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Champions Online Interviews: Bill Roper on Blood Moon
MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller had a chance recently to ask some questions of Champions Online Executive Producer Bill Roper about the upcoming Blood Moon event and the general future of the super-hero game.
By Garrett Fuller on October 19, 2009
| MMORPG.com: | Give us a taste of the upcoming Blood Moon patch. What can players expect? |
| Bill Roper: | There is a LOT going on during the Blood Moon event. From an all new power set to special events and rewards, here's a sample. ;) Celestial Power Set Use the power of the Seraphim to heal and strengthen your allies. Release the fury of the Nephilim in a battle against evil. The Celestial set is designed to simultaneously provide assistance to allies and destruction to enemies. Zombie Apocalypse The dead are rising in Canada! Battle against Zombies in a special PVP map, but should you die, you'll return as one of the undead horde, bound to fight in Takofanes' name and against the heroes you just stood alongside. BITE! (Special Event) Ravenous werewolf packs are roaming the world, but be careful! If you are bitten and infected with their dark magic, you can be transformed into one of their kind. A special mission is available for those wishing to hunt transformed heroes, as well as for those that have fallen prey to the lycan's bite. Dawn of the Dead Heroes (Special Event) Stand against undead heroes who once fought in the Battle of Detroit, and do your best to free their souls from Takofanes' necromancy. Takofanes (Special Event) You must drive this dark and ancient undead sorcerer from our land! But beware - his minions are waves of the undead and other masters of the arcane that must be defeated before you have any chance of victory against the Undying Lord. The full list can be found at: http://champions-online.com/bloodmoon |
| MMORPG.com: | Tell us about the changes you made to the economy. Where did you find problems? |
| Bill Roper: | The simplest explanation is that we simply weren't getting enough resources out to the players based on both mission rewards and upgrade sales. We not only increased resources given in these areas, but also added more for defeating enemies in general and also smoothed and eased the curve for retconning the most recent powers choices a player made in the Power House. |
| MMORPG.com: | What content updates can we expect on Monster Island? How can players find the new missions? |
| Bill Roper: | There are three repeatable mission chains that have been added in the levels 31 - 34 range on Monster Island. The contacts are spread throughout the Well's Pass part of the island, and are easily located using your crime computer. The new missions are: The Hidden Base Heroes discover the entrance to a secret base in Well's Pass. None of their contacts know anything about the entrance so it's up to the hero to check things out. What secret project lies deep within the VIPER base? The Lost Caves A series of lost caves has been discovered by the intrepid Paleontologist and television personality, Professor Plummet. His early reports have come back, stating that Elderworms have also found a way into the labyrinth of caves, and are using them as hunting grounds. Contact has been lost with the professor, and help is needed in finding him. The Manimal Lab A group of Manimals are behaving strangely and are guarding a nearby cave complex. Further investigation reveals a hidden laboratory that also acts as the prison for a highly intelligent rat Manimal named Professor Ratso. |
| MMORPG.com: | In October you plan to make sharing missions much easier, tell us about the upgraded system. |
| Bill Roper: | Several changes have been made and more are in the pipeline to enhance a player's ability to share and track missions with teammates. These are rolling out in phases, with the first portions already being on the Live servers. These are: Primary Mission Team Waypoint When a Primary Mission is set, teammates who don't have the mission will see the objectives in their mission tracker and will see the waypoints for that mission. ;) Team Mission Tracking The mission progress of your team mates are shown next to their portraits. If a primary mission is set, this shows the primary mission. Otherwise, it shows the last mission on which progress was made Heading to the Public Test Shard this week are: Primary Mission Compass Indicator Selecting a primary mission sets a compass waypoint on the mini-map. Improved Mission Sharing Increasing the distance that missions can be shared at by a factor of 5 times. This allows players to not have to be so close to each other before sharing a mission. And in the very near future: Increased Mission Counts Approximately 100 more missions can be shared amongst heroes. Crossover Missions If a player isn't eligible to actually gain the mission due to not meeting requirements (level, mission prerequisites, etc.), they are given the same objectives but in a special "Crossover" mission. When their crossover version of the mission is completed, they will receive a special bonus for working with the team. Currently there is no specific mission bonus to assisting another hero on a mission, so this is a huge addition to our current system. |
It's good to see them rolling out new content so quickly after release which for lot's of games can be a rarity, but my only complaints (even with the interviewer) will you people please stop with the "everybody loves zombies" because I don't and most people I'd assume don't really. I guess as a component added into a game it can be alright but I'd wish they would have come with something a bit more original for their first enhancement than zombies.
