1881

I think the error is assuming that items like Gem of the Kursed are there to be farmed. If the game expected you to have those sorts of items and were balanced around them, then yes, low chance RNG farming would be the worst sort of player hostile bullshit. But I don’t see any evidence that that’s the case. As far as I can tell, it’s not particularly difficult to put together a build that can capably tackle the hardest content in the game (at least, dependent on individual hero tuning) without relying on having all the absolute best in slot items. So what Hand of Doom and Gem of the Kursed and so on are is a lucky windfall. A special exciting event. Trying to chase that deliberately is a road to madness. Albeit one many ARPG/MMO players are apparently prone to going down.

1882

Well, the developers have stated that the items are meant to be farmed. So I guess you have to go upstream a bit and say “the erroneous assumption is that you should farm items like Gem of the Kursed.” And I agree with it. You don’t need to farm these items, even to play Cosmics.

The real issue with these items is that they are very good. They aren’t particularly interesting items, but they are extremely powerful for certain builds. (Required? no. Literally nothing in this game is required. You can run Green terminals at level 60 with 1 point in the skills you want to use). Gem of the Kursed is literally the best artifact you can get for most character builds in terms of damage potential. Black Tom’s Shillelagh is the best item for Energy characters. etc. etc. etc. I would have a lot less of a problem with these items if they weren’t best-in-slot and were instead more esoteric.

With Raids and the ability to inspect players, the game is gelling around the idea that your character should have best-in-slot artifacts to tackle certain content. And making it a gateway to getting accepted by groups with an actual chance of finishing the content. We’ll see where they take the system, but I can easily envision a game space where you’re not allowed into a raid because your equipment does not cut it.

Edit: keep in mind this whole thing started because a guy was disappointed he hadn’t found the White Suit Jacket in 12 runs. I’m just saying that it’s miserable, and if you choose to do it - prepare to be miserable.

1883

This I would have a real problem with, and I agree with you that it’s ease to see it heading this direction. I would hope the developers are going to do something to negate it…maybe have “normal” and “cosmic” versions of raids, so those of us who don’t want to mess with gear issues can do the normal ones.

1884

There are going to be at least two raid difficulties. The current version is said to be somewhere in between, and frankly, requires too much dps for casual players to beat.

Everyone raves over GotK and HoD but that don’t seem that awesome to be honest.

1885

Well no, I merely mentioned that in passing. :) I was legitimately disappointed that I’ve never had Colossus’ slot 2 drop/crafted though, after so many uniques. I doubt I’ll actually trying farming for White Suit Jacket as that’s not really my gaming bag - I’ll just spend the occasional hour or two repeating cosmic Kingpin when I fancy it.

Yeah, Green & Red raid difficulties. Green is going to have a few less mechanics required in the boss fights (they haven’t said specifically which) and is intended to be doable by normally well geared (rather than “raid-level well geared”) characters in a pick up group. And the loot from the raids will be obtainable from other non-raid means, for people who have no interest. Some kind of credit system, I think they said.

1886

Truthfully, all they really need to do is drop the enrage timer. That one change would make it completely doable as long as people are careful.

1887

Cutting mechanics out on Green raids is exactly the wrong thing to do. The whole point of Greens is as a training ground for Reds and how effective can you be if the boss is suddenly doing things that he/she has never done before? Like Misguided said, take out the enrage timer, maybe drop the boss’s hitpoints and damage a little or up the death counter, and congratulations, you’ve got a completely doable raid that still functions as an effective lead-in and training sequence to the Main Event.

Hey let’s do a little straw poll, is anyone actually interested in Raiding? If so, have you participated? I’ll start us out: I really wasn’t very excited about Raids but I wanted to experience the content. I jumped into a pick-up raid with my high-end super-awesome character, got totally smashed down a half-dozen times and gave up on that idea. Tried again with my Super Group, we did ok but I found the fundamental nature of it to be kind of stupid and boring and I hope they never do another one.

1888

I’m in pretty much the same boat as this. I thought, hey, cool, some new content! I was kinda expecting something like City of Heroes had, where you’d have 2-3 teams worth of folks fighting a big boss or two, with some deaths until we learned the ropes, then eventually we’d work it out and take them down. Then I actually tried one, got hammered a dozen times, during which time I mostly was confused about what was going on (and was clearly not alone in this), and the mass dying continued even once the mechanics were explained in the chat. I may try it one more time someday, just to say I’ve done it once, if the opportunity happens to present itself. But I have no desire to make raiding a regular event, nor do I care if they do another one. I’d much rather see more story chapters.

