This game is in a dire state.

Can we be honest for a second? The game isn't doing well right now, and unless there's a major revamp (unlikely), then I can see this game shutting down in the next year or so. We started to see signs in the middle of last year during the name reclaim, which was supposed to incentivize players to come back, buy name tokens, and play the game; however, this plan failed miserably as most players didn't even buy name tokens, and just left the game again once they got the names they wanted.

In October, a new DLC released, which didn't bring back that many players. In the midst of this, a booster bundle was dropped with a $100-200 bonus. Then came the $30 limited edition shaded noir comic on the week of Black Friday. Right off the heels of the booster bundle, was the resurgence capsule which had a $100 bonus. Now, the booster bundle is back and has been around for almost 3 months now. Do you not see the problem here? Either the company isn't receiving enough revenue to stay afloat or they are milking us bone dry before they shut down.

Whether people want to acknowledge or not, the population is on a decline and it has been for some time. There are less people in usually populated areas and the queue times are atrocious, and this is coming from someone who plays on the US PC/PS servers, which are usually the most populated. Imagine how bad it is for switch, xbox, and EU US/PC players. Sadly, cross-play across all platforms will likely never happen, but we can at least alleviate the issue by merging US PC/PS and EU PC/PS servers,

As mentioned before, the game is going to have to undergo a major revamp to bring back its players. For one, the game is still plagued by year old bugs that need to be fixed. Certain capes are transparent when you apply materials to them, RPG seems to be bugged for rare older styles/base items as they are almost impossible to obtain, lightstream superspeed movement styles are still invisible, and certain feats from older episodes are bugged and cannot be completed.

Another issue is the stat clamp. I'm indifferent to the topic, but I can also recognize what a stat unclamp would do for the game. It's clear a lot of players left due to this change, so an unclamp would bring a lot of people back. Most people are only bitter about the stat clamp because of how hard they worked for the feats, but in the same breath, they'd tell you that you need a certain amount of skill points to run with them. I could care less about someone completing a feat in a second that took me an hour, 5 years ago. Seriously, I wonder do the people who sit on the forums all day even play the game.

Also, a lot of players don't really have a reason to play. There isn't anything else to do after completing dailies, seasonals, or DLC content other than just sit around. I remember playing the game years ago, and being able to run PvP after reaching the highest CR. If the developers/company want people to consistently play their game, there needs to be a PvP revival. The DLC content is also very repetitive. It's always "kill 20 enemies," and so on. There needs to be some variation with missions like the older episodes. Incorporating fun minigames like the ones in the Homecoming seasonal would make the game so much more fun.

The greed in this game needs to stop. Artifacts, augments, and allies are already pricy, and new ones are releasing every so often. If they were freely account bound then maybe people would actually be encouraged to spend money on them. As many players have mentioned, a marketplace that refreshes weekly with different items from time capsules, booster bundles, etc. would be a great way to maintain revenue for the game. On top of that, they would still have things like catalysts, replay badges, bases, etc. that people could buy at any.

The game doesn't appeal to old players who left due to what I've previously mentioned. It also doesn't appeal to new players, due to artifacts/allies/augments (the three awful A's) not being account bound and several hundred skill points that are continuously racking up. At a certain point, skill points should stop giving sp and just give the players something else like more cash, catalysts, replay badges, etc. There is no reason why we should need almost 1000 skill points.

Actually listen to what the players want. The Blue Beetle community vote was a good way at hearing the community out, but there's also threads where players advocate for things they want to see and it gets a lot of likes. However, we rarely see these things be put into the game. Also, we need an update on older styles and skins. It seems the developers are actively working on this (hopefully), but just in case, I wanted to mention it.

Lastly, actually suspend toxic players. I've reported people with screenshots and I've seen them back on the game the next day, and it's usually people with an extensive record of toxicity. Maybe we need in-game moderators to see this issue firsthand so it can be better handled.

