Champions Online gives away a free retcon
by Eliot Lefebvre 
Oct 27th 2009 at 12:00PM
Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Server downtime, News items, Champions Online
Retcons are valuable things in Champions Online, and they are used only with care, as their effects can be far-reaching and are assured to be constant for quite some time. (This marks a major point of divergence between Champions Online and most current comic books, but we'll leave that to one side for the time being.) So it's a bit significant when Cryptic announces that everyone will be getting a free retcon on October 27th, just in time for the Blood Moon event to kick off in full swing.
Cryptic's official explanation is that the free retcon comes as a result of server troubles over the weekend, and is their little way of extending an olive branch to the community. It does come with a bit of a caveat, however -- if you've been banking up your previous free retcon in anticipation of needing it later, they won't stack. You just get the one free.
But that's not such a big issue, when you get right down to it -- you can use the retcon if you need it, and start enjoying the zombie-smashing fun. And if you aren't already playing, perhaps now is a fine time to mention that there's a free weekend starting on Friday?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nelson said on 12:21PM 10-27-2009
Alternately, you can buy a retcon for $12.50. What you can't do is easily retcon entirely in-game; a full retcon is too expensive in game currency. It's a pretty gamer-hostile way to do microtransactions.
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Psychotic Storm said on 3:15PM 10-27-2009
right that's why I have enough resources for two full retcons and I am not lvl 40 yet....
seriously were do you people spend the resources?
ZombiBambi said on 9:34PM 10-27-2009
This used to be the case, but they drastically reduced the cost to retcon abilities. This is something that was sorely needed.
The C Store is still mostly useless, imo. Other games sell similar items, but dont get flack for it... WoW for example.
dudemanjac said on 10:01PM 10-27-2009
I bought one thing from the c-store. the cyber set. but i had 400 free points to spend. Maybe i would have got it otherwise. Maybe not.
Cyspeth said on 12:52PM 10-27-2009
I would love to see CO's preorder and initial sales numbers vs the amount of subs they actually had after 1 month.
Want to know what MMO that launched in the last year was successful? The one that isn't offering free everything all the time to new players.
CO isn't even 2 months old, if it was a success by any means they would not be doing the promotions they are doing, like free weekends and lowering the games selling price.
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Wisdomandlore said on 1:56PM 10-27-2009
Promotions and free weekends are just good marketing. That's not an indicator of CO doing poorly...more like poor business on the part of other developers.
JP said on 1:50PM 10-27-2009
Pretty much. Should be interesting to see if STO is a success and can carry CO past the 1 year mark. Anything less then steller, and I'll venture to say Atari shuts down the whole studio by this time 2011.
Psychotic Storm said on 5:29AM 10-28-2009
JP strikes again.
I think you have grind to fine edge even the biggest and dullest axe you could ever have found, let it rest.
Why don't you go comment in a game you enjoy for chance?
JP said on 8:12AM 10-28-2009
uh oh. did the irrational fanboi get his feelings hurt again? awwwwwww poor baby.
Listen, I used to defend Tabula Rasa to no end. When the exact SAME comments came out about it. So, I know how you feel Pstorm. But, in the end, you'll be left feeling jaded, b/c you defended something that you thought would survive even w/ a tiny sub base. You thouhgt the devs and publisher were dedicated. Its not the reality. When 90% of the people's perception is one way.. that's usually the truth.So when it's all over, I'll be right here to hold your crying head and tell you "I told you so"
Psychotic Storm said on 8:04PM 10-28-2009
TR still remains one of the best MMO I played and no it didn't die because of itself, it died because NCSoft wanted dead, I knew some of the devs indirectly and that's how it happened.
You on the other hand have some really huge ego,
"uh oh. did the irrational fanboi get his feelings hurt again? awwwwwww poor baby."
First of all stop been insulting, second, I am really getting bored of seeing you post negative things about TR in each thread about CO, you are like the people who post "make massievely EVE news online bla bla bla" each time an EVE news is posted, you are tiring to read and constant whining is even more tiresome.
