Tomorrow, DC Universe Online‘s latest DLC pack, Hand of Fate, will go live. Hand of Fate is our fifth DLC pack, and it will be unlike anything we’ve offered to date. We’re incredibly excited for you to check it out.

We have designed this DLC to get you and your friends fighting again in DCUO’s open world. We want you back out there, battling in the DC Universe’s most storied locations – Gotham City and Metropolis. With the massive open world areas in the game, we felt it was time that we enriched these areas in unexpected ways to give you a deeper gameplay experience as you encounter the world and other players.

The content is high-fidelity, but serial in nature – our high-end players will definitely enjoy this. We have new group missions we call Operations, as well as more than 60 unique side missions. Additionally, we have added the Utility Belt Attachments feature. This is a fun upgrade that will give you more flexibility in combat by allowing you to use more than just a single trinket or consumable item in your loadout, and will also give you more freedom to use some of those fun toys you’ve had stashed away in your inventory. The producer’s letter I posted when we announced the DLC pack goes into detail about Operations, Side Missions, and the Utility Belt.

What I didn’t dive into in my letter is some of the DLC’s back story. Hand of Fate focuses on two of the most powerful magic users in the DC Universe, Doctor Fate and Felix Faust. The storylines that weave through the DLC are classic tales of magic and mystery, and as we all know, when there is magic involved, anything can happen. In this particular case, at the bidding of Doctor Fate (heroes) or Felix Faust (villains), you will undertake three new Heroic and three new Villainous episodes. Each episode will start in the inner sanctum of these legendary characters, where the story begins with an intense encounter against the episode’s adversaries. After you defeat them, Doctor Fate or Felix Faust will instruct you on the next step of your mission, which will take place in the open world.

For the first time in DCUO, Heroes and Villains will have unique content, with three new missions for each group. If you’re a hero, you’ll align with Doctor Fate, and help the Lords of Order protect innocent souls from the forces of darkness. In the Operation “A Black Dawn” – Tala, the mistress of Hell, uses her demonic powers to unleash an apocalyptic army upon Gotham City and Metropolis. It’s up to you and seven of your heroic allies to stop her. In “With a Vengeance” – Eclipso’s rage flows through the streets of Metropolis, and only those brave enough to stand against him will save the city from his wrath. This is also an 8-Man Operation. In the 4-player Operation “Wayward Souls” – Felix Faust is raising spirits and stealing souls to bargain for more power; but he foolishly stored them inside the behemoth Solomon Grundy and created an even bigger threat to Gotham City.

If you’re of the Villainous persuasion, you’ll join forces with Felix Faust and reap the rewards of his contracts. In “Unpaid Dues” – Faust has drawn the ire of the League of Assassins for defiling the Lazarus waters in Kahndaq. Now Ra’s al Ghul himself seeks revenge for this offense. This is an 8-man Operation. Another 8-man mission, “Seeds of Rot” – sees Faust attempting to create a sapling from the Tree of Rot. But Swamp Thing, defender of the Green, tries to oppose him before the tree’s influence falls into Faust’s hands. Finally, “Soulful Alchemy” is a 4-man Operation that starts with Faust making a bargain that has gone awry, now he must pay a debt — or the ultimate price. Countless lives hang in the balance as Faust tries to sacrifice innocent souls to save his own.

In addition, there will be 60 Side Missions – 30 for each side – for players to uncover while they tackle the six new episodes in the DLC. These missions will drop as rewards, and will be added to the mission journal when used. These missions will take players all over Metropolis and Gotham City as they attempt to accomplish the goals set before them. Players will feel the power of their characters as they return to some of their early adventures in the city streets – only now the old foes before them wither under their might. But new dangers have arisen, and they should not be taken lightly.

As you can see, there is tons of new content in Hand of Fate that will keep you entertained for hours, so dive in and check it out. See you in game!

So maybe you need to stock up on Replay Badges, re-spec your Power Type, or finally get some Prometheum Keys to open up those Lock Boxes that have been cluttering your inventory – now is the time! From Style Items to Vault Tickets, everything in the in-game marketplace is half off starting with today’s PlayStation Store update.

So tell us what you think in the comments below, or track us down and Like us at Facebook. We love to hear what you guys have to say because it’s the community that helps make DCUO better. Have a great summer, and we hope you enjoy the sale. We’ll see you in-game!

Welcome back from E3! I’m sure you all are pretty pumped for what’s to come this year in the video game world. A slew of new AAA titles, new features, and new announcements from our favorite games. Speaking of our favorite games, as the executive producer of DC Universe Online, it is no surprise that what I’m most excited about coming out of E3 is DC Universe Online’s new DLC pack! That’s right, more new content for a game that is already free-to-play! And the best part is…you don’t have to wait much longer to jump into battle.

