Free Trial Post-Mortem (I subbed, my friends didn't)

Acylion · 11-02-2009, 04:23 PM

So the free weekend is a dead horse topic, yeah? But it's a zombie dead horse. Blood Moon and all. So what the heck. Let me dissect it. Autopsy away!

I'm one of those freeloaders who played over the weekend. Yes, you have me and my ilk to blame for the server load.

BUT! I liked the game enough to purchase a full retail copy afterwards.

More on that later...I'm gonna say why I decided to stay.

Thing is, I didn't do the trial alone. See, I'm from a pretty large guild in another game. A LOT of my guildmates tried Champions over the weekend.

The Verdict: Annnd...I'm the only one who's bought Champions. The only one. Out of around 15 people. Now, to be fair...another of our group, one other person, is...thinking she might get the game. But that's it.

So out of 15-ish folks, Champions got one new sub and one 'maybe'. Why?

Connectivity: Well, a lot of folks who wanted to try the game never got in. They got stuck trying to download or patch the client. They couldn't. Server was awful. So, okay. We lost a lot of people there.

Graphics Issues: Another three or four people had AWFUL hardware compatability issues. Champions refused to play nice with their graphics cards. One guy reported all the characters looked like play-doh figures. Another guy said he could only run in safe mode...which wasn't fun at all.

Gameplay: Sooo...by this point, there were only a handful of us left. Two of our guildies quickly discovered they really didn't like the gameplay. Complaints: Poor targeting, imprecise controls. Lots of crashing. So they just played with the costume creator and nothing else.

One guy stuck it out for the full weekend. Got to level 15. But he was suffering throughout...and by the end of it he pretty much quit in anger. He'll never play this again. Why? He's a tank player. So in Champs he tried to tank, got advice on how to do that from regular subscribers..annnd...was pretty miserable for the whole weekend. It wasn't fun for him, nope.

But didn't you say YOU liked the game?

I did. I bought it. And like I said, another of our group is thinking about it - she liked the game too. Of course, we didn't experience problems. The download was fine for us. The game ran smooth as silk, our graphics were great. My client crashed twice over the weekend, but no real issue. Logged back in real fast.

So it was a great experience for me. I'm shocked at all the problems the others had, though. Why them and not me? Hell if I know. My computer's not as good. I'm on a different continent from the servers. It doesn't make much sense. But there you go. Random as hell. What's Cryptic doing wrong?

But I liked the game. Awesome character creator and great power system. Cool travel powers. Fantastic open world quests, cool maps and environments, funny writing and geek humour. I dug the references.

And y'know...neat action gameplay, real fun combat. I mean, I understand there's been nerfs and stuff...but for a new player coming in, I dunno how stuff was before. To me the game seems fine now. Don't shatter my illusions. I have not seen this pre-nerf fabled glory. All I know is the dusty ruins left behind. But those ruins are still freaking awesome.

Of course, since most of my gaming buddies aren't gonna be playing this game, I don't know if I'll stay here for that long. But for at least 30 more days, Champions has my attention. What the hell.

See you around, Foxbatfans.

(Yes, yes, before you ask, I have an old forum reg date. I signed up for the CO beta. Never got in.)

bimmy · 11-02-2009, 04:37 PM

Not being particularly tech savvy myself, now I'm sorta worried that if I bought a new graphics card, I still wouldn't be able to run this game right. Now I'm definitely holding out for the console version.

Mr.Funsocks · 11-02-2009, 04:46 PM

The tech support forum is full of helpful Cryptic folks for graphics issues. And they've got a lot of the issues resolved very well, my 2 year old graphics card runs the game on med-high flawlessly, keeping me above 30 fps the whole time, whereas in most of beta I was lucky to break 10 FPS on the same system.

GloomWalker · 11-02-2009, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Funsocks

The tech support forum is full of helpful Cryptic folks for graphics issues. And they've got a lot of the issues resolved very well, my 2 year old graphics card runs the game on med-high flawlessly, keeping me above 30 fps the whole time, whereas in most of beta I was lucky to break 10 FPS on the same system.

I wanted to say to you Mr.Funsocks I am glad you got such great help so that this game runs well on your card. I have not had too many issues with my card. Although I did get a new card. No not the top of the line type of card. I bought an Nvidia 8400 video card for about $70 at a best buy store about three months ago.

