Champions Online Beta Impressions

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Updated Sat, Aug 29, 2009 by mattlow

The launch date of Champions Online is looming over the horizon. With the NDA lifted, the Champions Online Ten Ton Hammer Staff sat down to give their thoughts on the beta.

Mattlow: Let's start with character creation for Champions Online. What are you impressions of it? How does it compare to CoH's costume editor? Being a superhero game, how you look is essential for your superhero identity and minty goodness.

JoBildo: I'm not trying to make this sound like a bad thing... but there's almost TOO MUCH choice. I felt like I was staring at my screen for an hour when I made my first guy. Turned out it was for two. It's extremely deep, and I'm still finding pieces and parts I didn't know existed 10 characters later.

Mattlow: I kind of agree with you. While I love choice, it can be overwhelming starting out. However, I prefer too many choices as opposed to too few.

Sardu: Well, the interface has come a long way, though it's still not quite as intuitive as the CoH costume editor once you move beyond the body sliders and into creating your costume. In terms of what's there to work with though, Champions Online has pretty much every other game on the market beat hands down... provided you can find all your options.

The joy of getting a travel power early!

JoBildo: I was tempted to just randomize it and get in there to play, knowing I could edit it later for a price. It was totally worth it. I love my monkey-looking angel demon with clown make-up.

Sardu: There are some pretty scary costumes that come out of the randomization option. I'd love to see some preset options; so say if you wanted a ninja, you could just select that theme from a drop down.

Mattlow: Overall, I do like the costume creator. It's a lot to take in, but you need a ton of choices to really cut down the copycat factor and be an individual. One thing I loved about CoH was that nobody else looked like you (mostly). It's not like your typical fantasy MMO where everybody looks the same.

Sardu: I've seen some pretty creative costumes so far though. Last night I ran into Walmart Checker at the Powerhouse.

JoBildo: That's the key to a system like this... you rarely if ever will meet your doppelganger.

Mattlow: A second plus is that, once you’re in the game, you can use the tailor without having to do some mission chain or wait to a high level. It just takes resources.

Sardu: The cost of the tailor has come way down as well, which is a huge plus in my book. Earlier in the beta it cost an arm and a leg just to adjust your arms and legs.

JoBildo: Yep, I took off a Halo on one guy and drained my bank.

Mattlow: Overall, while there's a lot to take in with costume creation. I agree that it's second to none with what you can do with it. The sad thing is for a non artist like me, it takes forever to get a costume to look cool enough for playing. You don't want to hit the mean streets looking like you stepped out of a thrift shop.

JoBildo: For some costume ideas, you should check out Queer Eye for the Superhero Guy.

Sardu: I agree. I honestly don't expect anything to really come close anytime soon in terms of the sheer number of options. STO might get there with the race creator but that's about it. The interface has come a long way, but it could still use a bit of loving so that casual players can dive into the game a bit easier

JoBildo: I couldn't have said it better, Sardu.

Mattlow: Let's move on to powers then. Do you like how powers are set up? That you can specialize in one school to get powers earlier, but the option exists to get any power you want?

JoBildo: I'm going to be terrible at being objective here, because I've never played a game that allowed me so much freedom. I love that I can get some lesser skills in one power set like Fire, and then spend the rest of my time in something else like Strength. It really lets me shape exactly how I want my character to be... and I'm a comic nerd, so I do spend way too much time thinking about that.
So in short... yes.

Mattlow: I'm running along your lines here, man. I do love the freedom of power selection. And, as an ex-comic nerd, the ability to create exactly the character you want really rocks.

Sardu: Frameworks are a good example of lowering the barrier for entry I think. Otherwise, I love the overall flexibility of the system is pretty awesome for the reasons William already stated. Being able to have an idea for a character and shape that as you advance is a huge leap forward from selecting a pre-determined path within your first 5 minutes of a game you may end up playing for months or years.

JoBildo: No classes. That’s something we've all been craving. This system allows that. I can be whatever I want, and no one can tell me different. Nah-nah-nah!

Sardu: Same here. I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees class names like Cleric and has a violent shudder at the thought of being forced to use blunt weapons for X levels.

Mattlow: But what about the min/maxers? Who's looking out for them? Don't you know that if you don't take this specific path, your damage output will be 2.5% less than full optimum? Why play such a loser?

JoBildo: Hey, they're golden too. They'll have to be rigid in their picking of power-sets, but I'm willing to bet that someone who puts all their time into a purely Gadgeteering character will be fairly ridiculous.

Sardu: Oh, there's tons of min/maxing you can do in Champions if you really dig deeper into the power sets to find the synergy between things like damage types, secondary energy builders and passive powers.

Mattlow: True enough. I'm sure the spreadsheet brigade is already working on that.

