Marvel Heroes won't be coming back. Like (for)ever.
I don't have to up the link because it's indeed official. Gazillion is shutting down Marvel Heroes Omega. This is the second high profile casualty in Marvel's history. While I won't make any assumption concerning Disney, it must be said that games operate on a budget. And to have a budget, you need money. To have money, you need profit.
I recall playing Marvel Avengers Alliance (for the FB version). The first thing I noticed is that the game is fun. However, there's a wee nagging feeling that something's not right. Namely, the fact that you can farm gold free of charge. There were two ways to get gold for free. Either you level up (and even then, it seems that getting gold was more about the rng than a rigged deal) or in Gambit's own words, pick a card. Any card. In other words, players had less reason to spend.
Then there was the business model for Marvel Heroes Omega. Apparently, the game was touted to be that F2P MMO for the F2P fanbase. In other words, players had less reason to spend.
Lessons to be learnt?
Seeing the sad fate of two very well-done games inadvertently brings to mind Cryptic's business model. If the Marvel games were running on a socialist business model, then Cryptic is still running on a capitalist system. There is a reason why gamers cried foul over the pay-to-win modus operandi, it's called... well, capitalism.
The F2P gaming industry is no different from the traditional gaming industry. In fact, it has to work under the same rule dictating every industry existing in the world, be they legal or illegal. That rule is supply and demand. If there is any difference between the gaming industry and the fitness gym-studio industry, it'd be the application of this rule. For the latter example, application relies on location. Therefore, liking more than one yoga studio or fitness gym on FB is like telling the whole wide world that you have too much money and free time to burn. For the former case, it's all about creativity. Since you don't need to waste time and money on more than one place, it means you're entitled the convenience of liking more than one game on FB.
What this means is that the gaming industry can be quite cutthroat in nature. On one hand, someone being a fan of The Last Story doesn't mean that person should never be a fan of The Witcher 3. On the other hand, it also means the Polish blokes at CD Projekt RED would have to create a polished masterpiece to ensure the aforementioned fan's loyalty. On the first glance, industries promoting single-target loyalty (e.g. the fitness gym-studio industry) are more competitive. In reality, industries promoting multiple-target loyalty (e.g. the gaming industry) are the competitive ones. This is NOT to say single-target loyalty discourages competition. It's like imagining a land grab scenario. The smaller the land, the less need for expansion (this is provided we're talking about the logic of free for all market). On the other end, the larger the land, the more need for expansion.
While Cryptic has changed its business strategy since Kelemvor decided to exterminate that annoying lizard (no, I'm not referring to you, Malakut), there remains a viable business strategy. No matter how terribly crap Cryptic was in its previous dealings with the fanbase, I have to acknowledge the need for profit all in the name of budget. The two Marvel F2P games basically lost out in this area. They gave the fans what they want, but they failed to give themselves what they need.
The golden rule of ideology is very simple: If you're a capitalist, it means you're a greedy bastard. This is most likely why my country's government got scolded left, right, and centre since 1965, Mr Lee or no Mr Lee. If you're a socialist, however, it means you're a brainless spendthrift. This is most likely why the Soviet Union lost the Cold War.
While it remains to be seen what Marvel will do in the event it's trying to start another MMO foray, the execs upstairs will need to make some hard decisions. They will have to risk pissing off the fanbase when it comes to long-term survival. Replay value can only give this much back to the studio, I'm pretty sure the people at Gazillion now understand this albeit at a painful price. Giving the fans a boring alternative to farm stuff which shouldn't be free in the first place can only earn this much for the studio. I'm pretty sure the brains behind Marvel Avengers Alliance are now wondering whether they made the wrong move. Creating a game is like building a nation, creating a viable business model is like creating a... well, tax system (yes, I know what you're gonna say. No one likes to pay taxes because it's the only absolute thing in life apart from death).
Lest we forget, it's arguably easier to survive in the fitness gym-studio industry.
Fact: Kavatos is not God
There's something buggy going on today when I resumed taking down Gyrion the Ascending Pretender. Fact is, Kavatos is not God, therefore his jumping spell is not omnipotent. I don't care whether Cryptic is predominantly #TeamJones or #TeamMoore because... well, we all know Gyrion is also not God even though he did ascend from the platform after you defeated him.
Why I'm mentioning something 100% factual is this: The jumping part has gone buggy. Yes, you read it right. The jumping part has gone buggy. More specifically the first round.
Originally, the first round consisted of only one sequence where the positioning of motes was concerned. Today, I noticed there were two variations instead of just one sequence. While it makes the Super Mario moment less boring (although it must be said that multiple invasion for any River District boss HQ means progressive difficulty), the stupid thing about the jump is the fact that one of the two variations is bugged.
