DC Universe Online To Get Insanely Huge Update

Well, the complainers have complained about the glitches, bugs, and UI missteps since around... oh, day 1-ish. And although I'd rather get a few fixes here and there rather than a huge update more than a month after release, I'll take what I can get (Thanks complainers!). I love DCUO, and I know this is a serious MMO with potential. I'll stick around for awhile yet. Check out the full update notes below, keep in mind, it's a doozy.




The official DCUO announcement forum posted the following patch info, with the actual patch apparently hitting on the 22nd of this month. RadarX, moderator for the forums, also posted this response regarding these updates. Among all the excellent patch notes (which will be posted in full down below my thoughts), a few things stick out for me from my personal DCUO experience. I also gotta thank SOE for all their hard work with this upcoming update.


- Auction House: I've been saving my cash knowing that an auction house was incoming. Can't wait to get a full on economy going. It might take awhile to really get it set, but I want to be a part of that early phase.


- "The red balloons in the Vault should now weaponize properly." Maybe I'm missing something, but what exactly does this mean? I don't remember any red balloons in the vault. Especially any that were able to pick up to "weaponize"


- "While in PvP, targeting a Tank with an offensive power while in the Healing role will now properly remove Ice damage absorption and reduce Fire specific healing capabilities." The PvP in this game is actually pretty deep. I just wish it was explained more in the manual and in-game. It plays a lot like rock-paper-scissors.


- Fire Balancing: Over the past few days I've been arguing with a league mate over what we think about the Fire power. He thought it was overpowered, I didn't notice any such thing. He was obviously correct by looking at this list of Fire power changes.


- Rifle Mortar: I've been using rifles with my Ice tank character and have been really enjoying it. It'll be interesting to see how these new mortar changes feel. So excited to see SOE hard at work fixing even the little things.


- Ace Chemicals Chemo will reset properly: YES!


- "Players no longer have to return to the quest giver when completing a side quest, but instead can complete the quest via the Journal." Even though I didn't mind traveling back to the NPC's to finish quests, this definitely helps in keeping the game streamlined.


- Avatar of Sin spawns faster: Should be hearing less shouting about this.


Alright, there are plenty of other interesting things I've noticed that I can't wait to check out, but I'll leave it at this. Check out the full list of upcoming changes yourself. And remember, February 22nd.


New Features:

• New Batcave Raid – 8 players will have the opportunity to infiltrate and retake Batman's Inner Sanctum, which has been overrun by OMAC and the Dark Knight's own corrupted technology. Fight along side Batman against Brother Eye!
• New Appearance Items – Earn a Harlequin Clown suit or a Cherub disguise through a variety of holiday activities.
• Goddess of Love Alert – Join up with three others to decide the epic battle between Devotion and Scorn once and for all.
• New Races – Can you catch Catwoman as she leaps across buildings in Gotham City?
• New Collections - All new collection sets will allow players to continue finding these hidden items.
• New Themed Missions – Enjoy various missions that will challenge the player in combat, jumping, and much more.
• A New Bane Duo – Another Duo has been added for your enjoyment! Pair up with another player and take on Bane for a chance at great loot.
• New PvP Ring Event – Available on both PvP and PvE servers, Heroes and villains race to either save or steal valuable bags of diamonds from armored vans.
• An Auction House - Players may now buy and sell tradeable items on a Broker in The Watchtower and Hall of Doom.
• New Armor – Make your way to the Gotham Museum and help Catwoman to receive pieces of brand new Mayan armor!

General:

• Improved Server and Client stability.
• Added additional support for PC Game Controllers.
• An issue where software overclocking would cause gameplay to appear laggy should have been resolved.
• Players should no longer be prevented from moving if the Object or NPC they are interacting with despawns during the interaction. 
• Stealthed characters should no longer become visible if you move far away from them and then move towards them again.
• The red balloons in the Vault should now weaponize properly.
• Super canceling too early out of longer animating multi-hit weapon combos will now cause you to drop one or more of the attacks hits. 

