Marvel Heroes 2016 2.0 Patch Notes! Pt.1

[MarvelHeroes_Community]

Our Biggest Update Ever

As this is our biggest game update ever, it's only fitting that these are also our biggest patch notes ever!

Lunar New Year Event

The Lunar New Year Event has come with tons of great bonuses for you acquire! This event officially begins **Tuesday, January 22nd** and ends on **Tuesday, January 29th!**

Enemies will have a chance of dropping a Lucky Red Envelope which can hold items from Catalysts, Elements, Uniques, and much more. You even have a chance to grab some rare boxes in the Envelopes!

You can also find Lunar Dragons and Lunar Lanterns by defeating enemies anywhere in the game which can be sold for additional credits!

Daily Log-in Gifts:

• 8 Cube Shards
  
• Credit Rush Energy Bar - 1 Hour (+100 credit find)
  
• A stack of 50 Festive Fireworks

Difficulty Slider

With the launch of this update, the Difficulty Slider is now available in Marvel Heroes! Now you can customize your experience even further to suit your gameplay preference.

The Difficulty Slider can be accessed at the bottom of the Waypoint “M.A.P.” window. To use it, simply select the desired region, then the difficulty setting (Normal, Heroic, Cosmic), and finally “Warp To Location”. Note that not all modes are accessible in all difficulties - some game modes, such as Raids, can only be played in Heroic difficulty

for example.

Difficulty Modes Available at Launch:

• Story - Normal, Heroic
  
• Terminals - Normal, Heroic, Cosmic
  
• Midtown - Normal, Cosmic*
  
• Industry City Patrol - Heroic, Cosmic*
  
• Hightown - Normal, Heroic, Cosmic*
  
• One-Shots - Normal, Heroic
  
• Holo-Sim - Heroic
  
• Muspelheim Raid - Heroic, Cosmic
  
• Axis Raid - Heroic
  
• Danger Room - Heroic for the Danger Room Hub, the scenarios themselves determine the difficulty. Should be about the same as live.
  
• X-Defense - Heroic
  
• Age of Ultron - Heroic
  
• PvP - difficulty slider does not affect this mode
  
• Rotating Events (e.g. Limbo) - Normal, Heroic
  
• Cow/Doop Levels - Heroic
  
  
• Cosmic Gate required. The gate still grants access to all 3 Cosmic Patrol Zones, which have their own Waypoint, separate from their Normal and Heroic versions. The Cosmic Gate itself is locked to Heroic difficulty.

Each increase in difficulty increases enemy Health and damage, but also brings with it increased rewards:

• Heroic: 90% increased XP and Credits
  
• Cosmic: 200% increased XP and Credits

With the release of the Difficulty Slider, Terminals will no longer be separated in the Waypoint menu by difficulty, such as Green, Red, or Cosmic Terminals. Difficulty settings will be entirely controlled by the Difficulty Slider setting. Patrol modes will continue to be separated in the Challenges tab and will still need to be unlocked via the Cosmic Trial. Danger Room will also not be affected by the Difficulty Slider, as the difficulty within Danger Room is determined by the Scenario itself rather than your Difficulty Slider setting.

Note that when playing in a group, only the Party Leader can change the Difficulty Slider settings for your group. If the party leader attempts to change the difficulty, all group members are notified and will have the option to change with the leader, or leave the group and remain in the current region & difficulty.

Story Mode Updates

The following Story Chapters have all received significant updates:

• Chapter 2
  
• Chapter 3
  
• Chapter 5
  
• Chapter 6

Similar to our Chapter 1 update, each of these Chapters has been overhauled with new areas, missions, Super Villain Showdowns and even some new items to hunt down!

Try them out with your favorite max level Heroes in higher difficulties using the new Difficulty Slider for a whole new experience!

Boss Updates

In addition to the Story Chapter updates mentioned above, a number of Bosses seen throughout the game have received some significant changes to make them more challenging and fun to encounter!

Tombstone boss changes:

• Sped up animations for Tombstone's punches
  
• Crushing Leap attack now has a telegraph
  
• New power: Spinning Lariat
  
• New power: Disengaging Bulletspray

Bullseye boss changes:

• Added more daggers to Bullseye’s triple dagger throw and warning indicator
  
• New Power: Side Roll evasive maneuver

Green Goblin boss changes:

• Fixed telegraphs on Bombing Run power - they will properly display now
  
• Added telegraph to Explosive Pumpkin Bomb, removed it from Poison Pumpkin Bomb
  
• Increased time between all attacks (delay in between activating each one)
  
• Razor Bats will now seek out enemies rather than pierce, but can be easily outrun
  
• Rocket telegraph lengthened and made wider, and the amount of time before activation increased
  
• Shock Gloves anti-melee attack knockback effect increased
  
• In the Raft, Green Goblin will not use his aerial pumpkin barrage (signature) attack

Living Laser boss changes:

• Laser Shield and ranged basic attacks have been removed from Living Laser's boss kit
  
• The channeled laser beams now track the target very slowly, and come in 3 second and 6 second channeled variations. When fighting laser, stay out of his beams and you'll do fine, but he shouldn't sweep beams where there aren't potential target any longer
  * "Laser From Above" now has a 'new style' warning decal

Blob & Toad boss changes:

