strange gaming: MARVEL Avengers Academy

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Gaming Insights - Marvel Avengers Academy P2P Profiles - "Luke"

Being F2P (Free-to-Play) in online games, I am very interested in how paying players (P2P or Pay-to-Play) approach the games. This anonymous survey looks at alias "Luke", a P2P player for the game Marvel Avengers Academy. Our stock questions are in bold.

How did you find Marvel Avengers Academy and what made you commit time to the game?

I saw this game in Google Play store and being a huge Marvel fan, I went to try this game.

How much time are you able to spend playing the game compared to: What you initially expected; the amount of time you actually play the game; and what you would like your time investment to be?

I'm able to spend a very good amount on this game timewise since I don't work due to my disabilities and I didn't start spending money till the game had its first event which was the Guardians of the Galaxy (I did the [Beach Event] but it didn't influence me to spend money).

Does this have any influence in your decision to spend money?

What keeps you coming back to the game / what do you like about the game itself? E.g., The actual mechanics of the game and events such as crafting items and fighting bosses; or collecting characters or decor; or laying out your Academy campus; or following the various story/one particular story; etc.

I enjoy the story and the game itself and the mechanics of the games are sometimes ok, or sometimes downright awful. The mechanics that I really like is the battle animations like we had in [Guardians of the Galaxy], British Invasion and Spider-Man, but what I really hate is what they did with Lizard. By making him a battle boss and then spend Generators to get his streak 7 done and then make him a premium character. Totally hated that and pardon my French but that actually make me fucking livid, was the first time ever I hated the game with such passion but I still brought him as I didn't want to miss him, but I made my feeling quite known to TinyCo.

What specifically about the game makes you spend money?

Do you compare your purchases in the game or your reasons to spend money, to any other type of expense (e.g., it's part of your entertainment budget not different from watching a movie, or it's like buying a service with no physical goods you take away, or it's a consumable like eating at a restaurant, etcetera)? Do you feel this comparison is key to understanding why people spend money?

No, I just spend money on this game if I decide I want to (so far I been using an unlimited assumption of how much i'm willing to spend but now I have decided to impose a limit).

When did you first buy Shards and what made you decide to? E.g., Did you decide to do so as soon as you saw the game, right when you started playing, when the "Buy One, Get One" quest ["Buy a Box of Credits and get US$5 of Shards for free!"] appeared, some experience later in the game, etc...

I decided from Guardian of the Galaxy which is my favourite franchise.

Do you have a budget or other heuristic to determine how much you spend per unit time (e.g., per week); do you have a maximum amount you are willing to put into this game in total after which you will definitely not spend any more? What is your decision process / reasoning?

I didn't have a budget but as I stated, I have now imposed a limit.

How much have you spent so far and how do you think you compare with other P2P in the game? How does it compare to your other online game purchases and do you use those purchases to decide how much to spend?

So far I have spent roughly £600-£700 since the Guardian's event.

How much commitment to the game do you have now that you have spent money, and does that commitment increase the more you spend? What would make you walk away now?

My commitment to this game is quite strong pre-Spider-Man event but after this event, I think my commitment is being very tested, because there was a few things I hate what they done in this event and I [am] personally beginning to get extremely frustrated.

How do you feel about F2P players in general? How do you feel about F2P players able to get Shards without paying (e.g., through levelling up or watching advertisements)? How does this influence your purchases? Other than having spent real money in the game, how else do you think you differ from F2P players?

F2P I have no issues with how they play the game but from TinyCo perspective I do think they need to ease up on some of the challenges they set to F2P like if all free characters are supposed to be obtainable. Otherwise situation like Electro will be horrible. [ed: Basically it was impossible for F2P and extremely costly for P2P to defeat Mysterio 7 times].

What are your expectations / what do you feel you should be entitled to compared to someone who is F2P? How would you feel / what would you do if at some point the game stops developing and no further content is created. Do you feel this is part of the natural life cycle of a game and to be expected?

Well I think at this current rate, this game will die in 2 years due to the abuse they are treating the whalers so F2P will struggle to have new content cos at the time of speaking to you, I know at least 8 whalers who have quit this game and I'm on the verge of stop spending if the next big event abuses both the whalers and the F2P cos I do think of them when I play this game. I mean personally myself as a whale, I share information so the F2P can make a plan on what they wanna do (I do this via Discord).

If you also play Marvel Avengers Academy and have spent money on the game, we'd love to interview you too and compile more insights into P2P player for all the F2P out there.

How did you find Marvel Avengers Academy and what made you commit time to the game?

I saw this game in Google Play store and being a huge Marvel fan, I went to try this game.

How much time are you able to spend playing the game compared to: What you initially expected; the amount of time you actually play the game; and what you would like your time investment to be?

I'm able to spend a very good amount on this game timewise since I don't work due to my disabilities and I didn't start spending money till the game had its first event which was the Guardians of the Galaxy (I did the [Beach Event] but it didn't influence me to spend money).

Does this have any influence in your decision to spend money?

What keeps you coming back to the game / what do you like about the game itself? E.g., The actual mechanics of the game and events such as crafting items and fighting bosses; or collecting characters or decor; or laying out your Academy campus; or following the various story/one particular story; etc.

I enjoy the story and the game itself and the mechanics of the games are sometimes ok, or sometimes downright awful. The mechanics that I really like is the battle animations like we had in [Guardians of the Galaxy], British Invasion and Spider-Man, but what I really hate is what they did with Lizard. By making him a battle boss and then spend Generators to get his streak 7 done and then make him a premium character. Totally hated that and pardon my French but that actually make me fucking livid, was the first time ever I hated the game with such passion but I still brought him as I didn't want to miss him, but I made my feeling quite known to TinyCo.

What specifically about the game makes you spend money?

Do you compare your purchases in the game or your reasons to spend money, to any other type of expense (e.g., it's part of your entertainment budget not different from watching a movie, or it's like buying a service with no physical goods you take away, or it's a consumable like eating at a restaurant, etcetera)? Do you feel this comparison is key to understanding why people spend money?

No, I just spend money on this game if I decide I want to (so far I been using an unlimited assumption of how much i'm willing to spend but now I have decided to impose a limit).

When did you first buy Shards and what made you decide to? E.g., Did you decide to do so as soon as you saw the game, right when you started playing, when the "Buy One, Get One" quest ["Buy a Box of Credits and get US$5 of Shards for free!"] appeared, some experience later in the game, etc...

I decided from Guardian of the Galaxy which is my favourite franchise.

Do you have a budget or other heuristic to determine how much you spend per unit time (e.g., per week); do you have a maximum amount you are willing to put into this game in total after which you will definitely not spend any more? What is your decision process / reasoning?

I didn't have a budget but as I stated, I have now imposed a limit.

How much have you spent so far and how do you think you compare with other P2P in the game? How does it compare to your other online game purchases and do you use those purchases to decide how much to spend?

So far I have spent roughly £600-£700 since the Guardian's event.

How much commitment to the game do you have now that you have spent money, and does that commitment increase the more you spend? What would make you walk away now?

