Saturday October 9, 2010
4:05 Chris Cao, director of creative development is here
4:05 Jim Lee the Executive Creative Director joined the Dais to much applause.
4:06 Lee, of course, is also Co-Publisher of DC Comics
4:06 Mark A Andersen aka "Mandersen" the art director is also on.
4:06 A video will kick off the panel
4:07 "The Path to Legendary" was shown on screen, with the video of Lex Luthor from the future talking to the trinity of the DCU, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman
4:07 Luthor's exobots are the reason everyone suddenly has powers
4:08 The character creator is being shown, with a huge variety of character types.
4:08 Also shown are unlockable armors that are keyed directly to specific heroes and villains
4:09 Cao "A long time ago Jim and I talked about this character creation system, and now it's realized"
4:09 Lee: We wanted everyone to look as aesthetically pleasing as possible, so when you create your costumes, they'll mesh together, and the color choices we suggest will make it more matching.
4:09 "You will look superheroic"
4:10 There are costume elements from every era of American comics
4:10 You can go Golden Age, 80s, 90s, anything you want, they're all there.
4:10 "Then we decided, the big draw is the DC Universe"
4:11 "If you want to look like you're part of Batman, Inc, you have that option now"
4:11 You can get rewards like the bat symbol and the S-shield by working with those characters.
4:11 Andersen talked a bit more about the style.
4:12 The colors have a Primary, Secondary, & Tertiary set
4:12 That's how they're constructed for each piece; when you get a new piece of armor, it
auto-matches your current scheme.
4:14 Cao then segued into more about the character customization.
4:14 "DCUO is different, because we actually start with the fiction. We can't just be like, Batman was fighting crime, and 500 million [superpowered] people show up.
4:15 So, these "exobytes" that future Lex brings back to the past were used so there's a reason.
4:15 "They come from this point, and then it's the hero's journey"
4:17 Andersen grouped the pieces of gear by the ages that Jim Lee mentioned earlier.
4:17 That way it'll make pieces that fit the style you're going for easier to pick out and "build a look around"
4:18 Cao wants people to end up "not looking like they were mugged by Rainbow Brite"
4:19 The new pieces you acquire throughout the game do change your look, but you can choose to keep your classic first style if you want.
4:20 "Character Customization should never stop" said Cao. You can change your style anytime, using the style tab in-game.
4:20 New costume pieces will be added to the game on a monthly basis, said Cao.
4:21 And with that, we're starting the fan Q&A
4:22 Q: Can you join the Green Lantern Corps?
4:22 Cao: We only get one chance to tell a story. To really tell a Lantern story with how it's evolved, we can't do that from the very beginning.
4:22 He did, however note that it's something they could do in the future.
4:23 Lee then added that they WILL be introducing it, as an expansion.
4:23 The PVP mode "Legends" that allows you to play as DC characters will add characters monthly, as well.
4:24 Q: What all can you change on the fly, more specifically?
4:24 Cao: Pretty much everything other than gender and your base look. Any choices you make actively in the game, you'll be able to change.
4:25 Q: In the style tab, is it just individual pieces, or can you save a full look?
4:26 Cao: You can look at it in the beta right now as individual pieces or as sets.
4:26 Q: Teaming mechanics, what's the maximum team size, is there any level compensation for newer team members?
4:27 Cao: Well we found that when you have guys that can pick up a bus, you need less people.
4:27 They settled on 8 for team sizes for raids.
4:28 There's not actually a huge grind to max level, atypical to MMOs
4:28 Q: For Energy blast, can you customize if it's a blast or a beam?
4:29 Cao: We looked at that, with different colors and whatnot, but found that fire needs to look like fire or it becomes difficult to interact with.
4:30 Specific to the fan's question though, different power sets will make for different styles of attacks
4:30 The attacks, Cao explained, are all attached to a visual though.
4:31 Q: Can you switch sides in the middle of your game?
4:31 Cao: We really wanted DCUO to be the first introduction to the characters, so we wanted the fundamentals first with you being a straight hero or straight villain.
4:32 Lee: There are hundreds of secondary characters people won't be familiar with, aligned as heroes or villains, so it's more to help people know who all is which type.
4:32 It's also a tight story about a hero or villain's journey.
