Just curious: A Poll for (you) Champions Online.

[Atlantea]

I've probably said it elsewhere in one way or another. But I do have fun playing CO. I've collected the Champions books since 1992. So I'm pretty steeped in the backstory, and not confused or thrown by much if they fail to fully explain a character or something.

But yeah - I don't feel anywhere near as -serious- about things with Champions as I did with City of Heroes. With some exceptions. I think a lot of that is just the overly camp nature of things in the early levels.

With COH - there was some humor and homage to be sure. But they didn't let it overpower the main stories and characters. Even in the low level stuff with the Skulls and Hellions in Atlas and Kings Row, the stories were taking themselves seriously without anything in the way of mugging the 4th wall "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" that Champions likes to do in it's low-powered early bits.

To be fair - around level 25 and up, the game starts taking itself more seriously and there's much less camp. And the adventure pack stories like Whiteout and Resistance are well done. Aftermath is actually DAMN CREEPY in spots. Enough to rival Dark Astoria for sheer "skin crawl" factor.

So yeah - I DO have fun with Champions. It's not the same kind of fun that I had with COH. But that's not damning.

But you know what I'm actually more impressed with of late? Star Trek. That's really REALLY become a solid game. And there's a HELL of a lot to do even as a totally free player there. I don't feel hampered at all being a silver player in STO most of the time. And I find myself getting absorbed in STO much more than I ever do in CO.

[blackjak]

That may be why I find myself not overly enthusiastic about finding a fix for my CO situation. STO is seriously good for a free game. I didn't even know you got 3 character slots until not too long ago. Now I have a Fed, a Klingon and a Romulan that I am getting very fond of. That plus the different mission types, obviously prestigious  lore (I mean come on! Leonard Nimoy voiceovers! How can you beat that?) and good graphics (that work on my Mac!) has been keeping me happy lately.

[dwturducken]

I haven't been active for about a month ("active" as in playing, not as in subbed), but the biggest factor there has been RL concerns. Things have been hectic, but I believe there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe in the next week or so, I'll be able to get back in.

[Xev]

Totally understood, DW. If I understand right, the game is active in yer brain and one of your favorite toys and when you come here you generally want to share your fun, so, yeah, that definitely qualifies as a + 1 tick mark in this super scientific poll  : )

(I mean come on! Leonard Nimoy voiceovers! How can you beat that?)

In general, or in CO? JK,

That is extremely cool to a Star Trek and gaming fan. I'd have to go back to the Wing Commander days to come close, and, that wasn't an mmo  : )

Thanks for teasing me more with STO btw. I've had people trying to get me to play this since not long after I added my first friend when coming back to CoH. I need to get a new big memory stick and find someplace to dl/copy the client.

[blackjak]

It is alsi cool that you can talk to peeps in CO and NWN while in STO (and vice versa)  do if something was going down you can switch over.

[dwturducken]

Totally understood, DW. If I understand right, the game is active in yer brain and one of your favorite toys and when you come here you generally want to share your fun, so, yeah, that definitely qualifies as a + 1 tick mark in this super scientific poll  : )

I would say that about sums it up. Better'n I did, actually.

[Thunder Glove]

The thing about the stories in CoH and CO is that... well, I don't notice them much.  As long as they're not outright mocking me (as at least one game I play does), I can tolerate it.  I generally play games for the gameplay and mechanics, with the story only there to carry me to the next boss fight.

CoH's stories were getting better, though, especially villainside (see SSA2).  The devs were listening.

As for CO, I'm still not sure whether I'm going to subscribe, but I found myself actually wanting to play it again, rather than just missing CoH and hoping CO would fill the void, which is how I felt back in December.  This time I'm playing it for itself, and that does make a difference.

[Xev]

Here's my thing with CoH.

It was amazing to me, the amount of new and good content that kept coming out of CoH since ~ when Freedom came out with the huge new tutorial complete with boss mob fight. That got old, as things do... but WOW at the beginning I thought. I mean, they completely changed the whole start of the game for newbs, And there was just a constant flow after that.

People would log on to CoH sometimes and complain "I'm bored."

I was tending some farmland for people I met through the local college at the time and I had nothing but playtime when I wasn't taking care of their dogs and their stuff. I *still* couldn't find enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted to do in CoH. I didn't have the top tier vet rewards but I was close due to the account was ancient, and I had a sub, and they still managed to make the Paragon Market alluring enough that even me, the tightwad, couldn't resist spending cash. And I knowwwww some people spent a LOT of cash in there as far as that goes.

