With most upcoming MMOGs, the forums are often filled with a
variety of questions from the fans, from the range of epic loot to the
color of a player's boots. Though some development teams try to answer
a few questions every now and again, few Q&A sessions are as
organized and thorough as what the Cryptic team has put together with
their target="_blank">semi-regular Q&A sessions
with the target="_blank">Champions Online dev crew. The
latest Q&A has been posted on the Champions Online official
site, and we've hosted it here at Ten Ton Hammer for our readers to
enjoy! ( target="_blank">Original Source)

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How are you going to handle mission teams? Is it
going to be
like the City of Heroes/Villains system where one member's mission is
shared with the team and everyone gets xp or will it be like other MMOs
where you need the same mission in order to get completion
xp?(TruthSeer)

Arkayne (Lead Designer):
The Champions Online mission system allows you to share missions freely
between teammates, allowing you to work together toward common goals.

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Missions can
be shared freely between teammates

How
absorbing will the missions be? E.g when rescuing a kidnapped victim,
will there be a police team waiting outside the building with flashing
lights waiting for you to go in? (Symbea)

Arkayne:
It's going to vary throughout the game, but we're trying to make our
missions as absorbing as possible given a predominantly persistent
world with custom instances. When you're helping the super-science
Project Greenskin base under attack by radioactive mutants you'll see
guards shouting orders and firing on the attacking creatures while you
repair the auto-turrets outside the base. When you go into the
Stronghold super-villain prison you'll have a team of SPARC guards
waiting on you to show up so they can head in with your hero to take on
the rioting prisoners and mind-controlled guards inside. In short,
we're trying to make you feel like your character is part of a larger
world.

What are the options to modify the mechanics of
powers? What are some Advantages? What, if any, effect will equipment
have on individual powers? (theNater)

Heretic (Lead Powers Designer):
Powers can be modified by the application of Advantages. Advantages
come in a wide variety of effectiveness; some simply improve the basic
elements of the power they are attached to, while others add completely
new effects.

For example, one Advantage adds an impenetrable
telekinetic force field element to a heal power when the heal target is
very low on health. Other Advantages can add damage or movement snare
effects, or even modify what a summon power conjures. Advantages can
radically alter how powers function, and are a key component of
character customization.

How will stealth work. Will it be light based
sneaking or will it be like you becoming invisible? (Quinz)

Heretic:
We are still working out many of the details as to how stealth will
interact with mobs and other players' characters. Specifically, we want
to preserve a sense of risk by ensuring that stealth and invisibility
effects are not absolute, but are still useful tools to the general
course of game-play.

Are there going to be different styles of
hand-to-hand attacks? (Break-Out)

Heretic:
There will be several different styles of hand-to-hand attacks covering
not so much different formal unarmed martial arts styles, but rather
different flavors of fighting. To this end, we are looking at styles
including bestial fighting, street fighting and brute-style
superstrength fighting in addition to a more conventional martial arts
style.

We are definitely not closing the door on doing a wider
variety of formal unarmed martial arts styles in the future, but for
now we wanted to focus our efforts on the broader flavors of fighting
as well as several weapon fighting styles.

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Players will
typically be able to move while attacking.

Will we be
able to move while using powers? For example: Shooting a rifle at a
baddie while strafing him, or moving towards or away from him.
(EdmundDuke)

Absinthe (Lead Character Artist):
Yes, there are a few charge-up powers where the player is stationary,
but most of the powers allow players to move while attacking.

Will
picking different stances affect any of the power animations? Or will
all powers use the same animation regardless of stance? (EdmundDuke)

Absinthe: Some will be
different but most will use similar animations.

I
saw blocking in action on some videos posted from the gaming
conventions. Will there be customizable blocking animations? One hero
might use the standard arms up and slightly crossed, another might use
their cape, etc. (Break-Out)

Absinthe:
Sort of; there are ways to upgrade your block ability, which in turn
changes the FX/animation of the way you block. For example, a sorcerer
may not cross his arms, but will instead float up into the air and
summon a force field in front of him.

Will we have
animated tails for beast/nonhuman characters? In City of Heroes the
tail selection was slim, and they were stiff and unmoving, will we get
the same here? (Thorgar)

Absinthe: Animated tails are in!

Will we be able to have more than one pattern on
out costume (and three separate colors on one part, like chest.)?
(Quinz)

Absinthe:
The player can choose one pattern per mesh, and that pattern has
typically 3 material options (cloth, leather, metal for example) and 4
color choices.