Marvel Heroes' Juggernaut, multi-speccing, and upcoming story content

After a bit of a delay, Marvel Heroes fans saw the release of Juggernaut as a playable hero over the weekend. A new hero alone is enough for many players to dive in and try things out, but Juggernaut also comes with a power system unlike that of any other on the game's roster. To learn a little bit more about this villainous hero, we talked with Ryan Collins, Creative Designer and Community Manager of Gazillion, who also dished some details on the much anticipated multi-spec feature a well as upcoming story content.

Massively: Juggernaut seems an odd addition to the roster -- he isn't exactly known for his flamboyant personality. Can you share the reasoning/inspiration behind making him a playable hero?

Ryan Collins: Juggy's addition to the roster comes from his time as both an X-Men and Thunderbolt; he's never been that much of a NICE guy, but he has fallen on the side of angels a few times over the past 15 years. We actually have an upcoming motion comic that explains our plan for playable villains a bit, but I can't get into that too much. As far as why we chose him, it came down to a few things: He's a fan favorite with his iconic appearances in video games, comics and cartoons; he's ridiculous; and we had a great idea for how we wanted to build him (Momentum).

What's unique about Juggernaut compared to other characters -- what sets him apart gameplay-wise?

Juggernaut's big deal is his Momentum mechanic -- he gains Momentum from moving or using certain powers and it does a few things for him. Primarily, it's his resource: He doesn't rely on Spirit like other heroes; he uses and spends Momentum he gains to either use powers or make them much more powerful. There are some powers in his kit that he can just use whether or not he has any Momentum, whereas others require a certain threshold of Momentum before he can use them (they are effectively finishers). In addition to acting as a primary resource, Momentum increases his move speed as it increases, going so far as to change his animation as it ramps up with his head dipping lower and lower into a charge. Overall it results in his being incredibly mobile and having a very interesting management of his resource. He has lots of ways to get back Momentum besides standing still and using a basic attack, and I can't wait to see some of the movement power builds people come up with.

Have you faced the boss Juggernaut in game as playable Juggernaut? How does that fight go?

Oh yeah. Suffice it to say, I think I proved who the real Juggernaut really is. Sorry, boss-Juggy.

Could you clarify the statement that "Juggernaut's powers are not limited by a resource"?

Most of Juggernaut's powers can be used whether or not you have Momentum and are simply enhanced by it. In a lot of ways, you can always be attacking, moving, doing something -- he's unstoppable!

In one of the early screens, we see five boxes in the lower left-hand corner. Does this mean multiple specs in all their glory are coming at the same time as Juggernaut? If so, what would you say are the different styles/flavors of play that Juggernaut can have?

Yep, multi-spec will be released in this week. You get the second spec for free right out of the gate so you can instantly try out two builds without having to Retcon. As far as Juggernaut builds, I think that the obvious two builds are "stand still and slug while using his kit in a rotation to keep Momentum alive" and "move around, dropping big elbows and charging enemies". Those two can have a lot of wiggle room for what you prefer to deal damage, clear trash, and such, but those are definitely the core pillars of his kit.

Which of playable Juggernaut's powers will Rogue be able to steal? Will it be different from the boss power she can steal as an enemy?

Rogue currently steals "I'm Invulnerable!"; our playable villains will retain their stolen powers from the boss version since that was chosen for lore reasons. This will be the case for Magneto and Venom as it is for Taskmaster and Loki.

Are there any other details that you would like to share or what are your favorite things about Juggernaut?

If you're going to play Juggy, feel free to experiment. He's not someone you're going to "get" on your first build as managing Momentum and movement and such. I'm very excited to see what players think. Juggernaut is my favorite Marvel villain of all time, so I'm a bit geeked out that he's so much fun right now. What I love about Juggernaut is that he's a big jerk with the powers of a god who just doesn't give a damn. I think that in his gameplay and voice-over, he really represents that.

Can the devs talk about plans or a timeline for extending the storyline?

You bet! We have a One-Shot planned for the winter featuring Red Skull returning to take over HYDRA again, and then a Raid that will follow our version of the comic event, Axis. From there, we have plans for a brand-new story chapter that will ship sometime next year. We've just soft announced it at C2E2 [Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo], but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say (it's a Secret).

Thanks so much for your time!

When readers want the scoop on a launch or a patch (or even a brewing fiasco), Massively goes right to the source to interview the developers themselves. Be they John Smedley or Chris Roberts or anyone in between, we ask the devs the hard questions. Of course, whether they tell us the truth or not is up to them!