noel-holmes
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Captain's Log: Arc Q&A with Perfect World's Noel Holmes
A week or two ago, I came across a dev blog about the new portal called Arc on the Star Trek Online website that seemed to raise more questions than provide answers. Not unlike most passionate gamers, I reacted emotionally and admittedly with some unfounded anger. I realized very quickly that if I was having that kind of reaction, then there were likely many others who were having similar reactions. So I did the only thing that I could: I contacted the representatives of Perfect World to gain some clarification to the blog and hopefully ease my concerns. Instead of a shoving a palm to my face, Perfect World made available Noel Holmes in the hopes he would be able to clarify not only my concerns but also concerns borne by other Star Trek Online players as well.
Cryptic: We didn't want to delete your Batman clone, we had to
One of the most talked about features of Champions Online is the outstanding character creator, practically a game in itself. It's a great part of the game, but there's a downside. It's so versatile, and you can do so much, that you can easily make the perfect Gollum or G.I. Joe clone. That's not as awesome as it sounds, because your character will get downgraded to a plain old shirt-and-jeans-wearing guy sooner or later. "Why is Cryptic so mean?" you might ask. The latest dev blog explains that that's not the case at all. Noel "Destra' Holmes has quite a bit to say about the ongoing issue of IP violations, but it boils down to this: "The requirement to remove IP Violation characters from Champions is completely based on the fact that having IP Violation characters in our game puts us at a legal risk, and the unfortunate fact of the matter is that we are required to remove them from our game, or the owner of the IP in question can take us to court for stealing their stuff." The full blog entry is very informative, and well worth a read for any Champions Online fan.
Champions Online GM journal: Where we've been
Champions Online has a brand new dev blog out from lead GM Noel Holmes: "I wanted to take some time to let the community know what we were up to, and what's been keeping us busy for the last few weeks." The Champions Online dev team has found plenty to keep themselves busy lately, working out the bugs and updates that are part of rolling out a new game. Things like restoring deleted characters and rolling characters back are no longer just wishful thinking. Of course, dealing with the problem of an unresponsive Nemesis was a big issue on the table. Fixing the issue obviously isn't just a matter of a few keystrokes in such an involved scenario, and Holmes takes some time to explain how they went about taking care of this. It's not all bug fixes and putting out fires, though. The dev team has been paying close attention to player feedback in these first few months, using it as a guide to future improvements. The full entry can be read here.
Meet the Champions Online lead GM team
Very infrequently do we get to see the people who are diligently working behind the customer service counter in our online games. They listen to all our requests (frivolous or not,) they free us from the shackles of bad environmental clipping, and they make sure we're having a fun time in our game of choice. They are the game masters, and Champions Online is taking the time to give them a whole interview on their website.The interview focuses on the three lead GMs of Champions Online (and soon to be Star Trek Online): Jim "Jaydeegee" Garner, Markus "Villarigor" Kraus, and Noel "Destra" Holmes. The three of them tackle some of the questions of customer service, including their day-to-day jobs, dealing with customers, reporting bugs, and how they take their time to enjoy the game. If you want the full story on their answers, check out the interview on the Champions Online main site.
