Closed Beta Build 1.0.2447.0

Closed Beta Build 1.0.2447.0 May 14, 2013

**We have wiped in-game progress with this new patch and apologize for the inconvenience!**

Welcome to the final major Closed Beta build for Marvel Heroes (but not the final patch!). This patch introduces many new content and balance changes. Enjoy!

## Account Reset

Due to the sweeping nature of the content and balance changes in this patch, all account progress has been reset. This should be the final reset in Closed Beta (remember, all progress will be wiped before Early Game Access begins).

## Content Additions

### New Hero

The wild man of Borneo, Cable enters the fight! Cable uses a combination of futuristic weaponry and mental based powers as well as various tactical abilities. Acquire him from the in-game store or as a drop to play as this futuristic warrior!

### Ultimate Powers

Each playable hero now has one ultimate power. Ultimate powers are extremely powerful attacks that heroes unlock upon reaching level 30. After unlocking, you can increase a hero’s ultimate powers by finding a hero token for that hero from end game bosses.

### Endgame

* Defeating Dr. Doom was only the beginning with new replayable End Game Missions! Players can receive rare loot be experiencing one or all of three exciting gameplay modes.
* Getting Started
* After you defeat Dr. Doom and report back to Nick Fury on the Helicarrier, you receive a mission to report to S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Kestrel in Avengers Tower. She directs you to the nearby endgame mission terminals. Click on a terminal to view a list of the endgame missions available to you.
* Each social hub has endgame terminals which lead to endgame missions of increasing difficulty:
* Avengers Tower has the least challenging endgame missions.
* Xavier’s School has moderately challenging endgame missions.
* The Helicarrier has the most difficult endgame missions.
* Initially, only the terminals in Avengers Tower have endgame missions available to you. As you complete endgame missions, you unlock more options.

### Cosmic Keys and Restricted Missions

* Many endgame missions have restricted access, which means that you must spend a Cosmic Key to enter. Each boss found in an endgame mission has a chance to drop a Cosmic Key. Restricted-access missions are always harder than all-access missions, but their rewards are also greater.
* Each Cosmic Key provides one-time access to a restricted mission. When you enter a restricted mission, you permanently lose one Cosmic Key from your inventory.
* If for some reason you are disconnected while in a mission that required a Cosmic Key, don’t panic! Your progress is saved for a short time, so if you get back to the mission you can pick up where you left off.

## Mission Types

### Daily Missions

* Navigate an instance to defeat a super-villain boss. Daily missions can be completed solo or with a group and can each be played once a day. \*Difficulty (and rewards) for these missions will scale with the number of players in your group. Daily Missions
* Interact with a Daily Mission terminal to see what Daily Missions are available to you. Each base has two terminals for Daily Missions:
	+ The All-Access Daily terminals (green)
	+ The Restricted-Access Daily terminals (red; these require Cosmic Keys to open)

### Daily Mission Rewards

* The first time each day that you complete each Daily Mission, the boss in that mission drops more valuable rewards that include a Cube Shard, an item you can’t get anywhere else.
* For example, when you defeat Shocker in the Abandoned Subway Daily Mission, he drops better rewards (including a Cube Shard). If you defeat Shocker again in the same day, his rewards revert to normal. Completing a different Daily Mission for the first time that day (for example, the Blood Rose Nightclub mission featuring Doctor Octopus) would give you the better reward again.
* When you gather enough Cube Shards, you can turn them for a Fortune Card! Deliver your Cube Shards to Moondragon in Avengers Tower, to Rogue in Xavier’s School, or to the Invisible Woman on the Helicarrier.

### Unlocking New Daily Missions

Completing a Daily Mission from the all-access terminal makes two new Daily Missions available:

* The next all-access Daily Mission in the sequence
* The restricted-access version of the Daily Mission you just completed (remember that a restricted-access mission also requires a Cosmic Key to open).

Each terminal has a limited number of missions available. When you complete the last Daily Mission in the all-access terminal at your base, visit the next base’s all-access terminal to start its sequence of Daily Missions.

