DC Universe Online is Fun ...

[Kaos Arcanna]

You know, it's a pretty world. (Feels much like Praetoria to me.)

And I've met some helpful people there.

If the dang game just had a bigger ability tray, wasn't dependent on combos, and could use a mouse I'd be much happier with it.

Don't get me wrong. I'm having fun there, but those things are kind of annoying.

[FlyingCarcass]

DCUO really nails the scale and look of Metropolis and Gotham City and the music really compliments the respective cities.

One of the Gotham BGMs:
http://youtu.be/hqbx2A5xpqA

[Tenzhi]

If my characters felt sturdier and I could have a non-elemental tank and they would fix the non-flight movement issues I'd enjoy the game a bit more.

[Castegyre]

I enjoy the game in short bursts. I really like the stories leveling up and the atmosphere of the game is well done I think. The costume system is maybe my favorite in any game so far. I've also met a lot of nice people playing it.

I don't play it as a main game, though. The interface bugs me too much and once you get a character to 30 there isn't much to do unless you want to work on your CR to work on your CR some more so you can work on your CR it seems.

[Aggelakis]

I found this game worse than CO in terms of gameplay/mechanics and usability. The user interface...well, isn't user friendly.

Also, I prefer an auto-attack over a "spam incessantly" or "hold down forever {to circumvent the 'spam incessantly' feeling of the previous}" attack. Or none of the above. City did it well in that there were enough attacks/doodads to do during a fight that you didn't NEED a filler/builder.

[Castegyre]

It took me a bit to get used to weapon style combos, especially with my right hand not working properly. Once I did the down time between activating actual powers flew by and became more fun. Martial Arts in particular amuses me greatly. 

[Tenzhi]

I don't like the limited costume selection starting out, nor the palette limitation, nor the lack of sliders.  About the only good thing I can say about the 'costume system' is that it allows you to switch up individual pieces on the fly - however, this feature's usefulness is itself hampered by not even having the pieces available during creation until you manage to find them in-game.

[Castegyre]

I like the way costume pieces are acquired. It's easy and gives me something to work for besides stats, but I can understand how someone might not appreciate it the same way. There is no limit in the palette, though. Now that you can use the hexadecimal system it's even easier to get exactly the color you want. Character models themselves are a whole other issue.

[Kaos Arcanna]

My hard light controller is now 27. Given that I only created her about two weeks ago and I'd say that I haven't generally played more than about two hours a night on her tops ... that's pretty impressive.

[Mysterious J]

I tried DCUO with a mouse (in beta) and hated it.  Enough of my CoX SG buddies migrated to it that I gave it another chance, but this time I bought a cheap PS3-style PC controller, and I've learned to like it (so far, highest character is still only something like 13).  It's very, very different from CoX in philosophy: you really do have to learn the rocks-paper-scissors combat if you don't want to be frustrated, and it doesn't really feel like you're making any in-combat decisions until either you can deliberately pull of one or two of the combos, or you've unlocked enough powers in your tree that you have some situational options.  The movement powers are different and fun... superspeeding up a wall is a blast.  I'm less sold on the gear aspect, but at least you can divorce that from appearance if you like.  I really miss the costume options and sliders, but the look of the world is quite good.  We'll see what happens if and when I hit 30 and it becomes more grindy.  My friends tell me to think of CR as more like your level, and the levels up to 30 are just unlocking your powers, but... one of the things I didn't like about CoX was the Incarnate grind.  (Played since launch, never once got a character to +1 Incarnate... barely had any characters that even had an Alpha slot.)

[Tenzhi]

There is no limit in the palette, though.

As near as I could tell, you're limited to three colours shared across your whole costume.  You create a three colour palette and then have to choose from that palette for each costume piece.

[dwturducken]

You can change each color, but it is across the whole body. I'll be damned if I can get the hang of it, and I've never gotten the color I wanted. It's a minor annoyance in a long list of annoyances with the game.

[Tenzhi]

You can change each color, but it is across the whole body.

And you can go into each costume piece and switch the colours up.  But you're limited to choosing between those three colours that you set in the palette.  And it *is* non-intuitive.

Also, you couldn't recreate, say, the original Green Lantern's costume under those limitations.

