Hello and welcome back to Burning Questions where we look at what's burning up the Snap community each week. This week we're talking about maximizing your rewards, potential upcoming characters, the launch of Leagues, and Kate's Arrows!
1) I can't keep up with all of the tasks I have to do to get maximum rewards! How can I get everything?
Between Deadpool's Diner, Alliances, and Leagues, Marvel Snap just got a whole lot busier. We've also seen a change from 50 free credits in the shop every 24 hours to 25 free credits every 8 hours. This requires you to login multiple times a day. I think we've finally hit a breaking point where the target for most players shouldn't be to get 100% of everything every season. I know it will be hard to internalize, since the economy of this game can be so anxiety-inducing, but missing out on a few credits here or there isn't going to make or break your ability to progress, while it may break your ability to engage with the game in a healthy way. Here are some tips about what I think it is most vital to focus on in this new environment.
- Remember, cosmetic rewards are not required to play or enjoy the game. Missing out on avatars or titles in the Conquest shop, an emote or mystery variant from Alliances, or even the infinite card back will not affect your ability to play.
- Focus on at least earning the 500 gold for reaching rank 90. Anything above that is just for bragging rights.
- Try to get max credits from the alliance rewards. If your team doesn't get to the free variant because you're in a smaller Alliance or for any other reason, don't sweat it.
- Think of Leagues as extra. Engage with them if you like, but be perfectly happy falling into “boosters” tier otherwise.
- Try to at least finish the season pass at level 50. Anything beyond that is helpful, but don't feel pressure to grind too far beyond that if it's not happening naturally.
- Try to aim to get the variant in Conquest mode. Only buy the other cosmetic items you feel like you'll actually use. Grab the currencies first.
- You don't actually have to login 3x daily to get all of the credits. Logging in once just before a reset will let you grab them twice in one play session. Don't let the credits or gold pass psychologically pressure you into logging in more than you actually want to.
Having so much to do in Snap these days is a good thing. Allow the extras to enhance the game—don’t let the grind lead to burnout.
2) What characters do you think are being saved for later release?
Personally, I'd love to get cards for Monet St. Croix, Boomerang, and Rachel Summers. I don't think these characters are popular enough that they're sure things. Hope Summers, Gwenpool, and Kate Bishop are examples of characters that are popular enough that they could easily have been added to the game earlier, but Second Dinner has said they like to hold back some recognizable/popular cards for later seasons. Other examples of characters coming surprisingly late are Kitty Pryde and War Machine. While the developers have shown they're not shy about adding pretty obscure characters to the game, what remaining characters could they be intentionally holding back to anchor a season? Here are a few characters that I would be shocked if Second Dinner didn't already have plans for.
Dormammu
[Art by Richard Gillis]
Dormammu is one of the biggest villains that hasn't been added to the game and also hasn't been datamined. Other prominent villains like Bullseye, Mephisto, and Toad have previously been found in the data files, but we've had no whispers of Doctor Strange’s primary antagonist.
Captain Britain
[Art by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson]
Whether we're getting a classic Brian Braddock version or a modern Betsy Braddock, I feel pretty confident we'll get one eventually. I'm guessing (and hoping) it's already set to be Betsy since all of the variants we currently have for Psylocke are Kwannon.
Kid Omega
[Art by Nick Bradshaw]
Quentin Quire, like Cassandra Nova, is from Grant Morrison’s seminal run on New X-Men. He's maintained a constant presence in the comics since then that has expanded beyond the X-Men with appearances in the West Coast Avengers and X-Force. Maybe he'll come out in a season with a Glob Herman card?
Longshot
[Art by Arthur Adams]
We already have Mojo, so it's surprising we haven't gotten Longshot yet. The ultimate 80s X-Man, Longshot having the same ability as Domino may make him tricky to design, but I'm sure Second Dinner has an inventive idea. Spiral and Shatterstar could join the season.
Wonder Man
[Art by Al Milgrom]
Wonder Man is a long-standing Avenger and he's slated to get his own Disney+ show. It's only a matter of time until the muscle bound Avenger joins Snap. I'm thinking a big 5-Cost that grows.
