Alignment
Overview
Alignment, introduced in the Going Rogue expansion and the accompanying issue release, is the way the game distinguishes between hero, villain, and everything in between.
Tip Missions and Morality Missions allow changes to a character's alignment; each alignment level can access Tip and Morality missions that can sway the character's alignment. Tip Missions are accessible even to those who have not applied a Going Rogue code to their account, but they cannot obtain Morality Missions to reaffirm or change their alignment.
Alignment Types
True Alignment
Heroes and villains that do not fall or redeem themselves have access only to the appropriate hero or villain zones and their alignment's Praetorian content. They also get a badge that is revoked if they ever fall or are redeemed. what badge?
Heroes who reaffirm their alignment (including City of Villains archetypes who have become hero alignment) by doing Hero Tip Missions and a Hero Morality Mission is granted access to a special lounge called Fort Trident, where they can spend Hero Alignment Merits to purchase "Purple" IO sets (previously only available very rarely through defeating enemies of level 47 or above). Heroic Signature Characters are known to visit Fort Trident. what else?
Likewise, villains who reaffirm their alignment (including City of Heroes archetypes of villain alignment) by doing Villain Tip Missions and a Villain Morality Mission is granted access to a special lounge called The Crucible, where they can spend Villain Alignment Merits and mingle with villainous signature characters. what else?
Due to reaffirmation requiring the completion of a Morality Mission, "True Alignment" is only available to those who have purchased Going Rogue.
Falling and Redeeming
- A hero becomes a vigilante before becoming a villain.
- Access to both Paragon City and Rogue Isles zones, including badges
- A villain becomes a rogue before becoming a hero.
- Access to both Paragon City and Rogue Isles zones, including badges
Praetorian Alignment
A character may start at Level 1 in Praetoria. During the course of its career, they will choose to assist The Resistance or the Loyalists. Neither the Resistance, nor the Loyalists equate to "good" or "evil", but are more a matter of "us" versus "them" than the "hero" versus "villain" which is typical through-out Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. The character will be presented with the opportunity to switch which side they fight for at key points in the story. They even have the opportunity to go "undercover".
The Resistance alignment and Loyalists alignment each have two factions within them.
The Resistance
- The Wardens
- The Wardens, while opposed to Cole, hold life to be valuable. They make every attempt to reach their goals with as little loss of life as possible. This is not to say that the will not kill, but for the Wardens it is more of a last resort.
- The Crusaders
- The Crusaders are more extreme than the Wardens. They believe in winning the fight at any cost, regardless of how many lives it costs. Many of The Crusaders are motivated by revenge, others simply see killing as a means to an end. Most of them believe that they are fighting for a good cause and do not view themselves as evil, but some of them care little about the true cause of the Resistance, and use it merely as an excuse to wreck havoc.
The Loyalists
- Responsibility
- Those Loyalists who follow the path of Responsibility support Cole, but do everything they can to protect the citizens of Praetoria in the process. They believe in maintaining law and order within the city, but they do not abuse their power. They tend to be selfless for the most part and represent the idea that not everyone with The Loyalists is bad.
- Power
- Those Loyalists who follow the path of Power support Cole and all that he stands for, however they use their positions to gain more power, prestige, fame, and fortune for themselves. Much like The Crusaders, they hold life to be of little value, especially the lives of members of The Resistance. If there is something to be gained from it, they will not hesitate to kill, and will not lose any sleep over "collateral damage".
Life After Praetoria
The moral choices made up to this point will have no impact on the character's final choice of alignment after leaving Praetoria. Regardless of whether the player followed the Wardens, Crusaders, Power, Responsibility or a combination of these, he or she will be able to choose to be either a hero or a villain.