JoBildo: I'll pass. I spend too much time with that kind of data at work. At play, I'm making a fire-wielding, tunnel-travelling, tail-having, gun-toting, blade-slicer and I'm gonna love it.

Sardu: Exactly... why turn an entertainment form into a second job?

Mattlow: I agree. I want to have fun when I play. Dammit! If I want to play a hot vigilante chick with 2 pistols who wears hidden rocket boots and a fedora, then I will play her!!
Being classless almost makes me giddy. How can I function in a non-tank-healer-dps specified role?

Sardu: But, with the way Cryptic laid things out, you can piece together a perfect tank, ranged dps, or healer if that's what you're aiming for as well.

Mattlow: I do really love the framework style. I'm doing guns, so it's cool that I get gun powers faster if I stick with it.

JoBildo: Yep. And really, with what... 14 powers you select total? You can really focus fire on a specific role, or let yourself go crazy and be a jack of all trades. The game does not rely on heals and tanking as much as we're all used to.

Sardu: What do you think of the power sets themselves? Some seem really fleshed out while others are somewhat bare bones. Sorcery vs. Unarmed as an example here. Or do you think with the number of overall options that specific power sets are less important in the grand scheme of things?

JoBildo: That's a good question. I think it sort of sucks for those who might WANT to be an Unarmed Master. They’re just not going to be as flashy as other folks. But, hey, that's Batman. He's not flash either. He's Sherlock Holmes with a cape and an attitude. With the range of options, I don't think it's fair to complain about one power-set being weaker. But that won't stop people from being...people. Plus, I can't imagine it's fun balancing all these powers either, to be honest. Not a job I'd want.

Mattlow: I think that they probably didn't have to time to really flesh out all the sets. That being said, I think that with all the options available, it doesn't really matter.

Sardu: Very true.

Mattlow: I'm glad that not everything is scaled to each other. People will still bitch, but that's the nature of the beast today. Everybody expects balance, but there ain't balance in the real world or in the comic book world. I mean.....who would you prefer to hit you in the jaw? Superman or Blue Beetle?

Sardu: I think that's part of the nature of gaming in general though... people tend to like absolutes because that means you can theoretically "win". And I think I'll pass on getting hit in the jaw, thanks!

Mattlow: Overall, I can't be totally objective rating powers as that I haven't played 10 toons to max level while respeccing from time to time. However, I do love the freedom of the system allowing me to pick and choose what I want, and not limiting me to a specific path. While some powers might be stronger than others, I'm not worried too much about balance.

Sardu: What do the two of you think about the power customization? Have you come across any awesome power replaces that you really dig?

Mattlow: With my schedule, I haven't had the time to really get into the power customization aspect of the game. From what I’ve seen, they’re pretty cool.

Sardu: Yea, they're upgrades that you can equip that will give powers a different visual element. Once you unlock them, you can swap them out at the tailor. So, say you find some cool toxic swords, you can replace your standard swords with a pair of cool looking green glowing ones.

JoBildo: Now, see... there's more additional customization. I was wondering how to change my 2 desert eagles on one character to 6-shooters. I suppose that's how.

Sardu: I've been noticing they've been adding a boat load of them as quest rewards finally which is cool.

Mattlow: Wow. They've really upped the ante on customization, which I love.

Sardu: Oh yeah. Like, you can even add in Darkness effects to Ice powers or whatever.

Mattlow: Now that's what I'm talking about! Rewards that make you more distinctive and cooler, but doesn't really impact gameplay. Sweet!

JoBildo: I'm going to make the happiest looking evil badass ever when I can.

Mattlow: How much do you love getting a travel power at level 5?

JoBildo: I LOVE, and I do mean to capitalize, getting my travel power early. The zones are so massive after the Tutorial and Crisis zones that I would have cried otherwise.

Sardu: Getting travel powers at such a low level is easily one of the smartest design decisions they could have made.

Mattlow: I'm doing a happy dance that a game finally gave you something that I consider ESSENTIAL early on instead of making you wait 20+ levels of running from one end of a continent to another. A very, very smart decision on their part.

JoBildo: Is there a 2nd travel power selection too? Later on?

Sardu: Most MMOGs tend to use faster travel as a mid-level carrot, but that always makes it more painful to start new characters knowing how much slower they'll be. Yes, you can get a second travel power at level 35.

Mattlow: I still break out in sweat hearing the words Stranglethorn Vale....shudder.

JoBildo: See, now there's your carrot. By the time you get to 35, you'll be anxious to try out Swinging along with Tunneling.

Sardu: And that opens up some cool possibilities as well, especially in PvP where things get really chaotic.

Mattlow: Speaking of PvP, let's get into that and combat in general. How do you like the combat system? For me, it took a bit to get used to holding a button down in combat.

