Marvel Heroes Bulletin 3 (& some Marvel Avengers Alliance)

Attention heroes & SHIELD agents! I'm back with loads of Marvel Heroes updates & a bit of Marvel Avengers Alliance as well, so read on...Also, MH fans can join the group we have going for our very own CBNAH MH guild here.

Marvel Heroes

Patch 2.02 is out & Gambit is in the house, mes amis!

Patch 2.02 Highlights (complete patch notes here)
-Gambit! You can now play as the Ragin' Cajun! With Gambit busy saving all the damsels in distress, Domino will now be in charge of selling Fortune cards at the hubs. Check out his trailer below:


-Minor changes to Scarlet Witch, Squirrel Girl & Thor.
-Once you reach L15 you'll now get free 250G as the reward (once per account, retroactive for existing players)!
-New Item Slot: Pets- Equip your favorite cosmetic pet or reusable holo vendor on your heroes!
-PVP Ring Upgrades- The Signets of Odin, Sif, Frigga & Fandral have been slightly buffed.
-More uniques to find, particularly for heroes with no unique in certain gear slots!

-Noir costume for Luke Cage now available in the in-game store for 950G.
-LOADS of improvements made to summoned allies.
-Work continues to optimize the currently laggy game performance. Additional details here.

Asgard
-The Asgard event has been completed & the Bifrost Bridge has been unlocked, allowing you to head into Odin's Palace in Asgard. The palace is the new MH hub & it looks splendid.
-The appropriate rewards you were meant to get for participating in the Asgard event will be automatically delivered after the next patch at the most by early December.
-Once in the palace you first need to eliminate all the Dark Elves there & finally defeat Kurse.
-After that you unlock...


PVP: Fire & Ice
-This is now in open beta stage & will undergo about 6 weeks of fine tuning. Read up on the upcoming updates to PVP here & here.
-Check the 2.02 patch notes for to see the many changes that have already been implemented.
-If you haven't got a chance to check out PVP yet, you can watch the PVP livestream Gazillion held on Twitch recently.

Missions & zones
-They are working on a new target dummy in the Training Room to simulate stage 2 Doom (it will die & respawn so you can test your time to kill) & a target dummy that shoots a rifle at you to test your defensive abilities.
-The rock troll that Thor smashed at the start of The Dark World is coming soon!
-Working on a Doop level for X-Defense.

Pricing changes
The man himself, Gazillion CEO David Brevik, revealed some important pricing info:

-They are getting rid of the 1100G cost tier for heroes. All heroes at that tier currently will move to 900G. So Gambit costs 900G or 400 eternity splinters.

-They are also moving the 1450G hero level down to 1350G, resulting in 3 simple levels of 450, 900 and 1350G.
-There'll be a no-questions-asked price protection for anyone who bought the hero within the past week.

Various ETAs
*Kingpin terminal- early December
*Next Asgard chapter 10 (with Loki boss fight)- December
*Ms. Marvel DPS review- December 19 (All heroes are getting a DPS review in December)
*Expanded roles for vendors- December & January
*Captain America's rework- January
*Bronx Zoo- early 2014
*Raid zone- Q1 2014 release

Iridium Triple Boost Giveaway!
-Guys this DOES work, but I don't know for how much longer. Just follow the instructions in this link & voila! 3 units of Iridium boosts that can help you increase your active hero's chance of finding rare items, special items & XP by 50% for 2 hours each!

Marvel Avengers Alliance
Nothing much on this front except that the Unstoppable lockboxes for Juggernaut are on sale for 9 more days. I've bought 30 boxes for myself & got 2 more covers for him. 2 more left to get. :c

Anyways, that's all for now. MH fans watch out for my next post- LOADS of updates from Doomsaw himself (including an update on the Mac version)! So until then, keep things heroic!

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Marvel Heroes Bulletin 2 (& some Marvel Avengers Alliance updates)

Attention heroes & SHIELD agents! I'm back with some Marvel Heroes AND Marvel Avengers Alliance news, so keep reading...Also, all you regular MH players out there can join my Marvel Heroes group here & join in our discussions!

Marvel Heroes
The first Asgard patch 2.0 is finally live in Marvel Heroes! Below I've mentioned the highlights from the patch notes, along with the highlights from the patch 2.01 notes. Check out the trailer for patch 2.0!


