Marvel Heroes 2016 Rebrand
What better way to kick off the new year than a host of new content and new features?
Take to the rooftops with Black Cat, team up with Agent Venom, take the new and improved Deadpool for a spin (literally), or fight off the Skrull invasion in the next chapter of the Marvel Heroes story! We’ve also added some new features such as controller support and Leaderboards, as well as updated some of our existing ones such as the crafting system for an improved experience… and more is yet to come!
Read on for the full details of our first major update for Marvel Heroes 2016!
New Story Chapter: Secret Invasion
The story continues in Marvel Heroes 2016 with the addition of Chapter 10!
A new threat is lurking just beneath the surface. A desperate force has infiltrated Earth's most powerful organizations, biding their time until the moment is right to seize control. Your eyes can deceive you... trust no one.
Expect to encounter:
- New environments like the Helicarrier Research Wing and the Hell’s Kitchen Rooftops
- New bosses like Skrull Elektra and General Kl'rt
- An entire new Skrull enemy family along with the War Skrull Mini-Bosses
- A full mission chain along with level 60 rewards
Level 60 heroes will receive a remote notification to report to Nick Fury at the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier to begin the Secret Invasion storyline.
New Patrol Zone: Hightown
An entirely new Hightown Patrol Zone located in Madripoor featuring a new wave type: Incursions!
Chaos has erupted in Hightown as the Skrulls emerge from the shadows. Help S.W.O.R.D. restore order and fight off a multitude of foes who would seek to gain from the city’s destabilization!
Hightown Patrol can be unlocked by playing through Chapter 10 in Story. Once it is unlocked, it will also unlock Hightown Patrol through the Challenges tab that any hero on your account will be able to access!
New Hero: Black Cat
Black Cat joins the hero roster of Marvel Heroes 2016!
Idolizing her father, himself a famous burglar, Felicia Hardy taught herself safe cracking, lock picking, and other thievery techniques. After failing to break out her father, she took up the persona of Black Cat full-time, seeking to continue her father's legacy. Though she always walks the line between hero and criminal, at the end of the day, she can be counted on to do the right thing.
Black Cat is a Physical damage hero that prefers valuables over violence, but that doesn't mean she won't leave a few scratch marks if necessary. Enemies will have to get past the lashes of her whip and an arsenal of tricky remote traps before the claws need to come out, though! And if someone loses a nice watch or a shiny ring in the process, well, they should have known better before crossing this cat's path.
The Final 52 Review: Deadpool
WE’VE SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST
Deadpool’s Level 52 review is finally here! For his design update, Deadpool has received a host of new powers and updates to his mechanics while preserving his simplistic and straight-forward playstyle, though new options have opened up for those that wish to explore them. To that end, Deadpool’s primary resource has been replaced with
Awesome - less of a resource and more of a rating to determine how cool you look while beating down bad guys. Powers don’t consume Awesome to use (that wouldn’t be all that awesome now would it), so bonus Spirit is instead converted into additional bonus stats so you can be more awesome with more Awesome.
GUNS, GLORIOUS GUNS!
One problem we quickly realized with Deadpool is that he needed more guns, bigger guns, and more ways to use them. It doesn’t get much bigger than
Real Armor Buster, a massive tank-busting cannon designed to solve problems before they start.
Deadpool's new
Canadian Devil power showcases Deadpool doing what he does best - he spins in circles, slicing and dicing any enemies in melee range, while also using his pistols to shoot enemies outside of melee range, anywhere on the screen. Did we mention he can move while channeling this? If ever there was a power that represented Deadpool, this is it. Oh, and it’s spammable with no cooldown. Enjoy!
WHY STOP AT SWORDS?
Sure, Deadpool may be known for wielding some blades in his day, but he’s got more weapon proficiencies under his belt that haven’t been represented yet in Marvel Heroes. We’ve brought in two new melee weapons for Deadpool to enjoy - a pair of sais for more up-close and personal combat, and an oversized Deadpool-branded mallet for when a normal-sized mallet just wouldn’t get the job done.
CLEANUP, AISLE D
With the new Deadpool, many powers have been retrofitted, upgraded, or replaced with better versions of themselves. His passives have been reorganized for better power point arrangement, and specializations have been added to further allow customization of Deadpool’s playstyle, allowing him to focus more on melee, ranged, or hybrid gameplay.
With this update, we wanted to focus more on what makes Deadpool the deadly Merc with a Mouth, as he already had several powers to represent his fourth wall breaking. However, we did set out to improve on the ones that already existed and make them more appreciated by a wider range of players. The new signature
Server Lag, for example, will include power-altering specializations to allow even more cheating. You could spec into Multiplayer to call in extra alternate-reality Deadpools whenever you use Server Lag. Or, if you're more of a lone-wolf Deadpool, spec into the new-and-improved super-sized Power-Ups to really amp up your stats.
EVERYTHING BUT THE… OH, WAIT, THAT TOO
It wouldn’t be the finale of the Level 52 Reviews without a new Ultimate power. Server Lag is now Deadpool’s signature, and despite its lower cooldown, is still a ridiculously powerful effect for dealing with tough baddies.
