I sent this to DCUO Today

[Beta Babe]

Hello fellow JG's!

Many of you have shared with me the same concerns I have for our great game DC Universe Online. I have been feeling for a while things are kind of at a tipping point.

The forums really are for a quick comment and not always the best arena for such a heartfelt communication to the DCUO staff.

I sent this off to DCUO today. Three copies: 1 to Na, 1 to Mepps, and 1 to DevNerdofPrey. While it may not make any impact I have made my sincere effort to communicate my concerns. I hope it helps.


January 11, 2016



To: DCUO Customer Service, Operations, & Management
8928 Terman Court
San Diego, CA 92121
Attention: Na, Mepps, DevNerdofPrey

From: My Real Name Was Here
My Real Address


Subject: Game Changes Driving Away People

Dear DCUO Staff,

I have played DCUO for a little more than 2.5 years and for the most part I have been a satisfied customer until now.

My experience was an evolution. First, I was the noob totally unaware of the end game content making toons and trying out powers. I simply visited DCUO for a superhero fix mixed in with the other games I played.

Then I discovered the end game, leagues, and this entire culture of people playing the game for the full experience. This started me on the path to becoming a dedicated DCUO player.

Since then, I have been a member of several leagues, ran a small successful league (75 – 100 Members) for a year and a half and slowly built my skill points. I am only at 219 skill points as of right now.

For almost two years I have played DCUO (for hours) nearly every day and spent a lot of money on your game. While there are others who spend more – I spend more than many.

I was a model customer in your base.

Now you are driving my friends and I away. You have done many things right in this game and I wish to acknowledge that - but it is being overshadowed by the sweeping changes I discuss below.

1: Episodes (V.S) DLC

I understand DCUO is a business and this approach makes more money – at least initially. While your customer base is behind you. But now the game moves way too fast.

Once you are done grinding to get more gear to do the higher content to then work on skill points and have “fun” with your friends. Here is the next thing in your face – and you better get on that or you will fall behind.

This takes away the joy of achieving and then enjoying (for a little while) that achievement. Instead it is a grind which is tedious.

Quality has also suffered with this approach – right down to the screen loading Artwork for the episodes themselves.

The episode 20 duo is terrible. You took one corridor from Gotham Wastelands and then did a straight line!? Sad. I didn’t even bother to look at the raid yet I was so disappointed.

2: Raid Emphasis (Now the True Endgame)

DCUO used to be more balanced and not so raid centric. Not anymore. Now when it comes to gear and the bulk of skill points moving forward – it is all about the raid.

And you doubled down with making elite raids an ever growing important part of that equation.

3: The Scrap R & D System

This was a blatant attempt from Daybreak to get customers to buy replay badges. And I am sure they did – and that worked – for a while.

But people have caught on now and they are pretty upset with the system. Both when they did the math on how much real money they spent AND how many marks in game it costs you PER piece.

In short, if you are crafting it for a CR boost – it is a fail – by the time you have it crafted you don’t need it anymore. That only leaves to finish out a style for a feat – which – the rare vendor was actually cheaper because what you have to invest for that 1st piece in marks. Also, there is the joy of grinding for those scraps – ugh!

I would say in my league alone (and I have heard it from several others) about 80% who did do the R & D Scrap System initially – would not do it again. Unless the system is improved.

4: Insulting Drops (Flash Duo Comes to Mind)

Your improvement to the new selectable loot system was great. However, your drops in many instances stink and should not be. The Flash Duo is hated for its drops – though we love the Old Flash hat collection.

The level of difficulty for that duo requires you have gear at or better than what drops there – so it is of no use to you – this is insulting. I have read your justification of this common complaint on the forums. The “all part of the same content” does not stand up to the – you need that level of gear or better to be there and be successful in the first place argument.

Also, the idea of being there so you can get the scraps under the New R &D system fails for all the reasons I stated in number 3 above.

Drops should equate to size and difficulty. You should NOT go through an successful elite raid 4 times in a row (as I have done) and only receive green options or the occasional blue option.

