Although only part way through its first season, it has been so far so good forMarvel Rivals, keeping a decent number of the players it originally launched with. NetEase has made sure that the landscape ofRivalsconstantly changes to keep things fresh, adding heroes every 45 days (half a season) and providing frequent balance patches to ensure things don’t get out of hand. Skins are also frequent, with events giving players the opportunity to earn specific skins, while the reasonably generous battle pass structure allows players to earn plenty of cosmetics even after the season ends.
The development team behindMarvel Rivalsappears to be quite transparent in its philosophies and seems to have its ear to the ground when it comes to listening to fans. Although it may have been a mistake in hindsight,NetEase decided to remove its original mid-season rank reset at the behest of fans.Marvel Rivalsalso allows players to convert Chrono Tokens into the blue coin Units, which are more useful in purchasing specific skins in the store, allowing those who buy the battle pass and play the game frequently to more easily afford skins.
Marvel Rivals' Balancing Isn’t Based Around Competition
NetEase’s Philosophy Is Based Around Fun
With how often NetEase listens to theMarvel Rivalsplayers, it would be easy to fall into the trap of listening to the most vocal, rather than the majority. And this is what makes balancing an online game around its competitive scene so difficult. Still, this appareently isn’t something that bothers NetEase.
According to executive producer Danny Koo in an interview withPC Gamer,“every character we balance for fun, first and foremost.“But competitive isn’t entirely forgotten, since they still make"sure that no one character is too painful and oppressive so that everybody’s still having fun.”
Although NetEase’s transparency is refreshing, it also has a problem with leaks, with over a dozenleaked for Season 2 and beyond.
This isn’t a surprise when playing the game, considering how chaotic it can be, yet this is what makes the game so fun at every level.Koo acknowledges that the point of the game is to be fun, with competitive play being an additional side venture to keep dedicated players hooked, stating that"people just want to have fun at the end of the day"andMarvel Rivalsis"built to be more acceptable for casual play.“It’s a good philosophy to have if appealing to as many people for as long as possible is the goal.
While fun is first and foremost,NetEase still uses data on win-ratesto inform its decision, although Koo admits that this is secondary. Although competitive and casual co-exist in the game, they do feel very different,with competitive players trying to have something beyond fun and"to show off their mastery”, as Koo put it. He also states that"the majority of the players will not play competitive anyway”, which is probably accurate if casual players have had a look at the competitive community and realized how it might not be the best environment for everyone to foster fun.
Balancing For Fun Appeals To More People
Balancing For Competitive Is An Uphill Battle
Most people play the game casually, and even those who play competitively don’t do so at a particularly high level. Withrank inflation being an issuein Season 1, the level of play throughoutRivalsuntil Celestial isn’t too high, and very few people are in Celestial or above (a considerable number of players are getting stuck in Grandmaster). Withmany players not bothering with competitive and even fewer playing at a high level, it makes sense to balance the game for fun and casual play to appeal to more people, keeping things simpler.
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Although only a few playMarvel Rivalsat its highest level,there is a big difference between the inflated Diamond and Grandmaster and Silver and Bronze. Although Diamond and Grandmaster aren’t the level they probably should be, different characters are stronger at this level compared to Bronze and Silver. Take Spider-Man, who has a high skill floor, so those in Bronze struggle to play him while he is the menace J. Jonah Jameson says he is in Diamond and above. Scarlet Witch is the opposite. Her auto aim and simple kit are deadly in Bronze but lack damage in Diamond.
Scarlet Witch’s ult can be used in conjunction with Doctor Strange’s portal to hide the sound of its activation, making it easy to get it off before being shot down.
If NetEase chooses to balance for competitive play, it becomes tricky to choose what level to balance the game at. It could nerf the likes of Spider-Man, which would have a massive impact on higher-level players but probably wouldn’t change much lower down, for example.There’s too large a discrepancy between players in the lower ranks and those in the higher ranks, so balancing the game for the majority (the casual player base) makes more sense. Competitive players can always adapt and the bans at higher ranks to deal with characters that are a little overtuned near the top.
Rivals Is Learning From Overwatch’s Balancing Issues
NetEase Doesn’t Seem That Bothered About ESports
Marvel Rivalshas been compared toOverwatchconstantly, with some callingRivalsOW2’s usurper in the hero shooter genre. Still, the balancing philosophies are completely different. While both games were built with fun in mind, hence whyOverwatchwas so good in its first year, Blizzard wanted an esports game likeLeague of Legends. It originally made and pushedHeroes of the Stormfor this, and after that had failed,it began pushingOverwatch’s ESports scene hard, resulting in outrageous funding for the Overwatch League and balancing the game for esports.
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Marvel Rivals’ chaotic firefights often hinge on your selected team composition, and certain dive comps can dominate any opponent lineup.
The problem with balancing a game for ESports is that this level is beyond even the high ranks of the game and ignores 99.9% of players. Most want to have a couple of quick, fun games after a long day at work or school, butwhen the game is balanced around the very best, who are the most likely to adapt to the game, it becomes less about funand more about competition. It alienates the majority of players and when paired with blunders, like the GOATS metaforcing role queue, the casual playerbase gets tougher to maintain.
It seems that NetEase has learned from Blizzard’s mistakes, withMarvel Rivalsmaintaining the original philosophy based around fun and casual play thatOverwatchhad in its first year. Of course, if an ESports scene ends up thriving, NetEase could push to balance with a competitive focus, but with Koo saying that this isn’t the current focus, this seems unlikely for its future.OverwatchprovidesRivalswith a template for what to do and what to avoid, which is quite ironic considering that the two titles are meant to be fierce competitors.