Abilities:

• Damage Role buffs now last for a maximum of three minutes.
• Channeled abilities will no longer bypass the channeling time when used during another channeled attack.
• Harmful Superpowers can no longer cancel into other Superpowers.
• While in PvP, targeting a Tank with an offensive power while in the Healing role will now properly remove Ice damage absorption and reduce Fire specific healing capabilities.

Fire:

• Absorb Heat’s description now correctly describes that the ability only stuns enemies that have Burning effects.
• Absorb Heat – Corrected an issue that could cause Absorb Heat to restore more health than intended.
• Consume Objects no longer affects projectiles.
• Enflame now grants +100 to Control Resistance when in the Tank Role.
• Enflame’s description now indicates that it can ignite enemies on contact.
• Eternal Flame’s description now correctly describes the increase to the player’s health that is applied.
• Fiery Weapon’s description has been updated to more accurately reflect its effects.
• Immolation now grants +100 to Control Resistance when in the Tank Role.
• Immolation’s description has been updated to message that it reflects damage from attackers.
• Inferno should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.
• Reignition’s description now correctly states that it takes 25% supercharge instead of 50%.
• Snuff Out’s description no longer implies that it deals damage to multiple targets.
• Spontaneous Combustion will no longer hit the same target more often than was intended.
• Stoke Flame should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.

Ice:

• Bitter Winds now grants +100 to Control Resistance when in the Tank Role.
• Bitter Winds’s description now correctly indicates that it can be purchased at level 8 instead of level 12.
• Bitter Winds’s description no longer says that it is vulnerable to interrupt as it is not.
• Bitter Wind should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.
• Cold Snap now grants +100 to Control Resistance when in the Tank Role.
• Ice Bash now properly displays the damage it causes when it procs.  It was causing the damage but the fly text was not displaying previously.
• Resonating Gale now damages enemies even when they are encased.
• Winter Ward’s damage reflection effect that is applied to team members now has two charges to bring it in line with the effect applied to the Tank.
• Wintry Tempest should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.

Mental:

• Cryokinesis should now encase properly even when under Frostnipped.
• Mass Levitation now correctly displays the 50% increase in damage in the Current Effects (F3) window.
• Psychic Empowerment will now properly give power to group members.
• Psychic Resonance will now properly work on encased targets.
• Pyrokineses – The secondary damage over time effect should no longer stack with multiple applications.
• Reflect Pain has had its damage lowered slightly but has gained some damage prevention during its duration.

Movement:

• Dustoff will now prevent damage for either 8 seconds or up to 500 damage.
• Inertial Flywheel will now work while having an object weaponized.
• Speed Drain should now apply the power restoration of the ability.
• Superspeed Dash now has an increased cooldown.
• Superspeed Dash can no longer be cancelled early.

Nature:

• The description for the Canine Form ability Fling no longer incorrectly states that it requires supercharge.
• The description for the Canine Form ability Thrash no longer incorrectly states that it requires supercharge.
• Deadly Thorns will not cause damage if canceled early.
• Gorilla Form now correctly indicates that it is a supercharge ability and that the effect is temporary.
• Gorilla Form’s ranged hold special ability should now function properly.  Other Gorilla attacks should have the appropriate vulnerability and counter attacking properties.
• Insectoid Form has gained a Pulse Beam style ranged attack combo to provide it with some interesting ranged options.
• Metabolism should apply its Pheromone effects to group members now.
• Pheromone lasts for a longer duration with a decreased average healing amount.
• Primal Wolf Form’s description now correctly indicates that it can only be used in the Damage role.
• The Pterosaur Form ability Prehistoric Might now displays a Might icon in the drop down under the heath bar to indicate the Might buff that it grants.
• Prehistoric Might should now apply its affect to group members.
• Roar’s description now includes the healing effects it provides.
• Swarm should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.

