Scott Heine

Re: Curious about your view on the current state of CO. (Anybody still play regularly Ah, yes. I spoke too soon, Darren. What I was thinking and should have said was that the new IP owners don't seem to share the love of the IP that us PnP fans have. It seems like Champs is just another generic setting for another MMO in their stable rather than the rich treasure of legacy and lore that could be developed and released within the game. Yeah, I continue to look forward to licensed additions to Champions as you've said...

Re: Curious about your view on the current state of CO. (Anybody still play regularly I play regularly (@Sc00teR). But I'm increasingly disappointed with the experience. Yes, there are promises of "big things coming " but we really don't know what to look forward to. I believe the "On Alert" update has pretty much crushed the general idea of the game. It used to be that CO was about progression of a character through game content, and despite what the critics might say there is a LOT of content to be enjoyed. Lots and lots and lots of missions through varied zones and locations. There are some really fun stories tucked within those missions, too. Yes, the basic gameplay gets repetitive, but that's true with every MMO once you figure out the optimal way to use a character's abilities. With "On Alert," the game has shifted its focus toward quick progression through minimal content and grinding whatever's necessary to gear up a character properly. I'm left asking, "gear the character up... for what?" I can't remember the last time I came across groups forming for any of the end-game lairs. Instead, they just grind NemCon for Questionite (wasn't that supposed to be "Questonite," or am I remembering incorrectly?). Or perhaps they're running through the opening acts of Resistance in hopes of getting a Dark Speed drop. Sometimes you'll see a group forming to grind the new Warlord alert in hopes of his costume drops. But in all these cases, the focus is upon collecting the reward gear, not developing the character. And even though the Alerts offer a nice addition to the game, they've become such a huge focus. Having their UI presence so large and dominant doesn't help, nor does the offer of daily missions to spend in the Alerts. And the alerts basically amount to a quick encounter with a named villain (or a team of villains, for a couple of the special ones). Get in, kill quickly, grab the reward, get out, rinse and repeat. What's more, I can't tell you how disapointed I am by the new gear system. Actually, I like the mechanics. But the end result is just boring. Everyone has basically the same strategy for grinding in order to obtain the same gear (with slight statistical variations). Gone are the days of clever names and amusing description text... which is a real shame. I wish the "On Alert" patch would have gone a different direction. It would have been better if alerts were unexpected random pop-ups from time to time instead of a perpetual list of choices. So you might be working your way through a Canadian storyline of missions when suddenly an alert pops up that Viper X is planting bombs in the museum. Oh no! Quick! Stop what you're doing, click on the Alert button, get over there, and join a team of heroes to put a quick end to him. Then go back to what you're doing. These Alerts would happen often enough to grab attention, but would not be there persistently to supercede the rest of the game's content. If they want to add daily missions, that's awesome. But how about a daily mission for completing 10 missions, for example. Give players a bonus for exploring the great content in the game. These daily missions could vary a bit (though admittedly there might be some logistics needed to work for all players, even if they don't have access to all zones yet). For example, one day you might be asked to do 5 Monster Island missions, but the next day you'd be asked to do 10 missions of any kind. You'd still get the rewards for the regular missions, but there'd be an added bonus for completing the daily as well. A couple of other unrelated thoughts: The game is suffering big time because of a lack of developer communication. It just feels like they don't care anymore... as if CO is being given token, patronizing attention rather than significant ongoing development. I know that may not be the case, but it sure feels like it. Also, the lack of special in-game events lately is discouraging. Those events add fresh interest and engagement, but they've kind of dried up now. Will I continue playing? You bet. (Though I'll have to totally rework my Might-based Tank toon because the new approach to his powers has made him utterly useless... thanks a lot... bleh...) But I suspect the game will fade away exponentially from this point. When Neverwinter is released, it will likely get worse. And, keep in mind, when CO fades, the IP of Champions fades with it. That's perhaps the biggest sorrow of it all...

