Game Update 14

June 4th, 2012

Spring Exit Springtime has come and gone in DC Universe Online, taking Poison Ivy, Swamp Thing, and all sorts of allergens with them (hopefully).

Task Force X & Suicide Squad PvP Matchmaking Prepare to be enlisted by Amanda Waller into Task Force X and the Suicide Squad, the black ops division of her agency! Under Waller’s directive, heroes and villains can be placed on the same team in PvP Arenas.

The PvP Matchmaking system has been updated to always try to place you with members of the same alignment (Heroes with Heroes and Villains with Villains) but when the PvP Matchmaking system runs out of options, it will allow for players to be temporarily assigned to a team with the opposing alignment until the PvP match is over.

Suicide Squad (Villains) or Task Force X (Heroes) is defaulted to “on” for players and players can opt out of this by going to their Gameplay Settings under Options in their UI. Options >-Settings->Gameplay->Enable Task Force X or Suicide Squad.

Promethium Lockboxes: “The New 52” inspired by Gear and Auras!

We’ve added new items to Promethium Lockboxes! Now you can collect new Gear Set style items inspired by DC Comics “The New 52.” We’ve also added seven different color Auras that your character can now wear as an Accessory!

Alerts: • Exits in Alerts will now show up properly on the map and radar.

Ace Chemicals • Resolved various issues in Ace Chemicals that caused Boss Fight Lockouts, Door Issues and other inconsistencies. • Mad Duncan and Rinty will now shut the door regardless of what trickery is attempted.

Bludhaven • Players will now be prompted with a message to "Leave Bludhaven" after they have defeated Chemo.

Collections & Investigations: • Gorilla Bombs Components: Players should now be able to access all Gorilla Bomb Component Investigations. • Adjusted gold collections in Otisburg, Gotham where the gold collection icon was sticking into the ground.

Combat: • Players may cancel into a Block after weak tap melee attacks much more quickly than before. • Block now has a minimum 0.5 second hold time. Players may still instantly cancel into a Dodge Roll from a Block. • Players can act after breaking out more quickly than before. • Controllers: • Powers that de-buff damage now also remove the Damage role buff. This affects the following powers: • Light: Grasping Hand and Light Weight. • Gadgets: Sleep Dart and Gag Glove. • Mental: Cryokinesis and Terrorize.

Feats: • Offline Expert: Fixed an issue that would cause some Turrets in the Batcave PVP Instances to not count toward the Offline Expert Feat. • "Parts Direct" and "Master of Disassembly" are now 3-star feats.

General: • Doors in the distance now update when they open or close rather than waiting until players approach them. • Miscellaneous environment art fixes throughout the world. • Miscellaneous visual effects and animation optimizations.

Iconic NPCs: Killer Croc • Killer Croc now has swoosh visual effects with his melee attacks. • Killer Croc's ground smash visual effects timing will now align with the animation. • Killer Croc's roar will actually roar and breathe his “croc” breath all over you.

Black Canary • Black Canary will actually stun her targets when she uses her Sonic Stun attack • Black Canary’s Sonic Blast will now have the chance to pull in more than one opponent, but the player will now be able to dodge/breakout from the attack. • Black Canary has less tolerance for plinkers and will shout until they are pulled close.

Missions: • Exploration: Meta Hero players are now sent to the Exploration Quest closest to home first (Queensland Boardwalk) before being sent to explore elsewhere. • Central City: Fixed issue where quest givers would go on coffee break and come back in 2 minutes. They should return immediately.

Lunar Eclipse • The treasure chest that was previously unreachable by villains has been moved to a new location in the same room and can now be seen and reached. • Various changes made to the Zatanna/Etrigan fight to ensure Etrigan shows up to fight.

