Champions Online (XBOX 360 AND PC)

Dr. Baltar

Has anyone been following this title? It looks absolutely amazing!

http://champions-online.com/

It's going to be the first MMORPG that's decent available on a console and the customization options look absolutely out of this world!

Create your own powers for your superheros, completely customize everything about your costume, create an arch-nemesis ect.. looks extremely detailed.

Ivan

Played the beta for a few hours and it has alot of similarities with City of Heroes but thankfully, is different in most of the ways that matter.

The abilities are more interesting and look much cooler, plus you can use abilities while moving which makes for more dynamic PvE and some hectic PvP.

Also, the stat/class system is amazing. There is no real class system but rather your role is based on your stats focus, which can be changed by quickly changing your gear set. Throwing on high hp items with the right stats makes you a tank regardless of the abilities you use. There is no healer role and most of the buff abilities were removed which makes for a little bit less variety but it means the days of waiting around for hours while waiting for one specific role is gone.

The UI is amazingly improved again, on City of Heroes - a quick spec/gear swap system makes the new changes all the better and abilities seem much more responsive.

The actual abilities themselves are much, much better. For instance, I was able to make an Iron Man clone and then pick up Rocket boots as a travel power which works exactly like you would expect an Iron man type character to work. In fact, all of the travel powers are much more polished and desireable.

Finally, Champions also implements a Public Quest system ala Warhammer which I feel, works really well. At least the ones I've tried are done really well and give a great sense of the epicness that they are going for.

All in all, I'll be picking up this game as soon as pre-orders go up

Dubhthamlacht

I will be 100% certain of picking this title up. Not sure yet if i will get the Xbox or PC version though!

I've never played a MMORPG with a console controller before so I am wondering if that would be better than the usual mouse/keyboard combo. There are also other factors to take into account, ease of dowloading patches, voice coms, general typed chat.

Most MMO's are fantasy or sci-fi based so seeing this come along is a breath of fresh air. I played COH and while it had it's good points I was overall disappointed. This certainly appears much more appealing adn the lack of defined archetypes is novel. I really hope this game succeeds.

It would be cool to hook up with other folks here on the same server upon release.

Kiith

Will definitly be picking this up as well. Will probably spend hours creating my character, since the creation looks like a huge amount of fun. the fact that you can change pretty much everything, from colour of your attacks to the area that they come off your body. Here's hoping for a lightning beam from my croch.

humanji

I was really looking forward to this as I loved City Of Heroes, but then when I heard it was going to be on console too, I started thinking that it might be all dumbed down. But now, the more I read about it, it sounds like a MMO Beat 'em Up to some extents.

My only problem is deciding what version to get.

xeni

For those interested, Play.com preorder gives Beta access (starting at 17th August), headstart and some items.
http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/6080087/Champions-Online/Product.html

Kiith

Thats bloody great value. Will definitly be picking that up on Friday (pay-day).

I have decided i am going to take the plunge with this one . If i order this today off play.com, will i get a chance to play it today ?

Kiith

Beta for pre-orders doesnt start till the 17th iirc.

nix

Hummm im intrigued, and thank god i was kicking myself for missing out oh CoH's, this looks like a bunch of fun and a nice change in how an MMO usually plays

Defo gonna give this a whirl!

i started playing the Beta today thanks to another boardsie. The character creation is great . I made a pretty cool character, like Venom from the comics. I dont know how complete the game is though . Still very jumpy

Niska

Looking forward to this one - have it pre-ordered. Just hope that Play gets it to me before the "headstart" runs out...

Kiith

Is there no digital download? Also, i'm assuming pre-ordering it wont get you into the closed beta thats going on atm right? Just the open beta on the 17th?

Niska

Kiith wrote: »

Is there no digital download? Also, i'm assuming pre-ordering it wont get you into the closed beta thats going on atm right? Just the open beta on the 17th?

