I told myself I would get through the huge backlog over the Christmas holidays. That's a lie. While I did complete a few short video games, the majority of my gaming time was spent on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Diablo 4, and Marvel Rivals. All three games are rife with traditional microtransactions, but only NetEase Games' hero shooter doesn't feel like a chore.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the battle pass. I think they're a great alternative to gambling on loot boxes and being tempted by overpriced premium skins, which is a thing in most online games with passes. If you play online regularly and care about looks, the battle pass is valuable and helps pay for the development of actual playable content for everyone. However, their traditional implementation could be better, and a key issue with this model is the fear of missing out (FOMO). Marvel Rivals quickly addressed the issue of passes not expiring, but what about the average time to complete a pass?
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After completely breaking away from Overwatch, Marvel Rivals feels like a winner in the same field so far. It looks gorgeous, exudes charm, is always fun to play, and runs very well. Now, I've also come to realize that this is one of those rare live-service games that doesn't feel like a second job if you want to complete its premium seasonal tracks and free events.
At first, I was very concerned (and I'm still a little annoyed) about the game's approach to battle pass progression from a “daily/weekly challenges” perspective. For a game that prides itself on letting players embody their favorite heroes and villains across Marvel's impressively rich multiverse, forcing us to spend considerable time performing certain missions and playstyles just to get The points required to progress on passes and events, this is unreasonable. t ideal. It's helped me spend more time with characters that I hadn't really focused on before, but that I wanted the opportunity to progress through playing.
However, I was quite surprised at how quickly I progressed through the (admittedly half-long) S0 level. In just an hour or so of training, the points I can earn each day are pretty generous, although it doesn't seem like much at the moment. Less than 15 hours later I had completely completed the pass. That would put the completion time for the regular pass of Season 1 at around 30 hours, which does feel pretty painless if the folks at NetEase stick to the planned three months.
As someone who frequently switches between vastly different games (and not just because of work), I've given up on the idea of completing a battle pass for a game other than MTG Arena (an addiction I'm currently over) or for other games. Another card game that can be played in small batches. The time investment seems too high and not suitable for functioning adults. On the other hand, the developers and publishers of Marvel Rivals seem to be fully aware of this problem. Of course, this may lead to significantly lower engagement in terms of average total time, but it may help solve the recurring problem of players gradually burning out. After completing level S0, I continued playing and couldn’t wait to reach S1 as soon as possible.
The Jeff-centric Christmas event was another surprise. Even without trying, it only took me a few hours to get the “gold stars” I needed to get through this slender track, finally giving our favorite land shark a cool winter skin. I'm well aware that this could change in the future if NetEase and Marvel want to squeeze players even harder, but right now, Marvel Rivals feels like early Overwatch 1 in every way.
Another by-product of first time passes and events not overwhelming me is that I've been enjoying the game enough to keep playing competitively. It's proven that allowing players to take a breather and play more “for fun” often leads to healthier, more curious habits. shock!
In an age where live-service games come and go and a handful of whales control too much space in the crowded online games market, we desperately need more player-friendly approaches like Marvel Rivals. It's not perfect by any means, and there's room for improvement and failure as the game gets bigger and gets into its groove, but as it stands, Marvel Rivals has more going for it than just brand appeal . I'm almost 33 now and I don't want to be pushed out of the online gaming space due to a business-first approach.
Hell, NetEase and Marvel might continue to hit home runs with this blockbuster, and I might end up paying for a premium skin that's already disgusting enough. Sorry, but while the back of Sue Storm's Mistress of Hate skin looks great, I'm the kind of nerd who's looking for a Legends comic-style look.
