DC: Universe - Catch All

Most of the PC folks are on New Frontier. PS3 is on Crisis.

Stele wrote:

One of my friends got this for his birthday last week on PC so he's trying to talk me into grabbing it to play with him.

Which servers are the GWJ leagues on? In case he starts without me at least I can get him on the right servers to play with later.

I believe there are a few of us on New Fronteir server. I just started so I haven't run into anyone yet. My characters are Blizzarella and Night Elf.

Playing a bit more (2 hours, so my opinion is clearly informed), the character creation for Champions Online is far, far better. DCUO's hero maker is really narrow, but it is simpler to navigate if you just want to slap together a hero and play. The gameplay for DCUO is overall better. The targeting and UI are bad. But the setting and their presentation goes a long, long way. That is CO's biggest downfall: it has an incredible generic setting. Overall, I think I am going to play both. DCUO as a subscription (I locked in to the $30 for 3 months. That's a good deal to figure out if I'm going to stay with this long-term), and CO as F2P (at that price, the game is remarkable).

Graphics, CO has cleaner hero graphics, while DCUO has better setting graphics and art style. More comparisons as I go.

Budo wrote:
Stele wrote:

One of my friends got this for his birthday last week on PC so he's trying to talk me into grabbing it to play with him.

Which servers are the GWJ leagues on? In case he starts without me at least I can get him on the right servers to play with later.

I believe there are a few of us on New Fronteir server. I just started so I haven't run into anyone yet. My characters are Blizzarella and Night Elf.

Playing a bit more (2 hours, so my opinion is clearly informed), the character creation for Champions Online is far, far better. DCUO's hero maker is really narrow, but it is simpler to navigate if you just want to slap together a hero and play. The gameplay for DCUO is overall better. The targeting and UI are bad. But the setting and their presentation goes a long, long way. That is CO's biggest downfall: it has an incredible generic setting. Overall, I think I am going to play both. DCUO as a subscription (I locked in to the $30 for 3 months. That's a good deal to figure out if I'm going to stay with this long-term), and CO as F2P (at that price, the game is remarkable).

Graphics, CO has cleaner hero graphics, while DCUO has better setting graphics and art style. More comparisons as I go.

DCUO's character maker is only narrow in the beginning. I thought the same thing early on but it really opens up as you play, and respecing is easy. You can change weapon styles with no real penalty and there are a couple ways to use your power, either DPS or tank/control/heal.

I hope you're right about that. I like the game and went for the 90 day package, so I'm optimistic.

I think the parts of the costume that matter more are still customizable here. I don't really care about spending hours on my guy's face. There are so many options for his external appearance in terms of his gear and colors that just about every day I play I see somebody running around and I think, "Dang, that guy looks badass."

I just leveled my second character up to 30. I'm going to respec my first guy for Control, the second is already pretty well set up for DPS, and my third guy will be Healer (with ranged combat). This time, for some reason, I sort of ran out of stuff to do the last half bar between 29 and 30. I think it's because my DPS guy got knocked out a lot less, so he spent less time whupping bad guys. I did all the exploration missions (I find it's best to wait until they all open up rather than try to remember which of the 5 police stations you might be able to visit) but I still had to grind on OMACs for the last bubble of XP.

Also, I finally broke my tradition of at least semi-reasonable names in MMOs. My newest character looks robotic but he's a healer, so I named him Robonurse. Oddly that was not taken.

InspectorFowler wrote:

"Target the closest motherf*&(ing mob instead of the one in the HUGE group you're not ready to fight and holy s(*& you just drew a truckload of aggro, sorry about that".

I can't even count the number of times this has happened to me. Let's say I'm fighting three guys who are standing directly in front of me. If I press the tab button to target I'd say I have about a 47% chance of targetting a random mob a block behind me, a 47% chance of targetting a trash can or parked car behind the guys I'm fighting, and a 6% chance of targetting one of the 3 guys I'm directly engaged with that are hitting me in the face.

