As Anjin noted recently, Cryptic has been very quiet about Champions Online since the Serpent Lantern update last month. I don’t mean that I was expecting another update, but just that it would’ve been nice to have an idea of where the dev’s were focusing for the next major patch to the game.
Thankfully Poz has released a State of the Game that outlines the planned Summer Update for August 17th and a sneak peak at the next adventure pack, The Demonflame.
Summer Update
- Super Groups are getting a revamp of their UI that looks very similar to the Fleet screens in Star Trek Online.
- The Renaissance Center is being remodeled to provide better feng shui for social activities.
- New emotes (20+) and a better UI screen.
- C-Store UI update, there were no screenshots included but I’m betting it’ll match the recent update in STO.
- Costume creator will have more tights options in the costume creator (something I’m looking forward to) and more high heeled shoes and boots for females.
- A new difficulty setting above Very Hard, I vote for Are You Happy Yet?
Like the recent melee powers update that took place, Cryptic is also working on a revamp of the pet systems. This includes a more explicit way of controlling pets, an increase in the damage they do, and a new mechanic for keeping them powered.
I’ve not played with the pet powers at all, but I’ve heard that there are also problems with the pathing and having to resummon all pets when one dies. Hopefully these changes will help with those problems as well.
The Demonflame
Scheduled for the end of September, The Demonflame focuses on DEMON similarly to how The Serpent Lantern focused on Viper. We’ll be going to the Qliphotic realm and battling a new monster group. Check out the screenshots on the site.
Bullet points provided courtesy of Anjin, Inc.
Very interesting. I got a giggle out of your suggested name for the new difficulty setting. The first random four that come to mind are:
1. Assplode you
2. Burnination
3. Oh god it hurts
4. hehe
Heh, I could see them using number 3 pretty easily. The game has a lot of cultural references annd jokes for NPC names, quest names, and content.
Thanks for pointing this out. Somehow I didn’t catch with this was posted. I’m glad Poz got this up. Cryptic needs to act like they are moving forward if they want to keep people from talking.
It only posted a couple of hours before I got the article up. I follow several of the Cryptic devs on Twitter, and they usually post an update annoucement anytime there’s something new on the site.
They’ve had really good communication since February when they rededicated themselves to the community, so I’m assuming that the June lapse is related to summer vacations (for now).
I’m trying to get into this game. I like to make lots of characters but once i made them its hard to find the motivation to play them. The experience at low levels is terribly dull.
Comes down to personal preference, just like every other game really. What level have you gotten to? Tried different power sets? Tried grouping?