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

[Ginaz]

Why does this have to be another multiplayer rpg or some obviously/catassy/longterm virtual world affair? Why just those two choices? There's more possibility than that. As far as I'm concerned, this game's "possibility" is just to be fun in-the-moment and be massive at the same time. And when that wears off, I'll go somewhere else and not resent it. As far as it's future viability goes, I'll be happy as long as the servers don't get taken offline anytime soon and that the combat doesn't suddenly start sucking from some revamp patch or some shit. That's about it. Otherwise, it's just a game, meant to be played while I'm in it. I'd suggest to approach that way (or don't! Just play something that caters to your sense of longterm investment.).

EDIT: BTW, does anyone here play pistols or rifles? Do high level weapons/skills change animations from ballistic to laser or futuristic weaponry?

That might be good for the players, but not so good for soe.  I'm fairly certain soe was counting on people becoming invested in the game just like any other mmo.  They have a lot invested in this and need it to be a success.  Two failed MMOs based on popular, well known IPs won't be good.

[Typhon]

And yet GW has a model where they only make money from box sales and they are doing fine.  And Cryptic apparently has a business model where they put an "entertaining for a month and maybe you'll return when we add some content" business model and ... well, they haven't gone out of business.

I'll let SOE worry about SOE.  If their business folks haven't noticed what happened to WAR, hell, what big IP franchise HAS been sucessful?  If their business folks haven't taken a look at what Cryptic/ArenaNet/DDO are doing, and whether Cryptic and ArenaNet have been successful (sounds like DDO is successful) with an alternative to "RETENTION!!!" as a business model, why would players care?  

There are too many games in the market place now for folks to stay tied to one game after they have exhausted the content (and wait for more) - I think retention is dead as a primary business model for these games (if you aren't WoW).  If a game developer/publisher isn't making enough money to support the business without six months of retention, they are doing it wrong.  Frankly I'd prefer more games develop like Runic is doing with Torchlight - give us something to play, we'll tell you (via sales) what we like and don't like, rinse, repeat.  Taking 5 years to deliver a game that you rush out the door in the last six months is a broken way to develop a game.

Edit "light Torchlight" meant nothing, changed to mean something

[Lantyssa]

Those of us you that are still hoping for another 3-to-5 year love affair need to realize that you've been through ringer a number of times now and YOU have changed... well, all except for the part where you are hoping to give yourself to a game 'for reals!'.  I think this is why I was perfectly happy to have the cheap affair that I had with CO, then move on, while (most) of the rest of you were disgusted with my willingness to have a month worth of booty calls with a cheap tramp.

There's nothing wrong with a cheap thrill... but it's best to be able to wake up not needing a doctor's visit.

[Typhon]

:) I knew I could count on you

[NiX]

That analogy works incredibly well if the one night stand is with a hooker and the commitment to one game is a wife. The hooker costs you once, the wife costs you every month.

[ghost]

That analogy works incredibly well if the one night stand is with a hooker and the commitment to one game is a wife. The hooker costs you once, the wife costs you every month.

hooker =  best buy

wife =  radio shack

[Morfiend]

hooker =  best buy

wife =  radio shack

One is overpriced, doesnt ever have what you need and smells funny while the other will take your money and fuck you?

[Abelian75]

One is overpriced, doesnt ever have what you need and smells funny while the other will take your money and fuck you?

To be fair, I think it's long been at least tacitly understood that we're all complete masochists.

[stray]

Is it wrong that I enjoy my furry and female toons more than anything? 

If I have a big complaint, it's that the male body styles aren't well done.. at least I can't seem to tolerate it without going back into design mode and not playing the game. Too muscleheaded. Even worse if you pick the flirty standing style (I didn't do that myself, but I see these players everywhere. I kind of wish I could go into Shadowbane mode and just kill them. They kind of look like guidos).

[Nebu]

I thought I'd offer this up as someone that primarily solos.  I played my first 4 toons to level 10+ as ranged (hand blaser, pistols, archery, rufle) and was discouraged by my survivability.  Last night I made a melee toon and... huge difference.  My killing got faster.  Survivability was better.  Overall a more fun experience.  I recommend trying both melee and ranged before giving up solo.  They are quite different in their approach and one may suit you better than the other. 

I also find this game more interesting as I better understand the synergy between powers.  Knowing how powers interconnect makes a big difference in effectiveness.

[stray]

I make characters based on RP value/concept. :geek: Partly why I love this (and Coh/etc). Although they don't give you the greatest "palette" to work with here (I heard Champions was the best in the character creation dept). Anyways!.. sometimes the rp concept synergizes into a stronger character. And I wouldn't say melee necessarily has the leg up on soloing.. have you played dual pistols? Pretty fast paced and easy to pull off combos.

