Its amazing how intensely people fixate on things they dont like.  It seems like most people like *disliking* things more than anything else.

I really cant stand the endless ranting against "emo horror" or whatever other moronic cliche "the l33t" need to use to validate their own importance as they denigrate something they claim to not even have any interest in.

How can a handful of titles *ruin a genre*?

To anyone that isnt an imbecile, the answer is they cant.  I read a ton of vampire, horror, etc fiction and none of it is the "urban fantasy" type stuff.

WoD, Secret World, etc are *urban fantasy*.  "Emo blah blah" that the idiots rant about (Twilight et al) is *also urban fantasy* but skewed towards a specific demographic.

NONE of that is horror.  There is PLENTY of *actual* horror fiction.  More than ever in more mediums than ever.  Last I checked Steven King and Peter Straub are pretty well off.  Only in the lunatic asylum that is geekdom/fandom/geek blogs is Twilight such a big world destroying "issue". Ironic that the people that hate it are more consumed with it than the people that LOVE IT.

IF a horror MMO cant work, it is because:

1) "horror" is not defineable.  NO ONE agrees on what is "scary" because its entirely objective.  And to make it worse, every idiot is 100% sure THEY are "right".  So if they slept through paranormal activity, thats because it "IS NOT SCARY!"  NO ability to accept that for SOME people THAT is scary and HOSTEL (for example) IS NOT.

2) there are 1000 different things that 1000 different groups find "scary", and NO concept is universal.  There is also a HUGE group of "genre fans" who need to pretend that they dont find ANYTHING scary (everyone knows this type... no matter what it is, they have to claim they were neither scared nor moved... Concentration Camp footage from WWII supposedly puts these empty vessels to sleep)  As a result of this... there is NO AUDIENCE

3) with a genre that breaks down to a niche within a niche within a niche all essentially unable to be satisfied, there is NOT a lot of economic opportunity

4) the very nature of horror is about isolation, risk and finality.  the very nature of an MMO is about progression, repetition and competition.  NOT impossible but VERY tough to make a persistent and massively multiplayer game that, by definition, cant have an "ending" and that allows every player to experience everything (otherwise they come to these forums and rant and rave that everything is "unfair") and have the "game" still work as a game

IF a horror MMO is impossible (and I STILL think it is... NO reason why a Silent Hill MMO couldnt work... it would be bad ass), it would be for THESE reasons.  Not because Twilight is popular.  How idiotic.

On this site there will always be legions "worried" about everything and "skeptical" about everything just as there will be rabid "anti company" voices for *every* developer and intense hate filled mobs to match up against zealous super fans whose faith is unshakeable.

Reality has very little to do with what happens on game forums.  MMO forums are really the only virtual reality that some "gamers" want to play in.  Preferring to rant and rave and genuflect over released and upcoming games rather than actually play them...

On topic, TSW just keeps looking better and better.  Every day I hope I see a beta invite.  Can't wait to have an opportunity to try it out.  If nothing else, its about time that "urban fantasy" was done in a big way.  Personally one of my absolute favorite genres.

And I agree that instancing works well for TSW.  It's set in the real world.  It would be very "realistic" for it to have that Indiana Jones type "map travel" effect where you travel to a "zone" that is a geographic area.  I dont think anyone would want/expect to drive to Heathrow in real time, then wait for a plane, then board and sit on it, then have it fly over land that technically you could be walking/driving/swimming through, then land in Cairo.  I think for 99% of gamers, "zoning" from UK to Egypt (for example) works fine.

I reject the original premise.  Classic logical trap.

There *hasnt been* a "spike" in "sandbox" games under development.  The OP simply feels there are b/c of some personal perspective issue.

Even on extremist forums like this one where people post and talk and analyze and complain *more than they play the games*, there isnt consensus on what these terms even *mean*, so how can *anyone* really quantify a "spike" in development?

Of course don't let that stop the WoW bashers from declaring "doooooooom!" for the 100 millionth time (on a thread totally unrelated to WoW, no less)  I guess for some posting how WoW is doomed on threads is more "fun" than playing an actual game.  Very odd.

