Q&A with The Koalition

trailturtle · October 2012

Champions Online lead Brad "Stokeman" Stokan sat down with our friends at The Koalition. Their exclusive Q&A covers a number of topics, including a look back at going free to play and the strength of Champions' customization.

Go give it a read at The Koalition!

gamehobo · October 2012

A good fluff piece.. kinda lacks anything really to excite current gamers. Also lacking in hype for Champions.. tone was just "so-so"

crypticbuxom · October 2012

Only one word can describe this interview. Softball.

man515drake · October 2012

I have to say if I didn't play CO and read this interview I still wouldn't be playing CO. It just sounded very lackluster and if the biggest selling point after customisation is vehicles then we really do have problems.

vorshoth · October 2012

Yeah, that didn't really tell anyone anything sizzling, any zazz, shapow, and so on. It kinda felt more like the interviewer caught the interviewee at a really bad time and they didn't prep anything.
We need to excite people, drag them in kicking and screaming (and thus loving it)!
Make everyone in the gaming community think that Champions is The Place To Be Levelling for the next few years!
We need to synergise! Work out a strategy!
*gets a headache due to the self-caused marketing buzzwords building up is causing parts of me to be incredibly violent despite my generally calm demeanour*

blasphemouswords · October 2012

"new features and content"
:P

ventani · October 2012

I can think of two more
Canned Responses

akirasanbeer · October 2012

Here's another:
Harumph!

cybersoldier1981 · October 2012

I liked the part where there was absolutely no mention of bugs, gamble bags, and the lack of significant zones or adventure packs for what is close to a year now.

dantheiceman1 · October 2012

my first thought is WHY is this even on the website? its 3 questions with nothing really of interest whatsoever

whats the point?

flyingfinn · October 2012

The point was to show that CO has something over the other remaining SuperHero MMO, DCUO. DCUO's coming custom personal/supergroup bases (that include sidekick system), the ever flowing content(THE PLAYABLE ONE, NOT THE FLUFF!) and that is the VEHICLES. Until ofcourse DCU makes their own VEHICLES with full custom features.

*discodances to sunset*

cybersoldier1981 · October 2012

CO does have the BEST character customization I've seen in any online game, which is the ONE thing they have over the others.

I hate to sound like a doomsayer, but if someone else can replicate this- not even improve it, just replicate it... CO is going to fall HARD.

I honestly hope the Devs start getting on their A-Game. Seems sort of crappy for the COH immigrants- refugees from a home that is no longer there, into a ramshackle ghetto of 'freedom'.

senshibat01 · October 2012

Nothing a Little Foxbat and Sapphire cant fix. .say a Jazz show at a West Side Club.. then go downtown with it.. some Penthouse Rescue caper? a few Foxbat Unity things..

Im thinking everytime i zip past the Incubus Club that some day the door will interact..
that would be a good place to start.. jazzing things up..?

man515drake · October 2012

I think saying the latest thing in CO is vehicles and naming them when they can only be seen on PTS and what is there feels unfinished and not even what I saw people asking for.
I read the posts of people asking for vehicles and got the impression people wanted things like motorbikes, cars and planes with maybe some limited combat powers what we get is rejects from star wars with no ability to customize the look and a hobbled together mod system.

I realise they aren't finished but maybe Cryptic should wait until they are before saying they are the next big thing. I hope I'm wrong but I get the feeling vehicles will be half done just like all the other great ideas Cryptic have had like the Nemesis system and hideouts. Why do they keep skipping from one great idea to the next without making it as good as they say they are going to.

If you come out with ideas but don't make them as well as you can your competitors will always take that good idea polish it and release a better version.

The way things are what CO has over its remaining competitor is character customisation and the fact you can truly be the hero you imagine but without new content and half finished ideas well the fat lady will start her vocal warm up exercises.

cybersoldier1981 · October 2012

man515drake wrote: »

The way things are what CO has over its remaining competitor is character customisation and the fact you can truly be the hero you imagine but without new content and half finished ideas well the fat lady will start her vocal warm up exercises.

It's honestly like having a brand new Harley-Davidson V-Rod... and living nowhere near a paved highway.

What just kind of occurred to me is how the Dev/Promo team can go out and hype the game in interviews and such, but it seems like they've barely taken the time to address us about certain issues.

I am calling on Trailturtle right now. Yes, you. I love you, man- but I have a challenge for you. Let's see if you can do this.

We need a list of serious issues with the game, or at least serious questions about some game content. Essentially, anything that's come from THEM in some way.

I think we should get some information on the Nemesis system, and exactly what they plan to do with this piece of the game that is pretty much a waste of time. It's not so much content as it is a distraction, and not a very useful one.

I'd like to know if the vehicles are going to be more than glorified become devices at any point, and at what stage this is at. Do I need to keep saving my money?

I'd like to know why old costume sets are hidden in a gamble behind another gamble.

What are the plans to adjust PvP awards?

And it'd be great if they addressed a list of noted bugs.

