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Champions Online: Pre-Launch Preview
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com's Michael Bitton takes an in-depth look at Cryptic Studios' upcoming superhero MMO, Champions Online.
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Cryptic Studios' debut effort "City of Heroes" released to much fanfare in 2004. While no one really knew anything about the company, the game carved out a niche for itself in the MMOG space as the first and only superhero MMORPG. Lauded by critics and fans alike for its flashy powers and out of this world character customization, Cryptic Studios had a real success on their hands. Fast forward an expansion, an IP sell off, and five years later, Cryptic Studios has returned with their spiritual successor to City of Heroes: Champions Online.
Read the Pre-Launch Preview
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Great Write up!
Extremely informative preview! Very well done.
For a guy like me who tried the open beta for a few days it really answered a lot of questions I had about the game that I wondered about after trying it.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
This was a very thorough article and well written.
It's nice to see something positive about Champions. The fan base seems to have been quite ahrd on them over a few monir issues in the last few weeks and this article really serves well to make Champions looke like the great MMORPG I think it will be.
Heck I even learned a few things I didn;t get to experience in the beta about end game. ( I tried to limit myself to power testing in the starting zones and didn;t let me toons get past lvl15 before Id startanother, I didn;t want to ruin the surprise so to speak.)
very nice article, and while I wont be playing champions, at least not yet. I really hope it does well.
Yeah it was. That guy actually made Champions seem like a fun game to play.
If it has any staying power and they revamp the combat system, switch to multiple servers instead of multi instanced copies of each zone, through out the cash shop, and add in secret identities, I'd seriously consider subbing up for a few months or so, but I'm pretty sure that none of that will happen other than secret identities which a few of the developers hinted at and teased that that would eventually be added to the game.
I hate that the game looks so good, but plays so horribly. I think the reason why the game seems good on paper is because it sounds awesome on paper, but it just seems so sterile and bland when you play it.
I love comics. I'm 31 and I'm subscribed to a few titles still. I love video games. I have and play on every current gen system (admitedly I play my 360 more than anything else. The PS3 seriously needs to get some better titles and a more streamlined and functional way to play games online. PS Home sucks.). I've played just about every MMORPG that I could possibly get my hands on.
You would think that this game would be a no-brainer for someone like me. I just can't get into it and it's frustrating to see a good concept fall so short of the mark.
In the end, DCUO will come out eventually and I hope that they can deliver.
If you liked city of villians / heroes, you will like this game. Didnt you like it , trust me you will hate it
Tryed the open beta, but the game is just so pc heavy ... and I got a game pc go figger
( btw didnt like it so much )
Then I'd quit.
Then I'd quit.
Ditto.
Ppl constantly complain "Too many empty servers" and "My server is dead, when are they going to merge servers" now you got a guy here complaining when a company tries to solve that issue.
Then I'd quit.
Ditto.
Ppl constantly complain "Too many empty servers" and "My server is dead, when are they going to merge servers" now you got a guy here complaining when a company tries to solve that issue.
Well EQ2 did the same thing and people don't like all the loading between zones because then it doesn't feel like an online world. The weird thing is even though EQ2 did the same thing they still threw tons of servers at it and they're empty anyways :
I played CO but I thought the combat sucked and I hated the world design.
Then I'd quit.
Ditto.
Ppl constantly complain "Too many empty servers" and "My server is dead, when are they going to merge servers" now you got a guy here complaining when a company tries to solve that issue.
Well EQ2 did the same thing and people don't like all the loading between zones because then it doesn't feel like an online world. The weird thing is even though EQ2 did the same thing they still threw tons of servers at it and they're empty anyways :
I played CO but I thought the combat sucked and I hated the world design.
CO is also a Zoned game, so no matter if it had multiple servers or not players would still encounter loading delays.
I've no idea what alternative there would be to ensure players don't end up on underpopulated servers, Cryptics solution seems the best workaround to me, unless ofc someone else has any bright ideas out there??
Then I'd quit.
Ditto.
Ppl constantly complain "Too many empty servers" and "My server is dead, when are they going to merge servers" now you got a guy here complaining when a company tries to solve that issue.
People only complain about that on games that are failing and losing subscribers fast enough to make some servers empty.
Tried: LotR, CoH, AoC, WAR, Jumpgate Classic
Played: SWG, Guild Wars, WoW
Playing: Eve Online, Counter-strike
Loved: Star Wars Galaxies
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, anything sandbox.
I have to agree on the game being PC heavy. I bought a newer video card just to play it and still can't crank it right up, but didn;t want to spend more than about $60.00Cdn on a card (Ge Force 9400GT) not the newest but still a pretty decent card and 1Gb of VRAM, it's no slouch on my extreme board with a dual core. Maybe time to buy a new PC next year. But still I would have thought I'd be able to crank the graphics right up and just hammer away with no choppiness. I have it at about 2/3 max video settings and it runs well now. it's a shame as I think alot of people willl be turned off by the huge video requirements.
Yeah it was. That guy actually made Champions seem like a fun game to play.
