State of the Game

domonis · March 2018

Greetings Champions community!

This past weekend I got the super hero itch, and didnt want to re up my DConline account, Marvel action RPG is dead (kinda sucked anyhow), and I downloaded this game. I am pleasantly surprised and couldn't believe the long way it has come. I gave it a try years ago and didnt stick around long.

It didnt take but an hour or so and I subbed and now on my 3rd hero. I am posting to ask if there are plans for more content and development? I see Cryptic pumping Star Trek content like mad and I dont believe i have every received an email about Champions. Is this alive just for us that stick around or is there future plans. I did a fast search and didnt find anything promising either. I figured I'd ask the community.

Thanks all!

soulforger · March 2018

domonis said:
Greetings Champions community!

This past weekend I got the super hero itch, and didnt want to re up my DConline account, Marvel action RPG is dead (kinda sucked anyhow), and I downloaded this game. I am pleasantly surprised and couldn't believe the long way it has come. I gave it a try years ago and didnt stick around long.

It didnt take but an hour or so and I subbed and now on my 3rd hero. I am posting to ask if there are plans for more content and development? I see Cryptic pumping Star Trek content like mad and I dont believe i have every received an email about Champions. Is this alive just for us that stick around or is there future plans. I did a fast search and didnt find anything promising either. I figured I'd ask the community.

Thanks all!

They are still pumping out content, mostly updates to events and power sets, but, sometimes, something new. As for any new planned known content? The community is typically kept in the dark until the new content is announced and/or put on the pts.

kamokami · March 2018

There are plans for more content additions, powerset updates, and development. Details are not announced though.

althewombat · March 2018

As a player who started in 2011, I can say that it is an entirely different game now. That said, it does not mean it evolves.
There are frequent tweaks done to things but rarely anything that is actually content. If you are new to the game, it will have enough content for five or six runs through, with perhaps an additional piece of content added during that time. If you are new, you will find the uniqueness very refreshing and enriching. The level of customization is unmatched.
If you are looking at the community, there is a growing problem that is common to MMOs. As an aging MMO, responses to tickets has become a tertiary concern. If you hope to RP, be prepared to find a large number of unaddressed bullies and trolls, along with other publically inappropriate types. You are likely to also find that they have chased away most of the RPers who are not in private groups (and, thus, unavailable to RP in general). As to non-RP social, bullies and trolls are much easier to ignore. Helpful players are out there, even though they have declined.
You identified this as a 'Super Hero bug biting", so CO should be perfect. The content will be fresh until the mood passes, and the addictiveness of the game is likely to extend that further than you might think. If you go Gold, you will find the additional option as FreeForm and costume options to expand the game immensely.
I would no longer recommend Champions Online to a player who is coming in without already knowing people who play. I would no longer recommend Gold to a new player. I would not recommend the CO Role Playing community. I would rate customer service as dismissive, at best.

ealford1985 · March 2018

I wouldn’t recommend his entire critique.

I’ve played this game for 7 years and it’s the people that make me keep playing. The community isn’t large as WoW but it’s always been quality over quantity. If you are finding horrible people then you are looking in wrong places.

Content isn’t something that is plentiful but a lot of attention has gone into events that happen either annually or biannually.

There is a lot to fixes and tweaks to powers and that is being done for balance. There is plenty of items to acquire from content and if you look up the altaholic thread there are people who level up hundreds of times.

The tailor is not only the best in an MMO, it’s by far the best in any game I have ever played. Period.

The creative team isn’t the ones I would pick as they aren’t very much in tune with what a super hero game is...but it’s better than nothing.

I would recommend gold and if you love the game; go Lifetime as this game doesn’t take much to keep it running and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

althewombat · March 2018

I agree. It is the players that keep me playing. That said, if you know someone, you'll have a great time. If you don't, you will likely have a good time, but be ready to deal with those would would detract from it.

jonsills · March 2018

I don't actually interact with people that much - between my schedule (or lack thereof) and the way I'm wired, that works best for me. And I'm having enough fun with this game that I went LTS a while back, and haven't regretted it for a moment.