New Chapter 9: Norway

-Travel to the frozen Fjords of Norway and battle Frost Giants, Dark Elves and more.
-In a server-wide event of approximately 2 weeks, help Reed Richards learn how & why these other-worldly enemies are invading Earth by donating items that have been exposed to the Cosmic Cube's energy.
-Doing so will help unlock a brand new hub: Odin's Palace.
-Track the progress of this event & see what rank you stand at here (ranks are only of the top 500).
-Over the next 4 months, new areas of Asgard will become available, including a raid zone, PVP & Siege challenge.

^Now, once you defeat Doctor Doom, Chapter 9 opens up, taking you to Norway where you get to meet Dum Dum Dugan.

Loki
-Loki is now part of Marvel Heroes!
-Try & figure out why he is working with the heroes to defeat Doctor Doom.
-More Loki deats here & check out his trailer below:


Hero changes
-New starter hero lineup to choose from: Colossus, Human Torch, Hawkeye, Storm, Punisher, Luke Cage, Captain America, Black Widow & Black Panther.
-The hero stat page (Strength, Durability, etc.) now includes two extra points. These however, currently give very little return as a stat system revamp is planned in the future.
-Colossus Rework:
*Colossus is now fortified with 6 new powers including a new Ultimate ability (Heavy Metal), a new Signature Power (Colossal Roar) & the devastating Siberian Express!
*You can summon his sister Magik with his Bond of Bloodline skill.
*His previous Ultimate power (Fastball Special) is now a normal power.
-These heroes have had some minor changes: Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Human Torch, Jean Grey, Luke Cage, Punisher, Rocket Raccoon, Squirrel Girl, Spiderman, Storm & Thor.

Enemy changes
-Many new enemy types such as Frost Giant Ice Shaper, Shamans, Dark Elf Assassins, Fae Callers & more!
-Doop will now only flee once attacked or approached (preventing him from disappearing before you see him). Attack him quickly, he’s very slippery.

^The glorious new Asgard login screen!

Item changes
-Covered most of this in my last MH bulletin.
-Medkits now stack to 50.

Costumes
-Asgard Storm & ENHANCED Beta Ray Bill costumes now available in-game for 950G & 1950G respectively.

UI changes
-Waypoints now allow players to visit any story waypoint, terminal, or challenge mode, & contains a fully-featured map of the Marvel Universe (with each location marked clearly).
-New Asgardian login screen

Patch 2.01
-Minor changes made to: Colossus, Emma Frost, Human Torch, Loki, Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Rocket Raccoon & Scarlet Witch.
-Unbind relics recipe is now available with your crafter. Requires: 1 Unstable Molecule, 1 Matrix of Unbinding, 300k credits & 3 pure elements. It can unbind any size stack of relics. (In a future patch, the cost will be temporarily reduced to allow players to unbind & change the relics they have on their heroes.)
-Colossus' Age of Apocalypse costume & Scarlet Witch's Ultimate costume are now available in the in-game store both for 950Gs each.

-Enemy health in certain regions has been adjusted downwards.

-Doop’s health has been reduced.
-Midtown Patrol now has a waypoint.
-In X-Defense, X-Students have been increased. If left completely undefended from the champion (blue) attackers at Wave 10, the X-Students will generally be captured in about a minute.

Marvel: Avengers Alliance 
Check out the complete Patch notes here.

PVP changes
-PVP Season 12 has begun with Domino being the PVP hero to win!

-A new 6th page is now available for research to add to your PVP armory bonus. It takes 2 days so start it now if you haven't already!
-Each armory page is now split down the middle- the left side adds offense & defense bonuses to your attacking team & the right side adds them to your defending team.
-There's an "Unsocket All" button at the bottom of the armory bonus page- For a modest price you can unsocket all  your armory items at once, enabling you to get back socketed items & resocket them as you see fit.

New Lockboxes
-Fanged lockboxes for Sabretooth can now be won from your first 5 bonus PVP fights as well as from covert PVP tasks.

So get cracking on PVP & Asgard! Until next time, keep things heroic!