If it has any staying power and they revamp the combat system, switch to multiple servers instead of multi instanced copies of each zone, through out the cash shop, and add in secret identities, I'd seriously consider subbing up for a few months or so, but I'm pretty sure that none of that will happen other than secret identities which a few of the developers hinted at and teased that that would eventually be added to the game.
I hate that the game looks so good, but plays so horribly. I think the reason why the game seems good on paper is because it sounds awesome on paper, but it just seems so sterile and bland when you play it.
I love comics. I'm 31 and I'm subscribed to a few titles still. I love video games. I have and play on every current gen system (admitedly I play my 360 more than anything else. The PS3 seriously needs to get some better titles and a more streamlined and functional way to play games online. PS Home sucks.). I've played just about every MMORPG that I could possibly get my hands on.
You would think that this game would be a no-brainer for someone like me. I just can't get into it and it's frustrating to see a good concept fall so short of the mark.
In the end, DCUO will come out eventually and I hope that they can deliver.
I tried it also, really had high hopes it would be a great fun comic book game. But... just found it bland and generic, looks real nice, but just wasn't at all drawn in. Maybe in a few months it'll evolve into something I'll want to play.
Then I'd quit.
Ditto.
Ppl constantly complain "Too many empty servers" and "My server is dead, when are they going to merge servers" now you got a guy here complaining when a company tries to solve that issue.
Well they didnt solve anything here. Its worse. If you play alone then its wonderland for you. There were to many times in beta that my friends and me could not play together because the super tiny instances were ful 100people. you cant cue, wait inline.. nope you have to go to a smaller one and hope it dont fell up fast before your other friends get there.
Anyway nice write up.. but did everyone read the END GAME! Oh gee cant wait to get there
While most people regard the zones as an obstacle, I found them to be a great tool. If there weren't enough players around, I'd just switch to another zone. Too many? Switch to another zone. Having trouble with someone grabbing all the resources in a spot? Switch zones. The dreaded load screen, on my slow system, was never more than a ten seconds (typically much shorter, just a couple seconds). Even big areas like Millenium City loaded quickly. Changing zones is extremely easy and the game tells you which zone you're in at several places. The big zones, Canada, Southwest Desert, and Mil City are also quite big. Even with the faster travel powers, it still takes a while to get from one end to the other.
The game does have some other issues, most notably being so graphics-heavy (a long thread on the forums with people trying to supply information on the issue). But overall, it was a lot of cheesy fun.
-w
Then I'd quit.
Ditto.
Ppl constantly complain "Too many empty servers" and "My server is dead, when are they going to merge servers" now you got a guy here complaining when a company tries to solve that issue.
Well they didnt solve anything here. Its worse. If you play alone then its wonderland for you. There were to many times in beta that my friends and me could not play together because the super tiny instances were ful 100people. you cant cue, wait inline.. nope you have to go to a smaller one and hope it dont fell up fast before your other friends get there.
Anyway nice write up.. but did everyone read the END GAME! Oh gee cant wait to get there
Not to mention when you did hit one of the instanced missions and do it with a group, when you exit the instance group members get seperated into different instances. It's not a solution to the problem.
Not to mention when you did hit one of the instanced missions and do it with a group, when you exit the instance group members get seperated into different instances. It's not a solution to the problem.
er no they don't, 100% of my beta time was spent in a group.
Not to mention when you did hit one of the instanced missions and do it with a group, when you exit the instance group members get seperated into different instances. It's not a solution to the problem.
er no they don't, 100% of my beta time was spent in a group.
I didn't play at all during open beta and I didn't log in to the last 2 closed beta tests, but up until then grouping was always a crap shoot.
I didn't group in Alpha and I only grouped up a few times in CB and everytime we ran into issues.
All that aside the way they have the servers set up is exactly how Guild Wars has their game set up? In fact Guild Wars' combat system is much more engaging and fun to play and is infinitely more conducive to strategic and tactics based group combat than Champions is. Guild Wars also doesn't require a monthly fee to play.
What's so different about Champions that requires a monthly fee? The ability to jump? The option to choose different travel powers? Yeah... that warrants a monthly fee and a cash shop.
Sign me up please. I'd also like to purchase the brooklyn bridge and some ocean front property in Kansas.
Great write up.
Champions Online is a fun fast paced superhero game.
I personally hope they don't listen to idiot trolls. Take your stupidity someplace else.
A lot of you guys sure do hate on this game for little reasons.. I wanted to chime in and say I had a lot of fun in beta and can't wait for the game to start up. I love the customizability and I think combat and travel as a blast - which means the gameplay is fun, which all current MMO's are lacking IMO. Go solo some even-level mobs in WoW or LOTRO and tell me that's fun.. it's painfully boring. In this game combat is much more exciting.
This game is pretty fun to play. I've been playing CoH/CoV for a couple of years and I can definitely say this an upgrade. Big Upgrade.
I played the Open Beta. Liked the game a lot. Of course, like all MMOs its going to have some teething issues. I don't get all the hate and the comparison to Guild Wars is way off base. Guild wars was also party instances Champion instances are hundreds of people.
