Work In Progress DCUO Development Update - July 2021 - House of Legends Discussion

I think we've talked about this to death and it boils down to this: This helps new players or people who want to find other players to re-run content for the challenge with... but older players really don't have a ton of incentive to re-run content clamped.

I'm of the opinion that there should be more incentive for endgame players to re-run older content besides Source Marks. Perhaps tie it in with Second Chance vendors? Maybe endgame players have a better drop rate for Rare loot? I'm certainly more willing to run T1 Arkham Alert if I get something more than Source Marks.

Is it possible to add a style vendor to the the new hub, one similar to the source marks vendors we had in the Aquacultural area in the watchtower but for OP styles? Some OP gear is so rare in dropping that a lot of styles that players want to use have evaded them for years now. Just wondering if those same styles could be added to a source mark vendor in the hub for players who care more about the style rather than the stats of the OP gear pieces, thanks.

This is why I decided to stop playing and paying for subscription after almost ten years. I should have stopped not long after marks relevancy started.
but................I held my breath, continued playing, bitched&moaned and finally passed out.
Paying for a subscription that says you can play the whole game when you really couldn't was a little more than misleading.
It was just about as misleading as promoting the game as free when 95% of the game was locked behind paywalls.

I' m glad you guys came to your senses.
TY

Before DCUO implemented marks relevancy q's popped as fast as you could click them just so as long as you were not on everyone's ignore list. End game players were in all of the instances and they helped new players a lot more. This stuff about end game players being screwed and they will not run any of the content is nonsense. They have been running the event level stuff since that was implemented. And, all of that has been clamped.

One thing I can tell you.
Before marks relevancy you could pick any instance and wait no longer than five minutes blind q.
After marks relevancy
Q's came to a screeching halt
15,30,45 minutes or more just like I assume it is today or like it was when I stopped playing last year.

I will add that some people are making way too much of a big deal about this. These people screaming about clamping stats were not playing the older content much anyway and when they did. They could usually care less about anyone but themselves

Yeah I'd really like this. There are a few OP gear pieces that I wanted purely for the style but they never dropped for me (back when OP gear was random drops in content).

As far as I know, there is still a ‘technical’ hurdle preventing this, otherwise I think they’d implement. But definitely a big ‘yes’ from me as well!

Sorry if this has been answered already, but i would like to ask about the abilities/buffs that would be unlocked from Allies. Will they be simply passive/conditional effects similar to Artifacts?

I ask this because imo it seems to me this would be the perfect way to introduce new iconic powers.

O.k. I think I finally understand this, let's see if I've got it right. There will be no new On Duty instances created for GU 41 (nothing with a new title, location, story, etc). Instead for the first month we will be playing old instances that have been increased to end-game difficulty. In this case the raids will be The Chasm, Power Core & Sunstone Matrix. There will be a Regular end-game version of each and an Elite version of each. Additionally the Tier 3 version will also still be available (and apparently take the place of an Event version). And they will also pick out a Solo, Duo & Alert which will also be up-levelved. That goes on for month 1. Then month two will be Outer Caverns, Inner Sanctum & Sub-Construct, plus a different Solo, Duo & Alert. Then month 3 will be WW raids, probably Labyrinth of Lost Souls, Halls of Hades & Throne of the Dead, plus a different Solo, Duo & Alert.

So if this is all correct, then there will no longer be Event versions that are playable by toons from Level 10 & up. Only those at / above Tier 3 would be able to play the first months content, Tier 2 & up for month two, and Tier 6 & up for month three.

You're incorrect about the amount of instances - each month will have one solo/duo, one alert and one raid. We're not getting Chasm, Power Core and Sunstone Matrix in month one - we're just getting one of those. Same in month two - we're not getting Outer, Inner and Sub-Construct - we'll just get one of them. Same with month three. There will be nine pieces of instanced content in total, but as far as I'm aware we'll only have access to three of them each month (Superman stuff month one, Batman stuff month two, Wonder Woman stuff month three).

Ah. So one of each kind of old instance up-leveled, no new instances. I didn't see any mention of an open-world. So apparently no Dailies or Weeklies. That would mean the amount of episode currency we'll be able to earn would be very, very limited. Wonder if they'll account for that in vendor costs, or if they'll raise the price of BOV gear as they regularly do with each new episode.

Though I suppose one of the past open-worlds will be designated as the 'Save the Universe' open-world each month. Ex - BOP Metropolis 1st month, Earth 3 Gotham 2nd, Patchwork Themyscira 3rd. The area would have to be 'event-ized' to enable everyone to access, but that is possible; they've all been event areas before.