It was obvious that the devs were at the peak of their game and rising. This, and the fact that CoH to me is an Internet Historical Landmark, is why NCSoft will never see another kind word or penny out of me. Unless they just do something really monumentally ... monumental to make things up for the way they just swept away CoH when so much talent & lub was being poured into it. And it has historical value, too. Not only did the regular players lose their favorite game but a lot of people lost their favorite backup game too.

As is with lots of things in life, the whole CoH shutting down thing was completely unfair. And sucked. Great (to ME/YOU, of course..) loss is always hard to handle. For me anyway. I accept it more than I used to but it still sucks. Matter of fact I just suffered some loss to something dear to me this morning. It sucks but I have to move on. Or moan about it and go on how great life would be if only it hadn't happened. I've done this before too. Hopefully Instant Karma isn't going to come in and re-teach me a Real lesson for trying to talk like I know what I'm talking about. Loss sucks. Period. I have at least a grasp on the concept. (We good now, IK??)

CO isn't CoH but I'm glad I found it and I have a lot of fun with it and with talking about the game with you guys.

I've got a new idea of how *I'm* gonna handle subscribing to CO but it's hard enough to stay on-topic as-is, so, I'll save it for later : )

The thing about the stories in CoH and CO is that... well, I don't notice them much.  As long as they're not outright mocking me (as at least one game I play does), I can tolerate it.  I generally play games for the gameplay and mechanics, with the story only there to carry me to the next boss fight.

Lol I had to come out of the closet on this before, too..

I won't even read most Question Boxes, I just click-thru. There used to be a time I would analyze every punctuation mark in every tidbit of game lore looking for an inside tip and to suck the marrow out of the stories, but, not this year or the past few either.

Now it's all about what cool stuff I can do and what even cooler stuff a good team can do. Or. maybe I just wanna veg out and get some good ol' escape time by honing the wannabe-leet skillz on boring farming or whatever else. It's generally all about the actual playing, tho, for me too. Oh and CoH got me hooked on playing the market so that is a decent diversion sometimes too. Even though the Auction Exchange is just kinda a skeleton of what a good auction house can be. Well.. and I spend a lot of time trying to make a decent costume sometimes.. And names.. New toon names take me forever.

If it's (non-gameplay stuff) good and in my face I'll appreciate it. Like the Cyberlord voice and animation and I think Cybermind made a funny comeback in the Fatal Alert..Alert.

[Thunder Glove]

It was obvious that the devs were at the peak of their game and rising. This, and the fact that CoH to me is an Internet Historical Landmark, is why NCSoft will never see another kind word or penny out of me. Unless they just do something really monumentally ... monumental to make things up for the way they just swept away CoH when so much talent & lub was being poured into it. And it has historical value, too. Not only did the regular players lose their favorite game but a lot of people lost their favorite backup game too.

This.  It still twists my stomach in a knot to know that, creatively, the game was not dying, it was actually starting to ramp up.  And after years of waiting and speculation, the Coming Storm was about to arrive! ... and then it was all gone.  No decrease in frequency of updates, no letting the devs finish the game's stories, no drifting off into Eternal Maintenance Mode.  It was just "Game over, everyone go now!  Play GW2 or something!" - and weeks (or possibly days) before I24 (and its major upgrades to the game's backend) was going to hit, too!

The game wasn't just great, it still had so much potential.

(Meanwhile, Champions has been stuck at 70.6% updated for the last five minutes.  I hate their updater more than even NCSoft's)

[Xev]

Hello again pollsters.

So, first of all, thanks for playing along. The purpose of this poll was mainly selfish but we did come up with a short list of people that have raised their hands and said "yeah, I like CO, that's why I play the game and come here to talk about it". And that seems worthwhile. So here it is. For your list reading pleasure.


--~~~~~~~~~~~~~--
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Brou
Atlantea
Blackjak gets an honorary mention
DJMoose
Thunder Glove (who is possibly a new +1 since polltime) gets an honorary mention, with a significant lean towards being a +1 tick mark on the poll
dwturducken
JaguarX
Kaos Arcanna
SARobb
Dollhouse
-
--~~~~~~~~~~~~~--

I dont play anything that I dont enjoy. To me that defeats the purpose of playing a game. Or if I was in the habit of playing stuff I didnt enjoy, I wouldnt have time for CO or any other video game and be out playing Shuffleboard. Thus I play CO, and I enjoy it.

I play and I wouldn't play if I didn't enjoy it.

Yeah, huh.

I'm with ya. Seems like a dumb question to me too.