## Group Challenges

* The goal of Group Challenges is to navigate an instance and close four ‘Energy Rifts’, then defeat the super-villain boss occupying that instance. Each group challenge is designed for a group of five players; these challenges will be extremely difficult to solo.
* A group challenge allows a limited number of hero defeats before the group fails the challenge. If the total number of defeats endured by group members reaches this limit, your group fails the Challenge and all heroes are returned to base.

### Group Challenge Rewards

* Bosses in Group Challenges tend to drop rarer loot than bosses in Daily Missions. Also, your rewards don’t diminish if you repeat a Group Challenge more than once a day.

### Group Challenge Difficulty Meter

* While in a Group Challenge, an enemy Difficulty Meter appears on screen. As this meter goes up, all enemies (including bosses) become more challenging.
* In a Group Challenge, the Difficulty Meter drops slightly each time you defeat an enemy, to a minimum of 0. Closing an Energy Rift increases the Difficulty Meter significantly.
* The quality of the gear the enemies drop doesn’t change based on the Difficulty Meter, so try to keep it as low as you can.

## Survival Challenges

The goal of a survival challenge is to overcome waves of enemies that culminate in a super-villain boss. The difficulty of the enemies (Threat Level) will rise over time; defeat enemies and collect Power Flares to push it back down. Keep the Threat Level under control, or that final boss fight is going to be extremely challenging!

Each wave lasts a set amount of time. At the end of that time, all remaining enemies vanish. Shortly afterward, the next wave begins, and more enemies appear. The final wave is always a boss and has no time limit.

### Survival Challenge Difficulty Meter

While in a Survival Challenge, an enemy Difficulty Meter appears on screen. As this meter goes up, all enemies (including bosses) become more challenging.

In a Survival Challenge, the Difficulty Meter increases automatically over time. You can reduce the meter by defeating enemies or by collecting the Power Flares that randomly appear on the battlefield. (Collecting a Power Flare also provides you with a powerful buff that lasts for the rest of the current wave of enemies.)

### Joining a Survival Challenge

Join a Survival Challenge by accessing the Challenge Terminal found in each base. Unlike Daily Missions and Group Challenges, Survival Challenges are only open at certain times:

* In Avengers Tower, a new Survival Challenge opens every 15 minutes.
* In Xavier’s School, a new Survival Challenge opens every 30 minutes.
* In the Helicarrier, a new Survival Challenge opens every 60 minutes.

You can check the status of a Survival Challenge at its terminal. If the challenge is closed, the terminal indicates how long you must wait before it opens again. When a new Survival Challenge opens, join quickly! They’re only open for a few minutes at a time. Up to 15 players can participate in a Survival Challenge. When you join, you are automatically added to a new challenge with other players.

## Known Issue: Groups May Not Stay Together!

Currently, if you are in a group and all of you try to join a Survival Challenge, you may not all be able to play in the same match. Some of your party may be returned to the base and must leave the party if they want to enter a new Survival Challenge. This is a known issue and we will address it.

## Unlocking New Group/Survival Challenges

* When you first defeat Dr. Doom, you have access to only one Group Challenge, located in Avengers Tower. You do not have access to any Survival Challenges yet.
* The Challenge Terminal in each base offers four different challenges. In most cases, completing one challenge unlocks the next one on the list. For example, completing the first Group Challenge unlocks the Survival Challenge on that terminal.
* The last two Group Challenges on each terminal are Restricted and require Cosmic Keys (see above). These Group Challenges are harder than the standard one for this base, but they also provide greater rewards.
* When you complete the last Group Challenge on the Avengers Tower challenge terminal, you unlock the first Group Challenge on the Xavier’s School challenge terminal. Completing the last Group Challenge on the Xavier’s School terminal unlocks the first Group Challenge on the Helicarrier terminal.

## Guild System – Beta

Form a guild with your friends and take down evil together! Guilds receive their own chat channel, place your guild name above your heroes’ head and allow you to keep track of all of your guild members through new UI features. Players can purchase the ability to create guilds from War Machine in Avengers Tower using credits. Please note that this is an early version of the guild system will be updated in the future.

## Watch out for… Doop!

Doop will now randomly appear throughout the game! If you spot this otherworldly creature, make sure to attack him quickly to find out what your reward will be. (And if you’ve never heard of Doop, here’s a primer!)

