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Another look at Champions Online, six months later
One thing that can be said about Champions Online in the period following its launch is that it has gone through some severe growing pains. When the game launch was announced, players protested, as the beta still had massive issues that had not been addressed. When the game was launched despite these reactions, it also launched with the infamous launch day patch that failed to repair numerous bugs within the game. At the break of the new year, Cryptic announced the Vibora Bay expansion, but leaks from then-community manager Daeke led the community to believe it would be a paid expansion, which launched the forums into a rage of untold proportions. This, combined with the notorious "kitchen sink patch" that caused more problems than it fixed, led to a mass exodus of unsubscriptions. A general air of doom began to rise over the community. Things were not looking good in Millennium City. Champions Online was in a bad spot. The community was revolting, the product was unpolished, and despite Cryptic's best attempts to make things out to be okay, it was obvious that the game was at a breaking point. Something had to be done. But rather than sit on their thumbs, Cryptic Studios decided to step up and make changes. It seemed obvious from dev blogs that they loved their game, and they wanted to see it successful. Hit the jump to read more!
A Massively interview with Cryptic's Bill Roper and Jack Emmert
As promised after yesterday's Cryptic Studios news, today we have an interview with the developer's new Chief Operations Officer Jack Emmert and Chief Creative Officer Bill Roper. If you're wondering exactly what these new titles mean and what Jack and Bill have planned for the future of both Champions Online and Star Trek Online, you'll definitely want to check this one out. Massively: When did the move to Chief Creative Officer occur and what's your overall job like now compared to your previous position as Executive Producer? Bill Roper: When Jack took on more COO responsibilities, he wanted someone who could spend more specialized, day-to-day time with the teams. For the past month I've been working with the Executive Producers and various leads within those teams to provide design, support, and guidance as requested. I'm also a liaison between the teams and the executives supporting and helping represent their individual game visions. I assist in coordinating systems and content concepts and technologies between the teams while being involved in their top-level design. Shifting from the very focused day-to-day duties on Champions Online to a broader role is a rejuvenating new challenge, and the teams have really welcomed me on. I'm not coming in with "the word from above" that must be followed. I'm here to support the vision keepers and creators of each game – to be a sounding board for ideas and a source of creative energy they can tap into.
An interview with Champions' new Executive Producer, Shannon Posniewski
With Champions Online getting a brand new Executive Producer, you knew we had to sit down and conduct an interview. Shannon "Poz" Posniewski was gracious enough to give us some of his time, which is most certainly something he's got very little of now that he's in charge of a superhero MMO. We discussed what exactly Poz's role as Executive Producer is, as well as what the change means for Champions Online players. Most importantly, we asked which aspects of the game needed the most love going forward. Find all his answers below the cut.
Bill Roper made Cryptic's CCO, Jack Emmert switches to COO
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Bill_Roper_made_Cryptic_s_CCO_Jack_Emmert_switches_to_COO'; We here at Massively have recently discovered that Cryptic Studios' -- the developer behind Champions Online and Star Trek Online -- new Chief Creative Officer (CCO) moving forward will be Bill Roper, who was previously Executive Producer on Champions Online, a position now held by Shannon Posniewski. As for the previous CCO Jack Emmert, Cryptic informed us that he's moved into a new position as Chief Operations Officer for the developer. What all this means and what you can expect in the future from Cryptic will hopefully be answered in our forthcoming interview with the two men. You should expect to see that interview in the next day or two, right here on Massively.
One Shots: Om nom nom
When it comes to being a super-hero, many may not immediately think of taking on an enormous, nasty shark -- but in Champions Online, that's precisely what heroes get to do. Add in the gorgeous colors of the undersea areas, a hero who is getting ready to either become fish food -- or make sushi -- and you've got prime One Shots material! This great image comes to us today from Fenlock, who is also known as Lady Britain in Champions Online. He writes in to let us know about where this image comes from: "This is from the Lemuria Crisis mission, around level 32ish. It is an underwater zone, but I only just got there -- so I can't say what's in store for me. You are greeted by this 30 foot giant sharkfish monster." Do you have a great picture of your character facing off against a huge boss monster? Perhaps you've found a really gorgeous area in your game like this one? If you have and would like to show it off, just email it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description. We'll post it out here on Massively and give you the credit! %Gallery-85937%
The Daily Grind: Do you aim for the level cap?
