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NDA has just been lifted
Grunty
Member EpicPosts: 8,657
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150345249240717&comments&_fb_noscript=1
"Today, we officially lifted the NDA on the SOE DC Universe Online Beta! Below is a special "thank you" post from DCUO Game Director, Chris Cao.
Beta Players,
We’ve played together in DCUO’s closed Beta for months. We’ve posted back and forth, voted Up or Down, and shared this new universe together. Now, it’s time to take a step closer towards launch..."
The beta forums are not publicly available though.
After MMORPG.com confirms it, I'll post something.
"I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone." Robin Williams
Comments
very strange timing, especially since they've said there are more patches coming
been having a total blast in this game. Actually had to stop testing it so i didn't burn myself out as i'm looking forward to release. It can't come soon enough.
MMORPG.com has removed the NDA sticky so I'll take that as confirmation.
So... Open Beta soon?
So hopefully a month or 2 of open beta and we get to play soon.
I think pricing and for sure confirmation on PS3 & PC shared play are the only things that'll keep me out of this game.
I didn't get to beta, but I'd assume a lot of the recent news has been pretty factual.
Yeah, I'm holding off because I haven't seen anything on the beta forums yet and I simply don't trust or like twitter and facebook lol. Once I see something official I'll chime in.
Saw the NDA drop on Facebook and now beta forums too so I will add my 2 cents. This is a great game in my opinion. This game makes you feel like a superhero or villian right away. This is something that I never felt playing CoH or CO.
The environments and graphics are very well done.
Combat is fast and fun.
The missions are immersive (hopefully they will not get repetitious, but so far I am very pleased).
There is still some work to be done:
-Some folks disliked the mouse and keyboard controls but I found them to be okay.
-It would also be nice to see a few more customization options (body types, hair separate from facial hair choices, more face options)
-Tailors/adjustable color in game for costume pieces
-Drop appearance previews for costume pieces
-Chat tweaks
-PvP could use some tweaks as well
Overall, this game is very strong. It has quite honestly renewed my interest in MMOs. I have played for many years (Shadowbane, Anarchy Online, DAOC, AC2, EQ2, LOTRO, CoH, CO, AoC, WAR) and had grown tired of the same old combat mechanics and quests. This is definitely different enough to keep my interest for awhile. It will not appeal to everyone I am sure, but this is a good game and it will be getting my subscription dollars.
P.S. I am really not a comic book guy...do not own a single comic, but I enjoy this game
Yup NDA has been officially lifted, I'll have a pretty strong overview this evening of my impressions. So far though, this game is amazingly fun. Possibly one of the best overall games I've played in months.
*sigh*
I knew I should have written that up in a word processor and not in this web-based crap.
Maybe I'll try later after I'm through being pissed off.
Game has a solid foundation but needs some more polish. Mainly little things BUT hopefully they get looked at before release. Overall a very fun game that is nothing like any mmo i've ever played. Think more Batman: Arkham Asylum or Prototype. The only thing that really concerns me is if they have enough content. Was almost too easy to level.
I'd recommend it. Even if you only played it for a couple of months at least its fun from the get go.
I will do a copy and paste of of a thread starting post I made about healing in the beta forums. 24 of 26 votes on the thread so far are positive.
"OMG! Heal me!
I can't. There is no way to target you.
Almost all heals are area of effect. If you aren't near your healer or their aoe pylon/spell you can't be healed. If you drag that mob across the room or allow yourself to be dragged across the room then it's "No heals for you, 2 months!!"
Sorcery healers have one single-target heal. It heals the person that is most damaged who is within range. It's also Power hungry. The only control I have as to who it heals is when I use it. Maybe. It's kinda bugged and doesn't always seem to fire off. And it's really annoying when that one most damaged person is on the other side of the room. I just wasted 15% of my Power.
If you want more heals you have 4 choices.
1. Become a Controller. Controllers are Power batteries just as Healers are Health batteries. Controllers feed healers/everyone Power. Healers feed everyone Health. Mucho thanks for the Power, folks.
2. Stay reasonably near your healer. Within 15+/- yards.
3. Drink a cola. Better yet buy some Health+Power potions in the Watchtower/Hall of Doom. 123 credits each.
4. Become a healer."
And a couple of other thoughts.
Controllers(crowd control) make everyone better by debuffing everything in sight and giving out Power(mana).
If all you want to do is top the Damage chart than all you will do is top the Defeated chart. Become part of the team.
My review summarized-
The good
-Fantastic environmental graphics. At one point I was flying along and stopped stunned, and just watched waves washing over a beach. Very nice.
-Destructible environment. Many objects, including cars and signs can be attacked and destroyed.
The bad
-"Action" combat. Combat reminded me of the old arcade games where you have a joystick and 2 or 3 buttons that you smash mercilessly. You have a light attack and a heavy attack, with the occasional super move thrown in. You also get combat moves-example I had a combat move where I did a spin attack if I spammed light attack TWELVE times. Combat seemed cheesy to start with, and quickly became boring.