[dwturducken]

This system may actually have been informed by the lawsuit against CoH. It is impossible to make a copy of the costume of a major character, though i didn't go far outside the JL characters, and the Blue Beetle and Booster Gold costumes I was working from were from the late 80s Justice League.

I was, however, able to make a passable copy of the NightHawk costume in CO. 

[Lightslinger]

Is it just me or is the UI in this game the worst? I haven't made it far past the tutorial but character creation and chat is the worst.

[Thunder Glove]

This system may actually have been informed by the lawsuit against CoH. It is impossible to make a copy of the costume of a major character, though i didn't go far outside the JL characters, and the Blue Beetle and Booster Gold costumes I was working from were from the late 80s Justice League.

I was, however, able to make a passable copy of the NightHawk costume in CO. 

.... that sounds odd.  Superman's costume is about as basic as you can get - full-body tights, plain belt, cape, no gloves, no mask, no headwear, no frills - with only the colors and his chest emblem being iconic.  If you can't make something as simple as that, then that sounds like a baaaaaaad superhero costume creator.

[dwturducken]

I may have skipped Supes. Never was a fan. I do, however, have Fabulousman in CO: same backstory, except his pod crash landed off Key West. He's not gay, just is very secure about himself.

[TheDemonHunter]

This system may actually have been informed by the lawsuit against CoH. It is impossible to make a copy of the costume of a major character, though i didn't go far outside the JL characters, and the Blue Beetle and Booster Gold costumes I was working from were from the late 80s Justice League.

I was, however, able to make a passable copy of the NightHawk costume in CO. 

There are tons of Marvel clone toons in DCUO, right down to the name. Can't go anywhere without seeing tons of Iron Man, Thor, Wolverine, Spiderman, Captain America, etc. The initial costume pieces available in the character creator may not always be a match, but early on you can acquire the styles to duplicate them. There are people on Sony's own forums who posted threads featuring their best Iron Man suits, etc.

[Omega Mark V]

I found DCUO to be like Dynasty Warriors meets superpowers.

It was okay in the beta, until I heard (then experienced) that level cap is attained very quickly. Haven't played it since.

[Tenzhi]

I found DCUO to be like Dynasty Warriors meets superpowers.

As a long time Warriors fan, I would like it more if that were the case.

And in any case, Dynasty Warriors has better character creation. 

[MindBlender]

I found CO too cartoony and both SWTOR and DCUO have way too many people doing the same missions (hunt) that I was so I was battling kill stealers as much as I was trying to achieve the mission objective.  SWTOR did a good job in making sure if you engaged a foe, it was yours, but DCUO not so much.  They respawn rate on DCUO was also a bit of a dissapointment.  I also did not like the fact that in DCUO, people would send a PvP invite IN MISSION    This person has died 3 times, I had not and he/she still wanted to battle   I will be checking out Elder Scrolls Online if I cant get a decent superhero game (Go Plan Z!!)

[Kaos Arcanna]

So a few weeks ago I stumbled across the portal to Central City in the Watchtower.

Yay! New content!

... but it turns out you need a combat rating of 53 to be able to access it.

So I get another 30 and check out the armors that can be earned ... and they'd make give you a combat rating of 53!

Woot!

Then I see just how many Marks you need PER piece ....

And I ask in general chat how long that'd take...

And someone tells me about six months...


Guess I won't be seeing Central City anytime soon if I'd have to grind the gear to get access... 

[Technerdoc]

This is the only mmo-game left on my computer, not bad and I like the DC characters, but when you play City of Heroes in all the years then there are so many things you miss. In every game I miss the teamplay and it's the same here: Everyone is doing his own missions it feels like an solo game, but maybe there is an SG out there on the EU servers where I can hop in?

[TheDemonHunter]

So a few weeks ago I stumbled across the portal to Central City in the Watchtower.

Yay! New content!

... but it turns out you need a combat rating of 53 to be able to access it.

So I get another 30 and check out the armors that can be earned ... and they'd make give you a combat rating of 53!

Woot!

Then I see just how many Marks you need PER piece ....

And I ask in general chat how long that'd take...

And someone tells me about six months...


