Champions Online

By Robert Purchese Published 3 September, 2009

Bill Roper answered your questions.

mmo Champions Online

by Bert Bert

03/09/09 16:00

Bill Roper answered your questions.

MMO
Champions Online Atari Cryptic Studios PC Champions Online Atari Cryptic Studios Xbox 360
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About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Scimarad #1 2 years ago

    Bill, why is your game so awesome?

  • Gl3n #2 2 years ago

    In 2003 I left Blizzard and formed Flagship Studios with several the Blizzard Executives.

    ???

    And now I'm at Cryptic Studios, working on Champions Online!

  • jiveguy #3 2 years ago

    The answer gnomes have been at work.

  • Scimarad #4 2 years ago

    Why do I get the feeling that Draka2 is one of CO many constant moaners...

    Seriously in need of content? What game have YOU been playing?

  • Rack #5 2 years ago

    A full encounter group is two villains, the guy hasn't played an MMO since Everquest and still thinks he's ahead of the curve by letting you fight 2 people at once. God only knows how Blizzard ever accomplished anything with him on staff.

  • Scimarad #6 2 years ago

    I'm really not sure where people are getting this bizarre notion that you can't take on more than a couple of enemies. I usually take on loads at a time...

  • login_name #7 2 years ago

    So, 4 questions from Bertie - are you seriously saying that no one asked a better/more important question than that stupid Harry Potter nonsense?

    These "live" question sessions are a waste of time imo. Even if there's a good question the answer is usually marketing pap.

  • Jdoki #8 2 years ago

    @Scimarad

    Yeah, I'm a puny Gadgeteer, and often take on multiple enemies. It's pretty cool being able to fight a battle and handle any Add's as well. Setting off the Orbital Laser with Anvil upgrade is just fantastic (I sense a nerf coming for it - it's far too... super powered!)

  • Rack #9 2 years ago

    Scimarad, you're in for a nerf, Bill has repeatedly stated that a single encounter group is the intended base for a challenging encounter. Also since he thinks 8000 is 10% less than 10,000 and 8,200 is more than 10,100 you may find yourself even weaker than that.

  • login_name #10 2 years ago

    I usually take on loads at a time...

    Depends on the build. Force, Dual Swords, Darkness still seem ok but my Ice and Electric builds get wasted faster than a student with a pre-paid bar tab.

    I've not played as much as I would have liked since the patch though, waiting on a new PSU, so I don't have an accurate view of the current state of all builds.

  • Scimarad #11 2 years ago

    For all the cries that they've screwed up the game with the last patch, as far as I can see it's actually better. It was just too bloody easy to solo pretty much anything. From all the constant whining you'd think most of the players were terrified of a challenge...

  • mkreku #12 2 years ago

    Well, here's what I asked:

    Questions You've Asked

    17:50:44 PM I once saw Magneto lift New York City by himself in a comic. And I've seen Superman carry an oil tanker out of harms way on his shoulder in another. Are any of your game's superpowers of that scale? Or is it just another stale world (which you can't really interact with) and generic enemies (dressed in spandex to cover this fact up) that you have to grind through using slot based attacks (that you have no real time control over)? Be honest.

    17:30:33 PM Are you jealous of Blizzard as they're sitting on their huge mountain of money bags?

    17:15:50 PM Everyone would love to be a super hero! But if everyone is a super hero, no-one is a super hero since that's what's normal in that world. What have you done to address this dilemma and make the "heroes" distinguish themselves?

    17:12:11 PM If you were to suddenly turn your MMO into a single player experience, do you think you have a story-line in there strong enough to support such a change? Most MMO's don't. And most MMO's fail. Am I onto something here?

    17:10:20 PM One thing that amazes me is that out of all these failed MMO's, they all had roughly the same monthly rate ($15). And they all went under without even trying to lower the rate! Would it not be possible to run a MMO at a monthly rate of, let's say, $5? Of course, for WoW, that would mean they'd only make ONE billion a month..

