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Behind the Mask: The real state of the game
Although Champions Online's most recent State of the Game has been out for a while, I sort of avoided talking about it in previous editions of Behind the Mask. The main reason was because I really wanted to cover the new powersets. However, that doesn't mean I don't have any comments on it. If you look at the history of the State of the Game and Ask Cryptic entries, they fluctuate quite a bit between good information and annoying PR. The January SOTG was full of annoying PR, and it bothered me greatly. It felt dishonest. I saw a lot of hype on little things that no one wanted and very little on what people really wanted. This week, I'm going to talk about the real state of the game: where CO is and where it needs to go. I'll also talk about some of the future stuff that Robobo mentioned in the SOTG. Is it good or bad? We'll see!
Behind the Mask: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
Champions Online released two powersets recently, and I finally got time to sit down and crunch numbers on the new Wind powers. Wind has been live for a few weeks now, and the Squall archetype uses its powers to push enemies around the battlefield and rock the damage charts. Wind has been one of the most frequently requested powersets since Heavy Weapons hit the game, and I was excited to play around with the set. Does the Wind powerset meet the expectations players had for it? This week on Behind the Mask, I set out to find the answer to that question.
Behind the Mask: The dangers of roleplaying as an outlet
Recently, I've run into some troubling developments while roleplaying in Champions Online. I've encountered quite a few "troll characters" who seem designed soley to irritate and annoy other people. The characters in question are often played by otherwise-good roleplayers, which makes me wonder: Why would someone do this? This is as much a topic for Storyboard as it is for Behind the Mask, but because it is very common among Champions Online roleplayers, I feel it deserves extra consideration. This article isn't going to finger-point at bad roleplayers and say why they're wrong. Rather, the point of this column is to inform good roleplayers about elements of RP that can quickly ruin people's fun.
Behind the Mask: Angels and Devils
Last week on Behind the Mask, we talked about the basic dimensional structure of the Champions universe and its parallels with the Kabballah. This week, we take you a bit deeper into the mythos of Champions Online. We'll take a look at the Astral Plane, or Yetzirah, and the key places that exist there. I'll be focusing heavily on the Quaternion -- a series of four planar zones within the Lower Astral Plane that embody most fantasy elements critical to the Champions Universe. If you have ever wondered about demons and angels, this is a must-read. The Vibora Bay story arc paints a very unusual picture about the nature of these planes, and we'll be covering just what Heaven and Hell are in respect to that story. We'll also be covering faeries, elves, dwarves, and other popular fantasy elements. If you're planning on creating a roleplaying character who fits into a fantasy subtype, travels through dimensions, or just uses magic, this information will be critical to you!
Behind the Mask: Between this world and the next
One of the exciting things about writing about Champions Online is that there is a huge amount of lore and backstory behind the game. Although Behind the Mask has a definite focus on concrete game information (that's just how I roll), the lore is always something I'm excited to cover. It offers a look into Champions that can't be experienced with just the online game. This week we're going to look at alternate dimensions in the Champions universe. I was going to take a more indepth look at the background behind the war between Heaven and Hell, but unfortunately there is so much information that paints necessary frameworks for those story elements. It's unfortunate, but the information I have to go over this week is pretty crazy stuff. Before you go through this, you may want to check out some of my other lore articles, including my magic lore article and my general lore primer. I do restate all the necessary stuff here, but having a broader understanding of what's going on can do nothing but help. A lot of the information here is from The Mystic World sourcebook, but there's also a fair bit of stuff cobbled together from ingame lore and some other sourcebooks. Definitely check them out if you want more information on these subjects.
Behind the Mask: The Force Unleashed
Now that The Old Republic has hit the shelves, it seems like everyone has something to say about it. Cryptic seems to acknowledge it in its own unusual way: by lampshading it. Enter the Unleashed, Champions Online's newest free archetype. No, you're not misreading me here; the Unleashed is not a gold archetype. If you make an account right now, you can play the Unleashed from the moment you enter the character select screen, without spending a dime. Since it's the ninth free archetype, you'd think that he'd be a stable, bread-and-butter class. However, the Unleashed is nothing but. His wackiness approaches the Impulse, but where the Impulse is kind of ineffectual, the Unleashed is deadly efficient. Interested in a sword-wielding knight who slings force blasts? Hit the jump and we'll see what Cryptic's take on a Jedi can do.
