SHIELD Proving Grounds Event - Strategy Guide

SHIELD Proving Grounds Event - Guide and Strategy

Of the three main types of events in Marvel War of Heroes, the SHIELD Proving Grounds is the easiest for all players to succeed.   The event is slow paced and relies solely on the individual player for success.  Using a little bit of basic strategy that I will teach you now will ensure success in the event.  

Event Basics

I'll start out the strategy guide by briefly going over the basic points of the event:

1. This event is solely individual.  No teamwork is required and there is no Alliance score to worry about.
2. By successfully attacking other players in the event you earn shards (based upon the attack power of your deck and shield rank) which are used to collect prizes (personal power packs, cards, iso cards, etc.).  Shards can also be exchanged into processors to earn to additional prizes.
3. This is the event where you can earn, raise, or lower your SHIELD ranking.  By collecting set amounts of Shards your rank rises until you reach the top ranks.  Then you compete in small 5 hour long tournaments where you get a shot to raise your rank to the highest rankings.
4. By ranking in the top 3 in your tournament bracket and meeting the minimum shard requirement you get promoted and your SHIELD ranking will raise.
5. If you do not meet the minimum shard requirement during a tournament you risk loosing your current SHIELD rank and you will demoted to the previous rank.

Event Strategy

The strategy for the SHIELD Proving Grounds event is pretty simple.  I'll break the Strategy section into two parts.  Part 1 will be Strategy to use at the start of the event and Part 2 will be strategy to use during the event:

Part 1: Beginning of Event:

Before the event starts we are given a briefing of what the rewards will be.  This is when you want to start thinking about your event strategy.  Look at the reward cards (we won't know anything, but rarity and alignment until the event starts) and start to think about if it's worth using the power packs to earn the SSR and UR base cards.  Once the event starts (now we can view the cards ability) make your final decision if you think it's worth using the power packs to achieve the cards and how far you want to go.  Things to think about at this time are:

• How many power packs am I able to use during this event?
• How much power pack value will the SSR and UR base cards be worth?
• Will I be able to use any of the SSR or UR base card rewards in my decks? 

Do some basic math and calculate how many power packs you think it will take you to get the rewards you want.  If the value of the cards are lower than this number then you might want to think about saving your power packs for other events.

Part 2: During the Event:

The strategy you most want to use during the event relates to getting the most amount of attacks per power pack.  I'll use my deck as an example:

My attack deck uses up 148 attack points and I have a total of 401 attack points.  That gives me 2 full attacks per power pack.  I start my day and immediately make 2 attacks which leaves me with 105 left over attack points.  I note that in 43 minutes I will be able to make another attack and I wait until that time to do it.  I am then left with 0 attack power.  At this time I use a power pack and recharge all of my attack power to 401 attack points.  I then start the cycle all over again.  By doing this you maximize the amount of attacks per power pack used.  

Sometimes you don't want to use the strategy above though.  One of these times is during the 5 hour tournament.   During the tournament you first want to think up your game plan.  You definitely don't want to loose rank so you need to make the minimum shard requirement which may or may not mean that you will have to use power packs without recharging your attack points in between.  Secondly, you may want to raise your rank and compete for the top third.  This will definitely require you to use up power packs without recharging between attacks.

The final situation that you might find yourself in is that you are too far below the required shards to earn the prize you want in the remaining event time.  If you find yourself in this situation and really want to earn that reward card you will have to burn through power packs without recharging in between attacks.

In conclusion, I want to stress one last point.  If you don't want the reward cards given out in the event don't bother to waste the power packs to get them.  Save those power packs for team events!

Co-Op X Event - Results and Discussion

Co-Op X Event - Results and Discussion

*I usually avoid the topic of discussion on this blog.  I try and keep the blog in the direction of a guide rather than an opinion piece, but I feel that this past event needs to be discussed by the community.  Please remember that I am a player and not associated with the game in any other way.

The recent Co-Op X Event is now over and sadly controversy surrounds the event.  Let me start by saying that the event was a complete failure on the developers part and should never have happened or should have been called off after the first few hours when it was apparent that the event would be a failure.  For those of you who don't know how the 4 days of the event went down,  it was somewhat like this:

Day #1

The scheduled maintenance was extended and the event got off to a late start Thursday afternoon.  The gameplay was choppy, but playable.  As you played through the missions bosses were summoned frequently and you and your Company were able to attack these bosses from the moment they were summoned. Sometimes a boss that a player summoned would already be down before he even had a chance to attack him, but it was ok because there were plenty of other bosses around to summon and/or attack.  This went on for about an hour (with choppy gameplay) and then the game shut down and went into emergency maintenance.  After an hour or two the game went back on for a short period of time (30 minutes or less?) and was then put back into emergency maintenance.  When the game came back out of emergency maintenance the event was gone and the developer claimed it was due to server overload and that they were working hard to get the event back up and running.  However, I went to bed Thursday night with the event still down and out.

Day #2

I woke up Friday morning to find that the event was still not up and running.  The developer left a message on the Home page that the event was temporarily suspended.  Frustrated, I went about my day and was happy to see that in the early afternoon it was announced that the event was back up and running.  I summoned and attacked 3 bosses then put my phone down to finish what I was doing.  Less than an hour later I resumed game play, but was soon confused.  I couldn't summon any bosses.  Reading through Line posts and Neoseeker forums, I learned that all players were experience this lack of boss appearances.  Many players spent multiple personal energy packs (including myself) playing through the missions and summoned very few (or none) bosses.  This situation lasted the rest of the day and the community was angered by the lack of a response from the game developer.