Of course, it probably helps that I'm an altaholic, and really enjoy having all those character slots...

spinnytop · March 2018

All I know is that a dev told me this was going to be an exciting year, and the last time they told me something like that we got the Qliphotic Warzone owo

ealford1985 · March 2018

You can reach 40 and still have 3 1/2 zones untouched.

I did it once like that with no xp boost. Did all missions that were available in MC, Desert, Canada and did abut half (if that) of MI. Which left the rest of MI and Lemuria, VB, and the Warzone.

markhawkman · March 2018

Yeah people talk about lack of stuff to do, but I bet most of them haven't played every mission in the game.

riverocean · March 2018

I've noticed an uptick in SG activity and people teaming a little more frequently. And that gives me some hope. Regularly running Mechanon plus the Q-Zone dailies, (*easier with a small group) helps to earn Silver and Gold recognition for those that don't like big-zone events. There's been a ton of small QOL improvements that make game play better. And we get regular updates to the game now.

CO satisfies my super-hero gaming itch, without sending me to the poor house with micro-transactions. And that's really a plus in my book. Not to mention the super flexible character creator-- which very few games can match in flexibility. So overall, I'd say things were pretty good here.

ealford1985 · March 2018

It’s almost impossible to do all missions.

They have level lock out and hidden people everywhere

spinnytop · March 2018

markhawkman said:
Yeah people talk about lack of stuff to do, but I bet most of them haven't played every mission in the game.

Yeah but considering most of those missions are pretty samey and don't really give anything they wouldn't be missing any significant content. "Yo, you've jumped rope in the east parking lot, but have you jumped rope in the west parking lot? There's a red car in that one." When people talk about lack of stuff to do I doubt they're bemoaning the lack of more samey cardboard-cutout-tipping sessions with cheesy writing and garbage rewards ( though I do of course acknowledge that there are some people who get stiff nosehairs for that sort of thing ).

It's more likely they're talking about not having stuff to work towards, since that is why there is stuff to do.

ealford1985 · March 2018

For me it’s running the content in the same order.

A fresh toon can make said content fresh as well but not if you have to start in MC all the time.

Be great to start in VB or MI for once. Hell...even Lemuira would be fun.

I have a bunch of toons I need to level up but I just hate starting with Purple Gangs.

stellariodragon · March 2018

Became a life time subscriber a few years ago, I occasionally will drop a few bucks down on the game if there's something fun in the C-store and I've spent my stipend.

Usually "too many cooks spoil the broth," but I think overall it's helped round out this game. It seems like his game churns through devs, and they all have their favorite powerset and feature (Nemesis, Adventure Packs, Hideouts, Alerts, Vehicles, Rampages, etc) that gets a lot of attention for a while, then doesn't get any further development. Fortunately the latest devs seem to care more about balancing over a particular powerset, which actually turned me off for a while until I came around. There are still a few bugs (Hrodigeir's art in smash alert ques, Lemurians in Smash Destroids) but many, many of the QOL bugs have been squashed.

Personally, I think there's a little too much focus on grimdark and cosmics. I'd prefer more Gravitar-style rampages that can be queued and failed in 10-15 minutes, than waiting up to an hour for a group of 30 players to get it together. However, I think they're done with rampages.

I really do appreciate the polishing and refining that's been going on in the last few years. Seems like there's always something to play towards, which is good. I just wish there were like 10 different queueable gravatar bosses. Maybe elite smashes for SCR?

Sorry, getting off topic. Yus, the game is getting developed and refined. I think development is scaled to the fanbase though, so I'd say we have 1/10th Star Trek or Neverwinter. Still, there are some skillful people working on the game.

servantrules · March 2018

CO has aged into that zone where keeping it running requires minimal maintenance and costs while still being profitable enough that management likely won't bother it.

The community is small, but few trolls or other ne'er-do-wells compared to anywhere else, from personal experience. And, yes, the costume/alt options are the best vs. any MMO by comparison. Try Gold for a month and, if you see yourself along for the long haul, the LTS is worth it.

Content, big and small, trickle in, but we usually don't know until its only a month or two in going live. But, hey, if Everquest is still getting updates, pretty sure CO will too.

markhawkman · March 2018

ealford1985 said:
It’s almost impossible to do all missions.