Let me summarise how the two variations look like. Without the aid of diagrams and videos (because I'm either a tech idiot or a tech Amish), the first variation takes a shorter time to clear while the second version involves the motes positioned on a wider arc (i.e. the second version takes around twice as long to complete). The second variation was only added on today while the first variation was the original Sanders. The problem? Something went wrong and the original Sanders got a flu bug.
The bug went like this: Once I reached the final mote, it should be fine for me to jump and land. By right, that'd have given me a rightful shot at taking on Gyrion the Ascending Pretender on the round 2 basis. However, I couldn't jump and land. Under normal circumstances, the circle should be yellow. In this situation, the circle was white. Which means jumping is #IMPOSSIBRU no matter how I adjusted the positioning of the circle.
So what to do? No choice, let myself die.
Thankfully, the next jump post-respawn was an easier task. At least it's easy enough for me to clear it without another #RESPAWNLOL and the paranoid feeling that someone in Cryptic has a problem with me. Interestingly, the next jump actually involved the second variation.
So what it means is this: If your first attempt belongs to the original Sanders, please be mentally prepared to die at the last hurdle. In fact, you will die at the last hurdle. Bloody Nine Hells, why am I sounding like some Dumbfoundead Korean?
Of course, this also means that if your first attempt belongs to the longer route, please make sure you complete before you die. Otherwise, you may be forced to take the original Sanders' path to failure come the second try. Note that the reason why I said "may be forced" instead of "will be forced" is due to the fact that I'm not interested to be anybody's guinea pig.
Beyond the Super Mario buggy deal, I also need to advise all my fellow Neverwinners on this: When you jump, make sure there's no solid object in front of you. This is VERY important because Kavatos is not God and therefore, his jump spell is not omnipotent. The moment you get something like a bench, a bed, or candlestand in front of you, PLEASE GET YOURSELF IN FRONT OF THOSE THINGS BEFORE YOU DIE!!!!!!! If you don't do that, the jump spell won't proc, and... well, you'll die. Full stop.
And lastly (before I go on to the next part), please... seriously, PLEASE get yourself a movement buff. It can come in the form of drinks like the Lightwine or any movement food buff purchasable from the barmaid. Note that you'll have one in your guild stronghold and another one in Chult. Just don't ask me which one is more attractive because I don't want my future mom-in-law to slaughter me.
Choice of Ascendancy: Cyrea Durothil
This provided I decided to go one step further. Right now, I'm perfectly fine with her using the Chultan weapon set. While the set bonus is the worst I've ever seen, I'll have to say it makes for a good alternative to sets like Twisted and the Elemental Evil ones. For one, it takes only a decent amount of astral diamonds to bid-hijack in the auction house (i.e. buy it straight instead of bidding). Put together the pricing for the main hand and off-hand, all you need is around 40-50K. At least that's how I remember it. Secondly, the item level is higher. Put one and one together and you'll get two. Simply put, it's a better deal for alts since you won't be running them too much anyway.
Assuming I'm gonna let Cyrea choose her ideal set, it would be Fey set. This is basically the only set that is heal-friendly. Even though she's now a righteous maiden of Corellon's fury and Mystra's wrath, I still use her as a healer. It's only a question of how much healing is involved. Previously when she was a faithful spec (for one of the loadouts, that is), Lifeforged is the choice since it gave a much better survival game. If you're running righteous spec, however, Fey set is your only choice since it's the only set that gives outgoing heal bonus. In fact, it synergises very well with Light of Divinity. Once you get the Tiamat set as well, that's it. Everybody would want you in their squad. And to set the record straight, Cyrea is now currently using Light of Divinity and Tiamat set.
Choice of Ascendancy: Myrreas
Aboleth set. It's a no-brainer seriously. Yes, Mirage set may seem like a better choice. However, Myrreas is more of a stack-per-kill build (to set the record straight, I got him a Bloodlord's Visage via a Castle Never raid. At the same time, his raiding loadout is an executioner, so it makes sense to make a feast out of the stack-per-kill. Of course, this is not to say Mirage set is useless for trickster rogues. To be honest, I won't be surprised if it goes well with saboteurs, perma-stealth or no perma-stealth (read: Saboteurs are even more reliant on the asap body count, but they don't do kill-buffing since that's the executioner's territory).