I can't even begin to grasp the logic of their targetting system. I'll be engaged in a fight to the death with a group of guys, hit tab and then my next attack causes my guy to lob a grenade over his shoulder into another group of enemies. It's insane. I will say, however, that the grappling hook power for acrobatics is the best escape power I've found. And I've had a lot of opportunity to bravely run away from large angry mobs of villains.

NathanialG wrote:

DCUO's character maker is only narrow in the beginning. I thought the same thing early on but it really opens up as you play, and respecing is easy.

Yeah, this is a different mindset from COH and Champions. DCUO's character creator has limited options in the beginning, but you end up finding so many different styles throughout the game that it becomes, I think, more rewarding in the long term. It took me awhile to get used to it, but I like it better now than COH and Champions. The only issue I still have with it is the three color limitation, which I still think is a needlessly silly restriction.

So, for those that hit 30, what do you think of End Game? I'm actually enjoying myself and I've been doing a bit of Hard Instances and Duos, but I'm mostly running PVP matches. Even though there are a bunch of exploits and glitches that use Animation Canceling to get some crazy burst damage, I've been having a LOT of fun with it.

PVP took me a lot to start getting used to, mostly because it is so different from every other MMO I've played. I like the Block/Block Breaker/Interrupt system and if you master these moves, you can do really good, even without good gear, but now I have a full set of Tier 1 PVP gear, and I've noticed improvement in my survivability so Toughness must really help mitigate damage.

Overall, some power/weapon combinations plus all the exploits around, make PVP really unbalanced, but I like the system and SOE already said that they have a fix this week for a lot of the most problematic glitches. I believe I like Legends matches better, specially when I was starting to get into PVP, since everyone is more or less on even ground and there is a lot more skill involved then just being beaten by overpowered class combos and people with way better gear.

So, I'm still enjoying the game quite a lot and I'm going for that 3 month for $30 deal.

My first guy that I hit 30, I just dug right in and started over.

My second guy, I took like 10 minutes and poked around, and I realized that there is a TON of stuff I haven't even tried yet - and that's super awesome!

I usually don't enjoy PVP, but I've been doing a lot of PVPing with my healer. It's different for me in that I'm still basically healing and not fighting so much, but I've got a full set of T1 PVP armor so I have been doing a lot of it. I'm enjoying it. I roll with a good group of guys and we usually win, so that helps. The legends is fun too but I don't think you get a mark of triumph for it so I don't do much of it.

I'm still more about the PVE, and the end game content is good for me. I've beaten all of the duos and hard alerts, but there are enough of them that I can do a few different ones each day and enjoy them without feeling like I'm grinding at all. I haven't done the raids yet. I usually avoid the solo challenge missions since there's plenty of group stuff to do and I'm still enjoying it all. I'm also still working on feats for skill points. I think I have 38 points so far and there are like 80, so I have a long ways to go there, too.

My first two 30s, I did like InspectorFowler and rerolled immediately, conditioned by years of COH. My third one I decided to check out the end game and found that there's a ton of stuff to do there. I'm still having a lot of fun and not regretting my lifetime sub at all.

I have a random question. I've never played an MMO before. I'm curious about trying this out but the idea of paying $50 for a game that will charge me $15 a month already makes me uncomfortable. The idea of paying this to try it out is something I can't justify. So what I'm wondering is this. Is there any way to play a trial of the game? Any way to take it for a spin for a few days? I guess, as someone completely out of the know when it comes to MMOs, it strikes me as odd to pay for the full game and then the service. It feels like their should be some way to just start paying the $15 / mo. or try the game or whatever.

I know that sounds crazy to MMO vets, but the alternative (paying $65 for a game I may not like with no demo or trial) sounds crazy to me. Please tell me there's some way to try this out for less.

DSGamer, people who bought the physical version of the PC game should have a buddy key, maybe somebody here can hook you up (I bought the Steam version, so no fun for me).

