Champions Online interview with Bill Roper

Much like our interview on Star Trek Online, this was done back in December.  We were lucky enough to sit down with Bill Roper to answer some questions about the launch of Champions Online and the future of the game.

Question: Why has Cryptic taken an approach of admitting errors or issues with Champions Online, whereas other companies are content with stonewalling and ignoring player feedback?

We should be able to admit and learn from our mistakes as well as acknowledge and learn from our successes. I don’t know why other companies don’t do this, but it’s all a part of our efforts to stay very connected to our community and be as transparent as possible.

Question: With so many players reaching the level cap, do you feel there is enough content to keep them entertained?

We’ve just added huge new 5-player lair that combines the UNITY and Nemesis systems called Nemesis Confrontation. We’re also adding in some new high-level crafting recipes that are going to make some never-before-seen types of devices. As time goes on, we’ll keep adding more and more to both the 1-40 and end-game content of the game.

Question: Can players expect new power types as time passes?

Right now we’re focused on addressing issues with the current power sets, and then we’ll move back to adding new powers. We know that the power system is the core of the game so we’re putting al ot of time into making it as good as we can.

Question: Will there be Headquarters or a similar type of setup for Supergroups to have as their own space in the future?

We definitely want to create headquarters for both individual heroes and supergroups in the future. We’ve got some designs on the drawing board on how we’d approach this, but we want it to be a great system with progression and rewards as opposed to just a fancy personal bank. We don’t have a timeline for this, but it is a desire of ours.

Question: How has flexibility of the Champions Online powers system impacted the player base as a whole?

It is admittedly a complex system, so some players love it and others struggle with it. We’ve been going through all the powers in the game, working to make them accurate in descriptions and easier to understand and use on the whole. Our recent passes on the Archery and Sorcery sets have been very well received by the community, and we’re currently moving on to the Gadgeteering set.

Question: At this point in time, how often can players expect to see substantial content updates?

We’ve been pushing to always have something just around the corner for our players, so I suppose that depends on your definition of substantial. We’re have a very large update scheduled for the first part of next year, but we’re going to continue making new game playt systems and content available as quickly as we can create it and properly test it.

Question: What has the reception to micro-transactions been in Champions Online?

Quite good! We’ve had a lot of support recently where players are telling us they want more of the in-game un-lockable items available in the C-Store. Our players are basically saying, “I don’t have the time required to earn these in game, but I’m comfortable with buying them as a micro-transaction instead.” We’re also adding content that can only be purchased as micro-transactions. These have been a big hit with our players, and we’re continuing to hear from the community what they want to see next.

Question: These free weekends are something that no other company has done to date.  How successful have they been, and what originally inspired the idea?

They’ve been a really great promotion for us and the game. We had a lot of people come in and play the game, especially considering it was a holiday weekend with a lot of other noise out there in the online and retail space. The idea came from the desire to share the massive amount of work we’ve done and how far the game has come in the past 3 months since launch. This just seemed like a fantastic way to do this and get the message out to as many people as possible.

Question: Are you guys entertaining the idea of little pet-like sidekicks (for lack of a better term) for Champions to run around with?

We actually have well over 100 Action Figures in the game already that are exactly this. We wanted to create items that fit into the whole comic and collector genres, and we really hit that mark with these. We have a huge number of these available as drops or perk rewards in game, and we also sell others as micro-transactions in our C-Store. You can peruse the current selection at http://www.champions-online.com/store to see what these look like.

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