My commitment to this game is quite strong pre-Spider-Man event but after this event, I think my commitment is being very tested, because there was a few things I hate what they done in this event and I [am] personally beginning to get extremely frustrated.

How do you feel about F2P players in general? How do you feel about F2P players able to get Shards without paying (e.g., through levelling up or watching advertisements)? How does this influence your purchases? Other than having spent real money in the game, how else do you think you differ from F2P players?

F2P I have no issues with how they play the game but from TinyCo perspective I do think they need to ease up on some of the challenges they set to F2P like if all free characters are supposed to be obtainable. Otherwise situation like Electro will be horrible. [ed: Basically it was impossible for F2P and extremely costly for P2P to defeat Mysterio 7 times].

What are your expectations / what do you feel you should be entitled to compared to someone who is F2P? How would you feel / what would you do if at some point the game stops developing and no further content is created. Do you feel this is part of the natural life cycle of a game and to be expected?

Well I think at this current rate, this game will die in 2 years due to the abuse they are treating the whalers so F2P will struggle to have new content cos at the time of speaking to you, I know at least 8 whalers who have quit this game and I'm on the verge of stop spending if the next big event abuses both the whalers and the F2P cos I do think of them when I play this game. I mean personally myself as a whale, I share information so the F2P can make a plan on what they wanna do (I do this via Discord).

If you also play Marvel Avengers Academy and have spent money on the game, we'd love to interview you too and compile more insights into P2P player for all the F2P out there.

reade more...

Gaming Insights - Marvel Avengers Academy P2P Profiles - "Michael R"

Being F2P (Free-to-Play) in online games, I am very interested in how paying players (P2P or Pay-to-Play) approach the games. This anonymous survey looks at alias "Michael R", a P2P player for the game Marvel Avengers Academy. Our stock questions are in bold.

How did you find Marvel Avengers Academy and what made you commit time to the game?

I've been a Marvel fan for years. If I remember correctly I saw an ad for it from another game and checked it out.

How much time are you able to spend playing the game compared to: What you initially expected; the amount of time you actually play the game; and what you would like your time investment to be?

I spend a lot more time than I thought I would originally. I used to play it casually. Maybe two or three times a day. Now I play once an hour. I wish it was a lot less time intensive. Maybe like half way between the two.

Does this have any influence in your decision to spend money?

What keeps you coming back to the game / what do you like about the game itself? E.g., The actual mechanics of the game and events such as crafting items and fighting bosses; or collecting characters or decor; or laying out your Academy campus; or following the various story/one particular story; etc.

The thing that keeps me coming back and the thing I like most is the writing/story. I find it funny and well-written. I also like the aspect of collecting the heroes.

What specifically about the game makes you spend money?

Do you compare your purchases in the game or your reasons to spend money, to any other type of expense (e.g., it's part of your entertainment budget not different from watching a movie, or it's like buying a service with no physical goods you take away, or it's a consumable like eating at a restaurant, etcetera)? Do you feel this comparison is key to understanding why people spend money?

I would say I classify spending shards as entertainment money. I try not to spend that much on the game.

When did you first buy Shards and what made you decide to? E.g., Did you decide to do so as soon as you saw the game, right when you started playing, when the "Buy One, Get One" quest ["Buy a Box of Credits and get US$5 of Shards for free!"] appeared, some experience later in the game, etc...

I bought shards right when I first started playing to get Spider-Woman.

Do you have a budget or other heuristic to determine how much you spend per unit time (e.g., per week); do you have a maximum amount you are willing to put into this game in total after which you will definitely not spend any more? What is your decision process / reasoning?

How much have you spent so far and how do you think you compare with other P2P in the game? How does it compare to your other online game purchases and do you use those purchases to decide how much to spend?

Honestly I've spent probably around 200 dollars... and it's way too much in my opinion. My partner gets so mad I spend this much on this game. :P I've tried to cut back on the shards I buy. Its the most [I've spent] on online gaming currency for anything [I've played].

How much commitment to the game do you have now that you have spent money, and does that commitment increase the more you spend? What would make you walk away now?

Having spent so much money does make me feel more invested honestly. I do think a lot lately about going fully F2P... I think if they keep forcing players to pay A LOT to win like they have with this [the Spider-Man Event] I will.

How do you feel about F2P players in general? How do you feel about F2P players able to get Shards without paying (e.g., through levelling up or watching advertisements)? How does this influence your purchases? Other than having spent real money in the game, how else do you think you differ from F2P players?

I think it's frustrating that I don't have the option to earn free shards. I'm definitely not mad at F2P... good for them for being able to do it.

What are your expectations / what do you feel you should be entitled to compared to someone who is F2P? How would you feel / what would you do if at some point the game stops developing and no further content is created. Do you feel this is part of the natural life cycle of a game and to be expected?

The only expectations are that if the game doesn't change [its] pay to win model is that they will loose a lot of players. And then the game will spiral into obscurity. Which would suck because I really enjoy the game. It would be sad to see greed ruin such a fun little game.

If you also play Marvel Avengers Academy and have spent money on the game, we'd love to interview you too and compile more insights into P2P player for all the F2P out there.

How did you find Marvel Avengers Academy and what made you commit time to the game?

I've been a Marvel fan for years. If I remember correctly I saw an ad for it from another game and checked it out.

How much time are you able to spend playing the game compared to: What you initially expected; the amount of time you actually play the game; and what you would like your time investment to be?

I spend a lot more time than I thought I would originally. I used to play it casually. Maybe two or three times a day. Now I play once an hour. I wish it was a lot less time intensive. Maybe like half way between the two.

Does this have any influence in your decision to spend money?

What keeps you coming back to the game / what do you like about the game itself? E.g., The actual mechanics of the game and events such as crafting items and fighting bosses; or collecting characters or decor; or laying out your Academy campus; or following the various story/one particular story; etc.

The thing that keeps me coming back and the thing I like most is the writing/story. I find it funny and well-written. I also like the aspect of collecting the heroes.

What specifically about the game makes you spend money?

Do you compare your purchases in the game or your reasons to spend money, to any other type of expense (e.g., it's part of your entertainment budget not different from watching a movie, or it's like buying a service with no physical goods you take away, or it's a consumable like eating at a restaurant, etcetera)? Do you feel this comparison is key to understanding why people spend money?

I would say I classify spending shards as entertainment money. I try not to spend that much on the game.

When did you first buy Shards and what made you decide to? E.g., Did you decide to do so as soon as you saw the game, right when you started playing, when the "Buy One, Get One" quest ["Buy a Box of Credits and get US$5 of Shards for free!"] appeared, some experience later in the game, etc...

I bought shards right when I first started playing to get Spider-Woman.

Do you have a budget or other heuristic to determine how much you spend per unit time (e.g., per week); do you have a maximum amount you are willing to put into this game in total after which you will definitely not spend any more? What is your decision process / reasoning?

How much have you spent so far and how do you think you compare with other P2P in the game? How does it compare to your other online game purchases and do you use those purchases to decide how much to spend?

