Morning Discussion

Another Wednesday. I began, as always, by setting out for a quick run. As the morning sun warmed my deeply bronzed skin, I chortled at the innocence of children playing with a hoop and stick in the street under the watchful eye of their dear nan. Around the six-mile mark a dog scampered up alongside me and began yapping hellos, but I was having none of that and punted the mongrel into a giant topiary rooster. Ah, to be alive! The sun, the sky, the earth, you, me, the sheer joy of existence! And certainly no parcels.

The flood from Gamescom continues today, helpfully categorised for your convenience. Be careful not to miss Chris's interview with id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead, mind.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 19, 2009 7:02 AM

    Let's continue the Champions Online talk here.

    Fighting in Canada is awful.
    There are 800 Hulk characters.
    Defender won't STFU.
    Open Beta is shortened by a day.

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      August 19, 2009 7:05 AM

      Can some people who are in the beta give me some impressions? Having fun? Any huge upsides compared to other MMO's? How many types of content are there? (Like PvE missions, dungeons, open PvP, instanced PvP?) Are you having fun? Do you intend to buy?

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        August 19, 2009 7:09 AM

        It's got some charm. You get travel ability really early, which is nice. It does have "open missions" like WAR, which is pretty cool.

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          August 19, 2009 7:13 AM

          yeah I was surprised to see the public missions. good addition.

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            August 19, 2009 7:13 AM

            i havent figured out how to do the canadian one yet

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          August 19, 2009 7:14 AM

          haha the travel ability at level 5 is awesome! i dont have to walk 20 minutes across the map like in other MMOs and can zip in and zip out. real nice

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            August 19, 2009 7:17 AM

            Yeah, one of the things that bugged me about CoH, took a week or two (of moderate grinding, mind you) to get travel powers, they added "mini" travel powers at the end like the jetpack that you could use earlier. But it was already too late.

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              August 19, 2009 8:58 AM

              All of the travel powers are available at the beginning. You can upgrade your power as levels go on but they are all available immediately.

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                August 19, 2009 9:49 AM

                i think you get your point at level 5 but you can't get your travel power till youre out of the tutorial world

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                  August 19, 2009 1:23 PM

                  I meant at the beginning when you can first select them. My wording was weird

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          August 19, 2009 7:21 AM

          It appears that many missions in general are somewhat "open". For instance, if you have to kill a big baddie, you can help kill him and get credit without formally being in a group with the other people.

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        August 19, 2009 7:32 AM

        Any word on soloing?

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          August 19, 2009 7:36 AM

          I solo'd to 10 last night without any problem but I'm sure going forward that there will be things a group is needed for.

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            August 19, 2009 9:50 AM

            i solo'd till 9 or 10 as well. only had a problem with the first instance where i wish there were 2 people playing :(

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        August 19, 2009 12:39 PM

        I didn't even get out of the tutorial mission before I uninstalled.

        It feels just as boring and poorly optimized as CoH always did.

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      August 19, 2009 7:12 AM

      since it's open i'm gonna post some stuff i saw last night

      So Raiden and Samus walked into a bar...
      http://three.mirror.waffleimages.com/files/15/151a807a344c8a7f5c4eeef6526545a4d5677646.jpg

      2 shots of my character
      http://dradis.mirror.waffleimages.com/files/ee/ee9c3019f10426aa4142e8d983ff5e2cbd1b2c2a.jpg

      http://duckbar.mirror.waffleimages.com/files/be/bee07745db5c12511dd10d24b2d63d9b597e4951.jpg

      I'm having fun but i don't think i'm going to buy it when it comes out. it's too choppy on my system and it doesn't feel ready for release. it takes a long time to bring up the menu to change to a new server when changing zones and doesn't give feedback so you just keep clicking and wondering wtf. also it does not help you at all figure out wtf is going on with the professions.

      anyways i'll continue to play the open beta and maybe when i get bored in a year or 2 and CO client is on for cheap i might give it a try

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        August 19, 2009 7:13 AM

        shit sorry looks like you need to dragon drop those... never used that service before

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        August 19, 2009 7:15 AM

        what the hell is going on with the character glow? that looks so horrible. it's like they're lit completely separate from the scene.

