Wednesday 29 January 2014

Marvel Heroes Diary: Jan 28 2014 - 300 and Back to 1

300 and Back to 1

Managed to hit the magic 300 Odin Marks for my first legendary! 


Decided to go for Gungnir for Deadpool!


 Having played him as a ranged character up till now, I wanted this for it's high critical ratings and damange. Had second thoughts recently, since I was decided to change his play-style to mixed. Deadpool's fighting powers just seem too fun to leave him as a pure ranged character.

However, even with as mixed melee and ranged, I still felt this was a good option. With his Ultimate and God mode powers, I felt he was a good survivor so I just needed to focus on his damage. Lots of critical damage will be very useful even when he gets out of close-range and goes firing with his guns.

So this will be the start of a long quest to level up the Gungnir to Level 5 when Deadpool's gonna be a killing machine!

Managed to complete all quests for Deadpool on all 3 levels. Had to get some help from some locals with beating Loki on SuperHeroic though. He was tough!


So it was time to prestige! Deadpool went from Level 60 to Level 1 once again..



Another long quest to level him up all the Prestige Level 5.. Yes I will be going all out with him! Well, the great thing is that I can level up Deadpool as well as his Legendary Item concurrently! Coincidence or Pure Genius?

Also been playing Colossus a lot to replace Deadpool as my level 60 character. He's really evolving into a powerhouse. So I'm thinking of getting a Legendary Item for him as well. Norn Stones seem like a good choice at the moment.

Also managed to get my Crafter to level 20

Gonna start on leveling up my Enchanter now in preparation for the new Rune crafting when that's ready. 

Played a bit of Gambit so he will be at Level 25 to get his bonus credits Synergy, will need all the credits I can get for the expensive Iron Buddies. Might as well get them. Always the completionist obsession in me.. 

---
Current goals:
Deadpool - Acquire 300 Odin Marks for a Legendary Weapon (Achieved!)
Reach Crafter Level 20 (Achieved!)
Deadpool: Level 60 (Prestige Level 5)
Colossus - Reach Level 60
Reach Enchanter Level 20
Earn 1,000,002 Credits for Green Iron Buddy

Current Progress
Deadpool: Level 31 (Prestige Level 1)
Gambit: Level 25
Colossus: Level 50
Emma Frost: Level 28

Enchanter: Level 9
Odin Marks: 33
Credits: 559,132
---


Tuesday 28 January 2014

Marvel Heroes Diary: Jan 27 2014 - Celebrating Australia Day!

Celebrating Australia Day!

With Patch 2.14 comes plenty of updates, including Marvel Heroes' celebration of Australia Day!


Some of the features included in the celebration are these Australian Flag and Koala drops..




Koalas are given out as a daily reward but with some luck, they can drop as well. The 10k sell/donate value is a nice touch to help with the new Enchanter Crafting level. Gonna farm these as much as possible!

The Colossus Outback costume was also on half-price sale so I spent some remaining Gs on this.

I actually liked this costume when I started out playing Colossus but it wasn't included in the Ultimate Pack so I'm glad to get it at half-price.

Went on a Dr Doom run in the new Cosmic Terminal with a couple of other members from the Marvel Heroes Online - Players Guild and it was rewarding! Got 2 uniques including the newly released unique for Hawkeye.

Gotta say the Hawkeye unique seems very interesting as well as powerful. Too bad I don't have a Hawkeye character at the moment.

Plenty of new stuff in the latest patch, can't wait to try them all!

---
Current goals:
Deadpool - Acquire 300 Odin Marks for a Legendary Weapon
Deadpool - Reach Level 60 (Achieved!)
Reach Crafter Level 20

Current Progress
Deadpool: Level 60
Gambit: Level 23
Colossus: Level 45
Emma Frost: Level 27

Crafter: Level 19
Odin Marks: 275
---



Saturday 25 January 2014

Marvel Heroes Diary: Jan 24 2014 - Enter Emma Frost!

Enter Emma Frost!

As I was approaching Level 60 for Deadpool, I started having doubts about the play-style I chose for him. When I first started Marvel Heroes, I wasn't expecting to be playing several heroes at once. So, with the many melee hero options that I had, I thought of going pure-ranged with Deadpool.

