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DC
Universe Online
has launched
with the impact of Superman’s uppercut. Between giggling like
insane fanboys while playing the game for
“research”, we heard that SOE has a great deal of
new content rolling out in the next few months. To get the details, Ten
Ton Hammer sat down with Game Director Chris Cao in the spacious
Justice League Watchtower.





Ten
Ton Hammer:
How do you
approach building monthly content? When did you start on the update
coming in February?



Chris
Cao:
We started building the
February update just before we launched based on the beta feedback and
the way things were going. As a company we take the stance that we play
our own games, we have metrics, and we watch the fansites, then we say,
‘All right, what should we build this update about? What
should it cover?’



That’s generally how it’s going to be, moving
forward. On a roughly monthly basis, we’re going to get you
guys new stuff to do, and that new stuff will be based on what you find
most fun about what we’re doing right now.



Ten
Ton Hammer:
So
let’s put an end to the suspense: what has the style="font-style: italic;">DCUO
team been working on for February?



Chris
Cao:
February is going to be
about two main things. First off, there’s going to be a focus
character, who in this case is Catwoman. That focus character hits lots
of different parts of the game. We’re going to add Catwoman
as an iconic character for Legends play, we’ll have a solo
episode and a race based around her. There’s going to be a
comic cutscene that goes with the episode.



Specifically, this is content for level 30 people. When you log in at
level 30, you’ll automatically be granted a quest to go
search the rooftops of Gotham and find Catwoman in the middle of her
nefarious burglaring deeds. You'll track her down either by racing
across the rooftops in the race that I mentioned, or seeking out where
she goes. She goes to ground at the Gotham Museum’s storage
facility. This is the über vault where they keep everything
that’s not on display, so what better place for her to burgle
than a museum’s vault?


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Catwoman doing shady things in
the Gotham Museum.

Batwoman goes
into the Museum storage facility, but things go wrong.
Apparently in her burglaring, she unearths these ancient Egyptian
artifacts that all have to do with cats. They’ve actually
cursed all the security personnel and everyone hanging out in the
vaults and turned them into various aspects of the cat: cheetahs,
panthers, lions, and tigers.


" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> style="font-style: italic;">DC has a lot of the Greek
mythos represented, while Marvel has more of the Norse pantheon. Each
of the different comics has their own mythical shtick. Aphrodite made a
lot of sense for us here, plus since we tied in Catwoman, next year
when we do Valentine’s Day we’ll build on this, but
we’ll introduce a new DC character."

So this is a really cool stuff because there’s some outdoor
stuff, but mostly indoor stuff, including five boss fights in this one
– four different aspects of the cat and the final fight
against Catwoman herself. It’s really different from our
typical content because, for example, in the Cheetah wing, you have to
jump on these pipes and avoid these cheetahs as they race along with
you. The tiger wing is all about them leaping and prowling –
it’s all about strength. Each wing plays up a different
aspect.



At the end you face Catwoman. She’s cursed by each of the
different aspects of these ancient artifacts and, of course, she has
nine lives. Defeating her gives you a headline, there are new feats
involved with this one, along with a whole new set of loot –
an ancient Mayan looking set, reminiscent of what you might find on
display in a museum. You can earn that for doing the different
challenges in there. And then you’ll earn a new comic
cutscene that goes into the “behind the scenes” of
Catwoman. And, because it’s February, that ties in and does a
nod to her romance with Batman.



Ten
Ton Hammer:
Catwoman made a
brief appearance in some of the boss scenes such as the
villain’s side of The Huntress encounter. But I’m
guessing that both heroes and villains will be able to play the
Catwoman episode?



Chris
Cao:
Absolutely.
She’s one of those gray area characters in and of herself.
This is basically about you and her and all the people that got turned
into cats along the way.


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Lots of action going on after
hours at the Gotham Museum.

Ten
Ton Hammer:
Is the Catwoman
content entirely single player content?



Chris
Cao:
It’s all solo
stuff, but we’ll probably eventually do a duo off of it. It
has the boss fights in, so if you want to bring your friends along,
feel free. It is a little bit more challenging in terms of setup, so
you’ll want to have a few pieces of gear at least from the
challenge level. But basically Catwoman is for soloers, the seasonal
fight is a four-man alert, Batcave II is the new raid, and then the new
duo, so we’re hitting on all fronts.



Ten
Ton Hammer:
What else does
SOE have in store for February?