This argument is about as useful as arguing over how wet water is.

Really only people that feel they need to use terms like "theme park" (always as a pejorative) and "sandbox" (always as some elusive nirvana state) even care about these terms and the great irony is those people can never agree and are in eternal conflict over it; happiest when at each others throats.

For normal humans, the game is either *fun* to them, or *not fun* to them.  Most normal people dont validate their self worth by defining how "hardcore" or not the videogames they play are.  EVE, for me, was *not* fun.  FE for me, *is* fun.  I agree that the presentation and setting are pretty drab, and Im not a big post apocalypse fan, so I dont spend a ton of time there.  It's very very impressive as an achievement considering the budget that went into it, however.

Originally posted by Donev

Perhaps I should mention that I'm playing on PS3? Does that make a difference? PSN has always been bad though.

I played Beta on PC with a Controller. 

@praymes, I installed first day of F2P. So, I guess it's been a couple weeks now? Something like that. I don't remember exactly when it was.

I absolutely 100% think this is your issue.  A million people will now continue to post "MUST BE YOU I AM FINE GAME ROCKS QQ!!!!" but I am sure the vast majority of them are on PC.

Its a totally infrastructure for PS3 and I wouldnt be shocked if the PS3 had *far* more players.  Its a console beat-em-up game at its core and the vast majority of PC MMO fans (which is a *tiny* # anyway really) moved on about a month after launch and arent coming back.  Im a lifetime sub and dont even have it installed any more.  The game is too shallow and boring to warrant more than a month or two of time.

Try again in Feb and it will almost surely be empty again, free or not.  There's just no content beyond endless grind/PVP/rinse/repeat

As a beta tester and lifetime sub (oh the humanity! such a waste of $), I can say that IMO everyone on this thread is correct.

As a FREE game its great.  It has about 40 hrs of content.  The grind, ironically, is *by far* the worst I have *ever* seen (and I cut my teeth on EQ1! back in April of 1999)

As a free game with no commitment where you occasionally drop in, punch stuff, and advance a DC IP storyline, its great.  As an MMO... It just isnt one.  The MMO side is for folks who *like* to gear grind so they can "pimp gearscore" and "DOMINATE pvp"  Many min/max types feel leveling and "fluff" are annoying wastes of time and that THE GEAR and MAXING OUT are the game.  DCUO, again ironically, is the *perfect* game for this.

You don't need to be a "sandbox fanboy" to recognize that DCUO has less content than *any* AAA MMO ever has.  The sad part is is that the content it DOES have is great.

I lifetime subbed even after realizing ALL of the above during the EARLIEST beta because I truly believed their BS about monthly updates.  I figured there was no way that an IP as vital as DCU could be reduced to a mindless punchfest e-peen gear grind.  BUT... I bet wrong :)

Now that its F2P, none of that matters.  With a buy-in of $0 its a great game.

Originally posted by Beauman

Well, I played the game for 9 months (mainly due to lack of options--- after 6 1/2 years in CoH and 5 years in WoW, I was done with both games; and CO never held me for too long).

I gave my opinion in another thread.

Your milage may vary.

Your opinion in the other thread was spot on IMO.  Im amazed you made it 9 months.  I made it like 2 before realizing the game was mind numbing.

The best thing about DCUO, IMO, is that u can literally see the entire game inside of a free trial.  Now that it is free, Id say everyone should just take a couple of weeks and max out a character or two just to experience it, and then just leave it behind.

Only a *very* specific kind of niche player (the type who HATES Leveling and "BS fluff" and *only* wants to "get to max level" and then 'grind gear" to pimp "gearscore" or "win PVP") will find much to like long term in DCUO.

Its a shame because it is such a shallow game tied to such an important IP.

Personally, for a game that the trash talkers all said was the "escape from WoW", Im *awed* by how horrific the grind is.

I dont think its good to downplay it.  Ive played a massive amount of MMOs over the years and *none* have a grind as jarring and horrible as DCUO.