Cage match!

JoBildo: Let me preface this. I do not use the 360 controller. And I hear it does wonders for the gameplay. But I am in love with the combat regardless. Little to no down-time, tons of action, hitting multiple enemies at once with my two swords, picking up and throwing cars at people…it took some getting used to the Energy Building and whatnot. But it's really grown on me. By level 10 you really start to feel pretty powerful.

Mattlow: I do dig picking stuff up and slamming it into people. Energy management is something you got to learn, but it's not too hard. You get energy back from your building attack pretty quick. Plus, the powerups help. I thought the powerups were kind of stupid at first, but now I like them. It's like an unexpected perk.

Sardu: I picked up my gamepad to see how the controls felt a few months ago and honestly haven't looked back. The control scheme isn't quite nailed yet, but once they have it I can see exactly how easily the game can transition onto consoles. Otherwise, I really dig the combat in general. You still have your auto-attack, but even most of the energy building powers look spectacular. The nutty unarmed kung-fu moves still crack me up no matter how many times I see it.

Mattlow: I do like the combat. I'm still using a variety of powers in each fight. While I do use some attacks more than others, it's not like I ignore 3/4s of my attacks and only use one or two.

JoBildo: This is true. And a conscientious planner can really make some winning combos on their power-bar.

Mattlow: It's hard for me to plan with my twin .45s blazing away!

Sardu: Earlier in the beta I had a fleet (yes, a fleet!) of level 40 characters running around and even with 14 powers I still found all of them totally useful and more importantly *fun* to use rather than relying on 2 or 3 basic attacks.

Mattlow: That's encouraging. In most games, you tend to use a few attacks, especially at higher levels.

JoBildo: They give you 14... I want to use 14, you know?

Sardu: Exactly.

Mattlow: My characters are lower level, but I feel pretty bad ass. I'm usually taking on 2 to 3 guys at once and wiping them out. Plus, they're not boars!!!!!

Sardu: And depending on how much you get into swapping out builds / roles, you can pick up some pretty cool passive powers for each build if you don't want to pick all active powers which is nice.

Mattlow: I actually feel.....heroic in combat at low level. Fighting radiation plagued zombies or evil minions of criminal overlords as opposed to killing wildlife.

JoBildo: Not to mention picking up forklifts and hitting things. That's really all I need.

Sardu: Yea, fighting villains and aliens right off the bat makes a huge difference over a million bears and boars by the time you reach level 20.

Mattlow: How about PvP? I've only done the cage matches so far.

Sardu: I've messed around on all three map types so far, and would have to say the Apocalypse maps are my favorite since there's a lot more push and shove involved with all the interactive objects and PvE elements thrown into the mix. PvP still feels extremely chaotic to me at this point though, almost like travel powers detract from the experience since one minute you're punching someone and the next they're on the far side of the map.

Mattlow: I've only done the cage matches, which you can queue up anytime. It's been fun, but it needs to be tweaked a bit. The timer doesn't start for a bit, and I was running around the locker room wondering what to do.

Sardu: Hah, the first match I played I just stood there in the locker room wondering where my team was. The arena door needs a big red sign that says "Enter here dummy!"

Mattlow: Plus, I've heard people complaining that claw attacks are overpowered in PvP, while rooting powers are twitchy and sometimes don't work like they're supposed to.

Sardu: Oh, people are going to complain that powers are over-powered for the next 10 years. Last month it was Invulnerability and Regeneration, and next month it'll be something different.

JoBildo: What are the perks to PvP though, for those who don't know? Why should a hero fight another hero?

Sardu: Well, the Luchador costume pieces rock for starters...But you can unlock a crap load of Perks in PvP as well, so even if you don't want the PvP costume sets you can still get nutty amounts of Perk Points to spend on different things.

Mattlow: I would so make a hero named 'The Nanchos Grandee'.

Sardu: Oh, you can totally unlock Luchador pieces. So far I've seen 3 different full sets.

JoBildo: Okay... so looks like I'll be a fan of PvP after all.

Mattlow: Plus, it's fun beating other people! "Hey look, another Wolverine clone rip off with a dorky name of 'Killer Wolverine'. I must kill him to put him out of his (and my) misery!"

JoBildo: I'm going to spend my time making Robert Kirkman characters... then waiting for a lawsuit.

Sardu: Well, I said earlier that it's still somewhat chaotic, and that's kind of a plus for me all things considered. The AI in the game is pretty decent, but sometimes it's just nice to dive into a situation where you have no idea what to expect. And with the power options you really *don't* know what you'll be facing, versus something like WSG where you know who the flag runners will be, and who will guard, etc.

Mattlow: Agree 100%, Sardu. Now,, you don't know exactly what you're facing. That Walmart Checker might be a mini-Superman in power!

