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[Grinchy]

I'm not against megaservers (or at least, the way I understand it so far after skimming), but I was really starting to like the fact that I was recognizing people who played often on my server. It felt like a community.

I had a couple rival heroes who got very accustomed to watching loading screens whenever they came near me.

 

[Killthee]

Details on Update 3 and some info on Update 4:

A Welcome Back Letter from Lorin Jameson

First off, welcome back to everyone! I know that it has been a long wait to get your DCUO on and we very much appreciated your patience while we restored our services. Be sure to visit this link to read about the “Welcome Back” program as well as here for any customer support issues. Needless to say it is great to be back online and we are excited about the future of the game.

I know a lot of you have been waiting for news about Game Update 3. We will be releasing more detailed info in the next few days, but I wanted to go over the high points.

A new Oolong Island Hard Mode Alert

Oolong Island is where paradise meets mad science, and is home to some of the most off the wall DC Comicscharacters like Chang Tzu and T.O. Morrow. With characters this over the top and the massive brainpower unleashed in such an unrestrained setting, destructive robotics are bound to ensue.

Featured Character: Ra’s al Ghul

Who could resist sneaking in the back door of DC‘s favorite international terrorist and assassin? This content is not for the weak though; the difficulty ramps up quickly and even experienced devs needed to pay close attention in our play tests in order not to wipeout in the first room. But hey, nobody said battling ninjas would be easy.

Two-Face Duo

This duo features some really compelling level design as players follow Harvey Dent aka Two-Face into The Penguin’s underground smuggling operation below the streets of Gotham City. Clayface makes a fantastic shape shifting appearance along the way that delivers on his character in a way we think the players will expect and appreciate. We really tried to capture The Penguin as a master criminal operating on a huge scale, but we still couldn’t resist the allure of robotic penguins – gotta love them!

Poison Ivy vs. Swamp Thing

Building on what we learned with past special events, this spring event pits two fan favorite characters in a battle that spans Gotham City. As Poison Ivy’s sinister plot unfolds tons of great combat action ensues, building on the game strengths in terms of action and iconic appeal.

As always there will be a number of enhancements, optimizations, bug fixes and general game improvements in the update as well. We will be publishing update notes once we are closer to release.

I know that everyone is as anxious to get their hands on the new game play as we are to give it to you. The downtime has caused our publish schedule to shift a bit, but we will update you with an estimate of release as soon as we know more.

Please be sure to check out the thread on MegaServers on our PC forums and our PS3 forums. We are very excited about this plan and what they will mean for our players. I know everyone is concerned on how MegaServers will impact you so please be sure to read up and join in on the discussions. As I have said previously, we will do our best to make as many people happy with the implementation process as we can, and I can assure you that we will be fair and consistent.

Looking ahead even further, we are also deep into work on Game Update 4. We will be discussing this in more detail once Game Update 3 has been delivered, but I can say we will have a couple of new alerts, with one taking place in theBatcave. We will also be kicking off a new Raid series with new high level gear and a somewhat crystalline location ;-) . I have played through a lot of what we have going right now and I honestly think it is some of the coolest game play we have ever created.

Finally, I would like to announce that we have a new Game Director for DC Universe Online, Mark Anderson. Mark was the Art Director for DCUO at launch and was dually responsible for the game’s combat system. Joining us from the God of War team, Mark has over the years been one of the most creative and passionate members of the DCUO team and we are very excited for the vision he has for the game moving forward. If you see Mark (aka MAnderson) in the forums make sure to say hi and tell him to get back to work.

See you in game!

Lorin Jameson

Executive Producer

 

[SmellyHands]

Anybody still playing this game on a PVE server? I was in Redemption on PS3 and I think I saw some tumbleweeds. All the PVE servers were at a low population.

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

Anybody still playing this game on a PVE server? I was in Redemption on PS3 and I think I saw some tumbleweeds. All the PVE servers were at a low population.

I'm on Justice. I haven't been on very much but when I am it seems lower than it has been. Justice was actually decently populated before the outage. I'm worried people have jumped ship.

Bring on the Super Servers!

Spoiler

Please don't take my name!

 

[ReiGun]

Anybody still playing this game on a PVE server? I was in Redemption on PS3 and I think I saw some tumbleweeds. All the PVE servers were at a low population.