I was an original beta tester and am even a lifetime subscriber (such a bad move), and I dont even have it installed anymore.

I got a dozen characters to 30 in much less time than it normally takes me to get to max level on a *single* character in *any* other MMO.

yes, the combat is fun.  The combat in Saints Row is fun too.  For that matter the combat in *any* coop action game is fun.

This is supposed to be an MMO though.  You're given a great leveling experience... and it lasts TOPS a couple of weeks.  Next time through its QUICKER.

After that, the "min/max" is *much* worse than what is being described here.  its ALL of the same content over and over (content you ALREADY DID) just harder and grouped.  Then it is "feats" which are basically all in the SAME environments where you just leveled.

If you are the type to feel that leveling is a speedbump on your way to grinding content to get the best gear to "be a pimp" in PVP, then DCUO is the *ultimate game*. "Depth", however, is a term that does not *remotely* apply to DCUO.  AT ALL.  Anyone who thinks it does has a VERY unique and odd definition of "depth".  You spend the entire game, essentially, at max level fighting OVER and OVER (either a handful of PVE content or PVP endlessly).  To ME, in an MMO, "depth" means lots of content that, while not "critical path" for a min/maxer, is still fun to check out (like alternate leveling areas that you can go back to - something like WoW or EQ2, even just in terms fo combat content, has MORE than you need to level), or depth might be crafting, or housing, or "fluff" type quests and events.  NONE of that exists in DCUO. It is PURELY *rapid ascent* to "max level" which is then where the game *begins* (and the devs even said this in beta)

Problem is that this "beginning" is just the beginning of watching the same set of content 50x a week forever.  Bad.

Its just kind of ironic that that is exactly what people say they hate the most about WoW, yet DCUO is FAR worse and the fans somehow feel DCUO *isnt* a grind.

Why WOULDNT you play it?  its free.

Just play it until you realize the game has about 2 weeks of worthwhile content... Im a *lifetime subscriber* (bad mistake and as an original beta tester I *really* should have known better, but trusted they'd HAVE to get better) and I played it for about 2 mths before I was done.  In that time I got about a dozen characters to 30.  Its incredibly easy really and then the entire game becomes an endless, and hugely mindless, grind.  Normally I just *ignore* gear grinds, but in DCUO you kind of cant because the content is too thin and *not* grinding puts you at a staggering disadvantage in PVP.

Play it until you're over it.  Will be worthwhile considering it will cost you $0

DCUO is the only triple A title of seen where the *free trial* is literally enough to be completely done with the game

Originally posted by Worstluck

Originally posted by DarkPony

No mention of stability issues / memory leak and large address aware fix for PC V_V

After putting in 100+ hours my game has become pretty unstable with many random CTD's. In the Steam forums there's a big thread with people having the same issue.

 

 

Yep, I was expecting a little bit more out of the patch.  But hey, it's Bethesda, they have same damn bugs in almost every game; it's pretty obvious they can't  or don't care about fixing them.  I CTD in Fallout 3 all the time still to this day, well when I play it.  I am also guessing that most of this work for this patch had already been 95% done before the game released, however they had to keep their release date.  I get the feeling that a lot of the people that worked on this game are on a nice vacation at the moment. 

 

I actually have not patched the game yet, not even 1.1.  I still run the game from the .exe....which also means that I have not started Steam in quite a while, because I don't want it to patch.  For some reason or another, my game crashed every 30 minutes with Steam running, however running from the .exe crashes are a lot more rare.

 

I love this game, I really do.  However after many hours the technical issues are starting to wear on me.  I have a lot of texture problems, purple dragons and armor, missing sections of walls, floor, etc and of course I still CTD every now and then, with no warning and I cannot for the life of me rerpoduce it. 

I wonder what the cause is ultimately... I've easily put as much time in as that other poster and havent had the game crash or glitch once.  Literally not a single time.

