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A Plea from A Concerned Gamer
plasmoid070
Posts: 22 Arc User
Dear Cryptic, North Cryptic, Arc, or whoever is owning Champions Online upon the time that someone reads this in terms of content management, development, and overall management of Champions Online,
First I want to portray that I am not mad. I realize this is a video game and first and foremost games are meant to earn money to the people who developed it; however, I do see a trend that I hate upon discovery.
Last December, I was starting a new semester at college and decided to go on a six month (December-May) hiatus from Champions Online to deal with collegiate matters, I had no idea how to Bootcamp a Mac and the only resource I could use to get on Champions Online was a three hour drive away. When the six months were over, I logged back on expecting to spend some time playing catch up with what I may have missed in those six months. What I found was immensely disappointing.
Now to help make this easier for anyone who wishes to read this, I will detail my list of disappointments in the numeric order in which I have them mentally listed. You might have some additions, revisions, or subtractions from this list but this is my list first and foremost. Now without further or do….
Overall, like I said I am not mad. I am just disappointed that not only a good opportunity is being missed but that a big financial investment (to go lifetime subscription) is seemingly wasted. If what I typed above doesn’t register with anyone in the higher-ups or even the staff, then just point me the direction to get a refund because I didn’t subscribe to a game years ago just to get shafted by owners and not treated like a MMORPG should. I invested into a superhero MMORPG with its own identity, its own unique blend, and its own prevailing statement years ago, not this dusty archaic relic that the game is in now due to both ignorance and complete disregard for the true qualities and promise that the game can offer.
I hope others who read this don’t start a comment war and debates because this isn’t the intention, this isn’t a gamer who is just griping because it is hot as hell outside, but this is a gamer who is pleading to allow the game to ascend to the status it should ascend to.
First I want to portray that I am not mad. I realize this is a video game and first and foremost games are meant to earn money to the people who developed it; however, I do see a trend that I hate upon discovery.
Last December, I was starting a new semester at college and decided to go on a six month (December-May) hiatus from Champions Online to deal with collegiate matters, I had no idea how to Bootcamp a Mac and the only resource I could use to get on Champions Online was a three hour drive away. When the six months were over, I logged back on expecting to spend some time playing catch up with what I may have missed in those six months. What I found was immensely disappointing.
Now to help make this easier for anyone who wishes to read this, I will detail my list of disappointments in the numeric order in which I have them mentally listed. You might have some additions, revisions, or subtractions from this list but this is my list first and foremost. Now without further or do….
- The Nemesis System- With other Super Hero MMORPGs floating around this is what made Champions Online unique. There wasn’t another game to play as the villains; however, you got the opportunity to face off with your nemesis several times before the big, final confrontation. With that being said, I am curious as to why the powers selection wasn’t updated to include the new powers? This is something I would have shrugged off a year ago; however, now it is just looking rather lazy and just ignoring the system. I get that the game is under-staffed and under-funded; however, that doesn’t excuse a simple update to a system that made Champions Online unique. Also, the archetypes are rather…bland to say when you customize your villain. You get to pick from a Mastermind, Maniac, or Monster for the mindsets. I think I can speak for some group of creative minds when I say that this doesn’t cover EVERY aspect of a villain’s psychology. It has been the same since its launch and right now it looks rather lazy or just you don’t give a damn anymore of what happens to the game.
- Lockboxes- While some may have differing opinions, this is just rather shameful to see. What was once the era of unlocking brand new costume sets in the C-Store is now a gamble to get crappy items, modifications, and weapons that are only available with a vehicle should you choose to buy one. You might hit gold and get a costume set or a brand new vehicle; however, it stands to reason that the lockboxes have worn out their novelty. Stop relying on these to make money please. I personally do not give a damn and wouldn’t fuss if they stopped being produced tomorrow as long as there is a sign that whoever is working on development is taking the time, heart, and effort to making this game great. The lockboxes will only get you so far until the game consists of nothing but tumbleweeds and bored players. The following problems (in my opinion) are why the lockboxes will not be a permanent source of income:
a. Less Success, More Failure- I have never gambled in real life; however, I do play blackjack occasionally with friends as an excuse to meet up and have a conversation. The thing that is missing in Champions Online with the lockboxes is that the chances to hit it big are abysmal as compared to others. I run an account with five characters with 4/5 having no need for a vehicle. I got the 5th just as a fast means of transportation but that is beside the point. I missed the days when you could just preview which costume set you want in the store and buy it with a stipend or adding funds. My idea is if even you don’t remove the lockboxes, at least put the old rewards in the C-Store to be bought by people who are late to the game or don’t want to purchase the keys. As of now I only buy the keys to get my stamps to get a rather small costume prize.
