DC Universe Online

[likwidtek]

Created a new thread because I didn't like the SWTOR vs DCUO as I don't see it that way.  I see it as DCUO *until* SWTOR for me.

Anywho.  My villain just hit lvl 30 on Blood and Glory last night.  I'd like to start doing some raiding and going through a lot of the end game content.  I'll be rolling a few extra guys I'm sure but I wanted to see where you guys are all at so far.  List your dudes!  (I only have one at the moment)

Just post in this format:  (I'll start)

Name: likwidtek
lvl: 30
Team: Villain
P/W/M: Sorcery/Dual Pistol/Flight
Specializations: Healing / DPS
Server: Death and Glory

[Tbone]

I think the only people playing are you and Venlar.

[likwidtek]

Subb too I think.  I thought there might be more.

[LAZARUS]

I also play it. I have both a hero and villain, and honestly, I think I might play my hero more. The villains have given me A LOT more trouble than the heroes ever did.

It's a great game, I think. And definitely gonna take up most of my time until SWTOR comes out.

[likwidtek]

It's a great game, I think. And definitely gonna take up most of my time until SWTOR comes out.

Nice, Also.. You're in Phoenix too?  Neat!

Anyways, Here's a pretty good read.  Fairly accurate review that outlines it's flaws and strengths pretty well.

I'd say that DC Universe is built to provide about 40 to 50 hours of mostly forgiving action gameplay. But then it decides you're serious enough that you're ready to get your ass kicked with some seriously challenging endgame stuff. It's simultaneously daunting and thrilling.

"I don't want any part of PvP. Who wants to get ganked when he's just trying to do a quest? I mean, seriously, PvP is for people who just want to grief each other, right?"

That was me when I first started playing DC Universe. Here's me now:

"You're not playing DC Universe unless you're playing on a PvP server."

http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/218046/dc-universe-online-pc/

In other news:  the first update for DCUO is pretty huge!  
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/114/1147019p1.html

[Eroz]

Name: Lotier
Team: Hero
Server: Zero Hero

Name: Sivir
Team: Hero
Server: Death and Glory

[likwidtek]

Sweet!  I don't have a Hero on Death and Glory though.  Lazarus what server and what level are your dudes on?

[Eroz]

Just rolled Ashe FrostArcher (Villian) on Death and Glory.

[likwidtek]

Nice, if you're on, I'll add you to the league when I get home.

You can /t likwidtek, Zamboney, Robot Rock or Sith Cylon and they'll invite you as well.

[Tecknik]

[Revalis]

That. Was completely accurate.

[likwidtek]

Please.  Oh look, he logged in... decided it wasn't WoW and hated it based on it not being like WoW. Gee.

[Tbone]

It's a bad game, lik. Champions Online has much better combat/UI and is FREE. SOE is simply riding the wave of the IP.

[likwidtek]

I'll try Champions Online and give it a go to confirm whether or not what I've heard is true.  But I totally do not agree with you that DCUO is a bad game.  Obviously for me and my friend's that's not true because we are still having a blast playing.  The combat is ridiculously fun and exciting, the PVP is great and I'm still not bored!  I'm not sure what you think is bad about it.  I enjoy the combat not being like WoW or other traditional MMOs (where it's autoattack and click button to execute power).  It's action twitch fighting which is refreshing.  I get to dodge, roll, block, counter and kick off neat combos.  If I don't like my fighting style, no biggie, pick up a new weapon type, respec and totally new game play experience.  Lots and lots of it reminds me of the good parts of MxO.  

The character customization and style system needs to be copied into every future game. ever.  It's genius.  The initial creation is not as dynamic as something like CoH (It's still really good) but people think that's all there is.  As you play you collect items which have styles.  Like each head or shoulder piece or weapon has a style that you add to your collection.  As you go through the game you can change each piece of your toon to look like any previous style that you've ever collected!  I can totally change the look and image of my guy any time I want for giggles which is so rad.  I swear if MXO had this we would have had so much fun with it.  