I would like to see the following:
Solo is Green
Duo is Green & Blue

Alert: Green, Blue, Purple

Raid: Blue, Purple
Elite Raid: Purple & Elite Purple Gear


5: Game Content Recycle is a bit High right now

I am sure you have plans to inject fresh stuff in the future – but you are at a dangerous point for boring people and them leaving to do something else.

We loved Bombshell Paradox, Demons Plan, The Flash Museum Setting – but we are tired of seeing ninjas now in so many instances.

You have also done Trigon to Death – please move on. The DC Universe is rich with options. While I know you must recycle – your recycle rate needs to ease up a bit – it is becoming too much.

6: Powers Imbalance

I don’t really have to explain this one – you know the issues. I believe you would have more time to handle balancing of powers if you were not on so hectic a pace for your own staff to generate the content.

Many players love their power but are unhappy with the fact that right now Sorcery and Earth Dominate while so many are left in the dust. Can I hear some Lightning Love?

7: Closing Thoughts

I am writing this letter to you because I am sincere and I believe in DCUO staff. I feel that you listen and will at least consider my feedback moving forward in the future.

I love your game and I want to keep loving it in the future. I also want to see the DCUO MMO succeed for many years to come. While these are my thoughts to you – I know my views are shared by hundreds of players I interact with in the game.

Please feel free to contact with any questions or feedback you may have on my letter. I would love to hear from you – in game or out of game – even if it was a short response. I apologize for the length of this letter – but I had a lot to say.

It is my hope that this feedback will help guide some future decisions moving forward and that DCUO can return to the kind of experience I love and look forward to everyday.

Most Sincerely,



My Real Name Here
My Work Phone Number

Current Main League: The Justice Girls

Current Mains: Beta Babe (Lightning Healer)CR 147
Betazon (Atomic Tank) CR 147
PSIREN SONGG (Mental Troll) CR 147

[Alyssa Goldenblade]

The monthly release plan is unlikely to change. I actually prefer the pace of the older plan myself and did bring this up to Mepps. They're going by the stats in the logs. The old quarterly plan basically had high traffic towards the beginning. As we know, the community (and probably all MMO communities) is impatient. Players typically rush to get everything done in that first month, then don't play the game for the rest of the quarter. At this pace, the game would eventually die out.

My suggestion for the pace of the releases is to just ignore them. It takes a lot to do this because of peer pressure. Most players will be rushing to get to the latest episode. In reality, the content won't be going away. It'll still be there when you get to it at a pace that's to your comfort. In most leagues, you can't do that because everyone is moving up at the same time. You have that luxury in Justice Girls because of our sheer size. I'm almost always 3-5 months behind current because I don't play for marks during seasonal events (~5 months out of the year). And I also set things up so that I have a good set of short instances to play daily as I'm rarely at the keyboard for more than 10 minutes straight. The point is, I'm not at end game, I'm enjoying things and feel no pressure. I can still get into the lower end of new content and there are always non-daily players to group with for older content. Episode 20, or whatever we're on now will still be there when I get to it.

Another example of slowing the pace is LPvE. It's pretty common practice to replay on day 1 and get all of the teamup feats. That's a fast way to burn out! The same goal can be reached over the course of a month. You just get your 2-3 SP a bit later. I don't understand how players can run the same thing over and over in the same sitting! As much as I love Oan, 2 straight runs makes me want to close the game and take a break!

Alts are another point that could be adding to the pressure. There was a time I used to maintain 3 at the latest content (Alyssa, Shadowdragon & Takhisis). Somewhere around T6, I just got sick of running the same stuff multiple times. The symbols system made it impossible to progress in an inactive league, so Shadowdragon went on hold. By the time T7 came around, I decided to just go with a single character. I felt more relaxed that way. With the 2016 announcement, we'll be able to catch our alts up immediately anyway. Maintaining one toon is the way to go IMO.

The R&D system I admit is very flawed. They miscalculated the average pace at acquiring scraps. Pretty much all feedback is saying "great concept, bad execution." It is something the devs are looking at.

