Champions Online

Now that the NDA for Champions Online is lifted, I can mention that I was playing in the Beta for a few months. Here is my overview of the game with a Five Star rating system to indicate how the various aspects play.


MECHANICS
>Energy meter: You have an energy meter in the game. During combat, it can go to maximum, but out of combat, it builds to a specific threshold below maximum. Your first two powers allow you to fire off quick attacks with minor damage to build energy (Energy Building Attacks) and to fire off a more damaging attack that at full charge (how long you keep the key tapped) can substantially hurt, if not kill, a minion. Fortunately, you don't need to keep tapping the energy building attack. Press it once, and it cycles through the attacks until you interrupt it with a larger attack. Finish the larger attack and it goes back to the quick-firing power.
Rating: **** The energy builds quickly in and out of combat. Meaning less waiting around.

>Replenishing Health & Energy: Because energy and health replenish out of combat quickly, there is little down time. Additionally, the energy building up to a specific point (Depending on your stats) means you can enter combat with your larger blasts.
Rating: ***** A great and recent addition to the game that lets you winnow a mob before dealing with the heavy cannons. Great for AOE attacks as well.

>Power-Ups: Enemies also drop power up tokens (but careful, anyone can steal those) for health, energy, defense, damage and random. These help make combat faster moving (without being twitch, before you start whining) and can really save your bacon in longer fights. Sometimes, bosses drop them during combat.
Rating: *** Helpful, but it's a little arcadey in feel. Or at least, until it saves your bacon.

>Block: There is a block button (the Shift key or your icon on the power tray), but rather than making it a random affair, lieutenant-class enemies ("Villains" in the game) and above will display a yellow icon over their heads indicating a nasty attack or a second purple icon indicating an AOE. It could be a hold or a blast that does KB or a stunning attack, or a blow that chews your health, etc. This is when you need the Block Button (though the attacks usually give you a good two seconds to disengage an attack and block). Some charged attacks will also stun opponents, meaning you can interrupt an incoming attack rather than blocking it. If held or stunned, you can also press the "Z" button (the interaction button) to break free faster.
Rating: **** Can be overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes critical to handling really nasty Master Villains.

>Death Mechanic: The game handles death in a relatively non-intrusive way. Throughout the map are respawn point. You pop up there when you die. As you play and continue to survive, you build up stars (seen on your profile picture). The stars improve things like damage, but when you die, you lose a star or "your momentum." You can have up to five stars and regaining them is easy... defeat certain boss-class enemies or complete missions.
Rating: **** No penalties for dying other than losing a bit of momentum and having to run back into the fray.

>Looting: Not all enemies drop loot, but those that do show a silver "!." I believe if you engage an enemy first, only you can loot the body. You can't loot someone else's kill. Drops can include mission collectables, ingredients for crafting, items to improve stats, weapons, and something called Power Enhancers.
Rating: *** Nothing special that we haven't seen in most fantasy games.

>Power Enhancers & Slots: Your character has three main slots for items, and six secondary slots. These are for equipable items. You also have a row of slots for temporary items you can use. They might be mission based, like use this med-pack to heal injured troopers, or it can be an alien or mystical weapon with charges that you can use. I save those for tough fights. Power Enhancers are items that go into one of your three main equipment slots that modify the look and effect of your items. You might be a Single Blade guy, but grab a power enhancer of a specific type and slot it, and you're suddenly wielding a flaming axe. The power enhancer enhances the power visually and it offers side benefits. For example, my munitions guy claimed a revolver as a reward in the Desert zone. The damn thing was on a two minute recharger. When I used it, it killed a gang of minions charging towards me. It damages up to 10 foes in the AOE. Power Enhancers can be
purchased , found or earned.
Rating: *** Based solely on the fact that I loved that overpowered gun... but giving up an equipment slot is hard when they could be boosting stats.

