PVP:Yes | Distribution:Retail | Retail Price:n/a | Pay Type:Subscription
Desktop Client | System Req:
DC Universe Online Interviews: Chris Cao Interview
MMORPG.com's Bill Murphy has scored an interview with DC Universe Online Game Director Chris Cao about some of the ultra cool features in the game. The interview reveals details about several features including Iconic Play, Cities, Crafting and more. We've got some never-before revealed information that you won't want to miss. Keep reading!
By William Murphy on September 03, 2010
| MMORPG.com: | One of the highlights of recent shows has been the “Iconic Play” in PvP matches. Could you go into a little more detail concerning how this will work? How will you determine who gets access to what Iconic characters, how will players initiate matches, and so forth? |
| Chris Cao: | The Legends System in DCUO offers players a chance to play as an iconic character on demand. Fictionally, players take on the guise of an iconic DC character via a simulator. They gain the essential combat abilities, super powers, and movement styles of the iconics. In a variety of simulated famous locations (e.g. The Batcave), players go head-to-head in PvP matches to earn fame or infamy for themselves. Players start off being able to play a couple introductory characters. Over time, they can spend the fame or infamy they earn on unlocking more Legends characters, or they can save their points to buy iconic PvP battlesuits or other PvP gear. But remember, at launch only players who pre-order will be able to play as Batman. |
| MMORPG.com: | One thing the community has been teetering back and forth on is Crafting and whether or not it’s going to make the release candidate. Can you clear the air on that one for us and go into some details on the decision? |
| Chris Cao: | I like crafting. As Lead Designer of EQII, I worked to put in a dedicated crafting progression and product path. It made sense for the game and it built on the tradition Everquest had established. As the Game Director of DCUO, I chose to pursue the ‘DC’ (Detective Comics) part of the universe with investigations and collections. They made sense for the game and the tradition of the DC Universe. But they are not ‘crafting.’ You can’t kill a deer in DCUO and make a hat out of it. But you can scour the alleys of Gotham to find clues left behind by The Riddler. You can leap from roof-top to roof-top as you search for scattered sections of Brainiac’s technology. And you can listen to news reports by Lois Land and Vicki Vale that tell tale of nefarious goings-on. In DCUO, you’re making your own superhero or super villain. You’re crafting your own legend. |
 | |
| MMORPG.com: | The cities of Metropolis and Gotham seem to be the big main areas of the game. Can you talk a little bit about the size and scope of each? Are they broken down into sections, a la City of Heroes, or are they more seamless entities with different décor and themes tied into different locations? |
| Chris Cao: | In the comics, Gotham and Metropolis are more than just backdrops. They are characters in and of themselves. The same is true in DCUO. Each city is gargantuan in size (nearly a thousand square blocks) and filled to the brim with the characters and stories of the DC Comics. You literally never know who you’ll run across or what kind of incidental adventure will pop up in your path. Players navigate the cities seamlessly, moving all the way from East End in Gotham (where the Waynes met an untimely end) to the far west and the island on which Arkham Asylum perches. Along the way, there are dozens and dozens of points of interest for players to explore. In DCUO, Gotham and Metropolis have been realized as immense, deep, and living cities that players will be able to fight for, and over, throughout the coming years. |
 | |
| MMORPG.com: | What about something… less urban? Are there plans for other areas from the DC Universe. A great deal of the canon takes place outside of Earth for instance. |
| Chris Cao: | A universe is a big thing to make, and you can’t do it justice by trying to build it all at once. So we’re starting with the core of the DC Universe: Earth. As many players new to the DC canon will learn, our fair planet is important for many different reasons to the universe at large. As you play through your hero’s or villain’s journey, you’ll learn these reasons as well as travel to some of the far flung corners of the planet (and its nearest neighbor). While the main areas of the game are based in cities, a large portion of it happens in other locations…and even other planes of existence. |
 | |
| MMORPG.com: | There seems to be more of a reliance on items and gear in DCUO than other games in the Super genre. Will gear play a large part in how well your character does in PvE and PvP, or is the emphasis more on cosmetics as opposed to stats? |
| Chris Cao: | It’s true. Some comic characters don’t use devices. Some don’t change their look. But players like new stuff! And DCUO is set up to give it to them. From new looks, to new gear, to new adventures, this game was built to expand and grow. We leave the choices in you hands. If you want to keep your classic look, do so. But you don’t have to. Our style system let’s you split form and function so you can keep a look while shifting stats. You get the best of both worlds. |
Good questions, good answers. It sounds rather.... adventurous, can't wait to see how the game turns out.
though I'm not expecting much from this game in terms of anything, it looks like it'll be a neat little time killer till some of the other MMOs I wanna play come out, I hope it does drop in Nov.. I'm bored to tears and this looks pretty fun
Five questions that have been answered elsewhere constitutes an interview?
