DC Universe Online

DC Universe Online's Game Update 9: Assemble For Battle is now live and operational, and it brings with it a few very interesting features, especially for players interested in group content. One of said features is the addition of role-optional alerts. As any MMO player knows, there's often a rather large population disparity between various roles. Generally, there's a ton of DPS with much lower numbers of tanks and healers, which can make finding a group a PITA if you're in the former camp.

As of this update, all alerts are considered role-optional, which means the longer a group waits in the group-finder for a certain role (such as a tank or a healer), the less picky the group-finder will be about filling that role. For instance, if a healer can't be found after a substantial period of time, the role will be filled by another available role. This is possible thanks to the team buff. Any time three or more group members are within range and line-of-sight of one another, the whole group will gain a buff to compensate for missing roles. For instance, a group missing a tank will get a damage mitigation buff, a group without a healer will get a health regeneration buff, and so forth. The official post notes that "the buffs are by no means a replacement for having the actual role in your group. But with some self-reliance, it will... allow you to complete the Alert successfully." For the full details on the new system, plus other features such as Novice Raids, click on through the link below to the official site.

If you've been enjoying DC Universe Online ever since the game switched business models, odds are good you're looking toward the endgame by now. Game Update 9, which is coming soon, will make getting into that endgame even easier via the addition of Novice Raids. This new difficulty setting still allows players to experience all the storyline of Fortress of Solitude, Kahndaq, and the Batcave, but the difficulty will be notched down so that players can get a better feel for what they're doing.

Of course, if you're not into the endgame rush, you've still got something to look forward to with the new role-optional alerts system. In essence, players will now be able to queue for Alerts without needing to put together a balanced group; in the event that a role is missing, a team buff will be applied to ensure that the area can still be cleared. That means that even with nothing but Damage characters, you can still explore all of DC Universe Online's group content, something that should allow for some novel player approaches once the update goes live.

[Update: SOE has also issued a statement about plans for the game's PvP in 2012. The full quote is after the cut.]

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Roses are red, violets are blue, Valentine's Day will be back eventually in DCU... O.

Fortunately for those disappointed with the lackluster event last year, SOE agreed with the general sentiment and promised that the future version will be the snugglebunny event of the season. However, it looks like the new, improved Love Day feats won't make it to the game in time for February 14th.

That said, the team is already focusing on several upcoming events to coincide with each of the major seasons. "Over the next cycle, starting with summer, we will be adding the following: Boss fights to Summer, Winter, and Spring, and open world content to Fall," Creative Director Jens Andersen writes. The next scheduled event in DCUO is for March's St. Patrick's Day.

Hopefully, by this time next year DCUO will be in a more loving mood with Valentine's Day 2.0!

Given the popularity of Batman, Superman, and the rest of the DC Comics license, you'd think an MMO based in and around Gotham City and Metropolis would be nothing short of wildly successful.

If anything, though, DC Universe Online (as well as dearly departed Sony Online Entertainment titles like Star Wars Galaxies and The Matrix Online) has proved that big-name IPs are not a surefire recipe for an MMO blockbuster. While DCUO has picked up a head of steam over the past couple of months, it took a free-to-play business model conversion to help the superhero title achieve success in its rookie year.

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It's patch day for DC Universe Online, and when the superhero title comes back up, denizens of Gotham and Metropolis will have a new research and development system to play with. The R&D mechanic is DCUO's answer to traditional MMO crafting, and characters at level 10 and above will want to head to either the Watchtower or the Hall of Doom for an introduction to the new mechanics.

The R&D system brings equipment mods and superior consumables to the game, and it's broken down into four major gameplay spheres: researching, gathering, salvaging, and collecting. Researching involves finding upgrade plans throughout the game world while gathering involves acquiring exobytes. Salvaging is all about turning items into crafting materials, and collecting hinges on getting drops from various boss mobs.

The new mechanics are free for all players via the game's eighth major update. The patch notes can be viewed on the official DCUO forums.

[Source: Sony Online Entertainment press release]

Following a rocky and often-troubling year for Sony Online Entertainment in 2011, it's got to be good to have a clear win for the team. So we certainly can't begrudge SOE President John Smedley from climbing to the mountaintops to trumpet EverQuest II's success following its full free-to-play transition last month.

According to a series of tweets, Smedley says that the numbers are looking impressive: "We are seeing some amazing growth in EQII. 40% increase in daily logins since going F2P, 300% increase in new players, and 200% increase in item sales. Plus we have added a lot of new subs. All during the time that some really good competition hit the market."

Smedley also says that SOE is "very excited" with its partnership with ProSiebenSat.1, which grants exclusive publishing rights in Europe to eight of the studio's titles, including EverQuest, DC Universe Online, and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures.

If you are perusing this column, chances are you are a fan of virtual worlds and the sandbox genre. Join the club! (Dues will be due on the third Tuesday.) The aspect that compels many aficionados to delve into a game is the ability to make an impact on the world in some small respect instead of making them into Hive Member 1593072 running a static, predetermined gauntlet. How that impact is accomplished, however, varies; there are multiple features that can facilitate it, and which ones are considered most important depends on the player.

With the loss of one of the best sandbox games just last month, some players may be feeling a void. Others still are looking/hoping for the "ultimate" sandbox that contains nearly every virtual world feature. Certainly, there are some upcoming games that make some drool-worthy promises, but what about playing something now? There are actually games out on the market that have at least one aspect of the genre, if not more.

