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Duratok Slays ‘Champions Online’

My character winning design is in the game, and he kicks super villain butt!

In a previous post, I told you all that a character I designed for a contest by Cryptic Studios for “Champions Online” won, and that this character would be featured in the game at some point in the future. Well wait no more, true believers, because it’s here!

I present to you Duratok Gorehowl of the Kro’Taruk! For only 160 Atari Points, the equivalent of $2, you can summon this mighty alien warrior to fight by your side! And best of all, they’ve made a video! Check out the link below to see the reptilian warrior-giant in action!

“Champions Online” is a Free-To-Play superhero MMORPG for the PC.

Dragon Age 2 Demo Review- PC Edition

If you liked Dragon Age Origin‘s story but hated the slow combat and dated graphics, then I got great news: Dragon Age 2 is the game for you.

In the original game, when you would attack an enemy, you would have to select you enemy then queue up your attacks, one after the other at an agonizingly slow pace. Now it’s set up like an action MMO, where you have an action bar of all your powers. Each time you select a power, it activate, then it goes on cooldown a short time.

The visuals are stunning in Dragon Age 2. The original I thought looked about three years older than it actually was, but not so for the stunning sequel. The graphics are crisp and the animation is dynamic. The updated Whirlwind attack for warriors is incredible: all of the Darkspawn around me got cut in half: torsos, heads, and blood were flying everywhere.

Dialogue is improved as you. Not only does your character have a voice, but it lets you know what the different dialogue options represent via icons: the red hammer and gavel represents the tough guy route, the green olive branch presents the peaceful path, and the comedy mask is the smartass remark that is most likely to get you slapped.

Best of all, if you complete the demo before the 31st, you get Hayder’s Razor, an ancient dwarven blade which increases health, mana, and combat abilities.

http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/demo/

“Champions Online” Free To Play Relaunch Goes Off Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

Yesterday, January 25th, Cryptic Studio’s superhero MMO ” Champions Online” went Live with it’s new Free To Play model, and the game’s population has octupled.

Yesterday, January 25th, Cryptic Studio’s superhero MMO ” Champions Online” went Live with it’s new Free To Play model.

Twenty four hours since launch, the game’s population has octupled. You hearing me, “City of Heroes” and “DCUO”?! OCTUPLED!

There’s no official word from Cryptic yet on just how successful this has all been on their end, but I predict some pretty happy faces on some pretty tired developers.

In related news, “Champions Online” executive director also revealed the name of their next Adventure Pack, which is a 2-3 hour story arc that scales with the players level and offers plenty of new titles and costume pieces. It’s called “Resistance”, and we don’t know anything about it right now other than it takes place in Multifaria, an Earth with an alternate timeline where many of Millenium City’s heroes are in face evil tyrants that rule the planet with an iron fist.

And a big ‘congratulations’ to me for winning Cryptic’s “Character Contest“! My character will soon be featured in the game as a quest-giving NPC! More details on that as it arrives!

[Update]

This just in: A new powerset has been revealed called “Heavy Weapons”. The set has you use massive, powerful, but slow melee weapons for incredible crushing damage.

MMO “Champions Online” Goes Free To Play

“Champions Online” goes Free To Play, adding a multitude of new features, as well as the option to play without subscribing.

On the January 25, Cryptic’s latest superhero MMO “Champions Online” will be going Free To Play. This change is going to involve a great deal more than just having the option to not pay, however. There’s a ton of changes coming at the end of this month, and Millenium City is never going to be the same again.

Now I know what you’re all thinking, “’Champions Online’, isn’t that the crappy superhero MMO that launched last year? It was supposed to be the ‘City of Heroes’ killer but it bombed!” The answer to this is yes and no. When “Champions Online” was released, it was essentially still in beta, and as such was filled with hundreds of bugs. Cryptic tried to delay the release date so they could iron everything out, but Atari, in its infinite wisdom, decided to push it to live, and boy were people pissed.

But all that’s changed. They’ve spent the past year squishing all of those pesky bugs, adding tons of new costumes and impressive new powers, and putting in some really impressive new Zones and Adventure Packs.

“Champions Online” has a great community to boot. The remaining players are very keen on keeping the game afloat, and the developers listen intently to player feedback. There’s plenty of powers and costume pieces that were added at the recommendation of the players.

Now you can get to the maximum level and go anywhere you please if you are going the Free To Play route, but you’re going to get much more bang for your buck if you pay the monthly fee. You’ll have access to the a completely freeform power system, where you can choose powers from any number of powersets, and you’ll gets hundreds more costumes to choose from for your caped crusader. You’ll get a monthly stipend of Atari Points, which you can spend on items in their store to get new costumes, powers, and items, like the giant growth device, or the summonable sidekick.

And to any of you naysayers to the Free To Play model, “Dungeons and Dragons Online” and “Lord of the Rings Online” have both been thriving now that they switched, with the latter tripling it’s revenue since last year. And with “Champions Online” being the first Free To Play MMO on the market, and DC Universe Online getting poor reviews for the PC, we’re looking at a bright, hero-filled future.

For more information, go to http://champions-online.com/f2p

If you want to contact me in-game, shoot me a message @Loganius