Gave in to temptation and purchased the Ultimate Pack the other day.. thankfully before they removed the bonus $45 in-game currency, but annoyingly before they gave a 10% discount on the pack.. Nevertheless, it was a good buy. All available characters and costumes released before launch would be made available to me once the game launches on June 4.
Of course, having purchased the Ultimate Pack, I would be able to start 1 week earlier on May 28. Also managed to get access to the Closed Beta after the purchase. So here am I to share some thoughts about my beta experience so far. (Why else did I make this blog? To share my thoughts....)
Firstly, I will need to inform you that if you manage to get the Beta access, download the program file way in advance before the beta server goes live. It takes ages to download and install.
I have only managed to play the prologue and a bit after that so far so Part 1 will cover these as well as crafting.
The prologue is only single-player as it serves as a tutorial before you go out into the public server.. I tried Hawkeye on my first play-through. As a ranged character, his skills involve his bow and arrow.
3 skill trees: One focuses on his attacks, bonus damage, chance to do more damage.
The other tree provides him with some elemental attacks with his arrows. One of this skills allow you to electrocute two enemies together if they are standing close.
The last tree I can't remember exactly, will update when I try the beta again.
While everyone has been dubbing this as "Marvel Diablo", I find that it resembles the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games more. True that there are several similarities between this and Diablo. Loot finding, the skill trees etc but the gameplay is so much like the MUA games. With this being a MMO, it's going to be even more awesome. Selecting your favourite Marvel Heroes/Teams and taking down the baddies is such a dream come true. While the MUA games had a max of 4 characters, the MMO should be able to support a larger party.
Loot-finding is what made Diablo so addictive and so many games like Borderlands have followed suit. In Marvel Heroes, items are also dropped when defeating enemies and probably through chests. Each item is specific to a certain character except for Medals (more on that later). Bow will be for Hawkeye, Shield for Captain America, Pistols for Deadpool etc. Items are shared among all your different characters so you can keep a item for your other characters in your inventory.
Each character will be able to equip different items to increase various stats like attack, defense, chance to dodge, health. All these items, as mentioned will be specifically for each character. Every enemy boss also drops a Medal that binds upon equip, which means you won't be able to share items among your characters like the ones above. Stats will differ each time you beat them so you can try again for a Medal that has better stats.
In the short time that I played the beta, I was already hooked on finding better items for my character. Going to get a whole lot more addictive once the better weapons start dropping as I level up..
Another feature that I managed to try was Crafting.. Crafting is going to be lots of fun. You will need to find different elements as item drops. With the right combination, you will be able to upgrade your decent weapon into a good weapon, a good one into something awesome. This, I expect, will be another aspect of the game that will keep the item hunters keep coming back for more.
The Beta, so far, hasn't made me go wow yet, but that could largely be due to the fact that I haven't played the public feature yet. However, the prospect of teaming up with your favourite super heroes is mouth-watering. I'm a big fan of loot-hunting games so I think I'm gonna spend hours on this game for months.
Do feel free to ask me anymore questions on the game, in the comments below. Will try to get more game-time during the betas in the next few days and check out info for your questions. Will be updating the blog tomorrow on Part 2 once I try the public servers so do check back tomorrow!
