Champions Online

[BentonGrey]

So, here's a question for those more experienced than myself.  I've just picked a very nice gladius that has a flame effect and adds to my damage...HOWEVER, I rather like using a longsword with The Rogue.  How can I change the type of weapon?  I've tried going into the tailor and fiddling with the "weapon" tab, but even though I have longsword selected, my weapon still shows up as the gladius.  I also have tried to mess with the unlocked tab at the end, but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do with it.

[Reepicheep]

I hate Gadroon.

[UnkoMan]

I think that, as long as you have a power replacer, your weapon is replaced? Correct me if I am wrong, since I haven't used a single one yet (I only get them on characters who don't use that particular weapon). But if you choose not to use the replacer you still unlock the look of that replacer for that character.

Or something silly like that, right? That is what I recall seeing on the CO forums.

[BlueBard]

I remember seeing a post that left me with the impression that the look and effects of the power replacers were flexible.  As in, you could use the look or not and use the replacer or not, in any combination.

I do not recall what the mechanism for doing that was.

[BlueBard]

Okay, the answer to this question may very well determine whether or not I get CO any time in the near future...

Do they have archer's caps as costume pieces?  (A la Errol Flynn's Robin Hood)

[Nymie_the_Pooh]

It looks like the closest is perhaps the Cadet Hat or possibly the rounded cap.  The rounded cap is basically just a flat oval on top of the head so may not work.  Here is a screenie of a female with the Cadet Hat.  It's not the same really, but if I squint my eyes and tilt my head to the left... it looks kind of like someone put the Joker's mouth on top of her head.  



Edit: I feel I should probably mention that there are a couple of quivers available as options to wear on one's back.

[BentonGrey]

I remember seeing a post that left me with the impression that the look and effects of the power replacers were flexible.  As in, you could use the look or not and use the replacer or not, in any combination.

I do not recall what the mechanism for doing that was.

I had heard something similar.  If that isn't true, they pretty much lied about it.  I'll have to check the official forums later.

[Alaric]

I remember seeing a post that left me with the impression that the look and effects of the power replacers were flexible.  As in, you could use the look or not and use the replacer or not, in any combination.

I do not recall what the mechanism for doing that was.

I had heard something similar.  If that isn't true, they pretty much lied about it.  I'll have to check the official forums later.

I distinctly recall doing that during Beta- taking the radioactive (or toxic, I forget which) axe, but keeping the broadsword as the weapon's appearance. My recollection is that I did it simply by selecting the sword at the tailor's. If so, though, it doesn't seem to be working now. Might be a similar thing to the way cape insides and outsides being different was working in Beta, but not now...

[BlueBard]

It looks like the closest is perhaps the Cadet Hat or possibly the rounded cap.  The rounded cap is basically just a flat oval on top of the head so may not work.  Here is a screenie of a female with the Cadet Hat.  It's not the same really, but if I squint my eyes and tilt my head to the left... it looks kind of like someone put the Joker's mouth on top of her head. 

Edit: I feel I should probably mention that there are a couple of quivers available as options to wear on one's back.

Thanks for the info.  That's... not what I was looking for.  I wanted the cap, no need of a quiver for what I had in mind.  Good to know, though.

[BlueBard]

Sadly, none of my computers are up to this particular challenge.  I'll be on the sidelines for CO for quite some time...

[BentonGrey]

Sadly, none of my computers are up to this particular challenge.  I'll be on the sidelines for CO for quite some time...

Sorry to hear that BB, you will be missed!

[UnfluffyBunny]

new patch times..... 11am-1pm gmt -_- GG sirs... GG

[Carravaggio]

which is 9-11 pm for me, prime playing time. Good thing this is a family board or I might have a few choice words to describe my predicament.

[UnfluffyBunny]

it's the time i'd usually sit down before going to work, not that i've been to work much over the last 2 weeks >_> (about to go get my 3rd B12 inkection this week, oh joys -_-)

[GhostMachine]

Maybe they should rename the game Maintenance Online....

[UnfluffyBunny]

or champions offline? >_>

[detourne_me]

I know.... Oh well,  I got a lot of progress in Batman Arham Asylum!
Now off to a punk show for me!

[Blkcasanova247]

or champions offline? >_>

I think Champions "Offline" would be great! A single player "RPG" mode would have been awesome.