Honestly I've spent probably around 200 dollars... and it's way too much in my opinion. My partner gets so mad I spend this much on this game. :P I've tried to cut back on the shards I buy. Its the most [I've spent] on online gaming currency for anything [I've played].

How much commitment to the game do you have now that you have spent money, and does that commitment increase the more you spend? What would make you walk away now?

Having spent so much money does make me feel more invested honestly. I do think a lot lately about going fully F2P... I think if they keep forcing players to pay A LOT to win like they have with this [the Spider-Man Event] I will.

How do you feel about F2P players in general? How do you feel about F2P players able to get Shards without paying (e.g., through levelling up or watching advertisements)? How does this influence your purchases? Other than having spent real money in the game, how else do you think you differ from F2P players?

I think it's frustrating that I don't have the option to earn free shards. I'm definitely not mad at F2P... good for them for being able to do it.

What are your expectations / what do you feel you should be entitled to compared to someone who is F2P? How would you feel / what would you do if at some point the game stops developing and no further content is created. Do you feel this is part of the natural life cycle of a game and to be expected?

The only expectations are that if the game doesn't change [its] pay to win model is that they will loose a lot of players. And then the game will spiral into obscurity. Which would suck because I really enjoy the game. It would be sad to see greed ruin such a fun little game.

If you also play Marvel Avengers Academy and have spent money on the game, we'd love to interview you too and compile more insights into P2P player for all the F2P out there.

reade more...

Gaming Insights - Marvel Avengers Academy P2P Profiles - "Derek J."

Being F2P (Free-to-Play) in online games, I am very interested in how paying players (P2P or Pay-to-Play) approach the games. This anonymous survey looks at alias "Derek J.", a P2P player for the game Marvel Avengers Academy. Our stock questions are in bold.

How did you find Marvel Avengers Academy and what made you commit time to the game?

I found it through an advertisement on Facebook and I kept playing because I enjoyed the style of game mixed with Marvel characters.

How much time are you able to spend playing the game compared to: What you initially expected; the amount of time you actually play the game; and what you would like your time investment to be?

I might not be the best example in this case because I don't have much of a social life and I work from home so I can play all day long. There have been 1 or 2 events where I set timers during the night, like [the Spider-Man Event], to get specific actions done (in this case its the training of our heroes).

Does this have any influence in your decision to spend money?

What keeps you coming back to the game / what do you like about the game itself? E.g., The actual mechanics of the game and events such as crafting items and fighting bosses; or collecting characters or decor; or laying out your Academy campus; or following the various story/one particular story; etc.

I keep coming back because I like the Marvel characters. I particularly enjoy some of the actions the characters have such as Spider-man's Slinging Webs, Ant-Man's Watch Where You Step, etc. It has no affect on whether I spend money though.

What specifically about the game makes you spend money?

Do you compare your purchases in the game or your reasons to spend money, to any other type of expense (e.g., it's part of your entertainment budget not different from watching a movie, or it's like buying a service with no physical goods you take away, or it's a consumable like eating at a restaurant, etcetera)? Do you feel this comparison is key to understanding why people spend money?

I spend it as part of my "Me money". I'm extremely big on keeping up my finances.

When did you first buy Shards and what made you decide to? E.g., Did you decide to do so as soon as you saw the game, right when you started playing, when the "Buy One, Get One" quest ["Buy a Box of Credits and get US$5 of Shards for free!"] appeared, some experience later in the game, etc...

Actually I was inspired by the quest you mentioned. It was also a time where I had a lot of extra money and I thought "Why not?"

Do you have a budget or other heuristic to determine how much you spend per unit time (e.g., per week); do you have a maximum amount you are willing to put into this game in total after which you will definitely not spend any more? What is your decision process / reasoning?

I have a budget and I ration how much I spend. My decision is based on what events I have planned for the rest of the month and of course I pay my bills first before calculating how much I'll spend.

How much have you spent so far and how do you think you compare with other P2P in the game? How does it compare to your other online game purchases and do you use those purchases to decide how much to spend?

I can't honestly remember how much, but if I had to ball park it I'd say $150-$200. I feel at times that I've spent way more then anyone else, but I've seen quite a few P2P that have spent significantly more. I don't buy much other then necessities aside from the occasional Xbox game.

How much commitment to the game do you have now that you have spent money, and does that commitment increase the more you spend? What would make you walk away now?

I feel very committed and it is highly impacted by how much I've put into this game already. It would take being massively short handed to stop playing, like if I didn't get through streak 7 of Mysterio after all the money I spent on Episode 5 alone.

How do you feel about F2P players in general? How do you feel about F2P players able to get Shards without paying (e.g., through levelling up or watching advertisements)? How does this influence your purchases? Other than having spent real money in the game, how else do you think you differ from F2P players?

I don't think any differently of F2P than P2P, I personally believe that you should only spend money if you want to and enjoy the game. I'm unhappy that P2P do not have access to those advertisements that offer shards, but other then that I have no concern otherwise.

What are your expectations / what do you feel you should be entitled to compared to someone who is F2P? How would you feel / what would you do if at some point the game stops developing and no further content is created. Do you feel this is part of the natural life cycle of a game and to be expected?

I dont think I'm entitled to anything more then F2P other then the item/character I purchased. I do believe that the game will follow the cycle of no further updates.

If you also play Marvel Avengers Academy and have spent money on the game, we'd love to interview you too and compile more insights into P2P player for all the F2P out there.

How did you find Marvel Avengers Academy and what made you commit time to the game?

I found it through an advertisement on Facebook and I kept playing because I enjoyed the style of game mixed with Marvel characters.

How much time are you able to spend playing the game compared to: What you initially expected; the amount of time you actually play the game; and what you would like your time investment to be?

I might not be the best example in this case because I don't have much of a social life and I work from home so I can play all day long. There have been 1 or 2 events where I set timers during the night, like [the Spider-Man Event], to get specific actions done (in this case its the training of our heroes).

Does this have any influence in your decision to spend money?

What keeps you coming back to the game / what do you like about the game itself? E.g., The actual mechanics of the game and events such as crafting items and fighting bosses; or collecting characters or decor; or laying out your Academy campus; or following the various story/one particular story; etc.

I keep coming back because I like the Marvel characters. I particularly enjoy some of the actions the characters have such as Spider-man's Slinging Webs, Ant-Man's Watch Where You Step, etc. It has no affect on whether I spend money though.

What specifically about the game makes you spend money?

Do you compare your purchases in the game or your reasons to spend money, to any other type of expense (e.g., it's part of your entertainment budget not different from watching a movie, or it's like buying a service with no physical goods you take away, or it's a consumable like eating at a restaurant, etcetera)? Do you feel this comparison is key to understanding why people spend money?

I spend it as part of my "Me money". I'm extremely big on keeping up my finances.

When did you first buy Shards and what made you decide to? E.g., Did you decide to do so as soon as you saw the game, right when you started playing, when the "Buy One, Get One" quest ["Buy a Box of Credits and get US$5 of Shards for free!"] appeared, some experience later in the game, etc...

