Cryptic finally advertise CO?

mrhinkypunk · September 2015

When I closed my TF2 down earlier...

Wonder if they can set adverts to target players that once played a game or something?

biffsmackwell · September 2015

When I noticed that Champions was on the front page of Arc, a developer chimed in and said they're also running those popup ads in Steam.

Yay!

spinnytop · September 2015

I know right. I actually gasped a little when I saw that cause it was so unexpected.

gaarafrednorrisp · September 2015

Since this happened within a few days of my return, I'm taking all the credit.

nepht · September 2015

They have advertised CO before one player found an advert for CO on a porn site many years back

thegrandnagus1 · September 2015

This makes me very happy =D

canadascott · September 2015

gaarafrednorrisp said:
Since this happened within a few days of my return, I'm taking all the credit.

It's a New Day for Champions Online. But where's my trombone emote?

mrhinkypunk · September 2015

nepht said:
They have advertised CO before one player found an advert for CO on a porn site many years back

It all makes sense now...

Damn erpers.

thegrandnagus1 · September 2015

I decided to create an instagram page for Champs:

https://instagram.com/championsonline/

If anyone has any cool screenshots of the new Onslaught gameplay or anything else send them my way and I will post them to the page.

Unknown · September 2015

This content has been removed.

xrazamax · September 2015

When I exited CO, steam's little ad page that pops up showed this. I thought I imagined because I always close those ads pretty quick, but then thought, "Wait... did I just see... or have I been working on CO stuff to much lately?" O.O

Now I have proof I'm not going insane!

avianos · September 2015

It's an Early Christmas Miracle~

riverocean · September 2015

I really think PWI wants to cash in on the superhero craze! And I want Onslaught to be really successful.

raighn · September 2015

*looks at bank account, looks at dev team, looks back at bank account, looks back at dev team* Is this because I forked over the money for an LTS recently?

sterga · September 2015

xrazamax said:
Now I have proof I'm not going insane!

No, it's proof you aren't blind. You're still going insane.

tigerofcachtice · September 2015

This is brilliant. This is smart. This is a job well done.

Previously, there were exclusive interviews with a MMO website, which I believe unfortunately folded, but I understand why. People get their gaming news straight from Steam and are looking for discounts or new updates or something.

The exposure from this might be more than all the last few years' exclusive interviews combined.

Even the art style, going over the top comic bookish with this banner, was a very smart move. We just celebrated the game's 6th anniversary, the graphics are totally not next-gen, but that comic book style excuses it.

---

We've always encouraged Cryptic to do some advertising and, not only did they do so, but in a very meaningful way. I thought it was only appropriate that I also contributed to the effort. Here's what I just did in the last 15 minutes:

1. Wrote a review...finally - just something to reflect there's a change in the wind now
2. Replied to a Steam forum discussion - since new/prospective players usually ask their questions there instead
3. Uploaded a piece of artwork - it was just that Bloodbath's Back piece, just to show there's life in the game yet.

If you like discussing stuff in forums, like how we usually do here, please consider going to the Steam CO Community page and post something there. It doesn't have to be unbridled praise, in fact an authentic and balanced view would be the most convincing, but the important point to convey is that stuff is going on, that we're still here.

zemmax · September 2015

THANK YOU GABEN!

xrazamax · September 2015

sterga said:

xrazamax said:
Now I have proof I'm not going insane!
No, it's proof you aren't blind. You're still going insane.

I'm not gonna listen to your negativity and lies. *Stuffs ears with bananas*

deadman20 · September 2015

More steps in the direction to a brighter future for Champions Online. Let's make some more!

chaosdrgnz43 · September 2015

Hopefully these would attract more creative players.

tigerofcachtice · September 2015

Just a quick note to thank everyone who's now posting on the Steam forums as well.

By posting, you are sustaining the interest and momentum created by this. Marketing strategists know traditional advertising (i.e. web banner ads) are diminishing in value or simply just the starting point. People don't make try or buy decisions from just seeing an ad any more, they go on to look at other information such as your forum posts.

And this is especially true of gamers. Due to many reasons, we don't trust the hype, we listen to other players.

A product launch (in this case, a re-launch) is not a 1-day event, nor a 1-weekend event; it's a season.

nextnametaken · September 2015

See the amazing result of advertising on SteamCharts.

bernatk · September 2015

riverocean said:
I really think PWI wants to cash in on the superhero craze! And I want Onslaught to be really successful.

And I really hope they succeed. At COH shutdown they really dropped the ball...

mrhinkypunk · September 2015

nextnametaken said:
See the amazing result of advertising on SteamCharts.

