Sony Online Entertainment is set to release the ninth DLC pack for DC Universe Online early next year. Dubbed “War of the Light Part One”, this latest addition will serve as the first in a new trilogy of packs to be released in 2014 . We recently had an opportunity to sit down with DCUO creative director Jens Andersen to talk all things ‘War of the Light’ and more.
War of the Light Part One
If you’re a fan of DC Comics’ Lantern Corps, you’ve likely been pretty pleased with the Corps’ representation in DCUO up to this point. To date, the game has added the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro’s Lantern Corps, and most recently, the Red Lantern Corps. In War of the Light Part One, the Blue Lantern Corps, led by St. Walker, will finally make its appearance. It’s a good time to be a Lantern Corps fan in DCUO!
As Jens explained to us, Part One will see the various Lantern Corps groups converge on Earth in a new version of Metropolis available to DLC owners. In Metropolis, players will notice various multi-colored prismatic mists weaving their way through the city’s streets, affecting the populace in a variety of ways. What is known is that these mists are somehow tied to the emotional spectrum that typically gives Lantern Corps members their powers. In one example Jens gave us, citizens encountering a red mist would then become enraged. Rage, of course, is the source of power for every Red Lantern Corps member.
Throughout the DLC players will be seeking to sort out the mystery involving these mists as members of the various Lantern Corps battle it out in the streets and even in the sky above. Sentient planets and Corps members Mogo and Ranx have also ported into the Earth’s orbit and players will even venture into these areas as part of new four and eight-man content coming in DLC9. As part of said content, players can expect to fight alongside (or against) Hal Jordan and Sinestro and even see other iconic DC characters drafted into the Corps, such as Blue Lantern Flash.
Part One will also add a new power called ‘Rage’ to the game. Available to both heroes and villains and inspired by the Red Lantern Corps, Rage will introduce a new way for players to tank in DC Universe Online. As a ‘Rage’ tank, players will instantly heal themselves for all the damage they take as long as they are enraged, but should they allow their rage to ‘crash’, all the damage healed while enraged will hit them all at once.
The idea is to keep your rage built up as you fight and use certain moves that spend your healed damage away so that you don’t crash as hard (or at all) if you do end up crashing. Jens described it as a very aggressive play style where you’ll want to be on top of things and constantly assaulting your enemies without being countered or interrupted.
Visually, Rage powers will feature some typical Lantern Corps themes, such as the use of constructs and energy blasts, though expect Rage generated constructs to be quite a bit more vicious. Think blades, axes, and maces; that sort of thing. Additionally, you will indeed be able to vomit plasma on enemies, which is well, awesome.
There are some smaller, but still significant additions coming to DCUO in DLC9, too. For one, players will finally be able to dress up in Lantern Corps style. Costume pieces representing the Green (heroes), Sinestro (villains), Red Lantern (both) Corps will all be available for players to acquire. Finally, the Legends PvP roster will expand with the addition of Atrocitus (Red Lantern Corps) and St. Walker (Blue Lantern Corps). Atrocitus will play similarly to a Rage character while St. Walker is a martial arts monk type of character featuring unique kata animations, executions, a lotus pose meditation to recharge his energy, and more.
Armories
Armories, a hotly anticipated feature originally set to release with Game Update 32, will arrive very early next year and Jens gave us some additional insight on what players can expect here. For those who haven’t been following the game recently, Armories will essentially allow you to save multiple loadouts in DC Universe Online. Using Armories, players can store a loadout with their currently assigned skill points, costume, gear, and hotbar configurations and instantly switch through them with a couple of restrictions. For PvE, players can instantly switch without a cooldown as many times as they like while out of combat, but will be subject to a cooldown when switching in combat. In PvP, Armory switches will be limited to out of combat use only.
Armories also have a physical representation in your lair or hideout, so there is a bit of form in addition to the function of the feature. Think Batman with his various armor sets on display in the Batcave. Each player will receive one Armory slot for free on each of their characters, though additional slots (up to a total of 16 per character) can be purchased via the in-game store for Station Cash.
It’s easy to imagine all the possible uses for the DCUO Armory. Everything from simple roleplaying use (switching costumes), to the ability for Operations teams to adapt quickly to a poor situation, such as a Controller or Healer going down mid fight, to being able to adjust your loadout for different map types or team makeups in PvP, will all be possible when the Armory feature goes live next month.
Both War of the Light Part One (DLC9) and the Armory feature will be available in early 2014.
Michael Bitton / Michael began his career at the WarCry Network in 2005 as the site manager for several different WarCry fansite portals. In 2008, Michael worked for the startup magazine Massive Gamer as a columnist and online news editor. In June of 2009, Michael joined MMORPG.com as the site's Community Manager. Follow him on Twitter @eMikeB
