So Champions Online is going live in a few days. These are my comments/thoughts from beta:
Obviously thee are two games to compare this to. First, the juggernaught, the MMO to be compared against fr any new MMO, I'm talking about WOoW of course. The other being City of Heroes, as it has the same theme. So let's see the similarities and differences vs. those two successful MMOs:
Starting from the beginning, character creation. This is almost exactly the same as City of Heroes very good system. There are no archetypes to choose from, you select your appearance from hundreds of different options for each body part. Then you select your initial powers. As there are no archetypes to select, you can pretty much select your two initial powers at will even from different powersets if you want.
Stats affect combat in a different way from most MMOs I've played (I guess this comes from the HERO p&p RPG system). Basically, you select what are your main 'stats' for damage. This means you can say you're a superhero that gets more powerful as his/her ego increases, a tank that does more damage as he gets smarter if you want, or any combination. During your hero life you get to select two driving stats.
Now, getting into the game itself, the similarities with WoW are immense. In fact, my impression is that this is WoW Superheroes edition. In WoW's typical way, you talk to an NPC with a big marker over his head, accept quests, each with a set of optional rewards, with 99% of these quests being the typical 'kill 10 X' or 'get 10 X', with the ocassional escort.
As far as power selection and upgrades go, it's a very varied system. Similar to City of Heroes but less restricted. You are open to get any power from any set, with very relaxed conditions (basically, you can select an advanced power in any powerset if you have 3 other powers in the same set or 5 other powers overall for example).
As combat goes, it's similar to City of Heroes although a bit more dynamic. You raise your 'energy' by using a simple attack and then unleash that energy in the more devastating attacks or abilities. Enemies sometimes pull special attacks on you that you can see building up, giving you time to block for partial damage (which also increases your energy).
As you gain levels you can set yourself in different 'builds'. You can have your 'offensive' build with some powers and equipment, your 'defensive' build, 'balanced', 'support', etc. with some powers having different abilities depending on the build (i.e. a power may taunt in a defensive build while it detaunts in the offensive build).
There's also crafting, very similar to WoW system. You gather resources, get the 'recipes' and click. You can also experiment on items to decompose them, which on major successes can result on you getting what I call a 'discovery point' which you need to acquire some advanced recipes.
The game has PvP from start. I didn't PvP much so can't comment on that except that it should be fun if you like it.
That was the objective description, now my subjective opinion (from someone who played to level 25 out of 40, and a bit of level 40 in the final beta event)
This mostly feels like WoW with City of Heroes character creator. I dearly missed CoH instanced missions. Grouping is entirely optional (and not really encouraged). This game is a soloers paradise (again just like WoW). 95% of the quests happen in open areas, and are of the type 'kill X of something' or 'click X things'. Grouping just makes these quests go a bit faster, but doesn't make it any more fun. Compare this to City of Heroes where going in an instanced mission with other superheroes is exponentially more fun (and rewarding) than going alone.
I personally prefer the archetype system of CoH, as a more group oriented player in a more group oriented game CoH, it clearly defined each party member's role. In here, everybody is blaster or scrapper. There's little incentive to make a support character (and as Controller was my favorite archetype of CoH you may see why I'm more fond of that system).
Also, many but many powers are clearly overpowered, too many to specify, and I'm sure they'll eventually be 'nerfed' to many players' rage.
I do recommend it, it is a fun game that should keep you entertained for a month or two.
Obviously thee are two games to compare this to. First, the juggernaught, the MMO to be compared against fr any new MMO, I'm talking about WOoW of course. The other being City of Heroes, as it has the same theme. So let's see the similarities and differences vs. those two successful MMOs:
Starting from the beginning, character creation. This is almost exactly the same as City of Heroes very good system. There are no archetypes to choose from, you select your appearance from hundreds of different options for each body part. Then you select your initial powers. As there are no archetypes to select, you can pretty much select your two initial powers at will even from different powersets if you want.
Stats affect combat in a different way from most MMOs I've played (I guess this comes from the HERO p&p RPG system). Basically, you select what are your main 'stats' for damage. This means you can say you're a superhero that gets more powerful as his/her ego increases, a tank that does more damage as he gets smarter if you want, or any combination. During your hero life you get to select two driving stats.
Now, getting into the game itself, the similarities with WoW are immense. In fact, my impression is that this is WoW Superheroes edition. In WoW's typical way, you talk to an NPC with a big marker over his head, accept quests, each with a set of optional rewards, with 99% of these quests being the typical 'kill 10 X' or 'get 10 X', with the ocassional escort.
As far as power selection and upgrades go, it's a very varied system. Similar to City of Heroes but less restricted. You are open to get any power from any set, with very relaxed conditions (basically, you can select an advanced power in any powerset if you have 3 other powers in the same set or 5 other powers overall for example).
As combat goes, it's similar to City of Heroes although a bit more dynamic. You raise your 'energy' by using a simple attack and then unleash that energy in the more devastating attacks or abilities. Enemies sometimes pull special attacks on you that you can see building up, giving you time to block for partial damage (which also increases your energy).
As you gain levels you can set yourself in different 'builds'. You can have your 'offensive' build with some powers and equipment, your 'defensive' build, 'balanced', 'support', etc. with some powers having different abilities depending on the build (i.e. a power may taunt in a defensive build while it detaunts in the offensive build).
There's also crafting, very similar to WoW system. You gather resources, get the 'recipes' and click. You can also experiment on items to decompose them, which on major successes can result on you getting what I call a 'discovery point' which you need to acquire some advanced recipes.
The game has PvP from start. I didn't PvP much so can't comment on that except that it should be fun if you like it.
That was the objective description, now my subjective opinion (from someone who played to level 25 out of 40, and a bit of level 40 in the final beta event)
This mostly feels like WoW with City of Heroes character creator. I dearly missed CoH instanced missions. Grouping is entirely optional (and not really encouraged). This game is a soloers paradise (again just like WoW). 95% of the quests happen in open areas, and are of the type 'kill X of something' or 'click X things'. Grouping just makes these quests go a bit faster, but doesn't make it any more fun. Compare this to City of Heroes where going in an instanced mission with other superheroes is exponentially more fun (and rewarding) than going alone.
I personally prefer the archetype system of CoH, as a more group oriented player in a more group oriented game CoH, it clearly defined each party member's role. In here, everybody is blaster or scrapper. There's little incentive to make a support character (and as Controller was my favorite archetype of CoH you may see why I'm more fond of that system).
Also, many but many powers are clearly overpowered, too many to specify, and I'm sure they'll eventually be 'nerfed' to many players' rage.
I do recommend it, it is a fun game that should keep you entertained for a month or two.
