I also feel detached, because friendships and rivalries are fleeting, often formed and lost within minutes. Instead of occupying static servers or a single world, players move fluidly among instances with each trip to a zone, a villain’s lair, PvP, and the trainer. The system solves the problem of having friends divided by servers, but at the cost of a solid community. I like creating a niche for myself, such as the dependable healer or the source of a particular product. This is hardly possible in Champions Online outside of supergroups (guilds), which are little more than extended friend-lists.

Champions Online doesn’t inspire the drive to explore or build a community, but it thrives on the spontaneity of twitch-based combat and the thrill of experimenting with new powers. The Nemesis system, which lets you create an arch-enemy to battle, and forays into Lairs have been keeping endgame players entertained thus far. As the missions dry up, the staying power of Champions Online will depend largely on Cryptic’s devotion to creating in-game events, such as the upcoming Blood Moon. If nothing else, at least you can finally make that fire-breathing dwarf with butterfly wings.

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