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DC Universe Online: DCUO Weekly #4: The Potential of Powers
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Super heroes need super powers and in his weekly DCUO column, MMORPG.com writer Bill Murphy wonders which of the ones from the comics will make the transition to DC Universe Online. Will wind, atomic, mental and martial arts make the cut? See what you think as you read Bill's thoughts and then add a few of your own.
This week, it looks like a good time to talk a little about the powers we’ll all get to pick from before we rove out into Metropolis or Gotham this fall. DCUO seems to be in a bit of a tricky situation. With two hero games released before it, each with a long list of available power selections, SOE’s game needs to match or at least come close to its predecessors. From what we have been able to glean from interviews, videos and the like, one can expect most of the DC Universe’s major and minor heroes to be represented in some form or another.
Read DCUO Weekly #4: Potential of Powers.
Comments
I want to try this game but I got so bored with city of heroes after level 20
Nice list.
According to the panel at Fanfaire and videos from the official site:
Light is not beta ready. It may not make launch according to other sources
Dual pistols will likely be part of the Tech tree.
Shapeshifting, Sorcery (Magic), Fire, and Ice are all in.
Your Earth will likely be the Nature tree.
There is also a tree called "Meta", whatever the frick that means. (supposedly Superman's base set if I understood correctly).
They've stated that power sets won't mix (named Fire and Ice specifically).
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
Ok, It's all good to see speculation.. but my hype for this game is slowly going south.
I mean, just over a month to release and we have very, very minimal information on the game.
No info on the BETA start, no info on the game.. SOE really need to hype this fast or expect another fail MMO for their collection.
At this moment in time I very much expect a delayed release unless Sony have something epic up their sleeves!
Your right Pl3dge they really do need to hype it and give a lot more info fast esp on powers.
Im getting so sick of videos etc going on about how u can pick stuff up and use it as a weapon
oh well great hearing about that in nearly every vid its starting to sound like thats all thats special
about the game also anyone noticed thats theres no uk flag on the dcuo site but spanish german usa etc makes u think the uk is getting stiffed on it and the whole of europe is getting screwed on preorders so far and the us ps and eu ps sites still have tbd as release betting it gets delayed
Agree this games launch date will be pushed back.
I have said it in the past and will say it again. If DCUO wants to standout from the super hero games they are going to have to think outside the box when it comes to powers.
On the plus side:
Shapeshifting - excellent! a power not seen in any of the superhero games. bravo!
Use of PhysX - powers that enable you do do things like pick up frozen opponents - nice enhancement. In CO, you cna pick up objects, but you cannot pick up a frozen opponent. Running up a building will be fun. Can we do a mission half way up the building so we can run up to the entry point?
use of modes - switch to a tank mode, a dps mode, a support mode - good enhancement. CO has builds
What has been done already by the other games in one form or another:
Everything else
So what powers haven't we seen?
Inanimate pets - Maybe Zantanna like sorcery can target a table, a chair or hanging meat hook to fight for the player
Elastics - stretch your appendages for unanswered strikes, Crowd control your foes with entwining ropes that a moment ago were your legs. Spring skyward like a man sized slinky. Taunt safely by stretching your neck to an unsuspecting foe.
Magnetics - no love for Magneto? Sure it looks a lot like telekinetics, but to crunch a metal car into a tin can or wrap my enemy in a chain link / barbed wire fence is neat. Repel gunfire as the bullets spread over the transparent shield like droplets of rain
Time travel - maybe a rare skill set to be found in the game. Debuff enemies by aging. Mess with enemies cooldowns or toggle off skills. Teleport effortlessly in combat ( akin to travelling by stopping time "blink"), and ruin DoTs by shortening the duration timers. Your epic skill - instant mission complete. Reward: little or no team exp, no loot, but finishes a non epic mission for the team. Great way to help the GMs! (a team is stuck because of a mission glitch or objective can't be completed, the Time traveler can use his epic skill to complete the mission for the team , in essence, moved time forward for the team. Or instant completes the objective for th
When did September or October cease to exist?I think the biggest issue with branding in the EU are the multitude of regulatons for each country. There also seems to be a dirth of EU-wide distributers which throws another road block for software companies. many are going strait to electronic downloads outside of the US. So it's not always on the part of the company that people are getting shafted, it's more on locale rules and regulations. Even out own Rhode Island gets shafted because of their own laws and are often excluded from events such as sweepstakes/giveaways that companies offer.
I feel for our European brothers and sisters, and those in South America, which often have it even more difficult (as well as anywhere else that suffer because of restrictions.)
If I understood well from one of the last panel of DCUO guys, weapons are a separate skill from powers. Any hero could master swords, pistols, etc. Actually, weapon are a must since they are the source of the energy of the powers (working a bit like CO energy builders).
Back to powersets: in the same panel they talked about fire, ice, sorcery, mentalism and other 2 more I don't remember I think one of them is tech. Anyway, I join the crowd in waiting for more details, at least they are trying new things and not going for the easy way.
