Death of a Game: Marvel Heroes (Marvel Universe Online)

"What did it cost?" $20 for a skin.
Video Edited by Tom the Editor. Written/voiced by nerdSlayer. Script editing done by Joshua Sloan! Sources listed below.
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Sources:
www.out-law.com/page-5381
www.gamesindustry.biz/article...
www.developmag.com/news/28806...
www.gamespot.com/articles/cry...
www.cbsnews.com/news/startup-...
www.engadget.com/2012/01/17/m...
www.geek.com/games/marvel-her...
venturebeat.com/2013/06/04/af...
www.entertainmentbuddha.com/marvel-heroes-2015-teased-in-new-trailer-and-screenshots/
www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...
comicbook.com/gaming/2017/05/...
massivelyop.com/2017/11/01/ma...
kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-...
www.ign.com/articles/2017/11/...
/ 935252377942179840
www.vg247.com/2017/11/28/marv...
gamerant.com/marvel-heroes-as...
www.wired.com/2008/02/marvel-...
www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/...
www.denofgeek.com/us/games/ma...
www.metacritic.com/game/pc/ma...
www.destructoid.com/impressio...
www.entertainmentbuddha.com/ma...
www.metacritic.com/game/pc/ma...
www.nintendo.com/games/detail...
www.destructoid.com/impressio...
www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...
www.crunchbase.com/organizati...
steamcharts.com/app/226320#All
massivelyop.com/2017/09/28/ma...
/ summary_of_the_news_fr...
/ dnldszo
/ hey_marvel_hey_disney_...
www.crunchbase.com/person/dav...
• "Sleeping Kogoro" acco...

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Back from the holidays with another DOAG episode. This time, on Marvel Heroes/Marvel Universe Online, Gazillion Entertainments failed MMOARPG. Huge thanks to Tom who edited the video amazingly as always (particularly this one!), and Joshua Sloan who helped me with editing on the script. And thank you guys for being patient, I know it's been a minute :). Sources listed in the description, and that announcement video I promised last month is still coming (just proving more difficult :D).

[@joem1480]

Please do Horizons: Empire of Istria next

[@haunshaul7222]

That's me! I'm the script edit guy! =P The video looks fantastic so far, great work to you and Tom. Looking forward to more!

[@empmagiccamera2591]

I wouldn't call this game "failed" as it wasn't a failure, it was killed...literally.

[@ogb1404]

@@empmagiccamera2591 It was killed because it's team ultimately failed to provide a solid experience. But it was never a huge success that they wanted it to be. I recall 2014 being a really good year for that game. I stopped playing on PC in 2015 due to them focusing too much on characters and not on content. Came back to play it after it hit console and could see the writing on the wall. Not shocked that it failed. Damn shame. I really enjoyed it at one point and wanted it to grow.

[@Marinealver]

I don't think the developers should take any blame considering the reward for their effort and hard work was to get Telltailed right off. But I do think that the CEO can get punched Deadpool style (in the dick) for his role in this game's death.

[@uncleflansy5621]

I love how they teased Taskmaster as a playable character on April 1st, then revealed it was all an April fools day prank. Then actually released him the day after. It was a great move.

[@ROYBGP]

What chads.

[@inexfan89]

This one still hurts. I loved the game until the very end.

[@lazarusguan2388]

I still love it now. God, I miss Marvel Heroes so much.

[@sindri1447]

me too T.T

[@toren2099]

@@lazarusguan2388 least we got marvel future revolution on pc

[@lazarusguan2388]

@@toren2099 Tried it. Can make do but it's not as good as Marvel Heroes. Plus Netmarble being Netmarble, they will drop an update that will force players to spend a lot more eventually as evidence by what they did with KOFAS.

[@kennyhouser3467]

Same. I was there, logged in until they shut it down. I miss taking characters people thought sucked and make them functional. Beast and my homey Moon Knight were particular favorites of mine.

[@remvd5886]

I would take this over Marvel Avengers anyday

[@aka-47k]

yeah lol marvel heroes was much better game then diablo 3 and diablo immoral rofl what rly killed it was the marvel heroes "OMEGA" part this update did dumb down all the hero builds and made a crazy long grind for omegas. i came to marvel heroes after being disapointed of diablo3 and i loved that it was a d2 reskin with heroes that was like win win, best part compared to dc online you could play the actual heroes and not selfcreate with generic powers like in dc online. in marvel heroes you played as that hero, used their unique abilitys and it was so much fun.

[@fu6817]

@@aka-47k I think the CEO was the biggest reason, monetization problems (All the good heroes were done), Omega.. Marvel license? Big troubles.

[@Gunplabro]

There was nothing mediocre about the game at it's peak. It was the definitive super hero arpg. A continuously improving ultimate Alliance that was free to play. You could earn every single character just by playing the game. The death of this game was a tragedy. I miss my starlord

[@georgiamademane9552]

If they made something like dcuo it prolly woulda lasted

[@perrymanso6841]

@@georgiamademane9552 MMo and ARPG are totally different genres, and for a superhero game, the ARPG fits just better, the problem is, the audience is smaller.

[@KRonSimis]

This one hurts the most

[@jamescrock62]

I was just thinking this... this was a personal loss

[@hazop7027]

Same

[@OuthouseBacksteak]

It really, really does. I still miss this game.

[@segapig]

Yeah. I missed how much the original devs interacted with the fans on the forums and would seriously take feedback in to consideration.

[@ryan4262]

I spent so much money on it :(

[@JnEricsonx]

I miss this game so much. One of the friendliest, nicest, and dear GOD most generous game communities I have ever come across. I probably got characters, skins, and Team ups in the double digits based on forum contests and in game contests, incredible. Also, just fun to play.

[@cbake76]

The community was so great!

