The Glade 4.0

Apparently the NDA has been lifted and I missed it. I have actually been a part of the beta for the past couple months.

I will admit fully that I haven't devoted as much time to the game as I am sure others would have, but I'd be happy to answer any questions I can, if people are interested. I will also do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum as it pertains to plot and what not.


The game plays differently than City of XXXX and Champions Online. For one, you actually have armor-slot items like traditional RPGs. Another is that there aren't any "dps" roles per se. They have three roles: Controller, Tank, Healer. And each role can also dps, which is a cool idea.

The story is pretty cool, they explain why there are a crapload of superheroes/villains (yes, you can be either a villain or hero) all of a sudden. If you have watched the trailer for DCUO, then you've *mostly* seen what's going on. But the trailer cuts off the tail end, where it explains the influx of all the new heoes/villains.

One thing I like is that they got rid of the vertical challenge speedsters face. If you choose superspeed as your travel power, you can use the "Speed Force" to run up walls and on ceilings. As long as you keep moving, you stick to it like glue. If you stop, you fall.

Anyway, this is just a quick and dirty post. I need to head to a company meeting. But if you've got questions, feel free to shoot em my way.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Did the controls feel "dumbed down" since they designed it to play on both PC and PS3 controller?

Did you really feel like a superhero, that you were having your own story, or was it another case of just being one more player in a world of superheros?

The controls are set up so that left clicking is your melee attack, right clicking is your ranged attack. You do get more powers as you go which you can hotbar, and I believe you can do combos (though my memory is a little fuzzy on that one). I didn't personally like the control scheme a whole lot, but I am sure there are people who will.

Mouselook is always on, by default.

To be completely honest, my wife played more than I did. I couldn't get too excited for the game, though I did submit several bug tickets to feel like they got their worth out of picking me.

I didn't see a lot phased content, so to speak. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it just means I didn't play a lot.

I played a martial-arts speedster (melee weapon based). I will say that controlling the wall/ceiling running was a bit awkward. When you go up on the ceiling, the camera doesn't flip around. So your character is essentially now running towards the camera, so that can make it hard to control. This may be by design, I don't know. But there have been several moments when my character has moved the wrong way on walls and ceilings in a direction I did not want them to go.

The graphics engine is pretty cool. They make very heavy use of bump mapping, and your costume changes (when designing your character) morph into each different selection as you go through the selections. The costume designer isn't as vast as CoX or CO, but it's not terrible. Most of the options are tights (really trying to stick to classic DC I guess) but since capes are a very large part of that universe, they have a very good amount of capes to choose from.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

What does it have over its competitors besides the name DC?

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

The ability to play with people (I assume) over both PC and console? I also do like the fact you can acquire armor/gear for your character (and choose whether or not to display it) unlike the other Superhero MMOs out there. Lack of fun items to acquire was one of the things I liked least about CoX games.

I haven't grouped or ran the equivalent of dungeons, unfortunately, so I can't comment about that.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I heard it was fun from a co-worker who has played it. I might check it out.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Well, just remember, that's what people were assuming about Champions Online, too.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades