Yesterday saw the launch of Champions Online, and the previous four days were the early head start. I haven’t posted for a bit for two reasons: playing CO in every free moment, and I was sick. So, I was playing a lot of CO. With the extra playtime I’ve gained quite a few levels — sitting at 28 right now — and had the opportunity to see quite a few things. Like Monster Island and Nemesis creation. Yay. (there is enthusiasm there, really!)
I’ll start off with the Nemesis:
In Champions Online, there comes a time when every superhero grows up. They’ve fought their share of street thugs, mutants and ice zombies — they’re ready for something bigger. In comes their Nemesis. At level 25 players are able to stop by the Millennium City Police Department (it’s not on the map, for directions: it’s north of City Hall and a bit east I think, run around till you see vendor symbols appear on your mini-map) and get a mission to input their Nemesis into the MCPD’s database. This works similarly to character creation, with a few differences: you only select a powerset for the Nemesis to use — no custom frameworks, you choose a minion type — there’s around ten or so choices, a basic powerset for the minions, a personality type for the Nemesis — there’s three choices here — Mastermind (Dr. Destroyer), Savage (Grond), and a comedic-type based on Foxbat.
After crafting your Nemesis you’ll receive the first Nemesis quest, one that will introduce the villain to the game in a wonderfully evil fashion (at least for mine). After this mission you’ll begin to notice the changes that Nemesis bring to the game, like having minions attack you at any time — any where! I’m sure some people will see this as a nuisance, especially when you’re already fighting a group of baddies, but it is quite cool and fun. During these random attacks you’ll occasionally find clues that will open up more Nemesis missions. So far, I’ve gotten two — both took place in the open world. Yup, my Nemesis’ minions were up to nefarious acts right where anyone could see them — including the middle of the atomic wasteland in the desert (sorry to any lowbies that might have been killed by them!). The system really adds to the detail of the world and to help draw you into it. Not only are you solving problems caused by criminals already in the game world, now you have to put a stop to one of your own creation!
To add even more cool stuffs to the Nemesis system, there’s Nemesis vendors! More stuff for you to want and more stuff to work towards.
Monster Island:
At level 28 you’re given a quest — a level 30 quest — to venture to Monster Island. The island is for levels 30+ and has lots of baddies to face — namely robotic/cloned/alien?/dinosaurs, Manimals, Viper, and more. To get there you must first pass an instance which will set up the story for the island. I did this with one other level 28 character and we were able to do it pretty easily. I really want to talk about it… but I think it’ll spoil the fun — just trust me when I say it’s pretty epic. It was a bit buggy, though. After completing the instance, though, you’ll be able to freely access Monster Island through the jet transport.
I can’t say much else about the island as I’m not quite high enough to really tackle it, but I will say that it’s quite large. I really want to see Lemuria too, but I’m not sure when we gain access to that. It may be higher/max levels.
As for anything else… I might have some knowledge to share. Crafting will get it’s own post, so that’ll happen later. For now — gameplay.
There was a recent nerf to defenses yesterday, anyone who keeps up with the game will have heard about it — or heard the complaints (from outer space, it’s said). The game is still quite solo’able — just yesterday I solo’d two even-con quests that were recommended for duos, and I did it quite easily. The solution is simple: build and play smartly.
CO is laid out in a way that easily shows varying degrees of difficulty. You know when a quest is going to be harder than normal. You know what mobs are harder than others. You can see their groups. The only challenge is how you pick them apart. Being primarily Telekinesis I have a strong melee focused DPS/Tanking build. I can do a bit of AoE and cone damage, and I get a decent hold. Then throw in a couple self heals from Telepathy and Supernatural. What I’ve found, and what’s worked for me, is that solo’ing is about diversifying. You want to be able to handle anything thrown at you. You need to play defense, offense, and support — all at the same time. Before the defense nerf you didn’t really have to do much support, you could tank and gank your way through most things, but it’s different now. I recommend getting at least one hold — a single target and an AoE would be great — just to help out on harder missions. Often, the only targets that can’t be held are Super Villains, but most of their minions can — even Master Villains. Make good use of holds and you can quickly turn a fight. Blocking is also very important — even if you’re not the tank, learn how to do it properly. Blocking does not only lower incoming damage, it’ll also block roots and holds. Lastly, pick your opponents. I’ve found it’s best to always take out the smaller guys first — Henchmen usually die quickly, anyway. In some cases though, such as Lancers, you will need to know what your opponents can do and what might hurt you most. Having an enemy that likes to use holds then blast you is a serious threat — take them out quickly (one such opponent that comes to mind is the Ice Shaman in the early Canada zones, they like to freeze you then shatter it — dealing large damage and a knockback). For the numerous smaller targets, having an AoE is very nice — for the stronger single, a strong single attack… Pretty simple.
A diverse character will prove useful to the average solo’er, but remember that it might not be best for groups. You can handle anything, but not exceptionally well. Thankfully it seems Cryptic has added in full retconning! It’ll just cost your characters arms, legs, and torso to do so.
Along with the full retconning, we have the next event and first content patch on the horizon — Blood Moon! There’s a page for it over at the CO site, it’s worth checking out. Zombie PvP and the Celestial powerset are the highlights for me, but I really want to see the battles against the dead heroes from the battle of Detroit too.