Day #3

I woke up Saturday morning to find that the event was shut down again for maintenance.  I assumed that the game developer was working on fixing the issues with the event.  Unfortunately, that afternoon when the event went live there was no noticeable change, and there was not a boss to be found.  I tried a few times to play through the missions and summon bosses.  I was successful at this one time and the boss I summoned was taken down before I even had a chance to attack him for points.  This lasted the entire day and the game developer still said nothing.

Day #4

On the last day of the event the developer finally addressed the boss appearance rate issue.  They mentioned that they could not fix it, due to server overload, and offered 30 danger bars as a token of their apology.  It was also mentioned that the Danger Cards would be used again for another event down the road. The event went on the rest of the day and I didn't bother to even play because I was angry. 

Discussion

A lot of Marvel WoH players were very angry at the game developer over this issue, myself included.  Their lack of communication with players was terrible and the fact that the event failed from the very first hour it was launched was infuriating.  In my 7 months playing I never seen the community so angry and the thought of quitting the game even crossed my mind.

I thought to myself, do I (we) have a right to be angry at the game developers?  And the answer to that is YES.  The reason being is that many players, including myself, invested money in purchasing card packs and power packs to obtain Danger Decks.  I felt that the developer completely disrespected it's customer by not offering suitable in-game goods in exchange for the real money that was spent to acquire these cards.

However, I am a reasonable person and I reminded myself that this was just a game and that it wasn't worth getting angry over the results of one event.  Overall, the developer has done a good job managing events recently and I could forgive mistakes that were made by launching a new event type.  Furthermore, I woke up this morning to read that players will be further compensated for their losses this event.  All unused danger bars will be converted to personal power packs at a rate of 6 bars to 1 personal power pack.  I feel that this is fair and am happy that the 30 danger bars that I was given as compensation didn't go to waste.  Also, the developer noted that the Danger Cards will be used during the next raid event and the next Co-Op X type event, when it happens, in the future after the bugs have been fixed.  I also feel that this is fair and am completely over being angry at this game.

At this time I would like to remind all of my readers that Marvel WoH is just a game and that it's not worth getting so mad and upset over, even if you spend real money to enhance your in-game experience.  I'm still reading a lot of negativity over the event on Line and on Neoseeker and I hope that players will realize that it's not worth it soon and that the game community can return to normality soon.

Thanks for reading my opinion and feel free to comment your own opinions below in the comment section.

Trading: Beginners Guide

Trading: Beginners Guide

Trading cards is perhaps the most important aspect of an mmo trading card game and Marvel War of Heroes is no exception.  Trading is everything in this game.  It's how you advance your deck(s) and get to know other members of the community.  This guide will give the reader all the fundamental aspects of proper trading and get them started on the next step of their Marvel WoH journey.

1. Basics

Everyone should know how and to whom you can trade cards and items to already, but I'll repeat the basics for the beginner.  You can only trade with members of your alliance (after 2 week trading ban) and with your 50 team members (after 2 week trading ban).  This limits you to about 80-90 other players that you can actually physically make trade offers too.  How do we trade our cards and items to multiple alliances then?  The answer to that is what the post is all about.  Through 3rd party software (legal software, not against the games terms of service) we advertise trades and then "middle" them across multiple players (called a bridge).  I will teach you how to middle trades later on in this guide.

2. Valuing Your Cards:

Putting a price value on your cards is easy.  The first thing you need to know is that cards are valued by the community by the amount of power packs (pp) they are worth.  Players only use the pp value when trading because silver is not an in-game currency.  If you are just starting out and don't have any pp, I would advise purchasing some from the store rather then purchasing card packs.  PP purchases are a sure thing, while card packs are a gamble.  

The next thing you need to know to value a card is a good "trading guide".  Note that trading guides are just guides, they are not the final say at a cards value.  Only you and the person you are trading with can put an actual value on a card.  The trading guide I currently use is Sleepy's MWOH Trading Guide on Neoseeker. You can use the link to find the guide.  It will be at the top of the forum list under the sticky section.  Sleepy does a good job providing his readers current market value for their cards.  Note that he gives prices in pp amounts only.  Usually players use Sleepy's guide as a reference price and ask or offer a little more or less. 

3. Active Alliance

Players who wish to be active traders in the Marvel WoH community will first want to make sure that they are a member of an active alliance.  I already made a post about how to get into an active alliance.  You can view it by clicking the following link:  Rex's Alliance Post  

An active Alliance is an alliance where members are all active and communicative using 3rd party software like Line App.  Your alliance is your very first trade network and the starting point for building more. 

4. Creating Trade Networks

Above, I mentioned that to be a successful trader that you will want to first be in an active alliance.  The next step is to create a new room using your 3rd Party App (I use Line App).  Give this room a decent trading name like "Bob's Trade Room" or "Bill's Trading Post".  The next step is to invite all of your alliance members and team members into the room.  Players will naturally start posting what they have to trade and what they want in return.  This is the way it's done guys.  