To start off the new year, Some Assembly Required looks at some of the top features of virtual worlds and lists games that incorporate these features. While this list isn't exhaustive (considering the sheer number of games when you include all of the smaller free-to-play titles, I'd run out of column space!), it is a comprehensive enough overview to point you toward some games worth playing that perhaps you hadn't considered before.

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There's nothing like a little crafting to spice up a game. In the wake of what appears by all accounts to be a successful free-to-play transition, DC Universe Online is giving players a new way to enjoy a little crafting in the form of the Research & Development system. A preview of the system has just arrived, showing off how to get started as well as what can be uncovered by patient research.

Once a character hits level 10, he or she can begin to gather Exobits, which can in turn be forged together into Exobytes at R&D stations. Using plans either found in the world or bought from specialized vendors players can then combine Exobytes into equipment mods or consumables, both of which can help boost players beyond their current levels of power. The system is set to debut along with the other features of Game Update 8, so there's only a little more time until players can get their hands on the materials and see what develops.

2011 was an odd duck of a year for MMO news. A huge chunk of the year felt devoid of significant releases, but that was mitigated somewhat by the major launches of RIFT and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Titles got shoved back to 2012 or beyond, MMOs that we thought never would go free-to-play did, and the industry continually surprised us with revelations, ideas, and controversy.

So in my last Perfect Ten of 2011, I put together the 10 most significant MMO stories of the year. Ten seems like an awfully small number for such a great big field, so I had the rest of the staff members chime in with their nominations just to make sure I wasn't too off-base with any of these.

It was a whopper of a year, and Massively was there for all of it -- the ups, the downs, the queues, and the QQs. It's time to wrap it up with a pretty bow and dedicate it to the history museum!

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This has been quite a week when it comes to geek-related movie trailers. First off, we finally got a proper trailer for the third installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise. Then, Peter Jackson blew us away (again) with a nostalgia-inducing peek at his return to Middle-earth.

What the heck do either of these blessed events have to do with MMORPGs? Well, not a lot, admittedly, unless -- like me -- you're now seriously considering a return to DC Universe Online and Lord of the Rings Online. In any event, the trailers are so collectively awesome that I can't help but make a Daily Grind out of them. The traditional question goes something like this: do big-name IP releases make you want to revisit MMOs?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

By now you're probably aware of DC Universe Online's impending content pack. Lightning Strikes drops this Tuesday, December 6th, and in case you weren't already excited, PC Gamer's got a bit more for you to chew on.

In addition to a new Central City map and a new set of electricity-based superpowers, DCUO is adding some origin content designed to titillate DC Comics fans and introduce newbs to the canon's long and storied history. Sony Online Entertainment creative director Jens Andersen told PC Gamer that the Flash's Cosmic Treadmill is the first of several origins-type devices slated to appear in the superhero MMO, and SOE plans to let players revisit "the origin stories of DC's biggest villains and heroes."

The initial origin story occurs in one of DCUO's duo instances, where you and a friend will be whisked back in time to the night that Barry Allen rode the lightning and became The Flash. Head to the PC Gamer for the full article text, and check out the Lightning Strikes teaser video after the break.

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December 6th is shaping up to be quite a big day for Sony Online Entertainment. Not only is EverQuest II's latest expansion slated to debut, but so is the new Lightning Strikes content pack for DC Universe Online. The pack is free for subscribers and $9.99 for F2P folk.

There's plenty of bang for your buck too, and it all starts with a new power set (electricity) and continues with new gear, a new open-world map (Central City), and plenty of new DC Comics characters and missions to populate it. New faces include Livewire, Black Lightning, The Top, and The Trickster, and you can learn more about DCUO -- as well as download the client -- at the game's official web destination, and we've tucked the newest trailer right after the break.

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DC Universe Online is one of the most recent games to make the business model change over to free-to-play, but that alone isn't an assurance of a game's success. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. And according to the latest Twitter posts by John Smedley on his feed, that pudding is exceptionally rich; Since the business model switch, the game's revenues have been up an astonishing 700% per day, with 53% of the revenue coming from the PlayStation 3 players.

The playerbase is growing, as well, with about a 6% increase per day. Apparently, 85% of players are returning players, and it would seem that many of them are happy with what they see judging by the growth in both revenue and total population. Enough to purchase more characters, even -- extra character slots are one of the most popular items in the cash shop, with the Vanguard of the Heavens skin being the other most popular item. It's an interesting set of numbers, showing that the proof is most certainly in the pudding -- and it's quite a lot of pudding.

DC Universe Online has had a lot to say about its recent free-to-play transition, with the game boasting a one million player increase since the change took place. But that's in the past already; what's en route in the near future? Well, today Sony Online Entertainment is announcing the latest round of DLC for the freshly F2P superhero game.

The new DLC is entitled Lightning Strikes, and it focuses on everyone's favorite speedster, Flash. The update will bring a variety of new content for veteran and fledgling players alike. So what can players look forward to when Lightning Strikes? We sat down with some of the game's developers to find out, so follow on past the cut and have a gander.

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So the other day I was browsing the local comic shop and catching up on a two-year absence from the hobby. There was a lot of backlog, naturally, but there were also some curious new game-related tie-ins that caught my eye. In addition to Arkham City and DC Universe Online: Legends titles, I also picked up installments one and two of Star Wars: The Old Republic - Lost Suns, which is apparently a five-issue special that offers a bit of backstory for BioWare's upcoming opus.

Multimedia crossovers are nothing new, of course, but this was the first time I'd seen MMO comic book products outside of a collector's edition box. What about you, Massively folk? Are you a sucker for MMO novels, comics, figurines, or other extra-game collectibles?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!