There are two ways to look at the level cap in any game -- and there is a cap, whether it's a clearly-stated number or a skill system you can never truly overcome. The first option is to see it as a target, the point where you get out of the training areas and the real game can start. The other option is that it's just a number past which you can't progress. Hitting it is no different than, say, finding every last fish for a drawn-out questline -- a completion and an achievement, but not hugely noteworthy. In games with an older design aesthetic, such as EverQuest and Final Fantasy XI, the game's community progressed much more slowly to max level if they ever reached it at all. More modern games such as World of Warcraft or Champions Online, on the other hand, essentially have the leveling game as a road designed to lead you up to the level cap, with most of the game's options becoming available then. What about you? Do you prefer to stay in the lower levels of a game, or do you head right for the endgame with abandon?
Behind the Mask: A community guide to Champions Online
Behind the Mask is the new Massively column devoted to everything you might want to know about Champions Online. Fortunately for Massively readers, the guys at UNITY have given me the go-ahead to declassify my stories as a super-powered operative. As a result, we'll be giving you the down and dirty facts that you'll need to make it in the superhero world, as well as bits of news you won't hear anywhere else. Behind the Mask will cover issues related to life in Millennium City as well as detailed info about criminal hotspots around the globe. Our first column will be a community resource for Champions Online. While there were a fair number of community sites at launch, most of them have suffered from a lack of new content in recent months. The ones that continue to be updated are the best of the best -- ranging from community hubs for roleplayers to detailed info on the game's many missions. If there's one thing to be said about the fans of Champions, it's that they are devoted to their game and eager to put out new content for it.
Revelation out now for Champions Online
The super-big free update for Champions Online, Revelation, is officially out today. While the announcement seems to have come out of nowhere, this is about mid-March which has been the scheduled release date for Revelation. Bringing a significant amount of completely free content to the game, Revelation adds a new zone in the form of the dark voodoo inspired Vibora Bay. It also brings new perks, five new enemy groups, six new meta-powers, a new raid in the form of Therakiel's Temple and even more costume pieces. All-in-all, it's a good day to be a Champions Online subscriber. We hope everyone enjoys all the new content, and we'll surely see you somewhere in Vibora Bay, battling werewolves and half-demon, half-angel supervillains.
Champions Online talks about their new executive producer
The change of leadership on Champions Online produced some pretty strong reactions, nearly all of them aimed at Bill Roper. Fair or not, there was a general sense that many of the game's problems were linked to him being in charge, and in the midst of everything it was a bit easy to lose sight of the new executive producer. Shannon Posniewski, known to forum regulars as "Poz" and former Lead Programmer, has inherited the job and all that goes along with it, good and bad. That means it's a fine time to learn a little more about the person in charge of the game's direction. Posniewski has been with Cryptic for some time, having worked on City of Heroes before the studio left the game behind and moved on to Champions Online. He discusses a fair bit about his experience working on the games, as well as some of his own tips for working in the game industry and what sort of challenges are faced. What he doesn't mention are his plans for the game's near future -- but those facts are fairly public knowledge at this point. Considering how much impressions of the game were based upon Bill Roper's personality, it seems more than fair to give the new guy his own turn at the helm.
The Daily Grind: What do you think of Cryptic?
There are few companies these days that generate emotions as strong as those generated by Cryptic Studios. They weren't particularly controversial when they produced City of Heroes, but their subsequent efforts in both Champions Online and Star Trek Online have produced a great deal of contention. Between the launch day issues of Champions Online, the controversy of Cryptic's microtransaction stores, and concerns regarding the amount of content in the game... well, they're contentious. Of course, they also have their fans, have produced two games within a remarkably short timeframe, and are clearly dedicated to both communication and player-targeted development. Considering that today is the first big content release for Star Trek Online and the recent information regarding Bill Roper's departure from Champions Online (although he's remaining with Cryptic), it seems an appropriate time to ask about opinions. So, what are your thoughts on the company? Do you like the work that they're doing, or do you think they're on the wrong track? Are you currently playing one or both of their games, are you a former player, or have you refused to play them for whatever reason?
