Champions Online: The No-NDA Merged Edition

[Sky]

Not to derail this fine griping about Cryptic...

I just figured out you could drop the initial powers you are given at creation. I made a new Power Armor guy, Maschinenmensch, two nights ago. Last night I got out of the tutorial and went to the powerhouse, and in the remove powers window, it hit me. I never used the Charge power with Moleculator after I got the Maintain one. So I dropped the Charge power and took the Maintain in its place, which let me get the Micro Munitions (iirc, the little missiles) in the crisis zones, which was great. Ferd surrounded by zombies? Airstrike from max range.

I also decided to change up from a DPS build to a more balanced build, and since I took Invulnerability first I took Con as my first superstat. While I run out of missiles faster, I have almost double hps and 26%/6.1 damage reduction at level 10, which is pretty nice for survivability.

[DaZog]

Con/Int superstatted should serve you well. While Invlun has a Str component, it only buffs the absorb damage portion, and you can slot +str in Offense primary and either offense or defense secondaries, as Con is primarily defense, while Int is Utility.

Power Armour is one of the most powerful powersets in the game. Take Electric Sheath along with Chest Beam for massive particle damage cheese.

[Sky]

Int to reduce the cost of powers, right? Does it also reduce the cooldowns? I'm still kind of a newb here. I was thinking of going with End as a second superstat to have more of a pool to play with, but if Int can basically have the same kind of effect and give me the secondary effect of helping with the timers it would be pretty cool.

[Malakili]

Int to reduce the cost of powers, right? Does it also reduce the cooldowns? I'm still kind of a newb here. I was thinking of going with End as a second superstat to have more of a pool to play with, but if Int can basically have the same kind of effect and give me the secondary effect of helping with the timers it would be pretty cool.

Int and End is a good combo for Power Armor because power armor abilities can be used at the same time as long as they are different slots (chest, shoulder, whatever).  Having a large end pool, and cheap powers means you can absolutely unload with a ton of stuff at once.  Also, endurance makes you get more energy per pop from your energy builders, meaning you refill faster.  Int does reduce cooldowns as well, but if I recall, the effect isn't drastic.

[DaZog]

Unless you superstat it. It's more for the costs of powers than anything. Power Armour is a hungry, hungry beast when you have multiple toggles going.

You could take the Quarry passive from Archery instead of Invuln, take the adv that heals you on enemy defeat. Once you get going in PA, things tend to just die.

[UnSub]

Based on a test of 1 session, I found that setting /maxfps 25 suddenly stopped the game dying all the time. Thanks to whoever above in this thread suggested going that path.

[taolurker]

Based on a test of 1 session, I found that setting /maxfps 25 suddenly stopped the game dying all the time. Thanks to whoever above in this thread suggested going that path.

I think that was me in the other Crypic FAIL thread (STO), but, you're welcome.

[Khaldun]

Personally, I felt that Daeke was a piss poor community manager.  It may have not been his fault directly, but there was little to no communication or even 'fluff' CO shit like lore articles, dev interviews etc.

Daeke annoyed me in the first two months of live because most of his community management consisted of occasional sucks of fanboy cock with little snarks and a few "oops, we completely fucking broke something with the last patch, it'll get fixed soon, kthnx" posts. But it wasn't his fault if he didn't have anything meaningful to communicate at that point because in fact there were no meaningful plans to respond to pressing issues and design problems. In the first two months of live, the skeleton crew actually managing the game were more obsessed with assfucking the levelling curve or nerfing powers with all the meticulous care of a drunk driver.

[Sky]

Unless you superstat it. It's more for the costs of powers than anything. Power Armour is a hungry, hungry beast when you have multiple toggles going.

Yeah, just got the minigun toggle. Still lvl 12 with MM, so going to superstat Int next level, I think. Dropping powers is still fairly cheap, so now's the time to play around with it.

I do love the toggles. Unleashing the missile swarm, then hitting the leader mob with the minigun and  beam weapon...awesome.

[Bandit]

Unless you superstat it. It's more for the costs of powers than anything. Power Armour is a hungry, hungry beast when you have multiple toggles going.

Yeah, just got the minigun toggle. Still lvl 12 with MM, so going to superstat Int next level, I think. Dropping powers is still fairly cheap, so now's the time to play around with it.