Lets hope some of the newbies stick about.

Quick everyone, get your nets ready!

tigerofcachtice · September 2015

nextnametaken said:
See the amazing result of advertising on SteamCharts.

Outstanding, way to use analytics. Thanks for reminding us of this resource. Notice the roughly 3x player popl.

That's pretty big. A lot of those will be just a "look in" crowd, meaning they'll check it out, then leave. But if we retain a portion of that, that's still a pretty big win for us all. So just keep that in mind when answering questions in Zone.

mrhinkypunk said:
Lets hope some of the newbies stick about.

Quick everyone, get your nets ready!

Absolutely right. And not everyone's a newcomer; there's a LOT of returning players, just listening to Zone chat.

They'll be asking about changes, new content, stuff like that. In fact, I'm fielding some questions about linking Cryptic accounts to Perfect World accounts, remember what that was like? Please be ready to help out like that.

mrhinkypunk · September 2015

tigerofcachtice said:
Please be ready to help out like that.

I really want to make a video series all about various aspects of the state of PvP in the game now and how to enjoy it / also things like the different types of PvP available and how some are better for different builds than others. I keep seeing people asking about PvP in zone and everyone just shouts at them "PVP IS DEAD" but I think you can still have fun in it, just because many people don't do it anymore doesn't mean there isn't fun to be had... I've been purely PvP'ing in CO for years now and with this change it is like a bridge between PvP and PvE.

sterga · September 2015

Pft. Lies, Imp! PvP is totally dead... Oh, hold on, I see a Gravitar in Little Italy. Time to take a spin on the Vomit Comet. Weeee!

spinnytop · September 2015

nextnametaken said:
See the amazing result of advertising on SteamCharts.

So then the tons of people saying this would happen are right and all the people constantly going on and on about how nothing can help the population recover were wrong

mrhinkypunk · September 2015

sterga said:
Pft. Lies, Imp! PvP is totally dead... Oh, hold on, I see a Gravitar in Little Italy. Time to take a spin on the Vomit Comet. Weeee!

Hehe xD

Well it'd just be nice to have a real down to earth and friendly PvP guide. People often get scared off by the few that will always be around in PVP in MMO's and with no rewards there isn't much incentive but I really think it can still be enjoyed especially things like team duels where you can lay down rules and play with / against your friends for purely the fun of it.

raighn · September 2015

nextnametaken wrote: »

See the amazing result of advertising on SteamCharts.

Hm... I wonder if the recent lag spikes have actually just been a result of the population quadrupling...

championshewolf · September 2015

As nice as it is, let's hope they actually have something planned for the coming months, and I mean actual content, because another year long gulf and you can say bye to this surge of people. So, cross your claws.

Champions can recover and flourish, but Cryptic needs to be capitalizing to guarantee that surge isn't fleeting.

itsbrou · September 2015

Steam's community hub for CO is exploding with screenshot uploads.

sterga · September 2015

PvP is about shanking people for glory. Friendly. Ha!

Well, get on it, Imp. Make a video.

Here's my chat blank for 1080p. You or anyone else can use it, chop it up, or something for making videos. Or you can not use it. Whatever.

xrazamax · September 2015

sterga said:
PvP is about shanking people for glory. Friendly. Ha!

Well, get on it, Imp. Make a video.

Here's my chat blank for 1080p. You or anyone else can use it, chop it up, or something for making videos. Or you can not use it. Whatever.

You are a good person for posting this

sterga · September 2015

1080p Letterbox: Black borders - Blue Pattern (that I pilfered from the wallpapers)

Good for hiding the grey bar for demo record video.

Not sure if I have my 720p letterbox / chat blank images still.

thegrandnagus1 · September 2015

Well, Champs no longer shows up in the featured games scroller, which is what gets the most exposure. However, it does still appear on the "free to play", "massively multiplayer" and "RPG" section scrollers.

sammiefighter · September 2015

Nice little boost.

Decent timing with the anniversary free stuff and the event
Hopefully not too many people po'd with not being able to start out their hero

mrhinkypunk · September 2015

They'll probably see how the flux in playerbase affects the game and incoming revenue then increase budgeting depending on how it goes. I'm pretty sure if they are advertising the game then we'll see a bit of content but I don't think it'll be a large update unless they've been working on something and kept it a total secret from everyone with nothing leaked onto PTS at all.