[@whuspr]

do you remember Zavira by chance? I think that's how their name was spelled. they did a lot of giveways and even gave away giveaways for other people to run. I remember giving away an x23 skin with Zavira, and running my own giveaway when I got a 90% G coupon. Agents of G.I.F.T. was the best thing I can remember from the forum, all the giveaways during christmas time, it was so nice to see all of the hype. my name was Dauntlesshero for the majority of my time on the forum i miss the forum the most.

[@danm2084]

Yeah I really miss it still :/ one of my favorite arpgs.

[@matheusbc9622]

completely agree, I had some of the best experiences with that community, such a great buch of fellows, I loved to play the game, had so much fun, really wish it would be revived in some way but it seems quite impossibl

[@JnEricsonx]

@@whuspr Yes, now I do.

[@skelemania8642]

Marvel Heroes owned. I put like 2.5-3k hours into it. It was my go-to game. Still haven't found a replacement since it died. Miss that game a lot. Daredevil 4-life.

[@kyotheman69]

PoE is leagues better, Diablo2 is still playable

[@kendarr]

Back then I've put a lot of hours into DCU too, good times

[@syncringe1885]

Daredevil really? I like Nick Fury since he came out. So many people helping.

[@Skotcho4eva]

I had every single character maxed out with best in slot. Scarlet witch was my go to lol

[@admiralcrackbar8465]

Have you played the Ultimate Alliance games? They are super fun

[@Flopfist]

I disagree with it not feeling like a marvel game. As a fan since birth it was one of the most "marvel feeling" games I've ever played especially with the xmen levels

[@rihasanatrofolo2472]

Not to shit on your nostalgia but this game was clapped.

[@fu6817]

I hated that all the characters were equally strong.. but i understand why they did it. The hero powers were both different and similar, but different enough to give many heroes an unique experience. It did feel as marvel game as any other marvel game. Marvel's Avengers isn't much wilder either, flying height cap, same speeds, blargh.

[@bpearsell]

Marvel Heroes was the OG and better than any Marvel game that came after it, even with it's issues. Marvel/Disney needs to calm their tits and release the data that's required for a Private Marvel Heroes Server to be possible. Greedy sobs that Disney is, they are most likely the ones that have made that idea so difficult to accomplish.

[@armorvil]

@@bpearsell Yeah, plus History Preservation is important. Game companies really need to take this more seriously. It's not normal that this game (and many others) now only exists in videos like this one or in the memories of people who had the chance to play them. Some kind of separate entity should be created to ensure that no video-game is ever forgotten / has no chance to ever be playable again even if it's online only and its owners died or didn't care about them. It's as important as preserving books, art or movies because they've been parts of our youths/lives. They're not just a way for people to make money. They're not products like toilet paper. They're part of human culture. Whether people feel that they were good or bad is irrelevant.

[@JayShockblast]

I appreciate you giving visual credit to my gameplay. I really loved and miss this game greatly. Solid video. I don't necessarily agree with everything but seems pretty fair.

[@Waitiki]

It was a great seeing your gameplay in this video, you where the one who got me hooked on the game. I still miss it, but I hope Ultimate Alliance 3 will scratch that Marvel Heroes itch. Thank you NerdSlayer for this comprehensive video. Although I don't agree with you about the quality of the gameplay, I'm really unimpressed with you coverage of the entire video.

[@phammcast]

@@Waitiki What both of you just said is a testament to how awesome this game was and how people still to this day are hoping for something like it in the future. I don't know what game he's talking about, but it certainly isn't OUR game.

[@zarekodynski9077]

Obviously this is a year late reply but I think you should disagree with him much stronger. It may not be on purpose but he is almost disingenuous in his presentation of the game almost exclusively showing extremely low level content with only base “left click” powers. Really does not do the game justice and he just seems to hate ARPGs from how he talks about it. I mean he must have had either zero or very little experience with Marvel Heroes because he said it was less visceral and deep gameplay wise than Ultimate Alliance, which is a great game/series, but they cannot even be compared in reality. In ultimate alliance your character has a few powers in total to learn, but you can only use 4 at once, and none of them were very flashy or superhero-y in all honestly. And trust me, I loved Ultimate Alliance it was a huge part of my younger life. In Marvel Heroes while not all builds for each character were balanced that well you at least had the freedom to choose from 20+ powers and could actually have a unique move set compared to other players. TL:DR video is very poor representation and description of Marvel Heroes, video is very biased with little experience of the game.

[@zarekodynski9077]

Just in case someone does read my comment I would like to add that while i criticized his presentation of the gameplay and that being such an issue for the game, all of his points about the conduct or decisions made within Gazillion were very well placed. I would argue many of the decisions made were the only reason the game died, not because it wasn't fun or exciting. He definitely construes many of the later updates as being well received by fans which is just flat out wrong, I remember playing when the last few big updates came out and over-simplified everything, no one liked those updates, and they were just to port the game to console not to better the game in any way. My point is that nerdSlayer seems to have an extreme bias on the gameplay which he made his opinion on from the very early stages of gameplay, hence he showed almost no high level/end-game gameplay. If you were to honestly compare Marvel Heroes to other ARPGs it actually stands out as one of the best. The big favorites of the genre being repetitive gameplay "killing enemies over and over" is actually just part of the genre, every ARPG does that and idk which ones nerSlayer seems to think don't. The arguably biggest ARPG right now is Path of Exile which is extremely repetitive but still fun to play because you run around destroying swaths of enemies, which is exactly what Marvel Heroes did. Also that is much more heroic compared to a game like Ultimate Alliance in which your super hero can barely take on 10 enemies at once and has to attack each separately in many cases.

[@FatalFist]

Still rooting for Marvel's Avengers to get a huge boost in the year ahead so it can evolve like Marvel Heroes tried. I mean Cap even feels like my Cap in Marvel Heroes where the only difference in MA is third person which I enjoy immensely more.