[stray]

Is it normal to have a random Batman siting? Last night, I was preparing for a quest and stopped on a ledge.. then I noticed some dude perching on one of those demonheads, looking around.. and I got closer because I wondering how he was doing it.. he didn't have a name to click on. Then I saw he looked like Batman, and some voiceover came in and said something like "Don't let the villains win." and he jumped off.

Anyways, that was pretty cool NPC scripting.

[kaid]

First time I left metropolis and was bouncing around in gotham I looked up and saw the bat signal that was a total win moment for me. Not sure of its longevity but the game play is fun and its one of the best usages of voice overs without going nuts with them that I have seen.

[Morfiend]

Is it normal to have a random Batman siting? Last night, I was preparing for a quest and stopped on a ledge.. then I noticed some dude perching on one of those demonheads, looking around.. and I got closer because I wondering how he was doing it.. he didn't have a name to click on. Then I saw he looked like Batman, and some voiceover came in and said something like "Don't let the villains win." and he jumped off.

Anyways, that was pretty cool NPC scripting.

I ran in to him on my villain character who is mentored by the Joker. I was stealthed on top of one of the buildings in gothem, and like you I saw him standing on a ledge or edge, and I slowly moved up, he turned around, smacked me and it stunned me, and he said something like "Dont think I dont see you there"  or "Dont think I dont see what you are up to" and then threw a smoke bomb and disappeared. It was pretty awesome.

[ghost]

I have been playing a dual pistols character.  It is still pretty heavily melee  based

[stray]

First time I left metropolis and was bouncing around in gotham I looked up and saw the bat signal that was a total win moment for me. Not sure of its longevity but the game play is fun and its one of the best usages of voice overs without going nuts with them that I have seen.

Agreed.. seems like there's a lot of Whedon alumni actually..

My favorite voice is the Huntress though. The actor is an unknown, but she sounds so pissed off and disgusted. I started Gotham as a villain, but the second I saw her cutscene I was like "Screw this.. I need to make my own badass chick toon."

The cutscenes are kind of a cool treat btw.

[Khaldun]

I ran into Green Lantern in Metropolis with my villain. It was pretty awesome--he smashed me back into the river and took off, like he didn't have time to worry about me.

[Strazos]

I find the lack of detail and feedback on what the powers do exactly to be somewhat frustrating. Otherwise, I find it to be entertaining. Really wish CoH had the same XP curve a few years ago. Also love beasting lvl 30's when I'm on with a lowbie group.

The rolly-polly nonsense is annoying, though.

[UnSub]

The rolly-polly nonsense is annoying, though.

... but critical to surviving PvP and nullifying control effects. If SOE had added a 2 second timer or something to it so that you couldn't just roll your way to freedom prior to launch things might have been a bit different, but they didn't and now it is becoming the standard way to play.

A rolling character who gets hit with a lunge attack will be stunned, but this isn't widely known or easy to pull off given how finicky targeting is.

[DaZog]

I find it to be entertaining. Really wish CoH had the same XP curve a few years ago. Also love beasting lvl 30's when I'm on with a lowbie group.

I do too, when you find those that don't abuse animation cancels to unload powers + slow combos almost instantly.

[Strazos]

I know you can stun rollers with lunge attacks, but if they manage to roll out of range, they're hard to catch.

Still liking the game overall, surprisingly.

[Nebu]

I know that both of my healers have a number of attacks that get through blocking.  Perhaps there is a shortage of healers?

[Sky]

Wait.


Rolling?


 
 

[Nebu]

Wait.


Rolling?

If they're talking about what I think they're talking about, it's a block + move combo that reduces damage.  In PvE it's a must against boss mob critical attacks.  I can see how it would be annoying as hell in pvp.  Yet again demonstrating how PvE and PvP features within the same game make for poor bedfellows.

[Cyrrex]

So, the game is still fun.  I think they have figured out something important here...it plays more like a single player game.  I wish more games were built with this in mind - make it a solid single player experience and include some of the better MMO mechanics.  The only real interactions I've had with other people are for the random "hey, there's Bizarro, let's all kill him" moments.  And speaking of which, I like how they smartly set up those Bounty quests.  I don't even think you need the quest in your journal.  You just start hitting on the target, and you get it automatically.  You also don't have to group.  If a few random strangers all start whooping up on Dr. Fate, all will get credit.  Cool feature.

I think this game is miles better than either CoH/CoV and CO.  Miles.

Longevity will indeed be the question.  Seems like an obvious FTP candidate.  At any rate, I think it will get my sub for a month or two...I'm slow getting through MMOs, and this is one where I fully intend to max level several alts (I can say the same thing for exactly zero other MMOs I've played).  Also, despite the Teen rating, I've decided to let my 8 year old have a go at it, and he loves it.

Also, most of you people (the dregs of humanity in general, not specifically F13) absolutely suck at creating characters.  Seriously, that's some boring ass shit you people come up with.

