**Official** DC Universe Online - Beta thread

[mcurphy]

The NDA was lifted yesterday for this game.

I have been playing Beta for the past couple weeks with a pre-order key. My first impression I really loved the game. The animation is awesome for fighting. It's is great to see all the characters from the DC universe and interact with them. There are a lot of options to choose from as you level up. And the gear is pretty cool and actually adds to your costume (if you choose) when you find it.

But my biggest problem right now is content. The levels cap out at 30 right now, not sure if that will be moved up when it goes live. My highest character is 26 and I heard there is much more content when you hit level 30, but I haven't been able to experience it yet. But anyhow, it took me just a few days to reach level 26. It flew by very fast.

I started another character and leveled him up to level 15, and I got extremely bored. The content was almost identical to my previous character. They really need to open up some new missions.

I canceled my pre-order, because I am really not sure if I will want to continue playing month after month with the state the game is currently at.

Has anyone else been playing? What are your thoughts?

 

[Anomaly1964]

SO....is it just City of Heroes DC STYLE or is it story driven?

 

[DrunkenSano]

mcurphy: When you say a few days to hit level 26, can you give it in terms of gameplay hours? Since some people's days are different than others.

 

[mcurphy]

Hmmm, I would guess about 15-20 hours to level 26. I was at level 10 within about 5 hours.

Also, I would say the game is very similar to CoH in that you get a series of missions from a contact and you can team up or run the missions solo. There is usually a story arc that spans across several missions. Starting with simple missions and get progressively harder until the last mission of the arc you face the villain (boss) that the arc is centered around.

I played CoH for almost 5 years, and I see a lot of similarities in DCUO. The overall look and feel of the game is very much like CoH, but of course the graphics and such are updated to a modern game level. You also have many choices in your character customization like CoH, though not quite as many options. It is interesting that you can collect gear, which I guess would be similar to a game such as WoW. But the missions, and stories, remind me of CoH as well. I just don't think there is a whole lot of content out there right now, so that would be a big difference from CoH which was packed full of different missions and activities.

There are some neat things to do with PvP. Arena type settings where you team up with other heroes vs villains. There is also worlds dedicated to PVE and others PVP. The PVP worlds were interesting because you run into villains all the time just on your way through town.

 

[Anomaly1964]

Hmmm, I would guess about 15-20 hours to level 26. I was at level 10 within about 5 hours.

Also, I would say the game is very similar to CoH in that you get a series of missions from a contact and you can team up or run the missions solo. There is usually a story arc that spans across several missions. Starting with simple missions and get progressively harder until the last mission of the arc you face the villain (boss) that the arc is centered around.

I played CoH for almost 5 years, and I see a lot of similarities in DCUO. The overall look and feel of the game is very much like CoH, but of course the graphics and such are updated to a modern game level. You also have many choices in your character customization like CoH, though not quite as many options. It is interesting that you can collect gear, which I guess would be similar to a game such as WoW. But the missions, and stories, remind me of CoH as well. I just don't think there is a whole lot of content out there right now, so that would be a big difference from CoH which was packed full of different missions and activities.

There are some neat things to do with PvP. Arena type settings where you team up with other heroes vs villains. There is also worlds dedicated to PVE and others PVP. The PVP worlds were interesting because you run into villains all the time just on your way through town.

Great answer...Thanks!

 

[Childs]

Some Machinima Realm videos below. Looks like fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyhlpMo7Oms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc2P4IG0RGw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxjEGoj79nE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xTNXbO3mlk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwhYQ-ckwco

 

[Wordplay]

It's pretty freakin sweet that Mark is doing The Joker voice.

 

[AlgaeEater]

The NDA was lifted yesterday for this game.

I have been playing Beta for the past couple weeks with a pre-order key. My first impression I really loved the game. The animation is awesome for fighting. It's is great to see all the characters from the DC universe and interact with them. There are a lot of options to choose from as you level up. And the gear is pretty cool and actually adds to your costume (if you choose) when you find it.