Behind the Mask: A way to improve microtransaction consumables
A couple of weeks ago, I lamented the existence of grab bags in Champions Online and how they could be made more worthwhile. Although I made quite a few suggestions on what could be changed, the main concern was that the consumables placed in the grab bags were simply not worth anything. Improving the value of C-Store consumables won't appease the vocal minority whose sense of entitlement tells them that they deserve the ultra-rare grab bag items. These people only see the grab bags as chances for costume unlocks, so making the consumables worth the 80 CP ($1 US) won't matter to them. For the general public, though, making the consumables worth the gamble makes the grab bag items much more desirable. This week on Behind the Mask, we'll look at the C-Store consumables and weigh in on whether they're worth the money. If they're not, we'll look at what could be done to fix it!
Behind the Mask: What does unbalanced even mean?
One of the major criticisms of Champions Online is a lack of game balance. People claim that the phrase "your own hero, your own story" doesn't cover the fact that your hero might be a gimp compared to someone else's. Although archetypes have their own balance issues (even among themselves), this complaint most commonly leveled at the freeform game where there are millions of possible characters. However, I think that most armchair game theorists have a terrible understanding of what "balance" even means. Decades of competitive gaming (yeah, I'm that old) have given me a comprehensive understanding of what the term means, and I think it's worth looking at how CO stacks up.
Behind the Mask: Are grab bags a scam?
Everyone's heard of the "gift box" phenomenon. It's a common theme in F2P MMOs to release an item that doesn't have guaranteed contents and instead has a random selection from a pool of items. Sometimes there are rare bonus items inside; other times there are things the buyer didn't really want. Champions Online has taken its second foray into this territory with the Service and Cursed Grab Bags, a pair of C-Store items that grant a chance at a variety of tradable goodies. Gift box items sell to a variety of people. Some find the idea of chance more fun, and others absolutely must have the rare items and will spend lots of money trying to get them. Are the grab bags a scam, though? After the jump, we'll look at just why that is and hopefully give you enough information to come to your own conclusion.
Behind the Mask: Charging to maximum
Once upon a time before the Champions Online beta, I was introduced to the idea of charged attacks. The concept seemed pretty cool; you had your basic attack, and charging the attack would do something neat and special. Unfortunately, CO kind of fell short on my expectations. Energy is used for all attacks, rather than just special or charged attacks, and it builds much too quickly. The choice to charge an attack is not as much of a tactical decision and mostly hinges on how much health the enemy has left. This week on Behind the Mask, we're going to cover charge powers. Although some of this may seem obvious or simple, there is a lot of nuance to be understood. I won't treat you guys like noobs or idiots when it comes to these mechanics; we're going to look at the in-depth reasons why charging powers isn't the best idea in CO.
Behind the Mask: Comparing the archetype bruisers
A lot of people seem to get the wrong idea about Champions Online's Gold archetypes. For the most part, the Gold archetypes are simply different options to play with. As I mentioned previously, the Master is kind of an exception, since it's the only dedicated archetype tank. However, this does not mean that the Master is the beat-all-end-all or that Gold archetypes are outright superior to Silver ones. For the most part, the Silver archetypes are better at their focused roles than the comparable Gold archetypes. This week, we're going to look at the damage-soaking tanky archetypes and compare them. I'll also give a quick comparison between these bruisers and a comparable freeform hero. There's quite a few to cover, so let's get to it!
Behind the Mask: The choice of team support
Last week's Behind the Mask covered Champions Online's super team support solo monster, the Mind, but I thought it would be prudent to cover the other ways a player can support a team. Some of this will tread existing ground, as I've already talked about the Mind and Grimoire archetypes in previous editions, and both have one of the four team support options. I'll be covering the Mind's passive in more detail, taking a brief look again at the Grimoire's passive as well as covering the other two options, Seraphim and Medical Nanites. While we don't have a Celestial archetype just yet, it is only a matter of time before Cryptic adds one, so this will give a bit of a preview for what a Celestial healer plays like.
Behind the Mask: Mind over matter
I have been hounded a bit lately for more coverage on the free aspects of Champions Online and the options available to free players. Fortunately, even before I wrote last week's article on the penultimate freeform tank, I was planning to cover the Mind archetype next. The Mind is the Silver answer to a dedicated support character, and it is perhaps by accident that she is also the most interesting and powerful archetype in the game. She combines team support, healing, survivability, DPS, and self-sustainability into one neat package that is literally unrivaled by any other archetype, free or otherwise. Unlike other archetypes, the Mind is too complex to be summarized by one article. She's an exceptionally varied creature with many options. Because the essential advantages in her build are pretty loose, she can get all of her key powers with a minimum of sacrifice. Hit the jump and I'll show you how playing the Mind is more like playing a freeform character and less like playing an archetype.
