Played Lately: Champions Online

• It has been a couple days since I actually started up Champions Online. Partly because I've been busy. Partly because I got caught up in all the Blizzcon madness. But mostly, I haven't been playing because I've already made the decision to make Champions my next MMO. It does enough right and enough different so that, assuming content doesn't make a weird left turn somewhere, I can see myself playing this for months. No, the game isn't some revolution in MMO design. But, so far as I've seen, Cryptic has made a game that appeals to my gaming tastes.



• One gaming taste I didn't understand before was the mass hysteria over CoH's character creator. I get it now. Rolling up new characters in CO can be a lot of fun, half of which is just discovering all the options hidden within the menus. I went ahead and created a new character, a British superspy named Agent Raven. I didn't overdo it with her costume since she's supposed to be a spy. I rolled her as a martial artist with the intent to add a few firearms as later options. After perusing the munitions framework, I'm worried that the powers are more Punisher and less Tara Chace. There may be one or two options that fit, so I'll keep you informed.



• Nevertheless, watching her punch and kick her way through the tutorial missions was quite hilarious. I have to give the animators credit. They really got the comic-booky feel of combat down right. Since the tutorial is pretty straightforward and I'd already read through the quest text once, I was able to tackle it the second time in short order. Except that Foxbat quest. That respawn is a pain in the tuchas.


• Speaking of which, I actually like all the environmental quests. Eventually the completest in me will want a wiki list to check off. But at the moment, I'm enjoying finding quests in the open without needing an exclamation point to point the way. My only suggestion might be to make the popup a little more obvious when you do find one. I wonder how often I've run or flown by a quest without noticing the quest button.



• Yeah, she is totally punching that Qularr drone in the crotch. Do I need to mention that you shouldn't piss her off? This is one hero that does not mess around. She kicked a lot of alien butt (and other things) and went off to the Canada Crisis Zone. I stopped playing so much then because that's when I made my decision.


• So that's my verdict. CO is a WoW-alike, but I mean that in a positive way here. I like that style of play. Champions takes what they need from this MMO generation and has fit them into a superhero game I want to play. While I'm still on the fence about the 6 month and lifetime options, a subscription is guaranteed at this point.


• I hope you all have fun and I can't wait to see you in Millennium City.

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