Oh yeah. Did I mention that I’m currently playing the Open Beta of Champions Online? Well Ok, not currently, I’m at work right now. And if I was playing then I wouldn’t be writing a blog post about it, I’d be Twittering (yes you can Twitter in game…. pointless but fun).
For those of you who have been hiding under a rock Champions Online is what Cryptic did with the Marvel MMORPG they were writing after they sold City of Heroes. (Those boys do love their super persons). Some of you may be wondering if there’s a link between Champion Online and Champions the RPG. These being the ones who’ve been under the rock who have also not been following the links and poking around. Why yes, I shall say unto them, it is, Cryptic liked the setting so much the bought the company. Honest. Which is good because the only copy of Champions I currently own is New Millennium and well, the less said about that the better.
Anyway I’ve been playing Champions Online since the Closed Beta, something I may have let slip to a few people. So I can tell you some stuff about it. Please note, I’ve not been much into MMORPG’s, I’ve only really played this and City of Heroes and I only played that because I liked the CCG. anyway, I’ve had a lot of fun, there have been a few snafu’s (like the servers not coping with the load on the first day of the Open Beta) but I think it’s something I may end up playing for a while.
A few things that I think may be a bit different to what you may be used to. No classes, (it does have levels though, oh well) you can pick any power you like. Powers come in three tiers, as an example here is the Single Blade Powerset. If you stay within a powerset you get access to the Tier 3 stuff earlier, but you can mix and match to your hearts content. Also if you check out Dual Blades you’ll see each has it’s theme, but there are overlaps for things like Momentum. Add onto this advantages that let you increase the power of attack or add abilities to them. My current character has Lightning blasts that I’ve upgraded to jump to secondary targets a lot, lots of fun when you’re surrounded by mutant baddies.
Other stuff, costume creation like City of Heroes (as in be prepared to waste a few hours). Super travel powers when you leave the tutorial mission, which is actually quite fun to play through… well the first 3-4 times. Apparently there is a plan to make it optional. So you get to zip around the maps nice and fast, oh and LOTS of different ways to fly.
What else? The combat feels like a slightly slowed down button masher. In fact just randomly hitting your power buttons can be a legitimate tactic. But learning your combos (Charged Dragon Bite -> Scything Blade -> Reapers Embrace for instance) really makes a difference. PVP is fun, I wasn’t very good with my last character as I couldn’t fly, but I was good at throwing trucks at people. Did I mention that a lot of scenery is destructible and can also be picked up by super strong character to be used as a weapon? Generally it’s a good technique to get peoples attention, and knock a few out of course.
So anyway, I’ve been having fun. But I’m not getting the game when it comes out on the 4th of September (in Europe)
I’ll be in France on holiday. The week After it comes out though. That’s a different story.
Side note chorlte.