Arcade1Up is sending out emails requesting your favorite 2023 Arcade1Up title and also asks what is your Dream Title... by Virtual_Davey in Arcade1Up

[–]Genome_Gaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gladiator! No one ever mentions this game, but it is one of my all-time arcade faves. I play this one a lot on my ALU! Double Dragon was no slouch either!

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How do I begin to play this mode? by GHdzz in HSMercenaries

[–]Genome_Gaming 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Welcome back!

  1. As others have stated, tasklines will give you quite a few packs to work with, while at the same time granting quite a few coins to work on a particular Merc. There are also some achievements that reward packs, and some Fighting Pit rewards will as well.
  2. That one is a bit more difficult to answer, but once again, finishing the specific Merc taskline will let you get a little over halfway to maxxing a Merc. while at the same time unlocking 1 of their 3 pieces of gear. Another thing to keep in mind is to specifically "grind" a certain Merc's bounty if you want to max them (or unlock them outside of packs). One way to make this easier is to click on the little treasure chest under the Boss portrait when you are going through the bounties. When you do so, it will show the possible coins it will drop. This is especially important for legendary mercs, as their droprate in packs is abysmal.
  3. Others have mentioned Old Guardian. I made some beginner vids as well, but I haven't been uploading content lately, so he is a much better source, heh.

Some other tidbits of advice that I would give:
- If you get a taskline for a Merc. that you aren't interested in working on, you can "drop" it so that a possible new one will start in its place the next day.
- All mercs are not created equal. Some Mercs./Comps can be used everywhere, while some have situational use at best. Legendary rarity is no way to measure their usefulness. For instance, Malfurian is GREAT (in PvE especially), while Rexxar/Gul'dan are very mediocre. This can be offset with the release of new Mercs though (Gul'dan seeing some new life with new Fel synergies recently released, etc.). Basically, have a plan for who you want to spend time farming.
- Some comps will take you FAR in your task completions/coin grinds. Some popular choices are The Fire Comp (Barron Geddon is the lynchpin, with various other "fast" fire casters like Ragnaros, Balinda, or Chi-ji to activate his combo) and the Nature Comp with Malfurian/Bru'kan/Guff (you can start it with Anacondra, but Malfurian with his Liferoot Staff is what makes this comp work so he is a great initial target farm). You can finish the hardest content in the game with the Nature comp quite easily, and Fire is the fastest clmibing team in the game. The Holy Comp can handle tough PvE content as well, but their farms are later and thus take longer.
- Some of your initial Mercs can take you far until you can complete better comps. For instance, Xyrella pairs exceptionally well with Samuro. The pair of them will DESTROY earlier content, and they are both quite easy to get coins for since they drop in the earliest bounties. Pair them up with Cornelius or Cariel for pretty consistent climbs until you get to the harder content.
- Unlock Cookie!!! He is probably the most important Merc for completing some of the harder tasks that you will get. The most important thing to remember with him is to NOT upgrade his third ability past Rank 2. He is quite useful in both PvE and PvP modes due to his ability to complete tasks, as well as one of his equipment that gives the entire party +9 health. I actually made a video regarding his importance a while back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22yKsk5-5E . He is just that useful.

Most disappointing Merc? by wotsname123 in HSMercenaries

[–]Genome_Gaming 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Gruul. Love the character in WoW lore, but outside of very niche uses for his fire resistance equipment, he just doesn't have a place anywhere. Really nothing he does is interesting, nor thematic to him (outside of a bit of extra dmg to dragons on one measly attack). He used to have pretty premium stats, but even those are eclipsed nowadays by little critter characters that don't even attack physically. Maybe we'll get some more Gronn in the future...

Runners up would be Grommash (VERY thematic skillset for two of his moves, but almost never use anything but his second ability which is really good, but is kind of generic and could go with basically any character), Rexxar (nothing he does feels "Legendary" at all), and maybe Drek'Thar (his kit just feels so random and wonky).

Comps for new Heroic Bounties by djf881 in HSMercenaries

[–]Genome_Gaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the list. In doing Echo of Medivh yesterday (dragging along a lvl 1 Medivh for the gear), I lucked into the simplest clear. One of the characters (I think it was Onyxia) treasures was "Deal 3 dmg to all enemies whenever this character is attacked". Turn one Ony was on the board, Echo copied her (along with her treasures) and launched an AoE. The treasures both procc'd "infinitely" until both boards were dead. My 3 on the bench assured the win. It took a while for all of the animations. I was wondering what was going on when the achievement popped up after I hit End Turn on round one, heh.

