Marvel Heroes Week 2 Review

Being I dabble in playing marvel heroes when I have time that means my marvel heroes play time is on the weekend.  In week two I have noticed a few things I would like to see changed.  As I mentioned in the initial review the game has potential but needs some work.  Now in week two I get down to some of the things I think need work.

End Game: Dungeons

There needs to be something else to do.  Maybe there is and I have not found it yet but spamming instanced content to continue leveling is not my idea of fun.  More so when doing all the dungeons available at the avengers tower I never once got a full group.  Did the first few with four and took me hours, not kidding, hours, trying to get a modok group.  I would join, be alone, kill some trash, leave.  I did this over and over at least 7 times before I got lucky and had a group with 2 other people in it.

We started with one standing at the entrance doing nothing and just the two of us clearing trash.  We got to doctor octopus and preceded to get our asses handed to us.  We zerged it until we downed it.  Sometimes I think it would have been easier solo than it was with 2 people.  The third person had dropped group just before that point.  We continued along until modok and the other person left.  I tried to solo it but couldn't so I gave up and had to start at the beginning again. 

Four more attempts to join for a group found me solo.  I did not even waste my time clearing trash because it was not worth the effort.  Not like anything would ever drop that was decent for me anyway.  I took some time off and did mad group 1.  I joined and was solo again.  There is no auto grouping for this one, so I had no choice, no one wanted to join a group so it was do it solo or do not do it at all.

The worst part of this is that you need to do this before you can do the challenge ones which is where you are supposed to do all your leveling.  Really, this is how we are supposed to level?  You have got to be kidding me.  More on that later.

I managed to take my sweet ass time and solo two of the four zones in mad 1 at 27.  Not really all that easy with DD as he does not seen to have the greatest of AoEs but he does have excellent mobility and I used that to my advantage.  With the more knowledge I have now I am sure I could have actually done all 4 myself if I tried a second time.  Not sure if I would have got the boss.  A few more tries at getting a modok group that ended in me being alone and I finally saw someone asking for a group for mad 1 and joined him.  It was just he and I but he was relentless trying to get a group spamming chat and after about 45 minutes we had a full group with a level 33 involved as well.  So we did mad 1.

I got myself a modok group shorty after that, was only 4 of us, two left on modok and me as DD with another DD two manned it.  At least I got it done, that is all that mattered.  We switched between add duty and boss duty as if we were talking to each other on vent even if we were not.  We melded well together in play style and we both seemed to adapt to what the other was doing making it easy, even if long, fight for a 28 and 26.

I found a doom group on my first try and was lucky enough to get into a group with 2 40s in it.  Which means I really did not need to do a great deal with it.  I just came along for the ride.  Easy peasy when you don't have to do all the heavy lifting.

I did a couple of mad 1 challenges and got to level 30, there is some good experience to be had there.  But looking at it and knowing this is the content I need to grind to get to max level immediately made it less appealing.  Timed groups I need to wait for and can miss is not really fun.  Once I waited for the countdown to reach zero and instantly it was back at 15 minutes again so I having to wait again also was a huge turn off.

So suggestions here: 

Have the auto group function work for mad 1 also.  Have the daily dungeons scale, even mad 1 scale.  I should not need to try to enter something a dozen times to find a group.  If I am solo, make it for the solo player based on class.  It would just be better design that way.  Better than me wasting hours to try and get a group.  And the mad challenge thing needs to be more come as you are.  You know, a constant thing where you come and go as you please.  This waiting 15 minutes and you can still miss it in a matter of 1 second is not going to cut it, even more so if this is how I am supposed to level.

End Game: PvP

I joined red team.  I am DD, he wears red, seemed appropriate right.  Doesn't make a difference what team I was on or what color I was wearing, death would be all I would ever know.  Not because of my lack of PvP skill or anything but because what prayer do I have when I am 28 and everyone else in there was at least 44.  I saw maybe one or two people in their 30s and I tried to fight them and still lost but at least I lasted a while and could put a little hurting on them but more often than not I would run into the fray and die instantly to some level 50+ spamming an AoE that one shot me.

So suggestions here:

Brackets.  No really.  I would not mind dying if I could at least have a chance.  If I knew it was something I was doing wrong I could get better but when I can not even get in range of someone because their AoE one shots me it loses all its fun.  I attempted to find someone on the other teams my level and kept going in and dieing and just quit.  I won't be going back until I am max level now and I doubt I will then either, the bad taste is already in my mouth for PvP in marvel heroes.  Brackets could have changed that.