[@junkhead1979]

Marvel Heroes was a good game. I've been waiting for you to do this one. It definitely had it's issues, but I miss it all the time. If there was a chance at a private server, a lot of people would be elated.

[@nirvana4230]

JunkHead 1979 City of Heroes is having a revival due to a “private” sever so I’m hoping someone can do the same for Marvel Heroes

[@inthatcaseable]

Wish GGG got the rights. I think it's pretty much dead. Hopefully Team Ninja comes through with Ultimate Alliance.

[@inthatcaseable]

@memes moments Is it not?

[@Skotcho4eva]

Id play it.

[@damonhajduch1727]

Very fun game. In todays market it is hard for developers to create content when you have players who are on 18 hours a day 7 days a week. I really miss it

[@mbdpodkast3695]

They need to bring this game back, it was honestly beautiful, I remember being a little kid playing as Hulk and loving every second.

[@Ashtarte3D]

Despite all the early issues of the game I fucking loved Marvel Heroes, especially after the 2015 version released. Gazillion just kept plugging away at making the game better and adding new content while never feeling like they were targeting to players wallet. As ARPGs go it still had some of the best feeling movement skills and a huge variety of characters and builds. Path of Exile is the only game with more build diversity but with a much smaller pool of characters to play as. Plus Marvel Heroes had all 3 of my favorite superheroes: Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel, Psylocke and Emma Frost.

[@armyfreak9389]

I was so excited to have my 90's Xmen characters. I also loved Marvel Heroes over MUA, because Heroes characters handled differently from each other, Like Hulk and Thing had unique powersets, but MUA2 had like 4 characters to play as Blaster, Melee, Tank, Support they just reskinned those 4 archetypes for each "new" hero.

[@Robert53area]

I miss my Electra, she was a boss killer

[@aka-47k]

yes absolutely i loved the part as you played as the heroes with their unique abilitys. my favorites were emma frost, rogue, jean. esp fun was to hunt for powers as rogue to go out and "touch" the bosses, lol the helping community is so true, i just had to write i need power steal with rogue from last boss and i got invite for the raid portal. (well it helps that many pple did use characters as portal holders)

[@fu6817]

@@aka-47k I enjoyed playing as Storm and just floating forward while everything exploded on the screen. Damn, so many heroes that were fun to play. More than classes in D2, double it, damn triple it. Marvel Heroes left a hole that cannot be filled :(

[@deklore]

Its 2021 and i still really miss this game :(

[@sindri1447]

same

[@fabricioakira8056]

Same

[@Gilbeast]

I loved this game. The killer was the lack of any meaningful updates for almost a year. They then gave us this huge update on the pc that basically consolized the game and we now know why. A free 2 play mmo with no updates for a year is going to lose most of its players. The dev team was too small to update the pc and work on a console version. Also the reason why the one month silence was a huge deal was the developers were very engaged with players and always gave a weekly update. When they suddenly went silent for the first time ever it became a huge concern. I don't mean they didn't post an update, I mean not a peep from anyone. One Dev actually came back from a vacation and posted she would find out what is going on because she was clueless, and then she went silent.

[@FatalFist]

It really was a niche idea too. Basically Diablo in Marvel clothing with online MMO-lite settings. I loved it but I also agree, it took them a while to really flesh the game out appropriately.

[@kyotheman69]

other issue was bring out to many characters instead of working on core game play, missions, and characters they already had to make them more complex or feel more full, for me they felt rehash designs and incomplete which sad, the game could of been great.

[@KlaelDemon]

That one dev was TheDink, the most amazing artist on their team. I really miss her work, she did some incredible things while she was with Gazillion.

[@PorterPickUp]

The biggest issue with this game was the complete lack of worthwhile content updates. It was so few and far between. I think they shot themselves in the foot spending so much time and effort creating raids that few people ever actually ran.

[@beldin2987]

@Zerebrat Eightyseven I don't understand that, it was way better because we finally could test new builds instead of copy just the actual fotm build, because it was such a chore before to respec that most people just never did it. And of course the best change was with Rogue where before we even had to hunt down the skils each time we wanted to try something different.

[@GamerGeek5000]

I loved this game. I played from Beta all the way to the end. This was also the only modern game my dad ever played, and he misses it every day.

[@thelunaist2014]

anybody remember the two X-men Legends games? those predated Ultimate Alliance laying the ground work for Raven Software. personally I loved Legends 2 and I think I played that before Ult Alliance.

[@leecorrigan8394]

I played legends 2 before MUA

[@PsionicDiamond]

I didnt mind X men legends but the developers were assholes who kept pushing Emma Frost to the back... Literally the 1 mutant who has a big role especially in the comics and they're always neglecting her. I just assume its because they cant find a way to balance her powers

[@hilo558]

Miss this game so much. Every new Marvel movie that releases makes me miss it more and more.

[@scottwagner2566]

24:00 “Think about what some of the bigger companies are hiding among their staff.” Holy shit, that man is a prophet.

[@kippeake]

I miss Marvel Heroes, and it had so much potential.

[@phaedruslive]

I miss this game desperately. It was a great game.

[@thealien_ali3382]

I miss my gf I use to spread her legs and shove it in now I use my right hand I guess me and u both miss something 🤣

[@realnigga42069]

@@thealien_ali3382 L

[@MageryGuy]

This hurts. Salt in the wound. Amazing game. Great community. I poured over 500 hours into the game. Every character had their quirks. Remakes and character upgrades made old characters new again. Saddest part was MH:O "streamlining" heros that were obviously meant to have most of their powers unlocked. (Magik/Magneto)

[@greyskies2715]

I will still always miss this game. Especially the Brevik days.