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        August 19, 2009 7:16 AM

        How did you get the character profile image from the website? I thought that didn't work in open beta.

        Also did you use Fraps for those screenshots? Couldn't find the sshot button :(

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          August 19, 2009 7:20 AM

          The little comic book character image should be generated automagically in your screenshots directory.

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          August 19, 2009 9:56 AM

          print screen and it shows up in the screenshots folder

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        August 19, 2009 7:20 AM

        So, dude... do you get a chance to train up after all the levels I got after you pick canada or the desert at the end of the training scenario?

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          August 19, 2009 7:22 AM

          Yep you get your skills and travel form once you get out of the tutorial

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          August 19, 2009 7:25 AM

          Yes, you can go to get trained immediately after you finish the training scenario. As a bonus, training is free. You can also train and untrain your new abilities as many times as you like for free, until you leave the training area. Yay for trying out new abilities before you decide to keep them!

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            August 19, 2009 7:36 AM

            Where? I come out of the last mission , walk down the promenade with all the soldiers at attention, then see the 2 people at the end... are they the trainers?

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              August 19, 2009 7:37 AM

              Ok, you have to do that and go on to either Canada or the desert. Once you get there you can get trained.

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              August 19, 2009 7:38 AM

              Go back up to the place where you got off of the helicopter. There is a teleporter pad. Stand on it and use it. Then you are at a Stargate looking thing. Walk forward to that and use that to enter the POWERHOUSE! and talk to a trainer

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              August 19, 2009 7:39 AM

              no, you just talk to them and decide where you go next and then go down to the helicopters. once you get to your new location you can train.

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      August 19, 2009 7:18 AM

      Any place still giving out keys for it?

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      August 19, 2009 7:28 AM

      i have to queue up the download on fp when i get home :(

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        August 19, 2009 7:32 AM

        this is what logmein is for maulla!

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      August 19, 2009 7:32 AM

      I'm having a good time with it so far, just got to Canada. I'm really digging the art style, and the combat seems much more "real time" than City of Heroes ever did. You can circle strafe a mob while channeling spells, while your 'charge' spells react somewhat similar to a WoW spell with a cast time (although obviously not the same).

      My main problem (and judging from others too) is the performance (or lack thereof). It runs REALLY chopping on medium/high & high settings. Feels like they have some optimizing to do, I'm currently on a e6750 duel core, 8800GT's in SLI, 2gb of memory and although I can't see FPS - I would guess it's bouncing from 10-30.

      The level up, upgrades, skill path, etc are VERY confusing - even from someone coming from City of Heroes and WoW. I just can't seem to figure out wtf does what, where it goes, what is the best for my character, etc. I'm thinking they need to explain it a bit more or give a better tutorial, cause I'm lost.

      I've only played around with the Force powers (I'm hoping to be a support role, similar to the Controller in City of Heroes) so far, going to try and start a new character tonight.

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        August 19, 2009 8:27 AM

        Also, I thought the first boss battle (super villian) to get out of the training area was pretty cool, and definitely a step up from City of Heroes bosses.

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      August 19, 2009 7:35 AM

      If I preorder and thus get access to the OB, can I avoid dealing with fileplanet entirely?

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        August 19, 2009 7:41 AM

        If you preorder from retail, I believe they are done giving out beta keys. My friend (huge city of heroes fan) preordered it a long time ago, and Gamestop said they will not be giving out beta keys due to the fact that they had more preorders than there are beta keys available.

        :(

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      August 19, 2009 7:36 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 19, 2009 7:50 AM

      Power Sets: http://champions-online.com/power_sets

      Not a complete list, but gives a good idea of some of the powers/abilites/moves for each class.

