Champions Online - Lifetime and other subs on sale

newplayerguy7 · June 2014

Just thought I'd let folks know that STO's cousin Champions Online is having a 33% off sale on all subscriptions right now.

This includes Lifetime subs - the first time they have had a discount on them in over two years! :eek:

mirrorchaos · June 2014

dont really care about champions online since pwe butchered the game. i havent been around it since it went f2p.

i dunno if lts from sto transfers to champions online as well. based on what i have seen its likely the answer is no. in any event, i wouldnt have the money for such a thing anyways even if i were interested.

jonsills · June 2014

"Butchered"? Atari very nearly killed CO - that "butchery" from PWE was more like lifesaving surgery. Same goes for the changes to STO, and the way Atari wanted NW to be a single-player game that nonetheless required logging into their servers (that worked out so well for Sim City and Diablo III, after all...).

I'm hoping I can scrape together $200 before the sale ends - Happifun Security System X-4 and Spider-Bat need more friends...

mirrorchaos · June 2014

jonsills wrote: »

"Butchered"? Atari very nearly killed CO - that "butchery" from PWE was more like lifesaving surgery. Same goes for the changes to STO, and the way Atari wanted NW to be a single-player game that nonetheless required logging into their servers (that worked out so well for Sim City and Diablo III, after all...).

I'm hoping I can scrape together $200 before the sale ends - Happifun Security System X-4 and Spider-Bat need more friends...

lifesaving is just at relative a term as butchered is. both one and the same especially since the "lifesaving surgery" came at the expense of the games soul.

steamwright · June 2014

Just my personal preference, perhaps, but I'd be hesitant to lifetime sub to any MMO that's 5 years along, unless it shows itself as a juggernaut. I'd be more inclined for such a purchase after the first 6 months to a year, once it has revealed its strengths and weaknesses, and its retention/recruiting abilities. If however, there was a pro-rated refund, if say, the game closed before 36 months had elapsed, then I'd be more interested.

starkaos · June 2014

I figure if PWE or Cryptic gets into trouble and has to shut down a game, then it would be Champions Online due to it not having any licensing issues with another company. Neverwinter has a licensing agreement with Wizards of the Coast and Star Trek Online has a licensing agreement with CBS.

ursusmorologus · June 2014

Dont think I'll ever install another Cryptic game

sander233 · June 2014

mirrorchaos wrote: »

lifesaving is just at relative a term as butchered is.

The above statement is technically correct.

Excuse me while I go perform lifesaving surgery on this dead pig. On second thought, if I eat too much more bacon I might need to get butchered with a triple bypass.

virusdancer · June 2014

I remember the twisted joy I felt with the announcement that there was going to be a Champions Online - thinking about the Hero System and what that could entail. Didn't take long to realize that the game was going to be nothing like that...meh, that it was barely going to be a parody of the RPG...oh well.

iconians · June 2014

Got a lifetime sub to CO many moons ago when they had one of their sales.

I even considered briefly going back into the game to see what changed, but then I read one of the semi-recent patch notes and apparently my character who could grow to enormous sizes with a specialized build can no longer do so.

That was what made the game really fun for me, being able to create my own Yellowjacket-type of superhero and stomping the ground like the NPCs were insects.

And since I literally don't care about CO to the point of re-learning the power systems, and now that CO has been put into maintainance mode -- and the only 'new' content consists of vehicles... I really don't care to re-install the game.

It also doesn't help that PWE has really shown just how much they love CO and STO by putting CaptainSmirk as the Community Manager at both. Nothing really says love for your playerbase than having someone like Brandon or Trevor manage multiple games instead of having someone individually for each game.

I'm sure it's a cost-saving measure -- paying Trevor and Morrigan to manage multiple games at once costs substantially less than having one team for CO and one for STO. But it doesn't really do any convincing that PWE cares about said playerbases.

If I want flying vehicles that shoots at things, I'll just play STO.

Alas, my CO account will continue to accrue that 500 zen a month. Shame I can't transfer it to STO.

voporak · June 2014

iconians wrote: »

Got a lifetime sub to CO many moons ago when they had one of their sales.

I even considered briefly going back into the game to see what changed, but then I read one of the semi-recent patch notes and apparently my character who could grow to enormous sizes with a specialized build can no longer do so.

