The Champions Online news keeps pouring in. If the fact that open beta is scheduled to start on Aug. 17 isn't enough to satisfy your desire for Champions information, then check out PvP designer James Laird's article on apocalypse PvP scenarios. These maps train heroes for doomsday possibilities, and the game will launch with the Stronghold Prison map. Stronghold is an ultra-secure prison in the U.S. that holds supervillains, and the scenario will help prepare you for a possible breakout. You can read Laird's full article after the jump.

But that's not all! Cryptic has launched a new section of the official Web site that is devoted to Power Sets, and the first one showcases Electricity abilities. Take a look at some of the powers your electric hero will be able to use, from Sparkstorm to Gigabolt.

Even though the game hasn't even launched yet, the team is still focusing on the future of Champions Online. The Champions Online Daily News blog spoke to lead designer Randy Mosiondz about expansions, and he said they "already have plans for the next year of content." You can expect a new content pack approximately every four months, along with paid expansion packs and free updates. There will be lots of free, new powers to add to your arsenal after launch.

All UTC and BASH maps are variations on the same gameplay. You need to learn to work as a team to overcome an opposing team. The maps provide different environments--they look different and they encourage slightly different play styles and power builds, but 90% of the game is still your build and how you play it.

Apocalypse maps are different. Each Apocalypse map is designed to train heroes for a doomsday scenario. Each Apocalypse map is unique and has unique gameplay built in. Winning has as much to do with learning to play the map as it does with your build. They can also reward different skills than straight PvP: being able to get around a map quickly is handy in a B.A.S.H. game, but indispensible in some Apocalypse maps.

Champions is launching with one Apocalypse map, Stronghold Prison, although I can tell you that we've already started work on the next one. Each Apocalypse map will be a whole new beast, with different objectives and mechanics. We've probably spent twice as much time playtesting Stronghold than all our other PvP maps combined--not because we were skimping on our other maps, but because Stronghold has that many more moving parts. We needed to test not just the map layout, but the mechanics of it.

Early in the PvE game, players will come across Stronghold Prison, the U.S.'s ultra-secure prison for supervillains. How do you imprison a villain who can walk through walls, or teleport away? How do you contain someone who's strong enough to tear through steel like tissue paper? You put them in Stronghold. Of course, that means you've locked up all of the most dangerous villains in the same place. A mass breakout at Stronghold would be a nightmare.

Not to give anything away, but players may need to deal with some sort of trouble at Stronghold in the PvE game (hint: there's a breakout). Because of this, Hero Games develops Apocalypse: Stronghold, to prepare heroes in case of another escape. In the Hero Games exercise, the prisoners have escaped the lower levels, but a few members of the Champions have arrived in time to stop the prisoners from escaping. The supervillain prisoners want to fight their way out, while the heroes need to defeat the prisoners leading the riot so that the guards can restore order. For the sake of the training exercise, player heroes fight on both sides. Five heroes play the parts of super-powered prisoners, while five other heroes try to stop them. The twist is that you'll spend most of the map fighting alongside friendly NPCs, and fighting against enemy NPCs almost as much as against enemy players.

The specifics of which NPCs and how they fight has undergone quite a bit of revision. The first version of this map was filled with waves of weak NPCs, all running from one side of the map to the other. Simple playtesting on this map showed us that we were on to something, because it was a lot of fun. However, there was a lot of work to do before the map was ready for prime time. We spent many lunchtime playtests testing the NPC balance--how many, how often, how strong. The map layout changed at least three times (my apologies to the artists!). We added a spoiler mechanic where controlling the map let one team or the other summon extra-powerful reinforcements in addition to their normal NPC cohorts. We created a custom UI for the game. We experimented with neutral NPCs, ending conditions, and with having the teams take turns on offense and defense.

A lot of these features got changed or cut because they weren't working for Stronghold, but that doesn't mean they're bad ideas. Having lots of NPCs, for instance, created some very fun chaos, with powers flying everywhere. It felt fun, but there wasn't much strategy to it. Removing the swarms made the map feel cleaner and made it easier for players to pay attention to the important things, like switches changing hands and enemy players. Instead, the swarming NPCs are making their way onto PvE maps, where we have a little more control over the difficulty (there's no danger of a player-controlled villain swooping in!).

In the end, we reduced the hordes of NPCs to two groups: some stationary NPCs to slow down enemy players, and extra-powerful reinforcements that can be summoned from time to time to attack the opposing team's base. The reinforcements are actually NPC heroes and villains (well, very lifelike robotic imitations), because it's just cool to be fighting alongside Justiciar (or Talisman!). We added control switches to the map, and made the reinforcements only arrive when summoned, so that players would have secondary objectives to achieve; it's not just about having lots of DPS, but about being in the right place at the right time and being able to split up your team efficiently.

The beta feedback has been extremely positive so far. As feedback continues to rolls in, we're continuing to make passes to fine-tune the balance between NPCs and players. We're also on the lookout for changes to player powers and stats which can have a trickle-down effect on how the map plays. Our goal is to stay in the sweet spot where winning takes a balance of PvP skill and long-term strategy.