Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2

[hulahulk]

Yeah I like that feature. The graphics in general are pretty good. I haven't seen any glitches or crashes yet, except for not being able to get in.

[Lee Stone]

Yeah I like that feature. The graphics in general are pretty good. I haven't seen any glitches or crashes yet, except for not being able to get in.

I have to say... even with the few crashes I've had, it plays a whole lot better than the mobile port of the first one did.
I remember the first one crashing a lot and having incredibly long loading times.
So, definitely an improvement.

Btw, my ally code is 986-699-435 if anybody wants it. I'm only level 8 and I haven't really seen any benefits to having allies, yet, but just in case...

[Lee Stone]

Update...
Now level 9.
Hawkeye and Iron Fist are both level 12, Wasp, Vision and Hank Pym are all at 9 and waiting for materials.
Made it to Rank 20 in PVP.
Was stuck on Shocker for a while on Hard. Finally scrapped the mission and did some lower ones to get resources and XP. Went back after leveling Iron Fist and Hawkeye and finally beat him. Will have to come back to Paladin. The goons on his mission seemed to dodge everything I was tossing at them.

Had a few more crashes. Once when launching a Scout mission which cost me 12 Scout tokens (or whatever they're called) and they take forever to recharge. Forever!

[Lee Stone]

Update...

Level 10
Iron Fist 15
Hawkeye 14
Wasp 13
Hank Pym 9
Vision 9
PVP Rank 19
Still on Chapter 2

[hulahulk]

For me:
Level 10
Moon Knight 12
Hawkeye, Drax, Vision, Starlord are stuck at 9 until I can do more tasks for those silver thingies
IM at 7
Wasp at 5

Got my butt kicked vs the boss in Mission 5 of Ch 2. Going back to the easier ones is very prudent in leveling up.

[hulahulk]

I have to say... even with the few crashes I've had, it plays a whole lot better than the mobile port of the first one did.
I remember the first one crashing a lot and having incredibly long loading times.
So, definitely an improvement.

Btw, my ally code is 986-699-435 if anybody wants it. I'm only level 8 and I haven't really seen any benefits to having allies, yet, but just in case...

I'll add you. I'm Kamehameha

[Lee Stone]

I'll add you. I'm Kamehameha

Cool.
Agent337 here.

My update for today...

Level 11
Hawkeye 17
Iron Fist 17
Wasp 17
Hank Pym 9
Vision 9
Groot (new) 9

PVP Rank 20
Still on Chapter 2

[Lee Stone]

Another quick update as I had just a tiny bit of XP needed to level up and a few changes occurred...

Level 12

Heroes:
Hawkeye 17
Iron Fist 17
Wasp 17
Groot 9
Hank Pym 9
Vision 9
She-Hulk (new) 4

Story Chapter 3
PVP Rank 20
Spec Ops 1 - Task 5 (complete list of Spec Ops Tasks and requirements for each)

And I reached maximum storage of crystals and sold off all my 1-stars.

Note that heroes don't gain XP in Spec Ops, PVP or Scouting. Only in Story Mode.
And Spec Ops uses the same energy that Story Mode uses.

Btw... after reading some reviews I went and tried out Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. At first glance, it's a game modeled (copied?) after MAA.
It comes off way too simplistic and doesn't require much thought.
However... there's some features in GoH that I would like to see used in MAA2.
One in particular is Challenges, which has character or class requirements that changes every day.
This gives you a reason to level up all your characters because you never know which ones you would need.
In MAA2, there's the possibility that you'll get content with a small group of heroes you have and never use any of the rest. Granted, it is better than MAA1 because you're using five at a time instead of two or three.

[hulahulk]

Every time I log out, I have to remove then re-install the game. Very frustrating.

[Lee Stone]

Every time I log out, I have to remove then re-install the game. Very frustrating.

I haven't had that problem.
But I am still having crashes.
To get around crashes, I exit the game and relaunch it when I switch between Scouting, PVP or Story/SpecOps.

I don't expect a fix anytime soon. Playdom ran Tactics into the ground in less than two months because they were focusing their attention on MAA.
They really don't have enough developers for more than one game at a time.
And they don't communicate well with players, so expect to be in the dark.

The fact that the game can be played for free is what may eventually kill it.
If they don't see $$$ in the first month or two, they'll pull the plug.
And the crashes and technical issues aren't making people line up to pay.

[hulahulk]

I haven't had that problem.
But I am still having crashes.
To get around crashes, I exit the game and relaunch it when I switch between Scouting, PVP or Story/SpecOps.

I don't expect a fix anytime soon. Playdom ran Tactics into the ground in less than two months because they were focusing their attention on MAA.
They really don't have enough developers for more than one game at a time.
And they don't communicate well with players, so expect to be in the dark.

The fact that the game can be played for free is what may eventually kill it.
If they don't see $$$ in the first month or two, they'll pull the plug.
And the crashes and technical issues aren't making people line up to pay.

I just discovered that if I leave the game open but minimized (rather than exiting), when I shut down my laptop, I do not have to re-install the game.

