Hand of Fate Update

Operations 

Six intense new episodes designed for group play – three Heroic and three Villainous – will be unleashed upon players under the direction of Doctor Fate and Felix Faust. Heroes will be called to help the Lords of Order protect innocent souls from the forces of darkness. Villains must complete perilous missions for Felix Faust to reap his rewards.

Side Missions

As players battle through the six Operations, numerous side missions will arise that take players all over Metropolis, Gotham City, and beyond, pitting them against previous adversaries and new dangers that have arisen.

Operations

Operations, our new group missions, are what make the open-world magic possible. You can think of Operations as Raids or Alerts that can be set in the open-world, but they're more than that. For example, while on an Operation, up to eight players will be queued up in a starting instance to defeat a challenge alongside their iconic ally. After they win this challenge, they will go out into the open-world to take on the next stage of the operation. Players can split up in smaller groups to accomplish certain objectives, but they will find others require the entire group working as a team. In short, you and your friends will be able to tackle more and more varied content than ever before – in the open world! You’ll probably find the new map UI from Game Update 17 extremely useful here!

Why Operations? We wanted to take high level players back out to Gotham and Metropolis, our most iconic and, by far, biggest locations, and add more excitement and activity all across the cityscapes. When the team first started talking about this, I had visions of new players being drawn to witness an epic battle between 8 top-tier players and a powerful boss, witnessing the high-level splendor firsthand, just like in the comics.

There’s more to it, though. Players don’t have to just watch. They can choose to get involved, and that's the type of emergent experience that I think will set DCUO and Hand of Fate apart. Especially on PvP phases, I expect this to create fireworks, awesome battles, and real strategy and competition in the open world. Along with that, one nice surprise for villains is that more than ever, villainous content will truly be villainous! It's from the perspective of the villains. I know that's been a touchy subject with many of our villains, forced to work long and hard alongside heroes in defeating Brainiac. Your pleas have not fallen on deaf ears! You get to be evil.

Side Missions

Along with Operations, Hand of Fate will feature roughly 60 side missions. Let me repeat that. 60 missions. These are similar to the Level 1-30 content that a lot of our players really enjoyed and have been asking for again. These missions are fun and add depth to the narrative and world, and of course offer their own rewards. I think players will really enjoy the everyday variety and challenges side missions have to offer.

Operations!
 * The balance between Order and Chaos is at risk!
 * Heroes, align yourself with Doctor Fate and the Lords of Order to protect innocent souls from the forces of darkness.
 * Villains, join with Felix Faust and tap into true power by reaping the rewards of his schemes. Operations are available for teams of 4 or 8 players.
 * Look for them in the On Duty UI. Combat Rating 70

New Missions!
 * 60 new high level Missions have been added.
 * These Arcane Edicts drop from the Operation end bosses and will send you to locations in Metropolis, Gotham City, and other iconic locales.
 * Find one, and you can help fight the dark spirits that are possessing fighters on both sides of the war!
 * Combat Rating 70

New Legends!
 * Sorcerers make their debut in Legends PvP with the introduction of Doctor Fate and Felix Faust! These new characters can now be purchased in-game with Marks of Legend at the Legends Terminals in your HQ.

New Gear and Weapons!
 * There are a total of 4 new Runic appearance sets and 11 new Runic weapons.
 * One set of gear is available as drops in the 4 player Operations.
 * Two more sets drop in the 8 player Operations, along with the Runic weapons.
 * Additionally, a Tier 4.5 Runic set of gear is available through the acquisition and completion of R&D Missions that are dropped as Codices from Operation Bosses.
 * Hero: A Black Dawn, With a Vengeance
 * Villain: Unpaid Dues, Seeds of Rot.