[@battlement]

As someone who never read the comics, I really enjoyed Marvel Heroes. This game was the first time I found out about characters such as Rocket Racoon. When the movies came out , this game provided context to those characters that were on the screen. Sure it was a simple game that could have been better, but I will always look back at it with fondness.

[@SimonCleric]

This game went from shit, to awesome, to dead... and I loved every minute of it. Or rather all 1660 hours on Steam +around 300 on their client before that. It had the best community (best forums, love you all, folks!), the most open developers and the most improvements in a game I have ever seen. Until the devs changed... and all the changes made by them... were horrible. All the console pandering with gameplay changed to worse as a result, lootbox focus, promises not delivered... but I still would happily launch and play it now. Every single hero actually played like you'd expect them to. Even now when I watch Marvel movies I think "hey, I remember that move from Marvel Heroes!"

[@Kyle-th3cb]

The forums were the real end game. Say Wut?

[@SeanUCF]

That was what kept me coming back time after time. Every hero played like you would expect them to and it it felt very thematic.

[@Brian_Tabor]

This is the major thing that killed the game. It being released on console was not a problem. The entire game being dumbed down for no reason other than them not wanting to have two separate versions to have to work on and update. I had and occasionally did. Play the game on controller before that with no problem. So why they felt the need to dumb the game down is beyond me. Lot's of people stopped playing at that point in protest. Most of them probably wouldn't. Had they known the whole game was going to be shut down. I personally stopped playing in protest of Disney. And their need to get heavily involved in state laws and politics. Something they have continued to do. To their own detriment.

[@GatoMichito]

1660 are rookie numbers

[@bryckkk]

I was hoping for a "create your own hero" type game with a DC Universe Online feel

[@tylermatthew349]

It’s only in dc universe online and it’s all Disney and marvel fault for making marvel universe online and to be open world 😒

[@mikejones774]

Same

[@tylermatthew349]

@@mikejones774 what

[@mikejones774]

@@tylermatthew349 I was commenting to someone else but sometimes KZbin glitches and you see it also

[@tylermatthew349]

@@mikejones774 yes I know you mean

[@battleman3]

I miss this game so much, I sunk well over 1000 hours into it. It had it's rough edges but was my addiction for 2 straight years. Sad to be reminded of it especially after the disappointment that was UA3...

[@whuspr]

I still sort of remember the music that plays in the Midtown Manhattan hub and map.

[@Lunarquill]

i loved this game alot. never forget Doomsaw and Ryolnir

[@comixfan]

I absolutely adored Marvel Heroes! It's still my #1 favourite game of all time. So much variety and so much fun. I miss it a lot.

[@Aaron-rq7cd]

This still enrages my soul. I loved this so much and it so amazing in a way completely different from DCUO.

[@Hoenir]

Loved this game back in the day. Still remember the Asgard zone and event, where you (all players) had to gather materials and deliver them just to open the Asgard portal. Game was fun till 2016-2017 ish for me.

[@doghnutman]

Man, I LOVED this game and I'd still be playing it if they hadn't pulled the plug.

[@lazarusguan2388]

That makes 2.

[@randyrhoads1539]

@@lazarusguan2388 that makes 3 loved that game

[@sovo1212]

4 here.

[@viperswhip]

I think about this game all the damn time.

[@LordMidichlorian]

"Lacking in RPG" with an image of a girl and two dudes in their undergarments -> smack to the head.gif One thing Brevik was spot on: to be an MMO you don't need to copy wow's combat system. Being MMO is about a shared world with many other players where you can interact with them, do things with them, go through stories with them.

[@wickedsanctuary9830]

My heart is still 💔 over the loss of this game 😢

[@ohnosmoarlulcatz]

I agree with a lot of this. I played the game since its inception, took a pause to finish graduate school, and then returned to the game shortly after. In all, I think I put more than 8000 hours into the game and probably close to $500 over the lifetime of the game. The $200 ultimate pack thing was a resounding success. The problem was that they began making one every year and then started falling short on delivering on those promises. Some characters would be delayed to the next year for example. There's one major thing I would like to add and that was what was credited as the "Biggest Update Ever" or BUE on the PC (later renamed the Omega Update). This was what essentially killed off any hopes that the PC player base had left with the game. Ironically, it was essentially the patch that finally delivered some of the console updates to the PC version of the game in early 2017. This patch for a while was pretty hyped until the beta testers who were helping out with feedback as early as September of 2016 revealed how they were just flat out ignored by the development team and announcements ceased. The big deal about this patch was that prior to this, David Brevik and others were undergoing a long process called the "52 Review." Essentially, the development team was going back to look at the early characters that were released and essentially redoing them to the ground up to make them more playable and enjoyable. The result of this was that over two years, there was a slew of new character updates that essentially revamped old characters and released new characters. When the new people came in and revamped the game for Omega, they destroyed all of that work and simplified the game for console, essentially streamlining most characters into set classes that took away from their uniqueness. This alone wasn't bad since there was actually quite a bit of hope for the Omega Update. The problem was that the update didn't even deliver on its promises and was ultimately something that left the game in an unplayable state. A big change in the Omega update was how stats functioned. What strength and vitality did was different before and after the update. The problem was that the items were not updated with the matching stat changes nor the Omega Items that the Omega update was ironically named after. Their Infinity system even forced you to distribute your extra points evenly between all six categories for a while too. The result was a half patch that left a majority of the characters in a broken and unplayable state. For example, the Hulk couldn't even take a lot of hits despite his HP pool because much of his stats were focused into strength that no longer gave a defense boost post update. Ironically, this affected A LOT of characters because their skills were changed, but their stats were not. If your character did not rely on some abnormal resource or utilized all damage types, there was a good chance that your character was broken with maybe ten characters left in a state that was actually considered to be "playable" in end game content. The exponentially increasing grind of the Infinity system meant that even though I was nearly max prior to the update, I only had about 600 Infinity points and it took me close to 400 million experience just to earn one point and that was a VERY LONG grind and many upgrades took more than one point. However, this was still not the worst thing. Remember how leveling the characters individually was already something that was pretty unenjoyable? What if you had to redo it thirty more times? Well, they thought it was a good idea with the OMEGA PRESTIGE!!! www.mmogames.com/gamenews/marvel-heroes-details-omega-prestige-system/ Good luck waiting if you hoped that your character will get an Omega Prestige.