Sorcery:

• Transmutation no longer affects projectiles.
• Final Ruin will not cause damage if canceled early.

Weapons:

• Martial Arts ranged attacks now trigger the hit counter.
• Explosive Shot should no longer fail when chaining these attacks.
• Rain of Arrows should no longer fail when chaining these attacks.
• Rifle Mortar now respects line of sight.
• Rifle Mortar will now cause damage to objects.
• The Two Handed ability Doom Spin no longer continues to do damage once the animation and visual effect have stopped.
• The Hand Blaster ability Pulse Beam no longer continues to do damage once the animation and visual effect have stopped.
• The Dual Pistol ability Full Auto no longer continues to do damage once the animation and visual effect have stopped.
• The Dual Pistol Ability Full Auto’s description has been updated to note it offers a +4 Vitalization bonus.
• The Dual Pistol Ability Full Auto will now cause damage to objects
• The description for the Two-Handed ability Big Scoop now correctly displays the +15 health that it gives.
• Solar Flame now properly displays the visual effect

Alerts, Duos, and Raids:

• Ace Chemicals: the Chemo boss fight will now reset correctly when the party dies and all members leave the room.
• Area 51:  Players will no longer be blocked from speaking with Cadmus Techs who were getting stuck trying to take missiles to the Munitions Teleporters. 
• Arkham Asylum:  In Hard Mode, Poison ivy should now always leave after her initial in-game Cinematic.
• Bludhaven: Tthe objective to “Destroy the Dump Truck” will not reappear after it has been destroyed unless all of the Hazmats are knocked out.
• Hive Moon Base: the explosives in the second stage should now respawn more frequently.
• Ooloong Island:  Objectives should now always display in the proper order.  
• Oolong Island: Players should no longer have trouble progressing if Tornado Tyrant leaves the room.
• Oolong Island:  Players will no longer get stuck in a loop transforming into Metal Men and back into normal form.
• Smallville:  Players can no longer exit without receiving the Headline.
• Hall of Doom Armory: The Demon Lord’s fire effects should now properly point towards the target of the attack.
• Omac Base: Killer Frost and Fire now have in-game cinematic cameras near the beginning of the Duo.
• Omac Base: The Incinerator should no longer be able to end up on the wrong side of the door.
• Omac Base: The Nanosynths should no longer be able to end up on the wrong side of the door.

Metropolis:

• The Metropolis City Hall building should now have proper collision preventing players from getting inside it.
• Players should no longer be able to fall through the world near the base of the CAO dam in the Historic District.
• Players should no longer be able to fall through the world in several spots along the Metropolis shoreline.
• The gorillas in Little Bohemia are now friendly to Villain players.

Gotham City:

• Pedestrians should no longer get stuck while wandering in the East End of Gotham.
• The balconies near Gotham University should now have proper collision on them.
• Players should no longer be able to get inside the root of the East End Lighthouse.

Missions:

