Category: Champions Online

Wow — Convoluted Process Much? Including using the beta key three different times, the third of which r(on the Fileplanet download site) equires taking out the hyphens from the code (though it doesn’t mention that). Bleah.

I’d forgotten I had a Cryptic account already (from CoX). Which meant having to get a new password sent. Etc.

Then downloading the Download Manager.

Then waiting in line for the download to begin. Unless you want to become a paid subscriber.

Jeez — makes CoX look straightforward by comparison. Not the best introductory experience. “You never get a second chance for first impressions.”

Bits and bobs from relatively recent official CO Dev Blog posts (which am way behind on reading). Not complete by any means — I skipped over stuff I wasn’t interested in.

First off, the 10 July Dev Blog:

When your hero levels up and has a new power slot available, you can go to the Power House to train up. This area has a number of rooms where you can test your new power and try out different combinations of power colors and emanation points in safety. If you decide the new power is not for you, you can easily retcon it and try a new one.

[…] Characters [when they level] can go to any of the conveniently located entrances to the Power House. This facility is designed to allow heroes to try out their new-found powers in a test environment loaded with specialized equipment. What this means to players is that they can try out powers before they become an ongoing part of their character. There are stationary and mobile targets, and different levels of offensive weaponry to test defensive powers against.

Nice — with power customization it’s important to be able to “try before you buy.” I look forward to learning more about this. I’ll be curious to see how CoX handles this as well.

On the subject of melee heroes against ranged attackers (esp. those that can fly):

We’re going to crazy lengths to make sure that players have every tool we can think of available to them to balance the scales. Lots of power sets have travel power disables, or lunges, or roots, or stuns, or some other mechanism that aids melee characters in dealing with speedy or ranged opponents. Additionally, there’s thrown objects. Hitting a flying guy with a flung park bench or a truck or something tends to disrupt any and all travel powers for a few seconds. Finally, there’s teamwork. If you really want to be melee master we suggest you get some friends who can balance your weaknesses vs. their strengths.

The “team up with someone” part of the answer is both obvious and not very satisfying. But the other elements are promising.

On mission difficulty and scaling:

Most of the persistent world missions have a fixed difficulty, but villains in combat with three or more heroes often send one of their number to get reinforcements and even up the battle. The opposition on many of the instanced maps does scale in number and power to the size of your team.

I like (conceptually, not as a hero) the idea of guys running for help.

“Retcon (or “retroactive continuity”) has a progressive cost based on how far back you want to roll back your character. If you don’t like a power you just bought, it’s relatively easy to retcon. Changing powers that were established earlier on in your character’s history gets more expensive. Of course if we make changes to powers we plan on providing full or partial retcons to characters with those powers.

So it’s more expensive than a CoX respec — but also more powerful (in that you’re not trapped with the same power sets). Honestly, in CoX the price for respecs has become virtually nil (between vet awards, issue respecs, etc.). I do like the scalability here where they can give retcons for individual powers that have changed.

What’s the deal with auras and the like? I’ve seen screenshots of characters “bathed” in fire or surrounded with coloured energy fields – does this mean we can make our heroes look as though they’re made of pure fire, or pure ice, or pure electricity and the like? – Sammu 

These are power FX, which can happen several ways. It might be something like fire flight, where your character engulfs themselves in flames to fly around and thwart evil, or it might be that once your energy bar hits max level as an electricity user, your body changes into an entire being of electricity!

In general, Auras only turn on when you’re actually in combat, and automatically turn off when you’ve been out for a few seconds. Additionally, Auras, like almost all our powers, have Master Ranks. Generally at Rank 1, the aura is transparent effect that is mostly visible at the edge of your character (this is called a Fresnel Effect). At higher ranks, the Aura becomes more saturated and full.

That’s pretty cool. Esp. if it means you won’t have the added lag of a common location where everyone’s got all their powers toggled on.