The trek to max level is the furthest thing from a grind that I've ever experienced in an MMO.  It goes by pretty quick but long enough to make you work for it.  It's hard to explain.  I don't think it's too short but it's most definitely not too long.  The missions do not suck at all.  Incredible voice over work, great stories, lots and lots and lots of fun comic fan service.  This is the only MMO where I've gotten to max level and been sad because I didn't get to do more quests.  I'm actually going back and doign them just because there were so many fun missions.  Plus I get feats for collecting items and completing content which give you more skill points to make your dude more powerful.  Which brings me to all the down time content which is pretty rad.  There are Feats (read: achievements) that you get for all kinds of stuff but for each 10 feats you accomplish you get you get a skill point which you can use to buy weapon or skill powers.  Some feats are for simple stuff like exploring all of the districts of all of the cities, (which by the way, when ZP says the city is boring and dull he's out of his flippin mind.  The cities are ridiculously amazingly well done.  The art, time and attention to detail is mind boggling.  ESPECIALLY if you have ever even remotely enjoyed the comics).  Aside from all the feats, there are the Races which are fun.  (single and multiplayer races).  All of the collections, and investigations that you have to try and hunt down in the game add more story and lore and satisfy many of the collectors and completionists.  Then there are PvP bounties, wanted bounties (you have to get with a bunch of friends to take down known characters like Bizarro, supergirl, the FLash etc..).  These are fun because they're open world, pretty hard and you not only have to accomplish the task of taking down the hero or villain from the comics but you have to worry about PvP battles that break out during these as well as any mobs that are in the area.  These are good fun and a pretty good way to level too.  There are lots of PvP missions too.  Even if you aren't on a PvP server there are PvP arenas that are pretty awesome.  There are ones where you play as yourself or you can play as a well known hero or villain.  You earn credits that allow you to purchase and unlock these guys and they are basically prebuilt new characters with maxed out everything that you can battle other people with similar toons.  It's fun.  So as far as the PvP goes, there's open world PvP which is my favorite as I'm on a PvP server, the "Legends" pvp where you get to play as batman or the joker or whatever... or Arena PvP where you and a bunch of others are dropped into an instance to either duke it out or compete to complete objectives.  Personally I don't do the Arena or Legends PvP as the open world PvP is way more fun for me.

That's all stuff you can do while leveling and after.  After... there's the raiding which I'm just starting to get into.  The raiding is awesome.  2 man (Duos), Alerts (4 man) and Raids (8 man) are all super well done, super fun, easily accessible while still being extremely challenging.  The whole journey to max level seemed like training to prepare me to get my ass handed to me in end game.  Heh.  In a good way though.  I have spent more time in end game than I have pre-max level and have not come CLOSE to completing everything.  There's so much to do and many awesome raids and loots to acquire.  So far so good.  I'm starting to finally get some really good gear and my guy is getting super awesomely powered.  Pretty exciting.  Again, still not bored, still exciting and fun every day.

I like that DCUO has tried something different and I really like that it's working.  They haven't taken EQ and WoW and slapped on a DC Hero / Villain skin.  From the ground up it's unique while still paying attention to what's worked in other blockbuster MMOs.  

The game isn't flawless but it's not broken at all.  My only complaint is the chat system and some of the bugs, most of which were fixed in the first patch.  Honestly I hate SOE but if DCUO is a sign of their way of doing games from now on, from listening to the community to quality of release  and swiftness of bug fixes then I have high hopes for them in the future.

I know I'm forgetting some stuff but yeah... well worth $10 a month for me.  Super good game so far.

[Tbone]

Gonna play devil's advocate with you for a bit. Keep in mind I played during Beta, so maybe some of my comments refer to something that just wasn't working properly yet - I don't know.

The combat is ridiculously fun and exciting, the PVP is great and I'm still not bored!  I'm not sure what you think is bad about it.  I enjoy the combat not being like WoW or other traditional MMOs (where it's autoattack and click button to execute power).  It's action twitch fighting which is refreshing.  I get to dodge, roll, block, counter and kick off neat combos.

The combat was one of the worst parts of the game for me. You have two attack buttons - left and right click. By using a combination of these two buttons, you pull off combos (like in Street Fighter). The problem is that most of the combos amount to the same thing anyway. I was dual pistols and I would say half of my combos wouldn't even work (trying to follow the tap, hold, whatever guide wasn't working). Targeting was annoying as all fuck. There was no targeting...just whatever you were facing when the auto target decides to kick in, that's what you're fighting. Also, despite there being different "powers" you can use, they apparently all essentially do the same thing, making them more of a different look than a different type of combat. The combat belongs in a single player Spider-man game on the console - not an MMO on the PC.

The character customization and style system needs to be copied into every future game. ever.  It's genius.  The initial creation is not as dynamic as something like CoH (It's still really good) but people think that's all there is.  As you play you collect items which have styles.  Like each head or shoulder piece or weapon has a style that you add to your collection.  As you go through the game you can change each piece of your toon to look like any previous style that you've ever collected!  I can totally change the look and image of my guy any time I want for giggles which is so rad.  I swear if MXO had this we would have had so much fun with it.

I feel like this is pretty standard in "Superhero" MMOs now. I found the beginning to be VERY limited in choices, which was surprising. Yes, I did realize that as I looted gear, I could equip the appearance at anytime. By level 10, though, I still hadn't looted anything worth changing to. Games like Champions has the exact same Unlocks, only with a lot more choices from the beginning as well.