Now ask your alliance members to also invite their Team members to the trade group.  Now you will start seeing posts from players that you can't trade with, but your fellow alliance members and team members, who you can trade with, can!  This is how trade links start to form.  I'll explain middling trades a bit more below.

5. Middling Trades

To become an active trader in the Marvel WoH community you will have to start middling trades for your alliance members and team members.  The way this is done is simple.  Let's say for example you, Alliance Friend (A) and Team Mate (B) are all members of the same trade network.  A makes a deal with B, but they can not trade directly together because they are not linked by alliance or team membership.  So they ask you to middle the trade for them because you are linked to both.  They way this works is player A trades to you his end of the agreement and player B trades you his end of the agreement.  You then trade to A B's side and trade to B A's side.  It's as simple as that.  The trade route looks like this:  A > You < B.

Sometimes, depending on the trade room, you may have to middle a deal containing more than one middlemen.  It is very common to see 1 or 2 middlemen, but is less common  to see 3 or more.  This is because both sides of the trade don't really know everybody involved and are afraid that a middle will steal their cards or pp.  I suggest that you don't steal anyone's items because you will be blacklisted in all trade markets and your account will get spammed with hate.  I do suggest that you middle as many trades as possible because you will get to know other players and get a feel for how much cards are currently worth in the days market.

Typical Line App Trade Room

6. Expanding Trade Routes

Expanding trade routes is important to become an active trader.  Above, I talked a bit about trade routes and networks, but didn't give any examples of how to expand them.  The following is a list of tips on how to expand your trade routes in Marvel WoH:

• Don't team up with members of your alliance.  You can already trade with these players and you want to fill these spaces up with other active traders.  Drop any team members who are not active or not using 3rd Party Software to communicate with you.  Rallying trades is impossible.
• When you have a free team member spot to fill advertise it in your alliances trade room.  Team up with this new link and ask them if they can invite you into their own trade groups.
• Ask your current team members if they can invite you into their own trade groups.
• Get to know the people that you middle for a lot.  These people will make good team members and will be able to provide you with new trade routes. 

Co-Op X Event - Strategy Guide

Co-Op X Event - Strategy Guide

I've gotten the chance to play the new Co-Op X event today for a few hours after the extended server maintenance.  I'm going to write up a short guide on how I think the event should be played to maximize you and your squads co-op score.

PART I

Part I contains basic information that you should be familiar with.  I'll start with 5 aspects to the event that I feel you need to be aware of most:

1.  Danger Cards:

Danger cards are similar to raider cards in that they give a nice bonus to your boss attacks.  Also similar to the raid events, having danger cards is the key to success in this event.  Try and accumulate as many danger cards as possible through card packs, rally cards, ultimate card packs, and trades.

2.  Squads:

Players are broken up into small teams of six.  These teams are called squads.  You have the option of forming your own squad or you can allow the game to form a squad for you.  I recommend that you form your own squad with trusted alliance members and teammates.  The reason it is important to team up with people that you know is that you want to trade your Danger Deck around with your squad so that everybody has a shot at accumulating maximum co-op points.

3.  Companies:

This is where things get a bit weird.  The game automatically groups you and your squad together with several other squads.  This grouping is called a company.  Your company is the group of players that you will be playing the event with.  All bosses that are summoned are available to attack by all company members. Everyday your company competes with another company for co-op points.  The company with the most points wins, stays together, and gets all sorts of bonuses.  The losing company is broken up and reformed anew the next day.

4.  Bosses:

The co-op event bosses are very similar in appearance to the raid bosses.  They are summoned by playing through event missions and are attacked using the RDS method.  The only difference between these bosses and raid bosses is that you can not share them.  They automatically are shared with your entire company. The higher the level the boss is, the more hit points he has.   The amount of co-op points earned for fighting a boss is split between the members who attacked him.  The only bonus points in this event is given to the "star agent" or the member who hit for the most points.

5.  Danger Bars

Danger bars are the same thing as RDS bars from the raid event.  Danger bars are primarily earned by accumulating a set amount of co-op points.  Danger bars are also available in the iso shard processors.

PART II:

Part II of the guide will be a bullet list of points that I feel are important to maximize co-op points for yourself and your squad:

• Share your Danger Deck with your Squad!  This is the most important factor in this event!
• Only use up your Danger Bars when you have your squads Danger Deck.  
• Pay attention to the hit points of the boss and attack accordingly (you may only need a light attack to finish him off because a member of your company already attacked him).
• Make sure to budget your Danger Bars for each of the 4 days of the event!  

I'll be adding more to the guide as the event progresses and I learn more tips and tricks.

Marvel: War of Heroes - S.H.I.E.L.D. Enforcement Training Event Guide

Marvel: War of Heroes - S.H.I.E.L.D. Enforcement Training Event Guide

My MARVEL: War of Heroes SHIELD Enforcement Training Event Guide is complete.  It can be viewed in it's own page by clicking "Shield Training Event Guide" in the scroll at the top of the home page (or the drop down menu if using mobile device).  The guide can also be viewed by clicking the following link:  MARVEL: War of Heroes - SHIELD Enforcement Training Guide

I will provide updates to the guide during each event.  I encourage all my readers to comment on the actual event page, rather than this page (or old posts), so that I can easily view and respond.