b. Not Everyone Uses A Vehicle- As stated before I don’t have a dependency on vehicles and from what I know they are barely used in the game itself. If you discount the people who don’t use the vehicles, the lockboxes become a pain in the *** when you are just looking for that one costume set or power that you need. Either replace the rewards with something useful like lair boosts (Damage Boost, Damage Resistant Boost, A Certain Number of Self Resurrections with No Timers, etc.) or up the chances of getting the costume set itself. - Store Prices Rising- Really? Why is this something that you thought was a good idea? I understand with a tough economy that prices have to rise; however, doing that for EVERYTHING looks like a case of: a) Champions Online is just a few years away from going bye-bye, b) Greedy Industries wanting more money from a loyal fan base, c) Trying to get rid of some stuff to make way for more stuff, or d) A combination of the following above. I used to be able to make a debate and decision of what to use my stipend on what to buy for the month; however, it just becomes a case of me just waiting for six months and scrounging around to see what is worth paying my stipend with. The store prices aren’t encouraging anyone to buy more; it is having the reverse effect in having people avoiding the store.
- Content- Remember when Champions Online was producing Story Arc after Story Arc after Comic series? Pepperidge Farms remembers and they would laugh at the joke of content that is being produced today. Along with Ravenswood Academy being a gigantic flop in terms of concept, location, and visual appeal the content lacks when you are trying to introduce new villains. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Mechanon arc and I got excited as Champions Online was seemingly getting ready to take its reigns back but sadly it just resulted in another blank period of getting nothing but dust. If there is fear behind to what you want to put out in terms of content, then do some research to make sure you are at least as accurate as possible with the lore behind the game. I can speak for at least a few when I say that we would be jumping for joy if we got back to the golden age of content that was before. Disclaimer: I don’t hate any game in particular if it was good in design and intention, but I will point out the flaws that I feel are obvious. Now, the reason for the disclaimer is that from the known games you are heavily funding into Champions Online is surprising getting the short end of the stick. Neverwinter Online seems to be decent; however, there are a dime of dozen fantasy styled MMORPGs (the “pick up your sword and hack and slash to this objective, rinse and repeat with some magic sprinkled in” type of fantasy) and as for Star Trek Online, I guarantee that diverting the content team from STO won’t kill the game. Star Trek has a really heavy fan base that can hold it up while attention is given to Champions. Excluding Champions Online, there is only two other Superhero MMORPGs (DC Universe Online and maybe the Marvel MMO). The window of opportunity is closing really fast and I feel like there is a MAJOR opportunity that is going to be missed due to this shafting and when the spiritual successors finally become a reality, it is going to be the knife that ends Champions Online because its caretakers didn’t see fit to add some incentives to get people hooked onto the game.
- The “We Don’t Have Enough Money” Excuse- Look, I know what it is like to be limited on funds as a college student and you start judging what is necessary. With that being said, you aren’t going to make a decent amount of funds by sitting on your bums with a dazed look expecting for the lockboxes to pay for the bills. Reward demands risk, this is true when you look at successful franchises, industries, and video games today so it should come to reason that if you want to start seeing a REALLY BIG rise to funds you need to take out a risk. Give the people a solid reason to join Champions Online, give the people a reason to stay with Champions Online, and give Champions Online its own identity. If that doesn’t work, sites like kickstarter or patreon can be your aid. I don’t speak for all but I am willing to bet if there was a patreon page opened from the developers of Champions Online asking for some financial means to improve the game, there will be some sort of contribution. Despite the forums, people want to see this game prosper and not just collect dust.
- Forums- As far as I know, this is the last thing on my list that needs desperate attention as I don’t know nor frequently visit the forums often. What I do know is that the forums are just a general mess, I remember someone saying that y’all promised big changes years ago to not have it happen. Stick to your word and give us definite statements, we aren’t going to be pissed if you stay in contact and tell us what is in development and what is going to come up. Also the players are a good source of ways to improve the game, just this list above proves that the players who really want this game to succeed aren’t going to abandon ship at first site of an iceberg but we will plea to make this game better. Take each suggestion seriously (well most of the time) when players give advice of how to make this game better, it just screams common sense that you would want to listen to the consumer base you are trying to get funds from.
