DCUO Game Update 41 Now On PC Test Server UPDATED 23rd September 2014

The Witching Hour Returns with new Base Items, Feats, and Styles!
All hell has broken loose in the streets of Gotham City and inside The Midnight Masquerade Nightclub! Go to the East End safehouse in Gotham City and speak to the Phantom Stranger (Heroes) or the Tap Room in Burnley and speak to Tala (Villains) to receive further instructions. Each day of the event, look for The Witching Hour in the Mission Journal to complete and earn Spooky Bites!

To queue for The Midnight Masquerade, go into the On Duty UI and look under the Events Tab. The mission and the event are available to players at or above Level 10.

The Vault has gotten a bit spookier during The Witching Hour Event. Don’t be afraid to check it out!

Shop Skeets’ Boo-tique for the latest in scare-wear, tricks, treats, and creepy items for your Base or League Hall.

Link Death!
Link Death allows players a ten minute grace period to log back into the game where they left off if they disconnected from the game. We have also made improvements to exiting the game in general for both PC and Playstation players. Details are contained in the notes below.

PVP Season 3!
Game Update 41 brings PvP Season 3 to DCUO! This includes:
• 2 New Style Sets
o Gotham Knight inspired by Nightwing for Heroes
o Vengeful Surgeon inspired by Hush for Villains
• Infinite Soder Cola in PVP Arenas!
o Look for the Soder Cola Infinite on the PvP Vendors in the Watchtower and in the Hall of Doom.
• PvP Stat Balance!
o If a player is un-geared or under-geared while in a PvP arena, any stat that doesn't meet minimum entry requirements is automatically increased to the minimum based on your current role!
• See Notes below for more!

Armory Imprint Options!
Players can now save and load different aspects of an armory without affecting the other parts! Available now after imprinting a build are two new menus, Imprint Menu and Activate Menu. These menus offer further control over armory changes without having to rework the whole armory! See the notes below for further details!

Trade Improvements!
With Game Update 41, we have made improvements to Trade. An enforced delay has been added to trades after the contents of the trade have changed before it can be accepted.

Loot Notification Improvements!
Loot that is acquired while obscured by a full-screen UI will now be notified in the Heads-Up-Display, (HUD) once that UI is closed. Additionally, the loot notification UI will now display up to three pieces of acquired loot at once!

PC Test ONLY - New Legend Guy Gardner– Coming Soon!
Become a dangerous competitor in the Legends PvP arena as Guy Gardner! Willpower and rage never looked so good. Available now on PC Test only via the Legends Vendor!




Armory
• Armory Imprint Options
o Available now after imprinting a build are two new menus, Imprint Menu and Activate Menu
 All
• Players will still have the option to imprint or activate the entire armory.
 Appearance
• This includes the appearances and the currently equipped weapon's weapon mastery styles.
 Traits & Loadouts
• This includes all Skill points, Power Points, load-out, and current role the player is in.
 Equipment
• This is only gear. If a weapon cannot be used by the player at the time, it will leave whatever is currently in the player's weapon slot.

Link Death
• Link Death allows players a ten minute grace period to log back into the game where they left off if they disconnected from the game.
• When a player has gone Link dead, the player will have “Disconnected” displayed next to their name and will remain visible to other players.
o Players are still detected as in game in this state and therefore can be interacted with. This includes but is not limited to:
 A player can be rallied while link dead.
 A player can be attacked while link dead.
• Once returning to the game a player will see LINKDEAD under their character’s name in Character Create.
o Players must log back into the game with their link dead character before logging into another character on the account.
• Players will be placed back as they were before when logging back in from this state. Players will remain a member of a group if they were in a group when they went link dead.
• 10-minute Link Death
o An ungraceful disconnect from the game results in a 10 minute Link Death.
 Causes
• Network disconnection
• Power disconnection
• PS4 button then Close Application
• PS3 button and Quit
• "X" top left of a PC windowed client
• Client crash
• Server zone crash
• 10-second graceful exit
o A graceful disconnect from the game results in a 10 second “Link Death.”
o This only occurs if you are in combat while trying to exit the game and you choose to exit the game "Now".
 Causes
• On PC, using "Exit Game" while in combat, then selecting "Exit Now".
• On Playstation, using "Disconnect" while in combat, then selecting "Disconnect Now".


