Flip-Flop on Champions Online

Having stayed up much too late playing CO last night, I’ve flip-flopped back to being excited about the game. Obviously the NDA is in place so I can’t say too much about it, but one of the things I do like (that has been talked about in previews) is that as you gain levels you can pick powers from any of the power-pools, which means your Champion can be really unique both in looks and skills. It just seems like the kind of game that will really cater to alt-aholics like myself.

So I’m thinking of pre-ordering. Trying to decide where from. It’s a complicated decision. Gamestop and Best Buy both give Early Access & $5 worth of points to spend on micro-transactions. Walmart gives $10 worth of points but no Early Access. Amazon gives $5 worth of points. Direct Drive and Steam give you the convenience of not having to deal with shipping.

Gamestop, Best Buy & Amazon give access to Open Beta starting on the 17th, Walmart and the digital distributions do not (though in my case, I have a File Planet Key that should cover that).

All but Walmart give different virtual items, but the descriptions are so vague that it’s hard to weight them against each other. Is an Insectoid Airfoil better than a Grond Vanity Pet? Who knows? Walmart skips the virtual items for a map and an iron-on t-shirt decal.

One thing I haven’t yet found out is, how long is this Early Access period? Is it 2 days? A week? Open Beta starts on the 17th and launch is Sept 1 (15 days later). I have to think Open Beta is at least going to span the following weekend, taking it to the 24th, so the max Early Access can be is a week. Realistically if it’s 4 days then we get the game a weekend earlier, which is mostly what matters to me.

Details on all these perks here.

But I ask you.. could they make it any more complicated?

And let’s look at that Lifetime Subscription again. I’m actually tempted, now that I’ve had a chance to see the game in action and see that it isn’t a total disaster. Why? Eight additional character slots. It seems like there are no discrete servers in CO, and so the 6? 7? 8? character slots are all you’re going to get, and as I said, this seems like a really alt-friendly game…just creating different looks and skill sets to mess about with. (Though if they’re smart, they’ll offer additional character slots as on of their RMT items.)

I think this is going to be a really “blogable” MMO, too. So much to discuss in terms of character builds and such. Looking forward to the NDA dropping!