Guess I won't be seeing Central City anytime soon if I'd have to grind the gear to get access... 

I've taken three toons high enough to get into Central City in the last few months. It's not as bad as it sounds, if you're willing to run the content.

If you have the DLC that grants you access to the Brainiac mishes in South Gotham, I highly recommend doing those daily for 5 Marks of Triumph each. 4 of those will be 20 Marks a day right there.

Run the T1 challenges from the On Duty menu and get more Marks. That will help you get into a suit of T1 gear within a couple weeks, without setting foot into a Raid or Alert. Hit the PvP weapon vendors in the Reactor in the Watchtower and pick up the level 30 weapon until you get a better one, either as a drop in the T2 content, or from the vendors in Central City.

Gather as many exobits as possible to craft up Mods for your T1 gear. Mods are sort of like IOs. Matching the color of the mod to the color of the slot for each piece of gear will grant you a bonus. All of those Mods will boost up the item level of each piece of gear as well. I went into Central City with each of my three level 30 heroes, having run almost entirely solo to that point, with Modded T1 gear.

Once you're in there you can get an easy 120 Marks a day by doing the mishes for Bounties against the Rogues, plus Cork, Ruptures, Infiltrators, etc. Overall, you're looking at an hour or so a day with even a PUG team for the Central City stuff, which will also take you out into Metropolis and Gotham for the Bounties, plus closing Ruptures in the Speed Force that occur randomly in both cities.

With my rifle/gadgets troller (a direct port of my bots/ff MM and beam/traps Corr, the Maker of Artifacts) I skipped T2 to grab the Central City gear (unofficially T2.5). Maker then skipped his T3 gear, easily getting to CR 70 with Mods in his Central City gear. I'm now working on his suit of T4 gear. As for the time frame needed, Maker only had a CR of 34 when the Halloween Event ended. As of the Wayward Souls alert I was in last night, Maker is now at CR 78.

In short, don't get discouraged by what seems like an insurmountable amount. I'm an anti-social player who mostly plays solo, and I managed to get that far and then some in half the time that others are telling you it will take.

If you need help getting started with Mods and stuff like that, feel free to ask.

[Kaos Arcanna]

So I rerolled one of my villains (he was an elec/wp Brute) as an Elec/One Hand Weapon villain in DC Online which has given me a chance to check out the villain content in DC Online.

On the whole, I like the writing in DC Online. In solo missions my character generally isn't having his butt kicked by named characters. The voice acting is MUCH better than Champions Online, though some characters have voices that just do not match my interpretation of the character.

But the amount of content that's available is rather lacking. Even with three mentors to each side you wind up doing a good chunk of the same missions for each toon which can discourage alting. (I've taken two heroes to 30 already this month which is why I checked out the villain stuff).

It's too bad there's not something like AE there as that could be a lot of fun.

[Primantis]

In every game I miss the teamplay and it's the same here: Everyone is doing his own missions it feels like an solo game, but maybe there is an SG out there on the EU servers where I can hop in?

Seems to be the problem with most quest-based MMOs these days.

Teaming up to do quests is just too much of a hassle. You have to make sure everyone is on the same quest, gotta split the quest drops, make sure everyone is around the same level, etc.

Thinking back, the MMO's with the best teaming experience usually required you to grind a lot in order to level up. So you'd grab a few players and tackle tough mobs.

Soloing the main game, and teaming for the "dungeons" seems to be the norm these days.

[dwturducken]

On the whole, I like the writing in DC Online. In solo missions my character generally isn't having his butt kicked by named characters. The voice acting is MUCH better than Champions Online, though some characters have voices that just do not match my interpretation of the character.

They have a budget at DCUO. That voice acting is probably done by a higher percentage of professional voice actors, rather than, "Hey, Bob from accounting has a superhero-y voice. See what he's doing on Thursday." Also, I believe the "signature characters" are relatively well known voice actors. I know Supes is Adam Baldwin.

[JaguarX]

You know, it's a pretty world. (Feels much like Praetoria to me.)

And I've met some helpful people there.

If the dang game just had a bigger ability tray, wasn't dependent on combos, and could use a mouse I'd be much happier with it.

Don't get me wrong. I'm having fun there, but those things are kind of annoying.

