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DC Universe Online: Guessing at the Details
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In this seventh installment of the DC Universe Online Weekly, MMORPG.com's Bill Murphy takes a look at Gamespot's recent article about their visit to the SOE studios in Austin, TX. Bill points out the most relevant information shared during that visit and shares a few thoughts about what it means for the game. Check it out and then let us know what you think on our forums.
We found out through the article that players who choose to go the Hero route will initially be guided through the tutorial process by Superman. Later on you’ll pick an allegiance to different heroes. For example gadget-based heroes will “tutor” under Batman while magic-based folk will report to Wonder Woman. The obvious implication here is that replayability will be greatly bolstered by the different hero tutors you’ll be able to ally with. And we all are familiar with just how much rolling an alt character factors into a MMO, much less a superhero game.
Read more DCOU: Guessing the Details.
Comments
From the article: "The communal powers are exactly what you’d expect, letting you pick from classic DC abilities such as Superman's heat vision and Green Lantern's power ring."
I wonder if they will in fact have a light-based power set at launch. They mentioned a month ago that it wasn't "beta ready", but if they have such powers in the communal set, maybe they ironed it out.
Otherwise, I'll have to start with a bow-weilding tech-villian while I wait for my opportunity to ring-sling.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
"with launch only a couple of months away"
Launch isn't a couple of months way, it's a month and a week away. This is why the lack of information is so worrisome.
I think this is a very valid point. I see lots of people complaining that TOR hasn't released enough information, but they've come public with a virtual landslide of info compared to this game, and the launch of TOR isn't till next spring.
The only games with so little information released. Are games that aren't coming out. either that or this is a new marketing strategy.
Perhaps this is a way for them to avoid hyperexpectations. I am concerned by the lack of details this close to launch. I half expect the game to get postponed.
You guys rather want them to spew out all kinds of bullshit and details that gets you really excited?? wait for the game too come out try it, and if it sucks atleast u didnt get hugley dissapointed..
I remember i was SO hyped for AoC, they talked about it all the time and we got lots of info once a week. Then it came out and was kinda meh. Im not having high hopes for DCUO, i have hopes it will be a good game, but if it isnt i wont get that dissapointed as we have been with oh, hmm, about EVERY MMO that has come out the last ? years that the devs has hyped to hell.
i think its a marketing strategy tbh, maybe it wont sell a million copies the first week, but it will get a small playerbase that will always be growing instead of decreasing.
What gives?
Currently Playing Path of Exile
ORGINS AND POWER BUCKET ARE DIFFERENT. YOU CAN BE META(SUPERMAN) AND STILL PICK MAGIC AS YOUR POWERSET.
As much as I want more information this is indeed a good way to avoid problems other games have had recently. Warhammer Online is one such example I think. I remember really being excited by all the updates and videos explaining details of the game. In the end I had more fun learning about the game then actually playing it. Somethings didn't live up the hype or how I ended up picturing them. Giving the basic stuff means they aren't over promising content and features. They aren't setting themselves up for a fall.
Creating high expectations is not a valid excuse for releasing no information when you're less than 40 days from retail. I wanted to try the game but I can't bring myself to preorder due to the "bad omens" coming off the lack of information.
They've had beta signups since back in what July? Yet they STILL don't have a beta running. Internal beta doesn't count since they're not going to give a valid opinion on the quality of th e game. Any articles I've seen seem to indicate writers are only given a few minutes to actually play the game and they're lead through only what the designers want to show at the time.
Given those conditions plus it being SOE and DC itself is going through a company shakeup with layoffs at the moment I have give it a pass until something new and substantial about it comes out.
It's also possible that the PS3 version is the lead version and as a result they are treating development more like a console game then a PC game. There could be a LOT of internal testing as a result. I'll be really worried if a week before release we see nothing. They could saving information in order to do a big marketing blitz right before release as to fully have the gaming public's attention. To early and that could dry up by release.
That sort of thing typically means inevitable fail in an MMO. This stuff needs a lot of playtesting and time to polish it up. Not releasing info or having much time for playtesting in a beta stage probably means the game will suck.
I sure hope you are all right about a huge push at the last minute.. because I am soo excited about this game and yet I know very little about it.. and am nervous about this not coming out at all!
I disagree. Tons of videos games have nothing but internal betas. A public beta is only really needed to test server instability. If development is solid early on then bugs shouldn't be an issue. If they looking at this as console game first and a PC game second then it doesn't have to go through typical PC mmorpg development/release.
This is all speculation of course. I'm hoping for the best in the end. However as I said I do wonder what is the lead version and if that has had any affect on how this game was developed. In the end this is suppose to be a PC/PS3 game. Not a PC game that is or was ported to the PS3. They're suppose to be equal and released at the same time.
