Questions?There was a new Ask Cryptic yesterday. I couldn’t find a link, but I think this is the first one since before the game launched. Cryptic picked seven questions out of a 32 page, 320 post forum thread, and while that seems like a very small percentage I do think they picked all of the questions that the general community was most interested in finding out answers to.

Because of the recent uproar regarding the last State of the Game message, a lot of the questions were regarding future plans for the game both in terms of design and communication:

Jackalope: …you can expect to see new adventures every other month (roughly). The content will be far more story based and focused on the background of the game.

Chronomancer: …we’re going to be focusing more on creating content to provide multiple paths of advancement within Champions Online. The plan is to create more of what you want in smaller bites so we can do them on shorter timelines.

Arkayne: …We’re stepping up the communication. We’re going to do more Ask Cryptics, more Dev Chats, we’re going to be in-game, playing with you more, Our GMs are going to start letting you know the status on the current bugs, and the entire development team is going to start being more active on the forums.

As someone who enjoys theme based characters, I was especially happy to see this:

IchbinVol: Will there be any reason to have a theme based character in the future? Perhaps a synergy bonus for having a certain set of skills?

BigOtter: That’s actually one of the goals of our Tier 4 powers being introduced in our upcoming expansion – to provide high-end thematic meta-powers for each of the power groups.

Cryptic does seem to be making a start on their forum promises from last week about more and better communication. They also seem to have a proper sense of urgency:

Arkayne: …Oh, and that “soon” we’re talking about up there, that’s not a “soon(tm)” that’s a soon, as in as soon as humanly possible soon.

I do want to say, that I’m still enjoying the game. I’ve not yet reached the level cap and I’ve been leveling slowly enough that all of the content holes in the late game seem to be getting filled before I get there. My main hero, Silver Hunter, is level 35 and still has a full mission log. I’d not really been concerned about direction and communication issues, except peripherally, until the SotG announcement of Vibora Bay. While it is too soon to say for sure, it does seem that Cryptic is now genuinely aware of their PR issues and is starting to address them.

So now we just need to see if  Cryptic’s Champions team can follow through.

Ask Cryptic Returns
Tagged on:     

6 thoughts on “Ask Cryptic Returns

  • February 9, 2010 at 11:35 am
    Permalink

    Was looking at the gear on that character sheet. What exactly does it DO or are the stats only visible in game.

    That game still seems all over the place

    • February 9, 2010 at 11:58 am
      Permalink

      Stats details are only available in game. Honestly I just use the page to remember what level I am when I’m writing a post at work. I use it occasionally to review my current power setup, but I don’t pay much attention to the gear stuff.

      The mission lists can be useful if for the Mission Computer 2.0, which is an out of game mission database which can review your character sheet and then spit out a list of missions you may have missed. This was pretty useful when the game first launched and some people were having trouble finding missions. Personally, I’ve never had a problem finding stuff once I relaxed and started to spend time exploring.

      The game is definitely not perfect, but I’m still enjoying myself. I do wonder sometimes if my experience is different from others because it really wasn’t on my radar until just before it launched, so I almost completely missed the hype phase. I played about two or three days of open beta and then waited until launch, so I never even had time to get used to the pre-zero day nerf gameplay. Might be an interesting podcast topic there for you. 🙂

    • February 9, 2010 at 1:32 pm
      Permalink

      Hudson: The gear is used strictly for stats in the game. You generally pick 2-4 stats to focus on depending on if you want to take on a dps, tank, or healer role. Some gear also gives you a bonus to your knockback resistance.

      The game takes a bit to understand how important stats and Super Stats are actually.

      Blue Kae: Bluuuuuuuuue!! I’m really excited about the concept character bonuses also!

      I’ve also been taking my sweet old time leveling also and I’ve had the same experience with not one leveling gap popping up. 🙂

  • February 9, 2010 at 1:06 pm
    Permalink

    Glad to hear that the developers are renewing their efforts toward the community. Cryptic PR has been really bad lately. Engaging with the players will go a long way toward avoiding player loss.

    I enjoy the game whenever I play. I just fell out of the habit of playing. Hmm. Maybe I’ll poke my head back in there soon.

    • February 9, 2010 at 10:05 pm
      Permalink

      Not sure if you’ll see much in the way of game changes yet, but Cryptic does seem to finally be making some good PR moves. I am tentatively optimistic.

  • Pingback:Champions Expansion: New Name and Free Price | Blue Kae

Comments are closed.