Champions Online : State of the Game: Roper Out, Poz In
Bill Roper has just put out his final State of the Game letter for Champions Online, bringing news that he will be moving on to "other design responsibilities within Cryptic Studios." Shannon Posniewski aka Poz, will be taking Bill's place as Executive Producer on Champions Online going forward.
Poz has been well known in the "City of" and Champions Online community for many years, and is currently the Director of Game Programming on Champions Online. This should be an interesting change of pace for Poz!
Roper's parting remarks below:
We've been doing a lot over the past few weeks to be more involved with the community, change our development processes to better respond to your feedback, and do whatever we can to continue building Champions into the game we all want it to be. We've made some mistakes along the way, but I continue to be very proud of the dedication, effort, and love this team puts into the game. Champions Online is a much more solid experience than when we launched, and continues to have a great deal of promise and potential to become better and better in the future. I am grateful for the support and passion this community has for it.
Shannon Posniewski, or Poz on the forums, is taking over as Executive Producer on Champions Online as I move to other design responsibilities within Cryptic Studios. Shannon has been with Cryptic since back in the "City of" days, is Director of Game Programming, and has been serving as our lead programmer since before launch. He is an incredible force for getting things done and is tied into the technology of the game while having an earnest desire to work with the community and take Champions to the next level. He's constantly on the forums, so rest assured he's going to see what it is you're looking for.
The letter discusses more than just Roper's move, of course. There is other Champions Online news to talk about. Roper mentions that the team is putting the finishing touches on Revelation before it hits Live servers, and then goes on to reveal Cryptic Studio's plans for the super-powered MMORPG once Revelation goes live:
New Missions
The content team has some pretty cool new tools to play with so while we start stretching our legs with them, it seemed like a great time to work on some more content to spread throughout the game. We know that there are a few areas where content is thin, so we're thickening the plot, so to speak, with some new missions in specific level bands. As we get these into the testing phase, we'll let you know what and where they are.
Adventure Packs
These are story-driven, themed mission chains playable by heroes at almost any level. Filled with new content, special rewards, and new perks, the first one in the queue is called Serpent Lantern.