They have level lock out and hidden people everywhere

And random drop items you have to get from killing enemies! But that's part of the fun. You have to go and LOOK for things.

ealford1985 · March 2018

Yeah exactly...so when someone says “I’ve done all the missions” I laugh.

No one has, I have no doubts.

soulforger · March 2018

ealford1985 said:
Yeah exactly...so when someone says “I’ve done all the missions” I laugh.

No one has, I have no doubts.

I have done all the missions, on several characters, it was annoying as hell to do. Several people have. Not sure why you said it is almost impossible above, it is very possible, time consuming, and annoying, but possible. And what was that about hidden characters? Talking about stealthed enemies? Well, that is part of the game. Level lock? Unless the game has no levels, or everything scales to the player, all missions will have a level lock. Wouldn't want a level 10 to be fighting a level 40 mob after all.

pantagruel01 · March 2018

I'm not aware of any missions that you can be too high level to do. It's somewhat difficult to confirm actually doing all the missions, though -- you can clear your mission finder of all non-repeatable missions, but not all missions are in the mission finder.

soulforger · March 2018

pantagruel01 said:
I'm not aware of any missions that you can be too high level to do. It's somewhat difficult to confirm actually doing all the missions, though -- you can clear your mission finder of all non-repeatable missions, but not all missions are in the mission finder.

In truth, the easiest way to figure it out is by running to every single NPC and talking to them. And once those are gone, along with all the non-repeatable missions in the mission finder, the only ones left to do, are the ones that come from drops from mobs. And that is where the annoying part comes in play.

markhawkman · March 2018

soulforger said:

pantagruel01 said:
I'm not aware of any missions that you can be too high level to do. It's somewhat difficult to confirm actually doing all the missions, though -- you can clear your mission finder of all non-repeatable missions, but not all missions are in the mission finder.
In truth, the easiest way to figure it out is by running to every single NPC and talking to them. And once those are gone, along with all the non-repeatable missions in the mission finder, the only ones left to do, are the ones that come from drops from mobs. And that is where the annoying part comes in play.

You usually get the mob drops while doing other stuff. The Black Box item that you need for the mission where you rescue Foxbat? It's common to get that just because you were poking around near the museum.

soulforger · March 2018

markhawkman said:

soulforger said:

pantagruel01 said:
I'm not aware of any missions that you can be too high level to do. It's somewhat difficult to confirm actually doing all the missions, though -- you can clear your mission finder of all non-repeatable missions, but not all missions are in the mission finder.
In truth, the easiest way to figure it out is by running to every single NPC and talking to them. And once those are gone, along with all the non-repeatable missions in the mission finder, the only ones left to do, are the ones that come from drops from mobs. And that is where the annoying part comes in play.
You usually get the mob drops while doing other stuff. The Black Box item that you need for the mission where you rescue Foxbat? It's common to get that just because you were poking around near the museum.

Yeah, usually that is the case, sometimes it is not. There were a re few cases I actually had to farm mobs to get them to drop their quest giving item.

screwthisprocess · March 2018

Bought a subscription for DCUO and found myself playing other games, this one included. I did the Gold for CO and it is worth it. The Marvel game was better than DCUO by a long shot. I don't see how ppl can play that game tbh. You cant do anything and the combat is awful. Another xp event in April will be cool for us alt junkies.

catstarsto · March 2018

kamokami said:
There are plans for more content additions, powerset updates, and development. Details are not announced though.

They need a new marketing strategy! -_-

https://youtu.be/mcoePNQ6obA

I plan to stay I have a lot of time and money invested in champs, but the guy above was right a lot of the success of a game is its players attitude, if you can find a circle that will accept you in an mmo, the games enjoyment will increase far more then what the devs could add.

dantheiceman1 · April 2018

lets be completely honest here... this game is clearly in maintenance mode since free for all...and we all know it and other then the ODD tiny bit of content hasn't been improved...

i have been saying it before on these forums for years before we were all forced to get arc and will continue to do so until this game is cancelled

ealford1985 · April 2018

Well...isn’t that special.

pantagruel01 · April 2018

dantheiceman1 said:
lets be completely honest here... this game is clearly in maintenance mode

No, it's in limited development mode. Maintenance mode is zero new stuff other than (maybe) bug fixes, and we do get new stuff. Not as much new stuff as we'd like to get, of course, but some.

theravenforce · April 2018

dantheiceman1 said:
lets be completely honest here... this game is clearly in maintenance mode since free for all...and we all know it and other then the ODD tiny bit of content hasn't been improved...

i have been saying it before on these forums for years before we were all forced to get arc and will continue to do so until this game is cancelled

I'd have to disagree with what you've stated here.