Behind the Mask: Elite doesn't mean casual
Back in the early days of Champions Online, there was no difficulty slider. We got stuck playing the same stuff regardless of player or character ability, and often that meant high-skill players and their nigh-invincible god characters smashed through insignificant minions like freight trains. When Serpent Lantern launched, Cryptic added in difficulty settings, beginning at the base normal difficulty and ending at very hard. Later on, the devs added an Elite difficulty, touted to be even tougher than VH. Since then, high-powered heroes have had a way to challenge themselves... sort of. When Serpent Lantern first launched, doing it on VH was reasonably challenging due to the many annoyances (mostly pulson guns) placed in it by the dev team. When players rightfully complained that the pulson guns ripped through well-statted tanks, the devs nerfed the guns and the difficulty became mostly a joke. Normal difficulty is still mostly synonymous with "cakewalk," while Elite is more like "sorta dangerous, maybe."
Behind the Mask: Science, technology and fantasy
Last week's Behind the Mask generated quite a bit of controversy over fantasy and the suspension of disbelief. This week, I'm going to follow up. We'll cover how the Champions Online universe deals with fantasy in its lore and why realism is important. We'll also cover how fantasy elements can use realism to expand -- rather than subtract -- your options for roleplaying. Last week, we only covered weapons technology, but there's a lot more to any fictional setting than just weapons. Everything from communications and transportation to food production is important to discuss, and while we can't touch on everything, we can look at the hows and whys of the superhero genre.
Behind the Mask: Fictional guns are lame
Out of all my issues with modern roleplaying, the inaccurate portrayal of firearms is very near and dear to my heart. Champions Online is a pretty big offender in this regard. One of the most important things that we forget to realize about games in modern settings is that in the real world, guns are tremendously destructive. Although this is more of a general roleplaying issue and not limited to CO, I feel it's worth touching on. Is it so weird to wonder why superpowered groups like VIPER or UNTIL use energy blasters instead of firearms? Hit the jump and we'll talk about why the U-KTF blaster rifles don't hold a candle to things that exist in the real world.
Behind the Mask: The best defense isn't a good offense
Blocking is one of the elements that separates Champions Online from just another MMO. Along with combat movement, blocking turns CO from another game of "1, 2, then 4 until dead" into a dynamic action experience. Blocking reduces incoming damage by a ton, even with no investment in upgrading it. It also gives you sizable energy boosts for every attack you block, which gives you comeback potential. Many players block only charged attacks, and even more simply never block. While it's important to block charged attacks, blocking isn't just for the few times when those happen.
Behind the Mask: Two years and two thousand miles
Some of you will recall what Champions Online was like at launch. I think that a lot of readers here at Massively still remember that soreness. The first year of CO was kind of a rough, rocky ride. At some point or another, I think all of us expected the game to fail. It was really only in the in the last few months of that year that Cryptic started to turn the game around. The second year of Champions has been a lot more successful. I'm pretty sure that from a bottom-line perspective, the F2P launch helped turn the game into a profitable venture. However, that hasn't been the only major change. If Cryptic had held this kind of attitude from day one, I think things would have turned out differently.
Behind the Mask: I'm the king of the world (or the hill)
For the third week in a row, I'm covering Champions Online's PvP, and this week I'll be talking about the new King of the Hill gametype that was available for playtest last week on PTS. As of this writing, KOTH is not live yet, and I suspect it won't be until after the anniversary event. Still, this is sort of a sneak preview of the gametype, and I'll be sharing my experiences, some potential strategies, and some of the issues raised by the playtesters with the new mode. For the first time ever, I actually had a chance to play with a lot of the PvP regulars. For whatever reason, whenever I play in PvP I do not see many of the big name PvPers. It was good to see some familiar forum faces and match myself against them for the first time. How did I fare? Well, hit the jump and you'll find out.
Behind the Mask: Preparing for war
As many of you will recall, last week we talked about Champions Online's PvP and some basic information on the builds and gametypes currently available. For those of you who watched my livestream this week, I also managed to noob it up in Stronghold quite a bit (plus a game of BASH and a game of Zombies). It was quite fun; I have very little experience in Stronghold compared to other types of PvP, so it was a bit of a learning experience. I wanted to go back to PvP again this week and cover some basic tools and strategies for all types of PvP, especially the Hero Games group PvP modes. Some of the strategies aren't obvious to beginners, and others are easy to forget in the heat of battle. While everyone can agree on certain basic strategies, it's easy to get blood in the eyes and focus too heavily on depleting some hero's life bar.