When people are having the issue, of course it is hugely frustrating and seems like a top priority.  Then you check the net and of course it always seems like "EVERYONE!" is having the issue, but annecdotally, i can honestly say that people who *dont* have issues very rarely post.  I know most of my friends who are playing havent had a single crash, but they avoid forums like the plague.  They dont even begin to think about going on a forum.

If 90% of players are fine, even that 10% having issues will look like a TON when they are vocal on the web, but I can understand why Bethesda wouldnt be *rushing* to "fix" it.  At this stage they might still be trying to get their arms around whether or not something is even wrong.

After 20 years in technology as a tech professional I can honestly say that the vast majority of times there *is* a local configuration issue when a user has a problem and 100% of the time they are *sure* there is not.

Not saying thats the case with Skyrim, but I do understand why they need to do a lot of investigation and regression testing before they start putting work effort into a problem that is potentially a ghost.

Originally posted by marinrider

Originally posted by Leviathonlx

So something like that was really decided by 381 people? I mean that isn't exactly what I would consider even remotly a scientific poll.

I think they decided it based on other factors, like the massive sub loss.  The poll was just an extra . And yes I think its not scientific unless we know how the participants were selected.

 

Edit: And didn't picklebeast post this same thing?

If WoW is suffering "massive sub loss" then it should show up in their 10k.  Are people aware that public companies publish revenue statements quarterly?

http://www.google.com/finance?q=ATVI&fstype=ii#

Hey look!  No massive decline.  Actually, pretty normal.  A rise to a peak in 07, then a big dropoff corresponding to the massive recession, and since then a slow climb back up out of the gutter.  Whaddaya know!  Blizzards performance looks pretty much like most other companies performance given the economic conditions.

If WoW were bleeding subs by the *millions* do people really not comprehend that this would result in *clear* financial impact?

This idiot "survey" was *speculative*.  It's a downgrade assuming they *will* lose subs.  If they *already had* the stock would have already been punished.

None of this is rocket science, but MMO 'fans' and 'anti-fans' really are living in their own private delusions fully detached from any kind of reality.

Pretty ironic that everyone here who is taking issue with the OP is assuming that an LGBT guild is about people going on and on about their sex lives.

Thats exactly the kind of prejudice that drives folks to *create* these groups.

An LGBT guild is about people not wanting to hear immature and ignorant morons using the term "gay" over and over again to describe anything their sadly limited vocabularies otherwise fail on.

The OP isnt suggesting that *the game developers* should be doing something different.  The OP is simply warning that the *game community* is insensitive. 

I think the post is fair assuming its true.  Sure one can be the trail blazer that "starts the first guild", but if the community in general is juvenille, ignorant and bigoted, why bother?

I know this is hard for adolescent straight males to wrap their minds around, but using the word 'gay' as a pejorative continually is offensive to people and they don't want to hear it.  They also dont want to hear you joking about "fags" 24x7.

The few "power gamers" here pretending they are "serious no nonsense" types who are "pure game bro!" are, IMO, among the absolute worst offenders.  Im straight, but the power gaming guilds I was a member of in EQ, EQ2 and WoW were *by far* the worst.  The biggest problem is they were completely unconsciously incompetent.  In *their* minds they were just "ALL BUSINESS BRO!", no discussion about "BS" like what you ate for dinner or your kids.  PURE GAME MAN!  Like a JOB.  Yet *everything* was "gay" this, "fag" that, all the time. 

Thats what the OP is referring to for those who dont "get it".  It isnt about getting or wanting "special treatment".  it's about *not* being exposed to offensive, distasteful and insensitive rambling.