• Advanced Mechanics Burst Improvements
o Fire
 The following improvements were implemented to improve Fire's performance against weak enemies and those with low health.
 Volatility is now an effect that is applied to yourself, rather than enemies and increases the damage of certain abilities. Volatility only needs to be applied once and no longer needs to be stacked.
 Thermal Absorption will restore power while you have Volatility as well as against Burning enemies.
 Reduced the base power cost of Mass Detonation and Fireburst.

o Nature
 The following improvements were implemented to improve Nature's performance against weak enemies with low health.
 Savage Growth now applies a knockdown to multiple enemies in an AOE radius rather than one enemy in front of you.
 Briar: In addition to its existing effects, Briar now also stuns and causes a small amount of damage instantly in a radius around the target. Enemies not yet afflicted with Poison Spores from Briar take significant damage if Briar triggers the power refund mechanic.
 Harvest: In addition to its existing effects, Harvest now also stuns enemies in a radius around the target.

o Electricity
 The following improvements were implemented to improve Electricity's performance against weak enemies with low health.
 Electroburst: Now applies a knockdown to multiple enemies in an AOE radius rather than one enemy in front of you.
 Arc Lightning: The lightning now stuns as it courses through enemies. Enemies not yet afflicted with Electrified or Electro-charged power interactions take additional damage if Arc Lightning triggers the power refund mechanic.

o Light – COMING SOON TO PC TEST! (These changes are NOT YET on PC Test, but we wanted to include them for completeness. They will be available soon.)
 Adjustments were made to allow Light players to sustain their high damage capabilities over time making them comparable to the other advanced mechanics. The mechanic utilizes the Dazed power interaction in combination with abilities in the Assault tree.
 Spikequake: The following tray powers recover a portion of their cost if used immediately and repeatedly against Dazed enemies:
 Chainsaw, Whip Thrash, Light Claws, Fan, Snap Trap, Boxing, Grasping Hand and Hand Clap.
 Chompers: The following tray powers recover a portion of their cost if used immediately and repeatedly against Dazed enemies:
 Chainsaw, Whip Thrash, Light Claws, Fan, Snap Trap, Boxing, Grasping Hand and Hand Clap.
 Increased the cool down of the following abilities by one second or less to prevent triggering the power refund mechanic if you clip a power with itself:
 Chainsaw, Whip Thrash, Light Claws, Fan, Snap Trap, Boxing, Grasping Hand and Hand Clap.

PVP

• Season 3

o General

 Gadgets

• Intimidation no longer stuns bosses or other players in PvP arenas.

o Damage over Time (DoT) in PvP:

 Please note these changes only affect player versus player combat.

 Non-field DoT damage durations longer than five seconds have been reduced to five seconds when used against players.

 Location based area effect damage over time effects such as fields and auras have had their damage reduced and normalized as if they were five seconds in duration when used against players.

 Passive damage effects such as damage reflection and automatic damage from weapon buffs have also been normalized in the same manner when used against players.

 Affected abilities are listed below:

• Legends

o Smoke Cloud, Blood Curse, Poisoned Slash, Bracer Deflection

• Iconic

o Amazonian Deflection, Heat Vision

• Superspeed

o Phase Dodge

• Celestial

o Divine Light, Corrupted Divine Light, Corrupted Retribution, Corrupted Wrath of the Presence, Blight, Cleansed Blight, Curse, Cleansed Curse, Malediction, Cleansed Malediction, Plague, Cleansed Plague, Cursed Idol

• Earth

o Debris Field, Totem

• Electricity

o Electrocute, Flux, Overcharge, Electroburst, Electrogenesis, Voltaic Bolt

• Fire

o Burning Determination, Fireball, Wildfire, Enflame, Flashpoint, Immolation, Inferno, Meteor, Overheat, Stoke Flames, Eternal Flame, Fireball Barrage, Reignition

• Gadgets

o Cryofield, Cryofoam, Fear Gas, Intimidation, Napalm Grenade, Stasis Field

• Ice

o Coldsnap, Ice Bash, Reflection, Winter Ward, Arctic Gust, Avalanche, Bitter Winds, Freeze Wave, Glacier Flash, Shatter Restraints, Wintry Tempest, Blizzard, Deep Freeze, Snow Devil

