Champions Online: Open Beta Beings August 17th, 2009 (FP Subscribers & Pre-Orders)

Exactly what the header says.

And yes, there will be QQ about paying for Fileplanet, but I've been with 'em for a year now and it's one of the best investments I've made!

Anyhow, the blurbage with exact date which I don't think was there before:

FilePlanet will be exclusively hosting the Champions Online open beta starting Wednesday, August 5th. Open Beta gameplay will start August 17th. Will you be ready?

Subscribers will be able to get a key and download the game early starting Wednesday, August 5th. Be ready to jump in the moment the game launches by subscribing today.

I will be there...will you?

Ever since I read more about the customization and feature list, I've been pretty excited about getting to check the game out. The Nemesis system sounds cool and being able to choose where I shoot my pew pew fireball out of is even more awesome! Hope its good so I can decide if it's worth plunking down the $49.99 come September 1st.

If you haven't really researched the game, check out this feature list from the official website. The only thing that I'm kinda' iffy about is that while CO is supposed to follow a standard MMO subscription model, it will also have microtransactions as well.

The official word on these microtransactions:

I know everyone has questions about microtransactions – what are they, how much are they, etc. I’m sorry we didn’t post something earlier; we’re really heads down in development right now. We’re going to release a WHOLE lot of information in the very near future about not just about microtransactions, but pricing in general. That said, here’s some basic principles about microtransactions to at least answer some of your concerns:

1) Microtransactions enable us to have a larger development team
2) Microtransactions are mostly aesthetic (costume pieces, pets, etc.)
3) If a microtransaction does have any sort of in game effect, then it can be also be earned in game.

I promise we'll read this thread, note any questions, and answer them more in depth soon. Heck, I'll try to answer the easy ones today/tomorrow/this week.

But I guess we shall see come August 17th, shan't we?