bill-roper posts

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.

Tags: bill-roper, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, interview, interviews

Get Champions Online for $30 on Amazon, today only

by Kyle Horner Sep 23rd 2009 at 2:30PM

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

Amazon's "Deal of the Day" today just happens to be Champions Online, so if you were waiting for a price drop (or a deal this good) then get on over there and grab it while the deal lasts. If you're not sure what the game is all about, wWe've got our WoW players guide to Champions Online, as well as our recent interview on current and upcoming updates to the game with its design director Bill Roper.

We'd say something more, but there's a 40% off sale for a freshly released MMO and... well, why are you still reading this?

Tags: amazon, atari, bill-roper, breaking, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, sale, world-of-warcraft, wow

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

We've been having a lot of fun with Champions Online here at Massively, but with the launch of any MMO there are always questions of how current issues will be handled and what's coming in the near future. So, we spoke with the game's Design Director Bill Roper on several subjects ranging from powers balancing to the upcoming free content update Blood Moon and the reinforcement system.

Tags: bill-roper, blood-moon, champions-online, combat, cryptic, cryptic-studios, difficulty, featured, patch, patches, retcon

Champions Online's Bill Roper talks retcons, powers and more part 2

by Kyle Horner Sep 21st 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, Massively Interviews, Champions Online

Tags: bill-roper, blood-moon, c-store, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, interview, retcon

Bill Roper explains teams and SuperGroups in new Champions trailer

by William Dobson Aug 31st 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, Guilds, Raiding, Grouping, Champions Online

While Champions Online is designed to allow players to live out their fantasy of being a lone superhero badass taking on all-comers solo, if that's what they're after, there's also content and features aimed at groups of players. A new video hosted at GameTrailers and featuring Bill Roper is focused on the things that await people who are interested in getting together with others to tackle crime and evil. The title of the video leads you to believe that it is all about SuperGroups (Champions Online's guilds), but most of Roper's comments are related to grouping in general.

The reinforcement system, lairs/headquarters, group events, multiple-group content and different roles in groups all come up during the featurette. Head past the break to see how you can help save the world with a little help from your friends.

Tags: bill-roper, champions, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, grouping, guilds, headquarters, lairs, reinforcement-system, supergroup, teams

Champions Online experiences open beta troubles

by Seraphina Brennan Aug 17th 2009 at 7:30PM

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

For many people, today was supposed to be a magical day filled with ponies and superheroes. But what should have been a wonderfully magical experience has left many with a bad taste in their mouth and a patcher that constantly disconnects. We, honestly, blame Foxbat for this. He once tried to steal the Empire State Building, you know.

In all seriousness, many users have been reporting that the official Champions Online patcher has been both downloading slowly and disconnecting from the server after timing out, leading to many people becoming furious over not being able to log in. FilePlanet users have also been affected by this as well, even after pre-loading the Champions Online client to be ready for this day.

Tags: beta, bill-roper, breaking, champions, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, errors, forums, open-beta, patcher, problems, slow-download, time-out

Cryptic Studios clarifies microtransactions in Star Trek Online

by James Egan Jul 20th 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Star Trek Online

We noticed quite a stir in our last post about microtransactions in an upcoming Cryptic Studios game. The post in question was about Champions Online, which explained how Cryptic plans to keep the microtransaction system balanced. Quite a number of commenters at Massively expressed the view that the game should either be subscription or microtransaction-based, one or the other, and not a hybrid of the two.

That debate isn't confined to Cryptic's superhero MMO, however. The company's approach to microtransactions with Champions Online will be applied to Star Trek Online as well, according to a recent forum post by Jackalope (Jack Emmert) from the Cryptic Studios dev team.

Tags: bill-roper, business-models, champions-online, cryptic-studios, forums, game-mechanics, jack-emmert, jackalope, microtransactions, mmo-industry, new-titles, sci-fi, star-trek-online, state-of-the-game, sto, super-hero

Champions Online video showcases character creation

by Kyle Horner Jul 10th 2009 at 11:00AM

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

It's been a long time coming, but Cryptic has put out a video through Gamespy detailing character creation with glorious in-game footage of the actual process. If you've been following information on Champions Online for some time now, you probably won't learn anything new in terms of what Bill Roper talks about during the video. However, videos are worth more words than anything else, so we doubt that will bother anyone too much.

