Disappointment

[Tuscarora]

I have been playing Champions since the 80s, I still run a campaign once a month. I wanted to voice my disappointment in Cryptic's supposed rendition of the Champions RPG. I think they failed miserably, the graphics look like poor Silver Age comics and the game system is not truly customizable (which is where Champions the RPG succeeded. HERO had a great product for a great opportunity in the MMO world. And Cryptic destroyed its potential.

I am starting to believe Cryptic needed to slap a title on top of their game when Marvel quit them and came to HERO to save the day.

I don't know if the developers did not understand the game system or just did not care, but I am truly disappointed.

I am sorry, I was so upset with it I wanted to voice my opinion here. Oh well, I still have the RPG and my friends.

[Celt]

I have been playing Champions since the 80s, I still run a campaign once a month. I wanted to voice my disappointment in Cryptic's supposed rendition of the Champions RPG. I think they failed miserably, the graphics look like poor Silver Age comics and the game system is not truly customizable (which is where Champions the RPG succeeded. HERO had a great product for a great opportunity in the MMO world. And Cryptic destroyed its potential.

I am starting to believe Cryptic needed to slap a title on top of their game when Marvel quit them and came to HERO to save the day.

I don't know if the developers did not understand the game system or just did not care, but I am truly disappointed.

I am sorry, I was so upset with it I wanted to voice my opinion here. Oh well, I still have the RPG and my friends.

Cryptic developed the MMOG from the Champions Universe background material. Their intent has never been to replicate the breadth of possibilities available in the rpg Champions, and that's been made clear from the beginning. I'm sorry it didn't meet your expectations but this was not a namedrop by Cryptic to lure us in.

[Tuscarora]

that's good. Sadly I expected something different. That's okay DCUO is going to be free to play anyways. So I will just wait for it.

[NestorDRod]

Cryptic developed the MMOG from the Champions Universe background material. Their intent has never been to replicate the breadth of possibilities available in the rpg Champions, and that's been made clear from the beginning. I'm sorry it didn't meet your expectations but this was not a namedrop by Cryptic to lure us in.

Well, to be fair, you can't really say that. It's likely that Cryptic chose to obtain the CU IP for the name recognition it would have with superhero RPG fans.

Otherwise, why bother? Creating a superhero universe isn't that hard; they'd already done it once.

I do agree, though, that Cryptic never made any promise to have the game mechanics resemble Champions in any way.

[AlbertDeschesne]

That's okay DCUO is going to be free to play anyways. So I will just wait for it.

Where did you read this? I've heard stated by several people recently but have seen no evidence that they have announced a pricing scheme yet. And since they're not even in beta I'd be surprised if they had.

[Jagged]

Probably this article:
Gamescom 2009: DC Universe Online Impressions[updates]

In the original article they said "Wes confirmed that not only will there be no subscription fee for DC Universe Online" but they have since updated that as below:

In his response we were given a very strong impression that they are leaning towards the expansion-pack business model, as opposed to the traditional subscription fee although such matters hadn’t been solidified at that point over at Sony Online Entertainment.

[freshrod]

Greetings

For me, CO still has way more potential to allow someone to play as the superhero of their creation then DCUO will. If I want to play as Batman, why not play a console game? It just seems weird to me... the whole concept.

I played the Champions pen & paper way back, and it was great. But then I don't see how and MMO could come close to any Tabletop adventure. It's like comparing a book to a movie. They are totally different.

I think, as a RPGMMO, CO is great and fun.

[ArchLight]

I agree the open creation system of Champions and the complexity require a GM to balance each character. While its my favortie design system it requires some imagination to get the most from it which is also one of the hardest things for a lot of new players.

Many lack the creativity or imagination.


As far as CO game play I was expecting it to be a little more similar. But understand why a lot of things could not be done. I would have liked to have some real defenses on a ranged character. Or Play a Brick but I find the energy building concept great for simulating ranged Energy projectors to a "T". But not Bricks who need to get to melee to build up energy. In the PnP game I do not have to spam the Block manuever to feel like I have powerful defenses.

[Ice9]

Well, AFAIK, it was never billed as being a HERO system MMO, just one that used the Champions setting. Given the number of changes required to support real-time combat and DM-less gameplay, even the closest conversion would be substantially different from the TTRPG. That said, I personally would be interested in an MMO that actually used the HERO rules to the extent possible, but I'm not sure how wide an appeal it would have to non-PnP gamers.

[Tasha]

Well, AFAIK, it was never billed as being a HERO system MMO, just one that used the Champions setting. Given the number of changes required to support real-time combat and DM-less gameplay, even the closest conversion would be substantially different from the TTRPG. That said, I personally would be interested in an MMO that actually used the HERO rules to the extent possible, but I'm not sure how wide an appeal it would have to non-PnP gamers.

Hell, I would have settled for it being fun. No joy there.

Tasha

[gojira]

It's likely that Cryptic chose to obtain the CU IP for the name recognition it would have with superhero RPG fans.

Otherwise, why bother?

My personal guess is that they had just created a world, and had been working with another superhero world, and they wanted to avoid a copyright infringement suit. This seems pretty likely if they even created one character that was vaguely similar to anyone in either CoH or the Marvel universe.

In the original article they said "Wes confirmed that not only will there be no subscription fee for DC Universe Online" but they have since updated that as below:

Very interestink. Still, I never cared for Guild Wars, and I don't see how DCUO could be much better. It's just a matter of financials. Without a steady income, it's hard to justify high quality expansions, and expansions always seem to bring in less money than a monthly fee.

[SvZurich]

Indeed, putting out an expansion that sells only for what 3 months subscription would pull in, and not everyone will buy it. Subs are where the money is at.

[Tasha]

Very interestink. Still, I never cared for Guild Wars, and I don't see how DCUO could be much better. It's just a matter of financials. Without a steady income, it's hard to justify high quality expansions, and expansions always seem to bring in less money than a monthly fee.

I don't think that SOE is capable of making a game that is fun. I think that they are all about the subscription fees/box sales and really couldn't give a darn about anything else. I mean honestly, when was the last time that SOE came out with something that wasn't broken at launch and boring as watching paint peel.

[Tasha]

Indeed, putting out an expansion that sells only for what 3 months subscription would pull in, and not everyone will buy it. Subs are where the money is at.

Actually SOE's model is for selling Station Passes to all of their games. By having the more expensive Station Pass on the account, then they can show their stockholders those people as being players of all SOE's games. It's a scam to prop up their stockvalue and nothing more.

[SvZurich]

I used to have a Station pass, right up until it became more expensive that what I was willing to pay to play EQ1 and EQ2. Been nearly Sony free ever since (Spider-Man films being the exception).