Deck Building: Beginners Guide

Deck Building: Beginners Guide

Building a proper attack and defense deck is one of the fundamental elements of Marvel: War of Heroes.  I see a lot of poorly constructed decks from beginners and veterans alike, and it always makes me cringe to see a powerful card paired with the wrong cards. 

There are 5 things to think about when building your deck.  They are as follows (in random order):

• Deck Center Card
• Card Alignment
• Card Ability 
• Card Faction (Hero or Villain)
• Special Combinations

I'll start out with some basic information that may be helpful.  The center card (or top card) of your deck should be your most powerful card.  The center spot is the only position in your deck that is given an increased chance to proc so you want to start with your best card in the center and build out from there.  I'm going to use my own attack deck as an example:

Photo 1: Rex's Attack Deck

Photo 1 is a screen shot of my attack deck.  I have a Legendary Red Skull placed as my center card.  Next to my center card I have two UR+ Chaos Kings.  My "wing cards" (outer most cards) are two UR+ Carnages.  In the deck edit screen it displays the cards from top to bottom rather than left to right. From top to bottom my cards are listed in the following order; Red Skull, Chaos King, Chaos King, Carnage, Carnage.  I chose my five cards based upon the five deck building items listed above.  I'll explain below how each card effects my deck relative to these items:

Deck Center Card:

As I said above, the only position in my deck where the card you select really matters is the center card.  I put the Legendary Red Skull in the center of my deck because he is my strongest card and I want him to proc as often as possible, and the center card has an increased chance to proc.  The other 4 cards can really be put into your deck in any order.  The game will choose them randomly and they will proc based off of their individual proc rates.  

Card Alignment:

Most proper decks are constructed with five cards of the same alignment.  However, you may have noticed that mine is made up of two alignments.  This is because I do not have any alignment specific boosts, but I'll explain that further below.  For now just know that you have to consider your card(s) alignment when building your deck and that most decks will be constructed of five cards of the same alignment.

Card Ability:

Your card(s) ability is the single most import factor to consider when building your deck.  There are all sorts of abilities.  Examples of abilities are; boosts to self, boosts to all, boosts to single alignment, boosts to single attack alignment, boosts to single defense alignment, boosts to attack faction, degrades to defense, degrades to attack, and degrades to alignment defenses.  That is a lot of information to take in, but if you have been playing the game for a while you should be comfortable with all the terms used.

It is very important to chose your cards based upon their abilities.  A card that boosts all Tactics Defense clashes with any card that is not of the Tactics alignment.  If you are going to use one of these cards you have to make sure that all five cards in your deck are of the Tactics alignment.

My deck does not contain any single alignment boosts.  Therefore, I'm able to have cards of two different alignments.  My Legendary Red Skull and two Carnages degrades the defense of my opponent.  My two Chaos Kings boosts the attack of my "villain" cards.  Since all of my cards are of the villain faction there is no conflict (I'll address card faction in more detail below).  Lets say that I wanted to get rid of one of my Chaos Kings.  Cards that I would want to consider as replacements would have to be of the Villain faction (because I still have a Chaos King that boosts attack of Villains) and either boost attack of all Villains, boost attack of all cards, or degrade opponents defense.  I would not put a Legendary (Friendly Neighbor) Spider Man in my deck because that card boosts attack of all Speed cards in my deck.  The Chaos King (bruiser) conflicts with the Spidey.  Similarly, I wouldn't want to add Legendary Thanos to my deck because he boosts attack of all Bruiser cards in my deck and that would conflict with the three Speed cards that I have.  I can consider adding the new Legendary Magneto though.  This version of Magneto boosts the attack of all cards.

I hope that you understand the logic in the paragraph above.  It really is important that you pair your cards with abilities that do not conflict with each other.

Card Faction:

Your card's faction is either hero, villain, or neutral.  Up until last month a card's faction was used only in special combinations.  With the release of new abilities (boosts to all Heroes and boosts to all Villains) card factions have now become more important.  I built my deck with card faction in mind.  My two Chaos Kings each boost the attack of all my Villain cards.  This is a powerful new boost and it is exciting because it gives me the option to have a proper built mixed alignment deck that isn't made up of all degrade ability cards.  

Special Combinations:

Certain combinations of cards can also give you special abilities.  Therefore, the potential of having a special combination should be considered when building your deck.  You don't necessarily need a special combination to have a strong proper built deck, but every little bit of extra boost counts in battle.  Figure 1 above shows that my deck has a special combo.  Because I have a deck made up of five Villains I qualify for the "Wild Villains" special combo.  This combo gives me a small boost to my attack deck.

The items listed above are the most critical factors to think about when building your decks.  Do yourself a favor and build yourself a proper attack and defense deck.  Also, using the "suggested attack/defense deck" option is a bad idea.  It does not build properly constructed decks.

Finding the Right Alliance for You

Finding the Right Alliance for You

All mmo type games include groups of players that join together as a team.  In Marvel War of Heroes they are called Alliances.  Please don't confuse your "team members" with your Alliance. Team members in WoH are just for trading.  You do nothing else as a group like you do with your Alliance mates.  Finding an Alliance is easy.  However finding the right Alliance can be difficult and will take a little extra effort on your part.  In this post I will tell you how to go about finding an Alliance that is the right fit for you. 

I will break the post up into three player categories; beginners, intermediates, and advanced players.

