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Changing Chat Channels easily in Champions Online

Lifebane — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:15:29 +0000

KEY BINDING TO MAKE CHAT CHANNEL CHANGING EASIER

If you are like me you probably have multiple chat channels setup in addition to the standard ones that you find in Champions Online (Zone, Local, Team, etc.). Setting up custom channels can be their own minor problem but once they are setup the problem quickly becomes changing back and forth between the various chat channels to type.

To alleviate this stress I give you Chat Channel Key Binding!

Below you will find an example list of these binds:

/bind F7 “channel_setcurrent “custom-chat-channel-name-1″ ”
/bind F8 “channel_setcurrent “custom-chat-channel-name-2″ ”
/bind F9 “channel_setcurrent “Zone” ”
/bind F10 “channel_setcurrent “Team” ”
/bind F11 “channel_setcurrent “Local” ”
/bind F12 “channel_setcurrent “Super Group” ”

Simply input these one at a time through your regular chat window and then from that point on it is just a matter of hitting one button to change chat channels.

To make it easier to setup these same bindings to new alts on your account, simply type in /bind_save once you’ve set them up for one character, then when you change to another alt just type /bind_load to load all of your keyboard shortcuts including these to the new character. WARNING: If you have different binds for different characters do not use /bind_load. It may overwrite your unique binds on the character.

There you have it. Time saved, stress relieved.. life is good.

Special Thanks to @peace for pointing this out to me in the first place! You rock peace.

Guide on How to Kill Grond in Champions Online

Lifebane — Sun, 02 May 2010 11:34:53 +0000

Okie folks, after messing around with Grond I thought it would be good to toss up a quick post on where to find the 4 armed Hulk wannabe and how to beat him. Now on to the WHAT to do portion of this:

First off, Grond does not stay in any one place for very long. He’ll bash everything in site for a couple minutes then he will say some nonsense about being bored at which point he will jump away. Oh yes, every time he hops he’ll Regenerate/Heal roughly 20,000 health back immediately it seems and if not attacked immediately at his new landing point he will Regenerate/Heal faster. Now that jumping thing is the only real challenge the big oaf really represents since once Grond jumps you have to go chase him down again and re-engage him by which point he has probably regained all the health you took from him; an annoying cycle to be certain.

So the major problem here is you cant hold him still long enough to beat him down and if you try to chase him around you’ll never really win the fight… hrmm.. how then do we defeat this mutant Hulkster? Read on heroes…

Here’s the trick.. you will need at least TWO groups, not necessarily 5 man groups but 2 distinct groups. You will basically setup a leap frog game where group 1 engages Grond at his current location. group 2 does NOT fight there, they instead go to wait at the next landing location to catch Grond after he jumps away. While group 2 engages Grond, group 1 moves ahead to the next landing spot to engage him when he jumps again.. keep playing this game of leap frog and keeping little Grondy there aggroed and dps’d and you will eventually beat him. Seems simple enough but wait.. that jumping thing.. it would be great if we actually knew where he was going to be jumping to huh? Well everyone can thank someguymc for posting his very own Grond Jump Point Map. I’ve used it myself and it is accurate, Good Job! The map is at the bottom of this post.

Now get out there and find Grond…Death to greenie!

Map for Grond's Jump Points in Champions Online

The truth about Proc Rates in Champions Online

Lifebane — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:19:42 +0000

Antiproton, a developer over at Cryptic Studios, shared a bit of the inner workings of the game with the users over at the Champions Online forums. He touched on game mechanics revolving around proc rates and how it is based on the speed of the attack that you are using. This was fairly enlightening so read below for the scoop:

No, you aren’t understanding the normalization that Winged was explaining. If you attack with a .5 second attack (like perhaps minigun), then the proc rate will be 12.5%, if you attack with a 2 second attack (that’s activate + charge time), then the proc rate will be 50%. It is a 25% normalized bonus, so that means in your case you are getting 3.75 extra dps out of it, which is a large bonus compared to say a point of Int’s net effect on your dps.

Upgrades in Champions Online

Lifebane — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:25:02 +0000

Primary Offensive Slot?! Secondary Defense Slot?! Primary Utility Slot?! What is this all about and what are these slots anyway?! This can be very confusing for the new player as well as seasoned veterans coming from other MMO’s initially. In Champions Online you will find various upgrades that fit in specific “inventory” slots on your character. These do not automatically alter your costume though; they are instead behind the scenes improvements to your characters without messing up the pimp factor of your costume.

You can obtain these upgrade items through the following manners: loot, crafting, quest rewards, PvP rewards and Perk rewards.

As hinted at previously, there are upgrades that allow a change in appearance although most of these are from perks and rewards for PvP. Equipping the upgrade doesn’t automatically change your costume, it instead unlocks a new costume option at the Tailor..

