Action Figures In Action!

In Champions Online, you can get what is called an Action Figure. It's basically a non-combat pet. You can get them in-game or get them through a special offer.

In this Early Start weekend, I already have two:

Foxbat Action Figure (pictured, left) - I got this since I bought the lifetime subscription of $199. Foxbat is one of my favorite villains because he's kind of a funny guy. You meet up with Foxbat in the tutorial and he's kind of charming. You'll meet up with him later in Millenium City. Yesterday, big Foxbat got to meet mini-Foxbat:

Mega Destroid Action Figure (pictured, right): I got this through the End Of Open Beta Event this past week. All you had to do was damage one of the level 40 Mega Destroids that were attacking Millenium City. Luckily, the devs let us automatically level up to 40 as well.

I should be getting one more next Tuesday when I input my retail code since I preordered with Best Buy.

Arming Your Champion

Only recently have I felt that I have a good handle on the game. My highest level character in open beta was a hero with mostly electricity powers. Because of that, I missed out on a lot of weapon upgrades.


So, I went back and made my main character from closed beta:

Technoblade

Technoblade uses powers generally from the Dual Blades power set. Eventually, he'll have some of the higher powers from Power Armor and Gadgeteering.

He will be my main character initially. I want to level him to 40 before I make another character.
I love that I can change the weapons that I use. I start out with normal samurai-style swords. Then, I got these cool flaming short swords.



Later, I got these interesting Vibro-clubs. The Dual Blades power set can be tricky. It feels underpowered between levels 1-10. By 11, you really start seeing good results. However, because I gave Technoblade mostly Dexterity and Ego to get those great critical hits, his defense is not so good. Regeneration definitely helps but he doesn't feel as invincible as some of my other characters. I'll definitely have to get Medical Drones.

Finally, the actual game gets underway tomorrow with the Head Start weekend for those who preordered with Best Buy and Gamestop. Everyone else will start next Tuesday when Champions Online appears in stores.

Medical Drones: Get It & Love It

There's a few must-have powers in my humble opinion. The first big one is Regeneration from the Supernatural power set. Because there's no pure healing class, you can't depend on others to heal you. And obviously no one will heal you when you solo.

Some kind of enhanced blocking power is good and Electric Shield from the Electricity power set is as good as they get.

Since you can't get enough healing, Medical Drones is definitely the next step.



Medical Drones is from the Gadgeteering power set. While it may seem like a lot of overlap with Regeneration, there are advantages with getting both of them.

Medical Drones heal not only you but also everyone on your team which, includes other pets and even NPCs in escort missions.

Since your Medical Drones can die from your enemies, Regeneration is always good to have as well. Remember, you CANNOT get enough healing and Regeneration and Medical Drones heal you automatically.

Open Beta is ending soon and the Head Start weekend starts this Friday. I have to promise myself I'll only make ONE character and stick with that ONE until level 40.

Awesome Block Power: Electric Shield

As I was experimenting with the Electricity power set, I found some powers that work well together.

Electric Shield is a GREAT blocking power. Not only does it reduce the damage you take while it's up, but it also drains health from your enemies in melee range. With this in conjuction with Regeneration in the Supernatural power set, you have a really AWESOME defense.

With Electric Co. Employee, I was able to defeat a lot of bosses. When my health got low, I'd put up my Electric Shield, Regeneration would restore my health faster than the damage I'd take and at the same time Electric Shield is dealing damage over time in melee range.

This is the first blocking enhancement I have taken. I definitely want to experiment with the others.

Cool New Melee Weapon

Yesterday, I made a new character:

Electric Co. Employee

I wanted to mainly test out the Electricity power set, but I found a really good melee power in another power set.

The first two powers in the Electricity power set are both ranged - one more powerful than the other. I found that I wanted a close melee attack to balance that off but the Electricity power set does not have one. So, I went looking around and found Ego Weaponry in the Telekinesis power set.

I found it's actually one of the BEST melee powers. Period. It does a lot of damage for the amount of energy you have to expend. I think it works better than the Power Armor Laser Sword. And it look super cool. If your character uses Dual Blades or Single Blade, Ego Weaponry would make a really cool addition.

Flight is one of the best travel powers out there because of its great ability to use during combat and it covers the vertical very well when traveling long distances or on top of high mountains. But, Fire Flight is just cool. It has all of the great things about Flight plus a great look to it. I just wish there was also Ice Flight instead of the atrocious Ice Slide.