That was what made the game really fun for me, being able to create my own Yellowjacket-type of superhero and stomping the ground like the NPCs were insects.

And since I literally don't care about CO to the point of re-learning the power systems, and now that CO has been put into maintainance mode -- and the only 'new' content consists of vehicles... I really don't care to re-install the game.

It also doesn't help that PWE has really shown just how much they love CO and STO by putting CaptainSmirk as the Community Manager at both. Nothing really says love for your playerbase than having someone like Brandon or Trevor manage multiple games instead of having someone individually for each game.

I'm sure it's a cost-saving measure -- paying Trevor and Morrigan to manage multiple games at once costs substantially less than having one team for CO and one for STO. But it doesn't really do any convincing that PWE cares about said playerbases.

If I want flying vehicles that shoots at things, I'll just play STO.

Alas, my CO account will continue to accrue that 500 zen a month. Shame I can't transfer it to STO.

That's just one of many ways PWE has shown they don't care about us (just our wallets). Hey, at least Smirk is a good CM.

lan451 · June 2014

iconians wrote: »

If I want flying vehicles that shoots at things, I'll just play STO.

This right here is why I ultimately left CO. The heavy focus on vehicles killed it for me.

I gave them a fair chance though. I got myself a top tier vehicle (Widow) fully tricked out and did try to get into it a bit, but in the end I wasn't feeling it. For flying vehicles that shoot things, STO is just so superior in that regard.

A side point was that I felt that freeforms should be available for everyone for free. It just feels like an archaic F2P model to me in that regard.

CO is a fun game, but I just don't see it going anywhere.

defalus · June 2014

Vehicles in CO are to me, like shuttles in CO, they're there but the content for them is sorely lacking. Yet sadly in CO, they keep pumping them out in lockboxes. Imagine what it would be like in STO if a shuttle was the grand prize in every lockbox.

Maybe I'm way of base with that comparison but that's what it kinda feels like to me. I have an LTS in CO and I only log in every 2 or 3 months to blow my stipends, have a little fun then quit again.

jonsills · June 2014

That's weird - I've been playing for years now, have such severe altaholism that I only got my second character to 40 two days ago (out of a roster of 16 or so - which is a lot for a Silver player), and the only times I've used a vehicle were as transport, and in the event a while back (last year, I think) where there were three Mega-Destroids dropped right on the steps of Homestead. Other than that, I'll hop in my Lemurian tank (free, won as a drop during the first Lemurian Invasion) to zip across the desert from Greenskin Base to Stronghold, land next to the Warden, put the tank away, and go about my business.

Where's all this content "designed for vehicles" y'all are talking about? Sure, they're in lockboxes. Right now, we have Undine ships in lockboxes here - but I don't have any, and I haven't felt the lack. Like vehicles in CO, Undine bioships just aren't necessary to do anything. They're fluff for people with more Zen than restraint.

One of the posters in the CO forums made an interesting point, too. CO hasn't had a sale on LTS since shortly after launch. The last time STO had an LTS sale that I recall, the cash infusion helped fund Season 8. It's possible, especially since Cryptic acquired Cryptic North (the former Flying Lab Software, here in Seattle) last summer largely to work on CO, that this indicates something new on the horizon - something which they've never had the resources to do before. I'm betting against a Foundry, sadly, as that would be too labor-intensive to be likely (although if it is, I've got at least three stories waiting to be told, including one dating back to when I played 3rd-edition Champions in college), but another new powerset, and maybe another pass at Telepathy (the last pass was good, but IMO incomplete), would be nice.

I must say, as an aside, that some folks have an interesting and idiosyncratic definition of "on life support". There have been new powers introduced, the former trickle of costumes (a very important factor for a superhero game) has become a steady stream, the promise of On Alert is being fulfilled with a steady rotation of events from the most basic, intended for 10th level characters (Grab alerts - which, unlike the Burst alerts they replaced, don't have a time limit, and can eventually be completed by any team rather than being a DPS check), on up to Rampages, being intended for characters of at least 25th level (used to be just Gravitar, but now there's an entire roster of such events). Seems pretty lively for "on life support"...

