Champions Online, the MMO to give City of Heroes a run for its money, is coming ever nearer to completion. Although the game has faced a release delay and incresing competition from Sony’s upcoming DC Universe Online, Champions is looking more promising than ever.

The beta has been enough to blow this reporter’s mind. With all the customization options available to starting players, I quickly began to feel like a kid with his first Lego set. But, as if hands-on play was not exciting enough, I was recently invited to ask some questions of the game’s executive producer, Bill Roper. I won’t bore you with any more mundane details, but I would like to give a big thank you to the guys at Cryptic Studios. You have been a pleasure to talk to, and I wish every gaming company was as accommodating as you have been. Now, let’s get it on:

Frank Hunter: What is Champions’ claim to fame? What innovation will this game be remembered for?

Bill Roper: There are several areas into which we have put a great deal of focus, hoping to really push the limits as to what we can accomplish. The first is the massive amount of customization that player’s can use to create the hero they envision. There aren’t classes in the game, but instead thematic power sets that players can choose freely from. This means that you can create a single-themed hero (ICEBERG who uses the raw elemental powers of ice), or a mutli-themed character (THUNDERHEAD who uses a mixture of lighting, darkness, and might powers). You can also shift the hues and emanation points of the powers you choose. This means that the base energy beam that is normally blue in color and fires from the fists can be switched to red and fire from the eyes, or yellow and fire from the chest – the combinations are simply incredible in number. Also, the advantages you put onto these powers are varied and provide for even more customization between heroes. And of course, the costume creator is amazing. There are literally hundreds of thousands of combinations to choose from, allowing you to create a truly iconic hero.

Second, we have created a very rewarding PvP system. In the Champions Universe, heroes go up against each other to test their abilities, prepare for extreme situations, and compete in what is known as The Hero Games. These are basically different contests designed to allow superheroes to go up against each other in a competitive fashion. From team battles to end-of-the world scenarios to open free-for-alls, the Hero Games act like a danger room mixed with elements of professional wrestling and extreme sports. Currently, we’re shooting for three types of PvP play in the Hero Games:

Tournament of Champions
This is team-based combat within a defined arena. Teams of heroes can rise to top of the leader-board rankings and gain both acclaim and rewards for their efforts. The Tournament started as underground events between desperate and unsavory individuals with super powers. Recent times have seen the Tournament of Champions become a sanctioned event that is televised and followed by millions of eager fans around the world.

B.A.S.H.
This free-for-all affair takes place in a condemned section of the Westside district of Millennium City. While not as pristine an event as the Tournament of Champions, it does have a bevy of followers who track the winners and losers (and offer rewards) with just as mush fervor. It also has the beneficial side effect of making street crime non-existent in that part of the city.

Apocalypse
These are special scenarios devised to push superheroes to their limits in extreme situations. The current setting is within a simulated Stronghold prison where some heroes take on the roles of assisting the prison guards and others are trying to break out. This prepares all those involved to either quell a prison uprising or shake free unjust shackles should the prison ever fall into the wrong hands.

Heroes not only gain rankings by competing in the Hero games, they also achieve acclaim which can be traded in for special rewards. And in fact, heroes gain experience by fighting against each other!

Third, just as you can make the hero of your imagination, you can also create their arch-enemy – their Nemesis. Using the same in-depth tools as we provide for hero creation, the ultimate villain can be crafted by the player. And this isn’t just making a costume and choosing a thematic power set, but also selecting the motivation of your Nemesis and choosing their minions. Best of all, this content can be shared with others – both in the open world on by taking teammates along on special missions. With the Nemesis system, the ultimate challenge is the one you make for yourself.

FH: Leveling is a tedious experience in many MMO’s. Are we looking forward to more than just a “grind to the top?”

BR: We’ve put a lot of work into not just providing a lot of different types of missions into the game. There are the standard ways players get missions (the ? and ! dynamic) but we also have open missions, exploration missions, lore missions, and patrol missions. We also offer alternative ways to gain experience, such as through PvP. Obviously there’s a lot of combat involved in making your way to the top of the hero heap, but we do our best to mix it up and make it as far from a grind as we can.

FH: How big a role does story play in Champions online? Many MMO’s seem to lack in this department.

