DC Universe online!

Luvdiscgolf

Luvdiscgolf

New Member
So I was watching my Seahawks play some playoff football at a buddy's place this past weekend (yes, I'm a Seahawks fan) and I saw a commercial for the new DC Universe online. Wow! That is the coolest-looking game I've seen in a long time! I'm not up on the latest and greatest new games out there so this is the first I had heard about it. Has anyone checked it out yet? I see it is due out this year. Here is a link to the website:

http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/
 
I was interested, but out of all the beta testers I talked to, they didn't have much positive to say about the game :( ...so I will not be looking into it...
 
It plays very much more like a hacknslash MMO so it can feel pretty grindy. The environments are beautiful (especially Gotham imo). I enjoyed the quests (for once in an MMO as I prefer PvP). The controls make this game feel like it deviates very much from WoW clones, and it is apparent this game would play well with a game controller. Ultimately, I won't personally be buying this game because I felt the part of the game that was lackluster was central around my characters. The game content itself was cool, and while I was able to make a unique-looking hero, the gameplay of each felt meh. I felt forced to pick specific roles to do the damage I wanted. Ranged damage was weak (what I really wanted to be doing) and on a side note, the combat sound effects were plunky and very annoying to me....some so much I changed the type of weapons I had just to hear something different.

I think many people will find a great deal of enjoyment playing DCUO, it just wasn't for me personally.
 
Hey here is a review I wrote hope it helps. Note content reviewed is based on beta and may change on release.

Is DC online worthy to be among mmorpg Champions or is it a City of Zeros?

Gameplay:
Starting off you will build your character and choose your weapon and superpower. You'll be using your weapon attacks more than your superpowers as attacking generates energy to fuel powers. However while you can change your weapon late in the game you can't change your power so choose wisely as your power set determines your primary class tank, healer or controller. Everyone gets dps as a starting class and access to your primary class at level 10 at which point you can switch between them any time outside of combat. The difference between DPS and your main class mode being more damage and squishy vs stronger superpowers and defense.

Actual combat revolves around using your weapon combos to build energy and then using your powers at the right time. As a Brawler I found little use for other than two weapon combos the longest main one and the one ranged skill you can get. In fact since you can get passives in other weapon trees that stack whether you are using that weapon or not every extra unused weapon skill you take becomes a waste. It is worth noting you can redirect the Brawler's main combo to another enemy should the one you are attacking die before it completes. This I found both useful (due to the end of the combo doing more dps), fun and something that requires a tiny bit of skill rather than spam. Unfortunately energy power builds on combos so if you need power, as opposed to killing enemies, to say heal a group it's better to just spam a low level ranged attack over and over. Since your superpowers require energy they are of course more powerful than weapon skills overall though the strongest powers work on a supercharge meter. Rather than energy building on combos these powers charge on fighting enemies and depending on which power you buy can be a lifesaving ability or a slot wasted. Which powers you take in a tree will create a lot of how you play the game as you can only have six equipped at a time. As such powers behave like weapon skills with any extra unused powers taking away from passive powers you could have bought. This lends itself to two options do you want to play the same way for most of the game and have better stats or have lower stats and powers you can swap to when you get bored? Since many abilities serve the same purpose but perform it in a different manner I felt myself a bit punished for trying to add variety to my character's abilities. You can respec your weapon and power trees for a price though once again you can't change your overall power.

Having played a healer to level 30 (and a tank character some) I felt healing in the game is a bit lackluster. Firstly you'll be watching bars a lot and don't expect to heal like a Warhammer melee warrior priest as you'll use up too many heals on yourself. As such ranged attacks seem better for healing and you'll have a few problems if your weapon skills are primarily melee based. I also had issues with other players attacking bosses and blocking my distance attacks with their bodies therefore depriving me of power. This left me with the feeling that, like most mmorpgs, ranged flying healers would probably do better than my primarily melee super speedster healer. You're also going to have to give up some single player power to be the best healer as each player has a limited amount of power abilities they can purchase. Many heal powers will be fairly useless in single player something the fire tank's power tree did not suffer from. Still as a Brawler/Nature build I managed ok as an off-healer with only a couple heals and in single player pvp match ups I held my own.