End Game: Leveling

Unlike WoW end game here end game is when story mode ends.  It could end between 25-30 for most people when they beat doom on quest mode.  Level cap is 60.  So you have to level as part of the end game.  I have no issues with that.  I like to level but am not really interested in it as they have it now.  Spamming challenges is not exactly my idea of fun.  They need to have new zones with higher mobs that you can just walk into.  Like the open world zones when leveling but for higher levels.  So I can pop in and grind at will when I want to.  Now that would be a lot more fun then waiting for the queue time for this all day long.  Is there an area like that I have not found yet?  Sure hope so.

So suggestions here:

Add some non instanced option to grind.  It is pretty sad that once you finish the story your entire life is spent in instances.  We need a world to be out in or it is not really an MMO no matter how many instances you give us.  Just because there are lots of people you might meet in queue nothing will ever have a real MMO feeling than seeing people out in the world.  People you meet in instances are just NPCs really.  At least that is how I always felt about them.  They are not people.  People are the ones you meet walking around and there is no place to walk around here.  More world zones that are level appropriate are needed.

Moving along...

So I ditched DD, nothing really interesting about the end game, at least nothing I would want to do.  I did get the fabled cow thing from my card however, so as rare as that is supposed to be I guess it was a good take.  I was just not going to sit and wait for groups to not get any gear.  I think I've had enough of that with wow.  No thank you.  This goes back to the outdoor world thing.  At least there I can grind when I want and how I want so not getting any drops is something I can deal with.  But when I do organized group content I kind of expect to sometimes get something I can use.  Three mad 1 challenges and not one thing I could even equip dropped.  Hey, at least I put the other stuff in my over stuffed to begin with banks so I have it if and when I can make that character.

Starting Over:

I started over on my third character.  My second, the thing, had no quests because I did not want to reset quests when I started him as I had not finished them on DD yet.  This is a really horrible idea.  Every character should have their own quest line.  That just goes without saying, how could they not do that.   It is a glaring oversight by the designers in my opinion unless I read something wrong.  It seems like the quest progression is tied to me.  Not to my characters.  If that is indeed the case it needs to be fixed.

I started a third character now and when asked to reset my quest progression I did some online research and found that if I reached end game and reset I would still be allowed to do end game on the character that reached it.  So I reset my quest progression and my new character could start from the beginning with the quests.  Now that was nice.

I really do not think it would have been fun grinding and grinding only to level.  Quests might not offer much but it works nicely as a guide on where to move to next and I like that.

So suggestion here: 

They need to add individual character progression.  So you can be at different stages of the quests on different characters and not just have them all be one bunch collected to do the same quest line.

Overall:

Second week of play was not as enjoyable as the first.  The lack of anything to do end game could very well put the nail in the coffin of this game for me once I am done leveling my other characters.  Once you are done leveling through the quests there really doesn't seem to be anything worth doing. 

They need a few world zones for leveling past 30 and not just instanced crap.  Something you can do without a group.  And being they really require groups for everything, having mad 1 part of auto grouping would be nice because you can't do anything until you do that and without a group maker, even on the weekend when the game was packed, trying to assemble a group for it was near impossible.

I've still got thing and scarlet witch to level and I might even buy another if the mood strikes me to do so.  But at the moment I am not exactly sure this is a game I would want to support to much with money as it is not worth it.

I can not see how you released a PvP system, even if it only beta, with no brackets.  I can not see how you release a game where each character does not have their own quest progression.  I can not see how you release a game with no way to level end game outside of instanced content and not in the open world like it should be for anything that wants to call itself an MMO.

As I said after week one, I like the game and for a free to play game it is a great time waster, but if it really wants to be more than something that people play for a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks and then forget about it, they need to address some of the glaring issues with the game, like the ones I mentioned.

End note:

Another change I would like to see made is the dungeon kick function.  Three times yesterday I was kicked.  Twice before my loading screen even put me in the instance I was kicked, and the third time it was three level 10s that kicked me as soon as I zoned in and said, we don't want anyone else with us.

