Character roles in a group

[Borek]

Hey, a rather newbie question from someone who didn't play previous Cryptic's MMOs and haven't read much about CO...

Will Champions Online have distinct character roles while in a group of players? Tank / healer / DPS? Or crowd control / support / etc? Or will every player, while grouped, just keep damaging the tougher enemy? In that case, how the enemy determines which player to attack?

[djshef]

Hey, a rather newbie question from someone who didn't play previous Cryptic's MMOs and haven't read much about CO...

Will Champions Online have distinct character roles while in a group of players? Tank / healer / DPS? Or crowd control / support / etc? Or will every player, while grouped, just keep damaging the tougher enemy? In that case, how the enemy determines which player to attack?

No one knows.

You'll see eventually.

inb4 useless speculation.

[Gold_Leaf]

There isn't the holy trinity of previous games, per se, though players can choose a certain role which (unconfirmed) gives certain buffs to certain powers so that they are more effective in that "role".

Yay for speculation <confetti>

[Dark_Haze]

Id want to run around in a small group of 4 or 5. we'd go out and get us some justice.
As a role id probably want to be a DPS guy of some kind. (too many years of playing rogue on WoW) :rolleyes:

[Dark_Haze]

thats a fair point actually... any stealth stuff in this game? hadnt thought about it til now.

[djshef]

There isn't the holy trinity of previous games, per se, though players can choose a certain role which (unconfirmed) gives certain buffs to certain powers so that they are more effective in that "role".

Yay for speculation <confetti>

You changed your character! I thought the other one looked just like your drawing. Whats with the blue?

[Gold_Leaf]

You changed your character! I thought the other one looked just like your drawing. Whats with the blue?

The blue as in background?

(Yes, GL is taking a break as I explore my alts, haha, I get restless pretty quickly though I always end up back on my main)

[SenshiBat]

The blue as in background?

(Yes, GL is taking a break as I explore my alts, haha, I get restless pretty quickly though I always end up back on my main)

Huzzah! a 5... Have add her to the Vote Drive...

Vote for her or Igor will change all you music to the Barney Song...:D

Post Script.. an Here one had thought it was that guilty Goth look...
fitting to the Enigma Song Age of Loneliness. or the nice Cleopatra Eye Shading..

[Borek]

Ok, thanks for the answers. I'm waiting for STO, but will give Champions a try. :)

[AkumaMishima]

technically no, there's no classes or roles or Archetypes as they were know in CoH.

you do have the capacity to design analogues of these roles however. There's a great degree of freedom with power choice, stat boosting, as well as upgrades and loot too.

[Warbler]

It'd be interesting to see a game AI where a villain's personality decides who he's most likely to attack. For instance, say there's a tortured cyborg who has been enslaved by a mad scientist and forced to commit crimes to pay for the evil doctor's new experiments. Would the cyborg allow himself to be "taunted" away by a muscle-bound tank of the group when he can clearly see a scientist type lurking at the back of the group whom the cyborg can transfer all his pent-up rage upon? Based on the character type (not talking classes here but choice of powers and more importantly background or origin) there are certain aggro multipliers to be figured in. A xenophobe human might attack an alien character almost exclusively, or an anti-mutant gang might focus on defeating any mutants in the group. It would be possible to get aggro, but you'd have to do something special to get it, and any time a person with a higher aggro multiplier did something in combat it would make his actions more, well, aggravating to his opponent. That way, it makes everything that much tougher on the group because the fights become less predictable. Get away powers like force field, flight, teleportation, invisibility, etc. become all that more important. Also it requires a greater use of tactics. Maybe that mutant with the dragon's breath and the chameleon skin who would normally be the group's firepower is going to have to use his chameleon skin to sneak around and shut down the missile countdown while the others have to find a new way to beat their mutant-hating opponent before the world is destroyed.

[Lakevren]

Here's a video on "roles" defined by CO (http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/42965)

In a skill-based game without classes, how do you begin to differentiate between the skills of individual group members in order to make sure you field a balanced group? That's the challenge Cryptic is addressing with the just-announced "roles" system. Basically, group members will assign themselves roles such as "melee" or "support." Players can switch roles as often as they like, but the incentive for choosing a role that matches one's playstyle is a buff to a needed stat for that role (and a slight de-buff to a less important stat for that role). For example, a brick that chooses a melee role would get more hit points at a slight cost to his endurance (needed for certain superhero abilities). It's an elegant solution to a complex problem, and we look forward to hearing more about it in the future.

The roles system is just one topic we discussed with Game Designer Aaron Safronoff. Learn where the game is at on the road to beta, what gives Champions Online its distinctive look, what prompted the recent addition of exclamation bubbles (i.e. Wham! Biff! a la 1960s Batman), and much more in this 10 minute interview from Leipzig GC!

Apparently, you can switch roles "as often as you like".

[AkumaMishima]

that's odd, no recent game site previews mention roles like that.

we've learned about the various stats and what they effect, what origins and superstats are, but none of them mention roles as a particular game mechanic.

[Lakevren]

that's odd, no recent game site previews mention roles like that.

we've learned about the various stats and what they effect, what origins and superstats are, but none of them mention roles as a particular game mechanic.

Well, remember, look at the date. It could have changed since. I only reiterated what was on Nexus' FAQ, and so far this is pretty much the only and latest info about roles AFAIK.

[HellKnightX]

That Ten Ton Hammer interview is actually really insightful, but can be difficult to hear with all the background chatter.

[Viciouspen]

yeah I know, the interviewer needs to learn to speak up lol