The single player quest varieties are 'kill this many", "collect this many" type quests. There are no timed quests, delivery quests or anything that dynamically changes in the world. The game does have many varied settings and DC characters to encounter but the actual actions you perform are the same. Want to have to deliver a vaccine in time while attack helicopters spawn chasing you? It doesn't come anywhere close. Where is the urgency? Where is the spontaneity? Where are the moments I write my own legend DC? They will be adding some content but it's going to have to be major AND varied to escape the grind, I don't see that happening. Once you reach level 30 you are reduced to raid or pvp farming ad nauseum. There are a few types of pvp, alerts and raids which are polished but standard fair.

In addition why can't developers realize meaningful and varied player interactions are the core of re-playability? A game will never have enough content as human interactions can create so why not put effort fostering dynamic content that does that? Let's have pvp with villains robbing banks that could happen anytime they choose. Let's have bounties placed on high ranking pvp players. Let's reward saving a fellow player's hero/villain. Let's have pvp battles that change the areas of the game giving your actions impact (some other mmorpgs do have this one). These should be standard fair along with missions but they are not. What we do get in DC is a pvp server where heroes and villains are thrown together without context and a pvp arena where you can grind for armor to beat down newbies who haven't grinded. Grouping for harder enemies and raids were among the highlights of the game but I had to farm one instance so long I don't ever what to see the Batcave again XD. Please note if you play this game I recommend the pvp server, yes you can get overwhelmed by a level 30 camping but it's fairly avoidable if you pay attention and you get an element of excitement not present on the pve server. On the pvp server I found myself sometimes actually having to be alert to my surroundings if I wanted to complete quests, not just grind in a haze, and I liked it.

Graphics:
DC online excels in this area bringing the large cities of Metropolis and Gotham to life with many locations from all over the DC Universe. There is a little pop in but it's not bad on my moderate level computer. You've also got DC characters from the well known to the obscure and even a few hidden cameos to be found. Certainly DC did not scrimp in the detail department and the missions are good the first time if only to check out what happens and who or what you end up fighting. Add in seasoned and recognizable voice actors from the DC cartoons and you feel like you are in one at times. A few notable powers like super speed and the slightly useful super strength for more damaging item/bus chucking (who doesn't like a good bus throw), did make me feel superpowered though they are unfortunately the exceptions not the rule. Most powers were meh. Also DC's costume earning incentive does not work when I got my costume as close as the game would allow when I created him. Then every new piece of equipment is just a grind for more stats, not unlike leveling but less compelling (seriously DC more prongs does not make better looking armor). Also, unlike Champions, you don't get huge character control, you don't get subtle size variance, facial hair is not separated from head hair and a multitude of tiny options aren't there. Even the power sets seem inappropriate to what I want as I'm not an "elemental" type guy. Still the powers and customization options do their job well enough it just makes me long for the Champion's character creator. Of course this juxtaposes the areas in Champions which left you feeling like your where going down a corridor while the feeling of freedom that the cities in DC impart is a vast improvement. I think I had the most fun in DC online just super speeding up buildings to ramp jump off and over other skyscrapers. It's nice to finally have a game you can actually leap tall buildings in a single bound :) .

Moral Content:
As far as moral content most objections in the game come in the form of the magic/demon content. Since you have three possible mentors to choose from and one is magic based almost a third of the game's content will take you through the vast magic themed stories of DC comics. For the most part it stays true to it's completely non-sensical source material however a few missions had me wincing even if they didn't make sense. The worst I found was the one you must leave your soul in the care of the the demon Etrigan (he is a good demon though >.> ), turn into a zombie and infiltrate some areas sealed by evil to fight it. Of course this was on the "Hero" side I imagine the villain side would of course have you being evil and thus be worse. As far as language there were a couple of light cuss words in the game itself but that paled compared to other players which, being the internet, freely used whatever crude language they wished. There was no chat filter at the time of my testing and some players exploited that fact to it's fullest potential. The game certainly has it's share of sexy and reveling super outfits but I saw no sexual references nor can you have a nude character with um details.

