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A Mild-Mannered Look at Champions

trailturtletrailturtle Posts: 5,496 Perfect World Employee
edited December 2012 in Super News Network
Eliot Lefebvre from Massively is touring his "A Mild-Mannered Reporter" column through the superhero MMO genre, and Champions was his first stop in the new format.

You can read his thoughts on Champions, including a look at the Gold player's decision between archetypes and freeform. We're glad you're enjoying Millennium City, Mr. Lefebvre, and we're looking forward to your next column!

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/12/a-mild-mannered-reporter-a-new-start-in-champions-online/
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • titotito333999titotito333999 Posts: 196 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Yay for free advertising hehe.
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  • nephtnepht Posts: 6,883 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I must say his CoH posts were some of the few articles I did enjoy on Massively.
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  • bioshrikebioshrike Posts: 5,491 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    The article does not exactly portray CO in a flattering light. The "glitch" about locked costume pieces and the fact that the writer was talking about things they didn't experience first-hand, and only "heard on the forums" would not really make me want to play.

    The fact that of the 3 screenshots the author included in the article, 2 were of their character, and both were static, also serves to lessen CO's appeal. Where are the dynamic in-game combat shots? They couldn't have included something more interesting than a cropped still of the character creator, and a cropped still of the character just standing there?

    It just seems very opinionated and from someone who admits to not having much actual play experience in-game.

    And in hindsight - the "glitch" they mentioned may not have been a glitch at all - it could have been the streamlined initial character creator new players get, or it could be that the added pieces that they needed to buy - it's hard to say since they admit to not knowing the ins and outs of the game, yet call something a glitch when it may very well be working as intended...
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  • itsbrou#5396 itsbrou Posts: 1,777 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Hooray for press.
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  • crosschancrosschan Posts: 920 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    bioshrike wrote: »
    And in hindsight - the "glitch" they mentioned may not have been a glitch at all - it could have been the streamlined initial character creator new players get, or it could be that the added pieces that they needed to buy - it's hard to say since they admit to not knowing the ins and outs of the game, yet call something a glitch when it may very well be working as intended...

    Ok, so the article might not be completely accurate since it's coming from a more newbish perspective but, in all honesty, that perspective interested me. It's easy for the vets to pop into the comments and make the proper corrections for people but a newbish perspective to this game is something that alot of us can only really speculate about because we haven't been newbs in years. We're the vets and they know most of us are too stubborn to leave...yet. It's the newbs we need to attract and keep to make the vets of tomorrow. Ok, now onto the quoted bit.

    As a vet I've never seen this "Streamlined" thing but I've read enough to know the gist of it. What I can report is that if I go to make a new toon right now(just checked) and pick "Chest Emblem" I can access those hideous looking Z-Store emblems and it doesn't tell me that I haven't purchased them. I use this example because it's one of the few things in the game that I found so hideously designed that I would never buy it so I knew I shouldn't have access to it. So it's entirely possible that the glitch is indeed a glitch.

    On the bright side...he didn't notice the 4th color bug, the right side/left side colors bug, the left side/right side materials bug, or that a decent amount of costume bits clip with NOTHING but themselves...so it could have been alot worse.

    It's no secret that we're way low on the totem pole here when it comes to bug repairs and polish....which could have been a major cash influx with the sad tragedy that hit CoH...oh well, oppertunity missed. So sad. :frown:
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  • towershield#4714 towershield Posts: 1,208 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    bioshrike wrote: »
    The article does not exactly portray CO in a flattering light. The "glitch" about locked costume pieces and the fact that the writer was talking about things they didn't experience first-hand, and only "heard on the forums" would not really make me want to play.

    The fact that of the 3 screenshots the author included in the article, 2 were of their character, and both were static, also serves to lessen CO's appeal. Where are the dynamic in-game combat shots? They couldn't have included something more interesting than a cropped still of the character creator, and a cropped still of the character just standing there?

    It just seems very opinionated and from someone who admits to not having much actual play experience in-game.

    And in hindsight - the "glitch" they mentioned may not have been a glitch at all - it could have been the streamlined initial character creator new players get, or it could be that the added pieces that they needed to buy - it's hard to say since they admit to not knowing the ins and outs of the game, yet call something a glitch when it may very well be working as intended...

    Was the article supposed to put CO on a pedestal? It's one guy's thoughts and experiences with the game, not a showcasing of features or a comparison piece.

    Also, in my experience, the streamlined creator doesn't give you a selection of parts you can't use. From what he said in the article, it listed pieces that he couldn't use but didn't give any indicators they were locked. It may very well have been a glitch. I'm still seeing pieces I know I don't own being listed in certain categories and whenever I select them I don't get any warnings that I can't actually use them.
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  • bioshrikebioshrike Posts: 5,491 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Ok... so if a person is going to write an article on a game, it shouldn't be a requirement that they gain a fair degree of familiarity with it? They should just write whatever they want without investigating if something is a feature or an actual bug/glitch?

