Filed under: Champions Online

Free costume parts galore in Champions Online

by Kyle Horner Nov 21st 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Patches, News items, Champions Online

Cryptic has revealed the free costume pieces in next week's Nemesis Confrontation update, which come in addition to two unlockable costume sets. Among the new free costume items are some exceptionally sweet capes, although we're sure many players will be filled with glee to see new weapons being added to the costume creator.

While these are only cosmetic costume options, they're important to players who wield specific guns or swords. It may seem like a minor issue to some, but having an outfit that makes sense -- and looks cool at the same time -- is surprisingly important to players who revel in a game like Champions Online.

You can also now put guitars on the back of your characters; something that immediately reeks of potential. We have to wonder if guitars are going to be added as visual replacements for sword based powers, enabling us to whack enemies with our musical axes. If someone at Cryptic could make that so, it would be somewhere within the vicinity of pure awesome.

Bill Roper on Champions Online's launch, current state and future

by Kyle Horner Nov 20th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Interviews, New titles, News items, Champions Online

In a recent interview with Boomtown, Bill Roper spoke his mind on everything from Hellgate: London hate to Champions Online's launch and future. In fact, the man spoke quite candidly on all topics, particularly that of Cryptic's missteps with their second superhero MMO as well as their successes.

Of particular note, there's a mention of how Champions Online will handle DC Universe Online's 2010 launch given that the superhero MMO market hasn't really expanded of late. Curiously, Roper says he feels that the Xbox 360 version will help to vastly expand Champions' user base. There's a chance Cryptic could be pushing to get into the console market by or before SOE releases their superhero MMO. Although given the headaches Cryptic has expressed at getting an MMO on Microsoft's console, we get the feeling much of the developer's focus is presently on Star Trek Online and continued live game support.

Champions Online previews Nemesis Confrontation

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 18th 2009 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Patches, Previews, News items, Champions Online

What's more dangerous than an interdimensional prison in which malevolent creatures of immense power plot the destruction of the entire Champions Online world? That same prison being taken over and used as a lair by your hero's Nemesis and the dangerous Shadow Destroyer. After hints and the surprise playtest event, the official site has unveiled a preview of the upcoming Nemesis Confrontation, which looks like an interesting jump forward in the content offered by the game.

Obviously, the Lair in question is the highlight of the update, which features combat against alien gladiators as well as a collection of powerful villains. There are other rewards to be earned as well, however -- ranging from a number of different hero enhancements to costume pieces in the vein of the enemies fought within the lair. If you can't wait to run the lair in order to get the costume pieces (perhaps you have a perfect character concept to start with), the preview promises that they will also be available in the C-Store. Champions Online isn't going to make players wait long for the event, either, as it's launching on the 24th. It should give players quite a bit to be thankful for -- when they're not battling extradimensional alien gladiators, at least.

Champions Online has a secret

by Rubi Bayer Nov 17th 2009 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Champions Online

And they're not going to tell you! However, you can probably make a few guesses as to the secret if you haven't already, when you participate in their secret playtest tomorrow. Champions Online Community Team member David "Daeke" Bass posted this interesting piece of news today: "We've got a big feature coming out next week, but we want your help to test it before then. We can't give too many details now..."

When this super secret new feature hits the PTS tomorrow, it will not be as a timed event, so you can log in and take a look at your leisure. Don't have any speculation as to what it is yet? A few simple instructions on what to bring to the party might help. Daeke requests that you bring a 5-man team of level 40 players and interestingly, a Nemesis.

If you want to participate you can either transfer your own characters over from the live server, or level up using the contact outside the Millennium City Powerhouse.

Champions Online promises more information tomorrow -- we can't wait!

Bill Roper talks about Champions Online successes and failures

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 17th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Interviews, Champions Online

Champions Online is still wet behind the ears, but we're moving through the game's third month of operation, time enough to take a slightly calmer look at how things went at launch and how the game has been shaping up. Jeux Online recently interviewed executive producer Bill Roper regarding the game's launch and its future, which might not contain as much information on the latter as the fans would like but still contains some interesting bits and pieces.

Looking forward, the most interesting bits are the promise of an upcoming Lair in which each player's Nemesis makes an appearance, in a union of several high-level threats to face off against a team of heroes. (Shades of the Masters of Evil or the Legion of Doom.) He also discusses a bit about the upcoming winter event, which he states will not include a new powerset but will include a number of "presents", as well as a fight against a truly massive opponent. There's also discussion regarding mission instancing a la City of Heroes, PvP maps, and the ongoing task of balancing Champions Online. How the game will mature in practice is yet to be seen, but we're getting a clearer and clearer idea about the game's direction at the very least.