## S.T.A.S.H Improvements

Your Stash now has a number of different unlockable sections. Some are general, some are specifically for crafting, and some are hero-specific.

There are 3 types of stash pages for you to choose from:

* General – A general stash can store all your items with no sorting restrictions. You start the game with one general stash.
* Crafting – The crafting stash holds your crafting items which will auto-sort into this stash.
* Hero Specific – You are able to purchase a hero stash for each hero in the game. Items for this hero, or items bound to a specific hero, will auto-sort into his or her stash.

## New Costumes

New looks are available in the in-game store for both existing and new characters.

* Black Panther – Tribal
* Black Panther – Armored Panther
* Cable – Original
* Cable – Classic X-Force
* Cable – Armored Cyborg
* Daredevil – Armored
* Daredevil – Secret War
* Hawkeye – Old Man Logan
* Iron Man – Marvel NOW! Armor
* Iron Man – Iron Man 3 Starboost Armor
* Iron Man – Mark I (Comics) Armor
* Rocket Raccoon – Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel NOW!
* Rocket Raccoon - Original Green
* Scarlet Witch – Heroes Reborn
* Wolverine – Leather Fang

Many 'chase' costumes have been added which can only be acquired from in-game drops. Fight bosses and mobs to collect these costumes, or craft them using special end-game medallions!

## Fortune Cards

* These cards can be purchased via the in-game store, from Gambit, or can be acquired as drops from end game bosses. Additional Fortune Card items have been added including pets, costumes, Fortune Card-only costumes and more.

## New In-Game Store Items

* Crafter Summon
* Stash Summon
* Vendor Summon
* Cosmic Key – Gives Access Daily End Game Missions
* STASH tab for crafting – tab used exclusively for crafting materials
* STASH tab for heroes – tab used to store gear specific to, or bound to a specific hero

## New Items

### Artifacts

* Many new artifacts have been added to the game, including 3 that can only be crafted and 4 that are Mission rewards.
* Many artifacts have been tuned based on player feedback.

### Pets

* There are 4 non-combat pets in the game now, one from fortune cards, one from the store, and 2 from end game bosses.

### Affixes

* A few new affixes have been added. Many have been tuned based on player feedback.

## Crafting

* The crafting UI has been improved again based on player feedback.
* New crafting recipes have been added, including the ability to add visual effects to your costume.
* You can also replace a costume upgrade with a new costume upgrade without clearing out the costume completely.
* New consumables can be crafted.
* Some crafting recipes now have a critical success result; for example there is a 10% chance when crafting a potion to get 2 potions.

## Content Changes

### PvP

Various tuning changes have been made to PVP which should result in longer, more exciting, battles!

* You will be removed from your current party when entering the PvP zone.
* You cannot create parties with people on the other team, or with people not in PvP while in the PvP zone.
* Bodysliding while in PvP takes you back to the spawn point.
* The Defender (Giant Robot Boss) in your team’s home base will now provide a buff to all living team members in PvP with him.
* When the Defender is under attack, a message will be displayed.
* Damage done to other players has been lowered globally.
* Player Kill/Death stats have been added to your character sheet for information.
* PVP Bosses now heal nearby allies.
* Faction missions are now limited so you can only swap factions once an hour.
* Team chat is now enabled in the PvP zone.

### Balance Changes - Overview

* The level cap has been increased to 60; don’t expect to hit the level cap on completing the game story!
* Enemies, bosses, and heroes have all had balance and tuning work completed.
* Item rarity and special items have been balanced better, looking at your level vs an enemy’s level. You now get worse loot for defeating enemies that are too low or too high level in comparison to your current hero’s level.
* Damage scaling per player has been decreased in public zones.
* Damage scaling per player now accounts for all players in instances.
* Increased the radius for damage scaling based on the number of players.
* Mob damage has been increased at higher levels.
* When switching to another hero in your roster that you have previously played, their health will be set based on the amount of time that this hero has been inactive.
* Increased duration of bonus experience orbs that drop from bosses. (If you watch cutscenes you will still get full bonus experience for the orbs.)