Openworld clamp removal

As a returning player (or… more like a player who plays for a month or two, then leaves for 6-8 months) I realise that once feats are done - they’re done! Very few people wish to re-run them (even as league help) that’s fair enough! No-one should expect that.

But!.. on the EU side - it is a literal ghos town in anything outside of the latest content. I’m talking 2-5 people in entire DLC’s from Khandaq down. Most DLC’s have absolutely zero people from about doomed Washington. I’d be more than happy to show a video highlighting this. I’d even post a new one daily (at peak times) to show how empty it is. The EU is NOT the U.S servers. Its population is frighteningly low!

I’ve no interest on people’s opinions of the clamp. Most got their feats whilst it was inactive, or… benefited from someone coming in and steamrolling content. Many of those people now want to rant on about how unclamping “devalues the game” etc :/ uh huh!

There are a plethora of feats locked behind open-world bosses (KO x times etc) and… these can’t be achieved, because simply put! There is no-one to run them. (If you miss reset day - GL trying to find groups later in the week)

The EU has quite a few different time zone issues too, making it even harder! People sub to play ALL of the content; and to be able to run content for feats much of that includes open-world now. How are people expected to complete feats, when the spend literal hours shouting for help - with no reply?!

Open-world clamps should be removed! And allow people to grind out the feats they want to actually grind. I’ve no issue at all putting in the hours. But I can’t do it alone! And the gap now between the very end game sp, vs the more casual sp is no longer a gap - it’s a gaping hole.

People stand around in say… Thanagar, waiting for bosses to spawn, but can’t get players to create 2/3 phases. They kill 3 bosses, then get bored and leave.
The amount of sp that is unattainable atm, is infuriating!! I could go tank them all, day after day, for months! But I’m not insane! People have been complaining about the clamp for a long time now! They aren’t complaining for fun! Or attention… they just want to continue to play the game, but be able to solo things that are now obsolete to most the community (but still hold value sp whys) but mostly! People simply don’t wanna spend half their day grinding bosses that need K.O’d 100 times etc. The age range of new players are much younger now. They see it as antiquated and boring! (Which it is!)

If the open-world clamps won’t be removed (and for the life of me! I truly can’t understand why they wouldn’t be) feats should be given as part of the CR jump, or made available to purchase. Or just flat out given away (along with pvp feats) they’d be as well being removed from the game entirely. That’s just a chaotic clown show.

Give players what they want! Not what an exceptionally small number don’t want. Get rid of the clamp in open-world, and let us play the game we pay for, to enjoy as a team, or solo.

I returned to the game in July 2022 on a brand new EUPS/PC account. My main is a villain and it took me around 6-8 months to finish the last of those bounty feats, without help from an active league, or friends. I have been playing this game a lot and I'm usually on after reset and on weekends, so that helped. I looked out for any feat farms, which happen every now and then. Villain LFG is pretty much dead most of the time, but if I was playing on a hero alt and saw a bounty group forming, I'd switch to my main, go to Starro in CC, or wherever they were farming and just tag along. I'm also able to solo almost all of those bounties in DPS role, so did a lot of that while killing time, waiting for raids. Or I'd just run the bounties in a small 2-3 player group, which is totally manageable.

If you play casually and only for 2 months out of the year - you'll probably find those feats difficult to accomplish, but then - you don't need all the feats. There are plenty of things to do in the game, a lot of solo feats and there need to be some things that take time and effort. It's an old school MMORPG, you're not supposed to be done with it in a few months.

Every Clamped Bounty t5-t6 is easier to solo now than they were pre-Clamp. The open worlds are more populated now than they were pre-Clamp. The "kill x bounty y times" Feats are also more manageable to get now. Before, the only incentive to kill them was the Feat. Now we get 8 source mark per bounty.

Just by doing dailies current Ep down to AFIII on Villain, I run into 1 or more Hero groups on a bounty run most days. If I need on the Toon I'm on, I'll tag along. and usually ditch them when I get tired of how slow people can be. I'd rather spend 7mins soloing each, than spend 5mins waiting on people each open world.

You could always make your own group. Just type "Need people t5-t6" in LFG and invite people who show up at Starro. Just don't be that guy that stays in HoL, waiting on pms.

Whilst I appreciate what you’re trying to say. I can also solo a fair few of the bounties as a dps. This is my 3rd account since joining in 2013. (I’m not gonna go into why! But it’s not what ppl would think) I’ve still an old video up of solo’ing para about 7+ years ago, trying to do it in under a minute. That’s why I’m talking about. That level of burn! I’ve 577sp. (I made this account in 2020, and played for a week or so, the ln left for 2 years, and came back sporadically; which still continues) Feats ALWAYS kept me most content on this game. I don’t play anywhere near as much now; and do join most things I see in LFG. But… it’s still reliant on random finds to get that.
The truth is… I do wanna steamroll my way through very old content again, so I can be done with it forever. And I can’t see any valid reason to keep a clamp that no-one wants in openworlds that are empty af! I wanna go an slap all bosses like they owe me money!
I don’t want to have to run solo builds in-order to complete things that I should be able to destro in seconds. (It’s not laziness etc. I did most the feats I need now, YEARS AGO! It’s about playability. Not everyone can sit online for most the day now. And for returning, or “casual” players now… many of these feats are unattainable simply due to numbers.