Actually I was inspired by the quest you mentioned. It was also a time where I had a lot of extra money and I thought "Why not?"

Do you have a budget or other heuristic to determine how much you spend per unit time (e.g., per week); do you have a maximum amount you are willing to put into this game in total after which you will definitely not spend any more? What is your decision process / reasoning?

I have a budget and I ration how much I spend. My decision is based on what events I have planned for the rest of the month and of course I pay my bills first before calculating how much I'll spend.

How much have you spent so far and how do you think you compare with other P2P in the game? How does it compare to your other online game purchases and do you use those purchases to decide how much to spend?

I can't honestly remember how much, but if I had to ball park it I'd say $150-$200. I feel at times that I've spent way more then anyone else, but I've seen quite a few P2P that have spent significantly more. I don't buy much other then necessities aside from the occasional Xbox game.

How much commitment to the game do you have now that you have spent money, and does that commitment increase the more you spend? What would make you walk away now?

I feel very committed and it is highly impacted by how much I've put into this game already. It would take being massively short handed to stop playing, like if I didn't get through streak 7 of Mysterio after all the money I spent on Episode 5 alone.

How do you feel about F2P players in general? How do you feel about F2P players able to get Shards without paying (e.g., through levelling up or watching advertisements)? How does this influence your purchases? Other than having spent real money in the game, how else do you think you differ from F2P players?

I don't think any differently of F2P than P2P, I personally believe that you should only spend money if you want to and enjoy the game. I'm unhappy that P2P do not have access to those advertisements that offer shards, but other then that I have no concern otherwise.

What are your expectations / what do you feel you should be entitled to compared to someone who is F2P? How would you feel / what would you do if at some point the game stops developing and no further content is created. Do you feel this is part of the natural life cycle of a game and to be expected?

I dont think I'm entitled to anything more then F2P other then the item/character I purchased. I do believe that the game will follow the cycle of no further updates.

If you also play Marvel Avengers Academy and have spent money on the game, we'd love to interview you too and compile more insights into P2P player for all the F2P out there.

reade more...

Gaming Insights - Marvel Avengers Academy P2P Profiles - "Stormy"

Being F2P (Free-to-Play) in online games, I am very interested in how paying players (P2P or Pay-to-Play) approach the games. This anonymous survey looks at alias "Stormy", a P2P player for the game Marvel Avengers Academy.
Our stock questions are in bold. Because Stormy only became P2P because of a particular event, and more specifically because of a particular purchase, some of the answers will seem redundant.

How did you find Marvel Avengers Academy and what made you commit time to the game?

I find the game addicting to be honest, I also like the recruiting and levelling up the characters. I'm aware that some of the characters I like in the MCU are premium characters. My commitment to the game is due to my boredom from my previous games I played as well as the small secret hiding in the time fog that never seems to see light of day.

How much time are you able to spend playing the game compared to: What you initially expected; the amount of time you actually play the game; and what you would like your time investment to be?

I expected the game to be a doddle to be perfectly honest, something that wouldn't take up all my time. That was up until some major events like the Guardians of the Galaxy and Civil War events. I would love my time investment to be drastically reduced, but that won't happen until the events aren't timed. I feel the timed events pressurise [sic] people into spending every little moment that they can onto the game to get some early unlock characters.

Does this have any influence in your decision to spend money?

I've only spent money on the newest event, the Spider-Man Event. I didn't want to but the Act I heroes available made me change my mind just on this event; then I’ll return to being a free to play, F2P, player.

What keeps you coming back to the game / what do you like about the game itself? E.g., The actual mechanics of the game and events such as crafting items and fighting bosses; or collecting characters or decor; or laying out your Academy campus; or following the various story/one particular story; etc.

I love how I can rearrange the academy, give or take, and also the reason behind this timefog mystery. I enjoy the levelling up of all the students, heroes and villians, and seeing how their outfits change. Speaking of outfits I like how there are new outfits for different events such as the Symbiote Spider-Man outfit for fighting The Lizard.

What specifically about the game makes you spend money?

The reason I spent money on this event, Spidey, was to really get the Symbiote Spider-Man Outfit.

Do you compare your purchases in the game or your reasons to spend money, to any other type of expense (e.g., it's part of your entertainment budget not different from watching a movie, or it's like buying a service with no physical goods you take away, or it's a consumable like eating at a restaurant, etcetera)? Do you feel this comparison is key to understanding why people spend money?

My purchases were really based on getting what I want, like the Symbiote Spidey. It does come out of my personal spending budget I give myself each payday.

When did you first buy Shards and what made you decide to? E.g., Did you decide to do so as soon as you saw the game, right when you started playing, when the "Buy One, Get One" quest ["Buy a Box of Credits and get US$5 of Shards for free!"] appeared, some experience later in the game, etc...

In a way the quest Buy One Get One did have a play in it, which I feel it shouldn’t have, as it was bugging me being there and not being able to complete it without spending money. The first time I used my [free] shards, which I earned by watching videos, was to complete and get Black Knight from the British Invasion event. Then I purchased shards to get Symbiote Spidey.

Do you have a budget or other heuristic to determine how much you spend per unit time (e.g., per week); do you have a maximum amount you are willing to put into this game in total after which you will definitely not spend any more? What is your decision process / reasoning?

I started buying shards during the Spider Man Event, and I'm only doing it for this event. Whatever shards I have remaining afterwards will be rationed, unless it's a hero I really want and am convinced to get it, like if it's a limited time offer.

How much have you spent so far and how do you think you compare with other P2P in the game? How does it compare to your other online game purchases and do you use those purchases to decide how much to spend?

I must have spent just over £100 on this game which I think is about average in comparison to the other Pay to Play, P2P players. In all honesty if I didn’t buy the shards on this game I would have bought a game via my console.

How much commitment to the game do you have now that you have spent money, and does that commitment increase the more you spend? What would make you walk away now?

I'm more frustrated with the game, some of the heroes should be so expensive. I mean I know Spider-Woman is cheapish (260 shards) but Hulk is 1495 Shards or unlockable at level 35. As far as I can divulge I won't be spending my money on shards after the Spidey Event. Currently I’m not sure what could make me walk away, I’m generally happy with game besides the constant need of shards

How do you feel about F2P players in general? How do you feel about F2P players able to get Shards without paying (e.g., through levelling up or watching advertisements)? How does this influence your purchases? Other than having spent real money in the game, how else do you think you differ from F2P players?

F2P players are lucky to get the advertisements, I think that if [you're] only buying shards like me for one event they should still have the option for everyone to earn shards. As mentioned previously, I'm not buying any shards after this event. F2P players seem to not actually care if they don't get a certain character. I'm a person that likes to complete a collection, like unlocking and "buying" the heroes and villains.

What are your expectations / what do you feel you should be entitled to compared to someone who is F2P? How would you feel / what would you do if at some point the game stops developing and no further content is created. Do you feel this is part of the natural life cycle of a game and to be expected?

