Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Why DCUO was doomed to failure from the very beginning
Mrbluray
Member Posts: 248
The game was designed for and marketed to casual gaming fans. That in itself is not a bad thing, however, the problem is that by their very nature, MMOs are not for casual gaming fans due to the requirement of a subscription fee. Paying 15 dollars month after month for an extended period of time to play a single video game is an activity that is "hardcore" by nature. You can not expect casual gaming fans to do this.
SOE tried to get around this by offering a lifetime subscription package, however, this is also not something casual fans do. Paying over 200 dollars for a video game is definatly not a "casual gamer activity"
So in essence, DCUO is a paradox. It is a game designed for casual fans, but has hardcore gamer prerequesites to participate.
Comments
I won't argue your points, they're both valid. But that's surely not where their errors ended. Hell, had they even just been on top of the exploits from day-1, they'd probably have twice as many players still playing (if not more).
I didn't play the game, but I'm going to go out on a limb here. I'd guess it was the same mistake that happened with CO and possibly STO, and that is lack of content.
Too quick to reach level cap, and then too little to do as endgame content besides there being too little variation.
I heard the combat was pretty interesting, and the quests were alright, but if you have little to offer after people reach level cap, then you're going to lose them.
But, I could be wrong.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
On top of that, throw in the lousy QA and patching and customer responsiveness that SOE is also known for, and any game is going to have a hard time being successful. And all the imbalances and PvP exploits present at launch can be clearly laid at the feet on inadequate QA, and the long time (semi) addressing the problem is SOE's usual terrible responsiveness to customer needs. These being priorities set (or not) by management.
At this point, SOE's corporate culture and leadership/priorities are just as much an impediment to the success of their games (and probably more) as bad programming or anything else.
And it starts at the top.
The amount of content in DCUO is not worth $15 a month. If it was just box cost, I'd have bought it, but I'm not paing $15 a month to play.
Also, the lack of public test server for new content is going to help cripple DCUO. Internal QA isn't picking up key bugs (see all the issues the February patch had) and they are going live to players. Logging in to find your powers no longer work leads to ragequits. But DCUO have promised monthly updates, which public testing would slow down.
Guess it is full steam ahead then.
Lack of content and having the nerve to charge a monthly fee for a lack of content.
Based on word of mouth, I can see where you might call it a failure for the PC. However, I am curious how the PS3 side of things is holding out?
Was it doomed from the start? Maybe... I don't know enough about what happened behind the scenes to tell.
Though, I would point out that the philosophy behind MMO design is changing. It seems to me anyway that many new MMO games are designed with more casual game players in mind that you expect to stay around for a momth or two as they move on to something else. Like some wonky extended single player RPG. The more hard core and long term crowds are being taken for granted in that the feeling is they will stay around any way.
I totally disagree it just caters to casual players.
DC takes player skill more so then gear especially in PVP. I would explain DC as easy to learn hard to master.
Casual players can get into it, but a hardcore player will hand that casual player his arse in a fight, and that is not counting any gear.
DC has had 2 major content updates in 2 months of release. There is plenty to do solo and group. Raids, alerts, and then of course the open world pvp fun.
The flag system on the PVE servers allows plenty of open world PVP even on PVE servers.
Bugs? Animation canceling is FIXED 2 months in. Other MMO's which I wont name names STILL have NOT fixed. The chat system has been fixed big time, but is still in line for a overhaul. As it stands it functions much better then launch.
There are very few bugs I have run into, NOTHING even remotely game breaking.
You people sure do take lots of time defaming a game that has earned SOE's fastest selling game EVER. That is failure? I want what you are smoking.
Plenty people are still on the servers I play. PVP is a total blast. The combat system has spoiled me to when I tried Rift I literally almost fell asleep at the keyboard.
DC has a very fun game. It just is NOT another WoW clone....so you people expecting WoW clone #83758 will NOT like it...move along and stop waisting time typing forum garbage about a game that is much better then this thread spews.
