Update on GU 36

Hello everyone,

Since GU 36’s combat changes have generated much discussion, I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone providing detailed, constructive feedback. We are actively reviewing it and making changes. I also want to reiterate and clarify our intent with these changes overall.

Balance
These changes are essentially a set of consistency passes that bring the far outlying powers into the range of most powers in the game, in terms of animation timing and functionality. We simply need a level foundation on which to build the game in a balanced way. Why are we doing this? Currently there are three powers that are, unintentionally, clearly superior to all others. While potentially fun for those powers, it’s not ideal for everyone else. Overall, it can trivialize the game’s content and create large disparity in what different players playing different powersets will find challenging.

Our goal with these changes is to make all powersets viable and rewarding options. We don’t want players to not enjoy their experience because they chose to play a power not in the top 3, or for players to feel forced to play those powers to contribute to the group.

That said, there will always be some disparity and a range of effectiveness between the powers, sometimes by situation or moment to moment. Some powers are also simply harder to play than others. Our goal is to keep Hard Light, Celestial, and Rage with the slight, top potential for damage, just not so massively far ahead. These powers are by design intended to be more challenging, offering an interesting and rewarding risk/reward payoff for those players who can consistently master their mechanics.

Action Combat
Our goal with these changes is also to maintain the fast-paced, smooth action combat that DCUO is known for. This is why we are on PC Test, and why we are actively reviewing feedback. There will be an adjustment period as players get used to, relearn, and remaster their powers with different animation times. There are also bugs (specifically impacting several key animations, Hard Light combos, and Rifle) that are impacting how powers feel. We are working on fixing these bugs first, and will continue to address as we go.

Next on PC Test
We expect to have a new build on PC Test early Saturday that resolves bugs and other issues, and we are anxious for testers to get back onto the PC Test server and see these changes first hand. We will keep you up to date on this next build. Below is a run-down of what is fixed or changing as of now based on feedback and testing so far.

Larry “Captain” Liberty
Executive Producer
DC Universe Online

Upcoming PC Test Changes

Light Powers

• The following combos will now function properly again:
  • Light Claws -> Ram
  • Light Claws -> Minigun
  • Fan -> Light Claw Slash
  • Grasping Hand -> Grasping Hand
  • Grasping Hand ->Fan
  • Grasping Hand -> Light Blast
  • Minigun-> Whip Thrash
  • Minigun-> Snap Trap
  • Light Blast-> Boxing
• The Light Claws construct combo has been updated to allow you to hold melee after the first Light Claw Slash and combo into Light Claws. This way it acts the same as using the super power version.

Sorcery

• Ritualistc Word / Offering : Fixed a bug that was preventing pets from receiving the Power over Time portion of both of these abilities in PVP regions. Note: The shielding functionality of both of these abilities will remain prohibited in PVP.

Gadgets

• Based on community feedback Gauss Grenade, Napalm Grenade, and Sleep Dart now use a different animation.

Very nice to see such great additions to what will be a fantastic Game Update

Any way you could look into dovetails for karmic hexes? They shouldn't be there.

Great post!

Question: What exactly is so challenging about Rage though...?

I'm looking forward to it.

so Hard Light, Celestial, and Rage will always be top dps... at least its official now.

Never played Hl dps. I assume the changes being made to HL mean the whiners will stop?

What I don't get is how the Devs came to the conclusion that Rage is difficult to play.

I don;t see the skill level being high to play celestial dps. So I don;t know where he got that from. the other two I can't really judge cause I never played them as a dps

Who really cares about another excuse, for the whiners.

Celestial is pretty easy too... The only drawback is the possibility of getting interrupted during your combos... Yet any power with Cast times have that same drawback(fire). So I honestly don't understand that either.

Celestial has a learning curve for like the first 30 minutes of playing with it.

How about a global decrease in cooldown and increase in speed. The game on test still plays really slow.

Because theres a few combos...all prec-combo powers were listed, however that doesn't mean they are more difficult to play and therefore should always be better

I personally think its harder to be a good Mental/Quantum/Fire/Ice/etc DPS then Celestial/Rage/HL...like a lot harder...maybe it'll change now

Yeah celestial really isn't that hard to master lol. I see Electric dps being more of a challenge then celestial. Maybe they will change something so the prec powers are harder to use, like longer cooldowns i dont know, we will have to wait and see I guess. I just want to see more might based dps in the game.

I completely agree. Combos =/= Difficulty, and If the Devs think that...... Ugh.

I'm sure they're staking their claims based on their perceived skill level of your average player. These are people who don't come to the forums or often don't even even read the descriptions of their powers.

'Oooh, this Rage Power looks really cool. There's that neat effect around my chest and it sounds like a heartbeat ... hey, why did I just die again?'

There are a LOT of them out there. Far more of them than there are of us.

They are aware that Nature and Sorcery both are capable of surpassing Celestial damage right? Considering that both are played to maximum efficiency. I personally don't have a problem with it but they are making it seem like Celestial is clearly better than Nature and Sorcery which is false. The post that was made is kinda misleading.

That's an excuse. Bottom Line: Rage is one of the easiest DPS classes in the game.

That too. Post-Revamp Sorcery and Nature keep up with Celestial just fine. Its the Tank power-sets(excluding rage) plus Quantum and Electric that have Trouble imo

The only thing I can say about rage is that it used to have a trade off of survival (outrage spam) vs dmg output. So basically you had to be melee range to do serious dmg. Then the nerf to outrage happened (not saying it wasn't justified) and now I'm hearing about not being able to jump cancel retch and other powers.

I don't mind not having the most heavy hitting power I want one that's fun to play. I actually liked the idea of going in balls to the wall dps melee range and trying my hardest to live. I liked the idea that I was a glass cannon capable of putting out amazing dps but having to work a little harder for it. I really was hoping that rage could fit that bill as honestly I feel that all the powers are starting to become the same exact thing and why offer new powers if in the end it's going to be the same exact turd with a different color polish?

Let me explain something that's not balance that's boring as hell. It's ok for a power to do more dmg than another but make their defense a little lower. It's the same exact thing for roles. Major MMO games typically have a power / dmg / health ratio that they play with to create balance not tweaking powers and messing up rotations. They have various armors that particular classes can wear that allow them to be glass cannons or heavy hitting melee capable destroyers.

With new MMO's coming out it's imperative that DCUO stays ahead of the curve and offers exciting game play while offering challenging content. So far after DOX the content hasn't been challenging and the developers announced they wouldn't make any hard-mode challenging content so that knocks out elitist players (why not add a hard-mode that gives better gear(same styles)?). Now you're cancelling jump clipping which is going to make this game slower paced and geared more toward novices.

I'm not saying rage is harder to play than any other class I actually feel like all the classes are slowly merging into one bland class. I'm not upset at any nerfs to rage as honestly I haven't really read the thread or played the test server to evaluate on that. I'm just voicing my opinion about the direction the game seems to be going. If it weren't for my league and friends I could easily see myself going to another game.