Champions Online: Nostalgia

gamehobo

I remember when:

• I could use Mind Lock and Ego Storm (not Malevolent Manifestation) to survive (Dominate) in Hero Games
• Ego Sprites healed immediately and stacked
• Lemuria was full of heroes (killing Empyrean Constructs for XP**)
• Holds were all on one quality driven system
• Lifting Titanic Objects (Getting 320 STR**) was a HUGE feat
• Psi-lash was the best energy builder because of its debuff
• You could gear knock resistance with Crowd Control resistance
• We had multiple maps of every zone, including Lemuria (affectionately called Lagmuria**)
• Champions Online thought it needed a healing class
• Ego Blades had katanas (at rank 1**)
• Passives scaled with specific stats**
• Pets scaled with specific stats
• AoPM was considered a mediocre passive
• Elemental characters did more damage than guns and weapons
• Fire patches were deadly to stand in
• Vapor form wasn't an invitation reading "come kill me now"
• T2 PvP was the l33t tier
• We could view our characters (and edit our bio) offline on the website

... Those were the days

**That I never want to see again

goodwillout

I remember when getting to 40 actually meant something... rather than meaning you'd spent all afternoon in Alerts.

ashensnow

gamehobo wrote: »

I remember when:

• I could use Mind Lock and Ego Storm (not Malevolent Manifestation) to survive (Dominate) in Hero Games
• Ego Sprites healed immediately and stacked
• Lemuria was full of heroes killing Empyrean Constructs for XP**
• Holds were all on one quality driven system
• Lifting Titanic Objects (Getting 320 STR )was a HUGE feat**
• Psi-lash was the best energy builder because of its debuff
• You could gear knock resistance with Crowd Control resistance
• We had multiple maps of every zone, including Lemuria (affectionately called Lagmuria**)
• Champions Online thought it needed a healing class
• Ego Blades had katanas at rank 1
• Passives scaled with specific stats**
• Pets scaled with specific stats**
• AoPM was considered a mediocre passive
• Elemental characters did more damage than guns and weapons
• Fire patches were deadly to stand in
• Vapor form wasn't an invitation reading "come kill me now"
• T2 PvP was the l33t tier
• We could view our characters (and edit our bio) offline on the website

... Those were the days

**That I never want to see again

Strafe was better than Psi-Lash :biggrin:

eastgatewidow

I remember when:

Crafting felt worth it (even with the ridiculous amounts of materials needed) - had differently themed crafted devices (which have since disappeared from the game) - and felt distinct (each in its own school of specialism and with its own enviromentally styled centre) - and which was themed to make your hero's crafting-training journey feel in-character as a story.... - Now scaled badly and consolidated thrown together in generic enviroments as part of an obvious pay-for-zen grind exerc.....






You know what forget it. I'll put about as much effort into finishing this post as Cryptic did in reviewing and understanding the role of crafting in an MMO and completely botching it's redux.

darskel

Tier 2 pvp... *Manly Tear*

meedacthunist

- AT pvp. Alive and with no Unleashed.
- Real crafting. It was something in-character for few of my toons. Now it's just... Meh.
- Not being locked either in Smash alerts or Westside till 15 lvl.

;_;

And I'm not even playing this game for THAT long.

klitty

People asking to party and doing missions not just to farm Q boxes, but to enjoy the game, the story, the rewards...

oyo32

t2 pvp was best pvp

Anyway, remember when a Bullet Bound for Biselle actually worked?

cybersoldier1981

Remember when we were actually wondering WHAT the next costume set was going to be, not if they were ever going to make one?

Remember when you had to choose between spending your money on a retcon, or something in the Z-store?

Remember looking at the UNTIL Field Report and the Ask Cryptic blog and being excited, not asking 'What the hell happened to X?' or 'Is that all?'?

Remember when 'Content' meant something more than '5 minutes of your time for a broken costume and a pittance of Resources'?

Remember when we were wondering how much further this game was going to go, not wondering how much time it had left?

