Bill Roper is the best thing that could have happened to Champions Online, the MMO based on the Champions tabletop game licence. This is the man who played a key role in the success of Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, so to get him on board – even at such a late stage in the game’s development – is a massive boon to Cryptic Studios’ ongoing work.

Roper has labelled City Of Heroes – Cryptic’s previous superhero MMO – a “sounding board” for Champions Online, and it certainly feels that the ideas of Cryptic’s first endeavour have been refined and rethought, moulded into a new experience that even World Of Warcraft stalwarts would do well to at least sample.

The focus is on individuality and giving players the ability to craft an iconic superhero using the absorbing character-creation system. Players are not only able to set the colour of their lycra shorts, but also the way their hero moves, acts and even where their powers emanate from. Champions Online completely shuns rigid character classes; a choice that may seem counterintuitive to those indoctrinated into the belief that every MMO needs Mages, Warriors or Druids, but in reality allows players the freedom to invent their own individual persona.

From facial expressions to cybernetic appendages, the wealth of choice is huge, as is the range of skills available such as sorcery, martial arts, archery, power armour, telekinesis and more. And it’s not just powers you’ll select, but also your character’s nemesis and weakness – every superhero needs their kryptonite, after all. With such variety in character classes, superpowers and abilities, Cryptic will have a tough job on its hands if it’s to ensure the game remains balanced.

The new take on combat will take care of some of the balancing at least, utilising a charge-and-release energy-based system that refashions traditional MMO RPG concepts. One form of attack requires the player to charge up energy and causes minor damage while the other consumes energy but results in a more harmful effect. It’s a system that transfers skill selection, cast times and cool downs over to player control, allowing the user to determine energy gain or cost, how long the skill is effective for and how powerful the attack will be.

Champions Online is still struggling with its user interface; the menus and selections can still feel bewildering at times, but as an overall experience it’s feeling slick and tactile, boasting a heady pace that’s absent from the genre traditionalists. It’s more than an extension of the City Of Heroes template; it’s a fresh and exciting experience in its own right, and certainly an interesting alternative to the plains of Azeroth.