With the inclusion of Odin Marks, and the bonus +1 option for each hero, each day.. A wiser choice would to have several heroes to help farm Odin Marks faster. So now, the choice I made doesn't seem so ideal. In fact, a mixed build seems more fun to play so I'm considering either re-specing him or maybe 'prestiging' him. Besides, I would like to have 1 hero prestiged. Not more than that however, there's too many heroes that I would like to try out!

So.. while I'm deciding if I'm gonna prestige Deadpool, I will need another hero to farm Odin Marks in the meantime.. Enter Emma Frost!


A very interesting character, I'm mixing her telepathy powers and summoning powers to great effect. Was a little worried about effective the mind-controlled units would be but they are more than decent if you pump enough points into the skill. Even, if it does get defeated, it respawns after a while. So no worrying about having to protect your 'minion' in heavy battles. I feel that this was very crucial in the effectiveness of the skill.

As a Witch Doctor in Diablo 3, I loved having pets alongside me, but it was very frustrating when they kept dying. So kudos to the developers for the good design on this skill.

Managed to level Colossus to 32 and used a retcon device to re-spec his skills. Just as luck seemed to be dying out, got this nice drop for Colossus in X-Defense!

His first unique! +2 to all powers is awesome stuff! The +1 Strength is also very helpful.
Will want to level Colossus to Level 60 before I prestige Deadpool so will have at least 1 hero for the upcoming level 60 areas.

Filled nearly 4 stash slots with Artifacts so had to clear out some duplicates, down to less than 2 slots now. Costume Cores are starting to pile up however. Will probably need to buy more stash slots pretty soon!

---
Current goals:
Deadpool - Acquire 300 Odin Marks for a Legendary Weapon
Deadpool - Reach Level 60 (Achieved!)
Reach Crafter Level 20

Current Progress
Deadpool: Level 60
Gambit: Level 23
Colossus: Level 35
Emma Frost: Level 26

Crafter: Level 18
Odin Marks: 235
---


Sneak Peek of Assassin's Creed Nikolai Figure

Assassin's Creed posts are back again!

Yes.. the good folks at the Collectorsedition.org forums have spotted this Sneak Peek posted by UbiWorkshop.


A reveal of a Nikolai figure prototype. This was really unexpected. No show of the face however. The pose is pretty much the same as the The Fall comic cover.

There's a couple of questions raised however.. 

1) While the majority of the Figurine releases have been from UbiCollectibles.. This one is from UbiWorkshop. As far as I know, they are 2 different entities.. 

However, this could be because The Fall and The Chain comics which Nikolai feature in, are from UbiWorkshop. So it could be thay Nikolai is UbiWorkshop's Assassin, so to say. Which is why they are producing the figure, rather than UbiCollectibles.

2) The scale is really hard to say from the pics but it looks like it's about 6-7 inches. This is smaller than the UbiCollectibles' Assassin Figures which stands about 9-10 inches. 

There is also a lack of a base which could mean that this is an action figure, rather than a mini-statue. However, from the looks of it, I highly doubt it's an action figure with articulation. Of course, I could be wrong about the scale too.

3) Why Nikolai in favour of Aveline? Of course, this reason could lie in Point 1). 

That said.. Unless there is a full AC game coming out featuring Aveline, there is no better time than now to feature a Aveline figure. With the AC Liberation game re-mastered for consoles in HD and the extra missions in AC IV featuring Aveline, her popularity is at it's peak. Now will be a wonderful time to please the thousands of fans clamouring for a Aveline figure.
---

Do note that all these comments is just speculation by me, without any solid evidence or proof. It will be really interesting to see the final product reveal. Once again, UbiWorkshop are pressing the right buttons in terms of collectibles. Can't wait to see more!


Tuesday 21 January 2014

Marvel Heroes Diary: Jan 20 2014 - All Heroes Unlocked!

All Heroes Unlocked!

Unlocked the final hero!






Used Eternity Splinters for this guy, my first Eternity Splinters Hero purchase. Having previously purchased the Ultimate Pack, the Gambit Bundle with Gs from the Ultimate Pack and getting the free Ghost Rider Bundle from pre-ordering the upcoming Advanced Pack.. I thought I should save some money with the last hero I was missing.

