Champions Online Options

[Tanegar]

"based on the acclaimed 4th Edition rules"

[Hocus Pocus]

i've played COH which i believe the same people have made this game. Does this one have crafting in it? COH was fun but after the last of the people i ran with left no crafting put the kaybosh on my sticking around.

[Karoline]

i've played COH which i believe the same people have made this game. Does this one have crafting in it? COH was fun but after the last of the people i ran with left no crafting put the kaybosh on my sticking around.

It has crafting.

[Karoline]

"based on the acclaimed 4th Edition rules"

In the words of some big demonic type creature "Nnnoooooooo!"

Actually, I don't know anything about the 4th edition, but have heard more bad than good about it.

[Tanegar]

I've both played and DMd 4th edition, and consider it vastly inferior to 3.5.

[Karoline]

So, I did end up getting CO, and have been enjoying it quite a bit. One thing I've really enjoyed is that the levels come quickly consistently. My main is up to level 22 (of 40 max) and I haven't noticed a huge increase in leveling time like you get with most other games. Only real problem I see with that is that I'm going to be maxing out quickly unless it slows down, guess I'll get to see how the end game is then, and it means that I'm not real worried about having multiple characters and trying out different stuff. I've really enjoyed the primal and gadgettering frameworks so far. Darkness and martial arts haven't worked out as well as I'd hoped.

[Tanegar]

My two highest characters use Sorcery (level 30) and Power Armor (level 21). The Power Armor minigun is incredibly useful for mowing down henchmen, hits villains where it hurts, and does respectably against master villains. Sorcery really doesn't lend itself to a mobile playstyle, with a lot of its powers (Circles, Rituals, Sigils) being tied to the spot they're activated on. With a little practice at making the bad guys come to you, though, you can turn any patch of ground into a meatgrinder.

[Karoline]

I'm surprisingly close to catching you with my 22 then (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

That said, I prefer to just hit stuff with my orbital cannon. If I'm coming off a battle with high energy, I do that, then charge my basic attack to full. The combination instantly kills Villans, and drops about two bars off of Master Villans, the last bar of which quickly goes away thanks to my pets' rocket launchers and the anvil enchancement on my cannon. Really, the only way I have trouble in that game right now is if I draw too much agro to myself instead of letting my pets take some of it. That or my healing drones not doing their job. Plan on upgrading them soon so they do AoE healing so it won't be as big of a problem.

[Karoline]

I am become death, destroyer of.... I mean, woo, level 25 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Now my medic drones do an AoE heal for a combined total of about 150 health every second.

I'd really like it if I could get missions more than 3 levels above my current level, because taking out opponents 3 levels above myself was boring even before I got the AoE heal and my drones were doing more like 80 health a second combined. Heck, I'd even take out named super villains 3 levels above myself (along with a couple normal villains that were standing around) without taking any real damage or even having to use my heal ability.

I plan on branching into some of the mystic groups to get access to more pets. Currently have 5 main pets, one of which can summon 4 more pets, and a power that lets me summon a pet every 10 seconds that lasts for 60 seconds, but is interuptable and requires fresh corpses, so usually only have 2-3 of those.

Only thing I actually have had any trouble with is PvP, since people get to ignore my pets. But I haven't tried it since I upgraded my healing drones, so may have to give it another look, see if people can overcome my massive health regen.

[Thanee]

One thing I've really enjoyed is that the levels come quickly consistently.
Only real problem I see with that is that I'm going to be maxing out quickly...

Can't have both, I guess. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Karoline]

Can't have both, I guess. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Bye
Thanee

Yeah, unless the game has hundreds of levels or something. I did read something about there being special stuff to do with your xp once you max out, so that'll likely extend things. And as I said, it makes you not feel bad about having multiple characters since it is so easy to level them.

[Karoline]

Proof that I've been playing CO too much lately? In my PbP game, the GM puts

It would take about five hours by river craft to get to the mine.

and my first thought is "Why am I using a water craft? I have jet boots!" Shortly followed by "Oh, wait, wrong game."

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)

[Tanegar]

Heck, I'd even take out named super villains 3 levels above myself (along with a couple normal villains that were standing around) without taking any real damage or even having to use my heal ability.

I find this a little hard to credit, unless you've chanced on the most brokenly overpowered build in the game (admittedly not beyond the realm of possibility). Supervillains of your own level should be a challenging fight all by themselves; supervillains three levels above you should be grinding your face in the dirt without breaking a sweat.

[Karoline]

I find this a little hard to credit, unless you've chanced on the most brokenly overpowered build in the game (admittedly not beyond the realm of possibility). Supervillains of your own level should be a challenging fight all by themselves; supervillains three levels above you should be grinding your face in the dirt without breaking a sweat.