While both sharding and server partioning have there advantages and disadvantages for this game at least sharding is a much superior solution.
Not to mention when you did hit one of the instanced missions and do it with a group, when you exit the instance group members get seperated into different instances. It's not a solution to the problem.
er no they don't, 100% of my beta time was spent in a group.
I didn't play at all during open beta and I didn't log in to the last 2 closed beta tests, but up until then grouping was always a crap shoot.
I didn't group in Alpha and I only grouped up a few times in CB and everytime we ran into issues.
All that aside the way they have the servers set up is exactly how Guild Wars has their game set up? In fact Guild Wars' combat system is much more engaging and fun to play and is infinitely more conducive to strategic and tactics based group combat than Champions is. Guild Wars also doesn't require a monthly fee to play.
What's so different about Champions that requires a monthly fee? The ability to jump? The option to choose different travel powers? Yeah... that warrants a monthly fee and a cash shop.
Sign me up please. I'd also like to purchase the brooklyn bridge and some ocean front property in Kansas.
Now this is why i don't try to think twice before buying a game when this guy here is giving you bad things from the game and he didn't even spent a lot of time. What lvl did you reached, 8? you just spent time in the tutorial and desert/canada crisis? did you even join a supergroup and took down Dr destroyer? doesnt look like. I spent a lot of time i grouped up a lot of times, no issues about finishing a lair and the group split in different instance of the zone, you always end up in the same instance since there is an option to keep you all together and a checkbox that doesnt make the game chose an instance for you, you have 30 sec to decide wich one join and it even tell you where are you team, supergroup players and friends.
Pls dont judge a game you didn't spent more than 48 hours or reached at least lvl 25 for your nemesis, people are complaining about running out of content when even lumeria and Moster Island were closed for Open Beta. This game give you the choise to go solo or group and let me tell you something you will never ever take down Legendarys or cosmic alone they can basicly one shot you and if you get a build to try solo them you will spend more than 1 day to finish them off. The game is great, the articule is great and i invite you all to try it.
Nice review.. I just need to point out that Cryptic is penalizing a huge portion of it's pre-order customers.. Direct2Drive specifically.. We are not allowed to take part in the head start, despite paying for pre-order just like everyone else. Regardless whether or not they said this up front, I find it to be a terrible business practice..
My thoughts about it that I have been passing along to customer service and others:
I really don't think you can brush this under the carpet. There are a LOT of D2D customers angry that we aren't in on the head start. If it weren't for some of them being in somehow, I'd let it go. Don't use us as pawns in a contract and shatter my respect for your gaming studio. The launch is looking messier and messier as the hours go by...
Oh, and BTW.. I am part of a rather large gaming community about to launch a new site including reviews and guides. You were to be one of our first featured games.
--
psyconius Cthulhu
Gothika Studios
Not to mention when you did hit one of the instanced missions and do it with a group, when you exit the instance group members get seperated into different instances. It's not a solution to the problem.
er no they don't, 100% of my beta time was spent in a group.
I didn't play at all during open beta and I didn't log in to the last 2 closed beta tests, but up until then grouping was always a crap shoot.
I didn't group in Alpha and I only grouped up a few times in CB and everytime we ran into issues.
All that aside the way they have the servers set up is exactly how Guild Wars has their game set up? In fact Guild Wars' combat system is much more engaging and fun to play and is infinitely more conducive to strategic and tactics based group combat than Champions is. Guild Wars also doesn't require a monthly fee to play.
What's so different about Champions that requires a monthly fee? The ability to jump? The option to choose different travel powers? Yeah... that warrants a monthly fee and a cash shop.
Sign me up please. I'd also like to purchase the brooklyn bridge and some ocean front property in Kansas.
Now this is why i don't try to think twice before buying a game when this guy here is giving you bad things from the game and he didn't even spent a lot of time. What lvl did you reached, 8? you just spent time in the tutorial and desert/canada crisis? did you even join a supergroup and took down Dr destroyer? doesnt look like. I spent a lot of time i grouped up a lot of times, no issues about finishing a lair and the group split in different instance of the zone, you always end up in the same instance since there is an option to keep you all together and a checkbox that doesnt make the game chose an instance for you, you have 30 sec to decide wich one join and it even tell you where are you team, supergroup players and friends.
Pls dont judge a game you didn't spent more than 48 hours or reached at least lvl 25 for your nemesis, people are complaining about running out of content when even lumeria and Moster Island were closed for Open Beta. This game give you the choise to go solo or group and let me tell you something you will never ever take down Legendarys or cosmic alone they can basicly one shot you and if you get a build to try solo them you will spend more than 1 day to finish them off. The game is great, the articule is great and i invite you all to try it.
Look I started playing the game in the alpha phase, Oct of 2008. I'm pretty damn sure I spent more time with the game than you did.
I'm also I little tired of having to defend my point of view from people who were in the open beta and didn't really see what happened before then.
Not to mention most of the people who are talking so highly of the game never spent enough time with it to wear away the newness and to take off the "this is a new game and super cool" rose colored glasses.
Play the game for a few months and then come back and see if you aren't singing a different song.