Champions Online: The Impulse

My new favorite archetype lately is The Impulse.  This archetype uses the Force power set.  I never got to experiment with this when I was making custom characters so this was a learning experience for me.

I created a character called Miss USA since this was around the time of Independence Day and when the Captain America movie came out.

I like the tech look so I went with that for my initial costume.

I have to say I LOVE this archetype.  It does pretty well offensively and I chose the force field powers to have a great defense.  Here's what I love about this archetype:

New Weapons To Ring In The New Year

I've been leveling my Single Blade and Munitions characters to get some interesting weapons.

Here's a sickle with ice damage.

Here's your typical flaming scythe.

This is a more modern sword with toxic damage.

And this sword has another type of hilt with fire damage.

As for the GUNS...

These are my FAVORITE guns right now. They're like a couple of uzis. They also have a more pleasant sound than the stock handguns.

This is the futuristic pulson assault rifle. Always nice to have a different look and sound. It is used with the assault rifle power.

And this is the western rifle. It is used only with certain powers like the sniper rifle power.

My New Martial Arts Hero

Here's a hero I made today with the Martial Arts: Unarmed set. Guess who he looks like.

Celestial Power Set!

I ended up skipping the missions to get to the Celestial Power Set and waited until November 10 when it was available. So, I made my healer called General Pracititioner and made him look like a doctor. I wish there was a lab coat costume option, though.


What I love about the Celestial Power Set is that it doesn't only make a great healer, but it's also a highly soloable PvE power set. For the most part, all of your healing powers double up as attacks against your enemies. I love it! With this power set, you're dealing dimensional damage. Every time you attack, you float so that's kind of cool. Almost reminds me of a Doctor Strange. The radiant effect around your character is also very nice.

It's not reflected in these pictures but I changed the color of my attacks to green since I am a healer.

My character is only level 7 and I'm already wondering what kind of defensive passive I am going to take. Since my characters already heals, is Regeneration overkill? There's nothing like an auto-heal. Invulnerability is not really an option since it scales with strength initially and that doesn't really help my character. I might try the defensive passive in the Celestial power set called Seraphim, although it appears to only benefit if I am teaming.

I'll keep plugging away with this character and I'll update my progress here as I go along.

Blood Moon Is Here!

The Blood Moon Halloween event is here! The part of it I was looking most forward to was the debut of the Celestial power set. Being a healer AND a ranged attacker is most appealing to me. However, after you download the Blood Moon update you CANNOT make a celestial character right off the bat. There's a mission to do in Millenium City, which I haven't done yet.

But, there is also Halloween-themed public PvP areas. I went to the one in Canada. There you have to become a werewolf and a werewolf hunter and then battle it out.

So far, I've been a wereworlf and you can see I took part in a battle royale with werewolf hunters. Fun stuff, but a little repetitive. Still, I love PvP that's done in the public. I hate going to an arena and fighting inside a ring.

Shot Through The Heart!

You've seen my main character Technoblade who has a Dual Blades power set. Well, I noticed how many different weapons the archery power set can craft so I decided to make an archer named Cupid.


As a ranged power set, I'm REALLY loving archery. My super stats are based on Dexterity and Ego so I can get great critical strikes. I also build up Constitution so I don't die too fast. And, as usual I take Regeneration or else I'd die quickly.


Unlike Dual Blades, which does quick damage, Archery does CHUNKS of damage in one shot. Sometimes I can one-shot the bad guys. One thing that also help is Mini Mines from the Munitions power set. I shoot my AoE sonic arrow, which stuns them, then I run over and launch Mini Mines which basically blows them up. I've gotten to level 27 with this technique and it doesn't look like I'm going to stop doing that in the near future.

This is my Nemesis: Psyche. In Greek mythology, Cupid was man, Psyche was a woman and they were lovers. In Champions Online, Cupid is a woman, Psyche is a man and they are enemies. I tried to make him look like a Greek god. His power, of course, is telepathy. His minions are animals who use Psi Blades.

In my next post, I'll show you some bows I either received as rewards or crafted on my own.

Crafting Fun Part 2: Single Blade

I noticed that the Single Blade power set has just as many weapon drops and mission rewards as Dual Blades. So, I had to make a Single Blade character.

I made a samurai called Saburo with the color scheme of Hakaida. He's only level 13 but he already has a couple of really cool swords. This first one-handed sword imbued with blue electricity. I love the shape of the blade and the hilt.

This second one is an electro blade but this time with a fiery yellow color. The hilt is very Highlander-like. Nice classic blade that's a refreshing change from the normal samurai swords.

I hope to see an ax in the future. Or maybe even a mace or a club.

Next up: Munitions Weapons

Best Buy Fail

Normally, I'm a fan of Best Buy but today the store let me down.

I preordered Champions Online with Best Buy and I chose the in-store pickup since the nearest store is about five minutes away.

They sent me an e-mail Sunday saying that they couldn't confirm that my preordered product was in-house since the store was closed. Very odd. That e-mail was sent to me at around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

Yesterday, I got an e-mail saying that the game will be ready for pickup today. So far, so good.

I went there today, and guess what?... Best Buy did NOT have the game in stock yet.

I'm not really mad that it wasn't in stock. Games don't always make their Tuesday release, especially in Hawaii. My beef is that Best Buy went through the trouble to send me an e-mail "checking" if it was in stock on Sunday and then "confirming" that it would be available for pickup today.

For my trouble, I got a $25 gift card. Nice. The cost of the game just got cut in half.

I CAN still play the game and I think I have a grace period until Sept. 6 to enter the retail code.

Anyway...

I think I have a serious case of alt-itis: the sudden urge to create multiple characters in an MMO aside from your main character.

Now, you've seen Technoblade who is now at level 21. And I've also shown you Electric Co. Employee.

Here's another two I have made:

Point Blank

I made Point Blank because I was very interested in the amount of Munitions weapons there are that can be created. In fact, the guns you see her holding were self-crafted. Pretty nifty, eh? Munitions is a FUN ranged power set and I hope to eventually max level her.

Island Warrior

I made Island Warrior as a testament to my devotion to the University of Hawaii football team. I've also been interested in the Might power set since many have said it's not very good. Sure, I want to prove them wrong.

I'll post more alts later...

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.

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.