Allies as bad story-telling

So we have these iconic 'allies' swooping in to save our skin, and after a few seconds, poof-- they've got somewhere else to be. Not very heroic, is it? And it's not in keeping with their character as they've been historically written.

Just seems cringy to me.

Thank you for sharing.

It is.

People had been asking and asking for the option to be able to summon Batman.... Superman.... heck Ambush Bug in battle to fight by our side.

But no one..... no one asked for something like the Ally system.

No one.

People were asking instead of summoning a Sidekick... how about we could summon The Batman!!!? or Superman?? or other iconic characters?

Heck how about summoning our Legend characters?? that would have given people a reason to buy Legend characters in the Marketplace.

Or heck.... if they really wanted to monetize them Allies.... have us buy them on the marketplace but have us use them instead of our sidekick.

Or allowing us to summon Batman Superman Wonder Woman as back-ups?? and again if they really need to monetize them.... allow us to buy them back-ups from the Marketplace??

There was no reason..... no reason at all to create a whole new Ally system.

Everything needed to fight alongside Batman... Superman.... etc was already IN THE GAME.

But I guess they needed something that would be even more expensive then the Artifact system to bring in extra $$$.

I guess giving customers what they are asking for is now a thing of the past.
Can't really blame DCUO..... it seems to be common practice now everywhere to NOT give the customer what they are asking for.

Oh well.

I am toying with making a video Allies; The Good the Bad and the Ugly.
But I think it might lean too much on the Ugly side..... will have to give it some thoughts.

Hey, Supers don't have a lot of time on their hands.

No, but villains do. Beating up on our enemies is what we generally do to pass the time between mass murder, mass destruction, or the occasional jewelry store heist.

That seems like a very packed itinerary to me. lol

You sound angry. They brought the legendary allies to the allies vendor. You ain’t waisting money there. Charon explained why we can’t have iconic heroes or villains that will fight by your side till I don’t know how long like sidekicks because as you might already know since the first time allies was introduced and was up on the test server, causes problems. I been surrounded by tons of pets and sidekicks/henchman in instances that locks me in place. That would have been the major problem if the short time limit on Allie’s wasn’t there. We have Batman to fight by our side so I don’t know what’s the problem. I’m assuming it’s the time limit. If it is then you already know why that is.

I think the backlash of the Ally system really soured the release of them. Initially, the idea of them were mediocre in combat and passives that were not much different than the artifact system. Then when they announced the first 3 Legendary Allies, they were way overpriced. And I don't just mean the cost of them and how much favor you needed. Then add the fact that their bonuses were just not worth the cost.

Unlike the two types that were already available in the game. These required you buy them for only one character, need a ton of favor (which long run isn't that big of an issue), and, which here is the kicker, you need Legendary Alliances, that progressively increment, at each breakthrough. Which is completely different than the other two types of Allies.

Then, when they put them on the Cyborg vendor and improved the passives as well as allowed them to be account redeemable, the damage was done.

I think the Ally system was a bit of a flop and they probably lost money to its development. Especially since it was a new system developed during the Ep41 launch. Which probably added to the Doom's rushed release that ultimately ended up with a big bug that was exploitable to go live.

At the end of the day, I still think the Ally system can be adjusted. Like, I think the cost of Legendary Alliances for breakthrough could be reduced overall for something that is paid for. Make it more in line with the free ones. Maybe have the teammate last the same time as a combat pet does (which I think is a minute?). Maybe do something with the passives where there doesn't need to be an either or, but an and.

This game is about immersion, but it ultimately becomes a battle simulator, where numbers are king. Active Allies being so short and the fact that these things are really for the passives, just kind of feels like they should have just expanded on the Artifact system.

The damage was done because players believe they NEED that ally so they spend money. Instead of waiting to see how it works out and when they finally put them in the Cyborg vendor, they cry foul. Allie’s was and still isn’t a game changer that you absolutely need it. The devs been vocal about it. As for the few seconds poof as the OP said, it’s understandable why the devs placed a short time limit. I was vocal about it on test server then realized why they chose that in which I accepted the outcome. I agree to that Allie’s can be adjusted like everything else but it’s no one’s fault but the players. I wanted Flashpoint Batman for the passives but never used money to get it. Later on they are now in the cyber vendor.

You see, the players feedback was the reason why they were adjusted to account redeem and placed on Cyborg. It wasn't always expected to end up there, we just thought it would end up there. Like they did Legends characters are. Which added to the negative feedback.

In the end of the day, players will look at it as a game changer, because it adds that percentage of success to their battle simulator numbers. The want of an ally to stay out is not for damage, but for immersion. If it was strictly for damage, we don't even need to call them out at all.

I was disappointed with the allies, when I first popped my Flash, he's there, uttered a witty quip, and was gone. I remember saying to myself, that's it? Then levelling up the first one seemed to take forever. I've been levelling up the wonderverse ally that drops, and really the cost in time and materials isn't worth the benefit I get.