• Blob no longer knocks back with his melee combo
  
• Blob’s Bellyflop now knocks back further and has a telegraph
  
• Toad’s leap now leaves a cloud of poisonous gas where he lands
  
• New Power (Toad): Poisonous Frog Swarm

Infinity System

Removal of Omega System

The Omega System was originally designed to serve as an end game progression system offering max level players more depth and interest, as well as something more to advance towards with their Heroes. While such intentions are sound, the specifics and presentation of the Omega System became overly complex and difficult to parse. It takes a long time to read all of your options and determine a tactical path for assigning your Omega points. Some of the Omega bonuses were certainly enticing to build towards and achieve, while others were less so. And how do you know which are better for one Hero versus another? The options presented themselves as a veritable beehive of paths, encompassing 170 nodes across 14 pages, leading to analysis paralysis and an undue burden of reading material to sift through.

Introducing the Infinity System

The new Infinity System offers added value to your Heroes in a clean, streamlined, and intuitive interface. In it, you will be presented six Infinity Gems, themed accordingly from the Marvel Universe:

• Mind Gem
  
• Power Gem
  
• Reality Gem
  
• Soul Gem
  
• Space Gem
  
• Time Gem

Within each of the six Infinity Gems, you will be presented with five options, and you will allot your points based on what you want to emphasize in your play style. You will be able to understand the whole system at a glance, and easily allocate points in a succinct way.

In the Infinity System, the themes are stronger, the benefits are better, and your decisions will feel more meaningful and thematically interesting.

Getting Started

Level 60 status for any Hero fully unlocks the Infinity System, and it is never locked again–even your level 1 Heroes will be able to spend your accrued Infinity points. If you are already level 60 with any Hero, the Infinity System will be available to you immediately.

This new Infinity System will offer a more direct value for your Heroes in both the short and long run. It will be easier to try out new Heroes you’ve never played before. And the new system will address the endcaps on nodes, making the game more engaging for longer for heavily-invested veteran players. Each of the six pages that correspond to a Gem will have an infinite option. You will never reach a state where they are no longer earning experience.

Conversion from Omega

For those who have accumulated a large number of existing Omega points, you may be wondering if this will be a proportional change and how it will affect your points.

With the launch of the Infinity System, we are converting all points that are currently in circulation using division by 10 (rounding up), and adjusting experience requirements accordingly (i.e. the total amount of XP you have accrued in the Omega system will carry over to the amount of XP accrued in Infinity). For example, if you had

1,825 points in the Omega system already, you will start in the new Infinity system with 183 Infinity points, which will then be distributed evenly into each of the six Gems.

The Infinity system uses smaller costs with bigger impacts–some nodes can cost merely a single point while still retaining a valuable increase to your power. Likewise, a very strong node, such as +1 to an Attribute, may cost only 25 points as compared to 200+ previously in Omega. This change makes it easy to readjust your Infinity points, as there are bigger benefits at the cost of fewer points.

[MarvelHeroes_Community]

Talents & Traits

Power Points

One of our main design goals for this suite of Hero updates is to offer more meaningful choices in character builds, and we want players to be able to understand and make
those choices easily. In other words, we want to enable you to more quickly dive into playing your Heroes the way you want to play them, without spending a lot of time
“balancing your Power Point checkbook.”

With that in mind, we’ve made things as direct and simple as possible. Powers will now have the benefits of maximum Power Points allotment incorporated directly into their
base stats (scaling with your level), rendering Power Points obsolete. With this change, all Powers will be fully viable immediately upon unlock. When you unlock a Power, you
don’t need to re-allocate Power Points to try it out at full potency. With this system, just slot it on your Power bar and go to town!

But what about Items? With the removal of Powers Points from Heroes, those types of bonus are being removed from all items, and all of those items are being updated with other
types of bonuses to ensure that their relative power stays fairly constant.

Talents

One of the most successful features in Heroes is Specializations, which you may recall are modifiers to Powers that can radically change the way a Power functions, both
mechanically and visually. In this update, we’re taking that notion a step further by introducing **Talents**. Instead of one or two Specializations, **every Hero will have 5
sets of Talents**. The combination of Talents you choose from each set will result in all new customization possibilities for each Hero.

So with the update, Talents have effectively replaced Specializations, ensuring all Heroes have an enticing number of progression and customization options available, though
the details of what their Talents do will vary wildly from Hero to Hero.

Talents will unlock as you level your Hero, offering choices over time as you learn the nuances of your abilities. They can range from passive bonuses, to mechanic changes, to
completely removing a Power from your Power tree and replacing it with a new one. These Talents occupy the Hero’s third Power tree, with all Active skills being migrated to
the first two trees.

Traits

Traits are passives “native” to a Hero at level one and remain constant throughout their progression. These serve to help reinforce the theme of the character by outlining
their power set, and also serve as itemization vectors by giving you an idea of what item affixes you should seek out. All Heroes will have one Defensive and Offensive Trait.
In the last year or more of Hero updates, we’ve been trending toward this system already, merging passives together so the source of passive power for a given goal (DPS or
survivability) is visible in one place. Traits are the new expression of these passives, but are in a common location for all heroes, easing the understanding of a new
character.