The new Ultimate power
Kitchen Sink is essentially a massive version of the spinning, slicing, dicing, shooting Whirlwind-type power described earlier. Only instead of just swords and bullets, it’s...
everything else. Deadpool will continue to fling and shoot anything and everything, in his arsenal or otherwise, to blow away anyone standing.
New Team-Up Hero: Agent Venom
Agent Venom joins the Team-Up roster of Marvel Heroes 2016!
No longer the football star who bullied Peter Parker in high school, Eugene "Flash" Thompson has since served as a decorated soldier, government experiment, and now super hero. After a tragic event while serving overseas, Flash agreed to an experiment that would subject him to the Venom Symbiote in order to become a new breed of super soldier. Serving as "Agent Venom", Flash uses conventional weapons and the Symbiote to take down his enemies more efficiently than ever before.
Hero Changes: Rogue
Two new Stolen Powers have been added which can be found in Chapter 10!
Support, Impact, and Attrition stolen power categories have been merged into a single category! The new Support category has a maximum of 6 powers, and consists of almost all former powers from the 3 categories combined. Explore and build all new power collections with fewer restrictions.
Former Impact powers still have an Impact power keyword to identify and synergize with other stolen powers, such as She-Hulk's.
Flight no longer has a Spirit cost.
Rogue's Ultimate (Final Form) now also carries over a passive form of Ragin' Cajun, allowing Rogue to benefit from item procs that require Energy attacks.
Mr. Sinister's Molecular Transport is now a Core power. Power is now usable in hubs.
Nastirh's Demonic Barrier is now a Core power.
Loki's Illusionary Projection is now a Support power.
Colossus’ Osmium Skin is now a Passive power.
Rhino's Devastating Charge is now a Support power with a cooldown, bonus damage, and instantly kills Normal and Elite enemies.
Spider-Woman's Venom Blast channel times sped up, power now scales in damage with the Energy Projection attribute.
She-Hulk's Lawyer Up now grants a flat 7.5% damage multiplier to Impact powers and Dive Bomb instead of scaling with power points.
Mr. Hyde's Empowered Shockwave now triggers its bonus effect so long as a stolen Passive power is toggled on.
Scarlet Witch’s Chaotic Hex now deals Chaos damage, and grants Recall Overload a buff effect that maximizes all random effects of Chaotic Hex for a duration.
Wolverine's Bone Claws now restores health on hit instead of providing a small amount of critical rating.
Juggernaut’s Crimson Force Field is now a Passive power with a toggled effect that grants Rogue a secondary resource bar which emulates his Momentum mechanics. Activated invulnerability removed.
Colossus' Osmium Skin now grants an Armor meter identical to Colossus' Armor mechanics. Deflect and Defense multipliers removed.
Angel's Flanked From Above is now considered a Movement power, solidifying it as a great Impact choice for Movement builds.
Beta Ray Bill's Lightning Barrage now also grants a buff to Rogue that causes extra energy damage on melee hits for a brief duration.
Black Panther Sweeping Kick cooldown increased to 4s, damage increased, defining it more into the space of Impact powers (high damage cooldowns).
Brimstone Infernal Meteor cooldown is reduced by 4s if Rogue has at least 1 rank in Hellfire's Curse of Hellfire. The damage of the meteor now scales with bonus Max Spirit.
Hellfire's Curse of Hellfire now applies to Rogue instead of a target, and increases Melee and Mental damage while active. The power deals damage to Rogue over time, and that effect is negated if Rogue has at least 1 rank in Brimstone's Infernal Meteor.
Electro's Static Field now grants a powerful Speed and movement speed buff on use.
Herald of Ash's Volcanic Eruption now scales in damage based on Rogue's Maximum HP.
Ghost Rider's Damnation now deals bonus damage if used below 50% maximum HP.
Hulk's Rogue Smash! now has a higher Brutal Strike chance and damage based on Rogue's Maximum Spirit.
Human Torch's Pyrotechnic Burst is now considered a melee power.
Clea's Flames of the Faltine and
Jean Grey's Psychokinetic Implosion now list the implosion effects directly on their tooltips.
Loki's Illusionary Projection now summons up to 3 illusions (up from 2), and each lasts for 20s.
Coulson's Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent passive now grants Critical Rating instead of Area Damage Rating.
Daredevil's Master Martial Artist passive now grants Deflect Rating instead of Dodge Rating.
Iron Man's Mechanical Genius can now be toggled on to increase Damage Rating, but at the cost of increasing the Spirit Cost of all of Rogue's powers. Now provides Spirit Regeneration instead of Intelligence.
Madame Hydra's Superior Tactician passive now provides Intelligence instead of a small amount of Summon Duration.
Spider-Man's Spider-Sense passive now increases damage of Core powers, Crushing Blows, Aerial Onslaught, and Kree Charge, based on Rogue's dodge rating, rather than increasing dodge rating multiplier.
Psylocke's Psi-Thrust now also generates a small Psi Barrier on use, once every 8 seconds.
She-Hulk's Lawyer Up Deflect Rating replaced with Maximum Health.
Slag's Lavalanche now deals bonus damage based on Maximum HP.