Banshee / Siryn
[Art by Nick Roche and Chris O’Halloran]
Banshee is one of the longest running mutants that hasn't been added to the game yet. It would be interesting to see his sonic scream ability interpreted to Marvel Snap. Maybe it could be a Hazmat-style affliction for one lane or a modifier scrubber a la Shadow King. However, I wouldn't be surprised if his daughter, Theresa Rourke, made it into the game first—she’s a great character with a rich publication history of her own. Maybe she could be included in a classic X-Force season with Shatterstar, Feral, and, a personal favorite of mine, Tabitha Smith a.k.a. Boom-Boom.
Peggy Carter
[Art by Jamie McKelvie]
After we finally got War Machine, Peggy Carter became the most important MCU character that doesn't have her own Snap card. The design team has already drawn heavily from the Disney+ What if…? series. Peggy has recurring appearances as Captain Carter in that series, so it feels most likely that's the version of the character we get in Snap.
Fantastic Four villains
[Art by John Byrne]
Last, there are so many classic Fantastic Four villains that are conspicuously absent from Marvel Snap that I figured I'd give them their own category. Surely the team is already working on cards for Mole Man, Molecule Man, Puppet Master, and Wizard, right? And I'd love an Impossible Man card with a silly ability too! And where is my Paste-Pot Pete card already?
3) Why are the rewards for Leagues and Alliances so low?
I actually think the rewards being low is a saving grace here. The extra credits and variant from Alliances is not huge, but it's noticeable and welcome. I wouldn't want the rewards to be so strong that those players that don't have an Alliance, or want to be in an Alliance with less dedicated players would feel left out. That could lead to a great deal of resentment. Leagues, on the other hand, are quite disappointing. Being launched on a random weekday, when a lot of people are at work, is puzzling and they're not especially dynamic or engaging. Win trading in proving grounds spoils their integrity and favors plugged in members of the community and those who can devote the most hours of play time. Thank goodness the rewards are paltry enough that I can safely just ignore their presence in the background. Giving an exclusive, sought after emote is going to cause some negative sentiment, but, at the end of the day it's an unnecessary cosmetic. Having the reward for so many of the bottom ranks as just a handful of boosters is unfortunate. You’d think they could at least make it 25 credits or something.
Now let's jump over to the official Marvel Snap discord and see what's happening in the ask-the-team channel.
4) Q: Kate's Arrows
What were some of the other arrows that didn't make the cut... have to say the acid arrow comes in clutch
A: I can't remember them all; I think 6 was the most we ever had written down. I know one we cut was a Plunger.
-Glenn
Plunger made it the furthest of the cuts, here's some more:
- Data Arrow
- Net Arrow
- Drone Arrow
- Web Arrow
- Smoke Arrow
- Taser Arrow
-Rada
Author's note:
So far I'm really liking Kate and her arrows. Acid arrow has been my favorite so far and it's been very strong.
I wonder what some of the above arrows did? Plunger Arrow feels similar to Grapple Arrow as a move enabler of some sort. Smoke arrow seems the most intriguing if it had a similar effect to Supergiant. I'd play the heck out of that. I would hope Web Arrow wasn't like Spider-Man's pre-rework ability—that should never make it beyond brainstorming. It's fun to see the process that went into this creative design.
Q: Kate Bishop is a really cool card and i’m not saying that she needs it, but is there any possibility that more arrows are added to her pool to generate as a sort of balance or adjustment or something like that?
A: Possible, but not for quite a while. I doubt we’d do this for balance explicitly, more likely as a fun feature if we wanted to refresh the card way down the road.
-Glenn
Author's note:
While I wouldn't want this to happen soon—it would be extremely disruptive to the odds behind each arrow—this would be an awesome way to freshen up the card in a year or so. Hey, maybe we could even swap a couple of Nico's spells too! I think both cards are pretty close to perfect as they are, but this seems like too much fun not to do it a lot further down the road.
That's it for this week! Hit me up on Twitter if you have a Burning Question and join in on the conversation in the comments! Pitch your own arrow idea!