Marvel: Avengers Alliance

Chapter 8 Released

Chapter 8, Dark Rites, of Marvel: Avengers Alliance was released today (June 2, 2012).

More information to come later.

"Modern Armor Thor" is a line of uniforms that come in Blaster and Bruiser versions. They cost 66 and 51 Command Points, respectively.

These uniforms retain the Asgardian passive ability, but have the new ability:

Might of Mjolnir x2

Increase damage and accuracy of the next Hammer Throw or Summon Thunder
This effect can be applied up to 2 times

This ability is like the Might of Mjolnir granted by Thor's level 2 skill, Empowering Strike, but applies 2 stacks at once and is automatically given at the start of combat.

Scarlet Witch Released

Scarlet Witch was released on June 28, 2012. She comes only as a Blaster in her "Classic" uniform, and costs 90 Command Points.

[Images in this article were taken with Agent at level 158, wearing a Generalist's Commander Trench filled with eight Chaotic Iso-8 Shards.]

"Modern Armor Sif" is a new line of uniforms. There are Scrapper (42 Command Points) and Bruiser (42 CP) versions.

These uniforms, as well as "Classic Sif", have the passive ability "Asgardian". This ability (which Thor also has) makes Sif immune to Burning, Chilled, Poison, and Radiation.

The new line of uniforms have the new ability:

Tempered Steel (3 turns)

Sif's attacks are guaranteed to be critical hits for the first three rounds

This new ability is like the Honed Edge ability granted by Sif's level 6 skill, Inspire Courage, except that it starts at the beginning of combat.

Iron Man Mark 5 Armor Upgraded

"Iron Man Mark 5 Armor" is a line of uniforms that has been available for a long time. There are Tactician (60 Command Points) and Blaster (45 CP) versions.

These uniforms, as well as Iron Man's other uniforms, have the passive ability "Flying". This ability makes Iron Man immune to most ground attacks.

More recently, a passive ability was added to Iron Man's Mark 5 Armor:

Energized Shield (3 turns)

Absorbs incoming damage
Immune to Stun
Restores Stamina every turn

Energized Shield is just like Iron Man's level 6 skill, Deflector Shield, except it restores Stamina every turn and is automatically activated at the start of combat.

This new ability strengthens Iron Man's defense considerably, and introduces new possible strategies for combat.

Iron Man Shoes

Quote:

J’field Yeo took this Nike Dunk High and turned it into something extraordinary with a new custom inspired by the popular Marvel Comics icon, Iron Man. The Dunk High features a custom painted upper in red and metallic gold with Iron Man’s helmet painted on the heel of the shoe. The ‘helmet’ also features functioning LED lights on the eyes as well as an LED arc reactor in on the tongue. To take it to extremes, J’field also created a custom “Stark Industries” brief case (as seen in the recent Iron Man 2 movie) with another LED operated arc reactor installed inside. To check out more of his brilliant work, hit up MTATW.

Follow link for more images:

Sneaker Files - Nike Dunk High Custom - Iron Man by J'Field Yeo

Creator of these shoes (Marvel Entertainment told them they are not allowed to sell these shoes or display images of them):

MTATW - More Than Art To Wear

Copyright Infringement

I've taken some old posts offline. It may be temporary or it might not be. [UPDATE, June 25, 2012: I've put the posts back online.]

Initially, I played Marvel: Avengers Alliance a lot, but cooled off quickly due to the lack of new content and the simplicity of the game. In that initial period, I also had many ideas for blog content, many of which haven't come to fruition. I've lost interest in creating new, original work for this blog (as well as another blog) for a couple of reasons. I can barely justify taking the time to make new, but bland, unoriginal posts.

I make virtually no money from the advertising on this blog, especially in light of the amount of work I've put in. The most important reason for this is probably the incredibly low CTR (click-through rate) on ads among Facebook gamers. It's nice, however, to see an increasing number of readers, likes, and page views.