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My Thor: The Dark World Spoiler-free Review

When it was announced that Kenneth Branagh wouldn't be back to direct the Thor sequel I was distraught. But does director Alan Taylor's Thor: The Dark World (Thor 2 hereon) manage to do justice to it's predecessor?

This time Thor & the Asgardians face a new threat in the form of Malekith & his army of Dark Elves. Loki is imprisoned in the Asgardian prison for the havoc he caused in The Avengers, yet Thor will be forced to put his trust in his conniving step brother in order to end the menace of Malekith once & for all. Meanwhile his heart pines for Jane Foster who he has now been away from for two years due to the Bifrost Bridge being destroyed in Thor.

There's a reason why most fans' fears were alleviated on knowing that Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor would be at the helm for this film- you see the entire GoT influence in all the Asgard scenes & the family dynamics. This is what makes the film an interesting watch.

Chris Hemsworth, as he has before, perfectly embodies Thor not just in stature but also his acting & especially his dialogue delivery which really struck me in some scenes. He was truly born to play this part.



Tom Hiddleston's Loki is awesome as always. Almost every line of his manages to get a smile from you, if not a laugh & Hiddleston is just perfect for the role, having the ability to make a villainous character so loved that it's popularity even outshines that of the title character. It was good to see Natalie Portman's Jane help out in the end in her own way rather than just run here & there or wait in the sidelines.

I think Sif had more to do in Thor but Jaimie Alexander competently play the part of the tough female warrior yearning for Thor's attention. Anthony Hopkins as Odin is great as always, but thank God Rene Russo at least had something to do in this film as Frigga & have some significance! Idris Elba as Heimdall is also great to watch & to listen to his dialogue delivery as well.
Christopher Eccleston as the lead villain Malekith is menacing & he plays his part well but as a villain on the whole the character felt very forgettable- no fault of Eccleston, it's just that we've seen better villains in other Marvel movies.

Character interactions are a real joy to watch here- the amusing banter between Thor & Loki, the always-funny Darcy bringing the much-needed comedic relief & this time, with a new character Ian Boothby to join the fun. Even Jane Foster is likeable in this film! She manages to bring quite a few laughs in scenes with other characters where you'd expect it to be all serious. Also appreciable to see characters like Frigga & Heimdall, that weren't given much importance in Thor, have their own chance to shine here. My only disappointment in this regard is that the Warriors Three were more like the Warriors Free- the trio is hardly ever together in the film for much time & Hogun is practically discarded away for the entire movie.

The action is really good right from the beginning with the introduction of Thor, Sif & the Warriors Three. A main highlight for me would be an aerial action sequence which definitely has a very Star Wars vibe to it. The climactic battle could have been forgettable if not for the converging realms that add another dimension (see what I did there?) to the whole sequence that not only make it very unique & engrossing to watch but also amusing. It was GREAT seeing Frigga & Heimdall get a piece of the action, but next time it would be nice for Jane to kick at least some ass. Don't go Pepper Potts crazy a la Iron Man 3 but don't just make her a nerdy damsel in distress either.

The Visual Effects. Splendid job on Asgard, though it felt a bit repetitive of Thor. This time the VFX to watch was on Kurse, Malekith's right hand monster & all the large airships (don't feel like calling them spaceships or aircrafts) used by the Dark Elves. Overall great job on the effects- they didn't take away or distract from the story but helped make the surreal seem more real.

What about those gorgeous costumes! Thor's costume doesn't look much different from his Thor or Avengers garb, but then again, he hasn't really had a wide range of costumes in the comics either. Maybe for the next film the costume department could weave their magic & do something with his Marvel NOW! costume so that it looks different but less underwhelming than his already awesome-looking movie costume.
All the Asgardian finery just looks brilliant as always, standouts for me being the costumes for Heimdall, Loki (though it's simply his Avengers costume), Sif & Frigga (& then Jane's Asgardian garb that looks borrowed from Frigga). Special mention for the costume adaptations of Malekith & Kurse because the looks of their comic book counterparts would have no place in this film.

Though I wouldn't call Thor: The Dark World "awesome", it's definitely entertaining & fun to watch. It manages to satisfy all the nerdy needs that may have been left wanting more with Thor: 80% of Thor 2 takes place in Asgard or the other realms besides Midgard (Earth), characters that were blink-&-miss in Thor get some good action here, Jane Foster is not annoying & an awesome cameo that's a joy to watch! You should definitely catch it in the theater, especially if you're a Marvel or Marvel movie fan. I'd rate this film a 7/10.