Bill Roper no longer executive producer of Champions Online, game improvements promised
Most of the news coming out of Cryptic Studios of late has centered around Star Trek Online, which has garnered quite a following and looks to expand with the upcoming Season 1 patch. But Champions Online hasn't gone anywhere, and the game is gearing up for its mini-expansion and for the future. A state of the game letter has just been released, announcing both what's coming for the game as well as some management shakeups. The latter comes last in the letter but is worth noting early -- Shannon Posniewski, known as Poz on the forums, will be assuming the Executive Producer role for the game, taking over from Bill Roper. In terms of actual in-game changes, the letter reiterates many things we heard at the GDC: the team knows there are level bands that are a bit thinner in terms of content than the players (or the developers) would like. While they're not prepared to reveal details, they are looking to expand those areas with more content and more to do. There's also the promise of new Adventure Packs, which sound similar in concept to the packs of Dungeons and Dragons Online. The full letter also mentioned updates to powersets and melee damage that should be welcome news for all Champions Online players, a clear sign the game is moving forward and not forgotten.
Champions lifetime subscribers given extra thanks, perks
Good news for Champions Online lifetime subscription owners today, as Cryptic is giving them some additional free perks simply for supporting the game. According to the developer, some of the upcoming lifetime-only features include an exclusive in-game chat channel, front-of-queue support any time a server is queued, a unique in-game title, an in-game VIP lounge for lifetime subscribers only and a special costume piece. Curiously, the official forum post by StormShade says, "Here's some of what we're working on, exclusive to Lifetime Subscribers." which to us sounds like there could be something else for lifetime subscribers in the future. But even if there isn't any mysterious new feature, these new perks are a nice little surprise that came out of the blue -- which is always the best kind of surprise. [Update: It appears that this offer stands for Star Trek Online lifetime players, also.]
GDC10: The future of Champions Online
We had the opportunity to sit down with Bill Roper at GDC 2010 and discuss the general future of Champions Online. There are two themes to Bill's answers during our talk: just about everything is free and listening to community feedback. First of all, melee powers like Might are getting reworked based directly from player feedback. The goal is to make players feel as though they're on par with ranged powersets in PvP situations. Generally, people have been saying they felt "gimped" and the goal is to fix that. There's a complete reworking of the supernatural set coming as well, which will separate the previously single powerset into two new ones.
Ask Cryptic fields Champions Online Revelation questions
Champions Online's upcoming Revelation update is coming very soon and Cryptic's answered a bunch of (somewhat random) community questions regarding the substantial free content add-on. We're not sure if there was any kind of theme to this Q&A other than, "Hey, what would you like to know about Revelation?" Perhaps there were a couple people dressed up a vampires, in spirit of the new zone Vibora Bay, but that's a somewhat commonplace thing nowadays -- vampires, we mean. Before we spin-out into a crazy off-topic rant about kids and their vampire tendencies, we'd like to point out that it sounds as if Cryptic is moving towards a more staggered update approach. Instead of spending six months creating one big update, they're looking to push out smaller chunks of content on a more frequent basis. They haven't specified whether that means every month or every few months, but we do know some new missions with longer storylines are coming -- as is some low-level experience curve smoothing. It sounds good to us, but we'll let you be the judge of that.
