If there’s one constant in the gaming universe, it’s that every MMO player has a wish list. It’s almost impossible to spend any length of time in a title without thinking of what you would love to see added or improved or changed. When you see others echoing those desires, it can be both comforting (you’re not alone!) and maddening (why won’t the studio listen?).
In many respects, I think that Marvel Heroes is a terrific and highly accessible game. I wouldn’t change a thing about its business model, for example, nor how the devs continually add new characters and costumes. But I can’t help but note some of the weaker parts of the game and crave some features that simply aren’t there.
So today I’m going to get it all out of my system and give you my six-point wish list. Let me know your own wish list in the comments!
1. Housing
It’s unnerving to me that there’s a big hole in Marvel Heroes when it comes to housing, whether it be the individual or guild variety. After all, superheroes are often portrayed in the comics as having a lair or base of operations, yet the playerbase are basically nomads, mooching off of iconic hubs while never having a place to call home.
Yes, I would love to see housing of a sort come to the game, preferrably through an expandable base system that would allow you to cosmetically decorate while also adding practical features (S.T.A.S.H., crafting, etc.). Giving supergroups a place to hang out together and even engage in limited PvP or raucous parties would be excellent. I think it’d be pretty awesome if supergroup bases would be the target of the occasional dynamic event where villains attempt to invade and the heroes have to fight back.
Unfortunately, it seems as if Gazillion isn’t that interested in making player housing happen, so pthhbbt on that notion.
2. Better customization
I’ve been asked to make comparisons between the beloved City of Heroes and this title, and while there are a few points of commonalities (such as the light show of combat), the truth is that both titles represent different parts of the superhero MMO spectrum. One area in which Marvel Heroes couldn’t be any further away from City of Heroes is with its conspicuous lack of a deep, rich character customization system.
And while I would never expect Marvel Heroes to suddenly let you create a hero from the ground-up (this isn’t that type of game), I sincerely wouldn’t mind if there were some effort made to provide more customization than there is at the present. Costume swapping and equipping the odd artifact to provide auras are nice, but we still exist in a sea of clones without much opportunity to express player creativity in character design. Creating costumes that have dye patches, adjustable logos, or even being able to break up costume pieces to mix-and-match would be welcome.
3. Supergroup improvements
Now that I’ve both been in and run a supergroup (Massively Underpowered — shoot Sypster a tell for an invite!), I can say with certainty that Marvel Heroes is sadly lacking in its guild tools. You can create one, structure ranks, invite others, write a message of the day, and… well, that’s about it. There are no in-game calendars, no supergroup halls, no supergroup logos/capes, and no tools to make the organization and running of supergroup activities easier.
While we’re on the topic, it would be just smashing if Marvel Heroes would allow us to join multiple supergroups. Since you’re limited to being part of only one per account, that really hurt when you have friends in separate SGs both requesting your presence. Would it hurt to be part of both?
4. Craftable uniques/artifacts
I feel that crafting in this game is not quite what it could and perhaps should be. My bank is chock-full of crafting mats that are going unused because I have to pull them out for only a few projects per character.
Considering how screwed we can get by the RNG at times, why not open the door to collecting recipes to craft artifacts and uniques? I’m always for multiple paths to the same goals, and while I appreciate that Marvel Heroes has added some uniques as rewards for achievements, some “must have” items are still far too difficult to obtain, particularly when you’re trying to gear up multiple characters. I’d love to be able to occasionally be able to take a good chunk of my crafting mats and turn them into an item I can actually use.
5. More female characters
Not every player wants to play male characters, but as in the comic book industry, there are more guy characters in Marvel Heroes than girls. According to one thread, even with gender-swapping costumes, there is only one playable female hero in the game to every two male heroes. That doesn’t sit right with me, and it shouldn’t with Gaz.
I know we have more female characters incoming, which is great, but the studio should make a concerted effort to getting that ratio balanced. Adding in even more gender-bending costumes (which I totally love, by the way) is a great way to do this, and it’s even in keeping with the spirit of the comics since many characters have had an opposite-sex counterpart.
6. Revamp the gear system
While veteran players might be completely used to the layer cake design of Marvel Heroes’ gear, if you take an objective step back, then it’s hard to deny that it’s more than a little convoluted and difficult to understand. There’s just too much stuff with too many types of modifications, requiring too much work and many types of resources to properly gear a new hero. Considering that Marvel Heroes is built around wanting players to continually acquire and level an ever-growing roster of heroes, I think it’s disadvantageous to keep adding on to a gear system that’s already teetering from over-tinkering.
While I don’t want to see the game streamlined down to Fisher-Price land, I would be for be all for a revamp pass so that it is easy to grok for the newcomer while still providing depth to the experienced player.