Anyone who is going to say "yeah well toughen up!", head to downtown Detroit and start dropping N bombs left and right.  As you fade into unconsciousness tell those guys to just "toughen up"  A big percentage of the gamer community is middle class, adolescent straight white males shielded by annonymity.  As a result, homophobia and even misogyny are just reflexive.  You wont hear the "N word" b/c they are afraid of that one, but with everything else its open season.   And before anyone goes into convulsions, "big percentage' doesnt mean EVERYONE and if it doesnt mean YOU then dont be offended.  No one who has played MMOs for any length of time can argue, however, that they arent VERY frequently a horribly hostile place for women and LGBT's.  Unless said folks have a "thick skin" (meaning simply ignoring or accepting any amount of insulting and distasteful discussion)

So the executive summary is that if you're thinking "whats the big deal!?  keep your private business to yourself!  and ok, sure sometimes someone says 'shut up fag!' but they dont MEAN it that way and its NO BIG DEAL!"  Then you are missing the point because thats *exactly* what the big deal is for LGBT folks. 

I completely understand why LGBT folks seek out a safe harbor and would never question that.

Originally posted by Boreil

Originally posted by CasualMaker

"Actually free to play , just free , stop charging,  absolutly no cash shop ever"

Yeah, that would be it's death, all right. No income = pfft! Guild Wars does by getting a big pay up front.

They have enough income from other places to cover it , specialy considering they do almost nothing for the game as is .  Good day , /ignore thread 

This is a bizarre idea really... that it should become some kind of charity.  If this were the case, that SoE would somehow bleed money off of other businesses that allegedly *do* make money, just to support the few people left that want to be isolated in a dead game that does *not*, then i would say *shut the thing down*.  As a continuing EQ and EQ2 player, *why* should resources and $$$$ be stripped away from healty games to help some dead private playground?

This idea of "gaming welfare" really is a first and makes no sense.

Its also funny to see people on this thread say 'well I dont play, but if it went F2P then I would NEVER PLAY!"  newsflash... You DONT PLAY and therefore DONT SUPPORT IT.  Your opinion is just ridiculously irrelevant.  Just think about how stupid that is:

"well I dont pay to play it... but I like looking at it and opining on it... but if it were FREE??? then HELL NO I wouldnt play!  then Id PROTEST IT b/c cash shops SUCK!" 

yeah, really useful. 

Of course they should make it F2P.  If they did, I'd pick it up again.  But 100% agree that the EQ2 F2P model is total BS.  Its a fake F2P.  I continue to station sub, but will be canceling it soon for $ reasons.  If they actually made these games *real* F2P, meaning you just no longer have to pay a sub, like EVERY OTHER F2P CONVERSION, then it would be good.

The minority loons who feel F2P players "pollute" their pristine environment, and rail against "cash shops" like they were fighting the civil rights revolution, had better be willing to pay like 5x/mth what they do now, b/c the p2P model is dying.  No one wants it.  SoE implemented F2P in the *worst* way possible though, in an attempt to have it both ways.  My guess is that over time they will continue to lose the p2P folks and they *wont* migrate to the F2P side.  No way id start over on an F2P server after years and years of building a char.

Originally posted by Aison2

Originally posted by 13333337

Yeah blame the devs, for their content being a grind. LOL Don't make me laugh. If i get pulled over for speeding let me try to blame the police for it being their fault I was speeding.

Do you relally not understand how the industry works? They want money so they need to keep you subbed. Only way to develop as fast as people consume is grind. So they feed you grind with a carrot (loot) on a stick to keep you subbed. If people would get some distance by not playing themselves through that they might /unsub more likely which would force devs to go other ways.

 

This is BS really.  There is a small population (maybe you're in it) that devotes an enormous (and likely unhealthy) quantity of time to gaming.  They're voracious.  They push and push and there can *never* be "enough" content, never be "enough" of anything and never be "right" balance.  The *second* new content is out, they've "beaten" it.  Then they complain there is nothing new.

So the answer has been to create ridiculous hurdles like every person needs a key to get IN to the next room and it drops once a week from a rare mob.  WHAT ElSE can the devs do?  What is your big idea to satisfy folks who have 19 hours a day to play and obsess over the game?

What can you POSSIBLY do to keep THOSE people happy yet NOT alienate the 80% of NORMAL people playing your game who will *never even see* the content that these people "finish" in 2 hours?

IMO the "hardcore" need to either 1) seek help because they have dangerously addictive personality disorder OR 2) accept that they will ALWAYS be a bit bored and not satisfied.

