With many of us now pplaying Champions Online until we get City of Heroes/Villains back or we create our own suitable replacement I thought that it would be helpful to provide a guide to some of the features, game mechanics and character advancement options for those of us who are not yet familiar with them.
(A quick piece of advice about gameplay. Champions online tends to be a bit more frantic then what we are used to in City of Heroes and missions known as Alerts (Which appear beside your city map) have a time limit so most players tend to be rush in all action no chat during these Alerts, much like in a console game. If you want the type of interacting with other players that was common in CoH then it's worth teaming up with fellow CoH players in game and doing standard missions or doing the repeatable story arcs known as comic series and adventure packs which can be continued at a later time so allow more time for chat, RP and strategy. We are a more mature gaming community and sometimes younger gamers don't yet understand the things we have come to value in our gaming experiences. Some will learn from our example and others will have no time or interest in it but it is something we can always share and enjoy with each other and that's something we will never loose. There are many CoH players that have come to Champions Online so there is a warm welcome and good gaming companions there to meet you. So from all of us already here, "Welcome to Champions Online")Chapter 1: Character creation & progression.Link to Chapter 2: Chat, Emotes & Social http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,6623.msg83375.html#msg83375Link to Chapter 3: Costumes http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,6623.msg84071.html#msg84071Firstly here is the PowerHouse webpage that is a character planner/designer/developer for Champions Online sort of like what Mids' Hero & Villain Designer is for City of Heroes.
http://powerhouse.nullware.com/powerhouse.htmlFor video reviews of many features of the game check these made by Iron Marble on youtubehttp://www.youtube.com/user/IronMarbleA detailed guide telling everything you want to know about Specialization Treeshttp://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=145720Transitioning from CoH forum thread on the Champions Online Forumshttp://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=168521LorannaPyrel's guide to freeform characters including everything you want to know about character survivability and damage mitigation on The Shards of Virtue Supergroup websitehttp://shardsofvirtue.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=462034&TabID=3983516&ForumID=2238817&TopicID=10272082&Page=1#48935158Newbie Guide (Game Mechanics)http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Newbie_Guide_%28Game_Mechanics%29(for those of you who take character design very seriously feel free to test out the information I mention here on the PowerHouse webpage to see how it all fits together and plan out your character builds).
Level progression table:
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Level_Progression(I explain everything about character creation and progression in this post so check below for details of what you want to find out about).
Free 2 Play (Silver Member) players will be limited to using CO's Archetypes at character creation. These are generic superhero builds with 12 predetermined powers (excluding travel powers) that are earned at certain character levels with 2 or in some cases 3 alternate options for certain powers along the way. Full list of CO's Archetypes at link below.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/ArchetypeFor 5000 ZEN (What Co uses instead of Paragon Points) a silver member can purchase a Freeform character slot (as an additional charater slot to the ones they already have) that can be used to create freeform characters just like Gold Members can minus the power colour selection and none character creation/progression benefits of Gold MembershipPaid membership (Gold Member) players have the additional option of creating a Freeform character which can have a total of 14 powers (excluding trave powers) that the player selects themselves within certain requirements. Gold Members can also change the colour of their powers (All powers chosen will be set to the colour selected).
Full list of all Champions Online Power Sets in link below.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Power_Sets1: They must have 1 energy builder attack. (a rapid weak attack that generates energy
[CO's version of CoH's Endurance])
Full list of Energy Builder powers in link below.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Energy_Builder2: Can only have 1 Energy Unlock power, but is not required to have one. (An automatic power that is always on and generates energy under certain circumstances [Max 1 per character). Full list of Energy Unlock powers in link below.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Energy_Unlock3: they must meet the requirements for selecting powers from the various tiers in the power sets. See link below for details.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/PowersAside from these requirements there are 3 other types of powers that a character can have no more then 1 of active at a time and I highly recomend that anyone creating a Freeform Character take 1 of each (according to what best fits what you're looking for) These are as follows.
Slotted Passives: These are automatic always on (no energy cost to use) powers that provide 1 or more buffs to your character. You can only have 1 of these powers put into a role slot (making it active) at a time but it is actually possible to have more then 1 of these powers chosen for your character and switch between which 1 you have slotted. (I'll talk about roles once I'm finished with powers) Full list of Slotted Passive powers in link below.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Slotted_PassiveForms: These are toggle powers that provide stacks of buffs and increase the amount of stacks of that buff you have under certain conditions. The exception is
Inertial Dampening Field which creates a 50 foot radius field (which I think is invisible) which effect you and nearby teammates reducing the strength of incoming attacks by a percentage. Full list of Form powers in the link below.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/FormBlock Replace powers: These powers replace your characters block ability (hold shift key to use) with a more powerful variation of it (no energy cost to use and generates energy when hit depending on your role). I don't think a character can take more then 1 of these powers. Full list of Block Replace powers in link below.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/BlockTravel Powers As your character progresses they will gain a total of 2 travel powers. The first at level 6 and the second at level 35. You are free to choose any travel power from those you have available/unlocked with base travel powers always available to everyone. Full list of travel powers in link below.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Travel_PowerImportant note for appearanceAcrobatics looks like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We3FNhTwEakAthletics looks like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9cQhx5B5poAll powers (Except for Energy Unlock powers) have what are called ranks & advantages which are inprovements and upgrades to a power that players can learn. These are obtained using Advantage Points with no more then 5 advantage points possible to spend on any power and you gain advantage points as you gain levels with 36 being the max at level 40 (games current maximum level).
Roles: There are currently 5 roles that a player character can choose to have and each modifies your character in some way. Archetypes all have pre-selected roles and cant change them. Your role also determins which Slotted Passive powers you can have active. Full list of roles in link below.
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/RolesStats: There are 8 stats (charactistics) your character has. Each of these improve what your character is capable of by greater amounts the higher they get. Freeform characters can choose an innate characteristic that gives a small bonus to a combination of stats and can choose 1 as a primary and 2 as secondary superstats which which give large bonuses (much more of a bonus to the primary superstat) to these stats that scale with your character level. As your character progresses you will be able to select Talants (maxium of 6 ) that give further small bonuses to your stats with the amount and combination depending on the talant chosen. Archetypes have their Innate Characteristics and superstats pre-chosen but are free to choose whatever Talants they want.
Full list of stats:
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/CharacteristicsFull list of Innate characteristics:
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Innate_CharacteristicsFull list of Talants:
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/TalentsSpecialization TreesBegining at level 10 your character will gain access to Specialization Trees, which are a means of further enhancing your character. You will gain access to a total of 3 Specialization trees, the first (which always corisponds to your primary superstat) at level 10, the second at level 20 and the third at level 30. Each specialization tree has a master specialization that becomes available at level 40 (as far as i can tell players can only choose 1 mastery total that is chosen from the masteries of the 3 specialization trees they have. Freeform characters can choose their own second and third specialzation trees but Archetypes have all their specialzations pre-chosen. Starting at level 10 you begin gaining specialzation points (1 per level max 31 at level 40) to use to gain and improve specializations within your specialization trees. Each specialization tree has 8 specializations (4 tier 1 and 4 tier 2) and you must spend at least 5 specialization points on tier 1 specializations in a tree before you can access the tier 2 specializations, whith 10 being the most specialization points you can spend in any specialization tree (the final point at level 40 is for choosing your specialization mastery).
Full list of Specialization trees here
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Specialization_TreeSo that's everything on character creation and development. Hope some of you found it helpful. I will detail other features of the game in future post on this thread.