The Daily Grind: Have you been playing the Champions Online free weekend?
by Eliot Lefebvre 
Nov 29th 2009 at 8:00AM
Filed under: Super-hero, Events, real-world, Previews, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Champions Online
It was certainly a nice surprise when we found out that Champions Online was going to run another free weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday. Not the biggest news, certainly, but nice in a "finding two dollars in your wallet that you didn't know you had" sort of way. And of course, there are always people who will take a gander at something if it's free, people who've been interested in seeing the latest updates to the game, and folks who wanted to take part in the Blood Moon event but had certain... technical issues.
There's a bit more than a day left, so today we ask: have you been taking part in the free Champions Online goodness? Has it improved or gotten worse, if you played before? If you're new the game, was it enjoyable or underwhelming? And if you had specifically opted out, why did you decide not to give it a chance? We're interested to hear your impressions, positive and negative. And if you're already playing the game, have you noticed more new faces running around this weekend?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Amritrao said on 8:30AM 11-29-2009
I played the last free weekend, absolutely loved it, and subsequently subbed. But within two weeks I actively loathed it. The quests all seemed mundane, the powers vastly unbalanced, the controls sluggish, and I had a weird claustrophobic feeling while playing it. I can't really explain that last one... maybe because of the sluggish controls? Who knows. In any case, I began to hate it, so I unsubbed.
So when I heard about this free weekend it didn't even occur to me to try again.
One thing I really did enjoy was the PvP Zombie Apocalypse game. That was heaps of fun. And please note I'm not bashing the game. I'm simply giving my opinion of my experience with it.
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CCon99 said on 10:41AM 11-29-2009
I never got why the game's controls were so clunky, I mean I don't think you could possibly dumb a game down any more then CO is, yet it has some of the most unresponsive controls I've ever played with.
Dead Elliott said on 11:39AM 11-29-2009
The default controls are bloody terrible. It's unfortunate the way they set it up. But I found a far better set up on the Champions Online forums, dubbed the "FPS style" control scheme. It allows for far smoother targeting and efficacy in combat.
Also, the "claustrophobic" thing - that might be related to how zoomed in the camera is. I zoom all the way out when playing. It gives a much wider field of view and feels much less cramped as a result.
As for the other complaints, not much I can really say to alleviate your specific concerns. I disagree re: missions - i don't think they're any more or less compelling than those in other games with quest-based leveling systems. And for the imbalanced powers, yeah - some are definitely stronger than others. It's only really a problem in pvp, but if you want to do really well in pvp, you gotta twink the hell out of your char. And thats' not far from true in most games.
Amritrao said on 12:08PM 11-29-2009
@Dead Elliot - I too usually zoom the camera out so I have a wide view of my environment, so I can't really explain the whole claustrophobic thing. I concede that it's completely subjective on my part.
I guess it's a matter of all the things I mentioned as an ensemble rather than one thing or another. The bottom line is that I just stopped having fun, and rather abruptly at that. The game's just not for me, I guess :)
Looking forward to STO, though!
sidewinder3121 said on 8:34AM 11-29-2009
Yep, and its been a blast I've never played a hero mmo before. Its fun refreshing and omg the costume options are amazing, and the travel powers are so cool!, I've spent hours messing with the character creation system and super powers. All my character slots are taken up :) Now I'm already paying for an mmo, but I suspect that I'll try and scrounge up some more money to play this!!!
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Venekor said on 8:42AM 11-29-2009
Yeh but the game is so boring.
I mean you're forced to do the tutorial and it's just crap because it's just like every other WoW clone. I feel like stop holding my hand with this and let me play something that is different from all the other mmorpgs I played. It's not even challenging like all mmorpgs have become where you never die cause everything is so easy and even if you do theres no punishment.
Just bored of these mmorpgs these days and want something different because I played WoW in 2004 and 2005, it was great but now I'm bored of it and want something new.
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SiderisAnon said on 7:22PM 11-29-2009
If you complete the tutorial once, you're offered the chance to skip the tutorial on your next character and go straight to either Canada or the Desert zones. You also go straight to level 5.
sidewinder3121 said on 9:04AM 11-29-2009
Here's my super hero's :)
Toxic Vulpine-lvl9 Who doesn't want to make a furry hero :D
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j292/sidewinder_3121/screenshot_2009-11-27-20-33-50.jpg
Robo Rouser- Cuz robots made from toasters are cool!