Beginning Players:

If you are new and just started playing Marvel WoH you should join an Alliance, any Alliance, as soon as possible.  Go about this by simply starting your own, the search for Alliance feature, or just accept a random invite.  The random invite is the easiest way to join an Alliance.  Once you hit level 10 or so you will start getting multiple random invites every hour.  Don't worry about the Alliance's member count or level at this point.  Just get yourself in an Alliance.  The reason that you want to be in an Alliance at this point is that both Raid and Shield Training events give not only individual rewards, but also give Alliance rewards.  These rewards will be a valuable stepping stone to increase your silver, strengthen your decks, and you will learn how the group events work so that you know what you are doing during the next similar event.  Stay in your beginners Alliance until you are comfortable with the game mechanics and know that you want to make a small commitment and continue playing the game.

Intermediate Players:

If you are at the point that you feel that you want to increase the value of the cards in your decks and you have at least one or two group event experiences in, then you are an Intermediate Player. Now is the right time to leave your beginners Alliance and find one that is more organized.  The benefits of being in an organized Alliance are huge.  Your alliance mates should help teach you some of the games more advanced mechanics, may help by giving (or trading) you the right cards to finish your decks, and will help you earn more in-game experience at group events.  All of these items are valuable if you want to make the jump from an intermediate player to an advanced player.

Finding a good Alliance at the intermediate level is probably the most difficult of the three.  You may have lucked out and found the right Alliance when you were a beginner (like I did) and then you don't even have to worry about changing Alliances.  But more likely than not, you will want to leave your beginners Alliance and find a new one.  The way that I suggest you go about this is has two parts:

1. Install an Instant Messaging Application to your Mobile Device:  You will want to install an instant messaging application to your mobile device if you want to get into a good intermediate Alliance.  The Marvel WoH Alliance interface is very bad for communication and good communication is the key to be successful at this game.  I recommend that install "Line" by Line Corporation.  Line is the most popular application used by Alliances in Marvel WoH and will open you up to the entire community.  To install Line just go into the Google Play Store or Apple Store, search "Line", and download it.  Set up a user account after you download and you are ready for the second part.
2. Search Online Gaming Forums for Open Alliance Spots:  Like I said above, communication is the key to be successful at this game, and reading through gaming forums is one way that players communicate with the community.  Alliances primarily do all of their recruiting announcements on these forums.  I recommend that you use Neoseeker as your forum of choice.  It is the most widely used forum in Marvel WoH.  So what you want to do is search through all of the forum postings and find one that is relevant to your alliance search.  More likely than not you will be asked to contact an Alliance officer via Line app. Make sure you like the guy(s) you talk to and then join their Alliance.

You will want to stay in your intermediate Alliance for a while.  At least until you master all the elements of the game and have some experience communicating (and trading) on an instant message application.

Advanced Players:

When you have mastered all in-game elements, have acquired at least a UR+ Attack Deck, learned how to communicate with the community with an instant message application, and you are ready to start competing in events to earn SSR and UR base rewards, then you have become an Advanced Player.  You will also probably feel that the guys in your current Alliance just don't compete at the same level as yourself.  Now is the time to get yourself into an advanced Alliance.

People will probably argue with me about the definition of an Advanced Alliance is, but I feel it's any alliance that has some expectations of their members performance in group events.  There are plenty of Advanced Alliances in Marvel WoH and it shouldn't be hard to find yourself one if you are ready and have the decks and game knowledge to back yourself up. The process you want to use to find one is the same as the Intermediate level.  Search through gaming forums and find yourself an alliance that is competitive.  Expect to have a short interview with Alliance Leaders as well.   Also, at this point you have probably been playing for several months and you may be recruited by a friend or former Alliance mate.  You may also have gotten to know other players in other Alliances through trading networks.  Trading network contacts are a great source to get help get you into an advanced Alliance.

Also remember that this is a game, and games are meant to be fun.  If you're having a blast playing with the guys in your alliance you may just want to stay with them even if they are not up to your level.  Many advanced Alliances (specifically the Top 150 Alliances) have strict rules and require their members to achieve certain milestones in group events.  This may not be fun for everybody. Ultimately, you have to decide which Alliance is right for you.

Silver: Farming, Earning, & Saving

Silver: Farming, Earning & Saving

Vibranium: 10,000 Silver

Lack of silver (or bad silver management) is a constant problem that I see players have in Marvel War of Heroes.  Most new players will come across a lack of silver at least once while leveling their first few decks.  However, I am confident that with a little knowledge and planning that players should never have need for silver.  This guide will cover all things "silver" and will include the uses of silver, ways to earn silver, and tips on how to maximize your silver earning & saving.

1. Use of Silver

In Marvel War of Heroes, silver is primarily used during the card leveling process.  This includes; leveling, fusing, and ability boosting.  Silver is almost never used as a form of in-game currency to purchase cards and items from other players.  The only time that I see silver being used in player to player transactions is when a player is all out of silver and doesn't have time (or knowledge) on how to earn the silver themselves.  That is all you really need to know about the uses of silver in this game.

2. How to Earn Silver

There are several different ways to earn silver.  Some are quick and simple.  While some are more time consuming and annoying.  I will break up this section into multiple methods to earn silver:

• Missions:  Playing through missions is probably the easiest and most basic way to earn silver.  Every time you hit the opponent you will earn some silver.  You also have a chance of pulling some silver out of one of the chests that randomly drop while playing missions.  The amount of silver that you can potentially earn playing missions rises with the level of the mission.  However, playing through the higher level missions isn't necessarily a better way to earn silver.  I'll talk more about this in the "Maximizing Your Silver" section below.