Tomorrow, we launch DCUO’s highly anticipated fourth DLC pack: The Last Laugh. We are greatly anticipating the release of this new pack as it is the first time we have created a major update almost entirely focused on player-versus-player (PvP) combat. The Last Laugh will include hours of multiplayer gameplay in the Safe Houses and Headquarters, an all-new weapon, and new Light-Powered and Kryptonian Legends PvP characters.

The story revolves around The Joker, who decides that the Heroes and Villains has been working too closely to defeat Brainiac. His solution? Create some chaos! The Joker hacks into the security systems of the Hero and Villain Safe Houses and Headquarters, thereby allowing for invasion scenarios. With The Last Laugh, we’re introducing Safe House PvP battles, which are four-on-four battles that take place in new maps created using the in-game Safe Houses. What’s more, there are three new game modes as part of the Safe House battles, each with its own unique strategies and objectives. We’re also introducing Headquarter Battles, which are massive eight-on-eight battles that take place in either the Justice League Watchtower, or the Hall of Doom. In all of these battles, iconic DC characters and other NPCs will join the fray to add another challenging layer to the chaotic battles. Lastly, we are giving players a new brawler-style weapon, The Shield, to take down opponents!

We created The Last Laugh purely for the players that like to take the fight to each other in DCUO’s amazing PvP combat. It’s going to be a lot of fun and add so much more to the gameplay experience. I hope you take the opportunity to prove to the world whether heroes or villains will be triumphant — see you in-game!

This is my first blog post as a member of the DCUO team and I could not be more excited. As a life-long comic book fan and game developer it’s a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to work on a game that includes my two all-time favorite characters: Swamp Thing and Batman.

Tomorrow we are launching our largest, most impressive DLC pack yet with The Battle for Earth. There’s a lot to like in this new pack: three Duos, an Alert, two Raids, new gear and rewards and an incredible new power set – Earth Powers – that lets you deal damage or play the Tank role in an exciting new way. My personal favorite new Raid is set in Themyscira, the ancestral home of Wonder Woman. Our team of talented artists did an amazing job crafting this beautiful new zone, and the design team went above and beyond in creating a cooperative combat experience that is fun, challenging and rewarding. You and your friends will need to use all of your skill and a lot of strategy in order to conquer this Raid and take down Brainiac’s Avatar of Magic. The Battle for Earth culminates with a major showdown against Braniac, and sets the stage for a new chapter in the game’s ongoing narrative. I can give you one hint: Future Lex Luthor and Future Batman will be key players in the future of DCUO.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of our players, and welcome all of the new folks. We continue to grow and attract thousands of new players every day. That’s good news for everyone as far as I’m concerned. The more people that play the game the richer the experience we can offer. The team is working hard to address feedback from the community and will continue to issue regular game updates, along with quarterly DLC pack releases. It is an incredibly exciting time for DCUO as we’re going to be introducing some great new features this year and I can’t wait to share the details with you. See you in-game!

• We’ve seen more than 3.5 million hero characters and more than 2 million villain characters created
• More than 2.3 million registered users on the PS3
• Players have logged a total of more than 3.6 million days of playtime
• We’ve added more than 1,200 new NPC characters, 200 new quests, 2,500 new items and 1,800 new encounters

And that list doesn’t even include all of the new features we’ve put in the game, such as the new Research & Development system that we released yesterday with Game Update 8.

It’s clear we’ve been a little busy this past year, but we’re not slowing down at all for 2012. This year will see even more adventures, new missions, new DC heroes and villains, more chances for you to group with your friends for battle, amazing new gear and some exciting new features. We look forward to you joining us in the coming year and beyond.

Hope you’re enjoying the most wonderful time of the year – the holiday gaming season! One of the chief perks of a massively multiplayer online game is that the developers have a lot of freedom to make changes to the world, including creating special events throughout the year. In DC Universe Online, we’ve just begun our new holiday-themed event Season’s Greedings, which gives players fun new things to do set in a festive new look. As you make your way around Gotham City and Metropolis, you’ll see that both are decked out in celebration of the season. But that’s only the beginning!

All players are able to take part in a fun Holiday event starring our newest DCUO character, Larfleeze, the leader of the Orange Lantern Corps. Orange Lanterns? Yes, the Orange Lanterns, much like the Sinestro Corps or the Red Lanterns, are rivals of the Green Lanterns and are powered by the orange light of avarice, aka “greed.” Being a greedy little guy, it makes sense that Larfleeze wants all of the holiday presents for himself. As the player, it’s up to you to track down the stolen presents, battle Larfleeze’s deadly orange light constructs, and report your success back to Hal Jordan (if you’re a hero) or Sinestro (if you’re a villain) to collect your just desserts.

