DC Universe Online

The Game Room
1

So we have a new superhero themed MMO on the market. DC Universe Online launched on Tuesday and I went ahead and picked up a copy yesterday. After an 11GB install and a 2GB download I finally was able spend some time with the game today.

I’m not really into MMO’s as a rule but I am videogame/comic book nerd and I’ve been watching the development of this title with some interest. The only MMO’s I’ve ever played were WOW, (did a year in that and quit shortly after BC came out and haven’t looked back), and CoX. I’ve went back and forth on CoX doing a few months here and there but it never really hooked me.

I’ve created three heroes and a villain on two different servers and run each through the tutorial section and up to level five. They were in order, a martial artist/gadgeteer, a sorceress/energy projector, a flying brick, and a martial artist/speedster.

FTR I’m playing the PS3 version of the game on both the Countdown and Crisis servers.

Some initial completely random reactions:

Holy crap is this game buggy! I’ve been reading the official forums plus forums elsewhere and it appears I’m not alone in this. Falling through the games architecture and into oblivion, doors that don’t work properly, seemingly random “corrupt data” crashes, sound completely dropping out, characters losing levels between sessions, and the dreaded lag. My understanding though is that this isn’t uncommon with MMO’s during the launch window and the game is probably going to be heavily patched over the first few weeks and months.

The level cap right now is 30 which seems low to me, but whatever. I’m not even close to that yet.

This is an action game. The combat is fast and furious and powers don’t use the “cool down” mechanic that I’m used to. You have a standard “power point” meter that seems to regenerate rather quickly in my experience.

Compared to CoX the character creation seems incredibly thin. You can’t alter a characters dimensions. Both male and female characters have a small, medium and large option and they’re stuck in those bodies. No altering a characters face other than giving them masks.

Lots of kill x number of enemies and collect x number of item quests? Okay, thats an MMO trope so I’ll let that slide.

I never liked CoX’s handling of movement powers. I can’t fly till I’m level whatever? What the hell is that? I’m a superhero! I like the fact that when you choose a movement ability here you get it out of the gate. No hovering up the side of a building for twenty minutes just to reach the rooftop. Characters feel powerful and versatile right from the beginning and only go up from there.

This game does a lot with it’s license. Fans of DC will want to spend at least a few hours with it and the atmosphere is through the roof. We get expansive versions of Metropolis and Gotham and it isn’t afraid to mine obscure corners of the DCU for content. (Hey! It’s Ambush Bug!) That said, I’m not seeing much outside of that yet but it’s still early. Characters who choose Wonder Woman or Circe as a mentor start in Metropolis? Where the hell is Paradise Island? I can easily see the devs adding other cities and areas down the road in expansions. Coast City? Central? Keystone? Bludhaven? Atlantis? Leesburg? Maybe let players visit Apokolips and New Genesis? Still a lot of untapped potential in this area.

So far I think I’m liking it. But I liked CoX a lot for the first few days as well before I was bogged down by repetition and seemingly endless grinding. Time will tell I suppose.

Anyone else playing yet? Thoughts, opinions? I’d be interested in hearing from others with more MMO experience than myself. Does this seem like something that will last? Are there any warning signs I’m not seeing? Is it going to F2P in six months? :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’m very interested in this so your insight is appreciated. Roughly how would you compare it to CoX (which I play and enjoy)? Although you can’t answer this since you play on the PS3, I have heard even with a mouse there is no cursor and no clicking. I can’t envision how that works exactly. It seems weird and hard to learn.

3

Compared specifically to CoX? I can’t think of another way of saying it other than this game operates on an expedited level. As I said previously this is an action game at heart. Everything is just faster. Combat is less strategy and planning and more reflex and reaction based. There is no ‘cool down’ on your powers, its all about managing your point level and slamming the opponent. Leveling is quicker and the cap is lower. There were numerous players running around at level thirty within 24 hours of the launch. That seems like a problem frankly, but I understand that was the devs intention. I ran into my first real “boss” tonight, Scarecrow in Gotham, and I wasn’t even close to a boss fight within 12 hours of starting CoX. And that was with splitting my time equally between four characters.

Powers seem more streamlined as well. DC only has six or seven main power trees with ‘normal combat’ splitting the difference. In CoX, from my recollection, melee was a secondary concern to setting up your big attacks. In DC at character creation you’re asked to pick a main attack in addition to your powers. An example; My ‘sorceress’ energy projector character is a recreation of one of my CoX characters. In CoX her main attacks were powers tied to a cool down period and she ran a kite and interference in between. In DC she can spam her main attack and uses her ‘powers’ as a debuff. In both cases she’s a glass cannon, but she’s far more effective in DC.

I’m trying to explain this without much knowledge of the system in DC yet, so I can try to fill in details if requested.

Yeah, I’ve heard this as a complaint. It seems Sony designed the interface with the PS3 in mind, complete with no built in cursor and a lock on system, which is why it’s more of an action RPG. This is not a typical MMO, it’s an action RPG with extensive MMO trappings. Personally, as someone who games in both mediums, I think this is an serious oversight. If I could imagine porting the PS3 interface to a PC, it wouldn’t be a matter of ‘not clicking’ so much as pushing a key for each and every standard individual attack. Not so much of a problem on a controller as a mouse or keyboard. Consoles and PC’s require specialized interfaces for efficiency. If the PC interface is the same as the PS3 that’s a problem.

Not having played the PC version though, I would invite others input.

4

I was holding off on buying it for a bit but… Ambush Bug is in it? Seriously? I might have to have this now.

5

If you’re still playing on an SDTV like I am, the text will be extremely hard to read.

6

Yep. He’s a quest giver in Metropolis for heroes.