They looked at our feedback about the drop rate from Episode 17 and improved it a little... we got the weapon boxes (which is mathematically most of the RNG problem). They increased the blue & purple rate, which was very noticeable even in solo content. The only thing I think they missed was adding more drops to scrap, especially at the lower end. Doing a solo gets you one item to scrap. The Devs are also aware of the Oa Under Siege complaints.

I agree about the Flash duo and the devs also admitted it was off with the 113 entry. Even if you farmed out lower gear + some vendor gear, you're still too low to impact the NPC CR differential in there. It's a big leap from CZ. I haven't gone beyond that one, but I see a lot less complaints about the 130 entry point for the newer duos.

2015 (and even 2014) didn't have content variety because in hindsight, presenting 3 trilogies was a bad idea. I think you'll have a fresher outlook this year as all trilogies will be closed out and the Trigon arc is done. Also on the bright side... the pace won't get any faster. I think it tops out at monthly given the size of the team behind the scenes.

[Beta Babe]

Alyssa,

This is great feedback and I appreciate you taking the time to give such a detailed and thoughtful response – thank you. I would like share some of my thoughts on what you said.

I agree the monthly release is not likely to ever change – financially for them it is a win – at least for now. Right now all they are looking at is the log activity of the past which is valid for the “high raiding players and the elites.”

It does not take into account the “Community Players” who play this game as much as for the experience as they do for the fun and the challenge of the new content. They log on every week – and in most cases daily.

The (mostly closed society) of the raiders and the elites make the noticeable splash financially and with log activity – but – you can’t overlook your loyal customer base from your regular customers.

It is this very Community which has been keeping DCUO alive and chugging along. The Elites make a big noise and impact, the Noobs are good for the occasional quick shot in the arm for money and log activity – but – it is the Community Players which weather the storm.

This is the group I associate myself with and I have been seeing dying dramatically because players are frustrated and are just going away.

The reason I can’t ignore the pace is my desire to be an effective member and player for this league. That means at the minimum I maintain 3 heroes (1 of each role) at the top tier of play (not necessarily top CR).

Under the old system I could do this and work on skill points and help my friends and be social. At my peak, I was maintaining 6 mains at that level across different leagues. Those days are long gone.

I understand the approach you have taken – which I respect. But I also want to play with “all of my friends” not some of my friends. When a call goes out for we need a (Bunny, Tank, or Healer) from Ball, Super, Bursty, Cara, Snow Kate, Mermaid, Sunny (Etc. – you get the idea) I don’t want to be sitting there going – if only.

If only I had the CR to I would love to go – I want my answer to be – “I can help”. So I can’t ignore the pacing. That is on me I know – but that is a big part of why I play this game.

By the way – I also play the holiday events – love them – that is why my alt army exists. Just made a nice new Christmas base for Pandorra! 

On Legends PVE I am guilty! I do that – but then I help others also after I have my feats put to bed. This way I have the skill points and can help others – I don’t mind – but that is me.

Based on your comments – you don’t want to know how many toons I have. Let’s just say Cara and I have membership in the same club! Wink.

I am very glad to hear the Dev’s are looking into the R & D system and that they have reviewed our Episode 17 comments – this is encouraging. I am most glad that the Trigon arc is over and I do look forward to hopes of more fresh things in 2016.

I just hope I can keep up. Thanks Alyssa for all your valued comments – it encourages me.

[SunGoddess]

I only really have issue with #6. Power imbalance. Also all powers should be able to use more than one load out. 12345 if you like that, or WM with powers if you like that. Both doing similar damage.

Replay badges... eh, never use them.
Drops... eh, vendor gear is enough for me, and if a drop comes, fine.

As long as my friends stay, I am happy.

[Felicity]

I have shelved Kahryzma due to the power imbalance. Now, I have to work Felicity up to be competitive after switching her to Sorcery from Electric.
I, too, used to be able to keep 3 or 4 toons current. However, the grind is too much and I only focus on 1 hero and BARELY 1 villain.

