Champions borrows WAR's public quests
"We did what every good developer does."
In an interview with Ten Ton Hammer, Cryptic Studios' Bill Roper has admitted that its superhero MMO Champions Online has lifted the public quest system from Mythic's Warhammer Online.
Asked if Champions' "open mission" system - missions which can be completed by any players in the vicinity working together - was similar to WAR's Public Quests, Roper said, "It absolutely is!"
"We did what every good developer does, saw something and went 'We should use that in our game!'" Roper said. "That is always the key, to look at other games and say 'How do we make this work? What worked in the past?' This is perfect for the superhero theme."
Roper also shrugged off the recent controversy over recruitment of beta testers from Champions' rival, City of Heroes.
"Every game tries to get the people that will play it. When I was at Blizzard, World of Warcraft did exactly that. 'Hey EverQuest 2 and Dark Age of Camelot players, you should check out our beta test!'," Roper said.
"It's less about stealing people and more about getting feedback from experienced players."
Champions Online launches in June for PC. We expect to be on the beta before too long, so look forward to our impressions; in the meantime, find more, including our own interview with Roper, at the Champions Online gamepage.