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j292/sidewinder_3121/screenshot_2009-11-27-20-34-10.jpg
Cyber Shadow- you can find her in the most vast dark reaches of cyber space.
Brain Dead- one word.....Braaaiinnzz!
Dr. Fetus- lol got this insiration from meatboy!
and last but not least Robo-Hitler3.5- now he want to destroy all organics!!!
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j292/sidewinder_3121/screenshot_2009-11-29-01-23-34.jpg
You can find the other super hero's on my photobucket :)
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sidewinder3121 said on 9:04AM 11-29-2009
When you reach one character to lvl 5 you have the option of making the rest of your characters lvl5, where you get your travel powers instantly, and you skip the tutorial every time. Did you just put WoW in your comment >_> jeez this is different!, I have a feeling that its gonna be more fun on the 360 cuz of the you can map out the controls easily and its a little more action oriented.
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Kdolo said on 9:08AM 11-29-2009
Sakura Park
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Rob said on 9:09AM 11-29-2009
I've played it this time around and I just found nothing interesting or remarkable about it. In many ways, it was just boring!!! Even the much talked about character generator wasn't "that great". In my mind, the customisation the game offers should be the BASE in all MMOs, not something to be held up as the pinnacle of MMO evolution, because it just aint that great!
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JP said on 9:20AM 11-29-2009
No. I mean, I know they added an entire new end game lair, bringing the total end game liars to one, but it's still a liner, boring, unresponsive, incomplete, unbalanced POS. I'd rather give my money to companies that put out quality products, not rush jobs.
Even though I had the option to spend time in two Cryptic games, I didn't spend time in either. Mostly b/c one reminds me SO MUCH of the other.
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DylanGrissom said on 10:02AM 11-29-2009
Yes. I have mixed feelings about it though. The quests all seem rather boring and game itself seems like it could be a single player game because I soloed every quest I've ever had. Also this is the only game I've ever had serious lag on so I turn down all the settings and it still lags like no other. The character creator is cool and I had a lot of fun creating my heroes. Overall I didn't really like it very much, still don't see the point of any zone but the city, heroes don't look good in the canadien wilderness imo.
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Dumac said on 10:17AM 11-29-2009
No. I tried during the previous event, but ended up wasting two days trying to get it to work and not succeeding. I decided its not worth the bother this time.
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Joe said on 10:33AM 11-29-2009
I too enjoyed the last weekend, and have played a fair bit on this one as well, but both times it just dosnt feel like a "complete" game, I may be spoiled by wow (as im a 5yr vet player lol) but I feel like CO is just missing some polish
Its fun! dont get me wrong, and theres a huge open potential to it if they contiune to put effort into it, however I have yet to see any game with potential fulfill it in the last 3-4 years, it seems they all make a good start, then business dosnt boom because of games like WoW taking up so much of the market and then they just kinda fall by the wayside
CO is one i'll keep my eyes on, but for now, its just not worth the extra expense to me, I do enjoy the free weekends, and hope theres more around future holidays lol
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CCon99 said on 10:48AM 11-29-2009
It's really not a good sign when your game has only been out barely 3 months and you've already had 2 free weekends begging people to play your game. They must be really desperate and hurting for subs.
I do feel bad for the people who actually do pay for a subscription, I would be pretty ticked off if twice in 30 days they offered free weekends to others while you're still paying them.
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Vulturion said on 10:56AM 11-29-2009
Nope; played it plenty in beta and I haven't seen anything suggesting the core gameplay has eveolved since.
I was almost curious enough to see if the performance (as expereinced by my PC in my geographic location) improved after launch, with an eye to Star Trek - but I'll just wait for an opportunity to try Star Trek itself (since no chance of buying blind).
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smcn said on 10:58AM 11-29-2009
I've been playing it in 30-60 minute chunks over the weekend and it's been fun every time.
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Cameron said on 11:05AM 11-29-2009
Same game with very little noticeably different from last month with the exception of a few powers on various characters getting nerfed or completely rerolled. The end game lair was fun but only takes 20-30 minutes to run through. Played around with a few new costume options which were well done but of course they doesn't really contribute much to game play satisfaction. For an ORPG it is OK, but as an MMORPG it doesn't really feel very MM. Back to Dragon Age and waiting for TOR and Mass Effect 2... oh Bioware how I love thee.
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ToyChristopher said on 11:18AM 11-29-2009
I kept thinking this while playing-- this should be an offline rpg.