Overall, like I said I am not mad. I am just disappointed that not only a good opportunity is being missed but that a big financial investment (to go lifetime subscription) is seemingly wasted. If what I typed above doesn’t register with anyone in the higher-ups or even the staff, then just point me the direction to get a refund because I didn’t subscribe to a game years ago just to get shafted by owners and not treated like a MMORPG should. I invested into a superhero MMORPG with its own identity, its own unique blend, and its own prevailing statement years ago, not this dusty archaic relic that the game is in now due to both ignorance and complete disregard for the true qualities and promise that the game can offer.
I hope others who read this don’t start a comment war and debates because this isn’t the intention, this isn’t a gamer who is just griping because it is hot as hell outside, but this is a gamer who is pleading to allow the game to ascend to the status it should ascend to.
Post edited by plasmoid070 on
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Comments
2. Lockboxes = money. Cryptic needs money. Business. Nuff' said.
3. All the old lockboxes are still in circulation - players have hundreds of them sitting in their banks. If you want some, whisper me in game, you can have them for free.
4. Buy more lockboxes, give Cryptic more money, give their overlords a reason to think CO can make good money, get more content. Business.
5. They took the risks. Look where they ended up. Now they're playing it conservatively. You're basically asking an old man who broke his hip the last time he tried to run a race to "go out there and take a chance!". He's going to gently pat you on the head and say, "not today champ" and then give you a Werther's Original.
6. People are going to be pissed actually. That's how people are. I commend the devs for communicating as much as they do now, it's rather brave of them considering the community. As for taking player suggestions seriously - sure, they already do that I'm sure; keep in mind, just because they didn't use your idea doesn't mean they didn't take it seriously. It just means they did, and they determined the idea was a bad one.
1. Trust me, my hopes are reserved for more pressing matters.
2. That I get; however, if you have little to no interest in vehicles it makes the lockboxes something to avoid as the chances are abysmal in getting a costume set, pieces, or new power.
3. I'm good, I have plenty of the old ones.
4. That's where my concern lies, while the lockboxes might get some revenue in its like trying to fix a broken car part with scotch tape and elmer's glue. It isn't going to last forever and you might want to seek other means of making money than just temporary fixes.
5. The reverse can be used, look at Super Smash Bros 4. Nintendo took a bold move by establishing DLC characters and because of that it is almost instant money through online content and it keeps the door open with limitless possibilities.
6. I strongly agree with you on that one. Which is why I tend to laugh when debates of "Goku vs. Superman" and "Shrek for SSB" come up.
Actually, if there's one thing we've learned it's this: Buy more lockboxes, Cryptic will make more lockboxes because, apparently, they make money. Lockboxes don't exist to pay for content; they exist to make money. CO isn't in the development phase anymore- that ended when the team was transferred over to NWN. Now we're just on life support- and the lockboxes are what's keeping the power on. As soon as lockboxes stop being profitable, the game will be shut down.
Cryptic North was an improvement on what we had for the previous one to two years.
STO is still getting updates. Mind you, they're running out of canon to use.
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The Nemesis system is something we've been looking at (since it is something that is distinct for Champions), but are trying to figure out the best way to do that. It's got a lot of moving parts.
Lockboxes are a mainstay of all our games, and won't be going away in the foreseeable future. There are lots of people who like them, and stuff they don't need goes into secondary markets that people without ZEN can still get. We are trying new things to get more customer value out of them, and you may see some changes in new ones as we experiment with them.
We are working on a new content update now. It's not a re-vamp of old content (the tutorial needed streamlining first, so we did that). We'll be posting more about it as we get it nailed down.
Keep the feedback coming. We can't answer every concern, but we'll address things where we can, when we can.
Thanks!
One thing I would like to stress to you is that is for a lot of people faith is at an all time low. Perhaps running it by the upper end to allow for more transparency so we can start giving feedback on things to come again. Many of us do love this game, and I know we probably sound like bitter pills a lot of the time, but I think perhaps it is time for more transparency to help inspire and bring some faith back to the Champions players. Start out small, maybe, and go from there.
Another thing I am curious about is Dx11 mode ever going to be fixed for Champions? I run in it all the time but I am constantly seeing black voids everywhere especially in the city and many features of Dx11 mode are, of course, not enabled for Champions yet. And with Dx12, will we see integration of that API at all since that would probably help a lot in creating much more grandiose spectacle events than the current engine and API can handle in an MMO environment.