So that's 600 Eternity Splinters down from 2 days back, having purchased the Ultimate Token yesterday.

Took a look at his powers and his God of Mischief power tree looks particularly interesting. Might have to check him out pretty soon.

Played more X-Defense this time with Colossus. Wasn't very effective so had to tweak him quite a bit. Re-looked at some of this skills and with some good drops from X-Defense, I changed his skills around. Didn't really like his Titanic Slam, so I switched back to Fissure

Still got to try out a couple of other skills before deciding his build. Still have a bit of time before he reaches level 32, when I will re-spec him. Hmm.. Decisions.. Decisions..

But gotta love this aspect of the game, tweaking the build to suit your play style. That's the beauty of RPG games where each build will be unique and Marvel Heroes has done a good job with each hero's skill tree with a wide variety of powers.

Also used a couple of SIF and RIF boosts from the Mark IV cards to find some good loot with Deadpool in X-Defense. Luck was good, 1 Unique, 3 Cosmics and 1 epic Insignia. Sadly no costumes drops but got Deadpool to Level 60 finally!

A better Daddy Deadpool Device than the one I was using. Read on the Marvel Heroes forums that in comparison this isn't a very good item but it works fine for me for now. Gotta love the Baby Deadpool summon.. Can't say I don't love seeing a little Deadpool fighting alongside me! Enjoy it while it lasts I guess..

Also managed to squeeze in some Legendary Quests to continue the surge towards the magic 300!

---
Current goals:
Deadpool - Acquire 300 Odin Marks for a Legendary Weapon
Deadpool - Reach Level 60
Reach Crafter Level 20

Current Progress
Deadpool: Level 60
Gambit: Level 23
Colossus: Level 28

Crafter: Level 16
Odin Marks: 199
---


Marvel Heroes Diary: Jan 19 2014 - Rewarding X-Defense!

Rewarding X-Defense!

X-Defense Appreciation Week is on! And it has been very rewarding as promised!

Got a Hand of Doom Artifact drop from one of the Doombots.
Not bad, a good artifact to increase Deadpool's damage.

Also found another The Guns with No Name unique
Better stats than the one I'm currently using. A improvement in all areas apart from the "+ to current rank skills".

For some reason I keep getting this unique..
That's 5 including the one equipped with Deadpool now..

And the luck continues..

Finally found a Cosmic Boots for Deadpool.. 

Actually liked some of the stats on the Epic Boots better like the 13% SIF and +4 More Bullets but I needed more spirit for him so had to trade. Decided I should keep the Epic Boots in case I change my mind.

With Deadpool being pimped up with his new set of items, I thought I should do 1 better..

By upgrading his Ultimate!


For 200 Eternity Splinters, that's quite a small upgrade but I guess if I keep doing it, it might be worth it. 

Played too much X-Defense that I didn't have time for Legendary Quests.. but managed to get my Crafter Level to 16 with all that loot!
---
Current goals:
Deadpool - Acquire 300 Odin Marks for a Legendary Weapon
Deadpool - Reach Level 60
Reach Crafter Level 20

Current Progress
Deadpool: Level 58
Gambit: Level 23
Colossus: Level 21

Crafter: Level 16
Odin Marks: 184
---


Sunday 19 January 2014

Marvel Heroes Diary: Jan 18 2014 - 24 Surprises

24 Surprises

Logged in to Marvel Heroes to receive a huge surprise! 24 surprises in fact! There were 24 Mark IV Fortune cards sitting in my inventory!


I knew the Mark IV cards were coming soon but I didn't expect them to be ready today!

The cards are part of the Advanced Pack (Deluxe Edition) that I purchased, which will give me access to 12 heroes with their default & alternate costumes and 24 pieces each of the new Fortune Mark IV, V, VI cards among other stuff. I'm very convinced with the success of this game and the future additions that I have decided to splurge more cash into this game! Got to love the range of playable characters in this game.

So these are the items that you can receive from the new Fortune Mark IV cards.
3 new Costumes exclusive to this card!

Similar to the Ruby Quartz system with Mark III cards, you will get a Horizon Labs Microchip with each card (except when you receive one of the Epics.) 