Developer communication as it affects games

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 15th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Aion, Forums, Opinion, Academic, Champions Online

Developer chats aren't only important when it comes to what players know about the game -- they're also important in how the players approach the game. That's one of the more interesting conclusions to be taken away from Elder Game's latest discussion regarding the interactions between developers and community. As Eric Heimburg points out, developers and community teams have two main approaches to dealing with their players, both of which affect the attitude of players and their perception of the game as a whole.

Aion is his choice of examples for the first type of communication, in which the development team is essentially totally silent. The attitude is either complete silence, or denying that a bug is actually a bug. On the flip side, Champions Online embraces an open style of communication in which the developers loudly talk about bugs, system problems, and so on. Heimburg goes on to point out the positives and negatives of both sides -- Aion, for instance, creates an impression that things are working as intended even when they aren't. That works well until it becomes absolutely transparent that something is wrong, at which point the credibility is lost. Champions Online has a much more prevalent sense that the players should work with the developers and give them slack, but that only extends so far. It's an interesting look at a complicated issue, and worthy of an in-depth reading.

One Shots: Full moons bring out the crazy

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 13th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Screenshots, One Shots, Champions Online

With the last of several Halloween events wrapping up, we figured we'd put out one of the last few screenshots for the recent in-game events folks have sent in to us. Today's One Shots comes to us from Grey, who captured this bit of silliness in Champions Online. Why silly when it looks relatively peaceful? Check out the note that came along with it: Hi guys. Thought this might interest you. Here is a screenie of my character, essentially a robot, musing under the red moon (not quite Blood Red) during the event in Champions Online. As the bard, Christopher Cross said, "If you get caught between the Bloodmoon and Millennium City, I know it's crazy, but it's true..."

If you've got a bad pun lurking in relation to one of your screenshots, get it out and into an email to us. Those things can hurt you if you leave 'em unpunned too long. Email the punbomb (and screenshot) to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll unleash the pun-ishment on the world and let them know it was all you.

Gallery: One Shots

Champions Online to hold public playtest today and tomorrow

by Rubi Bayer Nov 11th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Bugs, Events, in-game, Champions Online

Champions Online has another round of bug fixes ready to go out, and will be asking their players to put them through their paces on the public test server for a few hours today and tomorrow. If you haven't participated in a public playtest before and are interested, it's pretty simple. Just log into the Champions Online site, get a public test copy of your character and head over to the public test server to see how the patch holds up. The patch notes are here, and CO will want your feedback in the public test server forum once you're finished.

While it's always fun to be in the know a little ahead of time, Cryptic is throwing in a few extra goodies to thank you for your time. All participants will receive a (very apt) crash test dummy head costume piece. Even better, Foxbat is going to be there for a costume contest. He'll be jumping instances to judge the costumes, and the winner in each instance gets a Retro Destroyer action figure.

All the information, including specific times, can be found on the Champions Online site.

Champedia launches for Champions Online

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 11th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Betas, Super-hero, News items, Champions Online

As MMOs become more and more complex, there's an increasing need for information regarding the game at a player's fingertips. Especially since most of them are being played while on the computer, so a quick search of information is just an alt-tab away, no matter what the situation. Champions Online has stepped up to the plate with their own official offering: the Champedia, a database of every superpower, mission, super group, and character currently in the game. It's fully searchable at this point, although it's still in beta.

There have been debates in the community about adding on currently-played characters into a publicly accessible database, but Champions Online also includes the feature for guild masters to manage their organization directly from the site. A quick log-in allows the group leader to do everything from changing the message of the day to handling promotions without ever having to enter the game. It's not perfect yet, of course -- the Mission section, for instance, includes nothing but the basic mission text -- but if properly managed it could be a great asset to the community looking for information straight from the official source. Now if only it included wiki functionality...

Where in the Champions Online world is Carmel Santiago?

by Rubi Bayer Nov 10th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Contests, Culture, Champions Online

That is the big question in Champions Online. Ring any bells? Community member Mr. Funsocks began this contest yesterday and plans to continue it on a weekly basis, offering up a pretty nice prize in exchange for your time. Just meet up at Club Caprice at the appointed time and pay your 50n entrance fee. The money goes into a pot along with an additional 5g from Mr. Funsocks. The first person to find this strangely familiar person wins the pot. There are a few rules, including "no excuses", that you can read in the forum thread along with details on where, when, and how.

The contest thread sparked an interesting discussion exploring copyright, fair-use, parody, and Cryptic's wishy-washy policies regarding these issues. It will be interesting to see how that conversation plays out, but in the meantime big thanks and kudos to Mr. Funsocks for creating what looks like a great community event.

