DC Universe Online: Countdown to ‘Free to Play’ Week 3 (Stats, Menus & Updates)

Game Updates

So the game launched in February 2011, so has now been out for 9 months. How has the game developed in three quarters of a year?

The original plan was for monthly updates, with something big every quarter. In reality, thanks to the extended downtime thanks to the various Sony hacks, this became 5(ish) updates and a DLC pack.

Here’s an overview of the main additions to the game each month. (I’m not going through all the minor tweaks, rebalancing, bug fixes, etc, just the biggies)

Update 1 – March 2011
* New Batcave Raid II “Inner Sanctum” – Braniac and Brother Eye have taken over the Batcave
* Goddess of Love – Valentine’s Day seasonal content (yes, in March)
* New races – chase Catwoman across Gotham
* New Bane Duo
* Auction House – buy and sell gear player-to-player

Update 2 – May 2011
* New Batcave Raid III – Fight against Robo-Batman and Braniac
* New solo challenge featuring Two Face and Penguin
* New Duo featuring Green Lantern and Sinestro (complete reworking of the single player mission)
* St Patrick’s day seasonal event featuring Mr Mxyzptlk
* Two Face added to Legends PVP

Update 3 – June 2011
* New Alert – Ra’s Al Ghul & the League of Assassins
* Oolong Island – new Hard Mode challenge
* New seasonal missions – help Swamp Thing or Poison Ivy control ‘the green’
* New Duo – Two Face & Penguin – Update 2’s mission reworked as a Duo
* Report Function implemented

Megaservers – August 2011
* existing separate servers restructured into “megaservers”, same capacity but more flexibility

Update 4 “Enemies Unite” – September 2011
* New Raid – Fortress I – Heroes and Villains join Superman and Lex Luthor in a legendary battle to the front steps of The Fortress of Solitude which has been taken over by Brainiac
* New Alert – Batcave Outer Caverns raid reworked as a four player Alert
* New PVP 8v8 Deathmatch Map – The Fortress of Solitude – with new power ups and a trap room
* Mission Journal Revamp– A new layout and sorting options
* New body types in Character Creation
* Fortress of Solitude inspired new Tier 3 armour is available and on display in the JLA Watchtower

DLC “Fight for the Light” – September 2011 (free to Legendary members, $9.99 to free/premium)
* New power set available – Hard Light, introducing a whole new combo system for chaining hard light attacks
* Fight alongside Green Lantern or Sinestro as a reservist for the green and yellow lantern corps
* New Alert – S.T.A.R. Labs – Green and Yellow Lantern Corps unite against Brainiac as he seeks to harness the power source behind the Lantern Corps’ rings.
* New Alert – Coast City – Players must battle their way to Ferris Aircraft, the home of fighter ace Hal Jordan where they face the Red Lantern Corps
* New Alert – Sciencells Prison – Take your sides as Guy Gardner try and stop a prison break by Sinestro on the Green Lantern Corp’s home planet Oa

Update 5 “Fate of the Fortress” – October 2011
* New Hard Alert – HIVE Moon Base Alert is now available as a Tier 2 Hard Mode.
* New Raid – Fortress II – Enter the Fortress of Solitude and defeat The Avatar of Meta, featuring Jor-El and Zod!
* New PVP Arena – Players can now battle against each other 2v2 in a simulation of The Batcave.
* Dueling – Challenge another player or turn on Dueling Mode and allow anyone to challenge you.

Update 5.1 late October 2011
* Spooky Spectacular – Halloween seasonal mission added
* Radial menu added
* Welcome message screen added

* note the seasonal missions are/were only available until the next update, but could well be repeated annually

What’s next?

* We know that the next DLC pack will feature Flash and the Cosmic Treadmill which you will use to travel back in time and witness Barry Allen’s Flash origin story.
* The next update will conclude the Fortress of Solitude trilogy of raids
* The producers also cryptically hinted that “crafting” will be coming to the game in some form as well.

So that’s it! I hope you’ve enjoyed our whistle-stop tour around DCUO, and hopefully you’ve found at least some of this information useful. Enjoy the game, and who knows, maybe we’ll meet up in Metropolis sometime soon!