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Behind the Mask: Lighting the Lantern
This week, we're covering Champions Online's Serpent Lantern mini-expansion, currently available on the Public Test Server. Hot on the heels of the Super Power Pack, the Serpent Lantern added in a new story arc dealing with the international crime syndicate VIPER. As an additional perk, VIPER agents received a massive facelift and are now more interesting and challenging opponents. PvE in general had a few exciting changes. Teaming with friends got a moderate experience buff, and players can now set their mission difficulty to afford even tougher challenges while in instanced maps. Also updated in the new patch are the game's energy-generation mechanics, which have been heavily changed. Energy-per-second from attacks has been standardized, and energy gain from blocking was significantly altered. There's a lot of things to go over this time. Hit the jump and we'll get started.
Behind the Mask: Ten things I hate about RP
As luck would have it, the Serpent Lantern patch went to Test on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I had already written large parts of this article by then. Also, I need more than a day to adequately cover everything, like the new teaming mechanics and the energy building changes. So next week, we'll look at Serpent Lantern (which will likely have had a patch by then). In online roleplaying, there are always things that drive people crazy. Sometimes these things are irrational, like most people's hatred of catgirls. Others are outright rude behaviors that most people get furious over. Whichever the case may be, here's ten of my least favorite things present in Champions Online's roleplaying playerbase. Most likely, you hate them too. And hey, if you don't, you can always make fun of me for being an elitist roleplaying jerk.
Serpent Lantern info goes live for Champions Online
It's easy to write VIPER in Champions Online off as just being another group of armed-and-armored mooks along the lines of, well, Cobra. But that's neglecting the fact that the only thing keeping them from having a serious impact on the world is the lack of internal unity... something that the upcoming Serpent Lantern adventure pack is set to address. With the buzz for the free add-on having been tossed around for some time, Cryptic has unveiled the official information page for the globe-trotting adventure. As previously stated, the adventure scales for both level and team size -- a party of five characters at Level 40 or a single character at Level 11 can both take part. The pack will also include new unlockable VIPER-themed costume pieces, action figures, and perks. And if that weren't enough, the update is also slated to include the recently-discussed difficulty slider for missions, a new set of costume pieces in the C-Store, and veteran rewards for the longstanding player. Due out in June, the full page contains more information on NPCs as well as a trailer for the next major Champions Online update.
Behind the Mask: Who cares about balance?
Balance is one of those nebulous things in MMORPGs. It's as flighty a term as "good guild" or "fun content." When people talk about their game, it seems a foregone conclusion that they don't think their game is balanced. A balanced game seems almost mythical to me at times. People complain that Guild Wars and StarCraft aren't balanced games. If even the pinnacle of real-time strategy isn't universally considered to be balanced, what is? All MMORPG designers face this problem, but it poses a unique issue for Champions Online. Each Champion can freely select powers from any available ability in the game, with only a handful of exceptions that are mostly circumvented by the game's middle levels. Any character can select cross-archetype synergistic powers, even if the function was not intended for their archetype. A tank can select Miniaturization Drive (considered to be a support power) to make his foes less threatening while a ranged damage dealer could pick Enrage (considered to be mainly a bonus for melee) to provide a consistent damage buff. This is made even more chaotic by the inclusion of extreme in-combat mobility and in-the-moment gameplay. This isn't EVE Online, and a lot of the overarching planning and strategy that takes place in other games is replaced by blocking, active defenses, and spur-of-the-moment decision-making. And yet, CO's designers try to balance.
Difficulty sliders and grind reduction due for Champions Online
With additions like the melee review patch and the first adventure pack either out or coming on fast, the obvious question about Champions Online is also the simplest to ask: what now? The latest installment of Ask Cryptic certainly does answer the question; unfortunately, said response includes saying "no" to some things that players want. The addition of a base construction feature is a prime example and the biggest negative -- while it's acknowledged to be frequently requested, the development team apparently lacks the time to add it in a fashion that they find interesting. On the other hand, there are features which almost any player can welcome, such as the difficulty slider seen in Star Trek Online, currently slated for release along with the first adventure pack. There's also a promise that the development team will look into grinding as being the most "rewarding" activity in the game via adjusting drop rates and overall rewards. In the somewhat more mixed news category, the team plans to do another review of powers after the adventure pack goes live, although they're not yet certain which sets and mechanics will be undergoing examination. Read the full list of questions and answers at the official Champions Online site.
Behind the Mask: Roleplaying in a modern way
This week on Behind the Mask, I faced a startling dilemma. On the one hand, the developers have proposed the most universally disliked gameplay change ever. The issue is very troublesome, and I could probably write a pretty convincing argument on the subject. My hope is that the devs give in to the wailing voices of the playerbase begging not to implement the changes. If these changes hit the test server, Behind the Mask will be right there with the coverage, but it's important to not jump the gun too early. Instead, we're going to talk about roleplaying. Champions Online has a very unusual roleplaying culture. Unlike other MMORPGs, Champions is pretty respectful of the people that don the roleplaying hat. It is not strange to find a group of roleplayers journeying through Millenium City or one of the other hot zones for heroes. The devs understand the plights of roleplayers, and a lot of the various features that are implemented in CO have no real "value" except as roleplaying tools. Often roleplayers can be seen as "losers" or "nerds." Not so much in CO. Hit the jump, and we'll explore the place I call "IC."