Just starting playing again after a long break, and yeah, I'm on Redemption too. I also noticed a lack of other players.

 

[Grinchy]

I think PVE servers lack players because PVE servers suck

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

When is the server merge happening? Sometime soon?

 

[Killthee]

When is the server merge happening? Sometime soon?

The original post made it sound like it was a couple of months away from release.

Super Servers are Coming!

We have heard your concerns about queue times on the servers. This game is about people playing and fighting together so we feel your pain. Sometime in the next month, we are going to test new technology to meld all of our US and European PC and PS3 servers into four Super-Servers, one for each platform in each region. This will allow for more opportunities to queue and participate in other group related game mechanics. We are hoping to get this on our PC Test Server to start testing, again, sometime in the next month and then will tune it up for the PS3 platform as well. As soon as we know more about testing and timing we will let you know. But, believe this – it is one of our top priorities. Again, thanks for your patience, we appreciate your support.



We'll have more details at a future date.

I'm guessing they outage has delayed their schedule and they probably won't release it for retail PC servers until it passes NA & EU PS3 QA. July would be my guess.

 

[krypt0nian]

Have they said how to claim the freebee Batman mask yet?

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

Have they said how to claim the freebee Batman mask yet?

Should be in your mission tab as completed.

 

[Killthee]

Should be in your mission tab as completed.

Yeah, it's a quest in your Journal (titled "Welcome Back" iirc). It completes and gives you the styles and marks once you activate it.

 

[Rollo Tomasi]

I have a question about this game related to the Playstation Store being down. I literally bought this game the day PSN went down. The network is back now, but I still can't play because I have to redeem the code on the instructional manual to actually start playing. SO, I usually redeem these types of codes through the Playstation Store. Is there an alternate method to redeeming the code? I read on another msg board about redeeming it through SOE's Station website but then someone else said that isn't working either.

 

[Killthee]

There's a (stickam?) chat scheduled for later today with Jens and the new Creative Director, Mark Anderson. Should be getting some more Update 3 and Mega Server info. It starts at 5 P.M. PDT, most likely on their stickam channel.

I have a question about this game related to the Playstation Store being down. I literally bought this game the day PSN went down. The network is back now, but I still can't play because I have to redeem the code on the instructional manual to actually start playing. SO, I usually redeem these types of codes through the Playstation Store. Is there an alternate method to redeeming the code? I read on another msg board about redeeming it through SOE's Station website but then someone else said that isn't working either.

The PS3 version doesn't use SOE's Station at all, everything is tied to PSN so even if the station site was up it wouldn't take your code. With that said, PSN code redemption has actually been up since the restart. Go to the PSN Account Management site or to the Qriocity site and click on the redeem card/promo code link. That should accept the game key and add your 30 day trial sub to your account services.

 

[Killthee]

Stream is starting.

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

Stream is starting.

Really crappy quality for me. Can you summarize after?

 

[krypt0nian]

Not much was answered but we are getting less Bats content and more Superman content soon, and they flashed a pic of the Fortress of Solitude at the very end.

 

[Killthee]

Really crappy quality for me. Can you summarize after?

Off the top of my head:

• The Penguin fight in the Two Face duo will have Penguin team up with one of the sub bosses. If you fought Hush by himself, Bane will team up with Penguin and vice versa.
• Ra's al Ghul content is a 4 player alert (sounded like a hard mode alert). Takes place on a mountain and will feature the Lazarus Pit. Will include branching paths like Ace Chem/Penguin Hideout and a new ninja style.
• Fortress of Solitude and Superman themed content is coming. Marketing won't let them talk about it. Briefly showed concept art for the Fortress.
• ETA on update 3 is soon/couple of weeks away. Sounded like it's at SCEA/SCEE QA already. Can't give out an exact date because release is dependent on QA approval.
• Text size options are coming. Don't remember if they said it was coming in update 3.
• Character clock is gonna be looked into.
• No new PvP maps/content has been developed. Been focusing on patching exploits and Legends characters. I think they were hinting at Superman inspired characters for Legends, but my stream was cutting so it was hard to make out.
• Iconic armor will be unlocked soon. That means you'll be able to purchase and wear iconic armor that doesn't match your origin.
• Confirmation that Hard Light powerset is coming. Marketing is keeping a lid on what they can say.
• Secret Identities have been shelved. Too busy developing content to focus on secret identities, don't want to half ass it.
• Bank size is being looked into. Technically the bank has space for more items, the issue is the UI. Need to find a way to present everything without making it a chore to browse.
• Beta emblem is finally done. Will be coming soon.
• Iconic emblems will not be coming. Made it sound like DC was the roadblock/don't want people messing with them. Compromise they made with DC is the emblems in the iconic armors.