Copying Is Not "Sharing"

What really annoys me, though, is copyright infringement. Many people don't seem to understand what that means. How would you like to spend many hours working on something--most of it original--only to see other people copy you? Not only that, but it's the worst form of copying. I don't just mean taking an idea and creating a similar piece of work. Some people copy HTML code (not from this blog that I've noticed) and use it on their own websites, or take screenshots of original work and spread it around as if it were their own work.

Most people don't even bother to credit or link to what they are copying. The ethical thing to do is to give an excerpt (not the whole work if it is long, with some exceptions), credit the source, and provide a link. In some cases, it would also be proper to ask permission from the author first.

Intellectual property can be hard to understand. It is an abstract, Western concept. It is one of the pillars of modern Western society. There are grey areas such as the notion of "fair use", such as when I use images from Avengers Alliance.

Think about this. Why would anyone continue to do anything original without getting paid if others constantly profit from it without doing any work of their own? Some people might still do it out of interest, passion, naivety, ignorance, or some selfish motive. But most people would simply stop creating original work.

References

Wikipedia - Intellectual Property

Wikipedia - Copyright Infringement

Wikipedia - Digital Millennium Copyright Act

United States Copyright Office

Facebook - Copyright Policy

Facebook - About Copyrights

Facebook - Reporting Copyright Infringements

Facebook - online form for reporting infringement of copyright, trademarks, and other

Blogger - online form for reporting copyright infringement

Shadowcat Kitty Pryde Upgraded

"Shadowcat Kitty Pryde" is a line of uniforms that has been available for a long time. There are Scrapper (45 Command Points) and Infiltrator (32 CP) versions.

These uniforms, as well as the "Classic X-Men Kitty Pryde" uniform, have the passive ability "Lockheed". This ability gives a chance of a counter-attack by Kitty Pryde's dragon friend, Lockheed, each time an enemy attacks Kitty Pryde.

More recently, two new passive abilities were added to the Shadowcat uniforms:

Strike From the Shadows (3 turns)

Begins the fight Phased
Counters all attacks for the first three rounds of combat

Phased (3 turns)

Automatically dodges all attacks
Increased damage on next attack
Removed after attacking

These new abilities strengthen Kitty Pryde considerably, and introduce new possible strategies for combat.

Black Panther Released

The newest Hero, Black Panther, was just released on June 7, 2012 at 1:00 PM PST. Classic Black Panther is a Tactician that costs 90 Command Points to recruit.

[Images in this article were taken with Agent at level 150, wearing a Generalist's Commander Trench filled with eight Chaotic Iso-8 Shards.]

Recall that Black Panther was the Top New Hero Wanted.

Recruitment dialog:

"Wakanda has no need of S.H.I.E.L.D. but S.H.I.E.L.D. has need of Wakanda. As long as our goals align, I will fight by your side."

Probably in response to the many complaints about the difficulty of Special Operation 1, Playdom has made some changes. The above image was sent by email to players of Marvel Avengers Alliance. It reads:

The chase for Mockingbird just got better

Recent developments in S.H.I.E.L.D. technology have made Special Operations easier and more rewarding.

Mission difficulty has been re-balanced
Spec Ops reward weapons are now customized to your agent level
The time limit has been extended one week
Claim 50 Unstable ISO-8 reward to get back in the fight

Click the following link for the reward:

50 Unstable ISO-8

Chaotic Grenade

The Chaotic Grenade is a premium, limited edition item available from June 5-7, 2012. It is a single-use item, not a weapon.

It is the blog author's opinion that limited edition, single-use items are not worth buying for Gold (unless one comes along that has major ramifications in the game, such as unlocking a mission).

The Gold price of this item may vary between players due to Playdom's variable pricing policy.

PVP Bonus: +341 Atk, +341 Def
Deals damage to a single target and causes Iso-8 Corruption
Corruption Blast (1 turn)

Deals massive damage to a single target

Iso-8 Corruption (3 turns)

Taking damage every turn
All stats reduced
This effect can be applied up to 3 times

Modern Colossus Uniforms

The Modern Colossus uniforms were released on June 5, 2012. There are two class versions: Scrapper and Bruiser.