I hate zombies in this game, they are the most bugged mob. I hope to god they fix the invulnerability bug with the zombies before the event starts otherwise there is going to be a ton of unattackable, undamageable mobs.
Its a halloween event ... we get to turn into werewolves or hunters..or go after Undead Super Heroes....its frigging Halloween what else do you suggest for a comic book game? Dancing Pumpkin heads / Headless horsemen like several other games have.
I'll take the attack of dead super heroes and werewolves anyday over the other cheese from events.
Really? We're going to praise this thing as being good?
nevermind the fact that game has a GLARING lack of content, this little installment doesn't solve the problem that if you play even ONE alt you're just playing the EXACT same quests as your previous character, assuming you can find the quests or that they even exist at your level.
How about the gross imbalance of the powersets and the all around phoned in feel this game has...character creator aside.
Wanted this game to be fun or at least keep my attention for longer than 4 weeks. No wonder the game gives out 60 days now, nobody is willing to pay for anything past the free play.
Its a halloween event ... we get to turn into werewolves or hunters..or go after Undead Super Heroes....its frigging Halloween what else do you suggest for a comic book game? Dancing Pumpkin heads / Headless horsemen like several other games have.
I'll take the attack of dead super heroes and werewolves anyday over the other cheese from events.
my big concern is this is basicly world PVP, some poeple wont like that no matter how you spin it.
60 days now? doesn't matter though, the game was fun until i hit 40. like you said, "exact same quests." it's cool to see different power sets, but i just can't make myself go through that again.
Blood Moon even sounds pretty cool but doubt it it's enof for me to reactive to check it out.
Yep. Champion's has done a pretty good job of clearing up some of the most glaring flaws and continues to either buff bad stuff, or nerf the broken or over powered. As it stands now, there's a small handful of either broken or really OP stuff. While there's a limited amount of content 1-40, that content is pretty good compared to much of the shovel ware quests that accompany most games.
In the end, the game is fun. It's not a grind, and if you approach it as such, then you probably won't like it. I've been having fun since Beta, and likely will be enjoying it for a long time.
Some people enjoy the game...
Lack of content in what aspect? There are tons of people level 40. As far as doing the same quests when you make an alt...in what game did you play where they made completely new quests just for peoples alts? Missions are missions are missions. Would you perfer to kill 25 of a different mob at level 20 than you did before hand. Its a video game that has only been out 6 weeks and you're complaining about lack of content?
Dear Cryptic there is a special place in hell for you because you didnt make an endless stream of content for me, nor did you create a whole new 40 levels of questing just for me to grind as an alt, what did you all do with your time?! I mean why do we live in a game where some super heroes are more powerful than others?! Why cant Batman beat up superman in a fist fight! I scream DC has an imbalance, why havent they fixed it?!
Jokes aside to be honest dude who cares if someone else is OP compared to another character...it helps you! You cant be playing Champions Online for its outstanding vision of PvP because quite frankly its just thrown in for fun sake. Its a PvE game and when you try to balance both PvE and PvP you just end up F'ing them both. I cant honestly site one game that had amazing end game at launch, because there hasnt been one. End game comes much later in the form of expansions and content updates. Not a fanboy...just a logical and reasonable person.
just amazes me how much champions is copying City Of
Right now, people who have cancelled their accounts can still play. I cancelled (got a refund) my 6 month subscription earlier this month, yet about 2 weeks later can still play. Whats telling is that I havent played since I cancelled earlier this month, even for "free". Have no wish to log in after hitting level cap, too bad this content (and it still needs a lot more) was not in to begin with.
You do realize both City Of Heroes/Villains and Champions Online are made by Cryptic?
You do realize both City Of Heroes/Villains and Champions Online are made by Cryptic?
Yes they are but Cryptic said that they would be so much more than CoX.