• Players no longer have to return to the quest giver when completing a side quest, but instead can complete the quest via the Journal.
• Testing 1, 2, 3 - Raven can no longer get stuck outside of the flame wall when using her teleport attack.
• Trigon’s Blood - The wheelchairs throughout the instance will no longer explode.
• Avatar of Sin - The Avatar of Sin should now respawn more frequently.
• Shipping and Handling - Huntress should no longer remain attackable after being defeated.
• The Awakening - The Brainiac Soldier seen in the first Overseer Cutscene will no longer sometimes get stuck in the door.
• The Awakening - The time before the first door opens and the NPCs in the hall spawn has been increased to allow for the comms to finish playing.
• Failing STARs - Encounters should no longer spawn inside statues or benches.
• Take Heart - Players no longer have to touch the obelisk that converts them into the Embodiment of Greed again before taking the Heart of Avarice.
• Take Heart - Players are now provided with a minimap marker to the obelisk that provides them with Greed form.
• Supersize Souls - Players no longer have to touch the obelisk that converts them into the Embodiment of Gluttony again before devouring the souls of superheroes.
• Conduit of the Soul - Lightkeeper Taleb will no longer shoot effects from his hand when interacted with by the player.
• Conduit of the Soul - Players can no longer weaponize Lightkeeper Taleb’s Soul Globe.
• Soul Catcher - The Soul Wells are no longer floating above the ground.
• Brain Pain - The number of mobs in the final wave of the turret defense room has been reduced.  This should make the encounter much more survivable.
• Tortured Titans! - After defeating the Titans and releasing Brother Blood from Raven’s magic, the player will now receive a communicator message from Calculator before the comic cutscene plays.
• The Last Laugh - Joker Presents should no longer be stuck in the walls.
• The Big Payback - Patrolmen will no longer slide along the ground after being knocked out if a Villain fails to strap a bomb on them in time.
• One of Us - Hazmat Bogue will no longer float above the ground.
• Bane Brought Down - The waypoint arrow for Batman will now be displayed.
• Fear Itself - The in-game cinematic for Edward and Eddie will no longer jitter.
• Fixed various grammar issues and typos in the quest text descriptions and objectives.
• Party Foul - The female officers no longer have male voices.
• Queen of Lies - During the Aquaman boss fight, Circe no longer retains her signature cape and sash when transforming into Mera.
• Queen of Lies - After leaving the instance, but before speaking with the Atlanteans, the player now shapechanges into Atlantean form when returning to the instance.
• Rare Blood -  the clerics near the quest giver can no longer be attacked by the opposite faction.

Daily Missions:

• The Captain Cruel encounter will now count towards completion of the mission.
• The armored truck robbery will now count towards completion of the mission.
• The Ironkurtin encounter will now count towards completion of the mission.

Feats:

• All feat descriptions that said ”KO’d” now say “Knocked Out” instead.
• “Walked the Beat” should now properly complete for Villains when finishing the last mission.
• Changed the descriptions of the PvE Badge Feats to indicate that they can use either Marks of Triumph or Marks of Distinction to complete the feat.
• “Amazing Aerialist” for Acrobats will now correctly update when you complete the East End Adept Acrobat Challenge.
• “In the Mist” for completing the first Grodd story arc contact missions is now working correctly.  Players who have already completed the requirements for this feat should have it update and complete for them automatically.

Items:

• Equipping the Sharpened Synthium Katana will now collect the Tech Ninja Sword style.
• Consuming a single use item will no longer display that “Player Destroyed Item” in the combat log.
• Addressed an issue where tokens dropped for a group would display the purple icon for an item rather than a Token.  This caused confusion because there was no item for players to roll on.

PvP:

• In Metropolis, Manhunter and Alpha Lantern should no longer get stuck in a state where they will not attack the enemy faction while guarding their vendor.
• In Metropolis, the rally locations for the Ring War PvP event should now be at an equal distance from the battle.
• It should no longer be possible to dodge roll to avoid the push back attack of the guards at safe houses.
• Added particle effects to the diamond heist bags when a faction is close to winning.

Races:

• All players in a multiplayer race should now be able to properly activate the first hoop in the race.
• Moved the race start node up a bit for the Metropolis Little Bohemia Adept Acrobat Challenge.
• The rewards for the intro races in Little Bohemia now have icons.
• Added race descriptions for the Expert Flight and Expert Speedster challenges.

UI:

