Oh Cable, we used to think your pouches were so, so cool. Now you’re just a reminder of the horrible Rob Liefeld era of comics.
Anyway, as I’ve been upping my Marvel Heroes playtime lately, I’ve come to realize just how much I don’t know about this game. On the surface it’s pretty straight-forward: click-click, loot-loot, rinse and repeat. But after months of casually dabbling in it, I’m still mystified when it comes to the game’s many modes, systems, its insane variety of gear types, and what I should actually be doing.
So I’m approaching this ignorance with a two-pronged attack. The first is that I’m engaging in something I’m informally calling the Level 25 Project: I’m leveling all of my regular (non-level 10 capped) characters to level 25 through Midtown Madness and Industry Patrol. This has a lot of benefits I’m finding:
- I’m unlocking a ton of level 25 synergies to use on any character
- I’m forcing myself to sit down and get to know some of these heroes I wouldn’t normally play
- I’m getting tons of loot to feed to the crafter and enchanter vendors (which is apparently Something You Should Do)
- And with the recent cosmic event, I’m quickly gearing up all of these characters with yellow gear
Thus far I’ve completed it on Black Panther and Cable, and am currently working on Daredevil. Black Panther was so-so, with some ranged knife attacks and a smallish AoE that was decent for multiple mobs, but I never quite warmed up to him. Cable is a character that I really don’t like, personality-wise, but at least he’s a straight-forward ranged DPS class with lots of buffs. I kept using his slow-firing homing shot that would hit an enemy and detonate with a strong AOE. Satisfying to play. And Daredevil is my first melee class, which is somewhat infuriating to play, but I did get one ranged bouncy skill that’s helping with the massed mobs.
The other thing I’m doing is enrolling in Marvel U. That’s what I’m calling “perusing the guides section of the Marvel Forum and realizing that there have to be players with actual degrees in this game — doctorates, no less — to understand it all.”
Everyone seems to love this following 3.5-hour video in which the guide walks new players through most of the game’s systems. I want to point to the length there: It takes him three-and-a-half hours to fully explain what’s going on here. Marvel Heroes has some insane depth for a Diablo clone.
Anyway, I’m digesting it in chunks and have already learned quite a few things — including the guide’s penchant for saying the word “essentially.” If you end up watching this, keep a tally on that word. And don’t make it into a drinking game, or else you will perish.
Bio Break 
Hahahhahaha!! Thanks for a fantastic link! I cannot put it any better than Bill Hanstock: “I hate Rob Liefeld and he should be thrown in a well.”
Having been an avid comics reader since literally before I could read – I made my poor mother read Challengers of the Unknown and Tommy Tomorrow out loud to me at the age of four, speech bubbles and all – and an active comics fan for a decade and a half, Rob Liefeld was just about single-handedly responsible for me giving up first buying and then reading comics almost completely.
I am going to save that link for future enjoyment!
I remember trying to watch that video… Essentially, what happened was after a while I couldn’t get past, essentially, all the times he kept saying “essentially,” essentially. So I gave up.
Essentially.
But you’re right, the game has a lot more depth than it appears. I’m finding the same with Trove right now. What’s nice is that both are designed to allow you to play either with or without an awareness of that depth depending on your commitment level. I like that.
Marvel Heroes is one of those great little games that can be played on many a level. If all you want to do is blow things up and collect the loots then throw some points into skills that look fun and have at it. If you want some depth then you have all sorts of systems that you can use to add as much depth as you want from simply maximising your gear or build points to utilizing hero synergies, omega points and crafting.
Gazillion seem to keep adding this stuff without it impacting the fun bit for the most part too which is no mean trick (Funcom could learn a lesson there :p ).
I would have two suggestions for you, the first is make you level 25 project a level 30 project. The reason being is that you will receive a nice 1% xp boost for each character you get to that level. While it might not seem much it really does help with the levelling process once you have a few heroes there. It can make levelling some not so loved heroes a little less painful (a good stopping point after that is level 50 as that will award a similar 3% boost per character). Then you can decide if you want to push one you like to max level and receive further boosts.
My other suggestion is take a peek at this thread on the MH forum http://forums.marvelheroes.com/discussion/186709/infinitydjs-fun-leveling-builds-for-all-heroes-wip
It offers a good selection of builds for various heroes. They are not the usual end game best in slot 7500 omega point min max guides but generally aimed at people who are just levelling up a few heroes and want to have some fun while doing so. You can follow them or use them as a basis for making your own build but it will give you some good ideas / pointers in any case without a three and half video getting in the way.
Anyhow hope you keep having fun with the wonderful Marvel Heroes 2015 for a good long while đŸ™‚
Thanks for the tips BBB!