Heh. I’m playing on a 50’ HD set and the text is STILL hard to read. It’s small and blurry.

7

Man, I’d like to see this, but I refuse to buy any MMO’s without a demo. I hope they bring something out.

8

Hardly any MMOs start with a demo. Almost all MMOs get one within the first year or so.

Hadn’t realized it was coming out so soon – to Direct2Drive I go…

9

I played it for a few weeks in beta, and lost interest pretty quickly. I’m all about the alts, and customization, and each character I made just felt a lot like all the other characters I’d made previously.

It just made me want to play Champions Online again.

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I gotta say the lack of creation options is a definite downside coming off CoX. (Never played CO). There’s only six power options and the costume creator seems incredibly lacking at first. I’ve discovered though that as you play you find other costume pieces that aren’t available in the initial creation. The game makes you earn them. And you can customize your costume at anytime at no cost. The lack of powers is troubling right now though.

Another completely random thought; The Watchtower, which is how you move between Metropolis and Gotham among other things, is incredibly confusing at first. I think I’m getting a feel for how its laid out though.

Oh and Ambush Bug is in Gotham not Metropolis. I was wrong on that one.

11

Agreed, perhaps I was spoiled by the CoX creator but the DCO one seems very lacking. I’ll keep trying for a month, but after that…

12

Four days in and I’m starting to feel the same.

FTR I’m an avid gamer, who doesn’t buy into MMO’s for the most part admittedly, with a serious love of DC’s comics. Right now I’m starting to feel that “MMO grind” that’s turned me off in the past, but the license is keeping me interested for now. I’ve done the mini dungeon “bosses” for Scarecrow, Bane, and Grodd and I’ve really dug those. The game does it’s best to make you feel like a new character in the DCU. Context seems to have been really important to the devs. For each boss battle I’ve fought alongside a known DC character. The new Batwoman and Nightwing for Scarecrow and Bane and the Flash for Grodd. That was cool. But if this didn’t carry the license I’d be way more down on it right now, contemplating cancelling my subscription.

As a side note, I would say this is definitely not a title for people who suffer from “Alt-Itis”. They encourage you to explore the world and turn over every corner. Characters tend to feel and play the same from one to another from a mechanics standpoint. You’re either up close and tanking , doing DPS from ranged, or controlling/healing once you’ve reached a specific level. No in “betweens” or ground broke on that front. There is a power set that unlocks at level ten called “iconic powers” that opens up some more of the traditional options. I’ll be looking more closely at those in the coming days as my main characters come to that level.

I’m still interested though, and I’ll be updating occasionally with more impressions as I play over the next 25 or so days at least. I like the game so far but they’re going to have to… ahem… WOW me over the next few weeks to keep me hooked. No puns intended. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Tried to play tonight and haven’t been able to log in and I’ve been trying periodically for the last three hours. Apparently they’re experiencing load problems and are performing upgrades and maintenance right now.

I’m off of work tomorrow and I’m looking forward to seeing if these upgrades fix some of the lag issues.

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Now, normally, I don’t like Gamespy. But Will Tuttle’s been around a while. This is… harsh.
Really harsh. Not entirely accurate, either.

15

For the benefit of those of us who haven’t bought the game but are curious, where’d he get it wrong?

16

Well, even in the first couple levels, there’s a mission or two which are not ‘kill six sheep’. There’s a few ‘hunt down six sheep’ and also a ‘beat boss inside instanced dungeon’.

On the other hand, they don’t mention that rewards are supposed to get to you by the e-mail system, which is down half the time. And if you get the reward while e-mail’s down, you never get the reward.

Which is bad, as sometimes it’s the only way to ever get that cosmetic look.

But basically, level 10? You level fast in this game. Level 10 is three hours work, if that.

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And Champions is going F2P this month. I wonder if folks who’ve been waiting for DCU reviews before buying will decide to save their money and give cryptic another chance?

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I, for one, am not terribly motivated to finally try the game that’s going free-to-play because it’s trying to change revenue models.

I was (am) tempted by DCUO, because I love the DC universe and want to check it out. The Champions universe is lame.

Is the PC version of DCUO plagued by the same kind of bugs as the PS3 version?

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Well things seem to be pretty close to canon. I seem

to spend a lot of time rescuing Robin after he gets captured.

20

That seems to happen a lot, yes. I got to punch him a lot too. So far he’s been captured twice, Nightwing’s been captured twice, Zatanna once (and then again not so much captured as involved but not combat-helpful)…

“Man, who taught you how to punch?” “…The same guy who taught you, actually.”

Maybe it’s just me, but this game scratches my gamer itch. Acrobatics is wicked fun. The quests are imaginative. Combat isn’t just a perpetual bore; it’s actually interesting and quite difficult if you don’t use some decent tactics. And it’s DC. I got to team up with Batman to beat up the Joker, and it felt like a comic book or a scene out of the animated show: Bats get stunned by some Joker device, I steal the device and un-stun him, then a bunch of goons jump out of giant gift boxes, then he’s hooked up a bomb that’s going to flood the room with his laughing gas…

Ironically, I found the Harley Quinn fight to be a lot nastier than the Joker until I figured out how to avoid her damn hammer (protip: ignore the fight with the GCPD on the upper platform and let her chase you down the stairs. Or just learn to fly and have a ranged power, I guess).

I don’t know if they’re going to crack down on canon characters. I sort of doubt it. I’m playing one, but it’s ridiculously obscure – it showed up twice or three times in the animated series – and it has a slightly different name (unnecessary: the real name isn’t blocked) – and the character is rather different from her original incarnation, so I think I’m safe. :slight_smile: