Marvel Avengers Alliance: Hero Changes! Patch Notes - 7/05/2013

In a bit of poor timing, Playdom recently patched Marvel Avengers Alliance with some hero changes... about a week before the PVP Season is slated to finish.

Here're the highlights:

The changes effect some high-usage heroes like Rescue, Magneto, and Thor.

Specifically, Thor and Phoenix get a buff in that their respective group buffs are now quick actions that really wasn't needed (say hello to "Inspire Bravery" and "Thunder" in one go).

Magneto and Rescue on the other hand got hit with the nerf bat. Magneto's shield now has a duration and he does slightly less damage on his main attack. Rescue now only has a chance to remove buffs (70%) on each hero's turn and got an all around nerf on Reconstruction Matrix (it doesn't remove DoTs and heals/shields for less).

Also the Warbringer Axe is now better and worse (but mostly better), the buff now applies after the very first action rather than on the Agents turn (which means an attack buff straight away), but goes away once the Agent is defeated.

Here's the full patch notes:

Hero Changes:

• Rescue
  • Reconstruction Matrix now always applies to all party members
  • Reconstruction Matrix no longer removes damage over time effects
  • Reduce amount of shield/heal on Reconstruction Matrix slightly
  • Magnetic Attraction no longer applies Magnetized on attacks she can’t protect against
  • Panacea Response now 70% chance each round
• Magneto
  • Slightly reduce the damage of Electromagnetic Blast
  • Magnetic Field has a duration, but will not give an extra turn if it expires by duration
• Beast
  • The Sun Also Rises
    • Increased chance of spawning Strengthened, Fortified, Focused, or Agile
  • Epiphany
    • Tagged as a buff
• Cyclops
  • Now correctly grants Morale Boost to characters that are attacked
  • PVP AI now better makes use of all of his abilities
• Thor
  • Inspire Bravery is a Quick Action w/ cooldown
• Sif
  • Inspire Courage is a Quick Action w/ cooldown
• Phoenix
  • Mind Link a Quick Action w/ cooldown
• Hulk
  • Gain 1 stack of Hulk Up every turn
  • World War Hulk applies the Warbound buff before the first action
  • World War Hulk gets his own buff
  • World War Hulk buff removed when Hulk dies
• Union Jack
  • Remove tooltip bloat (can’t counter subtle, etc.)
• Wonder Man
  • Molecular Reconstruction does not trigger incorrectly when a character counter-attacks or follow-up attacks
  • Now performs Hollywood Hammer when a Distress Call is used

Agent Gear and Items

• Warbringer Axe
  • Agent applies the Warbound buff before the first action
  • Now adamantium instead of ignore defense
  • Buff is now removed when the Agent dies
• Kuzuri
  • Now adamantium instead of ignore defense
• Shepherd’s Staff
  • Level increased by 5
  • Now correctly displays Customized in the tooltip
  • Party buff is now removed if the agent dies
• Grief
  • Now has Exploit Attrition
• Magnetic Field Generator
  • Magnetic Field has a duration, but will not give an extra turn if it expires by duration
• Neurotrope
  • The Sun Also Rises
    • Increased chance of spawning Strengthened, Fortified, Focused, or Agile
  • Epiphany
    • Tagged as a buff
• Reboot
  • Firing Solution now lasts 2 rounds
• Reactive Flourishing Iso-8 now provides Stamina
• Several Spec Op 10 weapons now correctly calculate their damage based on the weapon’s level
  • Devolver
  • Demon Talon
  • Bleak Harvest
  • Adhesive X Launcher
  • Multishot Injector
  • Ionic Hammer
  • Ionic Sledge
  • Ionic Blaster
  • Ionic Cannon

General Changes

• Lead the Charge
  • The extra turns and stun can no longer be removed
  • The extra turns correctly grant Exhaustion
  • Will not grant extra turns to characters with Exhausted
  • Extra turns will now appear at the start of the next round. This may appear strange as the start of the round is not clearly visible, but the end result is that characters should get two turns back-to-back and appear as such in the timeline, similar to the way Quicksilver and Omega Sentinel do
• Blessing
  • Now correctly increases the healing from healing over time effects
• Combo Setup
  • Now correctly increases the damage of Paragon Exploiter
• Many statuses that add properties to attacks will now be reflected in the action tooltips:
  • Scrappers with Close Quarters Combat now display Truestrike
  • Blasters with Focused Attacks now display Ignore Defense
  • Infiltrators with Combat Reflexes now display Stealthy
  • Gray Suit Black Widow now displays Stealthy
  • Dr. Strange with Power of the Principalities now displays Quick Action
  • Gambit now displays Quick Action on
  • Hank Pym’s Conjecture now displays True Strike
  • Hank Pym’s Theory now displays Ignore Defense
  • Swashbuckler Nightcrawler now displays Hemorrhaging Attack on Ambush
  • Omega Sentinel’s Selene Protocol now displays Exploits Protection and Exploits Shields
  • Phoenix Five Phoenix’s Fires of Truth now displays Psychic Energy Attack
  • Red Hulk’s He’s On Fire now displays Combustible and Fire as an attack property
  • Rogue with Blaster Power now displays Ignore Defense
  • Black Suit Spider-Man now displays Exploits Webs
  • Storm’s Elemental Mastery now adds Exploits Chilled and Charged Attack
  • Grief now displays Exploits Attrition if the Agent has Burning
  • Oracle and Encephalizer now displays True Strike and Guaranteed Hit if the Agent has Firing Solution
  • Stark Resilient will now display Paragon Exploiter if the Ram’s Horn is equipped
  • Agents wearing the Scrapper’s Power Armor with Precise Strikes now display Ignore Defense
  • Agents wearing the Tactician’s Power Armor with Optic-Camo now display True Strike and Stealthy

Bug Fixes:

• We fixed an issue that caused a combat validation error when users used a distress call, and an agent was called to help who was holding a dynamic weapon