This will go over the head of a lot of delusional players, but it had to be said. This is currently the only superhero MMO we have with okay graphics, so the potential is there. We obviously aren't getting a DCUO 2, so the developers/company should do their best to keep what they have and build upon it. Obviously, it's easier said than done, but if they can't recoup players, then the game's as good as dead.

TL;DR: The game is dying.

The game hardly does sales it hardly communicates with the community. When a game does that it means it's making millions and doesn't need to try at all to impress anybody. The population might be dying but the game has already made a fortune off of it and will continue to live for a very long time because of it

The booster bundle came back for the anniversary event and Mr. M*** forgot to remove it

I hate to say I "Like" this post...


But, I definitely agree.

I kind of agree with some of the things you mentioned.. But with them adding extra incentives to Booster Bundles and Resurgence Capsules to make more money, that is not really a big deal. It was probably successful that could be why the Booster Bundle is still around.

I actually don't mind that, it is a guaranteed item with the money you spent vs the random chance to get a item you want. I probably would have bought the Booster Bundle offers as well, but I don't really find any of the current Booster Bundle styles appealing.

I'd imagine that will be the standard going forward and I hope they do the same with TC's, you get the guaranteed rarest item in the TC after opening a set amount.

Anyhow, they definitely need to be addressing bugs, punishing toxicity in game, and they could always be doing more to make the game more appealing in in general.

The skill point range is massive now and there is so much going on now in terms of what players need to level up. It is pretty crazy and understandably overwhelming to newer and or returning players. But I'm not really sure what could be done about all that though, as either way they go, removing stuff will piss people off, granting people stuff will piss people off, selling people stuff will piss people off, etc.

And yeah player feedback is very important, but that being said, there is a lot of viewpoints and not everyone shares the same opinion and the devs also have to think about what they view is best for the game.

In regards to the game dying, to some people its been dying since 2011.. But to me, when I see all PS/PC servers get merged, Switch/Xbox servers shut down, og items being sold in the marketplace, no new content for anything coming out, etc.

Then, yeah, the game is dying and they are just trying to make money however they can. Until then, eh, it's doing.. alright.. at least enough to keep the lights on for us.

The clamp has hurt my leagues’ ability to catch up on old feats; and I mentioned before it began that the limit they chose was too restrictive. They should have extended the advantage a few more episodes back in time.

But, at this point I would recommend just making it part of a weekly event. For this week, let’s say everything in Riddled with Crime unclamped for just this week. It would give a chance for people who need the help in getting feats, but they better do it this week or they’ll have to wait a long time for another chance. FOMO. It would also breathe a little life into these episode spotlight weeks where the bonus marks aren’t quite as big of a draw in many cases.

Even under that weekly event model, it still won’t make everything automatically easier. If Source Wall is unclamped right now, it will only help a little. But after a few more episodes come out, the unclamp will make more of a difference. A few more episodes come out after that, it makes more of a difference. It won’t be fast, and you would have to wait for the unclamp week to come around too. FOMO

Removing the clamp on a per episode basis as part of the spotlight? Brilliant idea!

And I better not see any pro-clampers running it unclamped (but you know they would).

This is supposed to appear -before- your volumes of text that do nothing but offer yet another rehash of countless versions of the same opinion.

So you're complicit with the game's current state? Very well then. Thanks for the feedback!

No my guy, do you have an audio book version?