Behind the Mask: It's all about the DPS, baby
There is a lot of pressure on me right now to write a review for the May 4th melee patch, but I want to delay it because the developers are already tweaking things. So instead of hearing a rant about how sad I am that Psi Lash is nerfed, I will talk about the toughest, most challenging role in Champions Online -- the Avenger. The Avenger is the "glass cannon" of CO. Avengers have fewer hit points than their Guardian counterparts, and far less than the tank-like Protectors. Avengers cannot use defensive passives, or even support passives to increase their survivability. The last straw is that Avengers cannot heal as rapidly as other characters. These tradeoffs come at a massive benefit: the Avenger deals far more damage than other characters. What's even more awesome is that the Avenger's role bonus multiplies on the effects of other damage buffs, meaning that extra 20% damage never goes out of style. This guide won't be covering just the Avenger, though. It'll also cover Avenger's new cousin, the Brawler, as well as all the other ways to play a DPS machine in lairs and team content.
Shannon Posniewki talks level cap and mid-level content for Champions Online
There are ways that the current Champions Online Executive Producer, Shannon Posniewki, doesn't follower in the footsteps of predecessor Bill Roper. But much like Roper, Posniewki loves talking about the game, and almost always has something interesting to say as a result. In a recent interview, he talked about some of the issues of the game's present and future that are doubtlessly on the minds of many players, not the least of which is the level cap. Unfortunately for players who just can't get enough leveling, the cap is staying put for now -- the team likes it right where it is. However, they also recognize how popular it is to move a new character to max level and then start rolling up alts, and are looking into ways to make doing so more rewarding. They also want to buff out mid-range content a bit, with possibilities of something in the 20-30 range. Adventure packs, the first of which is due out in June, will help expand the content by being repeatable and runnable by any hero above Level 11. Champions Online players might not be hitting Level 70 any time soon, but it looks like they'll have plenty to make up for it.
Behind the Mask: I lost my best friend to Gigabolt
Powers in Champions Online vary widely in the eyes of the playerbase. Some powers, like Mind Lock and Arcane Vitality, remain mostly unknown, while other powers, like Regeneration and Haymaker, take center stage. Sometimes this reputation is due to a present or former imbalance like Collective Will, and sometimes it's due to an unknown combination of factors, like Roomsweeper (probably because Might is the most played powerset in the game). And sometimes, like in the case of Gigabolt, it might just be something else. Powers are balanced in CO according to a variety of mathematical factors, such as activation time, range, energy cost, and damage dealt. But the devs also try to have their powers balanced around another factor: Fun. On a 1-10 scale, most powers in Champions hover around a 3-4 on the fun scale, with the standout powers pushing up to a 5-6 and possibly as high as 7 or even 8 for good synergies between several powers. When a power gets too fun, like the Incisive Wit advantage for Kinetic Darts, the devs make sure to issue a patch to fix the imbalance. Except for Gigabolt.
Friday night's all right for fighting with Champions Online developers
Champions Online, like any game developed by a smaller studio, is fundamentally produced by people who enjoy the game that they're making. So it's not exactly surprising when they decide to host a night for players to play directly with the development team. They've run a few in the past, but this time they'll be taking on the largest new piece of content in the game at the moment: the still-infamous mini-expansion in Vibora Bay. A couple of players are a bit surprised in the discussion thread that the developers are opting for PvE content rather than the PvP nights that had been fairly well-established. An official response was quick to come, explaining that while the developers also like the PvP encounters, they want to get a chance to play with the members of the community not necessarily interested in the PvP side of things. The event will be running from 4 PM to 7PM PST (7 PM to 10 PM EST), making it an excellent chance for Champions Online players to enjoy the game on Friday night with the team behind it.
Behind the Mask: The Ironman Challenge
Back in the ancient days before real mainstream gaming, there was a dearth of good titles to play. It was a cultural phenomenon at that time to extend gameplay for the few good games that existed by creating emergent challenges for themselves. This is where the concept for the speedrun came about, although the speedrun changed dramatically after that time into something very unique. Still, gamers have been artificially injecting challenge into games ever since the '80s. A game like Champions Online has a fair number of factors, including a smaller endgame and a lower overall difficulty level, that make it ripe for injecting some artificial challenge.
A Cryptic sale with new items for Star Trek Online
Tax day has come and gone for US residents, which means that several of us are either feeling the pinch of paying the government or looking forward to a nice big refund. Oddly enough, there's one thing that brings together both people wanting to save money and those looking to spend it: a nice sale. Which is no doubt why Cryptic is running an after-tax sale on the controversial C-Store in both Champions Online and Star Trek Online. It's not a little sale, either -- all items in both stores are 25% off until Monday, April 19th. If that alone isn't quite enough, a new pack of add-ons have just gone on sale for Star Trek Online: a new Admiral science vessel (to compliment the escort and cruiser models already released), a new Bridge Pack, and the first Emote Pack. Champions Online doesn't get any new items for the weekend, but their C-Store is fairly well-expanded as it is. Worth noting is that the price of the points used to buy items is the same -- that is, you still get the same number of points for $10, they just buy more. And in all practical terms, it spells a good opportunity for players of both games to get some new flair at a lowered price.