As a point of policy, we don’t believe in obscuring or obfuscating the numbers that drive our powers. That being said, we need to hide a lot of the depth in our interface, because the actual complexity of what’s going on “under the hood” is absurdly complicated. We’ve tried exposing the totality of the mechanics in the tooltips, and the result was a twisted mass that has broken the sanity and will of our testers and has not once but twice nearly allowed the great old ones to break into our world by riding a stream of shattered minds and hollowed out souls. So, yeah. The best answer we can give is “we’re working on it.”

There’s definitely a sweet spot in showing the numbers, esp. of you’re doing comparisons. They also make up for the fact that we don’t live the game world and therefore miss some of the nuances of that experience. I’ll be curious to see what they come up with.

Will there be any kind of journal that records your super/hero/villain adventures (Number of kills, stories completed etc)? – Fhuzzy 

Yes! In Champions we call these Perks, and they are recorded in a special tab of a player’s journal. Perks are records of heroic deeds and accomplishments that a character has done such as defeating a large number of VIPER agents or bringing a Super-Villain, like Talisman, to justice. They’re called Perks because as a result of their heroism, player heroes are awarded benefits including titles and Perk points. Perk points can be spent at a special vendor who sells capes, costume pieces and even some special gear items.

I like the idea of a character journal. I never quite got the hang of the one in LotRO, but I find the “history-less-ness” of CoX (except for badges) disengaging.

Moving onto the State of the Game for 22 July:

On the “classless” nature of the game, CO seems to be fudging this slightly with “roles” — which are less flavor/power-centered and more, well, what you do and how your character is run:

Guardian (Balanced)

• Standard Damage
• Standard Bonus Hit Points
• Potency of Healing powers are standard
• Potency of Hold and Root powers are standard
• Resistance to Hold and Root powers are standard
• Power decays at normal rate
• Energy generated when blocking incoming attacks is standard
• Standard Threat generation
• 1 Versatile Passive slot

Avenger (Offense)

• + All damage is increased by 20%
• – Bonus Hit Points are reduced by 50%
• – Potency of Healing powers and effects are reduced by 20%
• – Potency of Hold and Root powers are reduced by 20%
• – Resistance to Hold and Root powers are reduced by 20%.
• + Power decays at 50% normal rate
• – No energy generated when blocking incoming attacks
• Standard Threat generation
• 1 Offensive Passive Slot

Sentinel (Defense)

• Standard Damage
• + Bonus Hit Points are increased by 25%
• Potency of Healing powers are standard
• Potency of Hold and Root powers are standard
• + Resistance to Hold and Root powers are increased by 20%.
• – Power decays at twice normal rate
• + Energy generated when blocking incoming attacks is doubled
• + Bonus to Threat generation
• 1 Defensive Passive Slot

Protector (Support)

• – All damage is reduced by 20%
• – Bonus Hit Points are reduced by 25%
• + Potency of Healing powers are increased by 20%
• + Potency of Hold and Root powers are increased by 20%
• + Resistance to Hold and Root powers are increased by 20%.
• + Power decays at 50% normal rate
• Energy generated when blocking incoming attacks is standard
• Standard Threat generation
• 1 Support Passive Slot

It’s unclear if these are fixed for the character, switchable on the fly, or something in-between. You could argue that these serve as “classes” but are a lot more flexible and not tied to specific power sets, which I think is the important thing.

On soloability:

There was a BIG miscommunication in a recent interview where the writer made it sound like there wasn’t enough content for solo players to get to the level cap. While we have been putting a greater emphasis on getting group content into the game, players can easily solo their way to the level cap if that’s how they want to play. We hope this clears things up.

That’s good to hear. It will be even better to see.

In the State of the Game 6 August:

Crafting specialization:

Heroes enter into the research and development in one of the three crafting schools by talking to a trainer. After this, they also now choose which of three specializations within that field they want to pursue. There are different items available to craft within each specialization, and even some of the items that are similar across specialization may have different visual effects that players can choose to display.