Remember when it seemed like the people making this game actually gave a f*** and communicated with us?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

crypticbuxom

I remember when:

Farming Open Missions for that uber rare purple device.
Finding unique mission reward gear that was worth more than 55L.
Items had lore and flavor text.
Special costume pieces were tied to upgrades.
The best gear in the game could be farmed for in APs and Comics.
New content introduced new cool permanent devices that dropped rarely.
Missions were worth more XP than 3 minute queues.
We got a new costume pack every month or so. (FYI things worth spending Zen on.)

When Cryptic would NEVER remove content. (On Alert being the big culprit.)

bloodx13

I remember when:
* The Devs actually played the game
* The Devs qued every Thursday for pvp night
* The Devs had their own SG and made their presence in game apparent
* All PvP ques popped
* When you could level through nothing but PvP
* When their wasn?t gold and silver players there was just champions
* When melee and range were close to equivalent
* When being an awesome melee didn?t mean having shadow strike and using the bug to hit 40k
* When we were updated on a constant schedule by the devs about what was going on with the game

jonsills

I remember when if you wanted to play Champions, you needed to gather some people around a table and pull out a giant buttload of six-siders.

Y'all kids these days, with yer internets and yer fancy screen-typewriters...

cybersoldier1981

jonsills wrote: »

I remember when if you wanted to play Champions, you needed to gather some people around a table and pull out a giant buttload of six-siders.

Y'all kids these days, with yer internets and yer fancy screen-typewriters...

By chance, did you ever play a game called Aberrant? There was also a D20 version, which was the better one- considering it was just a book of super powers for the D20 system that let you go donkeypunch the Terrasque.

fantasycharacter

Uh-oh you know it's getting bad when nostalgia starts kicking in.


I remember when the game used to be better, before vehicles, before alerts.

towershield

cybersoldier1981 wrote: »

By chance, did you ever play a game called Aberrant? There was also a D20 version, which was the better one- considering it was just a book of super powers for the D20 system that let you go donkeypunch the Terrasque.

I've seen exactly ONE actual physical copy of Aberrant. Ever. Smallish size book when compared to other PnP supplements. Skimmed through it in the bookstore and it got me hooked on the idea of PnP superheroes. Came back later to buy it and couldn't ever find the blasted thing. Ended up getting Heroes Unlimited instead.

As far as CO nostalgia goes, I remember when there used to be a giant Legendary mob on Monster Island that was part of an open world PvP event. Can't remember it's name.

ashensnow

cybersoldier1981 wrote: »

By chance, did you ever play a game called Aberrant? There was also a D20 version, which was the better one- considering it was just a book of super powers for the D20 system that let you go donkeypunch the Terrasque.

Had both the d20 version and the original. May even still have them in storage now that I think about it.

shieldtower wrote: »

As far as CO nostalgia goes, I remember when there used to be a giant Legendary mob on Monster Island that was part of an open world PvP event. Can't remember it's name.

Simorgh (spelling ?) was very fun.

flyingfinn

I remember when Atari actually delivered promised content to CO.
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draogn

cybersoldier1981 wrote: »

By chance, did you ever play a game called Aberrant? There was also a D20 version, which was the better one- considering it was just a book of super powers for the D20 system that let you go donkeypunch the Terrasque.

I have some books for Aberrant, which is White Wolf, and I have read Mutants and Masterminds, which is D20. I also believe DC and Marvel have released d20 books for their universes.

cellarrat33

cybersoldier1981 wrote: »

Remember when we were actually wondering WHAT the next costume set was going to be, not if they were ever going to make one?

Remember when you had to choose between spending your money on a retcon, or something in the Z-store?...

I remember when we were complaining that all we were getting was just costumes and not new story content.

Now...

I would kill* for a new costume set released to the Z-store.

(*okay not kill. But do something truly... epic.)

cybersoldier1981

cellarrat33 wrote: »

I remember when we were complaining that all we were getting was just costumes and not new story content.

Now...

I would kill* for a new costume set released to the Z-store.