The three upgrade types are:

Offense: This type makes your attacks more powerful or allows you to alter the type of damage or how one of your powers works in some way. This group of slots is indicated with a star symbol in the far left column of devices that you can install in your devices window. The bottom row is the Primary Offense slot, the other two above it are the Secondary offense slots.

Defense: This type makes your hero tougher and can give you special defenses/protective abilities. This group of slots is indicated with a shield symbol in the middle column of devices that you can install in your devices window. The bottom row is the Primary Defense slot, the other two above it are the Secondary Defense slots.

Utility – This type can grant you special abilities that are not combat specific such as bonuses to hiding or improvements to your mini map/hud. This group of slots is indicated with a plus symbol in the right column of devices that you can install in your devices window. The bottom row is the Primary Utility slot, the other two above it are the Secondary Utility slots.

What is the deal with the Primary and Secondary Slots you ask? The primary slots usually have better stats and abilities while the secondary slot items, while nice, are not as big a boost in your abilities.

Note: To use these primary slotted items you can press the 8-0 keys that are by default configured to activate those items that have an effect other than simply stat bonuses.

The upgrades are broken down into one additional level based on the type of upgrade they are rather than simply what slot they fit in. In this case they are broken down into the same categories that the crafting skills are broken down into: Arms, Science or Mysticism. This is relevant for crafting purposes since it will let you know what items you can deconstruct and gain crafting experience from based on your chosen crafting profession.

Each type of upgrade will have the potential to enhance only certain statistics and excluding other statistics. Below is a table showing what statistics are excluded from the various types of upgrades:

Arms:

Offense	Presence
Defense	Presence, Ego, Endurance, Intelligence
Utility	Presence

Science:

Offense	Presence
Defense	Dexterity, Recovery, Strength
Utility	Presence

Mysticism:

Offense	Constitution
Defense	Constitution, Dexterity, Recovery, Strength
Utility	Constitution

Champions Online Perks

Lifebane — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:36:44 +0000

What exactly are perks and why do I keep getting these perk point awarded messages periodically? Fear not, in Champions Online perks are a cool gimmick that lets you earn points for doing things in game. I know that sounds really vague but it is actually that broad of a topic. You can earn perk points for all kinds of things in game.

A few examples of how you can earn perk points

Defeat a boss
heal X amount of damage
stand on a specific location
interact with/use an item
defeat X number of Y creature
beat up enough people in PvP
interact with certain NPC’s in game
etc.

The perks might remind former Warhammer Online players of the “BOOK”. Where all your accomplishments and deeds are logged for future reference. This is the same basic mechanism but now we call it the Perks system. You can see your current Perk log by clicking “J” on your keyboard to view your journal then click on the “Perks” tab to view a complete list of Perks you’ve completed as well as those you have yet to complete.

Good luck and happy Perk Hunting!

Champions Online Statistics

Lifebane — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:57:13 +0000

So what is the deal with Statistics in Champions Online you ask? Well the names of them should all look fairly familiar to avid gamers but what you really need to know is how they impact the effectiveness of your powers. And I warn you, the statistics in Champions Online are a far different beast than you might be used to in previous MMO’s. Read up and learn the intricacies or suffer the defeat at the hands of your Nemesis to say the least.

Here are the Statistics you will have in Champions Online:

STRENGTH: Determines your ability to knock back your enemies, resist being knocked back, how heavy are the items that you can lift as well as throw.
DEXTERITY: Determines your chance to critically strike an enemy as well as determining the damage you avoid when you successfully dodge an attack.
CONSTITUTION: Determines your hit points and how quickly you recover your hit point.
INTELLECT: Reduces the cost of your powers, increases your ability to detect stealthed beings, and it can significantly boost your pet DPS for you pet classes out there.
EGO: Determines the severity of your critical hits, how well your snares/holds work, and determines your ability to get free from snares/holds.
PRESENCE: Determines how well you Generate threat in a defensive role, how well you avoid threat in an offensive role, and increases the effectiveness of your buffs and your pets’ hit points.
RECOVERY: Determines how well you can resist knockdowns, helps you get up after you are knocked down, and determines energy generated with your energy generation attacks.
ENDURANCE: Determines the amount of energy your hero has and impacts the amount of energy generated by your fighting attacks.

I bet you noticed one minor detail missing from the above stats huh? NOTHING there determines how much more damage you will do! Champions Online has an answer for this though, enter the SUPER STATS!! You are allowed to pick 2 super stats as you progress through your levels. This way the stats you pick and increase the most are always the ones you need for your particular class, no one likes to see brawny pencil pushing tech geeks.

Happy Hunting Hero!