    17:04:57 PM Does the world in Champions Online stream seamlessly (like in World of Warcraft) or is it composed of zones with loading times between them (as in Conan)?

    17:01:41 PM Does the world really need yet another MMO?

    Not a single one of my questions came through. Apparently it's more important to know what he thinks of Harry Potter.

  • Lebowski #13 2 years ago

    vague, vague, vague on the 360 still :-(

  • Spekingur #14 2 years ago

    @mkreku: Of course your questions weren't asked, almost every question looked like a bait.

    Yes. The world always needs more MMOs. If the world only needed one then there wouldn't be any competition and thus no developement.
    CO is compromised of diffirent zones, most of which are pretty damn large. When you port between the zones you get a load screen.
    The other questions just seem like a bait.

  • Jdoki #15 2 years ago

    As a subscriber to CO I'll answer your pertinent and interesting questions, mkreku...

    17:50:44 PM I once saw Magneto lift New York City by himself in a comic. And I've seen Superman carry an oil tanker out of harms way on his shoulder in another. Are any of your game's superpowers of that scale? Or is it just another stale world (which you can't really interact with) and generic enemies (dressed in spandex to cover this fact up) that you have to grind through using slot based attacks (that you have no real time control over)? Be honest.

    INDEED I feel like a superhero. I once assisted, Defender, the greatest Superhero in Millennium City defeat an entire invasion of enemies by... turning on a computer in a control room! You don't get more super heroic than that! I have also developed my index and middle finger to heroic proportions from spamming slot based skills.

    17:30:33 PM Are you jealous of Blizzard as they're sitting on their huge mountain of money bags?

    Who isn't! But this game isn't about making piles of cash, it's about giving a balanced, fair, interesting, original, innovative experience to the player base. One where every Event runs like clockwork, and they never make knee jerk changes to the game because of a whiny minority

    17:15:50 PM Everyone would love to be a super hero! But if everyone is a super hero, no-one is a super hero since that's what's normal in that world. What have you done to address this dilemma and make the "heroes" distinguish themselves?

    I feel individual and special and different from everyone because the biggest part of the entire game is the character creator. Also because no one can afford to Retcon/Respec everyone is locked in to the terrible decisions they made in the first 10 levels of the game, making everyone unique... and annoyed.


    17:12:11 PM If you were to suddenly turn your MMO into a single player experience, do you think you have a story-line in there strong enough to support such a change? Most MMO's don't. And most MMO's fail. Am I onto something here?

    Alien invasions? Hello!


    17:10:20 PM One thing that amazes me is that out of all these failed MMO's, they all had roughly the same monthly rate ($15). And they all went under without even trying to lower the rate! Would it not be possible to run a MMO at a monthly rate of, let's say, $5? Of course, for WoW, that would mean they'd only make ONE billion a month..

    This game doesn't rely on a monthly subscription, it simply makes offers to the community - let's say, something like a lifetime subscription - Then it suddenly yanks said offer to create hordes of rabid gamers desperate to throw money at something they were never going to buy until they were told they couldn't have it!

    17:04:57 PM Does the world in Champions Online stream seamlessly (like in World of Warcraft) or is it composed of zones with loading times between them (as in Conan)?

    When graphics are THIS good, streaming is just a dream... A dream fulfilled by better programmers. However, the loading screens are packed with handy hints, and give a nice moments respite from the SUPER HERO action. They don't impact on immersion at all!

    17:01:41 PM Does the world really need yet another MMO?

    Did the world really need Superman?

    Edited by 4 at 03/09/09 @ 19:36

  • Darak2 #16 2 years ago

    Scimarad, I've playing the game you will discover as soon as you gain some levels post-XP nerf. I was stuck at level 23, as many other people are, with absolutely no mission open. I've been playing out-of-level content since at least level 18 because there is not enough missions at most mid-range levels to level up just doing the intended level's missions (including open missions & lairs). And we're talking a game with only 5 playable areas (and only 1 of them of decent size). There are about 40-50 hours of gameplay until you reach max level. It is probably the shortest MMORPG ever done. The lack of content is brutal.