Looks like they also had a update 3 focused conference call earlier today.

 

[ToyMachine228]

So hows the community for this game on PSN? Still going? What's the story now that it's been a while since launch? I was always interested in it as a fan of the DCU, and a former WoW player, but never got around to getting it.

 

[Killthee]

Game Update 4 Q&A over at IGN. Including a Fortress of Solitude promo video and a couple of shots.

 

[Ashodin]

Hard Light powerset? Oooohh..

 

[ferr]

For people who haven't tried this out, DCU is currently 50% off on steam.

 

[Firehead]

For people who haven't tried this out, DCU is currently 50% off on steam.

Right. Got the game, any tips? Are either side (Good/Evil) gimped in any way?

And I'd like to note, everyone still has a chance to buy the game. The sale ends in about twelve hours!

 

[BattleMonkey]

Right. Got the game, any tips? Are either side (Good/Evil) gimped in any way?

And I'd like to note, everyone still has a chance to buy the game. The sale ends in about twelve hours!

The factions are pretty much equal, they just get some different mission content but that is all.

 

[StormyTheRabbit]

Is there anyway to try this out for free for like a week? AKA: A trial?

I looked around and saw some mention of Buddy Keys, but I don't know anyone who currently plays :/

 

[Grinchy]

How is this game (PS3 version) so absolutely fucking broken still? This is way too long after it released for an MMO to freeze as often as it does. I've tried to get through a hard alert 7 times in the last 2 days, and I've frozen on every single one. I was waiting for a 4th member a second ago, and froze while looking at the auction house.

I won't list every bug by hand, but there are things that are still broken or poorly implemented that have been around since the beta. That's just wrong for something that charges by the month. The loading times have gotten especially ridiculous. You can stare at a loading screen for minutes now. If my subscription was up, there's no fucking way they'd see another dime out of me. Great product, but plagued by ineptitude from SOE.

 

[BattleMonkey]

How is this game (PS3 version) so absolutely fucking broken still? This is way too long after it released for an MMO to freeze as often as it does. I've tried to get through a hard alert 7 times in the last 2 days, and I've frozen on every single one. I was waiting for a 4th member a second ago, and froze while looking at the auction house.

I won't list every bug by hand, but there are things that are still broken or poorly implemented that have been around since the beta. That's just wrong for something that charges by the month. The loading times have gotten especially ridiculous. You can stare at a loading screen for minutes now. If my subscription was up, there's no fucking way they'd see another dime out of me. Great product, but plagued by ineptitude from SOE.

Well it didn't help to have the game go on hiatus for about a month delaying a major patch. We should be gearing up for update 4 by now, but all games on PSN have had to delay their patches several weeks after the month of PSN downtime. At least for most right now the game is free cause of the downtime.

 

[Grinchy]

I gave it another chance. I downloaded the newest hofix and got online. I was waiting for my brother to sign in, so I flew around the city and started fighting some mobs. That was freeze 1. I reloaded the game, flew to the nearest night club, and it hung on the loading screen for around 7 minutes before I restarted. That was "freeze" number 2. I got back on, invited my brother, and we filled up our group to do a HA. Right at the beginning, our controller and I both froze. Number 3. We came back, and then my brother froze a few hallways later.

They've somehow managed to make the game run worse than it ever has. I have no idea how they think they will sustain any kind of userbase after the current subs die off. There is no sign whatsoever that they are capable of fixing the game. Although, I only know this to be true for the PS3 version.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Update 3 is apparently live now

 

[BattleMonkey]

No one has tried update 3? I haven't played in a long time but I should still be good as the free time they gave out is almost 2 months of free play... I just wonder if I should bother to update or not.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

Did this game die a death after the 30 day free period?

 

[vazel]

Did this game die a death after the 30 day free period?

I've been playing for a week and I almost expect to see tumbleweeds passing by. I guess that's what you get with an action oriented MMO with practically no economy and broken pvp. I really hope SOE makes this f2p to save it.

