Will we be able to use weapons to use our powers or will we be stuck with shooting fire from our hands? (timtheory)
There are a couple different ways that we address that: one is emanation points. You can choose where your power comes from. Say you're using a force beam and you want it to come from your eyes, or your hands, or other different areas. That's if you want to be doing it without weapons and want it built into your character concept. There's also a system that we call power replaces that allows you to do it with weapons. You can create items that still use your powers, but replace where they come from. Sometimes they can also give you new powers. If I have a sword melee power and normally use a broadsword, a fiery katana can suddenly drop in the world and I could now use that to replace my normal sword. It doesn't change the powers - or attacks - I use, but it may provide a different look, or it may have inherent abilities with it.
Given the vastly varying types of superheroes, past and present, that have ever seen the print or digital media, are steps being taken to cater to different forms of crime-fighting and superheroing? Or are we simply looking at a variety of ways to pummel our foes into submission? (belefauntes)
We're always looking for more ways to bring all aspects of the comic book genre to the Champions Online universe! We're currently building an extensive knowledge system into the game where you need to go out and gather information about the world and about your enemies, which leads to associated rewards and perks. And while we're focused right now on the more action-style elements of the genre, we eventually want to bring more investigation-style stories into the game. For example, you can collect evidence from criminals to turn into the authorities which increases your reputation and therefore your available resources. The eventual goal is to expand the evidence system into a full-fledged investigation system where you put evidence together and build a mission based off of the evidence that you find. So we definitely want to cater to people who want strong story lines or want to be investigators. We're layering in elements for that now that will only get deeper and stronger as we go along.
While I'm pretty sure that supergroups will have the ability to build their own bases, I was wondering if those who are solo players will have the same ability. Having a character with their own space is almost a must nowadays, to store equipment, decorate, hang out, etc. So, will there be "player housing"? (gdblack)
We won't be launching with supergroup bases. We're aware it's something the players would love to have and we're keeping it in mind as we plan out future content updates. However we do plan to have banks at launch - we'll have both personal storage and supergroup vaults!
On melee weapons such as Ego Blades (a blade made of energy), will we be able to use ranged attacks with these weapons? (Ex: You swing your blade and the energy from it is released as a flaying bolt of energy). Or will we be forced to use some other sort of power/skill for ranged attacks with a primary melee hero? (Slivan)
We're putting a great deal of effort into allowing players to customize not only the functional differences in their powers but also the visual differences. Things we've already talked about publically include different emissions points and hue shifting. Going forward, we totally intend to allow players to change their animations and select between different animations the same way you're allowed to select right now between animations for how you move, how you run, and how you jump. That being said, our focus right now for release is getting functionally different powers out. Making sure Lightning Bolt is distinct and unique from Fireball and making sure Ego Blades is its own distinct, unique power. The effort we're going to put into making Ego Blades have a cool blast type power - that's going to come. But it's going to come after we're sure all the functional differences are there and good enough to satisfy our players.
Can you tell us about how powers will work in PvE and PvP? Will there be a big difference or will they work the same across the board? (DemonSiege)
Powers between PvP and PvE is a big deal to us internally. We spent innumerable hours and lunches debating - and almost coming to real life PvP - over how things like taunt and aggro should work, whether we even should have an aggro system, and how we make the powers function in PvP like they function in PvE. Eventually we came to a place that we're pretty comfortable with where we try to have pretty similar mechanics for the two. For example, the same power that taunts an enemy in PvE will put a debuff on another player in PvP until they hit you. So it's not always going to be a perfect translation, but we hope that it will be at least close all the time.
Will enemies detect your presence based on aggro radius or line of sight? You can't really make a stealthy type character if every thug suddenly knows that you're behind/above them because you stepped into their magic bubble. Similarly, will stealth tactics be limited to invisibility like in most MMOs, or will hiding behind objects, in the shadows, up on the cross beams, etc. be viable? (The_Dark_Lord)
Aggro detection by enemies is based off of both radius and line of sight. Enemies detect you further away if you're in their forward arc. It's an analog detection, not a binary detection. The closer you are, the more they'll detect you, and different enemies will be tuned different ways.
We've heard relatively little about defensive powers in this game. How will comic-book staples like invulnerability, super reflexes, or regeneration be handled; are they passive stat bonuses, toggle powers, click abilities, some new mechanic, or a combination of the above? And will defensive powers play a big role in character creation? (The_Altruist)
There are four basic categories of defense in CO: resistance, dodge, forcefield, regeneration. Each of those different defense types functions a little bit differently based on the circumstances. Resistance is for the classic tank type character who can withstand a hail of bullets, barely noticing it. But if you hit with a big enough ray blast, you'll knock him through a wall and daze him for a few seconds. Dodge is the opposite of resistance - the more and faster the attacks come after the dodge character, the tougher it's going to be for them to mitigate the damage, whereas the big, slow, heavy attacks that might put down a resistance character are easier for him to avoid. The other axis is forcefields and regeneration. Forcefield functions extremely well early in the fight. The forcefield at maximum strength will mitigate all of the initial hits from essentially everything, however the forcefield will degrade over time. Regeneration is the opposite of that. Regeneration starts off slow, but the more times the character gets hit, the faster the regeneration will build up, up to a certain cap. It comes down to what's your personal preference and what works best for the support characters working with you. It's a question of which type of defense works best with which type of healing and how you want your party to work together as a whole.
What kind of social interaction and social events (other than costume contests) are being planned for this game? (jedilounge1)
We do have some social centers in Millennium City. The Renaissance Center is set up as a social area and commerce hub. People can do their banking there, learn new skills, or meet other people to do missions together. Club Capri is a bar/nightclub with two different sides - one for regular people, and the other side for supers who want to hang out in costume. We will be supporting events in the future, but we can't talk about them yet.
Would characters be able to access a variety of contacts, such as anonymous tips, checking out the newspaper vending machines or going to a seedy bar? (Captain_Intrepid)
We have tons of different types of contacts. You can talk to heroes, organizations that need help, or someone on the street who got pulled into something they don't understand. There are also items that you can find in the world that have interesting clues on them that can turn into missions. There are areas that don't have contacts at all but you can go there and get involved in missions that are ongoing. Multiple people can do those missions without being on a team together. Or you can run across situations where, for example, citizens are trapped in the rubble of a building and you get to help them.
Is it possible to choose not to have a Nemesis (or any other in-game features) or control how often you encounter him/her? (lowery150)
Certainly. The Nemesis chain is optional. If you don't want to ever create one, you never have to. You still have access to all of the rest of the storyline, just not the Nemesis specific content. Once you do create a Nemesis, many of the encounters are random past that. You don't actually control how often you see him/her until you actually defeat him. Once you've defeated a Nemesis, you don't have to make another one. If you do choose to make another Nemesis, you'll get another set of random interactions with your new Nemesis.
Will there be any missions where the Nemesis' of the entire team will show up and either work together or fight amongst each other? (TruthSeer)
We're planning to do that. If you're on a team together, eventually you'll have the option to all battle one Nemesis, or you can have all of your Nemeses team up and battle against your supergroup.
Champions Online: Ask Cryptic
The latest edition of Ask Cryptic is available for Champions Online fans. As always, Ask Cryptic features community questions and this week's is an especially long edition. Check to see if yours was answered below:
Whew...that was a LOT!
Be sure to submit your questions on the official site!
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