Duos and team-ups are something of a tradition among super-powered heroes and villains, and what better way to spend an evening that to grab a friend and pit your combined skills against the finest pairs of heroes and villains that Paragon City and the Rogue Isles have to offer?

Sound like fun? Then pick your partner and head over to Pocket D on the European Training Room next Thursday (that’s 18 January, date fans) at 8pm GMT for the first ever Buddy Royale!

A friendly PvP contest, the Buddy Royale will pit teams of two characters against each other in a series of ‘Last Man Standing’ Battle Royale Arena matches. The winning duos from each match will then go on to face off in a final, and the winners of that will become the first ever Buddy Royale Champions, earning fame, fortune, bragging rights and, should they choose, automatic entry to the final of the next Buddy Royale.

What, that’s not enough? Well, how about a unique title for the ‘live server’ incarnation of your character and a copy of The Freedom Phalanx, the second City of Heroes novel by Robin D Laws as prizes! Interested now? Then read on for the details of how the Buddy Royale will work…

Where and When

The Buddy Royale will take place on the European Training Room at 8pm GMT on Thursday, 18 January.

Who can Enter

The Buddy Royale will be a Middleweight (Level 32-37) Arena tournament for teams of two characters. This means that you will need a character who is at least Level 32 to enter, and any characters of Level 38 or higher will automatically be Exemplared/Malefactored down to Level 37 in the matches.

As long as both characters are at least Level 32, anyone is free to enter, and teams can be made up of any two Archetypes. The contest is open to both heroes and villains, and mixed hero/villain teams are allowed (a Scrapper and a Mastermind could enter as a team, for example).

UPDATE: Characters entering the Buddy Royale cannot be members of a Super Group. If you’re character is a member of an SG on the Training Room, they will need to leave the group before the event and rejoin after, or you can simply copy them across from the Live servers to the Training Room and use the newly copied version.

How it Works

Each Buddy Royale match will be set up in the Arena, via the terminals in Pocket D, with the following options:

Match Type: Team Battle Royale
Duration/Victory Conditions: Last Man Standing
Weight Class: Middleweight
Players per Team: 2
Teams: 8 (for most matches - see below for details)
Options: No Travel Powers

A volunteer will set up each match, at which point teams will be picked at random to enter and the match will begin when all 8 teams are full. This will continue until all teams have a match, so the final match to be started may feature less than 8 teams in total, depending on the number of teams that show up.

The winning team from each match will then fight in a final - the number of teams in the final will depend on the number of matches held - and the team that wins the final will become the first Buddy Royale Champions!

Things to Remember

There are a few things to bear in mind if you’re planning to take part in the Buddy Royal. Please take the time to read and remember these, as it will make the whole event go much more smoothly.

• Please organise your partner before the event starts, and make sure that both characters are at least Level 32.
• Please be sure to pick up any Inspirations or Temporary Powers that you feel you might need before the event starts.
• Please try to keep chatter on public channels to a minimum while the matches are organised - Amboss, Midoh and Bridger will be very busy, and the more people there are talking on public channels, the more chance of someone missing an important announcement.
• Please do not talk on the Request channel during the event, but make sure you have it active in a chat window. Amboss, Midoh and Bridger will make any and all official announcements on the Request channel.
• The Arena Terminals in Pocket D are upstairs from the Monkey Fight Club, but as this is area is quite small, the organisation of matches will be done in the main room, so head there first.
• In the main room of Pocket D, the raised central podium where DJ Zero (literally) hangs out will be designated as the ‘winners enclosure’. The winning team from each match should head to this area, and no other players should enter it. This will help us organise the final match quickly and easily.
• If you’d like to take part in the Buddy Royale but have not used the Training Room before, please see Welcome to The Training Room! for instructions on setting up and accessing the Test Server.
• Be sure to copy your chosen characters across to the Training Room in plenty of time - ideally at least a day before the event.
• Have fun! That’s what it’s all about, after all.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please post them in this thread on the official message boards.