I agree - any MMO should have a 10 day trial. If I hadn't played in the beta I really don't know if I would have bought into the hype surrounding this game. Hearing hardcore MMO players praise something usually turns me off, so I think I might have put this aside despite my love of DC comics. That would have been a shame, because I love the crap out of this game.

Yeah, and I'm up against a bigger issue. I don't have much time. So an MMO is automatically going to be doing battle vs. my life. And my life will always win. So I have no sense of the time commitment, if I will enjoy that, etc.

Trials are pretty common for MMOs, just not right after release. It usually takes, say, 6 months to a year.

Also, not that it helps a lot, but the first month is included with the game, so for $50 or whatever the game costs right now you get 30 days of play time. I don't really see that as much different as a regular, non-MMO game -- either I dislike it and have wasted $50 or I like it but rarely play over a month anyway, so it's basically the same as an MMO to me. If you don't see it that way, though, you can wait and I'm sure there'll be a trial for it. Or perhaps someone here will give you a trial key. (I bought my copy on Steam, so I don't have a key to share.)

I picked this up yesterday. I had played the beta a bit and thought it was ok, but the word of mouth and enthusiasm everyone seems to have is infectious. I played two hours last night and didn't even realize it.

They've got the pay for 3 months at a time for $29.99. I think if you sign up before March 1, you can lock in that rate for as long as you keep subscribing. $10 a month for a MMO is a pretty good deal. Makes me think it's 2001 again.

I think it's a good thought that you get this month of free time. In this game, playing very casually, you can hit level 30 in a month. If that doesn't give you a good idea of what the game offers, or you tried it and decided not to continue, than at least you got a decent DC comics-based RPG and more playtime than a lot of other games.

I'm really enjoying the game but I'd be surprised if I pay for anything past the first free month. There's simply too much coming out that's going to suck up tons of my time. DA2 and Rift just next month for example. That being said, I don't regret paying 49.99 for the game and the first month. Definitely worth it to me and this will probably be one of those games I come back to every once in a while simply because it's more of an action game than most every other MMO out there.

I agree with Javamancer about that initial month--I reached the level cap in the first month, which is included in the price, and I felt like I got just as worthwhile an experience, pound for pound, as I do with a lot of full-priced SP action games I could play through in a month. My free month probably ran out a few days ago, and I'll sub for a few months, at least, but I could also walk away after that first month totally feeling like I got a good experience at a fair price.

Does that mean there is a meaty enough story and quests to make it fun for that month? Not just "get me 10 Braniac pelts".

DSGamer wrote:

Does that mean there is a meaty enough story and quests to make it fun for that month? Not just "get me 10 Braniac pelts".

The stories aren't real deep - this isn't Grant Morrison-style mind jobs. They tend to be in the line of what I think of as Silver Age comics, grandiose schemes by villians with ridiculously comic-booky ends (which I mean as a compliment) that you tend to foil (at least from the hero side). I don't keep up on all of DC comics but some of the later missions are definitely tied in with "modern" comic events.

At the end of each one you get a kind of nice animated comic for about a minute that showcases the villian you just defeated.

The overall story becomes more involved at higher levels, with characters dropping clues about possible future content to resolve/end the Brainiac invasion.

Storywise it reminds me a lot of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games... sort of silly, with lots of effort spent shoe-horning arcane characters from D.C. lore into the proceedings, but also totally awesome for doing so. I think you'd get a character to the cap in a month without having to play obsessively, have a good time with it, and be comfortable leaving it there.

Impromptu team-ups can be a lot of fun. A very nice level 30 helped me get through all the 'save Sinestro' missions last night. My level 28 was having a hell of a time soloing it, but together we kicked ass. I expressed my delight to the wife... she grunted and went to watch a movie.

At level 29 I've finally hit a mission my far, far, far from optimized hero can't take on solo. I'm fighting the Eye... or something? Some giant robot with tons of drones. Extremely annoying fight. I tried it 3 times before calling it a night. Guess I'll have to bring in some help. The only thing that's slightly annoying is that it's essentially a multi-stage boss fight and I can make it to about stage 4 before dying. Naturally I then have to start over from the beginning of the fight. I think it's repeating the same segments that had me quit so quickly.

