DC Universe Online (Part Four)

PVP
When we talk about PVP in DC Universe Online, we can generally summarize it into two forms of fighting - fights that occur on the world scale and fights that take place in specially created instances.

World PVP
Before I talk about PVP on the world scale, I would need you to understand a little bit of how the in-game world is like.

Basically, DC Universe Online consists of two huge maps, Metropolis and Gotham City. And on these two maps, we have NPC mobs being littered all over the entire place for players to kill and hunt upon. However, the troublesome part is players of both the Heroes and Villains faction have to co-exist in these very same maps. So can you kind of guess where the conflict arises?

Yup, because of having to reside within a common area, both of the factions will inevitably have to fight over the same set of resources (NPC mobs) or space (different mobs but within same area) to complete their quests and level up. But then again, I guess just being of the opposite faction is enough of a reason to start going for each other's throats upon sighting one another.

Now if your questioning about how to level up your character within this sort of dangerous and demanding environment, then I would say you don't have to worry too much as this situation of constantly having to watch your radar for aggressive foes who might ambush you while your hunting mobs or doing quests only happens when your character is situated in the PVP server. If your in the PVE server, this sort of sneak attack would not happen because you have the option to toggle off PVP attacks (under the Action Menu "F1").

An alternative form of World PVP which you can enjoy regardless of being on the PVP or PVE server would be the Ring War in Metropolis and the Diamond Heist in Gotham City. They are a kind of event-type quest in which players can participate in a meaningful PVP battle for Influence points and Marks of Legend (forms of currencies used to buy various items and equipment with certain NPC vendors).

Usually, these events are pretty easy to spot as they would be advertised visibly right across your screen and all you have to do is follow its instructions to locate the NPC responsible for giving out the quest (do note that the NPC will only appear five minutes before the start of the event).

And as far as I know, apart from earning influence points and marks of legend, one perk of winning the Gotham City's Diamond Heist is that you will gain access (for a limited duration) to an NPC vendor that sells pretty strong PVP equipment. So if your into PVP action, this would probably be an event you won't want to miss. However, I'm not sure if the same holds true for the Ring War in Metropolis though.

On a side note, since we had talked about PVP and PVE servers, I would like to highlight the additional feature of how the game allows us to actively switch our characters between the PVP and PVE servers.

As you would all know, in most of the MMOs we played, we always had this dilemma of whether to create our character in the PVP or PVE server. A character in the PVP server would allow us to taste the kicks of fighting other fellow players. However, to reach this sort of action we would have to be at fairly high levels (not to mention having to withstand being constantly bullied by high-leveled players while leveling up).

On the other hand, a character in the PVE server would have a relatively easier time to level up to the end-game. But yet, since the character's on the PVE server, we would be missing out on the fights (even though we've reached the high levels required to participate efficiently).

So, to allow us to enjoy the benefits of both types of servers, DC Universe Online introduced the Phase Shifter (which can be found somewhere in the "Watchtower" and "Hall of Doom"). By using this device, we can transfer our character between the two servers and cater to our needs at various stages of character growth.

Instanced PVP

Instanced PVP in DCUO comes in two forms, Arenas PVP and Legends PVP. However in my opinion, these two forms of instanced PVP aren't really that much different from each other because the objectives of participating in both of them are pretty much the usual types that you can find in PVP matches like "Capture and Hold", "King of the Hill" and "Capture the Flag".

Basically, the only difference I've found between the two is that Arenas PVP uses your own avatar to fight while Legends PVP would give you the chance to use iconic heroes and villains found in the DC Comics's Universe.

And just like in World PVP, participating in these instanced PVPs would earn you influence points, marks of legend as well as marks of tactics depending on the instance.

Likewise, depending on the instance, you may also be rewarded with some other forms of marks. But these are generally instances which comes with the add-on DLC packs (Downloadable Content Pack) that you purchase with real money.

Next, as far as I know, marks of legend are used to unlock the exobyte data for certain legendary heroes and villains. After you've purchased and unlocked the avatars, you can then make use of them to fight in Legends PVP instances.

However, some of the more special heroes and villains would have to be unlocked using other forms of marks or even station cash (cash item shop currency bought with real money).

As for marks of tactics, these are actually used to buy special PVP equipment from Requisition Bots found in the "Watchtower" and "Hall of Doom". Anyway, as a general guideline, if you ever find any weird form of mark, all you have to do is pop into the "Watchtower" and "Hall of Doom". I am almost certain that you can find an NPC vendor there who would accept them as a currency. You just need to look around and find them.

Finally, to enter these Arena and Legends PVP instances, you will have to queue up for them in just the same way as the duo, alert and raid instances. But thankfully, the system does allow you to queue for all of these different maps altogether at once.

Previous: DCUO (Part Three)

Next: DCUO (Part Five)

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