If you want a REAL understanding of what CO was like in Maintenance Mode, cast your mind back to late 2012 - late 2013. That was a REAL maintenance mode (or at least as close to one CO has had. In reality, CO was being handed over to a new Dev team and they were being trained IIRC).

Champions Online has had a fair bit of TLD (Tender Loving Development) in the time since then, even if the content additions cater to players interested in end game content...it is still additions.

CO doesn't have a massive Development Team 30 devs strong or something...if we did and we were getting what we got now, I would question what is going on.

I suggest you take the time to look at Release Notes even in the past two years and see if CO has only had "tiny bits of content".

I'm no Developer or know anything about programming etc, but I know these things take time, so if you've got a small team working on a large project...it's going to take time, especially on a game as old as CO.

beezeeze · April 2018

Hey look at this quote from 2014!

dantheiceman1 said:
short answer no this game doesn't not have a future, and once its gone i won't even shed a tear over it

we have had no proper updates or bug fixes since FFA

and don't say the c-store counts as features because that's a load of garbage that's to see if there is still interest

Seems this person is still singing the same old tune nearly 4 years later. Oh well, nice of them to come back and say hello.

ealford1985 · April 2018

Wait....that’s a double negative!

“Doesn’t not”

So he is saying it does.

beezeeze · April 2018

By jove that means he was right!

jonsills · April 2018

We were all forced to get Arc? When?

I'm still launching from the old standalone. On my laptop, I use Steam. Haven't used Arc as a game launcher, or for any other purpose really, and don't see any need to do so in the future.

jaazaniah1 · April 2018

Makes you wonder if this person plays the game (still)? Apparently it's been in maintenance mode for 4 years and he/she is still playing it? Or, only going to the forums to complain about something he/she knows nothing about due to not actually playing for 4 years?

beezeeze said:
Hey look at this quote from 2014!

dantheiceman1 said:
short answer no this game doesn't not have a future, and once its gone i won't even shed a tear over it

we have had no proper updates or bug fixes since FFA

and don't say the c-store counts as features because that's a load of garbage that's to see if there is still interest
Seems this person is still singing the same old tune nearly 4 years later. Oh well, nice of them to come back and say hello.

spinnytop · April 2018

dantheiceman1 said:
lets be completely honest here... this game is clearly in maintenance mode since free for all...and we all know it and other then the ODD tiny bit of content hasn't been improved...

i have been saying it before on these forums for years before we were all forced to get arc and will continue to do so until this game is cancelled

why did you capitalize ODD? o3o

deadman20 · April 2018

To answer your question, there's always plans. The rest of us are mostly just kept in the dark until it comes to testing time. Expect each seasonal event to have some new things to look forward to and power set reviews to happen every couple of months.

Stick around and enjoy your time on CO.

riverocean · April 2018

Since I've accepted CO for what it is, I've been much happier with the game. It's a small game that caters to a specific sub-niche of gamers. We get minor updates, small tweaks, and a new power occasionally. Some of that stuff is tied to lockboxes, but since new powers are purchasable on the exchange - I'm not bothered.

One thing I've noticed is that when we do get new content - players don't use it. Like we got the Mechanon and Cybermind arcs. They were played for a few weeks then people got bored with them. An entirely new zone was created that is actually a challenge. But instead of teaming up to do the content, people farmed it with vehicles and then forgot about it.

But again, the game is what it is. It gives me my superhero fix and in exchange I either sub or drop money on Zen for things I want. It works for me.

ealford1985 · April 2018

Maybe they need more single content.