[@azraelswrd]

Yeah, BUE.... I think we all knew the end was nigh when that dropped.

[@iCanHasRandomness]

@@azraelswrd if you think about it "BUE" is an onomatopoeia for vomiting, so that checks out

[@Draghenn]

I absolutely loved this game. It was one of my go to games for when I got bored. I miss it.

[@1521Palm]

As a longtime fan of the Marvel Universe I really liked this game, lots of characters and a lot of locations to explore. Yeah it was fairly simple and light-hearted but I liked that, felt very relaxing to play. Once the Omega update was announced I got flashbacks to the end of Star Wars Galaxies, and knew MH was about to go down the same road.

[@nathanielbeven9052]

i loved this game and played it form beta to its death. doomslayer gave me hope. once he left i knew it was over. sad ending. i still miss the game. it was so much fun.

[@peggymoexd]

This one almost made me tear up. When that music hit at the beginning I just thought about all the time and money I spent for one of my favorite games ever to shut down abruptly.

[@EpicHeroSandwich]

oh man, can't wait for the DOAG for Marvel's Avengers. seems like it's inevitable at this point.

[@Mike55690]

Glad to see you're back nerdSlayer ! This series in itself has quickly grown on me and waiting for each new upload has been totally worth it. The deep dive into these developers, companies and overall insight provided is always so nicely paced, scripted and well put together. Keep up the amazing work ! Definitely looking forward to more !

[@ElecManEXE]

As a huge X-Men Legends / MUA fan... I can't say I agree that MUA is better. Not entirely, anyway. There are certain aspects that XML / MUA did better, like attacks feeling more impactful against enemies, storyline, puzzle elements (though even that was toned down in later entries) and a far better progression system. But Heroes had some wins as well. The variety of moves and abilities each character had trumps MUA, especially given the fact that one of the big weaknesses of XML / MUA has always been the cookie-cutter bland standard moveset that basically every character has. That 3-hit combo / trip / stun / knockback that's damn near identical on every character, with maybe one unique animation per. Every animation in Heroes was uniquely tailored towards the character, which really made them feel more unique IMO. Heroes also had amazing voicework that was helped by the great quip system where your characters would react to other player characters, letting some of their personality shine through. And the sheer amount of characters let them get into some really obscure ones that will probably never show up in another game. Also not sure I agree that its just Diablo but worse, because the game had some playstyles that Diablo doesn't do. I hadn't played Diablo until after playing Heroes, and when my friends started trying to get me into Diablo I started asking them about what class could emulate X playstyle I had loved in MHO. Two of my favorite playstyles in that game were She-Hulk's super mobile combo-based one and Nightcrawler's massive number of teleportation abilities, and nothing in Diablo even comes close to emulating those. Heck, mobility in general seems like a thing Diablo doesn't focus on, where MHO did, so it feels pretty different as a whole to me.

[@HorizontalLifestyle]

One thing I really loved about this game and I was a hardcore player was the community was really decent and properly helpful,the staff that worked on it were pretty approachable aswell.Such a shame how it ended was glad to play it that’s for sure.

[@Gregg29407]

This was a game I still miss. it was fun and I played the heck out of it all the way up to the end.

[@waspennator]

I'm still sad at how they ran this game into the ground.

[@darkbats20]

Bendis is more infamous than iconic.

[@ultramango1337]

Yeah, no one should be surprised that HE was the one for MH’s story. He can write, like, 6 comic book series at the same time, he probably didn’t even notice he was writing for a different medium. Of course, his comic books from last 10 years, nor this game, weren’t good in terms of plot but that’s a different topic.

[@thatHARVguy]

The consensus was, he was a good writer until he became woke and started self loathing for being a white man. Writing something for his adopted children of colour is admirable. However they were laced with identity politics. And then he started to buy into his own reputation and ego. I hear there's a clause in his contract that his work can't be edited. Without editorial oversight or someone to say "no" to him, he runs rampant and doesn't work well with/or respect other writers and their stories.

[@futonrevolution7671]

The plot was awful. Someone steals macguffin. You steal it back, by plowing through minions and a two-stage boss, then someone steals it effortlessly from you. Rinse and repeat.

[@ultramango1337]

@@futonrevolution7671 Of course it's bad. I literally said just that in my post.

[@sebastienvondoom8615]

Consequently, Infamous Iron Man is God tier

[@Emajenus]

This game taught me that live services are not worth investing in. I can still go play D2 or FFVIII, but I can NEVER go back to MH... Single player games forever. Edit: This game was a much faster ARPG than any in the market today. Instant teleportation and flight, OP builds, insanely fast combat and constant events and numerous drops. It was the ARPG I played the most, and its heroes felt the MOST like how marvel heroes should be. It was much better than D3. Why the hate?

[@kyotheman69]

it lacked in mmo and arpg, PoE is far superior ARPG, but it does lack in mmo its more chat aspect people can help you but most play on their own diablo was only one did both right, except Diablo 3 that's garbage, Diablo 2 and online feature were great it was so much fun playing with people doing content

[@Aliens1337]

Play Path of Exile or Warframe. 2 best free online games as services out there if you liked the genre.

