Jamion

Ok so I have played City of Heroes, Champions Online, and I am currently applied to beta STO. Cryptic studios has produced some interesting, and wildly different MMOs in their time. Their concepts are certainly based on a unique perspective, and sometimes they work really well, other times they flop horribly.

I recently did my every 3 month free trial of City of Heroes and checked out some of the new updates they have put in. CoH/V, or as I refer to it now CoX, was one of the first super hero MMOs and until recent times the largest. The base character creation mechanics follow a farely basic design. You choose from a tank, melee DPS, ranged DPS, support, or crowd control class. Then things take an interesting turn. You choose a super power origin for your character then choose from power sets pre-designated for that archtype. You then get to fully customize the look of your character: gender, body type, proportions, armor, weapons, etc. And now with the new update customize the look of your powers, aka colors and visual effects.

CoX doesn't use auto-attacks instead you push a skill your character uses it, they have cast times, cooldown times, energy costs, etc. Where CoX really shines IMO is with the customization of the powers. Instead of just lvling up a power you instead use power slots to add in modifiers for your lvl and various effects. This changes the way in which your powers work, an energy reduction modifier will reduce the energy cost of a skill, and stacking a buntch of those will massively cut down on energy costs. However, you could also do the same with damage boosts, and thus massively increase your damage... same with accuracy, healing, defense,etc. This allows each player to make those skills that are available to every player, unique to them. To players with punch may have punch speced completely differently. I have always wanted to see this system adapted to a more stereotypical MMO.

However, where CoX fails is its ability to keep players immersed in the world. Once you get past lvl 6 you realize real quick that the world that CoX exists in repeats. By lvl 10 you will ask your self how many times you have been through a warehouse that looks and is layed out exactly like the one you are in. Because of this I get easily bored with the game. Even with the architect system, which work wonders in the CoX world, allowing players to create their own content to play.

Cryptic no longer owns CoX, instead they sold it to NCSoft and began working for Atari on Marvel Universe Online. An agreement Marvel backed out of, and ended up causing Cryptic to develop Champions Online (CO).

I can say that after playing these super hero games I can see the value and complexity of adding flight to an MMO. As it tends to double the power of a ranged class, by allowing them to float above their foes and bomb them without the foe being able to fight back, or at least not being able to fight back at full strength.

CO was an attempt for Cryptic to move away from a mundane super hero MMO and allow them to tell dynamic stories inside a super hero MMO. And while it was much more developed and thought out then CoX it is still lacking in a lot of ways.

Character creation is a bit different, you choose two powers an energy builder and an attack power. Then customize your character. Simple, but loading into the tutorial for the first time you are limited. The game plays a bit more like an action game on a console then an MMO. Not that that is a bad thing it is just different. The big difference is how you pick powers while lvling up. See there are archtypes for powers, but you are in no way constrained to stay inside of a particular one. You can mix and match every single power from any set in the game. As well the tank, DPS, support roles are based on how position your build. In other words you can switch between a tank, DPS, and support role on your whim.

Now like CoX, CO gets repetitive at time, and you may loose interest. However, stories are presented in easier to consume fashion. My major problem with CO is lack of variety. Until you get to about 30 you are stuck picking between 3 zones, these zones have a wide ranged of lvls they support. So no matter how many times you play you end up doing the same quests over and over again on each character. You even begin to dread doing certain quests... either for difficulty or for their mundane factor. Everyone's favorite zone is Millennium City... which after play CoX is a lot smaller then expected in CO. It feels less like a city and more like the water front district for one. I understand the game is only a couple months old, but I was expecting it to be bigger right from the start... at least MC.

A breakthrough that CO presented was the Nemesis System. Allowing a player to pit their created hero against an NPC villain they created. After obtaining lvl 25 their is a lot of back and forth between your hero and their nemesis all over the world. And it does add diversity to the world. However, I still feel the world needs to be greatly expanded before I can call CO a success.

From that Cryptic is working on one of the most debated development of an MMO ever, next to SWG that is. That is Star Trek Online. Closed Beta for STO started up yesterday, I did not get in first round drafts :( but I am hopeful. I think Crpytic has a lot of back ground to choose from in building STO. They can certainly pull from their CO heritage, as well as take adaptations from EVE and even SWG. However, MMOs tend to focus on combat and less on diplomatic development, which Star Trek is famous for. Plus they have to contend with a well established lore that carries with it many rabid fans. I don't envy Cryptic, there is a lot of scrutiny coming. They do have to balance space combat and ground combat, as well Star Trek is known for its many unexplored worlds, and that is a key to making a Star Trek game is its exploration aspect. But how do we integrate that all into a game? Star Wars Galaxies tried, and really... majorly failed. Of course if one company can do it would be Cryptic.

Well I am rambling so time to move off of STO.

Crpytic itself has shown incredible foresight in their concepts, however a lack there of in their gaming engines and even the development of their games. One thing I have never seen from Cryptic is a stable MMO. They may have dynamic concepts, but that are not solid in their development. Which to balance issues and player advancement difficulties. I am looking forward to their future products, and I feel in time they will get better. But I still consider them a junior company in the MMO development biz.