Okay, this is going to possibly have some holes since I am just speaking off the top of my head, but if MAA wants to hear some suggestions from fans regarding a PvP change here is something that I would like them to consider.
The PvP Season lasts 21+ days, there are many frustrating things, some fixable (like bugs) some not so easily addressed, such as the amount of offline/defensive losses. However, one of the most ridiculous and frustrating aspects is the amount of defensive battles and subsequent losses that take place on the last day and in the final hours. This incredibly ridiculous rush at the end completely negates the prior 20+ days of PvP.
Let me ask you, what season or event that lasts almost a month can be 100% won and lost in the last day by people who haven't even competed in the first 3 weeks. Literally, you can choose not to participate the entire time and come in and get a Vibranium or Adamantium spot. Meanwhile, someone who has been Adamantium and dedicated the entire season can suffer so many defensive losses that they lose their rewards all on the last day or in the last few hours alone. And to make matters worse, not everyone receives the same amount of offline battles. (At the very least address this).
There are those who say you cannot limit attacks or defenses, but certainly there must be a way to reward the dedicated players who break their backs all season long and do well mind you, winning most of their attacks. I don't know if there can be a hard cap on points won or lost, but there has to be some solution. Perhaps if there was a daily limit to battles, you would have to fight each and every day to win your let's say 10 attacks and those who take the time and effort to do so would have a better chance of maintaining a higher rating throughout without the threat of losing it all on the final day.
This would also help those who have to work on Monday or Tuesday and need to be in bed or whatever the case may be. The ending time is quite unfair to a lot of people all over the world and this would lessen the importance of that final day.
Another solution that came to my mind at one point was to have a blind ending. Just don't give an official time for the Season to end. End it abruptly at some point and vary the number of days and ending time. That will force someone to maintain their rating, although I'm sure this solution might end up being an unpopular one.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Marvel Avengers Alliance (MAA) Group Boss Blackheart and the Doombringer
I just wanted to share my experiences with Blackheart and the weapon/gadget Doombringer with everyone. First of all if you do not have the Doombringer, you can find it in Chapter 3: Mission 5 and it will appear in the roulette after you defeat the Epic Boss Dr. Doom. Many of you may wonder why you would want this gadget and I will get to that shortly, but I'm going to begin this entry by sharing the story of my first encounter with Blackheart...even though it is quite embarassing.
Now let me start by saying I am quite confident in my abilities in game and thought I try not to be overconfident it is easy to get that way sometimes, especially in PVE. So when I first saw Bruiser Blackheart (the Group Boss version) I thought let me just bring two of my favorite heavy hitters, Modern Blaster Thor and Blaster Iron Patriot. We will do a ton of damage and then let my allies finish off what little health he may have left. I didn't even bother to look at his passive abilities. He was a Bruiser, these are Blasters that I'm bringing, this is going to be a piece of cake, right? Boy was I wrong.
Soon after the fight began I found out that I should have read what this Bruiser Blackheart could do. He was hitting my heroes, putting up a Razor Shield, and then the worst thing happened, he summoned two minions that healed him for massive amounts. Here I was thinking I could drop an easy 50% off of this boss in one go with my Blasters and he ends up escaping with 98% health. My team was still alive, but there was nothing more I could do to Blackheart. He left with barely a scratch on him and I was feeling pretty stupid.
The next time I fought him I used Cyclops and one of my favorites, Captain Britain. I was able to put flanked on Blackheart and pretty quickly added all of the debuffs necessary for Curse of the Otherworld. At this point my team was attacking, doing a follow up attack, then they would proc an extra turn and hit two more times. Four attacks per character every turn and that's when I started doing 40% + damage before Blackheart would scurry away with his tail between his legs. Now this was more like it.
Then I saw that there was a way to defeat Blackheart in one fight, but once he started to escape you could not do any direct damage to him or he would disappear. So basically what someone came up with was to keep using the Doombringer to greatly reduce Blackheart's stats and greatly increase your agents stats. After a sufficient amount of stacks then the agent can unleash a super powerful attack on Blackheart and potentially finish him in one hit. I wanted to try this for myself so I set out to farm the Doombringer. It didn't take that many runs actually and I was luckily able to acquire it.
After I got the Doombringer I tried to use Rescue and Angel to keep my team alive while I applied the stacks. This would have worked, but I was facing the worst possible class for this method, Tactician Blackheart. The minions that this class summons constantly spam an attack which places soulfire on your agent thus removing your stat increase from the Doombringer. So after wasting quite some time, I fired an attack that did somewhere around 20,000 damage and Blackheart escaped with most of his life remaining.
It was at this point that I was determined to get a massive hit on Blackheart so I sought out a non-Tactician version on a friend's map. I chose to use Angel and Wonder Man. With Angel I used his level 9 to both heal and restore stamina to my agent when possible and I also used his level 2 to give extra turns to my agent for more Doombringer applications. I was able to do this by hitting only Blackheart's minions. That way Blackheart would not escape the battle. Wonder Man was simply there to protect and use his level 9 ability to regain health.