• Selling Cards:  This one is simple.  In the roster menu you are given the option to sell your cards for a set amount of silver.  Each card is worth a set amount of silver depending on it's rarity and attributes.  You can sell any card that you want this way, but I recommend only selling common and non-ability uncommon cards.  Any other card (except Vibranium) should not be sold for silver.  You are better off saving your ability uncommon,  rare, etc. for ability boosting your cards.

• Participate in Events:  This is by far the best way to earn silver.  A lot of silver in fact.  Iso Shards are earned and exchanged in every event for rewards.  A good part of these available rewards are various amounts of silver.  I earn millions and millions of silver every event just by exchanging the Iso Shards.  I can not stress any more that this is the best way to earn massive amounts of silver!

• Trading:  Trading cards and items for silver is not very popular, but some players do trade this way.  I usually see players adding some silver to a trade to sweeten a deal.  Sometimes I see desperate players buying silver with pp.  I don't recommend using your pp to buy silver, but if you really need some to ability boost a new Legendary card the normal exchange rate is 1 pp = 1 million silver.  Note:  This exchange rate is based off of today's market (08/09/2013) and can change at any time. 

3. Maximizing Silver Earnings and Savings

Now that you know all of the uses of silver and how to earn it.  I will share with you some strategy that I use to maximize my silver earnings and savings:

• Boosting Cards:  Boosting new cards correctly is very important in terms of saving silver.  I have already posted a Card Leveling Guide and a Card Boosting Guide that detail how to properly level, fuse, and ability boost cards.  If you are not familiar with these techniques please learn them quickly as they are essential for playing this game correctly.   A quick summary of how this saves you silver is as follows:  It costs more silver to boost a card as it's level is increased.  Boosting cards with the right feeders at the right points will save you a lot of silver in the long run.

• Rally Cards:  A quick way to earn silver is to exchange your rally points for rally cards and sell them.  Sell all of the common and non-ability uncommon cards (keep ability uncommon and higher cards for card ability boosting).  A lot of silver can be earned in a short amount of time using this method.  Experienced players usually have a present list full of unused rally points that were earned during events.  This method may not be very efficient for newer players though.

• Mission 2 Farming Technique:  This is a technique that I used when I was a new player.  It is long and tedious, but effective.  What you want to do is play through Mission 2 (use Mission 2-3 & 2-4 if you also want to save up some ability feeders) until you have collected the maximum amount of cards.  Then sell the cards that you collected.  Repeat this process until you have enough silver for your boost or fusion.  Again, this is not a desired method of earning silver, but it is effective over time.  You earn silver for each enemy attack, through random present drops, and by selling the cards that you have earned.

Marvel: War of Heroes - Raid Event Guide

Marvel: War of Heroes - Raid Event Guide

My MARVEL: War of Heroes Raid Event Guide is complete.  It can be viewed in it's own page by clicking "Raid Event Guide" in the scroll at the top of the home page (or the drop down menu if using mobile device).  The guide can also be viewed by clicking the following link:  MARVEL: War of Heroes - Raid Event Guide

I will provide updates to the guide during each event.  I encourage all my readers to comment on the actual event page, rather than this page (or old posts), so that I can easily view and respond.

Boosting: Beginners Guide

BOOSTING: BEGINNERS GUIDE

One of the questions that I find myself answering again and again is what is the most efficient way to boost a cards level.  Boosting cards in MARVEL War of Heroes is an easy strait forward process, right?  Wrong.  Even though boosting cards is one of the most basic aspects of the game, it is often done improperly.  I have put together this guide to educate rookie players (and some veteran players) on the most efficient way to boost their cards:

FARMING

Farming is a term used in many mmo games for the repetitive action of collecting multiple items.  In WoH players often farm Missions 2-3 and 2-4 for booster cards.  These two missions are used for farming because of the following reasons:  

• Each attack uses up only one energy attribute.
• Both missions reward players with common cards of each alignment.
• Both missions reward players with uncommon cards with special abilities.
• Both missions reward players with resources (Storm's Cape) which can be used for Alliance donations in the place of actual silver.

BOOSTING BASE CARDS

I see a lot of players boosting their cards without having a well thought out "game plan" of how they intend to maximize their cards level, mastery level, and special ability level.  All three of these should be put into consideration while farming for booster cards.  Here is an example of the "game plan" I use when farming for booster cards:

In this example I have two clean Bruiser SR base Colossus cards that I need to properly fuse into one pmm SSR+ card.  Before I start farming for boosters I want to take a few minutes to come up with my "game plan" on how I will achieve pmm status.  The first things that I note are the following:

• Each base card is a bruiser alignment.
• Both cards need to be boosted to maximum level and mastery points before I fuse.
• SR base Colossus has a special ability that when fused I will want to level up.

The first thing I will do is create a "mastery" offense deck containing both SR base Colossus cards.  I will set the priority of this deck to the highest possible.  I will use this deck to attack low defense opponents before, during, and after I farm for booster cards.  Also, since I have set the "mastery deck" at the highest priority I will randomly achieve mastery points while farming for booster cards.

