I’ve been thinking — really thinking — about Champions Online. And whether I’m going to play it any more.
Having been back with gameplay the past few days, I’ve done some CO solo … some CO in a duo with Margie … and some CoX in a duo with Margie.
Duoing with Margie is fun whatever the game. But I really had a lot more fun playing CoX.
There are things I like, really like, about CO.
- The graphics. The look. I know this is hardly a unanimous opinion, but I really like them. They fit the genre. The characters also, for the most part, move well. And I think the stance stuff is a great further differentiator (Beast stance ftw!).
- I like that many powers have multiple actions associated with them, esp. in the martial arts / swords categories.
- Acrobatics is a great-looking “travel” power. Especially in Beast Stance. And Teleport is handled well. And I like all the flight/TK variants.
- I like the idea behind a classless system. It promises flexibility to play the way you want, and create the character you want. You can make your concept character with minimum interference from the game.
- The physical scope of the game is also neat. No War-Walled neighborhoods. Tundra, jungle, desert, urbanscape, etc.
- I like the power-building mechanism, and, yeah, I think blocking is a cool thing. The concept behind the way powers in combat are handled is a serious step above the attack-chain-ridden CoX.
- The shardless setup is also cool — no name contention, easy to join up with friends, no “deserted” servers.
So, lots to like. But it’s mostly lots to like in the concept, the idea, the presentation. The actual execution continues to cause me fits.
- The execution of the classless system sucks. Powers and power sets are grossly unbalanced. If you decide to go for a simple class … well, you’re crippling your character from the get-go. Melee and ranged characters have differ severe disadvantages. Figuring out what a power actually does is like pulling teeth — copious notes online with poor explanations. And the complete flexibility of the system means it’s impossible to find a decent guide (assuming you can find anything on the boards). As a result, I always feel like whatever choice I make at each step is probably a horrible mistake that’s going to cripple my character.
- Which I feel like. Honestly, I feel weak in any of my toons, solo or duo. Objectively, that may not be true, but I feel like too many battles (esp. solo) are life-or-death, and that the balance point can be tipped way too easily. I don’t want the game to be trivially easy by any means, but when I play a super-hero I would kind of like to feel … heroic. Is it build? Is it balance? Is it improper expectations? I have no way of knowing.
- Acrobatics is the coolest-looking thing on 2-4 feet, unless you have to actually climb up anything. Sniper on the rooftops? Sorry, Kitsune — try the fire escape. Add the instant slow-down as soon as you get aggroed by someone (inevitable as you lope at ground level through the city), and travel is a real drag.
- Trainers and stores (assuming one must have them) are annoyingly centralized, meaning you have to travel to them. (See above, though it’s an annoyance regardless of the travel power.)
- I’d have explored a lot more of the system if I weren’t limited to 8 toons, total. Sure, I can buy more, but … no.
- It’s not the limited content I mind so much, as that the content doesn’t do a great job (after the intros in both zones) of guiding you to it. What should I do next? Everything? Or a few things? Hit every contact you find, and it all starts to blur, story-wise. Just take a few at a time, and you discover that you have to re-clear zones because of mission overlaps.
- The landscape maps may be War Wall-less, but the layout is as silly sometimes as a D&D dungeon module. Take the desert. You have a big research fortress next to a wasteland of radioactive mutants next to a haunted ghost town next to a camp of bad guys next to a bunch of lakes full of radioactive mutants next to an amusement park next to a missile silo next to a prison next to … There are no War Walls, but it’s still pretty goofy when the entire setting changes just because you went through a pass over over a ridge.
- And goofiness is not restricted to geographical proximity. There’s a lot of damned silly writing. A bit of silly writing — well, that’s just witty. Too much, and it makes sure that it’s difficult to take the game itself seriously. Which I’d kind of like to.
So … lots of cool stuff that I desperately want to love. But some massive key frustrations that keep me from doing so.
Frustrating.
The question is, am I going to keep playing? Especially if I’m still playing CoX and start playing STO?