No more suggestions. No more new ideas out of the blue. These things that people obviously aren't happy with need to be addressed.

wraithshadow13 · October 2012

To be honest the "Q&A" did seem a bit less Q&A and a little more like he copy/pasted a sales pitch from somewhere else and added his "questions" in. It wasn't until the last bit that it seemed to actually be responding to a second person.

As for the vehicles, they're a bird jet, a speeder bike, and a droid AAT, which is hardly a bold new bonus feature, especially seeing what it is on PTS compared to what it was hyped up to be.

blumoon8 · October 2012

That was... awful... I miss Robobobobo... there was absolutely nothing new. We got more out of our State of the Game and ask Cryptic from Robobobobo then that and that was just players asking questions, let alone an outside source that could generate new players...

I'm sure Champs would be just fine if we could get some more funds pumped in. Problem is since we were first a lot of the new tech is pure pain to fit in... We need more Devs >.> I'm rambling now.

dantheiceman1 · October 2012

cybersoldier1981 wrote: »

It's honestly like having a brand new Harley-Davidson V-Rod... and living nowhere near a paved highway.

What just kind of occurred to me is how the Dev/Promo team can go out and hype the game in interviews and such, but it seems like they've barely taken the time to address us about certain issues.

I am calling on Trailturtle right now. Yes, you. I love you, man- but I have a challenge for you. Let's see if you can do this.

We need a list of serious issues with the game, or at least serious questions about some game content. Essentially, anything that's come from THEM in some way.

I think we should get some information on the Nemesis system, and exactly what they plan to do with this piece of the game that is pretty much a waste of time. It's not so much content as it is a distraction, and not a very useful one.

I'd like to know if the vehicles are going to be more than glorified become devices at any point, and at what stage this is at. Do I need to keep saving my money?

I'd like to know why old costume sets are hidden in a gamble behind another gamble.

What are the plans to adjust PvP awards?

And it'd be great if they addressed a list of noted bugs.

No more suggestions. No more new ideas out of the blue. These things that people obviously aren't happy with need to be addressed.

i agree fully as a PAYING customer of this game i want to know where the H my money is going because this sure is becoming a total waste. i am SICK and TIRED of hearing about the "next best thing" that is vehicles i could care less bout flying planes tanks and trains. why can't you finish what you start!

i want content plain and simple. i don't care if its a zone or a total rework of the nem system or the foundry. i want to beat the TOTAL crap out of ALL my nemesis at the same time and an army of MY OWN CUSTOM minions of the surface of the bloody moon before they launchs a nuke at the earth through a time machine set to earth prime that is not bugged all to neptune and back. NOT fly around in a stupid tank, and beat up stupid madam mayham, hrodegear the unending or any of those other filler supervillians for the 4000th time.

i mean if PWE and Cryptic have NO desire to improve this game maybe they should start SERIOUSLY considering selling the IP to another studio that would better take care of it since STO and NWO are their babies since they are pouring all their resources into them *sarcasm* and leaving this game to rot

so i am calling out trailturtle and brad stoken out on that i want to know what you guys are going to be doing with this game because this is getting beyond stupid already, either buck up or ship out

enough is enough

stellariodragon · October 2012

Quick! Everyone make gageteer/electric toons named "Arc Hawk?"

nivji · October 2012

Vehicles......don't care about it. We need content, real content !

bigfoot765 · October 2012

i like the new jets (even though we need stuff like motorbikes etc) but i would like a new adventure pack e.g. being sent back in time to the battle of detroit

aetharburn · October 2012

"..and the all-important player community has interests and desires we want to accommodate.

The challenge is always to find a good pace for releases, while keeping the quality high."

Well, atleast it made me laugh.

angelphoenix12 · October 2012

dantheiceman1 wrote: »

i agree fully as a PAYING customer of this game i want to know where the H my money is going because this sure is becoming a total waste. i am SICK and TIRED of hearing about the "next best thing" that is vehicles i could care less bout flying planes tanks and trains. why can't you finish what you start!

i want content plain and simple. i don't care if its a zone or a total rework of the nem system or the foundry. i want to beat the TOTAL crap out of ALL my nemesis at the same time and an army of MY OWN CUSTOM minions of the surface of the bloody moon before they launchs a nuke at the earth through a time machine set to earth prime that is not bugged all to neptune and back. NOT fly around in a stupid tank, and beat up stupid madam mayham, hrodegear the unending or any of those other filler supervillians for the 4000th time.

i mean if PWE and Cryptic have NO desire to improve this game maybe they should start SERIOUSLY considering selling the IP to another studio that would better take care of it since STO and NWO are their babies since they are pouring all their resources into them *sarcasm* and leaving this game to rot

so i am calling out trailturtle and brad stoken out on that i want to know what you guys are going to be doing with this game because this is getting beyond stupid already, either buck up or ship out

enough is enough

i completily agree with all of this. this game has soo much potental and its nowhere near were it should be. they talk about content...... my question is what content. all we had was alerts. there isnt even a story line in this game just a mismash of missions.

beldin · October 2012

man515drake wrote: »

and if the biggest selling point after customisation is vehicles then we really do have problems.