You do not like the game fine we got it, why the constant negative flak, CO killed your first-born or something?
honestly if I a to be entitled "Irrational fanboy", you must be entitled as "Irrational hater".
Dridstar said on 1:00PM 10-27-2009
This being the 4 or 5th free Retcon since launch, I'd hardly call them "valuable things used with great care". More like a crutch to offset Cryptic's inability to balance powers in the game. This just gives yet another out for the FoTM builds that are decimating PvP with broken powers to realign their builds with the newest broken powers once the ones they are using now are nerfed into uselessness.
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dudemanjac said on 1:16PM 10-27-2009
Maybe all these ppl whining about full retcons and how much they cost should have tried out their powers before stepping outside the powerhouse. I've had some buyers remorse a few times, but between the now at least 3 retcons they have given away and the new addition of the battle room where you get to fight against various kinds of enemies with your choice of difficulty and number, PPL HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR BONING THEMSELVES ON THEIR POWERS!
On top of that, what else are you doing with your money? My lvl 30 has at least 27 gold and that's with me sending all of my mystic and arms gear to my alts, not even bothering to try to auction anything and saving pretty much every power replace that i've picked up (not too many good ones for fire). I have stacks of stuff I could auction or vendor and probably be well over what I need to do a full retcon. This is also on a toon The got pretty far along before they cranked up the drops and cash.
And there is a character planner that has been out since beta that actually gives you a really in-depth look at your stats as you add them. If you don't want to use any of the tools available, then you get what you get.
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Zandar said on 1:49PM 10-27-2009
Or, alternately, you're trying to nail the increasingly narrow window of success that a new MMO has to establish itself before it gets lost in the flood of holiday titles.
Giving away a free weekend six months from now to get people back isn't going to help much. Doing it now and giving away a free retcon? That's smart marketing.
If you haven't noticed, the economy has hit the game industry hard. You don't have six months to establish an MMO anymore. You have half that if you're lucky. So far we've seen the first big event, a new powerset, and a number of major fixes all within those 60 days too.
I'm much, much more willing to point at that as a sign that Cryptic is doing things right than the free weekend being a sign that CO is in trouble.
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Kinman said on 2:25PM 10-27-2009
I gave it try for 5 days, I really did. My only consolation is that I only paid $19 for the game from Amazon. I really wanted to like this game.
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dudemanjac said on 2:51PM 10-27-2009
What didn't you like?
Tempora said on 6:38PM 10-27-2009
Unlike most, if not all, other mmo's Cryptic just don't seem to have bothered when it comes to world and quest design. Theres no variety in any given task, no options as to any resolution, no element of player involvement or choice either in the world or levelling journey. It's baffling how awesome an avatar creator can be grafted to so inept a world....
Sooo Cryptic have placed themselves in a very difficult situation with regard to retcons, when a game's sole appeal revolves around the superficial variety of the avatar - the ability to change too frequently and too easily pretty much destroys replay value, although I guess it might buy some goodwill prior to a free trial.
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Suspiro said on 11:11PM 10-27-2009
It's only free after they take one of your kidneys or your newborn. So not completely free. Read the small print.
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Kaldore said on 12:04AM 11-02-2009
These guys are PR geniuses. I wish they had an infomercial.
Hey! Cryptic Studios here!
Would you like to try and play a new game this weekend? You would? Have I got a game for YOU! Champions Offline!
You can want to play almost any hero you can imagine in our game that has constant server outages!
How much would this cost you?
Why nothing at first, but if you can't get enough of not being able to play this weekend we will let you pay us almost fifty bucks now and only fifteen dollars a month after that! That means you could have a weekend of not playing a game EVERY WEEKEND!
Sure, you could play OTHER games on servers that are actually stable for the same initial price and no monthly fee, but here at Cryptic we take delivering a shoddy service to new lows.
When you want less in a game, we guarantee you the least.
We're Cryptic Studios.
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