I mean really... The EASIEST friggin thing is being a critic.  What is the genius idea that doesnt require alien or 25th century level technology that can ACTUALLY be implemented in a game?  The "ideas" I see from people bitching and moaning about "grinding" and "balance" generally are along the lines of Star Trek Holodeck.  They want a perfectly adaptive game where the game itself is essentially an AI and everything is always fun and scripted and challenging and fair and enables THEM to stay "king of the hill" and "the other guy" to stay JUST A BIT behind them and to have ALL of the things THEY want and none of what they DONT want.  Now repeat that x1000 permutations because everyone wants something JUST a bit different served to THEM on a silver platter.

IMO it makes perfect sense for the game devs to just ignore this fringe lunatic group (largely) and cater to the 80% (which is what has happened)

Take WoW... WoW has *never* been a grind for ME.  I've LOVED it.  EQ, on the other hand, DID feel like a "grind".  Why?  Anything different? Sure some things are much easier in WoW, but in reality *I* changed.  While playing EQ *I* was that shut in lunatic looking for my "fix" like a heroin addict and raiding Nagafen at 3am b/c I "needed" a haste item.  idiocy.

In WoW, I dont give a damn.  I browse around see content and slowly make progress when I can.  And it is GREAT.

It isnt about the game, its about the individual and most individuals (ESP who play MMOs) are really sadly broken.  It sort of is a natural attraction IMO.  The MOST fragile personalities gravitate to these games.

A  big pet peeve of mine is people rationalizing bad behvior in completely specious ways, so this is just a general reply to the legions who continue to do so:

"well they over charge!!!!"

"well I wouldnt have bought it anyway!"

OK... Ferrari "over charges".  They *really* do.  And I am 99% sure that anyone posting on this list (esp reading these posts) is *never* buying one yet *surely* wants one.

So there you go.  You want it.  It IS over priced (and it is), and you wont buy one anyway because you cant afford it.

So go steal one. 

Oh?  Whats that?  Oh right thats different.  Now please do come up with 200 reasons why its "different" that make you look like an idiot.  It's different because a Ferrari is a "tangible item"?  No.  In a service economy the VAST majority of us make whatever money we make from INTANGIBLES... so think long and hard before you make THAT rule stick because you want to steal games.  Next someone will be stealing whatever it is that pays YOUR bills (or to make it fit this list better, pays mom and dads bills since they probably pay yours)

No... the real reason It's "different" is because you don't have the stones to try it because you know if you get caught you'll either get shot by the owner or land in "pound-me-in-the-rear" prison sharing a cell with Tyrone.

So lets cut the BS about how piracy is ok with 1000 word diatribes on why.  Put the same effort and energy into something productive and just *maybe* you'll have 2 cents to rub together so buying a $50 game won't be a life impacting decision.

We have really devolved into a badly entitled, ADD culture.  The folks condoning bad behavior on discussions like these sound like friggin junkies.  They just GOTTA get their "fix".  Need it NOW.  Its the OTHER GUYS fault that they need it and want it and cant afford it.

If the publishers are so bad/greedy/lazy/lousy, then FIND A NEW DAMN HOBBY.  maybe take up programming and WRITE YOUR OWN GAME and then give it away.  Oh right, you'd never give YOUR work away.

How about someone takes the entire contents of this article and puts it on a site with their own ad banners to make some nice click-through from it?  The author should be ok with that right?  Piracy is BS after all.  Besides, he'll probably be too busy (as he said at the end) searching out that Diablo 3 Torrent.  Blizzard is rich. They can afford the lost sale and, hey, he "wouldnt have bought it anyway" because he's just a "struggling writer".  "Someone else" will spend the money and keep Blizzard in business.

People who write off the "innovation" aspect either have a very specific and myopic viewpoint, or simply don't like the game.