• Defensive Traits contain the defensive “archetype” of a Hero, which was established in the Defense System Update last year–a bonus multiplier to two scaling defensive
  layers (Defense, Deflect, Dodge), and a bit of those ratings to get you started. They also house the Melee or Hybrid damage reduction mechanics normally found in defensive
  passives. Lastly, each Defensive Trait will also contain one flavorful affix for the Hero, reinforcing the character theme.
  
• Offensive Traits contain a new offensive “archetype”, similar to the defensive ones that were set up last year. Each Hero will have two Attributes selected for them, and
  all damage output will be increased based on how high you are able to scale those two Attributes. This means that Heroes will be able to itemize for the Attributes that are
  flavorful to the Hero and be rewarded for doing so. While Fighting will still be the baseline best for pure offense, characters like The Hulk should probably itemize for
  Durability and Strength since he will get much more damage as a result, which makes the most sense for the character. The values for Attributes will also be changing with this
  update, with the goal of making all Attributes useful for all Heroes, so you don’t mind if you end up focusing on something other than Fighting.
  
• Offense Traits will also contain a flavorful offensive affix based on the Hero’s former offensive passives. Critical Rating will not be included as part of these Traits –
  instead, all Heroes now have a base chance to critically hit at level 1.
  
• Finally, some Heroes may also have a Mechanic Trait, which serves as a better method of explaining alternate Primary Resources, Secondary Resources, or just complicated
  mechanics that deserve a dedicated Power to explain them. These Mechanic Traits only serve to establish how a Hero's unique mechanics work, and do not confer any actual stats
  or effects.

Streamlined Design

While we’re in the process of such a broad update, this is a perfect time to streamline a major base underlying system to enhance the usability of these brand new Talent
choices, while simultaneously shepherding our Heroes into a far better state of balance.

In the last year or more of Hero designs, we have been using a combination of shared cooldowns, Power effects that do not stack (damage over time, buffs, debuffs),
antirequisite Powers, and Specializations that lock layers behind them in order to put a skill cap on Hero Power rotations. To put it simply, we do not feel that needing to
press more than 8 active buttons in a rotation is enjoyable for the vast majority of players, and it needlessly adds complexity without adding any real depth. It also makes
balance impossible when some Heroes have access to far more layers of damage than others in a given build. Let me explain that last bit with a design question:

“Ignoring melee/ranged differences and mobility, purely theoretically - If Doctor Strange uses 11 different power buttons, and Colossus uses 6, should Doctor Strange deal more
damage?”

Either answer to this question is unhealthy for the game’s balance. If the answer is yes, Doctor Strange will always be strictly better than Colossus. If the answer is no,
then Doctor Strange has to utilize more brainspace and perfect skill in order to get the same output as Colossus, since his maximum damage potential is only realized if he
uses all 11 buttons given to him. Real balance becomes nigh impossible to attain so long as this problem is present. We want to make awesome Powers for every Hero, but we
don’t want you to feel like you have to use every single one in order to be at maximum effectiveness.

The solution was clear, and has been clear for some time, but it could only be paired with a very large-scale Hero design change such as these Hero Talent Updates. The
restrictions we had been trying to install on a per-Hero basis needed to be a clear part of the game’s mechanics, so we can freely design Heroes without trying to solve core
game issues in the Powers system.
The intended play dynamic from the Hero Talent Updates is to choose and slot eight Powers that you enjoy and want to use, and five Talents that will support those decisions.
This will get you to the meat of the game much faster than tediously assigning Power points and scrolling through multiple action bars during combat.

With those things in mind, we have removed the second and third action bars, but in the same breath, removed almost all cases of shared cooldowns, non-stacking effects,

Specializations locking Powers, and antirequisites. You have full freedom to choose the 8 Powers you want to use, and the Talents to create your build in total. We’ve already
removed Travel Powers as a Power bar slot, and in this pass, have also done the same with Cleanse Powers. Movement Powers (such as Dashes and Teleports) will now immediately
free you of crowd control effects, so there is no more need for a dedicated active slot for Cleanse effects.

Team-Up Changes

Team-Up Power Points

In parity with the changes to Hero power points, Team-Ups also no longer use them - instead, as your Team-Up levels up, the will unlock all of their skills automatically.
Whether you use the Team-Up in Assist mode, Companion mode, or Support mode, he or she will have access to their entire suite of abilities at maximum level. Additionally, as
your Team-Up levels up, they will increase the power of their Synergy bonus, described below.

Team-Up Synergies

All Team-Ups now have a Synergy passive found in their power tree, which increases their Base Damage by 1% for every Mastery level they have achieved, and upon reaching
Mastery Level 60, the Team-Up will provide 2% Base Damage to every single Team-Up in your Roster. Up to fifty Team-Ups can provide this Level 60 Mastery bonus.

Team-Up Inventory

One other minor change to Team-Ups is the behavior of the Team-Up Inventory. Your Hero’s Inventory and your Team-Up Inventory are now linked, so that if you attempt to pick up
a new item when your Hero’s Inventory is full, it will now automatically be placed in your Team-Up Inventory if there is free space.

Note: Due to some of the backend changes involved with this feature, on your first login in the new update, items that were in your Team-Up Inventory may automatically shift
into your Hero’s inventory. This should only occur once, and you can move those items back into your Team-Up Inventory if desired.