The 3D didn't add anything much to it though, so you could catch the 2D version & enjoy it all the same. AND don't forget to stay right till the very end of the film (do you Marvel fans even need to be told this anymore?) for the mid AND end credits scenes! The end-credits scene has a neat ending & is hilarious as well!

So how did you like the film & what would you rate it? And what are you looking forward to in Thor 3? For me it's definitely Valkyrie, & Enchantress SO needs to be the lead villain for Thor 3 accompanied by her Executioner of course! 

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Marvel Heroes Bulletin 1

Hey there heroes! I'm back with LOADS of Marvel Heroes info, so do read on. Before I begin though- all you MH addicts can join the group for our Comic Book Nerds Are Hot MH guild & jump in our discussions here. Special thanks to Rebecca Miller & Oz for helping me with this post.

Patch 1.42
-Halloween costume sale is on where one costume for each hero has been put up in the in-game store at 20% off.

^All the costumes in the 2nd pic are currently on sale. Brood Wolverine & Frankencastle Punisher are on sale until Nov 8.
-Minor fixes to Luke Cage, Squirrel Girl, Spiderman & Human Torch
-Various changes to the Legendary Quests. Spawn rates of required enemies have been raised for various LQs. Additional Maggia have been added to Midtown Patrol. LQs now properly drop credits.
-ENHANCED Headpool pet & Captain America's Nomad costume are both available in the in-game store for Halloween until November 15.


New Heroes
-Loki will be the first playable reformed villain in MH with the Asgard patch 2.0! You can buy his presale hero pack at 10% off here.
*In-game cost: 900G or 400 splinters
*His movie traveling costume will be his default with his classic costume as his alt.

*His first skill tree will focus on his illusion powers. Illusions can only be maintained for a short time - continuously creating them is the key against powerful enemies. These illusions are projections of Loki & will react to commands he performs, synchronizing their attacks to hide who the true Loki is. Illusions are expendable & can be detonated with great force when Loki no longer needs them.

*Being part Frost Giant, sorcery & frost magic will be part of his second skill tree.  He'll channel ice & frost to hinder enemies. His mastery of magic lets him manipulate enemies, hindering their ability to fight, or even turning them against one another.
*Loki's third tree will allow him to be a sort of melee character. He'll even transform into a Frost Giant as his signature ability.

-Rogue & Magik have been confirmed.
-Next 5 heroes in the game will be: Gambit, Nightcrawler, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight & Doctor Strange. Gambit will be released in the third week of November.
-Ghost Rider will move on foot & make use of his chains, mace & a hellfire shotgun. He'll also use his motorcycle for quite a few skills.
*With one skill, Ghost Rider can rev up his motorcycle & let it fly off, crushing any enemies in its path.
*Penance Stare will be his signature ability and will serve as a high damage single target DPS attack.
*For his Ultimate ability, there are two options Gaz is considering: 1) Ghost Rider gets on his motorcycle & drives around the screen, destroying everything & leaving hellfire in his path.  2) He summons a hellfire version of his motorcycle & mind controls it while he fights.
-Both skills will be in Ghost Rider’s kit- they just need to decide which one to juice up for his Ultimate.

-X-23 will make her entrance in the second half of 2014. Her animation & modeling is done, but she doesn't have a design pass or VFX yet.
-Gambit will be for 600 splinters, Nightcrawler (& almost all others) for 400 & some simple ones in the future (X-23, Beast) will be for 200.
-Among the reformed villains joining in as playable heroes- Venom & Juggernaut are confirmed, Elektra is being considered but not yet confirmed.

