Break out the bubbly! Champions Online has launched today, and all is totally awesome, right? Not entirely.

Like many MMOGs, Champions Online launched with a patch, and today's patch brought with it some significant changes to the game, as outlined in a special launch day State of the Game letter.

As it would turn out, some of the changes appear to be a bit controversial, with many on the official forums up in arms over the changes. So what's stirring up all the ruckus?

Well, for one, a number of balance changes were made today. The changes made were far reaching and affected just about everyone in the community. Many abilities were hit hard in effectiveness, and henchmen level critters were boosted in strength so as to be less trivial. This was all done in response to player feedback that the game may have just been a bit too easy.

As a result of this, many players are finding themselves frustrated with the new changes, and due to the fact respec costs have been bugged for awhile now, they are unable to make necessary changes.

Now, if you've just read the letter, you'll note the mentioning of the fix to the aforementioned respec cost issue. Apparently, it is still bugged, and so many headstart players are feeling hung out to dry and wondering why a free respec was not issued today to give players the opportunity to re-evaluate their power choices in light of today's changes. I'm going to speculate here, and venture a guess that had the respec cost fix actually worked today, it probably wouldn't entirely necessitate a free full respec.

Not all is doom and gloom however! There were some much welcomed changes in today's patch. Sorcery players have reason to rejoice as their sorcery power selections should now count towards power requirements in the different sorcery sub-specialization branches. Sorcery players were also granted a free respec due to this fix.

Also, drop rates were increased up to four fold today. So players should find tons more loot to use, trade, or even deconstruct.

Lastly, a mention of the game's first big content patch was teased in the letter.  The game update will be called "Blood Moon", but no further details are known at this time.

We're seeking comment from Cryptic Studios on the more controversial bits of today's changes, and we'll update the story if we get something, so stay tuned!

Daeke of Cryptic Studios' Online Community Team took a moment to respond to some of the feedback:

Hey guys,

So, I've finally sat down at my desk for the first time since I got here today. I've been spending the entirety of the morning tracking down all of the developers and asking tons of questions to make sure I've got the latest information on what's going on behind-the-scenes.

Right now, we've got the designers tracking the data for the changes that were made in this morning's patch. What will help us the most right now is for you to go and play the game. I understand that you're upset over the changes that were made, but in order for us to figure out what the issue is, we want to gather hard data to support your feedback, and we can only do that with your help.

Your points have been noted. There is clear dissent amongst the ranks about the changes that were made. The feedback has come through loud and clear. So please, hop into the game and play for a while so that we can get the hard evidence for our next step.

Thanks,

Daeke

How have today's changes affected you? Do you welcome the new difficulty? Are you trapped in a gimped build? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Good thing many players didnt buy a life time subscription, devs make extreme changes, god knows whats next.... ow wait :p xD

Anyhow, wish the champ players much game fun ^^

I'm sure it will all sort itself out soon enough and this will be soon forgotten.

Its just a game, who cares if your build is gimped for a bit until respec's become available.

Not even a FFA PVP aspect to it so I don't see it as a big issue.

Oh noes!!!!111!!  A patch on launch day, with nerfs and changes (cuz THAT'S never happened before in PC gaming)!!!  The NERVE of them to try to balance and fix things and not satisfy absolutely everyone!

I don't think I can manage much more sarcasm than that.

The only people that should have suffered any ill effects from this would be the Early Start folks who prepaid, and they've  only been able to build on their characters since Friday.  So.....seriously?  You're going to get in a whinge over characters you've only been able to develop for 4 days?  I could see if you were able to retain your beta characters that you might have a knot in your knickers over this, but they were wiped when Beta ended, so....what's the big deal?  If it's that much of a big deal, build a new toon and start fresh.

I think this is much ado about nothing.

its changes that should have been tested during closed beta.

everyone expects some tweaking to prevent Fotm builds and to clean up xp mega gains and such....  but huge sweeping changes on the launch day is a really really stupid move.

You let people "open" beta test a product.... i say "open" because it clearly wasnt open to all.....  and on the day the product they decided to preorder goes live you make signifigant changes.

I was a huge fan of cryptic. i was going to play CO after greatly enjoying CoH... but poor choice and treatment of the game kept me from buying it.   now each announcement i see is further proof that keeping my cash in pocket was a better plan.