Re: OT: Anyone try out STO FTP yet? Yeah, I gave it a try. I didn't enjoy it for some reason. It's not that I dislike the genre or anything, and I think they've done a creative job implementing Trek into an MMO. But gameplay itself just felt cumbersome, and I often found myself trying to figure out where I was, what I was supposed to be doing, what were my long-term goals, etc. By the time I was stuck chasing around the academy trying to beat out other players in order to click on these floating blinkies with absolutely no idea why, I kinda lost interest.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos About the "Disappearing Cans" video... When I worked for Neiman Marcus for a brief while, we were shocked to watch the things professional shoplifters could take from the store. One video really stuck with me: a couple worked in tandem to distract a salesman while the woman started stuffing full-length mink coats under her skirt. I can't remember if she got two or three of them under there before she made her way to the exit, but I was amazed by (1) how quickly she was able to compress the coat into the sling-contraption she had under her dress, and (2) how completely normal she looked with those coats between her legs. Really scary stuff.

Re: List Your CO Heroes! My heroes in CO? Well, I've got a zillion alts because I like fooling around with different aspects of the game. But, for the most part, I'm usually online as one of the following (all at Level 40): Quasar -- My CO version of the PnP player character I ran in the Protectors campaign. Appeared in To Serve and Protect waaaaay back in the dark ages. Lightning Bug -- A cute little Electrical character that does amazing area effect damage. She's awesome for clearing out big gatherings of minions when farming perks or resources. Mrs. Destroyer -- My current favorite. She's the spurned lover (stalker?) of Doctor Destroyer who stole a set of his Power Armor and fights crime out of spite for him. Very, very, very powerful DPS character (tops the holiday event charts regularly). Monster Man -- My Might tank that I created for duo teaming with my daughter (a glass cannon Archer). I think he's up to about 60 different costumes now, all variations of famous movie monsters, personal nightmares, or twisted versions of recognizeable Champions celebrities. I've been dinking around with leveling a Healer named Mercy, but keep giving up because it's soooooo slooooooooow. Perhaps someday. I also tried my hand at leveling up a character entirely through PvP instead of world missions. He's Wildcard, and I think I've made it to 24 before kind of fizzling out. I'm just not that "twitchy" of a player to keep it up. Throw in about 10 other various alts in their teens and twenties just for the heck of it. (Hmm. Now that I think about it, I kinda liked my Supernatural magic-wielding monkey named Mojo; I may have to pull him out again.)

Re: "Neat" Pictures Hey! Margo and I have actually ridden those things! [ATTACH=CONFIG]40274[/ATTACH]

Re: What do you really think of Champions Online? Still playing. Still loving it. Still having fun after a year. Leveled up a couple of more characters to 40, meeting some new friends in-game. Will be around for a while.

Re: Cryptic Chat Tonight! (Monday, March 22) I shall be there.

Re: Who's still playing and when? I'm on sporadically, but several times throughout the week. Lately I've been working on leveling up a toon entirely through PvP (up to level 20 now and have my U.T.C. Silver Belt! Yay me!) And, Scott, I would LOVE to do a SG run through VB stuff. Absolutely! I really like VB!

Re: Well, I have my Defeated Grond perk now So what was the trick for taking down Grond? He never stays in one place long enough for a real fight, it seems. (Either that, or he splatters me all over the desert and runs away before I can rejoin the battle.)

Re: The Archlich arises! Canada is infested with zombies from all the passengers of the downed planes there.

Re: List Your CO Heroes! Hey, Scott (Thundrax!) Bennie! Tried to contact you several times in-game yesterday. Great outfit!

Re: List Your CO Heroes! I'm online now as well, Steve, if you're looking to put together that group.

