Rican's Free 2 Play Friday: Marvel Hero - Doctor Doom

Rican's Free 2 Play Friday, a weekly look into free-to-play gaming such as MOBAs, MMOs, Team Shooters, and more! This week we look at Marvel Heroes 2015, the MMO/Action RPG's 2nd anniversary and their newest playable hero: Doctor Doom.

"Everything dies.

You. Me. Everyone on this planet.

Our Sun, our Galaxy. And eventually, the Universe itself.

This is simply how things are.

It's inevitable and I accept it."

  Marvel Heroes went from an almost unbearably unplayable Diablo clone, to one of the more creative Diablo clones in recent memory. Between character balance fixes, client upgrades, endgame content patches, and special events; it feels now more like an actual Action RPG/MMO than a regular ARPG with a wonky social component. Today I look at the big system revamps and events that have accompanied the game's 2nd year anniversary, and the release of one of the games original villains, and most requested hero/villain since Magneto: Doctor Doom.

"I openly loathe you, Richards!"

  So first things first, Gazillion Entertainment has done a lot of extensive work for their little action MMO. For a free to play game, the amount of resources used (and Marvel has a lot of hand in this) and changes made have dynamically altered what the game used to be. The item system got a revamp that made gearing easier and more "logical," the team-up hero system recently saw a retooling that made each individual team-up hero feel like an actual playable character rather than a "pet," and between daily "events" and special monthly or "holiday" events the game world now feels more alive and players are more prone to participate. Endgame also saw a boost with added raids and their multiple difficulties, a staple in MMORPGs. Recently, to celebrate both the 2nd year anniversary, Gazillion offered slashed prices to their heroes, skins, and team-ups; they also offered two for one deals (buy one Heroand get a random hero for free) that eventually culminated in their biggest release of the anniversary: Doctor Doom.

  Doctor Doom is an interesting Marvel character, to say he's currently the most relevant character in the company's roster is a disservice to the actual events occurring in all of the Marvel Universes. In the current Secret Wars comics Event, he is an (the) instrumental character in the destruction and rebirth of the shattered Marvel Universes and currently sits as God King of the Battleworld setting where all the surviving heroes and villains reside. He's also the featured villain in this years Fantastic Four reboot. Doom is All!

"There is only, Doom."

  Doctor Doom as a playable character in Marvel Heroes 2015 is actually quite a treat. Originally the endgame villain, now rocking his Fantastic Foundation white outfit (the classic green is available in the store for you puritans), Doom is a ranged dps killing machine. He can specialize in Tech attacks (energy), Sorcery (mental), and Latverian robots (physical). Played as a hybrid in the first few levels is probably the most fun for Doom players. But his mid 40's and endgame levels are best appreciated as a pure specialized character (Tech/Sorcery/Latverian) with a talent in the Latverian tree that alters how he operates by basically shunning all other types of damage and skills in favor of being able to do more damage in ONE specialization. Currently I use him as a pure sorcerer since I feel his attacks in this tree are the most damaging (including a beastly area of effect DoT and a rapid fire main generator) and the coolest looking. I'm currently in love with how Doom's "uniques" (high end character specific gear) have the best synergy with him (all three specializations) and hopefully a lot of older characters get an "unique" items review so they work more in tandem with how Doom's operate.

Kaaaaa Meeeee Haaaa Meeeeeeeee HAAAAA!!!!

  Doom is here, and he's fantastic. The future of Marvel Heroes 2015 looks fairly bright and with news of a Thing revamp (in dire need of it) and a new Thor skin (the current female incarnation) in the horizon, players will have plenty to do this Summer. Now, if only Midtown Madness was more than a once a week occurrence, I could level more Heroes, there's a certain other Doctor I've been dying to try out...

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Look into Free 2 Play Columns: League of Legends, Marvel Heroes 2015, Heroes of the Storm. 

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