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      August 19, 2009 8:22 AM

      Is it bad that I just want this for the character creator? :(

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        August 19, 2009 8:27 AM

        Hopefully they release it separately like they did with CoH

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          August 19, 2009 10:43 AM

          Did they really? I didn't know that.

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            August 19, 2009 11:16 AM

            I think it was some weird thing they did for an asian release. It wasn't an official N.American deal. And I'm fairly sure it was never kept up with the game, which had plenty of updates.

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      August 19, 2009 8:57 AM

      It still just feels like CoH, just with some improvements. Part of the issue I have with these types of MMO's, is I like my character to change in look as they progress in power/levels, and you don't really get that in super hero MMO's.

      Outside of my normal powers, I'm still confused on what does what, and if I should be using it. I'll play it some more tonight, but I think Aion will be getting my money and play time.

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        August 19, 2009 8:58 AM

        Outside of my normal powers, I'm still confused on what does what, and if I should be using it.

        What do you mean?

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          August 19, 2009 1:00 PM

          I meant the perks/abilities or whatever they are that I chose after choosing my first new power. Powers I get, but I can't remember what my classes core stats I need to focus on, what determines where those item stat buff things go. If I'm Mysticism, does that mean the other stat things like Arms no longer actually function, even though they remain in place.

          Why did my Mysticism items suddenly turn red when I chose Mysticism as my path? wtf does that indicate, that they no longer work, or just those work, or wtf it just wasn't clear.

          Those bubbles that pop up when doing things, I think they were called perks. Are those micro achievements or do they add things to your character?

          I'm sure comparing stats to what they are and what they should be, would be helpful but I'm at work and just going off of what I remember from my playthrough last night.

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            August 19, 2009 5:15 PM

            I'll answer what I can, in my sleep deprived state. Take it with a grain of salt, I haven't been playing long either.

            As far as stats go, I just focused mainly on the two stats that were higher with the initial stat skill that comes with the power set, except when it seems pretty clear that i need more of something, like energy. Endurance gives you a larger pool to work with it to work with and recovery(not sure if I am remembering that one right) makes that equilibrium point your energy returns to higher. This seems to work ok so far at least.

            As far as the items go, I didn't notice mine turning red when I chose my crafting area, but regardless, you can use the other types. It is just that if you no longer need an item from your crafting skill, you can do research on it in the crafting area. This will break down the item and get you quite a lot of crafting materials from most items and most of the time raise your crafting skill. I am not sure what goes into determining how good an item is for research, but some work better than others and get better results.

            The perks are kind of like achievements from what I can see, and the generally unlock new titles for your hero, but also, some (I assume higher level or more involved) unlock costume pieces or gadgets that you can get from a vendor in the city. I didn't have any unlocked, so I can't say what they are like.

            hope that helps and isn't too incoherent

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        August 19, 2009 8:59 AM

        your appearance doesn't change with gear or whatever?

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          August 19, 2009 9:02 AM

          Sadly not. You can change your costume for a small fee, however.

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            August 19, 2009 9:03 AM

            pancake how could you possibly think i'd like this game. sounds terrible

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              August 19, 2009 9:07 AM

              Superheroe's are all about their costumes recognizeability, they tend not to change very much (with the exception of tech based heroes) in comic book history, well, up until recently that is.

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              August 19, 2009 9:10 AM

              Superheroes don't change their costume. It makes sense in the game type.

              Trust me I am not a fan of this because I like the visual feedback of armor changes but it makes complete sense.

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            August 19, 2009 9:11 AM

            In Champions Online I noticed some degree of unlockable costume stuff though which I did not really see in my trials in CoH. You can for example change the way the guns or swords look on some chars, after you get unlockable costume parts from certain mobs / missions.

            My brother's cybernetic angel for example now uses engergy spikes rather than the normal claws for his attacks. I also saw a big demon looking hero wielding quite large axes rather than swords for the dual weapon style, which -needless to say- looked really awesome.

