DCUO went F2P in November, and it's been on my list to check out.  I started last week.

For the first time since I left DDO, I have found an MMO-style game that has captured my interest.  I don't have a formal review so I'll just go over some details about it.

- F2P model is similar to DDO.  They have a truly F2P setting, a premium (spend 500 StationCash ~= $5) setting, and a VIP setting ("Legendary").  Like DDO, premium is totally worth the money.  Unlike DDO, they don't seem to have much that "needs" to be purchased.  They have something similar to adventure packs (called "DLC"s) but there's only one available for sale (1100 SC).  They have standard account purchases - more inventory, more character slots, more bank, so on and so forth - but aside from that, most everything is style or fun related (think themed hats in DDO). 

So where will they make their money?  It appears that their idea for how to make money is by limiting how much in-game cash you can have.  F2P is 1500, Premium 2000, Legendary unlimited.  Those 1500/2000 numbers are indeed very low - I reached those caps within a couple hours.  But their system is interesting: anything above that limit goes into an escrow account, which you can then withdraw from (costs 400 SC for 25,000 withdrawal).  I believe, but have not yet tested, that this is a one-time withdrawal, not a permanent increase in the amount of cash you can carry.  I'm curious as to how this will work out, considering that by endgame, cash in most MMOs is of limited utility - it's all about the items.  It's an interesting idea, but I have no idea what the end game economy is like so I can't tell how it plays out.

- Gameplay is definitely heavy into the twitch, though different from DDO.  You can dodge and block, and doing so has a significant impact (hurray!).  While spatial awareness is a part of the twitch play here, it's less significant than it is in DDO.  Most of the twitch play comes from mouse clicks and knowing which combos to use.  Think along the lines of two left clicks and a left click hold, or left click right click hold.  IMO, this is VERY well done.  I think back to fighting games like street fighter where despite knowing the moves I couldn't execute them reliably - totally not the case here.  Skill in combat is HUGE and has massive impacts on the outcome of a fight.

- Game style differs from DDO quite a bit.  The world is more of a sandbox - think GTA style.  The general game style appears to be "solo-zerg to cap, then raid raid raid" (though I'm not at cap yet so hard to say for sure).  Cap is level 30, I'm currently level 20 and I've pretty much solo'd everything.  There are PUG instances separate from the main world where you can be randomly grouped with others. 

- Powers are drawn from three different fields.  First is movement method: flying, super speed, or acrobat.  Flying is obvious, super speed is like the flash - can run up walls and vibrate through objects, and acrobat involves grappling hooks and walking like spiderman.  My char is a flying character - I must say, it was really well done.  I haven't done much with the other movement methods yet, but my understanding is that the three methods are incredibly well balanced and fun - that flying doesn't simply dominate like one might think it would. 

Second power focus is element.  I forget all of the choices, but I want to say there were 8-12 of them.  Think fire, ice, water, electricity, etc.  This has a lot more impact than you might think, as the element helps define your class.  Actually, now that I think about it, elements are pretty much classes.  Fire is a traditional absorb-damage tank, ice is DPS, etc.

Third power focus is weapon.  These range from melee weapons like 1- or 2-handed swords/clubs to rifles or pistols or hand blasters.  There's about 20 different choices here.  After level 10, you can branch out into other weapon choices.  I believe there are some innate bonuses one gains from additional weapon choices (think along the lines of splashing 2 monk or 2 rogue), but I haven't been able to figure out what they may be or what impact they have.

I totally recommend this game to any DDO player looking for something new.  I think the best summary I can provide is that it's like DDO combat in a GTA sandbox where the world has been designed for things like flying.  They've done a really good job of capturing the superhero feel and getting things like movement down pat.  I can't wait to try other elements of the game.

I don't like the "two left clicks and a left click hold, or left click right click hold" which is why I never play fighting games on consoles.

The last time I actually liked doing combos similar to those was on the old Karate Champ stand-up arcade game in the mid '80s.

I enjoyed the combat before my vid card took a dive.  After I installed an older one from an older PC I can't play.  Need a newer vid card, but I'm too broke to buy one.

