Marvel Rivals plan to reset ranks mid-season hastily abandoned in the face of player revolt

rockpapershotgun.com:

Comicbook mulchfest Marvel Rivals once planned to reset player ranks twice per season, but these recently-hatched plots are no more, for the gamers have descended upon NetEase like rogue Iron Man suits, and the developers have acquiesced to their verbal kicks and punches.

Yesterday, NetEase announced that they would reset player ranks on 21st February to inaugurate the second half of the hero shooter's first season. The idea was to "shake up the battlefield" alongside the arrival of new characters The Thing and Human Torch plus some "major balance adjustments". Specifically, players were told to expect a rank drop of four divisions, in order that they might rank-up afresh to unlock new rewards such as costumes and crests.

"After careful observations and consideration, we have concluded that players' ranks during the first half of Season 1 are the best indicator of their competitive skills within the season," the devs wrote. "So, we will be introducing additional rank reset to better align with the upcoming content and changes!"

That jovial exclamation mark was a provocation too far. Like wrathful yet relatively articulate Hulks, the players took to their keyboards and filled social media and Reddit with their outrage. I don't truck much with Marvel Rivals at the minute but I can understand the complaints: imposing rank resets at this frequency forces players to pump in more time to earn the game's digital trinkets. It feels like a cheap and dirty way of driving up Engagement, the worst Marvel supervillain of all.

NetEase have heard the cries of the faithful, and are rolling back the changes. "After the release of Dev Talk 10 regarding the seasonal rank adjustment, we received a wealth of feedback from the community," reads a conciliatory note, issued today. "A common concern was the pressure associated with having a rank reset every half-season, which has made participating in competitive mode less enjoyable."

As such, there will no longer be a rank reset