They better get their beta fired up soon because right now I haven't seen any evidence that they have a clue how to promote an MMO. Other than the single cgi trailer (which doesn't even take place in the actual MMO setting) they've done nothing to excite me about buying their game. I'd be more excited if they said they were going to turn that trailer in to a full length movie.
You might want to take a look at the ultra "coll" portion of your article header. I don't think the listed questions are coll or cool either.
I've heard this already, a few times.
I'm more excited for this game than I have been for any game before it. However, this lack of news so close to release is starting to worry me a bit. It's not so much about there being no word on beta yet (like some people), but the limited amount of info on features, customization, etc. definitely does.
The no crafting thing is new, I believe. Either way, it's great to have more and more learned about a game that is definitely and almost literally just around the corner.
This is exactly my concern as well. Only 2 months until launch, and a lot of info hasn't been released yet, let alone any beta news. It is worrisome.
Like the others said, we've seen these questions and answers many times before, and yet there are so many details unanswered. What is the full list of powers in the game? We're only two months from launch- let's get some real details.
Also, I don't know about other fans, but I'm sick of hearing about Iconic Play; it's the least interesting aspect of the game I've seen so far. It feels crowbarred in as a response to the morons who whined about not being able to play as Batman in this game.
I wish that last question had actually been answered; I'm curious to see just how much of a role gear plays in DCUO.
To echo what others have said above.. We are getting nothing new as of late. It is the same information again and again. They talk about nothing but combat and iconic play. Where is some info on other game systems? If it is so shallow that you have nothing else to talk about it? I will pass and the people playing games like COH will certainly pass if that is the case.
Well stated - couldn't have said it better myself. I want info on the depth of skills, possible builds, pve encounters, travel powers, NPCs, Auction House, DCU equivalent of "dungeons" or "raids". If this is just a PVP mash em up I won't be buying it. I'll stick with CoH and be quite happy thank you.
While I like what I'm hearing some off the answers just came off as marketing spin. You're 'crafting' you're own legend hurr.
The item heavy focus has me worried and the reply aimed at quoshing fears via spin rather than a detailed answer is dissapointing. Will we be able to turn off a stupid looking mace and keep our fists? Can only certain powersets equip stupid looking maces?
I'm pumped for the title dont get me wrong but we still know very little about how it plays.
I'm not following this game, yet I've seen this question answered before. You can basically use stats from items, yet keep your general look. I would assume that works with weapons as well. Say you want the stats you get from that mace, yet you use a sword, brass knuckles etc.. The way it sounds you break down the item and place the stats, where you please.
I really do think we've heard enough about 'iconic' play. This game releases in November and i still have no idea what sort of powers there are and I have yet to see anything with players teaming on missions that don't have any of the Fab Five making an appearance. Shouldn't there be beta noises about now?
List of known powers going into game and also more on character custimization http://dcuniverseonline.wikia.com/wiki/Character_Creation
Thanks for the link Firespike09. I don't know whether to feel better or worse.
edit: That list is way incomplete and give virtually no real info.
This is piecemeal data, gathered from random dev comments here and there. At two months out we should be seeing a steady release of confirmed core gameplay details. Either marketing is grossly dropping the ball, or the game is in trouble. I sincerely hope it's the former.
From one of the dev panels 1-2 months ago, they said that they were planning to launch with 6 power types fire, ice, mystic, mind, and other 2 I dont remember. All those power types are more likely what they have in mind at the beginning. Anyway, I think the interview was pretty short and non informative provided that most of it was already given in other articles.
Hey guys,
There's actuall more, a second part, to this interview. We'll see those answers hopefully in the next week or so, so hang tight!
As the Game Director of DCUO, I chose to pursue the ‘DC’ (Detective Comics) part of the universe with investigations and collections. They made sense for the game and the tradition of the DC Universe. But they are not ‘crafting.’ You can’t kill a deer in DCUO and make a hat out of it.
One thing that's always bothered me about these superhero MMOs is the narrow scope the devs seem to look at the game with. Does every player want to be a superhero all the time? What about just being in the superhero world, but sometimes just being a regular person, maybe the alter-ego of a superhero, doing some sort of job, to break up the pacing a bit, and give some alternative gameplay types? That would open a whole lot, as far as crafting goes, not to mention socializing and the like, as people in a big city, not just superheroes fighting evil 24/7.
