DCUO To Make Major Changes To Stats, Bringing DPS More In Line With Other Roles

It must be "Revise How Powers Work" month in superhero MMOs. Last week, we heard about Marvel Heroes' plans to revamp its talent trees, and this week, it's DC Universe Online that will be undergoing a retcon in a future update, radically changing how its heroes' stats work.

First on the chopping block are advanced mechanics and weapon mastery. Their implementation led to runaway DPS, in some cases 10 times more effective than non-DPS roles. The entire game needed to be balanced around the small number of players who were best at exploiting these mechanics, leading to NPCs that had to be "incredibly powerful in order to maintain the DPS balance." Overall damage potential will be adjusted along with these changes.

The tendency for ranged powers to deal greater damage at close range -- and less at long range -- will also be removed, as it was tied into the bonus damage from advanced mechanics. Power regeneration will also see changes, "so that maintaining your power is more clear and manageable," and power points will be removed, with heroes instead being granted all powers as they level, with the strategic changes to be made at the loadout level.

There's a lot going on, so check it all out on the DCUO forums, or watch the embedded video of the livestream discussing all the changes at the top of this article.