I feel this is pretty cool so you are guaranteed a costume at some point. You are able to redeem one of these exclusive costumes with 95 of this form of alternate currency. Not that I think that buying 95 Fortune Cards for 1 costume is a good price or anything but at least there's a cap somewhere. Imagine buying a 100 of these cards and still don't get either of the costumes. Besides, with 95 Ruby Quartz/ Horizon Labs Microchip, you can choose which costume you want. 

I'm just saying.. The Ultimate Deadpool costume does look awesome, I might be tempted someday..

Ok.. so what did I get? I opened all 24 in quick succession..

A Spider-Man one! Got lucky in just 1 out of the 24 cards but at least there was 1! Was hoping for the Symbiote Spider-Ham pet actually, since Colossus doesn't have a pet yet. 

I also got 2 Collector's boosts from the Epics list. The rest were all boosts for various types so I have 21 Horizon Labs Microchips. So 74 more to go before I can acquire another Exclusive Costume from this list!
---
Some of my current goals:
Deadpool - Acquire 300 Odin Marks for a Legendary Weapon
Deadpool - Reach Level 60

Reach Crafter Level 20

Current Progress
Deadpool: Level 57
Gambit: Level 23
Colossus: Level 21

Crafter: Level 15
Odin Marks: 184
---


Marvel Heroes Diary: The Introduction..

As mentioned before, I thought it would be interesting to do a Diary-style blog about my events in Marvel Heroes. Initially, thought it would be possible to create another list of posts under the Marvel Heroes Diary page but it seems that it's not possible and after initially setting up another website for the posts, I felt it would be better to do the posts here.. 

Anyway, the Diary page will be an archive of all my Marvel Heroes Diary-related posts if you are keen to follow it..

So here's the Introduction..
---

Ever since I heard about a Marvel MMO game in development, I was looking forward to it's release. In early days, I had no idea how it was going to turn out. 

Then came the first gameplay trailer. While it was dubbed as having similarities to the Diablo games, it gave a strong Marvel Ultimate Alliance feel. I really enjoyed the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games and the X-Men Legends games that came before that. The possibility of having playing alongside dozen other heroes from the Marvel Universe had me excited. 

So, when the Ultimate pack was announced, I was tempted. The price was steep though.. For something I have yet to even try, US$200 was a lot of money. Did lots of thinking before a friend and I convinced ourselves that it's better to buy and regret rather than don't buy and regret. The additional XP and item find boost were a great pusher in my decision too. Exclusive costumes, the entire first batch of heroes & costumes and even my name on the Credits made the deal sweeter!

While the initial game didn't do enough to convince me, the new updates in the later part of the year has totally changed my opinion of this game. In fact, Marvel Heroes made my Top 5 Games of 2013 list. Marvel Heroes has now had me hooked and I thought of starting up a Marvel Heroes Diary to share my events in the game with other players and maybe also be a platform to those who haven't tried Marvel Heroes and hopefully convince them to join me. Well.. if no one reads this, it will at the very least be a personal diary of my events in this wonderful game.

2014 promises to be an exciting year ahead for Marvel Heroes and the Developers have so many exciting plans in the coming months. They have also been very active with communicating with the players and listening to the fans' requests. Marvel Heroes is a huge game with plenty for me to share and with so many exciting projects in the plans, I can never tell you everything in 1 post.

I'm not a very experienced or "pro" player and this may not be the most useful place to come to for tips. That said.. as an average player, I hope you will find this diary an interesting read so I welcome you to Dr Jengo's Marvel Heroes Diary as I share you with my experiences in Marvel Heroes.



Marvel Heroes Diary: Day 0 - The Story So Far...

Having purchased the Ultimate Pack, I had access to all the characters and costumes that were currently in the game. I was spoilt for choice. With 2 of my favourite characters from the Marvel Universe, Gambit and Ghost Rider, not available in the game yet, I couldn't choose one over the other, from the existing heroes. In the end, it was between Deadpool and Black Panther. I chose Deadpool for his Enhanced Pirate costume. Having bought the Ultimate Pack I chose something that I should choose something exclusive. (At least, that's what I thought.. I must have missed something as the Pirate Deadpool costume is now available for purchase. No worries, still an awesome Enhanced costume.)