The trek to max level is the furthest thing from a grind that I've ever experienced in an MMO.  It goes by pretty quick but long enough to make you work for it.  It's hard to explain.  I don't think it's too short but it's most definitely not too long.  The missions do not suck at all.  Incredible voice over work, great stories, lots and lots and lots of fun comic fan service.

Ok, here's where I think we were playing two completely different games. I've never been so bored with the grind in my life. Every quest was EXACTLY the same. EXACTLY. There was absolutely no variation. Accept quest. Go to location. Kill 10 baddies. Go to next location. Collect 10 things from baddies. Go to third location. Kill 20 baddies. Go to instance. Kill more baddies until random Superhero X helps me defeat random Villain Y. Rinse and repeat until max level.

Seriously...that was the questing. It never varied from that. I had no idea what the stories were from quest chain to quest chain. I just knew there was a different bad guy at the end of them. The voice acting was RIDICULOUSLY AWFUL. AWFUL. It was the cheesiest stuff I've ever heard from a AAA game developer.

The only part of that entire process that I liked was the little cinematic once you beat the boss, but I had no idea how the cinematic tied into a story. It seemed more like a character analysis than the completion of a story arc. It certainly didn't seem to tie into the overall story (which has something to do with time travel and aliens, but even this I learned from the CGI trailers).

Plus I get feats for collecting items and completing content which give you more skill points to make your dude more powerful.  Which brings me to all the down time content which is pretty rad.  There are Feats (read: achievements) that you get for all kinds of stuff but for each 10 feats you accomplish you get you get a skill point which you can use to buy weapon or skill powers.  Some feats are for simple stuff like exploring all of the districts of all of the cities, (which by the way, when ZP says the city is boring and dull he's out of his flippin mind.

Again, this feels like something that belongs in a single player Spider Man game on the console. It's just time killers to keep you jumping around the game. At least they are giving you a tangible reward for it, though, which is definitely the way achievements should be if they're going to be in a game.

The cities are ridiculously amazingly well done.  The art, time and attention to detail is mind boggling.  ESPECIALLY if you have ever even remotely enjoyed the comics).

Maybe it's because I've watched the movies more than I've read the comics, so I have more of a realistic, concrete vision of what the cities are supposed to look like instead of the cartoony version, but both cities had me very underwhelmed. I'm looking forward to Arkham City's Gotham, and though it is unfair to compare an MMO city to something like Arkham City, they are both trying to do Gotham, so there you have it.  

All of the collections, and investigations that you have to try and hunt down in the game add more story and lore and satisfy many of the collectors and completionists.  Then there are PvP bounties, wanted bounties (you have to get with a bunch of friends to take down known characters like Bizarro, supergirl, the FLash etc..).  These are fun because they're open world, pretty hard and you not only have to accomplish the task of taking down the hero or villain from the comics but you have to worry about PvP battles that break out during these as well as any mobs that are in the area.  These are good fun and a pretty good way to level too.  There are lots of PvP missions too.  Even if you aren't on a PvP server there are PvP arenas that are pretty awesome.  There are ones where you play as yourself or you can play as a well known hero or villain.  You earn credits that allow you to purchase and unlock these guys and they are basically prebuilt new characters with maxed out everything that you can battle other people with similar toons.  It's fun.  So as far as the PvP goes, there's open world PvP which is my favorite as I'm on a PvP server, the "Legends" pvp where you get to play as batman or the joker or whatever... or Arena PvP where you and a bunch of others are dropped into an instance to either duke it out or compete to complete objectives.  Personally I don't do the Arena or Legends PvP as the open world PvP is way more fun for me.

I don't think the bounties were working when I was playing. The PvP matches were very strange, with everyone playing the exact same character. I'm still not a fan of instanced PvP matches...I'm hoping SWTOR changes my mind on some of that. The open PvP (I beta tested in a PvP server) is hard for me to judge, because half of my combos weren't working...so I basically just got ganked by high level guys a couple of times.

The raiding is awesome.  2 man (Duos), Alerts (4 man) and Raids (8 man) are all super well done, super fun, easily accessible while still being extremely challenging.

The raids were very disappointing to me. It seemed the same as questing, only on a larger scale. Kill 100 baddies. Kill mini-boss. Kill 100 more baddies. Kill boss. There just wasn't anything to connect me to my tasks. Teamwork seemed nonexistent.

I can't say anything about the endgame, as I never got that far. My impression of the game was that it was trying to take a single-player generic console super hero game and convince people to pay monthly for it. The UI was meant for console, not PC. The combat was meant for console, not PC. Maybe it's a decent console game...I don't know...but I can't fathom paying monthly for the PC version.

Anyway, that's my opinion on it, but you've been playing longer than I have and who's to fault you if you like it. Many of the same problems I had with DCUO I also have with Champions. I just feel Champions was made for the PC and therefore has a much better UI and combat system. Plus it's free. And THAT is the real selling point...lol.