Final Word:
DC online appears to have fallen into the typical mmorpg syndrome. Sure all the mmo bells and whistles are there, raids, quests, pvp, it's pretty, etc. . Notables include the huge scale of the Metropolis and Gotham and a few powers that help lend an epic feeling. Also if you are a DC comic fanboy it's fanservice and attention to DC detail will put you in 7th heaven. Maybe that's part of the problem though. Unlike fore filling the game's motto "the next legend is you" it feels like it's a guided tour of the DC universe. Batman thanks you (since when does Batman thank people?), you hobnob with Superman and fight all the big baddies from Lex Luthor to Braniac but I never felt like I was a legend of my own. I was more like one of the many forgettable, and disposable, Justice League sidekicks being patted on the back by Superman "you did good farming those 20 demon horns, yes you did, who's a good superhero, you are, yes you are!" :p . There is no real nemesis to call your own or a story based framework to set up and propel pvp. Most of the time you'll be grinding through quests which, although rich in DC detail, are all to similar in tasks. It certainly will be fun for a couple months but strip away the super heroes and you are left with that typical mmorpg grind.

DC online is not a bad game it is just a typical one. Sadly considering the competition it's probably the overall best superhero (action) mmorpg out today with all the features you've come to expect but nothing more and certainly nothing original. I'd recommend it if you are a super hero fan or more so specifically a DC comics fan. You'll think it's great it for a couple months then get bored.
 
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I may or may not have gotten in on the PS3 beta since it was openly available to PSN Plus subbers. I assume the PC version is better, but I very quickly got very bored. The opening cinematic is crazy impressive. The "I'm in the DC Universe!" aspect is cool. Honestly, it felt a lot like playing Infamous to me... but less engaging than that awesome game. Character creation was my favorite part of the beta. I created a mashup of me and Kingpin (so what if he's Marvel? I do what I want!) among some other cool characters, but the game design just wasn't terribly fun to me.

I never got to high level play, but it felt like an MMORPG with a bunch of people all soloing. I don't have a ton of MMO experience, but the experience (again, it could be better on PC) wasn't anything close to what I hoped it'd be.

Not wanting to talk you out of it if you wanna give it a shot. I was just underwhelmed (which is sad because I was really hoping to love it), and thought I'd add my short two cents.
 
With the MMO market already oversaturated, several competitors moving to a "free-to-play with item shops" business model (Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Champions Online, etc.), and lackluster reviews, I think DCUO will likely be another game that's popular for 2-6 months after release then see a plummet in subscription numbers. Just like Champions Online, Star Trek Online, Final Fantasy XIV, Warhammer Online, Aion--well, you get the idea.

There's still enough players to keep all the games listed above alive. Dark Age of Camelot is still financially viable after 9 year. You don't need 11 million subscribers to consider a MMO a success. There's also the possibility of a resurgence in subscription numbers with expansions, major patches, or content updates. It's worth noting that Tribe of Judah still has guilds for Warhammer Online and Aion.

Still, it's frustrating from my perspective as the President of a Christian gaming group when MMOs come and go like flavors of the month. It takes time, effort, and volunteers to create a chapter and guild for a new MMO game. And when the development studio mismanages a new MMO horribly (yes, I'm talking about Final Fantasy XIV and its abysmal launch), the fans of the game and/or franchise who tried to form and strengthen an in-game guild feel like they've wasted that time and effort.

I'm considering adding a new guideline for new Tribe of Judah MMO chapters and guilds: If you can keep a Christian guild running for 3 months after retail release without the game tanking, we'll add the new chapter. (There would be obvious exceptions, of course. A Tribe of Judah Guild Wars 2 guild is a no-brainer.)

Just my $0.02.
 
Tek7 said:
I think DCUO will likely be another game that's popular for 2-6 months after release then see a plummet in subscription numbers. Just like Champions Online, Star Trek Online, Final Fantasy XIV, Warhammer Online, Aion--well, you get the idea..
Click to expand...

Exactly what I see too. When will game developers learn spectacles may draw players in but it doesn't keep them playing.
 
I'm a bit disappointed to hear the feedback about the game. It's too bad that it's so similar to other MMOs. I tried a trial of Champions, but all it did was make me want to re-subscribe to CoH/CoV which I used to play a LOT. I've been away from any subscription MMOs for a long time and probably need to keep it that way but a cool superhero game could have the potential to bring me back, lol!
 
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