DCUO Launch - Jan 11, 2011

[Vilidius]

Well, we have a date.  And it's only a couple of weeks away!  Namae and I are both in beta - don't know about anyone else.  I'm comfortable saying that the game is easily good enough for me to buy right now - in fact I'm toying with a lifetime sub.  I can't help feeling this might be one of those games that's got great content but not continuous appeal, so that I want to play when new stuff comes out but may get bored for a bit at a time.  I'm going to see if I can play it as a strong side game, while still keeping eyes open for Rifts etc.

We don't have a list of worlds yet, but I wanted to see what folks might be interested in playing.  I take it for granted that any Saga group would be PvE and hero-oriented.  Am I wrong there?  Even the PvE servers have a fairly strong PvP focus for some goals, and the PvP servers are gank-fests so I take that as a safe assumption.  The hero thing though ... right now there are really two different experiences in the game and it's either hero or villain.  We might want two groups if we have players to sustain them?

Sorry if my enthusiasm seems to be ping-ponging between games at present.  I had high hopes for FFXIV but what a trainwreck that turned out to be.  DCUO is, however, looking great in my opinion.  Still enjoying the beta quite a lot, and it may launch still lacking a final coat of polish but I'm comfortable that the core is strong.  I hope some folks will consider joining me there!

[Scrib]

Hey Val, that's exciting news. It's out much sooner than I expected.

Still not 100% certain that I'll play, but I'm considering it. Looking at the logistical and cost aspects of getting it now.

Question: How big is the game? Any estimate on the size of the download if I go for the digital option? I'd imagine that buying the hardcopy and getting it shipped here would take ages, especially at this time of the year.

Regarding your question, I'd very likely start as a hero type, probably magic leaning so Wonder Woman as mentor but I'm sensing that doesn't matter all that much. I would definitely want to try the villain side as well.

[Vilidius]

The download on the full beta client was just over 12 gigs.  I don't know for certain how big the final game will be but I imagine it's similar.

Starting mentor doesn't matter a whole lot.  There's a bit of exclusive content to each, although you can (and are motivated to) piggy back on other mentees to get a crack at their content as well.  It's mostly colour, to be honest.  No idea if it could matter more later.

There's some polish still needed for the game.  I can't lie about that.  But the core is very very strong.  For anyone who isn't budgeting tightly I can recommend it without reservation.  It's great fun at least for a little while.  For anyone else ... well, priorities are priorities.  Can't make them for you.  But I would definitely recommend checking it out if you can.

[Scrib]

12 gigs is sizeable. Will take me a heck of a long time to download; about 100 hours at max speed with zero interruptions and no other internet use, and my bandwidth will certainly get 'shaped' if I download something that back! Might be better just to get in-laws to buy it and ship it over, despite the festive season shipping delays. Thanks, the info does help.

I'm toying now with the idea of the Station Access pass. The site says that DCUO will be included, and it'll give me access to EQ1 and 2 again. Dunno, wallet isn't looking too full nowadays. 

Something very interesting to me in the FAQ:

DCUO will also be shipping throughout Europe and in PAL territories the same week with the official launch in the UK and Ireland on January 14, 2011, and across Europe, Asia and Africa (PAL territories) on January 12, 2011.

Until now, I didn't realise that any of these MMO producers knew that Africa existed. 
Now I just have to figure out if that includes South Africa, who is distributing it and where I might buy it.

[Scrib]

Well, how about that? I've found it locally on www.kalahari.net. It's our version of Amazon, and I've actually sold a few books on there myself (have some books and games listed). Price looks reasonable at R333.86 (about $49.50) and I can pre-order too; looks a good option. I see it comes with 30 days game time, so I can worry about comitting to a subscription later.

[Vilidius]

Yay!  I'm going to admit that I just tried the PvP server and I'm even liking that.  It takes a lot for me to like PvP in a game, so that's saying something.  We may actually have a winner here, despite all the inevitable late beta doomsaying.  =)

[Namae Nai]

Namae's reviews of different powersets!

In general, I find you want to avoid powers that have interrupt-able casting times. Unless they have a huge effect they usually aren't worth it, and the possibility you get interrupted, or even interrupt yourself, is to large to justify their use. There are exceptions though, some buffs and supercharges can be used to great effect if saved for the right moment.

Tanking:
Fire > Ice

Fire is a great tanking powerset, and features some very nice self heals and a lot of AoE damage. I liked the Immolation tree; with enough Might you roll into a group of enemies and burn them all to death before they had time to do much damage to you.

Ice is meh. It's a control based set, but the AoE stuff isn't there and your gear doesn't give you the Domination you would see if you were a Controller. There isn't a self heal at all, except for Hibernation, which locks you out of combat and consumes Supercharge. There's also an innate ice armor form, but getting it to activate is a bit unpredictable.

Control:
Mental > Gadgets

Controllers are kind of more of a DPS class in DCUO, because they only lose a small amount of damage in their Controller role and gain large benefits on their ability to inflict statuses (stun/knockup/etc.)

For my Mental Controller I mostly specialized in telekinesis. You have a bunch of instant cast AoE Cone effects, so my method was to use Rifle, and roll backwards until everyone was in a cone in front of me, then drop all my mental powers in order almost instantly.

Gadgets was ok.. this is the power set that involves Stealth.. but it felt weird and all over the place. Your heal involves hiding yourself in a wrapped present box and you lack the AoE stuff. This is the Batman powerset though, so it's a slam dunk if your want to do the non-powered mortal deal.

Healers:
Nature > Sorcery

Lack a lot of up to date information on Sorcery, since it was my first character and they've changed the powers somewhat since then. My impression of Sorcery is that it is too full of interrupt-able spells, and especially heals. It also involves summoning a soul well, which will feel weird to you if you're a hero and only see the villain Felix Faust fielding them.

Nature is my favorite powerset. You get Shapeshifting and Plants, and all the best heals in DCUO are in plants, while Shapeshifting give you access to forms that grant huge bonuses to either healing or DPS. All but one of the heals in Nature are instant cast, and they work by regenerating you (and your party members) so it's easy to keep people topped off. Because of the way DCUO regenerates your power as you attack, Nature regenerators can fight for a very long time as long as they can keep the damage under the amount that they can regenerate.

[Scrib]

Placed my order. 

Hopefully I'll get it in the mail not too many days after release.