@TheArtofRawr said:

Greetings!

I am TheArtofRawr, Lead Systems Designer for Marvel Heroes 2016. This is the third in a series of dev blogs describing the biggest systems update in the history of the game. As previously mentioned, we will be updating four core game systems over the course of multiple game updates:

• Hero Power Updates

• Item Updates

• Omega System Update
• Personal Difficulty Slider

In the most recent dev blog, we shared with you the future of Items in which we discussed bonus power ranks and introduced a new rarity level, Omega. Prior to that, we outlined the flagship system change regarding Hero Powers, where we discussed Power Points, Talents, and Traits. Today we will be discussing an exciting new end-game progression system–the Infinity System.

Origins as Omega System 2.0

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.

What if there were a simpler way to find what you want for your max-level Heroes so you can get back into playing the game more quickly and easily?

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, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time. 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.

(Please note: The user interface above is a work in progress)

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 upon launch.)

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.

Example Gem

Let’s look at the Power Gem’s page. Like the other Gems, it offers five distinct investment choices. One of which raises an Attribute and has an infinite maximum!

(Please note: The user interface above is a work in progress)

Each Infinity Gem’s choices are focused on elegance and tailored to the themes within that Gem.

Caveat

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.

When the Infinity System launches, we will convert all points that are currently in circulation using division by ten (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 have 1,825 points in the Omega system already, you will start in the new Infinity system with 183 Infinity points upon launch, which will then be distributed evenly into each of the six pages.

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+ in Omega. This change makes it easy to readjust your Infinity points, as there are bigger benefits at the cost of fewer points.

Onward!

Everything you love about the Omega System will be repackaged into a strong, elegant theme that will be much easier to use. The meat and potatoes of an end-game system will still be there, but instead of hunting down a specific bonus across several pages of hex paths in order to sort to the node you want in the Omega System, you will be making powerful decisions in the clean, streamlined interface of the Infinity System.

Now we’ve discussed three of the four core system upgrades in the biggest systems update in the history of the game. As you can see, there are a lot of exciting things coming that will make the game more streamlined, intuitive, and fun to play. Next we will be discussing one more core system update, the personal difficulty slider. Looking forward to your thoughts in the Forums.

Until next time...

-Rawr

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

Likewise, a very strong node, such as +1 to an Attribute, may cost only 25 points as compared to 200+ in Omega. This change makes it easy to readjust your Infinity points, as there are bigger benefits at the cost of fewer points.