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Champions Online: Comic Con Report
MMORPG.com's Hasani Davis attended last week's New York Comic Con. While there, he had the opportunity to take a look at Cryptic's Champions Online. Today, he offers his observations.
Champions Online is an upcoming super-hero based mmo. Headed by Bill Roper, formerly of City of Heroes. The translation from the classic pen and paper we all grew up with shouldn’t suffer in his hands as he was a fan of the classic game himself. What first jumps out at you about this game are the rich colors and vivid details. I mentioned how impressed I was by the colors and was told that they wanted to have a very vivid storybook style to their game. The level of customization is high, allowing you to change many aspects of your character right down to the mood on their face. For instance, you can play as a demon-like winged villain, complete with perma-sadistic smile on your face.
A feature that is quite impressive about the game is known as role changing. What’s role changing? Well, the game has many kits. For example, you can be a superhero who uses gadgets, as your kit/appearance. Now you can be ranged and high damage dealing (think mage) and shoot a huge photon cannon… and your HP and armor will drop accordingly, or you can equip heavy tech and bash people (think warrior) but your ranged abilities will drop accordingly or you can even use robot drones to attack your enemies while you cripple them with shrink rays and other gadgets (that’s assuming the shrink ray doesn’t overload and backfire), so you should never be short on healers or tanks for a given task and everyone can always have fun without having to reroll their toon.
You can have wings, jet packs, unaided flight and other various forms of travel that fit your character. You can have a character that uses ice and flies around on an ice surfboard. But what if you’re an evil fire person? How about flying around on a evil purple flaming disk or purple disk with black flames, or flaming purple wings… what you choose, you can have! Using your wings as normal flight comes at level 1, but you can also gain advanced and faster modes of travel as you level.
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The game has lots of kits that should appeal to many types of gamers as you can make a character that resembles what you like, not just a gimmicky superhero. Making a brash military “street fighting” champion with a huge blonde flat top… I could do that, complete with martial arts kicks that had yellow energy trailing off of it and yellow sonic energy boom waves as a projectile . If you think it, you can create it, customize it and change it. Seeing a character shoot pink ice from her head was rather funny. And not only can you spend hours detailing your champion, you then have to design your nemesis to rival you throughout your gameplay. I mean…. What’s a good hero without a rival? So let’s say I wanted to make a rival that, gee I dunno, threw out blue fireballs from his hands and used Karate and walked around in a white karate Gi with a head band. Yup, I could do that too. And you can even customize the backstory that explains why they hate you so much. No word yet on if they can monologue or say catchphrases every time they come back into your life. You can even pick the type of goons they employ to harass you, and what rivalry would be complete without lots and lots of rival missions to go on, geared toward your never ending fight against them?
The game has a functionality that is built up. So to use the super powers you will need to fight to build up your powers and unleash them (thus draining what you have built), so in theory it’s non stop fighting to keep the action high. In this build, I was able to see snares, knockdowns, knock backs, drains, debuffs and many other types of ailments on your actions. Like said before, this game is highly customizable, and nearly anything you can think of can be created by you for your character.
Because everyone is a champion, PvP will not be a focus in the game. You will, however, be able to use the arena system to battle against others in an instanced knock down drag out type setting. I mean, we are all here to bash the baddies, not tarnish our well designed super hero image! And atem advancements in the current model will not show on your character. Because people spend so much time creating their toons, why change the appearance?
A fortress is where the instanced PvE events will occur in the game. The game will have small fortresses and mega fortress which will be larger and more epic in scale than the small fortress. Small fortresses will be designed for small group and single party. Expect for the small fortresses to be done by a group of friends getting off work/class and just having fun while the mega fortress will be a huge raid for all those who love to bombard boss mobs with 40 people for gear.
When asked if the game would have PC and Xbox players on the same server I was told, “we hope to.” This was in stark contrast to information that was given earlier when it was announced. Many games over the past few years have tried to bridge the gap, lets see if champions can succeed where others have not in this area.
Closed beta is now going on now and fans can go and sign up now at the Champions Online homepage to get into the next phase of beta. With no expected launch date or a time frame, cryptic is taking a page from other games currently on the mmo market that launched in the past year and taking time to make the game right and in the image they want rather than rush a product out that will not be worthy of the champions IP.
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If pc and console share a server I don't see me playing this. If they are not, most likely I'll play it.
