TL : DR WARNING. you have been warned!
Hi guys
Firstly, few things to say.. I have been back for around a month (my first time reg playing for around aq year.. year and a half) and the systems in place now.. I cannot compliment the Devs enough. I'll go into more detail below. I also have some long standing/new-ish complaints.. which shouldn't be taken as a direct threat to anyone opposing these views, just as something still nagging me after many years of playing (FTP Autumn 2011 PC EU). Some are systems are older.. but I'm not just talking about newer systems its how everything fits together to make the game feel much more complete.
Compliments
The QoL we have with the systems in place.. feel intuitive. Like they *always* should have been there, it's actually keeping me coming back and playing.
Marks to unlock lower content, which you can unlock the feat and get cheaper for your alts. I have an alt for every powerset so.. this is so important to me after coming back. The price is spot on.. and even though due to my amount of alts it can become more grind-y than intended, having the option is essential. Thank you!
Decent OW mark rewards.. I can choose to form a group to complete the mission quicker.. or do it solo as a chill out. Thank you!
Early entry to new content. Like I said.. I have many alts, this is an excellent option and keeps the game fresh for me. Thank you!
Artifacts and Augments. TBH the game had been stripped of its 'RPG-ness'.. the Artifacts and Augments restore this RPG-ness with aplomb!
Bear with me on this one.. I'm making a point :) : I noticed the bug with GL (Light) defence/health is back sadly.. dying too quickly for no real reason.. this had plagued the game from 2013 to 2016 then it got fixed somehow (because it stopped happening) when I left it was working fine.. now I logged in on my GL few days ago and it's easy to tell it's broken again like it was before. (I'll report it after I write this post)
But y'know what? The Devs have given me a way to fix it myself, or at least mitigate it until it gets fixed .. I can level a tank artifact to increase my defence/health! From what I saw.. the.. was it signs? signs of the seven? tank artifact could help me if I level it. Thank you!
The pricing on MP imho is pretty fair as far as artifact supplies go.. I say this after blowing £100 two days ago on one of the generator artifacts (I'll come to that below). But it's low enough to encourage me to keep coming back and spending money. Any higher and I would think I was getting fleeced.
Gear boxes (scalable). Thank you!
The Vault. nth metal and a gear box. Thank you!
Stats are important in game now. Yes Devs.. Stats do matter ;) Thank you!
Completing style feats via RB unlocking styles on/from/to alts. Thank you!
These systems go together.. and I'm sure I've missed a few.. to make the game not just a streamlined experience, but also comprehensive. All together: intuitive.
Complaints
The number one complaint I would make that I feel others would agree with (my real number one is below).
The inability to preview materials on out chars. PLEASE just do a full body preview.
I wasted.. idk 3000-5000 quarks on the blue smoke material. man! I wish I hadn't done that! that did not look good! low detail. barely 3D. nooo.. if I had known I would have spent those quarks on something I would have enjoyed.
The new materials you recently brought out.. were basically what I was expecting when I bought the metallic materials pack from marketplace. The staff talked much about 'technical limitations'.. and now those technical limitations are overcome. I would like to see 2 of the new materials added to the metallic materials pack (gold and silver). The current ones.. look a bit weird now. I mean I use them on my gadgets troller for the shoulders and it looks okay.. but unless I go full body gold/silver/bronze.. it just looks weird. (even full body looks weird)
Now.. erm I have a RP.. I enjoy my RP, I'm not an RP player per se , I simply imagine my char in a mini-comic as part of the game.. which is probably what is intended. I don't enjoy Magic content. It's boring to me.. I cannot enjoy my RP, that's not to say the content isn't good, JLD is a well put together product! .. it's just that it doesn't suit me. And if we look back.. episode 27 Magic, Episode 28 (TLoT mixed but basically magic) Episode 29 Tech, Epi. 30 Meta, (Epi. 30.5 Death of Superman Meta) Epi. 31 Magic mixed (few meta things) Epi. 32 Tech, Epi 33 Magic, Epi. 34 Magic.