[@pokejuns]

What is d3

[@davidpeterson5472]

This gets the business end well, but it misses so much. The game was an excellent ARPG until Brevik left. Console could have worked but they butchered the feedback loop end game on PC had by removing a complex endgame tech tree and replacing it with a near-pointless one. MH 2015 successfully overcame the monotony and with one fell swoop they obliterated it, setting the game back to monotony again. The short main story content wasn't enough on it's own and end game became pointless. That's why players left and it collapsed. You can't change the core gameplay keeping a project running just to make it fit on another platform. That's the lesson and tragedy of Marvel Heroes Omega.

[@tosgys2097]

YOOOOOOOOOO. MY DUDE IS BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK. I love you, man. Every time you upload, I microwave some popcorn and watch your video.

[@Gamsterjeff600]

Sounds like a interesting tradition

[@billygaston6996]

Just my 2 cents, I don't agree with the overly negative portrayal of this game. Perhaps I'm biased, probably would be considered one of the game's diehards, but I didn't find the game repetitive (played EVERYDAY SINCE LAUNCH). Had every character maxed out, with boat loads of costumes for each. Sure some characters seemed to be given additional blessings by the devs, but for the most part, each played different enough to be enjoyable. I was one of the fortunate community members who got to play with their favorite since early in the game's life, some waited til the end hoping their favorite would eventually be added, and THAT wasn't Gazillion's fault, THAT was Disney/Marvel not allowing those heroes/villains till it was convenient for THEM. Not every game is going to enjoy the same amount/degree of success, some games measure their successes in different ways. Unfortunately Marvel Heroes was mismanaged, they didn't advertise/promote the game enough. The only part i can genuinely agree with your video is that the game was marked for death when the PC community was abandoned to port the game to consoles.

[@Rhodair]

It was a rocky launch but by the time 2015 released you could tell the team was pouring sweat and tears into the game. When they listened hardest to what the fans wanted priority. It's a shame the stockholders took over.

[@Alex-nr4xb]

The numbers don't lie man, there are clearly issues with the gameplay when the number of concurrent players is that low. I don't think there's any way you can be unbiased when you've already admitted you would be considered one of the diehards.

[@viperswhip]

They did something near the end to PC players, to get it ready for consoles, they basically removed teleportation. I was able to spend 20 minutes porting around Xavier's School or whatever hub, then that ended. Ughh, and we all knew why. Still, I enjoyed it, but then I am a huge fan of Diablo II, and it scratched the itch for many different heroes.

[@viperswhip]

@jvalex18 You aren't wrong, but I found the ability to pull out many different heroes enough for a day of play per week or so by the end and that's more than most games get from me now. If we had gotten the new itemization that may have helped a bit and got back the teleports we lost so the precious consolers wouldn't feel left out, that would be great also.

[@Aliens1337]

Marvel Heroes didn't do MMO right, but I don't think it was shoehorn in by Marvel. Way back when he was still at Blizzard North, around the early 200s, David Brevik said himself that his vision for Diablo 3 would be an MMOARPG similar to Marvel Heroes.

[@nirvana4230]

I really hope someone can make a private server for Marvel Heroes.. Ever since Infinity War, I’ve been missing Marvel Heroes even more

[@HaltandCatchHands]

Scarlet Witch is one of my favorite superheroes because of this game. I don't even know anything about her I just loved being a force of nature that slaughtered everything on screen with a billion AoE attacks.

[@agustinascanio804]

2019 and still hurts. What a great game...

[@Lithium_82]

Absolutely loved this game, so sad to see it go.

[@Mournhold32]

I loved this game and miss it. I know it wasn't the best game but, it had me hooked until it was taken offline. Sad day in my world!

[@WaffleSSSSSPLUS]

i like how there is a lot more theme-ing in this one compared to the past ones really enjoyed it keep up the good work

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

That's what I was going for thanks!

[@Holdem17]

The words "Windows Vista gamers" should never be used in the same sentence.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

Hey there were dark times before Windows 7 but after XP.

[@magma590gaming]

But Vista is so underrated . The flaws were just stability and the administator thing

[@JuanPerez-bd6oz]

""It would be a stretch to even call it good"? I heavily disagree.

[@VincentMurphy000]

People who stuck with the game would obviously think that, though. I played Marvel Heroes and liked it for a while (Squirrel Girl Forever), I always hated that I’d take a month off and come back to my characters being reset because they adjusted powers. Spending time rejiggering your characters always took a long time for me. The game play was just so repetitive (like Diablo), but MH started to do the multiple types of currency, the sure sign of a not so good game. A lot of games have the same issue. It’s difficult: I liked parts of the game, but it never really coalesced into something I wanted to play. Your favorite hero could get nerfed so much that they just weren’t worthwhile anymore.

[@szinyk]

@@VincentMurphy000 "Squirrel Time!" rip nutso. rip x-mas costume with cute lil' reindeer squirrels. *sob*

[@lazarusguan2388]

@ Juan Perez I agree with you.

[@viperswhip]

@@VincentMurphy000 Reset? They never made you relevel, so big deal.

[@TonyBingGaming]

Unpopular opinion but I thought the vast majority of the roster were far better after the BUE. So many more interesting build combos and certain heroes like Loki, Human Torch and Star-Lord were made 100x better.

[@TonyBingGaming]

@Radspakr Wolfbane Agree 100%.

[@beccafrench1270]

true, Loki was my main character the update definitely improved him

[@wynnefox]

I really loved the character changes, but the new infinity tree was such a yawn. I know the meta had very specific attributes in the omega tree and the omega tree had a lot of traps, but it also had a ton of flavor too that made it fun and interesting.

[@TonyBingGaming]

@@wynnefox Yeah I agree with this. Omega tree was more interesting but that aside rest of the BUE was pretty spot on. Console had the Omega gear affixes for a while as well and they were awesome. I had a setup where I could get 100% Brut chance on hawkeye with them lol.

[@Arassar]

The game was probably going to end up in a much more balanced state after the BUE, but the company crashed and burned before they could finish implementing all the things they needed to do.

