Cryptic implemented another patch in Champions Online today, and this one focuses on Supergroups, Gadroon critters and spam. According to the patch notes, the dev team has "added a number of performance improvements to Supergroups. Supergroup commands should be much more responsive now." In addition, a "report spam" button has been added to the mail UI and the difficulty of Gadroon critters has been nerfed.

The patch also fixes various bugs and makes numerous other changes to the game. For example, a search button has been added to the social UI and large powers and advatnages UIs are now movable. The full patch notes can be found below.

If you didn't get the chance to participate in yesterday's Champions Online dev chat, the transcript has been posted on the game's official forums. The hour-long chat covered a ton of topics, but many of the questions focused on concerns following the launch day patch that created some controversy over how it addressed class balance issues.

Executive Director Bill Roper said that the team is currently "focusing primarily on the balance of the game, such as powers issues and critter difficulty, along with content gaps that have been found." As far as the launch day patch is concerned, he said the changes were made "to help bring the difficulty of the game into line. There was very little to no challenge to the game, so we had to make a major adjustment for day one."

Ignoble said the team is "currently working to add a number of additional missions and instanced content to help fill several content gaps we have identified. These will begin making their way out to the server over the next few weeks and will hopefully integrate seamlessly with the content that already exists.

The full transcript can be found after the jump.

UPDATE: Cryptic's David "Daeke" Bass has posted on his Twitter page that there's a workaround for the free Retcon. Just type "/Character_UseFreeRespec" in chat. It should remove all your powers without warning. You have to be at the Retcon screen for it to work.

Cryptic applied a large patch today that provides a number of changes to various power sets and adds a number of performance fixes to the game. It doesn't, however, contain the free Retcon that was promised to Champions Online players. According to the patch notes, a bug is delaying the process, but the team hopes to have it resolved by tonight.

Due to the power set changes added in this patch, Cryptic suggests you read the full notes before purchasing powers or redeeming your free Retcon once it's implemented. If you'd like to follow the company's advice, the lengthy patch notes can be found after the jump.

Also, don't forget a Champions Online developer's chat will be held today at 4:30 p.m. PDT. All the information you need to participate can be found here.

Cryptic will be hosting its first developer's chat for Champions Online tomorrow, Sept. 10, at 4:30 p.m. PDT to follow the recent launch of the superhero MMO. Questions for the chat will be taken directly from this thread in the official forums, which has already reached 31 pages. The team will take questions from the audience at the end of the dev chat as well.

You can participate in the chat by using Coldfront's Java chat client or connecting to irc.coldfront.net using your own IRC client. All you need to do is join the #championsonline channel tomorrow to read answers to questions regarding the launch of Champions Online.

... from Direct2Drive! The team over at Direct2Drive is offering a great contest for anyone who's interesting in purchasing Champions Online via their purchase / download portal. According to the contest details, players who simply purchase Champions Online from September 1st to Monday, September 7th, 2009, will have a chance to receive a lifetime subscription package from Direct2Drive. In addition to this, five runners up will receive a 6-month subscrption package for free. If you were intending to purchase Champions Online anyways, then now might be a great time to do so, as a lifetime subscription nets you the following bonuses:

• Access to Champions Online for as long as it is in service
• Access to the Star Trek Online Closed Beta, beginning later this year!
• Exclusive Art Deco costume set, available only to lifetime subscribers
• Retro Future costume set
• Unique Mirror Universe outfit for Star Trek Online, available at the game's release
• Exclusive in-game Foxbat action figure, available only to lifetime subscribers
• Eight additional character slots!

You can also read the full contest details right here.

It turns out yesterday's extended period of downtime in Champions Online was caused by a new member of the Network Operation team incorrectly updating the patching manifest file. While no character or gama data was lost due to the mishap, it did take some time to resync of the patching system and affected log-ins. In response to the downtime, Cryptic has decided to give an additional day of free game time to all affected players.

While many players in this thread on the game's official forums are pleased to get a free day after the downtime, others who bought the lifetime subscription for $199.99 aren't happy they won't receive any sort of compensation for the error. What do you think? Do lifetime subscribers have a right to complain or not?

With GamesCom and BlizzCon providing gamers with all sorts of news last month, MMOsite is asking its readers to pick which MMO reigned supreme in August. Here's the choices: Cataclysm, the next World of Warcraft expansion; Aion; Final Fantasy XIV; Dragon Ball Online; Guild Wars 2; C9; Star Wars: The Old Republic; TERA; Champions Online; and Call of Chaos. You can also choose "other" if none of these games pique your interest.

MMOsite gave ratings to some of the games based on gameplay, graphics and popularity. World of Wacraft got a perfect 10, followed by Aion with a 9.8 and Final Fantasy XIV with a 9.3. As far as the votes of readers are concerned, Aion is currently leading the pack with 148, followed by Final Fantasy XIV with 59 and Guild Wars 2 with 58. WoW is currently in seventh place with only 37 votes. Which MMO do you think was the lord of August?

As we've reported, many Champions Online players criticized the patch that went live on launch day that attemped to address some class balance issues. In response, Cryptic announced today that "we will be issuing a full retcon to early-start characters created before our launch day patch." According to the announcement, Cryptic did not anticipate such broad changes to the game would be needed, which is why characters created during the head start program prior to the patch will receive the free retcons.

This news comes after yesterday's revamp of the retcon system, which lets players retcon as far back as they'd like, regardless of level, and rebalanced the cost of the retconing based on the potency of what you're changing and how far back you go in your character's history.

As another gift, Cryptic has added a video to the Champions Online video gallery of players taking down Mega Destroids during the end of beta event. Members of the Cryptic team played as Cryptonauts during the festivities.

Champions Online Executive Producer Bill Roper briefly announced the team's plans for Blood Moon, the first free update to the game, in his launch day State of the Game address, and more details have just emerged on the official Web site. Blood Moon looks to be a Halloween event full of werewolves and zombies that lets players explore the new Celestial Powerset.

According to the Blood Moon page, "it's late October and the moon has taken on a sinister aspect, staining the sky a bloody red." Takofanes, the Undying Lord, has returned to wreak havoc, and its up to players to fight the undead armies in an attempt to take him down. Just be careful or you may turn into a zombie or werewolf yourself.

Following yesterday's launch of Champions Online and the criticism surrounding the patch that was implemented to address a number of class balance issues and bugs, Cryptic has added a new patch today that completely revamps the Retcon system. According to the patch notes, "players can Retcon as far back as they'd like in their character's history, regardless of their level." Also, the cost of Retconing has been rebalanced based on the potency of what you're changing and how far back you go in your character's history.

The Retcon change is explained in more detail in this thread on the official forums. You can read today's full patch notes after the jump.