[Khaldun]

Doing hard mode alerts requires coordination, but yeah, they'll need a few things like that. PvP is so quick in its pacing that it's really just about zerging and button mashing most of the time--it would be interesting if there was a specialized PvP context where all powers did half the damage or something like that, so you'd have to really work together to win. (I haven't done Ring Wars yet, maybe that's like that? I dunno.)

The bounties remind me almost of ToonTown--you see someone whaling on Dr. Fate, just join in and everybody gets credit. I like that a lot.

[stray]

So, the game is still fun.  I think they have figured out something important here...it plays more like a single player game.  I wish more games were built with this in mind - make it a solid single player experience and include some of the better MMO mechanics.  The only real interactions I've had with other people are for the random "hey, there's Bizarro, let's all kill him" moments.  And speaking of which, I like how they smartly set up those Bounty quests.  I don't even think you need the quest in your journal.  You just start hitting on the target, and you get it automatically.  You also don't have to group.  If a few random strangers all start whooping up on Dr. Fate, all will get credit.  Cool feature.

I think this game is miles better than either CoH/CoV and CO.  Miles.

Longevity will indeed be the question.  Seems like an obvious FTP candidate.  At any rate, I think it will get my sub for a month or two...I'm slow getting through MMOs, and this is one where I fully intend to max level several alts (I can say the same thing for exactly zero other MMOs I've played).  Also, despite the Teen rating, I've decided to let my 8 year old have a go at it, and he loves it.

Also, most of you people (the dregs of humanity in general, not specifically F13) absolutely suck at creating characters.  Seriously, that's some boring ass shit you people come up with.

Yeah, I haven't grouped much either.. Only downside is that I haven't actually run the group focused instances. And my friends are kind of AWOL atm. On the upside, it still functions as a decent game despite that.

I might let it run out after the second month though, but I would have to come back if the Green Lantern expansion has more alien/space stuff.

Honestly - and people might hate hearing this - but this game would have probably had an entirely different feel if they didn't focus on it being a console title. I think that might have been their saving grace from "unconsciously" kind of falling back on the little practices and features that would just pile up into another Everquest.

edit: Yeah, there are some horrible characters unfortunately. I think the worst I saw was last night.. Some hulking dude named "cill shot" or something like that.. (lowercase as well). Not only was the name kind of sad, but the entire look.. he was just a mess.. I wonder how people even play a character like that. Maybe I take it too seriously though. I've been a little "lost in fantasy" since I was a kid. Maybe that guy does something more "productive" with his life. 

[UnSub]

The bounties remind me almost of ToonTown--you see someone whaling on Dr. Fate, just join in and everybody gets credit. I like that a lot.

That's new since beta (or added in the very last patch), where previously you needed the bounty for it to count and there were lots of complaints about people not getting the achievement despite being involved in the fight. A nice touch.

One thing that ChampO and DCUO have driven home to me is that you can't design the UI for a console title and a PC title at the same time. Especially when it means you screw up basic expected functionality on one, if not both, sides.

[Strazos]

How does the UI even function on the console side? How do people even communicate?

[stray]

You still need a keyboard to communicate. Personally, I don't use one, but I have one of those attachements that clips on the top of the gamepad if I need to say something. It's not great.. kind of like texting, I guess. Other than that, I may talk to friends on the phone.

A lot of people use headsets apparently. If I found a guild I liked, maybe I will too.

As for other UI stuff, there are keyboard shortcuts for things apparently, but I can access everything with a gamepad, and it's quick.. My hotkey bars are setup for group or dps setups, so I guess I have like 8 powers at a time. I press the right or left trigger +  O, X, Triangle, Square to fire them off. Weapon combat is button combos.. Hold down square is powered-up melee attack, hold down triangle is a charged up ranged attack.. Tap Square 5 times and then hold it is a stun grenade. Hold square/Tap Square/Hold Square is the bread and butter stun locking on my staff wielder. Pressing start brings up setting screens and such.

[Nebu]

You still need a keyboard to communicate.

There are a pretty decent number of set communication standards that you can use via a controller.  You find them in the emotes menu.  They won't allow you to do much more than bark out commands and respond to simple requests, but you can communicate (albeit archaicly) via controller.

[UnSub]

I'm happy for SOE to keep paying Blur to pump out trailers.

Ties in nicely to the previous Blur trailer too.

[ghost]

Yeah, so my interest in this very suddenly dropped off a cliff.  I guess that's it. 

[Ginaz]

Yeah, so my interest in this very suddenly dropped off a cliff.  I guess that's it. 

Same here.  I just can't justify paying a monthly sub.  Might be better to go the F2P route like LOTRO did.  I'd definitely keep playing if that happened.

[squirrel]

They've announced a time limited offer of 3 months for $30 for those who care.