Storm's Crashing Hail now also provides a buff to Maximum Spirit, and periodically strikes enemies with lightning.
Sunspot's Sunspot Punch (now named Solar Strike) is considered an Area power.
Surtur's Wrath of Muspelheim now provides a Damage Rating and size buff on use. The initial damage portion is now considered Energy damage, to allow for easy access to hybrid items with a single power activation.
Toad's Tongue Lash now does not break stealth, and if used while in stealth, applies a short duration DoT effect.
Wasp's Biospray area of effect now matches the power's visuals.
Visual Updates
Black Widow, Captain America and Jean Grey have received visual updates for the following costumes:
Black Widow
- Black Widow Classic Costume
Captain America
- Captain America Classic Costume
- Captain America Original Costume
Jean Grey
- Jean Grey Phoenix Costume
- Jean Grey Dark Phoenix Costume
- Jean Grey White Phoenix Costume
- Jean Grey 90’s X-Men Costume
Leaderboards
Achievement and Progression Leaderboards have been added to the game! They can be viewed in-game from the Achievements panel.
These leaderboards show the top-ranking players in the following categories:
Achievements - Total number of Achievement points earned on the account
Progression - Total number of hero levels gained across the account (including Prestige levels)
Controller Support
Marvel Heroes 2016 now has official controller support on Windows platforms! Xbox 360, Xbox One and Steam Controllers will automatically be detected without any additional setup needed.
While a controller is connected, the UI will automatically change to reflect the current input method being used. You can swap back and forth between controller and mouse & keyboard at any time without needing to disconnect the controller.
The default controller configurations are posted below - note that you can change these settings within the Gamepad tab of the Options menu to your personal preference!
Crafting Changes
Credit cap increase!
The credit cap has been increased from 3,000,000 to 9,999,999!
No more element tiers!
Previously, each of the 4 different element types had 7 different tiers that dropped throughout the world. In Marvel Heroes 2016, we have reduced the tiers of crafting elements down to a single tier of each.
The new element names:
- Ionic Particle
- Astral Essence
- Nanotech Filament
- Enhanced Genome
When you log in to the game, there will be an automatic conversion done to convert all your old elements into the new element. The conversion will automatically take all the elements you have(of any tier) and break them down into a pool of their equivalent of simple elements and then convert all of those to the new element (the same amount it would take to combine simples to 1 pure (2187 Simple = 1 Pure). In the event that a player has a remainder left over, we will round up to give the player an extra element.
All crafting elements, including Unstable Molecules and Matrices of Unbinding now stack to 1000.
Element Auto-Population!
Many crafting elements now auto-populate in to recipe inputs. You will see when you go to a recipe that requires elements that elements stored in your inventory or stash already appear automatically.
The numbers in the inputs denote how many of that element you have vs how many are needed to craft the item. In that screenshot, it shows I have 57 genomes and the recipe needs 1. Auto-populating is restricted right now only to stackable items of the allowed item type for the recipe. Things like costumes, uniques, etc still will need to be manually entered into the recipe.
Other Changes
Further increased Danger Room Progression Orb payout on the following Danger Room scenario missions:
Subway Station:
- Collateral Damage
- Civilian Extraction
A.I.M. Facility:
- Civilian Extraction
- Communication Breakdown
- Weapon Destruction
- Collateral Damage
- Elite Smackdown
- S.H.I.E.L.D. Rescue
Bamboo Forest:
- Master Takedown
- Serpent Takedown
- Idolized Destruction
Brood Caves:
- Civilian Extraction
- Explosive Undertaking
- Brood Sacked
- Broodling Smackdown
- Fungal Extermination
- S.H.I.E.L.D. Rescue
The "Elemental Combination" and "Elemental Splitting" Crafting achievements have been moved to the X-traordinary Feats section.
Nutso's Acorns are now auto collected when dropped!
Effective Health is now displayed on your stat sheet.
Colossus' Armor now regenerates at a small rate over time.
Human Torch's Pyrotechnic Burst is now considered a melee power.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue that caused vanity pets to disappear when going through transitions.
Known Issues
Auto Loot Vaporize does not function on loot dropped from the following boss trios in Hightown Patrol:
- Skrull X-Men Trio
- Skrull Avengers Trio
- Skrull Defenders Trio
Skrull X-Men Medallion incorrectly displays 0 mental damage. This is currently a tooltip issue and does deal damage.
Rogue’s Slot 4 and 5 uniques reference Impact and Attrition power bonuses in their tooltips, however do not provide those bonuses due to the stolen power review.
Boss artifacts from Hightown Patrol are currently not tradeable. This will be fixed in a future update.
When playing in a party, it’s possible that your personal Chapter 10 missions may revert to a previous state when exiting various personal instances located in Secret Invasion. Leaving the party and playing through these missions solo will allow progression as normal.
Black Cat’s Signature powers will incorrectly show bonuses from the Fortune & Favor specialization regardless of the current specialization selected. This is strictly a tooltip error.
Rogue's stolen power from the Limbo boss Rock Troll Berserker is incorrectly only reducing maximum health by a maximum of 5000.
29/01/2016, 20h13