You're right, PD mishandled Tactics in execution, support, etc. It had potential but never generated the big initial interest to bolster sales. I didn't mind the game, but it was an even bigger grind than MAA1 to me. I quit it a few weeks before they decided to pull the plug. I hope this game does well. So far it's less of a grind than MAA1 in terms of feeling pressured to get everything (weapons, items, heroes, etc in MAA) and leveling up. They do need to get the crashing issue under control to prevent more players from being scared away. I don't dare to spend the $10 to get Spidey, etc., if I think there may be more problems.

We have 2 more chapters in Season 2 of MAA1, which, based on how often they roll out new chapters, means about a year left. I'm really curious, probably more than ever, if they plan to introduce more material beyond that. I suppose if they close MAA2 they can re-pool their resources into MAA1 despite its platform being ancient.

[Lee Stone]

I just discovered that if I leave the game open but minimized (rather than exiting), when I shut down my laptop, I do not have to re-install the game.

You're right, PD mishandled Tactics in execution, support, etc. It had potential but never generated the big initial interest to bolster sales. I didn't mind the game, but it was an even bigger grind than MAA1 to me. I quit it a few weeks before they decided to pull the plug. I hope this game does well. So far it's less of a grind than MAA1 in terms of feeling pressured to get everything (weapons, items, heroes, etc in MAA) and leveling up. They do need to get the crashing issue under control to prevent more players from being scared away. I don't dare to spend the $10 to get Spidey, etc., if I think there may be more problems.

We have 2 more chapters in Season 2 of MAA1, which, based on how often they roll out new chapters, means about a year left. I'm really curious, probably more than ever, if they plan to introduce more material beyond that. I suppose if they close MAA2 they can re-pool their resources into MAA1 despite its platform being ancient.

I think the next month or two is being watched closely by Playdom, and whichever of the two games brings in the most dollars between now and then will survive.

MAA2 has a lot of potential, but like you said... the instability and apparent lack of support may make people skittish while MAA1 players may continue pumping in money for rare content.
Then there's the characters. Since MAA1 came out before the X-Men restrictions, there will be players actively trying to keep it alive. MAA2 won't have X-Men, and may not even get Scarlet Witch depending on the license agreements.

What really hurts Playdom games is that they are quick to neglect whatever isn't bringing in money. And with MAA2 not having a real need to spend money right now (just like Tactics) there's already less money going in, before crashes and such factor on top of that. Tactics was discontinued after five months (from start of May 2014 thru the end of October 2014). If Playdom lets MAA2 survive past the end of September then they may keep it going and discontinue MAA1.
Disney and Marvel will obviously prefer MAA2 to succeed because of the X-Embargo, not to mention it just looks better. May be interesting to see if they intercede and push for Playdom to focus on MAA2 instead of MAA1. It's possible that if Playdom cancels MAA2 in favor of MAA1, Disney/Marvel could simply pull the license.

[Lee Stone]

Update...

Level 13

Heroes:
Hawkeye 19
Iron Fist 19
Wasp 18
Vision 15
Groot 10
Hank Pym 9
She-Hulk 9

Story Chapter 3
PVP Rank 17
Spec Ops 1 - Task 10

Some brief notes...
1. I discovered that heroes DO gain XP in Scouting missions.
2. Spec Ops Task 8 (We Spy) can be done in Story mode. This is helpful if you only have one Infiltrator (like me). Just choose an Ally with an Infiltrator.
3. Spec Ops Tasks give quite a bit of Scouting tokens.
4. I had to sell off most of my 2-star crystals today.
5. Your Reserves stay slotted for both Spec Ops and Story. So if you have your maxed out characters lined up for Spec Ops, don't forget to swap out Reserves if you need to take characters into Story mode for XP.
6. If you have characters in all five classes needing XP, go ahead and spend Silver on ISO capsules. No matter what you get, you'll use it. Just be sure to save enough Silver to level them up.

Handy plan of action: Use energy on Spec Ops until you get stuck, then go to Story and/or Scouting to get XP.

Again here's the complete list of Spec Ops Tasks and requirements for each.

And here's a guide to the Daily Tasks.

[hulahulk]

So, my method I mentioned above is all shot to hell. I still had to re-install today. And, every time while going through the tutorial, the game freezes at the daily reward screen (not the reward itself, but where the tutorial shows the "calendar" of prizes).

I've made progress in getting enough items for research, but *wow* the scouting aspect is a slow-go. They really need to adjust the refresh rate.

[Lee Stone]

So, my method I mentioned above is all shot to hell. I still had to re-install today. And, every time while going through the tutorial, the game freezes at the daily reward screen (not the reward itself, but where the tutorial shows the "calendar" of prizes).

I've made progress in getting enough items for research, but *wow* the scouting aspect is a slow-go. They really need to adjust the refresh rate.

Hope they fix it soon. The crashes and the recharge rate for scouting are the two biggest complaints I'm seeing on the Android Market. And the two combined are a killer.