The Hero School Review: Arc Reactor Charge, Cosmic Flame and More
Credits: Concept by Stan Faryna. Artwork by Tabitha Moon.
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T H E H E R O S C H O O L R E V I E W I S S U E NO. 4
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The Review for Gold Gear, Heros, Uniforms and Loot in Playdom’s Marvel Avengers Alliance Game for Facebook and Playdom.com
Edited by Stan Faryna
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Elbow, Lippy Kids (aka Build a Rocket)
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Epic Boss Reward: Arc Reactor Charge
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Arc Reactor Charge
Ever since Spec Ops 1, there is an expectation that the epic boss reward is a must have. Maybe, just because it is an epic boss reward. But also because, an epic boss reward should be uber. And, yes, an epic boss reward should be uber because the fight is hard and not everyone is lucky enough to get it in the fixed roulette.
An epic boss reward should change the game for you. For a month – at the very least. It should give an edge.
Being that there are two epic boss rewards in Spec Ops 3, the excitement and expectations are now doubled.
There’s the rub.
Because the Arc Reactor is interesting. But is it interesting enough to justify a player’s continued interest and investment in this seeming parody of online entertainment?!
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Playdom-Disney rolled out it’s unwelcome nerf on the customization sets in a completely transparent and ape-ish maneuver to stimulate Gold purchases. Power level for customizable gear set to five levels above your agent’s current level.
This deserves our contempt. And much noise!
So the Arc Reactor Charge is a disappointment before we even begin to consider the would-be juicy stats.
Arc Reactor Charge Stats
Quick Action is always desirable – especially if the gear’s primary stats are less than desirable. Which, in fact, is the case.
Slow Recharge needs to be replaced with an automatic, stackable Phoenix Rebirth! Stat. I’m saying that Phoenix Rebirth should be initiated on the first round and continue to the end of the battle. Just because the the gear is equipped.
Were they trying to making fun of us?
The Marvel Avengers Alliance… game content designers should all be fired for their lack of commitment to good design – design is about solving problems – not creating whole new problems like what’s going on: growing contempt of the customer for the brand.
Reactor Overload should stick for 4 rounds.
Is it worth 64 Gold?
And that’s the bottom line. If an epic boss reward is not worth 64 gold to players- it was a design fail.
As soon as Playdom-Disney rolls out the unofficial and unannounced fix (like they do all the time) per the recommendations I’ve made above, the Arc Reactor will measure up to our minimum expectations – but not sooner.
Oh – some other things.
Spec Ops Epic Boss Rewards should have a power setting 20 levels above the agent level.
And they should give PVP bonus ratings that make them worthy of use as a PVP bonus and as “flare”. In other words, they should give a PVP bonus of no less than a total bonus of 1500 points.
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Epic Boss Reward: Cosmic Flame
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Cosmic Flame
The Cosmic Flame shares the same defects of the Arc Reactor Charge. Among those defects are the handicapped power level and low PVP bonus. And that’s reason enough to make noise about the Cosmic Flame. But it gets worse when we consider the stats.
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Arc Reactor Charge Stats
Again, Quick Action is always desirable – especially if the gear’s primary stats are less than desirable. Which, in fact, is the case.
Phoenix Rebirth just sounds cool – unless it was stackable 5x. Otherwise, it remains a red herring.
Soul’s Wrath might interesting if it acted also as a passive for the Agent equipping Cosmic Flame. More importantly, it’s target should be All Allies and it should persist for 3 rounds. In such case, Cooldown can bee adjusted to 3 rounds.
Is it worth 64 Gold?
If they fix it according to the recommendations above, Cosmic Flame might be worth 40 Gold to players.
Because there’s nothing COSMIC about the Cosmic Flame.
To be worth 64 Gold, Purification Rite must be added.
What the hell is Purification Rite? It removes debuffs from All Allies. Because that what Cosmic Flames do. Duh!
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Enlightenment
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Spec Ops 3
Spec Ops 3 could have been epic. It should have been epic! This is an important story line. But it was not.
The boss rewards are lack luster and the nerf of the power level customization makes them nothing more than kitschy trinkets.
Only fools and noobs could be enthusiastic.
Beyond the shitty rewards, the boss fights were as easy as they were disappointing. 65 XP for the 1 Wave Boss fights in Mission 3- WTF?!
Other complaints out there:
http://www.playdom.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=92901&p=903849#p903849
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Magik
The verdict on the un-nerfed Magik is being deliberated. Stay tuned and subscribe (if you are not already subscribed to this blog).
Is Magik going to be the new star of PVP?
Enquiring minds want to know and the Hero School Review team is leveling her up and putting her through the fire.
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Tournament Rewards
There’s every reason to abandon Marvel Avengers Alliance on Facebook. Because the gifting sucks. Because it’s not social. Because there’s tournaments.
Tournament Rewards, however, need a fix.
You can read my proposal for a fix here:
If you could add an encouraging comment to the post, I would be grateful.
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Exploits
Unintended glitches happen and may make gear better than intended by Playdom-Disney. If you discover an uber exploit that will make us all think twice about a seemingly unwise purchase, please let us know in the comments.
Previous Hero and Other School Reviews
Issue No. 1: Traumatic Post and Future Foundation (FF) Spiderman Uniform
Issue No. 2: Transcranial Stimulator and Techno-Organic Endoskeleton
Issue No. 3: Omni-Fury, Crystal Shiv, and 4 more additional gear slots
Issue No. 5: Eric Hallford should be banned from the Playdom.com forums
Issue No. 6: Phoenix Five Uniforms for Phoenix, Emma, Colossus, Cyclops
Issue No. 7: PVP Rewards and Gangnam Style: DeadPool by the numbers
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Marvel Avengers Alliance Profiles and other heroes:
Omega Database: Heroes: Rogue
Omega Database: Heroes: Gambit
Muhammad Ali
Bassel Shehade
Mohammed Nabbous
21 September 2012
Bucharest, Romania
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Follow me on Twitter: @Faryna