Marvel Rivals developers revealed their plan to add heroes every month, as well as to shorten upcoming seasons. Read on to learn more about their plans post-season 2, and new characters and skins coming.
Marvel Rivals Upcoming Changes
New Heroes Every Month
As part of ongoing efforts to keep the game "as fresh as its launch", NetEase announced that they will be releasing new heroes every month instead of their original plan of 2 heroes per season. Marvel Rivals' Creative Director Guangguang and Lead Combat Designer Zhiyong revealed this exciting news on Marvel Rivals’ Dev Vision Vol. 05 on April 4, along with new adjustments to each season moving forward.
The developers stated that they will be shortening the duration of each season, going from 3 months to 2. With this, they will also be dishing out new heroes each month. Guangguang explained, "After extensive internal discussions and thorough evaluation, we’ve decided that starting from Season 3, the seasons will shift to a two-month format, with a new hero debuting each month."
Guangguang said, "During this time, several discussions on social media have certainly added some pressure on us to keep the game as exciting as it has been since December." Additionally, they are considering adding new modes to further this agenda, which may come at a later date. Once this is finalized and implemented, players may see up to 12 heroes added each year to the game.
Although this may pose a daunting task for the developers, especially in balancing the heroes, Guangguang previously mentioned how the team plans to take on this challenge. In an interview with PC Gamer on March 14, he emphasized the importance of key metric data across all game modes, such as pick rates, win rates, stats, abilities, and more. He stated, "This data serves as the foundation for our balancing efforts."
Season 2 Details and Future Plans
The Dev Vision also introduced Season 2 Hellfire Gala, where Marvel Heroes are invited by the upcoming hero Emma Frost to venture out to the Mutant haven of the Living Island Krakoa. Emma Frost is an X-Men villain with telepathic abilities and can turn things into diamonds, and will be a Vanguard for the game.
The celebration on the island is a lavish one, and the trailer for the upcoming season previewed what looks to be new skins for Luna Snow, Magneto, Cloak and Dagger, Black Panther, and more, donning fancy and formal attire. The Hellfire Gala is based on Marvel’s Hellfire Club, an international social club of the wealthy and elites, influencing and controlling world events as they see fit.
Following Emma Frost’s release, Season 2.5 will see the arrival of Ultron, one of Marvel’s iconic villains. In the Hellfire Gala trailer, the party is interrupted by a swarm of Ultron robots looking to take over everything and begin the Age of Ultron. With that said, there are no further details regarding Ultron as of the moment.
Thor’s Lord of Asgard and Hawkeye’s Ronin Skins Available Now!
Marvel Rivals announced on Twitter (X) on April 4 that new skins for Thor and Hawkeye are now available. Thor’s Lord of Asgard skin is inspired by him being revived by Odin in the comics, while Hawkeye’s Ronin is from the time he became a vigilante samurai in the comics as well.
Thor’s Rune King bundle includes the Rune King costume, spray, nameplate, The Omniscient MVP, and Well of Mimir emote. On the other hand, the Hawkeye Ronin bundle comes with the Ronin skin, spray, nameplate, Deadly Rain MVP, and Hone to Perfection emote.
All the new and upcoming changes are proof of NetEase’s commitment to support Marvel Rivals for 10 years and beyond. Marvel Rivals is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. To stay up to date with the latest information about Marvel Rivals, check out our article below!
Source:
Marvel Rivals: Dev Vision Vol. 5 | Season 2 Hellfire Gala
Marvel Rivals Game Director PC Gamer Interview
Marvel Rivals Twitter(X) post on New Thor and Hawkeye Skins
