Although only in its first couple of months,Marvel Rivalshas already made it clear that the considerable roster of characters will continue to expand. As new hero shooters go,Rivalsstarted with an unusually impressive roster size of thirty-three, significantly more than the 21 thatOverwatchoffered at launch. A month later, The Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic have already expanded the roster by two. Two more are coming forty-five days after Season One’s start, with The Human Torch and The Thing rounding out The Fantastic Four’s inclusion.
NetEase isn’t aiming to keep up this pace with character additions, since adding four heroes every three months would be ludicrous to keep up, butit is aiming to add a character every forty-five days. That equates to two characters a season, and a lot of these characters have already been leaked, showing that NetEase’s plans are more than just words. At this pace,Marvel Rivalswon’t be far off fifty characters by 2026, and it seems like it could be aiming for a MOBA-sized roster and model when it comes to how it treats its cast.
Marvel Rivals Is Building A Huge Roster Like League Of Legends
A Massive Roster Could Help Its Longevity
Provided that NetEase maintains this level of support and care for thealready impressiveMarvel Rivalsexperience in years to come and can keep up with the pace of character additions it has set, the game could be more likeLeague of Legendsrather thanOverwatch. Despite consolidating itself as the top dog of the MOBA genre by quite some distance,League of Legendsstill enjoys constant, if a little erratic, character additions to a roster of 169 Champions. The 170th Champion, Mel Medara, will be joining soon, and the constant support has madeLeaguea gaming juggernaut for over fifteen years.
Mel Medara originated from the hit animated series,Arcane, and Riot is making an effort to merge the lore ofLeague of LegendswithArcane’s.
Marvel Rivalsmay never reach those numbers, but if it wants to stay on top of the hero shooter genre with competitors likeOverwatch 2and Valve’sDeadlockon the horizon,constantly adding heroes to continually grow the cast might give it an edge. Unlike most other games,Rivalsdoesn’t have to try to generate interest for its cast, since they come from Marvel Comics, and even the most obscure characters have their own group of fans. There will always be characters Marvel fans want NetEase to add, and this is the game’s advantage over its competitors.
Two New Hero Skins Have Hit Marvel Rivals, & Fans Will Be Excited To See These Characters Highlighted
The devs of Marvel Rivals have introduced two new hero costumes today, highlighting both Mantis and Dr. Strange in the Immortal Dragon saga.
More characters might disrupt balance, but if people like a Marvel character, they will play them even if they are less viable than others. Players won’t require as much convincing to play new characters, andthat means there is interest in helping the roster grow to include as many Marvel Characters as possible. Even obscure characters will get some of the limelight withNetEase’s long-term plans, and if the player numbers can be maintained, there won’t be a reason to slow down the pace of adding characters, sinceMarvel Rivalswon’t be running out anytime soon.
Rivals' Roster Will Be Bigger Than Overwatch 2’s Soon
It Needs To Be Careful Not To Repeat Overwatch’s Mistake
Overwatchbegan its life with an iconic cast of twenty-one well-balanced heroes, and the first few additions, particularly Sombra and Ana, were creatively designed.The problems with balance started to snowball when Brigitte was added, completely changing the meta and making DPS characters useless at higher levels of play. This led to theaddition of role queueand longer queue times, and these shifts likely influenced a slowly diminishing player base. The frequency of heroes being added slowed down to attempt to add a PVE campaign that never came, and those that were added tended to be hit-or-miss.
New Marvel Rivals Ban Branded “Such A W For Console” By Players
Marvel Rivals has officially banned the use of mouse and keyboard controls for console players, in a move celebrated by PS5 and Xbox users everywhere.
While characters like Hammond and Kiriko have proven to be popular,Blizzard has struggled to generate interest with many new additions, like Baptiste and Venture. With the return ofOverwatch Classicand its popularity some months ago, it feels like the bigger roster is actively working against the game, since many new additions just can’t generate any interest. This is a problem thatMarvel Rivalsdoesn’t have because of the Marvel IP it draws from, and the game has proven that it can increase thepopularity of obscure characterslike Jeff and Luna Snow.
Jeff began life in a Gwenpool comic run, eventually enjoying his own series calledIt’s Jeff!
Marvel Rivalswill easily have a larger roster thanOverwatch 2at the end of its first year, and the only primaryconcern NetEase should have will be trying to keep the game in a relatively balanced state. Although the balance doesn’t have to be perfect (it isn’t right now, but the game is still fun), as long as it doesn’t make a blunder as large as Brigitte’s addition, people will continue to enjoy the new characters. Despite being a support,everyone in Season One wants to play Susan Storm, and there’s excitement around the leaked characters coming in the future.
A Big Roster Could Be What Marvel Rivals Needs To Stay Ahead
Marvel Rivals Has Some Big Name Competition
When it was released in 2016,Overwatchdidn’t have similar budgeted rivals to attempt to take its place at the top of the hero shooter genre. Games likePaladinsattempted to replicateOverwatch’s success, but they didn’t have Blizzard’s budget and talent at their disposal.Marvel Rivalshas to compete withOverwatch 2, and it seems to be doing quite well here, but it will also have to deal with Valve’sDeadlockwhen it launches. It has strong competition, but thepopularity and depth of the Marvel Universe give it a huge advantage.
How To Unlock The Reborn From Ragnarok Thor Skin For Free In Marvel Rivals
If you want to get your hands on the new Thor Reborn From Ragnorak skin in Marvel Rivals, you will have to complete a few challenges first.
With competition coming,Marvel Rivalsmay have to replicate whatLeague of Legendsdid with the MOBA genre to maintain the successit has enjoyed thus far. Despite a market crowded withDOTA,Smite, and Blizzard’s ownHeroes of the Storm,Leaguehas remained on top due to just being the bigger game.Marvel Rivalshas the brand and will have the character roster to be a bigger game than the competition, and whileDeadlockwill likely carve out a strong niche,Rivalsshould remain on top if it is carefully cared for.
The danger will come with keeping the game balanced enough to stop core mechanics from breaking down.Marvel Rivalsneeds to learn fromOverwatch’s mistakes in that regardso it doesn’t have its own Brigitte problem. As the roster grows,Marvel Rivalsshould also learn fromLeague of Legends' ability to curate and maintain such a large roster for competitive play. The balance of that game isn’t perfect either, and perfection is an unattainable goal, butpeople have been playingLoLnonstop for well over a decade despite all the competition that has come and gone.
