Since the last DC Universe Online (DCUO) column was posted, Daybreak has released Update 97 which included (Dark Nights) Metal Part 1. We’ve had a few weeks to delve into the Metal Part 1 event and figured that might be a good foundation for discussion in this week’s column. So welcome to the newest entry in an ongoing series about all things DC Universe Online!
If DC Comic story and lore are your “thing” then you might want to read up on the Dark Nights Metal comic book event that DC ushered in on June of 2017. The event ran through April 2018 and is completely available in graphic novel form. It’s heralded by many comic book fans, myself included, as one the best DC Comics events/crossovers ever. While the developers have admitted they can’t stick to the exact story you’ll do no harm by reading the actual event. The background will enhance your in-game enjoyment and there are plenty of “reading order” lists published if you’re the chronological type of person.
The In-Game Event
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The Metal Part I event is the typical and standard fare template for DCUO events/episode reveals at this point. Based around Dark Nights Metal lore the episode adds these On-Duty Events:
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New Solo: Scarlet Speedster
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New Open World Missions: Metal Gotham
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New Alert: Batcave Breach
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New Raid and Elite Raid: False Idols
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New Raid and Elite Raid: Monsters of Metal
It’s been said, if you’re looking to get the most out the story then you should play the new content in the above order.
When you log in every day you’ll be presented with the above screen and should have no problem getting right to your dailies and weeklies in “Metal Gotham”.
“Metal Gotham” is essentially an open world, industrial park zone and fits the overall Metal theme to a tee.
The Events In A Flash
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Doing the solo, alert and raids themselves are exciting. They do mix in some of the same old, same old mechanics but also mix in some new challenges as well, etc. a sliding puzzle to solve. The first time through these it’s all about the story for me and learning the mechanics. For example, the first boss in the solo event I struggled with a bit. I then realized what I needed to do and took a mental note. Subsequent runs were of course easier and faster.
The monotony of the event comes in doing the “Metal Gotham” weeklies, the usual “collect X number of these”. This time the development team kicked it up, in one mission, to collect 288 occurrences of a certain Metal item. This number is a little higher than the Justice League Dark’s (JLD) episode equivalent of collecting 140 or so. The big take away here is “group up”! Tackling the weeklies in a group of more than two players can substantially cut down the gathering time.
Pickup groups (PUGs) for the alert and raid events are naturally not a problem at this stage since everyone is trying to get through them. It’ll be interesting to see how these “pop” weeks from now. Of course, as I’ve said before, being in a strong league can alleviate a bit of this stress like my league… Scrubs (modeled after the TV series with the same name).
What About The Loot?
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The loot vendors in “Metal Gotham” seemed to have a lot of Combat rating (CR) level 264 gear. Most of this is acquired with this event’s currency, “Dark Metal coins”. I had a difficult time finding “all level usable” items like auras and styles. There are item boxes that drop a CR level appropriate item, but the styles didn’t seem to pique my interest, yet.
The loot caches awarded by doing the weeklies and dailies in “Metal Gotham” seem lackluster for me personally. I love collecting gear styles. This time around it seems like the two “green” / “blue” gear related styles are “Rocker” and “Manipulator” which I already owned or shared from an alt.
The one thing I think the game needs is some way to tell me if I’ve already collected an item style that is contained in an item box. For example, if I’m awarded a Manipulator Weapon box I don’t know if I collected the style until I accept it as the reward and then open it.
Nevertheless, I’ve been able to collect lair pieces, my least favorite, from these daily/weekly loot caches. Worst case I can donate these to my League Hall for “prestige” as I’m not a big decorating fan.
There’s also working towards stabilizer fragments for opening the new Dark Knight Time Capsules. These new capsules have some gorgeous designs. I’ve refrained from opening a lot of these as the motif doesn’t fit my current toon. Instead I’ve been opening my backlog of Shazam Time Capsules from the initial (on Nintendo Switch) JLD event as these drop “magic related” designs which are more applicable to my current character template.
That’s A Wrap For Now
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Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. New content is always a big plus and exciting to look forward, especially with the number of updates the DCUO development team do each year. The downside is that these new episodes seem to follow the same formula each time. For most DCUO players that’s probably a good thing it just probably won’t bring back someone who left for those reasons.
See you again in two weeks as we continue to progress through Metal Part I!
