Champions Online...
Oct. 17th, 2009 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolfwings...it's got a LOT of WoWisms, but mostly of the sort I admit are a good idea: Stick to the accepted majority-UI conventions when possible, so people can understand the interface faster. So... ? and ! over people's heads, etc.
But OMG... no more wondering what you want to play, and having to go 'Aw... but I really wanted to do XYZ!' It's... not Ultima Online-esque truly free-form, but damn if it's not close. The level up progression and power-changing mechanic should have a much more intuitive in-game display of what you'll get when, IMHO, but that's spit-and-polish stuff not game-mechanics stuff.
So far I've played about ten toons through the training levels of all sorts, and three or four up to the mid-teen's, and one all the way to 25th where you first get your 'Arch Nemesis' stuff unlocked. I've realized that if you're an alt-a-holic, this is NOT the time to get into the game. While the individual story-lines are much easier to get into as you run through the missions, there simply isn't that much there yet. And since there's almost no way to level up except from the mission-reward experience, you'll end up seeing the same set of missions if you level up multiple characters right now.
Overall, the game is very pretty, and they kept one of CoX's best features: Re-scaled in-game resolution versus UI resolution. So I can run at 1920x1200, but the game is only rendering at 960x600 for the 3D stuff so all the text is crisp, sharp, and clear, but the in-game stuff runs smooth as silk even on my laptop.
So what's my plan? Enjoying the free month, likely going to get this character up into the 30's before I run out of time... but not gonna subscribe. Not yet at least. There's just too many glitches and bugs to content with yet, from the patcher itself crashing and not wanting to load half the time (including throwing really WIERD javascript errors from it's HTML components, since I'm running Windows XP 64-bit) to other issues like the game always crashing when I log out. Yes, every time. So... I'll give it a couple months, if it's still alive I'll poke my head back in then, give it another whirl. For now? Still a CoXr.
But OMG... no more wondering what you want to play, and having to go 'Aw... but I really wanted to do XYZ!' It's... not Ultima Online-esque truly free-form, but damn if it's not close. The level up progression and power-changing mechanic should have a much more intuitive in-game display of what you'll get when, IMHO, but that's spit-and-polish stuff not game-mechanics stuff.
So far I've played about ten toons through the training levels of all sorts, and three or four up to the mid-teen's, and one all the way to 25th where you first get your 'Arch Nemesis' stuff unlocked. I've realized that if you're an alt-a-holic, this is NOT the time to get into the game. While the individual story-lines are much easier to get into as you run through the missions, there simply isn't that much there yet. And since there's almost no way to level up except from the mission-reward experience, you'll end up seeing the same set of missions if you level up multiple characters right now.
Overall, the game is very pretty, and they kept one of CoX's best features: Re-scaled in-game resolution versus UI resolution. So I can run at 1920x1200, but the game is only rendering at 960x600 for the 3D stuff so all the text is crisp, sharp, and clear, but the in-game stuff runs smooth as silk even on my laptop.
So what's my plan? Enjoying the free month, likely going to get this character up into the 30's before I run out of time... but not gonna subscribe. Not yet at least. There's just too many glitches and bugs to content with yet, from the patcher itself crashing and not wanting to load half the time (including throwing really WIERD javascript errors from it's HTML components, since I'm running Windows XP 64-bit) to other issues like the game always crashing when I log out. Yes, every time. So... I'll give it a couple months, if it's still alive I'll poke my head back in then, give it another whirl. For now? Still a CoXr.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-19 02:13 pm (UTC)Considering I play defenders, controllers, and masterminds, this was disappointing.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-19 08:41 pm (UTC)My two highest characters are a Scrapper/Controller blend (almost pure Supernatural), and a Mastermind (Gadgeteering) w/ two attacks from Munitions (Assault Rifle and Smoke Grenade) so I'm relatively useful without my bots and can GTFO in a pinch.
Supernatural = Dark Melee/Regen Scrapper. Up to level 19 where I've played it, it walks like a regen scrapper, talks like a regen scrapper, and wails on things like a regen scrapper, with the smattering of holds and stun-type effects I'm used to from playing DM scrappers on CoX.
A 'proper Tanker' is a bit more difficult, needs to mix Supernatural or Dual Blades energy builder w/ Power Armor starting attack, grab Invulnerability early from Power Armor that way, and run up Strength and Con as fast and far as possible.