Gazillion is set to overhaul much of Marvel Heroes this year. The plan includes a massive patch in which every single character on the roster gets a big QoL update. Some players may be fearful that their favorite characters could be overhauled for the worse, some are somewhere in between excited and apprehensive, but me? I’m super excited. This update represents an opportunity to experience the game again like new. There are plenty of characters I’d love to play that are either a chore to play now or I’ve simply given up on altogether. This week, we’ll highlight a couple of the reworks we’re looking forward to most.
X-23
Laura is my current “main” in Marvel Heroes and her design is so archaic it hurts. The character features two main builds: movement and bleeds and neither allow her to even use their requisite wrath spender attacks. Given Laura’s short cooldowns, you’d be hard pressed to find a space to spam wrath spenders such as Slash and Hack or Capoeira in between your cooldown moves and basic attacks used to build your wrath back up.
Despite these issues, Laura is actually playable right now thanks to a number of any hero uniques, particularly Skrull’s Mighty Hammer, that allow her to at least hit higher ranks on her optimal skills. You kind of have to brute force making her work, but it’s doable. She’s a blast to play when she works and she’s got some cool power animations, so I’d love for her to be more than simply doable. This new update represents an opportunity for this oft-neglected 200 Splinter hero to get some much needed love.
Storm
Storm actually works pretty well right now, but she’s clunky to play and incredibly mana hungry. My biggest issues with Storm stem from having to cast Sudden Tornadoes for maximum DPS. I don’t mind the power at face value. Tornadoes are cool. The issue is that you need to manually press the power five times every 10s to keep all five tornadoes going. Ugh. It’s a huge pain. Storm fans have also been looking forward to a more viable wind spec for some time now and this is her chance to get one. Personally, I’m all about that lightning, but it’d be nice to have some more wind based options (other than the aforementioned tornadoes).
I know everyone wants a massive tornado for her ultimate, but I’m really a huge fan of her current one, so I’m hoping this doesn’t get touched (but I’m expecting it will).
Magneto
Mags is probably the most neglected high profile character in Marvel Heroes. Magneto hasn’t really been touched much since he first debuted. In fact, he’s been so neglected that his signature ability still scales off of power duration, even though the rest of the cast has had this function removed. He’s incredibly clunky to play, with a debris secondary resource that makes you put more work into what is otherwise a standard ranged character rotation for no real payoff. His stances also have associated powers that are actually a DPS loss to use. He needs a lot of work and is likely to benefit greatly from this update. I’m excited to see what Gaz has in store for the Master of Magnetism.
Human Torch
We’ve already seen some of Johnny’s rework and I seriously can’t wait to play him. The removal of mana as a resource and the purely beneficial overheating mechanic whereby Johnny simply gains additional benefits to the powers he’s already using while overheated both sound like great additions to the character. Torch is the kind of character you want to keep going with and have high moments of explosiveness, so I’m really digging the direction. Learning that we’ll be able to replace the silly Flame Wall power with the new (and awesome looking) Flame Wave is a huge plus, too.
Now all we need for Johnny is a VU. I’d love to see his Annihilus costume in greater detail, so hopefully Gaz has that in store for him at some point.
Psylocke
Rounding out what is admittedly an X-Men heavy list, is one of my favorite Marvel characters ever, Psylocke. It’s been frustrating watching newer character designs such as Kitty Pryde, Magik, and most recently, Elektra, showcase a more fully realized version of Psylocke’s original kit. Psylocke’s kit is fine thematically, but could really benefit from the lessons Gaz has clearly learned from iterating on her basic design through other characters. Doing something with Psylocke’s clones would be at the top of my priority list. Having to ensure the clones are up for maximum damage and weave in Psionic Vortex every two Assassinates just makes Psylocke frustrating and clunky to play.
Overall, I'm happy with Psylocke, I’d just like to see a lot of that clunkiness smoothed out some.
Which character reworks are at the top of your shortlist? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