One Shots: Ewwww
We've had many readers send in easter eggs from their favorite games, but this is quite possibly one of the strangest ones we've seen to date, courtesy of The Don of the dead (@Muroshi) from Champions Online. Of course, we're not entirely certain what the inspiration behind this could be, really. If you haven't quite figured out what that thing is in the image above, be sure to click to the gallery and look at it full size -- or you could just read the note we got with this strange Champions Online shot: The Don of the dead found this toilet on one of the smokestacks in Millennium City Westside. Guess now we know where all that brown smog comes from. If you've found something incredibly strange in your favorite MMO, we'd love to see a screenshot of it. Just snag it and send it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post it out here for everyone to check out and give you the credit for finding it and sending it in to us first! %Gallery-85937%
Champions Online gearing up for Revelation playtest
There was quite a stir when Champions Online first announced their new region of Vibora Bay, with a lot of negative feelings getting voiced. That was mollified when it transformed into its current form as Champions Online: Revelation, a mini-expansion free to all players of the game promising a new area, new enemies, and new plots to uncover. The wait is nearly over, and that means all the joy of testing out the new features before they go live, as the game has just announced a special playtest event with the development team on Thursday, March 11th. Running from 4-7 PM PST (that's 1-4 PM EST for those on the opposite coast), the event will (understandably) be taking place on the public test server. It's a chance both to hang out with the dev team and get an idea of what the new area will play like, with the added bonus of knowing that the people who know the area inside and out will be right there for any questions. Keep your eyes open for the event, as Champions Online will no doubt have quite a bit to reveal during the test.
The Daily Grind: Are you attached to your characters?
They're not real and we all know it. All your character is in an MMO, really, is just a little mobile indicator for what you're wearing and what you're doing. There's no need to spare them a second thought. Of course, there are games like Champions Online and City of Heroes which give you dizzying amounts of control over what they look like. Or Lord of the Rings Online and Final Fantasy XI that let you decorate your house. Or Star Trek Online letting you detail both what sort of ship you ride around in and who your co-workers are... All right, most of us put a little more thought into our characters than just mobile gear indicators. Roleplayers tend to get even more so, but even if you're avidly not into the RP scene, you can't help but form some connections. So how attached are you to yours? Do you spend a long time staring at the character creator? Do you play the same character transplanted into new settings? Or do you mostly just click through based on whatever looks cool and take what you get, even if it winds up being hideous?
Champions Online's Revelation update gets official info hub
The hub page for Champions Online's upcoming Revelation update is live, detailing quite a bit of both the crunchy and fluffy information regarding the game. Players should be happy to finally have some new level 37-40 content in the new Vibora Bay zone, which has fallen under the control of the demon/angel Therakiel. And even if you don't have a hero that high, the new costume parts will bring some fresh content for all. We think the new zone looks pretty good, especially since it's a much darker color palette than the rest of Champions Online. The addition of five new enemy groups should also help inject some more variety into the game. Lastly, the new cast of NPC heroes and villains look quite promising -- especially Juryrig, an almost "Junkpunk" looking cyborg dude. If you're looking for more on Revelation, don't miss our recent interview with the game's executive producer Bill Roper.%Gallery-85070%
Massively interviews Bill Roper on Champions Online's Revelation update
Recently we had the chance to speak with Champions Online's executive producer Bill Roper about the forthcoming Revelation update. More specifically, we asked him about the new zone Vibora Bay, its quest structure and Cryptic's plans moving beyond the Revelation update, as well. Of course, we couldn't discuss this first major content update without asking about the decision to make it free... but you'll just have to check out our interview after the break for that part.
Champions Online gives a mini-state of the game
It's been a bit of a rough ride lately for Champions Online. Their initial plan for a paid mini-expansion met with a reception that could best be described as "frothing rage," and even their later reversal didn't exactly calm the waters. To make matters worse, their large "Kitchen Sink" patch met with equally mixed reviews at the same time. In hopes of stepping up their community relations, Cryptic has been pushing out a great deal more news to the players, including both their new GM Blog feature and a recent pint-sized State of the Game letter. A re-examination of the "Kitchen Sink" patch, affectionately dubbed the "Kitchen Sink Scrub," is being pushed out in the near future, with a week or so to go before it hits the live servers. The mini-expansion, dubbed Champions Online -- Revelation, should also be going live sometime in the middle of March. Players hoping to get a bit of an early start on it will be happy to note it's also going to be hitting the test servers some time within the next week, letting the new zone get a thorough examination. With the promise of an upcoming site devoted specifically to the expansion, it seems like Champions Online is really trying to wash out the bad taste of their missteps.
