I just read that DC Comics and DC Universe have been hit with massive layoffs. While I doubt DC Universe Online will be much affected, I have been playing this game for ten years now and have a little bit of time invested in it. I hope everyone there does well and lands on their feet.
The latest DC Universe Online episode, “Wonderverse”, dropped last week. And… it’s not bad, it really isn’t.
The last couple of episodes have dealt with the fallout from having the “Source” wall broken — the wall that separates our universe from others. In the previous episode, “Birds of Prey”, Lex Luthor had taken advantage of the breach between universes to capture other Lex Luthors and force them to work for him as a “Council of Luthors” to help him obtain and control the Source energy he needed to (yawn) kill Superman and rule the world.
This just seems to be a thing with Lex.
Last we saw Lex, he’d managed to obtain a fragment of Source energy, melded it into his armor, and… burst, like a soap bubble. Harley Quinn thought if she ever happened to burst, there’d be more glitter and confetti.
In “Wonderverse”, the fracture in the Source wall has spread as far as the island of Themyscira, Wonder Woman’s home. The fractures have brought multiple parallel world versions of Themyscira together, separated by thin walls of shimmering energy. Each Themyscira has its own Wonder Woman — Regular Wonder Woman, “Bombshell” Wonder Woman from WWII, “Red Son” Wonder Woman where Superman landed as a baby in the Soviet Union instead of Kansas, Nubia (the first Black Wonder Woman), and “Flashpoint” Wonder Woman from when the Flash mangled the timelines and the Atlanteans and the Themyscirans were at war and had destroyed the surface world.
Not all these Wonder Women are heroes, but all will reluctantly come together in a “Council of Wonder Women” to close up the continuity. Especially since the old gods and new have seen fit to start taking advantage of the mayhem to move forward their own agendas.
Open World raids
There are four open world raids that, when completed, open a fifth raid. This makes this the friendliest expansion for casual raiders since… I don’t know when.
The raids go in a cycle. The Apokoliptians, led by Steppenwolf and Kalibak, attempt to steal some source energy. The Atlanteans, led by the turncoat Murk, are striking at the Amazon source of power. Ares and Athena have no time for mortal interference as they assail and defend Olympus .
Once those raids are completed, the formidable Hydra is unleashed. Completing all five raids gives a good chunk of material for upgrading the new artifacts and omnipotent armor pieces — the helm, this time.
The New Solo Mission
Where the previous solo mission, following the clues leading to Lex’s disappearance, was a real slog (for me), this one, where you confront Darkseid’s daughter, Grail, for her fragment of the Source, was actually not bad. You do get some help from a couple of Wonder Women found along the way — Queen Diana from Flashpoint, and Original Flavor Wonder Woman from the main continuity.
The rewards, like last time, consist of largely green armor pieces, plus catalysts used to awaken Wonderverse artifacts and the omnipotent helm. Those not looking to awaken the artifacts can sell these bits on the auction house for many, many millions of dollars.
The Alert and the Raid
I did these, but don’t remember them in enough detail to really judge them. They did seem very straightforward, at least the “event” versions. I haven’t done the “real” versions, and likely won’t until my CR is north of 315 — it’s currently 309 (after ending the previous expansion at 304).
Dailies
There are four daily mission givers instead of the standard three, plus an additional daily to defeat one of the invasion forces. The weekly is to kill the Hydra. Unlike previous episodes, losing the raid gives you partial rewards, so there’s almost no reason not to join in, even if it looks hopeless. That said, it’s easy enough to latch on to a floating raid that is doing all the invasion fights and ending with Hydra, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.
All in all, this looks to be a great episode for the casual player. The one glaring omission is the lack of a two player mission. We haven’t had one since the Shazam expansion, and it’s long overdue.
Yay! The comment box is back! Do you know how frustrating it is to read blog posts and then find there’s no way to leave a comment?
Thanks for reviewing Wonderverse. After the way DI hyped it I was somewhat underwhelmed with what I saw but thanks to your post I have a much better idea of what’s there. I’ll go back and give it another run.
It’s a really good expansion. And I saw last night that the solo mission has random elements, so not always the same encounters doing the same moves.