I was in beta test for this game. Stopped when it went to Open Beta.  And a lot of what it looks like they changed was stuff I was screaming about in beta test.  And they just would not listen to me... I knew they would have to change it eventually.  Just a shame they wait till the day of release to do it... *rolls eyes*

I think there were quite a few of us that were talking about some of this stuff, shame they didn't listen to their testers.

 only have one thing to say about this....

LOL

I believe there are just as many posting they like the changes as those hating the changes.

After reading through some of the posts ( all day mind you ) it seems the big issue are with those who have characters already in the 20-30 lvl range.  Since they are that high in so short a time I would tend to agree that SOME type of change to the system was warranted.

Howerver, Like I said there.  If someone wants to make the FOTW uba-build and levle to the end game and PvP the whole time.  Let them.  I like more of the variations that are currently available and do not necessarily like to be the same cookie cutter build everyone else uses as the best of the best.

It is mostly the PvP types that use the FOTW builds and that keeps it balanced for them cuase they are all usin the same crap!

Originally posted by jawapet

I was in beta test for this game. Stopped when it went to Open Beta.  And a lot of what it looks like they changed was stuff I was screaming about in beta test.  And they just would not listen to me... I knew they would have to change it eventually.  Just a shame they wait till the day of release to do it... *rolls eyes*

I think there were quite a few of us that were talking about some of this stuff, shame they didn't listen to their testers.

wait i dont quite follow. If they addressed the issues you were talking about during beta at launch then that would mean they have indeed listened to the testers. So why are you upset for them not listening when in fact they did? Sure the change didn't come right when you were screaming about it, but a lot of these things take time to iron out.

It's better late than never and launch seems like a good way to throw in a big change atleast. It would be far worse if this change came out like 3 weeks in or hell months in when people are well adjusted.

 WoW has like monthly nerf-fests and it isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Wasn't nice of them not to give free respecs because of the changes though.

 I really think people see this as a much bigger deal than it is.. I myself am playing and I have to say some of the nerfs were really needed.. As another dev stated (sorry, I really can't cba looking up the post, if you're interested I'm sure you can find it on their forums) people having certain powers or powersets took on TWICE the amount of mobs intended and just mowed through the game.

Personally, I agree though, that they - with that huge amount of change - should've given people free respecs, but at the same time I don't feel the changes that much. Regardless, some of them were needed and like ANY game this game will have powers getting nerfed, buffed and looked over a great number of times. Balancing is never done.

I still have a lifetime sub, and I still don't regret it. My only issue with this game is the lag I experience, and I guess that'll be fixed eventually as well.

LOL... Jack and his nerf bat. Champions is running into a problem they should have foreseen from the start; You can't balance power sets when you give players the option to pick and choose.

Sure, a lot of games go through cycles where one class seems better than the others and the players, the ones not playing said class, complain until the devs nerf it. But here we are faced with a problem; How do you keep individual powers balanced, yet unique at the same time? Without just making all powers in a given tier exactly the same with a different skin to them, which would make the whole 'classless' idea a joke since it'd be basically limiting you to a single class, it's a technical impossibility to keep the playing field level.

With a class system you can, somewhat, keep classes balanced by advantages and disadvantages. Heavy damage dealers generally have less hit points, tanks can survive a long time but do little damage, healers suffer from both disadvantages but make up for it by being able to keep themselves and their team alive... with of course hybrids of each.

With a classless system somebody is going to number crunch and find out exactly what the best powers are for PvE and PvP. That in itself would be fine. Sure, people who keep getting their butts handed to them in PvP will complain, but the 'real' PvPers will already be using the 'template'. In PvE generally nobody cares about the numbers quite as much... UNTIL you raise the difficulty of the enemies. Then the differences become much more noticeable, like night and day. Toss that whole 'freedom to be who you want to be' thing out the window.

I can only imagine what their forums must look like.

Unfortunately it's a cycle that this game will never be free of.

But hey! Full respecs now on sale at the Cryptic store for only $5! Can't beat that with a stick...