• Light

o Chompers, Spikequake, Strafing Run, Light Barrier

• Mental

o Mass Terror, Menace, Phatom Flames, Bastion, Pyrokinesis, Thought Bubble

• Nature

o Briar, Harvest, Savage Growth, Thornburst, Vinelash, Swarm

• Quantum

o Warped Reality, Gravity Well, Event Horizon

• Rage

o Galling Eruption, Violence, Redirected Rage

• Sorcery

o Circle of Destruction, Circle of Protection, Condemn, Karmic Backlash, Weapon of Destiny, Shard of Life, Soul Well

o PvP Counter Roles

 The "counter role" mechanic in PvP, for example Controllers beating Healers, has been removed. Because of this, the "Confidence" damage buff is no longer applied and role specific debuffs have been removed.

 Role specific debuffing effects have been removed from the following movement mode abilities:

• Acrobatics

o Forward Flip Attack, Throwing Knives, Zip Tie Attack

• Flight

o Downdraft, Swoop Attack, Whirlwind Attack

• Superspeed

o Cyclone Push, Tornado Pull, Vortex Trap

o Damage Prevention in PvP

 Normal shielding effects now reduce damage by 25% instead of 100% in PvP Arenas.

 This affects the following abilities:

• Blessing, Corrupted Blessing, Gemstone Shield, Neural Neutralizer, Reflection, Winter Ward, Bitter Winds, Shatter Restraints, Hard Light Shield, Light Barrier, Grandeur, Telekinetic Shield, Swarm Shield, Quantum Tunneling, Time Bubble, Redirected Rage and Boon of Souls.

 The following supercharge abilities have also had their damage prevention effects reduced to 25%:

• Consecrated Ground, Sacrifice, Group Transducer and Ice Elemental.

o PvP and Gear

 PvE gear is now disabled in PvP arenas.

 Only PvP gear may be used in PvP arenas.

• Note: Disabled weapons still allow you to attack and perform all combos you know for that weapon. But, you don't gain any of the stats from a disabled weapon.

 There is now a single set of PvP gear for each PvP CR level that is shared for all roles.

 PvP gear now features a new Prismatic socket that accepts all normally colored stat gems.

 PvP gear no longer awards a socket bonus for slotting a gem of a certain color.

 Slot specific sockets have been removed from PvP gear.

 PvP weapons now use their full DPS value, rather than adding a large amount of Precision.

o Infinite Cola in PvP Arenas

 Look for the Soder Cola Infinite on the PvP Vendors in the Watchtower and in the Hall of Doom. This infinitely refreshing cola never runs dry but can only be used in PvP arena.

o Healing Supercharges in PvP

 Supercharge abilities that restore Health and/or Power have been reduced in strength when used in PvP arenas.

 This change affects:

• Envelop, Invigorate, Eternal Flame, Anesthetic, Battle Drone, Hibernation, Group Shielding, Bastion, Convalesce, Event Horizon, Regeneration, Closed Loop, Infuriate and Transcendence.

o Tanks in PvP

 Earth

• When in Tank role, using any super power in a PvP arena increases maximum Health by 1.45 Health per point of Dominance instead of a bonus to Defense, Toughness and a flat damage reduction.

• Aftershocks now reduce damage by 25% in PvP arenas.

 Fire

• When in Tank role, using any super power in a PvP arena increases maximum Health by 1.45 Health per point of Dominance and grants a 65% increase in Healing received.

 Rage

• When in Tank role, Rage users increase maximum Health by 1.45 Health per point of Dominance when using any super power near an enemy instead of two Health for every three Dominance for each enemy.

• In PvP arenas, Relentless Anger and Severe Punishment now heal back 25% of damage taken rather than 100%.

o Healers in PvP

 A Healer's healing is now strengthened by 25% in PvP arenas instead of 65%.

o Controllers in PvP

 Controllers in PvP arenas no longer receive a Vitalization increase while in PvP arenas.

o Advanced Damage Mechanics in PvP

 Electric

• When in Damage role in PvP arenas, Electric users gain Interrupt vulnerability when triggering the Power restoration mechanic and always when using Voltaic Bolt.