Glad you found something you enjoy to play.

[TerminalVelocity]

I played DCUO in place of CoH for about two months before CoH was cancelled. (I would periodically get bored of CoH, but I always came back.)
It was fun, yeah, but after a while it just felt too repetitive. Every enemy was basically just a re-skin in my eyes, and nothing really impressed me.
I guess CoH was just as bad, but I practically played for the community anyways.

[dwturducken]

Eliot's "A Mild-Mannered Reporter" column is a pretty good write-up of his experiences with the game. I gotta say, if my experience with it had been like what he describes, I'd probably play it.

[wei yau]

I just started playing this game, after having given Champions Online a try and not really *feeling it*.

As a longtime DC fanboy, DCUO definitely has appeal.  I love the locales, the lore and interacting with the NPCs.  I could do that for hours.  For that some reason, I'm enjoying the storylines in missions, since they are based in DC lore.

Also neat is feeling super right off the bat, since I got to square off against Dr. Fate.





While it's definitely not the same as my beloved City of Heroes, it has its appeal.  I'll admit that the controls take a lot of getting used to, especially after CoH.  I've never been good at having to mash more than one button at a time *and* in specific sequences/rates, but I am managing.

I don't see a lot of RP opportunity and this feels very much like a single-player game, so I'll miss the community aspect we had in CoH.  Nonetheless, I'm having fun and have once again, taken to the skies:

[Steven171717]

I just started this game hope too see some faces i know from CoH!

[General Idiot]

Being thoroughly bored with Champions I'm giving into the temptation to patch this up and play some. Anything a returning player who hasn't played since a month after launch needs to know?

Also, DLCs. Which are worth getting and which should I stay away from?

[dwturducken]

After sitting through two hours of patching, I fired this up, last night, and lost interest halfway through generating a new character. I hadn't tried a tank, yet, couldn't figure out how, and was going to make a "Punisher" themed character. I'm sorry, but I think I'll let this one go.

[Border]

after playing CO for a couple of months, getting 4 characters to 40 and being thoroughly bored with the game, along with fed up at the lack of interest the dev team seems to have for the game i figured i'd try this thing out, and it's startling how fast it latched on to me.

used my mouse for a couple of days and that was fine if not a little frustrating, the game got easier to control when i picked up a cheap controller i can just plug into my computer. i honestly love the combat, it's pretty interesting. it's like a novice action-adventure game. and that's good for me, because im good at really easy action-adventure console games. anything that requires a LOT of attention and skill and movement will demolish me.

this game is nothing like CoH though, there's just no comparison to be made here. looking for a CoH game and going into this (or any other game, tbh) will just make you sigh, turn away from your computer and lay on your bed for a couple of hours while you wonder what's going to let you escape into a fantasy land of tights and freem if it isn't CoH. the answer is nothing, i've found, because it was the ultimate.

compared to CoH:

• costume creator is BALLS. 3 colors across the board, you have to earn 99% of the costume parts ingame, PER CHARACTER. 9 cookie cutter body types&heights. that means no sliders. you get a lot of clones because its hard to make yourself look pretty.
• customization beyond costume is BALLS. every character has to have a weapon, and the one that'll appeal to CoH players due to the fact it isn't an actual, physical weapon (hand blasters) just. suck. they're pretty weak, mostly single target, and even though you'd think they'd work for your concept they probably won't, because the attacks all have the "energy blast" look to them, so your ice character will be shooting blue colored energy, not ice. also, only 9 powers available, and 3 travel powers. concept is kind of...not a thing the game wants you or even lets you bother with. there isn't (afaik) even a description box for your toon.
• the way team content runs is B A L L S. there's no way to "break the mold" like you could in CoH. the roles are important, and you play your role the way everyone else does, usually. the exception being damage dealers, since they are the only ones that aren't bent on protecting the team they can play around a bit. a bit. a small, tiny bit. your healer heals and hardly attacks(only to regenerate power), the tank keeps aggro, the controller(don't get excited, i know you are) gives the team power. there's no making a hard hitter that can take a room, or one that can control them and widdle them down all on their own in complete safety. granted, this is mostly for 4-player & 8-player stuff, you can be a bit varied with the 2-player content and definitely solo. the higher player content just moves too fast to do much in the way of setting things up.

