Anyone who has played Champions Online or Star Trek Online knows Bill Roper, who took over for Jack Emmert after the latter left developer Cryptic Studios. And if you know him, chance states that you probably have some strong feelings about him, whether they be in the “Bill Roper is the devil,” “Bill Roper is the greatest developer ever,” or just “meh.” Knowing that, the gaming public will be either sad, jumping for joy, or casually nonchalant in their reaction to the news that Bill Roper has left Cryptic Studios.
In the following post on Champions Online’s website, Roper posted:
For the past two years I’ve had the extreme privilege of working with an amazing array of talented developers and just plain great people here at Cryptic Studios. Over the past few months my entrepreneurial spirit has become restless, and I’ve made the difficult decision to move on and look for new opportunities.
You can read the whole thing at the link above.
Hopefully Bill Roper will find success in whatever venture he chooses to move on to.
If you head over to Direct2Drive, you will find a number of MMOs on sale for the time being. As there hasn’t been much in terms of information from Direct2Drive, I have no indication as to whether or not these are permanent price slashes, or temporary publisher price cuts. Either way, check out some great deals.
I’ll be checking Direct2Drive over the course of this week and next week until the sales end.
↓ – “Activation and download may take up to 48 hours after purchase.”
♣ – Paypal is not accepted if paid in pounds or Euros.
♥ – 30 days only applies to new Station accounts.
I get the feeling that, if you want to think of Star Trek Online and Champions Online as brothers, Star Trek Online is the more successful younger brother who got all the love from mom and dad, while Champions Online was forced to live in the cupboard under the stairs when his room was emptied to make room for the new baby.
In a recent interview with Jack Emmert, Jack announced that Star Trek Online has “well over 100 thousand subscribers,” an announcement that is great…until you look at the lack of announcement of Champions Online’s subscriber numbers. I don’t want to suggest that Champions Online is doing poorly, but I have always said that what someone doesn’t say speaks a lot more than what they do say, and this lack of information in regards to Champions Online may suggest that the game is not going as great as Cryptic had hoped. Champions Online today launched Revelation, the latest expansion pack that brings new villains, new areas, and new perks/costumes/etc.
One bit that caught my eye, at the end, was when Emmert was asked which properties he would like to work with, his answer being “Godzilla and Neverwinter Nights.” Godzilla aside, this will likely reignite longstanding rumors of a Cryptic-run Neverwinter Nights MMO, the same title that is actually part of the Turbine Vs Atari lawsuit (If you recall, Turbine is alleging that Atari hoped to crush Dungeons and Dragons Online in favor of a rumored Neverwinter Nights MMO).
“It has always been, and still remains our intent to release on consoles, and as soon as we’re able to share more information about it, we will.”
-Daeke, Community Manager, Cryptic Studios, on Champions Online on consoles.
One downside to the internet is that anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of “hey, you said this.” I don’t think I need to remind Mythic of Mark Jacob’s now famous quote regarding the health of MMOs being tied to how many servers are opened post-launch, but I digress. Back when Champions Online was still in closed beta, Cryptic still had high hopes to get the title out on the Xbox360, as one of the few console MMOs on the market. I even commented on Champions Online in 2010: A Blue Moon Year.
“Will we ever see a new 360 MMO? Champions Online and Age of Conan are just two titles slated to release on the Xbox360, and we learned earlier this year that it is Microsoft’s doing that is delaying these titles. With the cancellation of the planned BBC streaming, alongside another year of no MMOs on the 360, Microsoft continues to make an ass of itself in regards to its live service.”
Since I’ve already revealed the spoiler in the title, there’s no point delaying this any longer: According to a Cryptic Studios developer, the console version of Champions Online has been canned, with no plans to revive the project. In a post on the official forums, Jackalope had this to say:
“100% of our focus is on making the current PC product the best it can be. There are no current plans for a console version of Champions.”
-Jackalope, Cryptic Studios, on Champions Online on the 360.
I’m sure Microsoft’s well touted ability to turn developers away from putting MMOs on their consoles had something to do with this decision, but the less-than-stellar reception to Champions Online since release may have been the final straw that broke the console’s back, in a manner of speaking. I’m sure the community will find some way to spin this news in a million different directions.
For those of you still waiting for a console MMO that is not Final Fantasy XI, or Massive Action Game, you are still out of luck. Age of Conan is still allegedly making its way to the Xbox360 this year, with The Agency, All Points Bulletin, and Free Realms bounding in next to an unnamed Turbine game, as well as possibly a Blizzard MMO.