After about 33 stacks increasing my Agent's stats and decreasing Blackhearts, I fired the Golden Screaming Eagle, hitting the Group Boss for 790,521 damage. This was enough to finish him. So my research was pretty much complete and it is very possible to finish Blackheart in one battle and even possible to do over 1 million damage if you are patient enough to continue to apply Doombringer stacks (perhaps 50).
Now let me start by saying I am quite confident in my abilities in game and thought I try not to be overconfident it is easy to get that way sometimes, especially in PVE. So when I first saw Bruiser Blackheart (the Group Boss version) I thought let me just bring two of my favorite heavy hitters, Modern Blaster Thor and Blaster Iron Patriot. We will do a ton of damage and then let my allies finish off what little health he may have left. I didn't even bother to look at his passive abilities. He was a Bruiser, these are Blasters that I'm bringing, this is going to be a piece of cake, right? Boy was I wrong.
Soon after the fight began I found out that I should have read what this Bruiser Blackheart could do. He was hitting my heroes, putting up a Razor Shield, and then the worst thing happened, he summoned two minions that healed him for massive amounts. Here I was thinking I could drop an easy 50% off of this boss in one go with my Blasters and he ends up escaping with 98% health. My team was still alive, but there was nothing more I could do to Blackheart. He left with barely a scratch on him and I was feeling pretty stupid.
The next time I fought him I used Cyclops and one of my favorites, Captain Britain. I was able to put flanked on Blackheart and pretty quickly added all of the debuffs necessary for Curse of the Otherworld. At this point my team was attacking, doing a follow up attack, then they would proc an extra turn and hit two more times. Four attacks per character every turn and that's when I started doing 40% + damage before Blackheart would scurry away with his tail between his legs. Now this was more like it.
Then I saw that there was a way to defeat Blackheart in one fight, but once he started to escape you could not do any direct damage to him or he would disappear. So basically what someone came up with was to keep using the Doombringer to greatly reduce Blackheart's stats and greatly increase your agents stats. After a sufficient amount of stacks then the agent can unleash a super powerful attack on Blackheart and potentially finish him in one hit. I wanted to try this for myself so I set out to farm the Doombringer. It didn't take that many runs actually and I was luckily able to acquire it.
After I got the Doombringer I tried to use Rescue and Angel to keep my team alive while I applied the stacks. This would have worked, but I was facing the worst possible class for this method, Tactician Blackheart. The minions that this class summons constantly spam an attack which places soulfire on your agent thus removing your stat increase from the Doombringer. So after wasting quite some time, I fired an attack that did somewhere around 20,000 damage and Blackheart escaped with most of his life remaining.
It was at this point that I was determined to get a massive hit on Blackheart so I sought out a non-Tactician version on a friend's map. I chose to use Angel and Wonder Man. With Angel I used his level 9 to both heal and restore stamina to my agent when possible and I also used his level 2 to give extra turns to my agent for more Doombringer applications. I was able to do this by hitting only Blackheart's minions. That way Blackheart would not escape the battle. Wonder Man was simply there to protect and use his level 9 ability to regain health.
After about 33 stacks increasing my Agent's stats and decreasing Blackhearts, I fired the Golden Screaming Eagle, hitting the Group Boss for 790,521 damage. This was enough to finish him. So my research was pretty much complete and it is very possible to finish Blackheart in one battle and even possible to do over 1 million damage if you are patient enough to continue to apply Doombringer stacks (perhaps 50).
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Marvel Avengers Alliance
I just wanted to let everyone know that I am going to try to update this blog more often and will be focusing more on the game Marvel Avengers Alliance. I plan on doing character reviews, giving my thoughts and opinions on game updates, changes, items, you name it. I'm also going to post stories and learning experiences, including some of my failures in the game. I'm really hoping to improve this blog and maybe even gain some new fans/readers. If you love Marvel Avengers Alliance then I think you will enjoy this blog!
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Marvel Heroes Launch Date Revealed
The launch date for the free to play superhero based MMO Marvel Heroes has been announced. The game will officially launch on June 4th! However, if you purchase one of the founder packs you will gain early access, besides other cool in game unlockables such as alternate costumes. There are various levels of founder packs. Those who purchase the lowest level or Starter Pack will gain access to the game on June 2nd. The game will be accessible on May 31st for those who purchase a Premium Pack and Ultimate Pack buyers will receive access to the game a full week before it is officially released! That's right, Ultimate Pack founders can start playing May 28th.
It has also been announced that those founders who purchase or have purchased a Premium Pack will receive current closed beta access within 7 days. While the game is free to play, it is definitely worth checking out the founder packs. They have great deals and a number of incentives for early supporters of the game.
