DC Online to show its face

[AcidCat]

I got to play for a few minutes at Comic Con. It's got a nice clean, colorful look that is appealing, but does kind of look like CoH v2.0 - I guess there's only so much you can do with an urban environment. I wasn't able to tell much from just a few minutes' playtime, but after chatting with one of the game artists who was demoing the game, it does sound like they are very much just counting on "It's DC! Batman! Superman!" to sell the game rather than any new or interesting play mechanics. I'm sure the game has a ways to go, so who knows how fun the final product will be.

[schild]

Was the animation better than the trailer video? I honestly don't know how that trailer was acceptable. :(

[AcidCat]

It did look better than in that trailer, yeah I don't know what it up with that.

[schild]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37573.html
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37626.html

[Evildrider]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37573.html
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37626.html

Not looking too shabby. 

[UnSub]

I've seen other videos of the same area, so it looks like this location is their most polished.

It doesn't look bad and will be interesting to see how it plays out on a PC.

[Signe]

aaaaaa - it gave me a headache in my eyes!   

[HaemishM]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37573.html
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37626.html

Now those are MUCH better than the earlier ones. It reminds me of X-Men Legens without the pausing, which isn't necessarily a great thing in my eyes but could be good for a laugh.

[Ragnoros]

I'm wondering what the hook in this game will be?

CoX did a good job of making things simple and fun for the most part. Start with a couple powers, get fun new ones every couple levels, quick missions to go smash things. Fun. Problem was thier "Hook" was the grind.

Assuming they don't have another horrible grind--and post WoW it would probably be suicidal. How are they going to keep people playing past a month or two?

[UnSub]

Didn't you hear? JIM LEE! FIGHT ALONGSIDE SUPERMAN!

Jim Lee!

Superman!

...jim lee...

...superman...

[Triforcer]

Didn't you hear? JIM LEE! FIGHT ALONGSIDE SUPERMAN!

Jim Lee!

Superman!

...jim lee...

...superman...

Why would the guy who invented spiderman help DC?  Or is this another guy?

[schild]

Stan Lee != Jim Lee

[HaemishM]

/facepalm

[eldaec]

Those three posts from Triforcer through Haemish are going to be repeated everywhere that people are subjected to DC Online marketing.

Jim Lee is not famous. Stan Lee is only famous amongst spiderman fans and reality TV obsessives.

[Signe]

No, I think Stan Lee is pretty famous and I don't even read comics and I'm sure his reality tv show was simply awful.  I have never heard of Jim Lee.  My favourite Lee has always been Christopher.   

[Nevermore]

Jason Lee is pretty entertaining.  It's still sad what happened to Brandon Lee, though.

[schild]

Sadder what happened to Jason Lee.

Scientology :(

Edit: Scientology worse than accidental death? Interesting angle, schild.

[Nevermore]

There's still the hope that someone can be cured of Scientology, though!

[eldaec]

My favourite Lee has always been Christopher.   

I'll see your Christopher and raise you a General   

[Dtrain]

Edit: Scientology worse than accidental death? Interesting angle, schild.

That right there is a given. Here's a few more sample scenarios though: Scientology vs. post-mortem anal buggery, and Scientology vs. catching the rage virus.

[Furiously]

I'm not sure what an American Civil War general has to do with online comic games, but they really need to put a different trailer up on their webpage. Looks like everyone has 13 sticks up their butts.

I'm looking forward to hearing what they are doing for "loot" and leveling.

[UnSub]

Link

I needn't worry about sharing XP, explains Cao, as DC Universe uses what they're calling a "surplus model". XP isn't divided amongst the players who defeat an enemy; they all get as least as many points as if they'd done the job on their own. In fact, the more players team up, the more XP they earn.

I'd have to see it in practise, of course, but that seems ... exploitable.

[justdave]

I think it's been firmly established that a superhero game requires an xp mechanic that's exploitable in big hugpiles, that will subsequently be nerfed and piss off the existing playerbase. 

[Hutch]

I think it's been firmly established that a superhero game requires an xp mechanic that's exploitable in big hugpiles, that will subsequently be nerfed and piss off the existing playerbase. 

What is this, 1999? The people developing these games have had years and years worth of predecessors to observe and learn from. There's no way the DC Online folks will repeat the mistakes of the past. That's crazy talk!

[Goreschach]

Link

I needn't worry about sharing XP, explains Cao, as DC Universe uses what they're calling a "surplus model". XP isn't divided amongst the players who defeat an enemy; they all get as least as many points as if they'd done the job on their own. In fact, the more players team up, the more XP they earn.

I'd have to see it in practise, of course, but that seems ... exploitable.

No, I think they'll learn from the past. They'll just tone down the global xp rate so full groups can't powerlevel up to max in a matter of days.


In other words, past the newbie levels it will be impossible to make meaningful progress in the game without finding a group.

[Venkman]

I don't agree. I see this as potentially them going the WoW route where hitting the cap isn't the fedex to subscription cancellation that everyone prior feared it to be (except Wolfpack, but then the whole gaining of XP there was dumb anyway for what the game was). What Cao seems to be implying is that the advancement rate of a person is independent of whether they're grouped or solo. This way players don't feel like they're advancing slower while grouped so feel less ripped off XP-wise.

Besides, we all know though that the majority of players will want to solo a good chunk of time, so what DCUO will probably do is borrow the other parts of WoW like:

• Instances for the best stuff, but not make that stuff required to solo. ePeens only for the instance runners. The unwashed masses can run around with commons but still do ok.
• Instances for completely major story arcs and therefore seeing/interacting-with the major characters. Unlike WoW, for something like DCUO, that could be a big huge draw.
• Vast majority of endgame goods being untradeable, with the leveling-up drops and leveling-up instance drops being enough to give the impression of a vibrant economy (heck, they could rip off disenchanting too).

As always, just an opinion.