My expectations as in game progress and what to add should be the Defenders, the X-Men, a repetition of previous events so that people who start the game now can get the Guardians of the Galaxy and Civil War heroes. I still reckon P2P should be allowed to earn shards by watching videos. If the game stops there's not much I can really do about it. I'll end up playing another game and is a natural part of the game's life cycle. I'll be a little bummed out that I didn’t get all the characters, but until everyone ever stops buy shards I don't think Avengers Academy will end but I may be wrong.

If you also play Marvel Avengers Academy and have spent money on the game, we'd love to interview you too and compile more insights into P2P player for all the F2P out there.

How did you find Marvel Avengers Academy and what made you commit time to the game?

I find the game addicting to be honest, I also like the recruiting and levelling up the characters. I'm aware that some of the characters I like in the MCU are premium characters. My commitment to the game is due to my boredom from my previous games I played as well as the small secret hiding in the time fog that never seems to see light of day.

How much time are you able to spend playing the game compared to: What you initially expected; the amount of time you actually play the game; and what you would like your time investment to be?

I expected the game to be a doddle to be perfectly honest, something that wouldn't take up all my time. That was up until some major events like the Guardians of the Galaxy and Civil War events. I would love my time investment to be drastically reduced, but that won't happen until the events aren't timed. I feel the timed events pressurise [sic] people into spending every little moment that they can onto the game to get some early unlock characters.

Does this have any influence in your decision to spend money?

I've only spent money on the newest event, the Spider-Man Event. I didn't want to but the Act I heroes available made me change my mind just on this event; then I’ll return to being a free to play, F2P, player.

What keeps you coming back to the game / what do you like about the game itself? E.g., The actual mechanics of the game and events such as crafting items and fighting bosses; or collecting characters or decor; or laying out your Academy campus; or following the various story/one particular story; etc.

I love how I can rearrange the academy, give or take, and also the reason behind this timefog mystery. I enjoy the levelling up of all the students, heroes and villians, and seeing how their outfits change. Speaking of outfits I like how there are new outfits for different events such as the Symbiote Spider-Man outfit for fighting The Lizard.

What specifically about the game makes you spend money?

The reason I spent money on this event, Spidey, was to really get the Symbiote Spider-Man Outfit.

Do you compare your purchases in the game or your reasons to spend money, to any other type of expense (e.g., it's part of your entertainment budget not different from watching a movie, or it's like buying a service with no physical goods you take away, or it's a consumable like eating at a restaurant, etcetera)? Do you feel this comparison is key to understanding why people spend money?

My purchases were really based on getting what I want, like the Symbiote Spidey. It does come out of my personal spending budget I give myself each payday.

When did you first buy Shards and what made you decide to? E.g., Did you decide to do so as soon as you saw the game, right when you started playing, when the "Buy One, Get One" quest ["Buy a Box of Credits and get US$5 of Shards for free!"] appeared, some experience later in the game, etc...

In a way the quest Buy One Get One did have a play in it, which I feel it shouldn’t have, as it was bugging me being there and not being able to complete it without spending money. The first time I used my [free] shards, which I earned by watching videos, was to complete and get Black Knight from the British Invasion event. Then I purchased shards to get Symbiote Spidey.

Do you have a budget or other heuristic to determine how much you spend per unit time (e.g., per week); do you have a maximum amount you are willing to put into this game in total after which you will definitely not spend any more? What is your decision process / reasoning?

I started buying shards during the Spider Man Event, and I'm only doing it for this event. Whatever shards I have remaining afterwards will be rationed, unless it's a hero I really want and am convinced to get it, like if it's a limited time offer.

How much have you spent so far and how do you think you compare with other P2P in the game? How does it compare to your other online game purchases and do you use those purchases to decide how much to spend?

I must have spent just over £100 on this game which I think is about average in comparison to the other Pay to Play, P2P players. In all honesty if I didn’t buy the shards on this game I would have bought a game via my console.

How much commitment to the game do you have now that you have spent money, and does that commitment increase the more you spend? What would make you walk away now?

I'm more frustrated with the game, some of the heroes should be so expensive. I mean I know Spider-Woman is cheapish (260 shards) but Hulk is 1495 Shards or unlockable at level 35. As far as I can divulge I won't be spending my money on shards after the Spidey Event. Currently I’m not sure what could make me walk away, I’m generally happy with game besides the constant need of shards

How do you feel about F2P players in general? How do you feel about F2P players able to get Shards without paying (e.g., through levelling up or watching advertisements)? How does this influence your purchases? Other than having spent real money in the game, how else do you think you differ from F2P players?

F2P players are lucky to get the advertisements, I think that if [you're] only buying shards like me for one event they should still have the option for everyone to earn shards. As mentioned previously, I'm not buying any shards after this event. F2P players seem to not actually care if they don't get a certain character. I'm a person that likes to complete a collection, like unlocking and "buying" the heroes and villains.

What are your expectations / what do you feel you should be entitled to compared to someone who is F2P? How would you feel / what would you do if at some point the game stops developing and no further content is created. Do you feel this is part of the natural life cycle of a game and to be expected?

My expectations as in game progress and what to add should be the Defenders, the X-Men, a repetition of previous events so that people who start the game now can get the Guardians of the Galaxy and Civil War heroes. I still reckon P2P should be allowed to earn shards by watching videos. If the game stops there's not much I can really do about it. I'll end up playing another game and is a natural part of the game's life cycle. I'll be a little bummed out that I didn’t get all the characters, but until everyone ever stops buy shards I don't think Avengers Academy will end but I may be wrong.

If you also play Marvel Avengers Academy and have spent money on the game, we'd love to interview you too and compile more insights into P2P player for all the F2P out there.

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The Best MARVEL and Superhero Games

As you may know, I have been playing MARVEL Avengers Academy, and although I was initially greatly in favour of the game, their recent events -- or more to the point, how they structured their events -- has been so bad that I've been forced to re-evaluate TinyCo's Avengers Academy.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance
On the Avengers Academy Facebook page, the topic naturally came up about where else someone could get a Marvel superheroes experience, and one I highly recommend is Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

The main reason is the sheer number of playable MARVEL characters in that game. Also, you get to fight a number of villains in a variety of story locations and mini-missions for various heroes. On top of that, you can earn different costumes for different heroes.

We had a series of posts about Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and you can see a number of posts detailing the cutscenes, artwork, and character costumes in Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

And one of the reasons it's called "Ultimate Alliance" is because from the list of heroes, you can mix and match into your own strike teams, some of which have special bonuses. And those teams can earn bonuses by staying together -- sort of like putting together your own Avengers portfolio of heroes and sending them out on missions regularly.

Needless to say the powers of the heroes (and villains) are faithful to the Marvel comic universe, and so you really have an iconic experience of the Marvel universe.

It's obviously an older game, but nevertheless highly recommended for the content and replayability (by trying different teams), all for a single low price.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse
X-Men Legends II is a sort of precursor to the Marvel Ultimate Alliance experience, and it's a bit older, but has similar attributes, including the winning trait of there being many heroes and being able to put together your own dream team.
If you like Marvel Ultimate Alliance, you'll like X-Men Legends II as well.