The Scrapper version costs 42 Command Points, while the Bruiser version costs 32 Command Points. The Scrapper version costs more because it allows Colossus to change from his original Bruiser class.

Unlike the Avengers uniforms, which were available for a limited time, the Modern Colossus uniforms are permanently available.

Steel Fortress

Both Modern Colossus uniforms come with the new passive ability, Steel Fortress. This ability is just like Colossus' level 2 skill, Steel Curtain, except that it lasts 3 turns. It is activated the first time an enemy tries to attack the Agent or a Hero. It does not reset in the second or third rounds of combat.

Steel Fortress (3 turns)

Protects allies from single-target attacks for the first three rounds of combat
Takes reduced damage

Coulson's Revenge

Coulson's Revenge is a new premium, Limited Edition weapon available for 3 days only (May 31, 2012 - June 2, 2012). Players have reported various Gold prices for it (including 48, 64, 112, and 128).

Along with the special weapons from Special Operation 1, Coulson's Revenge comes with the new "Customized" trait. With this trait, a weapon's Power level is set by the Agent's level at the time it is acquired.

The "Avengers Assemble!" trait is synergistic with the same trait granted by Heroes' Avengers uniforms. When two other Avengers are present in combat, "Collaborative Effort" is activated and raises the stats of the Agent and Heroes.

The high base damage along with the powerful "Ignore Defense" trait makes Coulson's Revenge a very powerful weapon.

The major drawbacks of Coulson's Revenge are the 3-round cool-down and high cost of purchase.

Weapon Traits

[Image taken with Agent at level 143 with Attack = 715 and Accuracy = 715.]

Power Level: determined by Agent's level at time weapon is acquired

Target: One Enemy

Damage: 1369-1643

Hit / Critical: 94% / 21%

Cooldown: 3 Rounds

Type: Fire Energy Ranged

PVP Bonus: +620 Atk / +310 Def

Customized

Power is set by Agent level when acquired

Avengers Assemble!

Grants Coordinated Attack to all allies
Grants Cooperative Defense with one Avenger
Grants Collaborative Effort with two Avengers

Ignore Defense

Damage ignores enemy's Defense stat
Attacks penetrate Shield statuses

Release Notes - May 31, 2012

Changes to Heroes

Black Widow’s Revenge Tactics no longer provokes counter-attacks when it procs. This fixes problems with infinite loops between two Black Widows using Revenge Tactics.
Human Torch’s Nova Blast damage has been increased
Storm’s Blizzard damage has been increased
Captain America’s Shield Guard ability restored to a 2-round cooldown
Several minor balance tweaks to Mockingbird’s stats

Changes to Weapons

New “Customized” weapons are available.

Weapons marked as “Customized” set their Power Level based on the Agent’s current level at the time that the weapon is acquired. (Either through purchase or loot drop.)
Target Pistol, The Toolbox, Taste of Thunder and Enchanted Crowbar are now considered “Customized” weapons.

Energy weapons that do beam animations have had their animations improved.
Attacks that ignore defense have had their damage reduced slightly.

Other Changes

Various PvE enemy AI improvements and fixes

Unannounced Changes

Sales of some Avenger uniforms have been extended for 3 (?) days.
Heavy Ion Beam's damage nerfed. Supposedly, this is a bug, but it's not encouraging that it comes to a former premium weapon on the same day a new premium weapon is released for sale.

Source: Playdom (except for unannounced changes)

Top 50 PVP Bonus Items

The P.E.W. "Anchor" is currently the item with the highest PVP bonus in Avengers Alliance.

There are currently a total of 605 items that give a PVP bonus. Only the top 50 are listed in the table below. Many of these are currently unavailable in the game through legal means.

This table is only for Shards, not Chips or Fragments. The table also excludes the %-bonus Iso-8's that were available during the beta phase of the game and that are currently unavailable in the game through legal means.