Just because *you* may have a *singular* definition of "innovation" that maybe involves something game mechanic related, and you may have a massive bias (like 'sandbox only!') doesn't mean that there is no "innovation" in EQ2)

The depth of the faction system, the guild mechanics, the language and class system, the massive breadth and depth of housing and crafting options.  There are *endless* places where you can point to "innovation" that completely doesn't exist in other MMOs or exists in a much more shallow form.

Saying "yeah big deal, I dont care about any of that... all I care about is XXXX" just means that you arent qualified to weigh in on any game *overall*.

To be objective, you have to look at a game hollistically (including the things that you may not be interested in, but others are)

Housing and crafting alone put EQ2 *far* ahead of nearly any other MMO.  The faction system, and how it ties into the lore, and the diversity of starting cities, and the concept of citizenship even existing, and the impacts that all of that have, are also very much unique.  If you simply ignore all of that and say 'dont care, doesnt matter', then again, thats really your issue.

This isnt even so much to the reviewer, but more to the really vocal naysayers.  Its fine to not like the game.  Many dont.  MOST dont probably.  But to say "no innovation" is just willful ignorance.  Of course thats no surprise - a big chunk of gaming forum posters seem to be a nearly terminally unhappy lot most of the time.

Worth noting to anyone genuinely unfamiliar with both games... Take the many *vocal* pronouncements of the "revolutionary" and "ground breaking" combat of DCUO with a grain of salt.

You'll hear many use hyperbole like "BEST combat in ANY MMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

You MUST keep these opinions in context if you are evaluating DCUO.  DCUO combat is *different* from most MMOs.  It is similar to DDO, but not much else.

But *different* does *not* translate to "better" for everyone.  Thats the point these people are missing.

An earlier poster had a *great* point.  DCUO combat is *exactly* the same combat as the 100M multi player button mashers that have come before going all the way back to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4 player arcade game.  It is *not* new, nor is it "revolutionary" at all.  it is simply unusual in this genre.

Many seem to have some bizarre hangup, or ego issue, and feel the need to say things like "unlike OTHER MMOs, DCUO takes *SKILL* !!!!!"

This is also specious.  At the end of the day, if you want a *semi* MMO environment grafted to  what is essentially an ACTION ARCADE GAME with a *bit* more depth, then DCUO might be for you.

I compare it to the latest Wrestling games on consoles.  These are pretty much RPGs now, where you "build" your wrestler (different move abilities, etc) and then go button mash it out with an opponent.  Put a shared, semi open (but often empty) world on top of that and THAT is DCUO.

The other issue is that the game is ALL end game.  You get to lvl 30 in a week at WORST and then you are pulled directly into instanced PVP or instanced raids.  This is part of why no one seems to be around.  The "raids" though, are rinse repeat of the SAME missions you played through coming up, just harder.  There are only two areas that are new that you "work" towards.  So in this sense (the annoying grind at end game) DCUO is *definitely*  an MMO.  The PVP aspect is endless action arcade combat and suffered early on thanks to exploits (that are now fixed largely, but too late IMO)

So to sum it up... DCUO is:

1) multi-player arcade combat superhero game with char creation/customization, DC setting and *limited* open world

2) VERY fast solo/char development curve (week or so), max lvl of 30 and then end game

3) VERY repetitive end game grind FAR worse than WoW (FAR worse... WoW at least has GOBS of content) with very limited payoff

4) button masher arcade combat PVP that, unfortunately, has proven to be pretty exploitable (like button masher combat always is - animation glitching, etc)

CO and CoH, on the other hand, are proper, essentially turn based with real time trappings, MMOs in the tradition of EQ, WoW, etc.  Not much to say there.  Think WoW/EQ/et al in tights.  

NONE of this is bad and none is good.  It is entirely dependent on what you want.  Lately, I'm no longer playing any of them.  But FWIW, DCUO held my attention about a month, CO held it through the beta, CoH held it for about 3 years.  CoV for about another year or so.

Originally posted by gt4980b

Originally posted by Omali

Originally posted by sodade21

Originally posted by WhiteLantern

Also, the superservers, megaservers, industrial-strength-Nth metal servers, or whatever they end up being called, are not online yet.

then why i see only 4 servers..? where is the 30 other people have mention??.....