Gamepad Changes

Gamepad has several updates and new features. It’s important to us that we don't overwrite your custom settings so, you must reset gamepad settings to defaults to see all the
new changes.

Reset to Defaults

To ensure proper gamepad functionality in the new update, please be sure to use the Reset to Default option before attempting to use a gamepad:

• ESC Menu → Options → Gamepad → RESET

General Improvements

• Shared Primary Power/Interact Button - A single button shares the primary power slot and contextual interact functionality. This facilitates using a single “Button
  Modifier” trigger (Default Right Trigger) for all 8 power slots on the 4 primary face buttons.
  
• Melee range cushion - A pass on melee powers adding a short melee range “cushion”, pulling the Hero into effective range when starting a melee attack that’s “close-enough”.
  
• Respect the Stick - Some powers did not respect a redirection of the analog stick if the attack was being continuously fired. Previously it was necessary to momentarily
  stop the attack, then switch direction and then resume the attack. Hulk’s Tremor Fist was a good example.
  
• Throw Stuff - Throwing is now a much more fluid “grab it”, “throw it”, “hit it” experience. Slow and precise positioning of the throw is sacrificed in preference of speed
  and effectiveness.
  
• Travel Toggle - Defaults as a modified Travel power press. (Right Trigger+Left Trigger). T single press spins up travel. Toggle again to turn it off, or firing any power
  exits travel toggle.
  
• Hero Cam - Cycle through camera distances with Hero Cam. (Default: D-Pad Up)
  Target Indicator, Target Lock, and Target Assist
  
• Target Indicator - A red arrow now indicates what enemy a hero is focused on. Most attacks are directed at that indicated Target. The indicator finds a target in respect to
  a hero’s facing.
  
• Target Lock - Pressing the “Target Lock” button while the indicator is over a target will affix a lock on that target. The Target indicator will stay on that target until
  the target is either defeated, Target Lock is Toggled “off”, or the player uses Target Assist.
  
• Target Assist - Target Assist (toggle on in gamepad options) utilized by the right analog stick will reposition the Lock to another enemy if available. Repositioning a
  Locked Target with Target Assist first requires a Locked Target.
  
• Lock to a target behind your hero - Pressing and holding Right-Stick in a direction prior to activating Target Lock, will attempt to find an available target in that
  direction. For example, while strafing around Doc Oc, it’s not necessary to move towards his scary arms to lock on. Just press and hold Right-Stick towards Doc Oc before
  activating Target Lock.

Note: Target Assist will not move the target indicator unless there is already an active “Lock”.

Bind More Buttons

A pass has been done on button binds to include all the new options and old ones for new button combos and old ones.

Movement Powers Changes

As mentioned in our developer blog series [here](http://forums.marvelheroes.com/discussion/301023/mobility-too-much-of-a-good-thing/p1), with the launch of this update, Hero
movement powers have received significant changes. In general, all movement-focused powers will now operate under the following rules:

• All Dash Powers now have a fixed distance and travel speed, uniform across all heroes (with a few minor exceptions).
  
• Dash Powers (such as Combat Rolls, Lunges, Teleports, and Charges) have 3 charges and generate a charge every 4 seconds (again, with a few heroes being exceptions to the
  standard).
  
• Teleports still begin their travel instantly, but move across the world at the same rate of Dashes rather than disappearing from one location and instantly reappearing at
  the next. They are comparable in distance per second to any other Dash Power.
  
• Dash Powers now cleanse crowd control effects, and make the user **completely invulnerable** while travelling.
  
• Travel Powers (such as Sprint or Flight powers) have a .75-second channel time before they start.
  
• Travel Powers reduced in speed from 1000 to 800.
  
• Flight Travel powers no longer notify, “You can’t use powers in flight”, and simply exits flight and fires the power instead.
  
• Ziggurat of Kargul has received a new ability to replace its former active power.

While these changes form the foundation for how movement powers now operate in Marvel Heroes, each individual Hero may have Talents or even baseline effects that tweak how
their specific movement powers work to better fit that Hero’s playstyle. Nightcrawler for example, being an iconic teleport-focused Hero, has more charges and a shorter
cooldown on generating charges for his base teleport “Bamf!”, as well as Talents that further increase his ability to teleport more frequently.

[MarvelHeroes_Community]

Hero Stat Changes

Attributes

One of the other significant changes to Heroes in this update is a change to how core Attributes affect your Hero.

Attributes will no longer offer any kind of base damage bonuses towards any form of damage types. While some Attributes will still offer secondary offensive affixes (such as
Critical Damage Rating from Intelligence), these bonuses will be universally useful to all Heroes rather than offering bonuses only to specific damage types like Energy or
Physical Damage.

Damage multipliers will instead come strictly from your Hero's **Primary Attributes** mentioned within your Hero's Offensive Trait, so there will no longer be any possible
conflict between increasing your Primary Attributes or increasing an Attribute that grants bonus damage to one of your Hero's specific damage types.

To reiterate our goal with these changes: **Itemizing for a hero's Attributes should thematically make sense.** This is the primary reason we are opting for a more
universally useful attribute system.