(*okay not kill. But do something truly... epic.)

Yeah, I remember when someone was complaining and using the line: "Great, a new costume set, travel power, and power set/archetype. Whatever, we need something to DO with it."

Man, those where the days.

HA!

canadascott

I miss Champedia. And "Rate My Champion".

zahinder

I miss being excited about the game.

A lot.

gamehobo

canadascott wrote: »

I miss Champedia. And "Rate My Champion".

OMG YES! I loved being able to parce through heroes.. when I saw a really good one it would compel me to make a better story for my own capes.

Whatever happened to Lemon Lass anyhow?

chalupaoffury

I remember when people used to whine that Atari was holding cryptic back from turning this game into something truly amazing. Boy, ate those words, didn't we?

cybersoldier1981

chalupaoffury wrote: »

I remember when people used to whine that Atari was holding cryptic back from turning this game into something truly amazing. Boy, ate those words, didn't we?

I need clarification here- I'm digging and I can't seem to find it, but this is my understanding- note I'm not arguing, I'm getting conflicted information and I need clarification. This is what I've been told:

1- Atari tried to sell Vibora Bay. The story I got was this was leaked, and when it was leaked Atari changed their mind.

2- Atari wanted to sell lifetime accounts and abandon ship. Literally, drop the game. CoX-style.

3- The costume sets and such were very unlike superheroes- most of 'those' costume sets that are just kinda limited were Atari-era (might be coincidental).

kenpojujitsu3

I remember when there was at least enough new going on in the game to warrant discussion and posting regularly. Now I can disappear for weeks at a time, come back, and not seem to have missed anything.

crypticbuxom

chalupaoffury wrote: »

I remember when people used to whine that Atari was holding cryptic back from turning this game into something truly amazing. Boy, ate those words, didn't we?

The aftertaste has lasted since Whiteout, which was only finished because it was halfway done already when Atari was in the process of selling Cryptic to PWE.

biffsmackwell

cybersoldier1981 wrote: »

I need clarification here- I'm digging and I can't seem to find it, but this is my understanding- note I'm not arguing, I'm getting conflicted information and I need clarification. This is what I've been told:

1- Atari tried to sell Vibora Bay. The story I got was this was leaked, and when it was leaked Atari changed their mind.

2- Atari wanted to sell lifetime accounts and abandon ship. Literally, drop the game. CoX-style.

3- The costume sets and such were very unlike superheroes- most of 'those' costume sets that are just kinda limited were Atari-era (might be coincidental).

1. Depending on the brand of tinfoil hat you're wearing, Vibora Bay may have been initially meant as a paid expansion, or not. All us players really have is conjecture.

2. Who said this? Sounds a lot like stuff a regular shmoe wouldn't know anything about.

3. It took them a year to come out with new tights after much persuasion. It really never seemed like Cryptic (or Atari or whoever else you want to blame) were very interested in an actual superhero game, and they had kind of lost their focus and just made costumes to appeal to a wide variety of people. Most of the content seemed magic-based, most of the costume sets were some form of medieval, dark, whatever armor. I really doubt it was Atari's "fault" that the costumes went down this path. I never once saw a developer whose character looked anything like a Western comic book hero. At least, not the classic ones. Robots, dudes in suits, plain clothes, all sorts of stuff they seemed to be into. No apparent fans of Spider-Man or Green Lantern style costumes.

cybersoldier1981

biffsmackwell wrote: »

1. Depending on the brand of tinfoil hat you're wearing, Vibora Bay may have been initially meant as a paid expansion, or not. All us players really have is conjecture.