Kehama wrote:

At level 29 I've finally hit a mission my far, far, far from optimized hero can't take on solo. I'm fighting the Eye... or something? Some giant robot with tons of drones. Extremely annoying fight. I tried it 3 times before calling it a night. Guess I'll have to bring in some help. The only thing that's slightly annoying is that it's essentially a multi-stage boss fight and I can make it to about stage 4 before dying. Naturally I then have to start over from the beginning of the fight. I think it's repeating the same segments that had me quit so quickly.

I know that boss fight, it was incredibly difficult with only a healer sorceress and a dps mentalist, though we managed to succeed eventually (4 tries), I'm thinking a healer and a mic would be a vast improvement to the situation. Additionally, a controller/tank combo would work well, so long as the controller has the ability to draw attention away from his or her self to flip switches and destroy objectives. Would love to help you out (Healer: early stages of lvl 30(i.e. no super loot)) but I'd bet we are on wholly different platforms and servers :(.

Started a villain for the Villains with Jobs league, if there are any low level characters (lvl 6ish) that would like to team up and have a go at it, my information is located in the convenient, though infrequently updated, link that is part of my signature.

The fight you're talking about was hard for me on my first character, but less so the second time.

Spoiler:

There are a couple good tips I think I can give.

The missile turret phase has blind spots behind each of the large pillars. The key is to not move much as you fight the waves of enemies. There are also healing barrels you will pretty much have to use during these segments. As far as I know, once Brother Eye sends out a wave of bad guys, they don't respawn. So just take cover behind a pillar, deal with the bad guys, and heal yourself with barrels or cola. If you move from pillar to pillar without stopping, the missiles shouldn't hit you.

If your character is a flyer, the "floors are electric" part isn't so bad, but they still send out a damaging sort of pulse. Again, though, just wait out each wave, and take your time to heal up between each segment. Again, search for barrels and heal up before you start the next phase by deactivating something.

If you have a character that can spawn a servant/turret/whatever, that helps a lot in Brother Eye because the AI will attack that if you haven't damaged them yet, allowing you to take on enemies one at a time.

This fight was pretty tough for me at first. I also dunno if you've had to do this before, but I know that if I've failed the boss a couple times my gear is so jacked up I need to go back and get it repaired before I can try again. I feel like stuff gets banged up pretty fast in this game, and sometimes that can make a world of difference.

I dunno what server you're on. I'm on Zero Hour but I know virtually everybody else here is on a PvP server.

DSGamer wrote:

Does that mean there is a meaty enough story and quests to make it fun for that month? Not just "get me 10 Braniac pelts".

If you've never played an MMO before, I strongly suggest you start with the Free to Play versions. If you don't care about setting, Lord of the Rings Online is by far the best, and you never feel as if you are playing a more watered-down version of the game compared to the subscribers.

If you want something more superhero-ish, try Champions Online. It's also Free to Play, has a great character/costume editor, and the gameplay is average. Some good things, some bad. But it looks great and is free. Compared to DCUO, I'm trying both right now, and it's apples and oranges. Overall, DCUO is better produced but has more interface and UI problems that haven't been addressed yet. Right now I'd give the edge to CO, but only because it's had a couple of years' head start. I expect DCUO once it's updated to breeze right by.

I hit 30 with my villain on Crisis (PS3) last night. Yay. Kehama, if you're on Crisis too I can help you out with that mission... I haven't done it yet.

Funny how I've hit 30 and I still don't understand a lot of what's going on in this game. How does one become a healer? Is that branch limited by your choice of powers from the outset? All I've got open to me is damage and control. What do I do now that I've hit the cap? Can I get hot new armors? Are there faction armors? I see the specialized outfits for sale in the Hall of Doom but damn they're asking for a lot of tokens for sh*t I don't even like that much. If anything I'd be down to affiliate my look with the Sinestro Corps, but I don't know if that's possible.

