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DCUO...crippled and VERY limited.
mmodanno
Member Posts: 163
DCUO is alot of things, fun at first, looks good, and plays fairly smoothly, but it is not a complete game. In fact, it's crippled by some very serious and really questionable game features (flaws?)
Where to begin? Ok, the power tray. You are limited to SIX powers at any one time. Doesnt matter that you will end up with close to 2 dozens powers when you max out the VERY limited power set, you can only ever use SIX powers. I kid you not. THis alone means that I, nor anyone I've talked with, will buy this game. SIX? Are you kidding SoE?!?!
Now, you will hear this: "But you can have a different tray with each 'trole' you play" What they are saying is that you can switch from a Damage role to a different role (Tank, Healer, Controller) which modifies your powers and such, depending on your Power set. FIre and Ice are 'tanking' sets, Nature is healing, etc. Tankers and Healers do MUCH less damage then being in Damage role, for instance. What they don't tell you is that you can't switch roles during combat. Yes, you read that right. The ONLY way to change the severaly limited power selection you have is to die, respawn, and switch to another role, which is also limited to SIX powers in the power tray.
SoE did this because they are shooting for the consule market, and thus have to cripple the UI for PCs. Why alienate so many PC gamers? No clue, but it involves SoE, so I'm sure a short sighted money grab was part of the thought process.
The powers themselves... well... for starters there are only 6 power sets to choose from. Yes, only 6. Many of the powers in these sets are just copy and paste versions of others in the others sets, so don't expect a lot of choices that matter when choosing your powers. Your powers max out at lvl 16, which means you get NO new powers for the rest of that toon's lifetime. Weird, I know.
The Roles are sort of interesting, but lack the usefulness you find in other games. For example, in the Tank role, you take less damage, but do a LOT less damage, and generate no agro. So as the team tank you can be beating on a bad guy to beat the band, but you won't actually protect anyone. The damage dealers will ALWAYS be killed first, then you last. Controlling isnt much better. In DCUO when you 'hold' a mob, it is IMMUNE from damage or power effects. So in a big fight, if you manage to fire off a big AoE hold and capture everything, the team just stands around untill all the holds run at once and you back to where you started. Very weak game play.
The weapon sets are neat in that you dont' push buttons on a power tray to fire off different attacks, but you perform a series of mouse clicks and holds. Hold, click, click will fire off one attack, while hold, hold, hold will fire off another, and so on. Most powers the click patterns work together so you can chain attacks for some powerful combos. However, many of the sets don't seem to work as intended or the pattern (click 6 times, Hold, Hold, Click twice (..and no, Im not kidding about that)), doesnt flow well. Two handed weapon combos are fairly easy to pull, while some sets like staff are harder, (and good luck on getting any of the lower end Rifle combos to work).
The graphics are fantastic, and the game itself seems to play without too much lag or graphics type hiccups. There are many features DCUO does well, like the Alert system (Mini raids that trigger thoughout the day), while others just dont seem to really do what they want.
A lot has been made of the very few choices you have in making a custome for your toon, but as the game plays out, you find gear which not only boosts your stats, but unlocks different types of custome looks which you can equip. The nice part about the way they have it set up is that once you equip a piece of gear, even if you remove it or even sell it, you still have that gear option in your 'tailor' screen. I really enjoy this part of the game.
Overall, the game looks good, plays smoothly, but due to having to cripple the PC UI to make it work for the PS3, DCUO is... well, fun for a few hours, but then you hit the 6 power tray limit, and they game just falls apart from there. The almost laughable 6 powerset choice, combined with few viable options within those sets combine to create a game that is much less then a collection of its parts.
I really urge PC gamers to give this game a miss, and I'm really not sure how the PS3 gamers will handle the severe limitations to game play forced on this title, but you've also been warned. :P
Comments
GW did this and it worked just fine. It makes it so you have to alter your powers. Realize that you have your own set of opinions and you can't speak for anyone else. Your screen isn't full with dozens of icons, most of which you'll probably only use situationally.
I for one LOVE this. You will have people with different sets based on what they want to accomplish/how they want to play. Every brawler isn't going to be using the same skills as the next guy. That builds more diversity in grouping and makes you have to prioritize. Yes pls.
