DCUO Game Update 31

The latest DCUO game update 31 announced for November 12th, introduces several updates in preparation for DC Universe Online’s release on PS4. Downtime is expected to last about 4 hours.

Art Update!

• In preparation for DC Universe Online’s release on PS4, we did a considerable amount of work polishing and adding additional detail to all environments raising the visual fidelity for PC and PS3.
• Pillars of Hades in the Robinson Park area of Gotham City have been altered to better fit the landscape and fiction of the area.
• Centennial Park has been updated to show the destruction caused by S.T.A.R. Labs ships crashing into the park. This change was made to better reflect the fiction of the area.
• Little Bohemia Queensland Boardwalk floating platforms in Metropolis have been lowered to make them more accessible to Superspeed and Acrobat characters.
• Added additional environment effects in Gotham City and Metropolis.
• Fixed environment art bugs throughout the game.

Leveling Content Update!

• Players should no longer find themselves without a mission when completing leveling content.
• We now guide players to level 30 better, by giving them the most important missions first and then granting missions that are relevant to their Combat Rating.
• Missions granted at level 30 are now chained to prevent players from receiving an unreasonable amount of missions at once when they reach level 30.
• Reduced the amount of experience required to reach levels 8 through 29. Players within this range may log in and find their level increased. The experience required to reach level 30 remains unchanged.
• We did a pass on leveling content NPCs, removing abilities that seemed unfair and updating abilities and visual effects where needed. Weaker enemies in leveling content may now use attacks that are vulnerable to block or interrupt and can be countered. However, weak enemies still cannot inflict counters on you and only have vulnerability to counter mechanics.
• The level of enemies in the three final episodes has been reduced.
• Updated leveling content with new icons and made an icon consistency pass to improve messaging.
• Fixed leveling content bugs.

Mainframe Update!

• Henchmen/Back-Up and Sidekicks/Accomplices are now available as soon as you gain access to your Base and Mainframe.
• Cost Reduction
• The cost of gaining access to a Sidekick/Accomplice has been reduced to 5 Marks of Triumph for the initial rank and 20 Marks of Triumph for the final rank. The cost of boosting remains unchanged.
• The cost of gaining access to Henchman/Back-Up has been reduced to 10 Marks of Triumph for the initial rank and 40 Marks of Triumph for the final rank. The cost of boosting remains unchanged.

Player Rewards Update!

• Players that defeat a boss or sub-boss will get their own loot that is separate from other players’ loot, meaning players will instantly receive their loot and will no longer roll against other players. This includes items that are not guaranteed to always drop such as Research and Development plans or Utility Belts. Some players may receive these items from a boss, while others might not. It is important to note that items dropped from regular non-boss NPCs are not included in these changes, and will be rolled on by the group as they did previously.
• Races now only award experience for Platinum awards.
• Research and Development introduction plan items are now level 8.
• Marks of Triumph are now awarded for completing the following content:
• Alert completion missions for:
• ALERT: Area 51
• ALERT: Bludhaven
• ALERT: Gorilla Island
• ALERT: HIVE
• ALERT: Oolong Island
• No Laughing Matter
• Things That Go BOOM
• Completing level 30 Bounty and Wanted missions the first time (from the posters) in Gotham City and Metropolis still award the original item. All subsequent completions -and the mission granted when engaging the bounty- rewards 1 Mark of Triumph and Cash.
• Bounty and Wanted mission equipment reward level and stats were increased to 30.
• Completing level 3 -30 leveling content Side Missions, including single and multi-stage versions, in Gotham City and Metropolis now award 1 Mark of Triumph.
• Main Story leveling content Missions
• Completing the last mission of an episode now awards a Mark of Triumph and a sample marketplace consumable item in addition to its regular rewards. Exceptions to this are:
• Watchtower and Hall of Doom Tours now award a case of 5 Marks of Triumph.
• Completing the first mentor mission featuring Superman vs. Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman vs. Circe or Batman vs. the Joker, now awards a case of 5 Marks of Triumph and a sample marketplace consumable item in addition to its regular rewards.
• “Religion of Crime” mission line now awards a case of 5 Marks of Triumph and a sample marketplace consumable item in addition to any other rewards.
• Completing the final mentor mission awards a case of 10 Mark of Triumph and a sample marketplace consumable item.

Alerts

• Coast City: All Heal barrels should now be targetable.

Audio

• Added more audio variety and sounds to Bestiamorph NPCs.
• Fixed various audio bugs including but not limited to: fixing NPC attacks that were missing sounds, fixing missing voice-overs, and fixing communicator audio messages in leveling content.
• Completed a music pass on leveling content.

