mojo_bones

Re: Ask Cryptic 5/2/2008

I've never played an MMORPG. After spending just 10 minutes on the Champions Online MMO boards after this was first announced, I was surprised at the number of terms like those in my first post that seemed to be prevalent over there. My suggestion that the superheroic terms be adopted by board, in an effort to make it feel like supers, went over like a lead ballon.

 

It's a really interesting situation, I think. Most of the MMORPGers come from WoW or Everquest backgrounds, which means they bring their fantasy MMORPG preconceptions with them to games in other genres. The tabletop corillary to WoW and Everquest is obvioulsy D&D, with the same problems with players bringing D&D notions out into other games, settings, and genres.

 

I don't know what it all means, but I do think its interesting how being first and being successful can so shape everyone perceptions...

I think they don't even connect the terms to genre anymore. I think it has just become part of the "leet speak" lexicon. I am sure people will still yell "LFT (looking for tank)" in CO, just as they did in the other MMO's I have played in. Personally, I don't find the terms to really fit the WoW/EQ genre all that well either.

Re: Ask Cryptic 5/2/2008

Yeah, so far I am pretty happy with most of the Q&A stuff. It seems like they are doing a lot of stuff quite a bit better this time around. I played CoH/CoV for a while, but it just did not have a very "superhero" feel to me.

Re: Must use villains

I go very old school:

Bulldozer as a throwaway fight

Grond rampaging through the city

Prof. Muerte and his group as they are a more reasonably powered group that a PC group can actually fight.

Genocide A good hate group that can cause the PCs some angst when they go after super villains as well.

Viper who doesn't love Viper, except GIJoe

Eurostar If I have a European adventure of any sort

Sorry, I never have nor will I ever use Dr Destroyer. Just too much like using Deities and Demigods in D&D for "monsters" to fight your 10th level party. Lame!

I would also say Primus and Until on the good guys side.

A new Q&A is up on the CO site. Lots of good stuff including info in character customization and revisiting the idea of different animations for powers. Check it out, good stuff!

http://www.champions-online.com/node/46

Re: Champions Online Wallpapers

It's funny because most folk on the MMO boards are complaining about the Doc. I think he looks pretty cool.

Re: DARK Characters?

I have had it happen to one of my characters as well as done it to a PC before, so I really don't think it is all that uncommon. And while I was not told before my character showed up as a bad guy, I had no problems with it. There was no way I was going to be playing him again so whatever happened was fine.

I think the player I did it to was miffed about it, (even more miffed then when he first thought I had just killed the character) but he was no longer playing in the campaign and it made for a great adventure for the other players.

Re: Susano vs Marvel characters

I saw the title and thought maybe Marvel was after Micheal for writing up some of their characters in hero form.

Glad to see that was the wrong inference.

Re: Cryptic Q&A For March 28

Overall I think it sounds like they are trying to incorporate a good amount of the Hero "feel" into the MMO, which is a good thing. There is no way to go all out and make it the Hero system in an MMO, but so far it sounds very promising. I also love that they are doing real updates as often as they have been on how the game will look and play. Great work on keeping us psyched for the release.

Re: Is it fun to play RPGs online?

I went without any gaming for about 6 years and I really missed it, so I decided to try an online game and it did not go well. Several in the group missed sessions, I had trouble going back to "mapless" combat, and there were too many things going in the chat as everyone wanted to be in the spotlight at the same time. After a 2 year break, I decided to try it again when I saw a post here for a game that looked interesting and was using maptool so there would be an actual map for combat. We are also using ventrillo for chat and a few weeks ago some of us started using web cams. At this point there is very little difference between an FtF game and the online game I play.

I am now trying to get my old group from 5 years ago back together to play this way. Our biggest problem was that everyone moved away, and now we can play no matter where we move. For those who move around a lot or just have problems finding groups, I would recommend this option.

Re: New Screenshots

Lots of people saying the art style reminds them of The Incredibles, and I agree. I really like the look so far.

