Firstly, after reading the review for DCUO on this site, I lost most of my respect for Jeff. This is one of the most complete launch MMOs that has ever been released, and it makes me wonder what he would have ranked WoW at release, as that game had a significant amount of game-breaking bugs, none of which are present in this title. Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I've been having a lot of fun here. I rebuilt my nature character under batman, so that I could play with my buddies, and shot through the beginning of the game.
I should mention that leveling in this game progresses significantly more quickly than in your average MMO, and relies mostly on questing, with almost no emphasis on grinding. If you simply complete all the quests that are made available to you, you will quickly reach the level cap (30). I was initially concerned about the amount of endgame content, as the beta only allowed progression to level 20, but was pleasantly surprised when I hit the cap. Once you hit level 30, you are given a quest by your mentor that closely ties in with both the overarching Brainiac story, and the mentor's nemesis' story.
For example, if your mentor is Batman, you will need to fight your way through an army of the androids that Joker enlisted T.O.Morrow to build for him, before engaging in a fight with the Joker alongside Batman himself. During this fight, you and your mentor will receive a message informing of a Brainiac incursion onto a STAR labs satellite. Batman, who has been dosed with an enhanced version of Joker toxin, orders you to teleport onto the satellite and stop the Brainiac forces while he returns to the Batcave to find an antitoxin. This mission culminates in the release of a Brainiac-Batman who immediately seeks out Batman, in order to replace him. In the "Ultimate" battle, you team up with the Bat to take down the Robotic intruder, in a battle reminiscent of the Batman vs Robot Batman fight from the animated series episode "His Silicon Soul." (Yes, I'm a geek. I actually have an account on Giantbomb, that should've been your first clue) After you defeat this Batcopy, the caped crusader invites you up to the Watchtower, where he inducts you into the League.
After you geek out about that, you notice that being a league member unlocks access to a load of new material. Some of this might seem familiar, such as the Daily Challenges, which have you replaying several of the instances from the earlier missions, but with all the enemies at level 30. These are unnecessary, but quite fun, and can be used to unlock several unique sets of armour (No, that is spelled correctly, dammit!). You will also find some unusual Toyman missions, which are quite different from the rest of the game, and more closely resemble obstacle courses. Of more interest are the Duos, Hard Mode Alerts, and Raids, which provide new or reorganized areas with high level enemies and useful rewards.
The most basic of these, Duos, are reorganized instances from the game that have been retooled to require two players to win. Currently, you can team up with a friend to take down Brother Eye, Queen Bee, Gorilla Grodd, and Isis. The interiors of the instances have been reorganized with puzzles or challenges that require teamwork to complete. Most memorable of these are the Nanosynth OMACs in the Brother Eye instance. These enemies have the capability to shield allies within range, preventing any damage and healing those shielded. The players will be forced to team up to drive pairs of these apart so that the shields are deactivated, allowing them to be defeated, a task more difficult than it initially sounds, as aggro must be balanced between the two players. Successfully completing these duos, as well as Hard mode alerts, will grant the player tokens allowing them to buy Iconic armour, which is much better then the equipment that can be found elsewhere, and are modeled after famous heroes or villains from the DC universe (Steel, Batman, Robin, Mister Freeze, Metallo, Joker, etc).
With the exception of the Area 51 alert, which is given the same treatment as the Duos (more bosses, tougher patterns), all the hard mode alerts are completely new. From quelling a brainiac-incited riot in the watchtower containment area, to cleaning up the aftermath of a doomsday virus test in smallville or a mass breakout in arkham or strykers, these alerts will test your teamwork and your effectiveness at your role (my main is a healer) while providing an interesting narrative to drive the mission.
Once you have acquired enough tokens to earn your first set of Iconic armour, you will be ready to begin raiding. An effective raid requires 8 players to complete, unlike alerts, which only allow 4. These missions, approximately 3 times the length of an alert, feature much more difficult enemies, but also much better (even better you say?) loot. As well, the stories tend to be more relevant to the Main storylines. The first raid, without giving to much away, involves Braniac breaking into the Batcave, while the next involves Black Adam raising all the dead in Kandaq in an attempt to bring back his wife. If these taxing missions are completed, you will be given a new kind of token that allows you to use the mentor inspired armour. I have yet to win any of these, I am a busy man, but they look amazing. With new raids and duos set to come out later this month, as well as a new mission arc involving Catwoman and a new PvP area in Gotham, this game looks like it will be keeping me busy for quite a while. Everyone, play well and don't hack. Peace off.
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