Champions Online: The No-NDA Merged Edition

[Modern Angel]

Danger sense tingling...

[Nevermore]

[Lantyssa]

Heh.

[UnSub]

Hmm, following the WAR open beta plan then.

It's 50 000 free keys, plus those who pre-ordered.

[Kageru]

Possibly combined with Aion's limited server times. I would not be remotely surprised if it turned out to be "open beta weekends" in practice.

[Numtini]

I thought you had to be a fileplanet sub to get a key?

[Hutch]

I thought you had to be a fileplanet sub to get a key?

Yep. That Champions "open beta" post contains this link to the fileplanet page. Subscribe now!

[tmp]

http://www.massively.com/2009/07/16/champions-online-explains-microtransactions-high-level-unity-mi/

Few details on the microtransaction thing and high level content. It sounds like the microtransactions are going to be not just for services but also extra costume options and such (although they claim these will be obtainable through in-game means as well)

Seem to be setting themselves up for a failure with this one, unless the competition gets equally greedy/silly... microtransactions or regular fees are one thing, but combining them... welp.

[UnSub]

I don't care about MT + subs because it has been indicated that most things that can be bought through MTs can also be unlocked through normal gameplay. In an argument of money vs time I can use either to achieve my goals, I'm happy... and I'll probably use money since I'm more time poor than money poor.

Final execution counts, of course, but I'm not about to weep about micro-trans on principle.

[Kageru]

Cryptic also explains the high level content that will be available to players in the UNITY Missions. Open only to those heroes who hit level 40, UNITY missions are the most dangerous missions in the game. The way it works is interesting -- each day there will be five different hot-spots where powerful heroes are needed. Once those five threats are dealt with, a sixth custom mission is unlocked. The rewards for UNITY mission completion are substantial, including special upgrades or entry into high-level team areas with rewards of the same caliber.

The end game is doing wow style dailies... I'm so impressed.

[Numtini]

It sounds like WoW dailies, but first you have to do five other quests to get the daily every single day?

I mean... grind extends subscription and stuff is one thing, but that's...

[eldaec]

Sounds exactly like running radio missions followed by a safeguard/mayhem mission in CoH.

And six of them would probably be 90-120 minutes of play, based on CoH.


In fact, all that really says is 'there are missions at level 40'. Why are people surprised or irritated by this?

The real end game is going to be 'start a new alt', and a damn good thing too, this is the only way to keep the low end zones populated.

[Kageru]

I think a non-class based system (and a couple of other reasons) is going to mean that alts will be less common than they were in CoH.

[Triforcer]

Note:  out of the hundreds of cranky COH grognards who are just salivating for the moment that they can type "ITS JUST LIKE COH!!", could one of you (when NDA-appropriate) give a beta review written for people who don't care about that, and just want to know about the game on its merits?  Thanks. 

Just thought I'd write this now, before we get 100 variations of people acting out their COH traumas. 

[Nissl]

While NDA remains up, I think it's ok for me to point people to the last 6 pages on the PA forums since a Cryptic dev posts there.  A bunch of people in "new shiny" excitement phase, but wade through that and there is also some very interesting info about the current state of grouping, balance, combat design, world layout, skills, etc.

[Kageru]

I look forward to posting my thoughts as soon as the gag is removed.

It seems fairly obvious it's not going to be like CoH because, well, they sold CoH and could now potentially get sued for copying the mechanics. That and second system effect of course.

[Nissl]

Wouldn't have expected the hostility after F13 lined up opposite PA in WAR.  But suit yourself.

[Bzalthek]

I'm not a PA hater, but there's something really, fundamentally wrong with their forum community.  I'm a Internet Vet(tm) and nothing really phases me anymore, but there's this... vibe?  over there that while I can't put my finger on it, just sorta creeps me the fuck out.

[eldaec]

If it were just CoH v2, I'd be happy to sign up for a few months, mess around creating a few characters up till the middle levels, then wander off to do something else.