With this change, all Attributes will be condensed into 2 bonuses instead of 3:

• Durability - Defense Rating Multiplier & Maximum Health
  
• Strength - Deflect Rating Multiplier & reduced damage from Deflected attacks
  
• Fighting - Critical Rating Multiplier & reduced damage from Melee attacks
  
• Speed - Dodge Rating Multiplier & reduced damage from Area attacks
  
• Energy - Spirit cost reduction & reduced damage from Ranged attacks
  
• Intelligence - Critical Damage Rating & Reduced Medkit Cooldown

With these changes, all Heroes should be able to gain some benefit from increasing any of their base Attributes, but will be able to focus on their Primary Attributes for the
purposes of increasing their overall damage.

Power Cost Reduction

One of the changes to core stats involves the Power Cost Reduction affix. With the introduction of the Infinity system and the potential for Power Cost Reduction to stack to
extreme levels, we have now introduced a cap of 50% to this stat.

Critical Hit and Brutal Strike Formulas

As many game systems have changed, the formulas for Critical Hit Chance and Brutal Strike Chance have also been updated to better fit in the updated systems:

• New Critical Hit Chance % = 10 + 89R/(R + 80L)
  
• New Brutal Strike Chance % = 89R/(R + 80L)

_R = Rating_
_L = Enemy Level_

What this means is that all heroes will have a 10% chance to Critically Hit even without any other source of Critical Hit Rating.

For Brutal Strikes, it means the hard cap is now 14% higher than previously, so Brutal Strike Rating is strictly better than it previously was at the top end.

Character Panel Changes

Two new item slots have been introduced with this update: the Catalyst and Flourish slots.

Catalysts

The slot to the left of the Insignia is now the Catalyst slot. The Catalyst item is not necessarily a new item, but what Costume Cores previously were. In an effort to make
our costume system more user friendly, we are working on a solution to make the often discussed “Costume Closet”. While that system is still in development, the first thing
we need to do is remove all the things that players currently craft onto the costume.

Source of Power

When making this change, we knew we wanted to improve the system a bit, especially from a new player perspective. Some of the core types we had weren’t as clear as we might
have liked. We really love the idea of giving heroes items that reflect their source of super powers. We used that basis as our focal point when reviewing the different types
of Catalysts to make them feel much more central to the hero.

We now have the following types of Catalyst items:

Genetic Mutation Catalysts - Previously X-Gene Costume Cores

• There are different types of genetic mutation, not only the X-Gene. Mutations have happened from science, Terrigen Mists and other events.
  
  
• Heroes: Cable, Colossus, Cyclops, Deadpool, Emma Frost, Gambit, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Rogue, Squirrel Girl, Storm, Beast, Wolverine, X-23,
  Black Bolt

Cosmic Spirit Catalysts - Previously M’Kraan Shard Costume Cores

• Want to give heroes with Cosmic origins a strong feeling of that power rather than tie it to a specific item.
  
  
• Heroes: Captain Marvel, Jean Grey, Nova, Rocket Raccoon, Silver Surfer, Star-Lord, Venom
  
  Mystical Energies Catalysts - Previously Promethium Fragment Costume Cores
  
  
• Same as with Cosmic Spirit, want to give heroes with Mystical origins a much more thematic feel that was easier to convey.
  
  
• Heroes: Blade, Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, Juggernaut, Loki, Magik, Scarlet Witch, Thor

Radioactive Isotope Catalysts - Previously Radioactive Isotope Costume Cores

• We spent days trying to come up with a better thematic item for these heroes, but since the group is one of the more varied in terms of hero origins(Cosmic Radiation,
  Radioactive Spider, Radioactive Experiments, etc) we figured it was best to leave the name as is.
  
  • Heroes: Daredevil, Captain America, Green Goblin, Hulk, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Luke Cage, Mr. Fantastic, She-Hulk, Spider-Man, Thing
    
    Advanced Technological Systems Catalysts - Previously Vibranium Ore Costume Cores
    
    
  • We got rid of Adamantium Alloy and tried to combine all the tech based heroes under this type and move some of the others like Wolverine and Deadpool to where they most
    make sense.
    
    
  • Heroes: Black Panther, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Taskmaster, Winter Soldier, Iron Man, Moon Knight, Punisher, Ultron, Vision, War Machine, Ant-Man, Black Cat, Elektra
  
  How Do They Work?
  
  Catalysts function in the rarity system - Now, instead of wondering how many affixes are on a core when you picked them up, you’ll know now by what rarity the Catalyst
  is. They distribute affixes in the following way:
  
  • Uncommon - 1 Affix
    
  • Rare - 2 Affixes
    
  • Epic - 3 Affixes
    
  • Cosmic - 4 Affixes and a Cosmic Affix
  Affixes are rarity locked - The affixes you see on the Catalyst items are through a new system we use called “Affix Categories”. This allows us to create affix pools
  for specific rarities. Each Catalyst will have one of each rarity affix.
  
  Bonus Rarity Affixes - Just like with existing cosmic items, Cosmic Catalysts will have their own additional cosmic affix outside of the normal affixes. This will also
  allow us to make Omega cores down the line with more cool new powers!
  
  Catalyst Type Specific Affixes - We really wanted to make these items give players the feeling that the origin of the hero’s powers gives them an edge that other heroes
  may not have. Each Catalyst type has 3 affixes that they can roll that are specific to that Catalyst type.
  