And another thing that I think would go an extra long way, is the UI for Champions going to be perhaps redone? If I were to be quite honest, the current UI is very, very clunky and takes up way too much real estate as far as UI schemes go. Perhaps aiming more for a modern look with a comic book flair, like faded edges and such, maybe similar to what they did in GW2 as a stylist approach, and making UI elements much easier to handle. @someguywhoplaysgames (aka Brou) made one hell of a suggestion, I think, in my bug thread and saying elements, for instance, like the contact list when using SOCRATES have more of a phone pull down style.
I get what he's saying and I have the image in my head, kind of wish I could do art to show you what I mean, but maybe I can find a substitute later. Anyways, I think at least the first and third thing would help go a long way in player to developer communication and it would tremendously help with player confidence. I know the devs are busy but having dev communication goes a long way, and maybe open transparency on what is to come as well.
Silverspar on PRIMUS
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Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
Holy Taco Tuesday!
I didn't realize that someone from the development team would actually read AND comment on my plea. Well, like I said multiple times in the plea this isn't me gripping or just putting you on a stake ready to burn this is just pleas that I feel like I should make about a game I really do like.
Good to hear! Honestly, I would be fine if the powers were updated to be current but if there are more plans I am excited!
I am not saying to get rid of them. I understand that minor mechanics can mean a good stream of funds; however, in my shoes I don't see a real strong need to start buying a ton of keys. I don't use vehicles and some of the minor bonuses don't mean a lot to characters who are maxed out in level so that created a large area of dissatisfaction and a lower chance of getting what I want from the lockbox. Please help me to understand "people without ZEN can still get" if you can. The reason I say this is isn't the keys needed to open the boxes based on ZEN being purchased? I know that there are some in the Auction House but the payment is EXTREMELY high and overall the means of getting them is still through ZEN in the Z-Store.
I have heard, so I will keep my eyes searching.
I will be sure to do that; however, like I said I don't visit the forums often so unless someone comments on one of my posts or replies it won't get to my attention.
True, but being a history major I have to go into lengthy details but I won't subject y'all to primary and secondary sources.
While I completely agree with the faith part and the Dev Feedback, I have 0 technological knowledge to know what Dx11, Dx12, and all of the UI stuff you mentioned is so I can't comment on that.
Well like I said above I don't hate STO, but I think the fanbase there is satisfied with what is in the game and there is enough support for the Star Trek franchise as a whole to keep it up while the team shifts focus to Champions Online.
Unfortunately, that's not how it works for a licensed intellectual property. If Paramount isn't happy with the progress STO makes, they can shut the game down, or force Cryptic to transfer the license to another studio, or just sue the bejeezus out of them. WotC could do the same thing with Neverwinter. That's one of the reasons why CO lost its developer support. Cryptic didn't license the Champions IP, they bought it outright. So on the one hand, they're in no danger of having the license yanked out from under them, but on the other hand, there is zero external pressure to maintain any level of development. Hence, when Cryptic needed all hands on deck to deliver Legacy of Romulus and launch Neverwinter within a couple of months, CO's dev team got stripped bare, new content stopped, the flow of money in return stopped, and CO plunged into a death spiral that they barely pulled out of by hiring Cryptic North. Which leads us to the "There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept" territory CO occupies today.
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
No, there is no place, you can get them free or really cheap. Unless someone is feeling nice and gives them away.They usually sell for about 100G.
ok to get keys;
1. buy them with money.
2. pay money to get a subscription and use your monthly stipend.
3. grind Q in game to trade on the exchange for Zen. As you can see by the exchange rate, there are far more people who want to buy zen than are selling it.
4. buy on the AH at the overpriced amounts they usually are.
5. join the Trade channel and say WTB keys 100G each.<specify amount of> or say it in Zone chat.
IF nobody buys them with money,(directly or indirectly) they become completely unavailable. So somebody has to pay for them in order to sell them ingame.
This includes somebody having to pay for the zen on the zen exchange originally. No zen purchased(directly or indirectly), no zen on exchange.
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That much as well as the following points I do get and understand completely. Just no matter how you cut or deal it, someone is paying Zen for the keys. I am just saying that given the amount of lockboxes dropped I feel like there should be an alternative means of getting keys like trading a copious amount of in-game tokens/badges/whatever they are called to the proper vendors. I know that my MCPD Tokens as well as UNTIL Tokens are just wasting space and could be used for more meaningful purposes.