    And this becomes much, much worse after level 30, believe me.

  • skullstorm #17 2 years ago

    @mkreku

    If your asking if the world needs another mmo, why don't you just ask if the world needs another game, another film, another book, another band, another (insert almost anything here) . Choice is a great thing.

    I gather your basis for a failed mmo is one that doesn't meet wow's number of subs. MMO's have done well since before wow came along with it's 11 mill subs and will definitely continue to do well for themselves afterwards. There are plenty of them running at moment, both new and old. Only a very small number have actually gone under. Those that are still around are alive and kicking despite the shit you hear all over the internet. Hell, even the most criticised games are doing just fine despite being given ultimatums from rabid hatebois every 6 months. Guess what, they haven't gone under yet! Are you gonna give them yet another six months?

    We get that you don't like mmo's. But does the world really need another troll such as yourself?

    Edited by 2 at 03/09/09 @ 20:51

  • E_Goldstein #18 2 years ago

    This was rather dissapointing. He managed to skirt around every sensible question with the usual PR pap. Is there no dev not under the publishers ball and chain?
    To be fair this is a brand new MMO but you'd think this many years into online gaming someone would realise they need more dev time to make the things work.

    Poor show Mr Dev.

  • Dizzy #19 2 years ago

    "There are about 40-50 hours of gameplay until you reach max level. It is probably the shortest MMORPG ever done. The lack of content is brutal. "

    About the same as WoW and WAR then. People reach max levels in 40h on those.

  • Miths #20 2 years ago

    Anyone else unable to access the CO site - including their official forums - right now? The game launcher is also just hanging for me at "trying to update the launcher".

  • Clive_Dunn #21 2 years ago


    "We're dedicated to the long life and continual support of the game."

    Hmmm, I remember that from somewhere before. Ah yes, Hellgate.

  • Rack #22 2 years ago

    The difference here is if you get to max level in WoW in 40 hours you won't even have seen a tenth of the content. In CO you'll have played all the content multiple times.

  • skullstorm #23 2 years ago

    And another difference is that wow has been out a few years now and alot of content has been added through patches and expansions. The same will happen for Champions, they've already even announced the first content update.

  • Spekingur #24 2 years ago

    Good point. They have already announced a free content update. How long after release did the oh-all-mighty-and-precious WoW do that, hmm?

  • Sar #25 2 years ago

    About 3 weeks after launch on 26/11/04:

    [link url=http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/patch-12- 18-04.html
    ]http://ww w.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnote...[/link]

    Added a new dungeon. And another one 3 months later:

    [link url=http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/patch-05- 07-04.html
    ]http://ww w.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnote...[/link]

    Etc, you get the idea.

  • Spekingur #26 2 years ago

    Alright, that answers that question. Thank you :D

  • Lacero #27 2 years ago

    Some builds that were too easy are now a bit more challenging. Some builds that used to be a bit bad are now totally broken.

    I surprised they're actually trying to balance a game where you can pick almost any combination of about 100 powers. I thought the idea was to just make lots of characters and charge around indiscriminately killing criminals like all good vigilantes^W superheroes do.

  • Hamflank #28 2 years ago

    The character creator seems enough to justify a purchase, but then again, hearing about a lack of content seems quite concerning.

    Oh, and I actually did like the Harry Potter question.
    Edited by 1 at 04/09/09 @ 09:50

  • mkreku #29 2 years ago

    @Spekingur: Yes, my questions weren't all that positive. Bait? You might call it that. I still think it would have been more interesting to see him answer a few negative questions too instead of the Harry Potter ones. To each their own, I guess.