In addition to all of the fun, we’ve also added some great new holiday items to our in-game marketplace and vendors so you can make sure your character is dressed just right for the season. I mean, who wouldn’t want to fight crime dressed as a heroic snowman?

DCUO is now free to download and play on PS3. Just look for the game in the PlayStation Store and check it out. Season’s Greedings is running until January, so you have plenty of time to jump in and experience the holidays DCUO-style. We hope everyone has a great Holiday and wonderful New Year. See you in 2012!

You may have seen a few weeks ago when we announced that more than one million new players had jumped in to DCUO since the launch of Free-to-Play. That number is definitely larger now, and growing by roughly 6% each day. We love seeing all of the new heroes and villains in game, and hope you and your friends keep coming back to experience the great new adventures we have planned for the coming year.

But enough bragging! You probably want to know what’s going on with the new DLC, which hits PlayStation Store tomorrow. Lightning Strikes has something fun for players of all levels. You can amp up with the new Electricity power set, which offers supercharged new ways to heal yourself and your allies, and also gives you some pretty devastating damage abilities. Make sure to create a new character and see how fun this new power can be. Everyone will also get a chance to chase down some new bounties. Members of the Teen Titans, such as Cyborg, Kid Flash and Starfire, and the Rogues, including Captain Cold, Heat Wave and Trickster are on the loose, and you and your friends can earn some great rewards for taking them down.

For the high-level players, Lightning Strikes introduces a new map for you to fight in and a tough new combat duo, both of which revolve around Barry Allen, otherwise known as The Flash. The Central City map lets you get a glimpse of The Flash’s home city, which is having some problems thanks to a quickly unraveling Speed Force. In this new zone you will find a number of solo and group missions, tons of combat, and probably even some members of the opposite faction to fight. The Flashback Duo sends you and a friend on a critical mission to help save The Flash himself. Travel back in time via the Speed Force to the night Barry Allen gets struck by lightning, and stop the sinister forces trying to prevent the rise of the Scarlet Speedster. And let’s not forget that Lightning Strikes also introduces some great new gear for you to grab.

Thank you, and welcome, to all of our new players. We hope to see more of you in game soon. I mean, why not jump in and try it out? It’s free! Happy Holidays, everyone.

Remember back in September when we announced that DC Universe Online was going to be Free-To-Play? Well, it’s here! Starting today you can download DCUO from the PlayStation Store for free, and play all you want with no monthly fee required. Experience the game play features that have gotten players excited about DCUO since it launched, including the intense, fast-action brawler style combat system that makes it feel more like an action game than a massive online game. Now, you can see for yourself how DCUO offers the best of both worlds. Fight, fly, speed, battle with friends, pummel your enemies, explore the amazing locales of the DC Universe, hobnob with Wonder Woman… all for free!

We’re really excited about this transition because you all have been asking us to make this change, and now we’ve done it – we’re making DCUO accessible to so many more players. We heard all of you out there who told us at conventions, on Facebook and elsewhere that you’d love to jump in to the game, if only it didn’t have that pesky monthly fee. Well, now’s your chance. With our three levels of access there’s something for every type of player. Free-To-Play. Your way.

Are you a new player? Then just jump in and play for free. If you buy a few of the awesome items in our marketplace or a DLC pack (totaling at least $5), then you’ll get permanently bumped up to Premium Access, which gives you extra features such as more character and inventory slots. You can continue to play at Premium Access for as long as you want with the option to purchase extra features, or jump in to a Legendary membership for a monthly fee and get access to maximum game features and all DLC packs. Don’t want to pay that membership fee for a while? No problem, you’ll automatically become Premium Access if you drop your Legendary membership.

And for you current players, you may have already noticed that you’ve already been migrated to a Legendary membership. Former players, come on back! You’ll be granted automatic Premium Access as soon as you log in. We have all the details on our website if you want to know more.

We look forward to seeing all of the new faces, and old friends, zipping around Metropolis and Gotham City. Let’s hear from you in the comments below. See you in game!

What could possibly be better than battling with thousands of other players online in the first, and only, action MMO on the PS? How about battling FOR FREE? That’s right, DC Universe Online will soon be free to download from the PlayStation Store, and free-to-play with no monthly fees required.