After completing the story on Normal difficulty, I was doing the Green Terminal challenges for the Cube Shards as the Red Terminal ones were too tough. After a while, I got bored with Marvel Heroes and eventually stopped playing.

In early December, I got back into the game after several new updates. After spending most of my Gs (the in-game currency) on Stash space, the Mini-Dragon Man pet, several Chase costumes previously, I still had enough Gs left to purchase the Gambit Bundle. 

My Deadpool in the Chase Detective costume with his Mini-Dragon Man.

While I am playing Deadpool as a purely ranged character, I felt Gambit's skills suited a mixed play-style. His mix of melee and ranged has been very fun to play with in early levels. Stopped playing Gambit for a while as I'm waiting for a friend to reach the same level. 

Classic Gambit over Modern Gambit anytime!

Recently also started on a Colossus as I need an extra character at least to help me farm Odin Marks. Yes I've been farming Odin Marks since coming back to Marvel Heroes. Hoping to get a Legendary Weapon for Deadpool soon.

The Russian Man of Steel

A couple of days back, I had the chance to join a party in the "Cow Level".. My first time attempting it.
 
Battling it out in the Cow Level!
 
Cow Level Boss - High Commander Brevik!
 
Daddy Deadpool Device - 1 of my Boss Drops.
 
Baby Deadpool with Daddy Deadpool!

I was hoping to acquire the Daddy Deadpool device for the Baby Deadpool summon. Thought it would be really cool and fun to have a little Deadpool fighting alongside me. It was a huge plus that the stats were much better than my current cosmic mask. 

Some of my current goals:
Deadpool - Acquire 300 Odin Marks for a Legendary Weapon
Deadpool - Reach Level 60

Reach Crafter Level 20


Current Hero Progress

Deadpool: Level 56
Gambit: Level 23
Colossus: Level 21


Friday 17 January 2014

My Top 5 Games of 2013

So here's a list of my personal top 5 games I played in 2013.. In no particular order..

1. Grand Theft Auto V
No questions here. I know I said no particular order but this game topped it all. Biggest, craziest open-world game ever created. 

Rockstar took a big 'risk' with implementing 3 playable characters, which could have turned out disastrous. A lot of games put plenty of emphasis on their protagonists to sell their game. The main character, the hero, that's who the gamer takes control of. The protagonist is the Star of the Game.

So with 3 characters in GTA V, who's going to take the centre stage or will the focus keep shifting too much that neither character is memorable? But this is Rockstar.. the masters of the Open-World game. They have been the trend-setters for years. To me.. I feel they aced the 3-character system.

3 protagonists and each a character of his own..

Franklin - The typical rags-to-riches kinda guy. He's my typical GTA protagonist. The guy from the hood trying to make a name for himself, running errands for every one in town but his surroundings just keeps pulling him back down.

Michael - The guy who has it all, including a shitty past, that keeps coming back to haunt him over and over again. I can't help but pity this guy. Everyone around him seems to be a jackass, including an extremely dysfunctional family. It was just entertaining to watch him lose his mind each time and I was quietly hoping that it would be a happy ending for him in the end, No doubt, my favourite character of the trio. 

Trevor - Trevor, Trevor.. what can I say about this guy? Probably the craziest character in GTA history.. what a fitting entrance for him. To me, Trevor is the guy every GTA player becomes when he gets tired of completing missions... the player goes on a rampage. Trevor is the epitome of every GTA player's wet dream!

Of course, with a great story and an enormous open-world filled with missions and activities, GTA V was the most stunning game of the generation.

And I haven't even started on the Online. GTA Online could easily have been produced as another stand-alone game and it would have sold millions. For years, GTA fans have wondered about the possibility of bringing their friends into a GTA game.

With GTA Online, Rockstar has delivered a near-perfect experience. Opening up the entire GTA map to a lobby of 16 people, the GTA world becomes your playground. With human players and AI characters all posing a threat, GTA Online has provided a realistic living, breathing GTA world that was every GTA fan's dream.

2. The Last of Us
In terms of plot development and story-telling, this latest project by Naughty Dog, takes top spot.

Never has any game kept me at the edge of the seat like this one. A thrilling story from start to finish, with deep character emotions, this was one helluva emotional roller-coaster ride. 