BR: We’re incredibly fortunate to have John Layman, a great comic writer (check out his new comic Chew at http://chewcomic.blogspot.com/), on our staff here at Cryptic. He and members of the development team (many of whom are incredibly knowledgeable about the Champion lore) have created six fantastic, over-arching global story arcs that span all the zones in the world. These are revealed across more than 900 missions as well as a massive amount of lore items and places to discover which reveal more of the back story of the various locations, villains, evil groups, and so on. This means we definitely have some great twists and turns for our heroes to navigate – remember, not everything is as it seems! Finally, the Nemesis system allows players to create the star of their own storyline where they track down and battle their ultimate arch-enemy.

FH: What is going to set Champions Online apart from NCSoft’s City of Heroes, the only current occupant of the superhero MMO genre?

BR: The core essence of the Champions game mechanic and universe is customization, and we deliver that in every possible way. From the costume editor to the powers system to the way we approach upgrades (items) and even crafting, it’s all about being able to make an iconic hero and then stay true to that vision.

There’s also our foundation of experience in what players want and enjoy in this genre. We now have the ability to do things that were never even considered in the “City of” games. It’s not just a question of doing things better than were done before, but of using our background to take the next step in creating the best superhero MMO we can. There are many elements that players of City Of Heroes and Villains will be familiar with (such as a detailed costume creator) but with far more options and possibilities than there are in those games. We also have entirely new concepts in Champions Online, such as the Nemesis system. Being able to design, experience, and share content you’ve created is a huge step forward in the realm of MMOs.

Also, combat is designed to be very action-packed, as you’d expect to see in a four-color comic. We want our heroes to battle through groups of thugs and henchmen, fighting their way through and up the ranks of villain organizations, eventually squaring off one-on-one against master and super villains – or having to band to gather to fight villains of a cosmic scale. When you’re out in the world battling evil, expect combat to be fast and furious with definite tactical considerations.

Finally, I think we strike a great balance between getting players that are new into MMOs easily while also ensuring that our hardcore players have some real challenges and long-term goals in front of them. From the very beginning of the Champions Online experience, we push to this goal, for example. Players can easily select a super-heroic power set – such as Fire, Electricity, Gadgeteering, or Telekinesis – and then quickly move to the costume creator. For players that are far more nuts and bolts oriented, they can start a custom framework, allowing them to hand-pick every single power their hero gets over the course of their careers from any of the power sets in the game. If a hero wants to be a lone wolf and fight crime on their own, they can do so. But advanced players that want the ultimate challenges will join teams and form super groups to assault villain hideouts and lairs that are designed for groups of five heroes.

FH: Champions’ early customization options seem endless. How much will players be able to change their characters as the game progresses?

BR: Players always have the option to alter their physical look through the costume creator. But we allow you to do so much more as the game progresses. The upgrade system is designed to allow players to fine tune their heroes through “items” that are thematic to their heroes concept. We also have a free-flowing retcon system designed to not only allow players to easily course-correct their power and advantage choices, but also to be able to try out their powers before moving out into battle in a structure known as the Power House. Heroes have an incredible amount of opportunities through numerous game play styles (exploration, lore, PvE combat, PvP combat, Nemesis, power replaces) to alter the look and abilities of their heroes. Customization is definitely a career-long commitment for our heroes.

FH: The idea of a Nemesis is intriguing. How big will your Nemesis’ role be throughout the game?

BR: You first create your Nemesis at level 25 – basically after you’ve had enough time to make a name for yourself in the world and gain a reputation as a serious hero to be reckoned with. From this point on, this Nemesis and their minions will become a part of your evolution and growth as a hero. From being ambushed anywhere in the world to following their schemes into carefully crafted challenge and showdown missions, there is a huge amount of content to experience. When you ultimately capture your Nemesis and secure them in the super-villain prison Stronghold, you’ll have the opportunity to create another Nemesis. This is something that we know players will want to do again and again because of the variance in missions throughout each story line as well as the associated perks and high-level rewards that can be earned over time. And of course, building up your Nemesis gallery is vital for what we have planned for the future of Nemesis.

FH: The Omega System seems to offer a lot of end-game content. Can you elaborate on what kind of rewards players might expect by getting to this high stage of the game?

BR: Once a hero reaches the upper-most levels of recognition (level 40) they can begin going on UNITY missions. These represent the most dangerous operations heroes can go on, and will be even more challenging (and rewarding) for teams of heroes. Each day UNITY transmits a list of five global hot-spots that require high-powered attention. Once these missions are completed, a sixth custom mission is revealed. Completion of these missions earns the hero commendations within UNITY that allow them to enter into high-end team content with appropriately high-end rewards.

There are also many long-term goals within crafting, Nemesis, PvP, and Perks that are designed to reward long-term players. And of course, we’ll be adding more things in this vein all the time.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.