Yeah - if you pre-order form Play you can download and play 4 days before launch (the "headstart") - which may be 8 days before the European launch (US launch is 1st Sept, the European is the 4th). You'll also be able to play in the open Beta from the 17th (I think).

The trouble is if there is an amnesty, or grace period, after the launch date for those playing via the headstart - that is to allow for the shipping time to get your box so you can enter the serial code form the box. Most do - just with the wonderful play delivery speed record does leave a lot of room for worry.

Niska

Dubhthamlacht wrote: »

I will be 100% certain of picking this title up. Not sure yet if i will get the Xbox or PC version though!

I've never played a MMORPG with a console controller before so I am wondering if that would be better than the usual mouse/keyboard combo. There are also other factors to take into account, ease of dowloading patches, voice coms, general typed chat.

Most MMO's are fantasy or sci-fi based so seeing this come along is a breath of fresh air. I played COH and while it had it's good points I was overall disappointed. This certainly appears much more appealing adn the lack of defined archetypes is novel. I really hope this game succeeds.

It would be cool to hook up with other folks here on the same server upon release.

Wouldn't hold my breath for the Xbox version - Cryptic aren't sure when that'll be out, and have recently taken down the 360 FAQ from their site as it was vague, uninformative and mostly speculation...

As for using a controller, the PC version can, out of the box, be controlled via an Xbox controller if you so wish.

http://www.massively.com/2009/08/03/the-digital-continuum-five-reasons-to-play-champions-online/#continued

And the whole one server thing looks like it's gonna be good, as will the allowability of multiple iterations of the same name. So no more respelling your chosen name with an accent or squiggle just because someone else used it first.


And they've recently announced special 6 month and life-time (eppp!) subscription deals for those who've preordered.

http://www.champions-online.com/preorder

going to go for the life time myself . Its good to know i can always go back to it .

Kiith

Hell, i'd almost consider getting the lifetime sub if only to get into the Star Trek Online closed beta later in the year. That is something i'm looking forward to.

humanji

Yeah, I think I might have to go for the lifetime too, for value for money (assuming I play it for a while), and more importantly, the Star Trek beta.

I just read through the homepage and my new concern is if they're going to look through the dialogue to correct the spelling and grammar, because it's absolute sh*te on the site.

nix

How much is lifetime sub?

humanji

It's $199 dollars. Not sure what it is in Euro's.

145

Lone Stone

I was going to try this out , i played city of villians for a while , But i just cant be play a game that wants a monthly fee and has RMT for fluff which should be covered by my monthly fee.

Also like lets see
Box fee
Sub fee
Fluff fee (pay for cool looking costume parts)

xbox-
Box fee
Sub fee
XBL fee

humanji

Well, for the PC, you'll probably be able to download the client for free and you dont' have to pay for any of the fluff. Plus, if you're going to be playing it a lot, the lifetime sub will save you money in the long run. Or you can go for the 6 month sub which saves you some too.

It's still pricey, but all MMO's are. It all depends on how much you want it.

LoLth

played the beta of this and I have to say.... much as I wanted to like it (I am a City of heroes player but I can see city of heroe's limitations so I really want something new) I just couldnt.

it was to arcadey for me. the graphics were TOO comic book. The city zone was way too "busy" but in the way that the scenery blocked out the important details not in terms of players. Instanced areas need to be larger. 25 players per "zone" is silly especially on the big ice tundra or in the desert. you just feel alone! that number needs to increase.

I'll see what the reviews are like and if it seriously upgrades from the beta I will definitely pick it up and try it, but as it stands... not a hope of leaving CoH for this.

Kiith

LoLth wrote: »

25 players per "zone" is silly...

Seriously?

humanji

LoLth wrote: »

played the beta of this and I have to say.... much as I wanted to like it (I am a City of heroes player but I can see city of heroe's limitations so I really want something new) I just couldnt.

it was to arcadey for me. the graphics were TOO comic book. The city zone was way too "busy" but in the way that the scenery blocked out the important details not in terms of players. Instanced areas need to be larger. 25 players per "zone" is silly especially on the big ice tundra or in the desert. you just feel alone! that number needs to increase.

