We had the opportunity to sit down with Bill Roper at GDC 2010 and discuss the general future of Champions Online. There are two themes to Bill's answers during our talk: just about everything is free and listening to community feedback.
First of all, melee powers like Might are getting reworked based directly from player feedback. The goal is to make players feel as though they're on par with ranged powersets in PvP situations. Generally, people have been saying they felt "gimped" and the goal is to fix that. There's a complete reworking of the supernatural set coming as well, which will separate the previously single powerset into two new ones.
A ton of bug fixes are coming, which is always good to hear. Lots and lots of tech updates will be rolling out, although we're not clear as to whether this will be in one huge update or sprinkled throughout several patches. However, all the fixes and updates are based on player feedback. Sensing a theme here? Cryptic seems to have compiled a list of requested improvements and addressed several of them.
Adventure packs are next for Champions Online and they're completely free, as well. These packs are designed to be two or three hours long and -- most importantly -- can be done at just about any level. Adventure packs offer an alternate chunk of content for players who've already done the early missions over and over again, plus they're very story-driven.
At the end of our brief discussion on the future of Champions, Bill had this to say, "Past that, I think it's just about remaining as responsible as possible to what the community is telling us they want." That sounds the right approach to us. We're looking forward to seeing the fruits of all this development labor -- especially if it's playable-nemesis-character-fruit.
Reader Comments (11)
Posted: Mar 12th 2010 9:43AM PrimeSynergy said
Well, I must say they seem to be righting the wrongs I've heard so much about. I was going to buy this after I played the trial, but then I saw the amount of utter hate and disappointment for this game. Now things seem to be getting better and hopefully they will continue to get better for the foreseeable future....because I REALLY want to play and enjoy this game lol.
Posted: Mar 12th 2010 1:15PM Zantom said
CO is a good game and fun. If you liked the trial do not let the forum rage deter you. There were some genuine problems that sparked the main rage regarding content gaps and charging for the upcoming (mini) expansion (regardless of how they tried to spin it), but CO has/had the same kinds of issues any MMO project typically has after launch. IMHO.
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Posted: Mar 12th 2010 9:44AM Macabre 13 said
I'm sure this "sounds great" and all for those still playing, but here's a tip, Mr. Roper, free of charge!
Next time, try doing the right thing *before* the community flips the fuck out.
Sounds pretty obvious, I know, but apparently you didn't learn much from your Flagship days...
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Next time, try doing the right thing *before* the community flips the fuck out.
Sounds pretty obvious, I know, but apparently you didn't learn much from your Flagship days...
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Posted: Mar 12th 2010 3:05PM Anatidae said
Free of charge is right. That or lower the subscription rate.
Sorry, if every other game can produce content with a $15 a month subscription. I mean really. If only 100k people pay $15 a month that is still $1,500,000 a month. A million and a half. That is 18 million a year gross.
Well, if other companies can do it, I don't see why Cryptic can't. They released a game light on content and then hit people up with additional charges. Cryptic has become the poster child for over-charging for what other companies give out for the subscription.
What is the subscription paying for then? Servers? Even that other companies charge less.. so what gives?
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Sorry, if every other game can produce content with a $15 a month subscription. I mean really. If only 100k people pay $15 a month that is still $1,500,000 a month. A million and a half. That is 18 million a year gross.
Well, if other companies can do it, I don't see why Cryptic can't. They released a game light on content and then hit people up with additional charges. Cryptic has become the poster child for over-charging for what other companies give out for the subscription.
What is the subscription paying for then? Servers? Even that other companies charge less.. so what gives?
Posted: Mar 12th 2010 10:26AM Samael said
Does CO have the biggest showing in GDC this year?
Posted: Mar 12th 2010 11:58AM urgan said
"Past that, I think it's just about remaining as responsible as possible to what the community is telling us they want."
Can I get that in contractual writing, blood as ink, with their lives and those of their families and loved ones as collateral?
(I'll believe that when I see it. It's just lip service. In the past they've listened to the parts of the community they wanted to listen to, and stuck their fingers in their ears saying "lalalala I don't hear you" to the vocal majority. In other words they're only hearing what they want to. And I say this as a long time closed beta tester and lifetime subscription holder.)
