Lifetap Volume 1, Issue 18 – We Can Be (Marvel) Heroes

The only thing longer than my original title for today’s issue of Lifetap (it was seriously epic in length at one point) is the list of playable heroes in Marvel Heroes 2015. With the release of Advance Pack 2 comes a first look at the newest playable heroes – and even a few villains – that will be coming to the game over the next year. This, along with recent hands-on tales, my personal hero for the day and more in today’s thrilling issue of Lifetap!


Last week I mentioned that I would be playing Marvel Heroes 2015 over the weekend, so that seems like a good place to kick things off for the latest issue of Lifetap.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the game – a quick glance at my author page here on Ten Ton Hammer shows MH2015 as one of my “currently playing” titles most of the time for good reason. While some players may stick to only one or two characters, I’ve bounced around quite a bit over the past year, with all but 6 of the available heroes unlocked on my account.

Lately I’ve been getting back into reading Uncanny X-Men, the title that originally sparked my interest in comic books back in the early 1980s. With the latest update to the series, I’ve really been enjoying the dynamic between Emma Frost, Cyclops, and Magik in particular. While my favorite run of the original series dates back to around issue 212 for the Mutant Massacre storyline, the newest take on the title has been handled quite well so far.

Getting back to Marvel Heroes 2015, I decided it’s finally time to level Emma Frost up to 60, so that’s what I did this past weekend. While her other costume options are done quite well, I’ve been using Emma’s Marvel NOW! costume as per the above comic nerd factor. Even better is the fact that one of her unique items gives you a permanent Cyclops minion who will spawn wearing the appropriate Marvel NOW! costume as well. Then of course I’ve got Magik as my active Team Up to complete my current favorite trio.

One of the things I like about MH2015 is that reaching the level cap is really only part of your journey. While that’s true of most MMOGs, in this case you will spend time at the level cap evolving your character without being shoehorned into a pointless raiding treadmill. Between Legendaries, Omega Points, pets, uniques, artifacts, blessings, enchantments, and more, there are plenty of opportunities for you to continue refining a given character. You can even Prestige your character numerous times (aka reset them to level 1 and level them up again for additional benefits) which I recently did with some of my other characters.

The Road Ahead

Gazillion recently made the Advance Pack 2 available for purchase, and along with it we get a preview of 10 upcoming heroes (and villains) that will be added to the game over the next year. Early purchases through October 10th also get a bonus character, X-23.

X-23 has been another favorite of mine, as she’s got such a messed up origin and history. She’s essentially a clone of Wolverine, but with a pretty dark past. Not that Logan’s life has been all sunshine and roses, mind you.

If you’re not familiar with how the Advance Packs work, they basically let you pre-order the next 12 playable characters along with an alternate costume and storage. If you’re like me and like having tons of options for which character to play at any given point in time, the packs can be a pretty amazing deal. However, if you’re only interested in a few of the upcoming additions, you’re better off picking them up upon release instead.

In terms of the known characters to be added with Advance Pack 2, the list includes:

  • Black Cat
  • Blade
  • Dr. Doom
  • Iceman
  • Iron Fist
  • Kitty Pryde
  • She Hulk
  • War Machine
  • Winter Soldier
  • X-23

It’s definitely an interesting mix this time around. I’m half surprised that Winter Soldier wasn’t pushed out much sooner as a tie-in with the latest Captain America film (or Blue-Ray release) but I’m looking forward to his release either way.

If you’re interested in more info about the Advance Pack 2 includes and the differences between the Standard and Deluxe Editions, be sure to scamper on over to the Marvel Heroes 2015 website.

Honorable Mentions

Before I close out this issue of Lifetap, I wanted to give a quick bump to my personal hero for the day: the amazing and talented Emily Taylor from Sony Online Entertainment. Earlier today Emily tweeted the awesome picture (shown below) of the custom shirts we gave to fans last month during SOE Live. While we could have simply handed out some basic shirts with the Ten Ton Hammer logo, instead I thought it would be far more appropriate to run with the “I Got Hammered at SOE Live 2014” version instead.

Special thanks to Emily for being awesome and kicking the week off in style!

As an added bonus before I wrap things up, here is some David Bowie which served as my soundtrack and partial inspiration for today’s column. Enjoy, and be sure to check back tomorrow for another exciting issue of Lifetap!


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Marvel Heroes Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 18, 2016

About The Author

Reuben "Sardu" Waters has been writing professionally about the MMOG industry for eight years, and is the current Editor-in-Chief and Director of Development for Ten Ton Hammer.

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