Chris
Cao:
Beyond that, Bane has
been redone as a duo. We have even more boss fights and more loot going
into the Cape Carmine Lighthouse. In this case, we’ve made it
quite a bit trickier – it’s going to be sort of a
level up for all those people used to doing duos. We’re
adding in an open world PvP event, so there’s going to be
even more of a reason to gank newbs or be ganked by them… as
I was last night by a gang of fifteens, it was kind of humiliating.



The auction house is coming out – we’re adding a
broker and auction house so we can get the economy really rolling. And,
at the ultimate level, we’re introducing Batcave II, the
battle against Brother Eye. We’ve actually revamped it
completely since beta - everything from character animations to
abilities – and you’re going to need some of your
tier 2 to step in there because we’ve amped up the difficulty
quite a bit.



We also have a new Blur trailer coming out that extends the storyline
in our first trailer. The first one was titled “Who do you
trust?” and in this one you’ll find out that it
probably isn’t Lex Luthor. You’ll see why
– it’s the story of how Lex got those exobytes in
the first place. It’s also got some rock ‘em, sock
‘em action in it. This trailer is less to do with February
and more to do with post-launch; it’ll keep the story going.



So, basically, If you’re a raider, if you like duos and
alerts, if you like PvP, if you like trading, if you like collections
and investigations, if you like story, if you like holiday events
– then February is for you.






Ten
Ton Hammer:
Speaking of
holiday events, no one does holiday events better than SOE. What can
you tell us about the event planned for Valentine’s Day?



Chris
Cao:
It’s all about
love, and players are going to fight for the very definition of love,
whether it’s about selfishness or selflessness, devotion or
scorn.



This is the content for everybody. While Catwoman is going to be a
permanent addition to the game - it’s a new level 30 episode
everyone can do – the Valentine’s Day stuff is only
here during Valentine’s, it’s a holiday event in
the classic MMO sense.


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Something's lurking in Batcave
II.

The first part consists of things
everyone can do regardless of level,
whether you’re a new player or raiding the Batcave,
there’s going to be a bunch of stuff for you to do. The basic
idea is that fountains have sprung up because Aphrodite, the goddess of
love, is in turmoil. The fight between Circe and Wonder Woman and
everything that’s been happening under the influence of
Brainiac – all these things are causing this tumult.


" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> style="font-style: italic;">That’s
generally how it’s going to be, moving forward. On a roughly
monthly basis, we’re going to get you guys new stuff to do,
and that new stuff will be based on what you find most fun about what
we’re doing right now."

So, as a villain or as a hero, you use these fountains to go into this
near-realm, this quasi-plane that exists right alongside the rest of
the DC Universe. This is where the cherubs live; the guys that play
with the hearts and minds of the world. You get to become a cherub. You
take on the aspect of your side – you’ll get cool
villainous looks if you’re a villain and vice versa. I
don’t know how heroic a cherub can look, but this is where
it’s about hanging out with your friends and having fun.
There’s a multiplayer race, there’s a platformer
bouncehouse where you can collect hearts for your side,
there’s this fountain dunking thing where you can dunk the
other side in a PvP event and force the issue about where love goes.



And then, of course, there’s influencing the hearts of the
actual citizens of Metropolis. You’re in this other realm,
you hear their comments about love, and you’re shooting them
with your bow – trying to pull them one way or another.
It’s good fun, you’re doing this as a fat little
guy (or a fat little lady – the ladies got off better, they
have cooler looking cherubs). You earn hearts that you can use as
currency to buy gifts, chocolates, rings, and a whole new set of
appearance items that are unique for male and female.



For the second part, if you already are max level, you can take it one
step further and battle for the definition of love as a seasonal boss
fight against Aphrodite herself. You actually get to choose which way
you want to go, regardless of whether you’re a hero or
villain. It’s sort of 1.5 boss fights in one; it has variants
depending on which side you choose to fight and there’s
variant loot depending on which side you choose to fight for.
It’s set at the Alert level, so it’s a four player
fight.


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There's a lot
of danger in Batcave II.

Ten
Ton Hammer:
For those that
think a Greek goddess making a cameo in style="font-style: italic;">DCUO
is a little strange, I’m looking through my DC Encyclopedia
and I see that Aphrodite is actually an existing DC character.



Chris
Cao:
Yea, it’s
interesting. DC has a lot of the Greek mythos represented, while Marvel
has more of the Norse pantheon. Each of the different comics has their
own mythical shtick. Aphrodite made a lot of sense for us here, plus
since we tied in Catwoman, next year when we do Valentine’s
Day we’ll build on this, but we’ll introduce a new
DC character. Seasonal things are always great for the collective
memories of an MMO.



