Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

In Ten Ton Hammer’s exclusive Champions Online launch interview, we learned that Cryptic Studios was already hard at work on the first major content update for the game, cryptically referred to in a brief comment on the official forums as Blood Moon. When asked when we might be seeing an official announcement for the event, Bill Roper informed us that we would begin seeing more details emerge to coincide with Champions’ official launch on September 1st. Soon after, a teaser page went up highlighting the return of Takofanes, the Undying Lord which could only mean one thing; giant piles of shambling zombies wouldn’t be too far behind him.

Takofanes, also known as the Archlich in Champions lore, is a nasty dude who at one point in the not too distant past caused a wave of devastation that began with the total annihilation of an entire southwestern town. The Archlich turned its former residents into the beginnings of a massive army of undead which swept across the United States leaving utter chaos in its wake. As each new victim fell, the Archlich used their still-fresh corpses to bolster his minion’s ranks, and at the time even the mightiest of superheroes feared that Takofanes and his massive undead army would soon become unstoppable. This wave of devastation swept half way across the US when suddenly, without warning, Takofanes simply vanished.

Prior to the launch of Champions Online, I correctly deduced that there were indeed elements already in place foreshadowing the return of the Archlich as described in Alpha and Omega – A Brief Look at the Champions Universe:

While no one knows for certain what the exact goals of the Archlich are, many believe that he intends to destroy all living humans, turning them into an army of undead followers. Could the recent sighting of zombies in the Canadian wilderness near Force Station Steelhead be the first step in a much larger, villainous plot to conquer humanity?

Taking a closer look at the teaser page for Blood Moon, it appears that my cybernetically enhanced telepathic powers could easily put the nutty ramblings of Nostradamus to shame:

Beware the Zombie Apocalypse rising in Canada! Battle against zombies in PVP, but no matter what, do not fall there. Should you die, you shall return as one of the undead horde, bound to fight in Takofanes’ name.

Whether my initial observations were indeed a brief glimpse of things to come or just a superhumanly lucky guess on my part we’ll never know, but one thing is for certain: Takofanes is coming to Champions Online later this month, and he’s bringing his undead friends along for the ride. But not only will the fallen heroes from the Battle of Detroit be serving as new minions of the Archlich, even more sinister plots are currently brewing as the dirty hair monsters otherwise known as werewolves will also be wreaking havoc on Millennium City as the Blood Moon rises.

Leading up to the launch of Blood Moon on October 27th, a few important game updates will be hitting the live servers as outlined in a recent newsletter sent out to players:

• Mission Tracking Updates! – New ways to share missions with groups, including setting primary missions, making more missions shareable, and granting “Assist Bonuses” if you help complete a mission you don’t have.


• More Missions! – Bounty missions, UNTIL tasks, and more content in Millennium City and Canada to help address more of the leveling gaps.


• Power House 2.0 – A new room to test out your powers against real enemies, Power Tips from the trainers, and a duel-free zone by the trainers to make purchasing a power much quieter.

The mission tracking updates should be welcome news for those players that have felt that the tools for grouping and socialization have been somewhat lacking up until this point. In fact, the ability to share missions in groups was one of the top issues mentioned in our most recent Supergroup Showcase featuring the WildCards. (Which, by the way, is an excellent read. For those of you who enjoy hearing about massive, cross-game guilds that shatter the notion that success is synonymous with a high end raid focus, be sure to check it out!)

One of the biggest game changing elements set to roll out with the Blood Moon is of course the introduction of the first new power set since launch. Details on the first few Celestial powers have already begun to emerge, being described as a “support-based set [that] allows you to both heal allies and weaken enemies.” What impact the addition of such a heal-centric set will have on the game remains to be seen, but in the meantime new powers are being revealed as a part of the build up to Blood Moon over at the official Champions site.

According to the recent newsletter, the Celestial set will in fact be released a few weeks after the start of Blood Moon, but players will have the opportunity to unlock it early:

Help save the 13 souls of the Undead Heroes to unlock the Celestial power set weeks before it is released to the public.

Big things are coming for Champions players later this month with an event that seems poised to raise the bar on holiday-themed MMOG content. In the meantime, be sure to keep your laser emitting ocular implants aimed right here at Ten Ton Hammer, as we’ll be taking a closer look at everything Blood Moon has to offer throughout the month!