DCUO- will be out November 2. Can apply for beta on main site now.

[SnakeCharmer]

Cao

Fuck that guy.  He deserves every bit of shit that gives shoveled onto his fat ass because of this shitty game.

[Chinchilla]

Is it just me or does this game not having a friend's list so you konw when your buddies are online?

If it does... it sure is well hidden because I can't find it.

[UnSub]

Is Green Lantern coming out around then? They may be trying to piggy back on something like that.

I don't think so.

Common forum logic is that all the GL stuff that DCUO was going to contain is being held back for the GL movie launch, which will probably be the first big expansion.

[UnSub]

I know I'm the only one here who care about this, but it is going to be a flaming car crash of a title in about a week.

The latest patch - December 29 - added a number of new bugs that can make playing difficult. DCUO's chat system is still bare bones, probably because SOE expects everyone to use VOIP. Launch is still January 11.

If you feel like it, the pre-order PC beta forums (which will become the official forums) are open for public view if you have an SOE account, I believe.

[Sir T]

They are probably in full on panic mode in SOE right now.

[bhodi]

I love the smell of a failed MMO in the morning.

I get such perverse pleasure watching these things crash and burn. I know it's terrible for the rank and file at SOE, but it really is just seeing bone-headed decisions made coming home to roost. Just desserts and all that. I love it.

[Shatter]

I love the smell of a failed MMO in the morning.

I get such perverse pleasure watching these things crash and burn. I know it's terrible for the rank and file at SOE, but it really is just seeing bone-headed decisions made coming home to roost. Just desserts and all that. I love it.

I just smell poop

[Raguel]

I love the smell of a failed MMO in the morning.

I get such perverse pleasure watching these things crash and burn. I know it's terrible for the rank and file at SOE, but it really is just seeing bone-headed decisions made coming home to roost. Just desserts and all that. I love it.

I just smell poop

Somehow, I agree with both of you 

[Nebu]

I just smell poop

It's wearing a cape though.

[Shatter]

I just smell poop

It's wearing a cape though.

Must be CE poop

[Draegan]

I finally installed this game the other day with my dormant beta key.  It wasn't that bad.  My mouse hand was cramped a bit, and I only did the newbie tutorial area.  The game felt like it was fun to play.  The UI for the character creator was terrible though.

It's much better than CHampO.

[Riggswolfe]

It's much better than CHampO.

I haven't played ChampO but from what I have heard this isn't great praise...

[Kageru]

It isn't.

[UnSub]

Not that I'll be playing this anyway, but the 'native' Australian server is the EU one, which with money conversion rates as they are would see it cost $20 to $25 a month to play DCUO. I'd have to order a US edition to be able to pay closer to the $15 a month level.

[UnSub]

So, it's the end of beta and a lot of people are uninstalling DCUO.

Well, trying to. The uninstaller doesn't work properly.

SOE apologised and ... oh wait, no they didn't. Don't you players understand that a correctly functioning uninstaller is an optional extra? Manual uninstalls are just as good, really.

TSR-AndyD wrote:

I’m sure you all realize that the focus of the development staff is currently going to be bmaking the game as awesome as possible for the retail release. The broken uninstaller is a forgivable and understandable over-sight.

Oh, SOE, I await your launch day patch.

[Modern Angel]

Oh that's awesome. That's one of the more clueless, jackass thing I've heard a CM say in a really long time.

[HaemishM]

So, it's the end of beta and a lot of people are uninstalling DCUO.

Well, trying to. The uninstaller doesn't work properly.

SOE apologised and ... oh wait, no they didn't. Don't you players understand that a correctly functioning uninstaller is an optional extra? Manual uninstalls are just as good, really.

Oh that's lovely. When you get a beta tester saying that at least Final Fantasy XIV has gotten better and he'd rather play that when talking about your shitty product that's going to be released in 4 days, you are SO FUCKED. I'm glad to see the fuckups I had just trying unsuccessfully to get the goddamn game installed extended to the uninstall process as well. Good job, fuckheads.

[Tannhauser]

I won't be buying this at release, but I have popcorn and will enjoy reading the comments from those who do.

Oh SOE, we thought you had turned a corner and now you are shoving another crappy MMO out.
All is right with the world.

[UnSub]

DCUO is going to be getting a launch day patch that fixes a number of bugs with powers. This patch will be untested by players since DCUO was taken out of public beta 5 days before launch.

Also, as best I can see, SOE hasn't released any server list information about DCUO. Guess they are waiting to surprise people at launch.

[shiznitz]

Reading this thread suggests there will be no surprises.  We have seen this movie too many times.

[UnSub]

As negative as I sound about the game, it is fun in short bursts. You can get to max level is about 30 hours and it is pretty enough. But it is very shallow and lacks some basic PC functionality at this point - I had WAR flashbacks about the chat system and you only get 6 powers per loadout, for instance. (I don't want 50 powers to choose from, but 6 is too limited given the number of powers you can get and choose from.)