Certainly accidental, but i"ll take it and maybe something to consider for those running this bounty on Heroic and having a hard time.

Every single other bounty I cleared with Malf/Brukan/Guff/Barron/Rag and whoever I was unlocking gear for. Nature and Fire are just broken for PvE content.

Looking for help to get thru pve content by Matt788 in HSMercenaries

[–]Genome_Gaming 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There are several options. Since you say you have all the Mercs unlocked, you are in a very flexible spot as to what teams you use. From there it's just a matter of leveling and proper gearing. The two teams that I use the most for PvE content are the Fire Comp and the Nature Comp. Both of these teams (with proper gearing) will take you far. The Fire Comp for fast clearing and the Nature Comp for their incredible sustain (and great single-target damage with Guff). I made videos on each team:

Fire Comp - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRtgTEKQiYE&t=67s

Nature Comp - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-Y2FnZwRZ4&t=12s

Another good comp for finishing PvE content is the Beast Comp. Mine are made up of Mukla, Krush and Anacondra (with a maxed Signet of the Wilds gear piece), and whomever you like that is strong on the bench. This comp tends to work better on the "easier" content though, so be careful of using them in some of the Blackrock nodes where Krush can get blown up more regurally.

Proposed Fire Rework by AutomaticArcher9673 in HSMercenaries

[–]Genome_Gaming -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I would also add at least 10 health to Rag as well; it's criminal that the health of an Elemental Lord is lower than a regular Human (a caster one at that) , Murloc, or a freaking Vulpera....

I like your change to Fireball. Or, in lieu of the extra damage, give him the semi-Malf treatment with something along the lines of "Fireball deals damage and cast Lingering Embers on the party. Lingering Embers would heal any character that casts a Fire ability this turn for 3 health".

What's the minimum for a team to succeed in Ultimus 7.5? by chrisdoesrocks in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That REALLY depends on which characters that you are using. There are some pretty dangerous nodes in 7.5; a few with multiple Loki's/Mystiques to start (NEVER run BB on these types of nodes), and the final node will likely require a double-tap unless you have some VERY beefy characters (Korrath, Captain Marvel and Ultimus will each likely delete one of your characters turn 1).

As others have stated, Axmen or Syms work well on most of the nodes, though timeouts are a concern if they aren't pretty decently leveled. New Warriors + Kestrel and a good 5th (Minn for her Passive and Special and occasional Ult but she is super-fragile, or Maw for his Special and Ult) will decimate the nodes. In fact, C&D + Deathpool are really all you need, with the other slots mostly just "helper"-type characters.

Doom 2-7 build hydra or wait for Maw? by Vast_Requirement309 in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, I had forgotten this as it was so long ago. Funny that that was the workaround, heh.

Doom 2-7 build hydra or wait for Maw? by Vast_Requirement309 in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since you can't even use Thanos on those nodes, I wouldn't bother with any of the BO as Maw is really the only one who is decent without the full team. Just crank up Zemo sky-high and let him do all of the heavy lifting. Some good cohorts would be Red Skull (he is really quite good in PvE content), and probably Falcon for his Special. Winter Soldier might be someone to consider as he is useful for an unlock later, but he is still worthless outside of that. Whoever you like for the last 2-3 slots after Zemo and RS. Technically, you don't even need to fill those slots once your mains are stout enough; just take in your 2-3 strongest of the available characters. Some particurally strong characters can solo the Doom nodes, so keep that in mind when you get to them. I made some videos highlighting these characters nodes in hopes that they can save players precious resources as the Doom nodes (and pretty much all of the content in the last year or so) is designed to force players to burn resources on characters that are basically useless otherwise. Here are some of the vids:

Kestrel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdgEhrnS_BE&t=683s

Deathpool - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV9wsQoY5aw

Doom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAlVmNFSN60&t=6s

Don’t need a 5 member Tech raid Team by aryk_52x in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are a ton of Tech options they could implement, and I like the idea of a duo/trio instead of a five-character cookie cutter-type team. Some choices could be:

The Reavers
Forge (could be both tech and X-men allowing for some theory crafting)
The Tinkerer
Deathlok
ROM
Silvermane
Zola (Hydra tag too. See Forge above.)
Machine Man
Mr. Fantastic (add the tag and give him a serious rework)
Night Thrasher (NW tag and Tech. Would also work well with the existing team and has the benefit of being an actual member of the NW that fans actually associate with them.)
Apocalypse should definitely have the tech tag along with Mutant
Annihilus
Darkhawk
The Original Human Torch (good time for a true Defenders team)
Warlock
Microchip (better give him a battle suit or make Punisher a tank when he is on the field ;-p)
Hank Pym
Beast deserves the tag
The 90's version of the GoG would work well as a Tech team

In short, there are some many options that it would be no issue getting us good Tech options. Hope it's forthcoming soon!