If anything I'm leaning towards the console being the lead. Right from the start they could optimize it for one single setup. Once things were solid they could alter if the PC. I believe that would be easier. If things were solid as I said would a beta be needed.
Do we even know how long the game has been in development? 3 or 4 years now?
Name one MMO that has succeeded and been good at release with no beta. Heck, name one that only had a really short beta.
A development time of 3-4 years isn't that long really and 3 years is too short for an MMO. Also, MMOs with development times of that length or longer have been made and failed because they were rushed out the door and lacked polish.
If this is indeed 1st to be a console MMO before it's a PC MMO... you have to consider the benefit of releasing to the PS3. You don't exactly need testers... every single player will have the EXACT same hardware. With a PC environment, you have all kinds of video cards, operating systems, platforms (MAC/PC).. the list goes on.
My parents tell me that when the Star Wars movie came out (before I was born) there was very very little information out there. Not really knowing what's up is sometimes enough to peak people's interests.
Check out the forums here at MMORPG on any under development game. It's a big anti-hype vs. hype festival. It's a bunch of people cheering about games they have never played or complaining about games they have never played. I'd bet that it's no good for any game to have that kind of back and forth going on.
DCUO has the biggest issue that we don't know the details a month from launch.
And the fact it's made by the dreaded SOE... Does no one remember SWG?
Anyone else remember Ultima X: Odyssey? That was built using the Unreal engine (the one out at the time) and it was I believe stable and very playable in its alpha stage of development. That's what all reports, video, and people that played it at events before EA decided to move the studio all suggested and said. DCUO is using the current Unreal engine. If the engine is as powerful as it's suppose to be perhaps a beta isn't really needed outside of testing the server. Perhaps internal testing is all they need?
Just as an FYI. They have been beta testing since early August at least. This isn't just an internal beta with only employees. There have been players selected from other SOE MMO's who provide regular productive post in their games. Which is why no one here at MMOFlameU.com was selected.
There is no beta for the game yet. The lead developer just said so in a blog today. Internal testing only.
Beta isn't just about finding bugs, it has much more to do with refining gameplay to make something players will like. DCU is going to be an mmo, not some single player story line game. It is going to require large amounts of testing, just like any other mmo has.
Sure all console hardware is identical, but this is a cross platform game. Twice the amount of issues to cover.
This.
Frankly, given the company, lack of testing, lack of detail, and MTs, there is really no reason to think this game will actually end up being good. The best you can say right now is that it looks as promising as Warhammer Online before it came out. We all know how it turned out.
Let's face facts. MMOs get rushed out all the time. Without a fairly long beta and time to fine-tune and even replace some mechanics based on what works and what doesn't, it is almost impossible to have a good, modern MMO. Time and time again we've seen MMOs that skip this crucial step or don't take the time it requires. Time and time again we see those MMOs come out with partial features, poor gameplay, bugs, and/or all sorts of other problems.
Insanely, somehow there are still companies and customers that don't understand this.
I don't know, I happen to agree that too much info is a bad thing. I'm so sick of every development company releasing tons of info about amazing features that never end up in the actual game.
Everyones creaming over all the ToR information and just like every other MMO we will likely not get the game we expect. Atleast with DCUO we can't expect anything at this point.
Too much hype-info is bad, since that information is innaccurate. It is best to release information when you know it is true.
DCUO is close enough to release that they should know everything that will be in the game. Not releasing information at this point is NOT a good sign about the state of the game.
also remember that a large beta is needed for balancing. not to discredit the devs, but a ten thousand people are going to come up with odd combos and little things that may seem odd, but end up breaking the game. they need a lot of testers to do a lot of stupid and unthinkable things to break the game, so they can fix it before they lose paying customers because of it.
also look at how many games have had some type of item dupeing bug? those things creap through, and no normal dev team can think of all the ways to find them.
the missing link in a chain of destruction.
All spelling and typographical errors are based soely on the fact that i just dont care. If you must point out my lack of atention to detail, please do it with a smile.
It's extremely worrying at this late stage that there is so little info, seeings as this is suppose to be a triple A title with a massive cross market IP.
You can say all you want about internal testing or being on a console first but you do need at least stability tests for a MMO, let along all the quirks and bugs you get with 10,000 odd people trying to play.
At this stage my conclusion is that the 'November' release date is just a cynical ploy to try and get some preorder cash in the traditional Christmas rush. Like Dash said DC is going through a tricky period at the moment, maybe there's an issue of refinancing here.
Hopefully I'll be proved wrong.