I think the game will be a pleasant suprise for people and the game will achieve good success.
Thanks for the write up. I am interested in what people's play experiences are like. I would like to see even more articles on this as well. I think you get a better feel when a player writes a hands on piece.
Two things:
Hasani, as was discussed in the new screenshots article posts, some (myself included) thought the characters looked weird against the background in some of the earlier pics with this stylized direction they are going in. How did it look in action? Does it look 3D for the most part when playing? A number of the early shots seem kinda flat. They are obviously 3D but the overall look is just somehow flat and kinda dull. I would like to hear what you thought and saw. You mention vivid colors but what does it look like when playing perspective wise?
Oh good god NO!!!!
"When asked if the game would have PC and Xbox players on the same server I was told, “we hope to.” This was in stark contrast to information that was given earlier when it was announced. Many games over the past few years have tried to bridge the gap, lets see if champions can succeed where others have not in this area."
I really want Champions to work, but this could kill it for me in a split second.
Please god do not put XBox live retards into my MMO.
Xbox live led me to sell my xbox. I know exactly what you mean and this directly relates to my feelings in my earlier post. I do NOT want console and PC gamers together.
Frankly these developers are idiots for wanting it. Makes me wonder if they have ever played on Xbox Live. If they had, they would insure that no way in hell could those people get in their game.
All i have to say is look at WoW its PC only...
yet look at FFXI has the best community a game could ever want.
I don't play wow. Try again.
uhh never said you did?
Sounds like some interesting stuff, esp. the idea of designing your own nemesis.
But I don't think I can play a PvE heavy game again. I guess it makes sense for Champions since everyone should be a hero, but I'd like something with more PvP options as well asPvE just to have some variety.
People who don't mind that will probably like the game. It's nice to see more options out there in the market for MMORPG players.
40 man raids? Ugh. I thought the game had a chance to be good, but unless they do the big raids differently from most games that have them, that sort of time commitment is a game-breaker.
Meh, was looking forward to this but I too would rather not play another PVE-heavy game. There's no good reasons why villain characters can't exist in the Champions IP, it's purely a design decision. The game has a number of really interesting features (nemesis, fantastic character customization etc) but I'm starting to drift more towards DCO purely because it'll be more geared towards PVP action, which I feel is really what the whole Superhero genre should really be about.
Ugh! 40 person raids? Seriously? Maybe somebody should have stopped playing EverQuest and WoW and picked up a comic book before jumping onto this game!
People really need to let the EverQuest mentality go. 40 people fighting 1 enemy is not only unheroic, it's sad. And quite frankly, it's time-consuming. You have to gather 40 idiots, have them focus long enough to do the damn fights properly, have to keep everybody from going afk cuz "mom's callin' me for dinner!" What a pain in the ass! It was a dumb enough idea for the sword & sorcery mmos, but for super heroes? It is extremely rare to get more than 10 heroes in on one fight. I think the "raid" content should be for groups of around 10. [tops!] But I still think the "end game" content should still be able to be done with groups of maybe 5 or 6 and scale accordingly up to 10 players. I mean, it is a rare individual that "grabs 39 of their closest friends" for an online game. Seriously. To make a super hero game, think COMIC BOOK not EQ Clone!
Anyone else here not liking the idea of role changing? I always found it fun to figure out what class is needed most in the world, and then make a character to fill in that gap. Made me feel useful. If anyone can plays as anything at will, well, what's the point of specializing?
Either way, I can see Champions replacing CoH as my "screw around when I'm bored" game if the character customization is as good as they say.
Ok, Im looking at WoW. What am I supposed to see?
When I get on Team Speak with my WoW friends or even use the ingame voice chat I have NEVER once had someone screaming racist crud or acting like the worst insult to anyone is to suggest that they might be gay!
However EVERY time I played online with my XBox that is almost all you could hear. Non-stop. And teamwork? What is teamwork? Everyone was just out to get max kill counts and see how many people they could hump.
Take the exact same game on the Console and the PC and you get completely diffrent groups. TF2 on the Console is non-stop garbage spewing out of the speakers. While on 80% of the TF2 PC servers acting like that will get you banned.
As for the FFXI community, I could not comment. I have never played the game and know nobody who has. But I do know that everyone thinks their own community is the best ever. I hear that from PvP games all the time. And chuckle.
