Cryptic Studios has posted a new "Ask Cryptic " article today with a focus on fighting styles and animations, power advantages, and missions.

Perhaps the most exciting news from the question-and-answer session is that the developers are "trying to make you feel like your character is part of a larger world" during the missions.

When you go into the Stronghold super-villain prison you'll have a team of SPARC guards waiting on you to show up so they can head in with your hero to take on the rioting prisoners and mind-controlled guards inside.

They also confirmed that most powers will allow players to move while attacking, which will make these epic missions even more energetic, just like a page out of a comic book. These powers can also by modified by the application of Advantages to further customize your character.

The full Q&A can be found here or below.

How are you going to handle mission teams? Is it going to be like the City of Heroes/Villains system where one member's mission is shared with the team and everyone gets xp or will it be like other MMOs where you need the same mission in order to get completion xp?(TruthSeer)

Arkayne (Lead Designer): The Champions Online mission system allows you to share missions freely between teammates, allowing you to work together toward common goals.

How absorbing will the missions be? E.g when rescuing a kidnapped victim, will there be a police team waiting outside the building with flashing lights waiting for you to go in? (Symbea)

Arkayne: It's going to vary throughout the game, but we're trying to make our missions as absorbing as possible given a predominantly persistent world with custom instances. When you're helping the super-science Project Greenskin base under attack by radioactive mutants you'll see guards shouting orders and firing on the attacking creatures while you repair the auto-turrets outside the base. When you go into the Stronghold super-villain prison you'll have a team of SPARC guards waiting on you to show up so they can head in with your hero to take on the rioting prisoners and mind-controlled guards inside. In short, we're trying to make you feel like your character is part of a larger world.

What are the options to modify the mechanics of powers? What are some Advantages? What, if any, effect will equipment have on individual powers? (theNater)

Heretic (Lead Powers Designer): Powers can be modified by the application of Advantages. Advantages come in a wide variety of effectiveness; some simply improve the basic elements of the power they are attached to, while others add completely new effects.

For example, one Advantage adds an impenetrable telekinetic force field element to a heal power when the heal target is very low on health. Other Advantages can add damage or movement snare effects, or even modify what a summon power conjures. Advantages can radically alter how powers function, and are a key component of character customization.

How will stealth work. Will it be light based sneaking or will it be like you becoming invisible? (Quinz)

Heretic: We are still working out many of the details as to how stealth will interact with mobs and other players' characters. Specifically, we want to preserve a sense of risk by ensuring that stealth and invisibility effects are not absolute, but are still useful tools to the general course of game-play.

Are there going to be different styles of hand-to-hand attacks? (Break-Out)

Heretic: There will be several different styles of hand-to-hand attacks covering not so much different formal unarmed martial arts styles, but rather different flavors of fighting. To this end, we are looking at styles including bestial fighting, street fighting and brute-style superstrength fighting in addition to a more conventional martial arts style.

We are definitely not closing the door on doing a wider variety of formal unarmed martial arts styles in the future, but for now we wanted to focus our efforts on the broader flavors of fighting as well as several weapon fighting styles.

Will we be able to move while using powers? For example: Shooting a rifle at a baddie while strafing him, or moving towards or away from him. (EdmundDuke)

Absinthe (Lead Character Artist): Yes, there are a few charge-up powers where the player is stationary, but most of the powers allow players to move while attacking.

Will picking different stances affect any of the power animations? Or will all powers use the same animation regardless of stance? (EdmundDuke)

Absinthe: Some will be different but most will use similar animations.

I saw blocking in action on some videos posted from the gaming conventions. Will there be customizable blocking animations? One hero might use the standard arms up and slightly crossed, another might use their cape, etc. (Break-Out)

Absinthe: Sort of; there are ways to upgrade your block ability, which in turn changes the FX/animation of the way you block. For example, a sorcerer may not cross his arms, but will instead float up into the air and summon a force field in front of him.

Will we have animated tails for beast/nonhuman characters? In City of Heroes the tail selection was slim, and they were stiff and unmoving, will we get the same here? (Thorgar)

Absinthe: Animated tails are in!

Will we be able to have more than one pattern on out costume (and three separate colors on one part, like chest.)? (Quinz)

Absinthe: The player can choose one pattern per mesh, and that pattern has typically 3 material options (cloth, leather, metal for example) and 4 color choices.