 Gadgets

• When in Damage role in PvP arenas, Gadgets users gain Interrupt vulnerability when triggering the Power restoration mechanic.

 Nature:

• When in Damage role in PvP arenas, Nature users gain Interrupt vulnerability when triggering the Power restoration mechanic and always when using Harvest.

o PvP Stat Minimums

 If a player is un-geared or under-geared while in a PvP arena, any stat that doesn't meet minimum entry requirements is automatically increased to the minimum based on your current role.

 Minimum stat thresholds are based on wearing fully modded PvP CR 96 gear and enough skill points to get the majority of the role specific stat bonuses from the 5th and 6th rows of the weapon trees.

o Gear

 With the 3rd season of PvP we have created role-agnostic gear. This means each piece of gear has all the relevant stats on it for every role. There is only one set of gear for each appearance, and it will be appropriate for DPS, Tank, Healer and Control roles.

o Rewards

 For season 3 of PvP we have updated the rewards for winning and losing a PvP arena, they are as follows:

• For winning an Arena or Legends Match

o 200 Marks of Valor and 2 Marks of Legend

o A chance to roll on a large list of items containing PvP Task items and Base Items, and the Exceptional Recovery Kit!

Updated 18th September

PvP
• PCTEST ONLY: Players afflicted with the Burning Power Interaction will now remain affected for the full duration but will only take damage for the first five seconds.
• PCTEST ONLY: Corrected the max weapon DPS clamp value in PvP arenas to be 483.8 instead of 483.3.

Items
• PCTEST ONLY: The new Soder Cola Infinite will have a correct name displayed on the PvP Vendor.

Powers

• Gadgets
o PC TEST ONLY: Advanced Damage Mechanics in PvP
- In Damage Role, EMP Pulse and Paralyzing Dart no longer deal heavy damage when used immediately after un-stealthing or using Distract.
- Updated the Tactics and Devices trait tree descriptions to say that these no longer do heavy damage in PvP.
• Quantum
o PC TEST ONLY: Quantum Time Bubble should prevent 25% damage when used in PvP arenas as intended.
• Light
o PC TEST ONLY: While in damage role in PvP arenas, triggering Consecutive Power refunds in a PvP zone will trigger Block or Interrupt vulnerability.
o Advanced Mechanics Burst Improvements
 Adjustments were made to allow Light players to sustain their high damage capabilities over time making them comparable to the other advanced mechanics. The mechanic utilizes the Dazed power interaction in combination with abilities in the Assault tree.
 Spikequake: The following tray powers recover a portion of their cost if used immediately and repeatedly against Dazed enemies:
• Chainsaw, Whip Thrash, Light Claws, Fan, Snap Trap, Boxing, Grasping Hand and Hand Clap.
 Chompers: The following tray powers recover a portion of their cost if used immediately and repeatedly against Dazed enemies:
• Chainsaw, Whip Thrash, Light Claws, Fan, Snap Trap, Boxing, Grasping Hand and Hand Clap.
 Increased the cool down of the following abilities by one second or less to prevent triggering the power refund mechanic if you clip a power with itself:
• Chainsaw, Whip Thrash, Light Claws, Fan, Snap Trap, Boxing, Grasping Hand and Hand Clap.

Halls of Power
• Ancient Urgrund weapons

o PCTEST ONLY: When using the one-handed ancient Urgrund weapon, the appearance of the assisting swords will no longer force other pets (such as Brick or Baby Boo) to disappear.


Updated 19th September

Survival Mode: Trigon's Prison!
Survival Mode, back again for it's second installment. This time it is HELL. Here is your chance to prove you have what it takes to survive. Think the last run was just a fluke? Well now you get a second chance to dethrone the sweet 16 from Survival: Oan Sciencells.

In Survival Trigon's Prison you face your greatest challenge yet. Fight for unique style rewards awarded only to those with the most dedication on the field of battle! Players can queue for the Survival Mode from the Event tab if they meet the CR requirement, or players will find teleporters located in the Watchtower’s War Room or the Hall of Doom’s Pit.