JoBildo: That's a good call. There's almost no way to tell unless you’re familiar with a player just what/who you're facing until a few minutes in.

Sardu: Oh, Walmart Checker was really kicking some Test Dummy tail! I'd be pretty intimidated if I ran into him on the opposing team!

Mattlow: More unpredictable PvP = more fun in my book. Now, you don't spend time going, "Where's their healers and ranged dps at? We need to take them out first." Now, it's more like, "CHAAAAAAAARRRGGGGEEEEEE!!!!!!" and start throwing haymakers at the first jaw you see.

Mattlow: Onwards to visuals! What do ya guys think of the look of the game?

JoBildo: For me, I prefer style over realism. I'll take cartoony old WoW to Everquest 2 any day when it comes to visuals. That said, I was taken aback by Champions at first. It's not quite cel-shaded, but it's got that appearance. It took me a while to realize I could turn off the outlines around the characters (advanced video settings), and once I did... I wanted them back. It reminds me of a 3D...version of that old Sega Genesis game where you played through a comic book. I cannot for the life of me remember the name.
Basically, the art style was a bit shocking at first, but it's really grown on me lately.

Sardu: *nods* I agree, the visual style of the game tends to draw me into the setting a ton more than had they gone for a more realistic approach.

Mattlow: I prefer that the style goes with the game. If you're doing heroic fantasy, I want bright colors. If you're doing a gritty noir, then I want it dark and foreboding. For a comic MMO, I don't want realism. I want it to look like a comic book. The style took me a bit to get used to after playing so many other games, but it's really grown on me.

Sardu: In some ways I kind of wish that players could be introduced to zones like Monster Island and Lemuria a bit earlier though, since Canada and the Desert can get a bit bland if you spend 20 levels in either.

JoBildo: Hey now... Area 51 is pretty dang cool looking.

Mattlow: Don't bad talk Desert. I can't get enough of those glowing skeletons dotting the countryside.

Sardu: Oh, don't get me wrong! There's some pretty awesome atmospheric effects that help distinguish sub-regions within the massive zones.

Mattlow: Hey, anything that beats the Barrens is pie to me! Alright, what are your impressions of the beta?

JoBildo: For my own piece of mind, I wasn't too sure about this game when I first started it. I was a fan of CoH, and therefore cautious. But once I gave in and started seeing the depth of character creation and development, the interactivity of the environment, the combat, and the very well done mission content, I caved. I'm now a fan of Champions Online. It's casual. It's time-limited player friendly. It's for me. Plus I can throw forklifts at people like I was a monkey with huge dookie.

In Champions Online, you'll enter a world of comic book adventure.

Mattlow: What about the mission content? Anything new that you haven't seen before?

JoBildo: They took on the Open Missions (thanks Mythic!) which I was always a fan of. But I also like the patrol quests. Nothing like stumbling upon something random as you're out doing your business. That helps take away from the normal go here and get this quest style of missions.

Mattlow: I was skeptical too at first. However, I think this game is good for both casual players and more intense ones. You can go to town with crafting if you want, or you can just go out and smash bad guys in the face!

Sardu: A huge plus for the game for me is that it's high on instant gratification but at the same time there's plenty of cool things driving me forward which has been a pretty rare combo in my experience.

Mattlow: Open Missions are cool. They were one of the things I loved in WAR and I'm glad that this game is using them too.

Sardu: Yea, there's some other awesome ideas I'm glad made it in as well, like the Hero Stars system rather than a "death penalty" ala Spellborn's personal experience point system etc.

Mattlow: You're right, Sardu. I'm having a blast now, and am not actually going, "I can't wait to get to level X so I can get power Y!" There are powers I'm looking forward to, but it's not that I need them now where I'm at.

JoBildo: The Hero Stars system is another nice little addition. I was glad to see that CoH's Death Debt was gone and done with.

Mattlow: So, overall, I'm digging the game. PvP needs some working, but what game doesn't need that at launch? The graphics fit the style of the game, combat is fun, and character customization is out of the freakin' world!

Sardu: Agreed and agreed. Overall I think CO has enough familiar elements for MMOG players to get into but at the same time adds in tons of things people haven't really seen before, at least in terms of character customization and even the cohesiveness of the setting. I'm a lore nerd though, so a strong setting is big in my book.

Mattlow: Ok, so three thumbs up for the game?

JoBildo: Take it from me, JoBildo, Champions Online…is nice. I give it a thumbs up, and a purchase for me. In time, I think it could come closer to my heart than CoH. And that's saying something.

Sardu: I'd certainly give it Sardu's Seal of Approval!

Mattlow: Guess I’ll make it unanimous. Thumbs up from me as well.

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