I wanna be able to hit reset, and go farm my T5-6 all alone. And even though I could do many alone, it takes ages. I don’t have that time, nor patients anymore.
This clamp was about “allowing newer players to experience it how it was meant to be played” yet… the game actively promotes getting you to EG asap. The open-worlds are devoid of people. New players haven’t a hope in hell! Removing the clamp for open-world makes total sense. It allows players to farm, and stay online. The entire goal is to keep players online as much as possible (the longer online, the more chance they’ll spend RLM) the only reason I can think for not lifting it; is that it diverts traffic away from EG content. Why farm feats - when you can feel inferior in EG content (not me personally) and go buy arts and allies, and more arts to swap! Now you’re “OP”

Truth is… feats are the only thing that motivate me to continue playing. The content is pathetic! Feats are contstantly ruined because some doofus can’t stop pew pew’ing, or the language barrier prevents it. I just can’t think of a reason to keep the clamp in place for open-worlds. It would benefit the whole game. The world be more active! New (legit players would get help) and the argument can’t be made that they’d not learn anything if someone steamrolls, because they don’t learn now as it stands. Source mark farming can’t be a thing once intially completed (unless reset obviously) I mean… the game would be buzzing again. Isn’t that the point? To have “sticky players” staying and playing? More so makes players feel stronger, they get more into their toons, and start taking them really seriously, they tend to spend more money as this happens on replays and cosmetics (booster bundles etc) it makes sense to lift it now. And just makes life so much easier! Most on the game now have many of their feats because the clamp wasn’t there. Why does it matter now with a very much diluted population?

As an advocate for players enjoying DCUO (and gaming in general) responsibly, props for balancing the game with other activities and responsibilities when doing both aren't possible or practical. In keeping with that mindset, couldn't you just readjust your priorities not to worry so much about the several ridiculous counting feats in past episodes? If you can, and you don't get the change you want, please try to hang in there. As limited as you've described the population to be, your server needs you, fam Either way, kudos for not suffering in silence (so to speak).

Also, consider passing on to people who are spending subscription money to play the full game that doing so is no longer necessary. Good share, and just know that reasonable forum members understand why you mentioned the counter-argument but hopefully the team is bright enough to take your personal experiences on their own merits when making their decisions. Nice post.

Absolute nonsense! All bosses could be slapped in seconds before the clamp. I used to end most boses in a heartbeat years ago. And as stated! Not everyone can sit/or chooses too anymore, online constantly now. Many only have certain days or hours to play. The clamp serves no purpose! It was a bad idea to begin with! It was brought in to stear players towards EG, and run that content, rather than old content. Now open-worlds are literally empty! Thanagar and death metal are the only places you’ll find a few players. There’s 13 years of content absolutely empty!

They are not as empty as they were before. As you say yourself: The only reason you want to go back is for Feats. Once you have your Feats you want to never return. The only reason anyone had to be there before was for either Feats or the very brief window when they were at relevency. Now everyone gets source marks at least. During my dailies, I tend to actually see other people, something I never did before.

Without video proof, I can't believe Shadow Golem, Metal Bat, Synn or Calc Bot could ever be slapped in secends by 1 person, when they were Raid Bosses, even at 342 vs Bat's 276. Unless speed hacks was involved, which still exist.

Obviously that’s what I want! The feats, then to move on to the next relevant open-world etc. I’m going back years here, I’m not talking about calc bot etc. ALL bosses! when the cr differential becomes so great, you went in and clapped everything in sight. Even just 50+ cr was enough to wreck everything. This didn’t break the game! It was a representation that you were to OP for that event, and you mostly went in to help ppl after you’d finished with that dlc. You still couldn’t slap around at level bosses alone.

Are you honestly telling me you wouldn’t prefer being able to go solo all t5-6 at your leisure, within a short period of time, once a week for marks, and then for feats, and then move on to the next thing? Giving you more free time to focus on EG (if that’s what you want) unclamping open-world wouldn’t affect anything apart from ppl being able to play the game more in clamped areas. Marks wouldn’t be affected. You’d get your same weekly marks, and if you want more… you’d pay for the reset. There’s no more valid reason to have it in place. I made a video about 3 days ago at around 7pm, going to every open-world one after another. (I deleted it by accident) there were a whopping total of 14 ppl in all worlds accessible via teleporter. 26ppl in both Gotham and met, 6 in WT. 2 phases in HoL had combined 118ppl. Cursed had 27ppl over 3 phases. And if you play EU, you know this isn’t “a bad day”

This is how open-worlds should be now. Once you’ve passed the CR differential. This was an old account of mine many years ago. Not, spec into health and sheilds and whatever else to survive, and get KO’d and have to rush back to get the boss etc. simple in and out, move on! That’s what the clamp took away. Now… I’m still talking about open-worlds. Not in content. (Though… I’d prefer that went too)

1: That's Paradox Wave, not a t5 bounty.
2:That seems to be from an era before Stats Revamp. Nice job blaming Clamp for taking something away that was already gone.

