Bill Roper no longer executive producer of Champions Online, game improvements promised

Most of the news coming out of Cryptic Studios of late has centered around Star Trek Online, which has garnered quite a following and looks to expand with the upcoming Season 1 patch. But Champions Online hasn't gone anywhere, and the game is gearing up for its mini-expansion and for the future. A state of the game letter has just been released, announcing both what's coming for the game as well as some management shakeups. The latter comes last in the letter but is worth noting early -- Shannon Posniewski, known as Poz on the forums, will be assuming the Executive Producer role for the game, taking over from Bill Roper.

In terms of actual in-game changes, the letter reiterates many things we heard at the GDC: the team knows there are level bands that are a bit thinner in terms of content than the players (or the developers) would like. While they're not prepared to reveal details, they are looking to expand those areas with more content and more to do. There's also the promise of new Adventure Packs, which sound similar in concept to the packs of Dungeons and Dragons Online. The full letter also mentioned updates to powersets and melee damage that should be welcome news for all Champions Online players, a clear sign the game is moving forward and not forgotten.

Reader Comments (68)

i find the implications imposed by headline amusing.

by the* headline.

grammar fail.

You speak Engrish?

Holy ****!!

Now that I've got a bit of my voice back, I don't think the adventure packs will go over well with a sub model - Cryptic, please note that DDO went f2p FIRST, before selling adventure packs!

So is Ropper fired?

No...I think they stuck him somewhere near the mail room out of harms way. :)

Wow, this is a pretty big deal. Bill Roper is "mov[ing] to other design responsibilities within Cryptic Studios." I'm not a CO hater, but I hope that Shannon Posniewski can bring some fresh ideas and a new focus to the game.

No big surprise there, I've been saying for a while now that he would likely be gone once those new quarter numbers came out.

Now the question is was he demoted? Or did Cryptic do the Cryptic thing and send him to be in charge of NWN?

Don't cheer too loudly. From the forums associated with this announcement:

"I'm not abandoning Champions Online - I'm still playing, will have input from time to time on the game, and will definitely be around for developer events!" -Bill Roper, AKA Chronomancer, post 13 in the thread.

Oh That is just a political way of saying he is moved to another project. I think that "someone" at Cryptic is starting to get it.

Hopefully this will be the start of them getting back on track to what they envisioned for CO before launch as well as less hype, more forward movement and action.

*skims Massively headlines on her way past the pc.. yup yup.. ooh interesting.. ah nice.. aw that looks pretty.. Bill Roper yup..

WAIT, WHAT?!!11!!!ELEVEN!1

"Bill Roper no longer executive producer of Champions Online, game improvements promised"

*faints
..
...

Oh my. This feels like it does on a Xmas morning when you're 11 years old, or the feeling you get lying in front of a log fire in the middle of winter, or stretched out on a towel at the beach on a summer's day with just a light breeze and nothing but the sound of seagulls and waves crashing on the shore caressing your ears..

Goodbye Roper, you absolute blight on the industry.
Yes, you can sugarcoat the message but at the end of the day you're OUT and somebody else is IN.

I pray with every ounce of gamer passion flowing through my veins, that this move is just the first step of you being wholly ejected (and rejected) from the gaming industry in it's entirety, period.

I agree with the other posters here, and no doubt thousands of players around the world; maybe now CO will gain some forward motion and actually start to deliver.
Thing are looking up, and I'll definitely keep a closer eye on the game from this point onwards.

I think I need a gin. ;p

For once, I think we actually agree on something Amana.

Dont get too excited - you may see him sooner than you think on Neverwinter Nights...!

Forgotten Realms mmo? *orgasm*

NWN? Neverwinter Nights?

Unless I miss the memo, that's Bioware's game.

BioWare developed the 1st NWN game (not counting the AOL NWN from the 90's) for Atari long before BioWare was purchased by EA. Atari still has the rights to do D&D games and *cringe* Cryptic has been rumored to be working on a NWN MMO game for about a year now. If you actually go into STO's .hogg files there are some ambient sound files with the name Neverwinter_name of sound instead of STO_name of sound and it looks like STO "borrowed" a few sound files for their ground based missions on planets.

BioWare wasn't even involved in NWN2, that was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. There have been some articles about the Turbine/Atari lawsuit over DDO maybe impacting or even putting the Cryptic NWN on hold till the lawsuit is settled.

If I recall, even though Bioware developed it, Atari published and ultimately owned the rights to D&D adventures set in the Forgotten Realms (hence Turbine needing to run it in Eberron).

Now Atari owns Cryptic, and there are rumors bouncing about that they may have Cryptic develop an MMO based in the Forgotten Realms with their vaunted Cryptic Engine. *sigh*

I don't begrudge Bill Roper having a job or a second (third) chance, but please no more high-profile positions of power or having him serve as the faceman for the company. It's not helping, really.

Took to long in the response, CCon99 hit it. :)

I didn't know about the sound files with NWN attached. That's rather disheartening. I'm not a fan of the Cryptic Engine; it does two things well: combat and customization. Beyond that, it's shallow and limited in scope, capability and depth.

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Bill Roper no longer executive producer of Champions Online, game improvements promised

Reader Comments (68)

Posted: Mar 16th 2010 10:50PM karnisov said

Posted: Mar 16th 2010 10:50PM karnisov said

Posted: Mar 18th 2010 9:51PM Joshua Przygocki said

Posted: Mar 16th 2010 10:57PM Randomessa said

Posted: Mar 16th 2010 11:01PM Randomessa said

Posted: Mar 16th 2010 11:11PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 2:14AM Its Utakata stupid said

Posted: Mar 16th 2010 11:17PM Xii said

Posted: Mar 16th 2010 11:34PM CCon99 said

Posted: Mar 16th 2010 11:38PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 10:53AM Lateris said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 12:17AM ZenJitsu said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 12:56AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 5:45AM Tovrin said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 6:32AM Snichy said

Posted: Mar 19th 2010 4:25AM pcgneurotic said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 1:48AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 2:07AM CCon99 said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 2:12AM ZenJitsu said

Posted: Mar 17th 2010 2:19AM ZenJitsu said

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