The best thing about CoH is that it doesn't have illusions of grandeur, it is trying to be a game, not a lifestyle.


But CO isn't really half as much like CoH as people keep saying.

[Trippy]

People need to stop calling this shit "micro transactions". Spending $10 for a server transfer is NOT a fucking micro transaction. This is worse than people calling all online games MMOs.

[Hayduke]

No problem with PA here, other than the terrible comics.  But it's just too big to lurk on or join.  And those last six pages on the CO thread there are mostly twitter-style updates on how far along their downloads are (31% now... omg 56%... holy crap 77%), links to their heroes, or statements that the game rules but

[UnSub]

Note:  out of the hundreds of cranky COH grognards who are just salivating for the moment that they can type "ITS JUST LIKE COH!!", could one of you (when NDA-appropriate) give a beta review written for people who don't care about that, and just want to know about the game on its merits?  Thanks. 

Sure.

I still enjoy CoH/V and I don't have any issue with Cryptic. So I won't be going with the Jackhate "he personally nerfed Regen 300 times and said our tears tasted like rainbows on his tongue then went off to make a new game leaving me all alone" route.

[UnSub]

I try to be fair in my fanboism.

I like CoH/V, but dammit if the last few issues haven't been misfires.

I like Cryptic, but I'm willing to call them when they do stupid stuff.

[Tannhauser]

So which version is everyone getting, 360 or PC? 

[Numtini]

So which version is everyone getting, 360 or PC? 

It's only coming for the PC in September.

Gamestop says March for a 360 version, but that looks like a placeholder. I suspect that will depend greatly on how well the PC version does. Conan was announced for console and there were some pretty solid hints about Warhammer--like showing it running on a 360. But as we know, plans change.

[kaid]

I think the 360 version really depends on banging out patching stuff with microsoft. Apparently the requirements for xbox live patches for games is one of the big sticking points for MMO's games on the 360 and for games that have both PC and 360 versions not being able to play together on the same servers.

[Sky]

Apparently the requirements for xbox live patches for games is one of the big sticking points for MMO's games on the 360

Also, how the hell do you cram an mmo interface onto a gamepad?

[kaid]

Honestly a 360 controller has enough buttons if setup well. Also the 360 has a keypad attatchment to the controller that could be used for yet more options. I still cannot see myself really playing MMO much on a console. I use my console and PC for different games such as I almost never play a shooter on a console the mouse keyboard interface is just so much more natural.

[Sky]

In EQ2 I have seven hotbars, in AoC I have five and I'm running out of room. The 360 has 70 buttons?

[Nissl]

In EQ2 I have seven hotbars, in AoC I have five and I'm running out of room. The 360 has 70 buttons?

I figured that was a big part of why they were limiting players to having 7 skills available at once (think they're expanding it slightly now). Face buttons, then trigger+face buttons. I'd assume stuff like buffs and consumables is going to be very limited.

[Nevermore]

It sounds like Phantasy Star Online only with superheroes.

[Kageru]

I would expect there will only be a 360 version if the PC release sells very, very well. And since I don't believe it will (superhero games are niche to begin with) I wouldn't wait on it.

[tmp]

In EQ2 I have seven hotbars, in AoC I have five and I'm running out of room. The 360 has 70 buttons?

D,DF,F+P

but really it's not like games haven't cracked this issue of 'million moves and only so many buttons' ages ago.

[Kageru]

Yeah, you can have 2^the number of buttons. However in practical terms a console owner probably expects one button to have a single function?

Certainly the designers think so as all the console friendly MMO's (The Agency, DCUO, CO) have extremely small action bars.

[Triforcer]

Paging schild, lifetime sub alert!

https://www.champions-online.com/exclusive_specials (a dev says elsewhere this is USD 200)

Interesting point in there is that STO closed beta apparently begins "later this year."  This surprised me, as I always got the sense when listening to the STO devs talk that it is still very early goings over there. 

If closed beta is delayed, expect calls of "consumer fraud" and "I'll sue!"