Look before you buy: We have cutscenes and artwork from the game, as well as a guide/walkthrough for X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.

Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich
They aren't Marvel, but worthy of mention are the 4-colour comic book style Freedom Force games, which very much gives you a comic book feel:

UI feedback for powers and damage comes in text bubbles just like you might see in a comic book.
You can grab things like cars and telephone poles to swing and throw.
The story involves rescuing civilians and you get bonuses for limiting collateral damage.

The real gem of this game, however, is the ability to CREATE YOUR OWN HERO. The powers are extremely customizable, making for an endless variety of builds. Also, they cleverly limited certain powers (such as self-healing) so you don't get builds that are too easy and in that way exploit the engine.

Instead of getting Freedom Force from Amazon, I highly recommend instead getting it from GOG.com, which offers a money-back guarantee -- especially important for an older game.

UI feedback for powers and damage comes in text bubbles just like you might see in a comic book.
You can grab things like cars and telephone poles to swing and throw.
The story involves rescuing civilians and you get bonuses for limiting collateral damage.

Instead of getting Freedom Force from Amazon, I highly recommend instead getting it from GOG.com, which offers a money-back guarantee -- especially important for an older game.

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Updated Game Review -- MARVEL Avengers Academy

Game Review: MARVEL Avengers Academy
Score: FAIL

Previously I scored MARVEL Avengers Academy a respectable +7/-3. However, since that time they have put out several special events that are aimed at ruining all the fun in the game. They had an excellent casual smartphone game. They had aimed it to be "midcore" but the gameplay demands now are pushing it to hardcore. You not only have to strategize on how you spend money on the game, but the time demands are high as they introduce scheduling and systems that force you to constantly check your phone to keep the event going.

Here is an example of a frustrating mechanic:

Film Rolls are needed for just about everything in this first stage, especially the very-limited-time Spider-Crates and Limited Time Prizes. They are only some of the many resources needed.
You can have up to four stations: 1 per 4 hours, 2 per 8 hours, 2 per 8 hours, and 3 per 12 hours. If all four are constantly active and you you click-to-collect-and-restart-the-timer all the time, you are basically getting a rate of 4 per 4 hours.

This seems like a lot, except "octobots" will randomly attack a station every few hours. An "attack" is to freeze the production counter until you remove the Octobot with a Web Shooter. So far the mechanics are unclear, but it looks like the more stations you have, the more are likely to be attacked, but the time in between attacks is also greater.
The timing between attacks is not clear so you can't just periodically check at set intervals.
If you fail to remove them all at the same time, you've screwed up the counters so you no longer have all of them in 4-hour cycles -- necessitating even more phone-checking.
To remove an Octobot you need a Web Shooter, which needs 2 vials of Web Fibers which drop from the special event Mission Board, which typically requires a Mission involving a character working on a task of at least 4 hours.

Sometimes you get a shorter mission but you only receive 1 vial, which is not enough. Sometimes you get a longer mission (8 hours) but you get 3 vials.
In any case, if a character is tied up elsewhere or if another character is already at the building station the task requires, you either have to wait and therefore the time to get a vial increases; or if you have a lot of characters from main game progression, you could try cancelling the mission and getting a new one. There is however a 70-minute cooldown before a mission is replaced.
Once you have 2 vials, it requires 2 hours to actually manufacture a Web Shooter, meaning a minimum of 6 hours to get one Web Shooter.

Obviously they are playing on fear-of-missing-out to get you to spend money, but if you are on the Facebook page you will see just how much resentment this causes. Even people who spend money on the game to get premium characters are frustrated. Obviously, like most game companies, TinyCo needs money to keep going and it isn't different from most game companies in how they want your money. But there is a better way: Offering real value.

So if you play MARVEL Avengers Academy, look VERY carefully at what advantage you are buying with your money and THINK whether you are spending your Shards wisely.
In the particular case of the current Spider-Man event, you needed to watch the game carefully and get advance warning from players who've moved ahead to look into the mechanics. You would have seen that buying the premium content does NOT get you ahead.
For example, buying the Spider-Ham character helped you with various drops toward getting Reporter Wasp, Spider-Crates, and Limited Time Prizes, but you are still dependent on Film Rolls for Reporter Wasp and Spider-Crates, so that's where the bottleneck really was and Spider-Ham or any other premium content really can't address it. Even the Spider-Signal and Spider-Spotlight buildings (which are useless after the event) only help keep your production free of octobots, but it doesn't actually increase production.

TinyCo still has a great and unique product but they really need to shift their paradigm away from creating resentment.

My recommendations:

Show value

If someone has spent money, show that the money they spent enhances their game. Do away with premium (need to be purchased with Shards, which cost real money) buildings that will be useless afterwards.
If someone bought a character, make sure that character isn't unused afterwards -- a very common complaint so far.
If someone buys a character during an event, make sure the benefit is really there. During the Civil War, players complained that premium characters only INCREASED the workload because they were scrambling to work on those characters too, and their help during the event wasn't actually that great.

Reduce complication

The current mission-board style of generating resources is complicated for the different schedules it creates and the jigsawing of charcters and trying to queue them into spots.
Instead, for each mission, choose a building, and populate its spots fully with valid characters (no overlaps, no characters chosen more than once for the same mission, no characters queuing for spots in that building for the same mission). The net hours characters spend working there will determine the amount of rewards.
Instead of selling additional resources, sell automation to reduce work and checking.

For example, the current Spider-Man event has buildings you can buy (using real money) to drop Web Shooters to remove Octobots. Instead, have the building automatically remove Octobots without the player having to click to collect Web Shooters and continue monitoring for the appearance of Octobots.

Reduce event complication and focus on story

Instead of getting people to jump through so many hoops and luring people to buy premium characters for supposed benefits during the event, make ALL event characters playable for the event.

This will give players a good idea of whether they like that character based on their story interactions with other characters.
It would also make the game story-driven rather than task/mechanics/systems driven.

Instead of making weird mechanics to accomplish tasks, do away with all that. For event items like Decor pieces, have event missions drop the event currency or tokens needed -- and therefore players can do it while advancing the event character storylines at their own pace.
For premium characters, let players have them too but to keep them in the Academy after, ask players to buy them with Shards/money.

Film Rolls are needed for just about everything in this first stage, especially the very-limited-time Spider-Crates and Limited Time Prizes. They are only some of the many resources needed.
You can have up to four stations: 1 per 4 hours, 2 per 8 hours, 2 per 8 hours, and 3 per 12 hours. If all four are constantly active and you you click-to-collect-and-restart-the-timer all the time, you are basically getting a rate of 4 per 4 hours.

This seems like a lot, except "octobots" will randomly attack a station every few hours. An "attack" is to freeze the production counter until you remove the Octobot with a Web Shooter. So far the mechanics are unclear, but it looks like the more stations you have, the more are likely to be attacked, but the time in between attacks is also greater.
The timing between attacks is not clear so you can't just periodically check at set intervals.
If you fail to remove them all at the same time, you've screwed up the counters so you no longer have all of them in 4-hour cycles -- necessitating even more phone-checking.
To remove an Octobot you need a Web Shooter, which needs 2 vials of Web Fibers which drop from the special event Mission Board, which typically requires a Mission involving a character working on a task of at least 4 hours.

