - Will there be any graphical improvements made for the game?

David “Zeb” Cook - Tons of improvements. We are updating to support the capabilities of the latest graphics cards. You’ll see reflections in armor and windows, bloom from light sources, ripples and refractions in the water, and more. We’re also working to improve our engine to handle more polygons and even more detailed textures. The visual difference is quite noticeable even on older graphics cards.

Gamecloud - After the game is released are there plans for free expansion packs like City of Heroes did?

David “Zeb” Cook - We intend to continue to support our titles. That’s about all I can really say at this time, because we have lots of ideas.

Gamecloud - Finally is there anything else you wish to say about City of Villains?

David “Zeb” Cook - Well, we just finished another one of our company tests this afternoon and I wish I could really convey the excitement I feel! There’s so much that’s cool and interesting that you just have to see, because I can’t describe it well enough.

I likely will try out a mastermind. I am a sucker for pet classes and I always disliked having to get so high with my controllers before getting the pets.

Kaid

Will the 'grind' still be in there? That is to say, why do you hate me?

If they took that out, I'd be back now, with or without CoV.  Although, more depth would be even better. (Items, weapons, bases, etc.)

The novelty of a very simple-fun MMOG wore off really damned quick.  I like to play with the shiny trinkets too.

You might take note that Cryptic is aware of the content problem and is adding a hefty pack of it every issue. Also their content becomes increasingly better designed which creates high hopes for CoV.

Issue 3 added Striga Island, which is al lvl 20-29 zone with a ton of new content and is said to be the best zone in the game. Since then the 20s seem to be quite enoyable now. Issue 5 will add Croata, which will be a lvl 25-35 zone.
As a result probably the only boring grind parts in the game will be lvls 15-19 and 35-40, hopefully their next issue will address those problem areas. After lvl 40 things improve quite a bit too, but there is indeed still not much to do once you hit 50.

Yeah, CoH really had too long an experience curve. It was way too fun, and still has some of the best content and combat I've seen. But the long advancement curve... arg.

Is it just me, or do the classes in CoV sound a LOT like WoW classes? I mean, the Brute even generates rage. So we have:

Brute = WoW Warrior
Stalker = Rogue
Destroyer = Shaman
Dominator = Mage?
Mastermind = Warlock?

I definitely want to try out the Mastermind.

By the way, isn't my new avatar just the most fantastic thing ever?  Look at those owls- they're hilarious.

I forgot if you mentioned before when you first played? At release, or later on?

At release, the XP rate was quick (not terribly quick, but better than WoW's at least). I felt like I was playing a superhero game (as I should). After the xp change, it didn't feel very superhero like at all.

Also, you came from Daoc. What's good enough for you just might be brutal for me.  :-)

I played from release for about 4 months, getting my main to 24. When you talk about an exp nerf, do you mean the purple nerf? Yes, that did indeed suck. It was fun as hell slaugtering things the game's con system is saying should kick your ass.

It was almost anything coupled with devices due to the accuracy debuff from Smoke Grenade stacking with itself, allowing players to use it over and over (and the ability doesn't cause a group to attack) until the enemies' accuracy hit the floor of 5%.

It'll be nice to have company again.  I've been very lonely, especially on the test server.  I probably won't go back to Victory until after I5 goes live.  New Issues on test ruin the live servers for me.  Dunno why, just do.

As has been said one million times here, the post-20 exp curve should have been halved.

You won't be back.  Don't lie to me.

It was almost anything coupled with devices due to the accuracy debuff from Smoke Grenade stacking with itself, allowing players to use it over and over (and the ability doesn't cause a group to attack) until the enemies' accuracy hit the floor of 5%.

Like the MxO boards.

I've tried to play COH a few times in the past week - I can't bring myself to play for more then like an hour - knowing COV is coming out. I keep thinking I'm wasting my time, as I will likely delete to open a character name.

The villian character creator looks even better then the hero one too.

The villian character creator looks even better then the hero one too.

Playing a scrapper (with Super Jump) is less of a grind and more enjoyable than my old controller for sure.

And, once again my daughter asked me if we could play that game where you make super heros.

Breed more females into gaming, please.  You might save the future of the industry.

I5 (currently on the test server) is bringing some much needed changes to the XP curve.

* No experience debt until level 10.
* Half experience debt in missions.
* Experience awards for defeating enemies level 25+ increased.

I5 (currently on the test server) is bringing some much needed changes to the XP curve.

* No experience debt until level 10.
* Half experience debt in missions.
* Experience awards for defeating enemies level 25+ increased.

*Current required experience to level beyond level 15 has been halved.

I wish.

I don't.

I actually team up on a regular basis, and if they did that the only time I'd ever get to see the inside of a storyarc is 10 levels later or if I was lucky enough to get into a team doing one.

(Seriously. Supergroup full of concept characters. I play one, sometimes two, nights a week, for about four hours a night. After two months I'm level 26.)

--GF

After two months I'm level 26.

The point being you'd be L40 instead of 26 and would've already seen that stuff at a proper level, instead of getting sidekicked up.

Ridiculous.

I was talking to a Kheld the other day and they said it took them 6 months to get to 50 on their previous character, at about the same pace as you.

Here's another reason why it's a grind: The fact that I can only afford 4 low lvl DO's at a time when I've already been able to fit them for 3 lvls now. That tells me that the game wants me to grind and camp. That tells me that the missions are, in fact, bullshit. At every step of the way, I'm out of my means. They've got the carrot dangling in front of me, despite the fact that I keep up with contacts.

No, that tells you that you're really not supposed to be using DOs in all your slots yet. They're available at 15 and within your means at 20, like SOs are available at 25 but only really within your means at 30.

Lol. Seriously, man. Stop joking around.

What was that taskforce supposed to be really? I don't understand.

What was that taskforce supposed to be really? I don't understand.

Yeah, with the autoexemp making 15 the highest level to get XP from Positron, it's one of the hardest and least rewarding TFs in the game. But you can do it with three people if you want a change of pace from your normal missions, I suppose...