I feel you, I was really excited when I heard about Allie’s thinking it would be similar to ESO companions instead we got this version and I assume because of the tech or something…. they only last a few seconds. I strongly want an ally to be summon indefinitely in solo play both open world and solo instances. Lol like ESO and if that option is only available on the marketplace I’ll definitely pay. We are talking about immersion in a comic book world. In fact they can give us the already in game iconics such as the ones in PVP Legends.

I have Oracle fixing my gear and Cyborg giving me some extra power back and they work well for those jobs. I'm honestly not even sure who is my 'primary' one (Flash?) as I hardly summon them. I've spent $0 on them so I see no issue with the price, but I really don't have any use for them either.

Maybe if I sprung for Diana, BWL or Nubia I'd see the advantage, but I saw no real benefit on the others beyond the passives and the flash/zoom movement passives on flyers are pretty useless.

I'm very 'meh' on the whole subject....I think I've got 200K+ ally favor stocked up waiting for one that interests me. I'm honestly more interested in seeing if I can get it to 999,999 than spending it.

Not usually since mass murder and destruction are usually performed at the same time. Sometimes it may happen during said jewelry heist.

Villains do tend to be quite efficient in their villainy. Not all, but most.

I don't think it's for tech at all, as uptime is just a number value in seconds. I think it's because they didn't want it to be too overpowered and held back.

As for permanent up, yeah other games have stuff like that. I know in Warframe we can have pets and companions that are always up and can be killed like a player can. There are also craftable consumables that aid you in combat and are there until the end of the instance or they are killed.

You mentioned immersion, in another MMO I play, we have companions, they have a back story, and a mission you have to complete before they become your companion. They have skill trees, mine's a healer when I'm solo DPSng and damage when I'm solo tanking. If I'm running an instance, a companion can fill in if someone leaves and you're waiting for someone to jump in. All told, it's become a very useful tool in day to day playing

This is exactly what I was expecting when these allies were first announced. My thought was that we already had the trinket pets, henchman, sidekick... this almost has to be something that would stick with us. Nope, I was way wrong and extremely disappointed when I first tried them out.

Like someone else mentioned, these would have been perfect for solo/open world play if they stayed out. Especially if someone is trying to level/gear up a support role. That or doesn't have or want to be in a league, but still needs some help. That would have been well worth the money or time invested, current allies are not worth it at all to me.

Yes, they have to dash over to the next player who called them, then the one after that, and the one after that, and...

I don't get angry.... I get even. ..... or something like that.

But seriously......

I would not say angry...... more like disappointed.

Of alllllll the options that were suggested to have us fight besides out favorite characters....
they went for the one option that No One asked for.

Yes they brought the Legendary Allies on the Cyborg vendor.
But I still bought them from the Marketplace.

I don't mind paying $$$ to support the game..... but with the Allies....
they went a few steps too far. And the current system makes it unsustainable for Alternate characters.

Yes.... we can redeem our legendary Allies for all our characters.... which is a step in the right direction.
But leveling up those Allies for Alternate characters??? not really an option.
Heck I did not level up my Legendary Allies on my main yet. Flashpoint Batman has been stuck at Rank 9 for quite some time.

So spending some $$$ on them Allies.... I am the first to want to support the game.
But the current Ally system requires a bit too much $$$ then even I am willing to spend on DCUO.

As for the technical limitations......

Again.... they went for an option no one asked for.

Why not replace the Sidekick with Allies???

We can summon sidekick for ..... what??? 30 seconds??
Why not allow us to summon Allies for 30 seconds INSTEAD of the Sidekick??
So you would have the same amount of Pets with the Allies if you use them instead of Sidekicks.... or instead of Pets maybe??

We have the Robot sidekick???
What if they replaced the Robot Sidekick with Allies??
Again.... same amount of Pets. But people would have been able to fight alongside the Batman.

Again...... of all the options they had....
Replace the Sideckicks/Henchmen with Allies....
Replace the Robot Sidekicks with the Allies.....
Make Allies so that we could summon them instead of Pets......

Of ALLLLLL the options people suggested over the years....

They went for an option that No One asked for.

No One.

And again..... for the time limit...
Having a sidekick for 30 seconds.... or having Batman for 30 seconds???
Same time limit.
But I know which option people would much much have preferred.

Having the Robot Sidekick follow you around??
Or Having Batman follow you around??
We could have had Batman follow us around same as the Robot Sidekick.
But again..... pretty sure people would have thought it was much cooler to have Batman with us then Robot Sidekick.

So seeing what we got VS what people were asking and asking for can only be summed up with one word.....

Disappointing.

And even worse... what is even MORE disappointing is that since we have the Allies with the current system.....
We will never have Batman following us around instead of the Robot Sidekick.

Now that we have the Ally system..... we will never ever ever have what people have been asking and asking for.

That is the Most Disappointing part.

So no..... not Angry....... but very...... very......

Disappointed.

All these suggestions I’m sure where brought up but because this is a license DC game they are only allowed to do certain things. This shouldn’t be of a surprise to you. It’s okay to admit you’re mad I was to at one point because your suggestions are logical, just reskins on the likes of pets and sidekicks etc… then again if it’s immersion we’re talking here then that’s off the table seeing we might see dozens of Batman’s and Superman’s tagging along a player.