I do love the toggles. Unleashing the missile swarm, then hitting the leader mob with the minigun and  beam weapon...awesome.

I believe Invulnerability scales with strength as well (from recollection), so if it is your primary defense then don't ignore it.

[DaZog]

Yeah, it scales with Con (damage reduction) and Str (damage absorb). I personally find the Con portion much more beneficial, as the Str portion is applied after the reduction, IIRC.

And with minigun, just wait until you get the Teflon Coated Rounds advantage.

[Sky]

I went for Con because it also has the benefit of giving me a crapload of hps vs Str just pumping knockback. I think I have been defeated a couple times, but just because I don't pay attention to hps at all with MM. 25% reduction plus almost twice as many hps at level 12 plus massive area damage bursts and a decent single target maintain has been a lot of fun. I will try to look for stuff that has a Str effect on it, though.

Plus I look pretty spiffy, been getting a few compliments on the costume. (Costume? This is no costume! This is the result of a madman's sick experiments! (Maschinenmenschen and whatnot, wiki it)).

[ghost]

I have the hardest time getting past the character creation bit on this.  It is really spectacular and the gaming leaves a lot to be desired.

[Malakili]

I have the hardest time getting past the character creation bit on this.  It is really spectacular and the gaming leaves a lot to be desired.

This is probably why the free trial is actually hurting more than helping them.  Granted, I have no idea if that is actually true, I'm just assuming it.  If you can get the best part of the game for free, why bother paying?

[Bandit]

It is my understanding that the trial only lets you play until the point before the initial crisis missions?  At that point, you can't even test out the travel powers, which are also well done. They should be showcasing that and at least a taste of the open power selection.

[Sky]

They should gimp options in the trial.

Alkiera has more hours in the trial than I have in the game, and I've been playing like mad :)

I just unlocked my second costume slot on MM and went to give him "civvies". There was a guy parked working on costumes who had the coolest costume that I totally want to steal, but I can't figure out how he did the head. Looks like a full helm, but not bulbous like a full helm and he still has eyes. Maybe an unlocked part? It looks kinda like the cyborg head, but without features.

edit: The costume in question:

[Bandit]

Unfortunately Sky, that is one of the 'Art Deco' pieces rewarded to lifetime subscribers.

Interesting Ask Cryptic:

Halorin: Where does Champions Online fit into Cryptic's plans a year from now? Two years? Three? And what resources are Cryptic willing to invest in the game see those plans to fruition?

Jackalope: We’ve just started working on the next step of widening the Champions Universe and we’ve nailed down our ongoing content plans. In short, you can expect to see new adventures every other month (roughly). The content will be far more story based and focused on the background of the game. Meanwhile, we’ve got some other things afoot (and some of you might be able to deduce what that is) and we’ll talk about it more soon.

Darth-Log: How confident are you that Champions Online can succeed considering its current lackluster performance and in lieu of upcoming competition? What have you learned, what are your short term considerations and long term goals?

Chronomancer: We remain dedicated to the Champions Universe, and we have plans to continue to grow it. While our numbers of players is less than we would like, it is also more than several other MMOs that continue to service their communities. The upcoming expansion is an excellent example of our plan to make the game bigger and better while also addressing the desires of our players.

We learned a great many lessons from Champions, and I think you can see some of that knowledge expressed in how we ran our beta testing and approached content creation in Star Trek Online. Game development is continued learning, iteration, and alteration to fit the needs of an ever-changing market. A game that was a huge hit five or ten years ago probably wouldn’t do anywhere near as well today. The interests and demands of gamers have changed. So we have to learn from our mistakes as well as our successes and move forward.

In that regard, we’re going to be focusing more on creating content to provide multiple paths of advancement within Champions Online. The plan is to create more of what you want in smaller bites so we can do them on shorter timelines. We also want to provide more ways and reasons for players to group, which is what much of the Flashback and Difficulty Slider work has been focused on.

In the long term, we’re working on creating new stories, game play mechanics, and locales for the Champions universe. We’re increasing our presence in the community and being more open and communicative with you so you know what we’re thinking and working on. And perhaps most importantly, we’re continuing to look for ways that we can make Champions a better game.

