Thursday, February 03, 2011

Expansion Fever

It would appear that SOE are holding to their promise of new content for DCUO. A Catwoman expansion/Valentine's Day patch has been announced for mid-February, critical feature fixes are beginning to appear (such as easing the stranglehold the profanity filter has on normal English) and future content is beginning to emerge (such as the Green Lantern Patch...swoon!)

Catwoman patch includes a five boss level 30 episode, a new legends PvP character, more races, new armour sets, Valentine's Day stuff (fun, but not needed - however, it adds another 4-man Alert), a Bane Duo, a Gotham PvP zone, a new high end raid and ... the Brokerage (aka the Auction House).

I have to say, I am quietly impressed. The real story here for me is that there is content at just about every level of the game and stuff that is going to add content to everyone's gameplay in some way. I've learned over the years - especially the last one - that you can extend your love of a game by embracing both PvE and PvP and accepting that PvP is a whole new skillset that needs to be developed and trained. Thus the inclusion of PvP stuff makes me very happy.

So the question comes, is it worth 10 quid?

Well, there are two ways to look at this. The first is, could I get more utility from a new game for 10 quid (sorry about the colloquialism, but I simply cannot find the pound sign on this bloody keyboard) and the answer is probably yes, but there would be no perpetual character and no perpetual community built up. The second is whether I would get the same level of new content from WoW, which is my other subscription option? No.

Another thing I have considered is what I would buy into if it was done as micro-transactions? Probably not everything but I think thats because doubt allows you to back down on those transactions. By having it all in one lump I'm probably more likely to have a try.

Of course, even in this post of good news, the community can deliver the sour grapes. I have particularly liked the debate over the release date and the precise semantic definition of what 'roughly monthly' and 'mid-February' actually mean. And yes, there have been people who have said that four days past one calendar month is a broken promise by SOE. Hilarious.

I'm please. I sub for another month. But of course, you all know they had me at Green Lantern!

2 comments:

Malleustein said...

You do realize all you've made entries about lately is DCUO right?

Anyway, while I haven't had too much chance to really dig in and play the game, I've liked most of what I've seen.

If SOE can stick to the promise of worthwhile new content updates on a monthly schedule, I see no reason not to re-subscribe.

I haven't followed the forums (don't care enough to deal with the bile!) so this is the first I had heard of what is coming. Sounds fine to me, and while level 30 is a looong way off for me at my current pace of play, I'm not going to grumble if there is plenty of content waiting for me.

I guess by March or April I'll have made my mind up about the game. If SOE can delivery three worthwhile updates on time between now and then, I'm nt going to begrudge them my £10 a month.

Vodkashok said...

"You do realize all you've made entries about lately is DCUO right?"

You do realise that at the minute, all I do is this and marking?