Champions Online

[Gracerath]

Haha yeah those mobs in the Canadian Wilderness can be a pain in the ass. They seemingly come from nowhere. Its a combination of a bad respawn or you aggro them while traveling past. The aggro radius can be pretty large. Swing is my favorite travel power, by far. Teleport was annoying. Flight is a nice fire and forget travel power. Perfect for a quick tab out to do an IM or something while going to your next mission.

Also something to be aware of. If you are in a group of 3 or more people, the mobs you fight will actually run away and aggro other groups of mobs. Its especially dangerous in some areas where you have to kill a few super villains (the ape and the brain in canada, for example) and it is surrounded by henchman on all sides. Accidentally aggro one pack and you've basically got the entire hillside worth of baddies to fight as well.

[pierth]

If you find that you've gimped your build (extremely easy to do), I'd say anything under level ~10 is just easier to reroll. I finally settled on my fourth or fifth alt to be my main, with TK/FF and the two schools share one stat so it makes gearing appropriately easier.

edit: I can be contacted in game at Lady Dusk@pierth, level 17 now, no SG

[Aldonza]

Yes, that's what I did last night. I went home, scrapped Alexis and remade her as Pandora. Still a Fire based hero, but I've got a better idea of where I'm going and what to do. My roommate and I got up to 11 last night, and I snagged Regen, so things should get easier.

Also a nice side effect, I've not been gnashing at the bit to log in and raid.

[honorshammer]

Is there a trial available for the game?

[pierth]

No trials that I've seen yet. For me it's a good thing, because I guarantee I would have written it off as junk if I'd only played for 4-5 days.

[pierth]

So it's been over 30 days since release and I can't say I have any idea where the game is going. I'm 30 out of 40 atm (school taking too much of my free time), so here's what I've seen:

Good:
+Extremely solo-able to the point I've only needed assistance on one mission which was +2 levels and was intended for 5 people

+Excellent customization: the character creator is excellent and the ability to choose any power out of any powerset (as well as being able to color them to your liking) is very nice

+Fun environment: This is not the grim and gritty comic world of the '90s. It's fun, campy and silly at times. Easter eggs galore from all forms of pop culture and content inspired by G.I. Joe (no promos tho), the Island of Dr. Moreau, Westworld, Fallout, etc.

+Sidekicking is present a la CoX which really helps to stay together with friends despite level differences.

+Different "builds/stances" for different roles enhance different aspects of your powers at the cost of other aspects, for example in Avenger you'll deal more damage, but hitpoints and healing received are minimized

+Gear everywhere: drops are abundant and all of the crafting specialties (which are all pretty much exactly the same, but different items and stats) DE drop items of that type for parts to craft.

+One server: Like Guild Wars it's all on one server which makes it much easier to find your friends and other people on at your time.

Bad:
-The soloability means the community can be complete sh!t. Internet anonymity and the lack of interdependence has led to a lot of node-stealing, kill-stealing, and just generally rude behavior.

-No repercussion for bad gaming: The penalty for death is you lose some bonus damage and healing up to ~5%. The mission I spoke of earlier the entire group wiped multiple times due to overpulling but we still completed everything by rezzing and running back. Another I was on that was meant for 5+ (and wound up with me and one other, solo) had me faceplanted by the supervillains several times, but even while dead I was able to complete parts of the mission.

-Only damage counts: I can't speak for the top level because I'm only 3/4 there but so far it's only worth getting powers that do damage or allow you to take damage. Buffing, debuffing, and healing I have seen very little need/desire for. So when you do group with someone, or several it just becomes a DPS zerg. Imagine grouping with 4 DKs.

-Immersion issues: enemies of completely different types are very close to one another, for example a big terrorist base (bunkers and all) right next to an amusement park. No one noticed the construction? Really?

-Cryptic prefers nerfing: If a power seems to have the edge in PvE (or moreso in PvP) other powers will not be buffed to this level, the powers in question will be nerfed, and usually overnerfed.

-Re-speccing will cost you: You can "retcon" all the way down to your first power, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg. I've seen figures for full retcons range from 500-700G. The upside is that there really isn't anything else to spend money (influence) on.


I'm sure I'm leaving out some things that aren't coming to mind atm, but this game is hardly a MMO- it's really just a 1P game that happens to have a bunch of other players around. This could be intentionally so that it fits better for the Xbox 360, but it really isn't a substitute for a more fleshed-out MMO. It is a very fun diversion but so far that is all I can see it being.

[Krazed]

http://www.siradio.fm/news/Champions_On ... l_Giveaway

For those contest going folks.

[Lightbeard]

About to try out the free trial on it.