    No one said that the article needs to put CO on a pedestal, but it should be fair and accurate...

    The author seemed quick to note that CO was "less active" than CoX because it had boosts instead of insights, but didn't mention how very few powers have cooldowns, whereas most powers in CoX *did*. He didn't mention that you get your TP right after the tutorial, and can use capes from teh get-go, neither of which you could do in CoX. If you're gonna make a comparison, be true about it.

    For the record, I agree with his comment about CO being light on content.
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  • broadnaxbroadnax Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    bioshrike wrote: »
    Ok... so if a person is going to write an article on a game, it shouldn't be a requirement that they gain a fair degree of familiarity with it? They should just write whatever they want without investigating if something is a feature or an actual bug/glitch?

    It is an actual bug/glitch. My wife, daughter, and I all had this happen to us. The character creator listed costumes parts we had not purchased as available (different ones for each of us), but since we were new subscribers, we didn't realize it. When we entered the game (yes, it let us go all they way through character creation without warning us), our costumes were messed up with default parts replacing the locked parts.

    After making a character or two, this bug seems to have gone away. But it definitely affected several of our characters. We've been playing for a couple of months now, so this issue was current a couple of months ago, anyway.
  • twg042370twg042370 Posts: 592 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I always have un-owned costume pieces show up on my list. But they display the default pieces so its not a big problem

    But both the article and the comments were generally positive and realistic about the state of the game. Good link.
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  • trailturtletrailturtle Posts: 5,496 Perfect World Employee
    edited December 2012
    bioshrike wrote: »
    Ok... so if a person is going to write an article on a game, it shouldn't be a requirement that they gain a fair degree of familiarity with it? They should just write whatever they want without investigating if something is a feature or an actual bug/glitch?

    In most cases I would agree -- as someone who worked on weekly deadlines for a school paper's arts/entertainment section, I think there needs to be more time spent on research overall. In this case especially, though, it's very clear that this is a see-it-as-it-unfolds column.
  • scorpagorscorpagor Posts: 607 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    broadnax wrote: »
    It is an actual bug/glitch. My wife, daughter, and I all had this happen to us. The character creator listed costumes parts we had not purchased as available (different ones for each of us), but since we were new subscribers, we didn't realize it. When we entered the game (yes, it let us go all they way through character creation without warning us), our costumes were messed up with default parts replacing the locked parts.

    After making a character or two, this bug seems to have gone away. But it definitely affected several of our characters. We've been playing for a couple of months now, so this issue was current a couple of months ago, anyway.

    I've also ran into this bug a while back, and I have over a dozen characters.
    To me it seems to apply to costume parts which can also be unlocked through perks in-game, the ones where you need to beat 5000 enemies of a certain faction.
  • crypticarmsmancrypticarmsman Posts: 53 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Now, if only he had some actual Champions Dev team info regarding future development and/or content plans for Champions Online...
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  • ashensnowashensnow Posts: 2,048 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    bioshrike wrote: »
    And in hindsight - the "glitch" they mentioned may not have been a glitch at all - it could have been the streamlined initial character creator new players get, or it could be that the added pieces that they needed to buy - it's hard to say since they admit to not knowing the ins and outs of the game, yet call something a glitch when it may very well be working as intended...

    If you as a vet (launch or earlier ?) are not sure whether or not its a glitch, how was he supposed to know ?

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  • bioshrikebioshrike Posts: 5,491 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    ashensnow wrote: »
    If you as a vet (launch or earlier ?) are not sure whether or not its a glitch, how was he supposed to know ?



    You're right... but then again, I wasn't the one writing an article on CO. Presumably, if an author is writing an article about a game that is being featured on the developer's website, at least a little communication and research should have been done.
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  • chuckthestarchuckthestar Posts: 62 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    As players, we have likely spent hundreds of hours researching the game. It's unrealistic to expect a reviewer to do the same, or to uncover any information we don't already have.

    I am somewhat interested in the 'newbies' perspective, since Vets tend to take the workarounds for granted, occasionally even forgetting why they started using the workarounds in the first place. And from a non-player's point of view, it's more compelling to get information about the game from someone new to it.

    But I don't see that he gave us much of interest. I get the impression he barely played past costume creation. The was nothing said about alerts, which is pretty telling.
  • towershield#4714 towershield Posts: 1,208 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    bioshrike wrote: »
    You're right... but then again, I wasn't the one writing an article on CO. Presumably, if an author is writing an article about a game that is being featured on the developer's website, at least a little communication and research should have been done.

