Producer Letter 08/05/2011

I am excited to announce that MegaServers will begin going live on Monday!  The MegaServers expanded server system allows you to live in a world with more players and it will greatly expand the number of players available in Gotham and Metropolis, as well as the combat arenas, alerts and raid zones so you can get to some of the most fun areas faster. Here is the roll-out plan, starting this Monday, August 8th we will begin activating the new MegaServers across all platforms and regions in DCUO.  We are very excited to get this live in the game.  I wanted to let you know the details of what will be happening during the roll-out period and what you can expect.  The full roll-out schedule is at the end of this note.

Once the servers are combined the main improvements you will see to your game play is as follows:

* You will see much larger populations!

* You will have a much larger pool of people to join in Alerts, Duos, Raids, Legends PvP, etc.

* It will be much easier to play with friends who were previously on other servers (plus lots of new friends to make).

* You will be able to switch between PvP and PvE style play by using the phase shifters in the Hall of Doom and JLA Watchtower.

* There will be a larger number of items in the Broker.

Because we are joining all of these servers together there will be instances where your character name may have been changed due to other players having the same name.  We have implemented the fairest system possible to determine which players would be able to retain their name without change.  Those players whose names have been changed will be sent an in-game email which includes a free Name Change token and instructions as to how to change your name if you do not wish to keep the name assigned to you by the system. We know that your character names are important to you and if there are any issues our Customer Support Group will be happy to assist you.

There may also be situations where your League name is changed as well due to other Leagues on the combined servers having the same name.  Again, we have tried to be as fair as possible as to how we assigned new names. Those who are the leader of Leagues needing name changes will also receive an in-game email with instructions on how to make the League Name change and the Free Name Change Token with which to do will be attached to the email.  So, please be sure to check your in-game email as the MegaServers go live over the next week. Like your character names we know that your League name is important. If there are any issues, our Customer Support Group will be happy to assist you.

The new servers will be arranged in "Phases". A phase can be thought of as a combination of all of the shared world areas of the game: Metropolis, Gotham, Police Stations and Night Clubs, the Hall of Doom, and the JLA Watchtower, etc. The MegaServer will always have at least one PvP phase and one PvE phase.  You can transition from the PvE phase to PvP and vice versa by using the phase shifters in the Watchtower and the Hall of Doom. Because the server populations will increase dramatically after this change there may be times when there are multiple PvP and/or PvE phases on the server.  If you find yourself in a different phase than a Friend, League mate or Group mate, you can always change to the same phase by using the "Phase With" command from the social quick menu. Please remember that you can only Phase with someone who is playing the same mode as yourself (PvE or PvP).

The great thing is that regardless of phase or whether you are playing in PvP or PvE, all other players on the MegaServer will be available to join you in all of the queued Alerts, Raids, Duos, and Arenas. 

When a region and platform are converted to the new MegaServer configuration we expect the game to be unavailable for play for approximately 10 - 14 hours. The schedule for this conversion to MegaServers is as follows:

                EU PC    8/8/2011              8:00AM PT/4:00PM CET

                US PC    8/10/2011            8:00AM PT/4:00PM CET

                US PS3  8/11/2011            8:00AM PT/4:00PM CET

                EU PS3  8/15/2011            8:00AM PT/4:00PM CET

This schedule is subject to change as the process moves forward.  At each step we need to verify that everything has gone correctly and ensure that our players have the best possible experience in this transition.

As I have detailed in previous notes and postings, we will combine the populations of all of our current servers into four worldwide MegaServers:

                US PC

                US PS3

                EU PC

                EU PS3

The chart below shows where your server will be once we have completed this transition.

Server (MegaServer)

=====================

Bloodstorm (EU PC)

In Brightest Day (EU PC)

Looking For Trouble (EU PC)

Reality Lost (EU PC)

Absolute Power (EU PS3)

Crossfire (EU PS3)

For All Seasons (EU PS3)

Justice For All (EU PS3)

Brave New World (US PC)

Cry For Blood (US PC)

Darkness Falls (US PC)

Death and Glory (US PC)

Last Laugh (US PC)

New Frontier (US PC)

Public Enemies (US PC)

Virtue and Vice (US PC)

Zero Hour (US PC)

Birthright (US PS3)

Blood Will Run (US PS3)

Countdown (US PS3)

Crisis (US PS3)

Justice (US PS3)

No Man's Land (US PS3)

Redemption (US PS3)

Relentless (US PS3)

The Killing Joke (US PS3)

I am very excited about this move to MegaServers and I know that everyone is going to be happy with how this will expand your game play possibilities and the level of fun you have in DC Universe Online.  We will be keeping everyone updated on the progress of this plan in the Announcements sections of the forums so stay tuned!

DeadMeat