A hero can change specializations at any time. To change specializations within a school, simply talks to the trainer and choose to switch to the new specialization. Be forewarned that there is a cost, however. All accumulated skill points will be lost when switching to a different school OR a different specialization within the same school. The skill point cap will also be set back to 100 in both cases. And don’t worry, blueprints are not be lost as a result of changing schools or specializations. They can, however, become temporarily unusable if your skill points are too low. Also, you can only buy blueprints that are in your field of specialization.

You can manufacture any item that is in the same school, even if it is a different specialization, as long as you have the blueprint and you match or exceed that blueprint’s minimum required school skill points. This means that you never lose the knowledge required to craft an item, but if you want to hold more than a single specialization, you will need to rebuild your overall ability to create items within that school. Dedicated crafters can learn all three specializations within a school and then be able to craft everything within that field of research and development.

Ugh. I mean, it makes sense (more than the highly-abstract CoX crafting system), but it’s still a drag. I’ll be curious to see how “necessary” it is.

Big colors and comics-style outlining are in. I’ve heard some complaints about it, but so far I’m pleased with what I see.

On colors:

Cryptic’s chief creative officer Jack Emmert says Champions Online’s palette of bright colors will help the game stand out against other MMOs and videogames on the market. He said picking comic-book colors was one of the starting points of the whole project.

He said, “When you look at this game it’s not 50 shades of gray or brown. In general, this is an incredible battle with artists, as anyone will know from seeing other videogames, but we decided on bright colors from the beginning. So why did we go so vibrant? Because we wanted to make sure that the comic books that many of us read during the 80s and 90s would come alive. Any superhero you can imagine and create and customize you can sit down night in and night out and live those adventures and feel like you are part of that colorful comic book world.”

I think this is a good idea. It will set the game off from the more muted CoX, as well as lend it, yes, that 80s-90s look. (Do we have to wear jackets then?)

On outlining and cell shading:

We’re trying to go for the look you get in a comic book. But comics don’t transfer directly to real time 3D very well. Cell shading often looks really bland and has very little detail in it so we have decided on a more realistic lighting model.

If something is bumpy you’ll see the bumps and you’ll get highlights and shadows and that kind of stuff. But on top of that we have an art style that’s similar to comic books with bright colors and things that aren’t necessarily realistic. And then also we have an outline effect that outlines things that are near to the camera and adds to that comic-book feel.

[…] Practically it refers to a specific way of doing the lighting. So on a round object you don’t get a smooth transition from dark to light on one side, you’ve got a white and then you’ve got a harsh edge. It’s similar to how you shade something in a comic book but we wanted to bring realistic lighting and a comic-book look.

The outlining feature can be shut off for performance (or aesthetic) reasons. Personally, I like it.

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 

 

And some Champs Online Dev Diary bits:

Champions Online will support micro-transactions, but contrary to the concerns of some people, the game is not ‘based’ on them. There are the basic tenets for our micro-transactions:

• The vast majority are aesthetic items, such as costume pieces, action figures, emblems, etc.
• A very few are account-level management tools, such as being able to rename a character
• Micro-transactions should never limit your ability to enjoy the game or reach the level cap
• Any micro-transaction that has a game effect can also be earned in the game through play

Also, it’s important to note that the overwhelming majority of micro-transactions are account-wide. This means if you buy a costume piece or an action figure, every character on your account gets it.

Finally, many of the pre-order programs that we’re finalizing now have cryptic points associated with them. This is a way for us to allow our players to choose their own pre-order reward(s) which falls into our whole customization concept for Champions Online.

I’m not a huge fan of micro-transactions, even within the parameters given above. But at least the parameters are the right ones.