Decisions, decisions …
Margie notes that the micro-transaction setup is irksome. Not that (to my mind) there’s anything essential you have to buy, but the constant reminder that there’s stuff for sale is … irksome and anti-immersive.
I think I’m over it. Which feels very odd because, like you Dave, there’s lots I really do like (or like the idea of). However, each time I play I just get a nagging feeling that it’s not right.
I’ll almost certainly pop in during Feb and March while I’m still subscribed as part of my 6 Month purchase, but after that I think I’m checking out.
Shame.
Margie has convinced me it’s okay to stick with it for the time being … but it does seem we spend more time bitching about the game than praising it.
I’m still playing on a regular Tuesday night group, but the teaming mechanic drives me batty.
Part of what’s bothering me is I can’t put my finger on how the CoX mechanic is so much better. I think a big part of it is that there’s a definite range on shared rewards in the the team. Get too far away and your tally doesn’t count the baddies your teammate zapped for that hunt count. But it feels like there’s more to it than that. Also, if you want to get the end of mission reward you HAVE to have the same mish queued up AND everyone has to visit the contact.
Add to that, Arty, the inspiration drops are far less fairly distributed. I think part of it as well that CO players have so many mishes at a time, and they are non-instanced, the whole environment for teaming just feels mentally cluttered.
I also, for some reason, find chat on the CO side much less obtrusively visible than in CoX.
As the recent tweet dump confirms, my main solo Stilt Walker hit 35 over the weekend. I would like to get her to 40 before I say goodbye. I am a completionist that way. I hope it’s not a grind.
One of the funny differences between CO and CoX that I recently noticed. With CoX, a ding means more, especially if it is a power level. With CO, after about 20, I might have 2-3 level-up sitting there waiting for me to hit the powerhouse. I think there are 3 reasons for that.
First, it takes a long time to decide what power or attribute to take. The matrix powers are a blessing and a curse. There are too many choices and it’s too hard to figure out what X really does, much less if X is better than Y. At the end of a session, I can easily spend hours leveling, selling, and crafting. And I don’t take any of those too seriously.
Second slots, after you have slotted you block and slotted passives, you are left with mostly attacks or junk. I want a well rounded character. Slotting a character for Aggressive, Defensive and Balanced builds doesn’t work for me. I don’t want to send the extra power pick and I know that I am unlikely to switch between build effectively. Don’t even get me started on having different enhancements in each build.
Finally it’s hard to feel good about your selection. You are always worried that you made a bad choice. With respects being a rare as hen’s teeth or a paid commodity, it is easy to second guess yourself and also feel that each level choice is a major commitment.
All of the above make CO less friendly to the casual gamer.
I’ve also grown to appreciate CoX enhancement slots. When I slot an enhancement I know exactly what it’s doing and how it is improving that power and my overall character. I hate trying to decide what widget is best for each of my 6 slots. If I take X it will improve Y but drop Z. Is cool thing A really worth dropping stats B and C. I think that CoX has struck an interesting balance with the crafting system. You can slot just your drops or just SOs and have a useful character. Or you can dig into the details and find the sets that tweak you toon just the way you want it.
And finally, I always have and always will hate having one bag for all my crap. Mission stuff should not take up space. I dislike having to wade through crafting, mission and devices to find my new enhancements.
It is the housekeeping that frustrates me. Having to break off your cluster of mission deep in the zone to find someone to sell your crap to. (I know you can just drop it, but that’s wasteful.) Having a crafting system that doesn’t give you anything much of value other than consumables. You can find better stuff cheaper in the auction house. That is, if you are willing to spend the time and brain drain to use the auction house – YUCK. That is after you go across 3 zones to get to the auction house (I’m talking to you Lemuria).
Why can’t you sell stuff to more NPCs?
Why do you have to physically touch a contact to end a mission or get a new one?
Why do some areas have more mission than you can have at one time?
Why does it take so long for the last mcguffin to drop from the mob you have been farming for an hour?
I will be curious to see how STO handles some of this. How much of these issues are a management decision to make it take longer to get to level 40 and how much was a team or system decision?
I’ve pushed Margie’s comment into its own post. I think I need to make her a co-author here. 🙂