I've Got Those DCUO Beta Blues

Since E3, all I’ve wanted, talked about and craved was DC Universe.  While trapped in my icy fortress of solitude (Canadia) I lived for City of Heroes.  I moved back to the States and was soon mourning the epic failure that was Champions Online.  When I placed my hands on the DCU demo last summer, my knees got weak.  Another super hero MMO but this time with a huge name behind it can surely save my gaming addiction.  *With that in mind, I’m still WISHING it was Marvel.  Give me the X-Men over Superman any day.*

I hear DCU will hit shelves in November.  Being that the game was released only on PS3 or PC, I had a decision to make.  Buy a gaming laptop or buy a PS3?  Being that I was a Playstation fan back in the day and the fact that a gaming PC can be uber expensive…the PS3 won out.  I planned on buying the console for the game’s release but the date was pushed back.  Then rumors flew about a Beta.  My heart soared.  A sneak peek into the game I’ve been pining for?  Frak yea!  So I bought the system, the Playstation Plus and downloaded my beta.

Most folks were waiting about 4-10 hours for their beta’s to download.  Thanks to my terrible internet connection my download was an insane 24hrs total.  I turned off my PS3 after about 8hrs each time b/c I was worried I’d burn it out.  I started my hero, felt rushed through the process and POOF! the “Elven Magick” in front of me was barely recognizable.  I felt my heart sink a bit.  I played for a few minutes and didn’t make it out of Brainiac’s ship before my dog’s brought drama into my room and I had to turn the game off.  Then the holidays set in and I couldn’t get back to my beta.  I returned just last week to find my account needed some updating.  Approximately 8 freakin’ hours later, I made my 2nd attempt at creating a hero.

The 2nd time around, I created Pryde.  She’s a mix of me and my Kitty Pryde costume.  I took more time and got to give her summoning powers along w/ hand blasting skills.  She felt more like a character I could relate to.  I chose her and went to enter the world to have an error message about the servers popped up.  They were down for the rest of the day.  I returned later to find my hero gone but the name was unavailable.  Once again, I meticulously created SFX Pryde until her colors and look were perfectly to my liking and I entered the servers.  This time I was met w/ success  I played for a couple of hours.  Around level 4, the servers went down and FROZE my PS3.  I turned it off and went to bed.  Today I logged in and much to my DELIGHT, my SFX Pryde still existed!! I played for another couple of levels and then began getting ROCKED in the sewers so I gave myself a break and decided to share my experience with ya’ll.

I’ve never tried a beta before.  Apparently, you should expect constant issues with servers and glitches.  Expect your hero to disappear or have never been born at  all.  Downloads and updates take forever but the idea of playing a game that not EVERYONE can get into is pretty exciting for sure.  The drawback of playing on the PS3 as opposed to gaming on a PC?  I’m having targeting issues that I didn’t have on CoH but I’ve heard that other DCUO PC players are experiencing the same issues w/ Targeting Auto Lock.  I’m sure it’ll get sorted out eventually but I doubt this game is gonna be rockstar awesome in just a couple of weeks…

My biggest gripes?  I wish for more facial customizing on the toons.  They feels a bit generic. On the upside, everyone is so damn pretty.  I wish they had a straight up healer, I’ve always been one.  Most skills seem to have healing-like qualities but none are outright healing.  I have no idea what I’m doing on PS3 so I haven’t figured out how to add a friend or join a team.  I don’t even own a bluetooth so I haven’t had any sort of contact with other players to ask questions.  I guess I will learn as I go but feel free to share any useful in the comments section!!  I’m not too proud to admit I’m a PS3 (beta) noob and need some help.  Any and all comments are appreciated!!   Lastly, am I the only person who thinks it just FEELS wrong to pay monthly for a console game?  >_<

~ by FN_Pryde on January 5, 2011.