This is a very good idea. Unfortunately doesn't solve the real problem at hand which is everybody's problem. only 3% don't think the clamp is a problem. The real problem is no matter how many base stats you progress with stats revamp will always make you eat more clamp leaving you progressionless for your hard work and effort. Meaning just play with experienced players so you don't need the CR or base stats of any kind. It's actually an insanely ridiculous revamp I can't believe anybody enjoys this one bit. I get that we're all hanging on and waiting for a new revamp but this is just a bigger problem than you think it is. Stats revamp was not well received myself and others quit the game the day we tried it out. It's like all that progression we worked for was completely gone and now we're forced to play with experienced players and use artifacts. It was just a very bad decision and wasn't well received at all. I do like your idea but I wouldn't waste development time on something so little

Link is for informational purposes only. This is a cut and post link.
Every Video Game Industry Layoff In 2024 (kotaku.com)
https://kotaku.com/game-industry-layoffs-how-many-2024-unity-twitch-1851155818

I post this link to show there are bigger issues at play in the gaming industry. I believe that Daybreak and all the gaming industry priorities are retooling their overall business's. I think that once the smoke has cleared, individual games, especially legacy games, will get more focused attention. I believe that is why we have an Everquest CM and the new creative director is waiting for what direction he will be allowed to go in before posting anything.

For now, I hope the DCUO community will show the company (EG7/DB) that we are united in keeping the game around. Myself, I will always continue to hope for the best.

Peace and DCUO Forever

Chances are better-than-decent that an unclamped week of content would probably end up having rewards removed due to their stance on not earning things like Marks in content that was below your CR. Remember, Marks were brought back into that content because players were clamped. Despite all the staff changes and silence, there hasn't been any indication that that particular stance has changed.

So no, I probably wouldn't be running any older unclamped content. No Marks? No reason to run it. And considering the number of people I kept seeing when dipping into the Riddled with Crime Amusement Mile area this week, I'm inclined to think that increased Marks is a better motivating factor than feats.

Yes, this game is in a dire state. No one single act or action has brought us here. Some things have been well within dev control and other things, not so much.

Between the Jack exodus and now, the recent layoffs, I can't imagine staff morale is very high. It's unreasonable to fault the remaining devs for any and all delays caused by these issues.

Extra/premium unlocks on Booster Bundles and the like, zero issue with it. A bit aggressive on the sticker price but given there is zero in game impact to the styles that you get for such a premium, if people want to pay, who cares. The monetization of Wolf Pack Artifacts... that I have a bit of an issue with. And even then, it's less about the dollar amount and more about the lack of a true in game option being available. But I have my artifacts where I want them, certainly well beyond the point I need them for how I approach the game.

The monetization is something we'll have to keep a careful eye on though, it could very easily eek its way to a not so nice state. I think part of the reason the aggressive pricing stands out so much is it has come at a time when we're seeing very little in the way of actual in game content. If we were flush with content and were engaged as a community, there would likely be a much higher tolerance for monetization.

The Clamp... the further removed we get from the initial launch, the more and more obvious it becomes that it still needs a very, very sizable amount of work. Regular and Elite should be balanced entirely on their own. Push each difficulty to the absolute very edge of any further and the instance will break. The whole "one shotting bosses" that gets thrown around was few and far between. That's not to say some instances were in a pretty bad state, but we've gone from broken one way to broken another. Each instance should have been looked at on an individual level. Instead we got a sweeping change with some initial receptiveness to feedback and then shortly after it was "good enough" and feedback has been seemingly ignored.

The Clamp has had a great personal impact on my league. While we have still had some success, we're largely spinning our wheels in much of the content that we still need feats from. We're an adult league where everyone has their own real life responsibilities and challenges. Some to a greater degree than others. Being able to have raid nights where we could take any 8 members and have a great deal of success given enough time and character progress to over gear certain feats allowed us to still chase something long term. And that's the biggest loss of all since the clamp, that long term driving force. And the lack of that long term drive has been crippling at times.

The Clamp is not good enough as is. As it stands I see non endgame much in the same way as I see PvP. A largely unfun, extremely broken section of the game that deserves to be addressed.

One of the biggest issues my league has with the clamp stems from how content, elite (and greater) is built. You either burn at an absurd level or you simply won't get through on the majority of attempts. Acing a mechanic once or twice, possibly not even seeing mechanics because of burn, that is elite (and greater) in a nutshell. It's not about intelligently built content. There's almost no engaging mechanics that can't be bypassed or reduced to nuisance levels. It's burn, burn, burn, burn. Dumb content indeed.