Definitely curious about the currency aspect too. I would assume they'll adjust the prices accordingly. Hopefully it will be on test soon and we'll be able to find out.

I could be wrong but I THINK I saw a dev mention something about that. But it’s so vague I must have misread it or just imagined it. This does look like it will be a short dlc since on their breakdown of the year they did mention that another dlc would come before the end of the year. So November 18th or the 25th might be a new dlc.

Seeing how this will be turned into an event I can see them doing some sort of open world dailies spread around metropolis, Gotham, and China town

I think it's important to recognize that the stat clamp and new source marks are meant to try and force old players to redo old content so new players have people to play with.
And there IS a very valid case to be made about that being annoying or making for a worse experience for veterans, who might end up playing with inexperienced people and wiping on content they can current solo.

But EQUALLY important is to recognize that while this might feel like the game going backwards for some, it is AT WORSE a lateral move (in that one regard only).
It DOES seems too optimistic to expect this system to work perfectly and all old content to see play again with no hiccups.
It IS however, better than the alternative.
The alternative being new players only ever getting the experience of someone one-shotting the entire raid in 2 minutes or being unable to queue AT ALL.

On balance, this does more good than bad, it just so happens that the "bad" comes to veteran players. Although I personally don't like the stat clamping, I recognize it is 100% the right move for the long-term health of the game, and a very good sign for the direction the new development will take the game in.

The one thing that REALLY doesn't sit right with me is the fact that this is FORCED. There is no OPTION to run the content the way it exists now.
While I don't expect that to be implemented in this update with so many more important changes happening, I really hope it does happen eventually.

The new on-duty menu even has a "custom" tab. Why not have the option on that tab to run an alert or raid with stat clamping off?
Naturally this would only match you with other people who also queued up for unclamped.
Even if checking that option removes the rewards of source marks (like it does now), I really hope that part of the current experience isn't fully REMOVED for all players.

I say this minding not only new players trying to get feats, but also an aspect of MMOs that exists in pretty much every game of the genre: the ability to FEEL your character's progression in returning to old areas.

It's FUN to go back to a boss that gave you a load of trouble and MELTING him 4 episodes later, it's nice to clearly see the change in your character's power. That is the ONLY time in the game where you can see that difference.
The numbers on your gear menu don't MEAN anything gameplay-wise.
Seeing that your defense is now 300 points higher means NOTHING to your experience as a player, but surviving a hit that would have killed you before those 300 extra points DOES.
Being able to go back and compare your character to what it used to be contextualizes how much the time you spent in the game made a difference. It's meaningful, and there's really no other way to experience that in the game.

If all the content in the game other than current episodes and the regular overworld missions(as in, from before level 30) clamps you, then what is honestly the POINT of obtaining new gear for anything other than the endgame?
At that point for 90% of the game's content the only gear of yours that matters are your artifacts. Even worse is that then all that time you put in and the difference you saw it make feels like it no longer exists.

So TLDR: The clamping is a good move for the game and community, but making it IMPOSSIBLE to ever play old content the way we do now is removing part of the game experience that we've had for a decade, and an important part of it at that. Even removing partial or even full rewards for being obtainable when playing unclamped would be fine, but losing part of the game's current experience feels like a big step back.

Sorry for the long post.

Thank you for all the good work, I'm very excited to see the current (and very good) changes the team are making get implemented.
I know a lot of the calls the crew had to make weren't easy, but they feel like the right ones.
I hope that when those changes are made and things become a little less hectic you find the time to revisit the idea of those custom unclamped runs, but I'm under no illusion that that should be a priority right now.

With no loot locks, does this mean we can run instances multiple times to farm rare collection or is it just exclusively unlimited source marks? Has this already been answered? I haven't read any of the previous pages.

Yes you can; however, you have to use the old On-Duty menu to do it, as the new Quickplay menu queues you up for all instances and randomly chooses an instance for you to go to. I have tested this out on the test server. Even if you choose to do solo missions, the Quickplay menu queues you up for all of them and then randomly chooses one for you to do.

I could've sworn in the twitch feed I remember them talking about having a holiday vendor that would sell year round?

I would love that, bit I'm pretty sure that they meant it will be the same as the HoD or WT. I'm hoping that's not the case, but we will see. I won't be upset either way.

will the new on duty tab fix the pvp matchmaking? if pvp will never be updated i would at least like to see the que fixed to prevent jams when someone solo ques ahead of 2 teams of 8 to make it easier to get into 8s, 5s, and 4s. the que right now makes getting into matches almost impossible even if enough people are qued.