And because Myrreas is the typical executioner (i.e. with kill-buff feats included), Aboleth makes perfect sense since there's a chance of proc'ing the death explosion. In fact, Aboleth set is most likely an executioner's tools of the trade (two other builds benefitting greatly from Aboleth set is the fury scourge warlock and thaumaturge control wizard due to their one-shot fireworks). Also, lifesteal. 2.5K bonus may not be that much of a big deal in raiding, but it sure is friendly in solo open world PvE (that is unless you're a temptation scourge warlock, in which this case the 2.5K lifesteal can result in a dps orgy known as Dark Revelry. I think it's now nerfed, though).
Choice of Ascendancy: Arylos
Again, it's Aboleth set. Originally, I might have stated that Lifeforged is the recommended one for combat specs. The thing is, using Lifeforged means lower dps. While this would give the combat hunter rangers better survivability (i.e. something separating the men from the boys), I find that Aboleth can do a lot more given the right moveset.
Which now comes to the need to respec. While I only need to do a feats-boons respec, 116K astral diamonds is no small sum. I still need coalescent wards and preservation wards, not to mention as well those superior marks of potency. Provided things go according to plan, what is going to happen is that either I'll use two respec tokens or one respec token and a feats-boons respec. The current loadouts are a bit messed up in terms of the TCA fina boons. I don't want to explain why because that'd take up unwanted space.
What I can say, however, is this: For solo open world PvE (i.e. I actually named it Knight of Feywild), the last boon should have been Vision of Beyond. Even though it got nerfed to 10% stamina regen (apparently, 12% stamina regen via crit hit was too much for people to handle in PvP), it should be good enough to play dodge and fight in Chult. See those cute dinos making that annoying noise? Yeah, I'm talking about those annoying Jurassic Park reptiles. Tbh, I got myself a shorter killing time with Vision of Beyond compared to Planar Vitality.
For the raiding loadout (because I don't do PvP plus the fact that actual motivation for PvP has been doused since banner artifacts apart from Champion's Banner aren't that in-demand come Mod 6 and beyond), Sword of Kelemvor involves Vision of Beyond instead of Planar Vitality. My decision to switch to Aboleth set despite having a Trailblazer set lies in the fact that not many players play Assault on Svardborg (at least not on the normal difficulty basis). While it's economically better to just unlock Storvald's damn HQ in the campaign progress window (believe it or not, I've yet to finish that bloody thing). it's less stressful for me in the long run if I just get Arylos an Aboleth set with a legendary Trailblazer set as a nice bonus instead. Also, it took me only 4 cubes of augmentation to unlock the class feature bonus every hunter ranger wants in his/her off-hand weapon. Namely, Aspect of the Pack. Combine it with Blade Storm and it makes for a better dps on a consistent basis.
Right now, I'm nearing the completion of the set. All I need is like 4-5 more Tainted Soil and enough astral diamonds to get the rest (read: Volatile Ichor and Arcane Magical Writings). In fact, the fastest way to finish your River District daily quest is ritual spamming. You'll need plenty of reclaimed magic to do that, though.
If things go according to plan, I'll have to ditch Split the Sky/Throw Caution and the Warden's Courage feat. Instead, I'll most likely be using Marauder's Rush, Oak Skin, and Plant Growth. Since I have no intention to tweak my Icewind Dale boons, what it means is that Rousing Warmth will still be an effective weapon. Coupled with Planar Vitality and the Wilds Medicine feat, it should make Arylos into a decent dps monster with decent survivability to boot. Interestingly, that'd bring Death's Blessing into the picture. Should I just ditch it or keep it? Think I should just ditch it for Lingering Curse since I'm going for Aboleth set? Arylos thinks like Frank Castle. And that includes end-game fights.
And lastly...
Which one is better for the dps? Mirage or Aboleth? Some, if not most, gamers would have gotten a decent answer to this question. If it's PvE, then go Aboleth. If you're more of a PvP or 50-50 between the two, then it should be Mirage. Let me give some factors to consider about. After all, you'll most likely need to upgrade the campaign store to rectify your mistake once you make the wrong call.
The first factor is what kind of dps monster are you. This is not a case of hdps or CC-dps. I'm referring to whether you're a hit and run type or someone who whacks the opposition without budging. Mirage is more for hit and run because the illusions can do the dirty job for you in case you're too busy trying to keep yourself out of trouble. For melee based hunter rangers, this is especially important due to hunter rangers having the lowest dodge frames in-game. If you're either a great weapon fighter (even for a sentinel tankjob), guardian fighter, or a justice oathbound paladin, then Aboleth should be your choice. In fact, Aboleth set can be absurdly effective for pure guardian fighter tanks if there's a plaguefire enchantment slotted. I'm not pulling this out of my ass. I happen to know a tank by the name of Frankenstein. He's not part of my guild, but he's part of my alliance. Trust me, his tanking is outright monstrous like Frankenstein's monster. The reason being his plaguefire enchantment. And yes, that Frankensteiner is a guardian fighter.
