Champions Online

I'm probably behind in any news regarding the ability to play villains at launch, but last I heard it sounded sorta cemented that there'd be Hero only gameplay with the only PvP being some arena deal or somesuch.

There's a mentioning of Villain gameplay in a new 1up preview/interview from a few days ago though: http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3167585&p=4

The discourse dovetails naturally into City of Villains and whether Champions will let you play the bad guy right out of the box. Emmert responds with a "maybe," though the duo seems to think they're onto something special. "[In COH/COV], heroes were always more popular than villains," says Lewis, "but the hero and villain gameplay was pretty much the same. We think the villains' content was a lot better, and we found a lot of people playing villains simply because it was a new and better experience. But it's something we're thinking about in Champions: Is the gameplay experience the same for a hero and a villain? But that's part of our top-secret plan we're not talking about."

I sure hope they DO allow villains at launch, especially if they want to be seen as a company that's learned from some of City of Heroes shortcomings.

It wouldn't hurt if they evolved their ideas about PvP inclusion as well. Maybe they will  after the three heavyweights of PvP hit this year; AoC's border kingdoms, WAR's RvR, and if nothing else, WoW's world PvP.

I'd be satisfied with just the ability to play a villain though.

For me the more important aspect of playing a villain at launch would be for the experience to actually be different. CoV really doesn't address that very well. It's more or less doing exactly the same things as a hero, but with different dialogue.

I'd be happy if they waited till later to allow villain characters and focused on making them actually different from heros.

The problem with adding them later though is the population imbalance issues that CoX never managed to overcome; even though Villains, despite how similar the content, is actually kind of better in terms of quality.

Originally posted by sepher

The problem with adding them later though is the population imbalance issues that CoX never managed to overcome; even though Villains, despite how similar the content, is actually kind of better in terms of quality.

Sepher is right. Although most ppl prefer playing as Villians in CoX because of the newer content

Honestly I'm pretty skeptical about including villains.  I think making COV was a big mistake, and if they would have focused on COH they could have a much better product.  CoV was basically a copy of COH with an evil theme.  Such a waste of resources. 

If an MMO has just one faction (i.e. heroes) then the developers have a lot more freedom to develop great pve content for that faction. 

But I suppose there could be creative ways to do villains that wouldn't detract from the pve content.  Maybe it would be something where after your hero hits the level cap you can unlock a villain for PVP and some specific villain content, but the main game would be hero PVE content.

Originally posted by Wrymstrum

Honestly I'm pretty skeptical about including villains.  I think making COV was a big mistake, and if they would have focused on COH they could have a much better product.  CoV was basically a copy of COH with an evil theme.  Such a waste of resources. 

 

If an MMO has just one faction (i.e. heroes) then the developers have a lot more freedom to develop great pve content for that faction. 

 

But I suppose there could be creative ways to do villains that wouldn't detract from the pve content.  Maybe it would be something where after your hero hits the level cap you can unlock a villain for PVP and some specific villain content, but the main game would be hero PVE content.

I have to strongly disagree with your first sentiment that it was a mistake. COV was my first MMO, and I wouldn't have really cared to play them period if it wasn't for that game. I don't want to play a Hero, I have no interest in that. The fact you COULD play the bad guy was the atttraction to me. So, waste of resources I don't think so, I think they tapped into a well of new players because of it.

I will still play Champions online, but I will do it begrudgingly, as I would much rather play the dark side.

would be nice to make a villian and make a ach nemneis hero..    :)

Originally posted by belladauna

 

Originally posted by Wrymstrum

Honestly I'm pretty skeptical about including villains.  I think making COV was a big mistake, and if they would have focused on COH they could have a much better product.  CoV was basically a copy of COH with an evil theme.  Such a waste of resources. 

 

If an MMO has just one faction (i.e. heroes) then the developers have a lot more freedom to develop great pve content for that faction. 

 

But I suppose there could be creative ways to do villains that wouldn't detract from the pve content.  Maybe it would be something where after your hero hits the level cap you can unlock a villain for PVP and some specific villain content, but the main game would be hero PVE content.

 

I have to strongly disagree with your first sentiment that it was a mistake. COV was my first MMO, and I wouldn't have really cared to play them period if it wasn't for that game. I don't want to play a Hero, I have no interest in that. The fact you COULD play the bad guy was the atttraction to me. So, waste of resources I don't think so, I think they tapped into a well of new players because of it.

I will still play Champions online, but I will do it begrudgingly, as I would much rather play the dark side.

Well I'm sure there were some players like yourself, but I think overall it was still a bad move.  Why attract a new audience at the expense of your current one?  They built a solid foundation of a game, but there was a big lack of content at high levels.  They failed to address that because they were too busy making COV.

Originally posted by Wrymstrum

 

Originally posted by belladauna

 

Originally posted by Wrymstrum

Honestly I'm pretty skeptical about including villains.  I think making COV was a big mistake, and if they would have focused on COH they could have a much better product.  CoV was basically a copy of COH with an evil theme.  Such a waste of resources. 

 

If an MMO has just one faction (i.e. heroes) then the developers have a lot more freedom to develop great pve content for that faction. 

 

But I suppose there could be creative ways to do villains that wouldn't detract from the pve content.  Maybe it would be something where after your hero hits the level cap you can unlock a villain for PVP and some specific villain content, but the main game would be hero PVE content.

 

I have to strongly disagree with your first sentiment that it was a mistake. COV was my first MMO, and I wouldn't have really cared to play them period if it wasn't for that game. I don't want to play a Hero, I have no interest in that. The fact you COULD play the bad guy was the atttraction to me. So, waste of resources I don't think so, I think they tapped into a well of new players because of it.

I will still play Champions online, but I will do it begrudgingly, as I would much rather play the dark side.

 

 

Well I'm sure there were some players like yourself, but I think overall it was still a bad move.  Why attract a new audience at the expense of your current one?  They built a solid foundation of a game, but there was a big lack of content at high levels.  They failed to address that because they were too busy making COV.