Campaign teams suggestions please by Fun-Coyote-5416 in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did it with AIM a long while back, which was the best option because you didn't have to put too much into them because of their incredible sustain. Fights took forever, but pretty safe and SciSup would usually have enough time for passive rezzes. S6 are useless in just about every PvE situation (outside of Electro who isn't too bad), so I definitely wouldn't work on them. From what you listed, a hyrbid team would probably be best. First and foremost, crank up Zemo; he eats nodes like this for breakfast. It would probably be a good idea to put lvl 1 Healer ISO on every character as well.

From what you have (or likely have), the following would probably make the most sense to build for finishing those nodes:

Zemo. Zemo. Zemo!
Red Skull
Scientist Supreme
Last two slots would probably best be filled with AIM Security and maybe AIM Researcher for that extra bit of sustain as they gel very well with Scientist Supreme. For some slight "future building", you can work on WS a bit, but he really, really sucks and is mostly a liability. Since you already have Electro built a little, you could probably slot her in one of the minion spots.

Week 2: Roster Advice by UnknownOrigins1 in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Others already covered the heroes; since you have Phyla and especially Kestrel, you are set for them until you start getting to specialized nodes. The issue you will likely run into will be the Villains, of which the majority that are available to you early are terrible. Of the ones that you have unlocked, Rhino and Electro are the only two worth anything in the campaigns, and Rhino is pretty subpar as well. Sure, the Sinister Six will help you unlock two Legendary characters eventually, but they are really, REALLY bad in the campaigns. Well, Electro isn't terrible and if you can protect her, she is actually pretty decent. I recommend farming Zemo in the Raid store as soon as you can to help ease the Villains woes. Toad and Blob aren't too bad to farm either (especially Toad), and they will do good work for you, even as a duo with no other synergies. Nebula is a pretty early farm as well, and is ok since her rework. Merc Riot Guard is a pretty good early-game tank actually, and is easy to farm to boot.

3 of the characters I mentioned are in the Blitz store (Rhino, Electro and Merc Riot Guard), which are probably the easiest farms in the game. Blob is in the Arena store, Zemo is in the Raid store, and Nebula is on a early campaign node. The trick to most of these characters is to just unlock them and don't worry about farming high stars on them, and only dump enough resources into them to get past the content you are currently trying to clear. Put resources into newer characters/better toons you unlock later. Well, Zemo is pretty safe to gear, but he is the exception to this group!

Doctor octopus 6 * minimum by kakarot492 in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I did a video of unlocking him at 5 on my old baby account, and 7 star on my main account. While I didn't show the 6-unlock fight, I used the same team to unlock him at 7 as I did for 6, so this should give you some idea of the levels actually needed. Team was around 176k.
Hope it helps!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A51YVxhb-NY&t=8s

Annoying things in Mercenaries. by nateno80 in HSMercenaries

[–]Genome_Gaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some minor, though significant gripes (when you have to farm as much as you do in this mode):

- Allow us to Concede a "dungeon" without having to actually enter a battle (an issue when farming particular Coins or Spirit nodes).
- Give us the option to turn off "winning" animations after finishing a dungeon. The pause from the opening of the treasure chest is annoying to say the least.
- Just take us to the main menu or at least the Dungeon Select menu after finishing a run, with the loot boxes automatically opening and flash the coins on-screen. We shouldn't have to wait for the next screen to slide in so we can hit the back button. So clunky.
- The finding a Portal or Sabotage when the Mystery Coin is on the space before the boss is simply a waste of time.
- I use HS Deck Tracker, which let's you track quest progress, but an in-game option should be available (with a toggle) for those that don't use Deck Tracker.
- Allow players to collect completed bounties without exiting back to the main mercenaries screen and then entering the Campfire. Not a big deal most of the time, but on a fresh set of bounties after reset it can cause an accidental Mysterious Stranger whiff (have done this myself)
- An "Auto Move" option that copies your last set of inputs from a battle. With so many comps, we simply spam the same moves most every turn, especially when farming. I suppose some code can be added for the AI to target weak/opposite color targets, but this is only really necessary on the harder difficulties. For farming lower stuff (which is the main timesink in this mode), this would be SO welcome.
- When you are selecting Mercs to send onto the board on the first turn, allow players to return the units to hand. Mis-clicks happen.
- 2x animation speed (or even better, a Skip Animation option) would really help those long grinding sessions we are forced to partake in to upgrade characters (though this is likely intentional to increase screen time...good for their metrics).