[BentonGrey]

You know what I wish?  I wish that we had some sub-division of areas to give us a better sense of actually changing the world.  That's one of the things I've always HATED about online games, no matter how many bad-guys you smash, there are always the same number wandering around.  No matter how many times you thwart Viper's plans, nothing in the world changes.  They are still wondering around.  No matter how many times you catch those inmates, that darn prison just keeps rioting!  

I'd love to see the areas change every half dozen levels or so.  So, by the time you're finishing the quests in an area, you are funneled into a new map that reflects the changes you've made.  This would be shared with other people of your level, of course, but you'd actually be able to see Millenium City's streets a little safer, or the Viper presence in the Desert broken, or perhaps even the Hunter-Patriots in Canada routed.  They already are sending us back to many of these areas at a higher level, so why not split them into two separate versions, one pre-hero, one post-hero?  I'd really enjoy that.  I like teaching those Purple Gang creeps a lesson....I just wish it was a lesson that stuck.

On another note, I'm really enjoying Snake Gultch.  All of the Blad Runner references are hilarious!  Those robot cowboys are TOUGH though, and they travel in packs.  I was getting my backside handed to me before Court. came along and bailed me out.  I like the fact that you can have multiple things to do in multiple zones at the same level, and I hope that they'll continue to expand that, especially as they add zones. 

[Alaric]

You know what I wish?  I wish that we had some sub-division of areas to give us a better sense of actually changing the world.  That's one of the things I've always HATED about online games, no matter how many bad-guys you smash, there are always the same number wandering around.  No matter how many times you thwart Viper's plans, nothing in the world changes.  They are still wondering around.  No matter how many times you catch those inmates, that darn prison just keeps rioting!  

I'd love to see the areas change every half dozen levels or so.  So, by the time you're finishing the quests in an area, you are funneled into a new map that reflects the changes you've made.  This would be shared with other people of your level, of course, but you'd actually be able to see Millenium City's streets a little safer, or the Viper presence in the Desert broken, or perhaps even the Hunter-Patriots in Canada routed.  They already are sending us back to many of these areas at a higher level, so why not split them into two separate versions, one pre-hero, one post-hero?  I'd really enjoy that.  I like teaching those Purple Gang creeps a lesson....I just wish it was a lesson that stuck.

In all fairness, the 'crisis zone" system used by CO comes closer to doing that than anything I've heard of in any other game. For Millennium City, the crisis zone version is actually the tutorial- we get to see how our efforts fighting the Qularr have allowed the city to go back to normal, once we reach the non-crisis version.

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, and I like that, but the concept should be expanded.  You don't necessarily need a crisis to be able to do that.

[BlueBard]

Yeah, and I like that, but the concept should be expanded.  You don't necessarily need a crisis to be able to do that.

There are major flaws in that notion that are not easily solved... you'd have to maintain a separate "public" instance of the same city zone for every combination of missions completed.  That's a lot of resources to keep track of.

Even assuming you can work around that, there's the social issue of what to do with teams where some of the heroes have completed the missions and some have not.

Not saying they couldn't do it, but I doubt the return would be worth the investment.

[BlueBard]

Yeah, and I like that, but the concept should be expanded.  You don't necessarily need a crisis to be able to do that.

There are major flaws in that notion that are not easily solved... you'd have to maintain a separate "public" instance of the same city zone for every combination of missions completed.  That's a lot of resources to keep track of.

Even assuming you can work around that, there's the social issue of what to do with teams where some of the heroes have completed the missions and some have not.

Not saying they couldn't do it, but I doubt the return would be worth the investment.

Perhaps a better way of handling it would be something like the war zones in CoX.  Every completed mission generates a "score" for the heroes.  Since there are no player villains in CO yet, they'd have to randomly generate a score for the villains.  If the heroes are ahead in score in the Desert, then there would be fewer Vipers running around (but maybe more of another mob type) and possibly other changes.

You could get the illusion of progress in the never-ending war against evil, at least temporarily.

The downside, of course, is that heroes running around trying to fight Viper mobs don't have as many to pick from...

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, and I like that, but the concept should be expanded.  You don't necessarily need a crisis to be able to do that.