New this season:
• New Awesome, Trigon-themed, shirts for rounds 2, 4, 6, 8, 10.
• New Trigon-themed Base items (some perfect for your League Hall)
• 20 total rounds
• New Unique rewards for rounds 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20

Requirements:
• 8 Players
• Combat Rating: 106


PvP Season 3
• The Test Server PvP Currency box should be available on our PC Test Vendors again.

Powers

Fire
• Corrected an issue where Flame Cascade, Mass Detonation and Fireburst were vulnerable for a full three seconds rather than matching their now much faster activation times.
• Fireburst, Flame Cascade and Mass Detonation will now trigger a Block Breaker while Volatility is active.
• PCTEST ONLY: Burning Determination will instantly apply Volatility to yourself in addition to its existing effects.

Nature
• PC TEST ONLY: Triggering advanced mechanic effects in a PvP arena with Swarm and Vinelash no longer triggers interrupt vulnerability.
• Briar and Harvest will now trigger a Block Breaker when activating the power refund Advanced Mechanic.

Electricity
• PC TEST ONLY: Triggering advanced mechanic effects in a PvP arena with Electrogenesis and Electrocute no longer triggers interrupt vulnerability.
• Voltaic Bolt and Arc Lightning will now trigger a Block Breaker when activating the power refund Advanced Mechanic.

Gadgets
• PC TEST ONLY: The additional advanced mechanic vulnerabilities applied in a PvP arena to the following abilities have been removed: Cryofield, Cryofoam, Gauss Grenade, Taser Pull, Napalm Grenade, Stasis Field, Sticky Bomb and Vortex Cannon.
• Triggering additional damage with EMP Pulse or Paralyzing Dart using Advanced Mechanics will now inflict a Block Breaker.
• PC TEST ONLY: In Damage Role, EMP Pulse and Paralyzing Dart gain a smaller damage bonus when used immediately after unstealthing or using Distract in PvP arenas.

Items
• Penguin Gun-brella Trinket - The umbrella for the trinket should now be visible.

Mission
• Take Heart was disabled and no longer granted in a previous update and has now been removed from characters who already had it.

Feats
• “Creepy Kitsch” is now updating correctly.

Updated 22nd September

General
• The targeting reticule now displays properly on the chest of Lust Fanatic Statues in Sons of Trigon DLC missions.

PvP Season 3
• When entering a PvP Arena, all characters’ Supercharge are now set to 0.
• When exiting a PvP Arena, Supercharge is restored to its previous value.
• Fixed an issue where the Supercharge was not being restored correctly with Legends PvP and Iconic Anomalies.

PvP Combat
• While you are Vulnerable to Block at the same time, Block Breakers from Advanced Mechanics will not land. This most specifically affects the following abilities:
- EMP Pulse, Paralyzing Dart, Fireburst, Flame Cascade, Mass Detonation, Briar, Harvest, Voltaic Bolt and Arc Lightning
• Blocking now adds 46,317 Toughness.
• Controller: Defense De-buffs now reduce Toughness by 3800.

Inertial Flywheel
• The extra horizontal speed boost for Super Speed users when holding Inertial Flywheel has been removed when in combat stance, similar to how Acrobat's Glide Line ability will not activate when in combat stance.
- Out of combat stance, the extra speed boost for Inertial Flywheel remains.

Survial Mode: Trigon’s Prison
1. Fixed having "Defeat Nightwing" text still visible after a wipe/reset.
2. Fixed instance not progressing after 10 minute break time expires.
3. Fixed erroneous gold shirt sometimes dropping at incorrect rounds.
4. Fixed issues with damage being too high on some of Nightwing and Gizmo’s abilities.
5. Nightwing should no longer jump around as often.

Powers
• The following super powers grounding effect has been normalized to last 3 seconds:
- Cryo-foam, Mesmerizing Lasso, Grapple Line Attack, and Tornado Pull.
• Mesmerizing Lasso, when used in Tank Role, will now taunt a single target and is more powerful than standard Tank Role taunts.
• Low Pressure will now also ground your target for 3 seconds.

UI
• Healing over time effects will no longer display a green "Heart" icon when active. This is to keep them from preventing the display of a red "Heart" icon, which messages Healing de-buffs.