Well, I beat Eclipse (level 27) at level 24. I beat Armadillo (Level 26 I believe) at level 23 (or 27 and 24). Did Mechanist at level 25. Not entirely sure what level he was, 27? I did a level 26 or 27 two person mission on my own at level 25. I don't know if those are the same type of supervillains you're talking about, but I figure it is. If you're just talking about normal supervillains (without the star type stuff on their border and unique names) then those I generally kill 3 levels above me in 10 seconds or so if I start the battle with good energy. You're welcome to find me and see for yourself. I'm on right now, about to hit level 26.

Generally the only time I get killed is if I accidentally grab the agro of a dozen or more mixed villains and henchman.

[KarmaInferno]

Only real problem I see with that is that I'm going to be maxing out quickly unless it slows down, guess I'll get to see how the end game is then, and it means that I'm not real worried about having multiple characters and trying out different stuff.

When the game first went live:

- There was no endgame. At all. One of the Devs suggested trying a new character.

- There was only enough content to level one character to max. Interested in starting a new character? hey, look, you get to run through the same damn content over again because there's nothing else.

This was entirely because the Cryptic Studio game development paradigm is to spend the absolute minimum time needed to create the game engine, create enough content for one playthrough, and shake out most of the critical bugs.

Normally at this point most other game studios would spend another year or two just creating further content and doing further polishing. Not Cryptic. They go live immediately, counting on being able to "finish" their game while the game is running.

Now, from a business standpoint, this makes some sense. You start being able to get a return on the monetary investment up to two years earlier in development than most other MMOs. But you run the great risk of losing customers and the bad negative reputation for being so content-lite.

Since launch? It is true Cryptic has put out additional content, and some end-game stuff. But not nearly as much as most other MMOs in the same time period, partly because resources and developers were diverted from Champions soon after it's launch to go support Star Trek Online. And this is happening again in STO as Cryptic develops Neverwinter.



-k

[Karoline]

Yeah, I have kind of noticed that it looks like there will be alot of convergence of quests after my second or so character. Seems to me you can mostly stick to the desert or Canada, but you're going to have to go to MC some.

[Karoline]

Hmm, level 28. I wonder if I can take that level 28 5 person mission alone now. I was having real trouble with it at 27th level since I kept drawing agro from multiple groups.

[Tanegar]

Playing Champions Online has changed my view of MMOs in general. Every MMO should have a costume designer, and give you fast travel right away. Seriously, why do you have to wait twenty levels to learn how to ride a freaking horse?

[Karoline]

Agreed. That is one thing I liked about DDO. You basically stayed in one city, nothing was ever more than a few minutes run from where you were.

I'd imagine the costume editor requires a ton of effort to do properly.

Edit: I sent you a friend invite in game by the way.

[Tanegar]

Well, much of the work for a costume editor (making the actual models and skins for the characters and the various costume pieces, and making it all fit together) in, say, World of Warcraft is already done. Blizzard would still need to make each piece dynamically colorable, and admittedly I don't know how hard that would be, but the actual content already exists.

[KarmaInferno]

Playing Champions Online has changed my view of MMOs in general. Every MMO should have a costume designer, and give you fast travel right away. Seriously, why do you have to wait twenty levels to learn how to ride a freaking horse?

I said the same thing six years ago when City of Heroes launched.

Same developers as CO, of course. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)




-k

[Tanegar]

CoH doesn't give you your travel power immediately, though (or at least it didn't when I played). IIRC, I was able to take Hover (very slow flight) at level 10, and proper Flight at 20. Champions Online gives you a travel power that will carry you through the rest of the game (even if you don't take the optional upgrades) at level 5.

[Karoline]

You got to pick your power in CoH, I know super speed and flight were two of the options. I think it had a gymnastics type option and a jumping option as well as a couple others maybe. The problem was that flight was painfully slow, like almost slower than just walking slow.

[KarmaInferno]

Aheh, I forget that you normally have to take Hover first.

I have the 60 month veteran reward that lets me take the "full" version of travel powers at level 6, instead of level 14 when they normally unlock. Also, they DID considerably increase the speed of Hover a little while back, to where with a few speed enhancers it's almost the speed of regular flight.

But I was referring more about the costume creator, which blew people away back in 2004 when it debuted.



-k

[Tanegar]

Yes, CoX's costume creator is also pretty awesome. I don't remember it in enough detail to compare it to CO's costume creator, but I remember I had a lot of fun just designing costumes for my characters. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)