I'm having fun so far with the game but that's because of the DC theme of the game. As an MMO I find it lacking. The city environments can be restrictive. The missions in the persistent world are bad. The instanced missions are better but I'm not a big fan of instanced missions they defeat the purpose of a persistent world. There is a strong lack of the adventure feeling that I get in other MMOs. The best fun I've had in other MMOs is exploring new areas and going on missions in the persistent world and meeting others along the way which are things that I just don't experience with this game. I haven't tried pvp yet but from what I'm hearing glitching is rampant.

Despite all the problems of the game I still find enjoyment from the DC wankery and using my gamepad in an action oriented MMO. I hope Marvel comes out with an MMO one day.

Edit: Oh and I have to mention the AWFUL VA. I know the cast list has some notables but sounds like they phoned it in. I haven't heard Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill yet(I'm still doing Metropolis missions) but I expect them to be the only good VA seeing as they've worked with videogames before.

 

[BattleMonkey]

To me the biggest problem with the game is lack of content. It's fast paced game but really after one week, even casual players were doing end game content and with basically only one new end game raid added on a "monthly" basis, that is not a whole lot of content.

The game I think had a solid foundation that was unique for a MMO with it's quick action play and less of a grind, but you can't expect people to pay to play your game if there is not enough content to keep them playing for months on end. Lot of players got full high tier armor sets in a couple weeks and then they were left with what? PVP while being a bit fun had issues and really it served no point.

Extending the level cap would have done nothing really with how fast the game moves, they simply needed far more stuff to do to keep players playing.

 

[Grinchy]

Maybe I'm looking at this wrong, but I think perhaps I've been screwed by the PSN outage. My subscription for this game began on 1/24/2011 which was the beginning of my free month. Then, I purhcased the 3-month Legends Plan. So, my sub would have typically ended on 5/24/2011 (1 free month + 3 paid).

Well...it says my sub will expire on 7/26/2011. So it sounds like they have forgotten about my legends plan. It would have normally ended on 5/24, and they compensated everyone 60 days. So they gave me 60 days plus the 1 week or so that was left on the original subscription (as if there was never a PSN outage).

 

[Nishastra]

To me the biggest problem with the game is lack of content.

The way I see it, it's a combination of that and a general lack of character variety.

There's basically two ways to deal with a game like this... Make it so it takes forever to get everything done on one character, or make it so making lots of characters is attractive.

This game doesn't really do either. The character creator is nowhere near as good as City of Heroes or Champions, and there's not really much variety in the powersets.

And then you hit max level in a week even if you take it slow and grind out whatever gear you want in another month or so, assuming anyone is playing to do stuff with.


I really enjoyed playing this game. I liked running and jumping around Gotham and whacking people with big hammers. I even liked the PvP a lot, but then there was the ridiculous rash of exploiting and it became harder and harder to get into a match and eventually I just stopped trying.

 

[Qwomo]

Does anyone have a spare buddy key for the 10-day trial thinger? I'm really keen to give this game a whirl, I've been on a superhero binge recently.

I don't really know anyone who plays it though.

 

[Inferno313]

Does anyone have a spare buddy key for the 10-day trial thinger? I'm really keen to give this game a whirl, I've been on a superhero binge recently.

I don't really know anyone who plays it though.

Not to turn this into a buddy key begging thread, but I'd love one too, if possible.

 

[Killthee]

SOE Fan Faire DCUO panel is streaming on Stickam right now. They've already let loose that an expansion pack is coming and more info would be released on Monday/Comic Con.

Fortress of Solitude will be split into 3 parts. STORY SPOILERS: FoS 1 will

Spoiler

take place outside and will consist of you trying to get in. Krypto will be a boss.

FoS 2 will

Spoiler

take place inside. You'll have to free Phantom Zone prisoners, including General Zod, in order to defeat the Avatar of Meta.

FoS 3

Spoiler

takes place after Zod helps you defeat Brainiac. Zod has back stabbed you and taken over the fortress, you must defeat him. The raid will play out like an arena survival mode, 1 room with wave after wave of enemies coming for you.

New PvP Deathmatch Fortress of Solitude map in Update 4.

Looks like the expansion pack will add a new city. Can't talk about, PR is in the room.

Update 4 adds PS3 Screenshots. They didn't sound fully convincing, but holy shit if true! About damn time!