That's just it, you're NOT specializing in CO! That's the point. The overspecialization is what causes many problems. Some missions a team just can't get through it without a healer. Meanwhile, no matter how much you spam channels, send /tells and ask around, sometimes you can't get the "class" you need. No healer? No problem. That's actually a good direction for the game. And the genre for that matter.
Ohnoes I vowed i would always answer any non flame comment any reader asked.... but if I answer that question I may not get another interview.
Ill honestly say that YES, live it does look 3d. everything is VERY detailed.
NO things dont jump off the screen but its about the quality of playing GTA4. yes its 3d but its not metal gear 4 type of 3d.
And I have to give a mention about the vivid colors. to be honest it seemd to me as if they wanted to have a comicbook type feel to the game with the vividness of the colors. and they did a great job in that! I will try to get another peak at this game now that I have a good contact thats a playtester, and I will revisist the game and write about it after press beta starts.
Hasani
If only I could play you the audio of when I was talking about this topic. But as much as we danced around the topic and actual content. I was told that they would have mini fortress instances for joe blow thats getting off work and wants to get together with friends and also large epic "Molten core type raids!
will update you guys as they give me more information about this, but in all serioussness dont jump off the bandwagon til I give the signal!
Hasani
Seriously? 40 man raids in a Superhero game? I'm not getting off the bandwagon at all, by any means. But 40 mans are a dumb idea imo.
Single player games are better than MMO's in terms of game play and such. It seems to me the big draw of an MMO is being able to fight against other players with a character you developed. If all I am getting is pve why not play Dragon's age, etc?
Because of the IP. And the customization options. That's what does it for me. Believe me, if there was a single-player superhero game with the customization of a CO or hell even CoH, I'd never look back to mmos! I really don't care much at all for player interaction. I don't get too friendly with guilds or anything. And pvp is freaking mindless. I like to create a character and customize it. I'm a rp'er from way back. {Back when they used dice instead of keyboards & cat-girls!}
On the one hand ALL screenshots from Champions are suktastic. On the other hand I know its hard to really judge a game from mere screenshots. While not fan of WOW and not played it a long time, I recall how much I hated the WOW screenshots, and then thought when trying it, that it looked pretty ok in real. Still, I wish they had not gone for cel shading. I mean I love comics, I DRAW comics... but in games I would have preferred a realistic style. Its those black outlines around every piece which just disturbs me. But I will give the game a try... if they allow trial or beta. No buying blind anymore.
I can't help but see this game as CoH 2..
It's CoH with a new look and a couple of new features. Even those features aren't as innovative or original as one would think. I remember the "design your own nemesis" feature being on the wish list of the CoH player base.
Good character customization? yes ... like CoH... but better because it's newer?
Kits? ...kinda like powersets.. except you can change your current powerset? a cure for altholics I guess.
Instanced "fortresses" some of them are for small groups and solo players? kinda like door missions...
powers building up the more you fight? yes.. like brutes in CoV?
no PvP because we're all heroes? well yes until you decide to release a seperate game for villains.. no wait that was a sequel... no wait that was an expansion... hmm.. nope they're all one game with one subscription in one box.
I guess that I don't see anything ground breaking compared to CoH. I'm not even sure what's the selling point here over CoH except being new and shiny.
It could still be a fun game.. but i'm not sure if it will be distinct enough to attract a new player base.
an easy solution to this pvp thing is to come up with zones/battlegrounds where you can go in as your nemesis or your hero. Each side could have opposing objectives of varying difficulty. To say they can't do it because it's about being a champion/hero is small thinking. It's probably more than they want to tackle right now, I would guess.
The background shots we see here look like they're going for semi-realism, but the characters look like they're pulled from bright, traditional comic books. Kind of a weird mix, but I guess seeing it in action would be more telling.
Also, I wonder how the nemesis thing is going to work in the game. From what I've read in the past, your nemesis, or a nemesis from one of your group members, may show up in instances or something along those lines, but I wonder how it will truly feel having that. Will it add flavor to instancing that hasn't been there before as you run with different groups? Could be cool.
Nope you have missed what 75% of all MMO players find fun in MMOs.
It is not fighting against other players that makes most of us keep paying $14.95 a month, it is fighting beside other players. Working together to do something we could never do solo.
I have a LOT more fun doing a 5 man instance, then I do in any kind of PvP. I have a insane amount of fun in a 10 man. (And can't stand 25-40 mans...)
Co-op play has always been more interesting to me then any kind of PvP.