CO – Combat notes

AJ Glasser at Kotaku does some more hands-on review of the Champions Online combat system. Some notes, first on things the writer feels need improvement:

Targeting Gets Tricky: You can change between targets on PC by just left-clicking a target with the mouse and on the controller, you tap the left bumper. However, the frenetic pace of combat makes these simple controls tricky, especially on PC if you’re holding down the left mouse button to adjust the camera while running to one side to avoid an attack. I’m hoping that on the controller scheme they work it out to where you could tap the left bumper repeatedly to change targets among a mob – that would really smooth things over.

Hmmm. Targeting via mouse can indeed be tricksy (since reticling can be dicey). I’m hoping there will be some sort of tabbing to go from target to target.

The Picky May Not Be Pleased: There are things you can do in Champions Online combat that single-MMO players may not be used to; however MMO connoisseurs probably won’t be surprised – or impressed. For example, a WoW devotee may not be used to the idea that you can dodge any attack (even spells) by moving out of range and an Age of Conan fan might not be used to the idea that bosses and mini bosses have specific tells that require you to block or dodge, depending on which attack they’re signaling. If you’ve played both of those games plus a dozen other MMOs besides, however, none of this will sound especially new, different or special and you’ll probably stay skeptical while the less picky players are enthralled.

Some of this sounds interesting (which is why I quoted it) — but the paragraph is kind of a jerk backslap because there’s nothing that is new to MMO uber-vets like the writer. Okay, fine, moving on …

Btw, the idea that you can avoid an attack by getting out of its way is, to my mind, a cool one. Until the bad guys do it, of course.

Still Feels Like A Cool Down: Technically, the spells in Champions don’t need cool down periods after you cast them. However, you can’t cast higher level spells without building up endurance with low-level attacks. It’s a little bit less boring to mash the X button over and over than just sitting there and watching the timer on your best area-effect spell expire; but it still feels like a cool down period just the same.

This doesn’t bother me at all.

Ranged Combat Is Cheap: This is actually a plus for a jerk like me – but I think it’s cause for complaint. Emmert says that the tradeoff between a ranged superhero who can just spam a single fireball attack while flying around in a circle is that a melee superhero’s attacks are more powerful. He says that this makes it more rewarding for the melee character if he or she can just get to that fireball-spamming jerk and execute an attack. But if the jerk is me, I’m telling you right now, you’ll never catch me. You’ll die cursing me for the cheap jerk I am.

Again, kind of a jerk paragraph (literally) — but since this fits my preferred play style, what it’s about doesn’t bother me at all.

And on what he thinks are good things:

There’s Always Something To Do: To quote Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s review of Eve Online, MMO combat works like this: “You click on an enemy and start kicking his shins. He then starts kicking your shins. Then you take it in turns kicking until one of you falls over.” Champions Online shakes that up a bit by giving the player more to do than just stand there and kick. At any one point during combat you could be kicking someone’s shins, raining fire down on them from the air while you hover overhead with your fiery fairy wings, dodging an attack with a well-timed mashing on the A or S button, or waiting for a command to pop up and tell you to mash a button to collect an item drop or escape an enemy attack or hold. You’re always moving in Champions, always changing targets and never not mashing on an a button once combat gets going. Big plus.

It’s Console-Oriented: What makes Champions feel action-y to me is the fact that everyone is moving all of the time and you’re frantically pounding on attack keys to keep up. It’s more like Marvel Ultimate Alliance than WoW, and that’s exactly the feel that Cryptic was going for, according to Emmert. He says that the future of MMOs lies in consoles, so their goal was to get an action RPG experience inside ofa persistent, well-populated MMO world that worked just as well on console as on PC. To that end, Champions was planned with consoles in mind all along, with none of the built-in “latency” of other MMOs where you have to wait for a spell to cool down simply because the technology on which the MMO is built cannot handle a bazillion particle effects at once.

It will be interesting to see how this actually works out. On the one hand, interesting times and frenetic fights and a variety of tactics. On the other hand, sometimes all you want to do is to kick someone on the chins.

After the much-longer hands-on, I’ve changed my mind. Combat in Champions Online does feel different than combat WoW because of how fast everything moves – including you. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a revolution in MMO gameplay, but the quick combat is going to go a long way toward making the jump to console smoother and more fun. My only conflict now is deciding whether or not to wait for the 360 version.

Not being a console gamer, I’ll confess that some of the writer’s glee escapes me.

—The biggest criticism Emmert fears hearing is from superhero players who want a purely solo masked avenger experience. That’s just not what Cryptic is out to do with Champions Online – so if any potential reviewers are reading this, think Justice League instead of Dark Knight going into it.

So does that last item mean that you can’t do solo play effectively? Because, if so, I can guarantee it will not last long on our family machines. Though I’ll note one commenter adds:

There’s been a lot of criticism from beta players that the game is TOO solo-friendly, and that there is little to no reason to group up right now. Apart from the “Lairs” which are made with groups/raids in mind, the typical overland questing is relatively easy to solo.

On the plus-side, if you do decide to group up with people for soloable quests, they keep it challenging. Depending on how many in the group, your foes will run for backup, aggroing other mobs a ways away. It sounds bad in theory, but it works great when you’re playing