Marvel Heroes Launched June 4th, 2013

Melbosa · June 05, 2013, 09:11:23 AM

Hey, so this FTP MMO launched yesterday and I have to tell you its damn fun. Plays like Diablo but seems somewhat better and more enjoyable, I would highly recommend it for any MMO or Marvel fan.

First off you can play most Marvel Characters you can think of, but that costs actual money. You can however play through the game with their starting character set and slowly unlock each character as well. The game lets you switch between them at will, but unfortunately you have to level each character separately. It does however allow you to reset the quests lines each time, so you can start at content your level.

Leveling a character is unique to each hero. The abilities and powers are definitely very unique in play for the most part. The Hulk and The Thing do both punch, but that is where their similarity ends. Play style I think is what this game will definitely boil down to. Personally I am enjoying The Hulk experience right no; others may choose Iron Man, Dead Pool, Spidey etc...

The Story so far is very comic book like, and the cut scenes are done in a comic book look. The character random banter can make you laugh at times, but it does become a bit repetitive after a while. So far a good variety of Villains to beat down, all right out of the Marvel world.

The events and instancing works very much like Guild Wars 1 & 2, and even goes further with Auto-Grouping for Loaded Instances. This is the only thing that I have a love and hate relationship with. While it means progressing faster through the game, it also means less chatting and interfacing at a human level. Sure you can still group with Friends and move through the game, but you aren't forced to make MMO friends anymore to get that one instance finished.

Crafting and Vendors are a bit different in this one. I don't want to spoil the mechanics of it, but lets just say its unique on how you level your Purchasable Gear and Crafting.

I haven't played with the "Guild" system in the game yet... not even sure if there is one. If some of you join I'll look more into it and see what can be done.

So anyone interested: https://marvelheroes.com/ ?

Mr. Analog · June 05, 2013, 09:15:19 AM

It looks *really* good, a friend of mine has been playing the beta for a while and has nothing but good things to say!

Darren Dirt · June 05, 2013, 09:29:23 AM

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/marvel-heroes

~70% overall ratings, but it's FTP? Sounds

Quote from: Melbosa on June 05, 2013, 09:11:23 AM
their starting character set

All 5 listed here:
http://ca.ign.com/wikis/marvel-heroes/Starter_Guide?objectid=14331218

Always fun to see what "opening day" feedback there is, esp. from the insane folks who will just play it through non-stop as soon as they can:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/06/04/marvel-heroes-launch-day-roundup/

seems like one thing to be watchful of right out of the gate: inventory management (due to it being shared among all your characters)

but overall the comments = pretty positive, even mentioning the $ cost for extras being very reasonable.

(although this review mentions that the controls are... weird)

Darren Dirt · June 05, 2013, 10:54:11 AM

the official cinematic (opening?) trailer = HOLY CRAP I DIDN'T EXPECT IT TO BE THAT AWESOME!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0TG66YyINI

Mr. Analog · June 05, 2013, 11:48:00 AM

That's pretty good!

Mags · June 05, 2013, 11:51:48 AM

~~But $200 for the "full" version?!!?!?!?!?~~

edit: But $250 for the "full" version?!!?!?!?!? now!?!?!?!?!?

Mr. Analog · June 05, 2013, 11:59:29 AM

$250!! Is that to unlock all the stuff at once?

If so Team Fortress 2 is a VERY expensive free game (but think of all those hats!)

Melbosa · June 05, 2013, 12:46:01 PM

$250 unlocks all characters. Get some in game currency as well. But doesn't unlock everything as there are character specifics that can only be found by playing. I don't think the 250 is worth it though as you miss finding characters as drops or rewards.

Melbosa · June 05, 2013, 12:48:42 PM

Quote from: Mags on June 05, 2013, 11:51:48 AM
~~But $200 for the "full" version?!!?!?!?!?~~

edit: But $250 for the "full" version?!!?!?!?!? now!?!?!?!?!?

Should be noted that package is only for chracters, not content or other Full game aspects that traditionally would cost money. That is still all FTP.

Thorin · June 05, 2013, 01:00:05 PM

Umm... $250 to unlock everything, and you guys think that's a deal? Doesn't that make a $60 boxed game look cheap in comparison?

Mr. Analog · June 05, 2013, 01:03:46 PM

It's not a deal, it's absurd

The same way paying for all the item content in TF2 would be absurd (there are hundreds of items in the Mann Co shop).

The fact that they're offering it as a lump thing you can buy is silly, not to mention kind of destroys the point of playing the game to unlock stuff.

Darren Dirt · June 05, 2013, 01:24:23 PM

Obviously they will find customers who have little time and alot* of cash who want to fast-track the game, and have every right as a profit-motivated corp to offer that at whatever price the market will allow.

And customers have every right to whine about it.

But looks like early reviews are pretty happy about what IS provided free outtathe"box". And seems to be reasonable price points for stuff other than cosmetic visual stuff (e.g. inventory space).

At least it's not a horrible price model like "free to have minimal un-fun game, $200ish to have everything, NO OPTIONS BETWEEN THOSE EXTREMES".

Mr. Analog · June 05, 2013, 01:54:06 PM

The key to making free to play work, and what has made TF2 a runaway success, is offering items that make things interesting that don't cause serious balance issues

Cosmetic items like hats have been one way of letting players personalize the game, getting game-changing items as achievements, promotional tie-ins or random drops has also given incentives that actually make the game more interesting to play over time but aren't so powerful that they make things lopsided. This is the perfect tightrope and one that must be carefully balanced upon.

The worst thing you can do is offer an item that destabilizes the game, that immediately turns it into a pay-to-win scenario (which will kill your game).

The danger with super heroes is there are going to be a couple whose powers can be exploited, once people figure out what combinations work together you may see the meta game focus more on what heroes you need to get to be the "best", if this happens the game will devolve rather quickly as you'll just see the same combos of heroes everywhere. Then the silver bullets will come out trying to balance things, or even worse new heroes that try to out OP the OP characters (which just delays the problem slighly).

Darren Dirt · June 05, 2013, 02:54:45 PM

Quote from: Darren Dirt on June 05, 2013, 01:24:23 PM
little time and alot* of cash

I meant to add some footnote to that, and forget what I was gonna say. But now I realize that I'm incredibly surprised that nobody Grammar Nazi'd that! (for example, with the most obvious response)

Melbosa · June 05, 2013, 02:56:41 PM

Mr. Analog makes a good point about Character Balance and OP, but that fear is there whether you just buy the player or unlock it. Just easier to get at the flavour of the month that way - but keep in mind you still have to Level said character. Everyone you buy is level 1.

But that is the only thing the $250 will get you: Characters and a bit of game store cash to buy stuff that is cosmetic in nature. The content, the expansions, the items and weapons, the character buffs etc are all still in game items that cannot be bought as far as I can tell.

So it truly is not an "Unlock Everything" cost. Unlock all playable characters is what you get.

Again I agree with Mr. Analog - this will be an issue and something that will have the streaking bullets hit players. Is this like buying everything TF2 releases?... well no it isn't that big.