MMOs on the consoles have historically had less of a chance of not only surviving to completion on the console platforms, but actually making it out the door to warm welcome. Searching deep enough, you can find a substantial list of MMOs dating back to the Xbox/PS2 console generation of console MMOs that were canned. So far Final Fantasy XI is the only console MMO to gain and keep a large number of subscribers, and even at that Square Enix has announced no plans to place Final Fantasy XIV on the Xbox360, although it will make its way to the Playstation 3.
More on console MMOs, and Champions Online, as it appears.
While I don’t receive a substantial number of emails in regards to MMO Fallout, I have had people asking the same question lately: What happened to the Champions In Court subsection? The entire section is gone! That is true. In fact, the latest Champions In Court was released sometime in September 2009. Champions In Court quickly ran into a brick wall of no-content, as Cryptic quickly flew to the scene to start removing infringing characters. The same could be said for the idea that, as players became situated with the game, they settled on real characters rather than superhero lookalikes, and those who did settle on superhero lookalikes generally moved towards some form of parody hero, such as The Shark Knight. Oh and I was notified by someone I won’t name that making regular articles about lookalikes in Champions Online would probably inflame the situation further.
If he stops fighting crime, he'll drown.
With the upcoming free weekend, there will likely be new players creating their own Hulk/Goku lookalikes, and I may do a new Champions In Court special episode. If you want to “conveniently” find your way on to my screen, you can always stalk @Omali when the free weekend begins. I’ll be flying around Millennium City looking for lawsuits waiting to happen.
The free weekend starts on the 26th, players can download the client now over at Champions Online dot com.
Bill Roper is to the MMO genre as JK Rowling is to children’s literature. On one hand, the man had a big role in Blizzard during the glory days of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. More recently, Roper’s name has been tied to Champions Online and Star Trek Online, both titles are doing quite well despite comments otherwise by trolls. On the other hand, Bill Roper is also responsible for the train wreck that was Hellgate: London, a game that (as it turns out) was only as good as its launch, and didn’t survive long enough to make those lifetime subscriptions worth it. Roper is also partially responsible for the coined term Flagshipping, named off of the company Flagship Studios, referring to a product being released in a buggy, unfinished state missing many of its promised features.
I should probably get to the point (and why 80% of you clicked this link…I’m talking about the title). Well, to the dismay of some and joy of others, Bill Roper has been replaced by Shannon Posniewski, as Executive Producer of Champions Online. Poz, as he is called on the forums, is expected to take the game in a brand new direction. Shannon has been the lead programmer on Champions Online and has been with Crptic since the City of Heroes days.
Now before you get your pants in a bunch, or start throwing a goodbye party for Mr. Roper, he is still working with Cryptic, just on other things (the rumored Neverwinter Nights MMO? He asked, stirring the pot). This announcement has come alongside the State of the Game, that promises more stitching of the level gaps in content, among other changes.
Poz has had quite a relationship with the community, so hopefully this will bring along the Cryptic I (and others) have been asking for for a long time: one that actually listens to player feedback and stores that feedback for future reference.
There isn’t much more of a vestigial appendage on the server list for your favorite MMO than seeing “RP” as the label. Back when I first started playing World of Warcraft, the role playing servers were populated with a number of hardcore guilds, granted guilds that would quickly try to get you booted off of the server if you didn’t chat using the correct out-of-context code, but hardcore guilds nonetheless. Over time, it became apparent that those guilds were moving out, and players who really had no interest in role playing were coming in, to occasionally add a ‘th to the end of their words, and doth speak’th like yon medieval men, prithee, despite World of Warcraft not being set in Earth’s Middle Ages.
As a hardcore role player sans rear-implanted-stick, I had to come to the sad reality that my kind is scarce, despite half of the MMO name being Role Playing Game, the in-character role playing was something I would have to search wide and far in order to find an active guild that actually actively participated in role playing (rather than “You role play a tank, I’ll role play support, we’ll pretend…that dragon killed your family and we’re gonna take its loot.”). That’s why I’m drawn to sandbox games like Mortal Online. Considering the title is still in beta, there is a lot more to do in the spiritual sense of thinking, rather than physically quantifying. Yesterday I played cleanup, making sure that the loot from dead criminals was safely tucked away in my bank. Today, on the other hand, I actively hunted down miners who had left their keyboards with a macro set up to play for them (Don’t worry, I check for activity before I attack). More often than not, I play a crafter of some sort.
The latest information from Everquest II was just what I needed to remind me that it wasn’t just writing with my left-handed that made me a minority of sorts, with the finding that only 5% of the game’s population are hardcore role players. Among the 40 page report was other information, including that role players play less hours, are slightly younger, and have a higher percentage of female players.
