DC Universe Online, quite possibly the comic book industry’s first real video game titan, has had its share of ups & downs during the 6 months that it’s been live. The question is, has this game got enough going for it to make it last?

Let’s start at the beginning. December 14th 2010, the beta goes live for Playstation Plus members. This is when I was able to take my first stab at DCUO. Looking back at the first impressions Mike had, I can attest to everything he said – it did have several technical issues that needed sorting out, but there was enough potential there for a great game and launch. Well, DCUO did have quite a strong launch; over 400,000 units sold within the first 10 weeks of its release. In fact, Sony Online Entertainment’s president John Smedley allegedly tweeted, “Working on out-of-stock problems for DCUO. It’s ou[r] fastest selling game ever.” But the staggering 20+ days Playstation Network outage definitely seems to have impacted the amount of players one can expect to see on DCUO.

It’s no secret that DCUO has been riddled with problems. Perhaps the most predominant issue is the ever-loving hard freezing that PS3 users can expect to experience almost once per log-in. Past issues included texture popping, user interface/menu freezing or lagging, server population and queues for instances, lack of patches, general gameplay mechanics, and the lack of endgame content – just off the top of my head.

I’m happy to say that several of the issues I experienced during the beta have been addressed. The chat interface has been modified, servers will be upgraded to “Megaservers”, and texture popping is nowhere near as noticeable as it was. Game mechanics are constantly being modified and in-game content is constantly being added (in some capacity).

When we get right down to it, there’s a few significant things about DCUO that are going to need to change. In my humblest of opinions, here’s what they are:

1. Patches.
   Sadly, we haven’t seen enough of these – or the changes have just been too small for us to notice (for the most part). Unless it’s one of SOE’s “game updates”, typically there’s little information regarding what kind of changes are being made. Consistent communication from SOE regarding these patches or game updates would surely make the player community to feel more involved in the game’s evolution.
2. Endgame content.
   While many could argue that there’s a ton of things to do once you’ve hit level 30, it can certainly get quite repetitive & monotonous. For example, the recent addition of the Two-Face/Penguin instance has certainly provided both a great challenge and ensures a varied playthrough from time to time.
3. Level cap.
   Another change that the development team may want to look at is expanding the level cap from 30 to 40. Even the most inexperienced players can literally accomplish leveling to 30 within as little as 2-3 days. Being tricked out in the most badass Tier 2 armor I can find is great & all, but I sure do miss my experience points. It’d also be nice to get my hands on some newer/stronger abilities.
4. Solo content.
   Unless you’re raiding, there is virtually no way for you to earn Tier 2 armor in a sensible amount of time. If you’re a casual player, this ultimately means you’re never going to make it to the big boss fights. Greater rewards or even larger-scale boss fights as solo content might help players feel less… frail.
5. Diversity.
   While there’s a fair amount of “styles” available to you by the time you’ve hit level 30, everyone seems to be wearing similar gear or using almost exactly the same items.
6. Locations.
   Currently there are only two cities within DCUO. Metropolis and Gotham. Granted, they’re perhaps the two most well known, but there are literally dozens of other locations that I’d love to see integrated into the game. The addition Themyscira or Khandaq would be a great way to spice up the game’s somewhat monotone appearance.
7. In-Game bug reporting.
   With the PS3 firmware, players can now provide SOE with crash reports. This should, ideally, help with the hard-freezing issue. Unfortunately, this is only an option that seems to be presented to us after the PS3 hard-freezes. The ability to provide in-game bug reports or present tickets to in-game moderators would be a huge benefit to the players, especially PC users that don’t have the ability to report crashes the way that PS3 users will.
8. Fine-tuning.
   Perhaps one of the greatest obstacles that even the most seasoned DCUO hero or villain will need to overcome is the gameplay mechanics. Learning when to block enemy attacks, which abilities will heal you and your party, etc. are all part of the curve, yes. But a mission or two where blocking/dodging is stressed or tought could certainly help players, even if only to survive longer.

In the coming weeks & months, we can expect to see DCUO at San Diego Comic Con (Booth #4436, July 21-24 2011). By that time, hopefully we have inner-faction dueling and Megaservers will be set up. Given the fact that SDCC is a massive venue, one can only assume that SOE will be showing off/announcing something grand. On July 1st, a tweet was made via the DCUO twitter account that they’d be offering “a brand new hands-on demo” at SDCC.  I’m honestly holding out for a new mentor for both factions (Green Lanterns & Sinestro Corps?). Rumor also has it that SOE may be bringing DCUO to a “free-to-play” format.

Despite these 8 points I’ve made, the game is still running strong. With the recent addition of the digital download and the semi-constant stream of new content, DCUO has certainly earned itself one heck of a dedicated fan-base. Rome wasn’t built in a day – critics of DCUO should keep in mind that the game is far less than a year old. Behemoths such as WoW didn’t get to where they are overnight either.

Now, if you’ll excuse me; Gotham isn’t going to save itself.

(You can find Rob on his main character “Blynk” or his secondary “Ixion” along with the rest of the POA crew on the PS3 Server, Justice.)

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