>Crafting: There is an ingame tutorial on crafting, but here's the gist. There are two "level instances" in the game. Instance One is for characters 1-6, and it is the training zone. After that you're giving the option of hitting either Canada or the Desert, but both are slimmed down versions of the full map for characters Level 6-9. There's a crisis in the zone and you are operating in a small part of it. Here is where you receive your craft training, and the first thing you must collect and craft will give you a fighting chance against the Instance Boss at the end (both are in hazardous locations that damage you or sap you).
You have three skills in CO... Arms, Science & Mysticism. Each further breaks down into three specializations that you choose immediately.
The way you level your skills is by: 1) Farming nodes. In zones you'll find weapons crates for Arms, Lockerboxes for Science and Obelisks for Mysticism. These will give you your crafting ingredients, but they only raise the skill by a point. 2) Making items. Crafting items will increase your skill level. But you must go to a crafting table to do it. The map will have "Atlas Globe" icons, showing you where the trainers are. 3) Bar none, the best way to level your crafting skill is by deconstructing items. You'll get as much as a 8 to 10 point boost in crafting by going to a crafting table, dropping items you receive into the crafting window and then deconstructing it. Just bear in mind that you can only deconstruct items marked with your particular skillset (Arms, Science or Mysticism), so hold on to all your trash of that type.
Rating: *** Honestly, with the exception of crafting bags to store more items, I always seem to be beyond the level of the items I'm making. My reward gear is better than what I can craft, though there are some useful things there.

CHARACTER GENERATION
>Classes: There are no classes. Powers have frameworks (Electricity, Fire, Ice, Force, Archery, Gadgeteering, Munitions, Power Armor, Dual Blades, Fighting Claws, Single Blade, Martial Arts, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Might, Darkness, Sorcery, Supernatural, Customized.) , and your ability to gain more powers at specific levels is based on one of two conditions. If you opt to stick within an existing framework, like Munitions or Dual Blades, you can. You gain access to the higher level stuff more quickly. If you opt to grab powers from other frameworks, which happens frequently (My Munitions character will be taking Invulnerability from the tanking set and Quarry from Archery), you will have less early access to higher level powers. For example, at around level 8-10, I was told that I could only pick a certain power if I had 3 Framework-specific powers or 5 Non-Framework powers so long as they didn't build energy.
Rating: ***** The ability to tinker with a character is truly fun, especially when you discover the synergy between certain powers.

>Framework Powers II: When you're given the option to buy a new power, it isn't a narrow choice. At level 5/6, when you leave the training zone, you have choices... normally it's between two AOE attacks, two self-buff powers, a crowd control ability, powers from other frameworks, etc. You must choose from one of about 5 options from your framework alone. So there is plenty of versatility. Honestly, though, I suggest grabbing either a defensive power or an AOE. Both are handy for the following levels.
Rating: ***** Choices? Who doesn't love choices. In the Beta, the training centers after level 5/6 were called the Powerhouses. They look like a giant gear embedded in a platform. The trainers there offered free respecs to try out different powers and then remake your choice. If this option is available, use it to tinker. You'll see what works for you and what doesn't.
HINT: When you leave the first map of beseiged-Millennium City, you'll appear on a helipad. On that helipad is a mini-transporter that will take you straight to the door of the Powerhouse. Use it because until that point, you have no travel power to avoid the mobs.

>Stats and Frameworks: When choosing a power framework, pay attention to which two stats works best for it. Munitions, for example, uses Dexterity and Ego while Electricity requires Recovery and Endurance. This is important to note because from the second mission, less than a minute into the game, you'll receive a stat-boosting item.
Rating: ***** Another level of tinkering that gives you versatility. Will you choose intelligence to give your pets a damage boost; is Endurance the way to go for quick energy returns; or Strength to pick up larger objects like vehicles; or Recovery to boost your natural Energy threshhold? The stas are Constitution, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Ego, Presence, Recovery, Endurance
HINT: Be careful when choosing powers outside your framework, because they might rely on different Stats to be effective. Many people choose powers that share their strongest Stats.

>Roles: As you advance in the game, starting at level 8, you gain access to roles. Roles allow you to choose whether to be Defensive or Offense, Balanced or Support, etc. There's about five options, but you start out as Balanced and gain new roles at various levels. So, for Offense, you gain more damage, but less hit points. Your energy might also bleed off more quickly at rest. For Defensive, your damage goes down, but your hit points and armor go up. You get the idea.
Rating: *** Not sure about this, but it's tricky because some powers are only active in specific roles. It doesn't factor into the earlier levels, but it becomes a concern somewhere around level 12 and up where a power is only available to you in the Balanced or Defensive roles.