Anything with Bill Roper attached to it = Keep away. Can you say passion fingers. It looks good, but due to Bill Roper being involved, I am steering clear.
Sorry for trolling(If this is what you think the post is), but his last venture screwed a lot of people. I hope ti doesnt happen to this game.
that maybe true, but doesnt mean that you copy another game. doest make good business sense..
And how much CoX is now copying CO with there latest rainbow power patch.... lol seriesouly games take ideas from other games deal with it.
And how much CoX is now copying CO with there latest rainbow power patch.... lol seriesouly games take ideas from other games deal with it.
Can't really say it is copying when it was in development the same time CO was coming out. It is not like they just push a button and come out with content same said for CO. If you can't take something your competitor is doing and use it a different way then you aren't trying to stay competitive with the current trends. I will say that CoX has been around for 5 years and is getting stale to say the least.
A nice review thanks. But the sad truth is the game is not a hit at all. We never read about it anywhere. No one talk about it. And then there coming out with StarTrek. Just saying look what they did with anything they touched so far.
So basicly the game is still in beta mode since CS still haven't finished adding enough content to make it rate any higher than a glorified arcade button-masher. If that is what people want, fine, but CS claimed they were going to create a better super-hero mmo than CoX and the route they are taking won't cut it. Pretty sad the only kind of missions they are adding in the expansion are repeatable...? Oh yay, because everyone loves doing the same mission over and over because there is nothing else to do...
It is really is unfortunate the game has so far to go yet to be decent and some are actually paying money for the half-baked work. Would of been nice if CS had listened to their testers in the first place...but then again, that is the new era we live in where devs don't listen to testers and the testers are only expected to stress-test the server load.
Yet, I find that it's a better game than nearly any other I have played at release. The bugs that cropped up were not show stopping. The pacing is fine. The quests are mostly bug free with a few exceptions. The powers are flashy and fun. The game is quick and enjoyable. They patch at a good rate and have removed many of the eggregious problems that you see cited here.
That's not a bad start; nor a bad foundation to build off of. I can log in, play for an hour or so, get things done and enjoy myself while doing so. That's very much worth the $10 a month I payed for a 6 month sub. I've found a pretty good RP community and as long as you stay in the lower levels, the PvP is not too bad. Sure there's some problems, but it's not as bad as people make it out to be.
There is a lack of content in that if you are alting, you are doing the same quests over. However, that is something they can address fairly easily. Already there are quests which have been dropped into the game. I expect to see many more as the months progress.
I would ask you to pick a game... any of them, released in the past three - four years. I would nearly guarantee that they all have had as many or more problems as CO has had. Blame Roper, or whomever, however, this is the genre and if you don't care to play games with bugs, than MMOs are not for you. Certainly you can demand what you like, but I promise you that you won't be playing any new games any time soon.
If paid beta is your worry, then wait a year or more for any title because you are going to get the same thing from any studio, producer, and publisher.
So seriously, there are quite a few mmo's out that have had a way better release then Champions, and if the content is meager at best and all the mission are rinse repeat, they should have made it a Pc game... and since when do game companies listen to there player base
I have to try this game...eventually. Or Aion...or...I dunno.
I really enjoy focusing on 1 game, no matter how silly the game. And right now, I am unsure if I could trust a MMO again. Perhaps, perhaps not. I feel compelled to try it...yet...I don't feel as trying it now, always as...what if it is another disappointment? Right now, I don't know...and if they are crazy nerfing, well, I don't have to cope with it.
Hehe, I am just enjoying Fantasy Wars right now...niak niak niak. Perhaps a MMO again..."soon"...who know?
Amen. I avoid him like the plague.
I just picked the game up yesterday and am having a great time with it. I think I'm even sucking my wife into the game which will be great because she's very picky when it comes to any video game. I like + she likes = super win.
I don't care who's making the game. People can screw something up, learn from it and come back to really rock you.
As for their Customer Support; outstanding. I had a beef with only getting 30 days on my account when it said I get 60. Called them up and the fixed it no problem and guess what?! The guy spoke fluent english! No outsourcing of CS!
If I hit 40 in the next 4 weeks and find absolutely nothing to do, oh well. I paid $40 and had excellent entertainment for a whole month.