The second factor is whether you're a single target or AoE dps build. If you're a single target based dps, most likely it means you're a hdps. In this case, using Aboleth means you'll need to kill mobs asap because the 4% damage bonus proc won't bail you out forever. In fact, it's not even meant as a bailout option. If you want a bailout, go get Lifeforged set. However, single target dps builds tend to benefit even better from Mirage. This is due to the illusions increasing the AoE. It's simple maths. One person can only cover this much area, but 2-3 individuals can cover like... maybe twice or thrice the range? Either way, combat advantage still applies where the illusions are concerned. In duelling and maximising an otherwise limited AoE into something actually decent against any mob, Mirage is a good choice. Whether it's better... well, it depends on whether you're a furylock or executioner. Thaumaturge benefits greatly from the death explosion proc as well, but Mirage set may be a better fit due to thaumaturge builds being more of a single target dps. This is provided we're not talking about the Master of Flame paragon class. Which in this case the single target logic would be thrown out of the window. AoE dps builds tend to benefit more from Aboleth set. This is because AoE dps tends to deal less damage in exchange for better range. This is especially effective for the damage over time proc while the death explosion tends to proc more in raid instances. For the lifesteal proc, it's recommended that you get a mount that can give Assassin's Covenant since that would mean 250 increase in power.
P.S: Someone in my alliance actually asked me which set is better for dps DC. I answered Mirage set. Don't laugh. Mirage set is basically the best bet for any dps DC since lifesteal is basically useless for any DC. In fact, dps DC requires a steady stream of dps despite having one of, if not the best, AoE gameplay in Neverwinter. Basically, that makes Mirage set even better than Aboleth. Let alone Fey and Lifeforged.
The first factor is what kind of dps monster are you. This is not a case of hdps or CC-dps. I'm referring to whether you're a hit and run type or someone who whacks the opposition without budging. Mirage is more for hit and run because the illusions can do the dirty job for you in case you're too busy trying to keep yourself out of trouble. For melee based hunter rangers, this is especially important due to hunter rangers having the lowest dodge frames in-game. If you're either a great weapon fighter (even for a sentinel tankjob), guardian fighter, or a justice oathbound paladin, then Aboleth should be your choice. In fact, Aboleth set can be absurdly effective for pure guardian fighter tanks if there's a plaguefire enchantment slotted. I'm not pulling this out of my ass. I happen to know a tank by the name of Frankenstein. He's not part of my guild, but he's part of my alliance. Trust me, his tanking is outright monstrous like Frankenstein's monster. The reason being his plaguefire enchantment. And yes, that Frankensteiner is a guardian fighter.
The second factor is whether you're a single target or AoE dps build. If you're a single target based dps, most likely it means you're a hdps. In this case, using Aboleth means you'll need to kill mobs asap because the 4% damage bonus proc won't bail you out forever. In fact, it's not even meant as a bailout option. If you want a bailout, go get Lifeforged set. However, single target dps builds tend to benefit even better from Mirage. This is due to the illusions increasing the AoE. It's simple maths. One person can only cover this much area, but 2-3 individuals can cover like... maybe twice or thrice the range? Either way, combat advantage still applies where the illusions are concerned. In duelling and maximising an otherwise limited AoE into something actually decent against any mob, Mirage is a good choice. Whether it's better... well, it depends on whether you're a furylock or executioner. Thaumaturge benefits greatly from the death explosion proc as well, but Mirage set may be a better fit due to thaumaturge builds being more of a single target dps. This is provided we're not talking about the Master of Flame paragon class. Which in this case the single target logic would be thrown out of the window. AoE dps builds tend to benefit more from Aboleth set. This is because AoE dps tends to deal less damage in exchange for better range. This is especially effective for the damage over time proc while the death explosion tends to proc more in raid instances. For the lifesteal proc, it's recommended that you get a mount that can give Assassin's Covenant since that would mean 250 increase in power.
P.S: Someone in my alliance actually asked me which set is better for dps DC. I answered Mirage set. Don't laugh. Mirage set is basically the best bet for any dps DC since lifesteal is basically useless for any DC. In fact, dps DC requires a steady stream of dps despite having one of, if not the best, AoE gameplay in Neverwinter. Basically, that makes Mirage set even better than Aboleth. Let alone Fey and Lifeforged.
