Episode 42 ETA: Dec. 16?

I am excited about like an 8-9 range, but I am more than willing for it to be delayed and done right than to meet the arbitrary deadline these companies self impose and it still will be buggy.

I would be a solid 10 but I have reservations that there may be more punitive measures taken against end game members with this new update. I have no proof of this, I have not been told any such will occur, it just my own fear based off of Ep. 41 changes.

For the Elite Raid itself Probably a 9 or 10 knowing that this episode took lots of time to design plus that the adjustable difficulty will be properly designed this time without the mistakes that ep 40 had and all the feedback given by people in general about wanting more difficulty in Elite raids,plus the whole content team working on just 1 raid but with the ressources of 2 raids so more detailed design and mechanics for that one raid and just better difficulty overall.

Can u explain what u mean by that? Like what kind of measures?

I feel that the stat clamp was more punitive than helpful, a punishment for being more successful than another player. The changes in membership, to me, are not very beneficial. I just feel like Ep. 41 was a big slap in the face to all end game players and members in a greater pursuit to obtain new players. Growing the customer / player base is high priority but I feel it is being done at the expense of pre-existing members/end game players.

The only real difference in having membership is that I pay to get a little bit more than a f2p person does. I use to think that it was a company’s greatest effort to obtain customers who were loyal to the business or its brand and would continue to be repeat customers. As an end game member who has had a membership since 2014 without interruption, I just don’t feel valued by Daybreak anymore. So I have that lingering in the back of my mind as I await Ep. 42.

Perhaps I should start looking at the stat clamp as a stat tax instead. I love DCUO, it is my first MMO. I just don’t really feel like DCUO loves end game members like me anymore. I hope Ep. 42 changes all of that for me.

I can agree with you the only thing that holds me i in the game as endgame player is actually the new episode Elite raid and i know most people that i played with think the same. But with the decrease of difficulty of elite raids over the years it feels like endgame players arent wanted just so that anyone can complete the elite raid.

Also the elite raids have become super rushed for example being able to finish a elite raid in like 10-15 minutes, Flash to the future was even shorter then that. It seems very oriented to new playerbase not for dedicated endgame players who are underwhelmed by such design they are very DPS centric and thats a much more simple design and new player friendly vs something that pressures the support rolls and takes longer to complete with more mechanics which is what endgame players would prefer imo

Im glad we have such a amazing lead content designer like charon that tries his best in giving us difficult elite raids like for example that we requested with the adjustable difficulty but i hope we can see more things oriented for the endgame player base.. ive seen so many people quit dc that actually love the game but the inconsistency of difficult episode elite raid content,the lack of difficulty most elite raids had over the years drives and drove alot of people away from playing the game at all or be dedicated or even return.

Releasing the episode at that time is pretty much a gamble, It will all come down to how buggy the episode is on live. At the same time, its not the end of the world if there are small bugs for like 10 days. I just hope there is enough time for balancing the elite and fixing major bugs. If they want to do it right the Episode should go to test this week.

You might want to tamper down expectations otherwise you will lead yourself down the path of disappointment. This is another episode, no different than Episode 40, they haven't announced any major game changes on the level of Episode 41. Also, despite your (valid) feelings, their intention was never to punish end game players, and I seriously doubt they're planning to "punish" us in any way with Episode 42.

As for the Stat Clamp...I guess a "stat tax" is not the worst way to look at it...especially since we're all paying it (as opposed to only some getting hit with it). It was a necessary move in order to overall improve player experience (players steamrolling content while leaving others behind, especially newbies), reverse the damage done by steamrolling content (where players learned the bad habit of overpowering content instead of learning mechanics and therefore being terrible at endgame), and rewarding players for effort (now all content is beneficial and earned).

Believe me when I tell you that I was one of the biggest opponents of Stat Clamping for years. I'm not going to tell you that I love it...but I do finally understand why it's needed. It's a HUGE shock after so many years being loose and OP to now have a what amounts to a leash...but we still have our teeth (to continue with the attack dog analogy). The game has changed a lot over the years, and will continue to change...and we'll adjust along with it.

It wouldn't surprise me if they just do the livestream Friday and don't event put it on test. because they have been testing it already for themselves for far 2 long anyways, and making us wait far 2 long. so be ready for a surprise next week for it to drop on Thursday next week. They have done it before and they don't have a choice but to do it again at this point. They have to smash this out as soon as possible the it most likely has taking 2 much of their time already. And they need to move on to much bigger problems. In fact if they are on schedule they might even drop it this Thursday without it being on test so be ready for a livestream this Thursday while the game is down for the next ep

Disagree about pretty much every point.

-This Friday is basically a holiday, almost no one is working the day after Thanksgiving.
-"They've done it before." When has an episode ever not gone up on test?
-"They don't have a choice"? No, there's no reason to rush it out without public testing.

I'm still putting my money on 12/16

They can't put it out on the 12th or 16th it wouldn't give them enough time to fix bugs once the ep goes live. There shouldn't be much bugs this time around if they actually meant what they said about doing a deep clean of everything meaning coding and everything in between. The game should be a lot more smooth and should be able to be put right to live server without testing. Live server has always been the ture test server anyways. we all know thats the fastest way to test. They have been hiring like crazy. so there should be no need to put the game through test server for this episode. they have been playing with the episode for months already atleast 1 whole month. As long as they tested it enough to go live that's all that they need and it's all that we should need

I'm around a 4. Mostly because I feel it's going to be rushed through testing and pushed to live just before Christmas. Then the devs will be on break and we'll be left with an unplayable mess.

I'm at an 8 for January when it's working properly lol.

This is how Ep. 41 has made me feel, very unwanted, and very very unappreciated.

That’s why I hope things will change for the better with Ep. 42. If not, I will just have to play along side the Solowing in FFXIV.

Yup exactly! I had to stop shortly after the release of that episode 40 it was too underwhelming difficulty wise. With all the complains and feedback given by so many threads and so many people over months after ep 40 came i hope we can see some major changes interms of difficulty and design of it.

Elite raids really need to be made difficult this is crucial for longevity of the game and to keep endgame community in the game,having people quit because your elite raids are easy/mediocore is really very simple to avoid,the people dont quit because the game is bad but due to easy difficulty again thats something the devs have to avoid especially know with the adjustable difficulty theres no reason why the last stage(s) shouldnt be very very difficult and i hope they are some next level difficulty.

There has never been an episode released without it hitting test. There is no reason to push it out Thursday that would make no sense. And them hiring has nothing to do with bugs. Bugs will occur. You think coding is easy? The dev team is small which is why test exist. They see what fresh pair of eyes can find. A different perspective. This sample size of testers tend to find common bugs before it hits live. And when it hits live there is a chance for new bugs to occur because of the transferring of code. It’s not a simple copy paste which I assume you think is done when a dlc is put on live. That’s when the large population of players finds undiscovered bugs and new bugs.

And it releasing on the 16th makes a lot of sense. They put new dlc on for thanksgiving weekend. While they are away players find bugs which they go over when they return. They make changes and the last week is to test those changes before it goes live.

Now, I do believe 2 weeks is to short. It’s what I always believed. But it’s what we have to work with.

It’s not as bad as you’re making it sound. The whole game is a challenge again but still incredibly easy. Take it down a notch, Karen.

They didn't confirm there is adjustable difficulty

Thank you for the insult, much appreciated.

What styles do you think are going to be in this

Charon has indicated on another thread that the styles will be based on Martian Manhunter and the Sixth Dimension Jailer (I don’t know who that is). I hope this helps.

Its the dude with the metal suit