I'm glad I didn't buy this game now. I guess there's always DC Universe Online, but that's from Sony.  Are we doomed to never have a good super hero game? Cause even the first super hero game, City of Heroes sucked. Maybe Sony might surprise us with DCUO or Disney might surprise us with a Marvel game(Lol.).

The changes aren't even remotely major for the most part.  There was a lot of rebalancing if different things that ended up cancelling each other out.  There were bigger changes every couple of days during OB.

Still, the respec costs bug needs to be sorted out.  It's not gamebreaking (you can level up a new toon in about a week of casual gameplay, so just delete+reroll) but it's a quality of life issue.

The changes are only an issue because you basically screwed the ppl who pre ordered to get the head start. Now with such wide reaching changes, people want to fix there builds. The respec system as it is is still broken (cost) and I really have an issue with paying more and more the farther back you want to change a power. Using a power on a test dummy does not equate to using it on an actual npc or player.

They should drastically lower the cost to respec, make it a single fee to change your entire build and offer a free respec to all pre-order people immediately. The longer they delay in at least fixing the cost associated with respeccing means I have to wait until I can afford it, which means im still levelling up, which means those powers are going further back in the build and getting more expensive, that respec system really stinks.

Another failed launch of a MMO game...  When will they ever learn....

What is beta for ? ???? 

Another game playing balancing God right after launch...  I remember two games that are in free fall now because of poor balance at start... AOC and WAR...  Took them like 6 months to get some balance and by then everyone had left for 1000 other reasons ....

Have to say the power builds now act like they should.  I could handle +6 level and not sweat it.  Now I can handle +3 level and have a hard time.  If I aggro another group I am dead.  So its good to have a game be a good game.  Although Close Combat now really sucks.  They need to fix that.  Plain and simple.

The changes arent as bad as people are whining about.  I play the game, and the difficulty was set on "Trivial".  Now, its a tiny bit more difficult.  Its difficulty is easily on par with other MMOs now since now its not possible to jump into a swarm of even level mobs and not take a scratch of damage.

Loving all the whiners. I pre-ordered, open beta'd, early started and played all day today. Heard very little complaining in-game and a lot of excitement because drops are working properly now.

Fighting is a little more difficult and as a result the game feels a little less light-weight. Where I was clearing group missions solo, maybe now I'll stop to create a team.

As for PVPers bitching, they've been in-game three days. Powersets like fashions will come and go, a good player will usually win through.

I didn't plan to stay with the game past Aeon going live, but I am enjoying it and think maybe Aeon might have to wait. It's a lot of fun.

i'm noticing a trend here

Taking a shot gun...

to their feet

Even though we beta tested, and head start-ed

Champions Online

Your just planing a epic fail

((sung to Still Alive))

Increasing trivial mob damage?

Reducing defenses?

"Cryptic Studios.  Taking the Super out of Super Hero since 2004."

I mean seriously.  I already felt like a weak stand-in for a super hero in the last beta phase.  Which is the reason I didn't buy the game.  I'm even more glad I didn't buy it now. 

Seems like Cryptic forgot about 3 months ago that they were making a super hero game.

I must have forgot the issues of Spider Man where 3 henchmen beat him up so badly he had to retreat.

Or where Punisher almost got killed by one of Ma Gnucci's sons 1 on 1.

Or the part in Super Man where he had to team up with 5 other super heroes to stop Lex Luthor.

Ah well.

Community: "ZOMG The game is TOO EASY!! Like I'm nearly level 40 already!!!"

Devs: "Alright we will make it harder"

Community: "ZOMG WTF is going on!?!? Its too hard!!!"

Originally posted by mxmissile

 only have one thing to say about this....

LOL

^ This

Frankly, I could care less about a few nerfs here and there. Plenty of the defensive powers should have been nerfed to begin with (Invuln, Regen, Personal Force Field), but the others were fine. Besides, 66% is still a lot and not much of a difference from 75%.

All great games do SOME sort of balancing. Champions is a great game and should be respected! At least they are'nt introducing a SW:G NGE move. Now THAT would be a real excuse to complain.

City of Villains FTW. Did you know their dev team has tripled or more since NCSoft acquired it? Power customization is in it now, too.

You should check out the SUper Sidekicking  feature of i16 that makes teaming so much easier and less stressful, and thus fun :D