Soon -- very soon actually -- the open beta will arrive and everyone will get a crack at superhero design in Champions Online. We can't wait to see what kind of craziness people come up with, especially when components are in place to make what appears to be robot-clown-demons and other disturbing concoctions.

Check out the full video after the break.

Tags: atari, bill-roper, champions-online, character-creation, cryptic, cryptic-studios, gameplay, gamespy, video

Cryptic's Bill Roper on balancing powers in Champions Online

by James Egan Jul 8th 2009 at 8:00PM

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

When news came in of the Champions Online launch being delayed to September, a few of the writers at Massively were despondent. It's always better for a game to launch once it's solid rather than release in a buggy state, though. While we wait for the re-scheduled September 1st launch, we're keeping up with the news and interviews surrounding the upcoming superhero title. In fact, we've just come across an MMOCrunch interview with Bill Roper, executive producer of Champions Online you might be interested in.

Roper gets into how some of the game mechanics in Champions Online will play out, and explains a bit about how travel powers like flight and teleportation can be countered by those without such capabilities. (For example, how does a ground-based melee character engage a kiting opponent in flight?) He also touches upon the game's sidekick system, which will allow newer players to temporarily boost their powers to keep up with higher level friends. Alternately, the sidekick system will give advanced characters the ability to tone their powers down to the level of their appallingly weak lower level buddies.

Tags: bill-roper, champions-online, cryptic-studios, executive-producer, game-mechanics, mmocrunch, nemesis, nemesis-system, producer, sidekick, sidekicks, super-hero, superhero, travel-powers, villain, villains

E3 2009: Massively's day 4 roundup

by James Egan Jun 6th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage, Champions Online, Dragonica Online

Wait a minute, day 4 of E3 2009? Remedial math skills? E3 was only a three-day event, but our own coverage of Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 is going to last a bit longer. We've still got a number of interviews and previews lined up for you in the coming days, today included, so we hope you'll keep reading this weekend. In the meantime, here are a few highlights of Massively's coverage of E3 2009 from yesterday:

Champions Online interview with Bill Roper on character customization

Torchlight, from creators of Mythos, to morph from single player to MMO

Rohan: Blood Feud to get crafting system in June

Massively's Dragonica Online Impressions

If you'd like to see more, we've got some eye candy after the jump, with galleries for Champions Online, Torchlight, Rohan: Blood Feud, and Dragonica Online.

Tags: all-points-bulletin, bill-roper, champions-online, dragonica-online, e3-2009, final-fantasy-xiv, global-agenda, heroes-of-telara, rohan, rohan-blood-feud, roundup, star-wars-the-old-republic, the-agency, torchlight

E3 2009: Bill Roper on character themes and customization in Champions Online

by James Egan Jun 5th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Events, real-world, MMO industry, New titles, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage, Champions Online

The superhero MMO genre has been ruled by one game and one game alone for the past five years: City of Heroes. NCsoft's title being quite literally the only game in town for superhero fans is about to change, with competitors like DC Universe Online and Champions Online on the way. We have a good idea of what to expect with DCUO given the recognizable characters the game incorporates, but what of Champions Online which is based upon the Champions pen and paper RPG?

We've wondered what Cryptic Studios will do to differentiate Champions Online from the competition; Massively had a chance to sit down with Bill Roper, the game's executive producer, to discuss that question at E3 2009.

Gallery: Champions Online Main Gallery

Tags: acrobatics, bill-roper, champions-online, cryptic-studios, customization, e3-2009, executive-producer, featured, massively-event-coverage, massively-interviews, power-replace, super-hero, teleport, theme, themes

Bill Roper shares his industry experiences

by William Dobson May 18th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Interviews, MMO industry, News items

There's a lengthy interview with Bill Roper over at Gamasutra, and it's well worth spending a few minutes reading it if you're at all interested in the games industry. From his time at Blizzard, to helming Flagship Studios, and now his relatively new position at Cryptic, Roper has seen and heard a lot, and the interview is all about him having a chance to share his "hard-won wisdom".