What I truly believe will cripple DCUO is how they are treating the PS3 launch. With a sub fee in place, there needed to be a charm offensive about what you get for that sub fee, the advantages of paying that $15 a month, what is about to be released that you'll want to sub for, etc. Instead, the line from SOE appears to be "PC players got used to paying a sub, so PS3 players will as well". PS3 players are a very different group to the PC MMO players who started getting into the genre 10 - 20 years ago.

If DCUO launched F2P with paid microtrans / DLC, I think it would be a massive success. At $15 a month for content that lasts a week? I can't see it happening.

[Lantyssa]

Assuming the PC crowd will pay a sub is wrong as well, since a lot of the kids nowadays are growing up with the f2p market.  I'm surprised SOE is continuing with the idea anyways, since they were the ones to put out Free Realms.

[Triforcer]

Like I stupidly did with STO, I bought this and will be playing tomorrow.  I'm a sucker for MMO launches.  If I get a month out of it, I'll be happy.  If it is shallow as people are saying, though, I will be rather displeased with a week of content.

[Furiously]

I predict a free-trial in 30 days.

[koro]

Like I stupidly did with STO, I bought this and will be playing tomorrow.  I'm a sucker for MMO launches.  If I get a month out of it, I'll be happy.  If it is shallow as people are saying, though, I will be rather displeased with a week of content.

UnSub's "week of content" is not an exaggeration. My girlfriend (who is a sucker for both MMO betas and DC Comics in general) borrowed an old FFXI guildmate's beta account a month or so ago. She was level capped in about ten days of playing 2-3 hours a night, skipping a few nights. The villain content adds maybe another four or five days of play on to that.

[Lucas]

*popcorn munchin' pic*
 

[Khaldun]

It's really weird in a way. The genre as a whole works really well as a MMO foundation, even a DiKU one. DC's intellectual property is an attractive hook to boot. And yet, here we go again: subminimal functionality in some of the basics, easily broken game mechanics that very quickly spoil the pleasure of the game for most players, and such a small amount of content that most players will become bored within a few weeks.

At this point, whether I was the guy licensing intellectual property or the money suit authorizing the development of an MMO, I'd sit down with a potential development team and ask these questions:

1) Can you come up with a way to generate content rapidly, whether procedural or otherwise?
2) Can you come up with a way to make some kind of PvP work as something fun to do when players don't want to work through PvE content?
3) Can you come up with an endgame that isn't just about shittastic grind that will keep only a few hardcore obsessive catasses amused and subscribing?

If the team doesn't have detailed answers for at least one of those questions that isn't just a variation on "Yes, like that game over there only slightly better or different", I don't license the property or approve the development.

[sam, an eggplant]

They did create an awesome intro cinematic, though, got to give them that.

Oh wait that was Blur.

[Outlawedprod]

They did create an awesome intro cinematic, though, got to give them that.
Oh wait that was Blur.

Are you sure?  Their 50 million must have went somewhere.

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/01/11/dc-universe-online-50-million-gamble-aims-for-audience-that-world-of-warcraft-cant-touch/

[LK]

It’s the first so-called massively multi-player online game to feature realistic physical simulations.

Yes, that's what will set it apart and attract the masses.

DC Universe Online also was the only one on the market to play not just on computers but also on a living room console, in this case the PlayStation 3.

Factual inaccuracies aside, they are banking on the market of a third place console to give them that edge? There's just so many problems and comments I can make on that article.

[Kageru]

50 million + 5.5 years -> about a week of shallow content?

There's something wrong with SoE.

It does help explain why it has to be sub-based. They need a lot of revenue coming in before the game dates and fades. I'd expect a F2P game would want a smaller investment and plan on having iterative development (and more fodder for the cash shop) over a longer lifetime. They've effectively priced themselves out of that option in a similar manner to APB.

[UnSub]

One of the things that surprises me a lot is that DCUO basically appears dumped in January. Only 21 days notice to launch, and in very early January? I can't see what amounts to a stealth launch being a positive thing for a MMO.

The only advantage I can see is that a quiet launch won't hammer the servers as much, which helps with initial impressions and gives some time for fixes.

[statisticalfool]

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/01/11/dc-universe-online-50-million-gamble-aims-for-audience-that-world-of-warcraft-cant-touch/

http://latimesherocomplex.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/dc_scr_plyract_jsa_007.jpg

Do you see that?  Screw World of Warcraft: there's two people there in a deserted environment with SWORDS.

And they're going to autoattack kick each other's asses.

[Modern Angel]

I saw someone say that armor drops in the game change the appearance of your character. If true that's just... 

[Morfiend]

I saw someone say that armor drops in the game change the appearance of your character. If true that's just... 

I believe that you have the option to allow the equipped items to effect your appearance or not.