Powers: General • Fixed an issue that caused certain abilities to deactivate others in unexpected ways (i.e. Galvanize or Poison Spore was stomping on Electrogenesis). • Fixed an issue where the following single target pull powers would be able to pull more than one NPC. • Taser Pull - Gadgets • Mesmerizing Lasso - Iconic Power • Earthen Grip - Earth • Vine Lash - Nature • Grapple Line Attack - Acrobatics

Iconic Powers Amazonium Deflection • Added a 30% chance to stun from deflected hits • Power cost is now 275 with no extra per second cost

Batarang Multi-Shot  • Lowered cool down • Lowered power cost • Upped damage on second hit

Freezing Breath  • Updated tooltip to say it is vulnerable to interrupt

Heat Vision  • Updated the tooltip to say it is vulnerable to interrupt

Mesmerizing Lasso  • Deals damage if the target isn’t stunned • Lowered the cool down • Lowered power cost • Now does damage over time while stunned

Pheromone Bloom • Now a Supercharge with 35% Supercharge cost • Useable while controlled • Instant big heal and small heal over time (for caster) • Lowered the cast time animation by 1 second

Word of Power • Now a Supercharge with 50% Supercharge cost • Instant medium heal (for caster) • 5 ticks of 100 power to Raid group • Added an electrified power interaction • No longer vulnerable to interrupt

Robot Sidekick • Looks like its icon now and has movement sounds • New robotic appearance • Added melee combo • Added shield ability • Increased rocket damage • Projectiles now properly travel 25 meters

Sonic Cry  • Lowered the cool down by 23 seconds • Removed the cast time • Lowered the animation time • No longer vulnerable to interrupt

Sonic Shout  • Shortened the duration to 2.8 seconds • Now ticks for every 0.5 second instead of every second • Increased the damage with each tick • Lowered the power cost • Shortened the cone from 25 to 12.5 meters

Earth • Unstoppable will now play visual effects when used.

Gadgets • Cryofoam's visual effects will play correctly for each weapon type. • Sleep Dart will now damage targets that resist stun effects if you are not in stealth.

Light • Light Blast now de-buffs the targets ability to heal and removes Controller power over time effects. • Grasping Hand will now add the Crush power interaction when used in a Construct Combo.

Nature • Players in Gorilla Form will now be able to add the Impaling Thorns ability to their load out!

Promethium Lockboxes: • Fixed an issue where promethium lockboxes would not be collected if the player’s inventory was full.

PvP: Arenas • Teams should now be more evenly matched when queuing for an arena. • S.T.A.R. Labs: Capture nodes will now stay active for a longer period of time and it is now possible for three nodes to be active at once. • All arenas now use a base 1000 point system for consistency. • Multiple Arenas have had their time changed to 15 mins and their scoring updated as follows: • Ace Chemicals: KO – 20, 1 Point Held – 2 per tick, 2 Points Held – 5 per tick, 3 Points Held – 15 per tick • Arkham Asylum: 1 Point Held – 2 per tick, 2 Points Held – 5 per tick, 3 Points Held – 15 per tick • Australia: 1 Point Held – 3 per tick, 2 Points Held – 8 per tick, 3 Points Held – 25 per tick • Batcave: KO – 35, Point Held – 7 per tick • Moon: KO – 10, Flag delivered – 350, Total Score starts at 1,000 • S.T.A.R. Labs: 1 Point Held – 3 per tick, 2 Points Held – 8 per tick, 3 Points Held – 25 per tick • Fortress of Solitude: KO – 20 points, victory achieved at 1,000 points • Watchtower Containment Facility: KO – 50 points, victory achieved at 1,000 points • Australia (8 vs. 8): Players will no longer have the option to secure a turret after it has already been activated. • Moon Base (5 vs. 5) • Blue and Orange Elements now use the proper name in the combat log. • Activated Defense Turrets are no longer interactable after being activated. • We made some adjustments to the end of arena matches: • The scorecard does not pop up immediately. • Players are now able to show/hide the scorecard. • The scorecard should now display the proper numbers when it exhibited automatically. • Players will no longer be able to deal damage once the match objective has been completed. • Added a “Leave Arena” option to the quick menu UI.

