This week I decided to go ahead and cancel my Champions Online account. I think there is a general malaise at my house when it comes to MMOs. So I guess I have to tell Champions; “It’s not you, it’s me.” I need to see other MMO’s.
Champions is a fun game and I think that there will be a time in the future that I resub. For now though, there are a few things about the game that make me want to put it down. First, there is the lack of polish and finish to the game. Depending on the encounter, a mob near your level might be an appropriate challenge or it may not. This is especially true in boss encounters. Some of them are major undercons. This betrays a lack of balance that permeates the game. Second, there is the quest driven nature of the game. Now before you think I’m going to bash quest-driven games, know that I like that style of game just fine. You (game designers) just can’t let me run out. As my main character reached his mid-twenties he started falling farther and farther behind the quest curve. For example, when he was 21 he only had quests that were 2 levels higher than him available. He was still able to do them, if not able to use the rewards immediately. As he leveled through his twenties this problem became worse. I could probably grind though it but mob experience is weak, and I’m not inclined to do so.
All of us love our games (I assume you do too, and that is why you are here) and most of us want exciting new games to come along. We want them fun, we want them nuanced, we want them polised. Oh, and we want them right damn now. Why does it take so long to develop a game anyway? While I suspect that most of us have ideas why games take so long, I think that most of us don’t really think about some realities that govern whether a game is polished (seemingly a large yardstick for measuring the success of a game), fun, and attractive to us. I don’t think most of us have any idea of the scope of these games or the resources required to develop or operate and manage them.
Among the great things that are accomplished by people every day, I have always pointed out that doing so is easy when you are smart.
So when the PileFlanet (Yes, I did that on purpose) beta came out for Champions online, I took advantage of the membership I’ve inexplicably maintained for the last few years and downloaded and installed the game. I got my key, activated my account, patched (I won’t bitch too much except to say that didn’t go well) and tried it out. I made a few characters, cool, and tried to play. Meh.
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