Boomtown's Post-Mortem Interview

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Jakob Paulsen of Boomtown sat down with Bill Roper to talk about Champions Online's launch and future. Give it a read here (http://rpg.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id).


Link to the news article. (http://www.champions-online.com/node/594717)

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We’re also working on new systems that allow players to put together their own missions in a new way than we’ve previously done, but details on that are still ways off.

Interesting, can't wait to hear more!

We’re also adding scaling into more instances and working on plans for increased super group support.
(highlight mine)

I absolutely want to see this happen, sooner rather than later. Bill, please come to the community and let us help here as much as possible. I'd like to see this make a big splash the first time out!

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I appreciate the interview, but my key question is that if it was recognised that more time was needed to achieve power balance, why wasn't launch pushed back or open beta extended? Was it purely a resourcing issue (given that STO required development ramp up for its release), a financial one, or did the focus get so narrowed on "must launch this now" that no-one was willing to put their name on the line and make that call?

ChampO sold really well, but Cryptic is going to have a difficult time convincing those players who had a bad launch experience to come back. Everything listed in the interview will help, but that's going to take time and 2010 is going to be an even more competitive year in the MMO genre, even if you solely look at superheroic titles.

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Hmm.. Upon looking at the interview, I'm sad to hear that they aren't working on full level content. Group events are nice and all, but the game is lacking in content overall. There's not enough content to justify playing the game more than once, aside from the different play style of a new character. While this does add some replay value, it's simply not enough compared to any competition.

There needs to be at least one more full level 1-40 mission chain in addition to what is found in the game. There should be more missions than players know what to do with, and mission sets that some characters get that others do not. Completionists should need to work hard towards getting all the badges for quest lines, rather than have them be a final goal to the only quest out there. They are /starting/ to work on extra quests, but there isn't enough.

As far as working on the XBox version of the game.. weren't they working on this from the get go? Why the delayed release? I wonder what the XBox version will have polished that the PC version does not. This is a double-standard, Mr. Roper. Be careful.

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I clicked on the link labeled here, but get nothing but a blank page.

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I clicked on the link labeled here, but get nothing but a blank page.

If there's a menu on the left side of the page, click on "Articles" and you'll see it there.

Or, try this: http://rpg.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.archive.php?type=articles

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Was actually surprised that the questions asked weren't all rainbows & unicorns. I did notice that Roper completely sidestepped the second to the last question, talking about consoles when the interviewer clearly was talking about the PC market. I am pleased that they are starting to try to fix powersets like archery, evn thougfh I specced out when it seemed sonic arrow was the only attack that was actually worth my Archer taking.. Although in devchat in Oct they said they would be less nerf heavy & leave powers over-powered rather than nerf quickly; I've seen no slow-down in nerfs.

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Yeah, he did totally sidestep it, my friends and i were just talking about that.

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Two words: Supergroup Bases. And I don't want to see them like they were in that other game. I think you should be able to pick from a selection of instance entrances in any of the locations and set your base there. As many groups as they want can belong to that building. But it just means that in terms realism this means that you actually have a base that you can see.

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If any game isn’t what you hoped it would be, then don’t support it

Best thing Bill Roper said in this.

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Was actually surprised that the questions asked weren't all rainbows & unicorns. I did notice that Roper completely sidestepped the last question, talking about consoles when the interviewer clearly was talking about the PC market. I am pleased that they are starting to try to fix powersets like archery, evn thougfh I specced out when it seemed sonic arrow was the only attack that was actually worth my Archer taking.. Although in devchat in Oct they said they would be less nerf heavy & leave powers over-powered rather than nerf quickly; I've seen no slow-down in nerfs.

I believe you are talking about this question which is actually the second to last question:

Boomtown: To an outsider it seems like Champions Online did not expand the total player base but took from the existing market. How do you see the future for this kind of MMO given that next year a third superhero game (DCO) will launch?

Bill Roper: The console market is an entirely different set of gamers, and that’s why we’re excited to be working on the Xbox 360 version. It’s really fun to play with the controller, and we’re putting a lot of different attention there while still supporting the PC version of the game.


I see your point but I don't necessarily agree. It is my understanding that the big deal with DCO is that it will be released on PC and Consoles (at least one I think). Therefore, I can understand where is coming from. Additional platforms = more possible subs. This seems a logical thing to talk about. What would you propose he say? Something about a feature that ChampO has that he believes DCO will not?

I'm just seeking to understand what you would say if you were in his position. Please note don't read this as sarcasm. I would like to hear your viewpoint in more detail.

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Boomtown: Will you expand the Nemesis feature? For instance making your Nemesis respond more to their origin and the players?

Bill Roper: This is another area we have designs for and will be working on in the near future. One thing we’ve noticed is that while players love making a Nemesis, they aren’t making others to fight. We’re not sure that it’s clear they can, and there are alternate paths through the Nemesis chain, especially if you bring along a team of heroes to help!

What is this about? If we take others with us then we get a different set of nemesis missions? Or when he said "they aren't making others to fight" as in we are not making another nemesis when it is available?

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What is this about? If we take others with us then we get a different set of nemesis missions? Or when he said "they aren't making others to fight" as in we are not making another nemesis when it is available?

sounds like a typo to me

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The interviewer stated that he thinks CO hasn't added to the existing player base but only taken subscribers from CoX & other MMOs. He asks about the future of CO(although he says MMO in general) given that DCUO is coming out. Then again maybe he didn't sidestep. I was re-reading & maybe Roper thinks the future of CO lies in the XBOX not PC.

Myself I don't see the console versions being in competition because, in my opinion, most console owners stick to one or the other. Coupled with needing a subscription for both I don't think the console versions will take subs away from the other. I just thought it was strange that he had an opportunity to talk to the strengths of CO & instead chose to talk about a platform they don't officially support, even if the game was built "from the ground up" for the xbox controller. If they can't get the licensing straightened out with MS then CO on console might go the way of its original form, Marvel Universe Online

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Best thing Bill Roper said in this.


What happens when they make radical changes Only days/hours after they release it that no longer make it what it was. Many Supported the game at one stage.. Bought inot it and paid LT subs for it and then on release day they decided to make radical and game breaking changes... Yes we could have pulled our subs after that but still It was very wrong on their part.... I was seriously looking forward to ST:O... But the BS games they have played at and after release of this Really killed my hopes of being even mildly interested in ST:O Mainly because I expect that Beta will be great and awesome only to be dashed just after release

Also

Just out of curiosity.. Isn't a Post-Mortem something that is done after death.. They really need to rethink what they are calling these little things. Or is this just a glimpse of the future death of this game

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Just out of curiosity.. Isn't a Post-Mortem something that is done after death.. They really need to rethink what they are calling these little things. Or is this just a glimpse of the future death of this game

They explained it. It's gaming company lingo for after beta. I guess it's basically the death of beta as it goes into live. Something like that.

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What is this about? If we take others with us then we get a different set of nemesis missions? Or when he said "they aren't making others to fight" as in we are not making another nemesis when it is available?

I'm baffled by this, too. I am now wondering if I am missing something.
If it's a typo, then what was it supposed to say?

From what I can tell, you can only have one Nemesis at a time and you can't create a new one until you finish off the current one. Am I missing something?