There are major flaws in that notion that are not easily solved... you'd have to maintain a separate "public" instance of the same city zone for every combination of missions completed.  That's a lot of resources to keep track of.

Even assuming you can work around that, there's the social issue of what to do with teams where some of the heroes have completed the missions and some have not.

Not saying they couldn't do it, but I doubt the return would be worth the investment.

Perhaps a better way of handling it would be something like the war zones in CoX.  Every completed mission generates a "score" for the heroes.  Since there are no player villains in CO yet, they'd have to randomly generate a score for the villains.  If the heroes are ahead in score in the Desert, then there would be fewer Vipers running around (but maybe more of another mob type) and possibly other changes.

You could get the illusion of progress in the never-ending war against evil, at least temporarily.

The downside, of course, is that heroes running around trying to fight Viper mobs don't have as many to pick from...

Well, I think you've misunderstood what I'm going for, BB.  I know that it would be a nightmare to try and track every combination of missions and the like, instead I was suggesting more of a tiered progression of areas, much like the Crisis system, but more open.  So, depending on your level, you automatically get sent to one of two different builds of a zone.  We can assume that, because we are moving in a world full of heroes, that progress is being made, even when you aren't physically present.  Other heroes may have cleaned up the Purple Gang if you didn't get to them.  To get past the problem of outgrowing quests or separating teams, you could simply allow players to chose to go back down to the pre-hero version of the zone.  So, once you're around level, ohh, 20 something in MC, the gangs have mostly had their backs broken, or whatever.  If you make the system relatively porus, there isn't any downside for players, although it is admittedly more work for the devs.  The benefit of this for them would be that it would give them SPACE to create new content on a budget, as it were.  One of the things they've said is that they have a hard time adding in new missions because the map is crowded as it is.  Think about it, they could just delete the Purple Gang spawns, add in a more sparesely populated, cleaner, but more deadly set of quests, and *BAM*, zone progress.

[UnkoMan]

There was an MMO I was following some time back that was going to be "pulp" themed. I believe they were going to be set up a bit like Guild Wars. A few spots for the loads of players to gather, then large areas where you and your party would travel the country side, and find even more instanced missions from there. They would have key quests (defeat an ancient mummy or fend off terrorist hordes) that would cause all the instanced areas to change. Also, you'd open up new group areas and whatnot. They were really focused on building a world that seemed to constantly be evolving with your character.

Ultimately it got canceled, however. They just didn't have the funds. Still, it seemed very very interesting. More like a single player campaign that you happen to play online.

I see where Bent is going, though, and it's a neat idea. And how come people need to be able to play with each other at so many different levels? You can't go back to the tutorial or original crisis zones. Why not make the city loose a bunch of lower level mobs/missions and replace them with newer, higher powered villains? And heck, if you can switch back then even better, though it totally ruins immersion.

Or, uh... Whatever. It's a rad thing to look into, but I doubt it would happen in an already existing game.

[Lionheart]

In all fairness, the 'crisis zone" system used by CO comes closer to doing that than anything I've heard of in any other game. For Millennium City, the crisis zone version is actually the tutorial- we get to see how our efforts fighting the Qularr have allowed the city to go back to normal, once we reach the non-crisis version.

LOTRO does this with their starter zones. The starter zones are instanced; when you complete the starter areas (used to be around level 6, now it's around level 8 with the adjusted XP curve), the zones are changed based on the instanced events when you enter the "real" world.

It's cool to see another game pick up on this idea. 

[BentonGrey]

That sounds quite awesome, Unko.  It's a shame it didn't make it.  So what if moving down the zone scale ruins immersion, so does your average conversation with another player.  That's why it's a matter of choice, rather than necessity.

Hey, can anyone tell me how you can tweak the visuals for Fire Flight?

[UnkoMan]

If you mean the colour it's the same as with any power. Push P, then change the little box beside the power to whatever colour you want.
If you mean something else then I know nothing, I hear nothing, I see nothing!

[GhostMachine]

Its too bad the power color slider doesn't have black as an option.

I have an Ice hero and didn't care for Ice Slide, since it doesn't stay airborne when you quit moving, so I dropped it and took Fire Flight instead and recolored it so it looks more like an ice aura.

[Xenolith]

I'm pretty sure I read they were going to bring black and white into the mix as color slider options.