1889

I just downloaded the client and thought about trying this game for the first time. Does anybody have strong recommendations for picking a starter hero? Should I pick based on play-style preference or based on thematic preferences? I am not a min-max player and prefer to just stumble around in a game until I puzzle it out for myself. I really don’t bother reading wikis, following the “metagame”, or anything of that nature.

Thanks,
Todd

1890

I chose Storm, and really enjoyed doing pretty much what you’re describing…I played through the story, picked whatever powers I thought looked cool, and completely ignored the wisdom of the Internet. I changed my tune after I got her up to about 40, and actually looked up a build to see what I could be doing better, but I didn’t really need to. As long as you like playing ranged-attack characters, I can’t think of a better choice.

1891

I am not, no. Marvel Heroes is a game I largely play solo with a podcast going. I have no particular interest in getting involved with anything that requires organized group play or any real precision, at least not in MH. X-Defense is fine but no one ever talks to anyone else in that, you just happen to be murdering things in concert with four other people. I’m down for that.

1892

I usually have the twitch stream of DemiLuna on whilst I play and he tries to spend at least 2 or 3 hours a week raiding. I do find it interesting and it does appeal, but I don’t know that I’ll ever have the gearing and discipline to do it myself. I don’t mind though - I’m happy enough to half watch his groups tackle it on stream (although they’ve not made it to Surtur yet).

I would like to see the content repurposed into Terminal (or story, I guess) form sooner rather than later though, so I can enjoy fighting the fresher faces. Gazillion have vaguely mentioned that they’re going to do something like that, but who knows exactly what or when.

Who are the starter heroes right now? They change them every so often. I know Rocket Raccoon is one. I gather he’s a fun, summoning based character but he’s due his level 52 rework (where they refresh how the character plays, add and remove abilities and structure his progression to run from 1 to 52 rather than 1 to 30) by early august, so he’s going to play a lot better soonish. If Human Torch is still a starter then he’s worth considering as a powerful blaster type of character.

The only heroes to totally avoid for the time being are Cyclops, Jean Grey (both due to be reworked in the next 2 or 3 months, which should sort them out nicely), Thing and Thor (due his rework by the end of the year - he’s fun at the moment but increasingly sub-par as you go up into the higher levels). Unless I’m forgetting anyone.

1893

I wouldn’t -necessarily- avoid Cyclops or Jean Grey. They’re not underpowered or anything. They’re just kinda one note. If that one note (ricocheting force blasts that wreck the entire screen or burning everything to death with Phoenix energy while being in no real danger and never running out of power) suits you, they’re great. But their reworks will hopefully make them a little more varied.

1894

The current starter heroes are:
Captain America
Black Panther
Punisher
Black Widow
Luke Cage
Human Torch
Colossus
Storm
Hawkeye
Rocket Racoon
Daredevil

Based on my very cursory first look Punisher, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Colossus seemed the most interesting to me based on a mix of thematic and mechanical interests. I may take a closer look at the others before I make my choice however.

Thanks for your feedback everyone!
-Todd

1895

Hi Todd,

You can use separate email accounts to create separate MH accounts. This allows you to try out multiple starter heroes. Because progression in MH is so tightly bound to your account, you can expect to choose one over the others eventually, but when first starting, this approach can be useful.

1896

Oh wow, hell of a list there.

The ones I’ve played:
Colossus - If I had a main character, it would be Colossus. The best of the “hard(ish) hitting, tough and tanky” kind of characters, in my opinion. Extremely durable in his latter 20 levels and makes awesome slamming metal noises when you hit with his powers. I really like the build I’m using on him now, as well.
Storm - I took her to level 43 before her level 52 rework arrived the week before last. I’ve just started playing her again the past couple of days and I really enjoy what they’ve done with her. She’s ranged, with a good mix of AOE or single target powers - you can go either route with a good build but even a single target build has some delightful AOE to play with. Lots of lovely lightning FX, which I’m a big fan of! I should have her at 60 by the weekend, based on how much I’m enjoying her.

Ones I have but haven’t really played properly yet:
Captain America - I really want to get going with him soon. Has quite the mix of shield throwing and punching etc powers, with some team (and individual) friendly buffs to draw on. Might be the kind of character you wish you had more buttons for though.
Black Widow - Looks like she can be quite the ranged beast, although apparently she works best as part of a team. I don’t know whether she works as a close combat build, or mixed. I’ll be going ranged when I do play her.
Hawkeye - Apparently good stuff but has a slow start (according to the folks here). Ranged, obviously. Not sure if there’s another element to his build potential though.
Rocket Raccoon - Good now but should be awesome when he gets his level 52 rework around the time of the Guardians Of The Galaxy movie (so early august at the latest). I’m holding off until then. He’s currently based around summoning Groot and a bunch of devices, it seems.
Daredevil - Not very flashy, I gather, but apparently really good to play. Has a combo mechanic around his powers. I assume he’s mostly close combat focussed, although maybe there’s a mixed or ranged approach possible too?
Punisher - I think he’s solid now but he’s due his level 52 rework late in the year. Primarily ranged, as you might expect.