I am all fine and dandy with those three wanting to play together and not wanting me there.  I'll just zone in again and get another group.  I don't know why the other two kicked me because I was kicked the second I zoned in.  My screen had not even loaded the dungeon yet, that was how fast I was kicked, we are talking like in less than the 5 seconds it takes to load a screen.

What my issue with the kick function is is that it places you back at your starting zone for the quest chapter you are on.  Now I need to fight the whole fucking way back there.  I do not mind if someone does not want me in their group.  Ask me to leave and I will walk out.  Kicking me puts me roughly 15 minutes away from where I need to be best case scenario. Just made me yell, you mother fuckers, at my screen.  If I knew who kicked me I would purposely follow them around and try to get groups with them just to kick them so they have to travel the long way back to where they were too.  That is uncalled for and is rude.  You can solo most leveling dungeons on any class.  Just let someone tag along.  I had a few level 4s in one I was doing at 12 and I just soloed it, who cares that they were a low level, drag them along, this is supposed to be an MMO isn't it?  It is not like wow where a certain level of ability is required even if minimal.  You can zerg this content meaning if you are willing to spend the time you can basically solo anything.  There is no reason to ever kick anyone.

So suggestion here:

When someone is kicked put them at the gate of where they were kicked from.  NOT back at their starting zone.  Seriously, how could they even think that is a reasonable kick system.  Making the person that did nothing wrong except not be part of whatever clique that group was part of run all the way back to the entrance.

One of those two times I was kicked and did not know why it took me over an hour to make it back to the gate.  And guess what, I was the only person in there and I soloed it.  It is not like I was asking for a carry.  I just wanted to do my quest.  I should have been put back at the entrance when I was kicked.  Plain and simple.  If there is one thing I can rage about, as you saw I did a bit up there, this is it.  The most horrible design flaw I have run into so far in this game and one of the few rare times I actually cursed like a sailor at my screen.  It is griefing in the most extreme way. Ha ha, lets make this poor smuck have to work his way all the way back here.  Yeah, not a good design at all.  Have kicked people go out to the gate of the instance they were kicked from.  That is the only reasonable solution.

In the end, we are not playing a finished product, we are playing a public beta.  There are too many issues for it to be considered a finished product.  The fact that the actual game ends before you are even half way to level cap kind of proves this was not really a finished release.  Lets hope the patches come fast and they fix things sooner than later.

Review: Marvel Heroes

I started playing Marvel Heroes this weekend and to say it plays like Diablo 3 would be an understatement.  It does not play like Diablo 3, it is Diablo 3.  I am actually quite surprised that Blizzard does not have a team of lawyers already on their back about it.  But that is not saying Marvel Heroes is bad because it isn't.  Diablo 3 was a hit and was enjoyable and Marvel Heroes has the potential to be as well.

I have not hit max level and don't expect to for quite some time.  There is really no need to.  The game is over by the time you reach level 30 even if you over level yourself through it.  You can finish the storyline comfortably between level 22-25 without much of an issue.  The level cap is 60 but the post story line game is nothing but a grind game.  Grinding for gear and drops.

There are plenty of characters you can play as, my starting character is Daredevil.  During the course of the story line you will get another hero drop after finishing the starting solo quests and a second after finishing the story line.  The heroes you get as quest rewards will always be one of the starter free choices.

The starter characters are just fine and so is the rest of the game as a free to play game.  I can't see anything you would actually feel the need to spend real money on unless you are dead set on playing one of the characters that are not part of the starting choices.  If you are like me however you might want some extra storage space and that is the only thing that actually makes me consider spending a little cash.

If you want to play one of the other classes you can get them as random world drops.  To use the word random might give the impression they are easy to get if you grind enough and I do not want to give off that impression.  I've gotten one random world drop but from looking around it would seem I was one of the rare lucky ones.  The drops do not come frequently so finding a character you want to play might take time.  As my luck has it from other games it carries to this one.  My one character find was the thing.  The thing was also the free character I was given as a quest reward.  Oh well, so I have doubles, but it is worth saving them.  Or so I have heard, so it is in my storage.  I hope to find out what having 2 of the same characters can do for me later on.

As I said the game is Diablo 3 but it is Diablo 3 with a twist of MMO added in for good measure.  There will be little zones off the world map you can enter that will be just for you.  Not all of them are there all the time, just like in Diablo 3.  They could have elite mobs or champion mobs, just like Diablo 3.  When out in the world map however, unlike Diablo 3, everyone is there with you.