O yea and it does not cost me 15 a month. It only costs 10 a month if you pay 3 months at a time. This game is very much worth 10 a month
It was developed for bloody consoles, that's where it was doomed. Sooner or later, these companies are going to have to figure out that you can't shovel console-centric gameplay at PC gamers and expect them to pay for it. Why don't these developers have the stones to release console-only MMORPGs? They want the PC gamer's money, but don't want to develop with them in mind.
Crash and burn.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
DCU is designed for PS3 players. The question is of course if they feel for paying monthly fees or not.
Frankly is most modern MMOs for casual players today, with a few for hardcore full loot PvPers. It worked pretty fine for Wow and the Wow players have spent rather much money playing so your argument isn't truly valid with that.
Casual players don't pay more or less than hardcore players unless we are talking F2P.
An excellent post. I couldn't agree more.
Strangely this game that's designed for a console is more fun to play than any of the copycat MMOs on the PC that came out in the last 5 years. I guess fun is now a console-exclusive too?
I agree.
Strange that so few realize this.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
if they chopped the monthly sub out in general maybe i'd consider it, but i doubt that'll happen. i also read they are gonna stop the monthly updates (color me unshocked). they did what alot figured they were going to do, make a whole stream of promises, throw a bat signal at everyone and get them all dazzled, then take the money and run.
Played:FFXI, WoW, LOTR,EQ. Playing:FFXIV.
Looking Forward To:DCU, SWTOR.
One thing I didn't anticapate was the general hostility towards monthly subs from the PS3 crowd. I guess I took it as a given that most people understood this concept with MMO's, but I distinctly remember the indignation.
I do believe that the developers are passionate about this being a success but I get the feeling they were never quite certian which way they were going. For instance PC games probably wanted a greater range of power sets and abilites, but thats hampered by PS3 controllers. The social side is important for an MMO, but how to you incorporate a console controller into that?
For a while developers saw console MMO's as the next golden goose but I guess that ideas gone with the Atari Jaguar :P
I agree it is fun. It's just limited as an MMO experience,in my opinion.
DC a WoW clone? How can you compare a superhero game to an fantasy rpg? I wonder what you, sir, are smoking.
No, its not. Explained this dozens of times already on these and the DC forums. As an example, i used to play CoH with a controller. You can very very easily setup a controller to work with 30-40 skills/items/toggles (even more than that with a little more customization). They could have done the same for DCUO on the PS3. It wasnt because of controller limitations, it was simply the way they decided to design the game.
On that note, most people spout this "not enough skills" crap all the time, while at the same time claiming you only have 6. You dont only have 6. You have 6 POWERS, but you get way more abilities through the combo system, as well as having the multiple loadouts for different roles.
Anyway, they could have done a much better job with the game, but the biggest killer was repetetiveness & lack of communication/responsiveness to game breaking issues.
15 a monthly is the killing point beside the lack of content since the game is supposedly cater for casual .should have made it buy to play within a decent pricing range.or just make it f2p with cash items.
I aggree with your points, but its nots the only reason of course. Lack of content, it being way below the standards that City of heroes and other mmos set, and a few other reasons. Also, todays economy doesn't help. 15 dollars a month didnt seem like a big deal to me about a year or two ago. But now I'm must more hesitant and ask myself if the game I pay for will really be worth it. Games costing 50 to 60 each is bad enough since they can only provide limited entertainment. But like you say, adding 15 dollars a month to have limited fun just isnt worth it.
Dont forget though, WoW is a casual mmo and started this casual game crap. Although, its successful because it managed to turn people who had never played or even heard of MMOs before into addicts (like many mmos do when its someones first mmo, only with WoW, it was on a larger scale thanks to pouring millions of dollars into marketing). If DCUO pours millions into advertising (that goes for any mmo), they'd easily get a lot of subs because they'd reach/inform more people. After a while, that wouldnt work, but it would work now since WoW is the only western mmo thats done it so far. I've seen Rift video ads online, but not TV yet. If they're doing TV ads I'd be willing to bet my car that they'll end up with many many subscribers. It would seem like DCUO would be backed up by the comics revenue, but with them releasing the game too early, I highly doubt that.