The Refined Shards require Gold for purchase. The regular Shards require Silver and SHIELD Points.

Score is a weighted total of the stats as follows:

Score = (Health + Stamina) / 5 + (Attack + Defense + Accuracy + Evasion)

RED	Health	Stam	Atk	Def	Acc	Eva	Score
Refined Violent			28		28		56
Strong			29				29
Precise					29		29
BLUE	Health	Stam	Atk	Def	Acc	Eva	Score
Refined Fortified	142	142					56.8
Healthy	145						29
Enduring		145					29
YELLOW	Health	Stam	Atk	Def	Acc	Eva	Score
Refined Guardian				28		28	56
Tough				29			29
Speedy						29	29
ORANGE	Health	Stam	Atk	Def	Acc	Eva	Score
Forceful			17	17	17		51
Expert			17	17		17	51
Mercurial			17		17	17	51
Adroit				17	17	17	51
Bulky			23	23			46
Dexterous					23	23	46
Proficient			23			23	46
Exact				23	23		46
GREEN	Health	Stam	Atk	Def	Acc	Eva	Score
Durable	87	87		17			51.8
Steadfast	87	87				17	51.8
Spry	87			17		17	51.4
Lasting		87		17		17	51.4
Sturdy	116			23			46.2
Deft	116					23	46.2
Resilient		116		23			46.2
Active		116				23	46.2
PURPLE	Health	Stam	Atk	Def	Acc	Eva	Score
Robust	87	87	17				51.8
Flourishing	87	87			17		51.8
Steady	87		17		17		51.4
Masterful		87	17		17		51.4
Powerful	116		23				46.2
Focused	116				23		46.2
Relentless		116	23				46.2
Careful		116			23		46.2
PRISMATIC	Health	Stam	Atk	Def	Acc	Eva	Score
Refined Chaotic	71	71	14	14	14	14	84.4
Chaotic	58	58	12	12	12	12	71.2
Refined Stalwart	106		21	21			63.2
Refined Athletic	106				21	21	63.2
Refined Patient	106			21	21		63.2
Refined Skillful	106		21			21	63.2
Refined Nimble		106			21	21	63.2
Refined Stoic		106		21	21		63.2
Refined Tireless		106	21			21	63.2
Refined Vigorous		106	21	21			63.2

Combat Scores

At the end of each combat, you are given a combat score for your performance. There are numerous factors that determine the base score. The base score is multiplied by two multipliers to determine the final combat score.

This final combat score is displayed as in the image above (105,000). It also determines the combat grade ("Perfection" in the image). The final combat score also enters into the total score accumulated for that mission when you exit (not abort) the mission after defeating the Boss. The total mission score determines how many stars you have achieved for that mission.

For several hours during the morning (PDT) of May 16, 2012, some or all Avengers Alliance game servers were having technical problems. There seemed to be database issues where some things in the game would be saved correctly but other things wouldn't. The silver lining in this rollback issue was that it made possible exploits using Silver and Gold.

Special Operation 1 was released today (May 15, 2012). It's a limited-time Chapter that's available for only 28 days (until June 12, 2012).

You can access it by clicking on the special jet on the Helicarrier as shown in the image above, or by clicking on the Missions tab in the lower right corner of the game screen.

How To Cure Radiation Exposure

When you fight the boss battle in the premium mission in Chapter 7, the henchman X-Ray can give you a very nasty debuff called "Radiation Exposure".

This debuff can also be experienced when fighting in PVP. You can get it when your opponent uses either the Cosmic Ray Bomb or the Heavy Ion Beam. The Cosmic Ray Bomb is one of the possible items you can receive after defeating the boss in the premium mission in Chapter 7. The Heavy Ion Beam was a 2-day Limited Edition premium item offered for sale in May 2012.

There are a couple of ways to temporarily cure Radiation: Panacea Injection and Preventative Medicine. Norton Shield may also work, but that needs to be tested.