>Advantages: Almost every power you buy has 5 points of advantages you can drop into it at specific levels. You gain two advantage points at a time, and a power might have Advantages like (not the official names, btw... I can't remember them at the moment):
Power Blast Level 2 (2 Advantage Points): Increased Damage.
Power Blast Level 3 (2 Advantage Points): Increased Damage.
Energy Return (2 Advantage Points): Your power has a percentage chance of returning power to you.
Critical Strike: (3 Advantage Points): If within 10 feet of an opponent, you strike with 50% more damage.
Advantages might include increased energy returns, improved health or damage, the ability to grab aggro, the ability to fire a second shot at 0 energy cost, the ability for the power to hit surrounding enemies, etc.
You can't exceed the point total of that power, meaning you cannot spend more than 5 points in any one power.
Rating: **** It's an almost frustrating experience because you never have enough Advantage Points for what you want to do, but there is an improvement in your capacity and tinkering for the "perfect result" is fun.

>Super Stats: You'll can purchase super-stats. This is a +13 increase to your stats, making a significant difference in what you can do. By level 12, you will have improved two stats... but you can't improve the same stat.
Rating: ***** Ain't nothing wrong with that!

>Talents: Your stats also improve through Talents, which you gain at various levels. These improvements are between +8 to +10, but spread across one or more stats. So you might have the Mystical Talent, for example, meaning you have +5 Ego and +5 Intelligence.
Rating: **** A good way to either fine-tune your powers or focus on stats that might be too low for your liking but outside your general usage.

>Travel Powers: At first, it seems odd to have so many choices that mimic the same effect. Flight, rocket boots, ice slide, floating rock, hoverdisk and fire flight might appear the same in function (Flying), but they actually have differences in their speed and maneuverability. For example, Ice Slide (which is actually a chunk of ice that leaves a longer energy trail) is less maneuverable (momentum) and always acts like a slow jump with a rise and fall in movement. But when you gain speed, you move quickly. More Rocket Boots is less maneuverable than flight, but it's also faster. Hover Disk gains speed in increments out of combat.
The Travel Powers of interest (for their uniqueness) are:
-Teleport: Rather than blip to a location, because there doesn't seem to be targeted AOE in the game (like City of Heroes that lets you highlight an area of attack), you actually phase out of reality as a glowing orb (think Night Elf death form) and fly rapidly to a location. You reappear every three seconds or so or when you choose to disengage it. The landscape is ghostly, like death in WOW, and you see other living things as ghostly beings. If you're in combat, you can vanish, but when you reappear, you are on a 15 second timer before you can blip out again.
-Swinging: A la the 1960s Spiderman cartoons, you can swing from cloud to cloud. Just hit the jump button to get the swing line launched and remember that you don't have as much horizontal movement as the flight powers.
-Tunneling: Taking a second dig your hole, you can then tunnel beneath the earth. Some objects, like walls, will stop you, but otherwise, it's a blast and one of the least aggro-incurring ground-travel powers.
-Acrobatics: You are faster and can jump higher, and you sometimes backflip on your way to your destination.
Rating: *** I'm torn on the travel powers. Some are cool and some are gimmicky, but you might find yourself surrendering concept for utility. Swinging is nice, but it takes longer to reach somewhere. Acrobatics can be cool, but you run the risk of aggroing mobs on the ground, and man to they aggro easily.

ENVIRONMENT
>No Servers: Areas have instances, like Atlas Park 1 & 2, but the game tells you which instance teammates, supergroup members and friends are playing in. You can also change from one instance to another with a click of a button.
Rating: **** There won't be servers to handle roleplayers, etc, but the ability to play with all your friends is a good thing.

