As Season 1 ends,Marvel Rivalshas shown that it has a significant rank inflation problem. Season 1 has been as good of a start for the new hero shooter as could be desired. Though it was stated to be a larger season than what will be seen going forward, the four heroes, two maps, numerous events, and engaging battle pass have been amazing. Future seasons have always beenteased to have outside collaborationsif the team can arrange them.
The one downside ofRivalsso far has been its ranked system. Season 0 saw various issues that were largely corrected in Season 1, but now Season 1 has new issues. This has not killed the ranked ecosystem but has put a damper on what is otherwise a perfect game. Luckily, there are numerous solutions to this, andRivals' developers have already shown they areopen to listening to community feedback.
What Rank Inflation Is
An Unfair Test Of Skill
InMarvel Rivals,rank inflation is players being at a higher rank than what they are supposed to be. This has recently been supported byRivalsTracker, which shows that Grandmaster 3 has a little over 27,000 players. When compared to the other ranks, this is a higher number than all but thosestuck in Silver and Bronze.
The reason this is an issue is thathealthy games have a balance that peaks in the middle ranks and is lowest at the low and high ends. This is not the case withRivals, where the rank distribution is rather equal across all ranks. The only exception to this is Bronze, where all players who haven’t played ranked are put, which can be a lot for a free game.
How Marvel Rivals Got Rank Inflation
A System Meant To Cause Issues
The main reason thatRivalshas rank inflation is due to how hard it is to drop rank, which comes from many angles. The most obvious of which iswins granting more points than losses take away. This means that even if one were to play five matches, winning two and losing three, they would still likely have a net positive rating or, at worst, a minimal loss from where they started. This has led to many players in Grandmaster having a negative win rate but still being in that tier.
Another feature that hasn’t helped is the Chrono Shields. Though this system that occasionally prevents point loss is limited to the lower ranks, it has made it easier for users to climb. Thus,the only way to lose rank would be to chain together long loss streakswith little to no wins.
The final aspect of inflation that needs to be taken into account is the lack of rank resets. The developers initially wanted a reset at the halfway mark of a season, and the beginning of each new one. However, the halfway reset was taken out after an outcry from the community. This has proven to be a mistake, asthe system, which may be purposeful in encouraging player retention, has led to the situationRivalssits in.
How Marvel Rivals Can Fix Its Ranked Issue
Reworking The System
There are numerous waysRivalscan fix its rank inflation, but each would take a different amount of effort. The easiest solution if the team wanted to keep the system the same would be reinserting the halfway reset. This wouldn’t solve the issue, but it would only be a decent band-aid. The alternate easy option would be toremove Chrono Shields and increase the amount of points lost from a defeat. This would be the better long-term solution but would feel harsher on the players in the short term.
The extensive option would be tocompletely rework the ranked system while keeping the harsher loss penalties. The way to do this would be to implement a placement system that more accurately places someone when they step into ranked for the first time each season. This could be similar to whatOverwatch 2has and would provide a fairer experience than everyone climbing from Bronze.
Ladder systems likeMarvel Rivals' encourage more of a grind, but are generally thought to satisfy players with steady progress, as opposed to a system that uses placement matches to more accurately disperse players among the ranks.
This ranked issue will need to be addressed soon. It is unlikely to kill the game, as long as the content updates likeMarvel Rivals' rumored characterscontinue to be fun, but it will harm the competitive scene. This scene may not be the majority of the game, but it is still a critical foundation it must have to last as long as it desires. Until these changes are made, this is the current situation regardingMarvel Rivalsand its rank inflation.
