2. Champions Online
Another disclaimer: I worked on Champions Online, too. I suppose that might make it seem like my placement of the game as number two might be biased, but take that as you will. The victor in the aforementioned battle for supremacy of the Super Hero MMORPGs, Champions Online launched with what is STILL the best character editor in any game yet released bar-none, solid combat mechanics, a huge assortment of abilities and skills, and, sadly, practically no content with which to sate the frequency of the average player.
My last assignment on Champions after it launched was to play through the game as quickly as possible, from game start to end-of-content. It took me, at 8 hours a day, about a week and a half. If you consider the average player might put in between 8 and 16 hours into a single day, a week and a half’s worth of content is simply unacceptable. Reviews at the time were dead on: Champions was an awesome game that had just enough content for players to run through it during the initial month-long trial period. Fortunately, however, a lot has changed in the three years since the game launched. Cryptic’s CO team has added tons of content since the game’s launch, and all of that content coupled with the solid character building mechanics and gameplay make it stand apart from DCU.
