Tag: Champions Online

Lessons From 2013 #13: Until We Say It's Over


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You have to hand it to Cryptic, the company just won’t give up whether you want them to or not. Champions Online launched way back in 2009 and while the game was pretty fun it suffered from the effects of being the first game on a new engine. Systems weren’t fleshed out, the game is still pretty clunky, and the system feels bogged down by all of the new features that Cryptic has piled on over the years. Rather than leaving the game in the dust, Cryptic Studios announced earlier this year that they are opening Cryptic North, a brand new studio primarily made up of ex-Flying Lab Software employees. The studio has one goal, to improve Champions Online and allow the game to fully utilize the current Cryptic Engine platform.

Everything’s been quiet on the western front, so we have to assume that the team is busy plucking away. Hopefully we will hear more about Champions 2.0 in 2014.

Automatic Veteran Rewards For Champions Online Lifetime Subscribers


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As a token of thanks to players, Cryptic Studios has announced that anyone who purchases a lifetime subscription will receive all veteran awards immediately, regardless of how old their account is. This applies to all lifetime holders, old and new, and includes other exclusives like extra costume and character slots. Veteran rewards are issued every one hundred days and include items like exclusive titles, retcon coins, costume pieces, and more. Check out the full announcement at the link below.

Earlier this year, Cryptic North opened up to address problems in Champions Online and bring the game up a few notches.

(Source: Champions Online)

MMOments: League of Incredibly Awkward Gentlemen


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Today’s MMOments comes from Champions Online and may be the creepiest interactive moment I have ever experienced in an MMO since I stumbled on a GM cybering in Age of Conan. I recently started playing Champions Online again, creating a new character since I’m using the Perfect World account that managed to get a beta invite to Neverwinter and there are no characters on it. Since Cryptic has seen fit to set up a new studio with the sole purpose of fixing Champions Online, I figured why not? Now I know why not.

Champions Online has a habit of sneaking missions on you, and occasionally you’ll be walking around and an NPC will come up and invite you to start a quest. So when the game threw a popup on the screen asking if I would like to accept an invitation to the fortress of something or other, I hit accept thinking nothing of it. The map loads and my hero is standing at the door in this low-lit mission control room with a table in the center and the adjoining chairs all filled with darkly lit figures. One of the figures says “please, have a seat.” You have to look at this with the understanding that it was so well choreographed that this is one of those rare moments in gaming where you’re not entirely sure if the person you’re speaking to is a hardcore role player or just a really atmospheric scripted event.

So I walk over to the table and have no idea how to sit down, so I just kind of stand at my seat. I can now see that the table is headed by Superman, Captain Marvel, Albert Wesker from Resident Evil, and two other heroes. The addition of licensed heroes/villains makes my brain tick “alright this is clearly just a roleplaying clan.” The Man of Steel continues his dialog about how we’ve all been gathered to join forces to stop a nearly invincible hero that is threatening to destroy the world, and the presentation of his speech and the stillness of the other “actors” has me once again thinking I might have stumbled into, say, someone’s foundry mission or something of the like. The only comparison I can think of is when you are dreaming and your mind realizes you are probably dreaming so you try to break your surroundings but you can’t so you’re stuck in a self-realized limbo.

This is the first time that I’ve ever exited out of a game because I felt too awkward to keep playing, and I will probably never know if those were real players or just scripted NPCs.

MMOrning Shots: Champions Tronline


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Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Perfect World Entertainment, and shows a piece of the new story arc hitting Champions Online, FATAL ERROR. Players are tasked with saving the world’s supercomputer from being hacked, I can only assume by a subsection of comic-book rendered neckbeards living in their mother’s basement. Episode 1: Intranet Deployment, has launched on the live servers allowing players to dive in and grab some exclusive gear and even a vanity action figure, as well as Questionite ore.

Intranet Deployment acts as a daily instance/mission. You can check out the announcement page at the link below.

(Goto: Champions Online)

Cryptic Opens Studio To Polish Champions Online


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Better late than never, I suppose. Champions Online is a game that, despite its potential, has seen some neglect over the years. The game has been subject to a number of updates over the years that are either never fully realized or have spent their lives in a perpetual prototype or broken state. It appears that even Cryptic Studios is aware of this, because the developer recently announced the opening of Cryptic North in Seattle, Washington with the function of taking the ailing MMO and bringing it up to snuff.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Jack Emmert discusses the idea behind opening up an entirely new studio. Cryptic North is made up primarily of the old Flying Lab Software team responsible for Pirates of the Burning Sea. The team wants to give Champions Online the polishing that it deserves, and depending on their success may branch out into new projects.

Make better games. Make cost effective games. Treat our players better. Take care of our talent. Focus on working business models. A tried and true way to mitigate risk is diversification. And we also have a crazy diverse portfolio of games at [Perfect World Entertainment].

On another positive note, Cryptic is once again looking at porting their games over to consoles, with the upcoming PS4 and Xbox One. You may remember that Cryptic had plans to port Champions Online over to the Xbox360, but the project was cancelled last minute due to Microsoft’s lack of cooperation. With at least Sony having an open platform for MMOs, the likelihood of seeing a Cryptic MMO on the next generation consoles seems all the brighter.

(Source: Gamasutra)

[Perfect World] Help, My Region Is Disabled!


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Good evening, folks. Omali of MMO Fallout here (who else?) with a short notice for some of you attempting to access the Neverwinter open beta. Some of you have been emailing me asking why you are receiving a “disabled region” notification. As always, I will remind you that I don’t work for any MMO developer and my inbox is not a place to send your technical questions.