This blog will keep you updated on Marvel Heroes news as it continues to come out. There are also plans for reviews and discussions based on the game once we are able to get our hands on it either through the open beta testing phase or early game access, whichever one comes first. Please stay tuned for further news on what looks like one of the best superhero MMOs to date---Marvel Heroes!!
It has also been announced that those founders who purchase or have purchased a Premium Pack will receive current closed beta access within 7 days. While the game is free to play, it is definitely worth checking out the founder packs. They have great deals and a number of incentives for early supporters of the game.
This blog will keep you updated on Marvel Heroes news as it continues to come out. There are also plans for reviews and discussions based on the game once we are able to get our hands on it either through the open beta testing phase or early game access, whichever one comes first. Please stay tuned for further news on what looks like one of the best superhero MMOs to date---Marvel Heroes!!
Friday, March 15, 2013
Marvel Avengers Alliance, Marvel Heroes, and Marvel XP... Oh My!!
Is Marvel Comics consuming your lives like it is mine? I hope so. Marvel Avengers Alliance is one of the best Flash based/browser/social networking (whatever you want to call it) games on the net. The RPG aspects, constant upgrades, ever expanding stable of characters, and fairly consistent updates makes for a very addictive, yet very satisfying game. The PVE aspects include interesting storylines featured throughout various chapters and missions, not to mention my personal favorite---Special Operations Events. In Spec Ops there are three missions, each with special weapon drops and a list of tasks. When these tasks are completed, you are rewarded with a new character! For those interested in PVP, there are regular PVP tournaments. However, there are several issues. These include---but are not limited to---a very frustrating AI controlled defense configuration that will cost you a massive loss in rating and drop in the ranks every time you are away from the computer. This is especially true in the last few crucial days of the tournament, but there is a silver lining, there are a handful of cool rewards for those who can endure. The top .5% also get access to a new character a month before the general populace. All in all, the game is definitely worth checking out, especially if you are a fan of comics.
The next game that will surely dominate my online time is going to be Marvel Heroes. I bought the Hulk founder pack on Valentines Day because they offered Cyclops and Jean Grey as bonuses. Since I was going to be playing the game anyway, that seemed like as good a time as any to purchase a character pack. Now I'm just waiting to be able to play the game. I'm not quite sure when it is going to officially launch, but I look forward to playing an online MMO where I can play as my favorite Marvel Heroes. What doesn't sound amazing about that?
The last thing I want to address is Marvel XP. Marvel XP is an online 'portal' which tracks rewards across various Marvel games. Currently it tracks Marvel Avengers Alliance and (Marvel) Avengers Initiative and it is supposed to give you rewards for completing various tasks. Notice I say supposed to, that is because it does a horrendous job at keeping track of achievements. I haven't received credit for a lot of my Marvel Avengers Alliance achievements, even though they should be easy to verify. I also had to contact customer support about some of the achievement rewards I spent a lot of time trying to unlock. The infamous Free as a Bird achievement for example. That specific achievement exists in Avengers Initiative, but it unlocks an awesome character in Avengers Alliance---Mockingbird. Customer support ending up unlocking her for me and it worked out, but I waited nearly a month for it to unlock before I contacted support. Anyways, I just wanted to give some thoughts on Marvel's domination of my current gaming habits and also vent my frustration for what could/should be a great achievement tracker and reward system, Marvel XP. Please fix it! Until next time, Make mine Marvel.
The next game that will surely dominate my online time is going to be Marvel Heroes. I bought the Hulk founder pack on Valentines Day because they offered Cyclops and Jean Grey as bonuses. Since I was going to be playing the game anyway, that seemed like as good a time as any to purchase a character pack. Now I'm just waiting to be able to play the game. I'm not quite sure when it is going to officially launch, but I look forward to playing an online MMO where I can play as my favorite Marvel Heroes. What doesn't sound amazing about that?
The last thing I want to address is Marvel XP. Marvel XP is an online 'portal' which tracks rewards across various Marvel games. Currently it tracks Marvel Avengers Alliance and (Marvel) Avengers Initiative and it is supposed to give you rewards for completing various tasks. Notice I say supposed to, that is because it does a horrendous job at keeping track of achievements. I haven't received credit for a lot of my Marvel Avengers Alliance achievements, even though they should be easy to verify. I also had to contact customer support about some of the achievement rewards I spent a lot of time trying to unlock. The infamous Free as a Bird achievement for example. That specific achievement exists in Avengers Initiative, but it unlocks an awesome character in Avengers Alliance---Mockingbird. Customer support ending up unlocking her for me and it worked out, but I waited nearly a month for it to unlock before I contacted support. Anyways, I just wanted to give some thoughts on Marvel's domination of my current gaming habits and also vent my frustration for what could/should be a great achievement tracker and reward system, Marvel XP. Please fix it! Until next time, Make mine Marvel.
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