In the DC universe, Meta is to Mutant in Marvel. People with developed powers from non-tech, non-magic origin are considered "metahumans", so meta might be a source for powers like magic, tech, nature.
I think what will be a deal breaker is if DCUO doesn't expanded the power bases and movement base of abilities to go beyond what COH and CO have done. As previous poster stated, abilities like elasticiity, abilities that expand on the animation of the characters will be the hardest to pull off, but will be the most rewarding to see in action and can compose both elongation (Elongated Man) to shapeshifting (Plastic Man).
Another tough thing to pull of is Green Lantern's ring with its endless shapes it can create. If they have something like this, it also will suffer from limitations.
The problem with these kinds of games is that most superheroes learn to use thier powers in ways that have gone behind standard use and these feats are always hard to replicate in games. Things like Wolverine and Colosus"s Fastball Special, Flash's vortex, Invisible Woman's ability to cut off air supply with her powers, and the Hulk's ability to rip up a whole city street from under the villian's feet.
Superhero MMOs will always fail if they can never give the players the ability to shape their powers instead of the boring progression that exists today.
Taking aside the enormous amount of animations in characters and environment that what you proposed required (which is definitely not cheap, especially for $15/month/person), have you considered the inherent balance issues of giving that much freedom. Anyway, it would be pretty cool if it could happen.
Meta is not a power set (though there is a power set called iconic that you are able to pick abilties specific to heroes and villains who might be a meta human in the comics) Meta is an origin.
There are 3 origins Meta, Tech, and Magic, each one has a story progression different from the others, but someone with the origin of meta can still have sorcerey for a powerset, it's not a restriction on a power set you can use, but for the purpose of story telling.
Light is still touch and go for release according to them, because it is so roboust they want to make sure it does justic to the Green Lantern franchise. I hope it makes it in for launch or very early on for a release.
I don't mind the lack of hype. Its SOE and WB they will be hyping it up the @$$ here in a few weeks or months when they are ready to do so. Maybe they dont want to hype it up tell they are more confadent about its release date. I'm sure in a few weeks G4, Cartoon network, CW and Syfy channel will be having commercial after commercial about this game. Besides name the last good and sucessfull mmo that got lots of hype and lived up to it?
If god loves the fools ,and god loves every one, dose that mean we are all fools.
Currently still playing champions but I am more then willing to give this a try, especially with all the physics, if they can pull it off.
I just hope there is more to do when I hit level cap, all pretty mucha nyone does in CO currently is duel , costume contest or farm for pieces which you can end up buying for 5 dollars anyway.
The Stranger: It's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid.
This should be interesting. I'm waiting to see the powers list as well, and I am growing a bit concerned about the lack of info. when it is releasing in a few months.
Just a quick comment on CO: Therakiel Temple is now more popular since Therakiel Wings are dropped on every run on elite difficulty. Besides farming Serpent Lantern and Vibora Bay for drops, I am still doing Big Monster hunts on daily basis and a few lairs here and there. It might be because of my SG which is a nice one.
Back to DCUO, I think it might go more on a mix of pvp/pve stuff if the doomsday event idea is still on. I am more interested in the core gameplay, because more content can be added but mechanics are difficult to change once a game is released.
for the atomic power I would have to refer to firestorm after all the comic was called " Firestorm the neuclear man" but I for one am kind of looking forward to hte game still dont know if I am going to buy it just yet though I will have to wait and see how it is recieved.
I am wondering where everyone is getting this "they are going to push back the release" from. I mean they are advertising November 2 has been their relase date now for months and it doesn't show any signs of being pushed back. If Light doesn't make it in at release then expect some big update or patch to come out 3 months later having it in there plus other stuff. Not everything makes it into release for a game but comes out later everyone here should know that by now so they wouldn't push back release if they can't add one powerset to the game.
"You think this "A" stands for France?" Captain America
Actually it releases in a little over 2 months. I am not crossing my fingers as I fully expect a button mashing console port with light RPG elements. I hope I'm wrong.
I also wonder why everyone is so worried aout the console aspects of the game. I understand the fear of as some say "button mashing" but you have to admit with the material they have at their disposal and the history of the Universe they can create from there will be story elements in the game for those looking for it.
In case some are wondering they have said that picking an origin determines the story progression for your character. Right now they are in BETA in some form with an open beta probably within the next month since they are giving away beta invites on their main site.
"You think this "A" stands for France?" Captain America
I may be one of the few here to get this for PS3, and I expect that the controls will be like X-Men: Legends or close to it. Or how Everquest was for PS2. But we'll see. I am hoping that the announce open Beta this month (September) to start in like 2 or 3 weeks. Would be nice.
"Mental: Telekinesis is Martian Manhunter’s favorite hobby, and I’m betting there will be quite a few players who flock to this power set for its many potential support capabilities."
FAIL
Telekinesis is movement of objects with your mind, Martian Manhunter has telepathy, if you are going to try to sound smart and knowledable at least do research first, I stopped reading the post after this fail. It showed that you most likely know very little about the DC Universe..
Dustin