-Customization of Character during creation. Surprisingly little choice. More than lotro but far less than any recent mmorpg.
-Customization of powers. Very limited. You essentially have a class and a skilltree. The kids might say "WoW clone".
Considering that Champions is going f2p and CoH is offering sub discounts, I find it hard to believe Sony will find an audience willing to pay $15/month plus item shop. They seem to be following in the footsteps of others like Apb, GA, CO and STO and charging too much for not enough. If they want to stay competitive with CO and CoH they are going to have to offer a f2p plan or lower the sub rate.
I'd like to see some more general impressions. In the short review above me, I'm not sure you can classify the combat as bad. Some people enjoy action combat, others don't. It is purely subjective.
So happy the NDA has been lifted. I've been dying to tell people how good this game is. I'll try to come up with a decent wrtie-up soon and have a ton of screenshots that I can host somewhere. Overall, game is a blast, runs and looks fantastic on my mid-range rig, definitely moves the genre forward, and if SOE can push out the content, they will have a huge hit here. I've been amazed how overwhelmingly positive the beta forums have been as well.
CO and CoX are not even in the same league as DCUO. I know some people might still play CoX but honestly DCUO is a much better version of CO improved on everything plus it's going to be released for the consoles too. Just because you want it to be f2p doesn't mean it's not going to succeed with the sub model. I can say for the first time that SoE knows what they are doing. I would never consider CO or CoX over this game even if they were completely free. DCUO is going massive. I'm sorry but there is simply no competition here.
I didn't say I wanted the game to be f2p, I wouldn't play it even if it was free just because of the combat. What I was saying is that considering the competition is pushing some aggressive pricing, DCUO is going to be hardpressed to compete with what they are offering.
edit: I take issue with mercilessly clicking the left and right mouse buttons being called "action combat".
I thought the game was just crap, played it once and hated everything about it and never played again... got my refund.
Good stuff: It's fun. Lots of action. Team work required. Loadouts. Indications in-game that there is a lot more game to come. In-game group voice. Fast health recovery out of combat
Bad stuff: It's closed beta. It's short. 30 levels max at release. Currently limited end game. (I actually got to end game!). 15 long movement skill sets that only have one or two useful skills(opinion). Some exploits are overtaking the PVP server and to a degree the PVE server. Those exploits are being fixed in the next patch. Significant sound issues: Inconsistent sound levels. No sound. Too loud sounds. Positional sound issues. Placeholder voice work. Lousy chat system. Slow Power(mana) recovery any time. It's closed beta, It's closed beta, it's closed beta.
Different stuff: Limited hotbar power slots. Heals are AOE. Controllers(crowd control) play a big part. Learning skill combos up to 12 clicks long. Races; you know, get from point A to point B as fast as you can?
AoE heals doesn't really bother me, but I'll never play a healer so it's moot.
How long do epic battles (boss fights, wave fights whatever) usually last? That'd make the combat and the utility that goes a long with it a deal maker or breaker.
It feels like exactly what it is....A Console port....
ill pass.
the boss fights I experience were no more than 5 mins but haven't done the highest raids yet; can't imagine a 10 min fight though with the amount of clicking you have to do
Hm. Somehow I am not "whelmed" from what I read here and otherwise.
6 powers only, people using only 2-3 powers in any given combat, AOE heals, getting max level in miniature time... Doesn't really sound epic, tbh. (And haircuts connected to certain faces? WTF?)
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Cons:
The game is fun in small bursts, but the mouse clicking is merciless. I'm also not a fan of the auto target, that got me in trouble a couple of times, by automatically switching to new targets when the old one wasn't dead. You run out of power VERY quickly as a blaster type. The limited choices when creating your character is really bad compared to CoX and CO. Having to push a button to get all of your loot...why wasn't this made automatic? Wonder Woman looks and talks like a bad drag queen. Her voice haunts my dreams at night. It's a bit difficult to navigate and find the archetype that you want to play the way they have them organized.
Pros:
Absolutely loved the environments. Watching plans and helicopters flying overhead was a treat. The missions didn't feel repetitious. I did feel "super" from the get go. You can lift and throw things in the envronment or just blow them up. You can find random events happening around...like someone breaking into a car or something along those lines. The story-lines are pretty nice too. The UI was fairly easy to navigate. The quests were easy to find and there seemed to be a good number of them. The loot system was...interesting. It was the first superhero MMO I've played were you can pick up an article of clothing and change your look.
All in all a pretty solid game and a great addition to the super hero genre, now that CoX is pretty old and CO basically sucks. (IMO). Pretty impressed so far. Let's see if Sony destroys this or makes it even better.
Disclaimer: I haven't played in a couple of weeks so some of my "gripes" may have already been patched.
One more thing. You will quckly learn to dislike Booster Gold. But I think that's the intention.