[@TheMightyPirateTm]

Great episode, as always!

[@mournfulslasher940]

I still miss this game, ghost rider for life.

[@violetbliss4399]

I don't know what it was, but the actual game had some really nice concepts later in its life. However, there were some really bad mtx decisions, leadership issues later and not to mention how they had to deal with being licensed and essentially at the mercy of what was a third party in design (Disney/marvel), you could see how rushed things could get as they had to match movie release dates, etc, and that annual renegotiation of the license.

[@Rhodair]

A big part of the big update to PC that 'consolized' the game also involved DRAMATICALLY cutting back on class mobility. Almost every hero had ways of dashing or teleporting or equiping trinkets granting these effects. You could zip across the map like a boss. It was common to experience moments where your pace across the map was higher than the game could load, which PC fans just got used to but would be unacceptable for a console release of a game that'd been on PC for several years already. So they bandaid fixed it by adding cooldowns and range limitations (breaking many map skip vantage points). Each character got a movement ability with a cast time. It reminded me of mounting up in MMOs but to make your character run. It was awkward and not in the least bit worth the tradeoff. I happened to like limiting and balancing character skills to 1 bar, but I don't know many who were pleased about the mobility nerf in the "biggest patch ever".

[@MaPleWoRlDOrder]

This one hurts me the most. What hurt the game a lot was the lack of meaningful end game content. The only content that was released in the final year or two was short time events, new heroes, and a handful of new dungeons. They released two raids and never bothered to release more. They promised a hard mode for the 2nd raid but put it off so they could focus on hero balance first. It never got added. Veteran players begged them to add new content that required grouping (something like the ultron grouped dungeon or more raids) The nail in the coffin was when they decided to port the game to console as a cash grab. Because of this they changed core aspects of the pc version to fit in with the console version. Every hero was reworked to have their abilities fit on one bar. This led to some heroes not feeling or playing anything like their previous versions (like my main Invisible woman) Also, they decided to limit the number of dashes from infinite to 3 (with a short cooldown/recharge timer for each dash. Think flame dash from PoE) This didn't bother me at all but really pissed off a massive number of casual/mid-tier players. They like the fast paced rush style that the game offered. Having both of these change together left the game feeling terrible for a lot of players. Combine this with the fact that they released no major content after this leads to a horribly disappointing gaming experience. From what I heard from Devs, there were a lot of different projects that were worked on but axed for various reasons. I feel like the upper management really ran this game into the ground and it still hurts me to this day. I really really loved this game and it had so much potential. I really hope Diablo 4 is similar to this game, but with a bigger focus on end game content.

[@chadhaley331]

@nerdSlayer i just wanted to drop by and hate you for a minute for crushing my soul with this one.....

[@Meersau459]

Damn this one hurts, I had like 500 hours into this and it wouldve been many more.

[@PhallacEye]

This game was a massive success until they released the BUE (Biggest Update Ever). That completely gutted and killed the game. Players / Fans warned that it was a mistake and they didn't listen. This was the single biggest contributor to the drop in PC player base before the game was shuttered. I feel like you really glossed over this fact. Regarding the monetisation - it really didn't take long to collect enough Eternity Splinters to unlock new heroes. If you played the game regularly, you often had enough banked for the next seasons roster on day 1. There was also constant weekend events that allowed you to level a character to max within 2 hours. The only grind in this game was to collect gear and in-game currencies and honestly, even they weren't that bad. I (like most players) actually spent their money on costumes. That was fair though. It's how they paid for the game.

[@TheDamnPriest]

Dirty Bomb is next, i assume.

[@chubbubdreamer6904]

Did it finally go down?

[@MmaSmarty87]

For some reason that POS is still in my Steam Library

[@TonySamedi]

Hmm, think I requested this one shortly after the game shut down. I played on PS4 and mostly enjoyed it, but did seem like someone wanted to do MUA but then had to incorporate MMO,. One of the things you didn't mention or at least I didn't catch, the announced update that was missed was actually a tie-in to Thor Ragnarok. When a licensed game misses a huge tie-in potential event like that, it's definitely writing on the wall. In retrospect, I wish Marvel had stuck with Cryptic. I love Star Trek Online, and given how well Cryptic does at varying character abilities and taking you through the Trek galaxy at large, I'd love to have seen what they could have done with Marvel with an actual MMO.

[@moogleking]

Human torch was my favorite character and also iceman and silver surfer

[@teekarow9337]

my favorite game of all time. its everything i wanted as a kid that was born in 77'. ultimate alliance to the ultimate level. still sad its gone

[@jeffthompson6248]

Just happen to be listening to this today, just to have some background noise, then the whole CEO thing caught my attention...then the nuclear bomb was detected, "If this little company has such an 'open secret' about their personnel, think of what some of the big ones could be hiding among their staff that we dont know about" OOF, blizzard says hi

[@angelmanfredy]

A few things from an ex-employee of Gaz... 1) it didn't make sense, financially, to aggressively support the PC crowd. I agree they DESERVED content and support, but we were losing money for awhile on PC. Console was our only chance of survival. 2. Marvel Heroes Omega had revamped game play system which, though hated by many of the original players, was embraced by new players. Reviews of the console game support thia. 3. As mentioned above, even though you say the game more or less sucked, the Omega version on consoles had good reviews and game play was not a commonly listed weakness. 4. We failed to monetize the console after the first few launch months...partially and probably due to lackluster mtx practices but also because we did not have enough staff to create enough content to keep people playing and paying. 5. The Execs were actively trying to sell Marvel Heroea and use that money to fund new games. Star Trek had minimal resources and money and was all external anyway so did not hurt MH development. 6. Look at the many KZbin and twitch channels for MH. It was a much more appreciated game than you give it credit for. Long live Marvel Heroes. 'NUFF SAID.