See this area is what is flying over my head most of the time. Hahaha
I understand that the license was bought out but it just seems a tad confusing that Cryptic isn't feeling the external pressure of DCUO at the least and the growing and building prototypes of City of Titans being worked on at the most. If I was a sensible person in Cryptic's position, I would try to make Champions as enticing as possible to prevent subscribers (thus sources of money) going to these other outlets by making the game interesting.
It might just be me confused as to companies like Cryptic want to pump out games ASAP. A game isn't a slot machine you just keep pumping into and expect a jackpot to hit, it is more like restoring a car. It takes time, effort, and dedication to make something look as fantastic as possible. Take the Arkham series for example, I read that there was one dude who spent 2 YEARS in development in just making the cape operate as fluently as possible. If that doesn't tell companies that time is needed to make a game fantastic, then nothing else will.
I've never understood the argument that contains the bold part above. What does it matter to you who bought the Zen to put the key into the game? Who cares if someone had to buy it? Adding a way to purchase keys with no real-money transaction completely undermines the entire point of lockboxes. Let's say they do add this additional way to get the keys. Some people will buy less keys because of this. Others will buy the same amount. Probably no one will buymore keys as a result of this move. This means a loss of money for Cryptic.
So again, why do we need a way to buy keys that makes zero money for Cryptic? If you don't want to spend money on them, that's fine. Go farm up 100g, instead of some tokens, and buy it from the people who are constantly selling them. They paid a buck for that key so that they could get 100g. Let them spend their money however they want.
As far as what to do with all those tokens gathering dust, make meaningful, repeatable, consumable items that you can trade in for those. Like boosts; XP boosts, resource boost, catalysts, rare item find boosts, healing items that don't share cooldown with all the others, shield items, etc. Make stuff that isn't just a checklist of items that once someone has collected them all, the rest of the tokens are useless.
DX11 mode is a tough one; that requires a lot of graphics programmer time, which is in short supply. As for the UI, I spoke with our main UI resource for CO, who has worked on some minor improvements and some updates for our upcoming content. She would LOVE to do a full overhaul of the Champs UI. However, that scale of re-design is a huge resource drain and her time is split with other projects. I'd honestly keep that time available for doing new UI elements for new gameplay rather than a re-design of the existing UI.
Is this "reasonable observations and responses" time?
Something I always thought would be easy to implement (although, I could be wrong) is a review of rewards in already existing content. For example:
These seem like quick things to implement Adding back Therakiel's Sword to Therakiel's drop table would suddenly cause a run on Vibora Bay ( I promise
Again, I say this while keeping in mind there is only so much resources and time in the day to spend on the game - but a quick review in rewards may make existing content appealing again without taking much time to implement.
OH-MY-GWOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAD a UI overhaul would be amazing. You know my framerate drops like 20 FPS when I open a bank tab that has a bunch of costume unlocks in it? You know when there's 50 people on the screen at once fighting a world boss, you get a slideshow unless you disable player names in the options? I would love to see some fixes to that before any sort of redesign.
And Silverspar, faded edges as a more comic-themed design? Guild Wars UI? Naaah. Clean lines, very subtle gradients, understated color (not YELLOW AND BLUE IN YO FACE!) is the kinda thing I'd like to see. The UI should be invisible. When people don't notice it, that's when you know you've done the job right. Subtle and a tiny footprint resource-wise. That's what I would want.
Please please please do something like this.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
Try it with an Aura on. 10 fps! Woo!
I'd love a UI more like Super Villain UI. It's the only part of my 7 days in Azeroth that wasn't hugely disappointing. Change the grey to a nice blue. 100x better.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
To pitch in, I run a Store in SL (Virtual World), It is rather hard to do certain things when your time is split apart. As a Store Owner it's not an easy job. But the main reason I bring it up is, I know how hard it can be to make something requiring a lot of time I often get a little overwelmed and over work myself creating content for the residents at times forgetting to take a break once and awhile to also have to handle customers when they see an issue with one of my products.
I think the UI can be worked on over time in segments rather than all at once piece by piece, That can help without wearing yourself out or if you don't have much time on your hands. We don't need developers passing out for working to hard, You are all Humans. XD
But in the long run even if it's the fast route or the slow route in the end it will still get the job done for a paticular project.
Thought I would express what I was thinking.
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