Behind the Mask: The best kind of loot
Loot feels like a controversial thing in Champions Online. It's an odd feeling to have your character's super strength be powered by Qularr Mutagens or an ARGENT Dimensional Shunt. It's not strange to see a fantasy character loaded down with epic gear, but when a mutant superhero gains a majority of his attributes from magic headbands, tech wristbands, and radiation-emitting devices rather than his own superpowers, it sort of makes him feel a little less super. From my experience with the roleplaying community, most players ignore gear from an IC perspective because it just doesn't make sense. Personally, I have mixed feelings on gear. I like having things to do in the late game, and while grinding Nemesis merits for top level gear is a chore, at least it gives some sort of incentive to do things in the end game besides roll alts. Without the promise of character advancement of some kind or another, it's hard to convince players to keep playing their favorite characters. On the other hand, gear creates imbalance between players. As a PvP type of player, I like it when everyone has a fair shot. The one thing that most people can agree on about CO is that the gear system is downright confusing. Most people just pick the items that give them the most points in their superstats and move happily along. Even though I have a fairly in-depth understanding on how the gear system works, distilling it into an easily digestible form is no easy task. Hit the jump and you'll see what I mean.
Behind the Mask: The Melee Conspiracy
The controversy never seems to end in Champions Online. The big changes to the Might, Martial Arts, and Supernatural frameworks went live last weekend, and people just can't stop talking about them. There's also been some general changes to melee outside of those frameworks as well. As one might imagine just by a cursory glance at those threads, the forums are quite abuzz with opinions on these changes. There is quite a bit of positive things to be said about the changes, but the overwhelming feeling one gets from reading the forums is that the changes are horrible. Everyone has something they don't like about them, myself included. Still, we can't help but wonder: is it a step in the right direction? Is the doomsaying as bad as people make it out to be? Hit the jump, and we'll look at things from a different avenue.
Champions Online's State of the Game for April
Six months out, Champions Online has taken some punches here and given a few as well, but the game continues to press forward. With the most recent changes to leadership, it's fitting that the game has dropped a new address on the current state of the game, covering everything from the recent mini-expansion to the upcoming power revisions and future changes. Considering that the test build of the recent power changes has stirred up a fair boil of controversy over on the test forums, more communication from the development team is probably a very good thing at the moment. The next patch is apparently slated to contain not just the Supernatural and Melee adjustments, but also changes to offensive passive abilities and the recurrence of Blood Moon on the full moon. After that, the first major Adventure Pack is slated for sometime between late May and early June. Named the Serpent Lantern, the long string of missions will lead any hero level 11 or up on a quest into Africa to uncover the source of VIPER's power. The team seems to be hard at work bringing Champions Online up to being the best game it can be, which is good news for the fans.
Newest Ask Cryptic on Champions Online
For whatever people may fault them on, Cryptic Studios has an excellent track record for trying to keep communications open between the company and the fans. Champions Online regularly allows players to ask any number and breadth of questions in the Ask Cryptic feature, and hot on the heels of the melee powerset developer diary comes the latest batch of questions. While the focus tends toward the Supernatural power set, a wide variety of topics are included, as well as a bit more talk about the issues of melee characters versus ranged ones. Players excited by the new changes can take heart in the news that the entire Super Powers Patch (of which both the upcoming Supernatural changes and the melee changes are a part) should be hitting the test server soon. There's a fairly detailed breakdown of many affected Supernatural powers, as well as more abstract issues like why there aren't more cosmetic variants to power effects. The answers also discuss briefly how melee damage had already been tuned higher than ranged damage in hopes of balancing the two. Any Champions Online player should take a look at the answers, as they cover a variety of topics -- and may well give you ideas for when the next edition of Ask Cryptic rolls around.
Behind the Mask: Finding the Holy Trinity
One of the common statements made among the newer MMO generation is the idea that a game "abolishes the holy trinity." It's the idea that their game has evolved to the point where labels like "tank," healer," and "damage dealer" aren't as relevant when talking about a character. This idea isn't particularly new -- the first big RPG with mass online support to break this trend was probably Diablo 2, which actually predates most of the mass-market MMORPGs available today. Champions Online definitely takes a step in this direction. In fact, it was a suggestion on the forums and the overwhelming player response against the holy trinity that gave me the idea to write this in the first place. Champions is very solo-friendly, and a character can build to be pretty self-sufficient -- one can build for tanking, damage dealing, and self-healing all in the same package. This lends some pretty big weights to the idea that the holy trinity is a thing of the past. But Champions Online has a few things in its design that maintain the "Holy Trinity" design concept. Hit the jump, and I'll talk about why, contrary to popular belief, I think that keeping the holy trinity around is a good thing.
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.