The systems of battle in Champions Online

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 10th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, Game mechanics, Endgame, Champions Online

We've been getting a generous look under the hood of Champions Online courtesy of designer Brian Urbanek, with the second part of his system-focused developer diary now available. The first part covered the progression and improvement of a player's heroes, while this diary focuses on the mechanics of that ever-present diversion in almost every game -- combat. As one can imagine, with a game whose systems are based on a tabletop roleplaying game dating back more than twenty years, there are a lot of numbers and expressions to be thrown around.

Urbanek explains, in detail, how the team set up values for stats and durability with some baseline assumptions. They knew what they could expect for an "average" player to do in terms of damage-per-second at high levels, and they had some idea of how long they wanted each fight to last (the time cited is twenty seconds). From there, the diary goes into the balancing and scaling factors needed to ensure that players and enemies both are dealing reasonable damage and surviving for the preferrable amount of time. If you like numbers and systems, or just a clearer picture of how Champions Online works, this diary should be perfect for you, with promises of still more to come down the pipeline.

The Daily Grind: Are you still playing a September MMO?

by Brooke Pilley Nov 6th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Aion, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Fallen Earth, New titles, The Daily Grind, Champions Online

September 2009 saw the release of Champions Online, Dungeons & Dragons: Eberron Unlimited (an older MMO going F2P), Fallen Earth, and Aion. This was easily the busiest month for MMOs in recent memory and we're sure many of you at least picked up one of them to try out. We're curious to know if you're still playing a September MMO just over a month later. If so or if not, why?

No MMO in the history of MMOs has experienced a perfectly smooth launch and these September titles were no exception. Did the action-packed combat of CO pull you in or did the lack of content push you away? Were you awed by DDO-EU's polished suite of tools or annoyed by the limitations put on free accounts? Was Fallen Earth's post-apocalyptic setting a breath of fresh air or did you choke on a mouthful of radioactive bugs? Did the beauty and smoothness of Aion make your heart beat faster or did its grind and bot infestation crush your soul? Just how impressed were you with September's crop of new MMOs?

Champions Online's Bill Roper talks about the future of CO

by Rubi Bayer Nov 5th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Interviews, News items, Champions Online

Bill Roper is the Executive Producer and Design Director for Champions Online, and he sat down with Techulous this week for a talk about how things are going for the game so far and what he sees in its future.

He talked about about the players, their feedback, and what's been happening in Champions Online so far, then Techulous got down to the big question: what's next?

Champions Online has big plans for the next few months, including some new content for all levels of players. He mentioned the two brand new mission chains for levels 18-21, and promised different development paths for new heroes as well as more endgame content for higher level players in the future.

Roper wrapped up the interview with some interesting information on what to watch for in the future: "We have a lot of things in the pipeline, including a new Nemesis-centric lair in November, a Winter Event in December, and something really big in the first part of 2010."

It sounds like Cryptic isn't finished adding to Champions Online by a long shot - you can read the full interview here.

Anti-Aliased: It pays to be paranoid

by Seraphina Brennan Nov 5th 2009 at 5:30PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Business models, Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, Champions Online, Anti-Aliased

Blame Shawn Schuster. No, really, it's applicable this time and I'm not just pulling your leg.

Many of you were wondering why we hadn't talked about the Champions Online failures this past weekend -- The "Blood Moon Blunder." Well, it was because pretty much the second we started getting reports from you guys about the client not working on Steam, or subscribing players complaining of the lag that the servers had over the weekend, Shawn turned to me, slapped the story on my desk and said, "All yours for Anti-Aliased."

And I sat there, smiled, and politely responded, "Oh crap. This is going to drive them all up the wall even further than last week's article. I'll do it."

So was the Champions free weekend a failure? Absolutely, but not for the reasons you may think. Come on, follow me after the break, and we'll go into yet another (and hopefully the last for a while) opinion column on Champions.

A look behind the systems of Champions Online

by Kyle Horner Nov 5th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, News items, Champions Online

If you're good with numbers or would like to obtain some understanding of Champions Online's various systems, then this new systems dev blog is right up your alley. There's plenty of math happening here, so when you start to feel confused don't worry so much -- you're not alone.

Actually, the basics of what systems designer Brian Urbanek discusses aren't too convoluted. At least, the part where he explains the percentages of what influences a character's power isn't too bad. As it turns out, equipment makes up for 42.5% of your overall power, while talents take up 15%, "base" is 2.5% and super stats fill the rest at 40%. What that essentially means, is that your leveling choices in super stats and talents (which effect stats as well) make up a large part of where your character excels. This is all shortly followed by equipment, but creates a slightly bigger focus on how you design your superhero.

Soon Brian will be discussing combat, which is sure to be a hot topic within the Champions Online community. Until then, we're going to re-read this first entry in the hope that someday we can grok it.