If we are going to stay at 2 DLCs a year, I'm fully fine with that for the record, the DLCs have to seriously get better. Open worlds have been as engaging as ever but instances have become laughable in many cases. Short raids, short solos (or duos) and alerts that while often times short feel tedious and unfulfilling.

Lacking DLCs wouldn't be as bad an issue if we had something else to do. But that's been an issue since we transitioned to disposable content releases. No longevity. Just hop off one hamster wheel and on to the next. LPvE, I think, was an attempt at a long term "something else to do" but the feats were so predatory and the instances often times simply unenjoyable that it was DoA.

Seasonals have become substitute content grinds. Gone are the days of celebratory fun. It's all about overpriced items that give 10 point feats now. Seasonals need to go back to being fun side diversions. This point in particular seems totally lost on the devs.

In game moderation would be a godsend. Things have become rather bad the last while. This is more of a budgetary corporate overlord decision though, so I won't fault the devs here.

Can things be turned around? To an extent, quite possibly. But we'll never be anything other than a slightly better version than what we are. No massive graphics overhaul, no huge expansions. Just a slightly more polished 2 (maybe 3 in an ambitious year) DLCs with some minor QoL tweaks.

I'm not sure I'd even be typing this if it wasn't for the league I'm in. Would have left ages ago without my league to yuck it up with. And that's about the only reason I'm still around. Even then, I'm not around as much. Certainly don't care to the extent I did. And if there was a suitable game that my league could all agree on playing, I'm sure most of us would be gone.

Pretty difficult to disagree with any of this.

At this point though actions will speak louder than words and unless the developers actually start listening to the players and making changes based on the feedback they're hearing then not a lot is going to change and no amount of devs saying "We appreciate your feedback" while nothing changes is going to help.

Just look at the recent feedback given for St Patricks, "the pricing is too high"

Their response was to reduce the amount of rewards and increase the prices... At this point it's just a massive mess...

I think you really hit it on the head that it’s not one problem with DCUO dragging it down but a multitude of problems or issues that over the years don’t get addressed and even there’s high turn over at DI and whoever’s left to clean up whatever messes that weren’t cleaned up before it’s the players that is us that seem to get the shortend of the stick on this. I know some people blame past individuals like Spytle or Jackstar for the shortcomings of DCUO and even Mepps got the brunt of that blame too (when really his biggest sins is he didn’t get back to us promptly on things not that he had any say on much) but those guys are gone now. Who’s to blame on not giving us any development letter or updates? Or their recent tone deaf solution to the St Patrick’s grind. We can’t blame a lot of decisions on EG7 because a lot of this was in place years before at Daybreak. So at what point do we go whatever’s going on it doesn’t matter who’s doing it it’s gotta stop or DCUO is done. And yeah the mass video game Depression of 2024 definitely hit them too but I feel this is yet another excuse for Daybreak like Covid and the mass exodus of Devs from DI was too. It’s just so frustrating. And I’ve noticed the amount of disillusionment on this forum to optimism has also been a troubling thing. I used to count myself as one of DCUO’s biggest cheerleaders now I’m on the critics side.

I did get a chuckle out of that move. When the perception is that prices are too high, the response should never be to raise prices more.

Just when you think we have inflation under control, we see its now 100% over the week rather than 4%p.a.

I gotta admit... I am a little nervous.

I've been sitting here waiting for the newest raid to pop for over 20 minutes with both roles selected. I realize it's a little late... but this might be the worst I've ever seen it.

Not mention... the broker. I've never seen such a limited list of collections for sale. It's pretty much just the new ones.

I'm not one to be easily concerned with doomsday predictions... but this is the most real that it's felt for me in a really long time.

Here's hoping I'm just paranoid and they announce the next DLC this week. They have to do something soon.