The most efficient way maximize a cards level is to boost cards of the same alignment.  In this case the alignment is Bruiser so I will choose Mission 2-4 to farm for booster cards.  Farming mission 2-4 will give me an assortment of common Speed, common Bruiser, and uncommon Tactic (special ability) cards.  I will do the following with my farmed booster cards:

• I will save and fuse all of the uncommon Tactic cards into Rare+ cards.  I will hold onto the Rare+ cards until later on.
• I will start boosting each SR base Colossus with the common Speed cards, 10 at a time, until I reach card level 10-15 or until I run out of the common Speed cards.
• I will then boost each SR base Colossus with the common Bruiser cards, 10 at a time, until I reach card level 25-30.
• After I reach card level 25-30 I will begin fusing the common Bruiser cards into uncommon+ cards.  I will fuse the uncommon+ Bruiser cards, 10 at a time until the base SR Colossus is fully maxed out.  If I have any extra Iso booster cards I will use them to finish off the last 10 levels of the card to save my silver.

I will continue farming booster cards from mission 2-4 until I have boosted both SR base cards to the maximum level.  Once both base cards are at maximum level and are both at maximum mastery level, I will fuse them into one proper SSR+ Colossus.

BOOSTING FUSED CARDS

I follow the same basic procedure when boosting fused cards with one big exception.  The exception is that I now have to consider raising my card's special ability level.  I will continue using the same example as above: 

At this time I will once again take a few minutes to come up with my "game plan" on how I plan to achieve m/m status.  I will create a new "mastery" deck and include my fused SSR+ Colossus.  I will use this deck to attack low defense opponents before, during, and after I farm for booster cards.

Now that I have a proper SSR+ Colossus, I will want to not only boost it to maximum level, but I will want to try and raise it's special ability level at the same time.  Paying attention to raising the cards ability level while boosting will save me a lot of time and silver.  The most efficient way to boost the cards level and special ability level would be to farm Mission 2-3 for booster cards.  Farming Mission 2-3 will give me an assortment of common Speed, common Tactic, and uncommon Bruiser (special ability) cards.  I will do the following with my farmed booster cards:

• I will save and fuse all of the uncommon Bruiser cards into Rare+ cards.  Note that I still have a bunch of fused Rare+ Tactic cards that I saved from earlier.
• I will start boosting the SSR+ Colossus with the common Speed and Tactic cards, 10 at a time, until I reach card level 15-20 or until I run out of the common Speed and Tactic cards.
• I will then boost the SSR+ Colossus with the fused Rare+ Tactic cards, 10 at a time, that I had saved from farming Mission 2-4.  Each time I boost using a Rare+ card with special abilities I have a chance of having the SSR+ Colossus's ability level raised.  I recommend doing this now because it will save me a lot of time and silver.
• I will then boost the SSR+ Colossus with the fused Rare+ Bruiser cards, 10 at a time, that I had saved from farming Mission 2-3.  Again, doing this now will increase the chance of raising the card's ability level.  I will continue to boost with fused Rare+ Bruiser cards, 10 at a time, until the card has reached it's maximum level.  I do not recommend using Iso booster cards this time because you want to maximize your chances of raising the card's ability level, even if it means spending some extra silver to boost 10 Rare+ at a time to finish off the card.

Assuming that you achieved maxed mastery points and also performed 4 or 5 boosts of 10 Rare+ ability cards you should now have a Proper m/m SSR+ Colossus with an ability level of 2, 3 or maybe even 4. 

Using the method in the example above to boost your cards is the most efficient way to achieve proper m/m on any rarity card.  This method also uses the least amount of total silver and should (depending on the card rarity) give you a few ability level raises as well.  It should also be noted that you can substitute any of the Rare+ booster cards with any higher rarity card (fused or unfused) to increase the percent chance of raising your card's ability level.  I have included a link to to Lopezandym's Ability Leveling % Table in the Marvel WoH links section of the blog.  The table is handy tool to use to help you determine the percent chance you will have at raising your card's ability level.

Card Leveling, Mastering, & Fusion: Beginners Guide

Card Leveling, Mastering, & Fusion: Beginners Guide

A common element found in many mmo games is leveling your items to the point of maximum potential.  This element is present in Marvel WoH through card leveling, mastering, and fusion.  The process is fairly simple, but knowing when to and when not to maximize a card can be puzzling to a new player.  The following guide will walk players through the card leveling process, explain commonly used terms and phrases, and provide specific examples of when maximizing a card is necessary and when it is not:

Maximizing a Card's Level

Every card has a level that can be increased by boosting the card with feeder cards.  The card's attack and defense points will increase each time the card's level increases.  The higher the rarity of the card, the higher the maximum card level will be.  As you play through the game's missions you will begin to accumulate low rarity (common & uncommon) cards.  These cards are primarily used as feeder cards to boost the card level of your higher rarity (rare and up) cards.  It is not necessary to boost common and uncommon cards.

