Powers and stats.

jimsmith08

NDA has dropped http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?p=684041#post684041  (plus Aganazers thread) so ill give an impression of my time in game so far.

Powers and power sets.

 

Powers are freely choosen. You dont have to stick to one powerset, you can pick and choose from all of them at anytime. Some powers will require you to have a certain number of powers from its base set, or a number of powers as a whole. Youre able to have a wide choice at all times. Energy builders are largely the same thing with the only difference being ranged or melee. The powers are quite varied and allow you to choose a number of roles. You can gain dps, healing, CC, pet and buff skills from a variety of sets, with some sets ebbing in a certain direction. You can play the traditional healer or buffer if you wish. If you love pet classes, you have a huge choice of both controllable and non controllable combat pets as well as non combat fluff like action figures.

Powers can be customised in several ways. Advantages change how the power works or modifies its effects. Some examples being gaining an additional proc or CC effect, some having their damage altered or increased, others will enable charging to get more damage or knock back foes. All powers can be modified to give the user energy back on successful attacks. You can forget all of these and instead rank your powers up, increasing their damage or healing depending on their role.

You can also find items that will effect your powers. So far ive only seen proc damage ones, which are designed for one particular power and gives it an additional piece of damage (usually of a different source) on hits.

Powers can have their colours changed and have where they are cast from moved, so you can choose to shoot from your fists, palms, eyes, head etc and gain a new animation. You can even change the colour of your bullets and travel powers, such as changing ice slide from blue to purple.

Travel powers are varied, but some are really useless. Flight comes in several forms, but you can also have stuff like swinging and super jumping. Its best to test them all out and find one you like. You can also fight in some travel forms.

You can change your powers and role by respeccing, although this has a cost attached. This includes your super stats, advantages and talents and travel powers. All powers can be play tested inside the powerhouse base so you can try before you buy.

 

Stats.

Stats in champions work like any other game, but a lot of new types are introduced. There are no stats (bar a few) that actually do one thing. For example, there is no magic boosting stat, no ranged damage stat and no defense stat. Instead, you choose something called superstats which decides what your character will be based around. This has a heavy roleplay element attached. Instead of having the traditional dexterity or agility ranged bow user, you could play as somebody with super intelligence and gain extra bow damage through int. Each time you level up, your super stats will grow with you and give you a bonus to damage, healing or whatever your chosen skills do. This throws the traditional stats game out the window and allows for some nice customisation and choice.

the other part to this is secondary effects. Stats dont have a single role, they have several. Dex, like in many other games, adds to your crit chance and your damage redcution after a dodge. Strength slightly increases melee damage, but also allows you to break out of CC easier. what this means is that 2 characters can use the same stat for totally different reasons.

A melee character stacks strength and dex for greater melee damage and crit chance. He also wants to be less succeptable to roots so adds a little ego into the measure. A ranged magic caster could also make use of strength, ego and dexterity. He wants to be a kiter, and needs to be able to get free of roots and snares easily. By using strength alongside ego, he can make his job a lot easier, and the dex will add some extra ranged crit. So you have 2 players with a totally different style who can use the same stats to equal effect. This is one example, but there are many other reasons to choose a stat that compliments your play style. Look at intelligence; it reduces cooldowns, power costs and increases the damage that your pets do. Endurance increases your maximum energy, increases your energy recovery rate and gives you more energy back on attacks. Its a very good way of doing stats whilst giving you an awful lot of freedom.

Stats are also found on items. You have a total of 9 item slots made up of 3 item types: offense, defense and supportive. Items will be found for all 3 functions and will only fit in the slots according to their role. Stats from items dont scale up as much as your super stats, so its still not an item driven game, but instead gives you a nice extra buffer and choice to build yourself.

The item shop worries people had about uber items can be put to rest here. Your character gets the bulk of its effectiveness from super stats which scale with you as you level up, with talents playing a secondary role. Talents allow you to select a set of stats to boost yourself, and can be freely chosen from multiple combos. You get several chances to purchase talents through the game. Items cannot be overpowered as such as they only play a role, your dps and effectiveness mostly comes from Super stats, talents, skill ranks and advantages. Items only play a part, its not a gear based game at all.

Crafting also plays a big part of your character. You choose a crafting element that fits your stat choice and can then craft items that will be of use to you. This includes consumables, items and gadgets that have a secondary effect. Arms for example can make guns and grenades. The crafting is very expansive and each type has a huge number of items to make, all within their own little tab and tier. You can also break down items into parts as long as they fit your profession (eg, arms items can be broken down by arms crafters, but not scientists) which adds to your crafting skill. You can also find items from nodes out in the world.