    You keep missing the point of the article entirely. Not every piece of journalism that goes to print is backed by extensive research. Especially first impression-type pieces like this.
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  • bioshrikebioshrike Posts: 5,491 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    You keep missing the point of the article entirely. Not every piece of journalism that goes to print is backed by extensive research. Especially first impression-type pieces like this.

    You're right. At the same time, the fact that the author mentions CO as being *less* active than CoX, I started to wonder about his conclusions. Since he drew so many comparisons to CoX, it only makes sense to stack things up properly: CO has very few cooldowns, CoX had all cooldowns. CoX floundered for how many years before they made fitness inherent? The regular enhancements in CoX wore out as you leveled - there's none of that in CO. Pretty much every power in CoX rooted you, (except for an exploit with whirlwind or w/e power that was that countered that) - CO has many powers that don't.

    You see - plenty of parallels/comparisons that can be made and yet they weren't. No capes till 20 in CoX - capes from level 1 in CO. No TP until 14 (unless you had some vet rewards) - you get them at 6, which means immediately if you skip the tutorial. I can go on, but I think I've demonstrated the inaccuracies.

    It just gets me upset that what little press CO does still get tends to be these skewed pieces that don't portray the game properly. Yes, CO has its flaws - and they are numerous - but having played CoX for about 3.5 years, I think I have a good grasp of it and CO, so these types of side-by-sides annoy me.
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  • nazacanazaca Posts: 183 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    bioshrike wrote: »
    It just gets me upset that what little press CO does still get tends to be these skewed pieces that don't portray the game properly. Yes, CO has its flaws - and they are numerous - but having played CoX for about 3.5 years, I think I have a good grasp of it and CO, so these types of side-by-sides annoy me.

    Then write your own article and submit it to the various gaming websites to see if they'll post it to their site?

    You might even get paid for it!
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  • lestylolestylo Posts: 375 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Eliot Lefebvre from Massively is touring his "A Mild-Mannered Reporter" column through the superhero MMO genre, and Champions was his first stop in the new format.

    You can read his thoughts on Champions, including a look at the Gold player's decision between archetypes and freeform. We're glad you're enjoying Millennium City, Mr. Lefebvre, and we're looking forward to your next column!

    http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/12/a-mild-mannered-reporter-a-new-start-in-champions-online/


    One of the things that makes video game journalism hard to take seriously is stuff like this: Stuff that amounts to a random blog post as opposed to an actual article. We really shouldn't be giving this attention because it is what is is: A fairly uninformed and poorly researched article. I mean, at least make it entertaining. I would have been happier if he carried on about his cat as opposed to this.
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  • leihngweileihngwei Posts: 164 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    [ ]Hide and remove unowned costume parts

    It's taken this long and no one has mentioned this? It's not a glitch, by default it's not clicked, so it'll show everything. As for not knowing it's a locked/C-Store item, there's an icon next to the name and the pop-up warning window.
  • twg042370twg042370 Posts: 592 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    leihngwei wrote: »
    [ ]Hide and remove unowned costume parts

    It's taken this long and no one has mentioned this? It's not a glitch, by default it's not clicked, so it'll show everything. As for not knowing it's a locked/C-Store item, there's an icon next to the name and the pop-up warning window.

    To be honest, when I first started playing it took me a couple of weeks to realize there was a drop down menu for each body part and that I actually could have bare hands.

    The character creator is pretty robust. The newbie should have all of their options as clear as possible. If only in the hopes I'll see fewer default AT costumes running around.
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  • jonsillsjonsills Posts: 6,315 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    twg042370 wrote: »
    To be honest, when I first started playing it took me a couple of weeks to realize there was a drop down menu for each body part and that I actually could have bare hands.

    The character creator is pretty robust. The newbie should have all of their options as clear as possible. If only in the hopes I'll see fewer default AT costumes running around.
    The newbie should also have all of their options back. The "streamlined" costume creator is an abomination that should have been strangled in its crib.
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  • kallethenkallethen Posts: 1,576 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    jonsills wrote:
    The newbie should also have all of their options back. The "streamlined" costume creator is an abomination that should have been strangled in its crib.
    And bring back the body/face sliders. They were at good starting points for getting the body and face to look how you wanted.
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  • serendipitynowserendipitynow Posts: 554 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    And bring back the body/face sliders. They were at good starting points for getting the body and face to look how you wanted.

    When did they remove them? were still there when i created my latest chr about a month ago.

    Or is it like the streamlined costumes and they dont show till you get your first chr over 10?
  • leihngweileihngwei Posts: 164 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I think they're talking about the 10 face and 10 body prebuilt options. Brick, beast, athletic, etc. And yes, if they brought these back as dropdown menus in the body and face slider window, we'd all be happy.
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