i've only been playing for a couple of weeks so i'm not sure i'm 100% correct here, but this is just what i've gathered. i know there are some leagues of nutjobs that do things like run raids with just DPSes, and maybe as the game goes on there will be more of that, and it'll get easier. it is only 2 years old. i think if you get enough skill points through feats you could maybe start to break things? i'm not sure.

i have noticed that for the most part there's some interaction between the people working on the game and the people playing it, and that's hard to find and incredibly important for me and lots of other CoH players, i'm sure. i'm not quite if they're good at actually listening to the community about things, but any kind of interest is better than what most MMOs have. and on top of that they seem pretty consistent with releasing new content in DLCs every couple of months, that's not that different from CoH.

again, i haven't been in the game for that long, just got my first character to the level cap (an incredibly easy thing to do in this game) yesterday and i'm experiencing the 'real' game now. the 1-30 was getting kind of boring but now i have lots to do.

[Colette]

Well, I tried both DCU and CO when they came out, hoping the MMO world had learned from CoH and sought to better it. Sadly, I didn't see that. They weren't as fun.

So I've been biding my time before trying them again, hoping the developers would somehow fix things in the meantime. I think I may give 'em another try soon, just to see. Just because I miss Paragon City so much.

But it sounds like I'll be disappointed. Again.

[MindBlender]

My nephew plays CO and I find DCUO much more pretty.  There have been some changes in CO that have made toons seem less "cartoony", but I still like the artwork (environment) in DCUO better.  Still having issues with hunting quest theft on my f2p account, but as far as hero games go it is my choice.  Just not enough to pay for it.

[rianfrostdrake]

I tried it, but they did the weirdes thing.  in the beta, tails were in the belt slot.  not great, but serviceable.  when i played the live game to have a tail you had to use one of the "fursuit"  Skins.  so no dice there. Went back to co.

[MindBlender]

I still hop on my free DCUO account...just to fly again.

[Lightslinger]

Tried this back in the day and ended up back at CoH. Thought I might give it a shot again, I know the name Lightslinger is taken, which sucks, so I figure I'll just start over with a whole new concept. For a complete DCUO noob, what's a good power, build, whatever you call it to start with?

[MindBlender]

Tried this back in the day and ended up back at CoH. Thought I might give it a shot again, I know the name Lightslinger is taken, which sucks, so I figure I'll just start over with a whole new concept. For a complete DCUO noob, what's a good power, build, whatever you call it to start with?

I find the hero side to be lacking, but then I am a f2p account and therefore don't get the nice things.  I took a Lex mentor vil and am having fun (other than the hunt quests I constantly complain about, lol).  Gagets seem to be a bit easier for me to work with while using hand blasters.  Gameplay is not up to snuff with the fun of CoH, but you can waste some hours on there.

[hurple]

Is there a way to map the keyboard to turn left and right rather than having to use the mouse to turn and the keyboard to move forward / back?  I HATE that!

[Kaos Arcanna]

Is there a way to map the keyboard to turn left and right rather than having to use the mouse to turn and the keyboard to move forward / back?  I HATE that!

I honestly can't play DC Online with a keyboard/mouse alone. I use an Xbox Controller and it works much better for me.

[Lightslinger]

I honestly can't play DC Online with a keyboard/mouse alone. I use an Xbox Controller and it works much better for me.

I guess this is me too, just started playing today and there's no way I'll ever get used to using a keyboard and mouse with this game, its terrible. I'll look into finding an xbox controller I guess.

[Kaos Arcanna]

I guess this is me too, just started playing today and there's no way I'll ever get used to using a keyboard and mouse with this game, its terrible. I'll look into finding an xbox controller I guess.

Be sure to get one with a USB cord. Honestly, you can grab one of the glow in the dark ones for like $29.00. Totally worth it.

[crayehal]

Is there a way to map the keyboard to turn left and right rather than having to use the mouse to turn and the keyboard to move forward / back?  I HATE that!

Sorta... Go to the settings menu and click on the Key binds tab.  Scroll down for the attack actions and set a key for each.  Mine is:
Q W E -- Strafe left, Forward, Strafe right
A S D -- Melee attack, Backward, Range attack

I moved the attacks to the keyboard to minimize moving my mouse, so my view doesn't change when i click.

