[Mascalzone]

MMORPGITALIA: Four months after the release, many aspects of the game that weren't quite tuned at the beginning have been fixed. What do you think you have "left behind", still to be fixed?

Bill Roper: There are still a small handful of unbalanced powers that need to be corrected. We're also hoping to be putting a concentrated focus on making melee combat feel balanced with ranged combat, especially in regards to PvP. Past that, the game is getting great response, and players are excited about what we're continung to do to make the experience bigger and more fun.

MMORPGITALIA: From the interviews you gave during these months, we had the feeling that Champions Online was released before it was completely set up or, at least, before you previously planned. Is that correct?

Bill Roper: In the end, we just didn't have the time we could have used to hammer out the balance issues and get in some final content that we didn't know we needed until the final balance went in. We weren't that far off, to be honest, so while getting things in line has been a lot of work since we launched we feel like we're basically there.

MMORPGITALIA: At the current state, after all the changes to contents and to the balance of the powers, does the game suit your original plan?

Bill Roper: It is certainly where we envisoined the game would be in terms of the original design. Of course, that doesn't mean we won't sonstantly be looking at the game, making sure we're being responsive to our community of players, and finding ways to make the experience better and better. We have a lot to do still in terms of fine tuning the balance of powers, and more ideas to get out there to our players.

MMORPGITALIA: We've heard that you're finally working to introduce the secret identity, a game mechanic that, at the first stages of development, was planned to be present at the release. Could you anticipate something about this upcoming content?

Bill Roper: We're in the early design stages of this feature, so I'm not ready to talk about it. One of the things I have learned about communicating ideas is that once it's in an interview, it becomes gospel no matter how much you qualify it as being “mere ideas” or “discussions.” What I can say is that we want there to be a reason you're in your secret identity - for it to have a true game play effect so that it has real meaning.

MMORPGITALIA: Last month the Nemesis Confrontation has been introduced, an end-game content that merges UNITY missions and the Nemesis system. I tried it and found it very fun. Are you planning other end-game contents in the upcoming months? How much time before we see anything?

Bill Roper: We're constantly working on many different areas of game play - both within the leveling track and end game. As 2010 progresses, you'll see both.

MMORPGITALIA: The Nemesis Confrontation is accessible only to level 40 characters; are you planning to make it available to other tiers as well?

Bill Roper: Nemesis Confrontation is designed to be an end-game component, so we're keeping it as a part of the UNITY and Nemesis systems.

MMORPGITALIA: The social aspect of the game is virtually nonexistent, compared to other MMORPGs. There are missions compelling the players to form a team but, these isolated cases aside, Champions favours soloing. There is nothing that justifies belonging to a Super-Group, nothing the guild can do for the player or vice versa that can't be done alone. Are you working on improving this feature or does the game already work "as intended"?

Bill Roper: The game was designed to be very solo-friendly with incentives to join teams. The 5-hero Lairs are a good example of this. We've also added in Crossover Missions that give rewards to players helping others to complete missions even if they aren't eligable for it. Moving forward, we're goign to be intoriducing more systems that encourage and reward grouping, on both a team and superourp level. We know this is an area where players want to see more, so we're on it.

MMORPGITALIA: Are you also planning to expand the PvP contents of the game? Will you introduce new PvP game modes and areas in the future?

Bill Roper: Yes, we are also planning some additions to PvP. We added in the Zpombie Apocalypse map in October and have more ideas for some very unique styles of maps that we'll roll out in 2010. It's been a challenge to put out as much content as we have with a small team, but it's also been gratifying to see so many people excited by what we're doing and encouraing us to keep it up!