E3 2011: First playthrough of DC Universe Online's Fortress of Solitude raid

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Superman's finally making a scene in DCUO. It's been all about the Bat since launch: all the PvP Legends characters, all of the raids, all of the monthly content updates revolved around the Dark Knight - and now it's time the Man of Steel had his turn.

The fourth major content update, which should hopefully be coming out later this month, introduces the next tier of 8-man raid content, which I had a chance to see in action at E3 today. Braniac's moved on from the Bat Cave and has set up shop in Superman's Fortress of Solitude (which would also make for a great emo band name, if the Man of Steel ever feels like changing professions). The first wing being released in this update has 3 bosses, including the Scorponod-Mk1, a giant robotic scorpion boss returning from the Bat Cave raid with all sorts of new crazy ice-themed enhancements, and Avatar of Meta, a huge monstrosity that dual-wields massive electic whips that could probably knock down skyscrapers without any effort at all. When the Avatar of Meta crashed through the icy wall to ambush our group, I just about Ctrl+Alt+Del'ed my way out of that fight. That's it, guys. We had a good run at this whole "saving the world" thing, but I think we've done about all we can. Let's just save us both the effort and let you go on with eradicating all life on earth with those whips.

Fortunately for mankind, the Man of Steel and General Zod have bigger spines than I do, and stood by our group the entire raid helping us down the baddies as they came in waves. Although he/she wasn't shown, the developers confirmed that one other iconic character would be making an appearance in the raid as well.

Victors will be rewarded with Tier 3 armor, which consists of four different armor sets (one each for Controller, DPS, Tank, and Healer), and is themed after Kryptonian armor, marking the first time yet that a Tier armor set is NOT themed after your mentor chosen at character creation. And although it is not required, it would be very wise for all attempting raiders to have gotten their full set of Tier 2 armor from the Bat Cave raid. This is definitely more challenging, and you won't stand much of a chance without the shiniest of the shiny gear on your shoulders.