Characters I don’t own:
Human Torch - Everyone says he’s awesome. Ranged, in the “setting fire to your entire monitor” sense of the word. If you level up his ultimate it quite literally melts Midtown boss groups in seconds.
Black Panther - The single target damage king. One I intend to check out sooner, rather than later. Looks like an interesting mix of powers available.
Luke Cage - Sounds intriguing as he can be a bit of a tough damage dealer himself but also has an array of summoning type powers (Iron Fist, Misty Knight, others). I would imagine there are trade offs, as always, but I look forward to checking him out one day.

1897

Black Widow is another one on that list that I’ve really had fun with. I just like throwing grenades that blow up the entire screen, but there’s lots of other ways to play her, too.

1898

Wow, that’s a nice list. Punisher is not in a great place, last I checked. I probably wouldn’t pick him unless you loved the character. If you want ranged, I’d suggest HT or Storm (haven’t played her post-rework, but heard good things). Colossus is a great choice for a melee brawler. Daredevil is a fine choice for a more mobile/agile melee. (Neither of those is flashy, though). Panther would be a bit more flashy melee, but I’ve barely played him yet, so can’t comment too much. Cap is a solid choice, but is a bit of a slow starter. Hawkeye can be devastating, but dies in the blink of an eye and is exceptionally gear-dependent, so maybe not the best choice as a starter. Widow is a lot of fun. Luke Cage has summons and THROWS CARS AT PEOPLE (nuff said). Rocket is interesting, but due for a rework soon (very different playstyle, so maybe not the best choice)

If you can give an idea of what characters you like in other games, we can make a better suggestion.

1899

To be honest I haven’t played many of these action RPG/hack-n-slash/Diablo-like(?) games so I don’t quite know what archetype or play-style I will gravitate towards. I wanted to try one out to shake up my gaming comfort zone and Marvel Heroes has a lot of positive buzz in this forum and from Tom. My untested assumption is that I would prefer ranged characters or high damage dealers even if they are weak defensively (glass cannons) though I could be wrong. On the other hand just smashing stuff with Colossus looks like pure fun.

Thanks to everyone that has posted their thoughts. I have some great information to work from now.

-Todd

1900

Here’s a basic summary of character types. Note that every character has some fluidity; for example even Moon Knight (a tanky melee oriented character) can easily be built hybrid style that craps out ranged damage effectively enough to clear trash enemies even at the Cosmic level. Every character has some area damage (they have to, you’ll be taking on a dozen enemies at a time pretty frequently)

Note: power rankings and such on this assume that you want to be able to competitively play at the Cosmic level. If you don’t care about this, I’ve got great news: you can just totally ignore everything I wrote about power levels and just pick whoever sounds interesting.

TANKS - They get in there, they can take some hits, they dish it out. Toughest dudes in the game, right here, although they are by no means invulnerable as a couple of high damage boss attacks will still make them worry. They can probably take it, though.

Colossus, a melee guy. Tough, hits decently hard.
Moon Knight, hybrid, with an emphasis on melee, gets more dangerous as he loses life. Also has the highest single target damage in the game.
The Thing, the prototypical tank that unfortunately doesn’t do as much damage as he should (BUT is slated for a rework). He’s really, really tough though.
Hulk, he’s tough. Not very strong but getting a rework.

HIT AND RUN - these characters get in, do damage, and try to avoid retaliation through stealthing or some other means

Black Panther, hybrid or melee character with a splashing of area stuff, uses stealth, has good single target damage
Black Widow, supposedly hybrid, uses stealth, haven’t played her at all. Mixed reports from my friends on her.
Nightcrawler, awesome weird melee hybrid who teleports around, leaves damaging zones, and kills stuff. Uses stealth plus teleports
Invisible Woman, turns invisible and uses her decent area damage to rock stuff. Is also great in a party as she adds buffs. Needs a buff.

AREA NIGHTMARES - the whole screen is covered in damaging zones, enemy life bars melt away, welcome to Thunderdome. These are ranged characters which means they are a bit squishier, in general, then melee/hybrid characters and a lot squishier than tanks.