>Public Quests: Taking a page from WAR, there are areas (indicated on the map as three ice-cream looking cones) that have an open event and public quest. Defeat X enemies or this many bosses, gang up on this legendary monster, use this scanner to uncover the zombies, etc. Some of the public quests can be done alone (especially the first couple) while the later ones might need more heroes to take down an adversary.
Rating: *** Interesting, but you have to figure out some things on your own. For Example: In the first Public Quest in the training zone, when you finish it, the three-cone icon appears behind the big cannon, giving you loot for placing well. But the game doesn't tell you that. You have to stumble across it. Second Example: In the Canadian hazard zone (your second zone if you opt for Canada), you must 1) Find lost patrols, but nobody tells you that the blue "!" icons on your map might indicate where they are. 2) On the find the zombie infiltrators portion of the mish, nobody tells you where to collect a zombie scanner (BTW... it's the soldier near the Powerhouse, standing next to the soldier who is kneeling behind a floodlamp). 3) I never found where I could collect my reward on that map. So there's a definite lack of communication that's sorely needed in the public quests.

>Range of Quests: The game has a ton of quest options. Most are outdoors and involve things like escorting people on patrol or escorting them to safety, defeating X number of mobs, finding specific items, healing the injured, using a new weapon against the enemy, etc. Additionally, civilians you save in Millennium City might also run up to you to give you timed missions (instanced indoors). And sometimes the zone will have a default mission that you can pick up by being there... free trapped people from under rubble (and unless you have super-strength, just blast the rubble), help this person or find items scattered in the zone.
Rating: ***** There's a great range of quests, making it more versatile in feel. And even better, the map shows you where you can complete the quest. Just click the quest (on the quest list) and the map will zoom there, or click the area on the mini-map and the quest parameters will appear.
HINT: Some quests that just appear to you might be bugged, in that you can't pick them. If the game won't allow you to click the quest, press "J" for journal. That will show you your current quests. At the bottom left of the journal window is something called "Crime Computer." The mission will appear there when you click it.

Aggro Range: The aggro range in Champions is a problem. Get into a fight, and you might get swarmed by nearby mobs. Luckily, you can kill minions quickly, but I've been in fights where I attacked one mob and three more mobs jumped me. It's worse when you're on teams because the AI adapts and minions start running to grab reinforcements. Even some powers like Assault Rifle have such long ranges that I've often hit my target and the four mobs standing behind him in the distance! This is where ground travel powers are a problem, because imagine mobs with good aggro range and being relatively close together as you try to move by them (though I haven't tried Super Speed yet). Worse, because you can move while attacking with energy building powers and with block, you can easily wander into the aggro range of other mobs during combat.
Rating: ** The aggro range can be funny, but I've died too often near my quest object, and the relatively quick respawn times means that you might have to start over again (fighting your way to the object). Just be aware this might be a problem.
FUNNY STORY: An electric based character took the uber-blast, Gigawatt, along with advantages and buffs that caused a good chance for chain lightning effects. He wanted to be an AOE monster. Unfortunately, the power worked too well and he ended up by pissing off two city blocks worth of enemies as the lightning chained off objects and enemies.

Targeting and Objects: You're better off manually targeting during the game, because the tab targeting can be wonky. Luckily, tab does not cycle through the many objects that can be picked up and thrown, or destroyed, but you can accidently click target an item. That said, you can also pick up and throw items, but don't do that during combat. If you have Super Strength, you can grab vehicles and large objects and throw them too for some nice damage.
Rating: ** The targeting system needs refinement, but it was only a deal breaker in one fight where the boss was so small that I had to cycle through a dozen enemies wailing on me to see the guy.

OVERALL
Rating 4/5
Champions Online is a fun game. More run & gun style without penalizing you for lower reflexes, a variety of effects to make you feel like you're a part of the environment, and the graphics are actually nice. Cartoony, but somehow the screenshots don't do it justice. The cut scenes and dialogs are a touch overacted in the Golden/Silver Age style, but again, it's part of the genre. The Costume editor is fantastic, giving you far more creative control on your creations, and the rules will have you tweaking your character constantly. The game does need some extra polish, but otherwise, I think it's a strong product. Just don't be surprised if launch isn't filled with opening night bugs.