When Flagship Studios and Hellgate: London came up, Roper was quick to point out that the venture as a whole was not an entirely bad experience, or one that he'd prefer to forget; rather, there was a lot of learning to be had from going through it: "I can say, 'These are the things that were amazingly successful at Blizzard and how they worked. And these were the things that were amazingly unsuccessful at Flagship.' And so, I think I learned as much from the failure, if not more, than the successes."

The full interview covers a lot more than just Flagship, and even if you aren't familiar with Roper, it's interesting to hear the industry insights of a veteran.

Tags: bill-roper, blizzard, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, flagship-studios, hellgate-london, interview

Cryptic's Bill Roper: Microsoft MMO reveal for Xbox 360 unlikely at E3

by James Egan May 1st 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, Opinion

Much has been said and written of the coming marriage of gaming consoles and MMOs, but like all lengthy engagements, if it drags on too long people begin to doubt it'll ever happen. When we do hear industry rumblings of a massively multiplayer online game coming to a console, it's generally about Playstation 3 rather than Xbox 360. But would it be fair to assume that Microsoft has less interest in bringing MMOs to the 360, much less delivering on a first-party MMO title? Bill Roper from Cryptic Studios seems to think so, and they're developing Champions Online for the 360 as well as PC.

When speaking of the possibility that Microsoft would announce an MMO for the 360 at this year's E3, Roper told Patrick Garratt at VG247, "I don't think that's something they've been really pushing towards. From any discussions I've ever had, or heard with Don Mattrick [Microsoft's Senior VP of Interactive Entertainment Business], Don's not necessarily a huge MMO fan." Although he says he'd be pleasantly surprised if Microsoft did shift more focus to console MMOs, he cites the difficulties inherent in both dealing with technical issues and the complexities on the business side of working with third parties. You can have a look at what else Roper has to say on the prospects of Xbox 360 MMOs in the article at VG247.

Do you feel that bringing your MMO of choice to the Xbox 360 would be viable, or are you starting to think that the 360/MMO marriage is doomed?

Tags: bill-roper, business-models, champions-online, console, console-mmo, consoles, cryptic-studios, don-mattrick, e3, interviews, microsoft, opinion, patrick-garratt, vg247, xbox-360, xbox360

Champions Online dated for release on July 14th

by Kyle Horner Apr 24th 2009 at 1:00PM

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

During an event in the UK today, Cryptic's Bill Roper revealed that Champions Online will officially launch on July 14th 2009 in both the United State and Europe. The launch date, while a tiny bit further than expected, is probably for the better since Jumgpate Evolution is releasing in the middle of June anyhow. If both of these games hit in the same month, we'd probably lose our minds.

Finally having a definitive release date is incredibly exciting and means we can now commence the tailoring of our superhero costume that we'll wear on launch day in order to celebrate. Of course, you won't be seeing that because well let's face it, we're going to be staying home waiting for Champions Online in the mail, dressed like the No Pants Man.

Keep your eyes sharp, as we're sure there'll be additional information from this event sometime soon.

Tags: atari, bill-roper, breaking, champions, champions-online, codemasters, cryptic, cryptic-studios, europe, hero-games, jge, jumpgate-evolution, netdevil, release-date

Official Champions DevBlog: Randy Mosiondz, lead designer on roleplay and gameplay

by Champions Developer Apr 8th 2009 at 10:00AM

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

It's been on a short hiatus, but Massively's official bi-weekly Champions Online DevBlog has returned with a column from lead designer Randy Mosiondz concerning the balance between roleplay and gameplay. If you happened to have missed the previous entries, simply follow our Champions Developer posts and easy access to even more thoughts and commentary from the likes of Randy Mosiondz, Bill Roper and Jack Emmert.

Tags: atari, bill-roper, ccp, champions, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, dev-blog, developer-blog, eve-online, fable, fable-2, fallout, fallout-3, featured, guitar-hero, jack-emmert, master-chief, randy-mosiondz