In fact I would say.. this game is so heavily weighted towards magic, it feels to me like a token gesture to put anything in besides magic.
I sometimes wonder if Jens Anderson was the driving force behind the Lantern Content and the rest of the staff would be happy if DCUO was Everquest.
You finally made a new city after me complaining and complaining for one for years.. but it's magic. come on! actually my bad.. I should have predicted this . Hopefully the next city will not be magic and be able to have player bases there*.
Generator Artifacts. Giving us 0% for 80.. no. please no. even 1% 2% SOMETHING PLEASE.. the idea we have to get it to gold to get enjoy all its perks, is frankly ridiculous. I realize you get a 20% cooldown accelerator (I forget the name of that artifact) at 80 but.. come on! 0%? and 0% for 120??
I had decided a few days ago I would throw around £100 into artifacts, so thinking 'yeah.. I'll throw £37 + £37 into Sigma get two of his artifacts to gold (one being the generator artifact) and throw £30 (?) into my alts .. getting them 'in the door' (80)'
I have a char for every powerset (15) a female char and a villian. so 17 proper chars in total. I mostly needed to buy catalysts for my alts.
While I acknowledge the prices are fair for artifacts supplies, and I wouldn't change them.. I wouldn't have felt so much pressure to complete just one artifact if it hadn't been sitting on a 0%. This was the generator artifact.. I threw almost the whole £100 getting that artifact to gold.
I'd like to see a situation where IF you have both membership and have the feats for artifacts and that particular artifact leveled.. say 80 or 120 or 160 (gold). If I have an artifact to 120 on Sigma (main) then catalyst requirements for that particular artifact are cut in half.. up until the max amount you have that artifact. If you have that artifact gold.. then all alts only require half the amount of catalysts to gold (160). If say 120.. then all alts require half the amount of catalysts to 120, but after 120 full amount of catalysts.
I feel this would be fair and not impact too heavily on MP sales (as people would still buy the catalysts and just split them with alts via the shared bank)
I want a Lantern Healer.. it has been the 'sound of drums' (Doctor Who/Master reference) in me for many years. And while I am aware we are 'not to expect a new powerset for a long time' in the meantime.. that was said over a year ago and Water came out on the 30th August 2017. In MMORPG terms a lifetime ago..
I enjoyed when we got 2 new powersets a year.. but I think 1 year would be a good schedule. The Statsmatter/Statsrevamp (debacle) is long behind us.. we can let it haunt us by not releasing another powerset, or be bold.
And I realize it's probably not going to be a Lantern Healer first.. BUT TO KNOW.. ohw the mercy, I need to know its on the horizon.. the 'main' other two I have seen other than Lantern Healer is.. shadow and smoke. I don't know if those would be magic based or LOA or ?
Before this we had a troller (7th April 2015/Muni) and before we had tank & troller (31st March 2015/Rage/Quantum).. so I guess tank then troller would be next up before any chance of a Lantern Healer. That's okay. I know everyone has to get a turn. Just *please* let me know its on the horizon.. 3 years from now or something.
Lantern Healer (Reworked)
Open up Central City *please*. I have been asking for this since 2012.. since before the Flash TV show aired (2014). You could easily recycle parts of Little Bohemia to build the city. I noticed the fire hydrants say 'Metro'. Central City *feels to me* like an unfinished work.. and if I had OCD (which I don't) Central City would trigger it. And not completing the Lantern Class Set, that seems to round and round on a loop in my mind too.
Overall
The systems are very involving now. excellent! Leveling Alts has never been easier.. not that there isn't room for improvement.. but the team have had a good look at this and are going in a truly great direction!
Flip side, IMHO.. No Material Preview, too much Magic content and lack of new powersets are the present down sides to this game.
Have a great and bizzare day!
Sigma
*unbottled South Gotham + Tri Corner Yards could easily be made into Starling City.
* I probably messed a load of this up.. that was 2 hours writing this and I AM HUNGRY :P need food.