I am the player who uses the biography section of the character creator, even though it has no physical impact on gameplay. I’ve spent quite a bit of time creating a backstory for not just my superhero, but my nemesis in Champions Online, as well as any other MMO I’ve played in recent years. I don’t consider myself better than those who don’t roleplay, and I am certainly not under the understanding that I am enjoying more of the game than they are. In fact, there are several cases I can mention where I end up limiting myself:
In the case of Champions Online, I ended up passing over several powers that, while powerful, did not conceivably fit my character. My hero is a telekinesis power set, so giving him guns or robot minions wouldn’t fit. Equally with Mortal Online, where my end goal is to be a well known armor-crafter, I will have to give up my combat skills to specialize in the various crafting techniques.
Or maybe I’m just being pessimistic. Are there any other role players out there that are in the same boat?
Cryptic wants to change. They want to stop being the company known for poor communication with its players, and they want to stop this cycle of rushing patches untested. The employees are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore!
Bill Roper and the team had a lot to say in the State of the Game today, and made a lot of promises of rehabilitation. First, Cryptic is taking the first step: Acknowledgement. In the SOTG, they talk about the recent bugs appearing due to a recent change in the game’s coding in the kitchen sink patch. Furthermore, Cryptic is readily admitting that there was not enough playtesting done in both internal QA and through the test server, in order to rush the patch out. Taking the blame is great, but what is Cryptic really doing to improve conditions?
Foremost, Cryptic is looking towards improving communications between developers and players. The communication begins with bi-weekly question and answer sessions, followed by an ongoing blog by the Game Masters, detailing plans for the game. Monthly developer chats will take place in Cryptic’s IRC channel, and the State of the Game will now be released bi-weekly. An overhaul of the Champions Online website will bring in more fan screenshots, fan art, and ways to stalk your favorite developer.
Boy do I have egg on my face, and that egg is not part of Denny’s free Grand Slam. I’ve often said that although Cryptic has communication issues on the little things (timer resets, feedback, etc), they generally get the picture when an issue becomes big enough. When Daeke announced that the next expansion, Vibora Bay, would be a paid mission pack, the community went, in all fairness, completely ape-poop.
Well Cryptic fans may rejoice, and Cryptic trolls may move on to their next talking point, because Cryptic has an announcement to make. After wading his way through the legion of hate mail, “I quit” emails, and piled on (actually constructive) feedback, Bill Roper and the team have decided to make Vibora Bay, now known as Champions online: Revelation, free to all players.
Revelation is expected mid-March, with more information on the way. All we know currently is that the expansion is a “full fledged expansion pack,” and will feature a storyline full of heroes, villains, new areas, powers, and gameplay mechanics, and maybe even a love interest for your hero (Just kidding).
If Cryptic can stick to this twelve step program, there are good things in Champions Online’s future.
Cryptic wants to change. They want to stop being the company known for poor communication with its players, and they want to stop this cycle of rushing patches untested. The employees are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore!
Bill Roper and the team had a lot to say in the State of the Game today, and made a lot of promises of rehabilitation. First, Cryptic is taking the first step: Acknowledgement. In the SOTG, they talk about the recent bugs appearing due to a recent change in the game’s coding in the kitchen sink patch. Furthermore, Cryptic is readily admitting that there was not enough playtesting done in both internal QA and through the test server, in order to rush the patch out. Taking the blame is great, but what is Cryptic really doing to improve conditions?
Foremost, Cryptic is looking towards improving communications between developers and players. The communication begins with bi-weekly question and answer sessions, followed by an ongoing blog by the Game Masters, detailing plans for the game. Monthly developer chats will take place in Cryptic’s IRC channel, and the State of the Game will now be released bi-weekly. An overhaul of the Champions Online website will bring in more fan screenshots, fan art, and ways to stalk your favorite developer.
Boy do I have egg on my face, and that egg is not part of Denny’s free Grand Slam. I’ve often said that although Cryptic has communication issues on the little things (timer resets, feedback, etc), they generally get the picture when an issue becomes big enough. When Daeke announced that the next expansion, Vibora Bay, would be a paid mission pack, the community went, in all fairness, completely ape-poop.
Well Cryptic fans may rejoice, and Cryptic trolls may move on to their next talking point, because Cryptic has an announcement to make. After wading his way through the legion of hate mail, “I quit” emails, and piled on (actually constructive) feedback, Bill Roper and the team have decided to make Vibora Bay, now known as Champions online: Revelation, free to all players.
Revelation is expected mid-March, with more information on the way. All we know currently is that the expansion is a “full fledged expansion pack,” and will feature a storyline full of heroes, villains, new areas, powers, and gameplay mechanics, and maybe even a love interest for your hero (Just kidding).
If Cryptic can stick to this twelve step program, there are good things in Champions Online’s future.
MMO Fallout 