Especially since Vehicles are a total contradiction to customisation :rolleyes:

But yeah .. we have a problem, since Vehicles are the FOTM at the moment for Cryptic
and we have to wait for 6 months until they start a new gimmick like Wallcrawling Become Devices,
or maybe Become Jesus .. a device that let you walk over water

And btw.: who has designed that page ? Totally unreadable with Opera with the font over
that background, and this Facebook / Twitter crap that you can't even close over the text.

vendince · October 2012

My first thought when I read that little interview was "Meh." It's too short to be called a real Q and A, and to be frank, it doesn't give a good impression of CO at all, really. If I didn't already play and enjoy the game, that wouldn't be likely to get me much interested.

andromeda9899 · October 2012

Personally, I don't really like that vehicles being introduced in this game cause superheroes in CO have travel powers and unique combat powersets.
Moreover, I like the costume customization a lot in this game and putting a superhero into a huge vehicle will cause that a character is not visible and only the vehicle is visible during action. It ruins the scenery though.
Motorbikes are pretty cool cause a player is still able to look at his character bike riding a bike.
Instead of making vehicles, I would prefer that a character is able to create a portal to teleport to another place or map instantly.

flyingfinn · October 2012

I would prefer that a character is able to create a portal to teleport to another game instantly.

Fixed that for you.

bloodx13 · October 2012

vehicles or did you mean become devices!! CO's strong point is be ther hero you want and by making vehicles become devices your hiding that hero in a lackluster vehicle with no driver. Played with the bikes on pts and they have a seat, how hard would it be to make it a legit mount and let us use are own powers.

The become system takes away your hero and the personality of your hero etc.. to me their just half ** a way to try to put a band aid on something people have been wanting forever.

secksegai · October 2012

I think the negativity in the responses says it all.

jonsills · October 2012

secksegai wrote: »

I think the negativity in the responses says it all.

What, that some people won't be satisfied no matter what you do?

cybersoldier1981 · October 2012

jonsills, I don't consider my arrangement with PWE- paying money for a product- to be personal enough to say 'At least you tried' or 'It's better than nothing' or 'Be happy with what you've got'. They're a provider and developer for a game, not a war buddy or cousin.

man515drake · October 2012

jonsills wrote: »

What, that some people won't be satisfied no matter what you do?

So are you satisfied with the way things are going recently with new content promised for years but no new zones, comic series that replaced AP's that were promised to be regular that have been anything but,PvP that is terminally broken, Hideouts and Nemesis systems that feel rushed and have never reached the potential they were promised to and a vehicle system you can't customise the look of the vehicles but are rather they are a glorified become device with a mod system tacked on.

I love this game and have paid my monthly sub for 2 years and will continue to do so because I think the customization is amazing and for that reason alone think CO is a cut above most mmos.

The Dev team seems to steadily get smaller and the game I love seems to be put out to pasture with the minimum effort to work on it not by the Devs they all seem to want to make a great game but by the higher ups.

jayleia1 · October 2012

vorshoth wrote: »

Yeah, that didn't really tell anyone anything sizzling, any zazz, shapow, and so on. It kinda felt more like the interviewer caught the interviewee at a really bad time and they didn't prep anything.

The interview made me wonder why this game exists and the other game won't exist for long. But slogging through Therakiel's temple to have him stick in a pillar does that too, and the required NPC for Demonflame pathing into a corner and sticking, the Quest of the Elements failing to complete...

But at least we have transformation devices called vehicles...

Even as angry as I am at CO right now, I could do much better than the interviewee...

Alerts that give a variety of bonuses, a deep potential for exploraing the lore, a simple easy endgame gearing system (can get endgame fully geared in like, 3 days), nemeses...

And that's with me ANGRY at CO. A dev that loves the game shouldn't sound like...some guy off the street reading off marketing brochures that he's never seen before.

secksegai · October 2012

jonsills wrote: »

What, that some people won't be satisfied no matter what you do?

Even what people said after you quoted me should give you an idea of how vets are feeling atm.

kenpojujitsu3 · October 2012

Ya'll still here?!

I kid, I kid.

*Goes to read the controversial article*

kenpojujitsu3 · October 2012

OK, I read the article. I can't speak for anyone else but I think it was a very good and very informative article/interview. It gives a lot of insight into the current state of the game and where the game is headed and it let's me know exactly what I'll be excited to play in the future...

gaelyn1 · October 2012

The challenge is always to find a good pace for releases, while keeping the quality high. On top of all of that, a live game is a very complicated machine that must be maintained ? it requires vigilance to catch and resolve any issues that arise as soon as possible.

Not too much hard to find the good pace, releases are one or two times a year :biggrin:
It requires vigilance to catch and resolve any issues that arise as soon as possible :eek: I don't remember how long ago some problems or bugs as the "toggle never cancel" bug are here without any fix.

Marketing is marketing.

Q&A with The Koalition

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