I'll see what the reviews are like and if it seriously upgrades from the beta I will definitely pick it up and try it, but as it stands... not a hope of leaving CoH for this.

But if you're not playing COH's, is it worth it?

superfly

i pre-ordered this and got the 6 month sub, so i will be killing Klingons later on in the year as well
i was going to buy it off Steam but they are the only ones without a pre-order yet so went with Play

LoLth

seriously: when I played it there were multiple instances of each level (starting city , desert, ice tundra - those were the only ones I played) and it had things like " region name 24 players , region name 25 players , region name 20 players , etc"

now, this could be just for testing purposes or perhaps the threshold is lower while beta goes on but I wasnt really impressed. the city was busy, scenery and critters romping around but not many other heroes to interact with. Nothing like the 120 member Rikti Ship hunt I took part in during a rikti invasion in city of heroes. Most impressive indeed to see 120 costumed heroes beating the snot out of an alien dropship. City of heroes does have zones with maximum capacity though. some zones can only take 50 heroes per instance but these are usually the harder challenge zones (like the Hamidon raid for example). otherwise I think its a cap of 300 or 500 per zone before it creates a new instance.

If you're not playing CoH, I cant honestly say whether its worth it or not. I dont see it as an improvement on CoH so I dont think I'll be switching over (as I said, not unless a lot has changed from the beta). if you are interested in a superhero mmo i ouwld be suprised if you havent tried city of heroes by now (its 5 years old!) , if you didnt like it then maybe champions online will be more your style.

combat is more fluid. definitely agree with that statement BUT targetting system is awkward and it turns into a huge button mashing session as you spam your low powered attacks to build up energy and unleash the bigger attacks. While line of sight does count, enemies still shoot through each other so putting your back to a wall to limit the number of attacking foes for example is not a valid tactic, jumping around is however as larger attacks usually have a cone effect that you can avoid. yes, bunny hopping is a useful skill.

just felt way to arcadey and despite the level of customisation available (rivals if not exceeds coH, though CoH has announced power customisation now) I just didnt feel as if my choice of powers, look or abilities made any difference on my style of gameplay whatsoever. I played a gun toting mercenary, spammed snap shot until I could unleash aimed shot. i played an ape-man (this was cool, he really looked and moved like an ape!) and spammed punch until I could unleash haymaker. neither felt like it was more or less accurate. neither felt like it was more or less capable of taking punishment. neither felt like the game was any more or less challenging. in CoH, if you play a blaster you play a ranged blaster, if you play a scrapper you go hand to hand and the game is completely different.

I did like the zone events (missions that take place at a building that you share achievement progress with any other heroes that are in the same area) sort of like a giant monster event in CoH but not with giant monsters and not as intrusive as the invasions.

Ivan

To be fair LoLth, the 2 starting abilities are pretty similar for every powerset albeit ranged or melee but after that, things get very different.

Similar to playing an energy blaster or a fire one. The 2 starting abilities are, for all intents and purposes; the same ability with a different graphic (and a mildly different secondary affect). This is true in Champions too, you dont really see any diversity in your class until you finish the starting area and pick up your travel powers. That is around level 5 or 6.

Kiith

So, if we pre-order this, do we get into the open beta that starts tomorrow? Thinking i might get it, with the 6 month sub later today.

xeni

Kiith wrote: »

So, if we pre-order this, do we get into the open beta that starts tomorrow? Thinking i might get it, with the 6 month sub later today.

As far as I can see the Open Beta access offer was removed from pretty much all sites that offer pre-orders just after the codes were sent on Friday. Amazon.co.uk still shows it as available but if you check further you'll see:
Closed Beta – 17th August – 26th August (Order by Thursday 13th of August to receive a code)
So no go there as well.