One interesting addition to the game with the MMO aspect is that there are event bosses like Venom or Rhino attacking and you need to group up with everyone together to get them down.  I ran into Rhino spawning the other day and was the only one there.  Needless to say it was quite the adventure.  I survived, with some heavy movement tactics, until more could come to join me fighting him.  From that I noticed that these boss mobs and event mobs are actually easier when you are alone.  At least for me.

With all the graphics it becomes near impossible to see the event boss you are supposed to be attacking.  While I do admit it is kind of fun doing the fight with what seems like 100s of people all attacking the same mob the visuals are a bit to visual and really cloud your view.  Even with the even mobs being slightly larger than a standard mob when there are so many people around and so many visual effects going on you still can not see them.

When the fight is over loot drops just like Diablo 3.  However, unlike Diablo 3 it seems (I can not be 100% sure) that the loot that drops is a free for all.  While defeating Venom will assure everyone can get a Venom metal the gear he drops seems to be on a first come first serve basis.  I could swear I have seen things pop on my screen and disappear before I picked it up.  Oh well, chalk this one up to something I can say I dislike about the game.  A free for all on loot that drops does not seem to support the idea that people should work together.

In dungeons, which you will encounter when leveling, I do not believe the loot system is the same.  I think what drops is yours.  I have even tested it as best I could by seeing something good drop and not grabbing it and noticing no one else did whereas if I saw something good drop on an event boss and did not pick it up it would disappear in a matter of seconds.  If you drop something however, someone else can pick it up.

That seems to be the only way to trade in game at the moment.  There is no auction house.  There is no trade function. There is no mail system.  Dropping it on the floor for someone else to pick up seems to be the only way to trade, so if you work a trade with someone make sure you are in an area alone when you trade because anyone that walks by can grab it.

The dungeons seem to be an auto grouping system when doing them.  I've been put in full groups, half groups, groups with people that were not even in the dungeon.  For the most part it seems to work well but they probably need to work on it a little more.  One dungeon I did I was the only one in it.  I am guessing that mean no one else was joining it when I was.  I ended up running the whole thing myself, albeit slowly, and defeating the last boss, juggernaut in this case, solo.  It took a fair deal of time as I was a melee and he hits like a truck, but his moves are all telegrapher and with a little bit of timing and a lot of running, I was able to only attack him when he was in charge mode from behind and then get away.  Like I said, solo it is a lot easier for me to see the visuals of what he is going to do.  With a group I most likely would have went splat.  All those effects do seem to cover off the baddies ground effects.

From that experience it showed me that this game can be enjoyed on a solo level or a group level.  Even out in the world all mobs are shared mobs.  So you will see people helping you as they pass by and you can help them as you pass by.  You will both be able to get the experience from them.

The one odd thing I found about the game is one of my favorites.  I love breaking everything.  Did it in Diablo and do it here.  I destroy everything everywhere I go.  But we are supposed to be playing heroes.  Shouldn't we be going around protecting people and keeping property safe instead of blocking up cars and breaking into offices and destroying all the furniture.  Kind of add that I attack four guys just standing around talking because they are the bad guys yet I just came from beating on 6 cars until they blew up and took a bunch of machines with them.  Who actually is the bad guy here?

I can see myself playing this game from time to time.  I can also see myself spending a few dollar real money to get some more bag space.  They really do not give enough to the free user in my opinion.  But over all the game still has a lot of growing to do.

It feels it was released in an unfinished state.  Content ends at 25-30.  Even if there are daily dungeons and other things to do after that it is just to grind looting for gear and character drops.  There is just not enough in the game to support going from 30 to the level cap of 60 at the moment but I feel this game has a great deal of room to grow.

Final Grade:  B-

I like the Diablo 3 game play for a fun, just to pass the time, sort of game.  It loses points for being unfinished but gets bonus points for having so many character options, even if you might need to buy them to get them at some point.  Based on an interview, they plan to be adding new stuff to it often.  Perhaps that will be the missing content and it can move up to a solid B.  Only time will tell.

I say, if you have some free time and are looking for some brainless fun.  Go for it.  Just don't be surprised when you are fighting an event boss as Daredevil and there are 25 other Daredevils there and with all that moving around you forget which one of them is you.  Yeah, happened to me.