Feats

• The feat A Family Affair no longer requires the mission “Take Heart” to complete.

General

• Updated trait descriptions to better describe abilities for the following power types: Iconic, Gadgets, Light, Mental, Sorcery, Nature, Electricity, Earth.
• Dominance now increases the maximum possible duration of stuns, roots, levitations and encasements deployed from super powers at a rate of +1 second for every 500 Dominance (2 milliseconds per 1 point of Dominance).
• We removed one level 25 Flight, Acrobat and Speedster Race in Robinson Park due to the changes in that area. Feats that referenced these races have been changed to no longer include these races as requirements.
• Fixed an issue causing NPCs to not use the correct animation when in flight during cinematics.
• Players should no longer get stuck in a casting animation during a level up animation.
• Fixed a minor animation issue when jumping during combat.
• Slightly reduced the delay caused when activating a form change ability.
• Comical Personality: Performing a rude emote while in flight or hovering in flight should no longer cause the player’s character to distort.
• General improvements to how the follow camera behaves at different distances to the player’s character. It is faster and easier to adjust the camera distance, and the character is framed better when the camera is closer.
• We are updating screens with the new DC Universe Online logo so some screens may have the new logo while others may not.
• General optimizations for PC & PS3.

Journal

• The mission tracker will now display a prompt to open the Journal if there is no other mission text to display, and only if there are visible missions in the Journal.

Missions

• All main leveling content storyline missions can now be shared with your friends, with the exception of the following:
• JLA in Trouble?
• What Fate Awaits?
• Batsignal
• Saving the Society
• Beyond Rhyme or Reason
• Last Laugh
• Research & Development
• Vault Ambush!
• Low level Bounty and Wanted Missions in Gotham City and Metropolis are now level 30 and can be repeated daily.
• Leveling content Side missions in Gotham City and Metropolis are now re-playable with the exception of: “Rollercoaster of Doom”, “Two Bad”, “Hot Dog Zombie” “Rats, a Zombie” and “Sci-Phobia”.
• “Poseidon’s Trident” side mission was removed as a result of the leveling content pass. Players who currently have this side mission in their Journal will see that this mission has been automatically completed and its reward can be claimed.
• “Take Heart” side mission is no longer available due to updates in Robinson Park. Players who currently have this side mission in their Journal will see that this mission has been automatically completed and its reward can be claimed.
• Watchtower and Hall of Doom tour missions, “Welcome to the Watchtower” and “Into the Hall of Doom” now requires completion of one of the following:
• The Hive (Hero)
• Bane Brought Down (Hero)
• Trigon Loosed (Hero)
• Sweeter than Honey (Villain)
• Bane, Banished! (Villain)
• Hail Trigon! (Villain)
• “Research & Development” intro mission now requires completion of the Watchtower or Hall of Doom tours, “Welcome to the Watchtower” (Hero) or “Into the Hall of Doom” (Villains)
• The Vault intro mission, “Vault Ambush!”, now requires completion of the Research & Development intro missions.
• Base intro mission, “Home is Where your Base Is” now requires completion of the Vault intro mission, “Vault Ambush!”, and level 8 in addition to its previous requirements so players should receive access to their Lair around level 9.
• The following missions are no longer auto-granted, reducing Journal clutter.
• “Attack Brainiac” level 5 mission
• Legends missions at levels 6,8,12
• Arena missions at levels 15, 20

Powers

• Nature: Swarm Shield will now always apply a shield to the character using it and up to three group members. Metabolism’s icon has been updated.
• Sorcery: Boon of Souls will now always apply a shield to the character using it and up to three group members.
• Tank Role-Taunt: The following abilities are now a single target taunt and no longer taunts enemies in an area. The effect is more powerful and will not be broken by a standard Tank Role taunt. This will allow multiple tanks working together to strategically split targets.
• Earth: Stone
• Fire: Fireball
• Ice: Frost Snipe

Raids

• Paradox Wave: Fixed an issue with Jail domes not opening when the Tyrant is defeated, but the other sub-bosses haven’t been yet. They should now open when the Tyrant is defeated.

Vault

• We have increased the drop rate on the Logistics Officer and Sharpshooter style items in the Vault for players with access to Last Laugh DLC.
• Added some mayhem to the Vault.

Voice Chat

• Fixed an issue that would sometimes generate an extra Group channel by mistake.

Weapons

• Reduced the impulse magnitude applied to objects (e.g. vehicles, barrels) for Handblast: Leap Attack, Power Discharge, and Meteor Blast as well as Shield: Spinning Upslash and Shield Uppercut.