Dr. Strange, hard for new players to use. Requires a lot of execution. Put on a laser light show and yell about the Butt Blasting Breakfast Burritos of Bruce Banner. Really powerful though, if you can handle 2 full bars of skills.
Storm, just got a rework and is in a great place.
Human Torch, when built correctly this dude is top tier.
Scarlet Witch, she’s pretty good.

JUST SORT OF RANGED DUDES - they have ranged attacks, tend to be squishier than the melee guys.

Hawkeye, can get ludicrously high Critical rating. Shoots arrows.
Punisher, has lots of weapons, not in a good spot, will be getting a rework.
Cable, he’s ok and a great terminal clearing machine, but getting a rework.
Rocket Racoon, has two main builds: turrets and guns. Also summons Groot (who is ok, don’t hate on Groot man), got his rework, still not great. Stick to using turrets as his guns are anemic.
Loki, has illusions, a teleport, and can put a lot of different effects on enemies. Not very tough though.
Silver Surfer has some good ranged, some good movement powers, and you know what? His area power ain’t half bad either. He also has a channeled single-target beam that can give Moon Knight a run for his money if you build around it. Interesting character.
Iron Man is a solid all-arounder that mostly plays with ranged/area effect stuff, and he’s pretty tough to boot. He also has a way to turn his maximum Spirit level into more damage, which gives him some very interesting gear options.
Star-Lord has got ranged damage, AOE options, and can frequently pop off and do tremendous melee damage to a single target. He’s a beast. Just stay out of the Elemental tree; at the time of this writing (Sep 8 2014) it’s garbage but the developers have promised to look at it.

JUST SORT OF MELEE GUYS - they get in there, and tend to be tougher than the ranged guys. They are distinguished from tanks by generally doing more damage (or having more area effects) but not being quite as tough.

Daredevil, melee dude. Solid character, no real flash, but gets the job done.
Luke Cage, melee with a smattering of summonings including the ability to call in 4 Heroes for Hire at once for a short period of time. Has one great area power too. Don’t be fooled, though - you should play and gear him as a melee powerhouse.
Captain America, melee + shield throw, pretty tanky actually. This was a tough one, I didn’t know where to put him.
Wolverine, he’s the best there is at what he does (which is stacking bleed effects on people) and is pretty tough, too, if you give him a moment to regenerate.

ONE-TRICK BUILDS - these characters generally have one strong way to be played and woe betide those who don’t enjoy it. Again I stress: if you don’t care about Cosmics you can do whatever you like, just read the last sentence.

Special note: as of Sept 8 2014, every single one of these characters is getting reviewed/updated in order to give them viability. So that’s good!

Ghost Rider - Whirling Chains. Stands still and whips a chain around. He’s supposed to be a movement/Area Nightmare character.
Cyclops - One Eye. One Button. And that button is Ricochet Shot. Supposed to be a ranged character.
Jean Grey - Phoenix Form, stuff just dies while you sort of float around. Supposed to be a hybrid character who switches form.

HYBRIDS can be built ranged or melee, and tend to (but not always) work best as a combination of both

Spiderman plays well as a movement based wacky hybrid. Has a crazy powerful bosskilling punch that can brutal for 500k.
Emma Frost us a minion-using telepathic ranged character (or diamond-skinned melee brawler, or both! Although apparently that’s a pretty tough build)
Deadpool is hybrid or ranged. He’s also annoying.
Taskmaster, can be built deceptively tough in both ranged + melee department or hybrid. Is also only 200 splinters. My advice: buy Taskmaster as your first splinter character.
Ms Marvel, she’s cool.
Thor, he craps damage if geared correctly but doesn’t play like you think Thor should. He’s hard to level, too.
Psylocke, I haven’t really messed with her.
Gambit, he’s got ranged and melee! And summons Rogue for his Ultimate.
Mr. Fantastic has got melee attacks with huge range, some beam weapons, some area debuffs, etc. but he’s best when he is bouncing around and stomping on people’s heads like Mario. Probably need to make a “movement” category of hero and put him in there with Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, and Hulk.

BEST OF THE REST Odd characters that don’t fit into the other areas

Squirrel Girl can be built as melee, ranged, or as pet focused (but needs the right gear for that last one, so be careful)
Rogue is a character optimization lover’s dream, with over 100 potential powers that let her do anything from be a ranged blaster to melee powerhouse to pet class (?!??!). Probably the wackiest, least standard character in any ARPG, anywhere.

I hope this helps you make your decision.

Edit: Updated Sep 8 2014