But my biggest problem right now is content. The levels cap out at 30 right now, not sure if that will be moved up when it goes live. My highest character is 26 and I heard there is much more content when you hit level 30, but I haven't been able to experience it yet. But anyhow, it took me just a few days to reach level 26. It flew by very fast.

I started another character and leveled him up to level 15, and I got extremely bored. The content was almost identical to my previous character. They really need to open up some new missions.

I canceled my pre-order, because I am really not sure if I will want to continue playing month after month with the state the game is currently at.

Has anyone else been playing? What are your thoughts?

I have to ask this - is there really a need for certain "classes or powers" in this game compared to COH?

What really got me bored off of COH (A 3 year veteran myself) was the lack of a need for certain classes. Having a balanced team made you much more efficient yes, but outside of some TF's there was no real obstacle for anyone not to solo. Now-a-days, every class is super efficient by themselves.

This was taken to the extreme with Champions Online as well - where literally anyone could solo and do "team" oriented missions by themselves.

I'm only interested because MMO's kinda are a lot funner (IMO) when you have diverse people with diverse sets that work well with each other and support each other - not just for efficiency by necessity. Since you said it seems so much like COH - I'm assuming it's going to be the same roughly.

 

[mcurphy]

I have to ask this - is there really a need for certain "classes or powers" in this game compared to COH?

What really got me bored off of COH (A 3 year veteran myself) was the lack of a need for certain classes. Having a balanced team made you much more efficient yes, but outside of some TF's there was no real obstacle for anyone not to solo. Now-a-days, every class is super efficient by themselves.

This was taken to the extreme with Champions Online as well - where literally anyone could solo and do "team" oriented missions by themselves.

I'm only interested because MMO's kinda are a lot funner (IMO) when you have diverse people with diverse sets that work well with each other and support each other - not just for efficiency by necessity. Since you said it seems so much like COH - I'm assuming it's going to be the same roughly.

Unfortunately I can't really give a good answer for that. I haven't done much teaming yet, as I wanted to play at my own pace and feel everything out without being rushed by a group. I have played solo about 95% of the time.

In a couple instances that I teamed with a group (such as the Area 51 raid in the third link posted above) it was definitely beneficial to have at least a healer in the group. We faced one boss that took over an hour to defeat until we had a few people drop and some people join that helped with healing and control. I don't think we would have ever succeeded if we didn't have a diverse group for that situation. But this was a mission, or "Alert" as they are called in the game, that you have to have an assembled team to even attempt it.

All of the regular content I have been able to solo on my own. My characters so far have been melee oriented (think scrapper) with some control so they haven't run into anything they can't handle. Some content has been very challenging on my own, but nothing has been impossible yet.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Hmph. Extra beta key anyone?

 

[slag]

merry new year

 

[MajorMullet]

Got a key, looking forward to trying it out!

 

[Jschmuck2]

Got a key, looking forward to trying it out!

Aww, from wheresies?

 

[MajorMullet]

Aww, from wheresies?

Someone on the forum PMed me and gave me a code. I'll keep looking around and PM you one if I happen to get another one.

I've only had a chance to play through the opening tutorial but I'm enjoying the combat so far. It's very "click heavy" - it almost reminds of Fable 1 on the PC, though not quite as fluid. It's a nice change from the "Press [insert number key here] over and over again" style of most MMOs though.

You do have a hot key bar that has 1 through 9 on it, but it seems like the heavy lifting on the combat is through the mouse. So far, combat feels like what I wanted CoH and Champions Online to be like. Those were more like WoW, this has more of an action game style to it, which I'm guessing is because it's also coming to the PS3. I haven't tried it with a controller yet, but I'll have to see how that goes at some point.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Someone on the forum PMed me and gave me a code. I'll keep looking around and PM you one if I happen to get another one.