If all you want is feats for nothing, then you're obviously going to be disappointed. Maybe it's not the game for you anymore. I enjoy my feats more when I've actually earned them. One-shotting group bosses is not fun, or even a game.

That’s what the clamp is. A clamping of CR differential. So you don’t become so overpowered - you can do this. That’s what bosses used to be like. That’s where so much sp came from.

Not feats for nothing! You still have to wait, on spawns, to do the task the same amount of times. You just aren’t restricted on your damage. I enjoy at level feats too. I don’t enjoy being restricted in to long, drawn out fights, that require help, when it can be solo’d as above, if they’d remove the restrictions. If you don’t like that! Fantastic! You’ve said your bit. Now ppl know where you stand on that. Enjoy your day!

I apologize, let me rephrase that.

If all you want is feats for waiting, then you're obviously going to be disappointed. Maybe it's not the game for you anymore. I enjoy my feats more when I've actually earned them. One-shotting group bosses is not fun, or even a game.

You can just ignore those feats, if they're too much hassle and focus on the parts of the game you want to put the effort it.

You are using the term "CR Differential" wrong. The clamp is NOT a CR Differential, it is literally what it says it is. Your stats are adjusted to a set number, either up or down, depending on what content you are going into.

CR Differential was a system that literally looks at your CR number and compares it to the enemy NPC. If you were below it, you took more damage and dealt less damage. If you were above it, you took less damage and dealt boosted damage. If you were equal, you did normal damage. It was a terrible system we had during the monthly content and I'm glad is gone. By far the worst system they introduced to the game.

Also note, the reason why content is clamped is to get players to run content for new and returning players. It allowed them to give rewards to content that we would be otherwise outgear and be useless to. Which was called CR Relevancy and was also introduced during monthly content.

You want the rewards, you gotta earn them at least a little bit. The clamp is not bad, but it does have some problems that would be nice if they went back through and worked on outliers, but the open world isn't really the problem. It's clamped elite content that is.

Yes! And your CR and stats are clamped in events according to dlc. Otherwise, you could do this. Regardless of the terms used. This would be the result if they removed it. Turn up! Murder everything, Get your feats (or partial feat progression) leave. Return ALONE, rinse&repeat.

The clamp hasn’t worked! DLC’s are dead. No-one can dispute that! Open-worlds are dead! Removing it for them would allow ppl to play a game, whose population is in decline. For those who want to carry on playing and earning feats (and they would still be earnt) just not needing many people. I don’t play dc to be limited to the current dlc, and a few raids that remain relevant by community interest. And I don’t wish to go ion a mind-numbing solo expedition on bosses for some marks. (Which actually defeats the purpose of a world boss anyway) if it can be solo’d, then why not just allow the process to be sped up anyway?

I don’t get it! What is the objection against this? That it’d make the game too easy? Too monotonous? Maybe it’s that people don’t want people getting “easy feats”? But as stated… you’d still have to wait for all bosses to spawn etc, you’d just be able to go at them easier. What exactly is the objection too this?…

I would refer you to the on-going thread below. You can read all the arguments and counter arguments posted by fellow Forum members on this very topic:
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/open-world-stat-clamp.329832/

But it does work. It did at least revitalize the older content. Players are at least running the weekly queues for the Source Mark rewards. Players do return to older bounties each week to get the 8-24 marks each area provided it does have a reward that grants 8 marks. (Yes, there are a few that give only 1 mark and aren't worth it, which you could argue needs something to incentivize and revitalize them.)

I think you are trying to say it is bad because you don't like it. I'm not a fan of it either, but it's not the devil and isn't bad for players. The whole anti-clamp argument is lost, when they say they don't even run the content. It's like theory crafting, you should apply it and try it before you don't like it.

Open world bounties have almost always been a group kill. The only one soloing it where either players with a lot of patience or want a challenge. This goes back all the way to Lightning Strikes Central City Bounties. Let's face it, the problem isn't the clamp, it's the rewards. You feel it's not worth your time to go and complete them. And I do agree, the way that the bounty system is built, if you don't do it when new, it becomes a lot harder to do later, especially on low populated servers. But this happens even outside of the clamp. Look at how few people are running Static Shock bounties. They aren't clamped yet.

I tried it, I didn't like it, I only run it when asked to by my friends & league mates. I find it a loathsome experience.

What might help the open world bounties and weeklies be more active is for them to reset daily or every few hours.
It would be more accurate with the instances content not having loot locks for replay badges and not waiting for the weekly raids resets. Can now grind them constantly for source marks.
Maybe a way to do the weeklies and bounties more often than waiting on their weekly reset.