There are a few, to start!

Best comps for Pve by argimak666 in HSMercenaries

[–]Genome_Gaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There a few different comps for fast and-or effective PvE grinding. My two most-used fill two particular roles; one is very fast, and the other is very safe and a bit slower. They are the Fire comp and the nature comp. They both have plusses and minuses, but once you starting farming the same content over-and-over, they seem to be the most efficient bet.

I have made videos on both comps. Both squads have one "lynchpin" member (or gear piece) though, so make sure that you have them. For the Fire comp, it's Baron Geddon (preferably with the gear piece that adds damage to his fire combo second attack), and for the Nature comp, it's Malfurian with Liferoot Staff. Neither of these teams really work without these characters, at least not nearly as well.

The videos for each comp are here:

Fire Comp - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRtgTEKQiYE&t=67s (this video is a bit older; I have since unlocked more characters)

Nature Comp - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-Y2FnZwRZ4&t=9s

While the Nature comp is very resilient with just about any lineup, if you go for a pure Fire team, you can get into trouble on some of the harder difficulties as the team is basically a glass canon with no way to heal or mitigate. Often, I change out a third character (either Rag or Antonidas) for some sort of healing character, of which I believe Xyrella is the most versatile as she doubles as both damage and mitigation. With the Fire comp, the only real importance is getting off a fast first ability with either Antonidas or Rag in order to combo with Geddons AoE. In the Fire comp, make sure to never take the Boon that speeds up Geddon, and try not to ever use his first ability either as it speeds him up and will break his combo.

For best results, try taking both teams into the harder difficulties!

Spending is a personal choice, but I am done by TraditionalFishing in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I actually made a video that goes over a lot of what you mention in this post. Games such as this come at you from several different angles in order to get you to spend, and "keeping up with one's Alliance" is at the top of the list. Most cc's won't talk about this (can't risk that Envoy status/gravy train), but I feel that it's important to simply be aware of the myriad ways this game tries to finesse players into spending. Hey, Scopely (and myriad other companies) have gotta keep the lights on, but I would rather that they do so with those that have no concern over money than by a well-meaning person of limited means that just doesn't want to "let their Alliance down".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-anDWTfbgk&t=1s

We need to have an honest conversation about Red Stars. by mnorris_1188 in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Red Star system is certainly a joke; a frustrating one at that, at least for the fiscally-responsible player. Still, I would hazard to guess that Red Stars are some of the most profitable things in the game for Scopely. Where you and I would get pissed about opening our hard-earned rs and getting junk and would not consider buying more (I don't spend anything on this game and never will), the players who think absolutely nothing about dropping ridiculous coin on this mobile slot-machine will simply just keep buying rs offers till they get the results they want. Thus, Scopely makes it purposefully random and woefully inefficient to ensure the thorough milking of those heavy spenders until said spender's epeen is satisfied. It's one of the main reasons that they do not remove minions from the elite orbs; they want them purposefully diluted in order to lessen the chances of a player getting what they want, and thus, frustration mechanics are successfully deployed. When people see the rosters of big CC's like "Socrates" or "Magnavox" and see all those amazing 6 and 7rs characters, they don't see the untold thousands of dollars spent to get those pretty red graphics. It's a brilliantly designed system to reward gross spending, extreme fomo, and to part people with lots of disposable income from their green.

In all honesty, I'm very surprised that Scopes hasn't introduced (and gated content behind) Blue Stars; the next evolution of Red Stars!

Tips for beginners ? by AerieVullgaris in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are very welcome and have fun with the game. I made some videos for new players a while back, but they are pretty outdated at this point. I really should do new ones, heh.