I farmed mechanon for that entire year

markhawkman · April 2018

Heh, one of my characters still has a few MCR in her list of currencies.

pantagruel01 · April 2018

riverocean said:
One thing I've noticed is that when we do get new content - players don't use it. Like we got the Mechanon and Cybermind arcs. They were played for a few weeks then people got bored with them. An entirely new zone was created that is actually a challenge. But instead of teaming up to do the content, people farmed it with vehicles and then forgot about it.

There's a reason games put in grinds and rare drops -- it gets people to play content. Rare drops are better, because it means people play that content instead of just gravitating towards the most efficient means of farming. If we want to look at the problems:

Mechanon had a bunch of costume parts -- that were way too easy to grind out. It died because people managed to get everything in the shop in under a year. Also, the problem with solo content is that you can't tell if anyone is doing it.
As far as I know the only distinctive things in Cybermind are from the special alert and the 5k perks.
Warzone doesn't have unique stuff, it's just an SCR farm. It's a decently efficient SCR farm, but there are lots of other ways of farming SCR.

markhawkman · April 2018

pantagruel01 said:
As far as I know the only distinctive things in Cybermind are from the special alert and the 5k perks.

You can get costume drops from mission 2 and maybe 1. The drops in mission 2 are boss loot from Cyberlord. Might be bits you can get as rare drops from random mooks though.

ealford1985 · April 2018

No the issue with Mechanon is that people got the costumes before the event was even up.

Farming it was pretty tedious. You could get like 8 tokens a day, per toon.

Most costumes were like 24 tokens. And there were a bunch.

zamuelpwe · April 2018

pantagruel01 said:
There's a reason games put in grinds and rare drops -- it gets people to play content. Rare drops are better, because it means people play that content instead of just gravitating towards the most efficient means of farming. If we want to look at the problems:
Mechanon had a bunch of costume parts -- that were way too easy to grind out. It died because people managed to get everything in the shop in under a year. Also, the problem with solo content is that you can't tell if anyone is doing it.
As far as I know the only distinctive things in Cybermind are from the special alert and the 5k perks.
Warzone doesn't have unique stuff, it's just an SCR farm. It's a decently efficient SCR farm, but there are lots of other ways of farming SCR.

I know someone who runs the Mechanon boss battle every day. I often but not always team with him along with a few others.

Tne non alert parts of Cybermind don't really have new mechanics but the first mission has new and distinctly different graphics from the rest of the game. Plus, the connects to existing characters in the game so it feels like it "fits".

QWZ has the problem of genuinely being dreary. It's more interesting than the Demonflame exterior mini zone but it's kinda depressing and hard to see. There's also the problem of game culture means that while it's good that it's small team content, players almost agressively focus on soloing which many can't do in the QWZ.

I actually enjoy most of UNITY and UNITY 2 so all kinds make the world. Admittedly I run them far less often but I do still do them on occasion.

deadman20 · April 2018

> @zamuelpwe said:
> There's also the problem of game culture means that while it's good that it's small team content, players almost agressively focus on soloing which many can't do in the QWZ.

God forbid there is multiplayer content in an MMO.

Really though, I am guilty of preferring to run solo. If I can do it on my own, then I will.

zamuelpwe · April 2018

There's at least some interesting cause and effect with soloing. Bursts are less popular than other Alerts. There are people who will complain when that's the daily. Yet I can suggest in channel "maybe we can team up and they'll be done" and people won't, despite the fact that it would get them done quickly. I see other situations like that were teaming will solve a problem and they won't take that option.

pantagruel01 · April 2018

zamuelpwe said:
Yet I can suggest in channel "maybe we can team up and they'll be done" and people won't, despite the fact that it would get them done quickly.

That's because people are opposed to doing bursts at all.

spinnytop · April 2018

zamuelpwe said:
There's at least some interesting cause and effect with soloing. Bursts are less popular than other Alerts. There are people who will complain when that's the daily. Yet I can suggest in channel "maybe we can team up and they'll be done" and people won't, despite the fact that it would get them done quickly. I see other situations like that were teaming will solve a problem and they won't take that option.

Yeah. Some people are weirdly adverse to teaming. Why can't they just see it as "we're all soloing together"?

State of the Game

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