Re: Hero System - Champions - Fluff

Well personally' date=' for me, the richness and color of the Champions universe is due mainly to the character creations system as well as the Hero system that allows all the neat stuff in Champions.. if Hero Games dumped the rules and switched to D20, how would that impact everyone if they had to use that system to play the game instead?[/quote']

Two totally different things, really. There are a lot of sites and information on converting characters from other games to Hero. There are posts on the hero boards about converting D20 world materials over to Hero. And people do this because they like the actual world content but find the D20 system lacking in what they want in game mechanics.

 

To put it simply you play in a universe, you use the mechanics to determine how you play in that universe.

Re: Stronghold Concept Art

Anyone else wonder what those robitic bug looking things on the walls were?

Re: Hero System - Champions - Fluff

You can call it "fluff" if you want, but how much time and effort would have been spent by Cryptic coming up with a gaming universe as colorful and rich as the Champions universe? While I am not sure how much the deal was for, I think Cryptic made the right choice. Not only 20+ years of history, villains, heroes, organizations,locations, etc. but one that is known (or at least has been heard of) in the gaming community.

Re: Information for HERO/Champions Fans About The Champions Online MMO

Now' date=' now, I have met people that actually liked Civil War. I'm not one of them, mind you.[/quote']

I think they were talking about the American civil war. They were either reenactors, history buffs or they liked collecting the chess set pieces.

Re: Why are so many people upset that Cryptic is only using the Champions IP?

Just the approach I hoped they would not take . I would have preferred just making some powers more expensive in combination with certain specified other powers; but I can see how the Archetype approach simplifies their design process and avoids a ton of "special-casing". The SWG-NGE debacle has left me with an extremely negative view of the very idea of "character classes"' date=' that's all.[/quote']

 

I have no idea what the SWG-NGE debacle is. Care to fill us in?

Re: Why are so many people upset that Cryptic is only using the Champions IP?

I still call it Champions, and frequently have to edit myself when responding to things on these boards. My friends and I played "Champions" for way more than 2 years, I think we played it for about 10. I know they started putting the Hero name over or under or around the word Champions, but it was still pretty prominent on the books for quite some time.

Re: Why are so many people upset that Cryptic is only using the Champions IP?

To be honest, I never for one moment thought they would be using Hero rules for character creation. As has been said, there is just no way it could be done. And I as well am still very interested in the MMO and would be considered an "old timer" I guess since I started playing back in the early/mid 80's. I really don't think they will lose that many people do to this. (I think they may have lost more if they tried it actually)

Basically what I am saying is "I like your ideas and would be interested in receiving your news letter."

Re: Character Portraits as Card Stand-Ups

Well as someone who is not very good with resizing and figuring out how to do that sort of thing, I would love it if they would include it in the actual game. If not, I will have to beg for someone here to point me in the direction of an easy to use program to do this. Thanks in advance!

Re: The Clown Guild - The First Clan for the new MMO

Ok, a concept. Totally useless before the game, but then why should we CLOWN's be efficient and logical

 

50 Custom Disadvantage: Hated by Steve Long

This is a disad we all must take.

Re: The Clown Guild - The First Clan for the new MMO

A question from someone who has never played an MMO -

What exactly is a guild - is it just a group of people who link up online, are there things in the game to support it, or what exactly?

Also it is a great way to get help with missions you need or just find a group. That and general help are the main things the guilds I have been in in other MMOs have been used for.

Re: The Clown Guild - The First Clan for the new MMO

Heckler? oh no.... :shudder:

Oh c'mon, now you just need to make Force.

Re: The Clown Guild - The First Clan for the new MMO

Actually that would work fine for me, as Heckler was originally a good guy (well mostly) in a Champions game. Loads of fun for me, sometimes not so much for the other players. I tried to keep that to a minimum, I swear!

Re: The Clown Guild - The First Clan for the new MMO

Ok' date=' since playing villains might not be an option for a while, how about creating a supergroup especially aimed at HERO players, especially those on the boards here Anyone have an idea for a satisfactory inspiration, group name that we can promulgate to others?[/quote']

Maybe H.E.X. although what it would stand for, I am not sure. Either that or a Green Man reference. Sorry, that's all I got.

Re: The Clown Guild - The First Clan for the new MMO

Damn, and I already had slapstick done:( OK I have Heckler in the bag then.

Re: Hey Gang!

Welcome to the Hero boards. Don't forget to post secret little tid bits here just for us!