Sometimes you get a shorter mission but you only receive 1 vial, which is not enough. Sometimes you get a longer mission (8 hours) but you get 3 vials.
In any case, if a character is tied up elsewhere or if another character is already at the building station the task requires, you either have to wait and therefore the time to get a vial increases; or if you have a lot of characters from main game progression, you could try cancelling the mission and getting a new one. There is however a 70-minute cooldown before a mission is replaced.
Once you have 2 vials, it requires 2 hours to actually manufacture a Web Shooter, meaning a minimum of 6 hours to get one Web Shooter.

Show value

If someone has spent money, show that the money they spent enhances their game. Do away with premium (need to be purchased with Shards, which cost real money) buildings that will be useless afterwards.
If someone bought a character, make sure that character isn't unused afterwards -- a very common complaint so far.
If someone buys a character during an event, make sure the benefit is really there. During the Civil War, players complained that premium characters only INCREASED the workload because they were scrambling to work on those characters too, and their help during the event wasn't actually that great.

Reduce complication

The current mission-board style of generating resources is complicated for the different schedules it creates and the jigsawing of charcters and trying to queue them into spots.
Instead, for each mission, choose a building, and populate its spots fully with valid characters (no overlaps, no characters chosen more than once for the same mission, no characters queuing for spots in that building for the same mission). The net hours characters spend working there will determine the amount of rewards.
Instead of selling additional resources, sell automation to reduce work and checking.

For example, the current Spider-Man event has buildings you can buy (using real money) to drop Web Shooters to remove Octobots. Instead, have the building automatically remove Octobots without the player having to click to collect Web Shooters and continue monitoring for the appearance of Octobots.

Reduce event complication and focus on story

Instead of getting people to jump through so many hoops and luring people to buy premium characters for supposed benefits during the event, make ALL event characters playable for the event.

This will give players a good idea of whether they like that character based on their story interactions with other characters.
It would also make the game story-driven rather than task/mechanics/systems driven.

Instead of making weird mechanics to accomplish tasks, do away with all that. For event items like Decor pieces, have event missions drop the event currency or tokens needed -- and therefore players can do it while advancing the event character storylines at their own pace.
For premium characters, let players have them too but to keep them in the Academy after, ask players to buy them with Shards/money.

reade more...

MARVEL Avengers Academy - British Invasion - Black Knight

If you're playing MARVEL Avengers Academy and trying to keep up with the British Invasion event, here is a summary of the Black Knight chapter:

Step 1 - Portal

Follow the quest to build a portal. You need to collect Magic Runes from the Mission Board constantly to keep using the portal.
When you activate a portal, you can send 2 characters at a time.

A third slot was temporarily available if you clicked-and-hold-and-scrolled-up the portal slots but it was actually NOT usable. Watch out for this to be reactivated and made usable if TinyCo decides to help out players more, like they did near the end of the Union Jack chapter.

Like the Union Jack chapter, you cannot re-open a portal until everyone is out, so pair your search parties according to mission times.

Iron Man - 3-hour or 7-hour search missions

Note that Iron Man can fight Black Knight so watch your scheduling if you want to use him to also fight Black Knight.

Black Widow - 3-hour or 4-hour search missions
Enchantress - 4-hour or 7-hour search missions

You MUST send Iron Man on a 3-hour mission to advance the story and make the Black Knight available to fight.

You may then be confused by Pepper Potts saying the Black Knight will be back soon, but he is actually then in quad and you can fight him immediately.

If you have several characters due to story advancement or special events, take advantage of it by cancelling missions from the mission board that use Iron Man, Black Widow, and/or Enchantress, depending on who you are using to find Artifacts.

Step 2 - Artifacts

Portal missions get you Artifacts (rings). You need 1 per character fighting Black Knight

You can use a team of up to 3 against Black Knight, which is more efficient than sending them solo.
Since 7-hour missions guarantee you at least 3 artifacts, each 7-hour mission guarantees you a battle with a team of three.
3-hour and 4-hour missions have a potential minimum return of only 1 artifact, so it is theoretically not safe for keeping up a steady stream of attacks against Black Knight.

The Stonehenge premium buildings (bought with Shards) automatically get you Artifacts but the drop rate is per 24-hours so you will probably still want to get more Artifacts with Portal missions to get the Black Knight quickly.

Step 3 - Fight the Black Knight

Captain Britain and Union Jack do the most damage, maybe around 4x to 3x compared to non-event characters.
Iron Man, Wasp, and Loki can also fight. If you have Union Jack, you can reserve Wasp and Loki to fight with him, leaving Iron Man free to do portal missions.

If you have several characters due to story advancement or special events, take advantage of it by cancelling missions from the mission board that use Captain Britain, Union Jack, Iron Man, Wasp, and/or Loki, depending on who you are using to fight the Black Knight.
Because there is a healing cooldown, you can use those periods to complete missions.

Union Jack + two non-premium characters will probably need 2x fights to defeat Black Knight once.

Make sure you have enough Artifacts to fight him at least twice in a 24-hour period as that is his time to heal to full health again.
Defeated hero teams require up to 3 hours (if the team was defeated by Black Knight, it takes 3 hours). Captain Britain reportedly takes 3x as long.

Watch out for a bug where the healing time does not tick down while you are in-game. Close the game and come back later.

You get 20 trophies per win and you need 100, so without Captain Britain you are looking at probably 10 fights at LEAST to complete the event.
After a win, Pepper Potts says "he'll be back soon" and the Black Knight has a timer on him, but he is actually available to fight immediately (?).
Watch for sidequests to appear after your wins. You may want to take care of them first.

10 fights with Union Jack + 2 characters = 10 x 7-hour portal missions = 5 x 7 hours x 2 characters = 35 hours or about 1.5 days. Since we have a week, this event should not be as tight as the one to recruit Union Jack.

If you're playing MARVEL Avengers Academy and trying to keep up with the British Invasion event, here is a summary of the Black Knight chapter:

Step 1 - Portal

Follow the quest to build a portal. You need to collect Magic Runes from the Mission Board constantly to keep using the portal.
When you activate a portal, you can send 2 characters at a time.

A third slot was temporarily available if you clicked-and-hold-and-scrolled-up the portal slots but it was actually NOT usable. Watch out for this to be reactivated and made usable if TinyCo decides to help out players more, like they did near the end of the Union Jack chapter.

Like the Union Jack chapter, you cannot re-open a portal until everyone is out, so pair your search parties according to mission times.

Iron Man - 3-hour or 7-hour search missions

Note that Iron Man can fight Black Knight so watch your scheduling if you want to use him to also fight Black Knight.

Black Widow - 3-hour or 4-hour search missions
Enchantress - 4-hour or 7-hour search missions

You MUST send Iron Man on a 3-hour mission to advance the story and make the Black Knight available to fight.