  Invulnerability Affix Change
  
  One of the most controversial aspects regarding Costume Cores has been the affix that grants Invulnerability for 2 seconds whenever you use your Medkit. It has impacted boss
  and enemy design in great amounts since these affixes were added, much like unlimited movement powers. Rather than just get rid of the affix altogether, **we are converting
  it to instead grant a damage shield equal to 50% of your health**. It will still be a very useful affix, however, will not negate one shot mechanics as it has previously.
  
  Crafting
  
  Crafting affixes, including costume visuals (such as Spotlight effects) now will be directly crafted onto the Catalyst instead of the costume.
  
  Costume Core Conversion
  
  Costume Cores that you have already applied to costumes will be pulled off the costume and put on a Catalyst type used by the hero for you to equip. This will include all
  crafting affixes and costume visual effects applied to it.
  
  Cores you’ve collected that are in your inventory or S.T.A.S.H. will be converted to the new Catalyst type automatically.
  
  Flourish Slot
  
  Now, on the right side of the Insignia is a new slot that we are calling the Flourish slot. The Flourish is a new slot that is meant to give players a keybound visual effect
  that they can use to show off their own personal style! This slot originally came about as a request from players for a way to keybound the different spray paint items that
  we have released over the course of the last year, however, going forward, expect to see new and exciting different types of Flourishes to be added to the game!
  
  Items that function in the Flourish slot:
  
  • Spray Paints (Civil War Spray Paints, Heroes For Hire Event, Spider-Man, etc)
    
  • Party In a Box
    
  • Festive Fireworks
    
  • Fun Fireworks
  This slot is incredibly simple to use, slot the item and use the keybind as set in your game options.
  
  Items Changes
  
  Power Point Bonuses
  
  As this update has removed Power Points across all Heroes, many items have had affix changes to replace the old Power Point bonuses with different affixes:
  
  Cybernetics:
  
  • +1 to Basic Powers: When you Deflect an attack, gain 4% Brutal Damage Rating and 4% Damage to enemies attacking you for 12s (15s Cooldown)
    
  • +1 to Movement Powers: When you stop moving, gain 4% Defense Rating and 4% Dodge for 12s (15s Cooldown)
    
  • +1 to Ranged Powers: When you use a Signature Power, gain 15% Power Radius and 4% Base Damage Rating for 10s (15s Cooldown)
    
  • +2 to Area Powers: Gain 4% Critical Damage Rating + 4% Attack Speed On Hit for 12s (15s Cooldown)
    
  • +2 to Basic Powers: When you Dodge an attack gain 4% Basic Damage Rating + 4% Brutal Damage Rating for 12s (15s Cooldown)
    
  • +2 to Melee Powers: When you get hit, gain 4% Base Defense and 4% Base Damage to Melee Attacks for 12s (15s Cooldown)
    
  • +2 to Movement Powers: When you move gain 4% Area Damage Rating and 4% Base Defense for 12s (15s Cooldown)
    
  • +2 to Ranged Powers: When you Critically Hit gain 4% Ranged Damage Rating + 4% Critical Damage Rating for 12s (15s Cooldown)
    
  • +2 to Signature Powers: When you use an Energy Power, gain 4% Deflect Rating and 4% Base Damage to Ranged Attacks for 12s (15s Cooldown)
    
  • +2 to Summon Powers: When you use a Summon Power, gain 4% Dodge Rating and 4% Summoned Ally Damage for 12s (15s Cooldown)
  Insignias:
  
  • +1 to All Powers: +1 Fighting
    
  • +1 to Ranged Powers: +1 Speed
    
  • +1 to Melee Powers: +1 Durability
    
  • +1 to Mental Powers: +1 Intelligence
    
  • +1 to Energy Powers: +1 Energy
    
  • +1 to Physical Powers: +1 Strength
    
  • Cosmic Insignia Affix (+1 to All Powers): When you attack, gain +1 to all Attributes for 5s (8s Cooldown)
  Rings:
  
  • Cosmic Ring Affix (+1 to All Powers): 5% chance to avoid fate, evading all attacks for 5s (60s Cooldown)
    
  • Stone of Jordan (+1 to All Powers): +90-110 Spirit
    
  • Midtown Guardian’s Signet (+1 to Movement & Melee Powers): When you hit with a Movement Power there is a 30% next Movement Power is a critical hit (8s Cooldown)
    
  • Industry City Signet (+1 to All Powers): Increase Total Health by 1,700
    
  • Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngster’s Class Ring (+1 to All Powers): 5% Chance when you hit to surround yourself with a Damage Shield that absorbs 5% damage for 5s (30s
    Cooldown)
  Medallions:
  
  • Epic Medallions (+1 to All Powers): When you use your Med Kit, there is a 10% chance for critical success, resulting in 50% more effective healing
    
  • Cosmic Medallions (+2 to All Powers): When you use your Med Kit, there is a 20% chance for critical success, resulting in 50% more effective healing
    
  • Red Onslaught Medallion (+2 to All Powers): 5% chance when you defeat an enemy to create a Damage Amplification Field, which creates a field in which you and your allies
    deal 25% and take 10% more damage for 10s (60s Cooldown)
    
  • Skrull Medallion of Bravery (+2 to All Powers): Your Critical Hit Rating and Critical Damage Rating increase by 100 for 5s each time you defeat an enemy (Stacks up to 5
    times)
  Artifacts:
  