4:33 Cao went into that a little further, noting that every level has you fighting alongside a character from the DCU and against others.
4:33 "This is just the start, a stepping stone, and there's a lot of places we can go with it."
4:34 Q: Anything like a code in a DC Comic book to get exclusive unlockables?
4:35 Lee: it'd be great to have that sort of thing. It'd be great to have characters from the game to show up in a DC Comic book based on the game.
4:35 The fan said "I see a real lack of Aquaman love here"
4:35 Lee: "Do I have to show you my boxers?"
4:35 Cao: There is an Aquaman fight in the game.
4:36 You fight alongside Martian Manhunter against a mind-controlled Aquaman. It's a huge boss fight.
4:37 Q: Does the story of the game preclude our own origin stories?
4:37 Cao: not at all, you can still write your own origin.
4:37 Q: Shapeshifting powers?
4:38 Cao: There are 6 power types, but they're actually 12, cause there are 2 trees to each.
4:38 So the Nature power type has either a plant or an animal power tree
4:39 The animal one can shift to a Pterasaur, possibly a dog, and several other Beast Boy-esque animals.
4:39 Q: Will color codes transfer to animal forms, and will there be more forms?
4:39 Cao: Yup and Yup
4:40 Q: Can you explain light powers in the game?
4:40 Cao: We don't have Green Lantern as an inspired by to start, because we couldn't do light powers exactly right yet. (This goes back to what Lee and Cao said about expansions). They won't
use rings yet.
4:42 Q: Level cap and whatnot?
4:43 Cao: When we initially were building the game, we were going to go traditional MMO with it, but we realized teh DC license is different, and it has to be a character-centric MMO
4:43 So they have episodes, which are like issues of a comic book about you.
4:43 "We basically made raiding for solo players"
4:43 At level 5, a player in the beta fought against Faust, and could hold his own.
4:44 Batcave, Arkham Asylum, Bludhaven, STAR labs, and others will be major Raid locations
4:44 Lee "The episode sequences are awesome, so you can feel like you're in an epic battle even when you're at a lower level"
4:45 Striker's Island is another raid location
4:45 Q: And how can I get a beta key?
4:45 Cao: if you preorder before November 15 and prove you've done it on the site, you WILL get in, we're trying to load it with more people as fast as possible.
4:45 Q: Will beta go to different countries at all?
4:46 Cao: We're focusing on North America, but we are looking to do some international stuff there.
4:46 Q: Will servers have cool names?
4:46 Cao: All the servers are named after incredible comic book runs.
4:46 "The Killing Joke" is a PVP server
4:47 Lee joked there'd be a closed-caption and silent server called "Hush" when a fan suggested it.
4:47 All 4 Earth Green Lanterns, all the Flashes are in the game
4:48 Some of the Green Lanterns from outside Earth will be in it as well.
4:48 "This is the DCU in its idealized state" said Lee, and there are characters from different eras fighting side by side.
4:48 So that's what the game is at launch, but it could change as they go
4:50 Q: How will you manage player numbers and locations?
4:50 Cao: Metropolis is actually a single huge zone with a lot of smaller areas, no loading inside it.
4:50 You do launch into instancing, where when you're on a mission, you're basically running alone (or with your team)
4:51 No server cap yet, they're figuring that out with the Beta.
4:51 Q: Lairs?
4:51 Cao: not at launch, but "There's no stopping us from adding that going forward"
4:52 You can't destroy buildings in the game, because the Daily Planet would never exist with people destroying it every day.
4:53 Q: About PS3 version, is it the same thing as the PC one, or is it scaled back?
4:54 Cao: It screams on a PC, cause it's friendly to the PS3
4:54 There are some UI differences. The footage you've been seeing in trailers is mixed, some from PC, some from PS3.
4:55 Cao "Every month we'll be adding content to the game, including PS3"
4:55 PS3 and PC are split, so console players will only play with other console players.
4:56 Q: What was the major issue behind the change in release date?
4:56 Cao: "We decided to make it better."
4:56 We were playing, and we decided we could make it better, so we should.
4:57 Andersen: There was no catastrophe, just trying to make it a more polished experience.
4:58 Last Question:
4:59 Death is handled as just a restart of the mission.