I went through some of the archives, and it was a real mess. I personally can't tell either way. It's kinda why I'm asking.

biffsmackwell wrote: »

2. Who said this? Sounds a lot like stuff a regular shmoe wouldn't know anything about.

Like i said, secondhand information- it could be a theory. It could be founded- just seeing nothing either way.

biffsmackwell wrote: »

3. It took them a year to come out with new tights after much persuasion. It really never seemed like Cryptic (or Atari or whoever else you want to blame) were very interested in an actual superhero game, and they had kind of lost their focus and just made costumes to appeal to a wide variety of people. Most of the content seemed magic-based, most of the costume sets were some form of medieval, dark, whatever armor. I really doubt it was Atari's "fault" that the costumes went down this path. I never once saw a developer whose character looked anything like a Western comic book hero. At least, not the classic ones. Robots, dudes in suits, plain clothes, all sorts of stuff they seemed to be into. No apparent fans of Spider-Man or Green Lantern style costumes.

Yeah, and I've pretty much determined that the freedom of anything concept with Champions is awesome- but also kind of a two-edged sword.

One one hand, you have the people who are complaining because this is a superhero game, and you're getting no superhero stuff (legit gripe, of course).

Then you have others who are asking their preference to be catered to, and provide a decent justification (usually always a legit gripe, of course).

It's like if you open a 'We have it all!' buffet, people are going to complain because there aren't enough solid regular meal foods- while others are going to complain that you've neglected certain ethnic foods. It's the way of the beast, I suppose.

sistersilicon

cybersoldier1981 wrote: »

Yeah, and I've pretty much determined that the freedom of anything concept with Champions is awesome- but also kind of a two-edged sword.

One one hand, you have the people who are complaining because this is a superhero game, and you're getting no superhero stuff (legit gripe, of course).

Then you have others who are asking their preference to be catered to, and provide a decent justification (usually always a legit gripe, of course).

Superhero comics lie at the intersection of a big, sloppy Venn diagram of genres, so any costume set that touches on one ends up being the thin end of the wedge for the whole thing. Furtopia didn't come from furries, it came from Beast, Squirrel Girl, Feral, and Rocket Raccoon. If you see Yu-Gi-Oh clones around, it's because you can draw a straight line from that particular anime's fashion influences to Dr. Strange and Morbius the Living Vampire to the New Shadows and the Trismegistus Council.

The comic publishers try to avoid creating crossovers that break each other's settings. (Sgt. Rock/Batman makes more sense than, say, Sgt. Rock/Metal Men.) It's rather hard for an MMO to keep those boundaries, give players as much creative agency as they can, and allow them to play together, so we end up with this crazy stew.

biffsmackwell

I would make a correction to say that superhero games lie at that intersection. The comics I've seen in the past haven't vaulted over so many genre-bending lines.

Four years ago I was totally like "Hey Cryptic why you got all this wacky weird stuff in the superhero game?"

Nowadays, I wouldn't say that because I know that in this game, I'm in the minority regarding what characters I find to be legit to the proposed genre. Most of the players I've met and hang out with in game are largely from other genres, and if I'd had my way, I'd never have met such cool people.

lafury001200

Vibora Pay went something like this:

HEWHOSHALLNOTBENAMED: "Hey, why do we have to pay for Viobra bay?"

Community:"Wtf....we just ponied up for the box fee and are paying subs etc etc etc"
"SHUT UP! YOU WERE PROMISED NOTHING! "
"NO YOU SHUT UP!"
"There has been no official word, you guys are just speculating."

Daeke:"I'm putting an end to this here and now. Vibora Bay is to be our first paid expansion."

Queue more rage.

Maybe a week later Daeke was shown the door and if there ever were concrete plans to have it cost extra we'll likely never know, but Daeke (imo) wouldn't just willy nilly make a statement like that out of the blue. A decent guess would be het got frustrated by all the bickering and attempted to end it, but maybe leaked word earlier than he should have.

I think you can still find a blow by blow on Massively's site.

Here is some of it:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/03/community-manager-daeke-leaves-cryptic-stormshade-to-replace-him/


edit: For you conspiracy buffs, anyone wanna guess where Daeke and Roper are now?

gamehobo

I miss when forum categorizations and topics stayed on topic.. wait when was that?

cybersoldier1981

sistersilicon wrote: »

The comic publishers try to avoid creating crossovers that break each other's settings. (Sgt. Rock/Batman makes more sense than, say, Sgt. Rock/Metal Men.) It's rather hard for an MMO to keep those boundaries, give players as much creative agency as they can, and allow them to play together, so we end up with this crazy stew.

