It’s safe to assume that Marvel Rivals makes bank from its microtransactions. Its hero costumes put other games to shame, with incredible designs and even unique effects to go along with them, most of the time. Season 2 added a handful of colour palettes for select skins, while Season 3 brings charms and custom ultimate ability visuals. These new features are exactly what I want. I love getting to customise my characters in as many ways as possible. What I don’t love is just how unrewarding it can all feel.
Ever since its launch, Rivals has had a big problem with rewarding players for their time and effort. Outside of in-game events, which generally do give you a great free skin, the only items you actually earn are the Marvel Rivals ranked skins, Lord icons, and the new accessories. These are boring. The skins are bland, default-costume recolours that I don’t see anyone using over their default costume, let alone any premium outfits. Frankly, it’s not much of a reward at all.
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The new accessories system is a very welcome addition, but it falls into a similar trap. You can equip an accessory on the back of the specific character they’re for—not on your weapon like most other games—and they’ll also give you a unique animation next to your KO prompt during a match. The best news is that you can earn accessories for free by playing matches, not by pulling out your wallet. I’m not going to say that’s not a good thing, but I’m a bit let down by the fact that all you need to do is grind Accessory Points each week. It’s a reward, sure, but it’s not very fulfilling.
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This plays into a much larger gripe I have with Marvel Rivals. Coming from someone who’s played it almost every day since launch, it’s frustrating to see NetEase focusing so intensely on churning out new content, prioritising heaps of pricey fits, squeezing in movie collabs, and, of course, now a new hero every month.
Lord profile icons are cool and all, but a top-tier skin, earnable for truly mastering each character, would go a long way in making levelling up heroes more satisfying.
This constant stream of new toys is fun, but it also feels like a distraction, a roadblock to a more curated and perfected experience. If I had to choose between a new hero each month or a new hero every three months, I’d pick the latter in the hope of giving more time for tighter balancing and improving the game’s core systems, like progression.
Long have I dreamed about Marvel Rivals expanding the hero proficiency system to include costumes for completing specific challenges. Think of the Cute and Pixels sprays you can unlock in Overwatch, which have unique tasks for each hero. Love it or hate it, Call of Duty also excels at this, from great Prestige rewards to the Mastery Camo chase. Lord profile icons are cool and all, but a top-tier skin, earnable for truly mastering each character, would go a long way in making levelling up heroes more satisfying.
With the addition of charms and custom effects for ultimates, NetEase has the perfect, bite-sized (but cool) rewards to turn things around if it’s still hesitant to give us some fully-fledged skins to earn.
I’d love to be able to earn a one-of-a-kind charm or even a new ultimate animation for scoring a triple roundhouse kill as Emma Frost, using Phoenix’s abilities to blow up an entire team with chain reactions, and so on. Plus, it would also be a much better way to show off your skills with a certain hero than a Lord icon, which, let’s face it, just means you’ve played a lot—which, coincidentally, is also how the new accessories work.
After nearly eight months of hoping for a more rewarding experience across the board, maybe I’m fighting a losing war and just scrambling for alternatives to splashing the cash every time something shiny catches my eye—oh look, a cool new Moon Knight skin *grabs wallet*.
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