So what’s the catch? There is none. The entire game will be open for you to play for free. We have gotten a lot of feedback from gamers asking for an opportunity to play without a subscription requirement. So, that got us thinking about how to offer access to the game in a way that allows gamers to play their way. We wanted something that would give players options. We know different types of gamers are playing – and want to play – DCUO, and we want each person to be able to play in a way that best fits their style. That’s why we’ve created three levels of access to the game:

• Free Access – Just like it sounds. Download and play the game for free. You also get all ongoing game updates (except DLC packs).
• Premium Access – This next level of access opens up to you if you spend at least $5 in the in-game store. Premium Access grants you additional benefits that improve your experience in the game, such as more inventory slots, more character slots, bank slots and more free Vault tickets. So all you have to do is pick up some cool items in the store or buy a DLC pack and you unlock Premium Access. The best part? Once you unlock Premium Access you keep it for the life of your account.
• Legendary Access – With Legendary Access you can unlock the maximum level of features and benefits. To unlock Legendary Access you can pay for a $14.99 per month game pass, or save big with a discounted multi-month pass. Lifetime members are automatically granted Legendary access. Legendary Access also includes all DLC packs at no extra charge.

I know all of this sounds great for the soon-to-be new players, but it’s just as good for all of you who still play, or used to play. Current players who are currently on a month-to-month or multi-month game pass will automatically be granted Legendary Access for the remaining time on their game pass once we officially transition to free-to-play. They can continue to play and stay at the Legendary Access level, or opt to migrate to another level.

If you used to play DCUO, this gives you a great opportunity to come back and rejoin your old crimefighting (or evil-doing) friends without spending a cent. If you previously purchased DCUO at a retail store or through a PSN download and activated your account, you will automatically be granted Premium Access when you come back.

You can go to our website for more details on the three levels of access, plus a FAQ that should cover any other questions that you may have. We can’t tell you how excited we are to be making this move, and can’t wait to have you all join us in game. Talk to us in the comments below and let us know what you think. We’re listening.

Exercising your creativity and bringing your imagination to the fight is a huge part of being a Lantern, and we wanted to bring that feeling to our players. With light, players will now be able to combine weapon-based combos and superpower abilities in way that just feels right for a Lantern. You can create things like hard-light boxing gloves and use them as a new “on the fly” weapon that comes complete with its own combos. Not only that, these combos can also link to other abilities and hard-light weapons. This allows players to create their own unique sequences of attacks as well as react to the changing face of the battle. These abilities don’t even have to be loaded out to be combo’d into! Open with a huge light whip to stun your enemy, call in the boxing gloves to work them over at close range, and then finish them off with the rumbling charge of a locomotive to mow them down. This is the stuff that Lantern lore is made of, and so far at Comic-Con, the smiles have said it all. There’s nothing quite like rolling in an Apache Gunship from your full super charge to make a Green Lantern fan happy, and I can tell you after three days of not-stop use it still brings a smile to my face.

In addition to the new Light Power set, players will also be able to experience all-new adventures that take them from Coast City to the Sciencells on Oa. Deep inside S.T.A.R Labs, players will gain more insight into the disturbance with the Power Rings. With light powers, players can create a new character where they receive their Lantern Corps reservist ring and begin to unlock its set of pre-programmed constructs, or to re-spec an existing character to experience the new controller class. With the depth of the combo linking, we feel like most players will want to explore this deep new power set from the beginning, but we wanted to give the players the option of jumping into the deep end straight away with the new content. We’ve seen fans light up when we tell them they’ll be meeting long-requested characters like Vice and Atrocitus from the Red Lanterns, see Lyssa Drak reading from the Book of Parallax, or hear the wise cracks of Guy Gardner as they fight back to back.

For a taste of the action, check out the brand new “Fight for the Light” trailer above

“Fight for the Light” will be available for $9.99 later this summer, and is the first of many downloadable expansions we’re preparing for DC Universe Online. The decision to go with a series of smaller expansions released periodically allows us to get new things to players faster as well as react to requests and the live game in a way that a more traditional larger expansion would not. We know that our players have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of light powers, and we had to get it right for our incredibly loyal community. We hope that you will feel that it was worth the wait!

If you’re lucky enough to be at San Diego Comic-Con this year, please stop by and say hi to us at the SOE BOOTH #4436, where you can be among the first to play through a hands-on demo of the new “Fight for the Light” DLC Pack. We’d love to have a chance to show you more and get your reactions. There’s nothing like being able to spend some time talking to our players face to face and to hear how your hero or villains have evolved, and we’re excited to do even more at our fan event on Saturday night. This will be live on Stickcam.com and the DCUO Facebook page…and I promise we’ll get those Facebook questions I didn’t get to in my last late night marathon Q&A in there, too.

We thank y’all for playing, and for making this one of the most rewarding experiences I can possibly imagine. We’ll see you in DC Universe Online! As always, be excellent to each other.