I just now got a new monitor so I just might be able to up the graphics settings a bit. On 9/16/99 I bought my first computer a Compaq Presario 5726. Even though I have gotten a new computer more than four years ago I still used the same monitor until today. That monitor gave me over 10 years of service without any problems until recently. That was not a flat screen monitor it was an older CRT type monitor. So I got my money's worth out of that old monitor.

To the OP: I extend the warmest of welcomes as far as playing this game. I hope that you stick around longer than the thirty days. I know that I will stick around at least until the first of next year because I have paid for three months.

Xinra · 11-02-2009, 05:45 PM

Welcome to Champions Online.

Minute-Man · 11-02-2009, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bimmy

Not being particularly tech savvy myself, now I'm sorta worried that if I bought a new graphics card, I still wouldn't be able to run this game right. Now I'm definitely holding out for the console version.

Speaking of console version, what's the latest on that? I'm pretty much too lazy to go search for info about it and also pretty much forgot about it until i was scanning through this post. This isn't even really a direct reply to your post as most QUOTE's are, I just want to know if any1 has a clue. I am also looking forward to getting this and owning it wit meh XBOX LIVE! however, I haven't heard anything about it since, like, what? may 09? Kinda disappointing, as the console version was one thing Cryptic promised.

Mr.Funsocks · 11-02-2009, 08:38 PM

"We're still working on it."

As of like... a week or so ago.

Temprus · 11-02-2009, 10:30 PM

I have been thinking about buying it, the Free Weekend was able to convince me to do so. I only ran into 3 "major" issues:

1) The re-download of the game software. Luckily some one linked to the Atari copy and I got at least 15 hours of play in over the weekend.

2) A weird issue where the screen was mostly black and my character was some weird washed out white. The first time it happened, I thought it was part of the Mission (the one where you meet Defender to activate the gun). Later it happened when I was in Canada. I tweaked my settings and it went away.

3) Troubles with some of the Missions. After someone had just finished a Mission, sometimes it would not respawn right and I would not find whatever I need to do until the second or third time (twentieth on one or two) I went over the same area. It also helped me with some Missions because I saw the other players doing whatever needed to be done first.

Mr.Funsocks · 11-02-2009, 10:45 PM

As an offer, any of you new guys who are coming over friendless, I made the League of Fantastic Gentlepersons to counter that exact thing, and give you a base of people to group with/ask questions of/etc. Anyone's always welcome to join, check out the sig.

Trowa_Barton · 11-03-2009, 12:09 AM

I did the CO weekend to.
I didn't get to play it as much as I would like but I made up for it. *wink* *wink*

I play it out my desktop, on there I have to play it on the lowest settings, which I don't care cause the game was fun.

But on my laptop I could run it nicely, so I am gonna be playing CO on my laptop.

But yea, I am gonna buy CO and play it and WoW till STO comes out.

11-02-2009, 04:23 PM	#1
Acylion Hero Join Date: Feb 2008	Free Trial Post-Mortem (I subbed, my friends didn't) So the free weekend is a dead horse topic, yeah? But it's a zombie dead horse. Blood Moon and all. So what the heck. Let me dissect it. Autopsy away! I'm one of those freeloaders who played over the weekend. Yes, you have me and my ilk to blame for the server load. BUT! I liked the game enough to purchase a full retail copy afterwards. More on that later...I'm gonna say why I decided to stay. Thing is, I didn't do the trial alone. See, I'm from a pretty large guild in another game. A LOT of my guildmates tried Champions over the weekend. The Verdict: Annnd...I'm the only one who's bought Champions. The only one. Out of around 15 people. Now, to be fair...another of our group, one other person, is...thinking she might get the game. But that's it. So out of 15-ish folks, Champions got one new sub and one 'maybe'. Why? Connectivity: Well, a lot of folks who wanted to try the game never got in. They got stuck trying to download or patch the client. They couldn't. Server was awful. So, okay. We lost a lot of people there. Graphics Issues: Another three or four people had AWFUL hardware compatability issues. Champions refused to play nice with their graphics cards. One guy reported all the characters looked like play-doh figures. Another guy said he could only run in safe mode...which wasn't fun at all. Gameplay: Sooo...by this point, there were only a handful of us left. Two of our guildies quickly discovered they really didn't like the gameplay. Complaints: Poor targeting, imprecise controls. Lots of crashing. So they just played with the costume creator and nothing else. One guy stuck it out for the full weekend. Got to level 15. But he was suffering throughout...and by the end of it he pretty much quit in anger. He'll never play this again. Why? He's a tank player. So in Champs he tried to tank, got advice on how to do that from regular subscribers..annnd...was pretty miserable for the whole weekend. It wasn't fun for him, nope. *But didn't you say YOU liked* the game?** I did. I bought it. And like I said, another of our group is thinking about it - she liked the game too. Of course, we didn't experience problems. The download was fine for us. The game ran smooth as silk, our graphics were great. My client crashed twice over the weekend, but no real issue. Logged back in real fast. So it was a great experience for me. I'm shocked at all the problems the others had, though. Why them and not me? Hell if I know. My computer's not as good. I'm on a different continent from the servers. It doesn't make much sense. But there you go. Random as hell. What's Cryptic doing wrong? But I liked the game. Awesome character creator and great power system. Cool travel powers. Fantastic open world quests, cool maps and environments, funny writing and geek humour. I dug the references. And y'know...neat action gameplay, real fun combat. I mean, I understand there's been nerfs and stuff...but for a new player coming in, I dunno how stuff was before. To me the game seems fine now. Don't shatter my illusions. I have not seen this pre-nerf fabled glory. All I know is the dusty ruins left behind. But those ruins are still freaking awesome. Of course, since most of my gaming buddies aren't gonna be playing this game, I don't know if I'll stay here for that long. But for at least 30 more days, Champions has my attention. What the hell. See you around, Foxbatfans. (Yes, yes, before you ask, I have an old forum reg date. I signed up for the CO beta. Never got in.) Last edited by Acyl : 11-02-2009 at 04:29 PM.

