I’m considering getting this for PS3. I’ve never played an MMORPG. Don’t have a PC.
What are your impressions?
How easy is it to jump into a MMORPG and get up to speed?
I know the FPSers insist on PC/KB & mouse; what about RPGers?
If you’ve played the beta, how does it compare to WoW, EQ2, etc.?
Any advice?
I was hoping that someone with more knowledge would answer, but that hasn’t happened so I’ll jump in.
I haven’t played DCU, but have played 3-4 other MMORPGs. I would say that it generally takes very little time at all to get up to speed, unless you’re primarily interested in PvP. Starting at launch you’re in pretty much the same boat as everyone else as well, which is nice. That said, it’s often a good idea to wait an update or two before joining up. A lot of publishers are pushing out unfinished MMORPGs and waiting a bit can let you avoid some of the early pain.
I couldn’t imagine playing a MMORPG without KBAM, but from what I’ve read DCU has been designed around using a controller so that may not be a concern here. That still leaves the question of communicating, of course; I don’t think a headset/mic alone would cut it.
I only played the beta briefly. It’s much more arcade/action oriented than a standard MMORPG. “Traditional” MMORPGs such as WoW, LoTRO, the Everquest games etc are largely pushing number keys (or keybinds) for the “Slash” attack and you slash, then you wait for it to recharge (perhaps hitting the “Cleave” button as you wait) and hit it again, etc. In Everquest, you would hit an “Auto-attack” and keep attacking with your melee weapon while you were in range (I don’t remember LoTRO having an auto-attack but it’s been a while).
DCUO is more active with me spamming the mouse button to fire my pistols while running around. I also had to move the aiming reticule (although you can lock it to a target). The mouse was also used heavily for movement. As such, I can imagine that mouse+kb users will find it a lot easier than people who rely most only on the keyboard. I’m too old and uninterested in learning new tricks to really get into it at that point since I’m largely a “run with the arrow keys” keyboard user. I should note that I only played one powerset, a ranged attack type, so maybe it’s different if you’re a martial artist or sword user or something.
My impression is that it’s trying to capture some of the market who enjoys faster paced run-and-gun style playing and looked down at the “stand here and attack” style playing from older MMORPGs. It’s also heavily menu based in a console game sort of way (FFXI was the same way so it could be played on the PS2; I personally hated it but that’s probably the direction the market is headed). If you’ve played other keyboard+mouse games like that and felt comfortable you should like it. If not, you might have a learning curve.
I personally play City of Heroes and DCUO didn’t appeal much to me at all for various reasons but a lot of that had to do with what I’m used to and expect from a superhero themed game and an MMORPG. If you have little MMORPG experience (or more console gaming experience) you might like it more. It didn’t seem all that hard to get up to speed on with the tutorial doing a fairly decent job of explaining how to allocate skill points or use items. For as much as I was saying it felt different from an MMORPG, one thing is very much like traditional MMORPGs – collecting gear to better your character. You might not think of a superhero game as a place where you get a +5 Cape of Ranged Defense or Leggings of Agility but it’s in there. I’ve played most of the bigger name MMORPGs and honestly none of them are rocket science and half the people you come across will convince you that paint-chip eating monkeys can manage to figure them out by facerolling the keyboard.
Thanks for the answers.
What is KBAM?
Either a radio station in the western US or keyboard and mouse.