FongSolo: What is Cryptic doing, or even planning behind the scenes to rebuild good faith in the company and this product that many of us paid the lifetime subs for?

Arkayne: Aside from a ton of things that we just can't talk about right now, but will be very soon, we're actively making a couple of changes around here: We're stepping up the communication. We're going to do more Ask Cryptics, more Dev Chats, we're going to be in-game, playing with you more, Our GMs are going to start letting you know the status on the current bugs, and the entire development team is going to start being more active on the forums. On top of that, we also moved Stormshade back to Champions. We know you don't know him well yet, but believe us when we say, he gets really loud when you guys aren't happy. Oh, and that "soon" we're talking about up there, that's not a "soon(tm)" that's a soon, as in as soon as humanly possible soon.

Derangement: Are there any plans to eventually include more non-seasonal content as part of a free update, or will you be focusing the revenues from monthly subscriptions on bug fixes and otherwise upgrading the game's core, while relying on microtransactions for added content?

Stormshade: We have plans to add more free content to the game very soon, not seasonal stuff, and we'll be talking about that shortly. (Sorry gang, you're not getting a Valentine's Day Event, but we do still love you.)

Heathenish: I'd like to know what the relationship between STO code and CO code is. Because this past patch seems like you guys just dropped the "improved" STO engine right back into CO. Seems like a crazy thing to do, but for instance the direction-reversing and crazy camera bugs seem to have come straight from STO beta. Also, are both games sharing the same server? It doesn't seem fair to have login problems because some other game is flooded.

Poz: Champs and STO share Cryptic's global services: the chat and mail server, the account server, and proxy servers. The games themselves do not share any servers. As you noted, the account server is what we've had some problems with due to Star Trek. Unfortunately, we couldn't safely change how our system works and split the two games apart there. Many of the load issues are fixed already, and we have programmers whose highest priority is keeping the account server working smoothly.

IchbinVol: Will there be any reason to have a theme based character in the future? Perhaps a synergy bonus for having a certain set of skills?

BigOtter: That's actually one of the goals of our Tier 4 powers being introduced in our upcoming expansion - to provide high-end thematic meta-powers for each of the power groups.

DawningDestiny: When is the melee rebalancing coming? You've talked a lot about it, but I've seen nothing that wasn't a nerfy baseball bat to the face when it comes to melee. It's by far the most underwhelming, underpowered set in the game. So yeah, what's your timetable for that fix?

Akinos: Our melee review is currently underway. It is a massive review that involves 5 full framework reviews as well as an overall look at melee as a whole. It’s too early to give an ETA but rest assured is it being worked on.

[UnSub]

I appreciate that at least they'll say publicly that things haven't been going well. Lots of companies won't.

It's all just words, of course - every MMO company is publicly dedicated to its products until the day that it isn't - but they are the right words.

[Sky]

Unfortunately Sky, that is one of the 'Art Deco' pieces rewarded to lifetime subscribers.

Dammit.

[Bandit]

Heh Vibora Bay expansion is now free (March 2010). Well, Well.

* Vibora Bay Becomes Revelation
      The expansion formerly known as Vibora Bay has a new, more descriptive name: Champions Online – Revelation! We’ll be talking quite a bit more about it in the coming weeks.
    * It’s Free!
      We heard our community and we acted. Champions Online – Revelation will now be available to everyone at no extra charge. That is a free expansion pack for all Champions Online players.
    * A True Expansion
      Champions Online – Revelation is a full-fledged expansion. It’s a brand new way for you and your friends to enjoy the game together.
    * March, 2010
      Revelation will be available mid-March, 2010. Video, screens, interviews, previews ... . All will be coming very soon.

And here's a quick message from our Executive Producer, Bill Roper:

    Recently, there has been a lot of internal debate regarding the Revelation expansion and how it should be delivered to our community. Simply, Revelation represents some of the best work to date on Champions. The expansion features an epic storyline filled with noble heroes and terrifying villains and it's set in gorgeous new environments. We've also incorporated many suggestions from the community on what they want: new gameplay areas, new powers, new rewards, and more challenging gameplay are just some of the additions.

    And so, while we may have originally built Revelation to be a paid expansion pack, we reconsidered our decision based on recent community discussion. Our community means everything to us and if we can make them happy, we will.