[BallandChain]

Thank you for your thoughts Beta. I agree with you on many points.
I miss the 3 month DLC format, a little bit of everything for everyone to enjoy. Our league would work at our own pace and didn't feel the need to beat the hard raid on the first day so we had plenty of time to enjoy new content during that 3 month time frame. Not to say I wasn't impatient for the new stuff to come out!

But with the addition of LPVE and SM it helps with that gap that there would be between DLCs.

Being a dps is hard work, especially when your power is just not up to par. It's frustrating when there is nothing in your control to change it.

I'm very excited about cross play coming. It may inject some more life into the game. I'm anxiously waiting the arrival of our PS sisters. I can't wait to play with them.

I do like how they acknowledge PvP is broken and are making strides to fix it. They have veteren players coming back to the game to make sure they get PvP back to the days of old.

I would like to see more feats! Many more feats, it seems that feats in the latest episodes have been very weak and doable in the first week or so.

Anyway, we are all is this together and we will make the best of it!

[Pandarve]

Beta you have done a wonderful job of putting into words many of my own thoughts on DCUO and its current state. There is very little that I feel I can add.

One thing I would like to share is my experience with MMO's. While I have not played many I have played some of the bigger ones, such as WoW, COH/V, SWTOR,and RIFTS to name a few. Of these only WoW is not free to play and this is due in large part to their devoted fan base and perhaps other things I am not fully aware of that keep people coming back. Of the others CoH/V has gone sunset and the other two have reduced the number of servers to increase sever populations.

In my experience once companies start to reduce server size and go f2p after being primarily subs it means they just aren't making it. This does not mean it can't work, DCUO has done a remarkable job of lasting as long as it has and perhaps it will last many years to come, but again my experience says the end will come as it has with other games that just couldn't keep their player base around.

When a game sunsets it means they shut it down, for those that are not familiar with the term, and while I am not saying that DCUO will ever be sunset, there is the real possibility of this if they continue to push players away and I know they have because I have talked to several who have lost friends because of the current pace of the game. Will Daybreak see this and realize something needs to give? I really don't know, what I do know is that if nothing changes there is a real chance that DCUO will go the way of CoH/V.

I myself hope this never happens as I do enjoy my time playing with my friends and league-mates, but as some have noticed I am also not on as much as I use to be and that is because I just can't keep up the pace, so I have been playing other games, some of them my old MMOs and like Alyssa I am going to slow things down a bit with DCUO. I'll still log in on my weekends (Fri/Sat) of course.

Thanks again Beta

[Brandy TankTyke]

Where is this post stored to read? I only found it by clicking Activity at the top, because Beta mentioned he wrote something.

[Brandy TankTyke]

I think the game is starting to seem to a lot of people like less of a game, and more like a second job.
It's a lot of Work and less Recreation. It's like a being in a corporation- climbing the cr ladder, running on a treadmill (grinding), and you cant take a sick week or vacation because someone might take your job.

The devs and players need to work something out before the government steps in and enacts the No Toon Left Behind Act and makes our alts get Obamacare.

[Alyssa Goldenblade]

Brandy Rogers wrote:

Where is this post stored to read? I only found it by clicking Activity at the top, because Beta mentioned he wrote something.

Most things like this are under "League Discussion." This board only shows up if you login to the site.

Brandy Rogers wrote:

I think the game is starting to seem to a lot of people like less of a game, and more like a second job. It's a lot of Work and less Recreation. It's like a being in a corporation- climbing the cr ladder, running on a treadmill (grinding), and you cant take a sick week or vacation because someone might take your job. The devs and players need to work something out before the government steps in and enacts the No Toon Left Behind Act and makes our alts get Obamacare.

There will be a "no toon left behind act" later this year when they implement gear/style unlocks.

Even the unlocks can play out 2 different ways:

1) Unlock all toons to the top CR -> run dailies on all toons -> CR chase on all toons instead of a handful -> get stressed

2) Unlock some or all toons at certain intervals or when needed -> run your main through dailies -> play or not play alts w/o pressure

A lot of the monthly plan's pace has to do with perspective and peer pressure. I think it's important to step back and ask ourselves, "does playing this game that seriously put food on the table?"