When the superservers are up, you will only see one server. Four servers, one per region/system.

PC EU

PC NA

PS3 EU

PS3 NA

No, he's talking about the Euro servers.  You only see the servers in your region and there are only 4 euro servers for PC.  That's what he's seeing and being confused about.

 Right... thats why he said *when* the Super Servers are up.  He's explaining to the OP that the day he sees *ONE* server is the day they're up.

Originally posted by Beauman

Originally posted by Daffid011

Yes server mergers are the biggest complaint, because almost everyone is gone.  That however is the RESULT of the games problems, not the cause.

Exploits are not the sole reason people left.  While they might be your biggest concerns there have been many many many other reasons people left. 

Just read why people actually left and you will see it goes far beyond the exploits.  Overall DCU is a very shallow game. 

 

I have to agree. Outside of 3 weeks away, I have been with DCUO since a week after launch, and am active at the DCUO forums.

Exploits were only a single piece of the much larger pie as to why people stated they left. The population problem, and SOE's now emergency scramble to merge the servers, create global channels (which should have been mandatory from the start, at least), and other tech is a direct result of the many issues with the game.

Bugs were just another piece of the pie.

The largest piece, and the one talked about most often by former players, is content.

The 1-30 game is WAY too fast with little replayability. Outside of the level 1-6 Mentor missions, Level 15 mission, and Level 30 end mission . . . every character plays through the exact same mission chains, regardless, to level.

Endgame is by-and-far nothing more than "more difficult rehashes" of the levelling instances/boss fights. While there are a "few" new Hard Alerts, and then the 4 Raids, they are still diminished in perception by the Levelling Content rehashed as "endgame". Rehashed content that you have to grind for marks ad naueum, to get gear, to THEN experience Kahndaq and Batcave1-3.

Content and replayability. It's what caused many to leave and forced a majority of the populaton drop, from all indications by former players. It's what DCUO needs to fix.

It's what the cuts at SOE, including some from the DCUO team, seemed to forced into a production timeframe that is just too slow to keep players, with what the game currently offers.

Combat does not make an MMO. While DCUO combat is cool, it is far from the be-all-end-all, and has hardly spoiled a majority of its players (obviously-- they left) or really impacted the industry. Heck, I switched between DCUO, LoTRO (Premium), and CO (Silver) just fine. Going from DCUO combat to hotkey/cooldown combat wasn't difficult.

SOE, I think, relied way too heavily on their combat engine to sell the game.

So, in the end, Super-Servers are nice, but to retain players, and ever get back old ones in sufficient numbers, they need to add content, content, content.

The. Game. Is. Shallow.

Fun . . . but way too shallow.

Absolutely spot on.  I am a *lifetime subscriber*, along with *five* of my friends, and we all dropped DCUO for the exact reasons above.

NinjaBoy, time will tell, but I suspect you will find yourself speech writing for a smaller and smaller audience over time. 

I suppose if one is somehow *enthralled* with the combat mechanic, and basically wants some sort of semi-massively multiplayer, online action fighting game (Streets of Rage Online!), then DCUO is enough.

For me, and my buddies (all huge comic fans), DCUO was a week and a half of fun followed by the worst frustration and tedium Ive ever seen.  We all just stopped playing.  One friend went back to CoH, the rest of us either returned to WoW or went on to some other MMO or just back to MMO retirement.

I check back here periodically to see if *anything* has *truly* changed and it seems like no, it hasnt.  The server merge, no matter how you want to spin it, IS a sign of a game in trouble.  Earlier a poster said that a healthy game doesnt need to do ANY kind of melding, merging, combining, whatever semantics you choose.  That is very true.

Possibly the bug fixes and core structural issue fixes (some of the exploits went beyond "bug fix") will bring back TONS of folks.  Wont bring back me, and I suspect unless these "fixes" are BRAND NEW, it hasnt really brought back anyone since the latest news from SOE is the merger, but you never know.