Once a hero reaches the upper-most levels of recognition (level 40) they can begin going on UNITY missions. These represent the most dangerous operations heroes can go on, and will be even more challenging (and rewarding) for teams of heroes. Each day UNITY transmits a list of five different global hot-spots that require high-powered attention. Once these missions are completed, a sixth custom mission is revealed. Completion of these missions earns the hero commendations within UNITY that then allows them to receive special upgrades or enter into high-end team areas with appropriately high-end rewards. There are also many goals within Crafting, Nemesis, PvP, and Perks that are designed to reward long-term Omega System players. And of course, we’ll be adding more elements in this vein all the time.

Some distinct efforts to keep things exciting at high levels. That’s a Good Thing.

We’ve currently set the character creation limit in beta to eight (8) characters. This is certainly not the uppermost number of character slots an account can have as we’ve designed rewards in the game that open up more character slots on an account level. In short, players will easily be able to earn more character slots just by playing.

I like the idea of character slots being opened up through play. On the other hand, I like the idea of having unlimited alts (cough), so …

 

Bill Roper, the Design Director / Exec Producer for Champs Online gives out some CO info:

Q1) Since this is a super-hero game, will players be able to have a side kick? 

The side-kicking system in Champions Online allows younger, less experienced heroes to temporarily increase the effective levels of their powers to be able to adventure with a more experienced hero. Conversely, those superheroes with greater powers can “tone things down” to play on an even level with their less-powerful friends.

SK and Mentoring. Got it. Okay, nothing new here vs CoX, but certainly something necessary — with the special twist of having a single server to play on.

Q2) How soon will players get their travel abilities?  

Heroes gain their first travel power at level 5, right after helping resolve the crisis in Millennium City. In order to allow for more flexibility in character design and role-playing, heroes have the chance to gain a second travel power becomes available at level 35!

I’m glad CO is starting from the beginning with a low-level travel power. CoX has mostly gotten around that, but it can still be a hassle in some cases (and if you don’t do bank missions).

Q3) If I make a melee character without a flying ability, will I be screwed in PvP when fighting someone that can fly and has a ranged attack? 

We’re doing a lot of balancing right now to avoid just this sort of issue. Melee classes have attacks they can use at range (such as ripping up hunks of the ground to throw at enemies) – most of which knock their target out of their travel powers. This is especially nasty when used against a flying opponent.

Not interested in the PvP, but this is a good thing to know re Melee powers.

[…] Q5) How will XP be divided amongst healers, tanks and DPS character? Will it be based off the amount of damage done only? 

We not only track the amount of damage done and damage taken by a hero, but we also track how many points of damage a hero heals – both on themselves and on others. We make sure that proper credit is given to supportive heroes in both PvE and PvP in this regarding, making the choice of playing a hero that focuses on aiding others just as rewarding.

Very good to hear. Though that makes it unclear whether XP is given (on a team) for different things or what.

Q6) Since you get to create your own Nemesis, why wouldn’t I just create a really weak one? 

The powers for your Nemesis are drawn from defined, balanced power sets. This ensures that players can’t “game” the system and make a weak arch-enemy. Nemesis is designed to be the biggest challenge a single hero can face, so we want the villain you create to live up to that standard.

Hmmm. I’m curious to see how this works. I don’t want lame Nemeses — but I don’t want paper cut-out ones, either.

Q9) Why can’t I be a villain? 

We wanted to focus on the heroic side of things with the launch of the game. The missions, interactions of citizens, and so forth are all directed to your being a hero. There are so many stories to be told, justices to be upheld, and worlds to be saved that we’re excited to bring those chances for good to life. We do let you design a villainous foe with the Nemesis system, and some day we might even delve into the darker side of superheroes.

I’m sure there has been much analysis about why (or whether) the CoV side has been less fun (based on population) than the CoH one. I don’t see a reason to rush into this on CO’s part.

Q10) If I’m a superhero, why do I need to craft things? I’m already super. 