Second Day Of Open Beta

If you are having either patching problems or account server problems and are still trying to get into open beta, I applaud you. This IS part of the beta process. I know it's annoying but that's what we signed up for, whether you like it or not.

With that said, I'm still having a blast in open beta. I got a cool new power in Gadgeteering.

Munitions Bots - You basically get two cool little robots to fight and shoot for you. Plus, you can control who they attack.

With one click of the button, your two attack drones can also transform into this gigantic gun. It's heavy on the offense and low on defense. So far, though my drones have not yet died. In Champions Online, there's not a lot of pets to be had. So far, this is the best pet I have gotten in the game.

One of my goals in open beta is to try out the different power sets so I won't be wasting time in the actual game. So, that means I'll be making a LOT of characters from scratch. Here's my latest:

Call Me Bruce

Call Me Bruce's primary power set is Martial Arts - Unarmed. Now, I'm not usually one to be a stickler for things like fighting animation but I don't really care for the fighting animation of this set. It seems kind of herky-jerky. Plus, it's repetitive. Your energy builder, Righteous Fists, is a whole lot of punching. Your first main power is Thundering Kicks which is does the most damage in your attacks.

The great thing about Martial Arts - Unarmed is the amount of damage you deal. In the tutorial, I could basically two-shot the henchmen and Black Talon was easily soloed. Dexterity seems to be the main attribute you want in this set since Lightning Reflexes depends on it and I did notice I dealt a lot of critical shots. In my short experience, Martial Arts - Unarmed and Might have been the most damaging melee powers.

First Day Of Open Beta

First off, a Cryptic employee posted on the Champions Online forum that the non-disclosure agreement that was in effect during the closed beta session has now been lifted with the start of open beta today. So, I'm free to share my thoughts on the game plus screenshots.

The open beta session got off to a rocky start today when problems arose regarding the patch downloading before users could play the game. Here's a thread on the problem and what you should do. My problem was a slow download. Reading the forums someone suggested to open ports in my router to speed up the process. I took a 3-4 hour nap (I was tired) and when I woke up the patcher was finished.

Anyway, when I got into the game this is the character I made:

Gadget Gal

She is a normal human with no special powers. But, she's extremely intelligent and uses a lot of technological gadgets to combat her enemies. Obviously, her main power set is Gadgeteering.

Her primary ranged weapons are the Sonic Blaster (energy builder) and the Experimental Blaster.

The third power I got was the Gauntlet Chainsaw. It does melee cone damage and works well on zombies. I upgraded it so that the chainsaw damage gets greater as my opponents health gets lower. The fourth power I took was Regeneration from the Supernatural power set. It's a passive power that heals you as you take damage. It's a great power and some may say it's overpowered. I expect it to be nerfed eventually.

Finally, my travel power is the Hover Disk. Personally, I like normal Flight or Jet Boots better. But, I took this one because it fit the theme of gadgets better than the other travel powers.

My character is only level 9 and is still in the expanded tutorial area. As I level up and get cool, new powers I'll share them here.

Non-Disclosure Agreement Still On

I just reread the Champions Online Preview Non-Disclosure Agreement and it states it runs until the retail version of the game is out or until Cryptic Studios says it has been lifted.

That means unless I get something from Cryptic in writing, I cannot talk about specific parts of the beta game here.

However, I CAN talk about what's on the Champions Online website and my intentions in this upcoming open beta process.

In the coming days, I want to experiment with the Gadgeteering and Martial Arts - Unarmed power sets.

By the end of the closed beta, I want to have knowledge of all of the power sets so when I make my main character in the retail game, I will have full knowledge of which powers are best to get.

My best MMORPG experience has been on City Of Heroes/Villains and I hope to continue that with Champions Online.

Closed Beta Is Over; Open Beta Begins Monday

I've been playing Champions Online in closed beta for about a week and I'm very used to the game now. I tried to learn as much as I can about different power sets and how to use them effectively. I'm also very well-versed in the costume creator.

The game is now going into open beta this Monday and it looks like the game will be on 24/7. The game has evolved during the short time I've been in closed beta and I hope the open beta game will be close to the final retail game.

Up until now, I've had to bite my tongue about talking about the game during closed beta because of the non-disclosure agreement. I'll need to check this but I believe that during open beta there is no NDA.

I have already pre-ordered the game and signed up for a lifetime membership so I'm in this for the long haul.

I'm very excited to share what I love about this game very soon.