I haven't played, so just going on word of mouth--I do want to play I just didn't buy right away and now am kinda glad. I still want to play but $35 or $50 for 1-2 months play just seems like a lot. Seems irresponsible for me. If they'd release a trial, I'd be all over that.
Since there's not much content, it seems a PTR would only kill things faster.. Either the PTR is released earlier than the content scheduled--(4/1 for the mid april patch) and then hardcores are bored even sooner--or the PTR is released at the mid point--(mid april, with live update hiting around 5/1) and then there's still dead time that they have to hope to kite players along for.
Everything is competing with the established games.. People could forgive early games for being light, or non-existent on endgame at release because there wasn't much alternative. People might not expect a new game to have as much endgame as say Warcraft (sry) but they still expect a decent chunk.
Of course, "too fast to cap" hurts as well. Part of the thing that kites players along during the boring time is their bond with their character.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
Most of you obviously haven't played DCUO at all, let alone to max level content. There's not a thing casual about this game. You level fast and the cap is low, that's where it ends. It's endgame is designed the same as WoW and Rifts, and if there's any reason it's failing it's because the controls appeal to people who use the ps3, and those people aren't going to pay 15 bucks a month like morons who pay for WoW and Rift's endgame do. They have higher standards. Laugh all you want, but that's the bottom line whether you can handle it or not.
With a lower fee or a f2p model, and a more fleshed out pvp and endgame, and activities that made use of the beautiful world they created instead of completely ditching all of the open world aspects at level 30, this game could have had a solid niche. Had it also not been comic book based, it could have set it's sights even higher.
I played both this and Rift, one after another. They are both WoW clones in their own way. While I played both about the same number of games, I can say confidently I had more fun in DCUO and it kept me going longer after hitting level cap with it's endgame than Rift did.
It was doomed because you can't be all things to all people.
It is in trouble, because it doesn't tell you what a power does in clear terms before you buy it.
It has a 'solo' and 'group' setting. How the heck is someone suppose to learn how to use their powers if they solo to top level? Is is surpising no one wants to group with them? Is is hard to belive people would get frustated at not being able to get into groups, but unable to solo endgame content?
To many powers in a class are useless.
Don't tell me I can be a DC hero then feed me a line that superman is an ice tank?!?
DC messed up. Make an mmo for consoles or make a game for pcs.
If the game doesn't know what it wants to be then how are people suppose to know?
DC spent so much time and effort trying to make a game for two markets and yet failed to understand what either side wanted that they ened up with a lackluster game.
I believe had they focused on just one type of gamer the game would have turned out much better.
I am still waiting to see what people say a few months from now. In particular PS3 players. Like most others I see it as mainly a console MMO.
I began to wonder if fDCU might be a preview for the future of Sony Online games like EQ3. Will they go console manly and then F2P for limited PC support for future releases? In a way it makes sense for them.
Will I'm sorry I haven't read your, 'dozens' of posts on the interwebz, but let me clarify what I'm saying.
Regardless of whether you can run something on a controller or not, (or whether you think personally it's, 'easy to setup') DCU is designed to make it easier for a controller user to play. That philosophy meant they went down a path of using the restrictions of a PS3 pad to map most of the game functions to. There's an obvious difference between getting a game thats designed for a keyboard to work on a controller as opposed to having a game that's designed primarily with a controller as the input device.
Also I don't believe I said anything about there being, 'not enough skills', I just mentioned that there wasn't a large amount of choice in powersets/difference in abilites compared to it's rivals. Combos are fun and frankly I do enjoy the game. I also agree elements were repetetive/social issues, but for me I feel like the game on the PC is like a poor console port and thats stopped my sub for now.
I don't think it could really be pinned down to one specific thing in this case, particularly since there are so many to choose from. DCUO is dying from a thousand fatal stab wounds. Fast, action based combat isn't enough to pay $15/mo. for.