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              August 19, 2009 9:16 AM

              That's cool, they did try adding some of that kind of stuff later in CoH's lifetime, but it sounds like it was done better here.

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              August 19, 2009 10:30 AM

              Do you know what those items are called? Is that what Power Replace items are?

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                August 19, 2009 10:36 AM

                My brother said that when visiting the Taylor (where you can customize your character after the character creation) he just had the different claws to choose from suddenly.
                Only thing I saw personally pertaining powers, is an alien gun replacement for some gun weapon I found off an alien in the tutorial, don't know how the item type was called, sorry.

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          August 19, 2009 9:15 AM

          Once you reached a certain level in CoH, you were able to add on more auras and glows and stuff, but since there isn't any gear - your costume doesn't change as you level no.

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          August 19, 2009 12:17 PM

          i dont understand what most of the gear even is.

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            August 19, 2009 12:54 PM

            I wish I understood how the stats improve my performance and powers.

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              August 19, 2009 12:55 PM

              seriously, they confused the shit out of me with all the upgrades, slots, etc. i have no idea what is good for me.

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        August 19, 2009 4:38 PM

        So, no item drops? No lewtz?

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      August 19, 2009 9:10 AM

      Somebody tell me about professions?

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        August 19, 2009 9:13 AM

        I made a belt with four pouches!

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          August 19, 2009 2:30 PM

          No really, what's this about glows and stuff.

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      August 19, 2009 9:13 AM

      how in the hell do you open two different bags at once?

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      August 19, 2009 10:14 AM

      [deleted]

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        August 19, 2009 1:16 PM

        I was going to download the client again and give it another run last night but it was like 10GB and I said fuk it! Stupid me didn't set it to download before I came to work today either :(

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      August 19, 2009 1:13 PM

      I've been playing as Munitions or better known in game as Lara Croft'n

      it's better then CoH.
      It's not as fleshed out as WoW is (obviously)
      It's pretty reactive wise when you do commands (better then most MMOs)
      Being able to edit my appearance at any time.

      Haven't PVP'd yet
      I hate the COH xp bar, just give me numbers.
      Is there any death penalty? I don't know i think your stars get reduced no idea what they do..
      I really don't care to much for the Lore.

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        August 19, 2009 1:17 PM

        That reminds me, does the new "block" ability basically just negate a % of incoming attacks? That was new to me.

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          August 19, 2009 1:22 PM

          I think it tells you how much it blocks. Honestly i keep forgetting its there. I'm sure one of the stats raise it too.

          I'm all confused with stats, and just trying to stack the 2 mentioned on the create a char screen

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            August 19, 2009 4:07 PM

            I do like the active block thing.

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              August 19, 2009 4:35 PM

              and it is very effective. my favorite part of the few pvp matches I did with my tank was when i finally stopped trying to chase people down and started trying to get the enemy team to focus on me. Amazing how long you can last with block up even without anyone throwing heals.

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        August 19, 2009 4:32 PM

        I only did a couple matches at level 10 or so, but it seemed to have problems with unbalanced powers like most mmo's seem to at lower levels. In this case, it was having travel powers early, without many counters to speak of at that level.

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      August 19, 2009 4:15 PM

      damnit pancake humper, I'm telling you, this fucking hiker will not spawn >:(

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        August 19, 2009 4:23 PM

        Which quest are you doing? There is one hiker quest that is broken. The one you need to find 'the clone' or some shit.

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          August 19, 2009 4:26 PM

          it's called Hikers Horror and you have to find the five lost hikers. I have 4 out of 5 now but this last one just wont show up. :(

          and I got the quest where you have to protect the clone last night and the bastard would never spawn either. I finished that one a little while ago though.

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      August 19, 2009 4:59 PM

      I got some new equipment that changes my guns for munitions, yet when I try to use my primary energy build attack with those weapons equipped it ceases to toggle and it becomes just a single fire.

      This is extremely annoying as I have to go click click click instead of just tapping 1 once, is this how they are supposed to work?

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