As to the innate bonuses from additional weapon choices - Check out their forums.  There are guides that will help you flesh out the bonuses from weapons and what not.  The inherent bonuses and skill points spent from different styles used in combination is one of the biggest factors in the power level of a character build.  All those little bonuses add up big time.

edit:
Here's one example.
A GUIDE TO WEAPON/ROLE SYNERGY

I should note that I have no idea what has changed since f2p was introduced, as my vid card issues haven't allowed me to play for quite some time.

Quote:

Yeah, the twitch doesn't really kick in until maybe level 8 or so, when you've stockpiled some click-combos from the power/skill points you get each level.

Memnir wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2011 at 3:49pm:


This was my experience as well.

So I've reached the beginning of end game now.  It's funny, you think "oh, I've hit cap" once you hit 30, but that's just a number.  The real leveling comes from skill points, which you gain 15 from leveling, but have a cap of over 100.  Skill points are very similar to action points.

Since DDO was my first MMO, I've never really experienced true tanking.  My character is a fire tank, and now that I've figured out exactly what that means in the DCUO world, I'm doing much better.  Had a group the other night that just worked like it should - it was a thing of beauty.  It's funny - in role-based combat (tank/healer/dps/controller), you are ridiculously dependent on your team.  'Troller stops regening blue bar, healer runs out of power, tank goes down, followed by the rest of the team.  Everyone has to do their job and do it well otherwise it all goes down the shitter.  Very different from DDO, where all 1 or 2 amazing players in a group can carry the entire team.

Their grouping system is a bit weird at first - not all that different from SC2's grouping - but, like SC2's system, it doesn't take very long to form a team.  I still miss the LFM though, much like I do with SC2.  And while the PUG scene works pretty well (at least at the lower tier group alerts), it's clear that being in a league can make a big difference.

The loot system is different than DDO.  So far as I can tell, the focus isn't on random drops.  Each alert/raid/duo/etc drops tokens which can be used to buy gear of increasing quality.  So completing a raid gives tangible and measurable progress towards the specific loot you want.  I think I'm more fond of this system - I know it's way fucking better than that mess they call epic in DDO.  (Found on the DCUO forums in a thread titled "What MMO did you come from?": "I came from DDO, which was awesome until I hit the grindy end game.  I even tried a TR and that just made it worse.")

PvP is interesting.  I'm on a PvE server, as I wanted to learn the game without getting ganked every two seconds.  But you can duel with someone anywhere, even in quests.  It's a great way to pass time without having to be somewhere else (like in a tavern).  I'm interested in seeing what life is like on a PvP server, now that I have somewhat of an idea about what I'm doing here.

The monetary limit on free and premium status is ridiculous, but easy enough to get around for now.  Sony still hasn't learned that there's a lot more money to be made from 1 million premiums than from 100k VIPs - something DDO picked up on fairly quickly.  I am pretty sure they'll eventually remove the money cap/escrow system for premium players, or at least raise the cap to a much more appropriate level.  If they don't, then they need to fire their marketing teams for missing what should be painfully obvious.

Biggest fire tank advice I can give is don't worry about tanking until level 30.  Anything before that, just DPS.  There are major differences between stances.  Start reading kistyana's guide to fire tanks in the powers section of the dcuo forums to learn how to fire tank in dcuo (summary: use a power, block for 12 sec, repeat forever.)

Hows the pvp in there? I mean is it full on pvp anywhere?

Milton wrote on Dec 12^th, 2011 at 12:45pm:


Not that I know of. At least I have not seen any Villians running around any of the bases I visit.

Silky wrote on Dec 12^th, 2011 at 8:56pm:


Your forum pic is disturbing.

That is all.

Memnir wrote on Dec 12^th, 2011 at 9:27pm:


Heh i used it cause i thought it was disturbing as well, i didn't think it would cause such a ruckus though. I will change it though if its affecting some in such a negative manner, there's another i have that i like very much so it's not a big deal to me.

Oakianus wrote on Dec 12^th, 2011 at 11:18pm:


Glad you like it, anytime you want to walk up to a "douchebag" in country fair and let him know your feelings let me know.

I would like to see the results in person.

Oakianus wrote on Dec 12^th, 2011 at 11:26pm:


Sure, says you and every other forum poster