DC Universe Online Update – Fresh Content and Monetization Changes

With how popular comic books and superheroes are these days, it’s rather surprising that there aren’t that many successful superhero-flavored video games. Bucking this trend is Daybreak Games’ free to play MMORPG DC Universe Online that’s still trucking along, over a decade after its initial launch.

In fact, this here development update for DCUO highlights some upcoming content, the game’s new cross-faction hub, and a complete overhaul of its monetization system that will greatly ease the F2P restrictions.

The update is quite large, so here’s some info on the upcoming monetization changes, and you take things from there:

New Free, Premium, and Member Benefits

New member benefits! As you know, episodes will become free with the launch of Episode 41. We have already stopped selling them.

Why? We want everyone to be able to play with everyone else without barriers. This will be a fundamentally new vision for the game. While free episodes and membership are our focus here, all access levels will need to change to reach this new paradigm.

I will begin with the changes that impact everyone and then work up to the grand finale of membership.

Daily Login Rewards

All players will have access to a new system for daily login rewards. Previously, daily login rewards were spread between independent systems like the vault or the stabilizer event. No more! These rewards will be folded into a simplified and expanded new system.

Log in each day, open the daily login reward screen, claim your rewards. Simple.

These rewards will reset (and sometimes update) on a monthly cycle. Each day you log in during a cycle, you get to claim the next daily reward. Daily rewards will get bigger and better as you go.

Some examples for daily rewards include a new daily currency (Fate) for a special vendor, Source Marks, Stabilizer Fragments, Artifact XP, Ally XP, or gear, with more to come. Daily rewards will be claimable once per account and most items will be account bound.

Our target value for the standard daily login rewards will be at least $20, when you log in at least 20 days in a cycle.

Access Changes for Everyone

Changes for every access level will include:

• Free episodes.
• Standard daily login rewards (at least $20 in value when you log in at least 20 days per cycle).
• Full access to lair and utility belt systems.
• Cash cap increased from 2,000 to 50,000.
• +7 additional inventory slots.
• Promethium Lockboxes removed, their rewards distributed elsewhere.
• Artifact XP items condensed to save inventory space.

Access Changes for Premium

Changes for the premium access level will include:

• Cash cap increased from 3,000 to unlimited.

Access Changes for Members

Changes for membership will include:

• Additional 3x bonus daily login rewards (at least $60 in value when you log in at least 20 days per cycle).
  • For daily login rewards, this means an extra three times the standard daily login rewards ($60 value) PLUS the standard daily login rewards everyone gets ($20 value), for a total of $80.
• +50% bonus to timed drops of Artifact XP and Ally XP.
• +7 (more) Inventory slots (28 from membership, 77 total)
• +8 (more) Bank slots (32 from membership, 56 total)
• +7 (more) Shared Bank slots (7 from membership, 16 total)

For clarity, these additional benefits will be on top of what membership includes now and will still include:

• 500 Daybreak Cash (PC) or Loyalty Points (consoles) monthly ($5 value)
• 150 Replay Badges monthly ($5 value)
• 10% discount on all Marketplace purchases
• +10 Character slots (16 total)
• +15 Broker slots (20 total)
• Full access to all Powers, Shield (Weapon), and Skimming (Movement Mode)
• Full access to mail, trade, and leagues
• 1 free Item Restore monthly

If you are just doing the straight math, you can see we have replaced the exclusivity of access to all episodes and the unlimited cash cap (less than $5 in value) with at least $60 in value from the bonus daily login rewards alone.

We want membership to be such an incredible deal that you feel a little silly playing without it, but not something that feels required to enjoy the game.