Perfect World would like to remind you all that the following countries are banned from accessing any game on the Perfect World Entertainment library. In many cases, the ban is due to regional licensing, and in others it is due to administrative reasons. Unfortunately, this also includes IP addresses that are “close to” any of the following countries.

  • China
  • Hong Kong
  • Macau
  • South Korea
  • Taiwan
  • Vietnam
  • Russia
  • Egypt
  • Japan (Only in Rusty Hearts)

Cryptic Introduces Account Guard


Since the days when people began storing things in secret locations, there have been others waiting to pick the lock, steal the combination, and steal whatever was being hidden. In the age of the internet, keeping your personal data hidden becomes more difficult as the days go on, and developers have been on the assault against account thieves.

Cryptic is beefing up their security with Account Guard. When the user attempts to log in from an unidentified computer, the system will send a key to the email address associated with the account. The key must be entered, otherwise the user will be unable to log in. If there is a failed attempt at logging in, the user will be notified by email.

The system can be opted out of if the user prefers not to enroll.

(Source: FAQ)

Steam Now Supports Certain Free To Play MMOs


Steam has made quite an interesting announcement today with the release of fourfree to play MMOs on the service. Why is it strange, you may ask? The clients cost nothing in themselves, and you play through Steam what you could simply download from the company’s own website for free. But aside from new publicity, what does this bring for our beloved free to play MMOs?

The games on…download are Global Agenda, Champions Online, Forsaken World, and Spiral Knights, presumably with more on the way if this works out. But I ask again, why should I choose Steam?

  • Champions Online on Steam offers 712 achievements.
  • Spiral Knights offers 57 steam achievements.
  • Spiral Knights is set to receive steam exclusive cash shop items.
  • Other games will no doubt follow with exclusive items.
So if you have Steam and you play or want to play any of these games, why not boot up the system and give them a whirl? If you’re not a fan of Steam or don’t want to download the client, well you’ve probably stopped reading this article already.

Perfect World Entertainment Buys Cryptic Studios


Talk about the pitcher beating the runner with his own baseball bat. Following the announcement this month that Atari was divesting itself of Cryptic Studios and selling off the developer, Gamut News is reporting that Perfect World Entertainment has purchased 100% of the minds behind Champions Online and Star Trek Online.

Under the stock purchase agreement, Perfect World will pay an aggregate purchase price of approximately EUR35.0 million in cash, subject to working capital and other adjustments as provided in the agreement. The consummation of the transactions contemplated in the agreement is subject to satisfaction of closing conditions.

Perfect World Entertainment has been making quite an effort to break into the American/European markets, and this acquisition looks to be their golden ticket. The big question on a lot of minds is whether or not Neverwinter Online is transitioning with Cryptic, or if Atari plans on taking the IP back and licensing it to a different firm. Furthermore, this also raises interest in what Atari’s next quarter will bring financially, with the removal of Cryptic Studios.

Can anyone else say free to play Star Trek Online?

Why Buy Cryptic Studios?


I’ve said this before, but I believe Neverwinter to be the root cause behind Cryptic losing money, compounding the loss that Star Trek Online put on the revenue from Champions Online, alongside a less than stellar launch by both titles. I don’t believe that either of the two titles performed as well as Cryptic had hoped they would, and only recently did Champions Online start producing a substantial amount of money. Tracking the reaction that Champions Online and Star Trek Online received is rather easy. Both games were touted as being developed with a system that could easily create large amounts of content quickly and at a low cost. However, when both games released after a very short (by MMO standards) development period, they launched with very little to distinguish themselves from the competition. Players blasted both games for a lack of content, heavy focus on the cash shop (more so during Bill Roper’s phase as leader), and Cryptic’s general lack of attention to the userbase.

At first I joked that Gamersfirst might buy up the game, turn them both into free to play cash shops trashed by cheaters and gold farmers (similar to their other games), but I have a feeling that if Cryptic is bought up and it isn’t by Jack Emmert as rumored, the buyer will be a company none of us have heard of before. Still, that hasn’t stopped the major news websites from speculating on what big name company will pick up Cryptic.

Going by the big names, Sony has enough on their plate at the moment, and I think the acquisition of Vanguard was enough to end any future purchases of games hemorrhaging money. EA/Mythic/Bioware won’t pick up the studio because of their own problems with All Points Bulletin, Warhammer Online, and the major upcoming release of The Old Republic and the possibility of a Mass Effect MMO. EA can’t afford to take on a sinking ship, not when they are already having trouble securing investors over the performance of their past MMOs. NCsoft won’t pick up Cryptic Studios because…well it’s NCsoft. The company has no second thoughts toward severing a limb to save the rest of the body, and this acquisition would be like finding a rotten leg in a creek and asking your doctor to sew it back on. Funcom is a no go, and Blizzard also has enough on their plates with World Of Warcraft, Project Titan, and their other games.

It’s a shame, too, because I have a feeling the Neverwinter MMO won’t be leaving Atari with Cryptic wherever they go, meaning the lack of that development cost will lift a heavy financial burden off of Cryptic’s arms. Perhaps with moving Star Trek Online free to play, as hinted last year, Cryptic could bring themselves back into the green and have two decent if not necessarily heavy hitters in the MMO field.

I’d love to see Cryptic find a new home where they can continue improving upon Star Trek Online and Champions Online. I also hope they can finagle Neverwinter Online to move with them. As I’ve said before, I think Cryptic’s knowledge of instancing can play to their favor in a game that will revolve around heavy instancing.