Champions Online: Interview with Bill Roper (November 2009)

 

We had the opportunity to talk with Bill Roper -- Design Director Cryptic Studios and Executive Producer of Champions Online -- about the launch of the game and its future.

 

 

buffed: What were the biggest challenges you faced during development?

 

Bill Roper: The biggest challenge was trying to get in a solid, broad foundation that we could build upon while still delivering a solid, quality game. MMO players are an incredibly picky group now – it’s a very different market than it was 5 years ago when World of Warcraft launched. I think that we delivered in some areas and fell short in others. The hardest part is that no matter what you do, you are inevitably compared to games that people are playing now. And when that game has had several years in post-launch development, it’s an impossible measure to fully meet. Trying to meet those expectations while also meeting a deadline to ship a title is an immense task.

 

 

buffed: If you had the chance to go back -- are there any particular elements you would like to revoke or alter? If so, what would you change?

 

Bill Roper: I think the biggest change I would make would be to have fewer power sets in the game so we could have had the time to test and balance them before launch. This would have had a rippling effect of giving us the proper time to test the experience / difficulty curve before we launched, which was really our biggest problem. This also would have allowed us the time to fill in the small content holes we had because we would have been able to see them once the game flow was locked in.

 

buffed: Some players and reviewers mentioned that they felt Champions Online was too easy and too “solo-able”. They would have loved to see more enforcement of group-play. Are there going to be changes for the balance of solo- and group-play in upcoming patches or are you happy with the way this plays out in Champions Online?

 

Bill Roper: Of course, the players that love solo play will argue the other side of this as they don’t want to be forced into team play. The goal was to allow a player to achieve the level cap without having to team if they don’t want to, but then to provide incentives for them to desire to do so. The addition of Crossover missions has opened a lot of possibilities for players that want to group since it allows them to get special versions of missions that they aren’t eligible for from someone who is on that mission. They don’t count towards completion of the Primary version of that mission, and there is a different reward structure for the Crossover version so players are incentivized to help out. We’ve also added more group-oriented missions, including our upcoming Nemesis Confrontation lair for top level players.

 

buffed: The Blood Moon Event was really popular and you already announced an event for December. Can players expect regular in-game events and could you give us any hints as to what’s coming up?

 

Bill Roper: We do want to have regular events for our players, as well as updating content and powers on a very flowing schedule. Basically, our motto has been to address issues as fast and best we can and then push those out to the players while also working on longer-term projects and updates. Blood Moon was a good example of that, as will be Nemesis Confrontation which launches in time for Thanksgiving weekend, and then our event in December. You can get all the details on Nemesis Confrontation here: http://champions-online.com/nemesis_confrontation

 

 

 

buffed: How is development of the Xbox 360 version coming along and what changes can we expect compared to the PC version?

 

Bill Roper: We continue development on the Xbox 360 version, with our focus right now being on UI, controls, and graphics optimization. We’re looking at what console-specific changes we want to make to the game, and we’re anxious to have the business side of things hammered out so we can freely talk more about our plans.