Xcite! The Marvel Avengers Alliance Spec Ops #3 Diary!

So by now you MAA addicts out there might already know that the Spec Ops #3 (SO3) FINALLY kicked off on Friday, & of course, I was all over it! Here I'm serving you guys loads of images, info & tips  from ONLY the Spec Ops #3 that's been released in the Marvel Avengers Alliance game. For other updates (like new X-hero releases) check this post.

SPEC OPS #3: Avengers vs X-Men

In keeping with the current (almost ending) Marvel comics event of Avengers vs X-Men, Playdom has released this clever Spec Ops that revolves around AvX! The ony difference here is that because Playdom didn't have rights to use Namor in the game he is not the fifth member of the Phoenix 5 (yay!). Instead we got Jean Grey aka Phoenix donning a sexy new P5 outfit herself (right>)! The hero reward of the Spec Ops #3 (SO3) is Colossus' sister, Illyana Rasputin aka Magik- Ruler of Limbo.

HIGHLIGHTS:
*Task-based- Like SO2, SO3 is also task based! Finish the 25 tasks (< my current task progress) & Magik will be yours! Then you can always replay the missions in order to stand a chance to win the Boss weapons OR if you simply just want to 4 & 5 star missions so that you can earn the gold & CPs respectively.
 
*Unstable ISO start-off amount- In SO2 you were given a free bonus of 440 uISOs so that you could start playing the SO immediately. This time, it's a whopping 550! Perhaps this is because of the Phoenix 5, but who cares? I know NO MAAers will ever be disappointed with this!

*Plenty of Boss weapons to win- There's a different weapon that you stand a chance to win if you choose to side either team in a particular mission. So it's a total of 8 weapons to be won!

*Cool AvX costumes- I think these uniforms (right>) are gonna work just like how the movie costumes made the Avengers awesome! Phoenix, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus & Magik all have a Phoenix fragment embedded in the AvX costume that grants health regeneration & extra damage. I can't wait till they're made available for purchase with CP but I dread the amount of CP we'll have to shell out. AND I just hope they'll not be limited edition!

*Choose your side- This is a pretty awesome idea from Playdom that will distinguish SO3 from all the SOs past & future! Before you begin any one of the missions, you are first asked (<left) each time if you want to fight alongside the Avengers or X-Men. Depending on your choice, certain heroes from the opposing team will not be available for battles or deploys. Also what's fun is that the bosses are members from the X-Men or the Avengers depending on what team you support in your run of that mission. This way you get to...


*Witness the AvX costumes in action- AND also fight with & against Magik as well! The AvX costumes haven't been released yet so it's great to see what exactly they're capable of via the Boss fights! Also at the end when you obtain Magik, her AvX duds will be her default costume!

 *Daily Bonus- Now you can stand a chance to win some truly amazing rewards from the daily bonus (<left) during the course of the SO3! Some of these rewards include: the Souldrainer (a new Phoenix-related weapon), 10 gold, 20 CPs & even upto 1000 uISOs! Yes- NO KIDDING!

*Gorgeous intro map- We all groaned at how lazily the maps were created for the SOs 1 & 2. SO1 had an old existing map turned to green, add lightning here, green mist there & ta-da! For SO2, use a blue tinted old map, add snowflakes & blue mist & voila! But this time the artists have outdone themselves- when I saw the map for mission 1 (right>) I was stunned! It was a completely new creation AND a stunning one at that! However the mission 2 map is the same old map with golden fire sparks drifting through yellow mist. -_- Mission 3 hasn't been unlocked for me yet but if it's as amazing as the mission 1 map I'll definitely update it out here!

*Dialogues- As always the dialogues in MAA never fail to delight & the SO3 is no different. I think this SO has some really long conversations but it never gets boring & if you have absolutely no clue about the entire AvX event this will definitely give you a good background. Here's some of my fave dialogues from the SO that I've come across so far.

^OMG yes! Beast finally shows his blue furry self as part of a research dialogue! I somehow feel this seems to allude to the fact that he may just be the next new addition to the MAA roster after Magik!

TIPS:
These are just a few quick tips that should help you be able to save (or gain) more uISOs & help you get through the SO easier. For the whole lowdown check out the MAA Forum!

*DO NOT do any deploys except for mission 3 that has the epic boss fight (against Iron Man/Phoenix). This way you manage to save & utilize those initial 550 uISOs for a much longer time period while simultaneously progressing on the tasks. Once you get Magik then you can do deploys & everything else as you please, depending on what boss weapons you have yet to acquire.


 *Continue playing story mode on the side- Especially useful when you are waiting on research, don't waste your uISOs by continuing to play the SO. Instead go back to story mode (or PvP for that matter) as you'll also get uISO drops out there!

*Deploy tasks need not be done within the SO alone. Carry out your deploys in story-mode missions & you'll be able to easily complete tasks #2 & 10, thus saving your precious uISOs.

<I thought using Kitty against the Emma Frost boss fight would be most fitting!



*Tasks that require you to use certain heroes in battles do not restrict you to just the SO battles. So at tasks #8 & 18 you can use the X-Men & the Avengers respectively in story-mode battles or even PvP!

*If you need to collect a certain amount of uISOs for a task, it can be completed by simply getting them from your daily gifts! This will help you complete Tasks #4 & 14 quickly.

*Apparently task #9 of defeating 10 Jotuns can also be completed in story-mode. However I'd advise you to complete the task in the SO itself as you also gotta 2 star mission 2 in task #17 anyway. 

*If you use gold to skip the research tasks the task does get skipped but you can still get to researching the upgradable weapon later. I woudn't advise you to spend your gold this way though, as there's a lot of time to acquire Magik & seriously there's no major hurry in my opinion unless you're really that impatient.


*If you got the Avengers movie costumes, choose to side the Avengers for most of your mission runs. They make the battles a breeze & help get your scores higher (thus, enabling you to spend minimum uISOs as you reach the Boss faster). I personally feel bad supporting the Avengers most of the time but an MAA player's gotta do what an MAA player's gotta do! :P 
Also imo the Boss weapon that you can win in mission 1 (right>) if you support the X-Men seemed less exciting than the one you could win if you choose the Avengers.

FINAL VERDICT

All in all the ideas were good, the inclusion of (one) new map was refreshing from the standard maps we have to see everyday. The Phoenix 5 costumes look hot & the Emma Frost & Colossus P5 costumes are awesome! And aftetr getting the P5 duds for Cyclops it's made me want to use him battles after AGES lol! 

^I was hell-bent on getting one of the P5 costumes for each of the P5 members- these were suggested to me by the Marvel Friends FB group members to be the best buys from the lot!

However the downside is those deceptive Daily "Bonuses". 2/9 items in it were pretty much useless- I used to immediately put in the Mystical Munitions & Bauxite Interference Helmets into my PVP armory bonus- that was seriously the only thing they were good for, at least for someone like me who's currently at level 177! And when you are constantly getting only those 2 items when you have a choose out of 9 items, it's pretty obvious that the dailies are rigged. It's basically just another way from PD to try & make it's loyal players cough up their cash by using 5 golds & retrying at the dailies. Trust me, in the 30 days that the SO3 was on I only once got 10 gold & max 20 uISOs here & there. Rest of the time, it simply was adding in new munitions & helmets into the PVP bonus.

Another downside is that besides the Captain America boss fight- ALL the other boss fights were pretty darn easy. Now we don't want them SO tough that we'd have to waste 20 CPs retrying at failed boss battles but then they could've been slightly more challenging...

With these points in mind, I give SO3 a 7/10.