Okay, DCUO is one of those games I really enjoy - been playing since 2011. I love being able to create my own character and immerse myself into the world of DC Comics. I think the story is really good. And it was really fun to play for a time but, has since become outdated in both graphics (even though they have been updated within the past couple years), customization, tools, and gameplay. The game has also become not new player friendly as over half of the content is unplayable because no one is playing the lower CR instances. So I have made a list of things that I think would help improve the game in the future.
- Create-A-Character - is very limited in the sense that the only things you can really customize are skins and colors. I would like to see something more along the lines of Create-A-Wrestler. Allow me to morph the face, sizes, age, height, weight, etc. as well as add emblems and other logos to any part of the suit I desire, not just the chest and then not even be able to use it if the shirt has an open chest! We need more in depth customization.
- Powers/Weapons - So in a superhero RPG you are incapable of actually using your powers as you weapon. Like when you hit the attack buttons you don’t naturally shoot fireballs, ice shards, psionic blasts, light, etc. Nothing. Weapons are cool and all but this is long overdue. Also why do you automatically start with your weapon and suit, you just got your powers, should those be acquired over time? I feel like if you want to use weapons then you should just equip them but otherwise the default should be your powers. It would be nice to have our weapons equipped like in Legend of Zelda: Breath Of the Wild, something like that.
- Combat - I get it. People like the hit counter and combos. But compared to new games it feels choppy and repetitive. I suggest something along the lines of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. You still get the combos and can add a hit-counter (though personally I don’t think it really does anything or serves a purpose) and still get the feel of a free-flow combat system so it’s not repetitive or tedious. Combat in DCUO is also very stagnate. If your weapon doesn’t feature much movement in it’s combos then you’re not going to move. Like why can’t the combat be more dynamic like lets be able to move, jump, role, and doge with ease. Look at Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, even Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity has a simple lock on system that helps you move around your foes easily, like you won’t look and attack in the wrong direction and stay locked on target unlike the current lock on system. In BOTW you can jump and flip in different directions and then using bows or other weapons everything slows down and you can play with hitting your mark. We need to be able to have these epic, dynamic battles!
- Story/Missions - the story and missions log is choppy and tedious. We’re sent around to take part in all these different stories that it feels scrambled. First, when we get off of Brainiac’s ship the first thing we should do is clear his forces on the ground, not hop directly into the first mentor missions. Speaking of the mentor missions, each mentor has their own stories which is great but why would we stop one story to jump over and only play part of another? It makes no sense. We should first and foremost be completing out mentor stories before moving on to other mentors unless the mission has to do with Brainiac. Brianiac is priority and then the mentors. The missions log could use some work as well like not playing the intro message every single time you track the mission like just play it once automatically to keep the game flowing, if you need it again then open the log and hit play. If you log out and log back in and haven’t started the mission but have it tracked play it automatically. And why do we need 4 different missions for every character? Why can’t there just be 1 long mission that flows? Also it would be nice to have know basic necessities in your lair automatically, like you just got rescued from Brainiac and doing all these missions when do you go home? When do you sleep? What about your character’s family? Do I know how to implement that? No. But it would at least be nice to be set up somewhere and at least go home after every mission and be able to put your character to sleep and then log out, then wake up when you log back in. Probably over thinking but it’s just weird to me that our character have no sense of life - like they’re just empty shells. They don’t even show emotion which is another issue, we need to see our characters in cutscenes, they need voices, we need to be able to build relationships with not only DC characters but other players as well, like if someone dies in the story I wanna see how it affects us because otherwise things are just happening around us and not to us, it doesn’t feel like we’re emerged into the world, we’re detached from it.
- Timeline - one thing I’ve noticed is that for different missions and episodes feature different characters in different mantles at the same time. For instance you have Tim as Robin throughout classic game and still sits in the East End Police Station and Featured in the Harley Quinn mission, but in on Titans island he is Red Robin and Damian is Robin. They say between one mission/episode time has past but your character has not grown or gotten older with them. IK that’s virtually impossible so I think it’s best to stick to a single time period and/or change every appearance of the character to be consistent so there is no confusion cuz I had to seek out that information in order to understand.
- Mentors - There needs to be more mentors, there I said it! You mean to tell me that exobytes were released globally but the only place brainiac is attacking and taking them back from is Gotham and Metropolis? Nope sorry not sorry, at this point there are so many other worlds, cities, and areas in the game that there is no excuse why we can only choose between the trinity and have to join the Justice League at the end of classic game. What if someone wants to be a Titan or live in central city or Atlantis and be mentored by Flash or Aquaman? These different stories and play styles should be accommodated at this point. This also has implications on the tech, meta, and magic classes (that are useless anyway because being in a class doesn’t do or change anything on your character but is rather an aesthetic). That could be explored further like being choosing a power and deciding if that power comes from a tech, meta, or magic origin and squire different exobytes to go with them. It would also mean that the classes are not determined by mentor which is would greatly help like what if you character has magic or meta based powers but lives in Gotham? We shouldn’t have to be mentored by Superman or Wonder Woman to be considered a metahuman or magic user.
- Instances - FINALLY Something needs to be done about the CR instance queue issue as over half of the game’s content is unplayable since no one is playing it. Everything is stuck behind what everyone else is playing. We need something like a flowing level/CR where the instance adjusts to level/CR and how many people are in your party. If you can’t get enough people it’s not your fault so why should you be punished and not get to play? There are also NPCs like Ironkurtin, Pablo Sangria, The Overlord, and Titanic Trenton that could be used to fill out parties for players that can’t get enough. But something needs to be done.