I've only had a chance to play through the opening tutorial but I'm enjoying the combat so far. It's very "click heavy" - it almost reminds of Fable 1 on the PC, though not quite as fluid. It's a nice change from the "Press [insert number key here] over and over again" style of most MMOs though.

You do have a hot key bar that has 1 through 9 on it, but it seems like the heavy lifting on the combat is through the mouse. So far, combat feels like what I wanted CoH and Champions Online to be like. Those were more like WoW, this has more of an action game style to it, which I'm guessing is because it's also coming to the PS3. I haven't tried it with a controller yet, but I'll have to see how that goes at some point.

Thanks dude =)

Again, if anyone would like to send a code my way, it would be much appreciated. I'll sing your praises from the highest hilltop etc etc

<3

 

[RayCathode]

Fileplanet has PC and PS3 beta codes available.
Ran out. Hope someone got one before they were gone.

http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/dcuniverse/

 

[Joemonkey]

Fileplanet has PC and PS3 beta codes available.

http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/dcuniverse/

all keys have been distributed

 

[smackababy]

The more I see on this, the more interested I am in at least trying it. I wouldn't mind a beta key if they are still going out. The trailer released was amazing.

 

[Anomaly1964]

I'd like a legit key too!

 

[mcurphy]

I have a PS3 key if somebody can use it. I'll offer it to Jschmuck2 first, but if he can't use it, then I will go down the list in order of you guys that requested one.

 

[SunnyD]

Hopped on today. Plays okay, a bit choppy though. Dark story lines are nice... but this game is DEFINITELY designed for consoles. The control scheme is pure console button masher, not a MMO in the gameplay sense.

Edit: More of my views.

SO....is it just City of Heroes DC STYLE or is it story driven?

No. DCUO is more akin to Champions Online, which dare is say is more refined in terms of gameplay than DCUO is (beta not withstanding). DCUO feels like a console button smasher with some MMO elements. In fact, it feels more like the Marvel:UA than it does COH.

The character creation is clunky and not very intuitive. Took me a little while to figure it out. It's not terrible. The graphical styling in the game is okay. It's not realistic, and not comic book. It's somewhere in between. I can't pin it, but it's not elegant. The user interface is definitely NOT finished, and very clunky.

As far as gameplay, if you've played Champions Online, the control scheme is similar to that. Mouse buttons to handle your bread and butter attacks, and then the button mashing combos are an addition to pull off your more powerful attack combos. Finally, there's your hot bar to use special abilities. For example, I mean a sort of Deadpool styled character, except he uses dual pistols. Basic attacks are just clicking the mouse buttons to shoot or melee (right and left buttons respectively). Then there's button combos, like tap->tap-hold to pull off a "special" move with your primary power (in my case guns). Then you have a couple of skill pools, based on your theme, that you pick powers from. In my case, since I do gadgets, I have a tazer and a sticky grenade, along with couple of turrets I can spawn. Those are activated via the hotkeys on the keyboard, like a typical MMO.

The game is fast paced, like you would expect from a superhero game. There's a lot of "hidden" depth in fighting given the control style, but it's REALLY freakin hard to do most of the combos, since most take two or three button presses of various sorts, and if you're taking the time to do them right, you're getting the crap beat out of you because you're not mashing buttons.

Missions/Quests are okay, there's a decent story line. Not really anything to write home about.

If you want a more arcadey feeling MMO, this would work. Combat makes you feel sort of super, and it is kinda better than the competition that way (CO was great right before launch in this respect).

Thematically, it has a good feel. Gameplay is 'meh'.

 

[zerocool84]

Game came out today. What's the consensus???

 

[manimal]

does batman have nipples ala schumaker?

 

[JoshGuru7]

I've heard that you really need a controller to enjoy it. Anybody here playing it?

 

[CottonRabbit]

Played today and got a hero up to lvl 13 on the Death and Glory PVP server. I didn't play the beta and it's been fun so far. The DC setting really makes the open world PVP feel more alive. Using kb/mouse isn't bothering me.