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YAY No more NDA
For the last few months I've been in the closed beta for DC Universe Online. When I first saw this game start to show up I was very very excited by the look, the Universe and the demos shown. I was very excited to get in(hey it was something to do while out of work).
Monday they have lifted the NDA the game is not done but they hope to have it out 1st quarter next year.
Here are my overall impressions for this game as it sits.
Graphics. Stunning absolutely stunning its the best looking MMO on the market. The game will ship with two cities Gotham and metropolis. Each one is huge Each one captures the ton and feel of the cities from the comics.
Game play. Game play is by design action oriented so you'll be mashing your mouse buttons a lot. The game uses left mouse for melee attacks and right for ranged. On top of that their are up to 6 sloth for one click powers. Its very different that COX or CO but IMO I think it works to keep the game fun and fast. Its a nice cross between a traditional MMO and a action game.
Character Creation. If you are used to COX / CO you will find it limiting I was able to create some nice looking characters. IMO its better than WOW but not up to par with COX or CO. Through the game you get new items that you can use to change your looks.
Missions All missions are assigned via voice overs They have done a pretty good job here(Kevin Conroy as Batman). Its very immersive their are main quests that you get from major DC characters and sub quests that you'll get from random people in and outside of missions. Missions are a set of open world kill/gather quests and one instance to round out the segment. Some arcs will have multiple segments some just one. Game content moves fast an average player staying with one character will hit the lvl 30 cap in a month(a power gamer could do it in a few days. I've even seen a claim of someone getting to 30 in 24 hours)
Outside of regular missions their are several things to do to spend your time.
Alerts. These missions they require multiple people. I Have not played them all the one I have played was fun. They are a series of small mission all contained in one large instance. The instance will have several areas as the group completes objectives your group will be directed to the next area. Alerts do not require you to make a team(good thing their are issues in the chat teaming system still). YOu get a message from Martian manhunter that the Alert is available. You click to select it as soon as enough people have responded you get teleported in.
Legend matches These are PVP matches that you get access to as you grow in level you get the chance to play in a PVP match as a signature DC hero vs a Signature DC Villain. I've only done the 1st one and it was fun(Robin vs Harley Quinn) i did not do too good but it was fun.
Their also Raids and other post 30 content that I can't comment on as My max it lvl 22.
PVP or PVE Their will be two server types PVE and PVP. Their are options for PV on the PVP server but you can ignore it if you choose. On the PVP servers its open world PVP so someone from the other side can intrude at any time. As annoying as that can be I found it to actually be an imversive factor. If I'm playing a villain and a hero wanders by Its realistic that he might attack.
Leveling, Content Leveling is fast very very fast. And as of this moment the content tree is thin which will limit replayability. Each side has 3 mentors, he mentor has a small set of unique missions and then the rest of the content is the same based on your side. Here to villain content is similar. In some cases the missions are identical with a different spin on your reasons for doing them. The content is there is excellent better than anything in COX or CO but their needs to be more.
Skills Skills are your basic attack combos and movement.
* Moment Flight, Super-Speed and Acrobatics.Each movement power has a tree with attacks and an advanced(ie faster) mode. Superspeed works the way is should. Any surface is viable for transit and you can use momentum to travel through the air. Flight is... Flight. Acrobatics is the Batman/Spiderman climb on walls gliding, Swinging grappling... pretty fun if a bit more work that the others to use. Super speed is the fastest and flight the slowest(why do dev's always think slight needs to be sooo slow.) As you'd probably suspect movement is suppressed in combat.
* Attack/Ability Bow, Martial arts, Staff, Rifle, Dual Pistol, Hand blaster. These are your basic bread and butter attacks. No END concerns or limits with these. Actually the more use you them the more you can use your powers.
Powers Fire, Nature, Ice, Gadgets, Sorcery, Iconic these are the super powers each is pretty different with some similarities. Fire and Ice are blasts and shields, Nature is shape-shifting, Sorcery if control based powers and Gadgets are well gadgets ;-). Opening at level 9(10?) are the Iconic powers. X-Ray Vision, strength, A Shazam like lightening effect, Batarangs, Amazon Bracelets...
This game as it sits has a ton of potential. It looks great, plays great and its fast and action oriented play. But their are issues. I'm going to skip things that I know are not done or may be changed via game balance between now and when it goes live. As I mentioned above the content that is there is great but IMO their needs to be alot more. They have promised monthly content additions. That may do the job. I know they are working on a Green Lantern themed update for the summer to tie in with the movie. It the content update come as they say thing will be the MMO to bet.
Will I buy it? Right now probably not. But I've played most of the content and if I keep playing in beta I will probably have done most of it by launch.
Should you buy it? A few days ago I was thinking that I'd say no, wait 6 months and check it out. But after thinking about It I've realized that I was saying that based on my experience. While in its current form its not a buy and play for years game its defiantly good for a few months of play. I know I've had a lot of fun playing it for the last two months.
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Originally Posted by 2fnloud
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