  

Maximizing a Card's Mastery

Every card has a mastery level.  A card is considered mastered when all of the card's mastery points have been accumulated.  Similar to card level, the maximum mastery points of a card increase as card rarity increases.  Unlike card levels, mastery points do not effect the card's attack and defense points in any way, until the card has been fully mastered.  Mastering a card is a big deal and the game provides a little celebratory animation when this is achieved.  Upon achieving card mastery, the card's attack and defense points will raise significantly.  There are several methods used to increase a card's mastery points.  The easiest is by creating a Mastery Deck in the Offense Deck list.  Include the card(s) that you wish to master in this deck and set the deck to the top priority level.  As you play through the game's missions your card(s) in this deck will randomly begin to accumulate mastery points.  It also helps to assign the card that you are mastering as your primary card.  The quicker way to accumulate mastery points is to battle other players using your Mastery Deck.  After each victory you will receive 1-5 mastery points for each card in your deck, depending upon your opponents level.  The higher the difference in level that your opponent is over you, the more mastery points you will receive upon victory.

When a card has been boosted to it's maximum card level and also has been fully mastered, it has reached it's full attack and defense potential.  A super rare Iron-Man that has been fully maxed and mastered is known simply as mm SR Iron-Man.

Fusion

In Marvel WoH two identical cards of the same rarity can be fused together to make a single + rarity card.  For example, two Uncommon Wolverine base cards can be fused together to make a Rare + Wolverine.  In general, a + rarity card has higher attack and defense point totals than a base card of the same rarity.  All fused cards use the + rarity label except for cards of Legendary rarity.  Legendary cards are simply known as Legendary.  A fused card will also need to be maximized and mastered to reach it's full potential.

Proper Fusion

A fused card is labeled "Proper" when both of it's base cards were maximized in level and mastery points before fusion.  If the fused card's base cards were not maximized and mastered before fusion it is known as an "Improper".   For example, after two base mm SR Hulk cards are fused together the resulting card is now called a proper SSR+ Hulk.  Once the proper SSR+ Hulk is maximized in level and mastery points it is called proper mm SSR+ Hulk, or pmm SSR+ Hulk.  A pmm SSR+ Hulk is superior in stats to an improper mm SSR+ Hulk.  This is always the case.

When to Practice Proper Fusing

Any fused card that you plan on using in your offense or defense deck should be fused properly.  An improperly fused card could still be useful to you, but it's value on the trade market will be significantly lower than it's proper counterpart.  Additionally, proper fusion should be practiced on cards that have event specific enhancements (Raider Cards, Assault Cards, etc.).  These cards usually will have value on the trade market after before, during, and after the event and improperly fused cards are almost worthless.

Always practice proper fusing when fusing two base SR rarity cards or higher together.  A pmm SSR+ card is always useful in your decks and also has a value on the trade market.

I personally recommend proper fusing when fusing two base Rare rarity cards as well.  Even though SR+ cards don't have any value on the trade market, I find them useful to have when creating custom decks for use in various events.

When Not to Practice Proper Fusing

This is a heavily debated subject.  Proper fusing is time consuming and costly in silver, but the benefits of having a proper card far outweigh the benefits of having an improper card.  I personally practice proper fusing on all cards of base Rare rarity and up.  I only fuse cards improperly when I fuse feeder cards together to use for boosting.  SR+ cards don't have much value on the trade market so I would so it is also okay to fuse two base Rare cards improperly if you don't want to spend the resources doing it properly. 

If you have two base Rare rarity event cards and don't want to properly fuse, that is fine.  SR+ cards don't really have any value on the trade market and you can use them as feeders after the event.

If you are a new player and are creating your first deck don't worry about proper fusion unless you are planning on fusing two base SR rarity cards or higher. 

      

Cards, Decks, & Alignments: Beginners Guide

Cards, Decks, & Alignments: Beginners Guide

Marvel War of Heroes is a trading card collecting game that is played via the internet.  Players earn, buy, sell, trade, and collect "virtual" trading cards that all originate in-game.  There are hundreds of cards available to collect.  Each card is unique and can be categorized in multiple ways.  This post will cover some of the basic terms associated with cards.:

Alignment

There are three unique alignments in Marvel WoH.  They are Tactics, Speed, and Bruiser.  Every card is assigned to one specific alignment which will never change.

Rarity

Every card has a specific rarity.  The rarity of a card often determines it's value.  A card's value increases as it's rarity increases.  There are seven different levels of rarity in Marvel WoH.  They are, in increasing order; Common, Uncommon (UC), Rare (R), Super Rare (SR), Super Special Rare (SSR), Ultimate Rare (UR), and Legendary (Leg).  It is very important to learn the card rarity levels in order.

Attack & Defense

Each card has it's own Attack (ATK) and Defense (DEF) points.  ATK points are used when you attack another player.  DEF points are used when another player attacks you.  

Ability

Some cards have special abilities.  These abilities are used when attacking other players or when you are defending another players attack.  Abilities usually enhance your card(s) ATK points or DEF points.  Some abilities degrade your opponents ATK points or DEF points.

Decks

A deck is the term used for a grouping of cards.  A deck consists of one to five cards.  The game will create for you both an offensive and defensive deck (Suggested Decks) based on the cards you have available in your roster.  However, you will want to create your own decks as soon as possible because the suggested decks are usually not the best decks that are available for you to form.  

Intro to Guide

I have been playing Marvel War of Heroes on my Android smart phone for just over three months now.  In that time I have transformed my self from an ignorant beginner to a well respected Alliance Officer.  I'm starting this blog to share my wealth of knowledge of the game.  I want to make this blog a point of reference for beginners and experts alike.  Coming soon:  Beginners Guide, Basic Strategy, Points of Reference, and much more.