Ten
Ton Hammer:
Will the
Aphrodite boss fight offer any rewards that hardcore raiders could sink
their teeth into?



Chris
Cao:
Think of it as part
endgame, part seasonal. There’s loot, badges, and the heart
currency, but the most interesting loot that drops off of her is the
disguise to look like a cherub out in the shared world, not just in the
other place. You’ll have to roll off against your friends to
pick that up.



Ten
Ton Hammer:
When are you
looking to release the February update?



Chris
Cao:
Mid to late February.
Hopefully more mid than late.



Ten
Ton Hammer:
So it’s
likely that this will be out after Valentine’s Day?



Chris
Cao:
Basically we want to
make sure you can have Valentine’s Day. We want you to be
able to celebrate Valentine’s both in the real world and
in-game. I think that’s the difference with style="font-style: italic;">DCUO
– it’s fun, it’s casual, and you can
still lead your real life while you play it. With us, it would be fine
if you could celebrate Valentine’s Day in real life and then
come back and experience it in style="font-style: italic;">DCUO.






Ten
Ton Hammer:
Well
played.
(laughter) So, aside from the Blur trailer, we’re not looking
to continue the Brainiac story arc in February?



Chris
Cao:
The way I look at it is
that the story arc is continuing with the Batcave II raid, and then
with Batcave III in another monthly update. We tested all those in beta
to make sure they’re good. But then we’re going to
have to step our game up because Brainiac is going to attack back.
He’s more on a multi-month basis; on a monthly basis, we make
sure to punch up the DC characters and whatever seasonal events make
sense for that time.


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Meow! Catwoman has been a
naughty kitty!

Ten
Ton Hammer:
Is the plan still
to launch a new mentor and accompanying story arc every three months as
well?


" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"> style="font-style: italic;">We want you to be able to
celebrate Valentine’s both in the real world and in-game. I
think that’s the difference with DCUO –
it’s fun, it’s casual, and you can still lead your
real life while you play it."

Chris
Cao:
Three or four months is
basically the multi-month side of it; we have to give the raiders and
the PvPers a new level of challenge. We have to keep things interesting
between launch and expansion. It’s more about continuing the
level of story that people are on. I don’t think we would add
a new mentor in at this point, instead, well, we went to the
Batcave… what about Superman’s house?
I’m not saying anything here, I’m just saying that
there might be some other places that might be in peril and you might
look forward to in the future.



In the meantime, there’s
still 2/3 of the Batcave to win back
and a whole bunch of bottles to be unbottled, so there’s a
bunch for players to do. So we’ll let players get through
that and then we’ll add some more.



Ten
Ton Hammer:
Will we see the
same kind of holiday event in March?



Chris
Cao:
Not all holidays are
equal to each other. For March, we’re definitely doing
something for St. Patrick’s Day. But as far as what the
emphasis of the update will be, it’s going to be based on
what players are doing most. If more people are doing alerts or PvP,
then we’ll spend more time there then otherwise. As cool as
St. Patrick’s Day is, it’s not quite as big as
Valentine’s Day or the Winter holidays.


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Batcave II is the right place
for Batman to brood in.

Ten
Ton Hammer:
The size of the
content update you’re planning for February sounds pretty
massive. Do you think this will be the typical size and scale of
monthly content?



Chris
Cao:
I think it might be
proportionally different. To set expectations, I think March will have
a different distribution. Since St. Patrick’s Day
isn’t quite as big a holiday as what we have in February, I
think we would invest our resources in alerts or duos or other things
that we would do, instead of trying to make St. Patrick’s Day
more than it is. There’s still going to be good seasonal
stuff to do, but that’s why we’re not making our
roadmap known to everyone. Instead of going ‘here’s
March… here’s April’ we’re
instead saying ‘here’s February, and
here’s what we think works well for where the audience
is.’  Some things do take longer than others, so
it’s not always going to be a one-for-one.



Ten
Ton Hammer:
But DC is set up
so well for St. Patrick’s Day….



Chris
Cao:
We’ll just say
that Mr. Mxyzptlk… the name has been punted around the
office a bit and leave it at that. (laughter)



To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our DC Universe Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Jeff joined the Ten Ton Hammer team in 2004 covering EverQuest II, and he's had his hands on just about every PC online and multiplayer game he could since.

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