    I'd like to reassure everyone that going free does not in any way imply Revelation is unworthy of a price tag. It is still legitimate expansionary content -- same as ever. Now it's just very, very nicely priced expansionary content. No better price than free, right?

    We'll be releasing more information on Revelation very soon. Until then, start leveling up your Champions!

Thank you all so much for your feedback and continued support. We’ll see you in Revelation!

[Malakili]

Heh Vibora Bay expansion is now free (March 2010). Well, Well.

Hmm, interesting choice.  I mean, as a free expansion, there is a good chance I'll check it out, unlike before.  However, now that they have set the precedent of free expansions and caving to their community re: price.  Still, I think its a good decision, at this point they need to do everything they can to get people in the game, and can worry about future expansions later.

[Tannhauser]

Is this a first?  A paid xpac turned free?  I might re-sub around late March and see whats going on.  

[Kovacs]

Does anyone really thik this has anything to do with community feedback? 


Fake edit:  Unless by community feedback they mean the vast swathes of 'mmo'ers' who aren't part of the community.

[HaemishM]

It shows that if you deliver an unfinished game, charge a subscription fee on top of the box fee and then try to stiff the customers for ANOTHER box fee for features that were supposed to be in at release, people are going to call you money-grubbing fuckwads and not buy your shit. But then Cryptic has always charged too much for an expansion, IMO (Blizzard does as well, for comparison's sake).

[Malakili]

Does anyone really thik this has anything to do with community feedback? 


Fake edit:  Unless by community feedback they mean the vast swathes of 'mmo'ers' who aren't part of the community.

There was an uproar on their forums, I'm not sure what other measure you can use.

[Slyfeind]

And they just got themselves a re-subscriber. Me! Bravo!

Edit: When Vibro go live, of course. Not before.

[Morfiend]

Maybe I will resub for this also. I really liked the combat in this game, but to much buggyness and crap at release. Also, I would love to actually play this game with some people and not just by my self.

[Kageru]

No reason to assume it was the forum that got their attention. They are charting subscriptions after all even if they don't make that information public. I have no problem believing that a lot of people were on the fence about the value of their subscription and found the Vibora Bay information to be a good reason to give it up.

That's almost certainly what Daeke got canned for. The plan was to keep people sticking around in the hopes the new content would refresh the game. And dropping the $-bomb wouldn't have been as much of an issue if it was good and more importantly available immediately.

[UnSub]

From the little I dealt with him I liked Daeke, but the first rule of community management is "Don't throw rocks at the bee hive". Daeke released the info on VB poorly and got everyone angried up.

[Malakili]

No reason to assume it was the forum that got their attention. They are charting subscriptions after all even if they don't make that information public. I have no problem believing that a lot of people were on the fence about the value of their subscription and found the Vibora Bay information to be a good reason to give it up.

Probably true, although the news today seems to have been received very well.  There is even a thread on the first page of their forums saying "Buy Cryptic Points in support of the decision!"   I don't know how many people actually are doing it, but I guess it does show that the community is willing to put money into the game if they feel they are being treated well.

[Slyfeind]

Sometimes I wonder if they're doing a double-psyche every time they do this. "Let's release this content for free. BUT FIRST we'll tell players we're charging money, and THEN act like we're changing our minds! We'll be heroes!!!"

Heh. Funny. I originally misspelled "heroes" as "whores." Just sayin'.

[ghost]

I've been dicking around with this a bit while I have down time at work.  They've certainly improved it from the first couple of months.  It seems a lot more stable and fluid.   

[Malakili]

http://forums.champions-online.com/showpost.php?p=1471636&postcount=64

Apparently there are more than 20k subscribers! (woo?)  Honestly, this is meaningless enough not to be news the way its worded, but since subscriber size is something we've been talking about in this thread, it seemed worth posting.

[Kageru]

Several thousand of which are lifetime subscribers who are a revenue negative going forward. Then again, it's a nice spin regardless of what their numbers actually are. He's a product advocate not a neutral party.

[ghost]

Is AoE in general ridiculously powerful in this game or just sparkstorm?  I can burn down like three or four mobs to nothing in a second or so with that power.