I asked it because I was reading what seemed like a lot of posts, and criticisms, that didn't seem like they were coming from people that like the game, and, felt the need to come here and share that with all of us.

Normally most posts here are about the game in a fun/positive way and that's why I've stuck around. No drama or moaning, like can be (last I knew..) so common on official forums. Just stuff about the game that was interesting or fun enough for someone to take the time to come here and write about it.

And then there are the other posts.

They usually come and go and it seems like some months ago since the last round but this last time I had to ask myself. "Yo, Xev, you do remember you're on a CoH forum, right?" "Maybe that is purpose #1 for this CO subforum, is for CoH ,,, needs, and it only says CO on the door so that when wandering around CoH Central, you can see what room you are in."

Does this make sense?

I was.... Just curious. Curious to find out if I was in the wrong place. Because I want to be in the CO room that says CO on the door because that's where CO gamers go to talk about the game and see what other CO gamers are saying.

CoH was great. I miss my brutes most off all. And playing the market. And farming AE for salvage in the most extreme way possible. And taking a team to any zone in the game (minus Eden..), any area of the zone, and XP'ing them or maybe I just solo - to say I did it. And to try to be a little bit as good as the ppl that inspired me to do stuff like that and are way better at it. I miss my purpled out incarnated out Mids'ded out... Hot rods. Someone said once that logging in to CoH and looking at their toons was like staring at a garage full of hotrods and trying to decide which one to take for a spin.

But. I play CO now. When CoH comes back, I'll be there if I haven't got ran over/blown up/whatever, who cares if I have to start from scratch. I didn't put all this time into CO to just dump it, either. I like CO.

And, I only play things that I enjoy, too.

So yeah, this poll was selfish. And it was a kinda knee-jerk thing. And it's not/never was intended to be judgmental in a negative way. I was... Just curious. Curious if I was trying to be a round peg trying to fit into a square hole. Wouldn't be the first time I was in the wrong place and didn't know it. At least I'm learning to ask!

Anyway, for whatever reason you're here. I hope ya had a great gaming day. And if ya didn't, I hope ya do, soon. Me, I'm gonna go back to playing, and trying to post something useful/interesting when the situation comes up.

I enjoy reading and replying to the CO gamer posts here. Thx for sharing your good times.

Respectfully,
Yer pal,
Fellow gamer.





>>

Ooops! Added Kaos Arcanna and another thanks

[JaguarX]

hey no problem. It may seem like a dumb question on the surface but I too have seen posting where it's like some people play the game but don't seem to enjoy a single bit of it as if it's torture, yet they still play. Who knows their situation, maybe someone is holding a gun to their head telling them to play. Or maybe they play games, even if they don't enjoy it. Never know. Thus the question is very legit.

Sometimes I wonder sometimes, "oh wow, if ya feel the game is THAT bad, you cant find another game that fit your fancy?' Then again, no telling the situation and I'm sure they have their reasons for playing even though they speak as if playing is the worse activity in the entire planet and looking at the artwork should be in the Geneva rule book under banned torture tactics.

But who am I to judge? I'm sure the thought of playing a game for enjoyment is about as alien and taboo to them as playing a game I despise is alien and taboo to me.

[PunkusJR]

hey no problem. It may seem like a dumb question on the surface but I too have seen posting where it's like some people play the game but don't seem to enjoy a single bit of it as if it's torture, yet they still play. Who knows their situation, maybe someone is holding a gun to their head telling them to play. Or maybe they play games, even if they don't enjoy it. Never know. Thus the question is very legit.

Sometimes I wonder sometimes, "oh wow, if ya feel the game is THAT bad, you cant find another game that fit your fancy?' Then again, no telling the situation and I'm sure they have their reasons for playing even though they speak as if playing is the worse activity in the entire planet and looking at the artwork should be in the Geneva rule book under banned torture tactics.

But who am I to judge? I'm sure the thought of playing a game for enjoyment is about as alien and taboo to them as playing a game I despise is alien and taboo to me.

I can answer this. A lot of things about Champions irk me. So I try not to play, but a part of me wants to like it so badly. So I continuously give it another chance. I tell myself that I didn't like it cause I was being close minded, or that I just got bored, or that my supergroup just kinda fell apart. The reality is that there are parts of Champions I really honestly like. I like how combat works. I like messing with costumes (The Art style irks me, but it can be worked around) I like running around with athletics. Just when I try to actually run missions it fails me and irks me and makes me hate it.

I guess what I'm saying is I keep playing it because of the parts I do like.