Now, if you'll pardon me, I've wasted enough time here. I have to go grind for Lohlunat Pearls on my accounts here, and then Short Circuit has a slew of missions to complete on Monster Island...

mirrorchaos · June 2014

now i had some time to think about it, there were a few days after f2p i did play, one of the strongest was sitting around near TT mission start door, lemuria and looking for them dolls for accolade purposes. however it was so long ago, maybe its time i got off my high horse position and see what, if anything changed.

starkaos · June 2014

jonsills wrote: »

I'm betting against a Foundry, sadly, as that would be too labor-intensive to be likely (although if it is, I've got at least three stories waiting to be told, including one dating back to when I played 3rd-edition Champions in college), but another new powerset, and maybe another pass at Telepathy (the last pass was good, but IMO incomplete), would be nice.

Considering that STO and Neverwinter have the Foundry and Champions Online's Engine was used to create STO, then it would be far easier to create a Foundry System for Champions Online than it would be for other MMOs to create their own User Generated Content. I would imagine that Cryptic will just transfer over Neverwinter's Foundry since it is the newer version for the main code and all that is needed would be to replace the Neverwinter assets like npcs with Champions Online assets.

prierin · June 2014

I played CO for a while.... left, came back... everything was just... different.[/i]

Same with STO. Not sure yet if for better or for worse...

F2P KILLED SW:TOR tho... that much I know.

lan451 · June 2014

starkaos wrote: »

Considering that STO and Neverwinter have the Foundry and Champions Online's Engine was used to create STO, then it would be far easier to create a Foundry System for Champions Online than it would be for other MMOs to create their own User Generated Content. I would imagine that Cryptic will just transfer over Neverwinter's Foundry since it is the newer version for the main code and all that is needed would be to replace the Neverwinter assets like npcs with Champions Online assets.

I don't have a source for this off hand, so take it for what it's worth. It may have been lost in the great PWE forum merge.

I remember one of the devs over there saying that even though all 3 games are built on the same engine, STO and NW are on a newer version of that engine. Since the foundry was originally built for NW, it was able to be ported to STO since it was on the same version. It would be far too much effort for them to try to make the foundry backwards compatible for an older version of the engine.

mirrorchaos · June 2014

lan451 wrote: »

I don't have a source for this off hand, so take it for what it's worth. It may have been lost in the great PWE forum merge.

I remember one of the devs over there saying that even though all 3 games are built on the same engine, STO and NW are on a newer version of that engine. Since the foundry was originally built for NW, it was able to be ported to STO since it was on the same version. It would be far too much effort for them to try to make the foundry backwards compatible for an older version of the engine.

if thats true, how is it that champions online has seen some recent content? no, its more likely they have a foundry for the game, its just not one we know.

lan451 · June 2014

mirrorchaos wrote: »

if thats true, how is it that champions online has seen some recent content? no, its more likely they have a foundry for the game, its just not one we know.

Because the content they develop for CO would be on that version of the engine and not on the version that NW and STO run on.

jonsills · June 2014

The issue with a CO Foundry, apparently, is that none of the assets are appropriately tagged. The basic engine could be implanted, but before it could be used, all the in-game assets would need tags, so the authors could place them. Thus far, this has been seen as prohibitively expensive in terms of man-hours; it may be that as the folks at Cryptic North have ramped up on their understanding of the game engine, they may have found a way around that restriction, but I'm not holding my super-breath.

On the other tentacle, there's no very good reason (aside, again, from manpower) why a new zone couldn't be added - perhaps the Moon Zone that certain players have been howling about for years now. (We have lunar hideouts, and we know that the villain Mechanon is somewhere on the Moon, as is the new Forum Malvanum - it's not like there's nothing to do there, even if we don't ring in [no pun intended] the Star*Guard...)

orangeitis · June 2014

The game is boring. No comparison to STO. No reason to lifetime unless you love the game THAT much. But most don't it seems, and they TRIBBLE over anyone who went gold and converted their characters to gold.

And they're even giving away exclusive costume parts to gold members. Which isn't an incentive to join as much as it is just a series of items we won't get because subscribing STILL isn't worth it.

lan451 · June 2014

I'd probably reinstall immediately if they were to add in a Moon zone.

Champions Online - Lifetime and other subs on sale

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