What's going to make or break this for me is whether or not the group play will be robust or just an afterthought.
Im not gonna play this game either, lets just hope they wont cripple Everquest Next just to get it to fit better for ps3.I dont think you can make a good hybrid PC/console game,have to stick to one of the plattforms.
That system sounds fine to me? Same as Guild Wars and that game did just fine
It would be ridiculous if you could hot swap builds. The whole idea of a 'deck' system is to allow you variety and choice of your role for what you are attempting to do in that mission / quest / encounter. If you allowed hot swapping you would just be making stupid 'healing tank mages' out of everyone.
Group play is.. well, Im not having much luck with it do to the near constant game client crashes that everyone gets. Hard to keep a team together when everyone is rebooting all the time.
The group dynamic from a MMO point of view is different from others I've played. The tank can't hold agro, so you can't 'tank and spank' like some. If you are a damage dealer, you WILL die first and soon in a boss fight. Healing works ok, but with very few power increasing or modifying abilities, you run out of power after the 2nd group heal, and you are done till end of fight. Controlling is.. well, like I said before, a controlled mob is an invincible mob, immune to damage, so I find it more annoying then anything when mobs are 'held'.
Yup limited powers on your bar is very true.But its different and ive been playing it on PS3 opposed to my PC.It works well ,its fun,and its different then all the other BS thats been coming out.Im enjoying sitting in my recliner playing on my nice television.When something worth a shite comes out for PC ill go back but for now thank god for something different.I really didnt expect it but this game for me is just pure fun atm /shrug.
Darkfall - Sick
Earthrise - Sick
I will only respond to the first part of your rant, about the 6 power trays.
First I bet you never played Guild Wars or plan on playing Guild wars 2. In Guild wars you had 8 slots that could be filled between 2 classes. With a total close to 100 or more. (Don't remember the actual skills available). You had to load your spells/combat arts before you left the city or hubs, and could not change them in combat either. Guild wars 2 will be based on what weapon you have out and will only be able to use 5 or 6 at any time also. So what you are saying is not new, nor does it make the game incomplete.
what it does mean is that you will have to choose your abilites wisely based on a number of things. Where you are going, who will be with etc. Which in my opinion makes the game that much more interesting and challenging to play.
For the rest of your post, I just dont' see it. I find the game fun and the different power sets to be just that different. I have been in groups where the the tank does his job just fine holding agro. I find it loads of fun swtiching from dps to controler during battles. I have not tried the healer role yet, but I'm sure it will feel different to the other roles I have been playing.
Just because the game is not for you, does not mean it is not for others. So to tell players not to play based on your misconceptions is just wrong.
I keep trying to stick with the beta. The new UI improvements are welcome but i just can't get past the game play and powers. It's a shame as the game is proper moody and very immersive. Gotham and Metropolis feel and play great and the GFX are sweet (perfect skies! And I love the shimering haze as you look acreoss the bay in Gotham). Unfortuneately I hate the way my toons play and that's a pretty steep hill to cross. I guess I'll wait and see if launch changes anything.
There is NO miracle patch.
95% of what you see in beta won't change by launch.
Hope is not a stategy.
______________________________
"This kind of topic is like one of those little cartoon boxes held up by a stick on a string, with a piece of meat under it. In other words, bait."
I've played World of Warcraft for a very long time now.
Having 6+ hot bars for extra abilities is neat and all but you do not need them.
In the end there are certain abilities and spells each class in any game uses more often than others.
I cant think of a game ive played in my entire life that required me to use 10+ abilities consistently to play through.
I personally have enjoyed the powers available and i think the choice really comes with what you personally want to specifically build your powers around. Theres a ton of "talents" in the tree's to choose from, you dont need them all let alone probably half of them to build your character up.
It has tons of choices and options.
Jeremiah 8:21 I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief.
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I've played for weeks and I haven't crashed, not once.
While I think it may be possible at SOME point in a few years (never say never^^), this is pretty much how I feel right now.
Looking at FFXIV and how they are did the exact same thing with their UI to please Peter AND Paul led to nothing but a bad situation. The PC version mechanics play like crap with tons and tons of clicking required to navigate through menus. If you are a caster, you have to click several times just to nuke something. The only classes that get a break is the melee ones for the most part.