Not every hero has powers that come from within. Many have lots of wonderful toys they use to fight crime. This is just the type of hero that will be crafting new goodies in the Arms school of crafting, which also has non-physical elements such as fighting styles. And our crafting system goes far beyond the creation of just physical items like guns and armor. There is the Science school where things like mutagens and serums and nano-bots are created. Mystical crafters design new spells or arcane artifacts. We’ve spent a great deal of time and effort to allow players to experience crafting while staying true to whatever the concept of their hero is.

I’ll believe it when I see it. Yeah, clearly Batman crafts all the time. Superman? Not so much. Ditto Mr Fantastic vs the rest of the FF.

Hmmmm. This isn’t good.

Minimum System Requirements

• OS:Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7
• CPU:2.5GHz Single Core or 1.8GHz Dual Core
• Memory:1GB RAM
• Video:NVIDIA GeForce 7800 / ATI Radeon X700 or HD / Intel Graphics with Dual Core
• Sound:DirectX Compatible Soundcard
• HDD:5GB Free Disk Space
• Network:ADSL / Cable Modem
• Disc:DVD-ROM
• Driver:DirectX 9.0c

Recommended System Configuration

• OS:Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7
• CPU:2GHz Dual Core or Better
• Memory:2GB RAM or Better
• Video:NVIDIA GeForce 8800 or Better / ATI Radeon HD3850 or Better
• Sound:DirectX Compatible Soundcard
• HDD:5GB Free Disk Space
• Network:ADSL / Cable Modem or Better
• Disc:DVD-ROM
• Driver:DirectX 9.0c

And here I sit with

• Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1700MHz
• Card name: ATI MOBILITY FIRE GL T2

Everything else is, I think, okay, but those two are almost certainly below the minimum threshold.

Hmmmm. Now I’m pondering that offer by Margie to get a new (home) laptop.

I have until August 17 to figure it out …

• On the differences between CO and other MMOs. The focus of the article is on fantasy MMOs, WoW in particular — which, yeah, is going to be very different. I’d like to see more discussion (without snark) on differentiators from CoX.
• Another interview and discussion about powers and themes. The travel power outline (first, second, third gears; how teleport will work, acrobatics) is interesting, as is the reiteration about being able to keep an item / weapon / attack and still fold improvements and upgrades into it. I’m not sure about “themed crafting areas,” though …

Cool article on the Munitions, Archery, and Gadgeteering power sets in Champs Online. These represent gun-based powers, archery (duh), and any number of roboticist / “toyman” / “mad thinker” sort of inventor goodness. 

One of the nice things noted here (in context of the munitions) is that, once you’ve acquired a given weapon form, then as you get additional powers and enhancements, you can apply them to the forms you have / want. Love those pistols? You can keep using them with your added attacks. Want to be carrying around an arsenal? Sounds like you can.

Customization = good. I hate being stuck with either a single weapon (see CoX AR Blasters) or have to trade in the weapon I like for the latest most-powerful thing I’ve found (see LotRO).

Also: new screen shots.

But, between unpacking and tagging photos and taking care of a sick spouse, I’ve not done any gaming since returning yesterday evening. That will, in fact, change soon.

In the meantime, news that’s been accumulating in the in-box …

Champs Online:

• A nice article on thematic power set building through “frameworks.” Rather than focusing on archetypes, the CO folks are trying to let people do a lot more picking and choosing of different types of powers amongst varied sets. Will this add welcome flexibility, create confusion, or let min-maxxers unbalance the game? Should be interesting to see, but it sounds promising.
• I am so pleased that “power armor” is its own power set. That’s been a serious frustration for me in CoX.
• Another good survey interview here. One interesting note: Cryptic basically bought the Champions property, and is licensing it back to Hero Games.
• And yet another review of the game, with some good information. Not sure that the “console” orientation is a plus, but there’s plenty of positive stuff conveyed.
• How to make sure players don’t make nekkid characters.