  • Midtown Patrol Badge (+1 to All Powers): -1 Second on Med Kit cooldown, +300 Damage Rating
    
  • Maximum Midtown Patrol Badge (+1 to All Powers): -1 Second on Med Kit cooldown, +300 Damage Rating
    
  • Idol of Khonshu (+1 to All Powers): +122 - 288 Critical Hit Rating
    
  • Monkey Figurine (+1 to Mental Powers): +660 Dodge Rating, +1 Intelligence
    
  • Polar Bear Figurine (+1 to Physical Powers): +1 Strength
    
  • Rhinoceros Figurine (+1 to Melee Powers): +660 Defense Rating, +1 Energy
    
  • Shark Figurine (+1 to Energy Powers): +1 Fighting
  Runewords:
  
  • God of Mischief (+1 to All Powers): +300 Damage Rating, +300 Health, 1% chance when you hit to summon 10 Loki Illusions to obliterate your enemies for 10s (1m cooldown)
    
  • Storm Giant Magi (+4 to All Powers proc): 4% chance when you hit to grow to the size of a Storm Giant and gain +1000 Damage Rating for 15s (60s cooldown)
  StarkTech Power Cubes
  
  With the removal of Power Points, StarkTech Power Cubes have become redundant in the world of Marvel Heroes. As such, all StarkTech Power Cubes on your account will be
  converted to Ancient Forgotten Devices. These items can be sold for Credits, or traded in to Clea in Avenger’s Tower for various goodies!
  
  Uniques
  
  With the changes to Attributes and Hero Power Points being removed, Uniques have undergone a review to ensure they are still useful to Heroes.
  
  All Hero-specific Uniques will now roll with Attributes according to that Heroes’ Archetype and Primary Attributes, which can be found in each Hero’s Offensive Trait at the
  top of the Talent tree.
  
  Some Hero-specific Uniques have also been updated with entirely new affixes - be sure to take a look over your Hero’s Uniques to see what has changed!
  
  Artifacts
  
  Artifacts game-wide have been reworked to better fit with the new Archetypes and Traits changes for Heroes.
  
  Artifacts, especially endgame “chase” artifacts have undergone a balance pass as well to ensure that they were all within a certain budget threshold. This does mean that some
  have been brought down, but most have been brought up.
  
  Remember that while Attributes still give the same types of bonuses that they did previously (but in lesser amounts), Attribute attractiveness is now mainly focused on your
  Hero. So while some of Artifacts may look very different than they did previously, they may be better fits for some Heroes than they were before.
  
  Crafting Recipe Changes
  
  We've condensed the Unbind Item recipes into just to recipes that accept different components. You will find the new Unbind Item and Unbind Item 2 recipes in the Misc.
  Crafting Tab.
  
  These recipes now cover Armor, Weapons, Insignias, Rings, Relics, Medallions, Uru-Forged, Team-Up Items, and Artifacts.
  
  • Unbind Item cost is a short amount of credits, Any Element, and a Matrix of Unbinding
    
  • Unbind Item 2 cost is a larger amount of credits, Any Elements, and 2 Unstable Molecules
  As a result of frequent player feedback Uru-Forged pieces have been added to these recipes and can now be unbound. They can no longer be traded or dropped.
  
  Additionally, the following crafting recipes have been removed with this update:
  
  • Gear: Cosmic Rarity Upgrade, Unique Transformation 1, 2, 3
    
  • Misc: Craft S.H.I.E.L.D. Med Kits (5 & 10), StarkTech Power Cube Socket
    
  • Exchange: Random Unique Exchange, Random Usable Unique, Random Any Hero Unique, 50k Credit Chest, 200k Credit Chest, 500k Credit Chest, Relic Exchange (8, 20 & 50), Small
    Box of Runes, Large Box of Runes
  New Mission Tracker
  
  With the updated Mission Tracker, you can now choose to display which Missions are being tracked through a set of filters:
  
  • Story Missions
    
  • Region Events
    
  • Account Missions
    
  • Lore Missions
    
  • Global Events
    
  • Legendary Quests
    
  • Influence Missions
    
  • Shared Quests
    
  • Achievements
  This will allow you to track Missions from different categories simultaneously at your discretion. Simply click the icon next to the minimize button for the Mission Tracker to
  select which filters you want to have active.
  

[MarvelHeroes_Community]

Achievement Changes

With the introduction of the Difficulty Slider, the Green Solo Run Terminal Achievements are now Normal Solo Run Achievements. If you had previously completed these
Achievements they will remain unlocked after the conversion. Additionally, the Clean Sweep Achievements in the Enemies category now checks for any Terminal difficulty, rather
than the previous Green, Red or Cosmic Terminals.

The following Achievements have had their reward changed to a Specific Challenge Bonus Token:

• Slaughtered
  
• Sentinel Shutdown
  
• Bring Down the Barrier

The following Achievements have had their reward changed to a Coffer of Achievement:

• Next Level Crafting
  
• Treasure Hunting
  
• How Could You Be Worthy?

Due to content changes, the following Achievements have been retired:

• Prepare for the Worst
  
• Stocking Up
  
• Sudden Impact
  
• The Phoenix Reborn
  
• Trained by Cap

Miscellaneous Changes & Bug Fixes

• Winter has come to an end and the world of Marvel Heroes has taken down its decorations.
  