• Art for the countdown/up timer around overhead icons has been updated
• The character select screen will now show you the number of characters that you currently have out of the maximum number of available slots.
• Loot collection notifications will now only be sent for nearby group members.
• When playing a Legends match the levels of other players are no longer displayed on the UI.
• Corrected the messaging for the On Duty UI when no arenas have become available for a player.
• Reward mails should now be resent if the initial attempt fails.
• The Group Loot UI should no longer completely abandon all input if it is open when the scorecard appears automatically.
• The On Duty UI now sports a new Events category, under which you can find special events or seasonal scenarios.
• You are no longer able to "Leave" a PvE type On Duty scenario from the UI (you will need to use one of the exit locations.
• You are no longer able to close the Scorecard UI at the end of a PvP type on Duty scenario (you can only leave the map).
• The player character paper doll now fades in on the Style and Inventory UI screens.
• The "Delete Item" functionality in the Bank UI has been moved to Button 4 on the controller (Triangle on PS3).
• The Control Schemes settings should now always from appear on the PC client.
• The buff/debuff list will now show the correct source for chains of effects.
• Keys held down during the start of the comic cutscenes will no longer be stuck “on” after the cutscene completes.
• The combat log text now specifies “Melee Attack” or “Ranged Attack” instead of just displaying “Primary Attack’.
• Fixed combo localization issues in the Traits UI.
• Fixed combo icon art issues in the Traits UI.
• The ‘\’ (back slash)key will now toggle the PDA to the last window or cancel a race challenge.  IF you have been using ‘/’ (forward slash) to cancel your races please use ‘\’ instead.
• Collector’s Edition items will no longer have square icons but will display the correct circular art when visible on the hotbar.

Social:

• Added “Loot” as a new default Chat tab.
• Added new configurable chat channels for “Items” and “Cash” which get routed to the “Loot” Chat tab by default.
• The League message of the day is now labeled when appearing in the Chat channel.
• The PS3 virtual keyboard will no longer automatically pop up in quickchat mode if you have a keyboard connected to the PS3.
• Reply to tells should now continue working after opening/closing UIs.
• Pressing ‘/’ (forward slash) on the keyboard will now open  quick chat mode and automatically add a slash to the text field.
• Current chat channel setting should now persist properly after opening/closing UIs.
• Removed flashing notifications from the tabs in the Quick Chat UI.
• On the Social UI the Selection focus now starts in the Who list.
• Removed the flashing tab notifications on the Social UI.
• Improved the layout of Voice Chat options on the Social UI.

Visuals:

• Sorcery characters should now have a casting animation when using Final Ruin.
• Addressed an issue that made it appear as though you are using Block on the client though you are not actually blocking on the server.
• The visual effect for the Iconic power Robot Sidekick should now display properly.
• The visual effect for the hand Blaster power Solar Flame should now display properly.
• Patched a hole in the wall of gifts where players could sometimes become trapped.
• The Spite and Smitten Emote animations have now been improved. 
• The Auto Zoom Camera option now works when in combat.
• The camera motion when transitioning into a glide has been improved.
• The camera motion when a player lands after a fall has been improved.
• The camera should no longer stop following the player when melee attacking in Wolf Form.
• The Martian Manhunter’s communications animations have been improved in the Smallville Alert.
• Flight characters should orient properly when using ‘jump’ to fly straight up.
• The Twisted Harness should now be collectible and visible when worn for female characters.
• All items using the Jah Kir appearance will now properly display for male and female characters.
• The large female body type should now play the proper animations for the chosen personality type.
• The following items should have an improved appearance:
• The Shoulders of Azar
• The Metalhead Boots
• The Battle Harness Shirt
• The Power Reinforced Boots
• The Heeled Female Boots
• The Tall Trim Female Boots
• The Shielded Robot Helmet
• The Centurion Helmet
• The Medieval Shirt
• The Striker Trench Coat 
• The Paramilitary Shirt
• The Paramilitary Pants
• The Formal Ahirt
• The Opera Pants
• The Demonic Boots
• The Demonic Shirt
• The Demonic Helmet
• The Steel Raid Shirt
• The Angelic Chest
• The Welder’s Helmet
• The Knight’s Helmet
• The Urban Slick Pants

Audio:

• Communicator messages should no longer play multiple times when activating new quests.
• Staff ranged effects should now play audio.
• In the mission Empty Parts, Technician Larz is no longer missing his voiceover when interacting with him.
• In “The Joker’s Problem” Joker’s voiceover should now match the text of his communicator message.