April 9, 2011

My first real blog here

Actually, my first blog here isn't exactly true. It has actually been quite some time since I've actually written a blog post. The last blog I actually wrote was back in January, but then again I don't think I would of actually wrote anything interesting if not sounding like it was just a rant to begin with, and mostly been spending the last few months trying to recollect my thoughts and get away from many things that were, in short, just annoying me so much that I was generally losing faith in the human condition.

Now the real question, has that helped. Not in the slightest really. The last three months have basically seen a constant and rapidly increasing decline in what I would consider people of upstanding character and places I use to consider to be repositories of sanity. And this decline is further accelerated by how the groups controlling these locations just turn them into asylums for the criminally insane, basically shutting up anyone with a bit of clout and ignoring the ones who are actually causing any problems.

Now, one of the first things I will need to do, of course, with this blogspot account, is actually customize the thing to my preferences. So an actual banner and such to this thing will be in order, but that will happen in due time. But I figured one of the things I should do is actually supply an actual blog and try to at least keep a weekly update and try and state my recent incoherent thoughts and ramblings out there for the world to see for those unfortunate enough to stumble upon these locations of the internet I carved out to call my own.

But in reality, those that actually follow me are probably here to listen to my rantings and ravings over, to be blunt, whatever is pissing me off at the moment about the gaming industry in general, or my jumping up and down about how a particular game I am currently playing just fell short by a mile of what they originally promised to deliver. So let's talk about that.

Champions Online
Anyone who's actually been around already knows I use to be a staunch supporter of Champions Online in the way beginning. But ever since the Vibora Bay update, I am sure many have noted I seem to be getting just a bit more cynical in my support and lately, if anyone's really noticed, I have actually been lambasting Atari/Cryptic for their actual lack of support for the game. Needless to say I have a lot of reasons why but I am sure that will bore most. So let's get right down to it.

Now I have mentioned this before but I have been with Champions Online since closed beta. November of 2008 to be exact. Those who were in beta will actually probably remember several of my posts that gave hints and suggestions on how to play since most were still wanting the game to be set up like a traditional turn based MMO. Unfortunately, my suggestions and such fell on deaf ears as the game slowly ended up becoming just that anyways with a slight few changes. Ironically, most of those people that forced for those changes don't even play anymore so it's comical in its own right.

Now what really annoys me and ticks me off is that during that beta, Champions Online and its dev team did extraordinary things and changes in rapid response to many things people were legitimately complaining about, and unfortunately changed things that didn't need changing thanks to people that should have never been there. I will keep those names off here but anyone who was in the beta is well aware who they were. If people ask I will elaborate later what should have never been added or changed because of those people, but suffice it to say I think the game would have been better if Atari/Cryptic never listened to those people.

Now, after launch there were some issues. They increased the game difficulty many fold and this was a bit too far, but when it came time to actually fix the difficulty they went too far in the other direction. Again from feedback of listening to the twats who didn't even bother buying the game or had publicly announced they would never buy it no matter what Cryptic did. Ironically one of them tried to lie her way and say she didn't buy it but her Grandma did.

Anyways, game launches, first major update was announced within weeks of Champions Online going live; The Halloween Event. I wasn't expecting much but honestly what was delivered right off the bat was pretty big at least for a game that just released. I've been playing MMOs for a long time and a first time update especially for an update that was one time and such were rarely this big. Not to mention it added a new power set. And I liked how it was being added. Of course I am pissed off they decided to just keep running the event over and over because that's a stupid idea. Events are memorable if they only happen once or twice not all the damn time. But that's a complaint for later.

Next up came the Christmas Event, not as big as the Halloween one, but people were thinking nothing was going on at Cryptic, mostly because of the development on Star Trek Online. However, people started finding files, and eventually it was let known that Vibora Bay was coming to Champions Online. A lot of speculation was going about on what was going to go into it, and of course, the one thing that should have been there that was promised to the players at launch and several months after, was the level cap increase. Vibora Bay, from my own point of view, should have been a level 37 to 45 zone. Instead it was made a level 37 to 40 zone and a lot of the content was cheapened for it.

We got some nice updates, including the melee pass, Bestial set added and such, but over all between Vibora Bay and now nothing has really been added. What is driving me up the wall, considering what people from launch have seen get added, and what has been added since I've seen it in closed beta, this is just shoddy and atrocious work. There is just no excuse for all of what is going on in Champions. They want revenue but it seems they forgot they have to put the money in to get the money. This is just subpar work they are doing and the really sad part is in the time it has taken them to release 3 Adventure Packs, 1 power set and several bug fixes including restarting a monthly Blood Moon Event, we could have had 3 more Vibora Bay sized packs, maybe 3 more seasonal events, and at least 3 new power sets if Atari/Cryptic continued to put that faith in and showing the rest of the world they were serious.

Quite frankly, Champions Online is being treated poorly by Atari/Cryptic and there is no call for it. They need to stop treating it so poorly and actually devote time to it if they are actually serious about what they claim. I know I am not the only one who feels this way, and I am sure there are many others who think the same thing. I just hope Cryptic is reading the outrage going on and realizes its mistakes and starts actually putting something into Champions Online again.

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