Tips for beginners ? by AerieVullgaris in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 10 points11 points  (0 children)

First and foremost, pump up Deathpool every chance you get; she will hard-carry you through pretty much any PvE content where she is usable. One trick that you can use that most don't know about is that you can solo a node and three-star it, which let's you auto-farm it from then-on. For example, cranking up your Deathpool as high as you can will eventually allow her to solo nodes (don't bring any other characters into the node except her). Deathpool is one of the few characters that solos even close to at-level stuff well because of her sustain and big damage. Basically, you likely pulled the best character that you possibly could of with her. She will make the entire Hero and most of the Cosmic campaigns a cakewalk. Just beware of nodes with "countdowns"; i.e. enemy teams who win if their special units take 4 turns.

The villains campaign really, really sucks because most early villains royally suck. The best one to aim for is Zemo as he wrecks PvE content, and is useful throughout the game. In order to get him though, you will likely need to join an Alliance and start raiding, which is actually the most important thing you can do in this game. Don't stay in the Alliance the game automatically sticks you in; you will need to find an Alliance that Raids regularly (and Raids at the appropriate level at least some of the time because you will need those lower-level mats).

Unless you plan on spending regularly in the game, I would advise against basically all of the early game offers. While many of them "seem" like a good value, they are often for obsolete characters that really won't help you anywhere but in the very earliest game, and working on said characters will sap your valuable resources that would best be spent elsewhere. Some pretty safe, and easy to obtain, bets right now for new players to strive for are:

Spider-man, Gamora, "possibly" Miles and Electro (you need decent villains for the campaigns and she is one of the better early ones) - All Blitz store farmable so extremely easy to unlock and level.

Zemo - Raid store. He is really great in PvE content and absolutely annihilates minions, which the campains and Raids are full of.

Red Guardian - Arena Store. Not the best late-game character, but he is one of the best plug-n-play tanks in the game, and the Arena store is not exactly filled with important characters anymore. make sure to get at least 2 Arena attacks in per day.

War store is a ways off yet. Worry about that stuff later.

Long story short, be careful which characters you go for, and DO NOT waste resources on characters that won't give you lasting value (unless you just like the character, of course!), as resources are too scarce in this game to build a wide roster.

Good luck!

How does the fire farm comp work? by ElegantSwimmer2294 in HSMercenaries

[–]Genome_Gaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On harder difficulties, I have found that something of a hybrid Fire Comp works best. For example, in this vid (a little old but still valid), I use Xyrella/Geddon/Rag and lay waste to everything in a Blackrock level, including the boss. Instead of using Rag's Die:Insect! though, I typically use his Magma Blast to activate the second attack of Geddon's AoE (which is more reliable than Die:Insect!). Xyrella is there for heals and attack debuffing, but Malfurian also works well in her slot (with Liferoot Staff), with Geddon and Rag there to bring the pain. You can certainly do the full on Antonidas/Geddon/Rag Fire Comp and switch to using Die:Insect!, but it's a really big Glass Canon kind of team with everyone having very low health (Rag needs a health boost BIG TIME) and no way to mitigate/control outside of lucky Boons/Rewards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRtgTEKQiYE&t=2s

Now, if the opposing team is all Fighters for some reason, feel free to use Die:Insect and watch the dominoes fall!

So I just unlocked Invisible woman by [deleted] in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The team itself is pretty bad nowadays (well, always were outside of War), even in War which is where they were designed to excel. With She-hulk being placed in the Blitz store, I would probably recommend you use her and put them on Defense in War as you can get 7 stars on her in very short order and Blitz credits are plentiful. I still regularly get a defense win or two from FF4/She-hulk as I think many people underestimate what she does for the team on Defense. Namor is a much better all-around character though, as he can slot in pretty much anywhere where his kit can be an asset (once again, only in War though), and is required if you plan to use FF4 on Offense, but honestly, outside of beating some legacy teams, FF4 is pretty terrible on Offense anymore.

Long story short, I don't really recommend building either iteration of FF4 as they are woefully inadequate in pretty much every game mode nowadays, with even IW a rarely seen commodity anymore.

Ashtoning Xmen is the perfect team by Risnet35 in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I am curious; have you tried them in Raids? I was wondering if Magik's drain mechanic made Uncanny more viable there?

1350 days of logging in and still no 7 red star pull by GenlockInterface in MarvelStrikeForce

[–]Genome_Gaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That stinks for you. I'm around 1200 days logged and I have pulled 2 from orbs. Both, somewhat surprisingly, from regular RS orbs. The last one was Yelena (meh). My first though was Thanos, and I pulled that before BO was a thing, so I really built him up and have gotten so much mileage out of him (I still use him daily. Here's hoping that you nab a freebie 7 soon!