Now they have to scramble to put in a PC friendly set with that game, but I doubt it will every measure up.
"TO MICHAEL!"
I think you're more the exception than the rule.
Plenty times there was crashing, but I just chalked it up to beta.
You are the first person I've ever seen claim they never crashed so consider yourself quite fortunate.
"TO MICHAEL!"
Even game developers (single player games) are saying they've hit the limits of what is possible with the PS3, It stands to reason therefore that any game limited by old hardware - which no matter how you look at it.. both the PS3 and the XBOX are old hardware, but as the earliest date for the PS4 is 2016, i can't see that improving any time soon... one of the reasons too why im curious to see if FFXIV ever gets released on the PS3, or if it does, will it have the same functionality as the PC client, had a bit of a chuckle today at work when i was reading how a 'increasing' number of owners of the ps3 version of Black Ops, were asking for a refund, although the game is getting another patch to try and fix the problems on the ps3. Perhaps its time for MMO developers to rethink the multi platform idea, as i've yet to see a really successful one. The few that do exist seem to have gaping flaws that these days, just arent acceptable anymore.
6 Powers to choose from for each scenario or role that you wish to play, this sounds to me like a very tactical choice for what you want to accomplish with your game time, bravo to the developers for trying to get us the players to actually THINK rather than having to hunt around the net for some addon to make it easier to have my 100 plus skills up on the screen at once without clogging everything.
It's actually nice to have some limits placed on what I have available to me, rather than having everything handed to my on a plate, EQ1 has the exact same thing, limited spell/skill space, and it takes time to change things around aswell.
Mmm I disagree. Remember this is a beta. I think this game will do great.
Beeing able to access only 6 spells at any time when you might have 50+ in your spellbook sounds very boring.
It sounds more boring to me than if meeles only have 1 buttom to use since they only have a sword (or what ever weapon) to swing and the mages also only have one buttom to cast their magic with and healer only have the 1 healing spell.
But if there are many skills in your spellbook that you cant access since thi limit of some ancient consol soe made then I think I'll skip this game:-)
From the Lodestone (FFXIV officials):
This is how tough it is to intergrate these two platforms in a MMO while making play great for both. Someone always suffers..
"TO MICHAEL!"
I did not see the limitation to 6 powers as a deal breaker, but indeed something lame. Given how many powers one can chose even in half assed CO, this feels like a huge step back, given SOE prolly has the money, manpower and they had the time to make it better.
Indeed I think aiming for a console market was a great mistake. I just don't see so many console players paying a MMO with a monthly fee. Like in: not ever. Fp2 is on the rise anyway, and in the end only large REAL Triple A MMos will have fees. Which DCU just is NOT. I find it surprising, though, that a game company which made SWG and EQ2 made such fundamental mistakes, when based on what they showed to be capable, just should know better. Like how NGE showed how many MMORPG gamers DON'T like this limited action oriented thing in MMOs.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
In a MMO it is bad news if one group or another suffers more than the rest. That's just a recipe for disaster in a MMO. I would even say that's covered in MMO101. Too many people making MMOs now must have skipped a few classes.
This is really a common sense issue... even I know better than to attempt to do this... so why are Developers so eager to try and fail in integrating PC and Console? The technology can't support it yet, at least not for MMOs. The Platforms themselves are to uniquely different and specialized and MMOs were designed for the PC Platform. Which is why any attempt to create a MMO for both PC and console right now (with present technology) is a train wreck. Until Consoles become as advanced and as flexible as PC's it's waste of time and money.
Better to create two separate products than make one and screw it up.
I am the Player that wonders... "What the %#*& just happened?!"
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"I Believe... There should be NO financial connection or portals between the Real World and the Virtual in MMOs. "
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...scurrying to and fro... .munching on bits of garbage... always under foot...
I don't see the big deal on the powers, it's been done before and it worked well why can't it work well here. Sorry but I don't see Heroes/Villians going around with 20-40-60 different powers on hotbars all over the screen, plain and simple it would be retarded and the developers seem to understand that. GW had a great system also, that system should be implemented in other games too IMO, not having the same 5-10 hotbars all over your screen turning your character into a command center rather than something more intimate.