General PvP • Fixed an issue where block breakers would cause a player to be KO'd at the end of a duel. • Corrected an issue that could cause you to be unable to move or attack after recovering from a counter attack knockdown. • PvP Influence now has a cap of 25,000. • Marks of Conquest have been phased out and replaced by Marks of Tactics • All PvP items that used to be purchasable with Marks of Conquest are now purchasable with Marks of Tactics at a reduced cost. • An additional Mark of Tactics or Mark of Legend can now be earned once per week the first time you win a PvP Arena or Legends match. • The weapons previously available from the Diamond Heist and Metropolis Ring War events are now available on PvP Vendors in the Safehouses. • Metropolis Ring War: The Mission and Event will now remain in sync with each other and not give conflicting Lantern counts.

Legends • Ace Chemicals: Competitors no longer have the option to interact with an invisible door at the start of the match. • Batcave: Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be unable to activate drones even when not being interrupted by other players.

Legends Characters • We have made a number of minor changes to power cost and damage to bring Legends characters closer in line with one another. • Multiple Characters: • Backflip: Increased base damage, decreased cost.

Bane • Battle Roar: Increased damage, decreased cost. • Venom Clap: Increased base damage, increase Damage over Time duration. • Grapple Line: Decreased damage.

Batman • Explosive Batarang: Decreased cost. • Grapple Line: Increased damage

Catwoman • Smoke Cloud: Added power cost. • Whip Pull: Increased damage, decreased cost. • Cat Swipe: Increased Damage, decreased cost. • Whip Flurry: Decreased cost.

Harley Quinn • Glove Punch: Decreased cost. • Bomb Toss: Increased Cost. • Hammer Spin: Increased damage, decreased cost.

Huntress • Wrangle: Decreased damage, decreased cost.

Joker • Confetti Bomb: Decreased damage.

Nightwing • Clink: Decreased damage. • Forward Flip: Increased damage, decreased cost. • Taser Line: Decreased damage, decreased cost.

Robin • Shuriken Fan: Increased damage. • Flipline: Decreased damage and decreased cost. • Backflip Escape: Increased damage, decreased cost.

Two Face • In Your Face: Increased damage, decreased cost. • Bullet Storm: Increased damage, decreased cost. • Fire Barrel: Decreased damage, decreased cost.

Harvey Dent Domination • Always: Increased health. • In Your Face: Increased damage, decreased cost. • Oil Barrel: Decreased base damage, decreased cost. • Bullet Storm: Increased damage, decreased cost.

Two Face Domination • Always: Increased critical strike chance and no longer suffers reduction in Health. • In Your Face: Decreased base damage, increased duration of burning effect. • Acid Barrel: Decreased base damage, decreased cost, doubled damage over time tick rate. • Bullet Storm: Increased duration of burning effect.

Raids: Brainiac Sub-Construct • Energy balls will no longer keep players locked in combat.

Fortress of Solitude: The Chasm  • The doors should now open allowing victors to roam the area after defeating General Zod.

UI: • Renamed the "Eyes" category in the Style menu to "Face" since there are many varieties of Styles to collect for this slot. • Completed feats should no longer display an incorrect objective count. • Quick Menu: Selection no longer leaps to the top of the menu when backing out a menu level. • Added a new chat tab for non-English languages. • Adjusted the default chat channel colors. • A /tell now shows the correct color for the sender. • Inventory: Items may now be deleted by dragging and dropping outside of the UI • Bank: Items may now be deleted by dragging and dropping outside of the UI Weapons:

Dual Pistols • Sweep Shot is now vulnerable to block AND interrupts instead of being vulnerable to interrupt.

Martial Arts • Nature powered characters will now see visual effects when using Heavy Shuriken, Shuriken Storm, and Enhanced Shuriken.

Shield • New Shield weapons start dropping in anticipation of DLC4 “The Last Laugh”.