 

[CozMick]

I sold this after the initial free 30 day sub + an additional 30 days because the lack of people playing it on my friends list killed it for me.

But now, I have an rpg fetish where I like to chill alone playing games and thought that this game would fit perfectly into that category.

I'm gonna pick this up again on the PSN store tomorrow and was wondering if the servers are still populated enough to feel like a living, breathing mmo?

 

[Number45]

I sold this after the initial free 30 day sub + an additional 30 days because the lack of people playing it on my friends list killed it for me.

How did you manage to get rid of it? I'm toying with the idea of trading mine in (and picking it up on PSN at some point as well) but I'm not sure anywhere will take it on trade here (UK).

Was so annoyed that they released it on PSN so soon after launch, if I'd have known I'd have waited.

 

[CozMick]

I got £18 trade-in @ GAME (7 weeks after launch) It now sells for £8 pre-owned in-store but I fancy the digital version.

So getting rid of it now in-store will only fetch you a couple of quid :\

 

[Number45]

Thanks, I'll try out HMV on Tuesday - you never know. Of all of the types of game out there, this is the one that I'd most like to have on the HDD at all times.

 

[CozMick]

Thanks, I'll try out HMV on Tuesday - you never know. Of all of the types of game out there, this is the one that I'd most like to have on the HDD at all times.

I know what you mean, this game would get a shit load of playtime if it was sitting, waiting for me on the hdd

 

[BattleMonkey]

Lot of details about the expansion http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/0...-dcuo-reveals-new-downloadable-content-fight/

9.99 For a game that seems so dead right now, this seems like a bad idea

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

Lot of details about the expansion http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/0...-dcuo-reveals-new-downloadable-content-fight/

9.99 For a game that seems so dead right now, this seems like a bad idea

Yeah doesn't seem to be adding a new city either. Just a coast city alert. My guess the first new city will be added in November and it will be Central City.

EDIT: And what class are the light powers? Have they said?

 

[Killthee]

Made a new thread for the DLC pack.

Yeah doesn't seem to be adding a new city either. Just a coast city alert. My guess the first new city will be added in November and it will be Central City.

EDIT: And what class are the light powers? Have they said?

Controller according to MMORPG.

The download pack will bring in 24 new abilities for the power set, each side (yellow and green) having unique animations for them.

The power set, which will fall under Controller, will have some interesting new features to it. For example, while 12 of the 24 new abilities will be regular powers, the other 12 will be new weapon types. At character creation, you select the Light power set with the Staff combat style. These “weapon type” abilities would allow you to, by selecting the power from your hotbar to load up, say, a light chainsaw and instead of just doing a single attack and then going away, the chainsaw actually becomes like a weapon for several seconds with its own unlockable combos for maximum damage. Additionally, if you've unlocked several of these weapon type abilities, you can string combos together, making for one of most complex fighting styles seen in the game thus far.

I'm guessing Earth (Tank?) and Lightning (Healer?) will also be $10 DLC packs now. Really shitty move IMO.

 

[CozMick]

DCUO-Gaf I need your help!

I purchased the DD version of the game on PSN today and man it's mega fucking slow, I'm talking 100kbps on a 56mb line.

It's been downloading for 3 hrs and I'm on 30%.

Can I cancel the download and return to the exact same point in the download when I start the game back up?

I just wanna give my PS3 a rest

Thanks.

 

[Nightz]

DCUO-Gaf I need your help!

I purchased the DD version of the game on PSN today and man it's mega fucking slow, I'm talking 100kbps on a 56mb line.

It's been downloading for 3 hrs and I'm on 30%.

Can I cancel the download and return to the exact same point in the download when I start the game back up?

I just wanna give my PS3 a rest

Thanks.

Yes it should start up where it left off.

 

[CozMick]

Yes it should start up where it left off.

Cool, thanks for the info Nightz, appreciate it

 

[CozMick]

Sorry for the double post but,

I must say a big FUCK YOU! to SOE for having the slowest download servers on the fucking planet.

5 goddamn hours of downloading this piece of shit and 38% done!

What a damn joke.

Spoiler

Will love the hell out of this game once it's finished downloading

 

[mr stroke]

What is the community like for this game now? Been wanting to play a new MMO and its pretty cheap now. Is the game dead or still populated?