As for the crashing, not 'everyone' is crashing but it is on the forums that people are but for myself and the friends I play with we haven't crashed yet nor ran into anyone that has. For those that are crashing it's unfortunate and hope it's fixed soon.
Theres two things I would like to say about DCU . Firstly I've been in plenty of betas and all of them have had issues with crashing etc . Its just part of being in a beta and absolutly nothing can be read into it . Secondly if you like superhero mmos DCU is hands down the most impressive so far . As with any mmo if you dont want to waste your money hold out for reviews etc but its very difficult to get any real information from a pre release beta thread . I'm interested enough to try it a couple of months or so after release when the price comes down a little as it normally does .
It funny how you try to describe the game as only having 6 powers in your tray. First off, it is an action game first, mmo second so your 6 powers are used IN CONJUNCTION with your skills, you know the ones you do MOST of your damage with, the reason you are clicking your right and left buttons on your mouse is to attack, the power tray is a secondary group of abilities to fight with, unlike WoW where everything but auto attack is a tray skill.
Second, you do not have to die to change roles, if you think that you obviously are very bad at the game or don't understand the game's mechanics. In between combat you can push "T" to switch roles.
Third if the tank is in Tank role he can hold agro very well, it is not his job to to try to hold agro on an entire room and stop things from shooting you, it's his job to hold as much agro as he can while the combat happens, If you choose to not really help him by playing the dps role instead of your classes role, ie. Controller, Healer, then it is your job to use Line of Sight to help lower the dmg you are taking.
As I said before it is an action game first, mmo second you can actively block and dodge and use LoS, if you choose to stand in front of something you pissed off and let it use all it's powers on you to kill you instead of playing the game correctly be ready for many deaths.
Seeing that the OP can't even get off the rather simple rifle combos (They all consist of holding a button and one of your WASD keys at the same time), I'm a little concerned. I have a level 10-11 rifle character, and I feel all the combos come quite naturally while playing.
You complain about the 6 powers, but when you add in the all the combos you can complete with your weapons, I don't think you are too far off the number of skills you'd be using on a regular basis. As a mage in vanilla WoW, I don't think I really commonly needed more than 10-11 with any frequency be it raiding or PvP. A game isn't measured by the need to have something bound to CTRL+SHIFT+=.
Your complaints about not being able to switch roles in battle doesn't make sense. Dual specs in any MMO is a rather new concept, and those that support still can't do so in combat. This seems to be status quo.
Your complaints about a tank not having any real threat generation is something easily addressed in an update.
Hence the reason we have literally hundreds of MMO's, so that 1 is bound to appeal to a potential player.
If DCUO isn't going to offer you or the OP what your looking for there are plenty of other MMO's out there to be getting on with isn't there.
So your boring is my tactical choice, your access to multitudes of skills at once is my idea of info overload, and if ppl actually took the time to read what alot of skills actually do, such as in WoW for instance you soon start to realise they all seem to do very similar things, only the mana amount and cast times/CD's change, now thats just creating skills to fool ppl into thinking they have plenty of choices.
Oh, I agree you shouldn't be able to switch roles in the middle of a fight. I just pointed that out to silence those fanboi's that claim you can switch roles to get access to more then the 6 powers we are limited to now.
Also, there really isnt any tank, controler, healer, DPS difference in the game as it stands. On the last patch they nerfed power regen so bad that you gain NO power back in a fight, so healers can only fire off one big heal or two small heals in a fight before they are out of power and useless except for pathetic damage.
Tanks have no way to generate agro, as there is no taunting in this game and since tanks do less damage, they can't pull agro off anyone else. Tank forms aren't really that much tougher anyway, so nobody plays in them to avoid the severe loss of DPS.
Controllers don't really control so much as they prevent mobs from being harmed, which is more annoying then helpful most of the time.
The 'big' signature powers, like Ice Golem for the Ice set, require a full Overcharge bar, which can take a while to generate. And then, most last 5.. yes.. FIVE seconds, some for 8.
The more you play this game, the more you begin to wonder if anyone in SoE, or anyone in charge for that matter, has even played the game. Many of the changes in the last patch crippled players and builds, but SoE is known for ignoring player feedback, so one is really surprised by this Im sure.