I did the level 30 mission where you rescue Lex from the Daily Planet. Superman had me on the ropes so I kept flying around trying to heal up, and his health reset from like 30% to 100%. Pissed me off, so I just went toe-to-toe with him and figured I'd call it a night when he knocked me out, but gosh darn if I didn't juggle his ass with my sweet hand blaster combos until he begged for buttermilk. Fun.

Slumberland wrote:

but gosh darn if I didn't juggle his ass with my sweet hand blaster combos until he begged for buttermilk.

For some reason I like this sentence.

Anyway, iirc my hero characters are on the New Frontier server for PC. I'd also been doing roughly what Fowler had suggested for that fight (I'm traps/rifle/acrobatics) but I kept losing it during the electrified floor section. I just couldn't seem to knock out that last wave of drones before biting it. It probably also didn't help that I was throwing around aoe's like a madman and probably destroying a few of the healing barrels before I could get close to them.

As for becoming a healer, yeah, it's all about the power set you choose at character creation. The sets are labeled as either control, healing, or defense. I don't think it's until level 10 however that you can change your role to anything other than damage. At that point your skills will have 2 different effects listed in their description. One for when you're in damage mode and another for when you're in your other mode. For instance, if my traps guy is in damage mode his fear gas skill will just increase the damage I do for a few seconds. If I'm in control mode the fear gas will make the enemy run away.

I'm still trying to figure out of going into control mode reduces the damage on my standard attacks or if it only affects my powers. I really do wish they had better documentation or tutorials for the powers.

Oh, and could anyone clarify what kinds of missions give what kinds of special currency? The ones you need to buy level 30 faction items. One is a skull, another is a set of wings, etc.

Here's a good guide for Armor Sets and currencies.

http://dcuo.mmorpg-life.com/763/guid...

PVE Tier 1
Cost: Mark of Triumph
Total: 400 for Set
From: Duos and Hard Mode Alerts

PVE Tier 2
Cost: Mark of Distinction
Total: 400 for Set
From: Raids

PVP Tier 1
Cost: Influence
Total: 1700 for Set
From: PvP Arena and Legends

PVP Tier 2
Cost: Mark of Victory
Total: 810 for Set
From: PvP Arena

Eldon_of_Azure wrote:
Kehama wrote:

At level 29 I've finally hit a mission my far, far, far from optimized hero can't take on solo. I'm fighting the Eye... or something? Some giant robot with tons of drones. Extremely annoying fight. I tried it 3 times before calling it a night. Guess I'll have to bring in some help. The only thing that's slightly annoying is that it's essentially a multi-stage boss fight and I can make it to about stage 4 before dying. Naturally I then have to start over from the beginning of the fight. I think it's repeating the same segments that had me quit so quickly.

I know that boss fight, it was incredibly difficult with only a healer sorceress and a dps mentalist, though we managed to succeed eventually (4 tries), I'm thinking a healer and a mic would be a vast improvement to the situation. Additionally, a controller/tank combo would work well, so long as the controller has the ability to draw attention away from his or her self to flip switches and destroy objectives. Would love to help you out (Healer: early stages of lvl 30(i.e. no super loot)) but I'd bet we are on wholly different platforms and servers :(.

Started a villain for the Villains with Jobs league, if there are any low level characters (lvl 6ish) that would like to team up and have a go at it, my information is located in the convenient, though infrequently updated, link that is part of my signature.

I found that fight really easy as a fire brawler DPS. But that class might be a bit OP.

Does anybody else find the stealth a bit pointless?

I used it on my second hero and I never needed it. There was exactly one mission with a "sneak by these sentries" section, and all you had to do if you failed was fight a bunch of guards (I am sure there is a feat for not alerting them, I suppose).

In WoW there were a lot of missions where the rogue's ability to sneak past a million guys without a fight came in very handy, but in DCUO I really didn't find it that useful.