-Silver Surfer may appear in the game by May or June 2014. He will be on his board for most moves.
-When War Machine gets added in the game, he won't be an enhanced costume for Iron Man but a separate hero.
-The Nova licensing situation has been resolved & he'll be on his way into the game asap. He'll be free to UP owners when released. (>)

Hero improvements
-Scarlet Witch review in last week of November.
-Cyclops rework is also happening. He won't have any summons.
-Sidekick slot being considered. "Like sidekick Jarvis, Aunt May, maybe some heroes with just a few powers like Kitty."  Bob Agent of Hydra is also being considered as a sidekick.
-Colossus will have Magik (<) & Kitty as summons after his rework. They promise he'll be faster & stronger.
-Captain America will have no summon but they said he won't need them when done.
-Punisher will have a Van move & it will either be his Signature or Ultimate Power.
-You'll be able to cast power cosmic by around May 2014.
-Storm will eventually hover like Human Torch currently does.
-Dual spec system will be added in.

Pets
-There are no plans to have pets pick up stuff at this time. Not 100% sure, but unlikely.
-Don't expect a Darkwing Duck pet.
-Pizza Dog is on the list as a pet.

New Costumes
-An Age of Apocalypse costume is coming soon. Not revealed for which hero.
-Carnage will be a costume for Venom when he becomes available.

Asgard
-Launching to coincide with Thor: The Dark World movie release.
-There'll be a new Asgardian login screen (>)
-This week's Patch 2.0 will be the first Asgard patch with Chapter 9 (followed by Chapters 10, 11 & 12 in December, January & February respectively).
-First patch will have an investigation of a mysterious situation in Norway, involving a game-wide event that supports SHIELD & the Fantastic Four's investigation of the situation (while stopping HYDRA from trying to do the same thing). This event should take approximately 2 weeks to complete & will open up access to Odin’s Palace as a new player hub.
-Norway is overrun with Frost Giants & Dark Elves & players need to help Reed Richards by gathering components for his research by defeating these creatures & tackling various other surprises.

-This event unlocks the Bifrost Bridge, which will grant players entry into Asgard, but before the story can continue, players will need to fight their way across the Bifrost Bridge & then clear out Asgard itself of the invading evil doers.
-Expect new motion comics for the Asgard content.

PVP
-The Fire & Ice PVP map will be located on the eastern side of Asgard on a island controlled by two warring Giant factions.
-It will pit players against each other in a 5 vs. 5 arrangement, rewarding players with XP, loot & new Asgardian Crowns of Valor.
-This PVP mode is currently on the test center.
-Once it goes live, it will be in live beta for approximately one month before they start leaderboards, but all PVP rewards will be awarded at 100% value.

Items

-New items will abound in the 4 chapters of Asgard, with 100+ new uniques (including the 10 player-designed uniques), 7 new relics (>) with a costly relic unbinding recipe in November, Legendary Items, StarkTech items, PVP rings, new medallions for the half-dozen new supervillians & new artifacts. These will roll out in the first patch & continue with each subsequent Asgard patch.
-Four artifact slots will be added in the Asgard UI
-The Professor X Team Insignia is completely built but there are animation problems with Xavier's wheelchair. This insignia will provide a  team aura & grants teammates a chance to summon Professor X (who will toss out massive psionic attacks) whenever they deal damage.
-3 more Captain America uniques in the pipeline. Aunt May's Cane unique is in next patch.
-Loki will be in chapter 2 of Asgard, he drops a specific unique & artifact when you defeat him.
-New Fortune Cards (Mark 2 & 3) will not drop in game, except maybe for Christmas.

-Legendary items (>):  have their own slot & a fully-leveled one unlocks 5 benefits. Every unlock takes about 2-3 levels of XP & they gain XP even when your hero is at L60. Legendaries will cost 500 300 Odin Marks from Asgard.

Misc
-The current selection of five free starter heroes will increase to ten.
-Splinter hero sales are never going to happen.
-Cosmic Doop coming soon. Doop fights back but drops a cosmic.
-Loads of UI elements are currently being worked on: gifting tech to buy stuff for others, crafting, waypoints (>), etc.
-Intelligence will be reworked to remove XP penalty/bonus & affect crit & spirit instead.
-You can max out Fighting, Strength, etc. very easily, so the cap will be increased by 2.
-They are looking at several attributes to be more useful at lower amounts & higher amounts & they are adding SHIFT X & BEYOND levels in Asgard to attributes.

Phew! That was a HUGE read, eh? So how pumped are you guys for all the new stuff that's gonna come into Marvel Heroes?? Post your views in the comments. Until next time, happy gaming & keep things heroic!

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