    @Jdoki: Thank you! You're mean, but still funnier than the PR guy in the article above :D

    @skullstorm: I agree choice is good! But I became a sceptic to MMO's once I realized they're almost all clones of WoW. It's like every developer out there sees the enormous amounts of money Bizzard pulls in and thinks "I want that!" and then they haste out these bad clones, with too little content, too little story, too little thought behind them. Same gameplay mechanics, same crafting systems, same combat, same static worlds, same grinding. Is it really choice if you have the same game disguised in spandex, just with less content and worse underlying systems?

    I get it too. You're a fan of this particular game. Still unnecessary to call me a troll since I'm actually interested in the game. Oh well.

  • Spekingur #30 2 years ago

    You do realise that WoW is just another clone itself, right? All you see in WoW had already been done before in previous MMOs - such as Asheron's Call, Everquest and DAoC.

  • Rubarack #31 2 years ago

    If you're a skeptic just because of WoW clones you really ought to reevaluate your position now. CO's gameplay mechanics are radically different to WoWs, the crafting system is different and the combat bears no relation to WoW at all. But you might want to leave it a while. I've no problem with the amount of content in CO, even if it is less than a third WoW offered at launch in terms of time (with travel speeds being much quicker that's a little deceptive) because the quality is much higher. The problem is Cryptic are freaking out about people reaching the level cap so quickly, which is why we're seeing a 15% reduction to move speed and yet another 20% reduction in XP.

  • skullstorm #32 2 years ago

    All mmo's are clones of the mmo format, wow itself is a clone of the mmo's that came before it. It just added and improved upon certain aspects of that format, such as a more robust questing system for example, which has become popular enough that it's almost a standard now. Theres hardly anything wow has that is entirely original. Almost everything has been seen and done before, it's just that a few of those things have seen improvements.

    Of course it's still choice, mmo's will almost always follow the same format but each have a different theme, story, gameplay etc and whichever one you wish to play is purely personal preference. Just because they all have quests, crafting, raids, instances, pvp instances and so on does not mean they are a clone of wow, after all, those were in games before wow.

  • yarrick #33 2 years ago

    @SkullStorm

    'All mmo's are clones of the mmo format'

    any chance you could explain how this comment relates to EVE Online?

  • GenuineEntropy #34 2 years ago

    Nothing quite like a Dev team telling their most loyal/ invested clients (in this case the CO forum users) that they are not interested in them or reading their opinions.

    Why bother, when you have the voodoo of automagically gathered game-play data:
    More players on the servers the day after release than the day before release?
    People still logging in and playing a game they bought yesterday, despite dramatic changes that they don’t like?
    This is a taste of his metrics for measuring success?

    I can see why he’d take that over hundreds upon hundreds of forum posts decrying his teams decision.

    I mean, timing how long customers log in for is a far more accurate measurement of satisfaction than, say, the same customers stating their opinions and dissatisfaction openly and clearly in a forum.

    “You are all happy. I don’t care what you write on our forums” seems incredibly ill-informed and a poor PR move of truly epic proportions. The marketing guys must be gnashing their teeth it utter dismay.

  • Spekingur #35 2 years ago

    Forums are normally populated by a vocal minority of players. Also, new players, those who did not partake in headstart, wouldn't know how the game played before the patch, would they now?

  • skullstorm #36 2 years ago

    @yarrick

    EVE is an exception and probably the only exception to the basic format thus far (probably the only mmo that has actually made an evolutionary leap). Science fiction settings work extremely well with sandbox style games and EVE is a wonderful example of that. It will also probably pave the way for such games in the future. However, I doubt such a system as that in EVE would work very well outside of sci-fi/sandboxes and the current method employed in the majority of mmo's (the mmo format I was reffering to) works fine for those games.

    Maybe more games in future should/could be more skill based, but I think developers may be wary of skill based systems as out of the very few skill based mmo's in circulation, most haven't done well.
    Edited by 2 at 04/09/09 @ 17:35