World Domination Plan

So instead of writing a lengthy superficial piece on everything that was revealed and demoed at Comic Con, I’m saving us all some time and just giving a brief run-down of what was awesome and what wasn’t.  First up.. CHAMPIONS ONLINE.

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There are no set classes.  Characters are built solely on skills, so you can essentially create any type of hero you wish.  In parties, characters can assign themselves ROLES (tank, dps, support, etc).  You can shift in and out of roles, so for example, if your main tank goes down, someone else can slip into that role.. their activated skills, weapons, and armor switching over to what would be relevant for that position.

Battles are more action oriented than most traditional MMO’s, and there is a big focus on fighting multiple enemies at once.  Their design philosophy seems to be to make you feel powerful wiping out hordes of enemies, and then bringing in some bigger guys to really give you a challenge.  Encounters don’t play out in standard toe-to-toe format; characters are constantly moving around as they engage the enemy.

The biggest reveal was the ability to CREATE YOUR OWN NEMESIS.  After a certain (and as-of-yet unspecified) point in the game, players have the ability to create their own arch-enemy.  You design his look and skills, and then he is released into the world to plague you through your travels.  You can form groups to go in to take him down, both giving you an opportunity for a challenging battle while showing off your custom-made enemy to your friends.

As you gain experience you gain points with which to buy skills.  Stat upgrades are handled more through armor and items (a kevlar vest or a skin-hardening potion).

Four massive areas revealed: Millenium City, Desert regions, Canada, & Monster Island.  Monster Island features a volcano that if you’re too close to during an eruption, will kill you.

Super-Vehicles are planned to be in the game (cars, motorcycles, etc) for those without superspeed or flying powers.

Cryptic wants to have tools for players to create their own content which can then be released into the game world, but details on this were not talked about in detail.

Impressions: All the discussed features make this game sound incredibly exciting.  However, at the demo station it looked and played more like an action-oriented WoW (or a slicker City of Heroes) than anything else.  Obviously this is only from a few minutes on a packed show floor, so the minutae didn’t have a chance to shine through.  Hopefully they continue to implement their proposed ideas and separate the game further from the competition.