City of Heroes:

• I15 Open Beta is … open? Cool!
• More on the I15 Fifth Column content.
• Badges? We don’t need no steenkin’ Mission Architect badges! Which is good, because most of the farming-inducing ones are going away. (More info.)
• Ooooh … canon questions (and answers)!

At ZAM News:

Plusses: gorgeous, lots of character creation options, a power-switching mechanism that makes gameplay a bit more easy and varied.

I have to say here that of all of the MMORPGs I’ve played over the years, Champions Online has, hands down, some of the most stunning graphics I’ve seen in an MMORPG. The team decided to go for a cel-shaded comic book style with this game, and let me tell you, it works.

[…] In combat, players can ‘charge’ their attacks to make them do more damage, or gain extra utility in their execution. Not only this, but the game utilizes a form of ‘endurance,’ that goes up as players use light damage ‘charging’ moves, and is then expended when the player uses a heavy damage ‘draining’ move. Think of it like the Warrior’s ‘Rage’ system in World of Warcraft, or the Warpriest / Disciple of Khaine in Warhammer Online.

Interestingly, the game only allows players the ability to use seven abilities in any given scenario. Players can switch between three ‘roles,’ each with a customizable ability toolbar of 7 abilities. This effectively gives players a total of 21 powers to use when switching between one of their three stances, although switching stances comes with a yet to be determined cooldown. What this effectively does is allows players to break out of the one-character one-role cliché, and it doesn’t clutter up combat with 50+ skills.

Minuses: Clunky and not-yet-terribly informative UI, some repetitious content early on

All in all, Champions Online is shaping up to be a solid MMORPG, even if it is in beta, and for anyone interested in non-stop action and incredible character development depth, I’d highly suggest this beautiful MMORPG.

In a flurry of “RTFWS” inspiration, I actually started reading the material at the CO site. The background on heroes and villains demonstrate that they plan on drawin heavily from the already-established Champs universe, which should be all to the good. 

The Dev Blog has a wide array of info, all sort of muddled together. Nothing worrisome read yet — the more generic (non-class) bundling of powers sounds promising.

I’m actually looking forward to this, even if it’s been pushed back from July to September.

Okay, this looks like it will be more cool (or less lame) than you’d think. Though I’d still like a “map” emote that I can be looking at as I come up. “Shoulda taken a left turn at Albuquerque …”

From Massively‘s press betas:

Combat: Interesting use of low-level powers to build endurance that high-level powers then eat. Also interesting video-game-like use of holding down a key to build up a power. And blocks against certain types of attacks? Sounds complicated, but fun.

Character Creation: Time-consuming, but in an interesting way (if you’re one of those people who loves character creation). Stats-based, very RPG-like (well, duh). Power set archetypes, but also much more custom combos. Good variety of power sets — and, yes, power armor is finally a set all to itself. The character edit options sound even (if that’s possible) more flexible than CoX, and the ones you choose influence how your character stands and moves. And … facial expressions. And, it sounds like, a ton of costume options.

Sorcery powers video. Swinging travel video.

CO Dev Blog: One thing CO seems to have going for it is a background from the RPG over the last two decades. That will help a lot.

The First Five Levels: A lengthy intro tutorial which ends with a massive power-up to level 5 and your travel power (broad array, with colored effects, and options to start slow and build up or start off with a bang). Leveling can be added powers, or expansions / strengthening of existing ones (beyond basic power boosts from leveling). Map markers so you always know where you are going.

Choosing your Nemesis: This is a cool idea that never made it into CoX, but that Emmert has made part of CO. Spiffy.

Duplicate names: A way to avoid folks having to come up with “Captain Terrific,” “Capt. Terrific,” “Cap. Terrific,” “CaptainTerrific, ” “Captain.Terrific,” “Captain Teriffic,” etc. is worth its weight in gold.

I am considering it highly likely that I will try this out when it comes out.