Re: List Your CO Heroes! I've spent more time fooling around with the Costume Creator than actually playing, and I've got several heroes "sitting in the wings" now (Tinman, Revenant, Scatterbrain, Dynamo, etc.). But I've got Quasar up and running; he's finished the tutorial and the Desert Crisis, and is now dinking around in the southwest. I actually decided to clip his wings and give him a more streamlined look. The wings' animation looked terrific in game, but I guess I just wanted something different. Perhaps he's the 6th Ed. version of Quasaar...? *grin* (Loving the metallic costume!)

Re: Thrilling Hero Adventures PDF In Store Wow! What an absolutely stunningly beautiful book!

Re: Hero's New Art Director(s) I'm pretty sure this is what you're looking for, Sean.

Re: Thrilling Hero Adventures You know, of course, that this is exactly the kind of book that should spawn a solid Pulp Hero campaign, if you don't already have one. There's just so many good stories tucked away in these pages, and it's all so much two-fisted, high-flying fun.

Thought y'all might enjoy a sneak peak at Sam Kennedy's beautiful cover for the upcoming Thrilling Hero Adventures book: Pretty incredible, eh? Here's a blurb from the back of the book: The world of Pulp Hero is full of amazing adventures — tombs to explore, lost civilizations hidden deep in the jungle, mad scientists launching schemes of conquest, evil cults trying to fulfill their dark destiny, and much more. Thrilling Hero Adventures presents fifteen Pulp scenarios suitable for any Pulp Hero campaign: The Curse of the Vulture-God The Dordogne Zodiac The Fangs of the Scarlet Serpent The Golden Idol of Sikrál Inner-Earth The Locomotive Pirates The Malay Coins Nazi Death-Zombies of the Congo! Pterodactyls Over Broadway The Radio Marauders She-Fiends from Planet X! Spears of the Tisangani The Tablets of Destiny The Valley of the Spider Queen The Voodoo Cross It also includes an appendix with detailed rules for assembling and conducting expeditions into parts unknown. So make sure you've got your pith helmet and machete ready, and check your map — it's time for some Thrilling Hero Adventures!

Re: Thrilling Hero Adventures I have to tell you, the book is going to be a real treat. As I've been working on the layout, I find myself getting caught up in the text and enjoying the very clever and diverse storylines Steve has put together. There are many, many hours of fun tucked away in these "episodic" adventures. Great stuff. And, of course, I can't help but chuckle every time I work on the chapter entitled "Nazi Death-Zombies of the Congo!" I mean, what awesome villains. They're not just Nazis. They're not just zombies. They're Nazi Death-Zombies! Of the Congo, for crying out loud!

Re: Scott Heine - Protectors For what it's worth, some of the illos being posted here are merely ones that other people have scanned from To Serve and Protect and colored themselves (sometimes incorrectly -- Maelstrom and Quasar, in particular), and quality is pretty sketchy (Huntsman, for example).

Re: Scott Heine - Protectors Sure. Okay by me.

Re: 5th edition Maelstrom???

Re: Things Foxbat should try to steal Personally, I think Foxbat's "Master Plan" might involve "stealing the hearts of America." This would be an extremely challenging task for mere mortals, but should be trivial for a genius such as Foxbat. Perhaps he'll evaluate the media sensations and decide to steal America's love by winning American Idol (which is easier when you blackmail the judges and screw up the singing voices of the other contestants), by rescuing a small child (and his puppy!) in the midst of a great disaster (and making sure the news cameras are rolling), and even by single-handedly capturing some notorious third-world dictator and brining him to justice (without paying too much attention to the international consequences).

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine No we don't. Oh, it happened alright. (And I liked 'em better that way, not that I'm objective here or anything.)

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Yup. The truth is that all of our players were guys. We had the occasional sister or girlfriend join us for a game now and then, but never with characters that became a regular part of the team. I'd do a lot of things differently today if rewriting the team for publication, including better gender balance, substituting a couple of characters, reworking some of the backgrounds to add complexity and consistency, etc. But we're deviating a long way from the simple fun of this costume design tool.