You may then be confused by Pepper Potts saying the Black Knight will be back soon, but he is actually then in quad and you can fight him immediately.

If you have several characters due to story advancement or special events, take advantage of it by cancelling missions from the mission board that use Iron Man, Black Widow, and/or Enchantress, depending on who you are using to find Artifacts.

Step 2 - Artifacts

Portal missions get you Artifacts (rings). You need 1 per character fighting Black Knight

You can use a team of up to 3 against Black Knight, which is more efficient than sending them solo.
Since 7-hour missions guarantee you at least 3 artifacts, each 7-hour mission guarantees you a battle with a team of three.
3-hour and 4-hour missions have a potential minimum return of only 1 artifact, so it is theoretically not safe for keeping up a steady stream of attacks against Black Knight.

The Stonehenge premium buildings (bought with Shards) automatically get you Artifacts but the drop rate is per 24-hours so you will probably still want to get more Artifacts with Portal missions to get the Black Knight quickly.

Step 3 - Fight the Black Knight

Captain Britain and Union Jack do the most damage, maybe around 4x to 3x compared to non-event characters.
Iron Man, Wasp, and Loki can also fight. If you have Union Jack, you can reserve Wasp and Loki to fight with him, leaving Iron Man free to do portal missions.

If you have several characters due to story advancement or special events, take advantage of it by cancelling missions from the mission board that use Captain Britain, Union Jack, Iron Man, Wasp, and/or Loki, depending on who you are using to fight the Black Knight.
Because there is a healing cooldown, you can use those periods to complete missions.

Union Jack + two non-premium characters will probably need 2x fights to defeat Black Knight once.

Make sure you have enough Artifacts to fight him at least twice in a 24-hour period as that is his time to heal to full health again.
Defeated hero teams require up to 3 hours (if the team was defeated by Black Knight, it takes 3 hours). Captain Britain reportedly takes 3x as long.

Watch out for a bug where the healing time does not tick down while you are in-game. Close the game and come back later.

You get 20 trophies per win and you need 100, so without Captain Britain you are looking at probably 10 fights at LEAST to complete the event.
After a win, Pepper Potts says "he'll be back soon" and the Black Knight has a timer on him, but he is actually available to fight immediately (?).
Watch for sidequests to appear after your wins. You may want to take care of them first.

reade more...

MARVEL Avengers Academy zoom-out trick

If you're playing MARVEL Avengers Academy you may find this trick useful.
Notice that when you open the game, it starts zoomed out so that you can see where all your completed tasks waiting to be collected / tapped are located. Once you tap all of them or tap something other than one of the checkmarks, the zoom goes away.
You can zoom back out, but it quickly zooms in again.

To hold that zoom, do this:

Zoom out on your smartphone with both fingers, then release. It takes a half second or so before it starts zooming in again automatically.
During that time, quickly tap a building that is NOT being used by a character performing an action. This calls up the building name, BUT the screen will also hold its current zoom level.
Now, tap the icon in the lower left corner for the mission board, and tap outside that interface to dismiss the mission board. The building label will be gone, but the zoom level will still hold where it is and not reset and try to zoom back in again.

Great for leaving your screen up while doing other things, so at a glance you can see if any tasks are complete.

Zoom out on your smartphone with both fingers, then release. It takes a half second or so before it starts zooming in again automatically.
During that time, quickly tap a building that is NOT being used by a character performing an action. This calls up the building name, BUT the screen will also hold its current zoom level.
Now, tap the icon in the lower left corner for the mission board, and tap outside that interface to dismiss the mission board. The building label will be gone, but the zoom level will still hold where it is and not reset and try to zoom back in again.

Great for leaving your screen up while doing other things, so at a glance you can see if any tasks are complete.

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Game Review - MARVEL Avengers Academy

Game Review: MARVEL Avengers Academy
~~Score:~~ +7/-3
UPDATED SCORE: FAIL (updated: 2016-Jun-26)

I've been scouring Google Play for a decent game for my smartphone. Most of the ones out there are clones of each other. Various styles of play but generally focussed on addicting your time so that you end up spending money for convenience.
Mage and Minions is one of the very few that feels very different, and for very specific reasons I highly recommend it. MARVEL Avengers Academy shares a lot of the traits I really like.

The game basically plays like one of the Sims games: Characters have generic actions, and through a combination of "appropriate" generic actions you complete tasks that advance the story. The story happens offstage and and you get conversations that update you on what happen, and thereby advance the storylines.
You are therefore really only playing for various storylines, and getting characters to do things to accumulate resources and pass time. There's a little more to that, but this is the core of the gameplay.
There are occasional special events like the recent time-limited opportunity to recruit Blue Hulk and Red Hulk. And there are various triggered events that encourage you to spend money to recruit certain characters.

The game starts quite slowly, but once you have more characters and therefore a better ability to complete tasks, things start to get busier.
TIP: If there is a task on the mission board that takes a long time, you can click the small trashcan at the upper left to delete the task and get another one after a 20-minute refresh time.
++Great as a truly "casual game". It's single player and you really can put it down at any time without worry. Unless there's a special time-limited event, there's just no urgency.
+Unlimited play. You can play as much as you like without having to wait for "energy" to recharge. You are waiting for characters to finish tasks, though, and so it's not really conducive to a sit-down session unless you want to spend money to get Crystals to accelerate things. This is really a casual game for people who don't have a lot of concentrated time or just want to check in once in a while when they get a few spare minutes.
+Low demand on your time. There are no Daily Quests or any of that to addict you to checking in every day.
+You don't feel like you are missing out when you don't play. But do check in, in case there is a special event. Typically, however, you play at your own pace.
+Single Player. Not only are you not competing with anyone (so you can't "fall behind"), but no one is attacking you so there's no urgency to advance quickly or feel worried you will lose resources.
+Decent graphics! A bit simple, but character animations are pretty good.
-Inane. Sometimes the stories are inane. You really have to get into the these-are-teens mindset. There's nothing serious going on here. Humour is also sort of weak. Nothing laugh-out-loud so far.
-Poor return for purchase. You can buy all sorts of buildings but the spread of characters actually using those buildings for Missions that award something is very weak. For example, I have the Maverick Dorm, but I have yet to see any mission using it.
-Decisions that seem stupid or that make no sense. Examples:

During the Guardians of the Galaxy limited event, Gamora can train her combat skills either in the Quad or at Club A -- but why not at the Cosmic Combat Simulator they got you to build? DUH.
There's a "Hone Deathblows" action for the "Club Life, Pt. 2" Mission -- and again, instead of the Cosmic Combat Simulator, they have Gamora doing that at the PUNCHING BAG in Avengers Dorm. DUH.

During the Guardians of the Galaxy limited event, Gamora can train her combat skills either in the Quad or at Club A -- but why not at the Cosmic Combat Simulator they got you to build? DUH.
There's a "Hone Deathblows" action for the "Club Life, Pt. 2" Mission -- and again, instead of the Cosmic Combat Simulator, they have Gamora doing that at the PUNCHING BAG in Avengers Dorm. DUH.

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