11-02-2009, 04:46 PM	#3
Mr.Funsocks Champion Join Date: May 2009	The tech support forum is full of helpful Cryptic folks for graphics issues. And they've got a lot of the issues resolved very well, my 2 year old graphics card runs the game on med-high flawlessly, keeping me above 30 fps the whole time, whereas in most of beta I was lucky to break 10 FPS on the same system. __________________ The League of Fantastic Gentlepersons - The anti-supergroup Contributor to CO Wiki - Help edit powers pages now! Lookit all of my characters!

11-02-2009, 05:45 PM	#5
Xinra Champion Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: United States	Welcome to Champions Online. __________________

11-02-2009, 08:38 PM	#7
Mr.Funsocks Champion Join Date: May 2009	"We're still working on it." As of like... a week or so ago. __________________ The League of Fantastic Gentlepersons - The anti-supergroup Contributor to CO Wiki - Help edit powers pages now! Lookit all of my characters!

11-02-2009, 10:45 PM	#9
Mr.Funsocks Champion Join Date: May 2009	As an offer, any of you new guys who are coming over friendless, I made the League of Fantastic Gentlepersons to counter that exact thing, and give you a base of people to group with/ask questions of/etc. Anyone's always welcome to join, check out the sig. __________________ The League of Fantastic Gentlepersons - The anti-supergroup Contributor to CO Wiki - Help edit powers pages now! Lookit all of my characters!

11-02-2009, 04:37 PM	#2
bimmy Champion Join Date: Oct 2009	Not being particularly tech savvy myself, now I'm sorta worried that if I bought a new graphics card, I still wouldn't be able to run this game right. Now I'm definitely holding out for the console version.

11-02-2009, 10:30 PM	#8
Temprus DevSlayer Join Date: Oct 2009	I have been thinking about buying it, the Free Weekend was able to convince me to do so. I only ran into 3 "major" issues: 1) The re-download of the game software. Luckily some one linked to the Atari copy and I got at least 15 hours of play in over the weekend. 2) A weird issue where the screen was mostly black and my character was some weird washed out white. The first time it happened, I thought it was part of the Mission (the one where you meet Defender to activate the gun). Later it happened when I was in Canada. I tweaked my settings and it went away. 3) Troubles with some of the Missions. After someone had just finished a Mission, sometimes it would not respawn right and I would not find whatever I need to do until the second or third time (twentieth on one or two) I went over the same area. It also helped me with some Missions because I saw the other players doing whatever needed to be done first.

11-03-2009, 12:09 AM	#10
Trowa_Barton Citizen Join Date: May 2009	I did the CO weekend to. I didn't get to play it as much as I would like but I made up for it. wink wink I play it out my desktop, on there I have to play it on the lowest settings, which I don't care cause the game was fun. But on my laptop I could run it nicely, so I am gonna be playing CO on my laptop. But yea, I am gonna buy CO and play it and WoW till STO comes out.