Marvel Rivals season 1 is starting this Friday, and it's a big one, offering "double the playable content of a regular season." In a new video with creative director Guangyun "Guangguang" Chen and lead combat designer Zhiyong, the pair share everything we can look forward to in the hero shooter's first proper season.
First off, yes, there are buffs and nerfs, but don't worry, there's no role queue coming. "Ranged duelists [are] dominating lineups," says Zhiyong, so the team is "slightly toning down the prowess" of Hela and Hawkeye while also buffing Captain America, Venom, Wolverine, Storm, and Cloak & Dagger.
Also, "The detection range for Jeff the Land Shark's ultimate ability will be fine-tuned to better align with early warning signals." I'll miss the videos of the cute little shark dragging entire teams off the map.
As for maps, there are three new ones on the way, but it seems just two will arrive in the first half of the season, which should last six or seven weeks.
These are Sanctum Santorum and Midtown: New York. Each features new combat mechanics. The Sanctum has "omnipresent portals to unveil unique strategies," explains Zhiyong, and Midtown has a "form of destruction unique to the Empire of Eternal Night, recursive destruction that lets you turn back the clock, reshape the environment, and create new opportunities for victory." The Empire of Eternal Night are the vampiric legions of Dracula, who appears to be the big bad for the season.