I just think the superhero setting has a lot more potential to it than just superheroism.
There's a feature thatthey haven't talked too much about yet, Secret Identity. And while I don't know what it will entail, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. While crafting's out, I'm curious to see what the SI's will entail.
Nothing new as usual. How about some updated footage of the actual game and not some scripted level. And what's up with the beta?
everyone needs to stop crying about beta SOE dose not do beta like every other company they actually only invite ppl that will help find bugs and not use the game as a trial that is how they have always done there beta's. With that being said they boot ppl out of beta's for not contributing to the test so all of you that want to play the game as a trial good luck and to the rest of us that want to help beta will start soon and good luck with the acceptance into it.
To the rest of you asking about the rest of the features you need to go read up more about the game and look at the fain fair panal as there was alot of question's being answered there.
I am really excited about this game and i hope they hold out releasing info for awile longer to drive the excitment factor up .
If i were you, i'd focus on improving my spelling and grammar instead of lecturing people on game development.
SOE has closed and open beta testing just like everyone else. I also watched the fan faire DCU panel and heard the devs say that there was no beta testing going on yet. Most of the information was still sketcky. 6 power sets modeled after each of the 6 icons, 2 trees each, any can tank/heal/dps, big city, many references to iconic heroes. That about sums it all up.
The lack of real display of the game and limited information about the systems if anything would seem to be causing people to have doubts about the game more than anything else.
I agree with those who are getting worried, we could have a delay on our hands, I know 3 people who have cancelled their pre orders and are gonna buy FFXIV if this gets delayed, not good Sony, dont screw us over...AGAIN!
You can only hear the words legendary and iconic so many times before they become blurb. You would think the PR guys would realise this, but they every time they speak to a DCUO staffer we get the same.
Game ideas look interesting, lets wait and see.
Seeing the pre-order boxes in stores already, I highly doubt this game is going to get delayed and miss the holiday sales season. Possible, but the impression so far is full steam ahead from soe.
Soe has a habit of releasing their games premature. More recent releases have been functional, but very lacking in features/content and missing the stage of development where their designs are put to the player test to see if they are enjoyable or not.
I suspect that is going to be the same case with DCU and soe will try to "finish" the game post release.
Depth of Skills - are dependent on how much you play and quest. You earn Combo Specials that add to your 'salad bar' of choices of action. They are executed through special key patterns like a fight game such as Streetfighter.
Possible Builds - You begin by choosing a Mentor from three different archtypes (Superman for Meta-powers (Mutant for you Marvel heads), Batman for Tech-powers and Wonder Woman for Magic or mystic powers. These can be changed if you wish to change your powers, I am told. These choices guide the character in direction of powers and quests.
PVE Encounters - are the bases of your builds. You gain your missions from reports from your mentor and ultimatily the faction orginization that inducts you (JLA or LSV). There should be city patrols and other mission points. Batman assigns the Carnival caper reported earlier.
Travel Powers - There are three forms of travel based on the characters choice to improve. Flight, Superspeed and Acrobatic.
NPC - There are your common city walkers who run screaming if a fight breaks out. Heroes and Villians populate through out but is less common unless there is a city wide alert. I am not sure spacificlly what you wish to know but to my understanding there is no pet system, yet.
Auction House - I was told there would be some form of auction house so looted items could be sold once players decide to do such. Characters have limited storage so you will want to get rid of junk and allow others to benefit from you success.
Dungeons and Raids - are a pretty standard practice in the modern MMO. DCUO will have its own versions. Gotham and Metropolis will have places to go and explore such as Star Labs that may qualify as Dungeons. Raids have the beginning benefit of two faction at war with each other. Hero and villian bases will come.
PVP mash up - is not the apex of DCUO. There will be plenty of single player action and co-op play as characters adventure. SOE wanted social issues not to weight down players interest in just getting out there and fighting the good fight. Thats why so much is being handed to Facebook to get word of mouth out on the game. The Legends System is one form of PVP were players are given a premade character(like Batman) to fight another premade character (say Riddler) in an arena match. Will you be able to use your character in PVP? I am not sure.
How do I know this about DCUO? I asked the devs at SOE Fan Faire 2010 when they let me playtest the game. I hope this answers some questions for ya'll.
YAY!!!! I'm excited again! Thanks for posting!
Good interview. The "no crafting" answer was pretty weak though. I did like the wording on the iconic pvp thing where Cao mentions that "at launch" the only way you can play as Batman is to pre-order. Since I will be holding off for a few months on this one, we'll see how quickly they change gears on that.