All we can really do is sit and wait to see what happens, hopefully the flux in playerbase does increase revenue by a substantial amount and we'll see how much ends up being done to it.

chaelk · September 2015

I'm happy, I got to shoot Kaiserin and Smackwell.

nepht · September 2015

We should breed Foxi with Silverspar and a create a beast thats random AND angry..... no hold up we already did that......its called Rodyle :V

avianos · September 2015

Really Digging the new Artstyle! it's really lovely and Stylish

ahordeofkittens · September 2015

It is fitting that they advertised it to new players with Grond and the other two, because this is what will be squishing them as soon as they get to westside.

jaazaniah1 · September 2015

What's Gravitar holding in her right hand? It looks like a leash. I can only assume that her favorite lap dog, Caliga, is on the other end

Is this a nod to the ERP crowd

avianos · September 2015

jaazaniah1 wrote: »

What's Gravitar holding in her right hand? It looks like a leash.

moxiedanger · September 2015

jaazaniah1 said:
What's Gravitar holding in her right hand?

Gravity.

jaazaniah1 · September 2015

Yep, that's Caliga

! I like that hairstyle better than her current Harriet Nelson look.

theanothername · September 2015

CO releases an advertisement banner? DCU 4 new Hairstyles? Battle of the Titans, hope shareholders don't get broke with all those expenses

thegrandnagus1 · September 2015

Well, it was fun while it lasted, but the numbers are just about back to where they were before the advertisement began:

http://steamcharts.com/app/9880#1m

jonsills · September 2015

And I didn't trust Steam numbers showing the increase any more than I trust Steam numbers showing a decrease. Not everyone uses Steam to launch CO. A fair proportion of our longer-term players use the old stand-alone launcher; a pretty large number of the newer ones probably use the Arc launcher, as that automatically downloads when you download the game (I installed CO on this weak laptop we got for my son to surf the Net on; it's barely powerful enough to play the game, but it launches with Arc).

There's just no way to control for non-Steam players. I go by instances, and lately I've been seeing as many as four instances of Mill City, which isn't a lot of players by most standards but does indicate an increase of somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% in the active player population. (Some of those are doubtless long-term players who'd stopped playing because they were bored, but given some of the questions I've seen in Chat many of them are newbies.)

quasimojo1 · September 2015

jonsills said:
And I didn't trust Steam numbers showing the increase any more than I trust Steam numbers showing a decrease. Not everyone uses Steam to launch CO. A fair proportion of our longer-term players use the old stand-alone launcher; a pretty large number of the newer ones probably use the Arc launcher, as that automatically downloads when you download the game (I installed CO on this weak laptop we got for my son to surf the Net on; it's barely powerful enough to play the game, but it launches with Arc).

There's just no way to control for non-Steam players. I go by instances, and lately I've been seeing as many as four instances of Mill City, which isn't a lot of players by most standards but does indicate an increase of somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% in the active player population. (Some of those are doubtless long-term players who'd stopped playing because they were bored, but given some of the questions I've seen in Chat many of them are newbies.)

It's perfectly reasonable and valid to infer trends of a population from a sample. It's pretty much the foundation of statistics and most scientific research. Do you think pollsters need to survey every individual voter in order to have an insight? Steam may not account for every player, but it is a big enough sample to be useful (and probably accounts for the preponderance of players).

I'm gonna go with SteamCharts as the most accurate method outsiders have for estimating CO's player activity level.

thegrandnagus1 · September 2015

jonsills said:
And I didn't trust Steam numbers showing the increase any more than I trust Steam numbers showing a decrease. Not everyone uses Steam to launch CO. A fair proportion of our longer-term players use the old stand-alone launcher; a pretty large number of the newer ones probably use the Arc launcher, as that automatically downloads when you download the game (I installed CO on this weak laptop we got for my son to surf the Net on; it's barely powerful enough to play the game, but it launches with Arc).

There's just no way to control for non-Steam players. I go by instances, and lately I've been seeing as many as four instances of Mill City, which isn't a lot of players by most standards but does indicate an increase of somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% in the active player population. (Some of those are doubtless long-term players who'd stopped playing because they were bored, but given some of the questions I've seen in Chat many of them are newbies.)

I agree, the steam charts don't tell the whole story. However, what I have personally observed in game matches up with what the charts show, which is that there was a large spike in players, and then a large drop off afterwards, with the end result being slightly more people playing than before the spike happened. Before the spike, I saw 1-3 zones of MC. During the spike, I saw 5. Now, I see 2-3. So the end result is there has been a slight increase. I just hope that they wound up making more money than it cost to advertise on Steam, so that they will keep doing it in the future.

Cryptic finally advertise CO?

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