[@helios2939]

*around the half-way through the video* >huh, maybe this game wouldn't be that bad to play for 30 min *remember the name of the series* This happens more often than I want to admit

[@ThisChangeIsAwful]

it was actually a really good game if you took it for what it was, a marvel diablo clone. lots of people enjoyed it.

[@barryaulis1104]

Another great video and love the DOAG series.

[@GoffRokkit]

I believe after the deal fell through between Marvel and City Of Heroes developer, the COH developer used what assets they made for this project to convert to Champions Online. Also, when Omega came out, the PC got hurt even more with the removal of the Fantastic Four and related characters and uniforms. This was probably Marvel's doing due to the fact they were still butthurt about FOX at this time.

[@XeviousvSBlackmanta]

Concerning the F4 content, if you already owned it. You could still use it.

[@PsionicDiamond]

Gaia online, Runescape and Marvel Heroes... What do they have in common? New CEO's that take over and basically fuck up the game.

[@hurricane7727]

I would wish the Ceo of this game got Fired and replaced and Marvel re release this game.

[@glennsanjose9099]

Hello MH my old friend.

[@punishedraccoon7898]

loved marvel heroes so its nice to see someone else bringing this up

[@jotuthegamingguru8809]

This is my favorite ARPG of all time. I love D2, D3, Titan Quest, PoE... but playing Marvel Heroes and making groups with people to maximize loot... doing all of the challenges like fighting cosmic Dr. Doom...man.. I would still be playing this if it were around. Rip to my Ghost Rider and Colossus..

[@viperswhip]

This is the game I miss most. I find myself thinking about it fairly often. And also, fully leveling another character after your first took an hour and a half? Maybe?

[@bradmaxwell7354]

death of a game: fallout 76

[@joshuagraham7998]

it was never even alive

[@darkspawnsenior9488]

It could. It's not gonna, but it could. @@ungreatfulduck750

[@akba666]

It's not done dying. They fuck up something new every week.

[@servantofthemosthigh2525]

fallout 76 died as it was released

[@_Hal9000]

Still birth

[@andre_er-ledes]

Hey, another episode of my favourite series! Nice! Keep it up!

[@empmagiccamera2591]

Goddamn I miss this game so much.

[@TheAnkh]

If you got depressed for MH again after watching episode 3 of Falcon and the Winter Soldier... Welcome to our meeting.

[@Vdsniper]

A year later and I’m still sad 😞

[@BigMoney23223]

I was in the beta tester program. I was counting down the minutes until it went online to play almost every minute until the servers went offline for the day. I would have happily paid 100 bucks for the game. It was so enjoyable. I stupidly keep hoping to find a copy of this game floating around somewhere out in the wild. BRING THIS GAME BAAAAAAAAACK PLEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEE

[@MegaGangsta85]

Recently discovered your channel and I really like it ^^

[@belazarius727]

Marvel Heroes was what diablo 3 should have been and it was good. It's worst part was the memory leak they never managed to totally make disappear.

[@azrael80304]

for those of you who don't know, City of Heroes is back on the homecoming servers. easy to register and hop back into Atlas Park, so come on home Heroes

[@vysrath]

It isnt private?

[@azrael80304]

@@vysrath there are steps you can take to make YOUR OWN private server yes, but for the most part there are several public ones you can join here is a site you can check out with more information. city-representative.network/coh/ Welcome home.

[@vysrath]

@@azrael80304 Thanks man!

[@azrael80304]

@@vysrath No problem. The more people who hear about it the more Heroes we can get back on the streets

[@blackhand9052]

City of heroes is boring af

[@IceCubeInMyIceTea]

I loved my Marvel Heroes, I was able to play on my Macbokk, man I loved how many characters, costumes, and, powers there were.

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

All of the costumes! Some of them being real deep dives! AND THE VOICE CAST! The voice actors they got for the characters were A-Listers in -anime- voice acting community! This _should_ have been awesome!

[@gokhanceylan2011]

10:15 "Revengers", "The incredible fella" sounds like a spinoff of a spinoff

[@GitraSilvermane]

I personally loved the game but two things to add. With the Omega rebranding came what they called the "Biggest Update Ever". It slowed the combat greatly as many players would zip though an entire map and only the boss, so movement powers were nerfed and so where dodges and teleports. This angered many of the most die hard fans and most left. Also while there were Xp boosters, you would be hard pressed to find anyone actually buying any. Every week there were free samples given out. Don't play for a few weeks and you could speed level 3-4 characters to max in a day. It was kind of funny. The game wasn't amazing but it was a mindless kind of fun and I really do miss it.

[@eval_is_evil]

Man that intro gets me every time it's really good

[@roelresendez7764]

i know this video is kinda old by now and very few people will see this but i just want to say have a great day and also that it honestly hurt so much to see Marvel Heroes Omega go, it was a marvel game AND had the ghost rider in it, r.i.p. 🥺

[@turtleguy16]

The article at 25:38 used ultimate alliance loading screen artwork in an article about a completely unrelated game instead of using an image related to the game. Journalism.

[@masterofinfinity479]

this was a masterpiece, and the best part, the community, I chatted with other players like we'd been friends for a while, it was glorious

[@luhcbdhaircut]

I remember seeing my dad play this game and so when I got my own computer a few weeks back I suddenly remembered this game. I did a little bit of research and found the name of the game. I looked it up on steam but I got nothing and then I found this video. Great video!

[@BlackDragon209]

As a huge Diablo 2 and Marvel fan, I probably put over 2k hours into this game, had 40 heroes max Level'd with over 50 skins that I mostly earned. I only put 20$ into this game. 1 time was because of an event ticket that gave me a 90% discount so 10$ bought me 100$ worth of in game content. Best game I've ever played that rewards its customers like this.