Post-apocalyptic themes and survival-horror genres have been done before, but no game has combined the two together with a gripping storyline like The Last of Us. Each moment was captured so beautifully and it really brought out the Survival instinct in me. 

I could see myself genuinely trying to avoid confrontation with the enemies instead of attempting to fight my way out of a situation. Never was there a moment that I left my character was strong or well-equipped enough to take on the dangers in front of me.

I did try out the Multiplayer and it was a unique experience. The Multiplayer brought the survival of the fittest theme into it's game modes and it was very different from your typical run-and-shoot modes.

3. Marvel Heroes
A highly under-rated game and one of my favourites of this year. I'm currently hooked on this game, so-much-so that I have gone on hiatus from GTA Online.

This MMORPG from Gazillion Entertainment has plenty of similarities to the Diablo games. No surprise as the President of Gazillion Entertainment is David Brevik, the same master-mind behind the original 2 Diablo games. 

However, the game didn't get off to a great start in my opinion and I blame 2 factors for it. 

1) Its release in May 2013 was at a time where many Diablo 3 players were starting to get tired of it. Marvel Heroes' game-play and mechanics were very similar to Diablo 3 and this brought nothing new to players. More of the same just got players bored and there weren't enough positives in the game to keep players hooked to the game. The fatigue from Diablo 3 and it's similarity had a big say in people's opinion of this game.

2) No decent end-game. This really worked against in favour of the game. After completing the story, there just wasn't enough reason for me to continue playing it. Having paid US $200 for the Founder's pack, I was highly disappointed and was seriously hoping for more content.

After not touching the game for several months, I decided to give it another try after I received an email stating that plenty of changes have been made. Besides, I needed a reason to justify the amount I have paid for this. 

Boy, did they improve the game! The game has so much more content and goals to reach that I'm addicted to this right now. Of course, having paid for the Founder's Pack, I have access to all the heroes that I can never get tired of. 

I intend to start a new section on my blog for a "Marvel Heroes Diary" where I put up the latest updates on my play time in this game. In a way, I'm trying to get more friends playing this game with me or just a place where I can put up my updates for other players to check out. Hope it will be an interesting read and hopefully I will be able to keep up with the updates unlike what happened with my GTA V Diary.

Hopefully, you guys will/are enjoying the game as much as I do.

4. Assassin's Creed IV
I'm going to play cheat a little. To be honest, I have hardly played this game enough to really be able to add this to my Top 5 Games list. Largely, due to Marvel Heroes. Considering this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and obviously being a huge Assassin's Creed fan, it really shows how much Marvel Heroes has got me hooked.

However, I have seen and heard enough of this game to be sure that this would have been in my Top 5 list. (Whatever sense that sentence makes...!)

5. Injustice (Mobile Game)
I couldn't complete this list without adding my mobile companion for most of this year. Injustice was another hugely addictive game that I had spent most of my travelling time playing. 

Injustice is a simple fighting game which also implements the card-upgrading system. Each character is equivalent to a card. As you gain points winning battles, you can upgrade your "card" in several ways. Add different outfits as a different card, and you have a niggling need to collect them all!

While the first few challenges are easy stuff, you will need fully-upgraded characters to complete the last couple of stages. 

New character cards are introduced into the game as challenges. This is where the game becomes interesting. Challenges forces you to use your weaker category of cards, (There are 3 categories; bronze, silver and gold), as well as certain characters for different stages. Till now, you would probably only have trained your best cards so this forces you to improve the other cards as well.

Just as it was getting a bit mundane, a recent update has made these challenges much tougher. This really improved the replay value of this game and a welcome improvement to the game.

I have really enjoyed this free app on my iPhone this past year and I'm looking forward to see more updates in 2014. Hopefully, NetherRealm Studios will do a similar app for the next Mortal Kombat game as they have done for this.
---

So, that's my Top 5 games of 2013. Don't give me flak for including Assassin's Creed IV into the list alright? Have you tried any of these games? What do you think of them? Post some comments below!

Next:
My Top 5 Collectibles of 2013
My Top 5 Wants for 2014