Champions Online's Bill Roper talks retcons, powers and more
by Kyle Horner 
Sep 21st 2009 at 9:00AM
Filed under: Super-hero, Massively Interviews, Champions Online
How do you feel about the current state of combat difficulty for solo players?
We're really working hard right now to dial the difficulty in from both ends of the spectrum. Some builds are very challenging to play, while others are still far too easy. The powers that are dramatically out of balance on either end of the spectrum are the easiest to identify and fix. As we're finishing this first pass, we're starting a more refined, surgical look at the powers so we can continue to make as many different combinations of powers fun to play.
The difficulty of solo content seems to scale depending on how a character is built. So will future updates allow any build to be solo-capable or introduce a feature showing players which powers work best in solo play?
The desire is to allow as many different builds to be as fun and playable as possible. Obviously this is an amazing challenge with a system that isn't bound by classes and where heroes can choose from any power in the game. It's an ongoing process and we're constantly watching and talking with our players to achieve this goal.
What changes are being made to the threat system, particularly on the matter of zone mobs chain-pulling on players in groups?
What players are seeing is something in our reinforcement system at work. Champions Online isn't a "pull one monster and everyone beat on it" style of game like most MMOs. When you solo through an area, encounter groups (usually 2-3 enemies) interact with you on a group-to-hero basis. When multiple heroes – whether on a team or not – attack these encounter groups, they'll run and get help because they're outgunned. A particular enemy from the encounter group gives off a "tell" that they're running to get reinforcements, usually in the form of a chat bubble. Then they run off to get help. Players can use tactics to stop that enemy from getting reinforcements. This system allows us to scale for to multiple heroes clearing out an area, especially outdoors where people tend to get into the formal structure of a team less often than in instances. To be very clear – there isn't random "chain-pulling" of enemies onto a player. This is a designed system that takes effect when numerous heroes fight encounter groups.
We're really working hard right now to dial the difficulty in from both ends of the spectrum. Some builds are very challenging to play, while others are still far too easy. The powers that are dramatically out of balance on either end of the spectrum are the easiest to identify and fix. As we're finishing this first pass, we're starting a more refined, surgical look at the powers so we can continue to make as many different combinations of powers fun to play.
The difficulty of solo content seems to scale depending on how a character is built. So will future updates allow any build to be solo-capable or introduce a feature showing players which powers work best in solo play?
The desire is to allow as many different builds to be as fun and playable as possible. Obviously this is an amazing challenge with a system that isn't bound by classes and where heroes can choose from any power in the game. It's an ongoing process and we're constantly watching and talking with our players to achieve this goal.
What changes are being made to the threat system, particularly on the matter of zone mobs chain-pulling on players in groups?
What players are seeing is something in our reinforcement system at work. Champions Online isn't a "pull one monster and everyone beat on it" style of game like most MMOs. When you solo through an area, encounter groups (usually 2-3 enemies) interact with you on a group-to-hero basis. When multiple heroes – whether on a team or not – attack these encounter groups, they'll run and get help because they're outgunned. A particular enemy from the encounter group gives off a "tell" that they're running to get reinforcements, usually in the form of a chat bubble. Then they run off to get help. Players can use tactics to stop that enemy from getting reinforcements. This system allows us to scale for to multiple heroes clearing out an area, especially outdoors where people tend to get into the formal structure of a team less often than in instances. To be very clear – there isn't random "chain-pulling" of enemies onto a player. This is a designed system that takes effect when numerous heroes fight encounter groups.