For the rest of my notes, see: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,6861.0.html

[MindBlender]

Is there a way to map the keyboard to turn left and right rather than having to use the mouse to turn and the keyboard to move forward / back?  I HATE that!

I find a trackball mouse to help in the navigation, but I agree that the xbox type controller would make this easier.  I hated the xbox controller in Skyrim for a bit, but once I got used to the dual joysticks I found it handy to be able to glide around corners.

The main complication I had with the trackball mouse was with large hands, I had trouble hitting the attack buttons while moving.  Practice, practice, practice...

[LadyShin]

>.> just the other day I created a similacrum of Statesman for the heck of it - knight helmet, striped chest/legs layer with a white star emblem, random belt and embellished cape. Add in the electricity power, tank abilities, flight travel, and later on you get to throw lightning bolts down from the sky at people... 


The likeness of the resulting toon to the original was uncanny. It gave me the chills! After a few minutes of gameplay I definitely got that "feeling the magic" sensation of being back in CoH again...even tho it was just Brainiac's ship   ... and Statesman/Superman side by side? Iconic.

--

the only thing I didn't like was the inability to retain your original costume style when you received armor drops. That sucked.

[LadyShin]

My hard light controller is now 27. Given that I only created her about two weeks ago and I'd say that I haven't generally played more than about two hours a night on her tops ... that's pretty impressive.

Level 12 staff-swinging gadgeteer - and I started 2 days ago. 

[Aggelakis]

the only thing I didn't like was the inability to retain your original costume style when you received armor drops. That sucked.

There's a setting somewhere to fix that. It's described upthread.

Or now that I think about it, I might be thinking Champions Online? I can't find it in this thread after a cursory look.

[FlyingCarcass]

If you go into the "style" screen you can choose between costume pieces you've collected and can lock the look in place.

[LadyShin]

If you go into the "style" screen you can choose between costume pieces you've collected and can lock the look in place.

 

what style screen?

[Kaos Arcanna]

what style screen?

Hit "J" on your keyboard and it brings up options for inventory, style, journal, etc. You can lock your style so new gear doesn't change your look.

[LadyShin]

Hit "J" on your keyboard and it brings up options for inventory, style, journal, etc. You can lock your style so new gear doesn't change your look.

hitting J only brings up journal..I for inventory..haven't found the shortcut for style.

[General Idiot]

In any of those screens, there'll be a series of icons along the bottom of the window to get to all the others.

[Kaos Arcanna]

What General said.

Once you bring up the Inventory or Journal, you can access other screens by the Icons at the bottom using the mouse.

Selecting the style screen gives you the option of keeping a visual look or changing to a new look.

[Lightslinger]

Tried this again with a PS3 controller and while it is better than the keyboard set up, the controls felt very unresponsive and laggy.

I don't really want to buy a 360 controller for something I don't even know that I'm going to like anyway, but I am seriously wondering if anyone else has problems with the controls like I do? Its freaking unplayable so far, yikes!

[downix]

Tried this again with a PS3 controller and while it is better than the keyboard set up, the controls felt very unresponsive and laggy.

I don't really want to buy a 360 controller for something I don't even know that I'm going to like anyway, but I am seriously wondering if anyone else has problems with the controls like I do? Its freaking unplayable so far, yikes!

I'm in the same boat as you. The controls just don't work for me.

[dwturducken]

Try this.

[Kriiden]

Been trying to get into it. Enjoying it thus far, definently no CoX, but a good replacement in the mean time.

I go by a Villain named Voltaic Void (Only thing that wasn't taking, sounded ok, and sort of matched my characters theme.) (On that note, I should state that getting a name reminded me MUCH of what it was like to get a name in City of Heroes.) in the PC PVP world. Feel free to add me. If there is a league forming that is mostly CoX people, feel free to drop me a shout!

[Illusionss]

Does anyone know how to control visual pitch and yaw? Can't think of a better way to say it.... the camera swings so wildly as I attack that I get motion sickness. That more than anything limits my time in that game, and I can't find anything under Options to fix it.