I just spent the better part of two hours
hunting down werewolves, undead heroes, and collecting Blood Moon themed
loot, and I’ve barely touched all the new shiny things Champions Online’s
first major update brings.  And sure enough the entire game is
abuzz with talk about where to find this, or how to do that.  It’s
not been since launch day that I’ve seen this much chatter going on
in game, and it’s a sure sign of why developers spend time and resources
on live events like these.  But that’s not what you’re reading
this for, right?  You’re stuck at work, or perhaps your subscription
has lapsed, and you’re wondering if Blood Moon is all it’s cracked
up to be?  Let’s dig into the details.

I was stationed in Snake Gulch last time
I logged out of Champions, so imagine my surprise when I logged in to
find that dozens of players were running around as werewolves or Van
Helsing look-a-likes, offing one another and having a grand old time. 
The skies around the entire game are dark, and the Blood Moon has literally
risen, setting a perfect tone for the event.  Now, minus the fact
that my main character is already a werewolf-esque hero, I decided to
help my brethren and join the side of the lycans in the PvP event called
Bite!

This is pretty straightforward. 
You talk to either the werewolf NPC or the hunter NPC (marked with appropriate
icons on your map in Canada, the Desert, or Monster Island), and they’ll
give you a talisman and a quest to kill 100 of the opposite side. 
You’ll also be given a quest to kill 100 of the NPCs too.  You
can switch sides at will by dropping or completing one side’s quests,
and they can be repeated daily in order to work towards the perks the
event offers.  All I know is it was a lot of fun to have the option
to PvP against players in the open world.  Dozens of wolves and
hunters running around looking for one another makes the zones come
to life in a way that reminds me why City of Villains was such a fantastic
expansion to Cryptic’s first game, City of Heroes.

After messing around for a while with
this new feature, I decided to head to Millennium City to check out
the 13 undead heroes and Takofanes himself.  What I was met with
however was a bit of a letdown.  It seems the heroes spawn out
of portals around the streets of the city, and once they’re taken
down… they don’t respawn again for two hours.  This is going
to make getting all 13 in order to unlock the new Celestial powers an
exercise in patience, or possibly futility.  I did manage to knock
off the hero called Amazing Grace though with the help of many of my
fellow heroes.  So just 12 more to go.  As for Takofanes,
the undead necromancer himself?  I did not yet see him roaming
the streets of Millennium City, but apparently he had just been zooming
around before I got there, and several hordes of players managed to
take him down. 

Lastly, there were more than a few holiday-themed
content updates in this patch that were more than welcome changes to
the game.  The helicopter in Millennium City has been marked with
a new icon, as have the auction house, the charity vendor, and the action
figure vendor around the center of the city.  Every player who
has already used their last free retcon got another with today’s patch,
though I’ll be saving mine for when I get the Celestial set unlocked,
personally. 

Mission sharing has undergone a massive
change as well.  I grouped with a friend a few levels lower than
me, and noticed he could share quests with me I’d already completed. 
I didn’t get items or rewards for completing it again, but I certainly
got the experience.  They’re calling these “Crossover Missions” 
and they’re certainly a welcome feature to let friends play together
regardless of what missions they’ve completed.  A very welcome
change indeed.  And while the patch notes denoted that six new
missions have been added to the City Center in Millennium City, I was
unable to locate them and neither could my friend.  I suspect this
is a bug that should be addressed shortly.  I was looking forward
to these, as so far the city has been my favorite place to roam around. 

All in all, I’m liking the fresh sense
of excitement Blood Moon has brought to Champions.  I think the
respawn timers on the heroes and Takofanes need to be adjusted, and
I’m a little sad that I have to wait until level 30 before I can enjoy
the Zombie Apocalypse PvP map, but the werewolf PvP content and all
the rewards and perks there are to obtain more than make up for these
small issues which should hopefully be hot-fixed soon.  If you’ve
yet to give Champions a whirl, or if you’ve unsubbed while you wait
for the game to mature, now might be the time to check in.  Anyone
and everyone can try the game for free this
weekend, so why not see
what it’s like to hunt werewolves?  You might even get a chance
to kill me more than a few times.