Champions Online : Bill Roper on Blood Moon

Give us a taste of the upcoming Blood Moon patch. What can players expect?

There is a LOT going on during the Blood Moon event. From an all new power set to special events and rewards, here's a sample.

Celestial Power Set

Use the power of the Seraphim to heal and strengthen your allies. Release the fury of the Nephilim in a battle against evil. The Celestial set is designed to simultaneously provide assistance to allies and destruction to enemies.

Zombie Apocalypse

The dead are rising in Canada! Battle against Zombies in a special PVP map, but should you die, you'll return as one of the undead horde, bound to fight in Takofanes' name and against the heroes you just stood alongside.

BITE! (Special Event)

Ravenous werewolf packs are roaming the world, but be careful! If you are bitten and infected with their dark magic, you can be transformed into one of their kind. A special mission is available for those wishing to hunt transformed heroes, as well as for those that have fallen prey to the lycan's bite.

Dawn of the Dead Heroes (Special Event)

Stand against undead heroes who once fought in the Battle of Detroit, and do your best to free their souls from Takofanes' necromancy.

Takofanes (Special Event)

You must drive this dark and ancient undead sorcerer from our land! But beware - his minions are waves of the undead and other masters of the arcane that must be defeated before you have any chance of victory against the Undying Lord.

The full list can be found at: http://champions-online.com/bloodmoon

Tell us about the changes you made to the economy. Where did you find problems?

The simplest explanation is that we simply weren't getting enough resources out to the players based on both mission rewards and upgrade sales. We not only increased resources given in these areas, but also added more for defeating enemies in general and also smoothed and eased the curve for retconning the most recent powers choices a player made in the Power House.

What content updates can we expect on Monster Island? How can players find the new missions?

There are three repeatable mission chains that have been added in the levels 31 - 34 range on Monster Island. The contacts are spread throughout the Well's Pass part of the island, and are easily located using your crime computer. The new missions are:

The Hidden Base

Heroes discover the entrance to a secret base in Well's Pass. None of their contacts know anything about the entrance so it's up to the hero to check things out. What secret project lies deep within the VIPER base?

The Lost Caves

A series of lost caves has been discovered by the intrepid Paleontologist and television personality, Professor Plummet. His early reports have come back, stating that Elderworms have also found a way into the labyrinth of caves, and are using them as hunting grounds. Contact has been lost with the professor, and help is needed in finding him.

The Manimal Lab

A group of Manimals are behaving strangely and are guarding a nearby cave complex. Further investigation reveals a hidden laboratory that also acts as the prison for a highly intelligent rat Manimal named Professor Ratso.

In October you plan to make sharing missions much easier, tell us about the upgraded system.

Several changes have been made and more are in the pipeline to enhance a player's ability to share and track missions with teammates. These are rolling out in phases, with the first portions already being on the Live servers. These are:

Primary Mission Team Waypoint

When a Primary Mission is set, teammates who don't have the mission will see the objectives in their mission tracker and will see the waypoints for that mission.

Team Mission Tracking

The mission progress of your team mates are shown next to their portraits. If a primary mission is set, this shows the primary mission. Otherwise, it shows the last mission on which progress was made

Heading to the Public Test Shard this week are:

Primary Mission Compass Indicator

Selecting a primary mission sets a compass waypoint on the mini-map.

Improved Mission Sharing

Increasing the distance that missions can be shared at by a factor of 5 times. This allows players to not have to be so close to each other before sharing a mission.

And in the very near future:

Increased Mission Counts

Approximately 100 more missions can be shared amongst heroes.

Crossover Missions

If a player isn't eligible to actually gain the mission due to not meeting requirements (level, mission prerequisites, etc.), they are given the same objectives but in a special "Crossover" mission. When their crossover version of the mission is completed, they will receive a special bonus for working with the team. Currently there is no specific mission bonus to assisting another hero on a mission, so this is a huge addition to our current system.

What can players expect from Powerhouse 2.0? The new super power workout room!

We made a great number of changes to the Powerhouse based directly on player feedback. The main lobby has been expanded and is also a duel-free zone as we've added in special dueling arenas. There are also special Battle Stations where heroes can test newly-gained powers against holographic enemies, allowing them to try out new tactics against "live" enemies.

Give us some insight into the Blood Moon story line. Is there a back ground to the event?

There is a chill wind blowing through Millennium City. It's late October and the moon has taken on a sinister aspect, staining the sky a bloody red. The superhero Witchcraft, of the Champions, warns that this is a dire portent of an approaching mystical threat. There have been sightings of strange creatures emerging across the world, those of savage werewolves and flesh-craving zombies. Even worse, they bear with them the tidings of a great evil returning to the world - Takofanes, the Undying Lord!

What will players have to do as part of the event?

There are four different events occurring during Blood Moon. Some of them are focused in Millennium City while others span the globe. The Zombie Apocalypse map can be joined from anywhere in the game via the instance queue. The BITE event can be joined in every area but Lemuria. The Takofanes and Dawn of the Dead events can be found within Millennium City. Some of the events happen on timed cycles, while others are always open, but can only be completed once per day.

Everyone loves ZOMBIES! How are they invading Champions Online?

Zombies are heavily featured in both the Zombie Apocalypse, Dawn of the Dead Heroes, and Takofanes events. If you want to get your zombie hunting on, you'll have a LOT of chances. There's even a special perk for slaying a large number of them!

Tell us about the new Celestial power set. Will players get a chance to re-spec?

The Celestial set is a dual-purpose set. This means that the powers can be used in a beneficial way on allies and causes detrimental effects to enemies. Many of the affects within the Celestial set are based directly on player interests and feedback, so we're really excited to get it in front of them. As for players that want to hit the ground running, we've handed out a few retcons over the past month, and we know that more than a few players have saved one up just for the new power set.

How has the game been going since launch? Where do you see things growing?

It's been about six weeks since the game launched, and we've got a great worldwide community of heroes fighting against evil with us every day of the week. We had some rough first steps, but the past few weeks have been dedicated to adding more content into the game, interacting with our players, and growing and improving the Champions Online experience! We'll continue to do so in the upcoming months and years, and look forward to continuing to make the game everything it can be.