Yeah, and I see your point here- but the thing is while you're right, I'm also kind of at the point where it seems like we have too many out-there things. I don't have any sort of way of determining what is 'more comic book' than something else. What I'm saying is that when you try to accommodate too many- then EVERYONE seems to think their interests should be accommodated.

I mean, let's be honest... it's only a matter of time before people are seriously asking why we don't have the abilities to make MLP characters...

Don't go get a link. I'm sure there is one person that thinks we need this.

(Nothing against the fans of the show, the cartoon's cute in a way.)

Like, I could go on a rant and talk about a large number of things in CO that I'm not a fan of that have been placed in the game over the years, theme-wise and costume-wise. I mean, if it were me making the ideas... I'd probably not have gone with some of these ideas. But yeah, I get it- there's people out there that have odd taste that doesn't match mine. There's people out there that want things that make me believe they may need serious mental help, too. Some of this gets in the game, and what happens is I end up just... not spending money. Maybe someone really liked it and spent money to make up for it, maybe not.

The problem is, over the last year what I've seen of CO's development team has gone from actually coming up with cool things, to basically throwing Trailturtle to the wolves to run damage control while they devote resources to other games with our money.

So yeah, I'm nostalgic- but there's also a part of me that says 'do something or put her out to pasture'.

zahinder

I have long played and enjoyed CO precisely BECAUSE of it's big sloppy all over the place genre, and much of why I want Foundry is so I can make fantasy, scifi, noir, stone age, and a billion other genre stories with crossovers galore.


The only 'catering to' that I need from Cryptic is Foundry. I can do the rest of the heavy lifting myself.

biffsmackwell

zahinder wrote: »

The only 'catering to' that I need from Cryptic is Foundry. I can do the rest of the heavy lifting myself.

If only...

jorifice1

Remember when:
-Soloing Ferd was something to brag about
-Playing through the game to level 40 with an Offensive Passive equipped meant that you were a real Baddass. I know that I didn't make it past the low 30's with an Offensive until AFTER the Great Villein Nerf Of 2009;)

kenpojujitsu3

gamehobo wrote: »

I miss when forum categorizations and topics stayed on topic.. wait when was that?

This was never the case.

#StayOnTopic NOW

gamehobo

I remember when:

• Telepathy had dots instead of flames (or Electricity) on its animation FX
• Telepathy was being updated on PTS
• Framework Reviews/Updates didn't take 10 months

onlyepicwolf

I remember when CO had a crafting system and we were told Mods and Fusion would be additions, not replacements

scorpagor

I remember when the desert and Canada had several instances full of players.

chaelk

I remember being able to choose where I started canada or desert.

thebuckeye

I remember being able to create four armed giants

pallihwtf

- Dark Enforcers


... GOOD NITE, SWEET PRINCE.

Oh and also, while looking through old screenshots


The old dueling area in front of the old unity building.

ramthananax

I remember looking forward to Patch Tuesdays, when we could count on at least a few bug fixes, and possibly some new features.

I remember Power Replacers. They pretty much all sucked, but it was possible to get a gun that made some of your munitions attacks do psi damage, if you wanted. And there was always the promise of new Emanation Points.

I remember when players actually wanted vehicles, because we thought we'd probably get a customizable motorcycle as our first option.

I remember trying to convince my friends to play the game, because back then I wasn't embarrassed to have spent money on it.

manwholaughs

I remember when:
- Lock boxes didn't exist!
- Questionite didn't exist!
- We got content on a daily basis!
- When content was PERMANENT!
- We were promised vehicles would be a proper system and not half-assed become devices!
- Hideouts were going to get training areas!
- Tumerboy!

cyrone

ramthananax wrote: »

I remember trying to convince my friends to play the game, because back then I wasn't embarrassed to have spent money on it.

I remember when friends from CO didn't try to convince me to play other games.