Can I get that in contractual writing, blood as ink, with their lives and those of their families and loved ones as collateral?
(I'll believe that when I see it. It's just lip service. In the past they've listened to the parts of the community they wanted to listen to, and stuck their fingers in their ears saying "lalalala I don't hear you" to the vocal majority. In other words they're only hearing what they want to. And I say this as a long time closed beta tester and lifetime subscription holder.)
Posted: Mar 12th 2010 1:27PM (Unverified) said
Agreed. Often phrases like "it's in the works" or "coming shortly" are synonymous with "long enough so that when we do finish everything else, you forget what we promised you"
What I REALLY enjoyed about this release is that two of the freebie mentions are bug fixes and balance issues. If people weren't already screaming bloody murder, how many Cryptic Points would they cost?
But hey, if you don't want powerset balance, don't buy it, amirite?
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What I REALLY enjoyed about this release is that two of the freebie mentions are bug fixes and balance issues. If people weren't already screaming bloody murder, how many Cryptic Points would they cost?
But hey, if you don't want powerset balance, don't buy it, amirite?
Posted: Mar 12th 2010 1:06PM (Unverified) said
"Adventure packs are next for Champions Online and they're completely free, as well."
Bravo Cryptic this is how you will earn my money.
Bravo Cryptic this is how you will earn my money.
Posted: Mar 12th 2010 1:59PM (Unverified) said
unless your $15 is only going for server maintenance then they are loosing money
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Posted: Mar 13th 2010 9:53AM Heraclea said
If they fix melee, I might go back.
But I don't see that happening without a major revamp -- i.e. automation -- of the "block" mechanic. That was one of the chief sources of my disappointment of the game: it required you to react automatically to signals that characters with a melee field of vision often missed. It also sapped the purpose out of power sets and talents designed to make your character tougher than average.
But I don't see that happening without a major revamp -- i.e. automation -- of the "block" mechanic. That was one of the chief sources of my disappointment of the game: it required you to react automatically to signals that characters with a melee field of vision often missed. It also sapped the purpose out of power sets and talents designed to make your character tougher than average.
Posted: Mar 15th 2010 9:46AM (Unverified) said
Players have been complaining about Might (and all of the melee frameworks) since CB. The game went live in September. And they're only *now* deciding that they need to listen to what the playerbase is saying? This is why Cryptic fails.
It's nice that they seem to be making an effort, but as others have said, I'll believe it when I see results.
The forums were plugged with complaints about mishandling of the winter event, and the players weren't shy about how to fix the core problem -- the GM "cooperative" battle forced the participants to be *in competition with each other* for rare reward drops, which shut-out characters below cap and support builds, as the competition was based on damage output. Cryptic's "solution" to the fiasco was to declare that they wouldn't use the same items for rewards next time.
During the same event, Cryptic bent over backwards to support a charity drive started by one of the players, in which he collected instances of event salvage that had no in-game value and made a donation to a children's charity based on the number of collected pieces. Three days later, Cryptic issued a mandatory patch that gave the item in-game value, guaranteeing that most players would not donate to the drive.
My experience is that Cryptic frequently doesn't "get it", and I strongly suspect that Roper is spinning empty feel-good marketing rhetoric. It's a bit late, and a bit thin. They lost my $15 a long time ago.
It's nice that they seem to be making an effort, but as others have said, I'll believe it when I see results.
The forums were plugged with complaints about mishandling of the winter event, and the players weren't shy about how to fix the core problem -- the GM "cooperative" battle forced the participants to be *in competition with each other* for rare reward drops, which shut-out characters below cap and support builds, as the competition was based on damage output. Cryptic's "solution" to the fiasco was to declare that they wouldn't use the same items for rewards next time.
During the same event, Cryptic bent over backwards to support a charity drive started by one of the players, in which he collected instances of event salvage that had no in-game value and made a donation to a children's charity based on the number of collected pieces. Three days later, Cryptic issued a mandatory patch that gave the item in-game value, guaranteeing that most players would not donate to the drive.
My experience is that Cryptic frequently doesn't "get it", and I strongly suspect that Roper is spinning empty feel-good marketing rhetoric. It's a bit late, and a bit thin. They lost my $15 a long time ago.