• Many heroes have received minor changes to their power progression in this update to better spread out powers along the level progression.
  
• Changes have been made to the distribution of Eternity Splinter rewards throughout the game:
  
• When an Eternity Splinter drops from an enemy defeat, there is now a base chance to drop an additional bonus of 1-4 Eternity Splinters.
  
• Eternity Splinter rewards have been removed as mission rewards from Story mode, as well as from containers such as Daily Login Rewards. Eternity Splinter rewards have been
  replaced with Random Artifact Boxes for Story mode mission rewards.
  
• Powers that explicitly state that they do not break Stealth effects should now correctly function.
  
• Heroes that previously had minimap tracking now have it in their Defensive Trait.
  
• Reduced Norn Stones Spirit by 50 at level 80 and 25 at level 70.
  
• Cooldown timers should no longer fail to display their correct cooldown on the hotbar if the game window is moved in Windowed mode.
  
• The UI size should no longer incorrectly revert to the Small setting after logging out and back into the game at 1900 x 1200 resolution.
  
• Stacks of items should no longer fail to display their correct stack size on the ground when first dropped.
  
• The chat category selection menu should no longer be cut off on the bottom of the screen when the chat window size is set to Small.
  
• Updated the Holo Vendor’s inventory with new items and removed the now unused Medkit consumable items.
  
• Fixed an issue with once-per-day missions resetting immediately upon swapping to a different Hero. These missions will now correctly only award full XP once per day per
  Hero.
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause a summoned Team-Up to be invisible until changing regions.
  
• Updated Tutorials to use higher quality gamepad art when playing with a gamepad.
  
• Removed collision in many doorways and other places that would block players from moving through them when using flying travel powers. This is a work in progress and some
  areas may still have doorways and other passages that block flying heroes at this time.
  
• Heroes that have travel powers involving motorcycles will no longer rarely have their motorcycle model become stuck to the Hero when the travel power is canceled
  immediately after being activated.
  
• Changed +1 to Away Team Up Powers on Team-Up gear to 10% Brutal Strike Chance to Away Powers.
  
• The ESC key should now open the Options menu even when using a gamepad.
  
• Through a royal Asgardian decree, Enchanters now accept Gifted Odin Runes once again for Runeword recipes. Hail Odin!

Known Issues

• Achievements that are specific to the previous Red and Cosmic Terminals - such as the Cosmic Bounty Hunter Achievement - have been temporarily disabled due to an issue with
  
• Difficulty Slider interaction. These Achievements will be re-enabled in the next update when this issue is resolved.
  
• Currently right-clicking an item in your inventory will not automatically send it into the crafting component menu when crafting a recipe. This will be addressed in the
  next update.
  
• If a party is disbanded and then re-formed in the same region, players in that group that are not the party leader may no longer be able to see the Party UI button. If this
  occurs, leaving the party will need to be done using the /leave command in the chat window. This will be addressed in the next update.
  
• Upon logging in, costumes in your inventory that did not have any affixes except for a visual effect attached to them will create a Catalyst in your inventory that contains
  that visual effect. However, currently Catalysts created in this manner will not correctly transfer those visual effects via the Transfer Catalyst Visual recipe at the
  crafter. Until this issue is addressed in the next update, these Catalysts can be saved for use later once this recipe issue is fixed.
  
• Ant-Man's slot 5 base items are currently failing to roll the correct affixes when they to drop. As a result the Uncommon and Rare versions will only drop with one affix,
  and rarities above that will not drop in the game world. These slot 5 can be sold or donated as they will not be usable in the future. This does not affect Ant-Man's Hero-
  specific slot 5 Unique item. This issue is already addressed internally and will be fixed with the next update.
  
• While playing in a party, if you are not the party leader and enter into Cosmic Midtown Patrol when the party leader has selected a difficulty lower than Cosmic, your
  minimap will show that you are in the difficulty that is currently selected by your party leader rather than the correct Cosmic indicator. This is strictly a visual issue, and
  will not affect the difficulty or rewards within Cosmic Midtown Patrol. In the future, you will not be able to enter a region that would normally be restricted by the
  difficulty level set by the party leader (such as attempting to enter Cosmic Midtown Patrol when the party leader has set the Difficulty Slider to Normal). This will be
  addressed in an upcoming game update.
  
• In the Options menu under Gamepad settings, the "View Default Binding" option brings up images of the older default gamepad bindings. These images will be updated in the
  next game update; until then, you can find the updated default gamepad bindings above in the patch notes under the Gamepad Changes section.
  
• When using a gamepad, if the inventory panel is opened via the "back" button, you will be unable to use consumable items such as boosts or open loot containers. Until this
  issue is addressed in an upcoming game update, you can work around this issue by accessing the Inventory by using the "start" button and selecting "Character Panel", or simply
  closing the Team-Up menu that opens along with the inventory when using the "back" button, which will allow you to use consumable items as normal.
  
• The Team-Up Statistics display panel is currently not displaying the names of each stat category correctly. This issue will be addressed in an upcoming game update.
  
• Currently the Bundles tab within the in-game store is not correctly displaying images. We are working on correcting this issue as soon as possible.